"Seriously? There's no cure? There's no way to turn Roger back to normal? None at all?"
Daisy shook her head sadly. "No. None at all."
Unable to contain her dismay, Morgan moaned and stamped her foot like a frustrated little child on the verge of a tantrum. "Then what are we supposed to do?"
"It's not all bad, though," Daisy quickly said. She glanced nervously at the door to the backroom, which remained quiet except for goofy voices coming from the TV before continuing. "Based on what you've told me; it sounds like Roger still has control of himself. As long as he hasn't turned feral, there's still a chance for him to have a normal life."
Circe raised an eyebrow.
"Well, he can still have a life like anyone else," Daisy said.
"And how," Morgan shouted, "is he supposed to live a normal life when he's a mutant wolf monster?"
"It'll take some adjusting sure, but it's doable," said Daisy. "Remember, Shifters can switch between their human and monster selves. If Roger can learn to control his powers, he won't have any problems. There are plenty of support groups out there who can teach Shifters like him how to get used to their powers."
"The point is," Circe cut in, "Roger is still Roger. We can't get rid of the wolf side of him, but we can help him live with it."
Morgan was still not happy, but she calmed down and nodded. There was no use moping about what could not be. And it'd be a waste of time. As long as there was at least some way to help Roger, there was still hope. And she'll take any that she could get. "Fine. Mind giving me a number for one of those support groups?"
"Give me some time and I'll get it for you," Daisy promised.
"You better," Morgan said before giving Daisy her contact info.
"Well, I guess that's it then," Circe said. She took a step towards the exit. "Good luck with helping Roger deal with his werewolf problem. Let me see you out."
Morgan didn't budge. She frowned at Circe and asked, "Why are you acting like you're done here? This is far from over."
"Oh, come on! What do you expect me to do?" Circe asked back. "You heard Daisy. There's nothing anyone can do about his werewolf curse. Let the experts at that werewolf support group take over. They'll do a better job."
"When we can get Roger to them, yeah. Roger's still missing," Morgan pointed out. "Until we find him, that support group or whatever's no help."
"Sounds like a job for the police," said Circe.
But Morgan was not having it. "Uh-uh. No way. I've seen enough monster movies to know how that'll go. All it'll take is one trigger-happy idiot to make things go really south."
"Uh, as the only adult in the room," Daisy cut in, "I feel like I should be telling you that it's not good to say stuff like that about the men and women in uniform whose job it is to keep everyone safe. I also think it's a bad idea for two teenage girls to be out looking for a runaway werewolf. It's too dangerous."
"Dangerous how?" Morgan asked impatiently.
Daisy could no longer take kindly to the girl's attitude, rose up to her feet and glared sternly with her arms folded in front. "For starters, young lady, if your plan is to search for him in the woods, you could get lost. And at this time of year, that'd be fatal. Secondly, werewolves and vampires in this town got bad blood going on between them. If a vampire catches you girls looking for a werewolf, you could get into all sorts of trouble."
"Bad blood? What sort of bad blood?" asked a both worried and curious Morgan. Circe wanted to know too.
After taking a bit of time to think, Daisy answered, "Well, this is just something I heard recently, but it sounded like the wolf packs and the vampire clans are on the verge of -"
**********
"All-out war," said the man in the resplendent police uniform. The African-American gentleman with gray hair was the chief of police, William Martin. He sat behind his grand, polished wood office desk facing two men to tell them some grave news. "That's right, folks. We got a potential all-out war on our hands."
The two men sitting opposite of the police chief exchanged looks. One of them, tall, redheaded, with a lopsided jaw was Arnold Willis, a plainclothes police officer assigned to investigate crimes. The other man who was slightly gaunt, dark-haired and the shortest of the office's three occupants was Tom Waller, the station's accountant.
Arnold took the initiative and spoke first. "Uh . . . I don't suppose you're talking about that E-sports contest we got going on with the boys at the fire station in that online MMO video game, are you? Because if so, shouldn't you be talking to Gregson and Lopez instead?"
He was dismayed to hear his superior answer, "No, Arnold. I'm not talking about a war in a video game. I'm talking about an actual war that could erupt on the streets of our fair city."
Tom confessed, "I don't see what that has to do with me. In case you forgot, Chief, I'm an accountant, not an officer of the law. Unless you think the key to world peace is balancing checkbooks, I'm no help."
"If only it were that easy," William said wistfully. "But in all seriousness, you two are the only ones I can trust to solve this problem."
If the Chief was bringing Tom into this, Arnold thought, the problem must be . . . an abnormal one.
"And how exactly are we supposed to deal with a war?" the accountant asked irritably. "Who are we even at war with?"
"Not us," William corrected. "It's the vampires and the werewolves who're going to war."
Tom frowned.
Arnold blinked, bemused. "I'm sorry, what? Did you just say . . . vampires and werewolves? Vampires and werewolves are real?"
"I don't see how that's so surprising," said the police chief. "You've already had a run-in with real wizards and invisible monsters. If those are real, why not vampires and werewolves too?"
Arnold Willis was Jackie Li's stepfather. While trying (and failing) to stop Jackie from throwing himself into danger a couple of months back trying to find his missing girlfriend, Circe, the two got captured by said girlfriend who displayed real magic powers and commanded invisible monsters to do her bidding. It was a shocking experience, to say the least.
But despite being locked up in an abandoned warehouse against his will, Arnold forgave Circe because, like him, she was just trying to keep Jackie safe from the real villain of the time, that wizard Putts or whatever his name was. He still had mixed feelings about his stepson dating a real witch. But knowing Circe to be a good kid deep down, Arnold allowed their relationship, at least about as much as a normal parent would allow for their teenage kids.
After letting everything he just learned sink in, Arnold relaxed a little and said, "Well, that's not too bad. What's the problem with monsters going at each other's throats?"
William reproached Arnold. "That is insensitive of you, Arnold. For the record, vampires, werewolves and others like them are all, at their core, human just like you and me. Many of them were victims, or descended from victims of cruel, heartless sorcerers who don't think twice about treating human beings as lab rats to test out their powers or create the perfect mutant servants. They are people with feelings and most, if not all, just want to live in peace. And it is our duty as police officers to make sure they can."
Arnold was at a loss for words and cast his eyes down to his feet, rightfully ashamed of his foolish and ignorant remark.
"Sorry," he mumbled meekly.
Tom would normally rebuke the police chief and remind everyone that he was not a police officer, but he decided it was best to keep quiet.
"Getting back on track," William decided, "do the two of you already know about what happened to Jim Drake Jr. last night?"
"Yeah," said Arnold. "It was on the news this morning. He's that lawyer that got mauled by a bear. What about him?"
"Jim Drake Jr.'s a vampire," William explained. "But he's not just any vampire. He's one of the top vampires in the city. No surprise, a lot of vampires are upset about his passing."
"And they think a werewolf's what really got him," Tom surmised.
William nodded.
"What are the chances it really was a bear like the news said?" asked Arnold.
"Zilch," was the police chief's answer. "Vampires are tough. Superman tough. No vampire, especially a top vampire, would lose a fight with a bear. It was definitely a werewolf that got him. All the evidence points to one over all the other types of werebeasts in the city."
Arnold blinked. "Werebeasts?"
"Cat people, rhino people, rat people," Arnold cut in. "The list goes on and on."
"Got it."
"Anyway," William continued, "I want you guys to take over the case and find out who was the wolf that did it. Preferrably before any vampires start thinking about taking justice into their own hands."
"It's probably too late for that," Tom grumbled out of the corner of his mouth.
William heard and said, "We have to try, Tom. It won't do anything about the hate between the two sides, but it is the only way to get the vampires to calm down. If they start biting back against the werewolves, then there'll be no stopping them from starting a war."
"I know, I know," Tom said with a sigh. "Just don't get your hopes up. I'm no good with sleuthing if there's no sorcery involved."
That's right. Tom Waller was the police station's expert in magic, witchcraft and sorcery. He was put in charge of finding the kids who had been duped into becoming apprentices and partners in crime of the wizard, Donald Putts. Like Circe, Tom also had the power to see invisible monsters, though he really wished he didn't. And he absolutely hated being called a wizard, warlock, sorcerer, or whatever else, denying being any such thing despite his magic know-how.
"Don't be so sure about that," said William. He sat back in his chair with the tips of his fingers on each other. "After all, there are still sorcerers out there who'll mutate themselves into whatever they feel like."
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