The Dog In Sheep's Clothing

Chapter Six: The Aftermath

When Sarah came to, she felt a familiar fabric covering her, the surface beneath her brought her comfort. She blinked for a few moments in silence before finally sitting up, wincing as the sunlight that peaked through the window curtains shined into her eyes. She yawned and rubbed her neck as well as running a hand through her hair and swung her legs over the side of the bed, sliding on the slippers that were conveniently just right there. Once she realized where she was, she took her time to brush her teeth and hair slightly, just because she was in her own home didn't mean personal hygiene gets to wait.

She took her time going down the stairs, her body still had aches from only God knows how many hours, maybe even days ago. She walked into the kitchen and paused when her slipper-covered foot rammed into something covered in fur. She looked down to see Cooper, out of all the mammals in the area of her barn Cooper was the last one she expected to be in her house. "Oh hey Sarah, you're finally awake." She looked up to see Officer Martinez in casual attire, a police academy hoodie that was a dark navy blue along with some black sweatpants that were covered in white fur, she could tell just from that, that Martinez had spent some time with Bane. "Yeah...was I out for that long?" "Oh nah, just figured you'd be an early riser considering all of the things that need to be done in a barn, but to be fair this week has been hectic for all of us, so I'm not that surprised you slept in." The officer said, taking a sip of coffee that she assumed he had made himself during his stay here.

She cleared her throat slightly, licked her lips which she now realized were very chapped and then bent down to pet Cooper, who was now on his back with his belly up, and energized as ever as his tail wagged hundred miles per minute. "How did you know he would do that?" She raised an eyebrow and looked up to glance at the officer, who was fidgeting with his cup to probably give himself a distraction from whatever was on his mind. "I didn't," and with those two words the anxious look that had come to show on the officer's face became one that was stupidefyed. "Y...you didn't know he would do that?" She shook her head, "I mean, Bane has never been aggressive before in his life, I mean sure he gets all riled up when the mail man drops off a package, but he's never attacked anything." "Oh...well, I guess that's fair enough, but either way I'm still surprised that the freak didn't kill him or Bane." Sarah hummed in agreement, patting Cooper's head a few more times affectionately before standing back up.

"There's a lot of unexpected things that have come from this week, some more welcome than others, but with all of it finally over I'm glad I can say I can protect my friend as much as he can protect me." And with that sentence whatever remaining tension that had remained in Martinez dropped, a small, but soft and genuine smile spread from his lips. "You're right on that point." "Course I am, aren't I always?" She gave him a grin that was slightly smug and walked over, directing a playful punch at his arm that wasn't holding a cup of coffee. "Hey, speaking of furry friends, where's Bane? Did he have to go back to the vet?" "Oh no, he's as fine as can be, here, let me show ya something." Sarah noted that the soft smile had hardened a bit with amusement, she rolled her eyes and followed him.

And his amusement was absolutely justified, because no one would ever believe the two if they told someone that they saw the Detective Moth, was giggling like a little school girl as they ran around in the open fields with Bane chasing after them, cackling as he snapped at their hand to get the squeaky dog toy that was in their grasp. They watched the amusing scene for a while longer, only for the detective themself ruin the moment that had become somewhat wholesome by slipping and face planting straight into the ground. Sarah howled with laughter while Officer Martinez struggled to contain his laughter with his hand to muffle it, eventually giving up and letting out a round of deep laughter as well.

The detective looked up quickly, face turning a bright tomato red as they realized their little slip had been seen and hurried to stand back up, brushing off the dirt that had rubbed into the fabric of their pants. "You two so nothing," they had said with a scowl on their face. "Mhm sure, you missed a spot on your pants by the way-" "Shut it." They surrendered with their teasing and then the officer and detective watched with wide eyes as Bane practically charged at Sarah, tackling her down to show his very enthusiastic affection by slobbering all over her face. "ACK-pfft, Bane stOP-" She tried to shove him away with no success, only being given mercy when the detective had finished their stifled snickering to squeak the dog toy, and let it go as Bane ran over to snatch it out of their hand and squeak it an obnoxious amount of times while still maintaining eye contact.

Sarah grabbed the hand that Detective Moth had lent her to help her back on her feet, dusting off the back of her pants once she was up and standing. "So...I guess I should thank the two of you, both for saving my ass and Bane's fluffy one," she had said with a slight chuckle at the end, God knows what would've happened if they hadn't run into the scene with that flare gun. "Say, how come as soon as I mentioned Bane you went from looking at me like I was insane for telling you from shooting that thing to frickin crazy badass sniper?" The detective cursed their lips, the blush that covered their face and faded at some point, had returned a bit. "W-well...I don't...know" as they said this, their face scrunched up with confusion, Martinez and Sarah simply looked at each other with a knowing look before Sarah looked back.

"We get how you feel." Moth blinked, "You...you do?" Martinez nodded, "Yep, something me and her both felt when our guys got hurt." The detective nodded slowly as they came to terms of what they were just told, "So I wasn't the...the only one that...felt that satisfaction?" Moth felt relief as the other two shook their heads to let them know that they hadn't simply become a twisted being under that moon in that dark night. Silence filled the lazy and sunny afternoon, they enjoyed each other's company till nightfall. She waved them goodbye, they had their own homes, despite the pull of dread that pulled on the strings of her heart as she watched the two of them leave.

She stood outside and waited until she could see them no longer to go back inside her home, locking everything up, and checking that the newly installed security cameras that the other two had set up while she had fallen asleep(although she could never admit it to them herself, she felt far more secure with the cameras than she did without as paranoia had become a pest she had befriended over this week). She sighed and trudged slowly all the way up to her bedroom, brushing her teeth and tossing on some new pajamas as well. She then hopped onto her bed, only to lift her head up and grumpily spit out the ball of fluff she had managed to face plant right into. The criminal of this despicable act innocently walked into the room and hopped right onto the bed next to her.

The human and dog had a staring contest that neither she or he kept count of(or maybe he did, she didn't care, she just wanted to go to bed now). And so she did, falling asleep the heavy weight of her warm-blooded companion upon her legs, the weight was the only thing that grounded her, from floating back into the dreams of hell that the monster had created in her mind. Then it all flashed to red, then black, then white, tHEN RED THEN BLACK THEN WHITE THEN RED THEN BLACK-

. . .

And then it stopped.

She slid one eye open, the colors that had flashed behind closed eyes spotted her vision. She slid the other one open, then blinked both of them. Her...throat...it was dry- water, she needed water. She didn't bother slipping on her slippers as she quietly but yet quickly ran down the stairs, Bane lifted his head and followed after her. She grabbed a cup from the counter and turned on the kitchen sink to the coldest it could go, splashing the water onto the face before actually filling the cup and gulping it down. She turned off the faucet, then lifted her head to look at the night sky.

She blinked once, twice, and then thrice. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and dialed a number, turning on the speaker and letting the sound of each ring fill the room until the call was answered. "Sarah unless there is another monster standing at your front door you better have a good FUC-" "Moon." And with that the detective was successfully dazed, blinking as if it helped comprehend what the young woman was saying. "What?" "Look outside." Moth grumbled but reluctantly listened and pulled aside the window curtains and opened the window itself, then poked their head out the window. "Okay now-" "Look up."

Moth let out an exasperated sigh as they looked up, "Okay, seriously can you just-...tell...me?.." Moth stared at the night sky, taking in the sight of the moon.

There stood the moon and the night sky, the moon was stained a shade of red that could only be associated with blood, and they both knew this wasn't normal, it was impossible for it to be a lunar ellipse, the next one was supposed to happen for another two years.

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

"...I don't know about you but I'm gonna head to the station-"

"I'll meet you there."