It was in the dead of night in Drapers Garden. There were a few lanterns illuminating the night, but none of the fluorescent lights was as bright as the light from the full moon. Its bluish-white light beamed down on the world below it, giving off a very heavenly glow.

The Drapers garden was a public place where anyone could visit and look around. While having the word garden, it is also something of a park for people to stay and relax for a while.

In Drapers garden was, no surprise, a garden. A very lush and massive garden. There was a stone paved path that was surrounded by multiple sections of the garden. Each section presents a different yet unique appearance.

There was one section that was a flower garden, filled with lilies, roses, and tulips. There was another section that had both plants and trees, giving it a more forest atmosphere. Each section of this garden was very special and intricate, giving the place a more colorful side to it.

With it being the dead of night, there was no one present to admire its beauty…at least, no one human.

Zooming across the stone path of the garden, a blurred figure rushed about in Drapers Garden. It scurried around the place until it made it over to what appeared to be a Gazebo. It had an octagonal shape and a pointed roof.

There were fences on the gazebo that was filled with flowers and plants. There were even hanging plants from above, giving the pavilion structure a more forest-like atmosphere.

As the blurred figure went into the Gazebo, another figure was already there, as if waiting for it. The blurred figure then revealed itself as a Lycan, a monstrous beast that roams around at night during a full moon.

As for the other figure, it appeared to be a human. It was standing towards the fenced area and looking over at the garden.

He then turned around to look at the Lycan, unfazed by its appearance.

“Turn back into your human form, Allen,” The human scolded. “Are you trying to get us caught, fool?”

The Lycan grunts before slowly shrinking down, its brown fur going back into its skin and the wolf-head slowly getting more and more human-like. It didn’t take long before the Lycan from before was now a human.

“I don’t know why I have to revert back to human, Travis,” The Lycan, Allen, grumbled while straightening up. “It’s a full moon, so shouldn’t we stay in our Lycan form?”

“It’ll draw too much attention if we’re not careful,” Travis stated. ”Remember, we’re the watchdogs to our base.”

These two Lycans were part of the Howlers Pack, and their current job was acting as Gatekeepers for their base, which is close to Drapers Garden. They use the garden as a sort of lookout to keep an eye out for any intruders like hunters or regular humans.

“Yeah, yeah,” Allen said dismissively, annoying the other person. “Anyway, have you seen Louis? I thought he was tasked with helping us keep guard.”

“Last I checked, he’s currently with Ian and Joseph in finding more breeders for the leader.”

“Ah, right…the breeder plan,” Allen said, somewhat hesitant. “Remind me again why our leader is doing that. I mean sure, he’ll get more soldiers and stronger ones at that, but it’ll take a while before they grow up and actually be useful. It would be better if he just turned more people into Lycans.”

In a Werewolf pack, the Leader of the Pack’s strength comes from its pack. The more members the Leader has, the stronger they’ll become. This is one of the major advantages of being an Alpha since their strength comes from the more members he or she gathers.

“I feel the same way, but the Leader wants stronger soldiers. And he can only do so much with us. The strength of a turned Lycan varies. You know that.”

“Yeah…”

When a human is turned into a Lycan, they become stronger. However, their strength varies from person to person. Which means not all Lycans that are turned are equally strong. There are some differences.

Allen groans as he looks out at the garden like Travis, both of them admiring the view.

“Louis needs to hurry up…” Allen grumbled. “It’s getting way too boring keeping watch the whole time.”

“Don’t say shit like that, dumbass,” Travis smacked Allen’s head while scolding him. “We should be glad that it’s boring. Boring is safe.”

“Sounds like the words of a coward to m-oof!”

“Unless you want a quick death with by the hands of a hunter, then I suggest keeping that trap of yours shut.”

As Allen rubbed his head from where Travis smacked it, the Lycan couldn’t help but complain.

“Do you seriously think that a hunter, an HMDD member, would be able to find us? We’ve been hiding here for a while, and yet those bastards still haven’t found us.”

“It’s only a matter of time, Allen. Nothing lasts forever. Not even a base.” As Travis wisely said this, Allen could only scoff.

“The chances of us getting found are as probable as a Helsing being the one that found it.”

“…Do not make light of a Helsing or the Helsing Family, Allen. Those bastards aren’t someone the likes of us can take on.”

The Helsing Family. A group of notorious monster hunters that have been persecuting all kinds of supernatural creatures, including the Lycan race for centuries.

In the past, monsters ruled over the world with very little resistance. However, that changed when the Helsing Family came into the picture.

They were blessed by God with the ability to resist conversion. The ability to not be turned into a monster. To resist a supernatural transformation, whether it be a vampire, Lycan, or another being.

With this gift from God, the Helsings rose and fought against the monsters, driving them back into the shadows. While he hasn’t met one in person, Travis knew the stories…and he knew that he never wished to meet one in person.

“Quit being so cowardly, Travis,” Allen told him off.

“I am only being cautious. Because that is how I’ll live longer.”

“Yeah, right…huh?”

While talking, Allen soon heard footsteps somewhere nearby. It seemed Travis heard them as well, as he looked over at where he heard them as Allen did.

“You heard that too, right?”

“Yeah…” Travis groaned. “This is why I said, ‘Boring is good’.”

“Whatever…”

The pair then started transforming into their Lycan forms. They started growing bigger, fur started to grow out of their skin, and their heads slowly took the shape of an actual wolf’s head.

It didn’t take long before their transformation was complete. Allen was the brown Lycan and Travis was the grayish-black one.

The Lycan pair snarled before rushing out of the Gazebo and heading over to where they heard the footsteps. They ran on all fours, giving them enough speed to go across the Garden path in seconds.

It didn’t take long before they arrived at the spot where they heard the noise…but they found nothing.

The brown Lycan, Allen, then started smelling the air, possibly to try and find the scent of the intruder. As he did, he started to snarl, alerting Travis.

When Travis looked over at his partner, Allen motioned over to a bush wall in front of them. The scent from the intruder that Allen picked up was right behind that bush wall.

They both looked at one another before they nod their heads, glaring at the bush wall before them. Allen went for a frontal approach as he crawled on all four and stealthily approached the other side of the wall.

Meanwhile, Travis decided to ambush the intruder in case it gets away from Allen and cut off its exit on the other side.

Then, Allen rushed in and tried to attack the intruder. He saw a shadowy figure and pounced on it, slamming the figure to the ground. However, once Allen got a better look, he realized that this figure was nothing more than a dummy.

The dummy was made of sticks and had human clothes to make it look more human-like. Both Allen and Travis are shocked by this scene. They then saw something strapped to the dummy’s body.

It was a bomb. The Lycan pair panicked before trying to escape. However, the bomb explodes before they could get away and a massive purple smoke engulfed the Lycans in seconds.

Even after getting out of the purple smoke, the Lycan pairs’ bodies began to slowly wear down. Purple veins started coursing through their body and the fur was shedding, falling off, and revealing their grotesque mutant wolf bodies.

Their muscles started to constrict as they fell to the ground, wheezing and whimpering in pain. They were ingesting a deadly amount of Aconitum. Wolf’s Bane.

As of right now, their bodies were slowly deteriorating after inhaling the Wolf’s Bane gas. This is a common side effect when a Lycan falls prey to the Wolf’s Bane plant. This is why they fear it so much, considering how much it destroys their bodies.

As the two Lycans continued to groan in pain, the footsteps from before could be heard again, coming closer to them. The Lycans looked over at where it was coming from and saw a couple of humans walking over to them.

They weren’t just regular humans either… they had matching uniforms that belonged to only one organization…The HMDD.

One of the HMDD members walked closer to the Lycans. It was a woman in her twenties with long purple hair braided over her shoulder. She looked at the Lycans writhing in pain, an indistinguishable look on her face.

She then pulled out a couple of daggers, a purple shine coming from the blade. They were laced with Aconitum.

The woman with purple hair then stabs the two Lycans in the heart, the monsters convulsing for a few moments before slumping like a puppet getting its strings cut off.

Straightening up, the purple-haired woman looked over at the rest of her allies.

“Let’s begin the Lycan Raid.”