Fool's Luck Part XIV

Fool's Luck × Wolf

Lilac couldn't believe what she saw. In front of her, was her good friend, bigger than the door to her room at the Inn. He had to bend forward, the room being too small for him to stand in. He looked ashamed of himself, but she didn't know why.
   Oswald felt like an idiot, his neck cramped as he stood in the small Inn living room. The Inn, like most, was made of wood, with cheap carpeting, old, dusty smelling furniture, and an old grandfather clock in the far right side of the room. Next to the clock was the door that led to Lilac's room and the bathroom, and on the left side of the small, fish scented room was the kitchen. The rabbit could tell it was the kitchen because of his new sense of smell. Since he was now part dog, he no longer could see in color, but he made up for it with his acute sense of smell and hearing. He followed the smell of cheese and pastries through the door and into the kitchen. Lilac followed him, still curious as to why her friend was a gigantic puppy.
   When she got to the kitchen, she could see Oswald, his cheeks were bloated like balloons. His mouth was filled with long, slender, orange carrots. The rabbit always believed that carrots would make him feel better, but this time it was no use. He was now a freak of nature, and contrary to belief, he didn't change back to normal during the day. Despite the sun, he was still a huge, furry, smelly mess. He was so disappointed in himself.
   I should've seen that coming! he though in his head.
   He felt humiliated, and now he was too scared to go home. He didn't want Ortensia, or anybody for that matter, to see him like that. Not to mention, Frank N. Ollie was still set out to kill him. He wasn't safe at Wolf van Mansion. He needed to go somewhere else until he could come up with a plan! That and, well, he was cold. So far, he was lucky that Lilac had leant him a coat. In fact, so far he had been lucky Lilac was helping him at all.
   The coat he wore was long and dark gray, with pockets on the inside, and a collar that shot outward. It was big enough to wrap around the large rabbit, almost like a primitive snuggie. It was warm, for the most part, and it made Oswald seem just a little bit cooler.
   As Oswald continued to pull carrots from the cupboard and stuff them into his mouth, Lilac looked him over. The friendly vampire bat asked him, "How the heck did this happen to you?"
   Van Helsing swallowed his rabbit, turned, and replied to her question: Frank N. Ollie, that no good son of a-.
   His friend stared at him curiously. He wondered why, and tried yet again to explain to her what was going on. That time he listened to his own voice and then realized that she only heard grunts, snarls, and growls. She couldn't understand a word he was saying, which made him feel even worse! How would he explain this to her? He tried to tell her again, but all that came out from his mouth were snarls and grunts. She looked at him curiously, and he simply slunk to the floor in despair. So far, this was the worst vacation ever.
   Lilac knelt down to Oswald and stroked him behind his still long and floppy ears. The werewolf snapped to attention as though someone had rung the dinner bell. He smiled sweetly, let his large, pointy, pink tongue roll out of his mouth, and thumped his large right foot down onto the wooden floor. His thumping made the room shake, which worried the bat. She was afraid that at any minute, someone would come to complain about the noise, and she knew that it would be near impossible to protect a wolfman from scared tourists and locals. Immediately, she stopped scratching his head.
   The canine like rabbit noticed this, and wondered why she stopped. She looked up at her with large, sad eyes, and whimpered loudly like he had just been hit in the back.
   "Sssh," her friend warned.
   KNOCK! KNOCK! Too late.
   She scrambled up to her feet, panicked for both her and her friend. She had to hide the giant rabbit, and fast!
   Waiting for her outside was a tall, doglike woman wearing a plaid shirt and tight blue jeans. In the left hand pocket of those blue jeans was a pistol, a silver one that looked like it could shoot down a grizzly bear with one shot. She had red, matted, tangled hair and ears with hoop earrings. She had a scowl on her feminine face, a scowl that would make the guy's both shutter and flatter. Her name was Peggy Sue, but she preferred her nickname "Pistol Peg".
   She built the Inn long ago, her third husband died before she even started it. Nobody knew why, but every time she got married, her husbands kept dying on her. At first, people suspected it was her, but the authorities could never find a trace of evidence that led it back to her. No bullet holes, no led poisoning, nothing that could be traced back to a gun. So eventually the idea was dropped and Peg was free to open her Inn. And what an Inn it was, he lobby looked like something on a pirate ship, and the costs of the room were simply outrageous. Lilac alone almost couldn't afford the room.
   Peg pounded impatiently on the door, "Open up bat! It's time fer' yer' room inspection!"
   From behind the door poked the head of the bat and she asked, "Since when are there room inspections in a hotel?"
   "Since two minutes ago," she barked as she shoved her way past the door into the room. As she talked, Lilac made a mental note of the pocket pistol. "You think you can hide it from me?"
   "Hide what?"
   "Pets. I can sense when there's a pet in my humble hotel, and I hate pets! Especially dogs, the stupid animals. They bark! They smell! They drink from the toilets! Ugh. I myself prefer wolves, there's no law against shootin' em'!"
   Lilac shuttered at this thought. Right now, Oswald was two of those species at once. And based on her attitude, the bat figured Peg wouldn't hesitate about shooting him. Even if she begged or pled, Oswald would be blown to pieces. Unless, that is, Peg found her first. And she was praying that she wouldn't, she didn't want to see her friend get killed by a lonely, crazy ol' widower. This was why sweet trickled down her head as she watched Peg inspect the room.
   Hot, sticky sweet ran down the giant rabbit's face too as he watched from the closet in the far side of the living room. It was cold and dark in their, and he was surrounded by women's clothing. In fact, right now his foot was pressed down on a pair of women's underwear. He didn't notice though, his fear of being shot managed to take his mind of it. Van Helsing didn't want to end his life, not this way. Not when everyone he loved hated him. He then swore to himself that, if given the chance to live, he'd apologize to Ortensia and Tiffany and make amends with the Dragul family. Thinking of this gave his spirit a boost.
   It soon went down when he saw Peg head for the closet door.
   Lilac had to think of something fast, Peg was heading for the closet door. She rushed over between the widow and the handle and said, "No! Don't go in there!"
   "And why not?" Peg said, placing both hands on her hips. Lilac made another mental note of how close the gun was to her hips.
   That very gun that shined in the sunlight made Lilac all the more uneasy. The bat tried to remain calm, but this was very hard to do when there was an angry woman with a gun standing in front of you. Lilac gulped nervously and said, "My… socks are in there."
   Peg was not amused. "Get out of my way!"
   "YOUR HAIR!" the bat blurted out randomly.
   "What?" Peg said, suddenly more interested in what Lilac was saying than whatever it was in the closet.
   Oswald listened from behind the door as Lilac said, "Your hair. Ah, yes, your hair! It's very… unique."
   "Why thank you."
   "And, as it just so happens, I'm looking for a new look for my hair, and yours seems perfect. You mind telling me how you do that?"
   "Why, certainly," the tall woman said as Lilac led her two the two coaches facing each other in the middle of the room. Lilac placed Peg on the couch pointing away from the closet, and more importantly her friend. The crazy old widow then explained, "You see, it all starts out with a good Swiss shampoo with some good ol' American soap."
   He opened the door a bit farther to see what was going on. Oswald could see Peg talking to Lilac, something about hair. The rabbit rolled his eyes, women talked about some of the strangest things. While the two talked, Oswald started to formulate a plan in his head. He'd sneak away to another place in Lilac's hotel room, so that way if Peg did decide to check the closet, she'd find nothing but women's clothing. He waited a few seconds so the red head could blabber more, than the werewolf slowly slipped out of the closet and crept across the floor.
   Right away, Lilac could notice her friend's change in tactics. She seemed to shake with fear as Oswald crept a few more inches towards her bedroom. Her eyes showed all of her concern, but Oswald nodded, reassuring her that everything would be alright. That's when Oswald tripped forward, Lilac's underwear bringing him down. He had nearly forgotten that the pair of panties was still on his foot, and now it had cost him.
   "What was that?" Peg said as she turned around.
   Van Helsing laid still on the floor, not dare moving a muscle. Yet his nose and tail twitched with fear, as more and more swept ran down his head. And his dog instincts told him to start panting to cool him off, but Oswald clamped his mouth shut, denying his own tongue the satisfaction of giving him away. He had not gotten this far to blow it now!
   "What was what?" Lilac smiled, trying to pretend that she hadn't heard Oswald thumping on the floor.
   "I thought I heard something," Peg said as she began to turn her head.
   Lilac panicked, "You know what!?"
   Peg turned her head back around.
   "I noticed that your hair is sort of a crescent shape," Lilac said, stating the beyond obvious. "How do you do that? That is really cool.
   "Well, allow me to show you," she said as she grabbed something out of her pocket. It was a small bottle of the Inn brand shampoo, and she planned on giving Lilac a new hairdo that she found stunning. As she blabbered on and soaked Lilac's head, Oswald snuck forward once more, trying his best not to make a single noise. To make certain he wouldn't, the overgrown rabbit bent down onto his hands and knees, like the dog he was. Slowly he went forward, until he finally got tot the door leading into his friend's bedroom. He crept in, and then looked around to find something to hide himself with.
   SLAM!
   Oswald forgot about the door, and the slamming earned Peg's attention.
   "Okay, now I can smell a rat," she said, "And not the kind that we have in the Inn's kitchen, stable, and occasional guest room."
   She got up, leaving Lilac enough time to herself to reach for a mirror and the coffee table and see her hair. Her head looked as though it was being attacked by a gigantic, hairy banana. She grunted at it, obviously not happy by the new due. But she soon found something to get her attention off of her hair, Peg was heading for her room. She jumped up and ran after her, but by that time Lilac was too late. Peg had already gone through the door and into her room.
   "OH MY STARS!"  she yelled.
   "NO!" Lilac yelled, running after her, "DON'T SHOOT HIM!"
   The bat burst through the doors, to see Peg staring Oswald directly in the face. She said to her, "I already shot him. Why I placed him in here as décor is beyond me."
   At first, Lilac seemed confused. But then she saw Oswald standing on top of the wooden plague where a giant stuffed black bear used to be. Peg had obviously set them up as room decorations, but they were but attractive. But, right now, they were proving quite handy. Oswald had thrown the bear part out the window, and made a ferocious pose as he stood on the plague. He looked terrifying.
   When Oswald saw Lilac, he then had to struggle to maintain his fierce posture. Her hair looked ridiculous, and he felt like bursting out right then and there. But he felt the urge to hold his out burst back, considering the fact that the women with the gun was standing right in front of him, staring directly into his open jaws. She placed one of her fingers on top of his large canine teeth and said, "Hmmm… a little dull."
   She then looked him in the eyes. Peg seemed focused, she felt as though something was missing. She raised her left hand, and at first the two friends thought she was reaching for her gun. They were both surprised when Peg raised her hand into a knuckle and conked Oswald's head hard. It made an odd, hollow knocking sound, which puzzled Oswald.
   "There it is!" Peg said, "I didn't stuff the stupid thing right!"
   Peg then went for Lilac's bed, and Oswald shifted forward to paw her back. But then Lilac grunted towards him, and he found himself standing upright again.
   "You say something?" Peg asked. In her hand was one of the bed's pillows, the top cut open to reveal all the dirty ol' cotton inside.
   "What are you doing?" Lilac eyed the pillow.
   "Gonna give this pile of fur some more stuff," Peg said. Oswald had a really bad feeling about this. Peg then dipped her delicate hand into the pillow and pulled out a handful of the cotton. She raised it towards Oswald's head, ready to fill him up.
   But at that moment, Lilac yelled, "NO! Wait! I need that pillow, it's really soft."
   "Stop being a princess," Peg said, raising her hand once more.
   Lilac interrupted a second time, "He's stuffed enough already."
   "Listen here lady!" Peg shouted, tired of the bat interrupting. "This is my hotel, my pillows, and my trophies. Unless you're someone from the back, you can't just come in here and tell me how to run this place! Now if you would do me the kindness of shuttin' your trap long enough for me to stuff this dumb sucker, I would be much appreciative."
   The bat didn't dare open her mouth again. Peg then nodded in triumph, and then shoved the cotton into Oswald's mouth. The cotton tasted like dirt, and the rabbit felt like gagging. And to make it worse, Peg continued to stuff it into his mouth. It was gross, what on Earth did she use these pillows for anyway?
   "That oughta do it," Peg said as she tossed the pillow over her shoulder. She looked the room over one more time, then said, "You passed the inspection. Yay!"
   Peg then headed towards the door. As soon as she left the bedroom, Oswald began to spit cotton out of his mouth loudly. Lilac began to walk towards him, until Peggy came back into the room. Lilac froze, turned towards her and smiled. Peg looked over at the believed statue, and saw that it hadn't moved. She shrugged, and then left the hotel room. Oswald growled after her.
   He thought to himself, Her husbands probably killed themselves to get away from her!
   A few moments later, and the two of them were thinking of their next move. Lilac had thought about how to communicate with Oswald, and she had finally come up with a solution: a notepad and a pencil. She handed it to her gigantic canine friend and asked, "Who did this to you?"
   The rabbit scowled, took the pencil and began to scribble on the paper. When he was done, he showed Lilac his crude drawing of Frank N. Ollie, the needle he had in his hand. Lilac looked it over, but then Oswald added something else to the sketch. It was the mask and cloak of Doomsday. She looked it over once more and said, "I always knew there was something wrong with that dude! I can't believe he turned you into a werewolf!"
   Oswald flipped the page and then drew something else. He gave it to Lilac, and she saw a picture of the ape standing over what appeared to be Oswald, only with messier hair and a knife in his head. Beside the dead rabbit was an arrow leading to a single word: dad.
   "Oh," Lilac said, "That's just awful."
   The werewolf shook his head furiously in agreement, and then pointed towards the castle through the window. Lilac looked and had an idea of what Oswald had in mind. An attack on the mad man and a search for the cure. At first, the bat thought it was a good idea. But then she glanced back at the picture and reminded herself of what Frank N. Ollie did at their last encounter. She said, "No way dud, too risky! That ape could kill us easily!"
   He growled at her.
   She explained to him, "Too risky. Besides, what if someone saw you? You'd be murdered on the spot."
   The sun set in the distance. As the light began to dim in the room, Lilac sighed and said, "Well, it's too late now. I'll come up with a plan in the morning."
   The bat then left the room and headed towards her bed, ready for a good long sleep. She had laid out a large pillow for her friend to sleep on, and the rabbit accepted it reluctantly. He circled it twice, and then peacefully lay down. He stood still for two seconds, and then his nose twitched. He tossed onto his back, and tried once more to find his dreamland. His nose twitched again and he turned onto his side. Finally, the wolfman picked up his pillow and looked out at the window. In his head, Doomsday's image appeared. The rabbit knew he had a cure, who would be that stupid enough to change him into a monster without a cure?
   Besides, Oswald thought, I have to make sure my family and friends are safe.
   He jumped out of the window and went forth his sneaky way. He used the back ways and alleys, avoiding as much light as possible as he made his way to the castle ahead. He moved slowly, not dare drawing attention to himself. His plan was simple: Get in, get cure, and then destroy Frank N. Ollie. How simpler could a plan get?
   His sneaking continued until he got to the castle. He crossed the bridge over the moat and was now staring up the castle walls. On the way there, he had a question in his mind he wanted answered. He looked down at his claws. They were four inches long, almost as long as bear's claws. They were pointy and curved near the end. And those were just his hands, his feet's claws were three and a half inches long, and curved at the end as well. They were also noticeably thicker, which Oswald took note of. He looked back up at the stone wall, then hesitated.
   Slowly and nervously, he raised his right hand against the wall and pressed down. His claws stuck out into the cement that held the stones in place. The rabbit smiled.
   Perfect. he thought.
   He then repeated this action with his other hand, raised slightly higher, and then his feet. He stuck on like a furry version of the modern day Spider Man. He grinned boldly then began to scale up the wall. His coat flapped in the wind, giving him an epic feel. He laughed in the moonlight. He always wanted to do something like this. When the rabbit looked down, he laughed even more. He was a good twelve feet off the ground, and was ascending faster than before. He grunted and panted as he went up all the higher, the ground far below him.
   He continued to do so until he got up to the first window he saw. He jumped through and looked around.
   Ortensia lay down in the bed in front of him. He stood there frozen in fear. He rushed over to her and looked his love over. For the most part, she looked okay. He pressed his large ear up close to her, and could hear both the steady thumping of her gentle heart, and the fluid sound of her breathing. Thank goodness, she was still alive! For a while, Oswald just stood there, not knowing what to do. She looked so beautiful when she slept, he didn't want to wake her up. Besides, even if he did, she'd scream and give him away.
   For now, all he could do was press forward and look for the cure. Cautiously, he moved past the bed and out the door into the hallway. He looked around, saw no one was there, and then went ahead. It was dark, almost no light was there. He had night vision, but it was taking a few seconds to adjust. He crept forward a few feet, and then suddenly feel over a suit of armor. As the metal crashed down, Oswald found himself on the floor scrambling to get up.
   Then came the creaking sound.
   The giant wolfman froze. He was no longer alone in the hallway, and he had already gotten up, ready to face Frank N. Ollie. He was going to rip that runt apart. But when he turned, his night vision finally kicked in to reveal who it was.
   It was much worse than Doomsday.