Act 15

He swiped and played the video and after a few seconds of silence until the video went to the part where he captured Xavier’s full frame. Mat pause the video perfectly where Xavier was looking directly at the camera, “There is our target boys, does anyone know what this thing is?” The eldest of the men walked away from the group and headed towards the bartender, he demanded a strong one with distraught in his voice. The bartender immediately did what he was told and gave him their strongest drink in the bar, the old man quickly downed the drink like it was nothing. “Ugh damn, the stories were fucking true. I can’t fucking believe it.” he said. Mat turned his head toward him, “You know this thing old timer?” he said. “When I was a boy my grandfather used to tell me an old wives’ tale about a shadow lurking in the old Livingston Family manor. As I grew older, I start to thought that it was just a story but sometimes when I go and see to the old place out, I always felt something staring back.” he said trailing off. “If that thing killed that deer-skull thing, how can WE possible capture it? this is a job for the CIA or something.” the guy with a pool stick said. “It has a weakness.” he began to play the video again ang quickly paused it. “This girl is our ticket to getting that beast”. he said showing them a scene where Lily was holding back Xavier. “We get her, we get it?” Mat said. “What equipment are we going to use?” the guy with the bonnet said. “Relax, I got you guys covered. We start next week; we meet up here in the pub.” Mat proclaimed and all five of the men nodded in agreement. “Good, I’ll pay you if we capture that monster” Mat said while he gave the men his number and exited the bar. The next day Lilly woke up early and groggily this time around, grunting as she stood up and tossed her blanket. She made herself breakfast and sat on her table; she grabbed her phone to look at the time but she remembered the photos she took from their trip to the ancient tree. She spotted the one with the ancient tree in it and Xavier was at the lower side of the photo, she smiled and began to swipe again. As she scrolled through the photos, she smiled with joy seeing the beautiful sceneries but her favorites were the ones Xavier was photobombing unknowingly. She giggled and continued to scrolling, she saw the ones where she transformed into a stallion and a wolf. As she arrived at the final photo, she locked her phone and looking out through her window. She thought about if they were to be successful in returning Xavier to his human form, they won’t be able to do does great things anymore. Her face dropped but immediately light up determination when she focused her thought on what really matters, Xavier’s safety and that was all that matter for her at the moment then with a one big gulp from her coffee mug she prepared herself for a week long of work. Xavier was the thinking same thing as he played with his new squirrel friend, he pondered on whether he would continue the incantation or not but also settled on continuing because of the thought of him being with Lily as a normal human being. He could go with Lily outside the forest and not worrying about anyone about his appearance or what he was. Same as Lily, this fuel him and gave him a new purpose in life. But when their light there’s darkness, Mat spent the week gathering tools and equipment for their hunt. With the help from George, he was able to buy guns, ropes, and an average sized cage where they will put Xavier. As he was almost complete with his malicious plans, he imagined himself being interviewed on his late find and was drowning in love of his fans and ridiculous amount of money. He grinned while he packs the supplies in his truck, he also put a weapon covered with a large cloth, crossing the “secret weapon” on his list then he contacted the other to spy on Lily and monitor her every move. Surely enough, as she progressed through her week, she felt like a prey being stalked by a predator. She saw the guy with a tattoo covering his arm watching her as she walked pass the pub, then she saw a guy outside the library doors occasionally taking a glance of her. This made her felt unnerved and can’t shake the feeling that Mat was behind this but she acted like she didn’t notice it. She simply kept her distance played it safe. It was Thursday at this point, and she was getting anxious to perform the ritual, she practiced at night so she didn’t get it wrong. When the day of the Lily’s free day came, she was already packing her bag at 6 in the morning attempting to finish the ritual early. As she did her preparation, Mat was doing his own preparation in the other side of the town. Arming his new crew with the equipment he bought, the bigger men are armed with the guns while the others were the capture squad armed with sticks with grappling ropes at the end. When they were ready, they loaded up in the truck and started to hit the road. They’re first was to get bait and with a messed-up turn of events, Lily was walking on the street near the entrance of the woods. Lily with an insane about of luck, turned around to see that a black truck was heading towards her. She squinted her eyes to that Mat was in the driver seat, she also saw the men with guns and grappling sticks and she immediately knew what was about to happen so she started running, the sudden rush of adrenaline fueling her legs but it Mat and his gang was still gaining on her. She had an idea, if she could outrun the A-holes and maybe she could out maneuver them so she leapt over a bush making quick shortcut and continued bolting through the woods. Unlucky for them, they were chasing the wrong person, rewind a couple of days when she first noticed one of the goons spying on her. She knew that Mat was too big of a coward and weak to even take on Xavier alone so he must have hired some guys to help him in his dirty work. So, this time she walked to another side of the woods so she could lose them in the expanse of it. “Clever girl” Mat hissed and quickly made a turn in the woods giving Lily an insane amount of time because she knew Mat only followed her to the mansion and didn’t memorize the path.