Sydney

Crazy, psychotic, demon-possessed, bloodthirsty, and yes, just plain vicious. These are all words others have used to describe me after that night. After that night, my life completely changed, so yeah, I became someone new. Sydney Eld faded away, and Syd Vicious stepped forward. Everything I loved was taken from me. All I had left was my hatred and burning desire for revenge. He should have left my mother alone and let us go on our way, but instead, he tried to cage me. He rattled that cage one too many times, and once that cage was open, there was no stopping me. I would taste his blood and the blood of anyone who stood in my way. That night, the "Night of Raids" will forever mark the day my heart was enveloped in darkness.

I was the one who found the Druit Guard infiltrating our territory. Instead of sounding the alarm, I helped them to our front door. Why? Because our Alpha, Reed Tarlo, is pure evil and doesn't deserve his position. He's been taking our own pups and others and trying to make them into some sick Manchurian army. He put my mother in a cell to stop me from reporting him to the Druit Guard. Well, tonight, everything changes.

The Druit Guard came without me informing them. They made quick work of the wolves guarding the intake facility. I was more than happy to take part in the fighting. It gave me so much joy to cut down the complacent trash that was a part of this. Once the facility guards are under control, the Druit Guard quickly moves the victims out. I had one goal to find my mother, Angela Eld, the former Beta female of our pack. I searched every corner of the facility before I found her cell.

Her scent was so faint, "Mom. Mom, are you there? Mom, answer me." Hot tears were streaking my blood-stained face. I knew my worst fear had come true. I kicked the door down, and there she was, peacefully laying on her cot. "Mom! Why did he do this to you." I cradled my mother's dead rotting corpse, sobbing. I was too late. I was too late.

Alpha Reed Tarlo no longer had control over me, and he would pay. I gently lay my mother down on the cot and left her cold, dirty cell. This building reeks of death. I will free all the trapped souls tonight and take my revenge.

I made my way around the facility making sure everyone was out. I piled up a bunch of old dirty cot mates and rags next to a wall. I drenched them in alcohol since that seemed it was the favorite pastime of the scum who guarded this place. I wasn't allowed in on Alpha's orders, but now I'm here, and I'll be the one to bring it down. Once all the liquor bottles were empty, I kicked a hole in the wall and found the electrical wiring to the outlet. I yanked hard, and one end rips free, giving me what I want live exposed wire. I drop it on the cot mats, and the pile quickly goes up in flames.

I made my way out of the building. When I was a few yards away, something inside exploded. Not a big explosion, but it stopped the fighting for an all but brief moment. I turn to take one last look and give my prayer. "Selene, please release those who were trapped and let them find peace in their next life. Rest mom. I'll be alright." The scene was pure chaos. Our pack warriors were fighting the Druit Guard, and for what? An Alpha that had abandoned his pack to hide with his tail between his legs. I make my way across the blood-soaked battlefield, which was our training field just this morning, to the hiding place of Alpha Tarlo. As I make my way, I help as many Druit Guard as I can. I'm done with these sheep in wolves clothing. They follow mindlessly with no sense of right and wrong, or maybe it was the weird pills that old women would bring that just kept them stupid. I refused to take them, and I refused to do what I knew was wrong. For that, I was punished.

I was the White Ridge Pack's top warrior and only child of the fallen Beta Jeffery Eld. My father treated me like any other heir. To him, it didn't matter I was female; I was his child, and that meant I was the White Ridge Pack's future Beta. Our current Alpha didn't see it that way. He didn't feel a female could handle the role, so I was demoted to warrior. What Alpha Tarlo didn't realize was my father taught me more about the territory than I led on, like the bug-out spot for the ranked members.

I started sprinting through the trees and shifted mid-stride ripping my clothes to shreds in the process. Thora, my wolf, was my treasure. She was larger than the males, stronger and faster too. It didn't take me long to get to the bunker in the south of our territory. I shift back and rip the bunker door off the hinges, and I am meeting with the face I was searching for, Alpha Reed Tarlo.

"Sydney, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Reed takes a few steps toward me then stops abruptly. He must see the vicious look in my eye.

"I'm here to finish this and free our pack from you." My face contorts into what I'm sure would be considered a look of devious joy.

"You think you can take me down, little she-wolf? You don't have it in you. How about this. Since I am now without a Luna, why don't you take her place? You are not what I consider my type, and you're not pretty, with that wiry red hair and freckle skin, but you would produce an excellent heir." His words sound calm, but I can see the fear in his eyes. He's trying to bargain for his life by giving me some twisted backhand compliment.

"I wouldn't be your Luna even if the goddess made us fated mates. What happened to your Luna you had locked away?" I take a few steps toward him.

"That bitch ran off with my Beta, the traitorous pieces of shit. See Sydney, I need someone like you by my side." Was he really that delusional? He thought he could persuade me. I take a few more steps closer. I was done listening to his bullshit babbling. "Sydney Eld, don't take another step! That's an Alpha order." His voice echoed off the bunker walls.

Something in me suddenly severed. There was a crack of thunder than a flash of lighting out of the clear night sky. I felt a power pulsing through my body. I was hot, like lava was flowing through my veins. Thora and I had never felt this power before. "YOU ARE NOT MY ALPHA!" Roared out of my throat in a double voice. It was Thora and I rejecting Reed Tarlo and his wolf Jax as our Alpha. There was nothing that could stop me.

I charged forward, throwing a right cross, but Reed blocked it. I expected him to; my real target was his kidneys, to which I delivered a knee, causing Reed to double over. I introduce my other knee to his nose, sending Reed flying backward. His eyes are watering, and he can't get his feet under him. I stock over and crouch down next to him. I lift his left arm and slice deep into his armpit; cutting his artery, I slice the artery on his inner right thigh as well.

I whisper in his ear, "How does it feel to be powerless and weak? You may not be remorseful, but you will regret what you have done." I punch Reed in the face, and I feel crunching under my fist as he spits up blood. "It's not even fun anymore. Guess you weren't much of an Alpha after all."

I find a blanket and board and use it to make a sled. I drag the slowly dying Alpha back to the White Ridge pack village. I was stopping every so often to keep his lacerations open—damn werewolf healing. Once I was back in the village, everyone quickly got out of my way. I'm sure I was a sight to behold. Naked covered in blood, sweat, and dirt dragging a dying Alpha on a sled. Fear, disgust, surprise, and even respect were slapped across the faces I passed. I dragged that sorry-sack to the packhouse and gave him one last kick as I walked away, back to my home so I could finally grieve for my mother.

As I made my way home, I looked up at the full moon and bathed in its light. "Selene, thank you for giving me the strength to finish tonight. Please let my parents reunite in their next life." The flood gates opened, and my heart sank into pure black despair. It was so thick I didn't think it would ever be possible to get out of and no light could penetrate it.

I became a nightmare, an urban legend, folklore, a monster. I was reborn the heartless demon wolf, Syd Vicious.