"So here's my plan," Alesha stated. "My 'Special Penalty' is that if I bite the Witch Doctor, Jasper, I transform into my werewolf form for 24 hours. That's a big penalty normally, where Vampires, Werewolves and Villagers are all at each others' throats. In our case, though, this is an advantage. This will allow me to stay transformed for longer than the mere 30 minutes my special item would give me. Otherwise, I might not have enough transformation time to finish him off. That's why I need Jasper, so I can fail to turn her and in so doing get stuck transformed."
CJ's eyes lit up and he fingered his chin. "I see, that makes sense. It's a great plan. What will you do if the transformation is different, though? The biggest risk here is that you'll lose yourself in the wolf form. In that case, the best we could hope for is Puppy Alesha, and the worst is Maneater Alesha."
Alesha sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Yeah, that's a risk. But I'm confident in my ability to control myself. If I feel myself slipping in a dangerous way, I promise I'll run off. Sound good?"
CJ nodded. "Alright. I feel like we're running out of time, so this is the best we can do for now. Hopefully we aren't too late."
"Agreed."
----
An hour later
Alesha bounded through the forest, dodging trees at a rapid pace while following the smell of "human." She'd already found Veronica and Hallie, both of whom were safe. Their faces had been so funny, though!! To be approached by a wolf whose shoulder height was almost as tall as yours couldn't be easy to digest. They had tried to attack or run (respectively), but after making sure Westley was nowhere near, she'd left on her own. She could explain things later.
Still, she wasn't sure whether to curse her luck for being unable to find Westley so far or be thankful that she'd been able to make sure at least some of the participants were unharmed.
It was a moot point. No matter whether she was grateful or angry, she couldn't change that she hadn't found the Serial Killer yet -- all she could do was keep following this mixed human scent. Wait, mixed?! There were two! Was it just now that the human scent she'd been following joined with another?
She now felt sure she was on the right trail. Growling, she redoubled her efforts on speed, determined to catch up to them before anything bad happened.
Another scent entered her nostrils and she tumbled end over end in shock, still not quite used to the feral version of the Werewolf form. Blood?! Was she too late?!
Righting herself, she ran towards the smell, seeing a nearly-naked Westley standing over a bloodied figure on the ground.
Blinded by fury and the knowledge that she was too late, she pounced with full force on the Killer, the force of her leap sending them both a few meters away from where Tristen's body lay. Her teeth went directly for his neck and she bit hard, yanking instinctively. She tossed Westley's newly detached head into the air and snapped it up in her jaws. Chewing messily like a dog, she ground up his head and swallowed. In her anger, she proceeded to brutalize (and eat) the rest of his corpse as well, leaving only bones and scattered entrails behind.
Once done, she walked solemnly towards where Tristen lay. The little boy was only 11 years old. Sure, he'd been a little odd, even a bit calculative; but looking at his mutilated corpse, Alesha could feel only sorrow for the boy. He didn't deserve this.
A primal instinct surged from deep within and she howled at the vibrant blue sky, her baleful tones contrasting sharply against the cheerfully surging river beside, the bright green leaves around and the fluffy white clouds above.
Several minutes later, tears running down her oversized canine face, she rested her snout gently on his lower legs -- the least injured part of his body without jagged bone tools sticking out of him -- and fell asleep.
Half an hour after that, a sweat-drenched CJ stumbled into the clearing, panting heavily. "Jeez," he said. "Werewolves are so freaking fast!"
Taking a look around, he first noticed the large, sleeping form of Alesha. A horse-sized wolf is rather difficult to miss, after all. Then, his brain registered the unspeakable remains of a certain Serial Killer, at which point he promptly lost his lunch. Alesha had tried her best but it wasn't like she had any experience stripping meat off of human bones, so there was, in actuality, quite a bit left. It was a gruesome sight.
CJ took a few minutes to recover. Once he did, he approached Alesha cautiously. Why was she sleeping?
That was when he caught sight of Tristen's body, bloodied and broken. He gagged but, considering he'd already lost everything in his stomach, it wasn't as bad this time.
He also noticed something else, something that made his heart feel both joy and pain at the same time:
Tristen's chest was slowly rising and falling.
He was still alive!