Deadlier Than The Male - Exclusive to Steemit - continued

Hazel was in a boisterous mood and bounded around Luke, then she was back and forth from him to Victoria and Emilio then she was all over the front lawn. Luke puffed out his chest and strutted towards Victoria and Emilio. Hazel could not keep still, she was here and there, bouncing and springing about. It was exhausting for the others to watch her. Luke sat a little way from the other two.

Source

“Come on, let’s go hunting!” Emilio said.

Victoria gave him a look that didn’t say she loved the idea of hunting, but she got to her feet because Emilio had already set off, with Hazel close behind him. Luke took off in pursuit of them both with the reluctant Victoria bringing up the rear.

Emilio was a stranger to the Estate and was soon hopelessly lost. That did not seem to bother him however and he continued running. When he found a lake, he ran round the perimeter. I was only when he came to the farthest shore of the lake that he stopped and waited for Victoria and Luke to catch them up, Hazel had kept pace with him.

“Do you fancy a dip?” He asked.

“But it’s November!” Hazel laughed, but she splashed into the shallows nonetheless.

Emilio went past her and was soon in deep enough to swim. Hazel hesitated a moment then followed, with trepidation.

Luke arrived in time to see Hazel wading out to Emilio so he plunged right in and was soon catching up to Hazel. Victoria was not far behind but she too hesitated to swim in the cold. Resigning herself, she followed the other three and was soon splashing and playing along with them.

Hazel changed to Human form and began splashing the male wolves. Victoria followed Hazel’s lead and changed too. Soon all four were in human form and fooling about in the water. Though their resistance to cold was far greater than a human’s, it still was not long before they started to feel the effects of the cold.

“This cold water is doing my self-esteem no good at all” Emilio joked, “I am glad it is too dark to see beneath the water, I would be heartily embarrassed!”

Suddenly Emilio put his finger to his mouth, indicating quiet. They listened, then Emilio started back to the shore as quiet as possible, the others following.

He was only partway back when the reason for his sudden caution came into view, clearly seen in the bright moonlight.

Five men and two dogs wandered down the slight incline towards the lake. They were talking quietly but not because they realised that the group in the lake could hear them, these men were more worried about a Gamekeeper.

Emilio stopped swimming and stayed quiet, hoping the men would pass by. They were to be afforded no such luck however. The men were poachers and their next target for this evening was to see if they could chance upon a few fish to go with their catch of rabbits. As they got closer to the lake, the dogs – Lurchers – caught the scent of the swimmers. They alerted the men by their interest and soon they too spotted the shivering group.

Victoria was indignant when she saw the strings of rabbits slung over a shoulder and was all for confronting them until Luke reminded her that they were naked.
She became more indignant when they heard one man say “Find their clothes! We may go home with more than a couple of mangy rabbits under our belts tonight!”
Luke whispered “Good luck in finding clothing.” And they all giggled again.

The problem they were facing was the fact that it indeed was cold and they were starting to feel it deep in their bones by now. They were desperate to get out of the water but how to get away? If the men stayed and they were forced to go home in human form then they would risk being followed. They also risked catching a chill and as quick as they shook off illness, it was still an unnecessary inconvenience. On the other hand, if they changed they would be noticed and gypsy or local, these men would talk.

“Victoria, Hazel, you swim over to the far bank, and get out and run for home. Luke and I will get out and keep them occupied.” Emilio said and Luke agreed.

“No, we cannot divide. I think we should stay together, swim for the far bank and all run for it.” Hazel said.

Those Lurchers would bring down a running human, Hazel.” Luke said.

“Most likely they would, but we are not human.” She said. “We can either lose the dogs or kill them. In fact, why don’t we just kill them all?”

“I agree to that, what say you?” Emilio said.

“No! Hazel, we cannot indiscriminately kill a group of people in such a way.” Victoria said.

“Why can’t we?” Hazel asked.

“For one thing, some poachers cover their backs by telling their families where they will be going that night. Then if anything does happen to them, they know where to start looking for bodies. If that is the case here, then we will be trying to explain to Oscar and his Gamekeeper why we had to dispose of five men and two dogs, let alone angry families and possibly militia. Luke, do you remember three years ago? Some of our younger Wolves killed some poachers; we had to join in the ‘search’ for them whilst the lads went to unbury the bodies and try to make their deaths look accidental. Do you know how difficult that is Hazel? To put it coarsely, we don’t shit where we sleep.”

“I see, so we have to choose our quarry with care then? That is a lesson I perhaps should have been taught at the beginning do you suppose?” Hazel said, directing the words at Luke.

So they made for the opposite shore, making more noise by swimming fast than they had done when they had been splashing on purpose.

One of the poachers noticed they were swimming away from them “Their clothes must be on the other side!” He shouted as he set off running around the lake’s perimeter. The dogs ran with him, his cronies started after.

Emilio and Luke were helping Victoria and Hazel out of the lake as one Lurcher spotted his intended quarry and sprinted ahead of the man and the other animal, but that one was not far behind it. Emilio ducked down to a crouch and changed to Wolf. He sat by Luke and waited for the dogs to arrive.

Before the dogs got to them, Luke shouted, “Call off your dogs, man!”

The dogs were brought to heel and the men slowed as they got closer. “What do we have here then, two women and only one man? That is being greedy isn’t it? What say you share them about a bit?” The man’s accent was not local.

“He will be no use to either one of them anyway. That cold water will not do any favours to his wedding tackle.” Another said, drawing a laugh from his companions and even a chuckle from Emilio who also whispered “That’s just what I said.”
Luke smiled.

As the men drew closer still, Hazel and Victoria got behind Luke for the sake of modesty.

“Come on now girls, you weren’t so shy a few minutes ago. You must be cold; we’ll soon have you warmed up again.”

“Call your dogs off.” Luke said again as Emilio started to growl low in his throat.

“Give up your clothes and we’ll think about it.”

“It was not a request, it was a friendly caution. Mine is a killer, if you value your animals, call them off.” Luke said.

“You are in no position to negotiate. Now, I am willing to put my dogs against yours. If mine kill your dog, then you give up your valuables – if you have any – if not then we shall entertain the ladies. If yours kills both of mine then we will leave you be. I cannot resist a wager.” One of the men said.

“That sounds a fair wager to me, but I did warn you, mine is a proven killer. When this is ended, do not claim I neglected to warn you at the outset.” Luke said backing away as the men got closer.

“Never you mind about that. You just worry that you can remember where your clothes are – or these ladies are going to be exhausted come the morning.” Another snarled.

“Just as you say.” Luke said and with a wave of his hand he pantomimed setting Emilio onto the dogs.

Emilio knew what was expected of him. A snarl and a wet tearing sound later, one Lurcher lay gutted, seconds after that, the other lay with it.

Emilio sat down at the side of Luke, shining droplets of blood, black in the moonlight, dripping from his jowls.

“Jesus!” One of the poachers exclaimed.

“I presume you are a man of your word?” Luke said with confidence.

The man could only nod his head to affirm. He stood staring at his ruined animals but then came to his senses. “I suppose you’ll not consider selling that animal?” He asked ever an opportunist.

“No I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly. He is part of the family.” Luke said as he stroked Emilio’s ears.

The man nodded then barked the order to “Pick them up! We can’t leave them here. Hurry it up; we’ve been here too long already.” Then as an after-thought he turned back to Luke with some advice “I wouldn’t linger here either if I were you. Apart from catching your deaths of cold, you could run into the Gamekeeper. I hear the master of this estate doesn’t take kindly to trespassers, even if they are only swimming in his trout lake.”

“I agree, thanks for the advice.” Luke said.

“I beg your pardon ladies; we were only having some sport earlier. I hope you’re not too offended.” He said, directing his comments to the figures shivering behind Luke. “Although, it is fortunate the dog is as good as the master said, I keep my word, I expect the same.”

Luke nodded as the three of them stood shivering. Teeth chattering until the men were out of sight.

“Emilio, you knew what you were about when you changed. You are sitting smug and warm in your pelt, we are freezing to death, playing games!” Luke laughed as they changed to Wolf. Then all four loped off for home, racing each other to get warm.

Hazel stayed at the back and was quiet on the way home. She remembered how the Lurchers had been torn open and how very similar their injuries were to Mika’s.

Hazel decided that she had had enough duplicity, lies and deception, she wanted out. She also realised the Wolf family would not let her go so easily and therefore she had to be as sly and ruthless as they were. She had to pick her moment but until she could make good her escape, everything would have to be as normal.