A single black turkey vulture circled overhead. "That could only be George." Dominic thought whistled up to him. The vulture dove down and landed on her arm. He stumbled a bit and almost lost his balance. "You big goof!" Dominic laughed as she took the letter in his beak. George ruffled her hair affectionately with his beak before jumping to his perch. Dominic smiled as she opened the letter.
Dominic,
As you mentioned I have seen the shadows seem to move without a purpose and even follow me. I have never been able to clearly see one of your shadow beasts but I imagine they are quite fierce in appearance. The shadows are not the only thing that has been following me of late. I have noticed a few individuals appearing everywhere I go. It could be that they are just fans but I have asked around town and no one seems to know who they are. I'm assuming its nothing since your shadow beasts have not intervened. I thought I should tell you that I have begun to write again. Don't worry I will be much more careful.
Best wishes
R. L. Stine
P.S. I have also written a series called Fear Street that you might enjoy. Don't worry no monsters in these.
Dominic sighed. It had just been a month since the incident in Madison. George clicked his beak getting her attention. "Oh sorry George, I forgot your treat didn't I?" she apologized stroking his ebony feathers. She ran to grab him a mouse only to come back to find him bobbing his head up and down as if he was listening to his favorite song. Dominic laughed at the goofy bird as he opened his massive wings and bowed to her as she put the dead mouse on the perch. Several angry called erupted from a red tailed hawk on a far perch as the vulture gulped down the mouse. He was obviously angry that George was getting an extra treat that he was not. "Deception calm down I may have a letter for you to deliver too." Dominic assured the angry raptor. In truth Dominic didn't like to use the hawk for mail unless she was sending him to someone experienced in raptor handling and even then she hesitated. The red tail was very stuck up and tended to act like a spoiled brat around other people but he was much faster than George and he refused to work with anyone else. Deception puffed himself up angrily as Dominic went inside.
She had mixed feelings about Stine writing again as she loved the Goosebumps series. She had made it a point to start reading and collecting the books. She was however concerned about more monsters being created on accident and needing to be imprisoned as well but that wasn't her main concern at the moment. Dominic darkened the room as much as possible before touching the darkest of the shadows. "Report she commanded and her eyes turned completely purple. She had left four shadow beasts behind. Three to look after Stine and one to watch the book where all the monsters were trapped. A flood of memories of what each of them had seen over the past month entered her mind. The book had remained largely untouched for the most part other than Stine picking it up a few times with what looked like sorrow on his face. Dominic wondered if it had saddened him that he had imprison his monsters. The next memories were from the shadow beasts keeping track of Stine. She searched through the memories and found what she was looking for. For at least the past week three men had been appearing everywhere Stine had been and they were more than likely not fans. For one thing they were older men and there was something off about the way they were acting. They obviously weren't hunters due to their poor blending in abilities and the way they moved wasn't right. They weren't demons otherwise the shadow beasts would have immediately stepped in. There was only one other thing they could be she was just looking for conformation. It didn't take long before she had it. It was only a glimpse but it was enough. One of the men pulled out a wand and disappeared. "Wizards!" Dominic said allowed. This was not good she knew how extremely flighty the wizards of MACUSA were. If they were moving in on Stine, he was in serious danger. "New orders. If these wizards approach Stine step in and get him out of there." She commanded. Dominic broke the connection and pulled out two sheets of paper. She began to write
Mr. Stine,
I am very pleased that you have decided to continue writing as I love your books. I don't think I need to stress caution to you and I look forward to reading your newest books and will take a look at your Fear Street series. I looked into the people following you but they are most certainly not fans. They are wizards and they are extremely dangerous. I fear that they may have heard about the incident and are trying to gauge what kind of a threat you are. If you feel threatened by them my shadow beasts have new orders to intervene. I will see what I can do to keep them from asserting their jurisdiction over you. We may see each other again soon.
Dominic
Abby,
Please tell me you didn't report Stine to MACUSA! The only reason I'm asking is that there are three wizards, whom I'm assuming are from MACUSA, stalking Stine. We both know that more likely than not they will kill him for what happened. The only reason I am telling you in a letter is because I am moving to intercept them and save Stine (again). If you didn't do this, then I apologize in advance for thinking you did.
Dominic
Dominic quickly sealed the letters in envelopes and hurried outside to the waiting birds. She handed Stine's letter to George who took off with a few beats of his powerful wings. Dominic moved to the red tail. "Deception I need speed for this letter. Can you handle it?" she asked. The hawk puffed out his chest in pride before taking the letter and taking flight much more gracefully than George had. he was out of sight within seconds. "My turn!" Dominic thought to herself as she transformed into a partial form with just her wings, claws and teeth before passing through a nearby shadow.
Even with her wings and shadow transport it took a good ten minutes to get to Madison. She immediately transformed back to human form as she passed out of the shadow realm on top of one of the buildings. For now, it was better that she not be seen. She focused on her shadow beasts sight. She could see that he was Stine was at home happily typing away on his type writer but none of the wizards could be seen by her shadow beasts. They weren't outside his home either. "They must be in town somewhere." Dominic concluded. She leapt from roof to roof in search of her prey. She spotted Zach and Hannah walking hand in hand and laughing. "Well those two are getting along swimmingly" Dominic rolled her eyes. She was about to move on when something caught her eye. One of the wizards she was looking for peaked around the corner. She narrowed her eyes and growled. "They were going after Hannah!" she realized. "Not on my watch!" Despite parting on bad terms the last time she was here she did actually care what happened. Now the only question was how was she going to do this without giving herself away just yet. An idea popped into her head causing her to grin mischievously.
"Madison Police, what is your emergency?" Amanda's voice came over the phone. "I'd like to report a drunk and disorderly." Dominic said disguising her voice so her cousin wouldn't recognize it. It didn't take the cops long to find the knocked out wizard she had staged to look like a passed out drunk. "Ok there buddy a few hours in the drunk tank to sober you up. "Huh what?" the dazed wizard asked. Dominic couldn't help but smile as they confiscated his wand. "These cops weren't completely useless." She laughed before disappearing to search for the others. Despite the ease of finding the first wizard the other two were nowhere to be found. Dominic wondered if they knew she was there. The sun was beginning to set and it would be dark soon. She worked best in the dark. She shadow jumped to Stine's house but remained in the shadows in wait for her prey.
A tapping on glass caught her attention. It was George tapping on one of Stine's windows. Hannah came to the window. "Dad the vulture's back!" she called. Stine quickly opened the window and took the letter from George. He came back a few minutes later with a few pieces of meat which the vulture happily gobbled up before flying off. "Well that is interesting." A voice said just out of view. The three wizards stepped into view obviously oblivious to her presence. "He is communicating with someone" the same wizards stated. "Are we ready to move?" the wizard she had knocked out asked. "We would have been ready to take them out sooner if you hadn't gotten arrested!" the third wizard scolded. "Enough both of you! Let's just get this over with." The first wizard commanded. He was obviously in charge. Dominic had heard enough and stepped out of the shadows. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" Dominic warned. The three wizards turned pointing their wands at her. "I wouldn't do that either!" she growled as her eyes glowed purple. "I wouldn't want to have to hurt you." "You! You're the one who knocked me out." the one wizard accused. "And if I would have known you were a wizard I would have used magic instead of punching you in the face for stalking those kids." Dominic commented. "What are you doing here draconidaes?" the second wizard demanded. "I'm here to protect one of my own!" Dominic growled. "Alright that's enough! The lead wizard commanded. "I am Nathaniel Hemlock head of the beastiary and magical creatures committee. Speak your piece draconidaes!" "You wizards have no jurisdiction here under section three article six of the magical creatures treaty." Dominic stated. "In what way is a man doing magic and exposing the magical community not our jurisdiction?" Hemlock demanded. "Because you see he is neither a wizard nor a sorcerer and by definition that makes him a monster and falls under my jurisdiction." Dominic informed him. The wizards glared at her. "And what makes you think we will allow this princess?" Dominic narrowed her eyes at the wizard. "Oh yes I know who you are White Fire." Hemlock smiled wickedly. "Then you know it is not a good idea to challenge me on matters like this." She warned. "and besides you don't have a choice." She whistled and two shadow beasts appeared out of the shadows behind her. All three wizards raised their wands to attack. This was not going to end well for any of them.
"What are you doing?" Abby demanded surprising everyone with her presence. "Abby what are you doing here?" Dominic asked. "Trying to fix the mistake my stupid brother made!" Abby yelled. "This has nothing to do with you young witch." Hemlock called. "It has everything to do with me when you are threatening one of my friends and blatantly ignoring the laws!" Abby accused as she raised her own wand. "Leave now unless you want every magical being to know about this." One of the wizards turned his wand on Abby. "Obliviate!" he yelled sending a blue flash towards her. One of the shadow beasts leapt forward to intercept the blast but was destroyed by it instead. Thankfully Abby deflected the memory charm and cast a stunning spell that hit its mark. "I suggest you go while you still can and never come back." Dominic threatened. The last shadow beast circled around to surround the wizards. "This isn't over!" Hemlock warned before the three wizards disappeared into thin air.
Dominic sighed in relief. "Oh my gosh Abby what were you thinking?" she asked the witch. "I was thinking I was helping my friend and how could you!" Abby demanded. "Abby I am so sorry for thinking you did this." Dominic apologized. "No not that! Well sort of that too but you sent Deception instead of George and he bit me! Abby yelled showing off her bandaged hand. "Oh I am so sorry for that." Dominic apologized. "Admit it you sent Deception because you were angry at me!" Abby accused. "That's not entirely true. George was delivering another letter." Dominic informed her. "Oh really where?" Abby demanded. Dominic whistled and the turkey vulture descended onto her arm. "Oh" Abby said dumbfounded. "Up." Dominic commanded and the vulture flew up into a tree. "We should go." Abby said looking up and down the shadowy street. "Something I have to take care of first." Dominic said as she disappeared into the shadows. "Gosh I hate it when she does that!" Abby complained.
She teleported into the shadows of Stine's study. This time Dominic didn't step out. Instead she took the manuscript that trapped all the monsters and replaced it with an identical copy. It was completely blank inside except for a small message inside the cover.
Mr. Stine,
I am sorry it has come to this but it has become necessary for your protection as well as those around you. I will protect them. I promise.
"You know I hate it when you do that." Abby commented as she appeared out of the shadows. "It's not like you never disappear on me." Dominic countered. "Fair enough." Abby stated. "Oh hey I've been meaning to tell you I have decided to learn how to be a sorceress." "Abby that's awesome. I mean you're already a kick ass witch you'd make an amazing sorceress." Dominic commented. "Here's hoping." Abby laughed.