: BOOK 2 – BAD BLOOD IN LOBO CLIFF
There’s a secret in Lobo Cliff, Florida, a small town just miles from Tampa Bay. A quartet of fourth graders, all close friends, had discovered something in the woods that would haunt them for the rest of their lives - a secret only they knew about, until Mr. King shot it. Not only was the werewolf a friend, but before he was killed, each kid had inherited its curse, and now a newcomer to town, the new school principal, suspects. Something ain’t right in this town and he’s on a quest to find out - and that discovery could cause serious repercussions to all who dwell in Lobo Cliff, and eventually – to the world. Not only do they have this investigation to worry about, but there’s another four legged guest in the woods, haunting their stomping grounds – and the Friends of Lobo Cliff will have none of it! It’s up to the kids to stop him and they will give it all they have, even if it means losing it all, to keep the curse at home… in Lobo Cliff.
BEFORE DAWN: BOOK 2 – BAD BLOOD IN LOBO CLIFF
Copyright 2012 Rod Martinez
Smashwords Edition
Cover and interior art by Robert Gustilo
All Rights Reserved
This book is dedicated to:
My great-grandmother, who encouraged my creative spirit as a child
BEFORE DAWN: BOOK TWO
BAD BLOOD IN LOBO CLIFF
CHAPTER 1:
She felt the brisk wind crawl over her, and that was what woke her up. She lazily popped her head up from off the moist ground; Marcie was lying on the floor of the Lobo Cliff Forest, the woods that lie just on the border of the cul-de-sac where she lived. She got up, brushed the leaves off and heard the footsteps stomping on the grass toward her; someone was trying to reach her. It was morning and she knew she had to get up anyway. She turned a blurred eye.
"Marcie! Come on, we're going to miss the bus!"
"Huh?"
"Man you gotta stop sleeping outside, Marcie! It ain't natural!"
She got up, brushed her hair off and ran toward her house to get her book bag. Alex hopped up on her porch right behind her just when his best friend’s mother stepped out, pushing the squeaky screen door in front of her.
"Marcia, did you sleep out in the woods again? Girl, how many times..?"
"Hi, Mrs. Kevons, top of the morning."
He did that on purpose to stop her from yelling at her daughter, knowing it would slow them down.
"Hello, Alexander, dear. Are you two ready for the new principal in school today?"
"Yeah, our teacher Mrs. Rivera told us to dress good and be on best behavior."
Alex’s smile calmed the already jittery mom, who was dressed in scrubs for work. Marcie hopped out of the house with her backpack on and a pop tart in her mouth. She was brushing her hair as she pounced off the wooden porch.
"Let's go Alex, bye Mom."
The two friends ran to the corner off the cul-de-sac.
Marcie’s mom watched the two friends run off to the corner, then shook her head and let the screen door shut by itself as she went back in.
“I don’t know about that baby girl of mine.” she whispered.
The two were almost at the corner when Marcie started talking after her last bite of the blueberry toaster snack.
"Man this is going to be weird,” she smacked, “…Mr. James was our principal forever, and now we have to deal with some new guy."
“Yeah, I know. And they tell me he looks mean, too.”
"Hey guys!"
Their two other nine year old friends ran up to them and the four came to the bus stop together. Though they’d known each other for years, this was only the second month of being in forth grade together.
"Hey Dorian, Fabian." Marcie smiled.
"Guys, the new principal starts today, I can't believe it, I'm still getting over Mr. James' death."
"I know Fabian, everybody in town went to his funeral."
Fabian is the nerd of the group, he never leaves anywhere without his trusted iPad in his sack. Though nerd is somewhat not the right description, since their adventure in the woods over a month ago, Fabian went through a change.
"I just don't know why they made like he was killed accidentally in a hunting accident."
"Well geez, Marcie, we already went over this. It made more sense to tell them that… than to tell them, the truth."
The four friends stared around at each other… those last two words bounced around in their heads. “The truth”; something even this group of fourth graders had a hard time battling with inside. “The truth”, the fact that their old beloved principal, Mr. James, was actually Santiago, the fabled werewolf who haunted the woods here in their neighborhood, something only they knew in secret. And they watched him get gunned down by Alex's father's boss in a failed attempt to bulldoze the woods. The other hired hands ran off in fright and left town, never to be heard from again and the boss ended up in the mental ward of Lobo Cliff General Hospital, leaving Alex's dad in charge of the company. The truth; the fact that before he was killed, the werewolf bit each of the kids turning them each into mini werewolves, and pleaded them into a pact to keep it secret from everyone else, and to take care of his family.
Marcie and Alex took their new found powers in stride. They didn't want to give any hint of their secret. Dorian was just happy that being bitten by a werewolf saved him from a near death health issue, a rare blood disorder that almost killed him, but FabianRoss - or Fabian as he now wanted to be called - felt empowered by his new abilities. His choice in clothes changed, his hair style changed, he hardly even wore his glasses anymore.
"Hey guys, let's go howling in the woods tonight, huh?"
"Shh, Fabian! Geez man, we all agreed not to tell people about this."
"Come on Alex, we're like super heroes now. All these jokers have no idea what's going on, we should bite one person a night."
"Fabian, did Principal James go around biting people? He didn't even like the taste of humans, remember? He bit us only because I pleaded with him to, so we could save his family."
"And you see where that got him, Alex! I don't intend to go like he did. Face it guys we’re different than everybody else. You know how in the X-men movie, Magneto tells them all that mutants are above the human race? That’s how I feel, above the human race."
Dorian shoved him against the old wooden fence.
"What's come over you Fabian!?"
The thin framed honor roll student pushed Dorian off him, and then put his finger in his face.
"Dorian, all my life I've been the geek, the nerd, the kid no one played with, no one listened to, no one even bothered to look at in school. Now that's changed. I'm not a geek anymore, people notice me. I have confidence, it gives me power, I don’t know about you guys, but I like this. The kids in school don’t even know how I changed or why, but they do notice… and it feels good."
"Dude, that's cool and all, but you don't have to let it get to your head, this is supposed to be a secret, we're not going to turn this town into a bunch of werewolves. Does that even make sense to you? Think, Fabian, think!" Alex said standing next to him.
The bus drove up and other kids walked up to the corner. Marcie walked in first, and Fabian was right behind her. He stopped, looked the bus driver up and down, and then smiled.
"Tasty." he smirked.
Dorian smacked him on the back of the head and Marcie grabbed his arm, pulling him to the second seat behind her.
CHAPTER 2:
Walking into class, the four friends took their seats. Mrs. Rivera walked up to Dorian.
"Dorian, te sientes bien?"
"Yes Mrs. Rivera, I'm feeling ok. It’s hard to believe, but I'm really not sick anymore, you know?"
"I know, Dorian. I just can't get over how well you've gotten over your illness. We all were sure we would be attending your funeral, but we were so glad to know you were Ok. It was like a miracle."
"More than you know, Mrs. R." Fabian smirked, “…ow!”
Marcie smacked him on the back of his head. The bell rang and they took their seats, just when a tall, thin man walked into the classroom. He was in a suit and tie and his hair was combed back, clearly showing his receding hairline. Fabian gave him the once over, staring him from head to toe, he was the history buff in the class and the man reminded him of a young, thin Richard Nixon, the former President of The United States. Mrs. Rivera turned to him, then approached and waved her finger out at the class.
"Oh, ok, uh students? This is our new principal, Mr. Huey. Mr. Huey, I thought we were going to have an assembly later today in the auditorium to introduce you to the students?"
The teacher walked over behind her desk. He stood in front of the class.
"No, no I decided that a one on one approach would be better, so throughout the morning I'm going to stop at each class and introduce myself. Your class is closest to the office, that’s why I started here."
"Oh, ok." she sat down.
"So, hello fourth graders, my name is Charles Huey and I'm your new principal. I come from Tampa. Been teaching for years and I just got into the administration part of it. This is my first job as a Principal. I was a high school science teacher and have a crime degree."
"Crime?" Alex asked.
"Yes, young man, I went to college to be a CSI officer, but minored in education. It was faster to get a teaching job than a CSI job, so here I am. Chemistry, genetics and human biology are my passions. Anyway, I know I have big shoes to fill, Principal James was a much loved man in this community, and I heard that he had lived here for ages."
"You can say that again." Fabian smirked.
Alex showed him his fist.
"And with your help, I hope to keep this school the great institution is has been. The Lobo Cliff Elementary Wolves is a proud pack and I'm proud to be its leader. Uh, yes, you there with your hand up?"
"Uh, hi Mr. uh, Huey, are you going to still try and get iPads for every student? That was the last thing Mr. James was working on."
"Yes I heard about that project and I totally agree with it. We secured the educational grant and we will be able to assign every student in science an iPad. I’m a big pusher of scientific studies, so don’t worry kids, as you say in the hallways, ‘I’ve got your back’, heh, heh,” he pumped his fist when he said that, “…I think it will be a big plus for studies and will help our students pave the way to a new future."
"I already have an iPad." Fabian smirked.
"Yeah geek, you sleep with it, don't you?" a voice said behind him.
Fabian turned and grimaced at Carlton Cunningham, the fourth grade bully.
"Young man, that comment was uncalled for."
"It's ok Mr. Huey, he doesn't bother me anymore."
"I don't?"
"Well ok you do," Fabian smirked turning back to him, "… but mouthwash can probably fix that."
The kids started to laugh.
"Children."
Mrs. Rivera raised a finger in the air.
"Ok, well anyway, on the circumstances of your dear principal's, uh... untimely demise, I felt that there should have been a better investigation. I was intrigued when I’d heard about it. There were some questions left unanswered and some people felt they needed more. The police closed the case pretty quickly and I may have the police re-open the case. I've gone hunting in my day and it just didn't make sense, the facts didn’t fall into place the way they say it happened."
"I was there, it's exactly the way they say it happened!" Fabian said.
His three friends turned to him in silent anger.
"You were there? The police report made no mention of children being on the scene, how could you have been there, uh, Mr... what's your name?"
"His name is Fabian, and he tends to make up a lot of stuff, Principal." Alex smiled.
"Yeah he does, don't you, Fabian?" Marcie said staring angrily into his eyes.
Fabian motioned to disagree with them, but he looked around, Dorian, Marcie and Alex were shooting him the look of death. He let out a breath of disappointment.
"Uh... yeah, sorry Principal, maybe it was a dream or something?"
"Yeah Fathead Fabian lives in a dream world, the little twerp, ha!" the bully chuckled behind him.
Some of his classmates surrounding him giggled along.
"Maybe you need to shut up, Carlton!" Fabian said turning to him.
"Oh and who's going to make me, runt? You?"
"Say!" the Principal barked walking toward Fabian.
"There will be no fighting and no bullying in my school, am I understood?"
Fabian turned to Alex.
"See what I mean?" he whispered to him, "…can't I just belt him one?"
"No Fabian."
Mr. Huey turned after a quick stare at Carlton and walked back up to the front.
"Well, none the less, some have questioned his untimely death so I plan to re-open the case. Good day children, I hope to get to know each and every one of you on a first name basis soon. Goodbye, Fabian."
He turned to the teacher, nodded and walked out.
"Ok, class, open your history books to page seventeen."
She turned to face the board and a pencil was flung up and bounced off Fabian's head from behind. Fabian turned, and Carlton was looking right at him and pointed at him mouthing the words "you're mine."
- - - - - - - -
After lunch, the four friends huddled together outside the cafeteria. Marcie took a seat on the bench and the three guys circled her.
"We can't let them do an investigation Alex, they'll find out."
"I know Marcie, but what can we do? He's going to get the Chief of Police involved in this thing."
"I say we give him a bite and he'll learn first-hand what it's all about."
Dorian grabbed Fabian by the arm.
"Dude what is it with you and wanting to bite people now? You have a hunger for blood or something? Man you’ve changed Fabian, and it ain’t for the good!"
"Dorian, if he opens the case, everybody is going to know we're werewolves. It's hard enough hiding it from our parents, only Alex's dad knows."
"Yeah my Mom thinks I sleep in the forest because I sleep walk and she's given up going in after me every night because our dog Snoozer comes with me."
"Honestly, Marcie, that is kinda weird. I mean yeah Mr. James turned us into werewolves, but we're not really wolves, you know?"
"Speak for yourself Alex,” Fabian smirked, “… I feel different. It's like - you know how you feel when you're playing the Anti-terrorist in the new Xbox game? When you've got all that armor and weapons against the terrorists invading DC, and multi-lives and nothing can stop you? That's how I feel now."
"Hey! Nerd-boy!"
The four friends turned to the voice. Carlton Cunningham was walking toward them with three other friends, all as big as he was. Carlton was a very intimidating character. He was taller, bigger and more menacing than most kids in school, and his friends all seemed to eat whatever made him this big. Even the fifth graders were afraid of him. He came to a stop right in front of Fabian. Looked him up and down.
"So, not afraid of me anymore huh, wimp? What - you taking judo or something? Isn't that what you scrawny kids do and think you can overpower someone like me? See, watching The Karate Kid on Netflix ain't going to save your puny butt."
He was standing five feet away from Fabian, pointing in his face. Fabian looked up at him, his stocky figure was menacing, down to his moussed up hair pointing straight up like a tent, and his deep green eyes that seemed to shake as he stared at you. Fabian smiled and turned back to his friends.
"Anyway like we were saying... "
"Hey! I'm talking to you, wiener!"
Carlton shoved Fabian from the back and the strong force made him fall onto Marcie, they both fell on the bench. The other big kids laughed along with Carlton. A quick rage came over Fabian and his fangs started to grow, his back was still to them. His fist curled up and his nails started to come out.
"Fabian, no." Marcie whispered.
"Uh, Carlton, yo man," Alex smiled stepping between him and Fabian who was now turning, “…look, we're talking about the new Principal. What do you think about him? Should he reopen the case?"
"What do I care? I never liked Mr. James anyway; he always was looking out for you puny turds!"
A low growl started from deep within Fabian and his eyes started to glow red. Dorian got up and stood in front of him so they wouldn't see the slow eminent change.
"Fabian, stop it." he whispered back.
"Well I was just asking, isn't your Dad a cop? Won't he be involved in this, Carlton? He'll be in school all the time," Alex smiled,” …and you won't get to have all the fun you normally have. Think about it."
“Man, he’s right, Carlton!” one of the thugs said tagging his arm.
"Oh kids, there you are!"
It was the principal's voice. He was walking up to them from behind. Fabian slowly calmed and his nails and fangs withdrew. But he turned to Carlton and anger was all Carlton saw.
"Uh, is there a problem here?"
"No, no Mr. Huey," Dorian smiled, “…Cunningham was just telling us about how much he loved lunch today."
"Yeah," Fabian smirked, “…Carlton loves to have his mouth stuffed."
He showed Carlton his fist behind the principal's back. Carlton slowly backed off staring angrily into Fabian's eyes.
"See you after school Fabian, we'll, uh, talk about that stuffing."
"I'll be there." Fabian smiled.
The principal pulled the four friends together.
"Ok kids, I hear from Mrs. Rivera that you four were closest to Principal James."
"Yeah, we were... kinda like family." Alex smiled.
"Well that's what I actually wanted to talk about. I hear he had a family, but no one knows where they are. Did they attend the funeral?"
"Uh, we didn't see them." Marcie shrugged.
"He talked about having a wife and a daughter, but no one has ever seen them. He didn't even have their picture in his office, don't you find that peculiar?"
"Mr. James was a private type, Principal Huey."
"We met his family, though, remember?" Fabian said.
The three friends turned to him, Marcie shot him her famous the look of death.
"Oh, so you've actually met them?" Huey asked getting closer to Fabian.
"Uh…sure… "
"Ha, there he goes again - with that imagination of his, right, Fabian?"
Fabian turned to his friends, none of them were smiling, and again he gave in.
"Oh, yeah, uh… ha, ha… sorry Principal."
BREEP!
Huey's cell phone went off.
"Oh, it’s the Chief of Police, I have to get this, talk later, children."
He walked away and Dorian grabbed Fabian's arm again.
"Dude, what's the matter with you? Doesn’t your brain ever see the words before they get to your mouth?"
"Hey I'm not used to keeping secrets like you guys do. We're open at my house, me and Mom tell each other everything." Fabian argued.
Augggh!
They heard the scream, and all four turned to the small group collecting into a circle. Alex was first to get there, Carlton had just shoved a third grader on the floor, and it was a girl. Marcie jumped down and helped the girl up.
"Carlton, what's wrong with you man? She's a little girl!"
"She stepped on my foot Alex, mind your business!"
"Man you've got serious issues!" Fabian pointed at him.
"Geek boy, you know what? I'm going to finish you, now!"
He lunged at Fabian but Alex and Dorian jumped in the middle and both shoved him off while he was still in the air. He fell back on his friends, who quickly helped him back up. That didn’t make Carlton a happy camper, he started to fume.
"Oh you need your boys to fight for you?"
"Alex let me hit him, just once, please!?" Fabian screamed.
"Stop it!"
They heard the voice, it was high pitched and loud and came from the puny third grader.
"Why do you always want to fight people Carlton Cunningham, is it because you're bigger than us? I'm telling the principal, and you'll be put in detention!"
She ran off and Marcie followed her. Alex and Dorian grabbed Fabian and pulled him away.
"You're better off in detention, Cunningham!" Fabian screamed, “…because I'll put you in the hospital!"
"Bring it on Geek boy! I'll put you and your dumb mother in the hospital!"
Fabian's foot dug into the cement.
GROWL!
It sounded like a wildcat's growl, the kids nearby jerked their heads around trying to zero in on the sound, they didn't know where it came from. But Alex and Dorian knew. Fabian broke free from them and flew into the air, all in a split second, his nails formed, his fangs formed but he was so fast no one noticed, in that split second his foot landed on Carlton's chest with a loud thump, and the strength of his thump sent Carlton into his three friends and all of them into the bush behind them.
"WHOA!" the kids all screamed.
"Fabian, no!"
Alex ran up behind him, grabbed him by the back of his collar and he and Dorian rushed him off behind the band room before anyone could get a good glimpse. The kids stood in shock, Carlton and his bunch were getting up out of the prickly bush, and Principal Huey – who also witnessed this from not too far behind - was just hanging up his phone with his jaw dropped open.