Chapter 6

Still at Penelope's place, Jane rambled about her childhood with Topher and how he had always been recalcitrant. Stubborn to the very last. Penelope too narrated a series of events that had happened between them to prove that Topher was more guts than brains.

"To date, Mr. Shapiro, our History professor still considers him the most stubborn student." Penelope laughed.

"I doubt that because that man rarely talks!" Topher defended.

"He doesn't need to say it." Penelope bullied him.

"Oh cut the crap." he sighed. "Where's your mom by the way?"

"She has resumed work. They even buried one of their officers today" Penelope answered and suddenly Jane and Topher's demeanor changed.

"Do you know her? The officer that died?" Jane asked

"Sif, no not really. I only saw her a couple of times." Penelope shrugged. "Wait how did you know it was a 'her' and not a 'him'?" she pointed out an observation

"I don't. I didn't even know I said that" Jane lied

"Well, they're saying it was an animal attack but I don't believe it. They're not even sure what happened, because the CCTV cameras were broken by the wind."

"So what are you saying?" Jane asked, puzzled.

"Topher, remember the time I told you about the decapitated man in the woods? (Penelope asked Topher but didn't wait for his reply before she continued). They're trying to connect his death to the same animal they believe killed Sif. Maybe a bear or something. But I think whatever killed that man was what killed Sif, and it wasn't an animal." she insisted.

"Well, like I always say, strange things always happen in Bloomfield Hills" Topher dismissed her.

Candace hid under piles of paperwork, reading each and every one of them carefully as she sought answers. Everyone might've bought the idea that Sif's death was an animal attack, but that bullshit wasn't for her. She had a hunch that whatever happened that night wasn't natural. So while everyone had left the night Sif died, she stayed back to investigate the matter herself. She started by going through the CCTV footage, and when she found nothing, she went outside to inspect the cameras herself and found them broken. Frustrated and running out of ideas, she decided to give up the search and try another day before she spotted something unusual.

"Is that a claw?" she asked herself, as she moved towards Sif's car. She glanced about her to check if someone was watching before she picked up the abnormally huge claw. Filled with joy that she had found a lead, she sent the object to a friend of her's in the forensic team. And now, two days later, the results were back. To her greatest disappointment, the claw didn't match any animal in their database. So if it didn't belong to any animal known to man, whom did it belong to? Candace pondered the question.

Towards evening in Oakland Community College, a random middle-aged man sat in his office as he went through some files before him. And on his desk was a nameplate that read 'Professor Carl Shapiro: History'. After hours of going through those documents, Carl finally put away his reading glasses, packed a few things inside his portfolio bag then left. He sighed to himself as he walked towards his car, visibly exhausted from the tedious work of marking test scripts for over a hundred students. It was already dark outside now, but it didn't bother him. His mind was set on going home so he could get a well-deserved rest. But just a few feet away from his car, he suddenly stopped and his eyes flared green for a brief moment as he sensed something.

"May I have a moment with you" someone suddenly showed up before him, and covered his nose with a handkerchief soaked in chloroform. Everything happened so fast that before he knew what was going on another man had appeared from nowhere and pounced on him. Knowing too well that things weren't going to end well for him, Carl decided to throw the first punch as he reached for one of his attackers (the one covering his nose with a handkerchief) and gutted him open with his fingernails that were now growing into claws. He turned to his other attacker and spat on his face and immediately the man's face began to burn, then he broke out from their grip and fled.

"Druid, now! Don't let that slimy reptile getaway!" He heard one of the men yell behind, and before he could process what was going on, someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and sprayed some sort of stardust on him, and he crashed on the floor as his body paralyzed immediately. Unable to move even a single muscle, Carl watched the men bind him and dump him inside the trunk of his car after they had covered his face with a sac.

Bale toyed with his hair as he and the rest of the other alphas waited eagerly for the druids. It was an exciting night for them. The news had been spread about the capture of a reptile.

Carl felt the hateful gaze of his enemies as he was being brought before The Council. Murderous red eyes glared at him, waiting to devour him. These werewolves were not excited to him, they were too eager to see him die. He watched in silence as they observed their protocols before they began to speak to him.

"We have a couple of questions for you." one of his captors (the one he had burned his face) approached him.

"You're just wasting your time. Just kill me because I won't tell you anything." he tried to spite him.

"Oh, we will kill you. But if you cooperate with us, we make it snappy, else we do it real slow. And I promise, it's going to be very painful" the man threatened him. "Now tell us how many of you are out there and why have you returned?" he asked, but Carl answered him with a burst of robust laughter instead.

"I see what's going on here." he chuckled relentlessly. "She was right. You've all turned weak, and now you fear us! Mind you, there is a legion of us out there! We will conquer and we will dominate!" He screamed like a mad man, slowly showing his true nature.

"Who's right?" one of The Council members asked, puzzled.

"The queen!" Carl replied.

"It seems we're in luck. Now tell us where your queen is?" his captor demanded

"I'd rather you have my head" he spat on the ground. "We don't betray one of our own"

"That's quite an interesting choice of word." his captor replied. "I'd like to hear you say that again after this" the man signaled one of the werewolves to come, and after whispering a few things to him, they carried the reptile and dropped him on a surgery table, then they began to torture him. Carl screeched in pain, biting on his forked tongue as they picked his fingers and toes one by one, yet he refused to disclose the identity of the queen.

In the end, they decapitated him and burnt his body.