Episode 68: Luna
Written By Karl White
The Jones Gang rode across the South. Combing the New Mexico Territory, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama for a large swath of private land, hidden from the outside world...but with no luck. By late-1894, the group had nearly given up, considering a ride down to Mexico, until Florida’s tropical air greeted them like a promise.
The sparse, marshy landscape of the deep South seemed ideal, where urban expansion would struggle to reach. It was a dreamy place, a forgotten frontier where time moved slowly. In Florida’s swamps, hidden among cypress and mangrove trees, Jones and his pack established the town of Luna -- exclusive to their kind alone.
Plot of swampland that would become Luna - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
The settlement was designed. Estates built. Infrastructure was controlled within city limits. Their elemental abilities were used to provide water, heat, and power, making Luna self-sufficient. Around it all, was the sprawling perimeter wall, separating their sanctuary from the outside world.
Local authorities were paid handsomely to look the other way, and the men ran free, doing as they pleased in their werewolf forms. On the business end, wealth was invested in oil and other ventures Jones sensed were on the rise, to ensure Luna, and their easy lifestyle, could continue indefinitely.
As the years melted, Jones envisioned Luna not merely as a refuge, but a haven for all who shared the curse. Word slowly trickled out, and werewolves from near and far began making the trek to join Jones in his tucked-away settlement.
Residence benefited from strength in numbers and a reclusive atmosphere, free to embrace their primitive side without fear. Crops were grown. Livestock and grazing animals were raised to hunt -- though some of the more “wild” residents began ritualistically feeding on passersby, hitchhikers, or anyone unlucky enough to wander too close to the hidden town. It was risky, and prohibited by Luna’s bylaws...but some argued the thrill of the hunt was necessary to sate a primal hunger. They weren’t living in captivity, so freedom demanded real prey.
Blindly hunting people in the Florida swamps, threatened exposure, so a compromise was reached. Jones wanted control over what others claimed was necessary, for the sake of keeping Luna protected. On occasion, he’d send trusted pack members out to “procure” prey for what he called “hunting parties”.
Hunting Party - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
They’d seek seedy elements, transients, junkies, drunks, and prostitutes, from nearby towns and cities. The marks were brought to Luna, fed, pampered, made to feel safe...then at nightfall, let loose on the outskirts of town, and told to run. Citizens would transform and hunt them down beneath the moon. It provided what the beasts demanded, while keeping the killings contained within Luna’s walls. Maintaining peace of mind through containment. Hunting parties became an example of life in Luna -- draw no attention, follow the rules, and the community will protect and provide.
For over 50 years, hundreds of werewolves would come to Luna. Some old. Some new. Some only passing through to see what all the fuss was about. But most stayed, becoming permanent fixtures in the tight-knit community. Jones served as Luna’s Alpha mayor, governing sternly but fairly.
In 1950, Samuel Mundey arrived. Cleaned up, sober. Coming to Luna was a last chance. He could no longer live in human society, surrounded by temptation.
At first, his time there was ordinary, keeping to himself. But one resident began inching closer to the newcomer, doing everything she could to draw him into her orbit. Her name was Delilah, and she and her son Roy had a history with Sam...though he didn’t know it.
Delilah & Roy - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
On the eastern coast of Canada in 925, Sam, then known as Sem, killed her husband Brot, in front of her and her son. With no explanation for the senseless murder, Sem fled the moment his eyes met theirs. Unbeknownst to her, he’d been seeking revenge against Brot for many lifetimes. She was also unaware Sem and Brot were related. A truth Sem himself only learned after delivering the fatal blow. But ever since that fateful day he flashed into her life, if only for a second, Delilah never forgot his face.
In Luna, Sam kept a low profile. But when Delilah saw him, time folded. He was more weathered and worn by years of heavy drinking, but her memory was sharp and unbroken. He walked the streets of Luna not realizing his past followed. As the woman watching from across the way knew exactly what his hands had done. And in that quiet recognition, something long buried stirred in her. A certainty, that some debts don’t rot away...they wait.
Delilah and Roy considered taking the matter to Jones, hoping that justice might be served. But with no way to prove what Sam had done so long ago, they’d instead take matters into their own hands. Planning to gain Sam’s trust, and get their revenge. Though pulling it off inside a well-guarded community would be hard. But they couldn’t live knowing the monster who killed Brot still walked this earth. Using her feminine wiles, Delilah befriended Sam and began slowly chipping away.
But the plan was interrupted by Uti, passing through, chronicling werewolf-kind with anyone willing to talk. Delilah refused to share, not wanting to tip her hand or expose herself to Sam somehow. But the historian began spending long hours with the ancient one, as Sam had a deeper knowledge of their kind, than most -- Delilah needed to know what Sam was telling him.
After Uti finished taking Sam’s historical accounts, Delilah agreed to speak with the archivist. But during their chat, Uti sensed something hidden in her questions.
Delilah talks to Uti - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
DELILAH: You spoke with Sam, huh? I’m surprised he talked to you.
UTI: He’s lived a lot of life. There’s value in what he knows.
DELILAH: Anything strike you? His background? Where he’s been?
UTI: You two seem close. You’ve never talked about pasts?
DELILAH: He won’t open up, like maybe he’s running from something.
UTI: We all run from something. But we practice leaving it behind.
DELILAH: Some things can’t be left behind.
Her words didn’t sit well with Uti. Before leaving Luna, he warned Sam. But Sam was already aware. While he didn’t exactly know what it was, he could sense it. The way she looked at him. The sound of her voice. The pheromones she’d give off when he was near. Her defenses were up.
Sam contemplating his life in Luna - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Sam’s past haunted him, and in the long stretches of addiction, lost himself completely. Whatever karma he had coming would be justified. Time away from his vices couldn’t erase a lifetime of sin. And in the quiet setting of Luna, Sam began to wonder what the point of walking the earth with a curse tied around his neck truly was...or how much longer he could do it.
Maybe it was sharing his stories, maybe it was something else. But after Uti left, Delilah picked up where she left off, and Sam didn’t resist. It was obvious, her sly tempting, trying to lure Sam into her confidence...Discovering his addiction, she and Roy got Sam to relapse, supplying the old one with heroin. They wanted to weaken him, isolate him, kill him. But the strategy would soon backfire.
Sam’s old ways led to savage killing sprees, far beyond the safe boundaries of Luna. Citizens grew uneasy. They didn’t know Delilah’s hand in it, only seeing a stranger unraveling. And the possibility of exposure wasn’t tolerated. Expulsion was too dangerous, so in hushed conversations, the punishment of death began to surface.
Delilah tipped Sam off. Telling him to flee to the abandoned town of Aladdin City. She promised to meet him there. Bring money and supplies, to help him disappear. It was bait, but Sam, too high to see the truth, followed it.
He fled, making it to a decaying shack just outside of the ghost town. Still inebriated from drugs supplied by her, he decided to make a meal out of a drunkard he came across. But the vagrant, a former priest, was able to recite a Hero Prayer -- Conjuring Kharos, as werewolf Sam went for the kill.
Kharos descending to Earth from a bolt of lightning - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
The Paladin slaughtered Sam in a sudden flash of lightning, and caught the mother and son werewolves coming for Sam -- Kharos butchered Delilah. Roy fled, but the Paladin followed. And in that pursuit, the divine hunter was led straight to Luna.
The town, in the midst of one of their “hunting parties”, was destroyed. Its residents, wiped out in one holy purge. The hidden refuge collapsed into ruin.
Incidentally, Jones wasn’t in Luna at the time of the Seraphblade’s reckoning. He returned only after the destruction, to find his city gutted and silent. All he’d built...reduced to ash.
TO BE CONTINUED…