Balthazar

Mr. Finnegan started with a shock, and he gasped as the cold water hit his face. He seemed startled, his eyes wide, and he blinked.

"If you come in here one more time, I swear, I'll...!" he waved his fist pointlessly in the air as he threw himself forward. Then, he stopped, becoming aware of his alternative surroundings.

Again, he blinked. Looking one way, then the other at the two young people crouching over him. "Why, Evan, Lunus, I..." he said, lowering his voice and beginning to calm.

"It's alright, Mr. Finnegan," Evan assured him kindly. "The lady and I were just trying to help."

"Yes, but what of the rouges?" Finnegan asked him.

Evan smiled. "I told you to let me handle it."

"Yes, you did," Finnegan muttered.

"And did you?" Lunus asked.

Evan gave her the same wounded look as before. "Yes."

"Well, at any rate... Evan, thank you. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been there," Finnegan told him.

Evan bowed his head. "It was nothing," he replied humbly.

"Lunus," Mr. Finnegan said, addressing her mild rudeness towards the man who saved his life and his business, "do you know Evan Marshal?"

Lunus's bright eyes darted over to the man who knelt beside her. "No," she said, "I don't."

"He's one of the nicest boys in town," Finnegan told her. "He works assisting Andy Parsley at the library."

"Is that so?" Lunus muttered.

"Yes," Even said, lifting his deep brown eyes to meet hers.

"Yes, ma'am!" Finnegan happily informed her. "And what's that you're working on now, Evan? That project that so caught your interest. You should hear this boy. He can't stop talking about it."

"We were bringing up some old records and journals from the time of the town's settlement for the town founding ceremony in a few weeks. The library is loaning some of its older books and town artifacts out to the mayor's office for the day of the celebration, and I found something very interesting in the annals of our history, which might even interest you, Miss Hunter." He smiled mischievously, drawing her curiosity.

"What did you find?" she asked him, being pulled in by the mystery of it.

"I found several passages which refer to a pact made between the spirits of the forest and the people of this town," Evan told her matter-of-factly.

"Alright. So?" Lunus said, unimpressed.

"So..." Evan went on, "it may account for our wolf problem. And,  if that is the case, then... there may be a way to stop it."

"A way to stop the werewolves?" Lunus replied skeptically.

Evan nodded. "Without killing them."

"Wait. So... you think that this is all just some kind of a curse?"

Evan looked at her with a strange determination in his eyes, and she would have known the answer even if he had never said it. "I know it is. Believe me. And the documents agree. Lunus, I've been looking for something like this, and now I've found it."

She shook her head in anger. "I can't believe you! They are not monsters because of some curse! They are monsters because they are born that way! Every time the moon is full they take a man from the forest, and every time the moon is new, they come and terrorize the town! These creatures are a public menace! But you want to have mercy on them? Shame on you, the two of you! You think they can change? They never can, except for a beast by moonlight!"

"Or a man by day," Evan added softly.

The comment took her off guard. She wasn't used to hearing people talk about the human side of the wolves. She wasn't used to someone saying that they could be like anybody else, but she supposed he was right - that was who they were during the day. The wolves were monsters. Perhaps, they were monsters disguised as humans during the day, but still... that made them no less monsters, and, as far as she was concerned, the only way to stop them was to hunt every last one of them... starting with Balthazar.

She closed her eyes and shook her head again. "No, not men. They could never be men," she told him. "They don't have a heart... not like ours. They have no humanity or spirit inside of them."

Evan began to speak again, but she cut him short.

"I'm leaving now," she discourteously informed him. "I have this book to take back."

She began to walk away, but Evan jumped to his feet and followed quickly after her. "Hey! Wait... Lunus!"

"Goodbye, Mr. Marshal. It was an interesting chat we had, but your theory is inherently flawed beyond revision."

"But Miss Reens," he contested, "if you would only give me a chance!"

"You had your chance, Evan," she told him.

"Just wait," Evan insisted. "I'm sure I could persuade you!"

Lunus stopped and took some time to stare into his warm brown eyes. There was something about them that made her heart melt. "You, Evan Marshal, are very kind," she said, "but there is nothing that could change a wolf."

Evan had a hurt look on his face again and his eyes dropped in silence. "Then, at least let me take the book back for you," he meekly requested. "It's going to the library, isn't it? I work there. I can take it for you," he offered.

She nodded and found herself once again acquiescing to his strange request. "Alright."

She handed him the book, and he took a long look at the cover. "The Proper Killing of Lycanthropes," he read with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. "I see you take this seriously."

She looked at him determinedly. "All my life, I've wanted to be a Hunter. So, yes, Evan, I do take this seriously. I know what I want, and I'm going to have it."

"Just out of curiosity, what is it you want?" Evan asked her, still keeping the book in his hand as he stared down at the purple cover with the bright gold writing.

"To be the hero of this town, to slay the Alpha like my father did," she told him without hesitating.

Evan fell silent. "The Alpha, eh?" he remarked with a sad smile.

"Yes," she said. "I will settle for no less than the hide of Balthazar himself."

"But that's ridiculous!" Evan contended. "Balthazar is like a ghost. No one ever sees him until it's too late to see him, and besides, who's that going to help?"

"Help? Evan, everyone! It will help everyone. Don't you get it? This is a wolf with a mind like a human, strong beyond all natural means, who kills people!"

"But what if he doesn't want to?" Evan asked her.

Lunus shook her head at him, becoming annoyed again. "Of course he does, Evan. He's a monster. That's what monsters do - they kill people. They pick off travelers in the woods at night and terrorize towns like ours. There's no way he doesn't. Why do you think he won't show his face, even to his pack? It's because he's a monster, Evan, and he knows it."

"Or maybe he just wants to be a man," Evan insisted, and his voice elevated as he became flustered.

Evan sighed. Lunus was glaring at him, and he stopped himself from saying anything more. It wouldn't have done any good, and he was already very well aware that Eccord Reens's daughter was probably the least likely person to have any place in her heart for werewolves.

"Never mind, then," Evan said passively as a form of dismissal. "I'm sorry that I held you up. I wish you all the best with your hunt tonight, Lunus, and may you find the Alpha."

She smiled softly. There was something about him that she found oddly attractive. "Thank you, Evan," she said. He was a strange man, but she did like him. "You have a lot of heart in you. If the wolves were half as nice as you are, I might think to reconsider your idea."

Evan's brown eyes watched her, then fell to the book again, and he held it in her view. "Well, maybe someday you'll need this, but... maybe someday you'll find that Balthazar is just as good a man as I am."

Lunus smiled, not saying a word. She didn't want to be any more rude to the kindhearted young man than she already had been, and so... she smiled.

"Yes, maybe," she muttered, but it wasn't likely.