Bad Moon Rising

Nolan stood in a small clearing deep in the Forbidden Forest, bathed in the light that shone down from the perfect circle in the sky. Even in the middle of the wilderness, the man was classy and elegant as ever. He stood with one hand in the pocket of his suit jacket, the other holding his wand.

He smiled to himself. If Karma could complete this task successfully, then they would be ahead of schedule. Nolan loved it when he did that. But this would be challenging for her. Probably more challenging than anything he'd thrown at her. If she failed, it could mean losing her.

It was a risk he was willing to take.

Sneaking away from Arsen was easy, she claimed to have to go check the kitchens for something, and had insisted he'd stay put, saying not to wait for her. Nolan had insisted she'd not be followed, and she had a feeling Hothead wouldn't have let her go.

She was wearing what she usually did - black tanktop and shorts, with soft black leather boots - and made her way to the forest clearing easily. She knew the forest like the back of her hand by now, what with the way she'd explored nearly every bit of it in her five years at Hogwarts. She hadn't met most of the creatures inside it, she was sure, but it was almost unusual for her to come to an area she didn't recognize.

Skirting a particular spot she knew for centaurs, she came to the clearing, hesitating in the shadows of the moonlight before stepping into the light, approaching her father. She came to a silent stop before him, offering him a half grin before her face fell into a line.

She was ready.

As Nolan looked at his daughter, knowing full well what challenges lay ahead, something stirred in him. It was immediately subdued, of course, but it was foreign to him, nonetheless. What was it? Gratitude? Regret? Longing? Love? He pushed it aside for the moment, deciding that he would tangle with it later.

"This last session, there will be no obstacle courses. No objectives. No rewards. Only your opponent, and you." He spoke slowly and deliberately, so as to bring meaning to every word, "This session will be the most challenging, as well as the most dangerous." He handed her an ornate silver dagger, "You are not limited to this weapon, but it may prove more useful to you than others you have."

He turned to face the forest surrounding him, "Geoffrey should be bringing your challenger any minute now. Once he or she has arrived, you may begin. Any questions?"

Karma shook her head, a crooked looking grin stealing over her features as she pulled her black leather fingerless gloves out of her pockets, sliding them over her hands. She'd met and destroyed every challenge he'd set in front of her; why should this time be any different? Nolan knew nearly everything about her, he knew what she could and couldn't do. She actually-

Well, trusted the man. It was strange, trusting an adult, but she was... almost used to it?

Pushing away those thoughts in favor of taking the dagger, flipping it easily and nodding. "Got it." She rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, stretching her arms across her chest and behind her head, leaning backwards, then forward to touch her toes. After stretching, her eyes locked on a spot in the outskirts of the clearing, farthest from the castle. She could hear footsteps from that direction, though she couldn't discern what, exactly, was travelling with Geoffrey, she was almost sure it wasn't human.

Whatever it was, she was confident she could take it.

Nolan felt a deep feeling of unease when he recognized the note of confidence in her voice. Of course, confidence was a good thing, but in this case, it could mean loss of caution, which was a vital thing when dealing with a creature like this.

"Good luck," he whispered, leaning in towards her a bit so Geoffrey wouldn't hear. The man turned back around again to face the two figures coming through the forest, "Karma, I'd like to introduce you to a.... friend... of mine," He gave a ghostly smile, "Miss Roberta Neeson. Would you care to step out where we can see you, Miss Neeson?"

Geoffrey stepped out into the clearing, tugging along with him on a chain a seemingly normal woman. Well, other than the fact that she was writhing in agony, and now that she was exposed to the full moon, her features were beginning to change and shift. Another interesting feature was the assortment of minor (though clearly painful) slashes and bruises positioned all across her body.

Nolan nodded to his butler, and the two of them began walking away from the others. Just before they disappeared into the trees, Nolan sent a final wave back to Karma without turning around.

The woman, whose mouse brown hair was shrinking and showing up all over the rest of her body, let out a high pitched scream as her clothes began to tear and her nose and mouth elongate. Her wide brown eyes focused on Karma as she uttered her last human words, "Please... kill me." It looked like she was about to say something more when she was cut off by her own scream, which slowly changed its tone until it was a clear, loud howl.

The creature lowered its head, the only thoughts pervading it now were of her desire, her need, to kill. Her first target: the filthy bloodsucker in front of her.

Karma grinned at Nolan, nodding her thanks before looking toward the woman. The scent that reached her nose was easily recognizable, the way she was jerking and wreathing terrifyingly familiar. Her eyes locked on the woman's, widening as she met her gaze.

Letting her see the human side was a mistake. One of many.

She missed Nolan's wave, finding herself completely unable to pull her gaze from the woman's, even as she changed into a werewolf. She stood there, frozen as the woman was ripped to shreds, and the wolf appeared. Her heartbeat had slowed, rather than quickened, her arms falling limply to her sides. The moonlight flashed on the blade of the dagger, drawing her attention to it.

"Please, kill me..."

The words echoed in her mind, distracting her further as the wolf snarled and lowered itself to pounce.

She tried to drop into a defensive position, she tried to bring the blade up in the thought of using it; but she looked at the wolf. It's fur seemed to shift in her mind's eye, turning the deepest black, it's eyes widening happily as it's tail thumped. Against every instinct her vampire side had, Karma relaxed.

"T-"

A snarl sliced through her daze, and she barely leapt backward in time to dodge the attack. Blinking rapidly as the pain of being clawed ripped through her right leg, Karma dodged another attack, just barely missing being ripped to shreds by the massive teeth. Wavering as the wolf skidded to a halt, Karma tried her best to keep her weight off her right foot, gritting her teeth against the pain. She had to- to-

Retreating backwards as fast as she could, the girl scaled a tree, holding the blade between her teeth as the were slammed against the trunk, jumping and trying to tear at her. Slowly taking the blade in her hand, Karma gazed down at the wolf, taking a deep breath. As she sighed, one could have sworn to have almost heard an apology.

Then she leapt.

Grabbing onto the wolf's back, Karma wrapped her arms around its neck, squeezing as it tried desperately to dislodge her. Trying and failing to get the knife into position, Karma stabbed repeatedly into the skin of the creatures neck, before she lost her grip on the bucking wolf and flew off, her back slamming into the trunk of a tree and her head cracking against it before she slid down it. Blinking through the blurred image of the wolf wreathing, she heard one last, heart wrenching howl.

For the briefest of moments, there was a peaceful post-battle silence, in which Karma used the trunk of the tree to stand upright, limping back toward the clearing. She creature was still, almost adorable postmortem. She stood over it for the body for a silent heartbeat, gazing down at it with almost tangible sorrow.

A howl of sorrow split the night from her left, and she turned in that direction, accidentally putting weight on her bad leg and nearly losing her balance.

The brick red wolf that emerged from the forest was massive, three times Ty's height, and more muscular by far.

An Alpha.

Karma's eyes went from the red wolf to the brown one, recognizing the look the male gave the motionless brown female. Suddenly, she was terrified, backing away as silently and slowly as she was able. She had to- to-

With a snarl, it pounced, and her world was transformed into tearing claws and ripping teeth, no longer able to discern which was was up, or if she was facing any such direction. A sharp pain slammed across the side of her face, cracking her head to the side.

Slowly, she realized that she could no longer move, the burn of werewolf venomously spreading through her system. She thought she saw something running, but that was probably just wishful thinking. She'd been abandoned.

It was an ironic way to die.

A small smile that transformed into a grimace slipped across her expression, and then the world went dark.

As Karma fought for her life, Nolan watched motionless from the shadows. He gave a small smile as she delivered the final blow. Now that the clearing was silent, the man could make out a sound coming from far away. He turned around to face it, his ears picking out a chorus of snapping twigs and cracking branches, as well as something else. The sound crescendoed, and a massive figure broke flashed out into the other side of the clearing.

The instant the wolf lunged at his daughter, Nolan burst into the clearing with a deafening cry. The wolf looked up at the source of the noise, momentarily distracted from his prey, and began dodging the wall of spells that came shooting its way, orienting itself so it was charging at Nolan now.

He made a slashing motion with his wand, and his spell sliced over the wolf's eyes, causing it to howl with pain. It continued charging at him, this time growling with a fiery rage that was only further fueled by the pain. Nolan, however, had sidestepped the wolf, and shouted, "Stupefy!" The wolf flew sideways, hitting a tree with a loud crushing sound and a yelp.

The man ran to the center of the clearing, waiting patiently as the wolf got back up to it's feet and sniffed the air. It's head swiveled to see Nolan, teeth bared. It almost seemed as if the beast were giving a victorious grin.

It had hardly started moving again when Nolan muttered, "Wadawasi," And with a flinging motion of his wand, the daggar flew out of the neck of the corpse and right into the Alpha's heart.

Nolan smiled as it staggered about, blinded and dying, until it finally keeled over onto it's side.

Geoffrey stepped out of the clearing, frowning at the scene in front of him. The butler stepped toward Karma, but Nolan held out a hand, his eyes still on the wolf, "No. I'll take her." He turned his head to the man, "You clean this up."

With that, he walked to his daughter, gingerly sliding his arms under her back and knees. He looked at her still features, a faint smile haunting his own, "Well done." He murmured, lifting his head to see the demolished forest around them, "Very well done." And he walked back into the forest, his daughter unconscious in his arms.