We walked up the staircase and approached the front door. Already the werewolf image on the roof flashed back. His yellow eyes and snarling fangs with the strange grin smiling down at me chilled through my skin. Still, I couldn’t back down from getting the wolf’s blood for my sake.

Come on, Jessica! You can totally do this!

Kevin stared at the door. “I knew this place has bad mojo, consisting it has a dark past."

I turned to him. “What kind of dark past?”

“I thought you knew about it.”

“You’re the one with the brains.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “The husband murdered his family here in the eighteen century.”

“The husband?”

“His name was Mr. Roachshire. People thought he went insane. After he killed his family, he vanished. This place became haunted ever since.”

Jessica shrugged. “Can you get us in?”

Kevin pulled the doorknob. “It’s locked. How about you break it open?”

I glared at him. “No way! Breaking an entry is illegal! I’m too young to go to jail!”

“But you are a werewolf now. Break the door.”

Errrrrrr, whatever! I raised my left foot back and slammed my toes against the door. It fell down, banging onto the floor.

Wow! I hoped nobody else heard that noise.

Inside, everything was dark and brown. A table stood at the center near a fireplace full of black charcoal. Cobwebs hung across the ceiling and near the corners. Dust covered the floor, and mold covered the windows, darkening the entire place. It smelled very musty and old without candles.

It was like the people forgotten the place since the family died. If my daddy moved us here, I would totally die here.

Kevin pulled out a flashlight and turned it on. “Do you smell the scent here?”

I closed my eyes and sniffed, catching the musty, dirt smell that wasn’t part of the mill house. “Yes…..It is totally all over the place.”

“Good, that means the werewolf is here. We are getting close."

“But what if he is stronger in his human form?”

“I am sure you can beat him. Even if you are in your human form, you still have your incredible super strength. He will have his super strength too, but both of you can fight equally. Just be careful not to push me into your brawl. Only you can fight him. Not me.”

I crossed my arms. “Did you forget to bring your crossbow?”

Kevin slapped his forehead. “Dope! I left it at home!”

“Do we have time to go back?”

Kevin glanced at his wristwatch. “We don’t have enough time. The sun will set in an hour. We have to find the werewolf before he can change.”

“Well, this is just totally stupid. We should have come here a lot sooner.”

“Hey! I wasn’t the one who got hungry and ordered a ton of burgers. We had plenty of time!"

I pointed my finger at him. “Don’t you dare blame me! It isn’t my fault! I totally got hungry! I needed to eat or else I would go totally berserk!”

“Well, if you listened before going out with your stupid boyfriend, you wouldn’t have-”

I grabbed Kevin’s neck and pushed him against the wall. "Don't you dare call Mark my stupid boyfriend!"

Kevin choked while his face turned red like a tomato.

How dare he! How he called my hunkie stu-

What a minute! What the hell was I doing?

I dropped him and stepped back, shaking in my shoes "My god! Are you okay?"

Kevin cleared his throat as he rubbed his neck. "I'm….. Fine."

Oh god! I couldn’t understand what came over me? The rage and bloodthirst totally took over me when Kevin insulted Mark. Yeah, he ticked me off, but not enough to make me want to kill him! I just snapped until I noticed my fingernails running into his flesh. Thank god I didn’t tear out his throat. I only left red bruises on his neck. Just looking at those markings turned my blood cold. "I'm totally sorry! I….. Didn't know what came over me!"

Kevin approached me and rubbed my left arm. "It's okay. It wasn't you. It was the beast inside you."

Wow, Kevin was totally a nice guy. But I still felt like crap for trying to choke him to death.

I wiped a tear off my face. "We have to get the werewolf's blood….. Before it will be too late for me."

Kevin nodded with a determined expression.

God, please help me get the wolf’s blood tonight. If I don’t, more people could die without my intention. And Kevin could become my first victim here. We totally had to move our butts quickly.

Huh?

Something moaned like a wounded dog from a stairway.

“What was that?” I acknowledged.

Kevin gulped. “I don't know.”

We stepped toward the stairway where darkness bloomed below the house. The moaning still echoed down there.

“Do you think we should go down there and check?” I asked as my back shuddered.

“Yes,” said Kevin. “That could be the werewolf.”

Uhhhhhh! Total creep factor attack! “I don’t think we should go down there.”

“Come on, Jessica. Werewolves are supposed to be fearless."

“Yeah, but I am totally human right now! I am still afraid!”

Kevin rubbed his face. “Do you want Salina to help you control your werewolf form?"

“Yes! Yes! I totally do!”

“Then pull your tail out of your butt and let’s go down there!”

Geez, get a hold of yourself, Jessica! If you don’t go, Kevin will bug the hell out of you.

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay! We are going down there right now.”

“Good girl! You are strong!”

God, I’m still not a dog, you dork.

I stepped down the stairway first. The wooden steps creaked, causing me to sweat like a wet sponge. If the werewolf in human form has acute senses like me, then he totally knew we were coming. But what else could we do? We just needed to be ready in case he could pop out like a stupid jump scare in a horror movie.

At the bottom of the stairs was a basement, full of barrels and wooden crates. More cobwebs covered the ceiling, and a sea of dust sprinkled the entire floor like snow.

The creepy sound moaned again, coming from behind the wooden boxes.

“Hello?” I called before Kevin covered my mouth

“Hush!” he hissed. “You will give away our present!”

I glared into his eyes. “Hey, I will not get jumped from out of nowhere without knowing who we are dealing with. I can get him before he could-”

Oh, crap!

Something in the shadow lifted the barrel and tossed it toward us.

“Look out!” I pushed Kevin out of the way and ducked.

The barrel flew over us and crashed against the wall. The grain fell to the floor from the broken barrel, and black bugs crawled away from it.

“Gross!” I jumped to my feet and looked around on high alert. “Kevin! Are you-”

Something smacked my head, knocking me into darkness as I fell next to Kevin’s body.