We're back! This halloween one shot will now become a full fledged story. Please read the notes on the bottom for update schedule!

On with the show!

Cover Art by: Crashman42

Editing by: Freckles Fiction and Battle W0rn

Werewolf Wicked

Chapter 1

"A werewolf, a fae, and a demigod walk into a bar. The bartender greets them and asks, 'What's your poison?' The werewolf answers, 'Silver.' The fae, 'Iron.' The demigod sighs before replying, 'Wine.'," I said, in between a two and a half second pour of gin, exactly the same amount of ounces.

The person across the counter paused in the middle of dragging out her stool, sparing me a raised eyebrow and a roll of her eyes. My favorite customer asked, "Was that a joke?"

Her dry response while expected, still caused a huff of air to leave my lips. I played with a comeback, danced with it. However, I couldn't let the distraction stop my work.

I continued with a splash of Wolfburn scotch.

"I thought it was funny."

"Too long. Your punchline could use some work."

"Ever thought of lightening up a bit, Blake?"

She didn't miss a beat, responding without taking her gaze off the book she always brought, "Stick to your day job."

"That's unfortunate considering I don't have one."

"I suppose you'll starve on the streets. What a shame."

"Then who will make your drinks? You'll be sorry you didn't laugh then," I said, while draining the mixture into a tall stemmed martini glass, chilled to the touch. Putting the final addition to her cocktail by dropping in a twist of lemon, I pushed the finished cocktail forward.

"Here you are Ms. Belladonna, a Silver Bullet."

Her deadpan stare, wrenched from the letters on the page, paid for all the setup.

"In case you run into a rampant werewolf. Their one true weakness."

"I may need to look for another place, one that doesn't have a bartender who tells terrible jokes." Before I could squawk she tucked a lock of raven colored hair, revealing a pale ear and a coy smile. "One who doesn't stare at my butt when he thinks I'm not looking."

I couldn't stop the blush that rushed up to my neck and my cheeks at being caught staring. Though, who could blame me?

Working at a bar one builds up a resistance towards the desired sex. If not, one would be blushing and stuttering at anyone who had a little too much to drink or wanted to have a good night. Bar staff would never get any work done.

Blake, however, stood apart from the normal, almost supernaturally. From the moment she stopped by a year ago, I couldn't take my eyes off her long limbs, her perfect nose, nor could I ignore the play of her hips whenever she left for the night.

I could stare for hours if she let me. To make it worse, apparently, she knew. Dammit. Thankfully, my regular seemed to be content with her victory and chose to take a small sip from the drink I crafted.

My choice for her drink was a game we played. She'd come in, always with a book in hand, sit on the same stool, and would let me try my hand at mixing a drink. Mostly due to pity at first, as a newly hired bartender I couldn't tell a highball from a rocks glass or vodka from gin. I still remember her first sip of my first drink. I wouldn't have served that abomination to my worst enemy, but as time went on and my mistakes became next to nothing she still asked me for a 'bartender's choice'. I think she just liked to see what new brew I could come up with.

Regardless, the game continued, today was no exception and it looked like I passed.

"Besides the build up, not bad," she said, going back to reading, letting the flow of conversation drift back to amiable chatter.

I stepped away to tend to other visitors and listened to their current woes. A bad day at work, trouble with the husband, and one silvered patron had just found out his father passed away. Each time I stood in front of them I did the best I could from my position.

I tended to their needs.

Some only needed a mug of beer and a cheerful smile, another a stiff drink with a stiffer nod. Others, were more delicate. I offered two shots and watched him drain one as the other stood alone, same as I did. The full glass and I watched him weep into the table, we both shouldered the burden in the way only silence could.

Every day it was something different, different reasons people sought out a bar and I made sure to attend to them all. I passed drinks across the hardwood counter every night, spent the right amount of time with each patron, but I always found myself back in the far end of the counter talking about anything and everything, with her.

The quiet girl with stories dancing in the gold of her eyes.

Today her book told a tale of a female knight rescuing a prince from certain death, only to fall down a crevasse, having to survive against the elements and grim alike. Before I could ask about why the duo had agreed to follow a barbarian to her campsite, Blake's scroll buzzed, the name Adam flashing in angry red letters.

I watched her gaze shift towards the device, eyebrows scrunching into a furrow, before she ended the call without a word.

"Problems with your boyfriend?" I asked with an aftertaste of jealousy, she never mentioned an Adam before.

When she started massaging her left bicep with her other hand I knew I made a mistake, doubly so when she glanced at the exit.

I cursed my stupidity, at violating one of the cardinal rules of bartending. How amateur and immature of myself, just like my very first day. Patrons will talk if they want to, never pry. Racking my brain for a fallback, one of the first stories I picked up as a bartender came to mind. Any idea would be better than nothing.

"Do you believe in magic?" I asked, already in the midst of preparing for the next part.

Her eyes zeroed back on to me, angst gone in exchange for rapt attention.

I had her now.

"I can make many drinks," I said, while cracking open a can of tomato juice, pausing to grab a new bottle of vodka. "But right now I can make the perfect drink because now, now is a powerful time to conduct magic."

I spun the fresh bottle on the counter, stopping its rotation where the spout pointed toward me, away from her. "The witching hour, a time where spirits, demons, and monsters roam Remnant. While humanity sleeps magic flows freely. Since you're here I can perform my magic."

Snatching the bottle up from the table I let my hands do the rest. Let the liquid flow for a two second pour, followed by a dash of paprika, three ounces of tomato juice in a collins glass, add the vodka and finish.

Pressing the ruddy mixture of crimson tomato and burgundy vodka toward the girl, I added the garnish. A sliver of jalapeños that I used to stir the drink, only enough where the two fluids swirled into a spiral of color. A perfect Bloody Murder.

Taking the proffered glass, Blake asked, "What was your magic?"

"My magic is the magic of bartenders. I heal the soul," I said, with a twirl of my fingers, breaking my persona only once she looked truly confused. "It also allows me to apologize for being nosy. Enjoy the drink on me."

The same thing I watched my boss do, when I first started working here, she broke into a small smile.

"You're too pure for this world, Jaune," she said in the midst of a sip, before pushing her chair out.

I watched her gather her things, pay her bill even when I told her it was free, and finally make her way to the door. I let a patron walk away unsatisfied.

The click of her long black boots stopped. She turned just enough where I could make out the barest hint of a smirk and one citrine eye, the iris appearing to glow from the light of the neon sign.

"Try not to stay out too late Jaune, they're too many monsters out there that would love to take a bite out of an amateur magician."

With her tip given, monetary and verbal, Blake left through the cherry wood doors, the sound of her boots drowned out as the noise of the bar flowed back into the forefront.

A surly voice asked what I was thinking, "You screwed that up, huh?"

"Yeah, I sure did," I replied, as I turned to the middle aged man, who sat in the first seat of the bar.

"Some bartender you are, should just stick to flipping burgers, buddy."

"Well, if someone would actually do their job, I could look for one."

It was an old conversation, the words said multiple times before in many variations. Marcus, the man who trained me and gave me the job in the first place, liked to drink his selection rather than make it. So he found me, some kid out of school with no path, but to serve him.

I got a job and he got rid of one, but it didn't mean I had to humor his crotchy personality all the time, even if I knew he had a heart of gold under it.

"With that giant screw up I'm going to call it for the night, Marcus. Looks like you'll have to work after all."

"What? You're leaving? How are you gonna pay the bills now? Not like your great writing degree is going to do it."

"Ha. Ha. You never know I might have a secret manuscript going."

"Why don't you tell me one of your stories then? I'm a great critic."

"See you tomorrow, Marcus." I tossed my apron toward the man.

"Dumb blond," grumbled Marcus, as he caught the apron in one hand and tried to fasten it on with swollen fingers. Arthritis, so he claimed, but with a glass in hand the man could create panacea.

Marching into the back room, I pulled my jacket off the hanger and slung it over my white shirt and vest, wishing I had my hoodie and jeans. Fishing out my scroll from my jacket I glanced at the missed calls.

My scroll couldn't send or receive texts, browse, or do much other than its primary function of taking calls. I couldn't afford an upgrade. My few friends adapted, their bright pink and green names bounced on the screen letting me know they had left me a voice message, their way of keeping me updated.

Deciding to listen to the messages later I stepped out into the slight chill of midnight Vale, sparing a moment to bask under the light of a waxing gibbous moon as I dug for my keys.

With keys in hand I strode down past the back alley into the near empty lot, right up to my old beater of a vehicle. The same one I had since college, its peeled and cracked body hadn't let me down since and I've never had a reason to replace it, not that I could if I wanted to.

Fumbling to place the key in the port and through the longing of my bed, I heard it.

A soft noise cried out into the empty night. Faint in volume, but close at the same time, it sounded like whimpering. What ever made the noise was afraid, frightened. The sound repeated itself the moment my door swung open with a creak.

I stared at the cracked leather seats and the sight of the ignition just a step away.

The sound repeated, this time a wail, instead of a whimper.

Sighing once, I slammed my door closed and stomped my way over to the noise. If a dog got its paw stuck in a grate, it better be the most thankful dog in all of Remnant.

Never say I wasn't a good guy.

With the future of my body in the warm caress of my blankets gone, I walked toward the noise. Backtracking out of the parking lot and moving deeper into the alleyway, the whimpering sounds continued. With every step the source of the noise moved just a bit further away, almost like it kept pace with me.

I followed the noise, until it lead to a narrower alleyway, this one clouded in a soft fog. The fog while not particularly odd for this area of Vale, looked different. Firstly, the air wasn't cold enough to cause it. Secondly, the white wisps of haze only barely drifted out of the alley and diffused into the clear air, as if someone had left a pot of dry ice in the alleyway and abandoned it.

This time when the voice cried out it felt just in front of my face, a mix between a whimper and a pained growl. I couldn't see anything, but I could almost feel something's body heat.

I leaned a bit closer to see if it would help, but life had other plans.

Like a bullet, a red blur slammed into my torso, throwing me backward, a bag of stinking trash breaking my fall.

"Gah, what is a human doing here?"

Swiping off the remains of someone's week old lunch, I looked up to the projectile, now revealing a girl dressed for war.

One silver knee pad slammed into the filth inches from my head, followed by another as the figure straddled me. Trailing up the appendages, past black cargo pants, and a crimson jacket, I found a pair of round eyes staring down at me. Furrowed brows waited for a response to the question.

"I would think you were a human as well, unless you're hiding an extra pair of ears somewhere?" I never could be sure with faunus.

A silver studded glove slammed over my mouth, the scent of aged leather and rotten food didn't mix as well as I imagined.

"Never mind just be quiet," hissed the girl, as she clamped down harder, preventing my next line.

The thought that I might be getting mugged crossed my mind, exponentially so when I felt the kiss of metal against my chest.

I tried to ask what she wanted, only able to speak in muffled ramblings.

My blood ran cold when I saw the chrome barrel of a gun pointing at my torso.

I froze, my eyes locked on trailing patterns of red traced upon the weapon. Geometrical in design. To me? Drops of blood.

"Shhh, be quiet."

Only when the girl hissed and pushed me deeper into the filth did I realize I was hyperventilating.

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, I didn't think this is where I would die. Mugged and left for dead in a deserted alleyway, buried in garbage. Who would tell my family, my friends? Who would get my guitar?

Then I heard it.

A growl, a mix of beast and chainsaw, reverberated across the area. My temperature dropped several more degrees. My breath froze in my throat. I didn't know anything that could make a sound like that.

"Damn," said girl above me and we were moving.

Heads shorter than me, she hauled me to my feet and shoved me back to the parking lot, her gun up and pointed behind her, away from me.

Maybe I wouldn't die.

The hope was squashed when a brown rocket slammed into the bag of trash we had just occupied.

A creature mixed between a bear, a wolf, plus a healthy dose of chemical mutation, lay coiled and crouched. Claws as long as my forearm sank into the spot where my head had been.

I now had an image to haunt my nightmares.

My new boogey monster's blue eyes stared back at mine and at first it looked shocked, before a twisted glee set in.

Then it howled.

My stomach flipped. The noise rattled my bones, just the cue I needed to turn and follow the insistent urging of the girl with the gun.

I had just turned and made my first step, something that would only take a second, when I felt the air behind my neck displace. The growling sounded fatally close behind.

I was going to die, at least I would have if I wasn't tackled at the last minute. A slice dug into my arm, instead of decapitating me right there. The sound of nails on a chalkboard screeched as the creature flew out of view.

Finally, finding some speech faculties returning, I eloquently asked, "What is that?!"

Looking back on it, that probably wasn't the best question at the time. The girl shook her head and half dragged half shoved me to the parking lot, the only escape.

"No time, move. Get out of here, out of the way. My sister and I can handle it," she yelled, a hard grimace the only thing visible under the crimson hood covering most of her face.

This time it was my turn to save her. Digging my hands into her military vest, I twisted in place, pulling her away as the creature materialized from the darkness, already swiping at the back of her head.

The creature snarled and missed by just a hair, instead taking a slice out of her jacket.

The girl looked behind me before her frown grew deeper.

"Change of plans, do you have any silver on you?"

I shook my head.

"I had to forget mine at home. Look, you have to get out of here. Quickly. Do you have a car? Good. Get it and drive home. Forget what happened and don't talk about it. Right now! Move!" said the girl, before she turned to face the monster.

Normally, this would be a point where I would comment about standing my ground and fighting like the masculine man I was, but with the sound of the thing's claws scrabbling against concrete, and the image of the same appendages raking across my ribs, I didn't argue.

Finding my legs I started to run back to my car.

Funny I always thought gunshots would sound more like a bang, instead seven pops filled the empty night. The following pained howl caused me to turn and slow my pace.

The girl, barely looking of age to drink, stood over the collapsed form of the monster. Even prone the size of the creature reached up to her hips, a mass of bristling fur, and several distinct oozing red holes.

"Tch, out of ammo," said the girl as she pocketed the pistol, making eye contact with me. "What did I say? Run, it's not dead."

I didn't know how to respond, it wasn't dead, but it was dying. The beast was clearly incapacitated and shouldn't it bleed out from there? My question answered itself and not for the first time I cursed my luck.

The growling started again followed by the quiet clinks of metal, as I watched several grey bullets push themselves out of the creature's flesh and drop to the ground.

Were the wounds closing? Nothing could heal that fast.

By the time the claws of the beast started twitching I was already following the girl closely behind, up the stairs of the car port.

"Where's your car?" asked the girl.

I pointed toward the baby blue paint job of my ride… all the way on the opposite side of the parking.

Her sigh was telling, yet it didn't slow her pace as she lead me through the other vehicles.

"Shouldn't that thing be dead?" I asked, in between breaths.

"Nope, needed silver and I didn't have time to load those."

"You shot it. Several times."

"Doesn't matter much if he can heal faster than he can bleed out."

"That's not normal."

"That really depends on your definition."

"Wha-"

She clamped her hand over my mouth, dragging me behind a parked vehicle only a few cars away from my own.

This time the howl was deafening. The deep rumbling, now a wet gurgle of perforated lungs. A crash followed shortly after, the crunching of metal as several car alarms went off.

I didn't feel safe at all. "How has nobody called the cops?" I whispered through the girl's gloved fingers.

"The Veil."

"Vale?"

"No. The VEIL. Look it doesn't matter." She turned my head forcing me to look into her eyes. "You need to listen. My sister is coming to help, but she's far away. We need to be very quiet and try and make it to your car. If we do, you live. Got it?"

I almost answered verbally, but thought better on it and nodded.

"Good, stay low. We will make it," she finished, punctualized by several more crashes and the activation of airbags.

We crept past the hood of the car we hid behind, no sign of the creature, and slowly made our way to my car. I was almost crawling, trying as hard as I could to keep my profile as small as possible.

Another bang and a howl.

We passed one car, only another until we reached mine.

Rending metal, and the screech of tires skidding.

I sucked in a breath holding it in fear the creature could hear me in the cacophony of other noises.

A pause and a growl.

We made it, I fumbled for my keys.

The sound of a deep breath into a snout filling a very large set of lungs.

"Damn, so close," muttered the girl.

The creature was already upon us. Bounding over several cars and skittering off another, the creature's frothing maw filled my vision as it leapt the final distance trapping us between my vehicle and its own bulk. Its teeth snapped inches from my face.

I must have overloaded the fear center of my brain as the only reaction to my gruesome mauling and subsequent death was to extend my hand to the girl crouched near my sde.

"Thanks for the save earlier, I know it didn't work, but thanks. Jaune, Jaune Arc."

The girl quirked her eyebrow at my behavior before grasping my hand with a nod and replied, "Ruby Rose."

Our tormenter, either amused or debating which of us it wanted to eat first, gave us the time to make our final greetings or farewells. As we separated it seemed to have enough. Its hind legs pressed into the ground gathering power to lunge.

Right at the moment of release a large boom echoed in the alleyway, causing me to jump.

I was alive to jump?

Cracking open my eyes and looking toward where a mutant wolf had just about been ready to tear my face off was a crater and a cloud of dust. The same monster that spelled my doom, hacked and clawed futilely as it lay suspended by its neck by another of the same.

That comparison wouldn't do the newest arrival justice, golden fur and red eyes graced this one.

Each shift of the newest creature set off a cascade of dandelion and golden light as it moved, the street lights only serving to further showcase its rippling muscles. If the other creature looked like a monstrous hybrid, this one looked like a gold effigy of a timber wolf. If a normal wolf measured the size of a small car.

With a growl and a shake of its neck the golden wolf threw the other against the wall, cracking the bricks and several bones in the brown creature's body.

The blue eyed wolf staggered to its feet growling at its challenger.

The golden wolf didn't seem impressed, standing a head taller, it just stared back.

In a short standoff the two beasts met eyes. The brown one's growls reaching a crescendo spelling only violence, before it turned and fled out of the corridor.

Unfortunately, leaving Ruby and myself with another larger version of the same problem.

Counting in my head all the times I could have sinned to cause a situation like this, I prayed that the golden wolf didn't feel like playing with its food today.

Ruby's reaction on the other hand differed.

"Oh my Oum, nice save, Yang! I thought you'd never show up."

Wait… this thing was her sister? This was the person Ruby had mentioned would help her handle the situation? Unless I had missed that part of biology, I very much doubted they were related in any way.

The line 'what is a human doing here' came to mind… was Ruby one of them?

"Yang, wait are you hurt? What's going on? You're bleeding, oh my gosh, why aren't you reacting? YANG?!" shouted Ruby, who began shaking the golden beast as it slumped to the ground.

I observed from a distance. I watched what would send every science professor insane. What must have been an enormous amount of mass gradually shrunk down, getting smaller and smaller as fur receded back into the skin, bones cracked and popped as it reshaped. The knife like claws recessed into the creature's paws… well hands now.

After several minutes of defying physics, what was a monster of my worst imagination now appeared a girl, no a woman, nude and clutching at a weeping wound on her left side.

Apparently that was not a good sign, as Ruby immediately began shaking the woman's shoulders and yelled out her name, to receive no response.

My work persona came back, the mask slipping on through shaking hands. Once in place the shaking stopped, everything else that happened tonight, was pushed into the background as I tugged off my jacket. Take care of the immediate issue, panic attack after. It was just like handling a bar fight if I ignored the transforming monster part of it. Quickly undoing the buttons on my shirt I tied it around the woman's wound, applying pressure the best I could.

"Look, I don't know what the heck just happened, but shouldn't your sister be fine? Doesn't she heal like the other one?" I asked as I covered her with my jacket.

"If that's the case she should have healed already, that shot was from a while ago," said Ruby.

"Then we need to get her to the hospital."

"No, we can't, anywhere, but there."

"We can't just stay here. What if that thing comes back, Ruby?"

"I know- I just.. What about your place? Do you live alone?"

I bit my lip and it was enough for Ruby to pounce on it.

"Please, I know we just met, but my sister will be fine soon. She just needs a place to rest for the night, that kind of injury will be fine if I can take a look at it."

Looking down at the pale form of the woman, I wasn't so sure. The amount of blood on the ground already a cause for concern, not that rational medical knowledge applied here.

Even if I believed Ruby, the idea of taking them to my apartment was another debate in itself. Did I want to involve myself with a girl who could apparently turn into a monster or her sister, even if they saved me?

The nude blonde's shivering as she tucked herself into a ball and the tears that dotted Ruby's eyes sealed the deal.

Stooping down I placed my arms under the blonde's legs and armpits, lifting her upward and pressed into my chest. I sighed once before turning and making a speedy march toward my car.

"Ruby, you'll need to open my car when we get there."

Ruby's teary eyes nodded back. Oum, my bleeding heart.

"And try not to get her blood all over my seats."

If someone had told me I would be carrying a naked supermodel who saved me from the claws of a giant monster by being a giant monster herself, towards my car so I could let her little sister and her sleep at my apartment… well… I would have cut him off for the night.

The fact that it was a one hundred percent true statement pulled a long sigh from my lungs.

I needed a drink.

I wanted to write these stories as close to my favorite book series as possible. Urban fantasy FTW! That means, I will post regularly until I reach the end of the first book. Followed by a break that will be as long as needed to make sure the next is just as good.

I will likely be posting updates on Thursday as normal, though I am debating interchanging Another Round with another story I came up with to ensure Mixed Martial Arc is still the priority.

I hope you enjoy my second story as much as the last.

Follow, Review, or Favorite if you liked the story, it makes me smile.

Until next time,

Mkspotlights