"Silver bullet, straight into the heart," Helen advised Stormie.
"What?!"
"That's the only way!" Stella added.
"Are you girls crazy?" She hissed at both of them. "I can't shoot my brother. Is there really nothing else we can do?"
Adrian let out a heavy sigh.
"I hate to say this, Storm, but that's not your brother anymore. He's the beast." Stella admitted.
Adrian humphed and faced them on the laptop screen. "Hi, I am in the room." He raised his hands, giving them a black look and snarled at Stormie. "Are these your experts?"
"They know what they're talking about. So, just calm down." She persuaded.
"Yeah, all I'll do is calm down till midnight and I become a werewolf, putting up a show for everyone in Wolfsberg. Isn't that what you want?"
"Of course not!" Stormie snapped, and turned back to the laptop screen. "I'm not shooting my sister, end of discussion."
"Good!" Adrian replied with an intensified gasp of relief. "Thank God you were listening!"
"Alright fine, but know this." Helen rolled her eyes while they focused. "You have 24 hours."
"Until what?!"
"Until he's a werewolf forever!" Stella cuts in. "When that full moon disappears, the chances of ever getting normal are low. Transmission of the blood is strong, Stormie. It complicates his case than you think."
"This is a lie!" Adrian blurted.
"Is it? Because we've cross-checked every database, library, blog and history book. They all say the same thing." Stella pointed out.
"Exactly the same?" Stormie asked.
"You make a werewolf through your first full moon; you are a werewolf for all eternity. Www.wolfsblog.com." Helen simpered, mistakenly. "Check it out!"
"Tonight is the full moon, and he's gonna hunt!"
Adrian banged out of the room like an air. Stormie ran after him while he put on his black leather jacket.
"Please, listen to me! Where are you going?!"
"It's none of your business, Stormie! I will handle this my way. You have nothing reasonable to say to me right now."
"But wait! Let's think things through!"
"No, it's never happening. And to those your highly trained professionals? I can do things on my own!" Adrian jumped down the stairs at once instead of climbing. "You've done enough. Thanks for being my sister." He rushed out of the room and banged the door shut.
Jessica walked out of her room with a plastered face. She had a piece of towel tied on her head and body. It's as if she rushed out of the bathroom hearing Adrian's voice.
"What's wrong with him?"
Stormie shrugged with a simper. "Full moon effects, I guess."
Jessica couldn't agree less, though. It made no sense. She went back into her room, preparing for her next date with Jerry Kelmendi while Adrian ran through the woods. He walked to the city, lost in thoughts.
The street surged with men, women and children in Gothic costumes. One man swerved in front of Adrian, bleary-eyed and weaving, his lips glistening with whatever he'd just drunk from the big black bottle in his hand. "Hey, it's full moon tonight."
Adrian felt disgusted. He walked away from him to the girl selling balloons. The smiley parents buying it for their children with joy in their eyes. Then, the man at the gargoyle fountain rushed to him.
"And Alas! The great protector of Wolfsberg! The beast, standing tall on the highest mountain." This time, he had a white-sleeved shirt and black pants, vest and tall magician's hat. His moustache looked fuller than before. He must have added it but who cares? These people are just celebrating to see him at night, and Adrian can't stop thinking about it.
"Behold, the Alpha wolf of Wolfsberg! The beast, standing tall on the highest mountain!" He yelled to his face and Adrian. Unable to take it anymore, he just ran away.
To somewhere. He didn't know where else to go or who else to meet. But he kept on running till he was out of breath. Adrian looked up and saw a congregation of bats hovering over him. Then he gazed forward and there was an open gate. He walked into the silent graveyard and kept on moving till he got to one. They planted it in the middle of the graveyard and bigger than the rest of the graves. With a statue of a werewolf on it, Adrian stopped. Then she read the name written on it.
Madam Magdalena Novak
1801-2007
"What? Dad's junior sister lived this long? Or are my eyes deceiving me again?" He ran through his eyes. "No, I'm a werewolf now. I should see better."
Adrian looked around and noticed how silent the place was. Even though it was dusk, the sky above was dull. The distant cry of stray vultures, owls, and bats filled the air. The gentle breeze whispered him a secret, making the place colder.
Adrian placed both knees to the ground, to talk to Madam Magdalena if she was still there, maybe. To listen to him.
"IN DEATH, IS RELIEF."
He read from the graveyard, pondering on what it could actually mean.
Stormie grabbed the remote and find her way into the secret laboratory. She took her laptop there, trying to find a clue. Something... Just something to help Adrian transform back into his human form after he converts.
Pressing a button on the remote, she closed the shelf-door and focused on her laptop. Meanwhile, Sir Shkodra had set up a bell whenever the shelf-door to the secret library was used. It cling to his kidneyed-ears and Sir Shkodra narrowed his eyes, listening. He raised this angular jaw and turned his face to the direction of the door.
Sir Shkodra's room which was darker and scarier than a grave. He had a statue of himself with deer-like horns and anyone who mistakenly enters might faint at spot. Sir Shkodra gently pulled out of the chair and, like a ghost out of its grave, stepped out of his room with a sharp carving knife at hand. He held it by his thumb on its handle to stab whoever it was.
Stormie was lost in doing her research. She saw some books from the library and brought them to the laboratory, studying line by line.
"No... There's no cure. Like for real? There should be something!" She smacked on the laptop, frustrated. Stormie then balanced on the office chair with both hands, holding her confused head.
"No, let me check again! " She pulled up.
"There should be a solution to bring her back." She typed on the key body, focused on the screen for answers.
Sir Shkodra approached her, taking one step at a time and walking as light as a feather. Even a sound of his shiny-black, oxford leather shoes can not be heard, let alone his stiff breaths. With a devilish frown and the black look in his eyes, he got to Stormie behind the chair.
"Girl!" His baritone voice called to her in terror.
Stormie jerked back, frightened.
"Geez!" she snapped as all the air on her skin raised up, freezing.
"You do not belong here!" He growled, and his blood poured from the way he held the knife. His blood.
Stormie couldn't feel her heart. It must have disappeared again. She held onto her throat that suddenly felt tight and swallowed down the lump that might be her heart.
"Sir Shkodra!" Stormie whimpered.
Her voice trembled like that of a convulsing child. Her whole body was freezing, anyway. And no words came. No words to convince him why she had entered the secret laboratory. Or at least, not to kill her for another weird experiment
"I'm so sorry. Adrian is a werewolf and... I don't know what to do. My brother is in trouble. I need to save him!"
"I am aware." he widened both eyes and answered in this German accent.
"You are?"
"I know a werewolf when I see one."
"You do?"
"Ah, then you don't know me, girl." He ducked to her red face. "I live with a werewolf my entire life." A smile formed on his slim, chapped lips and Stormie wondered who Sir Shkodra truly is.
***
"You mean, Aunt Magdalena is the Wolfsberg's beast!" Stormie almost jerked up from the chair she was seated. Sir Shkodra was explaining everything to her so she would understand better.
"Yes, she was." Sir Shkodra answered. "Only the Alpha werewolf is the actual beast."
"Magdalena was a brilliant inventor and scientist." He added.
"Really?"
"Yes. She was always curious to find out new things around the world and their solutions. She was also one of the greatest ballet dancers." He paused a while, then closed his eyes as if remembering.
"She was also humanitarian. You know, most people could not handle the fact that she lived long because she had to keep her identity a secret."
"What do you mean?"
"It costs a lot, living as the leader of the pack and as time goes on, cause pain to her existence." He explained. "Feeding on fewer creatures, being placed under a curse or affliction and slave to full moon."
Stormie just concerntrated, listening to his words. She realized he wasn't as scary.
"For some, like your brother, would go through hell. He would suffer a lot to live this way for all eternity." Sir Shkodra lamented.
Stormie rolled her eyes. "Ugh! I'm to be blamed. I feel terrible... Adrian will never forgive me."
"That's why Madam Magdalena made this laboratory."
"Really?"
"Yes. She was working on the solution to change some werewolves back into their original forms. Even the cursed, scratched, bitten or infected can get healed again."
"Exceptional! Did she make it?" Stormie's heart limped for joy.
"I do not know." He stared at her blankly.
Adrian was still on his knees. He stared at the stated werewolf as tears filled his eyes.
"Aunt Magdalena. Please, help me."
Suddenly, he heard wolves calling from afar, and something appeared right under the status. He was confused, unsure of what it meant. I wrote the words in German, so Adrian stared, trying to spell out the words.
Dies sind die geheimen Zutaten; Hasenherz mit Lilienblütenwurzeln und einem Liter Olivenöl.
He took his phone and called Stormie so she would stop worrying.
"Hey sis, it's me!" Adrian started. "I think I found something."