Then the waiter handed Christian his dish. "And the seafood platter for you sir."
"Thanks!" Chris said to the waiter and he set his napkin up on his lap, he'd had some serving jobs and he always tried to be pleasant to them. Then he saw Carol staring at him in horror. "What's..."
"Seafood? You ordered SEAFOOD?" she asked, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Well, yeah. I know you're a vegetarian but I thought-" Chris is interrupted by his date running off to the woman's restroom, hand over her mouth. "Carol, wait!"
***
When Carol came back, the rest of the patrons at the restaurant were very careful not to look at the couple, and Chris felt their avoidance very keenly "Carol! Are you okay? I'm sorry about..."
"It's alright."
"I reordered and got a tofu salad." and stuck the seafood platter in a doggie bag that he'd take home later.
"I'm sorry Chris, I don't think we should see each other anymore."
"What."
"Christian, I know you're not a vegetarian, and I don't think you should have to change for me." She picked up her purse. "But I also can't be around people when they eat dead animals. So, I'm sorry but this is good-bye."
Christian sat there as she left the restaurant, poking at his tofu salad. The waiter came up after a few minutes and asked, "Can I get you anything sir?"
"Yes, a Vodka tonic. No, two."
A moment of silence, then, before the waiter could get away, "And the Veal."
"Chris, you're a great guy, but I wanted this to be a casual thing, not a 'I'm going to introduce you to my friends' thing."
"I see."
"Oh don't take that ton-" Starseeker turned his cell phone off mid word and looked into his bathroom mirror. What was wrong with him? He looked down at his hands as the nails sharpened into stubby claws. As his teeth sharpened into fangs, he wanted to scream at her her, call her a bitch and a tease. He looked up into the bathroom mirror as his features got sharper and he wanted nothing more than to stalk out right now, find her and beat the shit out of her for leading him on.
Part of him, he wasn't sure if it was the wolf or the human, clamped down on that rage, re-directed it. His vision turned red as he grabbed the frame of the medicine cabinet, and his arms burned as he pulled. The cheap metal groaned and bent a little away from the wall, and he shifted his grip to take advantage of it. One of his fingernails ripped itself free in the frantic struggle to tear the metal box from the wall, and he welcomed the pain. He pulled again, and again, and finally the cabinet ripped itself from the wall in a shower of drywall and splinters as the wood behind it split with a sound like a gunshot. He pulled it free so suddenly that he overbalanced and slammed the case into the wall behind him, gouging out another hole in his rage. white dust rained down on him as he turned and threw the cabinet out of the bathroom. It seemed to spin in slow motion, and it made whuff-whuffing sound as it flew through the air. The little magnetic lock failed under the force of the throw, and Q-tips flew everywhere as the med-kit he kept in there flew off in one direction and the mouthwash flew off in another, both exploding as they hit his furniture. The cabinet itself slammed into his television with a thunderous crash, the mirror shattering and screen exploding to send glass shards flying everywhere, all sparkling like little diamonds in his carpet.
He stood there, panting as he struggled to put that rage into check, and he raked his hand through his hair roughly as the adrenaline drained from him. He shifted back down into hishu as he got himself back under control. He was done with this shit. He brushed the last of the dust from his hair and off his shoulders as he walked across the glass that crunched underfoot.
The silver bullets sat in a row on the table. Starseeker leaned back in his chair and regarded them over the glass of whiskey.
Tick.
Tick.
Eight of them, all lined up, shining silver in the moonlight. A ninth one, broken in half and deformed from being fired.
Tick.
Tick.
The sounds of the city from outside the open window invaded the apartment as the young Werewolf considered the bullets in front of him, and the empty gun in front of them.
The best thing, well, one of the best things, about the season were the seasonal drinks at Starbucks. Strictly speaking, they started selling them in November, but had Christian never, ever bought bought one until December. Now, with his super smelling powers, he had to plan his patrol routes to avoid hanging around the Starbucks for extended periods of time, lest he loose all control and break down before the proper time.
But finally, the time had come. The lady at the drive through smiled at him (her hair was blue and she had more tattoos than someone her age really should have) and passed him his change, then the Crimson Chalice with his prize
His first Venti Eggnog Latte with Peppermint, Gingerbread and Toffee Nut Syrup of the season.
Before his change, it smelled like Christmas time and Decadence and he only allowed himself one a week so he wouldn't swell up to the size of a blimp. Now with his enhanced senses it was like someone had passed him the incense of the yule gods, a smell that encapsulated the season. Also, he could drink a cup a day and not really gain all that much weight. It was hard to decide which was best. All this passed through his head in an instant, as he placed his treasure in the cupholder to let the drink cool as he left the line.
His reverie was broken however, by the asshole behind him leaning on his horn. Looking back, the driver was on a cell phone, making a rude gesture at him, trying to make him go faster. A rage hotter than his drink flooded his mind as his knuckles cracked due to his sudden grip on the steering wheel.
How DARE he? Starseeker barely notices himself turn his car's motor off and pocket the keys. He doesn't feel the bite of the December air on his skin as he gets up and and walks back to knock on the asshat's window, at the very last possible second pulling the blow so he doesn't shatter the glass and pull the man out through the hole, broken shards cutting and tearing both their flesh before he slammed this ignorant fool's face into the brick wall.
The man touched a button and another flare of anger erupted through Starseeker as the window rolled down. How dare this asinine, mouthbreathing, know nothing worm have power windows when he had to make do with a manual crank. He speaks, his first words dancing him immeasurably close to his final moments. "Hey fuckwit, move your-"
Starseeker interrupts the idiot, doing his very very best to keep his claws inside, his fangs hidden behind teeth, his fur under skin. "Do you know who I am?"
The rat, this vomitous, rage inducing pustule sitting in his fancy car with his powered windows that he only had because real people like Starseeker kept monsters that this fool was too blind to see from crossing over and hollowing out his head and wearing his skin like a suit, this piece of offal speaks over him as if he had said nothing. -piece of shit, do you have any idea how late you are making me?
Starseeker repeats, a bastion of control. "I said, do you know who I am?"
An arrogant sneer, making the muscles in Starseeker's shoulder twitch, a chain reaction that would, if left unchecked, send this arrogant pile of shit's teeth flying across the passenger seat of his vehicle. "Why the fuck would I?"
Starseeker smiles, something that instinctively makes the human lean back and glance at his phone, because there is nothing human in the smile. "I only thought you might have known me, because if you did, you might know what kind of person I am." A pause, in which the man tries to speak. "But since you don't, you don't know one thing about me. You don't know how long it takes me to get situated. You have no idea if I am crazy, if I have a gun in my car, or anything like that. So I have to wonder, what made you think that honking at me would make me move any faster?"
His eyes look at his phone again, and like I possess some magical sense that lets me read his mind, I know he's wondering if he can call for help before I reach in and hurt him. "You're holding up the line..." A little of his bluster comes back. "And what makes you think I don't have a gun?"
The Wolf smile gets wider, wide enough to be the only thing in the man's world."I wasn't the one who honked and started this discussion. And I don't really give a shit you had a gun, because what would you do with it? Shoot me? If you killed me, you'd still be stuck here without your drink, because my car is in the way. If I had a gun and killed you for being a arrogant little shit, I could drive off, with my fancy coffee. "
The bluster was gone. "Are you threatening me?"
The wolf looked out of one man's eyes into another for a solid minute, the Starseeker said, slowly and carefully to make sure he was understood."Not at all. I am suggesting that before you honk at someone getting ready to leave, you ask yourself if they might not be willing to make sure that you are late to whatever you were in a hurry to get to, and to make sure that they aren't crazy enough to get out of their car and have a discussion for five minutes to make good and sure that you will be late for whatever it is you need to get to." He leans his head in closer, eliciting another flinch back from the man. "I hope you have a shitty day. Bye."
Without another word, Starseeker walked back to his car, smiled at the lady that had given him his order, and started his car. He took a moment to take a drink of his coffee, savoring the smell and the flavor, before he looked into his rearview mirror at the man, who flinched away from his gaze.
Three People, one's a Werewolf. Together they fight crime!
Okay, not really, Starseeker was just bored. The bus was taking foooooorrrrrrrreeeeeeeevvvvvvveeeeerrrrrrrrrr. The woman was texting on the phone. Her child... was standing in front of him.
Staring at him.
Well, two could play at this game.
The little girl and the werewolf locked gazes.
"What's yourJob?"
"I'm a ninja."
Her jaw drops. Her mouth works. She runs away.
Score one for the ninja.
Later
He can hear the girl. Hiding on the other side of the wall, being as still as a nervous eight year old who's mother is still texting instead of watching her can be.
Periodically, she peeks around the side of the wall to look at the ninja.
Man, you're really good at hiding.
She ducks back behind the wall, giggling. She jumps out, hands balled up into fists on her hips like supergirl.
"Well now you're just in plain sight."
"HA!"
"Terrible."
Even Later
She runs up to me, two brown leaves clutched in her mittens.
"TA-DA!" She proudly announces.
"You found some leaves. In the pile of leaves."
"Uh, uh! I found some good ones!"
"Okay then, let me see them." I lean forward, peering intently at first one of them, and then the other, my hand on my chin.
I sit back and nod my head. "You're right. Those leaves rule"
"YEAH!" She looks up at me, all smiles and sunshine and pink cheeks. "I'm Suzi."
"I'm Chris."
She looks at me, like I'm the slow kid in her class. "No silly, you're the ninja!"
Then the bus pulls up, and she runs off with her mother.
Digger laid on the floor trolley under the VW Bus. "Hand be the Oil Filter." Digger said and held his hand out to have the Filter handed to him. As Digger worked he remembered that this is the first time he and his New Alpha had been alone since he was sleeping on the couch. Now, most nights, Digger ended up sleeping on the couch in his office. When he hadn't found a woman to go home with anyway.
"Star, the filter?" Digger said.
The filter slaps into Digger's hand without a word. Indeed, Starseeker had been uncharacteristically quiet this evening, limiting his vocalizations to monosyllabic grunts and the occasional sigh. He's been like this before, most often when he breaks up with another girlfriend, because it seems like every single time he meets one, they're The One. They never are.
Digger slides out from under the Van after fitting the Oil Filter. He sits up and takes a rag out of his back pocket and wipes his dirty hands on it. It can't be certain if, by wiping his hand on the rag, that his hands are any cleaner or dirtier then they were before. Digger lights a cigarette and looks up at Starseeker, "Whats Eating you man?"
Starseeker chews his lip as he looks at Digger. Why did you join the Blood Talons?"
"Hmm, never been asked that before." Digger thought for a moment before getting up and making his way to a 1950's Frigidaire that looked like it had been pulled out of land fill and rebuilt. He opened the fridge and pulled out two beers. He handed one to his Alpha and said. "Just Felt right. The Son's had at least one of every tribe in the pack, and plenty of Ghost Wolves. When the time came I sat down and talked to each of them. Only one that really clicked home was the Talon's." Digger cracked the top on his beer and took a long pull. "Why whats going on little brother?" Digger said little brother playfully. Not degrading the Alpha's position just making a comment on Digger being older and larger.
He takes the beer but just plays with it, not opening it. He bounces his right leg on the ball of his foot while he leans against a vehicle. "They tore down his house and built another one. New tenants moved in today."
He's quiet, almost long enough to make the silence stretch out uncomfortably. "I'm leaving the Bone Shadows."
"Who BullRush?" With Starseekers affirmations Digger just nods. "That sucks brother. I know he was like your Dad..."
Digger paced for a minute trying to think of something to say to his Alpha. This wasn't his job to cheer people up. It was his job to kill shit.
When Christian reveals his next revelation Digger just nods At least thats something I can understand...
"Is it something you need to do? Do you feel it in ya?" Digger asked.
Irritation tickles at the back of Starseeker's eyes before he can quash it down again. Digger doesn't understand, he can't talk to Slick about it and by Luna the idea of talking to Starflower about it just gave him the willies. It's not like he could talk to Mother Duck about it either, she wouldn't understand, she's not even half human. He could talk to Bull Rush about these things, and he had to go away. Why? What did he do to drive him off? Did he somehow know about Starseeker's growing fear that he had joined the Bone Shadows in some kind of attempt to be more like the Ithaeur somehow? Did he know that Starseeker had already learned the Rite of Renunciation? Bull Rush was always so set on his path once he chose it, did Starseeker's inability to find and follow his own push his Alpha into the night after covering his tracks to the point where he couldn't be followed?
"Yep."
"So you gonna roll Ghost for a while or do you have another road you wanna travel?" Digger asks as he goes up into the loft area again. He is rummaging around for a bit.
"Ghost." He didn't really have any tribe in mind, well, beyond the Storm Lords, but he didn't know if that was just some kind of knee-jerk reaction to being the new Alpha. What if he stopped being the Alpha someday? Would he run away from that then too? He knew he needed to figure himself out before he tried to join a Tribe again.
"That is a good Idea man. Feel things out and figure out what you need." Digger says. "Ah Found it." Digger says and comes down the steps. I got you something for Christmas but I forgot to give it to you." Digger hands his Alpha a rolled up leather vest with a Patch on the back. The Patch was just a wolf howling at a crescent moon. It was the Same Patch as the Son's of Luna, only the words Sons of Luna were removed from the back. There was no replacement for them. "Figured as the Last surviving member of the Son's I would retire the name and move on, I mean Old Man told me to ride on so this is the best way I know how. So I want you to have this. I have one for Chantey too. Its my way of saying thanks for taking me in."
Oh, how... not subtle at all, said his inner No Moon and he ran his fingers over the patch. Shut up, the rest of him said, this is... not about subtlety. He puts on the vest, and moves around in it, getting a feel for it. It made noises that told him he'd need to break it in before he could dedicate it. "Thank you Digger, I've never had one of these before. Do I need to get a jacket or something to go with it? Or a hat?"
Digger just laughs a small laugh. "Its up to you man, you don't even need to wear it if you don't want to. I just thought it'd be a cool gesture. Kinda let you know I am all in with the ACB."
Digger looked around the shop kinda wondering what they were gonna talk about. Digger isn't exactly the soft and cuddly type and all this feelings was eating at him.
Starseeker pops the cap off his beer and downs it in one pull. Then he lets loose a manly burp. "We're gonna turn into women if we keep talking like this, and I don't know about you but that would be totally unfair to all the ladies I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet." He points to his car. "The Mystery Mobile isn't going to fix itself, Scooby. Let's get cracking."
"You actually gonna help now or you gonna sit there and sulk about the girl I stole from you the other night?" Digger says giving him a playful slap in the gut. Digger sits down on the floor trolley. Digger lays down and slides underneath. "Aight should be good go ahead and poor the oil in."
"Oh please, I let you have her. She was drunk and swimming in daddy issues. Obviously she was more your speed..."
The pair continue on in this vein, until once again they Mystery Mobile is running like it is supposed to run.
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