Darkness at a College Campus

After another long day, Lydia Marner, a college professor of mythology, was driving home, and she had a lot on her mind. She had been at her current university for five years, and she was looking to get tenure, something she felt was inevitable in her case. There was also frustration regarding her students, as she felt that they weren't really getting into her lessons like she wanted, though once Lydia arrived home, her attention turned to a drone that was delivering a package right at her doorstep.

Once the package landed, Lydia eagerly picked up the package and covertly took it inside the house. She had been waiting weeks for this delivery, and after entering the house, Lydia placed the package on the living room table, and after opening it, her eyes beamed with immense satisfaction.

"Finally."

Three Weeks Later

"Mrs. Marner?"

Lydia heard someone calling for her while knocking at the door, and once she answered, a man quickly entered and walked past Lydia, which was followed by a random search around the house. "Excuse me?" asked Lydia. "May I help you?"

"Oh, you're not bothering me."

"No, but you're bothering me," said Lydia. "May I ask what you're doing?"

"I'm looking for someone," was the man's reply. "You should be familiar with her. Teresa Tavares?" The name struck something in Lydia, which the unnamed man quickly noticed.

"Teresa's one of my students," said Lydia. "I know she's been missing for a few weeks. Of course, I'd be happy to help with your investigation, Mister..."

"Detective," the man said as he shook Lydia's hand. "Dallas Matthews."

"Nice to finally meet you, Detective," Lydia said as they both sat down in her living room. "I'll tell you all you need to know about Teresa. She's an amazing student..."

"Actually, Mrs. Marner..."

"Miss," corrected Lydia. "Or Professor. Either will suffice."

"I see," said Dallas, who cleared his throat. "Anyway, Miss Tavares' disappearance is only part of why I'm here. There's also the murder of one of your fellow professors. What can you tell me about...um...Sheldon Reilly?"

"Oh my God, Sheldon," a shocked Lydia uttered. "Well, Sheldon teaches science; we were very close. We even dated briefly, but we were mostly good friends. What happened?"

"See, that's the damnedest thing," answered Dallas. "Professor Reilly appeared to be mauled to death. Yet this is the city. There's clearly no wild animals out here."

"Well...you never know what's out there," said Lydia.

"Perhaps," Dallas replied before suddenly chuckling, which was quickly noticed by Lydia.

"Is something funny?"

"It's just...," Dallas said, "I was told this wild story just a few days ago during the investigation. See, one of the students told me that Miss Tavares actually saw what actually killed Professor Reilly." As Dallas continued laughing, Lydia raised her eyebrow out of pure curiosity. "And get this," he said, "I was told that it was a werewolf!"

"That's funny to you?" asked Lydia. "As I said, you don't know what's out there."

"Come on, Professor," laughed Dallas. "Who believes in werewolves? I mean, seriously?" Dallas managed to compose himself from his laughing fit before rising out of his seat along with Lydia. He later reached into his pocket and gave his business card to Lydia. "If you find out anything," he said, "give me a call."

"I will do that," said Lydia. "Detective...who was it that saw this...werewolf?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Professor," replied Dallas. "I can't give out that information." Dallas later left the house, closing the door behind him, and afterwards, Lydia made a beeline out of the living room and went to a secret room inside the house. Upon entering, Lydia removed a sheet and then said:

"Your little friend has been running her mouth, Teresa."

Lydia's missing student, Teresa Tavares, had been held captive in her house all this time, as she was tied to a chair. Regarding Lydia's statement, she had quickly figured out who gave Dallas the information: Teresa's best friend, Wilhelmina Noelle Yvonne Lander, who was actually staking out with Dallas outside Lydia's house. "You know," Lydia said, "it's bad enough that you brats don't even bother paying attention in my class, now you suddenly start spying on me?"

"I know everything!" exclaimed Teresa. "I know what you're into, and I know what you are." Lydia opened her drawer and took out a pendant, which had a yellow jeweled centerpiece, with Lydia gazing at her pendant with a crazed gleam. "I am so elated that I ordered this," said Lydia, "because now, I can unleash my true wrath on those who plagued me; those who got in my way."

"Like Professor Reilly?" asked Teresa.

"They wanted to give tenure to Sheldon!" shouted Lydia. "A glorified science nerd over an Ivy League mythology major. No. This couldn't be. He even turned down my suggestion to allow me to have tenure, so I made sure he'd regret his decision." As Lydia made her fiendish admission, she placed the pendant around her neck, as the centerpiece glowed, so did Lydia's eyes--an animalistic yellow shade.

"Now," Lydia snarled as her transformation progressed, "all I have to do is get rid of you and your busybody buddy!" At that moment, Teresa managed to break free of her restraints, and even managed to deliver a swift kick to her evil professor. Meanwhile, outside the house, Wilhelmina and Dallas heard the commotion, leading to both of them exiting the latter's car and rushing inside the house.

"Terri?" said Wilhelmina. "Terri, where are you?" Just then, Teresa appeared and hugged her best friend, but their reunion was interrupted by a loud howl from inside the house.

"Holy shit!" Dallas exclaimed as he looked at Lydia, who took on a complete wolfwoman appearance--white fur covering her hands and face, long claws, a black snout tip on her nose, and sharp fangs. "Perfect!" Lydia snarled. "I can get rid of all of you!" Lydia lunged at the trio, who managed went different directions to dodge the sinister she-wolf, who continued her pursuit.

"The pendant!" shouted Dallas. "Get that pendant off her!"

"Say what?" asked Wilhelmina.

"He's right, we have to remove that pendant," Teresa said before she and Wilhelmina went after Lydia, whose claws nearly struck both girls. As Lydia went for another attack, Dallas and Wilhelmina held the villainess at bay; each taking an arm while Teresa pulled the pendant off of Lydia.

"Give it back!" shouted Lydia, who was still in her werewolf form. Instead, Teresa tossed the pendant to Dallas, who smashed it on the floor, causing Lydia to scream in agony before falling out and shifting back to her human form.

A half an hour later, Dallas, Wilhelmina, and Teresa all watched as Lydia was taken away in handcuffs by a pair of police officers. "Do you know who I am?!" berated Lydia. "Do you know what I am?! I'll tear you to shreds!" Lydia continuously made growling noises as she was taken away, though she was no longer a werewolf, as the pendant was destroyed.

"She was crazy," said Teresa. "Professor Marner didn't deserve tenure. She was too strict with us, even to the point of abuse. She would also make these weird statements about spells and supernatural entities. She was clearly into the occult."

"And it drove her deeper into insanity," said Dallas. "You girls are safe now. Marner'll be put away for a long, long time."

"Thank you so much," said Wilhelmina. "You truly saved us."

"I have a question, though," said Teresa. "I just found out about Marner's pendant, but how did you know about it?" Dallas gave a deep sigh following Teresa's question, and after a brief while, he finally responded.

"I lost my fiancee to one of those werewolf nuts about three years ago," Dallas replied, "some clown she used to go out with briefly. He had that same pendant. I was supposed to turn that pendant in, but of course, it deserved to be smashed to bits; it's personal with me."

"I'm so sorry," said Teresa.

"It's all right," said Dallas. "I like to think she's with me. She loved that I knew so much about this supernatural stuff." A ping later went off on Dallas' phone, and he took it out to look at the oncoming text. "Wonderful," he said, "yet another witch coven I have to handle. Well, girls, I am off to Boston. You two stay safe now."

"We will," said Wilhelmina."

"And you do the same!" shouted Teresa.

"Oh, come on!" said Dallas. "Where's the fun in that?"

Epilogue

Dallas Matthews managed to nip Boston's powerful coven in the bud, and as for Teresa Tavares and Wilhelmina Lander, the two students flourished in college together, now that they were free from their oppressive professor. In regards to Lydia Marner, following her arrest, the disgraced professor ended up in a mental hospital, where she continues to maintain her belief that she is a werewolf, despite the pendant being destroyed. At her request, Lydia only had a mirror in her room at the hospital, and on a nights with a full moon, the insane madwoman stares at the mirror and imagines herself in her werewolf form; snarling and howling to keep up her delusion.

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