Judy enjoyed patrolling her territory. It was always calming to her, wandering the woods and keeping trespassers off her and her family's lands. The most she usually came across was some kids from the town, or nearby college having a bonfire in the woods and drinking. A few growls and snarls sent them scurrying away quickly enough. She had heard rumors on campus that the woods were haunted by a vengeful spirit. She couldn't help but giggle. She was already an urban legend on one count. Earning a second was a strange point of pride for her.

Since she had ascended and her Beast had awoken just before her tenth birthday, she'd been kind of an outsider, but it didn't bother her much. She had a few good friends that she kept in touch with and her aspirations to pursue. Those, combined with her duties to her family, were enough to satisfy her. Once she got her degree, she already had an internship with the Tri-Burrows Sheriff's Office and it had been hinted that it was a temp-to-perm position, in her case.

What her parents wanted for her, it was not. They were still hoping that she'd find a nice buck, one that wouldn't run screaming for the hills when they found out the Hopps family was a lycanthropic bloodline, and settle down. That was absolutely not what she wanted. She wanted a career in law enforcement. It could only last so long, of course. Her enhanced lifespan would require her to end her career after twenty or so years. It wasn't uncommon, but in her family it was less so. The majority of her relatives spent their days as carrot farmers, unless they inherited the blessing of the Blood. In that case, they were most likely to tie themselves to the land and defend it, in addition to tending the crops.

That was the one part of her situation that made Judy's lot in life bearable. Her Beast tied her to her homeland, so her dream of being a big-city cop was all but impossible. She would have to settle for being a deputy and eventually sheriff for a time, before retiring to fulfill her duty. If she wanted to leave the lands she had been born to, she would have to find a new home and put down roots there, otherwise her Beast would whither. It could be done, but the few tales she heard of it happening were not happy in the rare case they were successful, at all.

The only story she heard of a Lycanthrope finding a new home was more a fairytale than fact. A sad, romantic yarn of a mammal who possessed the Blessed Blood and chose to leave his home and clan to pursue a great love. Supposedly, the love and support of the mammal's mate helped him survive the isolation and rooted him in his new lands far more surely than could have been accomplished on his own. It was a sweet tale, but more cautionary tale than anything else; a fantasy and a warning. Once the lycanthrope had severed his connection and rooted himself elsewhere he could never return to his family, but he did survive and founded another clan in a faraway land.

Farming the land and protecting it was absolutely what her family was all about. Both her parents were of the Bloodline, so it wasn't a surprise that they were so tied to the land, or that she and her Beast met so young. Most born lycanthropes didn't ascend until their mind-to-late teens. Her first transformation came shortly after the altercation with the Grey todd and now, she was one of the strongest in her family, certainly the strongest in her generation. She supposed she should be grateful for her childhood bully for being the catalyst, but she hadn't seen him since that day and she wasn't about to give credit unless he deserved it. Judith Laverne Hopps was not the selflessly forgiving kind. She expected at least some form of repentance before she'd consider it. It was a Were thing.

Another Were thing were heightened senses, including smell. That was why she was so far out on her patrol. She had planned to follow the river east to the limit of the forest and then head south until the ravine. It was a long hike, but her Beast would make short work of it. By her calculations, she would be home two hours before dawn. Plenty of time for a nap before she headed into campus for her 10:50 criminology course.

That was before she caught the scent of something strange. It smelled like a male fox, but there was something queer about it. Her Beast would not let her discard it, even with promises to come back later and check it out. One thing that non-Were's failed to comprehend was that a lycanthrope was not one being, but two in one body. Ascension merely woke the Beast aspect of the lycanthrope's personality up, unless they were made. That was a whole box of frogs Judy had no interest in thinking about. It had been enough of a challenge for her at age ten to meet a whole other personality in her own head, let along learn to negotiate with it. Thankfully, she had recently learned about Venn Diagrams in school, so for once her father's explanations of something were helpful.

When she was herself, Judy was in control and the Beast took a back seat. She was always there, but she was observing, not in control. When Judy went Were, the roles were reversed. They could influence each other and argue, even act as a reality check when they were in the back seat. However, who was in charge was non-negotiable. It was not only a fact of reality, but one of the things she and her alter ego had agreed upon first. The only exception lay in when either of them felt they were being placed at risk by the others' actions. That hadn't happened often. Judith and her Beast were very good about communicating and explaining. It was one of the reasons she was so powerful and so respected by her clan.

Unfortunately for Judy, Beast was in charge when they found the strange smell and would not let it go. As it was not a danger and Judy could find no substantial objections, she found herself traveling north from the bend at Snaketail Island. That was perhaps two thirds of the distance downriver she had intended to go. Judy was annoyed that her plans had been so neatly discarded. At Beast's reminder, a strange smell meant an intruder. It was their responsibility to get rid of them. Judy sighed her agreement and they tracked the strange smell through the undergrowth.

It was a relatively short trek, only a half-dozen miles or so, but slow. They didn't want to spook whatever it was, so they proceeded both slowly and without stealth. Judy was confused, but Beast was insistent that this was the right way to go about approaching. They'd been on many hunts, both for sport and duty, but never had Judith known her other half to discard such an advantage so readily. She reasoned that it was something new, so they were suspending judgement until they understood the nature of whatever it was a bit better. They could always terrify it until it was gone, or shred it to flinders. They'd done it before.

They finally got close and Beast picked up on something that set their fur on end. Their ears perked and heard the fox, for that's what it was mutter, "Of all the things I could be killed by, it just had to be a were-rabbit." It knew what they were. Another tentative step and they got the answer they had been seeking. The fox smiled, showing a set of too-sharp canines next to their regular fangs.

Vampire.

Judy charged.