The woods air was thick with the smell of pine, moss and general dampness. Perfect.. Zaina hissed, on all fours. She was in her human form... but not for long. Her head rose, and her back arched, and her usually smooth face began to alter. Her whole frame began to shake, and her skin began to change. Snowy white fur began to rise out of her whole body, and her jaw stretched out into a muzzle, opening to bare huge fangs.

Her clothes ripped, and the human Zaina was gone, Wolf Zaina left in her place. She sniffed around, grunting, all smells intensified. Blood stained her paws, a reminder of her past... what she had done just a day before.

*FLASHBACK.*

The house approached, she crept silently, hardly daring to breathe... the 2nd floor window was open... the sound of heavy breathing heard. The lights where all out, darkness surrounded her as she leaped agile up. Tucked under his covers laid a small human child, sleeping peacefully. She licked her lips, and approached. Just a taste... she bit down hard, and the child gave a small cry - its last breathe.

Crimson blood stained the floor, a reminder of her deed to the parents. She slipped in the pool, but managed to leap out the window. That was her 5th child this night. More lights where seen as men searched the streets for the culprit. With a yelp her back arched, and she began to change... she was human again. She walked out of the town that night, a full, FREE werewolf

*/END OF FLASHBACK*

She licked her paws with greed. By now the hunters hired will be tracking her. She hoped they where better then those who dared try touch her in the last village she attacked. They gave up too fast. Zaina licked her lips, the taste of the children flooding back to her. She sighed... they tasted soo good. The hunters... she would need to loose them. She wondered what kind of... people had been hired to take her down this time. Well.. try and take her down any who.

Atiel rocked back in his chair, staring up at the wooden beams of the ceiling. He felt somewhat troubled at the recent news he had recieved. His trusted katana hung at his side, Atiel knowing it would be used before he was finished in this town. "Such a loss. Such a monstrous act."

He was referring to the atrocious acts of a certain wanted lupine, a woman who took joy in stealing away the lives of the young, the joys of parents. Such an atrocious act deserved reprimand of the highest kind, in Atiel's eyes. This beast would not escape justice.

He roked back onto all four wooden legs of the chair, reaching for the glass mug of amber liquid in front of him. The ale was comforting to him, a sanctuary from the sins of the world. He had been notified of the accused by the town watch, who had placed a poster in the tavern and a guard along with it. A roster lay by him, empty of volunteer names.

Atiel sat pondering his next actions. Surely he could sign up for the hunt for the beast, but he did not want to try at it alone. He was good with the blade, but not good enough to take on a full grown lupine on his lonesome.

Maybe if another volunteer or two signed up, he would take the first few steps on his hunt. He brought the mug of ale to his lips, taking a swig. The mug thumped back onto the table, contents sloshing about.

Artemis had been tracking this one ever since it had entered her part of the forest. She wasn't an Elf, but had recently taken to patrolling the woods close the city. But today she was not taking a peaceful stroll. There was a dangerous Wolf-kind nearby, that had recently killed - and presumably eaten - several off the Elf children. It had to be stopped.

Artemis crashed through the undergrowth, her bow at half knock. She traveled at what speed the forest would allow, fast in places, slower in others. At first it had been easy to follow a wet trail of bloody paw prints but it had steadily become harder as the prints became fainter and less visible. Now Artemis was just chasing broken twigs and disturbed foliage. But the wolf would be brought to justice.

Stella walked up to the hunting party. It consisted so far of just local men - nothing too great about them. But then their was the one man. Half elf he appeared to be, his hair black, and his eyes Hazel. Stella approached him, then smiled. "I beleive you too are hunting for this... beast." she announced, sitting oposite him with her own drink - water and sugar. She smiled. "I can be of assistance i hope." She cocked her head to the side.

Stella wanted to kill this beast. It was unforgivable to harm a child, to harm anyone for that matter. She scowled. She would kill this beast. "I hear this... thing has headed deep within in the forest. If we go now we may be able to catch up." She drank the rest of her drink and stood up.

"Are you with me?"

Yang had been shadowing Stella for a few days now, wanting to make sure she would be alright. He wanted to catch up after her visit to the Temple of Life with Rhoe, but had never gotten the chance. She seemed to be doing well for herself. Now she was off tracking some wolf and he had decided to join her cause. He stood in one dark corner of the inn completely covered in his cloak so that to all the patrons he was just another statue. Now though, he removed the cloak and stepped out of the shadows, walking over to Stella.

"I'm ready" he said, "Are you?"

Atiel was taken by surprise at the new face. He took a moment to study her appearance, taking another swig of ale. His eyes were drawn to the necklace she wore. He studied it for a moment, then drew his eyes upon hers as she asked her question.

"I am. And you might." He smiled and took another swig. despite his lean frame, he could drink with little repurcussions usually attributed to human alchoholics. He chuckled idly and searched his dirt-encrusted bag for a few coins to give to the waitress.

"I have been waiting for someone besides a commoner to show up. I was going to sign up, but did not want to do this alone." He said in a thoughtful tone.

Atiel's grin grew wider at the mention of the forest. A mistake it was to take shelter in the forest, even mre to commit such an attrocity. he reached a hand across the table, "I'm your man, then. The name's Atiel, by the way. May i have the pleasure of knowing yours?" He asked kindly.

This girl intrigued him. It was clear she was no resident of this town, nor an elf.

Stella turned at the familiar voice, her eyes welling up. She smiled. "I am Yang." All they needed now was for the other half-elven man to give his answer. She ran over to yang and hugged him, then held him at arms length smiling. She sat back down oposite the Elven man.

"I'm your man, then. The name's Atiel, by the way. May i have the pleasure of knowing yours?" He asked her, and she smiled. "My names Stella, it's nice to meet you." She reached across the table to shake his hand, then looked at the two men. "It would seem today we have a hunting party. Have you both got your weapons of you? We could start the hunt now." She grimaced.

She couldn't wait to get her hand on that beast, to kill it in turn for all the children's lives, all the misery it had caused. She shook her head slightly, grasping her wand from under her cloak. If they where ready, then the hunt was on.

Atiel raised his index finger in a sign to wait a second, then drained the rest of his ale. he dropped the few coins on the table, then stood, hand resting on his sword. "I'm ready whenever you are." He said happily.

Atiel stepped outside and took a deep breath of the cool forest air. Drawing his sword, he took a cloth out of his bag and wiped down the steel. Sheathing the blade and storing the cloth, he looked back at the other two.

He was just as eager as anybody, and just as angry. He had spent the last few days in this town and had gotten accustomed to the fine people..

Stella followed him out of the shop, her eyes alert. The wolf must not have been very cleaver, for she left bloody paw prints. Stella pointed, then grinned. "It seems we have a lead." She began to follow them, her heart pounding. It was getting dark. The woods at night would surely put them at a disadvantage.

She rose her wand, her arm as steady as she could make it. "LIGHT!" She yelled, the end of her wand lighting up. She held it at the ground, as to get a better look at the now fading prints. The Wolf was around her some where. She glanced at the reddening sky and then back at the others.

"It seems the trail ends here." She sighed, then stood up straight. "I'm not sure what to do now. I'm not huntress." She confessed. All she could do was really kill this beast. That was her purpose.

Sitting on a stone, she licked her paws, a playful rumbling playing through her form. They had fell for the fake bloody paw bait. Having cleaned the last of the blood, she morphed into a human, her mouth now in a full scale smile. She walked away, laughing at her plan. The footprints would end, and they would be at a loss for where the wolf went. For all they knew, it was JUST a wolf. She flickered around the trees, a chilling grin on her face.

She loved playing tricks on people. Walking ahead, she placed the piece of fur she had removed when in wolf form, and placed it on a tree branch sticking out. Another false trail. She walked in the oposite direction. Nightfall was coming, but it did not bother her. She could see in little or no light, and had no use for things such as light spells, used by the pathetic humans. Zaina had no use for human traits, all that concerned her was the way of the wolf. She only endured this human form to escape.

She climbed a tree, and sitting in the tallest branch looked out over the tree's, hidden in intense shadows, hidden from the naked eye. But she could see fine.

Yang diligently followed Stella and the other man out of the inn and off into the woods. He really wasn't sure that killing the wolf was entirely necessary, he was a monk after all. He was really just tagging along to make sure that Stella came out of this alright. It seemed she had not yet bothered to learn the ways of the healer. Never mind, she had all eternity to do so.

They had stopped where the tracks had stopped, it seemed they had no further clue to go on.

"Onward?" he suggested.

She glanced around. It did seem like a dead end, and straight on seemed the obvious route. She was about to nod, when she spotted somthing from the corner of her eye. A tuft of fur? Her eyebrows knitted together. This all seemed too... planned out. She glanced in the direction the fur would have lead. Then raised her hand, smiling confidently. She had a hunch on this.

"That way." She said, pointing to oposite way to the fur. It was also the darkest way, all the tree's clumped together closely, blocking out potential light from the moon. She grinned. "That's where this beasts gone!" She began to walk in that direction, trusting her instincts. She knew deep down she was not wrong here. She hoped the other two trusted her judgement.

Artemis was annoyed. The wolf had lead her on a merry chase of cat and mouse, and yet the cat had never even caught a whiff of the mouse. She had been following footprints in the mud now for over and hour, and had ended up… exactly where she had started. The bloody thing had made her run in a huge circle through the forest, and then just disappeared. There was no way this could be an ordinary wolf, this one was too smart. An average wolf would run until it got too tired, then turn and fight, but this one… This one was way too smart. It had outsmarted her, of that she was sure.

Artemis spotted something that looked out of place in a sea of green; a splash of white. She walked over to investigate and discovered a small patch of fur on the ground, and a little more on the tree branch beside it. Next to the fur were at least three sets of footprints, one of them with toes. Strange. Who walked around with no boots on? She decided to follow the tracks, keeping her bow at half-knock. As quietly as she could, she began to hunt for whoever had made the tracks.