Chapter 6 - The Monster in the Wood

The bell rang above the door of the antiques shop on Main Street as Julian followed Nora into the shop. It was mostly an antique book store, but Nora had been sure they had other items too. The shop had warm yellow lighting, and lots of dark wood shelves. As he'd expected, there were a lot of books, but there was a selection in the back of other artifacts, and Nora set out right towards them at a brisk pace. Almost every surface of the store was laden with items, whether it was books or others, there wasn't an empty table or shelf anywhere in the shop. It was little, but it was jampacked with curiosities. Nora hadn't said a word since they'd left the apothecary, she'd just stalked out into the snowy cold night and started marching right down Main Street, with Julian following her a bit worriedly.

He worried he shouldn't have spoken up about his guess that the aswang had impersonated Nora to snatch Andy. It was one thing to know your child had been taken, but them being taken by something wearing your face? It was a horrifying thought. Unimaginably confusing and terrifying for Andy, too. Julian hoped dearly that the aswang here in Crescent Hill was one of the aswang who toyed with their food. Having to face Andy being gone... he didn't want Nora to have to go through that. At least right now, there was hope, albeit a slim one.

Deciding to give Nora a little bit of space right now, Julian made his way towards the front desk, where a slender young man wearing a beanie and a zip up gray jacket was sitting behind the counter. Julian guessed he was maybe 21 or so, but the guy looked up as Julian approached.

"Hey, man." he greeted Julian. "You need something?"

"Yeah, I've got a little bit of a weird request for you." Julian said with a laugh that he did his best to make sound politely awkward. "I'm a bit of a weapons collector, and recently I've been looking for some kind of holy weapon, something that was blessed or maybe was associated with a church. Is there anything in this shop that might fit that description, or am I out of luck?"

"Oof, we don't do a whole lot of weaponry here, man. This is more like a... I dunno, old vase shop. Or old books, plenty of those." the clerk winced. "I'll see though."

"I appreciate it." Julian said, giving the guy a smile and a nod as he turned on the computer on his desk.

Julian glanced around the antiques store, his eyes sliding along shelves of thick books with dated binding, though most of them looked to be in great condition. There was an old grandfather clock taking up quite a large spot against one wall, flanked by oil paintings in elegant frames, along with shelves of just about anything Julian could imagine. Old fashioned writing desks held other antique items, plenty of plates and glassware, there were lamps, old-fashioned sewing machines, a small glass case displaying old coins, and that was just the stuff near Julian.

"Oh, we do have something." the clerk said in surprise. "Would this work for you?"

He turned the computer around to show Julian an image of a dagger. It was clearly a photograph they had taken here, from the lighting and the background, but the image showed a straight, double-edged dagger with gleaming gold inlay on the blade. There wasn't a crossguard, instead the dagger had a rounded sort of guard, and the whole thing was maybe 20 inches long.

"Is it holy?" Julian asked, squinting curiously at it.

"According to the tag." the clerk shrugged. "It's called an acinaces apparently, it's a Persian dagger. Said to be a gift from a king at some point, blessed by the gods. Some old dude brought it in here a couple months back, he was really weird."

"How much?" Julian asked, glancing up at the clerk.

The clerk went to collect the acinaces, and Julian looked over to try and catch Nora's eye, but she was engrossed with something on the shelf. Julian glanced towards the backroom door that the clerk had vanished through, and then he made his way over towards Nora. Her head snapped towards him at the sound of his footsteps, but she relaxed when she saw it was just him.

"Are you alright?" Julian asked her quietly, but Nora wouldn't look his way again, she just kept staring at the shelf. He followed her eyeline and saw she was looking at a shelf of antique children's toys. He put an arm around her, squeezing her as she took a shuddering breath.

"I don't know what to do, Julian." Nora said softly, her voice trembling.

"We know so much more than we did." Julian tried to assure her, but Nora finally looked at him, her blue eyes big and sorrowful.

"Yes, it was so nice finding out exactly which kind of horrible monster has my son." Nora said bitterly. "Finding out exactly all the clues I've missed to tip me off something was wrong. Finding out exactly how low of a chance there is that Andy is even still..."

"Finding out how to kill it, too." Julian pointed out. "We may not know where it's at yet, but we've got a plan. We know what to look for, and we know what we're going to do it once we find it. I found a dagger here, sounds like it's blessed."

"You think it's going to work?" Nora asked, sniffing as she looked up at him.

"I do." Julian said, more firmly than he felt. Nora didn't need uncertainty right now, she needed absolutes.

Nora nodded slowly, and she reached out to squeeze his arm. "We're going to get it."

"We sure are." Julian agreed.

———

After a quick trip to Bark's hunting goods store, Nora had acquired a pair of hunting knives, which she planned to take to the church first thing tomorrow morning. Julian had the acinaces in a brown paper bag, laying between him and Nora on the bench seat of the Cutlass. It had been a little pricey, but it was a valuable artifact that hopefully was blessed enough to kill an aswang. Julian just hoped that blessings didn't have an expiration date.

Julian was driving the Cutlass back towards' Nora's house, but when they got there, they found a mess of flashing red and blue lights, police cars parked up and down the street, and a crowd of people standing on the other side of the street. An ambulance was parked out front of the house beside Nora's. The Youngs, that elderly couple that he and Nora had spoke to during his first morning here in Crescent Hill.

"Oh no." Nora whispered, hand over her mouth. Julian pulled into Nora's driveway, and he tucked the acinaces into the inner pocket of his jacket as he and Nora climbed out. A familiar buxom figure was standing on Nora's porch, and Rose, the waitress from the diner, came rushing out to them, where she basically tackled Nora with a tight hug.

"Oh my God, Nora. I heard there'd been an attack on this road, I had thought it was you." Rose exclaimed, squeezing the slimmer brunette werewolf tight.

"No, I'm fine." Nora said, shaking off the hug. "I- what happened to the Youngs?"

"They were killed." Rose whispered, looking over at Julian with tears in her brown eyes. The younger blonde wore a cream-colored sweater, one that was very modest except for the way it was so tight across her heavy breasts. On her lower half she wore black pants, and she had a dark green winter coat on over the sweater. Her blonde hair flowed down her shoulders in loose ringlets, freed from the bun she wore at the diner.

Julian looked to Nora, and then he nodded at her and Rose. "Why don't you two go into the house? I'll go see what's going on next door."

"Julian-" Nora began, but Julian shook his head.

"Go inside, Nora." he told her gently, and Rose made a noise of agreement. She took Nora by the hand, and led her towards the house. Julian set off across the snow, and he approached the police cordon, where Officer Sullivan stood, watching him approach.

"What happened?" Julian asked the heavyset police officer. Sullivan hesitated just slightly before speaking.

"Sergeant Murphy probably wouldn't be happy with me for telling you this, but... we need all the help that we can get." Sullivan sighed. "Frank and Linda... they were pretty brutally murdered. It looked almost like an animal got them, but there's no way any animal big enough to do that could have gotten into their house."

"How bad is it? Worse than Ruth Martin?" Julian asked.

"Yeah, much worse." Sullivan shuddered. "I volunteered to be out here securing the perimeter, I couldn't stand to be in there. There's blood everywhere, and the poor Youngs... it's awful."

Julian set his jaw, anger coursing through his body. This fucking aswang was preying on the people who couldn't protect themselves. It came for the children, for the elderly... it was a coward. It may be a monster, but it was a cowardly one. Julian was going to kill this aswang. He would track this thing to the ends of the earth if he had to, but he couldn't let this happen to another town. Crescent Hill was full of good people for the most part, and now they lived in terror, afraid for their children, for their elderly. It was despicable what the aswang had done to them, and Julian couldn't let it happen again.

"If there's anything I can do to help, you just let me know, alright?" Julian asked the cop, who nodded.

"I will. Thank you, Detective." Sullivan said with an exhale.

Julian turned from the crime scene, the red and blue lights casting their glow on the snow as he walked back towards Nora's house, his shoulders heavy. He'd taken far too long on this case. Andy's chances dwindled every passing second, as did Jenny Martin's. Julian reached the front door, which he pushed open. He stepped into the house and then locked the door tight behind him, taking off his jacket before walking into the living room.

A pale, exhausted looking Nora sat on the couch, while Rose was in the kitchen making what looked like tea.

"How bad?" Nora asked, and Julian sighed.

"They're both dead. An animal attack, apparently." Julian answered sadly, and Nora closed her eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks. Rose came into the living room, holding two mugs. She handed one wordlessly to Nora, then looked to Julian.

"Let's drink to the Youngs." Rose said softly. "They used to come into the diner on Sunday mornings after church, they always had a big breakfast and seemed so happy."

"I'd like something stronger than tea, I think." Julian scowled.

"Cabinet above the fridge." Nora muttered. Julian walked over to that cabinet, and opened it up to reveal a bottle of whiskey, with a couple of glasses beside it. He pulled one down, and poured himself some of the whiskey before setting it back up above the fridge. He walked back out into the living room, where Rose had sat down beside Nora.

"To the Youngs." Julian said, holding up his glass. The girls repeated it, and they all drank. The whiskey was hot in his chest as he swallowed it, and he appreciated it. It woke him up some, made him focus.

"Do you guys think there's one person doing all of these bad things?" Rose asked, tucking her legs beneath herself as she looked between them. "The kidnappings, the murders..."

"We do." Nora nodded.

"And I'm going to find them." Julian said decisively. "Tonight."

"You're what?" Nora demanded, standing up.

"I can't just brush my teeth and go to bed now." Julian shook his head. "Not while this bastard is out there killing people."

"Julian..." Nora huffed, then cut off, glancing towards Rose. "We're not ready."

"I'm ready." Julian said, and Nora scowled.

"It's dangerous, Nora, but he's a detective." Rose pointed out. "We should let him handle this."

Julian gave the busty blonde a grateful look, while Nora seethed. "Julian Anderson, you promised you were not going to cut me out."

"And I'm not. This part just needs to be me." Julian said, and he held Nora's gaze. There was anger in her blue eyes, but also a sort of understanding.

"Stay with Rose." Julian suggested. "Neither of you should be alone tonight. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"How do you know you'll be able to find him?" Nora asked, and Julian shrugged.

"I'm feeling lucky." Julian said. He crossed to the front door, where he put on his jacket, the acinaces still in the inner pocket.

"You better be careful, you hear me?" Nora demanded.

"You be careful, too." Julian nodded back at her. "Rose, keep an eye on her."

"Will do." Rose said with a little salute.

Julian, his blood singing with the eagerness of revenge, stepped back out into the snowy cold. He made his way around the back of Nora's house, and he sniffed the air. Sure enough, the aswang's signature scent of death and decay filled his nostrils. It was the freshest Julian had ever smelled it, and it was enough to make him want to throw up, but he pushed that feeling down.

A fresh trail... this was what Julian had needed. And sure, cutting out Nora was maybe a dick move, but she'd be safer with Rose. Without holy weapons, she'd be powerless against the aswang, and they couldn't wait until morning or the aswang would be long gone. It was still early in the night, which meant the aswang couldn't have had long since it killed the Youngs.

Tonight was his big chance. He was going to find this aswang and uses the acinaces to kill it. And hopefully, he'd find Andy while doing it. With the dagger tucked into his jacket, Julian made his way into the forest one more time. He was going to find this aswang. Tonight.

———

Following the trail was easy.

His eyes glowed brightly with the power of his werewolf vision, and he moved with confidence through the pitch black forest. He glanced upwards constantly, his ears straining for any sign of the aswang as he followed the trail. The path that the scent took him wound away from the town, deeper into the woods. Julian ran for perhaps thirty minutes, doggedly following the trail through the thick trees, heading further and further from civilization.

The snow crunched beneath his boots, and he cast his gaze everywhere he could, eager for another sighting of the aswang. Unfortunately, he saw nothing. The scent was as thick as ever, meaning the aswang had definitely come this way. Of that, Julian had no doubt. But how much of a lead it had on him, or how fast it could move through the forest... that, Julian didn't know. All he could do was keep following the trail, which he did, about as fast as he possibly could. He could turn into wolf form and run much faster, but then he'd be without clothes or the acinaces that he needed to kill this thing, which meant it wasn't an option.

He wished he'd thought to look at a map of the forest, to see what was out here. Maybe the aswang had found an abandoned building or something to nest in. Finding the aswang's nest would be important if he wanted to discover Andy and Jenny's fate. They'd either be there, being slowly drained by the aswang... or they wouldn't be, which was indicative of the other thing. The thing that Julian didn't want to think about. Not one bit.

Julian was bounding along the trail, perhaps forty minutes from Nora's house, when the trail stopped cold. Julian paused, and he looked up immediately. The trees were devoid of any movement, but there had to be something, some reason why the trail just stopped. Julian took a deep sniff of the woods just past the ending of the trail, trying to find anything. The aswang being a shapeshifter changed everything, it could theoretically change itself to smell like anything, even... Julian paused as a scent filled his nose, that of a cat. It was faint, much fainter than the aswang's overpowering stench of death and decay, but Julian knew that the aswang had been a cat before, he'd seen it from the window of the holding cell.

A tailless cat, prancing along without a care in the world. With no other options, Julian set off along the path the cat had taken. He was unable to run at the same speed with this scent, it was much fainter. He followed it at a walk, retracing the cat's steps as it weaved through the trees, in such a circuitous fashion that it didn't take Julian long to realize what it was doing. It was trying its' damnedest to lose anybody who might be following. It knew what Nora was, it might even know what Julian was, it didn't want any nosy werewolves interfering.

The aswang had gotten unlucky though, it had been spotted by Julian in its' cat form, so Julian knew exactly what he was tracking, and he was pretty damn good at tracking using his werewolf senses. Came with the territory of using them for policework. Julian followed the cat's trail for a long while, it was really doing its' best to lose any pursuers, but it couldn't shake Julian. About twenty minutes after Julian had left behind the scent of death and decay, it returned, just as strongly as before, and Julian took off after it. He was running at full sprint again, and it didn't take him long to emerge into a clearing. It was a roughly circular clearing, with tall, snow-laden trees rising up all around it.

The second Julian stepped out of the tree line, he felt eyes on him. Just like he had in the woods outside the Millers' house. Julian looked up, spinning urgently until his gaze landed on his prey. It clung to the side of a tree, about twenty feet up, snarling. It held still this time, unlike the brief glimpse of it he'd had last time, and Julian stared at the ugly bastard. It had pale gray skin, and had lanky limbs too long for its' body. Its' fingers were long, brutal claws, each of them longer than the aswang's palms. The aswang bared fangs at Julian, and it leaped from the tree, landing lightly on the snow. It landed crouched on all fours, and it moved on all fours too, claws scraping at the snow as it slunk around the clearing, keeping a cautious distance from Julian. This close, the aswang's bloodshot red eyes were deeply unsettling, and the line of coarse black fur along the backs of its' too-long arms was distinctly noticeable. The legs of the creature were long and thin, with taloned feet like a bird of prey.

And what Julian had not noticed from the glimpse he caught of it days earlier, was the pair of black wings curled tight against its' back, looking at first glance like more lines of fur, but they were in fact bat-like wings. They unfurled right in front of Julian's eyes, and the aswang snarled.

"You have killed three people now." Julian said, fury building as he took in the ugly monster that had been terrorizing Crescent Hill. "You took Andy and Jenny, innocent children. Are they still alive?"

The aswang said nothing. Julian wasn't even sure it could talk.

"Where are they?" Julian demanded, but the aswang was still wordless, just snarling at Julian.

"Alright, don't talk then." Julian spat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the brown paper bag, from which he drew the acinaces. The aswang hesitated at the sight of it, but Julian didn't give it the chance. He lunged forwards, and the aswang flapped its' wings, using them to propel itself backwards, out of range of Julian's swipe. Julian's feet pounded across the snow and he leapt up with every ounce of werewolf strength he could. He seized the aswang by the foot and used the weight of his body to slam the aswang down upon the snow.

Letting out a howl of anger, the aswang rolled, catching Julian across the head with one of its' big wings as it scrambled up onto on all fours again. Julian took the blow to his face and went for another stab attempt. The aswang moved quick enough to dodge most of it, but the fine point of the acinaces scratched across the emaciated torso of the aswang. The cut it left behind blistered and hissed, and the aswang let out another howl, this one pained. It dove at Julian, claws catching the moonlight as it cut into Julian.

Keeping aloft with its' wings, the aswang slashed once across Julian's chest with his left hand and then his right, slashing eight deep gouges across Julian's chest, before it spun again, using a wing to knock Julian backwards. Julian, stunned at the speed with which the aswang had moved, sailed backwards, crashing into the trunk of a tree. He hit hard, coughing as he dropped to the snow. The acinaces slipped from his grasp, but even while bleeding profusely, Julian had the presence of mind to wrap his hand tight around the holy dagger. He looked up at the aswang, which was slinking closer. It moved warily, like a scared hound, but there was an unmistakable violent intent in those red eyes.

Julian tensed up, and he held himself there, forcing his animal instincts down as the aswang moved closer. The wolf in him wanted to leap up and attack, to show no weakness, but the human part of him knew he needed the aswang closer. It was too damn fast, so Julian needed it as close as possible before he tried for another stab with the dagger. He let out a pathetic groan of pain, trying to entice the aswang in, and it worked. The monster lunged, and Julian rose to meet it with the dagger. It let out a screech as it realized, too late, that it had been deceived.

Julian's acinaces sank deep into the aswang's chest, and the monster howled in rage and pain as the holy magic of the dagger did its' grim work. The aswang thrashed, wings flying, claws swiping, and Julian did what he could to hold the dagger firm as he took blow after blow. The ones from the wings were fine, they'd just leave bruises, but those claws scored his body with deep gashes, and when the aswang went for his throat, he had to move. He yanked the acinaces out and ducked that blow, but the aswang was free.

It didn't waste a second, it flapped its' wings, smacking Julian across the torso, and it soared off into the night, dripping black, vile blood across the snow as it sailed away on its' bat-like wings. Julian stared in the direction it went, and he made a motion to follow, but the second he took one step, his body gave out and he dropped. The thick gashes from the aswang's claws burned, and he shuddered violently against the snow as more and more of it around him turned red.

He reached out desperately in the direction that the aswang had gone, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to chase it. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to get back to Nora's house, but he'd have to. He gritted his teeth through the pain as he forced himself to stand, clutching his hands to some of the worst wounds as he began the long stagger home. Thankfully, the light of the moon shone down upon him, giving him strength, but it was doing everything it could just to keep him on his feet. Hopefully, his healing would kick in soon, or he didn't think he was going to be able to make it back.

Trudging through the snow, bleeding as he walked, Julian thought bitterly to himself that Nora was right. He shouldn't have come out here alone. He'd thought it would be fine, but the aswang had proved stronger than he thought. He should have brought Nora, but... some part of him hadn't wanted her to come, just in case they did find out Andy's fate and it wasn't what she'd hoped. No mother should have to see that. Nora may not need protecting in a fight, but that kind of image... he wanted desperately to protect her from that.

And look where that had gotten him.

Trying not to bleed out as he walked home through the dark forest.