Cursed Witch Luna

Chapter One.

AINA.

"More fucking bodies in the woods," I muttered, my teeth gritting so hard I thought I'd chipped a molar. I tossed the morning paper onto the table, the grainy photo of a crime scene tape staring back at me like mockery.

Leo walked in, still in his tactical vest, looking like he'd been dragged through a swamp and beaten with a lead pipe. His expression was grim- that specific brand of 'police officer exhaustion' that usually preceded a very long, very annoying conversation.

"Same as the other cases?" He asked, his voice gravelly.

"Carbon copy," I snapped.

He sighed, dropping onto the couch with a heavy thud and rubbing his temples. "I don't get it. Six killings in two weeks. The autopsy reports are a goddamn nightmare. Everything points to a wild animal, Aina. A very big one,"

"We both know that 'wild animals' run in this forest, Leo, but this feels different. This is targeted," I paced the small living room, the floorboards creaking under my boots. He stood up, walking over to wrap his arms around my waist from behind. It was supposed to be comforting, but I felt like a coiled spring. "I have no idea what's going on, babe. It's strange. Even for this hellhole of a city,"

"Strange doesn't cover it," I said, pulling away to face him. "The masks on the victims are identical. Claws the size of steak knives, organs ripped out with surgical precision, bite marks that would make a grizzly look like a house cat. I haven't seen a single beast strong enough to do this. It's getting insane. I think this might be above the department's pay grade."

Leo rolled his eyes, a small, patronizing smile tugging at his lips. "I think you're overthinking it. The area is blocked off, the citizens are warned. We'll find the stray mutt doing this and put a bullet to it. End of story."

"And what if it's not a stray dog?" I challenged myself.

"Then what is it? Some mystical creature? A big bad wolf from a bedtime story?" He let out a dry laugh, but it died quickly when he saw the look on my face. I inches back, my arms crossing over my chest. He let out a sigh, rubbing his temple. "Look, you're stressed. You're seeing monsters in the shadows because the truth that nature is just cruel is too boring for you. Get your head out of those books and imaginations, Aina. It's rotting your brain."

He turned and headed up the stairs without another word. I looked down at the floor. A heavy, leather bound book lay sprawled near the leg of the table. I picked it up, tracing the embossed cover- an ancient, silver eyed wolf perched on a mountain, looking down at a world it intended to swallow whole.

But what if it's not just my imagination? I thought, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. What if the legends weren't just stories to keep kids out of the dark? What if something old and hungry has been unleashed?

-

A Week Later.

I felt like a walking corpse, all insides shut down.

The cases were getting worse hour by hour. Victims that survived claimed to see flashes of a big creature.

Some survived.

Many died.

Yet my idea of something out of this world was pushed aside like a kid's plaything.

My shift at the station had ended two hours late, and the caffeine in my system had turned into a shaky, acidic mess. I decided to stop by the local 24- hour clinic to pick up a refill for the insomnia meds that were currently the only thing keeping me from hallucinating.

The waiting room was a portrait of misery. Patients were lined up against the walls, some seated, all moaning and groaning in low, guttural tones. The air is made of antiseptic and something metallic- blood. I pulled my hoodie lower, obscuring my face. Being a cop in a room full of people who looked like they'd been through a meat grinder wasn't my idea of a fun Tuesday.

I reached the counter and slid my prescription across the laminate.

"Can't sleep?" The nurse asked, her eyes bloodshot as she scanned the paper.

"Yeah," I answered weakly. "I'm a cop and I can't....I can't find a way to help these people. Everyone insists it's just the woods, the wild creatures getting worse, but...."I shook my head and let out a pathetic, self deprecating laugh. "Never mind..you'd think I'm losing it."

The nurse leaned over the counter, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "You know, if I'm thinking what you are, then we might both be crazy. But there's a chance we're just the only ones with our eyes open."

I arched my brow. "Hm?"

"These attacks," she gestured vaguely to the groaning men in the hall. "They are getting worse. The wounds are deep, critical. I've seen animal attacks, honey, but I've never seen teeth marks that look like they were made by something that knows exactly where the jugular is. When I spoke up, everyone told me to shut my mouth or I'd lose my license."

I stayed silent, listening, the hair on my arms standing up.

"Do you think the legends are true?" Her voice dropped to a lower whisper that only I could hear. "About the wolves? The ones in the children's books? The wolves that lived here thousands of years ago? Could it be possible that somehow the human world has been infiltrated with something supernatural?"

My eyes widened but I forced a cold, hard mask onto my face. "No. It's a myth. A messed up fairy tale. Whatever is happening, it's grounded in reality, not some kids' story."

She sighed, then frowned, sliding my pills towards me. "I sure hope you're right and that I am going crazy. Because if wolves were real, then humanity is doomed."

I grabbed the bottle without saying a word and turned towards the exit, desperate for the cool night air. But as I reached for the door handle, the atmosphere in the room shifted. It became heavy, charged with a sudden suffocating pressure. 

I stopped walking and turned back. In the corner of the room, two figures leaned against the wall. They wore dark, heavy hoodies, their faces lost in shadows. At first, I tried to ignore them, but the air around them felt wrong.... Sinister. Like the world was curdling in their presence.

Then, the lights began to flicker and flicker until it died out slowly leaving everyone in darkness.

The silence lasted only a heartbeat before the screaming and eerie sounds of snarls and bone snapping started. The people were just shouting, they were screaming, sounds of guttural, primal shrieking. The wounds of snapping bones and tearing of flesh echoed off the tile walls like wet firecrackers. I stood frozen, my hand hovering near my holster, but I couldn't see a damn thing, all I could hear and feel were the screams and splatters of blood on my body making me absolutely terrified from my inner soul.

Just as the screams grew higher, it suddenly died down, replaced by low horrific snarls that vibrated in my very marrow.

Run Aina.

My brain screamed, but my body refused to move, I stood frozen to the ground, eyes wide as I tried to focus. Heavy footsteps began to walk closer, slow, deliberate and terrifying calm. But that wasn't what scared me, it was the fact that they didn't sound like what belonged to a human that scared me the most. But just as the footsteps began, it stopped.

Suddenly, the lights buzzed back to life. My hands dropped to my sides when I saw the horror that had taken place.

The clinic that was once filled with patients was now a slaughterhouse. Blood was splattered across the white walls, the patients were scattered all over the place, dismantled and dismembered.

From the hallway, I sighted a man walking up towards me, he was dressed in an expensive suit, he had dark hair and eyes that turned with a predatory gold, a smile was plastered on his lips as he stood just a few feet away.

"Aina," he said in a lowly gravelly voice that had me removing the gun from my side and holding it up to him. "I have finally found you...." He smirked as he got closer.

"Get back!" I screamed, my fingers trembling around the gun despite my inner instincts to shoot him.

He laughed and stood in front of the gun, then leaned in closer, he slowly reached up and held my hand, squeezing it making me yelp as the gun was being squished under his grip making the pieces pierce into my fingers, the pain was so agonizing I felt like screaming my lungs out.

"It's time I took you back......to where you truly belong."