When I got home I went to my room and slept with Slash lying at the foot of my bed. Slash woke me up an hour before the meeting. So I took a shower. I put on a red skirt (which made Slash start purring), a blue T-shirt, boots, and a green jacket. I put my hair into a ponytail and left. It didn't take long for me to find the warehouse. Everyone was already there and Slash got an awful lot of attention which he enjoyed.
"Okay, let's start," Everest said. "First, I'd like to introduce our new member. Everyone, this is Sapphire Hemlock. Sapphire, this is Brooklyn, Jordan, Darla, Theodore, and Martin." She had pointed to each as she said their names. Morgon was standing beside Theodore.
"Nice to meet you," I said politely. "Um, can I ask you something, Everest?"
"Of course."
"I'm just wondering if you heard about why I joined?"
She nodded. "If you tell us the monster isn't evil then we will leave it alone."
"Thank you."
"No problem." She turned to the others. "As most of you know, our hunt for the FleshEater failed. It really is a tricky monster to catch. I'm not even sure how my parents caught it to get the antivenom. I wish I did so we could apply it can catch the stupid thing."
"So are we going to go after the Fangtor in my shed?" Darla asked.
"Just lock the door after it goes in," Jordan said.
Darla glared. "Look, I doubt the FleshEater exists. We only have Mary's and Sapphire's words and that's not proof. We all know Mary hasn't seen a monster too so she probably just said it to get attention."
"It killed my parents," I said quietly. I have a feeling Darla and I won't be getting along. I grabbed a folder from my back and held out a sheet of paper. "Here. This is what my father put down after he created it."
She looked at it and snorted. "I bet you wrote this up last night."
"Are you calling me a liar?" I growled.
"Duh.
"It was the first monster I've ever seen," Vincent said quietly. "Do you think I'm a liar too, Darla?"
She paled. "No. I'm just saying we can't believe everything we hear." She glanced at me. "Especially if it comes from a newby."
Hmm, she's scared of him. Interesting. "And yet you pat Slash," I said coldly. "Are you aware he's a monster?"
She blinked. "Uh…"
"I knew he wasn't evil and brought him home with me. Then I brought him here and everyone patted him. Do you still believe you can't trust me?"
She looked at Everest. "Eve, she's talking to me cruelly even though I'm her superior."
Everest's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me? Didn't I tell you when you joined that all members are equals?" She said coldly. "There are no superiors, got it?"
Darla looked at the ground. "Got it."
"Good. Morgon? Has anyone called in and said they saw something odd?"
Morgon shook his head. "No one's seen FleshEater. But a few people did see a Steelfang. They saw it a week ago and again yesterday."
Everest nodded. "I see. Where?"
"Rayville."
"Damn." She turned to Theodore. "Theo, did anyone you talked to in the park see the FleshEater?"
"I wish," he muttered. "They just kept telling me to stop chasing stuff that doesn't exist."
She sighed. "Stupid unbelievers." She turned to Martin. "What about our sound? Did we get anything there?"
Martin shook his head. "Crickets and owls."
"Ugh. What about that blood we found and the substance beside it?"
"Fangtor poison," Jordon said. "The blood was from a boy who had a bloody nose. I think the Fangtor had been salivating over it."
"You think it was hungry?"
"It's possible."
"Cameras?" She asked hopefully.
Brooklyn shook her head unhappily. "Sorry, Eve. That night had really been a bust."
"I'm not giving up yet. Ben, did you at least find a track?"
Bennet winced. "Deer. raccoon, and bird."
Everest turned to Lizzy. "Thermal?"
Lizzy sighed. "I would have told you I'd seen something while we were hunting. We got nothing on that hunt, Eve."
Everest nodded sadly. "I can see that."
"Well look at the bright side," Scott said. "At least we know about a whole bunch of monsters we didn't know about before."
"And we have the antidote recipes for their poisons," Vincent added.
"Theo and I can get started on those," Morgon said.
I handed him the papers. "We also know my father was responsible for bringing these things to life," I said.
Everest was reading the monster papers. "FleshEater is still the most dangerous."
"Steelfangs are next," Lizzy said reading over her twin's shoulder. "Then Slashers."
I ran my fingers through Slash's fur. "Good thing we have a Slasher on our side," I said and Slash started purring. Having the third dangerous animal on our side will help us a lot. Or at least I hope it will.
"I don't get how Steelfangs are in second place," Scott said. "They have no poison."
Everest shrugged. "According to this, they have a very strong bite. It's difficult to pry them once they've bitten you."
I wince at the thought of my father being bitten by one. "There has to be something else. If there isn't, Slasher would be in second place," Lizzy said. "Maybe Mr. Hemlock didn't write everything down."
I thought for a moment. "It's possible," I murmured.
"Then I guess we'll have to try and catch it to see what else it might have," Everest said.
"Are you saying we're going to Rayville?" Morgon asked.
She nodded. "I honestly wonder what they look like."
"Are we ever going to go after my Fangtor?" Darla demanded.
Everest sighed. "Just do what Jordon said. Next time you see it go into your shed, lock it in there. Then we'll come and kill it."
Lizzy nodded. "There's no reason to hunt it when it just goes to the same place all the time, Darla."
"But what if it keeps going in there because it has babies?" Darla asked. Apparently, she hasn't gone into that shed since she's seen the Fangtor. I looked at her closely and saw she was trembling. She was in this group but she was afraid of these things? Geez.
Jordan glared. "Are you a Dark Saver or not?"
Darla fell quiet. Everest turned to the rest of us. "We'll meet at eight tomorrow morning here. Then we'll leave for Rayville. So let's go get some sleep so we're well-rested for the hunt and the drive."
"Can Slash come with us?" I asked.
She smiled. "Of course."