Red Hood: The Hunt

By Erik Schubach

Copyright © 2015 by Erik Schubach

Self publishing

P.O. Box 523

Nine Mile Falls, WA 99026

Cover Photo © 2015 Captblack76 / ShutterStock.com license

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties.  Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, blog, or broadcast.

This is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Manufactured in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-9909806-5-0

Chapter 1 – Breach

Victor was yelling at me over the automatic weapons fire and the flame throwers at the gates of the city, “McQueen!  Daria!  Did you hear me?”

I wiped the sweat away from my face then lowered my riot shield again and nodded as I yelled back,  “Yeah, I heard you, you old blowhard!  I got the perimeter sweep, switching to coms.”  I took a moment to look at the tide of snapping fangs and razor-sharp claws slamming into the main city gate.

The wolves looked rabid, foaming at their mouths.  But I knew it was just the burns from the silver strands in the steel bars of the gate burning and foaming their flesh as they threw themselves against it.  Damn, every full moon it seems there are more and more of them.  Where are they coming from, and why does it seem like they are all converging here at Seattle?  The other major cities are reporting only their usual numbers.

I glanced up at the full moon hanging over the horizon.  We only had to hold for another hour until the sun was up and we were in the clear.  I checked the magazine of my tactical shotgun to be sure I had silver rounds loaded, then hopped off the ladder down to the ground.  A claw came slashing through the bars, I could hear the sizzle and the putrid smell of burning flesh as an unusually large wolf strained to get to me.  Like I'd be stupid enough to step close.

I rolled my eyes, raised my shotgun, and fired, reducing its head to burning and sizzling hamburger.  “Bad dog,”  I mumbled as its body slumped to the ground.  The acrid sulfur smell that marked the transformation filled the air as the body melted back into its human form.  Fuckin' werewolves.

I started walking the thirty foot tall perimeter wall that was around the entire city.  This portion was the oldest in the city, built in the beginning, when the European werewolves had somehow made it to the United States back in 1899.  It was made of silver ore rocks.  It reminded me a lot of medieval castle walls with the silver veins sparkling in the moonlight.

I saw the guards on the top, pacing the narrow walkway, shining their lights down on the sea of wolves.  They were Seattle PD like me.  We all dreaded these three nights a month, during the full moon, when the wolves would come.  Pretty sad when we longed for a good mugging or robbery.

Not many women join the police force, I'm one of the exceptions.  I have my reasons... when I was ten, wolves had breached the Ballard gates somehow. They went on a killing spree in my neighborhood.  They avoided our silver infused FMBs, or Full Moon Bars, that we used to shutter the doors and windows every full moon night just in case of a breach exactly like that.  The animals had instead actually dug through our roof and dropped into the house, avoiding the FMBs entirely.

My dad had just got me into the panic cage and was reaching for my older sister, when they attacked.  Right before my eyes they tore my parents apart. Then a huge wolf played with my sister, batting her around the room with its clawed paws as she and I screamed.  Then when I heard the gunfire and police outside raising our FMBs, the wolf headed toward the collapsed ceiling.

Now I know what we are taught.  That they are just stupid, unthinking killing machines when they transform. That they have no humanity left in them and they don't remember what they did during a full moon when they returned to their human state.  I'm not so sure. I swear to you that wolf seemed to smile with a wicked gleam in its human looking green eyes when it paused. It looked at me in the cage with its silver plating, then back at my sister, Prue, who was curled against the wall in fear.  Then it snapped once at her, biting her arm, infecting her, then he looked back at me for a long moment with a look of satisfaction before it ran.

My sister, just barely seventeen, was contained before she changed minutes later, then given The Choice all the infected had before they turned on the next full moon.  A merciful death of suicide by silver nitrate pill or banishment beyond the gates.  No infected are allowed to live in the cities even though they are human during the day and all nights except during a full moon.

My eyes watered at the memory as I checked the base of the wall and the FMBs of the buildings I passed in my sector.  The last person in my family, my sister Prue, chose banishment.  I still hesitate today whenever I kill a smaller wolf, a female wolf, wondering if it is Prue.

I found a defective track on an FMB at a duplex.  I made a note of it to have the city engineers come in and fix it during the daylight.

I wonder if she is still alive out there somewhere, thinking of me.  I know there are at least five lupine settlements in the area, cities where the people cage themselves on full moons, and live their lives as normally as possible.  But the Ferals are the men and women who have been driven mad knowing they are nothing but cursed beasts from hell on those nights and not knowing if they had killed.

They are barely rational in human form and have, for some reason, started converging in the area the past few months.  Like it is a coordinated effort.  Ferals try to spread the curse by not locking themselves down on full moons, so the National Guard has units to keep them pacified.  But there are not enough men brave enough to go beyond the gates of the cities on a full moon, so the platoons move across the nation.  Then there are the Wolf Hunters, who are sanctioned to kill any Feral wandering on a full moon.  They are paid by the head.

But once a werewolf returns to human, it is illegal to kill them as they have most of the rights of a Clean Blood, a human free of the infection.  I just see Wolf Hunters as animals themselves, they are out there just for the thrill, little more than the beasts they kill.  We haven't seen one in Seattle for over a decade.

I paused, pushing my thoughts aside as I heard something over the battle receding in the distance. The howling and growling of the wolves on this side of the wall, faint and deadened by the mass of the stones.  It was a splashing sound and a rumble that was so low it was more felt than heard that caught my attention.

The hairs stood up on the back of my arms and at the small of my neck.  I knew the sound almost intimately, the deep growl of a wolf on the hunt.  My shotgun was up as I swept the area.  I glanced at my riot gear then scanned the alley the sound was coming from.

I was whispering into my coms, “This is officer McQueen, sector 1A.  I have a breach situation.  Alley at North 145th and Stone.”

Headquarters was on coms instantly. “All units, lupine incursion North 145th and Stone.  Officer on scene.”

Then Victor was on the TAC channel, I could hear him breathing hard, he was running.  “Talk to me McQueen, are they contained?  Numbers?”

I responded in a whisper, “I don't know.  I'm heading into the alley to check.”

He was almost growling. “Don't do anything stupid kid!  Wait for backup!”

I paused at the alley entrance and glanced in quickly before pulling back.  I had definitely seen one tail and more shadowy shapes milling around.  I didn't know if that alley was a dead end or if they could escape from the other side.

I was about to report in when I heard snarling then a yelp and the smell of burning flesh wafted out of the alley.  I grinned, the FMBs were doing their job.  Then there was more snarling, snapping, and scratching, followed by the sound of siding tearing.  Shit!  They were going to go through the wall.  I could hear people screaming inside the apartment building.

I growled out a “Son of a bitch!”  Then raised my weapon and ran into the alley.  I almost tripped over a manhole cover leading into the sewers.  That's how they got in, there was a breach somewhere down there.

I inadvertently kicked a discarded soda can when I dodged the open hole in the ground.  The one wolf I could see snapped its head toward me, snarling, and leaped.  A normal wolf can jump about fifteen feet and almost twelve feet straight up, but a werewolf can do twice that.  Whatever supernatural curse makes them these demon spawn, gives them enhanced speed and strength, and even a bit of it in human form.

This one covered most of the forty feet between us in that single leap.  He was big, even for a werewolf, and his pelt was a mangy grey and black.  There was no intelligence in his yellow eyes, just savage intent.  I fired and tore half of his skull off as the silver buckshot burned his flesh and brain alike.  He had so much momentum that his body slammed into me sending me to the ground and my shotgun skidding and spinning away from me.

I scrambled out from under him as two other wolves turned from their attempt to enter the building and flung themselves at me, snarling and snapping.  It felt like about two hundred pounds of wolf transforming to human that I had to move off of me.  I rolled across the ground and over my shotgun, snagging it as I rolled past and coming up pumping off two shots.  I winging the closest one and it yipped and skittered away.

The third one was in the air, and I swung the barrel of my rifle to it as fast as I could manage.  I paused, it was smaller, a female...  I brought up the shotgun crossways between it and me as it landed, knocking the wind out of me.

Its jaws were snapping trying to get to me, but I kept the shotgun held out.  Its claws were tearing at me. I could hear my riot armor cracking under the assault.  I wasn't going out like this God Damn it!  I yelled, “Get back mutt!” I dropped the shotgun and punched the she-wolf in the muzzle with all my strength.

I think it surprised her more than hurt her, as she stepped back slightly.  I saw the other wolf moving to my side with a limp.  The bitch curled her lips, revealing killing fangs and started to lunge just as something landed soundlessly by my side, I had just caught the motion in my peripheral vision.  Almost faster than I could follow, wolf fast, a fist shot out from a billowing red cloak.

I heard the crack of bone as the wolf went tumbling, paws over tail, and crashed into the opposite wall of the alley with bone-jarring force.  A woman's voice came out from under a thick red hood, smoky and smooth as she said calmly, “She said get back.”  It scrambled to its paws and the two wolves dove on my savior.

The woman dove right back toward them, and they clashed, jaws snapping and claws ripping.  The bitch was hanging off of the woman's left arm.  I blanched, they had infected her... she had come to my rescue and paid the price.

She caught the male by the throat in mid-leap, he had to have weighed around one-fifty or so, and he just dangled off the ground, thrashing.  Then she swung her other arm with so much force I could hear the snapping of bones as she slammed the bitch into the side of a dumpster.  The wolf slumped to the ground then limped off, circling us.

She turned her attention to the male and slammed him against the wall, still grasping its throat.  It struggled and thrashed as the woman did something insane... she put her face just inches from the wolf's face, its fangs snapping, trying to get at her.  She seemed to be looking into its eyes. Then she shook her head almost sadly, I caught her saying under her breath, “Not him.”  In a blur, she looked to punch the wolf in the chest, but then I saw the hilt of the knife in her hand.  Where had she pulled that from?

The wolf stopped moving, and I could smell the burning flesh, it was a silver blade.  She dropped the body as it started changing back to human.  I regained my wits and reached for my shotgun just as the she-wolf dove on her back.  Jaw snapping, teeth sinking into the back of her neck that was covered by the red hood of the cloak as her claws raked at the woman's back.

I couldn't shoot or I'd hit the woman too.  I stood and took two steps and struck the wolf at the base of the skull with the butt of the shotgun.  It released her and dropped to the ground, snapping at me.  There was a swishing sound and an arrow was suddenly embedded into the wolf's skull.  The flesh around it steaming and burning.  A silver arrow?

The woman pulled the arrow out and locked it to the back of the crossbow, which had two others like it in place.  An honest to God crossbow.  She must have had the weapon hanging under her red cloak.  She watched in morbid fascination as the wolf turned into a middle-aged woman.  A part of me sighed in relief that it wasn't Prue.

Then the woman turned in a flourish, the cape of the crimson cloak billowing out, and she started walking away.  I could hear the sirens approaching.  I called out to her,  “Miss, thank you for saving me, that was amazing.  But you can't go...”  I hated myself for my next words. “You were bitten... infected.  I need to detain you until you make The Choice.”

She turned and regarded me for a moment, then stepped back up to me so smoothly and gracefully, I almost didn't see her move.  She pulled her hood back and her ice blue eyes stood out in sharp contrast to her dark locks of straight hair.  I gawked at her... wow.

She must have been five foot ten, a couple inches taller than me.  And she had an amused look on her face, her lips curled up in a smile.  “Bitten?  I think not, I would have noticed.”  She pulled her hair back and turned her head slightly so I could see the back of her long neck.  There was nothing there but pristine, un-punctured skin.  Then she moved her cloak to the side and pulled up the sleeve of her white ruffled shirt to show me a similarly undamaged arm.

Then she turned to leave again. “You fought bravely.  Have a pleasant morning officer, the sun is rising.”  She pointed to the east as the first rays of the sun started poking out above the Cascades.

I called out to her, “But how?  I saw...”

She looked back over her shoulder and flippin' winked at me.  I swear, she winked.  She said with a crooked smile, “There isn't a lycanthrope whose claws or teeth can puncture the fabric of my cloak.”  I blinked, but it was just fabric, it looked like wool.

I tried to stop her again as I heard patrol cars coming to a quick stop at the alley entrance. “But your bounties!”

She shrugged. “They weren't the wolf I was looking for.  Keep the bounties for yourself, or if you insist, have them put on the Red Hood's account.” Then she leaped up over eight feet like a wolf, snagged a fire escape ladder ten feet up, and effortlessly pulled herself up.  She glided up the steps then disappeared over the roof.

What!?  No way, the Red Hood is just an urban myth, she wasn't real... was she?

I was just staring after her like a fool as some officers came running down the alley, and Victor came huffing and puffing in his riot gear behind them.  They all looked around at the bodies, as the stench of flesh burning filled the alley, and my partner just stared at me bug-eyed. “Jesus kid!”

Chapter 2 – Protection Detail

The clean up crews arrived, and I was checked for bites and punctures and pricked in the finger with a silver needle just to make sure.  When my skin and blood didn't sizzle and foam on the silver, I was cleared.  Victor shook his head, ran his hand through his silver buzz cut, and said in resignation, “So much paperwork today because of this...  we won't get off duty until late morning, kid.”

I shook my head at the man as I watched a containment team enter the sewers to find where the breach occurred.  Then he got a disbelieving look on his face and asked for the tenth time, “The Red Hood?  No shit?”

I swapped my riot gear out for a new set the cleanup and containment crews handed me as they bagged my damaged gear to prevent saliva contamination.  I said, “For the tenth time O'Neil, yes,” He slapped the shoulder pads of the gear to check the clasps.

He looked at his watch and cursed then said in resignation, “Still an hour and a half until shift is over.”  I sighed as well, we didn't miss clearing detail.

As we trudged to the now open gates, Victor asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity on his leathery face, “So... what was she like?  Is it true she is eight feet tall?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No, she's just a little shorter than you Vic.  Don't buy into the stories.”  Then I paused. “Though she was as fast and strong as a wolf.  I almost couldn't follow her movements.  She caught a hundred and fifty pound wolf in mid-leap with one hand while another one dangled from her other arm.  It wasn't natural.”

Then I smiled wistfully as I remembered the crooked smile and her cocky wink.  Victor squinted at me then shook his head. “Oh good God, you got that look... so how pretty was she?”

I exhaled, he was kind of old school and couldn't wrap his head around the fact that I was equally attracted to men and women, but he tried.  The world was slowly changing and gay rights and acceptance were spreading.  Washington state was among the first to legalize gay marriage.

I shook my head. “It isn't like that you old fart.  She saved me from being eaten... or worse.”  I shuddered to think about if they mauled me but I survived, I'd be one of them.  Fucking wolves.  Then I grinned at him.

He chuckled and prodded, “That pretty huh?”

We reached the open gates as I nodded with a slight smile and said without looking at him, “Oh yeah.”  Then we looked out at the carnage outside the main gates, a scene that I knew was playing out at all the other gates of Seattle.

There were hundreds of naked burned and bloody human bodies being collected by the containment teams.  They would be processed, and if possible identified so their families on the outside could claim the bodies to give them proper burials.  The ones who could not be identified would be buried with dignity in the Lycan cemeteries outside the gates to prevent contamination.  Nobody ever chose to be a werewolf, and they were not responsible for their actions during a full moon.

We all grew up knowing the duality of a wolf.  They were humans like us until the change, then an animal replaced them.  The beasts were not human.  I couldn't bring myself to feel too sorry for most of the ones who died at the gates though.  They know what they are, yet part of me says logically that if they truly meant no harm then they would lock themselves away on full moons like the majority of the infected in the non-gated cities.

I was calloused, I know.  But I saw the human intelligence in the eyes of that one wolf, different than all the others.  He knew he was being cruel and it was funny to him to bite my sister before he fled.  He knew exactly what he was doing.  I was going to kill that wolf one day for turning my sister.  I always wondered if there were others out there like him, aware of their actions.

I sighed knowing I couldn't really fault any of them, they were only human.  I have no clue how I would handle it if I were ever made to make The Choice.  I'm so scared that I'd be one to choose the coward's way out and take the silver nitrate.

We stopped at the gates as we watched the road get cleared first and blood washed away with fire hoses.  Men and women were sifting the soil beside the road for silver buckshot.  With the worldwide shortage of silver, we had to recycle every gram of it.

Volunteers from the city in plastic suits poured out of the gates with water and clothes for the wounded humans.  Their wolf aspects would heal them within hours if they didn't have silver poisoning.  Priests and councilors spoke with the ones who didn't know how they got at the gates.

When the roads were clear, travelers started arriving.  We sighed and took out our silver needles as each vehicle drove into the checkpoint. We would search the vehicles for anyone hiding in them and prick the finger of all who entered to verify none was infected.  Nobody infected was allowed inside the city gates.

This was so boring and tedious.  My mind kept drifting to the woman who had saved me.  What kind of Hunter was she?  She hadn't wanted the bounties.  I couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking for something in particular.  The way she stared down that wolf before dispatching it, I shuddered.

I glanced around and noticed a small girl, no more than eight or nine right outside the gate, naked and dirty, asking for water from a volunteer.  A hot tear burned down my cheek. The fucking wolves didn't care who they infected.  That poor little girl will never grow up now.  If she survives, she'll always be locked into that form.

I caught myself thinking of my older sister, she had been just seventeen when she was bitten. The orphanage in Issaquah, who had sponsored her when she chose banishment, says she never made it to their facility.  They never found out what happened to her and the social worker she was with.  I had hoped she made it to one of the outside cities to live, but I never received a phone call, email, or letter from her.

I was snapped back to the present when the volunteer pushed the little girl to the ground then kicked her soundly in the chest when she scrambled back with tears in her eyes. The woman hissed at her, “Get back you little wolf bitch!”

I was instantly in motion as were Victor and a couple other officers.  I stepped out the gate and grabbed the woman's arms, yanking them behind her as I slapped cuffs on her roughly while Victor helped the little girl to her feet.  He grabbed a blanket and a bottle of water for her from the volunteers pack on the ground.  He wrapped the girl and gave her water and motioned to another volunteer, who came rushing over to see to the girl.

I hissed in the woman's ears, “You're under arrest for assault on a minor, you piece of shit.”  I yanked her toward the gates. With the other officers walking behind me as Victor was getting the little girl's information.  “You have the right to remain silent... she was just a frightened little girl!”  I remembered my terror as a child, watching my parents being torn apart in front of me.

I put my hand out as I passed into the city and an officer pricked my finger to test for contagion.  He wasn't as gentle with the woman and simply stabbed her finger roughly.  I hissed, “Anything you say, can and will be used against you in a court of law... why even volunteer if you're a wolf hater?”

The woman almost growled as she said,  “The fucking judge is makin' me do community service.  The wolves have no business around us Clean Bloods.”

I pulled her roughly to our cruiser.  “You have the right to an attorney...” Victor had caught up with me.  I grinned at the band-aid on his finger.  For a tough and grizzled cop who could look at blood and gore every full moon night, he was so squeamish about seeing his own blood.  I finished reading the woman her rights as Victor took her from me and had her sit in the back seat.

I took one last look at the main gates before getting into the cruiser.  The missionaries from Issaquah and Leavenworth were starting to arrive.  To offer any of the people, who found themselves at the gates in the morning, a place to stay in their cities.  I paused a moment.  This was why I had that odd conflict in my mind as I took note that most of them refused.  Again making the conscious choice to remain uncaged during the three nights of a full moon and be a possible threat to Clean Bloods.

I closed the door and Victor guided our unmarked vehicle onto the street, and we headed for intake at headquarters.  I sighed and mumbled, “Great, more paperwork.  I'm fucking exhausted.”  My partner chuckled, though he sounded just as tired as me.  I rubbed a sore spot on my shoulder blades, I was going to be bruised and aching the next day or two, just great.

I turned the laptop on its swivel attached to the dashboard toward me, took a deep breath, and pulled up the photos of all of the dead around the city gates.  I steeled myself for the carnage and started paging through the photos of all of the dead or injured females.

Victor grunted and did one of his aggravating evaluations of my face as he drove. “I still don't know why you do this to yourself McQueen.  She won't be there.  It's been seventeen years.”

I waved him off with my middle finger as I paged through the photos quickly, trying to ignore the blood and gore.  There were a few I'd have to ask the coroner's about as their faces were too damaged by either silver shot or fire damage from the flame throwers.  I caught myself praying that I wouldn't find Prue among the dead just as much as I was praying that, if she were, it had been a quick and painless death.

I wondered again what had happened to her and the social worker from Issaquah.  They found the social worker's car abandoned at the base of the mountains, but no sign of either of them.  It was handled as a missing person case by the Issaquah Police Department but with no leads it was shuffled to the cold case files nine days later.

A couple hours later, Victor and I leaned back in our chairs and exhaled simultaneously, the after action report for the breach and the paperwork on the incident at the gates completed and filed.  I grabbed my coat and bag off the back of my chair as he stood.

He asked, “Crawley's?”

I snorted as I started toward the stairs.  “It is nine in the morning.  Isn't that a little early to be drinking?  Besides I'm beat, I need some sleep, but first I have to visit the coroner.”  He gave me a sad nod and turned toward the exit when the Chief stuck his head out of his office.  “McQueen!  O'Neil!”

We uttered a simultaneous curse under our breath and did an about face and trudged into his office. The damn blinds were shut, what the hell had we done this time?  I couldn't stop a huge yawn as we stepped into his office. The fifty-something brute in a suit, which looked almost comical on the man, looked like a retired wrestler.  He motioned to the chairs in front of his desk as he shut the door behind us.

Mendez may look like he didn't belong behind that desk, but his appearance hid a shrewd intelligence that had gotten him through the chain of command quickly in his skyrocketing career. It put him in the chair of the Chief of Police of Seattle.

He walked around and sat on his desk, rubbing his face with both hands before he ran them through his silvering black hair.  “I know you just came off of Howler Duty so I'll make this short.  I have an assignment coming up for you two.”

I sat up straighter.  A murder?  Victor and I were homicide detectives on our normal shift.  All available officers had to work Howler Duty.  That was the term we used for the full moon gate patrol.  Not politically correct, but what ya gonna do?

Victor grumbled angrily, “I hate the opportunistic punks who take advantage of all the police being at the gates protecting their damn asses, to commit crimes.”

Mendez shook his head and shoved a file across his desk which Victor took and opened as the Chief said, “You'll wish that's what it was.  This is babysitting duty.”

Both of our eyes snapped to him.  I asked quickly, “What?”

He opened his huge hands palm up on his desk in a shrug like motion.  “Mayor Fleming is heading out to negotiate increased silver supply from Alister Slater in a couple weeks.  Our city stores are alarmingly low and Slater has decreased production of ore.”

His brow creased and his mouth became a strained line.  “You are on Flemming's protection detail along with a hired a security contractor while she is negotiating.”

“The hell?!” I blurted at the same moment Victor snapped, “What the fuck Chief?  We're homicide detectives, not glorified babysitters!  Put some uniforms on it.”

He was nodding with a patient look on his face as he held up a hand to stop our outbursts while he looked at Victor and said, “I know, I know.  I said the same.  But her security consultant insisted that McQueen be on the detail.  I'm under orders from the Mayor to comply, so you two damn sure will too.”

I almost growled, “Who the hell is this security prick?  And why me?  Did I kick his puppy or something?”

There was a soft knock on the glass door, and the Chief sat up straighter with a weary look on his face.  He said, “That would be her now.  Ask her yourself.”  Then he raised his voice and called out, “Enter.”

I was going to lay into this asshole, no bitch, he had said 'her' hadn't he?  I started to stand then froze when a woman in a billowing red cloak stepped into the office.  My mouth dangled half open in my aborted attempt to start yelling. Instead I caught myself smiling back at the crooked half smile the Red Hood was giving me as she walked in.  God damn if it wasn't getting hot in that office suddenly.

The Chief stood and cocked an eyebrow at me when I didn't explode as he expected, then he said, “Detective O'Neil, Detective McQueen, this is Maireni Damaschin.  She just hired on as the mayor's security consultant, and I expect you to coordinate with her until the negotiations are complete.”

Victor looked like he was about to shoot lasers from his eyes as the woman offered a hand.  “Detective O'Neil.”

He shook the offered hand and growled out, “Miss Damaschin.”  He stumbled over her name, then he rubbed his hand after they shook like it hurt.

She smiled, I saw the mirth dancing around in her eyes and she countered, “Mari is fine Detective.”  Then she turned those ice blue eyes on me, and I couldn't move.  Her smile widened, and she offered her hand.  “Detective McQueen.”

I gulped and shook her hand, it was like grasping warm iron, warmer than it should have been... almost wolf warm. I could tell that even though firm, she was holding back as if not to hurt me.  I tightened my grip and knocked myself out of drool mode and said with all the poison I could muster, which wasn't much against that half smile of hers, “Red.”

She released my hand and actually laughed at my reply.  It was quick and smoky like her voice, like a bell resonating through the fog.  She inclined her head, her eyes sparkling.  Without breaking eye contact with me, she said in good humor towards the men, with the slightest hint of some rich European accent in her tone, “Detective McQueen here and I are old friends, we go way back.”

Ok God damn it, how the hell was I supposed to keep my mad on if she was going to be all funny like that.  I smirked. “Yeah, all the way back to like, six this morning.”  This got another bark of laughter from her that seemed to flow over the Chief's office, and I just shook my head wondering what I ever did to her to get pulled for such a mindless assignment.

Then I tilted my head and asked in confusion, “Security consultant?  I thought you were a Hunter.”

The smile she gave me held no humor at all. Instead I saw something in her eyes that was a little chilling, I had seen that look before, in every wolf I had ever seen, the look of a predator, a killer as she said in her dulcet tone, “The two aren't mutually exclusive Detective McQueen.”

Chief Mendez growled out, “Now out of my goddamn office the whole lot of you.  You can coordinate among yourselves.”

We all stepped out as Damaschin produced a card from somewhere and handed it to me.  I looked at it.  It was a simple white card with a phone number handwritten in the middle of it.  When I say handwritten, I don't mean someone had scribbled it on the card.  It looked to be exquisite calligraphy, and I say handwritten because of the varying thickness of the stroke and tiny differences in the darkness of each number like someone had used an old-school pen and inkwell.

I arched an eyebrow at her in question and she gave her half smile and inclined her head.  “The number for my service.  They can get word to me when you wish to meet to discuss arrangements for the negotiation.  It will be at in the Slater Mining headquarters in the North Cascades.”

I looked at the card in my hand and creased my brow as I asked, “A service?  Why not just give us your cell number?”

She just said as she walked off, “Technology and I don't always get along.  Good day Detective O'Neil, Detective McQueen.”  I noted she made virtually no sound as she walked across the floor like she was padding along.

Victor and I looked down at the card then heard a fluttering of material like a sheet drying on the clothesline in the wind.  I looked up, and she was gone.  I mean simply nowhere to be seen in the squad room.

Victor harrumphed and rolled his eyes at me.  “Where the hell was your famous McQueen temper?  I was waiting for you to tear the Chief and that Mari gal a new one.”  Then he exhaled and made a dismissive gesture over his shoulder. “There's a pint somewhere with my name on it.  See you on Howler Duty tonight.”

I just waved though his back was to me and said absently, “Yeah yeah,”  I turned the card over and then pocketed it.  I smiled in the direction the woman had disappeared to and shook my head.  Then yawned hugely, I was beyond tired, but I still had to visit the coroner...  to make sure that Prue...

Chapter 3 – Ride Along

None of the female bodies from the gates matched Prue's tissue type, and like every other day after a full moon, a part of me sighed in relief.  It was well after noon when I headed home.  I stopped for a burger on the way home and felt an itch between my shoulder blades, something indistinct like I got when someone was watching me.

I had been feeling it an awful lot the past few days.  I brought my burger to my mouth as I surreptitiously looked over it to scan the outside through the window I was next to.  As usual, I saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.  I thought about the upcoming assignment as I ate.

Alister Slater was a self-made billionaire who controlled over ninety percent of all silver mining in the United States and Canada.  My family has had dealings with them.  I remember before my family was torn away from me that Alister Slater himself had met with my father on many occasions as he tried to get my dad to sell the undeveloped land our family owned over by the Lucky Nugget mines that Slater Mining ran.

My father would always politely decline, stating that the land was an investment in Prue's and my future.  Then after the wolf incident, Prue and I inherited the land but Prue vanished and was presumed dead.  The ownership of the twenty acres reverted solely to me.

Mr. Slater has made overtures to me over the years to obtain it from me, but I couldn't bring myself to sell.  If my father thought it was important enough not to, then who the hell was I to do any different?  I sometimes wonder if I keep it as a reminder of the type of people my parents were.  Holding family above profit.  I paused... I had no family now.

Once I got home, the feeling of being watched left me.  I stepped to the window of my little fourth story apartment.  I was about to pull the drapes to block out the sun so I could get some sleep before Howled Duty tonight, when I caught motion on the rooftops a couple block away, at the warehouse next to the City's perimeter wall.

A figure moved with inhuman speed across the roof, red cloak billowing behind her, making her appear to be a fluttering spirit or wraith.  The Red Hood sprang over thirty feet toward the wall and twelve feet up from the rooftop to land gracefully on the narrow walkway at the top of the wall.  She grabbed the railing and flipped over it to disappear down into the outside world.  I know at this distance it was impossible to see, but I swear she looked directly at me over the distance as she flipped over the railing.

I stood there a moment just staring at where she went over the wall, the impossibility of her movements and the distance she jumped.  Who, no what, was she?  I finished pulling the drapes, then looked at my bedroom and my secure tablet computer on the box next to my couch, the only piece of furniture in my spartan living room.  I was so exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open, but curiosity was burning inside.

I sighed in resignation and stepped to the couch then laid back with my head on the arm of it and powered up my tablet.  I pulled up a web browser and started an Internet search for 'red hood urban legend'.  Then began to sift through the results.  The Interwebs iz my friend.

***

I woke to my cell alarm chiming.  I was sprawled unceremoniously across the couch, one arm hanging over the side, one leg on the ground. My tablet computer smashed up against my cheek like a pillow with a little puddle of drool beaded up on the screen.  I snorted an aborted snore.  Oh yeah baby, glamour queen... and I wonder why I am single.  I spit out some of my long black hair from my mouth that had escaped my ponytail.  Apparently I must have been having a Lady and the Tramp dream, and I thought I was eating spaghetti or something.  It was the only explanation.

I pulled my cell out of my pocket and yawned. I stretched out the kinks in my body as I looked at the time.  I exhaled loudly, time to get ready for Howler Duty.  I stood and put the tablet on the box beside the couch to charge.  Then I started shuffling toward my bedroom and the shower, yawning again as I smelled my armpit and scratched my butt.  Yup, fashion model material here.

Once I was cleaned up and looking human again, I looked at myself in the mirror and psyched myself up to another full moon of violence.  My monthly ritual.  I stared into my dark eyes that reminded me so much of Mom's.  So dark brown they almost looked black.  My short stature belying the toned muscles hiding beneath my clothes.

I have always kept myself in prime shape since I was a kid.  After the wolf incident, I swore to myself that I would make sure I could defend myself and others so that the same thing would never happen to another little girl's family if I were around.  I hit the gym and the mats at the station three times a week.

I bunched my hands into fists, I could hear my knuckles crack and my tendons strain.  I pushed away from the sink with my hands and my eyes.  You got this Daria!  I holstered my sidearm in the shoulder holster strapped over my white blouse, and clipped my badge over my hip to my jeans’ waistband.

Then I headed for the station, checking the controls on my FMBs on the outside window.  Everything showed green.  They would slide down into place on the timer or as the sun set whichever came first.  In case of power failure, all FMBs would automatically fail closed, sliding down into place using gravity or when the panic button was depressed.

I hear that FMB production and silver ammo production has dropped way down the past few months, almost to a standstill with the recent silver shortage.  Silver prices have soared into the stratosphere, selling for twelve times the going rate of gold per ounce.  Emergency measures have been called upon in Seattle.  No person is allowed to keep more than an ounce of silver or they would be charged under the new hoarding laws since it was the only defense against werewolves.

I have seen from first-hand experience that normal weapons, while they can hurt and slow down a wolf, can't kill them.  I watched with morbid curiosity as a wolf regrew its face and part of its brain and skull after I had blown it off with a shotgun loaded with traditional buckshot.  Once it started moving again, after I had just stood transfixed for about a half hour, watching, I switched to silver shot and finished the beast off.

I learned something about that in my research into the Red Hood last night.  It may just be bullshit, but it came down to something about purity.  Silver represents purity and light.  It is the antithesis of the evil of the lycanthrope curse, which is pure darkness and evil.  So it is what it represents, not what it is that holds power over the wolves.

I guess it is as good an explanation as any.  Scientists still haven't been able to figure out why the infected react the way they do.  Why silver burns and bubbles their very flesh and blood, killing the dark matter that has grafted to every cell in their bodies...  the curse.  It isn't some sort of chemical reaction, nor any other reaction the scientists can explain.

The predominate theory online is 'magic'.  It is obvious that some sort of dark magic is involved, how else could men, woman, and children be transformed into those evil killing machines when science can't explain it?  There are rumors that there are more magical beings in the world than just the werewolves, they have just remained hidden from man.  It's all horseshit to me.  Boggity talk to scare kids into doing their chores and eating their veggies.  I caught myself questioning that as I looked at the top of the perimeter wall where the Red Hood had disappeared earlier, she seemed to be something... not human?

I'm a much simpler person after seeing what wolves did to Clean Bloods.  Hand me a gun and point me at a wolf.  One day I'll find that one huge wolf, that I swear had intelligence, with human eyes.  I'd recognize those eyes when I saw them, and I would kill him for what he did to my family.  For biting Prue!

I grabbed the card Miss Damaschin had handed me, which I had tossed on my passenger seat, then hit my hands-free on my cell and had it dial the number, storing it in the phone.  A woman with a thick European accent answered with a single terse word,  “Name?”

I blinked, no introduction or greeting, my suspicious detective antennae pinged. I bet the line would be untraceable as well.  I said clearly, “Detective Daria McQueen.  Can...”

I was cut off by the woman. “Miss Damaschin will find you.” Then the line went dead.  Alrighty then.

I pulled into the station garage and pocketed the card.  In the locker room, Victor was already there with most of the others gearing up in riot gear.  I nodded to him and opened my locker and started gearing up myself.  I said, “I called that Damaschin woman to set up a time to go through the details for the negotiation.”

He nodded. “Mari?”

I shook my head. “I'm not calling her that.  We're on fucking babysitting detail because of her.”  He just grinned like an otter with a ball.  I knew what the smug bastard was thinking. “Fuck you, O'Neil.”  He just chuckled, and we checked each other's gear.  Mine was stiff and uncomfortable with some new pieces since my comfortable, worn in set had been damaged and confiscated.

I glanced up at the time, we had forty minutes before we had to head out to the main gates.  “I'm going to head up to scan through photos and IDs from the other cities.  He nodded and walked with me, his mouth a thin line.  He didn't like my obsession with checking the female casualties after every full moon, hunting for my sister.  He says it is unhealthy, and that if I'd see the department shrink, she'd agree with him.

I paused when we entered the squad room.  The drab surroundings and the bustling of men in black riot gear were punctuated by a single bright spot of color.  The Red Hood stood beside my desk, her head swiveled back over her shoulder toward me when Victor and I entered.

I walked up to her and squinted an eye as I sat at my desk to pull up the casualty reports from around the nation.  I opened my mouth to ask why she was here when she said over my shoulder, “You called?”

I stopped my search and looked back.  Victor was standing beside her looking overly amused about something.  I nodded my head slightly and replied, “Yes I did, I just needed you to contact me so we could set up a time to coordinate.  You didn't need to come to the station, a phone call would have sufficed.”

She shrugged and motioned a hand toward the chair beside my desk.  I nodded and she sat then said with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes and that damn half smile. “As I said earlier, technology and I don't always get along.”

This again punctuated to me that this woman was not normal, there was more to her than met the eyes.  I wish she'd stop smiling like that, I'm trying to be mad at her.  I caught myself smiling back against my own free will then asked quietly, “What... are you?”

She went as still as stone, not breathing, not blinking.  I saw something in her eyes.  Had I hurt her?  I suddenly felt bad but then she shrugged and said softly, “The Red Hood.”  Like it explained everything away.

I realized I was staring at her eyes and turned away with a half smirk. “That explains it.  Thanks for clearing that up for me.”

She chuckled and looked at the screen as it flickered a bit.  She scooted her chair farther away and the screen cleared up as she asked, “Why are you looking at the female lycan deaths?”

I snapped my head back up to her, I saw Victor's eyes go wide, and he discretely went to examine the ceiling tiles a little ways away.  I tried to shoot a death glare at the woman, but I found my mouth speaking before I could stop myself.  “Looking for my sister.  Or rather hoping not to find her.”

Her eyes creased in sympathy at my admission, but her body language told me she already knew.  I'm not sure if I liked that.  But it was really no secret, anyone Googling my name would find out the story, the attack was in all the local news back then.

I shook myself out of my musings then turned away from her purposefully and continued my search.  We discussed when we would coordinate, and agreed two days after the full moon cycle ended would be best.  Giving us time to decompress and get some rest before jumping into this.

When Victor tapped an imaginary watch, we stood and I said, “So we'll see you Wednesday, Red.”

“Mari,” she countered.  I didn't say a word which seemed to amuse her to no end.  Then she turned to Victor. “Detective.”

He inclined his head. “Mari.”

Then she cocked her head. “Do you mind if I tagged along detectives?  I've never seen Howler Duty from this side before. I believe you call it a ride along.”

From this side?  I blurted my thought before I could stop myself, “This side?”  I'd have to do something about my traitorous mouth latter.

She chuckled like it was self-explanatory. “I'm usually on the other side of the gates, looking for...”  She paused and her demeanor changed from something dangerous to something calm and practiced.  She just repeated, “I'm just usually fighting the wolves on the outside.”

My detective antennae started pinging again.  If she were a suspect in a case, I'd be pushing at the unintentional slip.  Looking for what?  What was it?  I remembered her looking into the eyes of the wolf she killed last night like she was looking for something, or someone, in particular.

I was about to refuse her request and say something about civilians, but Victor gave me a shit-eating grin and said to her while looking at me, “We'd be delighted to have you tag along Mari.”  I was going to bury his body so far down they wouldn't find it for centuries.

He led her out to our unmarked cruiser like she was royalty, helping her into the back seat.  He was shooting me his aggravating grin the whole way.  I growled out, “I hate you old man.” I hopped in, and he laughed his gravelly laugh as he started the car, and we headed toward the main gates.

Like the past few full moons, there were already people gathering on the outside.  It had never been like this as long as I can remember.  Any walled city is usually hit by wandering packs on a full moon, maybe twenty to thirty wolves.  But lately the entire city would be surrounded by thousands of wolves.  Nobody had any clue why.

Dozens of uniformed officers were taking their places.  I checked the time, fifteen minutes until the sun set.  The moon was already up over the horizon, and the people outside the gate were pacing around in an agitated manner, staring at the moon.  I did what I have done the past few full moons and walked out of the gate, Victor stayed behind the line, he was such a namby-pamby about his own blood he only left the city when he absolutely had to.

I noted that the beguiling woman in red followed me out.  She seemed to be looking into the eyes of every male she passed.  I stopped in front of a woman who looked terrified as she watched the moon.  I got her attention by placing my hand on her arm.  “Miss?”

She looked at me then at the moon, she looked like she wanted to flee.  “Miss?  Why are you here?  It's obvious you don't want to be.”

She looked at me almost pleadingly. “I don't know.  I should be home with the children, in our safe room for the night.”

My brow furrowed, this wasn't the first time a Lycan infected told me that.  I tried to be non-threatening in my riot gear.  “Then go home.  Can you make it before sunset?”

She looked back over her shoulder, “I want to.  I can't.  I... I have to be at the gates.”  She looked truly terrified.

Maireni stepped up to her and put a hand out, tilting her head, her eyes questing at the woman who nodded at her.  Damaschin looked directly into her eyes, her gaze so intent I almost got lost in it.  Then she put a hand on her arm and gave it a squeeze then turned to me.  “She is under a compulsion.  It is not her decision to be here.  Someone is making her.”  She looked around and her voice sounded resigned. “As I am sure the majority of the others are, as well.  Though I do see some who are wild, being drawn into the pack.”

Compulsion?  Like, hypnotism or something?  I looked at the woman. “Who is making you come here?  You know you will probably die here tonight if your wolf attacks the gate?”

A tear rolled down her cheek and she nodded once as she stared at the moon.  “I... he... I can't.”

He?  Ok, that was something.  Red looked concerned.  I thought Hunters reveled in the hunt, in the kill.  Yet she looked concerned for the infected.  She looked at the silvered holding cages outside the city gates that had been placed there in recent months.  Then took her hand and almost dragged her to one.  The woman tried to fight, but Maireni easily moved the woman into a cage.  The woman grabbed the bars of the door as it closed then hissed and pulled back when her flesh sizzled.

Maireni leaned her forehead against the bars and gave the woman a smile.  The woman looked so relieved as she looked at the moon and Red.  She whispered, “Thank you.”

Red just smiled reached through the bars and gave the woman's hand a little squeeze and said, “You will be safe tonight, go home to your family in the morning.”  The woman nodded her thanks.  Then Maireni turned to me.

I must have been gaping.  She tilted her head, and her brow furrowed. “What detective?”

I shook my head.  “Nothing.  You're not what I expected in a Wolf Hunter.”

She smiled at that like it was a compliment. “I'm not your average Hunter.”

I caught myself smiling back. “Apparently not.”

Then I turned and went about the task with other officers of finding any underage children and ushering or dragging them into the holding cages.  Nobody wanted to kill a child, they would be safe and away from the gates until morning like this.  It was odd I felt no remorse killing an adult wolf knowing a human lay beneath.  Maybe I was worse than I had assumed Red to be.

Maireni was collecting children faster than the rest of us, moving in that silent, faster than human manner.

I thought about this compulsion thing she spoke of.  If it were real and not a pile of steaming platypus shit, were these children compelled too?  What kind of monster would send children to their deaths?

The two-minute warning air horn sounded at the gates, and I looked around. I could still see a few children in the mix, and I hardened my heart and headed back inside the gates, getting my finger pricked by a silver needle.  I looked around in the crowd but didn't see the billowing red cloak anywhere as the massive gates swung closed.

I looked out to see Maireni's red cloak heading toward a small girl about fifty yards from the gates.  Good god, she was locked on the outside with thousands of wolves.  I glanced at the sun as the last rays disappeared into the shimmering waters of Puget Sound.

Maireni was grabbing the girl as all of the people outside the gates started writhing as their skin started sliding and pulsating, fur sprouting all over as clothing tore away.  The screams of agony as they changed accompanied that acrid sulfur smell of the transformation.

Seconds later, Maireni was running toward the gate with a thrashing and snapping young wolf in her hands.  And hundreds of inhuman predator eyes swung to her as her red cloak billowed out from behind her as she moved with wolf-like speed.  They attacked as she reached a holding cage and tossed the wolf into it, slamming the door shut.  She was swallowed up in a sea of slicing claws and snapping teeth, accompanied by the inhuman howling, growling, and snarling of werewolves.

My blood ran cold as Victor pulled me back a step from the gates as that same sea of wolves impacted the gates.  I stared at where Red went down as I absently pulled up my shotgun with dozens of the officers and started shooting the most violent of the wolves slamming against the gate.

A second later, my eyes went back to the frenzy where Maireni fell.  There was yelping and blood flying.  The bodies of two dead wolves were flung dozens of feet, slowly changing to human as they flew.  And with a scream that was more a primal challenge than anything I had ever heard, Maireni stood up from under the onslaught.  Flinging wolves from her body.  The silver blades in either hand were gracefully cutting swathes through the beasts.

She cleared an arc around herself and then took a single step and leapt before more attackers could move in.  She sheathed both knives somewhere in mid-leap, snagged a bar on the main gates about twenty feet up with one hand, and yanked to keep her momentum going to sling her body in a high.  She landed impossibly balanced on top of the main gate.

A couple wolves who tried to make the leap, slammed into the gate two-thirds of the way up, then yelped as their flesh and fur sizzled on the silver before they fell into the mass of snarling wolves below.  Maireni simply jumped the thirty feet to the ground, landing almost silently in front of me, the only noise came from the billowing and rustling of her cloak.

Instantly, my shotgun, Victor's, and about a dozen others were pointed at her.  She tilted her head in an animalistic manner then smiled... almost sweetly, to me.  She held a hand out to me, her index finger offered.  I hesitated, then looked at her finger and her sparkling blue eyes.  I lowered my shotgun and slung it over my shoulder as everyone covered me.  I pulled from my belt pack a silver needle, and pricked her finger.

Her smiled doubled, almost in challenge as I watched her blood do what blood does, absolutely nothing.  She wasn't infected.  I put the needle away and everyone relaxed and turned their attention to the gates.  I asked in disbelief, “Red?”

She made a girly motion, grabbing her cloak with her hands and swishing it side to side almost playfully. She repeated what she had said to me before, “There isn't a lycanthrope whose claws or teeth can puncture the fabric of my cloak.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the other officers and whispered harshly, “What did you think you were doing?  I thought they had killed you!”  I don't know why but I was truly worried when I saw the wave of wolves crash over her, I relived the knot in my stomach at the sight.  She was just a complete idiot, cloak or no cloak.

She actually looked down at that and said, “I needed to get the little girl to safety or else...”  She flinched at the sound of shotguns firing which made her point for her.  I closed my eyes, thankful she had got the little wolf into a cage.

I shook my head at her not knowing what to think of the woman.  “You're not like any Hunter I've ever met, Red.”

She smiled at me with that crooked half smile of hers, then said mischievously, “You were doing the same.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and clarified. “Yes, but I had the common sense to get back inside the gates before sunset.”  She grinned at the subtle reprimand then her grin faded when I repeated my unanswered question.  “What are you, Red?  No human can move like you or leap like you.  And what are you looking for?  It is like you are on the hunt for something in particular.”

She shrugged. “I'll tell you sometime.”  Then she asked in a normal tone, like she was dismissing the conversation, “So last night, was it a fluke that you were away from the gates?  Is this what you normally do here at the gates?”

I squinted an eye at her as Victor joined us.  Then I replied, “Up until the end of the shift, then I do a perimeter sweep.  I got the short straw for this quarter.”

She nodded as she looked back at the carnage at the gates.  “So just about everyone in your shift knew you'd be alone on the perimeter sweep then?”  It was half statement, half question.

I nodded.  What was she leading up to?  She looked maybe a little disappointed at my affirmation.  Then she muttered under her breath, “That doesn't narrow it down then.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Narrow what down?  A random breach?”

She shook her head. “Not so random.  I'm sure your reports from your breach containment engineers will verify that breach was aided by human intervention just a hundred fifty yards from the wall.  To bypass the security grates at the sewage outlets, someone had purposefully dug down to the concrete tunnel pipes and smashed a hole in them with sledgehammers to allow wolves a way into the city.”

I stared at her and interrupted her. “How do you...”

She shrugged. “I went out to see for myself today after you left the station.”  Then she added, “So it occurred to me, that obviously someone meant for those wolves to get into the city last night, at that location.  It begs the question, why?  What could someone possibly gain doing that?  And if the wolves are under compulsion, what were they told to do?”

Then she locked eyes with me. “I don't believe it is a coincidence that it happened to be where at least fifty men and women knew you would be patrolling.”

Victor held up a hand and said in his rough growling voice, “Wait a second!  Are you saying someone was targeting McQueen?”

She shrugged in response without breaking eye contact with me, her eyes questing for something.  “Let's just say that I am not one to believe in coincidence.  Wolves are not organized, they are nothing but killing machines.  So for the same thing to happen to the same person... twice...”  She left it unsaid that she knew about my past.

I squinted, perturbed that she had looked into my history.  “That was seventeen years ago, just a random breach.  Are you...”

She stopped me with a raised hand, still making eye contact.  It was starting to freak me out, yet a tiny part of me was fascinated by how pretty her ice blue eyes were.  “Wolves bypassed your FMBs and dug through your roof, showing intelligence that wolves just don't have.  You survived the encounter because of your panic cage.”

Then she finally broke eye contact, and I felt like a weight had been lifted from me as her gaze turned toward the attack site last night.  She spoke from miles away, “And from what I saw as I watched yesterday evening, the wolves, after encountering the FMBs started trying to get through the siding instead, similar to your attack all those years ago.”

I opened my mouth. She kept talking, like she was assembling a puzzle that had no picture on it, “So what did they have to gain in the attempt, assuming someone who could think was guiding them?  The entire family had made it into their panic cages, there was no point.  Except they were all screaming, when one lone officer was doing a routine perimeter sweep in an area where the perimeter had never been breached in over a hundred years.”

Then she finished. “A lone officer who had survived a similar wolf attack when she was a child.”  Then she grinned like the puzzle pieces were starting to fit together, and said, “So detectives, you are trained investigators.  Coincidence or no?”

Victor and I exchanged unhappy glances.  I was frustrated that she was making a little sense, but I still didn't get it.  If her hypothesis was correct, then what was the motive, what could I possibly have that the wolves or whoever was guiding them; if there were such a person; want?

She read all of that in my face, then all of the animation bled from her voice and her expression became stoic as she queried, “So the question Detective McQueen is, what did the ten-year-old you see all those years ago that you haven't told anyone?”

I flashed back to that night and involuntarily shivered as I relived it.  I hissed out, “Nothing, you're fucking nuts!”  I thought of those human-like eyes on that huge wolf, the intelligence I saw in them.  I'd know those eyes, and when I found that wolf, I would kill him slow as I looked into those same eyes.

She chuckled and suddenly deflated as she got a big smile on her face, “You're probably right, I just might be.  I'll just get out of your way and let you do your jobs detectives.”

Then before we could say anything she ran at the perimeter wall. She leaped almost twenty feet up and kicked off of it to flip back in an arc high over us to land on the roof of the building behind us.  I swear she was smiling playfully at me as she just stood up there looking down at us, the wind curling her red cloak around her in the moonlight.

She stood there the whole night unmoving, it wouldn't have surprised me if she were unblinking as well.  Then when it was an hour to sunrise, I left Victor at the gates and started my perimeter sweep.  Tomorrow night would be the last one.  Thank God.  Next quarter officer Hearn had the duty.

I was aware peripherally that Maireni was shadowing me from the rooftops until I was out of view of the main gates.  I absently wondered if she had been doing this all day, was that why I felt as though I was being watched?  I glanced up, and I swear she smiled as she simply dove of the roof, four stories up, like a cliff diver in Hawaii, her arms held wide as she gently flipped.  Her cloak billowing and snapping in the wind behind her, and she landed virtually silently beside me.

I couldn't help but smile and may have let out a surprised laugh at the cheesy look on her face as she said playfully, “Hi.”

I hated myself for being amused by her, but I was.  How can a Wolf Hunter, who is basically a living urban legend, be so cute?  I rolled my eyes and said, “Hi, Red.”  Then I looked up then back to her.  “What was that?  Fifty feet?”

She shrugged and said with her damned half smile, “-ish.”

This time I did let out a laugh which just caused her eyes to glitter and her smile to double as I agreed. “-ish.”

She made an ushering motion with her hand, palm up, urging me to start walking again.  “It was getting boring up there so I thought I'd join you down here.”

She was being awfully nice and... aw shit, she's fishing!  “There is nothing to tell that you can't get out of an internet search.”

She shrugged. “I already had my service do that for me.”  Then she looked at me. “Than wasn't the full story.”  She gave a sly glance at me. “You know as well as I do that witnesses don't always give the whole story.  Like their impressions or feelings about the situation at the time of an incident.  Or things they don't believe are important at the time.”

I stopped for a second to look at her before continuing my sweep, yanking on the FMBs that were damaged the previous night.  The city engineers had repaired the track during the day.  Then I asked, “You really don't believe the bullshit you were slinging back at the gate do you, Red?  Why would I possibly be targeted?”

She shrugged and looped an arm in mine.  All of my muscles tightened up, I could feel that unnatural heat of her body radiating into me with her that close, smell her primal, almost animalistic scent that did some inappropriate things to me.  She shot me a soft smile as she tilted her head to regard me.  “Humor me?  Can you tell me about that night.”  Then her eyes widened in alarm and she quickly added, “Unless it is too painful.  I don't mean to be insensitive.  No child should see their parents killed in front of them.”

I stopped walking and took a long moment to really take in her eyes and her mannerism.  There was nothing there to ping my antennae. I considered it a moment as the events of that night came crashing down on me.  Then I shrugged and started telling her the horror of that night.  I found myself telling her the whole story, not just what I told the investigators and social services to keep them from thinking I had gone crazy.

I paused after I shared my observation of the wolf's eyes and the intelligence I swear I saw behind them.  The look she gave derailed me for a moment, it was as if her eyes were glittering with excitement, not disbelief.  She quickly asked, “And this huge wolf, was he a dark gray with silver tipped fur?  His eyes, were they green?”  I nodded and her excitement bordered on glee.

I squinted at her, did she know something about my parents killer?  I shook some FMBs on a building as we passed.   I voiced my suspicion, “You know something about that wolf?  Is that what you were looking for before you killed that male last night?”

She nodded, not trying to hide anything, and she just said quietly, “Not here, there is much to discuss.  Come to my camp after your shift, and I'll share all that I know.”  She was giving me a hopeful smile, and all I could do was smile back even though all I wanted to do was growl and get her to tell me all she knew right then and there.  But... she was smiling, and I'm weak.

She said, “Great.  I'll find you after your shift ends.”  I nodded for some reason as I scanned the tops of the wall to see the guards walking the narrow walkway at the top.  I heard a fluttering of material and looked back at Maireni but she was nowhere to be seen.

I spoke loudly to the air, “You're not half as cute and mysterious as you think you are, Red!”  I caught a laugh echoing around the walls of the buildings around me.  God damn it, I'm smiling!

Chapter 4 – Alpha Wolf

The rest of my shift was uneventful.  I stopped in the alley of the wolf attack and checked the siding where they tried to claw through. It had been repaired by the city engineers as well.  There were virtually no signs that anything had ever happened here except for some fur on the edge of a dumpster where Maireni had slammed the she-wolf.

All of the blood and silver buckshot had been cleaned up.  When I returned to the gate at sunrise, Victor and I finished out our shift.  I left the gates to help unlock the holding cells.  I went straight to the frightened woman from the last night.  I blushed when she almost burst out of the cage to pull me into a grateful hug.  She was just whispering over and over, “Thank you.  I need to get to my children.”

I pried the naked woman gently off of me and just gave her a sad smile and nod of my head in acknowledgment as I handed her off to a volunteer who wrapped her in a blanket.  She gave one last appreciative look to me than I thought of something.  This compulsion.  I stopped them from turning away.  “Miss?”

“Margret.  Margret Stein,” she said as I dug in my pockets under my riot gear and produced a business card.

I handed it to her. “Go see to your children, make sure they are safe.  But please call me later, I want to discuss something with you.”  Her eyes went wide in fear and I assured her. “You aren't in any trouble.  I just have a couple questions.”  She nodded and was led away to the missionaries that were starting to show up.

I looked over at the cage where Maireni had put the wolf cub and smiled, someone had already seen to the little girl.  Then I checked the time, shift change, and entered the city again, having my blood checked and joined Victor in the squad car.

He studied me out of the corner of his eye. “Goin' soft on me, McQueen?”

I smiled absently, watching the city flow past as we headed to the station.  “Fuck you, O'Niel.”

He chuckled and asked his standard question, “Crawley's?”  Then the tone of his voice changed. “Or do you already have a date?”

I snapped out of my thoughts and glanced at him then followed his gaze to the woman in a red cloak fluttering behind her as she walked up the steps into the station.  I shrugged as we entered the motor pool garage.

We removed our gear and cleaned up.  I opted for a shower, the new gear had chaffed at my skin and the hot water pelting the raw areas felt great.  Then I got dressed in my civvies, stopping to snap a couple officers for their lewd comments with my wet towel.  You'd think it'd get old for them, the locker rooms have been co-ed in the SFPD for decades now.  “Grow up children,” I chided as I put my wet hair into a ponytail.  Men.

Instead of heading to the garage, I went to the squad room.  There she was, standing near my desk, a good distance from my computer.  She looked up instantly, her nose working like she smelled something, and her gaze swept over to me.  She gave one of her over confident half smiles, and I nudged my eyes toward the door I had just walked in.  She nodded and made her way over to me.  I noted the computers flickering on various desks as she walked past them.

I took a moment to appraise her again as she reached me.  Technology and her don't normally get along?  Then looked back at the desks she walked past.  I nudged my head toward the door again, and she looped an arm in mine.  “Lead on, Detective.”

I growled at her, it always sounded like she was mocking me by calling me that even though that is what I preferred people call me.  “McQueen will do fine, Red.”  She cocked an eyebrow expectantly at me when I called her Red again.  Oh now I get it, she is punishing me for calling her that.

I grinned and rolled my eyes, eliciting a pleased chuckle from her as I lead her to my car.  She started getting into the back seat, and I stopped with my door half open.  “What are you doing?  Front seat.”

She cringed a little and opened the front door to slide in.  “How old is your car?”  I squinted at her and shook my head at the odd question.  The car sputtered to life.  It had been running smoothly when I came into work.  I didn't have the cash for a tuneup.  The radio was faint with static, I could barely hear the music.  She turned it off and gave me an apologetic look.  “You have an electronic ignition.”

Then without a word she got out of the car and got into the back seat and the engine smoothed out.  I looked intently at the hood of my car then twisted my body to look back at her and asked an open-ended almost accusatory question, “You?”

She gave me an embarrassed nod, then she got a goofy look on her face and bobbled her head.  I couldn't stop the laugh that escaped from me.  I shrugged then pulled out of my parking spot mumbling half to me half to her, “Apparently we DO have a lot to talk about.”

I watched her tilt her head in acknowledgment in my rear view mirror as we drove through the garage, so I fished for a little information. “I've never met anyone who effected electronics like you.”

She just grinned and said, “And I've never met someone who punched a werewolf in the face like you.”  I blushed and she added, “The disbelieving look on its face was priceless.”  We met eyes in the mirror and shared a chuckle.

We reached the road and I asked, “Where to, Red?  You said you had a camp?  No hotel?”

She nodded. “Yes my camp is about a quarter mile north of the main gates.  I started to turn north before she added, “Outside the wall.”  I stopped the car half way into the street and looked back at her.  She was serious.  I shook my head and headed toward the main city gates, then I squinted in the mirror.  My place was about a quarter mile north of the main gates and a couple blocks from the wall.  Again, I don't believe in coincidences.

We left the main city, and she navigated me to a small bridge in a suburban neighborhood and had me pull off into a small abandoned lot.  We got out. She stretched and rolled her neck as if she was stiff from riding in the car like she wasn't used to being cramped up in one.

Then she motioned with her head and started moving through the lot that was overgrown with weeds.  The only sound she made was the rustling of the fabric of her cloak.  I followed her to the bridge and asked, “You're 'camp' is in a middle-class housing development?”  She swung over the railing of the bridge and I followed, just not as gracefully.

She brought me under the bridge and there was a bedroll and some camping equipment in a net that looked to have some silver strands laced into the material.  The bundle was tucked in the base of the foundation.  The crazy woman was serious, she was living on the outside.  But why out in the open and not a hotel or something, behind the safety of FMBs?  Just the bounties I had deposited in her account alone would put her in housing for a year or more.

I realized she had been watching me. She stood there analyzing the situation, and she answered the unasked question with a shrug, “I prefer to be out in the open where I can smell the world, know when someone is approaching.” Smell?

She started unclipping the net, and I stepped beside her, touching the netting.  “Silver?”

She nodded. “In case Ferals find my camp on a full moon.  They'll leave my stuff alone.”  She unrolled her bedroll and laid it on the ground beside the bridge foundation, motioning her hand to it.  “Have a seat, Detective.”

I looked at her then the sleeping bag.   I shrugged then sat with my back to the concrete wall, as she set up a little camp stove and started boiling some water.  She smiled at me as she dug in an old leather and canvas pack that had intricate patterns burned into the leather straps.  The pack was a work of art, some sort of reproduction eighteen hundreds hiking pack.  It was well used and worn, with signs of repair in various places on it.  I had an impression that it may not be a reproduction.

She came up with two little tin cups, and she seemed pleased with herself.  I watched in fascination as she made two cups of instant coffee then handed me one.  She sat beside me, and held her cup down by her knees and inhaled with her mouth open.  I saw her nostrils flare and her pupils expand a bit as she smiled.  She saw me watching her, she shrugged and said, “I love the smell of coffee, always have, but it took a long time for me to appreciate the flavor.”

She pulled her hood back to reveal her head, stopped breathing and took a sip and didn't start breathing again until the cup was at arm's length.  She looked pleased with herself, and I couldn't help smiling at the eccentric woman.  And damn, I just mean, damn she was attractive.  She tilted her head at my prolonged silence and said, “Ask your questions detective,” She held her breath and took another sip of coffee.

I had a million questions about her, about all of the coincidences going on, about her apparent knowledge of the huge wolf that killed my family.  But I'm embarrassed to say that my mouth worked without permission from my brain and the first question I blurted out was, “Why do you do that?  Stop breathing before you drink?”

I think that caught her off guard as she barked out a surprised burst of laughter.  “You could ask me anything, and you choose that?”  She gave me a toothy smile, her eyes glittering in humor.  I noted that her canines were perhaps a little too long.  It gave her a dangerous and animalistic vibe that was somehow exciting.

She shrugged. “My sense of smell is many times more sensitive than yours detective.  If I don't then the smell would overpower the taste and I wouldn't be able to enjoy my drink as thoroughly.”  I caught myself almost subconsciously moving my cup to my left hand away from her.  This made her smile again and I felt good knowing I prompted that smile.

My next question was just as inane.  “Why do you keep calling me detective?  You can call me McQueen, Red.”

She smiled into her cup as she took a sip.  “Why do you keep calling me Red instead of Mari?”  Fair enough.

For some reason, I was stubborn with this woman, very aware of her close proximity.  I shrugged, and she squinted an eye. “Stubborn.  Have it your way, Detective.”  Why I oughta...  We exchanged dares with our eyes then simultaneously smiled as I looked away to the far side of the little bridge.

I chose my next question a little better, though I was torn between wanting information about the wolf with the green eyes and finding out what she really was.  She looked like a woman, and pleasingly so, but the things she could do said otherwise.  As far as we knew, there weren't any other science defying creatures stalking the Earth other than werewolves.

I winced at me thinking creature when applied to this woman who had saved my life without hesitation.  The woman who remained outside the wall at sunset on a full moon just to save one last child from being slaughtered at the gates by officers like me, protecting the city gates from being overrun.  The woman who was studying me with such intensity as I sat there like a fucking idiot just staring at her while I was lost in my own head.

I blushed then looked at my cup and took a sip.  Then I asked, “Are you human?”  I shocked myself that I found the answer to that more important than the wolf who took my family from me.

She set her cup down in front of her carefully and took a moment to think with her lips in a thin crease.  She looked at me then down at her hands and then reached up and removed her cloak, setting it beside her.  I heard the clanking and clacking of weapons and gear that must have been hidden inside of it.  I have to admit I took her in, now that I could see more than her hands and face, and I really liked what I saw.  A shapely woman with smallish breasts, who obviously kept herself in shape.  Damn she was pretty.

She seemed almost bashful when she asked, “Do I look human?”  I blinked and nodded once, then she shrugged and said, “I think so, I mean mostly.  At least I started out that way.  Before...”  One of her hands drifted down to her cloak.

She turned fully toward me and said quietly, “I'm not sure where to start.  I have never really shared my story with anyone before, and truthfully I don't know why I am now.  What do you know about the Red Hood?”

I thought back to my recent searches.  “Not much beyond the fairytales and urban legends.  I found an old reference in a document translated from old Romanian that had more obscure references.  Something about the thief of innocence created the Lycan curse to either destroy or rule over man or something like that.  It was a piss poor translation.  Then the gods of nature put a predator on the Earth to hunt down the thief to restore some sort of balance.”

I shrugged.  “Beyond that are the normal stories and legends of a superhuman woman immune to the were infection that goes through the countryside killing all things wolf with her blades and inhuman strength for the past four hundred years.”

She looked sad as I described what I knew.  I tried to play it off casually since I had no intention of making her sad.  “You look good for a four hundred-year-old.”

This prompted a crooked half smile from her.  “You think?”  She gave a coy look then said, “And I'm only one hundred and thirty-eight.  I'm the fourth woman to take up the red mantle.”

I blinked at the admission, but I saw no deceit in her eyes, she was telling the truth, or at least she thought she was telling the truth.  Then I thought of all of the inhuman things I have witnessed her do and then second guessed myself.  Maybe she was.

Then she said, “That sounded like an abysmal translation of the only document that chronicled the true Lycan story.  The Marcus Tome.  In all my years, it was the only thing I could find besides the writings of my predecessors to let me know what I was and how to end the Lycan curse and my own.  I'm surprised you found it.”

I tilted my head in prompt to her, and she grabbed the cloak, balling it up and placing it behind her head like a pillow.  I could see the shape of her crossbow in it.  She inhaled deeply and held her breath before exhaling.  “I'll tell you the tale of the night I was... made... if you tell me more of that night seventeen years ago.  I fear we have a common enemy.”  She locked eyes with me, she seemed to be looking directly into my soul. I nodded once, though it was always painful to talk about that night, and she smiled wistfully at me.

She reached over and grabbed one of my hands and gave it a reassuring squeeze before releasing it.  It was hot like I had observed before.  Unnaturally so.  Her hand had a restrained strength in it like coiled steel.  I could tell she was being careful to be almost delicate when she touched me as if not to hurt me, like she was handling a piece of fine china.  Then I remembered her catching a hundred and fifty pound wolf in mid-leap with one hand while the bitch dangled from her other arm and understanding flowed through me.  She seriously didn't want to break me.  I shuddered.

I took my light jacket off and balled it up behind my neck and laid back against the wall and said, “Tell me your story, Maireni.”  I swear her eyes lit up when I accidentally said her name.  She leaned over and playfully bumped shoulders.  I could feel her heat and caught her wild scent.

She centered herself, her eyes unfocused, looking far off into the distance like she was watching a story unfold in front of us.  She started with, “I would appreciate if what I share with you, you do not repeat.  Just as I would never share what you confide in me.”  I nodded.

Then she said, “Once upon a time.”  With a wry grin that made me smile against my own will.  The damn woman was too much fun for a killer.  Then she got more serious.  In the spring of 1895, in what is today Vionessa, Romania, in the mountains in the shadow of Mount Lotrului, my brother and I were rushing home in our coach when a spoke broke in a wheel.”

She looked almost afraid as she spoke, lost in the memory.  “There was to be a full moon that night.  We had left the main town for home late because I had to get my dress for the upcoming chancellor's ball.  So there we were on the forest road to our family chateau just minutes before sunset.  Mykal had looked at the sun on the horizon.  He started getting the horses out of their harnesses on the yoke so we could race the sun home when the last ray of sun was swallowed up by the horizon.”

She shuddered and continued, “Moments later, we heard the howling and snarling of a werewolf pack that must have caught our scent already. Mykal threw me on a horse and slapped its hind quarters.  I looked back to see him mount up as the pack came streaming into the road between us.  They started to give chase as their predator instincts saw me as prey trying to escape.”

Her voice hardened. “The last I saw of my brother was him yelling to get the attention of the pack, to draw them away from me.  All but one broke off and dove toward my brother as he charged the pack, yelling in challenge.  I can still hear his screams when they tore him and his horse apart.  He had sacrificed himself so I could get away.”

She seemed to be part of the memory now, her face was contorted in pain and disbelief. “My brother had died protecting me because I needed a stupid dress.  The werewolf which maintained pursuit of me kept gaining on us, but Goliath gave me everything he had, keeping us just beyond reach of the slashing claws of the unnaturally large blackish grey wolf.  I swear the wolf was laughing as it would fall back then lunge forward, causing Goliath to lurch forward.  I could feel his lungs under my legs working like immense bellows and his mouth and nostrils were foaming.”

Something gleamed in her eyes as she breathed. “The chateau was in sight, and I dared hope I could make it. Then I saw the beast as it looked at the horse then barred its fangs. With a great leap, he landed on Goliath's haunches, tearing and shredding with its fangs and claws.  I tumbled across the ground as my brave horse fell and whinnied in pain.  I got to my feet seeing the carnage as the wolf tore my horse apart.”

Then she almost snarled. “I ran to the old gardener's shed.  It was made of stone with silver veins, Papa had it constructed that way as an emergency shelter for the hired help if it was ever needed. The heavy oak door had silver leaf in the carvings on it.  I had just placed the oak crossbar into the cradles as the entire shed shook with the impact of the large wolf on the door.”

She crinkled her nose.  “I can still smell the singed fur and flesh of the thing, still hear its yelp of pain.  It circled the shed for a minute and I heard more and more growls and a couple other tries at the door followed by yelps.  The pack had arrived.”

She gritted her teeth then said, “After about an hour they seemed to leave.  But then I heard a commotion coming from the chateau.  There was screaming... mother...”

She took a deep breath and continued, “I just balled up on the ground in the shed as I listened helplessly to the screams of my family and the workers.  The wolves had somehow breached the walls and there was nothing I could do as I just listened to them kill everyone I ever cared for.  It was like the big wolf, that Alpha Wolf, was having his pack do it on purpose just to punish me for getting away.  Unlike a normal wolf attack where they just shredded their prey, they stretched it out all night.  I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to.  Just when I thought it was over, another scream would sound from the chateau.”

Then her eyes widened as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I had no more tears then, I had no voice from my own screams.  I just sat and rocked on the ground.  Then I tried to scream when there was a thud on the roof followed by the stench and yelp of a silver burned wolf.  Twilight was streaming in through the cracks in the door, I had hope, sunrise was coming.”

She tilted her head like she was watching it unfold again.  “That's when she arrived.  I heard the pack move off toward the chateau again.  Then the snarling and snapping and yelps of pain of battle.  I was saved I thought until I heard it.  The sound of digging behind the shed.  A wolf was digging under the walls, avoiding the silver like it had figured it out, but I thought wolves were dumb animals, incapable of rational thought.”

She exhaled loudly again. “I knew right then and there, that I was going to die.  It was a truth I could not change.  The fear I thought I'd have was not there, I had nothing to live for anymore with my family dead.  But some primal survival instinct made me run to the door anyway as the snout came up under the rocks of the wall, lips pulled back to show snarling teeth.  I paused when I saw the green eyes of a man, they weren't the eyes of an animal and my blood ran cold.”

She snarled. “I grabbed a hay fork and repeatedly stabbed at the wolf, trying to stop it from digging further as I realized the sound of battle outside was subsiding.  With a great snap of its jaws, the wolf snapped the fork and flung it aside as it pulled itself into the shed.  I threw the board out of the cradle and ran outside.”

Then she got the predatory look I had seen on her face in the alley.  “Then he leapt at me from the shed, impossibly fast and impossibly far.  I closed my eyes and waited for my death but instead I heard a thump and a yelp.  When I opened my eyes, the wolf was at my feet with a woman in a billowing red cloak on its back.  She had stopped him from killing me.”

She squinted and crossed her arms over her chest like she was hugging herself to protect herself from the memory.  “They tumbled across the ground.  The wolf didn't fight like any wolf I had seen.  He seemed to be looking for weaknesses in the woman's defenses.  She held two silver daggers and used them like claws of her own.  Then the wolf wound up in front of the woman and me, and it turned its eyes on me.  Those green human eyes, and I could see the almost smug expression on the wolf as it smiled.  I swear to God that it smiled, and I realized it was closer to me than the woman as he leaped with his fangs bared at me.”

Her breathing increased.  “Almost faster than my eyes could register it, the woman seemed to pirouette in the air unclasping her cloak which she flung over me as she flew past.  I felt the impact of the wolf like a house had been dropped on me.  I could feel the snapping of jaws and slash of claws on the cloak but impossibly, none made it through.”

Then I saw hate in her eyes and something I have seen in the mirror in my own eyes, the need for vengeance.  “I heard yelping and thuds as the beast was pulled from me.  I threw the cloak off and ran toward the chateau, it was stupid really but I was little more than a child.  Home had always been safety though if I had thought about it, it had also have also been breached.”

She bit her lip then continued.  “I looked back and the woman, who had just kicked the wolf twenty feet from her, gave an incredulous look at me like she didn't believe I was so stupid to leave the safety of her cloak.  It was my fault... in her distraction the Alpha Wolf dove at her and his jaws clamped down on her throat and tore it out in one violent movement as I stared on in horror.  But then the wolf's head snapped to the east and the first rays of sunrise came over the peaks.  He gave one hateful look at me and started running away as he changed back to human.  He never looked back, so I don't know what he looked like, but I know those eyes, I'll recognize them when I see him.”

I understood that intimately and now I think I knew her fascination with me and my story and why he knew the big wolf who attacked my family had green eyes.

Then her hand drifted back as she cried, and she grasped her cloak.  “I saw the remains of my family after that and I numbly started walking toward town since all the horses in the stables were dead.  As I passed the woman's red cloak, it seemed to call out to me. I grabbed it in desperation I didn't understand, and when I put it on, I was engulfed in a white light and such searing pain that I fell to my knees, unable to scream.”

Then she dropped her hand. “When I opened my eyes, the world was much brighter, more colorful, I was hit by smells so intense I could taste them.  And I felt energized I felt... powerful.  And I knew what I had to do.  The woman before me gave her life to save me, a stranger to her.  I would do the same.  Help those who could not help themselves with this new-found strength of mine.”

She shrugged and finished. “So that's what I have been doing ever since.”  I couldn't help myself, I reached a hand toward her and brushed a tear from her cheek with my thumb. I cupped her unnaturally hot cheek.  She leaned into it and made a sound that was part sigh, part contented growl that I could feel through my entire being.

I looked at her, I saw no sign of deceit in her eyes and after seeing the things she could do, I found myself taking her impossible story as plausible.  I asked, “This was in 1895?  Four years before the Lycan Contagion spread to the Americas?”

She nodded but corrected me. “Curse, not contagion.”

I cocked an eyebrow and prompted in a patronizing tone, “Curse, as in oggity boggity?”

She nodded and her eyes narrowed at my attitude. “Curse as in a pact with demons gone awry.”

She believed in demons, I might have laughed at her if not for the fact that demons truly existed in the form of werewolves.  The same wolves that took my family.  I amended that though.  No, that took our families.  I found myself asking, “How is any of this possible?”  I know how stupid that sounded as soon as I asked, the wolves were proof enough that it was possible I supposed.

She pulled away from the foundation a bit and rummaged around in an inside pocket in the cloak and handed me possibly the oldest leather bound book I had ever seen.  It had nothing written on the spine or cover, and I opened it carefully.  The pages were brittle and stained from years of use and exposure to the elements.  There was flowing handwriting on the first pages, I couldn't read a lick of it.  I looked up at her and she said, “Romanian.”

I nodded and carefully thumbed through the book.  It was a diary from what I was getting, and the dates before each entry or sketch.  Some of the sketches were people or wolves, symbols, and towns.  The handwriting changed to a clumsier hand, then again at a later point to block lettering, then finally to a flowing script again that changed to English half way through to the present.

The final entry was from a month back. “Marcus is here in the Seattle area, I am sure of it. All signs are pointing to him having something to do with the silver shortage and the waves of Ferals under compulsion at the city gates.  I believe I have found a kindred spirit in...”  She took the book from me before I could finish reading.

She carefully put the book back into the cloak pocket then said, “My predecessors have been able to put together how the lycanthrope curse had been unleashed upon the world, and why the Red Hood exists.  It is not our name as some may believe, but the title of the one to balance the scale.  The yin to the evil of the curse's yang.”

I put two and two together. “This Marcus person?”

She nodded. “He is the Alpha Wolf, the first.  The progenitor of all lycanthropes.  I exist to bring an end to him... to rid the world of his curse and to free myself from my own curse.”

I nodded but furrowed my brow, maybe it is the investigator in me or just pure human curiosity, I prompted, “Your curse?  Tell me about Marcus.”  Was he the wolf that killed my family?

She tilted her head at me in a most inhuman manner, almost like a dog who was trying to pick out a sound carried on the wind.  Then she nodded slowly and slid down the wall to lay on the sleeping bag using her cloak as a pillow.  I took it this was going to be a long story, so I followed suit.

I was acutely aware of our proximity to each other.  Laying on the ground facing each other.  She moved a hand to tuck some hair behind my ear in an almost intimate gesture, then she stopped and looked at her hand. When she pulled it back, like she was as surprised as me that she did it.  I admit I really liked it, she was so fascinating to look at.

She smiled one of her crooked half smiles, took a deep breath, held it a few seconds, then exhaled.  “The prior Red Hoods have been able to piece together the sins of Marcus, using the Marcus Tome, druid writings, gypsy witches, and the oral histories handed down by tribes of Romanian gypsies.”

I nodded and she continued, “Then let me tell you of how the werewolves came to be.”

Chapter 5 – Marcus

In 1608 in the Citadel of Bucuresti or modern day Bucharest, lived a man of means, Marcus.  This man had a thirst for power.  Power to rule over all men, power to defy fate, to cheat death.  He spent years researching and collecting items of power in his quest, during which time his thirst for power only grew.  He wanted to be a god among men, to be immortal.

There were stories of those who lived among the traveling people.  The gypsies of the mountains, who were rumored to have power beyond that of men.  They were labeled witches by the local populace.  He sought them out and made a pact with the old crone Alina.  A gypsy witch who was rumored to be almost one hundred years old.  It was unheard of in those times to live so long.

If she helped him attain the power he wanted, he would give her half of the new world order he would bring about.  Through druidic rituals and gypsy incantations, they were able to summon into the mortal realm, Styche the Trickster, a demon of old who walked the earth when mankind was young.

He promised to tell Marcus how to obtain all that he wanted, inhuman speed, strength, the ability to heal from any wound, to live forever.  To become immortal.  Once the ritual was described in great detail, Marcus went back on his word and had Alina dissolve Styche's binding to the mortal world. He sent him back to the realm of the demons since he had no use for him anymore and he didn't want another immortal being roaming the world besides himself.

Alina prepared the ritual for Marcus, then when the crone's back was turned, Marcus stabbed her through the heart.  If she could help him obtain immortality, she could assist others, and he just couldn't allow that possibility.  With her dying breath, she cursed him.  “May the power you seek, be like the sour milk left in the sun.”

With the rituals ready, all that was needed was one thing, to sacrifice innocence on a full moon.  To drain the blood of that innocence at the base of the eldest oak in the forest.  Marcus searched the realm for the most beautiful unwed maiden, Adelina.  He dressed her in a heavy white cloak, pure as snow, and brought her to the tree that was bound by the magics and amulets of power at the height of the full moon.

Then he drove a silver dagger, with the runes of binding etched into it, through her chest.  Her life's blood flowed from her body, staining the white cloak a blood red.  She sighed out her last breath when the first rays of the sunrise spilled into the world.

Marcus was filled with power, but whether it was the witch's curse or Styche the Trickster doing what demons do, things were not as they seemed.  Like the story of the scorpion frog, the scorpion stings the frog, dooming them both in the middle of the river because it is in the nature of the scorpion to sting.  On each full moon, Marcus gained the power he coveted, only he could not enjoy it as the full moon changed his form to that of a monstrous wolf.  He had just the residual power in daylight, being a little faster, stronger, and able to heal.

In his rage, he attacked the people of the village in his wolf form and found that if they survived his bite, his curse was shared with them.  He could control them, being the Alpha, the power over men that he sought.  So he went about trying to spread his curse through every man woman and child in the world.

He found great joy in learning when they transformed in the moonlight, they were mindless beasts, and he was the only one who maintained his intelligence.  Just as it should be, they were cattle to him, dumb animals to begin with, so he took sadistic pleasure in watching them as mindless killing machines.

Either the old gods or nature spirits took exception to this unnatural evil consuming the world and decided there needed to be a balance... parity.  So they enchanted the red stained cloak of the innocent who fell to a blade of silver, and that blade itself.

The cloak called out to the world, to find the nearest innocent woman.  Rania answered the call and donned the cloak.  The power arced through her, giving her what Marcus had sought out.  Immortality and power without the curse of the wolf.  Rania became the first Red Hood, with the speed, strength, senses of the wolves... all of their attributes without the drawbacks.

And because of the knife that sacrificed the first innocent, silver became the bane of the werewolves, the one thing that could end their lives by unraveling the curse in their bodies.

Where the world had countless werewolves being created, the gods or spirits put on the earth one individual to balance the scale.  But as silver and the Red Hood can kill the wolves, so too can the wolves kill the Red Hood.  Then the cloak would call out to another to take up the mantle of the Red Hood.

From what has been gathered through centuries of research and studying the rituals of the sacrifice, and the talismans of power, is that once the Red Hood kills Marcus, the wolf curse will be released and all infected will be free.  The only thing not resolved is the repetition of five in all the writings.  There was something about 'five' that was never explained.  It was speculated that it was possibly the five talismans of power used in the binding.

Chapter 6 – Breakfast

Maireni finished staring off into space wistfully. “It is hoped that once the curse of the wolf is broken, so too would be the curse on the Red Hood.”

I tilted my head at her as she shrugged, seeking my eyes for my reaction.  I said, “Your abilities don't seem like a curse to me.”  I grinned and wrinkled my nose. “Except maybe the enhanced sense of smell.”

She smiled sadly then said in a soft voice, “To watch those you love succumb to the ravages of time over and over as you remain static, unchanging, never sharing their fate. It is a curse beyond all others.  It steals a little of your soul each time you have to endure it.”

I hadn't really thought of that, the emotional aspects of it, and the true pain I could see in her eyes told me I would never want to have to endure it myself.  I instinctively reached a hand out and cupped her cheek again to console her.  She sort of rubbed the bottom of her jaw against my hand as she closed her eyes and growled contentedly again.  I smiled at being able to elicit this response and give her some measure of consolation.

Then I thought about everything as she pulled reluctantly away from my touch.  “You think Marcus is here?”  She nodded with a predatory smile, showing her long canines again.  Good lord, I could almost see the joy the anticipation of ending the curse of the wolf was giving her.

I prompted, “How do you know he's here, have you tracked him?”  Then I locked eyes with her, letting my unasked question hang in the air... was Marcus the wolf I had watched kill my family?

She read that in my eyes and said instead, “There will be time to discuss that, but first I have shared my tale, now you must share yours.”

I nodded then a thought hit me.  She had mentioned that once the Lycan curse was broken, then all the cursed would be set free.  Would that mean Prue would be free of the contagion?  Could we be a family again if I could ever find her?

I snuggled my head into my jacket and looked at the timeless woman before me and retold the story of my family for the first time since the police questioned me before shunting me into the foster care system.  But for the first time, from the perspective of an adult, sharing my impressions and suspicions.  Sharing what drove me.  My thoughts on the Alpha, I believe I saw.  Then my thoughts and concerns about my sister, with the new fear pressing down on my chest now that I knew the Ferals and even non-ferals were being compelled by the Alpha to swarm the city each full moon, and the beta wolves were all powerless to resist.

She shared that between that and the other night, she believed I was being targeted for some reason we just haven't figured out yet.  She hoped that this meeting between Slater Mining and the mayor would help her locate Marcus.  Since everything she had researched was that the apparent silver shortage was just screaming Marcus' involvement to her.

We talked well into the afternoon and I didn't know when I drifted off.  The next thing I knew I was waking up feeling warm and comfortable.  I was curled into Maireni who slept beside me, she looked so innocent as she slept.  The heat from her was incredible and seeped into my body like a warm caress.  I inhaled deeply, there was a sweet musk, and pleasant animalistic scent to her that made my toes curl and want to purr against her.

I looked up to her face and her eyes were halfway open now, studying me.  I blushed and moved away from her and sat up.  “I'm sorry, I get a little clingy when I sleep.”

She didn't look entirely alert yet and there was something animalistic, predatory, in her eyes.  I froze as she leaned into my neck faster than I could follow, and she drew a deep breath through both her nose and mouth, more like she was tasting the air rather than smelling it.  Her hot breath on my neck as she exhaled with a guttural growl, made me shiver and gooseflesh travel down my neck.

She pulled back suddenly and her eyes were dilated, she looked fully awake now.  Was she blushing?  She started donning her cloak and gathering her things into the silver netting.  She spoke away from me, “Sunset is a couple hours away, you need to eat before you go on Howler Duty.”

I stood stiffly and she tucked her pack away near the base of the bridge foundation, still not meeting my eyes.  I found my mouth moving again before it consulted me. “Have 'breakfast' with me, Red?”

She finally looked at me again and offered up her half smile.  “Ok, but then I have to get cleaned up.  It has been a couple days.”

Again I spoke, “Just shower at my place.”  What the hell am I doing? Her eyes lowered and she gave a single nod.

Then I tilted my head and asked her again, “Why do you camp outside.  I know you say to smell people approaching...”  I left it at that.

She regarded me for a moment then shrugged and said, “It is hard to explain.  I belong more in their world...”  She left the word werewolves unspoken. “...more than the Clean Blood world.  I have urges, to hunt, to run free.  It is part of the curse that gives me the abilities of the wolves I suppose, I get some of their primal nature too.  Sometimes I feel I am more animal than human anymore.”  She curled her upper lip and smiled, purposefully showing her teeth that almost resembled fangs, as if to punctuate the admission.  She paused then said carefully, “I've never shared that with anyone, I don't know why I'm sharing it now.”

I smiled.  “I'm glad you did.  Thank you.  I just ask too many questions, a dangerous habit of my occupation.”

I followed her up the bank to the street.  She leaped the last ten feet and over the railing like she was just hopping, then she offered her hand down.  I reached up and we clasped hands and the next thing I knew I was being hauled over the railing by her and she set me on my feet one handed.  I chuckled and couldn't stop the smile on my face.  I said, “Show off.”

She returned my chuckle and I saw humor twinkling in her ice blue eyes.  Then she looked down at our hands.  Oh!  I hadn't released her hand.  I let go quickly and walked past her quickly toward the car so she wouldn't see my blush.  I could still feel her unnatural heat in my hand.

We stopped at the gates and my vehicle was searched and we were subjected to the silver blood test.  As I drove north, I looked down at her finger.  “Though you have wolf abilities, silver doesn't affect you?”

She shook her head. “No.  If anything, it makes me feel stronger.  Like I am drawing off of the metaphysical purity of it in some manner.  I don't think it really is pure, I think it is just the symbol of its purity, and symbols have power in magic.  I'm sort of the antithesis of the wolves.”

I nodded in understanding and almost rolled my eyes at myself how easy it was to accept talk of magic and curses.  But I'm sure most of us are preconditioned to believe, when a third of the world's population transforms into wolves on a full moon with no scientific or medical explanations as to how it is possible.  And the fact that a bite from an infected cannot pass the contagion unless it is a full moon?

Plus, I know Red now.  I smiled at her as we pulled up to my place and we went in.  I took my jacket off and hung it on a hook by the door.  She cocked her head like she was observing and then took off her red cloak and hung it on a hook beside my jacket.

I started toward the kitchen.  “I'll make breakfast while you get cleaned up Red.  Bathroom is down the hall, linen closet at the end has fresh towels.”  She nodded and headed for the hallway.  I called out,  “How many eggs?”

I grinned at the fact I really wasn't taken off guard when she said offhandedly, “A dozen or so is fine.”  It was more absurd that I was cooking breakfast in the early evening.

I thought about it a bit as I started cooking.  The things I have seen her do took a lot of energy, if it wasn't magic giving her that energy, it had to come from somewhere. So I could imagine it took a hell of a lot of food to fuel the woman.  I postulated that the truth was probably somewhere in between, the magic had to help some.

I started more eggs than I had ever cooked at once then got out a couple more skillets. I put a few sausage links into one, then looked toward the bathroom and thought better of it, and put half a package of them into the pan.  Then dumped half a bag of frozen hash browns into the last skillet.  It looked like I was cooking for half the department.  I started a pot of coffee brewing while I cooked.

I was starting to load up the plates, I had a serving platter that I used for her plate.  Then she came out of the bathroom in one of my robes and nothing else, drying her long dark hair with a towel.  I could see her eyes dilate from where I stood as she approached.  Her mouth was open and her nostrils were flaring as she took in the smells.

She licked her lips and swallowed and did that tasting, smelling thing again.  I swear she was drooling.  Her well-toned legs and wild wet hair was doing the same to me. Damn. Wait, aren't I supposed to not like her for getting me assigned to babysitting duty?  Oh who the hell cares?  Just look at her.

I blinked when I realize she had been standing in front of me as I perved out in my head.  I blinked and she leaned toward me slightly and opened her mouth and inhaled.  She gave me a sly grin as she walked past to sit at the table.  Oh god, she couldn't smell that I was...  Shit!

I blushed into the pits of Tartarus as I spun to grab us two cups of coffee.  I set one down in front of her and I could see her scenting it.  Once I sat, I grabbed a fork and looked up as I was about to dig in.  She was staring at me and offered a hand.  I squinted in confusion and took her hand and she lowered her head.  Oh dear lord, she was going to say a prayer.

I felt more like an animal than her, I hadn't said grace since I was shunted off to foster care.  Any faith I had in God had been discarded by me.  I mean, what kind of a God would let that happen to my family?  I'm not sure if I really believed back then either.  I really wasn't old enough to make an informed decision about faith.

But here was a woman who had the weight of the world thrust upon her, and she was giving grace.  I lowered my head but kept my eyes on her as she closed hers.  “We give thanks oh Lord for this bounty.  Bless those at this table and those in the world who cannot help themselves.  Bless the cursed that they may some day be free.  Amen.”

I echoed, “Amen,” I tilted my head to regard her as she smiled at me then her plate.  She was asking for blessing for the ones she was created to kill?  I wondered if it were hard for her, knowing that every wolf she killed meant a human died as well.

She was; oh god I almost said wolfing; shoveling the food down as fast as her fork could bring it to her mouth.  She ate the sausages first then the eggs.  Then she slowed down on the hash browns before she looked up to me and I realized I still had my first forkful of eggs halfway to my mouth.

She grinned around her fork and looked embarrassed.  “Sorry, it takes a lot to fuel this body.”  She tilted her head cutely and I just grinned and shook my head and finally took my first bite.

Then I shrugged my head toward the counter. “There's more sausage there I can cook up if you want it.”  She looked up and stood and went to the counter.  She sniffed at the box, opened it and pulled a link out.  It was half way to her mouth when she stopped then looked at me sheepishly and said, “Oh sorry, I'll cook it up.”

I looked intently into her eyes, as I wondered if she were going to eat it raw.  I shook my head at her, “You don't have to if you don't want to.  You can be yourself around me Maireni.”

She blushed at my use of her name, looked at me then the sausage link and popped it into her mouth with a grin, then joined me at the table with the box.  She snacked on them like they were potato chips as she watched me eat. Eww.

We finished up without speaking, just watching each other eat, then I stood and started clearing the table.  She stopped me. “I'll clean up, you cooked.  You go get ready for your shift.”  That seemed very domestic of her, I wouldn't have expected that, nor the prayer I guess.  I nodded and headed for the bathroom.  I looked back and caught her sniffing a lock of her hair she had between her fingers.

I noted her clothes were folded neatly in a stack on the counter and I stepped out and placed them on top of my laundry hamper beside the linen closet so she could finish getting ready while I showered.  Knowing she was in the next room, it was a pleasantly interesting shower indeed.  Oh hell, I'm fucking attracted to her.  I admitted to myself.  I was going to kill Victor if he said one damn word about it.

I ducked out of the shower in another robe across to my bedroom.  I glanced over to see a shit-eating grin on her face over the cup of coffee she was sipping.  Oh good lord, did she hear?  I shut my bedroom door and buried my blushing face in my hands.  Note to self, don't do anything embarrassing when Red was anywhere around.

I got dressed and brushed out my hair to let it air dry before I joined her.  She was in her white billowy blouse and peasant's skirt sitting on the floor in front of the couch.  There were dozens of weapons laid out in front of her.  Silver knives, daggers, and a long blade that was too long to be a knife, but too short to be a sword.

The thing that got my attention was the rustic crossbow I had got a glance at in the alley the other night.  There were silver bolts clipped into a holder on the back.  Then almost comically, there was a tiny, almost dainty gun that looked like a muzzle loaded derringer.

She was cleaning the silver arrowheads of the bolts with what looked like a deer hide cloth. I asked as I shrugged into my shoulder holster and checked my magazine to be sure I had silver rounds for tonight, “How many pound pull on that?”

She shrugged. “Around two fifty or two seventy-five I'd guess.”  I blinked, there was no way!  A monster like that would sling bolts at the velocity of a bullet.  How could she even cock it?  Then I remembered who I was talking to.

Then I nodded at the ancient derringer. “There are more modern guns.”  Then I looked at the crossbow again.  “And easier to wield than that beast.”

She chuckled and held up the crossbow like it were made of paper and slammed her hand against the silver plated stirrup at the base of the stock, where she would stand to cock the string.  “Easier to bash in a wolf's skull with a thirty pound crossbow than a two and a half pound pistol.”

She set it down and picked up the little derringer with reverence.  “This is for Marcus.  I swore when I obtained this beauty, that the silver ball I keep loaded in it would be his end and break the curse.  It is the only use I have for a firearm.”  Then as if that prompted her she removed the ball, paper patch, and powder as I watched with fascination.  She poured fresh black powder into the barrel and used the same paper patch and tamped the ball back into the barrel.  She did it with the ease of practice of... I blanched, over one hundred years of it.

She grinned a toothy grin and stood and wrapped her cloak around her with that same practiced ease. I crossed my arms with a smile and leaned back against the wall as I watched her gear up.  I could see there were pockets and sheaths lining the interior, and some sort of leather reinforcement that hung over her shoulder that the crossbow somehow hooked to as it hung at her side and clipped onto a belt at her waist to keep it from swinging around.

She winked at me and with a grand flourish, whipped the cloak around her like a great cape, obscuring her silver arsenal.  I grinned at her playfulness.  The cop part of my brain I knew that as a Wolf Hunter she would have a waiver for the silver hoarding laws.  She must have had about ten pounds of silver on her.  That would be valued at almost a quarter million dollars at today's market value.  I wondered just how many werewolves that same ten pounds of silver had ended over the years.

She must have read that in my eyes because she said quietly, “Too many to remember.”

I just nodded and motioned toward the door.  I grabbed my coat as we headed outside.  I said, “So we will see you on Wednesday to discuss plans for the negotiation?  You still haven't told me why you think Marcus is involved in the silver shortage in some way.”

She nodded then brightened. “I could tag along tonight again and tell you during your perimeter sweep.”

I found myself smiling back and nodding.  “If Howler Duty isn't too boring to you.”  She answered simply by looping an arm in mine and walking toward my car.

I caught her sniffing her hair as she got in.  “Why are you doing that?”

She looked embarrassed to be caught. “I don't normally use scented soaps or shampoos, they are usually too overpowering for my enhanced sense of smell.  But yours smells like you, and I like it.”

I blushed and grinned at her, she shook her head and slapped my shoulder lightly with a grin of her own. “Shut up and drive Detective.”  I snorted and pulled us out into traffic and turned toward the station.

Chapter 7 – Land Grab

I had to give Victor a death glare when he gave me a cocked eyebrow with a smarmy look when Maireni joined us after we geared up.  I hissed at him. “We were coordinating.”

He chuckled. “Really, and what watch rotation are you thinking of for the Slater Mining negotiation?”

As I pushed past I just said, “Asshole.”  Red laughed a gleeful laugh at our antics and I couldn't stop myself from smiling.  “You're not helping,”  I growled out at her, trying to sound gruff.  She wiggled her eyebrows and growled back.  No, really, she growled back and the wonderful low vibration of it settled in my stomach.  Why did she have to be so damn playful?

I just muttered, “I give up.  You two are jerks.”  They grinned in satisfaction at each other like they had choreographed their coordinated efforts of embarrassing me for years.  Internally I was oddly happy that my partner and Mari were getting along.  Don't get attached Daria, she's just going to be around for a couple weeks.

Howler Duty played out the same as the previous night.  Then she joined me as I walked the perimeter.  As soon as the sounds of fighting were fading in the distance she turned to me.  “Ask your questions Daria.”

Heat flushed through me at her using my first name, but like a petulant child I said, “McQueen.”  She shrugged and I looked at her, assessing her again.  “What makes you believe Marcus is involved?”

She just walked beside me checking the FMBs on the buildings as we passed.  There was a shrug in her voice if that is possible as she asked, “Aside from your description of the wolf that attacked your family?”

She tilted her head as she said, “He has a certain pattern of chaos he leaves in his wake.  It is like his sole focus is to infect the entire population so that he can reign over them with his compulsion.  From Europe, he left a trail of lycanthropes.  In normal werewolf attacks, the primal nature of the wolves is to kill and...” she paused, “...eat their victims.”

She straightened. “It is exceedingly rare that a human would survive an attack, especially from a pack.  So to have so many become infected without leaving a trail of bodies is an indicator that Marcus has been through an area.”

I shook some FMBs on one side of an alley and she shook some on the opposite side as she continued, “In his lust for power he infects as many influential people and families on the outside of the walled cities as he can, to hold sway over them.”

She shrugged and finished, “So when I hear of the unexplained floods of Ferals laying siege to Seattle each full moon cycle, coupled with the decrease in production of silver worldwide.  I researched and found that over ninety percent of all of the silver mines in the world are owned by or run by shell companies owned by Slater Mining. Almost gaining a monopoly on all the silver in the world.  With his headquarters a stone's throw away from Seattle, I've come to the conclusion that Slater is being controlled by Marcus in some manner.  Whether he has been infected by him or by other means.”

She looked at me and her expression was solemn. “Can you imagine if the only material that is deadly to a werewolf is controlled by the Alpha?  He would finally attain the power he seeks.  With no more silver being produced, the shortages would eventually spell the downfall of the walled cities of Clean Bloods as he compels more and more wolves to attack each full moon.  Then he would hold sway over the entire human race once they all shared the lycan curse.”

I nodded, understanding the gravity of what she was saying.  If it were true, Clean Bloods were basically facing an extinction event here.  I said carefully, “So that is why you got yourself assigned as the mayor's security for the meeting.  So you can get close to Slater and see if Marcus is anywhere near?”

She nodded, placing a finger on her nose.  “And kill him when I do.  Then the world can finally be free of the curse.”  I heard the resounding “And me” she left unspoken.

I tilted my head in thought as we walked. “But if he controls Slater, why not just stop all silver production now, why even negotiate.”

She smiled slyly like she knew a secret.  “Because of the holdouts.  He only has control of ninety percent of the world's silver mines.  As long as there are alternate sources of silver, no matter how small, he can't have the complete control he needs for his plan to succeed.  There are a few walled mines in Europe and Africa.  And an old abandoned mine right here in the area that was flooded back in the early eighteen hundreds.  Modern mining techniques would be able to reactivate the mine.  However the owner of the land refuses to sell, even after two attempts on her life by wolf attacks.”

She stopped walking and just stared at me to let me work through what she had just said.  My eyes went wide and I whispered, “My parent's land?”  She nodded sadly.  I said hoarsely, “My God.  You mean my parents were murdered and my sister was taken from me just for a piece of fucking land?”

She placed a hand on my arm and caught my eyes with hers.  “I believe so.  There are far too many coincidences for it to be otherwise.”  Then she inhaled and exhaled loudly.  “And someone in Seattle is helping him.”

I froze and she explained, “Someone who knew you had this perimeter sweep this quarter.  Someone who gave information to those on the outside where to dig to get wolves into the sewage system.  A Clean Blood in the city working with Marcus.”  Her upper lip curled showing her teeth like fangs as she added in a dangerous tone. “With you dead, Slater or one of his shell companies could buy the land from the state to prevent it from being mined.  Or even worse, have you bitten by Marcus or one of his betas and ordered under compulsion to hand over the land, losing not only your humanity, but your own free will.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine at that.  Then a red hot rage started to build inside me to chase away that chill.  I repeated in a hiss, “He destroyed my family for a piece of land?”

She shrugged and said, “It is my best working theory, but I may be way off base.”

I squinted at her as we reached the end of my patrol and started to loop back around.  “But you've done your homework?  How long have you been putting this all together?”

The streetlights glinted off of her eyes and they glowed like a wolf's only in an eerie blue.  “Fifty years or so.  The recent activity around Seattle has solidified it all for me.  I just know that if I can get close to Slater, Marcus can't be far behind.”

I nodded and we finished our perimeter sweep without saying another word to each other.  My mind was caught in an endless loop, mulling over everything she had shared with me.  And her suspicions about the fate of my family.

We watched the gates open after the sun peeked out over the horizon.  They would remain open now, until the next full moon cycle in twenty-six days.  She moved off and sat on a light post to watch us complete our shift.  No, really, a light post, I kid you not.

We watched as a containment team headed outside the gates, saying they needed to pick up some weapons laying on a rooftop of an auto mechanic's shop about a hundred yards beyond the fifty yard “keep clear” zone.  The area around the base of the city perimeter, where no trees or buildings are allowed to be.

I looked at Victor.  He shook his head in a dismissive manner.  “Dumb-ass Wolf Hunter thought he'd be safe positioned there to pick off wolves for the bounties.  He kept hidden most of the night and started firing just before you got here.  He must have thought he'd be fine until sunrise.  It took the wolves all of thirty seconds to get to the roof and overwhelm him.  Tore him to shreds.”

He made a derisive sound and spit on the ground. “Goddamn waste of life.  All those Hunters are greedy dumb-asses living off borrowed time.  Just for the thrill and a few bucks.”  Then he looked up as I motioned with my eyes.  He grinned and backpedaled, “All except you of course Mari.  You're too pretty to get yourself killed.  No offense.”

She smiled down from her perch, showing her pearly whites with those long canines and inclined her head, then tilted her head slightly to me and winked.  She spoke to him without looking away from me as she sat there like a cat balancing on the post.  “None taken Detective.”  I'm sorry to admit this got a chuckle from me.

When it was time to head back to the station, I looked up.  “See you Wednesday?”  She leaped down and landed between Victor and me virtually silently, only the rustling of her cloak signaled her landing.

O'Neil looked up then down to her then back up to the post and then just shook his head as she said, “Unless you'd like to speak some more.  Otherwise, I'll head back to my camp.”

I felt a warm flush go through me but thought better of tempting myself.  “I've been burning the candle at both ends the past three nights, I had better get some rest the next two days unless a homicide pops up.”

She looked playfully disappointed then just said, “Detectives.”  Then she simply walked out the gates.

Victor looked from her to me then back at her again.  “Oh fuck me.  You hit that, didn't you McQueen?”

I exhaled and shook my head.  “Get your head out of the gutter O'Neil.  You're such an ass.”  I couldn't help teasing the old goat some as I walked around to the drivers side of our cruiser.  “We only showered at my place.”

I kept a straight face as the man just gawked at me through his open door for a solid ten count before he blinked and then squinted.  “No, you didn't!  Now who's being the ass.”  I still didn't look at him as we pulled into the traffic arriving through the main gates.  “You didn't, did you?  Did you?”

I mumbled with a slight smirk on my face, still not meeting his eyes, “Wouldn't you like to know?”

He nodded. “Yes, yes I would.  I live out all my lesbian fantasies through you.”

I did turn to the dirty old man this time with an incredulous smile on my face as I slapped his arm hard.  He just laughed out loud at that and I teased, “I wonder if it is too late to get assigned to a new partner.”

He snickered.  “You'd miss me too much.”

I stopped a laugh.  “Yeah, I'd hate to have to break in a new old fart.”

We got cleaned up at the station and said our goodbyes, and I was ready to sleep for a week.  By the time I got home, I could barely focus through my bleary eyes.  I started to pull the heavy drapes to block out the sun when I saw a figure in red a couple blocks away. She was sitting on top of the outer wall, staring out to the world beyond as it woke up into a bustling metropolis on both sides of the gates.

I chuckled and opened my window and brought my fingers to my lips and let out a shrill whistle that made my own ears hurt.  I figured that with her hearing she should... She almost spun around instantly toward my whistle.  I know she couldn't see it from there, but I rolled my eyes.  I could imagine her lopsided grin then I waved her in.

My breath caught as she just leaped from the wall to the nearest rooftop and made her way to the roof across the street from my window.  She called across, “Yes detective?”

I said, “Hey if you're going to be watching me the whole time until we go to the negotiations, you may as well do it in here.  It's creepy stalker-like if you're hanging around on rooftops.”

I saw an excited, childlike smile flashy across her features, to be replaced by her cocky, self-assured smirk.  She shrugged. “I was on the city wall, not a rooftop.”  I tried to stop it, but I snorted at that.

Not to be outdone I said, “And I could arrest you for that.”

She was nonplussed and comically held her hands out for cuffs.  I rolled my eyes and motioned my head in with a smile twitching at the corners of my mouth.  “Get in here... Maireni.”  I used her name just to watch the amazing blush she got on her cheeks.

She made a shooing motion.  “Move aside, please.”

I blinked, realizing the woman intended on leaping across the street into my window.  Instead, I gave a cheesy grin and said, “Use the door like a normal person,” I closed the window.

I heard a high-pitched explosion of laughter.  Less than a minute later there was a knock on my door.  I smiled and called out, “Who is it.”

“You are a terrible person Daria,”  she said through the door.

I chuckled and said, “Come on in.”  She walked in with a cute look on her face and she shut the door behind her after inhaling deeply in the hall, pulling air through her mouth and nose.

I quirked an eyebrow. “That's just not normal in case you were wondering.”

She shook her head.  “Says you.  Besides, the smells changed since we left and I was just checking.  You had a visitor.”

My eyes immediately swept my spartan apartment.  She held up a hand.  “No, not in here.  The end of the hall by the stairway.  By the smell of it, they were there most of the night.  It has a clear view of your door.”

I stepped to the door and opened it a crack and looked down to the door at the stairs.  Then looked at her as I closed the door, feeling violated in some manner.  “Do you um... recognize who it was by smell?”

She shook her head as she took the time to really take in my apartment though she had spent the afternoon here.  “No, but I'd recognize them if I smelled them again.”  Then she squinted an eye.  “Just how long have you lived here?”

I shrugged.  “A couple years.”

She looked around again then sat on the couch.  “Not really a material girl are you... you'd think you'd have more than a couch and a box.”

I shrugged, “They are just things.  I've never been much into owning stuff.  Not after...  well and it's hard to have many belongings in the foster system.  It just sort of carried over into my adult life.”  I tried to joke, “I have a kitchen table.”

The expression on her face showed shadows compassion and sadness.  She patted the couch and swung her legs up Indian style to rest her back against an armrest.  “Tell me about life before the wolf attack.  I'm curious as to just who Detective Daria McQueen used to be.”

We spoke late into the afternoon.  I found the private memories and thoughts of her youth fascinating.  But only half as fascinating as everything she has witnessed of the world in the past century.  I couldn't fathom going from horse drawn carriages to man on the moon to the Internet, where all the information from almost every source in the world is at one's fingertips.  The things she has seen...

I don't remember falling asleep, but when I did stir a bit, I could feel her intense heat cradling me.  I smiled and went back to sleep realizing I had cuddled into her on the couch.  I caught that intoxicating wild scent of hers as I drifted back off.

Chapter 8 – Homicide

The next few days were spent coordinating with the mayor's office, Red, and the police commissioner.  Getting everything in place for the planned three-day talks at Slater Mining.  We were uncomfortable that Slater's headquarters in the Northern Cascades was not walled.

Our inquiries revealed that most of the workforce were infected, and worked for cheaper than the few Clean Bloods on the payroll who retreated back to the walled city of Vancouver, Canada during the full moon cycles.

We weren't as concerned about it as we could have been, mostly because it would be mid lunar cycle during the talks. Though we wouldn't have to worry about wolves, it was still nice to know that the lodge that was on the property where we would be staying, had FMBs and silver lined panic rooms in it.  The lodge also served as Alister Slater's residence as well.  We were not able to determine if Slater was among the cursed or not, he was secretive and we didn't even have pictures of the man.  There was no record of him ever visiting a walled city.

Chief Mendez was dead set on torturing us with this mind numbing duty.  The couple homicides that popped up during this time, he assigned to other detectives so we could... “Keep your focus on the mayor's protection detail.”

Mayor Beatrice Fleming I liked.  I had never met the woman before, and I hadn't voted for her, an oversight on my part I learned.  The fifty-something redhead looked to be in her forties with frosted highlights in her hair.  She had a razor wit and zero patience for idiots.  She still couldn't believe the City Council insisted on having a protection detail for the talks.  It wasn't like it was during a full moon.  Since Seattle seemed to be under this inexpiable siege the past few months she called it, “A waste of taxpayer's money that could be used to secure more silver for the city's protection.”

We shared some of Red's concerns over the meeting, leaving out Marcus and his possible connection to me.  But voicing her findings of Slater Mining and all the shell companies forming a silver monopoly and her belief that the silver shortage had just been engineered by Slater.

Beatrice was not amused and set the wheels in motion to have the congressional subcommittee in charge of lupine defense to do an inquest.  AFTER, of course, she secured contracts for a new silver supply for Seattle.  Fucking politicians.

Once we had our plans solidified for the following week, we sent our security requirements to Slater Mining's in-house security so they could coordinate with us and stay the hell out of our way.

That freed me up to do some discreet investigation into the possibility Red was right about someone inside the wall working with Marcus and targeting me.  I didn't want it to be true since only my fellow officers would have inside information as to when I was assigned to perimeter patrol during Howler Duty.

Maireni had pretty much moved into my apartment for the duration of this assignment.  I felt squeamish knowing she was always out there, somewhere close, watching over me.  It was better just to keep her close.  She had turned my living room into a sort of camp.  This unfortunately meant I had to suffer the endless teasing from Victor.  He'd always call Maireni 'Miss Damaschin' when he was teasing us instead of Mari.

If I were to be completely honest with myself, I found myself getting closer and closer to that amazing woman.  Just being near, she excited me in ways I had never felt before.  I'm pretty sure I'm obsessed with her lips lately and the wild woman knew it too.  She teases and flirts endlessly just to watch me squirm.  But we always seemed to wind up on the couch sharing our hopes, dreams and fears every night.

I wake up with the comforting heat of her body against mine every morning.  She sometimes absently rubs her lower jaw across my shoulder or the top of my head.  She would never comment on it, or seemed surprised she had done it.  I did some discrete research on lycanthrope behavior and blushed pleasantly when I found that is how werewolves laid claim to something like they were scent marking their property.  I grinned, it was better than the other way they scent marked.

The next morning I awoke to her curled around me protectively on the couch again.  God, the things this did to me.  I was beyond embarrassed that I knew she could smell my arousal with her super sensitive nose but resigned myself to the fact.

I stretched which caused her to tighten her grip slightly on the arm she had slung across my belly this time.  I looked back and just had to smile at the content look on her face.  It didn't show the strain of over a hundred years of stress and killing when she was like this.  Her ice blues fluttered open, for some reason I loved the animalistic look in them before she focused and came fully awake.  It was beyond sexy to me.

She smiled and said, “Good morning.”  Looking around and inhaling deeply, taking air in through her nose and mouth, tasting and smelling the morning like she always did.  “Sorry, we fell asleep on the couch again.”  Liar, she wasn't sorry at all, I could feel her fingers lightly brushing my belly over my shirt.

I smiled and was about to get up when she almost delicately started moving her jaw toward the top of my head.  I made an exasperated hiss as I came to a decision.  I pulled back before she could rub her jaw on me and said in a perturbed manner, “If you are going to lay claim to me, at least do it right, Red!”

And I leaned up and captured her lips with mine.  Good lord they were hot and soft and... hungry.  I felt my toes curling and then pulled back with a smile I tried to hide away.  She looked stunned for a moment then the corners of her mouth turned up into a gleeful smile as her eyes sparkled, and I swear to God she growled in satisfaction, the tremors from the low sound vibrating into my soul.

She leaned down again just to meet my finger I pressed against her lips to stop her, even though, my body was on fire.  I doubt I had ever been that aroused in my entire life.  Something about her was just so... exciting, in a primal way.  I smirked. “After the negotiations are over.  You've just been driving me insane with your scent marking.”

She exhaled almost explosively, nodded, but then smiled and hopped up from behind me far too gracefully for a human.  She took a couple slow steps toward the bathroom, her eyes flickering between me and the hall and said, “I need a cold shower then.”  I realized she was angling to get to the bathroom before me.  I started to jump up but then she was gone almost faster than my eyes could follow as she giggled.  I heard the bathroom door shut and lock.

I rolled my eyes.  Damn it, for not being a girly girl, she took forever to get ready in the morning.  She always spent close to twenty minutes in the shower.  She says she loves the feel of flowing water. Then I exhaled and fanned the excess heat from my face.  That one kiss almost did me in.  It took all my self-control to stop us before we... well... you know.

I took a moment to think about what I was doing.  I tried to stay out of relationships, they could only end badly, but I had never had the same physical and emotional reactions I have with her.  This could never work out, she was a Hunter, she went where the wolves were.

Part of me realized that if her suspicions were correct, if Marcus were involved and she could kill him.  The lycan curse would be destroyed.  It would be a different world with no werewolves.  A world that didn't need Hunters.  A world where only I would need the sexy Red Hood.  Maybe she could stay in Seattle then.

I shook these thoughts from my head and muttered, “Getting way ahead of yourself McQueen... take it one day at a time.”

After we were ready for the day and ate breakfast, I cocked my head at her.  Our eyes hadn't left each others the entire morning like we were circling each other in a great dance.  I asked something I had been curious about, “Why do you wear the red cloak even when there is no full moon?”

She shrugged and furrowed her brow in thought. “I don't know.  It is like a part of me.  Part of my identity.”  She nudged her chin at me.  “Why do you wear your gun in the shoulder holster as soon as you get dressed?”

I looked down at my blouse with the shoulder holster strapped over it, my nine mil tucked into it.  “Huh.”

She smiled and stepped away from me as I pulled up my cell phone as she teased, “Yeah, huh.”  I looked at her and then my phone and smiled.  She was always considerate about that around me, whenever I was using any kind of electronics she gave me an eight to ten foot buffer.  If she stood behind me, then all I got was static and any computers would just lock up.  I liked that it seemed to be an automatic reaction that she didn't seem aware she was doing for me.

I stopped as I checked my email.  “Son of a bitch!  We got the bastard!”

One of her eyebrows arched in interest and I said, “I finally got something from my inquiries about who on the force might be working with Marcus.  Harrison from the motor-pool had fifty thousand dollars deposited in his bank account the day before the attack in the alley.”

She looked impressed. “How did you get that information?”

I shrugged. “I sweet talked Tanya down in records to discretely do a check on the top five on my list.”

Her eyes darkened.  “Tanya?”

Oh this is beyond priceless, she's jealous!  Being the evil person, I am I played with her.  “Yeah it's amazing what a few sexual favors can get a girl.”  I more felt than heard the low rumble coming from her.  I couldn't keep my straight face as I broke into a chuckle.  “Lighten up, Red, she's happily married, she just owed me one.”

She rolled her eyes and stepped up to me and my cell screen went all static.  She scrunched her nose in a sour “so there” gesture, which only got me to chuckle again at her.  I laid a reassuring hand on her chest just below her throat and tilted my head with a crooked smile on my face as I shut off my cell.  We kept eye contact for five long heartbeats then turned to the door, almost in perfect sync, to hunt down Harrison.

When she got in the back seat of my car, my cell buzzed and I answered as I got into the driver's seat.  The call was a little static as I answered, “McQueen.”

Victor was on the other end.  “Get your butt to the station.  There's been a homicide...”  I almost asked why I had to be there until he added, “...a cop.”  Shit!  I know all murders are tragic and none should have more precedence over any others but when it was a cop, it was personal to all of us.

The entire department was about to be mobilized, that's why even O'Neil and I were going to get involved even though we were on special assignment.  Hell even if we could just bring coffee to whatever detectives got assigned the case, it would help.  I could hear the husky tone of my voice as I said with a dry mouth, “Who?  Anyone we know?”

There were over nine thousand police officers in Seattle, inside and outside the wall, and the odds of us knowing the victim were... I cut off my thoughts and my blood ran cold as he said, “Harrison.  From the motor pool.”  Son of a bitch!

I ended the call with, “On my way.”  And I shut off the phone.  I looked in the rear view mirror to an innocent looking woman in red.  “You heard?”  Of course, she heard with that freakishly wolf-like hearing of hers.  She dropped the act and nodded once.  I punched the steering wheel and muttered, “God damn it!  Our one lead!”

She caught my eye in the mirror and said carefully, “Not your only lead.  This means there is someone else in the city that is cleaning up loose ends.”

I froze for a moment and voiced a new fear, “You don't think that my inquiries prompted his murder do you?”  She shrugged and I punched the steering wheel again.

She stayed in the break room down the hall from the station room as I joined Victor there.  The Chief stepped out of his office and he looked pissed.  He cleared his throat and all the murmuring settled down.  “Last night, we lost one of our own.  Daniel Harrison was found dead in an alley by his home earlier this morning.  Hicks and Laramey have point on this.  I need everyone giving them anything they need to catch the son of a bitch who did this.  Am I clear?!”

We all murmured agreement and he made a shooing motion and walked back in his office and slammed the door.  The glass walls of it wavered, on the verge of cracking.  Everyone broke into motion.

I closed my eyes and turned to O'Neil then exhaled and looked up at him as I pulled my cell out and powered back on.  I pulled up the email I got this morning and showed it to him.  His eyebrow raised.  “Why do you have this McQueen?”

I shrugged apologetically. “I was sort of investigating who assisted the breach the other night.   Damaschin had a gut feeling I had been targeted.  I was on my way to talk to Harrison when you called this morning.”

He slapped his forehead and continued the motion to run through the stubble on his head.  “God damn it Daria, this will come out in the investigation.” Then he looked around in thought.  “Ok, get with  Hicks and Laramey on this.  Better to be pro-active than look like you were hiding it when they find out.”

I nodded and then squinted an eye at him. “Yeah.  Sorry old man.”

He just gave me his O'Neil stare.  “Yeah yeah whatever.  We're partners Daria.”

I nodded, feeling sheepish.  “Sorry?” I offered up again.  He shook his head with the look a father would give a misbehaving child that he loved and shoved my shoulder lightly towards Hicks' desk, then followed me over for support.

That was a pain in the ever-loving ass.  I had to go over and over with them why I was investigating officers and off the record.  Once they and the Chief, who they involved in it, were done with me, I felt like the skin had been flayed from my body.  I'm not sure how many apologies I made to the three.  None of them were happy about me having suspicions about fellow officers, but were placated with my admission that I didn't want to involve the weasels in Internal Affairs with the suspicions.  None of them could ignore that the “gut feeling” Maireni seemed to be showing some merit now.

Almost like she heard the whole thing from down the hall, she appeared before the group as soon as the Chief asked where she was.  Her descriptions of her gut feeling matched what I had told them to a T and she offered none of the information I withheld about Marcus and Slater.  She gave me a reassuring and almost imperceptible nod to let me know she had my back.

It was late morning by the time we got out of there.  Now we had a dead cop and another dead end.  Things got even worse when the Mayor called while Victor, Red and I sat in the break room, decompressing.

Victor answered the call as Maireni moved from the table when he got a squelching earful of static. “Yes Madame Mayor?  Yes... no... for when?!  You do realize that is during the... you do.  Ok, we'll adjust our plans accordingly.  Yes... thank you.  Goodbye.”

He looked pale as he muttered under his breath, “Shit.”

I furrowed my brow in concern.  “What is it?”

Red answered for him... of course she heard, “Slater informed the Mayor that something important came up and he'd have to postpone the negotiations two weeks.  He understands it would put them at the full moon, but he assured her that his lodge and safe rooms were well fortified.  He couldn't do it after the full moon because he was heading out of the country for a couple months.  She didn't want to delay the talks on the silver shortage for months so she agreed.”

I echoed Victor. “Shit.”

Chapter 9 – Slater Mining

The next two weeks went by excruciatingly slow.  Harrison's homicide investigation hit a dead end.  However, the Internal Affairs investigation that the Chief had himself started on Harrison did turn up evidence to implicate him in the breach.  Though there was nothing but circumstantial evidence that it was part of a concerted effort to target me.  The money trail went cold because the deposit into Harrison's account was through an international shell company that we were still trying to track back.

Red and I had upped the heat at my place.  Trying to one up the teasing on the other just to remind each other that we had said not until the talks were completed.  That was what truly made time crawl by, I found her beyond fascinating, we had let each other into our lives, sharing things I never thought I'd ever tell another person.

She occasionally joined me during my gym sessions and even sparred with me and a few other officers... at the same time.  For all her enhanced speed and strength, I think her guile was her most dangerous weapon.  She fought using misdirection and inhuman moves you wouldn't expect... right up to her mock killing blows which were a straightforward display of strength and lethality.

I still get a kick out of the memory of her holding McAlister up by the throat with one hand when he rotated into the fight and made him say uncle after he promised, “I'll go easy on you, little lady.”  Honest to God, she made him say, “Uncle.”  He was just dangling there, ineffectually slamming his forearms against her arm, and kicking her ribs as she said, “Say Uncle, officer.”  After a few seconds, he stopped struggling and then said, “Uncle already.”  She grinned and dropped him into a heap on the ground.

I was the only one to surprise her with a leg sweep after I smiled at her and bit my lower lip.  I spun in her distraction and knocked her legs out from under her and wound up on top with my forearm to her throat.  She had smiled broadly as she squirmed beneath me, heating me up as she said, “Oh my Detective McQueen, you seem to have pinned me.”  The little minx had let me do it then she was punishing me with her mock squirming.  I flushed with heat and rolled off.

I muttered under my breath, knowing only she would be able to hear over the other officers laughing and crude comments, “You are an evil, evil woman, Red.”  This got me that explosive burst of startled laughter that was such a treat to hear from her.

On the way to the showers she walked past and said, “It was you who wanted to wait.”  For all her speed, she couldn't outrun my snapping towel.

Then finally, the day of departure came.  It would take us almost two hours to get to Slater Mining headquarters up in the mountains.  The Mayor rode in the armored, unmarked SUV that we checked out of the motor pool.  The Mayor's 'security consultant' insisted on it.  We just thought it was silly since there was no threat against the Mayor but then Red mentioned that it was during a full moon and it was best to take precautions.  I glanced in the rear view mirror at the silver panic cage behind the back seats that was big enough for two people if they crammed in.

Maireni rode in the back seat with Mayor Fleming, Victor with me.  The main change to our original plan is that there were two sets of riot gear on top of the panic cage and half of our magazines contained silver rounds.  We had two marked police cruisers as escort, one in front of and one behind us.

Victor got on the radio and after a radio check he said, “Ok Brandon, the package is secure, let's head out.”

Beatrice chuckled as our little procession headed out toward the East gates to cross the Murrow floating bridge.  There was talk of one day building a second bridge across Lake Washington farther north by Evergreen Point. I hear they have been talking about it for decades, but the cost of maintaining the city wall and the additional cost of manning another city gate precluded its construction.

The moment we crossed over Mercer Island and into Bellevue Beatrice put a hand on my shoulder from the back seat.  “Detective, in all the preparation this morning, I didn't get lunch.  Would you mind stopping at the golden arches before we head into the mountains?”

I started to voice my opposition to it, “Ma'am, we have a set schedule and...”

She cut me off. “Again, it is Beatrice, and poo on your schedule.”

I caught Red's eyes in the mirror and she gave an almost imperceptible nod and I sighed in frustration.  “Fine, you two are impossible.”

I glanced at Victor and he was already on the radio. “Brandon, the Mayor is feeling a bit peckish, could you find the nearest Mickey D's, please?”  As we got off the Interstate I couldn't help but stare at the buildings we passed as I drove.  It always catches me off guard to see buildings without FMBs.  The few we see on houses or apartments are for the few Clean Bloods who live among the cursed.

Then my blood ran cold thinking about what Maireni had been warning about.  If Marcus was truly trying to infect the entire human race so he could wield power over everyone as Alpha, he was already half way there.  In most of the other countries in the world, almost seventy percent of the population had the lycan infection.  The United States was at almost thirty percent and growing since the infection had only crossed the ocean relatively recently in terms of how long the curse has been around.

Just Bellevue alone had an army of over one hundred thousand infected.  If Marcus were able to compel them all to attack Seattle on a full moon, the city would be lost.

I shuddered remembering the news reports about Spokane on the east side of the state.  Four years back, they had a single gate failure when a migrating pack of Ferals attacked the city.  The breach cost the city almost a quarter of their population.  Either dead by wolf attack or infected.  It took almost two years and three internal outbreaks caused by infected who were scared of being exiled who had spread the contagion on full moons when they couldn't restrain their wolf.

That is what prompted the new rules in walled cities, the monthly blood screening.  Every man, woman, and child in the cities had to be tested to ensure the same thing didn't happen there.  The Seattle locals have started calling it “Prick Day” in passive aggressive protest.

The escorts peeled off to the exit of the drive-thru and I pulled up to the menu.  Beatrice said, “A quarter pounder, fries, and a cola sounds great.  The city is footing the bill so order what you want people.”

I ordered three-quarter pounders, three fries, and four colas, then took a deep breath and said, “And five Big Macs and four large fries.”

The Mayor's eyes widened but not as wide as when we all watched Red devour all of them.  The cute little, “Thank you,” we got from her when she was done was priceless.

Then we were on the road again, none of the cities or towns between Seattle and Slater's headquarters were walled.  You'd never know the people we passed were cursed.  That was the worst of it all.  They were just as human as us, well except Red, it was just that pesky 'turning into an inhuman killing machine' three nights a month that set them apart from us.  Again my mind drifted to my sister Prue.

We traveled north, deep into the Cascade Range, past Mount Baker.  My head swiveled on my shoulders when we drove past Hidden Lake Peaks and an overgrown dirt road with a barricade that was falling apart.  It was my parent's land, no I guess my property now.  The land Slater wanted.

Five minutes later we were pulling up to the Slater Mining Headquarters.  I don't know exactly what I was expecting being in the mountains and all, but it wasn't the three story modern office building sticking up in the middle of a sea of mining equipment in a large clearing.  I idly wondered why there was so much equipment here, shouldn't it all be at the mines?

The building must have been a hundred thousand square feet, all gleaming steel, and glass.  The most glaring thing was, of course, the lack of FMBs.  That is what I am used to seeing, for my entire life, every building in the city had FMBs.  I rarely ever traveled outside of the city, and seeing the lack of FMBs outside of the walled cities always shocks my system.  Like a primal response to something, my brain saw as not right.  Those bars were just a fact of life for me and most Clean Bloods, they equaled safety.

I saw nestled into the tree line, a huge timber framed lodge that looked like something from a camping getaway brochure.  It at least had FMBs and I found myself relaxing some tension in my shoulders I didn't realize was there.  We pulled up to the lodge first, as that is where we would be staying.  Victor told the four uniforms, “Can you get all of our gear and Mayor Fleming's things into our rooms, please?  Then we'll see you guys in a few days.”  They hopped to it as a matronly looking woman came walking out of the lodge to meet us.

She looked like someone's favorite aunt or a young grandmother.  I tensed slightly seeing the spring in her step and powerful strides of a cursed.  Then I loosened back up again feeling like a fool remembering I was outside the walls, most of the people I'd meet out here would be.  I could see that I wasn't very discreet as the woman's well-sculpted eyebrow rose slightly and she restrained a little grin.  God, I was acting like a bigot wasn't I?

She stepped up to the Mayor and offered a hand and a smooth smile, “Mayor Fleming, I'm Mrs. Remington, I run the lodge for Alister, but please call me Antonia.  It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”  She had honey smooth contralto with an accent I couldn't place, it sounded so much like Maireni's.  I saw Red's eyebrow quirk at the accent too.

The Mayor shook her hand with gusto and giving her politician's smile as she responded, “It's Beatrice.  It is nice to meet you too.  And this overprotective lot here are the head of my security, Miss Maireni Damaschin. And Seattle police detectives O'Neil and McQueen as my escort.”

It was Antonia's turn to cock an eyebrow as she offered a hand to Maireni who accepted it, but they didn't let go as Antonia said something in some harsh European language, “Numele dumneavoastra. Esti din Romania?”

Red just grinned and said, “Da, sunt. A trecut mult timp de cand am fost ultima data acolo.”

The well-dressed matron released her hand with a sad smile and said, “Yes, it has been long since I have been home as well.”

Then she turned to Victor and me and shook our hands. “A pleasure detectives.”  I shook her hand and bobbed my head in acknowledgment.  Her grip was strong, like all cursed, and I gave her hand a little squeeze in apology for my reaction earlier.  She gave me a smile and a sideways tip of her head in silent acceptance.

I took a moment to compare the strength of an infected to Maireni.  While a human cursed has greater strength and speed than a Clean Blood, it didn't feel like the coiled steel of Red's grip.  Which made sense, they didn't have their full strength unless they were in wolf form.

Antonia turned to the Mayor. “Alister... Mr. Slater asked me to show you to his offices.”  She motioned an arm toward the office building.  And we all started walking.  Antonia on one side of the Mayor, Maireni on the other, and Victor and I trailing behind.

The moment we stepped into the building my hackles rose.  There was a metal detector at the door and two security guards in uniform with fully automatic rifles. I had to quell the police officer in me, not my jurisdiction.  Though I thought maybe an anonymous tip to ATF after the negotiations might be in order.  Victor exchanged pointed looks with me.

Mrs. Remington and the mayor walked through the arch followed by Maireni and she set off the detector.  One of the large guards stepped in front of her in the imposing way ex-military often do.  “Ma'am, do you have any metal or weapons on you?”

She took in air through her nose and mouth then with a wicked gleam in her eye held her cloak open to display her arsenal.  Then let it drop back into place and stepped forward toward the Mayor.

The man placed a hand on his weapon on his hip and the other hand on Maireni's chest, “You'll have to leave your weapons here miss.”

She simply said, “No.”  Then it was all a blur of motion, the man started drawing his weapon and Red reached up to snag the hand on her chest as she spun.  I could hear bone splintering as she twisted behind the man, the strap of his  rifle wrapped around his throat.  His sidearm was then in her hand aiming over the man, whom she had bent backward in front of her, at the other guard who had his  rifle half raised toward Red.  I could feel the subsonic growl rising in her throat as she said plainly, “I said no.”

Antonia stepped into the line of fire between them and said in the tone of a chastising schoolteacher, “Boys, these are our guests.  Put your silly weapons away.”  Then she looked at the choking man and his hand bent at an unnatural angle.  “And Peter, get your wrist set before you heal and have to get it re-broken.”

Then she met Maireni's eyes but then down in a submissive manner tilting her head slightly to expose part of her slender neck.  She obviously recognized her as a predator, something not quite human.  Red exhaled and released the man and ejected the magazine from his weapon and performed a one handed field strip of the Glock and let the gun fall in pieces to the ground.  She gave him the frame by the grip and I barely stopped my snort.

The man looked at his hand, then at her as he headed for a door recessed in the hall behind him.  The Mayor did her politician thing as she spoke to Antonia, “I'm sorry about your man, but my head of security takes her job seriously.”  I squinted my eyes as I regarded the Mayor's tone, she had expected this.  She wanted Red to give a demonstration so Slater would know she isn't playing around with the negotiation.  My respect level for the woman had just gone up.

Mrs. Remington took it in stride. “No need to apologize, the young ones are always so overzealous, this will teach him some humility, he'll heal up in the next few hours.”

Then she made an ushering gesture and Victor and I glanced at each other and realized our hands were on our own weapons.  We dropped our hands and stepped through the metal detector, setting it off.  The remaining man gave us an uncertain look, and Victor just patted the badge on his belt and the man let us pass.  We were led to the top floor and up to a reception desk.  A young woman sat at the desk with her head lowered as she diligently wrote in some sort of a ledger.

When Mrs. Remington spoke, the girl looked up and my heart stopped beating. “Beatrice, this is Mr. Slater's personal assistant, Sabina.  She will be your liaison with Mr. Slater and will take you from here.”

The young woman looked up and her eyes went wide with terror and concern when she saw me.  She was in a professional business suit and looked seventeen or eighteen going on a thousand if the shadows in her dull eyes were any indication.  It was impossible, but here she was staring at me like I was her worst nightmare, a small voice squeaked out of me and almost caught in my throat, “Prue?”

She was shaking her head side to side and her fear seemed to double.  I smiled and said, “Prue, it's me Daria.”

She looked away and my heart which had been soaring crashed and shattered.  I was in a daze, my sister was alive and apparently working for Slater.  Why had she never contacted me?  Didn't she want to... was she...  I was knocked out of the torrent of thoughts and emotions by Antonia snapping, “Sabina! Ridica-te tu curva fara valoare!” Maireni's eyes narrowed at that and she whispered something into Beatrice's ear and I could see the Mayor's practiced smile waver and her eyes harden on the matron.

Prue looked at Antonia in fear and stood quickly and smoothed down her skirt and said quickly, “Da amanta!”  Then grabbed a tablet computer and a file and made an ushering motion with her hand and said in a hoarse voice devoid of anything you could mistake as emotion,  “Please Madame Mayor, this way, Mr. Slater is expecting you.”  Mrs. Remington bowed her head to excuse herself and walked off the way we had come.

The Mayor looked at Prue. “Sabina, please call me Beatrice.”

Prue looked at her feet as we walked and said in a strained voice like it pained her to say it, “I... I cannot.  I'm sorry.”

I stepped up from my position after glancing around and grabbed Prue's elbow gently.  She wouldn't meet my eyes.  “Prue?”  She just kept walking.  I pulled her to a stop. “Why won't you talk to me?  I've searched for you all these years.”  My heart ached, she hadn't aged a day since that wolf bit her. She looked exactly as I remembered her except that spark of life that used to dance around in my big sister's eyes wasn't there, they seemed so old and dead now.

She whispered as a tear fell down her cheek, “I... I can't Daria.  He won't... I can't.”  Then she pulled her arm from me, wiped the tear away, and started leading the mayor again leaving me watching her back.

Maireni was suddenly by my side, I hadn't even seen her move.  She whispered into my ear, “She is under compulsion.  She literally can't Daria.”  She gave me a sympathetic look and then as swiftly as she had appeared, she moved back to the mayor's side.

We arrived at a glass-walled conference room and Prue knocked lightly on the conference room door as we stepped in.  Victor and I stood on either side of the door as the rest continued to the conference table where a ruggedly handsome man, in a suit that must have cost thousands, sat on the edge of the table.  He wore a pair of stylish mirrored aviation glasses.

Prue said with her eyes lowered submissively, “Sir.  This is Mayor Fleming.  And her security detail.”  I noted that a heavily armed man stood in each corner of the room as well as another suit sitting near the head of the table.  Then she finished as she looked at the mayor with her eyes still lowered.  “Madame Mayor, this is Mister Alister Slater and his lead counsel, Brent Wells.”

The other suit stood at that.  Slater offered his hand to the Mayor though his head was turned to her side as he studied Maireni.  “It is a pleasure to meet you Mayor Fleming.  Please call me Alister.”

Fleming said, “Then by all means Alister, call me Beatrice.”  Slater adjusted his grip and as smoothly and naturally as if he had been born to do it. He bent his head and gently kissed her knuckles and released her hand with a smile, finally turning his head away from Maireni.

As the lawyer shook her hand, Mari made a show of inhaling deeply through her nose and mouth then she leaned in to the mayor and said, “Wolves,”  She kept her gaze on the men.

Slater smiled and stepped into Maireni's personal space with his back toward O'Neil and me, looming over her and took his glasses off as he gazed down at her.  He tilted his head and said, “So this is the famed Red Hood?  Funny, I thought you'd be bigger.”  Then added in what I assume was Romanian in an amused condescending tone, “Vanatorul de lupi.”

Red smiled, showing her almost-fangs and replied without blinking. “Am crezut ca ai sa puti mai putin.”  At that, I could feel that familiar vibration starting in my feet.  One or both of them was growling.  I saw Slater's guards tighten their grips on their  rifles and both Victor and my hands drifted closer to our sidearms.

The mayor rolled her eyes and looked at Slater and Maireni. “For God's sake you two.  You can figure out who has the bigger dick later.  We have business to discuss.”

Slater put his glasses back on and laughed a genuinely amused belly laugh and pointed at the Mayor. “I like you Beatrice.  I thought you'd be all stuffy like Wells here, being a contract lawyer before you dabbled in politics.”  I almost rolled my eyes this time at his subtle prompt that he had done his homework on her.  Then he smiled and said, “Please, sit, let us discuss what brings you to my humble business.”

She sat and Wells and Slater followed, Red stood directly behind and to the left of the mayor.  Then Slater looked at Prue. “Sabina, please bring refreshments for our guest.”  He looked at the mayor.  “Wine, coffee?”  I swear the way Prue's head dropped when he spoke to her looked almost like a bow.

I could tell by the subtle shift in Beatrice's body language that she didn't like that either, but nothing showed on her well-practiced politician's face as she reached for a glass and the glass pitcher of water in front of her.  “Nothing for me thank you, water is fine.”

Slater nodded then motioned his eyes down to the chair beside him, Prue couldn't sit down fast enough.  Then I swear he looked at me, it was hard to tell with those glasses on, but I caught the quivering of a smile. Or maybe a dare, at the corners of his mouth as he laid a hand possessively over hers where she had hers clasped on the table.  He said, “Thank you dear.”

Then he turned to the mayor again and was all business. “The city of Seattle has expressed concerns about the silver production and availability recently?”  I couldn't tear my eyes from Prue as she started taking notes, just ignoring my presence.  My thoughts drifted to Red saying she was under compulsion and my gut tightened in determination.  That meant she was right and Marcus was somewhere nearby, and I would know him when I saw him, I'd know those eyes.

Chapter 10 – Compulsion

The rest of the day was spent with Slater explaining how almost every silver mine in North America had been played out and the shortage was not engineered.  That in the Pacific Northwest his mines were barely able to mine a metric ton a day combined.  That Slater Mining has had to ration out the silver bullion to all of the walled cities that have standing orders and the price of the silver is skyrocketing  because of the cost of engineers and test drilling trying to locate new veins.

We already knew that there were less than eight hundred thousand metric tons of silver in existence, with less being mined every day.

When the mayor mentioned the walled mines overseas that haven't decreased in production, he said  that they were fortunate and that he was negotiating with them to obtain their mining rights so that he could offer more silver to cities in need like Seattle.

Maireni had explained all of that to me before and I thought I understood the implications of Slater's attempts at the silver monopoly, but suddenly full comprehension came crashing down on me.  Whoever controlled the silver, controlled the world.  It was a power grab and if it were successful, it would leave Slater as the most powerful man in the world, hell he may already be.  And if he were being controlled by Marcus like Red believed, then he could ultimately shut down the production of new silver bullion, leaving the Clean Bloods ultimately vulnerable to extinction and open to control by Marcus.

My blood began to boil now that I truly understood what she was trying to tell me. Then that seething anger doubled when I realized that if Prue were under compulsion, then it was Marcus that did it to her.  That fucking wolf has to die!

We retired to the lodge for dinner an hour and a half before sundown.  Slater was a gracious host and he had Prue running around like a scullery maid, serving everyone.  He kept smiling at me like he was having fun making her do it and that he knew I was her sister somehow.  Maybe she told him after the meeting.  But he had that same smarmy smirk there too.

I wasn't looking forward to the next day, it was going to be all the negotiation and financials.  We retired to our rooms before sunset in preparation for the full moon.  After getting the Mayor secured in the silvered wolf panic room attached to her rustic quarters at the far end of the hall, Victor and I shared a room next door that had its own little silver lined panic room attached, that was little bigger than a closet with a couple cots inside.  Red was in the adjoining room.

We heard the familiar sound of FMBs sliding down to shutter the lodge fifteen minutes before sunset.  I shuddered, not comfortable being basically locked into a building at full moon, with a staff and Slater, who were all about to change into werewolves.  I felt uneasy knowing they would be prowling the halls just on the other side of our panic rooms.

We heard a scream down the hall and we were instantly grabbing our weapons and unlocking our panic room door. We slung the heavy silver plated steel door wide as we started running through our room just to stop dead as our door flung open.  The mayor was pushed through our door with Alister behind her holding a gun to her temple.  I noted her arm was bleeding.

I could hear mighty crashes from Red's room, like someone were throwing themselves against a door.  Prue, Mrs. Reminton, and a couple armed guards stepped in behind them.  Alister looked over toward the banging when I did, then smiled at us.  I had my gun trained on Slater and Victor had his swinging from guard to guard.  Slater said to me as I glanced toward the banging again, “Oh don't worry, the Red Hood won't be joining us.  It seems the locks on her panic room appear to have malfunctioned.

He locked eyes with me and my blood ran cold.  I knew those eyes and now I know why he wore those mirrored glasses today so I wouldn't see them.  They belonged to... “Marcus,” I murmured.

His gun swung from the Mayor to me then back to Beatrice, and he hissed, “How do you know that name?”  It all clicked together.  Marcus wasn't controlling Slater, he was Slater.  And he was shutting down the silver mining industry so his wolves could overrun the walled cities.  He already had more power than any man, but he was greedy and wanted more, he wanted total power over all mankind.  We had the 'what' correct, just not the 'who'.

Then he said, “It doesn't matter.  I haven't heard that name uttered in hundreds of years.”  Then he looked at me and my sister.  And he waggled the gun at me before training it back on the Mayor.  “This was almost perfect.  I couldn't believe my luck when I was informed you would be accompanying the mayor on the negotiations.  Your God forsaken family has been a thorn in my side for decades.  You have been even more of a pain in the ass than your father was.  You never leave the goddamn city!”

I finished speaking for him, “So you staged a breach last month to what?  Kill me? Infect me?  Why?  For a piece of worthless land?”  I kept glancing between the gun he had trained on the Mayor, Prue, who was just standing there looking terrified, and the connecting door where the banging was intensifying.

He said, “Worthless?  It has one of the few silver veins I don't control.  You parents wouldn't sell, saying it was an investment in their children's future.  So I engineered a breach to destroy their family so I could obtain the land, only you got into the panic cage too quickly.  I infected your bitch of a sister here as insurance.  If I could kill you, I'd just compel her to sign the land over.”

Then I saw the anger of a predator, whose prey had escaped, in his eyes. “I have had three humans attempt to kill you in Seattle over the years, but you are quite resilient and have become quite the fighter.  So I chanced another breach to finish you off, but again you survived.”  There have been attempts on my life?  Well, I guess that almost everyone I have ever arrested has tried to kill me.

I suddenly realized why he was so chatty, he was stalling for sunset so he and his wolves could finish us off or infect us.

He saw the realization in my eyes and he smiled then hissed, “Now put down your weapons detectives or your little mayor here is going to have one too many holes in her head.”  I took aim and Victor settled his aim on one of the two goons.  Slater growled out in frustration and just quickly whipped his gun toward Prue and squeezed the trigger.

I screamed in anger and disbelief as Prue fell to the ground, grasping her stomach as blood flowed out between her fingers.  He looked at Victor and I and said as he lazily looped his gun around Beatrice's temple, “Now drop your weapons or I finish her and the lovely mayor here.”  He made a show of putting pressure on his trigger.

I exchanged glances with Victor and I could see the defeat and determination in his eyes and we simultaneously lowered our guns.  Victor made a shooing motion with his pistol and we dropped them and kicked them away and his men picked them up.  He chuckled in victory then said, “Detective McQueen, you have been such a pain, death is too easy.  I may just turn you then loan you out to my men whenever you are in heat like I do with your sister.”

He smiled like that was the best idea he had ever had and I blanched, he was handing Prue over to his men?  I felt bile in my throat, but I forced it down.  Then he looked down. “Get up you stupid bitch.”  Prue stood up, I heard a bullet clatter to the ground and I could see her stomach wasn't bleeding anymore.  Oh God, I had forgotten that she was cursed, a bullet wouldn't kill her, she'd heal quickly.  Fucking Slater... no Marcus played us.

He said, “I grow bored of this.”  Then he did something unexpected and stepped out from behind the Mayor and handed her his weapon.  Then said nonchalantly like he was asking the time, “Be a dear and kill Detective O'Neil, please?”

I watched on in horror as she looked to be fighting herself as she shakily raised the gun toward Victor as tears flowed down her cheeks.  She whispered, “I'm sorry, I can't stop myself.”  As she pulled the trigger and Victor's head snapped back as the bullet struck between his eyes.  I screamed and fell beside him looking into his dead eyes.

I spun toward the Mayor.  How?  Then my eyes snapped to her arm and the bloodstain on her shirt.  She'd been bitten?  She was under compulsion, but it was daylight, I murmured, “How?”

Marcus smiled and pulled a necklace out from below his shirt, “I forced a vrajitoare tiganeasca... a gypsy witch, to infuse this moonstone talisman with the power of the moon.  I can do limited transformation away from a full moon with it.”  To punctuate it, his jaw elongated and he snarled and snapped wolf fangs toward me then his half-wolf face dissolved back to human and he staggered a bit, he couldn't hold it long.  But long enough to bite someone.

The banging in the next room stopped suddenly and the moaning sound of bending and tearing metal screeched out.  Marcus looked at one of the men. “Check that out.  Kill her if she is getting out.  I wanted to have more fun with the Red Hood, but things are getting too messy tonight.”

One of the big men ducked through the connecting door and I heard the menacing growl of a wolf and a thud. The man came flying back out of the door and tumbled across the room to impact the far wall and he laid there with his head at an impossible angle.  His neck was snapped, but he was still blinking.  Only silver or complete incineration can kill an infected, wolf or not.

Red stepped into the room, her blue eyes were almost glowing with rage.  She looked more animal than human.  The other thug swung his weapon toward her as Marcus took the gun from the Mayor faster than I could follow.  He growled and locked eyes with Maireni, a low rumble returned.  She glanced around and I saw a little relief and a bit of humanity return to her eyes when she saw me.

Marcus said, “Your cloak may stop fangs, but I seriously doubt it can stop bullets Hood.” He motioned his gun toward me.  She moved with only the sound of her rustling cloak to crouch at my side.  She embraced me as she looked at Victor.  She looked at the mayor then drew in air through her nose and mouth, tasting the air.  There was a genuine look of sorrow as she realized that Beatrice was infected.  Her quick eyes darting around taking in the entire situation and I could see it in her face as she put it all together.

Marcus looked at Mari and I and then a cruel smile played on his face as he handed his weapon to Prue and said to Maireni, “You care for the Detective?  Oh, I have a better use for her now.  A means to inflict more pain on you and Sabine here.”  Then he looked at Prue. “Sabina, make yourself useful and kill your sister, please.”

Prue raised the weapon toward me shakily, tears staining her cheek as she fought it.  Just as the barrel was pointing toward me, I gave her a look to let her know that it was ok and I loved her.  Before she could pull the trigger, she, Beatrice, the other thug and Mrs. Remington all doubled over and cried out in pain.  Marcus had a pained look on his face as he slowly dropped to all fours.  It was sunset, they were changing!  My sister was sprouting snow white fur.

Red was in motion, we had about fifteen seconds.  She grabbed the  rifle from the man against the wall who was growing fur and tossed it to me.  Marcus was already almost done with his change, she grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the way as he leaped.  The little girl inside of me, who was still stuck in the panic cage watching my family be slaughtered, recognized the wolf.  I knew it already because of his eyes, but this was the beast of my nightmares.

His momentum carried him past us to where I had been.  Maireni yanked me through the connecting room door and slammed it.  I heard the crash of a huge body against it and the snarling of a wolf as it splintered a little.

Red was looking into my eyes, I was still back in that panic cage, I couldn't do anything.  She was repeating my name and I finally locked eyes with her.  “Daria, stay with me.  We need to get out of here now!”  I blinked at her and she shook her head and then slapped me.  I blinked and that brought me back to the present.  I looked down at the  rifle and took a deep breath and chambered a round and nodded.

She smiled. “That 'my' girl.”  The way she said 'my' was so possessive and I knew it was true, I was hers and she was mine.  If we survived this, I would show her.  We charged out into the hall, shutting the door behind us, and I opened fire on three men who had come up the stairs but had dropped in pain as they changed.  We heard the connecting door give way as Mari finished the men off with a silver blade she was suddenly wielding.  We dashed down the stairs and heard snarling as the door to Red's room splintered.

Then we were at the front door.  I punched in the emergency override code I was assigned by Homeland Lupine Defense and the FMBs slid up and we bolted outside as I heard the thrumming of paws on wood behind us. I opened up on full auto on Marcus as he leapt toward the door.  Normal bullets won't kill a wolf, but they will certainly put the hurt on them.

The deluge of rounds striking him knocked him back.  He yelped then snarled as I slammed my hand on the red panic button outside the door and the FMBs slid back down.  He lunged at them and his flesh sizzled on contact but he didn't move back.  I looked into his human looking eyes and he just studied me while his fur and skin burned where it touched the bars.

Red started to raise her crossbow as he suddenly threw his head back and howled.  The sound was incredible and as it washed over me I could feel the power laced in the sound-waves.  I felt the need to come to him and took half a step before Mari grabbed my arm and knocked me out of it and I backpedaled.

From all around us, dozens of answering howls responded as Marcus disappeared into the darkness of the lodge.  Then hundreds, then... thousands of werewolf howls responded to the call, rapidly approaching.  He had an army on the property!  My blood ran cold.

We started toward the car but then veered off toward the woods when we saw a sea of wolves pouring into the parking lot.  Then we ran.  Maireni was virtually silent as I thundered through the forest like a bull moose.  I knew that Marcus would be out of the lodge and on our trail soon, I'm sure he had a way out of his own residence.

Red was suddenly leaping into the air doing a pirouette, moonlight reflecting off the silver blade in her hand as it sliced through the air.  With a yelp, a wolf with reddish fur died in mid-leap at us.  I opened fire at another directly in front of us as she landed lightly on the ground.  He went down but was struggling to get back up, his grey pelt covered in blood.

With barely a snick as we passed by, his head was separated from his body when her blade flashed through the air.  I heard the howl of power again, it was slightly different this time, I felt the urge to hunt but it didn't overwhelm me this time at this distance.  We ran into a stream and she pulled my arm to keep us in the water and we ran down.

There were answering howls from miles away in front of us.  They were bracketing us in.  She slowed slightly and said, “We need a place we can defend.”

We had been heading southwest and I said suddenly, “I know a place!”  I pulled her out of the stream and headed south.  For the next couple hours, we played a bloody game of hide and seek in the mountains as we made our way to my family property.

A smallish, snow white wolf leaped in front of us in a clearing and Mari's crossbow swung up as it charged us.  I put out a hand and almost yelled, “No!  That's Prue!  Don't kill her!”  Then I apologized to myself and my sister in my head and pulled the trigger on the  rifle.

Deadly fire burped from the muzzle as she leaped an impressive thirty feet toward us as she snarled.  She landed just short of me in a whimpering mass of fur and blood.  For the first time in my life, I was glad werewolves could heal just about any wound.  We ran past her and then I looked around, trying to get my bearings, I looked at the moon then turned us east.  “There should be a boarded-up mine entrance around here,”  I said, trying to remember the maps I had looked at before we left Seattle.

Then we found it, there were three wolves charging us from the entrance.  The rifle clicked, the magazine was empty and we hadn't grabbed any spares from the security guard.  I looked at Maireni and exchanged a predatory grin with her and she growled out a challenge to the wolves as I bellowed and charged.

She now had two blades in her hands and she drew two wolves toward her.  I dropped to the ground as the third, a large grey and black wolf leaped at me, fangs and claws outstretched.  It twisted in mid-air to try to slash at me as it passed over me and landed awkwardly and tumbled to a stop.  In a blur it was on its feet again, it dove at me and I slammed the butt of the rifle into its teeth.  I felt fangs shatter on metal reinforced plastic, his body slamming into me and sending me rolling across the ground.

It yelped and slashed a claw at me, the tips of its claws shredding my sleeve as I rolled to my feet.  It prepared to leap again and I dove to the side, rolling then coming up on a knee and slammed the stock into his ribcage.  He turned and snapped and snarled at me, moving more cautiously now.

It dove at me and I held up the rifle between its jaws and my face, snapping and snarling, trying to get to me.  His front paws landed on my chest, forcing me down onto the ground as it tried to bite past the stock, he was much stronger than me.  I slammed my knee up into his groin with all my strength and he let out a yelp of pain and fell to the side.

I rolled to my feet and he was trying to stand but his hind legs weren't working very well as he whimpered.  I hauled back and struck the top of his skull with the butt of the rifle with the last of my strength.  I said, “Bad dog!” I heard his skull crunch with the impact.  He fell to the ground unmoving but breathing.

Then there was a thunk as a silver arrow embedded into its skull.  Red stepped up to me and yanked the bolt out and clipped it onto her crossbow and let it swing down on its sling back under her cloak.  She stood in front of me and placed her forehead on mine, a look of wonder in her eyes, and whispered, “You kicked a werewolf in the nuts.”

I nodded, captured by her eyes and said hoarsely, “Yup.”  We laughed and my laugh was cut short by her gentle kiss.  She half growled half whispered, “Mine.”  I just nodded and we exchanged smiles.  We broke apart and ran to the entrance of the mine as we heard the hundreds of howls getting closer.

With a powerful yank, she pried a large weathered timber from the blockaded mine shaft and tossed it aside like it were made of cardboard.  We got inside and she looked around, I couldn't see a thing in the pitch black but she moved me farther into the mine then I heard her rustling around.  A minute later she struck a match and lit a strip of cloth that was tied around a splintered plank.

It took me a minute for my eyes to adjust after that flare of light and we looked around.  There was an old pushcart  on the thin rails that lead out of the mine we moved it over the opening she had made then she yanked it and was actually able to pull it off the track to sit sideways.  We were in sync as we wordlessly just went about loading it with all the rocks and debris laying around. Then she saw me shiver and was by my side holding me, her intense heat keeping the worst of the cold away.

She said, “Let's make a fire to keep you warm.  They know where we are anyway.”  I nodded and she made a quick circle of rocks and took some old rotted crates and broke them up and put them in the circle then held the dwindling torch to them and seconds later, the old wood caught.

Then she sat down and held her cloak open invitingly.  I sat beside her and she wrapped it around me. I cuddled into her warmth and inhaled her scent deeply.  I looked up into her eyes after a few seconds asked, “So, on a scale of one to ten, how fucked are we?”

She chuckled and said, “Eleven.  But then again... you kicked a werewolf in the nuts.”  We shared a nervous laugh, then she tilted her head. “Do you have your phone?”

I shook my head. “In the panic room of the lodge.”  She nodded sadly then we both listened to the howling getting closer.

She asked, “Is this the only entrance to the mine?”

I shrugged. “I have no clue, I never knew it was here until last month.  I just saw the map of the land before we left with this entrance marked.  But I'm sure there has to be ventilation shafts and the like.”

She nodded again. “Well this is about the best defensible location.  We'll have to see if we can't wait them out until sunrise.  I can't take on an entire army of wolves.”

I nodded then we turned to the blocked entrance as the wolves came.

Chapter 11 – My Life Was Over

It was the longest night of my life.  We kept the wolves at bay as they tried to dig through the timbers and push the mining cart aside by stabbing through the cracks with long silver blades.  At one point, they quieted and a familiar muzzle and piercing green human eyes looked in at us.  The wolf was smiling.  He growled and some wolves ran off then he stepped aside and the relentless  resumed.

I looked at Mari. “That was Marcus.”

She shook her head as we stabbed at paws and snapping teeth.  “No, that isn't him.  I looked into his eyes at the lodge.”

I exhaled and glanced at her. “No I recognized his eyes, he's the wolf that attacked my family, and he answered to Marcus when I said his name”

She looked at me in confusion and then she looked almost sad as she said more to the world than to me, “I thought I'd recognize him.  Maybe I've forgotten, after all this time.”

I looked at her as we continued to injure and kill wolves through the openings.  The dead and wounded were pulled from the opening and shredded by the other wolves.  They truly were just unthinking animals.  “So what's the plan?”

She said with surety, “Since there is no Calvary arriving to save the day, we wait for sunrise, the humans are weaker than the wolves.  Then we see if we can't find another way out of here and I turn the tables and hunt Marcus.  We can end this all, end the curse if we kill him.”

I nodded in thought and added, “But first,  we have to survive.”

She turned toward me with that crooked smile I loved so much. “You know what I like so much about you Dar?”  I blushed at her using a nickname for me, and shrugged.  She tilted her head and said, “You are fearless.”

I chuckled as I stabbed at a paw coming up from where the wolves had almost dug under the boards blocking the entrance.  “I'm pretty much scared shitless here, Red.”

She smiled and said, “Yet you charge at wolves when others would flee.  You punch them in the face, what sane person does that?”  Then her smile grew.  “You kick them in the crotch and wisecrack as you press the attack.”

I was heating up with all the blushing I was doing now.  Then she added, “And your scent drives me crazy.”  And my blush and embarrassment doubled.

I shrugged it off like it was nothing and changed the topic. “You know what I like about you?”  She glanced over and my smirk faded as I gave her a compassionate look and reached one hand over to cup her cheek and said, “Everything.”  Se closed her eyes then rubbed her jaw on my hand, scent marking me.  I smiled and we went back to work.

She said, “It is twenty minutes till sunrise.”  We had run and fought all night?  I was beyond exhausted.  When I come crashing down from the adrenaline that has been flooding me all night, I was going to be useless.  And we weren't going to be done at sunrise.  We still had an Alpha to kill.

I felt gorge rising in my throat as I realized that also probably meant that some innocent humans would probably wind up getting hurt or worse depending on what kind of compulsion they are under.  But I would defend myself, I wasn't about to just lay down and die.

The little fire we had been feeding all night was dying and was little more than red embers with the occasional flare up.  But the grey twilight of morning was streaming in through the cracks between timbers at the entrance that were enlarged by razor sharp claws and snapping jaws throughout the night.

My eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting and I was able to make out the cavern a little better.  It was a large oval area most likely for staging miners and equipment back before the mine was played out when it was flooded.  I did see little bright fingers of metal in the stone walls, remnants of silver veins.

The roof and tunnel beyond were supported by rough-hewn timbers that were black as soot.  Most likely soaked in creosote in a bygone era.  One that I had leaned against for a ten second breather thunked hollow, the aged and rotting timber was dry as kindling.  It made me wonder how it was still supporting anything.

There were some disturbing boxes marked Hercules Powder, then in faded huge letters, Dynamite. They looked to have stains on the side.  They were probably empty and those were water stains from a century in the tunnel.  But we gave them a wide berth anyway, if there was dynamite in them, they would have sweated out the unstable nitroglycerin in them long ago and those were the stains we were seeing.

There were a few mining lanterns, most with their glass broken but we checked and any fuel in them had long since evaporated.  Besides that and a lot of deteriorating fabric and crates, it was pretty barren, with just those two thin tracks laid out on rotting timbers receding into the darkness of the tunnel beyond.

My lips were dry and cracking, I was dehydrated, hungry, and tired, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything about any of that anytime soon.  I glanced over and Red looked to be tiring too.  She puts on such a show of strength that I keep forgetting that she is human too, stronger and faster, but human.

We had discussed her wolf-like abilities the past couple weeks, but I always stopped pressing when she got uncomfortable.  I think it makes her feel less than human when she is reminded of what she has become.

At first I thought she was immortal since she never aged and she shared the healing abilities of the wolves.  I found that, on the contrary, she is quite mortal compared to them.  With enough damage and blood loss, she died like anything else if she didn't have time to heal.  I should have realized that when she had originally shared the story of how the prior Red Hood died to protect her.

I glanced over at her and gave a sad smile, she started to return it when her head snapped behind us to the tunnel.  I followed her gaze, raising the silver blade she had given me during the night to fight off the wolves.

I listened but could hear nothing over the sounds of the ravenous wolves growling, snapping, and trying to dig through our blockade.  As she stepped away from the entrance a couple steps toward the tunnel, I turned back and split my attention between stabbing claws and muzzles of wolves.  But then they all went silent.  I looked and they backed away a bit and I saw a smiling wolf with green eyes looking in, saliva dripping from his fangs.

Then I could hear it, a low rumbling growl that started as a vibration traveling up from my feet into my gut.  I fought down the primal urge to run as two sets of amber wolf eyes glowed in the tunnel, approaching slowly as the growls became audible.  I took two steps to stand at Mari's side as two wolves, black as night, and almost as large as Marcus stepped into the light.

They prowled forward in a crouch with their tails cocked, lips pulled back in a snarl as their fangs caught the light, and their ears forward and close to their skulls.  It was a frightening display as the separated when Maireni stepped in front of me and her rumbling growl rose above theirs and her lips curled back into a snarl that damn near matched theirs.  Her voice sounded half human as she rumbled to me, “Stay back, they are too big for you.  I've got this.”

I'm not stupid, I took a step back as she suddenly had a silver dagger in her empty hand.  I glanced at my longer blade, her reach on one side would be hampered because I had this, damn it.  They wolves saw this too, werewolves were bereft of any sort of human intelligence, but they had pack hunting instincts that were beyond reproach.  They separated more and started to try to circle her to divide her focus.  She kept adjusting her footing to keep herself between me and them.

Then it was all a blur to me as the two leaped.  Slashing claws, snapping teeth, the billowing of the red cloak, snarling and a yelp.  They separated like it was a dance, one wolf sporting a foaming and sizzling gash on its shoulder, and back to just short of his spine.  It had narrowly escaped a death strike.

They closed attacked and retreated over and over as they all spiraled.  One started to turn toward me as it got behind her just to yelp and fly through the air when she actually grabbed his tail and flung him over her head to the far wall of the cavern.  There were a crunch and another yelp, but the beast got up and stalked toward Red, favoring his right side and limping a little.

She looked back at me to make sure I was ok and her eyes went wide and she yelled, “Daria!” She jumped into the air in a spinning motion, embedding her dagger in the skull of the closest wolf and detaching her cloak.  I was spinning around to look behind me as the cloak spiraled through the air and it engulfed me as I saw a smaller wolf half way into the chamber in the hole they had dug under the blockade.

Everything happened at once.  I slammed my blade down through its spine just as its jaws came snapping down on my ankle.  Then a flare of pain and something darker came flooding into my body, the curse, the were-taint.  My life was over in that instant, I knew I was now going to be one of those monsters.  But as the cloak settled over me I actually felt its magic push back, a searing white hot heat as well as a blinding white light engulfed me.

My entire body spasmed and I arched back in so much pain I screamed silently in agony as two magics battled inside of me, tearing at my very soul.

I collapsed finally, unable to move, barely able to breath through the pain.  Mari was there, I could hear her but not see her, the white light had burned into my retinas. I was vaguely aware that she was cradling me.  I heard a thud and the weight of the dead body was taken off my leg. I heard her voice from a million miles away, “Daria!  No, no, no, no, no, no...  Daria!”  Then a rare profanity from her, “Fuck!”  She was touching my ankle.  Then she was rocking me.  I was so tired.  I could be afraid later, right now I was so very tired.  I drifted off in her arms, aware that I was being carried deep into the tunnel.

Chapter 12 – Wolf

My eyes fluttered open to the sound of grunting, I realized I was hanging over Mari's shoulder and we were going up a dark shaft with twilight above.  A part of me understood that I shouldn't be able to see this well in the dark.  With a final heave, she pulled us out into an overgrown clearing between some pines.  I could hear wolves howling in the distance.

She laid me down and flopped down beside me, panting.  I sat up and looked at her then panicked and grabbed my ankle I looked at some jagged scared flesh under dried blood.  It had healed.  The weight of the world came crashing down on me, crushing me as I whispered, “No...”  I was infected, I had already healed the wound.

I pulled my legs up to my chest and started rocking.  I thought of all the implications.  I'd still be human most of the time, but I'd be susceptible to Marcus' compulsion now.  I'd be a killing monster three nights a month.  I kept whispering “No, no, no...”  Then I was engulfed by warm arms.  I almost threw up realizing they weren't as warm as before, I was just about as warm as her now.

I cried into her shoulder as she stroked my hair.  She shushed me and whispered, “I don't think you are cursed.”

I pulled back and blinked at her, then pointed at my leg and said in a hoarse voice, “The bite is already healed.”

She shrugged and handed me one of her blades.  I stared at the knife in my hand and wondered what she wanted me to do... kill myself?  I'd never... then my eyes flew wide.  I looked at her and the blade.  Then I felt the beginnings of a smile twitching as the weight on my chest eased a bit.  I stabbed my finger with the silver knife.

I just watched myself bleed for a few seconds as the wound slowly closed.  I smiled up into those twinkling blue eyes.  I whispered, “I can hold silver, my blood and skin aren't reacting.”

She was crying now and nodding and she kissed me long and hard.  I kissed back desperately then pulled back with a thought.  “But I'm changed somehow.  I'm healing faster and I'm warmer.”

She nodded again and tilted her head in thought as she stuttered, “I... I think you are like me.”

I squinted my eyes. “But I thought there could only be one Red Hood.”

She shrugged. “I think that the flare of evil magics of the curse, when you were bitten, woke up the cloak and it tried to stop it.  There was a blinding light.”  I nodded and shuddered, remembering the agony that same light caused in me.

Then she said, “And you are still human.  You would have been a wolf by now, sunrise is still a minute off, so you should be under the thrall of the moon once the curse had finished binding you.”  She smiled at that.

Then we both looked around in unison, in sync, as she said, “I grabbed you, and followed the scent of the two black wolves. They used this air shaft to get into the mine.”  She motioned to the shredded timbers that used to cover the hole and the warning sign.

I just realized that I could smell their scent too. And I almost got lost in Red's divine, multi-layered scent that was kicking my libido into overdrive, when the first rays of sun crested the mountains.  That's when the screaming began.

My entire body was in agony.  I could hear bones cracking and extending, my flesh felt as though it were tearing from those bones as a giant taffy machine stretched and folded my skin.  A woman was shrieking.  I wanted so badly to pass out, no person was built to feel this much pain, but I couldn't seem to let the darkness take me.

I realized the screaming woman was me as I felt a giant foot stomp on my skull, flattening it a bit and then pulling at my face, elongating it.  Through my pain, terror peeked through as I realized what was happening, then that great pain was suddenly secondary to my panic.  I felt as if my chest and legs were being compressed in a vise until I heard my clothing shred.

My screams changed to whimpers and yelps as grey, black tipped fur burst out all over my body, it felt like thousands of red-hot needles being pushed out of my flesh from the inside.  My fingers and toes curled into themselves as paws formed, then with one last yelp, razor sharp claws ripped forward and tore through my skin and I sat up.  One word echoing through my mind as I looked down at my wolf body, “No no no no no.”

I looked around trying to calm myself, and realizing I could still think, I hadn't lost my mind to the wolf I had become.  The world came rushing in around me.  My vision was crisper and colors were more vibrant.  I could actually taste the scents in the air, and those smells hit me from every angle, I sneezed and couldn't get them out of my nose, they were overwhelming.

I cringed at all of the sounds, they were so intense it almost hurt, I felt my ears twitching and I flattened them to my head to try to block them out.  They were coming from everywhere and I didn't know how to isolate them or block them.  I whimpered, but then everything came into razor focus when I recognized the sound of a blade sliding out of a sheath.

I snapped my head over to my right and up to Maireni standing over me with her lips pulled back in a snarl, showing her stubby fangs, sorrow was etched in her eyes.  I tried to say something to her, but it came out as guttural growls. She raised the silver blade and I scrambled backwards. I could feel my tail tuck between my legs, and not used to being on all fours I tripped over my large paws and tumbled back onto the ground.  I whimpered as she stepped toward me, my back was to a tree.

I lowered my head and closed my eyes, waiting for the killing blow.  It is what I deserved, I was a monster now.  A killing machine... but I could think.  I wasn't supposed to be able to think.  The woman I had been falling for was going to be the instrument of my death.  But nothing happened.  I could hear her heartbeat, but not her breathing, in the world of sound, she was silent.  Then in a small voice I had never heard her use she asked in a whisper of her own, “Daria?”

I sat another second, cringing then opened my eyes and chanced a look up at her.  She stood above me, her long killing blade poised above her head in both fists ready to drive down for the killing blow but she was motionless, her eyes seemed to be pleading.  I nodded once and she crouched, disbelief in her eyes and she locked eyes with me.  The power of her gaze made me want to roll over and show my belly and throat to her.

The blade tumbled from her hands onto the ground between us and she covered her mouth with one hand.  She whispered, “Oh, Daria.”  Then she grabbed me by the neck and pulled me to her and she sobbed.  I tried to cry too, but all I did was whimper.  I let her hold me as I attempted to understand what had happened to me as I watched the sun rising over her shoulder.

I sat there feeling the air filling my powerful lungs, feeling the strength of my foreign body.  I was a werewolf, it was daytime and I was a werewolf.  A thinking wolf like an Alpha.  How is this possible?

I basked in the warmth of Mari's embrace and her scent was my world, it filled me, it made me feel safe, it made me... want her.  Something primal in me remembered she had claimed me, this was the scent of my mate.  I whimpered knowing that if I were stuck like this, then we could never be together, and I would never know her love.

Then she released me and placed her face just an inch from the wet black nose at the end of the grey fur muzzle in my vision.  She stared directly into my eyes again and I forced myself to stare back, I wanted to lower my gaze.  Wait, no, that was the wolf wanting to submit, I submit to nobody!  I was not a wolf!  I looked back into her eyes, trying to mask my confusion and anguish.

She smiled crookedly.  “God, your wolf is beautiful Detective.”  I chuffed which was the closest to a laugh I could get.  Oh fuck, I'm wagging my tail!  How embarrassing is that?  Then she gave me a reassuring look and reached over to her blade on the ground.  I shied away as she moved it toward me.  Her hand was on my furry cheek and I leaned in and closed my eyes.  Is she going to end this nightmare for me?

I opened my eyes and the blade came toward me and I flinched back anyway even though I wanted her to do it.  Her brow furrowed as she squinted at me, somehow reading this in my wolf face.  She whispered, “I'm not going to hurt you, silly woman.  Give me your paw.”

I looked at the knife, then down to the ground at my large paws with those dangerous looking claws that curled more like cat's claws than wolf.  They were killing claws.  Then I raised a paw, she took it in her hand then she smiled at me.  She locked eyes again, giving me a reassuring look and said, “My what big teeth you have.”  I chuffed and gave what I thought was a smile at the joke at a time like this.  Then yelped and whimpered when she pricked the pad of my paw.  The minx had been distracting me!  She grinned, “Oh shush you big baby.”

We both looked at the blood on the blade as it just sat there, being blood, doing what blood does, absolutely nothing.  My eyes went wide when I realized what she was doing and what the non-foaming blood on the silver blade meant.  She whispered it in disbelief, “You are not infected with the lycan contagion.”  Then she met my eyes again with confusion on her face that matched mine. “Then how is this possible?”

Then she looked down at her cloak then back at me as she whispered, “Did I do this?”  Then she looked appalled and ashamed and said quickly to me, “Oh God, I'm so sorry Daria.”

I leaned my massive chest into her, laying my head on her shoulder and she encompassed my neck in a two-armed hug.  When she released me, I wanted to reassure her and I felt playful, so I grinned then lolled out my massive tongue and licked her face from the bottom to top in one big sloppy slurp.

She rocked back to land unceremoniously on her butt as she looked at me in mild shock then started laughing.  It was so melodious to me and I felt happy I was able to lighten her mood.  I wanted to tell her this wasn't her fault.  It was so frustrating not being able to speak.

Then both of our heads whipped toward the west as I could plainly hear a group of men making their way up the slope about a mile away.  The voice of Marcus caused me to stand, my back arching and I could feel my fur prickling as my lips curled back to show my two inch fangs as I gave a low, dangerous growl that vibrated through me.

Red was in motion, grabbing my shredded clothing and stuffing them in her cloak.  We were in sync again. She simply held a hand out and I was by her side as she dug her fingers into the fur on my shoulder and we ran, her hand never leaving me as we ran faster than I had ever hoped to move in my life.  My sinewy muscles flexing as we went, I felt so... powerful.

We slowed as we heard men coming down the slope from above.  They were flanking us, herding us back toward Slater Mining, hunting in a pack.  But Red and I were a pack too, we both gave matching growls as she started guiding us toward the mining headquarters with subtle pressure through our contact.  “Maybe we can get a call out for help there.”  Then we exchanged looks as we ran and she gave a wickedly delicious smile. “And our pursuers don't know about you.” I chuffed, I could smell a nasty surprise in their near future.

Chapter 13 – Daria?

I looked on in horror as the sun peeked over the horizon and Daria shrieked in pain, her body arched back in an unnatural angle.  I could almost feel the excruciating agony rolling off of her in waves, I could smell and taste her pain and terror.  Had the werewolf bite poisoned her in some other way?  She didn't react to silver.

Oh God, I couldn't lose her, I had just found her.  I had finally made the decision to let her into my heart, something I said I would never do again after watching two prior mates wither and die as time claimed them.  But like I told Daria, she was a woman who fought when others fled.  The woman punched a godforsaken werewolf and joked about it.  She was... glorious.  I was going to dedicate myself to her when all of this was over.  And maybe then I would be human and could grow old with her.

I looked on in my own terror, knowing nobody could survive the contortions her body was going through.  Then as her clothing started tearing, I realized what was happening.  No!  But how was it possible?  It was daylight.  I swore, “Rahat! La Dracu!” The curse was taking her from me.  A grey pelt with black tips exploded from her as her jaws expanded and fangs dropped down from her muzzle.  Her screams turned into yelps and whimpers.

Dear God, don't do this to me, I have been a good servant.  My blood ran cold knowing that any moment it was going to be her or me when her wolf took over.  I entertained the thought of just letting her kill me.  I was falling for the woman and couldn't kill her.  But then I thought of what Daria would want.  She wouldn't want to be a monster who only thought of killing, of possibly killing another human being.  She'd want me to see to it that she never could.

I looked at the huge female wolf she had become, the largest I had ever seen.  She was... beautiful, is the only word that came to mind.  She was bigger than most male wolves and I saw the steel coils of muscle rippling under her pelt.

The wolf that had been the woman I had fallen for was cringing and sneezing and whimpering.  The way she seemed to be wincing and cocking her head looked like she was trying to block out the sounds of the world that appeared to be overwhelming her.  I took its distraction to strike.

I pulled one of my long wolf-killer blades from its sheath in the lining of my cloak as I curled back my lips in a snarl. I was angry that this beast had taken my girl from me and I was forced to end it here.  Her head snapped over to me and she growled as she clumsily stumbled back into a tree, tail tucked between her legs in fear.  This caused me to hesitate as I grasped the blade over my head.  She wasn't attacking.

She lowered her head with her ears flat to her skull and she closed her eyes like she was wanting me to finish it.  I just stood there stupidly, trying to rationalize the wolf's actions.  Was she in there still?  I squeaked out half in hope, half in desperation, “Daria?”

Nothing happened for a second, then the wolf's ears pricked up and she opened her eyes from where she cowered in front of me.  She looked at me and made a very human nodding gesture as our eyes met when I crouched in front of her.  My heart skipped as I realized I was not staring into a wolf's eyes, those were the very human brown eyes of Daria staring back.  Her eyes looked conflicted like she wanted to avert her eyes like a wolf would.  But it was here, I could see the human intelligence in those wonderful eyes.

The blade slipped from my hands and tumbled into the dirt as my heart sped up in excitement.  She was still in there, I hadn't lost her!  I covered my mouth then whispered, “Oh, Daria.”  And I wrapped my arms around the beautiful wolf 's neck, Daria's neck, and hugged her as I cried.  She whimpered with me.

Oh good lord in heaven, her scent was amplified by her wolf musk.  I just sat there inhaling, it was intoxicating.  She was the only one for me.  I needed to break the God forsaken lupine curse so that we could be together again, or die trying.

I finally released her, was this the same curse or something different?  She hadn't reacted to silver earlier.  What about this form, had the infection just taken longer to take over, and how was she a werewolf in sunlight?  I put my face directly in front of hers to show her I trusted her, I could feel the hot breath of her wolf on my face, I locked eyes, maybe a little too intently.  She started to lower her eyes, submitting to me.  No, that was a wolf reaction, Daria wouldn't submit like that, but then her face tightened and she snarled a little. I could feel the low subsonic rumble of a growl as she forced her gaze defiantly back at me.  There she is!  That stubbornly strong woman!

I smiled broadly at her and teased her with the truth.  “God, your wolf is beautiful Detective.”  She chuffed with a cute doggy smile on her face.  I bit back a chuckle at her wagging tail.  I wanted to test something out, so I gave what I hoped was a reassuring look and grabbed my blade from the ground. She shied away from me and I caught a small whine.  I smiled and placed a hand on her cheek, good lord, her fur was as soft as goose down, not coarse like it looked.  She closed her eyes, leaned into my touch with a very un-wolf-like sigh.

She opened her eyes as I moved the blade toward her paw.  She flinched back, her ears flattening to her head, she looked afraid and resigned.   Oh lord she thought... I furrowed my brow and whispered, “I'm not going to hurt you, silly woman.  Give me your paw.”

She seemed to consider it for a long moment then raised a paw to me.  I smiled, they were huge with thick black pads underneath, it was the largest female wolf paw I had ever seen, with those dangerous looking claws.  My Daria didn't do things in halves, did she?  I smirked at the gorgeous beast and said, “My what big teeth you have.”  She chuffed at my Red Riding Hood joke and gave that cute doggy grin again.  I didn't look down as I pricked the pad of her paw with the knife.  She yelped.  I rolled my eyes, “Oh shush you big baby.”

We both looked at the blood on the blade and I watched the paw heal in seconds as I released it.   There was no silver reaction!  I whispered, “You are not infected with the Lycan contagion.”  I met her eyes again and asked in confusion, “Then how is this possible?”

Then I had a sudden realization, that odd reaction and burst of magical energy as the cloak tried to activate when she was bitten.  I felt the magics of light and dark cancel each other out.  Then I blanched as I asked the universe, “Did I do this?”  I was so ashamed,  I had done this to the woman I thought I could love.  I begged the Lord for forgiveness as I said, “Oh God, I'm so sorry Daria.”

I was taken off guard when she leaned her bulk into me, her wolf had to weigh more than she did, where had the extra mass come from?  Wolves usually retained the same mass when they changed, well except for Marcus, who got larger.  Wait, was Daria an Alpha now?

I sighed at the heat radiating from her as she laid her head on my shoulder.  I did what any sane woman would do when a gorgeous creature like this was pressed against her.  I wrapped my arms around her neck, burying my fingers in her soft downy fur.  I hoped we could get the curse reversed so I could show her my love.

I released her then I saw a mischievous glint in her eye as she suddenly licked my face, covering me with doggy slobber.  I swear she was laughing with that chuffing sound as I fell on my rear.  The wolf aspect the curse forced into me wanted to make her submit for that, but the woman in me wanted to laugh merrily at her.  The woman in me won out as I laughed.

But almost as if invoking the wolf aspect had been a sign, both of our heads snapped toward the west, humans...  I sniffed, pulling air across my tongue and through my flaring nostrils... no, infected humans, being lead by Marcus were heading up the mountain toward our location.

Daria took a menacingly aggressive stance, and she snarled, showing her glittering fangs.  Again I felt the subsonic growl build until it was audible.  She looked so strong, so dangerous, so... I swallowed back my arousal.  I was reacting how I would to a mate.  We hadn't bonded had we?  I smiled at the thought that maybe we had, I had never shared so much with a person before her.

I don't know why, but I grabbed Daria's torn clothing and stuffed them into a large storage pocket sewn inside of my cloak.

Then without thinking or speaking I reached a hand out and Daria was there. I dug my fingers into her pelt on her shoulder and we ran.  I kept in contact with her as we ran.  I was half elated as we ran at lycan speed, faster than any human could move, faster than any natural wolf.  The power of her strides seemed to thrum in time with my own as we covered ground at breakneck speed.  I admitted to myself with that feeling, that I was running with my mate.

I cocked my head as I caught voices a half mile ahead, coming down from the peaks.  The pack in human form were hunting us, herding us back toward the mining headquarters.   With virtually no pressure from my fingers, I conveyed my wishes to Daria and she responded as we turned toward Slater Mining.  I said, “Maybe we can get a call out for help there,”  We exchanged glances as we ran.

Then I realized we had a weapon they weren't aware of, and they were only in their human aspects.  I gave Daria a devious grin. “And our pursuers don't know about you.”

She gave a doggy grin and chuffed.  I could smell the anticipation of a fight coming from her and it excited me.

Chapter 14 – Lying Low

We approached the outlying buildings near the clearing by the lodge and office building.  We found out quickly that Daria moved almost soundlessly unless I mentioned it.  When she was moving on instinct, the only sound we made was the rustling of my cloak.  But if she was thinking about it, then she was clumsy and about as subtle as a grizzly bear tiptoeing through a box of glass Christmas ornaments.  I told her so and she stuck out her doggy tongue at me.  I had to suppress a laugh that would have alerted any sentries to our presence.

We saw and smelled two sentries.  One on the roof of the office building with a sniper rifle and one at the lodge.  We don't know how many were in the buildings.  All the vehicles in the compound were trashed and all the tires flat. I flexed my fingers in the fur of Daria's ruff and she backed into the shadows with me as we communicated instinctively with body language.

My stomach gurgled.  We had expended a lot of energies last night and I was feeling dehydrated too  I had heard Daria's stomach gurgle a few times as well.  Not to mention we hadn't had a wink of sleep in over twenty-four hours.  We needed to keep up our energy if we were going to get out of this alive.

I looked at what looked like a vehicle maintenance building on the edge of the forest near us and a tiny caretaker's cabin.  I motioned to them with my eyes and whispered, “We need to find some food and a phone.”  She nodded agreement, it was so odd to see a wolf making human-like motions, it looked so unnatural.

I nudged my head toward the maintenance shed, “You take the shed, I'll take the cabin.”  She made an odd whine and I looked at the almost comical look on her face.  I had never known wolves could have so many facial expressions other than a snarl.  She held up one of her large paws toward me and turned its pads up and nudged her chin at it.  I stared at it trying to understand what she was attempting to tell me.

Then I got it and smiled.  She chuffed at my thick-headedness, my girl had no thumbs.  I said, “Right, smartass.  We go together.”  She chuffed again and looked far too smug with her smiling doggy face.  I scratched her skin under my fingers where I was still in contact with her then we both froze.  I looked down at her, “I'm so sorry, it felt natural.” Good lord, I was treating her like a dog.

She tilted her head then in answer leaned against me, moving her neck tighter against my hand.  I relaxed, ok, she seemed to like it.  I wondered if it were her or her wolf that liked it.  I exhaled. I had to get her back to normal.

She dropped into a crouch, keeping her center of gravity low, and her ears cocked toward the cabin as we both stalked forward.  I wonder if she realized she had adopted the typical defensive hunting posture for a wolf.  She guided me in, padding silently through the trees, my hand on her shoulder.  I wondered if she minded I wanted to keep in contact with her, my life was over when I thought I had lost her.  I just liked the reassurance that she was still there, still with me, still my Daria.

We reached the back door to the cabin and I peeked in the window.  I could smell the unwashed human, lupus human, all around the cabin.  Inside was a single room with a kitchenette on one side and a tiny common room with a couch folded out into a bed that was in disarray.  I doubt the occupant ever bothered folding it back up again if his apparent lack of hygiene was an indicator.

The almost overwhelming stench of an outhouse twenty yards into the forest told me that there was no running water in the cabin and the man's diet was atrocious.  He was one of the wolves closing in on us, I recognized the man's stench on the wind.  We only had maybe five or ten minutes before the tightening ring of men and women converged on us here.  We needed to be gone before then.

I smiled when I saw a cell phone charging by the kitchenette.  We stepped to the back door and I looked down to meet those wondrous eyes of hers. I joked, “I'm sorry detective, but we're about to commit breaking and entering, you can arrest me later.”  I winked and she chuffed.

I grabbed the door knob and found the door was locked.  I sighed and asked, “I don't suppose you have any lock picks on you?”  She comically raised a paw and patted herself around the chest where her paws could reach, then smiled a fangy smile and shrugged.  I slapped a hand over my mouth as I laughed out, squelching it before it gave us away.  I shook my head and grinned at her. “You Daria, are a funny woman.”  She looked pleased.

I rolled my eyes and said, “Luckily, I brought my own lock pick.”  I grasped the doorknob and twisted, using the strength of my curse and with the slightest sound of metal giving way.  The lock tumblers broke, the knob turned, and we were in.

We kept low and away from the front window since there were no curtains and we had a view of the office building.  The place reeked more on the inside, it even smelled like werewolf.  He had changed in here before.  I was about to wonder how the place was still in one piece.  A wolf would go crazy trying to get out.  Then I noticed the comically huge doggy door in the front door of the cabin.

I removed my hand from where it was buried in Daria's fur.  I missed her heat immediately.  Then I opened the little under counter refrigerator in the kitchenette with one hand as I reached for the faucet on the small stainless steel sink.  I was right, no running water.  Damn.  There wasn't a lot in there.  A package of hamburger, I had noted the barbecue at the side of the cabin.  And a couple beers and three colas.

I grabbed a couple colas and opened them then just stared dumbly at Daria.  Ummm...  She sighed and stood up on her hind legs placing her paws on the counter and she grabbed a bowl in her jaws and then set it down.  Her shoulders slumped and I heard an audible sigh and a sound that I'm sure was one of her colorful swear words if she had been in her human form.  God this must be degrading for her.

I crouched and placed a hand on the soft fur of her cheek and she closed her eyes and leaned into the contact.  Then she opened her eyes and nudged her eyes toward the bowl.  I whispered, “Sorry, again.”  I poured the cola into the bowl and she lapped it up as I guzzled mine.  We both burped from the carbonation at the same time and she chuffed.

A quick perusal of the cupboards revealed a small package of beef jerky, some peanut butter, and some crackers.  I sat on the floor and she positioned herself behind me, allowing me to relax and lay on her like a great stuffed cushion as I shared our bounty.

She growled at my obvious pleasure watching her try to get the peanut butter off the roof of her mouth.  I already know I'm going to hell one day, but now I really know it.  It was hilarious to watch.  We finished off the other cola but were still feeling dehydrated so I split a beer with her.

She kept looking at the refrigerator.  I snuggled into her warm belly and asked, “The other beer?”  She froze and then lowered her head.  I tilted my head and furrowed my brow then sat up a little to meet her eyes.  “The hamburger?”

If a wolf could show shame, she just did as she averted my gaze.  My mouth had been watering the moment I saw the meat and even though it was old and dead, the blood smelled divine.  With all of the positive aspects the curse gave me to fight the werewolves, I got a lot of their nature too.  I was a predator, a carnivore.  At first the fact that I craved raw meat sickened me when I first became the Red Hood, I've had over a century to come to terms with it.  So I recognized the conflict in her eyes.

I pushed both of my hands deep into her fur and massaged her hot flesh.  “It's alright Daria.  It is natural.  To tell the truth, I wanted to dig into it the moment I saw it but I didn't want to freak you out.”  I pulled my hands back and sat up and reached over to open the refrigerator.  I pulled out the hamburger and unwrapped it.  The smell of blood overrode the smell of dead meat.  I was salivating.

I took a bit between my fingers and looked at her then put it in my mouth and savored it, then swallowed.  I took some more and offered it to her.  Her nostrils flared as she inhaled, then her mouth opened and she took in the tastes in the air.  Her lips curled back to reveal an impressive set of killing fangs.  She almost daintily took the meat between her teeth from me and in a snap and gulp it was gone.

She looked ashamed, but she was visibly drooling now.  I wrapped one arm backward around her big neck and pulled her in and kissed her fuzzy cheek and said.  “It's okay, it's good.”

I put half the meat in her bowl and we looked at each other once, then we both Ummm... wolfed the meat down.  This had to be the most disgusting part of my curse.  I wiped the blood from my hands and from her muzzle.  She looked indignant but satisfied.  I stood and grabbed the cell phone from the counter and stared at it.  It was one of those computer-y smart phone things with no buttons.

I looked at her sheepishly.  “I don't suppose you can tell me how to use this thing?”  She sagged.  Then I looked around at it.  It had a couple buttons on it and a big round one on the front.  I pressed it and the screen turned on but it was flickering and static came from the speaker in random bursts.  I could make out something like slide or lock.

Daria made a sideways motion with her paw.  I put a finger on the text and looked at her then mimicked her motion as the static increased on the speaker and the screen was flickering more sporadically.  Lots of icons showed up whenever I could see the screen clearly.  My damn magic was wreaking havoc on the poor device.  I looked at her and she looked confused as to how to instruct me.  So I looked at the icons, one looked like a telephone receiver so I pressed down on it and then the icons all started shaking.

She made a frustrated noise and then tapped her paw quickly.  Then repeated the motion.  I tapped, but nothing happened.  I hit the big button again and they stopped shaking.  I could barely make out the icons now, the screen was dimming.  Then I quickly tapped the phone icon and representations of a telephone keypad appeared for a second as the device fizzled a moment then I could see them again.

I hit 911 then looked at her. She dipped her head multiple times and made that frustrated sound again.  I defended myself and said, “Hey, technology and I don't get along, don't blame me if I'm not up on using these gadgets.”  She kept dipping her head, I looked at the bottom of the screen.  There was some green icon.  In a fit of static, I saw the word “send” and tapped it.

We heard a terrible static then a ring.  I was elated when I heard in the din of the increasing static, “911, what is your emergency?”  Before I could say anything, the phone went dead and I could smell something electrical burning.”

We looked at each other.  I closed my eyes a second, asking, “I don't suppose they can track the GP thingy?”  My pretty wolf cocked her head in confusion, I know it wasn't the right terminology.  I have never bothered to learn much about the wonders of the new age as technology advanced, since I couldn't use any of it.  Hardwired phones, and older automobiles without onboard computers are as modern as I can handle.

One of my two long dead Romanian lovers had created an answering service for me.  It is still in service today with me as the only client, the rare times I actually collect bounties as a Hunter, I use to keep them and their families well fed.  They moved to the States when I did as I hunted Marcus.  Peggy is almost like family to me, though she is starting to get up there in age, but she is training her granddaughter, Sara, the ropes, so she would be the fourth generation to provide me support.

I can drop by there in Denver any time and they show me things like the Internet and how to look stuff up, though most computers have a shelf life of about ten minutes with me operating them.  So it is easier just to step away from them and have others operate them for me.

Her eyes widened realizing what I was asking and she squinted an eye and nodded then shook her head.  I contemplated that a moment and asked, “Maybe?”  She nodded at that.  I smiled.  “We have to find a way to communicate better.”  Then I gave her a sly look and played with her a little. “Maybe one bark for yes, two for no?”

This prompted her to curl her lips back to expose her fangs and she growled deeply.  I chuckled and she chuffed.  Then we both cocked our ears... the men were almost here.  I said, “Time to go.”

I paused at the back door and she turned back to me with a questioning tilt to her head. I reached into my cloak and pulled out her torn clothes and rubbed them on the door jamb then tore a tiny piece off and snagged it a crack in the door jamb.  She got it and nodded with her doggy grin.  They still don't know about her.

I slid a hand onto her shoulder, running my fingers through her fur to touch her skin and we were off.  We climbed a rough rocky area to the north where it would be hard for humans to follow.  It was the only gap in their tightening ring we could detect.  Then she froze, her nose working in the air when the wind shifted.

She started back down the hill and I had to restrain her, I scented the air, pulling it into my nostrils and across my tongue.  There was a familiar smell.  Daria's sister was down there.  She strained at my grip and growled at me.  I looked at her.  “No, we have to be smart about this.  We'll come back with reinforcements during the daylight.”  She growled again then nodded once.

We could see Marcus come into the clearing below, by the lodge with others.  They were all naked since they shifted back to human in the wilderness by the mine.

Mrs. Remington, Prue, and the mayor following behind him.  When he stopped, Prue and the mayor sat down by his feet and lowered their heads submissively.  My blood boiled.  The bastard was doing that to them just to humiliate them, making them act like nothing more than slaves.  I swore to myself that he would not outlive this lunar cycle.

Mrs. Remington grabbed them by the hair and dragged them into the lodge.  Marcus followed after pointing around the camp.  He sniffed the air, then pointed some men toward the cabin we had been in.

We watched the activity below as they all searched, Marcus returned in one of his expensive suits and all the men and women rotated from searching to getting dressed and arming themselves with shotguns and  rifles.

There had to be a couple hundred there.  Then they all fanned out under his orders and started to canvas the perimeter, spiraling outward.  It was time to go.  We could stay ahead of them now, and find our way out of the national park the mines were situated in, to find help.

Just when we started moving, Marcus yelled out in a booming voice that traveled up the ridges.  “You are out there somewhere, I can smell you.  We have innocent men, women, and children positioned all throughout the range here.  I have compelled all of them not to shoot you if they see you, but to kill themselves with silver rounds instead.  The death of innocents would be on your hands.  Just surrender now and I'll make sure you don't suffer when I kill you.”

I cursed, “Rahat! La Dracu!”  He would slaughter innocents to get us?  He was evil incarnate.  I felt the subsonic growl welling up from Daria as her muscles tensed to spring down the mountain.  I tightened my grip on her shoulder.  I snapped at her, “No! That's what he wants you to do!”

She swung her head to me and growled. I locked eyes with her and curled my lips back, showing my own small fangs bearing down on her with my will as I growled back.  She lowered her eyes, flattened her ears to her skull, and her tail tucked between her legs. She dropped to the ground rolling half over and exposing her neck and belly to me.

But then she glanced up at me in confusion.  Oh God!  I made her submit again.  What the hell is wrong with me?  She was already frightened enough being a wolf now and doesn't understand her own reactions.  She rolled to her feet, snarled and growled and snapped at me in anger for what I had just done.

I took a knee in front of her.  “I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to.”  She shoved her snarling face right into mine.  I just kept eye contact and said, “Here, I'm sorry.”  I looked down and exposed my neck to her.  I pushed my neck against her jaw and she opened her mouth and brought her fangs down on my throat.  She put just enough pressure to hold me there but not quite enough to break the skin.

Then after a second she released me.  I looked at her then placed my forehead on hers, looking into her human eyes.  I smiled. “There, now we've both submitted to each other.”

Then I chuckled at a random thought.  She pulled back a bit and tilted her head in question.  I smiled at her. “I just realized I've gotten farther with your wolf than with you.”

She shook her head rolled her eyes then surprised me when she suddenly lunged and pinned me to the ground with her huge paws.  The she got a smug look on her face and licked my face in one big, dog slobbery slurp again.  She hopped off chuffing as I wiped the slobber off of me.  “Ewwww.  Was that necessary?”  I smiled internally, it was as if she were claiming me as a mate.

She just nodded smugly then stared down the mountain.  I murmured, “Well we can't risk running, just in case he is telling the truth about having innocent people kill themselves if we do.  We need to come up with a plan.”

She turned and looked up to a crack in the cliff at our backs.  It was almost twenty feet up, with a silent leap, she soared gracefully through the air and disappeared into the crack.  I shook my head and smiled, she was getting more and more graceful in this form.  I leaped to join her.  It was the entrance to a cave.

She yawned hugely.  I realized that I was beyond exhausted too.  We'd be no good to Prue and Beatrice like this.  She curled onto the floor of the cave and looked at me.  I sat in front of her and laid back into her fur and she curled around me, protectively.  I contemplated that, nobody had ever taken care of me in such a long time, I think I liked it.  We could afford a few minutes of shuteye.  Good lord she was warm, and she smelled fantastic.  I closed my eyes, just for a moment.

Chapter 15 – Daria!

When I awoke, I was so warm and comfortable, then everything came rushing back in.  I ran my fingers through Daria's feathery soft undercoat, curling my toes in satisfaction.  I buried my face in her belly fur and inhaled her scent deeply.  I couldn't stop my smile.  I looked up to an amused looking wolf face just above mine.  I noticed the sun deep on the horizon from the cave entrance as she yawned big enough to swallow me whole.

Then she noticed the sun too and leapt to her feet, only my speed and agility stopped me from being unceremoniously dumped onto the cave floor.  I stood beside her as she whimpered.  My hand absently dug into her pelt to rest my fingers against her skin.  I nodded. “Yes, we've lost most of the day.  We need to end this before sunset.”

We took a minute to examine the mining outpost from our new vantage point, I knew her wolf eyes were as sharp as mine and could see everything just as clearly as me.  I gathered that there seemed to be a rotating search party as we saw one group arriving and another one leaving.  Marcus was there, walking in and out of the lodge to give orders.

For a brief moment, I wondered why he was not out on the mountain, leading the search for us.  Then I realized something.  It was because he was in his human form now.  He was... hiding, in the lodge, waiting for night when his wolf came out, then he would lead the hunt.  My lips quirked up into a predatory smile.  Daria nudged my hip and I looked down into questioning eyes.

I pointed down to where Marcus was re-entering the lodge and said, “He's afraid of the Red Hood.  The Alpha is showing weakness in human form.  No doubt he'll lead the pack once he changes in...”  I looked at the sun on the horizon.  “...thirty minutes or so.”  I saw a smile spread on her face and her eyes narrow as she looked down the mountain, it looked so out of place on such a dangerous looking wolf.

I pulled back into the cave, she just automatically followed as I subtly guided her with our contact.  I looked at her.  “We need a plan.  If we can get to him before sunset and eliminate him, the curse should be broken.  I don't feel much like fighting hundreds of werewolves again.”

She nodded and pranced away from me a few steps, then made a gruff sound and thumped her chest with a large paw. She motioned her head away then raised the paw toward me and motioned her head the other way and growled and snapped her fangs in the air. She then flopped onto the ground with her eyes shut and her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth.

I couldn't stop myself, I laughed at the overacting.  I chuckled. “That was terrible.  But it is a good idea.  You create a distraction and I'll slip into their base and take Marcus down.  You really need to work on your acting.”

She stood with a cute indignant look on her face if a wolf could look indignant, or cute.  Then she turned her back to me and dug in the ground with her hind legs like she was burying me.  She turned around and chuffed with a doggy grin as I laughed at her insult.

I smiled as I absently stretched out my hand at my side and she trotted beside me so I could dig my fingers into her thick fur and scratch her.  I looked down. “You detective McQueen, are a mean woman.”

She tilted her head like she was contemplating that, then locked eyes with me and nodded.  I swear she looked smug.

I grabbed a bolt from my crossbow and drew a basic representation of the base of operations below.  I pointed at the far side, at the treeline beyond at the main road to the west.  “You draw the guards out over here, they will be expecting that so they will probably send a group to the east.  I'll instead come in downwind from the south and skirt the office building toward the lodge.  The shooter on the roof will hopefully have his attention on you.”

Then I asked, “What did you have in mind for the distraction?”  She just grinned and her lips slid up her fangs.  Alright then, I guess I'll know when to move.  I nodded.

I looked at the sun over half way behind the horizon.  “We have only ten minutes to pull this off.”  She nodded then we turned to the cave entrance and ran at it, diving out.  It felt like I was flying with my cloak billowing behind me.

She made virtually no sound as she landed gracefully like she was simply in mid-stride instead of dropping around twenty-five feet.  Then we split up, she disappeared quickly into the forest, I watched her go.  She looked magnificent with the oranges and reds of the setting sun reflecting off her shiny coat like fire.

I closed my eyes and chided myself.  I was attracted to Daria no matter her form it seemed.  The thought actually made me happy.  I was even happier knowing that if things went according to plan, I would have that curse removed from her and we could be together again.

I moved quietly into position.  I had about thirty seconds to contemplate what Daria was going to do to pull the guard's attention when a wolf howl seemed to vibrate up through the soles of my feet and fill the entire valley.  It carried a wave of power with it, I felt the draw and caught myself in mid-step 'wanting' to go to it.  Wow!  That was the power of an Alpha!

Some men were running toward the west, some sort of looked confused and started hesitantly moving west.  Some men and women got their wits about them and organized to head east while others snapped the enthralled people out of it as they charged west with their weapons raised.

Moments later I heard the snarling of a vicious animal and people screaming when a large grey wolf dove out of the tree line into their ranks.  Fangs and claws shredding, she growled in challenge to all and that growl even made me shiver slightly, in that primal fight or flight way.  I looked at her as I moved through the base, she stood over the bodies of three men, her fangs are barred.  I have never seen a more awe-inspiring display.  I whispered, “Ea a fost beutiful!”

She was moving almost too fast for the eye to follow as she avoided automatic weapons fire.  Bodies were flying and blood was everywhere.  I noted the smell of silver burns and the fact that the men she had taken out were not breathing.  True dead?  Did her fangs have the properties of silver?  She would yelp on occasion when she was hit.  I worried, but I also knew that not even silver rounds could take her down.  With her wolf healing, the enemy could hurt her and slow her down, but not kill her unless they did too much damage.

I got to the lodge and entered a side door and made my way down the hall.  Mrs. Remington stepped out into the hall in front of me with a shotgun. My hand shot out and grabbed her hair and yanked her backwards to come down with her neck across my knee, snapping it.  It was so odd to see her eyes following me as I lowered her to the ground, she'd heal from that in hours.  Unless I killed Marcus.

I drew my two long silver blades as I approached the main room just to hear Marcus' voice call out to me.  “I know you are there Red Hood, I can smell you, you may as well come out.”

I sighed and stepped out into the room ready to fight.  He was in the middle of the room with a smug look on his face.  Standing beside him, still naked were Prue and Beatrice.  Daria's sister had tears streaming down her cheeks as she held a gun to the mayor's head.

The moment they saw me, Prue pulled the trigger and the mayor's lifeless body fell to the ground with the smell of silver burn.  Prue made a distressed sound and put the barrel of the gun into her mouth.  Marcus spoke, “Now that I have your attention.  I suggest you drop your weapons before I instruct this little whore here to pull the trigger.”

I stared at him then at Prue, my hands tightened on the hilts of my blades.  I knew why I hesitated.  I wouldn't have let that stop me if it were anyone else in the world.  One life sacrificed to free the world of the evil of the lupine curse was acceptable.  But this was Daria's sister and she would never forgive me.  I didn't think I could live with the woman I loved hating me.

Marcus turned to her and opened his mouth.  I blurted out, “Wait!”  Then I bent and laid my blades on the ground.  He smiled and pulled a revolver out of his waistband and said, “All of them.”  I opened my cloak and it took some time to pile my weapons on the ground.  He raised his gun when I went to unsling my crossbow.  I slowed down and placed it on the ground.  He motioned toward the door with his gun and I started toward it. He glanced at Prue. “Come along Sabina.”  She followed us outside.

Marcus saw the great wolf decimating his men and then he looked around to the treeline and yelled,  “Come out Detective McQueen.  I have your sister and the pain in the ass Red Hood.  Call off the wolf!”  Daria's head snapped over toward us and she slashed the last man standing near her with her claws.  Then she flattened her ears to her head, pulled back her lips and growled, there was power in the noise as she stalked toward us her tail straight out.  Her pelt was covered in blood and she limped slightly as she favored a rear leg.

The wind shifted slightly and Marcus' nostrils flared and his eyes went wide.  He asked, “Werewolf?  In daylight?”  Then he opened his mouth and sniffed again. “Ahhh Detective McQueen, you were bitten last night, I thought I smelled your blood at the mine.  I always thought you were a bitch, and now you truly are.”

Then he got a wicked smile on his face. “Which means, you are mine and this is over.”  He said in a voice that held a power that had the stench of evil in it, carrying the magics of an Alpha, “Sit bitch!”  Every woman gathering around including Prue sat quickly, I even felt the draw and resisted.

Daria half sat but whimpered and stood.  He snarled at her, “I said SIT!”  She again half sat but then her lips curled back and she snapped at the air and growled in defiance, I felt the tide of alpha magics roll off her and it washed over us like a wave.  Everyone around looked confused and averted their eyes from her in submission.

Marcus was spitting as he screamed, “SIT!”  I almost sat that time, there was so much power being thrown around, and the rest of the people around us did sit.  She whimpered then sat.  My heart fell, he had made her submit.

Marcus walked around her looking at her.  “I've never seen such a large bitch.  You still have your mind, and you have some Alpha abilities?  He reached out a hand to run his fingers through her fur as he examined her.  I caught a wink from her as she flinched back from his touch.  She wasn't compelled, she was faking enthrallment.  He grabbed a handful of fur and skin at her ruff and yanked her head toward his and he locked eyes with her and hissed, “Hold still!”  She averted her eyes and flattened her ears to her head, her tail going between her legs.

She whimpered and he said, “Good girl.”  Then he looked over at me cruelly.  “I think I'll make her a pet after I have her kill you.  Make her act like a stupid dog and walk on a leash.  Let the other males have their way with her on full moons like tonight.”  He was goading me.  Daria's lips were quivering in anger, but she restrained herself.

Then he stopped. “What did you hope to accomplish coming to the negotiations?”

I almost growled, but Daria nudged her eyes toward the man beside her who was scratching her ears, already making good on his threat.  I said, “By killing you the world can finally be rid of the lupine curse, the curse of Marcus.  The others would be free...”  I paused. “I would be free.”

He quirked his eyebrow. “So the Red Hood was part of our summoning?  You are a fool to want to end it.  You gained everything we sought, without becoming the beast, a slave to the moon.  How did you accomplish it?”

It was my turn to arch an eyebrow. “We?”

He looked genuinely surprised. “You don't know?  You of all people don't know about The Five?”  He chuckled in amusement, I could feel sunset just seconds away.  He continued, “Us five brothers Marcus wanted to obtain the power we deserved so long ago.  Well except for Cristian, he was always weak.  We sacrificed an innocent to summon the beast that would grant us everlasting life and the power to reign over man.”  Marcus was a surname?  Good lord, there were four more of them?  Then it suddenly made sense why I did not recognize him as Marcus but Daria did, we were after two different Alphas.

He sneered in disgust. “Only the being we summoned into us was a trickster and punished us for daring to call upon him  We only had the power we sought on the full moon, but he stopped us from using it by changing us into beasts like himself.  A cruel trick.”

Then he said, “So I devised a plan to control the one thing that could kill us.  Silver.  Then we could infect the rest of the Clean Bloods and rule over them all in our beast form by the moon and compulsion in the daylight.  My brothers thought I was mad, and it took a couple hundred years, but here I am about to accomplish it.”  He smirked. “AND kill the Red Hood all in one fell swoop.”

He looked down at Daria. “Detective, would you be so kind as to tear her throat out?”

Everything happened at once.  I saw the last rays of the sun extinguish over the horizon.  Marcus dropped to his knees in pain and the others started changing.  Daria was a blur of motion and fangs as she latched down on Marcus' throat and shredded it.  The stench of silver burned flesh came from the foaming ragged hole that remained.  Marcus grasped at his throat as the light of life drained from his frightened and shocked eyes as I pulled out my derringer I had kept concealed, and fired, striking him in the forehead.

Then Daria landed on the ground yelping and howled in pain.  Her body arched and spasmed.  About half the others stopped transforming and became human again while the others still changed.  Moments later, Daria's yelping became the screams of a woman in agony.  Then she went limp.  A naked and unconscious woman laid in the place of the huge she-wolf.

I looked around.  Humans were standing, some looking confused and the wolves attacked.  I cursed, “Rahat!”  As Daria stirred.  Prue had scrambled over to her.  I glanced back at the lodge, the FMBs were lowered.  I yelled to the humans present as some were getting mauled and killed or reinfected by the curse, “Everyone, get into the lodge!  Now!”

Daria was on her feet and looking strong now.  She exchanged a look with me and she was suddenly in motion, wolf fast.  My heart sank, she was still cursed.  She carried Prue with her in a blur to the main entry and punched in the emergency override code and the door's FMBs slid up.  She almost threw her sister inside. Then stood by the door.  I got two or three people in but the rest were a lost cause.  We stepped inside and I slammed the panic button and the bars slid back into place as a couple wolves slammed into them.  Yelping when the silver burned them.

We exchanged a smile then turned when we heard a thunk then the thud of a body hitting the ground.  A man was at our feet with a pistol in his hand and Prue standing over him with a bloody vase in her hands.  She had a snarl on her face worthy of a wolf as she growled, “Nobody hurts my little sister asshole!”

She looked at us then the vase in her hands and she threw it to the side with a sheepish look on her face.  “He was one of Marcus' men.  Not compelled like the rest of us.  He volunteered to be infected so he would have power and long life.”

Then she stopped and looked at her hands like she had never seen them before.  She whispered, “It is the full moon.  I'm human!”  She pulled Daria into a hug and started sobbing.  I fought tears too as my girl cried with her.  It dawned on me that twenty percent of the infected out in the world were now free of the curse.  As long as they didn't get reinfected or worse if they were running in a pack, I added.

Then Prue said as she pulled back from her, “Little sis... you're naked.” Daria nodded and looked at me, the Alpha was glowing in her eyes as she reached out with one hand and grasped my cloak and pulled me to her lips.  I melted into the kiss, letting her own me.  Then she let go and said, “You got this down here?  I'll get dressed and we can get help.”

I nodded in a happy daze and she looked at Prue and said in a commanding voice, “I'll be right back, I need some clothes.  Help my girl here watch the others.”  I smiled at the 'my girl' comment.  I watched her ass sway up the stairs and bit my lower lip.  God lord she was gorgeous.

Prue tapped my shoulder and I looked at her, I could see the family resemblance especially in the smile as she said, “Hey that's my sister you're ogling.”  The she squinted and smiled after her sis.  “Oh, so it's like that?”  She cocked an eyebrow and took me in head to toe then said, “Eh, I guess she could do worse.”

I blinked at the woman in shock.  She looked down at her hands again in disbelief as I walked over to my weapons and started gearing up, being weary of the other two conscious humans in the room.  Prue almost whispered, “I feel like me again.  Not the way he forced me to be.  I had to act the way he told me for so many years.  Submissive... I was helpless inside, just watching in horror at the things he made me do.”  She shuddered.

Then she looked at the stairs as I silently watched her.  She asked in a small voice, “My sister is a monster too?”

I shook my head.  “No.  She is in control of her wolf.”  She turned disbelieving eyes toward me and asked with a touch of confusion, “So she's like that fucking Slater?”

I nodded. “In a way, only... better.”

We looked to the top of the stairs where Daria came down the hall.  She simply leapt smoothly to land gracefully beside me in her clothes.  There was a quickly healing bullet graze on her face and she wasn't limping like she had been when she went up the stairs.  Her hand automatically sought mine out and we held hands as she smiled at her sister.  Then she frowned at me and said, “I'm still wolf.”

I nodded and said, “Ya think?”  Nudging my eyes toward the stairs indicating her entrance.

She bumped hips with me and said in a wry tone, “Don't be mean.  I'm supposed to be the bitch here.”  I snorted and was amazed she could even joke about it.

I nodded. “It must not have been one of his line that infected you.”

I looked at the other two people.  “Tie him up.”

Then Daria reached out to grasp her sister's hand.  “Where's a phone?  We need to call for help.”

She shook her head. “Slater sent out men hours ago to cut the phone lines and disable the cell tower down the road.  We're on our own.”

Daria exchanged a look with me and said, “Then we'll just have to wait it out tonight and get back to Seattle in the morning.  Get the National Guard in to clean up the mess and round up anyone still loyal to the Marcus brothers.  The SPD officers will be here in the morning to pick us up, since they aren't aware what has been transpiring here.  We can use their radio.”

I nodded and then she said, “Good God, I'm fucking starving.”  We chuckled and checked the ropes on the man and put him in a panic room and Daria entered an override code to keep it locked.  We put the other two humans in another room and locked it, not wanting to fully trust them before we retired to the kitchen to feed my pretty beast.  Passing the now true dead body of Mrs. Remington.

Chapter 16 – Aftermath

When I got to my room in the lodge, my eyes settled on Victor's things.  Was it really just a day ago that my partner was killed? It felt like forever.  I fought back the tears that welled up inside.  I closed my eyes and took a deep calming breath.  That was a mistake.  With my wolf senses even in human form, I was hit by the smell and taste of Marcus' blood on my face and tongue.

I rushed to the bathroom and threw up.  Mostly in disgust but partially because I had enjoyed the kill, savored my enemy's hot blood in my mouth.  I could smell and taste the burning of flesh, like my bite were anathema to him like silver was.  What kind of monster had I become?  I looked up into the mirror, my eyesight was much better and the colors and palette seemed richer as I examined myself.

I had hoped that it would be over and that whatever had happened to me would die with Marcus.  When my transformation started reversing, I had hoped for a moment.  Until I realized, I still felt my wolf inside.  Her power is so seductive.

I looked like I always had, though my eyes seemed to have a glow to them, probably an illusion due to my enhanced eyesight, and I had little mini fangs like Mari now. I had blood and a quickly healing wound on my cheek where a bullet had torn through my cheek.  I looked down at my body at the five or six scars from other bullets that had hit me in the fight, reminding me of my curse.

I looked back up and stared into my own eyes.  “Come on Daria, get your shit together!”

I stepped into the shower quickly.  I didn't want to keep Red and my sister waiting long, but I had to get the blood of all these dead men and women off of my body.  I watched and smelled the blood as it sloughed off and down the drain.  My mouth watered a bit at the smell.  I was so hungry.

I stepped back out of the shower and toweled off.  I could feel all of my muscles, just brimming with the energy of coiled steel though I looked exactly the same as when I was bit.  I liked the seductive feel of the power inside me.  But then almost vomited again knowing the cost.  My humanity.  I silently prayed that I would never change again.  Maybe I was like Maireni now?

I heard a low, hungry growl that vibrated through me at the smiling thought of Red, I glanced around quickly, on guard before I realized the noise was coming from me.  Oh god, I have it bad for her and so does my wolf.  My attraction seemed tenfold now.

I dressed quickly and found my backup weapon in my travel bag.  The little snub-nosed revolver loaded with silver rounds.  I tucked it into my waistband at the small of my back.  My ears twitched, following the conversation on the ground floor of the lodge.  Prue was asking Mari what kind of monster I was now.

I took a deep breath, stopping a mini panic attack and fighting off the fucking tears again.  I found it easier to compose myself.  It was like all my emotions were right at the surface and I had to reign them in more.  But when I did, I seemed to have more control over them.

I put on a fake smile and headed out the room and down the hall.  The power of my strides sung through my body, I felt so good.  I had even lost the limp from the bullet I took to my hindquarters.  My legs felt strong.  I reached the top of the stairs and almost licked my lips when I saw Mari, she was so beautiful.  Then my heart sped up in excitement at seeing my sister down there with her.

Before I realized I was doing it, I simply leapt from the top of the stairs to land lightly beside them.  I had to control myself around Mari, I wanted to take her right there on the floor.  A little voice inside me told me it would never happen now, she knew I was a monster.  I tentatively reached out and relief flooded through me when she took my hand.

I had to restrain my excitement so I turned to Prue.  She looked so young, much younger than me now.  She had been locked in her teenage form when she had been infected as time passed for me.  I looked like the older sister now.   I smiled knowing that at least for her, the curse was lifted.  We had at least saved her.

I had to let Red know that I was still a monster.  I frowned at myself and just said, “I'm still wolf,” quickly, like tearing a bandage off.

She smelled amused as she nodded and said in a teasing manner, “Ya think?”  Nudging her eyes toward the stairs I had just bypassed.  Her hand tightened on mine as she held me by her side firmly.  She wasn't appalled at what I was?  Whatever it was.  Was I werewolf or something different?

In relief I bumped hips with her and joked in a smug tone, “Don't be mean.  I'm supposed to be the bitch here.”  She snorted and I blinked, realizing how easily I could joke about it. I could again feel that part of me that liked the feeling, liked the power, liked how much more I could sense about her.

She nodded and looked deep in thought as she said absently, “It must not have been one of his line that infected you.”  I heard the unspoken 'or it is something my cloak did to you'.

We went about securing the man loyal to the dead Marcus.  Part of me reveled in the Alpha's death and was proud I had delivered the death strike, part of me cursed at my wolf for making me feel that way.

I was scared of what Prue thought of me.  I purposefully kept my distance.  She told us that all communications were disabled.  I nodded and said, “Then we'll just have to wait it out tonight and get back to Seattle in the morning.  Get the National Guard in to clean up the mess and round up anyone still loyal to the Marcus brothers.  The SPD officers will be here in the morning to pick us up, since they aren't aware what has been transpiring here.  We can use their radio.”

I nodded and could smell the blood outside and all of the wolves converging on the lodge trying to get in.  I salivated at the smell of blood and then said, “Good God, I'm fucking starving.”  We double checked our captive's ropes and confined the other two survivors to a panic room then headed back to the kitchen.

I kept exchanging glances with Prue the whole way.  She looked scared of me, and that hurt.  I looked down and saw Red's hand in mine and I felt heat spreading through my body from the point of contact.

Prue suddenly said, “Oh hell!” Then I found myself in a hug and she was crying.  She sobbed, “I missed you so much baby sister.  I swelled with pride every time Slater would come to my chambers in a rage and beat me, or sent in males to... debase me.  Yelling epitaphs about you.  Knowing that you wouldn't sell our land.  It gave me satisfaction knowing that you defied him when I could not.  I couldn't stop myself from doing as he asked.  He had power over us all, I was just a puppet for his amusement. But my baby sis defied him over and over.  He called me his insurance policy for securing our land.”

I wiped a tear from my own cheek and pulled away, rage and horror over what she had just shared.  Oh God, I had caused that to happen to her.  I whispered, “I'm so sorry Prue.”

She was shaking her head.  “No... no... don't be sorry.  I love you so much Dar-bat.”  I sniffed and fought another tear as I smiled at her old teasing nickname for me.  Maireni released my hand and started getting food out of the cupboards and refrigerator.

My head swiveled at the smell of blood.  Mari was staring at some pork chops with hunger in her eyes, I could smell her hunger on her.  She glanced at me then Prue and got a pan down from the hanging pot rack and my sister said in a low voice with a consoling tone,  “Don't worry about it, I know the hunger, I lived with it for seventeen years.  You two go ahead, I'll cook my own up.  For once, the smell of raw meat doesn't make my mouth water.”

We sat and ate our fill, I felt like an animal as Mari and I had three raw pork chops each.  Then we had a coffee and some rice Prue cooked for us.  She told us of all the horrors she had been subjected to from the day Marcus attacked and killed the social worker that was taking her away to Issaquah all those years ago.  About how two of his brothers would frequently visit and he would share her with them.

We learned that he made her act like his secretary, so she was privy to a lot of secrets of the Marcus brothers including the location of three of them.  I exchanged predatory glances with Red at that revelation.

Then she added that the mayor's death here was planned from the beginning.   That Marcus had a man, a Clean Blood in place in Seattle to take the mayor's place, he was the inside man that eliminated Harrison, from the motor pool, to keep him quiet.  He had promised the man eternal life.

I blinked, but that would mean it was the deputy mayor she was speaking of.

When Prue couldn't keep her eyes open as she spoke, I finally said, “Let's get some sleep.  There isn't anything we can do till morning.”  She agreed and we saw her to her room.  Then I followed  Maireni to her room and said, “Well Miss Damaschin, this is your room.”

She actually growled at me and grabbed the back of my neck and dragged me into her room and slammed me against the wall and buried her nose in the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply.  “Shut up Detective McQueen.”  She kissed me so passionately, I lost my self-control and grabbed her at the waist and lifted her like she were a rag doll and slammed her down onto the bed and kissed her again.

My growl joined hers and they resonated, pushing my passion and need.  I whispered, “I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm doing.  Your scent is driving me insane.  I've never felt so aroused.”

She smiled into my lips and in a move I could barely follow, had me flipped and my wrists pinned above my head.  The bed creaked and groaned in protest, my head was filled with the smell of her arousal.  She kissed me and smiled, saying, “It's your wolf.  She thinks I'm your mate.”  She bit my neck, but it felt good.  Then she whispered hotly in my ear, “And she's right.”

I growled in want and she tilted her head cutely. “My what big ears you have.”

I giggled and stuck my tongue out at her, she snapped at it with her teeth and I said, “The better to hear you with.”

She nipped and sucked at my neck then looked up as she unbuttoned my blouse.  “What big eyes you have.”  We started tearing the clothes off of each other.

She straddled me, her hot flesh against mine as I said with a husky sound, “The better to see you with.”

She started kissing down my hot flesh toward my breasts. “What big teeth you have.”

I couldn't handle it anymore, all the teasing had my body on fire. I let my wolf take over as I growled, “The better to eat you with,” As I twisted, slamming her to the mattress.  I heard the wood frame cracking in protest and I licked and nipped down her tight abdomen muscles down to my prize, with her giggling the whole time.

It was bestial, and wonderful, and beautiful.  I claimed my mate and she claimed me.  I took her scent into me, knowing she was mine.  We took turns being the Alpha.  Submitting to her was so sublime. There is something to be said for the stamina the curse gave us.  I worshiped her body and brought her to climax time after time.  She was so beautiful.  And mine.  She was mine.

She returned the favor tenfold, I even caught her growling once, “Mine.”  I didn't know how she could even speak, my wolf was in control and I couldn't talk if I wanted to.  I just wanted to please her, to posses her and be possessed.

When we finally collapsed in bed, covered in glistening sweat and the smell of each others sex, I giggled.  She pulled me into her.  I found my voice finally. “Holy shit.”

She kissed my collarbone and whispered in a deep husky voice, “Just wait until you go into heat the first time.”

I stopped breathing.  It can be even more intense that that?  I flushed with heat and swallowed.  But then stopped breathing at a thought.  I turned around to face her.  “What if this...”  I motioned my head down to my body. “...is only temporary?”  Voicing my fear of becoming the wolf again.

She put her forehead against mine, a hand firmly holding the back of my neck.  “Then we will deal with it until we can break the curse.  Just know that I love you Detective McQueen.  Body, soul... AND wolf.”  Then she pulled back and grinned.  “Have you seen how spectacular your wolf is?”  She did a cute full body stretch with an adorable mewling sound.  Then she added, “Besides, this may be your final form.”

She stopped any reply I may have had with a kiss.  I smiled and she playfully rolled me back over to assume the big spoon position to my little spoon.  She whispered, “I love you Daria McQueen.”

I smiled and said, “I love you too Maireni Damaschin.”  Then we faded off to sleep.

***

I woke up screaming.  Trough the pain, I realized that the curse was not done with me.  I knew the sun was rising and my mind almost shut down as I put it all together.  The full moon.  It was as if the curse were reversed.  I was human only under the full moon.  I shrieked in pain and anger.  I was... a freak, even among monsters.  My screams became yelps and whines but then I could feel a warmth behind me, I could still smell my love.  She was still holding me.

I was wolf now.  The pain was gone.  Odd that I felt it was less pain than the prior transformations, it seemed to be lessening each time.  I twisted my body to face Mari, who was just looking at me in wonder.  “Morning love,” she comically said nonchalantly as she still held me, like it was normal that your lover turned into a wolf every morning.  She was seeking something in my eyes, I could see her concern for me.  I chuffed and nipped her neck gently with my fangs and cuddled in.  If she could love the monster, that was all that mattered to me.

There was a knock at the door and I heard Prue's frightened voice calling out, “Daria are you ok?  I heard screaming.”  I hopped out of bed onto all fours and stretched, I sighed at the fact that it felt good, damn good, then trotted to the door as Mari covered up on the bed.  I looked at the doorknob then my paws.  Fucking thumb problem again!  I scratched lightly at the door and Prue opened it.

Her eyes went wide at the sight of me and she lowered her eyes in submission.  I growled at that and she looked back up hesitantly.  Fucking Marcus had done a number on her.  I seethed with renewed hate for the man.  I snuffled my muzzle under her hand and I could smell her fear receding.

She squatted in front of me and asked, “Daria?”  I nodded and shrugged.  She smiled then and started scratching my ears.  Good lord, that actually feels good.  She said under her breath, “You're beautiful.  Can you change back and forth whenever you want?”

I whined in answer and Red said from behind me, “She is bound to the lunar cycle, only it seems to be in reverse.  Her amazing wolf owns the day, and most likely the nights not commanded by the full moon.”

Prue looked to be tearing up again.  I almost thought that she seemed awfully emotional but realized I could even smell it, she still had the hormones of a teenager raging in her body.  I smiled internally, at least now she can finally grow up now that her curse is broken.

I looked back at Mari, who was looking at me with love in her eyes.  She seemed to know what was going through my head as she voiced my thoughts, “But mark my words.  It is only temporary until we can hunt down the other brothers Marcus and free us all from the lupus curse forever.”  I chuffed in agreement.

Prue looked at us then her eyes narrowed for a second then shot wide.  “Are you two...”

Red finished for her. “Mated.  Oh yes.”  She had a dreamy look on her face.  “I made her my...”  I pulled my teeth back to bare my fangs and growled, daring her to say 'bitch.'  She giggled and I rolled my eyes and chuffed in amusement.

Prue leaned into me and wrapped her arms around my neck for a quick hug, then stood.  “When are your men coming?  Most of the pack left last night when they couldn't get into the lodge.  But there are still some stragglers out there who were loyal to Slater, they have weapons.”

Mari was up and getting dressed, she didn't have any modesty as she let the blanket drop.  Then I realized it wouldn't be anything shocking to Prue, she lived with and as the wolves for years.  With a predatory smile Mari said, “We have weapons too.”  I curled my lips too as she added, “We'll just have to make sure that the officers coming have a safe place to arrive then.”

Prue looked at me and asked her, “What... what do we tell them about Daria.”

I growled and whimpered but my girl came to the same conclusion as I had as she said, “Daria died here on the mountain with the mayor, and her partner, Detective O'Neil.  We saw her being pulled off into the woods by wolves that first night.  Otherwise, they will take her and dissect her, trying to find out what makes her tick.”

I nodded and chuffed in agreement.  Then Mari said, “We can't call her Daria, at least around here, it would raise too many questions.  So this beautiful 'dog' here...”  She indicated me with her eyes. “Is my half Irish Wolfhound, half tundra timber wolf...”  Her lips quirked up into that deliciously crooked half smile as she finished, “...Fluffy.”

I snarled and growled at her, snapping my fangs.  No way, I call bullshit!  She better not call me Fluffy or I'll pee on her shoes!  Hey why are the two evil women laughing?  For fuck's sake!

She was done gearing up with her red cloak on and she started out the door. “Come along 'Fluffy', we have a mining compound to secure.”

I sighed in resignation as the excitement of the hunt raged through me and trotted out after that beautiful, magnificent woman.

Epilogue

I stood at the main gates of the walled city of London, a conscripted female soldier like most of the men and women over twenty-one.  It had been sixteen months since what was revealed to be an Alpha wolf in the Americas was killed and twenty percent of the infected were freed from the curse.  The other Alphas had declared war on us Clean Bloods in retaliation.  With their ability to compel the infected, we were under siege night and day by infected humans and by the wolves on the full moon.

I closed my eyes as I fired at another man trying to climb over the gate from the London Bridge to get into the city proper. Bloody hell I hated killing humans.  Most were innocents, not in control of themselves, being forced to attack us against their own will.  So it was necessary, but I still didn't have to like it.

My partner was yelling at me, “Sarah!  Get with it woman!   They are battering the gates again.”  I opened my eyes again and checked my riot gear and slammed my shield against the buckling gates with hundreds of other men and women.

We had a reprieve a few months ago, when the States airlifted tons of silver into London, from the cache of two hundred thousand metric tons of silver bullion they found Slater Mining had squirreled away in their warehouses.  We were able to manufacture more of the much-needed silver rounds for our weapons.

But today, even that doesn't look like it will win the day.  Tens of thousands joined the pack today.  The gates were failing.  I have heard what happened in Dublin last month when their wall fell, they didn't kill anyone, they just restrained them until the full moon.  Then the pack ran wild, killing most and infecting the rest, who were enslaved by the Alpha's compulsions.  That is probably where the extra enemies at our gates had come from.  That was to be our fate as well I thought, as I heard the heavy silver plated steel gates starting to bend as they bulged inward.  I didn't want to be a mindless wolf, nor a slave to anyone.

There was another push from outside and the top hinges buckled on the gates, one more and they would be through.  I looked at my sidearm.  I could end myself now so I wouldn't be a meal for them next full moon or worse, a slave. This was the end.  I started reaching for my weapon when a howl rang out from the outside.

It carried power and rolled through the air and crashed down upon us in a wave.  I snapped my eyes up and saw a woman in a red cloak jump off of one of the bridge main cables, into the ocean of bodies, silver blades flashing in the sunlight.  A huge grey wolf followed her off the cable into battle.  I could hear the growls and snarling from here.  Bodies were flying everywhere as they moved like a wave through the enemy, toward the gates.

I yelled in disbelief, “Bloody hell!  It's the Red Hood and her hellhound!”  We at the gates were re-energized with something powerful... with hope.  We pushed back on the gates moving them slowly back into place as that great wolf's howl echoed through the city with the answering roar and cheers from us at the gates and the wall.  Maybe, just maybe, this day would not see the fall of London after all!

Books in the Urban Fairytales series...

Red Hood: The Hunt

Snow: The White Crow (Coming summer of 2015)

Books in the Drakon series...

Awakening

Dragonfall

Books in the Bridge series...

Trolls

Traitor

Books I collaborated with in the Bridge ~ Inner City series...

Gargoyles

Books in the Valkyrie Chronicles series...

Return of the Asgard

Bloodlines

Folkvangr

Seventy Two Hours

Titans

Books in the Fracture series...

Divergence

Books in the Music of the Soul universe...

(All books are standalone and can be read in any order)

Music of the Soul

A Deafening Whisper

Dating Game

Karaoke Queen

Silent Bob

Five Feet or Less

Broken Song

Syncopated Rhythm

Progeny

Girl Next Door

Lightning Strikes Twice

June

Dead Shot

Short Stories in the Music of the Soul universe...

Misadventures of Victoria Davenport: Operation Matchmaker

Books in the London Harmony series...

Water Gypsy

Feel the Beat (Coming spring of 2015)

Sample Chapter from London Harmony: Feel the Beat...

Chapter 1 – Waking up

I woke up to the sun on my face, and a warm body pressed against mine.  I grinned and stretched then wrapped my arms around the golden retriever and made a silly satisfied sound, “Ahhhhhhh.”  Then smiled as I released him.  “Come on Sir Percival, you know you're not supposed to be up here,”  I teased.  I felt him wriggle and turn then lick my face.

He made a little whimpering sound that left me seeing a violet burst in my vision and the warm ripples pulse in my head.  I prodded his ribs and wiggled my fingers in his long velvety fur.  “Out, out, out you silly boy.  It's Saturday!”  I could hear my own excitement in my voice as bright purple and blue waves swam in front of me and it felt a little charged and spiky.  I couldn't help it, I was so bloody excited, so I gave my service dog one last hug before he hopped off my bed.

This was our morning ritual.  I know I'm not supposed to let him sleep on the bed with me, but he's more than simply my helper, he's my best and most loyal mate.  I slipped out of bed and stretched again. Then proceeded to trip over my bag on the floor, where I had dropped it the prevois night, instead of hanging it in its proper place when I dragged my exhausted butt to bed too darn late.

I landed with a thud and a red burst that felt like a crinkled ball of paper being suddenly crushed in my head.  The gift of my synesthesia, most of my senses are cross-wired in my head centered around my hearing.  Though I'm mostly blind thanks the fight I had with ocular cancer when I was ten, I see sounds, and to some extent feel and taste them too.

I grabbed my bag and heard Percy whimper.  I grinned in his direction and quipped, “Nice, you could at least have warned me.”  I stood with my bag and stepped to the left, I could make out a bright greenish blur in the sea of other blurs with my one good eye.  It was my lime green coat hook on the wall by the door.  I hung up the bag and scratched my side idly.

The soft purple pink of my mother's voice rippled up the stairs, “Abigail, are you right?”

I rolled my eyes, she's so overprotective. “Yes mum, just tripped.  Be down in two shakes.”  I was going to be glad to get out on my own in a couple months.  A girl of twenty-three shouldn't still be living at home.  My income from busking had turned a corner the past couple years and was enough to support myself comfortably.

I was thinking about sending out some demos this year to various studios.  Maybe one may take a shine to my unorthodox music, then I wouldn't have to depend on public performances and the odd jobs singing backup for the local bands.  I just know that no matter where I go or what I do, it will be in music.  I have a completely unique experience when it comes to singing.  I can see, feel, taste the music and it always caresses me like a lover, letting me block out the sounds of the world around me that are always chipping away at my psyche.

I started walking toward my loo and Sir Percival was suddenly there, leaning against my leg, guiding me.  I grinned and dropped a hand to his head and scrubbed his ears.  “I think I got this silly boy.  Go downstairs for breakfast, I'll be down soon.  I pushed him a bit and he took off, padding across the floor, the sound feeling like drops of water in a still pond as the blue ripples spread out in my vision.  I grinned, he's my knight in shining armor.

I grabbed some clean knickers and bra from my bureau on the way to the loo. Then I showered, letting the sound of the falling water envelop me, I caught the beat, I couldn't help it, it is there in the world around us every day at all times.  Most people don't make the effort to hear the music that surrounds us.

The tapping of the water on the floor of the tub, the hiss of the shower-head, the sharp sound of the water streams hitting my body.  I started adding in some purples. “Bop bop bop, ooo ooo ooo, huuu unh mmm.” I drummed on my thighs.  The combination feeling like ocean waves crashing onto the rocks of a secluded beach.  I started swaying and dancing in the shower and I sang.  Humming between lines of a chorus I ad-libbed to my impromptu song.

My body and soul getting swept away in the torrent of feeling and color.  I opened my eyes and the perpetual foggy blur of the world swayed when I did and bounced as I hopped on my toes.  Satisfied with what I created, I shut off the shower and grabbed a towel to dry off and put on my knickers and bra.

I stepped up to the mirror a bright spot in the haze.  Then I reached up and pulled down my lower eyelid on my left eye and gently prodded the base of my prosthetic eye and it lifted and I took it out.  It was feeling a little scratchy in my socket.

I ran it under the tap for a minute gently wiping it to get any sediment off of it.  I'd have to get it in to be polished next week.  I dropped it into a little paper cup and squeezed some saline solution into the cup from the bottle next to my glasses, then swirled the cup gently.  I let it soak as I dried my hair and combed it out.

After replacing my eye and dripping my medicated eye drops in my right, I grabbed my glasses that I was so embarrassed to let people see.  There are times I have thought of not wearing them and just letting Percy be my eyes.  The spectacles felt so heavy, the glass was as thick as the bottom of a beer bottle.  I pulled them on and the world became clear around me.

I tried to remember if what I saw through my one eye was as clear as I saw before my cancer.  I think it isn't as bright and things farther than ten meters or so are blurry still.  But the vibrant colors of the sounds around me make up for any differences there may be.

It wasn't until just before my diagnosis when I was nine, that I realized that not everyone saw and felt sounds like I did.  The doctors that had determined I had synesthesia had, by a stroke of luck, noticed something not right with my normal vision.

They caught the ocular cancer by pure happenstance, it was an aggressive form and the chemo and other treatments fought it off, but not before they had to take my left eye.  My right eye has cataracts that they don't want to operate on until the pressure in my eye decreases, that's what the eye drops are for.  That hasn't happened in over ten years so I'm not holding my breath.  In a matter of months, I went from seeing the world as a normal girl to being virtually blind.

The Magoo jokes and endless teasing I went through in secondary school after that, left me a bit cynical that there were actually kind people in the world.  Children can be the cruelest.  But I found music.  Music makes everything else seem inconsequential.  My mum enrolled me in every music program she could find.  She was happy I found something that made me happy.

She enrolled me in the McClellan Music Conservatory program for two years when I graduated.  I never knew there was so much more to music than I had already experienced.  I here tell that that phenomenal songstress, Tabby Cat, hailed from there last year.  That woman has some lungs on her.

I took the time to look myself over.  I thought I was cute except for the tonne of glass perched on my nose.  I liked to keep my chestnut hair bobbed at my shoulders and my hazel eye looked like it took its highlights from those locks.

Not many notice my left eye, but I do, I see it like a beacon because I can see the size difference in the pupil.  They size it for the most common light environment.  But anywhere else, when my pupil dilates or constricts the left one remains constant.  Giving me what I call my goofy eye look, one pupil is larger than the other not to mention it is not cloudy like my right.  But as I said, most people don't notice, they don't seem to see past my glasses, which they try to ignore.

I apprised myself.  Tall and sassy, and unfortunately just about as flat as a board.  I saw splashes of sharp blue color around myself and realized I had started tapping my fingers on the counter, finding a beat.  I smiled and started humming to it as I got ready for the day.  It was supposed to be an average spring day so I'd need my jacket if I were going to be standing outside all day.

I snagged my studded leather jacket. Hey don't look at me like that, it's sort of girly, not all punk, and grabbed the handle of my rolling equipment case.  I thudded down the steps, red spikes and deep thrums in my head from the racket. Percy was at the bottom wagging his tail.  Now that I had my eyes on, I smiled at my beautiful boy.  His golden coat almost sparkled in the sunlight streaming in from the window of the front door.

I left the equipment by the door and ruffled his ears, and he darted off to the kitchen with me.  I followed the smell of eggs, sausage, and coffee.  I stepped next to my mother at the stove and kissed the offered cheek.  “Good morning Mum.  It smells great in here.”

With the kiss she said, “Mwah!” Then pulled the skillet off the heat.  “Morning love.”  She took in the clothes I had picked out today, grunge chic and nodded.  “Going out there today I see.”

I nodded with a grin and made a silly sliding dance move. I said over dramatically as I laid the back of my hand across my forehead, “It can't be helped, the music is trying to break out of me.  I need to set it free.”

She chuckled and motioned toward our little kitchen table where she already had place settings out.  “Well sit so I can feed that music.  I swear you get your drama from your father's side of the family.”

I crinkled my nose at her and sat with a smile.  I've always wondered what sort of bloke my dad was.  He was military and died in Afghanistan before I was three and I don't remember a bloody thing about him.  Mum always has a good word to say about him, and she says it with such love, I just know he would be the sort of man I'd be happy to have as a father.

We sat and discussed our plans for the weekend as we ate.  I just knew it was going to be spectacular, weekends always were.