Bats.
The late evening light was shut off by the massive colony of bats in the sky. Their high-pitched clicks ricocheted off distant objects and led them towards the forest.
"What the--" Delano started.
"They don't see it." she interrupted him.
"Who?" he brought his gaze back to her.
"Them!" she pointed at the disoriented and confused human shop owners around her. No one was paying attention to the sky, even with the terribly loud clicks from the bats. It was very striking, yet they acted like the only problem they had was how fast they could shut their establishments and get to safety.
"Yeah… This is probably some demonized shit, Kyla. Or maybe it's just too supernatural for their normal human eyes to comprehend."
"But they heard the gunshot?"
"Most definitely they did." the sudden wail from sirens, the scream of it, and the dazzling lights that filled the night sky, caused them to cast a knowing look at each other. "They heard it too."
"Or someone called them. We need to check out the body before the cops get to it."
"Let's go in my car." Delano offered, already jogging towards the driver's side. "We'll get there in good time, shift, and go after whatever the hell is out there before the cops arrive."
"Okay." she got in, not bothering to decline like she would on a different day. The journey down to the forest from Morey's was a little over a mile and a half, which wasn't much of a journey if she could transform into a fast-moving, stamina-crazy beast. But with humans all around she couldn't do that, and in her human form, she wouldn't get there in time to do shit.
After a little period of driving, Delano pulled up to an empty yard, hiding the vehicle there. They got out and jogged the remaining distance down there. A few minutes after they ran in, police cars slowed to a stop at the entrance and the officers stepped out, waiting for the order to move in.
The sound of quick feet fiercely trampling along the forest floor tore into the clicks from the bats above. They'd formed a thick black layer over the forest, and their scent fused with the fresh scent of blood that led Kyla and Delano towards yet another dead body.
They came to a quick stop when they spotted it a few distances away. This time, it was the body of a man, and not a woman, who lay face down in a pool of his blood.
Delano was angry even as they communicated through their mind links. "I thought the killer only went after women."
"I thought so, too." Kyla took cautious steps towards the victim, noticing his blood-stained boots as her gaze moved from his feet to the back of his head.
"I know this scent," she muttered.
Delano moved towards the body, raising the head high enough for him to see the face. "Fuck!" he let it fall back into the bloody mud as he jerked back in shock.
"Who is it?" Layla asked, moving to see for herself even before he could muster another profane reply.
She rose the head and gasped. "Mr. Larsson!"
"His lips are sewn together. There are bullets in his eye sockets, and I think--"
The bats from the sky rained down on them at that very second. They growled, threw off some, and wince as others bite through their skin to suck blood. But the cops were fast approaching, they couldn't do this for much longer. Through the ruckus, Kyla picked up their sound and alerted Delano. He heard them too and decided they had to run through the attacks from the bats.
He shifted into a monstrous-sized black wolf and made a run for the right. Layla shifted into a red wolf, almost similar in size, and made a run for the left. The bats divided themselves into two groups and went after them.
They ran in opposite directions, away from the cops who thankfully weren't aware of their presence, and away from the unrelenting colony of vampire bats which flew behind them. A few moments of running passed before Layla, Kyla's wolf, noticed the shift in the atmosphere. She turned back, just in time to see the bat colony transform into three wolves.
All three wolves bared their sharp canines as they padded after her, turning when she turned and growling when she did, not losing sight of her. Their eyes were black as the night sky, hackles raised as they matched her pace.
She turned back again, calculating how she should take on all three of them at once. They seemed to mirror each other's movement, so she could tell they were connected. She only had to figure out a way to break that connection somehow.
By the time she had her eyes back on the road, it was too late to slow down. She smashed into the bottom of a large tree, causing some leaves to fall off as she paused, dazed.
She whimpered, back against the tree as they surrounded her. They growled and snarled, attempting to intimidate her as she continued to assess the situation. She straightened her back and a guttural sound broke out from within her. It was one filled with so much power and strength that it silenced the other wolves for a second.
Then they launched at her.
She fought back with the dexterity of a war General, tumbling into the mud and growling as she ripped bones apart. They fought for a little while longer, and then the wolves suddenly broke out to bats again and then transmigrated into a woman.
"Fuck! I think it's a shape-shifting demon." Layla mind-linked Delano's wolf.
"I'm coming your way," it replied.
The woman--skinny and pale-skinned, in a loose white gown--charged at her again. Layla wasted no time in tearing at her, flesh by flesh, but she didn't see the next attack coming. The woman took out a silver knife, and plunged it through Layla's stomach, over and over again.
She fell with a whimper and shifted back immediately, blood gushing from the affected area. She was just about to raise the weapon one more time, this time aiming for the neck when she suddenly sensed other people approaching the area and ran.
About a minute later, Albert moved closer to the scene, his gun, and flashlight out as he followed the trail that had led him this far. Paw marks, all over the muddy forest floor.
He knew he was on to something. If not the killer, then probably the animal that sucked its teeth into Detective Briggs Larsson's father. He remembered the young detective who had gone into a slobbering state of shock at the sight of his father's body.
He was just about to take another step when a dangerously low growl stopped him in his tracks. He looked up and was faced with the biggest black wolf he'd ever seen. Its black fur was tinted gray, and its paws were large enough to crush a bone. Its angry eyes bored into Albert's and, by God, they were an unusual shade of deep yellow.
Albert wasn't one to be scared of anything, yet he was well aware that the hairs on his nape stood on end. The wolf took a step, and he aimed for the head. But just as his hand danced around the trigger ready to take the shot, Kyla wheezed a cry for help in the background, calling the attention of both man and wolf.
Albert took one eye off his target. He was just supposed to look away and look back almost immediately, but when his flashlight landed on the blood-stained abdomen of the familiar redhead he'd taken a special liking to, he forgot all about the wolf and ran towards her.
"Kyla!!" he struggled out of the leather jacket and white t-shirt he was wearing, draping the jacket over her nakedness, and applying pressure on the wound with the white shirt, keeping her from bleeding out.
He looked back at where the wolf once stood, but it was gone. Hoping to catch the beast still lurking around, he directed the light to other areas, and still found nothing.
He looked down at Kyla's pale face, unable to believe she could get even paler as she whimpered in pain. His anger boiled, and he gathered her up from the ground.
"Now it's personal, baby." he cooed reassuringly. "Whoever--or whatever did this to you would pay. I swear it."
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