August: Carius took the kids to the mountains to romp during the full moon, and he left Arinna's place and moved back into his apartment. She was endangering the kids, not respecting his authority as their only parent and as their Alpha and Beta for a year and a half, and this was the third strike with her. 1st Strike had been...Baring Fangs and Claws at him in Public. Second Strike had been, Trying to tell him what he could and could not do with his kids. Third Strike had been, taking them to enroll them in school without so much as asking for his consent, when they had no birth certificates, IDs, SS numbers, OR medical records including immunizations. There was also the fact that Carius had no legal way of adopting them with all their parents killed off as they were, and their existance burned to ashes in the fires that burned their homes. These kids were not citizens of the USA, and Carius had to secure false identification for all of them. He had plans...His kids would become his family...his two children (Vasaria and Demtre) and three sisters (Susan, Bethany and Evette). He would get the money and find someone who could forge realistic, watermarked documents, if he had to suck short hairs to do it. He would do whatever he had to. He would also home school the kids. That is what Carius was up to, and would be striving for for some time. He was also on the prowl looking for these mysterious pack members he's heard about. Arinna told him a girl had taken the role of pack leader, Alpha female...but over who? Carius did not know this alpha female's name, who she was, nothin', and was very leery of this person, whatever female it was, being the leader of his pack. Until he met her...knew who she was, knew she was worthy of being a leader, he would accept nothing.
September: The phone calls...The damn phone calls. They said he was marked, 'click' bzzzzzzzz. Crunch. They said they had proof that his father had given them all away, and that Carius was next in line to die, after he exposed the rest just like his father did...'click' bzzzzzzz. Crunch. Carius had ditched two cell phones (and the damn things were expensive! especially for a poor boy like him) because of these stalker calls he had been getting. He had not left the line open long enough for the bastards to get a trace...until, he had asked Kierstian to crush and ditch the third cell phone for him. She had gotten busy and forgot about the phone, which she had stashed in her pocket, until it rang. She answered it to hear them rattle off the name of every Feral Nox pack member they had killed. The entire pack was dead, only they had included the children in Carius's care in his list, and they were quite alive. They repeated their earlier threats of killing Carius, of knowing who he was. The line was kept open long enough for them to get a trace on the town. Fact was, the leader of their order had gotten the names of every last feral nox pack member, but Samael. All of the legal werewolves had been tracked down. All of them but Carius and the kids he had taken under wing, had been killed by the order of the Lupus Venators.
The drive east took Carius four hours, and the old road to the barn had been overgrown by the field surrounding it. It was west of the old community which had been destroyed, and when all you could see around the barn, was fields of grass for miles, you would know it if someone were following you. The barn was huge and very old, built by quakers one hundred years ago, but its structure was very solid and it had barely even started to lean. It also had a large cellar beneath it, which was where Sam and Damien (now deceased) kept all their printers, presses, and their chest of forgery equipment, which included all sorts of plates, etching tools, seals, inks, threads and other fineries of reproducing goverment documents. Carius parked the company truck he had borrowed from Tony inside of the barn and closed the high door around to bar it from inside, then he loaded the truck, going from the cellar, back up to the truck and back numerous times. Before he left, he checked the safe. It was a floor vault hidden beneath the floor of the cellar.
Samael had given Carius the combination, but told him not to expect to find anything. Damien had invested every penny they made on more equipment. But Carius did find something there, in blue payroll bag, after payroll bag....twenty of them in all, each bag stamped with a silver crucifix. It was Cross's signature. When the attack had come he had sent his nephew with the money to stash it for him, and had told the young man not to come back, but to keep driving, but he had gone back, and he had gotten killed too. All Carius knew, was that Cross had stashed a lot of money beneath the barn. He counted it. Took him an hour to do so. 501,228.00 dollars. Holy shit....If invested properly, it could actually be enough money to help the packs!! If they could turn it into millions somehow....Those who needed decent cars and housing could get it!! He thought of Toni almost immediately. Why? Because Toni built high rises, factories, and hotels...The kind of things that could make millions in a single job! If they invested the money in building some werewolf owned businesses...stores, factories, or hotels, OWNED by werewolves, then...oh yeah!!! Hotel...that idea seemed really good to him. Was 500,000 enough to invest though? In a single business? When people invested millions and billions at a time in high end businesses? Well, it would have to be, wouldn't it? Fucking investors complicated things, and the packs were not exactly rich, were they? Had to be legal too. Toni would be able to tell him whether it was enough or not. The money could be invested in the materials needed to build a business...fuck, or was it even enough to do that? Shit was so fucking expensive. Maybe Toni could front the rest, and get any money he invested back in returns. If the business was profitable enough, they could invest it in more businesses.
Carius went back to the truck and emptied his two backpacks of the clothes and food he had brought along, and then went back to the safe and stuffed all of the payroll zip bags into his knapsacks, then he secured the vault, put the planks and hay litter back over it, and went back to open the barn door, and drive the truck out. He closed the door back around and then took off. He was not even tired. Carius had to go through Silver Springs, the small town in the valley near the mountains where their last haven had been, to get to the interstate. About an hour into his drive, he knew he was being followed. Paranoia? Not this time. He had noticed the same van pulled up beside him at a stop light in Silver Springs. It had fallen back for awhile, but he noticed it behind him again on the interstate. He turned off of the interstate and onto a side road. He knew the roads in this area of WV very well, hell, most of West Virgina for that matter. The van following him, turned off as well. With a shake of his head, Carius put the hammer down on the gas peddle, and the Van sped up as well. "Fuuuuck..." Carius breathed. Ten turns and a corn field later, he lost the mother fucker, and headed back to the highway, only he took a turn which led to a very small town, and then another country road which finally led to the highway. This put him three hours behind schedual. He would not get back until morning. He had been tempted to pull over and jump out of the truck to face down whatever bastards were in that van, but it could have been one, or eight well armed men for all he knew. He had no way of knowing. All the windows had been mirrored. He had to get the equipment back, and the money.
Before he got to Ravenswood, Carius pulled off onto an old logging road and into the forest. He parked the truck and walked off into the woods with a shovel where he dug a deep hole. He lined the hole with branches, making a sort of floor and walls, and there stowed all of the printing equipment which was wrapped up in tarps and packed into crates. After buring the crates and chest, and packing it down hard, he covered the hole back up, with the moss and leaf litter he had strewn. He had no place to stow the equipment yet, and would come back for it later when he found a place to set up an illegal forgery shop. When he got back to Ravenswood, he went to Toni's place, and parked the truck in his garage. It was eight fifteen sunday morning by then. He had left saturday, mid-morning. The second Susan let him in, he was tackled by Vasaria and Evette. Susan hugged him with more dignity afterwards and welcomed him back, stressing how worried they had been. "Carius, are you alright? You are so late, and you are all dirty." Carius chuckled. "I am fine, Susan. Not a scratch. Is Toni awake? I really need to talk to him."
When Carius talked to Toni, he told him about the money he had found, then asked him if it was enough to invest in building or fixing up a hotel, and asked for his advise where the money was concerned, how it might be best invested to provide cars, education, and housing for the pack members who needed it. Hell, if anyone needed a car, Carius did! But he did not mention that. He had to make himself legal first, anyway. Carius joked around about spending it all on lottery tickets, or investing it in apple computers. He asked if Toni thought a home and business security business would be good, for profits and the pack. Rent a werewolf, snicker. He was joking about that too of course. Carius had not lost his mirth yet. If he ever did, it would be an extremely bad sign.
After getting whatever advice Toni could give him, Carius got into his piece of shit station wagon and went looking for Samael. After tracking Sam down, he told him where he buried the equipment, and about the money in the vault. He asked for Sam's advice too, on how they could turn the money into enough liquid assets to actually do something spectacular for the packs with. He told him also about his ideas of getting Toni to help them turn it into millions, inasmuch as Toni owned a freaking construction company, which was NOT to be confused with a contracting company who built houses. Hell, Carius's first day up on the steel girders, he felt like he was fucking high as a kite. He had gotten used to it though, and the riveting and welding of those steel beams which framed large buildings. His dad had taught Carius arch welding. His father Ivan been a welder at the steel mill he worked at. But Carius by trade had been a Beta who worked on the side as a carpenter and landscaper. He was learning quick though from Toni's crew of bulls. They reminded him of the guys from the movie Armageddon who worked the oil rig! After talking to Sam, Carius went to see his kids. Where had Carius stashed the money? Somewhere safe.
Love. It had snuck up on Carius out of the blue. He had found his perfect mate and his heart was blissfully caged by her and her alone. Kierstian. She was his soul mate. He wanted and needed no other. She completed him,and together, they could raise Demetre and Vasaria together, and see the older children to adulthood. Damned if he would let his enemies, whoever they were, take him from her, or destroy what they had. He would fight for her, for the cubs, for the pack, until his last breath. He wasn't hiding anymore.
October: Kurjak, who Carius knew only as Theodore, finally caught up to Carius. It was the last straw. He had been at the Lunar Eclipse when the bastard ripped out his nipple bar and then stuck Carius in the gut with a large hunting knife when he doubled over. The hunter then vanished into the crowd. Carius had the chance of a clean shot at him, after getting the crowd to drop on the floor by pulling his sidearm and bellowing 'MOVE!!' but his mate Kierstian thankfully persuaded not to off the guy in public. Carius had seen nothing but red, and Kierstian alone could have gotten through the rage and pain of that moment. The rest of the night was crazy, and an old Aussi werewolf named Mick had stitched him up, given him blood from Kierstian, himself, and the children, and neutralized the silver from the black that had impaled Carius. By the next morning...Carius was making plans to leave the states. He's had enough. He wanted to take Kierstian (who was pregnant with his twins), and the children somewhere safe...Somewhere they would be better protected. He had been terrified that she would refuse to go with him and break his heart, but was overjoyed when she agreed to go. "This will be a chance for a new start for us all," he had told her, and she had thankfully agreed. Where did he choose to go? London.
Carius curled up next to Kierstian, and fell asleep next to her inside of five minutes. The next morning he called New York and booked passage on a ship out of New York bound for Brighton England. They sold their small car that morning for 200 dollars, and rented a Subaru SUV. After packing up the family in Dan and Jerry's car, and the rental car, he and Kierstian left town, heading north east, following Dan and Jerry, who had been to New York before. Unknown to any of them, they had picked up a tail. Kurjak was following. When they arrived in New Yorek they checked into a hotel.
The children, Dan, and Jerry stayed in their hotel room while Kierstian and Carius went to the shipping office on the wharves to pay for their tickets. It was as they left the shipping office and went for a walk on the hudson's boardwalk, to take in the sites of the big apple, that Kurjak lept out between some crates and attacked them. The fight which ensued happened quickly, and ended quickly. While Kurjak lunged at Carius with his sword, Carius dropped beneath the thrust and plowed against Kurjak's legs, and as he collided with him to push him backwards, Kierstian leapt at him from behind with her knife to stab him in the back, puncturing a lung. As she did this, Kurjak regained his footing, and in his rage, he swept around with his blade with an angry roar, and slashed Kierstian with his sword. Carius meanwhile had pulled his pistol and leveled the muzzle with Kurjak's head to pull off three rounds. Whether Kierstian stabbed him again, Carius could not tell. Kurjak dropped dead to the ground. The two werewolves had maintained their human appearance during the fight. Carius fought back the tears in his eyes as he whispered Kierstian's name as he saw the blood flowing from her, then cursing under his breath, he quickly dragged Kurjak's body to the edge of the wharf and dumped his body in the hudson, then gathered Kierstian up in his arms to carry her back to the hotel. He had covered her wound with his leather jacket.
Each time he passed someone, Carius cracked jokes to Kierstian about getting drunk, and how she should learn her limit, or how he was going to take advantage of her drunken state. Carius was amazed when he entered the hotel to find Mick there, checking into a room. Carius shook his head in disbelief, but had no time to be social however, and quickly carried Kierstian to their hotel room. After getting her into bed, he called the desk to ask for Mick Walker. Carius invited Mick up to his room, and when he arrived, he showed the Aussi Kierstian's wound to tell Mick that fate and fortune had shined on them again with his presence there. Mick had laughed and said it had nothing to do with fate. That Carius had made him decide to leave Ravenswood himself, and move back to London. "Have teh look after meh friends after all," Mick had said with a grin.
Kierstian would have time to heal during their journey at sea. Mick had bound and concealed her wounds well, and given her medicine to neutralize the silver at their hotel room the night before they left. Mick had also returned to the docks, and cleaned up the blood and mess after mending Kierstian. Mick had planned to take a plane, but decided to book passage on the boat with them. He looked after Kierstian aboard ship and when they arrived in Brighton, they rented another car and drove to London. While Kierstian rested at the hotel the next day, with Mick watching over her, Carius went out looking for work. Dan and Jerry too kept Kierstian company while she finished mending. Carius secured a job at a shipping company on the third day, driving a forklift and operating a cargo crane. Carius had also secured a large apartment on London's southside, and had invited Mick to live with them as long as he wished, telling him that he was always welcome wherever they lived. Mick agreed to stay with them until he decided to go his own way (which was probably as soon as he bought himself another car to live out of). Jerry and Dan rented an apartment across from their own, despite how rough the neighborhood was.
November-June: Two days after getting settled into their new apartment, Mick announced that they were all going to the forest together, (with exception of Dan and Jerry who were out looking for jobs anyway). When they arrived in the woodland in Kent, he started teaching them how to intune themselves to nature, and call on the spirits of the world around them, which some called the powers of Demetre, or the spirit of Gaia he told them, to bring those forces into themselves which they could use to aid others, to harm enemies, or to protect themselves. Going into the woodland and learning their gifts became a weekly, weekend ritual.
Six months later Cabron was laid off. For awhile, Carius, aka Cabron, worked for a landscaping company, but the pay was lousy, and so in the 9th month of Kierstian's pregnancy, in May of 2005, he applied at Club X-Tech as a bouncer. When Cabron talked to the owner, Louis DeLeon, he asked if his wife Kierstian could also work there spinning records and bar tending in her spare time. Louis agreed and hired them both. Carius and Kierstian had no idea that vampires existed, and that they would be working for a 4th generation Vulcan vampire, and even be surrounded by vampires at Club X-Tech. Carius asked Louis if he knew of any available houses near his club, and it so happened that Louis owned a 4 bedroom cottage, with an attick, den, and full basement near the club, that was available. Cabron's new boss cut the lupus a rather generous deal for the place. Carius bought a bottle of fine wine back with him from the club to celebrate the news about the job and house with Kierstian, Mick, and the others. Oh what a surprise met Carius when he got home. Kierstian was having the baby. Only...It was not just the one child they had expected, but twins. All the irony was beginning to make Carius question his lack of faith. Perhaps he did believe in something after all. Fate. A week after the twins were born, they all moved into the new house, and Dan and Jerry moved in with them.
The twins were a boy and a girl. Mick had joked that it would have been nice if they's had two boys to balance out the boy to girl ratio in their little pack. The first born twin they named Ivan, after Carius's father, the girl they named Fallon, which meant wolf. Cabron noticed something odd about the twins which concerned him. They had wolfish ears and their noses were somewhat bestial, not quite human, they had tiny claws on their fingers and toes in place of fingernails, and soft fur began appearing on their backs and arms, and lastly, they had tails. He also noticed that they had healthy appetites. They supplimented their diet of breast milk with soy milk, so that Kierstian could keep up with their hunger without compromising her health, and so she could get a break to go out to the club where she could work when she was up to it. Despite their bestial appearance, the twins were adorable, and full of spirit, laughter, and life. They were growing strong quickly. Mick sat them down and had a talk with them one night when Cabron got home from work very late.
"Theh ahh some things yeh young wolfs need teh know," he told them. "Yeh twins ahh wha' lycanthrope call hybrids, meanin' cubs born out of two lupus (werewolves). It is considered taboo teh make children out of a lupus pair, because hybrids ahh so hahd teh conceal. They will 'ave teh learn the gift uh glamour at a young age, and until then? They cannot be seen in public. Yeh kin take 'em in the deep woods teh romp, but otherwoise they cannot leave the house. Nayow, yeh children will not be blamed. It's the parents which take the heat. The two uh yeh are young, and I understand tha' yeh did nah know any bettuh, that it 'appens sometimes. Yeh 'ave to be sure teh keep 'em keep 'em ayout uh soight. Especially ayout uh human eyes. Nayow, while we ahh talkin' 'bout the laws of the pack, let me tell yeh the rest." Mick then proceeded to inform them of the ten laws of the pack (refering the laws on the lycanthrope page). "Stick by these laws, and make the cubs aware of 'em." he said he was done, and had gone over them several times with them, "and no wolf kin hold anything against yeh."
Cabron and Kierstian sat all the while listening the older and wiser lycanas, with Kierstian making a comfy chair of Cabron's lap. When Mick had finished going over the pack laws with them, Cabron brought something up which Mick had mentioned earlier. "You cracked a joke earlier about having more boys to balance out our little pack. We do have a little pack, don't we?" Kierstian then smiled and nodded in agreement. "It would nice if we could keep it that way. But we know so little..." She admitted. Mick had shown them that. Mick sank back in his chair to give the matter some matter thought, and after awhile, Cabron biding his time by carressing Kierstian and necking her, Mick interrupted their little coupe of affection. "I am nah exactly old, but I knows the laws and uphold 'em whereever I go. I 'ave the strength teh protect yeh, and the knowledge teh teach yeh." Cabron's eyes lit up and a smile beamed on his lips. "Are you saying you would be willing to act as our alpha if we remained together as a pack?" Mick nodded. "Yeah. That is wha' I am sayin'. Though yeh ahh young, Cabron, yeh 'ave a lot uh sense about yeh, and so does Kierstian feh 'er young age. I would 'ave teh talk teh the high alpha in the area, about establishin' ourselves. 'Is name is Carius," he laughed. "Yeah, good thing yeh changed yaw name, eh?" Cabron laughed, and nodded his head. "'E is a sensible bloke, and I am sure 'e will welcome us. 'E keeps the laws strictly though, mind yeh, and so do I. The two uh yeh really wanna do this? We can always unite ahr pack with one of the elder packs later if we change ahr minds." Cabron loved the idea. "I think we should give it a go, and like you said, if we need further protection later, we can join one of the well established packs." Cabron was delighted when Kierstian expressed her own consent to give it a go, though she was concerned about the protection issue. After their experiences in Ravenswood, how could she not be leery? Mick noticed that her accord was granted a little less enthusiastically then Cabron's. "Don' worry lass. We will be alroight, and we'll bring more worthy lupus ahd felid into ahr pack. Meanwhile, I'll 'ave yeh backs," he pledged. Their new alpha then proceeded to explain what their ranks in the pack were, and that they would keep those ranks until a time when and if another pack member challenged them for it, and won. He was proving himself to be everything an Alpha should be already. A teacher, a mentor, a friend, a protector, and a lawkeeper.