John Wolfstone-The Book

A talk, a stare down, one blow, John's knowlage

As John walked towards a tree, he started to take Samual off of him.

“Why are you doing this, vegetarian?” he asked.

“Samual, as my father told me, we make our choices and our choices make us," John said. "You saw the ghosts of those children trapped here. Imagine the suffering that they have been through and you will see why. The things that James has done to you are nothing in comparison. I fight not only for them, and others like them, but for everyone. Your uncle may fight on behalf of your family, but he really fights for himself. Hell, I’m even fighting for his sake, because I want him, and everyone else, to see the truth, and the light.”

John then put the shirt part of Samual on a tree branch.

“Now know this Samual,” he said. “You didn’t fail school.”

“What?” Samual asked, quite loudly, as no one else could hear him anyways. “What do you mean? I saw my grade for your class. It was a big fat ‘F’.”

“That’s because that was the grade you would have gotten, except for one thing, an experiment that I had between Daniel Leathertail and Julia," John said, with a smile. "The experiment was whether or not Daniel could control his hunger and not devour Julia.”

“Well obviously he didn’t but what does that have to do with me?” Samual asked.

“His actions dictated whether the entire class would pass or fail,” John said, in a low voice.

“Well they must have failed then,” Samual said, in a huff.

“No they didn’t," John said, with a chuckle. "The class would have failed if even a drop of Daniel’s saliva had landed on Julia. The guy put a hole in the wall so he couldn’t get to her. Then, some of the other students started to help him out, by giving him a portion of their respective lunches. When the time was up, I had reentered the class, as I was in Jeff’s office during it, god I’m going to miss that man, and I told them that they had passed, and that from then on, everyone was to get extra credit. Well, just before the class left, one of your classmates asked if you were to get the extra credit, as well. I told them that that was up to them, and they had to give me reasons as to whether or not you got it.”

“Well, they must have said no then,” Samual said, with another huff.

“Actually, that was the surprise," John said. "They said that you should, and besides, everyone, including you Samual, had passed anyways.”

With that, John to the pants part of Samual off, and placed it on the branch.

“Think about what I said young one,” he said. “Should I not survive, the spell on you will wear off by midnight tonight, and you will be back to normal, or as normal as a blood drinking vampire can get.”

Then, John took off his last piece of clothing and turned around to face Joseph, who was also naked of clothing.

“I see you forgot your cast,” he said. “How do I know you don’t have a weapon in there?”

John looked at Clara and whispered, “You better act like a shape-shifting cast, so don’t say a word or do anything that a cast wouldn’t do.”

He then looked at Joseph and said, “It would be a little difficult for me to fight if I didn’t have it on. If you want to, have someone pat it down for a weapon, like Janelle here. Otherwise, quit stalling, so you and I can fight, and see who will kill the other.”

“In that case,” Joseph said, “Let’s finish what we started, over fifteen years ago!”

With that, the two combatants faced the other, neither one moving, waiting for the other to make the first move, the first mistake.

An hour later, the two still hadn’t moved when the others arrived.

“What’s going on?” James asked, looking at Janelle.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Something about it being a duel to the death.”

“Are you serious? He couldn’t be serious. He isn’t the type that would even consider dueling.” James said, worriedly.

“What are you talking about?” Janelle asked.

“Oh, right," James said, slapping his forehead. "I forgot that, as a human, you wouldn’t have taken the same sorts of school classes as non-humans. Well, basically, if two non-humans have a dispute, whether it is over prey, a mating partner, or hunting grounds, or even something else, that is important to both, should an understanding not be reached, the pair can fight, to the death. There are various that both parties have to follow, no clothes, no weapons, and no assistance from anyone. Failure to follow these rules will result in the death of the combatant that breaks them.”

James then looked at John, with worry on his face. He knew the truth about the cast on John’s left leg, it was his wife. Just by having her on his leg, John was breaking the rules, but without her, he couldn’t fight.

“How long have they been facing each other?” Joe asked, coming from behind a tree and getting down on one knee.

“At least an hour,” Janelle said, looking up at the kneeling giant.

“Then, the first move should come soon,” Joe said.

“How do you know?” Janelle asked, worried for John's sake.

“I’ve been in a few of these sorts of things," Joe said. "It always seemed that luck was on my side during them. The first move is the most risky one.”

“What do you mean?” Janelle asked.

“It could end the fight then and there," Joe said, as he watched the pair facing each other. "The person who makes it could kill the other, or be killed himself by the one who waited and held his ground. Now, I know John is very powerful, that time when he was out of control shows it. I don’t know about the other.”

“Oh he’s powerful alright,” Howard said, walking up to them. “The bastard killed my older brother, because he killed a woman my brother cared about, so my brother attacked him, in broad daylight. However, the bastard’s friends helped him out, They held onto him, as the bastard killed him. I was there that day, seven years ago, and I watched him die, as that bastard drained him dry of every last drop of blood. The man’s a coward, but he’s a powerful one.”

“Well I know this much,” said James. “There must be an arbitrator.”

“Well, who would be neutral enough to be a judge for the fight?” Joe asked.

“You’re looking at him,” James said, turning his clothes into those of his classification, a dark wizard.

“But, you’re John’s friend,” Janelle said.

“Haven’t you heard,” said James. “Wizards, and the like, especially those of my caliber, have no friends, or family, only acquaintances. After all, friends and family cause us to weaken.”

At this, James just cracked a smile.

Then he said, “Of course, the real truth is, we just don’t like to admit that we are humans with the gift of magic.”

With that, he walked out onto the field of combat, in between the two combatants.

“What the hell are you doing here, Human?” Joseph asked with anger in his voice.

James just looked at him and said, “I’m here to judge the fight between you, vampire, and the hybrid. If you want to argue about my right to judge, you do so at your own risk.”

“I’d trust him on that Joseph,” John said. “I’ve dealt with this wizard before, and his powers scare the shit out of me, and that’s a feat that few can make.”

James then walked up to Joseph and asked, “Do you want to argue my right to oversee the fight?”

“No, not at all,” Joseph said, with a hint of worry in his voice, as he had seen James’s eyes, which was one way to tell the power of one with magic, because the more solid in color it was, the more powerful the person was, and James’s were pitch black.

“Good,” James said, as he turned around and started walking towards John.

When he got to John, he whispered, “You do realize that by wearing Clara that you are breaking the rules of dueling.”

“Not necessarily,” John said. “If a combatant has a prior injury, which would prevent him from fighting, a shape-shifter can be used to help the one be capable of fighting, as long as it doesn’t fight itself.”

“How do you know this?” James asked. “I’ve never heard of such a rule.”

“It’s an old one, an obscure one, which was written down over one thousand years ago, when a king’s crippled son had to fight in his stead, because he himself was too ill to fight," John said, as he whispered to his friend in an equally low voice. "The prince had taken a shape-shifter for a bride, and she was the only reason he could walk around. Given how the king had no one else to fight for him, and this was a duel to control the kingdom, over whether or not his, or another family, would rule it, the assistance of the shape-shifter was allowed, as long as she didn’t fight herself, and suffered the same consequences as the prince, if he lost. However, he won, by his own power, and cunning. The exception/assistance rule was written down, and later forgotten.”

“But how do you know it?” James asked, because only certain people were the holders of any lost knowledge.

“Steve told me about it last night,” John said.

“The demon told you?” James asked, as he always had a sence of distrust for the demon, ever since he first met him in collage.

“Yep, he knew that I was crippled and he told me about that duel, which his great-grandfather had judged,” John said, as he started to chuckle.

At this, James smiled and said, “Isn’t it funny as to how a demon knows everything about what their ancestors have seen, and can know something of the future as well?”

“Yep, now get into position, judge,” John said, with a slight smile on his face.

When James got to the side, where he could watch the fight, John looked back at Joseph. He slowly grew his fangs and claws, as Joseph grew his own fangs and his nails grew a couple of inches, becoming sharp and turning themselves harder than steel.

“How about I give the first move to you,” John said, tapping the side of his neck. “That way you can get a taste of my blood.”

“Gladly,” Joseph said, rushing him.

As he bit John’s neck vein, and started sucking away, Joseph felt a sharp pain in his neck, and found out that he had no feeling in the rest of his body.

“What did you do to me?” he asked, as he found himself being lifted away from John, who laid him on the ground, gently.

“I paralyzed you,” John said, placing a hand on the blood coming from his neck. “I may be a monster, but I won’t kill someone in cold blood. Since you are no threat to me now, I expect you to hold your end of the deal.”

“I would sooner die than admit defeat to the likes of you, Vegetarian,” Joseph said, with a growl.

John then placed a claw over the man’s jugular, and was about to stab him through the throat, when he smelled something moving towards him.

It was Julia; with worry in her eyes, which seemed to say, “John, please do not kill him.”

John looked at Joseph, and sighed, as he retracted his fangs and claws.

“I told you,” he said, standing up. “I don’t kill in cold blood.”

He then walked over to Julia, and picked her up.

“Were you going to kill him?” she asked.

“I was,” John said. “But then I remembered something that you told me.”

“What was that?” Julia asked.

“You told me that I wasn’t a monster, and only a monster would kill a defenseless man," John said, as he looked at the crippled vampire. "Joseph’s no threat now. I doubt that, even with the finest medical attention, he will ever walk again.”

He then looked at the crutches, Justian and Tawna, and the clothes, Samual, and muttered a few words under his breath, turning the three of them back to their normal forms.

“Whoa,” Justian said. “That was a long faceoff, but when he charged you, you took him in one blow.”

“How did you do that?” Tawna asked. “I could barely see the two of you move.”

“Well, you guys were lucky,” Samual said. “I couldn’t see a thing, but I heard him run at you, bite your neck, drink some of your blood, and then, that snap of neck vertebra. To be honest, I thought he killed you, until you spoke. Just how did you beat him?”

At this, John smiled, and lifted his hand from his neck, exposing two holes that were in it.

“A vampire is very vulnerable when they bite into someone’s throat,” he said. “A smart victim would do well to make an attack on the part where the neck joins the back. If they did that, depending on the spot hit, and how hard it was hit, the vampire will either fall unconscious, become paralyzed, or end up dead.”

“How do you know this?” Samual asked. “Do you mean to say that you could have ended my life at any point in class?”

John nodded.

“I could have," he said. "Given how I wanted to become a teacher, I thought it wise to learn the weaknesses of all the different races, because I had the feeling that I would have to deal with the parents of students who might want me dead, for one reason or another. So, I took some classes in anatomy, and talked to my classmates, telling them that I was planning to become a teacher, and wanted to make sure that I could handle angry parents or students, without killing them, or harming them too badly.”

“So, who told you about a vampire’s weak spot?” Samual asked. “It’s supposed to be a secret.”

John just smiled and said, “Let’s just say that I know a two-bit illusionist, who is, also, one hell of a womanizer, who had sex with the girlfriend of a vampire, that I had to make a deal with. I told him I’d let him drink my blood for the rest of the semester, if he left my roommate alone. Well, he accepted, and I noticed, that whenever he feed off of me, he never went for my neck, even when I offered it to him. On the last day of the semester, I asked him why. It was then he told me that someone snapped his brother’s neck, when he bit into the man’s neck to drink his blood, killing him instantly. It was then I realized that if I ever had to fight Joseph, or another vampire, again, that my best chance for beating him would be to strike him in the back of the neck. I guess that deal finally paid off.”

With that, John tapped on a scar on the back of his left arm, near the wrist. It was similar to the wound on his neck, two puncture marks from a vampire’s canines.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I need some clothes. I hate to walk around naked, even if I’m in my werewolf form,” John said, looking at James, who tossed him a set of shape-shifter clothes.

Then he said, after he put them on, “Take Joseph and the others to my place, including those in that building over there. We have some things to discuss.”

“Well, what about you John?” James asked.

“I have some things that I want to talk to Janelle about," John said, as he looked at his friend. "As well as talk to some people who are trapped here.”

“I understand John," James said, as he got some things out of his pocket. "I’ll see you at your place.”

With that, a pitch black cloud of smoke covered the area and vanished, along with everyone, except for John and Janelle.