FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It was early morning in late April, the crescent moon was still in the sky. David was sitting at the table, face down, sleeping. He had called in sick from work as he didn’t get any sleep from sudden nightmares from his First Change in the asylum. Colin was scowling next to David as he got a fifth call that morning from a blocked number.

“Uh…” said Kaiden, who looked up from his coursework on his laptop and watched Colin’s phone continue to ring. “You gonna answer that?”

“No.” scowled Colin.

He continued to ignore it until it stopped ringing. The phone pinged soon after from a text message from the same number.

Hey halfblood. Pick up.

Colin’s scowl deepened and he ignored his phone as it started ringing several more times. The calls eventually stopped. The phone then rang again. It was a call from Morrison.

Colin quickly grabbed the phone. Morrison, Lucas, and Tsu’mara were at work. So if he were calling it had to be important pack business.

“What’s wrong, Elder Morrison?” asked Colin.

He took a sudden sharp, and furious intake of breath as he heard the voice on the other end. It was the Moon Shadow Riders’ Elodoth. He had used a technology spirit to spoof Morrison’s phone number.

“Don’t hang up!” shouted the Elodoth. “Protectorate business. Hand me to a packmember.”

Colin ignored his request and went to peg his phone into the dining room’s floor tiles. Kaiden caught Colin by the wrist, stopping him from smashing his phone.

Kaiden snatched the phone from their hand and took over the call.

“Yo,” said the Elodoth. “Is this Madhouse?”

“I’ll get him,” said Kaiden.

He kicked David’s chair to wake him up. When they shot up with a surprised snarl Kaiden handed him the phone.

“What?” asked David in his usual rude manner.

“We got something for you,” said the Elodoth. “We need you, and your friendliest packmate, back in Vegas. We’ll fill you in when you get here. It’s a little leftover problem that you need to clean up and it’s cluttering up our territory.”

The Elodoth then hung up and Colin’s phone pinged with a text message giving them the address to meet up at.

It was a two and a half hour drive to Vegas to get to the address where the Moon Shadow Riders’ Elodoth was waiting out front with them dressed in his familiar sleeveless biker jacket. Kaiden parked the truck, he didn’t trust David to drive with him being sleep deprived and only just recently got his licence.

The Elodoth’s face lit up when he saw David get out of the truck but quickly fell when he saw Colin also get out. They stared each other down.

“What is their problem?” asked Kaiden, surprised to see Colin acting out of character like that.

David sighed, tired, “I don’t fucking know. Every time I tried to ask him, he bites my head off.”

“What’s his name anyway?” asked Kaiden.

David shrugged, “I don’t know. I never asked. You didn’t get his name when you met him last time we were here?”

Kaiden shook his head, “No, and at this point it’s too awkward to ask.”

“Wait,” said David, realising something that made his stomach drop. If their pack’s Elodoth was here. Then so too could-

A large mass collided into his side, wrapping an arm tight around his neck and trapping him in a headlock.

“MADHOUSE!” said Rick excitedly as the large, well built and bald biker rubbed David’s head with his knuckles, messing up his greasy hair. “You still tearing your clothes each time you change forms?”

David struggled under the overly affectionate biker’s affections. He only got out of it when Rick released him from the headlock. David growled an answer, “No.”

Rick looked at his hand and then wiped it on his jeans with a grimace. “You still have all your hair and that’s how you treat it?”

His pack’s Elodoth walked up and patted David’s shoulder affectionately. “It’s good to see you again, Madhouse.”

The Elodoth’s nose twitched as he smelled something. He looked from David, to Colin, then David again.

“Really?” he asked incredulously. “You mated with the Campbell runt?”

Colin spoke up impatiently, sneering, “You called us for a reason?”

The Elodoth growled at Colin for a moment before turning his attention back to David, “So when you burned down your asylum-”

David raised an eyebrow at ‘your asylum’. Evidently David’s and his pack’s handling of it made the Elodoth want to completely wash his hands of it as being something that was his territory. Considering Morrison’s comments about how difficult they were to keep under control in the Spirit World during their first tour of Pioche’s Spirit reflection, he didn’t blame them.

“-You put a bunch of people out of work. One of those nurses has gone a bit bonkers. We found her ranting and raving in a homeless camp the other day. Completely bonkers, keeps shouting about wolves. You didn’t do a good enough job concealing your cleanup from the herd.”

“We were, of course, just gonna kill her,” said Rick, cutting off his Elodoth. “Simple enough thing for us to do, and it would have made you owe us a favour. But then we got a good sniff of her. Seems like you didn’t just drive her nuts, you turned her into a wolf-blood.”

“One of us!” chanted Jesse, popping up from the back of the truck. “One of us!”

Kaiden groaned when he heard the Irraka pop up. They told Jesse not to tag along which, in hindsight, probably guaranteed that Jesse would sneak along with them.

“I thought you killed everyone,” Kaiden said to David.

“I saw the footage too,” said David. “I thought I killed everyone too.”

“Her name is Gabby Martinez,” informed Rick. “She’s currently living under a highway overpass at the Fifteen and Charleston..”

“Normally,” said the Elodoth, “We’d be happy to take another wolf-blood, even if she’s damaged goods, but this one’s from your mess so she’s yours. It’s preferable to have someone who’s not ranting about wolves in our territory.”

“David,” said Colin to catch David’s attention. “You can’t be the one she sees first.”

“Yeah,” Kaiden said to Colin. “You and I are the only ones she hasn’t seen.”

“When did she see me?” asked Jesse. “I only showed up _after _David, seemingly, killed everyone.”

“We still don’t need you having a chat with her,” said Kaiden. “We want to break everything to her gently and come with us willingly.”

The pack then left the two members of the Moon Shadow Riders and made their way to the Fifteen Highway. When they arrived they saw fresh spraypainted graffiti marking one of the pillars under the bridge they were told to find Gabby. It bore a striking resemblance to a werewolf in Gauru with a distinct and familiar hunch.

“Why’s it pink?” asked Jesse.

“Looks purple to me,” said Kaiden.

“Red to me,” said Colin.

“Magenta,” corrected David. “And it looks like shit.”

“We’re gonna have to get rid of that,” says Colin. “Keep the Herd in the dark.”

“Why?” asked Kiaden. “David’s our resident artist. Could just have him alter it. Make it just seem like some weirdly specific art. Humans know about werewolves but just think they’re not real. Just make it seem like it’s the piece’s gimmick or something.”

“Oh, like how Powerwolf is able to get away with technically breaking the Oath of the Moon,” said Colin. “The Herd just think it’s the band's gimmick.”

“Who?” asked David.

“My favorite band,” said Colin, shocked. “You didn’t know that?”

“You never brought it up before,” said David. “You don’t know mine.”

“Abba,” said Colin and Jesse in unison.

David looked at Jesse, “How the hell do YOU know that?”

“Your phone doesn’t have a password,” said Jesse.

“Your phone doesn’t have a password?” asked Colin with angered disappointment.

“I don’t know how to set a password,” David said with a shrug.

“For crying out loud,” said Kaiden, shaking his head. Then, thinking quickly to keep Jesse occupied and to stop from messing things up with Gabby said, “Jesse, stay here and get that set up for him. I’ll go track her down while David alters the graffiti.”

“What about me?” asked Colin.

Kaiden leaned in close and whispered, “Keep Jesse here.”

He then walked away to try and track her down. He found it surprisingly easy, as he caught her scent so quickly that if it were Colin, he would’ve assumed she was standing right next to him. But she wasn’t, but it was easy to track. The recognisable tang of blood weeping from an open wound hung in the air so strongly that he barely had to search for it.

He found her a block away in a vacant parking lot, judging by the scent trail, to a specific tent tucked into a bramble of shrubs and bushes. He stepped closer when something nagged him at the back of his mind. His predator instinct warned of a trap. He stopped and looked down and saw, just a couple millimetres from his shin, a tripwire made of thin fishing line. He followed the line to a series of bells near the entrance to the tent. He looked around carefully and saw more tripewires leading to more bells, all crossing over themselves in a minefield of bells and line.

Not wanting to risk getting shot, he carefully stepped around each and every one until he reached the tent.

He called out, “Anyone inside?”

There was scrambling inside the tent and the distinct sound of a gun’s slide being racked. A trembling female voice said, “Go away.”

Taking a moment to thank his lucky stars he didn’t trip the alarm bells Kaiden then said, “Are you Miss Gabriella Martinez?”

The voice replied quickly, “I said go away.”

“I will,” assured Kaiden, “But I want to ask you something about the asylum you used to work at.”

The entrance to the tent then unzipped. The first thing to come out of the tent was a trembling hand pointing a handgun straight at Kaiden’s chest. He backed up cautiously, taking care to not trip over the tripwires.

Gabby then stepped out of the tent. She looked like a complete mess. She was wearing several changes of clothes on top of each other, her face was filthy, and her hair was tied in a bun. Or at least an attempted bun, more of her hair was out of the bun in a scraggly mess.

“What do you know about it?” she asked, her gun still pointed at Kaiden’s chest.

Not wanting to get shot, he chose his words carefully. Not that getting shot would really hurt him that much, but he didn’t want to scare the obviously disturbed woman. “That something happened, a bunch of people died, and it burned down.”

“Something happened?” snapped Gabby. “Damn right something happened. It was a fucking monster.”

She shook her head, “But you won’t believe me. No one believes me.”

Kaiden sighed, “I spent a stint in an asylum as well a month ago. People thought I was crazy for seeing wolves everywhere. But I wasn’t. I knew I wasn’t. But no one ever believed me, kept telling me that I was having a schizophrenic break.”

He was about to mention the breakout where David and others saved him but caught himself. He didn’t want to risk having her put the dots together yet that he was one of the ‘monsters’ she was attacked by. She needed to have it broken gently to her.

Gabby slowly lowered the gun. It was still trained on Kaiden, but it was no longer aimed directly at Kaiden’s chest. “So you saw them too. You’re not screwing with me are you?”

“I’m not,” Kaiden said reassuringly. “I know what you’re going through. I know it seems insane but it will get better.”

Gabby’s hand trembled more around the gun more until it finally dropped to her side in only a single hand. She let out a sob before breaking out fully into tears, “Thank you. Thank you. I needed someone to believe me.”

She poorly wiped her tears away with her one free hand, smearing the dirt on her face. “How did you know where to find me? Who told you what happened?”

He told her a half truth, “I was told about a woman who was telling stories about wolf monsters in the asylum that recently burned down.”

“Are you looking to find these things?” she asked. “What do you plan on doing when you find them and prove we’re not crazy? What’s your goal?”

“Do what most people want,” Kaiden said with a shrug. “Get closure and move on.”

Gabby laughed, a sharp, somewhat unhinged sounding cackle, “That’s a lot of progress for someone who’s been in an asylum a month ago.”

There was a sudden ringing of bells and they both turned to see Jesse in Urhan off to the side dancing. Or at least, as much as he could as a maned wolf, which amounted to him just bouncing from side to side.

“Dios mio,” exclaimed Gabby. “What the hell is that?”

“A pain in my ass,” Kaiden said with clenched teeth.

“Is that a dog?” asked Gabby.

“Just ignore it,” said Kaiden. “They’re just doing it for attention.”

“I wolf therefore I am,” Jesse said in the First Tongue which made Kaiden mentally curse him.

Gabby couldn’t understand the First Tongue but she could understand that the maned wolf had said something. She pointed her gun back up towards Kaiden, going back and forth from him to Jesse and back again.

She let a stream of panicked Spanish of which Kaiden only caught ‘diablo’. She then said in English, “What kind of devil is that?!”

“Miss Martinez, please. Try to-” Kaiden started to say.

Gabby cut him off as she started to hyperventilate and fired her gun. Striking Kaiden square in the chest.

He stumbled back, clutching his chest. He looked at the growing red flower of blood on his shirt, glared at Jesse, and then looked back to Gabby. He said, “That was uncalled for. Now that you got that out of your system, can you put that away?”

Gabby saw the blood stop flowing from Kaiden’s gunshot wound in both disbelief and belief. What she saw competed with her medical training as to what should be possible. It simply wasn’t possible for such mortal wounds to heal before one’s very eyes like that. But she had seen the impossible before back in the Asylum. She suspected the impossible before it was forcibly revealed to her.

“What the fuck?!” screamed Gabby, her shaking her hands still pointing the gun at Kaiden.

“I was getting to that part of the story,” said Kaiden, cringing slightly as he felt the bullet get pushed out of his chest and fall out from beneath his shirt.

“You remember how I mentioned what happened at the asylum?” Kaiden asked.

Gabby gave a terrified nod.

Kaiden continued, “Eventually the hallucinations started getting worse. Then one night everything got worse. Then I learned what the truth was.”

Jesse tried to walk up but Kaiden booted him away.

Gabby nodded and said, “I’m dead. We’re dead. I’m in hell.”

..“You’re not dead,” said Kaiden reassuringly before muttering to himself, “At least I hope we’re not.”

He sighed, “You know werewolves? The thing that attacked you?”

“Yes,” answered Gabby with a nod before she paled and her eyes widened. “Wait, am I becoming a werewolf?”

Kaiden bobbed his head from side to side and said, “Kinda, yeah. You’re more of an inbetween.”

Jesse shifted to Hishu, within full view of Gabby, and said, “I’m sorry, Honey. You’re one of us now.”

Gabby’s eyes widened in terror. She pointed the gun directly at Jesse. But with her panicked breathing she couldn’t keep it steady enough to fire. Her breathing got worse and worse, until, finally, her eyes rolled into the back of her skull and she dropped like a puppet had its strings cut.

Jesse clapped his hands a single time, “Awesome. Now we can drag her back to the pack.”

Kaiden shoved Jesse towards the fainted homeless woman, “You’re carrying her.”

Jesse got to work, struggling to lift the larger woman with his waifish frame. All he could manage was to put his arms under Gabby’s armpits and lift her torso up off the ground and drag her backwards away.

“She could do to lose some weight,” Jesse grumbled to himself.

“She isn’t fat,” said Kaiden as they started leaving the parking lot. “You’re just a twig.”

On their way out, Kaiden noticed a couple bodies of other homeless people lyung around.

“Oh for crying out loud, Jesse,” cried Kaiden.

When they returned to David, who was standing back admiring his improvements to the graffiti, Kaiden saw Colin leaning on the pillar.

“I asked you to keep-” Kaiden started to say before Colin cut him off.

“He’s an Irraka and I’m only a wolf-blood. Nothing I could do if he wanted to actually sneak off like he did.”

Kaiden shook his head and turned to David, pointing back to the parking lot, “Can you burn down the homeless camp. Cover up Jesse’s bullshit.”

“Him burning down the asylum didn’t work last time,” said Jesse, “Why would it this time?”

“Cause it’s just a bunch of homeless people,” said David, pulling out his lighter and walking off towards the camp. “No one cares about the homeless.”

David made quick work of the camp, many of the tents and homeless people’s clothes were polyester so they caught flame and spread quickly. He had found an electric heater in one of the tents and put that at the area he started the fire, so that when, or even if, the fire was investigated, it would be blamed on the heater and not arson.

They all packed into the truck with Kaiden and Jesse sitting in the front, and with Gabby propped up between David and Colin in the back.

An hour into the drive back, just as they were about to reach the end of the 318 to drive around Caliente, Gabby started to stir.

She woke up screaming, thinking she was kidnapped. Which she technically was. But it wasn’t until she turned and saw David, someone she remembered from just a few months ago. He wasn’t as gaunt any more, with some small amount of weight gained but he still had the same, shaggy greasy hair, and haunted insane looking eyes. The only difference from when she last saw him in human form is that his eyes were brown instead of a shining gold. He was looking at her with an intense look of guilt and sorrow.

Her screams became shrill and manic. She kicked back away from David, slamming Colin hard against the truck’s door where he cried out in shock and pain.

“How did I get lumped into this crap?” sighed Kaiden as he drove onwards to the US93.

“I ask myself that everyday,” said Jesse.

“Shut up, you love it,” snapped Kaiden before he pulled over, fed up with Gabby’s screaming and not wanting to attract police attention. He doubted that David would be able to help them if it was anyone else but Morrison who pulled them over. He couldn’t talk his way out of a paper bag unless it involved intimidation which would blow up in his face if he keeps trying to use that as his first option.

He put the truck in park and told Jesse, “Switch seats with David with David and shut her up.”

Jesse shrugged and got out and Kaiden said after them, “By calming her down!”

“Fine,” said Jesse with mock disappointment.

To Kaiden’s surprise Jesse calmed her down quite easily. But she was still screaming, but no longer trying to jump out of the truck.

Once she wore herself out from screaming but still breathing heavily, she stared at Jesse blankly and said, “You were a dog.”

Jesse feigned being insulted and said, “I have some pride. I was a human before I became a maned wolf.”

“You don’t have any pride,” shot back Kaiden before turning in his seat to help calm Gabby down more. He got her to do some breathing exercises, which didn’t take too much prompting, with her own professional training taking over once Kaiden got the ball rolling.

Eventually, her breathing evened out and she eased up and stopped pining Colin against the door when David got out and sat in the front passenger seat. She looked to Jesse and asked, “What do you mean you were human before you were a dog. I saw you turn from a dog into a human.”

“That’s because we’re something called Uratha,” explained Jesse. “What you know as werewolves. Before that we were wolf-bloods.”

“So you can all turn into dogs,” said Gabby before shaking her head. “But what I saw wasn’t a dog. It was huge. A beast. El Diablo.”

“That was Gauru. The rage form,” explained Jesse. He pointed to David with his thumb who was hugging his arms and trying to keep his breathing steady. “This one decided to have his First Change in an asylum full of people and hooboy was he violent about it.”

“Violent?!” asked Gabby. “He tore my coworkers apart.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” said Kaiden. “The First Change sends new Uratha mad. It was everything they could do to cover his mess up. Still had to cover it up now.”

“You covered it up? That’s why people think I’m crazy?” asked Gabby.

“Yeah,” said Jesse with a grin.

Kaiden pulled one of his shoes off and threw it at Jesse. He said to Jesse, “This is the last time we bring you on a mission like this.”

“How many of you are there?” asked Gabby.

“Well, there’s this pack,” said Jesse, pointing to everyone in the truck. “There’s still some people you need to meet.”

He pointed back towards Alamo, “Then there’s Matt Dane’s pack. You were still passed out when we asked them permission to pass through their territory.”

He pointed back towards Las Vegas proper, “Then there’s the Moon Shadow Riders and their pack leader-”

Kaiden cut him off and told Gabby, “Vegas is werewolf town. They control all of it.”

“Wait,” realised Kaiden. “You know the Elodoth’s name? What is it?”

“Not telling you,” said Jesse poking his tongue out. “Shouldn’t have cut me off.”

“Control it all? Like the mafia?” asked Gabby.

“Exactly actually,” said Colin. “The mafia are werewolves. At least the ones that formed Vegas anyways.”

“Dios mio,” said Gabby and held her head in her hands. “And I’m becoming a werewolf too.”

“Not necessarily,” said Jesse. “You’re what’s called a wolf-blood, like Colin here-”

Colin waved.

“You could become a werewolf, yes. But you may never become one. Most actually don’t.”

“You infected me with lycanthropy,” said Gabby.

Jesse shook his head. “No such thing as that, it’s not a disease. Something profound happened to you. Something profound being this guy.”

He pointed at David who was looking sadly at Gabby in the rearview mirror.

“As a wolf-blood, you have what’s known as a Tell. It’s something supernatural about them that makes them stick out. There’s more that makes them stick out to us werewolves, but the Tell is the biggest one and is the one noticeable to regular humans,” explained Jesse. “You don’t want to know what mine was. But Kaiden’s was that he had phantom wolves following him everywhere, Colin can turn into a regular wolf, and David’s was that he could see spirits and ghosts. Though I’m sure you knew that one.”

Gabby’s hand drifted up to her right shoulder. It flinched as if she touched something sore and tender. She then undid her many layers of clothes, which made David, Colin, and Kaiden look politely away. They only looked back when it became clear she wasn’t stripping and actually just undoing her shirts enough to expose her shoulder.

When she did she revealed a large bite, one that they all knew must have been from David. But it shouldn’t have been. It looked far too fresh, still weeping thin watery blood as if it was only made within the last week, not months ago.

“The Bitten Tell,” said Colin.

“Explains why I was able to find you so easily,” said Kaiden.

“He did this to me,” said Gabby, shooting a harsh glare at David

David hugged his arms tighter, and his nails started to dig into them. Tears started to build up in his eyes.

Kaiden noticed and said to Gabby, “Try not to hold it against him. He was as much of a victim as you are. I’m sure you saw his files. The fact he’s even remotely sane is a miracle.”

Gabby looked a bit guilty and said, reluctantly, “I guess thank you for not killing me.”

David mumbled something Gabby couldn’t make out.

She asked the others, “Where are we going?”

“The Den,” answered Jesse. “Before you think anything, it’s a house. We just call it The Den.”

“Am I a prisoner?” asked Gabby.

“No, I don’t think so,” said Jesse. “That’s more for the elder to decide.”

“But anyways,” said Jesse. “What do you want for dinner? I’m cooking.”

“I haven’t had steak and potatoes in so long,” said Gabby

Jesse called Tsu’mara to start getting the steaks ready. As he was on the phone, Kaiden asked, “So, Gabby. Anything you want to know?”

“Why me?” she asked

“Except that,” said Kaiden. “Cause we don’t either and ask that ourselves.”

***

When they got back Tsu’mara was getting dinner ready so that Jesse could easily take over. She heard them come in and quickly started making her way to them with a huge smile.

“Brace yourself,” said Jesse as he walked off to the kitchen. “She’s gonna go into mommy-mode.”

“Mommy-mode?” asked Gabby. “We’re both thirty-five.”

“I’m Tsu’mara,” said Tsu’mara with a gentle smile. She guided Gabby to one of the dining table’s chairs. She sat them down and asked, “Is there anything I can get you while you wait for Jesse to finish making dinner?”

Feeling strangely at ease being doted over by the large woman, Gabby said with a smile, “I haven’t had a coffee in way too long.”

Dinner was ready after not too long, and the pack filled her in on the specifics of the protectorate.

“If most wolf-bloods are kept in the dark. Oh, thank you, Mija,” said Gabby as she was given a mug of coffee by Tsu’mara. “Why did you tell me?”

“Because you have a right to know,” said David. “And it was our call to make. Any other pack would have left you in the dark but kept an eye on you.”

“Oh,” said Gabby, looking down into her cup of coffee. “Thank you then. I guess.”

The front door opened and Gabby tensed when she saw an older Sheriff’s deputy walk in.

“Oh, that’s our elder,” said Jesse.

“This the new wolf-blood?” asked Morrison. “I can smell her from here.”

“Yeah, she’s handling it well too,” said Jesse.

“Better than I did,” said Kaiden.

Colin laughed, “I don’t recall you ever screaming and kicking David in the face, and slamming me against a door.”

Tsu’mara got up from the table and started walking to the kitchen, “Do you want any dessert, Gabby? We have jello and ice cream.”

“That would be lovely," said Gabby.

Lucas spoke up, “We’ll get started on introducing you about the things you need to learn tomorrow. Morrison sent us instructions to get your shit together and have you as a functional nurse again.”

“How?” asked Gabby. “Kinda hard to get my medical license back when I have a wound on my shoulder that refuses to heal. It’s how I lost it to begin with, otherwise I would’ve just been transferred elsewhere.”

Kaiden answered, “If the Protectorate can make David’s ungodly files disappear, then it shouldn’t be too hard to wipe your record so you could work as one again.”

“Yeah,” said Morrison. “I just need to say it and they’ll do it.”

“Wait,” said Gabby. “How is Lupo’s file gone? It was massive. That kind of thing would be noticed.”

Everyone just shrugged, and Lucas said, “It’s gone, and we’re the only ones left with any copies. As far as the Herd knows, David Lupo is sane and was never committed.”

“As long as he keeps his mouth shut,” he added under his breath.

David went to leap over the table but was pulled back into his seat by Morrison before he could even get his feet off the ground.

Morrison said, after giving David a warning growl, “We’ll need a nurse. Especially after the local doctor exploded.”

“WHAT?!” said Gabby.

“Yeah…” said Lucas. “Joseph Talbot was one of only two doctors in the county and he was a werewolf in an enemy pack that invaded Tsu’mara’s dreams and tried to kill her. We tore him apart when he tried to do it again and, we think, that also happened in the waking world. Since Tsu’mara’s stab wound carried over as well.”

Lucas, Jesse, and Kaiden then explained to Gabby the Pure.

Gabby was silent for several moments as the information set in. “So there are three of these ‘Pure’ tribes-”

Lucas said, “The Fire Touched, Ivory Claws, and the Predator Kings.”

“Yeah those,” said Gabby, “And they out number you 2 to 1”

“Yeah, but they’re hindered by some pretty serious bans, the biggest of the three tribes can’t even enter a town, so they struggle to bring their numbers against us. It's a stale mate over all, but at a local level the balance can vary by a lot. Vegas for instance has zero Pure and we outnumber them significantly in this part of the country. Other places, it’s a lot worse.” said Kaiden before pointing towards Caliente. “There’s a town called Caliente just over that way where Talbot’s pack, who are Firetouched, are. Don’t go there. Nothing good comes from that town.”

“Enough of scaring her about evil werewolves,” said Jesse, “I’m sure you’d love some new clothes that aren’t those old rags. Tsu’mara and I will take you clothes shopping tomorrow.”

“In the meantime,” said Jesse, getting up from the table. “Until we get you back on your feet and a place of your own. We’ll show the library where you’ll be sleeping.”

“The library?” asked Gabby.

“Yeah,” said Lucas before pointing to the bedroom. “We only have the one bed.”

“Where does everyone sleep then?” asked Gabby.

“Don’t ask,” said Kaiden.

“Cuddle puddle,” said Jesse.

Gabby gave Jesse a confused look and Kaiden repeated, “Don’t ask.”

They showed her to the library where she sat on the couch.

Lucas pointed at the closet, “Don’t touch anything in the closet. It could explode.”

“No it won’t,” said Tsu’mara. “I moved the grenades to the garage.”

“Not the Greek Fire,” said David and Lucas in unison.

“THE WHAT?!” Tsu’mara yelled at the two Ithaeur. “Why is something like that kept in a closet?”

“Where else would you keep it?” asked Lucas, and David nodded along is if Lucas was making perfect sense.

“I don’t know,” said Tsu’mara before pointing at the gun safe. “There.”

“That’s where the guns go though,” said David.

“You’re not keeping an unquenchable fire in a room full of books,” said Tsu’mara.

“Fine,” said Lucas. “I’ll move it to the garage.”

“I’ll help,” said Tsu’mara.

“They’re alchemical reagents,” said Lucas. “You’re not qualified to handle these.”

“And we can’t keep them next to the landmines,” said David. “That’s just irresponsible.”

“LANDMINES?!” yelled Kaiden. “Why am I only learning about this now?”

His questions were ignored when Tsu’mara started digging around in the closet despite the Ithaeurs’ protests.

“White phosphorus grenades?!” said Tsu’mara in shock as she looked inside a wooden box. She looked angrily at David and Lucas. “These need to be buried.”

“Why?” asked David. “They’d be great against vampires.”

“Do you want to move the M2 Browning too, Gunnery Sergeant Buzzkill?,” asked Lucas.

“Which one?” called out Morrison from the living room.

“What do you mean which one?” asked David. “We only found one.”

“That one is fine,” said Tsu’mara. “As long as it isn’t loaded.”

Morrison let out a harsh laugh, “They’re all loaded with silver.”

During the entire argument Gabby stayed sitting on the couch. She was silent and was staring at the wall, with no clue how to take in all the information she was being flooded with.