Lycanthrope: Cover of Night

The satyr corpse lay at her feet as Roxanne twirled the stolen compass’s chain around her index finger triumphantly. After suffering gouges and recovering from a torn throat, she was glad to be rid of the vicious satyr that had beckoned her into the deeper part of the woods.

“And that takes care of the other compass.”

She dug into her pocket for her phone.

“Y’all can head over now.”

A few moments later the two former trackers, Blair and Tyler, emerged through the park. Their breath stopped short when they noticed her kill.

“Good God. Is that a…a…?” Tyler began.

“A satyr?” she finished for him.

The two exchanged looks with grave, repulsed expressions.

“I present to you one of the recent killers in Anchorslotte.”

“Where was it coming from?” Blaire asked.

“He used this when he saw a storm breach,” Roxanne replied, motioning the compass. “A leak in our world. . . which reminds me of what we agreed to show you.”

Moments later, Axel arrived on the scene.

“Dang Roxanne, I was wondering how far you were going to walk with that guy.”

“I figured he was just some frat boy that got lost and I could get him to leave if I walked him out and then doubled back.”

Axel admired her handiwork. “Oh, the irony. He could have walked away unscathed had he not gotten greedy.”

Roxanne smiled with satisfaction.

“All claws and no brains.”

The blue needle of the compass led the four of them to the awaiting portal into Allosfaire. This time they were in a snowy fortress in the middle of a mountain covered in cedars and spruces. As they took in the beauty of the other realm, Blaire gaped at Roxanne and Axel’s sudden appearance.

Both their furry ears poked through their hair and sideburns grew bushy.

Along with their extended hair, nails and teeth grew as well.

Tyler turned to see what shocked Blaire and jolted slightly when he got a good look at the two.

“Sorry. Should have warned you,” Axel grinned a sharp toothed smile. “This dimension’s energy highly encourages shifting. Even to the point of being unnoticed or involuntary.”

“In fact, it takes more energy to remain human here,” Roxanne declared. “Especially if you’re not used to it, like us.”

Blaire and Tyler’s reaction softened but they let Roxanne and Axel walk in front.

A most peculiar work shop awaited them.

Gears, tools, and lamps covered just about every surface, but they found no sign of the shape shifter waiting for them.

“You said he’d be here,” Roxanne inquired.

“Any moment,” Axel replied.

The four waited with their backs turned as a feline silhouette crept up from the shelves above. He landed right behind them, taking all by surprise.

They whipped around like startled cats as the lynx quickly rose up on his hind legs and shifted to a more humanoid figure.

He was an older, small, well-built man with ginger side burns and dressed in a steampunk engineer style.

“I say chap, good to see you! Sorry I’m a little late! Just got back in from a late-night hunt,” said the man as he grabbed Axel into a hug.

“Quite all right, Ulrich,” Axel replied. He patted him slightly as his arms were pressed tightly to his sides from Ulrich’s hug.

“And you must be Roxanne!” Ulrich said, turning to the dire blood and pulling her into a back-aching embrace.

“Pleasure to meet you,” she said, surprised but pleased at his jovial manner.

“When I talked to Axel, he mentioned you were going to visit the kitsune. How is the old fox? Last I heard she was in a bit of a turmoil.”

“A little scattered, but I helped her put herself back together.”

Axel scoffed at Roxanne’s pun.

“Excellent. Well I’m honored to have you here,” he smiled, and then turned to Blaire and Tyler. “And you must be the humans I’ve heard so much about.”

“This is Tyler Chandler and Blaire Macintosh,” Axel declared.

The two smiled uncomfortably.

Ulrich extended his hand out to both for a tight handshake.

“Pleased to have you! I’m so glad you ignored the stupid rumors. Only kitsunes are known for eating humans!”

Tyler and Blaire’s eyes went wide.

“Rumors about what?” Tyler asked, uncomfortably.

The Linxei man must not have heard them.

“But don’t let that put you off from meeting one when you have the chance. Kitsunes really can be quite hospitable!”

Ulrich was obviously trying to put them at ease but his heartfelt reassurance sounded more like confessional warning.

“Well, I’m not going to lie. After everything that’s happened, we weren’t sure what to make of the invitation,” Tyler admitted, nervously.

“An invitation under high surveillance,” Roxanne warned subtly.

“Still, I didn’t think you would trust us,” Blaire admitted.

“Trust takes time,” Axel said. “…As we speak you’ve only been upgraded a little more than hostages.”

“Of course, it does, and it goes both ways,” said Ulrich. “I don’t hold all humans accountable for what a few historical baddies did. I’d hope you’d see the difference between Lycans and rabids, right?”

Blaire glanced away. Roxanne figured it was to avoid them seeing the guilty look in her eyes.

“I don’t know. Would you?” she goaded Blaire.

“Roxanne,” Axel warned, immediately shutting her up.

“So, what do you do?” Tyler asked.

“I just so happen to be a business man of the rare and unusual,” he replied with a smile.

“Anything useful, though?” Blaire asked, skeptically.

“See for yourself,” he confidently replied, ushering them behind a curtain, leading to a narrow room of fascinating commodities.

Cradled in shelves and displays, were unimaginable quantities of treasures.

“You’d be surprised at what you can sell with the right marketing tools.”

The humans scanned over the trade with fascination. On the right side were various tools and medicines made from beasts and plants found in Allosfaire. Precious metals and gems mined from places only privy to the Linxei adorned the shelves.

There were porswine armor plates, tinglet beetle ink, furs, silks, feathers, and utensils and instruments carved from bone and horn.

Telechips, false lead bottles, trip wire, and tap wiring tools in states of repair littered the electronics area.

“There’s the scavenged gas bomb you wanted me to inspect,” Ulrich pointed out.

The four examined the disassembled weapon.

“I wouldn’t have had it if they hadn’t provided it,” Axel declared, referencing Blaire and Tyler.

Tyler smiled.

“It’s the least we could do.”

Roxanne studied the dissected bomb.

“Were you able to find the content of wolfsbane?”

“It’s powerful, that’s for sure,” Ulrich replied.

“Enough to kill a werewolf?”

“Consumption or physical overexposure to the plant itself can be enough to cause death, but not enough in this case,” he declared. “Being that this is designed like a smoke bomb, it works by being aromatically dispersed. Breathing in the diluted wolfsbane content is enough to defuse one’s lycanthrope abilities, but not in proximity to fatality.”

They all stared at him as he rambled on with the scientific explanation.

“Short answer, no.”

“That’s one thing I had to rule out having in a garden,” Roxanne noted, dryly.

“Going to try to conjure up an antidote?” Tyler asked.

“We’ve tried creating an antidote to wolfsbane multiple times in hopes to avoid going rabid,” Axel replied. “So far we haven’t had any success in finding the precise percentage.”

“Maybe it’s a specific and rare form of wolfsbane,” Blaire suggested.

Axel shrugged.

“If it is, the familiars aren’t going to tell us anytime soon. Besides, it’s a hard herb to obtain. So far the best solution is just to learn to recognize and stay the hell away from it.”

“Here,” Ulrich chimed in, ready to change the subject. “You’ve only seen a portion of what we have to offer.”

The two humans followed him while Roxanne whispered to Axel.

“What you were saying about the familiars knowing the secret, you’re right. The familiars wouldn’t give it away, not voluntarily at least.”

Axel raised an eyebrow.

“What are you getting at?”

“Every time they’ve invaded my mind, I possibly got a glimpse of theirs. Maybe I can see what they’re hiding as far as the cure.”

Her mentor reflected on her idea thoughtfully.

“Maybe you’re onto something. . .”

“But?”

“But you know they love playing games. They could just be showing you what you want to see.”

Roxanne scoffed.

“Every mind trip I’ve endured has been anything but what I wanted to see.”

As Ulrich continued giving them the tour, the four noticed that some goods were recognizable. These included beautiful gems and rare metals. Eventually the room lead them to a large assortment of spices, oils, lotions, and ointments. Following that were fruits, wines, grains, vegetables, and dried and packed meats.

“This is amazing!” Tyler exclaimed.

“And you can produce this annually?” Blaire asked.

“Try seasonally,” Ulrich said proudly. “More or less.”

“I think you have a lot more to gain from lycanthropes that’s not at their expense,” Roxanne pointed out.

Tyler’s eyes lit up.

“You mean? You’d allow us to work for you?”

The three shifters nodded.

“Our products only appear illegal because it’s the only way we can market our trade,” Axel explained.

“If we didn’t have to hide them, our connections to the black market would become obsolete.”

“Why haven’t you tried working with humans before?” Blaire asked.

“We have, but the more humans who know always boils down to that taboo of working with shape shifters. It puts people on edge for some reason,” he gruffly replied.

“Honestly, do you blame them?” Tyler joked.

“From my standpoint, I think it’s bizarre that you can’t shape shift,” Roxanne replied dryly. “But I’m not hunting you down because you are ‘species altering-ly challenged’.”

Tyler backed down when he realized he had offended her, so he asked in a less inflammatory tone.

“If it’s failed in the past, why should now be any different?”

“Because whether it does or doesn’t, makes no difference to us,” Axel filled him in. “Once we can remain in Allosfaire without going feral or rabid, we won’t feel as inclined to keep an alliance with humans.”

“So, I’d assume you wouldn’t want to burn your bridges,” Roxanne added her own two cents. Realizing that this opportunity was a favor to them, Blaire swallowed her pride and acknowledged their generosity.

“Why keep an alliance with us in the first place then?”

“Nothing for you to concern yourself with,” Axel assured her.

Blaire realized she wasn’t going to get anywhere and just accepted the proposal.

“This is very kind,” she smiled. “We’d be honored to work for you. For the past few years, I’ve just been taking whatever jobs Olaf has been giving me. It would be nice to work for something more structural.”

“Why did you work for him?” Roxanne asked.

“My husband died in the line of duty several years ago. He and our daughter Mary Gwen were very close, and it was hard for me to be there while I was working all the time,” she continued.

“So, Olaf offered me a position as his elite guard for twice what I was originally making as an officer. And far more leave time to look after her.”

“We take care of our kind and those close to us. The fewer enemies we have, the easier that will be,” Axel assured her. “Neither one of you will ever have to scrounge again for Olaf, or anyone like him.”

The two humans thought hard on his words.

Eventually, the silence was interrupted by an alarm sounding.

“What in the world?” Roxanne asked.

“Ulrich?” Axel asked, gravely.

“There’s a breach,” Ulrich growled.

He quickly ran to one side of the room and opened a panel to key in a combination.

“Any idea who?” Roxanne asked as she looked around.

“Maybe satyrs, rabids, or hell pissed off harpies. Guess we’re going to find out,” he shrugged.

With a flip of a switch, several walls that had originally been bare rotated, revealing rows of guns, knives, decoys, camouflage, and ammunition.

“So, you’re a weapon’s dealer too?” Blaire marveled, both impressed and slightly stunned.

“I don’t make weapons, I make everyone equal,” Ulrich shouted back, grabbing a shotgun.

The four quickly gathered their own supplies to jump into the fight. Roxanne decided to grab one of the makeshift wolfsbane bombs for her own observation.

Blaire and Tyler hurried after Roxanne and Axel as they sifted through the Linxei town with Ulrich in the lead. The loud explosions coming from the north accelerated their pace. Roxanne ran to the wall railings to see what was causing the commotion.

The Linxei town, Vortress, was set in the middle of the snowy, coniferous forest called Beryl. The chilly air circled her and invigorated her senses.

From below, the gates were closing as several lynx shifters shuffled back behind their haven. Loud cries and scratching sounds rang outside it.

Axel was the first to reach the overlook. He leaned over the rails as Roxanne caught up to him.

“Rabids,” he declared, inhaling their scents.

Roxanne smelled the air. “Not many. Scent’s faint.”

“Just enough to cause commotion.”

Ulrich cocked his weapon.

“I reckon we can cause more. You three head to the north border. Male human, you’re with me!”

Ulrich yowled excitedly as he and Tyler split away and headed south.

Sure enough, the smell of blood attracted Roxanne and Axel to the northern side. Blaire followed behind.

***

A loud thud pricked their ears as they aimed their guns.

Then silence.

“Did one fall?” Roxanne asked.

Axel shushed her as he crouched and approached to the railings. The snow made everything dead silent in a seemingly endless, white void.

No more rustling, scratching, or cries. Only the scent of blood remained potent.

Roxanne curiously peeked over the sides next to Axel.

“Roxanne, get back down!” Axel ordered.

“There’s something down there,” she rebuffed.

Indeed, something bloody lay below, but it wasn’t a rabid.

Just a deer carcass. Roxanne curled her lip.

“Never mind. I thought there would be. . . WAIT!”

Roxanne tried ducking back after realizing it was a trap. Instead, she shrieked when met with the cold claws of a rabid hiding just below her sight, clinging to the wall.

He fell over the railing and took her with him.

“Damnit! Roxanne!” Axel growled, following her over the wall.

The dire blood landed with a hard smack on the snow-covered ground. A rabid she had seen before huddled over her.

“I told you I’d be looking for you,” he growled.

Roxanne mustered the strength to taunt him.

“Should I be flattered?”

Roxanne’s eyes widened in shock and fear as he raised his claws above her.

Before he could attack, Axel landed on the ground with Blaire on his back.

The powerful werewolf engaged the rabid one as Blaire helped Roxanne to her feet.

Gnashing teeth and cruel claws traded blood as Axel fought off the feral werewolf as it tried making an escape. Axel’s claws and teeth were still burrowed into the rabid’s hide as he began dragging him away.

Before Roxanne and Blaire could blink, the two had disappeared into the blizzard.

***

“Axel!” Roxanne screamed.

Nothing.

“Shit! Where’d they go?” Blaire cried.

Roxanne scanned the white ground and barely made out several foot imprints. The falling frost was quickly covering them up.

“Hurry!” Roxanne ordered. “Before they disappear!”

The two hurried quickly, trudging through the piling snow.

As they braved the winter landscape, the white storm was blocking their vision in all directions.

Roxanne stopped and pulled her fur mantle closer and a pair of goggles over her eyes. Blaire did the same before rubbing her hands together to increase circulation.

“We best think of a plan before trekking into a blizzard,” Blaire warned.

Roxanne looked nervously around. There was no sight of her mentor amongst the frigid blur.

“Axel’s still out there,” she replied.

“Then we need to find him.”

Roxanne extended her claws as she approached the former tracker. “If you don’t mind.”

Blaire complied as Roxanne pricked her finger with a sharp nail and spread it along the tree.

They waited.

To their luck, Axel’s growls could be heard, but he was still far off. More blood was contributed, growing their perimeter.

As they waited, Roxanne’s ears pricked up. Something else was approaching from the storm. As it drew near, she felt her hairs prick up on the back of her neck.

There was more than one and they were anything but friendly.

“That’s not Axel.”

Roxanne’s heart beat faster as she frantically scanned her surroundings.

The cedars looked just bushy enough.

“Start climbing.”

Sticky sap stuck to Roxanne’s palms as her nails drove into the bark. She shook her head like a dog as more snowflakes blurred her vision. Carefully, and quickly, she pulled herself to the highest branch that would support her weight.

Slowly, Blaire followed behind.

“Regretting wearing ‘falsies’?” she asked regarding Roxanne’s long lashes.

“These are natural,” Roxanne protested as she blinked to rid her line of vison of snow and then added quietly. “With the aid of a cosmetic prescription.”

The rabids were approaching. Roxanne held the branch above as she balanced her feet on the one below. Cautiously, she approached until she was directly over their own tracks.

A few shakes of the branch later, and the ground was sprinkled with an extra layer of snow until their tracks were hidden. Blaire did the same to her own prints.

The hideout was small but they’d have to make do.

Blaire hissed for her to retreat to the trunk as the pack approached.

“Let’s hope Axel gets here first,” Roxanne worried.

Quiet as the grave, the two waited in silence as the rabids sniffed for the blood on the ground below.

Both women held their breath as they huddled for warmth as the brisk air whipped around them. Neither one dared to move an inch until the pack moved to the next trees.

Axel was definitely close now that his scent had increased. Sure enough, a large werewolf male approached from the blizzard.

To her horror, the rabids noticed it too and waited.

“We’ve got to warn him,” Blaire noted.

Too late.

A bloody struggle of ripped flesh and torn fur resulted from where Axel was intercepted by the rabids. Several bites later and he was overpowered by the angry rabid werewolves. Adrenaline voided any pain they must have felt, no matter how much his claws tore and jaws crushed.

Roxanne knew she had to do something. Axel was doing all he could to fight back the gaping, snapping jaws after he’d been pinned down.

“Time to test a little theory.”

She reached into her satchel and pulled out the wolf bane bomb and hurled it as far as it could go.

The gas erupted and enveloped the pack in a sickly-smelling cloud.

Fur disappeared as they coughed and sputtered. Four legs became two and tails, teeth, and claws retreated back into their human form.

Unfortunately, Axel was caught in it too.

Roxanne jumped from the tree and sprinted forward to rescue him.

As the gas wafted into her nose, she felt her own wolf form losing its attributes. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed Axel and pulled him back with all the might she could muster.

One of the female rabids recovered from the bomb and began to advance. She flashed her canines and regrew her claws as she stepped out of reach of the wolf bane. Now that rationality had returned, she was far more dangerous.

Roxanne tried to bare her claws but to her horror the change didn’t come. It wouldn’t until the poison left her breath.

Hungry for blood, the beast lunged forward.

Several shots fired from above. One imbedded in the rabid’s front leg.

She yipped loudly and stopped short. Several more bullets rained down around her, causing her to recoil.

All gazed up to see Blair aiming her pistol from the tree.

“There’s more where that came from if you don’t turn tail now!”

The rabids looked at one another and flattened their ears in compliance. The female one in front gave them one last growl as she limped away to join her Pack.

Chilling silence fell with the snow once the three were left alone.

“Saved you in the nick of time,” Roxanne chirped, beaming over at Axel.

He smiled and replied dryly, “Let’s call it even. Considering I had to run them off after they dragged you over the wall.”

Roxanne narrowed her eyes.

Blaire blurted in.

“Neither one of you have much to hold over the other. Let’s not forget I saved you both from being mauled,” she reminded them.

Axel shook the snow from his hair as he brought himself to his feet.

“In the end we acted as Pack and lived. You’ll get no complaints from me.”

As the three began walking back, Roxanne’s mind remained glued to the way the rabids reacted to the wolf bane bombs.

“I think at least one important theory was confirmed.”

***

As they returned, Tyler reached down and assisted them back up the sides of the railing with the help of Ulrich. A happy cry of relief was heard throughout Vortress.

Ulrich pulled Roxanne and Axel into one of his bear hugs.

“Next month’s shipment will be on us!” he cried. “I couldn’t convince y’all to join us for dinner?”

Normally Roxanne would never turn down hospitality, but in her time, it was close to 3:00 AM.

Axel silently shared her exhaustion.

“We’ll have to take a rain check, but thank you, Ulrich.”

The Linxei man didn’t seem to take any offence and gave a cheery response as usual.

“They’ll be more for us anyway.”

He turned his attention to the humans.

“Glad to see you both haven’t been eaten. Perhaps Grexis will keep you around for good!”

All of them applauded the brave party that had drawn away the threat. Even the humans shared the gratitude from all the feline shifters.

All but one.

One woman, out of sight of the members of Grexis, stared silently.

She drummed her long fingernails against her crossed arm. Burning red eyes glowered back.

Her glare fixated on Roxanne the longest.

“See you soon.”

Unnoticed by the crowd, she backed away until disappearing altogether.

***

Roxanne and Blaire trailed behind Tyler and Axel as they made their way to the portal back into the human world. There was a strange stillness emanating from the mystical world, like the calm of the sea after a brutal storm. The stars blazed like jewels from the Milky Way. At their backs were the Aurora lights, forever swirling in and out of their green, blue, and magenta blaze of solar energy.

Blaire broke the silence.

“You saved my life today.”

“It wasn’t the first time,” Roxanne told her. “But you’re welcome, if that’s your way of saying thank you.”

“It is… and I want to apologize. I helped hunt your kind down as if you were monsters. I’m ashamed at how blind I was to Olaf’s true motives.”

Roxanne fell silent for a moment. There had been some casualties that she and Grexis would never forget, but she knew that Blaire had suffered her own losses in that fight.

“You weren’t responsible for their deaths directly. You just forced us into a corner unknowingly. It seems Olaf fooled us both. He tricked us into thinking he was arrested while he kept hidden in the dark.”

“And he rose his way up by keeping me in it.”

“Regardless, what gets back to him won’t be in his favor,” Roxanne assured her.

“I don’t think he ever imagined us trackers and werewolves banding together. You reap what you sow,” Blaire laughed.

Roxanne shared her chuckle. It had been an unusual evening, but for her that was expected.

The foursome stepped through the portal and found themselves back into the woods where Roxanne had retrieved the second compass. As they hiked by a residence, a neighbor’s dog barked insistently at their proximity.

“Hell of a night,” Tyler exclaimed.

“You’ve only had a taste,” Roxanne smiled, keeping an eye over her shoulder as the dog continued barking.

“I can’t imagine you doing this constantly. Fighting hybrids, trading other-worldly objects, hunting in only your fur and fangs. I feel like that would just wear me down,” Blaire remarked.

“It’s not always easy, but when you get the job done, the security makes it all worth it,” Axel replied.

“What’s the next plan?” Tyler asked. “I mean, where do we go from here?”

“So far, both compasses have been retrieved, and I’ve a few ideas of where to look for the cure of going rabid,” Roxanne declared.

“It’s all in a matter of time,” Axel agreed, as he spoke above the dog’s banter. “We’ll rest up and then decide how we’re going to approach this.”

“You mean how am I going to approach this,” Roxanne corrected him.

He raised an eyebrow so she elaborated.

“With all the exposure I’ve had to Sphixes’ mind spells, I probably have the best chance. Not to mention my dire spur will come in handy.”

“Physical advantage doesn’t always. . .” Axel tried to explain.

“BARK BARK!” interrupted the neighbor’s dog.

“. . .doesn’t always even out mental vulnerability,” he continued, trying to finish his sentence.

“BARK BARK BARK!!”

Finally, a light came on as a man in his undergarments stuck his head out through the porch screen door.

“Ginger! Shut up!” he shouted.

“NO! YOU SHUT UP!” Axel shouted in a low grunting voice from the darkness.

The frightened man quickly shut the door as he retreated into the house and the dog became silent.

The three paused in shock as Axel turned back to them.

“Now that little interruption has been silenced, where was I?”

They stared at him before they burst into laughter.

“Axel, we better just wait to get back to town,” Roxanne laughed, as she coerced him to follow.

“Yeah, make some distance,” Blaire suggested.

“Too bad, we finally had quiet.”