A Hellhound in Manhattan: Part 1

Chapter 6

At the scene of the werewolf sighting, Elisa had caught up with her gargoyle friends by car. She stepped over the yellow tape; Bronx was sniffing around the alley while Goliath and Lexington were giving a thorough examination of the damaged waste disposal unit.

As described in the news report, it had been ripped open from the outside like it was wet cardboard.

Goliath sighed. "Whatever the creature was, this was done by hand."

Lexington ran his fingers along where the perpetrator's claws had dug into the thick metal in the first place. "It could have been done by machine." He turned to Elisa and asked, "You sure this wasn't Jackal and Hyena's doing?"

"I've thought of that, too," Elisa replied. "You can't really get fingerprints off of metal claws. However I did find this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag containing short gray hairs. "I doubt these belong to Jackal or Hyena."

"Could've been Wolf," Lex suggested.

"Yeah, but it'll be some time before we get a DNA test on them. So for now..."

She carefully pulled out a few hairs and knelt down in front of Bronx, letting him get a good whiff.

***

Loona weaved past the twisted chainlink fence and walked across the dusty, barren ground where the grass had since dried out.

The old church had been up for demolition some time ago, but had long been delayed due to diverted funding. Also there was much squabbling amongst city officials as to whether it was protected historical property or not.

For the time being it made for a suitable safe haven for Loona. The tall Gothic arches and the cracked stain glass windows served to remind her that no matter how much she stole and fought to survive, at least she didn't tank an obscene amount of money into a gaudy display in the name of a God that supposedly encouraged humility.

She sat down on the floor between two crooked pews in the center, where she kept an assortment of rags and old blankets to sleep on. Perhaps now that she could disguise herself as a human she could pass for a homeless woman and just be called a "freeloader" instead of a monster.

Out of all the places to squat in, she picked this one out of spite. Humans had always been calling her an abomination against the Lord. The product of some sinful union between man and beast. Now that she knew for a fact that she was hell-born, she wished she could rub it in all those churchies' faces that she could walk into a house of God and not be affected.

She fell to her side, repeating the breathing exercise from before and returning to her lycanthrope form. There was so much to take in.

She was still disappointed to find out that gargoyles were not born of another world like herself. She had hoped maybe she wasn't the only one who had been dragged out of her ancestral home.

She sighed and turned on her back, shutting her eyes tight. She should have been overwhelmed with frustration that she had more questions than before. That she was a literal hell beast. So much to be angry about, yet she was calm. Like she knew everything would be okay no matter what.

Oh, crap! What's wrong with me...?

She retreated underneath the pew. That wasn't right. She couldn't let her guard down. Not ever.

And yet you did for Brooklyn, dumbass...

Her heart skipped a beat. Just thinking about his voice, those magnificent wings, that soft-looking hair, those shoulders, that bod—

Loona clamped her hands over her mouth, even though no one was around to hear her.

Even that beak and those horns are pretty hot, don't ya think?

Loona shrieked and bumped her head on the pew.

"OW! What is wrong with me!?" She crawled out from underneath the pew.

She scrambled over to a shadowed corner of the church, panting and shivering in a fetal position.

"It's gotta be that spell I used..." she reasoned. "It's put me on some kinda bad drug trip, didn't it?"

Her muscles gradually relaxed as she remembered she agreed to see Brooklyn again. He offered to take her to the concert, but she requested to see him sooner. Her eyelids grew heavy as she smiled to herself.

If she really was intoxicated due to magic, then she might as well ride this calm, pleasant high while it lasted. It eased her into her best night's sleep in a long time, as she had no choice but to admit it.

She was having a crush and crushing hard.