Looking to the right, she saw her pack surrounding her and knew she was right. She trotted towards them, shoving through the bushes and standing beside her pack. Together they looked across the field and the forest beyond.
There the smoke of the town came through the trees to meet the smell of their breed. Off in the distance was the peeling paint of a decrepit shack. There, the human hid.
She bent down to the ground and gathered dirt in her tall paws. It was hard to scoop up, her sharp claws doing nothing to help. She gripped onto a clump and pulled it out of the ground.
It was a hard clod to hold, so she squeezed as she stood to her feet. The different smells in the dirt were borne down to her. She could smell the leaves of the bush they hid behind, the scent of the horse, and others were there, too. Not all of them were human. A trace of rabbit, fox, and snow hare were imprinted in the dirt.
Her wavy ear flicked back. She ran her tongue up her cheek, making sure she was presentable enough for the humans to think she was just another horse. She turned and left, trotting back towards the town.
At moments such as this when her breed was threatened, her pack knew that her hands were smoothed.
Her plan to sneak into their hideout had two main outcomes. The first would be to find a way to locate their weak spot. The hideout was easy to find, as the humans were sloppy. They left just enough that anyone could get to them. Her pack was expert at sniffing out the holes in their perfection, and they were indeed skilled at it.
The second was her most important. It was her mission. She knew that she had only until tonight to complete this deed. It was her duty as a hunter to protect the other werewolves. She had to find the line where they slept, and it would be there she had to strike.
She entered the town slowly, deftly driving her hooves to stop her from covering too much ground. There, in the center of town, fear gripped the humans. She could smell the fear, see it, and see the chaos living under their skin. It was so easy for a werewolf to take over the bodies of the humans, and the pack liked to frighten humans.
The horse turned her head away from the town and stamped her feet, a sign to her pack. Soon, five of her pack appeared, each trotting towards her. When they were all together, their ears flicked up, and they spoke in the human tongue.
"I've found the hidden cave," the horse said. "The cave is just outside of town. That way." She pointed to the woods. "I found the line they sleep on. I saw the weak point in their line. There is only one of them there and no others."
"I want to go with you," the gray wolf said. "I'm one of the few who has interacted with the humans before. I can get by them easier than the others."
The horse pushed her head at her pack, and they all agreed. She needed them all to get there. The horse knew, somehow, that the vampire hid in the cabin. Her banishing was just for show; the lines would be too deep for the vampire to make it back to the town. Still, his power would be at her disposal.
The talk passed; she knew the rhythm of her pack. It was a cadence of dominance and reliance, deep in the blood and hard to suppress. They all nodded and moved apart, spreading out to each place they needed to be in order to ensure her safety.
In unison they sprinted towards the woods. The white stallion moved faster than most, but she was indeed still too slow. She moved her hooves slowly, trying not to create unnecessary noise. The farther she got from the town, the more her pack moved further ahead of her. They moved faster than she, and they knew same of the land. She knew they wouldn't risk their safety.
The horse stepped into a clearing there the cabin was. It was crumbling, but that line the horse found before was even clearer. They were sloppy about their entrance.
"Hear me out," the wolf howled. "We need a plan of attack. There's only one, and he'll fight. It's get in, get the key, and get out. The vampire will be too weak to fight, at least once we find him."
The others nodded, but the horse knew of the weakness the vampire would have, and it was there she would strike. She trotted into the house, placing her hooves over the pieces of wood that made up the floor. She was careful as she pranced across them, trying her best not to snap anything.
"Did you find the vampire?" a tall wolf asked.
"Not yet," she said. "But I'm sure he's here somewhere. For now, we need quiet and a plan. Let's be patient enough to find out where he is and where the key is."
The other wolves with grays fur began sniffing at the floor and the crevices of the walls. They stopped at the corner of the room.
"There's the door," one of them said. "It's hidden, but the scent is there. There are two ways to open it, one from the outside and one from the inside. We can't use either without the key."
Once again, the gray wolf growled.
"We're just missing it, then. It's just nearby."
"Not exactly," the horse said. "The vampires hide it well. It has to be the key he has to open it, though. I can smell it and feel it when I'm near. I don't think it's far."
The snarls were heard, and soon the werewolves were fighting one another in an attempt to be the first to find it. They were closer than she was; it was clear to see. The horse knew that should a human see the fight, it would sake them away from the pack. However, the door was still unopened.
