The Holes in Our Hearts

Chapter 11: Howls in the Night

With the others gone, all knowledge conveyed, and time continuing on into the night, an ominous silence descended upon the house. It was almost as though the very air itself was holding its breath in anticipation for whatever was going to come next. The tea had long since gone cold and the four had lapsed into silence, each lost in their own thoughts about recent events. Grim sat wondering if Mai still thought of him the way she had before the war while Naru pondered whether or not the Mai he knew (and dare he say love) would even exist when all was said and done. Oblivious to the struggles in love of the two teenage boys Mai continued to sift through memories in detail while Lin sat trying to figure out how he had gone from a normal guy to a paranormal investigator to whatever his role was in this strange group.

Darkness had settled upon the house. Earlier the four had agreed that the ghosts had to be dealt with first and foremost. They would only cause trouble later and everyone agreed they would much rather take on the werewolf alone that with an angry ghost doing who knows what all night long. So right after the trio of spiritualists had left, the remaining SPR members set about destroying the remains that Grimlock was able to easily find thanks to his years of hunter training. When confronted by Lin and Naru, both very curious as to how he found the remains so fast, he simply passed it off as part of the "sight" for things of the supernatural world all hunters possessed.

How they sat waiting in the base. Since they had taken care of the remains there hadn't been even a flicker of paranormal activity. Now all the group could do was wait. Grimlock had again reached into thin air and pulled out a pair of blades, one for Lin and one for Naru. Each had a bone handle and the blade was covered in silver. He gave the blades to the duo while explaining that although werewolves weren't allergic to silver it still felt a little worse to the nasty things in the dark than ordinary metal.

The clock had just struck ten when suddenly there was the thumping noise of footsteps down the hallway. A steady thump, thump, thump noise was rapidly approaching the room. Remembering what had been previously mentioned about were wolves being able to change from human to wolf form at will, Lin and Naru jumped up with their knives prepared for anything. Mai retreated to the middle of the room where her twin swords would have the most room and Grim made his way to the door to see what was approaching. Each and every one of them was horribly surprised when of all people Yuki came through the door!

"Oh my goodness gracious!" Yuki yelped as she saw four heavily armed people, the majority of which were dressed head to toe in black, in strategic positions in her home. It looked like a ban of ninja's had come to stay for the night.

Seeing the woman's obvious fright Mai placed her swords back at her side and placed her hands up saying as calmly as she could, "Yuki, Yuki, please calm down. It's just us. SPR. The paranormal investigators you hired." Recognition dawned in the woman's eyes as she realized that she was surrounded by normal people rather than ninjas. "I apologize for you coming into the room seeing this. In our business you can never be too careful so we must unfortunately follow extreme measures sometimes."

After getting her breath back, Yuki responded, "Oh no dearie. The fault is all mine. I should have made my presence known sooner. Of all people I should know how much this house puts people on edge. I merely came by to tell you all that I am retiring for the night. If you need anything I will be in my room upstairs trying to get some sleep. Please be careful and remember that you are my last hope!"

Naru stepped forward slightly and with the tiniest of bows said, "You need not worry. We will get this sorted out and you will be able to resume life as normal. Have a good night's rest Yuki."

"Such a good young man," Yuki muttered as she went back out the door and headed for the stairs. With the little visitation over the investigators all returned to their posts knowing that as the night drew on something was bound to happen. Just after the clock had struck midnight the real fun began.

Mai had been starting to dose and even Naru didn't look too alert. This could probably be attributed to their lack of sleep the previous night. However, both were instantly jolted awake when the noise began. Directly above the room there came a noise the likes of which a normal human had never heard. It was a howl like any normal wolf but there was another layer to it. Underneath there was almost something human. It was as though a person was being tortured in the most terrible fashion and their screams had been melded into the wolf's cry. Each howl sent an ice pick through the heads of Mai, Lin, Naru, and Grim, calling to the beast that lurked inside each of them.

The noise was too horrible for Mai to bear and she collapsed to her knees, hands over her ears, completely ineffective against the werewolf's howl. Immediately Naru was by her side. It was clear that he was in just as much agony but he bit the inside of his cheek and did his best to support the girl in front of him. Meanwhile Grim yelled above the noise, "the wolf has just changed. It will be coming any moment now. Brace yourself. Leave getting the heart to me. Just keep Mai safe!"

Earlier everyone had agreed that Grim was the most capable and that getting in his way would only cause problems when facing the werewolf. Despite not liking it, the others all agreed to stay off the front lines in this fight. If only that was how it had worked out.

After what seemed like an eternity the howling ceased signaling that the wolf had completed its transformation and was now on the hunt. It pawed back and forth across the overhead floor, each pace making the heart rates of the people below double in pace. It was clear when the wolf realized there were new people in the house. Immediately it let out a deep growl from its throat and lunged down the stairs. It all happened so fast. One instant everything was quite in the base and the next the group was faced with one of the scarier things to ever enter a SPR base.

The wolf was much larger than an average wolf and moved in the pattern of a human. Perhaps the most terrifying part was the eyes. They looked completely human. Full of anger, rage, and beneath all of that were pools of grief so deep a person could drown in them. Seeing Mai in the center of the room the wolf began its approach. Only when it had cleared the doorway completely did the wolf get the surprise of its life.

Grim came up from behind and placed his hand on the wolf. What seemed like an electrical pulse was released and the wolf reacted as though it had been tasered. Now physical pain blossomed in those eyes. While the wolf was off balance, Grim came around pulling out his own blade, a beautiful long sword with a blade that looked like it had been dipped in oil. Systematically he began cutting at the wolf forcing it onto its back exposing the core where its heart beat. Right before he could finish the job the unthinkable happened.

To the surprise of all the people in the room Grim was suddenly hurled against the far wall with enough force to knock the blade from his hand and put him out cold. Mai cried out, "Grim!" panic clearly edging her voice. There was a trickle of blood coming down his forehead and he wasn't moving. Whatever had flung him against the wall had not been gentle.

All of this did nothing to deter Naru and Lin from their task. Knowing that Grim was most likely out of the fight they positioned themselves between the rapidly healing wolf. Lin, his original job being to protect Naru moved first. He had some basic fighting training and as he moved towards the wolf he knew he had to strike fast. If he waited too long the wolf would heal completely and Lin wouldn't stand a chance. Creeping around the side he shouted, "Noll, stay with Mai!" Then, with as much swiftness as he could summon he pounced, knife and shiki heading straight for the wolf's chest; at least until he hit and invisible barrier that threw him back at the same wall that had already claimed Grim's consciousness. As soon as he hit the wall his shiki dissipated back into nothingness as though they had never been there.

"LIN!" Mai and Naru shouted in unison horrified at the injured pair before them. Now it was only the two of them against a rapidly healing wolf that would only be out of commission a few more moments. Turning to Mai, knowing that there was a good chance he was going to his doom, Naru placed his arms around Mai in a tight embrace. Mai immediately froze. Under normal circumstances a hug from her boss would never happen so why was it happening now in front of a huge werewolf?

The hug seemed to do the trick. Knife in one hand, ball of psychic power in the other Naru charged the wolf. He was met with the same wall the others had, but rather than being thrown back he fought through it. The tip of his blade actually made it through and touched the hide of the wolf. Then suddenly the wall came back I full force and knocked Naru not only to the far wall but through it. All the while Mai could only watch horrified as her friends fell prey to this force one by one. Here she was supposed to be some awesome hunter and she was quaking in fear.

Looking back at her friends, all severely hurt, Mai made up her mind. 'I may die or worse be bitten, but at least I won't be a coward. The old me would have jumped in. Now I'll still jump but first let me think.' At this point the wolf was almost fully healed and Mai knew her time was almost up before she would be facing a fully healthy and pissed off werewolf. Quickly she approached waiting for a force to push her back but there wasn't one. Her blades met with no resistance at all. With the resistance gone and the wolf healing Mai knew she had to think quickly, but she had already made her mistake.

What she had thought to be a recovering wolf was really and fully recovered wolf playing hurt to get her to come closer. As soon as she stepped forward to test for resistance she had stepped into striking range. All at once a ton of pure muscle and fur leaped, jaws full of pointy teeth heading straight for Mai's midsection. Her hands moved before her brain did. Completely of their own accord her hands pulled her blades out while her feet launched her backwards. In so doing Mai was able to avoid the teeth and place her blades on either side of the wolf's neck. Two powerful stroked later and the veins and arteries in the neck were severed.

Even a huge wolf will stop if a majority blood vessel is cut. Still moving on autopilot Mai moved swiftly and quickly knowing that she had no choice but to end this wolf's torment and Yuki's suffering. Raising her right blade high, Mai drove it home and removed the heart. The eyes that had previously held so much anger held only pain as they slowly glazed over and became lifeless. One last gurgling howl trying to escape the wolf's throat sounded almost like a mother crying for her child.

Hearing this sound, Mai dropped her blades in horror of what she had done. How was she any better than this wolf when she had just taken its life without even a hint of mercy? Not being able to bear the sight of the dead creature in front of her Mai allowed her tears to run freely as she placed a nearby tarp over the body. Knowing that her friends were still hurt she went over to check and was relieved to see that with the exception of some bumps and bruises they were all simply unconscious.

Her friends safe and the immediate threat over Mai sat on the floor and wondered how Yuki had not woken up during all the racket. 'Oh well,' Mai thought to herself. 'Hopefully she can at least get on with her life in peace.'

But these thoughts triggered entirely different ones. Mai remember before her memories were locked. She used to go on hunts all the time. She had done far worse things and had much more blood on her hands than this before. So why was she still so shaken up? It never used to be this way. When it was just her and Grim out to save the world killing was simply a necessity. Why should it be any different now?

As Mai sat thinking about what inside her had changed she became so lost in her thoughts she did not notice the way the lights flickered, the room temperature dropped, or the shadowy figure slowly rising out of the floor until a deep and terrifyingly familiar voice boomed, "Good to see your still alive Mai!"

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt

Author's Note: Wow, two updates in one day! Hope you all enjoy. Thanks for reading! If I ask really nicely will you leave a review? In that case: Please oh distinguished reader, I implore you, if it suits your desires, will you please grace me with the wonder of one of your reviews?