Published at 16th of February 2026 7:09 am

Chapter 1732 Taking The Blame

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The group hated to admit it, but Slit’s plan had worked rather well, far better than they had expected it to. The police had handed over everything they had, from recent case files to older reports that dated back to around the time Marcus had claimed to see the Werewolf.

They were given photographs, witness statements, rough sketches, and even internal notes that normally wouldn’t leave the department, and it was clear that fear had played a large part in why the police were being so cooperative. Some of the officers spoke carefully, watching their words, while others almost rushed through their explanations, as if worried that refusing or holding back information would somehow anger them.

The police had even offered to escort them around the city, suggesting patrol cars and officers to help secure locations and guide them to the places where incidents had occurred. It was almost ridiculous how quickly the situation had flipped. Marie declined the offer almost immediately, and the others agreed without hesitation.

Having police presence would only make things worse. If word spread too quickly, or if whoever was responsible noticed police activity increasing in certain areas, there was a high chance they would go into hiding. That would make tracking them far more difficult, if not impossible.

“This is kind of crazy,” Marie said as she continued reading through the reports, her eyes scanning lines of text over and over as if trying to make sense of something that didn’t quite fit.

“What do you mean?” Austin asked. “Is it what we thought, that there are still some of them out here in the city?”

“Most likely,” Marie replied. “There have been similar styled deaths that are still happening, even after Marcus left this place.” She flipped through another set of documents, laying them out so the others could see. “There’s a report on the body Marcus found as well, so it was confirmed dead. But when you read through all of this together, it doesn’t feel like isolated incidents. There’s something bigger going on here.”

She pointed at several different locations marked on a map. “The police managed to notice patterns, not just in this city, but in several cities around the country. Same type of deaths, same type of injuries, same descriptions from witnesses. It’s too consistent.”

“Isn’t that normal?” Innu asked. “People die every day. There are still a lot of gangs and bad Altered out there. Similar attacks don’t really sound that strange.”

Marie shook her head slowly. “Some of these reports include photos and detailed descriptions. I’ve never heard of things like this before. Large bite chunk marks missing from the body. Not clawed apart, not shredded, but bitten cleanly. Large portions of flesh eaten and missing entirely. Altered kill, and because of their bodies, it can sometimes look like animals did it, but not many Altered actually eat their victims.”

She turned another page. “And these aren’t guesses. The police managed to get eyewitnesses in several of the cases. When they asked them what they saw, they pretty much described the same thing Marcus did. Some of them even used the same words.”

Her voice lowered slightly. “They said it looked like a Werewolf, but one from nightmares.”

Just hearing that made all of them uneasy. It wasn’t just because there were more of these incidents than they had originally expected. It was because of what it implied. This wasn’t random violence, and it wasn’t limited to one area or one mistake. Whatever this was, it was moving, hunting, and repeating the same behavior again and again.

“This is dangerous,” Marie said. “Really dangerous. Everyone knows the Howlers are filled with wolf-type Altered. If this keeps happening, there’s a big chance we’ll be accused of doing all of this. That the blame will fall on us, whether it’s true or not.” She paused for a moment. “But do you know what’s even worse than that?”

Austin and Innu looked at each other. Being blamed already sounded bad enough.

“Think about it,” Slit said. “If Werewolves are going around killing people left and right, who do you think that will anger more than anyone else?”

Since there was no answer, Slit answered. “The vampires,”

“They won’t care whether these Werewolves belong to our pack or not,” Slit continued. “They group us all together. If Werewolves are causing chaos, then in their eyes, all Werewolves are responsible. That gives them an excuse to attack us, and they won’t hesitate.”

That realization settled heavily on the group. More than ever, they needed to find this new type of Werewolf and stop them before things spiraled out of control.

They moved out soon after, heading toward the locations that had been cordoned off in the reports. There was a wide variety of places. Some incidents happened inside apartments, others in alleyways, and a few behind restaurants where no one was meant to be late at night. There was no clear pattern in terms of victims or locations, other than the fact that several deaths had occurred within a particular area of the city. That was the only lead they had.

With both Marie and Slit able to use their noses, they knew it was only a matter of time before they found something. They followed the faint traces left behind, moving carefully, checking rooftops, streets, and back paths that normal people wouldn’t think to look at. Eventually, the trail led upward, toward a rooftop on a building that was still under construction. Steel beams were exposed, concrete slabs unfinished, and construction equipment was scattered around as if the workers had left in a hurry.

The sun had already gone down by the time they arrived, and they were thankful for that. Fewer people were out, fewer lights were on, and there was less chance of someone noticing what was about to happen. As the group approached the construction site, they stopped and looked at one another, each of them aware that whatever they were about to face wasn’t going to be simple.

“Do we have some kind of plan?” Innu asked. “And is there only one of them here at the moment?”

“There’s no set plan,” Marie replied. “We deal with them here. And we need to keep at least one alive. We need information.”

Innu frowned slightly. “Wait. Did you say them?”

Marie nodded. “Yeah. There’s more than one.”

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