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Ravenwing
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Calm down, Rai. China was only saying. Sending a PM is not bad. Sometimes it is the way to reach somebody, especially if they don't post in your topic that often. And most of us don't mind a PM now and then. It keeps our inboxs full. Wink
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry if I seemed short, wasn't trying to be. I was actually trying to be funny but...I guess I'll stick to my quirky satire....
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Voted, and no problemo. Takes more than a quirk to get through my thick skin! Very Happy

*runs of and sobs in a corner* Wink
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

voted, and winning
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

chinaren wrote:
Voted, and no problemo. Takes more than a quirk to get through my thick skin! Very Happy

*runs of and sobs in a corner* Wink


LOL. Poor China.

Hm, I am going for the rushing in idea. We need some action to go on again.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:20 am    Post subject: Chapter Four: Blood of my Brethren Reply with quote

Okay most people wanted her to hide the knife, sorry Rave, so I'm going from there...
------------------

Chapter Four: Blood of my Brethren

The girl took another deep breath then turned to walk in the door, shifting her grip on the knife. Suddenly she stopped. Walking in with the knife held in plain view was only going to get her tossed back out of the bar, or killed, and she didn't like either of the options.

Slowly she hid the knife from sight, rather difficult given the outfit she was wearing. I mean where do you hide a six inch blade in denim cutoffs so short they could have passed for boxer briefs and a tank top that would have made the Go Daddy.com girl blush. Yet she did and then, with a stride that said I'm a confidant man-eater, she strolled into the bar.

Heads turned and dancers missed a beat as they hissed at the new competition. She ignored them all and continued to swing her hips in a rolling gate until she reached the man at the counter. She quietly put down an ad that she'd ripped from the newspaper this morning...an ad for dancers. "Where can I find the owner?"

He either chose to overlook the ad or he never noticed it but he looked at her with mild surprise. "What for kid?"

"I'm a new dancer. I bet he wants to check out the color of my thong."

"Damn, wish that was my job. Through the door and to the left." He jerked a thumb behind him and resumed his work with the bar patrons. With an air of cool confidence she didn't feel, the girl strolled through the door.

No sooner had it shut behind her than she dropped to a crouch and sniffed the air. Yeah they were here all right...both of them. Quietly she unsheathed her knife. This time they'd pay...this time she'd avenge her mother and brothers...this time Varbodane and Alkesta were going down. "Nobody can stop me now."

She stood and gripped the knife in a fighting style. Down that hallway to the left awaited her prey. Like a wolf stalking a deer she walked noiselessly to the mouth of the hallway. She took a few deep calming breaths and closed her eyes. When she opened them she knew what to do. "Nobody can stop me now." She repeated.

She was just about to start down the hallway when someone grabbed her wrist. She whirled around, slashing with her knife, only to encounter empty air. She sensed there was someone behind her back and whirled, again lashing out with her knife, only to catch empty air. "Get a grip on yourself Celest! Nobody's there. Nobody's stopping you."

She turned to looked behind her one last time. Then she turned around...and nearly died of fright. Leaning against the wall infront of her was the last person on Earth she expected to see there...and this unexpected apperance chilled her to the bone.

The woman was tall, around six-one, six-two, and slender, maybe only one-sixty, one-eighty in weight. She was dressed in a pair of combat fatigues, military issue combat boots, and a wifebeater tanktop covered by a well-worn, much loved denim bomber jacket. Her skin and hair were pure white and they glowed, really glowed, under the unhealthy flourescent lights of the club's back hallway.

The woman lightly pushed off from the wall and turned to face Celest. Her face was gorgeous, high cheek-bones, a delicate, slightly up-tuned nose, a beautiful lush mouth, and a pair of huge indigo eyes. They were her most dominating feature, rimmed in ebony lashes, they were the only color on her. They were a deep, pulsing, idigo with brillaint gold rings around the pupils that dissolved into golden flecks that seemed to float on the surface of an ocean of uncharted depth.

"Celest, we should go home." Her voice was rich and melodic...hypnotic some would say. It was compelling on it's own and Celest knew that at the moment the woman was only making a suggestion...not issuing a command. This time the suggestion would go unheeded.

"No Rath. This time I'm going to finish what they started. I don't know how things work in the pack you came from but in mine we didn't let murderers go unpunished. There are two wolves down that hall that have blood on their muzzles."

"So you think that cutting their throats' will solve the problem? Will their blood take away your grief? I was there that day Celest, I know what happened..."

"Yes and I owe you my life Rath but the fact of the matter is you should have left me to die." Rath shook her head, her long white hair shifting like a velvet curtain down her back. She stepped forward till they were nose to nose. The wolf in Celest wanted to cringe and whimper. Rath was an alpha, absolutely superior in every way. Yet she wasn't playing that card...never had. Not with Celest, Ricky, or any of the other strays, loners, and misfits she seemed to oddly collect.

"Fine. Go get your pound of flesh but know this..." She grabbed a handful of Celest's hair and drug the girl so close that their eyelashes were touching. "It's my blood you spill today." She shoved her back so violently that Celest lost her balence and hit the floor, the knife spinning away from her.

Celest blinked to clear the tears from her eyes and by the time she could clearly see, Rath was gone. She sniffed the air a few times but all she could catch wind of was her enemies. She quietly picked up the knife and gave herself the once over. She took one step and faltered. Just what did Rath mean by it would be her blood spilled?

Quietly she walked down the hallway toward the door at the end, each step growing more nerve-racking and shakey. Finally she reached out her free hand to turn the doorknob...and found out she couldn't. With slumped shoulders and a beaten air Celest walked back down the hall. She stopped to look only once...and would forever wish she hadn't.

Just as she turned the door opened and a man and woman walked out. The man was dressed simply in a pair of khaki chords and a polo tee with polished Doc Martin boots, the woman in a red pleather mini-mini skirt and black lace-and leather halter top with black five inch stilettos with red bows and fishnet stockings.

They saw Celest at the same time Celest saw them...and it was on! The woman broke into a dead run, manicured nails already blurring into deadly claws. Celest fainted at Alkesta and then hurled her knife at Varbodane. She was rather shocked when it buried itself to the hilt in his side.

Far away in a modest kitchen Rath doubled over clutching her side as blood spattered the floor around her. A little trickled down the corner of her mouth.

He looked at her in shock, blood welling from the wound. "Allie! It's treated!" Alkesta broke off her attack midway and turned toward her stricken brother. She paused long enough to hurl a hateful glance at Celest.

"This isn't over whelp!" Celest could hear the sounds of pounding feet coming closer. She reached out, seeking the power of transfer, the Great Lope, that had seemed to come so easily to her in the past few months. She didn't have much time, and it was coming so much slower today for some reason, so she simply grabbed the fraying edge and willed herself home.

She moved sluggeshly through space and time, arriving home in an instant. Ricky was sprawled on the couch and raised an eyebrow at her arrival. "You and Rath have a fight? She seemed a bit peevish a moment ago."

"You seen her?" He jerked his head toward the kitchen. "Thanks."

"Hey, you better wash before dinner. You smell like blood." Celest looked at herself in puzzlement.

"It's not me." For a few moments they both sniffed around then, following their noses, they entered the kitchen. For an instant they didn't believe what they saw then reality hit home.

Rath lay crumpled in the middle of the kitchen floor, blood pooling around her in a crimson lake. As Celest approched closer her huge eyes fluttered open. "You knicked a lung." She coughed, bringing forth more blood.

"Damn, damn, damn. Rath what do I do! How can I help you! Ricky help me!" Ricky had already taken off his shirt and pressed it to the wound.

"Call and ambulance."

"Are you crazy! They'll figure out what she is in a second. They'd whisk her off to some government lab somewhere faster than you could blink! It'd be like the X-Files Ricky!" He winced but continued to look at her. "Maybe she'll heal on her own? She has before..."

"And pigs will fly Celest! If you don't hurry she's going to die here!" For an instant Celest debated then she made her decision...
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow! Tough decision point - and great chapter Very Happy

Both sides are right. We can't just let her lie there and hope she gets better on her own. Nor can we take her anywhere official.

How about a black-market doctor? These wolf-people seem to have contacts. Is there anywhere they can go, where other people go to get stab and bullet wounds patched up unofficially? Barring that, is there a friendly doctor who might do the job for a bribe - or a threat?

I think we need to be looking for a halfway option here. Play the odds Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 1:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad you like and yes I'm purposefully making things difficult. Wink
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, this story has really moved on.

And it is definately making more sense than it did at the end of Chapter 2.

Doesn't make the decision point any easier though. Shocked

How would the hospital know so quickly? Is that a definate certainty or just a big risk? Are we talking strange internal organ arrangement that'd show up on X-ray or some other give away?

A black-market doctor - a good idea if it's something that's around. Although myself I wouldn't know where to look, if it's something that can be found then great. What sort of payment do we have available?

I can't think of any other possibilty unless there is some mystic/wise woman/shaman type somewhere? Any healers amongst their kind?

Happy Writing Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya, good chapter!

I am with Smee on this, I don't think the hospital would find out so fast, though there would no doubt be questions about the wound, you could say she was attacked or something thought.

Either that, or the underground doc is the way to go.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

indeeed - btw rai - have you by chance played vampire: the masquerade, bloodlines?
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah so you caught that quote did you Lordy? I'm surprised you missed the one about astroturf that was earlier in...crap I forgot which story it was in...

It's in there just for all you VTM fans, and if you'll look closely there's also some stuff from the White Wolf rpg in there too...

I'm using those games to help me formulate some of the plot, and I'll admit, I was a bit tired writing that scean so I didn't tweak the lines as much as I normall do...

Keep reading for more clues...
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cool, it was just that one line - taken directly from the asylum
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice chapter, Rai. Definitely a turnpager chapter if this were in book form.

I agree with the suggestions given. Going to see a black market doctor does not seem a bad option. But I do wonder, how would the doctors know that Rath is a wolf-person? Is it there a glaringly obvious sign?

Hmm, maybe there is a hedgewitch or someone like that. They maybe be less inclined to question the wound.

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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 2:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay everybody keeps asking how they'd know she wasn't human. The answer is her blood. She's lost a lot of blood and will need a transfusion immidiantly...that means bloodwork to determine her type. Once they start analyzing her blood...shows over..
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i knew that

or rather - i guessed
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PostPosted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

*nods* That makes sense now. I just wasn't sure thats all. Well I still like the idea of either going to a black market doctor or finding a hedgewitch or somebody.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

New poll. SAVE RATH...or not...
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

went for the blackmarket docter

and winning
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 4:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am going to go with the hedgewitch. Not just because it's my idea, but because I think she may have a better idea of how to deal with a wolf person.

Is that the right term to use? Confused

Another reason was to add to the competition. *grins* I can't let the black market doctor win with an unanimous vote. Cool

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:20 pm    Post subject: Chapter Five: That Which Must Come to Pass. Reply with quote

The Blackmarket doc wins...here you go...
------------------

Chapter Five: That Which Must Come to Pass.

"Ricky go find White. Tell him we'll owe him a favor if he can find Cornelius for us." Ricky looked striken and relieved at the same time.

"Cornelius I understand but White! You know what..." His words were stilled as Rath coughed once. He took hold of Celest's hand and pressed it firmly to the improvised shirt compress. "Keep her together until we get back." Celest nodded, tears welling in her eyes as Ricky became little more than a blurr of speed.

"Hold on Rath." Rath coughed and covered Celest's hand with her own. Her smile was heartbreaking.

"There's something I need to do Celest and I've got to do it alone. Things were said that must happen...this is one of them." With that her eyes glazed over and she was no longer there.

Instead Rath moved to the side of a great rushing river, her human form of little use to her here. She dove into the current and, with strong strokes, pulled herself to the opposite bank. The moment she touched that soft ground her human forme melted and was replaced by that of a massive white wolf, dripping wet from the current.

Slowly another wolf moved out of the mist that obscured this side from prying eyes. She was a silvery tan and about half the size of the white wolf. "Hello mother."

"Sirriath you came."

"I had little choice thanks to your tampering...you knew I wouldn't let Celest go through with it but the unsealable wound...if you wanted a visit you just needed to ask."

"Your companions must think you've been slain darling. Especially when your siblings arrive."

"Their grief will turn to rage..."

"Can we continued this conversation somewhere private?" The white wolf nodded. Before them lay a much smaller stream, the last line separating life from death. They crossed the stream into the supernatural mist beyond.

Celest knew nothing of this conversation...she only knew that Rath was dead. Her tears fell openly and her form blurred into that of a wolf without her knowing it. She threw back her head and let loose a long, mournful sound, so full of grief that it broke the hearts of the heartless.

Far away, Ricky was trying to get White to help him by playing White's favorite game. White was on the sidewalk, Ricky above him on a fire escape and they were flicking a penny back and forth at one another, hurling it with all their sizable supernatural strength. When Celest's cry of anguish reached his ears he hurled the penny back at White with a black fury. This stupid delay had cost him Rath's life.

White's eyes opened in shock as he watched the penny fall from the sky. When the penny dropped it hit him like a cannonball. Ricky sped away, striving to reach Celest in time before she did anything rash, tears falling to the pavement like raindrops behind him.

In a posh room under the seedy club, Alkesta and Varbodane were trying to puzzle out the riddle of a treated knife that, once removed, left no wound and no pain. When Celest's mourning howl reached their ears they realized that they had more important things to do...like take care of the bitch that had tried to kill Dane in the first place.

Ricky came in the kitchen window just as Allie and Dane blurred into the kitchen. The four wolves faced each other down over the body of Rath. Surprisingly she was still in human form.

"You." Allie and Dane growled. Ricky and Celest were about to reply when Rath's body blurred and a white glow surrounded it. An eathreal howl seemed to ring in their ears.

When the four wolves looked again no body remained only the faintly shimmering, translucent form of a massive white wolf bigger than any of them. "Fight no more for there is no need. You are not enemies but packmates." Dane and Allie bristled at the glowing wolf.

"Sirriath, sister ours! You finally come within reach of our jaws only to take deaths embrace! Ajax will be most put out with us for not killing you ourselves...yet he will be pleased none the less by your death!"

Sirriath turned then so that Alkesta and Varbodane could clearly see the blood soaked fur of her right side. "How is it that a knife made to kill those such as you leaves no pain and no wound after a blow being struck?" The siblings were struck dumb and Sirriath turned to the younger wolves on her other side.

"And now you understand my words earlier spoken Celest. Seek not to avenge your pack for that was something that had to happen or I myself would have stopped it. After all I was there."

"You were the one they sought." Ricky's voice was hushed.

"Yes. It was my presence that night that doomed your pack. For that I am sorry but it had to be done...otherwise the future would have been in jepardy."

For a few moments all was silent...then Sirriath spoke again. "Listen well to me. You two have been brainwashed into thinking I am evil yet in all your memories of me have I ever harmed you." The siblings shook their heads, the very core of their belief in the world shattered. "And you two are too young to be abroad in the world alone therefore I say this,"

Sirrath's glow became painfully bright as her form faded. "Become a pack, become four of the Seven. The other two will soon become known to you and when you all are together come again to the place of my birth, where the bones of my parents still lie and there shall we meet again." With that she vanished.

The four wolves were left staring at each other, all with predjudices to overcome and hatred to bury. Yet the command still rang in their heads. Become a pack...but how?
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

is that the descion point? how to become a pack?

and good chapter, btw
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah that's the point...
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hmm, now just how do you set about becoming a pack? co-operation not really my thing.

if it was a scheme for world domination then i'm your man. or daemon. or whatever.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So much for finding a doctor... *laughs* Nice chapter, Rai.

So we have to decide how to become a pack? Cooperation maybe one thing we need to consider. These guys first need to decide whether or not they even want to be a pack. I am sure there is going to be a few dissenters in this group. And that someone is going to take the lead here.

Also, they're going to need to find Sirriath's birthplace, so they can make the group of Seven. Again that will take some cooperation and organization of the group.

That is all I can think of for now. But you have given us a strange decision point here, Rai. It is certainly more than a simple yes or no question despite the way it is framed. Cool

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well here's a few things for you guys to take into consideration.
1. It is prophesized that there will be Seven whether they like it or not.
2. Varbodane and Alkesta know exactly where Sirrath was born, they were born there too and wolves remember everything since birth.
3. They can fight all they want but soon somebody's going to investigate the disturbence.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good chapter, strange decision point.

I'd say, if they want to become a pack, then sooner or later, there'll be a dominance fight. At least two of them are going to need to be the leader, and normal wolves have a very strict pecking order of who's boss, and who's second and who's bottom of the rung.

Other than that, I think they should hunt together, live together, stop trying to kill each other and do some communicating. Then they should visit Sirriath's birthplace Smile
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wolves are also born blind though, and remain that way for about two weeks - would they be able to find it from scent alone?
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 9:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sirriath, Varbodane, and Alkesta arn't your average wolves...they aren't even your average werewolves. They could see when they were born, albit only Sirriath actually understood what she was seeing and yes, like salmon, they could find their way back by instinct alone if need be.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK, just clearing that up.
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shady Stoat wrote:


I'd say, if they want to become a pack, then sooner or later, there'll be a dominance fight. At least two of them are going to need to be the leader, and normal wolves have a very strict pecking order of who's boss, and who's second and who's bottom of the rung.

Other than that, I think they should hunt together, live together, stop trying to kill each other and do some communicating. Then they should visit Sirriath's birthplace Smile


Good points, Shady. It may be likely that Varbodane, and Alkesta will be the more likely canditates to be leaders of the pack I think.

I guess first there has to be a fight for dominance. and after that they're going to have to learn to live with each other. Is there a possibility we can gather to add to our numbers? We already have 4, that means there must be 3 more to make the group number 7 members.

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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 1:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I went for share life stories as their first action.

Once they understand each other a little then a natural order may establish itself.

However it seems likely that the first option will follow soon after.

Happy Writing Smile
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 6:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

went for fighting, discover dominance over the others

and winning
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Smee wrote:
I went for share life stories as their first action.

Once they understand each other a little then a natural order my establish itself.

However it seems likely that the first option will follow soon after.

Happy Writing Smile


You're probably right. Should sharing life stories win, it would delay the fighting.

I would say get on with the fighting. Life stories can be a time of peace afterwards.

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 2:19 am    Post subject: Chapter Six: Alpha Wolf. Reply with quote

So the battle begins...
-----------------

Chapter Six: Alpha Wolf

They stood there on the kitchen linoleum for a few moments...then a growl rose in Varbodane's throat. He glared at Ricky and Ricky tried to muster something more than blind anger...but could not. Varbodane would have taken him apart. With flashing eyes Celest met his audacious challenge.

She said we needed to become a pack. She didn't say you were going to lead us. Suddenly Alkesta was there, throwing her up onto the counters with a snarle. An all out, knockdown, drag out, bloody, brawl ensued shortly after and though Celest and Ricky fought bravely they were outmatched by Sirriath's siblings.

Too soon they found themselves in the living room, licking their wounds. Like it or not, Dane would be leading the pack, with Allie his close second. Yet neither one of them considered Celest or Ricky weak, just too young. "You fought well today. It's pleasing to know that for two so young, you're strong."

"We're not that much younger than you are!" Celest huddled closer to Ricky. "Just because you have six years on us is no reason to think we're just kids" Dane nodded.

"Yes that's a reasonable request. You're old enought to hunt and rear pups, I can't really treat you like a pup can I?" Celest's eyes blurred with tears. It was something almost like Rath, Sirriath that is, would have said.

It was hard to think of Rath as the End-Bringer. Yet it was so obvious that Celest wondered how she hadn't noticed it before. Neither she nor Ricky had ever seen Rath in wolf form and yet she was too powerful for them to even think about challenging. Still, Rath wasn't evil yet the prophecy clearly stated the 'white wolf' would bring and end to her people.

"You must hate us." Allie licked a long, shallow cut on her forearm. "Here you've lived with quiet, simple hatred for some time, and now suddenly we come and shake it up. You're leader suddenly becomes the most reviled wolf in history and you're sleeping with the enemy."

"Yeah something like that." Ricky muttered under his breath. "What about you two. Must have been turned on your ear to realize that Rath saved your life."

"Not really." Dane shifted uncomfortably in the armchair. "See we wouldn't be alive were it not for Sirriath. Our mother died at the moment of our whelping. Without her we would have starved and frozen in the snow. She huddled us together, baid us drink from a corpse...that was something we'd never have done without her urging and it saved us."

Allie looked up. "Yes, we never really could bring ourselves to hate her. No matter what the council said, every time they tried to hammer it into our skulls that our sister was evil and dangerous some disaster would strike and Sirriath would come out of nowhere to pull our tails out of it. We'd have been long dead by now had she not always been looking out for us."

Celest looked at the hole in Dane's shirt and blushed. "Sorry about that. I was pretty angery at you but I guess I can start to get over that now. I mean if it had to happen then nothing anyone could have done would have stopped it. You two just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became the agents of distruction."

"Ah but if we were in the wrong place at the wrong time then you'd never have had reason to hunt us down. With no reason you'd never have thrown the knife that peirced Sirriath and she'd never have crossed into the spirit lands. We wouldn't be sitting here talking now and things wouldn't be moving toward the final conflict. Can you ever forgive us?" His sad eyes pleaded their case eloquently enough. Alkesta shed a tear that traced her fine cheekbone. It sparkled like a gem and vanished like a beggars promise.

Ricky looked thoughtful. "I wonder what she meant when she said the other two will soon become known to you?" They looked around at each other. They where all that were left. The last. The lost, and the lonely. The only weapons of a prophecy that must happen, no matter what. Ricky opened his mouth to speak again when gunshots echoed out in the night.

They rushed to the window as an inhuman howl tore through the night. "Let's go!" Instantly Dane was out the window, the others following just after. They bolted in the direction the cry had come from, a deserted building a few blocks away.

Later they would often remark, with passing irony, on that night. They learned one valuble lesson that night. Misery doesn’t simply love company; it insists on it. Inside the building two wolves had been brought to bay by human hunters. Fine wires of silver wrought under a full moon already encircled their legs and wrapped around their necks.

"Filthy, mangey beasts. We'll..." He never finished. Just as he opened his mouth Dane tore it out. His parner was already down, being feasted upon by Ricky, who was half starved by his exertions this night. The third, however, wasn't panic striken. He took a good hold on the thick, silver shot, rope he held in his hands and lept down an old elevator shaft. As the rope pulled tight a final, desperate scream rent the night.

The wolf who's neck it was wrapped around slid dangerously toward the open shaft, it's scream of panic reverberating off the walls of the room. With a swiftness like lightning, Celest scooped the rope up in her jaws and severed it with one powerful bite. The third man's scream of death echoed back up nicely...the thud he made sounded even better.

Slowly the four turned to survey the newcomers. One was a brilliant golden, like liquified sunlight. She moved with a flawless grace, marred only by a slight limp, and was every inch a regal queen. The second was obviously a loner. Like a shadow he was with the darkest pelt they'd ever seen. It was, wasn't black, it was more an absence of light.

He looked like he'd never taken orders in his life, looked like he'd used his outsider status to do whatever he wanted. Empowered by non-conformity, he took exactly what he wanted. For an instant Dane held control of the pack, the next he was second dog in all but name. While the black wolf didn't want open leadership it was clear that when he spoke he would expect to be obeyed.

"Hello friends. I am glad to see you. My name is Kohaku." The golden wolf blurred and a slender Japanese woman replaced her. "This gentleman is named Xerender." The black wolf blurred to be replaced by a man so hansome he made modles look ugly. Celest sucked in her breath. Xerender...Soul Crusher. One of those mentioned directly by name in the prophecy, a name right out of the prophecy.

He said nothing, not to explain his presence nor why he'd been conserving his strength in the battle against the hunters. He could have taken them apart with half a thought, yet had no done so. Slowly Dane took control of the situation. "We have a den not far from here. It would please us if you would come with us." Then he turned not waiting for an answer, sensing that the two would follow.

He worried all the way back to the den. Once all were inside he excused himself to use the bathroom and sat on the toilet with his hands in his hair, nearly crying in frustration. He stared at his hands, noticing for the first time a small mark, like a snowflake on his hand. It was a moon glyph. He gawped disbelievingly. That hadn't been there this morning! The mark of one of the Chosen of the moon! What could it mean?

Now they were six. As they sat around the TV Dane wondered if he should wait around for the seventh or if he should start the journey to his birthplace...his and Sirriaths? Yet could these new members be trusted, especially Xerender?
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 5:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good chapter.

I think Sirriath said that 2 more would be arriving shortly. I don't think they can wait around forever, waiting for a seventh that might arrive only when they start on their journey to her birthplace.

As for whether we can trust the latest 2 - I think trust will come over time. They should work together for now, because Rath said they should. If anything happens to change that, I'm sure they're mor than capable of dealing with it at the time. Smile
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did she say two or did she say more than two, that is the question...
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hmm, I just realised I neglected to comment here - must be what happens if you read without logging in.

I'd say inform HQ, with advice to send more agents.

Then I'd remember that was the other story, in which I've already replied, wake up from my daze and instead say...

Wait for the other arrivals.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 1:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You think you're confused Lordy? I'm the one writing all these things! And I'm plotting to unleash two more of them on you people here pretty soon, finished others or not.
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would request you hold off on any more.

I can't keep us as with them all as it is, and I'd like to be involved with them, rather than reading them in the archive.

But I'm just one reader, it's your choice.

Happy Writing Smile
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