Daniella slipped down the hill and started to tumble. She hit the ground hard and felt her skin ripping as it came in contact with the ground. She rolled over and over, the entire world turning topsy-turvy. Daniella finally hit the trail at the bottom of the hill, she got up and promptly vomited. She got to her feet and threw up again, she prayed she had escape. Daniella slowly wiped her mouth and heard it howl. She felt a warm spreading sensation soak through her running shorts and start running down her legs. Daniella turned and started running once again. Daniella was in top physical shape, last year she ran the LA Marathon but now everything burned and she was having a hard time even jogging. Daniella stumbled and fell, she could hear it coming for her. Daniella forced herself to her feet and forced her body to run. She ran down the side of another hill, the branches and brush scratching and cutting her skin as she ran. She could hear it coming closer, smashing through the brush like a freight train. Daniella reached the bottom again and started running. Her lungs burned, each breath was just more gasoline to the fire. Daniella stumbled and fell, a branch ripping her sports bra. Daniella struggled and started running again, it was so close she could smell him. Daniella finally fell in a field, in too much pain to go on. Daniella prayed it would be quick and she wouldn't suffer too much. It entered the field, it smells terrible. It howled again, filling Daniella with more dread. It started across the field slowly, cautiously, not sure if it was a trap. It got close, she could hear him sniffing.
A gunshot shattered the silence, Daniella felt hot blood splatter all over her bare back. A piercing shriek echoed through her ears and she felt it run past. More gunshots echoed in the small valley. Daniella started crying, she was safe.

Derek pulled the action back on his rifle, " FUCK!" he cursed loudly, " I FUCKING MISSED!"
" Its okay" said Sasha, " I think he got another victim."
" No, she is still breathing" said Jack, " hurry before he decides to risk grabbing her."
The group raced down from the woods, they had heard the howls and luckily arrived in time. Sasha was the first to reach the woman. She touched the woman and heard her scream, " Its okay" said Sasha, " we're here to protect you, its okay."
The woman pulled into the fetal position and wailed. " She is messed up" said Sasha, looking at her injuries, " fucker must have chased her far."
Ophelia knelt down and took some gauze and Jack's healing ointment from her bag. She gently bound the woman's wounds and gently calmed her down. She sat up, her eyes still twitching like a scared deer. " What the fuck was that?" she asked, her words coming out in a long gasp.
" A dangerous animal" said Malcolm, " we're here to track it down, it is a rabid wolf."
" I moved on two legs" she said, " I know it did."
" Its okay" said Ophelia.
" Fuck it is" said the woman, " it was a fucking werewolf, it walked on two fucking legs."
" Okay it was a werewolf" said Sasha, " and you survived, count yourself lucky."
" Fuck, they are real" said the woman, " oh fuck that is, fuck."
Ophelia slipped her t-shirt off and handed it to the woman. She looked down and realized she was topless and gratefully accepted the gift. Ophelia adjusted her tank top, " Now what?" she asked.
" We hit it" said Derek, " make him easier to track for awhile, but we scared it, which means it will try and elude use as much as possible."
" What about her?" asked Jack, " it has her scent, we can't leave her or let her go on her own, she'll be dead before sundown."
" She'll come with us" said Malcolm.
" There is a second option" said Derek.
" Fuck that" said John, " we aren't going to tie her to a tree and wait for him to try again, I won't fucking allow that."
" Agreed" said Malcolm, " we are going to protect her, not scare the hell out of her anymore."
" We better get moving" said Sasha, " the trail will get cold fast."
Derek started into the forest hot on the trail. " Can you stand?" asked Ophelia.
The woman nodded, " Thank you" she said, " my name is Daniella.
" Ophelia, that is Malcolm, John, Jack, Sasha, and the one who just wandered into the woods in Derek" said Ophelia, helping Daniella up, " what were you doing this far out in the woods?"
" I live in Pacific Palisades, I come up here to jog" said Daniella, " but from now on it is strictly South Central, I'll feel safer there."
The group started into the woods, Ophelia helping Daniella, whose legs were like rubber. The walked all afternoon, the blood trail slowly dying out. Finally late in the afternoon they lost the blood trail all together in high rocks. " Guess it gets harder now" said Derek, sitting down.
" Don't worry" said Sasha, sitting next to him, " you wouldn't want an easy hunt, where is the fun in that?"
Derek took out his Marlboro's and lit up, " Can I have one?" asked Daniella.
" Sure" said Derek, " how far did you run?"
" I have no clue" said Daniella, " I was on Vista Ridge when I first saw it."
" Vista Ridge?" asked Sasha, " wow, that is four miles from where we found you, you are damn fast."
" Thanks" said Daniella, " I ran the LA Marathon last year."
" You just won a important race today" said Sasha.
" No shit" said Daniella, blowing the smoke into the air, " god I've tried to quit these for almost eight years now, screw it, that werewolf will get me before cancer does."

Jenna parked the car and looked across the street at the park. A group of kids were hanging out, smoking cigarettes and doing tricks on skateboards. They were just your average group of LA Skaters, except for the fact that is was 95 out and every one of them was dressed in black. " You really think they could have done it?" asked Jenna.
" Let's check them off the list and go back to get an ear full from Captain McCloud" said Melinda, " besides how often do we get to come down here?"
The pair climbed out of the car making all of them stop what they were doing and look up. " Its cool" said Melinda, " we are narcotics."
" Then who the fuck are you?" asked a waif thin girl with a pierced nose, eyebrow, lip, tongue, and seven silver rings in each ear.
" Homicide" said Melinda.
" Oooohhhh" they all said.
" You keep fucking around I can bring Gang Control down here let them roust you" said Melinda, " I want to know if you guys know anything about a murder in West Hollwood a couple of days ago."
Nope was the general answer they got from everybody, except the reed thin girl. She said no, but she was a terrible liar and her face scream she knew something. " You sure" said Melinda, " I'm not going to bullshit you, if we find out later any of you knew even the smallest thing you'll be going down."
The all played stupid, which was much of an act for this group of wannabe vampires. " Okay" said Melinda, " one last thing, where can I find Adam Powell."
The name made everybody squirm, little bastards were covering for him. " Nothing huh" said Jenna, " fine."
" Before we go we're going to have a talk with you" said Melinda putting her hand around the thin girl's arm.
" I don't know anything" she protested.
They took her across the street away from the influence of her friends. " You are a real bad liar" said Jenna, sitting on the hood of the car, " come clean, we leave you out of it. You're afraid of Powell right."
" He use to date my little sister" said the girl, " he was a world class fuck, he treated my sister like shit. We had a blow out after he got her pregnant for the second time. We squared off in the park, I beat him up, gave him a little present too."
The girl took out a collapsible knife from her baggy jeans, " Cut his pretty boy face" she said, " he took off for a few weeks and couple of days ago he comes back. He says he was going to do a real rite this time. Show us that worshipping our dark lord isn't just talking it up and using cow blood. He said he was going to show us all. I'm scared of him, before he used Satan as a way to fuck girls, now he believes."
" Do you believe?" asked Jenna.
The girl showed her wrists, " I slit my wrists when I was 13" she said, " as I was dying a man came to me, told me God was dead and he was the way to true reality. Not only do I believe, I love him."
" Where do we find Powell?" asked Melinda.
" I don't want to know, the fuck slums off everybody he knows" said the girl, " try Venice, he likes the beach."
" Thanks" said Melinda, " if you see him again, call me and let us beating him up."
The girl took the card, " Nobody knows it was me" she said.
" Nobody" said Melinda.
" For cops you too aren't all that bad" she said, " you should try my way, probably make more sense out of the shit you see."
" You usually hang around here in case we need to get a hold of you?" asked Jenna.
" Here" said the girl, taking out a receipt, " this is my cell number, call me anytime."
She handed it to Jenna with a smile, " I'll show you all my piercings" she said with a vampy smile.
Jenna took the number and the girl walked across the street to rejoin her friends. The pair climbed back into the car, " Really" said Jenna, " am I that easy to read?"
" Maybe Satan gave her powers on how to pick up chicks?" suggested Melinda, " god that was spooky stuff."
" Let's put out a all points for Powell" said Jenna, " maybe he decided to get into the big leagues."
" Let's have a look at the records at Mystic Springs, maybe Powell was stupid enough to have bought something from there with a credit card" said Melinda.

Captain James McCloud watch Jenna and Melinda enter and immediately came out of his office, " How is it coming?" he asked.
" We have a possible suspect" said Melinda, " Adam Douglas Powell, 22, did a year in junvie for boosting car radios in 97. According to some of his ex-Satan worshipping friends Powell came by around the time of the murder and said he was going to show them all."
" Great" said James, " too bad we can't arrest the devil and charge him as an accessory."
" Trouble from upstairs?" asked Jenna.
" Not yet" said James, " they have called for a situation report a couple of times, but they haven't started screaming for arrests yet. Thank god the Marcos Trial is still going on."
The pair sat down and started going through the credit card receipts for Mystic Springs. " Wow" said Melinda, " this place was doing well."
" Yah when each candle goes for 25 bucks a piece it isn't all that hard to turn a profit" said Jenna, " maybe we're in the wrong line of work."
" You opening your own New Age store?" asked Melinda, " I think you'd sooner move to the moon."
Jenna smirked, and it suddenly turned into a big teethy smile, " Life is good sometimes" she said.
" You didn't" said Melinda.
" Adam Powell, I have two purchases, one a week before for ten bucks worth of incense, and one for fifty dollars worth of black candles the day before the crime" said Jenna, " now we have to find him."
" Maybe we get lucky and he turns himself in" said Melinda.

John finished building the fire and Ophelia lit it with a small fireball. " You think it will come tonight?" asked Jack.
" She is still with us" said Derek, " he will come."
" And they can see at night" said Sasha, " we better keep the fire high and two of us on watch at all times."
" Agreed" said Jack, " I'll take the first watch."
" Me too" said Sasha, " I have the strangest feeling."
" He is close" said Derek, " we should have made camp in the last valley."
" Let's just keep our eyes open" said Sasha.
The night slowly wore on, slowly one by one people started going to sleep, except Jack and Sasha. Jack was sitting up on a rock looking up at all the stars. Those twinkling lights were a rare sight in the city, but tonight it was like they were all out and shining bright. Beth once took him backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park. He enjoyed that vacation, if Chosen ever dared let him take another week off that is where they would go again. Jack's enjoyment of the stars stopped when he heard movement coming up from behind. Jack carefully turned around and laid flat on the rock. He couldn't see a damn thing, but the noises were coming closer and closer. Jack flipped the safety of on his Enfield and started tracking the noise. Jack suddenly heard a loud piercing howl, and he squeezed the trigger. The 303 calibre round shattered the night, then a loud pained scream. Jack lit a flare and threw it in the direction of his bullet. The flare suddenly illuminated the werewolf as it staggered away, bleeding severely from a wound in the chest. Jack coolly worked the bolt and aimed carefully. The second round split clean through the werewolf's head, splattering its contents on the floor around him. " You get him?" asked John.
" Yep" said Jack, working the bolt once again, " my lucky rifle came through again."
The group raced over to the werewolf and illuminated the carcass with their flashlights. " Hell of a shot" said Malcolm.
" This guy is huge" said Ophelia, kicking it with her boot.
" This thing is insane" said Daniella, " how it didn't catch me is a mystery."
" Great, we can get out of this forest and back to civilization" said John.
" First let's bury the damn thing, we don't want any hikers finding it and selling it to the Weekly World News" said Malcolm.
" Wait" said Derek, still kneeling by the body, " something is wrong."
" What?" asked Sasha.
" Where is the third wound?" asked Derek, " there are only two wounds on the body."
Everyone turned back and started investigating the body. " There are only two wounds" said Sasha.
" That means there is another one?" asked Ophelia.
" What if this isn't a rogue?" suggested Sasha, " what if this is a pack?"
The group turned and heard two more howls pierce the night, a death song for their fallen brother.