A BAT IN STORYBROOKE:

Chapter 11

Emma arrived at Granny's Diner from the front door a few minutes after 'Henry' left with the food he ordered by going through the back door.

"Hey, Emma!" Ruby greeted her. "Want the usual?"

"Sure. I'll need it," the sheriff sighed.

The werewolf waitress smiled at the blonde savior and went to prepare a mug of coffee for her. "You seem in a pretty bad mood."

"Tell me about it. Leroy and Sleepy said that they saw a "bat-headed" person attack them, but when I went to investigate the crime scene, the only particular thing I saw was a circular dent the size of a heel on their crashed truck."

"A 'bat-headed' person?" Ruby frowned as she handed a mug of coffee to Emma. "I think I've heard before of a species of humanoid bats called Batrishans."

"What the heck are those?" Emma took a sip of coffee. "Vampires?"

"No. They were said to be an altruistic nation that brought art and science inspirations that lasted for eons. But they've been extinct for almost three hundred years now. Not one of them has been seen."

Enter Granny Lucas. "Actually, when I was raising Ruby back in the Enchanted Forest, I've heard stories of a peg-legged pirate who had the appearance of a crippled Batrishan. Plus, my grandmother used to tell me of the possible rumor of one sole survivor of the Batrishan Genocide."

Emma pondered at the given information. A peg-legged pirate? The circular dent on the dwarves' truck was the perfect size for a heel. Humanoid bats? Leroy said something about their aggressor having the head of a bat.

"I bet the culprit might be a Batrishan," Emma said. "Ruby, will you come with me? I can use for your tracking skills."

"Sure, Emma. Just give me a few minutes to go change." Ruby left to go to the restroom.

"It's a waste of time, if you want to know my opinion," Granny Lucas said. "Batrishans weren't seen for over 300 years. Plus, they were altruistic people. None of them were known for being violent at all."

Emma shrugged. If she and Granny had noticed at all, they would have heard Ruby shouting through the tissue that Henry used to cover her mouth and knock her unconscious before getting teleported by magic.

"Hold her still."

Henry unwillingly obeyed as he held Ruby tightly, enabling her from any movement, as Fidget poked one of her arms with a syringe. The poor boy watched as red blood began filling the syringe in less than a few seconds. Fidget put the blood-filled syringe aside on the table and pulled out another syringe, only this one was full of a yellow substance, which he used to poke Ruby's other arm.

"This will make her forget everything that happened in the last half-hour," Fidget told Henry as the substance went through the unconscious werewolf's skin. "Put her back where you last found her. I got the werewolf blood that I needed."

"May I see Rosetta? To see if she's alright?" Henry asked quietly.

The Batrishan's wings fidgeted at the question; the crippled wing made a weird fidgeting motion as he gave a dark look to the boy, only to shrug it off. "You have five minutes. Hurry up."

Henry quickly ran to the cage where he found the frightened Rosetta hugging her legs and whimpering. She looked like she didn't sleep at all, and it's been barely 3 hours since Fidget captured them and ripped out Henry's heart. Slightly visible scars could be seen all over Rosetta's face and neck.

"Rosetta? What happened? You look horrible!" Henry gasped.

"I've seen worse horrors in my life," Rosetta whimpered. "You should go, Henry. Your mom's going to notice Ruby's absence anytime soon."

"But…"

"TIME'S UP!" Fidget cut in. "Off you go!"

Henry turned to face Fidget. "What did you do her? Tell me now!"

Fidget held out Henry's heart and gave it a slight squeeze, causing Henry to scream and hug his chest as he kneeled on the ground. "What I do to her is none of your concern. Now go return the werewolf to the place where she last was and leave without saying a word to anybody unless you and your friend want to see the darkness of the afterlife." He snapped his fingers, making Henry and Ruby disappear. He turned to Rosetta. "Dinnertime. What did he bring from Granny's?"

"Turkey delight," Rosetta said with a weak smile.

"Ruby! Are you all right?"

When Emma went to check on Ruby, she found the latter throwing up in the toilet. The poor girl was wobbling when she tried to get up that Emma had to help her get up.

"I don't feel so good…" Ruby choked.

"Granny!" Emma called. "Ruby needs help!"

"Oh, dear!" The old woman rushed to her ill granddaughter. "Ruby, my poor girl, what on earth did you eat?"

"I don't know…" was the only reply.

"I'll bring her up in her room," Granny Lucas said. She took Ruby by the arms and started to take her to the inn behind the diner until the front door bursted open and a pack of five dark, jackal-like dogs with Egyptian collars barged in howling. Customers panicked and backed out of the way as Emma pulled out her gun and started aiming at them until one of them pounced on her, pining her to the ground and knocking the gun off her hand. Emma tried to use her magic against the razor-sharp fanged canine, but for some reason… it didn't work on the dog.

"I don't get it. Why isn't my magic working?" Emma asked.

"Because they're my dogs," a voice cut in.

Everyone looked toward the front door to see a tall, slender man walk inside. He seemed young, in his late twenties or early thirties like Emma; only his skin was copper brown, and his short, and jet-black hair had a turban ornated with a red jewel that covered his ears. Black sunglasses covered his eyes. He wore a black tuxedo with a white shirt underneath it, black leather gloves, black shoes, and a yellow belt.

"Who are you?" Emma asked.

"That's Mr. Anton Romanov," Granny said. "He's the owner of the Romanov Jewelry Boutique in Storybrooke. He and his family came to town during the first curse. They're practically richer than Mr. Gold himself."

"So who was he back in the Enchanted Forest?"

"You mean what I was in any realm," Mr. Romanov said. He unveiled his turban, revealing wolf-like ears much to everyone's surprise. But it was when he removed his sunglasses that froze everyone, for it turned out he had golden, wolf eyes that glared people in an uneasy way.

"I am Anubis, Ancient Egyptian god of mummification, death, and funerals. My daughter Rosetta is currently missing, and from what I've heard, Emma Swan, she was last seen with your son Henry Mills."