The Stray Human: A collage age urban fantasy with werewolves, werewolf community center book 1

by Abigail Smith

  “Anyone want any drinks?” I asked, feeling defeated. I put the papers away so they wouldn’t get wet and looked around.

  “Root beer,” Gavin said, sitting down on the stool next to Silvia.

  “I guess I’ll have one, too, no ice, though,” Silvia said. I got out two soft drinks, and since it was such a non-alcoholic moment, I had myself a Coke.

  Silvia leaned against Gavin’s big strong arm. I watched, feeling a twinge of jealousy bubble up inside of me. I was determined not to show it, though, but still, those guns seemed like the world’s best pillow as Silvia rested on them.

  “Looks like someone’s getting sleepy. Maybe you should take her to bed, Gavin?”

  “Can’t. No one’s down in the bar currently,” he said, putting his arm around her.

  “Huh? What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I mean that if Carl,” he paused, figuring out whether or not to censor, code, or just go for it, “came down here and saw you alone, you’re just about the one person he could assassinate,” Gavin said in as quiet a tone as he could muster.

  A shudder raced down my spine, and I looked down at Silvia. Her expression, though tired, registered more of a what, I’ve seen that kind of thing before than a horrified shock. It kind of broke my heart she didn’t suddenly gasp at the word assassinate.

  “Fair enough. Guess you’re going for guardian angel status then?” I said, leaning onto the bar.

  “Not quite, but I can tell people are already seeing you as part of the group, part of the family. Losing you would cause a lot of problems because we don’t deal well with grief.”

  “It’s nice to know my death would be followed with a bloodbath,” I said in a mock cheerful tone.

  Silvia smiled, but she also looked worried finally.

  “Maybe we could both put her upstairs in a cot?” I suggested.

  Gavin shrugged and picked up the small girl in both arms as I slipped out from the bar.

  Chapter 29

  I smiled, bundled up in a little cocoon of warmth. I didn’t know much of my surroundings, but I knew one thing—it was Saturday, which meant no school, so I could sleep in and put on some PJs. After, I decided to wake up and go watch old cartoons or a streaming service and have no guilt.

  Then a sudden thought hit me. If I was asleep in bed, then I should already be wearing PJs. That was evidently false as I could feel the tug of my belt and my warm fuzzy socks digging into my ankles.

  So, I hadn’t gotten home, meaning I must be somewhere else, and what was this warm lump beside me?

  The warm comfort I was in prior shifted drastically as I felt around the environment. The lump beside me moved, and I felt the edge of something or other—could it be a bed, or was I on a soft comfortable cliff?

  I gasped and opened my eyes, before falling with a thunk to the floor. “Ow,” I said as I peered around the room.

  “You okay?” The lump, or more accurately, Silvia, peered out of her blanket burrito at me.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little… disoriented,” I said, slowly getting up and stretching.

  On the other side of Silvia was Gavin. He was in an awkward position, so I assumed he’d been in wolf form while we slept. Most likely staying vigilant all night so that me and Silvia could sleep, he apparently did such a good job I forgot about the possible danger.

  “Oh, jeez, did I spend another night here? I should really get my other clothes.” I leaned over and sniffed.

  My clothes didn’t smell that bad, but I felt very uncomfortable wearing them.

  “Why don’t you grab some of Minerva’s spare panties and a martial arts uniform and go train a bit with Lorenz, and we’ll wash your clothes?” Silvia suggested.

  “I don’t know,” I muttered, not ready for disrobing much less sparring with werewolves.

  “Lorenz seems eager to teach you some ninjutsu. I’m sure it’ll be fun for both of you. You should try it out.”

  “Alright then,” I said, sighing. I found the bathroom and changed into the martial arts uniform. Silvia took my clothes and accompanied Gavin to wherever their washing machines were, and I walked upstairs.

  Dan and Cassy walked down. “Hey, E-lis, how goes the interrogation?”

  “The intero-what-now?” I asked.

  The two stopped. Dan glared at me while Cassy seemed to just wait patiently, which was an odd thing to witness.

  “Oh, shit. I completely forgot about him. Did he say anything?” I asked.

  The mook from before, the one that attacked David in the alleyway, I’d lost track of him once I had something else to focus on.

  “He should, Silvia cooked up some alchemical wonders. Took her a large portion of her day, and she looked quite tired afterwards.”

  “That would explain her inability to stay up as late as normal, though not mine,” I said, thinking out loud.

  “Heard David say you were going to learn some martial arts. Oh, which one, which one?” Cassy said, putting her finger to her chin. “I got it!” She bounced up and down. “You’re gonna learn some gunmetal fang!” she said before pointing at me with finger guns.

  “Cassy,” Dan said, turning that ‘you’re being an idiot, and I want you to stop’ glare onto her.

  “You’re right. She’s not a run and gun girl. It’s gunmetal claw!” she said, her smile bright and cheery.

  “Cough, not a werewolf, cough!” Dan said.

  Cassy’s expression took on a blank stare for a moment. “Oh, yeah, right. I forgot,” she said, sticking her tongue out sideways.

  “Well, while we’re here and explaining things, what are the two things you mentioned?” I asked, folding my arms.

  “Gunmetal claw and fang are the two gun-related werewolf martial arts. They are probably the most descriptive names for martial arts we have.”

  Cassy smiled as she hopped onto a landing and took out two pistols. The demonstration was nice, but since I didn’t realize this girl had firearms until now, the move was utterly terrifying.

  “Now, I’m not a master, but I like it. This is gunmetal fang!” she said, throwing her guns up and transforming into her wolf form.

  The wolf lifted its head and caught the two guns in its mouth. Both were sideways, and her canines were right in the trigger guards. I tilted my head. It didn’t look very stable, and it seemed like a broken jaw was inevitable.

  “The special nature of a werewolf allows us to do that without breaking all our teeth,” Dan explained. “That being said, most specialists have a modified gun they keep on their person in wolf form.”

  “Interesting. So, what’s gunmetal claw?” I asked.

  Trying to picture it in my head, I came out with a dog in an odd chariot or pickup truck, scratching at triggers and firing off a barrage.

  “Gunmetal claw is our anti-gun martial art, how we counter those with guns. Since we mainly deal with another world, which has limited access to firearms, most don’t consider it a reasonable thing to get into. The only teachings they take being the agility teachings,” Dan explained.

  “If you ever become a werewolf, and I’d highly recommend it, you get to dodge bullets!” Cassy said.

  “Can that happen?!” I asked, suddenly really into this.

  Thankfully, she holstered her guns, but the thought she could take them out again was enough to elevate the blood pressure. She gave me a peace sign and stuck her tongue out sideways again.

  “Is that a thing that can happen? Is there, like, a ritual or an extremely painful thing after a bite?”

  “As far as we know… no,” Dan responded.

  I pouted as the two said their goodbyes, and I headed off to the gym. The bugs would be found and how they worked figured out, but now the way forwards was how the werewolves would normally operate, by slashing, punching and kicking. Getting me to be fighting fit would help with that.

  I peered in, there was a window into the area, and I saw Lorenz on a weights station. There were two massive stacks of weights on them, and he was
lifting them up and down like a machine. I recoiled to the side of the glass, so as not to be seen, and slowly took in his bulging muscles.

  His clothes seemed to hide them. They were well-formed, and they moved with such grace even when lifting such a heavy load. The sweat slowly pooled and dripped off him as he went on with his rep.

  “Damn,” I said to myself.

  Despite how snarky he could be and how much he drank, he had one really rocking body, and I couldn’t even see his abs from this angle.

  I slowly crept in and laid eyes on his abs, watching them through the piston-like motion of the bar, finely chiselled like a statue. He looked up, and stopped the bar in mid extension, keeping it there motionless.

  “Oh, hey, E-lis. The others must have convinced you to join me for a ninjutsu lesson,” he said, setting the bar down.

  “How much weight is that?” I asked, looking at the ends.

  “It isn’t much really. Just enough to keep myself in good shape yet fit into my clothes,” he replied, After he said that, I didn’t want to look at the numbers on the side.

  “So, Gavin told me ninjutsu is what ninjas do, so am I going to learn how to handle a throwing star? Go invisible?” I said, throwing out guesses.

  “You’re going to learn what Gavin and David think would best suit your needs,” Lorenz said, raising his explaining hand.

  “Which is?”

  “The Kuji-in. They are a series of hand gestures that ninjas used to focus themselves and maintain their cool when under stress.”

  I narrowed my eyes. Out of everything I’d heard about ninjas from fiction and my friends playing the playground game, this sounded like the lamest of things to do.

  “I assure you it’s helpful and can help you get over those combat jitters. While you may not be able to use werewolf martial arts, we do often use a lot of ninjutsu in our daily lives. Things like climbing up walls, expedition rations, and stealth in the earth elemental plane come from it.”

  “Alright, alright,” I said and walked up to Lorenz to get the lesson over with.

  “Come on, you should be excited! This is literally an entire assassin’s way of life we’re teaching you!”

  “I dunno, I just—”

  “Well, if you don’t want to learn it, how about we just skip to the combat part?” Lorenz and I jumped at the new voice.

  Chapter 30

  Leonardo stepped into the gym. We’d hadn’t seen him through the windows, walking up to it, and it unnerved me.

  “Hey, lay off her!” Lorenz said, putting his hand in front of me.

  “Vento Servitas vos vos ladigia Galvos!” A ring with five circles appeared, and runes filled in as he spoke. Wind brushed Lorenz off his feet. Instead of blasting him back, it lifted him in a controlled fashion and set him down a few feet back.

  “You werewolves seem to have taken quite a liking to this girl, letting her Tase me with drink-dedicated alchemicals. So, if she’s to be accepted into your ranks, she’d better be as good of a soldier as you all are,” he said with a malicious grin.

  I took my fighting stance, glaring at him. I wouldn’t back down. Even if he could lift Lorenz with just four words and his name. Leonardo smiled, as I fell right into his trap, starting to take off his armour. This revealed a black tank top and some form-fitting pants.

  “What is it the mutt taught you? Anti-knife manoeuvres? Let’s see how well you learned them, shall we?” he asked, grabbing the two practice knives once all his armour was off. He felt them up with his thumbs, pressing through the plastic hilts of them, “Enchantrix adimatia Galvos!”

  Two lights appeared from inside the hilts. It was faint, but from the shadows cast from the handles, it stood out.

  “What’d you do?” I demanded, looking at the knives.

  “Nothing major. Just made sure the springs were all nice and tight so the feedback is closer to reality,” he said as he took a fighting stance, holding both knives outwards.

  Now, David’s martial art lesson had been about self-defence against someone who’d grabbed a knife and threatened me. It was more an introduction to martial arts in general. A knife! Suffice to say, I had no idea how to go against someone trained in a dual knife fighting style.

  He charged at me, and I jumped back and got in line to kick one of the knives out. Then he stabbed me with the other one, reacting faster than I could anticipate. The blade, still made of plastic, was forced against me as the newly enchanted spring resisted doing its job of letting the knife go back inside. It wasn’t sharp and didn’t do any damage, but it was painful. I grunted and turned.

  I grabbed at the hand he was using and tried to shift him off me, but his grasp remained stable. He reached up with the knife I’d been trying to get out of his hand and smashed me on top of the head with it, this time with the bottom of the hilt.

  I grunted and jumped back. The knife on my leg left a scrape, and it stung as it’d never stung before, but I wasn’t about to give up. I planted a sidekick right into his stomach, but to my chagrin, he was as buff as the werewolves I hung out with. Thus, he took it in stride and stabbed me on a pressure point in my ankle. This time, the spring went about halfway down. I yelped from pain, it was like my entire was being pinched. Judging by how much it resisted last time meant that was a considerable amount of force. I could only stumble with that leg once he backed off.

  By this point, Lorenz had whipped out his phone, clearly panicking, not quite knowing what to do. I jumped up, using the two knives as a pivot point and grabbed onto Leonardo’s head, and then flopped over, trying to throw him.

  The pain in my leg doubled, and I flopped over him like he was a stone. I shook my head and remembered I had to use the knife training. I regained my fighting stance, favouring my back leg a little bit and got low as he came in again. This time, he didn’t even pretend to be using the knives and bashed me with the sides of the hilts in his gauntlets.

  Against a few shots to my head, I could only throw up my arms to block too late before he reached down and punched me in the stomach. I sucked in a shaky breath and bent over, before spitting and trying to catch my breath. Finally, he bolted down and swept my legs. I hit the ground hard and coughed up a mouthful of spit. It took a few moments before I could breathe again. David burst through the door, apparently summoned by Lorenz. I could only let out a raspy gasp at this. Leonardo glared at him, while Lorenz looked relieved.

  David’s hands were in mid-transformation as he yelled out, “What are you doing?”

  Leonardo got up, smiling smugly as I struggled to breathe.

  “I’d heard you’ve been training this girl since you all seem so adamant about keeping her like a stray puppy. I thought I’d test to see how well you’ve trained her. Doesn’t seem like she did very well, does it?”

  “You sick son of a bitch! You were just beating the crap out of her for no good reason!” David growled and fully transformed, baring his fangs and raising his claws.

  Savage wolf stance. “David, it’s fine, he really was just giving me pointers. I know what I need to work on now!” I coughed out.

  The taste of blood filled my mouth, though since I wasn’t hit in the jaw, I suspected it was just my imagination or my body retching at defending this bastard.

  Leonardo chuckled. “Work hard. Miriam’s trial will have to consider your combat feasibility.”

  “She’s our bartender!” Lorenz complained.

  “If she wants into this community, she’d better be more,” Leonardo said as he grabbed his armour and walked out.

  Chapter 31

  Over the next hour or two, I honestly lost track of time. We went over the hand symbols, and I practiced doing them over and over as Lorenz shared what he knew of their significance, along with a bit of Japanese history.

  To be honest, after getting so beaten up, hand signs were a nice change of pace.

  “So, he throws open the gate and just raises his hand and gives the come here sign!” Lorenz said, showing me the same sign. �
��And the other generals are, like, ‘This is obviously some form of trap. Retreat!’“

  I chuckled, completely lost in the hand sign order I’d just started when he’d gotten to the climax of the story.

  “You really know your history. Do you wanna be a historian someday?” I asked.

  “I mean, it’d be nice, but academia isn’t a place for werewolves, witches, mages, or the like. People ask questions, people demand to work together and know your personal history.” He put his hands behind his head and laid down.

  “Oh, guess a lot of you can’t take jobs like that, huh?” I said, losing the smile from before.

  “Yeah, pretty much. Many werewolves wanted to be a great artist or singer, but since that’d mean a legion of fans, it just became a talent show for all the other werewolves,” he said.

  I sighed. They had supernatural strength over me, and I was pitying them. Something was definitely wrong.

  “So, uh…” I stammered, having nothing to say.

  What Anderson had said played over in my mind. “He has a history of womanizing.” I sighed and shifted slightly to face him. “So, do you have any girlfriends?”

  “Girlfriends? No, obviously not. When you have more than one, they come together and annihilate each other like matter and antimatter!” he chuckled.

  “You know what I meant,” I sighed.

  “Not currently. Why do you ask? Have you heard of the Lorenz charm?” He smiled coyly. Damn, that was even worse than David’s smug smile. At least I knew there wasn’t any innuendo in that.

  “Just something someone said. How many girlfriends have you had in the past year?” I said, letting my tone get a little accusatory.

  “Ouch, your eyes hurt. Why didn’t I get that anti-dagger training? If I had to guess, I’d say about ten, but like, I’ve had a lot of one-night stands, so if you count those, I don’t know,” he said,

  The second part of his statement lacked the confidence of the first, and his gaze shifted from my face. Was he lying about getting one-night stands? Why would he lie about something so despicable?