Night Creatures

4 - Shopkeep Salem

The trio had returned to Mistie's house under the cover of night, avoiding any and all main streets and pathways as possible. They wouldn't want the whole town to be in a huge tizzy over the giant, albino werewolf just out for a nightly stroll. Despite the transformation, Mal still retained his humane mannerisms; he could understand what the girls were talking about and follow directions well but he had no ability to speak, as far as the girls could tell. Mal whimpered as Mistie shadow walked her way into her home and opened her personal balcony door, allowing Mavis and Mal to enter. Mavis walked in and stood aside to let Mal in, however, when the bulky wolf boy attempted to squeeze in, he got stuck...
Of course he'd get stuck... Mistie thought to herself as she sighed heavily. Both girls leaned up and tugged on Mal's arms, trying to pull him in...
CRASH!
Mal shot in, knocking over Mistie's chair that almost hit an old photo that Mistie had set on her desk of her father and herself when she was just a youngblood.
"Holy shit!" Mistie gasped as she darted over, picking up her chair just as her father knocked on her door.
"Is everything alright, Mist?" Her father's voice was tight with his worry.
"Y-yes Dad, I'm okay! Just a clutz today apparently," she looked over at her company, both of their faces shocked.
"Okay, but if anything happens," Mistie stopped her father by opening the door and jumping up to hug him, causing him to step away from her door.
"Thanks for looking out for me, Dad but I promise you I'll always be fine. Especially with you looking out for me," Mistie stepped back, her father having turned his back to the door as he smiled down at his daughter.
"I just don't want to see anything happen to you,"
"Come on, nothing's happened yet and if I ever needed anything or felt bad, I'd come to you. I always do," smiling warmly she gestured downstairs, "I need to take care of something though, so how 'bout we plan a night? I'll kick your ass at Monopoly again," she smirked and held her head high. Her father ruffed up her hair and chuckled before heading downstairs.
"I'll hold you to that now,"
"Holy shit, your dad is hella chill," Mavis's voice rang in Mistie's head, causing Mistie to peek in her room. Mavis was helping the clumsy wolf boy up off the floor so Mistie joined her girl as they both lifted up on him. Mal's big paws grabbed onto the girls and he helped pull himself up and placed his face directly into Mavis's cleavage.
"Uh, excuse me, Dog," she blushed as his tail wagged and he didn't seem keen on leaving.
"Okay so what are we supposed to do now?"
"We can't read the book so this huge mutt will need to and relay the info when he's not... Well, this!" Mavis gestures to the huge puppy in her tits, and Mistie giggled as she walked over and looked out her window. The moon shone brightly, a beautiful white ball in a clear star-filled sky. Full and bright, and we just turned our favourite wizard stud into a loyal pooch? What in the world is going on? Mistie turned and looked at her satchel, undoing the buckle and pulling this new book - now to be known as the book of Werewolves - only to skim through empty pages. It made a bit of sense, since Mistie and Mavis were vampires but completely uncool. With a huff she set the book of Werewolves down and pulled out the book of Vampires, turning the pages to find any mention at all about lycans or werewolves. She'd almost given up as she turned one more page and right in the middle of the page, was a large hand drawing of a wolf standing up and looking more human than animal. It's fur was puffed out and shaggy looking, it's eyes blank and wide as it's lips were pulled back in an evil grin. Mistie held the book up and compared the drawing to the big albino wolf boy currently enjoying a snooze in her girlfriend's cleavage. Ain't seeing any big scary looking wolves here. She giggled softly and read the passage beside the artwork. It told a tale of war, one of fangs and fur and it was not pretty. The last lycan alive was captured by vampires and his spirit put to rest as they entrapped his curse in a book, placing it in a room and chained. The room was to be protected by guards at all times... Not now, huh? A little doodle in the top right corner on the left page confirmed that the book the three of them have just retrieved was in fact the book shown.
"Holy crap, Mavis, I think you and I should read this part together..." Mistie turned the book around to show Mavis the page with the big bad wolf drawing and she gasps, moving Mal's muzzle from her boobs to her lap as she takes her seat on Mistie's bed, the white wolf snoring softly.

The change back to human was a little embarrassing for Malachite as he shrunk, shed like crazy and turned into a naked, confused man. Mistie offered him a blanket as she glanced outside; it was still pretty dark but she noticed the sun peeking above the horizon. She ushered him out, insisting he go home with the book of Werewolves, research and get dressed. Mavis, who was laying down on Mistie's bed, sighed heavily as Mistie turned with the book of Vampires in her hands as she read through it, sitting next to Mavis.
"So is there a way around the whole no sun thing?" She groaned as she stared out at the coming dawn. With a deep sigh, Mistie shook her head.
"As far as I can see; a large hat might work but I'm not risking anything to find out," she reached over and patted Mavis's side, sliding her hand up and down to sooth Mavi before she ended up crying about no more sunny beach vacays. As Mavis rolled over and let out a louder groan, she grabbed Mistie's hand and just held it while Mistie continued skimming the pages of the book.
Suddenly, Mavis shot up and looked at Mistie with excitement as she yanked on Mistie's hand and pulled her out the window with her. Before Mistie could process what was happening, Mavis had seated them at a booth in a place Mistie had never been in before. The decor and low lighting made her think that maybe they were in a café but the vibe and scent was wrong. She sniffed, smelling candles, sage and rosemary, dust and a very strong earthy scent. Mistie stood and stepped out from the booth as Mavis fiddled with the book of Vampires, not appearing to want to explain where the hell they were. She gasped as she saw a tall, black cat standing behind the front counter as he hummed and swished his hips back and forth, enjoying whatever it was he was doing back there. Mistie stepped up and noticed a little bell that read "Ring for Service" on it so she tapped the top of it, the shopkeep turning around and smiling at her.
"Well hello there! I am Salem, the keeper of this little magic shop, how may I assist you?" He looked Mistie up and down, nodded and chuckled softly before he glanced over at where Mavis was still seated, "Ah, you're with the lovely Mavis then? In that case, you'll be getting her little discount,"
"Discount? Does she work here secretly?" Mistie inquired, causing Salem to laugh and shake his head. Turns out Mavis frequents this shop and buys some pretty outlandish things. Mistie looked around at the shelves and sighed; she didn't have any idea why Mavis would have brought her here.
"Oh! Mistie, I see you and Salem have already met," Mavis showed up behind Mistie, setting the book of Vampires up on the counter and Salem's jaw dropped.
"Miss Mavis, where did you find this?" He picked it up with gentle paws and examined it but the girls stopped him from opening it.
"What do you know about it?" Mistie inquired as she grabbed the book back, but holding it on the counter for Salem to look at.
"A tale as old as the mansion it originally come from, and the ones who wrote it are even older than that. I take it you girls have received the Cursed Blood from opening the book, seeing as you won't allow me to flip through it's pages myself?"
"Damn, you're good," Mavis nodded while Mistie stood there in astonishment as Salem seemed to know what was going on but she, the one with the Cursed Blood as he called it, hadn't the slightest idea as to what, how or why. Salem smirked and picked up a small red vial as he handed it over to them but offered no real explanation as to what it was or why he was giving it to them. He simply smiled at the confused ladies before him.
"You will need this later, trust me," he spoke softly, his words oozing with mystery but he didn't seem to have any ill intentions.
"You can put your faith in him, girl. We'll figure out what this little bottle is when we need it, but for now all we can do is hang on to it," Mavis's voice rang through Mistie's head again as she was examining the bottle, but when she looked over to where Mavis was standing, she had wandered off and was browsing the shelves. What the hell? I have gotta talk to her about that, Mistie thought.
"It came with the new vamp powers as well but I think that's about all," Mavis explained in Mistie's head again, as if she heard it. Mistie huffed as she marched over to Mavis, crossing her arms. Mavi just smiled innocently up at her before continuing her browsing so Mistie returned to the counter, noticing the lanky black cat Salem had disappeared, leaving her the vial and a little note that simply read: Use this wisely and only when necessary!