A couple of people have asked if Elsa is powerful enough to handle this on her own. The answer is "duh of course she is". But think of it like having a rat problem. Can I kill the rat myself? Sure. But A) I don't know where the mouse is, or if it has friends, etc. so I call an expert to handle it. And B) Elsa probably isn't the kind of girl to just kill willie nillie.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Anyways new chapter. For all those that follow and fav, don't hesitate to leave a review, I love feedback, and for those that do review, your awesome as always.

Anyways read review blah blah blah and on with the show.

Chapter 5:... a wolf….

"This way, my ladies," The captain of the guard, BJorn, had brought three horses from the stables, his own, Anna's, and one for Cynthia, and presented them to the young woman. "Princess Anna, I strongly suggest staying behind."

She barked a laugh. "And miss a chance to see a Dragon Knight in action? Yeah right."

Bjorn helped her mount the horse as Cynthia snickered behind them. "Remember princess I'm just a knight, not a Dragon Knight."

Bjorn offered his hand to help Cynthia onto her hours. "Forgive me, my lady, but I am unfamiliar with customs that permit a woman to become knights."

She situated herself atop the horse. "In Kuarlong the title is thrown around a lot and we don't think twice about it. A knight to us is someone who is ready and willing to help others that can't help themselves. To some we're like police, monster hunters, sometimes freaks, that's a popular one. I myself may not be a dragon knight, but I am a quarter dragon."

"Quarter Dragon?" Anna repeated. "How does that work?"

"My senses are sharper than a normal humans, eyes, ears, nose, etc. I'm also stronger too, not strong but enough. Perks of having a father who's a Dragon Knight and mother who's human. Cynthia turned to Bjorn, "So we doing this or what?"

He chuckled. "Of course." He lifted himself onto his horse and led the way into the forest. Luckily Elsa had kept a single opening in the ice wall for those that needed to get into the forest.

Cynthia whistled as they passed through into the forest. "Your sister did that? Impressive."

Watching Cynthia marvel at the icy structure made Anna think to ask, "Have you ever seen anyone like Elsa before? I'm sure you've seen all kinds of magical people and places, but anything like Elsa?"

"Honestly. No." That wasn't the response Anna was hoping for. Cynthia continued. "Your sister's power over snow and ice, and even having the ability to create life, is nothing I've ever seen before. How did she get her powers by the way?"

Anna shrugged. "She was born with them I think. You know I don't really know. To be honest I didn't even know Elsa had magic until a few years ago when she freaked out and froze all of Arendelle. We've talked about it a little, how she hurt me when we were kids and our parents made me forget with the rock trolls and after that she shut me out and our parents told her to conceal her magic and it was a huge mess.

Cynthia snorted a laugh. "Wow. Drake it was the opposite. Our father hounded him night and day about his powers, making sure he used them any chance he got. Guess it had to do with the fact that I, and our older brother, aren't Dragon Knights."

"Is that a problem? You two not being Dragon Knights."

Cynthia shook her head. "Not really. But seeing as how Drake is the only one in our family, and our father being the grand dragon master of Kuarlong, he had a lot on his shoulders."

Anna's eyes widened. "Your dad is the Dragon Master?"

Cynthia nodded. "Mm-hm! It also helped when I wanted to start training. Daddy didn't want me too, but I was way too eager to show up the boys. And show them up I did." They both shared a laugh and Anna was about to ask about Drake again when Cynthia cut her off. "Because she had to suppress her magic for so long, do you think that's why she froze your kingdom?"

Anna thought for a second. "Maybe. She was scared and stressed out that day, but she fixed it." Anna looked over at her suspiciously. "Why Do you ask?"

Cynthia looked at the back of her horse in thought. "No reason."

"Oh no!" Anna moved her horse closer, "none of that. We asked you to help us, ergo you work for us, ergo there won't be any secrets, ergo tell me what your thinking."

Cynthia raised a brow at her before exhaling through her nose. "Power like that doesn't just happen and not without a hefty cost."

Anna twisted her face, not liking were Cynthia was going with that statement. What was it Cynthia meant by a "hefty cost". "My sister didn't ask for powers if that's what you're implying."

Cynthia shrugged. "Okay, but she got them somehow?" Anna opened her mouth to respond before slowly shutting it. "So you have no idea how she got them? Anyone in your family piss off a gypsy? Maybe met a guy with ruby red eyes? Bitten by something?"

Deciding she didn't like what Cynthia was suggesting, Anna turned up her nose. "I don't know where her powers came from and I do not believe it is any business of yours."

Anna kept her eyes forward while Cynthia began to correct herself. "I mean no disrespect. I'm asking out of curiosity is all."

Anna gave her a narrowed sideways glance. "Well it didn't come off as curiosity." And she quickly returned her nose to the air.

"We're here." Bjorn called over his shoulder. The women looked forward at a hollowed out cave at the base of the mountain. He dismounted his horse and gave him a generous pat on the neck. "This is the cave, but something is different. When we came here last the horses went wild."

Cynthia leapt from her horse and examined the mouth of the cave. She knelt down examining the dirt and taking a long inhale of the air. "Not surprising. Any scent or marker that may have been here is gone now."

Anna moved beside her, looking down at the dirt as if she could see what Cynthia saw. "Is that… bad?"

She shook her head. "Not necessarily." Cynthia walked into the cave without reservation. "Coming?"

Bjorn reached for a lantern he had carried with him, lit it, and he and Anna followed. Though it wasn't occupied Anna still felt the need to cling to Bjorn's large arm.

"Don't worry princess." Cynthia called. "No ones home." Cynthia was already at the opening of the cave, running her hands along the walls and occasionally sniffing the air. "But something was here."

Anna and Bjorn held back, Bjorn occasionally swinging the lantern to illuminate the cave. "Do you need this?"

Cynthia shook her head but hadn't turned to face them as she spoke. "Nope. I can see in the dark." And she continued.

Bjorn stayed with Anna as Cynthia went about the cave. "So this is where you found those poor people?"

He swallowed hard. "I have seen violence a lot throughout my life, but that was something I wasn't prepared for."

She hugged his arm in a tighter comforting embrace. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

He returned with a gentle squeeze of his large hand. "Hopefully these people can help us."

Anna looked at Cynthia who was now fiddling with something between her fingers. Anna's eyes narrowed. Something was off about her, especially the questions she was asking earlier. Whatever it was Anna wasn't sure, but she didn't like it.

They stayed at the cave for about thirty minutes while Cynthia played with dirt, moved her hands along the walls and occasionally asked Bjorn questions. "The hearts were missing? Black hair everywhere? Claw marks?" When she was finished she joined Bjorn and Anna in the center of the cave. "I think I have everything. There wasn't much, but I have enough."

"Enough for what?" Bjorn asked.

"What we're dealing with. First rule of hunting, ALWAYS be sure what your target is."

"Why's that?" Anna found herself asking.

"You could be prepared to kill one thing and turn out it's another. That's not only embarrassing, but could also be dangerous." Cynthia moves passed them towards the exit of the cave, Bjorn and Cynthia quickly followed, not wanting to be there longer than they had to.

—:0:—

"Yeah I saw it."

"—it was small—"

"—huge—"

"—scaly—"

"—hairy—"

"—blue—"

"—green—"

"—Black—"

"—tentacles—"

"—claws—"

"—wings—"

"—hooves—"

"—horns—"

"—teeth—"

"—red eyes—"

"—green eyes—"

"—I told you! I told you we were in danger. They lurk in the trees, in the shadows, the moon lets them walk free. I told you! I told you!"

Elsa cringed as red hot embarrassment crept up her cheeks, but it was nothing compared to the amount of pity she felt for Drake. Standing at the door of old man Dillon, She glanced over his shoulder at the pad of paper he was writing on. To her surprise he wasn't writing anything down, but was just moving the pen as if he was.

"Alright," he sighed, "thank you for your time Mister Dillon. I think I got all I need." He folded his paper up and began to walk away as the elder man called after him.

"I told you! They're coming for us! They're coming for us!"

Once Elsa and Drake were a sufficient distance away, Drake handed his pencil to Elsa, and with a straight face asked, "Could you do me a favor at put this through my left eye until it reaches my brain?"

She looked down at the pencil then back at him and started chuckling. "Was it that bad?"

Drake lowered his arm and they continued walking through the kingdom back to the castle. "It's expected. You have crazies, like old man Dillon, you have false witnesses, and then real ones, like Kristoff, but you have to sift through the crap to get to them." He froze midstep.

"Is something wrong?" She asked worriedly.

He lowered his head. "I apologize for my crass speaking—"

She held out her hand. "Drake it's fine. Remember we're not that proper around here." Elsa turned her head when she heard the sounds of children playing in the courtyard and a smile crept across her lips making him confused. "I'll show you."

She made her way to the children, once they had seen her coming they had gasped excitedly. "Queen Elsa! Wanna play with us?!" But before she could respond they had already kicked the ball in her direction.

She stopped the ball with her foot. "I'm sorry, my dears, but I do not have the time too. I just wished to say hello."

The children all whined and groaned but all shouted an excited "hello!" Back to her. One of the children looked passed her at Drake who had held back. "Who's that?" He pointed.

When Elsa and taken Drake through her kingdom she had introduced him as a "specialist" to help with the attacks. She kept out the part of him being a Dragon Knight since she didn't want him being bombarded with questions. She knew how uncomfortable it could be when curious, well meaning people wanted to "see the magic".

"This is Drake. He's here to help the kingdom." The children regarded him for a moment as he gave them a shy wave and an awkward smile, but quickly forgot about him in favor of begging Elsa to play with them. Once again she apologized, but took the time to create a goal post made of ice at one end of the courtyard. They cheered excitedly and continued there game allowing Elsa and Drake to keep moving. "See? We're not that formal here."

He chuckled. "I appreciate you keeping my true identity a secret, your highness." She nodded, noticing the genuine gratitude in his voice. "That was, sorta cute what you did for them. Do you do stuff like that often for them."

She smiled, although the word "cute" seemed weird coming from him. "All the time. Ice skating, snow days, silly things like that."

He nodded with a half smile, he seemed like he wanted to say more, but instead cleared his throat and asked, "So where are we headed next?"

"The last witness I can think of, besides myself, is Dr. Rolf."

He looked at her. "You saw it too?"

She gave a short laugh. "Did I forget to mention that? I saw it when I put up the ice wall to save Anna and Kristoff."

"Oh. Well may I ask what it was you saw?"

She recounted the night as best she could, remembering claws, teeth and black fur. "And eyes the same color as the moon. A sort of silver white."

Drake pinched his brows together looking down at the ground as they walked. "Was the moon full?"

Thinking back on that night she realized, "As a matter of fact it was. How'd you know?"

His eyes were still down and his face twisted in thought when he responded, "Lucky guess."

She had the feeling that it was more to it then a lucky guess, but they were coming up on Dr. Rolf's office so she decided to let it go for now.

At the door, Elsa was only able to knock once when the door flew open. Dr. Rolf's beady eyes darted between the two from behind his thick rimmed glasses. Elsa gave a crooked uncomfortable smile. He was always a bit eccentric, maybe even a bit odd, but this time he seemed a bit more jittery.

"Who's this?"

Elsa looked behind her at Drake who was just as uneasy.

"This is Drake. He's here about the attacks—" Dr. Rolf threw open the doors and motioned for them to come in, but made them hurry. Once inside, Elsa turned around to question him. "Is something wrong? Are you seeing patients?"

Dr. Rolf shook his head as he locked and dead bolted his door. "No, I haven't been seeing patients since these attacks began." Elsa and Drake exchanged confused looks as Dr. Rolf shuffled past them towards a set of stairs leading down to a basement. "I've referred all my patients to my apprentice, Dr. Herman."

Elsa and Drake had to hurry after him seeing as how he was quickly descending the stairs and speaking just as fast. "I've spent the last few weeks examining the bodies. Something-something-something was off about them." He came to a locked door at the base of the stairs. "I kept asking myself, 'why only take the hearts? Were they eaten?' I didn't know." Fumbling with his keys, he opened the door. "Once again, thank you for helping to keep this room cold. It keeps the bodies from smelling."

Elsa and Drake entered the chilly room. Elsa remembered being her only once when she had to add the cold walls to his basement. A series of large boxes lined the floor of the basement, leading the pair to assume that was where Dr. Rolf was keeping the bodies. Drake began meandering around the boxes while Dr. Rolf went to a bookshelf along the wall.

"When I was a child, my family was told stories of a black castle in Transylvania that was home to a blood sucking demon," he removed a large spined book and took it to a nearby table to flip through it, "we thought it was just stories, but my parents believed them and instilled that fear into us. Since then we believe everything. Banshee, Nuckalvee, Giants," he motioned to Elsa, "sorceresses."

Out of the corner of her eye, Elsa saw Drake open one of the boxes and begin examining the body. She had seen enough of death so she put her attention onto Dr. Rolf. "So a blood sucking demon is attacking Arendelle?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," he landed on a page and pointed at it erratically, "this! No hearts, only attacks once a month, hair, teeth, claws. It's a lycanthrope."

Elsa examined the crude picture of a humanoid wolf looking creature drawn on its largest. "What's a Lycanthrope?"

"Werewolf." Dr. Rolf And Elsa looked back at Drake who was looking at a clump of hair he had pulled from the victim's body. "'Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf, when the wolfbane blooms, and the moon is bright'."