Life With A Werewolf

Down Memory Lane Part 5 - Showdown

          It felt good to eat again. To laugh again. To have Crash at his normal, weird joking, teasing self. He was going for the jokes that only he'd go for. The strange near double entendre's. The types of humor that works for more mythical creatures but humans generally feel left out of unless you can lean into the joke. My military background is one long lesson in how to lean into a dark, awkward joke. However, things were slightly off. I could feel it, I was pretty sure Elouise could feel it too. It was as if Crash was making a conscious effort for us to have a good time. No joke was too far, no item too expensive. Though, to be honest, it wasn't that expensive of a menu in the first place. After all, it was still a diner.
          Call it serendipity, call it fate, but we were in the same booth Keith's family sat in when we first saw him. It put a thin pall over everything, that had drained the color temporarily from our lives. My burger was supposedly delicious, but I barely tasted it. Elouise looked as if she had barely tasted her own food. The emotion felt like a thin veneer of paint over an old rotted house. One that was soon to come down.
          Crash's heavy hand touched my shoulder and he gripped it. Looking me in the eye, there was a moisture there that I saw for a moment. "You know I'd die for you if I had to, right?"
          "You know you don't have to, though," I said.
He turned to Elouise. I could see his hand on Elouise's shoulder as well. "I'm really glad I got to know you," he said.
          "Honey, you're talking like the condemned," Elouise answered him.
          Things had started to unravel as they do. Slowly, then all at once. Crash threw a wad of twenties down on the table, and grabbed us, ushering us outside before we could complain. We left, and then started driving towards the outskirts of town. "I love this town. But only to visit, heh. A terrible place to die in." The joke went over like a goose walking over your grave. We pressed North along the highway, pointing towards the interstate. At a scenic over look, perhaps the last one in the county, Crash yanked the wheel over, and stomped on the brake, skidding to a stop a yard from the protective fence. "Wait.....did you hear?"
          He started to get out. My heart was in my throat. I grabbed his shoulder. "No, Crash. Please."
          He smiled at me. "Won't take long, I promise. If I'm not back in an hour, follow this road to the interstate. Pull into the nearest gas station. I'll find ya." Then he was gone.
          "Son of a bitch just had his last supper," Elouise said.
          I pulled my pistol. "Like hell he did. We're going to find'em."
          I jumped into the drivers seat and threw the car into drive. It car threw gravel as I pulled a U-turn and began twisting back down the mountain, searching for Crash. It made no sense for Elouise to try and chase him as a Rougarou. In the water, she was far faster and deadlier than Crash ever thought of being. But on land? Crash outran her in his werewolf form. He was also slightly stronger too, and far more experienced stalking the woods. She'd never catch him and never be able to stop him if by some miracle she did catch him.
          So, we searched together going over every place we got to know in the last couple of days. We tried the park where Damian died. Nothing. We tried all the other haunts that Crash had mentioned or shown us. Nothing. Not at the motel, not at the diner. Not at the cemetery, either. The search was starting to confuse and frustrate me.
          There is a bit of poetic justice and irony in Crash. He knew I knew it and must have been purposely avoiding any place he'd ever shown us. Out of luck and ideas, we stopped at Crash's grandparents' grave; our spirits dragged down by our failure.
          Elouise knelt in prayer. Me? I'm not much for that sort of stuff, never have been. But even I in that moment muttered a a passionate request to Crash's grandparents asking for help. I guess that could be called a prayer. As lost and hopeless as we both felt, it seemed the right thing to do.
          I silently muttered my words. Elouise, finishing her own prayer, then tilted her head towards the woods. "About three quarters a mile due south. Think there’ll be a clearing from the sound of things, though I can't promise ya. I'm gonna take the car. Got an idea."
          "Okay. If you find bits of me scattered across the forest, beat Crash with a rolled up newspaper." I pulled the pistol, and began running towards the woods. Elouise jumped into the drivers seat and was gone before I ever reached the edge. It was what Elouise had called 'dark thirty'. The sun had set and the blue of the evening sky was steadily blackening like a worsening bruise. The brightest of stars were out already, waiting on their dimmer brethren to wake up. A half moon hung heavy in the sky, just starting it's rise. I silently wished it had been a full one as I crossed over to the woods in the distance. The extra light would have come in handy.
          It's hard to navigate through trees in such darkness. The daylight died in the forest long before it was done outside of it. I pushed forward, towards growls, snarls: the sounds of werewolf combat.
          My plan was simple. Stop Crash by any means possible. If need be, get him to attack me instead. Hope the shock of the attack shook out of him whatever the hell had gotten into him.
          The plan sucked. At best I got maimed, at worst I got ignored while Crash murdered a guy. Either way, I was hoping his heart would just come back from whatever darkness that had swallowed it. I didn't think there was much of a chance of that happening. But, the old saying goes 'a bad plan is better than no plan'. I couldn't stand by and watch, hoping Crash came out okay or that he came to his senses. I had to do something.
          I marched forward, the sounds of werewolf combat getting stronger, louder. Being as quick and careful as I could, I traversed a small stream, over roots and the occasional fallen tree. The sounds were almost larger than life now. They seemed to reverberate in my bones, telling me to turn back, to not get involved in werewolf business. I pulled my pistol, and steeled myself as I pushed forward, finding the clearing Elouise had talked about, and the results of their battle.
          Two werewolf warriors stood on opposite sides of the clearing. Crash snarled. His pitch black fur, his claws and teeth glistening with black blood in the thin light. His ear had been torn, his shoulder bitten badly. His back and belly slashed. He panted and bled, but looked better than the other wolf.
          The other wolf was more gray and a few splotches of brown in his fur pattern, but was mostly covered in blood. His chest, thighs had been slashed deep, his belly slashed. His body shivered in pain. His own teeth was exposed, an ear hung on for dear life on top of his head. They looked like boxers on the twelfth round of a long heavyweight championship fight.
          "This ends now," I shouted.
          They looked at me. Then they turned to each other. Crash pointed at Keith, and snarled at him. "Stop holding back, murderer, or it will cost you your life!"
          Keith gave him a bitter smile. "Aren't you threatening to kill me? When you survive this, it'll be you who's the murderer."
          I fired a shot in the ground. Neither one looked at me. They leapt. I screamed, I'd shoot. They were too fast. I couldn't shoot either one, cause I could hit Crash, Keith, both. Killing my friend whom I was trying to save and his mortal enemy who's death I was trying to prevent. There wasn't a more helpless feeling in my life standing there trying to stop a match between two creatures who moved, and fought far faster than I ever could.
          A slash, a swipe, a kick. A grab and a throw. Jaws snapped, bit. There was a headbutt. Knee, twist, and Crash was on top of Keith. Snarling down at him. Crash looked at me, and said. "Turn away."
          I stepped forward, kicking Crash as hard as I could in the chest. He stumbled back a moment, then leaped forward slamming me to the ground. The wind was knocked out of me. I panted slowly, looking up at Crash.
          His eyes were full of pain, anger. "Why the hell are you interfering?! This isn't your fight!"
          "Cause you'd do the same for me if I was fucking up! You wouldn't stand by and let me throw my life away! You didn't before, and damn it, I'm not gonna do that now!"
          There was a whole speech behind that. But I didn't get a chance to say it. Keith, as injured as he was, tackled Crash. A tackle, Crash easily reversed and pinned Keith to the ground again. Keith grunted softly, the fight leaving him for a moment. "Do it," Keith muttered. "Just do it."
          I leaped for my gun, Crash had his hand in the air. Clawed fingers splayed out, glistening with tacky blood in the thin light. I fired a shot into the ground. The round passed between Crash's hand and his head.
          "You'd really shoot me," Crash asked.
          "If I had to," I said. "Don't make me, Crash, I'm begging you."
          "You do what you have to," Crash said. Then looked down at Keith. "For Damian," he said.
          My finger was on the trigger. He was hand my sights, and for a moment, I thought. I'm going to do it, I'm really going to have to shoot my friend. My best friend, the man who saved my life. A tear trailed down my face as I put my finger to the trigger.
          Keith was looking up at Crash, his own muzzle twisted into a grim grin. his good ear standing upright. "For Damian," Keith answered back at Crash.
          "DAD!"
          My heart froze. Crash's muzzle dropped open in shock, his ears folded back as he looked behind me. There at the edge of the woods was Elouise and Keith's two children. His wife was right behind her.
          "Damian? Sophia?"
          The two kids nearly ran up between them, but their mother pulled them back. "Laura! What are you doing here?!"
          "You think I was about to let my husband march off and get himself killed?!" She shouted.
          Elouise was in full rougarou form, her gator skin was dark and glistening in the thin moonlight of the clearing. She stepped forward and picked Crash up. "This is what I want you to see! You think this is the end of anything?! Listen to your damn grandma! Vengeance never stops until you stop it! Look at him!" She pointed at his son who was now on the ground hugging his father tight. "You don't think he'll be back to kill you when he grows up?! Do you?!"
          Elouise and I dragged Crash back off of Keith and pushed him against a tree. Well okay, Elouise did most of the lifting on that, but I helped some, too! Crash sat on the ground, his back against the tree. His body was healing. Injuries that'd take me weeks to get healed up was knitting themselves together in minutes. Inside an hour and Crash would look as if he hadn't even been in a fight at all, much less one that was so violent and bloody. Despite all of the insanity and drama, it was stunning to witness. Crash hung his head. He sunk back on his haunches. "But Damian died. He has no children. No relatives. Nothing."
          "And that's what you're about to leave Damian, Keith's son! Nothing!" Elouise shouted. "You're not healing your pain, Crash. You're not helping yer friend! He's gone! You're just giving your pain to his children! Kids who will come looking for you! When does it end?!"
          Laura was helping Keith up. The children were doing what they could as well, trying to lift him and drag him away to safety.
          "Now what," Crash asked. He looked at me.
          "You know where I was. You know the type of shit I did. You know I've seen first hand the weight of vengeance. Villages and families torn apart for wrong doings that go back literal centuries. You kill him, and that kid will be after you. Where does it end? Is your family going to fight his until your both gone like Damian's?"
          I gripped Crash hard in a hug. I snarled in his ear "Live in Damian's memory, Crash. Don't kill in it. Your friend wouldn't have wanted that."
          Crash stood slowly. He walked over to Keith's family. They huddled around him now, and he tried to push them off of him, to get them clear. I could see the fear in Keith's eyes. Crash squatted down in front of him. "You took my friend from me. But more than that, you took his entire bloodline from this planet. He was the last one and I'm the only living soul to mourn him."
          Keith sighed, his ears twisted down in sadness as he looked to the ground. "You're not the only soul who mourns your friend. I live with the weight of my sin every single day."
          Crash held his hand out. A clawed, furred hand that was covered in both his and Keith's blood. He held it in front of him. "I forgive you. It's what Damian would have wanted. What the living Damian wants now." Keith looked down at it for a moment in surprise and shook it. Then a look of disappointment crossed Keith's face before he hid it with a smile. Keith took the offered hand, and shook it.
          Crash looked at Keith's family. Their faces haggard, weary. They had dirt and leaves in their hair from where they had been running through the woods. Some of their clothing was matted in mud from tripping and falling. "I hope you can forgive me one day," Crash said.
          Slowly, Damian stepped forward. He looked at Crash. Crash's face was drawn down in pain and sorrow, his ears folded back and his muzzle pointed to the ground. "Dad heals quick. Are you really going to spare him?"
          Crash nodded, a tear falling from his face. Both ears working now. Both folded down in pain. "I forgave him. You don't take back forgiveness."
          "Then, I forgive you too. It's what friends do."
          Crash hugged Damian tight. The child hugged him back. Though his mother looked shocked and terrified for a moment. Then he pushed Damian away and stood. We made our way back out of the clearing to the cemetery in silence. When we got back to the graveyard, a familiar SUV was parked near the Cadillac.
          Elouise nodded to Crash and began to explain. "Yeah, I got hold of yer friends, and then made them bring me to that couillion's family. When I knelt in prayer at ya grannie's grave, it was put on my heart that the only way to stop this was to show you what your anger was tossin away."
          Crash nodded. "Makes sense." He gave a small sad laugh and shook his head. "Grandma always said I had a hard head. 'Takes a lot of pounding to get something to sink through,' she'd tell me."
          Keith's family climbed into the SUV. The terrible trio looked at us as Keith's human family climbed into the vehicle. All three of those who threatened us was in werewolf form. They didn't say anything. Neither did I. They just climbed in after Keith's wife and kids, then waited.
          Keith himself wandered over to me and Elouise. "I suppose I should thank you," he said.
          "But you're not," I replied.
          Keith gritted his teeth. A lot can be said in a glance. Keith was still in pain yes, both physically and emotionally. A weight of a sin like his can cost a lot. "You don't know..." he began.
          "Save it." I said. It was time for tough love. I physically turned his head towards the SUV his children was in. "You live for them. No matter what the fuck happens. You live for them. And you sure as hell don't take a cowards way out of spinning up another werewolf to kill you."
          "You kill yerself, you're ripping a hole in their lives they ain't never gonna fill," Elouise said.
          Tears were in his eyes. He had a vicious snarl on his muzzle. "You don't know what it's like. To have to live every day and hear what a great person Damian was. What he did for others. To hear how much of an impact he had, and how big of a hole he left when he died. When I killed him! I do! I have to sit with that every. Single. Day. You don't have any idea the depth of my pain!"
          "So fucking what."
          He looked like I had just slapped him. His jaw dropped open. His ears splayed flat. I didn't give him a chance to answer me. "You chose to be hurt. No one told you to be hurt by those words and those stories. You chose it. You can choose to forgive yourself. Or you can choose to hold onto that weight until it crushes you." I forced him to look at the SUV one more time. "Just remember who you're leaving behind if you decide to get crushed."
          He walked with heavy feet towards the SUV. I know the look of the self-condemned. Those people who have chosen their lives to end but just don't know how to do it yet. Keith had that look about him. I wasn't certain any of mine or Elouise's words had sunk in. We both hoped it would. She prayed it would.
          I just climbed into the front seat of the Cadillac, and looked over at Crash. "You good?"
          "You were really going to shoot me," he asked.
          "In the arm. You could have bitten it off," I replied.
          He gave me a short laugh. Then started driving. "You know, I'm going to get you back."
          "You know, yer gonna have to shift back ya varmint. You still look like a reject from a bad eighties horror film!" Elouise shot back at him from the back seat.
          Crash laughed. "You mean a good film?"
          We continued the teasing almost as if it hadn't dropped off. We didn't know where we were going to stay that night. We just knew it wasn't going to be in that town. The car pointed north again. Out of the city limits. Out of regular civilization. On toward adventure.