The Werewolf Whisperer (13 page)

“Was I connected from the get-go?”

“No, not at all. You howled and screamed at me for ninety minutes. You finally wore out. That was when I started to train you. You were no longer this ferocious wild animal. You were almost kind.”

“You’re fucking with me, right? Kind?”

“Tommy, I’m not. For a good two hours you submitted to me.”

“Really?”  Tommy seemed shocked.

“Close your eyes and try to remember. It’s in your memory bank. You and the wolf are one and the same.”

Tommy closed his eyes. “Okay, tell me something we did.”

“I was asking you questions. I asked you to raise your right paw for ‘no’, and your left paw for ‘yes’.”

Tommy appeared flustered.

“I asked you if I had beaten you in our mixed martial match.”

Tommy strained his eyes. He was really trying to remember.  “I answered no?” Tommy was a bit uncertain.

“Yes, you did.” Do you remember that?

Tommy smiled. “Maybe,” Tommy paused and then said, “You asked me about five or six questions?

“Yes,” I said. “Tommy, that’s good. Okay, there was one question really bothered you. Do you remember what I asked you?”

Tommy closed his eyes. ”I was calm.”

“Yes you were.”

“I felt secure with you.”

“Okay. Keep going, Tom. Concentrate.”

Tommy suddenly opened his eyes. “You asked me if I.... if we.....if you and I were best friends.”

“Yes, Tommy!”

“I answered yes!”

“Now, what was the question that bothered you the most?”

“You asked me if I had been rejected by the Carni and that angered me!”

“Yes it did!”

“I remember, Josiah. I remember all of it.”

Tommy and I both jumped up and down on his bed like a couple of six year olds.

“It’s working, Tommy,” I said, as we stopped jumping.

Tommy hopped off his bed and landed on the wood floor shaking the entire house. “This is amazing Josiah, I actually have specific memories about last night. That has never happened before.” Tommy stopped and looked at himself in the mirror over his dresser. He began flexing. He was really feeling it. “What’s next?” he asked.

“We’re not having a pose off, if that’s what you insinuating.”

“Be thankful, Josiah. You want none of this.” Tommy looked down at his reasonably chiseled body. Tommy had a lot more mass than me, but was solid as a rock.

“You’re exactly right, Tommy,” I laughed.  “I don’t want any of that,” referring to his body. I enjoyed the coma rarity, but I needed to get serious. “Tonight, I am going in the cage with you. I’m going to try touching.”

“Touching?  Just keep your hands above the waist.”

“Very funny. We will go through the details about an hour before you turn into a werewolf again. That seemed to really work last night. We need to go with what’s working. There isn’t a
Taming a Werewolf for Dummies
book out there.”

“What we’re doing Josiah is pretty fucking groundbreaking.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You should get more rest. I’m going to call Lena.”  I nodded and went downstairs and collapsed on the couch. I took my cell phone out of my pocket and turned it on. I had turned it off last night so I wouldn’t have any distractions. When my phone turned on; it read that I had three new voice mails. I pressed the number one on my keypad and it went straight to my voicemail. The first two messages were hang ups, but last one was Lena. 

She said, “Hey Josiah, what happened last night? Did it work? I hope it did.” She paused on the message and then said, “I just was hoping to hear your voice.” 
She wanted to hear my voice?
I wanted to hear hers too and didn’t hesitate to call her back.              She answered on the first ring.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hey, it’s Josiah.”

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I said again. This was starting out a bit awkward.

“How’s Tommy?” she interjected quickly.

“He’s great. We made a lot of progress last night. I think this might just work.”

“That’s awesome!” Lena seemed genuinely excited. “Josiah?” Lena said with yearning in her voice.

“Yes,” I said.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m great, Lena.”

“That’s good to hear.” Lena paused.  “Josiah?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” I said.

“You do?” she asked with a bit of vulnerability I hadn’t heard from her before.

“Yes, I miss you more than you know.” I assured her.

“This is so weird isn’t it?” Lena laughed sweetly.

“I don’t remember what’s normal anymore.”

“I know,” Lena said.

I wanted to say more to her. I wanted to tell her every beautiful thought I felt for her. I really didn’t know how to cross that line further, so I just said, “I’ll see you in a couple of days.”

“Okay, be careful Josiah.”

“I will.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” I waited for her to hang up. I didn’t hear her hang up. Instead, I could still her breathing. I waited about fifteen seconds and then I said, “Lena?”

“Yes, Josiah.”

“Forever...” I stopped talking. I don’t know why I said that word out loud.
Forever.

Lena was quiet and then said, “... and Always.”  She completed my thought.

We were both quiet.  We didn’t need to say anymore. We were connected by something bigger than this world.  I knew she was my destiny.  Eventually, after a minute of very comfortable, loving silence—we both said goodbye. 
That was exactly what I needed to light a fire under my ass.

I leaned back and laid flat on the couch. I thought about Lena; her amazing brown eyes, her beautiful smile, her pale skin, her angelic face. I thought about how amazing she felt the other day in my arms. I closed my eyes and I thought of nothing but her.

It was becoming night, and Tommy had gone into his cage to chain himself in again. I stood outside the cage and looked at my friend like a trainer before a big fight. We both knew the stakes were high tonight, and it was going make or break us. We had 45 minutes until show time.

“Okay, Tommy, I’m going to enter the cage at some point tonight.” I said from outside the cage.  “I’m going to touch your face. You will need to submit to me first verbally, then physically.

Tommy smiled. “Just keep it G-rated, Josiah”

I smiled.  “Alright, no more jokes, Tom. We need to get serious.”

“Yes, sir!” Tommy gave me the military salute. “Let’s do this Josiah, I’m ready.”

I started to once again give Tommy verbal commands like I had done the day before. Tommy seemed more eager to listen and do what I had asked than the day before.

When I finished with the verbal commands I said, “Let’s move on to the tactile. I am coming into the cage. Do not attack! Keep your head down!” I knew Tommy wasn’t going to attack me in his Carni form, but I was paving his sense memory for tonight.

Tommy nodded.

I opened the gate and entered imagining Tommy was a werewolf, proceeding cautiously. Each time Tommy tried to raise his head, I commanded him to put his head down. I inched my way to Tommy and stood over him in an alpha male stance.  I took my right hand and put it on top of his head. “Keep your head down!” I commanded him. I then gently touched the top of his head. I reached in my pocket and pulled out a stick of beef jerky. “Head up!” I said firmly.

Tommy raised his head; I fed him the beef jerky.

“Eat!” I said.

Tommy chewed the beef jerky.

I held my position like a boxer. “Good boy,” I said. “Eyes down.” I slowly knelt down and cupped my left hand placing it on his head. As I did so, I gently petted Tommy’s human hair back. “Good boy,” I said.

I spent about ten more minutes petting him and talking to him softly.  When we were done, I left the cage.

“Tommy,” I said.

“Yeah, Josiah.”

“Good job”

“You too.”

We both smirked and knew we were walking a fine line. We were treading in waters that were very unfamiliar.               “You have about fifteen more minutes,” I said.

I left the room and decided to wait outside on this night as Tommy turned into his werewolf state. A few minutes passed and the sun was completely down. The sounds in the other room had led me to believe Tommy had turned werewolf—lots of howling and growling.

Then just like the night before, the poor wolf began to whimper into the night. I had forgotten to ask him about that today.  His whimpering then became full blown howling. Again, it was very heart breaking to hear.  I had no idea what part of this process was making a werewolf cry out. I wasn’t sure if it was a Carni deal or a Tommy situation. Nonetheless, it was one of the worst sounds I’d ever heard.

I stood by the door, while this went on for about two hours. Tommy had once again exhausted himself from howling and dropped to the floor and asleep. 

Tonight I decided to come in and watch him sleep. I looked at the spectacular, gray wolf sleep on the ground of the cage like any ordinary house dog. 
This wasn’t a house dog.
  He was gigantic and very powerful looking. Tommy was six feet in length and built like a pit bull. This beast looked as if it could kill a bear in seconds. His teeth were thick and long, and his claws were the size of no. 2 pencils.

I sat there staring and studying Tommy for what felt like a long period of time. At times he was restless; at times he seemed peaceful.  I knew I needed to take this bond to the next level.  I hope we’re ready.

* * *

I slipped out of the room as Tommy began to wake up. I wanted to start the night doing the audible commands outside the door to reduce Tommy from going as ballistic as he done the day before at the sight of me. I was counting on him recognizing my voice, and having a mental connection.  It would be then that I would enter the room.

Tommy was growling and pulling at his chains. The chains were dragging and scraping on the ground.  I took a deep breath.  I called out, “Tommy!”

I heard the werewolf stop in his tracks. No sound, no snarls, nothing. “Sit boy!” I yelled from outside the door. I heard him pace for a few seconds.  I repeated loudly, “Sit!  Then it happened.  I heard a flop sound.
He sat.
I then proceeded to give him the same basic verbal commands that I had done the day before.  When I felt he trusted me I entered the room.

This magnificent, giant werewolf was sitting and staring at me as if he was a lap dog waiting for a treat. I rewarded him and threw some beef jerky in the cage. Tommy caught it in his mouth then dropped it to the ground and sniffed it. He licked the jerky a couple of times and then decided to devour it like it was a Twinkie.

When he had finished his snack, I began running through more verbal commands with him. We did this for nearly an hour. There was a lot of trust and interaction between us. I decided to ask Tommy some questions that could lead us to a tactile situation.