{"sf1_id":806359,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Storm Clouds Brewing","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2357,"posted_at":"2015-01-11T19:51:00.000Z","tags":["FAMILY","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Trouble","Werewolf","back story"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/806359-storm-clouds-brewing","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/806359","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=806359\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#85 of The Moonrise Chronicles\n\nOk, so I lied. But this one is short. Still sorting this mess out and my head is pounding. Yikes!","content":"            Maggie came down the stairs,\nknowing full well that he wasn't going to be at the table sipping coffee. She\nwasn't disappointed.Her mother was looking so much\nbetter with the passing of each hour that despite her present ire, Maggie\nmanaged a slight smile. A real night's sleep had made her recovery even more\nremarkable. Her face looked like it had dropped ten years.\"Hello Maggie! Did you have a nice\nnight?\"\"I did, but it soured upon my\nwaking.  Did either of you see Edward\nthis morning?\"\"No dear, we though he was with\nyou.\"             \"It\nfigures. Men are such assholes!\"             \"Why\ndear, what has he done?\"              She\nstood silent for a moment. \"He's gone off to confront my real father all by\nhimself. Everything he said and did yesterday was merely a smokescreen to blind\nus.\"                Her\nmother looked stricken. \"Your real father is a very powerful being. I would\nrather try to reason with him than to battle him, but when it comes to you, I\nknow he will be steadfast in his dedication in having you with him instead of\nwith me. There is nowhere anyone can hide. He is faster than the storm wind\nwhen he has cause. He is not like others of the Kind, trust me. You should know\nthat he...\"                \"Mother!\nNot now! Whatever he is, I'll deal with it when I find him or he finds me.\nFirst I must find Edward. He may not have to worry about dying by anyone else's\nhand if I find him before he manages to track his quarry.\"                \"But\ndear, I think you should know...\"                \"No!\nSome other time perhaps.\"                She\nstomped out of the kitchen and back up to the bedroom. She was perfectly pissed\nright now and no one was going to spoil that mood. She spied his phone where\nshe had dropped it. The asshole left without it so that no one could track him.\nHe was smart, but maybe he was too smart for his own good.                 Or was\nhe?                She\ngrabbed it up and hit the recently called list. There was an unfamiliar number\nin the calls, from just yesterday. On a hunch, she hit redial. It rang and\nrang. Then she heard someone as they picked up the line. The voice on the other\nend sounded both excited and alarmed. \"Edward?\"                \"Uh,\nno. This is Maggie.\"                \"Maggie who? Where is Edward?\"                \"He's\ngone. Who is this?\"                She\nlistened for a while before paling.  As\nit was, she sat down on the floor during the rest of the conversation. Somewhere\nin the back of her head this seemed familiar, or else she had concerns that\nseemed have been subdued in the depths of her memory. She answered every\nquestion that came to her, but she found she could ask very few herself.                When\nthe conversation was done, she ended the call and set the phone down. A tear\nformed in her eye. If he lived through this ordeal, she was going to render him\nfrom limb to limb. He was an arrogant, misguided fool to be leaving everyone\nbehind.                 \"It's a\ngood thing I'm a quick learner Edward Peterson. If you think you've given me\nthe slip, you have another thing coming.\"                The\nphone rang again and as it was the number she had just hung up on, she answered\nit. The conversation was brief, but Maggie gave them the address of her\ngrandmother's house. \"Just know that if you get here and we're not home, there\nwill be a note telling you where to meet us.\"                She\nclosed her eyes and relaxed. In her mind she saw a montage of images; a road, a\nforest, a stream. Focusing harder, she saw that she was looking out a window. She\nadapted her thought to the perspective. It could only be a bus window. Edward\nwas on a bus. She was almost surprised by that. She figured he'd just lope to\nhis intended destination.                Of course,\nif he had, he would have  left a scent\ntrail. The bastard was good. Still, she could see a seven and a six in his\nhead, which meant one of the highways leading east. It was a lot of ground to\ncover, and the direction was no more than she would have expected. She nodded\ngrimly to herself. This bugging of another person's mind was unconscionable,\nbut all was fair in love and war. If he was going to run off, just like she\nfigured he might, then there was nothing wrong with being linked up inside him.\nWhether he liked it or not, she was sticking with him through thick and thin.                Her own\nphone went off, nearly scaring her out of her wits. It was Leonardo. The plane\nwas due in several hours and he wanted an update on the situation. She told him\neverything she knew, right down to the mystery call Edward had made.                 \"You must let him do what he thinks is right\nmy daughter. He is no fool.\"                \"But\nwhat about me?\"                She\ncould hear the amusement in his voice. \"You\nmust also do what you think is right. You are your own person, and with a\nstrong and independent mind. You do not need to follow in his footsteps to\nshow your love for him. Do what is in your heart, for in the end, that may be\nthe only saving grace you have to offer.\"                \"I'm not sure but what that\nwouldn't put us at cross purposes.\"                \"Then so be it. Nothing will drag you down\nthan not doing something you know to be right. But you must look inside you for\nthe answer. Seek it not from an outside source, not even from me. You alone\nwill live with whatever decision you make.\"                \"So will everyone else! If I\nscrew up and someone gets hurt, I have to live with that.\"                \"So now you understand his predicament.\"                There was a little more\nbefore they ended the call. She was struck with her own stupidity. He was only\ndoing what she would do. The fact was, she was somewhat jealous he had the\ncourage to go out on his own. He might appear to be acting macho and all\nconfident, but he was probably actually scared out of his wits.                Shit!\nShit, shit, shit shit!                Her\ncursing went from being mental to being vocal. It attracted the attention of\nher mother. \"What is it dear?\"                \"Nothing!\nEverything! I hate being in love!\"                \"It can\nbe a rather harsh emotion to deal with when you're so young.\"                \"Knock\nit off mother! I'm not that young! I've aged considerably in the past few\nmonths!\"                Maggie\nturned suddenly and glared at her mother. \"How old am I?\"                Her\nmother took her by the hand. \"As old as I was when I was your age.\"                \"Very\nfunny. You know, I just got thinking about werewolf biology. Grandmother hid my\nrecords. Something is going on here, isn't there?\"                \"Nothing\nis going on that hasn't always been going on dear. Don't be so hard on your\ngrandmother. She did what she could do in a short amount of time. Sit down and\nI'll explain it to you. Hopefully it will spark your old memories and they will\ncome back to you.\"                Across\nthe state Edward was sitting on a bus seat, watching the scenery pass him by.\nAs a werewolf, he could have traveled faster, but had no wish to be followed or\nto be discovered by some inadvertent nature study enthusiast. He knew how to\nfind his quarry, or rather; he knew how to get his attention. Bloodshed might still\nbe averted and it was his intent to try diplomacy first. Still, his visions\ndidn't bode well for that placid of an outcome.                Across\nthe country, in an old Chevy Impala station wagon that had once been brand new back\nin the nineteen seventies, there rode three people. All looked rather put out\nby their situation. They rode in silence for much of their trip, but not in\ntotal silence and not for the whole journey. They were aware that they were\nheading into danger, but not the nature of the danger, nor what they might expect\nfrom the outcome of their pending encounter.                From somewhere\nwe will not presently divulge, in a much newer car of foreign make, two other\npeople drove down some lonely roads, on their way to Pittsburgh. The call they\nhad gotten - the first call; had been enough to rattle them to their core. The\nsecond call threw them for a total and complete loop. They had avoided public\nexposure for a while now, and had felt that their location was a secret. Being\nin the public eye, even in its periphery, was akin to putting themselves onto a\nbillboard along a freeway.                And\nyet, they had been discovered. Now they were heading straight into the trouble\nthey had sought to avoid.                And in\na plane sat an Old Italian master; painter, inventor, and genius. His delight\nin flying over an ocean he had only ever glimpsed from the shoreline was only\nmitigated by the knowledge that he was arriving in a land (unknown in his day)\nto fight against something he knew little about. Battles between the Kind were\ncommon enough during his first lifetime, but now, in this enlightened age, he\nfound his thoughts and abilities to be too far out of touch to be of any use.                He ran\nhis hand over the box he had brought with him. The pope assured him it would\npass through customs. He didn't know precisely what customs was, in this\ncontext, but he knew that if the box was to be opened by the wrong people, it\nwould not pass into this new country regardless of who was vouching for it. He\nneeded to get it to his friend before he met up with this enemy. The girl on\nthe other end of that wonderful talking device, that telephone; she had let\nslip a few facts, facts that he found frighteningly familiar. There were things\nin the world that were even more powerful than the Kind.                In a\nwoods, deep in a vale rarely viewed by normal humans, stood a man, such as he\nwas. He was sensing the impending storm and he reveled in the upcoming chaos.\nIt was rare that he was able to stretch his limbs and engage in wanton\nviolence. For years he had been bored. Killing for food was a necessity, but\nhardly a challenge. Hitchhikers were common, wandering pets even more so. The woods\nwere filled with deer, and on occasion, hunters dressed for gaining attention\nto their presence. It was all so easy.                He\ncould find no purpose in ever joining such a society. His own clan was all he\nneeded. New blood was a good thing, and he had a daughter that carried just\nwhat was required to freshen the stock. \nIt had been a while since he had been able to track her down. The last\ntime; not that long ago in view of his age, the girl was just reaching her\nability to transform. Her mother and her mother's mother had been less than amiable\nwith his presence. It was his daughter. She was part of his blood. Even the\nsimple savages that roamed the cities and towns had laws regarding the\ndisposition of offspring.                He was\nnothing but patient. When one lived as long as his he and his kin did, you\ncould afford to be patient. There was little that bothered him and yet... he had\na nagging feeling in his brain. There weren't any werewolves who could sense a\nlink and yet there was now one who seemed to be toying with him. That was\nsomehow exciting and yet very concerning to his sense of self. There was\nabsolutely no one on this side of the ocean with that ability. He would have\nbeen aware of his presence long ago. It wasn't like the werewolf population just\nsprung from the ground as the result of sown dragon's teeth.                He knew\nwhere some of the lesser werewolves were located. He made no forays against\nmost of them, for there was little point in antagonizing lesser creatures. Few knew\nhe existed and those who did stayed far away. The only ones who thought to\nconfront him; well they became food. A dead werewolf digested just as well as a\nregular human. They tasted different, but not enough to make them a regular\nselection on the menu.                He\nstretched, soaking in the sunlight. Laughter escaped his lips when he thought\nof how the normal, sad little souls who worked so hard to tame this world still\nmanaged to remain ignorant of so many things. Moonlight was fine, but it was\nsunlight that brought the warmth. His kin were spread around, savoring the rays\nof potent power. Moonlight indeed!                He sat\ndown and contemplated the future. He found that it was unlikely that this\nnewcomer would live out the week. He was curious about him, that much was true,\nbut it was mostly idle curiosity. Whoever he was, he was only a stumbling block\nin his quest to regain his daughter. Let this man come if he cared to. He would\nfind nothing of value for his bother. Maggie was the only thing treasure worth having\nand she wasn't here. That however would soon be corrected.                Back in\na modest little house in the city of Pittsburgh, a young girl sat on the edge\nof a bed, feeling elated. It was premature, but for the moment she was willing\nto take half a loaf. Having anything go fully her way right now was beyond anything\nmore than childish wishful thinking. There was too much riding on the next few\ndays. If anything were to work out the way she might hope, it would take more\nof a miracle than even the pope could provide."}