After dinner, Mrs. Hamilton sat at the table with her husband. "Something's wrong with Beck, Nathan."
"Nothing loss of privileges won't fix," said Nathan. "They're hardly the first teenager to be caught masturbating, Kim."
"The problem goes deeper," said Kim. "I just know it!"
Nathan looked at his wife very seriously. "Are you saying it has something to do with... the supernatural?"
Kim nodded grimly. "Yes. Their mirror was covered in semen, but there was no trace of a boy in her room. And when I first opened the door, they looked... hairy. It looked like they were halfway to growing a fur coat! By the time I'd fully opened the door, it was gone without a trace. I don't know what it means, but it wasn't of our reality."
"You should call that niece of yours," said Nathan, the blood draining from his face. "This is her specialty, not mine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be reading Rhythm of War in our bedroom." Her got up to leave. "You know," he added, "I think I liked life better when magic only existed in books like The Stormlight Archive."
Once Kim was sure she was alone, she dialed up the number of the only person who could possibly help. Kim Hamilton thanked her lucky stars that her sister had married a Vordenburg.
In an Edinburgh hotel, a leather-clad girl with spiky chin-length blonde hair answered the phone. "Hello?"
"Hello, Tori," said Kim. "It's Aunt Kimberly. How are things going for you and Erzulie?"
"Rainy," said Tori. "It was rainy in London, it's rainy in Edinburgh. I shudder to think how it'll be once we get to the Hebrides!"
"That bad, huh?" said Kim.
"Worse!" Tori shouted. "This is probably the most miserable weather I've ever seen, and that's coming from a girl who lives in New Orleans! But I'll put up with anything to take out those damn werewolves."
Victoria Vordenburg came from a long line of monster hunters, and she was proud to carry on the family tradition. Most of her time was spent wandering the world with her girlfriend and partner Erzulie Lachouette, delivering swift justice to any monsters that dared to prey upon humans. Currently she was in Scotland, preparing to track down a pack of maneating werewolves in the Hebrides archipelago.
"It's a shame you're so busy," said Kim. "I have a favor to ask. It's about my kid, Beck."
"What about them?" Tori asked, getting nervous. Had one of those inhuman freaks hurt her cousin?
"Things have been very odd with them lately," said Kim. "They've been staying out late, they've gained so much muscle overnight, and then there was the... incident."
"Incident?" asked Tori.
"I went into her room," said Kim. "For a second she looked unnaturally hairy, and then she looked normal... muscles aside. And then there was the mirror. It was plastered in male semen, but I couldn't find a boy. What's happening?!"
Tori thought about it. "There's possibilities. Could be an especially extreme demonic possession, but the most likely thing's werebeasts. She might've been turned."
"WHAT?!!" Kim screamed. "Please, Tori, come out here and save her!"
"I'll do what I can, Aunt Kimberly" said Tori. "But I still have a job I was hired to do up here. I'm afraid it'll take a month or two to complete, but Erzulie and I'll be in Washington State as soon as we can. We'll fix this. Bye."
"Bye," said a trembling Kim Hamilton. "Please, hurry." With that, she hung up.
Erzulie walked in to the hotel room. Erzulie Lachouette was a thin girl in her early twenties with deep chocolate skin and hair worn in dreadlocks. She was also a witch. As much as Tori Vordenburg hated monsters, that hate didn't extend to witches. They were human after all. Erzulie came from a long lineage of New Orleans Voodoo queens and was always especially eager to kill vampires, the creatures that had killed her mother.
"Hey there, baby," said Erzulie. "I brought takeout!"
"Guess what, Erzulie?" said Tori. "We've got our next case before we've even really begun this one!"
"Is that so?" asked Erzulie. "What's it about?"
"My cousin's in trouble, Erzulie," said Tori. "Beck seems to be being corrupted by some kind of monster. I guess we're headed for Stokerville, Washington, in a month or so."
"Stokerville?" Erzulie repeated. "Isn't that where the... the von Karnsteins live?"
Tori knew that name well. The first member of her family to hunt monsters, Baron Heinrich von Vordenburg, had made the mistake of taking a job offer from a vampire called Count Tiberius von Wisborg to kill his escaped consort Lilita. He succeeded but had failed to wipe out the clan she'd founded. The next year, Lilita's lover Carmilla von Karnstein killed Baron Vordenburg in revenge. The baron's children vowed to even the score one day. Tori smiled, hoping the von Karnsteins would be involved in next month's case. She'd finally have an excuse to battle her ancestor's murderer!
"Yes, honey," Tori said at last. "They've been in Stokerville for around a century. They may not be there much longer, though."