Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 17:17:19 -0600
From: Cobalt Blue <elfcat@gmail.com>
Subject: Cattin' Around Chapter 5

BLOODMOON RISING PART 1.

I'm sorry this issue is so late in coming.  It has been very difficult to
get to congeal in my head and turned out to be longer than I intended.
However, I've decided to cut it in half and submit this much so far and
then add more as Part 2.  Also in part two I'm going to step away from
Trey's POV and do a chapter in Emory's.

Cobalt Blue

I spent the rest of that summer working with Emory, helping her learn the
runes, and both of us mastering our new shapeshifting powers.  We became
close, closer than just lovers.  Her being there helped me come to grips
with Ridvin's death, it helped me deal with the survivor's guilt.. I hadn't
realized it, but Rid was right.  If it hadn't been for Emory, I'd have
tried to follow him.  For a while, she literally was my anchor to this
world.  Again, Rid managed to teach me something even beyond the grave.

	As the summer wore on she improved her skills with the runes and I
even learned a little of her magic.  I'll never be the master of on-the-fly
casting that she is, but I can get by when I need too.  I think too much in
the old form, and tend to build my spells around the runes to ever be
anything other than a dabbler in what most people think of as witchcraft.

	I also learned to use the gift that Freyr gave me.  However, it was
a gift that I never told anyone that I had, not even Emory.  I learned to
create duplicates of myself.  These copies could act and think for
themselves just as I would.  There was a limited form of telepathy between
me and the copies, but nothing more than just vague feelings and that was
only if there was a strong emotion or pain attached.  However, when we
rejoined, I discovered that I had all the memories that they had acquired
while we were separated.  It was kind of weird.

	At the end of the summer, Emory had to return to England, back to
boarding school, and I once again turned back to the routine of living in
Northwest Alabama.  A lot of things changed for me that summer.  I think I
did more growing during that summer than in other time in my life.  I
really did become a man.

	It seemed that everyone who knew who and what I was treated me
differently.  My opinion actually came to mean something to the adults in
my life.  Even in the village where Rid was a priest, the way I was treated
changed.  Gilfrey never again tried to correct my manners.  Grandfather
said that it was because I proved myself a man that night; that I took the
responsibility for protecting the village and its people, and I avenged not
only someone that I loved, but that was loved by the community as well.
Also, the fact that I avenged a priest of Freyr showed that I honored all
the Gods, not just The Keeper Of Cats.

	Even the pack treated me differently after that.  But I know where
that came from.  I could actually sense that some of them were more than
just a little afraid of me.  I don't think they ever thought of me as
someone who would kill- kick someone's ass into next Tuesday sideways
maybe, but not kill.  Even JD gave me a wide berth for a while.

	Of course it didn't help that JD's dad was pissed as hell at me at
first.  I took the pack off and into danger.  Not only that, I didn't ask
his permission.  It took a long while for him to come to realize that JD
and the rest chose to go with me.  In the end, when he found out about the
songs that were being sung among the Alfs about his son, he backed off a
little bit.  I think that finally he came to see his son's actions as
something be proud of.

	Anyway, we settled back into the school year and before we knew it
our sophomore year came and passed; then our junior year.  The world was
passing by our sleepy little southern town.  In Birmingham, Night Angel
continued his battles with Twilight and the rest of the Richelieu Factor.
Things got really nasty between them after Twilight murdered Ms. Freedom.
Night Angel really did become some kind of dark avenger of the night.

      Down in Miami, Sun Dancer and the first Dreamweaver started kicking
butt and taking names as part of a team they called Miami Nice.  It seemed
that a whole crop of teenaged parahumans was sprouting up all over the
country.  Out West Dr. Elizabeth Green opened the Pacifica School, the
first of her three Stryker/Norris Schools for Advanced Academic Studies.
Basically they were schools where parahumans teenagers trained to use their
powers and to get along with the base-line human populations of the school.
Eventually, she would open two other branches- the one in Atlanta based off
the World War Two teenage super team Home Guard and the Eaton Team out of
England based off Strike Force Liberty, also from World War Two.

      It seemed that Dr. Griffin's fatal flight that spread the Atlantean
Gifted Virus across the United States back during World War Two was finally
bearing fruit.  There weren't a lot of adult parahumans at that time, but
there was a boatload of us kids.  I think that most of those few adults
were actually holdovers from the Second World War.

      My own powers continued to grow as well.  Because I inherited my
Atlantean Gifted Gene from Dad, and was starting to show levels of strength
that surpassed even him, my parents considered sending me to Pacifica, but
decided against it.  They felt that my own responsibilities that came with
Freyja's Commission might create problems for the school.  Instead, they
simply continued to teach and train me at home.  Of course, they didn't
limit their teachings to just how to fight, or how to use the runes.  No, I
also got history, science, and languages as well.

      Since I was old enough to form my first words, Mom and Dad have
insisted that I learn as many languages as possible.  English and Old Norse
were of course cradle languages, spoken in my home equally since I was a
baby.  When I got a little older, they added French, German, Russian,
Chinese, Japanese, Farsi, and Arabic.  All this of course reinforced my
suspicion later in life that Dad and maybe even Mom were spies.

      Like I said though, my powers, specifically my strength kept growing-
to a point where my parents genuinely became concerned that they might have
to send me somewhere to learn to control it.  You have to understand
something.  Most werewolves can pick up a small car.  Most werecats, tigers
especially tend to be about twice as strong as that. My Dad can easily lift
our old International tractor and toss it across the barn.  We realized I
was in a whole new category the day I carried a Caterpillar D-9 out of the
sinkhole that it had fallen into on our farm.

        To be honest I'm glad they didn't send me out west, though.  I
enjoyed growing up in our sleepy little town, and don't think I would have
fit in well with a bunch of West Coast kids.  I know that by Yule of my
senior year, there were a quite a few people in the know that were just as
glad I hadn't gone anywhere else.

      It all started back at the beginning of the school year.  Now,
several of my friends and I had an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons campaign
that had been meeting for a couple of years.  We'd alternate between Friday
and Saturday nights each week and play `til the wee hours of the morning.
Okay, I'll be honest; there were several times we'd still be playing when
the sun was coming up the next day.  We had standing rule: If you had a
date or a chance to get laid that night and you showed up for the game,
we'd kick your ass.  Gaming was one thing, but getting your lance waxed was
something different.

      Our group was pretty eclectic.  There was me, JD, and Bart, Kevin,
and we actually had two girls who played.  One was Kevin's girlfriend Amy,
you remember her from the first story I told you.  Well, after that first
grope session of theirs, they decided that they actually had quite a bit in
common.  She'd put on a little weight since then, but wasn't what you'd
actually call fat, just pleasant.  Her brown hair had darkened to almost
black and those boobs of hers that were large at 12 had turned into
monsters.

      The other girl's name was Tanya.  She was tall, with red hair and was
actually somewhat attractive.  She just had a reputation of being a little
strange.  For one thing, she had a weekly subscription to the Midnight Sun
and the National Enquirer.  Secondly, she had an encyclopedic knowledge of
science fiction and fantasy.  She knew more about Star Trek and The Six
Million Dollar Man than the rest of us put together.

      Anyway, this was about the time that the Evangelicals got the bug up
their collective asses about the evils of D&D.  They were convinced that it
was seducing fine young Christians into witchcraft.  Hell, I was into
witchcraft and magic long before I discovered D&D.

      Well, our game wasn't a secret.  We invited several people to play,
but for the most part it was just us six.  We would alternate between my
house and Tanya's.  Of course on nights of the full moon, all bets were
off, and the game got put on hold.  Anyway, like I said, the local
Evangelicals decided that our game was evil and instead of sitting around a
kitchen table and rolling dice, we were out sacrificing virgins,
worshipping Satan, and casting spells.  The worst part about it, was they
wouldn't know a spell if it hit them upside the head.

      Add to all that, my reputation as the county's bad-boy and the fact
that my family didn't attend church anywhere in town, and we had recipe for
a witch-hunt- a real, down-to-earth,
go-out-and-save-the-youth-of-the-county witch hunt.  It all got kicked off,
just after some youth minister came through and gave a talk about Satanism,
the occult, and witchcraft.  D&D was pretty high on his lists of things
that were evil.

      I guess I should have seen it coming, but to be honest, I was more
worried about some of the stuff that I was reading in the paper about the
UN.  Bet you thought I'd forgotten about that didn't you.  Well, I figured
if it was important enough for Rid to come back from the dead to tell me
about, then I'd sure as heck had better listen.  He was right too.  There
was already a movement in the General Assembly to ban parahumans from
serving in the various militaries around the world.  They wanted them all
for themselves.

      So, I guess I can be forgiven for missing the first signs of trouble
brewing on the home front with the local CoC.  Ironically, it was the same
damn church whose minister's daughter I banged at Kevin's.  I should have
known that that was going to come back and bite me in the ass.  I pretty
much ignored most of what that particular crowd was saying anyway.

      But one early September morning I got it full in the face.  I was
coming in the front door of the school building and turned right down
toward the high school wing when I overheard Amy arguing with someone.  It
sounded like she was pretty worked up too.
      "Nothing like that is going on, Crystal," she was saying.  "We just
get together and roll dice and try to imagine the story as it unfolds
around us.  There's a lot of problem solving and general role playing going
on."

      "You just don't want to see it, Amy," Crystal Marie Guthrie was
saying.  "You're playing with fire.  If there are spells and magic and
stuff like that involved, then it's opening a doorway for Satan to come
into your lives.  It's dangerous and you need to cut it out."
      I rounded the corner in time to see them standing next to Amy's
locker arguing.  "Hiya' Amy.  How's it going?" I asked acting like I hadn't
heard anything.  That's when I noticed Tanya standing next to her looking
fit to be tied.

      She turned and smiled at me and said, "Hello Trey.  We were just
talking about our D&D game with Crystal."

      "Oh? I asked suspiciously.  I knew that Crystal was active in her
church, and was the leader of our school's Sonlight Club- a Christian group
that met on Tuesday mornings.  "You telling her about our party taking on
Keraptis in White Plume Mountain?"  Bart was currently running us through
the now famous S2 Module.

      "Not quite," Tanya interjected.  "We'd be glad to tell her about how
JD solved the Sphinx's riddle, and how you figured out the problem with the
flesh golems, but she won't let us get a word in edgewise.  She's convinced
that we're all over at your or my house worshipping Satan or something."
It was obvious that Tanya had had just about enough.

      I raised an eyebrow and asked.  "That what you think, Crystal?"

      "Well, brother Randy at church said...,"

      "Is that what YOU think though?" I cut her off.

      "I know that there are wizards and magic, and demons, so it sure
sounds like it to me.  But to be honest with you, I don't do that kind of
thing, so I don't know," she said.

      I nodded and said, "That much is obvious.  Why don't you try and find
out first hand before you go and start accusing people of stuff."

      "I'm not accusing anybody of anything," she protested.

      "That's not what it sounded like to me," I told her.  I looked over
at Tanya and Amy.

      "Well, it's definitely not a Christian thing to be doing," she said.

      "I don't know," I told her.  "We're recovering stolen property and
making the plains of Central Flanaess safe for the regular folk to settle
there.  Sounds like a good thing to be doing to me," I told her about the
plot of the module.

      She gave me a blank look.  "It's a role playing game, we tell a
story.  Nobody believes we're actually casting spells or worshipping
anything," Tanya told her.

      "Messing around spells and wizards and such is evil.  It's Satanic,
even if you're doing it in a story."

      I couldn't help but think about what I did every day when I worked
with the runes, or what Emory did with her own magic.  Of course to people
like Crystal, anything that wasn't spelled out in black in white in the
King James Version of the Bible was considered Satanic.  I just sighed and
said, "Nobody is casting spells while we're playing, it's just that, a
game."

      "Still, it's not Christian," she said.

      I looked over at my friends.  They all knew that I wasn't a
Christian, and to be honest, I'd just about had it.  Finally I looked at
her and said, "That's your opinion, and in my case, it doesn't really
matter because I got news for ya. I'm not a Christian so I don't care."
      She looked at me in shock.  "So you admit to being a Satanist?"

      I stepped closer and I guess I must have growled because I saw her
face blanch as I told her, "I said I wasn't a Christian.  Only Christian
arrogance automatically assumes that I would therefore worship your God of
Evil.  My family and I are of another faith, one that was in Europe long
before your Christian hordes came into the continent and started killing
people to make them convert."  I'll admit it, I probably said too much, and
I had definitely gone too far.  My only defense is I was pissed, and was
tired of putting up with this kind of bullshit.  Normally, I keep my faith
pretty much to myself and thank others for doing the same.

      I live a life true to the Vanir and the Aesir, and of course as an
agent of Freyja, I honor the Gods and Goddesses.  As far as most mortals
are concerned, I've had more training in the Northern Way than the vast
majority of the gothis on Midgarth.  But I didn't consider myself a gothi.
I am a good person, even a devout person, just not one of the same faiths
as people around me, and I get tired of being told that because I'm not a
follower of their religion, that I'm following their God of Evil.

      Crystal backed away and stuttered.  I advanced on her and said, "Now
why don't you take your sick little preaching somewhere else because I'm
not interested in hearing it."
      She turned and almost ran down the hall.  I turned back to Amy and
Tanya and saw the look of surprise on their faces.  "Sorry guys.  I guess
I'm a little irritable."

      "Who pissed in your oatmeal?" Amy asked.

      "You do realize that you've now sicced the crispies on all of us,"
Tanya said.  "I don't think you and JD, and Bart will mind, and I
personally don't give a care, but Amy and Kevin are going to catch grief
now."

      I nodded in chagrin, "I'm sorry.  I guess she got under my skin."

      Amy chuckled and put a hand on my shoulder saying, "It's okay.  Just
so that you realize what you've set yourself up for."

      "Trust me I know.  After that whole incident with Sharon, I know just
how much grief they can cause me," I told her as I turned to my locker.  I
just didn't know how fast the proverbial shit would hit the fan.

      It started the very next day before school even got started.  JD and
I were in the senior parking lot getting out of my Jeep and discussing the
fishing in that little stream next to the furball field.  The day before
I'd gotten several weird looks from the "God Squad"- the kids who were
heavy into the Sonlight Club and other Christian organizations around the
school- but didn't really pay them any mind.

      As we were heading into the main building we were pulled aside by
Mr. Pate, the principal.  "Greenbough, I want to talk to you in my office."

      JD and I looked at each other and I shrugged.  "Yes sir," I told him.
Then I turned to JD and said, "I'll see you later."

      We went into his office and Mr. Pate shut the door behind him saying,
"I've had a couple of comments from several of the students about you
yelling at Crystal Guthrie."
      I nodded, "Yes sir.  I guess I sort of lost my temper," I admitted.

      He smiled at me, "Be that as it may, I'm also concerned about the
rumors I've been hearing that you're into some kind of devil worship."

      I shook my head and sighed, "Is that what you think sir?"

      "I'm asking you, Trey.  You're family isn't members of any of the
local churches, and several students have said that you came out and
claimed not to be Christians."

      I nodded to him, "No sir, we're not.  We're Asatru."

      "I don't know what that is," he told me.

      "It's the pre-Christian native religion of Northern Europe," I told
him, not wanting to go into too much detail.

      He sat and looked me over carefully.  I hadn't really been in that
much trouble over the last few years, but my getting caught banging that
preacher's daughter had given me a reputation that hadn't really gone away.
"Well, I want you to go ahead today and attend the Sonlight meeting in
Mrs. Stovall's room this morning.  Getting exposed to a few Christian
ideals might do you some good."

      "Sir?" I asked.

      He gave me a stern look, "I want you to go to the Sonlight meeting
today, and until the end of the term.  If you stay out of trouble, then I
won't make you go after the first report cards come out."

      "Am I to assume then that I'm in trouble?" I asked carefully.

      "Not yet.  Let's just call it a preventative measure," he told me.
"Who knows, it might even do you some good."

      Now, I knew what he was telling me to do was beyond his scope as a
principal, but my parents had raised me better than to argue with him- and
like he said, it really wouldn't hurt me any.  I asked, "Are you sure about
this sir?"

      He nodded and said, "Yes."

      "Yes sir," I told him and stood keeping my anger under a tight
control. "Am I dismissed?" I asked tersely.

      He looked at me strangely as if wondering what I was up to and said,
"Dismissed."

      To say I was fuming, would be an understatement.  I was furious, but
I wasn't about to let him or anyone else know it.  Besides, like I said, my
parents raised me better than to back-talk an adult.  I simply marched out
of the office and down to Mrs. Stovall's room.  I know JD and Kevin saw me
heading that way, and I'm pretty sure they could tell I was upset by the
look on my face.

      When I entered the room, the meeting was just coming to order and a
tall thin man I recognized as "Brother" Randy, the youth pastor at one of
the local churches was getting ready open with a prayer.  He looked over
and nodded to me before starting.

      While everyone else prayed, I stood there quietly looking ahead, not
interrupting but making it clear that I was not participating.  I knew that
several eyes were peeking out from under hooded lids to watch and see what
I would do.

      When it was over, Crystal leaned over and quietly, "Don't you think
you should have at least bowed your head?"

      I smiled at her and said, "I don't pray to Gods that I don't belong
to."

      "Then why are you here?"

      "Because I was ordered to be here, it is entirely against my own
will."

      "Well, it won't hurt you," she said.

      "And it wouldn't hurt you to come to a ritual with my family, but I'd
never consider forcing you to come."

      "Brother" Randy began with general business and announcements for the
club and continued to drone on as I listened to Crystal's reply.  "I don't
think so.  I really don't know what your religion is about, but if it's not
Christian then it has to be Satanic."

      I bit back the obvious reply and said, "Typical of Christians.  You
push your own religion on everyone else by the point of a sword and then
call great civilizations Satanic because they don't buy into your beliefs."

      Before she could reply, I heard "Brother Randy" call my name, "And
we'd like to welcome an unexpected visitor, I believe your name is Trey."

      I looked over at him and said, "Trey Greenbough."

      "Welcome Trey, we're glad you chose to join us."

      My upbringing may have taught me to be polite to my elders, and to
those in charge, but this man was not an official of the school, and I'd
just about had my stomach full.  "I didn't choose to come here.  I was
ordered here against my will. It seems that some of your sycophants can't
seem to stand having your sick preaching questioned and complained to
Mr. Pate.  I'm here by his order."

      "God doesn't want people under duress," Randy replied.

      "Really?" I asked.  "History seems to point out otherwise."

      Randy looked a little taken aback but didn't rise to the bait, "Why
do you have so much anger in your heart toward us, Trey?  God doesn't want
us to be angry"

 	"I'm not angry, I'm disgusted," I told almost growled at him.

      He shook his head and asked, "About what?"

      "Your preaching against something you obviously don't understand for
starters.  Your turning people against each other for another, and finally
for being sent here against my will."  By now, we had everyone's attention.

      "Preaching against what?" Randy asked.

      "D and D for one," I told him.  "Another, is your teaching that
anyone who isn't a follower of your religion must be following your
religion's God of Evil."

      "We don't have a God of Evil," Mark Sherman protested.  "There's only
the One True God."

      I shook my head and laughed.  I wanted to ask him if he's ever met
his One True God.  I wanted to tell him that I have met one of my Gods, and
even been spoken to by him. But, I held my tongue.  That would give too
much away.  Instead I said, "That's your belief.  I happen to believe
differently."

      "That's what we're here for, Trey," Randy said.  "To help you see the
error of your belief, to bring you into the loving arms of the Almighty
Father."

      I looked up at him, smiled and said, "My faith has an All Father as
well. And to tell you the truth, I don't think he would be too happy if I
were to abandon my oaths to him and the other Elderkin to become one of
your Desert Slave God's followers."

      "But Jesus hung on the cross and died as a sacrifice to save you from
Hell," Randy said.

      "And Odin hung on the World Tree for nine days as a sacrifice of
himself to himself.  Hel holds no terror for me, She's simply the guardian
of the barrow to where we all must go to be with our ancestors when we pass
from this realm.  But then again, I'm not talking about your lake-of-fire
type hell, am I?"

	"Odin and Hel are pagan gods, they aren't real!" Randy protested.

	"They are as real to me as your God is to you.  And Jehovah is a
foreign God who stole the followers of other Gods from their rightful
creators."  I sighed.  "We can be at this all day long.  You can quote your
scripture and I can quote the Eddas.  In the end, you and Mr. Pate are
using your authority to preach to me about your religion against my will
and against the will of my parents.  I owe you nothing, including the
politeness of a guest to his host."  I locked gazes with him and said, "I
know deep in my heart that I belong to my Gods.  I hear them speak to me
every day, and in ways you can't imagine.  I have a personal relationship
with my Gods, the Goddess Freyja in particular, just as I am sure you say
the same about you and your relationship with Jehovah.  I won't pray to
your God, and unfortunately for you, you no longer have the option of
torturing me to make me convert as your predecessors did to so many of my
ancestors."

	"Nobody is going to torture you to make you convert, Trey," Mark
said.  "We're just worried about the condition of your soul.  We want to
save you from burning in Hell for following false gods."

	Before I could say anything Randy held up his hand and said, "I
think we've about reached the end of this conversation.  If you don't want
to be here, Trey, then there's the door.  We'll pray for you."

	I stopped at the door, turned and looked back and said, "And I'll
pray for you too." I made little quotation marks in the air with my fingers
at the word pray.  "We'll see who has a closer relationship with the Gods
who chose them."

	For the rest of the day, the only people who would get near me were
the pack and Tanya.  Everyone else gave me a wide berth, and even the
teachers seemed to not want to upset me. I heard on more than one occasion
members of the faculty discussing my "rude behavior" to Randy.  Most
thought it was scandalous, and I should be suspended.  Coach Anderson's
comment was "the little prick got what he deserved."

	I'm not one to hide what I've done, and I went home that evening
and told my parents about the whole conversation with Crystal, with
Mr. Pate, and with Randy.  Dad was silent, but smiling.  Mom on the other
hand, was about to blow a fuse.  Of course Dad hadn't lived through the
conversion of Denmark like Mom had, he didn't have quite the history with
those kinds of things as she did.

	Mom waited an entire week before going to see Mr. Pate.  She made
an appointment for the following Tuesday so that she could have a few words
with "Brother" Randy as well, and of course she wanted me to sit in on it.

	I warned JD and the rest that they may want to stay as far away
from the front office as they could on Tuesday morning.  That just meant
that they were trying to figure out a way to loiter there.  I knew it was
going to be an unpleasant meeting.  I'm not normally the kind of person to
let my Mom defend me.  But in this case she really was the best person to
handle it.  As for my own preparations, with the permission of my folks, I
simply set up a few rune wards on myself.  Prayer is after all, a form a
magic, and I could almost guarantee that my magic was stronger than
Randy's.  The Keeper of Cats is very protective of her property.

	The meeting itself started off calmly.  Mom was dressed in business
wear- or what I liked to call her spy gear.  Her long blonde hair was
pulled back in a bun, and in her navy skirt, and jacket, she looked more
like an FBI agent than a housewife. Pinned to her lapel was a Thor's Hammer
broach to make her point.  I don't think she was what Mr. Pate was
expecting as he seemed somewhat surprised by her appearance, and escorted
us into his office.

	"What can I do for Mrs. Greenbough?" he asked.

	"I'd like progress report on Trey, and to discuss a few other
things with you," Mom said in an inquiring tone.

	Mr. Pate picked up a file, and looked through it before replying.
"Trey's on the track for an Advanced Academic Diploma.  His grades are As
for the most part with a few Bs tossed in.  Not really a discipline
problem.  That is until lately. Trey seems to have reputation for more
trouble than he really gives."

	"Oh, and why pray tell has my son been labeled a discipline problem
of late?" Mom asked in that calm voice that usually means that she's laying
a verbal trap.

	"He had an altercation with a young lady in the hall, and made an
open declaration that his family wasn't Christian.  That upset the young
lady.  Later he was very rude to one of our guests at a Sonlight meeting."
Mr. Pate told her.  "I'm sure he was exaggerating about his family's
religion."

	"No, we're not Christians," Mom told him.  "We're Asatru."

	Mr. Pate looked over to me and then back to Mom.  "Really?  And
what exactly is that?"

	"We follow the religion of pre-Christian Northern Europe- the
native religion of Europe.  After all Christianity isn't a native religion
to Europe but to Africa- North Africa to be exact.  But what does this have
to do with his schooling and discipline?" Mom asked.

	Mr. Pate seemed surprised.  I guess he wasn't expecting me to be
telling the truth.  "It's just that he showed a great deal of disrespect to
the young lady and to Pastor Johnson."

	"In what way was he disrespectful to this young lady?"

	"He became verbally abusive to her, calling her arrogant and
referring to her attempts at explain her point of view about the game Trey
and his friends play as sick preaching."

	"And her point of view of my son and his friend's out of school
activities were what?  Not that they are really any of her business."  Mom
asked.

	"She was just concerned that Trey and his friends were getting into
occult activities.  That has been a problem in our community lately,"
Mr. Pate said.

	"That's not her place to decide," Mom said.

	"Still, it was no excuse for his being rude to her," Mr. Pate said.

	"And she has no excuse for being rude to he and his friends," Mom
said.

	"And of course there was his being openly defiant and rude to
Pastor Johnson at the Sonlight meeting."

	"And what was my son doing in that meeting?  He's not a part of
that group and he has no business there."

	"I sent him there to teach him a lesson in humility and manners."

	Mom locked gazes with Mr. Pate.  I could feel the temperature in
the room drop.  Mom is very much my Grandfather's daughter and her views on
humility are similar to his own.  "Humility is for slaves and Christians.
It's not for Asatru.  And we have manners.  You sent him there as an
attempt of conversion against his will. He owed the man no respect.  Not to
mention that religious conversion has no place in public school.  Trey
showed a lot more restraint in the manner than I would have at his age."

	"Mrs. G reenbough, this is not New York, or LA.  We're a small
God-fearing Christian community.  Religion has always been a part of our
school."

	Mom leaned forward and said, "My husband's family has been a part
of this community since the Civil War, and they have never been Christian.
We accept that being a minority faith in this community means putting up
with a great deal of misunderstandings, but neither my husband nor I will
tolerate the schools attempting to convert our son."

	"That was not my intention Mrs. Greenbough," Mr. Pate said.

	"Then what was your intention Mr. Pate?  To have my son ridiculed,
humiliated, made-fun-of, to have him singled out for harassment during the
school year?  We are thanes, my father is a jarl in the old country, and my
son has been raised to be one as well.  To be honest, you're lucky that
being rude was the only thing he did to the man.
	Perhaps Mr. Pate, you'd better call, what is his name- Brother
Randy- into the office?" Her words and inflection were that of a request,
but it was unmistakably an order.  "I'd like to get this cleared up with
him as well."  Mom was on a tear; her voice was cold and low.

	I glanced out the window and saw JD sitting in the outer office.  I
knew with his shifter sense he was hearing everything.  Mr. Pate said, "I
don't think we need to involve other people in what is obviously a school
issue."

	"Oh, but Mr. Pate, you've already involved Brother Randy and the
Sonlight Club. Now I suggest you get him in here.  I want a word with the
man who thinks he can tell my son that he's going to Hell."

	I watched the sweat bead up on Mr. Pate's forehead as he considered
what my Mom had said.  Finally reaching a decision he went to the door and
said, "JD, go to Mrs. Stovall's room and ask Reverend Johnson to come here
immediately.  Tell him it's very important."

	As we waited for Randy to arrive, Mom smiled and said, "Oh, while
we're here, has the Navy contacted you?"

	"The Navy?" Mr. Pate asked.  "Why would they contact me?"

	"About Trey's appointment to Annapolis, they'll want a copy of his
grades and things like that."

	"Trey has an appointment to Annapolis?  Usually requests for
military appointments go through the counselor's and principal's office."

	"Oh yes.  Since his father resigned at command rank, he has an
appointment there automatically.  We're very proud our son.  Military
service is always seen as a badge of honor in our family."

	Mr. Pate looked over at me and said, "Congratulations.  I didn't
know.  I guess you'll be leaving our sleepy little community soon."

	I smiled at him. "Yes sir, but only for my term of service."

	We sat and talked about my plans for the Navy, and how I wanted to
become an officer and a SEAL.  He seemed genuinely surprised that I already
had plans for life set out.  I guess because I wasn't one of the "in kids"
he thought I'd just go to work in a factory somewhere.

	After about five minutes there was a knock at the door, and Randy
came in.  "You wanted to see me Mr. Pate?"  He asked.

	Mr. Pate stood and said. "Hello Reverend Johnson."  He indicated my
Mother, "This is Mrs. Greenbough, Trey's mother.  She wanted a word with
you about what happened last week with the Sonlight club."

	Randy turned to Mom and said, "Think nothing of it Mrs. Greenbough.
He's just a little confused and we're working on straightening him out.
I'm sure he didn't mean to be rude."

	"Excuse me?" Mom asked.  "Straightening him out?"  Mom was letting
the man bury himself from the start.

	"Yes ma'am.  Trey claims to be a follower of the Old Norse Gods."
Randy said.  "Like I said, we'll get him straightened out and back on the
right path."

	Mom had that inscrutable look on her face.  "It's Brother Randy
correct?"

	Randy didn't seem to catch the tone or the look.  He said, "Yes,
ma'am."

	Mom said, "How to put this with as much tact as possible.  My son
does not lie.  He and we do follow the Old Norse Gods. My family and his
father's family have followed them for centuries.  There are many heroes in
his line who were tortured to death because they would not convert to
Christianity.  Somehow I get the feeling that your feeble efforts of
arguing him into following your Desert Slave God are going to be even less
effective than the torture your Church inflicted upon his ancestors."

	"Desert Slave God?" Randy asked.

	"Christianity is a religion of slavery and for slaves.  It is not a
fit religion for a freeman or a leader.  And I would appreciate it if you
would leave him the hell alone about it.  Because if you don't, if you come
at my son or his friends again over their out-of-school activities or his
religion- which are none of the school's or your business, then you and I
will have more than words gentlemen."

	"Are you threatening us, Mrs. Greenbough?"

	Mom smiled, "That's Doctor Greenbough, I do hold a doctorate in
Anthropology.  And that's only a threat in that I'll have my lawyers on you
so fast, it'll make your heads spin.  Do I make myself clear?"

	"There's no need for threats of legal action, Mrs., uh Doctor
Greenbough."  Mr. Pate suddenly looked worried.

	"Then there will no longer be any need for my son to attend your
Sonlight Club meetings?"

	"Uh, no ma'am." Mr. Pate said.

	"Good, because my lawyer is a very capable attorney.  By the time
he's finished here, neither of you would have pot to piss in."  She stood,
turned on her heel and said, "Good day gentlemen."  Then she was gone,
leaving nothing but shocked looks in her wake.

	As she left the outer office she smiled over at JD and said, "Oh
don't forget JD, I believe that this weekend is Trey's weekend to host the
game.  Tell the group, I'm making crab salad."

	Mr. Pate looked at me and asked, "Trey, just how serious is your
mother?'

	"Oh, she's serious Mr. Pate.  My mother holds multiple degrees from
the Universities of Copenhagen, Oxford, and Yale, and has very good
connection in Washington."

	Mr. Pate nodded, and asked, "Oh, and Trey?  What is a thane, and a
jarl?"

	I smiled at him, "A thane is a freeman, a land holder and a
warrior.  A jarl is a chieftain or a king."

	"And your grandfather is a jarl?"

	"Yes sir.  He holds one of the largest steadings ever in the old
country.  He's a very rich and powerful man."

	"I see." Mr. Pate looked over at Randy and then back at me. "You're
dismissed."

~*~

	Around October things started getting a little strange.  I guess
the first thing I noticed was that I started struggling for grades more.
In English, and History suddenly, I was losing points left and right, and
it was always over little piddling things.  I was too long winded on one
paper and then not enough detail on another.  Little mistakes that in the
past would simply be corrected and overlooked suddenly seemed to be worth 5
and 10 points off.

	By the time I took my report card home, I'd dropped from a solid A
in those classes to a low B.  I thought Mom was going to hit the roof, but
all she did was smile, and give me more of my home studies to make up for
it.  Dad just chuckled and said, "It'll all work out in the end Trey.  I
think you're about to learn a valuable lesson."

	"Sir?" I asked standing there as he looked over the report card.

	He simply signed the card, handed it back to me and said, "I'm not
worried about these grades.  Just keep up your studies, and the work your
mom and I give you and you'll be fine."

	I was sure I was going to be grounded, but they just seemed to pass
it off as a phase.  Studies in my house had always been stressed- a strong
mind to go with a strong body- and all that kind of thing.

	I took the card and went upstairs and started on my physics
homework.  At least I still had a strong A in that class.  Physics was cut
and dried.  Either the answer was right, or it was wrong, and Mr. Cashatte
didn't count off for spelling.

	I guess I'd been working for about half an hour, when Dad came up
and knocked on my door.  "Trey, I forgot to give you this."  He handed me
an envelope with a British stamp on in.  It was from Emory.

	I took it and said, "Thanks Dad."

	He just smiled and looked at the open physics book.  "How's the
science coming?"

	I shrugged, "Okay I guess.  At least it's pretty objective.  The
answer is either right or wrong."

	He laughed, and said, "You do realize that what you and I do on a
daily basis, when we work with the runes, and when we shift, we're
violating half the laws in that book, don't you?"

	I hadn't really thought about it.  I guess he was right, but at the
same time I could see another side to the issue.  "Maybe, maybe not.  What
we do with the runes and even our shapeshifting still follow some basic
rules.  The rules may be different, but they're still there.  And I've been
reading some of the stuff Emory has been sending me from England.  There's
this guy over there, Hawking, who's got some interesting theories on
quantum mechanics that sort of say that there's times when the rules of the
universe change.

	"You're reading quantum mechanics?" Dad asked a bit surprised.

	I nodded and picked up the book Emory had sent me.  "I can't say
that I understand half of it.  Most of the math is way beyond me, but I do
get a little of what he's saying.  I guess that sort of applies to what we
do with magic.  We're not working so much on this level of reality as we
are on another.  And when you think about it, the very existence of the
Nine Worlds suggest that he's right about parallel universes."

	Dad just chuckled and smiled.  "I think that you're going to go a
long way in this world son.  Keep reading."  He indicated the letter and
said, "And don't forget to read that too.  Keeping up ties of friendship is
important too."

	I nodded as he left the room and turned to the envelope.  I ran my
fingers along the small delicate lettering that made out my name and
address.  Even over the last several days of travel across the Atlantic, I
could smell the remnants of her perfume on the envelope.  I "popped" a claw
on my forefinger and gently cut open the top of the envelope and threw
myself back on the bed and began to read.








Dearest Trey,

	I hope this letter finds you well.  I have yet to hear from you on
whether or not you were able to make heads or tails of Professor Hawking's
book.  From what I can tell, his theories on quantum mechanics may actually
have some parallels in both magical works as well as rune risting.  Write
back and let me know what you think.

	Autumn is winding down here in Kent and there is already a chill in
the air.  Of course after spending a summer and autumn in your hometown, I
realize that which I refer to as a chill would be downright freezing to
you.  But then again, as the old adage states, "Diversity is the spice of
life."

      I have some good news to share with you.  I am hoping you will be as
pleased to hear it as I.  Because of Sevenoak's international connections,
I have managed a rather fortuitous appointment that will allow me to visit
you again in a few weeks.

	It seems that your rather sleepy little town has actually attracted
some international attention.  Whilst doing some research on wolves for a
biology paper I discovered that the United Nations has become interested in
the fact that there has been reported in your area a rather large pack of
red wolves- a species believed to be on the verge of extinction.  I believe
that James Daniel would find that little piece of information rather
ironic. Don't you think?

	There was an opening for a field biologist's research internship
available on the team that will be arriving in your area this upcoming
Winter.  I have made my application and have been accepted.  The Scientist
in charge, Dr. Ahmed, thinks my sojourn there two summers ago actually
makes me a valuable asset to the team.  I do trust that you and James
Daniel will be able to break this news to Wanda and Tammy.  I should be
arriving in late November to help set up the initial studies of the wolf
populations.  Dr. Ahmed tells me that there should be plenty of time for
visiting old friends in the area.

	Please inform your parents that with their permission, I should be
stopping by for rather frequent visits.  I look forward to renewing all of
my acquaintances in the area.

Sincerely,


Emory Northmore










	I quietly folded the letter and smiled to myself.  It would be good
to see Emory again.  Of course, I'd been meaning to speak to my parents
about a possible vacation in England to visit her, but it kept slipping my
mind.  Now with her visiting a second time, I could almost guarantee being
able to guilt them into taking me- I knew they'd never allow me to travel
that far away without some kind of adult supervision.  Going to Vanaheim
was one thing, but going to England was a whole new ball game.

	I lay there for long moments remembering her last visit.  There
were some painful memories there- very painful ones.  I still felt the hole
in my life that Rid's murder left in my heart.  However, there were some
good memories there too- the time spent teaching Emory the runes, the
furball game, and of course our lovemaking.  Bet you thought I wasn't going
to mention that, didn't you.  I guess that's the whole point of life: to
appreciate the good things, you have to go through the bad.  There is no
growth without pain.

	Finally, I got up and showed the letter to Mom and Dad.  They were
happy to hear that Emory was coming to visit.  I almost missed that little
look that passed between them, but for some reason the information didn't
seem to surprise them.  At the time I didn't think much about it, but as
the years passed, I've sort come to realize that my parents knew what was
going to come to pass.  Mom is not really that much of a practitioner of
Seidr, but she does know the basics- she taught them to Emory.

~*~

	The next day, JD met me in the parking lot.  I could tell that he
was itching to tell me something.  As I crawled out of the Jeep, I grinned
at him and asked, "What?"

	"What'd'ya' mean what?" he asked.

	"You got the same look on your face as you did right after you got
into Wanda's panties," I told him.  "Like you know something you can't wait
to tell."

	"No shit," he said.

	"Well, what is it?" I asked.

	"You know Mrs. Sailors?"

	"The senior history teacher," I commented.  It was in her history
class that I was suddenly having trouble.

	"Well, I overheard Coach Anderson talking outside the field house
this morning to Mr. Jamison.  He said that she probably won't be at school
for the next couple of weeks.  Evidently her husband caught her playing
hide the salami with Mark Sherman."

	"The football player?" I asked.

	"Yep, evidently Sherman sacked more than just Atlanta," he grinned
at me. When old man Sailors caught them, he beat the living shit out of
Sherman too."

	"Serves him right.  He's one of the ones who have been giving me
grief over what happened with the Sonlight club," I told him.

	JD shook his head and said, "You dug your own hole with those
guys."  I gave him a sharp look and he quickly added, "I'm not saying that
you're not right.  I'm just saying that maybe you should have been a little
less vocal in your criticisms."

	"This is coming from the guy who's alpha of his pack."

	JD shrugged, "Being alpha doesn't mean you have to always rub
people's nose in it.  Just like being different doesn't mean you always
have to rub people's nose in it."  He sighed and looked around, "I think
you should handle your religion the same way you handle other things in
your life."

	"Such as?" I asked.

	He shrugged, "Like the relationship you had with Ridvin, or with
Tommy and Tanya.  You don't advertise it, and you don't push people's nose
in it."  I could tell he was uncomfortable talking about that.  I knew he
didn't approve of my "wandering ways" as he called them. Every time I
managed to get in some girl's- or even guy's for that matter- pants, he
would give me this disapproving look.  Not that I'd had all that much
action over the last couple of years.  I'd settled down somewhat, and
outside of a couple of "friends-with-benefits"- something JD disapproved of
greatly- there really wasn't all that much happening on that front of my
life.  I had an "arrangement" with Tanya and her boyfriend Tommy.  We all
knew that Tommy and she were a couple, but we all three played around,
either as pairs or a threesome and we were cool with it, but we all
understood it was as my Mom would say, "just sex".

"Ah," I said with an air of understanding.  "Then you think I should just
keep it to myself, and hide."

	"No, but you don't have to attack people with it," he said.

	"I didn't attack anyone. I got tired of being preached at and I
explained why I'm not worried about it."  I have him a long look, "You know
what I am. You've seen what I have done and what I have to do.  You've even
seen manifestations of the High Holy Powers.  Why are you giving me grief
about this?"

	He leaned back against the Jeep and said, "I'm not giving you
grief, at least I don't mean to.  It's just that I also don't want to see
you bully people."

	"Who am I bullying?" I asked.

	"You're not, really," JD told me.  "It's just you said your parents
let you put up wards, and now two people who were giving you grief, have
had something bad happen to them."

	I stopped and thought about what he was saying.  In a way he was
right.  If those people had been working against me, then the wards could
have kicked in.  But at the same time, their fates were the results of
their own actions.  I shook my head and told him, "I don't think so.  They
are simply getting their just desserts for messing around."

	"Sort of like you mess around with Tanya and Tommy," he accused.

	I shook my head again, "No.  The difference there is that the other
knows about it, and is even occasionally involved.  This was Mrs. Sailors
breaking her wedding vows, and Mark Sherman messing with something that
wasn't his."

	JD seemed to consider what I said for a few minutes.  "Okay, as
long as you don't start turning on people, I guess it's okay."  JD seemed
to be going through a real moral crisis.

	"So kind of you to give me your approval," I told him sarcastically

      "I didn't mean it that way, Trey.  I just worried about you becoming
vindictive.  You've got an awful of power, more than I've ever heard of in
any shifter.  I mean, think about it, you're more on the level of those
kids in that school out in California than just a werecat.  If you started
throwing your weight around, you could kill someone and not mean to."

      I gave him a long look, and thought about what he said, "I know that,
JD.  The Gods only know that I know that.  Why do you think I'm so careful?
You've seen what I can do, and what I'm capable of doing.  I am always very
careful with everything I do.  My folks have drilled it into me since I was
a kid to be careful.  What makes you think this would be any different?"

      He looked around again and then leaned in close, "Because these are
people we know.  These are people we see every day, Trey.  I'd hate to
think that something happened to them because of something you did."

      I looked dead at him and said, "I had nothing to do with anything you
just described.  I didn't send Mrs. Sailors husband home early, and I sure
as Hel wasn't fucking her.  Yes, I cast warding runes around myself, they
were designed to turn back any baneful actions directed at me.  If- and
it's a big if- their getting caught was in anyway connected to my wardings
then it was in response to them willfully doing something to cause me
harm."

      JD nodded and said, "That's what worries me about the difference
between you and Emory.  With her magic, you can see the lightning bolt
that's about to fry you.  With you, it's subtle and sneaky; you can never
tell if it's bad luck or something you've done."

      "And what worries you about that?" I asked.

      "I'm always second guessing things that happen around here.  I don't
know if it's something natural or something that you've done."

      "JD, you've known me all my life.  We've gotten into and out of
trouble together.  Do you honestly think I would be that vindictive about
things?"

      He leaned in close to me and said, "If you thought you were in the
right: Hell yes.  I saw you split open a giant's ribs and lay his lungs out
like a set of bloody wings."

      I could see the intensity in his eyes.  "You know what that was
about, JD, and don't try to tell me you don't.  Don't try to tell me you
wouldn't do the same thing to anyone who'd hurt Wanda.  That giant killed
several villagers in my grandfather's realm and killed someone I cared a
great deal about.  And, I was within the law when I did what I did."  I was
just a little hurt by his bringing this up.  It seemed like he was blaming
me for what happened to Mrs. Sailors.

      "I know, Trey.  I guess I'm just starting to realize how much power
you- we all- possess, and it's starting to scare me a little.  It's like
the other day, I got mad when Bobby Ingles was flirting with Wanda.  I mean
normally, I just laugh him off, you know how he gets, being the big
football star and everything, but for some reason, I was ready to shift
right there and tear him in half.  It scared me."

      Now I understood.  JD was used to dealing mainly with pack politics,
and hanging around with other people like himself.  Now he was starting to
see some of the things my Dad and Mom had been teaching me since I was
little.  Normals are fragile, and we have to be careful with how we treat
them.  In most cases, they can't go toe-to-toe with us, and we can't always
deal with them in the same direct manner our inner beast wants.  My use of
wards to him seemed like I was fighting back in a way they couldn't.  And
in a way he was right, but at the same time, they were fighting me in a way
I couldn't fight back either.  "I know where you're coming from JD," I told
him.  "But think of it this way, Mrs. Sailors was riding me in the
classroom in a way where I couldn't fight back.  If my wards had anything
to do with what happened, then it was just leveling the playing field
between us."

      He seemed to take a moment, to think about what I said as we finally
started moving out of senior parking and toward the main building.  After a
while he said, "You know, you could be right.  I hadn't really thought of
it that way.  You didn't go after her with your sword, and you didn't fire
ball her into ash.  You let her own actions do your work for you."  He gave
me a sly look, "You are one sneaky little shit.  You know that?"

      I just grinned, "That's what Emory tells me."

      "When was the last time you heard from your little English flower?"

      "Yesterday," I told him casually.

      "Still planning on trying to talk your parents into a trip to England
this winter?"

      I shook my head, "Nope."

      He stopped and gave me a disappointed look.  "What, she found someone
new?" he asked.

      I shook my head and said, "No, not really.  It's just that she's
coming here in a couple of weeks for an internship she's doing with her
school."

      "Cool!" he said.  "I always knew you two belonged together."

~*~
	The next couple of weeks kept me pretty busy.  Toward the end of
October, Mom and Dad were called out of town.  I'm sure it had something to
do with their "business", but I didn't pry.  I had spent the previous night
with J.D.  His mom always wanted me to spend the first night with them any
time my parents were out of town.  She said she wanted to make sure I got
at least one good home-cooked meal.

      We were in the middle of homecoming week and the whole school was
pretty much in a state of frenzy.  There were all kinds of jockeying and
raising money for homecoming court.  Girls were fighting for the best dress
to wear to the dance, and appointments to the hair dressers.  And of course
there was the big game itself.  We were playing our school rivals: the
Cordova Blue Devils.  It was probably the biggest week in our little sleepy
town.

	It was Wednesday afternoon, and there was no practice that day due
to local church schedules, so as the last bell rang, most of the student
population was pouring out of the front doors of the ancient building that
housed the school.  Wanda had J.D. and I cornered and she was grilling both
of us, "When are you going to get Trey date?"

	"I can get my own dates, Wanda," I told her.

	"Well you don't seem be doing so hot right now," she said.

	"Something about him banging the preacher's daughter at a pool
party makes Daddies not happy about their daughters going out with him," JD
teased me.

      Suddenly Wanda's voice took on a rather smug tone, "Somehow I think
he already has a date..."

      "What do you mean?" J.D. asked.

      "Look," she said pointing toward the parking lot."

      I turned to where she was indicating and my jaw hit the ground.
Emory stood leaning against a black Porsche, dressed in a ruby blouse and a
grey skirt looking like something out of a fashion magazine.  Her white
blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail and she had a pair of expensive
sun glasses pushed up into it.  "Emory!" I yelled and waved.

      She smiled up at me and waved.  I handed J.D. my books and said,
"Take care of these for me."  To be honest I'm not really sure if he took
them or not.  I raced down the stairs and across the parking lot.  Without
even thinking of who might be looking I hit the top of the cab of a pickup
parked between us with my hands and did a handspring over it.

      Landing in front of her I didn't even stop.  I picked her up, spun
her around and kissed her right there in the parking lot before setting her
down.  She tasted of peppermint and smelled of roses.  I could literally
feel our bodies melt against each other.  "Happy to see me?" she asked
playfully.

      "Always," I told her, running a hand through her hair.

      "Greenbough!" I heard Coach Anderson call out.  "That's PDA!  It'll
get you a day of detention!"

       I turned and waved at him and said, "It'd be worth every minute of
it, sir!"

      He smiled at me and tipped his ball cap. "Just get out of here!"

      I turned back to Emory who was still smiling at me.  She reached out
and dropped the keys in my hand, and said, "Wanna drive?"

      I looked down at the black car behind her.  It was one of the new 911
SC Cabriolets, one hot car for one hot chick.  "You sure?" I asked.

      She just smiled and kissed me lightly on the lips.  "Go ahead."

      I opened the door for her, and let her slide in.  Closing the door
behind her, I ran around to the other side of the car and hopped in to the
catcalls and hooting and hollering from the pack behind me.  Over the din
of the noise, I could hear in the distance someone asking J.D. a question.
"Who's the babe with Greenbough?"

      "That's his girlfriend from England, Emory."

      "How does Greenbough rate a chick like that?  He doesn't even play
football."
      I could hear J.D. snort.  "Trust me, he does."

      "I could take him now you know."

      "Bobby, don't go there. Last time you two tangled, he fucked your
girlfriend and then kicked your ass.  Trust me, he can still kick your
ass."  I finally recognized the voice of Bobby Ingles but didn't hear his
reply over the sound of the Porsche's engine purring to life.  I gunned it
a couple of times then put the thing into gear and pulled out.  I knew
there was a cop at the end of the road, so I had more sense than to gun it
too fast.  However, once I got it out onto 69 Highway, and headed toward
town, I opened her up.

      "Where to?" I asked.

      "How about you show me around town, then a nice dinner and then we go
from there?" she said.

      "Sure."  I shrugged and added, "Although there's not really much to
show."

      She put her arm through mine and leaned against me.  "That's okay.
I've seen most of it anyway.  I just want to spend some time with you
before things get hectic when Dr. Ahmed gets here and I have to actually go
to work."

      "You know that the only red wolves in this area are J.D. and his pack
don't you." I reminded her.

      "Yes.  But I thought that I could at least keep the pack appraised of
the UN's activities while they are investigating the phenomenon."  She
turned and looked up at me and said, "You are not the only person warned
about the UN's plans that night at your grandfather's steading."  She
snuggled closer, "Besides, it gave me a reason to come visit."

      "I'm not complaining," I told her.  "I was actually planning on
asking Mom and Dad about us visiting you in England this Yule."

      "Well, now you don't have to.  "I'll be here."

      We drove on.  I showed her what little there was in the nearest town,
Jasper.  We walked around the mall and did a little shopping.  Later, we
had dinner at a little mom and pop restaurant.  I knew better than to try
to impress her with anything like a steak house.  Walker County was a dry
county and most of the big names wouldn't even consider a franchise there
until they could sell drinks.  Not to mention that this was the US and her
18th birthday was still 9 days off and mine wasn't until November 11th.
But the food at the Southern Star was good, and we spent a great deal of
our time simply catching up.

      We drove back to my house I fixed us some coffee and we took it out
to the gazebo that was on the island in the middle of the bass pond out
back.  The moon hadn't yet risen, and even if it had it was in its waning
phase and we were far out in the country so there was almost no light
pollution so when we looked up the whole Milky Way was spread out above us.
Since we were approaching the new moon, I should have been in pretty mellow
mood, but I think Emory's proximity was waking the beast sleeping in my
soul.
      We snuggled under a blanket and looked up at the sky, just enjoying
the view.  As we leaned back against the railing on the bench seats, Emory
began to stroke my hair and whispered, "You can relax, Trey."

      "I am relaxed," I told her.

      "Really?" she asked.  "Then why are you still in your human form?

      I hadn't realized it, but she was right.  I guess I was so excited
about seeing her, that I hadn't let go of that part of my mind that kept my
form to something that was generally acceptable to the locals.  I sighed,
and shifted my weight as I let go.  I could feel my ears slowly melt up the
side of my head, my eyes shifted so that my night vision became clearer.  I
felt my tail unfurl into a bunch at the base of my spine and then snake
down the right leg of my jeans. To this day, I still haven't found a pair
of pants that are comfortable in my natural form without cutting a hole
between the back pockets.

      "That's better," she said as she began to rub her hand along my
chest.  She released one of the buttons on my shirt and slid her hand
beneath.  "Hmm..., you've put on some muscle."

      I continued to stroke her hair and said, "I guess so."  I really
hadn't thought much about it, but again she was right.  By this time I was
a good six-two and was pushing two- ten.

      "I like it," she said as she began to circle my right nipple with her
hand and lean in close and kiss the base of my throat gently.  She was
literally purring.

      I looked down at her and sighed.  I wasn't the only one who'd filled
out.  The last two years had finished adding curves in all the right places
to her as well.  Two years ago, she'd still had something of the adolescent
angularness that many girls have.  By now that was gone to be replaced with
soft curves that just begged to be explored and hugged.  I ran a hand down
her arm and then along the outside of her thigh.

      I could feel where her stockings ended and the snaps to her garter
began.  I smiled remembering her telling me two years ago: "Ladies don't
wear pantyhose.  They wear stockings and garters."  I smiled to myself
remembering how good she looked in those stockings and garters.

      "Now that's an image, I'm surprised to see you remember," she
whispered in my ear.  "I'm flattered."  She then began to nibble on the
tip, and I felt the blood begin to fill out my dick, not quite hard yet,
but ready to become so at any moment.

      "Huh?" I asked.

      "Telepath, remember?" she said.  "That image was pretty strong."

      I shrugged and said, "We could always reinforce the memory," and then
kissed her seriously.  I felt her body melt into mine as she opened her
mouth to let in my tongue.  As we held each other tight, our hands roamed
along each other's bodies.  I could feel the heat begin to rise from her
skin as my hands slid down her back to cup her perfectly shaped ass.

      She pulled away from the kiss and began to unbutton her blouse.  I
found myself entranced by her movements as she slow revealed the alabaster
skin beneath the ruby red material.  She moved with such grace that all I
could do was simply watch as she dropped the garment to the wood deck
beneath us.  She smiled up at me as she reached to her side and unzipped
the woolen skirt she was wearing and let it and her slip drop to join the
blouse.  Stepping out of the bundle at her feet, she stood there wearing
only a pair of black panties and matching bra.  She was wearing lace
garters that held up each of her silk stockings and accentuated her long
legs.  Finally, she looked over at me and said, "How's this?"

      I think I growled.

      She stepped closer to me and said, "You know, I like the look of you
too."

      "Huh?" I asked.

      "You're still dressed," she giggled to me as she ran her fingers
along the front of my thigh, then across the growing hardness in my jeans.

      I just nodded and began to pull at the buttons of my shirt.  She
smiled at me and reached over to cover my hands with hers and said,
"Slowly.  Make it interesting."

      I slowed down, releasing each button lingeringly and gently pulling
the sides of the shirt apart to reveal the soft downy fur that covered my
body.  She sat back on the blanket watching as she began to gently massage
her nipples through the black silk of her bra.  "That's better," she said.

	I could smell her excitement long before I saw its evidence at the
crotch of her panties.  I finally finished the last button and pulled the
shirt open and dropped it on the bench behind me.  Then with the same
meticulousness, I began to unbutton the fly of my jeans and slip them past
the tent in the front of my briefs.  I could hear her almost purr from the
seat as she continued to rub her nipple with one hand as her other slipped
past the waist of her panties into the wetness below.

	Finally, kicking my boots and socks off, and then removing my jeans
the rest of the way, I stood there in my briefs, my tail whipping excitedly
behind me.  She smiled up and gestured to me.  I came over and she began to
lick the outline of my hardness through the soft cotton of my briefs.  I
could feel myself harden further, as she sucked on the head of my dick
through the white material, making it almost transparent with the wetness
of her mouth and my own pre-cum.

	She pushed the waistband down and I felt the cool October air brush
across the head of my foreskin just before it disappeared into the hot
wetness of her mouth.  She reached around, grabbed a double handful of my
ass and pulled me to her, swallowing my whole eight and half inches in a
single gulp.  I almost shot right there.

	She seemed to sense that, and stopped for a few moments and let me
cool down, as she simply held my cock in her mouth and stroked the sides of
my hips and played with the base of my tail. Finally, as I got myself back
under control, she began to rock back and forth, pressing her tongue from
the base of my dick and pulling it all the way up to the head, where she
would run it around the opening of my foreskin before plunging back down on
it.  I could feel her massaging my ass cheeks as continued to suck me.

	After several moments of this, I could feel myself building again
as my balls pulled up into my furry sack.  Suddenly, she pulled off my dick
and pushed the foreskin down and began to suck only on the head.  This was
enough to drive me over the edge, and I began to fill her mouth with hot
ropey streams of cum, which she immediately began to swallow.

	As my body slowly began to recover, she looked up at me, smiled and
said, "Now that, the first time is taken care of, we can go more slowly.
She pulled me down to her and kissed me deeply.  I could taste my own cum
in her mouth on top the underlying taste that was all her.  It was
exciting.  I deepened the kiss and ran my hands from her face down to the
soft material of her bra.  Reaching behind her, I fumbled with the clasps
that held it together- to this day; I don't think there's a man alive who
can unfasten a bra from the front with any skill, the Fonz not
withstanding.

	After a few seconds of fumbling, I managed to free those beautiful
orbs from their black silky prison.  Her nipples became stiff and taught as
the night air hit them, and I dropped my head and began to nibble gently on
them, sucking on first one and then licking my way over to the other.  She
shuddered beneath me and said, "Your tongue is rough.  That feels good."

	I nodded and continued to lick and nibble at her breasts as I lay
her back on the bench.  I worked my hands southward along her body, feeling
the soft smooth skin there.  Reaching the waist of her black panties, I
pushed my left hand under them and felt the hot wetness between the folds
of her sex.  I felt her moan against me as my finger hit the little nub at
the top of her slit.  She pulled my head harder against her breast and
raised her hips off the bench against my hand.

	Slowly, I ran my finger down the slit, keeping it in contact with
her clit and then dipped the end into the hot folds of the hole I found
beneath it.  It was wet, it was hot, and it was tight.  Again she pushed
herself against my hand and I slipped in up to the second knuckle.  I
pulled out again and drug my finger along the groove her sex, and then
slowly pushed back, feeling her body tense against mine.

	She moaned again and again as I worked two fingers first in and
then out of her pussy, and nibbled alternating on each of her nipples.  She
squirmed under me and literally climbed into my lap and began to rock back
and forth onto my hand.  It was my turn to slow things down, so I lay her
back onto the bench and began to kiss my way down her flat stomach to the
source of the powerful and exciting odors that was escaping from the cleft
between her legs.

	Reaching the top of her panties, I moved my hands to either side
and "popped" a claw on each before and neatly cutting the sides of the
material.  As I peeled the fabric away, I sat back to admire the view
revealed before me.  Her white blonde pubes glistened in the starlight from
the wetness of her sex.  They were in the form of a neat triangle above the
soft folds of her slit- it would be years later that would I find out that
she didn't trim it, but that her unique combination of fae, alfar, and
human genes resulted in that natural shape.

	I breathed in deeply and could smell the sweet pungent odor of both
her sex and her desire waft through my enhanced senses.  I purred lightly
and dipped my head and ran my tongue from the base of her pussy upwards,
putting just a little bit more pressure toward the top, to flick the stiff
nub of her clit as I finished.  Her taste, her scent, her desire went right
to my core.  I felt a buzzing at spread out from the base of my spine and I
was instantly hard again.  Underneath me, she arched her hips toward me and
moaned, "More."

	I smiled to myself and licked my lips before going back to work
with long strokes of my tongue up the hot wet folds of her pussy and ending
by sucking her clit into my mouth and flicking it with my tongue.  "Gods,
I've missed this!" she said huskily.  "Eat me!"

	I just grinned to myself and continued what I was doing.  She began
to squirm under me more and more as her juices filled my mouth.  Finally,
after about ten or fifteen minutes, I felt her legs clamp tightly against
the side of my head as she thrust herself into my face and shudder after
shudder ran through her body.  I just kept up what I was doing and drank
more and more of the thick lubricant that was now pouring out of her body.

	She reached and pulled me to where I was laying lengthwise atop
her.  She kissed me and said, "That was a nice start, but we're not
finished."  Reaching down between us, she began to stroke my hard dick.  "I
want this inside me.  I want to feel you in me, on top of me, as part of
me."

	I nodded and kissed her on the nose and then on the lips.  She
shifted her weight under me as I pulled back.  Never letting go of her
prize, she put the head of my dick at her entrance and then smiled up
saying, "Now."

	I plunged forward and felt hot rings of muscle inside her clamp
down on my dick.  She lifted her legs and locked them behind the small of
my back as I began to stroke forward and back in a rhythm.  She gasped
slightly as I entered her and then pulled my face down to hers and began to
kiss me hard.  I could feel her nails dance down my back and ass, and then
up my sides as we rocked back and forth in a duet as old when the Gods
first created men and women.

	We settled into a pattern of pleasure as we reacquainted ourselves
with each others' bodies and needs.  I would arch my hips forward and up at
the end of an inward stroke and could feel the head of my dick hit that
spot at the "roof" of her insides that would send shivers down her spine.
At the same time, she would tighten the muscles of her pussy just as I was
beginning a forward stroke that would catch my foreskin and drag it along
behind the head of my dick and heighten the heat and wetness against my
skin.  It was these little tricks that we'd learned from each other two
years ago, that came back unbidden.

	We made love until one of us was on the verge of coming and then
slow down to where I was simply buried inside of her- not moving.  Then
when who ever was close had backed down enough we would begin again, each
time becoming more and more intense and building toward a powerful release
of epic proportions.  Finally, we reached a point where neither of us could
take it anymore.  With a building crescendo of movement, we both crashed
over the edge and I buried myself as deeply in her as I could.  I felt my
dick jerk and dance inside her, spraying her innermost parts with my cum,
as her pussy tightened and relaxed around me spasmodically.  With that
final thrust we collapsed into each other arms and rode the wave of
pleasure that washed over us, finally simply lying there holding each
other, and slowly drifting off into a sense of contented belonging.