What Goes Bump In The Night 2

>Twenty pounds of chuck roast, fifteen pounds of potatoes, half a ham, ears and ears of corn, half a dozen apples, two full loaves of bread, gallons of water; this was what Sunset watched Anon consume in the den’s dining room. Many of her packmates, curious about their visitor had dropped in to get a good look at him as he was eating. Not a single one had left that room, watching giant inhale an impossible amount of food, many looking on in morbid fascination. Sunset could hear a few of the behind her making bets on when he would finally stop.
>Granny Smith, the second oldest lycan in the pack, an old seasoned warrior turned cook, was delighted with the young man’s appetite. For as long as Sunset had known her, the aging woman had laminated about the small stomachs of the younger generation, among other things. When Anon had finished the last of the roast she had insisted on making the “Sweet dearie” a few chickens and an apple pie or three to help fill him up.
>To tide him over, Big Mac--who also seemed pleased that someone was enjoying Apple cooking this much-- had brought out three freshly baked loaves of bread and set it in front of him, along with more potatoes. Anon was currently tearing apart the loaves in between popping whole potatoes into his mouth, looking as pleased as punch while he did so.
>Sunset looked to her left at her packmaster, who was watching the scene unfold with an amused twinkle in her eye. She was helping herself to some food that Anon hadn’t managed to devour, slowly chewing as she stared at the giant. Sunset could see that her missing fang was already starting to regrow. She stared at the slowly growing tooth, her stomach tightening.
>“Staring is very rude, Sunset,” Luna said in between bites.
“My apologizes, packmaster,” Sunset said, quickly bowing her head. “It’s just… your tooth.”


>“I am well aware,” Luna replied, helping herself to a slice of bread.
Sunset dryly swallowed. “Is… did I bring a daemon to the den?”
>The packmaster chuckled. “Nay, were it a daemon my fangs would have torn through it’s flesh as easy as you’d please.”
“Then what is he?”
>An apple pie was sat in front of Anon. He proceeded to pick the whole thing up and bite into it, noisily chewing.
>“At this moment? He’s nothing more than our guest,” Luna said, dabbing her mouth with a napkin. “What he becomes later… well, for his sake as well as ours I hope he becomes a dear ally.”
>The packmaster looked over at her. She smiled, reaching up to place a hand on Sunset’s shoulder.
>“Don’t let your worries overwhelm you, Sunset. You did well to bring him here. Better us than someone more… unsavory.”
>She made a hissing sound, covering her face with her arm as if it were holding a cape. All around you, your packmates rolled their eyes. The deadly war between werewolves and vampires had ended almost two years ago with Luna's return, but the Queen of the Werewolves still enjoyed fanning the rivalry between the two in a way that only a little sister could.
>Chuckling, the packmaster pushed her chair away and stood up. Sunset tried to rise with her, only for Luna to stop her with a raised hand.
>“I must go. There is much to do. My sister no doubt has an idea of what’s going on, but I suppose it would be polite to go to her and inform her of the situation. Applejack?”
>“Ma’am?” Applejack said, poking her head into the room.
>“I need you to call all of the surrounding pack leaders. Any within a thousand miles. Tell them that they’re needed here asap. I don’t care how they get here, but they’re needed within two days time. That should give myself and the others enough time to prepare to speak with Anonymous over there. Speaking of, Anon?”

>Anon paused mid-bite, looking over at Luna. He swallowed his mouthful of food, licking the crumbs from his lips. “Yes?”
>“I pray that the food somewhat forgives my earlier rudeness,” the packmaster said, placing a hand over her heart and bowing her head.
>“Oh yeah,” Anon said, nodding. “Absolutely. It’s been so long since I’ve had any meat that bite was worth it.”
>One of Sunset’s packmates, Roseluck, snorted. Luna looked over at her, eyebrow raised, causing the girl to quickly look away.
>“Yes, well, again, I apologise for that. I will be out for a decent length of time; how long I honestly don’t know. As of now, are a guest here under my protection. If you have any questions or needs don’t hesitate to ask anyone here for assistance. They will be happy to help.”
>Luna looked at the group of lycans surrounding the large table. They all quickly voiced their agreement, nodding their heads and welcoming the giant into their home. Anon looked around, a smile on his face.
>“Thanks, ma’am.
>“The only thing I ask you is that you stay within the boundaries of this estate. If you truly wish to wander and explore however, I am in no position to stop you; I only ask that you allow Sunset to be your guide if that urge were to become too much for you.”
Sunset’s eyes widened. “Packmaster?”
>“He was your catch, Sunset,” Luna said, a twinkle in her eye. “Keep an eye on him until I return. That is an order.”
Sunset nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
>Luna nudged her ribs. “You may hug him more if you wish,” she teased, giving her cheek a nuzzle before making her way toward the door.
>Applejack chuckled as a blush came to her face, giving Sunset a wink before following their packmaster. Sunset glared at her, trying to burn a pair of holes into the back of her head, before turning her attention back toward Anon. The giant was staring back at her, head cocked to the side.

>Sunset took a step back. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself. Though her prey seemed to be far more than she had originally expected, when had been given her orders. She was going to keep an eye on this giant of a man and try not to think about why in the Great Moon the packmaster needed to call what must have been over a hundred pack leaders. She was going to keep those sort of terrifying, heart-stopping thoughts out of her mind.
>This was going to be an easy task. Other than being able to take a bite from the Queen of the Werewolves with seemingly no effect, Anon seemed perfectly harmless. More of a big teddy bear than a man if she really thought about it.
>Puffing her chest out, Sunset pushed in her packmaster’s chair, walking around the table toward Anon. Another one of her packmates, Bonbon, was sitting next to him, but after making some aggressive hand gestures at the girl she got up, allowing Sunset to sit down. Just as she did, Big Mac came out with two, beautiful, wonderfully cooked chickens, sitting them in front of the big man.
>Anon, who watched Sunset as made her way toward him, pushed a chicken over to her. Sunset looked at him, then at the chicken, stomach growling. She looked up again to see the giant offering her a napkin.
“I… thank you,” she said, taking it from him and placing it onto her lap.
>Anon grabbed the other chicken, huge hands ripping it in half. He placed it into the plate of the lycan sitting to his right, Thunderlane. The boy smiled, thanking him before digging in.
>“Soooo… Can I ask what you guys are?” he asked.

>Sunset was about to say that they were human, or make up something vague and nonsensical, when she remembered Luna’s orders. The packmaster had told the whole pack to answer any of Anon’s questions. As much as she was loath to do so--it was never a good idea to just shout out to any of busy body that you were a werewolf--she honestly didn’t see the point of lying even if Luna hadn’t given her orders.
“We are called many things, Anon. The Children of the Night, Were-People, People of the Moon, Lycans. You might know us as werewolves.”
>Sunset waited for shock, or laughter, or maybe fear or denial. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he jumped out of his chair and tried to run to the door, screaming and shouting. He could have even tried attacking everyone in the room, thinking himself in danger. Instead, Anon just looked around the room, nodded, and helped himself to one of her chicken legs.
>“Oh, Neat. I figured you guys were something like that,” he said. “So, do you guys turn into wolves during a full moon or something?”
>Everyone exchanged glances as he finished the chicken leg in two bites. Granny, smiling from ear to ear, brought out the last chicken. Placing it in front of him, she pinched his cheek before disappearing back into the kitchen.
“We can undergo a change,” Sunset said. “Though we can do it whenever we wish, so long as it’s at night.”
>“Cool,” Anon replied, helping himself to a wing.
“...Anon?”
>“Yeah?”
“Are you… You seem awfully casual about this.”
>Anon chuckled. “Oh trust me, I’ve seen a lot weirder stuff than werewolves over the last couple of months. Gotten a bit numb to that kind of stuff. It’s still really cool though. You should show me what you look like when you change sometime. If you’re comfortable with doing that of course.”

>Redheart, one of the more senior members of the pack, narrowed her eyes at the giant. “What are you?” she asked.
>He turned toward her. “I’m a people,” he said. “What I mean to say is, I’m a person. Like a normal guy. Anyone want some of this chicken? I could probably eat all of it, but I don't want getting sick."
>Sunset couldn’t help but smile as she helped herself to a piece of chicken. The others of the pack moved closer toward Anon. She could see a fiery determination in their eyes, as well as a wolf’s curiosity. She could see many sniffing the air. Lyra pulled out a small notepad from her back pocket, grinning.
>Anon took a bite out of his chicken, looking up at them as they all slowly leaned over. “Hey, um, if you guys had any questions--”
>Before he could finish his sentence, the questioning began. Everyone in the pack had questions, almost all of them wishing to ask at the same time, doing so very loudly so as to be heard over the others. Anon almost fell out of his chair at the loud, sudden burst of noise, eyes widening at their insistence and volume. Sunset just quietly ate, laughing to herself as he did his best to answer the barrage of questions that quickly turned into a noisy, nonsensical mess.
>One of her packmates tried crawling onto the table so that she could sit in front of him. She managed to get partway on top of it before being yanked off. The questioning quickly turned into shouting, then arguing, then barking and snarling and pushing as everyone tried jockeying for a better position. Some tableware was thrown, and someone picked up Bonbon and threw her across the table, causing the girl to let out a bark. Teeth were bared, and a few fistfights might have broken out if Big Mac hadn’t stepped out of the kitchen, eyes narrowed and with a big iron skillet in his hand.

>A few angry shouts, and an iron skillet being applied very liberally to everyone in attendance--much to Redheart’s annoyance, as she would be the one to bandage them-- most of the pack fled out of the dining room, leaving Sunset and her ward to eat in peace.
>After finishing her meal, Sunset decided to show their “guest” around the manson, managing to ask a few of her own questions. While Anon seemed eager to answer most of them, he was vague on where he had lived before, simply stating, “You wouldn’t believe me”. Despite that, she did get quite a lot out of him, mentally everything away so that she could fill the packmaster in later.
>“Hey, Sunset?” Anon asked as she was taking him through the third floor.
“Hmm?”
>“What were you gonna do with me before your leader tried to bite me or whatever?" he asked, a brow furrowing. "You weren’t just gonna eat me, were you?”
“What? No!” Sunset said, shaking her head. “No one in the pack would ever eat a human! I was… well, I was bringing you back to maybe turn you into one of us.”
>“One of you?”
Sunset nodded. “If Luna thought you were fitting, yes. It’s very hard to find any suitable males that can be turned. All the ones in the den right now were born into the pack, and their numbers really aren't enough to sustain us for the long term. So, I figured you’d be a good candidate.”
>For a good long while, Anon said nothing. Sunset looked back at him, chewing up her bottom lip.
“It’s not that bad,” she continued. “Anything but. Before I was turned I didn’t have anything. No friends, no family; even the clothes I was wearing were stolen. Now I have a family, a place to call my own, and I’m stronger, faster, just… better than a mortal. I’ll even live a lot longer too.”
>“I don’t know how I feel about all of your barking though,”Anon said. “Your teeth look uncomfortable too; I’d be scared about putting a fang through my lip.”

“We Lycan heal very fast, and you get used to the teeth within a week. And, um, sorry about--” Sunset made a vague gesture with a hand. “--You know. Wanting to turn you.”
>“You can make it up to me by showing me around town tomorrow,” Anon said, grin coming to his face as he slapped a hand down onto Sunset’s shoulder, nearly driving her to her knees. “I wanna see what else this freaky place has.”
“But Luna said--” Sunset argued, only to be cut off.
>“She said you could chaperone me, and I wanna be chaperoned,” Anon said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. >“We can get up bright and early and be back before lunchtime, then I’ll call us square.”
Sunset opened her mouth then closed it. Looking up at the giant, she couldn’t help but snort. “Alright. Fine. I’ll take you out around town.”
>“I want ice cream too.”
“What?”
>“A lot of ice cream. I couldn’t get any where I was living.”
“...Why?”
>“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Fine,” Sunset said, face scrunching. “I’ll show you around and get you some ice cream, but you need to promise not to leave my sight. Luna herself told me to keep an eye on you and I can’t let her down.”
>“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Anon replied.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

>As much as he had tried to hide it, the night finally caught up with Anon. The poor boy looked ready to fall asleep on his feet, and as much as he argued otherwise, Sunset had put her foot down. He needed a bath and some sleep and that was that.

>This was when Thunderlane and Caramel and the other gaggle of men seemingly appeared. They ushered Anon toward the communal showers, with a stern warning to Sunset “not to peek or we’ll tell Granny” before they disappeared. Sunset, holding Anon’s backpack--which was almost bigger than her and would have been impossible to carry if she had been a mortal-- could only make her way toward the bedroom, hoping that they’d lead Anon there. Just like the giant, she was exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to lay down and fall asleep after this crazy night.
>As with most traditional dens, there no single bedrooms in the mason. Instead, there was a single room, large enough for the whole pack to sleep in, deep within the bowels of the estate. Hidden and secure, with thick walls and no windows, it might have been the safest place in the mansion, allowing anyone within the pack to rest peacefully. To make it even more comfortable, the floor was made out of a soft, springy material. Luna--who had been used to sleeping on the hard floor before her banishment--had first argued against this when she had first returned, but after a few nights of sleeping on it she had withdrawn her demand to tear it all out, to the relief of everyone.
>When she had been first turned, Sunset had hated this sleeping arrangement. Having bodies sleeping all around her, the sounds of snoring and whispering and movement had kept her up for many a night. The pawing, hugging, and kicking that she had sometimes jolted her to consciousness had also resulted in many fights. Now, after all of this time, she was positive that she wouldn’t be able to sleep without all of this chaos.

>Upon entering the bedroom, Sunset could already see that some of her fellow packmates were already fast asleep. She took comfort in the sounds of their breathing and snores, as well as their scents mingling in the air. The red-haired girl found herself yawning. Placing Anon’s bag in one of the lockers lining the walls--remembering to tell him where she had put it in the morning; not that she’d really need to, since the thing was so big she couldn’t close the locker door--she found a pillow and blanket, as well as some free space on the floor.
>Yawning again, she laid down, curling into a ball as she closed her eyes. Tomorrow looked like it was going to be a very eventful day. Not that she was worried. She was Sunset Shimmer, Luna’s future second. No matter what happened she was ready for it.