Page 5, Chapter 5
Our heroine found herself nodding to herself mumbling, not really listening to what the large werewolf was warning her about.
"I don't suppose there's a pizza place anywhere around here?" she asked not bothering to wait for any kind of response, because she knew they would just laugh hysterically at her. She started to wander, following the stream for about fifteen minutes before spotting Reuben hanging upside down by the knees from a large tree.
"What took you so long?" he laughed as he jumped down landing in a shoulder roll. "I was getting tired of just hanging around waiting for you." He smiled, his eyes flashing that of the werewolf.
"Don't do that." our heroine turned slightly dropping her binder. Bending to pick it up she saw flames coming from just behind the tree.
"Vampires and Cults. Vampirism and Vegetarianism. Dracula, the Man the Myth and the Monster. What is all this stuff?" Reuben asked, waving a handful of pages around. He turned his eyes up to look at her from under a maple leaf that was stuck to his hair. "Seriously? This is what you're studying? Why?"
"Everyone needs a hobby." she pointed to the leaf that was now stuck to his eyebrow.
"Strange hobby. Why not take up something normal, like knitting or needlepoint or video games?"
"I've tried all three, but my hand-eye coordination is like zero. And I don't have the patience." she said standing back up, putting her notes back into the binder. She couldn't take her eyes off of the maple leaf that was just hanging there on the side of his face, like it was glued to his eyebrow. She would have reached over and removed it, but the fact he was a werewolf kept her from doing so. A large cloud of smoke headed in their direction suddenly, making it nearly impossible to see.
"You said something about food?"
"Oh my god. Eating with werewolves, that's a new one. Just hope nobody I know is on the menu." she mumbled as she tried to see where she was walking, following the source of the smoke. Our heroine was coughing from it, by the time it took her to get the few feet to where the three werewolves had set up a small eating area. "That smells like...gingerbread? What's going on here?"
"Tea?" Dagan asked opening a picnic basket and holding up what was clearly a thermos of Earl Grey. "Seriously..." he said chewing on something crunchy. "Somethings are better hot, tea is one of them. Sit." he grabbed her arm making her sit on the tree stump.
"Want me to shake a paw too?" she asked. She nearly jumped out of her skin again when he growled at her. "Sorry, bad joke." She heard more crunching, this time from Rolf. Turning our heroine leaned closer to the large werewolf trying to see what it was that was hanging out of his mouth, and nearly fell into the campfire.
"What are you staring at?" he asked, as a thin line disappeared into his mouth. Reaching into a second picnic basket, he smiled wide just before dropping a small mouse into his mouth. "You're acting like you just saw a ghost or something. It's just a
"Tea?" Dagan asked again. Turning, she saw he had a spindle of string suddenly, wrapping it around a bent branch.
"What are you making?" she asked as a large piece of gingerbread seemed to be shoved under her nose. She barely glanced to see that it was being handed to her by Reuben.
"Dream catcher. I make these all the time." Dagan replied, his hands moving almost too fast for our heroine to see. Within seconds he had the string weaved through like a perfect spiderweb, with tiny gleaming pearl white charms dangling from it. Holding up his prize, our not so brave heroine realized they were bones not charms.
Our heroine burst out laughing once again. "Okay now that's a cliche. Werewolf making a dream catcher."
"Uh oh." Rolf started to shake his head flicking his hair out of his face. "You might not want to go there."
"I think she just did." Reuben said laughing himself as he grabbed the thermos.
"So tell me about this Queen?" our heroine said breaking into the gingerbread. "Why does she have you shaking in your magically painted on boots?"
"Did anyone say the Queen was a she? We just said Queen." Dagan replied. Our heroine nearly choked on her gingerbread. "You going to die on us? Cause if you die on us then we get to go home." he said, a smirk on his face. "Then again, we'd have to bury you and make sure you don't return as a zombie or something and that would take more time in the long run then just getting you through to the edge of the forest."
"So the Queen. And why exactly did the Magic Ninjas send you guys? What's the score?" she said as a large puff of smoke drifted towards her from the campfire.
"Well, you know how some people have animal guides or totems?" Rolf said, crunching on what looked like a frog. "It's like that only not, cause..." he leaned over towards the campfire, his elbows on his knees. "You're not human."
"I'm sorry what do you mean? I'm not human?" our not so brave heroine said holding her binder to her once more like armor.
"I'm thinking vampire." Reuben said, a mouthful of marshmallows. "Or witch." he glared at her from under his hair which had now fallen out of the ponytail.
"Na." Dagan said leaning over her shoulder sniffing. "Doesn't smell like a witch. Besides, most witches are better looking." he brought his hand up in front of his face gesturing to his nose. "The glamour spells. You're too ugly." a handful of marshmallows belted him in the face falling everywhere. "Well that wasn't very nice." he said picking up one that had landed in his lap and eating it.
"So you're spirit guides for the supernatural?" she asked turning to face Rolf. That was her first real mistake, turning her back on Dagan. She heard the sound of her spine snapping before she felt it.
"What did you do that for?" Rolf asked. Standing up, he moved around the campfire, looking down at her now dead body.
"Give it a minute." Dagan replied licking the blood of his hand, his one leg twitching. "If she's not human, if she is a vampire or something she'll be back."
"And if she was human, then what do we do?" Rolf asked.
Dagan shrugged. "Bury her I suppose. With a really big tombstone something heavy that she can't move if she goes zombie." he continued to lick the blood from his hand. "Not human." he remarked as his eyes turned to the amber-grey of the werewolf. "Can't place it, but not human. Okay, you babysit the still dead-not dead-dead chick for a bit. I'm going hunting." he turned taking a few steps, the magical clothing melting into the same mist that had created it, then turned into a very large auburn wolf. Dagan disappeared into the darkness of the forest, howling. (see how I followed the rule about introducing something in one part and bringing it back later. The clothes in chapter 3)
"Babysit the dead chick." Rolf laughed as he knelt down beside the dead body of our heroine.
"So he killed her? If she's dead, can we BBQ her? There is a bottle of BBQ sauce in this one picnic basket." Reuben's voice raised a notch. Rolf looked at his buddy, his eyebrows knitted together in disapproval. "I'll take that as a no."
"Didn't you have enough today? I mean, seriously, you already ate that girl with the red cape thingie." Rolf commented pointing towards the picnic baskets. "And the old woman from the house at the end of the road. You really need to cut down on your snacking." There was a sound that made both werewolves ears twitch that sounded almost like dripping wax, followed by a soft cracking noise. Both knew from personal experience that it was the sound of bones realigning. "Heads up, I think she's going to scream." he moved away from our heroine covering his ears.
The scream was loud and filled with shock more then pain. Our heroine was gasping for air as she sat on the ground, covered in leaves and dirt and her own blood trying to understand what just happened.
Rolf helped her to stand up.
"Easy, try to see if your legs are going to work."
"Why...why wouldn't they?" she asked still unable to fully catch her breath.
"Uh, because Dagan severed your spine."
"Wh...why?"
"To prove a point." Reuben added, handing her a bottled water. "That, and I think he was bored."
"Oh good, you're awake." Dagan's voice slithered around her causing her to jump. He stepped out from behind the large tree, half naked and covered in sweat and dirt.
Rolf pointed to his buddy's face. "You got something stuck to you."
Dagan wiped at his face, pulling his hand away clutching a piece of yellow fabric. "Farmer. Or might be Librarian? Okay, whatever you are, this little tea party is over. Time to get back on track." his eyes were still that of the wolf as he grabbed her by the face, his nails like sharp glassy points as he once again forced her to show him her teeth. "Told you, she'd be fanged." The other two men leaned in closer to see the four sharp teeth on her upper row.
"Those don't look vampire." Reuben commented. "They look more...I don't know? But I know they don't look vamp. Check her forehead for bumps." reaching out Reuben smacked her on the face tapping her eyebrows. "Nothing is springing to life, so I don't think she's part of the bumpy forehead crowd. Ears look normal, no points so think it's safe to rule out fairy." grabbing a hold of her shoulders he twisted her around. "No tail either. Goblin is off the list too." he proceeded to pour half the bottled water on her and took a step back. "Not a mermaid either."
"What's left?" Rolf asked pointing at her eyes. "They haven't changed so...we must be forgetting something? I mean, clearly not human."
"Yof arg taltbling lite imf nof herh." she struggled to move from them but the grip Dagan had on her face still prevented that.
"Let her go man." Reuben said. Dagan opened his eyes wide at his friend then let his grip loosen throwing his hands up in the air taking a step back. "What did you say?" Reuben continued.
"You are talking like I'm not here."
"Actually, we were examining you. We need to figure out what you are before we go any farther into this forest. Cause the Queen really doesn't take to kindly to unsanctioned critters in his area." Reuben said scratching at his jaw. "Dude, I really think I got fleas or something. I'm going to head on to the lake and see if that helps." He was gone in a blink towards the left of them.
Tune in later for another installment of the Nosferatu Adventures starring your heroine...me. (yeah another piece that is just straight up story and doesn't have any links to the rest of the movie posts. Seriously, I'm just really having fun writing this now. I'll get back to the purpose of the Nosferatu Adventures in the next chapter.)
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