Werepanther Paranormal Hunter 3 Chapter 1

“Is this really what we’re doing today?” Leia chuckled as the wind of the Cincinnati autumn blew her blonde locks around like they were underwater. “Playing fairy-tale princess?”

“I’ll admit,” Janine interjected while she pushed her glasses up her nose. “I thought it was pretty amusing at first, too.”

“What are you complaining about?” I joked. “I’m the one who has to actually talk to the animals.”

“Jesus,” our old, spunky parking attendant Paul grunted. “And here I thought the weirdest thing about my boss was him being a giant, angry kitty-cat.”

“Werepanther,” the succubus Ada corrected as she ran her right hand through her jet-black hair. “And I think it’s pretty hot he can talk to animals. It makes him seem more well-rounded and sensitive… Plus, it allows him to say all sorts of new dirty things in the bedroom.”

Paul and our Chief of Security, Tony, both looked at each other with expressions that were equal parts perplexed and disgusted.

“Keep that to yourself, please,” Tony said as he shook his bald head repeatedly. “You said you wanted us all out here for an important matter of business? What’s talking to the animals in the park have to do with security?”

“Everything,” I explained. “Now that Orglan is dead, there’s a huge power vacuum in the Midwest, and all of the major bodies of water have been left unclaimed.”

“And the hot blonde here doesn’t want to take his place,” Ada said with a sultry pout, and then she rubbed her fingers along Leia’s back. “Even though she would be the natural choice.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it,” Leia sighed. “I just said I can’t fully commit to the role right now. I’ve still got two more years of school left, and since I’m going into my junior year, there’s going to be a lot more lab practicals and fieldwork. Plus, the classes are going to start getting harder and harder the closer I get to my last semester. I just don’t have a bunch of extra time right now, so I’ll have to be a ‘part-timer.’”

“Who needs a degree, though, love?” Ada purred. “Wouldn’t it be much more liberating for you to be the Master of Waters in the Midwest?”

“I mean, yeah…” Leia admitted as she trailed off. “But I’m no quitter. I started this degree, and I’m damn well gonna finish it. If I play my cards right and finish strong, I might even get into grad school!”

“More school?” Ada stuck out her tongue and gagged. “That sounds dreadful. I didn’t even finish one year, it was so terribly boring.”

“When was that, though?” Janine teased. “Ancient Sumeria?”

“Babylon, thank you very much.” The succubus put her hands on her hips. “I would never associate myself with those awful Sumerians.”

“Wait a minute,” Paul said as he squinted and pointed at Ada. “You’re tellin’ us you’re really five thousand years old?”

“Of course not!” Ada gasped and placed her hand on her chest. “I’m only four thousand, one hundred, and fifty-two, thank you very much.”

“My bad.” Paul held up his hands and chuckled. “I shoulda known better than to assume a woman’s age.”

“What the hell was school even like back then?” I mused. “Learning hieroglyphics?”

“Cuneiform,” Janine corrected. “Come on, mister history major, you should know that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said and waved my hand. “I haven’t been to classes in months now, so I’m a little rusty.”

“The point still stands,” Leia argued as she turned to the succubus. “It sounds like you hated what you were learning back then, Ada, and I absolutely love what I’m studying. I could do it from now until the day I die.”

“She’s gonna discover a new species,” I joked as I pointed at the blonde Biology major. “Even though she’s technically already discovered like, three in the last few weeks.”

“All she’d have to do was walk up to one of your professors with Carter and have him transform,” Ada said with a half-smirk. “There. New species discovered!”

“I want to do it the right way, though.” Leia shook her head. “I want to follow the right processes, do the field research, and discover the new species for myself. You know, publish the findings in scientific journals and present it at conferences… Debate its authenticity with other scientists until it’s accepted as a scientific fact. Or at least a theory.”

“Wow,” Ada scoffed. “You make the redhead here look cool in comparison.”

“Hey!” Janine huffed, and then she crossed her arms over her perky breasts. “I’m plenty cool.”

“Totally,” I added with a warm smile. “Leia and Janine are both really fucking cool. I don’t let anybody join my team unless they are, you know.”

“Aww, shucks,” Paul said in the most sarcastically fake tone I’d ever heard. “That truly melts my icy black heart, boss. Now, can you tell us why we’re out here talkin’ to a bunch of fish? I’ve got a brand-new sudoku book calling my name, and it ain’t gonna solve itself.”

“Fair enough,” I said with a laugh. “We can’t let those little boxes sit there empty, now can we? Okay, so the reason I brought you out here is because of that power vacuum I was talking about earlier. Like Leia just said, she’ll be happy to take on the role of ambassador for all these bodies of water, under my direction.”

“So, she’ll have control over them, but she’ll be acting on your behalf?” Tony asked. “But you’ll really have all the control? Brilliant, boss!”

“That’s the gist of it, yes.” I nodded. “Leia can’t control every single body of water in the Midwest, though… Even Orglan couldn’t. He was only one guy, but he had lots of minions that watched over his territory for him when he wasn’t around.”

“So, that’s what we’re doing?” Janine asked as she cocked her head. “We’re making our own minions?”

“I hate that term.” I made a face. “Let’s call them ‘scouts.’ I like that word a lot better.”

“So, we’re making the fish our scouts?” Paul raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I’m finally goin’ senile… but I don’t get it.”

“More than just the fish,” I continued. “The birds, the snakes, the frogs, and any animal that’s willing to work with us. We can cover a lot more territory that way.”

“How are you going to get the animals to follow you, though, boss?” Tony asked. “I don’t think they’re gonna go for a pay increase like Paul and I did, and I don’t think they’re gonna be attracted to you for your charm like these lovely ladies are.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Paul snickered. “The dude’s half-cat, remember? Maybe he can put the pussycat charms on the little frogs and the bass and bats.”

“I’m not going to pay them,” I chuckled. “And I’m definitely not gonna try to flirt with them.”

“I ain’t judgin’.” Paul smirked.

“There’s two major bargaining chips I’ll have over all these creatures,” I said as I ignored the old man and continued. “One, I’m not Orglan, and from what Ada has told us, Orglan was universally hated by pretty much everyone who didn’t serve him.”

“That’s an understatement,” Ada scoffed. “He was one miserable son of a bitch who was pretty much impossible to work with.”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “He ruled the waters of the Midwest with an iron fist and used fear to keep every creature in line.”

“And that’s not what you’re going to do?” Tony asked.

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m gonna go the other way with Machiavelli. I’m gonna make them love the hell out of me so much they actually want to work for me.”

“You think that’s gonna work?” Paul huffed as he crossed his arms. “Kid, I’ve been in this world for way too long, and I’ve seen it first-hand. No matter how hard you try, no matter how charismatic or kind you are to people… There’s gonna be somebody who hates your guts. Even if it’s for some stupid reason like ‘they don’t like the way you look’ or ‘you talk with a weird accent’ or some shit like that. People are hard to please, and I can’t imagine animals are gonna be any different.”

“That brings me my second point of leverage.” I nodded to the old man. “What does every single animal want more than anything in the world?”

“A place to stick their dick in?” Ada purred.

“Well, okay, yeah,” I said with a smirk. “That’s not what I meant, though.”

“Food,” Leia said.

“That’s right.” I grinned. “We can give them food.”

“Really?” Paul asked, and I could tell the old man wasn’t exactly following the plan. “You’re gonna feed every single animal in the Midwest? I know the succubus is independently wealthy and all, but that’s a pretty tall order.”

“I won’t have to.” I shook my head. “I’m going to show them how much better things are under my rule than under Orglan’s. Unlike that asshole, his muckdwellers, and those OLG fuckers they partnered up with, I’m not going to go around and devour all the resources the animals could be using.”

“It’s true,” Janine added, and the redhead quickly slipped into her excited, scholarly tone. “Think about how much Orglan and his forces damaged the environment around where they went. The muckdwellers ate up pretty much any animals they could get their hands on, and they left their poisonous goop in the water wherever they swam. Then there’s the OLG that, according to my research, has been known to use animals in ritual sacrifices and chop down large areas’ worth of trees and foliage to make places to perform their rituals. There’s no love lost between the native animals and Orglan.”

“Exactly,” I said. “Under our rule, things will be thriving more than they ever have under Orglan. We’ll let the results speak for themselves. But first… We gotta find somebody who can spread the word.”

As the words left my mouth, I began to look around the park we were standing in. It was only a few blocks away from Cincy’s Jewel, and it was one of the least-popular parks in the area. The place was full of vibrant plant life and animals, including a pond full of all sorts of aquatic creatures and squirrels and birds that scurried and chirped in the trees.

However, from a human point of view, this place was a total dump. The city didn’t really take care of the park, which was evidenced by all the overgrown bushes and plants that covered up the sidewalks and footpaths. The small lake at the park’s center was green with algae and cattails, while the concrete that made up the sidewalks and the bases of the public pavilions were cracked and crumbled beyond redemption. Then there were the bathrooms. I had no fucking clue when they’d been cleaned last, but the fact I could smell them from all the way across the park made me guess it had been a while.

Still, this worked to our advantage.

If there were no other humans around, nobody would be questioning the crazy group of people trying to talk to the fish.

Suddenly, I noticed a cardinal up in the tree as it fluttered from branch to branch.

That was as good of a place to start as any.

“Hey, there,” I said in my most commanding voice. “Are you-- uh, do you travel often?”

The cardinal stopped munching away on something and then looked around for a second or two before his beady eyes settled on me.

Are you talking to me? he asked in a high-pitched voice.

“Believe it or not, yes,” I laughed. “Do you travel a lot?”

I’m a bird, the cardinal scoffed. Of course, I travel a lot. How can you understand me?

“It’s a long story,” I explained. “One I’m sure you’ll hear through the grapevine if you hang around long enough.”

Ohhhhh, the cardinal sighed. You have grapevines around here? I didn’t know they were around this time of the year.

“It’s an expression we humans use,” I said to the bird. “The point is, Orglan is dead, and I’m taking over his territory.”

The bird’s entire body went rigid at the word “Orglan,” and then he tilted his pointed head to the right.

Did you say Orglan is dead? the cardinal asked. The Master of Waters?

“The Master of Waters is dead.” I nodded, and then I pointed between myself and Leia. “You’re looking at the two people who are going to take his place.”

Humans? the bird trilled. I don’t know how you are talking to me, but there’s no way a human is going to be able to rule over all of Orglan’s former territory.

“Neither of us are human,” I said. “I’m a werepanther, and she is a Poliwarm. Or a Poliwarg. I always forget which it is.”

“We have our own name for ourselves in our native tongue,” Leia explained. “I prefer ‘Poliwarm,’ but I don’t particularly care.”

“Either way, we aren’t humans,” I said as I looked up at the cardinal. “Make sure everyone you talk to knows that.”

I have no idea what either of those creatures are, the bird admitted. And I’ll tell anyone if it happens to come up.

“Noooooo, no.” I shook my head. “I want you to spread the word to anyone who will listen, across the entire continental U.S. if you have to. And if you see any men in red robes walking around anywhere, let me know their whereabouts ASAP.”

You’re using a lot of words I don’t understand, the cardinal sighed.

Oh, that’s right. Animals probably didn’t have any concept of states or borders or countries.

“Just tell everybody, anywhere you fly, that Orglan’s dead, and Carter Hatfield, the Werepanther, is in charge of his territory,” I explained. “And make sure you tell them Leia Nash is the one who’s doing my bidding. And warn me if there are any giant groups of red-robed humans walking around this area.”

Okay… the bird trailed off. I don’t know how that affects me at all--.

“It affects you all over the place!” I argued. “Now that we’re in charge, the muckdwellers and the cultists who were always cutting down your trees and starting fires in your forests won’t be allowed to roam free in those territories. You and all of your forest friends will reap the rewards if you help me stay in power.”

So that’s what this is about, the cardinal said as he cocked his head at me again. You can’t control the whole territory on your own.

“I can control things just fine, we just want your help, that’s all.” I shook my head. “In addition to the message you’re delivering to the other creatures, I want you to put out a notice that I need scouts in the air, on the ground, and in the water. If Leia and I are going to patrol all the same territory Orglan used to, we can’t do it alone.”

And you say this will be… better for me? the cardinal asked.

“Much better,” I said. “You’ll have much more food and more livable habitats, which means you’ll also be able to attract more mates.”

I’m cautious to believe you, the bird sighed. But you are the one who killed Orglan, so I don’t want to make you angry at me. I’ll do it, even though I’m not sure you’re telling the truth.

“I am,” I promised. “You’ll see that in due time. Now, if you could start…”

The cardinal reared back his head and let out a long, shrill chirp, followed immediately by a few trilling noises. As he did so, more birds in the trees around us responded with an equally loud sound, until our eardrums were completely assaulted by the song-like chirps.

There, the cardinal huffed. Now all the other birds in this park know, and they know to spread the word.

“Thank you.” I nodded to the bird. “If you’re back here anytime soon, I promise I’ll give you a bag of seeds all to yourself.”

All to myself? The bird’s black eyes widened. That was all you needed to say!

With that, the red bird took off and flew across the park as he chirped and tweeted as loud as he could.

“See?” I chuckled as I turned back to my friends and lovers. “Food and safety go a long way in getting people to follow you.”

“I have no idea what just happened,” Ada admitted and frowned up at the sky. “All we heard was the little bird chirping back at you angrily.”

“He’s spreading the word,” I explained. “Now, we need to get some eyes and ears in other parts, as well.”

My friends and I spent the next hour or so walking around to different parts of the park and talking to animals in different terrains. I had the same conversation with turtles, fish, a few snakes, and even a couple of rabbits and raccoons trying to hide out in the area. They all seemed to reluctantly agree to the terms of our deal, and soon I had an entire fleet of small animals who’d agreed to keep tabs on Orglan’s former territory for us.

Once we were all done, I clapped my hands together and smiled at my teammates.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Paul grunted. “Carter’s a regular ‘ol Oprah Winfrey, convincing people to do what he wants just by being so damn charming.”

“I didn’t even know you could charm an animal, to be honest,” Tony said as he scratched his bald head.

“So, what do we do now?” Leia asked. “Do I need to take part in some sort of ceremony to take over Orglan’s old position, or--”

“Paranormals may be all about ceremonies and rituals, love,” Ada said with a laugh. “But we’re not that bureaucratic. Orglan is dead, and Carter has his old territory. He has bestowed the title of Master of Waters onto you, so it is now yours. It’s that simple.”

“Well, damn,” I mused. “That was way easier than I had thought. I wonder if I--”

Suddenly, my superhuman hearing heard something rustling through the trees in the distance. At first, I thought it might have been another small mammal who wanted to get in on our little deal, but then I focused in on the creature’s gait.

It was bipedal.

Then I heard more bipedal creatures walking through the surrounding woods.

“Carter?” Janine asked in a hushed whisper. “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got company,” I growled. “Human company.”

“Are you sure it’s not just people walking through the park?” Leia asked as her face paled. “I know this place is kinda shitty, but let’s not jump right to the worst-case scenario.”

“Go hide, Carter,” Ada hissed.

“What?” I argued. “Why should I go hide?”

“Because you’re the stealthiest of us all,” the succubus explained. “So, if that really is an enemy, you can sneak up on them and take them out from behind, all without being caught. And if it’s not, then you can just wander out and introduce yourself like you were off taking a piss.”

“How far away are they?” Tony asked as he clenched his fists.

“Too close,” I said as I took off toward the nearest patch of forest. “Just hang tight, and I’ll be watching!”

“Don’t go too far,” I heard Janine whisper as I left.

I sprinted across the clearing as fast as I could, and with my enhanced werepanther agility, I must have moved nearly thirty miles an hour. Nevertheless, my footfalls made no sound against the dirt as I ran.

Thank you, Baast.

Once I was about ten feet away from the bushes, I sprang into the air and dove into the brush. I fell into a roll as I hit the shrubberies, and then I flipped up onto all fours and held myself in a crouch. Slowly, I peered out across the clearing and narrowed my eyes in the direction of the approaching strangers.

Then I heard the footfalls stop.

Whoever had been approaching was now as still as a statue, so I tried to listen in and see what I could hear.

“Did you bring it?” I heard a man’s voice whisper. “We don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell if you didn’t bring it.’

I already didn’t like where this was going. Something sketchy was going on with these strangers, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Pssst!” I hissed to a bird I saw up in a nearby tree. “Do you think you can fly over there and see who those people are?”

I can already see them, the bird squawked back telepathically. There’s three humans.

“Are they wearing red robes?” I asked.

They’re red, for sure, the bird said. But I don’t know what a “robe” is… Is that a type of feather?

Damn it. The bird’s words made me think these guys were OLG, but I needed to get in closer so I could take these fuckers by surprise.

I slowly started to crawl through the brush in the direction of the mystery men, and even though my footfalls didn’t make a noise, the branches, bushes, and twigs I kept brushing by certainly did. Every now and then, I stopped and waited for the sounds to cease before I moved on, until finally I was about one hundred feet away from the spot where the men were hiding.

“How the fuck do we even get this to work?” I heard another voice ask. “Do we just say some magic words and evoke his spirit or--”

“Don’t be a fucking idiot!” another voice hissed. “I know the spell, and I won’t fuck it up. Just go out there and bless the battlefield.”

Battlefield?

Motherfucker. This was sounding more and more like the OLG, but there were only three of them.

Why would they only send three men against our team?

Suddenly, the movement began again, and a trio of figures stepped out of the clearing.

When I finally saw them, a tang of primal rage boiled up from my stomach.

They were all adorned in crimson-red robes, and the one in the center had an engraved moonstone belt tied up around his waist.

Members of the Order of the Lunar God.

Still, only three? What were they trying to pull here?

“W-Where is the Bastard of Baast?” one of the men whispered. “All I see are his freakish friends.”

“He’s here,” the High Priest growled. “Our lord Khonsu would not lie to us. Now, bless the battlefield, idiots.”

Hold on, Khonsu had told them where I was? Was that how they were finding us all the time? Because their god was literally watching us twenty-four seven?

That wasn’t gonna fly.

I’d had about enough of these fuckers, and the werepanther inside of me wanted nothing more than to jump out of the bushes and rip these OLG bastards limb from limb.

However, before I could do anything, two of the cultists bowed their heads and began to whisper something in their mystery language, and at the same time, the High Priest lifted something up into the air.

It was a severed hand.

A severed hand that had definitely seen better days. Most of the appendage was covered with dark, dried blood and decaying flesh, while the rest of it appeared to be made up of a crumbling skeleton.

I’d seen enough. I didn’t know what that hand was, but I didn’t want to find out.

It was time to let the werepanther take over.

I “shut off” the human part of my brain, and the primal rage within my core instantly spread out like blood spilled on a sidewalk. My whole body went numb for a second, but then sharp pain jolted through my arms and legs as the muscles started to stretch and extend. My fingers dug into the dirt beneath them as I gritted my teeth and felt my snout, ears, and canines begin to elongate. Then the hair on my body thickened as it started to cover my entire figure, and I heard my shirt, pants, and shoes tear off my body as I transformed into my bipedal monster form.

Finally, the pain ceased, and I was fully in my werepanther form.

Just in time, too, because the hand in the High Priest’s hand was now glowing with silver magic.

I let out a loud snarl as I pushed my feet into the ground and launched myself forward as hard as I could, and my body flew through the air like a fucking rocket as I burst through the trees and headed right for the three OLG bastards.

None of them even paid me any attention, but that was their mistake.

I extended my claws as I landed right beside the fucker on the far left of the group, and then I quickly lashed out at his stomach. He didn’t stop chanting as my razor-sharp claw tore through his flesh, but his words grew weaker and more raspy as his innards plopped out at his feet, and the color drained from his face.

Then I shoved the dying fucker to the side before I stabbed my claw straight through the calf of the High Priest with a wet squelch.

The bastard’s chant turned into a scream as he went down on one knee, and I slammed his face into the ground to shut him up. Even though I could have smashed his head open like a watermelon right there and then, I wanted to leave him alive for the moment.

I wanted to know what the fuck that thing in his hand was.

As for the last OLG member? I didn’t give a shit about him.

The fucker summoned silver magic into his hand as he abandoned his chant, and fear spread across his face. He raised up his palms to try and blast me, but I was way too quick.

I reached out with both my paws, wrapped them around his tiny hands, and squeezed as hard as I could.

There was a wet crunch as the cultist’s hands crumpled like wet cardboard in my grip, and he screamed in agony as blood began to gush out against my palms. Before my opponent had a chance to do anything else, I let out a snarl, opened my mouth, and bit down on his head. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as his skull crunched beneath my teeth, and his screams went silent as his body went limp.

I spat out his corpse and then turned to the High Priest, who was now trying to feebly crawl toward the glowing silver hand on the ground in front of him. I growled as I sauntered over to the fallen priest and then stomped down on his wounded leg. It crumpled under my weight with a painful crack, but the priest didn’t scream.

Instead, I heard him start to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” I growled as I pushed down on his wounded leg again, and he yelped in pain.

“K-Khonsu knew you’d be hasty to kill us,” the High Priest half-whimpered, half-chuckled. “That is why he sent us to die, like lambs to the slaughter.”

“What kind of a sick fucker sacrifices his own men?” I snarled.

“The kind who needs a blood sacrifice to activate a resurrection spell,” the High Priest rasped as he stared up at me with crazed, glassy eyes. “Do you recognize that hand? It’s the hand of Div. He might not have been a loyal servant of Khonsu in life, but he can serve now in death. Do you remember what Div could do…?”

Div’s hand? How the fuck did the OLG get ahold of that?

“He died like a bitch,” I reminded the High Priest. “Just like your two friends.”

“A worthy sacrifice,” he laughed. “As mine will be, too. Now, Bastard of Baast… witness the faces of your demise!”

The High Priest began to cackle as the severed hand on the ground glowed more intensely, and my heart fell into my stomach.

Fuck. Guess it didn’t matter how the OLG obtained Div’s hand because as much as I was playing it tough right now, I remembered damn well what Div could do.

He could use his magic to summon monsters from a shadow dimension. Monsters that were a bitch to hurt, and even harder to kill.

I instantly jumped toward Div’s severed hand, raised my foot, and brought it down on the glowing appendage as hard as I could. The second my paw slammed into the hand, it shattered into a million pieces of bone and dried flesh, and the silver magic dissipated across the landscape.

But the otherworldly glow didn’t disappear.

Instead, it simply formed a massive circle around the perimeter of the clearing and then started to swirl around us like an ethereal tornado.

“Carter?” Leia yelled from across the way. “What’s happening?”

“You don’t want to know, love,” Ada said with a hint of fear in her voice. “Just be ready to fight.”

“Fight what?” Paul grumbled. “I don’t see nothing.”

The silver tornado continued to swirl as the High Priest laughed on the ground behind me.

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled as I turned and leapt over to the priest’s body.

I landed on his head with my back paws, and his laughter abruptly cut off as his noggin exploded into a gory mess beneath me. Then I turned back to the battlefield as silvery smoke began to hiss out of the glowing circle and twisted down onto the ground, and twenty dark figures appeared out from the mist.

Figures I was all too familiar with.

They were all quadrupedal, with lanky black arms that came up above their heads and then bent down around them like a spider. Each one had glowing yellow eyes on their faces and nothing more. No nose. No mouth. Nothing. At the ends of their feet were humanoid hands that were slender and clawed, and each one of the bastards let out a snarl as they emerged out of the smoke.

The Haraami-ba. The Servants of Osiris.