Crimson Moon

Part I: The Full Moon

The road was dark and dismal. It was near eleven at night, a beam from headlights shone in the drizzle that was wetting the roadway. The only car on the road was occupied by four hunters, as they called themselves. They were no ordinary hunters though, they were monster hunters. Yes, monsters don’t exist, but in the mind of the rider in shotgun, they were hidden in the dark crevices of the world. The paths less taken by the members of society that said monsters never have and never will exist. Although, having seen so many monster movies and stories, Shade Nitefire strongly believes in the existence of the futile beings. His motley crew of monster hunters do not totally abide with the thoughts of their somewhat obsessed leader, but they are the only ones who take him seriously enough to travel along with him, and make sure he doesn’t hurt himself in his journeys.

The car of the monster hunters was sputtering along the dreary and wet road. A blue jeep, belonging to Spike, the driver, was what Shade called the Monster Mobile. The music was on high to drown out the pattering of the rain on the exterior of the car. “Shade! Can you please change the song?” came an outburst from Claudia, one of the crew, who sat in the back seat of the jeep. Shade didn’t acknowledge the question, for he couldn’t hear it over the music. “SHADE! CHANGE THE DAMN SONG!”

Shade lowered the volume and responded, “What?” She gave him a stern look and he chuckled, “Yeah, I’ll change the song, or better yet, we’ve been listening to MCR all day, maybe we should just relax and not listen to anything.” The rest of the passengers agreed. Shade reclined in his seat

There was a clap of thunder and the light drizzle turned into a downpour. The impact of the rain on the roof was loud and annoying. The four continued down the dark road, wipers on high, and high beams on. “What the hell is going on?” cried Bella, waking up from her nap. Spike had swerved to avoid getting hit by a fallen tree that was struck by lightning and the car began to swerve out of control. Shade leaned over and helped Spike steady the wheel. When that was under control and Spike was driving straight again, the rain began to give a little and reduced back to a light drizzle. “Well, now that little incident of terror is over, I’m going back to sleep.”

“You do that,” replied Spike, looking into the back of the jeep. Shade looked out his window and his mind began to drift. He watched as the dark forest flew by. He looked up behind the clouds in the night sky and saw the full moon shining through them. His eyes wandered back to the forest, he saw a movement in the bushes and a shadowy creature bounding in the trees parallel to the car. The clouds began to part and the rain was letting up, the light from the moon was caught in the creatures eye. Shade saw a yellowish tint of the gleaming iris.

Spike turned to face the road again, but he wasn’t really paying close attention to it, he was more interested in pushing the buttons to turn his wipers off. He turned the radio on and began searching for a good station at that time of night. Shade reclined back in his seat and closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Claudia was looking out the front window of the car as Spike was pushing the radio buttons and not paying attention when she spotted a creature in the high beams. “SPIKE, LOOK OUT!” she scream. Spike looked out the window and quickly grabbed the wheel, veering around the creature in the road, however the roads were still a bit wet and the car began to swerve again. This time Spike could not gain control of the wheel and the car veered off the road and into the woods. The bumpy terrain startled Shade and Bella from their sleep. Spike was turning the wheel like crazy to avoid the trees. In the confusion, the car came to a halt hitting a fallen tree. Bella and Claudia were jolted forward, but were safe. Shade’s air bag came out upon impact of the tree. Which he pushed down and unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out of the car. He opened Bella’s door and said “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am Shade,” she responded, “Thanks for asking, can you help me out of the car?” Shade helped Bella climb out of her seat and then helped Claudia out of hers.

Spike’s air bag, however, was not set off, he had jolted forward, but blocked his head from the wheel with his hand upon impact. “Stupid air bag,” he yelled and punched the steering wheel. Pffft. The air bag was ejected and hit him in the face, “Sure, now you work,” came the muffled voice of Spike. The three outside the car giggled as Spike deflated his air bag and hopped out of the car to join them. “What do you suppose that thing was?” he looked at Claudia.

“How should I know,” she responded. She walked over to the fallen tree and sat on it. Shade walked over to the back of the banged up jeep. He opened the trunk and took out a big book. The covers were pieces of wood and the binding was ropes. He carried the book under his arm and sat down next to Claudia on the tree. Bella sat next to him. “Shade, why do you have that with you?”

“I told you, we were going monster hunting, and I brought along a collection of bios about different monsters, and I think the creature that ran us off the road was a monster,” suggested Shade flipping through the pages of the book. Claudia rolled her eyes and Spike shook his head and paced around the jeep inspecting the damage.

“Claudia, give him a break, you know he could be right,” started Bella, and under her breath finished, “for once.” She gazed dreamily at Shade, who took no notice of her, as he flipped through the pages of his makeshift encyclopedia. She watched as he came to a halt on a page and his eyes scanned the words and then the surrounding area. She batted her eyes at him and began to twirl her hair between her fingers and said to him, “Whatcha’ doin’?”

Shade looked up from his book and whispered, “Werewolves.” He shut the book, but didn’t say anything else to Bella, she stood up and looked at him and batted her eyes, Shade saw her, “I think you have something in your eye.” She rolled her eyes and sat down next to Claudia.

“So, Shade, what makes you so sure it’s werewolves?” asked Claudia with a smirk on her face, awaiting his observations.

Shade took a deep breath and stood up, he began, “Well, as you can clearly see, we are surrounded by trees, mostly petrified wood. The time is approximately midnight, and the moon is full.”

“So?” interrupted Spike, as he came back around the car.

“SO, I also saw a furry shadowy figure running in the woods parallel to the car back on the road and it’s eyes were a yellowish color.”

“That doesn’t prove anything... I’m going to see what idiotic thing would stand in the middle of the road, and I know it wasn’t a deer, cause it was too bulky,” Spike started to follow the tread marks in the muddy earth back to the road. “Who’s coming with me?” Claudia jumped off the tree and followed Spike into the woods.

“So, Shade, it’s just you and me now, you wanna do anything?” Bella asked, flirtatiously.

“Yeah, actually, there is,” Shade said, a smile crawled across Bella’s face. “I’m going to prove it was a werewolf.” Bella roller her eyes. She sat went over to the car and took her bag out, she slung it over her shoulder and sat down on the tree. Shade sat down on a stump ad continued reading over his pages about werewolves. He observed the surroundings and then reached into his bag, which he had on his back the whole time. He pulled out his camera and began taking pictures of the trees, dirt, and other things that could prove to be clues.

Shade observed some freshly ravaged undergrowth from the direction the car had came. He hadn’t seen anything move through there in the time since the crash. He walked over to it and swapped out his digital camera for his video camera, for it could double as a flashlight, and made a digital recording of what he was looking at. He saw claw prints left behind in the muddy forest ground and they were leading to the direction of the deserted road. He compared them to the tracks he had in his book and they were identical. He followed them forward several paces and found a rock that was covered in dry green saliva. He ran back to Bella, who was taking pictures of the trees and wreckage with her camera phone.

“It’s a werewolf, I’m positive,” Shade huffed as he returned to the car. His phone began to ring, he answered it. “Claudia, what is it?” pause. “SPIKE?” pause. “That’s really bad. He really needs to be less impulsive. You get back here now.” pause. “NO! You shouldn’t follow him, it’s to dangerous... Claudia...”Shade closed his phone and looked towards Bella, “She hung up on me.”

“Well, what happened to Spike?” Bella asked, putting her phone in her pocket, a concerned look on her face.

“Claudia said that he saw this hairy creature sniffing around in the road and it looked at them and started running a different way in the forest and he chased after it. I told her to get back here and she wanted to chase after Spike, so she followed her gut and went after him.”

As Shade finished his sentence he heard two loud screams coming from near the highway, but back down in the direction they had come from. Bella began to scream, but Shade put his hand over her mouth to muffle her so she didn’t draw attention to them. Seconds later, there came howling from the same direction. The sound of it was blood curdling.

Shade sensed a rustling in the growth that told him the creatures were headed their way. He pulled Bella with him as he looked for a place to hide, he had his book held tightly under his arm. He hid behind the fallen tree by the car, they had a small peephole to the clearing where the moon had illuminated the area. The rustling came louder and more distinct as three creatures emerged from the bushes.

Shade rubbed some mud on him and some on Bella, who struggled, but Shade explained to her how it should mask their scent. They watched as the werewolves sniffed around the car. Suddenly, they stood on their hind legs and began to speak, the first to speak had a deep voice that was unfamiliar to them.

“Are you two nitwits sure this is the area you left those humans?” snarled the werewolf. He bared his fangs and began to drool. His fur gave off a musty scent, and he was wearing a pair of tattered blue jeans and a ripped flannel shirt. His eyes glowed yellow in the moon light.

The next two speak was in the tattered clothes that belonged to Claudia, “Yes, Fang, this is the car we were in, you said you saw it going along the road.” There was a rustling in the treetops as a flock of bats emerged and began to flutter in the clearing. Fang faced the sky and snapped his jaws collecting several bats in his mouth. The blood from the creatures oozed out the sides of his mouth as he chewed and swallowed. He spit out the bones and continued his conversation.

“One of them knew there was a werewolf in the forest and they could have run for shelter,” came the low voice of Spike.

“Where could they possibly be hiding?” snarled Fang, putting his face close to Spike, who began to shake.

“What about that abandoned church that you said was in these woods?” asked Claudia, Fang’s attention shifted from Spike to her.

Shade’s eyes widened when he heard that and he looked at Bella, who was shaking from fear. Her hand was gripped tight on Shade’s jacket. Shade put his arm around her, and whispered “Don’t worry, everything is going to be alright, all we have to do is get to this church before they do.”

“Where did you say that church was?” asked Spike, his fangs glistening with saliva.

“If you follow the river to from where its flowing you should get there in a few minutes,” said Fang, angry that he wasn’t getting closer to his guests.

Bella whispered to Shade, “I have an idea to throw them off track so we can get to that church before them.”

“Well?”

“I need your phone.”

“WHAT?”

“Well, I need something to throw into the woods.”

“Why can’t you throw your phone?”

“Shade...”

“Fine,” he handed her his phone and she tossed it in the opposite direction that Fang had indicated. The rustling had gotten the attention of the werewolves.

“What do you think that was?” asked Spike, staggering over to the area the sound had came from.

“A rabbit or a raccoon, or some other small creature,” replied Fang, who was getting testy from his lack of getting anywhere.

“Now what do you plan on doing?” Shade whispered.

“Just wait and see,” Bella took her phone and dialed Shade’s number, in the distance he heard his phone ringing.

“It’s them!,” growled Claudia, “That’s Shade’s phone.”

“And it’s the ringtone he has for Bella, they must have been separated,” added Spike, his eyes glowed red in the light.

“Well, what are we waiting for, let’s get him,” howled Fang, and the three darted off in the direction of the phone.

When they seemed far enough off Shade and Bella ran for the church. “That was some smooth thinking back there.”

“Thanks.”

“But you owe me a new phone.”

“Figures,” Bella roller her eyes. “Ouch!”

Shade stopped in his tracks and turned to see Bella on the ground, “Are you okay?”

“I think so, I tripped over something,” she tried to stand, “Ow! I think I sprained my ankle.”

“Ok, well, I think I can see the church over this little hill, I’ll carry you there, but you have to hold onto my book,” Shade picked up Bella and made his way to the building.

Upon reaching the doors, Shade put Bella on her feet and she leaned against the wall. He pried at the door, but couldn’t get them to budge. “I’ve always waned to do this,” Shade smiled and backed away from the door. He ran forward and kicked the doors open. He picked up Bella, entered the building, closed the doors and made his way up to the alter.

He sat down with Bella on the floor behind the alter table. “Here’s your book,” Bella gave the encyclopedia to it’s owner.

Shade flipped through the pages and began looking through the werewolf information. Bella observed the church, propping herself up on the table. She noticed that portions of the roof were missing. “Shade, how do we stop them?”

“Well, according to the book, the only weakness werewolves have is pure silver.” Shade took a necklace off and handed it to Bella as he stood up.

“What’s this for?”

“Put it on, it’s pure silver. Wear it and they won’t hurt you.”

“How will we let them know we’re here?”

Shade looked around and saw the rope dangling from the bell tower high above. He pulled it and it let out a loud, bellowing ring. Bats flew out from the tower roof and flooded the night sky.

Moments later, through the stained glass widows Shade could see the figures of the werewolves. He and Bella sat back down behind the alter table. “Bella, you wait here and look for something that I could use as a weapon against them, preferably of silver. I’m going to hide in the pews and hopefully divert them.”

Bella grasped Shade’s arm as he tried to go, “Wait, I have something for you.” She pulled Shade close to her and kissed him, straight on the lips.

She let him go. “What was that?”

“If you don’t make it, I want you to know, I love you.”

“Thanks, Bella.” Shade darted for the pews and hid, just in time. As he ducked out of sight Fang had burst through the door, followed by his minions.

“Spike, you check the left, Claudia, you check the right, and I’ll check the center,” howled Fang. Bella spotted a rather large silver cross on the ground behind the alter and crawled over to it. She dragged it back to her hiding place.

When the three werewolves were at their assigned points, Shade put his plan into action. He ran out into the point of intersection in their paths and yelled “HERE I AM YOU FLEA BAGS!” The three wolves turned to see him standing their, unarmed and darted for him. He ran towards the alter, barely escaping the collision of the beasts.

The three began to claw and bite at each other. Shade made his way to the alter and Bella handed him the cross, he lifted it with ease. “Thanks, now watch the grand finale.” Shade walked to the front of the alter and waited for the three beasts to stop. After a few moments of waiting Shade yelled, “YOU MORONS! YOU WANT ME, NOT EACH OTHER” He was concealing the cross behind his back. Fang looked up and glared at Shade.

Fang has slash marks on his jaw, and his neck was oozing. His fur was matted in the blood of he and his minions. Spike has claw marks near his eye, and blood was spilling down his leg. Claudia’s arm was oozing blood from several bite marks. “He’s mine!’ snarled Fang, his eyes lit up a deadly yellow and he was drooling. His drool was a mixture of saliva and blood. He bared his fangs, Shade could see a few wings wedged in his yellow teeth.

Fang began to charge, full speed, at Shade. When Fang was less than five feet away Shade swung the cross out and impaled Fang straight through in the side. The force of the impact knocked Shade backwards into the alter, causing him to fall backwards. Fang staggered backwards and began to fall. Spike and Claudia were horrified at the site of the impalement of their master. They threw the blame back and forth at each other and began to claw at each other. Shade began to get his wind back and looked at the blood pouring the impaled creature.

“Dead! That’s what you are, you can’t hurt anyone anymore,” scoffed Shade, who was supporting himself on the table. He looked up and saw that Spike and Claudia were still the hideous beings. “That, can’t be. According to the books and movies, when a werewolf leader is killed, the minions he created turn back to normal.”

“Well, that’s were you made you’re mistake,” came a low grumbling voice from the impaled creature on the floor. Fang’s arm began to move and he wrenched the cross out of his side. “This isn’t a silver cross, it’s a silver alloy. Not pure. Fool.” As the end of the cross exited the entrance wound blood spilled out onto the floor. Shade had a slight feeling of nausea and became dizzy. Fang held his claw over his wound, and stagged to his feet. “Foolish mortal, thinking you could defeat me.”

Bella saw Shade was in danger and she crawled around the table and behind Fang. She reached around her neck and removed Shade’s necklace. She staggered to her feet, trying to avoid the puddle of blood that was flowing down the steps of the alter. She located the exit wound the cross had left in Fang’s back. She wrapped some cloth she had taken from the alter around her hand and then made a fist. She wrapped the silver necklace around her fist. She thrust her hand into Fang’s bleeding back and deposited the necklace. She pulled her hand out and flung the cloth off and ran back behind the alter.

The silver made contact with Fang just in time, or so she thought, that he fell on top of Shade, knocking him down, just as he was about to claw Shade. Spike and Claudia began to transform back into humans ans their fighting ceased. There wounds were still bleeding, but only slightly. Bella crept back around the table and pulled Shade’s unconscious body from the fallen mass that was once Fang.

Fang’s body slowly began to transform to into it’s original state. The wounds began to close. The fountains of blood that poured from the lifeless body became nothing more that tiny holes. The blood looked like a crimson waterfall flowing down the steps. Claudia and Spike hurried to Bella and Shade.

“What happened?” Spike asked, looking at Shade’s body.

“I think he passed out,” responded Bella.

“Well, what are you gunna do?” asked Claudia. Bella kissed Shade on the lips, again, and his eyes opened. He pushed her away and rolled to the side and vomited off the side of the alter.

“Wha’ ‘appen?” asked Shade, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He looked at the crimson floor and at the shriveled body of Fang. It seemed awkward to him, and his friends that the body was not that of a hairy werewolf, but of the human he really was.

Spike walked over to the body and searched the pockets and pulled out a wallet. He walked back over to the group. “Look what I found,” Spike opened the wallet.

“That was a great idea, finding out who he really was,” said Bella. Who was supporting Shade’s body.

“ID him? That never crossed my mind, I wanted the money he had,” chuckled Spike, whose eyes widened at the sight of te wallet’s contents. Taking the twenty hundred dollars from the wallet and putting it in his pocket. Bella gave him a stern look. “Fine, his ID says his name was Evander DeVille.”

“‘Vander DeVille!” came and outburst from Shade.

“You knew him?” asked Claudia, looking surprised that Shade had that much energy left in him.

“Not personally,” Shade began, starting to regain his strength, “He was the author of the book on werewolves I read that helped me write my encyclopedia. Now I know how he knew so much.”

“Well, we can just leave him here, can we?” asked Bella, helping Shade to his feet.

“Sure we can,” said Spike, and the four of them started out of the church.

“Wait,” said Bella, as she was trying to support Shade, “I need to get Shade’s necklace back.”

“What do you mean back?” asked Shade.

“I kinda put it into Fang... Evander to kill him,” said Bella, “and it worked.”

“Barely,” said Claudia as she examined the body. “He died of massive blood loss, he would have lasted longer if he left that cross in him.” She looked in her purse and took out a razor, she cut open the back of the shriveled body and extracted the necklace. She offered the bloodstained piece of jewelry to it’s owner. Shade shook his head and Claudia placed the necklace in her purse. The three continued back to the wrecked car.

None said a word until arriving at the clearing. “I guess we should camp here tonight,” suggested Bella. The others agreed, and Spike took the tent out of the back of the car, along with all their bags, and set it up. Claudia helped him erect the tent. Bella sat with Shade, who was bruised from his act of courage.

After the tent was set up, the four of them crawled in and had a few hours sleep. When the sun came up. They awoke and crawled out, Shade had healed a bit from the night before, but he still had some aches.

At the sight of the damaged car Shade was the first to speak, “Well, I guess last night wasn’t a nightmare at all. So, I guess we have to cal for some help or something.”

“Oh yeah, Shade, speaking of call, here,” Spike reached into his pocket and extracted something, and placed it in Shade’s hand.

“MY PHONE!” shouted Shade in excitement.

“Yeah, last night when it went off I was the first to reach it, and I scooped it up and stuck it in my pocket. We thought we had lost you and if you came back for your phone you would have been dinner,” said Spike, laughing at his choice of words.

They took down the tent and packed up and called for a ride. They waited at the side of the empty road, and flagged down the tow-truck that was sent for them. They climbed in and directed the truck to their car. The car was hooked up and they were taken to the nearest town.

“You know what still has me thinking,” said Spike as he reached in his back pocket, “Why did a werewolf have two thousand dollars in his wallet?” These were the only words spoken in the truck. Bella was comforting Shade and Claudia was sleeping.

Upon arriving in the town they were brought to a garage. Surprisingly enough, the total for fixing the car was two thousand. Spike was disappoint to give up his small fortune for his car, but it was there only mode of transportation.