Where there's a way,
There's a Wookie!
Sweat trickle from her brow, down the tip of her nose, between her breasts and finally down her stomach. It itched and irritated the whole trip down her body and she began to curse. She cursed the bloody vampire who was the real cause of the whole mess. She cursed the Elders for making her follow through with her half-assed proposal to repair the veil and save herself from a "worse" punishment. Lastly she cursed George Lucas for his fertile imagination that led to the creation of the creature she was emulating.
Sighing, but still mentally cursing those on her list, Kama growled at a group of teenagers careless enough to still be on the fringes of Central Park past dusk. She was hot, tired and the fur on the costume itched! She wasn't even tall enough for the character and the roaring she tried to emulate sounded lame, but it was better than death – maybe. Kama finally made it to Turtle Pond, sat on a rock and took off the heavy head mask. She wasn't sure she could handle two more days of running around the park in costume. Inspiration hit and she took off a glove, grabbed her cell phone from a damp pocket and began to call her few friends in as reinforcements. A pack of roaming wookies would seem like a bunch of stupid teenagers having fun, a solo Wookie just looked like some person who had seriously lost touch with reality.
It started up north actually. During her Rite of Passage, Kamaria had been given a leech to slay and did so with relative ease. Her Rite had been far more mental than physical – which was odd for an Ahroun, but she didn't question her good luck she just went with it. Anyhow she had gotten the notion that all leeches were fairly easy to kill. She still was very new to this whole world of being Garou, and one of the downfalls was the lack of information that was passed on. Training was done in battle, and any other information had to be requested – of course it was hard to request what you didn't know to ask! Everyone just assumed that you knew what you were supposed to know and if not you would ask, stupid system but one that had been in place since the dawn of the Garou nation.
Kama was in a unique position anyhow; she was Fianna, which was all well and good except that her Tribe lived up north. Her grandfather was Sept leader for the Sept of the Tall Trees and wanted very much to have her come and live up there. However she was city born and raised and she wanted to stay in the city. Enter Sept of the Green, in the heart of Central Park, made up of a conglomeration of Tribes that had for one reason or another become localized in the area. So through a twisting of the fates Kama met the Sept of the Green's leader and decided she wanted to stay in the city closer to her kin family. Long story short, her grandfather and family up north were not happy, they tried persuade her to live up north, she spent weekends there learning about Garou life and her family up north however still decided to live at home. Her grandfather was not happy but he let her stay (after much persuading by Kama's mother.)
Kama mused over her odd situation and wondered if she had decided to stay up north whether or not she would be in the quandary she was in. It started on a great night. Kama had been through another one of her long days per usual but this one was a good day! She had breezed through her classes in school, had a great practice at Julliard and her evening math class at NYU was a breeze. She was still full of excitement about her successful Rite of Passage, and she had even made a new friend that understood being "different". She put on her head phones so she could practice on her way home and walked out a side door from the New York Public Library.
Then her night changed. She walked into a scene that could have taken place anywhere in New York, but should not have at the fairly well lit back corridor of the library. A young blond woman stood menacingly over a grubby man who was kneeling and looking really upset. There was a henchman (Kama could think of no better term to describe him!) standing off to the side behind her and no one else. It played out like a scene from a grade B horror flick, but feeling a bit indestructible with her knowledge of what she was, Kama inched closer to hear. Of course she could hear nothing, so she focused hard and shifted her very human ears to those in lupine form. She stifled a cry as they changed and the world became a smorgasbord for audible sounds. Cars whizzed by honking and squealing, insects chirped and whined around her in the foliage, people murmuring on the front stairs of the library and the voice of a not so happy woman rang out loud and clear.
"Where is the book?" the young lady said in a voice that was surprisingly steely from such a petite figure.
"I don't know! I don't have, he didn't tell me nothing!" the guy stammered, obviously scared.
"Well then he must not value you!" the blonde said and then turned to smile at her henchman. "I guess that means you are expendable."
The man paled considerably and tried to stand; the blonde put her hand on his shoulder and held him down. She smiled down at him and Kama cringed, for such a seemingly youthful person the blonde had a cold feral smile.
"No! I mean I can get information for you. Just let me find him and I'll tell you." The man said beginning to babble, obviously terrified.
"I don't know I'm not so convinced now." The blonde purred at him.
Kama tried to inch closer to hear more, she rationalized that she could help the man if things got physical but she had to know what was going on. She shifted her backpack and took a step forward, figuring she could pretend to have just come out if need be. Then a twig under foot snapped in half with a loud crack, and she looked up exactly at the wrong time and directly into the blonde's eyes. As part of her brain realized she had just been caught the other part began to feel fuzzy and soupy. Shad heard all she needed and knew that she would need help.
"We have a visitor." The blonde said over her shoulder to her henchman, never taking her eyes from Kama's.
"Sorry to interrupt I didn't know anyone was back here." Kama said confused as to why her feet wouldn't obey her instinct to move. "I'll leave you to your business."
"Oh no, why don't you stay a while, in fact…" the blonde paused with her head tilted and looked at Kama with a tight smile. "Come here."
The command wound its way through her mind and gave her a tug. Kama found herself moving toward the group of people without wanting to. Her brain would not control her legs and with in seconds she stood in front of the blonde. She was about the same height as the blonde, but when her warm brown eyes meet steely blue she flinched despite herself. Her mind reeled as she realized that this woman had just controlled her mind.
"So what is a pretty little thing like you sneaking around in dark corners for?" the blonde said in a dulcet tone that almost sounded genuine. Then she looked Kama over very thoroughly and gave a lascivious grin. "Well aren't you just cute! Tell me."
"I was going home after studying." Kama said her mouth working despite her effort not to say anything.
The man behind the blonde whimpered and she turned to face him. The moment eye contact was broken Kama felt control surge back through her along with abject panic. The girl looked to be about her age, except her eyes which seemed to be ageless and very dead cold. Looking around for avenues of escape, Kama almost shuddered. The Park was quite a distance from where she was, as was home. She didn't know how she would make it clear. The first real pricks of fear tingled at the nape of her neck.
"Scared? Don't be, I've been very fair so far. If you tell me what I want it will go easy on you. If not you'll die." The blonde said to the cowering man before turning back to Kama.
She walked over to Kama with a graceful stride, commanding but near quiet. Kama swallowed a lump as she realized she still had lupine ears and focused hard on having normal girl ears by the time the blonde came near her again. The last thing she wanted was for this woman to know the one advantage she did have. As the blonde reached her, Kama hoped that she was normal again. The woman put a surprisingly muscular arm around her shoulders and smiled. Kama's nose twitched just a bit, the woman smelled off, nothing that she could pin point but somehow wrong. She led Kama over to where the man and her henchman stood and smiled at them.
"Well, well it seems we have a party here." She dropped her arm from around Kama's shoulders and walked over to the man.
The man began to babble incoherently in fear as she pulled out a gun and pulled the slide to check to see if there was a bullet in the chamber. Kama figured it was just a tactic to make the man talk, and therefore was not at all prepared for the loud noise as the gun fired. She yelped and jumped back a step; the man clutched his leg and fell over in the fetal position. The blonde walked over to Kama and smiled too sweetly.
"There, there my lamb, no need to worry, if you cooperate more than this bastard, it will go easy on you." The woman smiled and winked. "After all we girls have to stick together in this big bad world."
Kama swallowed hard again and stayed still, she wanted to buy as much time by looking meek and defenseless as possible. The woman walked back over to the wounded man and as she began to shout at him in a language that Kama didn't recognize, she screwed something onto the barrel of the gun. The woman grew louder and the man cried out in fear and began to try to get away. With a cynical smile the blonde calmly pulled the trigger three times and then man stopped moving. Turning her head the woman looked at Kama, who quickly averted her eyes to the ground.
"Okay my lamb, let's have a little chat."
Kama felt herself pulled toward the woman and fought to remain calm. The man took that exact opportunity to try to bolt, and as the blonde took her eyes from Kama, she too took the opportunity and began to run. She put on a burst of speed and ran for her life, but all too quickly she was snatched back.
"Well hello there, fine night for a stroll yes?" the woman said in a syrupy sweet voice as she held with a tight grip onto Kama's shoulder "I must admit that the little chase was not quite in my plans but what can you do?"
Kama looked at the woman but said nothing. The woman caressed her shoulder, pretending to brush off an imaginary piece of lint causing her to shudder at the touch but still said nothing. She was bodily moved over between two buildings and placed not so gently up against the wall. The henchman came a few seconds later with the man in tow, and tossed him next to Kama and she could tell that her being caught a second time would not end well.
"You seem quite the curious type. Interested in our little business hmmm?" The woman said with a cold smile. "And of course our little drama here has no doubt called out to the Good Samaritan within you."
"No, I'm just on my way home." Kama said, softly trying to reign in her fear. "I just stopped to adjust my headphones, and then I was there talking to you. But I got scared and ran."
"I see and now after that merry little chase you are back with us." She said coldly. "What do you suppose is happening here hmm?"
"You're mugging somebody." Kama said in a flat voice. "I saw it and now you want to hurt me."
"Well I prefer the term torturing but sure. Whatever floats your boat." the blonde said nonchalantly. "You want to be next?"
"No." Kama said, not saying more because she wasn't sure what would set this woman off.
"Well then I have a deal for you. If you help us, I will let you go, no questions asked. How does that sound?"
"I don't know how to do anything." Kama said in a small voice.
"Oh it's quite simple you help us take care of our friend here, then you can go and we can get on with business." The blonde said.
Kamaria panicked and made moved like she would run, flight was the only option she could think. The blonde grabbed her back with a grin.
"Hey now... not so fast remember the deal. You have to help first." She said, in a bemused voice, she was obviously having fun with the whole adventure.
"I can't kill anyone, just let me go!" Kama said while struggling in a futile effort.
"Well if you don't want to help then we will just have to consider you his friend instead of ours and that means you get added to our to-do list." The blonde said her cold eyes boring into Kama's. "Last chance..."
Kama looked at the woman in stark terror; this woman looked no older than her, but had the composure of someone ageless. A pistol was held out to her and Kama tentatively took it, then taking a deep breath aimed and fired at the woman. The blonde shuddered slightly with the impact, the much to Kama's amazement after looking down at the hole on her chest, began to laugh. The laughter chilled Kama and she quickly reversed grin and swung the gun across her face. The blonde's head rocked slightly, the smile not even coming off as she continued to laugh.
"You know, you have spunk kid." The blonde said "That's the second time in ten years someone has tried that."
Kama froze, not expecting that twist. This was obviously a supernatural creature that was going to kill her, so she threw the gun behind her as far as she can and quickly tried to figure an avenue of escape.
"Well that was dumb." The blonde said, watching to gun land in a pile of slop and then looked back at Kama "How do you expect to help us now? Are you going to kill him with your bare hands? Choke the life out of him maybe?"
Kama bolted again; using ounce of fear to push her much faster than a human would have been able to run. Not bothering to look back she focused hard on making it to the edge of the park and to safety. She heard a loud crunch behind her and gave in and looked, but to her surprise saw nothing, but as she turned her face forward again she ran smack into something hard. It stopped her up short and she looked up she saw a not so happy looking blonde. Kama met the woman's gaze for a mere second and then tried to move quickly away. The woman's face stretched into a sick grin she placed one hand on Kama's shoulder and began to tighten. Kama felt bones pop and shatter, the pain hitting her full force, the screaming in her mind reaching deafening levels, and all she could think was to shift and run. She quickly shifted into Crinos form, howling and snarling, and broke free of the woman's grip. The blonde let go and staggered back, shock apparent on her face.
"Get the fuck out of here..." she said startled as she watched Kama bolt as fast as she could, the two blocks into Central Park and disappear into the dark.
Kama ran into the seeming safeness of the Park, never once looking behind her, survival most on her mind, missing the blonde watching her intently.
"Well damn." She muttered and then looked at her thug as almost an afterthought. "Kill that, and I will take care of the wookie."
Kamaria didn't look back, just ran a fast blur through the entrance to the park when she was suddenly tackled and felt a disorienting pull as the world around her shifted. She looked around started, but recognized it as the Umbra, she tensed in a panic ready to fight to the death if need be. Next to her on the ground was Lorna, who looked beyond pissed. Quickly Kama down shifted and fell to the ground panting as her adrenaline wore off.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how many people just saw you?" The Master Theurge snarled
"That woman broke my shoulder!" Kama panted "She wanted me to kill…"
"What woman?" Lorna interrupted
"The blonde over near the library." She gasped out "I had no choice, I shot her point blank and she laughed! She was so strong."
Lorna and looked over her shoulder while Kama broke into quiet tears as she tried to get out all the details she could remember. She gave Lorna the physical details and then paused.
"She did something to me." She said.
"What?" Lorna said warily
"She spoke in my head and made me walk over to her, I didn't want to but I couldn't control my own body." Kama said brushing the tears off her cheeks.
"Stay here, others will be around to get you shortly." Lorna growled deep in her throat, and then threw back her head letting out a short yip.
"Don't leave me." Kama said latching onto Lorna as fear took her. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to give us away, I just didn't want to die."
Lorna sighed and unwrapped Kama from her. She shrugged off her duster jacket and covered Kama with it. She ran towards a grove of trees and then seems to shimmer as though she was running into a wall of water. Kama put the coat on properly and then fell to the ground, curling into the fetal position shaking. She had no idea how long she was there before a man approached her. He was the homeless man that had been following her around ever since she came into the Park.
"What's going on?" he rumbled at her
"Lorna just left." She said, realizing he was Garou because they were both in the Umbra.
Kama reiterated the story, making sure to give all the details and watched his face carefully. He didn't look to be judging her, just taking in details and nodded now and again
"Come on, I will take you back to the cottage." He said holding out a hand.
Kama took his hand gratefully and was led back to the cottage, feeling cold to the core and her brain starting to shut down. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself, but it just wasn't working. She walked by his side gripping his hand tightly and then stood passively as the information was related to yet another man. Gabe, the Beta, listened carefully but didn't address her. After the information was given, he motioned to her and took her into the Shakespeare Gardens to sit on a bench.
"Sounds like you just had your first run in with a vampire." He said softly "Lorna will report back with the details."
"I didn't realize they would be so strong." She said, still trying to cope with the fact vampires were real. "She broke my shoulder with one hand."
"Yes, they can be quite strong and can make you do things. Never the less, you should not have broken the veil. You have put us all in grave danger by exposing yourself and coming here." Gabe said gently.
Not gently enough to sooth Kama's frazzled nerves. She leapt to her feet, seething with anger and began to pace.
"The veil? That's all you care about? Did you want me to die? Perhaps you should train us new pups on this stuff." She said getting pissed off taking over the fear. "Fuck you all! You let me go out there with no knowledge. What the hell else was I supposed to do?"
Kamaria paced more, while Gabe merely watched. She took his quiet for disinterest and snapped at him.
"Fine I'll leave then, if I die you wont' have to worry about me breaking protocol anymore." She growled "Assholes!"
"Stop!" he said softly, but Kama felt the growled threat all the way through her bones. "First off, you will stay here where you are safe, we don't want you dead. Second, we will train you but we can't keep you locked away here until you know everything in the world. If that were the case you would be my age before you went out into the world."
"You could have at least given me working knowledge." She muttered "I've only been Garou for two weeks."
"New York is crawling with vampires. It was bound to happen." He said, his eyes smoldering with a quiet authority and took her gently but firmly by the elbow and sitting her down on the bench "Now calm down and I will try to bring you up to speed."
"I don't even know what kills them." She said.
"I cannot stress enough how dangerous revealing yourself was you were scared yes but you put yourself in more danger by running across town like that."
"It's not like it was a calculated move, she broke my shoulder one handed." She said, and then added lamely "I freaked out."
"We will teach you how to compose yourself then." He said.
Gabe then launched into a two hour long recital of the Litany and what she could and could not do now that she was Garou. He went on for hours until she pled the need to use the restroom. When she came back he, Lorna and the homeless man were all standing and waiting for her.
"We have a problem." Gabe said
"Okay" Kama said slowly
"Well, the punishment for breaking the veil can be death…" the homeless man started to say "Unless you can think of a way to contain the situation."
"You would kill me?" she gasped
"Not us but some of the others in the Sept might not take too kindly for you being let off so easy." Gabe said "There are always repercussions for your actions. Since the law you broke happened to be in the Litany, we are going to have to do something serious so no one will claim favoritism."
"What about if I rent a costume and run around the park?" she rambled out, thinking of anything to get out of dying.
"What?" Lorna asked, looking irritated but at whom, Kama couldn't tell.
"I didn't escape her just to die by some werewolf with a grudge!" Kama snapped, her nerves finally just giving up. "I will rent a large Yeti or wookie costume and run around, so people will just write off my Crinos form as another costume."
The three looked at each other and shrugged.
That was how Kama found herself running through Central Park in a costume. As she mulled over the events that led her there she was certain that being Garou was going to interfere more in her life than she had planned. Two weeks into this new life and she had already been assaulted AND humiliated. As she thought about her miserable time, she saw the few friends she had made lumbering towards her in costumes of their own. Her salvation had come; at least she wouldn't be the only one looking stupid for the rest of the night. Life wasn't going to be easy but it sure would be interesting.