DAYS GONE BY

By Alexander Ritter

Los Angeles
Today

I spent the last few days on the road, driving my brand new motorcycle down the highway from Alaska to Los Angeles.  The deeper I traveled into the city, the more I realized it had been too long since I’ve been “home.”  I have my reasons for living in New York now, but I lived in L.A. for the majority of my life, and I still miss it.

After being distracted by a little bit of sightseeing, I ended my journey at the front door of my sister Lissa’s house, in one of the more upscale neighborhoods.  Lissa married into a rich family, and had ended up money from our family as well.

I knocked on the door and waited.  I stood there for what seemed like forever.  If I hadn’t seen cars in the driveway, I may have assumed nobody was home.  The door eventually opened as I was greeted by my seventeen year old niece, Nina.

“Sorry,” she apologized, “the maid was supposed to answer the door, I don’t know where’s she’s at right now.  Come on in.”

I was impressed that Nina answered the door at all.  I love my sister, but she spoils this kid so bad, it’s sick.  Nina has never really had to work for anything, living a privileged life.  Everything she wanted was handed to her.  I would have imagined her yelling for the maid to answer the door, without getting up to do it herself.

I don’t know if Lissa spoils her so much because she’s trying to compensate for not being a part of Nina’s life for the first half of it, or what.  It wasn’t like that was Lissa’s fault, it was a matter of circumstance.

Lissa had been thirteen, Vincenzo had been fifteen when the two met.  They were just a couple of stupid kids, with raging hormones.  The next thing you know, Lissa was a teen mom before it was the cool thing to do.  Problem was, Vincenzo and his family were from Italy, and only staying in L.A. for a short time.

Vincenzo’s family had already planned to leave before we found out about Lissa being pregnant.  His father owned an entertainment company over there, and he had moved his family here just long enough to oversee the expansion of the US offices.  After Lissa gave birth to her daughter, Vincenzo’s family took the kid back to Italy with them.

It wasn’t the most ideal situation, but Lissa couldn’t go to Italy with them, and she wasn’t equipped to be a single mom that young.  Lissa and Vincenzo kept in close contact though the years because they really did love each other.   Years later, Vincenzo moved back to the U.S. to expand on the company he inherited from his father.  He married Lissa and the whole family had been living here ever since.

Luckily for Vincenzo and Nina, they had missed out on all the “werewolf” excitement.   He had returned  after my first few transformations, and shortly after Lissa had been cured of her curse.  With all the shit Lissa had survived in that time, she deserved to live a normal life and I was happy for her.

“Mom!” Nina screamed across the house. “It’s Uncle Jack!”

Lissa came running around the corner and looked into the living room.  When she saw me, she tackled me and hugged me.

“Jack!  Oh my god, it’s good to see you!  What are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood. Figured I should stop by and see how everyone was doing.”

“What are you doing out on the west coast?”

“Oh, you know, stopping Armageddon, the normal stuff I do Tuesday nights.  There was this crazy purple druid who accidentally summoned a blue wolf goddess from another dimension that was going to eat the sun and kill all of humanity, or something.*  I fixed everything, so it’s cool now.  I think.”

* Marvel Omega’s Werewolf By Night 1-3

Nina looked at me like I was crazy, but Lissa just nodded and smiled, knowing exactly the kind of adventure I had just been on.

“You look like you’ve been through hell.  Do you want to use one of our showers?  Are you going to stay for dinner?  Do you need a fresh pair of clothes?  How long are you in town?”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down sis.  I would love a hot shower, and dinner sounds good too.  I was really just on my way through town, I just wanted to stop in to say ‘hi’ before I headed back to New York.”

“Everyone has been visiting us recently.  Topaz was just here last week to check up on us.”

Topaz.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard her name.  Hell, I haven’t even talked to her in a couple of years.  In that time, I had pushed her to the back of my mind, but hearing my sister mention her name brought old memories flooding back.

Los Angeles
Years ago

It hadn’t been long ago when I thought I saw Topaz die.  Looking down at her lifeless body, the first thought that crossed my mind was “I never told her I loved her.”  Fortunately for me, the whole thing had all turned out to be a delusion, as Topaz was alive and well.  But I had still never worked up the courage to say those words.

Today was the day.  I wanted to try this once before.  It had been the perfect set-up too.  After gaining control over my wolf self, I took Topaz on a trip to New York to “celebrate.”  My real motivation for the trip never came to fruition.

At the time I was on the whole stupid “hero” kick, and decided to break up a crime we witnessed on the way to a Broadway show.  I even ended up teaming with Iron Man.  Iron Man!  How cool was that?  But man, I found out being a hero was nowhere near as easy as the Avengers made it look.  The whole incident had derailed my original plan with Topaz, but now I had a second crack at it.

We were back in L.A. together, enjoying a rare night off.   The world wasn’t falling apart, neither one of us were being summoned away to stop a reality shattering event, it was just me and her together in the moonlight.

We’d taken advantage of the clear, cool night by having a campfire out on one of the hills, near the outskirts of the city.  We spent the night stargazing, as the fire crackled nearby.  I felt Topaz’s body leaning against mine as we huddled together, my arms wrapped around her body, her head resting on my shoulder.

I had faced all manner of creature since my first night as a werewolf.  Living Vampires, Moon Knights, mad scientists, insane sorcerers, zombies, and things that defy any kind of description or classification.  I’ve crossed paths with them all, and lived to complain about it.  So why then, was the notion of something as simple as speaking a few words, terrifying me?

“Topaz?  I uh…there is something I wanted to…”

I took a deep breath and held Topaz out in front of me so we were looking eye to eye.

“I need to tell you something.”

Topaz smiled and looked into my eyes, waiting for me to continue.  God, her eyes were so beautiful.  I had a few relationships in the past, but they were all physical and superficial, just like a lot of things in Los Angeles.  With Topaz, it was the first time I felt something deeper.   I finally forced the words out of my mouth, barley a whisper.

“I…I love you.”

“I know.”

I laughed, nervously.

“You know?  That’s all you have to say about it?”

“Jack, you know that aside from my mystic talents, I am also incredibly empathetic, I know people’s emotions.  You’ve been screaming it at the top of your lungs emotionally for quite some time.  I’ve been waiting for you to verbalize it.”

“…and?”

“It’s about time.  I love you too, Jack Russell!”

Topaz hugged me, and I started to believe I might be able to pull this caper off after all.  I held her close, feeling the warmth of her body, the beating of her heart, taking in her scent. I could have held her like this forever, almost forgetting the second part of my plan.

“We’ve been through a lot together, Topaz.  I would have been dead ten times over if you weren’t there for me.  I feel like we’ve reached an ending of an adventure, and we are ready to start another chapter.  I could have never made that journey without you, and I don’t want to have to make any other journeys without you.  So…”

I reached into my pocket and closed my hand around the object I had carried with me for several months.  I had wanted to do this for so long, and now the time was here.  I pulled the object out of my pocket and held it out for Topaz to see, as I dropped down to one knee.

“Topaz… I’m asking you… will you marry me?”

Topaz looked at me and I could see tears began to form.  After she was able to breathe again, she managed to speak.

“Yes!”

Los Angeles
Today

Those were good days, the best of my life.  Back when I could control myself during a full moon, when I had a family and friends.  You never know how good they are, until they’re gone and you can never have them back.

I must have reeked to high heaven when I showed up on Lissa’s doorstep, like a sad pathetic stray dog who spent all day digging in the trash.  She was polite enough not to say anything, but I know that Nina had to bite her tongue not to tell me that I looked like shit and smelled even worse.

I was happy to get a nice hot shower after my Alaskan adventure.  Back at my apartment, I would be lucky if my shower just had hot water running through it.  Lissa’s shower was larger than my whole bathroom, it had seats, vents in the ceiling that would mimic rain or mist, and multiple showerheads.  Needless to say, I took as much time as I could to soak it all in.

That night’s dinner was even better than the shower.  After living off a steady diet of noodles, baloney sandwiches, mac & cheese, and beer, a five course meal made by a personal chef was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  During dinner, Lissa and I reminisced about our adventures growing up together.  We had some fun times, and some terrifying times.  Nina listened intently to our wild tales of demons, witches, vampires, and monsters.

During the dessert course, Lissa received a phone call and excused herself from the room.  The way Nina was looking at me, I knew she had something on her mind.

“You know, Mom talks about you all the time,” she told me.  “You’re her hero, and she loves you.  Why don’t you just move back here to L.A. so you can be near your family?  What’s holding you to New York?”

It was a tempting idea, one I had considered before.  I mean, the weather and the people in L.A. are a lot more pleasant when compared to New York.  But I have my reasons for living there.

“Let me ask you something, Nina.  How many different stories have you heard about all the weird adventures that your mom and I have been involved in?”

“A lot!”

“How many times have you seen anything like that with your own eyes?”

Nina became silent as she suddenly realizes, for the hundreds of crazy stories, she’s never experienced any of them herself.

“So…what?  Are you guys exaggerating, or is it all just made up, or….?”

“No.  It all happened, and it’s still happening.  To me.  Your mom was the lucky one.  She doesn’t turn into a monster for three nights every month anymore.”

“That’s debatable.”

“No listen, I’m being serious here.  Everything that we’ve been through has been because of the wolf.  Your mom has been possessed, transformed, manipulated, assaulted, and almost killed more times that I can count.  That was, until she was cured and I moved away.  Do you see?  I promised to keep Lissa safe, but the only way I can do that, is to stay as far away from her as I can. I had to move the other side of the continent, I’m miserable and alone, but it’s worth it because at least you guys can all live a normal happy life.”

“Wow.  I didn’t realize that.  I’m sorry.”

“Just don’t tell your mom, ok?  I don’t want her to worry about me, or feel like it’s her fault.”

“I hate to tell you Uncle Jack, but she already worries about you all the time.  Don’t lose any sleep over this conversation, it’s just between you and me.”

“Thanks kid.  I appreciate it.”

Los Angeles
Today

I had considered leaving L.A. right away.  Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control (really!), I was delayed on my trip back to New York.

On my way down the highway, I passed a large well-lit billboard proclaiming “hundreds of beautiful girls” every week.  The billboard had also announced that it was a “gentleman’s club”, but I’ve been to enough of these establishments to know it was rarely inhabited by anybody who could be mistaken for “gentlemen”, myself included.  The temptation of nude girls and beer was too much to resist.  I drove off the exit listed on the sign, heading for the club.

The only fee to get into the club was to buy a drink cup.  The cup was exuberantly overpriced, however, the cup got unlimited refills during the visit.   “The more I drink, the more I save” was my reasoning as I set to work, trying to drain everything they had on tap before I left.  I got my first fill-up, a particularly potent beer called Devil Dog, and took a seat along the outer edge of the club.  I wasn’t particularly interested in getting into the middle of the action, content to sit back and enjoy my drink.

It wasn’t long before I noticed everyone seemed to be piling all their money on one dancer in particular.  Taking a closer look, I realized that I recognized the girl.  I that point, I also realized my bad luck curse, “Russell Luck” if you will, has struck again.  Story of my life, always in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I bet real heroes like Spider-Man never have rotten luck like I do.

The platinum blonde who was attracting so much attention was a girl I knew as Dansen Macabre.  What her real name was, I had no idea.  I don’t think anyone did.  Her abilities were linked to her dancing.  She could control the minds of anyone who watched her dance, and there were also rumors that she had a dance that would kill whoever witnessed it, and one that would make her invisible to any kind of detection.  We had spent time together as teammates in a group called “The Night Shift.”

Ah, the Night Shift.  Think of it as Clive Barker’s answer to the Avengers.  Back while I lived in L.A., a guy named The Shroud asked me to a part of the freak show he was putting together.   He had this insane idea to bring together a group of criminals to fight crime.  The twist was, only Shroud and I knew we were the good guys.  Everyone else on the team thought we were a new criminal group trying to carve our own niche in the L.A. underworld, so it didn’t seem odd to anyone that we constantly targeted the criminal element.

The best part was, the whole group was pretty much misfits, monsters, and outcasts.  When I showed up, nobody even flinched.  In fact, I fit right in.  It was completely different from the first time Iron Man took me to Avengers mansion.  Jarvis almost pissed his pants when I walked in the door.  Mind you, this is the guy who made breakfast for the likes of Hulk, Thor, Mantis, and Vision, yet I’m the one who freaked him out?  Didn’t do much for my self-esteem.

I really loved being a part of the Night Shift.  Back then, things were going good with Topaz, my sister was happy with her family, and I had a group of people who I could call my “friends.”  Too bad things started going downhill after that.

When I left the Night Shift, it wasn’t on the best terms.  Maybe I’d be able to leave quietly and she would never even know I had been here.  I’d just finish my beer and make a beeline for the exit.

It was just then that her eyes met mine.

So much for that plan.

The song ended and Dansen Macabre hopped off the stage.  She ignored her throngs of admirers and walked right over to my table, sitting down across from me.  There were several moments of uncomfortable silence as we both just sat there, seeing each other for the first time in years.

“So you ended up going back to being a stripper in the end, huh?” I asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Exotic dancer,” she corrected.  “A stripper is an exhibitionist whore, a dancer is an artist.”

“So you’re an artist.”

“Yes.  When you witness me dance, I paint on the canvas of your soul.”

“That’s really deep,” I said, as I took another drink of beer.  “But I doubt any of these guys here give a fuck about artistry.  They just want to see skin.”

“You’d be surprised.”

“I doubt it.  I mean, I certainly didn’t come here expecting to be blown away by the subtly of the choreography.  I just wanted to see some tits.   None of these guys here strike me as connoisseurs of fine arts.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, have you?  Still the same old lewd, drunk, filthy beast.”

“That’s part of my charm, but I have changed.  I’m way more miserable and cynical now.”

A smile crept over her face as she studied me, trying to figure out if I was joking or being serious.

“Would you like me to dance for you?” she offered.

“You know, your dancing doesn’t do anything for me.  I’m immune, remember?”

“How could I forget?  I wasn’t talking about trying to use my powers on you.  I was talking about a personal dance, just for you.”

“Yeah, I know what you meant,” I said, with a smirk, “and my answer still stands.”

Dansen Macabre frowned.  I’m pretty sure I insulted her.  “Have it your way.  You know, I’ve kept in contact with just about all of the Night Shift except for you, and Shroud of course.”

“Maybe there’s a reason for that.  Like the fact I left because I didn’t like the direction the team was going after Shroud disappeared and Hangman took over.”

“Hangman didn’t want you on the team anyway; he knew you were too much of a hero.  Truth be told, I’m surprised you never ended up with the Avengers.”

I had to laugh.  “Honestly?  I don’t know how I didn’t end up with their West Coast branch either.  I’m sure Moon Knight and Iron Man would have put in a good word for me.  Looking back, I’m glad that never happened.  I’m really not as much of a hero type, like people seem to think I am.  I’m trying to stay away from the costumed crew and keep to myself.”

“So, I guess inviting you to a Night Shift reunion is out of the question?”

I thought about it and sighed.  “You guys, honest to god, were almost like a family to me.  When the Night Shift was together, it was one of the only times I “belonged” to something and didn’t feel like an outcast.  If we were to get together and reminisce about the “good old days” over a few rounds of beers, I’d consider it, but I know if you were putting the group back together, it’d be for something I don’t want any part of.  Besides, I thought you hated me.”

“I did for a time.  You almost killed me, Jack.  I tried to help you, and you tried to eat me.  If Shroud hadn’t been there to subdue you, I don’t know if I would have been able to fight you off on my own.”

There was a time that I asked her to use her mind control powers on me during the full moon, to try and keep my animal side in check.  It worked for a time, but the beast must have built up an immunity to her power or something, because, like she said, she was almost breakfast for the beast once.

“It was as much my fault as it was yours,” she admitted.  “I’ve realized that now.  It was arrogant of me to think I could control you under the full moon.  It’s already harder for me to impose my will on those who have a magical nature, and I still don’t know how I affect animal minds.  With you being mystical and animal, I’m honestly surprised it worked for as long as it did before you attacked me.”

“You wouldn’t have tried if I hadn’t asked you to in the first place.”

“Are you sure you don’t want join me tonight, for old times’ sake?  There’s a mobster out here that has a load of smuggled diamonds and jewelry in a warehouse, with minimal security.  He’s foolish enough to think nobody would ever know about it, aside from him and his henchmen.  Lucky for me, my dancing causes loose lips, and one of my patrons freely shared the information with me.”

“Still not interested.  I’m not a hero, but I’m not a criminal either.  As a matter of fact, I was just about to leave.”

Before I can stand up and hightail it out of there, another familiar voice cuts me off.

“Jack?  Is that you?”

I recognized the scent and the voice before I ever turned my head; both were burned into my memory from years earlier.  It was another former member of the Night Shift.  Her name was Sybil Dvorak, also known as Gypsy Moth.

She smiled and hugged me.  I wanted to run away as fast as I could, but I briefly returned the hug and quickly broke away.

“Nobody told me you were here,” I said, shooting Dansen a dirty look.  She smiled and slunk away, back to her adoring fans.  I could tell she got a thrill out of seeing how uncomfortable it made me to see Sybil again, and I realized she had intentionally failed to warn me Sybil was here.

“Sooo… what are you doing here?” I asked, politely making conversation while plotting the quickest escape route.

“I own the place,” she replied.   “You know I’ve got places like this all over the country.  What are the odds that of all the clubs in the world, you’d blindly wander into mine?  Some luck, huh?”

“Yeah, some luck.”

“A better question would be, what are you doing here?  This is a long way from New York.”

“I was in the neighborhood.  It’s a long story.  You know me, and how crazy my life is.  I’d love to catch up on what we’ve been up to, but I’m really running late.  I should’ve left about ten minutes ago.”

“That’s too bad Jack.  I wish you could stay a little longer.  Maybe we could’ve had some fun. I always had a good time when I was with you.”

“Maybe next time I’m in town!” I lied, as I ran out the front door of the club.  Not on your life, lady.  I told you years ago, our “fun” times were over, and I meant it.

Night Shift Tower
Years ago

Topaz never liked the fact that I was a part of the Night Shift.  She would’ve preferred I had talked Iron Man into getting me a spot on the Avenger’s West Coast team.  But from my point of view, the Night Shift was the perfect team to be a part of, aside from the whole “It’s full of criminals who don’t know they’re really fighting crime” angle.

Don’t get me wrong, if I was with the Avengers, I would’ve got to try run a panty raid on Tigra, but that was really the only selling point.  Hawkeye was a cocky asshole, Scarlet Witch was a stuck up bitch, Vision creeped me out, and Wonder Man was one of those self-obsessed Hollywood types that I hate.  I would have been the outcast on that team, where with the Night Shift, I fit right in.

The whole operation should’ve never worked.  The Night Shift should have fallen apart the first time we were all in the same room together.  I had already fought a couple of these guys in the past, and even Shroud’s second in command, Dansen Macabre, had tried to kill him once before.  I don’t know how he did it, but Shroud made it work, and work well.  We were a great team with great chemistry.  Unfortunately, the chemistry between me and one certain member of the team was too good.

Gypsy Moth.

I had been born in Romania, although my mom moved to America shortly afterwards.  Sybil had lived in Romania for most of her life before falling in love with an American actor and moving to US so she could marry him.  She was wildly insecure about their relationship and constantly thought he was cheating on her.  He had died of heart failure, and Sybil inherited all his money.

She did what any respectable, responsible widow would do.

She spent all the money on drugs, starting up sex clubs, and created a hedonistic cult devoted to both.

Sybil was dedicated to doing whatever felt pleasurable to her.  She was also smoking hot when she wasn’t wearing that goofy “moth” themed costume, and her Romanian accent was mesmerizing.  There was one time when we had pulled off an especially successful mission, and everyone was back at the Tower of Shadows, celebrating.  I ended up getting wasted, and I’d like to say Sybil took advantage of me, but I can’t.

I let her do it.

I could’ve pushed her off of me, told her to buzz off, made a point that I was engaged… but I didn’t.  She had been rubbing up on me all night, and tried to make out with me.  Instead of packing my bags and heading home, I gave in and kissed her back.  One thing led to another, and we ended up back in her room in the Tower.

And it didn’t just happen that one time when I was drunk.  I went back for more later, when I wasn’t completely smashed.  Each and every time, it got more and more intense.  I just couldn’t stop myself, there was something about her, it was almost like an addictive thing.  I didn’t love her, and she didn’t love me, but I needed to get my “fix.”

Sybil’s room in the Tower of Darkness was half medieval torture dungeon, half fashion studio.  The dungeon part was self-explanatory, that was the kind of thing she got off on, mentally.  Now the fashion studio part might need a little more explanation.

You see, her mutant power was telekinetic based.  She could manipulate mater with her mind, but somehow there was a tactile feedback.  I’m not an expert on superpowers, and the rules, but for some reason she could “feel” whatever she touched with her mental powers.  That’s why she never really used her powers on hard or rough mater, she almost exclusively used it on fabrics, and why she was semi-obsessed with clothes and costumes.

On one of our slow weeks, we were all going stir crazy.  With no “missions” to undertake, everyone amused themselves the best they could.  Sybil had me waiting in her room, in werewolf form.  It was an odd request, but I obliged.  It wasn’t close to being a full moon, so I felt pretty confident that I’d be able to maintain control of myself.  Once Gypsy Moth entered the room, I was having second thoughts about how well I was going to be able to maintain control.

Like I mentioned earlier, Sybil likes the way fabrics feel.  That’s why a lot of times she would be fully dressed in some sort of elaborate costume, instead of half-naked.  On this occasion, she had fashioned herself a red riding hood costume.  The irony was amazing.

Sybil sauntered over to where I was standing and put her arms on my shoulders.  She had that look in her eyes, the ones a predator gets before it devours its prey.  If I was the big bad wolf, shouldn’t I be the one stalking her, and not the other way around?

She made a big show of walking around me and posing.  She launched into so speech that I half paid attention to, something about my big eyes, my big tongue and how she hoped it was “all the better to eat her with” or something, but I was too distracted by the fact she was using her telekinetic powers to mentally stroke all the fur on my body at the same time.  It felt amazing, and because of Sybil’s powers, it felt good for her too.

She glanced down, and started sliding her hand down my chest.  “My, what a big…”

“I can’t take it anymore!” I finally told her.  She had me worked up, but so was the beast.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to control myself if this went on much longer.  “I know you love doing the theatrical thing, but we gotta cut to the chase, or I’m going to lose my mind!”

Sybil smiled.  There was that predatory twinkle in her eyes again.   “That is fine with me.  Since you played along, I’m going to do something you’ll enjoy,” she said, sliding down and getting on her knees.

Three rooms over, Dansen Macabre was laying on a couch reading a book.  She briefly glanced up as my earsplitting howl shook the walls of the tower.  She rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book.

Los Angeles
Today

Staying in L.A. had been tempting, until I started to realize all the things I left behind, I did for a reason.  I wanted to spare my sister the misery that comes with my curse, and I wanted to leave the bad memories behind.  It’s funny how I tend to clearly remember all the negative stuff, instead of the good times.

It felt good to be out on the open road again.  Driving down the highway, leaving all my worries miles behind in the mirror, it gave me a feeling of being free.  I guess you could say riding my motorcycle gave me the same feeling my animal side has while it’s running through the forest under the night sky.

I was making good time, but then I pulled off to the side of the road.  A sign by the side of the road alerted me to the fact that I was now leaving L.A., and it was almost three thousand miles to New York.  It was going to be a good three day trip, at least, depending on how much trouble I wander into between here and there.  Trust me, most of my road trips end up with me in some sort of confrontation, be it Ghost Rider, The Braineaters, Sabertooth, or Demons… it’s ALL happened before.

Then, I made a decision that I still can’t believe.  I turned my motorcycle around and headed off in the direction that I just came from.

Night Shift Tower
Years ago

“I’m going to call it off.”

My companion, Tick Tock, looked at me inquisitively.  “Your marriage, or…”

“No!  This thing with Sybil.  I don’t even know what to call it,” I said, as I downed my seventh beer of the night.

“Most people call it an affair.”

“Yeah, well… it’s over.  I can’t even believe I went through with it in the first place, let alone let it continue this long.  What’s wrong with me?”

Tick Tock was one of those oddballs that I was telling you about, one of my teammates on the Night Shift.  He was a pudgy little guy with thick glasses.  He would see different realities, and used his power to strategize the best course of action in any given situation.

“This event is not unique to you friend, in eight of the ten realities that I can see now, you slept with her.”

“We’ll at least I’m not morally bankrupt in every reality.  What did I do in the other two?”

“Uh… well in one, everyone is a zombie.  In the other, you were already dead.  Dansen Macabre slit your throat with a silver dagger while you slept.”

I just looked at Tick Tock in disbelief.

“But you should be relieved to know that Shroud avenged you shortly after.”

“Yeah, that makes me feel much better ‘Tock.”

He tried to make me feel better, letting me know that my decision was normal, for me, but all he did was let me know I was a scumbag in every reality.  I drank several more beers, trying to work up the courage to go tell Sybil that I was done.  I just hoped it didn’t backfire, getting this drunk was how I ended up in this mess to begin with.

I went to her room, determined to hold my ground.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

She seemed slightly disappointed.  “You’re not having fun anymore?” she asked.

“No, that’s not it.  It’s just… I don’t love you, Sybil.  I know I love Topaz.  It’s fun while it happens, but afterwards, I feel horrible.  This guilt is just eating me up from inside.”

“Of course you don’t love me Jack.  I don’t love you either.  You weren’t getting love confused with lust, were you?”

“No, we were clear from the start that this wasn’t about emotions, it was about physicality.”

“Hmmm, it certainly was,” purred Sybil.  “Pure animal instinct.  Wild, uninhibited, raw desire. I never really experienced anything quite like it before.”

“I’m calling it off now.”

“That’s fine, Jack.  I told you we could stop any time you wanted.  When it stops being fun, it’s time to move on.  We can also pick up where we left off, if you choose.”

“Don’t count on it.  As a matter of fact, I think I’m leaving the Night Shift all together.”

“Because of this?”

“No… not entirely.  I’m leaving because this isn’t the same operation I agreed to in the first place.  Shroud has gone M.I.A, and Hangman is taking over.  He’s made it very clear he doesn’t even want me in the group, so I’m going to leave on my own.  Maybe I’ll see you guys around some time.”

Los Angeles
Today

I don’t know why I’m doing this.  I swore to myself that I wasn’t doing the hero thing ever again.  I had almost made it out of the city, all I had to do was give my bike some throttle, and speed off into the night.  Instead, I’m sniffing around the back alleys, following Dansen’s trail from the strip club to the warehouses she had mentioned.

The scent lead me to a warehouse on the edge of a river.  I climbed up the side of the warehouse, and was able to see inside though the broken glass of a skylight.  I took a minute taking stock of the situation.  Dansen Macabre was there all right, along with about a half dozen thugs she “recruited” from the club.  They were ransacking the crates in the warehouse, cherry picking the best jewelry and diamonds within, leaving the rest strewn about on the floor.

“I certainly find this one to be irresistible!” cooed Dansen, holding up a necklace.  “This one is going into my personal collection.”  The necklace had a large decorative snake with diamond eyes.

“It’s a snake eating its own tail,” remarked one of the thugs.  “I don’t get it.  What a stupid snake.”

“You dimwit!  It’s the Ouroboros, this is symbolic, and it’s art!”

The thug shrugged his shoulders and Dansen signed heavily, rolling her eyes and placing the necklace in her bag.  I had tried to warn her about those guys.  I don’t know why she would expect any of them to know what she was talking about.  I certainly didn’t know what the hell an “ouroboros” was.  Hell, the only person back in the Night Shift who had any clue about half the stuff she wanted to talk  about was Shroud, and she hated his guts.  It must be frustrating to not to be able to find many people who can relate to you.

I know how that feels.

I’ve decided I waited long enough, and that I should strike while everyone was distracted looking for loot.  I was hoping the sight of a howling, snarling werewolf, crashing down from a skylight, with broken glass falling all around, would’ve been enough to scare off a least one of the thugs.  No such luck.  They all stood their ground as I landed in front of them.

Dansen pointed in my direction as she yelled at her accomplices.

“Protect your mistress!  Don’t let that beast near me!”

Of course.  These guys were under Dansen’s spell, so they weren’t going to run away from me.  They were so enthralled with her, that they’d die for her if she ordered them to.  Scare tactics weren’t going to work, so I’m going to have to do my best and try not to kill anyone.  These guys didn’t have the same consideration for me, and weren’t making it easy.  None of them knew how to fight, their punches and kicks pissed me off more than they hurt me.

I grabbed one guy by the back of the head and smashed his face into the wall.  I flung another one off my back, and sent him crashing into a stack of wooden crates.  Two other’s got their heads smashed together.  It was almost fun, something I could handle, a nice break from gods, monsters, and demons.  Just some good old fashioned normal street level criminals.  Something like the Punisher would take care of.  I bet you’d never see The Punisher getting mixed up with demons and supernatural stuff like that.  All and all, I was making pretty quick work of Dansen’s goons, but she wasn’t trying to escape.  She stood her ground, watching me as I mopped up the thugs with relative ease.

With her goon squad out of the equation, I turned towards Dansen Macabre.

“So, how do you want to do this?” I asked.  “Are you just going to give up, or do we fight, or what?”

Dansen just smiled, and there was something about it that reminded me of all the times Gypsy Moth smiled the same way.  That predatory, “I got you!” look in her eyes was the last thing I saw clearly, before it felt like my brain exploded.

What the fuck was that? was all I could think as I fell to the floor.  More of that same intense pain shot in spurts though my head, my ribs, my back.  My vision was blurring as I saw Dansen’s feet moving closer to me, walking over so she could gloat.  She grabbed my snout and forced me to look up into her eyes.

“I thought you might come back to stop me, after you declined to join me.  You are a very lucky mutt that Gypsy Moth still has a liking for you.  Otherwise, you may have found a silver bullet though your skull, instead of just being beaten to a pulp with a silver crowbar.”

She let go of my head and I groaned, rolling over on my back.  Through the haze and the blur, I saw one of the thugs bringing the crowbar down upon my head one last time, and then, nothingness.

Topaz and Jack’s apartment
Years ago

Topaz just stood there, looking at me.  I just explained to her how I’d been bedding down with Gypsy Moth for the past few months.  I told her it was a mistake, and that I wouldn’t be doing it anymore.  It was the truth, I meant every word of it.  There was no way for me to tell what she was thinking, but I wished she would let me know.  Standing in silence, I wished she would yell at me, or scream, or slap me, or…

“I forgive you.”

Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.

“Thank you.  I’m so sorry this happened.  I think it was the beast.  It’s like, my human side wants the emotional connection I have with you, but the beast wanted this other thing that was going on…”

Topaz takes her ring off and holds it out to me.  I just looked at it like It’s some sort of alien object I’ve never seen before.  My brain finally started working again and I took the ring from her.

“Jack, I love you, but you’re not ready for this.  You can’t blame this on the beast, you are the beast.  We can still love each other, without being in love with each other.  I think the best thing we can do right now is part as friends, and when we meet again it will be as friends.”

“You’re calling off the engagement?”

“Jack, we’ve had our time together, but now I’ve seen that our lives are taking us each in very different directions.  I want us to be able to leave on good terms, and not have us continue on this path, to become bitter or resentful.  I don’t want that, I want to look back on these times we had together with fondness, not regret.”

“So this is it.”

“Goodbye Jack.”

And, that was it.  I had called off my affair with Sybil, because I wanted to be committed to Topaz.  Topaz broke up with me, and I went from having the best of both worlds, to having nothing at all.

Topaz was right, our lives were going in different directions.  She headed off to do her magic thing with Dr. Strange, and we did meet again a few times, as friends just like she said.  Seeing her still hurts me, so I’ve found that I try to avoid running into her if I can help it.  It’s not the last time I fucked up a relationship, or got my heart broken, but it was the one that hurt me the most.

Los Angeles
Today

I was done for the night, knocked out cold.  I was embarrassed that common thugs took me out.  I can survive against, and get the best of werewolves, druids, and gods, but in the end a street gang is too much for me?  I have to give Dansen credit, it was pretty good foresight and planning on her part.  The only problem was, while I was done for the night, the beast was just getting started.  And boy, was he pissed!

The beast opened its eyes, and saw the woman responsible for its pain standing on the other side of the room.  It also remembered that this was the same woman who had tried to control it years earlier, making the beast even angrier.

“Before we part ways,” Dansen told her followers, “I want to reward you with one last dance.”

The guys all grinned and nodded, two of them even high fived each other.  She got a serious look on her face as she concentrated and began her dance.  She started by moving her head and shoulders around, subtly, while keeping her gaze locked on the group of men.  There was a fire in her eyes, and the group was mesmerized, hypnotized by her every movement.

She arched her back while moving her hips, and soon she was swiveling her arms and gliding around with her legs, her whole body moving with fluidity.  As she moved in a circle around the group of men, they never broke eye contract.  The beast also watched, not interested in the dance, but instead watching its prey and waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Dansen ended her dance by slowly slinking down to the floor in a crouched position, with her arms stretched far behind her back and her head down.  She flipped her head back up, looking at her captive audience.  She smiled as they all fell to the ground, dead.  I guess I should be thankful that that immunity to her powers right about now.  She stood up, breathing heavily, and walked over to the pile of dead bodies that now littered the warehouse floor.

“I can’t wait to see how this scene gets explained on the news tomorrow night.”

She placed the necklace she coveted around her neck, then started to collect the bags of jewels that had been collected earlier.

“Sorry boys, but I hate to share.  None of you really appreciate these pieces anyway, you’d all just pawn them off and spend the money on drugs, and that would be such a waste.  Better that they stay in the possession of someone who will appreciate them.  Some of these are priceless, just for the craftsmanship alone.”

As she bent down to take the bags, the beast decided it was time to strike.  It rose off the floor and crouched down, then lunged across the room towards it prey.  Dansen yelped in surprise, and slid down into a position that looked as if she was doing the splits, her legs spread apart from each other in a straight line, her body down and arms held out in front of her.  Unbelievable flexibility and reflexes, yet she barley slid out of the way.

The beast sailed overhead, causing the beast to crash into a stack of crates.  She rolled back up to her feet, every movement graceful.  Like a dancer.  Disregarding her spoils for the moment, she decided to try for diplomacy, rather than a physical confrontation.

“Jack, I can understand you’re very angry with me, but maybe it’s not too late to talk this over…”

She might have been able to talk her way out of it with me, but the beast didn’t understand, nor care, what she was saying.  The beast staggered back from the crates and violently shook off the impact, then turned to face Dansen.  Its eyes were filled with rage as its jaws opened, roaring at her.  She could see that I wasn’t present at all in the eyes, and realized exactly what she was dealing with.

She remembered what the beast had done to her in the past, but to her credit, she got a determined look on her face and stood her ground.  She knew there was no way for her to outrun the beast.  Even though she knew it wasn’t going to be any more effective, she decided to fight back.

If she was fighting me, she would have kicked my ass pretty damn quick, let me tell you.  Even her fighting style was a dance.  As such, there weren’t any “stances”, it was just constant movement.  I’d never know where a strike or kick was coming from, and she was either constantly dodging or striking.  I was pretty sure the beast would make short work of her.

I was wrong.

Like I said, her fighting style was constant, fluid movement.  She was doing pretty well for herself, fighting the beast.  She did a backwards cartwheel that buried two feet under the jaw of the beast, snapping its head backwards and stunning him.

Dansen had a confident smile on her face after landing that blow, her initial trepidation melting away as her confidence grew.  That confidence quickly faded as the beast’s head swung around to face her again, and the memories of her near mauling from years earlier came flooding back.  The momentary lapse was all the beast need, as it lunged, jaws open, claws out.  It tackled her full force, sending them both crashing through the side of the warehouse and off the side of the pier outside.  They both plummeted into the river below and sunk under the surface of the water.

Los Angeles
Right Now

Coughing violently, I opened my eyes to see the sun was rising.  I had a splitting headache.  At first I thought maybe I was hung over, passing out drunk somewhere, but then the memories of the previous night came flooding back.  All the memories were clear, until the beast took over.  Those memories were foggy, the best way I can describe it, is when you remember you had a dream, but don’t remember what the dream was about.  I scrambled to my feet and looked around, finding myself on the edge of a riverbank, having no idea how long I’d been there.

This is exactly the reason I have to stay as far away from Lissa as possible.  I had been in L.A. for less than a day, that was all it took for the shit to hit the fan, reinforcing that my relocation to New York was the right decision after all.  My trip had also reinforced to me that I wasn’t they hero type.

Deep down, I think I’m a decent guy, but I’ve got too many vices.  That’s not how a hero acts, right?  I mean, I bet Iron Man doesn’t have a drinking problem like I do, and you wouldn’t see him sleeping with every girl that walks across his path, like I have.  I need to learn to leave the hero business to the professionals.

Taking a quick look around the riverbank, Dansen Macabre was nowhere to be found.  I didn’t know if the beast ate her, if she drowned, or if she got away.  Whatever the outcome, it wasn’t my problem anymore.  I was leaving L.A., like I should have in the first place.  I shambled off towards the city, in search of my bike, some clothes, and a beer.  And not necessarily in that order.

NEXT ISSUE: In the past, Jack has faced off with Dracula, Mr. Hyde, a Basilisk, even the Hunchback.  Next issue he faces off with a monster of legend that he has not yet face, and may be too much for him to overcome.  Also, Jack reunites with Tessa and is determined to finally have a nice, normal, happy, healthy relationship.  I’m SURE nothing could possibly go wrong.

Why “Giant Size” instead of 3 separate issues?  There are a couple of reasons.  “Giant Size Werewolf by Night” was a classic format years ago, they had several of them, so it was a homage to that.  Also, by overloading a single issue, I could get through all my ideas in less issues.  That was the idea in my head anyway.  Plus, it gave me an excuse to write from the classic “Jack’s point of view” like all of his solo comics have been, and how a lot of his fiction from other writers has been done.

Would I do another Giant Sized issue?  Yes.  Would I do it like this?  No.  In retrospect, I would have just had this be issues 4, 5, and 6 instead of Giant Sized.  If another Giant Sized ever happened, it would be another standalone story, but shorter, with several back-up stories by other writers.

I was going to get through some mail about the first three issues, but it seems to have disappeared!   I do remember Meriades Rai being kind enough to write about the first issue, and mentioning that he hoped Jack had a more proactive role instead of people coming to him all the time.  Well… looking at how everything is laid out, I never really noticed it, but the running gag seems to be that Jack wants to be left alone, but he has a constant stream of weirdness coming to him and he just sort of rolls his eyes and says “fine, let’s do this and get it over with.”  The next issue and the next arc after that still keep with that theme, but I guess I never noticed I was using the same hook every time until it was pointed out.

Desmond Reddick mentioned he liked a more dark and gritty Werewolf by Night.  Yes, this is set more in the city, and Jack is dirty, lives in a crummy apartment, doesn’t have any money, likes to drink beer and smoke.  It kind of spins out of me having read Paul Jenkins comics and then Mike McGee and Chris Munn fanfics BEFORE reading all the old issues from the 70s.  I think that’s where a lot of the influence comes from.

I had CaptainAshley91, Oldwolf81, MarkOne, and a couple other people just give me a “good job, keep it up” type message, so thanks everyone!