And here's the next installment of the Pack stories. Miss all the reviews, but oh well.
Silent Offender
chapter one: First Encounter
summary: What happens when a vampiric mutant takes notice of the Pack girls, and has an old score to settle with his "caring" uncle.
It was a warm Saturday and the ladies of the Pack were out on the town. Having ditched the boys for some girl time, the ladies decided on a movie that night. The movie, a romantic love story, ended and the five friends exited with the other patrons.
"Wasn't that movie just the best?" Irona asked as she skipped about down the sidewalk leading away from the theater.
"Yes. I love romance stories. They're my favorite. They just always end so right," Morgana stated not far behind the prancing Pixie.
"I thought it was dull," the youngest of the group added.
"Shadow," Illya scoffed, "Is there any feminine genes in your body?"
"Nope. They've been bred out," she answered, then added, "Literately."
"Gals," Gabby, the newest of the girls, beckoned from across the street where she stood next to a building.
"What is it, Gabby?" Morgana asked leading the others across the busy night street.
"I'm no expert, but that doesn't look like it's meant to be that way," Gabby said pointing to the side door of the building, a museum, that was ajar. The lock had been cut and the camera that was aimed at the door smashed.
"Whoever did this is new to the craft," Shadow retorted, "or in a big hurry. I don't know of anyone who is dumb enough to pull a stunt like this with such shabby work."
"Someone down on their luck? An angry mutant?" Illya suggested.
"Or a power hungry one," Morgana added. "Either way I think we should have a look at the building, don't you?" She eyed each of the girls in turn. "Shadow, can you get the rest of the securities off line from out here? The last thing we need is more bad press."
"And break the rules? That would be wrong!" Shadow mocked. Quickly, she rose up to the camera "borrowing" Morgana's gift of flight. "This won't be a problem." She touched two live wires together, shorting out the whole system. She gave the thumbs up for the girls to go inside.
Once in, the girls choose to split up to cover more ground. Morgana went into the first wing which consisted of the dinosaur exhibit. Shadow and Irona went into the History of Airplanes and Automobiles wing while Gabby took the WWII exhibit. That left Illya to check out the Egyptian wing.
'How fitting,' Saber thought as she crept down the middle walkway without making a sound. She loved being a cat with all her special feline abilities. No one could hear her coming unless she announced her presence, though sometimes Sean might come close with his animal like senses. With her keen ears she picked up the sound of a glass cutter scoring one of the vulnerable display cases not far off. Quinn and Shadow had taught them to identify by sight and sound the different tools used in burglaries. She rounded the corner of the display of Bashet the cat goddess of Egypt and nearly into the thief.
He was lean, but muscularly built. Dressed in a black button down shirt and black pants his long dark hair hung loose down to his chin, blending into its background to where Illya couldn't quite catch where hair ended and shirt began. The way he just stood there, staring down at her, demanded power. He reached into the display case and pulled out a carving of Horace. When he turned again to meet her gaze, his eyes were a sparkling maroon hue and filled with mystery and intrigue, and possibly danger.
Saber couldn't take her eyes away from his strikingly handsome face, not even to make a sound for help. She was awe struck. This man was the definition of beauty. And then he smiled at her. A dashing, perfectly white smile that captured the very woman in her. She knew, consciously, she needed help, and tried to work her mouth so that it would form the words, but it remained refutably open.
He reached out and gently placed two gloved fingers on her lips, and now they closed willingly. "Shh..." he whispered caressingly. "Not a sound. You never saw me." With that, he backed up, bowed low to her and walked into the darkness filling the museum. Saber juststood there, watching the spot he had just filled, trying to make sense of what had just happened. A footstep coming behind her caught her attention.
"Did you see anyone, Illya?" Morgana asked pulling her from her pondering.
"No," she quickly stated. "But a case in here is open. We must have missed however got in."
"Well," Nature sighed, "Maybe one of the younger girls has turned up something." The two oldest of the ladies left this wing to find the others and any clues they might have found.
The dark man known to few as Damian Chase and to even fewer as the Guardian, stood on the roof watching, waiting for her to come out. He loved this game, testing the best system this city used. All the gain the funds he needed to hire the right kind of mercenaries. So that he may have his revenge. The lovely white skinned woman had come upon him with out him realizing it. Had she sensed him and hunted him down from the street? Was there more to her than just the looks of a cat? Could she poses the powers equal to her familiar? Could she have other powers? All these thoughts ran rampant through his mind until one put a stop to all others. She had nearly caught him, and would have turned in him had she the chance. Thankfully, his own gift, that of immeasurable charm over all women, had saved him this time. Had enabled him to cloud her mind and stop her from calling out. Did that mean she had others with her? Could she work here and he not have spotted her during his casing of the building? It was possible. He was not the best thief in the city. But this woman, with her silent feet and cat-like abilities, would make an excellent thief, had she the right mentor.
He spotted her coming out of the building as if she also had not been there after hours. Surprisingly, she was not alone. Four other ladies were with her. They also had exited the museum. The five joined up on the sidewalk across the street, spoke to each other for a minute, then started walking away, together.
'Perfect!' he thought. Not only was the kitty a mutant, but she had four other friends who possibly were as well. And they were all females! He knew luck must be on his side today to come across a find like this. Five women he could control, who all probably had mutant powers. He would not need to steal any longer to be able to buy his mercs. Fate had given five to him.
He studied the quintet, following by way of rooftop, always keeping out of sight. Two appeared to be just in or just past twenty. The shorter of the pair, and of the group, bounded around the others completely full of energy. The youngest of the five hung back further from the rest. A loner. One with fiery red hair, just as fuzzy as kitty, looked as if she had walked right out of the Eternal Inferno. Absently he wondered if she could control Perdition's flames. But for looking like something out of a horror movie she was very calm about it. Muck like how kitty didn't seem to be bothered by being "different". His charm had worn off her, however, but showed no lasting effects. Either she didn't remember him or she was choosing not to tell her companions.
The last of the group was a earth toned woman around the same age as kitty. This one carried herself with pride and dignity. Slenderly built, the tight-fitting spaghetti shirt she wore exposed the wiry muscles hide beneath the prefect form. From the look of her, Damian knew she had to a Native of some king, but what tribe he didn't know; but obviously she was the leader of this group. All the others addressed her, even the loner. She was always watching her surroundings, apparently ready if anything were to attack one of her girls. If there was danger she would be the one the others turned to for orders or guidance. If only he could harness that quality for his own use.
They were all beautiful in their own unique ways. He continued to follow them to a large seven passenger blazer, where kitty got in behind the wheel. Ironically, he had left his Ninja near where they had parked. With his lights off, he continued to follow them from the city to a large mansion in the countryside. They blazer came to a stop and all five got out and entered through the large double doors. 'Even better,' he thought, 'They all live together. This night is becoming too promising.' His plans had just dramatically, and defiantly for the better.
End chapter 1 of the new story. The Four Minds would like to take this time to apologize to all of our readers. We have recently discovered that after the first story, our series has taken more of a turn towards all 'fluff'. We think we just got too caught up in developing our characters. While we feel we've done that we have also neglected any and all action in the stories. Maybe we just know our characters too well and forget to write it in. We have a few stories that have been written though not posted that do not have as much action. As they are being typed we will try to add as much action as the story itself will allow, and promise to include more action into our series. We hope to gain our readers back, and look forward to receiving your reviews. Thanks!