AWOO! Werewolf Friday is back, and I have a doozy of a chapter for you today. Enjoy!

Scarlet and Sage were careful to slip out of town while the sun was just beginning to set. They darted across the field and into the woods, letting out long sighs of relief once they were in the trees again.

"These human towns are so stifling," Scarlet groaned. "How do they survive?"

"They're used to it, I suppose," Sage replied, drawing his mate close and softly kissing him. "Come on. Let's find a good spot to transform. We should be far away, so no hunting parties find us."

When the moon rose, they gladly shed their clothes and their human forms, barely resisting the urge to howl joyfully. The past few days of trying to act human and being unable to leave town to transform or run had been torture. Even now, it didn't feel right. Both omega wolves felt the absence of the rest of their pack. Tonight's full moon run would be a pale shadow of what it was supposed to be.

Still, they ran through the trees, trying to forget about the looming threat of vampires, humans, and Grimm. Sage caught a rabbit, which they started to share when a distant sound caused them to pause.

It was a deep, metallic clang that rang for miles. The werewolves realized what it was and where it was coming from. It was a church bell. More specifically, it was Obsidian's church bell!

The two exchanged a look before rushing back toward the town as quickly as they could.

Neither one had much of a plan in mind. All they knew was that they had to at least try to help. After what they had heard about these vampires, they couldn't just hide in the woods while more people potentially died.

Scarlet yipped nervously. Is this the right time to reveal ourselves?

Sage growled. If there's a vampire, we don't have much choice. They need our help.

As they reached the edge of the woods, they became suddenly overwhelmed with a sickening smell. It was like the scent of carrion combined with the chill of the most deadly blizzard imaginable. The air reeked of death and of things that shouldn't be allowed to exist.

Scarlet groaned, rubbing his nose in his fur. Sage, though his eyes were watering, managed to look ahead.

The vampire was running across the field, as if it knew where they were. Perhaps it did. There were certainly enough Nevermores patrolling the skies.

Letting out a roar of challenge, Sage burst from the trees and ran toward the sickly creature. He managed to barely scratch the creature's arm, staining his claws with blackish-red blood.

The vampire jumped back and hissed. Its eyes glowed with a sickly yellow color. It was like it was trying to reach into Sage's soul and rip it out.

Sage tossed his head and continued forward, only for his opponent to dart past him and leap on Scarlet, who was still swooning from the awful stench.

No! Sage ran forward, but was stopped by the vampire's sharp nails. He kept darting from one side to another, trying to get a clear scratch or bite. The vampire knew what to expect now, managing to fend off Sage's blows with one hand. Its other hand was squeezing Scarlet's neck.

By this point, the smell of many humans caused Sage's fur to prickle. There was no running from this. They were going to die, whether the vampire killed them or the humans.

It was then that he heard the small, piercing voice of Neo. "No! Ugh- Hey, let me go!"

Her voice was soon followed by Yang's. When the Huntress broke through the crowd, Neo close behind, and landed that first punch, Sage was convinced that the spirit of the Moon herself was watching over them. He watched as Scarlet took a deep, gasping breath. Then, he saw something peculiar: All of the Huntsmen were frozen. The vampire's eyes were glowing again. It was speaking. Then, quicker than the fastest wolf could run, it was gone.

Sage stared after it as he helped Scarlet to his feet. What had the creature just done? What powers did it have?

These questions had to wait, however, as the Huntsmen had regained their senses and Nebula was pointing her crossbow right at Yang's head.

"Easy, now," Yang muttered, holding up her hands. "We can explain. Sage, Scarlet, could you back away a bit?"

The two werewolves obeyed, taking a few steps back, keeping wary eyes on all of the Huntsmen's weapons.

Nebula's eyes narrowed. "Sage and Scarlet? These werewolves are Sage and Scarlet?!"

"Yeah."

"And you knew?!"

"Yep."

Nebula took a deep, hissing breath through her teeth. "And why did you feel the need to bring your pets into our town? Did you hear about the vampire attacks and think you could pick off our silver once we were all dead?!"

"Hey!" Neo snapped. "First of all, they aren't our pets. Second, we brought you resources. Third, we don't know how to mine silver. We couldn't rob your mines if we wanted to! We were traveling this way to meet the rest of our group, heard about the vampire attacks, and decided that you could use some help. I mean, if you hadn't been waiting for them to kill each other off, you probably all could've finished that vampire easily!"

"How many werewolves are in your group?" Brawnz asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Uh…" Yang rubbed the back of her neck. "Right now, we got…" She paused to count on her fingers. "Eleven werewolves and eight Huntsmen. Then there's Roman and Neo, of course."

The gathered Huntsmen all gasped and started muttering to each other. Sage and Scarlet took a few more steps back.

"Why aren't you all together right now anyway?" Nebula finally asked

"Well, there's this one werewolf who's obsessed with my best friend," Yang explained. "And we had to send some of our guys to take care of him, because he's kinda insane. We agreed to meet in Obsidian, since Roman said this is a good place to trade. Like I said, Scarlet, Sage, and I got injured during a fight with some Grimm, so it didn't make sense for us to help hunt down Mister Crazy."

"And what is a simple trader doing with an honor-guard of Huntsmen and werewolves?"

"Simple trader?!" Neo took a step forward.

"Easy, Neo," Yang muttered. "It's…kinda a long story."

Nebula folded her arms. "The Grimm are gone. I've got time." She gave her party and Brawnz's a quick order to go help the townsfolk. She and Brawnz remained behind to listen.

Even when telling an abridged version of the group's story from the past few months, it still took over an hour. The sky was starting to turn purple. Nebula and Brawnz were quiet as they listened, then looked at each other, then finally at the two werewolves.

"I guess they'd attack us if they were just animals," Nebula allowed. "But, we can't have werewolves in our town. The people are panicked enough with the vampire threat. More monsters will only make them panic."

"But, if you told them that werewolves can fight vampires, won't they accept them? They've interacted with Sage and Scarlet already. They know they can think, speak, and reason," Neo pointed out.

"Even then, people would become terrified of them at night," Brawnz said. "Unless they were restrained."

There was a pause, during which Sage and Scarlet felt a sinking sense of dread and Nebula's face took on a look of realization. "That…could work," she muttered.

"What could work?" Yang asked, her voice taking on a dangerous edge and her eyes turning red.

"If you're being honest, if you really want to bring people and werewolves together, prove it," Nebula said, her voice becoming more confident by the second. "We'll give you all a free pass to go around town during the day. At night, when the werewolves transform, they'll be muzzled and restrained, but no one in town will be allowed to touch them."

"Absolutely not!" Yang snapped, her eyes blazing. "We are not going to muzzle our friends. I can't believe you would even-" She stopped when she felt a heavy paw on her shoulder. She looked up to see Sage gazing down at her.

Sage rumbled softly in his throat, ears drooping. He could feel Yang's righteous anger, and was truly grateful for it. However, he could also feel Nebula's fear and hesitation. She had a scared group of people to lead. She was being generous in making this offer. He and Scarlet could handle the indecency if it led to a greater sense of trust. That was the whole point of their quest, after all.

Scarlet moved to stand near Neo, who was fuming silently, and nodded his head. He could handle this until the others got to Obsidian. Though, he highly doubted that Pyrrha, Weiss, or most of the others would tolerate being muzzled. Hopefully, they'd have a better sense of trust built up by that point.

Nebula's brows went up. She hadn't expected the werewolves to be so willing. "Thank you. Brawnz, could you go back to town and get some leather straps and rope? It'll have to do for now. We'll take them into town and explain. If we can, we'll take measurements for actual muzzles and collars for them.

Brawnz left, and there was silence as the group waited. Both Yang and Neo were barely keeping from letting loose a tirade of insults. Sage and Scarlet tried to look impassive, though the idea of being led into Obsidian with ropes around their necks made them sick to their stomachs.

When Brawnz returned, he brought the rest of his party with him. The four hesitated, holding the ropes and leather, unsure of whether or not to come closer.

Yang let out an exasperated groan. "Give me those, you yellow bastards!" She snatched the leather straps and ropes and turned toward Sage, her eyes softening. "I'm so sorry for this," she whispered.

Sage nodded and lowered his head. He winced as Yang fastened the leather around his muzzle, grateful that she was being careful not to tie too tightly and cut off his air. He dug his claws into the ground as a loop was made in the first rope. He closed his eyes as it went over his head and suppressed a growl as he felt it tighten around his throat. He had never felt so humiliated in his life.

Scarlet whimpered as Neo took the other rope and leather strap and approached him. His ears went back and his tail went between his legs.

"Last chance to bolt," Neo muttered. "I wouldn't blame you."

Scarlet shook his head, holding still as his jaws were tied shut and a loop of rope was put around his neck. He hated this! If he was an angrier person, he'd probably hate Nebula and all of the other Huntsmen looking at him in that moment. He and Sage had tried to save these people from a vampire, and this was the thanks they got?!

Once the work was done, Nebula and Brawnz came forward to check the strength of the straps. Their hands shook as they touched the werewolves' fur. Satisfied, they beckoned for the others to follow.

Roman was at the entrance of the town as they approached, and couldn't hold back a gasp of disgust when he saw Scarlet and Sage walking at the ends of ropes, muzzles tied, as if they were mad dogs rather than intelligent, kind individuals who happened to turn into wolves at night. The trader clenched his fists, glaring at the Huntsmen as they walked by.

Several people screamed as the werewolves were led through the streets and toward the center of town. Some knelt where they had been standing and started to pray. Others just gawked, trying to figure out if they were dreaming.

The people gathered at the center of town. "Everyone," Nebula began. "We have found another weapon against the vampires."

There was some confused, scared muttering in the crowd.

"The two werewolves you see before you are Scarlet and Sage." Raising her voice to overpower the angry shouts this evoked, Nebula continued. "They, as well as other werewolves, have been tamed by the trader Roman and by Yang's Huntsmen, who are coming here now. As you can see, the werewolves allowed themselves to be muzzled and leashed for your safety."

Tamed?! Yang ground her teeth together.

"During the day, when they are in their human forms, they will walk among us as they have been doing for these past few days. If they had wanted to bite or harm anyone, they would have by now," Nebula said. "At night, they will transform, be muzzled, and be restrained at the edge of town by the mountain. There, they won't harm anyone and will be able to warn us of any incoming vampire attacks."

"Wait," Neo cut in. "You're going to muzzle and tie them up in the area of town closest to the vampires? Are you insane?"

"If they warn us of a vampire's approach, we can untie and unmuzzle them," Nebula said calmly. "They won't be alone. There are Huntsmen guarding that area at all times."

Neo felt Scarlet nudge her shoulder, and became silent, still bristling at the injustice of it all.

There were a few minutes, during which the townspeople argued and debated. In the end, however, their fear of the vampires outweighed their fear of the werewolves. Brawnz took measurements of Scarlet and Sage's muzzles and necks.

By this point, the sun was starting to rise. The werewolves were led back to Roman's cart, where they turned into their human forms. Sage threw the leather strap to the side as soon as it came loose and Scarlet immediately shrugged off the rope.

"This is bullshit," Roman said flatly as he gave them their spare clothes. "Complete and utter bullshit. Do you actually think the others will put up with this? Do you see Pyrrha wearing a damned collar?!"

"If they trust us enough by the time the rest of the pack gets here, they might not want to collar or muzzle us anymore," Sage said, though he rubbed his neck. "If not…I don't know. An omega can put up with something like that, just barely. There's no way an alpha or beta will tolerate that kind of treatment."

"I just wanted to- They just- I can't believe-" Yang was too angry to even form complete sentences, and kept cracking her knuckles at intervals.

"Take it easy, Yang," Neo said. "No need to aggravate that arm more than you need to. Some of those wounds could reopen."

"Look, this is better than anything we could have hoped for," Scarlet pointed out. "Most towns would just kill us on sight. This is…slightly better." He glanced toward some people who were walking by, frowning when this caused them to increase their pace.

Roman sighed. "I just hope things get better before the others get here. If they don't, I hate to think of what'll happen."

Sage rubbed his neck, still feeling the weight of the rope. In a few hours, he would be wearing an actual collar as if he was some giant, domesticated dog. It was not something he was looking forward to in the slightest.

…

Watts knelt before his Mistress, head bowed submissively. "The werewolves are weak, Mistress Salem. However, they were able to resist my gaze."

Salem nodded slowly. She was gently stroking a Nevermore that sat near her, ignoring the way it trembled each time she touched it. "I see. So, the stories are true." She stood up and gazed out at the shadowy land around her. "Did the humans kill them?"

"No. Worse still, two of them defended the werewolves," Watts replied. "I think they're allies."

Salem's eyes turned a brighter red. "There will be more. There are never only two werewolves. The rest of the pack will follow."

"What should we do, Mistress?"

Salem pondered for a moment. "Bring me Hazel."

When the brawny, dead-eyed vampire stood in front of Salem, she was quick with her orders. "Go into the forest with Tyrian. Find the werewolf pack. Kill them before they reach Obsidian."

Hazel merely bowed his head and left. Outside, Salem heard only Hazel's low voice followed by Tyrian's eager cackle. She smiled. Her will, as always, would be done.

Dun dun DUN! (I say that a lot, don't I?) Now we're really getting into the nitty-gritty of cross-species tension. And werewolf vs. vampire fights. There are never enough monster fights, in my opinion.

If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.

Peace out!