Jessica couldn’t sleep that night as she laid in bed thinking about the last couple of weeks. In retrospect, Jessica might have needed more time to recover than she initially thought. Everyone so far had made a fair point and yet, Jessica found herself ignoring each warning. It didn’t dawn on her until Hyoyeon gave her an ear full earlier that day. Although not completely accurate, Hyoyeon was right in accusing Jessica for not being able to decide for herself who was good and what was bad. Jessica had been consumed in fighting whatever ‘enemy’ the organization presented to her. Desperate to find some sort of vengeance for her teammates, Jessica had happily accepted without question.

    Frustrated, Jessica got out of bed thinking of going on a walk tonight but when she saw the documents Sooyoung had left behind during their earlier confrontation, she stopped. Walking over to the kitchen countertop where she had placed the folder, she started to think about what Sooyoung said to her. She opened the folder to find profiles of the victim and suspected murderers. There were reports from interviews and investigations. But more importantly, the autopsy from the medical examiner revealed the wounds on the body, originally thought to be claw marks, were cut too clean.

    With a clearer mind, Jessica grew curiouser. She brewed a cup of coffee, settling into her bed with the case files and a notepad. Throughout the night, she had gone through each document in the file, taking notes on potential facts worth investigating. After going through each and every document in the folder and cross-checking it with the organization’s database, Jessica leaned against the headboard of her bed. She took a deep breath as she contemplated the information she just went through. Jessica was wrong and she could have made a costly mistake if she didn’t come to her senses. 

    “Jessica!”

    The commander called after her as she walked out of the elevator.

    “Just the person I needed to see,” he said. “Have you found the werewolf?”

    “No, I haven’t,” I told him.

    “Today’s a full moon Jessica. You promised me a werewolf before today,” the commander reminded Jessica, upset at her lack of success.

    “I know, but I don’t think it’s the werewolf’s fault. Someone else is responsible for the murder.”

    “Do you know who it is?”

    “No, but I’m going out to investigate.”

    “It’s too late for that, Jessica. We have to capture the werewolf before it hurts anyone else. It’s probably has a whole pack with it too.”

    “But, they’re not responsible. I think that was what Sunny was try-”

    “It doesn’t matter,” the commander cut Jessica off. “We don’t have werewolves in this city, not as long as we’re here. This was your investigation to solve and now we have no idea where the werewolf is. We’re in red alert. I’m running a team to patrol the city tonight.”

    The commander walked away to start preparation for a potential war.

    “Wait!” Jessica called after him. “This is my fault. I want in.”

    The man took a second to think about it. Jessica was one of their better agents and on any other day he would have put her on the team without question. However, the change of attitude Jessica had towards the werewolf was concerning.

    “Briefing room in 2 hours,” he said.

    Jessica was angry at herself for letting the situation get this far. If only she thought about it more thoroughly, if she didn’t let her emotions cloud her judgment, if she didn’t spend all that time getting wrapped up in Taeyeon and her group, then maybe all of this could be avoided. She walked back into the elevator she had just came out of. Heading to her room, she tried to come up with a plan to fix everything, but what would she be able to do. After putting on her combat gear, she took the elevator to the lowest floor, entering the armoury. On werewolf assignments, agents are given tranquilizer darts to detain abnormals. This time, when Jessica showed her badge to the man in charge, he returned with an armed shotgun.

    “I think you’re suppose to give me a tranquilizer gun,” said Jessica, thinking it was a mistake on the man’s part.

    “It says here you’re on tonight’s werewolf task force. The commander asked to equip agents with shotguns.”

    “Can you give me a tranquilizer gun, as well?”

    “Sorry, but you’re not authorized for a tranquilizer gun.”

    “Seriously? You’ll give me a shotgun but you won’t give me a tranquilizer gun?”

    “I just follow orders, ma’am.”

    There wasn’t much Jessica could do so she grabbed the shotgun and left. She was worried the commander was going to take this too far and it would be her fault. As she left the armoury she was pounced on my Taeyeon, who grabbed her collar and threw her against the wall.

    “What the hell did you do?” Taeyeon yelled at Jessica. “Why is there a red alert on werewolves?”

    Not one to back down, Jessica pushed her back.

    “Back off, Kim!”

    “Not until you tell me what the f---- is going on,” said Taeyeon, stopping Jessica from leaving.

    Much to Jessica’s dismay, if there was anyone that would be willing to help, it would be Taeyeon. She looked around the room, but they were too exposed to talk about it. 

    “Follow me,” she grumbled to Taeyeon.

    Jessica brought them to the washroom. She proceeded to check if anyone was in the stalls and then locked the door. 

    “I messed up, okay,” Jessica said. “Because I didn’t find and detain the werewolf, the commander is going out to put a stop to him.”

    “For one werewolf?”

    “He believes there’s an entire pack.”

    “,” Taeyeon responded. “This is a lot worse than I thought.”

    Jessica had no idea what Taeyeon was talking about, but she also didn’t have time to bother herself with Taeyeon’s problems.

    “Look, you have the victim’s laptop right?”

    Taeyeon didn’t respond. She only stared back at Jessica with blank eyes, trying her best not to give it away.

    “I know Sooyoung wasn’t in the guy’s apartment to hold me captive. You’re smarter than that. She just happened to be in there taking some of his belongings when I got to the apartment. Otherwise, she wouldn’t need a bag with her.”

    “Fine, I do have the laptop. But there’s nothing in there.”

    “Give it to Seohyun, I’m sure she can find something worth while on there. He might have tried to erase his hard drive before he was killed.”

    “You don’t think it was an accident?” Taeyeon said, looking suspiciously at Jessica.

    “I read the files that Sooyoung gave me.”

    “Sooyoung gave you files!” said Taeyeon, now upset.

    Jessica sighed.

    “Look, I don’t have much time. Just give the laptop to Seohyun. If we can find the murderer, I might be able to convince the commander to stop,” Jessica said, frantically, before leaving.

    “Wait!” Taeyeon called out. When Jessica turned around, she noticed the seriousness on the shorter girl’s face. “What made you change your mind?”

    “I don’t know,” Jessica sighed. “Probably all the swearing.”

    “The werewolves are going to be by the docks, on the south part of the river,” Taeyeon revealed.

    “Why are you telling me?” Jessica said with furrowed eyebrows.

    “Yuri says I can trust you.” Before Jessica left Taeyeon added, “Watch out for the commander.”

    In the briefing room, the commander had rounded up 16 agents, including Jessica and the commander, for the task force. He explained the situation, passing it off to Jessica to describe the werewolf, although there wasn’t a lot that could help. Then he moved on with the plan. It was a simple scouting missing. The group would be divided into teams of 2 to patrol areas of the city. Teams are not to engage the targets until back up arrives. When he finished explaining the rules of engagement he began to assign teams to areas.

    “I’ll take this area,” Jessica said, pointing to the docks on the south part of the river, just like Taeyeon had said.

    The room was quiet and all eyes were on her. Everyone had been waiting for the commander to distribute their roles before Jessica spoke up. The commander, himself, gave Jessica a quizzical look. Recognizing the atmosphere in the room, Jessica tried to come up with a reason why.

    “I haven’t investigated this part of the city,” was the most appropriate out of all her excuses.

    “Okay, Jessica will patrol this area,” the commander agreed.

    Jessica breathed a sigh of relief.

    “I’ll go with her,” said the man in charge, before assigning everyone else their patrol areas.

    , Jessica thought to herself.

    After the briefing, Jessica returned to her room to take a quick nap before they set out. When she opened the door, she found Seohyun and Taeyeon in her room.

    “How did you get in here?” Jessica questioned with a lack of strength.

    “I thought Hyoyeon had the key?” asked Seohyun who looked over at Taeyeon’s mischievous face. “She didn’t have the key did she?”

    “Hyoyeon learned how to pick a lock when she was younger. But there are bigger problems. Seohyun, can you show her.”

    Jessica walked over as Seohyun began to explain.

    “I found journal like entries on the victim’s laptop. Stuff regarding abnormals and the organization. Although not enough to make sense of, there is a large interest surrounding this man.”

    Seohyun pulled up a photo. Jessica’s surprised and concerned look didn’t go unnoticed by Taeyeon.

    “Do you know him?” she asked.

    “When was this photo taken?” Jessica asked Seohyun, ignoring Taeyeon’s question.

    “It was taken about 2 months ago.”

    “That’s impossible.”

    “What do you mean it’s impossible? Who is this?” Taeyeon continued to question.

    Jessica took a moment to consider the reality in front of her. 

    “It’s… It’s my father,” she offered hesitantly. “But he should be dead. There was a fire at our house. He was in there. They told me he was dead!”

    In her distress, Taeyeon led her to the bed to sit down. As it turns out, the victim was a geek, for lack of better words. He was enamoured by the supernatural, attending events and conferences surrounding the topic. Apparently, groups of people come together to discuss the reality of supernatural beings, such as werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. It appears that the victim first met Jessica’s father at a conference he was attending to give a talk. So, when the victim saw Jessica’ father again, after he was reportedly dead, he grew curious. Ultimately, his curiosity led to his death.

    Jessica took a deep breath to calm herself. Seeing, Jessica in control, Taeyeon nodded towards Seohyun to continue.

    “I looked into the organization’s database to figure out how he was related, but nothing much came up,” continued Seohyun. “The only thing we know is that he was a scientist. There’s no reference to any projects, just that he was an employed scientist.”

    “Are you implying my father has something to do with the murder of the victim?” Jessica asked.

    Taeyeon looked over to Seohyun before replying to Jessica. “Not your father specifically. The entire organization. We’ve been suspicious of them for a while. Sunny, Tiffany, and I have worked here long enough to see a more aggressive practice being adopted. ”

    “So, what? What does this mean?”

    “That there’s more behind this werewolf thing than you might think,” Taeyeon offered.

    Jessica got up in anger, kicking he bed for good measure. How could she be so stupid? How could she let the organization play her like that? The commander had taken advantage of her fragile state of mind to trick her into hunting down the werewolf. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out, pacing the length of the room to try and calm her anger.

    “What else do I need to know?” Jessica harshly said.

    “Yuri is a werewolf,” Taeyeon confessed.

    The comment made Jessica stop in her tracks.

    “Yuri hates werewolves as much as I hate everything,” she said turning to face the shorter girl.

    “And now you know why. She was bit by a werewolf on one of her assignments. In her transformation, she accidentally killed her partner. When she returned to HQ the next morning, I put two and two together. She hates that part of her. She’s attempted to kill herself, calling herself a monster. I, thankfully, managed to intercept each time. Sunny, as a ‘monster’ as well, eventually got through to her. But I don’t think she’ll ever forgive herself.”

    Jessica moved to sit on her bed once again, her head in her hands. There was suddenly too much to comprehend. Her father, whose suppose to be dead, was alive. The organization she’s been working for could potentially be evil. Yuri, who has indirectly helped her in regards to Taeyeon and her friends, is a werewolf. The commander, who she trusted as a mentor, was about to slaughter a pack of werewolves, including Yuri. And they still don’t fully understand why.

    “I’m patrolling the area around the docks,” Jessica informed Taeyeon. “But the commander is coming with me.”