Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: My beloved Jack and my beloved Mother who holds Brendan/Prue as a favorite pairing
Rating: R for nudity and violence
Summary: Brendan's secrets all come to a head when the hospital's staff, patients, and visitors, including one Piper Halliwell, are taken prisoner by evil Werewolves.
Warnings: Het, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Unconventional Pairings, Established Relationships, Crossover Cameo
Word Count: 20,225
Dates Written: 25 April - 18 May, 2011
Timeline: Takes place after the author's "A Blessing or a Curse?", "The Day After", "Howling From A Distance", "Unsaveable", "Howling Hopes For The Future", and "True Love's Power"
Disclaimer: Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, Cole Turner, Leo Wyatt, Kit, Andy Trudeau, Darryl Morris, The Power of Three, The Charmed Ones, White Lighter, and Charmed are & TM Spelling Entertainment and any other respective owners, none of whom are the author, and are used without permission. Brendan Richards, Brendan's family, Doctor Ola LaBelle, Kyna Chan, and Felicia are & TM Pirate Turner and may not be used without permission. Mick, Josef, and any other recognizable characters not listed above are & TM their respective owners, none of whom are the author and are used without permission. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Prologue
Her life was not supposed to be this way. Her world should not be so fraught with dangers and Demons that she could not even visit a sick friend in the hospital without fear of being attacked, and yet here she was, roped in with all the humans in the hospital and pushed together like cattle before a pack of hungry and angry Werewolves. She gazed steadily at them from unblinking, brown eyes, her mind going in circles over the situation as she tried to bat down her emotions.
Now was not the time to think about the whys and the why nots. It was not the place to consider all that she would like to change about her life or how unfair it was that she should feel hunted with her every move. Now was the time to put her own thoughts and feelings to the side, figure out what the enemy wanted and how to get rid of them, and protect whatever, or whoever, they were after and get rid of their foul and smelly hides.
Piper watched as another Werewolf slowly made her way down the line of humans in which she huddled. She could easily tell the beast was female for they were all naked and the males had massive, shaggy members hanging down betweenst their legs. Even animals had more self respect than these mongrel beasts, Piper thought, reflecting on how many times she'd seen Kit hide his privates with his furry, chocolate tail.
The creatures before her were neither human nor animal, Piper thought. They were less than any other species she knew save Demons, but they were also a might with which to be reckoned strongly. They had taken her and the others here by complete surprise. They had charged the hospital after cutting the electrical and phone lines outside and had taken them all, healthy and injured, rich and poor, staff, patient, and visitor, alike. Not a single one of them had escaped, and when one poor man had hesitated, trying to grab his walker so that he could at least walk on his own power, one of the Werewolves had struck him down.
A man Piper did not know had yelled at the beast and tried to defend the man who was so sick that he was breathing through oxygen when the Werewolf had simply turned on him and slashed into him, as well. Piper forced down the bile rising in her throat. She had seen the man's blood spatter and knew him to be dead. Several of the others who had been closer to the doctor than she still wore his blood. The elderly man had not risen again, and Piper feared the worst for him as well.
She trembled inside as the prowling Werewolf stopped in front of her and her friend and gazed at them through yellow, hungry eyes. She would never hear the song Hungry Like the Wolf and think of it the same again. These monsters were hungry and would gladly eat every one of them. She'd even heard some of the smaller Werewolves asking the larger ones for permission for a nibble, but so far, they had been denied every time. The Werewolves were waiting for something, some one, actually, Piper felt sure from their conversations, which they did not try to hide for they felt themselves wholly untouchable, and until they found that person, no one was to be eaten. Afterwards . . . , she swallowed hard. Afterwards, if she did not find a way out of this mess and a way to save the innocents around her, they were all food!
She should be on her feet, she thought and tried to push up only to have her friend latch on to her. "Piper!" Felicia hissed. "What are you doing? Stay down! We don't want to bring any more attention from those things than what we already have!"
"Somebody has to do something," Piper argued softly. Though she was touched by the concern reflecting in Felicia's big, green eyes, Piper knew it was her duty to stop these monsters. And yet, she thought, looking at the savage pack again, there were so many. She could not possibly explode more than two at a time, and when an attack was made on them, they would lash out at every one around them. She could not risk having more innocents killed.
She could try freezing them, but the freezing would only last for a short time at best. She could not take them all out during that time, nor could she freeze them and unfreeze the humans to get them away without exposing herself. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, knew not which way to turn, and yearned for her sisters to be there. Prue would know what to do, Piper knew, as would Cole, but here she was alone, the sole person in a fearful and panicked group of innocents who could not stand a chance of fighting these monsters, and all she could do at best was to take a few out before they ripped apart every one around her.
"Then let the cops do it," Felicia told her. "It's, like, their job, isn't it?"
It should have been the cops' job to protect them, Piper knew, but it wasn't, not when it came to the Supernatural. She'd heard sirens earlier and had watched helplessly as two Werewolves had gone out of the cafeteria, and though the Werewolves had returned, one still licking blood from its long, yellow claws, Piper had not heard another sound or sign of the cops since then. That was two more humans down, Piper thought mournfully, and many more would join if she did not find a way out of this mess for them all. They needed help, and they needed more help than she alone could possibly give them.
A few months ago, she would not have hesitated to call Leo, but yet today she had. Running to her ex-husband was no longer Piper's first thought of defense beyond her powers, but she could not put it off any longer. She needed help, and so she bowed her head and began to whisper, "Leo. Leo!"
"What are you doing?" Felicia asked. "Praying for help?"
"Sort of," Piper answered, casting her friend a sideways glance.
Felicia made a face. "God doesn't have anything to do with things like those," she said, looking fearfully to where the Werewolf was again prowling down before them.
She thought she was praying to a Christian God, Piper reflected and immediately changed her thought. She didn't need Leo for this. Angel Boy wouldn't begin to know how to free them all of this vicious pack of Werewolves. She needed far more than Leo, as she always had. She needed her truly beloved Cole. "Cole," she whispered and knew, in her heart, that he'd hear her and come. He might not be able to orb, but he could shimmer. He'd hear her. He'd come, and he'd save them all.
She felt Felicia grasp her hand and cast a glance at her friend, who waitressed at her club. Felicia's other hand was grasping a cross she wore, and Piper bit back the urge to roll her eyes. She'd once been that strong in her belief when she herself had been a Christian, but she hadn't been a Christian for years now. She knew the truths of the world, and her new beliefs were even stronger than her old Christian views had been. Still she did not hold Felicia's Christianity against her. Let the woman pray to her God; they could use any help they could get.
Piper closed her eyes again and resumed her own quiet pleas, "Cole. Cole, I need you!"
She heard sniffing, opened her eyes, and looked up. A Werewolf who was neither amongst the larger of his numbers or the smaller had his muzzle lifted into the air and was sniffing as though searching for something. His dark, scraggly fur was spotted and spliced with gray, and his back was more crooked than the other beasts'. Piper's heart stilled; her skin grew clammy. She knew before he opened his mouth what he was searching for or, rather, who, and she knew she was the one suddenly placed atop his agenda. "Witch," he growled, his silver fangs glistening with saliva and savage intent. "Witch, we know you're here, and we'll find you!"
Howls went up amongst the Werewolves. Piper's heart jumped into her throat and then lunged further, battering like mad inside her ears. They knew she was here, and clearly they wanted her, as had every bad guy she'd ever met since her sisters and herself had come into their powers. She knew already that they'd do whatever they had to to find her, including ripping apart any innocent they chose.
The Werewolves began walking down amongst them, and Piper's heart hammered her own death sentence. She had to find a way out, and she had to find it now! And yet she could not abandon the innocents Fate had placed into her care. "Cole," she begged in a whisper. "Cole, please hurry!" She closed her eyes tightly shut as the graying Werewolf stopped before her. "I love you!" She braced herself for the worst.
To Be Continued . . .