Wordless disbelief hovered in the air as Demitra Blanchard told Chief Bennet what she had seen. Charlie got up from his desk at the station and closed the door to his office where no one else outside could overhear.

  “Demitra, how can I be expected to buy this story of yours?”

  “Charlie, it’s a wolf. I think it’s a werewolf.”

  He raised a brow and shook his head.

  “You asked for my opinion, and that is what I saw. You have known me long enough to know that I am not prone to exaggeration. I do not make up outlandish tales. I saw an animal. A big animal.”

  “Okay, an animal maybe. But a werewolf?” Charlie scoffed.

  “It was different from an animal’s mental capacity. It was humanoid. Purposeful. It was not simply a wolf or a coyote. This thing was big and powerful and cunning. A killer’s mind. But hungry.”

  “I cannot do anything with this, Demmy.”

  “I am rarely wrong in these circumstances, Charlie. And you’ve known my family long enough to believe in the unbelievable.”

  “Look Demmy,” Charlie said. “You helped me out a lot in the past, and I am grateful for that. But information like this…I’d be laughed out of my job if I told my guys to be on the lookout for a werewolf.”

  “Then I’m afraid they will remain on the lookout for someone they are never going to find if they think this is just a man.”

  Charlie scratched his head and shook it again. He went back to his seat and placed his hands palms up on his desk. “I don’t want to ridicule your beliefs or your gifts, but there are no such things as werewolves. Next thing I know you’ll be talking about vampires or mummies.”

  Demitra was becoming frustrated. “I believe I know a little more about what is possible in the world than you do, Charlie Bennet. I have seen people move objects with their minds. I have seen people speak in depth with animals. I have seen time stopped completely and a woman turned into a shadow. There are people out there who can morph into objects, people who can revive the dead—and yes Charlie, there are such things as werewolves and vampires. Do not try to tell a witch about what’s possible in the world. You’d be like a newborn in a room with Nobel Prize winners.”

  “Okay, okay, calm down Demitra,” he said. “Regardless of what you’re saying, I cannot tell the police department to be on the lookout for a freakin’ werewolf.”

  “Then don’t. You keep looking for a man, and I’ll keep searching for a monster.”

  Demitra stood to leave, but Charlie asked her to wait. He walked over to the front of the desk and sat down on the edge facing her more closely. He reached over beside him and turned around a photograph from his desk which had been facing the side he usually worked from. The photo was of four people. Two men, two women. Demitra was one of the women. Charlie was one of the men.

  “We’ve known each other a long time Demmy,” he began. “When Peggy died, I was all over the place. It was Larry that kicked my butt back into life. I will never forget him coming into the house and smashing every bottle of whiskey I had and snatching me up by the neck. He pulled me to the mirror and made me confront what I was becoming. He told me I owed Peggy something. I owed our kids something and that something wasn’t gonna be found in the bottom of a goddamned bottle.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “Larry was one of a kind,” Demitra smiled. “They both were.”

  “Best friend I ever had in this world,” Charlie said. “And you were there right along with him. Sometimes I think they are both up there in Heaven watching you and me, yelling at us when we get frustrated with each other. Look, Demmy, I can’t say I believe this shit you’re selling. But I do know I believe in you. And I know Larry believed in you and all this crazy shit that happens in your family. We had many a conversation about it back in the day. If you say this is so, I have to—on some small level—be open to it. But my hands are tied with the department. You give me any information you come up with privately, and I’ll investigate it on my own time. In the meantime, this department will be looking for a regular two-legged madman.”

  “I’ll do whatever I can.”

  “But explain this to me,” Charlie said. “I don’t even know what a werewolf is, outside the movies. Do I need a silver bullet or something if I find him?”

  Demitra laughed. “No. No silver bullets. You can’t kill the wolf. But you can kill him in human form, just as you would any other man.”

  “Is this like in Hollywood where if he bites someone, I’m looking at two werewolves now?”

  “That isn’t his goal. Or her goal,” Demitra said. “It could be a woman. But it isn’t trying to make more of its kind. That would be too much competition for prey. Let me give you the brief Witch-opedia version of what this is.

  “A long time ago, in Europe, near the old Celtic lands, there was a coven of witches living in one of the many fiefdoms—I couldn’t tell you which one specifically. Back in those days it was as if every territory had its own king—until the time of William the Conqueror, who united the kingdoms under his rule. Anyway, these kingdoms were always at war with each other. During one of these wars when a king was off on some sort of Crusade or campaign against another king, the witches of that land—who had always kept their powers quiet, living among the people as though they were normal—decided to unite together to take over the land in the king’s absence. They demonstrated their powers to the people and sent fear into their hearts should they defy the coven.

  “When the king returned, he found his people enslaved to the witches, being used by them for their own unmentionable purposes. The king and his army set out to free the people and strike the witches down with his sword. One witch, the leader of the coven who had set himself upon the king’s throne, had the power to transform into any animal he desired. He also held the power to transform others.

  “Under attack by the true king of the land, the king witch changed all the remaining members of his coven into beasts. Wolves, panthers, leopards, and some beasts even more terrifying. Their plan was to hide in the mountains, blending with the other animals of the mountain forest until they could formulate a new attack. The King Witch transformed many in his coven to animals, but just before he could transform himself, the Celtic King found him and struck him down. With the King Witch dead, all of the others who had been transformed into animals, were unable to change back.”

  “This sounds like a child’s fairy tale,” Charlie remarked.

  “Most children’s fairy tales have a basis in fact,” Demitra continued. “Legend has it that these animals, who still possessed the minds of human beings despite their animal form, mated together in the mountains, only to be shocked when their offspring were born in human form. But these offspring were not fully human. During certain times of the moon cycle, these humans changed back into the animal forms of their parents.”

  “Werewolves,” Charlie snorted.

  “Werewolves. Wendigos. Cat People. Who knows?” Demitra replied. “That’s the legend anyway.”

  “That’s pretty preposterous.”

  “I wasn’t there,” Demitra smiled. “I’m just telling you the story I grew up with.”

  Charlie got off the desk and escorted his friend to the door.

  “Whatever this killer is,” Charlie said before he sent her on her way, “we’re going to catch him. Man, or beast.”