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          "Maggie, one of these days I'm

going to kill you myself just so that I'm not constantly on a roller coaster

ride." It was a few days later and Edward was still very unhappy with her.

"Oh, stuff it! I like roller

coaster rides. Besides, what's the point in being special if you don't use it?"

"There are other ways of getting

things done."

She laughed openly and heartily.

"What? Your way? Or Rey's way? You guys seem to think that living in the past

is the only way of doing things. Hiding. Lurking. And maybe some of that is

true. The world might never be ready for us. But I'm ready for the world. I

love you father, but I'm getting tired of being viewed as  the bad guy."

"Mags, we'll always be the bad guys.

We kill people."

"Yeah, but according to the book,

that wasn't always the case. We could

kill people for food, but we ate other things. I'd like to know what changed.

Can you imagine if we could again? Then we'd have awesome power and no one

would have to die because of it."

"I thought you liked killing." His

tone was droll.

"Don't get high and mighty on me.

You went on a rampage to kill just one person. I've killed dozens with less

destruction. And it wasn't likely that any decent person was going to miss

those I took down. I did the police a favor."

Edward sighed inside. He had asked

Rey and Marcus to read to him from the Taborum about wawkalaks. The pages were

from another old text and had been spliced into this book a long time ago. They

were written in some old Slavic language that looked like gibberish to him.

There were several legends about

the breed, but nothing concrete. There were several specific tales, one which

caught everyone's notice. Rey remarked that he had never met a Russian

werewolf. It was thought that a good many were destroyed in the Revolution of

1. Any remaining would have gone deep underground to hide from the communist

regime.

The interesting thing was the story

of one family whose genetics had gone against the grain. They had children who

could turn into wolves at an early age. The nature of the premature

transformation was said to be a matter of basic survival in the wilderness.

Some of them could be traced to several remote regions, including some place

called Tunguska. This was a very remote region deep in the heart of the Asian

continent.

Information on this cadet branch of

the werewolf clan was thin, as was a lot of the information on the other

branches. It's hard to keep together a history when people are trying to kill

you all the time. You find that there are more important things to do than

jotting down notes before someone impales you with a silver knife.

Maggie was all for looking for the

box. She felt that it and its contents where the most valuable asset that they

had available to them. "There's a pull-off along the river. I say we get some

fishing poles and see what we can catch."

Sophia nodded towards the

outbuildings. "There're some poles in the barn dear that you're more than welcome

to use.  And plenty of bait, if you

really intent to use them." She was referring to the hunter, who was still

leading a miserable life out there.

"No, I think we should let him go.

I say we take him down with us so that he knows the box is gone. Send him back

to tell his tale. I think that if they get wind that he was bitten, they'll do

the job for us."

Sophia frowned at that. She rarely

frowned. "What's to say that others of his kind won't come back to avenge him?

And who's to say you won't find the box?"

"You have a point. But the river is

fast and a bit deep. With all those rocks, I'd think it would take a metal

detector to find it. Any one of you happen to have one of those way out here?"

"No, but you may be on to

something."

"Yeah?! Good. But then again, it

could have gotten stuck in the guy's car. Has anyone thought about that?"

Rey was getting impatient with her.

"Yes dear we did. But unlike you, we don't rush into things blindly. I am glad

you survived that gun blast unharmed, but we have already comprised Marc and

Sophie's lives stirring up things like we have."

"You know," she said, putting her

little hands on her hips, "all I started out doing was hooking up with father

here, and from there trying to find who I was and whether or not there was more

like me out in the world. Now look! I found out father was one, which is

mind-boggling if you think about it. I found Verona, and through her, you guys.

We found that old freak Fish, and we took him down. You're reunited with family

you thought were gone. Now we have found out more about our true identities and

we have a werewolf hunter chained up in the barn. So tell me where we aren't

ahead of the game."

Billy guffawed. "She has a good

point Uncle Rey. No one's dead, and while the world is in a tizzy out there, it'll

pass. Road crews are filling potholes and soon the buzz will die down. As for

this hunter fellow, now there I don't agree. I think we should just kill him

alreayd. He wasn't much use for gleaning no information from. Tight lipped as

whore being asked to suck my cock."

He looked over at Maggie and winked.

"It's a size thing".

She just giggled while Sophia

reprimanded him. "There is no need for vulgarity Billy."

"Ah ma! I was just being funny. This

group needs some lightening up"

Rey suppressed a grin. "Billy's

right. We are all still very much alive, with a new life on the way. That's

something to be thankful for. Finding the box and ring should be a priority

now." He stopped and suddenly looked panicked. "Does anyone remember where the

key went? Was it in the box when it was taken?"

Maggie shrugged. "I had just pulled

it out of the lock when the guy broke in. So it's probably here in the house.

That blast from his old gun really rocked me back."

A search under the furniture was

rewarded with the key. It had gotten knocked under the couch. Rey was feeling

more hopeful. "Even if we don't find the box and someone else does, they won't

be able to open it. That gives us a little advantage. We know what's inside and

what it does, and hopefully anyone else won't."

"Let's get down to the river and

look for it. If we have it back, then we'll have nothing to worry about."

It wasn't that easy. The fishing spot

was a quarter of a mile downstream from the wreck site. Going into the river to

search meant changing into their feral form, since the water was too swift and

deep for a human to deal with for very long. And of them all, Edward was the

most massive. Since the river was visible from the road, this was unadvisable.

Another weird animal sighting would bring the reporters and the police back en mass.

In the end, they called off the search. Just to cover all the bases, Maggie

broke into the police impound yard and rummaged through the demolished station

wagon. She came up empty handed.

Edward was having mixed feelings

about the box. He had gone from knowing nothing about it, to finding it in the

dirt, to getting it open, to losing it again all in a matter of a few days. Now

that it was gone, he wished he had it back. Maggie seemed to hit things right on

the head. Whether it was intelligence, instinct or just blind luck it was hard

to tell. He was going to listen more to her from now on. Not necessary act on

what she said, but he was going to listen.

"Mags, do you really think we

should let this guy go?"

"Well, you know, I've been

thinking. We need passports."

"What?"

"Yeah. Passports. I bet this guy

has one, unless he has another way of getting in and out of the country."

"OK, I think you're way ahead of me

on something."

"Look. His job was to find and kill

werewolves and to find the ring. These guys have been searching for years. So

what happens once you find it? You Fedex it to the Vatican? No, I think that

the finder of it would have to deliver it himself."

"I'll go with your reasoning. So

what are you saying?"

"I say that we take him back to Rome

and find out where this secret cult is based and take them down for good."

"Uhhhh, that's awfully ambitious."

"And what? You'd rather sit here waiting

for the next guy loaded down with silver to find us. Do you want to be always

looking over your shoulder, wondering if someone is following you? You're going

to be a real father now. Is that what you're going to want for your kid?"

"No!" She was right. It was time to

be proactive. If the hunter had not appeared when he had, then none of this

would be happening. But timing is everything. He went out to the barn.

"I'll make you a deal. You haven't transformed

yet, so I don't think you're going to. I think that if there is some way of

settling this once and for all, I'd like to do it. That means setting you free

and accompanying you to Rome."

The man opened his bloodshot eyes. "You

would sacrifice yourself?"

"No. I intend to discuss the matter

with whoever is in charge. Because of you the box is lost in the river. So

unless your boss wants to send over a hundred priests in waders, it's lost for

good. I don't want to live the rest of my life wondering if someone is watching

my every move. If I die in Rome, then so be it."

The hunter closed his eyes. "I will

be a disgrace. But like you, I feel that I should either die or be absolved of

my sins. I cannot kill myself, and the promise of death here has been ignored."

"So you'll take us?

"Yes."

"I guess I had better work on

getting a passport for Maggie and me. That's going to take a while. So I'll see

that you're treated better until that time comes."

The man opened his eyes again. A

smile came to his lips. "No. We have no need for such simple minded formalities.

People come and go outside of the system. Here is what you need to do." The

hunter gave Edward some details. The whole thing sounded farfetched, but so

far, his present life was no more outlandish. He did as he was told.

Maggie sent an email to the IP address

given to her. A reply came back within ten minutes. It had nothing but numbers

and letters.

"Coordinates. Let me bring them up

on Google Earth." The globe appeared, then swirled and narrowed down to a

single point on the landscape. It was about fifty miles from where they were.

It was a small airfield in the middle of nowhere.

She hit reply without adding any

additional information. Ten minutes later she got another message. It was a

time and date. It was for tomorrow. "That doesn't leave us much time."

The hunter was let loose and

allowed to clean up, under the watchful eye of Billy. He was enjoying his duty,

making the man uncomfortable with sex in the shower jokes the entire time.

There was more than one way of being cruel. Maggie and Edward packed and the

next morning they were driven to their destination by Verona. She had been in

bed for the better part of the last few days, Mating was a rough business.

"Are you sure you two are going to be

alright??"

Edward patted her hand. "Of course

not. If I was sure, then I would be going alone."

"Can't I come with you?"

"I'm not trying to be macho here,

but no. You're pregnant now and you need to protect our child. That's what I'm

doing, or trying to do. I'm going to see if I can't end this once and for all."

The hunter groaned a little, made the sign of the cross and

uttered, "Miserebitur Deus noster."

The airfield was old and abandoned.

Still the runway was fairly clear of weeds and debris. The airplane circled three

times before landing. The Piaggo Aero Avanti  rolled to a stop just yards from the Rover. The

pilot got out and escorted them inside. Once their bags were stowed, he closed the

plane and fired up the engines. With a turnaround time of only ten minutes, the

plane was back in the air.

The private flight took them across

the US to New York City again. The plane settled down at LaGuardia Airport

where they were shuttled to a waiting seven forty seven. Thirty minutes later

the Alitalia jumbo was tearing down the runway heading east for the transatlantic

crossing. There were only three passengers aboard the cavernous plane. It looked

like it was going to be a long ride.