SOLVED. Chess, demons, werewolves possibly??? - Fiction. [s]

[Eric]

I read this book series in middle school, so 13 to 15 years ago. Not sure if that’s when it came out or not. I can’t remember the premise of the series, but I think this boy had been raised and trained to play chess for a longtime even though he didn’t know why. He ended up having to play multiple games of chess against some demon or monster or something in order to save people. Can’t remember if he won or not, but I want to say he did. Near the end of the book, his uncle or some male figure close to him had to go away, but it was that his mind or spirit had to while his body stayed behind. The body was still able to walk around and eat, but had to be taken care of by this boy. One thing this male figure mentioned to the main character was that because members of his family sometimes become werewolves (???) that if he ever woke up with blood, fur, and dirt under his fingernails, he was to call some number because he’d need to be put down or else he’d hurt a lot of people. This male figure then went away for a very long time and the day he came back, he played a prank on the boy by putting fur, dirt, and fake blood under his fingernails. When the boy was about to call whoever the people were to come and take him away, the male figure revealed his mind (spirit?) was back in his body again.

Again, I read this a long time ago, but I really liked it, so if any of the details are off, I apologize.

[Eric]

I forgot to say that these games of chess were all played at the same time.

[Anna]

Darren Shan Demonata Collection: Thin Executioner, Demon Thief, Lord Loss, Slawter, Hell's Heroes, Dark Calling, Wolf Island, Death's Shadow And More

[Eric]

YES! That’s it! Thank you!