Hey, loves. I graduated from college! While at college I didn't have much time to work on my Wattpad stories. But I did take a writing workshop during my last semester. Night of the Yeti was my final project for that class, so I thought I would share it with you since I have not gotten to post anything in a long time. Because it is a short story, it's only a few parts and completed. As of now, the end is the end. I hope you enjoy it!

And if you're wondering about Expiration Date and the SYFY TV show, I hope to have some big news to share with you soon! As well as pics!

"A common misconception about sasquatches is that they are nothing like werewolves. But sasquatches are man turned beast just as much as werewolves. Whereas werewolves take the full moon, the sasquatches claim the new moon."

~The Travelers Guide to Yeti

Leila Foody

I purse my lips, pressing my hands against the clear walls of the cell. On the other side, Marcus, crouched on the balls of his feet, inches toward the sasquatch's food bowl. The beast is tucked in the corner, in a similar crouch as Marcus, only with its teeth bared. I inch my hand toward my gun. I told him we should have sedated it.

His response was that he doesn't sedate me on the nights he makes me dinner. Why should the yeti be sedated?

Marcus curls his fingers around the edges of the shiny bowl. In his other hand he holds a slab of beef.

I'm going to talk to Meria about automating the feeding process. Seeing my boyfriend in a cell with a sasquatch that's awake and feeling threatened is enough to make me consider shipping him off somewhere away from any supernatural creatures. So maybe the moon.

Marcus tugs the bowl toward himself. The yeti growls. Marcus hesitates for only a few seconds before plopping the beef into the bowl. The meat squelches as it sinks into the dish.

He grabs a jug of water behind him and pours it into a second bowl.

My hand rests on my gun, ready to pull it out the moment the yeti moves.

But it never does. Marcus backs out of the room, and as he turns to the screen in the wall to lock the door, his eyes land on my hand hovering over my gun.

"No need to jump the gun, Leila." He taps in the code.

I snort, not because I found the joke itself funny but rather the attempt.

Marcus picks up his tablet from where it laid against the wall, and I follow him to the next cell, letting my hand drift from my gun and back to my side.

"I think I found that spell."

His finger hovers over his tablet, and he looks at me. A few beads of sweat have gathered on his forehead just under his dark hair. "You're not a witch."

"I can still cast a spell."

"It's not the same." He presses his finger onto the screen. Information on the werewolf whose cell we're coming up to pops up. "A witch understands what she's doing. You don't have the background knowledge. And it's easier to spell cast when you actually have power to begin with. I can find you a witch."

I roll my eyes just as we come to a stop in front of the werewolf cell, where the beast is curled up in the corner asleep. He's been here for two weeks now and has refused to shift to his human form.

I drum my fingers against my thigh. "Let's hire an evil witch to keep the other evil witches and monsters locked up."

Our cells can only keep the creatures contained for so long before they break out, either by supernatural force or magic. For months I've been hunting down a spell to fortify the cells. Something to keep the monsters locked up for good.

"They're not all bad." He pulls up a keyboard and begins typing. Probably an update about the werewolf being asleep.

"Yes, they are. I've never met a witch who hasn't tried to bite my fingers off."

"Maybe it's in defense."

"Right, so next you'll be saying we should adopt this werewolf as a pet?"

He deadpans me, and I elbow him in the side. The corner of his mouth drifts upward. "I think you've got your hands full with me," he says, and I roll my eyes.

Marcus Edward Leopold. A man with one of the most pretentious names. The director of the Cryptozoology Institute. My boss. My boyfriend. And fellow yeti hunter.

"Right . . . It's a good thing I don't want a pet then."

"What? Wouldn't a fish be nice?"

I don't deign to respond, and we move onto the next occupied cell, passing by one that's under repair after a vampire broke out of it. If he would just let me do the spell, I could reinforce the cells and—fingers crossed—no more jailbreaks would happen.

A faerie inside the next cell stands right on the other side of the clear wall, his face blank of expression. His eyes stare us down. Iron bars have been attached around the perimeter of the wall so that even if the faerie were to use a spell to break down the wall, he won't be able to pass through the iron barrier.

The faerie tilts his head at us, and Marcus does the same. The difference is Marcus's thoughtfulness looks innocent whereas the faerie's looks like he's deciding how best to kill us.

"I've been thinking," Marcus says his eyes still on the faerie. "With Kel . . ."

A lump forms in my throat, and I swallow it. It was about a month ago on the last new moon that Kel along with the hiker he was trying to save were killed on Mount LeConte. No one hasn't been thinking about him, especially on this new moon.

"I don't want any of you out on the mountain tonight."

I blink, and the damn faerie copies me. I have to go out on the mountain. It's my job. The job he hired me to do. "People could die if we don't."

"Until we know why yeti are so active on new moons, it's not worth the risk."

"You mean they're not worth the risk."

He runs his hand down his face. The faerie does the same with his long sharp nails. Light red scratches appear on his white skin.

"We've done our best to warn people," Marcus says. "Bears, mountain lions. Whatever they'd believe. If they're foolish enough to disregard us, we can't help them."

"The yeti that killed Kel will probably be out tonight. I could find it and kill it."

"And how will you know if it's the right yeti?" His tone is sour.

"Does it matter?"

"They're not all bad."

"Just like witches, I've yet to meet one who wouldn't rip me in half just for crossing paths with it."

"A part of them is still human."

I give the faerie a look that tells him exactly what I think of him and move to the next cell.

"When your uncle ran his car into the yeti, it didn't harm you or your uncle." Marcus follows after me. "It walked away. Ever since you started working for me, I feel like you've let yourself forget that.

Scratching at my arm, I stop at a cell that holds a yeti, this one awake. I was nine when I got into that car wreck with my uncle. He passed out when the airbag hit him. I didn't. My nerves were buzzing too much. Time felt as if it had been frozen. That's when I saw the yeti. Despite being the one who was actually there, everyone tried to say it was a bear or a deer.

The sasquatch rose up on two legs, its fur the color of golden honey in the flickering headlights. It wobbled and pressed its hands into the dirt road. For a brief moment, it looked at me with eyes that knew things, remembered things. Eyes that held shock that either of us were alive.

And then it ran off.

Marcus is right. I have let myself forget. But I don't regret that.

"I only kill yeti if they're killing someone, and they usually are," I say.

"Well you won't be killing any yeti tonight. I'm calling everyone together for a meeting at midnight."

I close my eyes, inhaling, counting to ten. The problem with dating the boss is he has authority over me on work matters.

Marcus pulls up the data for sasquatch in the cell on his tablet and glances between the sasquatch and the screen, typing his observations. "I have to run to town. There are some last preparations for the new moon I need to finish up. I want justice just as much as you, but I can't lose another team member. Especially not you."

"I didn't accept this job because I thought it would be safe."

"Just for this new moon. Okay?"

The yeti picks through its food bowl. Meat clings to the fur around its mouth. Was that what the sasquatch looked like after killing Kel?

Goosebumps run up my arms, and I turn away. Marcus places his hand on my shoulder, and I can only imagine how tight it must feel to him.

"I'll see you tonight then," I say.

He presses his lips against the back of my head and squeezes my shoulder. He exhales, and his breath hits the back of my neck. "I love you."

"Love you too."