This story is set in the same "world" as LadyDragon623's stories about werefolk, vampires, fae and other supernatural creatures.
I have her express permission to use the "world" and characters she has mentioned in her stories if I feel they would fit into this story.
This story is set in the same "world" as LadyDragon623's stories about werefolk, vampires, fae and other supernatural creatures.
I have her express permission to use the "world" and characters she has mentioned in her stories if I feel they would fit into this story.
Callista Sorrens sat in the back of the bar, watching the crowd on the dance floor and the people near the bar. She'd picked this place and this evening because the sound level was bearable compared to what it would be like on a Friday or Saturday night.
She noticed the tall, yet sleek pale skinned male with long auburn hair as he entered the bar and looked around the place. She'd never seen him in person, but she recognized him as Hamish Thomas from the pictures they had exchanged through their phones a few days ago.
Hamish continued to scan the room, then spotted her in the small booth near the back of the room not far from the bar's tiny office.
To say that he stalked toward the table where she was sitting would be an understatement, he was damn near on the prowl.
She chuckled as he approached the booth, then waved him over and told him to take a seat.
Hamish would be her first lieutenant in the pride she intended to form in the next week or so, once the land issue was finalized. What the other people in the bar didn't know was that both Callista and Hamish were werefolk, specifically were-cats, Callista a Bengal tiger, Hamish a lion.
Both of them had been watching the various entry points to Seattle, primarily the shipping docks and the rail yards, but they had also talked to someone who had been involved in the trucking industry and knew many of the stopping points they used in the city and the local area.
That someone was the next person to enter the semi-dark interior of the bar and they also took a moment to look around the bar.
Callista nodded, then waved enough that the new guy noticed and made his way to their booth, taking a seat next to Hamish.
"Heya, Paul, what can you tell us?" Callista was a rather brusque person, especially when it came to doing business in places like this one.
Paul Fielding shrugged, then spoke, "My friends in the industry have said that there have been a half dozen or so stowaways on rigs coming into the city over the last three months, stowaways who were able, without any tools present, to rip open crates and steal food items.
"I actually went so far as to verify the remarks, getting nods and confirmations from seven different drivers and some of their partners."
"No tools to use, but strong enough to rip open heavy wooden or even steel crates? Damn, that's bloody strong!" gasped Hamish.
Callista nodded, then asked, "Is it possible that anyone might have connected that strength to the stowaway in each case being a were?"
Paul sat there, thinking for a minute before he replied, "I'm not sure, honestly, Callista. They might have thought each one was just a big guy."
Callista nodded again and enquired, "Have you managed to find any of the stowaways from these trucks?"
Hamish shook his head, he was still surprised at what he had heard, "What about the ones that came in on the ships over the last six months?"
Paul sighed, then answered them, "I've found some of the truck stowaways, they were hiding in an abandoned warehouse not far from the location where the drivers pulled off to secure rooms for themselves before making the actual deliveries on those nights.
"As for the shipboard ones, I don't have any firm info, but a dock worker I know from the Gulf War said he spotted something like a dozen folks in shabby clothing, some of it almost falling off the person, lurking near a hut that used to be used as excess storage but had been cleared out about five years ago when the dock association contracted with a specific trucking line to have items taken to warehouses in the city.
"That hut is maybe ten feet by fifteen, with a seven foot ceiling at most, made of heavy wood that's been worn down by the years."
Callista smiled for a moment, then looked toward the doorway as a very big man entered, walked to their booth and sat down on the bench beside her. She grinned and hugged the man, then kissed him as she greeted him, "Mmmm, Ed, I'm glad you were able to make it."
The three of them quickly brought Ed up to date, who then added his two cents, "I actually managed to get down on the dockside and wandered around for a few hours in the evening last night. Imagine my surprise when I was approached by several people near that old hut.
"Well, like everyone else up to that point, I had only thought they were people trying to get here from bad situations or some such, based on what I could see of the condition of some of their clothing and the battered and bruised appearance some of them couldn't hide.
"It changed pretty damn fast, though, when the biggest guy in the group actually leaned forward and sniffed in my direction, then growled in a low rumble that was very similar to a large cat before shifting right in front of me into the biggest jaguar I've ever seen anywhere.
"The rest of the group then shifted, also into cat forms but of varying sizes, from not quite as big as the first one down to about bobcat size.
"I found myself surrounded by these folks, who then demanded to know why I was there. I told them it was simple curiosity, then stated that I intended them no harm. In fact, if they were willing to accept help, I told them I knew someone who could find us all a home."
Callista giggled as she looked at him, "I'm assuming you meant me with the finding everyone a home bit?"
Ed grinned, answering her, "Yes, I did, I know you've been working on a deal of some sort for an isolated bit of land for us."
Callista leaned back in the soft leather cushion as she replied, "Isolated is very accurate, the place I'm considering is an abandoned mine with a few shabby buildings that likely wouldn't last through a nasty winter, which we know happens around here every now and then."
Hamish looked off in the distance for a minute or two as the others at the table sat there quietly, then he turned back to look at them as he spoke, "So we take these folks in as members of our new pride, which will likely have its home in the place you mentioned, Callie."
Callista nodded, "If Ed felt it was good to give them that offer of safety and a home, I'll stand by it, Hamish."
Ed snuggled closer to Callista as he spoke again, "I actually heard the stories of a few of those people that I found by that hut. Let me just say that these people felt they had no choice but to leave, they'd lost their homes, their families, everything they had ever known. One was as a result of a huge fire triggered by an earthquake, she was the only member of her family to escape from the ensuing destruction.
"Another was the result of a war between two drug cartels/families, I suppose, and he happened to be in their way. From what he told me, the leader of one group gave orders to "leave no one behind, erase them all from existence". He was out of sight in a field behind a large tree.
"A third was one of only a few survivors after a "crazy" person came into their community on a rampage that left seventeen dead, dozens injured and the crazy person shot by police snipers who took up positions on nearby buildings and determined the best location for the shot.
"The girl in that case, she watched this guy as he shot her two brothers, her father, her mother and her maternal grandmother. She is, to this time, still unsure as to how she managed to avoid being hit by a stray bullet when the rest of her family was dying right in front of her.
"Another was a girl who left southern China after some sickness or other wiped out her family and most of her community.
"A fifth told how she had been abducted almost nine years ago from Hawaii and had been living in a secluded village somewhere in northern Thailand or possibly western Cambodia or southern Laos. She was kept as a sex slave for the people running the place.
"One day, about three weeks ago, she was left unattended for a while and took advantage of it to escape. She ran off into the jungle, trying to get as far away from their camp as she could. How she managed to survive before she was found by someone heading to one of the ports.
"She managed to sneak onto one of the big ships, then hide in a corner of one of the holds throughout the journey to here.
"The other three, one of those being the big one that became the jaguar, chose not to tell me what had brought them there."
Paul still found it hard to believe these people were not like others, but had the ability to change their shapes at will. Yet he had known Callista and Ed for nearly two years now, and he had no reason to doubt what he was hearing, even the shocking tales Ed had just delivered.
Paul shrugged, saying, "I managed to find the group that had used the big trucks to get here and then had hidden in that abandoned warehouse about a mile or so from where most of the truckers had stopped briefly to make their arrangements for somewhere to sleep.
"There were eight people in this group, and I had no choice but to believe what I was seeing when one changed into what looked like a mountain lion and ripped into the half-eaten carcass of a cow. At least, I think it was a cow, it wasn't easy to tell, I didn't get close to it.
"Let me just say that I was bloody shocked, then even more so when another one growled from directly behind me.
"Like Ed did, I mentioned the possibility that they could have a home with you, Callista. I couldn't deny what I had seen, it was all too real.
"I spent a few hours just interacting with them that morning, and four of them told me stories that were similar to the ones Ed mentioned just now. The stories weren't exactly the same, but the fact that each of them had been through some kind of hell to get here was quite clear."
Callista curled up in the corner of the thick leather bench seat, sighing as she listened to what Ed and Paul had said. Each of these people were people like her, people who needed the chance to be able to live without fear of being hunted, harmed or kidnapped.
They needed the opportunity to be able to live wild and free, like the cats that were their alternate forms.
I'm sorry that I hadn't posted anything new for this for almost two months. To be honest, I've been lucky, in that time frame, if I could focus enough to write anything, largely due to ongoing problems with pollen from grasses (seasonal allergies) and the insane humidity that started about four weeks ago. I hope to post more often, but weed season starts in a few days, and I'm moderately allergic to ragweed pollen.
Note: The various bits of violence mentioned in this chapter are all parts of the history of the relevant characters.
This story is set in the same "world" as LadyDragon623's stories about werefolk, vampires, fae and other supernatural creatures.
I have her express permission to use the "world" and characters she has mentioned in her stories if I feel they would fit into this story.
That meeting in the bar had taken place just over a week earlier. Soon, they would be able to go to their new home.
Callista and Ed were relaxing in their motel room, having demolished two pizzas earlier, with a little help from Paul Fielding.
Paul was still helping them with sorting out there situation in the city, specifically that abandoned warehouse and the shabby hut on the docks. He'd made some progress, with Ed alongside, in getting the groups cleaned up somewhat and in slightly more suitable clothing. What some of the folks had been wearing could be described as falling apart if one were being polite, it was surprising the clothes were still together at all.
Some folks had grumbled, including that big jaguar guy, but when told that once they were cleaned up, they could be transferred to rooms in the same motel Callista and Ed were using, most of the grumbling ended. Having a steady roof and regular food was a rare thing for them.
Ed actually spent some time with the big jaguar guy, whose name turned out to be Carlos Vengas. Carlos had been a dock worker down in Santiago, Chile, before he ran into the girl that bolted over him running out of a club, then half changed and bit him when he sassed her.
That event quite literally scared the hell out of Carlos, leaving him with a ragged bite on one arm and very messy pants. He had spent the next five or six days hiding, having come down with what he thought was a cold or the flu, then the first change to his were form happened.
That night, he had slipped out of the old shed on the back section of the communal housing for transient dock workers and gone hunting. He wandered the hills around the housing area for most of the night, finally brought down a fairly young white tailed deer and savaged it.
He woke up, in human form again, lying on the hillside next to the semi-shredded body of the young deer and promptly spewed what he'd eaten. Well, to be more accurate, what remained in his stomach of what he had eaten. Just looking at the carcass had him throwing up again.
That was when he first noticed that he was as naked as the day he was born. Just then, the sun crested the hilltop above him.
Carlos had decided, while he snuck back to the communal housing buildings, to leave and stowed away a few nights later on a ship bound for Vancouver, Canada. From there, he had made his way out of the city, then used his new form and its augmented senses to head south.
He told Ed he couldn't understand why he had to go south, just that something in him said that it was necessary.
He had wandered in a generally southerly direction, eventually reached Seattle, then found the group by the hut and became their leader.
And now here he was, talking with a guy even bigger than he was, being told that they would be going to their new home soon.
Ed heard quite a few stories of how they had arrived here. One, Saniyya, was an Arabic girl whose family had moved to Hawaii when she was still a baby. She was the one that had been kidnapped and used as a sex slave for several years somewhere in southern Asia.
Another, Chance Carter, was the girl who had watched her whole family die at the hands of a crazy idiot armed with several guns.
Saniyya and Chance had told their stories to Ed the first time they had met, but now both looked like rather pretty young women.
It took a bit of time, and the fourth visit, before the last two would tell Ed their stories. Ed sat and listened patiently, he had time to listen.
The first, Paulo Cerriano, had been dating a girl who was oh so alluring and sensual. Then, one night, she shifted and bit him as they had sex. Two nights later, he had undergone his first shift, all too suddenly finding himself in the body of a colocolo and licking her belly.
It had taken him a while to adjust to shifting between forms, but after two months had passed and the relationship had waned, he left the area.
He had, like Carlos, managed to stow away on a ship, this one was headed for LA, San Francisco, and Seattle before returning home.
He had stayed on the ship until it reached Seattle, raiding the stores when he became hungry while trying to not make his presence known. He was lucky, the quartermaster on the ship didn't find out some of the food was missing until several hours after Paulo had left the ship.
The last one of that group to tell his story was a young male, somewhere in his late teens would be Ed's best guess. His name was Robert Schillingham, and he had been out riding his high end bicycle on a forest and mountain trail when he wiped out and broke his left leg.
That had happened when he lost control on a sharp turn, then the front wheel hit a big stone, twisted the wheel and the bike went over the edge of a thirty-five foot cliff. The bike and the boy twisted in the air as they fell, then his right leg smashed into another large stone at the bottom.
He had the even more rotten luck that the pedal on that side slammed into the same leg just above the knee, leaving a nasty looking wound.
Robert had passed out from the impact with the second large stone and the pedal, and was unconscious for close to two hours.
While he lay there, still bleeding, a large cat found him, and thinking he was dead or dying, bit him, which brought Robert up screaming like a banshee. The cat had been surprised by the sudden movement and the scream, and had bounded off into the forest nearby immediately.
It wasn't until several days later, when he shifted and the remainder of the wound and his broken leg healed, that he learned he was a were.
He had been at home, dozing on his bed, watching a movie on the TV in his room, when he shifted. He growled as his new form took hold, loud enough that his younger sister heard it and came to find out what was making that noise. She was armed with a colt. 45 magnum.
When she saw the transformed young man, she screamed several times, startling the hell out of him, then fired off the whole clip.
When the first scream left her mouth, Robert noticed what had happened and let out another loud growl, then jumped off the bed, twisting as he fell toward the floor, landing on all four feet, then barrelled into his sister as he fled the room and the house. He would never return.
In the sudden shock and the fast movement of his cat form, he had avoided, by sheer luck, all but two of the bullets from his sister's gun. As he fled into the nearby woods behind their farm outside of Snoqualmie, Washington, he was shocked to feel something odd happening.
He had just entered the woods, and slunk behind a tree, then waited as whatever was happening continued.
Perhaps a minute or two later, he felt the wounds in his left side opening just a bit, and twisting his head, watched the bullets hit the ground.
That made it all too clear that he wasn't normal any more. Over the next few days, he made his way to Seattle, then down to the docks.
Ed did much the same thing when Paul took him to the abandoned warehouse where the stowaways from the trucks had been living.
Paul actually led Ed around to the rear of the abandoned warehouse, where a set of steps led to a door that was propped open.
Paul entered first, followed by Ed, then the two walked down a short hall. Paul stopped by a door and knocked on it loudly three times.
A male voice could be heard yelling, "Come in! We don't bite! Well, unless you want it!" followed by girls giggling and boys laughing.
Paul shook his head, then opened the door, muttering, "Young people, what the hell do ya do with them?" as he and Ed entered the room.
Ed chuckled, slowly moving to stand beside Paul as the young folks came closer to the two men.
It soon became clear that there were eight people; five men, well, three were young enough to still be called boys, and three women, one of those being in her mid teens at the most. The largest of the males nodded to Paul, then asked rather bluntly, "Who is that?"
Now it was Paul's turn to chuckle. "You remember you kids telling me that you had all had your first shift to were form before you ran away?"
The largest one spoke again, "Yeah, we remember that. I'm not going to ask again, who is this guy? I'm not jeopardizing our damn safety!"
Ed sighed, took one step forward, then a second, placing him just in front of the five males. He sniffed the air in an exaggerated manner, then grinned and looked over at Paul as he answered the young man, "My name is Ed, I'm a were like all of you are, specifically a mountain lion. From what I can tell just by scent alone, you," he pointed at the biggest male, "are a lynx of some sort, I'm not sure if Eurasian or Canadian.
"You," he pointed at one of the three girls, "Are a caracal in full were form. You," he pointed at the next girl, "Cheetah. You and you," he pointed at the two mid-size boys, "Bobcats. You," he pointed at the last girl, "Leopard. And you," he pointed to the second last male, "Snow leopard." Ed stopped for a moment, looking at the last male, the final member of the group, then said as he pointed at the boy, "You are a serval."
All eight of them stared at him, shocked. One of the boys muttered, "How the hell did he know all that?"
Ed laughed, having heard the comment and answered him, "Different types of cats have a different smell to them. Part of it may be their environment, part of it is likely their diet. I've been all around the world, kids, plus I did three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq."
"Holy shit," another boy muttered.
One of the girls said, talking in what she thought was a sufficiently low tone to the girl beside her, "Gods, he's a hunk!" and giggled.
The second girl smirked, shook her head, then giggled as well.
Those giggles seemed to say that there wasn't any danger here to any of them, and everyone began to relax.
The young folks led the way to the back of the room, where several mattresses had been laid on the floor side by side by side.
The kids just plopped down, most of them crossing their legs as they sat there. Ed and Paul joined them, facing the whole group.
Ed and Paul ended up spending most of the day and a good bit of the evening with the eight young folks in the abandoned warehouse.
Over that time period, Ed heard their stories. Some were like the ones told by the folks in the hut down at the docks, some weren't.
The first to open up was the youngest of the three girls, who informed Ed that her name was Patty Kensington. Ed vaguely remembered a news piece he had seen about a month earlier of a girl from Oklahoma City who had been thrown out for being a "demon".
Patty told her story, of how she had been having fun with a couple of girls when a male had joined them and some fun had ensued. Like Paulo from the docks, she was bitten by the guy as he briefly shifted. This happened when the two other girls were in the kitchen area.
She didn't shift for a little over a week, long after the boy had wandered out of her life and the girls had returned to their homes.
When she did, it surprised her quite a bit, but she was also fascinated by it. Well, that ended when her father found her in her were form.
Within the next few minutes, she had been thrown ut of the house and disowned by her family.
She had made her way north and west, hitching rides, until she reached Seattle a few days later.
As Ed had done, she had sniffed the air, scented there were other werecats nearby and headed off to find them, thus finding the warehouse.
The next one was the largest boy, James, he'd been hunting in the northern Yukon and had run into a Canadian lynx during the hunt. It seems he and the lynx had been after the same hare, and the lynx wasn't happy about it. It bit the boy, stole the hare, and ran off through the snow.
He changed a few days later, while still out hunting, and prowled the snow until he found a snowshoe hare or two of his own to kill and eat.
He had moved out from the family's small home about a year earlier, taking a shack on the edge of the community where they lived. Since he had been living on his own, he had spent much of his time hunting, and thus was rarely home. He decided to leave and headed south.
He'd eventually reached Seattle and had, like the others, found the small group of weres hiding in the warehouse and joined them.
The rest of the young folks had stories similar to Patty's. They had been bitten while with others and had been discovered while at home when in their were form. One or two had been accepted by their families, but had since left home, needing to be able to roam as they wished.
That was mostly true, except for the last one, which happened to be the boy Ed had stated was a snow leopard in were form.
His name was Harry Arnette, and he had lived in a three bedroom house in Bellevue just outside of Seattle with his parents and sister. He and his sister had been out at one of the teen clubs in Seattle, and while there, he spent most of the night dancing with a beautiful girl.
At some point during the dancing, the girl had leaned forward and nipped his shoulder, then grinned at him and continued dancing.
He had his first shift four days later, while his parents were out having dinner somewhere and his sister was visiting a friend.
He was startled by the change, but like Patty, rather fascinated by it as well. He shifted back before everyone returned home.
Things went on like that for nearly three months, then his father returned one evening shortly after he and his wife had left for another dinner. His father was a big name lawyer in a major Seattle firm, and regularly attended publicity making events around Seattle and Bellevue.
Apparently, dad had left his wallet behind and was stepping out of his bedroom with it when he heard an odd growling sound.
It took him a moment to figure out that it was coming from Harry's room. He opened Harry's bedroom door and received the shock of his life! His son was a rather large example of a snow leopard, a cat he had seen in some video presentation somewhere within the last few months.
He freaked out and started yelling, which in turn startled Harry, who came charging out, slashing at his father with one paw as he went by.
That proved to be a disaster, as the flashing paw connected with the unprotected flesh of his father's belly, ripping it wide open.
At that point, Harry realized what he had done, and with one last thought of what he was losing, smashed through the front door at a full run. His mother was sitting in the front passenger seat of the Mercedes Benz C Class and saw him as he ran away from the house.
He had wandered around Seattle for several days before he spotted another large cat heading into that warehouse.
As with the folks at the docks, Ed informed them that they could be transferred to the motel where he and Callista were staying.
Paul and Ed left the warehouse with the young folks all saying they would think about the offer and let them know soon.
Ed headed back to the motel, where he met Callista, then they went downtown to have dinner at a nice restaurant. I guess it would go without saying that both of them asked for their meat to be served very rare, just slightly heated, then settled down to a nice meal.
Paul returned to his small house in Bothell a bit north of Seattle, then made up a quick meal of two hamburgers and a baked potato.
As he relaxed and enjoyed his food, he thought about the people he had met recently, Ed, Callista, Hamish, and several others. It was weird, he thought to himself, that he found himself wanting to be a member of that group. What was it that Callista had called it? Ahhh, a pride.
He wanted to be a part of something, a feeling he hadn't had since he finished his service in Iraq and returned home seven years ago.
This story is set in the same "world" as LadyDragon623's stories about werefolk, vampires, fae and other supernatural creatures.
I have her express permission to use the "world" and characters she has mentioned in her stories if I feel they would fit into this story.
Another week passed as Callista finalized the purchase of the land and the change of title and deed.
During that time, there was one incident that came very close to turning into actual violence. It was stupid and beyond idiotic, but Vince Bailey, the guy who nearly blew his stack, got into a confrontation with another person after learning they were transgender, not bio female.
The person in question, who looked female to all appearances, had told everyone her name was Serafina. It all blew up when Vince saw a wallet lying on a table in the diner that many had been using for meals since they had been moved into the motel down the road.
The wallet contained identification in the name of Seymour James Canvers and a photo of a young man. It took perhaps a minute before Vince realized that he knew the person in the photo, yet they were known to everyone else as a female. Vince confronted Sera, quite angry.
Paul had been helping Callista, Hamish and Ed as they sorted everything out regarding the new property and getting there, and barely managed to hit the brakes in his Chevy van, stopping within a few feet of Vince who was yelling at Serafina at the top of his lungs.
Paul intervened, found out what had Vince so angry, and shook his head. He really didn't need to deal with this sort of thing.
Paul sighed and called Ed, listened and spoke occasionally, then hit the end button, shaking his head yet again.
"Okay, folks, we're going to go to a park not too far from here, where we can get some open space and still be fairly private. Follow me."
He opened the panel door, then motioned for everyone to get in, watching as each person entered the big van and chose a seat. When Serafina moved to take a seat in the back, Paul shook his head, pointed at the front and waited for her to settle into the front passenger seat.
Paul parked the big van, shut down the engine and told them all to go to the group of picnic tables about fifty or so yards away.
As the panel door opened and the people stepped out to make their way over to the tables, two more vehicles parked next to Paul's van. On the left side was an old station wagon, capable of seating seven or eight fairly comfortably; on the right, a van as large as his own.
People were soon stepping out of the two other vehicles. Paul pointed to the picnic tables as he walked in that direction.
Ed, Hamish and Callista walked beside Paul, then waited for everyone to reach the tables and find a spot to sit.
Ed frowned, looking at the still somewhat ragtag group in front of him. It was time for them to learn a valuable lesson.
Callista sighed, then nodded and began to speak. "It came to my attention a little while ago, through a call to Ed, that at least one of you here has the gall to be abusive to someone else, and that it might have come to actual blows if Paul had not arrived there at the time.
"I'm sure most of you have heard quotes about the numbers of LGBT folks in the world, such as lesbian or gay being perhaps 3 - 5 % of the total population, bisexual and things like gender, aromatic, etc., even smaller numbers, as well as transgender being about 1.5%."
Several of the people sitting at the collection of tables nodded, a few adding verbal confirmations, before Callista continued speaking.
"Well, folks, compared to them, were folk might be lucky to reach about 0.3% in total, EVERYWHERE. We are a very small community, scattered hither and thither in small numbers to keep us out of sight, and I will tell you now, every one of you is a part of that community.
"We will be living together in the wilds, on land that was put up for sale about a year ago. Every single one of us, at some point in time, whether before we get there or after that, will have to learn to work together for our sheer survival, bigotry notwithstanding.
"Some of us have skills in common, most of us don't. That means we need to be able to rely on getting whatever help is needed immediately. We can't afford to let our feelings, whatever may be the reason for them, stop us from providing that help if someone truly needs it.
"I am the Alpha, the head of our little pride. I make the rules, which are similar to those of every pride and pack I've ever seen.
"The choice is this: Put aside your bigotry or other nasty feelings, and work for the good of all of us, or leave now.
"Oh... one last thing. If you leave now, I will give your name to the Supernatural Council as being a rogue. You would be entirely on your own."
Vince was sitting at a table with several other males, listening to Callista. He was stunned that they would support the girl so strongly.
For a few minutes, he actually thought about getting up and leaving, but he didn't. He wasn't sure he could survive on his own out there. A bit more thought made him realize that he truly wanted to be part of a community, even one as odd as this one was turning out to be.
He sat there for another ten minutes or so before he decided he needed to fix the situation now, or he never would.
He walked over to the table where Sera was sitting with Chance, Saniyya, Patty and Jiang, the Chinese girl. "Excuse me for interrupting you, ladies. Serafina, would you please come with me for a moment, I wish to speak with you privately," he stated in a polite tone.
Sera looked up at him, noted that he seemed to be calm and shrugged, then stood up and followed him away from the tables.
Once they could be assured that they wouldn't be easily overheard, Vince stuttered out an apology to Sera, "I... I... I'm sorry... about earlier. I didn't have the right to judge you, I let what my parents taught me overcome me and forgot about things like simple manners."
Serafina sighed, she hadn't liked it when he was ranting at her earlier, but he was giving her what seemed to be a sincere apology.
A brief smile passed across her lips as she replied, "I will accept your apology. Good manners can make quite a difference, as you know."
Vince nodded, then said that that was all he had wanted to discuss with her, and they walked back to the tables.
Another week passed before Callista had paid for the land in full and had received all the pertinent papers.
On the Thursday evening, while everyone was eating their dinner at the diner, Callista announced they would be heading out on Saturday.
Saturday morning came, with the group gathering in front of the motel not long after the sun first showed itself.
After one final meal at the diner, they left the Seattle area and headed toward northeastern Washington.
Callista and Ed had packed three large coolers with various meat sandwiches, each one being on a foot long submarine bun. At the very least, the trip to the new property would take about seven ours, perhaps longer depending on road conditions near the site.
The trip passed in fairly decent fashion, with one exception. Paul's van developed a flat tire an hour west of Spokane.
The tire change wasn't particularly strenuous, especially when the person doing the work had the strength of a large cat available. They were back on the road within twenty minutes, and reached the site not quite four hours after that.
There wasn't a heck of a lot to be seen, a few shoddy buildings here and there, and rocky ground covered with grass patches everywhere.
Callista smiled as she opened the passenger door of the old station wagon, then strode toward the nearest building.
She stopped perhaps twenty yards away from the cars, turned to face the people stepping from the vehicles and spoke softly, yet everyone was able to hear her as clear as a bell. Perhaps it was the sound of it bouncing back from nearby rock walls, who knows?
Callista had spread her arms wide and said, "Welcome to our new home."
This story is set in the same "world" as LadyDragon623's stories about werefolk, vampires, fae and other supernatural creatures.
I have her express permission to use the "world" and characters she has mentioned in her stories if I feel they would fit into this story.
The pride had been at the location of their new home for nearly three weeks now. A lot had changed in that time period.
The shoddy shacks were torn down within the first 24 hours and a few folks gathered together to decide what housing was needed. Many had no issue with living in the cave that had been found, which apparently had been a fair sized mine long ago. The oddity was that the miners had taken out quite a bit of the rock underground to get small amounts of various ores, leaving in essence a very large open cavern.
There were rough logs, each about two feet thick and just under nine feet high, buttressing the roof here and there in the cavern. Many of these had rotted to the point that they might collapse soon, so one of the first things the new pride did was remove and replace them. A few of the pride members had had some work in construction crews at some point, so they knew what needed to be done and organized it.
One of those people was a young man, Phillip Stanley, who preferred to be called Phil. He was instructing a couple of younger people about the processes of treating lumber to make it resistant to a variety of insect pests, termites and fire ants being among the ones listed.
Phillip was in his early twenties, a recent graduate from a small college in the south, where he studied architecture and wood working.
Colbert Sheldon, another young man they'd picked up in their wanderings around Seattle, was in a different area, showing several people how to properly debark the newly cut trees, then shape them into heavy square posts that would be going to Phillip's area afterward.
Colbert had worked for nearly three years in a lumber yard in the Seattle area before being found by Ed.
A crew of about half a dozen was roaming the property, picking out trees that could be culled for building or reinforcement purposes. There was no shortage of trees around, which allowed them to choose trees that had reached their apex before the chainsaws began their song.
The person in charge of this group was none other than Callista herself. She had grown up long ago in a densely wooded area.
Henry Bones was walking slowly through the dense tree cover in a supposedly forgotten place in northeast Washington state when he stopped as if on a dime. He took a moment to draw in a deep breath, then growled low and fierce before he remembered he was not alone.
"Hey, boss woman, we might have a wee problem up ahead. Either that, or that supposed new pride moved in here already."
Saran Jacklyn chuckled as she also stopped and deliberately sniffed the air. "Lots of cats, most are over that way," as she pointed west. Her dark skin was a strong contrast to the rest of the group. She'd told them all at some point about having one Caucasian ancestor.
That wouldn't have been much of a surprise, considering how slaves were treated on many plantations three hundred years ago.
The rest of their group was not far behind the two, but spread out in a broad line to ensure at least one could take a report away if they came under attack by a much larger force. Saran shook her head, there were too many variations on cat smell to clarify how many there might be.
"Okay, folks, we go slow. If we find anyone, let's try to talk first, I'd rather not see someone die if we can prevent it in the first place."
The four behind Saran and Henry all stated their agreement, then the group resumed walking through the woodland. Those four consisted of Barbara White, a pleasant looking fortyish woman with ash blonde shoulder length hair, Kevin Windbreaker, a tall yet slim thirtyish man with a long russet ponytail hanging down to the middle of his back, Cindy Breakers, a twentyish young woman with shoulder length flame red hair and crystal green eyes, and last but not least, Carrie King, perhaps thirty years old, a brunette with a cute looking pixie cut.
Carrie looked toward the two in front of them, smiling at the thought that she could work with these awesome folks. Henry was a big brute of a man in appearance, well over six feet tall and not far from being barrel shaped, with dirty blond shoulder length hair and a matching beard. Saran was what could only be described as beautiful, tall, slender, yet with curves that made it clear she was female and gorgeous midnight hair that fell down to her waist, unbound and swaying as she did with each and every step she took as they made their way through the woods.
The walk lasted almost another hour before they spotted the first sign that people might be living in the area. Then...
Alicia Robinson had run from the cave all the way to the area where Callista was having her people cut down trees for the community.
She came to a stop a few feet from Callista, who was watching her crew until she noticed Alicia arriving.
It took a moment for Alicia to recover, then she barked out, "Six people, Alpha, coming from the woods to the east! They are weres!"
Callista nodded, then whistled as loud as she could over the sound of the rumbling chainsaws, all of which soon stopped.
With a quick word to her group, they all set off at a loping run, heading for the camp at the cave, then to meet the outsiders.
Saran stopped very suddenly as a gap appeared in the trees in front of the small group. Several people could be seen in the distance.
Henry was a few steps ahead of her before he noticed that she had stopped. He then looked ahead and sighed.
Saran nodded, "That's right, Henry, they noticed us first. It looks like we have some of them going around us. Blocking our retreat?"
"I can detect more than a dozen near us right now, Saran. No doubt someone has run to inform their alpha," he grumbled.
"You might say that, and you would be right. Who are you people, and what are you doing in my pride's territory?" Callista snarled.
Saran's head snapped back as she twisted around to look at the group that had come up behind them. "Your territory?" she gasped as she quickly counted the people surrounding her small group, eventually reaching a total just short of thirty.
"That's right, my territory. I am the Alpha of this pride, we are the Silent Scythes and I paid good money for this land!" Callista growled.
Saran gulped, it was obvious that the woman in front of her was pissed at their being here. "Have you sent for approval by the Council?"
Callista stalked forward, then slapped Saran hard, knocking her to the ground before standing over her prone form.
"I've been rather busy with keeping the folks I've rescued alive and worrying about finding a home to worry about the bloody Council!"
Saran shook her head, slowly so as to not alarm the woman any more than she already had, then rubbed her reddened cheek for a moment. Damn, she thought, for being perhaps average height for a woman among normal people, she hit like a mule kicks, hard and nasty.
A low chuckle escaped from Saran's lips as she looked up, then in a gesture of cooperation, lifted her hand toward the lurking woman.
Callista returned the chuckle, then helped Saran to stand before gesturing toward the camp. "Come with me, and don't start anything. I guarantee that a lot of these people would be all too happy to take your head off if you pushed their buttons at all, they've been through hell!"
Saran and the rest of her small team followed Callista and the other folks of the pride toward the cave, their current home site.
The space in the cave had been split into 'rooms', each one roughly fifteen feet by fifteen feet, with 'hallways' connecting areas.
Deep inside the former mine, in a room that was smaller than the main cave, several newly made picnic type tables had been placed. Each table had an upper surface where plates, platters and cups could be placed, and a heavy plank bench on the two long sides provided seating.
The people of this new pride took seats at several of the tables, leaving the central one for Saran and her group.
Once everyone was seated, Callista paced in front of them for a minute or two, gathering her thoughts.
Callista faced Saran and the others in her little group, then began to speak, "Just to be very clear, this is my pride, and this is OUR land. I hope that gets through, lady, because if it doesn't, I'm not sure that we could allow your little group to leave here as you are.
"I don't have the time to tell you the stories of what many of these people have seen and experienced since they were turned.
"I don't care who the hell you are. The only thing I care about is that you leave us alone, and let us live our lives as we wish."
Saran sighed before she replied, "We don't mean you or your pride any harm. We came because someone told us weres were here."
Callista stepped forward, leaving over Saran as she hissed, "What the hell do you mean, someone said weres were here?"
Saran turned her not quite coal black face up toward Callista and shrugged, then said, "We heard it from someone we saw in Spokane."
At this point, the big block of a man sitting next to Saran added, "I'm Henry. As she said, we were simply checking what we'd been told."
Callista sighed and stepped back a few paces, giving Saran some space again. "So... is there some way that you can help my pride?"
Saran grinned, showing a full set of pretty white teeth as she replied, "Perhaps. I have contact info for some people on the Council."
Callista stood there for a moment, her foot tapping on the stone floor of the smaller cavern. "Info that would help us somehow?" she asked.
Saran nodded, smiling briefly as she answered Callista, "Yes, there are a few people who can negotiate treaties between packs and prides for various reasons, as well as working to ensure that we are all able to survive without people out there learning about us."
Henry flashed his own grin as he added, "These people also help new packs and prides to be brought into the fold of the Council."
Callista frowned, then asked, "So... if you approached one of these people, you could help my pride to be recognized and protected?"
"Hmmm... not sure about whether they would protect you, but through these people, you would have access to the council itself. Once your pride is recognized, you would be given some information about prides and packs in the northwest, perhaps across the country," Saran stated.
Callista nodded, then sighed. "I'm not against wolves or other were types, but we are cats. I'd prefer to keep this pride as all cat."
Saran chuckled, a warm, soft sound that echoed off the nearest walls, "I'm sure that declaring your pride as cat only can be arranged."
Callista nodded again, then spoke one last time, "You are free to go. Remember, though, I will protect my territory from anyone if they dare to come into this pride's home area without either an express invitation or without having called us in advance to arrange a visit."
Saran stood, saying, "That's agreeable," as she waved to her team. As one, they rose and followed Alicia out of the caverns into the light.
Callista was relaxing for a moment, leaning against a very large pine tree that she figured was at least three hundred years old, maybe more.
It was nice to not be surrounded, although Ed and James Herman were about fifty feet back, watching everywhere but giving her some space.
They had been there for perhaps an hour when Callista detected the sound of faint footsteps, as if someone were walking very carefully. She waved for Ed and James to come forward, and the two men did so, standing on either side of her as the soft noises approached them.
Another minute or two had passed before Callista spotted a rather tall person almost stalking toward them. They appeared to be female, but it was more by watching the body movements of the person than the shape, which seemed quite androgynous.
Callista's abrupt, "Ahem!" stopped the person in what looked to be mid-step. They slowly lowered their foot and waited.
Callista growled, the heavy snarl sounding very much like a tiger about to pounce on its meal, then waved for the person to come forward.
As the person came closer to the three of them, it became apparent that this was a female, androgynous appearance notwithstanding.
Callista growled again, a softer one this time, then asked the female, "What is your name, girl, and why are you on my pride's land?"
The tall, somewhat boyish looking girl sighed, then shrugged her shoulders. "It's a long explanation, Alpha, the simplest one is that I was named after the two closest cities to where I was born, which happened to be Savannah and Augusta. Waynesboro was a few huts at most.
"So... my name is Savannah Augusta Johnstone, and for the record, I am the youngest sister of Neil Jones and Cain Eriksson.
"As for why I'm here, I've been roaming these woods for miles around for the last three months, nearly four. It's home to me, I suppose."
"Here's my proof if you doubt me, I know you are all weres," she said as she shifted into the form of a very large female timber wolf.
Callista, Ed and James all shifted into their were forms in response.
The girl, when her change had finished, found herself facing a Bengal tiger, a mountain lion and a big lynx. Savannah backed away a few steps, startled by the size of the three weres in front of her, then laid down and rolled onto her back.
Callista recognized the rollover as a submission tactic between higher and lower members in many a werewolf hierarchy. She stalked forward on her big padded paws and bent her head down to softly nip at Savannah's throat, then sat back and waited for the girl to act.
Savanna stayed there for a few minutes, lying on her back, then rolled over again and stood up on all fours, facing Callista and the two men.
Savannah paced forward and licked Callista's face, then rubbed her head briefly against Callista's before backing away slightly.
Savannah shifted to human form. "So you are forming a new pride here, out in the middle of nowhere? Why?" Savannah enquired.
Callista shrugged her massive shoulders briefly, then also shifted form. "Two reasons, honestly, of which the first is by far the most important. That reason is the privacy we can have out here. The second one is that we can hunt a variety of small animals when we feel the need."
Savannah nodded, that made sense. As a werewolf, she liked to shift to wolf form now and then and do a little hunting.
"Would you take someone like me, who knows this area quite well, into your pride, Alpha?" Savannah asked.
"As much as I might like to say yes to you, Savannah, I can't. The third reason for our coming here was to have only cats here," Callista stated.
"Damn," Savannah muttered, a comment the other three heard quite clearly. The girl paced near them for several minutes, then stopped. "Okay, so I can't join you. Could I be a friend to your pride, Alpha, and perhaps offer contacts to my brothers, who are pack/pride leaders?"
Callista smiled, then offered her hand to Savannah and pulled her into a hug. "Friend we can do, contacts are always welcome."
The four people, Ed and James back in human form again, chatted for a short while before Savannah wandered away, then out of sight.
A few more days passed as the small community worked on making buildings that would protect them from winter's ire in a few months.
One evening, as a fair amount of work was winding down with the sun hovering near the horizon, a car parked near the place where the few shoddy buildings had been about a month before. The vehicle's door opened, revealing the driver to be Paul Fielding.
Callista, Ed, Hamish and a few others were sitting on a rather rough but sturdy picnic type table as Paul approached them.
Callista nodded, smiling as she spoke to him, "Hello, Paul. I hope that you've been okay recently?"
Paul sighed, shaking his head, "That's just it, Callista, I have and I haven't. Since meeting you folks, everything has changed for me. I find myself looking at myself in a mirror now and then, then thinking about you folks and how much I bloody admire you all, dammit!"
Now it was Callista's turn to sigh as she slipped down from the bench, walked to Paul and pulled him into a tight hug.
As she pulled back a bit after hugging him, Callista asked, "So you admire us? Just how far does this admiration go, Paul?"
That was when Paul broke down, sobbing as he fell to his knees on the rocky ground. "I want to be one of you! That's how far it goes!" The words came out through the gut-wrenching sobs coming from the distraught man, and Callista knelt down to wrap him in another hug.
"Well, that isn't difficult, Paul, although I'm not sure you would enjoy the bite that would be needed as a minimum to start the process."
Paul raised his head a bit, tears still falling down his cheeks. "Huh? Why wouldn't I enjoy the bite?" came through the lessening sobs.
"Paul, I am a Bengal tiger in were form, James there is a Canadian lynx, Ed is a mountain lion. We're not small cats, although we do have some smaller ones in the pride. A bite from one of us bigger ones is liable to hurt like all bloody hell, and leave a short term nasty bite mark."
Paul shrugged, raising his head so that he was staring at everyone at or on the table nearby. "I don't care, Callista, I want to be one of you!"
Callista nodded, she'd heard of cases like this, although they didn't happen very often by what she could remember.
"Then you shall join us, Paul. Do you have a preference for type of cat?" Callista enquired of him.
Paul nodded, the tears seemed to be coming to an end. "Callista, I want to be like you, a Bengal tiger. Big, strong, and fierce when needed."
Callista nodded, "You do realize that the first change is most often the hardest one for a were to experience?"
Paul shrugged, saying, "It doesn't matter. I want to be one of you, to be able to run with you and your people, wild, free and happy!"
Callista nodded one more time, then shifted and with no notice at all, bit Paul in the meatiest part of his right leg.
Ed stated, "Be welcome here, Paul. I suggest you take some time off, the first shift could happen soon, or as much as a week from now."
Paul, nodded, grinning as if he had won the lottery. Well, maybe he had won one, a lottery in a crazy thing called life.