#and using Greyson because she knew how she effected him

[dontblessmefatherforihavesinned]

Fuck Eve

#the final gambit #I never liked her #didn’t trust her one bit #and using Greyson because she knew how she effected him #poor lost boy just wanting to be loved

[tearsofgrace]

written for suptober20 day 13: ladies

my mind heard ladies and went “well, father, it’s the women” and here we are

wc: 1.1k tags: very light angst, way less prosey than normal for me, literally just scene rewrite with inner monologue, idk man it’ll work i guess

also on archive!

“Um…it’s the women, Father. Where do I begin?” Dean started nervously. This was stupid. Part of him was convinced Sam was making him do this just to watch him suffer and laugh, because there were a million other ways they could take care of this ghost. But, whatever.

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned, is usual,” Father Delaney said from the other booth. Right. There were procedures and policies. God, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been in a church when it wasn’t a job. They used to go as a family… before Mary-

Before their mom died. But after that John had given up. There was nothing at church for them.

“Right. Good. Yeah. So, that,” Dean muttered. Why was this so hard? It wasn’t like he had to lie. “And, um…so the women. Uh, and this is not something that I’m proud of, but I let them think that we have more of a future than we do, you know? Ah, Gina.” He’d never known a Gina. Why was that what he went with? Why did his mind jump to-

No. He couldn’t think about that now. Not here.

“Gina?”

“Well, now, don’t get me wrong. I mean, she was – it was good times. I mean, you know how it is – the sex, the lasagna – but I was not honest with her. And sometimes, I was seeing two, maybe three girls at the same time, sometimes in the same day.” He added in a chuckle for effect and then went on, “You get the picture. And it wasn’t just Gina. It was endless. It’s making me sick.” He spat out the last line with an eye roll. The sooner he could get out of this damn booth, the walls closing in on him, begging him to give them his secrets, the better.

“And you wish to be forgiven, my son?” Father Delaney sounded bored too. At least they had that in common. But this had to seem somewhat real, if this ridiculous plan was going to work.

“I do. I need to clean up my act.” The words rang a distant bell. His father pulling him from the Impala by the cover of his shirt, his eyes looking darkly on the figure still inside. Spittle flew from his mouth as he screamed at Dean. Told him he better clean up his act or “he would fucking kill him.”

Why hadn’t he made Sam do this?

“As penance, you shall say five “Hail Mary’s” two “Our Father’s”, and reflect on your transgression.”

Of course that’s all it was. Church was bullshit. “And then, that’s it? then I’m good to go?”

“One would hope some…inner exploration might occur. The prayers are just the beginning to some serious soul-searching.”

Dean snorted. Soul-searching. Right. The cure all to inner problems. If that were true, he would have cured himself a long time ago.

“Is there anything else on your mind, Agent Allman?”

Dean paused. He could walk out. Right here. They could salt and burn the damn bones and leave this town in the rearview mirror. But something stopped him. He laughed nervously, then took a plunge. “What if I said I…I didn’t want to die…yet, you know, that I wasn’t ready?”

“Are you expecting to?” the priest asked. He sounded a little taken aback, which was only fair. Dean forgot sometimes that not everyone walked around with a target taped to their back.

“Always,” he said truthfully. “You know, the life I live, the work I do…I pretty much just figured that that was all there was to me, you know? Tear around and jam the key in the ignition and haul ass until I ran out of gas. I guess I just thought sooner or later, I’d go out the same way that I live – pedal to the metal, and that would be it.”

“But now?”

Jesus, why hadn’t he just left? This was ridiculous. He was talking to a priest who was probably a hypocrite about a life he would never understand. And if he was in here any longer Sam would get suspicious.

Then he shrugged. He’d gotten this far. “Now, um… recent events, uh… make me think I might be closer to that than I really thought. And…I don’t know. I mean, you know, there’s – there’s things,” he paused for a minute. He shouldn’t do this. They were dangerously close to the truth now. And this wasn’t the place for that. But he went on anyway. “There’s…people,” he banished Cas’ blue eyes from his mind the minute they showed up and went on, “feelings that I-I-I want to experience differently than I have before, or maybe even for the first time.”

“Go a little deeper, perhaps, than with Gina.”

There hadn’t been a Gina. There had been a Greyson. In the back of a bar when Sam had decided to stay home one night. When he was sure no one else would see them, would let anyone know how disgusting, how wrong he was. Which was the problem of course, it wasn’t wrong. But Winchesters… His mind went back to the car again. To Lee and him in the backseat. To his father’s angry pounding on the door.

Winchesters are not fags.

He didn’t answer the priest. Just pushed out of the confessional, slamming the door in anger behind him. He left the memories there, too. There wasn’t any place for them here. They were working. And Sam would know if something was wrong. So he told himself there was nothing. No new feelings, new people, new whatever the hell he’d been spouting off about in there. Lee had been his friend, Greyson had been Gina, and Cas was nothing to him but a brother.

“So, you think you had an eavesdropper in there?” Sam asked as he came up to the pew his brother had been waiting on.

“Hope so,” he responded tightly.

They beat the ghost, came out on top, just like they always did. And just like always, as soon as they were off the clock, Sam wanted to talk feelings.

“You know… you were in that confessional a long time,” Dean looked up from the bag he was packing and rolled his eyes. “Look, man, I’m just saying, I’m your brother, Dean. If you ever need to talk about anything with anybody, you got somebody right here next to you.”

For just a brief second, he was tempted. He was tempted to just come out with it. He was sure Sam already knew, was just giving him time or some bullshit. But he couldn’t. John’s voice was too loud in his ears. So it would have to stay his dirty little secret.

So he muttered, “Okay.”

Because it was easier this way. He was dying soon anyway. No one ever needed to know.

tag list {ask to be added or removed:3}

@fandomstuff67 @menjiiii @witchyanaels @starlightcastiel @chaoticdean @larryforeveralways @samhainsam @ghostsforcas @tlakhtwritesdestiel @wanderingcas @hallowena @spooky-things-do-happen-dean @jayus-fandom-writer @cas-you-assbutt-dean-needs-you @starrynightdeancas @radiantdean @piemaker-from-gallifrey @on-a-bender @eshaninjer @trasherasswood @dreadful-delight

#the confessional was a coming out scene #idk man #suptober20 #destiel fic #spn fanfic #supernatural fanfic #spn fan fiction #destiel fanfic #deancas fic #destiel ficlet #my writing

[vulpinmusings]

Letters from Buxcord #7 - A Patch Job

Three sessions in the making, Ash and company go to fix something I broke the last time around.

Samantha,

It’s rather annoying to suffer wounds that I can’t just sleep off, but that fey spider’s acid spit did such a number on me that I’ve had to spend a week in the hospital and deal with skin grafts.  At least it’s not anywhere as bad as the last time I was obliged to go the hospital.  I don’t have to avoid using magic, for one thing.

While I was convalescing, Sheriff Greyson showed up to get an official statement for the spiders-man incident.  I gave him all the key details, naturally, even admitting to accidentally causing a small forest fire.  The Sheriff found the tale a bit beyond belief, but dutifully recorded what I said and then went off to ask Lea about the case.  Presumably after that he tracked down Penn, because the news report that eventually came out referenced three eyewitnesses, and declared all of us so traumatized by the events that our memories were addled.  Also, the police decided that spiders-man was the work of the same guy behind the so-called Razorback copycat killing (aka that time we fought a pig-masked ghost in the slaughterhouse).

 I’ve wondered why Sheriff Ragland wasn’t the one to collect our statements, since he’d been the officer in charge at Bizier’s house and has demonstrated a more open mind about the reality of the world.  Considering the official report, however, I suspect that Ragland’s own sanity has come into question.

I have half a mind to put on a bit of a show in front of the police station if the authorities are going to continue to be pig-headed about magic and mythics.  Skvetch, seems like half the people in this town who are in the know are devoted to keeping up a masquerade of non-magic.  More trouble than its worth, if you ask me.

Lea was discharged several days ahead of me, on account of not needing to replace any skin.  On her way out, she paid me a visit to have a chat about her recent realization that she’s (probably) a Faerie and has magic.  She said that she suspected herself of indirectly causing Bizier to be targeted and converted by the spider.  Back during the Razorback incident, Bizier had been the deputy Lea had tried to heal but accidentally drained.  Later on, she’d visited him in the hospital and managed to reverse what she’d done.  Lea feared that that had marked Bizier somehow, luring the fey spider to him.

I know all about carrying guilt for actions performed in… less than enlightened states of being, and I know the sorts of things to say to someone carrying that weight (search me if I can remember who learned it from, though).  Point is, even if Lea had marked Bizier somehow, she’d done it unconsciously, as she only recently became consciously aware of her mythical nature.  I told her so, and she seemed to accept it.  She then asked if I could help her get a grasp on her magic.  I said I would try, but admitted that I’m not an expert in how Faerie magic works, and I’m unsure if teaching her Weaves would be helpful.

Once I was freed from the hospital, I set to exploring Buxcord to find a Fey Way other than the one out in the bayou.  I’d rather not have to hassle with Bayou Boating every time I have business with the Faerie King or need to drop off some wayward pixie.  I managed to find a mushroom ring in the park, so mission success.  Still haven’t made any progress on restoring my lost memories or finding Nollthep.

Scratch that last bit! Nollthop’s still at large, but Madam Weaver finally came through and found someone who was able to restore my memory of the M’Dales and Carmilla!  I can picture them, recall their names.  Skvetch, I mentioned them in passing in a previous letter and only now remember doing so.

Before I explain the details of this restoration, though, there’s something else big that happened before, a few days after I got out of the hospital.

As I was walking to the local diner for breakfast, I noticed that Buxcord seemed strangely quiet.    Upon arrival, I saw everyone in the diner – customer and employee alike, slumped in a state of extreme lethargy.  The only exception was Mr. Penn, who was glad to see someone else in a normal state.  While Penn investigated someone’s food for unusual elements, I tried to coax words from some of the waiters.  I couldn’t get much from them, but from a glance at the ambient magic around them I got the sense that the lethargy was stemming from a loss of energy down to the very soul.

I called Lea to check on her.  She reported that she was feeling fine, but that she’d witnessed a bartender nearly pass out late last night after she felt a strange pulling sensation at her core.  I hadn’t felt anything of the sort, so it’s likely the draining wasn’t able to penetrate the magical defenses on my apartment.

We agreed to split up and search Buxcord for anyone else who wasn’t lethargic or a possible source of the problem.  Lea took the north side since she was already up that way and found Madam Weaver’s house.  The odd old lady was unaffected, and she and Lea had a productive little introduction.  Mr. Penn’s search took him along the outskirts of Buxcord and at some point came across Piper, who was not affected by the lethargy but rather unhelpful.

As for myself, I was searching through the south side when I came across a young woman in a hoodie.  She was acting nervous, and my bold approach probably didn’t help matters.  I quickly established that I was looking into what was going on, and after coaxing I got her to open up and offer her story.  Her name is Simone and she comes from a magical family with close ties to Buxcord’s history, although she wasn’t entirely convinced about the validity of magic at the time. Still, she’d been spared from the soul-draining and had just finished following a vague hunch that had taken her into the marshlands around the bayou.  There she had discovered an old cottonwood tree that would normally have been fully hidden from view, except there was a big hole in the barrier.

Yes, that same tree with the demonic aura I’d discovered while hunting the fey spider.  In my haste to catch up to the spider, I’d forgotten to close up the hole I’d made and had later assumed that a barrier of that age and strength would have some kind of self-renewal function Woven in.  Either that’s just not how things work in this universe, or the original casters of the barrier didn’t think to include such a function.

In any event, whoops.

Since Simone had prior knowledge of the sealed tree and a magical heritage, and thus was a potential source of very crucial help in fixing the problem I’d caused, I brought her with me when I went to meet up with Penn and Lea at the diner to compare notes. The only thing I learned from the other two is that Madam Weaver already knew the source of the problem and whose fault it was, because of course she did.

Our next order of business was to hike out to the bayou so I could get a good look at the breach and determine if I could just Weave up a patch.  We arrived to find a shadowy figure hovering above the water near the tree.  It looked familiar, although it took me a minute to realize why.  I’d seen this thing only once, shortly after my first little adventure, after that massive ripple of magic rolled through town. The figure didn’t move, although it did engage Lea in a conversation that I could only hear her half of. According to Lea, when Penn asked her about it a bit later, the gist of the conversation was that the figure admitted to stepping out of the barrier for a “snack” but that it was still mostly bound to the tree.  It didn’t offer a name or outright admit to being a demon, but it tried to cut a temptation deal to locate Lea’s human family if she helped it get out.  The barrier I’d ignorantly punched a hole in is the middle of three seals on the creature, with the cottonwood tree as the core and another barrier around the whole town.

As to the hole, it didn’t take me long to determine that the barrier was every bit as thick and complex as you’d expect a seal for an ancient evil to be; not the sort of thing you can just throw a quick patch over and expect it to keep holding.  That’s a lesson I don’t need to learn twice. So, I turned to Simone and asked if she has any old family records that might be of help.  She said maybe and, after I put a simple barrier to prevent the demon from taking another “walk” in the meantime, she led us back into town to her house.

Once we were settled in Simone’s house, she undertook a little search and came back with an old leather-bound book embossed with a mystical brand.  The book had some kind of spell on it to prevent strangers from reading its secrets, but my mental discipline proved enough to resist the effects enough to render the words legible, if slightly wavy.  After skimming about halfway through the book, I found an account of a time when the middle barrier had needed repair, and a description of the ritual involved.  It’s not particularly complex or demanding of material components; all we needed were enough mages to perform the steps, a warding amulet for the ritual’s leader, and “blood of the ancients.”

The first two things were easy to find.  Penn has dabbled in magic enough to be confident in taking part, I’m me, and I was willing to take a chance on Lea’ fey abilities counting once we’d secured the assistance of a couple more mages as back-up.  Simone was untrained but possesses the gift, and Lea was able to talk Rocky into helping as well.  Simone also supplied us with the warding amulet: a sun-shaped necklace given to her by her grandmother and likely the reason the demon hadn’t been able to drain her.

The blood of the ancient was going to be the tricky part, as we had no idea what that term could be referring to.  We decided to split up again and try two avenues of inquiry: Penn and I would check at Professor Thomas’s lab while Lea and Simone consulted with Madam Weaver.  To put it simply, the girls wound up choosing the right path.  The Madam said she could supply us with genuine ancient blood, whereas the lab would only be able to provide a synthetic substitute that wouldn’t last.  The real stuff would produce a proper fix, but getting it would set in motion some other calamity that Madam Weaver wouldn’t elaborate on.  The woman operates under some set of rules I haven’t sussed out yet.

Lea called me to discuss our options, and we decided that being sure of fixing the barrier for good was worth the price of some other trouble down the line.

So, with the materials in hand and personnel recruited, we went back to the cottonwood and got to work.  As the most accomplished mage in the group, I took the warding amulet and led the ritual.  It went smoothly, although the demon tried to distract us with temptations.  It offered to find me a way home, but also called my motives into question.  Although my memory of the core of the Order-naries hadn’t been restored yet, I still recalled enough to be rightly offended at the demon’s intimations that I had no reason to be helping Buxcord’s people.

Nobody bent to the demon’s words and we sealed it away without a hitch, and then went our separate ways.  I escorted Simone home, mostly as an excuse to ask to borrow her book again at some point and study up on Buxcord’s magical past.  Things are going to keep happening, and I’d prefer to be forewarned of anything old that may wake up.

Once I’d gotten Simone home, a letter materialized on the ground in front of me.  It was from Madam Weaver, informing me that the friend she’d asked to help with my memory had finally arrived.  I went straight to her house and met one of the tallest women I have ever seen.  Her name, or at least the name she said I could call her, was Minosity (Pretty sure I spelled that wrong; sounded Hellenic.) Mnemosyne, after a mythical titan of memory.  Fitting.

She was all business, but gentle.  I am normally quite reluctant to let somebody I’d just met mess around in my mind, but I was desperate to get my memories back, so I let all my barriers down as she searched for whatever the block was.  She did it with such ease, I’m almost envious, although she looked concerned about what she’d found. Apparently, Nollthep’s power comes from some sort of “Elder being.” As a bonus, she also put a protection spell on my mind, which I accepted with grace because my own natural defenses against mental influence are demonstrably insufficient in this world.  Or, maybe, my resistance is just wearing out after multiple assaults from exotic sources? That’s not a pleasant thought...

So, it’s starting to feel like I’ve dropped right into the middle of a multi-sided conflict over a relatively small patch of territory.  Between Faeries, sealed demons, at least one and possibly two old orders of protection, and whatever is behind Nollthep, there is a lot I’m going to need to learn about just to survive here.

Not too unlike the old days.

-Ash

#MOTW #Vulpin plays

[shadesofgreysmythes]

THE OTHER SHOE DROPS ➝  BLAYSON

TAGGING ➝ Greyson Smythe & Blake Rutherford

LOCATION ➝ Greyson’s house/Blake’s apartment

TIME FRAME ➝ Thursday, February 27th

WARNINGS ➝ Mentions of abuse, rape, and drugs.

NOTES ➝ After Greyson apologizes with a dinner date and Blake stays the night, they get Blake a dog at the shelter only to return to Blake’s apartment to find a note left behind by her abusive ex. Greyson gets her out of there then out of the state.

Last night was probably something out of a movie, after being surprised with a legitimate date and given a dress. Greyson had cooked for the both of them, it was such a sweet notion that Blake wasn’t expecting from him at all. She tried not to let herself get too caught up into it. But of course Greyson was charming and Blake could feel herself falling for him. She stayed the night, and there’s wasn’t anything that seemed out of wack for her. It almost seemed like they were finally getting somewhere. As she woke up the next morning, Blake looked up at the ceiling, sun peaking in slightly. It felt like she was dreaming how wonderful last night was. She turned over to see Greyson still sleeping, it was probably the most peaceful she’d ever see him. Quietly taking out her phone, she snapped a picture before making her way to his kitchen. Making herself a cup of coffee, Blake sat on the couch before Grey’s dog Jersey came and sat next to her. He laid his head in her lap, demanding attention from her. Blake spent the next twenty minutes completely taking under Jersey’s spell, kissing his face and rubbing his ears.

Greyson never would've guessed trying to be romantic would be so exhausting. The set up, the cooking, the in home date itself. It was the most work he'd ever put into something resembling a relationship. Or whatever they were doing. But he was knee deep in his apology tour and there was no backing out now. For his sake at least Blake allowed him to sleep in. It was a little disorienting falling asleep with someone and waking up to an empty bed and he quickly found he'd much prefer to wake up with Blake still in it. Which was new development he was coming to terms with. Pulling on a pair of joggers he followed the smell of coffee drifting from the kitchen, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he rounded the corner. Grey snorted at the sight of Jersey lavishing under Blake's attention. He fully understood. "Someone's comfortable," he mumbled. After pouring himself a cup he joined them on the couch, patting Jersey's belly who didn't give Greyson a second glance, too preoccupied with Blake instead. "Sorry, should I go back to bed and leave you two alone?"

"Hey pretty boy," Blake smiled as he joined them on the couch. She snorted and shook her head, "I have room for the both of you, not sure he agrees though." Blake nodded to Jersey who looked content as ever with Blake fawning over him. She giggled and rubbed his belly, watching one of his hind legs start to go, kicking Greyson in the process. "How'd you sleep?" She asked taking the final sip of her coffee. Blake sat there with Jersey and Greyson, her mind wandered to what it would be like if she woke up in his bed every morning. If all their days off could be filled with time with Jersey and coffee. It was amazing just weeks ago they could barely stand to be alone if they weren't working, and now Blake found herself wanting to be near him as much as possible. "I want a dog." She blurted out, she was entirely sure why,  but it was true nonetheless.

Greyson rolled his eyes at the nickname but a small smile broke through nonetheless. He hummed and sipped his coffee, squinting his eyes at Blake over the rim of the mug. "Sure, blame the dog. Likely story." He used the palm of his hand to defend his leg from Jersey's kicking which Blake seemed to be having fun egging on. "Funny enough a lot like this," he teased. "You?" All things considered, maybe waking up to a house that consisted of more than just him and his two animals wasn't the worst thing to happen. It was kind of nice. Even more so that it happened to be to Blake who'd someone very quickly made herself a space in his life and slotted right into it. Grey's eyes raised in surprise at her outburst, drawn from his thoughts. A smile immediately started to spread. "Yeah? Today? Right now? 'Cause we can go down and I can get you in with the best tour guide."

It was honestly bullshit how much Blake adored Greyson's smile, she wasn't sure at what point she'd admit that, verbally. But whatever. "If you want my attention, take it don't be a pussy." Blake teased raising her eyebrow slightly. She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. You hogged the blankets. But it was nice." Nicer than she expected and safe. It was too early to bring trauma into it but often times she felt like she was being watched. At least with Greyson anxiety wasn't keeping her up half the night. His excitement made her stomach do summersaults, and Blake knew it was all downhill from here. "I mean, let me shower and look like I didn't just crawl out of the fuckin' gutter. But yeah.. Today. I think I need a little buddy with me at home." It would help with the anxiety, the onset loneliness, but Greyson didn't need to know all of that. "Hm, is that so? What they like?"

Greyson smirked and looked at the floor, licking his lips as he set his mug down on the coffee table. "Alright," he muttered, and in one quick motion was on his foot and scooped Blake up, scooting her over a few feet and putting himself physically between her and Jersey who huffed his protest but didn't do much otherwise. "That's bullshit, I don't hog the blankets. Your snoring sounds like a fuckin' woodchipper. It wasn't terrible I guess." In fact it was warm and Greyson had found himself keeping constant contact with Blake one way or another through the night. He did his best to keep how hype he was to surface level but it was hard when two parts of his life were coming together like this. He liked Blake, that much he had figured out, and he loved dogs and was incredibly proud of the shelter he helped build. The excitement was natural. "I wouldn't say the gutter. An alleyway, maybe. Hell yeah. This is gonna be great." Greyson shrugged one shoulder, moving his head side to side in faux thought for a moment. "Just your type, I think.”

Blake, who was unable to stop herself from giggling, let Greyson move her. She tilted her head to the side nodding as if she really gave a shit. “And yet you didn’t wake me up once so I don’t think it was that bad” She teased. Blake reached out and touched Greyson’s arm, thinking back to their previous night, again. Laying next to someone and not having to leave was calming in a way that made Blake’s heart flutter in a way that almost scared her. Her eyebrows shot up and she inches closer to Greyson, hoisting her leg over and sitting on his lap. “What type is that?” She asked with her hands on his neck rubbing circles into his skin. It was as if there were alarms going off in her head telling her to abort. Every time she looked at him her body would turn numb, she could hear her own heartbeat in her ears and feel it against her rib cage.

That giggle sent a shot of warmth through Greyson’s chest and around his ribs, wrapping him in it. It was already comfortable and familiar in a way that set off alarms he’d been doing his best to quiet down. He simply rolled his eyes at her and conceded because she was unfortunately right. Greyson wrapped an arm around Blake’s waist as she moved, his motions already syncing with hers from the time they’d been spending together. He closed his eyes and hummed, leaning into her touch and huffed a laugh through his nose before saying, “The stuck up, halfwitted, scruffy looking nerf herder,” through a smile. It was easily the nerdiest, cheesiest thing he’d ever said out loud to another person before and if it was anyone else he would’ve never considered it at all. It seemed Blake was having that effect on him. He cracked his eyes open and met hers before nudging Blake with his knee. “Alright, c’mon, get moving. We got a homeless dog to pick up.”

Recognizing the quote Blake rolled her eyes and snorted, hitting Greyson’s shoulder with her hand. “You fuckin’ nerd.” She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t charmed or that Han and Leia’s bickering didn’t remind her of themselves. Blake groaned, to make a show of it of course. “Ugh, fine.” It didn’t take them long to get ready, Blake was practically bouncing on her toes with excitement. She was pretty thrilled at the thought of going back to her place with a dog of her own. She tossed her keys to Greyson with a wink. “Take me away pretty boy.”

Greyson snorted as he caught the keys and it dawned on him that Blake was yet to experience his driving first hand. “You’re in for a ride.” was all he said before they left for the shelter. He took as many backroads as he could manage to avoid the majority of LA traffic and despite the fact that he had just enough awareness of stop signs and red lights for a couple near misses, they made it just fine. He parked in the back and took her through the employee entrance into a long empty hall with doors at the end to avoid any madness of the lobby. “It’s gonna get loud once we head in there so gimme an idea of what you’re lookin’ for. I know everyone pretty well. Old, young, chill, maniac?”

Blake might have made a mistake giving Greyson the keys. While they took backroads which she appreciated there was so many near misses Blake thought she was going to have a fit. Despite all that they arrived in one peace, following Greyson, Blake thought over his question.  “Huh,” She started, tilting her head to the side. “Doesn’t need to be super young, still a little bit of entertainment, protective..” Her voice trailed off. “I’m also not too picky, I think I’ll know when I meet the one.”

Grey nodded, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips. Dogs were his number one weak spot and slowly but surely moving up in those ranks was Blake. Those two pieces of his life colliding? Well. Needless to say, this was going to be a time. He wordlessly linked his fingers with hers and guided her to the end of the hall, through a door and into the main kennel area. Immediately a couple dogs sounded off, their excited barking getting others excited. It instantly set a smile on his face and out of habit he reached his free hand out to rub a dogs nose through the bars in the kennel closest to them. “After you,” he gestured down the lane.

As he waned, the level in noise immediately spiked, Blake flinched naturally but was going to force herself to think past it. Walking down the lane Blake was already seeing various dogs wagging their tails and coming towards the gate. Blake made sure to read about each and every one of them, she wanted to know their name and other facts that the shelter provided. She even went as far as to kneel near every dog let them smell her before she looked to Greyson for approval to pet them. Blake always wanted a dog, but was never allowed as a child, and she told herself she was going to get one when she could afford it -- And now she could. While all the dogs were cute and excited and Blake felt them tug at each of her heart strings she didn't feel any sort of connection to them. She was almost discouraged until she came up to one of the last dogs. He was a pitbull mix, with a large blocky head. He had three legs and he wagged his tail the minute Blake walked up to him. His given name was Arnold, which was terrible -- Not that it mattered she'd rename him. He was white and was drooling all over himself, Blake couldn't help but giggle. She kneeled by the gate and waited for him to show her he wanted Blake to pet him. She reached as far as she could, fawning over him. She looked up at Greyson with a wide smile. "I want him." She said as loud as she could over the barking of the other dogs.

Greyson watched with what were probably tiny hearts for pupils as Blake spent time with each dog she passed. Usually people were looking for some of criteria: calm, young, quiet, what have you. But Blake seemed content to know the dogs themselves and not just what info they could provide at a glance. He felt a warmth coat his insides. When she finally voiced her pick, Grey raised an eyebrow. She would always find ways to surprise him that’s for sure. Nonetheless he nodded once, pulled a leash from his pocket, and skillfully opened the kennel and looped it around Arnold’s head who immediately started doing circles around their feet. “C’mon. It’s a lot quieter outside,” he managed to get out over the noise and led Blake by the hand to the opposite side of the room, out a door and into a fenced in area of grass. Once the door shut behind them, he unleashed Arnold and kneeled down, patting him as he passed by and ran around. “He came in pretty banged up. Stray, got hit by a car and had been dragging around a busted up leg for a week. Everyone in the neighborhood was too scared of him til this old guy called animal control. They were gonna put him down but we pulled him in time.” Grey smiled as the dog bounced over and was stuck in Arnold’s almond shaped eyes as he rubbed his ears. “It’s been about four weeks since and he’s perfect.” He turned to Blake, that warm gentle smile still on his face. “You for sure want him?”

Blake tried her best not to be overly exited, but Arnold’s own excitement was adding to her own. Greyson lead them outside, unleashing the pup and let him run around. Blake instantly kneeled and held out her hand when he came running back around. Sitting fully in the grass she listened as Greyson told her the story Blake felt her chest tighten. “That’s so sad.” There was still drool all over him, while Blake was looking at Greyson, Arnold came barreling toward her almost knocked her over. She giggled before rubbing his ears, holding his large head between her hands. “He’s friendly,” he stayed before a moment before leaving to go run in circles again. It wasn’t long before he was just sitting in the grass basking in the sun. “Can I take him home today?” She asked looking at Greyson with a hopeful look on her face.

Greyson shrugged one shoulder and nodded. “It is but he’s here and happy and healthy despite all the bullshit.” It’s part of why he was so drawn to bully breeds in the first place. Their bad rap and resilience. He could relate. Greyson felt an odd sensation run through his stomach. Like when you go over a hill too fast and catch a little air or right before a rollercoaster takes off. Oh. Right. Butterflies. That was new. “Yeah,” he said, his voice soft. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Yeah. Of course. Hang on.” Greyson ran inside for few moments and came back with a clipboard and pen. “Perks of your not-boyfriend boyfriend owning the place, you can do your paperwork outside,” he said with a grin as he sat down next to her and passed the clipboard. “Soon as all that’s done he’s yours. All his shots are up to date and shit. Lemme know if you got any questions.”

Blake was pretty sure her cheeks were hurting from how much she was smiling, but her smile only grew when Greyson came back with a clipboard and a pen. She took both in her hand as she started filling out all the paper work; checking her phone to make sure she got it call correct. "My not-boyfriend boyfriend is pretty fuckin' rad for this." She handed them back to him and she turned to Arnold. "You hear that? You're comin' home with me bud!" She was practically on all fours, staring into the face of this beefy looking dog with the widest smile on her face. To some people Blake probably looked crazy, but she didn't care.  "He needs a new name for sure. Arnold does not suit him at all." She stated scratching under his chin. "Any ideas?"

Greyson took the clipboard back, went over everything for posterity, and nodded to himself. "I'm rad in general but go off," he said with an eye roll before disappearing again, coming back with a small folder of info about his shots and microchip. He snapped a couple photos before crouching next to the both of them. Greyson snorted and raised one eyebrow in slight disbelief. "Both of my animals are named after places. That really the kind of advice you want?"

She snorted, thinking about Jersey and LA, they weren't terrible names, they were actually kind of cute. Blake hummed before letting herself fall into deep thought. "Chicago!" Blake said excitedly. She looked at Chicago and cupped his face, bringing hers close to his. "That's your new name. Don't you love it?" She asked before wrapping her arms around his neck and looking at Greyson. Part of her felt like a tiny kid in a candy shop, excited and happy. She couldn't remember the last time she had pure joy like this. "God, I have to get so much shit for him now."

"Huh," Greyson hummed, head tilted to the side as he surveyed the dog. "That actually fits pretty well. Nice." He decided then and there he could sit there all day and watch Blake fawn over this slobbery mess of a dog with three legs and be pretty content with his life. It brought back up that sore bruise of a spot called feelings which they'd yet to poke at again. Not that he was about to do anything to change that. "That you do," he said as he stood. "Let's get him outta here and start on that, huh?" he asked, extending one hand down for Blake and offering her the leash with the other.

Blake took Greyson's hand, standing up and taking Chicago's leash in her other hand. They walked back to her car, guiding Chicago into the backseat, Blake went in after him, making sure he was okay and adjusting to the car ride okay. As they got to the nearest pet store, Blake was grinning ear to ear as she walked Chicago up in down the isles getting essentials. A dog bed, bowls for food and water, food, treats, a spare leash and collar, and toys. Blake turning to ask Greyson every so often his opinion on what would be the best for Chicago. The next stop was Blake's apartment, to find a spot for Chicago's bed and to get me settled in. As She made her way towards the front door, Blake unlocked her door and went inside, everything seemed to be just as she left it the night before. Nothing was out of place, but a note on her counter that she couldn't have written herself. Picking up the piece of paper, Blake felt a chill down her spine as she read the words, written by Teller. She could feel her heart beating against her chest as she turned and handed the note to Greyson.

Greyson couldn't have imagined an easier day if he tried. They were finally getting somewhere, falling into step with each other, going about everyday life things without jumping down each others throats or doing 180s. It was nice. He added his input where warranted, joked and laughed and smiled and knew this dog was getting one of the best homes and lives any dog could ask for which really only reinforced the idea that he was doing something good in the world for once. And then the other shoe apparently had to drop. Greyson was just about to leave to let Blake and Chicago get settled in together when he was handed a note. His eyebrows pushed together deeply as he scanned it once, twice, his grip tightening on the paper, crinkling it where his fingers were curling in. His breathing was surprisingly steady a he glanced around the apartment, on the off chance Teller would've had the sack to stick around. "Get back in the car," he got out, his voice barely hiding the anger he could feel bubbling up. "You can't stay here. Let me know what you need, I'll grab it for you, yeah?"

She could barely make out words, worried that Teller was still there. Worried about her safety, not to mention Chicago and Grey's. It took her a moment before she could nod at Greyson's words, Chicago making noises at her feet. "I just need clothes. I can't take all my clothes. I have so much shit here. I --" Her breathing was starting to shorten, her head getting lightheaded. "I don't understand how he's found me. I did so well." Her brows were pushed together, wondering how long he had been watching her for.

Greyson balled up the letter entirely, shoving it in his back pocket and making his way over to Blake. He placed one hand gently on her cheek, leveling his eyes with hers. "Hey, look at me. This isn't your fault. Right now I need you to go back, lock the car doors and wait for me," he said softly as he pressed the keys into her hand. Greyson pressed a kiss to her forehead and watched until she was safely in the confines of his vehicle before he searched her place. He checked behind every closet and door until he cleared the whole apartment. Satisfied, he packed as many clothes as he could into a bag. They could come back another time or, hell, he'd buy her an entire new closet if that was what she needed. Greyson was quickly back out to the car, knocking on the window to let Blake know he was back. He spent the whole ride back to his place taking a few extra turns here and there, to ensure no one was following them, his hand on Blake's the entire time. It didn't feel like he was truly breathing again until the three of them were in his living room where he immediately turned to her again, his mind racing a mile a minute. "Okay. Are you okay? I'm gonna fucking kill that guy, I swear to fuck. First thing tomorrow I'm changing the lock on your door."

All Blake could do was nod, as much as she wanted to make sure her home was safe, the best thing she could do was to do what she was told. The thought of coming face to face with Teller wasn't the best way to spend in her brain. She hadn't seen him in years, after she got out of rehab she made it almost impossible for him to contact her. But of course with The Flash on air, she knew it was harder for her to stay hidden. Once back in the car, Blake locked the doors instantly, she wans't sure how Chicago was able to tell she was distressed, but ever now and again he'd lick her hand to let her know he was still there. It was kind and helped Blake more than she thought it would. Soon Greyson was back with a bag of clothes, she unlocked the door. While they drove back to his house, Blake spent the whole ride with her hand in his. It was the closest thing she could get to feeling completely safe. When they were inside, sitting on the couch, Blake felt drained, confused, and scared. Her mind was racing more than it had in years. She turned to Greyson and shook her head. "I don't know how this happened. I cut off all contact with him after I got clean. I don't know how he found me. He could come back, he could hurt me, my family, you. I don't know what to do." The fear in her voice was causing her to tremble in fear, the thought that anyone she loved would be hurt because of Teller because of her.

Greyson could practically feel how distraught Blake was in his own chest. Empathy, he figured. That was new too. All he could do was slip behind her on the couch and wrap his arms around her completely, enveloping her in himself as physically as he could to convey that she was safe now. Here. With him. "This isn't on you. He's a fucking psycho." Grey rubbed her upper arms slowly, trying his best to soothe her. He could hear how scared she was and it banged around in his heart. "We'll figure it out. We'll do whatever we need to. A restraining order or what the fuck ever. No one's gonna get hurt, B. You're not alone this time." He rested his chin on her shoulder after leaving a few soft kisses there, trying anything to provide little comforts in an impossible situation.

It was hard for her to not start crying, it was all too much. On top of a really great day Teller just had to find a way to make her life incredibly shitty. "How do you know that? How do you know he doesn't know where my mother is, or my best friend, or us. I should've pushed harder for a restraining order. I should done more and now I can't even stay in my own home." Blake's nose began to burn as tears fell down her cheeks, she buried her face into Greyson's chest, feeling the weight of everything on her shoulders. "I thought I escaped him."

Grey couldn't answer at first. Because she was right. He didn't know. Not for sure. He didn't know Teller's intentions beyond the obvious terror he intended to inflict on Blake. He didn't know the guy at all. But he'd be damned if he let that stop him. "That note was meant for you. He's trying to get to you. Call your family and friends anyway, let them know what's going on. Maybe that'll help. You have to stop blaming yourself for what that piece of shit is doing." Greyson immediately adjusted, making circles on her back with one hand while the other caught tears and rubbed her cheek. It just about broke his heart to see her like this, a pang of familiarity ringing through his chest. "I know. And you did. And you will again."

Blake looked at Greyson, part of her felt a pang is embarrassment and shame, it took everything in her not to pull away and shield herself. “Okay,” Blake said finally, she sighed and nodded her head. Closing the distance between them, she tucked her head under his chin, her body still shaking slightly. After a couple moments Blake pulled away, she wiped her eyes and shuffled a bit. “I need to call my mom.” She didn’t give Greyson much time to respond, she was up in a second and out back by his pool. There she spent the next half hour calling her mother and best friend, warning them to be extra safe not sure what Teller knew. Coming back, Greyson was in the kitchen, doing whatever it is he does. Blake walked to the kitchen and leaned against the bar. “I think I need to punch something.” She sighed, while talking to her mother she realized how angry she was. It was no longer fear but annoyance now. “I’ll be back.” Blake added before excusing herself to the gym in Greyson’s basement.

Greyson took it all in stride. He was never sure if his words were right but so far he seemed to be doing okay. Placing another kiss on her head, he laid out soft patterns across her skin with his fingers until she felt alright enough to part ways. He simply nodded and loosened his arms. As soon as she was out of the room, Grey made his way into the kitchen and checked over his shoulder before retrieving the note from his back pocket, giving it another once over. There was no way Greyson was going to sit idly by and wait for Teller to make another move. If he had any idea of the type of thoughts going through this guy's head -- and he was fairly sure he had a good idea -- Teller probably thought he was holding all the cards. Grey was ready to prove him entirely wrong. In the midst of his research, he could hear Blake returning so he quickly pocketed the note again and switched the tab on his phone to Uber Eats. He huffed through his nose at Blake's words. "Been there." Grey considered giving her some space and he did for a few minutes before following quietly, leaning against the doorframe with a towel over his shoulder and a bottle of water in his hand.

Ever since Greyson and her had gotten closer, Blake had taken it upon herself to put on a pair of boxing gloves. Taking her anger out on the bag, the feeling of Teller finding her, putting her life in danger, her loved ones. It was almost all too much for her, But Blake is the one who put herself in rehab, even if Indie was the reason she went; Blake did the work, Blake got clean, Blake started a new life for herself. And now Teller was trying to rip it all from her. The thought of being the victim here was not something she enjoyed. Soon enough, Blake stopped sighing before she turned around and say Greyson. “Hi,” Blake out of breath, wiping the sweat off her forehead. “How long have you been standing there.?”

Greyson watched with intrigue. Blake had taken to boxing about as well as he had and it was nice to have another thing in common. Especially with the root of it being so similar. Not that she knew that. But it was nice for him. She'd been consistently improving and that much was obvious, coupled with her obvious frustration at the lack of control Teller had afforded her with all this bullshit. When she finally noticed him, he hummed and shrugged one shoulder. "Long enough." Greyson crossed the space between them and handed her the water. "Do you feel any better?"

Taking the water bottle from Greyson, she smiled softly before taking a long sip of water, she shrugged before taking another. “I feel like shit.” Blake sighed rolling her neck to side to side before her eyes fell on Greyson. “I feel helpless, like he crawled his way back into my life after all the shit he put me through.” Blake’s grip on her plastic bottle crumbling under her fingers. “I’m pissed. I’m scared out of my god damn mind. And I shouldn’t be. I should be living my life. I should enjoy my day with my new dog, with you. And I’m here wondering how he got my address,” Blake could feel her chest tighten and her blood boil. “After all the shit he put me through. After raping me, after hitting me, after giving me coke he wants to ruin my life again? What did I do deserve that?” Blake didn’t even notice the tears in her eyes, throwing the water bottle on the ground. She let herself fall to the mat, sitting down and cradling her head. “I feel crazy. He makes me feel crazy.”

Greyson was already struggling for kind or comforting words. If that was even what Blake needed right now, he couldn't be sure. Maybe she just needed someone to vent to but he felt stupid just standing there listening. It didn't matter anyway because Blake dropped two brand new, giant pieces of information that left him reeling. He was pretty sure the ringing in his ears was just in his head but it was so loud he couldn't tell. His grip on the towel tightened until his knuckles were white, his jaw was set, and if it wasn't for the fact that Blake was practically in the fetal position on the floor, he'd already be out tracking down Teller's whereabouts. As it were, he had a very distraught, crying girl to tend to. Greyson forced his hands and face to relax though there didn't seem to be much he could do about the slight ringing. Kneeling down besides her and sitting back on his calves, he placed one hand on Blake's back. "What do you need right now, B? Say the word, whatever it is, whatever I can do. Big, small, stupid, genius, I don't give a fuck. You're not that trapped, helpless girl anymore. Don't let him make you feel like you are."

Having him here, did help. It was the first time the only person besides her best friend was able to ease the anxiety, the fear. His touch comforted her in a way she didn’t know it could. Blake nodded and sat up, it was true. She wasn’t helpless anymore, she wasn’t an addict anymore. She fought and fought for the life she had now and she was dammed id Teller was going to try to come back into her life and take it from her. She wouldn’t let him. Blake wiped her nose with the back of her hand, looking at Greyson. She knew the next words that came out of her mouth would surprise him, but he did ask. “I want to go to Disney World.”

Greyson blinked dumbly and huffed a half laugh. “For real?” Whatever amount of things he thought Blake could possibly ask for — a drink, a ride to her best friends house, a boxing session — not once did Disney World cross his mind. Ask and you shall receive, he supposed. He shrugged, arms fully up, and trilled his lips. “Shit, yeah, alright let me get a flight and, uh, pack shit I guess.” Grey already had his phone opened, tracking down flights and starting on accommodations.

“Yeah,” Blake replied, her voice a little shaky from crying and frustrating. “I went a lot as a kid with my best friend and our families. It’s one place I associate with total happiness.” Blake shrugged; not many people knew that Blake was a notorious Disney fan. Already on the phone, Blake calling Indie her best friend. Before she could pick up she looked at Greyson and smiled. “I’m inviting Indie,” She said before listening to Indie mention the girl she had been semi seeing. “And Joey? That’s her name yeah?” Blake asked Indie before looking at Greyson. “And Joey too.”

Greyson didn’t necessarily need an explanation. Right now he was sure he’d give Blake anything she could conceivably ask for but he nodded along nonetheless and smiled. “I can dig that.” Playfully rolling his eyes, Greyson was already changing the flight number to the 3 when the next name out of her mouth had him snapping his head up fast enough to give him whiplash. “S...St. James? Your best friend Indiana is inviting my best friend Joey? Are they... What is my fucking life?” The last part came out in a rushed whisper. He’d been so preoccupied he hadn’t had time to get up to speed with Joey’s life and clearly he missed a lot. “Okay. I got this from here. Four hours enough time?”

After getting confirmation that St. James was Joey’s last name, Blake laughed. “They met at her job or something. We haven’t had a chance to really talk about it?” She shrugged before nodding. “Knowing Indie she’s already packed.” With the promise of Disney World in the very near future she could smile with and ease and put Teller to the back of her mind.

#thread: 006 #thread: blake #thread: the other shoe drops

[courtofshipsandillyrianobsession]

November without you chapter 5

Elain have decided she had enough of arrogant male Faes. This had been decided this morning when she was in the woods. However, her determination to become a strong and independent Fae got frustrated moments later when she got a rash after touching a lot of poison ivy. Unfortunately poison ivy effects worked a lot faster and worse on her Fae complexion and before she realized she had a rash all over her body and decided to rest for a bit. 

She fell asleep until she heard a voice within her dreams…

“Elain…” the voice whispered. It was a soft voice, it helped her feel calmed, it was such a nice voice but at the same time so familiar. 

“Elain where are you?...” the voice repeated.

“Elain come to me…” the voice insisted, now close enough to wake her up. 

“Help… I am here. Please” the seer screamed. Before she realized what was happening, she saw a long red hair waving in the air. It was impossible to denight how good looking her mate was, even though she tried to denight it. 

“There you are, I thought I had lost you...” he said before letting a huge gasp of air to leave his lungs. Before Elain could do anything to resist it, Lucien got off his horse and lift her in the air before hugging her really tight. They stayed this way for a few seconds, before the male realized he might be making her mate uncomfortable and letting her go. 

“Sorry” he whispered as he let Elain in the ground once again and noticed the rash on her face and all over her body. 

“It’s fine. Don’t even mention it” she replied with a neutral voice. 

Before the seer could finish her last sentence, she noticed a couple of sun rays? Or something similar reaching her hand. It was a flow of something reaching her and second later she noticed it was fire. But it didn’t burn her… rather it make her feel empowered and totally free. The most surprising thing it was that this power was flowing out of Lucien’s hand. Seconds later the fire disappeared and the rash... was gone.

Her face must completely changed because immediately Lucien replied:

“I have the power to heal people from many things like courses or lethal poisons and know how annoying poison ivy’s rash can be. Forgive me for doing it before asking you first.”

“Thanks, it actually felt nice” she said in a low voice. She decided to continue: “so does all of your brothers have this healing power?”

“No, or at least I don’t know for sure, when I was little my brothers once played me a cruel joke. They actually gave me a map to a supposed treasure that some antique powerful Lord of the autumn court have left behind and when I realized it, it was a map make exclusively so I ran into many fields filled with similar poison ivy as the one you just encountered. When my mother heard what my brothers have done and she found me… she was relieved when she noticed that I was completely healthy… thought when I told her what happened she made me swear to never show or tell anyone about this abilities. Well at least until you disappeared and I couldn’t think of anything but your safety” 

Elain hated those kind cheesy lines, not just because until recently Greyson have said some similar things and he obviously had just said them to try to get into her pants… but because it made her feel guilty and incredibly awkward since she didn’t knew enough the Fae that was telling them, even though it was supposed that this bond worked in both ways, Elain couldn't care less to try to feel it too. But she knew it wasn’t right to show the usual indifference towards her mate because he have just saved her and opened some painful memories. 

“I’m so sorry, I have no idea. I mean I know siblings can be mean but I mean the worst thing Nesta ever did to me was giving me an indifferent look and pretend I didn’t exist” Elain told him to try to lighten the mood. 

“So you think while I escort you back to the house we could continue the conversation we were having the other day…?” the red haired fae asked

Elain could feel chills running through her spine as she remembered how they almost kissed and she had done nothing to try to avoid it… The male took her silence as an invitation to continue the conversation:

“I mean you know I would never ever hurt you or force you to be with me right? I already have lost someone really important to me and believe me, I wouldn’t mind if she was with someone else or if she despised me. I would just be happy to know that she is safe and breathing.” The fae continue to talk while they were walking toward the house. Just as Elain touched his shoulder to offer some comfort, she had a vision. She saw it all, the female whom Lucien have thought was hir mate, she saw it as if she was watching from the distance. She was beautiful and her mate had such different expression, he had a sweet smile and he touched the lady with such delicacy as if she was made out of glass. It was nice until she reached the part were her brothers decided to kill the beautiful lady. They were so cruel,she could only hear desperate screams, but even worse was the fact that she could hear the laughs and stupid jokes from Lucien’s brother as they were torturing the poor thing. 

“Stupid Lucien, this will teach you your real position. You will never be a high lord and you will always be weak because you couldn’t even save the woman you loved.” 

As she transported back to her body, she felt a dry tissue running through her cheeks, she had been crying and Lucien was drying her tears. She was too sad to be angry or to stay away from the Fae. She couldn’t think of anything else but to think how such an ass she had been. She had been depressed over the fact that Greyson left her, that she thought she was suffering. But she had been so wrong, at least Elain knew that Greyson have decided to left her so it was easy to despise him, but for Lucien it have been a hundred times worse. He had to watch the love of her life been killed in front of him, when clearly neither of them wanted to leave each other. Before she could think of anything else, she decided to hug the fae even though she knew that he didn’t know that she had seen a painful memory. 

As Elain was letting go off the Fae. Moment later,  she saw a glimpse of something that was watching them from a tree. But as she was ready to look up, she felt a pair of lips kissing hers. Elain didn’t knew what to do, all the lips she had ever tasted were Graysen but this was a completely different feeling. She felt an electric current running through her veins. A deep part inside her never wanted that kiss to end, but another part took control over her body.  She pushed the male away and went running away. 

As she arrived to the house, she saw Cassian and she decided to run through the lord commander. 

“El what’s up?” the lord commander asked with a big smile.

“Please Cass, Lucien is running toward here, I need you to tell him I am not here and that he needs to go home”

“Fine, but at least you could tell me why?”

“No” she responded

“Fine, so I guess you must face Lucien and see what happens because it turns out I have some important things to do, but I mean if someone would've told me exactly why she didn’t want to face a certain male I would definitely help that someone…” He replied with a mischievous smile. 

“I hate you, but fine just not right now, please he is coming. Tonight… I promise I will tell you tonight”

Before she could finish the last word, the lord commander have grabbed her and fly towards the balcony. Cass left her there in a hidden spot and went to face Lucien who have just arrived. She saw both males exchanging a few words. Elain could see Lucien was looking everywhere, she knew that he was looking for her. But a few moments later, her mate looked angrily at Cass. He was frowning but the Illyrian had that same idiotic smile and Elain couldn’t stop laughing as she imagined all the ways the lord commander teased her mate. It seemed that it worked because after a few moments, the red haired fae walked away towards the human reign. 

Just as she lost sight from Lucien she felt a pair of strong arms grabbing her.

“Thanks Cass, I owe you” the seer said

But as she turned toward the illyrian, she noticed the blue siphons…

“Sorry to disappoint you miss Archeron but I am not Cass” he said with a cold  and frighteningly neutral tone. 

Damn, she thought. He have stopped calling her miss Archeron since the night they met and it bothered her that he used that stupid and formal tone. <<No way, he saw that kiss. I mean he wasn’t near.>> It was strange but she had learnt to feel his presence, since the cauldron have changed her, she didn’t understand quite how but she was sure there was no one near.

“So, are you ready for your training today miss Archeron?” Azriel asked

She simply nodded as she hold on tighter to the illyrian. 

masterlist: https://courtofshipsandillyrianobsession.tumblr.com/post/184016524579/masterlist-november-without-you-elriel-elucien

#elain x azriel #Azriel #elriel #elucien #elain archeron #acomaf #a court of mist and fury #a court of wings and ruin #fanfic

[tarasstorybook]

Magic Parasite

Ever since Ornias had gone missing, Greyson had been able to keep Phoenix and his magic under his thumb. As soon as Phoenix started to doubt and question him, Greyson used his own magic to put an end to it, making a potion that would quickly get rid of any doubts Phoenix had about him and snuck into his drinks when Phoenix wasn’t paying attention. Phoenix’s magic was more powerful than his own, Greyson could sense it before he saw Phoenix when they were younger. He told the convent what his twin was capable of when he figured it out, what he wasn’t counting on was how close the two were and how determined Phoenix would be for the next three years to try and find him. Greyson didn’t care much for the friends Phoenix had and did his best to keep him away from them while Phoenix was under his spell. It only worked for so long till they found Ornias and the spell wore off, so now it was time to go for a different route, one that would work better.

Phoenix was happy to have his twin back, and he knew that Brie and the others were happy too. As nice as it was though, he needed to go out and get a few things, either for replenishing things he needed or for experiments he was working on. Phoenix made plans to go out and run errands with Greyson, he had so many questions to ask him, including why everyone thought he was involved in his brother’s disappearance. He couldn’t understand how he played off the accusations so calmly, Phoenix was starting to have his doubts and starting to believe that everyone was right. There was only one way to find out though, he didn’t like the idea but he would have to compel Greyson to tell the truth.

“Ready to go Phoenix?” Greyson’s voice pulls Phoenix from his thoughts. He was standing outside the door to his room.

“Yeah, just packing a few last minute things.” Phoenix stuffs the last of what he needs in his bag before slinging it over his shoulder.

“Good, your brother’s dog is starting to growl at me and he doesn’t seem to be calling her back anytime soon.”

“She’s only a puppy Grey, she can’t hurt you.” Phoenix teases, closing the door behind him.

“Still.” Greyson rolls his eyes. “It gets a little annoying after awhile.”

“Maybe she’s territorial?” Phoenix muses.

“If she was then she’d growl at the others.”

“I don’t know then.” Phoenix sighs, it was getting harder and harder to appease Greyson, Phoenix didn’t know why he even bothered to try anymore. “I’m going to say bye to Brie before we leave.”

“I’ll wait outside, don’t take too long.”

“I won’t.” Phoenix walks to where his sister was, he found her in her study reading. He knocks on the open door to get her attention. “Greyson and I are going to run a few errands, we’ll be back in a few hours do you want me to pick anything up while we’re out?”

“No thank you Phoenix.” Ambriel sets her book down and stands up. “Do you have to take him with you? Why not your brother or the friends you’ve made?”

“He insisted that he came with when I told him of my plans, said he had a few things to get himself so I figured why not?” Phoenix shrugs. “Arnie’s been home for a few days, I just thought maybe he’d want to stay in one place for a little while.”

“Just be careful.” Ambriel says as she pulls him into a hug.

“I’m only going into town for a few hours, it’s not that far.” Phoenix laughs a little.

“I know, but I’m your sister and it’s my job to worry about you and your brothers.” Ambriel pulls back to look him in the eye. “Just promise me okay?”

“I promise.” Phoenix smiles at her. “I gotta get going, don’t want to lose daylight.”

“I’ll see you later Phoenix.”

“See you later Brie.” Phoenix quickly goes to join Greyson on their walk to town.

While they walked Phoenix had made a list of everything he needed to get while they were in town. He was also thinking about how he was going to slip him the potion without him noticing.

“You okay Phoenix?” Greyson gets his attention, he noticed that Phoenix was awfully quiet during their walk to town. “You haven’t said a word since we left.”

“What? Oh, yeah I’m fine just going over what I need again is all.” Phoenix does his best to give him a reassuring smile.

“Okay.” Greyson highly doubted that, he had learned rather quickly how to tell when Phoenix was lying to him. “Do you want to stop somewhere for lunch?”

“I packed us food.” Phoenix smiles, pulling out what he made the two of them. “We can stop now, maybe sit under that tree there.” Phoenix points to the tree he was talking about.

“Sure, sounds good to me.” Greyson starts to walk towards it and sit down.

Phoenix follows and sits down by him, pulling out what he brought with him he hands Greyson his food. Pulling out his own the two eat in quiet, Phoenix wasn’t sure how he was going to give his truth potion to Greyson. Hell he wasn’t sure if he was keeping his thoughts off his face well enough to be able to do it.

“You put us under an apple tree.” Greyson comments, he had looked up at some point.

“Did I?” Phoenix looks up, he truly hadn’t noticed it he only chose the spot because it had a lot of shade.

“Mmhm.” Greyson used the distraction to his advantage, slipping a few drops of a potion into Phoenix’s water canteen, quickly storing it away when Phoenix looks back at him.

“Guess I did.” Phoenix smiles, he takes a drink from his canteen not noticing that Greyson had put a potion in it. “That’s kind of amusing, I didn’t intend for it to happen.”

“Funny how things work that way.” Greyson smiles back, more so that Phoenix was now going to be in his control than amusement about where they were sitting. “You ready to get going?”

“Yeah, you?” Phoenix packs away the remnants of his lunch.

“Yup, hang on to this for me?” Greyson holds out the remains of his food, testing to see how much his potion took affect.

“Um.” Phoenix hesitates a moment before taking it. “Sure I guess.”

Going by how Phoenix had hesitated before doing what Greyson said it wasn’t fully working, it just meant that he hadn’t taken the full dose. Greyson mused that it shouldn’t be too hard to get him to finish the rest of it. Greyson rises to his feet, holding his hand out to Phoenix to help him up. “Come on then, we’ve got things to get don’t we?”

“Yeah.” Phoenix takes his hand, brushing any lose grass off of him. “I have an idea of where I need to go.”

“By all means lead the way.” Greyson gestures to the road before them.

Phoenix smiles and laughs a little before walking down the path of where he wanted to go. There was so much for them to do and so little time in the day to get it all done, if they went quick they could be done before the sun went down.

As the day went on Greyson had coaxed Phoenix into drinking more water, giving a fair point about the summer heat that day. Phoenix had supposed that it was fair reasoning and followed his advice, unknowingly finishing off the potion Greyson had given him. There was just one more stop to make, Greyson decided now was as good a time as ever to see if it worked.

“Phoenix why don’t you let me carry your bag for you? It’s got to be heavy from the things you’ve collected.”

“Um, I’m okay. It doesn't really bother me.” Phoenix tries to turn down the offer.

“Let me hold it for you.” Greyson insists, his tone a little more stern.

“I…” He didn’t want to, it truly didn’t bother him but he couldn’t bring himself to tell Greyson no. “Okay.” He finds himself saying as he hands it to him.

“It just looks heavy is all, I wanted to give you a break for a little while.” He gives Phoenix a reassuring smile. “Go ahead and get what you need, I’ll wait here.”

“Right.” Phoenix nods and walks off to talk to the vender.

Greyson used this chance to see what Phoenix had been trying to hide from him all day. Rummaging through it he pulls out a vial with a blue liquid in it, Greyson immediately recognized what it was, having used the spell himself a few times.

“Truth spell, nice try Phoenix.” He empties the vial of its contents into the grass. “You won’t be needing this anymore, all things considered.” He puts the now empty vial back into Phoenix’s bag where he had found it.

Phoenix soon returns with the last of what he needed. “Can I have my bag back?”

“Sure.” Greyson hands Phoenix his bag, opening it up for him so he could more easily put his items in it.

“Thanks Grey.” He slings it back over his shoulder. “The sun is starting to go down, we should probably start making our way home.”

“Let’s take the long way home.” Greyson suggests.

“But the way we came was so much faster.” Phoenix looks at him confused. “Brie’s going to-”

“Brie will be fine, just tell her you wanted to take the long way home.”

“But I don’t want-”

“Let’s go Phoenix.”

“Okay.” Phoenix finds himself shrinking back from Greyson and how he spoke to him.

Greyson turns and starts to lead the way back, he makes careful note to up the dosage seeing how Phoenix was trying to resist him. Greyson also notes how the white of Phoenix’s eyes had started to turn grey, a small side effect but one that nobody would notice and if they did it could be written off as him not feeling so well.

The sun slips well below the horizon by the time they get back, Ambriel was in the main room waiting for them when they walk in the door. She gets up when she hears the front door open and close behind them.

“Phoenix thank gods you’re okay, where the hell have you been?”

Phoenix throws a look at Greyson before answering her question. “Wanted to take the long way home.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Ambriel questions, it wasn’t like him to take so long to get home, not on purpose anyway.

“We wanted to watch the sunset, right Phoenix?”

“Right.” Phoenix agrees with him, he didn’t want to though but something was keeping him from telling the truth.

“Let’s go put your things away.” Greyson takes him by the arm. “Gods know how you like to keep things organized.”

“Okay.” Phoenix finds himself letting Greyson pull him away from Ambriel, what the hell was wrong with him?

“You okay Phoenix?” Greyson looks back to him.

“I don’t know.” He answers, he really didn’t know if he was okay usually if Greyson suggested doing something he didn’t want Phoenix would protest until Greyson gave up.

“Perhaps you’re just tired, it is pretty late and we’ve been out all day in the sun. Why don’t you take a minute and sit down? You can always put things away later.”

“I guess so.” Phoenix sits down on his bed, he was pretty tired he gave him that.

“Perhaps get some rest Phe, I’ll come by tomorrow to see how you’re doing.” And maybe charm him a little more when he gets the chance, but that was something that could be left unsaid.

“I am kind of tired.” Phoenix admits.

“I know dear.” Greyson places a hand on his shoulder. “It was a long day, and we did a lot of walking. I’d be surprised if you said you weren’t tired, again get some rest and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Phoenix nods, maybe he was just tired they did have a pretty long day.

“Goodnight Phoenix.” Greyson kisses the top of Phoenix’s head before leaving.

“Goodnight.” Phoenix quietly says back, he lays down in what he was wearing during the day, he was too tired to get changed. He could worry about changing out in the morning, right now he felt drain and just wanted to sleep.

#original characters #original story #Original Work #original writing #My writing #My Story #my work #my ocs #dnd au #phoenix #greyson #magic parasite #Greyson is a magic parasite #he wants phoenix's power #and will do what it takes to get it #he wont win #there will be hell to pay #once phoenix gets free from his spell #phoenix will get his revenge #ive been musing about it #so I wrote it down #have a half assed ending #its getting late and I hit a wall #might go back and edit #or maybe not #idk yet

[neutralsupply]

Volume III - Beginning | Ezra’s Story | Save Me Directory

Throughout the night, Ezra had secretly hoped Safeena would slip up, revealing something about herself he would absolutely hate, and that could turn him off of her for good. But no. Safeena had be the most gracious date he had ever had the pleasure to take out: refined, poised, funny. When halfway through dinner he had realized he was barely tasting his food, so engulfed as he was in her amusing stories, spoken in her mesmerizing accent, he knew he had practically signed his own sentence. 

They genuinely had fun that evening. Safeena had discovered paella, and she just couldn’t stop raving about how absolutely amazing it was, which prompted Ezra to take mental note to tell Mrs. Greyson to add paella to their dinner rotation. They had shared a bottle of Domaine Ramonet Montrachet Grand Cru and she had gushed about actually tasting lemon in the wine. Clearly a lightweight, she was tipsy two glasses in. Ezra generally didn’t enjoy being around intoxicated people, but Safeena only got more adorable, the wine loosening her stiffness and adding a beautiful rosy tone to her dark skin. 

With it being an incredibly mild January night in San Francisco, he had suggested they walked the mile back to his place. On the way over, Safeena had unleashed all of her sibling stories, spilling the beans on her brother. Apparently, he had a fascination with sticking his willy in jars of marmalade and for hiding himself under his mother’s skirt, among other things. Ezra could barely keep the tears back for how hard he was laughing the whole time. “I never made Adbel to be the clingy type.” Safeena lifted an eyebrow, giving him a really expression. “Oh man, you have no idea. The boy could hide under his mother’s skirt for hours.” Ezra grinned, turning to look at her. “I’ll keep your stories in mind when I need leverage over my employee,” he said with a wink. Safeena giggled, nodding. “Be my guest. I’ve got plenty more where those came from.” Her voice died a little in her throat when Ezra’s hand gently landed on the small of her back, inviting her through the revolving doors of his apartment building. He smiled a little to himself, his ego swelling to the idea that he did indeed have some kind of effect on her. He just needed to remind himself he had no right to act upon it.

Inside the lobby, the elevator operator saw his approaching and straightened his back. “Good evening, Sir. Fifth floor?” he ask, tipping his hat. Ezra stiffened instantly, waving his hand at the man as to shut him up. He looked at Safeena covertly from behind his eyelashes, and noticed her confused frown. “No, thank you Frank, we’ll be going up to the penthouse. Miss Haddad is staying with me.” It was hard to ignore the little gasp that escaped Safeena’s mouth as she covered her blushing face in embarrassment. He looked down at her, shrugging apologetically. It’s not like he meant it that way... Okay, maybe he did. So what if his doorman believed they were together? He sure wished they were. Frank straighten himself up after the initial surprise of his statement. Ezra had lived in the building for three years now, and not once did he take a woman to the penthouse with him. Not unless he had taken her to the fifth floor first, at least. “Most certainly, Sir. Your elevator is on its way.” Frank turned his key in the control panel to activate access to the penthouse floor, and held the door open for the two of them to walk in. “Thanks, man. Have a good night,” Ezra dismissed him, his eyes peeled on Safeena.

They didn’t say another word to each other as they climbed to the 26th floor, nor did they speak as they walked into his foyer. Then, they stood in front of each other by his marble staircase for several minutes. Soon, the awkwardness left lingering between them from the elevator scene had dissipated. Ezra found that while he had loved experiencing her tipsy, chatty side, simply staring into her beautiful eyes did it for him, too. This girl could do no wrong. Tentatively, he took a step forward to bridge the distance between them. Safeena welcomed him, gently placing her hands on his chest. It was an intimate gesture, of the type Ezra wasn’t used to. He tensed up immediately, and Safeena must have felt the change of atmosphere between them because she quickly lowered back her hands, and her gaze quickly followed. “Are you coming to sleep?” she asked to break the emotionally charged silence between them. When Ezra raised an eyebrow at her suggestively, she blushed. “In your room, I mean. Not mine. I’m going to mine.” Ezra giggled at her babbling. His sweet, chatty girl was back. His? 

“I’d like to, but no. I have some neglected work that really needs to be done, and I’d probably be more productive in my office.” He had never resented in his job once in his life before that very moment, when Safeena’s little smile turned upside down in a pout. He lowered his head onto her shoulder, inhaling her scent. Once again, silence fell between them. His hand was so close to hers, and every time her fingers would brush on his, he could feel chills down his spine. He took a deep sigh, his jaw clenching as his body responded to her presence, his pants tightening. “If you need anything, feel free to call Mrs. Greyson to help you.” His tone was once again awfully contractual, and Safeena hardened on instant. She retracted her hand away, stiffening, her head turning away from the man still laying on her shoulder. “No need. I can handle myself on my own.” Her tone was as cold as his had been, and the distance they first had between them suddenly returned.

Ezra sighed, turning his face around so his forehead was laying on her shoulder. Dammit, they had been doing so well. And he had to go be his own usual dick self and spoil it. “Alright, so be it. Goodnight, then.” He couldn’t help the bitterness in his voice. Despite Safeena still allowing him to touch her, he knew she was lightyears away already. “Goodnight,” she said, turning around to face the stairs. She climbed the first step, then stopped. She turned around, and when she looked at him again, her beautiful, breathtaking smile was back. “Oh and, Ezra? Thank you. I did have fun tonight.” Ezra smiled back at her, nodding. Safeena pulled a strand of hair behind her ear, maybe as an excuse to remove her gaze from his burning eyes. Then she turned around, and quickly clicked her heels up the stairs.

#save me from me #volume 3 #Ezra #sims 4 #ts4 story #sims story #sims legacy #ts4 legacy #sims 4 legacy #legacy #sims 4 story #short story #story #the sims 4 #ts4 #simblr #sims #sims 4 gameplay

[mg-cg-me-cx]

*Emerson lays arms and legs spread wide the field of the park. the sky is dark but it is not night. the world is dim but not black. everything has been submerged by its own shadow. everything is dark but not sad, calm. there are grass stains on his dark green shirt. the footsteps approaching are overshadowed by the music. dirty vans approach the right side of Emerson's dirtied face.*

Greyson: you alright

*Emerson looks up at Greyson with no response*

Greyson: is suppose to rain i think

Emerson: good let it

*a red camry pulls in front of Emerson's house and peers across the street into the park to spot the two*

*Greyson sits down on his skateboard and starts picking through the grass throwing some pieces of grass on Emerson*

Emerson: *spitting pieces of grass off his face and sitting up aggressively* what the hell man

Greyson: *not effected* sorry

Emerson: why don't you just leave me alone i'm laying here minding my own business because i want to be alone

Greyson: if you want to be alone so bad why didn't you get up and move

Emerson: i figured you'd leave not put down your board next to me

Greyson: i'm looking for a four leaf clover for my girlfriend

Emerson: cool can you leave me alone

Greyson: no

Emerson: why

Greyson: cause

*Emerson falls back into the grass with a sigh and a thud*

Greyson: wanna help me look

Emerson: no i don't

*Greysons gives only a shrug for a reply*

Emerson: who's your girlfriend

Greyson: well she's not really my girlfriend but she's the most intricate thing i've ever met and i want to learn everything i can about her

Emerson: *sitting up* wow that's actually incredible how does she feel

Greyson: i don't know but she doesn't mind my company so that's a start

Emerson: well that's really sweet kind of a big jump from girlfriend though

Greyson: yeah i know a man can dream

Emerson: i'm Emerson by the way

Greyson: i know, but i'm Greyson

Emerson: oh i'm sorry i didn't recognize you

Greyson: no it's okay i think this is the first time we've ever really talked. i don't really talk much. i like to observe more than i like to talk.

Emerson: oh well what else do you know about me?

Greyson: i know that you were hoping i was someone else right that's why you got so angry

Emerson: what no i wanted to be alo-

Greyson: in your head there was a person you were hoping to open your eyes and look up to. you wanted to look up and see the person that would resolve all your issues right, but it was just me. a random ass dude that isn't who you were hoping it was

*there is a long pause. Greyson knew exactly why he was there. Emerson had no idea how Greyson knew. there was this unspoken knowledge in the air.*

Emerson: i'm gay

Greyson: i know thank you for sharing that with me

Emerson: yeah i don't know why i said that

Greyson: something else i've learned is that people will open up to people that they don't really know because they feel as though they have nothing to lose. also if you set the right environment people who don't usually open out will

*Emerson isn't listening, but in awe of what is happening to him*

the best or most successful experience for me has been in a car parked by a park playing a specific type of music. songs that tell a story. and songs they draw you in with the first beat. music that inspires people's emotional energy, drawing that oh as the music draws you in. It's a really incredible experience.

Emerson: do a lot of people know that i'm gay

Greyson: *realizing that Emerson didn't absorb a word he'd just said* i mean i'd say so but i don't really talk to a lot of people like i said so maybe not

Emerson: well how'd you know

*Jackie exits her home to inspect the red camry. she knows the driver, so she knocks on the window*

Greyson: i like to observe more than i like to speak so that helps me pick up little clues about people and their personalities and such

*the car door unlocks and Jackie enters the vehicle.*

Emerson: so you're saying i act differently?

Greyson: i mean everyone acts differently. even when they are trying to be the same.

Emerson: okay so what's different about me?

Greyson: your body language

*Emerson gives no response, insinuating that Greyson should explain*

Greyson: and don't think i've watched you specifically i'm not a psycho path i can tell you tons of things about a ton of people i just pay closer attention to the people i find interesting

Emerson: *confusedly* thanks?

Greyson: *not effected by the tone* yeah *beat* so like at prom last year the way you would hold Susan Kamry's waist didn't exude any actual emotion it's like you were just doing it to pass the time

Greyson: and the on our senior trip this year when Jackie McElders slept on your shoulder, on the bus ride home, you just look kinda bored

Emerson: i was *starting to laugh* i really was but i didn't want to wake her up so i dealt with it

Greyson: it's not obvious but all me and my friends do is observe so we can tell *beat* you don't have to hide it

Emerson: i know and i don't it just never comes up i mean if someone asks i'll tell them but no ever really asks

Greyson: so who did you want me to be

Emerson: it's dumb

Greyson: no it's not don't undermine yourself like that

Emerson: but it's super cliché

Greyson: come on

Emerson: *buring his head in his arms and knees* *muffled* Milo Carter

Greyson: who

Emerson: *muffled again* Milo Carter

Greyson: look we both know i can't understand a word you say like that

Emerson: *bursting up out of his fetal position* MILO ALEXANDER CARTER

*the shadowed figure turns around in its sit to face the window. the hand reaches for the door but fails to open it*

Greyson: yeah *beat* i can tell he is too he has an awful personality complex. My friend Clarence actually figured that one out. you know you should really hang out with us sometime and try it out.

Emerson: what do you mean a personality complex

Greyson: *finally standing* i can't explain nearly as well as Clarence could so you should ask her.

Emerson: you really can't tell me

Greyson: nah but if you look for us at lunch maybe she could.

Emerson: fine okay

Greyson: *reaching out his hand to pull Emerson up* good

*music fades in louder over shadowing the conversation as shot pans out to them and the whole park.*

*in the car*

Jackie: you know you make my son really happy. like smiling ear to ear and really blushing happy. and i'm not sure what it's like on your end i hope that he makes you happy i really do i really hope he makes you happy. but you gotta learn that you don't gotta come out to anyone but yourself and then just act accordingly. people are gonna nag and they're going ask you questions and it's suck to deal with it, but you don't owe anyone an explanation. if you really wanna make me son happy. more than you already do come out to yourself. live your truth prove that you're not afraid of nothing, not even ur expectations. okay?

Milo: yeah thank you

*Jackie exits the car and walks inside before Emerson could notice anything. Once Greyson and Emerson reach the road Greyson puts his bright blue headphones back on his head and rides down the road leaving Emerson with a whole new perspective on how he should carry himself and how other people act.*

Emerson: *sitting in the passenger seat of Milo Alexander Carter's red camry he can finally look up to see who he was hoping to find* hey

Milo: *with a slight smile* hey

*Milo drives off down the road with a overly content Emerson riding with him*

[takadasaiko]

Such Great Heights (a Wynonna Earp fanfic)

FFN II AO3

Summary: Everything looks perfect from far away, but the closer she looks the more cracks in that perfect façade Wynonna finds.

Part Two

The Sheriff's station was surprisingly empty as Willa made her way in that early afternoon, a hot tea in hand and she hadn't dared pick up a coffee for Wynonna. She knew herself well enough to just avoid the temptation. No alcohol and no caffeine. She'd forgotten how cranky being pregnant could make her.

"Hey, sis, what are you doing here?"

The eldest Earp sister turned to find Waverly standing at the front desk, leaning on it a little as if she had been chatting with Nicole before she'd interrupted. "I was looking for Wynonna."

"Oh, she and Dolls are out tracking down a lead on one of Wynonna's special cases," Waverly answered. "Something about a judge using kids to work illegal angles or something."

"She's been working more and more of those cases lately. You guys get the demons under control?"

"Dirtbag and demon aren't exactly mutually exclusive," Nicole pointed out. "The guy had some serious ties to Revenants back in the day."

"Anyway, I thought you wanted to stay away from all the Earp stuff," Waverly teased.

"Hey, I served my time with it. Daddy thought I'd be the Heir until you came along and Peacemaker all but flew into your hand."

Waverly gave a small smile and ducked her head. Willa reached out, playfully pooping her on the shoulder. "What did Mama always say? Everything has a purpose. You ended the curse and we're all free because of it. Grace too. Anyway, they used to come after all of us. Could you even imagine Robert fighting a demon?"

"I'm kind of surprised he even believes in all of the supernatural," Nicole murmured thoughtfully. "Most people I meet that are from Purgatory are all but brainwashed into ignoring everything that is happening around them."

"He's always been pretty open minded about it." Even so, Willa had plenty to be grateful for in that he'd never been dragged into the fight. He was a stubborn man and loyal as hell. He would have tried to do anything he could to help protect her, and it would have gotten him killed in the end. No, Mama was right, things work out as they should.

"Should I tell Wynonna you're looking for her?" Waverly asked, her voice a little hesitant as she pulled her older sister out of her thoughts.

"I'll catch up with her. She's just going to get the news second."

"What news?" Then it seemed to click. "Oh! You had you ultrasound today! Did you find out?"

Willa's grin only grew. "We did. Grace is having a baby brother."

Waverly squealed. "Have you picked out a name yet? Greyson maybe? Or is that too close? Maybe that's too close."

"Actually Robert and I like the name Wyatt."

The youngest Earp sister paused, her eyes growing just a little bit wider and her voice was soft when she spoke. "I like it."

Willa pulled in a steady breath. "Good, because I was going to ask if you'd be Wyatt's godmother."

Waverly blinked at her, her expression blank. "What? You want me to be…."

"Wynonna is Grace's, so it just seemed… right that you should be Wyatt's. I mean, you are kind of the keeper of all the family history and with us naming him Wyatt-"

"Yes!" Waverly squeaked. "Yes! Of course! I just thought… nevermind what I thought, yes! Wait, what's his middle name? Is it going to be Earp? Or would that be overdoing it just a little?"

A laugh escaped and she shook her head. "We haven't gotten that far yet. Probably not though." Her hazel gaze flickered over to Nicole. "We're asking you too, Nicole. I know you guys haven't tied the knot yet, but you're family."

Nicole's smile stretched. "Definitely. You know I love you guys."

"You hear that, Wyatt?" Waverly asked. "I'm not just Auntie Waverly anymore. I'm your godmother."

Willa groaned dramatically, swatting at her younger sister. "Gah… don't make me regret this," she teased, but suddenly she was being dragged forward as Waverly wrapped her arms around her tightly.

"I love you, sis."

"You too, Waves. Just… keep it quiet until I tell Wynonna? I promised her she'd be the first to know."

"I think she'll forgive you. Anyway, won't Robert tell her?"

Willa tilted her head in question. "Why would Robert tell her?"

"That's where they are, over at his school following up on some of the rumours about the judge," Nicole explained, glaring at the phone on the desk that started to ring.

"I need to get going," Willa offered. "Did you ever decide on a date for that announcement party?"

"I'm thinking the beginning of next month."

"Just let me know. I'll clear Shorty's for you and we'll get Doc to decorate. Who knew the man had a hidden talent?"

Waverly grinned at her and Willa offered her another quick hug before waving goodbye to Nicole who had the longest-suffering look on her face as she told whoever was on the other end of the phone that, again, this was the sheriff's office, not the bakery. Just another day in Purgatory.

It was amazing how certain judgements lingered long after they should have faded away. Wynonna felt like she was a student all over again as she shuffled through the halls, avoiding eye contact with some of the older teachers that recognized her from her days there. She hadn't been that bad, not really. She had smoked weed behind the gym, skipped a few classes, but all in all she'd been no worse than Willa the year ahead of her, and once they'd both been in high school together they had definitely raised more hell than they had separately, but no one seemed to remember Willa like they remembered Wynonna. It probably didn't help that Waverly followed after, her 4.0 average and perfect attendance a goal that Wynonna never would have been able to reach when she was there, much less in retrospect. Their parents hadn't played favourites, per se, but everyone loved Waverly. The perfect student, the perfect Heir…. Well, that was one thing Wynonna wouldn't envy her sister. She could keep that.

"I still can't believe you actually went to school here," Dolls said, breaking Wynonna from her train of thought. "I mean, like a normal teenager." He was bent over looking at the trophy case like he hadn't seen it half a dozen times since moving to Purgatory years before with the intention of working with Ward Earp to end the Revenant threat in the town. Instead he'd found three sisters dressed in black for their father's funeral after a terrible car accident and the youngest Earp the one able to fire the gun passed down from generation to generation. Wynonna had understood why he stuck it out in their crazy little town for the two years that it took Waverly and Team Earp - as she liked to call them - to take out all of the Revenants, but what had kept the war hero that could have taken his operation anywhere in the world in Purgatory of all places was still beyond her. Not that she was complaining. Dolls had given her purpose in her job. Apparently plain ol' Wynonna was pretty good at taking names and kicking ass, even when some of those asses she was kicking were demons drawn to Purgatory in the wake of the broken curse.

"Sort of normal. I was still an Earp."

"And all that entails. Tell me you weren't a cheerleader."

"You wish. That was Waverly. Willa went out for it one year too, but she didn't last long. Something about an attitude problem." A small smile played on her lips as she remembered how smug her big sister had been when she'd gotten booted. That had been the real accomplishment, not making it.

"Every teacher in this place hates you, don't they?"

"Well, not every one. There are some that don't know me. And I don't think Robert hates me. Kinda hard to get a read on the guy sometimes."

"He's been married to Willa since before I came into town."

"Six years…? No. Five. Between five and six." She struggled to put the memories in order. "They didn't date very long before tying the knot. They started dating after Doc and I did, but got married before us."

"Okay, that part doesn't shock me."

"Why's that?"

"It takes you a while to commit, Earp."

"Hey now, asshole."

Dolls lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Once you figure out what you want, you're all in, but getting there? Don't even try to tell me you're the trusting type."

"None of us are," Wynonna murmured. "I think that's why it surprised us that it happened so fast, but she trusted him. Robert was the exception to every norm Willa had."

"Seems to have worked out."

The bell rung overhead and doors opened all around them, sending kids flooding into the hallway. Wynonna and Dolls were bumped and jostled as teenagers rushed for their lockers. "This was a terrible idea!" she called over and between, wherever she could find a hole to try to shout at her partner.

"Not like we could just call her to the office," Dolls answered, pushing through to get closer to where Wynonna stood. "What'd you say her name was again?"

"Jessica… something."

"Helpful."

"Hey. Alice refused to go to sleep last night. She was determined we needed to watch Frozen at least five times before she'd even consider bed. You're lucky I'm not still sleeping, pal."

Dolls rolled his eyes, but she was sure she saw his lips quirk at the corners before he turned to use his height to survey the running students.

Somehow it was Wynonna who spotted her though, and she reached out to grab hold of Dolls' jacket to drag him along with her. "Hey! Hi. Jessica, right?"

The girl she'd spotted looked over with suspicious blue eyes, adjusting her backpack over one shoulder. She was tall and skinny, her clothes hanging off of her like they were hand-me-downs from someone much more broadly built. "Who are you?"

"I'm Deputy Marshal Dolls and this is Deputy Earp. We just have a few-"

"I didn't do anything and I have a class to get to," the girl answered and started past them.

"We know," Wynonna said as she reached out and latched onto the bag, effectively halting her escape. "We just want to ask you a few question and I promise you get to walk off to wherever you want to go after with a free pass through the class you're supposed to be in if you want it."

That caught her attention and she looked around as if to make sure they weren't being noticed. "The whole thing?"

"Yep." Wynonna could feel Dolls glaring at her, but it was the only way she was going to get this kid to talk. She felt familiar, somehow, like she knew her even though she couldn't remember seeing her before this.

Jessica nodded slowly, positioning herself in a less visible spot of the hall, her stance still tense and nervous. "I don't know what you think I know or what you think I've done," she muttered.

"Oh, we know what you've done. A few B&E's mostly," Dolls said and Wynonna felt the urge to elbow him in the ribs. Hard. She resisted though. Good cop, bad cop.

"Yeah, well, that's not news," the girl grumbled, her fingers playing at a long necklace that caught Wynonna's eyes. A key hung at the end of it, a few beads worked into the necklace itself.

She shook the strangest feeling of deja vu from her mind and focused. They were here to help this kid. The necklace wasn't important. "And you're answering to Judge Cryderman, right?" She watched the girl go quiet at that. "Yeah, I thought so. Real dick. That's the guy we're after. We just need to know if he's asked you to do anything illegal. Anything that he told you to keep to yourself. If he-"

"No," the girl snapped.

"Jessica, we can't help you if you don't help us," Dolls warned.

"I can't help you with something I don't know. So, if we're done, I gotta go."

She shoved past them, not even bothering with the pass for the class. Wynonna looked at Dolls and he huffed a frustrated sigh. "That guy is so dirty."

"Oh yeah."

"But if none of the kids will talk, we can't prove anything."

"I'm not saying I'd be willing to break into his office to find evidence, but I'd totally be willing to break into his office to find evidence."

Her partner offered her a glare that lacked any real commitment to it, but the conversation came to a halt as they spotted a familiar face. Robert Svane, his messenger bag hanging from one shoulder and keys in the opposite hand, paused in the middle of the hallway, peering through his glasses at them. "Hello," he greeted with one dark eyebrow quirked upward and a small, hesitant smile starting at his lips. "Harassing my students today?"

"Trying to catch a bad guy. We were hoping that one of them might have some answers for us."

"Oh, you won't get them to talk to you directly. Not with that," Robert said, motioning to the badge on Dolls' belt. "That makes you the enemy in their eyes."

"And you?"

Robert shrugged. "Depends on the student. Some talk, some don't."

"This one's Jessica. Long dark hair, key necklace?" Wynonna prompted and watched her brother-in-law's eyes narrow just a little as he tilted his head to indicate that they should follow him. He moved towards a room and pushed the door open.

Wynonna hadn't been in Robert's classroom in some time and her gaze swept over the rows of desks, the overflowing bookshelves, and finally came to rest on the framed photo of Willa kissing a giggling Grace that sat on his desk, a small smile working its way into place. He must have caught her looking at it because his own expression had lightened considerably when she looked back over at him. "Found out we're having a boy today," he told her. "That's where I've been, so you caught me just in time. I'd have had a class next hour."

"What do you know about the girl?" Dolls prompted.

Robert pulled in a deep breath, starting to unpack his bag on his desk. "She's in the foster system. I don't know the whole story, but I do know she's been in and out of St Jude's."

"Just Cryderman's type," Wynonna grumbled. "Someone no one would believe even if she'd be willing to ask for help. You think you could talk to her? Let her know we're not trying to hurt her?"

"I'll see what I can do."

She nodded, feeling like there should be more. It was something dancing on the edge of her mind, something that didn't fit or that shouldn't fit, she wasn't sure. After a moment she pushed it back. If she thought of it later, she'd know where to find him. She started to turn, but stopped. Maybe that was it. "Congrats, by the way."

Robert's grin flashed immediately. "Thanks."

"You guys have a name picked out?"

"Yeah. Wyatt. Just act surprised when Willa tells you. She's been lookin' forward to it."

Wynonna found herself smiling too. "Oh I know she has. Doc'll want to take you out to celebrate tonight. Just don't giving him any ideas, got it? Alice is more than enough right now."

"No promises," he offered with a sly wink and she rolled her eyes at him as she turned, Dolls moving with her as they went back onto the trail of a dirty judge.

Word traveled fast in the Earp clan and just as Wynonna had predicted Doc called for a celebration that evening. The last minute timing meant that only he and Robert actually made it to said celebration, but that worked out well enough. It would be like old times, just him and Robert and a few glasses of whisky between them. It would be just like their undergrad days.

Robert had rolled his eyes a little at that one, but Doc knew the man. He had always needed a little coaxing to loosen up and he relied on Doc to be the one to do it. What better excuse to have a few drinks and smoke a couple cigars did they have than finding out that Grace was getting a baby brother, just as Doc's precocious little niece had predicted.

"I'd say things worked out," Doc said, the words tumbling over each other a little more than they had a drink or two before. "We always said we might as well be family. Who'd've thought we'd marry two of the Earp sisters?"

Robert snorted a laugh, taking a long sip from his own glass. "Times do change."

"Ha. But sometimes you stick with the people who've seen it all." He motioned to the bartender. "You know he shaved most his hair sophomore year of undergrad on a bet he lost? I want you to picture Robert Svane with a mohawk for just a second. Man looked like a damn viking."

"That's his last one," Robert told the chuckling bartender, motioning to Doc's drink.

"Willa know about that?" the younger man asked.

"Oh, she has photos. I made sure of it," Doc assured him. "And one more. We're celebrating, and Robert ain't near drunk enough."

"Wynonna's gonna kill me," Robert managed as the bartender did as Doc asked and refilled his glass.

Doc flashed him a grin and gave a him shove, a little disappointed that the other man didn't tilt any more than he did on his barstool. Nope. Definitely not to their limit yet. "Another for him as well."

"Oh hell," Robert chuckled. "We are not repeating that night before graduation, you hear me, Holliday?"

The grin didn't fade as Doc lifted his glass to toast. "To every decision we've made that brought us here, good and bad, and to little Wyatt Svane."

Every argument that he might have made seemed to wash out of him at that as Robert clinked his glass to Doc's and the two tossed the whisky back in celebration of the newest addition.

Doc watched the other man as they both set the newly emptied glasses down, noticing the slower movements and the clumsy way he reached up to shove his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. There was that limit. He'd seen it many an evening over the years of their friendship. First in college, then when Robert had had visited each other during the darker haired man's master's program and Doc's brief stint through dental school. As different as they were, they'd remained close throughout it all, and here they were, years later, family.

And family took care of each other. He reached into his wallet and pulled out enough to cover both sets of drinks and tip before motioning to Robert. "C'mon."

A pair of icy blue eyes blinked owlishly at him from behind those glasses. "What?"

"You think this is the only thing I had planned? What kinda best friend would I be?"

Robert shook his head and stood a little unsteadily from his barstool. "You're the one that'll hate yourself in the mornin'," he drawled and Doc swung an arm around his shoulders.

"Oh, we'll find somethin' that gives you a hangover one of these days, don't you worry about that. It's on my list of life goals after all the times you've been fine and dandy the next mornin' with me sicker 'n a dog." His friend snorted and Doc grinned, guiding him towards the door of the bar. This was going to be a fun night.

By the time they reached the end of the main street that wound down to the path that led out towards the edge of town Robert was starting to recover at least some of the feeling in his face and extremities. His steps had steadied out just a little better, or he thought they had anyway, but then all of a sudden that strange sensation of sudden tunnel vision would hit that would screw with his equilibrium. Drinking with Doc Holliday was always a bad life choice. Fun, but a bad life choice.

"You got a lighter on you?"

It took a moment for the words to make their way through his mental filter to make sense of them and Robert looked over to where Hank had somehow managed to turn and actually look at him while still walking forward. Okay, well at least one of them was steady on their feet. "I quit when Gracie was born. You know that."

"Sure you did."

"I did."

Hank offered a shit-eating grin as he pulled out two cigars and Robert shook his head. "I hate you."

"You do not," his friend argued and started digging around in his own jacket pocket with his free hand for something to get them lit with. He held one out and Robert took it.

"So we needed to come all the way out to the town line to smoke these?"

"Nah. Coulda done that back behind Shorty's." He found what he was looking for and the flame jumped up from the zippo.

Robert shook his head and leaned in, letting the flame burn the end of the ready cigar and he inhaled, feeling the nicotine hit and the smoke travel down his throat. Damn. He'd really tried to forget how much he missed smoking.

"We came out to the edge of town because I'm gonna teach you to shoot."

Blue eyes popped open and glared over his glasses, smoke releasing along with the one word answer he gave. "No."

"Yes." Hank lit his own cigar and Robert watched him carefully as he inhaled, his lips twitched upward like he thought he'd already won this argument. "You grew up in Purgatory and never learned to shoot. That's why you don't like guns. You don't know how to use one."

It was only then that Robert caught sight of the pistol tucked away in its holster. More people carried than not in Purgatory, even into the bars, so it hadn't phased him until right then and his thin lips twitched doward. "You're drunk."

"So are you. That's when you make the best decisions of your life."

"Oh that is not true," the darker haired man managed, the words riding out on a chuckle. Funny, he thought he was sobering up a lot faster right about then.

"I promise not to shoot you if you'll say the same," Hank laughed as he started for the fence line, eyes scanning for something along the bushes. It took him a few minutes, but he found a few empty cans from whatever teenagers had come out here to avoid getting caught with their party. He lined them up on the rock fence between the metal bars, grinning as he finally returned, pulling the pistol from his belt and Robert took a very purposeful step back.

"You're drunk enough to see double. Exactly how do you plan to hit-"

The first shot made him jump and the first can, fit between the bars, went flying. The second went after that, and finally a third. Hank looked very satisfied with himself. The fact that Robert was gaping at him probably didn't hurt. He'd always known the man was a good shot, but this drunk? Not to mention at night and between the bars of the old fence.

"Your turn."

"Oh no. I'm more than happy to watch."

"You married an Earp, Robert. The fact that Willa hasn't-"

"Willa was well aware I couldn't shoot when we got married. Hadn't forgotten that in the five years since either."

Hank all but shoved the pistol into his hand and Robert took a deep drag from his cigar. He thought he could use another whisky right about then. "Fine," he all but growled, shoving the smoking cigar into his grinning friend's hand as he shifted the gun from his right to his left hand and back a couple more times, trying to decide which it felt more comfortable in. Neither. Neither was the answer to that question.

"You're a lefty aren't you?" Hank asked.

"I write with my left, yeah. Few things with my right."

"Think they call that ambidextrous."

"They do," Robert agreed and he leveled the gun, wondering just what would happen if the bullet happened to hit one of the bars. He could just see it ricocheting off to one side, doing some damage or the other that he'd never meant. This had to be the dumbest thing he'd done in years. If he thought about it, most of his truly dumb decisions had been made after he and Hank drank way too much. He had the scars to prove it.

Motion to his left caught his attention and Robert spun to look, taking the gun with him and causing Hank to jump back. "Woh, first lesson is you don't point that thing at someone you ain't willin' to shoot."

Robert immediately let the barrel drop. "Did you see that?"

Hank turned, scanning the treeline where Robert was sure that he'd seen something move just moments before. He shrugged. "Probably a bird or a coon. Maybe a deer?"

"Right."

"Don't let it spook ya. Just aim and fire."

"Right," he repeated, swallowing hard and forcing himself to relax. He put pressure on the trigger, steadying himself to pull it, and nearly jumped out of his skin as his phone started vibrating in his pocket. The shot went off and the gun recoiled, leaving him standing there for a long moment just gaping in the direction the bullet had sailed, finally snapping his mouth shut hard enough that his teeth clicked together and he shoved the gun back into Hank's hands. "I shot it."

"You have got to be the worse shot I have ever seen in my life," his friend chuckled, exchanging the gun for the cigar and Robert was much happier for it.

He put the cigar to his lips and inhaled deeply as he fumbled to pull his cell out of his pocket, his fingers still feeling a bit clumsy. Apparently the adrenaline hadn't fully burned the alcohol out of his system. "'lo?" he answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Is Doc still with you?"

Dark brows drew together and he double checked the phone, seeing Wynonna's name and a photo of her flipping him off light up the screen. "Yeah. He's got a phone too, y'know."

"That'd be great if he would answer it. What the hell are you boys doing? You're not at Shorty's."

Robert chuckled, shifting the phone so he wasn't speaking directly into it and mouthed Wynonna in answer to Hank's confused expression. That seemed to confuse him even more and he went searching for his own phone.

"We're at the town line. He thought it'd be a smart choice to try to teach me how to shoot."

"Yeah? How'd that one go?" his sister-in-law chuckled.

"'Bout how you'd expect. Hank, you lose your phone?"

"Mustta left it at the bar. Let's head back for it. You're a hopeless case anyway."

"On this, yeah. I do a few other things alright though."

"You guys heading back then?" Wynonna asked, reminding him that she was still on the line.

"Yeah, you wanna check with the bartender to see if he's got it. We're…" There it was again. The same movement. It caught Robert's gaze and this time he was certain it wasn't an animal.

"Robert!"

Robert spun when Hank shouted, but it wasn't his friend that was suddenly behind him. He thought he heard Wynonna yell over the phone, but it went flying from his hands as he stumbled back, finding a creature standing right in front of him that was most certainly not human either. Robert hit the ground hard, rolling to his left to avoid the clawed creature that came down after him, and he struggled to his feet as a shot rang out from Hank's direction.

The creature stumbled, hit square in the chest, but it only knocked it back enough to give Robert a chance to put a little distance between himself and it. Hank shot again and a terrible roar erupted from it.

"I think the only thing you're managin' to do is piss it off," he said lowly as he finally got to his friend's side. "I thought all the Revenants were supposed to be gone. Waverly broke the curse. What the hell is that thing?"

"There are still plenty'a demons drawn here. Looks like we found one of them."

Robert couldn't help but stare, the creature straightening itself out so that it loomed over both men's heights. It was ragged, dark, and looked ready to rip them limb from limb. He'd always believed in the supernatural, but seeing it like this, up close and in person, was something else entirely. "We can't outrun that."

"We're gonna have to try. Aim for the line. Maybe it's like the others and can't cross it."

It was worth a shot. It couldn't get both of them at least and if Hank's theory worked out, then they could get across the line and wait for Wavelry to bring her gun and send the thing back where it belonged.

Robert risked a look behind him, spotting the demon making a beeline for Hank who raised his pistol, the gun giving a echoing click proving that he'd used the last bullet in the chamber. "Hey!" he called out, catching the demon's attention and suddenly it was on him. Robert turned and ran.

He made it to the gate and was right at the line, but his boot hit a patch of ice and he felt himself falter. He twisted, trying to catch himself and he felt a burning sensation as he did, but he didn't have time to try to figure out what he'd twisted out of place as one of the clawed hands grabbed hold of the back of his jacket and dragged him back, throwing him roughly to the ground. He hit hard, his head bouncing off the half-frozen ground and the world pulsed around him dangerously, dark spots dancing across his vision. He was fighting a losing battle for consciousness, Hank's shouts sounding further and further away as the darkness closed in around him.

Notes: Well, that didn't take long for them to find trouble, did it? I hope everyone has a fantastic New Years! I plan to get some more writing done this evening :D

#Wearp fanfic #Wynonna Earp #Bobo Del Rey #Doc holliday #Waverly Earp #Nicole Haught #Willa Earp #Such Great Heights

[meonlyred]

hey how did your dnd session go??? how's my girl lark doing???

Urg we still didn’t make it to Gludio yet. We got stopped by a group of highwaymen and the fight took way too long. It was a good thing though. We got some more hints about what was going on. 

Let me start with what we know so far... it’s a lot:

After finding out that Lark has been followed almost since our game began we got clues it was at the behest of this guy nicknamed the Basilisk. He sent a guy to follow “the brown haired bitch.” Come to find out that Basilisk had two bastards sons: Eduard and Kenton. They were two of the bandits that found Lark and her lover Aiden in the woods that fateful day. They were the ones who killed Aiden. Lark killed Kenton. Eduard was the one who got away and went to Gludio and spun the tale saying that him and his hunting party meet Aiden in the woods and a wild witch attacked them and killed all but him.

We tracked Basilisk to Silverymoon where we learned about the mother of Eduard and Kenton. Putting on a disguise Lark and the some of our party went to meet her. Her name is Layne Greyson, we found out that she is a wealth and extremely powerful wizard. She never married nor had any desire to. She has multiple beloved children from a couple different fathers. I love her and am mildly sorry Lark killed one of her sons. (And might kill the other one.) 

Come of find out she doesn’t entirely believe the story that a feral wood witch murdered one of her sons and Aiden. Layne blames Basilisk for leading their sons into his more unsavory life. Lark did not reveal who she was to Layne because she might still be really upset that she killed Kenton. 

We gave her a white lie saying that we were after Basilisk for other reasons, whom she was more than happy that we planned to kill. But she did ask that we try and spare Eduard.

Layne gave us the name of Ethan’s sister. Ethan is the name of Aiden’s father, by the way. Arianna is captain of the Spellguard. When talking to her, she explained the shortly after Aiden’s death his mother committed suicide leaving Ethan to dive deeper into anger and depression. At this point Basilisk showed up in Gludio and began to buddy up to Ethan. 

Now Ethan does little for his town and Basilisk and his group of ruffians run Gludio. Arianna believes that the reason Ethan has allowed Basilisk to take over the town is because of something magical. She gave us a potion to try and counteract any kind of magical effect on him. 

Lark pass the signet ring that Aiden had given her before he died to Corrin, our fighter. Since Corrin is from noble birth too, he pretended to have been old friends with Aiden and showed it to Arianna. Arianna told us that the ring was not from the Hawklight family but from Aiden mother’s house of Cerwyn. And that Aiden was the sole hire to both houses. (Too fucking bad for them that Aiden didn’t get Lark knocked up!)

She also gave us a warning that a couple days after Aiden’s death (which puts it the same time as Lark father’s death) something went terribly wrong with the Cold Wood. That people who have entered have vanished.  

After that we set off to Gludio. On the way Lark tried to speak with her raven, Gwyn, to see if he knew anything about what was going on with the Cold Woods. All she could get out of him was “Danger!” “Wrath!” and “Guardian!” Which was being said in a different voice than the one he normally uses.

I asked our DM if Lark had any clue what he was talking about. She had me roll a wisdom check. She said that Lark recalled when she was very young having an “imaginary friend” who watched over her when she was out in the woods. When she would tell her father about them, he would shrug and say “that is just how these woods are.” 

The next day we run into a road block by a group of highwaymen lead by a woman named Corthana. We murder the hell out of the group and manage to keep two of the bandits alive for questioning. 

The best part was one of the bandits had run off down the road. Our adorable, little, gnome Pip ran him down on his phantom unicorn steady, knocked him out and dragged him back. 

We discover that Corthana was the lover of Eduard and one of Basilisk henchmen. She had apparently been sleeping with both of them to get position and power. 

They also told us that Eduard likes to visit the local brothel in Gludio without paying for serves there.

We allowed the two bandits to leave, telling them to head south and if we ever saw them again we would finish the job. 

Lark went to the corpse of Corthana and studied her face carefully. Also taking her headband and ornate battleaxe in hopes to lure Eduard into a trap and then use him for bait against Basilisk.

So Lark really isn’t doing super hot. She might be getting closer to her revenge but she is really stressed by all the huge revelations that are being thrown in her lap.

#Lark of the Cold Wood #DnD #Our Campaign #hydrospanners

[sf-fallonmaddox-blog]

“Once in awhile, Right in the middle of Ordinary life, Love gives us a Fairytale.”

I was born on November 23rd, 1996

According to my parents it was a surprisingly nice day as far as days in late November go. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, Snow white was probably somewhere off in the distance with all her forest friends singing a little tune considering how much like a fairytale they made the day of my birth sound like. It was fitting though, from the moment I was born until the day I declared I was too old for it, I was treated and pampered like a princess. Constantly dressed up in all pink, spoiled beyond the point of rotten. I was the only girl to parents who were trying for another baby in an effort to repair the marriage that my father’s affair had nearly torn apart. For the most part, it worked. The two of them shared a love for me that pulled them back together and reminded each other of the things they loved about the other. Things between the two of them appeared to have been completely repaired, but the older I got the more I realized that my parents were phenomenal actors.

By the time I was 10 and declared I was done with being their pretty little princess, after an especially rude remark from a boy at school, I started to notice the signs of their broken marriage. The long weekend trips my father would take claiming they were business trips. Even at such a young age I knew he was full of shit. What really confused me the older I got was how my mom never seemed bothered by it. It was strange, seeing this beautiful and poised woman, someone I wanted to be just like when I grew up, kiss my dad goodbye knowing well that he was going to be spending the weekend with another woman and just appearing to be so okay with it. Seeing that, a loveless marriage that they were staying in for whatever reason that may be now that I was realizing I wasn’t quite strong enough of a glue to hold them together, made me vow to never give myself in any way to anyone I wasn’t sure about.

I can’t remember exactly how old I was when the shift happened. The shift from little girl playing with her barbies and coloring her princess books to pre-teen girl who noticed the boys my brothers hung out with for more than just being their annoying friends. I was barely filling out my training bras already prancing around the house in bikinis just to get a rise out of the older boys. There was one occasion when one of Greyson’s friends, Tristan, had crossed the line with me. He had been the easiest to get attention from and back then, that’s what I craved most attention, no matter if it was the wrong kind and coming from anyone other than the one person I really wanted it from. I had my friends over, Grey and Ash had theirs over, it was how most summer days went. Except this time our parents were gone and since I was “responsible” enough by my brothers standards they snuck me a wine cooler here and there when the other girls weren’t paying attention. With or without the assistance of the alcohol, I’d have been flirting as I was just as the other girls were. Except my flirting was an attempt to get a rise out of a specific friend of Ashton’s who was there that night and maybe the alcohol made me a little more forward than I’d typically be. Especially considering I hadn’t even had my first kiss yet. That wouldn’t come until early the next morning.

“Hey Fal, why don’t you come over here and take a seat on Daddy’s lap? “ That was the first time I had ever had anyone call themselves my daddy other than my actual father. Maybe the alcohol slowed my reaction time, or maybe Greyson has superhuman speed, whatever the reason, before I could even manage to tell Tristan that he definitely did not look anything like my dad, Grey had descended upon him. I’ve seen my brothers fight before, but never in my defense before since I’d never needed them to up until then. Ashton had come charging over too, stopped by Dominic who looked nearly as angry as my two overprotective brothers. “Yes! Fuck him up, Grey!” Raleigh, Ashton’s best friend, started the chant that began. Harlow had a hippopotamus floaty around her waist, one hand holding a bottle of Tequila and a lime wedge in the other,always the life of the party she did a little dance in sync with the chant. “Fuck him up! fuck him up!” I was too shocked to partake in the chanting. This was the exact moment that had set the Don’t even look at my baby sister rule into stone. No one even dared to look at me longer than necessary after that. Including people who weren’t even there that night. Tristan’s face was like a big black, blue, and swollen warning sign for weeks after that. Except it wasn’t enough to intervene with fate, thankfully.

As much as I enjoyed the attention wherever I may have gotten it from, nothing compared to the feeling of receiving it from the one person I really wanted it from. Dominic Thomas. There were always so many different reasons that could have stopped my pining after Dominic. Our age difference of 6 years, his friendship with my brothers, the fact that he was already on the fast track to a career when I was only just starting high-school. The thing is, though, when you’re as hard headed, strong willed, and determined as I am, or as any Maddox is for that matter, it takes a lot more than that to stop you. Age is nothing but a number. Friends come and go. I wasn’t going to stand in the way of his career. I reasoned with myself telling myself that these were perfectly acceptable counter arguments for the things that should have stopped me from pursuing Dominic. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with my reasoning with myself and more to do with the aforementioned Fate. I saw the way he looked at me when no one else was paying attention. I saw the way he tried so hard to hide that triumphant grin when the eye contact we made had me blushing so furiously that I looked like a very ripe tomato. The things I felt whenever I even so much as heard his name had to be reciprocated. I could just feel it. When you know, you know. I had been told that so many times and never believed it until he came along and turned my entire world upside down.

My first kiss had been received in my kitchen. It was early the morning after the pool party my brothers had. My two bestfriends at the time, the Keller Twins Tabitha and Tiffany, were still asleep as was the rest of the house. I, on the other hand, was wide awake always rising early on the mornings after drinking. Back before hangovers even existed for me. I had just finished making my morning smoothie and had begun cleaning up even though Maria would have done it when she came in later that day. After tossing the paper towel I had wiped the counter with into the trash I turned to see Dominic entering into the kitchen. The glass I had in my hand containing my smoothie slipped out of my hand when the sudden sight of someone in the kitchen frightened me so much that I had gasped and jumped in surprise. I jumped again when the smoothie splattered on the ground, the plastic cup dumping its contents on the ground. Neither of us spoke, I was partially covered in the strawberry banana smoothie standing on one side of the mess and Dominic was on the other. It was only a moment of silence that passed between us before I broke it. “I honestly think this would look much better on you than it does on me.” I really don’t know what possessed me to do it, but before I knew it I had scooped some of the smoothie that had splattered on my shirt off from it and reached up to spread the chilled confection across his cheek. I don’t think I was even nervous of his reaction, I didn’t even have time to grow nervous really because the second I finished making a sticky mess of his face he was laughing and so was I. When our laughter had come to an end joyful smiles were left in it’s wake. “Stop looking at me like that.” I said. He laughed in response and lifted a questioning brow. “Like what, Fal?” He asked. “Like you’re wondering if I’m going to give in and kiss you already.” My forwardness knew no bounds, even then, so I did it. I stood on my toes and Grabbed his face. I kissed him and he kissed me back his hands grasping my tiny waist gentle and rough at the same time. I had no idea what I was doing, sure I had seen people kiss plenty of times, but nothing prepares you for the first time you try it yourself. It wasn’t the fairytale that I had always thought my first kiss would be like, it was even better. It was like tiny little fireworks were going off inside of me, my head was spinning and my knees were weak. The sound of someone coming down the stairs had caught Dominic’s attention, or so I assumed since his sudden pulling away from me and hiding on the opposite side of the counter happened right before Ashton came into the kitchen. I stood there in total shock, eyes wide, sticky smoothie mess still on the floor in front of me. Ash merely grunted in my direction went right to the frigde, opened it, grabbed a water, and then retreated back the way he had come from. I didn’t even move until I heard his bedroom door from all the way down in the East wing slamming behind him. “You can come out now.” I said and Dom soon appeared from behind the island he looked as flustered as I likely did. Anxious energy surrounded us. “We can’t do that again.” I didn’t even have a chance to process what he was saying before he rushed out of the kitchen leaving me to clean up the mess I had made after he had effectively made a mess out of me too.

I never did stop trying to figure out what I could have done that was so wrong that Dominic would declare that after one little kiss that we couldn’t do it again. I thought he felt what I had. Those explosive fireworks, but I had to of been wrong. I had to of seen the wrong signs, maybe I had imagined them all. But if I had imagined that Chemistry, why did I continue to feel like it was still there? Why did I continuously feel like any time our eyes met that there was this magnetic connection? I hadn’t started feeling that until after that kiss, so how could that possibly have just been a product of my imagination? I moved on with my life, even though my poor little heart had been utterly destroyed by my first real crush. I spent time with friends, friends much older than I should have been spending time with, which is how I met Brody. Growing up with two older brothers who included you in things when they could made the older crowds easier for me to relate to. While Dominic had girlfriends who came and went throughout the years, I didn’t date anyone. I couldn’t, not when he was still the only person I could fathom ever being with in any romantic way was Dominic. Sure, I tried. I had other kisses, but every single one was so bland and uneventful in comparison to my very first kiss. Eventually, I gave up on the aspect of romance. Gave up on the idea of true love. Totally abandoned the hope of having my soulmate. Brody helped with that, he was never in town for long, but when he was he would help me sneak out of the house at whatever time of night just so we could do whatever adventurous, yet innocent, thing we could think of. He was like another brother to me and a bestfriend. I told him everything, withholding names and dates to save myself the trouble of having to explain how much of an idiot I was for lusting for someone so much older than I had been that previous year.

Between the ages of 16 and 17 I felt like most teens do, like I knew everything and didn’t have to listen to anyone no matter what they said, if their opinion differed from mine they were automatically wrong. “Those shorts are far too short, young lady.” They could be shorter and I’m old enough to choose my own clothing, old man. “Those friends of yours are no good for you.” Actually, those friends of mine are fucking great. “Absolutely Not, Fallon Evelyn Maddox. Those boys are too old for you to be hanging around. Especially dressed like that.” Absolutely yes, I rock the fuck out of this dress and those are men, not boys. Stubborn, hard headed, strong willed, always feeling like I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I would make it a point to be dressed in as little as possible whenever Grey and Ash had their friends over in the hopes that Dominic would be amongst the group. He was damn near every time. I did this each and every chance I got, shamelessly flaunting myself in front of everyone. The only things about me that had really changed from my first kiss up until that point in my life, other than the obvious things, were my clothing choices, my confidence, and my lack of a fuck to give. I was so sick of the constant war with myself, the war that had been raging since that first fucking kiss that I was determined to win the battle once and for all. In order to do that, I had to prove that I was never wrong about those reciprocated feelings, no matter how long it took. A year and a half of purposely catching Dominic’s eye when I could. Flaunting what he could have had if he hadn’t pushed me away after that kiss. A year and a half of entertaining flirtations of the other friends of my brothers just to see that little flickering of jealousy in Dominic’s eyes each time he witnessed it happen. A year and a half before finally he was beginning to crack.

“Are you trying to get me killed?” Not quite the question I had been anticipating after being stopped by Dominic in the dimly lit and empty hallway that led to my bedroom on the wing opposite the boys.  “Um, no. I’m trying to go to bed.” Dominic had released my arm, but he hadn’t even so much as inched back away from me. “Do you know how hard it is to keep fighting the things you make me feel? Especially when you’re slinking around in stuff like this, letting guys like Ryan Stephens put their hands on you?” I knew it. I knew it. I FUCKING KNEW IT. The triumphant chant going on inside of my head was so intense that it slipped out of my head and passed my lips. “I fucking knew it.” Shaking his head, Dominic stepped away from me. “Is this some kind of game for you?” If I hadn’t been so damn thrown off by his question I’d have gotten a few in myself. I was still so confused. If he had felt similar to how I had, then why had he reacted in such a way? “Don’t say a word to your brothers.” There it was, an answer to temporarily rid me of my confusion. “Dom! Grey’s here, let’s go!” Ashton’s voice carried up the stairs just around the corner from where we were standing. I didn’t get to voice any of the questions that were finally coming to me before Dominic placed a hurried kiss to my forehead and then he was gone. I heard as he went down the steps making up some excuse about why it had taken him so long to get back down there. He said he had lost his wallet, yet it had likely been tucked into his back pocket the entire time. Just like I thought I had lost a sizable piece of my heart that day back in my kitchen, except I was wrong. Dominic had that piece of me in his possession. Safely hidden away, afraid to let anyone else see that he had it.

Maybe my life has been a bit of a modern day fairytale in some aspects. It’s got all the required components. The Princess: Me.  The Prince: Dominic. The “villains”: My father, brothers, and any women in my way. Most fairytales have the forbidden love theme and my love story fit into that so perfectly. Forbidden by age. Forbidden by family. Forbidden for reasons I’ve only now come to understand as justifiable. Just like Ariel, Jasmine, Cinderella, and the like; I, Princess Fallon of Maddox Manor, Will not give up until I achieve my Happily Ever After.

#so this took forever #but there ya go!

[kaitlinthelostgirl]

December, 2016

I can never stay away from Disney for long and went back on another vacation as soon as my semester ended (literally. I left the day after my last final). My friend, Beth, let me stay at her house, so I didn’t have to pay for a hotel. Then I had friends help get me into the parks. It was a pretty great trip and I figured I would share a couple of my best memories from each park. 

Hollywood Studios 

Our first stop was Hollywood Studios and I surprisingly got to see a lot of my friends from my last program. Of course we had to go see Moana in One Man’s Dream since I am now obsessed with her movie. She was just as beautiful as I expected and while I liked the design of her location, I really wish she had a better spot to be in instead of in the maze of One Man’s Dream. We also went to go see Kylo Ren (I can’t pass up a chance to annoy him) and got a pretty cute picture with him even if the attendant did get mad at me despite the fact that I didn’t even touch him, because I know that’s a no-no. We also saw Donald at the front of the park next to guest relations in his original outfit and we visited Olaf since my friend, Alison, had never met him before and specifically wore her Christmas Olaf shirt for him. 

Somehow I managed to get fastpasses for Toy Story Midway Mania only a week in advance and so we headed over to Pixar Place which came with a wave of memories. It just so happened that a couple green army men were out and Alison had also never gotten a picture with them so we tried to wave one down. I got one’s attention and he held out his hand for me behind his back, so I took it, but instead of getting him to come over to Alison, he just started walking with me. I didn’t fight it and I could hear my friends following me and whispering about whether the green army man knew me or not. This was when he finally looked over at me and things started to click for him. He pointed to where Buzz and Woody were and I agreed that I had worked here a lot. However, he was a little confused on what my job was and was trying to use charades to tell me that I should go be friends with Buzz. It has also been a while since I’ve played charades with characters so I wasn’t doing very good at figuring out what he was saying so he kept getting really frustrated. Finally I just had him write it down and before I could explain that I was an attendant, his set was over and he had to go away. We went on Midway Mania and the whole time I was trying to figure out what he was trying to say. After the ride we sat down on some benches since we didn’t have anywhere to be and Alison and I were exhausted after getting only a couple hours max of sleep. While we were sitting there, my friend, Emmanuel, appeared and gave me a big hug. He had just gotten done working with the toys so we stood there and talked for a while before another army man appeared, because he noticed Emmanuel who then pointed to me. The army man freaked out and literally lifted me off the ground in a hug, this being a tall soldier, my feet were dangling practically a foot off the ground. All of the guests were so confused. I got lots of kisses from the army man and he stayed standing with us while we talked, until I started pointing out the kids that were wanting his autograph or a picture like the attendant I am. 

I ended up checking out the new breakroom for Pixar Place which is sooo much bigger than the old one and actually has couches and a TV instead of little benches that fit maybe two people. I hung out with Emmanuel and then caught up with some other friends that came in on their break and probably stayed there for a good half hour or so. Finally I made myself leave when Emmanuel did and we walked to the Great Movie Ride together before giving one last hug as we parted ways so I could go find Alison and Beth. 

Our plan had been to watch the new show Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! and then rush over to Fantasmic and we managed to do it, but we ended up sitting in the very very back where there is about 8 rows of bleachers behind the main walkway. The viewing for things in the water was TERRIBLE and people kept standing up in front of us to try and see, but I didn’t really care since I have seen it so many times. 

Overall it was a great day in my third home at Disney. 

Magic Kingdom

Our second day in the parks was spent in Magic Kingdom and again, I got to see so many friends. Ashleen and Jarren, co-workers from parking, got us in at EPCOT since parking was not as crazy over there, and then we took the monorail over to Magic Kingdom and Ashleen joined us while Jarren went off to hang out with his brother. Of course there was a lot on our to-do list and we pretty much managed to do it all. 

First, we went over to Space Mountain to meet up with my old coworker, Jamie, while he was on his break. Like always he caught me up on what was going inside of the mountain as well as inside of the parks. He was also an angel and gave us some paper fast passes so that we didn’t have to worry about the crazy lines.

Around 2:30 we had to check in for Tiana’s Riverboat Party. While I had been looking at dining options for Magic Kingdom, I saw that it was finally a thing and knew that I had to go whether my friends went with me or not. Beth and her boyfriend ended up going, but Alison ended up just finding something to eat somewhere else and watching Festival of Fantasy. If you are a fan of The Princess and The Frog, I highly recommend the Riverboat Party. When you first walk in, you get a scoop of ice cream and then three little desserts that are all themed for the movie. There are also drinks and a station full of different toppings to put on your ice cream from sprinkles to pearls to chocolate shavings. While we were eating, I kept making eye contact with Naveen and I could tell he was trying to figure out where he knew me from. I think it finally clicked that I had worked with him and visited him several times and when I went up he happily greeted me with, “It’s nice to see you again, my friend! How have you been?” Then you go on the boat to watch Festival of Fantasy. You can see the floats, but none of the dancers or characters on the ground. Then we pulled back to the dock so Tiana and Naveen could get in and lead a parade of kids (and adults) around the boat while music played and they shook giant tambourines. The best part though is that they just wander around and talk to people while the boat goes around Rivers of America. Naveen stopped by to see us and I asked if he could do a video for Jodian, a friend of ours that he knows well, and he was more than happy to send her a message.

After we got off of the boat, we met up with my friend, Bryan, who I worked with in Studios and he spent the rest of the day with us. Of course I had gotten a fastpass for Space Mountain and of course Stella has broken down when it was time for us to go. But this meant that everyone was outside so I got to see more of my friends that I used to work with. Then once it was finally back up, we went on it and Jo gave us a reride which was very much appreciated seeing as how someone had been riding with the flashlight on their phone shining our first time through.

After Wishes, we decided to meet Elena since I didn’t know when I would get another chance too and there was no line. I am so glad we did, because the meet and greet with Cinderella and Elena were some of the best I’ve ever had.

Animal Kingdom

I got to spend my morning reunited with one of my best friends, Allison, whom I roomed with during my second program. I hadn’t seen her since March, so it was great to see her beautiful face and of course we fell back into step with each other as if we had just been together the day before. I love friendships like that where time and distance have no effect on your relationship with each other. 

Definitely one of my biggest highlights from Animal Kingdom was the Carnivale on Discovery Island. They pulled us in to dance for at least three songs and it was the most fun I had ever had. The music was wonderful and half the crowd had been pulled. Everyone was smiling and dancing along and it was just overall a great experience. 

Expedition Everest at night was at the top of my to-do list and Beth’s boyfriend rode it with me, so I didn’t have to go alone. It was so much fun and even more exciting in the dark than it is during regular hours. Everest is by far one of my favorite rides and this just made it even better. I also got to see my friend, Mckeal, that I worked with in parking which is always a great thing. It’s so awesome to see friends working in all different places around the parks and experiencing new things. 

EPCOT

My first scheduled shift on my own was at Character Spot with Goofy and it just so happened that on our last day, one of my friends was hanging out with Goofy there. It wasn’t until I was meeting Mickey that Goofy spotted me and decided to photobomb my picture. Then when it was finally my turn to see him, he gave me a big hug and lots of kisses. Our meeting was full of dancing, giggles, hand hearts, and just Goofy being his silly self. It brought back so many memories to be there. 

 We also rode the refurbished Soarin’ and I love this one so much more! Seeing places around the world is so cool and I love the way that they put it together. High recommend! 

 Alison unfortunately had to leave after Candlelight Processional, but as soon as she left, my friend, Greyson came and we got to spend the rest of the evening together. Just like everyone else, Greyson and I picked up right where we left off and I finally got my goodbye hug I didn’t get at the end of my last program.

#journal #wdw #walt disney world #magic kingdom #mk #hollywood studios #dhs #epcot #animal kingdom #DAK #dcp alumni #dcp #Disney college program #disney college program alumni

[bornfromscarletcords]

A Wolf’s Winter By Malcolm Fidel Jefferson

The wolf's eyes were red. The pair matched the scarlet outline tracing the beast's great muzzle. The boy marveled at how carefully they watched him. Perfect orbs of light; their color emphasized by the white of the stale snow. The beast matched his gaze, its mouth clamped shut.  Blood froze to the grey of its coat, hanging from its chin like cherry ice. 

"Hello," The boy said, "My name is Anthony."  

*****

"And the dreams. Do you still have them?" Anthony looked at Dr. Connolly. His mouth tightened at the doctor's words, and he could feel his nails ripping at the soft leather of the couch. 

"Yes." Anthony said. He turned to face the wide glass pane. The doctor liked to keep it unmolested by the curtains he stashed in the corner of his office. Why he didn't just throw them away, Anthony couldn't tell. He was thankful, though. The view was humbling. His whole town laid out before him like some toy estate. Smoke drifted up from frostbitten chimneys: kids clambered through the snow heaps while their mothers held fast to plush gloves. 

"Did you say something?" The good doctor asked. 

"I said, Autumn died today." Anthony watched soft, frozen, flakes drift lazily down to earth. From the sky to that small town; from the heavens to the trees of the forest that bordered his home. Anthony touched his shoulder; it was warm. 

"Is that where it bit you?" The doctor's words were always slow and deliberate. Was his every word so valuable to him. 

"What?" Anthony said . He turned to face the man. It was the first time he truly looked at him. 

"Your shoulder. You seem to reach for it often. I was just wondering if that's where--"

"Where what? Doctor." Anthony said

"Where the wolf bit you." The doctor said. He adjusted his glasses, as if they could shield the affect of his patient's gaze.  Anthony laughed. It was loud and deep. It surrounded the good doctor as it bounced off the window pane: off his round lenses, the stark white tiles and the old brick walls. 

"Whoever told you it bit me?" Anthony said; nearly choking on his words through his fit. 

"I just assumed." 

"You assumed?! You assumed, doctor? I didn't know that you were paid to assume." Anthony said. His laughter resounded through the room.  

"What was I supposed to do? For weeks we've just sat here; in silence! 'Autumn died today.' That's the most I've gotten out of you in a month.  Do you expect me to read your mind? To interpret the thoughts you share only with yourself? " Doctor Connolly said. He tried to keep his hands from shaking. 

"I thought that was what you were trained to do, Doctor. To pry into other peoples' thoughts. To strip away their mental barriers, the only defenses some of us have. You want to take from people, to leech off of us. And for what? A paycheck. You want everything for nothing."  Anthony stopped laughing. The absence of his unnatural cacophony seemed to leave a gaping hole in the room. The doctor was teetering on the edge. 

"I give you my time." The doctor said. 

"No. You give me a couch, a view, and pointless questions. In exchange, I give you my silence. A fair trade." Anthony said. 

Doctor Connolly was turning an interesting shade of purple. Sweat began to bead around his forehead.  But Anthony just stared with his empty gaze and the good doctor began to shout. 

"You're a brat! A pissy brat throwing away your parents money! You're not even trying to get help!" It was then that the Doctor realized that he was standing with his hands balled at his sides. His patient was no longer in front of him.  

"Don't look so surprised, Doctor. I have that effect on people." Anthony said; his hand on the doorknob.   

Anthony saw people stumble along the pavement. Ice coated everything, from the lamppost to the streets covered in brown slush. One man nearly broke his nose sliding towards a fence. One quick jerk, though, and Anthony wrenched him to safety.  

"Thanks man. I nearly died there." He said. His breath was sour and he reeked of alcohol. Anthony let him go and the man swayed down the road. 

Anthony felt the warmth of the Rec center long before he opened its doors. The heat washed over him and he reveled in it as he paced through the lobby. He followed the music to the heart of the center and wasn't disappointed to see the mass of bodies. The must of sweat hung in the air as people twisted and shook to the rhythm of winter.  

Her eyes were closed as if lost in sleep, but her braids swung wild. Her lips, her hips, her body, it shimmered. She was a river. When she opened them, her eyes were drawn to Anthony. She flowed to him, weaving through the quivering limbs that separated them. Then she was there; in front of him with her dusky arms that wrapped around his neck. She stroked his cheeks and ran her fingers through his wooly hair as she pressed her skin against his.

"The lone wolf joins the pack. Is this a omen." She said, her mouth at his ear. Anthony grabbed her waist with both hands, drawing her in tight. Her neck craned back and He saw it illuminated by the flashing shades of the strobe light. Then she howled, her lips molded into a perfect circle, and he loved her for it. He added his voice to hers and soon the whole hall was filled with the baying of wolves.   

Anthony wasn't surprised to find his bed empty the next morning.  He shook the sleep off of his lanky frame and managed to throw on some pants. He met the morning frost with bare feet and chest; making puddles of water where he stepped. He found her behind the cabin, as he knew he would. She was romping through the snow; kicking up white fluff. 

"You hurt my feelings, is the snow so much more enticing than me." Anthony said. 

Then she was in his arms. She took him to the ground and they made a flurry as one tried to pin the other. They tumbled and rolled for yards before she finally held him down; pressing her hands to his shoulders. 

"The snow, just for your information, is a thousand times more lethal than you. You need practice pup." She said, laughing as he flipped her onto her back. 

"Perca, don't provoke me." He said. 

"The last time I did it ended pretty well. You always love it when I dance for you."  She said. She nuzzled her face to his cheek. "Come hunt with me." Her voice was soft. He looked in her eyes as one flashed yellow.

"Not now." Anthony said. He  looked to the building that reached above the houses and trees. 

"But I just got back. I spotted an elk herd in the valley. I bet they're still grazing." She said. 

"I have an appointment." He said and rose from the nest they made on the earth. Just as he reached the back door he felt something splash on his head. The snowball turned to water on his scalp. When he turned to scold the culprit she was gone, but her high laugh still echoed from the forest. 

"Anthony, I just wanted to apologize for my--uh--," Dr. Connolly began. 

"The word you're looking for is outburst, doctor. And you don't need to apologize, if I was truly angry, you'd already be dead." Anthony started laughing while the doctor scratched his head.  

"Ri--Right--um, I would like to think that we were finally making some kind of progress yesterday." The doctor said, taking his seat. Anthony followed his example and leaned back in the couch. 

"I was actually thinking the same thing, doctor.  Now that I know your a real person--" 

"What?" The doctor said. 

"I wanted to see your anger. I wanted to hear what was truly going on behind those glasses. And I'm satisfied. So, we can now began to share." Anthony said

"Great I--"

"Not so fast doc. I want to be clear. I'll give you answers, but the questions better not beat around the bush. Also, I think it's only fair that you should tell me a little about yourself as well." Anthony said, fixing the man with his stare. 

"Like what?"  He asked, shifting in his chair. 

"I haven't thought of it yet. so I guess you can start my interrogation." 

"Well, why did you request that we do this here? Why in this town?" The Doctor asked. 

"Because I was born here." He said 

"But your parents said--" 

"You mean adopted parents. My real mother died when I was six and my father died long before I was born." 

"So you didn't have any older relatives to take you in? An uncle or aunt, even an older sibling?"

"I had a brother, but he was only a baby." 

"Is he still alive?" The doctor said. Anthony grounded his teeth. 

"Drop it." He said. 

"So after the death of your parents, what happened?" 

" I spent seven years in the orphanage on the other side of town. Then the Greysons adopted me and took me away from my home. They tried to tame me, but they would've had more luck with the wind. They should've just chose one of the younger kids." Anthony said 

"So, you resent them?" The doctor said. Anthony sighed. 

"Yes, I resent them. Didn't we just talk about pointless questions. And don't think I'm an ingrate. I understand that their intentions were good. But good intentions only go so far." 

"If you disliked the idea so much, why didn't you just request to stay at the orphanage?" 

"Did you take a look around when you left the airport, doctor. This," Anthony swung his arms out wide. ",Was my whole world and it was filled with ice and death. I wanted to see desert sands, rainforests, marshes humming with life. I wanted to hunt with lions under a sun that burned the skin black.  Instead they promised me a concrete jungle, and I was fool enough to accept." Anthony said. He closed his eyes. 

"You had a pretty wild imagination for a kid who had never even seen a lion." The doctor said. 

"I read about them, doctor. There's no shortage of books here. It was the one thing I liked about all the boarding schools they sent me to. All the books you could read." Anthony said. 

"How did you fare when they sent you away?"

"Fine. Surviving in those places is easy once you know how to handle it."

"And how did you handle it?" 

"The first person to mess with me got a broken nose. The second person got a bent leg. There was never a third." Anthony said, and a smile spread on his face. The doctor adjusted his glasses. He opened his mouth, but Anthony threw up a hand. 

"It's my turn, Doctor. And, believe me, I am getting tired of saying that. My question is, what is your first name?" They both laughed at that. 

"It's Sam" He said.  

By the time Anthony found Perca, she was already smothered in gore. She made wet sounds as she dug into the elks belly. She slit it open with her nails and he watched as entrails spilled out in a steaming mess. Ten other corpses littered the forest floor. Each more ravaged than the last. 

"You weren't lying when you said you wanted to hunt." He said kneeling beside the slaughtered beast. She plunged her fist into its chest and it came back with a heart in hand. She sank her teeth into the fleshy muscle and blood oozed down her cheeks. Anthony's stomach rumbled loudly.    

"No, you don't get any of this. I haven't eaten in months." She said, gulping down a chunk of elk. 

"Don't be greedy." He said and he reached for the heart. Though, when a low growl escaped her  throat, his hand fell back to his side. "Are you still mad. I told you, I had an appointment." 

"Yeah, whatever. Your just lucky you don't smell like perfume. Otherwise I would've had to track down the girl and eat her." She said. 

"Still hungry, huh?" 

"Starving. I could eat about twenty more of these suckers." She gestured to the graveyard of elk bones. Anthony chuckled. 

"I wouldn't go that far. That much meat and you might just explode." He said 

"Are you calling my fat?" 

"I don't think anyone could ever call you fat." He said. He ran his fingers along her bare shoulder. Even speckled with dried blood she was beautiful. "I was thinking more along the lines of bear." He said. Her eyes beamed. 

"Really? Could we?" She said, dropping the heart. 

"Yeah, but I don't want to go like this." He said and he gestured to his own body. Perca's smile was red. 

When Perca shed, Anthony was always entranced. She would always drop to her knees and languidly stretch across the ground; arcing her back. Then she would look at him with those eyes that reflected light like veins of onyx. It was when those black pools flashed yellow that he felt his own blood boiling inside his skin. He forced himself to watch, even as the glamour dropped from him and his own shady skin became shrouded in fur once again. He saw her tender palms burst into auburn paws: her nails extended into scythe-like claws, while her lips, still stained with blood, lengthened into a muzzle. 

In seconds they stood on all fours. With tented ears pricked and noses angled to the hard earth, the wolves scanned the forest. They remained like that for many minutes, two statues molded by the shadows of the trees. But then, they heard it. The slow beat of a heavy heart coupled with the roar of a predator. 

They were gone; thundering across the pact ground, tearing up the undergrowth beneath their claws. A throaty bark escaped his mouth as he snapped at the air with great jaws. The wind caressed his pitch fur as the moon bounced off the silver crest on his chest.  

The bear was large. A creature formed from compressed muscle and fat, and armed with dishpan paws. The wolves stared it down, growling in unison as they turned it this way and that; flanking their prey. When the black wolf leapt he ducked under the bears powerful swing and hamstringed its right leg. This brought the beast to its knees just as the she-wolf pounced on its back. She drove it to the ground and sank her jaws into its neck. The bear gave a pitiful roar as it tried to defy the death that had already marked it. When it finally lay still the she-wolf ripped off a chunk of bear-flesh and the black wolf joined her. It wasn't until they noticed the tiny cub shivering in the bushes that the wolves turned from their meal. The two wolves looked at each other. The she-wolf bared her stained teeth for a while. But when the black wolf licked the blood from her chin, she slunk over to the cub. It shuddered all the while she carried it home. She held it by the scruff of its neck.

"How is he doing?" Anthony said as he laid down in his bed. Perca was in the doorway with crossed arms. 

"Don't get too comfortable. The damn thing won't sleep." She said. 

"Well, he did just see its mother slain by the same beasts who are now keeping it hostage. He probably thinks we're about to eat him." He said 

"That's what we should have done. I'd rather not waste what little time I have with you, raising some bear cub." She said. Anthony turned to her. 

"He's a child." He said 

"It's an animal, and a weak one at that." 

"Have you forgotten already. We're animals too." Anthony said, rising to his feet. 

"Is that what you think?" She said. She snorted and shook her head. 

"We're wolves, Perca. We're wolves and man. What makes that child so undeserving of your affection." He tried to take her in his arms but she shook out of them. 

"You're so naive, pup." She said 

"Don't talk to me like I'm some helpless creature.  Regardless of what you say, the cub is our responsibility." She turned away from him and his words. The sound of the cabin door slamming shut rang in his ear. 

Anthony found the cub in one of the unused rooms of the cabin. It was curled into a ball and was still trembling. It began to bleat and kick when he approached it. The cub's teeth were sharp and drew blood when he began to gnaw at Anthony's arm. But, this didn't stop him from wrapping his arms around its tawny fur. He held the cub just like that through the night. Until the shivers subsided and the biting was replaced with low snores. 

    Perca emerged from the trees to see man and bear wrestling beneath the sun. She wondered how long the star would remain in this region, before the winters darkness consumed it. She turned her attentions back to the pair tumbling in a ball of fur and flesh. Laughter escaped the man's mouth as he picked up the cub and shook him. When Anthony saw her, his face turned to stone and he tucked the cub behind his leg.  

"I have no intention of eating your precious babe." She said. She watched his mouth melt into a smile. 

"He's going to be strong, Perca. I can tell. He'll be king here." The man said, howling to the heavens. 

"Yes, king of dirt and snow. Who could ask for a more prestigious role." She said. 

"Don't listen to her Koda. She's just jealous." The bear bleated in response and Anthony knelt to brush his head.  

"You named it?" She said 

"He's not an it."  

"How do you plan to feed him. Those things drink more milk than you could imagine, and I'm not exactly overflowing with creamer." She said. She tried to approach the bear but it ducked behind Anthony's leg. He started laughing. 

"I've been stealing some from the local shelter. They always keep a fresh supply, they just don't guard it that well." He said.   

"Who's going to teach him how to scavenge: to climb trees when there's danger, to hunt,  store fat when it's cold like this; to hibernate? He's not a wolf Anthony, so who's gonna teach him to be a bear?" She said. 

"I'm his father, I'll teach him all those things and more. He's going to be a king." 

"But he'll die just like his mother when one of us clamps our teeth around his neck." She said. Anthony's eye twitched. 

"I would never hurt him." He said. 

"And neither would I." 

"Then what are you saying?" 

"I'm saying, that the cub should have been tucked in some den with his mother when we came for her. She should've been asleep. Instead they were on the move when we found them." She said

"Maybe they were heading towards their den." 

"Yeah, but she was moving a little too fast to just be strolling towards home.  Something scared her, Anthony, and very few things scare a six hundred pound grizzly." She said. 

"Just tell me what has you so upset." He said. 

"I found tracks in the forest. Big ones. Bigger than ours." Her gaze was hollow, and her mouth hung open slightly. She stood like that for a while before His voice snapped her out of the trance. 

"What it smell like?" He said. Sliding the hair from her face. When she looked at him with her dead eyes, he shuddered. 

"It smelled like winter. Ice and death." She stepped away from him then; shedding her human form while running to the trees. 

"Do you still dream of wolves?" The doctor asked.  

"Yes. There are two of them now. A black one and a brown one." Anthony said. 

"What do they do?" The doctor said. 

"They dance." 

"Dance?" 

"Yes, they dance. They tread over fallen snow and dance beneath the leaves." Anthony said. 

"Why?" 

"Because the bear loves it when they dance." 

"There's a bear too?" The doctor's looked down at his patient. 

"Yes, and he's big and strong. The forest fears him, but not the wolves." 

"Do they ever fight?" The doctor said. Anthony laughed 

"The wolves do. But they love the bear and he loves them." 

"Are you the bear?" The doctor pushed up his glasses. Anthony laughed again. 

"No, the bear is too noble." The doctor sighed. 

"What about the first wolf, the grey one with the red eyes? What can you tell me about that one?" Anthony's brow dipped. 

"What would you like to know?" He asked. The doctor scratched his head. 

"Is it the same one that killed your mother?" Anthony touched his shoulder. 

"No, something else reserves that honor." Anthony said. Silence flooded the room for a long time. 

"What happened to the grey wolf, Anthony?" The doctor said. He watched his patients face twist. 

"I think the brown wolf killed it." He said. 

Koda was only large in the black wolf's dreams. He supposed koda was larger than most cubs but nothing like the ferocious predator he would come to be. With the brown wolf away he took to walking through the forest with the cub. He watched as the cub prowled beside his shadow and a thought came to him. 

Koda pounced on the hare and bit down. Its sharp teeth made quick work of the rabbit, ripping open its tinny neck in two quick snips. At first the cub couldn't grasp the concept of killing, but he was a quick study.  The black wolf would catch the prey and release it for the cub to stalk. Each success was rewarded with a nudge of the wolf's wet nose. Soon the cub was scrambling up and down trees at the wolf's barks and rearing up on his hind legs to scare insects with his little roars. A good child. The two lost days in each other's company, romping on their land like regal beasts. But, the call of humanity tugged at the black wolf's mane, and he found himself marching back to the cabin.

It was only when the stench of winter crossed his path that the Black wolf noticed the creature staring him down. It was up high in the leaves with a torn leg mashed between its jaws. It's fur was patchy and light; thin like straw. Red slobber dripped from its full mouth while its brawny arm held fast to a tree branch. It's build was apelike with its long limbs and muscular upper-body, but that didn't explain its tented ears or its long muzzle. Its bushy tail swayed passively underneath it's powerful frame. But what chilled the wolf wasn't the slight resemblance shared between creature, it was its eyes. They were blue, blue and clouded; dead eyes. The beast began to sway violently and the wolf tensed while his cub stayed tucked behind him. But the beast turned at the last second and careened away. The jostling of the branches could be heard as the creature sped deeper into  the woods.  

"I feel like we haven't spoken in months." The doctor said, smiling slightly. 

"It's only been a few days Sam, and I thought you were the one who said you needed to spend some time with your family." Anthony said, shaking the doctors hand. 

"Yes, the kids missed me desperately. It was good to see my wife again, though I can't say the same about the my in-laws." 

"Are they that bad?" Anthony said. The doctor scrunched up his face and pretended to gag. They shared a laugh. 

"So what questions do you have for me today, doc? I'm an open book." Anthony said. 

"Actually, it's more of a theory. You see i've been reviewing my notes." Anthony smiled at this. 

"I didn't know you took notes, Sam." He said.

"Mental ones." Said the doctor. 

"Well, then, lay it on me." Anthony said. 

"I think the two wolves, the brown and grey one, represent you at different stages of your life. The grey one is your inner child, the wild one who was born here, and the brown one represents you now. The brown wolf killing the grey one could show your inner struggle to come to terms with the death of your parents, which you blame yourself for, paired with your conflict over whether you belong here with in this winter wonderland, or out in some hot jungle." When the doctor stopped, Anthony smirked. 

"Uh-huh." Anthony said. 

"You're not even taking this seriously, are you?" 

"No really, keep going." Anthony said, throwing his arm over his mouth. The doctor eyed him for a moment, but he gave in eventually. 

"I think the black wolf is what you aspire to be." The doctor said. 

"And why's that?" 

"Well, because, in your dreams he's always the strongest. He can outrun the brown wolf, pin it constantly, and isn't he the one that tamed the bear, who's the terror of the forest?" 

"He didn't tame him, he taught him how to be king." Anthony said. 

"And there, that word, king. You always use it to describe the bear, but only a king can make another king. 

"Is that it?" 

"No-- well um-- and the wolf's eyes are purple." The doctor said, shrinking a little in his chair.

"What does that have to do with anything?" 

"It's a regal color." The doctor stammered. When he got no response from his patient, he sighed and reached into his shirt pocket. 

When Sam joined Anthony at the window, he couldn't help but noticed the cigarette in his doctor's mouth. There was a few clicks as the man lit up. 

"You rediscover certain vices when you visit my wife's family." Sam said as they both stared out into the town shouting with light. Even though the sun had long since disappeared, the night was alive with colors and howling. 

"What the hell is going on out there?" Sam said.  

"The festival." Anthony said.

"Are the townsfolk the ones who've been howling all this time?" Sam said oblivious to his friends wide smile. 

"Sometimes. Other times its the forest answering their calls. Gods are born in spring, mature in summer, and grow old in fall. When Autumn dies, so do the gods." 

"So why all the howling, if they're that afraid of the dark, why don't they just buy some more guns?" 

"I don't know why, but I always took you for a pacifist." Anthony said. Sam shrugged. "Well, to answer your question. Some things can't be killed by bullets. Wolves guard the land when the sky goes black and the sun flees from dead gods. They're calling to their protectors." Anthony said 

"Now that you say that, I have another theory about your dreams." The doctor said. 

"I don't want to hear it." Anthony said. 

"Alright." Sam said, and he continued to tug on his cigarette. 

When Anthony left Sam's office he was soon confronted with the sharp stench of alcohol. He wasn't surprised to find the drunk crumpled on the side of the building. 

"Well if it isn't my old friend. Hey man, did I ever thank you for saving me, because--you know-- thank you man." The drunk managed to say through slurred words. 

"You already thanked me." Anthony said. 

"Well, then--thank you again man." The drunk said. His head was bobbing in twelve different directions. 

"Why aren't you off howling with the others?" 

"They don't know what they're doing. Wolves are dangerous, but they want to bring them here." 

"You're right. Wolves are dangerous." Anthony said. The drunk smiled 

"See, that's why I like you. We get each other." The drunk said. His head finally stopped moving, once he leaned it against the brick wall. His eyes were closed. 

"You should get some shelter. I feel a blizzard coming." Anthony said looking out past the snow encrusted houses.  

"I'm not afraid of a little ice," the drunk held up his bottle, "I got this to warm me." At that, Anthony left the man to his dreams. 

The blizzard hit hard that night. Koda awoke that morning to darkness and snow that piled high around his new den of wood and stone. The black wolf was curled around him, soundly sleeping. But, the cub was tired of sleeping. He missed the forest with the white rabbits and frosted trees. But not that creature that swung from branches. It was feral and cold; a monster. 

Koda always marveled at his new thoughts. At first they were fragmented, simple things like cold, and hunger. But his father-wolf, his gaze always drew at more. The fragments became bigger and bigger, until they finally pieced themselves together. 

"Father, wake up, the sun is gone." Koda said through small lips. He nudged the wolf with his dark, tiny palms. The wolf's eyes opened; they opened wide. 

*****

When Anthony opened the cabin door his eyes fell on Koda. The cub had adjusted to his human form well in the last month. After the initial shock of seeing Koda armed with hands and feet, Anthony was set on educating the child. Luckily the boy shared his father's love for literature. In the first days, Anthony nearly lost hope when Koda could barely conquer the alphabet. But, soon the young bear was stringing sentences and scanning through books.  

"Hello, father, have you brought more books." The child would say each dark morning, then his father would pass him another stack from the library. And each night he'd find the boy-cub neck deep in the last pages of the pile he'd been given. But, this day was different.

"Father, I would like to go into town." The boy said. 

"In a little while, I just got back." His father said. But the child's eyes, deep black pearls ringed with amethyst, they hungered for something more than the paper he had brought to him. 

"I want to go, alone." The boy said. 

"It's too dangerous." The father said. His vision was clouded with the scene he'd seen that morning. Another dead child. One of the kids from the orphanage, just like the first four. They found his body frozen to the road; belly open. But, the corpse was bloodless, emptied of all life that might have belonged to him. It was Anthony who pried him from that street and carried him to the pyre. 

"I'm in no less danger out here. At least in town I might be able to lose myself in the crowds." The boy said

"I said no!" The father said. His nails digging so deeply into his palms that he drew blood. The boys eyes widened. Anthony looked down at his hands and smiled. 

"No worries cub." He said, holding up his bloodied palm. The wound had already healed. 

"I don't get it." Sam. He was leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. 

"What?" Anthony said 

"Why your parents sent me all the way out here to freeze my fingers off. When I can't really see anything wrong with you. 

"Aw shucks, doc." Anthony said. 

"Don't get me wrong, your far from normal. But, how could you be growing up in this place." Sam gestured to the window. "Do you know?" 

"What?" Anthony said. 

"Why they brought me to you. Do you know?" Sam said. Anthony rubbed the stubble on his chin. 

"They think I killed someone." He said. 

"And how does that make you feel?" Sam said with a smirk. 

"I'm serious." 

"I know you are." 

"Tell me Sam, if murder and wolves don't phase you, what does?" 

"Hey kid, I worked as a prison psychologist for five years. If someone wasn't getting gutted every time they walked out the door, it was a good day." 

"Maybe I should be examining you." Anthony said. 

"My wife already tried that." 

"And?" 

"The results were inconclusive" Sam said. 

"Of course they were." Anthony said. 

Sam ashed his cigarette and turned to his patient.  

"So, about the dead guy." Sam said. 

"There was a girl." Anthony began. 

"I thought it was a dead guy." Sam said 

"I'm getting to that. So, there was a girl. A sweet kid, real smart too. She was the youngest of us." Anthony said. 

"Us?" The doctor asked. 

"I was in college by then. We were all assigned groups of five to meet with few days. It was supposed to build trust and stuff, I guess." 

"Trust and stuff, got it." Sam said, jotting down invisible notes. Anthony shot him a look. 

"Anyway, there was this real jerk in the group too. I'm talking like a real shady guy; scum." 

"And soon to be dead, I take it." Sam said. Anthony nodded. 

"The others couldn't see it, the guy would hide it so well. Empty compliments and bravado. That fake smile. It didn't work on me though, I could smell it on him; he was dirt. But the girl, the young one, she was the worst of them. I could see it in the way her eyes followed him, and how her cheeks would grow red when he came near." 

"He noticed too, right." Sam said. 

"Your real sharp, huh, doc." 

"I worked with animals, kid. I know the dynamic between predator and prey."  The doctor said, wiping off his glasses.  

"Yeah well, she didn't. I was there when he spoke to her. 'One night. Just one' he said and she giggled, the group laughed and I just felt my teeth grind. " Anthony said. 

"What happened." 

"They had their date, were gone the whole night. But I couldn't sleep, they were away too long. I'm tossing and turning in my sheets, trying not to think about it. But I can't, I just can't. Just as I'm marching out the door, he comes speeding past. He tries to keep his head down, but I can see the scratches on his face. I found her down the road, in some bushes." Anthony said 

"Was she alive." 

"Yes, but her dress was torn." 

"Was she hurt." 

"I could barely recognize her." 

"What did you do." 

"I carried her to the hospital. She made me swear not to tell." 

"Did you love her?" Sam said. Anthony turned to the window. 

"Very much." 

"Anthony, did you kill him?"

"The police don't think so." 

"Why?" 

"They said an animal did it. A big one with sharp teeth." 

"A wolf?" Sam said.  

"Your starting to catch on." Anthony said. Sam reached under his desk and emerged with a bottle of scotch. 

"You don't mind, do you?" Sam said, pouring himself a glass. 

"As long as you don't start putting tracks in your arm, I'm good." Anthony said. The doctor downed his cup and joined him at the window. 

"These murders, they're really something, huh?" Sam said. 

"Even the slaughter of children doesn't break you, does it?" Sam shrugged at his patients words. 

"Only you reserve that privilege, my young friend. But, seriously, I never thought I'd find another patient so far north. I usually prefer not to work with serial killers." 

"Don't worry, these killings aren't a call for help. And even if they were, I'm not sure they could help the bastard whose doing them." Anthony said 

"Well, then, what should I make of these deaths?"

"They're a message, doctor." 

"For who?" 

"Anyone who's listening." Anthony said. The doctor went back to his scotch and began to nurse another glass. 

"It's times like these that I wish I was deaf." Sam said. 

Fire crackled along the edges of the pyre. It hissed and clawed at the townsfolk, as yet another body was fed to it. A burial was nearly impossible at this time of year. Koda knew that much from his books. The snow was piled how along the land, and the ground was pact so tight by the iced up water inside it, that digging would be costly and ill advised. So, when a seventh orphan was found scattered throughout the town of Ontaya, there was no coffin or grave. There was only flame. 

The fire was kept lit these days. The bodies were appearing more frequently and it took much too long to build it back up once it had already been extinguished. There was no more reveling or howling. Instead, they were replaced with muffled cries into hard pillows, and curfews. It was a danger to be a child now, even more so if you were an orphan. It dawned on the boy-cub that he was both, and his gaze fell to his tiny boots. Then his father placed a hand on his shoulder , and he managed to watch as the dead child was consumed by fire.    

Anthony could see that his son was upset. He no longer read the books that were placed at his feet, nor would he eat the meals set before him. All he would do is stare, either to the town the radiated light, or the forest coated in shadows. 

"They aren't safe, Koda. Especially not by yourself." Anthony said. 

"But we could change that." The boy pleaded. 

"What do you mean?" 

"People are dying, and all we do is just sit here and wait for the bodies to overflow." Koda said. His small hands pointed to the trees. "That thing is challenging you. When are you going to bare your teeth." The boy said. 

"When I don't have to worry about what will happen to you." 

"Don't use me as an excuse when seven kids like me are dead because of that monster." The boy said with a tear running down his cheek. 

"You know nothing, Koda." The father said. 

"I know right and wrong, father. Words you taught me. Waiting here, it's wrong. " 

"You don't even know what it is." Anthony said. 

" You do, and Perca did too. She knew exactly what it was, and that's why she left. That's why she abandoned us." The cub regretted his words when he saw the pain flow through his father's face. 

"She's coming back."

"How do you know?" 

"She is a part of me." Anthony said 

"Then where is she?" The cub asked. His father's face was stoic, but only for a moment. Then his brow dipped and his wolf eyes came to the surface.  

"Stay here." He said. Then, he ran out the door. 

The she-wolf was lying in a pool of her own blood when the black wolf found her. Her breath was strained but visible as white vapor. A long gash ran along her side, the red tainting her brown fur. She began to whine when the black wolf licked at the wound, but after a while she was quiet. Her breath still came in short puffs but the black wolf couldn't tell for how long. He made a short bark but the she-wolf didn't respond, instead her head turned to the beast standing behind him. The black wolf  followed her gaze and watched as the creature charged them.  

The black wolf burst forth to meet the creature. It was big. He knew that even when it was hanging from the branches. But on the ground, barreling towards him, it gave a whole new meaning to the word. It used it's tree trunk arms to propel it forward, but the Black wolf put a stop to its advance when he raked his long claws across the creature's massive chest. 

The black wolf hadn't felt the cold in so long, that their reunion was less than pleasant. His body always ran hot, snow melted beneath his feet, but not this time. The shock jumped up his legs, but it didn't stop him from clamping his teeth around the creatures beefy neck. The black wolf waited for the creature to scream, to buck and whine; to do something. It just stood there for a while, as the wolf gnawed on its sub-zero throat. Then it smashed its arm into the wolf and he crumpled into the snow. 

The creature placed its heavy foot on the black wolf's shattered ribs and pressed down until blood began to bubble up and the wolf's snarls turned to yelps. 

Perca tried to inch her way over to the black wolf, but even as a human, her legs wouldn't work. The cold, it was inside of her and it was turning her to stone. She wanted to scream at the beast, to make it turn away from him, but her mouth was useless. So she was forced to watch. She watched as it ran its rime coated claws through his skin, she watched when it began to dash the wolf's skull on the frozen earth, and she watched when the sun soared over her head only to land on the beasts back. Then, she watched it burn.

Even in his boy-body, Koda was strong. Silently, he thanked his father for giving him this strength, as he lugged him and Perca across the snow. When his father had left him in the cabin, he knew he couldn't just leave him to face the dangers of the forest, alone. He had read that most animals were afraid of fire, and had brought the lamp along when he trekked after his wolf-father. He followed the giant wolf tracks all the way to the valley. The first thing he saw was Perca, trying to claw across the ground. Then Koda saw it. The creature was larger than anything his mind could dream of, even the few memories of his mother, so furry and ferocious, were dwarfed by that giant of a monster. He saw a shape under it, black and bloodied; father. 

Koda hadn't even known he threw the lamp until its fire went racing along the creature's back. Its head reared back and it half howled, half screamed. Then it tore into the forest, smashing into trees as it tried to stop the flames. 

Perca and Anthony painted the snow with their blood; leaving a long red trail as Koda towed them home to the cabin. The boy-cub laid them down tenderly onto the stone floor of his den and waited. Thankfully It wasn't long.  

Perca's process was short, and mercifully delicate. Koda saw her skin knit back together, as if her body was rejecting the idea of death. Her tender face lost its paleness and flooded with her rich color. Then she was awake, and she held the child to her chest as they both watched Anthony's crumpled frame with moist eyes. They couldn't understand that their cries wouldn't reach him, not then at least. The black wolf was dreaming. 

****

In his dreams, the black wolf remembered. He remembered the time when he was only a boy, neither wolf nor man. 

      Anthony fingered the worn pages of his time scarred paperback. He considered reading on but his child mind was already buzzing and needed time to think. The sun was a star, he had read. The thing that breathed life into the earth and kept them from freezing in the dark, was a star like the ones that dotted the night's sky. The child leaned back into the bark of the tree, careful not to tear his jacket. He opened up his knapsack and placed the book back into its pocket with the others. He grabbed his knife and began to whittle at a fallen branch. After a few minutes he held the stake up to the sun's light. He saw it was sharpened to a deadly point and was satisfied. 

Anthony moved from his place at the base of the tall pine; small boots scurrying across slushy ground and sprouting flora. The birds had returned from their migration to the southern lands and the forest came to life with their chirps and tweets. Somewhere the bears emerged from their dens with fat cubs and the deer flooded the valley with wolves at their heels. 

The long night of winter had ended and it was a time for gods to be born. It didn't take Anthony long to find the hare's burrow; he had marked it when winter began so many months ago. The rabbit hadn't been bloated with pregnancy when it went in, not like the others who had ignored. The boy prayed that the furry face that poked its head out would be alone. The first thing that showed was the hares long ears and Anthony dug his short stake through the things tiny skull.  

Anthony walked back to the cabin with his lone rabbit speared on a stick, its meat exposed to the wind and its skin tucked in another pocket of his knapsack. When he opened the cabin door, he could hear the whistle of boiling water. In the kitchen was his mother. Her stomach had ballooned over the winter but it she still managed to keep a tidy home. She told Anthony a thousand times that his brother was living inside her belly, but Anthony couldn't understand why he was staying in there for so long.  

"Good, so you managed not to destroy a whole family this time." She said, taking the rabbit from him. 

"C'mon ma, that last time was an accident. I marked the wrong hole. Plus you said we couldn't keep the pups." The boy said. 

"Because we barely have enough food to feed ourselves, let alone baby rabbits." She brought her great knife down on the dead rabbit, again and again. 

"But if we raise a whole bunch of them, we'll never run out of food. The babies don't even eat much." 

"Do you think I ever thought of raising a bunch of children, just to eat them. To nurse them, and coddle them and worry if they're too cold or too hot, constantly." She said as she seasoned the chopped meat and dumped it in the pot. Anthony looked down at his boots. 

"Ma." 

"No, I'm serious. Do you think that you could raise something, put a piece of your soul into it, love it and know it loves you back, only to kill it. I thought I raised you better." She said, never taking her eyes off the water. 

"It was just an idea ma." He said. She saw the wetness in his eyes and brought him in close. 

"I'm sorry, I do appreciate that you hunt for us. You help keep this family alive. I love your obsession with those books; your my little scholar. But you have to understand that there's more to living than the facts they give you. You have to respect life." She shook his head and the boy smiled.  The days were like that at first, until the baby decided to break free.

Anthony found himself slipping through the mud as he ran into the doctors door. His face hit the hard wood with a loaded smack. A few seconds later it opened and the boys small body was swallowed by the man's shadow. The doctor was a giant. A foreigner with charcoal skin and icy hands. He came with winter's darkness years before, but fortunately it left him behind. 

"What's your business here pup?" The man asked in his gravelly voice. 

"My brother's coming out of ma's stomach." Anthony said.  

The doctor outpaced the boy with his long strides, but Anthony was never far behind. It was only when they reached the cabin, that the boy hung back. He forsook the warmth of his home for the brisk air when he heard his mother wail. The boy covered his ears and tried to imagine his brother: small, bloody, and frail. He hated it then, for causing their mother such pain, as she and the doctor brought the babe into the world. It was only when the screaming stopped that Anthony rejoined his family. The baby was in the doctors hands but he showed no reaction to his frosty clutch. Instead, the doctor was frowning.

The dark doctor found Anthony whittling branches with his knife.  The man sat next to the boy but didn't speak. He didn't even look at his bruised knuckles.

"Lee Davis and Tommy called my mother a whore." The boy said. 

"Why?" The man said. 

"Because she had your baby, but you guys aren't married." 

"Is that why you hurt them?" 

"No, I hurt them because they called you my father. But you aren't, my dad's dead. " The boy said and stuck the branch in the ground. The man took Anthony's fists in his palm. The boy cringed at his touch as he felt the cold swim up his arms, but he could no longer feel the pain in his knuckles. 

"I saw what you did to Lee Davis and Tommy. I was the one who had to stitch them back up when their mother's came in screaming about what my boy did to them." The man said. Anthony avoided his gaze. "I'm not ashamed of the love I have for you, or your mother, or my new son. I'm so grateful that you both have welcomed me into your life like this. But that doesn't mean you can continue to act like this every time you get mad." The father said. 

"But they called you names too." The boy said 

"Like what?" 

"They called you a foreigner" Anthony said. The man laughed. 

"They only called me something that I am. That's nothing to be mad about." 

"But you've done more for the town than any of their fathers, and you don't even get paid. This is as much your home as theirs." 

"I appreciate those words pup, I do. But you can't just hurt people because they say things that you don't want to here." The man said.

"I know," Anthony said, "But, what if they hit me first." The doctor thought about it for a moment. 

"Then make sure they don't ever do it again. But, don't tell your mother I said that." The boy laughed at his father's words. They sat there watching as the sky was tainted purple by the setting sun and settled as black so the stars could watch them. 

"Did you know that the sun is a star?" The boy said. 

"Yes. Me and the sun used to be good friends." The man said 

"That's impossible, the sun's a ball of hot gas, how good of a friend could he be." The boy said 

"I've asked myself a similar questions for many years now." 

"You're strange." The boy said, and the man laughed. 

"Your right, there are few things stranger than I am." The father said. Their conversation lapsed into silence once again until the boy spoke. 

"Vanna, are you really from Africa, cause that's what Tommy said?" 

"No." Vanna said, and he saw a star shoot across the black sky. "I'm from up there." He said, and the boy watched as the brown of the man's squinted eyes, melted to red.   

"Why'd you leave?"

"I was forced to." 

"Why? Did you do something bad?" The boy said. 

"Some thought so." The man said 

"Well, what do you think." The boy said. Vanna turned to the boy. 

"I think I acted when I was supposed to wait, and I was punished severely for it." The man clenched his cold fists.

  The baby's name was Marcus and he was cold and large like his father. From the moment he was brought into the world, he was set on waving his long limbs in fits of wailing. The mother didn't know what to do with it and spent most of her days in bed. That's why she never saw when  Vanna would fix his red gaze on his son. The babe would quiet instantly and fall into sleep, leaving Anthony in awe.  The father would place the child next to his sleeping mother, and then he and the boy would hunt.   

The pair hunted with knives in hand. They would hide in the branches only to land on unsuspecting prey, or toss makeshift spears from a distance. Their methods were effective and it kept their family alive. But some days, the dark doctor would hunt alone and come home with twice as much game. And the boy would wonder, and wait, and gaze at the forest as Vanna would march to its edge. Then, one day, the boy followed. 

Vanna could hear the boy's boots crunch into the snow. He had to admit the boy tried to match his own steps but the dark doctor would switch his pace now and then, and there the boy would fail. But he never showed his awareness, not even when the sun set and he could feel the night air pull him into the change. He took the forest floor on all fours.

The old wolf had to fight to hold his human form whenever the sun set and the moon took to its throne.  Staying wolf was never easy under the morning sky but in his man-skin the dark could be unbearable. When his long trek had ended and he arrived at Ontaya so many years past, he stuck to the forest. The months of sunless days allowed him to be at peace in his wolf body, as tainted as it was.

The wolf would feast in the dark. He would sink his old jaws  into meaty dear and watch as their skin would snap-freeze around his teeth. Then the blood would poor, and run down his throat, filling him with, what? He supposed it's what most would call, life. That feeling of being whole, of happiness and pleasure, of knowing you can live another day without skulking through the trees like a friend. It would envelope his ragged frame, and for moments, he was content. But it was a fleeting vice, one that left him drowning in his own wretched thoughts.  So, when the sun finally rose after one great winter, the old wolf forsook his dead fur and became Vanna, the dark doctor. 

Despite his new role as the town's doctor, Vanna still felt the call of blood for years. He tried to sate his thirst on his old prey in the forest but his dead gut called for a different vintage. Then, the boy was carried in. His face was cut and bruised and his mother was screaming for the doctor to save him. The boy had fallen from some tree and had been knocked unconscious. The injuries weren't even as serious as they looked, the kid didn't even have a concussion. So the doctor mended his patient and helped carry him back to his home. It was a cabin past the borders of town. 

For days the old wolf couldn't forget the scent, of blood and youth and life. There was so much of it in that child. No matter how he tried to curve his thoughts, they always turned back to the boy. But he fought it, he fought his own mind until he could feel it start to crack.  Vanna hadn't even known he was hunting as wolf, until he felt the blood gush between his teeth. It was only an elk, though, and the old wolf could still smell the child. 

He found the boy in the forest, staring up the tree he'd undoubtedly fallen from. He was small, but very few things outsized the giant wolf. His, shadow, though it was bolstered by the setting sun until it shaded the forest floor. The wolf snarled, and the boy turned to him. He fixed him with his red gaze but the dead wolf couldn't get the child to run. Instead he spoke.

"Hello," The boy said, "My name is Anthony," and the wolf placed his bloody chin on the boy's shoulder. It was warm. 

"You're a wolf?!" The boy said. He finally caught up to the dark doctor in the heart of the forest. He was sitting on the earth as man. 

"Yes." Vanna said. 

"That's so cool." The boy said and his eyes were big and wide. 

"Soon, you will be too." The old wolf said, leaning up against a protruding root. 

"Really?" 

"If you want to." 

"Of course I want to, that sounds awesome." Anthony said. Vanna laughed. "Don't just laugh, tell me how to do it already." 

"Be patient." The old wolf said, and Anthony became quiet. "Now, look into my eyes." He said as the boy took his red stare. 

"You've hunted with me on mans' feet. You've felt my influence as you've killed and preyed. The beast is in you, pup, but only you can free him. I will help you, but you'll have to give in to it." Vanna said and watched the boys dazed face. 

"Give in to what?" The boy asked, his voice deadpan. 

"The wolf. Feel the primal power. That feral ferocity. Let it free, Anthony!" Vanna's shouts morphed into a howl as he became wolf yet again. Then he watched as the boy's eyes burned purple. 

They were a pack of two for years, bringing down prey as wolf and pup. They laughed loudly as they dragged meals home for dinner. It was only when they found Marcus already supping from his mother's neck, that a problem truly emerged. 

Vanna pried the child from his mother's embrace and shook him. But, the child only laughed and giggled, spraying flecks of blood on his father's cheeks. Anthony inched over to his mother with her wide blank stare. He began to breathe again when he felt her pulse. 

"I told you to leave her be!" Vanna shouted. But Marcus' eyes went cloudy and stale; blue like winter. Vanna's face twisted as he struggled not to crush the child. "Why don't you just obey?" 

Anthony never saw his brother's hand move, but the red stain on his fingers was clear enough. Vanna screamed and clutched at his leaking eyes. Marcus dropped to the floor and scurried out the door, white fur budding along his back. 

Anthony's mother never broke her dead gaze. Instead she just slept in her room, as usual, and asked where the baby had gone. She asked Anthony and Vanna, the ceiling and floor, even the window that fogged up some days. But no one knew. 

Vanna's eyes had healed quickly, but even with them, his child proved too elusive. He wouldn't dare leave Anthony and his mother defenseless to chase after the monster he helped create. Instead he waited. It wasn't long before the She-wolf's howl echoed across the land.    

The wolves came in the morning, racing the sun to the edge of the forest. Anthony could see them from the window their deep colors mocking the snow they tread on. There were eight. He was almost excited until he saw his father's face. It was dead. Not sturdy and strong, but hollow like a corpse.  He knelt down to hug his pup. Even as Vanna strode out to meet the pack Anthony still felt the burning cold of his embrace. The brown wolf, the one that stood before the others, shed into her human skin. She met Vanna in the middle and they began to speak. 

"Again, Vanna, again?" She shouted, and her wolves barked behind her. 

"I thought I could control it this time." He said with his raspy voice. 

"Why would this time be any different from the first? You've unleashed a monster. Where is it!" She said 

"I don't know. If he's anything like the first, he'll be sleeping." 

"For how long?"

"It could be ten years or a hundred. He'll sleep until he feels he safe and strong."

"What does he need to fear?" 

" The Stars of Heaven, and their hounds." He said 

"You warned him of us?" She snarled, and the wolves began to bay. 

"He pried it from my thoughts just as he left. He's cunning. But I've entertained you enough. Leave now and you get to keep your skin."   

"You know we can't do that, old one. You broke your word." She said. 

"Do you know what it's like!?" The dead wolf screamed. The she-wolf inched back and her back quivered and whined. "To walk this earth as a ghoulish corpse.  Dead but alive in a never ending cycle of   draining the world of its life for some feeling of euphoria that lasts moments, seconds. You become a slave to it, to the hunger. It brings you to your knees, breaks you and strips you of your mind until your just an animal. But I forget, you know what it's like to be slave. Your all slaves, jumping at your masters every word and whim. Tell me, do you piss with their permission." Vanna said, and it was like the earth trembled with his ever sound.  

"What did you hope to accomplish?"

"I wanted another chance. I wanted to feel alive again." He said 

"You're a fool. Imitating life isn't living it." The She-wolf spat. 

"I've lived more in this undead form than you ever have, girl. The choices I made were mine. Not someone else's orders." 

"Then receive your judgment with honor, die quietly." She said. The old wolf smirked. 

"Now you're being foolish. I can't believe that they only sent eight." 

"I'm worth at least ten." She said and she rejoined her pack as wolf. 

"I would hope so, or else this would be over rather quickly." Vanna spared a glance back at the cabin. "Pup, go on and get moving, you don't need to see this. I'll protect your mother." Vanna said. It was only when he saw the black pup racing away that he adopted his own wolf-skin.  

Anthony spent that day running; first as wolf and then as boy. He ran from the brown she-wolf and her threats, he ran from his own tears as they froze in the summer air, and he ran from the sharp-wet sounds of dying wolves. But, he could never run far enough. 

When Anthony returned the sky was dark and the air was flooded with the smell of burnt flesh. There was a fire burning in front of the cabin, and a figure was tossing bodies into it. When it was done with its work, it looked to Anthony and then it was gone. The boy swore he hadn't blinked, but the figure just seemed to wink out of existence. The boy didn't care though, the smell of fresh blood was coming from the cabin so he trudged on. 

The pup's mother lay charred and mangled in the center of the bedroom floor. The boy dropped to his knees when he saw her but couldn't touch her ravaged body. His throat seemed to close then as he tried to figure out how to cry. Eventually he found a way.  

"In some ways, this way was better. There was no spark in her, she was a trapped soul." Anthony looked to the corner of the room where the she-wolf leaned against the wood walls. She was clutching her belly, but blood still dribbled out in streams. 

"Did you do this to her?" The boy said. Tears were flowing freely now and his voice was muddled. 

"No, it wasn't me, she was like this when I crawled in here. By the time that old wolf was done with me I couldn't even stand. I like to think my legs grew back nicely." The she-wolf wiggled her toes. She attempted to smirk but her face twisted and she ended up spitting up something fleshy and red. "It was probably the one outside who did this to her."

"Who was he?" The boy said through a clenched jaw. 

"He was a Star, pup. He's not someone to make enemies with." The she-wolf said as the boy looked to the ceiling. 

"Why did he do this to her, she couldn't hurt him?"

"I've never been able to figure that one out, pup. Stars are never easy to understand."

"That's not good enough, she was my mother. Give me his name, I want his name." The boy said. 

"He's the Red Hound to many, Sirius to most, but to me, he'll always be master." The she wolf spat out the last word and brought on a bloody coughing fit.  

"Is he the one that killed Vanna?" 

"No, that honor belongs to me. I would share the blame, but my pack is dead, and they have no use for it. Although, the Red one did burn the bodies, so maybe I can let him have some of it." She said. 

"Why'd he burn them." 

"To release their souls, otherwise, they'd end up like Vanna and his abomination. Spirits stuck in dead bodies, and very few would be strong enough to shift from wolf to man like that Old wolf." The she-wolf stopped for a moment and stared at her gut. "I've never felt pain like this, your father was very powerful." She wiped at her eyes, leaving a bloody smear across her cheek.  

"I already knew that. He was strong, we were going to live a happy life, a normal one before you people came. He was going to teach me to be strong." The boy said between sobs. 

"No one can teach strength, pup. You have to earn strength just like the rest of us. Go and see the world and let it beat you down a little. If you can still rise with all your scrapes and bruises then you'll have your strength." The She-wolf struggled to her feet, leaving a red streak across the wall. "See, not hard at all." She said before crumpling back to the floor. 

"You're not as strong as you think." the boy said. 

"We never are." She said. "Do you want to kill me boy?" 

"You and that Red dog, or puppy or, whatever you called him. I'm going to kill you both when I'm strong. " The boy said. 

"But, why not now? I'm so weak, you might just be able to pull it off." 

  "It's because you're so vulnerable that I can't do it. Vanna taught me better than that." 

"Did he, now? It's a shame he had to birth that monster, you would've made a fine heir on your own. " 

"My brother isn't a monster." The boy shouted. His voice was cut short by the She-wolf's flash of yellow eyes. 

"If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that that thing you call a brother is a monster. A killer and an abomination. It will only bring you pain. I bet it's brought you a fair share already. I can see from your face that I'm right. If you're smart, pup, you'll leave this place, there's nothing for you here but pain. I'll handle your brother when the time comes. I'll end this." The She-wolf said. The boys brow dipped. 

"I'll kill you before you ever harm him." The boy said. The she-wolf attempted to smile. 

"Come here, pup." Anthony was hesitant at first, but then he stalked over to the wounded woman. When the boy was close enough she brought his hand to hers. He tried to jerk away but she held fast to it. "Relax, you have to be at ease, or else it won't work." 

"What won't work?" The boy said as he let his arm go limp. The woman ignored his question and, instead, turned his palm up. She slid her nail along its surface and brought it to her mouth. "What are you doing?" He asked but she wouldn't answer. When she was done there was a red ring around her mouth. Then,  she took the hand that had been resting on her gut, and placed it to the boys clenched teeth. 

"You have to drink it," she said, "It's old blood. They say that it tastes the best." The boy obeyed and lapped up the blood and she wasn't wrong, it was sweet like rabbits. When he was done the woman smiled fully this time and her face seemed to glow. 

"We've willingly given our blood. Now we'll always know how to find each other. When you grow tall and strong, you can hunt me down as much as you like. Kill me if you can, it might just be worth seeing his heir in action." The woman rose for a final time. She was unsteady for a moment but regained her composure almost at once. "I gotta fly now, pup."

"Where are you going?" The boy said. 

"Somewhere you can't walk, yet." She said 

"Is it Heaven." 

"I call it the Valley." 

"What's it like." 

"It's--different than here. The rules change." 

"Take me with you." The boy said, his mother's corpes in the corner of his vision. 

"I thought you were going to kill me." 

"Only when I grow strong." The boy said. The she-wolf laughed. 

"You aren't meant to walk there yet, pup. Only the strong survive a run through the Valley." 

"But I'm all alone." The boy said. 

"We'll meet again pup, many times. I can feel it in our blood." 

"I don't even know your name?" 

"I'll tell you when you can place your teeth at my throat." 

"Mine's Anthony." 

"I'll remember that." She said, her voice growing louder as she stalked out the door. 

It was only when Anthony felt as if his veins had been torn from his body, that he knew she was gone. 

"But I'm all alone." He whispered to his mother's crisp corpse.    

**** 

"Why isn't he healing?" Koda said. He stared at the red puddle that was spreading from his wolf-father's body. His gaze shifted to Perca, as she bit into her wrist. 

"He just needs a little help." She said and placed her bleeding veins to the wolf's mouth. 

When Anthony molded back into his man-skin, he could feel his shattered frame twist and snap as it put itself back together. He heard Koda gasp when he began his grotesque healing. Despite the sounds, he felt no pain only the warmth of Perca's blood running through him. When it was all done, there were tears in his cub's eyes and Perca was in his arms. 

"We have to talk." Anthony said. 

"Can't we just stay like this for a while." Perca said, tightening her grip.

"Not with that creature hunting us." 

"But I thought I killed it with the fire." Koda said. 

"You hurt it, but that won't be enough to kill it." Anthony said. 

"So how do we?" The boy asked, and he looked to the She-wolf. "She knows how, doesn't she?" 

"You raised a smart cub, didn't you." Perca said. "Normally we'd use the sun. It does something to those monsters. Reminds them that they're dead, makes them mortal. But that option seems to have gone out the window." Perca looked out the window into the mornings black sky.  

"There's more of them, and they're dead?" The cub asked. He began to shiver. 

"That monster, the first one, it bred." She turned to Anthony, but his face was stone. "I'm sorry I left, but I had to go home. I had to get help." 

"This is home." The cub said. 

"Only for us, little one." Anthony said. "Where's your pack." He said to the she-wolf. 

"We chased those things for months. We ran them across the whole damn country." She said, and tears flowed freely down her cheeks. 

"Your pack, where are they." The black wolf said, his voice firm. 

"Their bodies are ashes. I led them on a fools hunt and everyone of them died for my mistakes. I just wanted it to end so badly, I wanted peace." She said 

"Can't you go back. Ask the stars for help. Don't they care at all?!" Anthony shouted to the ceiling. Koda scratched his head. 

"What?" The cub said, but it seemed no one heard him. 

"I failed them, pup, I'm no longer welcomed up there. I'm a broken tool. They'll kill the beast, but they'll wait a little first." She said. 

"Wait until what?" Anthony said. 

"Until we're dead. Then they'll burn us all."She said. Anthony slammed his fist against the wall. 

"We could just run." The cub said. 

"When you said that thing was challenging me, you were right, cub. If we run now, we'll be running for the rest of our lives until we find ourselves cornered by it and its brood. Plus, we can't just leave the town defenseless." Anthony said.  

They all stood there for a long time, looking at everything but  each other. It was only when Anthony gazed out at the town and all its lights that his mind came alive.  

Sam was already deep into his cups when a pounding sounded from his door. He opened it with clumsy hands and wasn't surpised to see Anthony in the hall. 

"So you've finally come to kill me, eh." The doctor downed his glass. "Well, just make it quick." 

"No time for small talk, doc. I need alcohol, and lots of it." Anthony said, striding into the room. 

"Don't we all. But, your seriously not going to kill me." Sam said, as Anthony began to sniff the air. 

"No. What's wrong with you." Anthony said. His nose led him to a large cabinet in the corner of the room. He ripped off the lock with one quick swipe. The cabinet swung open to reveal cases upon cases of bottles filled with liquid courage. 

"These weren't here before." Anthony said. 

"Yeah well, I've been having some trouble sleeping lately." Sam said. 

"Want to talk about your bad dreams, doc?" Anthony said as he began to pull out the cases. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Sam said.  "What I'm doing is saving this town." 

"By stealing my Southern-Comfort?" 

"It's a complicated plan. I don't want to bore you with the details." 

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't remember it anyway. Anything I can do to help?" 

"Nah, you'd probably die. Just stay inside and wait for the fireworks." Anthony said. He clinked two bottles together. 

"Whatever, just leave me a bottle and be on your way. Scratch that, leave three." 

"Trying to start a party, doc? I take it tomorrow's session is canceled, then." 

"Assuming we're all alive tomorrow, yes our session's canceled. In fact, consider yourself cured, no amount of money is worth this bull. I'm gonna catch the first plane out of here." The doctor said. He took a long drag on his cigarette.  

"Where to, doc." Anthony said. 

"Somewhere warm." Sam said. Anthony looked out the window at the dots in the sky. 

"I had a similar idea in mind." 

"Yeah? Well, a change of scenery will probably do you some good." The doctor said, reclining in his chair. Anthony stacked the last of the cases and began carry them to the door.

"It's been nice talking to you, Sam." Anthony said. 

"Same here, kid. Pardon me if I don't cry, but I'm not that kind of drunk." Sam said. He took another drag while Anthony's steps rang down the hall.  

Anthony waited in the middle of the snow packed road. He had a bottle in hand with a piece of cloth sticking out of its mouth. He waited as the drunkard swayed down the street. 

"Well, if it isn't my old friend, and with a bottle at the ready. We really are of the same mind." The man said. His words had lost their usual slur and his step flowed into long careful strides. 

"Stop talking Marcus." Anthony said, and the man before him started to laugh. His voice was piercing, and if anyone had been sleeping, they'd soon be awake. That didn't matter though, no one would be walking these streets tonight. 

"So you finally caught on. I was wondering how long it would take you.." Marcus said.

"You used the alcohol to hide your scent." 

"So you do have a brain. I'll admit, the booze did hide my smell pretty well but damn, it's been months. I think this has been my finest work. It's too bad I had to waste my talents on you. I can't tell if Vanna raised you to be a coward or a fool." 

"You don't get to speak about him. You're the reason he's dead!" 

"Why? Why is that my fault? Because I was born? Because that bastard brought me into this world?!" Marcus took a step forward and Anthony tensed. Marcus laughed. "You know, the first time I saw you, I thought you were him. You have his skin and his hair, even that frozen face that he would always wear. Your his spitting image, and you aren't even his child. But, then you grabbed my shoulder, and I felt your warmth. That's when I knew I was going to make you suffer." 

"I'm still alive, Marcus. We all are. You failed." Anthony said. 

"Give me more credit than that, brother. All those kids I carved up, that had to strike a nerve. I can't wait until I get my hands on that little cub of yours, maybe then I'll get some emotion out of ya. Plus, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Marcus said.

Anthony watched as his brother's willowy frame shrank and curved. His rich skin darkened even more and a curtain of braids sprouted from his head. 

"How would you like to be killed by the woman you love. I know this may seem a little played out but I'm a fan of the classics." Marcus spoke with Perca's lips and Perca's voice, but that didn't stop Anthony from igniting the fabric and tossing the flaming bottle. Marcus swatted it aside and tried to speak, but his words were swallowed by a thousand cracks. Glass shattered on the dead creatures back, and flames embraced him once again.

Anthony looked up and saw the real Perca perched on the roof of a building. She was reaching for another bottle.  The thing screamed an unearthly sound. It bucked and twisted as it shifted into its monstrous skin. It stayed like that for a while, rolling along the ice trying to snuff out the flames. But the she-wolf wouldn't let him. Fire rained down onto the beast and it was forced to run. Anthony wasn't surprised to see his brother charge at him on all fours. Marcus wore his true wolf-skin's now, white paws aflame as he barreled at his foe. 

Anthony lit a match and let it drop into the snow. He stared into his brother's dead eyes as the wall of flame reflected in them. The white wolf swerved, scrabbling along the pavement as he fled from the fire. Perca followed along the rooftops, throwing bottles. Anthony was at every corner, turning the white wolf with his matches.  

When the white wolf saw the pyre, still aflame and smelling of burnt flesh, he dug his claws into the ice and nearly skidded to a stop. He never saw the young bear, but he felt his powerful swing as the bear's paw dug into his spine. The dead wolf landed in the pyre with a scattering of wood and flame, and despite its bellows and whines it began to rise. Then the black wolf flew. 

The black wolf dug his teeth into the white wolf's leg, and tore. He bit and ripped, and slashed, and cut,  and he tore. He tore and tore until the white wolf was only pieces scattered along the melting ice. Food for flame. 

When nothing remained of his brother but ashes, the black wolf stepped away from the fire, un-burnt.  He brushed against the young bear and looked to the sky once again. He found the red star blaring bright in the darkness. The black wolf knocked back his head and howled. It was a long one. Dagger-like as it pierced the clouds and raced to meet the heavens. 

The doctor watched it all from his window. When fire lit up the town in the absence of lights, the doctor downed his first bottle and began to nurse the second. When the black wolf emerged from the pyre unharmed, the doctor cracked open his last drink. 

"I really need to quit this stuff." Sam said, turning his gaze to his cigarette. Then he looked at the half empty bottle in his hand and sighed. "I need to quit this stuff too." When the Black wolf finally stopped with its baying, it tore out of town, with a bear and a brown wolf on its heels. "Maybe next year." Sam said and he took another swig for his friend the wolf. When the doctor looked to the grey clouds he saw something he'd never seen before. It was a star, and it was green. 

That night, the wolves and their cub huddled together and slept beneath the moon. 

***** 

Perca and Anthony watched as the young bear dug his red muzzle into the elk's belly. The years had treated the cub well as it neared the beginning of adolescence. His tawny arms were pact with muscle and it was nearly as tall as his mother had been so long ago. When he was done with his meal he melted down into his boy skin and looked to his parents with eyes ringed with purple. 

"He looks like you when you were a kid." Perca said. 

"He's stronger than I was." Anthony said. 

"Well, he is a bear." She said. 

Koda sauntered over to his wolf-father and mother, dragging his kill by the antlers. 

"For you." He said. He pointed with his free arm, and Anthony noticed how his skin struggled to contain the muscle building underneath.  

"I already ate, cub. I must go now." The father-wolf said. He saw his son's eyes haze, but there were no tears. 

"Come back soon." The boy said. In one swift motion, Anthony embraced his son. "I'll miss you father. Please, don't die." Koda had to force his arms to unravel and fall back to his side. Anthony ran his hands through the boys wooly hair. 

"Be good, cub. Look after your mother." He said. Koda nodded. 

Anthony turned to Perca. Her smile set her face aglow, but her eyes were sunken. 

"I love you. You know that right?" She said, wrapping her arms about his neck. his hands ran up and down her spine. 

"I know, you're a part of me." He said. She tried to laugh but the sound died in her throat. 

"If you find a mistress, I'll eat her." 

"The same goes for you. " 

"Please stay." 

"I can't. I have questions to be answered and a challenge to meet. I've waited long enough." He said. His fingers danced along her cheek and their eyes met. "I love you, and when I come back things will be different. They'll have no choice but to be." 

She struggled to smile back and he brushed his lips against hers. 

"Remember, the rules change beyond the clouds. It's their world." Perca said as she looked to the blue sky. 

"I'm adaptable." He said. She kissed him again. "Send me to the Valley." He told her. She nodded and then the Black wolf was gone.  

#Winter Wolves