Disclaimer: Do you have any idea how bothersome these things are?! I hate writing them! I still don't own, they still belong to those people that own them, and I'm still not making money. There, I said it, can I GO now?!

Call of the Wolf

Chapter 6: Crimson Waves

Jamie swallowed hard, his heartbeat banging in his ears. It couldn't be...could it? How was it possible? What was she DOING here? She KNEW better...

Taking a deep breath, the young man let it out slowly, and opened his mouth to speak. For a moment, no sound came out. He coughed, clearing his throat, and ran his fingers through his hair.

What if he was wrong? Could it really be her? There was only one way to check, he supposed.

The glowing yellow eyes danced like fireflies in the darkness of the trees. Slowly, Jamie stepped forward, wondering why she was still hovering in the background. Steeling himself, the young man knelt on the ground, and laid his palms flat against the bare earth--"I'm not here to hurt you' the gesture said.

The yellow eyes seemed to glow brighter then, and before he knew it, a slick black wolf darted out of the shoulders and trotted toward him, her jaw hanging open in a lupine smile. Her tail wagged back and forth as she sat down in front of him, her strangely intelligent eyes glimmering.

Jamie took a deep breath, trying to control the emotions surging through him--joy, anger, panic, confusion all mixed together in a whirlwind of emotions to the point that he couldn't fully decipher any of them.

"What are you doing here?" He hissed, laying his hand on the top of her head, her thick black fur sliding across his palm like silk.

She continued to give him the lupine grin, batting at him with one of her still to large paws. The young wolf was barely into adolescence, still keeping her too large appendages and still fine fur. But she was bigger then a cub would be, marking her as being about one wolf year old.

"Well?" He pressed, eyeing her in annoyance. The girl-wolf seemed to realize then that he wasn't simply asking rhetorical questions--he wanted an answer, and he wanted it now.

Pulling her head away from his hand, the female wolf walked a few feet away from him and stopped, turning around and sitting down on the ground, facing him. For a minute, she just sat there, eyeing him in amusement, her gleaming white teeth sparkling in the sun.

Then a cloud of pure white mist sprang up around her from out of nowhere, completely barring the wolf from all eyes. A surge of electricity seemed to charge the air for a moment, all of the hair on Jamie's arms standing on end. The scent coming from inside the cloud changed, and then the could was gone, leaving a young, naked red haired girl kneeling on the grass in front of him.

She looked up at him, through her long red hair, her deep brown eyes glimmering. "Hi Jamie."

"Crimson--what are you DOING here?" Jamie asked his younger sister again, staring at the girl in shock.

She smiled, a smile that matched his, and stood up, her long hair covering most of her body--but not all of it. Jamie, slightly embarrassed, shrugged out of his heavy EMS jacket, and threw it to her. The girl caught it effortlessly, slipping it over her shoulders and eyeing her brother mischievously.

"Missed you too, bro." Crimson teased, pushing the sleeve of his jacket up so that her hands were free.

"Crimson..." Jamie trailed off, glaring at her.

"Jamie? Jamie, who are you talking to?" Tyler's voice called from around the house, and a second later, the young blond man appeared. Val and Hank in tow.

"Did you find the...dog?" Hank asked, catching sight of the young girl standing behind Jamie. He pointed to her, lifting his eyebrows. "Who's that?"

"Umm...this is..." Jamie trailed off helplessly. How exactly was he going to explain this without giving away things that he REALLY didn't want his squad mates to know?

"I'm his sister." Crimson told the overachieving duo, walking up until she was standing right beside her brother. "What's it to you?"

"Well, what are you doing out here? Do you live around here Jamie?" Val asked, ignoring Crimson's attitude.

"Umm...no, not really. Crimson...well, Crimson is...uhh..." Jamie could not seem to think of any lie that sounded the least bit plausible and that he could get Crimson to go along with.

"It's not really any of you're business. Why don't you just go back to you're little ambulance and go back to saving human's lives?" The twelve year old red head asked.

To Jamie's shook, the trio nodded, turning around to head back around the corner. However, they had only gone three steps when Hank stopped and turned around, looking at Jamie.

"But what about Jamie? He needs to come with us..." Hank trailed off.

"No he doesn't. Just tell whoever that he got sick or something. You're all training to be doctors--I'm sure you can come up with some sorta of illness." Crimson told him, crossing her arms over her chest.

Hank nodded again, and turned--but not quick enough for Jamie not to see the blank look across his features. He knew instinctively that Tyler and Val wore similar expressions etched across there faces, and he turned furious eyes on his sister.

"CRIMSON!" He snarled, as soon as the trio was out of earshot.

"What'? Oh, quite looking at me like that. It's not like I hurt them or anything..." Crimson's comment brought back another memory from last night, and Jamie flushed guiltily before looking back at his sister.

"Still, you shouldn't have done that. You could get them into trouble!" Jamie stuck up for his friends. Crimson snorted, and waved her hand dismissively.

"Yeah right."

"You know you can't just go controlling people like that, Crimson! If Mere knew.." Jamie threatened, and Crimson blanched.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But really Jamie, how ELSE were we suppose to get out of that little tête-à-tête?" Crimson loved to use phrases that made her sound older then her twelve years.

Jamie sighed in defeat, knowing that she was right. Changing the subject, he ran his fingers through his hair, and let a small smile pull at his lips.

"What are you doing here, little sister?"

"Miss me big brother?" Crimson asked, her eyes sparkling.

"You know I did." Jamie allowed, reaching out to pull the younger girl into a hug. Crimson hugged back for a minute, before wiggling out of his embrace and giving him a serious look.

"I missed you too, but that's not really the reason I'm here."

"Then what is?" Jamie's tone matched her serious one perfectly, his dark eyes worried.

"It's complicated. And I really don't want to do it in public. Can we head to your house?" Crimson requested, running her fingers through her in a gesture reminiscent of her older brother.

"Yeah--this way." Jamie pointed to the left, and the siblings seat out, slipping past the house of the terrified woman and her apologetic husband with no trouble. They slowly made their way down the concrete sidewalk, Crimson chattering away about what she and the rest of their family had been up to since the last time they had seen each other.

Jamie just soaked it all in, taking comfort in being with one of his sisters again, some that shared his blood, shared his curse. Of course, Crimson really didn't see what they were as a curse--she was still to young to really and truly understand that power that she held in her hands and played with so uncaringly. Jamie sighed--unfortunately, he understood that power all to well.

The two eventually made it to Jamie's house, Crimson still holding his jacket closed with one hand, and gesturing wildly with the other as she bubbled a story about Sami's misadventures with a skunk. It never failed to amaze Jamie how quickly his little sister could switch moods--she went from deadly serious to bubbly and happy in the space of three seconds. Jamie smiled--she reminded him of Jade that way.

"Whose that?" Crimson stopped in the middle of her story, her feet halting movement when her mouth did.

"Whose who?" Jamie asked, falling her line of vision. He winced at what he saw, running his hand over his spikes again.

Sitting contently on the front steps of his house was a young woman with shoulder length dark hair and wide dark eyes. She was dressed in a short black dress and knee high red socks, with high heeled boots on her feet.

No, Caitlin Roth NEVER gave up.