Chương 33: Who Wants to Live Forever

Luke I waited, staring at the fireplace like it might suddenly decide to work for me too. However, nothing. There were no green flames. And no mystical thread-pull or whatever it was that Pierre had talked about. There was definitely no sense of divine connection. Just regular orange flames consuming the leftovers and making Pierre's cabin smell like burned bread.

"Why didn't it work?" I asked, frustration bleeding into my voice. Pierre, still marveling at his Team Edward shirt like it was the Holy Grail, shrugged.

"Maybe you need to be wearing blessed clothes first?"

"Can I borrow…" I started, already reaching toward him.

"No," The word came out as a growl. An actual, honest-to-God growl.

"Dude," I said carefully, hands up.

"Did you just growl at me?"

"They're mine," Pierre said, clearly insulted more than Gollum being asked to give up the One Ring.

"Abe gave them to me. Anyway they wouldn't fit you," he added petulantly.

"Pierre, you sound like…" I started to say, but got interrupted.

"I don't care." His voice was flat and final. The possessiveness radiating off him was almost visible.

"Get your own blessed vampire merch." I held up my hands in surrender.

"Okay. Okay. Possessive werewolf. Got it." But inside, my medical training was sounding alarms. Sudden personality change. Aggressive behavior. Territorial possessiveness. Those were symptoms. Of what, I wasn't sure. Maybe rabies. Divine blessing side effects weren't exactly covered in veterinary school.

"That's... actually kind of concerning," I said carefully.

"Are you alright?" I was genuinely concerned. Pierre would usually be the first one to give you the shirt off his back. Now he was flat out refusing to even entertain the idea. It was definitely suspicious. Pierre took a breath. The intensity faded slightly, but that edge of possessiveness didn't entirely disappear.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's just... they're mine, you know? And you know how important something like this can be for us," he added weakly. Clearly, he was starting to feel guilty. I had to admit, such a blessing was extraordinary. I'd heard about Alder's blessing. And while it was an amazing ability, being able to shapeshift with objects was far more impressive. I started pacing, my mind working through the problem like a diagnosis. Okay. Scientific method. Identify the variables, I told myself. Pierre made an offering.

So did I. Check. Pierre prayed. So did I. Check. Pierre got a miracle. I got burned sandwich smell. No check. What was the difference?

"Okay," I said, thinking out loud.

"You made an offering. But so did I. The difference is…" I looked at Pierre's glittering Team Edward clothing and accessories. Somehow, it had merged into his fur during transformation earlier.

"You're wearing clothes you HATE," I said slowly.

"Like, genuinely hate. It's humiliating." Pierre looked down at the sparkling vampire on his chest.

"Extremely. I'm just worried that I'll have to continue wearing the clothes or the gift might go away," he admitted, dejection written across his face.

"So maybe that's part of the cost?" I continued, the pieces clicking together.

"The offering plus... sacrifice of pride? You gave up food AND dignity."

"You think Abe's that petty?" Pierre asked.

"He gave you Team Edward merchandise as revenge for a Hello Kitty carrier," I pointed out.

"Yeah. I think he's exactly that petty. Then again, he is a trickster spirit, so it might have something to do with that." Pierre couldn't argue with that logic. Unfortunately, that meant if I wanted a blessing, I needed to find something that would genuinely humiliate me. Something that would make me cringe every time I looked at it.

"Those tacky veterinary t-shirts," I said, already dreading what I was about to commit to.

"You know the ones, stuff like 'I'm here for the bitches' with a picture of dogs." Pierre had actually given me that exact shirt as a gag gift years ago. I'd shoved it in the back of my closet and tried to forget about it. Now I was going to have to wear it. And pray in it. The universe had a sick sense of humor. I thought. Now, if it was a dragon, that might be a different story. At least dragons are cool. Just thinking about them made me cringe.

Every professional conference, there was always that one vet wearing them. The ones who made us all look like we got our degrees from a cereal box. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"So go buy some," Pierre said, like it was that simple. I almost rolled my eyes. The man doesn't even remember giving me that tacky thing, I thought.

"And then what? Stand in front of my fireplace wearing a shirt that makes me look like I failed out of clown college and pray to a raccoon?"

"Worked for me," Pierre said, gesturing at his sparkly chest.

"You look like a disco ball had a baby with a Twilight movie,' I said bluntly, still slightly envious of Pierre.

"A blessed disco ball," Pierre corrected with wounded dignity.

"Show some respect for the sacred vestments." Despite not getting the blessing yet, I laughed. Abe was a good… raccoon, and I was sure that I, along with the other werewolves, would eventually get a similar blessing. If Pierre's blessing worked like that for everyone, if they could really carry gear while shifted, it would change everything for us.

"If this works... Pierre, do you realize what this means? We could carry medical kits, weapons, and cell phones, all while shifted."

"Yeah, I know," Pierre said, as if anyone with even half a brain cell would know the answer.

"It would definitely be worth the humiliation," I said while wondering if I had to be wearing the embarrassing clothes in front of others or if I could do it in the privacy of my home. Pierre looked down at Edward Cullen sparkling on his chest, the bell bottoms, and the fanny pack.

"Yeah, it is." Still, I could hear resignation in his voice, as if he was about to throw away his dignity for the rest of his life.

"At least it might help us deal with the thing in the woods," Pierre said, suddenly solemn. My expression sobered.

"You're really going after it?"

"I've got blessed clothes, a trickster god's favor, and three failed hunts to make up for. So yeah, I'm going."

"Then I'm coming with you," I said. I wasn't about to let my best friend fight by himself.

"Luke," he started to say, but then I interrupted him.

"I know." My voice was firm.

"But you're not going alone. Whatever's out there scared the younger wolves bad enough that two of three scouts won't talk about it. You need backup. Anyway, you can carry a weapon for me in your fanny pack," I finished with a grin. Pierre studied me and I could see him weighing the options, going alone versus bringing his vulnerable, unblessed friend.

"You're a good man, Luke," he said finally.

"I'm an idiot. There's a difference." Still, I was getting a little… uncomfortable. I wasn't used to Pierre showing such an un-Pierre-like sentiment.

"Sometimes they're the same thing," Pierre said as he moved toward his gun cabinet. He spent a couple of minutes trying to see what he could cram into the fanny pack while I watched with amusement. Whatever didn't fit into the fanny pack he tried to cram into his pant pockets. I could easily make out their outlines since his pants were so tight. I watched, fascinated by how he was able to squeeze anything at all into the pockets, much less so many bullets.

Finally, he threw on a jacket after filling it with even more bullets and a few more handguns. Then he shifted. The transformation was faster than usual. The Team Edward shirt and jeans melted into his fur, shimmering patterns of silver and purple. The leather jacket stayed separate, and fell to the floor with a soft thump. Pierre shifted back. The blessed clothes reformed perfectly on his human body. He sighed as he looked sadly at the jacket where it had fallen.

"It looks like it only works on the blessed items," Pierre muttered, picking up the jacket.

"Good to know, I guess." Still, I could hear the disappointment in his voice"We should tell the pack," I said, trying to cheer him up. Giving Pierre a chance to brag sounded like an excellent way to make that happen.

"After we test it properly. I don't want to get everyone's hopes up if this is a fluke," he said.

"Let's wait until you try wearing that t-shirt."

"Fine," I agreed with a sigh.

"Still want to take on that thing?" I was kind of hoping he was going to say 'no' but there was no such luck.

"You don't have to come," Pierre offered me a way out. Yeah, right, I thought. Like I'm about to let my best buddy fight that thing by himself. Then again, I could see why he wanted to go by himself, or at least with only a few people. While more bodies in the fight might improve the odds, it would also increase the number of bodies. Period. While it was true we were werewolves, we weren't exactly war machines. Yeah, we can heal most wounds, but not nearly as quickly as in legends.

However, that might change soon because of the mana surge, I thought. Also, most of us were just locals with jobs such as plumbers, electricians, and drywallers among other blue collar jobs. I was one of the few professionals. As far as I knew, I was one of the few veterinarians. Apparently, something about us seems to agitate most animals. Luckily, there's something different about me, though, I thought.

"Let's go," I said, motioning him toward my truck. I wanted to get it over with. We'd tried to hunt it down, but we'd only been able to locate it using our wolf senses. Because of this, I knew our best bet was to find it while in wolf form. Then we could switch back and use the guns in Pierre's fanny pack. Hopefully, that would be enough to take it out, I thought. However, I knew that wasn't likely. Not with something that could traumatize werewolves.

Dave hadn't been able to sleep a single night since he encountered it without waking up screaming. As Pierre followed me to my truck, I looked at him and said half-seriously.

"You know we're probably going to die, right?" Pierre stopped for a moment, looked at me, and then nodded.

"Yeah, I know." Then he opened the truck's door and climbed inside. Not wanting to look like a pussy, I smirked and said, "Hey, you know that violinist you think is cute. Well, I found a video of her with these vampire guys singing a song." I already had it queued up, ready to go on the infotainment system. I'd thought it would go great with the Team Edward clothes. Now I was sort of regretting my choice. Hopefully, "Who Wants to Live Forever" wouldn't be the last song we ever listened to.