Chapter Ten:
Feeding Ground
The Olde Woods:
Amongst the camp, upon a blanket close to the fire, Major Bruckner had been laid out by his gang. He was still unconscious, and the gypsy woman called Ursula was watching him with agitation – as Doctor Manning was ordered by her to administer treatment to her lover.
"I have done what I can for now. He only took a blow to the head, and should be waking up before soon, madam!" Looking across from the glaring Ursula, Manning focused his attention upon the captive Victor and Jack. Both of them were being held at gunpoint, forced to lie down on their knees and hold their clasped hands pressed to the tops of their heads. "What manner of creature did this, again, Mr Danforth?" the doctor asked him.
"It was a demon of some sort, I feel certain of this, doctor!" Victor blurted. "It spoke too fast. Gibbered. "Said something like: 'Mistresswontsyu! Youswillserver' to Bruckner. And… And there was a ghost! It came out of the creature…- and, and it sank into Major Bruckner!"
"A ghost?" Ursula sneered. "Have you been dreaming of Hamlet, playwright?"
But Doctor Manning took him more seriously. "What ghost? Describe it, man!"
Victor sweated. "Um… It was tall and slender. And…it laughed before vanishing. Yes! I remember. It was a woman's laughter. Gleeful laughter…"
" 'Mistresswontsyu'?" Jack muttered, frowning. "Could that be 'Mistress wants you'? That demon was serving a lady ghost?"
"'Youswillserver'…'Youswontstopwotskoming'," Victor replied to himself the words the demon had blurted. "It must have meant 'You will serve her'… You won't stop what's coming…"
"No…! Dear god, no…"
Victor looked up, to see Doctor Manning seemly on the verge of fainting. "What is it, doctor?!"
Manning glanced down at the unconscious Major Bruckner, before raising his gray eyes to face Victor. "Elaine Bartlett! Curse her damned soul! She has somehow clung onto life and built up her magic! If she's was able to possess a lesser demon, as your account suggests, then she has come for her brother!"
"Her…brother?" Victor repeated. He shot his eyes down at Bruckner. "The Major?"
"Yes! Elaine Bartlett – the Shadow Witch who was the scourge of this township over a year ago. She was born Elaine Bruckner!" the doctor spat.
Ursula hissed. "Lucien is mine! No ghost – or witch – will take him from m-"
She was cut off by the sudden howling of wolves in the night air.
"Good lord! That sounds close!" Victor exclaimed, dropping his hands from his head as he shot his wide eyes around.
Immediately, the gang of thugs and smugglers galvanized themselves into action.
"There's a pack of them! All around us!" one of them yelled.
"They're changing in! Shoot at 'em. An' grab firebrands!" the second-in-command snapped at them. "Wortner and Worboys – you guard his nibs's mistress!"
"Sure thing, Mr Lexington," the duo shot back.
And with that, they hurried into action. Meanwhile, Wortner and Worboys remained with Ursula and her baby – to keep watch over Doctor Manning, Victor and Jack.
Victor ran his clammy hand across his sweat-drenched forehead. Where were the outlaws? They would have noticed that he and Jack were missing by now… Surely?
Jack abruptly yanked on his shoulder. "Mr Danforth! Look!" He pointed at the Major, whose body was now convulsing. The man grunted.
Ursula screamed, and almost dropped her torch. "Do something, doctor!"
"Right! Mr Danforth. Jack. Help me restrain him…"
But even as the pair aided Doctor Manning, Bruckner's body twisted as shots and wolf cries rang out in the background of the night-shrouded woods. Then his fine clothes abruptly ripped, revealing a chest that was sprouting a pale-brown dusting of hairs that were spreading out in a wave across his arms and neck. By the light of the fire and Ursula's torch, Bruckner's skin, muscles, and his very skeleton seemed to be undergoing some metamorphosis. A healed bite mark, just above his left hip was revealed – just before it became covered up by the emergent fur…
The Major's grunts began to turn into snarls. His bones 'cracked', realigned, and settled into new positions. The shoes burst apart – and clawed, animal-like feet kicked their way out of the ruined leathers. Meanwhile his hands changed into clawed, half-paws. Bruckner's jaw 'crunched' as it was forced forward at the same time as his ears noticeably elongated towards the top of his reshaping head, turning pointed in the process. His nose turned dark, leathery, and wet.
Bruckner's eyes snapped open. The brown orbs were now turning yellow in the light of the camp fire, before Victor's frightened gaze. The man's convulsions then ceased, and he flexed his firmer, fur-coated muscles. He snarled again, this time louder – and his parted black lips revealed the sharp, drooling fangs, as Victor, Jack, and Manning all let go of him and backed away.
Ursula screamed. This time she did drop her torch.
"Werewolf bite!" Doctor Manning cried out, pointing at the Major's hip. "Don't let him bite or scrat-"
"Shurrt upp…," Bruckner growled. He moved with surprising swiftness, rolling over, then lashing out with a half-paw – punching the doctor in the cheek with such force that the bespectacled man was sent flying into the nearest tree. An instant later, the Major pulled himself up upon his balled rear paws as a fully-fledged tan-colored wolf man, his just-grown lupine tail twitching behind him. Grinning, he howled to the gibbous moon in the sky above. The wolf pack answered.
"Get the doctor, Jack!" Victor cried out. He and the servant boy helped Manning to his feet as they retreated a few yards, with Victor grabbing the torch Ursula had dropped as they did so. In the meantime, Ursula – still holding onto her baby daughter – collapsed onto her knees in shock. The two armed thugs finally broke out of their stupor and fired at their leader-turned-werewolf. But before the bullets could hit the chest of their target, they were both dissolved by a glow of red light.
"What in the devil's name!?"
Bruckner sniggered. A human voice came from the open lupine mouth. "No. Our name. The name of Bruckner. I have been joined again with my brother – and we shall have our revenge against the town that sentenced me to death!" There was another snigger. "A werewolf tried to kill my brother. He failed. But now I consequently have a stronger champion for my possession. A champion who will embrace me – for he shares the many of the same hates as I do…"
"No… The Shadow Witch…!" one of the thugs whimpered. It was the shorter, fatter one of the pair.
"Correct, Worboys. Now decide…, do either of you wish to live – or do you want to serve as food for the wolves?" the possessed Bruckner snarled.
Whilst Worboys backed away in fear, the braver Wortner quickly pulled out a piece of burning firewood from the nearby flames and swung it at the wolf man as he gave a battle cry. Bruckner snarled and ducked the attack, landing on all fours. Then, he bounded aside and twisted round – clawing at the thug's legs before he could recover from his clumsy follow-up with his improvised torch. Wortner screamed and fell down. He reached for his dropped torch – but Bruckner jumped upon him, and bit him in the arm. The thug gave a piercing cry of agony.
Worboys grabbed an ax and ran over to the still-screaming Ursula, ready to defend her. The baby too, was now crying in fear.
"Get out of here, all of you!" Victor yelled to them. Then he and Jack were running as fast as they could, holding onto the semi-conscious Doctor Manning – who seemed groggy and was struggling to put his own feet down in tandem with them. Around them, the members of Bruckner's gang were screaming for their lives as the timber wolves attacked as an organized pack. Pausing as they reached the tree line, Victor swept his frightened gaze around the clearing, and saw some of the swift-moving wolves being shot by the more-skilled shooters of the gang, as well as a few howling their death cries upon being engulfed in flames after successful strikes by the firebrands. But greater in number were the men screaming as they were dived upon by the snarling animals, prior to having their throats torn out.
"It's a massacre, Mr Danforth!" Jack panted. "But the wolves around 'ere.., I've never seen or heard of them being so…savage. Not to people! It ain't natural!"
"Shadow Witch's work… It has to be…," Doctor Manning groaned, as he too saw and heard the outcome of the fighting for himself. "Now…where are you taking me?"
"Back to our camp! Quickly, Jack – into the woods!"
But the three of them had only managed to slip past the first line of trees, before they came to a halt. The tall, gnarled tree in front of them had somehow grown a pair of eyes – eyes that blazed towards the little party with an unearthly yellow light in the dusk. Next, there was the groaning of wood as the bark just below the eyes split open into a wide mouth, filled with sharp wooden fangs.
More creaking followed. Heart pounding madly in his chest, Victor slowly glanced around, to see two more trees – one on either side of them – splitting on the bark to each form a pair of amber eyes and fanged maws. All bearing an expression of fury. Then the three trees somehow uprooted themselves from the ground and advanced towards the unarmed Victor, Jack, and Doctor Manning, the thicker branches swinging their way…
"Dear Lord…," Victor whispered, too stunned to say anything else.
"Um… Can we race back for the ax that man had…?" Jack suggested hopefully. He looked towards the gang's camp, only to stiffen as a man yell out and then violently scream out from that direction.
"That…that sounds like the voice of the man who was guarding the lady," Victor muttered as he held their torch aloft with sweat-drenched figures. "The man who's ax we would like to have, right now…"
"So what do we do now, Mr Danforth? We have no weapons…" Jack's voice shook.
The angry-looking trees came closer, their sprayed out roots before them digging into new ground, prior to pulling themselves forward – only to pull out of the earth again and repeat the process of gradual movement…
"Um… Um…," Victor stammered. "Keep back!" He jabbed the torch forward, making the trees pause. Then the branches of two of the living trees swung at them, in an attempt to send the torch flying out of the playwright's grasp. Quickly, Victor swung the torch round to defend his party – and the ends of the nearest branch caught alight.
The living tree gave a screech, and shook itself in its pain. But then the thick branch of the other tree whipped round and clipped Victor, sending him flying aside. He hit the ground, and rolled over, groaning – but aware that it could have been worse. The torch fell into a bush and set it alight. Now it was difficult to retrieve, Jack realized.
He and Doctor Manning saw the living trees grin evilly, before advancing again…
"Hold on!"
Victor and Jack looked across to where the commanding voice had come from. Before their startled eyes, the Scarlet Shadow appeared as if from thin air besides one of the living trees, one hand clenched around an amulet that had just stopped glowing. His other hand brandished a torch.
"How di-," Victor spluttered.
"Magical amulet of invisibility, Mr Danforth!" the Shadow cried out with glee. "It only works for several minutes at a time, though. Allows me to move quite a distance - like a shadow. And I couldn't use it at the marsh, earlier - because there was no time to invoke the incantation on it!"
The living tree strained to turn towards the new intruder.
"Well then… Let's be dealing with you, minion of Elaine Bartlett!" the Shadow declared. Ducking to avoid the branch whizzing across to swat him, he rammed his torch right into the mouth of the magically-wrapped tree. It immediately screamed – the branches whipping frantically at the air around it. Then the Shadow pulled the torch out of the wooden mouth and used it to further injure the tree with the flames.
In the next instant, Katarina Clark cried out as she emerged from the top of a nearby rise. She fired his pistol at another of the living trees – then, with a battle cry, she charged into the fighting, swinging her own torch before her with childish excitement.
Then there was the sound of howling, close by. Victor, Jack, Katarina, and the Scarlet Shadow all stopped and turned to see the tall, broad-chested wolf man that was Major Bruckner at the edge of the clearing. But on either side of the others, were two other, stooped wolf men.
By the flickering flames of the torches and the burning, wailing living tree, Victor and the others could see that the two smaller wolf men still bore the ripped remains of their clothing. Victor recognized the coloring on both of them. One was the apparent second-in-command of the gang – Lexington had been his name, Victor reminded himself. The other was the recently-bitten Wortner.
"Oh…! Holy mother.. NO!" He warned the outlaws. "Not only has the Major become a werewolf…, he has started to infect his own men!"
The transformed Major Bruckner turned his lupine face towards Victor, and snarled. "It seems that you are a clever man… So I will give you a choice, you fat oik who interfered with me at the manor! Surrender and give me Doctor Manning, and you will live. If you refuse me, you will die…!"
"Well… This just got interesting!" Katarina gave a hard grin at Victor and her fellow outlaws. Her expression then turned sober. "The visions…they're starting to become reality!"
"So what do we need to do now, love?" the Shadow asked her.
"Don't let them take Manning, for starters!" Katarina called back.
Bruckner snarled at his feral kin. "Lexington! Wortner! Bring me Doctor Manning. Slaughter the rest as you see fit! The living trees will help you!"
The two wolf men yelped their compliance – and then bounded towards Victor and the three members of the outlaw clan.
"Take cover!" the Scarlet Shadow yelled out.
The next minute or so was chaotic mayhem, with the darkness of the woods lit up only by the light of the torches and the burning barks of the screeching living trees. The eyes of the lesser wolf men flashed yellow in the firelight.
Still without a weapon, Victor decided to hide instead by running further into the woods. As he stopped behind a sturdy (thankfully non-animated tree), he panted and tried to steady his labored breathing. Tried to think through his next move. He felt bad about fleeing from the others – but what could he do without a weapon…?
Before long, there was movement. With the gibbous moon above now shining clear of the evening's clouds, Victor glanced out from behind his tree – to see the Scarlet Shadow and Katarina running, carrying Doctor Manning between them. He could hear Katarina sobbing.
"No time for that, love! We can't help Jack now!" the Scarlet hissed at her.
"We've lost him! And you've lost that amulet, Darcius!"
"Yes, darned it! Bruckner came for me, himself! He's too fast – but I managed to get him away from Manning… No! Don't let the doctor go. Let's get him back to the camp, where Ruby is…"
"Mr Danforth…!" Katarina protested.
"He ran off! He can do what he likes, as far as I'm concerned!" the Shadow snapped. Then the two outlaws were gone, swallowed up by the shadows of the deeper woods.
Oh, lord… What do I do now!? Victor asked himself, as his heart and breathing began to return to a more normal level. Or as normal as his nerves would allow him.
But as he listened, his amazement grew. There was no sound of the pursuing wolf men, no heavy dragging of the animated trees.
Curiosity gnawed at him. What had happened to Jack?
With the aid of the moonlight, Victor decided to take a risk – and retrace his steps. He had found Jack to be a friendly, likeable lad. And if he wasn't dead, then maybe he could redeem himself by rescuing the boy. At least Doctor Manning had survived so far, after all, thanks to himself and the servant boy…
The burning of the living trees guided him back to the scene of the fighting. All three of the animated horrors were alight and swiveling in the burning heat. One of the smaller wolf men, Wortner, was also being consumed by the flames. He was spread-eagled on the bush where Victor had lost his torch. Blood had oozed out of a gunshot to his chest, but the werewolf was still alive – just. His nose twitched, and he saw Victor approaching. One forepaw was raised – as if begging to be pulled free of his funeral pyre by the stunned playwright.
Then the creature croaked his last, and he slumped down – lost to his fate.
Victor turned away in disgust, realizing what had happened. One of the outlaws – The Scarlet Shadow he sensed - had shot the wolf men, sending him flying into the burning bush. And yet Bruckner and the other wolf man had abandoned him…
I understood wolves to be animals that looked out for each other… And yet, these werewolves do not…
Where are the other fiends, anyway?
Victor stopped to think. The invisibility charm… The Scarlet Shadow had lost it during the fighting, when Bruckner had got close to him…
After a minute of searching, with the light of the fires to guide him, Victor saw the amulet. It lay in a dip, underneath the toppled-over trunk of one of the living trees. The fire had not quite got as far as the part nearest to the trinket…
Gulping, Victor got onto his knees, and slowly, carefully shuffled his way underneath the still branches – feeling the heat of the fire as it gradually crept closer to where he was now stretched out on the ground, hand straining to grab hold of the amulet.
If I could just reach…
Victor moaned, feeling the edges of the branch cutting into his clothes. He pushed himself further, until finally…
"Got it!" he gasped.
*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*
Shadowbrook:
The statue of Samuel Shaw took slow, but deliberate, heavy steps towards them all. Then Isabella dived upon the floor to retrieve her dropped pistol, and readied it, before firing – aiming at its face.
"You intent to kill us, man of stone? I think not!" the noblewoman remarked coolly.
The shot struck the advancing statue, but it only clipped the arm that had swatted the bullet.
"Wait!" Anne Marie summoned up her courage and took a pace forward as she addressed the statue. "Ar-are you still…Samuel Shaw? Wh-what do you want?"
But the statue was silent as it continued to advance.
"Keep it focused on you!" Harlow cried out, as he made a dash for his workbench of chemicals…
The statue turned its head and bared its teeth at the panicking inventor, as he fumbled. Suddenly, it began moving again – its pace now somehow faster as its stony frame continued to grate with each stride.
"It's intelligent!" Anne Marie blurted. "It's identified…"
"…that Mr Morgan can do something to it. So let us slow it down!" Inspector Cooke answered back. "If bullets cannot stop it, grab something around you that will!"
And so they improvised. The next half-minute or so was chaotic, as Anne Marie and Cooke moved to either side of the statue in half-tandem and used various items against it as weapons – the unlit Bunsen burner, a stool (which broke into pieces against the statue), and the barrels of their pistols. In return, the living statue punched anyone who got too close – and it soon managed to seize Inspector Cooke's arm with a crushing grip. Before he knew it, Cooke found himself on his knees – with both of the gray hands now tightening their cold, unyielding grasp around his neck…
He began to choke as his own hands failed to prise apart the statue's grip on him. The room started to blur.
Anne Marie screamed.
Then Harlow Morgan smashed a vial over the back of the statue's head. Smoke rose from the impact. Cooke detected an acrid stench.
Acid…, he realized.
He opened his clenched eyes. With amazement, he felt the living statue's grip on his neck lessen – just enough for him and Anne Marie to have a chance at breaking the monstrosity's hold on him. The expression on the statue's face had changed. It was now locked in an unending scream of silence, as the acid slowly dissolved the back of its head.
"Take cover!" Isabella yelled as she raised the hunting rifle into position.
With a hard yank, Anne Marie pulled Cooke free, and they fell down. Harlow Morgan also flung himself clear, as the statue tried to decide which target to pursue.
BANG!
The shot blasted the weakened head into pieces. The remainder of the statue wavered on its legs for a moment – before crashing down onto one of the storage benches. Inspector Cooke and Anne Marie rolled aside before they could be crushed by the falling clutter and the smoking pieces of the now not-so-living statue.
For several seconds, nobody moved. They were all reeling, and recovering, from the encounter.
"Oh dear! I hope that…nobody was struck by the acid?" Harlow called out.
The others all replied in the negative. Then Cooke forced himself to rise to his full height, before helping Anne Marie up. Isabella, wanting the same attention from the Inspector, had to be content with Harlow coming to her assistance, instead.
"What is…behind zis…devilry?" Anne Marie asked, speaking for all four of them.
"I do not know. But it seems that that soldier, Harrison, was correct," Cooke replied. "He told me that the statues were the missing people turned to stone. And now…is the other also alive?"
"The one you saw outside of the windmill, you mean, Insp-," Isabella found herself cut off, as Captain Townsend and the militia guard burst into the warehouse. The Captain was bleeding from a cut to his cheekbone. Both men were wide-eyed and gasping from exertion.
"Captain? Wh-?"
"Inspector Cooke! Those creatures that were killed at Hanbrook Manor… There are more of them – in the sky above the town," Townsend panted. "They are swooping down…and clawing the citizens at random! We are all under attack!"
*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*
The Olde Woods:
The next stage tested Victor's courage further. He had examined the amulet. By the light of the nearest burning tree he had seen the Latin inscription – and he counted himself fortunate that he was able to read Latin.
Victor offered a quick prayer to God and the Holy mother as he fingered his rosary. Then he read allow the inscription, which translated as 'No one and nothing shall detect me'. Immediately, he felt a peculiar tingling sensation sweep through him.
Hearing growling and a woman's cries, he hurried over to the edge of the clearing, where Bruckner's gang had set up their smuggler's camp. What he saw there, made him run in fright to the cover of a nearby oak tree – from which he peeked around, to take in fully the ghastly developments. He was also close enough to listen to what he was about to learn. The fighting around the now-wrecked camp was over. The fire pit was still smoldering, though the tents were shredded – as if someone amongst the thugs had run into them to find something to defend themselves with, only to be dragged out again by the clamping grip of lupine fangs.
There were a few wolves lying still on the ground – dead from pistol fire or dagger thrusts. But outnumbering them were several ruffians and also a couple of women who Victor had earlier spied drinking and laughing with the gang members. Currently, most of the dead human bodies were being torn apart by the timber wolves. There was already a trail of bones in one area, near to the river, where the gore had been splashed onto the immediate trees and rocks.
As for the other human bodies…
Victor gulped. In spite of the amulet, he felt…unsafe, having glimpsed the feeding ground. The remaining four, untouched corpses of the thugs had been gathered together at the focal point of the present scene of the action. Looking down at the bodies with hunger, two of the wolf men creatures were holding Jack and Ursula captive.
His arms held tightly behind his back, Jack shot his head round at as Victor stifled his cry of alarm and accidently kicked a small stone. Immediately, the largest, tan-colored, more-muscular wolf man raised his gore-stained muzzle from the man he was eating, which was Worboys. Victor saw Bruckner's lupine face whip round to face him. He sniffed, but - after several moments when the paralyzed Victor feared that his end was upon him – Bruckner faced his captive audience again.
And through it all, Victor realized that Ursula's baby was not screaming. Instead, he spied the still form of the baby girl on the ground next to Ursula – the shawl it had been wrapped in was stained red in the moonlight…
The amulet works…, a part of Victor comprehended with relief – even as he wiped away the budding tears in his eyes over the baby's fate. Jack heard the stone that I kicked – but Bruckner could not smell me, so he dismissed the thought of a watcher!
If I can hold my nerve and cunning, I just might live…
"Silence, girl!" Bruckner barked at the wailing Ursula. "And you pair – Lexington, Nixon – stop slobbering! You will get to feed soon enough…"
"What's exactly has happened to you, Major?" Jack yelled, straining to free himself from the wolf man that was digging its claws into his wrists.
Bruckner licked the gore from his blood-stained fangs with relish, and replied. Despite his metamorphosis, his voice was rough, but still clear enough. It conveyed power and authority.
"My sister has made me her host for her undying spirit. And she has, in the process, used her magic to accelerate the oncoming transformation that I did not realize was soon to befall me."
"You were bitten by a werewolf…," Jack deduced.
"Yes… Three nights ago, at the nearby crossroads," Bruckner elaborated. "My sister's spirit was watching at the time, in secret. She saw this werewolf attacking me and my group of men. It seems that we were targeted for death, because we were having our fun with a peasant woman." The lycanthropic Major snorted. "A werewolf playing at being a shepherd of humans! When I find him, I will teach him who is the more worthy recipient of our blessed nature…!"
"Who…is he?" Jack pressed him.
Bruckner scowled. "Neither I nor my sister know. Yet. It must be someone living close by."
Jack suspects I am here! The thought struck Victor. He is questioning Bruckner, so that I can listen, learn, and…and get away. For me to warn the township…!
"Your sister possessed you, Lucien… And you accept what she has forced upon you?" Ursula sobbed, diverting Victor from his thoughts.
Bruckner gave a chilling lupine grin.
"Oh yes, my dear. This is not the first time we've played at being wolves…," he replied mysteriously. "But my sweet sister's spirit has come into her full power, after building up her strength for the past year. Now that she has fully utilized the abilities of the Delion Dryad, which she gained from her victory over that inferior wrench, my sister is now able to possess certain beings. She was in control of the gibbering horror that attacked me – and now she is within me. My dear Elaine has made my mind, as well as my body, more powerful. Together…, together we will take our joint revenge upon Shadowbrook and its hypocritical town elders. Before the Other being tries to take over the town with its minions…"
"The…Other being?" Jack repeated, in alarm.
Bruckner waved a dismissive half-paw. "No matter. Our own army shall meet that of the Other. And the people of Shadowbrook will be caught in the middle… If they are wise, they will join our army, our pack. Otherwise, they will die…
"Your pack… No!" Jack squirmed, still unable to free himself. Straining his neck round, he yelled to the wolf men holding him and Ursula captive. "This is madness! Why don't you men speak up for yourselves?"
"My feral kin are unable to communicate in the human tongue anymore, it seems." Bruckner grinned. "The magic of my sister – potent as it is – is designed to make them not as powerful as me, but instead as loyal slaves… And now, let us deal with you two. You boy… You are a servant to the Scarlet Shadow, yes? What has he and your party been doing, whilst spying on me? Where would they be taking the doctor? Hmm?" Bruckner grasped hold of Jack's collar bone – making him cry out in agony
"You won't get anything out of me…, mister!" he gasped.
Bruckner barked a harsh laugh. "Don't be so stupid. Yes I will. You saw what I did to Lexington and Nixon here. Once my sister has extended her magic to include you, your mind will be as an open book to her…"
"No! Don't, mister! We came to save you and the doc…," Jack exclaimed.
"I do not need…saving…from anything. As for the doctor, I believe I managed to scratch him – like I have scratched and bitten you pair, boy. And now, my sister believes that your small size and local knowledge of the area's shortcuts will be to our advantage – so from this moment on you will act as a servant boy to us. Hold him still, Nixon!"
Jack screamed, before the wolf man that was Nixon clamped his half-paw over the lad's mouth.
"Prepare yourself for my sister's…dark seduction." Bruckner licked his fangs and tore away Jack's already-shredded jacket and shirt with his half-paws, to expose the claw and bite marks around the young man's collar bone. Then a red glow of energy was emitted from Bruckner's foreclaws, as he used them to clasp Jack's shoulder. The magic was transmitted to the terrified lad – who then collapsed upon the ground, convulsing wildly. He hollered in agony.
Ursula screamed in turn, making Bruckner's lupine ears twitch.
"Silence, Ursula! Yes – it hurts. But not for long. And soon this boy will feel stronger and more alive than he has ever been!"
Victor watched the scene unfolding before him, transfixed with horror. He had wanted to save Jack – and although he could now see the ax on the ground, in the clearing, close to the wolf men, he was still afraid of getting too close to the gathered company. Maybe none of them would be able to detect him – but Victor suspected that neither was he a ghost to them. If one of the wolf men accidently brushed against him… Well, they only had to surround and grab him. Then their claws and teeth would do their damage. Even with an ax, three of them against one man, who was unused to fighting. Victor shook his head. Not good odds.
And what was happening to Jack? The young man had apparently broken out into a fever, crying out as he thrashed and kicked out on the ground in the moonlight. From his hiding place, yards away, Victor saw Jack's clothes tear apart as his body changed rapidly. His exposed body was undergoing a metamorphosis – with his skeleton, and muscles apparently contorting and realigning. Then the boy's skin become engulfed by a growing, rolling, wave of dark hairs which joined up to become a pelt of fur. Jack's hands turned into clawed half-paws. His face twisted, crunched, and reshaped into a muzzled visage identical to the wolf men behind him as his human hair changed and merged into his new cranial fur – and his ears lengthened and became pointed…
Within the minute, it was done. Jack lay on the ground, gasping. Then, at a snarl and a kick from Bruckner, the servant boy slowly rose and found his balance as he stood upon the balls of his rear paws, as a young, dark-furred, feral kin – thin and slightly-stooped like Lexington and Nixon. His new tail curling behind his legs, Jack whined and bowed his head to Bruckner, acknowledging him as his pack leader.
Ursula tried to scream – but Lexington already was pressing his half-paw over her mouth.
Bruckner grinned at her. "And now for you, my lover. Whilst I hated the girl you gave me – once my sister and I have had our vengeance, and secured our own territory, we will both gladly mate again. Your loyalty will be to me, and you will be dedicated to the survival of our pack, our race, Ursula!" And with that, he clasped her with both of his half-paws on her bite marks. The red glow of the Shadow Witch's magic engulfed the gypsy woman. Moments later, she was convulsing on the ground where she had slumped. Her wailing cries were already gradually turning animal-like, as her clothes tore apart at the seams – her cocoon of fabric breaking to give birth to the emergent feral kin wolf woman that Ursula was turning into…
Bruckner nodded to the subservient wolf men who were Lexington, Nixon, and Jack. "You may now feed upon the dead humans, my kindred!"
They yelped their appreciation and dived upon the ground, tearing into the gathered slain gang members – whilst the timber wolves licked their fangs as they finished their own meal. Meanwhile, Bruckner took in the transformation of his gypsy lover with glee.
Oh! Darn it…!
There was no one left to save now. Whilst Bruckner and the feral kin were all distracted, Victor forced himself to venture into the clearing, shaking. And yet still, none of the creatures registered his presence.
A tingling came from the amulet. Suspecting that its magic was fading, Victor picked up the ax, careful not to make any noise. Then he gradually backed away…
Silence fell as the feral kin all looked up from the remains of their meals. Ursula panted on the ground, and then rose upon her balled rear paws as their fully-fledged kindred sister, her whiskers, pointed ears, and lupine tail twitching. She bowed down to Bruckner, who reached out and affectionately stroked her dark cranial fur.
"Good… Now we are all of one purpose! But you must be hungry now, too, dear Ursula… Take the prize before you!"
With horror, Victor heard Ursula growl savagely. Then she fell down to the ground, and tore into her dead baby with relish.
Resisting the urge to be sick, the playwright turned and slipped away into the night, just before he sensed the amulet return him to normal vision.
As he fled, he paused upon hearing a woman's voice.
"No, my minions! Do NOT harm Solomon!"
Gasping, Victor forced himself to turn around. He could now hear a cat purring, close to the where Bruckner and the feral kin were feeding. There was a green glow now also, connected to Major Bruckner's half-lupine form. Inside the glow was a half-transparent floating image of a woman wearing a hood. She bore a cold smile as she appraised her new creations. Her new slaves…
Gulping, Victor turn back to face the woods before him. With a glance at the moon and stars above to guide his direction, he headed for the way that he desperately hoped would take him towards Shadowbrook.
*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*o*
Minutes later, Victor stopped from his run and leaned against a sturdy tree. He took deep breaths, and managed to force back down the bile rising in his throat.
Where am I now…?
Victor found himself at the edge of the olde woods. The road running nearby, lit only by the gibbous moon overhead was unfamiliar in the dark – but, drawing closer, the playwright could see that there were the tracks of many horses having passed during the past day. Also, the tread of a stagecoach…
The main road into Shadowbrook! he realized.
Glancing fearfully around him as he clung to the ax in his hands, Victor turned left and ran as fast as he could along the road – his exertions helping to keep the chill of the night away, for the moment…
About a quarter-hour later, he had caught sight of the covered bridge. A few lanterns were hooked up to the wooden frame, lighting up the militiamen present as they were in the process of tying together the hands of Ruby, Katarina, and the Scarlet Shadow. Doctor Manning was lying slumped on the wooden beams, close by – with one man using water from his bottle to cool the flushed face of the town elder.
Victor's heart fluttered at the knowledge that he was safe. Well, safer – anyhow…
Hearing a chorus of howling in the woods in the distance behind him, he gave a cry and sprinted over to the bridge – where the militia stopped him.
"Well, if it ain't the kidnapped playwright! Calm down, Mr Danforth…" The senior officer amongst them smirked. "Get your breath back. We'll want to hear your story. So too will the Magistrate when he's preparing the case against these criminals."
"No time for that…!" Victor gasped, as he collapsed. "The whole town's in danger! Were- Werewolves! They are going to at-attack Shadowbrook…"
"What!?" the officer retorted.
"Jack…?" Katarina asked him.
"Tu-turned into one of them, against his will!" Victor jabbed his finger at Doctor Manning. "Manning's been scratched! He needs treatment – before he changes too… The Shadow Witch… And…and another being! Two armies between them… Two armies will fight for control over Shadowbrook! Starting tonight!"
Katarina's face paled, and she spat. "My visions. They tried to warn me of this!"
The officer and the men looked at each other – and then laughed derisively.
"Seems like a night in the wild hasn't done your nerves much good, fat man!" the officer snorted. We've been having a good drink undercover here, and haven't had any trouble, have we, la-"
He was interrupted at that moment, by Ben Summersby pulling up on his horse – just outside the covered bridge. He had ridden there from the town. Victor saw that the young man's flushed face bore a gash.
"Quickly, men!" he cried out! "You're needed outside the blacksmiths. The town has been attacked!"