by Zoe Chant
“When we’re wrapped for the evening,” he decided. “I’ll tell her then.” If necessary, he could explain while she was preparing the fake wound to fool her ex.
“I’m gonna hold you to that.” Joshua’s tone was unusually serious.
Louis looked at his friend. “Why are you so invested in this?”
“One, you’re my best friend, so I want you to be happy. And the sooner you tell her, the sooner you two can be happy. And two…” He sighed. “Maybe I’m jealous, all right? Jealous you found your fated mate.”
“You’ll find her,” Louis patted him on the shoulder. “Besides, don’t you love dating around?”
“Yeah, it’s a lot of fun.” Joshua threw him a grin. “But nothing compared to finding your fated mate, right?”
He smiled at the thought of seeing Stephanie again tomorrow evening. “Oh, one hundred percent.”
✽✽✽
As expected, Louis’s evening was filled with prowling through undergrowth, running through the woods, and chasing after the two male actors. Louis took care to stop immediately when Paul yelled ‘cut’. They practiced the struggle against Louis repeatedly, and Stephanie was there to supply both of Dr. Werewolf’s victims with gruesome wounds.
Louis felt less nervous than last night, and he got the feeling Stephanie seemed more relaxed as well. Both Paul and Kat commented on how they were ahead of schedule.
Louis hoped that meant they’d finish early and he’d have more time to spend with Stephanie, but Paul wanted to use the extra time on Dr. Werewolf’s confrontation with the final girl instead.
While some of the crew set the stage in one of the old cabins, Louis chased Daisy around the woods as he had done with Vicky. The Black girl wore a red hoodie over her jean shorts and jumped with excitement when Paul declared it was time to film her defeating Dr. Werewolf.
“This is gonna be epic!” She pumped her arms in the air before turning to Louis, who had sat down after their last scene outside. “You’re my favorite co-star.”
“Hey!” Brad, who played her on-screen boyfriend, called out from where he’d been standing with Joshua and Stephanie. “What about me?”
“You kept messing up your lines when we were in the lake last week,” Daisy told him. “I was freezing! This dog needed way fewer takes than you did!”
“He has zero lines,” Brad complained. “It’s an unfair comparison.”
While Daisy and Brad bickered good-naturedly about who’d messed up the most takes, Louis sauntered over to Stephanie for head-scratches.
“How is Louis’s death scene gonna work exactly?” Joshua asked Paul, who’d come up to them. “Because I read the script, and I don’t get how Daisy is going to stab Louis in the eye and the heart with a silver knife.”
“We’re using a retractable knife and a puppet for when Daisy stabs the eye,” Paul replied.
“If you have a werewolf puppet, why didn’t you use that all along?” Joshua frowned.
Paul grimaced. “You’ll see when we get to the cabin. Stephanie, you’re gonna need the extra time we have to make it look good.”
Stephanie laughed. “Oh, come on, how bad can it be?”
✽✽✽
Louis huffed when he saw the puppet. It was a husky plushy someone had picked up in a secondhand store, and one of its ears was falling off.
Stephanie picked it up, cuddling it to her chest. “Don’t worry, I still like you better,” she told Louis, who let out a low whine of disappointment. “I’m gonna see what I can do in my cabin.”
Louis lay on the floor of the old cabin as he waited for the crew to set everything up. Their set was the cabin Paul and Kat had used for their meetings. With the only other two cabins being used for catering and makeup, this cabin was the best one for the climax.
Daisy’s legs were covered in fake scratches, and she’d pushed her hoodie back over her short-cropped hair, smiling enthusiastically when Paul went over the scene with her and Louis. Louis sat at Joshua’s feet, listening closely while Joshua nodded along. He had to respond to Joshua’s commands, but he needed to know what to expect. First, he had to chase Daisy into the cabin where she’d slam the door on him. Then, he had to jump in through a window with special glass, and the chase inside the cabin would begin.
“We only have one window pane with the prepped glass, so…” Paul trailed off, smelling anxious. “Just do your best with your dog. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll open the window instead and handwave it with a quick line from Daisy.”
Daisy nodded. “Whose cabin is this supposed to be, anyway? In the movie? Because I’d love to know who keeps silver knives around in a cabin like this.”
“I’m saving that for the sequel,” Paul replied, and Daisy raised an eyebrow at that.
“He doesn’t know, does he?” she asked Kat.
“Sequel!” Paul insisted. “I definitely know the backstory of this cabin, and it will one hundred percent be in the sequel.”
“He doesn’t know,” Kat replied, grinning when Paul heaved a sigh.
Louis followed Joshua outside, trying not to get nervous at having only one take.
“Think of it this way,” Joshua told him as they stood outside, waiting for Paul’s mark. “If you do this in one take, we’ll finish faster and you’ll have more time to talk to Stephanie about you-know-what.”
Louis wagged his tail at that, although he still wasn’t sure how to tell her. His wolf perked up at her scent, and he turned his head to watch her come back with the ridiculous husky plushy and a shoulder bag with more makeup supplies.
“Oh, no extra pressure to perform in front of her, then.” Joshua grinned down at him. “Only one take! You can do it!”
Louis glared up at him. His friend was the worst at pep talks.
From inside the cabin, Paul gave them the mark, and Louis stepped back to his starting position. He looked up at the window. All his wolf saw was an opportunity to show off their strength and impress their mate, and Louis embraced that as he ran at the cabin to jump through the window. The pane shattered against his head, and when he landed he shook off the remnants, growling as he looked for his prey.
“And cut!” Paul beamed from behind the camerawoman. “Perfect! Couldn’t have done it better myself!”
“You’re saving that for the sequel?” Kat suggested, laughing.
Louis, tail held high as he trotted over to Stephanie, received her head-scratches with pride. He’d done a good job on the trickiest shot of the scene, and now it was simply a matter of growling and chasing after a scared college girl.
Daisy went from grinning with excitement to cowering against the door as soon as they started on the next scene, with Louis slowly prowling closer. He chased her around the coffee table, jumping over the couch to corner her in the kitchen.
Still pleading for her life, Daisy found the silver knife in a drawer, and her hands trembled as she held it out in front of her.
Louis prowled closer. As Dr. Werewolf, he was sure of his success, certain this girl was no match for him.
That knife is fake and tiny, his wolf complained. Everyone will see it’s fake. We can easily defeat someone with a knife that small. It’s humiliating to be defeated like this!
Trust his wolf to complain about not going out in style.
They filmed some shots where Daisy lunged at Louis with the knife, followed by Louis biting her in the arm. The hoodie made it easier to film the fake bite than the previous death scenes, since they replaced Daisy’s arm with some cloth to pad out the sleeve while Louis bit down. Daisy screamed convincingly, clutching her arm and breaking the blood packet hidden there so fake blood would trickle between her fingers.
Now cornered, Daisy fell down to her knees as she tried to fight back Dr. Werewolf, and Paul yelled ‘cut’ after a couple of takes.
“Where’s Michael with the jello eye?” Paul turned to Kat. “He’s supposed to bring them over.”
Kat was already typing on her phone. “We’re early, but
he said they’d made them yesterday so they should be ready to go.”
Louis walked away to sit next to Stephanie while they waited for Michael to get here. He could smell her nerves and pressed his head against her thigh to reassure her.
Michael came over within minutes, revealing a dozen jello eyes in an ice cube tray. “Here you go, filled with the syrup so blood can come gushing out.”
Kat picked one out. “Stephanie, can you prep the plushy for his stabbing?”
Louis walked with her, wanting to stick by her side, but Paul called for Joshua to keep Louis out of the way. He reluctantly went back to sit next to his friend, who crouched down.
“She’ll be rubbing your belly soon enough,” Joshua whispered.
Louis huffed. Michael had no business standing so close while Stephanie glued the jello eye to the plushy. From the way she ignored him, she didn’t like it either.
He was relieved when she came over to join him and Joshua while Paul went over the scene with Daisy. The scene was like the one from Grandma’s Revenge, and all Daisy had to do was stab the jello eye with the knife. When she did, fake blood poured out all over the plushy’s face.
It looks nothing like us, his wolf complained. We would not get defeated after being stabbed like that. We’d fight back ferociously!
They did a few more takes, and to Louis’s annoyance, Michael stuck around.
He stayed close to Stephanie while Paul took Joshua and Louis aside to discuss Dr. Werewolf’s death scene. It took all Louis’s concentration to listen to Paul’s instructions, but the faster they got the scene over with, the faster he could join Stephanie and protect her from Michael.
Fortunately, the death scene also required Stephanie to put fake blood on Louis, and she smiled when Paul called her over. Michael sauntered over as well, and Paul headed over to Daisy and the camerawoman.
“Where’s your buddy?” Michael asked, nodding at Joshua.
“Buddy?” Joshua frowned.
Louis stayed still while Stephanie worked on him, and he could smell her unease. Louis hadn’t gotten round to telling Joshua about Michael seeing him as a human, but he hoped his friend could play along.
“Yeah, Louis? I ran into him yesterday,” Michael explained. “Said he was here to help?”
“Oh, right.” Joshua didn’t sound convincing. “He couldn’t make it tonight. Busy.”
“Hm-mm. That’s a shame, isn’t it, Stephanie?” Michael said pointedly. “That he’s got better things to do than come here.”
Challenge him! He’s lying! His wolf snarled, and Louis fought to stay still. Stephanie was putting fake blood around his eye.
“Why do you care?” Joshua asked.
Michael shrugged. “I don’t. Just that when I saw him yesterday, it seemed like he thought being here was very important. Guess he changed his mind.”
“He’s busy,” Joshua repeated. “Shouldn’t you be busy as well? With catering?”
“Talk to you later,” Michael told Stephanie. “And be careful with that dog.”
Louis wanted to growl. That man sounded far too pleased with himself.
He watched Stephanie relax a fraction once Michael left. He wished he could wrap his arms around her to comfort her.
When she finished, she got up, and Louis overheard Joshua asking her what the hell that had been about.
“That’s Michael being Michael,” she replied, and looked down at Louis. “I guess we know what we’re doing tonight, right?”
He whuffed, wagging his tail.
Joshua raised an eyebrow. “We do?”
Stephanie shook her head. “I’ll explain later.”
Louis couldn’t wait for the scene to be over so he and Stephanie could go to the makeup cabin and be alone.
Paul came over to look at the fake blood around Louis’s eye. “That looks great, Stephanie. Once Daisy has stabbed him, we need some on his belly.”
Stephanie nodded. “It would’ve been cooler if we could’ve prepped a fake eye to dangle from your eyelid, but that’s complicated to do with humans, never mind with all the fur.”
Louis huffed in agreement. If he had to die, he at least wanted to look cool and gross doing it, but a fake eye sounded complicated.
“Can he close his eye on command?” Paul asked, turning to Joshua. “I know it’s out there, but he’s been extremely obedient so far.”
Joshua looked down at him. “Louis, close your left eye.”
When Louis obeyed, Paul gasped in shock. “Okay, I don’t know why or how you trained him to do that, but that’s impressive.”
“I talked to Stephanie about the scenes involving Louis and fake blood,” Joshua lied. “To help him prepare.”
“Good thinking.” Paul gave her a thumbs up before going over to Daisy.
Louis opened both eyes, tongue lolling out, when Joshua and Stephanie shared a grin.
“Okay, so Dr. Werewolf is whimpering in pain.” Paul gestured at the kitchen where Daisy had stabbed the plushy. “He’s cowering and swiping at his eye with his left paw. Daisy uses that opening to stab him in the chest with the retractable knife.”
We would bite anyone who tried! His wolf insisted. We would not cower!
“Once he’s gotten stabbed, he rolls over onto his side,” Paul continued. “Stephanie, you have to cover his chest in blood for that.”
“No problem.” Stephanie smiled down at Louis. “We’ll make it part of a belly rub.”
We deserve many belly rubs for this, his wolf grumbled.
Louis took his place in the kitchen and pulled back from Daisy when the camera started rolling. He threw his head back to howl first before he started pawing at his eye like Paul wanted, because surely Dr. Werewolf would try to summon his pack? He whined and whimpered as he tucked his tail between his legs, ignoring the urge to wag it around his mate.
When Daisy stabbed him in the side, he immediately flopped onto his back at the slight nudge, letting out another loud howl as he pawed at Daisy.
“And cut.” Paul tried not to laugh, and the rest of the crew were sniggering. “Your dog’s a bit of a ham, isn’t he?”
Louis lay on the floor, tail wagging, when Stephanie kneeled by his side. “Trying to steal the scene, huh?” she told him, tapping his nose with her finger.
“That howling was awesome.” Daisy tested the retractable knife against her hand. “Are you sure I didn’t actually hurt him?”
Joshua shook his head. “No, Paul’s right. Louis is being a ham.”
“Let’s do that a couple more times,” Paul said. “Stephanie, hold off with the fake blood. I want to get this scene right.”
They did a couple more shots of the first stabbing to the chest, Louis varying in how loud he was as he rolled onto his back, until Paul was satisfied. He stayed on his back, raising his paws so Stephanie could easily rub his belly and chest.
He closed his eyes in pleasure when she finally petted him, whimpering in disappointment when she stopped to cover the area Daisy had stabbed in fake blood.
“This is the coolest dog ever,” Daisy declared, kneeling by Louis’s side. “He looks just like a wolf! How did you train him?”
“A lot of patience and the right rewards,” Joshua replied. “And luck. Louis is very smart.”
Louis whuffed in agreement, squirming on the floor as Stephanie found a good spot.
They discussed the final stabbing, Paul going over the reactions he wanted from Daisy with her, while Louis lay waiting. All he had to do was growl and snarl until she stabbed him again, then lie completely still.
So obviously Louis hammed it up, howling in pretend-agony when Daisy stabbed him, one paw against her arm as if trying to fight her off. He writhed on the floor, whimpering and whining before falling silent. He waited a few seconds before rolling onto his back and howling one last time, before slumping on the floor with his tongue lolling out.
Paul snorted with laughter as he called ‘cut.’ “How many times did you rehearse his death scene, Joshua
? Geez.”
A few feet away from Louis, Stephanie had covered her mouth with her hand while her shoulders shook from laughter.
“Trade secret,” Joshua replied, grinning as well. “Louis, back to your starting position and tone it down a notch.”
Daisy watched in amazement when Louis rolled onto his other side so she could stab him again. “He’s so obedient! It’s like he genuinely understands what you’re saying.”
“That’s why we practiced a lot beforehand,” Joshua lied. “To make it look easy.”
Louis dialed the performance down until Paul was happy with the footage he had and he told them they could leave.
“I want to do some shots with Daisy in the cabin, but just focused on her,” he explained. “We’ll do some shots of Louis being dead next week, since we got so much out of the way this weekend.”
“When do I turn into a werewolf?” Daisy asked eagerly. “You want me to show some symptoms already?”
While Paul discussed his plans with the actress, Joshua and Louis left. Stephanie checked with Kat that she wasn’t needed, then hurried after them.
The three of them strolled over to the cabin, where Joshua stayed outside. “All right, what was going on with Michael?” He looked over his shoulder. “It’s safe to shift.”
Louis entered the cabin first, making sure he couldn’t be seen from outside before shifting. The syrup was sticky on his face. “He’s the ex.”
“Of course.” Joshua grimaced. “And I’m guessing he saw you as a human last night.”
“I should’ve told you, but—”
“But you had a lot on your mind, I get it.” Joshua looked at the two of them. “How are you gonna handle him?”
Louis grinned. “You’ll find out.” He shared a smile with Stephanie. “Let’s get to work.”
8. Stephanie