"I had no idea you liked Death of a Salesman." Michael said, fiddling with a pocketknife he'd found on the table.
"Sorry?"
"You said to Happy yesterday… that thing about Harold Loman?"
"Oh, right. What's the matter, I don't look like the type that reads plays?"
"Well, yeah… I mean, not that I didn't think you read; it's just that you don't seem like they type that read Arthur Miller plays."
"I remember when it first came out in 1949; it was a pretty big hit."
Michael couldn't speak for a moment. What she had said threw him off; he completely forgot about the age difference up until then. The fact that she was actually there when the play got released was bit of bewildering for Michael.
Happy walked in. "Any ideas on how to get the big bad wolf?"
Selene looked up. "He's already blown down the pigs' straw and stick houses. Unless we find some pretty sturdy bricks, we're next."
Michael spoke. "Then why don't we do what the pigs' did?"
Selene and Happy stared at Michael. "What?" Happy asked.
"Well, have either of you heard of the version of 'The Three Little Pigs' where the pigs wind up eating the Big Bad Wolf?"
"Yeah," Selene said, "didn't the wolf accidentally fall down the pigs' brick chimney and into their boiling pot of water?"
"Exactly. Then the three pigs ate the wolf; the end."
"So what's you point?" Happy asked.
"Why don't we do that? I mean Marcus came back to life -- if we want to prevent that from happening again, why don't we kill the bastard and then… eat him?"
"Excuse me?" Selene asked confusedly, as if she had the most absurd thing.
"It makes sense," Happy added, "if we want to keep him from resurrecting. If we get his body into all of the stomachs of the remaining Lycans, it'll be almost damn near impossible for him to do it again."
Seeing Michael's point, Selene agreed, "Okay. Sounds good.
"But I'm not eating him." Selene added.
"Me neither." said Michael.
"Fine by me. More for the rest of us."
It was a little while later when another Lycan entered the room. He stuck out his hand for Selene and Michael to shake, which they did.
"I'm Kristopher. You can call me Kris."
Happy added, "Usually Kris is a girl's name, but Kris here is a 100 male. We think."
Kris playfully shoved Happy. "At least my name isn't another word for 'gay'."
Happy pretended to storm out in anger. He came right back in.
Kris addressed the actual reason for his entering Selene and Michael's room. "We have an appointment with our arms-dealer today, Happy. As far as we know, J.J. doesn't know about what's going on in the immortal world. He probably thinks we're still on. Are we?"
"Well," Selene said, "it couldn't hurt to see what J.J. has. It's been a while since I've dealt with him."
"Wait," Happy said, "you guys were getting stuff from J.J., too?"
"Yes."
"That two-faced weasel!"
Selene smirked. "Why don't we pay him a visit together? That'd scare the shit outta him faster than anything else."
"Sounds good. Kris, you're in charge in my absence. Be careful."
Selene, Michael, and Happy drove out from the warehouse in the car, this time heading for J.J.'s warehouse, which is where he did his business. It was only about a 15-minute drive, so the three got there in almost no time.
Selene knocked on the door. After a few second without any response, Selene knocked again. And again; and again. Finally, a voice came out form inside.
"Hold yo' damn horses! I'mma comin'; I'mma comin!"
He opened the door. Right away, from the sight of the vampire and Lycan alone, his face turned an even paler white.
"Oh, shit."
"Hello, J.J." Selene said.
"We need to talk." Happy added.
J.J. swallowed and said, "Come in."
Once they were all inside, J.J. began rambling.
"Y'all should know that I didn't do nothin' wrong… y'all never asked me whether or not I was dealin' fo' the other side, ya know? And the shit I deal, it ain't too dangerous. It's little stuff, nothin' too lethal… so y'all ain't got a leg to stand on about me lyin', coz I ain't do shit wrong to either of y'all. So don't waste yo' energy tryin' to convince me otherwise!"
"You done?" Selene asked after J.J. had quieted down.
J.J. cleared his throat. "Yeah."
"Good." Michael said, his first word to J.J.
"Anything new?" Happy asked. "Anything at all?"
J.J. began scrambling. "Yes, actually, I do. I made this new dart; it paralyzes everything from the neck down temporarily, but they can still feel pain. That way, you can use it to neuter some unlucky dude, and still interrogate the bastard."
"Can I see it?" Selene asked impatiently.
"Yeah! Yeah…" J.J. went digging through some pile of junk. After some brief period of time, J.J. pulled a dart out.
"Good news? It fits into any flare gun. That means that the poor guy won't even notice that you've got some serious shit like this with you until it's too effing late!"
Selene walked right up to J.J. and snatched the dart from his hand. She examined it, along with Happy.
"How many of these you got?" asked Michael.
J.J. pulled out a large case. "These are all I have, I swear."
"Good. Happy took the case from J.J.
Selene and Michael followed Happy out. Right before they left, Selene added, "Stay out of trouble." J.J. nodded and was relieved to see them go.
"Geez. And I thought Tanis was bad." Michael said as they got into the car. "But at least he used proper grammar."
Happy smiled. "I've been dealing with that pitiful excuse of a being for a while now."
"Me, too." Selene said. "He's always been that way. A cowardly weasel."
"Yup." Happy agreed.
The car pulled out of its parking spot and headed back the way they came.
About 20 minutes later, the three of them were entering the Lycans' bunker entrance. The guards were mysteriously missing.
"Where the fuck is Matthias and Malcolm?" Happy muttered to himself, referring to the guards' names.
It wasn't until the group entered the main section of the bunker that they saw what had happened in their absence. Every Lycan was dead.
"Oh, my…" Selene exhaled.
"What the…?" Michael murmured.
"They're all…" Happy failed to withhold a sob.
Suddenly, a gnawing gasping was heard. All that was audible was, "Happy… over… here…"
"Quick! Over here! It's Kris!" Michael called urgently.
Kris was lying on the ground, both of his arms cruelly torn off. His legs were twisted in a grotesque position, and his right shoulder had a large bite mark on it; one that looked like Marcus's.
"Marc… he…" Then, Kris coughed out blood.
"Shh…" Happy whispered. "It's okay, Kris. It'll be okay."
Kris croaked out, "Get that bastard for me.", and then died.
Happy got up and walked off farther into the bunker. His shoulders were shaking and he was breathing heavily as he left.
"Shit." Selene said under her breath.
An awkward moment of silence followed. The bunker was unusually quiet and reeked of fear, perspiration, blood, and Lycan waste.
Suddenly, a pained cry rang out loud and clear:
"GOD! HELP ME!!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Most likely the next chapter will be the next-to-last chapter. One more chapter for the final showdown, followed by a short chapter to wrap everything up (an epilogue).
Thank you very much for reading.
KATEB819