Howling At Night

Summary: It was dark, so dark one couldn't even see what was happening an inch in front of them. Only the big, pale and perfectly round full moon and a couple of stars above were sending their light down to the endlessly far landscape of Montana. - DL, with hints of SMacked, AU

Author’s note: This is a mystery story I started a while ago. It's set somewhere in the 19th century. I got inspired when I watched the movie ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ (it has a couple of other titles in different languages). It’s a mystery fic. I can’t promise how fast I’ll update this story. I wrote the next chapter already, but I also have to update my other fics so I won’t neglect them. But I thought I could post the story already. I will try to post the next chapter soon. Huge thanks to lily moonlight and afrozenheart412 for helping me and supporting me!

Disclaimer: I don’t own anyone or anything. I don’t own the characters, or anything else.

Rating: T

It was dark, so dark one couldn't even see what was happening an inch in front of them. Only the big, pale and perfectly round full moon and a couple of stars above were sending their light down to the endlessly far landscape of Montana. Everything was quiet, except of the wind gently stroking through the tall fir trees, causing them to swing lightly. Sheena McMahon was on her way home. The young woman knew she wasn't supposed to be out there, all by herself. She knew no one was supposed to be out alone at night, or during the day for that matter. Ever since the beast had appeared out there, being out alone wasn't safe anymore. Sheena didn't believe that a companion would be any help against the beast. Still she knew what she was risking and she regretted that she hadn't accepted the offer to be led home in the carriage by her best friend's servant. Instead she wanted to walk the few miles on her own. She had decided to not take the shorter way through the forest, but she was alone now and an easy target.

Walking quickly, it did not take her long before she could see the lighted windows of her home. Only a few more miles and she wasn't in danger anymore. But then she heard it, the sound she had been praying so desperately to not hear. The howling. Howling of wolves. Of course this was nothing special; every night one could hear the wolves howling, even more in nights like this. It was a different kind of howling though. Deeper. Darker. More dangerous. It was the howling of a much larger animal, even she could tell that.

And Sheena started to walk faster. Her breath was going faster, her heart was pounding hard in her chest. She could barely keep control over her legs. Fear was rising inside her, ice cold fear that was sending shivers down her spine. The howling got louder, and next to that she could hear something else; something moving in the bushes, not far away. She didn't have to see anything to know it was the beast. It had spotted her. And now it was waiting for the right moment to catch its prey.

Her eyes tried to focus on the lights in front of her. She was running now, praying she would be faster, knowing she wouldn't. She could almost feel it now, the beast was so close she could practically hear its breath, could almost feel it on her skin. Seeing nothing in the dark, she also didn't notice the small root. She stumbled and fell. This was the moment it had been waiting for. Sheena barely managed to turn around. A scared scream escaped when she could make out the large shadow jumping forward. Briefly she saw the long, sharp teeth sparkling in the pale moonlight before they sank into her skin. A moment later the night was silent again, nothing else to be heard but the soft sound of the wind stroking through the trees.

Lindsay was sitting in the old rocking chair on the veranda of her father's house. With her eyes closed, she was listening to the sounds of the night. To be exact, she was listening to the howling of her beloved wolves. Most people might disagree with her, but for Lindsay there was nothing that calmed her more than the howling of wolves. People had a lot of prejudices against those animals, which made her sad. Especially lately. Ever since this beast was out there, hunting for the inhabitants of their small village, people were convinced a wolf was killing them. More than once she had seen people that had been attacked by it when she had sneaked into Stella's practice to see whether she could help or not. Of course she had seen the wounds that could be very well bites. But if those were coming from wolves, and Stella agreed with her on that, than the beast had to be at least double the size of a normal adult wolf.

Apart from that, Lindsay also didn't believe that one of her beloved animals would turn into a creature that would hunt for humans. Chicken maybe, or sheep, but humans? Of course no one was supposed to know it, but Lindsay had spent so much time with wolves out there in the wilderness. She knew their behaviour, knew how shy they could be. She didn't think they would be able to do something cruel like that.

"Lindsay!" The voice of her father made her snap out of her thoughts and stare up at him. Sid Hammerback had stepped onto the veranda as well. Lindsay knew what was coming next. "What are you doing out here? It's dark. And don't you hear that?"

Lindsay released a light sigh. "Yes, Dad, I can hear that. The howling of wolves. Nothing special at night, don't you think?"

Sid narrowed his eyes at her. "Lindsay, don't you talk like that to your father! I want you to come in now. As long as this beast is out there, I don't want to see you out at night. And don't try to sneak out of the house."

Groaning in response, she got up from the chair and stomped back into the house, not without expressing her opinion as she had so many times before. "You're believing in what the people are talking about, right? That the beast is a wolf. But it's not true. This wolf would have to be the double size of a normal wolf. Also it's not a common behaviour for them to chase after humans and kill them brutally like that!" She stopped in the middle of the living room and turned around to him, glaring at him.

Sid sighed at his daughter's comment. "I really don't want to fight with you because of that. Tomorrow Mr. Messer and Mr. Flack will arrive and share their opinion about the beast with us. They're famous for their knowledge about those animals."

"I could give you those answers as well," Lindsay hissed. "But you wouldn't believe me anyways. Hopefully those two will finally tell you the truth."

With that she stomped up the stairs to her room, leaving Sid standing in the living room, an unhappy expression on his face. He dearly hoped the two men would give them answers and he would even go so far and hope they would agree with his daughter's theory.

It was early, so early the fog was still covering the endlessly long landscape of Montana like a soft blanket. Everything was peaceful. Very peaceful. No one would guess what was in fact happening in this beautiful area. No one would expect a beast to be out there, hunting for humans.

For hours now, two men had been riding through the fields, on their way to a small village that had called for their help. Danny had to admit he had barely slept during the night and still he didn't feel tired in any way. Too many thoughts were spinning in his mind. A short glance at his partner, and a smile lit his face. Obviously Don hadn't been able to keep himself awake. Still sitting on the back of his horse, he was swaying lightly from one side to the other while he was catching some sleep.

There hadn't been much times for the two friends to rest since the small village had asked them for help. Both of them had already heard about the beast that was slaughtering people. People in that village had the suspicion their beast might be a wolf and so had asked him and Don for help. The two of them had been studying the behaviour of wolves for years and according to those people they were hoping to get answers from them. Neither of the two had seen anything of the victims of the beast, but both of them weren't too sure about the theory it had been a wolf. In Danny's eyes, a behaviour like this was highly uncommon for a wolf. Of course there were a lot of information they had to get from the inhabitants. They needed statements from the ones who had announced they had seen the beast. They needed to get a look at the victims. Only all those information could give them answers, but still both were convinced something else had to be the brutal creature.

They had been riding next to each other for a while when all of the sudden Don snapped out of his dreams again and woke up. Sitting up straight, he had to fight with his balance for a moment to not fall from his horse. He yawned before he turned to his friend, who was watching him amused.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Danny asked.
Don sighed. "Well, as nice as it can be while you're sitting on the back of a horse. Sure was much needed sleep though. I wonder how you can stay awake all the time."

"Someone has to take care of us, right?" Danny replied teasingly. "Also don't forget, this beast is somewhere out there, possibly waiting for its next prey."

Don shuddered. "Did you read their descriptions of the victims? The details?"

Danny nodded. "Every single one of them."

"There's no way a wolf could do something like that," Don said. "Possibly a whole pride, but not a single one and so far they always only talked about a single animal. Apart from that I also don't really believe a pride of wolves would hunt for humans. As far as I know they have more than enough deer over there, and even if they hadn't they would rather look for sheep or cows."

Again Danny nodded. "There has to be a reason why the people are convinced their beast is a wolf. We'll have to find out why."

"Lindsay, would you please hurry?" Sid shouted. He was standing in the hallway, ready to head to the meeting where he was supposed to be in a few minutes. "I don't want to be late." Satisfied he heard the sound of her boots stomping down the stairs, but he sighed when he noticed how she walked down them ever so slowly, not in a hurry at all.

"Why do you need me to join you at that stupid meeting?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Don't talk like that!" Sid replied. "And I want you to be there because the whole village will be there to welcome Mr Messer and Mr Flack, who took the time and come to help us with the beast."

Lindsay laughed sarcastically. "Oh yeah, they're taking the time to help us. To share their opinion with us. I hope they've really such a big knowledge about wolves so that they don't agree with the stupid opinion of most people in this village!"

"Enough now!" Sid shouted angrily. "They're here to help us with finding out who's killing all those people. I know you don't want to believe it, but right now it looks like this beast is a wolf, no matter what you want to believe."

"Then I hope Mr Messer and Mr Flack will finally make you believe the truth," Lindsay hissed and with a glare at her father, rushed past him and left the house. Releasing another sigh, Sid followed her.

Lindsay could hear that her father was shouting after her, but she didn't listen. Instead she mounted her horse, making sure he wouldn't be able to follow her in his carriage. She was angry at him, like so many times since the beast had appeared for the first time. She was angry because although she had this close connection to wolves, he still saw them as cruel killers. Which they weren't and Lindsay was convinced by that fact. Of course she also wished the beast would get caught soon, would finally stop killing innocent people. She was scared people would lose it though and start hunting innocent wolves, no matter whether they had a proof for them being the beast or not.

When Lindsay arrived at the market square of their little village though, she immediately realised something was wrong. The people were excited and nervous, all of them chatting at once. It wasn't a normal kind of excitement, possibly caused by the two new arrivals. She could feel it was something else. Panic. She didn't need to hear a single word to know what had happened. The beast had found another victim the night before.

Jumping down from the back of her horse, Lindsay let her eyes wander over the chatting crowd, trying to find Chief Mac Taylor, her father's best friend, who was possibly already busy with calming them all down. It didn't take her long to spot him. He had just climbed on the small podium from where he or her father delivered their speeches from time to time. If someone could calm the masses, it was Mac Taylor. Lindsay agreed with the people that he was a very trust-worthy man. He was calm and rational, but at the same time was fighting with a passion for the well-being of every person in the village. If someone could handle situations like this where everyone was scared and people were desperate and helpless, it was Mac. Still she had seen a change in his expression. He wasn't calm and confident anymore. Anyone who got the chance to have a closer look at his eyes would be able to see there was fear in them; no surprise. The man had seen every one of the beast's victims, knew how many people had been attacked, how many people had been killed. Still he was trying to hide his own fear and do his best to calm everyone else down.

Next to the podium, Lindsay spotted Stella. Despite the serious situation, Lindsay couldn't help the light smile that lit her at the way her friend was watching the Chief. Even from the distance Lindsay could feel her best friend's urge to just jump at the podium herself and support Mac. Even though Stella and the Chief hadn't made it official yet, Lindsay was well aware of their relationship and so it didn't surprise her that Stella, the village's healer, wanted to step in and help him to calm the crowd. Lindsay didn't have a doubt Stella would have been able to handle them all; her best friend was strong and determined and people thought twice before they got into a fight with her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please listen to me," he shouted, trying to get everyone's attention back. It took him a few attempts until people were listening. "I know what happened last night scared a lot of you."

"What happened last night?" a woman yelled. "You saw what this monster did to Sheena! And to all those other persons before! Don't tell us we should stay calm!"

"That's what we're currently working on," Mac started again, but again was interrupted, this time by an angry man.
"You know what I think we should do?" he screamed. "We should just hunt all those wolves out there down. One of them has to be the beast! If we kill them all, we'll kill the beast as well. After all, who needs wolves?"

While everyone was jeering in agreement, Lindsay tensed at what the man had suggested. She was well aware of the common opinion among the population; all wolves should simply be killed, and more and more she was fearing that this was what was going to happen.

"So you think eliminating every wolf out there in the woods will help you to find this creature although you don't even know for sure what kind of an animal it is?" another male voice stated, one Lindsay had never heard before.

Surprised, Lindsay and the others turned around into the direction of where the voice had come from. Neither of them had noticed the arrival of the two strangers on their horses. One of them was tall, with short, dark hair and blue eyes. The shorter one, who also was the one who had spoken before, had short, blond hair, also blue eyes. He was smiling at the attention of the surprised crowd.

"To ease your excitement, I'm Danny Messer and that's Don Flack. We've heard you might need some help here?" he said.

Lindsay, who wasn't standing that far away and had a clear view at the two arrivals, raised her eyebrows lightly; those were Danny and Don. Mac and Sid were convinced those two were going to help them. She had no idea whether those two would be any help and what she was supposed to think about them. She couldn't deny they had caught her attention though and she was curious to find out what they had to say.

Preview: Will Danny and Flack be able to prove that Lindsay is right?