Twist of Love

"I wasn't born like this!" James Walker cried out.

"I was turned!"

James Walker is a reporter working for the Bailey County TV station in Texas. He has been working with the Bailey County TV station for over a year. His dreams of becoming the award-winning reporter of the year are about to be shattered.

He was captured by a mob of creatures dressed in hooded cloaks. They waved flaming torches and threaten to burn him alive. The poor reporter was tied to a stake. He's tired of struggling to free himself after they injected him with a substance that makes him feel weak.

Just a month ago, he was returning from work late in the night. His car broke down in the wooded area. Before he could get help, a beastly-looking creature with hair all over pounced on his car. The creature has fangs in place of teeth. Claws in place of fingers. Before James Walker could flick around to run, the creature snarled at him. Pounced on him and buried his fangs in his chest aiming for the aorta.

He cried for help but no one heard him. He began losing his breath as the creature feasted on him. His limb went limp. To him, that was the end of the road for him. 'There's no escaping death this time,' he said in his heart. This is not his car skidding off the road and running into a truck. This is a reality. His life is coming to an end.

However, his worries and thoughts about dying didn't become a reality. The following morning, he woke up in a hospital. He tried to move but the nurse held him down. 'It will be unwise,' she told him.

'Where am I?' he asked.

He thought he was in the world beyond. There's no way he could have survived such an attack from a hairy creature like that. He needed to be sure he was in the hospital. The life support machine was beeping but that didn't serve his curiosity.

'You are at St. Thomas's Hospital,' she told him.

After the nurse was gone, he removed the oxygen pipe and teetered to the toilet inside his private ward. At this time, he wasn't feeling any pain. He wondered what type of painkiller the nurse has used on him. He slowly began to remove the bandage around his chest. To his horrific surprise, there was no scratch on him. No bite mark. He has completely healed as though nothing happened to him. He thought the incident in the wooded area was a nightmare. Perhaps he has woken up from it.

He draws closer to the mirror affixed to the wall. As he stared into the mirror, his eyes glowed blue. 'What the hell!' he cried out drawing closer to have a good look. He wasn't hallucinating. He opens his mouth to speak but caught a glimpse of fangs in place of teeth. Fear gripped him. He draws away with haste and moves to the corner of the toilet sobbing and wondering what has happened to him.

Tied to a stake, all that was going through his mind was if he could survive death as he did when attacked by a beastly creature. The substance he was injected with is making him feel weak and dizzy.

"Spare me please," he mutters under his breath.

One of the hooded creatures moved closer to him. He stood beside the stake. Removing his hood, the pale red-looking skin was revealed. Its red eyes were so terrifying. The creature has scars on its face. He unsheathed its sword and waved it threateningly at the face of James Walker. "You want us to spare you when your kind never spares mine!" roared the creature.

James Walker recalled how he escaped from the hospital after he noticed the changes in his body. He wasn't sure what he has gotten himself into this time. The creatures are not showing any pity for him. They just want to see him suffer before they could torch him to death. No idea where he was.

He could see a gallow before him and a castle-like structure that looks old and abandoned. His surrounding looks like a wooded area but no idea of where exactly he is. He could hear the birds sing and the spooky sounds of the woods. His eyes were slowly closing but he needed to be awake. Whatever was injected into him is more deadly than he could imagine. James' eyes are dim but he could see some of the creatures on horses back.

"Whatever it is, we can work it out please." He barely spoke.

"Please...have mercy..."

"Warlocks kill werewolves not show mercy!" roared the creature with red pale skin.

On hearing this, James Walker made up his mind to accept his fate. He had no idea where he was. He only woke up to the angry chants of those in hooded cloaks waving flaming torches. He has no idea how he got here. It's now clear to him that what's happening is real and not a nightmare.

Who can save him from this? Who is it that would mourn him when he's gone? He had no one. He's just an orphan who manages to swim through the oceans of life alone. No girlfriend that could kiss him goodbye from this world of shit. He's alone and no one will even notice he's gone.

One of the creatures moved closer to the stake, "It's time."

The creatures echoed chants of joy. Their torches are ready to set him ablaze. None of the creatures pitied him. Warlocks do not pity werewolves. That's what they are and as for James Walker, he will burn!

"In the glory of the Warlock Lord, Gulux, I Xius sentences you to death."

The voices of the horses disrupted James' thoughts as he stared into the face of death. He realized that his cries for mercy are in vain. There was no sense of guilt or even pity in Xius' red eyes.

James' fate has been sealed. He's not going to be an award-winning reporter after all. The beastly hairy creatures that attacked him have ruined his life and now he's about to die for being a werewolf. He didn't ask for it nor did he want to be in this mysterious place.

James Walker struggled in vain, writhing in terror. He desperately wants to free himself from the stake but he couldn't because whatever was injected into him had rendered him weak and he couldn't even rip the rope he was tied with.

Xius sheathed his sword and took the flaming torch in his right hand. With evil in his eyes, he lowered the torch, bringing it close to the pile of leaves and firewood under James' feet. The fire plunges its fiery tongue into the soft human flesh of James Walker and this time, he will not escape death.

The rest of the warlocks watched in silence as Xius plunged the burning torch into the pile of firewood beneath James' feet. James cried in agonizing pain as the flames engulfed his feet.