This slid a blanket of quiet over the group. They all remembered what had happened the last time they had been in their city. The fighting, the smoke, the fires, and the blood of the dead. It was the first time William had seen anything like it. He had killed before and he wasn’t a coward, but that nightmare was something that he would give anything to not have had to experience. But it had happened, and there was nothing he could do about that. Looking around the room the rest of his pack were remembering similar things. Their comrades, those who had given their lives for the protection of the City Under the Mountain would be avenged. There was no doubt in his mind about that.
“Well, I’m going to get some sleep, goodnight” William said as he turned to go back to his couch.
“Wait, what do you mean, ‘goodnight’?” asked Katherine. “How can you sleep?”
“Very easily,” replied William, “Besides I have an early morning tomorrow.”
“Why,” asked Nicolas, “Did you get a job that the rest of us don’t know about?”
“No, I have some things to do tomorrow is all.”
“Like what?” asked Nicolas.
William smiled casually, “Well that is a question isn’t it?” With that he turned and collapsed on his couch.
The rest of the pack stared at each other for a moment. “Well, I guess that’s it,” Nicolas said. “I’m going to go to sleep too, then.” And with that the rest of the pack slipped off to their various spots to sleep for the night.
That night, several hours before the sun rose, William found his eyes opening. He quietly rose and gathered his stuff in his pack. He couldn’t stay here anymore; he had to do something and if those cave paintings were some artifact from the City Under the Clouds then he would take it upon himself to go to America and see what he could learn from these Native tribes and possibly find the ally that they were seeking.
He didn’t begrudge what Katherine and Charles were doing. It was very possible that Katherine could find one or two weretigers, or whatever thye would call themselves, and maybe what Charles was saying was also right, although the idea of a werebear was pretty ridiculous, still werehyenas might exist.
He crept out of the apartment and closing the door silently behind him he turned to leave and ran right smack dab into Ansuya.
“Going somewhere, William,” she asked.
“Uh…no, no, not at all. I mean what would give you that idea,” William responded awkwardly.
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“It’s before daylight for one, and the packed bag on your shoulder is a pretty big clue as well.” She looked sideways at him. “Awaken your pack, we have plans to discuss.” Without another word Ansuya glided down the staircase.
William watched her leave for a few moments, just standing there. And not for the first time since meeting the brown skinned woman he seriously wondered if, along with all her other talents, she really could read people’s minds.
William walked back into his apartment and turned on the small light in the bathroom.
“Hey, turn the damn light off!” Nicolas tiredly yelled toward the light, “Some of us are trying to sleep”
William shook his head apologetically, “I’m sorry Nic, but we’ve been summoned, all of us.”
“Summoned?” Charles asked, “Then the Elders have decided.”
“Decided what?” Nicolas spat, “All the old man and Ansuya do is sit, drink chai, and talk. I don’t know if they are even capable of making a decision that wasn’t the worst fucking decision of all time.” He pushed himself up onto his elbow. “And why can’t this wait till morning, at least?”
The rest of the pack ignored him and got themselves ready. With grumbling that was endless, Nicolas got up and followed suit.
When they were ready, they walked outside into the sticky warmth of the humid Indian air. It clung to them like a fine film, and it never came off. It was worse in the early morning or evening. When it was supposed to be cool, the oppressive heat clung to them and made their clothes stick to their bodies. As they made their way to the ground floor all of them were slick with a fine layer of sweat.
“Say what you want, I never felt this grungy in the Mountain,” Katherine commented dryly.
William and Charles nodded. It was miserable here. It was early enough, that the new moon still hung in the sky, not that it mattered. The street lights drown out most of the stars anyway. Still, dawn was several hours away.
They entered the large walled in meeting area. It was a simple courtyard of a neighboring house that they had ‘borrowed’ from time to time. The owner of the house didn’t seem to mind having a large group of people and their dogs in there in the early morning. William wondered if Ansuya, being Indian herself, might have had something to do with that. Or if it was more of a Tracker thing.
The other packs, what was left of them, were also gathering, “It’s nice not being the last ones to show up every once in a while,” William said to Charles with a half-smile. William was a little nervous about this sudden meeting. This had to have something to do with the cave paintings he found in the mountains.
The other packs crowded tightly into the courtyard. The wolf born silently stalked in and sat on their haunches near their respective packs. None of them looked particularly happy about it. Aceso was not unique in her displeasure of being paraded around as a dog, unable to shift into werewolf form.
Physis and Ares were silently sitting near the center of the group near Ansuya. As the only survivors of their pack, it would fall to them to either seek acceptance into another group not yet a full pack, or form a new pack themselves. That would probably mean that they would have to wait till four new recruits were placed together in a pack they could join. Or Ares or Physis would take on the role of Alpha and be given new recruits or other survivors to create an all new pack. William remembered what Ares had told William on that subject. Ares had never wanted to be alpha. But right now, they needed leaders and alphas to reconstitute their lost numbers. Ares may be forced to take on the responsibility of alpha, whether he wanted to or not.