I ONLY OWN EMILY
I sat on the green bedspread, smiling to myself. Abe's so nice, I thought. A little to polite for my taste, but really nice. I felt my smile dim a bit. Maybe under different circumstances… My mind told me. No. I thought back, No more men. That's the last thing I need right now… I brought my knees to my chest. He wouldn't want me, anyway. I'm damaged goods. He deserves someone better. I realized what I was thinking and jumped up, standing on the bed.
"That's no way to think!" I said out loud, "How dare you sit here and feel sorry for yourself! Today is a new day in a new city with a new set of friends! Time to get out there and seize it!" I yelled.
"Uh, Em?" said a voice from the door. My eyes wandered to the entryway to se Liz standing there. I could feel my blush as I jumped high in the air, flaunting my powerful legs, and landed crouched on the floor.
"Uh, What's up, Liz?" I asked
"Well, Manning wants us in the map room. Apparently there's been some strange activity in northeast Scotland. Probably nothing, but they want us to take a look." I stood from my crouched position, grabbing my black overcoat and following her down the hall.
Finally, we reached a room with a 3-D map of the Scottish Highlands in the middle.
"… Lots of sightings, Oh! Agent Sherman, Agent Jansen, perfect timing." Said Mr. Manning. A large suit stood next to him, only a fine mist exposed by the glass head.
"Agent Jansen, meet Johann Kraus." I moved across the room and shook his hand
"A pleasure, Agent Jansen." He said in a thick German accent. Before I could reply, three figures started moving across the map. A closer look revealed three alien dog looking things.
"Wendigo." I whispered. Johann looked at me.
"That's right. How did you know that?"
"I saw them in a book on native American mythology in the library." I admitted. "They're described as giants with hearts of ice. Sometimes they were believed to be completely made of Ice. They obsess over eating human flesh." I looked up, feeling the horror on my face, making my voice grow quieter. "They are never satisfied. They're the embodiments of greed and gluttony. They won't stop."
"Okay then." Hellboy stated, "Sounds like we're set. Let's move out." The rest of the team started moving. I followed closely behind, jumping on Hellboy's back.
"What the hell?" He exclaimed.
"I'm too tired for this shit. Carry me?" He rolled his eyes, but did not remove me from his back.
We entered a large helicopter, and he dropped me on a bench, sitting to my right. Abe took the seat to my left, and Liz across from us. I looked out a window as we took off, and eventually dozed off.
When I first woke up, the first thing I noticed was a slight warmth on my left shoulder. I looked up to see Abe, then recognized my position; I was leaning on him. I could feel a blush coming on and shifted it away before it could reach my cheeks.
"Thanks." I mumbled, not looking him in the eyes. I could feel those penetrating eyes looking at me.
"You're welcome." He said quietly. I looked up to see the others had left.
"Where'd everybody go?"
"They went off to find the wendigo's. We were put in a team, so I decided to wait until you woke up."
"Shit! My first day and I'm already sleeping on the job! How long was I asleep after they left?" I started clipping my belt of weapons around my waist. It hung slack off to the right.
"Only about five minutes"
"Best get to it, then." I jumped out the door, landing softly on the grass. Abe followed not long after, but I was already about fifty meters ahead, running off into the woods. Abe was not far behind, his lean and muscular build letting him catch up with ease. "We shouldn't have let Red and Liz go off alone." I told him.
"They can handle themselves." He tried to reassure me.
"You don't get it. Wendigo are vicious. The mind can't comprehend its pure size and stature. They're fast, faster than the human eye can follow. Smart, too. Smarter than most humans. And they love to scare their prey, stalking them for long periods of time. But that's not the worst reason Liz and Hellboy are on there own."
"Then why?" He asked. I took a deep breath.
"Wendigo have particular favorites in food; the soft skin of women, the muscles of men, which puts them both in extreme danger, then there's the fat of children and the bones of the elderly, but I doubt that's much to worry about." I said, worrying about Hellboy's gigantic biceps.
We stopped running in a small grassy clearing, pausing to catch our breaths.
"Can you tell me exactly what we're up against? Abilities, weaknesses, anything?" He asked. I stood straight, breathing heavy, and began to pace.
"It has full dominion over it's territory, and works best in snow and ice. All of its senses are increased. Some monstrologists believe they have some sort of infrared vision. They can track a scent for kilometers at a time, distance doesn't really matter. They're really strong; Even Hellboy wouldn't stand a chance. It can hear its prey's heartbeat from miles away. Dagger-like and needle sharp claws and teeth have been described as icicles. It can mimic human voices, and it will travel with other predators in the forest. It's somehow attuned to every molecule in its territory. I wouldn't be surprised if they were coming for us right now."
"And how do we beat it?"
"Any protective amulet or charm would be helpful." I pulled out the dagger I kept in my sock. "Pure silver; the only thing really lethal to it. But, the only way for it to stay dead is complicated and would involve carrying around corpses."
As I explained this, a sickly sweet scent began to permeate the air. My eyes widened again. "Cover your nose! Don't breathe!" I grabbed his arm and ran perpendicular to the wind, shifting my nose into that of our prey. Once the disgusting odor was gone, I stopped and released his arm.
"What's wrong? Why did we run?"
"That was Wendigo Fever. One whiff and you basically go crazy. There's no time to explain, we have to find Hellboy and Liz." I took a short sniff, catching the distinctive scent of cigars that followed Hellboy around. "This way." I took his hand again and walked in the direction of the smell.
"How do you know so much about these creatures?" Abe asked. I sighed, reluctant to explain.
"When I was a little girl, something killed my mother. I don't know what, but it wasn't human. My mom was an expert on monstrology, basically the small-town version of the Bureau.
"She taught me everything she knew, because she knew about my powers, and knew how hard it would be for me. When she was murdered, I devoted my life to the study of monsters. Myths, legends, folklore, it all existed to some extent." I looked at him. "I found out what killed my mom. It was a Wendigo." I looked straight ahead again. "It was going to come for me. A silver bullet saved me that night. That and this, anyway." I pulled out my amulet. It was a small circle of brass, a stone with swirling colors in the center.
"I never go anywhere without it." I confided, "My essentials list consists of this, a silver dagger, and a pistol with six silver bullets." I opened my jacket to reveal a small pistol and smirked at him.
A small bird passed overhead, springing an idea into my head. I looked back at him. "Abe, you trust me?" I asked. He looked at me, giving me a light smile. I groaned as my shoulder blades extended, spreading my skin, sprouting feathers. Flapping like mad, I began to lift off the ground, pulling Abe with me. I readjusted him so I wouldn't rip his arm from the socket and pulled off the ground.
"Emily, are we being followed?" Good, so I wasn't the only one with that feeling.
"It's on our trail. We have to get into the air." I pulled up even more, leaving the treetops behind. I felt my muscles bulk up to carry Abe's weight.
"We have to find Red and Liz." He reminded me. I nodded, adding Wendigo sight to my roster of changes. A flash of red about two hundred meters ahead alerted me to there position.
"Six hundred feet, dead ahead." I announced, nodding at the red speck.
"We've got company." He told me, looking down. I followed his eyes to see two monstrous yet spindly wolves following us, crashing through trees.
How about that, huh? A few months off, then a nice long chappie. Anyway, it's one thirty in the morning, so Imma go to bed now. Night!
The website where I found out about the wendigo is called Monstropedia