Fire/Synopsis

## Fire

Jaeger kneels and snuffles at the ground like a *canid* would and pronounces she's been here. The remaining two pack members from the Order of the White Wolf await their leader's orders. In the branches of a nearby tree, Sienna cowers and watches the hunters with terror in her eyes, covering her mouth with a hand to stifle any involuntary noises she might make. Lifting his head, Jaeger suddenly announces she *is* here, and the attention of the pack snaps to where Sienna is hiding from them. Tears in her eyes, she's unable to keep in a frantic "No", and she jumps from her tree in a desperate bid to escape. The three Wolves give chase, the one with the fox-head mask intoning, "The weak … must be culled." Jaeger tells Sienna she shouldn't run, that this is necessary. When he catches up to her, he leaps, bringing his sword over his head to strike her down. He tells her she will be stronger in the next life. When his blade comes down, he hits nothing but cloth.

A smallish fox squirrel bounds away from the empty shirt and scampers into an iron downspout on the corner of an abandoned industrial building. Jaeger attempts breaking open the pipe with his sword, shouting his denial and accomplishing nothing. 'Fox' notes that she's gone, while the one with the tusked elephant-head mask inspects the downspout and suggests that maybe she isn't weak. Jaeger turns his anger at Sienna's escape on 'Tusks', suggesting that maybe *he* is weak. He reminds them they are the last defense against the enemies who would destroy Nature. They must be strong. He points his sword at the kneeling Wolf and asks if he's strong enough for the pack. Bowing his head, 'Tusks' replies the pack endures; he is strong enough. The pack exfiltrates the area and heads back to base.

At the treeline, crouching on the top rail of a chainlink fence overgrown with vines and suckers, a yellow-eyed rat growls at what it has just witnessed.─────────────────────

In the basement of the devourers' Victorian manor home somewhere in Walker's Point, Ellie draws out a magic circle with a piece of chalk, complaining it's not fair that she always has to prepare the circle, even after forty years. Diana tells her that when she's not the Maiden anymore, then maybe she'll get to do the fun parts. Looking in the refrigerator, she asks if they're out of the last one. Cersei is nearby, butchering a bloody ribcage, and she calls out to Diana to check the freezer.

Behind her, hanging from a chain is the partially dismembered yet still living White Wolf Diana had claimed the week before after her fight with the pack in the culvert. The unfortunate victim, looking like a wolfman, mutters "Kill…" With a cruel smirk, Cersei tells the young man he's going to need to speak up, saying she's half deaf from his screaming. Again, he mutters "Kill…" The witch says she knows he will kill her, the weak must be blah blah blah. She tells him she's taking his tongue next, just to get some peace while she works. Finally he finds the energy to say what he means, pleading "Kill me…"

The three devourers gather around the green fire burning in the brazier in the center of the freshly drawn magic circle. Diana asks if the Wolf had begged for mercy, and Cersei tells her he asked for death; Diana says it's the same thing. Ellie is holding something bloody in her hands. They begin the ritual, each reciting their part. Ellie complains that she has to make do with the supplies they have left, saying wolf boy is useless, for this anyway. Placing a piece of bloody flesh in her mouth, she begins.

First into the flame. Charlotte Deconnick. She's interesting. Fearless. Fierce. But she has a weakness. Him. Her weakness is his weakness. Charlotte is in fierce competition with Joe skateboarding at a skate park. During a tricky maneuver the right front wheel — which had been squeaking earlier — causes Charlotte's board to stagger, and she trips and winds up in Joe's arms. A romantic moment as their lips approach… Ellie continues, saying it's young love, or maybe just lust. Either way, some pheromones from a rabbit will stoke her fires. As she speaks, Charlotte's eyes glow violet for a moment as the spell sinks in. Next, Ellie calls out the same for the other one, just enough to stoke the fires of jealousy. And Phoebe's eyes also light up violet. She continues with Fletcher Reed, the stoic. A little chemical assistance from a hog will deaden those emotions even more, and Fletcher's eyes light up violet. For Paulo Garza, a little fear courtesy of polistes exclamans. Even as he plays a video game with his sister, his eyes light up. Finally, for Sean Wallace, an anger stoked by the biochemicals of a cat.

She finishes, her face and neck bloody, saying it's the perfect recipe for tearing them apart.

## References

1. ↑ My Body is a Cage
2. ↑ *Polistes exclamans* "Wikipedia"