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Chapter 2
The Clans

When Jack slowly woke up, he realized that it was morning. He was no longer in the cavern, but was now in the Sanctuary, laying on one of the pews. He stood and stretched, then yawned.

He faintly recalled the previous night, but it slipped through his mental grasp like the shadow of a dream. "Did any of that happen?" He spoke aloud. No answer came. Instead, the statues of Jesus, the disciples, and several of the prophets stared down at him with what seemed like loving eyes. But, of course, they were just statues, and could feel nothing, let alone love. Jack slowly meandered over to the church bathroom to get a look at himself and to clean up before he went home. The moment he looked into the large mirror on the wall above the sinks, he knew that the night before was not a dream. It was real. His face was covered in more hair than usual, but in more localized areas, such as the chin and upper lip. That was unremarkable, but the fact that his incisor teeth were at least two times as thick and three times as long as they should have been. He also noticed that he could hear with remarkable acuteness, and his sense of smell was astounding as well. He could hear the rustle of grass outside the windows, but they weren't open. He also knew that there was road kill on the highway that passed the church because of the stench that assailed his nostrils. Jack looked at himself once more in the mirror before beginning to sob uncontrollably. He might as well accept the fact that he was now part wolf and part man, and would go insane on nights with a full moon. Those he could live with. But what emotionally hurt was the fact that he could never see his family again. His parents would believe him insane and his brother would be terrified of him. As he cried and cried, questions began to come to mind. Who would annoy the crud out of him when he was trying to sleep? Who would make him go to bed at a decent hour? Who would get into heated arguments with him? Not his family. Not any more.

Jack let the painful tears stream down his cheeks as he remembered days when he used to take his brother to the park and play childish games. He remembered the admiration in his brother's eyes as he swung him around in a game of helicopter. He remembered the love in his parents' eyes as they watched Jack play a jazz solo on the trombone in a band concert. Jack remembered the hurt in his brother’s eyes the night before whenever he found out that Jack had lied to him. Worst of all, he imagined the looks of pain, sorrow, and disappointment on each of their faces if they found out about what he had become.

Soon, Jack felt a presence at his shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and looked up. He saw Masu standing there, deep red tears pouring down his bone cheeks as well. Masu slowly bent down and embraced Jack, and they sat there and cried, though Jack didn't know why Masu was crying. He didn't mind the fact that he was hugging a guy, though any other time he would have just wanted to be alone. Finally, a young woman came in to clean out the bathrooms. When she saw the two sorrowful creatures before her, she bent down and helped them to their feet. Then she took them to the church's kitchen and got them both a cup of coffee.

"Thank you, Maria." Masu said his voice still melancholy.

"Don't thank me, just drink," Maria replied, pushing the cup to his shadowy lips. Jack downed his in a single gulp, but still felt like crying till Judgment Day. But before he could, Pastor Dilire came in and sat down.

"Jack, I know what you must be going through right now, and I want you to know that if there is anything that we or our friends and accomplices can do to help ease your pain, just let us know." Dilire said, all in one breath.

Jack looked up and said, "Can you take this curse off of my shoulders?" He already knew the answer, but was willing to hope.

Pastor sighed. "No," he whispered, his voice hinting shame. "We can't. There is no cure."

"But that doesn't mean you can't lead a normal life!" Maria exclaimed. "I am a werewolf as well, but you do not see me complaining, do you?"

"Yes, yes, Maria, we know. Werewolf pride and blah blah blah," Masu said, using his hand as a puppet that spoke whenever he said 'blah'. Jack chuckled at the sight of Masu copying Maria every time she began to talk about how Jack should be proud that he was a Werewolf. Dilire looked tempted to let Masu have his fun for a while, but decided not to.

"Masu, quit. You have more important things to do than provide comedic relief." Dilire tried to look serious. "Now go... Do something productive!"

"Running out of jobs for me Pastor?" Masu asked innocently.

"Just go." Masu stood and walked out of the kitchen. Dilire then just noticed that Jack's eyes were red from crying. "Jack, I know this must be hard for you, but you are going to have to learn to live with this...curse. Talk to Maria, she'll love to tell you about the benefits of being a Werewolf. And just be glad that you chose the red syringe; any other would have turned you into an evil far greater than you could imagine, such as a vampire." He sighed. "I wish you hadn't seen Vaness last night. At least she had fed already; otherwise you would be dead without a choice." Dilire chuckled grimly.