The Wellington Supernatural Summit and Team Building Retreat

Chapter 14 - Divide and Conquer

It wasn't often that Viago woke before sunrise, but sleeping in bat form was not especially comfortable. He didn't tell Anton, but there was always a possibility that he'd slip back into human form while asleep and just sort of...bust out of his jacket and turn into a fireball.

There was only a small chance of that happening, so Viago had decided not to worry the werewolf.

He knew instinctively it'd be a little longer before the sun would be down. In the meantime, he wriggled his little batty body and tried to settle. It was difficult with the thundering of Anton's heartbeat filling his sensitive little ears. From the rhythm, he could tell the man was asleep. But it was a shallow sleep, and likely not very restful. He could hear people talking nearby, but couldn't make out what they were saying beyond the beating of the werewolf's heart and the sound of blood rushing through his veins.

Viago mused on the fact that he really did like the wolf's scent now. It still had that distinctive musk that used to turn him off, but now it just felt...safe. It reminded him of gentle kisses and puppy dog eyes and a warm body that transferred heat to his cold one.

It was actually comforting enough that he drifted off. Then he felt a finger prodding him gently.

"Viago, hey..." said Anton gently.

Viago could feel the words vibrate the wolf's chest more than he could hear them.

"Viago, it's safe now," he murmured.

Viago heard the zipper open above him. When Anton stuck his fingers in, he clambered up his hand and jacket. He cheep-cheeped at the wolf, then took flight and transformed back.

He landed awkwardly and fell on his ass. "Agh, legs are numb."

Anton reached down to help him up and to dust leaf litter off him. "Sleep all right?"

"Enough. I suspect as well as you."

Vladislav was already up and standing at the edge of the little campsite they'd made. There were remnants of a fire and meal replacement bar wrappers strewn about.

"Now guys, clean up after yourselves! As werewolves, you should know better than to litter." Anton picked up one of the wrappers and shoved it in Marcus' face. "Bad dogs!"

Marcus snarled at him. "Can we just get this over with?"

"So we have a plan?" asked Viago.

"Not a very good one," said Vladislav with a sigh.

—-

It was a reckless, careless, and rather stupid plan.

And it was working.

Sometimes the audacious, straightforward plans were the way to approach strategic thinkers like the group of hunters, to throw them off their game when they were expecting something more sophisticated. 

Sometimes all that was needed was a good old fashioned 'distract them while the others slip in the back.'

Marcus, Maia and Vladislav were drawing the attention of the guards by knocking over strategic things, or by growling softly from the shadows, or by Vladislav turning into a bat and buzzing their heads.

It was subtle enough that the hunters couldn't be sure they were under attack, but it was frequent enough that they were taking the threat seriously.

Meanwhile, Viago-in-bat-form was acting as spotter for Anton as they crept towards the cabin they knew held the majority of the wolves. He perched on the top of the cabin and waited until either Marcus or Maia howled nearby, which drew the nearest guard away to investigate.