The Howlers.

They are a tribal pack of werewolves much close to a native tribe, or in this day and age, a gang. However, the Howlers are one of many Wolf Packs in London and all of England.

Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that the Howlers are a Pack. And when there’s a pack, there’s an Alpha leading it.

“Why is it that today of all days…I have to deal with a Wolf Pack?” Janus groaned as he and Ana continued hunting down the Lycans that they encountered earlier.

They ran off in the East, so Janus and Ana rushed over there after calling for people to assist the woman that got attacked by them. According to her, she didn’t get bit by any of the Lycans. Only scratched.

However, in case she was bitten unknowingly, the HMDD will monitor her to make sure that she really wasn’t bitten.

Of course, there’s a reason for that…

“Since we’re dealing with a pack, we need to be wary of the Alpha,” Janus stated.

“Right, because the Alpha can turn us if we get bitten by it, correct?”

“Spot on.”

Similar to how only Royal Vampires can turn people into vampires, only the Alpha Werewolf can turn people into werewolves. And while Royals turn people by making them drink their blood, all an Alpha has to do is bite you, and you’re part of its pack.

And since Janus and Ana were dealing with an Alpha, they needed to be extra careful when dealing with it. And by they, it’s mostly Ana.

“Since we’re dealing with the Howlers, we should be fine as long as we take caution of their Scout and Hunter Betas. The Howlers Pack is notorious for using those Beta types for reconnaissance and ambush.”

“Right, I read in a report that the Howlers Pack is filled with Hunter and Scout Betas. There’s hardly any Warrior betas used for direct combat.”

In the Beta group of the werewolf Hierarchy, there are three types of Betas. The Scout Betas, The Hunter Betas, and the Warrior Betas.

The Scout Betas are used for spying and scouting. These betas are the reconnaissance of the group. Their eyes are extraordinarily better than the average werewolf, which is why they are scouts.

The Hunter Betas are the ones that hunt down prey or enemies. Thanks to their powerful sense of smell and predator instincts, they are tasked with hunting.

Lastly, and most importantly, are the Warrior Betas. These Betas are the Pack’s soldiers or fighters. They are extremely powerful, and some are close to being on par with their Alpha, which shows the amount of strength the Beta possesses.

Despite how valuable the Warrior Betas are, the Howlers Pack doesn’t have many or any at all. This doesn’t, however, mean that the pack is defenseless.

Janus then reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out some bombs. Smoke bombs to be precise.

“I’m assuming you have the Wolf’s Bane Gas ready at hand?” Janus asked.

“Yes, I do,” Ana then pulled out her own smoke bombs and presented it to him.

Wolf’s Bane Gas. It is a smoke bomb that is filled with Wolf’s Bane essence.

Due to a Werewolf’s sensitive sense of smell, throwing these bombs at them will give the pair the upper hand in the fight. It’ll basically be like throwing the silver-laced smoke bombs at the vampires from before.

Unfortunately, other than the smoke bombs, they only have some daggers that are laced with Wolf’s Bane.

“I wish I had prepared some Wolf’s Bane-laced bullets. We’ll have to do with the bombs and daggers for now.”

“The Lycans know that we have Wolf’s Bane on hand, so they’ll be cautious around us," Ana stressed.

“Yeah, so we’ll need to make sure those bastards can’t escape from the Smoke bombs. The vampires didn’t notice the silver until they inhaled it. Because of those furballs’ sensitive noses, it’ll be a little more difficult to use it on them.”

The reason why the vampires’ didn’t detect the Silver laced smoke bombs is because their sense of smell isn’t as superior as the Lycans. As explained before, a Lycan can smell up to a few miles away.

The moment Janus and Ana pull out their Wolf’s Bane gas to use on them, the werewolves will run away immediately. Before they use it, they’ll have to entrap them and make sure there’s no way for them to escape.

Putting the pouches back in their pockets, they continued their hunt for the Howlers. It was well over midnight and the streets were a lot quieter.

This made things easier for the pair to move around the city without worrying about stragglers still roaming about at night. With no distractions, they can focus on finding the Lycans.

“Janus,” Ana said.

“What’s up?”

“Since we’re dealing with a Pack instead of Omegas, shouldn’t we call it in and get more people to help us find them.”

After Ana said this, Janus said nothing as he kept looking around the city. Noticing his silence, Anastasia stares at Janus, her eyes filled with disbelief.

“Janus…you’re not thinking of going after them without backup, right?”

“…”

“Janus…”

Ana continued staring at Janus, causing him to look away, avoiding her gaze.

“Please don’t look at me like that,” Janus pleaded. “I get enough of that stare from Harriet, alright?”

“Considering that you’re thinking of going after the Howlers by yourself, I think I deserve to stare at you like this.” Ana then glared at Janus, knowing what he was thinking.

“Come on, I won’t be alone…you’ll be with me!”

“This will be no different than the Royal Vampire incident and you know it!”

Ana continued to scold Janus as they kept hunting for the werewolves. So far, they haven’t found anything, which is strange.

Unless the three Howler betas decided to just leave the City of London since things were getting a little dangerous, the pair should’ve found them by now. And yet…they couldn’t find anything.

“Shouldn’t we have found those Lycans by now?” Janus questioned.

“I think so…” Ana looked skeptical. “Not unless they left the City of London when they saw us.”

“That’s not very likely. While HMDD members are feared by the Monsters of London, those bastards are too stubborn to quit hunting humans. It’s their instinct, after all. And those Lycans would see us as challenges to fight against than anything else.”

Despite London having the HMDD to defend them against the monsters, the creatures of the night didn’t submit to them. They only got slyer and more devious when prowling the night.

The Lycans were different. Especially the Howlers pack. The Alpha relies on their Hunters and Scouts to take care of their enemies. Which means instead of a frontal attack, they resort to ambushes and such.

“Do…you think they're watching us?” Ana pondered, looking a little nervous.

“It’s very likely. But if so, how come they’re not attacking us? They should’ve ambushed us by now. At least, that’s what the Howlers do.”

The Howlers was a well-known Wolf Pack that resides in London. They are one out of the five known Wolf Packs that are in London.

Aside from the Howlers, there was the Blue Moon Pack, The Crimson Hounds, The Silent Stalkers, and The Lunar Warriors. Of course, compared to the other four, The Howlers aren’t that dangerous, but they are still troublesome to deal with.

“For now, we should just keep lo-?!” Just then, Janus noticed a blurred figure zoom around in the distance.

Although it was quick, he was able to tell that it was running on four legs.

“I think I found them…” Janus noted.

“Really?” Ana then looked over to where Janus was staring.

Soon after, another figure appeared and rushed about, alarming Ana.

“Let’s go!” Ana said while rushing over to the blurred figure before Janus stopped her.

“Bad idea,” He informed. “Those bastards could be luring us in so they can take us down.”

“A-ah…right,” Ana lowered her head, looking embarrassed.

“For now, we should try to do the luring ourselves. Get them to follow us, and then attack. We play at their own game and turn the tables.”

When dealing with a Pack, you need to keep a level head and not rush into the fight, because that is when the Pack will ambush you and take you down. This is how many HMDD members got killed when faced with a Pack.

“Alright, let’s see if we can lure these bast…what the hell?”

While getting ready to turn the tide against the werewolves trying o lure them, the pair soon heard a loud roar from a werewolf. However, it didn’t sound like a roar to scare them…but a roar out of pain.

“W-what’s going on?” Ana questioned, startled by the noise.

“I don’t know…but I have a bad feeling about it…” Not wasting another second, Janus decides to rush over to where he heard the roar.

Ana went as well since they needed to stick together.

Although Janus stressed before that rushing in was reckless, a part of him felt that was no longer a concern. Why? Because it appears that someone was doing the work for them. Or so he thought.

And…he was right.

Rushing over to where he heard the roar, he came across another alleyway. Moving further along, the roar from before got louder, and the sound of blades clashing against something could be heard s well.

It didn’t take long before Janus and Ana made it over to the scene. When they did, they were shocked by what they just witnessed.

The three werewolves from before were laying across the ground. Their bodies filled with cuts and gashes as their blood coated the ground red. Two of them appeared dead while one of them was still alive, clinging to what was left of its life as he tried to crawl away.

The people that defeated them were HMDD members like Janus and Ana. It was a group of five, and surprisingly, all of them looked familiar.

Upon closer inspection, Janus realized that four out of the five HMDD members that were here were the people from earlier at the training grounds. The Tan girl with the sword, the daggers guy, the Bastard sword user, and the Spear user.

Considering that Janus knew that none of them were high-rank, he had to assume the last person was the leader that mentored them. Turning to the person, he realized he was right…and just like with the four members from before, he knew this person too

However…he knew this person for a lot longer…

She had long black hair tied in a ponytail and carried a sword that looked a bit fragile, yet was somehow able to fend off and kill two of the three Lycans. She looked around the same age as Janus, yet appeared older in some instances. She wore a calm expression which gave off a very mature yet pretty appearance.

Sheathing her blade, she turned and noticed Janus. Her calm expression shifted to surprise…then nervousness. Her grey eyes looked completely unnerved as she continued looking at Janus.

The girl wasn’t the only one unable to speak. Janus was finding it difficult to say anything either. But it wasn’t out of nervousness like her. It was out of pure surprise…and anger.

Suddenly, the girl spoke up with a very gentle yet firm voice. “Hey…Janus. I…didn’t expect to see you here.”

While the girl was more or less trying to act natural, Janus could hardly keep himself together. His breathing grew heavy and his hands kept shaking.

Finally, he gripped his hands and took a deep breath before speaking. “What are you doing here, Kora?”

It was then revealed that the person before Janus was none other than his adoptive sister, Kora Van Helsing. And just like that, the night shift went from normal, to surprising, to outright ridiculous.

All Janus could do after saying this was sigh, knowing that things were going to get a lot more complicated than he wanted them to.