Moonscorn

Chapter Two

Persephone had already gone, and Raven jogged to catch up with her. Ran as soon as he heard a howl from the distance. Yet he didn't dismiss the feeling. It lessened somewhat as they ran out towards the further ends of town, up towards the hills overgrown with thick, tangled woodland centuries old, but there was still a tingling at the back of his neck. Raven had learned to trust these feelings. They came with the job, that was for sure. You're in charge of a werewolf, for crying out loud; you've got to get animal hunches every now and then. And with his heart pounding the way it was, that was surely something to do with it. But not everything.

He took the gun from its shoulder holster. Gripped it tight. He felt better.

They stopped by a sign that led out of town. The road up into the hills delved into the trees. Branches reached over the asphalt and knotted together overhead like fingers clasping each other, so that a great tunnel stared them down, daring them to head in.

"Lights?" Raven asked.

"I wasn't expecting them to run out of the town," Persephone said. "Gun torches are still in the car."

"Go get it?"

"No time. Maybe phone lights. Especially if..."

By the moonlight that shot through the bullet holes of the dark green tunnel ahead, they saw a great lumbering beast emerge from the trees on the right-hand side. It was sunk into shadow, not much more than a silhouette, but they didn't need to be close to see that it held something in its mouth. In the quiet they heard it panting, slobbering. Something dripped, something with the distinctive coppery tang of blood.

Persephone raised the gun high. "Is that Hysteria?"

Raven shook all over. His throat closed up.

"Is that Hysteria, Raven?"

"I... I don't know. Can't tell..."

"Well tell very quickly, because if it makes a move towards us, I'm going to put a silver bullet in its hide."

The creature watched. It was massive, bigger than a bear. Bones like steel were covered by a thick mat of dense fur. Then the trees shook in a small breeze and the moonlight shifted with them, revealing two piercing yellow eyes. The nose was wet, the bloody remains of an arm clamped between two powerful jaws red and mangled. Even though it was hunched over, the shaking trees allowed the moonlight to glide over its entire body, and when its midsection was revealed, Raven was able to get a glance at its groin.

"It's the male," he said. "It's not Hysteria."

It dropped the chewed arm in the middle of the road, tossed back its head and howled.

***

Howl. Call. Time to run. Branches scraping fur, eyes focused in on the prize, shimmering in the moonlight. No other thought. Just attack.

***

Hysteria launched from the depths of the trees onto the road. Persephone almost shot her in sheer fright. Their werewolf barrelled into the male, knocking them to the side of the road. Fangs flashed and claws raked flesh. They snarled and snapped and howled.

"I can't get a clear shot," Persephone said.

"Let them fight it out," Raven said. "Hysteria's not changed long enough to have lost all her human thoughts and memories."

"You want to bet her life on it?"

"We've got an arm in the road. Means someone's dead. Code 1. If I have to shoot both of them, I'll do it."

Code 1. Civilian casualty meant Persephone now had permission to eliminate all lycanthropes in the vicinity, friendly or not. If it came to it, that's just what she was prepared to do.

The male had its jaws around Hysteria throat. Blood seeped from her neck. She struggled. Threw a paw around behind her. One of her claws hit the male's eye. It screamed and let her go. The two separated.

"Get a trank ready," Persephone told Raven.

She lined up her sight on the male. The dancing shadows in the tunnel entrance made it hard to see clearly. Her fingers shook.

The male looked up at her. Snarled.

"Hysteria!"

The second wolf looked around at the name, took half a step out of the tunnel. Did it recognise her sign? Hard to tell. But she was away from the other one now. Enough for Persephone to be fairly sure she'd hit.

It snapped at her.

Persephone shot the werewolf in the shoulder. It howled. The second one hit it in the chest. On the ground, bleeding and screaming, Persephone ran over and put another one in its head.

Stench behind her. Hysteria was inches away from ripping Persephone's head off. Instinct. Teeth bared and ready to rip and render.

Then the trank dart hit its mark. The effect was instantaneous. Hysteria was thrown off-target just enough to only wing Persephone, sending her spinning to the ground. Hysteria fell nearby, consciousness already slipping from her battered form as the specialised drugs ran into her blood stream.

Raven pumped another tranquiliser dart into Hysteria's hide just to make sure. When her eyes were closed, he put a hand to her chest. Beneath her breast he could still feel a heartbeat. It was weak for her lupine form, but there. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"She ok?"

Persephone staggered to her feet, a hand to her head. Blood trickled from a gash on her temple, but it didn't look too serious.

"Should be. She took a beating, but she'll live. Tough cookie."

"Yeah." She looked around. "Fuck, this is a shitshow."

They stood in the country road, two werewolf bodies lying beside them, and a mangled, half-chewed arm at their feet. There was a case to be made that even Hammer films in their heyday hadn't managed this much gothic carnage.

"We need to get them out of sight. Don't go for the car. Let's get them into the trees and call for Laundry."

Raven nodded, and he set about beginning to drag the warm, stinking corpse of the male werewolf off the road while his boss called for backup. The lupine form was still intact, though it wouldn't be for long. Give it an hour or two and the fur would retreat, the fangs would shorten, and the real identity of the wolf would reveal itself like shedding a cloak. Until then, it needed to be hidden from public view, even if it was the middle of the night.

It was then at the side of the road, before Persephone finished calling for the cleaners, that he saw it. Or at least, thought he saw it. Just catching the edge of the moonlight, on a little lip deep in the trees, a figure stood. Watching. The voyeuristic feeling crawled back over Raven's flesh, creeping, insidious. As he stared, the figure seemed to change into an odd combination of tree branches, leaves, a rock, and a stump from a fallen silver birch.

I'm cracking up, Raven thought to himself. There can't be anyone watching.

And indeed, as the true reality of the figure showed, there wasn't anyone watching, unless you counted Mother Nature. Still, it didn't stop him feeling like there was.

Something tugged the corpse he still held by the front paws. He yelped, but it was just Persephone grabbing the rear legs.

"Laundry is on the way. Let's move them before a car comes in late at night and sees."

"What about the blood on the road?" Raven asked.

"That's for them to clean up. I don't get paid enough for that."