Full Moon Farce (part 3 of 3)
The conclusion of the mystery.
Content Warning: reference of spousal abuse, some body horror, some graphic descriptions of slaughter.
If you missed Part 1, read it here!
If you missed Part 2, read it here!
“Gerald, I’ll be charging double for hazard pay.”
Sean ducked behind the kitchen sink as a large, clawed, werewolf hand crashed through the window, swiping and knocking over glasses and tchotchkes on the windowsill. The snarling and barking outside was like a wolf but harsher, heavier. Occasionally a word would crawl out of the rage and animal snarling.
“Kllll uuuuu, Grrrld!”
Gerald cowered under the kitchen table, his face dripping blood from a slash in his cheek. “Dammit Houston, you get me outta this I’ll give ya the damn farm!”
Sean sneezed, his allergy medication beginning to wear off. “I don’t want to get into farming. What I do what-” Sean pivoted to the side door, yanking the deadbolt into place just before Dolores, in a half woman, half wolf transformation, slammed into the door hard enough to crack the frame. A gut shaking howl filled the kitchen. Sean glared at Gerald. “-is to know what you did to piss your wife off enough to force her into finding a fucking Hexen Wolfpelt!”
Gerald replied with a blank stare, Sean rolled his eyes and explained with as much sarcasm as he could muster in the moment.
“A Hexen Wolfpelt is a pelt of werewolf fur that’s been enchanted by demonic energies. It makes the wearer bound to whatever enchanted it and makes them want one thing.” Sean flinched as Dolores slammed into the kitchen door again, cracking the frame further. “And Dolores wants you dead. Well, that and apparently her least favorite sheep.” Sean dove for the table and grabbed Gerald by his blood soaked collar. “So WHAT did you DO?”
Gerald shook his head. “I-I-I don’t know! I mean I stepped out once or twice, but that was years ago, I was drinkin’ then! I mean I drink a little now, but Dolores knows I work hard!” Gerald ran a calloused hand over the pate of his head, the shining sweat smearing his thinning hair down. “She should know I work hard!”
A blood curdling howl erupted as the kitchen door was broken off the hinges, spraying glass splinters and pieces of aged wood into the 70’s era kitchen. Sean turned to watch the werewolf enter the room. “Well whatever it was you did, she’s not stopping until you’re punished for it.”
Dolores was a plump woman, but her transformed version was lean, white fur covering her mostly human body. Her features were barely recognizable, the cheeks coated in fur, her jawline malformed to allow for additional teeth that were too large for her mouth. The overalls were straining against the larger monster body and ripping at the knees and hips. Dolores’s green eyes were still unmistakable, now shining with an emerald glow enhanced by the dark powers emitting from the Hex Pelt that was draped over her left shoulder. The pelt didn’t seem to be fastened in any way but clung to Dolores like her own skin.
As she spotted the men under the kitchen table she let out a low growl and stalked forward. Sean tried to get the aconite, commonly known as wolfesbane in his coat pocket, shouting in an attempt to deescalate the situation.
“Dolores, it’s Sean! Can you tell me why you wear the pelt? What wrongs have been taken against you? Maybe we can fix it without violence!” Sean grasped the plastic bag the herb was in and he swore under his breath. As she stalked forward, Dolores spoke, pushing the words out in an almost painful manner.
She twisted her head as she formed words painfully. “Geeerrrrrlldd…bbbbeeeats…meeeeee.” Then she punctuated the statement with a long mournful howl.
Sean looked at Gerald, fury in his voice as he asked “Gerald, is that true? Maybe the farm isn’t doing so hot, Gerald.” Sean moved so he was on one knee, slowly backing out from under the table. When Gerald tried to grab Sean’s coat Sean yanked it away, opening the baggie at the same time “You’re ‘old school’ and can’t talk about your feelings so you take it out on your wife, huh Gerald? Is that true?”
Gerald’s scared demeanor briefly shifted into rage. “That bitch ain’t the one trying to keep this farm afloat! She needs ta listen better, and-” Sean cut Gerald off by kicking the table, the hard wood feet sliding across the vinyl and exposing the farmer. Sean stood and thought about his overdue bills, then looked to the half transformed, mutated woman who didn’t see any better solution in her life than a deal with a devil.
Under his breath Sean said “I’ll figure it out.” To Dolores Sean said “Go get him, Dolores. He earned it.” Then Sean turned around to avoid the slaughter that was a werewolf not eating their prey, but destroying them to the point you could not recognize what was left. Once the sound of carnage was over Sean turned and slowly backed away while speaking to a blood soaked Dolores.
“Dolores, you have to take that pelt off now. You’ve achieved your goal.” Sean pulled the branch of wolfsbane form his pocket, holding that hand low and behind him. “I can’t do it for you, and it’s only going to keep changing you if you don’t remove it.”
Dolores’s head whipped around to stare at Sean with her huge green eyes. As she attempted to reply the transformation continued with a loud cracking of bones, skin stretching and ripping, and Dolores fell to her briefly malformed knees, the shift into a more wolf-than-human creature continuing. Dolores swelled with new muscle, her face stretched and contorted into a more wolfen visage, the pelt on her shoulder expanded and covered her chest now.
Sean backed into the living room, trying to get furniture between him and the beast. He moved to hold the wolfsbane up in front of him, while with his other hand reaching for the six-shooter with silver bullets on his gun holster. “Dolores, calm down. I need to know who gave you the pelt.” She replied with a low growl that filled the house. “Shit.”
The beast was on Sean before he could react, a supernatural speed he hadn’t anticipated. In a flash he was being pressed into the sofa, a plaid designed 80’s era thing with hardwood arms and a sturdy body that held Sean and the massive monster that pinned him down.
Dolores opened her jaw, now packed perfectly with jagged teeth, saliva dripping as she moved to bite Sean’s neck. But Sean took a chance and stuffed the wolfesbane into her mouth, tearing into the skin on his hand as he removed his appendage before the wolf jaw snapped shut.
Dolores began coughing, the wolfesbane acting as an allergen and clogging her windpipe. Dolores reared back and started slashing in a panic giving Sean a chance to pull the gun free.
“I’m sorry, Dolores. I’ll fix this, I swear.”
Then Sean fired all six rounds into the monster that was Dolores Buchanan. The gun fire left Sean’s ears ringing and the muzzle flashes left him seeing the world in a haze overlaid with blinding light. The monster fell back, groaning and coughing from the wolfsbane and silver. The monster looked at Sean, eyes still a beautiful emerald, then it sprinted through the front door, crashing like a wrecking ball and running into the night.
Sean wiped his eyes, convincing himself the tears were from the animal dander. He took out his cell phone, dialed a number. As it rang he sniffed and wiped his eyes, clenching his teeth until a voice on the other end answered “Hey Sean, Ernie.”
“Hey Ernie. Turns out it was the wife. Yeah, husband’s dead, she’s gone feral, Hex Pelt. Hm? Oh, I don’t know, dead people typically don’t pay for my services. Oh, that’s fine Ernie, you don’t-hello?” There was a beat, then Sean’s phone pinged. He got an alert that Ernie payed him through Venmo. The memo read “For Family.”
Sean grinned. He looked around the demolished farmhouse, shook his head, then walked outside to his car. The bleat of sheep could be heard under the distance howl of a woman turned monster, and Sean made a note of future work he would have to take care of.
-The End-
Solid story! I enjoyed it very much.