Blade (Legends #2)
Prologue
HENLEY
Real or not real…I could figure it out.
“Alright…group text with the monsters is the best…something vague but sounds helpful.” Frowning at my computer, I picked a few guys I’d talked to at random. “No, not you. You’re always cranky and incredibly unhelpful.”
Being what seemed to be the only human hiding out in the Monster Network server wasn’t always easy but it was the best way to make sure I wasn’t accidentally hunting something sentient.
This beast didn’t seem to pass the can I have coffee with it test and looked legit dangerous if I could believe the local papers and the monster hunter podcasts.
No matter what people thought, it was never as easy to tell as they assumed, so I had to be careful.
Unlike some of those assholes who’d shoot at anything.
BigTraveler: Hey, I’ve got a shifter friend of a friend who’s moving to North Carolina. Can you guys give me any info on The Beast of Bladenboro? She’s worried about her kids and I can’t figure out if it’s a human thing someone invented for marketing or an actual Legend?
Honestly, if she was real then she should’ve been worried because I’d seen some insane things about that Legend in the local papers.
MothAkai: Never saw anything the last time I was down that way
Howl4U: There’s a Beast of Bladenboro?
That was a good question at this point.
BigTraveler: Um, maybe? The only stuff I’m finding is on human sites and they’re saying it attacks livestock and pets. That can’t be right but she’s panicking. It sounds fake but they’ve got a festival about it and I just can’t tell.
From what I’d read, I certainly wouldn’t live anywhere near it with kids…or small pets.
MothAkai: Don’t believe the tabloids! We all get bad press.
Okay he wasn’t wrong about that one.
BigTraveler: That’s a good point. You should see what they’re saying about Champ lately. It’s ridiculous.
Some Legends got the craziest press and others somehow managed to live completely under the radar.
Howl4U: Humans are so annoying. I have no idea who this beast is, but I feel like it’s bullshit. We would’ve heard about it on the Network a long time ago if there was such a cryptid.
The way the creature was described made it seem like it’d either be a cryptid or something from a Halloween tale.
BigTraveler: That’s what I was thinking but she’s panicking about it and it’s just nuts enough to possibly be real. Thanks for the help, though.
“And thank you for confirming what I already thought.”
MothAkai: Not sure I was any help…
BigTraveler: Just telling me you thought it wasn’t real was helpful. Thanks.
At least neither of them knew a cryptid as creepy as The Beast of Bladenboro seemed to be.
Howl4U: Fill us in if you ever find anything out. Now I’m curious lol.
BigTraveler: Deal. Hopefully I will have nothing to report.
Honestly, that was definitely the goal because from what I’d read it was either some kind of weird zoo animal that’d escaped years ago or it was a legitimate monster attacking animals on local farms. Either way, I wouldn’t need to tell anyone on the Monster Network that I’d fixed the situation.
“Well, it looks like you're a bullshit legend, not an actual Legend.” So it was time to plan a hunting trip to North Carolina. “How much of a problem can you actually be if you’re not a real legendary creature?”