Bitesize 1.3

Bitesize 1.3

Ed was back in the car just moments later. As he navigated down Dapple Farm's dirt entrance and back onto the country roads he dialled Ellen again on his mobile and waited for the beep confirming the secure line.
"What you got for me Ed?"
"That big cat is a positive lycanthrope sighting. Newly turned from the sounds of it. Any gunshot wounds in the hospital Gary was at?"
He heard her typing away.
"Nope, nothing, Ed."
"It's probably still unaware. The wolf inside it is gonna want to feed again soon and the farm is all it knows so far. It'll probably take hybrid form again tomorrow night or the night after and come back. I'll try and tranq it, see if we can rehabilitate."
"Alright Ed. Stay in touch."
"One more thing Ellen. Gary said it was over six feet."
"Sounds like a T-alpha spawn?"
"Most likely. We'd better keep an eye on the local area."
"I'll put someone on it."
Ed hung up and tapped at the sat nav with his free hand, setting his home address as the destination. He hadn't dealt with a werewolf himself but he'd read the literature and he knew this was a T-alpha spawn. In the past werewolves had been more prolific than the public knew, but with the improvements in technology down the years most of the ones in England could be traced back to one common ancestor dubbed T-alpha. Trouble is that T-alpha was pretty elusive and hadn't been seen for years. This was proof that he was still out there somewhere and that was big news. If T-alpha could be captured then werewolves would soon be a thing of the past. He was the only one left with a pure enough bloodline to spawn more in great number. One less thing for Ed to worry about. He smiled to himself. In less than 24 hours he could be looking at his first real werewolf. It was moments like that that made this job so enjoyable. The little glimpses of phenomena most people would never encounter. But Ed wasn't most people. He was an agent for the Paranormal Investigation Bureau and that wasn't a job you could just apply for. It was the kind of job you inherited, or were recruited for and for Ed it was the former. Following in daddy's footsteps.
"Turn left in three hundred yards." said the satnav, pulling him sharply from his reminiscence. He peered at the road ahead and spotted the turn looming up in the beams of his headlights and turned.


Nearly three hours later he pulled onto Spalding Road in Armley, Leeds. The side of the road was full of cars as usual and he had to park a few doors away from his home. All the houses on this road had been converted from shops that had moved on to bigger and better premises in the mid-nineties and Ed's had been a tailor's, a fact still evident from the large glazed front window bearing the legend "Quality counts!" in gold lettering. Vandals had blacked out the letter 'O' with spraypaint the week before and Ed reminded himself once again that he needed to get the window replaced. He shook his head, stuck his key in the lock and let himself in, swiping his key fob over the alarm system to disable it. The neighbourhood had gone to shit in the last couple of years and security was always at the back of his mind. Not that he couldn't replace anything that was stolen, but more because of what he had stashed here.
He flicked on the lights and made for the kitchen. It was a grubby little place really. He'd always meant to decorate, but who has the time? Besides, he spent more time at his Dad's place in Kelford than he did here. He flicked the kettle on and went upstairs while it boiled. There was an electronic combination lock on the door to the master bedroom and he typed in the code to open it. He might not have decorated, but he did have the walls upstairs knocked through to create one big room back when he'd joined the Bureau. He flicked on the light and looked around at the familiar clutter. It was hard not to feel comfortable here with his huge bed taking up one wall and his shelves upon shelves of paranormal literature taking up another. He tossed his keys on the bed and flicked the stereo on. The whole upper floor was soundproofed so volume wasn't a concern. The stereo picked up where it had left off, halfway through Iced Earth's 'Horror Show' album, fittingly a track entitled 'Wolf'. He smiled at the coincidence and reached under the bed for his rucksack. He dumped it on the duvet and made for a chest of drawers at the foot of the bed. It only had four drawers but Ed flipped a hidden catch at the back and the bottom-most section slid out to reveal a fifth. There was a handgun inside, unloaded and Ed tossed it in the bag. He rummaged around through various ammunition clips until he found one marked with two stripes, one blue, one silver. He tossed that in the bag too along with a pair of goggles offering both thermal and nightvision and then returned the drawer to its hiding place. The wardrobe was his next call and the Kevlar stab-proof vest hung at the back. He took his jacket off, donned the vest and then put it back on. It wasn't really meant for stopping werewolf claws but it was better than nothing. He zipped the bag up and turned the stereo back off. As an afterthought before he left, he opened the drawer on his desk and took out a knife in a leather pouch and strapped it round his waist, positioning the knife to his rear. With that done he headed back downstairs. The kettle had finished its duty and sat steaming near the sink. He took a plastic cup from a pile of them on the sideboard and made a black coffee. He preferred it white but his milk always went sour before he had the chance to use it. He took his rucksack and his coffee and locked the house back up. Back in the car he checked his watch. There was still time for a bite to eat. He would be back at Gary's by morning and could sleep in the car when he got there. He knew a 24 hour service station on the M62 that served something resembling food. Mentally he promised himself a takeaway when this was over.