Chapter 9
Two weeks after the execution of Carl (the reptile) things had gotten pretty bad in Bloomfield Hills (and Michigan as a whole) with constant reports of missing people. While it appeared mild to the outside world, a terrible battle was going on between the werewolves and reptiles. With seven deaths on the side of the reptiles and fifteen deaths on the side of the werewolves, this was just the beginning of an inevitable war. For now, things were a bit calm in the outside world due to the intervention and fear of the Paranormal Bureau, an elite human organization whose job was to make sure that supernatural creatures did not harm humans, while also keeping their existence a secret. The werewolves and reptiles feared the Paranormal Bureau due to the sophisticated biological weapons (lunapeste for werewolves) in their arsenal that could end their existence in a matter of weeks (or less).
Stephan buried his head under the hood of his car as he worked on the V12 engine of his E-Type. It was a beautiful sunny weekend in Bloomfield Hills, but a pretty annoying one for him. And the birds chirping in the background didn't make him feel any better.
"C'mon my friend, when are you going to give up on this oldie?" someone spoke behind him. Caramel-brown skin and bold grey eyes. Stephan shifted his head towards the source of the voice and sighed when he saw that it was just Hendell.
"Well, you know that's never gonna happen" he replied as he got back to what he was doing?
"You have more expensive cars here, why waste your time on this one?"Hendell looked puzzled as he observed the expensive sports cars in the open roof garage.
"Because price does not equal to value, my friend" Stephan grunted while pulling something out of the V12 engine.
"Oh, yea? Then how are you holding up?" Hendell sneered.
"I'd be pretty much okay if you could just stop the birds from chirping. My ears are bleeding out and I can't concentrate." Stephan sighed in angst, and in his subconscious, he considered taking a break.
Hendell smiled ruefully at him as though he knew what he was thinking, then he closed his eyes and after muttering a few words, the birds ceased their noise. "There you go." He said afterward.
"Gee, thanks!"Stephan lifted his head from the hood of his car when he noticed that the nuisances were gone.
"It was nothing,"Hendell replied and Stephan nodded to him in respect.
"So what's the score now?" his brows creased as he continued with what he was doing.
"Reptiles: seven, werewolves: fifteen" Hendell sighed. He didn't look excited.
"We're not fairing pretty much, huh?"
"As you can see" Hendell shrugged. " But this goes on to prove that my hypothesis was somewhat true. They're killing more of us because they've been watching us for a very long time."
"Which means?" Stephan wanted to know what the druid was trying to imply
"They've either been here for a while now or they never really left." he was still saying before he remembered something. "And hey, I met Harry's wife a couple of days back." he disclosed to his friend.
"Candace?" Stephan suddenly stopped what he was doing?
"Yea, I ran into her in a coffee shop"
"How's she doing?" he inquired.
"She looks fine to me. Except that she still hates us for what happened to Harry." Hendell frowned
"That was a very long time ago. She's never going to forgive us is she?" Stephan looked worried too.
"I believe so. And I don't blame her if she doesn't because what happened to Harry was our fault." the druid acknowledged his mistake.
"Regardless, you don't have to beat up yourself about something that happened in the past. Remember The Council needs you to be strong to tackle those slimy reptiles" Stephan tried to cheer him up.
"I know, you don't need to remind me. And besides, we're very close to finding the queen." Hendell replied with a smile
"What do you mean?" Stephan arched an eyebrow.
"The reptiles are beginning to talk. It seems if you torture them enough, they give you what you want." Hendell shrugged. And with that statement, Stephan knew he had to act fast.