Chapter 4
The Terror of Le Gevaduan
Rated: T Probably lower but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Warning: none.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used nor do I have any rights to the book I read to get the inspiration for these stories. The book "Phantom Animals" was written by Daniel Cohen.
A/N: Not much to say, its Kanda's turn this time. As with all of my stories this has no Beta, so please forgive (and/or point out) the errors that I might avoid or fix them in the future. Now, for the story to begin.
0.o
"What do you know about werewolves?" Kanda gave a glance at those surrounding him. Lenalee merely shrugged while Allen looked a little baffled but Lavi grinned widely.
"Throughout history there have been many tales of werewolves. Most of these tales are legends—stories that have little or no basis in fact—though people may have believed them. A few of history's werewolves were murderous madmen, who thought themselves to be wild animals and tore their victims apart-" Kanda decided to interrupt Lavi before he could enter full lecture mode and disrupt the somewhat unnerving atmosphere that had finally been created.
"My story takes place in the rugged mountains surrounding a village called Saint Etienne de Lugdares and occurred over a three year period beginning 1764. It's in France." Kanda paused briefly to give Allen a pointed glare. Taking the hint, he wisely kept his mouth shut and let Kanda proceed with his tale.
"In mid July the body of a young girl was found in one of the valleys, her heart had been torn out. That was the first recorded killing in the reign of terror by a creature that came to be known as the Beast of Le Gevaduan. Within a few days there were several more killings of children reported.
"The killings spread panic among the peasants. They gathered their children and left the livestock to fend for itself. But a few weeks passed without any additional killings, and life seemed to return to normal.
"Then, late in August, a peasant woman from the village of Langogne reported that she had seen a fantastic creature. It walked on two legs like a man, but it was covered with short reddish hair and had a pig-like snout. It was a big as a donkey and had rather short ears and a long tail. The woman said that the creature had frightened off her dogs, but had itself been frightened by her cattle, which attacked it with lowered horns.
"The description sounded so fantastic that even the most superstitious among the peasants laughed at it. They stopped laughing within a few days, however, when the monster was reported again. This time the witness was a man known for his courage and truthfulness. He fired at the creature with his musket, but either the shot missed or the creature was unaffected by the bullet."
"Duh, everyone knows that you can't stop a werewolf with regular bullets," Lavi chuckled loudly before Kanda's glare aimed at him. "Heh, sorry. Keep going."
"Anyway the murders of children began again. Many who had been taken out of isolated pastures after the first alarm had been allowed to return and now some of them fell victim to a creature that killed and mutilated. Not surprisingly, rumors began to circulate that region was afflicted by a loup-garou-"
"That's what they call the werewolf in France," Lavi quickly clarified as he caught a glimpse of Allen's confused frown. Allen nodded a quick thank you to Lavi before Kanda gave an annoyed growl.
"If I could continue," glancing at the others faces in the flicker of the fire he gained affirmative if meek nods from them all before believing he could actually do so.
"Word of the murders in Le Gevaduan reached the king. He dispatched a company of soldiers to deal with the beast. The soldiers arrived in February 1765. Almost immediately they encountered the creature—or something. They opened fire on it, but it ran off into the underbrush and could not be located. There were no more killings for a few weeks. The soldiers assumed that they had mortally wounded the beast, and that it had crawled off to some hidden place to die. They returned to the palace at Versailles to report to the king that they had successfully completed their mission. The report was premature.
"As the weather warmed up and the children were again sent to the mountains to tend the cattle and sheep, the killings started all over again. The king received another urgent appeal but this time he was slow to respond. It wasn't until early in 1766 that a second military expedition was sent to the area. The soldiers killed a large wolf which they confidently declared to be 'the Beast of Le Gevaduan.' They marched back to Versailles in triumph, and once again the king declared the emergency was over. Too bad once again he was wrong.
"The beast continued to stalk Le Gevaduan, and several villages were actually abandoned because of fear of the monster. Finally in June 1767, nearly three years after the killings had begun; a local nobleman organized a huge party of hunters and swore that they would not rest until the monster really had been killed.
"On Jun 19 the beast was surrounded in a patch of woods at Le Sogne d'Auvert. One of the hunters, a man named Cross, had a gun loaded with silver bullets."
"Because according to their traditions, only a silver bullet can kill a werewolf," forgetting Kanda's wrath Lavi excitedly broke in again.
"Lavi, I swear to God if you don't stop interrupting me I'm going to find the biggest branch around and beat you with it!" Kanda snarled.
"And where will you get that from? Your as-"
"Lavi! Please don't be vulgar," Lenalee cut through their argument but it was still hard to miss the suppress laughter in her voice.
"Um, perhaps you should finish your story Kanda." Allen cautiously spoke up to try and prevent further angering Kanda.
"Fine," Kanda took a deep breath to calm himself down as he tried to remember where he was in the story. "When he saw the beast he fired two shots. The second struck the monster in the heart and it fell dead. The carcass was then carried from village to village as proof that the terrible beast finally was really dead."
Lavi still not showing a fear of Kanda cut in again. "Unfortunately, the accounts are not clear as to just exactly what the thing looked like or where it was buried. Though most descriptions make it sound like a very large but strange-looking wolf, with close cropped ears and unusual hoof-like feet."
"So what was the Beast of Le Gevaduan?" To Lenalee it seemed that Kanda's story was concluded so she asked the question that had plagued her.
Again Lavi chose to try and impress her by flaunting his knowledge. "Some believe that it was just a large and exceptionally ferocious wolf, or perhaps several wolves whose killings were all attributed to a single creature by the frightened peasants. The peasants may also have exaggerated the extent and nature of the killings, attributing unrelated deaths to the beast.
"One theory holds that there was an outbreak of rabies among the wolves of Le Gevaduan, and that the disease is what caused them to behave in so vicious and uncharacteristic a manner because normally wolves avoid human beings.
"Others say the beast was really a man—a homicidal madman who was never really caught but died at about the same time Cross shot the wolf.
"And then there are those who think that the Beast of Le Gevaduan was exactly what the peasants thought it was, the loup-garou—the werewolf.
"In any event, this is among the most intriguing and best documented of all werewolf accounts."
"Wow, that was a really good story Kanda." Allen's praise cutting Lavi's rambling off as he and Lenalee nodded in agreement. Kanda merely shrugged his shoulders in indifference yet even in the faint light of the fire his eyes held a sparkle of joy at the acknowledgement.
"So," Lavi spoke with clear glee while turning to Allen, "that just leaves your story."
0.o
A/N: This story was called "The Beast of Le Gevaduan". The man who shot the Beast was actually named Jean Chastel. While no one seems to know where the remains of the monster were buried, tourists are still shown the spot where Chastel is supposed to have felled it. His gun can be seen in the church at Saint Martin-de-Bouchaux.