{"sf1_id":756608,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Going Where No Were has Gone Before","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2274,"posted_at":"2014-09-14T14:10:00.000Z","tags":["Human","Plot Development","Pregnancy","Story Progression","Werewolf","conflict","hunter"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/756608-going-where-no-were-has-gone-before","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/756608","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=756608\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#37 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"          \"Maggie, one of these days I'm\ngoing to kill you myself just so that I'm not constantly on a roller coaster\nride.\" It was a few days later and Edward was still very unhappy with her.\n\"Oh, stuff it! I like roller\ncoaster rides. Besides, what's the point in being special if you don't use it?\"\n\"There are other ways of getting\nthings done.\"\nShe laughed openly and heartily.\n\"What? Your way? Or Rey's way? You guys seem to think that living in the past\nis the only way of doing things. Hiding. Lurking. And maybe some of that is\ntrue. The world might never be ready for us. But I'm ready for the world. I\nlove you father, but I'm getting tired of being viewed as  the bad guy.\"\n\"Mags, we'll always be the bad guys.\nWe kill people.\"\n\"Yeah, but according to the book,\nthat wasn't always the case. We could\nkill people for food, but we ate other things. I'd like to know what changed.\nCan you imagine if we could again? Then we'd have awesome power and no one\nwould have to die because of it.\"\n\"I thought you liked killing.\" His\ntone was droll.\n\"Don't get high and mighty on me.\nYou went on a rampage to kill just one person. I've killed dozens with less\ndestruction. And it wasn't likely that any decent person was going to miss\nthose I took down. I did the police a favor.\"\nEdward sighed inside. He had asked\nRey and Marcus to read to him from the Taborum about wawkalaks. The pages were\nfrom another old text and had been spliced into this book a long time ago. They\nwere written in some old Slavic language that looked like gibberish to him.\nThere were several legends about\nthe breed, but nothing concrete. There were several specific tales, one which\ncaught everyone's notice. Rey remarked that he had never met a Russian\nwerewolf. It was thought that a good many were destroyed in the Revolution of\n1917. Any remaining would have gone deep underground to hide from the communist\nregime.\nThe interesting thing was the story\nof one family whose genetics had gone against the grain. They had children who\ncould turn into wolves at an early age. The nature of the premature\ntransformation was said to be a matter of basic survival in the wilderness.\nSome of them could be traced to several remote regions, including some place\ncalled Tunguska. This was a very remote region deep in the heart of the Asian\ncontinent.\nInformation on this cadet branch of\nthe werewolf clan was thin, as was a lot of the information on the other\nbranches. It's hard to keep together a history when people are trying to kill\nyou all the time. You find that there are more important things to do than\njotting down notes before someone impales you with a silver knife. \nMaggie was all for looking for the\nbox. She felt that it and its contents where the most valuable asset that they\nhad available to them. \"There's a pull-off along the river. I say we get some\nfishing poles and see what we can catch.\"\nSophia nodded towards the\noutbuildings. \"There're some poles in the barn dear that you're more than welcome\nto use.  And plenty of bait, if you\nreally intent to use them.\" She was referring to the hunter, who was still\nleading a miserable life out there.\n\"No, I think we should let him go.\nI say we take him down with us so that he knows the box is gone. Send him back\nto tell his tale. I think that if they get wind that he was bitten, they'll do\nthe job for us.\"\nSophia frowned at that. She rarely\nfrowned. \"What's to say that others of his kind won't come back to avenge him?\nAnd who's to say you won't find the box?\"\n\"You have a point. But the river is\nfast and a bit deep. With all those rocks, I'd think it would take a metal\ndetector to find it. Any one of you happen to have one of those way out here?\"\n\"No, but you may be on to\nsomething.\"\n\"Yeah?! Good. But then again, it\ncould have gotten stuck in the guy's car. Has anyone thought about that?\"\nRey was getting impatient with her.\n\"Yes dear we did. But unlike you, we don't rush into things blindly. I am glad\nyou survived that gun blast unharmed, but we have already comprised Marc and\nSophie's lives stirring up things like we have.\"\n\"You know,\" she said, putting her\nlittle hands on her hips, \"all I started out doing was hooking up with father\nhere, and from there trying to find who I was and whether or not there was more\nlike me out in the world. Now look! I found out father was one, which is\nmind-boggling if you think about it. I found Verona, and through her, you guys.\nWe found that old freak Fish, and we took him down. You're reunited with family\nyou thought were gone. Now we have found out more about our true identities and\nwe have a werewolf hunter chained up in the barn. So tell me where we aren't\nahead of the game.\"\nBilly guffawed. \"She has a good\npoint Uncle Rey. No one's dead, and while the world is in a tizzy out there, it'll\npass. Road crews are filling potholes and soon the buzz will die down. As for\nthis hunter fellow, now there I don't agree. I think we should just kill him\nalreayd. He wasn't much use for gleaning no information from. Tight lipped as\nwhore being asked to suck my cock.\"\nHe looked over at Maggie and winked.\n\"It's a size thing\".\nShe just giggled while Sophia\nreprimanded him. \"There is no need for vulgarity Billy.\"\n\"Ah ma! I was just being funny. This\ngroup needs some lightening up\"\nRey suppressed a grin. \"Billy's\nright. We are all still very much alive, with a new life on the way. That's\nsomething to be thankful for. Finding the box and ring should be a priority\nnow.\" He stopped and suddenly looked panicked. \"Does anyone remember where the\nkey went? Was it in the box when it was taken?\"\nMaggie shrugged. \"I had just pulled\nit out of the lock when the guy broke in. So it's probably here in the house.\nThat blast from his old gun really rocked me back.\"\nA search under the furniture was\nrewarded with the key. It had gotten knocked under the couch. Rey was feeling\nmore hopeful. \"Even if we don't find the box and someone else does, they won't\nbe able to open it. That gives us a little advantage. We know what's inside and\nwhat it does, and hopefully anyone else won't.\"\n\"Let's get down to the river and\nlook for it. If we have it back, then we'll have nothing to worry about.\"\nIt wasn't that easy. The fishing spot\nwas a quarter of a mile downstream from the wreck site. Going into the river to\nsearch meant changing into their feral form, since the water was too swift and\ndeep for a human to deal with for very long. And of them all, Edward was the\nmost massive. Since the river was visible from the road, this was unadvisable.\nAnother weird animal sighting would bring the reporters and the police back en mass.\nIn the end, they called off the search. Just to cover all the bases, Maggie\nbroke into the police impound yard and rummaged through the demolished station\nwagon. She came up empty handed.\nEdward was having mixed feelings\nabout the box. He had gone from knowing nothing about it, to finding it in the\ndirt, to getting it open, to losing it again all in a matter of a few days. Now\nthat it was gone, he wished he had it back. Maggie seemed to hit things right on\nthe head. Whether it was intelligence, instinct or just blind luck it was hard\nto tell. He was going to listen more to her from now on. Not necessary act on\nwhat she said, but he was going to listen.\n\"Mags, do you really think we\nshould let this guy go?\"\n\"Well, you know, I've been\nthinking. We need passports.\"\n\"What?\"\n\"Yeah. Passports. I bet this guy\nhas one, unless he has another way of getting in and out of the country.\"\n\"OK, I think you're way ahead of me\non something.\"\n\"Look. His job was to find and kill\nwerewolves and to find the ring. These guys have been searching for years. So\nwhat happens once you find it? You Fedex it to the Vatican? No, I think that\nthe finder of it would have to deliver it himself.\"\n\"I'll go with your reasoning. So\nwhat are you saying?\"\n\"I say that we take him back to Rome\nand find out where this secret cult is based and take them down for good.\"\n\"Uhhhh, that's awfully ambitious.\"\n\"And what? You'd rather sit here waiting\nfor the next guy loaded down with silver to find us. Do you want to be always\nlooking over your shoulder, wondering if someone is following you? You're going\nto be a real father now. Is that what you're going to want for your kid?\"\n\"No!\" She was right. It was time to\nbe proactive. If the hunter had not appeared when he had, then none of this\nwould be happening. But timing is everything. He went out to the barn.\n\"I'll make you a deal. You haven't transformed\nyet, so I don't think you're going to. I think that if there is some way of\nsettling this once and for all, I'd like to do it. That means setting you free\nand accompanying you to Rome.\"\nThe man opened his bloodshot eyes. \"You\nwould sacrifice yourself?\"\n\"No. I intend to discuss the matter\nwith whoever is in charge. Because of you the box is lost in the river. So\nunless your boss wants to send over a hundred priests in waders, it's lost for\ngood. I don't want to live the rest of my life wondering if someone is watching\nmy every move. If I die in Rome, then so be it.\"\nThe hunter closed his eyes. \"I will\nbe a disgrace. But like you, I feel that I should either die or be absolved of\nmy sins. I cannot kill myself, and the promise of death here has been ignored.\"\n\"So you'll take us?\n\"Yes.\"\n\"I guess I had better work on\ngetting a passport for Maggie and me. That's going to take a while. So I'll see\nthat you're treated better until that time comes.\"\nThe man opened his eyes again. A\nsmile came to his lips. \"No. We have no need for such simple minded formalities.\nPeople come and go outside of the system. Here is what you need to do.\" The\nhunter gave Edward some details. The whole thing sounded farfetched, but so\nfar, his present life was no more outlandish. He did as he was told.\nMaggie sent an email to the IP address\ngiven to her. A reply came back within ten minutes. It had nothing but numbers\nand letters.\n\"Coordinates. Let me bring them up\non Google Earth.\" The globe appeared, then swirled and narrowed down to a\nsingle point on the landscape. It was about fifty miles from where they were.\nIt was a small airfield in the middle of nowhere.\nShe hit reply without adding any\nadditional information. Ten minutes later she got another message. It was a\ntime and date. It was for tomorrow. \"That doesn't leave us much time.\"\nThe hunter was let loose and\nallowed to clean up, under the watchful eye of Billy. He was enjoying his duty,\nmaking the man uncomfortable with sex in the shower jokes the entire time.\nThere was more than one way of being cruel. Maggie and Edward packed and the\nnext morning they were driven to their destination by Verona. She had been in\nbed for the better part of the last few days, Mating was a rough business.\n\"Are you sure you two are going to be\nalright??\"\nEdward patted her hand. \"Of course\nnot. If I was sure, then I would be going alone.\"\n\"Can't I come with you?\"\n\"I'm not trying to be macho here,\nbut no. You're pregnant now and you need to protect our child. That's what I'm\ndoing, or trying to do. I'm going to see if I can't end this once and for all.\"\nThe hunter groaned a little, made the sign of the cross and\nuttered, \"Miserebitur Deus noster.\"\nThe airfield was old and abandoned.\nStill the runway was fairly clear of weeds and debris. The airplane circled three\ntimes before landing. The Piaggo Aero Avanti  rolled to a stop just yards from the Rover. The\npilot got out and escorted them inside. Once their bags were stowed, he closed the\nplane and fired up the engines. With a turnaround time of only ten minutes, the\nplane was back in the air.\nThe private flight took them across\nthe US to New York City again. The plane settled down at LaGuardia Airport\nwhere they were shuttled to a waiting seven forty seven. Thirty minutes later\nthe Alitalia jumbo was tearing down the runway heading east for the transatlantic\ncrossing. There were only three passengers aboard the cavernous plane. It looked\nlike it was going to be a long ride."}