Episode 78: Vigilante
Written By Karl White
Sara Ivy knew there was a werewolf deep down, stalking her like a shadow, searching for a way out. The only survival meant fighting like hell to suppress it. But when it was finally forced out, the change didn’t break her. Strength flooded to places she never knew existed, turning terror into motion, instinct into fight. And from that moment on, she chose not to hide. Instead, guiding the beast towards something fiercely just, to stand between the fragile and those who would harm them.
She followed her nose, traveling around the country, tracking killers and rapists, acting as vengeance incarnate. Using her shy, harmless façade as bait, she presented herself as the perfect target. And when predators took it, she lured them somewhere secluded...somewhere the night could belong to her.
Her ferocity satisfied the bloodlust she could no longer deny, but it also stopped violent men who would’ve never been caught. And in the fear she left behind, was a message carried quietly from one shadowed place to the next -- the weak were no longer alone, and the night no longer belonged to men like them.
Sara luring her prey - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Between 2005 and 2009, Sara became a full-blown vigilante, using her heightened senses to hunt some of the most notorious and vicious criminals in North America. In Cleveland, she ended the Erie Strangler’s long reign of terror as he tried to attack her along the banks of the Cuyahoga River. She never forgot the look of pure terror in his eyes when she changed. He was so afraid he soiled himself, payback for every ounce of fear he’d inflicted on others.
In the fall of 2007, Sara killed a serial rapist who stalked New York’s Central Park. He’d been convicted of multiple assaults, but walked free on a technicality after DNA evidence was mishandled. Sara, aided by several of his victims, took him down in the large metropolitan green-space. Her attack was so violent, forensics later had to extract pulp from the only tooth found among what remained...just to identify him.
She became a rumor born from panic. A name whispered in the underground. A shadow no one wanted to face. And the idea of being hunted by something worse than the evil in these men’s hearts, became a deterrent. Because unlike any human pursuer, you couldn’t outsmart her, negotiate with her, or predict her. She stalked only for judgment. And once that truth spread, nothing was more terrifying to a predator than becoming the prey.
Her life as a guardian of the night was a complete reversal from the shy girl who’d once tried to disappear. But her next mission would shine a light on a larger purpose, something beyond vengeance.
In 2009, a desperate killer was targeting homeless and other vulnerable populations in South Florida. Catching the trail in the warm, salty breeze, something about it felt off. Sara commanded the wind as she hunted, letting the air itself point her where the police investigative trail had hit a dead-end. But there was something in the scent that night, a coldness she'd never quite experienced.
Thumbing through newspapers, making a few well-placed whispers to those in authority, people who’d heard of the She-Wolf’s work, and Sara had gained access to the case files. The modus operandi seemed straightforward, but her elemental senses were telling her otherwise...She soon learned why.
The killer she hunted wasn’t a human at all, but a pair of Vampires. The last remnants of Elizabeth Jovan’s Brood, running for their lives after the Great Vampire War -- which had ended only a few years earlier.
Unexpected trouble in Miami - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Unprepared, Sara clashed with the bloodsuckers and was quickly outmatched in her human form. She was about to let the beast loose, but stopped as a group of Nightwardens intervened. Led by Flora Mae Watkins, they destroyed the creatures.
Both Sara and the ‘Wardens were unprepared to encounter each other. Sara had heard rumors of vampires, but had never faced one...And the Nightwardens, though knowing of werewolves in theory, had never encountered one like her, a predator of predators, tracking and killing human monsters.
After their brief introduction, the Nightwardens were interested in Sara’s assistance. Actively hunting supernatural threats, the group had seen their fair share of the strange and uncanny. And while they were equipped to handle vampires, they knew little about the Children of Nature...So they passed Sara a file, hoping she could help.
“The Nomad” -- that was the name investigators gave to something they couldn’t explain. An unofficial title attached to a pattern too vast and persistent, to belong to chance. Since the 1950s, bodies had surfaced across the country in no discernible order, along highways, at truck stops, in small towns that only existed because of the road. A staggering 684 connected murders across 42 states, over the span of 57 years. To the FBI, it was either an impossible coincidence...or the holy grail of serial killer cases, a single predator who refused to age, slow, or settle.
The file found its way into the hands of the Nightwardens. Updates were shared sparingly, passed along by those who believed the truth might not fit ordinary explanations. They quickly ruled out vampiric involvement. This was something else, something that moved with the roads, and wore human routine like camouflage. A hitchhiker, maybe? Possibly a trucker? Whoever it was, never stayed long enough to be remembered. The Nightwardens came to believe the Nomad was a werewolf. But whoever it was, they were tipping the balance of order, targeting mostly young women...And so, Sara took the case.
Her pursuit spanned many years and thousands of miles, chasing a fleeting trail through the humidity of the South, to the high desert outskirts of the West. Wherever the Nomad passed, the signs were the same, along with the lingering scent of something wild trying very hard to remain unnoticed.
Sara comes face to face with “The Nomad” - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
By 2013, the path narrowed. And in a lonely roadside café outside Reno, Sara finally came face to face with the killer...His name, was Jones.
Unbeknownst to her, Jones was a familiar figure to a certain segment of surviving Children of Nature -- and a savior to some. After the destruction of Luna at the hands of Kharos, Jones took to the road. He lived as a long-haul trucker, feeding without pattern or fear, confident the world would never connect the miles between his crimes. To him, it was the only safe way to hunt.
It’d been years since he’d encountered another werewolf. So when Sara stepped into the café, she immediately drew his attention. Neither needed words to recognize the other. Among the low hum of human conversation, something passed between them, an understanding shared in posture, in scent, in the way each watched the room. Sara asked where he was headed, and if she could ride along.
In his big-rig, the conversation naturally turned to origins. It always did when their kind met. How were you made? Who turned you? Sara spoke of her attack, wanting to find her maker. Jones shared his own story. Both were forced to survive without instruction or mercy.
As the miles stretched and the night deepened, Jones believed he’d found a kindred spirit. He mentioned a werewolf historian. If anyone could trace her maker, it’d be him. But Jones couldn’t recall his name...it was then, he noticed they were being followed.
Sara didn’t deny it. She leaned into the lie effortlessly, saying she was being hunted, and needed help. Jones agreed without hesitation. They pulled off the interstate, onto a desolate road, ready to deal with whatever followed...That’s when she revealed herself, pulling a gun on him.
The vehicle trailing, belonged to the Nightwardens, close enough to intervene if necessary. But Sara didn’t need their help. The confrontation was brief.
Confrontation down a deserted road - © 2026 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
JONES: How can you do this? To your own kind?
SARA: You and I, we’re not the same.
JONES: There was a time...I saved so many like you.
SARA: But at the cost of the lives of the innocent.
JONES: Humans? That’s what this is about? It’s our God given right to hunt the weak. We’re predators.
SARA: We’re still humans, always will be. And it’s the job of the strong, to protect the weak.
She didn't hesitate to pull the trigger...And when the smoke cleared, a killer who haunted highways and small towns for over half a century, was gone. His reign of terror ended on the side of the road. It was the first time Sara killed one of her own kind...but it wouldn’t be the last.
TO BE CONTINUED…