Pestilence

Chapter 1 - Vampires and Werelizards Oh My

"Wake up buddy" Asher yelled from outside my tent.

"Ugh 5 more minutes mom!" I shouted back, rubbing my eyes groggily as I sat up.

"We are hunting monsters you don't need your beauty sleep."

"That's what you think." I mumbled under my breath, quickly getting dressed and making my way out of the tent into the brisk October night. My roommate Asher and I were camped out at a camping ground just below Mount Hood. October isn't exactly the best time of year for camping in Oregon, but we weren't here for the scenery. We were on a hunt.

"Do you think it will be out tonight?" I asked yawning as I packed my backpack.

"Werewolves only get a few nights a month to hunt," he said looking up grimly into the sky, "the moon is full. It will be out."

So, you're probably reading this and going what the hell are they talking about. But you read right, we were out hunting a werewolf. Well, we were like 95% sure it was a werewolf. Multiple bodies had turned up lately in the Hood River area. Bodies mutilated beyond anything you can imagine. Trust me I saw them, not a pretty sight . These poor people died hard. Of course, the local authorities chalked it up to a random animal attack, but Asher knew better.

You see, Asher isn't your average person. Sure, he looks like your every day run of the mill dude. I mean you look at the guy and you see a short chubby little ginger with glasses and a beard. But what you wouldn't realize is he has this habit of turning into a seven-foot-tall blue and orange lizard man. That's right folks, I am best friends with a freaking werelizard! He comes equipped with razor sharp claws, a mouth full of knife-like teeth, and damn near impenetrable scales. And to top it all off he is incredibly strong, fast, and can regenerate from pretty much any injury. Freaking werelizards, he is a total badass. So jealous.

Asher is what's called a "Pure Born." You can either be bitten and transformed into one of many various were creatures, or you can be born as one. That's my buddy. Being pure born means he can shift at will, and luckily, he doesn't have the blood lust that those who are turned seem to all struggle with. He was raised in a rather large nest in Nevada, with his parents being the alphas of the group. We have been friends for a while now, but he doesn't talk much about his childhood or family. I guess they had a major falling out, but he won't tell me anymore than that.

We became friends in college around five years ago when I got lucky enough to get him as my roommate. Thru our joint love of video games, Star Wars and everything nerdy we clicked pretty quickly. It also helped that we were both in the medical program. Other than him randomly disappearing some odd times in the night and his cloths inexplicably get torn up, he came off a normal college student. Until the fateful night when my best friend decided to trust me with his biggest secret to save a woman's life.

We were walking back to our dorm room late one night when suddenly Asher stopped. "Do you smell that?" He asked raising his nose in the air. I took a couple confused sniffs. "Dude what are you talking...." Suddenly a scream of terror tore through the night cutting me off. Without hesitation my chubby friend took off in the direction of the sound faster than I had ever seen him move before. I mean I am a solid 6'4" and I could barely keep up with him. I followed him to the dark area behind the gymnasium.

I came around the corner more out of breath than I thought I would be. "I need to cut back on the junk food." I wheezed under my breath. When I looked up a man was standing in the darkness of the gym. I could make out a girl held in his arms, and if she hadn't been letting out small whimpers, I would have thought it was just a couple taking advantage of the seclusion. But as my eyes adjusted to the dark, I realized he was latched onto her neck, a trickle or scarlet coming from the sides of his mouth. My friend stood a few feet from them, his body shaking with anger.