Monster party II

AN: BLOOD AND GORE WARNING!

Remember, this is, at the end of the day, a story about monsters.

Vince climbed up to the highest point of the park.

Despite being in human form, he still blended into the dark. It didn't work quite so well with anything that wasn't vampiric. That was why Vince went up and Howard didn't. Walking out onto the top balcony of the place, Vince cast his eyes out in the direction that Howard had turned when he'd picked up the werewolf.

Squinting, Vince looked.

Beyond the party, in the darkness, Vince looked. He sought out a large, hulking form. Werewolves were large and muscular creatures that moved best on all fours. When they stood upright, they were stooped over. Those were the marks that set them apart from their cousins, the wolf-men. So that was what Vince looked for.

Vince sniffed. Up here, he could easily detect the trace of werewolf scent that Howard had picked up. Narrowing his eyes, he zeroed in on the scent…and froze. It was difficult to see with human eyes, but Vince could make out a stooped over shape in the distance, prowling the perimeter of the property in the way that werewolves did.

But it was not a hulking shape.

:[

Jess laughed as one of her friends made a stupid remark. They'd stepped off of the dance floor by now. With a cup in her hand, Jess looked around the party again as the rest of their friends laughed too. Her eyes landed on Howard and Frank and she paused. Vince was missing from the group and they looked worried.

'Jess?' Bianca asked.

'I've gotta go to the bathroom,' she said quickly before hurrying away.

Jess quickly moved in that direction, but she blended into the crowd around the room. Then, with a wordless incantation, she narrowed in on the Drak Pack as Vince rejoined them.

'Werewolf?' Howard asked.

'Emaciated,' Vince said.

'Em-what?' Frank asked.

'That's a fancy word for someone who's particularly thin or weak,' Howard said. 'If a werewolf's emaciated, it means he hasn't eaten in a long time – both during the full moon and when he's human.'

'Ain't that just our luck?' Frank asked. 'We're in a building full of food for him!'

Yes but…Jess wracked her brain for what her grandmother had taught her. Yes, that was right. Werewolves and wolf-men had the same instincts as regular wolves. The reason no wolf attacks happened in this city was because a wolf-man already lived here. So…for now, the kids were safe. But…was that werewolf starving enough to risk trespassing on what it would recognise as Howler's territory?

That scared her.

And it was clearly what the Drak Pack were scared of too.

Jess watched the three boys turn and head towards the exit. For a moment, she considered her own next move. She could return to her friends. Those three were, respectively, a vampire, a wolf-man, and a patchwork monster. They should be able to handle one emaciated werewolf. But…Jess didn't feel right just leaving them to it.

Heaving a sigh, Jess pulled her hood up over her head and followed after.

:[

The doors of the house opened and three of the kids at the party left.

The doors closed behind them and they walked off of the porch and into the darkness. As they moved out of sight of the other teenagers, they transformed. Vincent James Junior transformed into Drak Jr. Howard Bane transformed into Howler. Frank Herbert transformed into Frankie. The Drak Pack walked through the woods, so focused on the werewolf that they didn't notice the witch following them.

They came to a stop.

A low growling could now be heard by all of them. Then…it melted out of the shadows. The werewolf was stooped over as it staggered out. But he was all skin and bones. His fur seemed to hang loosely from its frame. His eyes glowed and his teeth were bared, drool dripping down in a near-continuous stream. It was mindless.

'That's disgusting,' Drak remarked, looking at the staggering of the creature.

'You think he'd be able to understand us?' Frankie asked.

'Not right now,' Howler answered, his voice carrying a growl. 'The wolf has entirely taken over. We can't talk him down.'

As if to prove his point, the werewolf pounced with a roar.

The three members of the Drak Pack dived in three different directions.

:[

The werewolf slashed through where the Drak Pack had just been.

The creature snarled and dived at the nearest boy. Frankie ground his teeth as the beast came at him and caught him…her(?) in a headlock before throwing the werewolf aside. He seemed to be unharmed. The creature – Is it right to call that an animal? – Jess frowned as she watched Drak dodge as the werewolf took a swing at him next.

There was a lot of different lore surrounding werewolves. And Jess had no way of knowing what was right and what was superstition; whether a person became infected with lycanthropy through being bitten or scratched, or by drinking water from the paw print of a werewolf. She had no idea if silver actually worked, or if that was just made up. Not that she'd want to harm the poor thing anyway. Even from the distance she was at, Jess could see that the werewolf was nothing but skin and bones.

The werewolf was starving.

And that meant there was only one way to make the werewolf stop…

Jess looked down at her hands.

Could…could she do that?

:[

Howler landed on the werewolf's back.

The werewolf snarled and tried to lash at him. While it was true their monstrous forms would keep them from being infected – or from even being considered a meal – the same could not be said for the kids in the party. This guy was famished. So Howler had to be more careful than he usually would be.

I don't like this, Howler thought, as he spun the werewolf around and threw him away from the party. Werewolves don't get this hungry normally. Even if they don't get any meat in this form, when they turn human they can usually eat normally. To be this hungry, somebody has to have been intentionally starving this poor guy.

:[

Drak shrouded the area in mist, confusing the werewolf's senses. He had no worries for his friend though. Howler and Frankie had trained alongside him since they were small. They had learned to navigate in his fog. And he had learned how to make it easy for them, and then only, to navigate in his fog.

But this…well, this werewolf had clearly been starved.

That was the point, though.

Werewolves got hungry, but they were very rarely starved. If they didn't get anything in their animalistic state (which was unlikely), they did eat in their human form. That meant this one had been locked up and intentionally deprived of food. And then he was let loose on a human population. Only one group was cold enough to do that.

The Helsing Society.

:[

Frankie felt bad for this guy, he really did.

Even as he pinned down the struggling werewolf under his bodyweight, he felt bad about it. This poor guy just wanted some food. That was also why he wasn't actually hitting the guy. He was just holding him down and trying to direct him away from the party. Although…it wasn't likely that they'd be able to keep him away from them forever.

Maybe…until morning, when the sun came up and he turned back into a human.

:[

Jess slid her sleeve up and looked at her watch.

It was only quarter past eleven. The party was in full-swing but there were still hours and hours left. Rightfully, the werewolf would turn back into a human when the sun came up but that was too long. The boys jumped around, avoiding and diverting the werewolf between themselves. A light fog had risen up, circling the area in an unnatural way. They were hard to see beyond shadows, but that was enough for Jess to tell.

Those three boys were on the defence. They would not attack. They were doing everything they could to avoid attacking. And they could not keep that up forever. Jess knew there was one answer. It turned her stomach to think of it, but she also knew that it was the only thing she could do.

'Compulsion,' she whispered.

A golden spot appeared in front of her. It flew around her head for a moment before it began to write a spell in front of her eye. Jess read it over. As she did, she stretched her senses out, searching. They were not alone out here, it seemed. The first group, she noted, were observing from a distance. That was all. They were observing and watching. They had no intention to approach or apprehend.

The second group…was waiting for screaming to start. Ah…they would have been the ones to release the werewolf. She focused in on them…and swore to herself. She knew who they were. She knew exactly who they were. She'd met a couple of them here and there, even if she'd never been formally introduced.

…This is a set-up!

This wasn't just believing in monsters. This was actively…Jess fished around for the correct phrase. But the very idea of it horrified her. She'd known Mrs. McGowan was appalled at the party celebrating the Drak Pack but this…? Who were the real monsters here? Just about every student that woman had was in that house! And she and her people would willingly endanger them all? Just to prove a point?

No…

Not prove a point.

They had starved the werewolf here.

They were forcing a point.

Part of Jess wanted to reach out and grab them. She wanted to drag them out and let the werewolf feast on them. Jess lifted her hand. She was about to utter the incantation when a familiar and transparent hand landed on her wrist. She looked over. Her grandmother's ghost stood there. She shook her head.

'No, not them,' she said. 'They're all highly trained. They know they wouldn't come close to a ravenous werewolf of their own free will. And they'll know it was you. You're not quite ready. When you do confront them, you must be holding all of the cards.'

'How are you here now?' Jess asked.

'I've been granted permission to return to the Earthly plane until you are fully trained,' her grandmother said. 'You're almost there. But…not quite.'

Jess pressed her lips together. 'These guys intentionally starved a werewolf and then threw it at teenagers!'

'Yes, they did.' Her grandmother scowled. 'And they deserve to suffer for that, but not right now. There's a tramp over there.' She nodded her head. 'Use him.'

Jess felt her stomach drop. 'But…'

Her grandmother held up a hand. 'The world isn't black and white, Jessie. You need to maintain your cover.' She looked down. 'I saved those boys a very long time ago. But the Helsing Society is made up of highly intelligent people who milk the hell out of old superstitions and fear. And, if they think you a threat, they will try to kill you.'

Jess swallowed. 'They're waiting for screaming to start.'

Her grandmother nodded. 'And if it doesn't start, they're going to wonder why. They're going to send an agent to find out. So…either we end this in the next five minutes, or those boys will have to deal with a werewolf and with agents who want them dead. That tramp is your only option.'

'What about the other group?' Jess asked.

'A government agency, so it seems,' her grandmother said. 'I'm as of now unsure where their affiliation falls. And, I believe, they don't know where you kids fall either. We don't want to alienate them.'

Jess closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose. 'Okay…'

:[

Agent Black watched the Drak Pack from his vantage point. He could hardly see them, shrouded by fog as they were. It didn't look natural. But he had gotten a very good look at the werewolf before the fog rolled in. He'd already ordered a barricade be set up between the fight and the party. And his men had been armed with guns that fired silver bullets. He just hoped the stories were true.

'How did you know, sir?' his immediate underling asked.

'So far,' he said, 'we have seen vampires, we have seen wolf-men and Frankenstein monsters, we have seen mutants, and we have seen genies. It has begun to seem safe to assume that all of those horror stories have a basis in fact.' He looked down. 'As it is also safe to assume that the best way to stop the werewolf is sacrifice somebody to it.'

'But we have silver bullets.'

'And no way to know if that really works. Besides, think of that wolf like a starving animal. There's a reason the Drak Pack haven't taken an aggressive approach in their fight.' Black folded his arms across his chest. 'Which reminds me…about the girl that followed them from the party?'

'She appears to be a real-life witch, sir.' His underling handed him a pair of binoculars. 'Over there where the light is.'

Black looked. 'Huh! You'd think that was a swarm of fire-flies.' Still, he lifted the binoculars to his eyes and looked. The witch had dressed up as a witch for the party, complete with a large hood pulled over her head. Dark hair hung over her shoulders and she was clearly a slim and petite girl. No more than sixteen or seventeen, he'd say.

A block of text hung in front of her, written in gold. It seemed to be suspended in mid-air. Magic was the only explanation. The girl's hand was pressed under the hood, probably to her eyes. It seemed she was unhappy with the situation. Then she lowered her hand over her mouth, like she was horrified by something. Black was certain he saw her swallow and steel herself before she stretched the hand outwards. For a moment, Black didn't see the glow surrounded her hand.

The more he watched, though, the more he saw it.

'Sir, something's happening!'

Black looked down at the fight, such as it was. Somebody was wandering in, sort of mindlessly. It was an untidy-looking man in ratty-looking clothes. His expression looked vacant. But Black didn't have time to consider him. He wandered into the fog. In the next instant, one of the boys cried out in alarm.

There was a spray of blood.

:[

Black stared down at the mutilated corpse.

The blockade had been moved, keeping civilians away from the body. What he'd seen played over and over in his mind. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew exactly what had happened. And it was a darn good job that the Drak Pack had dragged that werewolf away. But there was hardly anything left of the tramp who'd been killed.

'Sir, we've gotten a report from the foot agents. The witch was seen after she fled, leaning on a tree and panting. It'd generally agreed that she was displaying signs of shock.'

'Of course she was,' Black said. 'She's a child. Sacrificing one person to save many more is the sort of decision an adult should make.'

His underling winced.