FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

           Maggie came down the stairs,

knowing full well that he wasn't going to be at the table sipping coffee. She

wasn't disappointed.Her mother was looking so much

better with the passing of each hour that despite her present ire, Maggie

managed a slight smile. A real night's sleep had made her recovery even more

remarkable. Her face looked like it had dropped ten years."Hello Maggie! Did you have a nice

night?""I did, but it soured upon my

waking.  Did either of you see Edward

this morning?""No dear, we though he was with

you."             "It

figures. Men are such assholes!"             "Why

dear, what has he done?"              She

stood silent for a moment. "He's gone off to confront my real father all by

himself. Everything he said and did yesterday was merely a smokescreen to blind

us."                Her

mother looked stricken. "Your real father is a very powerful being. I would

rather try to reason with him than to battle him, but when it comes to you, I

know he will be steadfast in his dedication in having you with him instead of

with me. There is nowhere anyone can hide. He is faster than the storm wind

when he has cause. He is not like others of the Kind, trust me. You should know

that he..."                "Mother!

Not now! Whatever he is, I'll deal with it when I find him or he finds me.

First I must find Edward. He may not have to worry about dying by anyone else's

hand if I find him before he manages to track his quarry."                "But

dear, I think you should know..."                "No!

Some other time perhaps."                She

stomped out of the kitchen and back up to the bedroom. She was perfectly pissed

right now and no one was going to spoil that mood. She spied his phone where

she had dropped it. The asshole left without it so that no one could track him.

He was smart, but maybe he was too smart for his own good.                 Or was

he?                She

grabbed it up and hit the recently called list. There was an unfamiliar number

in the calls, from just yesterday. On a hunch, she hit redial. It rang and

rang. Then she heard someone as they picked up the line. The voice on the other

end sounded both excited and alarmed. "Edward?"                "Uh,

no. This is Maggie."                "Maggie who? Where is Edward?"                "He's

gone. Who is this?"                She

listened for a while before paling.  As

it was, she sat down on the floor during the rest of the conversation. Somewhere

in the back of her head this seemed familiar, or else she had concerns that

seemed have been subdued in the depths of her memory. She answered every

question that came to her, but she found she could ask very few herself.                When

the conversation was done, she ended the call and set the phone down. A tear

formed in her eye. If he lived through this ordeal, she was going to render him

from limb to limb. He was an arrogant, misguided fool to be leaving everyone

behind.                 "It's a

good thing I'm a quick learner Edward Peterson. If you think you've given me

the slip, you have another thing coming."                The

phone rang again and as it was the number she had just hung up on, she answered

it. The conversation was brief, but Maggie gave them the address of her

grandmother's house. "Just know that if you get here and we're not home, there

will be a note telling you where to meet us."                She

closed her eyes and relaxed. In her mind she saw a montage of images; a road, a

forest, a stream. Focusing harder, she saw that she was looking out a window. She

adapted her thought to the perspective. It could only be a bus window. Edward

was on a bus. She was almost surprised by that. She figured he'd just lope to

his intended destination.                Of course,

if he had, he would have  left a scent

trail. The bastard was good. Still, she could see a seven and a six in his

head, which meant one of the highways leading east. It was a lot of ground to

cover, and the direction was no more than she would have expected. She nodded

grimly to herself. This bugging of another person's mind was unconscionable,

but all was fair in love and war. If he was going to run off, just like she

figured he might, then there was nothing wrong with being linked up inside him.

Whether he liked it or not, she was sticking with him through thick and thin.                Her own

phone went off, nearly scaring her out of her wits. It was Leonardo. The plane

was due in several hours and he wanted an update on the situation. She told him

everything she knew, right down to the mystery call Edward had made.                 "You must let him do what he thinks is right

my daughter. He is no fool."                "But

what about me?"                She

could hear the amusement in his voice. "You

must also do what you think is right. You are your own person, and with a

strong and independent mind. You do not need to follow in his footsteps to

show your love for him. Do what is in your heart, for in the end, that may be

the only saving grace you have to offer."                "I'm not sure but what that

wouldn't put us at cross purposes."                "Then so be it. Nothing will drag you down

than not doing something you know to be right. But you must look inside you for

the answer. Seek it not from an outside source, not even from me. You alone

will live with whatever decision you make."                "So will everyone else! If I

screw up and someone gets hurt, I have to live with that."                "So now you understand his predicament."                There was a little more

before they ended the call. She was struck with her own stupidity. He was only

doing what she would do. The fact was, she was somewhat jealous he had the

courage to go out on his own. He might appear to be acting macho and all

confident, but he was probably actually scared out of his wits.                Shit!

Shit, shit, shit shit!                Her

cursing went from being mental to being vocal. It attracted the attention of

her mother. "What is it dear?"                "Nothing!

Everything! I hate being in love!"                "It can

be a rather harsh emotion to deal with when you're so young."                "Knock

it off mother! I'm not that young! I've aged considerably in the past few

months!"                Maggie

turned suddenly and glared at her mother. "How old am I?"                Her

mother took her by the hand. "As old as I was when I was your age."                "Very

funny. You know, I just got thinking about werewolf biology. Grandmother hid my

records. Something is going on here, isn't there?"                "Nothing

is going on that hasn't always been going on dear. Don't be so hard on your

grandmother. She did what she could do in a short amount of time. Sit down and

I'll explain it to you. Hopefully it will spark your old memories and they will

come back to you."                Across

the state Edward was sitting on a bus seat, watching the scenery pass him by.

As a werewolf, he could have traveled faster, but had no wish to be followed or

to be discovered by some inadvertent nature study enthusiast. He knew how to

find his quarry, or rather; he knew how to get his attention. Bloodshed might still

be averted and it was his intent to try diplomacy first. Still, his visions

didn't bode well for that placid of an outcome.                Across

the country, in an old Chevy Impala station wagon that had once been brand new back

in the nineteen seventies, there rode three people. All looked rather put out

by their situation. They rode in silence for much of their trip, but not in

total silence and not for the whole journey. They were aware that they were

heading into danger, but not the nature of the danger, nor what they might expect

from the outcome of their pending encounter.                From somewhere

we will not presently divulge, in a much newer car of foreign make, two other

people drove down some lonely roads, on their way to Pittsburgh. The call they

had gotten - the first call; had been enough to rattle them to their core. The

second call threw them for a total and complete loop. They had avoided public

exposure for a while now, and had felt that their location was a secret. Being

in the public eye, even in its periphery, was akin to putting themselves onto a

billboard along a freeway.                And

yet, they had been discovered. Now they were heading straight into the trouble

they had sought to avoid.                And in

a plane sat an Old Italian master; painter, inventor, and genius. His delight

in flying over an ocean he had only ever glimpsed from the shoreline was only

mitigated by the knowledge that he was arriving in a land (unknown in his day)

to fight against something he knew little about. Battles between the Kind were

common enough during his first lifetime, but now, in this enlightened age, he

found his thoughts and abilities to be too far out of touch to be of any use.                He ran

his hand over the box he had brought with him. The pope assured him it would

pass through customs. He didn't know precisely what customs was, in this

context, but he knew that if the box was to be opened by the wrong people, it

would not pass into this new country regardless of who was vouching for it. He

needed to get it to his friend before he met up with this enemy. The girl on

the other end of that wonderful talking device, that telephone; she had let

slip a few facts, facts that he found frighteningly familiar. There were things

in the world that were even more powerful than the Kind.                In a

woods, deep in a vale rarely viewed by normal humans, stood a man, such as he

was. He was sensing the impending storm and he reveled in the upcoming chaos.

It was rare that he was able to stretch his limbs and engage in wanton

violence. For years he had been bored. Killing for food was a necessity, but

hardly a challenge. Hitchhikers were common, wandering pets even more so. The woods

were filled with deer, and on occasion, hunters dressed for gaining attention

to their presence. It was all so easy.                He

could find no purpose in ever joining such a society. His own clan was all he

needed. New blood was a good thing, and he had a daughter that carried just

what was required to freshen the stock. 

It had been a while since he had been able to track her down. The last

time; not that long ago in view of his age, the girl was just reaching her

ability to transform. Her mother and her mother's mother had been less than amiable

with his presence. It was his daughter. She was part of his blood. Even the

simple savages that roamed the cities and towns had laws regarding the

disposition of offspring.                He was

nothing but patient. When one lived as long as his he and his kin did, you

could afford to be patient. There was little that bothered him and yet... he had

a nagging feeling in his brain. There weren't any werewolves who could sense a

link and yet there was now one who seemed to be toying with him. That was

somehow exciting and yet very concerning to his sense of self. There was

absolutely no one on this side of the ocean with that ability. He would have

been aware of his presence long ago. It wasn't like the werewolf population just

sprung from the ground as the result of sown dragon's teeth.                He knew

where some of the lesser werewolves were located. He made no forays against

most of them, for there was little point in antagonizing lesser creatures. Few knew

he existed and those who did stayed far away. The only ones who thought to

confront him; well they became food. A dead werewolf digested just as well as a

regular human. They tasted different, but not enough to make them a regular

selection on the menu.                He

stretched, soaking in the sunlight. Laughter escaped his lips when he thought

of how the normal, sad little souls who worked so hard to tame this world still

managed to remain ignorant of so many things. Moonlight was fine, but it was

sunlight that brought the warmth. His kin were spread around, savoring the rays

of potent power. Moonlight indeed!                He sat

down and contemplated the future. He found that it was unlikely that this

newcomer would live out the week. He was curious about him, that much was true,

but it was mostly idle curiosity. Whoever he was, he was only a stumbling block

in his quest to regain his daughter. Let this man come if he cared to. He would

find nothing of value for his bother. Maggie was the only thing treasure worth having

and she wasn't here. That however would soon be corrected.                Back in

a modest little house in the city of Pittsburgh, a young girl sat on the edge

of a bed, feeling elated. It was premature, but for the moment she was willing

to take half a loaf. Having anything go fully her way right now was beyond anything

more than childish wishful thinking. There was too much riding on the next few

days. If anything were to work out the way she might hope, it would take more

of a miracle than even the pope could provide.