Hidden Moon (Nightcreature 7)

"Internet. "

He sighed. "They've been told not to call me that, but after a few centuries, it's hard to stop. And before you, no one was around enough to notice. Before you, no one cared. "

Though my chest hurt, probably from my heart breaking, anger began to trickle through the pain. Sure, I'd hoped I was wrong, that ruvanush was some sort of nickname. But it wasn't, and I had to deal with that, and with him.

"No one cared that there were people missing from their town? No one noticed that there were suddenly wolves where wolves weren't supposed to be?"

"There weren't. "

"What do you mean there weren't? You haven't killed or bitten people in other places? Why is Lake Bluff special?"

"Wait a second; I haven't attacked anyone here. "

"Then how do you explain werewolf tourist, werewolf Balthazar, and dead Josh?"

"It wasn't me. "

"When you shift, do you even know what you've done?"

I couldn't believe I was having this conversation, but lately that happened a lot.

"I'd better explain exactly what kind of werewolf I am. "

"There are kinds?"

"Hundreds. Thousands. I don't know for sure. "

"You weren't made by Mengele for Hitler's werewolf army?"

I sensed a swift movement in the dark and reared back, my head smacking against the wagon wall, making me see stars in the ever-present darkness. But he hadn't moved toward me; his voice still came from the other side of the cage.

"How did you find out about that, anyway?"

"The doctor who examined Josh was in the war. He saw them. "

"I've been a werewolf longer than that. Remember, I was cursed over two and a half centuries ago. "

"That was true?"

"You think I lied?"

"Mal, you've been lying to me since we met. " I sounded so defeated I wanted to smack myself for letting him know how much he'd hurt me.

"I didn't lie outright; I just didn't tell you everything. "

"A lie just the same. " I rubbed my eyes, which ached from the strain of trying to see in the dark. "Never mind that now. Finish what you started. "

"I didn't go anywhere near Germany during World War Two. We traveled throughout Europe performing, but we heard about the camps, knew that others of our kind were being incarcerat

ed and used in Mengele's sick experiments. "

"Do you know how? Why?"

"We're magic, Claire. You think Mengele could construct a werewolf army without using supernatural means?"

"I don't know how he made a werewolf army at all. " And I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"Lycanthropy is a virus, passed through the saliva like other viruses, which is why biting infects the victims. Although eating the flesh will only make them dead. Mengele mutated viruses and combined what he discovered with the blood of the pure Rom to create a werewolf. "