Chapter 78: Welcome Back

AARON. I didn't understand shit Luna said. All I knew was, I was far stronger and could harness my abilities better than I ever could. Maybe the encounter with that wolf sparked something in me. Something that was buried deep inside. 'What if it's never ready Luna? I'm tired of all this weird shit. I just want life to go back to normal. Without me having to go home." I said bluntly, hanging my head backwards. 'You almost ripped my head off, -although you wouldn't stand a chance-, because I stomped on your feet. You really don't wanna know why you reacted that quick and were that aggressive?" Luna folded her arms, assuming a ‘you better listen to me' pose. I almost chuckled. 'No, because it'll never happen again." I shrugged. What had happened felt more like a reflex than an out of control reaction. It was common for werewolves to act that way. 'You can't be too sure numbskull." She flicked my forehead, causing me to wince in pain. 'How about we just monitor him? If he reacts in any way that's questionable, you can perform your wolf magic on him." Helena suggested, and I'd just realized she'd been quiet the whole time. Luna spinned around to face her. 'Perfect. Since Mr. Cocky Mouth is so certain of himself. The werewolf life isn't that easy Aaron." She gave Helena a high five, and gazed at me with a judgmental look. 'Yeah, no kidding." The next morning, I woke up with a start. The night was rough, filled with weird voices that seemed to only repeat one phrase. 'Imperator Meus." I'd ask Luna about it later. I stretched, jumped off the couch, and headed straight into the kitchen. Breakfast was a walk over, and I, Luna and Helena discussed our travel plans. My sudden attack gave us a shorter time to plan where we would go. 'I thought we decided to go to the beach? I already planned to invite Veronica." Helena asked, munching on her almonds. 'No, it was the casino downtown." I quipped. I usually saw it on my way back from work, and I was dying to know what it looked like on the inside. 'Why don't we take a trip to the library instead?" Luna said quietly, her voice edged with a little mischief. Helena glanced at her and me, but didn't object. 'It'll be a nice way to relax our nerves. Don't you think so?" 'Not like this Luna." 'How else did you want it? I'm running out of time Helena. Sooner or later, someone's gonna come after that scroll. I need it before the festival." Luna spoke through gritted teeth. 'Why do you even need it?" I asked, sipping my glass of orange juice. 'That's something I'll talk about later. Are you with us or not?" 'Like I even have a choice." I muttered, forking down a pancake. 'Good. We go tonight. And please, everyone should be safe. I don't want any more delays." She sounded a bit bossier than usual, but I wouldn't blame her at all. She had long overstayed here. The thought of her leaving made me slightly sad, but I knew the day would come eventually. One day, our lives wouldn't be as perfect as it was now, no matter the little hiccups we had. I got to work a little earlier than usual that day, a little sorry for being absent the last three days. As I walked into the huge dining area, a few customers already recognized me and began calling me out. 'Aaron! Long time no see! Back to whip up some nice Fettuccine Alfredo?" I recognized Mr. Thompson, sitting in his usual seat at the far end of the room, closest to the windows. 'You know it Mr. Thompson." I smiled back at him. 'Oh my goodness Aaron! Where have you been? The kitchen has been going nuts because you weren't around." The head chef, Mr. Alessandro, rambled on as soon as he saw me. He pulled me into the kitchen, where the rest of the crew were waiting. 'I'm sorry guys. I had a very bad accident last week. Didn't get it taken care of on time, and it escalated. But don't worry, I'm back to normal now." I smiled reassuringly. Words of recovery and excitement to have me back at the restaurant filled my ears, and by the time it was noon, I already heard it up to 500 times. My jaws were starting to hurt from smiling too much. 'Aaron… Um hi, how are you feeling?" The familiar voice sounded behind me, and I found Linda sitting on one of the kitchen stools. She stared at me with an unreadable expression. 'I'm fine now." I said shortly. 'I was thinking we could go grab lunch? There are a few things we need to discuss." Her voice sounded serious, not desperate or wanting. I froze, considering for a bit. Hard choice. 'Okay." We decided to head over to the cafe across the street since neither me nor her were big fans of Italian food. It was lunchtime, so I grabbed a steak and a side salad, while Linda just grabbed a bagel. We sat opposite each other, inside a booth on the furthest end of the restaurant, facing towards the street. 'So, what did you want to talk about?" I got straight to the point, feasting on my steak immediately. I needed to go hunting one of these days. I missed the taste of raw meat. Linda paused, taking a sip of her juice. 'You know Mrs. Parker has been missing right?" She leaned forward. 'Yeah?" 'Well, they found her body two days ago. In the ditch close to the old library. It's been a rumor for a little too long and people are starting to talk. I don't really know how true this is, but they say it's werewolves." Again with this werewolf shit. 'Have there been any sightings? Evidence as to the existence of these things?" I asked, chugging down my glass of water. Linda thought for a second, and started. 'Yeah. A friend of mine was able to get it on camera. It's been a while since the video was taken so it looks pretty old." She took out her phone, played a video and handed it over to me. 'I don't mind." I shrugged. Dropping my fork, I grabbed the phone, focusing my eyes on the contents displayed. Funny enough, there was an actual werewolf in the video. The video started with something that seemed like someone running through the woods. 'Can you hear it?" A voice whispered behind the camera. 'No, I think we lost it." Another voice, more feminine replied in the background. There were two pairs of feet, each of their shoes stained with grime and mud. They ran as far as they could, obviously terrified of whatever it was. Eventually, the werewolf caught up to them. It dragged the first guy, the one holding the camera, far into the woods. The girl screamed, picking up the phone. She ran a few feet, and got the wolf on camera as her friend tried to grapple against the creature. I'll give it to the fella. He was good. He struggled against the wolf for a while until the girl who was with him probably came to her senses and grabbed a huge log. She set the phone so that it could record everything that happened and crept up behind the wolf. The wolf was relatively small, probably one is in his teens, so he didn't see or sense the girl coming. She whacked him across the head, and he yelped, running away almost immediately. Yep, definitely a teen. A full grown werewolf would have finished both of them off in an instant. I handed the phone back to Linda. 'Damn. That's actually impressive."