He knew it was a dumb question before he even asked it but, of course he asked it anyways. "Hey Panda... what do you think about werewolves?"
There was a brief moment of silence before Bookman, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth, answered, "The correct term, brat, would be lycanthrope."
Lavi frowned, "Fine then, gramps, what do you think about lycanthropes?" Bookman thought a minute, "They make for good story-telling, and a great way to scare annoying brats into behaving properly."
Lavi frowned, this response wasn't the one he thought he'd receive, but it also didn't help him much, either. So, he tried again, "well... do you think they exist?"
Bookman stopped walking, "Why the sudden interest?" Lavi shrugged, "Just wondering, is all."
"Lying isn't good, brat," Bookman stated. He had turned around, and was now staring up at Lavi. The boy laughed, "Ahw, don't say that old panda! I'm just curious, really!"
Another moment passed before Bookman turned and began walking again. "There have been a small handful of 'werewolf' sightings over the years. Most occurred in the earlier times, before you or I were born. However, most turned out to be the delusions of crazed and/or intoxicated village idiots."
"Most? So... some were real sightings?" Lavi had skipped ahead and was now walking backwards in front of Bookman, his hands clasped behind his head. Bookman frowned, "No, the other sightings were never confirmed. No evidence could ever be found of any humanoid wolves lurking anywhere in the areas of the sightings."
"So... the possibility of were-err, lycanthropes existing is still possible?" Lavi had stopped walking, which in turn had caused bookman to come to a halt. The old man thought for a moment, "well, there certainly isn't any evidence that proves that they don't exist." After a moment more, he added," However, I highly advise against going off and searching for one." At this Lavi laughed, "Relax old man! That was never my intention to begin with. Like I said before, simply curious!" He turned and began walking again. Bookman 'hmphed' and followed.
The two walked in silence for a while. About a month ago, they had been sent out by the order due to reports of strange occurrences happening in a central European town. People would vanish for a few days, then their bodies would return, completely mummified. The Order believed that the Earl had something to do with this, or possibly even innocence, and so Lavi and Bookman had been sent out to investigate. However, after a week and a half, nobody had gone missing, and no one had turned up dead or mummified. Bookman had contacted the Order, and Komui had instructed them to stay for a few more days before returning to the Order. Lavi was convinced that the villagers were all crazed, and had just made everything up, but he had no say in the matter. Not to mention that he was more interested now that the dreams had started. That's what had raised his earlier questions about werewolves. His dreams had recently been filled with giant wolves. It was actually kind of creepy when he thought about it. Lavi shuddered, he hoped this wasn't some kind of omen or anything like that. How did you become a werewolf, anyways? He knew it didn't involve being bitten... that was vampires. A smile crept onto his features as he thought of Krory, their not-so-vampire friend. Krory only drank the blood of akuma, and his fangs were merely a part of his innocence, but Lavi still thought of him as a vampire.
Bookman stopped, and Lavi pulled himself out of his thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder at his mentor, a questioning look on his face. Bookman only held up a hand to indicate that they should remain silent. After a few moments, Lavi opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but it was then that an ear-splitting scream shattered the silence. The pair took off, sprinting through the trees towards the village. They had gone scouting earlier, so it was a relief when the village gates came into view rather quickly. The relief was short lived, though, as they took in the scene in front of the gates.
A woman and her small boy sat huddled together off to the side. Only a few yards from them stood three akuma, two level 3s and a level 2. Lavi and Bookman only hesitated a moment before they split, Lavi heading for the akuma with his hammer, and Bookman towards the mother and child with his scroll. Just as Bookman came to a halt at the woman's side, a black star appeared on her face, quickly spreading across her entire body before turning her to ash. The small boy was unconscious on the ground. Lavi swung his hammer into the air, activating his fire stamp and letting loose a cry of ,"Hellfire!" as he brought it down on the akuma. The level 3 quickly dodged the attack, but the level 2 was caught in the flames and was destroyed. The remaining akuma began to softly chuckle.
"Resssa," one said to the other, "They killed Chee..." The other made a shrugging motion, "Yesss Deku, but Chee wasss a weakling, nothing more than meat... a sssnack for usss later on." At this their laughter grew louder, "And look, Deku! The exorcisssts have come to play!" Deku began to clap, the ends of his fingers curving into small scythes, "Yesss, Yess! They have come to replace Chee asss our sssnack!"
Lavi tightened his grip on his hammer, once again activating his fire stamp. At that moment Resa raised his arms, multiple black orbs appearing between them, and Deku lunged at Bookman.
Lavi brought his hammer into the ground, a dragon of flames erupting up and roaring towards Resa. Bookman flung out his scroll, his Heaven's Compass forming a shield of black needles to protect his and the boy from Deku's scythes. Resa's orbs shattered, sending a wave of red sand towards Lavi. The sand quickly smothered his dragon, then returned to Resa and reformed into the black orbs.
A repetitive 'clink clink' was coming from the right, where Deku was continually attacking Bookman's shield with his scythes, gradually breaking down the needles. Resa began to cackle, and Lavi swore. "Fire's not gonna work, so then let's try pitting your element against you!" The wood stamp began to shine brightly on his hammer, and he raised it high into the air. However, his attack was interrupted as a huge black shape tore through the trees.
Lavi's wood stamp vanished as he stared, shocked, at the monstrous black wolf that stood not 5 yards from him. Another wolf, this one a smaller white streak, shot out from behind the black wolf and slammed into Deku, knocking him to the ground before rolling back onto it's paws.
Resa hissed, "You mongrelsss again! Filthy beassstsss!" Deku scrambled to get to his feet, but the white wolf again attacked him. Resa moved his orbs to attack, but the deep growl that was coming from the black wolf stopped him. The wolf spread it's front paws slightly, it's claws digging into the earth. It raised it's head and parted it's maw, the pocket of air inside rapidly heating up. It was only a second before it flung it's head forward and released a stream of pure white flames at Resa, completely engulfing the akuma in the inferno.
Resa's screams were joined by Deku's as the white wolf tore him apart, flinging his limbs into the fire. It was only moments before the screams of the akuma died with the white flames, and the clearing was left silent again.
Lavi stood, stunned into silence, as the two wolves joined each other side by side again. Bookman, however, had stood, and was chanting ever so softly in a language that Lavi had never heard before. The wolves shook themselves, the smaller one stretching, before both bounded back into the forest, leaving no evidence other than the charred ground to prove that they had ever been there.
Bookman stopped chanting after countless minutes, and Lavi noticed that a thin mist had appeared in the area. He opened his mouth the ask what is was, and was immediately assaulted with a metallic taste on his tongue. He hesitated for a moment, though once the mist had settled and left the ground with a slight sheen he knew exactly what it was.
"Silver? Why is there silver...?" He cut off as it all came together, "Wait... werewolves?! You actually thought those overgrown dogs were werewolves?!" He would have started laughing, but the look on Bookman's face stopped him.
"Lavi," the old man said, "There is much that you still don't know. Lycanthropes are highly dangerous creatures... the records the Bookmen have in their archives tell us as much." Lavi was stunned, "So... they really do exist?" Bookman only nodded. "But the silver didn't do anything! They just ran off as quickly as they showed up!"
"That's exactly why the silver didn't work," Bookman explained. "The beasts ran off before I could completely cover the area in it." Lavi thought a moment, but before he could ask any more questions, Bookman had taken the boy into his arms and was headed towards the gates. "Enough about this for now, Lavi. We need to get this boy to a doctor." Lavi nodded and followed him into the village, his worries about the dreams increasing with each second that passed.
So, I realize the chapter's not too long, and I can't promise they'll be much longer in the future.
Any reviews AND critiques are greatly appreciated. Also, I know I'm not the greatest writer, so any tips would be loved, too! Hope you enjoyed! ~Reese
