Well, almost a hybrid lycanthrope. I resembled a furry human with paws and oddly shaped legs, but I worked with what I had.
I waited around the corner in the kitchen, listening for the arrival of my victim. If I did my job right, he wouldn’t realize he’d been hit before he died. On that front, I did well as a paid killer.
As far as murders went, I’d enjoy his death more than I should.
Heavy footsteps came down the stairs, and I peeked around the corner to confirm it was Stefan.
It was.
He reached the bottom step, and I lunged out, slashing the knife across his throat. To make certain he never bothered anyone again, I reversed my grip on the knife and plunged it into the top of his head while he fell. While his body gasped and convulsed when he hit the floor, his eyes stared at nothing, and the first stages of death took hold. I wiped the blade off on the back of his suit. At the top of the stairs, the other woman stared, her hands over her mouth.
“Hello, Yvonne. As soon as our next guests arrive, you’ll be going home, so why don’t you go gather whatever you want while I hunt?”
“What are you?”
“I’m a lycanthrope. I’m also a bounty hunter, to be specific.”
“You’re not a wolf.”
Damned wolves. “I’m a lynx.”
“You’re a cat?” She stared at Stefan’s body. “He didn’t even have time to scream.”
“Well, that is the idea. It’s rude to draw out a murder.”
“You really killed him.”
“Well, he deserved it for drugging me and dragging me out here. And since I’m guessing you two ladies aren’t here of your own free will, he definitely deserved it.” I grinned, skipped to the kitchen, and washed my hands and the knife. “It’s extra rude to stab multiple people with the same knife without cleaning it first.”
Yvonne joined me in the kitchen, her eyes wide. “We get to go home? We really get to go home?”
“That’s the idea.”
“He said he’d kill us if we tried to go home or contact anyone.”
What an asshole. “Well, he won’t be doing that. It’s pretty hard to kill somebody when you’re dead.”
“No kidding. What about his brother?”
“Make yourself a nice, warm drink, ladies. This show is just getting on the road.”
I made use of the cabin’s bathroom to shift into a full lynx, and I took my hunt outside. I waited for Stefan’s brother and his woman to arrive using the Audi as cover. The two pregnant women packed what little they had and wanted to keep, which I assumed was maternity clothes. I had no idea if Stefan or his brother had given them anything worth keeping.
I had no idea how long it took, but headlights approached, illuminating the driveway and approaching Stefan’s Audi. The vehicle came to a halt nearby, and two figures stepped out. I recognized both from the pictures Sebastian had showed me. To my surprise, the woman was the driver, putting the man in easy range of my claws and fangs.
“Stefan?” Kenard asked. “What is so important you dragged us out here? I don’t have all night.”
No, he didn’t. I waited for the man to come closer before I erupted from my hiding place, tearing my claws into his chest and closing my jaws around his throat. The delicate bones of his neck crunched between my teeth, and to make certain he went down without a fight, I gave a single shake of my head. Using the corpse as a launching pad, I leaped across the car, landing on the woman with all four of my paws, and shredded her before taking a bite out of her throat.
I liked when my prey didn’t even have a chance to comprehend they were about to die before I finished my work.
I took the time to ensure they were truly dead before I headed for the cabin, stood on my hind paws, and rang the doorbell.
Lori opened it, peeked outside, and let me in. “You’re covered in blood. Are you okay?”
I bobbed my head and dropped down to my paws.
“Are they okay?”
I shook my head.
“Good. Come to the bathroom so I can help you rinse that off. Wearing their blood can’t be comfortable. Yvonne? She’s done.”
“Her phone is ringing. Should I answer it?”
“You better. And when you do, ask what we’re supposed to do with a lynx. What do lynxes eat? Should she shift back to human? Can she? How does this even work? Is she okay being a lynx?”
Goodness. The pregnant woman asked a lot of questions.
Yvonne came down the steps, and she held my phone to her ear. “Hello? Who is this? Uhm, do you know the woman who owns this phone? She’s a lynx right now. Is it okay for her to be a lynx? Is she hungry? How do we tell when she’s hungry? She doesn’t eat people, does she? Oh. Good. She seems fine? You are fine, right? The gentleman on the phone wants to know.”
No, I was not all right. I needed Sebastian to come scratch my itches. I forced myself to shift to my borderline hybrid form so I could talk without giving the pregnant women a scar-filled show. I held my paw out for my phone, which she handed over. The display informed me Sebastian had called. “Meow, Mr. Mane.”
“Really? Meow? Are you all right? The CDC updated me with your tracking information and your drug reports. Are you aware you’ve been drugged with quite a few things?”
“Is one of those things an aphrodisiac, or is the pixie dust just going for my throat? I’m hungry for lion,” I growled at him.
He chuckled. “That is why I called. The rep over at the CDC didn’t think the neutralizer would handle it. I’m on the way, and I should be there soon. What’s the situation?”
“I’m done my job, although you’ll have to confer with the women for the location of the children. I opted for quick, brutal, and efficient, and I didn’t leave them alive long for questioning. I spoke to one of the women, confirmed she was not there of her own free will, and started with the killing. As I’m done the killing, I’m starting with the showering, because blood isn’t a good look on me, and I feel dirty covered in creeper blood. Once I’m done with the showering, I’m expecting to drag my lion off somewhere questionably private.”
“Excellent. Good job. We have the counter for the drug with us, so try not to work yourself up too much before I get there.”
I hissed at the unfairness of it all. “But what if I don’t want the counter? What if I want my handsome lion? What about my needs, Mr. Mane?”
“I’m sure you can have all of your needs handled after the drugs in your system have been neutralized. Including the aphrodisiac. You could have a heart attack if they leave all those drugs active in your system.”
Well, that didn’t sound like a good time. “I’m so disappointed right now.”
“I’ll make it up to you later.”
“You better.”
Epilogue: She’s obviously innocent.
Thanks to the drugs I’d been given, my virus levels dropped to dangerous levels. Twelve hours after killing the Loureni brothers and their accomplice, the CDC’s surgeons did the equivalent of skin me alive, applying grafts to most of my body while a surgeon replaced the damaged bone in my cheeks, shaped to be as natural as possible.