the home. There were none, although he wouldn’t smell the vampire if he was close: they had no scent. Usually you could find a vampire by the heavy smell of blood if they had just fed, but the vampire itself gave nothing to assist a prowling wolf.
There were two windows in the front of the house, Travis snuck to the first one and peered in, finding an empty living room. In the dark he could make out a thick layer of dust covering everything, like the house was never used. There were a few old pieces of furniture, but nothing else that would let you know someone lived in the property.
This is strange, he thought. Vampires love money and personal effects, this place should be filled with gadgets and expensive furniture.
He walked to the second window, looking through the dirty glass of the front window. Inside he saw a dresser, bed and end table. The bed didn’t look like it’d been slept in for a long time.
Did he miss something? Travis was completely confused; it didn’t look like anyone had been inside this house in quite some time.
He walked to the side of the house and sniffed the air again. This time he caught the scent; there was a very strong scent on this side of the house leading to the back. It wasn’t the scent of a vampire; it was the strong musk of a male wolf marking his territory.
Travis began to growl, feeling the hair standing up on the back of his neck. His ears perked up, alerting him to something behind him. He had miscalculated this, badly.
He tried to spin and meet the oncoming attacker; instead he was slammed to the ground by a smaller man. All the air left Travis’ body as the man landed on him, his shoulder plowing into Travis’ chiseled midsection.
As he fought for breath the man began raining fists down on Travis, trying to knock him out cold. Finally Travis recovered and bucked his hips, tossing the man forward. He reached up, grabbing for something as the man straddled him and tried to regain his balance. He wasn’t wearing a shirt but he had very long hair hanging down. Travis grabbed the man’s hair hard and pulled him in simultaneously bringing his head up. The man grunted in pain as Travis’ hard forehead smashed into his nose, showering blood all over Travis.
With the man temporarily incapacitated Travis tossed him to the side, rising to his feet. The man was stumbling to his feet, ready to continue the fight.
Finally Travis could see the stranger in the dark. He was a black man, much shorter than Travis and very lean. His muscles were sinewy and strong for his size. He had long dreadlocks hanging past his shoulders and currently he was waving his arms in front, trying to regain his senses.
“I am not here to harm you,” Travis said, dancing backwards away from the man. “I did not come here for a fight.”
“You found one!” the man hollered, rushing towards Travis again. This time Travis was ready, stepping to the side and catching the man, using his momentum to slam him to the ground. The smaller man struggled under Travis’ iron grip.
“Please stop,” he said. “I do not wish to harm you anymore.”
“Get off!” the man screamed, still thrashing.
“Not until you calm down,” he said.
The man‘s eyes popped open as they glowed a ghostly yellow. He was beginning to shift . Travis stepped back, unable to stop the transformation as it happened. The sound of cracking bones filled the air as the man began to shrink and twist, his body sprouting fur all over. After several intense moments he stood before Travis, a snarling old brown wolf with ragged fur and a broken front tooth.
“Please stop,” Travis said. “You do not want me to shift .”
The wolf snarled and snapped at Travis, not wanting to back down. He understood why it was so angry; he had encroached on its territory unlawfully. Lone wolves were very territorial, unable to allow any other males near their home. This one had obviously spent a lot of time in the forest, away from man and
Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins