Chapter 12

Another Dead Werewolf

Chapter 12: Another Dead Werewolf

“K.C., you’re still alive,” Wendell breathed. He couldn’t believe it. Of all the people that could be secretly alive, Wendell never would’ve guessed Junior Assistant Scout Master K.C. Leach.

“I see you got my letters, Wen,” K.C. spat. “You wouldn’t be here tonight if you didn’t.”

“I wasn’t the only one… You meant that I wasn’t the only survivor that night…and that I wasn’t the only new werewolf,” Wendell said slowly.

“Thanks to you, I almost wasn’t,” K.C. said bitterly.

“But, how?” Wendell asked. This didn’t feel real. His heart beat faster, and sweat broke out on his forehead. “The papers… they said that only Rodger wasn’t recovered from the campsite. No one mentioned you, K.C.”

“Of course they didn’t,” K.C. scowled.

“And you’ve been out here all this time?” Wendell asked. “How?”

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way, Wen,” K.C. said darkly. “You of all people should know that.”

“You were the one behind all of this,” Wendell said, feeling lightheaded. His bangs plastered to his hot, clammy skin. “Why?”

“Look at you,” K.C. said, circling Wendell and looking him up and down. “Talk about letting yourself go, Wen.”

Wendell thought K.C. was one to talk. Living in the abandoned Wonder Hills fun park didn’t do him any favors. His face was thin and almost gaunt, his orange hair was dirty and scraggly, and his pasty white skin was even chalkier than it used to be. His already lean body degraded to a near skeletal one.

“Being fat isn’t a crime, K.C.,” Wendell said blandly.

“No, but squandering your potential as a werewolf is,” K.C. sneered. “Being a werewolf should’ve been the best thing that happened to you.”

Wendell was disgusted that K.C. was glamorizing the most traumatic night of his life. How could he possibly think that just because Wendell’s senses improved and his asthma went away, that he was made “better” by his lycanthropy? It was a lyc chaser mentality through and through.

“My potential? Are you talking about me choosing not to bite innocent people?” Wendell said, feeling even more disgusted by what K.C. was implying.

“You ruined everything, Wen,” K.C. snapped.

“What are you talking about?” Wendell asked, bracing himself for K.C. to go off on him. He was unhinged. There was no doubt about that.

“The werewolf you killed that night? He wasn’t just a part of the pack. He was the Alpha,” K.C. said.

“The Alpha?” Wendell said.

“That means there was no Alpha after you killed him. It was chaos. The next night, after they transformed, they were at each other’s throats. It was a bloodbath. I barely survived my first transformation. I only survived their murder spree because the youngest werewolf in the pack chose to protect me. You know what they did after that? They eviscerated him. His blood is on your hands, Wen. All of their blood is,” K.C. ranted. He leaned in so close that Wendell felt his spittle on his face from the force of his words, just like when K.C. would get excited as a teenager.

“I was a child, K.C. I did what I needed to protect myself,” Wendell pushed back. “He killed Rodger, and he was going to kill me too.”

“Yes, he was, because I promised you to him,” K.C. jabbed his finger into Wendell’s chest. “I promised you and Rodger to him to get my bite. One bite was all I needed to finally belong. To finally be special. I just needed you and Rodger to die for it.”

“You were the one I heard talking in the forest that day,” Wendell said as it dawned on him. “That murmuring and the eyes I felt on me. You didn’t just follow Rodger and me that day. You were, what? Talking with the werewolves in their human form and begging them to let you join them?” Wendell shook his head in disgust.

“I knew you wouldn’t get it,” K.C. seethed. “I just knew it. You were always so special. So popular. The second Wylan vanished, you were the only one anyone would talk about. You have no idea what it’s like to be ignored. You have no idea what it’s like to be ridiculed and left out. To be the butt of jokes and treated like dirt!”

“I never called you cheese breath or kiss up. I was good to you K.C.,” Wendell stood his ground. “And my twin brother went missing. Do you think I wanted to be the center of attention? When Wylan disappeared, I thought I’d never see him again. I was devastated. And every single time people aimed their pity on me, I felt Wylan’s loss. Over and over and over and over. That’s not worth envying, K.C.”

“I had five siblings, Wen. Five. I was never seen. I never got to make my mark. Me tragically dying at the hands of that pack of ‘feral dogs’ was the first time I felt seen, really seen. It was the most attention I ever had in my sixteen years, and I was ‘dead’ so I couldn’t even enjoy it,” K.C. said resentfully.

“And you’ve been blaming me this whole time because you couldn’t find a pack to take you in?” Wendell shook his head again.

“You screwed it up for me. You! This is all your fault. They tried to kill me too, you know. Just like the rest of them at camp. I didn’t keep my promise to them, so they didn’t keep their promise to me. But they didn’t take it far enough. I survived their attack. Me. They didn’t anticipate that,” K.C. said with a twisted clown-like smile.

“It’s not my fault they rejected you. It’s not my fault they didn’t want you,” Wendell asserted.

“Well, I survived without them. I found out I didn’t need them. But now… now I’ll have my own pack. I see you’ve met them. Met them in their human forms, I mean. Tonight I’ll bestow a bite upon each of them, and I’ll finally have my pack,” K.C. insisted.

“They’re dead, K.C.,” Wendell said. “All twelve of them.”

“You’re lying!” K.C. snarled.

“Blah, blah, blah, can you speed along this little reunion? The moon is almost full,” Stevie cut in.

“Stevie…” Wendell started. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Stevie, the Stevie he knew would never do anything like this. “Why are you helping K.C.?”

“Helping K.C.? You still think K.C. was behind all this?” Stevie tossed his head back and laughed. “That’s a good one, Wen.” He pretended to wipe tears from his eyes. “This was me, Wen.”

Stevie by Maddie

“It wasn’t all you. It was one of my lyc chasers that killed Wendell’s therapist. It was one of my lyc chasers that poisoned your parents while they were locked up by DONHE,” K.C. retaliated.

“And who introduced you to said lyc chasers?” Stevie sneered. “Don’t interrupt me again, cheese breath.”

K.C.’s whole body jerked. He clenched his hands into fists. “Don’t. Call. Me. That.”

“Why not? It suits you. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. Thanks, Wen,” Stevie smiled sweetly at Wendell.

Wendell disagreed. K.C.’s breath didn’t smell like cheese anymore. It smelled like death.

He still couldn’t believe that it was Stevie standing in front of him with such a twisted grin.

Cayden’s comment from a few weeks ago about good breeding and bad breeding swam in his thoughts. Maybe with Lupa and Dacian as his parents, Stevie never had a fighting chance to be a “good” werewolf like Cayden and the rest of the Howley-Kirkwoods.

“Stevie, why are you doing this?” Wendell asked sadly.

“You know why all this is happening, Wen. Because you ruined everything when you were twelve,” Stevie snarled.

“You’re not making sense, Stevie… but if you want me so badly, fine! But let Cayden go,” Wendell insisted.

“We’ll let him go. Let him go for a spin that is,” Stevie grinned. He snapped his fingers at K.C.

K.C. fumbled with something in his pocket, and in seconds the carousel whirred to life.

The lights stuttered on, and it spun jerkily and slowly. The music sounded metallic and whiny. The horses lifted up and down as it turned, rising Cayden in the tightly bound chains with it. He groaned and squirmed. If he wasn’t in pain before, he was now.

“Please let him go!” Wendell pleaded. He hunched his shoulders and looked between Stevie and Cayden with a distraught expression on his face.

Let them think I’m cowering, Wendell thought fiercely to himself.

What Wendell was really doing was watching the carousel rotations. The bent pole on Cayden’s horse wasn’t just aesthetically off. It was also impacting the way the chains worked. Every few seconds, as the horse rose and lowered, Cayden’s chains went just a little slack on one side. It was a barely there hitch in the movement that would’ve been impossible for ordinary human eyes to see.

Five … four … three… two… one…

On the next pass, Wendell lunged for the pole. Specifically, the bent top of it. He grunted as he wrenched it sideways, using all of his strength to pull the rest of the pole out from the ceiling. It snapped out with a metallic shriek and crack.

With the pole broken, the chains sagged just enough for Cayden to burst free. He tore at the weakened restraints, yanking the chains and his gag off. Wendell could see where they burned into Cayden’s flesh. He felt sick all over again. How dare Stevie and K.C. treat his husband like that.

Wendell lunged to Cayden directly now, embracing him tightly. Holding each other, they stepped off the still jerkily turning carousel.

“Okay. Alright. That was… inconvenient,” Stevie said.

K.C. took a half-step forward, but Stevie sharply snapped his fingers without looking at him.

“Stay,” Stevie commanded.

K.C. froze.

Next to Wendell, Cayden curled his lip.

Stevie tucked his curly hair behind his ear, and Wendell saw his hand tremble.

“None of this changes anything,” Stevie sneered. “I planned for setbacks. Don’t act like Cayden being free means you’re safe.”

Cayden leaned in close to Wendell, “He’s bluffing.”

“Wanna test that, Cayden?” Stevie asked brightly.

“What are you going to poison us, too?” Cayden said dryly. “Stevie’s the one who killed Todd. He poisoned him.”

“My lyc chasers planted the note on his body in your garage,” K.C. gloated.

“Todd was stupidly easy to kill. When he came to check on my parents, I poisoned his coffee. He didn’t even think twice before chugging the mug. Have you ever seen what some poisons do to elementals? You should’ve seen him begging for his life.” Stevie gloated, “I wish I taped it. I’d play it for you right now.”

“You’re sick,” Wendell said.

“I’m sick of you, Wen,” Stevie snapped.

“Why was Todd checking on your parents anyway?” Wendell asked.

“Because I gave the name of one of my cousins when I bought wolfsbane from that potions lab that got shut down,” Stevie said bitterly. “Yeah, I was the reason my mom couldn’t have any other babies. I couldn’t let anyone jeopardize my chance to become alpha.”

“You’re sick, Stevie,” Wendell repeated. “You’re the one who killed those humans and set your parents up to take the fall too, didn’t you? That’s what they were trying to warn me about in the containment unit.”

“I had to get them out of the way, didn’t I?” Stevie said innocently.

“And you are alpha now,” Wendell said. “So why are we all here?”

“Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!” Stevie snarled. “That alpha you killed? He was my grandfather. You stole the alpha path from me!”

“How is that possible?” Wendell jerked away.

“The pack … the reason K.C. said there was so much chaos, it’s because it passed to you,” Cayden said. “The alpha’s bloodline doesn’t end if he or she’s killed. It changes hands. Wen, when you killed him, his pack became yours.”

“Yeah, and now you’re the alpha of two packs, you asshole!” Stevie screamed. “Most werewolves don’t even get one!”

“How was I supposed to know!?” Wendell screamed back.

“When you killed my grandfather that day, you interrupted my bloodline. And now my parents are dead, so you’re the last thing standing between me becoming alpha of the Wolfinger-Hedlunds,” Stevie pointed at Wendell, his face twisted into a furious grimace.

“And me becoming alpha of the Wolfeiler-Strohm pack,” K.C. added.

“But K.C., the Wolfeiler-Strohm pack doesn’t exist anymore, and the lyc chasers are dead,” Wendell insisted.

“Shut up!” K.C. screamed. “They’re not!”

“Go over to the Wonder Hills entrance. You’ll see it for yourself,” Wendell said.

“Are the lyc chasers dead? Are they really?” K.C. whirled on Stevie. “You said they’d be my pack!”

“Oh. Them? They got in the way,” Stevie said carelessly.

“HOW COULD YOU?!” K.C. roared.

“Oh shut up already,” Stevie rolled his eyes. “They never would’ve survived their first transformation anyway.”

“You want to kill me so badly, why haven’t you already?” Wendell cut in. “You even sent a monster hunter after me, didn’t you?”

“And she was supposed to take you out on Silver Mine Road,” Stevie said bitterly. “But of course you got away. Again. And somehow you keep avoiding her. But don’t worry. She’s on her way.”

“We kill you now, and the balance is restored,” K.C. sneered. “Stevie and I can both be alphas. I’ll find new lyc chasers. I’ll build my own new pack.”

“You can’t be serious!” Wendell objected. By now, Violet had to be nearby. He just needed to keep Stevie and K.C. talking a bit longer.

“You’re not getting it, Wen,” K.C. scowled. “No one ever gets me. My new pack will. After I give new lyc chasers their bite, I’ll never not belong. They’ll worship me.”

“You can ‘belong’ somewhere with a hobby, you know! You could build a community and make friends by doing things you like! You don’t need to turn people into literal monsters to feel like you belong!” Wendell retaliated.

“You’re pathetic,” Cayden said, “Both of you.”

“Shut your mouth, or I’ll gag you again!” Stevie snarled.

“All by yourself without half a dozen lyc chasers to jump me?” Cayden crossed his thick, muscular arms. “I’d like to see you try, pup.”

“Cayden’s right,” Wendell said, “You are pathetic, Stevie. I pity you.”

“I pity you, you fat LOSER!” Stevie screamed. “YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!
EVERYTHING THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN MINE! AND NOW YOU’RE GOING TO PAY. NOW YOU’RE GO DIE FOR WHAT YOU DID! YOU’RE GOING TO–”

Stevie’s words were brought to an abrupt end by an arrow whistling through the air. Wendell recognized it immediately. It was an arrow shot by Freya and it struck Stevie’s chest, stabbing through him. He coughed and blood sprayed out of his mouth. He took in a furious, wheezy breath. He gripped the tail of the arrow that was impaling him with both hands. It was obvious he was debating about wrenching it out or not.

Violet emerged from behind a water gun shooting game booth. She was true to her word about not shooting when backs were turned.

So much for pretending to kill me, Wendell thought.

“You bitch!” Stevie rasped as he staggered. His knees trembled and buckled as he fought to avoid collapsing. “I hired you to kill Wendell!”

“I don’t take orders from werewolves,” Violet said as she lowered her crossbow.

Stevie choked out a half-snarl as he crashed to the dirt. He coughed again, and blood flecked his lips. “You think you won, Wen?” His face contorted into an ugly and triumphant expression. “Think again. You’ll never get away from this.”

Stevie’s lips curled and he grinned. His teeth were stained red from blood, even as the light left his eyes. He fell face-first into the dirt. He was silent.

Violet barely cast a glance at K.C. before she fired another arrow at him. She must’ve struck his heart directly because he didn’t give the same dying monologue as Stevie. He just fell backwards, silently. His body thudded hard into the dirt.

She lowered Freya as she turned to Cayden and Wendell. She dug in her back pocket and pulled out her cellphone. She turned the screen and pointed at it. It was a video she recorded. “I’ll email it to you.”

“You have my email?” Wendell gasped.

“WendellBatty@gmail.com,” Violet said dryly.

“But… how…” Wendell gasped again.

“You confirmed it just now,” Violet grinned. “In some ways, you’re so predictable, Wen.”

Wendell’s heart soared at the monster hunter calling him by his nickname. Finally.

“Send it to DONHE. Keep it for yourself. Do what you will with it. It’s yours once I get back to civilization,” Violet said.

Without a goodbye, Violet departed back into the shadows. Two figures emerged from the shadows on her left and right, and together their shadows dissolved into the black.

Violet’s words came back to Wendell as she and her siblings disappeared: Werewolves aren’t the only ones who hunt in packs.

Cayden hugged Wendell from behind. Wendell didn’t flinch. He melted into Cayden’s warm embrace.

“A baby shower, and now a funeral,” Wendell said heavily, looking away from Stevie’s body bleeding out on the amusement park dirt. “What next?”

“You move back in, and we renew our wedding vows?” Cayden nuzzled the back of Wendell’s neck.

“But the pack,” Wendell started.

“You are my pack,” Cayden said. “I’m sorry for not showing you that sooner, Wen.”

“Let’s go home, Cayden,” Wendell let his husband embrace him.

“Well, after, you know,” Cayden tilted his head back and howled. The Super Blood Moon was at its highest.

The change was coming.

Wendell didn’t fight it. He howled back.

The end.

Millennial Monsters is over, but the story will live on here! If you know anyone who might want to binge an unputdownable paranormal mystery and urban fantasy, consider telling them about the story and passing the link to your favorite chapter along! 🖤🐺✨