Moonscorn

Chapter One

The moon was full the night the car rolled into Whaterly.

It was a night for only the fearless and the sleepless to look out of their windows. Silver dusted the tops of the trees with spiderweb silk and the roof tiles were slick with damp, shining bright in the dark. Small creatures ventured out of the fields and into the town, where a few streets were still cobbled, mountainous, giving any rodent pause before scurrying across. Out just beyond the borders, owls swooped down with talons outstretched. This was their time, the time when humankind was tucked in behind its flimsy doors and taught curtains.

The car, more of a tank than a car, a massive 4x4 with enough space for an army to hide out in the back, stealthily crossed the bridge over the gargling stream. Great wheels turned slowly. It meandered through into the small town centre past stone walls hundreds of years old, stoic and guarded. A small car park was off to the left, the old market overlooking it. It slowed, pulled to a stop. There it sat for a moment, alone, waiting. It was a little before two in the morning.

On the main street, the stone gargoyles atop the church's roof watched on. They looked as if they were ready to take flight at any moment, rush at these intruders. But no, they bided their time, simply sat there, waiting. Watching.

The front doors of the car opened. Two figures stepped out into the cold moonlit night. They were dressed in black suits and long coats to protect them from the chill. Anyone watching might have thought that the men in black had rolled into town, and they wouldn't be far wrong. The irony that little Lee Wallace, nine years old, had watched the film that night but was now peacefully asleep five streets over, was something nobody would know to appreciate.

One of the two new figures into the night, a woman in her forties with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, regarded the quiet. She stood with hands on hips and surveyed the town. Her mouth was tight shut. She had all the outward appearance of utmost composure, but inside, she quivered. She could feel it. After a time, you just knew when something was wrong.

She turned to her partner, a young man with a side parting and a penchant for eyeliner that made some of the girls back in London swoon whenever they laid eyes on him. He had his phone in one hand and a gadget in the other with a small radar dish attached. He frowned, intently watching graphics dance on the phone screen. Symbols and numbers flashed and twirled in a digital snowstorm.

"We got anything, Raven?" asked the woman.

The young man nodded. "Definitely one here. Traces of Selide DNA in the atmosphere. Male, probably, looking at the hormone balance, but possibly not."

"What do you mean, probably male?"

"This thing isn't an exact science, you know. Get bad air currents coming in and it messes up even further."

"But you're certain there's a lupe around?"

Raven shrugged. "Within a hundred yards or so."

Inside the car, someone murmured in agreement, their voice muffled.

"Inside the town? Not out in the woods?" asked the woman.

"Unless it can fly."

He looked his boss in the eye, a place identifiable on her face only by a flicker of moonshine reflecting off them. "I say we arm up, leave the car here, and track on foot. I doubt it's huddled up inside, and if it goes down one of these piddly little side streets, we'll never get the car down it."

The woman did a quick 360. Everything was quiet, a type of quiet she didn't like. Everything was holding its breath, knowing that something lurked in its midst, hoping that if it didn't make a sound, the danger would pass it by without tearing its throat out. If tonight went well, they'd be in and out in minutes, an hour tops. Nobody would have to know they were here. If it didn't go well...