Disclaimer: The only characters thus far that I own are Anne, her drunken mother, the hunter, and Kate Alcuin. The creature belongs to Mary Shelley with some touches to 'modernize' him by me.

"What happened, Kate?" Anne asked anxiously.

"Oh dear." Kate whispered, looking nervously to a group from the Hunting Lodge. "They say that Kirk Burmingham was murdered! They found his body frozen in the river and the coroner said that some large fellow must have crushed his neck to break it. I can't imagine how anyone could be that strong though. And Kirk was such a strong fellow." Kate shook her head, as though in disbelief.

"How is it that no one noticed his disappearance?"

"He was supposed to leave that day to go on a hunting trip in the south. We all figured he had just left, since his car was gone. When he was gone for so long we thought that he must have stayed longer to play around with a girl. He was always one for the ladies.

"They found his car too, though. It was off in the middle of the forest. They figure he was killed out there." Kate wiped away a tear.

Anne walked slowly amongst the crowd. Everyone was in shock- Kirk Burmingham was one of the most important figures in the town, and certainly the most important one for the Lodge. Everywhere Anne looked she saw people rapidly discussing the known events of his death. Curiously, only a few, such as Kate, were actually crying.

However, Anne had something more important to worry about. The nagging feeling she'd felt for the past two months was growing and she had to let Mon Ami know what had happened. Maybe he could get away. After giving the crowded room one last look she ran quickly to her room. She would pack her things and leave that night when no one would notice.

Anne startled awake. It was sometime around midnight. She berated herself for falling asleep. A full moon shown in through her window and Anne looked down to the intersection below. Startled, she saw several groups of men armed with rifles and large flashlights moving towards the forest. Anne leapt away immediately, fear growing in her. She ran down the stairs to find Kate at the door to the inn, looking out at the men.

"A damn foolish thing, if you ask me." She said, glancing at Anne. "Those men from the Lodge seem to have gotten it into their heads that the murderer is still out there in the forest. They claim that a strange being has been seen out there before, like a bigfoot or something. They're chasing after shadows if you ask me." Kate turned to Anne with a small smile on her face and was surprised to see that Anne had gone completely pale and was trembling.

"I have to go!" She said make a desperate attempt to get out the door. Kate grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back, forcing her into a chair.

"You can't go out there! They'd shoot you, all worked up as they are!" Kate quickly closed and locked the door. "Whatever is so important it can wait until morning, do you understand? Come on, you're going back to your room." Kate gently led Anne upstairs and tried to get her to stay in her bed. However, as soon as Kate left Anne immediately went to her chair by the window. She curled up and stared out until the sun rose.

Finally, as the morning light trickled into her room, Anne heard the return of the hunters. And she heard something else that made her heart drop. She tore out of her room, down the stairs, and out into the intersection. A mob, not just of hunters, but of townspeople as well was dragging something into the intersection. Something large and bound with chains and ropes. Anne tried to see, but she couldn't look over the heads of the crowd to get anything more than a glimpse.

One of the hunters shouted to her. "Go get Kate! She should see this!" Anne stared, not moving. The hunter began to march towards her angrily, when Kate appeared next to Anne in the doorway.

"What are you doing?!" Kate shouted. "Do you have someone tied up there?"

"I don't know what this is." The hunter made a gesture and the mob opened up to reveal a strange creature, covered in furs with long black hair that hung over its eyes. Kate screamed and Anne collapsed to the ground.

"We're going to lock it up in the lodge and figure out what to do with it. It's certainly what killed Kirk, but seeing as its not human, we're not turning it in to the law. We're taking care of it ourselves."

Kate gasped as the monster was dragged away, never noticing that it was staring directly at Anne, who was weeping and staring right back.

There's now only one more chapter to go! It will be posted next Wednesday and will be much longer than the others. I hope you'll enjoy it.