Chapter 13

Another newly changed *Uratha*,
TEDDY SCARRE, is currently in training with the Harbingers of Day. She’s had a
rough go of it so far – the worst part was having to break up with her
boyfriend of three years, STEVEN CALIF. As an *Uratha*, one of the first things you are tasked to do is sever all
ties to your old human life. TEDDY also has a best friend named SOREN, but she
couldn’t bring herself to separate from her oldest friend and roommate.
Besides, SOREN already knew what TEDDY was. The night of her First Change, she
had no one to turn to after she almost killed her father, defending herself
from his drunken rage. She ended up telling SOREN everything. SOREN was the
truest of friends, though, and insisted on helping TEDDY through this new
chapter in her life. She was not afraid of what her best friend had become.

Today is a particularly difficult day for TEDDY. A week ago, she
found out that the night she had broken up with STEVEN was the night he had
planned to propose to her. She became very resentful of the Harbingers at that
point, and had begun to rebel against her training. As punishment, the
Harbingers had taken away her phone, her wallet and her keys and locked them
away, thereby completely severing all communication with SOREN. TEDDY is sure
her friend is very worried about her by now. The Harbingers haven’t even
allowed her to return to her apartment this past week. Finally, TEDDY decides
enough is enough. She is getting her stuff back and getting out from under her
oppressors. She knows that her stuff is locked away in DAMIEN KINGSLEY’s office
at the Red Room, which has been her prison for the last week. TEDDY manages to
sneak away from the common room and make her way to DAMIEN’s office. It is
locked with a key pad – DAMIEN has a card key that allows him access. TEDDY
studies the door for a few minutes, trying to figure out how to bypass the
lock, then gets a brilliant idea. One of her newly acquired gifts allows her to
awaken dormant spirits and talk to them. What if she could awaken the spirit of
the door? Before she enacts the gift, she is interrupted as a figure appears at
the end of the hallway.

BLACK FURY, an *Iron Master*
Rahu*, has been a guest of the Harbingers for the past week. She is heading*
to the common room from her suite upstairs when she sees a young *Uratha* in the hallway paying an
inordinate amount of attention to the door of DAMIEN’s office - another *Iron Master* by the look of it. *Is she seriously trying to break into*
DAMIEN’s office? *BLACK FURY thinks with amusement.* This oughta be good! *The young* Uratha
*startles as she realizes she has been discovered, “Whatcha doin’ kid?”*
BLACK FURY asks simply.

“Um…just looking…at stuff.” TEDDY responds as her heart leaps into
her chest. She recognizes BLACK FURY, and wonders what she’s going to do to
her. She is not prepared for the *Rahu*’s
response.

BLACK FURY smiles impishly, waving her hand dismissively,
“Proceed… I see nothing.” She turns mostly away, watching the entrance of the
hallway and keeping tabs on the kid out of the corner of her eye. She is
impressed at the young *Iron Master*’s
ingenuity. The kid actually manages to awaken the spirit of the door and
convince it to give her its code. BLACK FURY moves to the entrance of the
office and watches as TEDDY removes her cell phone, wallet and keys from a box
on a shelf in KINGSLEY’s office. She unlocks her phone and starts sifting
through messages. SOREN has left her several voicemails and text messages. “PSST…hey
kid… you might want to leave the office before you go through that.” BLACK FURY
whispers from the doorway. Feeling a little sheepish, TEDDY hurriedly replaces
the box on the shelf and leaves the office, closing the door behind her. Then
she and BLACK FURY head for the common room. The *Rahu* nods to her phone, “So, what is so important?”

“It’s my best friend,” TEDDY responds, distracted by SOREN’s
urgent text messages, “Something’s wrong. I’m not sure what, but I need to find
out.”

“Best friend, huh? Didn’t they tell you to sever all ties to your
old life? That’s the usual mandate. Attachments hold you back, kid.”

“Yes,” TEDDY answers, “but I couldn’t leave SOREN. She’s my
everything. And I already severed ties to someone else I cared deeply about.”

“Oh?” BLACK FURY says, intrigued. “And who might that be?

“None of your business.” TEDDY responds curtly.

BLACK FURY smiles knowingly, “Boyfriend then… Got it.”

TEDDY scowls at her, “Look, I gotta go. SOREN needs my help.”

“How ‘bout I go with you?” BLACK FURY asks. “I was getting pretty
bored anyway. I could use some excitement.”

“Sure, whatever,” TEDDY answers, still distracted with worry.
“Know how to hotwire a car?”

“Do *you?*” BLACK FURY
retorts, then wraps her arm around TEDDY’s shoulders. “What’s your name kid?”

“TEDDY…yours?”

“BLACK FURY. But you can just call me FURY. I like you kid –
you’ve got stones.” The two continue outside in silence and head to the nearest
subway station. When they reach the apartment, SOREN embraces TEDDY, relieved.
It looks like she hasn’t slept in a couple of days and has recently been
crying. TEDDY briefly introduces FURY and then hugs SOREN tightly.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for days! Where have you been?”

“Long story…don’t think it’s important right now. SOREN, what’s
going on?”

“It’s JEFF. He’s been missing for three days, now.” JEFF was SOREN’s
little brother. He was about 8 years old. Apparently, he snuck out of the house
early one morning three days ago, and hasn’t been seen since. TEDDY and FURY
spend some time gathering as much information as possible from SOREN. The
police were called, but have no leads as of yet. SOREN recently graduated from
the police academy herself. She invites FURY to spend the night. TEDDY promises
she and FURY will do their own investigation first thing in the morning – they
might be able to track JEFF using their werewolf abilities. FURY insists they
not wait until morning, though – the trail is already 3 days old and they
shouldn’t waste any more time. They leave SOREN to try and get some sleep, and
head across town to her childhood home. They sniff around outside the house,
being careful not to wake SOREN’s parents, but after several hours, are unable
to pick up a trail. FURY was afraid that might happen. TEDDY suggests they get
a hotel room nearby and try a get a couple hours of sleep. FURY shakes her
head.

“We don’t need a hotel room. There’s a park nearby.” They head to
the local neighborhood park and fall asleep in a heavily wooded area. A
homeless man stumbles across them early in the morning. He is startled to see
wolves in the middle of the park, but TEDDY and FURY pretend to “run away,” and
he shambles along his way. He appears to be a disabled veteran. They shift back
to their human forms and take a few minutes to clean up before heading to SOREN’s
parents’ house. TEDDY knocks on the door and is warmly greeted by SOREN’s
father.

“TEDDY?... Please…come in. Who’s your friend?”

“This is FURY,” TEDDY begins.

“Nice to meet you, FURY. TEDDY, where have you been? SOREN’s been
worried sick.”

Before TEDDY can answer, FURY cuts in. “Where she’s been is a very
long story that doesn’t seem nearly as important as the fact that you are
missing a kid.”

“FURY!!” TEDDY exclaims, horrified as the comment seems to hit
SOREN’s father like a ton of bricks.

“Of course, please come in.” he says quietly. They spend the next
hour talking with SOREN’s parents. They learn about some of JEFF’s friends. He
has never snuck out before, but there was a homeless man that complained that
JEFF and his friends were harassing him. No other children in the neighborhood
have gone missing yet. They ask to see JEFF’s room and spend some time sniffing
around to try and get a stronger scent. They promise SOREN’s parents they will
do all they can to find him, and the grateful couple escorts them both back
outside. It is still too early in the morning for JEFF’s friends to be out
playing, so they decide to start with the homeless man. SOREN’s parents only
knew him as CLIFF. He seems to be a permanent resident of the local park. TEDDY
and FURY return to where he stumbled across them in the brush and track him
from there. They find him making himself some coffee using an old sock as a
filter.

“*That’s* how you make *real* coffee,” FURY says as they
approach, “It’ll put hair on your chest, for sure.” TEDDY wrinkles her nose in
disgust as FURY digs in her pockets for some crumpled bills.  She holds them up as they approach CLIFF, who
is eyeing them warily. “Morning, soldier. Thought you’d like to buy yourself a
hearty breakfast after we have a little chat.”

CLIFF looks them both up and down before hastily taking the bills
from FURY’s hand, “So you want some information…You’ve come to the right place.
I know everything there is to know about what goes on in this park.”

TEDDY steps up next to FURY, looking down at the veteran with kind
eyes, “We heard some of the neighborhood kids have been harassing you?”

CLIFF grumbles under his breath, “Oh, those little bastards… Yeah…
don’t know why they can’t just leave me be.”

“Well,” TEDDY continues, “that’s why we’re here. One of those kids
has gone missing, the gangly one with dirty blonde hair and deep blue eyes. His
name is JEFF. Have you seen him lately?”

“Nah…I don’t know nothing about that,” CLIFF responds. He appears
to be sincere, “That’s a shame, though. He’s a pretty good kid – just hangs out
with those ruffians… doesn’t really do anything. I got no problem with him. I
haven’t seen him around in a while.”

TEDDY’s heart sinks, “Well have you noticed anyone or anything
strange in the park lately?”

CLIFF thinks for a few moments, “Nah… not anything out of the
ordinary, unless you count that ice cream guy… I don’t like him.”

“What don’t you like about him?” TEDDY presses.

“It’s his eyes…they just ain’t right. The look in his eyes… it’s…well…,”
he struggles to find the right word.

“Predatory?” FURY finishes.

CLIFF nods vigorously as his eyes meet hers, “Yeah! Predatory!”
Then he pauses for a moment as a strange look comes across his face, “Like…” he
stares at FURY, suddenly becoming very nervous, “Okay, you can go now.” FURY
starts to argue, but TEDDY holds up a hand.

“Give us a minute will you, FURY?” Reluctantly, FURY steps back,
then turns and goes to stand by a nearby tree. TEDDY tries to talk to CLIFF
some more, but he becomes very agitated, babbling and muttering something about
how he knows how to deal with “their” kind. Then, he draws a gun from under his
clothes and fires it up into the air wildly. *Oh…HELL no!* FURY thinks to herself, hurrying back to TEDDY’s side.

“Put the gun DOWN, soldier!” FURY growls. Terrified, he fires at
FURY, then turns and runs away. TEDDY starts to go after him, but FURY stops
her. “Let him go…don’t think he’s our guy anyway.” She brushes absently at the
blood that is now spreading across her shirt.

“FURY! You’re hurt!” TEDDY exclaims, “Let me help you.”

FURY shakes her head, “Don’t sweat it, kid. Give me a few minutes –
I’ll be fine. You know how this works.” It’s still a little too early for the kids
to be out, so TEDDY suggests they grab some breakfast, *after* FURY changes her shirt. They dig around in a nearby Goodwill
donation station until FURY finds a suitable replacement, then they head across
the street to a diner. A little while later, they are back out on the
playground talking to JEFF’s friends. Unfortunately, the boys aren’t able to
provide any new information. They haven’t seen JEFF in three days. TEDDY and
FURY ask them about the ice cream man, and they all seem to like him – not too
surprising. They do mention that GRANNY doesn’t like him. Apparently, GRANNY is
a little old lady that likes to share fresh baked goodies with the neighborhood
children. Since the ice cream man started working in the neighborhood, the
children don’t visit her as much, which she doesn’t like. FURY asks when the
ice cream man will be around next, then answers her own question as they hear
his truck coming down the street. The children all run to greet him, some of
them with their parents. He parks a little way down the street, and TEDDY and
FURY follow behind the children. They watch as a long line of children file
through, observing his actions. He’s a heavyset balding man, and his truck
shakes as he moves around inside. He flirts unabashedly with the kids’ mothers,
and a few of them flirt back. Before long, FURY gets bored and starts circling
his truck slowly, looking for anything strange, while TEDDY waits patiently to
speak with him. When FURY gets to the back of his truck, she opens the door
quietly to peek inside. He doesn’t seem to notice, busily working to serve his
patrons. Nothing looks or smells odd, though his freezer seems a bit larger
than would be expected. She can hear TEDDY start talking with him, asking him
about the children, specifically JEFF. Out of the corner of her eye, FURY sees
two cop cars pull up to the house across the street. She comes back around to
the front of the truck just as TEDDY seems to be concluding her interrogation. TEDDY
steps aside to let a few late arrivals order and motions for FURY, who sidles
up next to her.

“What’s up kid? Did you find something?”

“Something’s not right. I told him JEFF was missing and even
though he said all the right things, I could tell he didn’t care at all that a
child was missing.”

“That *is* odd,” FURY
agrees. “Even I’m not *that* heartless.”
They wait until the final patrons leave and they can hear the man rustling
around in his truck, preparing to depart. FURY steps to the back of the truck
and points to the cops across the street, then winks at TEDDY, “Watch my back?”
Before TEDDY can answer, FURY opens the door and hops up into the truck.

“HEY!” TEDDY hears the man exclaim gruffly, “Get out of my truck!”

“Not until you explain to me why you don’t seem to care in the
least that a kid is missing.” FURY growls, stalking toward him. TEDDY watches
through the crack in the open door and sees the man back away and reach for
something. “Let me see in your freezer!” The situation devolves quickly from
there. The man pulls a tire iron out and threatens FURY, still blocking the
freezer door. TEDDY swears she sees his eyes glint a wicked yellow. FURY moves
quickly to disarm him, smashing her fist into his arm. The tire iron clatters
to the floor, but the man raises his other hand, hitting FURY square in the
chest and sending her flying backward and almost out the door. *Well, he definitely wasn’t human.* TEDDY
tries to pull FURY the rest of the way out of the truck, but she refuses,
charging back in and pinning him against the side of the truck. The truck
shakes violently back in forth as the two are locked in a grapple. TEDDY looks
nervously over at the two police cars, but both officers seem to be inside the
house. Suddenly, the truck stops shaking. TEDDY peeks in again and is surprised
to see FURY and the man walking toward the door. His arm is around her
shoulders. “I’m sorry man…” she can hear FURY saying, “I don’t know what came
over me.”

“There, there,” he responds. His eyes are bright yellow and seem
to be glittering. “You best be on your way, now.” *What the heck?!* FURY nods amiably and joins TEDDY outside. They
both watch as the ice cream truck continues on its way, TEDDY looking at FURY incredulously.
After a few minutes, FURY shakes her head.

“Damn it!! He *roofied* me!
Son of a Bitch!” FURY snarls.

“What are you talking about?” TEDDY asks, but then stops as she
sees the two police officers emerging from the house across the street with two
obviously distraught parents. The mother is crying and the father is trying to
comfort her. FURY seems to have noticed the same thing. Another child gone
missing? As soon as the officers are out of sight, TEDDY and FURY knock on the
family’s door. Indeed, their little girl, AMY went missing early this morning.
It looks like she climbed out her window. It doesn’t take much to convince the
parents to allow them to take a look in the girl’s room. TEDDY manages to
discreetly pocket a small piece of a worn blanket that is strong with the little
girl’s scent. Finally, a fresh trail to follow! AMY is the same age as JEFF and
her parents know who JEFF is.

TEDDY and FURY pick up the little girl’s trail easily outside her
bedroom window. They follow it for a couple of blocks and find themselves in quaint
little backyard with a white picket fence. The smell of fresh baked pies wafts
from the windows…GRANNY’s house? AMY’s scent leads across the yard right up to
the sliding glass door. There is no evidence of movement inside. Cautiously,
they approach the door. It doesn’t appear to be locked. They pause outside to
listen before entering carefully. Once inside, they can hear floorboards
creaking upstairs. AMY’s trail doesn’t go upstairs, though. It winds around the
foot of the stairs into the hallway on the other side, then stops abruptly at
the wall. *Secret door?* FURY starts
running her hands along the wall, trying to find some sort of trigger. Both of
them swear they are being watched, but remain unmolested. Together, they
finally find the seam of a barely perceptible door and FURY opens it up to
reveal a staircase leading down below. AMY’s scent goes down the stairs and the
smell of stale urine, feces and blood wafts up from below. FURY is the first to
begin her descent. As soon as she is inside the heavy steel door, it slams shut
behind her, locking and separating her from TEDDY. TEDDY spins around and comes
face to face with GRANNY.

“Filthy *Uratha!*” GRANNY hisses and attacks.

FURY spins around. She can hear the
sound of a struggle on the other side of the door. She shifts up to her *Garou* form and digs her claws into the
metal door, trying to wrench it off its hinges. It only takes her a couple of
tries to get through. As soon as she does, GRANNY turns and flees. She moves
way faster than a little old lady has any right to, and easily faults the white
picket fence. FURY pauses for only a second to make sure TEDDY is okay, then
chases after. “You go help the kids…I got GRANNY.”

TEDDY ventures into the darkness
below. Both AMY and JEFF are down here. AMY is crying and JEFF is lying limply
on the cold stone floor. He doesn’t look good at all. TEDDY kneels beside him,
trying to wake him. He’s barely breathing. Acting quickly, TEDDY uses her
limited medical knowledge to stabilize him. FURY returns shortly, assuring
TEDDY GRANNY won’t be a problem anymore. GRANNY was actually human, but she had
been claimed by a spirit of joy that just couldn’t understand why children didn’t
want to eat sweets all the time. When the children cried and begged GRANNY to
stop feeding them, the spirit would get angry and hurt them. Unfortunately,
once a human is claimed by a spirit, there is no saving them. Together, TEDDY
and FURY carry the children up out of the basement. TEDDY calls 911 so JEFF can
be rushed to the hospital. Needless to say, both AMY and JEFF’s parents are
overjoyed to have their children back safely. As TEDDY and FURY return to SOREN’s
apartment for a much-deserved rest, FURY can’t help herself - *Who knew? … A real live Hansel and Gretel!*

*The*
Story Continues….

Current Developments - Chapter 12 - Chapter 14