“Thanks for the food.” Rachel said smiling as she ate her second helping of barbecued pork chops.
“Don’t mention it, Lass.” The ship’s cook said smiling, “It’s nice to see other people enjoying my cooking.”
“It’s really good.” Gabriel complimented helping himself to some squid, “It’s got to be the best food I’ve had in years.”
The cook only smiled humbly as Ace and Hazel nodded in agreement as Phoenix continued to eat his food with Josh slowly grabbing down the bits of porkchop Gabriel gave him. The captain smiled at the sight before a villager ran up to the ship yelling.
“Help!” The villager shouted again, quickly getting the attention of the four Monster Hunters and their animal companions.
“What’s wrong?” Charles asked the villager curiously.
The villager was a dark-skinned man with brown hair and gentle blue eyes, he wore a simple yellow t-shirt, grey pants, and worn-out boots. Hazel – who had joined Charles to look at the stranger – saw that his clothes were torn and that he saw bleeding in some places.
“Was there a monster attack?” Hazel asked thinking aloud catching the attention of Gabriel, the twins, Phoenix, and Josh.
When the stranger nodded however the four younger Monster Hunters and their animal companions all rushed off the boat before they urgently asked the man where the attack happened.
“There.” The man said pointing to somewhere in the distance right in the direction of the inn where the four of them reunited, “Just a few houses from the inn.”
“Alright.” Hazel said nodding before she saw the man clutching the wound on his abdomen, “You should find a doctor and get some rest.”
“You four go and check that monster attack.” Charles said joining them before he gently put a hand on the man’s shoulder, “I’ll go make sure he gets proper medical treatment, I’ll join you four later.”
Hazel nodded before she turned to the villager again, “I’d hate to bring up any unwanted memories but is there anything you could tell us about the monster that attacked you? It would be a lot of help.”
The villager stayed silent for a few seconds before he spoke in a rather shaky voice, “It was a werewolf.”
Charles – immediately noticing the villager’s tone and terrified attitude – gently but quickly helped him to the nearest healer while Hazel and the others boarded the boat again to retrieve their belongings. As Hazel packed her pouch she glanced at the door before tapping Gabriel lightly on the shoulder after she was sure that nobody could hear them.
“Did you see it?” Hazel asked whispering.
“Kimberly’s boat?” Gabriel replied, “Yeah, I suspect they could get here any minute now.”
“Which is exactly why we have to leave as soon as we finish this mission. We’re telling the twins as soon as we meet up.”
“Okay but what about Charles?”
“He said he’d join us after he makes sure that man’s taken care of properly, right?”
“Okay I understand how we’ll get him to play along but what about how we’re getting to wherever he’s taking us?’
“I saw another Monster Hunter base just a couple of minutes from here.”
“So, you plan on using one of their boats? Hazel, hunters like us don’t exactly have identification – unless you count our keys as identification but I digress.”
“True but I have something most Monster Hunters don’t.”
“And that is?”
“A family name to uphold.”
“…What?”
“Luna told me about it. Said that nearly all my ancestors were Monster Hunters.”
“And you just believed her?”
“Of course, I did, she did live in the archives before deciding to come stay with us remember?”
“Neither of you ever told me.”
“Really?”
“Yep.”
Oh, well sorry.”
Gabriel let out a small sigh before he closed his pouch, “It’s fine. You got everything?”
“Yes,” Hazel said closing her own pouch.
“Let’s go then,” Gabriel said before opening the door.
∞
“Hey, you two.” Ace greeted the two brunettes and their animal companions joined him and his sister on the upper deck, “You two ready to go?”
Hazel nodded before she dropped to a low whisper, “You two got everything?”
“Yes, mom.” Ace said in a joking manner while rolling his eyes, “Why are you whispering? And why are you asking?”
“We’re leaving after we deal with this werewolf,” Gabriel whispered in a distant voice.
“Really?” Ace asked, “How come?”
“We saw Kimberly’s boat just a few hours from here.” Hazel explained, “Which is why we need to get Charles and leave as fast as possible while also solving this town’s new werewolf problem.”
“Reasonable.” Ace said with Rachel agreeing.
“Come on.” Gabriel said nodding in the direction of the inn, “We’re burning daylight.”
“Should we tell Uncle?” Rachel asked.
“We’ll send him a letter,” Hazel said simply before they finally started to walk.
∞
“What do you think we should do Matthew?” Eve asked as Kade passed her for the tenth time, “We have to do something at least.”
“I agree with Eve.” Abbey said as she held her face in her hands at fetal position, “We need to come up with a plan in case things get out of hand.”
“I don’t know alright.” Matthew admitted, “I didn’t even know about any of this until this morning.”
He and the other Monster Hunters sighed before a hoot caught their attention. Matthew tensely started to look around but let out a sigh of relief when he saw that it was only Luna.
“Luna, what are you doing in here?” Cairo asked.
“I’m being summoned,” Luna said as she showed her right-wing tip glowing a vibrant cobalt purple.
“Seriously?” Abbey asked as they all looked at the barn owl, “Maybe you can tell Hazel and the others about-” she stopped herself before dropping to a low whisper, “Chancellor Nevermore turning traitor.”
Luna gave something close to a nod before she flew up and disappeared in a flash of purple light. Eve sighed, looking at the spot Luna used to be a few seconds ago before she felt Kade gently pat her shoulder.
“You okay Eve?” Kade asked, “This must be hard to take in.”
“I’m just in shock.” Eve admitted, “I just can’t imagine Uncle working with Dark. For as long as I’ve known him, he always put The Hideout and its hunters above everything. It’s unbelievable that he would try to hurt both.”
“There has to be an explanation for all this,” James said thoughtfully.
“I’m sure there is.” Matthew said before he folded his arms and sighed, “But until we find it no one leak any information to anybody.”
“Yes sir.” James and the others said as they all nodded to their higher up.
∞
“Salutations Ms. Abernathy.” Luna greeted the purple-eyed girl as she perched on the girl’s outstretched arm.
“It’s a pleasure seeing you too Luna.” Hazel said smiling at the brown owl, “Anything new going on at The Hideout?”
Hazel, Gabriel, and the twins were currently at the edge of the forest a couple of feet from the inn. Hazel and Gabriel were leaning on two trees, the twins sitting down on nearby rocks, Phoenix sitting down beside Hazel’s feet, and Josh perched on a branch above Gabriel.
“Yes Ms. Abernathy, some rather startling events have been progressing from The Hideout,” Luna said flapping her wings importantly while also catching Rachel’s and the boys’ attention.
“What happened?” Hazel asked.
“It’d be best if I inform you after we complete this mission.” Luna said before she straightened herself – at least that was what it looked like to Hazel, “Reporting for duty Ms. Abernathy.”
Pushing her curiosity aside Hazel stood up as well as Gabriel and the twins. The brown-haired girl had asked the two birds to circle the forest to look for anything suspicious from above while they and Phoenix searched the ground, the six of them agreed before Josh and Luna took flight.
“Spread out.” Hazel said looking at the others, “Rachel and Phoenix with me, Ace go with Gabriel.”
“Got it, boss.” Ace said smiling slightly.
Hazel nodded to the others before she turned to Gabriel, “If you find anything shoot one of your Fire Arrows.”
“And if you guys find something?” Gabriel asked.
Hazel only smiled before she pulled out a small handful of silver sparkly rocks.
“Pretty.” Rachel said before Hazel gave her half of them.
“Use them sparingly Rach.” Ace advised her, “Those things are expensive.”
“Where did you even get the money for these?” Gabriel asked, “Cause I’ve only seen three people buy that many Starsparks.”
“I know how to save Novas.” Hazel said putting the topic aside, “We’re getting off-topic. Spread out, if you find something suspicious send a Spark.”
The boys nodded before they walked away, leaving the girls and Phoenix to their own devices.
“Let’s go,” Hazel said turning to Rachel who nodded before they walked in the other direction.
∞
“Don’t you find it kind of weird?” Ace asked after about twenty minutes of blindly searching the woods.
“Find what weird?” Gabriel asked glancing at the boy walking beside him.
“That a werewolf just attacked in the middle of the day.” Ace said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “How could that villager get attacked by one when the next full moon is still three days from now?”
“I think your knowledge on werewolves needs refreshing.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re talking about werewolves that got their abilities through a werewolf’s bite, the one we’re dealing with is probably of pure blood.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“What’s the difference?”
“The common werewolf like you said can only transform during the full moon and became a werewolf through the bite of another while a pure-blooded werewolf –I feel like I don’t have to explain how you become one – can actually transform whenever they like, full moon or not.”
“Oh, so one got bitten and got turned into a werewolf while the other was born a werewolf due to having werewolf parents from both sides?”
“Yep.”
“Are pure-blooded werewolves more dangerous?”
“…Yes, based solely on the facts that they can transform whenever they like and that they have two wolf forms.”
“That’s the only significant thing about them, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“I don’t know whether to be scared, depressed, or just straight up…whatever.”
Gabriel chuckled at this before he replied, “You can probably feel all three.”
The two glanced at each other before laughing quietly.
∞
“Why do you want to run from Eliza and the others?” Rachel asked out of nowhere.
Hazel stood up from inspecting the inside of a cave before turning to the other girl, “Are you serious right now?”
“…Yes.”
“Kimberly nearly shot you and Josh while my own sister nearly sliced the two of you AND Ace.”
“Oh.”
“Nice to see you understand my point of view right now.”
“I’m just sorry I asked you.”
“Don’t think too much about it Rach.”
“So, what do you think about all this?”
“Well, I hate the fact that I’m running from the only somewhat sane family member I have left.”
Hazel only stayed silent at that sentence before she looked down at her feet, leaving Phoenix to look at his master in worry.
“And?” Rachel asked, wondering if there was another reason for the girl’s urge to flee from her older sister and higher-ups.
“I just have a feeling in my gut that we should keep our distance from the three of them.” Hazel said before trailing off, “Do I sound paranoid?”
“A little.” Rachel admitted shrugging, “But I know you mean well.”
Hazel only gave her a look before chuckling lightly, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“As you should.” Rachel said smiling.
The two smiled at each other before they continued to search for anything out of place. Rachel was currently examining the opening to a cave when Hazel called her attention.
“Something wrong Hazel?” Rachel asked curiously as to what was bothering the usually focused Monster Hunters.
“Do you-” Hazel began before hesitating, ‘Should I really be talking behind his back?’
“Hazel,” Rachel called snapping the other girl out of her thoughts.
“Hm?” Hazel hummed to show that she was indeed listening.
“You were going to ask me something.” Rachel reminded her while wearing a patient smile, “So?”
“F-forget about it.” Hazel said backing out, “It isn’t that important.”
Rachel gave her a worried look before she sighed and placed both her hands on each of her friend’s shoulders, “Hazel it’s me, Rachel. You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”
“Nothing’s bothering me.”
“Is it about Gabriel?”
Hazel only stayed silent at that before she hung her head. Rachel smiled softly before she took the other’s hand in hers.
“I’m on your side, Hazel.” Rachel said smiling, “You can trust me, okay?”
Hazel only raised her head so that her purple eyes could meet her friend’s blue ones.
‘Can I though?’ Hazel thought, ‘Gabriel told me the same thing, and yet…’
Hazel opened her mouth to say something but a loud raspy bark interrupted her. The two girls looked at each other before running in the direction of Hazel’s fox, they ran for a few minutes before the two saw the red fox growling at the wolf-like figure on its hind legs.
“Werewolf,” Hazel whispered as both she and Rachel ducked behind a bush to try and conceal their presence.
Despite their efforts, the werewolf quickly caught their scent and quickly sprinted to their hiding spot in no time destroyed the bush they were hiding behind leaving the girls to scramble to their feet and quickly ran from the wolf-like monster and allowing Phoenix to attack. In a blink of an eye, Phoenix immediately transformed into his spirit form and sent three fireballs hurdling towards the werewolf who was too slow to react and was thrown back by the amount of force, momentarily knocked out of consciousness. Smiling at his work Phoenix quickly reverted back into his fox form and quickly ran to join Rachel and his master.
∞
“Gabriel look!” Ace exclaimed pointing up at the pink-colored sky.
Gabriel followed the direction in which Ace was pointing at before his eyes widened. There in the vast sky of pink and orange were what looked like silver fireworks.
“Starsparks.” Gabriel said before he saw two small dots in the sky going in the direction of the silver sparks, “Come on, the girls found something.”
As Gabriel ran across various obstacles only one thing was on his mind, ‘Please don’t let her find out before I tell her.’
The two ran for about twenty minutes before they were joined by Charles.
“I was just entering the forest when I saw the Sparks.” Charles explained as they continued to run, “Mind catching me up to speed on what’s happened?”
Once Ace and Gabriel finished explaining they and Charles arrived at a small clearing and found the two girls and their animal companions there, all five of them looking exhausted.
“What happened?” Gabriel asked as Ace rushed to his younger sister’s side.
“We-we just drove off the werewolf a couple of minutes ago.” Hazel panted as she tried to catch her breath, “It must know our scent.”
‘It’s not your scent it recognizes.’ Gabriel thought as his eyes flickered to Rachel before going back to Hazel, “You said you drove it off a couple of minutes ago.”
Hazel nodded, “Rachel, Josh, Luna, Phoenix, and I were fighting off for a while and it ran away when Rachel managed to stab one of its hind legs while I left what looked like a scratch on its back.”
“That’s my sister.” Ace said smiling at Rachel who smiled in return.
“Where did it run off to?” Charles asked.
“Right there,” Hazel said pointing to the west.
Charles was about to say something before the howls of other wolves interrupted him. It had first started with about five or so but had increased that by the time it stopped, it felt like the entire forest was full of them.
“It gathered a pack.” Charles said in a horrified tone as his eyes widened, “We need to leave. It's too dangerous with only eight of us.”
“No.” Hazel said firmly, “We all took an oath to defend humanity against monsters, no matter the cost. I’m not just going to let some werewolf terrorize this town and run like a coward.”
“None of us are.” Rachel said in a determined voice as the boys and animals agreed.
Charles looked at them in disbelief before he sighed, “Alright if I can’t get any of you to leave the least, I can do is make sure you lot survive the night.”
Hazel smiled at him before nodding, “Alright.”
“We need to come up with a plan.” Ace stated before he turned to Gabriel.
“Why are you looking at me?” Gabriel asked.
“You seem to know a lot about werewolves so is there anything else we should know about pure-blooded ones?” Ace said.
Gabriel sighed before he folded his arms, “Well they’re most commonly known for their ability to shift at any given time and they have two forms they can shift to. One form is a crossbreed between a human and a werewolf while the other form allows them to fully shift into a wolf.”
“Okay.” Hazel said nodding as she let the information sink in, “Got anything else?”
“If they shift to their more humane form their physical strength and speed are heightened tremendously,” Gabriel added.
“Well, isn’t that just great?” Ace said sarcastically.
“But when they shift into their other wolf form, they adopt all the senses of the wolf they transform into as well as the ability to communicate with other wolves.” Gabriel finished.
Hazel thought for a moment as she placed her chin in between her pointer finger and thumb in a thinking manner before she asked, “When they shift to their second wolf form is there anything unique about it? What do their wolf forms have that differentiates them from other wolves?”
Gabriel thought for a moment before he sighed and shook his head, “Nothing, only other purebloods can tell the difference between wolf AND werewolf.”
“So basically, you’re telling me that if we don’t have a pure-blooded werewolf with us in the next ten minutes, we’re as good as dead.” Ace said with the air of somebody trying to explain the most obvious thing to an idiot.
“Well, we could go old school.” Hazel suggested, “Traps.”
“That does sound safer,” Rachel admitted with Charles agreeing with her.
“Well let’s get to work then.” Ace said wearily before eyeing the setting sun, “We only got seven minutes of daylight left.”
With the help of the animals and Ace’s magic – along with their Monster Hunting training – the five Monster Hunters and their animal companions had managed to create a seven feet deep pit with wooden spikes at the bottom along with several traps scattered about. It was only when Gabriel and Charles fixed the last of the traps that the howling started again and was getting louder…
“Incoming,” Gabriel said before firing two arrows in the distance and hearing something heavy fall.
“Fuego.” Ace said before a ball of fire appeared in the palm of his hand.
Wasting no time the blue-eyed boy fired the flaming ball into the distance, setting a handful of trees on fire while also providing them with enough light to see the great number of wolves running toward them.
“Everyone get ready,” Hazel said as she as well as the others readied themselves for the battle ahead of them.
∞
“What do you mean they left!?” Kimberly exclaimed angrily as she glared at the twins’ uncle.
“I mean they left ma’am.” Mr. Oliviero repeated calmly, “They spoke to one of the locals before they left though, something about a monster attack.”
Eliza’s eyes widened at this before she asked, “If it isn’t any trouble, do you perhaps know where they could be?”
The captain nodded before he saw the smoke illuminated by the moonlight, “They’re in the forest.”
“What!?” Eliza and the other two girls exclaimed in worry and shock.
“We need to get over there now!” Carla exclaimed with the other two nodding in agreement before the trio ran off the ship and towards the smoke.
As the captain watched the girls’ retreating backs he quickly turned back to his crew, “I wants everyone t’ tell the villagers about the forest fire n’ make sure they be all ready t’ evacuate if it reaches us!”
“Aye, sir!” The crew exclaimed before they all ran towards the large village.
The captain watched them all leave before he sighed and looked back at the smoke, ‘Ace, Rachel…please be safe.’
∞
“Rach on your left!” Ace exclaimed seeing a wolf lunge toward his sister before she swung her sword, leaving it to fall lifeless on the ground, “How many does that make?”
“The two of us killed about twelve each, Charles already has about twenty-five, Hazel has sixteen, the animals surprisingly have a total of eight, and Gabriel,” Rachel began before an arrow nearly grazed her and shot three wolves that were headed towards her and her brother, “has killed so many that I eventually lost count. To answer your question, it's safe to say we’ve killed about seventy-three and up wolves.”
“Thankfully there’s barely any left.” Charles said joining in on their conversation while killing two wolves, “I’m almost out of bullets.”
Rachel was about to say something when Gabriel interrupted her shouting, “Where’s Hazel!?”
∞
Once Gabriel saw the first wolf from the forest’s shadows all he could see was red. As the wolves kept lunging at him with their eyes he fought back with just as much force, killing every and any wolf in his line of fire.
‘That makes 135.’ Gabriel thought as he tallied the wolves he and the others had killed, ‘I’d better see if we’re all still here.’
After shooting one last wolf the boy quickly scanned the burning forest, spotting the twins, Charles, and all three of their animal companions, but…
(A/N: I do not support animal hunting or cruelty. Wolves were used in this scenario solely for plot purposes.)
“Where’s Hazel!?” Gabriel exclaimed worried as he frantically looked around, hoping to spot his purple-eyed friend.
“She isn’t with you!?” Rachel asked as she and the others joined him.
Gabriel shook his head before he turned to Charles, “I thought she was with you.”
The group exchanged worried looks before Phoenix started growling at something just a few feet behind them. Taking notice of this the group faced the enormous boulder that was behind them before their eyes widened; standing on top of the boulder was a wolf on its hind legs, pointing a dagger at…
“Hazel!” Rachel exclaimed worried for her friend’s safety.
“Let go of me,” Hazel said as she struggled to break free from the monster’s grip.
“Hold still.” The werewolf growled.
“Let her go now!” Gabriel exclaimed angrily, ‘That freaking mutt!’
“What do you even want?” Hazel asked as both she and Gabriel death glared at the werewolf.
“My bride.” The werewolf said turning to look at Hazel before it turned back to the others, “and a rematch, Gabriel.”
“Gabriel, what is it talking about?” Ace asked turning to Gabriel.
Gabriel only glanced at him before he put an arm in front of Rachel.
The werewolf only sighed before it spoke again, “Still as stubborn as ever, Lil’ bro.”
“…What?” Hazel and the twins asked in disbelief as Charles let out a small sigh.
The werewolf only sighed once again before his grip loosened making Hazel shoot it a confused look, “If you aren’t going to act then I will for you.”
Gabriel only gave it a look of bewilderment and anxiety before it threw Hazel off the boulder, “Amore!”
At the exact moment, Hazel was thrown off the boulder Gabriel instantly dropped his bow and bolted in her direction; worry etched on his face.
‘I-I need to shift.’ Gabriel thought before he felt a prickling sensation on his skin.
∞
As soon as Hazel’s mind registered that the two-legged werewolf threw her off the boulder she quickly curled herself into a ball and prepared herself for the impact that was going to come… and yet it never did. Opening her eyes slowly she was met with an all too familiar shade of sky-blue eyes.
“G-Gabriel?” Hazel asked her voice dropping to barely an audible whisper as she saw her friend’s appearance change.
“W-what in the world?” Rachel whispered as she put a hand on her mouth as she and the others stared in disbelief.
There crouching in front of them was Gabriel but it was a Gabriel that they had never seen before. The part of his arms that were exposed was covered in dark brown fur, and matching wolf ears seemed to have sprouted from his head, along with the sleek dark brown tail that emerged from his lower back.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Gabriel said regretfully as he stared at Hazel who was still cradled in his arms.
“Y-you’re a werewolf…” Hazel said in disbelief.