"Damn it! That's impossible!"
Big Guy, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.
"There's no way the dark web would make such a huge mistake!"
Little Black shot a menacing glance at Clarly.
"Lady, now's not the time for jokes like that! Don't make us do something drastic!"
Clarly spread her hands helplessly.
"But that's the truth. I'm just an ordinary college student. My tuition comes from loans. Where would I get fifty million bucks?"
Dark-Haired Sister scrutinized Clarly's expression. She didn't seem to be lying, and honestly, there was no reason to lie in a situation like this.
After all, wouldn't pissing off kidnappers be asking for trouble?
But if Clarly was telling the truth, then hadn't they just wasted their time?
Dark-Haired Sister turned to Glasses Guy.
"What the hell is going on? Can we contact the client or what?"
"Contact them how? There's no internet here, no cell signal. Should we just shout?"
Glasses Guy slammed the table in frustration.
Clarly looked at Dark-Haired Sister. Of the six kidnappers, she seemed the most reasonable.
"Ma'am, maybe we can sit down and figure out how to handle this. But first, can I see my mother?"
Her words left all six kidnappers stunned.
Big Guy blurted out, "But we kidnapped a little girl. Shouldn't that be your sister?"
Clarly: ???
Was this plot twist getting a bit too wild?
Before Clarly could respond, the lights in the large living room went out. A moment later, faint rustling sounds filled the air, followed by a blood-curdling scream from Flat-Top Guy.
The kidnappers, each carrying a flashlight, quickly pulled them out and scanned the room. They found Flat-Top Guy lying in a pool of blood, his head… well, gone.
Yes, literally gone.
The remaining five kidnappers stared in shock.
Big Guy, mustering some courage, approached Flat-Top's body and examined it. He noticed distinct bite marks on the neck wound.
"Looks like some kind of beast bit his head off?"
Blonde Girl gave Big Guy a look like he was an idiot.
"What kind of beast could bite off a person's head in one go? A T-Rex?"
Glasses Guy adjusted his glasses and couldn't resist chiming in.
"Theoretically, a great white shark could do it, but not that cleanly."
Little Black glared at Blonde Girl and Glasses Guy, eyes wide.
"Hey! Is this the time for jokes? Someone's dead!"
Glasses Guy gave Little Black a cold look.
"In our line of work, people dying isn't exactly rare. Or do you think you're gonna live to a ripe old age?"
Little Black froze.
Sure, official stats said the average lifespan for Black Americans was over seventy, but that was just the magic of statistics. In reality, many Black men died in gang fights or got shot by cops during crimes.
Little Black wasn't so sure he'd make it to old age himself.
By now, Clarly was starting to piece things together.
"Looks like you guys got played by this dark web thing. You're all pawns in this game too."
Dark-Haired Sister rubbed her temples. She didn't want to admit it, but Clarly might be right.
"Alright, everyone, we need to figure out what's going on instead of joking about dead people. Ms. Clarly Frey, can you tell us what you know?"
"You go first. I'm afraid you won't believe me if I start," Clarly said with a shrug.
Dark-Haired Sister frowned but decided to share the truth.
"We're all mercenaries scraping by on the dark web, taking on shady contracts. This time, someone posted a job to kidnap a rich guy's daughter. They gave us detailed info and provided this house as the drop-off point. If we pulled it off, we'd split at least fifty million dollars."
Clarly hadn't realized the world had organizations like this. Curiosity piqued, she asked, "What's in it for the client? They gave you intel, a house, and even handled communications."
Glasses Guy smirked at her.
"That's just how the world works. There's a demand, someone meets it. Maybe the client wanted revenge on this rich guy or to drain his cash flow. These kinds of jobs are common on the dark web."
Clarly scratched her head. She'd underestimated how dark the world could be.
"Ms. Frey, your turn," Dark-Haired Sister said.
Clarly nodded.
"Alright, I'll talk, but I'm warning you—everything I'm about to say is serious. No jokes. Last night, my mom called me. She said I was in serious danger and needed to hide immediately. Then, eleven vampires showed up to hunt me down…"
Little Black cut her off, incredulous.
"Wait, what? Did I hear that right? You said vampires?"
Clarly shot him a glare.
"Can you let me finish?"
Dark-Haired Sister was frowning hard but held back.
"Let Ms. Frey finish."
"…After some digging, I found out those eleven vampires likely came from a group called the Elder Council. This morning, I got the letter you guys had. I thought the Council had taken my mom, so I came here."
Glasses Guy let out a scoff and raised his gun at Clarly.
"Nice story. Why don't you take it to Hollywood? So, who sent you to set me up?"
Clearly, he didn't buy a word of her vampire tale. It sounded like he thought some rival had orchestrated this to screw him over.
Clarly met his gaze calmly and pointed at Flat-Top's body.
"I'm telling the truth. If not, what do you think could bite off his head that fast?"
Her words made Blonde Girl and Little Black uneasy.
True, they'd only been stunned for a moment when the lights went out. It took maybe ten seconds to grab their flashlights, but in that time, Flat-Top's head was gone. No one saw what did it.
Glasses Guy kept sneering.
"Maybe it's just a trick. What if it wasn't a beast but some kind of trap?"
Clearly, Glasses Guy was a hardcore skeptic, refusing to entertain Clarly's vampire talk.
Blonde Girl and Little Black didn't buy the vampire story either, but Dark-Haired Sister and Big Guy seemed to waver.
"Tonight's been weird as hell. We should be careful," Dark-Haired Sister said.
Big Guy nodded vigorously, adding, "Back when I was in the Middle East, I saw some strange creatures. Things that fed on humans. There are weird things out there!"
So, Big Guy was a war veteran, which explained his burly build and rigid posture. The "human-eating creatures" he mentioned were probably ghouls, first documented in the Arab world.
But his story didn't sway Glasses Guy. Instead, it made him suspicious. He swung his gun toward Big Guy.
"You're not in cahoots with this girl, are you?"
Dark-Haired Sister, the voice of reason, quickly stepped in.
"What are you talking about? We're nobodies. Who'd go through all this trouble to mess with us? You pissed off the president or something?"
Her words gave Glasses Guy pause. The six of them were just lowlifes, scraping by on the fringes of society. No one would bother with a setup this elaborate.
Then Little Black spoke up.
"I heard the dark web's been into this thing where they gather people for a real-life werewolf game."
Everyone looked confused. Werewolf was a niche game back then, mostly played in college clubs. Regular folks wouldn't know it.
Luckily, there was a college student on hand.
"You sure it's a werewolf game?" Dark-Haired Sister asked Clarly.
Clarly nodded.
"It's a murder game that started in Soviet universities. It spread to the States, got revamped in '97, and mixed with werewolf lore to become a fantasy-style killing game."
"How's it played?" Blonde Girl, close to Clarly's age, was curious about the novelty.
"You need at least six people. Two are werewolves, the rest are villagers. Werewolves hide their identity and kill everyone during the 'night' phase. Villagers try to figure out who the werewolves are and vote to kill them."
Clarly gave a quick rundown. She'd played it before—psych majors loved it for honing social and psychological skills.
Dark-Haired Sister processed this and came to a chilling conclusion.
"There's six of us. The lights going out feels like that 'night' phase you mentioned. Does that mean the person who killed Flat-Top is among us?"
Her words made everyone instinctively step away from each other.
Glasses Guy scanned the others' faces and raised a new question.
"So what does that make you, showing up out of nowhere?"
Clarly frowned, thinking.
"In Werewolf, besides werewolves, there are special roles. A hunter who can kill werewolves, a seer who can identify them, a witch who can test for them. But it depends on the game's rules."
Glasses Guy pointed his gun at Clarly again.
"Shut up! You've been spouting nonsense from the start. If there's a werewolf, it's gotta be you!"
He waved his gun around, finally pissing off Dark-Haired Sister. Nobody likes a gun in their face.
"Are you insane? Stop swinging that thing around—what if it goes off?"
Glasses Guy, undeterred, pointed the gun at her. She didn't back down, aiming her own gun at him.
"Bitch! You've been defending this woman from the start. And you snuck off to see that little girl. Are you two working together?"
The other three, who'd been trying to calm things down, froze. Blonde Girl anxiously asked Glasses Guy, "What did you see?"
He smirked coldly at Dark-Haired Sister.
"I saw this woman sneak upstairs to talk to the little girl. I didn't hear what they said, but when I went in after, the girl's ropes were loosened, and her blindfold was off! Because of this bitch, the kid saw my face!"
So, Dark-Haired Sister had screwed him over, no wonder he was suspicious.
Hearing this, the other three subtly shifted toward Glasses Guy's side.
Dark-Haired Sister quickly explained, "I was just trying to calm the girl down! I've got a kid around her age, so I get how they think. I did it to keep her from freaking out!"
Her explanation made the others hesitate. From a mother's perspective, it made sense.
But Glasses Guy wasn't buying it.
"Oh, please. Overflowing with motherly love? Then why take this job?"
Dark-Haired Sister had no comeback. Her words did contradict themselves, but people often do.
"Hey, isn't there a voting part in Werewolf? I vote this woman's the werewolf. What about you guys?" Glasses Guy said.
Little Black was the first to agree, finding her visit to the girl suspicious.
Blonde Girl hesitated but raised her hand too.
That made three votes against Dark-Haired Sister. The others' votes didn't even matter anymore.
Seeing Glasses Guy condemn Dark-Haired Sister so quickly, Clarly panicked.
"Are you guys for real? I just explained how Werewolf works. We don't even know if this is an actual game!"
Big Guy nodded. "Yeah, let's not jump to conclusions."
Glasses Guy kept his eyes on Dark-Haired Sister and asked Little Black, "You said the dark web's into real-life Werewolf games. Got any proof?"
Little Black scratched his head, thinking.
"If it's the dark web's style, they'd probably set up cameras so rich folks could watch the game. Maybe we should look around?"
"Fine. You guys search for cameras. I'll keep an eye on this woman," Glasses Guy said.
The others split up. Little Black, apparently good at this, quickly found several cameras.
"Damn it! There are cameras!"
Dark-Haired Sister (Melissa Barrera)
This plot is adapted from Abigail, with heavy changes. The original's a bit more comedic.
(Chapter End)