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

by Abigail Smith

  “So, I think I have a plan to get them good.”

  Chapter 39

  Outside the building were a legion of cops, and four women I might have seen while serving drinks. They were holding up papers and VCR tapes, which I believe was the way the security footage was stored, and were talking to them.

  Behind them, as we pulled into the building, I noticed each had a hand reaching down, behind their backs. Each was holding a glass looking ball, and none of the cops seemed to notice David driving in or even the garage door opening.

  David parked it and we got out and rushed towards the bar area, where everyone I’d ever seen and a whole lot I’d never seen were gathered around in a massive crowd.

  Lorenz and Gavin stepped to David’s side, and Silvia came up to be at mine. Everyone looked at Anderson, Leonardo, and Miriam, the three heads of the community centre.

  Anderson leaned back against the wall, observing people’s faces. I got the feeling he was the one who’d help deal with those who got a little too violent.

  Miriam held up another of those crystal spheres, as though it was a tablet with her latest text, and she nodded to Leonardo.

  Leonardo started, “Saturday night, we were attacked. This business with this unnamed group has officially stepped up from a nuisance to a problem!”

  His voice was loud and commanding, spoken like a true leader of ancient times.

  “We need to track them down to whatever nest they came from and have them know the fear that is angering several centuries-old magical families!”

  “We need any leads you guys have got on who these people are and where we can find them. We’ll scry the entire city if we have to!” Miriam said, looking around.

  “We’ll get the werewolves to sniff them out if we have to!” Leonardo said.

  I raised my hand, something I noticed caused Anderson to smile. But the other two, Leonardo and Miriam, weren’t so impressed.

  “Lady, I don’t have time to answer your goddamn questions! Ask your werewolf pity party about it after the meeting.”

  “Actually, I believe I can not only find them but have them move to where we want them.”

  The entire crowd, and to be honest, this was a large crowd, turned to me. Leonardo glared, Miriam’s hands started to glow, and Anderson’s smile was readily apparent as everyone hung on my every word.

  “So, you know how Carl released the prisoner last night? Well, Carl isn’t his real name, it’s Tomson, Benjamin Tomson. He was deep undercover for as long as he’s been here. He bugged the area so that any conversation would be recorded, and he could give his goons intel on where each of us were. And when we’d be vulnerable,” I reiterated for the group.

  Leonardo didn’t like me including me in we. It almost seemed to infuriate him that I could speak, let alone was doing so.

  “That’s how they found Silvia alone, that’s why they came at me in force. The shot at the roof was a hastily put together plan to off some more people. He sent this all to them. To cover his tracks, he cyphered the messages, using several layers of cyphers. I’ve cracked them all, and since they don’t know he’s not here, we could tap into their intelligence network.”

  Miriam looked impressed, which was a look she didn’t wear well. Her hands stopped glowing, and she walked up to where we were in the circle.

  “So, what do you propose we send them?” she asked.

  “No, no, no, no, we’re not letting her decide what we’re doing. I’ll decide that!” Leonardo said, pointing to his chest.

  “Leonardo, calm down,” Anderson said in a slow soothing tone.

  “Don’t you speak to me like that, old man!” Leonardo stomped. “Let’s not forget who’s in charge here!”

  “Yes, let’s. That would, of course, be E-lis,” Anderson said with a smile.

  There was a look of confusion around the circle. What was better was the look of jubilation on the four werewolves beside me.

  “What?” Leonardo hissed, smashing the ground with his thick boot.

  “If she sits down and shuts up as you want her to, we get nothing. They keep coming at us until pretty boys like you start to fall, and Hell comes to Earth. We go with her plan, and you get the revenge you so heartily desire,” Anderson said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “She’ll tell me the password, or I’ll wring her little neck!” Leonardo said, pulling out a dagger and a grimoire.

  “I wouldn’t try to threaten her if I was you. I could take you with one arm and two legs severed off my body. I’m pretty sure Gavin could beat me at the best of times, and Gavin’s got David, Lorenz, Silvia, and E-lis.”

  “You pompous old man. You couldn’t take me disabled or enabled. This is a farce. My father wouldn’t stand for this!” Leonardo said.

  His face was red, he breathed heavily, almost to the point of panting. He’d nearly exhausted himself on this little tirade.

  I paused amidst the conversation and looked around me. The three boys, Silvia, and Anderson all had my back. The man who’d beaten me down alone now tried to shout and intimidate his way out of this. It was surreal, and it was empowering.

  “If Daddy wanted you to be happy, why’d he put you in charge of a place so short on manpower?” I spat out before I even thought.

  The entire crowd covered their mouths to stifle laughs or ooh. The man’s eyes gleamed, and he walked towards me with his knife in hand. The others around me started to transform, but I just jumped into my stance and kicked the knife out of his hands.

  I thought how cool it’d be if I’d put my knife in a better slot and had taken it out at that moment.

  “She’s getting good at that anti-knife training,” Anderson said aloud. “That is what you were testing, right? To make sure she wasn’t going to be a liability when it came to the fight?”

  “Y-yes, just like last time… had to ensure she… improved,” Leonardo said, clenching his teeth and stepping back.

  “So,” Miriam interjected, “what’s the plan?”

  “In the note, he mentioned something along the lines that they were going to sniff the place out. Meaning, he was worried they were going to be found. What I’m thinking is we find a suitable location, and then make it so it becomes favourable terrain for us, and maybe include some fear tactics.”

  “You think making these holy warriors afraid will work?” Leonardo asked, clearly gone into I’ll poke as many holes in the plan as possible mode.

  “It should because most of them will have just seen an ad preying on them by telling them they could get what they wanted in life. None of them are actually warriors. They think they’ll have an easy win.”

  “How exactly did you get a hold of this psychological profile?” Miriam asked.

  “Tch, they explained it to me as part of trying to get near me at school!” I said, chuckling. “They used modern digital advertising methods to swell their numbers. They’re only going to get desperate people, and those none too bright, but they are not going to get people stalwart enough to not just book it!”

  “I did see a few of them run once they got injured in some of the fights!” one person from the back said.

  “To be honest, if the ones in back were not pushing them towards us, I think most of them would have fled,” another added.

  “Anyway, we find a suitable place, trap it up, and tell them Tomson has scouted out one that’s good for another assault, and when they arrive, we stall!”

  “We stall?” Leonardo burst out. “What kind of plan is that?”

  “A plan that’ll help us get the drop on book gas guy!”

  “Book…”

  “Gas…”

  “Guy?” Leonardo and Miriam looked at each other, with Miriam furrowing her brow and Leonardo cocking his.

  “Remember, right after the people at the door were set on fire, and we all left to fight them?” David said. “There was a big crashing sound beside you? That was a servant of the demon mage trying to get into our world, summoning an archdemon, using a speci
ally crafted grimoire on the roof.”

  “Yeah, the book gas guy got out of the portal as a gas, and then took over that girl who was nearly cut into pieces.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m pretty sure I’d notice a demon roaming around!” Leonardo said.

  “And that is why I do the media work,” Anderson said.

  “That would explain why the building behind ours is suddenly demolished,” Miriam said, looking back over her shoulder.

  Funny, you’d think the witches would have noticed, but then again, who looks up while they’re fighting?

  “So, we need to get his book away, or otherwise make sure he won’t interfere. Then we just attack those who attack us and otherwise dissuade the others from continuing the quest of a demon!”

  “Where should we place this trapped area?” Miriam asked.

  “Any abandoned churches around?” I asked.

  “Churches?” Miriam asked, tilting her head.

  Chapter 40

  I have evaded capture. Unfortunately, the prisoner I freed went MIA. It seems the werewolves and other magical persons are convinced I helped with their efforts to repel our forces. They have lost all former suspicion.

  They still seem to be close to figuring out where our base of operations is. That being said, I’ve found a suitable location we could move to without them noticing, which will allow for a more concentrated assault from a flank they do not expect.

  In the coming weeks, I’ll maintain my cover and try to manufacture some ingress into the building so we’ll be able to fully surround them and stop any counteractions.

  -Tomson.

  Tomson, we’re so glad you are alright, and we give praise to Jehovah that you are unharmed and are still in a position to serve our Heavenly Father. The fact that they are so close to our home fills us with dread, but as the Heavenly Father led our people before so, too, does He lead us through you.

  We’ll start packing up necessary supplies and await your report on the new location and the tactical information on where to assault the stronghold of sin! Jehovah’s words shall be law unto our own doing! Good luck and Godspeed!

  -Maximus

  I’ve made use of the sudden demolishing of the building behind their centre to make some hidden entrances. Which means the location in question must be west of the building. I’ve located a large, though underutilized, church, which has areas for our people to sleep and a kitchen formerly used to feed the poor.

  I’ve managed to purchase the right to use it from the owner. He is a vile heathen who’d been gifted it by his father, who clearly knew better than this boy. Its address is 5789 Barker St. I’ve left my copy of the Bible in there so that Jehovah may bless it while I venture deeper into the cavern of sin.

  I’ve been diligently working on increasing my own physical prowess so I may be a more decisive part of the coming fight. Truly, it’ll be a battle Lucifer will not soon forget, and will show the heathens that which they all hold dear was just a simple deception from the devil, and they will surely come to see the holy light of Jehovah’s love.

  -Tomson

  “E-lis, you’re getting a little too into this letter writing thing,” David said after I’d sent the last one.

  We’d found the device on the roof to be what sent and received them, so we just sent our own. Simple enough.

  “What? I can’t have fun tricking people and using tactical shortfalls to overcome my—”

  “E-lis?” David asked at my sudden pause.

  I shook my head. “Sorry, just realized how nerdy that sounds.”

  “So, they should be on their way, but how will we know where the book gas guy is?”

  “Well, for one, we can have Miriam and her girls scry on the church. They’ll most likely come in some kind of parade. If they don’t, they’ll make multiple trips, and we can find the other church they were at before.”

  “And figure out if there’s any grimoire near them, or in fact leading the charge?”

  “Exactly. Then we need a stealth mission! So, even more ninjutsu.”

  “Yeah, about that,” David said, gritting his teeth.

  “What?” I asked, curiously looking up at him.

  “So, there’s a reason why none of us could be considered ninjas, and that’s one of the ways to avoid detection is to avoid smelling,” he said.

  I blinked. It seemed to make sense, but then— “Ohhhh, the dog smell. Oh, God, I’d gotten so used to it that I didn’t even remember it!”

  “Yeah, and also, we’d have to give up meat because that’s what makes humans smell,” he said.

  “Wait, does that mean…?”

  “Yep. You don’t have a wolf form, and thus, it’s time to learn more martial arts!”

  I sighed and got back into the martial art clothes they had for me there. The girl we released from the demon mage’s possession showed up, too. She looked a lot better now. Some of her wounds were healing up nicely, and she looked much happier than before.

  “Hey!” I said with a smile. “What’re you doing here?” I asked.

  It sounded a bit more accusatory looking back on it. “I… wanted to help. They were a little apprehensive about me. When I mentioned revenge, a lot of them changed their tune,” she explained. “By the way, my name’s Fumnaya.”

  “This is a very old organization, often philosophies that were common in medieval times still linger to this day. That’s why there’s always a prominent focus on revenge. How to do it and trusting those who seek it only if you know who they wish revenge on,” Lorenz explained, coming out of nowhere. “Nice to meet you, Fumnaya.”

  “Though a lot of people are trying to reverse that philosophy, not just for the sake of the people, but also keeping us hidden, and for the mental health of those wronged,” Gavin said, entering from the door behind us.

  “Though, when you get attacked in force by some nutjobs, the whole mental health thing evolves into to heck with those guys,” Silvia said, popping out from behind Gavin.

  “Oh, wow, they’re all here,” Fumnaya said.

  “This is going to be a major fight, so it’s best to be prepared. This is also the hardest we’re going to work E-lis to date,” David said.

  I shuddered. The last few sessions were a bit calm, I had to admit. The promise of the hardest I’ve been working was quite the intimidating proposition. I felt a hand gently land on my shoulder and looked back to the girl. She gave me a nod, and it was a good bit of encouragement.

  “You can do this! You shot down a demon your first time using a gun and freed me from that asshole. Now, you’re going to go there and show those dorks you don’t mess with us!” Fumnaya had heard of what I accomplished on the roof, no doubt a little embellished if David was the one talking.

  “Us?” I asked, cocking a brow.

  “Well, I mean, at base, you could take it as you and me, but you know…” She tapped her fingers together and looked embarrassed. “I wanna be included, too. They told me you’ve only been here a few days. Had nothing been going on, we’d be on the same footing.”

  I smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. “You’re so cute!” I said, chuckling.

  The boys laughed, and Silvia smiled, and we got to work. Step one was knowing our tools. We’d be going out there with knives since, again, most magical people did not need weapons, all of which were placed onto navy blue martial arts uniforms.

  Lorenz, the ninja expert, kept insisting that real ninjas wore blue.

  There was a grappling hook and some spiky hand gear. “No, that’s not for clawing people. We do NOT have time to teach you Clawv Maga!” David remarked as I gave him a look.

  There were a few small round things, which were food and not smoke bombs. Then there was a straight-up smoke grenade and flashbang, both of which were intimidating.

  “We’ll have to teach her how to work the grenade, won’t we?” Lorenz asked while looking at my expression.

  “Tch, I know how to throw a grenade,” I said, folding my arms.
/>   “Do you know how to prime it so it explodes afterwards?” the girl asked.

  Everyone turned slightly to look at her. “What? I like watching slow-motion videos, and grenades are popular on them,” she said.

  “And they explain how to work one?” David asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Well, yeah, gotta know the safety procedures,” she said, recoiling slightly and getting defensive.

  Everyone shrugged and got back to their talk about the equipment. It ended up as a grappling hook over the shoulder, a belt of alchemical firebombs, knives strapped to our legs.

  “Now, the plan will be that we’ll approach the church and try to make it sound like we’re about to attack. This is to draw out the mage, then we’ll scatter, and your jobs will be to sneak up on him once he’s in a good position, looking for us. Silvia will be stationed nearby, and she’ll carry some guns and ammunition, courtesy of Cassy, and—”

  The three guys looked at me, with David and Lorenz both smiling. “Your alchemical shooter! Cassy handed us the blueprints Carl drew up, and we sent it for a quick fabrication job. You’ll have to load it with what you want first, and remember the chambers, but it should work well!” David explained.

  I was bursting with glee. The idea for an alchemy gun felt like it’d happened so long ago. Yet, they had it done and ready to go in a very short time.

  “You probably aren’t as familiar as E-lis is on what alchemicals do what, so let her load it, otherwise grab the sniper. Silvia will be waiting for you two, and you two alone!” Lorenz explained.

  Gavin leaned forwards. “Just make sure not to bring too much danger her way,” he said.

  His tone was neutral, but I could see the pain on his face and nodded respectfully. The three boys equipped us with the gear, affixing it to various spots, and then they all stepped back.

  “Alright, time to hang upside down!” David said before the lessons began.

  Chapter 41

  Fumnaya and I panted after a bit of instruction. We had to do things quickly. It didn’t give us much time to breathe. We’d been taught the historical significance of things from Lorenz, the actual moves from David, and were given help by Gavin.