Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you liked the last chapter and will like this one as well, as always I own nothing.
Karl slowly turned around, making certain not to make any sudden movements which would trigger the other to attack. As he completed his turn he saw the other werewolf in his human form for the first time. He was a large man, even taller than Karl was and bulkier, though this was due in part to fat. He had dirty brown hair and a scraggily beard, which was dirty and matted with grease and dirt. He wore dirty brown trousers and vest which left his arms, covered with coarse hair, bare. He was barefoot and his toenails were long and cracked, as were his fingernails, making them seem more like claws. In his hand he held a heavy-bladed weapon which looked like it would be better suited for an Orc than a man.
"I greet you as well." Karl said, making sure that he kept his pistol steady on the other werewolf's chest. The other snorted in response.
"Spare me the pleasantries pup. And you can put that away, it'll do little good against our kind, if I had wanted to I could have taken your head off before you even knew I was here. If you plan on staying alive you might want to work on your instincts, you are still thinking like a human.
"Enough of this, who are you and why are you hunting me?"
"Since, as you say, I am the one doing the hunting, I think that I should be the one asking the questions.
"Who are you? And who is having you attack the people under Pfeiffer's protection?" The only he got was a derisive snort.
"And why should I tell a pup like you anything? I have hunted man and beast for longer than you have been alive and if you think that you can just waltz in here and order me around whelp? And why do you care anyway? It's not as if any of the people I've killed matter anyway? Little better than vermin living in their own filth anyway." At the other's words Karl felt his anger rising.
"They are not vermin! They are people!" This only brought a contemptuous snort from the other.
"You new-born are all alike, still thinking you're human or something. That'll change as soon as a mob of those you are so eager to protect chase you baying for your blood." The other looked as if he would say more but Karl cut him off. He did not want to hear more of this, both as it was not aiding his investigation and because he was afraid that the other might be right.
"This is getting off topic. My superior wants to know who sent you, what they hope to gain and he wants them stopped."
"So, you are not a wolf at all, you're someone's pet dog." He laughed with scorn. Karl felt his face flush with anger.
"Say what you will. But it would appear that I am not the only dog in this room. Who is your master?" At that the man's laughter stopped and he glared at Karl.
"You got it wrong, pet, I have no master." He spat through gritted teeth.
"Oh but I think you do." Karl said. "Your killings, while random, gave the fact that you are operating on orders away. You mangle the bodies but you did not eat them. You made no effort to hide the bodies and if you are as old as say that you are you would know to get rid of the bodies as precaution. Finally, all of your kills are in the area under the protection of Pfeiffer, a fact which is clearly not a coincidence. If you were just hunting you could have found prey far closer to home. All this in addition to the fact that I find it hardly likely that our kind often hunt in the cities. So why don't we skip the denials and you tell me who you work for."
"You are a well-trained pet aren't you? Well, you being so smart, why don't you tell me who I am working for."
"I have two suspects; De Monten and Francesco. I was investigating them tonight when I came across you. However neither of them quite fit the image of one who could command a werewolf. De Monten is too weak of will to command you and Francesco lacks the subtlety to use you in such a manner. So tell me, who is your master?" The other werewolf growled in anger, he started to move toward Karl but halted when Karl pointedly moved the barrel of his pistol up and down. This was what Karl had been hoping for, with luck the other would be so angry that he would blurt out who he was working.
"No human commands me, whelp," he said in an angry hiss; "No true wolf bares his throat to the sheep he should be feeding on!" Karl felt his own temper flaring and inside him the wolf howled at him to attack his rival. With an effort he reined his temper in, he would not lose control.
"You have not answered my question, who do you work for?"
"I told you, I serve no one, especially not those two fools, though they may think otherwise. It was arranged for those two to think that I was serving them, each thinking that I was serving them alone. I was to weaken Pfeiffer and create an opening. If you are interested in knowing your picture of those two was accurate, Francesco has the brain of a riled-up oxen and the other fop nearly loses control of his bowels every time I am near him, the stink of his fear is intoxicating." The relish in his tone sickened Karl but something the other said stuck in his mind.
"You said it was arranged. Arranged by whom?"
"Come pup, you can answer your own question, what is going to happen if things stay on the course that they are on?" Karl did not have to think long, it had been on his mind as well.
"If things do not change then the people will turn on Pfeiffer. If that happens then he will have to deploy more of his men to the area, either to reassure them that he can indeed protect them or to enforce his control over the territory. Or abandon the area all together."
"Correct pup, then what happens?"
"Why don't you tell me."
"Simple, either will leave Pfeiffer vulnerable, either there or in his other holdings. In either event the other two will go to war, first with Pfeiffer and then with each other over the spoils."
"But who arranged it?" Karl insisted, unconsciously stepping forward in his eagerness.
"To answer that, answer this question you've got to answer another, who benefits for all three of them going to war? Or rather it would be a question for you to answer if you were ever going to leave here. Which you are not." With that he sprang into motion, dropping his weapon and lunging. As Karl had stepped forward the distance was now close enough between them that Karl did not have time to react and as he had been focusing on the other's weapon he was taken by surprise when he did not use it.
The other grabbed Karl's gun hand and twisted away from him and wrenched it to an angle which made Karl yelp in pain and drop the weapon while with his other hand he delivered a punch which staggered Karl. Seeing this the other werewolf stepped back to put some distance between the two of them and performed the change.
Karl's head was just starting to stop spinning when the other werewolf crashed into him, the impact of which carried them into the railing. It gave way and they crashed to the ground below with Karl on the bottom. The air went out of his lungs and he felt several ribs crack. His opponent rose to his feet and grabbed Karl by his shirt front and lifted him off the ground. With his now fully transformed other hand he struck Karl a blow which tore away a sizable portion of his left cheek.
As his opponent moved his hand back for another blow Karl recovered enough to lash out with a kick which landed in the other's midsection. While far from full strength it caused the other to stumble back, his free hand going to his stomach. Karl took advantage of this by twisting and thrashing about. This caused his shirt to tear and he fell to the ground. He groaned in pain as he crawled away, his opponent was quickly after him. The other werewolf grabbed him by the leg and lifted him off the ground. As he was raised off of the ground Karl grabbed at one of the posts. He could not get a good grip but he managed to get ahold of a lantern which was hanging from a nail. Taking hold of it he let go of the post and swung backward. As his swing brought him near his opponent's legs he swung the lantern it the other's legs. Oil from the lamp slashed onto the other's leg and the flame ignited it.
The air was soon filled with the smell of burning fur and flesh, the other howled in pain and rage. He released Karl and began swatting and batting at his leg in an effort to put the fire out. Karl crawled away and began to perform his own change, by the time the other had put the fire out Karl was fully in his wolven form and charging. In all the fights before this had usually worked but his opponent had clearly fought other werewolves before and was prepared. He spun to the side and as Karl lumbered by he sprang forward and jumped on Karl's back.
Karl's legs nearly buckled beneath the extra weight and he howled in pain as the other sank his elongated toenails into his back to anchor himself while he used his other claws to rip at Karl's back and tried to bite through his neck. Karl's neck and back were both a bloody mess but his fur and muscles protected his spine. Karl spun around trying to throw the other off, at first he could not shake him loose but he then moved over to another of the posts. He ran past it and then ran backwards, slamming the other werewolf into it, the other grunted and his grip loosened. Karl spun again and this time the other came off, taking chunks of Karl with him.
The two faced off against each other, fangs and claws bared. It seemed that all the advantages were with Karl's opponent, he seemed stronger and was sporting nowhere near as many wounds as Karl was. Additionally, he was far more experienced at fighting other werewolves than Karl was. No, if Karl wanted to win, or even just survive he would have to rely on something other than rage and brute strength. The other seemed to rely more on his wolven half and seemed to hold humanity in contempt. Karl would have to see if human brains could beat wolven brawn.
He feigned a lunge at his opponent, the other responded by stepping back out of Karl's range. Karl had anticipated this and when he had lunged he had also stepped to the side. Which allowed him to land a blow to the other's side before the other could react. This angered the other and he responded by lunging forward, Karl had anticipated this and jumped to the side. That was the key, he simply had to keep provoking the other into making mistakes, thus wearing him down. Unfortunately for Karl the other seemed to be familiar with the tactic and with visible effort calmed himself. After that he seemed to anticipate all of Karl's feints.
The fight moved out into the center of warehouse, the two combatants circling one another, each looking for an opening. They glared at one another and then, simultaneously, they lunged at one another. With a bone-jarring impact they collided in a mass of claws and teeth, tearing and biting at one another. As they did so an idea came to Karl and he dived in low. His opponent took advantage of this to lean forward to attack Karl's still healing back.
Karl's mind screamed in pain but he focused on his target, his opponent's exposed belly. With his claws he ripped deep into the other's stomach. Due to the angle his claws could not go in as deep as he would have liked but he had a different plan in mind. He thrust his muzzle forward and began snapping and tearing at the wounds trying to force his jaws into the wound in the other's belly.
The other howled in pain and tried to back up. Karl pressed forward and from his half crouched position sprang upward at an angle to tackle the other werewolf. His opponent crashed to the ground with Karl on top of him. He racked Karl's face again but Karl grabbed the arm and pinned it to the ground. With the wolf howling in agreement Karl shot his head down and bit into the other's throat. The fur and thick muscles prevented Karl from getting as firm grip on it as he would have liked. Growling he whirred his head back and forth, all the while his opponent bucked and thrashed under him. With a final effort the other threw Karl off of him, when he did so Karl, who had kept his jaws shut, took away a mouthful of fur and part of his throat.
The other werewolf clamped his hands to his throat in an effort to stop the bleeding. Ultimately his efforts proved futile and he fell back onto the ground. He thrash about on the ground for a moment or two, making choking, gurgling sounds all the while, before he finally went quiet and lay still. As he halted his struggles he slid back into his human form, quit dead. With victory attained Karl felt his adrenalin flow from him and the pain rushing toward the forefront of his brain. He howled in pain, a howl which became a scream as he also returned to his human form. He collapsed to the ground, curling into a ball as tears of pain flowed down his torn cheeks. Pain which seemed to amplify as his body began to knit itself back together. At last blackness took him and he surrendered to unconsciousness.
Author's Notes: Well there you go, what did you think? I hope that you enjoyed it. Next time will be the start of something that I have been wanting to do for some time. Till then please pray for the hostages held by ISIS, the Pakistani woman under sentence of death for being a Christian and all others who need prayer. Bye and may Jesus bless you.