"So like I said," Jaden explained as he sat next to me and Kaylee in the other recliner, "The hunter was using something to mask his scent completely. He was in the woods out back, and mom was lured out there by the scent of a fresh kill."
The werewolf paused there to give the rest of us some background information, "My mom owns a small organic cattle farm, it's about a hundred and twenty acres total? About two thirds of it is fields for grazing the livestock, but there's nearly forty acres of untouched forest at the back. It's all well-marked and there's no hunting anywhere around, and even if we weren't werewolfs you just don't get predators taking down livestock nowadays. So losing one of the herd is a really rare and unusual event. The fact that the property is scent marked as werewolf territory means no natural predator would be within ten kilometres of the place."
"So she smelled a fresh kill near the back of the property," he continued, "She went to go investigate, and that's when he nearly got her."
Jaden sighed and shook his head, "It's pure luck but one of the cows hollered or something, and she turned at the last moment. She was hit in the shoulder instead of the heart. I was up at the barn but I heard the shot. I found her and got her back to the house, then me and my sister Lindsay went back out to find the shooter."
"Like I said, there was no scent, almost no trace of the guy," he said with another sigh. "We figured out where he'd been hiding though, based on the scent of the gunpowder in the air. And from there we tracked his footprints, off our land onto a neighbouring farm. We tracked the prints all the way back to the road, there were tire tracks there. But no scent, nothing."
We were all quiet as we listened, but at that point Willow spoke up with a question.
The sorceress asked, "What makes you sure this guy's a wolf hunter?"
"He shot my mom with a silver bullet," the werewolf stated with a frown. "That and he knew to completely erase his own scent. Means he was deliberately out there trying to kill her."
Kaylee asked, "Silver bullets are a real thing? I always thought that was a myth or something?"
"Is your mom going to be ok?" Nina asked nervously. "What does a silver bullet do to werewolves?"
Jaden looked like he was getting impatient with all the questions, but apart from getting a bit restless he answered them.
"If she'd been hit in the heart or the head it would have killed her," he told my sister. "We're a lot tougher than humans and we can heal from most injuries, but silver messes with that. As it is, she's going to have a slow recovery. She'll be ok though, but it's going to take her a lot longer to heal than usual."
Then he looked at my girlfriend and stated, "Silver bullets are real but they suck. They're hard to make, they're usually less accurate than a normal bullet, and they can screw up the gun or the barrel. That's probably why there was no second shot? He was either banking on one shot one kill, or maybe his gun jammed. And with me showing up pretty damn fast he didn't have time to unjam it."
"Either way," he said as he looked over at Melanie and Cerys, "It looks like there's a wolf hunter in town and he knows what he's doing. If you two have been going around with your ears and tails out in public it's a fair bet he knows who you are. So you need to be extra careful."
"Crud," Melanie sighed.
Sasha asked, "Is there anything that can be done to protect you and your fellow werewolves from this sort of attack?"
Jaden shrugged then tapped something hard hidden in the lining of his leather jacket, "Quarter-inch plate of hardened steel, with a layer of hard ceramic baked onto the outside. It's heavy and not particularly comfortable, but it's supposed to stop a rifle bullet."
"Only once though," he added. "After the first hit it's no good anymore. And you'll have a hell of a bruise, probably some busted ribs. You could try kevlar but you want to find something rated for rifles rather than pistols."
That left all of us quiet again, as the werewolf's words sank in.
After a half minute or so of silence our guest asked, "So now I've shared all these details, how about you girls tell me who and what you all are? And how you figure you'll be able to help us?"
"Let's start with you," he added as he looked at my girlfriend. "What the hell are you? I've never seen a three-tailed werefox before."
Kaylee rolled her eyes while her tails twitched in irritation. She made a hmph noise then told him, "I'm not a werefox, or a foxgirl. I'm a fox demon, thank you very much."
Jaden raised an eyebrow, "Demon huh? Sorry but you don't look that impressive."
"Moving on," he said before my girlfriend could respond. Then he looked at me and asked, "How about you?"
I blushed, "I'm um, also a demon."
At that point Cerys spoke up, probably before anyone else could embarrass the club any further.
She stated, "You already know I'm a werewolf, I'm also a witch. So's Melanie, I've been teaching her magic. Kaylee might be small but you don't want to judge her by her size, she's smart and tough and she knows magic. Same goes for Cass and Nina, they're both demons and the small soft shy thing's just an act. Nina's almost fifteen hundred years old, and Cass is her big sister."
"Willow here's a sorceress," she continued, "And Sasha's a seven hundred year old half-demon who also carries a divine blessing. Together we've faced vampires and necromancers, fairies and fae, ordinary hauntings and ancient primordial horrors. We're also on a first-name basis with two different goddesses, and we're friends with a couple angels. So yeah, we might not look tough, but if someone out there is attacking werewolfs then they're in for a very rude awakening."
Jaden stared at the blonde wolfgirl for a few seconds, before his lips curled into a smile.
"Ok kid." He almost sounded amused as he said, "You talk tough, and if you girls are half what you claim then maybe you'll actually find this guy before my pack gets our claws in him."
His smile turned into a smirk as he added, "Word of advice though? The pet collar isn't a good look on a werewolf. Doubly so if you're trying to act like a leader."
Both me and Melanie cringed and blushed slightly out of second-hand embarrassment, but Cerys didn't seem to care.
The blonde wolfgirl just smiled, "Laugh or tease all you want. My collar was given to me by a goddess and it's got a divine enchantment on it. You might think it makes me look like someone's pet, but I like how it looks and I'm owning that all the way."
"All right kid," Jayden smiled. "You do you. I'm just saying, you might have to explain that a few times if you ever meet the rest of my pack. My mom's probably going to ask about it anyways. I'm sure she'll have some words about it for Mel there too."
He looked at the raven-haired wolfgirl and added, "No offence but you know how she can be about some stuff."
"Yeah," Melanie shrugged. "And she knows I'm not much for traditions. Cerys is my pack, we do things our way."
"Respect," Jaden said as he got to his feet. He picked up his bike helmet and added to her, "You know how to get in touch. If you're planning to come over you let us know first. Especially if you're bringing your friends. I've got to hit the road now. You girls stay safe."
Mel stood up as well and replied, "You too Jaden. Be careful. And tell Belinda I'll definitely be over there to see her. I'll still call ahead, but telling you right now we're all in on this. My friends and I aren't going to let this guy get away with it."
The two of them went to the front door together, then after our guest headed out Melanie came back into the living-room and sat down with her girlfriend again. Meanwhile we heard the motorcycle engine start up outside, and a few seconds later the motor revved then it drove off.
"I hope y'all aren't mad at me," Melanie sighed as she slipped an arm around Cerys. "I know I shouldn't have spoke for the club, about us getting involved. I just figured..."
Cerys shook her head, "I'd have offered if you didn't."
"Same," Kaylee added. "Or, I'd have suggested it anyways."
The older wolfgirl looked relieved, although she was obviously still more than a little stressed about everything we'd just learned.
Then Willow spoke up, "So I picked up some of the background from what was discussed, but I get the feeling there's a lot of this story I don't know? Maybe someone could fill me in on the details? I figure Sasha won't know it either, right?"
"Yeah," Melanie nodded. "So this happened before you and Sasha and Nina joined the club. It started a little over eighteen months ago, end of December twenty-twenty and into new years..."
The next ten or fifteen minutes she filled the three newest club members in on how the rest of us found her, and the background on how she became a wolf in the first place. She explained how Miss Hawthorne offered to introduce her to a werewolf lady who could teach her the basics, since Melanie didn't get any of that stuff and was completely clueless and on her own.
"So that's how I met Belinda Tate," she explained. "She lives on a farm about a twenty minute drive north-west of town. Like Jaden said, it's two-thirds fields for grazing cattle, and one-third forest. Plus there's a barn, and maybe an acre of lawn and vegetable garden and stuff around the farmhouse."
Melanie continued, "At first May gave me a lift out there, then my dad drove me once or twice. And Belinda drove me a few times too. I was seeing her a couple times a week at first, like an evening after school and a few hours on the weekend? It was hectic between school, work, and spending time with Cerys or doing club stuff."
"Anyways she basically gave me a crash course on what it meant to be a werewolf," the wolfgirl stated. She sighed, "It was rough at first and I wasn't a very good student to start with. I was basically damaged goods, but she was patient and put up with all my crap. Between her and Cerys I learned to make peace with my inner wolf, and things have been a thousand times better since then."
She hesitated there for a moment, then added "I'm not part of her pack, but because she mentored me there's a kind of connection. It's hard to describe, werewolf pack relationships don't really equate to human family stuff but it's close enough I guess? So I'm not part of their family, but because she took me in and trained me that means I'm like a third cousin or whatever. Jaden coming out here to warn me in person like that was unexpected. He could have just texted, or done nothing."
"What Mel's trying to say is there's werewolf protocols and politics," Cerys said. "That's why Jaden made a big deal about calling first before showing up. Melanie is a friend of their pack, the rest of us aren't."
Sasha responded, "Thank you both for the explanation. I'm glad Ms. Tate was able to help you Melanie, and I can understand why you're eager to return the favour."
Then Kaylee asked, "So what's our first step? We pretty much have to go over there, right? We need a look at the scene, maybe we can find traces of whatever magic this guy was using to hide himself?"
Our club leader nodded, "That's what I'm thinking. Maybe we can do some preliminary research tonight? Find out what we can about 'werewolf hunters' in general, see if there's anything we should be looking for."
"I can check some of those secret forums and stuff," Willow offered. "I don't know that there's anything useful on them, but I wasn't looking for werewolf-related stuff when I was active on those sites."
My girlfriend spoke up again, "I want to talk to Brooke. I won't say anything about what's going on, I'm sure she doesn't want to know anyways since she's not part of this anymore. But she has a spell that let her scry a specific area for activity at a specific time? She used it when we were dealing with those vampires last year, remember? If she'll give me the spell then maybe Cass or Willow can use it."
Melanie nodded, "Right. We'd have to get to the spot where Jaden figures the hunter was hiding, but that'd let whoever was casting the spell see back in time and maybe get a look at the guy."
"Sounds good," Cerys nodded. "Kaylee go ahead and reach out to Brooke about that spell. Willow, when you have another look at those 'dark web' forums I'd like to be there too? I'd like to see whatever information they have on weres. Cass or Nina, could one of you please speak with your parents? Let them know what Jaden said, and see if they know anything about wolf hunters?"
Then she turned to her girlfriend and said, "And can you please contact your tutor or her pack and do the official request thing, let them know Club Luna wants to pay them a visit tomorrow?"
"Yeah of course," Melanie agreed. "I'll do that right now."
That sort of prompted everyone else into action.
Kaylee went back to our room to contact Brooke about that scrying spell she came up with last year, while Cerys followed Willow into the sorceress's room so they could search the 'dark web' again for information. Melanie headed down to the basement to make her arrangements in private, while Nina and Sasha and I stayed put.
"I'm going to head home now," my little sister said, "So I'll talk to our parents and let them know about the wolf hunter. I'll text if they have any information or suggestions."
"Ok sis. See you later," I replied.
She teleported away after that, which left my cousin and I alone in the living-room.
I looked to her and asked, "I guess there's nothing for us to do but wait and see what everyone else finds out?"
"It would seem so," she replied. "Perhaps we could start preparing dinner for the others? May as well make ourselves useful, after all."
"Good idea," I agreed as the two of us got up and headed for the kitchen.
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"So like I said," Jaden explained as he sat next to me and Kaylee in the other recliner, "The hunter was using something to mask his scent completely. He was in the woods out back, and mom was lured out there by the scent of a fresh kill."
The werewolf paused there to give the rest of us some background information, "My mom owns a small organic cattle farm, it's about a hundred and twenty acres total? About two thirds of it is fields for grazing the livestock, but there's nearly forty acres of untouched forest at the back. It's all well-marked and there's no hunting anywhere around, and even if we weren't werewolfs you just don't get predators taking down livestock nowadays. So losing one of the herd is a really rare and unusual event. The fact that the property is scent marked as werewolf territory means no natural predator would be within ten kilometres of the place."
"So she smelled a fresh kill near the back of the property," he continued, "She went to go investigate, and that's when he nearly got her."
Jaden sighed and shook his head, "It's pure luck but one of the cows hollered or something, and she turned at the last moment. She was hit in the shoulder instead of the heart. I was up at the barn but I heard the shot. I found her and got her back to the house, then me and my sister Lindsay went back out to find the shooter."
"Like I said, there was no scent, almost no trace of the guy," he said with another sigh. "We figured out where he'd been hiding though, based on the scent of the gunpowder in the air. And from there we tracked his footprints, off our land onto a neighbouring farm. We tracked the prints all the way back to the road, there were tire tracks there. But no scent, nothing."
We were all quiet as we listened, but at that point Willow spoke up with a question.
The sorceress asked, "What makes you sure this guy's a wolf hunter?"
"He shot my mom with a silver bullet," the werewolf stated with a frown. "That and he knew to completely erase his own scent. Means he was deliberately out there trying to kill her."
Kaylee asked, "Silver bullets are a real thing? I always thought that was a myth or something?"
"Is your mom going to be ok?" Nina asked nervously. "What does a silver bullet do to werewolves?"
Jaden looked like he was getting impatient with all the questions, but apart from getting a bit restless he answered them.
"If she'd been hit in the heart or the head it would have killed her," he told my sister. "We're a lot tougher than humans and we can heal from most injuries, but silver messes with that. As it is, she's going to have a slow recovery. She'll be ok though, but it's going to take her a lot longer to heal than usual."
Then he looked at my girlfriend and stated, "Silver bullets are real but they suck. They're hard to make, they're usually less accurate than a normal bullet, and they can screw up the gun or the barrel. That's probably why there was no second shot? He was either banking on one shot one kill, or maybe his gun jammed. And with me showing up pretty damn fast he didn't have time to unjam it."
"Either way," he said as he looked over at Melanie and Cerys, "It looks like there's a wolf hunter in town and he knows what he's doing. If you two have been going around with your ears and tails out in public it's a fair bet he knows who you are. So you need to be extra careful."
"Crud," Melanie sighed.
Sasha asked, "Is there anything that can be done to protect you and your fellow werewolves from this sort of attack?"
Jaden shrugged then tapped something hard hidden in the lining of his leather jacket, "Quarter-inch plate of hardened steel, with a layer of hard ceramic baked onto the outside. It's heavy and not particularly comfortable, but it's supposed to stop a rifle bullet."
"Only once though," he added. "After the first hit it's no good anymore. And you'll have a hell of a bruise, probably some busted ribs. You could try kevlar but you want to find something rated for rifles rather than pistols."
That left all of us quiet again, as the werewolf's words sank in.
After a half minute or so of silence our guest asked, "So now I've shared all these details, how about you girls tell me who and what you all are? And how you figure you'll be able to help us?"
"Let's start with you," he added as he looked at my girlfriend. "What the hell are you? I've never seen a three-tailed werefox before."
Kaylee rolled her eyes while her tails twitched in irritation. She made a hmph noise then told him, "I'm not a werefox, or a foxgirl. I'm a fox demon, thank you very much."
Jaden raised an eyebrow, "Demon huh? Sorry but you don't look that impressive."
"Moving on," he said before my girlfriend could respond. Then he looked at me and asked, "How about you?"
I blushed, "I'm um, also a demon."
At that point Cerys spoke up, probably before anyone else could embarrass the club any further.
She stated, "You already know I'm a werewolf, I'm also a witch. So's Melanie, I've been teaching her magic. Kaylee might be small but you don't want to judge her by her size, she's smart and tough and she knows magic. Same goes for Cass and Nina, they're both demons and the small soft shy thing's just an act. Nina's almost fifteen hundred years old, and Cass is her big sister."
"Willow here's a sorceress," she continued, "And Sasha's a seven hundred year old half-demon who also carries a divine blessing. Together we've faced vampires and necromancers, fairies and fae, ordinary hauntings and ancient primordial horrors. We're also on a first-name basis with two different goddesses, and we're friends with a couple angels. So yeah, we might not look tough, but if someone out there is attacking werewolfs then they're in for a very rude awakening."
Jaden stared at the blonde wolfgirl for a few seconds, before his lips curled into a smile.
"Ok kid." He almost sounded amused as he said, "You talk tough, and if you girls are half what you claim then maybe you'll actually find this guy before my pack gets our claws in him."
His smile turned into a smirk as he added, "Word of advice though? The pet collar isn't a good look on a werewolf. Doubly so if you're trying to act like a leader."
Both me and Melanie cringed and blushed slightly out of second-hand embarrassment, but Cerys didn't seem to care.
The blonde wolfgirl just smiled, "Laugh or tease all you want. My collar was given to me by a goddess and it's got a divine enchantment on it. You might think it makes me look like someone's pet, but I like how it looks and I'm owning that all the way."
"All right kid," Jayden smiled. "You do you. I'm just saying, you might have to explain that a few times if you ever meet the rest of my pack. My mom's probably going to ask about it anyways. I'm sure she'll have some words about it for Mel there too."
He looked at the raven-haired wolfgirl and added, "No offence but you know how she can be about some stuff."
"Yeah," Melanie shrugged. "And she knows I'm not much for traditions. Cerys is my pack, we do things our way."
"Respect," Jaden said as he got to his feet. He picked up his bike helmet and added to her, "You know how to get in touch. If you're planning to come over you let us know first. Especially if you're bringing your friends. I've got to hit the road now. You girls stay safe."
Mel stood up as well and replied, "You too Jaden. Be careful. And tell Belinda I'll definitely be over there to see her. I'll still call ahead, but telling you right now we're all in on this. My friends and I aren't going to let this guy get away with it."
The two of them went to the front door together, then after our guest headed out Melanie came back into the living-room and sat down with her girlfriend again. Meanwhile we heard the motorcycle engine start up outside, and a few seconds later the motor revved then it drove off.
"I hope y'all aren't mad at me," Melanie sighed as she slipped an arm around Cerys. "I know I shouldn't have spoke for the club, about us getting involved. I just figured..."
Cerys shook her head, "I'd have offered if you didn't."
"Same," Kaylee added. "Or, I'd have suggested it anyways."
The older wolfgirl looked relieved, although she was obviously still more than a little stressed about everything we'd just learned.
Then Willow spoke up, "So I picked up some of the background from what was discussed, but I get the feeling there's a lot of this story I don't know? Maybe someone could fill me in on the details? I figure Sasha won't know it either, right?"
"Yeah," Melanie nodded. "So this happened before you and Sasha and Nina joined the club. It started a little over eighteen months ago, end of December twenty-twenty and into new years..."
The next ten or fifteen minutes she filled the three newest club members in on how the rest of us found her, and the background on how she became a wolf in the first place. She explained how Miss Hawthorne offered to introduce her to a werewolf lady who could teach her the basics, since Melanie didn't get any of that stuff and was completely clueless and on her own.
"So that's how I met Belinda Tate," she explained. "She lives on a farm about a twenty minute drive north-west of town. Like Jaden said, it's two-thirds fields for grazing cattle, and one-third forest. Plus there's a barn, and maybe an acre of lawn and vegetable garden and stuff around the farmhouse."
Melanie continued, "At first May gave me a lift out there, then my dad drove me once or twice. And Belinda drove me a few times too. I was seeing her a couple times a week at first, like an evening after school and a few hours on the weekend? It was hectic between school, work, and spending time with Cerys or doing club stuff."
"Anyways she basically gave me a crash course on what it meant to be a werewolf," the wolfgirl stated. She sighed, "It was rough at first and I wasn't a very good student to start with. I was basically damaged goods, but she was patient and put up with all my crap. Between her and Cerys I learned to make peace with my inner wolf, and things have been a thousand times better since then."
She hesitated there for a moment, then added "I'm not part of her pack, but because she mentored me there's a kind of connection. It's hard to describe, werewolf pack relationships don't really equate to human family stuff but it's close enough I guess? So I'm not part of their family, but because she took me in and trained me that means I'm like a third cousin or whatever. Jaden coming out here to warn me in person like that was unexpected. He could have just texted, or done nothing."
"What Mel's trying to say is there's werewolf protocols and politics," Cerys said. "That's why Jaden made a big deal about calling first before showing up. Melanie is a friend of their pack, the rest of us aren't."
Sasha responded, "Thank you both for the explanation. I'm glad Ms. Tate was able to help you Melanie, and I can understand why you're eager to return the favour."
Then Kaylee asked, "So what's our first step? We pretty much have to go over there, right? We need a look at the scene, maybe we can find traces of whatever magic this guy was using to hide himself?"
Our club leader nodded, "That's what I'm thinking. Maybe we can do some preliminary research tonight? Find out what we can about 'werewolf hunters' in general, see if there's anything we should be looking for."
"I can check some of those secret forums and stuff," Willow offered. "I don't know that there's anything useful on them, but I wasn't looking for werewolf-related stuff when I was active on those sites."
My girlfriend spoke up again, "I want to talk to Brooke. I won't say anything about what's going on, I'm sure she doesn't want to know anyways since she's not part of this anymore. But she has a spell that let her scry a specific area for activity at a specific time? She used it when we were dealing with those vampires last year, remember? If she'll give me the spell then maybe Cass or Willow can use it."
Melanie nodded, "Right. We'd have to get to the spot where Jaden figures the hunter was hiding, but that'd let whoever was casting the spell see back in time and maybe get a look at the guy."
"Sounds good," Cerys nodded. "Kaylee go ahead and reach out to Brooke about that spell. Willow, when you have another look at those 'dark web' forums I'd like to be there too? I'd like to see whatever information they have on weres. Cass or Nina, could one of you please speak with your parents? Let them know what Jaden said, and see if they know anything about wolf hunters?"
Then she turned to her girlfriend and said, "And can you please contact your tutor or her pack and do the official request thing, let them know Club Luna wants to pay them a visit tomorrow?"
"Yeah of course," Melanie agreed. "I'll do that right now."
That sort of prompted everyone else into action.
Kaylee went back to our room to contact Brooke about that scrying spell she came up with last year, while Cerys followed Willow into the sorceress's room so they could search the 'dark web' again for information. Melanie headed down to the basement to make her arrangements in private, while Nina and Sasha and I stayed put.
"I'm going to head home now," my little sister said, "So I'll talk to our parents and let them know about the wolf hunter. I'll text if they have any information or suggestions."
"Ok sis. See you later," I replied.
She teleported away after that, which left my cousin and I alone in the living-room.
I looked to her and asked, "I guess there's nothing for us to do but wait and see what everyone else finds out?"
"It would seem so," she replied. "Perhaps we could start preparing dinner for the others? May as well make ourselves useful, after all."
"Good idea," I agreed as the two of us got up and headed for the kitchen.
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