Chapter 7: Night Raid

Selene was frantically awoken by Archibald. It was not long ago when they went to sleep after another hearty meal for dinner, so she woke up in full alert.

“What was it?” she asked. The dark of night engulfed the room, except a solitary candle in between the two beds.

“We have a problem,” he said. “Perseus has gone out and I’m smelling blood in the air.”

“Have you tried calling at him telepathically?” she asked. Werewolves can communicate mutually telepathically, but the range in which they can do it depends on the place they are on.

“He’s far enough for me to reach him,” he explained. “But I can track the smell of blood. It was coming from the edge of town.”

“Should we go out and see what’s happening?” she asked.

“No. I want you to prepare your things again. We’ll be going out in the night. We can’t risk staying here while Perseus was doing whatever the hell he wants to these humans. When morning comes and they saw their dead, I’m sure we’ll be questioned and be dealt with.”

“Are you sure Perseus is really killing somebody?”

“I’m not. But the evidences point to him doing so. What I know right now is he’s gone and he was pissed at the woman he was with earlier. You saw how he mumbled while we eat dinner right? He was furious for some reason.”

Selene remembered him effortlessly crumbling the spoon with his hand while staring blankly at nothing. Ida thought he was still shaken by trauma but Selene saw clearly the fury in those blank stares.

“Yeah, you’re right. It is really concerning. You should go and check on the woman to see if she’s fine.”

“No. I won’t leave you. Not when I’m not sure if we’re safe here.”

Selene looked at him annoyingly. “Don’t worry too much about me. We’re clearly safe here. We’re not even sure if somebody is after me.”

“That’s the thing. We’re NOT sure. As long as there’s a small chance of danger, I can’t leave your side. Let’s just hope whatever Perseus is doing won’t bite us in the ass.”

“But what if the woman died?”

“If Perseus is really after her life, then I don’t really have a way to protect her, do I? The question right now is whether he would kill her silently and drag her to the woods or murder her with careless abandon.”

She shuddered at the position they were in. They are sure somebody’s life is in danger but there is nothing they can do to save them.

“What now?” she asked.

“You prepare everything you need, and we’ll go as soon as the light of day starts to shine. Right now, let just see what the night has in store for us.”

***

The town of Mournstead considered themselves blessed with peace, except some nights when ghouls tried breaking into the town’s defenses. There were stories by the older citizens that werewolves were notoriously attacking villages around their settlement deep in the Crescent Peak Forest. Mournstead was one of these villages they attacked, but that was a long time ago, even before the birth of the oldest person in town.

Elise and others her age considers these werewolf creatures myth continued by townspeople to discourage children from wandering far from town – as if the ghouls hunting at night were not deterrent enough. She wonders what they looked like, though. They said they walk in two legs; their hands were equipped with sharp claws and their faces resembled those of a dire wolf but with more menacing fangs that can tear metal armor like it’s nothing.

It was thought that they eat humans and they can attack any time of the day. But they mostly do raids at night when moon is up. They ravage towns to rubble, snatching survivors for food later on. And there were stories of male werewolves stealing women for pleasure.

The people said the chance of being ravaged by a werewolf was slim, so they did not even consider it. That’s why Elise felt like the world was laughing at her when she woke up to the sight of an enormous wolf-like creature standing over her.

She tried to scream in horror, let out a shriek to wake everyone, anyone who will help her in this situation but she was paralyzed by fear. The glare of the creature burned her will to live; as if breathing under it was just a waste.

The monster grabbed her neck and lifted her from her bed. She felt the inhuman grip getting tighter and tighter, slowly squeezing her out. She tried to struggle; pointlessly hitting its furry muscular body with her hands and feet.

As consciousness seeped out of her, the grip suddenly loosened and she was dropped on the bed, coughing and wheezing for air. She looked up in between heaves to see a bigger werewolf choking the other one; lifting it in the air, not unlike her previous position.

“Why are you here?” she heard the larger werewolf barked. “Who told you you’re allowed to go and attack humans?”

The lesser wolf tried blurted out limply, “Georg Tempest.”

“Where is he?” the bigger one asked. She realized that its eyes were unnaturally red compared to the other one’s yellow eyes.

“He went for the village leader,” the yellow-eyed werewolf answered politely.

The red-eyed wolf threw the other one across the room, crashing onto her bookshelves. Then it glanced back at her, then returned to the other werewolf.

“Go back,” it commanded. “Stop this nonsense you’re trying to pull. And don’t ever touch this woman,” it pointed at her. “She’s mine.”

Elise felt fear wash over her entire body when it said those words. Is she going to be a werewolf’s plaything? Is she going to die tonight?

The bigger werewolf leapt back out of the window where it entered. The smaller one stood up moments later, following its path without giving her a glance. She lay on her bed, still shocked at the events that happened in her room. She knew she had to run, but her body was not listening to her will.

She has to immediately warn the townspeople of the attack. She remembered them talking about another wolf targeting the mayor. She has to inform the guards or people will die. She mustered all her energy and slowly stood up. With a burning sensation around her neck, and a looming dread over her, she ran out of her home and made her way to the town guards.

***

The damn fools! Did they not realize what they were doing? Perseus was seething inside upon realizing the actions of the others. The act of starting unnecessary conflict against humans is highly frowned upon by Lucian and the elders back in Crescent Peak. So, whoever led these morons surely went against his wishes.

He sniffed at the air, and went towards the place where the smell of blood and guts was the strongest. He sprinted on the roofs of the houses, nimbly keeping his clawed feet from destroying everything on his path.

He barged into a window and witnessed one of his kind, feasting on the body of a man.

“What’s the meaning of this?” he howled. The werewolf looked up at him in shock and dropped a piece of the man’s torso on the ground. “How dare you break the alpha’s orders of not harming humans in their territory?”

“I am here to avenge our people’s deaths,” he reasoned back. “I asked for the elders’ counsel but they have no intention of acting upon our brother and sister’s deaths. So, I did what I believe is right; I kill the humans to send back a message that we should not be messed with.”

Perseus lunged at the werewolf and slashed at its face. Blood splatted on the ground and walls. “Stupid! Have you forgotten your position in the pack? You are in place to go against the alpha, whether you like it or not. Treason means death!” He raised another arm to strike down the wounded wolf, but his attack was stopped midway by its arm.

“I’d rather die fighting for what I believe is right,” he growled. “I’d rather die knowing I am fighting my own fight!”

Perseus sneered at the traitor and quickly grabbed at its head with his free hand. He pulled it close to his face, and stared back at its leer. “You are really stupid to think you’ll die in honor. No. You’ll just die.” He snapped his fangs down its throat and ripped it like pulling a chunk out of roasted meat. He spat the flesh down on the ground and threw the limp body of the werewolf down with it.

He watched as its beast form slowly returned to its human physique. Dead. He sniffed at the air for signs of other werewolves in the area but smelled none, other than other dead bodies in the other rooms. He scuffed and grabbed the dead wolf-man’s body and carried it outside, into the dark of the forest.

Traitors don’t deserve burial. “Let the ghouls have their fill of your meaningless existence,” he whispered as he leaped over the town fences and towards the forest.

***

Elise reached the guard tower and hysterically knocked on its wooden door. She was gasping for air from the frantic run she just had.

“Help! Help!” she screamed through the closed door. “You have to help the mayor! Werewolves are attacking!”

She repeatedly hammered at the door and screamed at it, but nobody was answering. She then decided to turn the doorknob and found it unlocked. She slowly pushed the door open until she felt resistance. She looked down on the floor and saw pools of blood around the room. She screamed in shock and ran away.

She ran to the nearest house she could see. She knocked on its door and an old lady answered.

“What’s with the racket, Elise?” old woman Margarette questioned. “Why are you screaming bloody murder in the dead of night?”

“Werewolves,” she uttered weakly. “Werewolves are in town and they’re attacking the mayor!” She was in hysterics trying to explain everything but she doesn’t know how and where to start. “I saw werewolves come in town and now they said they are going to attack the mayor.”

“What are you talking about? Are you drunk?” the old woman asked.

“No! The guards! The guards are dead. I went to the guards for help but the werewolves got to them first and now they’re attacking the mayor!” She thought about getting awoken by a werewolf and suddenly realized, “And they might be attacking citizens too! We have to escape!”

“Calm down, Elise. Calm down. Come inside while I brew you a cup of tea. I will have Larry go outside and check up on the mayor while we wait here.”

“No. You don’t understand. We can’t do anything against these monsters. You see, the guards are dead and we have no way to protect ourselves from these beasts! We have to run! I have to inform the others.” She sprinted away from Margarette’s house and shouted aloud, “Werewolves! Werewolves! Werewolves!”

Then a dark figure tackled her and placed a dirty cloth in her mouth. She was then carried on its shoulders and she realized she was being carried by a werewolf. She thrashed and struggled but she was barely moving the beast’s grasp on her. She looked behind them as she let the monster bring her wherever it intended to go.

***

Archibald stood up from his bed as he heard Perseus approach. He opened the window and the werewolf jumped over it and inside their room. Selene looked over in shock at the sight of Perseus carrying a gagged woman on his shoulder.

Perseus dropped the woman on Archibald’s bed. “Don’t remove her gag. She screams like a fucking banshee,” he remarked.

“Who did you kill?” Archibald asked. He was sure of the smell of death emanating from his fur and the clear sight of blood matting his arms and legs.

“I killed the mushroom forager, Tempest. He was after these humans to avenge that girl’s parents,” he pointed at Selene. “He brought with him other equally foolish dogs, but I had them return back to the Peaks and answer to the old man.”

“You killed Georg?” Selene asked concernedly.

“Are you close?” he asked.

“He was father’s best friend,” Selene answered. “But no, he treats me like all your other kinds treat me. I think he really just hate humans.”

“Why do you have the woman with you?” Archibald asked him, pointing at the wide-eyed woman staring at them.

“She’s mine,” he said. “And you have no business asking about it.”

He just nodded on the remark and said, “So, what now? Where are we going to?”

“Ask the woman,” he pointed at Selene again. “I’m just here to see what happens to her.”