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            Meanwhile in the middle of nowhere,

two very excited old werewolves were looking over Edward's box and talking

excitedly. He thought the item was pretty neat, but hardly worth the fuss were

they making over it.

Marcus shook it. Nothing seemed to

be inside; leastwise there was no rattling noise. "I wonder what happened to

the key."

Edward raised his eyebrows. "Is it

even locked?"

The older man nodded. "If the lid

is closed the box is locked. So we need to find the key. Where did you find

this?"

He ended up taking them back to the

burned out remains of the house and pointing out the animal hole. The woman

went back and returned with a colander and several trowels. "We'll sift through

every inch of soil until we find it!"

Five hours later they had uncovered

old pennies, a broken pocket watch, plenty of broken china and glass, but no

key. The area looked like an archeological dig had been underway. Edward kept

the more valuable items, tossing everything else in a pile. They retreated and

returned to the house.

"I suppose we could just break it

open," he suggested.

That brought forth protests. "No!

If you break it, you may damage the contents!"

"And what exactly are its

contents?"

"Uh, we really don't know. Your

grandparents were the keepers of the Sanctuaire de la Lune. We knew they had

it, but not what was in it. It's a family heirloom."

"An heirloom huh? I'd hate to think

what the contents look like now. It looks like they might have buried it long

before the house burned down."

Marcus was thinking. "Do you

suppose the hunter was looking for it?"

His wife paled. "It's possible. I

mean, all this time we thought it was gone. And now young Edward has found t.

We must find the key and see what's inside!"

Repeated excavation proved

fruitless. They found all sorts of things, even a few Indian arrow points, but

no key. In between times the couple pulled out scrap books and showed him old

photographs of how the place looked in its heyday. Everything looked so damn

normal. It had a general store, a livery, and even a post office. There were a

good twenty or more buildings and houses. And it was now only a faded memory.

"Your grands' house was one of the

last to go. Is any of your childhood visits here coming back to you?"

"Not very well. I feel that I

should know it, but the details seem sketchy."

"Mindwipe."

"Pardon?"

"I think someone did a mindwipe on

you."

"A what?"

"It's where select memories are

erased. I can only guess your parents did it to try and protect you. Didn't you

say something happened to them too?"

"Their house burned down, but no

evidence of their deaths was ever found."

"I see. So they may have fled and

left no trail. It could be related to this box."

"Then we should tear it open!"

"No son. It wouldn't change

anything from your past. At this point, I say that if we don't find the key,

then we'll see if we can pick it. I doubt it'll be possible though."

"Why?"

"Because this was made by Master Leonardo

da Vinci himself."

Somewhere in Ohio, a Range Rover

was rolling along the turnpike. Maggie was asleep, and Reynaud had taken over

driving. Verona was in the back, looking over the Taborum. She hadn't seen it

since she was a small child. The fact that it had been sent to them through the

mail was almost impossible to believe. As her father said it, it made sense.

"No one will have any idea what it is." Still, it was an old text and on its

age alone someone might find value in it.

She read through it, able to read

more languages than the young girl. Her parents had made sure she was well

rounded before leaving home. The book was a wonder, and she traced various

lines from one generation to another. She came to the page with The Beast.

"Father. I heard you telling Maggie

that you thought the Bourbon line was gone."

"And so I did."

"Why is that?"

"Because there was a purging in

France, in the outlaying districts. Religious fervor took over and many people

died, accused of being witches, wizards, werewolves, vampires and more. When

you kill enough people, the odds are in your favor that you'll get someone who

fits your description of the enemy."

"So Edward's grandparents came over

when?"

"I don't know daughter. I didn't

know they had until just recently. They are not in the book. So however they

managed to escape, they did it without help from the kind."

"So then Maggie's ancestors may

have done the same thing?"

"Yes, it would make sense. Did you

get her mother's maiden name?"

"No. Just her biological father's

name; McGill."

"McGill. Nope. That doesn't mean

anything to me. If we figure all this out, we'll certainly wrap up a lot of

loose ends."

The drive went on for hours and

hours. Maggie was awake for the ride though Chicago, and from there they made

their way into Wisconsin. After a few hours more, they arrived at the diner

that had been mentioned on the news. It was busy with all sorts of sightseers

and hunters. They found a place to park and went inside.

A table was hard to come by, but

after a wait of fifteen minutes, a group got up and they were ushered to a

booth. "Are we going to eat?" asked Maggie.

"We might as well. We have enough

of the potion to last for several more days. After that it's fasting or

hunting."

They ordered and then listened to

the conversation running around the room. They were all centered on the events

of a couple of days before. According to the gossip the truck driver swore that

the animal was not his. The fact that he was unharmed made the police suspicious,

but since they couldn't detain him, and as he was a citizen of the state, they

told him to go home but to stick around in case they had further questions.

The bikers were recovering. No one

had died, and except for one fellow who swore that the animal that hurled him

into the building was originally human, everyone seemed to claim it was some

sort of bear. Then again, one of the motorcycles was reportedly missing from

the parking lot, though no one could be sure. The animal had left the bikes in pieces.

Maggie was listening all of the

chatter eagerly. "It sounds just like father. I'll just bet someone started

something. Bikers! Pussies on training wheels. I've killed a few in my time."

"Hush dear! Keep your voice down.

It does seem possible that he went into a rage. If he did, then we don't need

to worry about him controlling himself. If he had wanted to, every human in the

area would have felt his wrath. I suspect he spared the driver out of

compassion. It was probably he who drove him this far."

"I agree. So we need to find Wolf

Creek."

Reynaud cracked his neck and

stretched. "I don't want to go there. It only has bad memories for me."

"Yes dear," said Lupenia quietly. "And

for me as well. I doubt we'll find anything there but we must look. If Edward

is searching for answers and he knows about the spot, then he is smart enough

to at least stop and look."

"If he can find it. It's not been

on the map for a while now. "

"Why?"

"Werewolf hunter."

"A what?"

"Someone who hunts werewolves. Sort

of like a bounty hunter."

"I just got gooseflesh!" Maggie

shivered.

"You should. There are fewer of

them today. It's too bad they never got on Mr. Fish's tail. Then again, maybe

they did. I haven't heard rumors of one in a long time. Not since Wolf Creek."

"So what did this guy do?"

"He killed everyone in the town. It

was only a few decades ago, but it's fresh in our minds. We heard it through

the grapevine of course. It wasn't like it made headlines. Hardly anyone

noticed. We figured it was some sort of cover-up. If we went sticking our nose

into it, we might have been discovered too. So we mourned the loss and minded

our own business."

After that the conversation

faltered. The only sound was the bump and rattle as the Rover made its way down

back roads. Reynaud stopped at one point and backed up. "This way." He drove on

down the rocky road until he slowed to a halt. "It can't be"

Maggie rolled down her window and

stuck her head out. All she could she was a barn, some outbuildings and a farm

house. It didn't look very special. Lupenia made a sign of the cross. He pulled

the vehicle into the drive and put it in park.

A man came out of the house with a

distinct saunter. He looked old, but his step was still lively. He noticed the

girl hanging from the back door window, but since he didn't recognize her, he

ignored her. As he made it to the car, he knocked on the glass. Reynaud lowered

the window. "I say, can I help you folks. You must be lost because no one comes

down here anymore."

"Marcus?"

The man stepped back. "Holy hell!

Rey?"

Lupenia was out the door and raced

around the car. She literally swept the man off his feet. "Marcus! We thought

you were dead! All this time we thought you were killed in the attack! Where's

Sophia?"

She heard a voice call from the

porch. "Loopy?"

"Sophia?" It began raining tears. The

two women hugged each other until their ribs hurt.

Verona had a slight clue what was

going on, but Maggie was totally taken aback. "They know each other?"

"Uh, yeah. But we thought they were

dead. I mean a long time ago. It didn't dawn on me that this was the same place

that Edward's grandparents were from. I wonder who they were."

Maggie yelped and launched out the

window, transforming into her feral self. Edward had just stepped outside to

see what the commotion was all out. Maggie hit him like a ton of bricks. "Father!"

Her tongue went nonstop. He was struggling to get her off.

"Maggie? What the hell! You told me

you had poisoned yourself to get at Albert!"

"I did you idiot. Lupenia gave me a

potion to counteract it. I felt like shit for a while but I'm fine now. Why did

you run away?"

"Oh god. Kiddo, have we got a lot

to talk about!" His fierce hug was so  nice she morphed back to being human. Her

clothing was still in the car.

"Now! You. Me. The woods. Pronto!"

"Hush! And what the hell is going

on? Verona's parents know these people?"

Lupenia overheard him. "Know them?

This is my sister Sophia!"

Reynaud was still embracing the farmer

gentleman. "Yes, and this is my brother-in-law Marcus Lobo de la Noche.

How the hell did you manage to end up all the way out here Edward?"

"I don't know. It just sort of

happened"

"You mean like the incident at the

diner."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. Got a

little carried away."

"A little? You're going to have

this country turned on its ear it you keep this up."

Sophia chided them. "You leave the

boy alone. We all know how tough it is. He came here to find his grands."

Reynaud was immediately interested.

"And did he?"

"We took him to them down at the

cemetery."

"And?"

"Oh hush Rey. Leave off for now. We

have so much catching up to do."

Maggie tugged on Lupenia's arm. "I'm

going to have father show me his grandparent's graves, if that's alright with

you."

"Sure dear. I think that it will be

a while before we can move on to other things. We have a lot of family-type

catching up to do." Maggie started to run off. "Oh. Maggie dear. "

The girl stopped and turned. "Tell

Edward thank you. It's been a rollercoaster ride since we've met him, but I owe

him a debt of gratitude for bringing me back to me sister. I feel more alive

today than I have in ages. Make sure he knows how much I appreciate it."

"Oh, I will, I surely will." Her

smile was huge.