Tiny content warning regarding to some nudity. Nothing sexual though.

After hours searching, we found answers. And as if it were a plot convenience to induce tension, we met at the Rec Centre minutes before the scheduled death match. It was Sunday, and it wasn't even morning when this fight took place. If the church crowd wasn't holding up traffic, what else would cause delays?

"Sorry I'm late," Max panted as he caught his breath. "There were road closures from an accident. The detour went through a one-way, one-lane side street."

"I guess it's not the only me with that excuse," Carmen said while waving a manila folder.

"Same here." James waved a large poster tube. "Are we all ready?"

"I'm ready."

"Yeah," Carmen replied.

"You betcha!" Max winked and gave a thumbs up.

"Ramsay is waiting for us inside."

We followed James into the building. Like he said, his familiar was inside and led us to the basketball court with the fight already started. Hiding under the bleachers for the vampire party was Zenia who looked very worried—anxious to be exact.

"Thank God you guys made it," she greeted us frantically. "I convinced Harant to step into the ring so I wouldn't have to sit next to him. He initially found someone strong enough to take on the shifters."

"Judging by that move he's a coward afraid of losing. By convincing him he should fight, he can't show followers he's one." Bullies, am I right?

"That was my plan, but I should've seen it coming. He's a cheat! The fight was supposed to start on the hour but he started attacking just as the first began transforming."

"Eejits!" James stomped the floor. "Transforming takes at least a full minute to complete. Bloody cowards."

"Have you done it before?" Max asked. "Transform into something?"

"Only twice, and I broke a puckle, I mean a few bones while doing it." He placed the poster tube down. "Transferring my consciousness, however, is much easier provided no one attacks while I'm out of my body."

I turned my attention to the fight, and the wolves were showing signs of fatigue. They had the muscle but lacked the speed. Because of that, the vampires hit them repeatedly and fast enough before they could heal. Had the vampires not launch their cowardly strike, you'd have a fair fight between the two teams instead of the wolves dancing around like those inflatable streamer things.

Oh yeah, as for what these werewolves looked like, they were the half man/half wolf variant with a humanoid body and the head and tail of a wolf. And big balls too. Meleeza's boobs, or what I thought was Meleeza, weren't as big as I expected them to be. Why would any shapeshifter in animal form wear clothes? If you were expecting their animal forms to be Canis lupus beautiful like Social Justice Werewolf, then these aren't the wolves you're looking for. I mentioned the tattoos, right? They have patterns on their fur that match them.

"Lena, what's with all this?" Carmen rested an arm on my right shoulder. Her eyes squinted as she placed a finger just below her lower lip. "Am I watching a live action filming of Dragonball or something?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'dragon ball', but one thing that's picked up after turning is super speed." Even for me whenever I watch vampire fights all I see are blurs moving everywhere and stopping for a few seconds.

"Are you suggesting it's automatic?"

I laughed. How I wish it were. "Not really. It's one of the first skills acquired besides dodging quickly. Same goes for super strength. These must be controlled or else—OW! Motherfucker! Why did you slap me in the back so hard, Max?"

Max couldn't contain his excitement, and he wanted his two closest friends, yay me, beside him. "I didn't slap you in the back. I just gave you a pat on the shoulder."

Somehow my cry of pain stopped the fight. The crowd and the fighters turned their attention towards us.

"Now's our chance," Max whispered. "You're up." Both he and Carmen stood at James's side to hold up the poster.

"Me? Why me?"

"You're a vampire," Max explained. "They'll listen to you more than any of us."

I looked at James. "He's right. I may be a witch, but they see me as a blood bag. The best we can do is hold the poster."

I took the manila folder from Carmen then looked at Zenia. She ushered me to go through with the speech by waving her hands away from her.

I turned around and walked to the middle of the court, getting my shoes dirtied with a mix of sweat, spit, and blood. The werewolves reverted to human form and to be honest Jedward's dick was well—oh why am I thinking of this? Back to the story!

"We have a valid reason this fight is unnecessary. First, it's just some idiot's way of proving they're the better man in the picture–"

"Get to the point!" Harant yelled. "Or are you on their side too?"

I didn't like being put on the spot, but stalling wasn't getting us any further. "We discovered one of Brendan's ancestors was a vampire."

This was a surprise to both parties, but not enough to convince Harant as he kept his stern, unibrowed expression.

"Wait a minute here." Jedward stepped forward. "How is it possible that Brendan is vampire? I was the one who initiated him. If he has traces of vampire DNA, there would be complications with the ritual."

"Hey, you forced me into this wolf pack," Brendan retorted. "I just wanted to be part of the frat house."

"It was a packaged deal. You join the frat, you join the pack. I'd still initiate you even if you were vampire. Just an extra step of dancing naked in the moonlight and singing a Boys from Venus song of my choosing."

"Your pup's weak, Jedward," Harant called out. "He wouldn't have the strength to survive our change. I'm not surprised he survived yours."

"That's because the vampire gene died out with Brendan's bloodline," I explained. I waved a hand to summon Carmen, Max and James. "We traced it back to a vampire named Donal O Braoin. Donal's cousin was Eamon O Cearmada who turned an Irish Traveller. Said Traveller took on the name Connor mac Eamon who, years later—"

"Turned my sire, Sean," Harant cut in, "who in turn turned me." This new information piqued his interest. "But where is this going, really? Are you here to stall the fight?"

"Well, that's part of it but—" before I could get to the meat of our research one of the vampire warriors, red-headed dye job, threw something at me. With my left hand I blocked it. "OW! Seriously, let me finish, kurva!" I had to catch it by the blade and it stung like a motherfucker.

"You are stalling," Dye Job complained. "You don't move out of our way we—"

James said some words in what sounded similar to English. Whatever he said, it was a spell which muted her. "Haud yer wheesht! Ye'll get yer voice back in half an hour. Next one to interrupt gets their tongue pulled out."

Giancarlo mumbled something about losing a tongue. At least that's how I interpreted it before Meleeza hit him over the head.

"I'm not joking." James pushed up his glasses. "Ye dinnae want to end up like that guy."

I took a couple of breaths then continued. "This part's the best. The thing is Donal had multiple shapeshifting contracts. We couldn't find the exact number but it was enough for a single humanoid which I believe is two or three." I turned to the werewolf party. "Maybe one of you can correct me on this?"

"It can go up to eleven, but one is preferred if you're banding together," Jedward answered. "Though our sorority affiliate is pushing for members to have two."

"Well, we believe the guy had a lot. And it wasn't easy to find info on this Donal guy because he wasn't well-liked by his clan. I'm sure you've heard about Donal, haven't you, Harant?"

"Not until today," he replied, "and you better not be fabricating this."

"It might sound like that because Donal had a habit of making stuff up too. This bit shouldn't surprise you as he was a sexual deviant. He always had women fawning at his side, but that wasn't enough. Our source informed that he slept with Eamon's wife, though it might've been the wife who was sleeping around. In the end, Donal was banished from the clan and that led to his dislike of shapeshifters. Long story short, you, Harant, and Brendan are distant relatives by your, well, there's no term for this is there?"

The vampire side didn't welcome the revelation at once. Considering how Harant had a haremtourage in the same manner as Donal that apple didn't fall far from the tree.

"Clan law states family shouldn't be killed," Harant muttered. He bit his lower lip then sneered, "But he stole my girlfriend."

"I'm not your girlfriend!" Zenia stepped up. "I know having multiple sex partners is acceptable in vampire culture, but I don't want someone who sleeps with other women. Human STDs may not affect us, but our own set's way deadlier than those."

"That's ridiculous if you're accusing me as a carrier! I always wear a condom when I'm with these beauties."

If you could see my facial expression. His haremtourage, who would never leave his side and defend him from everything, turned against him. "You never used a condom with me," the blonde whined.

"The same goes for me," the brunette added. "Gokhar and I are always together and you assured us you're clean."

Dye Job, Gokhar, her name revealed, nodded.

Harant's face reddened like a cherry tomato. He couldn't handle the embarrassment.

Jedward moved to stand in front of me. I stepped to the side to avoid staring at his ass. If I ever meet the guy of my dreams, he'd have an ass like Jedward's but that's not relevant right now.

"Harant, dude, I may sleep with everyone who falls for me, but I put on a glove before we have sex. When I change partners, I make sure to get tested. If it helps, I can conduct your test for free. I'm an epidemiologist studying STDs."

And then came the explosion. "I have the vampire version of the clap, okay? No woman would lay with me if anyone knew."

"Of course not with the way you treat them," Zenia pointed out. "Thanks to you I got it, but I had it treated in time. Lord knows how long you've had it, but you should take care of if it's treatable."

The haremtourage looked at each other. "So whenever he was in the bathroom—"

"I'm not masturbating. It burns when I pee. And my cock's not always charged. It's swollen."

"Too much information there," Zenia said taking her sweater and giving it to Brendan to cover up. "Right now I'm in serious need of a drink. I'm heading to Talia's if anyone wants to join me."

Brendan followed Zenia out of the gym. As for the rest of us, we all decided to head to Talia's after the wolves dressed themselves. Harant stopped pursuing Zenia, but that didn't stop his feelings of jealousy for Brendan. With the feud almost over, he and Zenia moved out of the Metropolis and headed back west where they first met.

So remember: If you're gonna get down and dirty, use protection or don't do it at all. Get tested, because who knows what you're carrying. Respect goes both ways so treat your partner with it. Crazy how this ended without any casualties. These fights usually end up in a bloodbath.

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Yes, it's important to take care of yourself. Anyway since there are many ways of portraying the werewolf, what's your favourite portrayal? If wolves are overrated, what other animal shifters do you wish to see out there?

You know the drill. Feel free to show your appreciations and concerns.

Next Episode: Blooooood!

Song featured: "Army of the Night" by Powerwolf

Edited: 05/05/2019