Quickly glancing back at our prisoner, I saw it sitting like a dog on its rump, front legs holding its weight, tongue hanging out. I stood, unsettled by how casual it looked.

  “Now what?” Carlos asked.

  “Now we wait for James to recover,” I said. Raising my voice, I added, “Attention everyone. We think we have it controlled. Drop all your shields except for MANA SHIELDs. We’ll keep it contained for now. Rest and regenerate your Mana.”

  Looking around at the people watching, I added, “Everyone who isn’t a mage, keep your eyes on it and warn us if it does anything. Be ready to shoot. Do NOT go hand to hand with it. I don’t know if it can infect you, but we’re not taking that chance. Understood?”

  Shields flickered out one by one, leaving only faint ripples of MANA SHIELDs hanging in the warm night air. Mutters of understanding spread through the group, or at least what I hoped were mutters of understanding.

  The ambulance crew helped James onto a gurney. One cracked open a water bottle and held it for him as he drank.

  “Will.” Blaze’s voice startled me; I hadn’t noticed her moving up beside me. “Would food help him?”

  “Ask the medics and him. If they say yes, get it,” I told her.

  “Thanks,” she said, then jogged across the street into my house.

  James was already looking better. Half the water bottle was gone when I asked, “How are you doing? What happened?”

  “It felt like I was fighting two people. Trying to control both with one spell. The other one… it was… this sounds crazy, but it felt evil. That’s the only way I can describe it. The CHARM just bounced off.”

  “I saw that. It still shows MINION and SLAVE. Whatever’s behind it, the connection is still there. But he’s your SLAVE now. He’s just sitting there, waiting for you to tell him what to do.”

  James grimaced. “What do you want me to tell him to do? I don’t enjoy having a slave. I didn’t get a choice.”

  “I know. I’m sure you’ll let him go when it’s safe for everyone. You’re not a bad person. Now you have to show how good a person you can be.”

  “How can you be good if you force someone to be a slave?”

  “How can you be good without a slave? I don’t see a difference.” I told him, his eyes opening wide.

  “I’d rather see a good person do something bad that has to be done, than a bad person do the same thing. You won’t harm him, and you won’t keep it going longer than you have to.”

  I paused, thinking. “If you hired a limo with a driver, would you have a problem telling him where to take you?”

  “Uh, no. That’s what I’m paying him to do. What does that have to do with this?”

  “A limo driver is a servant, same as someone who does house cleaning. The difference is you aren’t forcing them. You give them something in exchange for their work. It’s a job. With me so far?” He nodded.

  “Historically, slaves were mostly servants and workers. They did tasks for their owner. The difference was they couldn’t walk away to find another job. So, if you think of him as your temporary employee and treat him like one, it might be easier. Your payment is breaking him free from whatever’s controlling him. After that, you can release him.”

  James frowned but nodded. “That’s one way of looking at it. You don’t make it sound as bad as most people do.”

  “I’m saying it this way to help you. It’s also closer to how most people treated their slaves a couple thousand years ago. They worked, were ordered around, but were fed and housed in return. Still wrong, but not always the nightmare people picture.”

  I thought back to editing a book on Greco-Roman slavery, then reading more about slavery afterward. “It was bad, but not always as bad as modern imaginations think, If you go back a couple thousand years.”

  James sighed. “What do you want me to do now?”

  “First, test communication. Tell him to stand up, then sit back down. Keep it simple so you don’t trigger whoever’s behind him. If he can, try to make him change back to human. If not, we’ll see what happens when the moon sets.”

  “And if he can’t change back?”

  “Then we keep him enclosed until the moon sets or dawn. Whichever forces the change. I saw his name when I used REVEAL STATS: John James Everett. Under that fur is the man we have to save.”

  James chuckled weakly. “I get it. And I’ll get it worse if I don’t write up every detail later.”

  That got me laughing. “Now you see why I got fed up with you people’s questions.”

  “Hey, I’m just a grad student in math. Or I will be in August. I’m not one of the professors. I just crunch numbers. My degree’s in statistics. You give me the data; I’ll give you answers.”

  “Got it. And you’re a gamer. I remember a question you asked. You wouldn’t have asked if you weren’t.”

  He nodded and drained the rest of the water bottle. Blaze reappeared carrying two of her biscuits and a couple MRE packs.

  “Chopped bacon, onions, and bread I baked, or eat like you’re in the Army,” she said with a grin. “They’re not bad. Guaranteed edible.”

  “I’ve heard about MREs,” James said. “I’ll try the biscuit.”

  Blaze laughed and handed one over. She had a second if he wanted it.

  He ate it quickly, nodding. “Pretty good. Thank you.” He wiped his mouth. “I think I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

  James nodded. “I think I’m OK now. I have one hell of a headache, but I don’t feel dizzy, exactly.”

  The medics steadied him as he slid off the gurney. One cautioned him to take it slow, and he did, pale but steady.

  James stood beside me, his face pale, but not white like earlier. “I’m ready. Let’s see how strong a hold I have on him.”

  “We’re behind you if you need us,” the medic told him. “I’ve seen dozens who felt like you do. We’ve only had to transport a few of them.”

  “It’s your show, do it,” I said.

  James stepped closer. “John. John Everett. Nod your head if you can hear me.”

  The wolf’s head dipped slowly, twice.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Can you change back to human? If you can, do it now.”

  “Will you become human when the moon sets?”

  Another shake.

  “When the sun rises?”

  Finally, a nod.

  James exhaled. “Will? Can you hold him until morning?”

  “Between several of us, yes. If he’s under your control, maybe we won’t need to.”

  Blaze cleared her throat. “What about putting a WARD around him like you did Wild Bill? Would that change him back?”

  “It might. I doubt it’ll break the SLAVE status, since that’s Profession based, but it’s worth trying.”

  I gave orders: SandB dropped her shield and rested while the others prepared. When she was ready and we both had shields around him, I cast the WARD around the wolf.

  The creature screamed, more human than wolf, as his body convulsed and shrank. Fur melted into skin until a nude man collapsed on the pavement, sobbing. My MANA SHIELD wrapped the WARD as insurance.

  “Talk to him,” I told James.

  James steadied himself, then he walked over, shaky but upright and walking on his own. “John. John Everett. Look at me.”

  Slowly, John lifted his head. He was maybe mid- to late-thirties, thin, dark hair plastered to his face, tattoos blurred on his arms.

  James guided him back, coaxing out scraps of memory…a house on Delphi Road, a job at Fox Packaging, promises whispered by a faceless voice cloaked in black. A voice that told him he wouldn’t have to be afraid or work anymore.

  James handing him one of Blaze’s biscuits, and a bottle of water from the ambulance crew through the ward.

  Carlos whispered updates to me… John’s rap sheet, minor stuff, a few fights, cleaned up in recent years. A family on Needmore Ridge, Delphi Road. Sheriff already sending someone out.

  Pulling my phone out of my pouch to check the map program. I didn’t recognize the name, but I had a bad idea where it was.

  Time ticked. The WARD held, the night air still damp and warm around us, the cicadas buzzing beyond the police lights. John chewed another biscuit, drank water, looked hollow-eyed but calmer.

  Carlos confirmed his family: wife, young three kids. My stomach knotted. Another innocent dragged into this.

  “John. Why did you come here?”

  “Had to. Made me.”

  “Who made you?”

  “Don’ know. Him.”

  “What did he look like?”

  “Don’ know. All black. Couldn’t see. Could hear him. He promised me.

  “What did he promise you?” James asked

  “Wouldn’t have to be afraid no more. Wouldn’t have to work no more.”

  James looked over at me and shrugged his shoulders like he was asking for help.

  Giving James a thumbs up, he nodded to me. He was doing a good job. Looking at Blaze, and lifting one eyebrow in my best Spock look, and pointed at James. “Help him,” I whispered.

  Blaze’s face went slack as she started a game chat with him. James’ next question sounded more like the one she might have asked. I decided to stay out until it was time to refresh my shield or the WARD.

  Looking back at Carlos, I said, “I looked up Delphi Road. It looks like it’s connected to what happened to Wild Bill. Same MINION STATUS.”

  Carlos nodded. “I heard what happened to him. Heard he was acting strange when he came back from the commune. Little things. Praying a lot, I heard.”

  “Father Stoddard told me he’s a devout Catholic.” I said "Opus Dei.”

  “Knew Hitchcock was Catholic. No secret there. Nothing was said about Everett being religious.” Carlos told me.

  “Blaze said he has a family.”

  “Lots of guys like him, get married and start a family. Then buy enough land out there to put a trailer on. They like having their own place.”

  Looking back at my house, “I can’t say I’m any different. Just bought mine in town.”

  Carlos laughed. “We’re still renting, but I want one someday. Don’t want to live that far out.” I nodded my understanding.

  Then I checked the time. We still had just over 45 minutes left on the ward.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Falstaff the Bold] [If you or any of your people want to head home. I think we’ve got this contained.]

  [Falstaff the Bold:] [William of Brinsford] [I’d like to. Final tests are the rest of the week and I need to do some study time.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Falstaff the Bold] [Right. The joys of being a student. If anyone wants to stay awhile, they’re welcome. As long as we can keep him out of Werewolf form, he seems harmless.]

  [Falstaff the Bold:] [William of Brinsford] [Yeah. He does. I looked at Guild rules. If we’re both maxed out on members, that will put the new guild at max people right away. It still has to get experience to go to Level 5. There’s good stuff if we get there.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Falstaff the Bold] [I know. We talked about it. We’ll gain experience faster with more people. Maybe another week with how active we are. Plus, we can do partial dungeon runs to level people up. We’re talking about a few other things too. We’ll see what all actually happens.]

  [Falstaff the Bold:] [William of Brinsford] [We’ll talk more about it. There’s a bunch of us about to level again. We all decided to wait on doing the dungeon. At least until next weekend when school’s out. They don’t want us skipping school for this. Parents agree with them.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Falstaff the Bold] [I know that from both sides. It was true when I was your age. It may still be true when you have a kid your age someday.] He laughed loud enough I could hear him from where I was when he read that. Then he gave me a thumbs up.

  [Falstaff the Bold:] [William of Brinsford] [We’ll talk it out. I’ll get back to you tonight or tomorrow. We’re interested.]

  [William of Brinsford:] [Falstaff the Bold] [Thanks.]

  Shifting position, I walked a few steps back and forth. Standing in one place had started to hurt.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [I’m going to find a way so we don’t have to keep him this way all night. We can sedate him if doing it as a human keeps him down once, he’s out of the WARD. I’m also going to contact Morticia. 19th & Fox’s Witch.]

  Blaze shrugged, then grinned. I sent a quick message to Morticia to see if she could help.

  [William of Brinsford:] [Blaze] [I’m hoping for that. I see Ingrid pulling in. Bhaarrt’s in the back. We’ll talk to her about it.]

  [Blaze:] [William of Brinsford] [Roger that.]

  By the time Ingrid and Bhaarrt arrived, we had just under a half hour left on the WARD. Ingrid moved like a commander…straight to the medics, then over to me.

  Ingrid was out of the truck and trotting towards the ambulance crews, her bag in hand. Calling one of them by name, she wanted to know the situation and what’s been done.

  I recalled her saying something about her job being shifted up to a sort of supervisor or trainer role. She’s responsible for things Game related. I know how that goes all too well.

  “Will?” she asked a few minutes later. “The guy in the WARD’s a Werewolf?”

  “Yeah. The WARD canceled out his change. We think if we drop the WARD, he’ll go back to being a wolf again until either the sun rises or the full moon is over. That means about three nights.”

  She nodded. “How dangerous is he? As a wolf?”

  “We don’t know yet. 19th & Fox’s party funneled him into our MANA SHIELD enclosure. He knocked down some of their shields, but I’ve been able to keep mine up. I’m practically standing on a Ley Line I can tap.”

  “He doesn’t look dangerous now. I didn’t know people could be Werewolves.”

  “I didn’t either until tonight. The Rules did not mention it, that I recall. Now it’s there.”

  “He has the MINION status on him. SLAVE too. You can be both?”

  “Apparently. James Cochran, the guy next to him, was a student at the stadium. They forced him to take Mentalist and Slaver. This is the first time he’s used it since then. It was a hard fight, but he got him.”

  “You won’t be out here with him for three days. Not with spawns showing up,” Ingrid told me.

  Nodding in agreement, I said, “The question is, while we can sedate the man, will he revert and stay sedated, or will he not revert? Or will he revert and break the drugs? We don’t know.”

  “You think it’s the same thing that got Hitchcock?”

  “Yeah. I do. It fits. Whatever it is looks like it’s working through others and can make people their MINION. John, the werewolf, was following traces of the things we took from Iago here. They aren’t here anymore. Apparently, I still have traces of it on my van and me.”

  “That means you’re a target until we stop whatever’s out there,” Bhaarrt said.

  His words startled me. I didn’t hear him approach. “Yes. It isn’t sending MINIONs after me very fast. Don’t know why. But every day or two, or faster, means problems, not just for me, but for Eddington. If Everett hadn’t been spotted and someone tried to stop him, they could be dead, or another werewolf. And maybe another MINION.”

  Ingrid looked at all the police and people standing around, waiting for something to happen. She was in her element.

  “We have to test what happens. If we can keep him unconscious for two more days, we can hold him. If not.” She went silent and thoughtful. “I’m going to talk to him. If he’s willing to try, we might. Get ready. Daryll, You too. Between the two of you, you’ll likely hold him. I’m going in.”

  That’s when I finally noticed that Bhaarrt was carrying Ingrid’s spear and helmet. She talked briefly to the ambulance crew, then got something from the ambulance. The crew followed her to the WARD with the gurney.

  I have a channel. (John.Malkin.Writer) if you want to ask questions, make suggestions, or just talk about the story, come join it. You can go directly to the channel. It is a never expires link. In case it doesn't work, you can always contact me for a current join request.

  My is now open for anyone who wants to read ahead. $5.00 US for 5 days ahead and $10.00 US for 15 days ahead. That’s each month.