Eduardo woke up in the wee early hours of the morning, feeling achy & feverish.
"Mmm, what a day to get the flu, man... I got midterms today... And what was with that weird dream? The Kylie Nightmare Syndrome is getting out of hand..." He crawled out of bed & discovered that he was naked, his clothes in a pile on the floor. "That's funny, I don't remember getting undressed..."
His train of thought was derailed when he noticed that the message light on his answering machine was flashing. It was Janine. And Janine again. And Janine a third time, and a fourth. Something about the talisman and Harry and Kylie. Kylie was in trouble! He went nauseous with fear (well, more so than he'd started out); those messages had been from hours ago!
He threw some clothes together that he thought were clean. Good thing he'd taken a shower when he'd gotten home the night before! Hailing a cab, he made it to the firehouse in just a few minutes.
Once there he scrambled up the stairs, shouting, "Egon! Janine! Roland! Garrett! Is anyone here? Slimer?!"
"E'war'o!" Slimer cried as he flew to greet the Ghostbuster, getting slime all over Eduardo's clean (?) clothes.
Eduardo was in such a frenzy that he didn't even get mad. "Where is everyone, slimeball, where's Kylie-"
"Right here." Kylie was standing in the kitchen doorway, everyone else filing past her to greet him. He noticed vaguely that she was still in the same clothes she'd worn yesterday. So was everyone else, for that matter, including the dapper Harry, who wasn't looking so dapper this morning. The man looked like he'd been through a paper shredder. Eduardo felt an odd surge of satisfaction, just barely managing to keep the smirk off his face.
"Sooooo... You're all right then?" He asked Kylie, giving them all a questioning look. "I got your message, Jani-"
"Yeah, several hours late! Where were you?" Janine tapped her foot on the ground, like a mother who's son stayed out past curfew.
"I-I..." Why was he in trouble here? "I have the flu or something. I was out cold all night..."
Anger was quickly traded for concern. She walked over and felt his forehead. "Oh, you're burning up! Come here & sit down! I'll make you some soup!" She led him over to the couch & got him settled, the other's sitting around him. Within moments, there was a lot of clatter coming from the kitchen.
Well, she couldn't mess up soup too badly... He turned his attention to the group aroung him. "Maybe it's just the fever talking, but the world seems a little surreal this morning... Would anyone mind filling me in?"
He could see Kylie, sitting next to him, out of the corner of his eye. He was relieved she was safe, weak with it, more so than he illness left him, he was sure. Did he see concern in her eyes? He was half afraid to look at her fully to find out, after the fight they'd had the night before...
Egon brought Eduardo's attention back to the issue at hand, bringing him up to date on what they'd learned. He could feel his lip curling when he told him about the Hunters.
Kylie had already heard this story, so she paid it little attention. Instead,she looked at Eduardo with wonder. Even after what she'd said to him the night before, he rushed right over to make sure she was okay! While he was sick, no less! She was very flattered!
She hoped no one could see her blushing...
Harold squeezed her hand. Startled, she turned to look at him. Eduardo saw this exchange,as well as the blush on her cheeks.
Huh! And here I was worrying about her, when she's been consorting with the enemy! He looked away in disgust. Kylie though the look on his face was over the soup Janine had given him.
"...only we've learned things aren't quite what we thought from Harold here," Egon finished, looking to Harold for him to tell his side.
Harold smiled & gave Kylie's hand another reassuring squeeze before getting into the discussion. "The talisman is a family heirloom, it's true, but it was lost a couple of centuries ago. I saw it up for auction when I went to an estate sale. I knew it was fate, an unmissable opportunity to destroy the evil thing once and for all!" He had a look on his face like he'd just stepped in something foul. "I was on my way to do just that when I ran into Kylie here." He looked into her eyes, holding her hand like he was drowning & she was a life preserver. "At least some good has come from the wicked thing's creation."
The hair on Eduardo's neck stood on end. There was something about the way Harry looked at Kylie, the way he held on to her & spoke to her. The way she hung on his every word. She never hangs all over me like that... Of course, she didn't consider him a potential boyfriend, either.
"Well, it's all over & done with now," said Egon. "I destroyed the talisman myself before we left to find Kylie last night."
If Harry's ice-cold composure faltered ever so slightly, if his eyes narrowed, just for a moment, no one noticed. He smiled. "Good. I'm glad it's gone. But I'm afraid it isn't over."
There was a collected murmur of "Huh?" & "What do you mean?"
"Well, there's still a werewolf at large."
"Ooooh, yeah, what are we gonna do about the big, bad werewolf, Egon?"
"Garrett, I told you, just because it's a werewolf doesn't mean it's evi-" Roland began.
"I beg to differ, my good man. Family history aside, this werewolf has attacked several people. It must be stopped."
Harry's words formed a ball of cold fear in the pit of Eduardo's stomach. He thought about the dream he'd had the night before. "What if... What if he can't help it? I mean, what if he's an innocent man under he spell of the talisman?"
Harry leaned in. He let go of Kylie, & steepled his fingers together in front of him. His face was like stone, so that Eduardo couldn't tell if the man took remorse or pleasure in his next words, "Then I'm afraid yet another evil has been comitted in the name of the Garou family. As you can see, destroying the talisman did not end the curse, for the werewolf still attacked us last night. There is no cure. The poor soul, if he is indeed innocent, will go on attacking every full moon, for the nights bfeore, of & after-- three days in all, each month. Tonight will be my last chance to stop him until next month."
"Your last chance?" Garrett asked.
Harry smiled tightly. "Yes. I know how to handle this, let me take care of it. There are plenty of unhappy dead in this city for you to occupy yourselves with."
"But..." Kylie began, all concern directed towards Harold, "but you've never hunted any of them... have you?"
"Yes my dear, in fact I have, many of them my own relatives, as well as several members of the Garou clan." He laid a hand on her cheek. "Do not worry, my dear. I was caught off guard last night; I thought I had gotten them all. Apparently I missed one. I'll take care of it, and then my time will be my own & we can have many long talks about the paranormal."
He stood. "For now, I must get ready for tonight." He put on his hat, tipped it, kissed Kylie's hand & then Janine's, and walked down the stairs. No one escorted him out. They all waited until they heard the door shut before speaking.
"You didn't really destroy it, did you Egon?"
"No, Kylie, I didn't. He's not a Garou, it doesn't belong to him. And in case any of us is cursed, I'm not going to destroy or give away what might be our only means of finding a cure."
Kylie knew the sense in what Egon was saying, but she couldn't help but feel betrayed.
"Egon, is there any way we can adjust the proton beams to stun & hold the werewolf without harming it?" Roland was desperate to find a way to save what he felt was a misunderstood victim.
"Oh, sure, Ro, and then what?" Garrett interceded. "Put it in a zoo?"
Egon ignored Garrett. "Roland, work on it. I'm sure if you lower the settings and adjust the..." He went into a long stream of technical jargon.
Eduardo began to nod off. In moments he was lightly snoring. Kylie & Janine stretched him out along the length of the couch.
"Poor guy..." Garrett said quietly in a rare moment of sympathy. Janine nodded in agreement, not knowing he meant how Eduardo must have felt seeing Kylie all over Harry.
Kylie laid a blanket over Eduardo. She felt his forehead; he was still very feverish. She caressed his cheek. He stirred, but did not awaken.
He's so tough, so goofy, such a selfish jerk on the outside. Inside he's just a scared little boy, so vulnerable, I want to hold him, protect him. Yet, even beneath that, there's something deeper still inside him, a courage & strength. He's so beautiful when he lets it show...
She looked around. The others were still clustered around Egon. She gave Eduardo a quick kiss on the temple before joining them.
***
"Soon, my friends, soon you'll have another playmate... the very last of your kind, in fact, thanks to me!" Harold's menacing smile softened. "Then what will there be for me to do? Now that the necklace is gone, I can't make more of you. I suppose I could breed you, release you & your young on some vast property & catch you over & over..." He sighed. "Well, there's still 'witch-hunting', but thats a whole different sort of 'hunt', now isn't it?"
***
"Mmm, what a day to get the flu, man... I got midterms today... And what was with that weird dream? The Kylie Nightmare Syndrome is getting out of hand..." He crawled out of bed & discovered that he was naked, his clothes in a pile on the floor. "That's funny, I don't remember getting undressed..."
His train of thought was derailed when he noticed that the message light on his answering machine was flashing. It was Janine. And Janine again. And Janine a third time, and a fourth. Something about the talisman and Harry and Kylie. Kylie was in trouble! He went nauseous with fear (well, more so than he'd started out); those messages had been from hours ago!
He threw some clothes together that he thought were clean. Good thing he'd taken a shower when he'd gotten home the night before! Hailing a cab, he made it to the firehouse in just a few minutes.
Once there he scrambled up the stairs, shouting, "Egon! Janine! Roland! Garrett! Is anyone here? Slimer?!"
"E'war'o!" Slimer cried as he flew to greet the Ghostbuster, getting slime all over Eduardo's clean (?) clothes.
Eduardo was in such a frenzy that he didn't even get mad. "Where is everyone, slimeball, where's Kylie-"
"Right here." Kylie was standing in the kitchen doorway, everyone else filing past her to greet him. He noticed vaguely that she was still in the same clothes she'd worn yesterday. So was everyone else, for that matter, including the dapper Harry, who wasn't looking so dapper this morning. The man looked like he'd been through a paper shredder. Eduardo felt an odd surge of satisfaction, just barely managing to keep the smirk off his face.
"Sooooo... You're all right then?" He asked Kylie, giving them all a questioning look. "I got your message, Jani-"
"Yeah, several hours late! Where were you?" Janine tapped her foot on the ground, like a mother who's son stayed out past curfew.
"I-I..." Why was he in trouble here? "I have the flu or something. I was out cold all night..."
Anger was quickly traded for concern. She walked over and felt his forehead. "Oh, you're burning up! Come here & sit down! I'll make you some soup!" She led him over to the couch & got him settled, the other's sitting around him. Within moments, there was a lot of clatter coming from the kitchen.
Well, she couldn't mess up soup too badly... He turned his attention to the group aroung him. "Maybe it's just the fever talking, but the world seems a little surreal this morning... Would anyone mind filling me in?"
He could see Kylie, sitting next to him, out of the corner of his eye. He was relieved she was safe, weak with it, more so than he illness left him, he was sure. Did he see concern in her eyes? He was half afraid to look at her fully to find out, after the fight they'd had the night before...
Egon brought Eduardo's attention back to the issue at hand, bringing him up to date on what they'd learned. He could feel his lip curling when he told him about the Hunters.
Kylie had already heard this story, so she paid it little attention. Instead,she looked at Eduardo with wonder. Even after what she'd said to him the night before, he rushed right over to make sure she was okay! While he was sick, no less! She was very flattered!
She hoped no one could see her blushing...
Harold squeezed her hand. Startled, she turned to look at him. Eduardo saw this exchange,as well as the blush on her cheeks.
Huh! And here I was worrying about her, when she's been consorting with the enemy! He looked away in disgust. Kylie though the look on his face was over the soup Janine had given him.
"...only we've learned things aren't quite what we thought from Harold here," Egon finished, looking to Harold for him to tell his side.
Harold smiled & gave Kylie's hand another reassuring squeeze before getting into the discussion. "The talisman is a family heirloom, it's true, but it was lost a couple of centuries ago. I saw it up for auction when I went to an estate sale. I knew it was fate, an unmissable opportunity to destroy the evil thing once and for all!" He had a look on his face like he'd just stepped in something foul. "I was on my way to do just that when I ran into Kylie here." He looked into her eyes, holding her hand like he was drowning & she was a life preserver. "At least some good has come from the wicked thing's creation."
The hair on Eduardo's neck stood on end. There was something about the way Harry looked at Kylie, the way he held on to her & spoke to her. The way she hung on his every word. She never hangs all over me like that... Of course, she didn't consider him a potential boyfriend, either.
"Well, it's all over & done with now," said Egon. "I destroyed the talisman myself before we left to find Kylie last night."
If Harry's ice-cold composure faltered ever so slightly, if his eyes narrowed, just for a moment, no one noticed. He smiled. "Good. I'm glad it's gone. But I'm afraid it isn't over."
There was a collected murmur of "Huh?" & "What do you mean?"
"Well, there's still a werewolf at large."
"Ooooh, yeah, what are we gonna do about the big, bad werewolf, Egon?"
"Garrett, I told you, just because it's a werewolf doesn't mean it's evi-" Roland began.
"I beg to differ, my good man. Family history aside, this werewolf has attacked several people. It must be stopped."
Harry's words formed a ball of cold fear in the pit of Eduardo's stomach. He thought about the dream he'd had the night before. "What if... What if he can't help it? I mean, what if he's an innocent man under he spell of the talisman?"
Harry leaned in. He let go of Kylie, & steepled his fingers together in front of him. His face was like stone, so that Eduardo couldn't tell if the man took remorse or pleasure in his next words, "Then I'm afraid yet another evil has been comitted in the name of the Garou family. As you can see, destroying the talisman did not end the curse, for the werewolf still attacked us last night. There is no cure. The poor soul, if he is indeed innocent, will go on attacking every full moon, for the nights bfeore, of & after-- three days in all, each month. Tonight will be my last chance to stop him until next month."
"Your last chance?" Garrett asked.
Harry smiled tightly. "Yes. I know how to handle this, let me take care of it. There are plenty of unhappy dead in this city for you to occupy yourselves with."
"But..." Kylie began, all concern directed towards Harold, "but you've never hunted any of them... have you?"
"Yes my dear, in fact I have, many of them my own relatives, as well as several members of the Garou clan." He laid a hand on her cheek. "Do not worry, my dear. I was caught off guard last night; I thought I had gotten them all. Apparently I missed one. I'll take care of it, and then my time will be my own & we can have many long talks about the paranormal."
He stood. "For now, I must get ready for tonight." He put on his hat, tipped it, kissed Kylie's hand & then Janine's, and walked down the stairs. No one escorted him out. They all waited until they heard the door shut before speaking.
"You didn't really destroy it, did you Egon?"
"No, Kylie, I didn't. He's not a Garou, it doesn't belong to him. And in case any of us is cursed, I'm not going to destroy or give away what might be our only means of finding a cure."
Kylie knew the sense in what Egon was saying, but she couldn't help but feel betrayed.
"Egon, is there any way we can adjust the proton beams to stun & hold the werewolf without harming it?" Roland was desperate to find a way to save what he felt was a misunderstood victim.
"Oh, sure, Ro, and then what?" Garrett interceded. "Put it in a zoo?"
Egon ignored Garrett. "Roland, work on it. I'm sure if you lower the settings and adjust the..." He went into a long stream of technical jargon.
Eduardo began to nod off. In moments he was lightly snoring. Kylie & Janine stretched him out along the length of the couch.
"Poor guy..." Garrett said quietly in a rare moment of sympathy. Janine nodded in agreement, not knowing he meant how Eduardo must have felt seeing Kylie all over Harry.
Kylie laid a blanket over Eduardo. She felt his forehead; he was still very feverish. She caressed his cheek. He stirred, but did not awaken.
He's so tough, so goofy, such a selfish jerk on the outside. Inside he's just a scared little boy, so vulnerable, I want to hold him, protect him. Yet, even beneath that, there's something deeper still inside him, a courage & strength. He's so beautiful when he lets it show...
She looked around. The others were still clustered around Egon. She gave Eduardo a quick kiss on the temple before joining them.
***
"Soon, my friends, soon you'll have another playmate... the very last of your kind, in fact, thanks to me!" Harold's menacing smile softened. "Then what will there be for me to do? Now that the necklace is gone, I can't make more of you. I suppose I could breed you, release you & your young on some vast property & catch you over & over..." He sighed. "Well, there's still 'witch-hunting', but thats a whole different sort of 'hunt', now isn't it?"
***