singindemonhq (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
singindemonhq) wrote2003-05-11 07:17 pm
singindemonhq) wrote2003-05-11 07:17 pm
Hunters' Moon.
I'd been thinking about disaster movies and dog-packs in ruined cities right before I'd seen Grant's car, empty, with a gun in the back seat. His cherished Caddy was half off the road, keys in the dash. I stopped the Jetta in close and was already several steps away from it when the noise hit - raging angry animals, roars, howls and yelps and a grinding snarl that meant murder.
I was in the back seat of the caddy, grabbing the gun, in a second - and a split second later I'd realised that an open car might not be a good place to be. It'd be a lot easier to smoke out from the Caddy, though, and I wanted to find out what was going on.
I hadn't seen the animals and I was casting mojo to find their minds as I stood up on the back seat - and something hit the door so hard that it shook the car. They were moving so fast that the fight rolled clear of the car again as I looked down on them.
My first thought was that they couldn't be werewolves! From everything I knew about 'changers they shouldn't have changed before nightfall, even at full moon. Grant, (if the big one was Grant,) shouldn't have changed at all! His wolf was supposed to be bound into a portrait, not fighting it out with something half his size (and could that be Erynne?)
The minds were animal, feral and focused on murder - the extent of the sheer, bloody, killing rage seemed to make it impossible to use mojo unless I wanted them to burn. But almost the first thing Erynne had said to me was that she wasn't as inflammable as most of the women I knew - she'd seemed to know all about me from first meeting and just delivered that as a throwaway line. It was an intriquing one, too.
Anyway, she's never seemed to worry and I'd always thought that only silver could kill a were. Grant had seemed to believe that he couldn't be killed at all - but he'd been sure that his wolf was bound into a portrait, too. All that should have meant that they couldn't kill each other, but to judge by the fight, neither of them seemed to believe that .
So I tried. Something about -
Return, remember who you are,
your human mind has not gone far,
returning to your human mind,
now to your human form to bind....
That's not quite it, and the original was nothing steller, either, but at least there weren't any lines that were mostly filler. It's possible that it worked too - but if it did it only affected one of them.
Suddenly Grant, human Grant, was backing away from the smaller wolf. I think he punched at her and the wolf dropped away from him, into a crouch. Then she sprang again and he went over backwards, hitting his head against the car. She had moved forward and was nuzzling toward his throat when I reached down and shot her with the tranquilliser gun, almost point blank. She made a small sound and dropped.
After a moment Grant stirred, pushing the limp body of the wolf away. We both realised that he was naked at the same moment and I cast the mojo, producing a smart navy suit instead of one of his usual sweaters. The same spell put several layers of wrappings around Erynne. She showed no signs of regaining consciousness, but it seemed likely to make things easier on her if she changed back, and might even slow her down a bit if she came to as a wolf.
I'd thought Grant's next line would be something like "What happened?" so I wasn't disappointed - but I wasn't sure of the answer and made some flip remark about it being a twist to shoot a maiden in distress to save a werewolf.
(If he'd called me on it I suppose I'd have had to tell him that I'd known Erynne would be passing through; that I'd offered her shelter at my base during the full moon after accidently torching her appartment, and that I'd continually forgotten to talk to him about her. He just gave me a wounded look, though.)
In any case, he could have mentioned that he was likely to become a werewolf himself. I'd been left with the impression that his wolf was somehow bound into a picture and there wasn't any risk. I told him to put Erynny into the back seat of his Caddy, while I took the packages of meat out of the Jetta and tossed them into his car.
He asked me why I wanted the Caddy and I let my patience show when I told him that she clearly hadn't been in a good mood to start with and I guessed he'd made it worse! She would probably know that I'd shot her and I didn't think the wraps would slow her up much if she came around as the wolf. I just wanted to be able to smoke out of that car fast if she did.
Grant nodded, sadly. I knew he'd be guilt-tripping about all this for a long time to come. He took the Jetta and I saw him start to drive back to the house as I took Erynne on to my base.
I was in the back seat of the caddy, grabbing the gun, in a second - and a split second later I'd realised that an open car might not be a good place to be. It'd be a lot easier to smoke out from the Caddy, though, and I wanted to find out what was going on.
I hadn't seen the animals and I was casting mojo to find their minds as I stood up on the back seat - and something hit the door so hard that it shook the car. They were moving so fast that the fight rolled clear of the car again as I looked down on them.
My first thought was that they couldn't be werewolves! From everything I knew about 'changers they shouldn't have changed before nightfall, even at full moon. Grant, (if the big one was Grant,) shouldn't have changed at all! His wolf was supposed to be bound into a portrait, not fighting it out with something half his size (and could that be Erynne?)
The minds were animal, feral and focused on murder - the extent of the sheer, bloody, killing rage seemed to make it impossible to use mojo unless I wanted them to burn. But almost the first thing Erynne had said to me was that she wasn't as inflammable as most of the women I knew - she'd seemed to know all about me from first meeting and just delivered that as a throwaway line. It was an intriquing one, too.
Anyway, she's never seemed to worry and I'd always thought that only silver could kill a were. Grant had seemed to believe that he couldn't be killed at all - but he'd been sure that his wolf was bound into a portrait, too. All that should have meant that they couldn't kill each other, but to judge by the fight, neither of them seemed to believe that .
So I tried. Something about -
Return, remember who you are,
your human mind has not gone far,
returning to your human mind,
now to your human form to bind....
That's not quite it, and the original was nothing steller, either, but at least there weren't any lines that were mostly filler. It's possible that it worked too - but if it did it only affected one of them.
Suddenly Grant, human Grant, was backing away from the smaller wolf. I think he punched at her and the wolf dropped away from him, into a crouch. Then she sprang again and he went over backwards, hitting his head against the car. She had moved forward and was nuzzling toward his throat when I reached down and shot her with the tranquilliser gun, almost point blank. She made a small sound and dropped.
After a moment Grant stirred, pushing the limp body of the wolf away. We both realised that he was naked at the same moment and I cast the mojo, producing a smart navy suit instead of one of his usual sweaters. The same spell put several layers of wrappings around Erynne. She showed no signs of regaining consciousness, but it seemed likely to make things easier on her if she changed back, and might even slow her down a bit if she came to as a wolf.
I'd thought Grant's next line would be something like "What happened?" so I wasn't disappointed - but I wasn't sure of the answer and made some flip remark about it being a twist to shoot a maiden in distress to save a werewolf.
(If he'd called me on it I suppose I'd have had to tell him that I'd known Erynne would be passing through; that I'd offered her shelter at my base during the full moon after accidently torching her appartment, and that I'd continually forgotten to talk to him about her. He just gave me a wounded look, though.)
In any case, he could have mentioned that he was likely to become a werewolf himself. I'd been left with the impression that his wolf was somehow bound into a picture and there wasn't any risk. I told him to put Erynny into the back seat of his Caddy, while I took the packages of meat out of the Jetta and tossed them into his car.
He asked me why I wanted the Caddy and I let my patience show when I told him that she clearly hadn't been in a good mood to start with and I guessed he'd made it worse! She would probably know that I'd shot her and I didn't think the wraps would slow her up much if she came around as the wolf. I just wanted to be able to smoke out of that car fast if she did.
Grant nodded, sadly. I knew he'd be guilt-tripping about all this for a long time to come. He took the Jetta and I saw him start to drive back to the house as I took Erynne on to my base.