The Lycan Chronicles

by Schroeder, Brent

  Brittney gasped and rolled her eyes, smacking the sign-in clipboard on the counter. “As if! Geez, can you get any more personal? No, I’m not pregnant!”

  JD nodded to the receptionist and continued past the main desk, making his way down to the morgue, located in the basement of the clinic. The cold, windowless austerity of the underground morgue was a sharp contrast, to the living humanity upstairs. The smell of formaldehyde permeated the air and stainless-steel instruments littered various trays near the center of the room that was brightly lit by fluorescent-tube lighting.

  “JD, thanks for coming down,” Dr. Covey welcomed him. “Please, follow me.”

  “No problem, doc,” he said, following as Covey led him over to a wall of coolers, watching the reflections bend in the metal surfaces, like fun house mirrors.

  The doctor slid open one of the refrigerated drawers of deceased bodies, pulling the sheet off the mangled, skinless remains of Jacob Richards. He put on a fresh set of latex gloves and proceeded to gently turn the head of the stiff corpse to one side; the neck cracked loudly.

  “This boy was killed by a knife strike to the neck,” Dr. Covey explained to JD, as he grabbed a pair of forceps, pulling some of the meat back on the corpse’s neck. The doctor grabbed a magnifying glass, handing it over to JD.

  “What am I looking for?” he asked, squinting through the lens.

  “See those two small holes?”

  “Yeah, I see. That’s definitely a Vampire bite, wouldn’t you say?”

  “I can’t think of anything else that would look like that,” Covey said. “I’d say our Vampire was counting on the wildlife to consume the evidence.”

  “Great. Just fucking great. Looks like I have a rogue bloodsucker on my hands,” Sheriff JD said, standing up straight again. “Well, thanks for the help, doc.”

  “You betcha, JD.”

  They shook hands, parting ways and JD took the basement stairs, two at a time, the way he came, making his way back through the Wolf Creek Blood Bank. He got back in his truck, with Nanook hopping in to ride alongside, up front and JD pulled out of his parking space back onto the main road, heading in the direction of Zeke’s cabin out by the lake.

  As JD made a turn down the next street, he had to slam on his brakes to keep from being hit by some girl, who was texting on her phone and swerving in the wrong lane. He hit his red and blue emergency flashers for a second, as the girl looked up and blushed with embarrassment, stuffing her phone away. The girl waved at JD to say ‘sorry,’ and he ignored the traffic infraction, letting her continue down the road… he was too tired to even bother. He even felt like sitting in the truck for a few minutes, to warm up a little anyway, but after JD pulled over to the curb, he accidentally fell asleep, thanks to the soothing sound of the heater, blowing from the dashboard.

  The forest was filling with darkness and the sounds of wild animals, as Matt and Lia gathered up another round of firewood, filling up by the armload. It’s the most work they’ve done in a long time and they both complained, since they thought they were supposed to be on a vacation. But nonetheless, another evening’s worth of firewood was needed to keep everyone warm that night, so they did it anyway. The city kids had just one more night to stay at the cabin, before the truck would be fixed and then they would be on their way to enjoy their ski trip… or so they thought.

  “This is enough to get us through the night,” Matt said, satisfied at the number of logs they’d rounded up. “The other guys brought in some pretty big logs earlier.”

  “Good, this is all I can handle,” Lia replied, getting short of breath. “And, these ones are getting heavy!”

  “We should hurry and get back, before it gets any darker,” Matt suggested, taking a look up to the darkening sky.

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Lia said, following him towards the cabin.

  The pair made it back, just as the sun was slipping behind the short, rocky, mountainous hills. The two suddenly stopped, when they heard the faint sound of flapping wings out in the distance; they both looked up, but saw nothing.

  “Did you head that?” Lia asked.

  “Yeah! What the hell was that?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, dropping a few of her logs to the ground. “That was freaking weird!”

  “Let’s get inside,” Matt said her, throwing some of his logs down next to hers, looking behind again.

  They climbed the couple steps up to the front porch of the cabin, where Joy was sitting with Stew.

  “You guys coming in?” Lia asked, taking a gander out over the peaceful waters of Wolf Lake. “We just heard a really strange noise.”

  “Yeah,” Joy answered, unaffected by Lia’s warning. “In a few minutes… we’ll be right in.”

  Matt held the front door open with his foot, so Lia could go in and he followed, letting the door slam behind them. Joy and Stew remained outside on the porch, sitting close together and Stew took a rolled-up doobie out of his pocket, handing it to Joy. With a few flicks of a lighter, Stew finally lit the joint that Joy was dangling between her pouty, red lips.

  “This is so beautiful!” she said, letting the smoke roll out of her lungs, forming a small cloud around her face. “I love the fresh air, the smell of trees… and being with you, Stew.”

  After taking in another deep drag, Joy passed the joint over to Stew. He took a puff and gazed up into the night sky that was glowing with a breathtaking view of the moon and millions of twinkling stars. “This is some good shit, I’m already high,” he commented, before taking another hit.

  Stew put his arm around Joy and she rested her head on his shoulder. All of sudden, something whisked above them, casting a shadow from the illuminating moonlight; they both jerked their heads, seeing nothing.

  “That was freaky!” Joy said, clutching Stew more tightly. “What the hell was that?”

  “Probably just an owl, or a vulture, maybe,” he casually answered, unafraid. “Something big… like one of those eagles from Lord of the Rings,” he said in a serious tone. “Or, one of those UFOs I saw on the History Channel last week. Who knows?”

  “You’re stoned,” Joy giggled, easing up and relaxing again. “You have no idea what the hell you’re talking about!”

  “Yup,” he agreed with her. “But, one thing I do know… I gotta take a major piss. I’ll be right back, Joy, why don’t you go back inside? I’ll be back in a sec.” he said, getting up and stepping off into the darkness of the trees, the branches and twigs snapping underneath his feet.

  “I’m going in!” Joy yelled out. “I’m gonna warm up and get a beer! Hurry your ass up!”

  Joy disappeared into the cabin, shutting the door behind her, moving straight for the cooler. After grabbing a drink, she plopped down next to Mary, to chat it up with her close friend. Across the room, Matt was relaxing next to Reggy and Tom, who were locked in the middle of an intense game of chess. Sam was still sitting on the couch, kicking back and sipping on his fifth beer.

  Joy turned from her conversation with Mary and addressed the room with a question. “Anyone else hear any weird sounds outside?”

  Everyone just looked at her like she was nuts, saying nothing.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing,” Reggy finally spoke up. “There are all kinds of sounds out here. This is the woods, remember?” he said, refreshing her memory. “It was probably just a coyote.”

  “Man, if it was the same thing we heard when we got here,” Matt argued. “It sure as hell didn’t sound like any coyote to me. It was flapping--like wings n shit! Only it sounded huge, like it really was a fucking dragon, or something!”

  “Give it a rest, Matt,” Reggy said, getting irritated. “It was probably just a vulture, or something like that. It was probably hungry and somehow sensed that your personality had died.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Reggy,” Matt snapped back, unimpressed by his joke. “Do you always have to be such a dick?”

  “You kind of are a total dick, Reggy,” backed Lia. “A
nd I heard some weird noises, too.”

  “Well, I thought it was pretty damn funny,” Reggy said, defending his joke. “Whatever.”

  “Well,” Joy piped in. “I heard it, too. Are you gonna say something rude to me? Call me a liar, or stupid? No wonder you never get laid.”

  “Chicks,” Reggy said, dismissing her comment, while everyone else laughed.

  Joy got herself settled into a chair and waited for Stew to get back inside.

  “Hey, what happened to Stewy?” Sam asked, after a few minutes of silence had passed. “Did you give him a blowjob and swallow him whole, Joy?”

  Everyone in the room roared with laughter, but Joy didn’t think it was very funny.

  “Ha ha, real funny, fat boy. You just wish it was you,” Joy snipped back. “Anyways, he needed to go write his name in the snow. Why don’t you go make yourself a snow cone, after he gets finished?” she shot at him, as everyone broke out into another wave of laughter.

  “I think we should make dinner,” said Lia, changing the subject. “Is anyone else getting hungry? We have stuff for spaghetti.”

  Everyone loved the sound of that, so Lia went into the small kitchen to get things ready.

  “You want some help?” Matt asked, joining her side.

  “You? Cook?” Lia amusingly asked, pushing him to the side. “I find that hard to believe... you’d better just keep out of my way.”

  ___________________________________________________

  Chapter Eighteen

  Stew unzipped his fly with a sigh of satisfaction as he looked around, checking out his surroundings, standing in the trees outside of the cabin. He waited patiently, taking a long, healthy leak and was thinking about how good he was buzzing from the weed that he and Joy just smoked. Stew was about to zip up, when something suddenly grabbed him from behind, covering his mouth before he had a chance to yell. He felt himself being dragged, deep into the woods, while kicking and punching with everything he had. He felt a sharp pain in his neck and Stew watched in horror, as his own blood began flooding over his chest… that was the last thing he saw, before the darkness closed in on him.

  A warming fire was blazing away inside the cabin’s fireplace and the remains of that night’s dinner littered the tiny kitchen counter, as Tom and Mary cleaned up the mess; everyone else was rubbing their stomachs in the living room. The logs cracked and popped in the fireplace, as Joy anxiously watched the front door, getting more nervous by the minute.

  “He would’ve already been back by now,” she pleaded to whoever would listen. “He was only going to take a quick squirt! It’s already been so long! Will one of you go look for him with me?” she begged. “What if he got hurt, or something?”

  “Joy, I’m telling you, he’s high,” Sam said, in attempt to ease her worry. “Chances are, he’s probably having a nice, little trip somewhere… probably shroomin’. You know him,” he said, giving her shoulders a rub. “He’ll be back, sweetie, just relax.”

  “But, he didn’t have anything else with him,” Joy argued. “Just the joint we smoked.”

  “He always has stuff on him, Joy. You’re just blind to it,” Reggy said to her.

  “Fine, I’ll ask Tom! He’ll go with me,” Joy shot back. “You guys are losers, anyway.”

  Mary was washing the dishes, while Tom was drying and putting everything back into the cabinets; he was also trying his best to be smooth with her.

  “Hey, you have wonderful eyes, Mary. Have I ever told you that before? They complement that cute face of yours, quite well.”

  Mary laughed, blushing a little. “Thank you, Tom! That was a very nice thing to say!”

  “Maybe after we get done here, we could—“

  “Tom, I need your help,” Joy stepped in. “No one will help me find Stew!”

  Holding back his irritation, “Well, Mary, the guys are right,” Tom said, forcing a smile. “This is typical Stew,” he told her, drying off the last of the plates. “On the other hand, you never know. Let’s just give it a little longer.”

  Joy stomped away in frustration.

  “What were you going to say, Tom,” Mary asked, “before she came up?”

  “Oh,” Tom said, trying to regain his verbal footing. “I was wondering… if you’d want to… oh, I don’t know. Hook up?”

  Mary was surprised by his bluntness. “Oh… thanks, Tom, but I’m just not that kind of girl.”

  Reggy was listening closely from the living room, wearing a huge grin on his face. He started making a ruckus of machine gun noises, shooting an imaginary gun with his arms. “Ooooh, shot down by Miss Mary, quite contrary! You’re losing your touch, Tommy boy!” he jabbed. “Talk about a foul ball to left field. Hell, it looks like you already struck out and your career is over.”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Tom yelled over his shoulder.

  “Reggy!” Mary joined in. “You’re really a dick, sometimes!” Reggy gasped in horror, clutching at his chest. “She swears, folks! Check the newspapers, hell has officially frozen over!” he called out, cracking up at himself.

  Reggy saw the embarrassment on Mary’s face and he stopped laughing so hard. “Aw, Mary,” he said, still smiling. “I’m just kidding. You know I think you’re cool, right?”

  Mary just glared at him, shaking her head. “You’re still a dick.”

  “You know, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately,” Reggy accepted. “Maybe I should change?” he wondered, scratching his chin. “Nah, why fix what isn’t broken?”

  “Checkmate!” Sam yelled, jumping to his feet. “I win, dickhead!”

  “Ah, shit,” Reggy said in defeat. “That’s a real embarrassment, getting beaten by such a butt-nerd like you.”

  Sam laughed victoriously, as a soft thud hit the porch outside; no one seemed to notice, except for Matt. “There’s Stew, right there,” he said, jumping up and opening the door, expecting to see his friend… but there no one was there.

  The floor creaked, as Matt walked from one side of the cabin to the other, checking out the windows and doors, but he saw nothing. ”Did you guys hear that?” he asked the room. “I swear I heard something,” Matt said, looking out the side window by the front door. Just as he was about to walk away, he thought he saw someone outside, but it didn’t look like Stew. “Who the fuck is that?” he shouted.

  “Dude,” Tom said, unexcitedly. “What’s up? What are you tripping on now?”

  “I just saw something out there, but I don’t think it was Stew!”

  Joy jumped up and peered out the windows. “That’s not funny, Matt! Please, don’t do this!”

  “I saw something,” Matt promised. “I know I did! I’m not making it up, there’s something out there!”

  Matt heard the doorknob jiggle and he stopped, dead in his tracks, watching and focusing on the front door. The knob slowly began turning, with a high-pitched creak. “Someone’s trying to get in,” he harshly whispered, hushing everyone.

  Joy and Matt both ran, reaching the door at the same time; Joy was trying to open it, as Matt was pushing to keep it closed.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.

  “It’s Stew! Let him in, asshole!” she shouted back. “Quit fucking around and let go of the handle!”

  Catching him off his balance, Joy shoved Matt to the side, yanking the front door wide-open. She stepped out onto the porch, when she looked up, finding herself standing, face-to-face, with a hissing Vampire, who suddenly bared his fangs, spreading out his thick, veiny wings. She wrenched out an ear-piercing scream, causing everyone in the room to leap out of their seats.

  “Holy, fucking mother of God!” Matt screamed, tugging Joy back in from off the porch, slamming the door shut. His hands were shaking, as he fumbled with the lock, as quickly as he could.

  The knob finally clicked, securing the front door and Matt ran straight to the fireplace, grabbing the heaviest iron poker from the rack of fireplace tools, preparing to defend himself.


  “Oh, my God!” Joy cried out, bursting out in tears. “What the fuck was that?”

  Outside the cabin, the Lycan had already arrived and was taking care of his business: protecting the innocent. After the cabin door had slammed shut, the Lycan caught the Vampire off his guard, throwing him from the front porch with absolute, brutal force. The Lycan leapt forward, ripping off the Vampire’s wings, before he had a chance to fly away and they both tussled to the ground. The fight was brief, because no Vampire can out-match the strength of any member of the Pack. The Lycan tore into the Vampire’s chest, gnashing his teeth and biting deep into his adversaries’ flesh.

  His razor-like teeth shredded through the Vampire’s sinister, black heart, with great ease and he instantly burst into flames, before disintegrating into a fine dust, sending the Vampire’s rotted soul to his eternal destination in the lowest pits of hell. And with that, the Lycan was gone, leaving the chilled winter winds to blow the Vampire ashes away… and the only thing left to be heard was the cold breeze, whistling through the trees.

  The scene inside the cabin was one of panic, confusion and fear. Everyone looked for places to hide, but there really were none, so they took cover behind the couch and the overturned kitchen table.

  “What the fuck was that?” Tom shouted to anyone listening. “Yeah!” Reggy shouted as well, hiding behind one of the girls. “What the hell?”

  “There was most definitely something outside on that front

  porch!” Matt said, not believing what he just saw. “It had fangs and

  claws… and fucking wings, man!” he yelled out, with his arms spread

  out, flapping them around like he was flying.

  “I saw it, too!” Joy confirmed.

  “Are you guys on ‘shrooms?” Sam asked. “And, not sharing with

  the rest of us?”

  “I told you Stew brought mushrooms,” Reggy said again, coming

  out from behind the couch. “Sweet! Now open up the door and tell