This wasn't a very good Solstice this year... Hell Week was worse than usual at work, I've been having horrendous luck with just about everything, went out to go to stores about 5 times in the past 24 hours, I have nothing nice to surprise Lex with on Christmas morning, and I got attacked by a werewolf Friday night. My first time ever.

Gotta get back to helping Lex bake... Guess I'll fill in more details soon.

Ouch.

My condolences.

I think it was one of those Huntley werewolves that you and Legacy went after a while back...

Huh, actually by the time I got there it was mostly dealing with the brother of one of the werewolves.

I had a helper in my truck at the time... I picked him up first thing in the morning, and he was supposed to ride with me all day long.

We started out the route in Crystal Lake and Lakewood, around the border of the two towns... It stretched into the countryside to the west of town, then circled back into town. We lost a lot of time when they told us to go meet someone who was supposed to have some extra work for us... He didn't, and the meet point was more than 15 minutes away from the route we were doing. Wasting time during the peak season isn't exactly what I call "fun", especially not during Hell Week in specific.

The day dragged on, and so did the route... Eventually, about 45 minutes to sunset (around 3:30 or so), we took our break to use a public restroom and grab a quick bite to eat... Then we had to go pick up the rest of our work (that didn't fit on my truck in the morning) from the house of a manager, nearby... We got there, and found that they'd given us Next Day Airs that were supposed to be delivered all the way out in the countryside up north of Huntley. That wasn't happening before we were done with everything else.

We finished up our route at about 5:30, and proceeded to take care of the last bits--the Next Day Airs that were for the areas we'd already done... There was a fog in the area that had been getting progressively worse since morning. By this point in time, it was dark, and incredibly thick--I estimated about a 20-foot visibility range... When we hit the highway, I was pretty much stuck going no faster than 35 at the absolute fastest, but a car kept me down to about 20...which meant it took forever to get out to Huntley.

When we did get out there, the house we were delivering to was dark... I got into the back, gave the package to my runner, and he hopped out of the car. I double-checked one last time that I had the packages for our last stop of the night, and got myself some water from the jug I carry around...

Then I hear a snarling sound, and I hear my helper scream. He runs across the truck's headlights, making at top speed for the door...and not two seconds later, I see a large, humanoid lupine running much faster at him.

I reacted. I jumped out of the truck, no weapons, no magical tools, but already casting my magical armor spell...on my runner. It meant that when the werewolf caught up to us, the innocent would be protected. I was more or less defenseless...but not without a trick or two up my sleeve.

It did, indeed, catch up to us before my runner had gotten safely into the truck... It knocked my helper to the ground--a good ten feet from where he'd been when the werewolf landed the attack. If I hadn't cast the armor right when I did, he would've been in critical condition at best after that...but he managed to avoid all but a few minor scrapes and bruises, thanks to my armor...

The next few moments are a blur... I know it went after me; I know I got knocked for a loop. I finally got a chance for a reprisal...but what happened wasn't quite what I expected. What I expected was a lightning bolt; what I got was a series of electrical bolts arcing through the fog, all centering on my enemy. She (I think it was a "she") was hurt pretty bad, but was already healing from it... Nevertheless, she saw I looked ready for more.

She also saw me standing there, screaming obscenities at her. I was pissed; it hadn't been a pleasant day, and the day kept getting longer... I don't remember everything I screamed, but Hannah would likely lecture me on my language if I posted even as much as I do vaguely remember.

Well, between the lightning, me not being scared of her, and me looking like I was ready to take out all my frustrations on her (and there were most certainly plenty to go around), she backed off, looking pretty freaked out. (It wasn't a full moon; I think that's the biggest thing that saved my life.) She turned and ran...

I looked down at myself. I was bleeding from several different wounds. She'd broken the skin. That just pissed me off even more... It was cold, and what I had to do next did not make me happy. I stripped off my coat, shirt, and thermal shirt, and used my thumbnail to force the wounds to bleed more, trying to bleed out as much of the toxin as I could... Then I used my magic to purify and cleanse myself as much as I could.

I didn't feel satisfied that I was safe, and I didn't feel like dealing with my runner's questions about why a dog that big had been left off a leash and out of a yard... I put my uniform back on (had to re-tuck my hair under my stocking cap), and we finished up the last stop.

When I got home, I also had the spirits and Cubrious finish purifying me... They say I didn't need it, but I wasn't taking any chances. They say I'm clean. I performed several more purification rites since then, though, just to be safe...

I should be fine. I'll have Gabriel let y'all know if I'm not.

Merry Christmas, huh?

Shit man! That's terrible!

Also your own damn fault, I gave you a small .22 Derringer that's easily concealed and silver bullets for it!

Yeah, and I have to go through metal detectors on the way into and out of work, empty my pockets, and so on and so forth. I'm not getting fired over a little gun.

Bah, lazy-ass tree-hugging druids.....

Do they search your vehicle, or do you change vehicles from day to day?

We're not guaranteed the same vehicle from day to day...and my situation is worse. I'm a swing driver; I don't have my own route, yet, so I just float from route to route. If someone calls in sick on one day, I may do his route, then on the next day, cover someone else on vacation.

Trust me, I planned on it.

Well, it's been a week, and I still don't even have an aversion to silver... Keep your fingers crossed.