Savage Beasts - 4. The Stuff of Nightmares

“I don’t understand, Papa” Mike said sternly. “You never told me before that a werebear could breed a non-kindred and turn him into a monster.”

They were in the office in the back of the diner. Thomas had called Gunnar on his cell phone in the middle of the breakfast rush, and Gunnar had quickly pulled Mike aside so that they could discuss the situation with Thomas in private.

“I never mentioned it Cub,” Gunnar replied, “Because doing so would be unthinkable. You know the time and care that I spent with you after finding you to allow you to make the choice to be bitten and bred. Whoever is creating these monsters is intentionally breeding and biting non-kindred humans without informing them of the consequences. I don’t know any bears who would engage in such unconscionable behavior unless they were not raised properly by their Papa and were a complete sociopath.

“Also, it is practically unheard of for one human to survive the first change, let alone an entire pack. The last recorded time that a bear tried to turn a non-kindred human was over three hundred years ago, and the last recorded time that a human actually survived that turning to become the kind of monster that Thomas is talking about is over a thousand years ago during the Dark Ages!”

“Whoever this werebear is,” Mike commented, “He must have been practicing and experimenting for years to get the process just right so that his humans survive the first change. Sam said that he counted eight separate creatures from the security camera footage, so he must have been doing this for an awfully long time. Just think of the number of humans that he must have gone through in his earlier attempts before he was able to get his first monster to survive!”

“I don’t want to think about that, Cub,” Gunnar said, “But it looks like we’re going to have to. If the werebear who did this can slaughter a village of twelve experienced werebears without much of a fight, we’re going to have to wonder what his motives are and what he may be planning next.

“For now, let’s pull ourselves together and get back out there to the dining room and finish today’s shift. We’ll make calls to Grand-Papa Ezekiel and the Lycan Council after closing time.”

****

That afternoon, Gunnar and Mike divided the work of reaching out and raising alarms to the threat in the Appalachians. Mike agreed to call Grand-Papa Ezekiel while Gunnar would take on the task of talking to the Supreme Alpha.

Mike sat in the living room and pulled up Grand-Papa’s number from his contact list. After three rings, the old bear answered cheerfully, asking Mike if he had another construction job for the bear crew.

“They really enjoyed building your restaurant, Mike. They still tell stories about the parties you threw each night on your back patio after the work was over!”

“I wish I had good news like that for you Grand-Papa,” Mike replied, “But I’m afraid that what I have to tell you is very grim.

“Gunnar and I got a call today from our friend Thomas in the Smoky Mountains. An entire village of twelve werebears in Tennessee was wiped out in the middle of the night a couple days ago. Thomas and his cub, Sam, investigated and found security camera footage from one of the bear’s homes. It appears that the attack was done by a group of creatures for which our kind has no name. They were non-kindred humans that were turned into half human, half werebear monsters. Thomas and Sam identified eight individual creatures on the camera footage, and they wiped out all twelve werebears in a matter of minutes.

“It also appears that after killing them, the creatures proceeded to… eat the victims, and then Thomas also found evidence that following the attack, they… had an… orgy in the middle of the village before leaving.”

“There is a name for the thing you describe,” Ezekiel said, once Mike finished telling the story, “But that name hasn’t been uttered for a thousand years. If they are truly non-kindred humans who were turned against every moral code and law that the werebears live by, and survived their first changes, then they are ‘Dababbi’ which is the name in the ancient tongue.

“The last living dababbi was in Western Russia in the year 940, but I will never be able to forget it. It began with a grieving Cub who had lost his Papa in a battle between the Slavs and invading Vikings. The Slavic Cub was so torn over the loss of his Papa that he attempted to breed a new werebear companion from one of the captured Viking prisoners, an exceptionally large and powerful human. The Cub raped this man and bit him without caring that he was not kindred, hoping to produce a werebear companion as large and powerful as his lost Papa. The Viking survived his first change, but he did not become the werebear companion that the Cub expected. Instead, he became a ferocious beast eight feet tall that stood on two legs. It was dababbi, a combination of human and bear, but grotesque to look at and unable to be controlled. The dababbi killed and consumed the Cub, the rest of the captured Viking invaders, and most of the humans in the Slav village before it was stopped.”

“How was it stopped?” Mike asked, “Please, Grand-Papa, it looks like we’re not only going to have to stop just one of these things, but eight!”

“It was stopped by an army of werebears,” Ezekiel replied. “I was a part of that army, and the memories of the fight against the dababbi is the stuff of my nightmares to this very day. The dababbi killed fifty-four of my companions before we were able to subdue it as a group, and Matthias, the oldest bear on earth at the time, used his mighty claws to remove the dababbi’s head from his shoulders. Matthias’s cub, his love, his mate of a thousand years, was one of the dababbi’s victims in that battle. After killing the dababbi and burying his mate, Matthias changed to his bear form and wandered into the wilderness, never to be seen in his human form again.”

“Grand-Papa,” Mike said, feeling the emotion of the tale, “If it took an army a thousand years ago to kill one dababbi, and over fifty werebears died in the battle, how are we going to fight eight of them? Plus, we’ll have to contend with the werebear that created all these dababbi. He’s most likely the mastermind behind the whole thing!”

Ezekiel was silent for many seconds following Mike’s question. When he answered his voice was filled with determination.

“We will do whatever we have to do, young Cub. If it takes every last werebear on earth, we cannot allow these dababbi or their creator to roam and kill. Give me a few days to discuss with the bears here in Atikokan, and we will be in touch with you soon.”

“Thank you, Grand-Papa,” Mike said, “We’ll wait for your wisdom and guidance.”

As soon as Mike ended the call with Ezekiel, Gunnar began shouting a streak of curses at the top of his lungs from the other room.

****

Gunnar sat in front of his laptop in the dining room. He had called the Lycan Council headquarters and explained the situation to the representative answering the phones, and they had emailed him a link to a video conference meeting with Supreme Alpha Taylor’s Beta wolf, Justin.

Gunnar logged into the meeting and sat waiting for Beta Justin to join. After twenty-five minutes, Gunnar was just about to give up and call the representative at the headquarters back, when Beta Justin’s face suddenly appeared on the screen before him.

“Hello, Mr… Bergan,” the Beta said, looking at some notes off-camera. “Before we begin, can you tell me which pack you represent and your rank, please? The rep who answered your call neglected to collect that information for me.”

“You may call me Gunnar, and I don’t have a pack or a rank. I am a werebear lycan, not wolf.”

“I see…” the Beta replied, looking at Gunnar’s image on his screen with a touch of distaste. “The Supreme Alpha doesn’t usually get involved in the affairs of werebears unless it constitutes an emergency to all of were-kind. So, I thank you for your time, and…”

“Hold on!” Gunnar exclaimed, “You haven’t even given me a chance to explain yet! This is a matter that affects all of were-kind. There is an emergency in the Smoky Mountains that threatens to expose our existence to the human population at-large and puts many of the packs in that region in serious jeopardy.”

“Oh, very well,” the Beta replied, “Please tell me what the bear emergency is that requires the Council’s intervention.”

“Please listen, and take this seriously,” Gunnar instructed, “A rogue werebear has been turning non-kindred humans. These humans have somehow survived their first change and have become half human, half bear monsters of immense size and strength. Two nights ago, they attacked and wiped out an entire village of twelve werebears. They killed them, ate them, and then had an orgy in the middle of the carnage. We don’t know where they came from or where they’re going, but if they can kill that many bears that easily, then every enclave and pack in the region is in terrible danger!”

“I assume you have evidence to back up these claims?” the Beta asked.

“Yes,” Gunnar replied, “One of the victims had six security cameras positioned around his house. The bears who found the site of the massacre and cleaned up the evidence before any humans could discover it took the hard drives containing the video evidence. They positively identified eight creatures appearing to each be eight feet in height, bipedal, with deformed bear heads and hands containing both opposable thumbs as well as bear claws.”

“Very well,” the Beta said. “Send me your video evidence, and I will confer with the other Councilmembers’ Betas. If we determine this is a true emergency, then we will present the issue to our Alphas to be addressed at the next scheduled Council meeting.”

“When is the next scheduled Council meeting?” Gunnar asked impatiently.

“Two weeks from yesterday,” was the reply.

“You arrogant asshole!” Gunnar yelled at the camera, “Don’t you realize how many more lycans may die in the next two weeks? Of all the pompous, ignorant, self-important wolves, I have to talk to the Supreme Shit…”

Gunnar’s feed was suddenly muted by the Beta.

“Sir, I will not stand for that kind of abusive language. You forget to whom you are speaking. Send me your evidence, and as I said, the Betas will review it to determine if it is worthy of Council intervention. Good day, sir!”

The video feed was cut, and Gunnar’s laptop screen went black.

“Son of a motherfucking, wolf-cock sucking, shit-eating bitch!” Gunnar yelled.

“Trouble with the Lycan Council?” Mike said, carefully poking his head around the corner.

“You can say that Cub,” Gunnar replied. “I couldn’t talk to Supreme Alpha Taylor, I had to talk to his Beta… Justin. Justin wants me to send him the video footage of the creatures so that he can discuss it with the other Betas, and if they feel it constitutes an emergency to all of were-kind, then they’ll have the Council discuss it… in two weeks!”

“You expected anything less from the Lycan Council?” Mike asked with a crooked grin. “Maybe if you had told them that the monsters were marching on the Council Headquarters in Calgary, they would have called an emergency meeting! We may have to try a double-pronged approach and get Alpha Apollo involved to turn up the heat. He’s a General in the Council’s army after all. If anyone can get the Supreme Alpha to listen, he’s the one.”

Gunnar sighed. “You’re probably right, Cub. Good thinking. I’ll call Apollo next. How did the call with Ezekiel go?”

“It was both productive and disturbing,” Mike replied. “We have a name for these creatures now. They’re called ‘dababbi’ and the last time one was created was in the year 940 in Russia.”

“Did he say how it was killed?” Gunnar asked, hopefully.

“Oh, yeah,” Mike said, “But you’re not going to like the story. It took a whole army of werebears to kill just one dababbi, and even then, over fifty bears were killed in the fight.”

“Shit,” Gunnar said. “We may be in over our heads on this one, Cub.”

“Hold that thought,” Mike replied. “Grand-Papa is going to talk it over with the other bears in Atikokan, and he’s going to get back to us. He was a part of the army that defeated the last dababbi, so he’s the resident expert on the subject, so to speak.”

“All right Cub. We have our next steps, I suppose. You call Thomas and Sam back. Give them an update and have Sam email you the video footage of the dababbi so we can forward it to the Council. I’ll call Alpha Apollo and Beta Susie and see if they can turn up the heat on Beta Justin just a bit, or even get a direct line open to Supreme Alpha Taylor.”

“Papa,” Mike said cautiously.

“Yes Cub?” Gunnar replied, looking into Mike’s blue eyes.

“I’m sorry I thought that things might start to get boring around here. I feel like I jinxed us.”

“I warned you, didn’t I?” Gunnar replied with a laugh. “If you yearn for interesting times, you just might get them!”