Werepanther: Paranormal Hunter 2 Chapter 1

“Are you sure he’s going to show up?” Janine asked as she looked at her smartwatch. “You said this guy would be here at eleven AM sharp, Ada. I skipped class today for this!”

“Damn,” I said as I let out a whistle. “Janine Beckett, playing hooky? That’s unheard of.”

“I know you dropped out of school after you inherited all these powers and resources,” the redhead said with a frown. “But I’ve worked damn hard on my degree, and I’m not gonna quit right when I’m in my last year.”

“Fair enough,” I admitted as I raised my hands in surrender.

As much as I loved studying history, I was so over school, and I was quick to step away from my history degree the second I realized I now had a paranormal succubus backing with seemingly unlimited resources behind me. I could make a fuck ton more money running Cincy’s Jewel and building an empire of establishments than I could working at a museum or teaching like I’d originally planned.

Janine, though, was another story. My adorable bookworm girlfriend was dedicated to her studies, and it didn’t surprise me that she wanted to finish up her degree.

“Relax, Janine…” the dark-haired succubus, Ada, purred. “Zed will be here. If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s knowing exactly when somebody will come.”

Ada traced her fingers around Janine’s pale cheeks as she spoke, and Janine turned as red as a beet. Then the super-smart redhead pulled away from Ada’s touch, adjusted her glasses, and looked down at the ground as she tried to recompose herself.

I couldn’t help but marvel at the natural beauty of the two women as they bantered. Janine’s red hair was tied up into a taunt ponytail, and she wore a skin-tight white t-shirt that hugged her perky breasts like a second skin. Over the top of the t-shirt was a red-and-black flannel shirt left intentionally unbuttoned, and on her bottoms were the same ripped pair of blue jeans she normally wore.

Ada was much less covered up.

The dark-haired succubus wore nothing but a simple leather bikini top that just barely covered her nipples and a pair of leather-studded panties. Other than those tiny pieces of fabric, Ada only wore a pair of shiny black stilettos that looked sharp enough to take out somebody’s eye.

And then there was a tail. A small, devil-like tail hung down between Ada’s legs.

“That’s new,” I said as I nodded to the appendage. “Since when did you have one of those?”

Ada simply tilted her head to the side, licked her lips, and gave me a playful wink.

“You’ll find out soon enough, love,” she promised.

“I’m with the bookworm,” Paul, our resident grouchy parking attendant, said as he pointed to Janine. “Zed said he’d be here at eleven, and it’s eleven fifteen. If he’s not here in the next ten minutes? I say ‘fuck ‘em.’”

The horseshoe-patterned white hair on Paul’s head was somewhat unkempt, his balding head was obnoxiously shiny today, and he had on the type of clothes any elderly midwesterner would wear: a pair of Wrangler jeans, light tan boots, and a wrinkly blue flannel shirt.

“We cannot simply say ‘fuck him’ to Zed,” Ada scoffed. “He’s the only one who has the ability to officially sign Cincy’s Jewel over to Carter.”

“Is he really the only one?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “There have got to be, like, at least a hundred lawyers in the Cincinnati metro area, if not more.”

“None of them are as good as Zed,” the succubus said. “And by that, I mean none of them are quite as… inconspicuous about our dealings.”

“Soooooo, he’s a special lawyer?” I asked as I crossed my arms. “That does illegal shit?”

“You say ‘illegal.’” Ada shrugged. “I say ‘creative.’ The long and short of the matter is he has the papers that will make this lounge yours, and there’s not another lawyer in the greater Midwest who would touch this transaction with a ten foot pole.”

“Because it’s illegal?” I smirked.

“Because it’s complicated,” Ada said. “And it raises way too many questions. Such as ‘how exactly did the previous owner die?’ ‘Why is the previous owner’s biggest competitor trying to stake a claim to his property?’ And, my favorite, ‘how did all this shit get destroyed?’ With Zed, none of those questions will be asked, period.”

“But… Doesn’t the club have to go through, like, Div’s next of kin or something?” Janine asked.

“Div? A father?” Paul snorted. “No way. That hounddogging fuckwit probably has a million little bastards out there who have no idea who their daddy is, but he sure as hell didn’t have any kids.”

“I don’t think he had any family at all.” Tony, our chief of security, shrugged. “At least he never talked about them or nothin.”

The former convict stood with his thick, muscular arms crossed across his chest in an obnoxiously “tough” stance, and he rubbed his brown goatee as he awaited my response with a dull, humorous frown. His shaved head was equally as shiny as Pauls under the neon lights of Cincy’s Jewel, and he wore a simple pair of black pants and a plain black polo that hugged his massive frame tight.

“Okay,” I continued. “But then, shouldn’t his property go to the state or something? You can’t just lay a claim to the property of somebody you didn’t even know.”

“Of course you can!” Ada said as she clapped her hands together. “Especially when you’re his long-lost nephew.”

“Long-lost neph… Noooooo.” My eyes widened as the realization took over. “Ada, please tell me you’re not gonna ask us to lie on legal documents.”

“I won’t,” she promised with a hand over her heart. “Zed might, though.”

“Goddamnit,” I said as I facepalmed. “I don’t wanna go to jail for forging legal documents.”

“Good idea, kid,” Paul said with a chuckle. “I don’t think you’d last a day in prison.”

“I’ve been to prison, Paul,” Tony added. “And you’re one-hundred percent right. A pretty boy like Mr. Hatfield here? He’d get passed around more than a joint at a Willie Nelson concert.”

“If the cops could even take him,” Janine said under her breath.

She had a good point. Even if I did break the law and people started to come after me, I was a freaking werepanther. What exactly were they going to do?

But Paul and Tony didn’t know that. To them, I was just Carter Hatfield, a college student who’d somehow gotten Div out of the picture and now wanted to become their new boss.

“I’m not really that worried about going to prison.” I shrugged. “But what exactly would you say the chances are of somebody asking questions that could get us in trouble? Like, if you could put a percentage on it?”

“You worry too much, Carter,” Ada said with a half-smile. “Zed will take care of it. He’s never failed me before, and I’ve worked with him plenty of times.”

“If he shows up,” Paul grumbled. “Jesus, I could be halfway through a crossword by now.”

“He’ll be here,” Ada said. “Don’t you worry your bald little head.”

“That’s a low blow,” the old man said with a frown. “But I appreciate the sass.”

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door of the lounge.

“I’ll get it!” the succubus declared as she bounded over to the entrance.

It had only been about a week since we’d taken down the demon mob boss Div and all his cronies, but I wanted to get the paperwork signed over to my name ASAP. Most of the “backstage” area of the club had been damaged in our brawl, and the main area needed a fuck ton of rennovations if we wanted it to actually be seen as a serious establishment. However, until it was officially in my name, we couldn’t do anything, so Cincy’s Jewel had been closed for the last week, and I was starting to worry about the profits we were missing out on.

I already had big plans for this place. First and foremost, I wanted to liven up the interior. Even though I dug the neon lights and the general aesthetic Div created, everything a guest touched just felt like it was pulled straight from IKEA’s dumpster. The cheap brown vinyl on the booths was cracked and torn, and the plastic chairs looked like they were completely warped out of place. The tables were full of hairline cracks and chips in the wood, and they looked like they’d splinter apart if someone leaned on them too hard.

And that didn’t even touch the backstage area or the exterior.

If someone came up to the place when it was closed, they’d probably think it was an abandoned property. There were cracks in the concrete walls, rust all over the exposed metal uprights, and several shingles were missing from the roof. Then there was the simple fact that half the backstage was destroyed, including an entire damn wall.

Ada had already said she’d front me the money for the repairs, but we were at a complete standstill until I got those papers signed.

Just then, Ada came walking in with a man in a brown tweed suit and green-and-blue plaid tie. He held a briefcase in his chubby hands, and his head was so round it was practically a perfect sphere. A few stray strands of greasy black hair curled down around his face, though most of it was obscured by the white cowboy hat he wore on his head.

“You gotta be freaking kidding me,” Paul mumbled.

“Carter Hatfield?” the man asked in a deep southern twang as he stepped forward and extended his hand. “Zed Barrow. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” I said as I shook the man’s hand. “Ada tells me you can help with our… unique situation?”

“Why, Carter,” Zed said with a laugh. “There ain’t never been a case I couldn’t crack. By the way, I’m so, soooo sorry to hear about your ‘uncle.’”

The cowboy lawyer winked as he said the last few words, which made me realize he knew this whole thing was a facade.

Still, if he was going to make the process go smoother, I wasn’t gonna complain.

“Div was an asshole,” Ada said as she wrinkled her nose. “I for one am glad he’s gone.”

“Me, too,” Tony added. “Dude was so cheap, I bet his coffin was made of cardboard.”

“My condolences,” Zed said in a sarcastic tone, and then he plopped his briefcase onto a nearby table and opened it up. “So, Carter, here’s how this is gonna work. I pull out these papers, plop ‘em down on the table, and you sign everywhere you see a yellow mark. Got it?”

“Shouldn’t you read them first?” Janine interjected, and she narrowed her intelligent brown eyes at the paperwork. “What even are those documents, anyway?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that, darlin’,” Zed said as he pulled a few of them out. “All you gotta do is sign where you need to, Mr. Hatfield, and we’ll make sure your ‘uncle’s’ property goes to the right place.”

The lawyer handed me the documents, and I gave them a quick once-over. Of course, I had no fucking clue what most of the stuff on there actually meant. It was all a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo to me.

But, if Ada trusted this guy, then I guess it would be wise for me to trust him, too.

“So, I sign these, and you do the rest?” I asked. “I won’t have to like, go to court and testify under oath or attend any will hearings or anything like that?”

“Kid,” Zed said as he put his arm around my shoulder. “I ain’t never had a client who went to court. There’s a reason people call me the ‘Shrewd Southerner,’ you know… Because nobody never suspects nothin’ outta my work. It’s nice, clean, and wrapped up tight in a little bow. Trust me, Mr. Hatfield, I won’t let anyone in this room get summoned to court. You wanna know why? Because if that happens, and one of y’all gets put under oath? We’re all fucked.”

Well, that was reassuring.

Still, it sounded like he at least knew what he was doing, so I pulled out a pen and began to sign. There were six spots in total, and from what I was reading, it basically sounded like I was just verifying that I was Div’s legal next of kin.

The mere thought of being related to that slimy, perverted asshole made my skin crawl, but it was necessary to get things moving. I finished in no time flat, so I pressed all the papers together, tapped them on the desk for good measure, and then handed them back to Zed.

“Are you sure about this, Carter?” Janine gulped. “Neither of us know the first thing about running a business. You don’t even have your bachelor’s degree yet.”

“I’ll learn as I go.” I shrugged. “How hard can it be?”

“Well, that just fills ya with confidence, doesn’t it?” Paul asked Tony.

“Carter promoted me and tripled my salary,” Tony said. “As long as the paycheck clears every other week, he can run this club any way he fucking wants.”

“Our tripled salaries are nice,” Paul sighed. “But what happens when we start getting more employees? Or when he starts realizing just how much of a money pit this place actually is?”

“It won’t matter,” Ada said. “I’m the one footing the bill for now. Until Carter can get Cincy’s Jewel back up and running.”

“Don’t spend your whole paycheck at once,” Paul teased Tony. “Ya might need it down the line.”

“Come on, now,” I said to the old man. “People were lining up to come to this place before, and that was when it was run by a cheap bastard who never took care of anything. They’ll be coming to Cincy’s Jewel in droves once we get all these renovations underway.”

“Now that’s what I like to hear!” Zed whistled. “A man with a plan. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get to scootin.’ I gotta get down to Office Max to make some copies before the regular office crowd gets there.”

“You don’t have a copier at your office?” Janine placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head.

“Sure I do, little lady,” the cowboy lawyer explained. “But you never, ever wanna make copies of doctored documents in your office. It’s too easy to track. You go down to Fedex or Office Max, make the copies there, and then make sure you pay in cash. It’s foolproof!”

“Are you sure this is the right guy for the job?” I whispered to Ada.

“He’s been my lawyer for several years now,” Ada said. “I’d trust him with my life.”

Zed packed up the documents in his briefcase before he slammed it shut, locked it, and then held it down at his side. The cowboy lawyer turned back to me and raised his hand, so I shook it firmly.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Hatfield,” he said with a drawl. “I’ll send ya a copy of these documents when they’re all done. By mail. You’ll know it’s mine because everything will be handwritten, and it won’t have any sort of return address on it.”

“I’ll be looking for it,” I said.

“It should only take another day or two to process,” Zed continued. “So, I just wanna be the first to congratulate ya on your new nightclub, young man.”

“Lounge,” I corrected the man. “Ada runs the nightclub, and I run the lounge.”

“Potatoe, po-tah-to.” Zed shrugged.

“It’s actually very different,” I said. “This is supposed to be more upscale and fancy, while Ada’s is where you wanna go to get sloshed and dance like a drunken idiot.”

“Kid,” the cowboy said with a half-smile. “My job here is pretty much done. You go off and do whatever you want with this little club of yours.”

“Lounge,” I sighed, but Zed was already headed for the door.

“Y’all have a nice day!” he proclaimed, and then he walked out into the night.

Ada dashed over and locked the door behind the lawyer, and then she looked back at us.

“See?” she said. “I told you Zed was a little strange, but he’s taking care of all our needs. I have no doubt that in a few short days, everything will be good to go.”

“And why exactly were we at this meeting?” Paul grumbled. “I figured all the legal stuff was for the owner, and the owner only.”

“You’re here because I want you both to be more involved with the behind the scenes stuff at Cincy’s Jewel,” I explained. “You are the only employees, after all.”

“And whose fault is that?” Paul winked. “It’s almost like somebody came in here and scared ‘em all away by kicking their boss’ ass.”

“Not possible,” Tony added with a smirk. “It’s not like he knocked out the lone security guard and snuck in… What happened in here, anyway? I noticed all the video footage from that night was deleted in the security system.”

“The less you know, the better,” I promised. “Just know Div had a little… disagreement with my friends and I, so we beat his ass and sent him packing.”

“And by that you mean…?” Tony asked as he dragged his finger across his throat. “Not that I’d tell anyone! I ain’t a snitch.”

Even though I liked both of these men enough to keep them on as employees, I wasn’t quite ready to confess a murder to them yet.

“If you must know,” Janine cut in smoothly, “Carter beat the snot out of Div, and he ran away with his tail between his legs. Same with all of his men.”

“You musta put a major whopping on him,” Paul said. “I saw the state of that wall.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Tony laughed. “Carter was so strong, he took me out with one punch and then carried me back to his car. The kid may look like a string bean, but he’s got a punch like Tyson.”

“You two don’t worry about Div.” Ada clicked her tongue. “You just do what we pay you to do, which is man the parking lot and help us with security.”

“Look, lady.” Tony raised his hands in the air. “If you don’t want us asking questions, that’s all you gotta say. My lips are sealed.”

“Mine, too,” Paul said. “Now, can I get back to my crosswords?”

“You mean your post?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t pay you to do crosswords, you know. Besides, it’s not like there’s gonna be anyone trying to park out there today. All of our employees are right here, in this room.”

“You never know.” Paul shrugged. “Not too long ago, two crazy kids tricked me into letting them into the lot, and everything’s been topsy-turvy from there. We don’t want that to happen again.”

Janine and I exchanged a coy grin as we looked at each other and silently reminisced about our last adventure. There would certainly be many more to come, but our break-in at Cincy’s Jewel was always going to hold a special place in our hearts.

“Tell you what,” I said as I looked at my crew. “I made you all get up early for this mandatory meeting, so why don’t you all just take the rest of the day off? With full pay, of course.”

“No shit?” Tony gasped, and then his mouth fell to the floor. “You’re serious?”

“Dead serious.” I nodded. “It’s not like I have much else for you to do today.”

“But I had some security proposals I wanted to run by you…” Tony said with the tone of a hurt puppy.

“They can wait until tomorrow,” I said. “How about you go home, hammer them out a little more, and then do your proposals first thing in the morning? That way, you’ll have even more time to perfect them.”

“That’s fine with me, boss!” Tony said with a wide grin.

“You had me at ‘go home,’” Paul chuckled. “Do we got a clock out system yet, or is it just honor system for--”

Before he could finish his sentence, there was a loud knock at the front door.

“The fuck?” Ada asked as she looked over. “The sign clearly says we are closed for renovation until further notice.”

“Also, who the hell is coming to a nightclub at eleven in the morning?” Janine said with a sigh.

“Maybe that’s a good sign,” I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. “People are literally trying to beat down the door to get into the lounge right now. They’ll probably figure out it’s closed when there’s no answer, so I’d just ignore them for now.”

The people on the other side of the door knocked again, this time even louder.

“Christ,” Paul said with a roll of his eyes. “Can’t those idiots read?”

“Apparently not.” Ada frowned. “They seem to be quite impatient.”

There was another loud knock, this time with a rapid, impatient rhythm.

“I guess I’m gonna have to go chew their asses out,” Paul grumbled as he turned to the door, but Tony stopped him with his arm.

“I’m the chief of security,” Tony said. “I’ll tell them to take a hike.”

“Don’t be too rough with them,” I warned. “They’re probably just a bunch of drunk college kids looking for a place that’ll serve them more booze.”

We watched as Tony strode over to the door, unlocked it gently, and then pulled it open.

“Sorry, guys,” Tony began. “We’re clos--”

Before he could finish his sentence, there was a bright blast of silver light from the doorway. Tony let out a yelp as he was thrown backward across the room, and then he slammed into one of the cheap round tables. The thing completely shattered from the impact, and Tony let out a groan as he grabbed his stomach and groggily rolled around.

A large group of men charged into the room, and all of them were wearing crimson robes tied to their bodies by simple leather belts with silver gemstones on the clasps.

I knew these fuckers.

It was the Order of the Lunar God. AKA the sworn enemies of Baast. AKA the people who dedicated their lives to wiping out any and all werepanthers they could find.

And somehow, after a week of silence, they’d found me again.

As the men funneled into the room, another figure stepped out into my sightline.

It was a massive dog, probably the size of a direwolf. Its fur was sleek and gray, though it had a strange, silver glitter to it when the light hit it right. Its head was narrow and long, with two white, pupil-less orbs on both sides of its noggin. The creature’s ears were pointed, but they were stretched back behind its head as if they’d been slicked down with hair gel.

Then there were its fangs. The giant dog had four foot-long canines that jutted down from the top of its mouth and looked like they were as sharp as a fucking butcher knife. The dog’s paws were also nearly as big as its head, and each one had a set of massive claws.

“W-What the fuck is that?” Paul yelped as he scurried away from the door.

“They brought Tiangou with them?” Ada sighed. “Now they are just getting desperate.”

“What the fuck is a Tiangou?” I asked. “The dog?”

“Not just any dog,” Janine explained. “It’s one of Khonsu’s beloved pets… A dog that is said to hold the power of the moon in its very fur, and that is faster than even the quickest arrow.”

“Good thing we’re not using arrows, then,” I said with a growl. “These bastards just don’t learn, do they?”

I turned to face our enemies as they began to chant in their strange, occultish language, and their hands began to glow with silver magic as Tiangou let out a deep, earth-shaking howl.

Yep. Things were about to get a lot more interesting.