{"sf1_id":753098,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Past Meets the Present","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2338,"posted_at":"2014-09-05T17:35:00.000Z","tags":["Horror","Human","Netherwalker","New York City","Story Progression","Werewolf","back story"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/753098-the-past-meets-the-present","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/753098","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=753098\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#20 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                As it\nturns out nothing untoward happened during the nighttime hours. No odor; no\nsecret, dire warnings. Perhaps he figured there was little point in being\npersistent. Heck, for that matter, maybe he really wanted us to try. Unbalanced\nor not, he just might be tired of living. I knew I would be, under such dark circumstances.                Maggie\ntried her best to down some breakfast, but I was thinking she was going to have\nto eat over at Verona's place again. I hadn't asked where they got their last\nmeal from, and I really didn't want to know. It was hard to be on a moral high\nhorse when the people you associated with were killers too. Yes, I know there was a difference. But when it boiled right down to it, they were murderers. They simply did it in a neater and cleaner way, ridding society of some of its worst. Everything and everybody had to eat. This guy was just cruel and sick. I think he did it out of fun, or maybe,\nnow in his later years, out of sheer boredom.                  She\nseemed shy about going out now alone, and I thought nothing less of her for her\ndiscretion.  I hardly wanted to be her\npartner out there, because with my luck, I'd become a suspect, or at the very\nleast, be considered a witness. And I had a feeling the police were on the\nalert, even if they were looking for an animal and not a person.                 I was\ntempted to break off the engagement as a mistake, largely because I wasn't sure\nI liked where this was taking me. I could go back home and try to live life\nnormally. I shook my head sadly. There was no going back. I really did know it,\nbut it was such a longing inside me. Leave this madness and go back to how\nthings once were.                I\nlaughed at myself. I was referring to my life with Maggie, and that wasn't all\nthat long of a stretch of time. My life before her was bland and two\ndimensional. With her around, it was bright and full of life. And yes, death\ntoo. But I could live with that. This place, and this Mr. Fish; well, I think\nthat I wasn't made of stern enough stuff with the big city and its hidden dangers. I hadn't even liked watching horror\nfilms before all this started, and now I was as embroiled into it in real life as\na man could possibly get.                I\npicked up one of the confiscated knives that had been brought home from that night at the park. I didn't like weapons, but I was thinking that it might be\nnecessary to travel with one from now on. I doubt it would be much good against\nanything more than humans, but at least it would provide some comfort to me as\nI walked in the open. I had no intention of staying cooped up here in the\nhotel. It was nice, but I was no longer here for the fun of it.                I ended\nup putting on a new sports coat, and a new silk shirt that Maggie had picked\nout. She did like her clothes, and when she stepped out into the sunshine with\nme, we looked like a modern day Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks. Of course, her\ndress was nothing that cutesie, but a stylish number from Sax Fifth\nAvenue.  She had wanted the leather\nnumber, which I liked, but I put my foot down. No leather. She settled on a\nnice Derek Lam number and she was as sharp looking as any runway model. Lookout\nVerona!                We got\nto her apartment, feeling better, at least temporarily, and we settled into the\nchairs to listen to what they had to say. I produced the letter, and Verona very\nnearly burned it on the spot. Her father had a calmer head. \"It stinks, but\nthen, I have smelled this before. He is as he says; a netherwalker. I almost\nfeel sorry for him, but he has now shown us how dangerous he really is.\"                \"I don't\nlike your tone of voice.\"                \"Me\neither!\" said Maggie.                \"He is\nnot a zombie, as you young folks are fond of calling such creatures. Those are\nimaginary creatures, existing only in the mind and on film. You exist as either\nliving or dead. Therefore, he is living. \nBut his life has been suspended between two forms. He is part feral and\npart human. Call it feral in a human body.\"                I knew\na little about that. There were patches of my memory from those times in the\npark that were blank. So I did almost feel for him, for those that I did remember\nwere pretty grim.                Reynaud\ncontinued. \"If he were anyone else, I would contemplate removing the needles to allow his body to resume its natural cycle. But doing that would require\nhis permission and cooperation, and I for one don't think we would get it. His\nmind is already so far gone as to make a fully feral form highly dangerous. \"                This got\nme thinking. \"Maggie and Verona seem to be in control when they're in that\nform. I know movies aren't real life, but they are often depict werewolves as\nbeing mindless once the change hits them.\"                Lupenia\nblushed. \"Yes dear, we have our heads about us, but it's a whole other world\nonce we change. Our senses are sharper, our claws are sharper, and our needs\nare greater.\"                That last\nword hinted at something very sexual. And I already was aware of that. The\nfunny thing was the difference between Maggie and Verona. It was yet another\nmystery, and I think I would have preferred that one over the greater challenge\nthat lay before us.                  \"So\nthen, what you're saying is that all the old tales are based off of werewolves\ngone mad?\"                \"Yes\ndear.\" Her manner was suddenly a bit shy.                \"Does\nthis have something to do with me?\"                \"No\ndear, I don't see how it can in the long run.\"                \"In the\nlong run? What the hell does that mean?\"                            Reynaud\nsilenced his wife. \"She should not have mentioned it.\"                \"MENTIONED\nWHAT?\" I yelled. I hated to be left in the dark.                \"Calm\ndown son!\" He sucked in a breath and held it a moment. \"There are things we\nknow, but we do not talk about.\"                \"I don't\ngive a damn Reynaud. If there is something I should know, then God damn it,\ntell me.\"                His\nface looked like he had eaten a bowl full of silver. \"It's not a secret, yet I\nfind it difficult to discuss with you here.\"                \"Why?\nIs it some sort of family secret?\"                \"Yes,\nmaybe.\"                \"If I'm\nsupposed to be part of your family, then what harm is there in telling me? It's\nnot like I'm going to run out and broadcast it to the world. They'll snag me\nand put me in a straight jacket quicker than you can say Bobs your uncle.\"                \"That\njust it son. It's not from our family, but possibly from yours.\"                I felt\na shiver run down my back. \"Mine?\"                \"Sit\ndown son. This may take a while.\"                I did\nas I was told, unaware that I was actually on my feet, pacing the room. My\nfingers felt achy and I swore that my knuckle hair was darker. But it must have\nbeen a trick of the light, for when I looked again, it was pale and normal.                \"Edward,\nwhat did your mother ever say to you about what she knew concerning her parents\nancestral home?\"                \"Not\nmuch. I knew it was French, but outside of that, she never spoke much about it.\nI do remember my grandparents, and she would talk to them in French, but I wasn't\nfluent enough to follow.\"                He\nnodded. \"As I suspected. It was wise to keep you out of earshot until you came\nof age. There is no point in filling your head with wonder and then being\nteased and mocked by the other children. That way leads to revenge. And nothing\ncan carry out revenge like a werewolf.\"                \"Great!\nWhat does this have to do with me?\"                \"Have\nyou ever heard of the Beast of Gévaudan?\"                \"Uh,\nthat would be a big fat no!\"                \"I\nthought as much. He was one of our kind, driven mad by some affliction they\nwere never able to identify or treat.\"                \"Great!\nSo there have been other freaks running around in the past. When was this?\"                Reynaud\nconsulted with his wife.  \"It started in\nthe summer of seventeen sixty four. As far as the stories go, the first attack\nwas foiled by the presence of bulls in a field. The would-be victim found\nrefuge in a herd, and they kept the animal at bay.\"                \"The\nnext girl was not so lucky. Her name was Janne Boulet. She was killed near a place\ncalled  Les Hubacs. She had her throat ripped out and her body was tron to bits.The killings went on\nfor years. Even the King of France got involved.\"                \"But\nsomeone finally killed him?\"                \"Yes,\nsomeone did. His name was Jean Chastel. He was one of us, a true werewolf, but\nhe did what he had to, to end the terror gripping the countryside. He poured\nhimself a few silver alloy bullets and using a black powder gun, shot the\nculprit death. That was in the summer of seventeen sixty seven, three years\nafter the rampage started.\"                I felt\nmyself shivering. \"Don't tell me. You think that whoever this guy was, he was\nrelated to me? How many people did he kill?\"                   \"We don't know for certain, but maybe up to one hundred. Your\nfamily moved here and assumed a new name, yet one which the right people would\nrecognize. It's not inconceivable that this maniac from Gévaudan was your ancestor\na few times removed. Or, he could be from some other family. We can't say until\nwe determine what your proper family lineage is.\"                He\nlooked at Maggie. \"And I believe that we will need to do the same for you. Lines\nget lost, and sometimes reappear out of thin air. But if your mother was one of\nus, then that means your father had some of the blood too. It could account for\nhis insanity. The mental processes of a werewolf can be too much to deal with,\nand the sudden exposure to an unfamiliar smell or sight can drive even the most\nfirmly seated mind into a tail spin. \"                She\nlooked stunned. \"You think my real father might have the werewolf gene?\" But\nshe was a bright kid. \"That does make sense. The last I knew he was still a\nraving madman. This explanation would go far to say why that was so. But why didn't\nmother pick up on it?\"                \"Maybe she\ndid dear,\" said Lupenia. \"Like calls to like. But if the \"were\" never took hold\nof him, there was little she could do to spark it. I mean, outside of biting him...\"\nShe let her words trail off. There was definitely a rebuke to her daughter in\nher tone.                \"Mother!\nI was doing what I thought was best!\"                \"For\nwhom dear; him or you? The heat makes us do crazy things, so I cannot hold you\nresponsible for following your instincts, but your actions have started things\nin motion that may well instigate even greater challenges ahead. Edward may\nvery well have had that coin left in place by his parents to forestall his\ntransformation. If he is related to the Beast, what's to say he too will not\nbecome such an agent of horror as the one we now seek to destroy?\"                \"Thanks\nLupenia. You know just how to make me feel better about myself.\"                \"Sorry\nEdward, but this is no time for holding back the truth, no matter how ugly it\nis. If you remove that coin, there is the chance that you will be just as bad\nas Mr. Fish. We would be responsible for unleashing another horror on this\ncity, and I for one am not prepared to do that.\"                \"You?\nWhat about me? I'm the one who would be going out of control!\"                Maggie meanwhile\nhad gotten on her laptop and pulled up several websites that listed the beast.\nI can't say that any of them were very informative, but they did expand on our\nlimited knowledge. The funny thing was that one of the sites mentioned the\nbeast as a she. I was more inclined to think of evil people being male, but why\nnot a female too? It was a lot to think about, and so for the time being, we\nstayed as a group and said nothing more of our troubles.                On a\nrooftop overlooking Verona's apartment, there was a man standing in sharp\ncontrast to the sky. The wind ruffled his overcoat, and his mustache flowed in\nthe wind. The wrinkles in his face were dark valleys, hiding traces of ghosts\nand ghouls in their shadows. He leaned on a cane tipped with silver, and while\nhis hands seemed to quiver, he had made his way to the roof via the back alley\nwall. He stared for the longest time, occasionally rubbing the top of the cane\nas he pondered. The name that had been engraved there so long ago was nearly\nworn off now. Albert could still see the original owner's face, a twisted mask of fright\nand horror. He had gone down in a heap, and by the time Albert was finished\nwith him, there was little left to identify.                He\nhefted the ebony stick and jumped back down to the ground. The thud was\nsickening to hear, but he limped off, not waiting for the healing to kick in.\nThere would be plenty of time for that later. He was feeling hungry now. Time to\nfeed."}