Sanctuary

Alyssa

Every librarian hopes to provide a safe place for learning and community, but my guide wolf might have other ideas while there’s Nazis protesting outside. My boss, Mr. Stanton, had me working the front desk where, if anybody could get in, they’d return books or ask for information. Easy enough on a normal day, but it’s so slow, I’ve got time to knit. I’d like to say it’s quiet, but the crowd outside is too loud and yelling stuff I’ll not repeat. I hoped there’s people counter-protesting out there, but I’m blind and I’m not sure if Fenris could even tell the difference.

“Alyssa, I want to go outside.” Fenris' voice came from over by the door to the front lobby where he lay watching the ruckus outside. “These fuckers have some kind of Odinrune on a red flag with a circle,” he growled. For a wolf, he can talk and growl at the same time. That’s how I knew we’re in the red zone of danger. Well, somebody is if I let him go outside. He hates Odin. I’m not sure if he really understands what a Nazi is, but they’re outside.

“That’s probably a swastika. It sounds like a Nazi flag. Folks with that flag think they’re better than other folks and want to hurt and oppress them.”

“Yeah, I watched a video about them yesterday when I heard they’d be protesting. They like fucking Odin, too.”

Like I said, I’m not sure he gets it. The yarn sped through my fingers over the needles while we talked. I’m not sure how it’ll turn out. “Maybe, you should come sit by me behind the counter.”

His nails clacked on the tile floor as he rose and walked over. That’s when I heard the doors open, and our day changed.

Fenrisulfr

I turned my head toward the front doors. A human rushed in, clothes torn, and blood and soot smeared across their face. I inhaled and her threads mixed with blood and chemicals filled my nostrils. Woman. That smoky stuff I saw wafting around out there. She might get cancer in a decade. Has a cat at home.

She stumbled to the floor and gasped out, “Sanctuary.”

I glanced back at Alyssa, ready to tell her what happened. Her milky white eyes stared out in the middle distance while she kept knitting. Then she stopped, set it down, and moved her way around the counter. I met her at the edge and led her to the woman. With one hand resting on my shoulder, she knelt down and felt for the woman’s hand.

“Granted.”

The air changed. The silence rang like a bell inside the building, announcing the situation had changed and Hel was gonna get some new residents. An omen. Or a portent. I can’t tell those apart.

My sister wouldn’t have to wait long. A pair of assholes barged in a moment later. I could smell them. See, human butts aren’t as good as wolf butts. Shit sticks to them, and nobody jumps in a river to clean that shit out right away. Hygiene is important. Where was I? Oh yeah, the stupid Nazi fucks glared at the three of us because Stanton hid in his office all morning.

One of them who failed to digest the danger they were in fixated on the fallen woman and said, “You can’t hide from us, bitch.”

Wolves don’t call each other bitches. That’s a human thing. It’s not friendly. Neither am I. Taking a step away from Alyssa to make room, I changed my perspective like mom taught me. Chunks of ice formed and crackled off of me, crashing to the floor as I expanded to tower over these shitstains, while remaining just small enough to get through the doors to kill more in a minute. I think ahead like that.

The men took a step back, their eyes locked onto my mighty furry face with burning yellow eyes. Urine tainted the air as I breathed in their shitty aroma. Their threads told me about their diseases and defects, ancestry and more. I could find everyone the Norn wove to them and eat well.

Alyssa’s voice rang clear. “Gentleman, this is a library. You are not welcome.”

The dumber one opened his mouth to say something assholey, but I lunged forward and snapped my jaws over his top third and shook. My teeth sank in and meat pressed into my gums like I craved. His legs flapped against my jowls and his spine cracked as it failed under the strain of flipping back and forth. Then his torso plopped to the floor, blood spraying his frozen partner. I swallowed the chunk remaining in my mouth.

The woman clasped onto Alyssa in fear. Her pale skin contrasted sharply to Alyssa’s svartalf Black. She had never seen death before. She should pay more attention to her cat. Which she’ll get to see after this day. Alyssa would ensure that. I returned my attention to the last asshole.

Well, the last one in here. There’s more outside.

Shit for brains ran. Outside, which was considerate because Stanton would shit a brick if I knocked everything over chasing him. Excellent. I nosed through the doors and gave chase.

Alyssa

That got messy. Every time he changes size, there’s melting ice to clean up. I’m pretty sure the coppery smell in the air is blood. Things are going to change quickly now. I stood up and helped the woman to her feet. We needed to move.

“I’m Alyssa. You’re safe now, but come with me.”

She stayed quiet, her hands gripping mine. I edged over to the counter and when my hand reached it, followed it to bring her behind it. “Hide here.”

Trusting that she did, I grabbed my knitting project and raced to finish it while I side stepped over to the wall on my left. Fifteen steps later, I reached a hand out and met something sticky. It turned out I wouldn’t get through this without blood on my hands. I turned right and paced out the steps to the doors. At least I avoided the worst of the mess Fenris left. My hands kept cranking out yarn with the needles and the finished parts dragged on the ground behind me. I shouldered the door open and gave the work in progress a tug so it wouldn’t get caught when the door closed.

The last step entailed some risk. I repeated the process to get through the outer doors. The screams and shouting assaulted my ears as much as the smell. I coughed as wafts of tear gas tore at my lungs and blind eyes. The streets of Houston must be swarming with men, at least in front of my library. I heard one voice break through. “There’s one! Get her!”

I fought the urge to freeze. How far away were they? Where’s Fenris? No time to find out. I tied off the last purl and cut the yarn with my cutter hidden in a disk necklace.

“Submit woman!” came the voice, mere feet from me. I shook out my project and felt it whip out and stretch. I felt tension on the band of yarn as it wrapped around the entire library and his hand crossed the threshold.

Fenris calls me a svartalf. I make things. I’m not helpless. The man screamed and ceased to be.

Fenrisulfr

The difference between cats and wolves is that they kill for fun. Wolves kill because we’re hungry. Okay, I’m always hungry. Ravenous. But I don’t eat everything. Not yet. I do like a good chase, however. The wind ruffled my fur and roared past my ears as I loped through men, knocking them down, breaking limbs. A wolf doesn’t cry over a broken twig when he’s chasing a moose. Speaking of crying, I could taste the man’s tears as I pursued him through the crowd. I snapped at another man as I passed, crushing his head. A brother, based on the scent of his threads.

Soon, we reached the other side of the mob. He froze as he broke through his own line, into the ginnungagap between sides, glancing back at me. Opposite of him stood a line of women hold signs with squiggles on them. They didn’t look like Odinrunes. The squiggles, I mean. The women looked like humans who smelled like women.

However, the men somehow thought the wolf towering several feet over them was on their side, cheered and surged toward the women. Fear spun across their face like loose strands from the Norns’ tapestry before drawing tight. Iron hardened in their faces and they held their line. This must be the good guys.

I spun around, expanding myself and crushing that little shit with my back paw. Sheets of ice slid off my back, crashing to the ground. The charging men froze, and I growled. Not my indoor voice growl. The one reserved for when I face that goat-fucker, Thor, again. The Tenth Realm shook. Light poles fell. Men tumbled to their knees. But not the women. Not ever again.

Invisible fire burned from my eyes and I raked cosmic radiation over these assholes. Those that didn’t die right away would languish with tumors and cancers eating them in the following days. A scream rose behind me and the wall of women behind me let loose their battle cry and havoc ensued. Protest signs turned into clubs and spears and the men ran away as the women chased them and ended their hopes of tyranny the only way it can.

In the distance, I saw a glowing green ring surrounding the library. Alyssa finished her project. Which gave me an idea. There’s too many of these little fucks. They’re like ants. So I galloped off, herding them toward the library, leaping over their mass to counter a movement to go down an alley. They cried and disintegrated as their crush pressed the ones in front into the radiant viridian line.

When it was over, thousands of men perished, or lay crying on the street. Women moved around the bodies, plunging a jagged sign handle into them. They understood that every time we let a rabbit live, they’d make more.

Okay, that’s why I don’t eat all the rabbits. But metaphors aren’t perfect, and these guys are a disease. I saw a video that said the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. This is what they meant. You don’t let an asshole wolf tear your pack apart.

Anywho, I’m hungry, and there’s a lot of meat lying around.

Alyssa

Mr. Stanton came out of his office. He didn’t say anything. Just grabbed supplies and cleaned up the mess behind me. I stood inside the lobby, behind the doors, safe in the library. I heard, no felt, the growl heard across the city. So much dying happened in front of me. Would it make a difference? I dunno.

The woman we helped came to stand beside me, her shoulder touching my own. “Is it over?”

I cocked an ear toward the outside, to hear if the world knew the answer. “Only if we give up.”