A slender shadow stretched across the snow covered ground as Vie stood amongst the row of grave stones. Small white flakes fell from the clouds above; dancing within the chilling wind through the grave yard that seemed almost ancient in setting. She couldn’t understand how it came down to this very point in time, how she had lost everything so suddenly. She remembered that late Christmas Eve, she came home from work to spend the rest of the night with her family…only she found something horrible when she came home.  Her parents bodies were laying on the living room floor in front of the Christmas tree; pools of blood surrounding their bodies. Vie almost collapsed at the site of them; she had been completely torn with despair and at a loss of what to do. Then from the corner of her eye she saw her brother standing in the archway of the living room, he was only thirteen years old. She felt a wave of sympathy wash over herself as she went to him. “David.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. But he didn’t seem right; he had such a frightening smile on his face. “ I’m  sorry Vie” he told her and before she could do anything he shot himself in the head, his body fell into her arms like a heavy bag of coal. If only she had gotten off work sooner, if only she could have been home.. But she worked late; she wanted the money and that at the time it was more important. Perhaps if she was there she could have prevented it, or.. died with them.

            Shuddering Vie pulled her coat tightly around her body as she stared down at the three grave stones. “Why did you do it David..” The wind started to pick up and blow much harder around her. She heard on the news that a hefty storm would be blown into the city tonight leaving them with a nice white Christmas morning. But Vie never really enjoyed her Christmases anymore, not after what happened. “Merry Christmas” It was near midnight, she always came to visit them on Christmas eve but she planned to make this one of her last visits; it was just to hard to come here anymore. Vie turned around to leave but stopped at what she saw standing behind her.

            A wolf stood watching her with eyes of blue; a sharp intensity in their stare that made her heart skip a beat. His coat was a pure slick white that nearly blended into the color of the snow.. he stood near three feet tall and his was body made up of muscle that rippled under his fur. He struck a bit of fear into Vie at the very site of him, he was a massive animal; one that could possibly harm her. However she stood her ground none the less, not willing to risk the chance of him attacking her if she ran. He started to snarl at her and as he shifted his weight the wind blew up a bunch of snow in her face causing Vie to close her eyes. When she opened them the wolf was gone, but in his place settled a pool of blood in the snow. “****. “ Vie hurriedly whipped out her cell phone and dialed her office. “Jason, we need a truck out here. Yeah I know its Christmas Eve but we have an injured animal on the loose.”

            “Aw come on Vie, your serious? Alright, alright. Where are you? The cemetery?  OK got it. I’ll meet you there.” Jason hung up the phone and Vie sighed, she worked for the local animal shelter here in a small city in the middle of Alaska. It was nothing new for her to come across an injured animal; it was almost like they seemed to find their own way to her. Luckily, this one would be easier to find.. He left a trail of blood behind so she decided to follow it.  He had gotten about a mile away from her, where she found him in the mist of some shallow trees. He had lain down in the snow with the wounded side up, she could still see him breathing which told her he was still alive. Carefully she started to approach him, being very aware that at any moment he could still lung at her. “Its alright boy, I’m not going to hurt you..” His eyes opened and gave her a piercing glare, his lips upturned as he started to snarl. “Shh its alright now, don’t be like that..” She talked as calmly as she could; trying to sooth the poor thing so she could get close enough to estimate his damage. After a few moments his snarl turned into a whimper and he tried to stand, Vie stopped as she watched him.. she figured he was going to try and get away from her. The sounds he made shifted between whimpers and snarls.. and as he stood up the fur along his back spiked up, but he wasn’t facing her; in fact he had his back to her. Vie looked past him and into the shadows of the trees where he faced.. she saw something shift and then a large black wolf appeared. He stood much taller than the white wolf perhaps over four to five feet tall. She’s never before seen a wolf so big..Vie swallowed and started to walk forward; something compelled her to close the distance between her and the white wolf.

            As she neared the black wolf started to withdraw back into the shadows of the trees until he disappeared. The white wolf laid back down into the snow and his fur settled as he laid his head down. Vie came right up beside him and kneeled “Its alright..” She could see how much strength he had lost from the effort he took to stand. Though she couldn’t exactly understand what just happened she was relieved that other wolf left. She placed her hand on his side right above the red wound in his fur, he growled at her but didn’t move. She pushed some of his fur back ignoring the sounds he made as she examined the wound, she could tell it was a bite wound and by the size of it she figured it could have been that very same wolf they just faced. Vie feared he may not make it, he lost a lot of blood and was still bleeding. She then went to check his breathing and the color of his gums, he didn’t much like her hands around his muzzle but he was so weak he couldn’t fight her off. “I’ll get you fixed up, don’t you worry.” She ran her hand over the top of his head his eyes locking with her own. She felt a strange feeling run through her body as she looked into the depths of his eyes. They seemed so filled with emotions and life, it was almost like she could read what he was thinking.

            “Vie!! Hey Vie where are you!” Jason called as he ran from the truck and slugged through the snow “Over here Jason in the trees, hurry it up would you” Cursing Jason came up to Vie and huffed a few times. “Damn Vie, up close and personal Eh? You seriously have some issues getting so close to a wild animal” He whistled slightly “A fine one at that” Jason was a young guy about 18 years old, he worked for Vie part time as a veterinary assistant and helped her with a lot of the animals that came their way. He didn’t complain too much for being her intern, she paid him.. and actually paid him a lot better than any other part time job would. He wasn’t a bad looking guy, though he really liked the skater style. Long shaggy hair, ripped jeans and old band T-shirts. Sometimes he would show up to work in the actual uniform other times he didn’t. Vie didn’t really mind either way, he was a good assistant. “Alright Jason help me carry him back to the truck.” She moved around to his front side while Jason slipped his hands under the wolf from behind, and together after the count of three they lifted the wolf up and started to carry him back to the truck.

            “So how’d you find this one Vie?” Jason asked as they carefully slid the wolf into one of the cages in the back of the truck. Vie pulled out a needle from the emergency bag and ministered a small dose of tranquilizer to the wolf so he wouldn’t try to move around as they drove him to the shelter.

            “He found me.”