The Demon Wolf - Chapter 30：Not A Guy

The next morning while they’re eating breakfast, Jerard seems to be distracted.

“Dad, everything alright?” Red asks after eating a bite of her scrambled eggs.

“Yeah, just had a bit too much to eat last night,” Jerard replies as he twists the piece of bacon in his hands before taking a bite of it. They all finish breakfast, Jerard and Randy leaving for the sawmill as Red starts doing the dishes.

“Jerard,” Randy states as they leave the house.

“Yeah?”

“What’s really bothering you?” Jerard glances over at the house, looking through the living room window to see if Red is near, she’s in the back of the kitchen, dancing to the music playing on her phone as she does the dishes.

“I saw a, werewolf, in the woods last night,” Jerard finally replies.

“A werewolf? Sure you weren’t looking at your reflection?”

“I’m sure. It looked so much like me though…”

“Months since we got rid of that demon and the first supernatural thing to appear isn’t a sasquatch,” Randy says as he shakes his head, “Where did you see it?”

“Far off in the woods, a good ten minutes from the house, so definitely a couple miles away,”

“Did they seem dangerous? Did you talk to them or anything?”

“I stayed out of sight from them, but I saw them trying to fight a bear. They stopped when its cub came running out though…it’s hard to say if they’re dangerous or not,”

“Hmm…it could be one of the hundreds of tourists flooding into our town. Have you seen anyone suspicious?”

“No…wait, there was this guy at the market, never told us his name, but he has dark brown hair, a beard like mine, and he works at the Haunted Trails thing, he was the one who gave Red the business card,”

Randy puts a hand to his chin.

“If my vast knowledge of horror movies has anything to say, it’d be that whoever this werewolf is could be a threat. If the guy you’re talking about really is the werewolf, working at a haunted trail would be the perfect cover, and give him plenty of opportunities to take people somewhere secluded…we best keep an eye out when we go tomorrow, let me know who it is when you see them, alright?”

“Alright,”

Jerard and Randy get into their trucks and head of for the sawmill as Red washes her hands and dries them off. She goes over to the computer and sits down at the desk, going to youtube and watching funny animal videos.

I want a cat so bad, look at how fluffy and funny they are. Too bad dad’s against getting any pets, especially dogs…

She changes over to watching one of her favorite youtubers and watches them put halloween costumes on their pets. After nearly an hour has passed, she hears something, it sounds like screaming.

“Help! Help!” A muffled man’s voice screams. It’s coming from the back of the house.

Red darts to the back doors, seeing two men running towards the house. The one closer to the house is a man with bright red hair wearing jeans and a black shirt, he has a slash on his right arm. Red’s unable to see the face of the other person, but sees they have brown hair and are wearing jeans and a dark blue hoodie. He has a knife in his hand.

As the red-haired guy comes running onto the porch Red instinctively opens the door, letting him in.

“Thank you!” The guy exclaims as Red closes the door and locks it. The guy with the knife quickly reaches the door. She’s surprised to see its the man from the market.

“Hey, let me in!” He exclaims as he bangs on the glass, “Don’t let him get away!” Red backs away from the door, turning when she hears rapid footsteps. She sees the red-haired man run out the front door and disappear, something that seems too fast to do in mere seconds. The dark-brown haired guy runs off the porch and around the house, Red hurrying over to the living room window. The red-haired man is already long gone somehow, the dark-brown man seeing this and coming to a halt.

Red tenses up when the man turns around and looks at her for a second before he starts walking to the front door. She quickly grabs a handgun underneath the coffee table, opening the front door and pointing it at the man who stops in his tracks.

“Stay where you are.” She states, “Why were you chasing that guy?”

“Because that wasn’t a guy, it was a skinwalker,” The guy replies.

Those words make Red lower the gun a bit as she looks off towards the dirt road where the man had disappeared running down.

“It seems like we got off on the wrong foot” The man says as he puts the knife away and cautiously walks towards Red, holding out a hand, “The name’s John,” He stops a couple feet from her. Red looks at him, then his hand, then his other hand which is resting by his side, then back up at his face. She lowers the gun.

“Red,” She replies, glancing down at his hand instead of shaking it. John puts his hand down, a bit disappointed.

“You can shoot me all you want, but that won’t do anything, you should know how tough werewolves are,” He says bluntly, catching Red by surprise, “What’s the matter? Your dad never tell you what he is? Surely you’ve found out by know,”

“…How do you know he’s a werewolf?”

“Because I’m one. I could smell him the second you two walked to the adult costumes section, surely he must have smelled me and realized that I’m like him,”

“…We’ve never, met, another werewolf,”

“Really? Surely in a place like this you’ve come across at least a couple by now, I can’t be the first,”

“You are. My dad’s been the only one here for as long as I’ve been alive,”

“Interesting…” John mutters as he looks around at the surrounding woods, “Well then, as far as your dad’s concerned I was never here. I’d say keep an eye out for that guy who ran off, but Im sure its shed its skin by now and is looking for a new one…do you have school at all?”

“Not for the rest of this week,”

“Good, stay inside, don’t let anyone but family in, if you have any sage, burn it and circle your house with it to keep it away. If you see anyone or anything acting strangely, stay away from them. Oh, and especially stay inside at night, I don’t know about your dad but, I’m not…super safe, to be around when I go hunting okay?” Red nods in response, “Good, shoot I just remembered, are you going to the haunted trail at all this month?”

“Try to come around eight then, that’s when I’ll be the leader for taking a group of people, I’ll make sure to keep an eye out for you and your family. If you can’t make it around that time, I’d suggest you don’t come at all, I have no doubts the skinwalker will be looking there for its next meal. You know what?” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, “Would you mind giving me your number? That way I can let you know if I manage to get it before tomorrow night,”

“…Sure,” Red hesitantly takes his phone, putting her number in it and handing it back.

“Stay safe Red, and remember, I was never here,” John says as he starts walking backwards. He then turns around, running off and disappearing down the dirt road. Red stands there still a bit baffled by the conversation that just took place.

There’s a werewolf, and a skinwalker in our town now? What else could there be?

Red looks around at the surrounding woods, getting that sudden feeling of them closing in towards the house. She heads inside, locking the front door and then walking around the entire house, making sure each and every door and window is locked. She then closes the blinds on the back door and closes the curtains on the living room window, turning on a lamp to provide light before putting the gun back under the coffee table. Jerard and Randy won’t be home until dinner time, wednesday was their only day off for the week.

It’s only nine o’clock, what am I suppose to do until five knowing there’s some creepy monster thing somewhere? I should burn some sage, grandpa must have some lying around.

Red grabs her phone and looks up what sage looks like and how to use it. She heads into the kitchen, looking in the cabinets closer to the backdoor where most of grandpa’s herbs and other things are kept. She finds a jar filled with small bundles of faded brownish-green leaves. She takes out the jar, pulling out one of the bundles, it has a bit of a funny smell to it. She finds a lighter in a drawer by the kitchen sink and opens the front door, looking around the woods for anything.

Red sees nothing and cautiously steps outside, closing the door quietly as to not disturb the silence. The cool fall air is accompanied by a weak breeze that makes the leaves in the trees shiver and huddle together for warmth. She lights the lighter and puts the flame at the end of the sage. It catches fire, quickly turning an ashy black and a trail of smoke starts emitting from it. She turns off the lighter and starts the trek around her house, the trail of smoke following her. As she walks around the house she finds herself watching the woods, the smell of the sage burning bringing a bit of comfort to her.

Red’s relieved to walk all the way around the house without seeing anything, and hearing nothing but the sounds of the sleepy forest as it gets ready for the approaching winter. She completes the circle, waving the sage around to put it out and heads back inside, feeling a bit safer. She puts the sage on a plate and sets it by the sink, putting the lighter back in the drawer. She sits down on the couch and turns on the tv, which is still on the channel from last night, a horror movie playing.

Red quickly changes the channel to on playing cartoons. The cartoons are unable to shake off the feeling of dread that are clawing at her shoulders. She jumps a bit when her phone suddenly gets a text from an unknown number. She opens it and reads it.

“This is John, I’m sending you this text so you have my number, just in case you need to contact me,” She closes her messages and looks back to the tv.

Is he really a werewolf? He just said it so, suddenly, and out of the blue…maybe I should tell dad…