"You’ll like this one" Karl insists, dressed in his full biker leathers. "It’s hellhounds"
"Seriously Karl? What makes you think I’d enjoy that more than any other mission?"
"Well, to start with, they’re basically demon posessed rogue werewolves. I know you had rogue patrol duty as an up and coming pack warrior" his factual tone reminds me just how hard I worked to be called ’warrior’ and move up from the rank of Omega, at the very bottom of the pack where I was born.
"Since it’s in your area of expertise, it should be easy going, plus, they turn to ash when killed. No messy cleanup, no stinking orcs, just Kill, Maim and then they Burn."
That’s actually a bit of a relief. After the orcs I wasn’t sure my gear was going to come clean and odour free, even with the aid of magic.
"The portal is already closed, and the greater demon that brought them has been defeated, but the teams that brought it down were seriously injured, so we get to take care of the little guys before they reach the nearest town"
Taking mental notes, I’ve gotten myself into a combat frame of mind, ready to head out as soon as our gear is double checked.
"Lala, is everything packed and sitting by the Jeep?" Karl asks
"Yep, everything matches your inventory" she answers, her ears twitching with nerves. "But I’ve never packed for warriors before, please don’t punish me too hard if it’s not all in the correct places"
Karl looks like he’s seriously considering a punishment and I smack him on the arm.
"Nobody’s going to punish you Lala, it’s our job to double check our gear before heading out" With this she looks a lot more relaxed.
Karl runs a finger down the rim of my wolf ear "Party pooper"
Oh no, I’ve stayed transformed again. I’m so relaxed around the bunny girl that having my ears and tail out don’t even register and now I’ve slipped around Karl again. He doesn’t really seem to notice though, unless he’s making an excuse to pet my head. Maybe it’s not such a big deal to people who aren’t Lycans?
"Alright, Lala, here is the first batch of paperwork, signed and ready to be delivered to Narishma, the Vampire. You’ll likely find her in the control room" at the mention of the word vampire Lala flinches slightly in discomfort.
"Don’t worry, she can be a bit intense, but she’s a good person" I reassure her.
"When we get back we’ll have you take our debriefing notes and make out a full report. I left templates of how the reports should be done and what to make sure we cover in our debriefings on the desk in your room"
"Thank you Sir, I’ll be sure I’m prepared" she responds, snapping to a very professional straight backed pose with her hands clasped in front of her.
"She calls me Sir, I like that, why don’t you call me Sir?" Karl whispers in my ear and I not so subtly kick him in the shin, causing him to laugh while shaking his leg.
Everything checked and double checked, I load our gear in the Jeep. "Let’s get going, Mr. Mage" I beckon causing Karl and Lala, who obviously heard his whisper to break out in laughter.
An hour later the scent of sulphur becomes apparent in the air and Karl brings the Jeep to a stop at the entrance to a wheat field.
"At least it’s not Corn. We can see them in this" he gestures out towards the horizon where I see a dozen or so canines roaming.
Catching our scent the hounds come running. Jaws snapping as if it would bring them closer, bits of fire escaping with every breath. Damn you Karl, these aren’t like rogues at all. These things are terrifying.
When they reach the 20 yard mark Karl’s shotgun starts with its signature rapid thudding fire, dropping 2 in rapid order, and a third a second later, chasing it down as it dodges.
Three hounds lunge at me all at the same time, each aiming for a different limb. Activating my gauntlets I tear the throat out of one and roll to the side, causing the others to miss me. Coming up I claw deeply into the belly of another, turning it to ash in mid air. Unfortunately for me, reinforcements have arrived.
Karl’s shotgun has gone silent, but howling still sounds from his direction, so I circle with the 4 hell hounds who have trained their attention on me. Maybe I should have asked Karl for those sweet speed buffs again, but for this it never occurred to me that I’d need them.
The hound at my back lunges at me, snarling in anger, only to meet my claws and disintegrate with a pained yelp. The last 3 attack all at the same time, making it easy on me. A swipe with each hand followed by a quick flip and a downward slash ends them all at once, their simultaneous lunges giving them nowhere to dodge to.
Looking over at Karl I find him smiling at me. "Good job little Lycan, let’s go find some more"
So went our day, group after group, working an overlapping grid until all signs and local reports of the hell hounds were taken care of.
"Excellent work today, let’s get back and see how our little secretary handles paperwork" Karl congratulated me, before stopping and looking at my head.
"What? You’re making me nervous looking at me like that."
"Just stay exactly like that for a moment" he said, reaching for my head.
Before I knew it he’d untied my hair, turned me around and expertly redone the Dutch Braids Lala had put my hair into this morning, working around my ears, just as she had.
"There, all better. Can’t go back to the office looking a hot mess. Might ruin our pristine reputation"
This I could not help but roll my eyes at. Pristine reputation? You’ve been on report so many times it’s a running joke at the Safe House. Coming back singed and disheveled from your crazy antics is exactly what everyone expects.
Rolling the Jeep back into the garage we were met with an overly excited Lala. Seriously, she’s so stoked about her first day on the job that she’s practically bouncing.
"Hi guys! How did it go? Is it done? How many were there? How far did they spread before you got to them?" She shot out rapid fire as soon as we exited the vehicle.
"Lala, calm down. Remember, we talked about this, one question at a time. Get the answer, then ask another"
"Oh yeah!" She stops and looks at me expectantly, waiting for the first answer.
Fortunately Karl saves me from the nonstop barrage, picking Lala up with a "Went great, it’s done, 196 in total, 60 km spread"
Lala braced her clipboard on her shoulder to write his answers as he carried her towards the elevators like this was just a totally normal thing.
She fired question after question at him until she reached the end of the list, then turned to me "any discrepancies with his report? Any injuries?"
"None and none. Thank you Lala"
She smiled and wiggled for Karl to put her down, now that we were on our floor again, then took off with her notes to begin to write up a proper report.
I noticed that our usual peace had returned, the floor almost silent, except for the sound of Lala writing in the dining hall.
"Karl, isn’t his place almost full? How is there not a single other person on our floor?"
Karl looked at me like I was missing the most obvious thing in the world "I think they’re intimidated by all the beautiful ladies"
Seriously?
Catching my skepticism, he continued "You and Lala, both top notch beauties, Narishma the base commander is also on this floor, though with her not needing sleep she spends entirely too much time working. There should be 4 recruits on the floor too, hopefully they weren’t scared off"
Blushing at being openly complimented like that I decided on diversion.
"I’m going to go look for those 4 recruits, any idea where they might be?"
"Last 4 rooms on the west wing"
Thanking Karl I headed off to the far side of the floor, hoping to find a friendly face to visit with and unwind after a long day of hell hounds and wheat fields. It wasn’t long until my wish was granted, I heard hushed talking from one of the rooms and decided it best to knock and see if they’d like to visit.
The door opened carefully exposing one dark eyed face that could almost pass as Narishma’s twin sister.
"Can I help you Miss?" she asked quietly.
"I was just wondering if you had a moment to talk? I know you’re new here and we haven’t had a chance to meet yet"
"Sure Miss, please come in, we’re all here"
This formality was getting old fast. They couldn’t be much younger than I am, and with my Lycan slowed aging, I certainly looked a lot younger than these college students.
"Please call me Kat."
"Zelda" The blonde one pointed at herself
"Meg" this one had dark hair and a flame emblem sewn into her clothing, most likely a fire mage
"Morgana, but everyone calls me Mary" This one would get along well with Lala. Every fibre of her being screamed hyper, and her gothic lolita dress very much went with the maid outfit Lala chose when left to her own devices. On second thought, maybe it’s best to keep them separated, I wouldn’t want bad influences rubbing off on my precious bunny.
"Jasmine" the one who opened the door introduced herself quietly. "As you’ve likely guessed, I’m related to Narishma" Yes, that makes sense, the scent of vampire was subtle, but she was most definitely a pure blooded vampire, born to the species and not turned at death.
Smiling at her timid nature, so unlike her brash and unfathomable relative I asked "So what sort of magic do you specialize in?"
At this her eyes lit up, it seems her magical specialty is a topic she truly enjoys
"I’m a healer"