I've been tracking a Rougarou for about a month. He wasn't my main priority as he'd been laying low for the past few weeks, but I had to kill something, I had to get the rage out of my system.
Rougarou are similar to a Lycan just way more grotesque. Rougarou is the result of Lycans consuming so much human flesh it turns them into a completely different monster. Lycan is just the formal terminology for a Werewolf.
I stormed out of my room; sword in hand ready to take action.
"How long?" was all I asked April through gritted teeth.
"About an hour." She glanced up and noticed the sword in my hand. "Who pissed you off?"
I looked at her annoyed. "No one, there's a Rougarou I've been tracking for a while and it's close."
"And you're killing it with a sword because?" she asked, confused.
"This is more than just a sword and I have my gun loaded with silver bullets just in case. I'll be back in an hour." I said, grabbing my car keys. She merely shook her head and focused her energy back to the spell.
It took me about ten minutes to drive to the abandoned house where it was nesting; I needed to get my mind off Darren and coincidently the Rougarou was the perfect distraction. The Rougarou was not an immediate threat but how long would it lay low? How long until the next feed, I needed to eliminate the threat once and for all.
I stopped outside the house and turned off the ignition.
I was trained from a very young age to never go into a place before surveying it to ensure I knew exactly what my escape routes were. It took me at least twenty minutes to finally enter the house. The door made a slight creak when I opened it.
The moment I stepped inside I would have given away my position to the Rougarou, so the element of surprise was not on my side.
I slowly walked through the house, keeping all my senses clear, looking around for any signs of danger.
The house was filled with old photographs long since forgotten. I felt a small thud of pain in my head, followed by cries, the cries of his victims.
My very own danger GPS. Why this happened to me was still a complete mystery. April and I have been conducting tests ever since I first started seeing auras, trying to find the route of all my mysterious abilities, but to no avail. As far as the magic tests were concerned, I was a healthy 27–year–old mundane. But one of my new, I wouldn't exactly call it an ability more along the lines of a symptom, was hearing voices, very scary, very real voices in my head. Voices that somehow filled me with a burning rage unlike anything I've ever experienced before. I was knocked out of my train of thought by a slight movement behind me.
He was creeping up on me, watching me, waiting for the perfect time to attack.
Now or never.
I sprung around and faced the enemy.
He lunged forward in a swift motion knocking the sword out of my hand; pinning me down before I could even muster up a reaction. He was the thing nightmares were made of. His body was covered in bloody flesh with small patches of hair here and there, there was little remembrance of the wolf he once was. There was a strong odor of rotting flesh emanating from him.
He leaned in closer showing his canines, I could feel his foul hot breath against my skin, I could hear a low growling sound coming from the back of his throat. I moved my head away from his snout and saw that the sword was only an arms length away.
A dark aura surrounded him or her. Let's not forget that this could very well have been a female.
My warrior mode kicked in, and I started fighting against his grip.
The Rougarou was clearly surprised at my strength, he faltered just a bit, giving me an opportunity to loosen his grip on my arms.
"Sorry, but I'm not in the mood to be a hamburger today!" I said mustering up all my strength, I hit him with my head, this made him stumble back slightly just enough for him to release my right arm. Even though the Rougarou faltered to some extent, he still held a tight grip on my left arm, but I had everything I needed. My head was throbbing, I pushed through the pain and the dizziness.
I gave a strong right hook and reached for the sword.
Before he could respond I stabbed him through the heart. Knowing this wouldn't kill him, just immobilize him long enough for me to finish him off. This was followed by a high pitched shriek. He stumbled backwards.
I slowly stood up and slipped on his blood, almost losing my balance but quickly regained my stance and removed the sword from his chest cavity and took his head. After a few swings the sword etched deeper and deeper into his neck.
It took all of my strength to decapitate him.
I sat down on the floor trying to catch my breath. I should have gone with the gun, it would have taken a hell of a lot less strength and energy, but that wasn't the point. I was exhausted but the rage was gone.
Anyone who thinks decapitation is easy is in for a surprise.
I took out my phone and dialled a number I knew by heart.
"Clean-up on aisle six."
"Where?" was all the voice asked, it was chilling and sent shivers down my spine.
I gave it my location and left.
The Cleaners made sure that the mundane world would never find out about the existence of the hidden world. After all, what has history taught us?
That people either worship or kill things they don't understand, creating complete chaos. Salem witch trials, ring any bells?
I reached the apartment with five minutes to spare.
There was a small box in front of the door. I reached down and picked it up. There was a note attached.
I know you hate flowers, so I got you these instead. Always a pleasure to see you. Darren.
It was filled with Skittles.
Did he really think this was going to work? I mean yeah, it might have worked when I was in high school, but that was a long time ago and I was no longer a teenager.
I crumbled up the note.
"You're just in time," April said, standing over a map of Chicago, lined with crystals and ingredients. There was a small potion bottle filled with dark brown liquid with a thick consistency.
"Bottoms up!" She said, drinking the contents of the vile. She made a face then her focus turned back to the map.
"Now for the easy part." She exclaimed, grabbing a letter opener.
Wow, I didn't even know people still used those.
She pricked the tip of her finger and let a few drops of her blood fall onto the map.
She said a Greek incantation and repeated it until the blood started collecting, forming one big drop, it gradually started moving along the map, the blood trail came to an abrupt halt hovering over an address. I leaned in closer to get a better look.
"That's it? It took you seven hours to prepare an old Greek spell and that's it? Where're the explosions and fireworks?" I asked, very disappointed, I've seen a simple cleansing spell have more pizazz then this supposed impossible to crack spell.
April shook her head and quickly dotted down the address in West Chicago.
Before I could continue my rant, the map was engulfed in flames.
"That's more like it. Let's go." I commented, grabbing my keys.
"Alex, wait you're covered in what I assume is Rougarou blood, don't you think you should just, I don't know, change your shirt or something."
I looked down at my shirt which was doused in black blood.
I simply nodded headed straight for my room. I sat down on my bed and looked down at my blood-soaked shirt and hands that were now shaking.
Sometimes I forgot that some of the creatures were actually once mundane. Was what I was doing even enough? After all, the Rougarou I just killed was once a living mundane who was bit by a Lycan and gave into its very nature, only to become an uncontrollable monster with an insatiable hunger. Was there ever an end to this?
Guilt slowly sunk in.
All those people you could have saved. All those lives lost. The voices said. You should just end it. You can't save anyone; you can't even save yourself.
There was a soft knock on the door which pulled me out of my inner dialogue.
"Alex, are you coming?" April said, slowly entering the room. Her eyes widened in fear as she entered my room. I could see her face lined with concern.
"Alex, what's wrong?" She said, rushing to my side.
I looked up at her and frowned.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm just a little bit exhausted. Let's go."
"Alex, the shirt?"
I smiled and walked over to my closet and quickly grabbed a clean shirt.
I decided not to mention the voices in my head thing to April. Thanks to that one time I had a small mental breakdown April was constantly worrying about when my next near suicide episode would occur, so telling her that I was hearing voices that were telling me to kill myself probably wasn't the best move.