"Welcome to Arcadia Bay! The Most Beautiful Town in America!"
Victoria had read a dozen signs with practically the same epigraph, each one ringing as hollow as the last. Because behind each sign was a city housing a monster or a demon or a maniac. Arcadia Bay was just the most recent in a long string of incidents that stretched back centuries. She, like her father before her, and his mother before him, and so on, was part of an organization that dealt with these incidents. In many ways, that made it almost boring – she was just the heiress to the family business, one franchisee among many, in one district of many, overseen by a council and blah blah blah... Victoria wasn't so interested in the bureaucracy, she just liked hitting the road and doing her job.
The job in question this time around was a missing girl, found mutilated. There was a local family who had operated for some time as independent hunters, preferring freedom away from the guild. Victoria admired that in a way. The trade-off seemed to be that they remained rooted in this one place. According to the Prescotts, Arcadia Bay was something of a magnet for weird shit. I'll believe that when I see it, she mused quietly as she drove through the sleepy little town toward the family's massive estate. Victoria's family had money, but goddamn. The word 'mansion' actually applied here – dozens of bedrooms, what looked to be a carriage house around back, probably like three ballrooms. Even in nice jeans, shirt, and jacket, she still felt like an urchin in comparison to this place. A maid – a goddamn maid – greeted her when she rang the bell, and took her to a room filled with a variety of weapons and more than a few 'trophies'. Suddenly Victoria lost her stomach for the independent life. The Prescotts were clearly hunters in the traditional sense, taking whatever mementos they could from each kill and putting it up in a place of honor. A guy roughly her age was working at a table nearby, sorting through some documents. He turned and motioned for her to join, then passed her a small folder. "The murderer was likely a werewolf, based on the wounds she sustained and the amount of her that was consumed. As near as I can tell, only one person fits the MO, student Kate Marsh. She randomly disappears for a few nights every month, the usual."
Victoria opened the folder and began looking through the documents and pictures. An art student at the local academy, quiet, religious. On friendly terms with nice people, mostly ignored by the rest. It would certainly be a good cover for the kind of girl hiding sociopathic tendencies and a killer beast. "Anything else I need to know?"
"No transportation, so wherever she goes at night, it's either within walking distance or possibly by public transit."
She glanced over at him, brow furrowing slightly. "Okay... And... You're going to be doing... what?"
The rich boy huffed and motioned to a pile of folders in front of him similar to the one he'd just given her. "Other things. Why do you think you're here, because we can't catch one werewolf? Look around you. The problem is quantity, not quality. You're B-team, second string. The guild assured us you were skilled at tracking, so go track. Confirm her status and execute. It's not complicated." He went right back to looking over the pages in front of him as though she wasn't even there.
Victoria didn't even want to give these people the energy required to get angry. They didn't deserve it. She just walked out, only giving a moment to thank the maid for her time and assure the woman she could find her way out. That Nathan prick was right about one thing, she was an excellent tracker, and it was better than putting up with this bullshit.
It never stopped freaking Victoria out whenever she had a job on a school campus. All that mundanity served as a perfect reminder of the life she wasn't ever going to get. Sure, she loved what she did 90% of the time, but every now and then, she couldn't help but wish for things to be a touch more boring. It didn't help that she could see a million cute hipster art girls wandering around from the bench she was sitting on. Sure, traveling meant quite a few opportunities to kiss the occasional girl. But with some time to just sit and wait for sunset, Victoria inevitably began crafting a silly fiction in her head where she attended a place like this, did something cliché like photography, joined a club, went to parties, made out with girls who wanted to experiment.
She was so caught up in this story that she nearly missed the fact that her target had left the girls' dormitory building and was walking briskly toward the woods at the rear end of the campus. She hoisted up her bag of gear and headed after her, always at a respectable distance. The girl suddenly stopped short, seemingly for no reason at all. That was until she retrieved a covered box and began twisting the dial on a lock to open it up.
Victoria hurried to scamper up into a nearby tree until she could find a branch she felt comfortable putting her weight on, watching intently. This Kate girl was either a wolf or maybe just a weirdo. She took her hair out of its bun and it tumbled out into a huge mane of curls, and she began slipping shamelessly out of her dress. Okay, correction... she's either a wolf or a witch who likes to dance naked in the light of a full moon. No judgments here girl... Normally Victoria might have at least given her target some kind of privacy or whatever, but she was on the hunt, and for now that couldn't really be a part of the equation. So she watched like a creeper as Kate continued to disrobe, placing everything in the box, and locking it before covering it up once more.
This wasn't the first time she'd seen someone change. But it had never been so seamless before. There was very little crying out in pain, only some mild grunting, even as bones reshaped and fur emerged. The girl below simply... became a wolf. Victoria drew her treasured crossbow and loaded up a silver-tipped arrow, put up the hood of her jacket, and started off along the branches as the wolf started exploring the woods.
Victoria had been expecting to trail her to houses on the other side of the forest, somewhere she could find a human to eviscerate. But when it became clear that she was remaining fully within the bounds of the place, she assumed that perhaps the wolf just wanted to hunt down some animal prey. Sure enough, Kate went sniffing wildly through some bushes and emerged in a little clearing where a variety of critters were milling about. She held her breath, waiting for the inevitable carnage.
It never happened.
Instead, she gave one quick, excited bark, and bounded into the middle of the clearing, instantly flopping onto the grass and rolling about, exposing her belly plaintively. Squirrels, bunnies, and deer came over to greet her. They crawled over her, sniffing and nuzzling and investigating, one or two of them even giving their own little excited noises and dancing about. It's like something out a freaking Disney movie... Victoria rubbed her eyes and stared hard, expecting at any moment an illusion would fall away and reveal the bloody mess below.
The impossible collective played through the night, running here and there, stopping at a tiny pond to get some water, and just generally having the most adorable time one could possibly imagine. Victoria knew this meant the real danger was still out there, and she ought to go back into town to search for more clues. But she was spellbound by the sheer insanity of it all. As obedient as you please, Kate eventually returned back to the place where she started and lay down to rest. With the rising of the sun, she changed back to her human form.
Again, Victoria knew she should go back, get coffee, reconvene with Nathan, and try to figure out a new plan of attack. But her curiosity was officially piqued. She climbed down from the tree, foolishly ignorant of where she was stepping, a stick snapping loudly beneath her feet.
Kate stirred, though she remained laying where she was with eyes closed, curled up on the ground. It couldn't possibly be that comfortable. "Mmrrnn, right, the hunter. If you're gonna kill me, can you give me like... five more minutes? I only just got to sleep..."
Victoria sighed and put her crossbow away. "I'm not going to kill you. I'd actually like to talk."
Finally the girl cracked open an eye and smiled. "Can I get dressed first? Or do you wanna ogle some more?" Huffing, she hurried to turn her back on Kate, waiting patiently for her to go through the process of retrieving her box and getting her clothes back on. Victoria suddenly felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder and she turned back to see a tired but otherwise cheerful face. "You got a car? I'm craving steak and eggs."
The Two Whales was every diner that existed in every town in America. Victoria had a theory that anyone with enough magical prowess could probably transport themself almost anywhere by utilizing the liminal space contained within. But regardless, they were useful places where you could eat like a king with just a five dollar bill, and that was precisely what the two of them intended to do.
Kate must have been a regular. When the waitress approached, obviously recognizing her, she smiled warmly and made a few notes on her pad. "Katie, I swear your cravings practically come and go with the moon. Rare steak, scrambled eggs, pitcher of water?"
"Yes, Joyce, thank you so much."
"And you, darlin'?"
Victoria brushed a hand through her hair and smiled warmly at the woman. She was the kind of person that required warm smiles. It was probably against the law to be rude to her. "If there's such a thing as super-caffeinated coffee, that would be great. And uh... I guess I'll just have what she's having." Joyce left them alone to put in the orders and Victoria looked back at Kate curiously. "So that's just, like, your thing then? You're just in possession of the most insane level of patience and kindness ever?"
Kate giggled softly. "What, disappointed because I didn't cause any mayhem last night and now you don't get to enjoy killing me?"
"...no but yes?" That answer didn't seem to make Kate any less wary of her and she decided to quickly explain. "Something... bad happened, and all signs pointed to a wolf. But apparently you're the only one around, so... I mean... I'm back to square one for the moment."
"Right, Rachel Amber. Yeah, pretty much everyone in town loved her. It really sent a ripple through the place when the news was released. I remember thinking at the time that 'wild animal' sounded like a serious cop-out. But I'm also probably biased." She sighed softly, only gaining her smile again when Joyce returned with the massive pitcher of water and two glasses. "Is it weird that I kind of want to apologize because it's not my fault? Like I wish I could just provide the easy answer and say it's my fault."
"Let's just split the difference and say it's as sweet as it is weird." Victoria poured herself out some water and took a long drink, unaware just how dehydrated she was herself. "Speaking of being sweet, how the hell did you control your wolf side like that? I thought at any moment Bambi and Thumper were gonna be dinner."
Their food arrived in what must have been record time, and she instantly understood why Kate liked this to be her ritual. It smelled amazing. The two of them dug in for a while, Kate eating voraciously until she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be explaining herself. "Okay, hand to God, my family was actually cursed by a witch back during the trials ages ago. Reverend Marsh accused a woman of witchcraft, turned out it was true. Burning there on the stake, she swore that every member of his line would suffer at the hands of their true, bestial nature. Translation: we're werewolves forever. The only way to counteract a curse is with more magic and the Marsh clan tends to have... conservative views on magic of any kind. So we learn to control it, and usually have a pretty good handle on things by adolescence."
Victoria chuckled and chowed down on another hunk of steak, following it up with a healthy sip of coffee. "Just in time to learn how to deal with hormones and all that other shit instead. Honestly, that's far from the weirdest thing I've seen in my life. I mean, I've worked with actual modern witches in the here and now. So a family curse isn't that bizarre."
The girl across from her leaned her chin on top of her hand and smiled at her softly. "I'd love to hear more about all these adventures of yours. Truth be told, except for the whole transformation thing, I'm about as boring as they come."
"Nothing wrong with that. I could use a little 'boring' in my life sometimes." It came so naturally for Victoria. Go on a mission, run into some cute girl, flirt a little, see what happens, broken heart, go back home to lick her wounds. It was a vicious cycle and she fell into it every time with gusto. If Victoria had to guess, Kate didn't seem to mind too much. Vaguely aware that both their plates were swiftly emptying, Victoria figured it was probably time to get on with her day and actually solve this damn mystery. "Want a ride back to your fancy school?"
Kate retrieved a twenty from her purse and put it on the table – enough to cover their food along with a tip of almost 100%. "Actually... Look, if I'm imposing, just tell me so. But if there's someone out there, either a fellow wolf or a terrifying impersonator, then I want to help stop them. I don't need any more hunters coming around, assuming I'm the killer."
This was generally the part where Victoria would have to shut things down. She couldn't let anyone get in trouble. She couldn't drag anyone into the line of fire. And she couldn't actually get close to them, couldn't know them. Not when she had to eventually get on the move to the next big disaster. Victoria absolutely, positively could not let Kate come along with her. The girl had to maintain her boring-ness. That was of the utmost importance.
"Yeah, okay."