As soon as I arrived in the next town, I immediately started looking for work—I was out of money and food. I walked into a tavern that grabbed my attention for no particur reason. Normally people walked up to me offering some work in those pces, but I wasn’t expecting things would go the way it did.

  As soon as I entered the tavern, people stared at me—btantly. I took a seat at an empty table, trying to ignore their eyes burning into me, until one man finally approached. “Erm… I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but notice your equipment. You don’t happen to be a hunter, do you?”

  “Ah… Yes, I am.” When I said this was when everyone in the tavern came closer to me, surrounding me.

  “P-Please sir, you need to help us.” One woman cried.

  “Finally a there’s a hunter in town. I don’t know what we would do without one here.” An old man compined.

  “Thank God you’re here. He must have sent you to save us.” An old dy excimed.

  I was slowly getting overwhelmed. The heat from all the bodies around, the sound of all their voices and the ones in the back that figured they needed to shout so I could hear them. And as if overwhelming my ears wasn’t enough, some of the people thought it was necessary to touch and grab me. Quickly I was surrounded and just couldn’t find a way to escape the fear and desperation from those people. Thankfully, a man finally shouted to the crowd.

  “Let’s calm down, everyone. We don’t want to scare our guest when we finally have a hunter in town, do we?” As he addressed the crowd, they slowly disperse and I can finally breathe freely again. The man was wearing some fancy clothes, a waistcoat and an overcoat over it, as well as a hat and a thick mustache.

  “Thank you for that…” I said, already exhausted.

  “Don’t worry about thanking me. I believe we are the ones who need your help more than anything, after all.”

  “And what do you need my help with that could justify all this commotion?”

  “You see, we have this problem with a pack of wolves attacking the city at night. At first, they were just killing some sheep, maybe some bigger cattle, but recently they’ve grown more violent, trying to break into houses, attacking anyone who goes out at night and they even killed two people already, including a child.”

  “It seems like things really went out of control here, huh? But this is a fairly big town. Don’t you have any hunter to deal with this situation?”

  “Well… we had… but he went missing after going after them… He is one of the people killed by the wolves.”

  This whole story is pretty weird. A single wolf appearing in a farm and eating some cows? That’s normal. But a whole pack attacking the town like that? I would need to look further into all of this.

  “Did anyone saw any of the wolves when they showed up in the city?”

  “I believe the widow of the hunter is the only one who have seem the wolves in the city. She saw the moment they dragged her husband, the poor thing.”

  “Can you show me where she lives? I would like to ask some questions.”

  “Sure, but she hasn’t been really cooperative for the past few days. I believe she’s really traumatized about the whole thing.”

  The man directed me to a small house on the outskirts of the town. Over grown grass surrounded the house, and honestly, it looked like no one had lived there for some weeks now. “This is where she lives. Her name is Annabelle and I haven’t seen her outside her house ever since the incident… Please be patient with her. She’s been really depressed since everything…”

  “Don’t worry.” I reassured. “I just want to ask some simple questions.”

  I knock in the door, but once no one answered, I noticed the door wasn’t locked, and carefully opened it and got inside. The woman was sitting in a couch in the room. The firepce was lit and she was organizing a bag in front of it. She notices my presence and looks my way but completely ignores me and goes back to organizing the bag.

  “You’re Annabelle, right? Someone told me I could find you here.”

  “I don’t think I needed to be found. Is this all you came here to do? To “find me”?”

  She clearly wasn’t in the mood to talk, and neither was I, but I needed to be patient since I had to get information from her that I could. “I am a hunter. The people in the city want me to deal with the wolves that’ve been running around tely. A man told me you’re the only one who ever actually saw them though.”

  “You’re the hunter they found? Sure, you’re tall, but you’re a little bit more on the fat side than I would expect.” She said in a mocking tone.

  I knew exactly what she was trying to do (I did the same several times after all). She was trying to be rude so I would leave her alone. Unfortunately, for her I was already more used to rudeness then most people, so I just ignored her attempts to push me away.

  “I just have a few questions about the wolf pack the people in the city have been talking. After all, it’s not common to see animals enter the cities like this, let alone wreak havoc like it seems they’re doing. How were the wolves when you saw them?”

  “I just saw them once, and I was too occupied trying to help my husband to notice anything. Why don’t you just leave me alone?” She said, very clearly irritated.

  “Your husband was a hunter, wasn’t he? Surely he also thought this whole story with the wolf pack was weird?”

  “What you mean ‘was’?! First of all his name is Evan. All of you seem to forget he was a human before being a hunter.” She shouted, even angrier than before. “And they never found my husband’s corpse. He’s still alive for all that we know.”

  “I’m sorry. I just meant…”

  “It doesn’t matter what you meant” She interrupted me. “We already didn’t needed all those idiots from the city bothering us. We certainly don’t need an outsider coming here thinking he can solve everything. I will deal with all of this ‘wolf’ problem by myself, and then I’m going to bring Evan back home. Now get out of here!”

  She was shouting and threw her bag in my direction, spilling all of the things inside it, just some food and clothes. She had made clear that she didn’t wanted me there, and I also understood she wouldn’t be so helpful anymore.

  “Not any luck, huh?” The man said after seeing me being kicked out of the house.

  “Yeah… I feel like she’s not feeling really helpful right now. You seemed pretty sure it was a whole pack of wolves running around the city. I never seen something like that happen with an entire pack before. Are you sure this wasn’t a single wolf or even some other animal?”

  “Yes, I’m mostly sure.” He stated. “We all heard the howls at night, and there’s been many different pces around the city being attacked at the same night. A single wolf could never run around town so fast.”

  It did seemed almost like a mystery how this whole situation could have happen. It was all too confusing with the information I had in the moment, so I decided to gather the evidence I needed personally.

  “The sun is already setting. Is there any pce in town where I can get a good vision of the entire city?”

  “Well, there’s the church in the center of town. You could probably watch the whole city trough there. But what are you pnning exactly?”

  “I’m going to be on lookout over the city for when these wolves show up, and maybe scare them away if needed.”

  “What? You’re just going to attack all of them without any pn? You’re going to end up just like Evan.”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m not pnning on charge on them. I’ll just scare them away if they try and attack the people. Ask the vilgers to stay inside their house in case of anything.”

  “Well, if that’s all that you’re going to do, that’s fine… I’ll ask the townsfolk to stay in their house in the night, but not all of them will hear me. Just take care of yourself. We don’t know when’s the next time a hunter will show up in town.”

  As the sun settled, I walked to the church in the center of town and went up the tower in it. From there I had a nice view of the forest and the mountains in the sunset. When the night finally approached, I kept close watch on any commotion that could be happening around the city. Some drunkards starting a fight in the taverns, a couple of kid py-fighting and a couple arguing in front of their house, but no wolf in sight.

  However, near midnight, when there was no one in the streets, I heard some tumult coming from the woods and some animals running away from something in the forest. It was only then that I heard a loud, almost deafening, noise. An unnatural howl, like it shouldn’t be coming from any animal. Then from the shadows of the forest, it emerged a creature. Tall, hairy, it face looked deformed, it eyes were too big for its face, so was it’s nose, or more accurately, it’s snout. The arms and legs were also disproportionate to the rest of it’s furry body. I knew for certain what that was; a werewolf.

  The forest animals all ran throughout the city, trying to escape from the creature. They would stumble on each other, causing an immense chaos all around the town. The monster, on the other hand, looked calm, as if it was choosing which one of the distressed animals it would attack. A deer, driven to desperation, crashed through a door and into a nearby house, its panicked flight leaving the entrance gaping open. Knowing I I had to act fast and with no time to descend the tower safely, I made a split-second decision and leaped from rooftop to rooftop

  Luckily, the creature moved cautiously, as if it was stalking the house. On the roof, when it was under me, I jumped on it with my sword at hand. I stabbed the monster in the back, but the sword was met with unexpected resistance. Somehow, the skin and the thick fur managed to stop the bde as I tried to push it deeper into the werewolf’s back, but, filled with anger and pain, it smmed itself on the house walls, crushing me in the middle of it. The impact made me lose my breath and fall to the ground, leaving the sword craved in the creature’s back as it ran back to the forest in pain.

  I figured the werewolf wouldn’t be a risk to anyone for tonight, and went to check on who was inside the house. In the main room, a woman was on a fetal position in the corner of the room, shivering and crying. As I approached her and slowly touched her shoulder, she flinched and started screaming at me scared.

  “Get out of here! Don’t touch me!” she screamed in panic.

  “Calm down. The monster already went away. Are you hurt anywhere?” I said, extending my hand to her.

  “No!” She screamed, horrified out of her mind. “You demons already took my baby. Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

  I tried to calm her down and as I did the man I had met in the tavern came into the house.

  “Hunter? What happened here? Are the wolves gone?” He asked looking confused.

  “There were no wolf. But before that, can you help me calm her down?” I said pointing at the woman.

  “Oh, her… Maybe we should talk outside and just leave her alone for a bit” He was looking awkward uncomfortable as we headed outside. “So, you see, that’s Elise, the mother of that child that died. She went completely crazy after it.”

  “She is alone in the house. Where is the father of the child now?”

  “No one knows. I don’t want to bad mouth anyone, but let’s just say she was… a night worker…”

  “So she’s a prostitute?”

  “Yes… she is… No one in the city wanted to cim the child as their own, obviously, so she took care of the kid by herself. She focused all of her efforts into raising the baby, until, well… that happened. Is a shame, really. Everyone could tell how much she cared for the boy. It’s no wonder she became like this after he died.”

  “Is she going to be okay?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know… She was already in a pretty bad pce before, but she seems even worse after whatever happened tonight.”

  “About that, I need you to tell the people of the city that there’s no wolf pack in the woods.”

  “What do you mean? What was making all that chaos right now?”

  “A werewolf.”

  The next morning, the whole vilge gathered in front of the church. News about the werewolf had spread fast, and soon, everyone was approaching me with questions: “Are you sure it was really a werewolf?” “Do you already know who it is?” “Why didn’t you kill it st night?”—and other equally useless questions. I was too overwhelmed to respond, and honestly, I didn’t feel like answering any of them.

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Someone shouted from the crowd surrounding me. “Couldn’t just anyone here be the werewolf?”

  That single question caused the already panicked group to grow even more anxious. Within moments, people were accusing each other of being the monster. The situation spiraled out of control, and all I wanted was to get away. But with everyone crowding around me, there was no easy escape. Just as a brawl was about to break out, a familiar voice shouted from the distance.

  “Can everyone at least not kill each other?” The well-dressed man from yesterday pushed through the crowd, still wearing the same waistcoat. “We already have the werewolf to worry about. Let’s not make its job easier, shall we?”

  Hearing him, the crowd slowly began to calm down. There were still murmurs and compints, but soon everyone was quiet and listening to him.

  “But sir, what are we supposed to do now?” A desperate man asked. “The monster could be any one of us.”

  “I trust the instincts of our hunter here,” He responded. “After all, he was the first one in all these weeks to discover that a werewolf was behind this. I’m sure he already has a pn to figure out who the monster is and how to catch it.”

  With those words, the crowd seemed satisfied and gradually dispersed. This was the second time that man had helped me escape a sea of questions.

  “Thanks for helping me out.” I said sincerely. “I couldn’t deal with that many questions at once. You seem pretty used to talking with crowds. What are you? A politician of some sorts?”

  “Oh no, I just own a farm near the vilge. This pce used to be much more chaotic and disorganized. I offered to help organize things, so I suppose that makes me the closest thing it has to a mayor. My name is Devin, by the way. I don’t think we properly introduced ourselves yesterday.”

  “It’s a pleasure, Devin. I’m Jonah. I wasn’t expecting word about st night’s incident to spread so fast, but I guess news travels quickly in a vilge like this.”

  “Trust me, I didn’t expect it either. It’s probably because of all the anxiety in the air right now… We better resolve this soon. People are already desperate; we don’t want them turning on each other out of fear. I said that earlier to calm them down, but I hope you really do have a pn to find out who the werewolf is.”

  “I do. And actually, I believe the werewolf isn’t from the vilge at all.”

  “Where is it from, then? There are no houses for kilometers outside the vilge. Would the werewolf really travel that far every night?”

  “That’s what’s bothering me. But st night, the monster came from the forest. There’s no reason it would come from there unless it was someone from outside the vilge. And if it were someone from the vilge, we would probably know by now. I’ll have to check the forest for any signs of where the werewolf is coming from, and naturally, I’ll find out who it is too.”

  “Well, that should at least ease the vilgers’ fears a bit. Is there anything else I can help with?”

  “You’ve already helped more than enough, Devin. Once I find where the monster is hiding, it’s only a matter of time before you’re all free from the werewolf in a way or another.”

  Devin and I parted ways. He went to calm the vilgers, while I searched for signs of the werewolf in the surrounding forest. By noon, I had found something that caught my attention. Some of the trees had discreet bde marks—easy to miss if you weren’t looking for them, but the cuts were fresh. There were no footprints or signs that anyone had been there for long. Whoever was in the forest knew how to cover their tracks well. I continued to follow the markings deeper into the forest.

  Eventually, I came upon a single tent and an extinguished campfire that was still warm and smoking. Someone had been there recently—maybe they still were. Carefully, I approached the tent, knife in hand, watching every step to avoid alerting whoever might be inside. As I neared, a figure emerged from the tent. Instinctively, I jumped on them, pinning the person down and pressing the knife to their throat. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a man—his face covered in a full beard and messy hair, and bandages wrapped around his torso just below his chest.

  I held him down, my knife only millimeters from his skin, when a second person emerged from the tent—a woman aiming a crossbow at my face. It was Annabelle, the wife of the hunter from the vilge.

  “Annabelle.” I said, keeping the knife near the man’s throat and trying to stay calm despite the arrow pointed at me. “I take it this man here is your husband?”

  “Yes” she responded sternly. “And this is our camp. You should leave before we have to drag your corpse out.”

  “I imagine you’d understand if I had a few questions before leaving, right? The entire vilge thinks your husband is dead.”

  “That’s none of their business, and it certainly isn’t yours.”

  “Belle, dear,” the man finally spoke, his voice raspy and tired, as if he had just woken up. “Lower the weapon. I’m sure we can resolve this without violence…”

  Annabelle hesitated, debating whether to listen to him. After a few tense seconds, she finally lowered the crossbow. I too, slowly withdrew the knife and helped the man to his feet. He grunted as he stood, his bandages stained with dirt and dried blood. He brushed the dust off his chest before speaking again.

  “Now that we’ve all calmed down, maybe we can talk like civilized people.” Said the man, who now I knew was the said “dead hunter”.

  “What are you doing here, hunter?” Annabelle asked, still gring at me.

  “I could ask you the same thing, especially since I’m not the one who was supposed to be dead.” I turned to her husband. “Actually, I should ask you about those wolves. Because st night, I saw that what’s been causing all the trouble in the vilge isn’t a pack of wolves at all.”

  As I spoke, I saw their faces tense with anxiety. Annabelle’s was especially nervous and looking more irritated each second. She immediately aimed the crossbow at me and without any hesitation, fired.

  “Belle, no!” The man shouted as I dodged the arrow and tackled her while she was reloading. Annabelle fell into the tent, colpsing it.

  When the tent crumpled, I noticed a shiny object among the debris—my sword. The same sword I had stabbed into the werewolf’s back. I already suspected, but that was the clear proof of it. The town’s missing hunter was the monster all along.

  “This sword…” The man murmured behind me. “I-It’s not what it seems…”

  “Really? How can you expin the weapon I used to stab the werewolf lying on your camp?”

  “You can’t tell this to anyone in the vilge!” Annabelle grunted in the ground. “You expect me to simply not tell anyone about this?” I said, walking to grab my sword. “Your husband is the reason the whole city is in chaos right now.”

  “What am I supposed to do, then? Let them kill him? He’s still my husband.” She continued to shout at me while Evan got close to help her on her feet. “We’re trying to find a solution for this. We just need more time.” Her husband said, much calmer than she did. “We just need a preacher that could deal with this curse.”

  “A preacher wouldn’t be able to do anything.” I said, correcting the man, grabbing my sword and sheathe it. “As oppose to what most people thing, werewolves aren’t a result of curses. I worked for an alchemist who studies many creatures before. I’ve seen with my own eyes, the lycanthropy it’s actually caused by a parasite that can be found in wolf meat. He expined to me that the parasite can detect some form of force from the moon – he called it the magnetic force – Once the parasite has reproduced and spread over the body, it reacts to this force and transforms the body every full moon.”

  “So how do we get this thing out of him?” Annabelle’s voice was more desperate now, her anger giving way to panic. “You would need an alchemist. But not all of them would know how to treat it.” The couple expression fell. No matter my opinion on how they dealt with the issue, I could only imagine the desperation they felt in that moment. “So what? I’m doomed?” Evan said, his voice dry and hopeless.

  “No! We have to find someone—anyone—who can remove this thing!” Annabelle shook her husband, tears welling in her eyes. “You said you know an alchemist who can treat this, didn’t you?” She stepped closer, grabbing my clothes, pleading with me. “You could find this person, couldn’t you?”

  “Technically, yes… but it’s not that simple. He doesn’t live anywhere near here. Just getting to him would take days—coming back would take even longer. The whole trip could take over a week.” I try sounding reassuring, but I’m not really good at this stuff, and it’s not like anything I say would really change the reality of the situation.

  “The full moon will be over by then…” Evan’s shoulders fell in defeat. “What if I actually kill someone before then?” His question caught my attention. “If?” I gnced at Annabelle. She understood what I was thinking immediately and motioned for me to keep my mouth shut. Was she really hiding the fact that her husband had killed a child from him? On one hand, I thought he should know. On the other, I didn’t want to get more involved than necessary. Using the excuse of letting Evan think it over, I pulled Annabelle aside.

  “You didn’t tell him about the baby? I whispered to her while turning away from him. “What good would do if he knew? It’s better he doesn’t know about it until we solve everything.”

  “Just like it’s better if the vilgers don’t know your husband was the monster all this time?”

  The woman stepped closer, her voice a harsh whisper. “Don’t think you know what’s better for the town, even less for my husband. Everything was already fine before you got here, so don’t go messing into other people’s business.”

  “Everything was fine? Have you grown delusional? How would you have dealt with Evan’s lycanthropy if I hadn’t told you this wasn’t a curse?”

  Her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her breathing was uneven. “I… Umm… C-Could… I w-would—” She stuttered, stepping back. Her face turned red with frustration as she averted her eyes from mine. She exhaled sharply, as if forcing herself to stop talking before she made it worse. I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling through my nose. “Not to mention how you haven’t been able to stop him from running through town every night. Can you really solve this without me?” My voice grew sharper—not out of anger at her, but at how badly she had handled this from the start, but I couldn’t help it. She had no pn. No solution. And she was still pretending she could control this.

  She looked up at me as she spoke, her voice slightly cracking. “O-Okay… Maybe you’re right… I just… don’t want him to know. Not yet at least. Can you just keep this from him for me?” She lowered her head after talking, staring at the ground for a few seconds as if she has gathering courage and swallowing her own pride before looking up at me again, her voice softer—vulnerable for the first time since I met her. Her fingers trembled where they clutched my sleeve. “Please.”

  I rubbed my temples and gave her a sterner gre than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. “Fine… I won’t tell him. But only because we have bigger problems—like making sure he doesn’t attack the vilge again tonight.” Annabelle let out a shaky breath, her shoulders rexing. “Thank you,” she murmured, her fingers loosening their grip on my sleeve. “What’s the pn, then?”

  I still hadn’t figured out exactly how to keep Evan locked up at night. The vilge probably had a cell or prison that could hold him, but that would mean coming clean—and Annabelle would never agree to that. My only hope was that we could come up with some way to restrain him in secret.

  “I think our best bet is Devin. He’s the only one who might know a pce to keep Evan locked up without the vilge finding out.” I had no idea if Devin would even agree to this. But we didn’t have many choices. And if we didn’t find a way to restrain Evan by tonight… someone else could die. “Right now, our priority is finding a way to keep Evan away from the vilge—and from hurting anyone—until I return with the alchemist.”

  “Devin? You mean the fancy dressed man who like ordering people around? How do we know he won’t tell anyone?”

  “We don’t know, but it’s our only real option. Unless you know of a pce in these woods that could hold Evan once he transforms.” Annabelle pondered in silence for a moment before nodding. “Fine, we’ll ask him. But you’re the one making sure he keeps his mouth shut.” I nodded, though not without hesitation.

  We went back to Evan and expined the pn—finding a pce to restrain him while I searched for the alchemist who could remove the parasite. He didn’t think long before agreeing—probably too desperate to consider anything else. I told Annabelle to stay with Evan while I went to the vilge, and so I went looking for Devin.

  In the town, I looked for Devin until I found him sitting on a bench near the town’s center. He seemed to be reading a book when I called out to him.

  “Devin. I need your help. I found out how we can contain the werewolf for now.” He got up and closed his book before walking up to me. “Good evening, Jonah. I was beginning to worry you wouldn’t find the monster before nightfall.” He was right. The sun was close to setting.

  “Follow me. I’ll show you who the werewolf is and expin the pn.” Devin followed me into the woods where Evan was camping with Annabelle. Before we got to the camp, I stopped and turned to him. “Before we get there, I want to make sure we are on the same page on this issue. I want to solve this without losing any more lives. If I tell you who is the werewolf, you need to promise not to make any harsh decisions.” Devin looked into my eyes, calm and assured me. “Don’t worry, Jonah. I only have the interest of the people of the vilge. Whoever is the monster will have my support so we can solve this without any more deaths.” I was surprised by his collected and compassionate response. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure if I could trust Devin to not jump to the easy solution for the issue.

  After clearing things up, We walked deeper into the woods, where Evan and Annabelle were waiting. Although he stayed composed, Devin’s surprise was clear when he saw Evan in the camp. “Evan? Is it truly you? We were sure you had died. So you were the creature all along.” Evan rubbed the back of his head as he got closer to the well-dressed man. “I’m sorry, Devin. I wish I could have told everybody, but you can only imagine how they would react over it.”

  “You are most likely correct. I’m not sure everyone would be especially civil about your situation.” Devin turns to me. “So, what exactly is this pn you mentioned?”

  “I know someone who might know how to cure Evan of the lycanthropy, but the whole trip to get him and come back could take a whole week. We need you to help us find a pce where Evan can be restrained until I’m back.”

  “Of course. I’ll see where in the town we could have him. We don’t have any jail cells, however. I think the best pce would be on the barn of my farm. I have some cages where we hold animals every once in a while.”

  “Are you sure? What if I escape during one night?” Evan asked, his overall composure still unsure. “Don’t worry about it. Those cages can hold even an angry bull. You shouldn’t cause much problem.”

  “It’s not perfect, but it’s what we have at the moment… Let’s go there.” As I started walking, however, I felt a huge pain on my chest and fell to my knees. “Jonah? What’s the matter?” Devin got to his knees beside me. “My chest…” I managed to say, though it came out more like a growl than a word.

  Devin pressed his hand against my chest and looked at me with a serious look. “This is not good. It looks like you fractured your rib cage.” Shit. Of course something like this would happen after Evan smmed me against that wall. I guess I just managed to ignore the pain with all the pressure in the moment. I tried getting to my feet, but I feel as if my lungs where burning and colpsed again.

  “This is all my fault, isn’t it?” Evan stood infront of us. “Don’t bme yourself over this, Evan.” Devin tried to reassure him. “You were not in control of your body. This is not your fault, neither is what happened with that baby.” For a split second my brain ignored the pain in my body once I heard Devin’s words. I tried to speak, get him to stop telling anything, or going back on he had said, but it was too te, Evan had already heard it. And he stared at Devin looking confused, or maybe in denial about what he had already understood.

  Evan’s lips parted, but no words came at first. His eyes darted between us. Then he finally manages to push the words out of his mouth. “B-Baby? What baby?” He asked, his voice quivering. Devin looked at me and Annabelle, who stared pale at Devin, Her expression twisted—not just with panic, but with rage overcoming her body. “You… didn’t know about it?” Devin said, almost whispering.

  Annabelle stepped in front of Evan, trying to avert his attention. She cupped his face, forcing him to meet her eyes. “Listen to me, dear. We will discuss this ter. Right now, we need to go to the farm.” Evan stepped away from her and pushed her hands away. “Belle… W-What have I d-done? Tell me the truth.” He stuttered, but his voice was sure, demanding the truth from her. “Evan… A baby… You… ended up killing him in one of the past nights…” I saw the color drain from Evan’s face, his lips parted as his breathing pace increases. For a moment I could see his legs giving in and him catching his bance against a tree behind him. “B-But it wasn’t your fault, Evan.” Annabelle stumbles over her own words trying to comfort him. “Why didn’t you told me?”

  “I… I thought you didn’t needed to know...” Annabelle says looking at the ground. “I didn’t needed to know!?” Evan shouted, visually enraged. “How can you think that, Annabelle? I killed someone. A child… And you think this wasn’t important enough to tell me?”

  “I was going to tell you… eventually.” her voice dropping with each word. Evan pressed a hand to his face, his breathing erratic as he stepped away further. “I don’t know what to tell you… I don’t even know how to look at you right now…”

  “Evan… please… Don’t say that. Look at me.” She walked in his direction. “I only did this because I didn’t wanted you to know… I knew you would react like this… And I didn’t wanted to add on the stress we were already feeling.”

  “Did you really think I’d never find out?”

  “That’s not it. The moment just wasn’t good. And you were always too emotional to deal with stress.”

  “I’m too emotional? You’re the one who doesn’t care about anyone else, Annabelle… I knew from the beginning that we should just have told people, but you insisted we kept it a secret.”

  “Of course I care about others, Evan. I care about you.”

  “You understood what I meant. You think I never noticed the way you speak about others? Like they just don’t matter to you.”

  “And why I should they matter to me?” Annabelle shouted, clearly upset at the whole discussion. “Why should I care about any of those people? I don’t care if they all die—if it means I still have you, Evan.”

  Silence filled the air as her words lingered. Evan stared in disbelief, walking away from her. “Annabelle… All this time… I never thought you would actually say something like this.” He walked deeper into the woods, away from us. His breathing grew faster. Not just panic—something deeper. His skin had started to sweat and he continued to move his hand across his face and head. “Evan! Wait, please!” Annabelle shouted trying to get him to come back in vain. The two of them vanished among the trees as she continued to shout.

  I tried to run after them but the pain held me down. “Don’t try to move. You’ll only injure yourself further.” Devin said, putting a hand over my shoulder. “No… I have to go after him… The sun… is setting.” I manage to get up to my feet and stumble after the two of them, using the trees around me as support so I didn’t colpsed again, but it was too te. Evan was on the ground, grunting and holding his head as thick fur grew rapidly covering all of his skin. His muscles contorted as if he was having cramps all over his body, and by his screams, it must have felt like it too. Annabelle stood in shock, frozen in front of her husband while she could do nothing.

  “Annabelle! Get away from him!” I managed to shout, making the woman go back to her senses and she ran behind me. When I looked back at Evan, he was fully transformed. Closer to him, I could fully see his body now. He had grown almost a full meter in height, his legs and arms looked deformed with how muscur it was and his chest looked stretched as if he was a cy doll. And his head, a sharp group of teeth lined up on the snout that had grown from his face. Up close, the sight was even more disturbing—especially when I looked into his face and felt like I could see the humanity fading away from his eyes before he looked up to the sky and let out a loud howl, that stabbed through my eardrums, making my head ring.

  My hand moved to my sword, but as soon as Annabelle noticed me, she pulled my arm and shouted “No!” Caught off guard, I lost what little bance I had. Pain shot through my chest as I hit the ground. Evan, now completely acting like a monster, ran past us. “Y-You… You can’t hurt him.” Annabelle shouted at me while I was still on the ground. “It’s a bit te for that, don’t you think?” I said, pulling myself up while holding onto a nearby tree.

  Devin ran toward us, sweat streaking down his face. “I just saw Evan pass running. He’s too fast. We won’t make it in time. He’s already heading straight for the vilge.”

  “We need to hurry. We can’t wait when he could end up hurting someone.” Devin helped me get on my feet “You and Annabelle go ahead of me. I’ll prepare things to immobilize Evan.”

  “Are you out of your mind? You’re in no condition to fight right now.” Devin said, the frown of his brows forming a shadow over his face with the darkness of the early night. “I’ll be fine, and this is the best case scenario if we want to stop Evan without anyone else getting injured.”

  “I-I told you you can’t hurt him!” Annabelle screamed at me again. “If you don’t want Evan hurt, you better run to get everyone in the vilge in safety.” Both Devin and Annabelle hesitated, but with the urgency hanging over us, there was no time to argue, and so they ran in direction of the vilge.

  I, on the other hand, prepared some ropes and other trinkets I had on my pocket and started to pn a way to restrain Evan in the middle of the town. I stumbled my way back, holding onto every tree I could. I had only my sword and a few arrows in my quiver—no bow, not that they’d be much use now anyway.

  As I get closer to the vilge, I could hear the increasing commotion. Screams, cries and the overall sound of chaos. When I finally arrived at the vilge’s entrance, I found bodies lying in the dirt. I rushed to check—thankfully, they were still breathing and looking around them, there were some improvised weapons, knifes, pitchforks and some handmade spears. Those people were trying to fight off Evan on their own, and by the looks of it, they didn’t had much of a chance.

  I rushed through the alleys as fast as I could, my chest burning more each second, until I reached the town’s center. I slipped the st piece of the trap into pce, turned the corner—and there he was, Evan in front of the tavern in the town center. He was pushing the door while I could hear screams coming from inside. I could hear a chorus of screams from inside—one of them was Devin, though I couldn’t make out the words.

  Before he was only going after cattle, and from what I understood, prior to st night, he hadn’t gotten close to attacking people before. The town’s people trying to stop him on the vilge entrance certainly had made him angry, but perhaps that was simply the development that the parasite had over his mind during the transformation. Either way, it didn’t mattered at that moment.

  I shouted to get his attention. He looked at me—but only for a second—then turned back toward the tavern door. I yelled louder, waved my arms, even smmed my sword against the wall—but nothing. He didn’t budge and kept his attention to the building. Then I heard it—Annabelle’s voice behind me. “Evan! Please, come over here!” It was Annabelle behind me. Upon hearing her voice, he actually turned and started to walk in our direction.

  Annabelle, run!” I shouted as we took off, Evan thundering after us, his speed increasing with each step. He broke into a sprint—racing straight at us. Then he hit the line I’d id down. The trap set off and some rge rocks I had used for weigh shot out around his legs, tying them together, and just like that, Evan fell to the ground. This wasn’t over yet, however. I quickly got closer to him so I could also tie his arms. Mad, He thrashed and cwed at me, but I managed to tie him down before he broke free.

  I walked towards the tavern, barely able to remain on my feet, and knocked on the door. “Devin? Are you there? I got things under control for now.” He opened the tavern’s door slowly. He looked distressed, to say the least. His usual fancy clothes were wrinkled and sweaty, but not as much as his forehead, which glistened even in the faint light hitting his face. He rubbed his head, messing with his already disorganized hair.

  “Jonah…” He whispered, almost careful as to who would listen. “Where is Evan?”

  “Tied. But not for long. He could escape by any minute. I’ll need some help so we can get him under containment.”

  “Are you insane? You look horrible. There’s no way you can do anything more this night?” The moment I heard his words, it was like a spell hit me. I felt my legs go weak and breathing turned painful. I looked down at my hands, and I was pale and shaking. I hadn’t realized how weak my body had gotten, until I fell to the ground right in front of the tavern’s entrance.

  “Slow down. I believe we can take care of things from here. The men inside should be able to carry Evan into one of my farms.” He said, helping me to my feet. “W-Wait.” I managed to mumble. “Take this.” I said, handing him a small fsk with a dark liquid inside.

  “Make Evan drink this before anyone else gets close to him. It will make him pass out for a few hours.” Devin took the fsk and walked in direction to Evan. Annabelle was standing close to him the whole time, she was shaking and her eyes were red, she looked as if she had cried many times before, and was on the verge of crying again.

  Believing the hardest part was behind me, I let myself colpse onto a bench. Just for a moment. Something, which would turn out to be a big mistake ter on.

  As Devin walked towards Evan, Annabelle stood by. She watched as he tried to make Evan drink the contents of the fsk, but When Evan turned his head away from the fsk, Annabelle panicked and shouted. She tried to snatch the fsk from Devin’s hand. In their brief struggle, Evan broke free.

  He easily pushed Annabelle and Devin out of the way as he rushed towards the tavern. I tried standing up, but before I even got to my feet, he was already in front of me, and hit me with the back of his hand, sending me flying across the street, nding hard on the cobblestones.

  Evan was again in front of the tavern, and this time, with little effort, he broke the door open. I could only hear the screams of terror as I felt my lungs burning inside me. I tried forcing my legs to move but they refused. I felt my eyes growing heavier and my consciousness fading away.

  As the creature entered the tavern, some men tried putting themselves in front of him, tried to stop or fight him off, but he easily pushed them away. He would grab and throw those grown men as if they weighed nothing. With each of his steps, it became more apparent that he was after a specific person. He would smell the air as he walked by the horrified vilgers. None of them dared to move, paralyzed by pure fear as he moved like a real wolf, just choosing which chicken to start with.

  Then he stopped in front of a single woman. Everyone else moved aside from his vision while she turns herself into a ball, hugging her own legs. It was Elise, the woman who had lost her child, and by the look on the creature, it could still smell the st time it tasted human flesh on her. She, on the other hand, didn’t move, didn’t screamed. Only rocked herself back and forth, whispering something to herself.

  Right before the creature lunges towards her, I put myself between them, my sword at hand. Evan’s own speed and weigh push him down the sword, piercing him. He let out a howl of pain as the bde pierced all the way in—until his chest hit the guard.

  Slowly Evan starts to turn back, his body shifts back to human even faster than when he had transformed in the first time. The fur on his body fell down in a matter of seconds and his body decreased in size significantly as his body fell on top of mine, who could barely hold myself already. The weight of his body pressed on me. I couldn’t breathe without hurting, my legs were almost failing, my whole body hurt, but, finally, it was over.

  Still with the sword buried in his chest, Evan looked into my eyes, the blood on my face barely letting me keep them open. The look on his face wasn’t one of pain, sadness or even surprise. It’s hard to expin, but in the moment, he looked more relieved than anything else. So, staring into my eyes, he manages to say almost whispering. “Thank you… For stopping that thing.”

  Then he fell, and I couldn’t hold him—or myself—any longer. In the next seconds, the silence that filled the tavern was deafening. Every one just stared at Evan, now ying on the ground after all the chaos he caused. With my legs finally giving in, I colpsed onto the ground.

  I y there, staring up at the ceiling. All that I could hear was the intense breathing of the towns’ people around me. It felt like they, just like me, were just relieved that it was all over.

  But, then, running into the tavern came Annabelle. I lifted myself as I saw her kneeling besides Evan on the ground. She lifted his head into her p, sobbing as she hugged him close. I could only faintly hear Evan saying: “Don’t cry, Belle… Please… This is better for everyone… I couldn’t live with myself if I had hurt anyone else… If I had hurt you.”

  In response Annabelle could only sob, until Evan grew silent, dying while she hugged him. For a while, the only think I could hear was her sobs echoing on the silent of the tavern, then she looked back at me, her eyes red with grief and rage.

  “You… I told you not to hurt him…” The words were filled with anger. No—something worse. Hatred. However, with my weakened body, I could barely keep my eyes open, so all that I could respond was “I’m… Sorry…” Mad, Annabelle stormed out of the building, pushing Devin on her way out as he entered the tavern.

  “It was a chaotic night this one…” He said, kneeling beside me. “Thank you for your service, Jonah. You should probably rest for now.” Slowly nodding, and finally being able to say it was really over, I passed out right there, in the center of it all.

  I stayed for a few more weeks in the town recovering, when I was finally ready to go step in the road again I met Devin in the center of the vilge. He greeted me with his usual gentle smile and his fancy clothes.

  “Jonah. Are you sure you’re ready to go? You know the people in the inn wouldn’t mind having you for a few more days.”

  “I figured they wouldn’t. I heard you were the one paying for my stay after all.” Devin looked slightly embarrassed. He had told me the inn-keeper had agreed to let me stay for free, but never said anything about paying. I wouldn’t have known unless I had caught one of the owner talking about it with an employee. Devin tried denying, but he stuttered on his response.

  “It’s okay. I should’ve known you wouldn’t let someone take a loss on my behalf.” I said chuckling.

  “Well… You know how it is… I couldn’t just let you leave the town in the state you were in. Also, the price of your stay is rather small after what you did.”

  “No need to be so grateful. Honestly, I should have dealt with this better than I did.”

  “I already told, what happened with Evan wasn’t your fault. With how far the situation had gone, things could hardly end any better.”

  “What about Annabelle? How is the dealing with this all?”

  “Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I haven’t seen her after it was all over that night. I also haven’t heard of anyone seeing her since that night.”

  “I’m sure she hates me after what happened…”

  “Maybe… But then again, it’s not your fault. It’s a real shame what happened with her and Evan, but no one can really be bmed for it except fate.”

  I stayed silent for a few seconds, Contempting everything that had happened in such a short period of time. Breaking my thoughts, Devin called my attention.

  “Actually, I thought I needed something else to show the gratitude of the whole vilge.” He called for a man who walks next to us riding a horse. He gets off the horse and hands the lead to Devin. “This is one of the youngest mares in my farm. I would like you to have it.”

  “What? I can’t accept this. Isn’t this too much?”

  “Trust me, it’s not a big deal. A healthy mare like this one is better ridding around the roads than staying locked in a small barn”

  I slowly run my hand over the mare’s mane and take the lead from Devin’s hand.

  “If you’re sure about this… I couldn’t refuse.” I pet the mare and look back to Devin. “I guess I’ll have to go now. It was a pleasure meeting you, Devin.”

  “I feel the same. Thank you for everything again, hunter.”

  As I’m about to get on top of the horse, I see a figure running towards me. It’s Elise. She nervously got closer to me until she finally seems to gather the courage to speak.

  “M-Mister hunter… I… I just wanted to thank you for getting rid of that monster before you left the vilge. I don’t really have anything to give you besides my gratitude, however I could maybe offer you…”

  I stopped her before she could finish her offer. “No need to give me anything. I just did my job.” She blushed for a moment before saying goodbye and thanking again. The woman leaves just as quick as she had approached.

  “That’s the first time I’ve seen her act normal after what happened with her child…” Devin seemed to ponder to himself before addressing me again. “This is the good you brought that night, Jonah. Even if you can’t see it.”

  Maybe he was right. For someone like that woman, finally being rid of the werewolf could be like easing a pain in your body. But death doesn’t have a meaning. It has no agenda or objective, it just happens. And I couldn’t take credit for any relief or comfort Elise was feeling right now.

  I then get on top of the mare before looking down to Devin. “I guess this is goodbye for now, Devin.”

  “Goodbye, hunter. I hope fate brings you back to our humble vilge.”

  Waving goodbye, I rode out of the vilge. My sword on my back. My bow at my side. A small bag of food in hand. I hit the road again—hoping to reach the next town before sunset.