The last day in town with Francesca

Act 3 - Starting Howland Town's longest day

June 7th.

You woke up in bed at 7:30 in the morning.

Fran was still sleeping next to you, so you slipped out of bed quietly, not wanting to wake her. You dressed yourself and left the room because you had an appointment with the doctor today.

You arrived just as the clinic opened for the day. Dr. Nathan Jones ran a quick blood test on you, and the results weren't looking good.

"Your body is developing a resistance to monkshood solution." Nathan shook his head and sighed, as he knew he couldn't do much to help you. "I'm afraid that you need to double the dose in a week. The monkshood Valerie ordered should arrive this afternoon. By then, I'll be able to have the solutions ready for you. I know it isn't easy for you. Just try to look on the bright side, alright?"

"Thank you, doctor." You weren't feeling good about this, but you had to deal with it.

"As for the rapid infection you just mentioned, we call it the threshold. When a victim sustains a fatal wound from a werewolf, aka crosses the threshold, they will fall into a coma-like state. Their brain function degenerates, and the infection is fastened. At this point, if you cure them, they will lose the regeneration boost and die from the wound. And if you don't, they will turn into a mindless beast and never revert to their human form." Nathan explained what he knew about the infection, but he looked quite confused, too.

"But I've never seen an infection that starts transforming someone within minutes. That's too fast." He added.

"So there's something more to it..." You sighed helplessly. You really didn't know what you were dealing with.

"Whatever it might be, don't blame yourself. There's nothing you could have done."

"Okay... Could you tell me more about you and Valerie?" You said gently, "How did you know her? And how did you find out she's a werewolf?"

"Is this helping with your case, or is it just to satisfy your curiosity?" Nathan looked at you calmly.

"Maybe both."

"I've known her for more than 18 years, before she became a werewolf. Perhaps she doesn't remember the person she used to be, but I still do. That's all I'm going to say." Nathan smiled, but you noticed a glimpse of sadness in his eyes.

"Okay... Thanks again, Dr. Jones. Bye." You stood up from the chair after taking a deep breath.

"See you later."

You went back to your hotel room at around 9:00, and you suddenly felt extremely dizzy and hot. Fran wasn't in the room, and you didn't know where she has been.

It had been a week since you last injected yourself with the monkshood solution, and the lycanthropy infection was coming back. Your senses were further heightened; even a deep breath made you desperate for some fresh meat to fill your stomach.

But you managed to hold yourself together long enough to grab a syringe from your bag and inject yourself. The coldness seeped into your veins instantly, fighting the infection so fiercely that you felt like tens of thousands of bugs were eating you from the inside out. You collapsed onto the floor and started twitching. You could barely open your eyes or hear anything as your entire body was numb to everything except the pain. You believed that you had passed out at some point, because when you opened your eyes again, it was already half an hour later.

When you finally returned to your senses, you didn't feel much better than before. You felt exhausted, but the hunger for flesh didn't just go away. You had to rush to the restaurant and swallow whatever was left there to quiet it down. The waitress was frightened as she hadn't seen anyone that ravenous before.

Now you understood what would happen if you didn't get the cure soon enough. You feared what could've happened to Fran if she had been in the room with you this morning. Speaking of which, you quickly grabbed your cellphone and called her.

"Fran, where are you? Are you okay?" You asked anxiously the moment it went through.

"Still in the market. I left a note on the table. Isn't it there?" Fran sounded relaxed.

"Oh... I must've missed it... I'm sorry." You felt relieved. It seemed that it was just you being paranoid.

"James? You don't sound okay. I'm coming back. Just stay in the room and wait for me, okay?" She said with concern.

"Okay... Thanks. Bye." You hung up the phone and slowly went back to your room.

The note Fran had left you was lying quietly on the bedside table, stating that she had gone to the market to buy something for you. How could I miss the note? You smacked your forehead and smiled helplessly.

You sat by the edge of the bed and calmed yourself down. You still had some time to sort things out before Fran returned. You spread out all the puzzles and all the clues in your mind, trying to piece them together.

The true identity of the black female werewolf that attacked you was still a mystery. It was the key to your salvation.

Andrew, the mayor, was aware of the existence of werewolves. He used silver bullets in his revolver. He didn't hesitate to kill the lycanthrope in the Smith Mansion, and he didn't show any remorse or sadness after he found out it was Shannon. He was unnervingly calm and decisive in that situation. He also mentioned his participation in an event in 1992, where he eradicated a cult with the police forces.

May, George's wife and a vampire, stated that a settlement of pure werewolves disappeared some time between 1990 and 1998. There hadn't been any werewolf activity until now.

Valerie, a werewolf who hunted werewolves, had a complicated history with the mayor, which also dated back years.

From the information above, a vague guess began to take shape in your mind.

18 years ago, which was 1992, the werewolves assaulted a village to the north of the mountain for some reason and killed most of the villagers there. Valerie was probably one of the few villagers that had survived, but she was infected and turned into a werewolf. Andrew rallied the police forces and retaliated, killing most of the pure werewolves. The female black werewolf that attacked you might be a survivor that had escaped, and she just came back to town recently, which was why May hadn't noticed her presence until now. And her goal... could it be to seek revenge on the mayor?

With this, your next moves were clear. You could visit the City Hall to check the list of outsiders that had just come into town recently, if you could convince the City Recorder to help you. You could also talk to the mayor and learn more about the 1992 event, or you could go to the police station and see if you could find the records of it.

The creaking sound from the door brought you back to reality. Fran came back with bulging shopping bags in both hands as she pushed the door open with her shoulder. A smile cracked on her face the moment she saw that you were in one piece.

"James! Is everything alright?" She put the bags down on the table and came to check on you.

"Yeah. I'm fine." You smiled. "What did you buy?" You pointed to those shopping bags.

"Oh, it's just some raw meat." She picked up a wrapped piece of raw beef fresh from the market. "You know, you prefer them now, and the restaurant doesn't serve steak that's too rare. So..."

"Fran... You don't have to do this." You sighed. You were grateful for her concern, but it only made you feel even more guilty.

"Nah. I would rather wake up at night and see you eating them instead of eating me." Fran playfully pinched your cheek. "But, if you really want to eat me, I'm okay with it."

"Right. I'll remember that when I'm hungry." You gently kissed her forehead and stood up from the bed. "Anyway, I'm gonna head to City Hall. Do you have other plans?"

"No. I'm going with you." Fran followed you happily.

You went downstairs and you were greeted by the enthusiastic receptionist again.

"Hello, Mr. Wilson and Miss Evans. Going out for a walk, I assume?" Cole gently nodded at both of you with a smile. "Oh, that's right. I just checked the mailbox. A letter for you was sent here last night, Mr. Wilson. Here." He picked up an envelope from the desk and handed it to you.

"A letter? Well, thank you, Cole." You were confused as you accepted the envelope.

It had your name written on it, but you didn't recognize the handwriting. Who could it be? When you were sitting in the driver's seat, you carefully opened the envelope, and found a library card and a letter inside. The library card had the name "Barry" written on it. You didn't know who that was, so you proceeded to read the letter.

Mr. Wilson,

I guess you'll want to try your luck at City Hall. The City Recorder, Barry, is an old acquaintance of mine. Show him the library card. Maybe he'll help you.

Farewell,

An evil vampire

"That woman..." You sighed with a helpless smile.

The City Hall was in the southwest of the town. On your way there, you passed by the G&M bookshop, so you slowed down the car and stopped in front of it. The bookshop was already closed, and there was no sign saying when the owner would be back. And you knew that they would probably never be back.

"I couldn't believe it when you told me that May is a vampire." Fran drew a sharp breath when she looked at the shop. "I mean, we even had dinner with her, and she didn't kill us or turn us into vampires. And she left you that letter. She isn't like Olivia at all, is she?" Fran turned to you with a worried expression.

"No. George and Grace are totally fine about that, too." You sighed. From what you had experienced before, every vampire you met tried to kill you, and you had to kill every vampire you met to survive. Except for this one, which was odd. You couldn't imagine a world where vampires coexisted with humans. That simply couldn't happen in your understanding.

"They didn't tell you where they're going?" Fran asked.

"No. If I were her, I wouldn't either." You replied calmly. You knew what she was, and she wouldn't risk being hunted down by vampire hunters just to tell you where they were going.

"Fair enough." Fran nodded. "I kind of miss George and Grace. They're good people."

"Me too. Come on, let's go." You shook the thoughts off your mind and started the car.

You arrived at City Hall at around 11:00. It was not as big as you had imagined. It was a simple two-story building under a thousand square feet, and seemed to have only five staff members, the City Recorder included. There weren't many people here even for a Monday, and everything seemed neat and orderly.

You went to the office on the second floor and found the City Recorder immediately. Barry looked like he was in his 50s with his graying hair, however, he was well-built with solid muscle. You gave him the library card after you briefly introduced yourself. He looked at you for only a moment before he stood up from the chair with a smile.

"Mr. Wilson, huh? A private investigator? Mrs. Clark must be very fond of you to help you like this." Barry walked up to you to shake hands, "So, how may I assist you?"

"Do you have a list of people who have recently arrived in town? Like, in the last two months?" You asked.

"Oh! What a coincidence." Barry gave you a hearty laugh as he picked up a file on his desk. "We collected the transient lodging tax just last week, and this is a copy of the guest registry list. The mayor asked me for this yesterday, but he hasn't come and collected it yet. Here, have a look." He handed it to you.

The mayor? You knew you were on the right track when you heard this. "Thanks." You humbly accepted the file and started running down the names.

"I heard from the mayor that Mr. Smith's elder daughter was tragically gone. I feel sorry for them." Barry said quietly, "Especially Sherry. After living together for so long, they were like real sisters. She must be very sad."

"What do you mean, real sisters..." Fran was confused.

"I figured as much." You said while you were still checking the list. "They looked totally different. Shannon had black hair and deep blue eyes, while Sherry has red hair and green eyes. My bet is that one of them was adopted."

"Sherry is the one. I believed she was adopted by Leonard, like, 17 years ago, when she was roughly a year old. Leonard hired that butler right after that, to help him take care of the girls." Barry said casually.

Ben did tell you that he watched Shannon and Sherry grow up. But that didn't matter right now. You quickened your pace and scanned the list.

Unfortunately, it didn't help. Based on your theory, your prime suspect was a female, who was at least in her early 20s, and most likely came here by herself. You thought you could at least narrow down the suspects, but most of the people on the list were men, with a few underage young girls traveling with their parents. None of them met all the criteria.

"Did you find anything?" Fran asked with concern when she saw the anxiety on your face.

"No. Nothing." You shook your head. That couldn't be right. The female werewolf must've been staying in town most of the time rather than in the nearby forest. Otherwise, Valerie, who has been patrolling the forest these days, would've found her long ago.

"So, what do we do now?" Fran looked at you worriedly.

"I guess we have to pay the mayor a visit. Like, right now." You held the file in your hand and turned to Barry, "Would you mind if we take this list with us? I'll pass it to the mayor when I see him."

"Not at all. Go ahead, and give the mayor my regards." He smiled and went back to his chair.

"Thank you." You would like to ask him about his relationship with May, but you knew that this was not the time. So you said your goodbyes and left with Fran.

You went straight to the mayor's house. It was an ordinary house on the northwest side of the town, nothing special, just like the surrounding two-story homes, where many older-aged townfolks lived. You rang the doorbell a few times, but no one answered. You began to wonder if the mayor was not at home.

"Hey... Someone's coming." Fran tugged at your sleeve to warn you. You followed her gaze and saw an old man, who had been playing chess with his friend in the nearby little garden before, slowly walking up to you.

"Oh, you look like the detective everyone's talking about." He looked flustered and uneasy as he spoke.

"Well... Yes, I'm James Wilson, nice to meet you." You didn't know what was going on, so you just gave the old man an awkward smile.

"Haven't you heard?" The old man pointed to the mayor's house with his cane, "Their maid called the police and reported the mayor missing this morning!"

"What?" You were shocked.