Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:25 pm

Indy

Jackie exhaled hard, her breath warm over the cold sweat that had grown on her brow. Her legs tightened and her focus narrowed on the wall, as though preparing for the feat again, when suddenly she felt a pair of eyes settle on her. She needn’t turn to ask who’s they were, yet she did not move as they studied her either. It was not fear that held her there, but rather the desire to be understood.

She could not scale the wall, she could not save her friend from her own savagery, and she could not fight the forces that had brought her here. But she was not a victim. She would not curl at the bottom of the pit and let herself succumb to such misery. She would climb this wall not because it was possible, but because not to would mean she accepted her fate. She would rise above her prison if not in body, then only in mind.

The green eyes had studied her long enough. She stood straight and turned slowly to meet their gaze.

“What are you looking at?”

Her voice was gruff, as though she were self-defensive of seeing herself so intimately studied. But the reality was far simpler: it was a true and genuine question. What had Timothy seen and what had he understood?

---

Melinda did not flinch as the second beast clambered in through the window. Her eyes had been wary of that window ever since the first had made her entrance and therefore wasn’t nearly as surprised as she had been prior. Even so, she did appropriately double take her second guest as she tried to discern what she could of her appearance. For her efforts, Melinda was delighted to realize she recognized the slim white werewolf. While she had never seen her in such a form, her clothing was unmistakably similar to one of the occupants she’d encountered at her stay in the cabins.

As the white wolf spoke, Melinda realized she’d found herself a rare opportunity. Certainly the black wolf would not reveal information to her, because she’d planned for their encounter and therefore already knew what she would say. Yet this second party she had not anticipated, and therefore may reveal something to the white wolf that she had not intended to reveal to her. Melinda listened intently at their first exchange, and then edged herself to the side of the room.

Was it politeness, or a desire to remove herself from the middle of a possibly violent encounter ? It was neither: for she knew she was no less in the middle of this situation regardless of where she positioned herself and a hostage could not afford to be polite. Yet the black wolf had wished to disregard her own powers and think her as a loose end, then she would play into it. She would rather her foes think her meek and inexperienced and cast her aside, only to be surprised by their misjudgment.

---

Theo smiled faintly under the welcoming warmth of the room. He felt himself drawn in further, as though by a will not entirely his own yet he felt at complete ease. His eyes fell sharply to Tammy’s partially packed belongings. Half a question had already formed in his mouth when Tammy handed him the story. His frown deepened.

“You’re… leaving?” the teen could do little to hide the sadness growing in his chest.

“But I… ah,” he glanced down at the story, his eyes double taking the title. He was about to protest he couldn’t possibly track down its original owner, when he realized the lingering scent of said owner still was held in the pages. If he wanted to, he very well could find them so long as he knew a general location. “Was this person in town?” he mumbled, though already suspected the answer for himself.

Theo didn’t know how to say goodbye to someone he just met. There was so much he wanted to share, so much he wanted to know about her, and all that could not be fit into a few short minutes.

Yet the minutes would grow shorter yet, for a strange quality had taken the air. The warmth, though still physically present, had begun to grow more distant and the pleasantness had grown stale… What could violate such a perfect moment in time? A slumbering force buried in the top dresser drawer had been awoken.

The cell phone began to ring.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:25 pm

Deseree

Logan did swerve, and with a snarl and a snap she tried to get at Levi, missing her hold on him by a hairs breadth. She barrelled her way towards the fence and rolled into it, so Levi would find himself caught between the chain-link and her back. As she pinned her own face against the fence in the process, with head ducked low between her front legs, her eyes were fixed on the patrons of the pit, and settled on Jackie. Three consecutive barks were aimed at the redhead, and though the meaning was garbled even by werewolf standards, the tone was different than the ones she had directed at Levi.

They were immediately followed up however by more threats to the spy. There was very little strategy in her movement or mannerisms it might be observed that she was exerting more energy over a short period of time than she was able to recover. Her bite would be lethal should she have the chance, but her reserves were quickly depleting..

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:25 pm

Mae

Truly Toby's cry of alarm did not go unanswered, and out from the woods very near to the dens a deep voice was heard to rise and fall with the utmost solemnity. It was neither a word of warning to the foe nor a word of instruction to the pack, but rather it carried a simple and profound message. Every ear that heard it and every listener on the mountain would need translate the meaning for themselves, for each would understand it differently, yet even those without understanding would find the meaning gained to suit them individually.

That voice which held the power to kindle the greatest resolve of the one and utterly abolish the most stalwart courage of the other was to all a single note; It was a vow honored, a pledge renewed; the terms of a binding contract recited to the utmost detail, nothing forgotten, and as solemn and genuine as the promise of a son to his dying mother. Those who heard it would have to choose for themselves and weigh the consequences. It was so near that it rattled the windows like thunder yet not so near as to convince the mind that the maker had been in their midst.
****

Timothy ducked and flinched away from the Alpha's voice but he returned in the very same movement back around to face Jackie with his ears and head held erect. There was a change that had come over Timothy's countenance when Jackie had spoke to him, not one of expression but one of understanding, and it had not been effected by the Alpha's message. He had flinched away like a frightened and beaten dog when he heard the Alpha's voice, but he returned with confidence in the same second to answer Jackie in his own way.

On account of the new understanding or the change that had come over Timothy by Jackie, he relented his secondary form and looked up at Levi and Logan's awkwardly fierce predicament.

"You've got her attention." He said, mumbling. "Do something with it."

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:25 pm

Mae

Diane had stood with grace and an ever present smile as the introduction was made, she did not turn away or go from the room. Though a Sabre's presence was without doubt unprecedented Diane was more intrigued by the chance it afforded her than disarmed by it. Nonetheless, certainly at least one in the room had discounted the third party.

"I would call it a complimentary visit, all droll routine had I not had the pleasure." Diane replied to the other and ventured suggest with a gesture that Sabrina's own presence had made it an honor, though she also closed her marked eye and shrugged her shoulders in compliment of other things.

Diane maintained her composure and her smile, though now she glanced at Melinda with a look of submission or false timidity which appeared balefully on the creature's face. Again she looked at Sabrina.

"We are all of us a foot from the grave and content to play with lilacs and lilies, as they say." She said these words and her eyes and teeth gleamed, smiling. It seemed like an uncommon saying, yet there was meaning in it that perhaps went disguised.

Then the Alpha's voice was heard by the window and Diane's smile faded, even she could not be unaffected by its meaning. The sound brought to her a displeasure and perhaps caused her even to consider the welfare of her companion, nonetheless, her ground was not held weakly and the air was waxed by her possession of it.

****

Like the first crack in a timeless glass the chiming ring brought a rendering to the atmosphere, and then all too quickly the sounds from without caved in on the small room and shattered the refuge.

Tammy felt the difference and stirred anxiously. There was no time. She looked at the dresser drawer with a strange sense of foreboding and then at the walls of the room as they began to tremble. Outside a powerful sound swelled slowly and then fell away...

A danger from within and a danger from without, yet there was a stillness in the center and on the edge of it as if all was as it should be; it was a feeling of both comfort and alarm - of comfort, for what would happen was intended to happen, and of alarm, for not all would be considered well in the end by the nature of the creature.

Thus was the perplexity that caused Tammy to meet Theo's eyes again and ask with a face fully mystified and afraid, "What is happening?"

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:26 pm

Kaqurei

Levi choked, his breath caught somewhere in his chest and never reached his nostrils. With all his strength he pressed back against his adversary, keeping her maw from his throat for as long as he could. Wildly he glanced from the pit, to Logan, and back again. He did not miss the change in her voice. Nor could he possibly miss the call of the Calagrathorm alpha.

A second. A minute longer. He could hold. She was weakening. He could hold... He could hold...!

****

That sound was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. The promise within filled her with a deep sense of satisfaction. This territory was theirs. It was not for Svalnaglas whelps to trespass upon.

"Oh? In that case, do forgive us for not serving you tea," Sabrina said. "Perhaps next time you might try the door. Or should such trivialities and related procedures bore you?" She stepped forward, the focus in her eyes sharpening. "They happen to bore me as well. Allow me, then, to be succinct: You will leave. You will take whatever traces of your pack that you have brought with you. And you shall do it without delay. Do I make myself clear?"

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:26 pm

Mae

The displeasure of Diane's countenance on hearing Sabre's demand briefly pervaded her features with callous distaste though her stance was hardly hampered by it. Then all rancor melted away from her person like a sudden summer spell and again her features were disposed to a calculated smile.

"Every trace," The black werewolf agreed in silky tone, tilting her chin downward as those venomous eyes glinted once more. "Without delay."

And so it was, as quickly as she had come the black werewolf was gone - she fled through the door which had long been at her back and vanished down the stairs before a moment had passed. No doubt she had left the house before a second could be spared in her pursuit, leaving no trace behind even as night leaves no mark in fleeing the day.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:26 pm

Mae

Ulric was halted in a moment of impassable hesitation. Long had he delayed any answer as each howl outside succeeded the other, and for all that was said he knew that the events involved him. But what action need be taken? Any act without wisdom was folly, and still he remained outside the realization of the moment until at length the Alpha's voice was heard bellowing out of the great wood a long, potent decree, promising vengeance and blood.

Somewhere in that solemn recital, a note - stringing along the memory of the Alpha's admonition when last they spoke in confidence was heard in Ulric's mind, it seemed as if the Alpha were speaking to him alone, and Ulric quickly knew what he would have to do, but he greatly feared to do it.

To the disorganized Calagathorm pack, two Svalnaglas scouts spelled doom in their cunning, and they would make no tiring work therein if given a moment to wreak their havoc. Even so, their reasons for being on the territory had only one purpose they could justify, and sprinting away to Levi's rescue bore a weighty consequence.

Yet, would Ulric hesitate any longer to make the sacrifice?

No one who knows the heart of that werewolf needs to ask.

Going in solemnity but not without urgency, Ulric at last came to the call and cried aloud as he reached the threshold, "Logan! He can't breathe!"
Already rushing to the rescue and with a great leap Ulric caught Logan on the ridge of her back with his hands, he thrust his strength against the fence with his legs under her belly and changed forms in that very moment to draw her weight off Levi upon himself! But unless Levi had a bit of strength left to thrash free, or Logan to any degree relented, the effort would buy Levi only a few breaths more.

In this strenuous moment of growing toil with all the ferocity of the agony in his limbs Ulric shouted to the unwanted watcher! "Come out and state your terms! Take what you want and run!"

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:27 pm

Indy

Jackie gaze was shifting once more the tall, impenetrable might of the wall before another sound could be heard. She calculated her trajectory once more, her mind considering the angle she ought take for her next move and what was likely to succeed. The alpha’s voice rang over the mountains, yet if it did anything to persuade her conviction, it could not be seen. What could be seen was this – a meaningful glance in Timothy’s direction as he took his second form, and a small nod as though she understood.

“If you consider these people your pack…,” her eyes flew abruptly to Logan’s shadowed figure, then to the form of Logan’s shadow cast on the floor of the pit.

Then she exhaled hard, braced her legs, and sprang to action as though preparing to launch herself upon the wall once more. Yet the trained eye would see she had not the same conviction as she had before, and her steps half a step slower as though she were waiting… Her eyes never left the silhouettes by the fence-line, much like a performer anxiously awaiting the approval of their audience.

Then a swell of air gathered in her chest, in no way to be accounted for entirely by the physical exertion or injury to which she subjected herself. It gathered almost like a wolf song upon her lips, in manner to which she summoned the power as though it were hers to command, yet in a form such as the one she had now what of it’s meaning would get through?

"LOGAN"
It was simple in form, yet profound in meaning. Her voice carried well in the alcove of the pit and while in no small way did it compare or poetry to the alpha’s voice, it would not be easily missed.

Yet she had little time to consider what her audience might make of it, for the other side of the wall narrowed dangerously. She braced her feet as though preparing to leap, yet faltered half a step as though her re-opened wounds bothered her. The next move was not hers to take.
---

Melinda’s blinked and the black wolf’s form had vanished; in the same blink, so had her meekness, and she turned to Sabrina as though in explanation. As the alpha’s voice sounded outside, it’s sound did not register as a concern she ought have. Though the power thundered on the windows, it did so in a distant way, for this was not a message she was meant to understand.

What did cause her a half-moments reconsideration was the second voice that followed. It was difficult for her ears to discern it, yet it’s owner was unmistakable. Melinda’s eyes narrowed dangerously and she took a few paces towards Sabrina.

“Your politics elude me yet… it seems you have business to attend to, do you not ? It would be ill for any harm to befall one of your own, in such a dire time…”

---

Theo did not reply immediately to Tammy’s query. Rather he narrowed in upon the sound as if summoned. A frown furrowed as his hand slid to open the drawer, and spied the illuminated form of the phone. The first ring faded almost as quickly as it had erupted; yet Theo was wary for the second.

“I don’t understand… Whose is this ? None in the pack have things like this.”

His frown deepened, his fingers dancing around the ‘answer’ button as though entranced. The second ring faded to oblivion, yet Theo’s eyes were becoming wide at the side of it.

As the third ring swelled, a queasy feeling filled him and Theo’s fingers flinched as though he had been shocked. And in doing so, struck the button to answer this call. At first no voice could be heard until at least and Theo waited, frozen in terror…

“Melinda ? ….krrttt….where….krrttt… devil are you?!” in the static which tarnished his voice, little could be discerned of the caller’s attributes, only that he was not grievously old and he sounded very irritated...

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:27 pm

Deseree

It would be nearly impossible to determine what stirred behind those eyes, bloodshot and drawn to pinpoints by the effects of the drug that coursed through her body. Every muscle was tensed to its full capacity, every vein throbbing to withstand the strain of adrenalin.

Levi would find an escape at last, for when Ulric forced his way between Logan and the fence, she did relent if only for a moment, and again a moment longer when her name was called by none other than Jacqueline Ryder. Her ears were erect and for the span of a breath it seemed she might come to, but no sooner than the voice of her friend faded, did she begin again to growl and snarl so terribly. The humanity was far beyond the surface and her reactions so brief that they could scarcely be attributed to her consciousness of self as much as they could be to a predator simply acknowledging its prey.

---

"You're selflessness will be your downfall." the spy uttered from a window in the second cabin. He stepped out onto the overhang of the balcony and perched himself on its edge, one arm draped over his leg, the other grasping loosely at an object draped across his back.

"I'm afraid you may already know the reason for this visit, Ulric. You're overdue for a family reunion.." now he jumped effortlessly to the ground below and straightened. "It's wise of you to cooperate. It would be a shame if anybody else went rogue - like that unstable mongrel you've got in that pit. Either one of them, really."

His tail twitched behind him, ears ever erect and stature suggesting he was prepared for an attack.

"We'll talk more on the drive over. Here's how it'll work; I'm going to distract your friend, you're going to go down the road to meet my driver. Once you do, signal your alpha to call off his attack. At the same time, you'll load into the car. My driver will come pick me up, and at this point, Logan will be sedated and we'll make sure we get those effects reversed before it causes any long term damage. Everybody goes home. I understand that's not the ideal in your case, but it's just the way things are going to be." Silas raised his chin, approaching steadily. "Are we clear on the terms?"