Fury

Fury

Chapter Nine

Shadows Fall

The night of the full moon approached as usual. She had the day off; Madame Pine's business had been a bit slow of late, though as Christmas approached, so would the shoppers. She was left alone in George's flat all day, and spent it cleaning. She felt as though she could jump out of her skin; there was a tingling along her shoulders and arms that told her, as if she didn't know, that moonrise approached. As the sun sank closer to the horizon, she began to grow restless, and her eyes burned. By five, she had to Apparate; if she waited much longer she thought she'd go crazy.

Reesa, her house-elf, had dutifully brought her the Wolfsbane Potion every day at six, right after she returned from work and before George came. She seemed to share Serenity's position on Cate staying with a practical stranger, but followed her mistress' orders and was never seen; in fact, she had very little to do, and was bored.

Cate drew her wand, appearing silently on the path to the Manor. Forgoing visiting her family- which, according to Reesa, was just her parents and Nathan currently, as Isabelle had taken a short vacation with her fiancé- she walked behind the house, going straight to the fenced in woods.

Wolfsbane Potion could be purchased at certain apothecaries and potion houses, and the Ministry helped those who could not afford it themselves. Even with the potion, a werewolf could still be dangerous, and so designated areas had been set aside as fenced enclosures where the wolf could run free and not harm anyone, or be harmed themselves. Cate's father had volunteered part of his land to a werewolf enclosure, and maintained it himself. There were four werewolves there on any given full moon, with the occasional addition of one or two others, all locals.

It seemed that Cate was not the first to arrive. Jeremiah Nomes was leaning casually against the fence, arms crossing his thin chest, face set in a frown.

"Your father said to wait until you get here before he would let me in." His voice was much deeper than she would have guessed, and still surprised her, even after three years.

Cate sighed. "Did he say why?"

Nomes shrugged. "Nope. Hoped you knew."

She shook her head. "I'll just...go find out, shall I?"

He shrugged again. Cate began to walk back to the house, calling over her shoulder, "Tell the others I'll be right back." She thought he may have grunted, but kept walking.

She was met at the door to the greenhouses by a droop-eared Reesa. "Reesa is sorry, Miss. Reesa had to tell when Master Moon asked."

Cate smiled tightly at the little elf. "That's okay, Reesa. I'm not mad. You have to do what my father says, and that's fine. I don't blame you."

Reesa's ears lifted slightly. "Thank you, Miss," she said in a little voice that somehow managed to be more high-pitched than normal.

Cate frowned as she entered, looking both ways down the hall. "I don't suppose you know where my father is, do you?"

Reesa gave her an elfish grin. "Yes, Miss! Follow me, Miss!"

The little elf began to jog down the hallway, only slowing when Cate begged her to, and led her to a closed door. Cate dismissed her and entered quietly, dreading what she might find.

Hierophant Moon was alone in the billiards room, standing next to a table with cue in hand; none of the balls had been moved from their starting position, and there was a full glass of some brown liquid next to him. He didn't turn to face his daughter.

"There are three new guests coming tonight." His voice was low and quiet, and Cate felt uneasy.

"Alright. I'll help them settle in." She waited, knowing that something was bothering him, but when he didn't say anything, broke the silence. "Is that all?"

Hiero spun on his heel, whipping the cue against the wall and sending a painting crashing to the floor. "No, that bloody isn't all! I find out from your bloody elf that you have been staying with some man and haven't been in your apartment for nearly a month! Why didn't you tell us?" His mouth tightened. "Me. You could have told me."

Cate stood there calmly. "You would have told Mother, and she would never have approved."

Hiero growled. "That's not a reason and you know it! How long was this going to go on before you told me yourself?"

Cate stared him down, not rising to the bait. "I'm sorry you had to find out from Reesa, Dad, but I really need to get down there before the others arrive. Nomes is already there."

Hierophant picked up the glass at his elbow and flung it at the wall. "Damn it, Catherine! Don't you take that tone with me! Where have you been staying?"

Cate had flinched as the glass shattered, and struggled to keep her temper down. "I've been staying with a friend, Dad, while my apartment is cleaned. I'm not going to talk about this now."

Hiero stalked around the table, grabbing her arm. "We will talk about this, Catherine. I promise you."

Cate snarled unconsciously. "Tomorrow. Now let me go." In a softer voice, she said, "I don't want to hurt you, Dad, and now is not the to have this discussion."

He released her and walked away, back stiff. "Get out of my sight."

~*~

She met Nathan in the hallway as she stalked out of the billiards room. Her older brother lounged against the paneled walls, ignoring the protests of the portraits as he blocked their line of sight.

"So." Even his voice was smirking.

She glared at him. "Now is not the time, Nathan."

He shrugged. "I know. But Dad didn't. Obviously. I just wanted to say..."

She held up a hand and glared at him. "Don't. Just don't."

Nathan frowned. "I was going to say congratulations."

She paused and frowned. "For what? I haven't done anything."

He threw up his hands. "Oh, please. You got out of here. You don't care what they think. That's far and away above what I've done."

"Which is what, exactly?" She could feel her temper boiling under the surface, but at the same time, there was a genuine curiosity.

"You live on your own for years, in a tiny place you pay for by yourself, with a job you got by yourself. You allegedly move in with a man a week after snogging him in front of the entire Wizarding world, thus upsetting Gram's high opinion of you, and lowering Mother's already low opinion. You don't take money from them." He shrugged, running a hand through black hair that was just like hers. "I live here, getting an allowance worth more than you make in a month, and take a pity job from one of Dad's friends just to get the hell away from the Manor during the day. I don't think I could live like you do."

Cate stared at him. "Is there a compliment buried in there, or was everything designed to make me feel worse?"

Nathan frowned thoughtfully. "I don't know."

She blinked. "Goodnight, Nathan."

~*~

By the time she arrived back at the iron gate that led into the werewolf enclosure, everyone had arrived. Jeremiah Nomes was normally the youngest, besides her, at age thirty-three; Ophelia Jackson was nearly fifty, and Zacharias Turner was sixty if a day. Three others stood awkwardly to the side, and she introduced herself to them briskly.

Tobias and Ezekiel Lewis were brothers, and had been turned after the last full moon, bitten on the Continent by a stray werewolf that no one had known about and who was now dead. They were about twenty, maybe a little older, and terrified. Ophelia had taken it upon herself to reassure them as best she could, but this first change would be hard on them. The other new arrival, Irene Blake, was about thirty, a pretty woman with short brown hair and sharp hazel eyes. She had been bitten as she picked herbs in the full moon for a potion; she was one of the few Potions Masters that could brew Wolfsbane. She had a bitter set to her mouth; as a Wolfsbane brewer, she was also one of the few that knew what being a werewolf did to the human body.

Cate told them all the rules- no leaving the enclosure until morning, no biting, and all articles of clothing placed in the box near the gate before entering. In the morning, her father would let them out; it was impossible to ensure that a wand wouldn't be broken while changed, and dangerous not to seal the enclosure with magic; they would be trapped until then. A few quiet minutes later, Reesa appeared with vials of Wolfsbane, compliments of the house; Cate thought hers a bit bitterer than normal, but none of the others complained, so she didn't.

Nomes and Zacharias began to strip without a word; both had been werewolves for over ten years, Zacharias for almost half of his life. The Lewis brothers hid behind a bush as they stripped, and blushed furious crimson as they placed their clothing in the box and tried to hide behind each other.

Ophelia and Cate took Irene aside and all of the women stripped on the edges of a little clearing, Cate the least embarrassed of them all. Ophelia had been a werewolf for almost two years; Cate had been one for more than five. Irene barely said two words, but Ophelia was chatty, not looking at anything but the trees, and obviously ignoring the men.

They all entered the cage together, and the older three took off immediately to find a place to change in peace. Cate quickly explained to the new werewolves, as the sun began to touch the horizon, that the change was best when alone, and then they could do as they wished; the enclosure was nearly half a kilometer square, so space wasn't limited.

She wandered off herself, avoiding the areas where she knew Ophelia and Zacharias liked to change, going towards the tiny grove that was her own changing place, near the west perimeter.

The sun touched the horizon, and she waited until the moon rose, feeling the itching and stretching that said moonrise was coming. The first kiss of white light over the horizon, and her body began to burn.

Darkness descended, and then nothing.

~*~

The first thing she felt was pain, and immediately she knew something wasn't right. The pain was sharp, feeling first like fire, then as though tiny knives were stabbing her in every inch of her body. The potion should have dulled the feeling; it was one of the things that made it so sought after. The next was that she wasn't where she usually was when she woke up; like the beginning of the night, when the change began, it was best that the return was done alone. Since they were given their human minds as well as reasoning, this was usually as simple as returning to where the night had begun.

Light pierced her eyelids, and she realized they were closed. Opening them took far too much effort, and she groaned. Sight blurry, she pushed herself onto her hands and knees.

The ground was wet.

Her first thought was that it must have rained, no matter that the Wireless had said that there would be no clouds at all. But then, lifting a sticky hand, she saw that the grass and dirt in front of her was torn up and matted with blood.

Horror was slow to come, but it did appear.

She had been warned, when she was first turned, that werewolves were predators, and had been designed to both bite and kill humans, to propagate the species and to eat something worthy of their new talents. With the new laws and potions, and a human conscience, it was rare that a werewolf would hunt a human, let alone kill them, but it was in their nature to do so. She had been warned, but hadn't understood. She'd never been without the potion.

There was a body, lying half-covered in leaves and torn up grass, only a few feet in front of her. Deep gouges and teeth marks showed where she had bitten him and...Merlin...

She leaned over and vomited, spewing what she hoped was all the flesh she had eaten. The thought alone made her vomit again, trying desperately to kill the thought and the taste.

She dragged herself away, realizing, for the first time, that she was naked and covered in blood. The sight of the dried red strings covering her body was enough to make her gag, but she had nothing left inside of her. Gulping in huge breaths, she crawled away from the body, not daring to look back.

She had no idea where she was, but she was sure she was no longer near the Manor. For one thing, the Manor, other than the front (which she would see, and she didn't), was surrounded by trees, most twice as tall as the house, at the least. For another, it was no where near the sea, which she could hear crashing somewhere nearby. And, lastly, the Manor was in the middle of hilly woods, not perched on a cliff with no trees and short, dry grass.

The man's body had a wide trail leading away from her; she had obviously dragged him here, and then begun to...to...

She couldn't finish the thought. Standing on painfully shaky legs, Cate took in her surroundings. Nearby stood a little stone cottage, white in the early morning sun. It wasn't that far to walk, but she didn't know if the man had lived there, or...

She had to take the chance. Her wand, like her clothing and identification, lay locked in the box near the fence on the Manor's property. She would just have to hope that whoever lived in the stone house could help her.

Stumbling across the uneven, rocky ground, Cate made her way to the white cottage. It took far longer than she would have liked, but she was glad that no one was there to see her.

The brilliantly yellow front door, when she tried the handle, was locked, so she raised a shaking hand and knocked. A gruff voice called out for her to wait, and there were sounds inside. The door was yanked open suddenly, and she found herself staring up at the tallest, broadest person she had ever seen (excusing Hagrid, the groundskeeper at Hogwarts, who was half-giant). The man had brilliant blue eyes that pierced and made her flinch, straggly dirty blond hair, and a wide beard that fanned across his chest from a weak chin.

If she was stunned to see him, he was no less stunned to see her. "Oh, lass, what's the matter with ye?" She almost couldn't understand a word; his accent was Scottish, the brogue thick and voice low.

She shivered. "I need help..." Her voice was weak, and trailed off. And then she slumped forward into the man's arms, heedless of her nakedness, and fainted.

~*~

Cate woke slowly, for the second time that day, because of the sun on her face. This time, the light was dimmer; it was trying to pierce through glass nearly a foot thick, and lacy curtains with brown stains around the edges.

"Alright, lass?"

She jumped; she hadn't noticed the man sitting on a stool next to the bed, waiting. Cate nodded, then looked at herself. She was still covered in blood, but was no longer naked; she wore a long shirt in dark green that buttoned up the front.

The man blushed. "Ah, sorry, lass, but I thought you might be more comfortable..."

Cate nodded jerkily. "Thanks...thank you."

She jumped again at a squawk in the corner, and the man seemed annoyed for the first time. "Off with ye, Egil!"

He turned slightly, yelling at what was, quite possibly, the largest owl she had ever seen, perched on a stand of driftwood.

She looked around the tiny cottage, made smaller by the size of the man inside. A cauldron hung near the smoking fireplace, and through an open cupboard door she saw a can of Mrs. Skower's Magical Mess Remover- Extra Strength. She felt something akin to relief for the first time.

"Are you a wizard?"