{"sf1_id":799564,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Return to Wolf Creek","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2494,"posted_at":"2014-12-24T15:50:00.000Z","tags":["FAMILY","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Werewolf"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/799564-return-to-wolf-creek","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/799564","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=799564\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#74 of The Moonrise Chronicles\n\nJust a little bridging story to get from one place to another. It's an easy read.","content":"                The\npope was beside himself with joy and kicked out everyone else from the room.\n\"You are most amazing. Leo has told me about your trip, but only with the\nbarest of details. You must tell me more!\"\n                He\nlooked at the older looking woman and the younger looking boy. \"Can it really\nbe?\"\n                They both\nlooked embarrassed. Alexei went to speak in Russian, but stopped when he\nrealized that the pope wouldn't understand him. Edward smiled and handed over\nhis ring to the pontiff and the conversation flowed. \n                \"Your\nEminence! I am so very glad to meet you!\" said Alexei.\n                \"And I\nas well sir,\" answered his sister.\n                \"And\nyou are - brother and sister? Children of the last tsar?\"\n                \"Yes.\"\n                \"Extraordinary.\nI might not have believed such a story were it not for the fact that the great\nLeonardo da Vinci is now one of my advisors. You must have lived incredible\nlives for all these years. You are much older than I am, and I have many\nstories I could tell if my position allowed it. Did you know, for example, that\nI was once a bouncer in a bar? That was before I found my calling of course,\nbut it makes for some interesting memories.\"\n                \"Life\nhas been...difficult for us. But it has turned itself around thanks to these two.\nWithout my grand niece and her, uhhh, companion, we would never have been\nreunited again.\"\n                \"Family\nis important. God made it the focus of our lives, and so it remains today. But whatever\nwill you do with yourselves now? Not that anyone would ever believe you, for\nthe world is not ready for such strange events and people as yourselves. I mean\nyou no offense. It's just that people hate change, and you would disrupt\neverything they think they know of the world, which I might add is woefully little.\nGod gave us brains, but so many followers prefer to put the proverbial basket\nover their lamp and hide the light. We are not in the days of old anymore. We\nmust keep pace with the changes\"\n                Maria\nsmiled. \"We have been living in the past out of fear. But we have found that\nthe only thing we really feared was ourselves. There is no point in us trying\nto convince the world who we are. I have lived too long in the wilderness to\ndesire any notoriety.\"\n                \"And I\nhave lived a less than savory life too. But I will change that now that I have\nreason. With your blessing of course your Eminence.\" Alexei made a little bow.\n                \"If you\nare looking for forgiveness for your sins, I will give it to you. But in the\nend it is God who forgives, so you must ask him. I do my best to do his\nbusiness on the Earth, but I presume to never assume I know his will. It is far\nabove my humble mind.\"\n                \"Thank\nyou. Whatever are you going to do about people like us?\"\n                \"Do?\nWhatever do you mean? I will do nothing about you. God made you like you are,\nso who am I to interfere with his work? If you believe you are inherently evil,\nthen I will say this. Evil is something you chose to do. So if you have\ncommitted acts that are abhorrent to you, then refrain from doing them again.\nThat is where your salvation lies; self reconciliation. Ignore everything else.\nA wolf lives out his life as a wolf, and a man as a man. But you; you are torn\nbetween both of those worlds. I do not envy you your tough choices.\"\n                Edward\nwas smiling. Maggie grabbed his hand and squeezed it. \"What?\"\n                \"I\nthink the ring may be rubbing off on him. He hardly talks like a hardcore\ntheologian.\"\n                \"He was\nnice right from the start!\"\n                \"Yes, I\nsuppose he was. I think he would make a great werewolf, don't you?\"\n                Her\nhand grew claws. Those claws dug into his hand. \"Don't you dare!\"\n                His\nsmile grew larger. \"I won't. It wouldn't work anyway, not in any beneficial way.\nBut I still think it would be funny to see him change up on the balcony while\ndelivering a prayer. Wouldn't that make the headlines?\"\n                \"That\nwould be the least of the problems it would cause!\"\n                He\nchuckled. \"True. But like you said, he must stay the way he is. He still\ndoesn't realize that he has the gene in him, and I think we'll just keep it\nthat way. No point in alarming him over nothing.\"\n                The two\nwandered across the room to a window overlooking St Peter's Square.  There were visitors below, staring up at the\nsurrounding edifices, among them the pious and the heathen. The place was\nimbued with a near mysticism for many, and despite his lack of a belief in a\ndeity, he could see where people might find solace in religion.\n                \"Hey\nMags, do you think we should start going to church?\"\n                She\nlooked up to see if he was joking. \"No. Francis is nice, but I don't think\neveryone is. You've read the news accounts about all of the scandals?\"\n                \"Of\ncourse. Maybe you should get a job as official house cleaner.\"\n                \"Very\nfunny. You should know that I don't feel the need for killing anymore. I did\nwhat I did out of necessity.\"\n                He\nsqueezed her hand. \"Yeah, I know. I've done some stuff too. I guess you can't\ndwell on it. But I still have to find a way out of this mess I've created. We also\nstill have to find a place for your aunt and uncle if they want it. That might\nnot be so easy to accomplish.\"\n                \"I not\nso sure of that. I have an idea.\"\n                \"Really?\nI'm all ears.\" He sprouted werewolf ears on the sides of his head.\n                \"Ha ha,\nvery funny. It's been done before.\" But she discussed her idea at length, and\nin the end, he seemed pleased with it. \n                \"You\nknow, either way, I think we might be able to make this work.\"\n                \"I glad\nyou agree. We'll just have to convince them to come with us.\"\n                \"Mags, we\nstill have to figure out a way of getting home on our own. Our paperwork is in\nshambles, and Maria probably hasn't had any ID cards for decades, if ever.\nAlexei's is probably pointless and useless, and as he is now aging, it would\nhardly matter. They don't have passports, so even being here in Rome makes them\nillegals, just like us. We'll be alright once we make it back into the States,\nbut there is no guarantee we'll make it.\n                \"Father,\nyou worry too much. Religion brought us here, and religion will return us.\"\n                She was\nright. The pope bent more than a few rules again, and got them on a jet. Papers\nwere drawn up, photographs were taken, and in the end, the documents were good\nenough to fool even Homeland Security. Of course, it helped that they landed in\nMidway, and were picked up by someone from the Archdiocese of Chicago. \n                They\nwere taken to a hotel, where Edward paid for an overnight stay in the top\nsuites. He wanted them to be as far from spying eyes as possible, because\nanything involving the pope was now being viewed by many as an inquisition. Mags\nthought it was funny the way the man was cleaning house. Edward didn't envy him\none bit. He was trying to perform a Herculean task. It was far better and\ncleaner to battle a monster in the streets of New York than it was to clean up\nsomething like the Catholic Church. It was a good thing the man had the genes\nnecessary to wage a prolonged battle.\n                Verona\ndrove in from Wolf Creek to pick them up the next day. They had traveled light,\nso they were able to cram themselves and their luggage into the Range Rover with\nroom to spare; for maybe a mouse.\n                Edward\nwas mildly perplexed when he first saw her again, for he rather figured she\nwould be all over him. She wasn't icy, but she seemed a bit distant. Apparently\nhis interval away had given her time to think, and she had been running on a\nhormone fueled high when they first met. Absence can make the heart grow\nfonder, but then again, there's the saying about out of sight- out of mind. He\nhad a feeling that she was now reconsidering things. He was almost happy about\nit.\n                But he\nhad a responsibility to her now, and he had no intention of shirking that duty.\nShe had given him a hug and a kiss, but even Maggie noticed that it wasn't\nfired up like before they had left. The girl felt good about that. She didn't\nhate the woman, but she did envy the fact that she was fully grown and carrying\na child that she wished was her own.\n                There\nwere other things to worry about though, like Alexei, who seemed to be entering\nanother grown spurt. She envied him too. What she wouldn't give to grow up\novernight to have an hourglass figure and mature ovaries. She grew hair from\nher arms in her agitation. She realized it when her nails sprouted into little\nblack daggers. She shut down her thoughts and drove down the anger and envy.\nThere was no point in getting riled up over nothing. She knew Edward loved her.\nShe simply didn't see a way for them to be together with any peace. \n                The\nride proved to be rather tense until Maria started talking with Verona.  She had on one of the rings, so their\nconversation went fluidly. \n                \"So,\nyou are Edward's wife.\"\n                \"No,\nnot yet. I just happen to be carrying his child.\"\n                She\nlooked towards the back seat and winked at Edward.\n                \"I see.\nThe child of two werewolves. That will prove most interesting in the future,\ndon't you think?\"\n                She\nnodded. \"Yes, and I don't think I'm looking forward to it. A child needs to\nhave a father and I'm not convinced that will be the case.\"\n                Maggie\npinched Edward on the thigh. \"She sounds like she's pissed.\"\n                \"I\nsuppose she has every right to be.\"\n                \"I can\nhear you guys just fine you know. I'm not pissed. But I am beginning to see\nthat my hormones got the better of me. I think that I got caught up in the moment.\nNo offense Edward.\"\n                \"None\ntaken. I still have a lot to learn about being a werewolf and you had a need. I\nfilled that need. But now it seems we might not have as much to build upon as\nperhaps you first thought. And of course, there is the other problem.\"\n                \"Yes I\nknow. You don't love me. You love Maggie.\"\n                Silence\nfell in the car. Only the sound of several miles of tires over pavement\npermeated the interior. Alexei finally spoke.\n                \"I'm\nfeeling ill again.\"\n                Edward\nknew what he meant. \"How long until we reach Wolf Creek?\"\n                \"Not\nfar now. Don't you recognize the road?\"\n                Sure\nenough, there were newly patched holes in the highway from where a terrible\nchase had occurred in the recent past. Edward smiled grimly. He had been too\ncaught up in thinking to consider where they were at. The events that had taken\nplace here were already distant memories, washed to the side in the flood of occurrences\nthat very nearly trumped what he had done here. They came back in a rush. He\nhad packed in more life in the past few months than he had in his entire\nprevious existence.  And he wasn't close\nto being done. He looked into the future for a moment, and when the moment was\ndone, there was a slight smile on his face. \n                They\npulled into her parent's house just as Alexei let out a cry. Billy was just\ncoming out to see what was going on when Edward strode past him carrying the\nlimp body. The biker didn't know it yet, but it was going to be a very long\nnight.\n                He\ndidn't ask any questions. He went to the care, assisted the others out and\nhelped to unpacked. The nice thing about Billy was that while he looked rough\nand stupid, he was keenly aware of many things. One of the them was knowing\nwhen to ask questions and when to keep his mouth shut. He was dying to know\neverything that had happened, but he knew in his bones that things were still\ngoing on and that he would find out the underlying story if he was patient.\n                He\nslammed the back of the Rover down and waddled up to the house, laden with\neveryone's bags. He was still running over in his head who the kid was, and the\nold lady. His cousin had been pretty mum about what had been going on in Italy.\nHe couldn't imagine them bring back such a strange combination, but then, who\nwas he to question them? He was just Billy. But he had his eyes and ears open.\nThat's what he did and it kept him alive.\n                Inside\nthe house things were a bit solemn as Edward explained about the kid. So that\nwas part of the problem, this kid was going through his first transformation.\nHe hadn't seen much of that, and hadn't been able to change his own form, but\nhe knew the stories. That kid was going to have it rough. It was a good thing\nhe was young. Kids were a lot tougher than adults when it came to changes. It\nprobably had something to do with flexibility and immaturity. A young body\ncould still bend and be molded, whereas an old one was set in its form and\npretty rigid. Just like an old-timer's mind.\n                He\nlistened to everything that was said, but seemed to get lost in the\nconversation when it was mentioned that the two new folks were brother and\nsister. That made no sense at all. She was obviously a crone, even if she still\ncut quite the figure, and he was a kid, barely an adolescent. \n                He\nfinally gave up. Being in a werewolf family didn't make a lot of sense, so\nstanding here trying to figure it out made even less sense. Someone would clue\nhim in eventually. He carried the luggage to the spare rooms and went outside\nto tune up his motorcycle. That was one thing he could always make sense of."}