A Hellhound in Manhattan: Part 1

Chapter 4

Loona padded through the graveyard. Since that incident behind the bistro the heat was on again. The problem with cities was the abundance of cops and nosy citizens out on manhunts, however the equal abundance of buildings at least gave her plenty of cover.

Besides, she couldn't leave Manhattan. Not yet. After finding that mysterious book she had finally managed to track down that familiar smell, and this was the strongest it had been yet. Unfortunately, thanks to the city's bouquet of odors, she was unable to pinpoint the exact location of its source.

As far as Loona was aware, she was a werewolf, or at least that's what people screamed when they saw her. She didn't know where she came from or even if she had birth parents. For all she knew, she could have been created from spare canine parts a la Frankenstein, or pulled from the thigh of an Old God.

She had to know. Why was she here? Why was she created? Why was she in a world that only treated her like an animal?

Loona sniffed the air. At least there was no one here, save for a few birds and a couple squirrels. She might give chase to some of them later, but for now she was more concerned with the heavy tome inside her beat up leather shoulder bag.

She took a seat on an above-ground tomb and retrieved said book. Ever since she found it over in upstate New York she had been so preoccupied with tracking down the familiar scent that she hadn't even thought to see what it read.

It could be a while before she actually found her target, so what harm could there be in taking a peek?

She opened the book to a random page and her pupils dilated in the moonlight. Within were hand-drawn charts, diagrams, and vast notes written in a language Loona had never seen before. Yet she understood the writing all too clearly. It was almost alarming, as it took far less effort to read than when she taught herself English.

She flipped through the pages. Scrawled across were several recipes for elaborate poisons and incantations to be performed during specific planetary alignments. Maybe there was a tracking spell she could use to find who or what she was looking for.

To her frustration, a majority of the spells required gatherings of metals and herbs, which Loona didn't have on her. Not unless the spell required her compact mirror and a few clumps of lint at the bottom of her pockets.

She flipped the pages again and found a spell that didn't require any additional elements. Supposedly, all that was needed was herself.

"Mortal Disguise for Demonkind."

Loona raised an eyebrow. Demonkind, huh...?

She pulled her legs closer, sitting cross-legged and she set the book open in front of her. She closed her eyes.

As the book instructed, she drew in a deep, slow breath through her nose and tilted her head back, taking in all the natural smells around her. The trees, the river, the cold wind that softly blew through the graveyard.

Adapt to the surrounding world...

And she pictured the kind of human she could see herself as. The one she secretly always wanted to be.

She slowly exhaled and shivered underneath her coat. That last gust of wind was quite brisk.

Loona opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was her hands on her knees. They were devoid of her white fur, and her sharp claws had been replaced with black-painted fingernails.

She retrieved her compact mirror from her bag and got a look at her face. It worked. The disguise spell worked. She no longer looked like a wolf, but a woman in her late teens.

The only giveaway left was her irises. While brown, they still had hints of scarlet in them that could be seen from a certain light.

She put her compact away. This confirmed that she was, in fact, what this mysterious book referred to as "demonkind."

She looked at the creases of her fur-less knuckles. She wasn't sure how to feel about this. She had discovered a way to safely hide among humans, but now she knew for a fact that she was not born of this world.

She heavily lied back on the tomb, the polished stone cold against her head. Who did this to her...?

She nearly drifted off into a depressed slumber when a large shadow flew overhead.

She bolted upright. It was too large to be a bird or a bat, and its method of flight reminded her of a person on a hang glider. Then why did it also have a tail?

Loona rushed to put the book away and slung her bag over her shoulder, quickly but cautiously following the direction she saw that thing fly as her hunter's instincts kicked in.