Moon Phase 3

WARNING Slight Mentions of Self Harm,

Gore and Slight Sexual Content

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"Oh Carmíllia, would you mind looking at this for me?" Lucifugus asked.

"Oh! A witch's grimoire? These are hard to acquire without killing a wit- ahem. I mean -" Carmíllia looked abashed. Cernunnos and Dionysus looked at her curiously.

"Lucifugus you didn't --" Carmíllia started to ask.

"I didn't kill her or steal it before you ask," Lucifugus rolled his eyes and sat next to Cernunnos.

"Sometimes a vampire has to make sure," Carmíllia huffed. Gingerly she placed the book back on the ground and opened the book, skimming the pages.

"What do you know about Veritas City Central Park?" Dion asked.

Lucifugus blinked slowly. 'It's where ... I met a human who was nice to me some years back, it's also a place frequented by various dealers, why?"

"Your sister mentioned it when she asked about you... approaching her friends," Dion said.

"You have been steering clear of her and anyone she knows when you go to the city right?" Carmíllia asked, looking up from the book, elegant fingers holding down a page that caught her attention.

Lucifugus blinked owlishly. "Yes, why would I interact with them?"

"There's been a few murders, well maybe not murder specifically but bodies of several trolls and elves have been found. A

It's got the supernatural world in a sort of frenzy." Cernunnos supplied.

"In addition, in the Catacombs Runway, Kindred Vampires are planting more berserk incomplete newbie vampires and werewolves in situations with high fatality rates." Carmíllia added looking at a small glass rectangle that presumably functioned as a vial. Albeit the dark orange liquid inside was likely not blood.

Lucifugus frowned deeply. "If I could figure out the base of operations I could manipulate father and the others to investigate," he ran a hand through his hair.

"But every search has turned up empty, and it's not as though you have ample free time to goof off like normal teens your age," Cernunnos reminded sympathetically, then snatched the wine from Dionysus.

"Stop stealing my-" Dion started but was silenced with a look from Carmíllia.

"Not to mention, they're complicating my research efforts," Lucifugus grumbled. Pages in the book fluttered in wind that wasn't there as if reacting to his emotions.

Cernunnos changed into a fluffy white almost humanesque amorphous monster with huge black antlers akin to a moose. The arms were unusually long, a few inches off the ground with black hands. Around his neck was a necklace with a deep magenta amulet. Around said gem were two gold horned serpents.

The form would have looked intimidating if it wasn't currently two feet tall and Lucifugus wasn't hugging it like a precious thing he found.

"You smell nice," he buried his nose into the curly hair of Cernunnos' amorphous form.

Cernunnos' hands smelled as though he'd been playing with some vanilla.

"If you're going to do any of that overly familiar stuff I'd rather not witness it," Carmíllia remarked casually. Dion looked amused watching them. Lucifugus' shock must have been on his face, given Dion's wry smile.

"Reported Attack on Veritas City Arcade Center! Casualties have been confirmed!

Carmíllia's 'borrowed' radio Supernatural Investigator communicator announced.

Lucifugus blinked, grabbed the duffle bag Cernunnos was offering and changed clothes immediately. Now he was wearing a dark purple hoodie with rolled up fingerless fishnet gloves covering the forearms, under black fingerless gloves with silver studs on the knuckles. At his waist under a copper colored tool belt is a dark purple waist cape is a black fluffy tail with gold flecks. Under the cape are baggy over the knee cargo pants with black skin tight armor like material disappearing into purple boots with gold buckles and fang heels.

"What? But I was just there?!' he thought frantically as he took the radio from Carmíllia. On his way back to the City even though he hadn't left it too long ago.

'What happened? Was I wrong to leave when I did?'

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The werewolves next to 'Bebe Marguerite' made a synchronized action akin to grinning. But it seemed too filled with malice, too... dangerous to be a normal smile.

Wellesley's heart sped up and he quietly bolted to the bathroom where he figured he could hide or make an exit of the small windows.

Unfortunately the small windows didn't exactly look operational. Covered in dust, layers of old paint and to top it off the window creaked horribly. He strained to get it open and it was only open two inches.

The door burst open courtesy of the wolf's strength. Wellesley screamed in spite himself as he tried to get the window open. Perhaps the bathroom windows weren't meant to open, he thought dismally but he couldn't weigh on that long as the strength in the arms that grabbed his torso cracked his ribs, he was certain.

In the rush of struggling, clawing (and crying) Wellesley could see he'd been brought back to the arcade's main game room. His heart sank as he briefly caught sight of all the people on the ground. All the bodies and blood immediately made him feel hopeless.

He grabbed the werewolf's ear which twisted in his grip, or maybe he twisted it. In response the werewolf smacked him, hard.

As a result Wellesley's glasses practically flew off his face and being unable to see without them, he lunged for them. Just as he grabbed them while squinting for tiny glimpses of vision, happy he recognized the shape in his mind's eye; his ankles were grabbed by rather uncomfortably strong claws.

However before he could have time to wonder if he would have fared better ambling around like a blind man, the werewolf overwhelmed him with his body weight and bit him on his neck, near the collarbone.

Wellesley's world went completely blank as he processed the bite. The sensation of fangs sinking into his shoulder. His panic at the situation, the dead teens just beyond him on the floor and he himself being attacked.

Wellesley groaned softly and the wolf on top of him began to remove himself. Dimly he registered the blood spilling out of the bite wound even as it felt like something inside him shifted.

He didn't remember seeing the needle or trying to fight against it. He did remember the pain of it being in his skin.

His vision immediately caught the view of a figure with a heeled boot that was somehow cleated, dealing a powerful kick to the wolf leaning over him, sending him flying. The needle, as a consequence was pulled out, now completely empty and it shattered on the ground.

There was also a sharp and distinct crack sound which should have unnerved Wellesley. But he slowly sat up, dimly aware of the blood spilling out the wound and the blood on the floor his hand touched.

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Lucifugus headed to the Arcade, quickly jumping from building rooftops. Still stunned and mulling over the time an attack happened given the information the Supernatural Investigators were sharing on the radio. Which was very little.

Approaching the arcade he mentally donned his vigilante alter ego persona. He didn't know who would be alive and who would be an enemy. He couldn't have any obvious attachments. Quickly shattering the glass doors he arrived uninvited and threw the two wolves off guard.

He gritted his teeth, ignoring that he may have accidentally cut his lip when he initially started to bite it.

He could lament the losses later when he had actual information and knew the exact number.

'Wait hang on a tick--' Lucifugus caught himself. "What-" he started to say under his breath.

He lifted Wellesley's head, tilting it to the right. Revealing the bite mark and the puncture wounds from Bebe Marguerite's needle. Wellesley stared blankly at him in return.

"Damn," Lucifugus swore.

"I -----Blackwater-- Command you ----- Stay in here," he ordered, Wellesley hearing only bits and pieces. Lucifugus missed it but Wellesley's eyes widened.

"Yes... Alpha," he said distantly in response.