New Member

23 October 2010        8:38 p.m.
England Country Side

     My eyes are glued to her features... Soft, smooth snow white fur... Clean as a new born... An air around her just soothes me... Making me calm and at peace with myself... Almost as if I want to sleep... I blink and shake my head, trying to get a grip on myself.
     "This land is that of Amergin, state your name and pack," I order softly.
     "My name is Keiren Angelique, I come from a pack in Greece under Apollo. We were attacked and many killed about a fortnight ago. I managed to escape, I figured the best place of refuge was with the High Alpha," she lowers her head in shyness, ending her mental explanation.
      I look at Elizabeth, giving her the acceptance to stand down and relax. Looking back to Keiren I take a couple steps toward her.
      "Thank you for seeking me out. You can come back with me to our home. I have some clothes back in my car. If you do come, I would like you to tell me what happened as you remember it. The council and I need all the information we can gather, if you wouldn't mind."
      "Anything that can help," she says, still keeping her head down.
      Elizabeth and I lead her back to my Aston Martin, when we stop I make a connection with Alexander.
      "Yes Alpha?"
      "Come to our hunting grounds. Elizabeth and I found a survivor of a raid from Greece. I need you to come pick up Elizabeth."
      "On my way now," he ends the connection.
      I look at Elizabeth and tell her Alexander is on his way to pick her up. She nods and changes back to human form, getting dressed in the passenger seat. I walk to the driver side and turn human, dressing into my boxer briefs and jeans. Walking to the boot of the Aston Martin I pull out an old, brown paper bag labeled women, closing the boot.
      "I need you to change for me so I can get you some clothes."
      Keiren says nothing.
     "It would be un-mature of me to have you change for my amusement, I simply want to get you dressed and hear what you have to say. Nothing more; Elizabeth is here and will make sure nothing goes wrong."
      Reluctantly she changes, standing in front of me in an uncomfortable manner. I quickly dig out a small black shirt, pair of size 8 jeans, small pair of underwear and a bra. I hand them to her and crawl into the driver seat so she can change without eyes on her.
     "Elizabeth," I call, waving her to come sit in the passenger seat. "After she is dressed we are all going to go back to the house. I want us all to be there to hear her testimony. Once I have a report from her I will call a meeting with the other council members to check her story and go from there. When the others come home I will tell them the situation and tell you all what we have decided as a council."
      "Yes Alpha. Do you think she is telling the truth, or she a spy of some kind?"
      "I do not think so. She seems to have the memories and characteristics of our kind. But she could be a shape-shifter too. But I need her, I need to gather anything I can from whoever I can. I will say this though, something is off, I'm just not sure what it is."
       And I'm not; I have no idea what is eating at me. It's this feeling of urgency and worry; like my mind and body is warning me of a danger that is right in front of me, but every time I try to figure it out my mind gets fuzzy and I feel tired. I will have to meditate later and try to figure it out.
       Once Keiren is dressed she takes the passenger seat uncomfortably and closes the door. I wait for Alexander's arrival to be sure Elizabeth is picked up. Then we go back to the cottage in silence. I glance at her every now and then to try and get a reading of some kind, but falter. Her mind is so tightly locked that I can't even see a door or any kind of mental block. So I revert to body language; Extremities close to her body signifies that uncomfortable and fearful feeling. She is possibly traumatized from the attack in Greece, maybe fighting dreams she's been having.
      I pull into the driveway and park in the garage, Alexander parking his navy blue, 2008 Porsche Boxster Spyder next to me. We get out and enter the side door, each taking up a seat at the island in the kitchen. I put on a kettle for tea, setting sugar and milk on the middle of the island. As I wait I put on my shirt at the counter.
      "Abs looking good Amergin," Elizabeth comments with a wink.
     "I hope so, I've been trying to keep them for the past few centuries."
     "Eight pack is over doing it, don't you think?"
     "Not at all. Makes me sexy," I smile and turn back to the kettle.
     Common height for our species is usually six feet, no less. Women never fall below five ten. Keiren reaches the five eleven mark, an inch shorter than Elizabeth. I reach a height of six five, giving me the ability to have an eight pack comfortably.
      The kettle whistles at it's boiling point. Turning off the kettle I pull out four mugs and and fill them with the hot water, giving every one a cup. Placing the kettle back on the stove I reach into the cupboard and pull out the variety of teas. I grab a bag of +green tea and sit next to Alexander, facing Elizabeth and Keiren.
       "Alright Keiren, please start from the top of what happened. Any detail is worth telling, no matter how small," I ask, bouncing my tea bag up in down in the steaming liquid.
        "Well...," she stirs her tea, looking through her mind on where to begin, "I was hunting with my pack. Apollo tracked a good stag for us all and he wanted to catch it that night... The problem was we were met by an overwhelming amount of vampires in the woods... They took out my brothers and sisters left and right... We had no time to react... No time to fight back... Apollo told us all to run... And that's what I did... I ran... and I kept running... I ended stopping for a few days in an unoccupied cave, making an attempt to recover and remember what happened in the event I ran into another lycan. I then decided that dwelling on what happened would not help me or my fallen family, so I moved on with the intent to find you.."
    As she spoke her eyes never left the tea, she just kept stirring, spacing out as she continued on with her story. Every so often her veins in her hand would twitch from remembering the event and the stress with it. While she spoke I took the advantage of working my way into her head to watch the events with her. Seeing the slaughter of my fellow brothers and sisters... I found her account to be true and I asked no more, I shook my head at Alexander and Elizabeth to tell them not to continue. We left Keiren be as I asked the other two about their day.
      "How is it in the big world of politics, Alexander?"
      "Long and annoying. These people disagree because they can. Fighting  back and forth most times for personal gain and personal issues toward one another. Parliament is better than the American government by far, but it still is a mess. After a while we come to some agreements which leads to me and a few others going blind on paper work for the next week," he stops for a sip of black tea.
        "Well I'm sorry for that Alexander, I hope it gets better."
       Alexander is the only uncorrupted politician, he has not accepted a bribe and if he has been approached he's had them sent to jail, keeping a tab on their phones to catch whom ever the bribes to get out. In one month he sent close to twenty people to prison on charges of bribery and corruption. He is known to clean up shop with efficiency and with a relentless determination.
        "How about you Elizabeth?"
       Elizabeth works in a Catholic hospital down the street as a volunteer nurse. She has the basic medical knowledge needed for her field, making her valuable in many ways as a pack member.
       "Had a burn victim come in today. He was in bad shape, screaming with such pain... I cried as I walked to bring him to an urgent care room... I didn't expect anything to be so... Bad or someone to have been in such danger... But there was something else Amergin..."

  "What is that?" I ask taking another sip of tea.

"I caught the scent of a vampire..."

I stop mid-sip and set my cup down and look into her eyes, "How sure are you?"

"Very alpha. I think whoever this was knew that whoever he was with was a vampire and tried to dispose of them."

"Don't jump to conclusions, just keep an eye out. Be cautious please."

"I will alpha."

I turn back to Keiren and smile, "How you feeling? Better?"

"Just a little tired is all..."

"Well Alexander will bring you up to your room for the night, tomorrow everything should be sorted out."

Alexander gets up and escorts Keiren to her room, I lean back in my chair, resting my mug on my right knee.

"What do you think Alpha?" Aceline asks.

"It seems to me she is telling the truth. Her mind does indeed carry memories of that night, very vivid I might add," I leaving out my fuzziness that comes up now and then. "Well I'm going to go and hold a meeting, go get some rest Elizabeth."
       I pat her shoulder and head up stairs to my study. It's a simple room with bookshelves along the left and right wall (looking in from the door), the wall across from the door holds a window that overlooks the back of the house and into the woods. To the left of the door is an old oak, hutch desk; the shelves holding more books and videos. An iMac sits on the flat surface, papers cluttered and stacked next to it in a neat mess.
        I sit in my chair and rest my mug on a coaster. Leaning back I close my eyes and open my mind, calling to all my council members. I contact Felix, Head Alpha for Europe; Cicero who is Head Alpha for Asia; next is Chakide, Head Alpha of Africa; Cyndie, Head Alpha of Australia; Aleron, Head Alpha of South America and Logan, Head Alpha for North America. No pack has taken the challenge to live in Antarctica yet.
       "Hello High Lycan," they answer in unison.
       "Hello Council. I am contacting you to speak on a matter that has manifested itself into my care. A lycan by the name of Keiren Angelique was wondering through my woods. She told me that her pack in Greece was brutally murdered. Her memories are indeed vivid and follow her description. Now I wanted to make sure, being more safe than sorry, that her story checks out. So, Felix, has there been an attack in Greece in the past week or two?"
        "Yes High Alpha. There has been quit a few around Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. I was about to tell you about them, but you contacted me first.
         "This lycan, what region of Greece is she from?" Felix asks.
         "Vólos, coastal area," I respond.
         "Yes. There was a pack that was killed there, one was said to have survived but was not found."
         "Very good. Any updates on anything attacks and or gatherings?"
         "Yes High Alpha," Chakide speaks, "A lot of the witches have begun to collect more members, spies report that ceremonies are being held now during the day."
         I sigh and shake my head, "We need to contact the Ravenwood Order. We need to make a pact with them, because it seems we will need not only us and our vampire spies, but the help of the witches too."
         "I will conduct that objective," Logan volunteers. "The witches of the light and I have had agreements and pacts centuries before. I don't see why they would not offer their service again."
          "What makes you so sure Logan?" I ask, reaching forth to grab my tea, keeping my eyes closed.
          "They have a respect for balance as much as you do High Alpha Amergin; they know of you and your character. You have been around for a long time and have been watched by them."
          "And why, now, do you privilege me with such information Logan?"
         "I'm not sure sir. I'm sorry for not speaking up earlier. But I want you to know they can be trusted and will be more than happy to help us in our cause."
          "I hope you are right. Thank you all and update me on any new information. Every little piece is crucial."
           "Yes High Alpha," they answer again in unison.
           I open my eyes and sever the connection, looking at the blank screen of my computer. Taking a sip of tea I let my mind turn; processing all that is going on. How much the dark has done in two weeks. And why? What is so important? What is going to happen?
         Spinning around in my chair I look blankly out into the woods through the window on the opposite wall, watching the trees sway and dance in the breeze that manipulates them to its will. Moving them with such ease and power, looking as if a hand brushed over grass.
        Wish things could be that simple.