The Werelupe Hunter: Part Five

     He was thinking about his owner, Joe. Wondering if he was okay. What if he had been taken by Shilo? Shilo had said he would find all the Werelupe owners eventually, but if didn’t go back to Joe, then maybe he wouldn’t be taken.

     Reassured, he turned his attention back to Apsy and Fanger, who were looking at him expectantly.

     “Right, now that we’ve got that sorted, let’s move in,” Apsy said.

     “What...?” Jorange began, but the two of them had already disappeared, loping towards the building. They weren’t doing a very good job of remaining inconspicuous, but then again, it was kind of hard when you were larger than the average Neopian.

     He shrugged, then followed them. It was too late to ask what the plan was.

     They moved to a window and Fanger put his paw through it, sending glass everywhere. It would have been dangerous for most other pets, but their Werelupe fur was so thick the glass didn’t penetrate.

     “Very subtle,” Jorange muttered.

     Apsy turned and grinned at him. “It was either smash the window or go up nicely and ask them to let us in. Which do you think was the better option?”

     In his mind’s eye Jorange got a brief picture of them scaling the walls and dropping from the roof, but he shook the image away.

     “The window,” he admitted.

     “Although it would have been nice to see their faces,” Fanger whispered from inside Headquarters.

     Apsy clambered in through the window and said to Jorange, “You know what to do,” before moving out the door of the room inside and disappearing.

     Jorange stood for a moment outside, wondering just what he was meant to be doing, then shrugged and moved around to the front of Headquarters. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the spotted Gelert – Luis – entering through the main entrance. Flanking the door were two pets that Jorange recognised from his fight – A starry Xweetok and a Shadow Uni.

     He strode up to them and saw them bristle. Maybe because they recognised him, but probably because he was a Werelupe. The Uni stepped forward, her horn lowered dangerously.

     “You are to be taken into custody,” she declared.

     “Fine by me,” Jorange said.

     And he walked right by her and into the building. Even this late at night there was someone at the main desk, and he walked up and stared down at the Techo manning it.

     “’Scuse me, but can you tell me where the prisoners are kept?” he asked.

     The Techo stared up at him with wide eyes.

     “W-what?” he stuttered.

     “The prisoners?” Jorange said, stretching out each syllable. “Where are they?”

     “The basement,” the Techo said as his professional side kicked in.

     As Jorange moved towards the stairs the Xweetok burst into the building.

     “You can’t go there!” he shouted. “Not without an escort!”

     Jorange ignored him and walked down the stairs, the Xweetok trailing after him. He wasn’t so macho without his friends supporting him, and he stayed out of the big Werelupe’s reach.

     Halfway down the stairs Jorange bumped into Fanger, who gave him a quizzical look.

     “That’s not the kind of distraction we meant. Maybe leading the angry pets away from the building would have been a better idea.”

     Jorange shrugged. “To be honest, I wasn’t actually listening to you two. And it’s only one pet. He said I need an escort to be down here, and he seems to be following me everywhere, so I guess he counts as my escort.”

     The Xweetok looked offended. “I am not your escort,” he said with great dignity.

     “Then leave me alone,” Jorange challenged.

     The Xweetok pursed his lips but stayed where he was.

     “How did you two get in here?”

     All three pets turned at the great booming voice. An impressively built Moehog strode up to meet them from the bottom of the stairs. Jorange’s eyes widened.

     “Judge Hog!” he exclaimed.

     The Moehog was tall enough not to have to look up at the Werelupes.

     “You must be taken into custody,” he said, his voice becoming almost mechanical.

     Fanger was gaping at Judge Hog, his mouth working frantically while absolutely nothing came out.

     “What?” Jorange asked.

     “He has red eyes!” Fanger said, finally getting sound out.

     “So?”

     Fanger didn’t get an opportunity to answer his question, because Judge Hog strode forwards and seized his neck fur, then with amazing strength hoisted him into the air.

     Jorange stared at them for a moment, then Judge Hog collapsed into a heap. In the space behind him stood Apsy, her paw still in the air. She dusted Fanger off.

     “Never thought I’d see someone lift you up, you great lump,” she teased.

     “Did you find anything?” Fanger asked her, grinning.

     “Well, I found a giant room filled with pets, but I can’t budge the door.”

     Jorange bent over Judge Hog and pulled a keyring off his belt, holding them up.

     “Try these,” he said.

     Apsy scooped them out of his paw, shouting, “Genius!” as she ran down the stairs.

     “Sometimes she takes after her owner,” Fanger said, shaking his head as he followed.

     Apsy ran to a door at the end of the hall and unlocked it. Jorange didn’t recognise the girl rushed out and pulled Apsy into a hug, but guessed it was her owner. A Christmas Zafara, Halloween Cybunny and Mutant Ixi came out next. After Jorange was introduced to them Fanger opened the next door and Jenn, Gioama and Kieavin came out. Others came out and left almost at once.

     “Where’s Minotaur?” Apsy asked.

     Fanger shook his head and continued down the corridor. Finally Fanger stopped in front of a door and growled, inserting the key into the lock.

     “Shhh!” he said to those left behind.

     He opened the door quietly. They could hear a mocking voice.

     “Think you’re so tough now, huh? Who’s the twit now?”

     Fanger growled, and the spotted Gelert Luis only had a second to react before the Werelupe was upon him, seizing him by the shoulders and pushing him against the wall.

     Jorange looked inside the room. Minotaur was chained to the wall, his mane fluffing up around his place. He didn’t look that relieved. In fact, he looked embarrassed to be caught in such a situation. Jorange grabbed the abandoned keys and set him free. Then he turned to watch Fanger.

      “Where’s Shilo?” Fanger growled, shaking Luis.

     The Gelert looked scared for the first time. Jorange was only sorry that he wasn’t the cause of the fear. “He went to the Haunted Woods. Said he had wanted to do some hunting alone. And that he had a score to settle.”

     “Hunting?” Fanger growled. The Gelert nodded his head. “Well, we were heading to the Woods anyway.”

     He let Luis go and strode out of the room. “Leave him here,” he growled.

     Jorange glared at the spotted Gelert. Luis had been the cause of the fight that day. He had stirred up a bunch of his friends to go and pick on the nearest Werelupe. He wished he could settle the score, but then he reluctantly left the room and locked the door.

     “We better get out of here quick,” Ember said, out in the corridor with Jenn and their pets. “Everyone else has left already. They might send people down here to check if anyone’s left.”

     They hurried out of the basement. Minotaur lingered and glared at the door that had Luis behind it.

     “Twit,” he spat.

     Jorange couldn’t agree more.

     *

     They had managed to leave the DoN Headquarters behind and were making good time towards the Haunted Woods. Ember and Jenn were heading away from Neopia Central, but not towards the Haunted Woods. Ember had said,

     “As much as I want to go to the Woods again, I don’t think it would be the smartest thing to do. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that what with most of Neopia’s Werelupes in there, and most of Neopia hounding after their blood, that’s it’s not the safest place to be right now.”

     So it was just three Werelupes – Jorange, Apsy and Fanger – heading towards the Woods to warn the King.

     There wasn’t much conversation. Fanger was brooding over something. His face had a pained thinking look on it. And Jorange didn’t feel an overwhelming urge to speak, so it was just Apsy left, and she decided to leave the silence as it was.

     It was sunrise when they reached the Woods. Apsy deemed it safe enough to sleep, so Jorange let his legs fold and was asleep within seconds.

     *

     “I’ve got it!”

     Jorange woke up and rolled over, shooting Fanger his most irritated look. Fanger didn’t seem to notice it.

     “I’ve figured it out!” he shouted. “I knew there was something wrong with Shilo.”

     “What are you talking about, Fang?” Apsy moaned as she too was woken up by his excitement.

     “I’ve figured out who the Werelupe Hunter is,” Fanger said.

     “And...?” Apsy said.

     Fanger opened his mouth, but was cut off by a distressed howl from nearby. Jorange leapt to his paws and raced towards the sound, not caring if the others were behind him. It sounded like a Werelupe, and they were in trouble.

     He came into a clearing to see a brown shape fleeing through the trees on his left while more brown shapes appeared from his right, coming closer. A Werelupess stood in the centre of the clearing, bleeding from a wound in her shoulder. She stared at him as three others Werelupes burst through the gnarled trunks of the tree and pinned him to the ground.

To be continued...