Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:46 pm

Mae

A glance was more than words can say, the voice was not familiar to Ulric, but that would not stop Bianca. A cry from a stranger was a cry for help all the same. Ulric now had another hard decision to make. Kratos had commanded Ulric to get into the mountains and told him that he would send Sabrina to the aid of the fallen, but... Bianca was available to help. Surely, she could help save Josh's life.

Ulric was on Bianca's heels the moment that she took off and in an instant he was in front of her, then - "No, Bianca!" Ulric said, putting himself in Bianca's way so quickly that it was impossible to grasp how he had managed it. "They will kill you.The hunters are waiting for us to come back right now and they will have heard her too. We have to trust that Kratos will keep his word."

Ulric had acted in absent mind of the haunting memory of a former time, yet his heart could not forget another who walked past him and ultimately gave her life standing between monsters and bullets. If history were on repeat it would find itself thwarted, for the brave heart of the young man could not undone.

******

Mr. Willow-man... how could he not know how easy it is for a man to disappear in the mountains and never be found again? The heart that has the strength to kill the semblance of his own kind is not dissuaded from the authentic act if it would be perceived to do him well, and in this circumstance the appearance of the willowy man was most unwelcome.

The hunters had regrouped as far as it were possible in a tangled weave of trees and thickets, preparing to start their hunt afresh when the lanky stranger stepped forward. The hunters were all too ready to greet him as they might have any intruder in their midst - with gun in hand and arm prepared. It mustn't be forgotten that the werewolf hunters were expecting their query, beit in what form it may.

"I'd say that you are lost, neighbor." Mary Berg said, stepping forward. She made no attempt to excuse the weapons aimed in the stranger's direction.

That was all the time it took. Douglas still hadn't returned, so it should come as a surprise to no one that a dart hit the stranger in the back from an undisclosed location the very moment afterward.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:46 pm

Indy

Mr. Willowman wasn’t the sort to further aggravate a situation. He kept his hands raised, whistling slowly as he looked down the length of Mary's weapon. It had been foolish, he was reflecting now, not to at least attempt a get-away. He supposed part of him had hoped these folks were of the friend variety than foe. His desperation to find Melinda had made him careless. It was just like a woman to mess with a man’s head like that.

“Really now, gentlelady, I assure you that’s not—“

He felt a sting in his neck. In the same movement, his hands flew to remove it. But rather than ripping it off his body, he pinched at just below the skin it had penetrated before discarding it so he would not push more drug into his body. A dart on an innocent passerby? How uncouth. Such weapons were rarely used on humans, largely because of difficulty in accurate dosing. He hoped his foe were not so villainous as to consider drugging him to death.

His feet were already wobbly underfoot, but he knew even beasts oft took long to succumb to their effects. He smiled pleasurably at Mary, bracing himself up against one of the cars.

“I’m just looking for my friend… Do you know her? She goes by Melinda Channing and she disappeared into these woods a few days ago…"

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:46 pm

Deseree

Bianca stopped, and listened, but mostly she saw Ulric's mouth moving and vaguely got the point he was trying to make. She was still mid breath when she hit the brakes. It wasn't until her chest began to ache, long after everything had come quiet, that she released it- and as though she were a marrionette who's pupetteer had just abandoned abruptpy, in one crumbling motion, she had lowered herself to the ground, pulling her knees up to her head and covering her face in them. She hadn't even sat completely when she regained the figure of a girl, and sitting there in a ball, she must have looked as small as she felt.

"I don't understand what's going on," she choked out between sobs-those childlike hiccups that get caught in the back of your throat and barely come out as a sound. "I shouldn't even be here. I feel so helpless, and so useless. Why is this happening?"

Her dress wrinkled under her grasp, her knuckles so tight they were white, a nice contrast to the shade of red her face had undoubtedly become by now.

So much for trying to keep calm.

---

"In here-I can smell them, they're in the other one...."

"The table. Easy, Uno.." a curse, "Man... he's just a kid. He's someone's baby."

"Please, God... we're gonna need a miracle. Let us help him."

Smooth, yet scarred, the voice spoke just above a whisper as Josh's fragile body was toted into place. Certainly the inhabitants of the other cabin knew there were intruders in their home, but for Josh's rescuers, there were no sides. No black and white, man against beast. There were only people. Scared people, hurt people, confused people. Therefore, yes, there were dangerous people. And someone's child laying on the table of the second cabin in the midst of it all.

The beds were stripped of their sheets, some being scattered on the floor around the table, others set aside, torn to strips. Water was set on the stove to boil, everything done in a matter of moments. The adrenaline was high and time short; not a second was wasted. Between a rock and a hard place was an understatement- they were already buried alive, six feet under and the dirt was coming on fast.

"I need you to keep your hands here-here too, one on each spot, keep pressure on them. We gotta watch that lung... put your back into it. Broken ribs can heal."

Her fiery eyes, the color of embers and all but smothered by the brow casting a shadow over them, moved nearly as fast as her hands. She guided her allies own paws into place, pulling his arms downward at the elbows, urging him to apply more pressure.

Her dark shoulders glistened with sweat, her tank top wet with blood and perspiration. She chewed on her bottom lip nearly until it bled, an old, bad habit.

Her gaze was drawn to the stove, a timer set to indicate when the water would be ready. It felt like it was counting down the seconds of Josh's life. Instead of watching them, she put a hand behind Josh's ears, and another one on his forehead.

"Hey, kiddo.." she muttered, giving his hand a tight squeeze. "Listen up, it's gonna be alright, okay? You hang in there. Someone's not through with you yet. You hold on." she stepped away, collecting the gauze, duct tape, a small sewing kit, and Vaseline from nearby and setting them all in arms reach.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:46 pm

Indy

Trailing behind the figure of the first passed another as silent and overlooked as a shadow. His pelt was the color of smoke and shadows; each time he passed below the speckled light of the foliage, he seemed to disappear entirely save the lantern-orange of his eye. In that gaze he watched the woods warily, knowing danger lurked on many sides, and in places both hidden and obvious. The beast sighed, shaking his great head.

“This was a mistake, Dos,” he said for not the first time, yet nonetheless he entered the cabin and lay the boy’s body on the table as though he were made of glass.

He had carried Josh’s body with both great care and great strength, yet surely travel in such a condition would not come without it’s toll. There had been no alternative, not if they intended to save his life, and yet so fragile it was now perhaps their efforts would be in vain. He rummaged in his pack at his side with his sharp claws, bringing forward more gauze, more ointments, more pain killers as the water boiled. It was gruesome work to stabilize Josh’s condition, yet he did faithfully every command his other gave.

At last he pulled away when the work had dwindled, returning to the window.

“Dos…” his voice tugged in the air, “We’ve stabilized him enough. We should leave and let them treat the rest of his injuries… before trouble catches up to us".

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:47 pm

Kaqurei

Levi released a mental sigh of relief. Not because the new player, this willowy figure, had been struck, but because the trajectory of the dart revealed to him at last the location of the only hunter he'd not been able to keep tabs on. Now he knew where they all were. That would make his job a little easier. Not that he was going to be so foolish as to let his guard down. But it eased his anxiety to know where all of them were.

He did not move from his place, ever muscle as still as stone. He would wait and watch.

****

Sabrina's gaze shifted between Timothy, Theo, and Jackie. Melinda, still, was swatted from her attention span like an annoying fly. That is until she revealed the blue liquid. Then Sabrina's focus settled on her, even if only momentarily, and her pupils swelled briefly. She looked at Timothy and they sharpened to a point again.

"Timothy," same her voice at last, carefully enunciated and firmly stated, "You have a good voice. I appreciate the words that you have said. It is much better to speak first than it is to act. Now, tell me, what right have you to take any action on behalf of the pack? You're frustrated, but you must first listen, think, and then speak. Where do you stand?"

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:47 pm

Mae

Mary Berg did not seem to notice Douglas' dart, nor the stranger's reaction to it. She might have been pretending to be ignorant of it, but Douglas was crouching in the woods a hundred feet behind the willowy stranger, and Mary's vantage might have easily afforded her a glance at him, yet she did not seem to notice him at all.

As if oblivious to the sedative himself, the stranger leaned against the werewolves' deserted vehicle and continued speaking in a tone wholly unperturbed by the scene. Mary watched him. Perhaps it was his inhuman talent to retain his composure, or maybe Mary's laymen perspective that even a simpleton could catch a hint, that advanced the situation with Willow-man a bit further.

Paul Reginald, a hefty man with a broad face leaned in, and it seemed that his mind and hands had the intention to do some harm, but Mary stopped him. The hunters shifted in their stance, each stepping closer to the willowy man.

"You got some form of ID on you?" Mary asked the stranger.

******

Timothy looked between Melinda and Jackie as each spoke in turn; he waited for an answer to quench his thirsting curiosity.

Timothy's eyes seemed glued to the object in Melinda's hand the moment that she produced it, and he watched it dangle from her finger tips like a desperate puppy for a treat or an eager child for attention. At Sabrina's words, Timothy did naught but flick his ears toward her; his attention could not be swayed from the object in Melinda's hand.

Timothy waited, yet when time elapsed and he began to comprehended that Melinda did not intend to satiate his thirst, but rather taunt his desire, a different and far hungrier thirst came to his eyes.

With eyes cast white and ears laid back, it looked for a moment as if Timothy were going to pounce and tear both Jackie and Melinda apart! - But there was a sudden glance, too fleeting to be recognized by either party, that brought Timothy's head down, and he was turned from his course. Shunning the sight of the hall, Timothy recoiled to the furthest corner of the room with his tail between his legs. There, wheezing out some frightening and pitiful sound distorted between a whimper and a growl, Timothy remained cowering.

******

The presence that had brought about Timothy's sudden remorse stood, as in an earlier appearance, barefooted in the hall. He was clearly less clean than before, yet the form of the Alpha had not diminished in appearance; he stood beyond the door frame, cloaked in crimson, and looking wild and dignified both at once. Though he were a man, he was not a tame one, and though he were a monster, he was not an indecent one.

Kratos stood at the door and looked into the room. He observed the shards of glass scattered on the floor; the window blinds hanging in tatters; the screen having been kicked through by an earlier intruder; and the rose, which had previously decorated the sill, now laying in the water and broken glass that had sustained it. Yet despite the evident destruction, however notable, it made for a less striking appearance than the many faces which showed the general bewilderment of the room.

Timothy, who presently cowered away, drew the Alpha's gaze. Somehow, it did not seem like the Alpha was angry with him, despite all his cowardly snapping and growling. He kept looking beyond the Alpha to the object that Melinda held in her hand, and Kratos seemed to be more understanding of him in that glance than he had been observed to show prior.

"When I left this room a short time ago," Kratos said, breaking the short silence which preceded him. "I left it in perfect order with only one woman to disturb it. Now I return, and find that in a very short time, chaos has reigned supreme."

The Alpha seemed to speak to everyone in the room without exemption, but his next words were primarily directed at Melinda and Jackie.

"We do not have time for this." He said. "But you two have waited long enough, I deem, and we are all owed an explanation for the turmoil, fatigue, and bloodshed of the last several moons. It is time for answers, and I will not excuse anyone from this room until it is said, and we are all satisfied."

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:47 pm

Mae

A simple truth, spoken in a time of uncertainty, is not made any less true by circumstance. That everything happens for a reason, is a truth that has been evidenced too frequently to doubt.

Bianca could not know from her own experience that everything that was happening now had a function in a great design, like gears turning in a mechanism to bring about great purposes. Nor could she have foreseen the full extent of the purpose behind Joshua's temporary pain. Nonetheless, if she could but have faith in it, Bianca would find that the truth she had proclaimed would bring enough comfort to enable her to move on.

Ulric did not know what to do, seeing Bianca sink to the ground in front of him. Seeing her despair, he felt sure that all that was right and good in the world was at an end. But one thing contradicted all the other natural reactions of fear that might have otherwise come over him, and that was an intense feeling of peace.
That the feeling was there defied reason; it defied expectation; it did not make any sense, and yet the feeling was so sure that Ulric could neither shake it nor neglect to put his confidence in it.

Would Kratos keep his word regarding Josh? Would it be enough? Would it be on time? It did not matter. Somehow, in someway no one knew, everything would turn out right in the end. Ulric could not explain how or why, he only knew that all would be well. So, he knelt down beside Bianca, put a hand on her shoulder, and said with firm conviction, "It will alright." He meant it. He believed it. But that was not all, Ulric also stood right back up and pulled Bianca up with him.

"Let's go back." He said. "Let's see who needs help. We'll explain it to Kratos later."

******

At that same time, a little ahead of Ulric, and a little behind the other two who had gone to Josh's aid, others soon arrived to answer the call for help.

Though with a cautious tread they passed over the threshold without hesitancy, and they entered the room where Uno and Dos were tending the wounded. No scent was carried in with them, and they made no sound with their feet, so that they had entered through the back door like ghosts and were in the room before they were known.

"I might be able to help him."

Standing near was a girl with chestnut-brown hair, and a tall, bare-chested young man. The girl regarded a well-supplied bag at her side, and wore a tartan cap from which many long braids hung down over her shoulders. The man wore a wide-brimmed western hat low on his brow. Both of them wore leather straps around their knuckles and wrists, but the man wore leather around his boots as well, while the girl wore common shoes.

The grim countenance equally shared between the two was a puzzle, but it was clear that the girl who had spoken was resolved to help, and the young man, who stood a foot and a half taller, was resolved to defend her from harm.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:47 pm

Indy

How strange it was that something so small as innocent as a small blue vial could transfix the entire room. Melinda did little to hide it — she hadn’t intended an audience, and yet she would not deny one when the show was insisted upon. Instead she merely pursued her lips and faintly hid the traces of a smile, looking upon the alpha as he commanded every fiber of the room.

“Oh, is that so?”

Surely she would not be so folly to provoke him. No, she would not, and nothing in her gaze suggested she would deny him. And yet in the same why the alpha has reflected earlier she trespassed upon world not her own, the alpha now stepped upon a world that was not his own. She reigned the master of her own affairs, and she would do as she would only because she wished it, and not because it had been so commanded.

She curled up the vial in her hand, Jackie’s gaze following it, her sister’s matching eyes focused and hard at the sight of it.

Jackie was frozen in place, sitting on her knees and both palms supporting her weight like rigid pillars; where once she had been animated, she’d grown still again, like a toy that had lost it’s batteries. Melinda reached over with her other hand, pulling at Jackie’s palm with her own. Jackie’s palm folded without resistance as she slipped the vial into her sister’s fingers and then closed them.

Melinda sighed, shrugging almost with apology to the rest of the room; yet in such a way that said she did not mean it much either.

She leaned in closely, and when she spoke again it was in a tongue none else in the room would know, “Tu le connais, oui ?”

Jackie jolted faintly, her ears recognizing the language but her mind not wishing to understand it. Yet nonetheless she did not reply back in protest, but dipped her head, her palm tightly squeezing its contents.

Melinda took it as sign enough to continue, “Il a menti à toi. Il te mentait toujours. Il te usait comme un boucher use un couteau, un outil pour un plan, et de rien plus. C’était toujours comme ça… L'oblies. Oublies tout. Je te d—“

“Stop,” Jackie dropped the vial in her palm. It clattered with a faint ping on the wooden floors. Her shoulders were shaking and her face was flush with some kind of emotion, “Tell the truth Melinda. Why are you here?”

Melinda sighed, the guard in her expression dropping. In that moment it were as though she were unraveled. Yet not in a way that implied something was broken; it was more like someone had unspooled those tight coils, and for just a moment saw more behind them.

“For you,” she replied softly, pausing tactfully, "I’m returning to you your life, so you can live it again”.

Quote from Adriana on August 25, 2018, 12:47 pm

Indy

The willowy figure jolted. Or more likely the sedative was tugging at his balance, and the tiniest effort to regain it had magnified in such a large movement. He nonetheless remained on his feet.

“Why of course, my dear, it is unwise to go driving with one… you never know when an officer of the law might pull you over,” he clucked, then rummaged in his pocket for his wallet.

“Not much lunch money I’m afraid,” he sighed, fumbling with his now-clumsy fingers for the tiny card, "But here you are ma’am”.

He held out a slender ID card. Mary’s eyes would find nothing amiss or unusual about it. His dopey eyed face beamed at the DMV camera. Of information such relevance to Mary Berg followed: CLASS C, LN:Willows, FN: Samuel ….

“I’m a Pisces,” he added brightly, “And it’s a family name, but you can call me Sam"