The initial mad headlong rush soon died out and was replaced by a more patient and ordered pace as the chase turned into a hunt. For a time Wolfsbane could hear the rhythmic thudding of her pursuers' feet behind her as she fled, running without any destination in mind, focussing simply on where she was putting her feet and the next few yards ahead. Her normal thought processes had surrendered to instinct when she'd begun her flight and her only notion for a long while was to put as much distance between herself and her pursuers.
In lupine form, Wolfsbane had far more speed and stamina than a human, and she soon began to outpace the hunters. Gradually the sounds of pursuit grew more and more distant, and as the immediate danger lessened, thoughts began to creep back into the werewolf's mind. She slowed and stopped to assess the situation.
Her flight had taken her across the tops of the moors above the town, heading inland. She'd instinctively headed downwind, which meant that she had another advantage over the pursuit in being able to detect their scent before they arrived. She sat down on her haunches and cocked her ears for sounds of pursuit, their distinctive shape allowing the wolf to triangulate position more accurately than any human would have been able to. It sounded as though only a dedicated few had continued the chase this far - the rest must have turned back earlier. The remaining hunters were approximately a mile behind her, but they seemed to have lost her trail. As she listened, they seemed to come to the conclusion that even with flashlights, pursuing a demon through a night which had become almost pitch black was not their idea of a rewarding experience. The footsteps started up again, but this time they grew fainter and fainter as they led back to the town.
Wolfsbane remained where she was for a moment, debating whether to shift back to human form to allow herself to think more easily. A sudden blast of icy highland wind made her decision for her – a wolf would find it much easier to survive on the exposed moors than a teenage girl, and she wasn't quite willing to surrender her lupine hearing and night vision when stuck out here alone. So the question was: what now?
She knew that she couldn't return to her home, of course. That would simply be putting not only herself, but the adults of her pack, her parents, in danger. But the wolf couldn't quite bring herself to accept the obvious – she would have to leave her territory. She could feel the anxiety begin to rise inside her as she contemplated leaving what had been her home for her entire life – home was tightly wired in her lupine brain as safety and security, and now that had all been ripped away. Now she needed to find a new home…
However, there was another place which the wolf had learnt to associate with comfort and safety – another pack to provide security and protection: the Institute. She had to find some way of contacting them – all she needed to do was get to a telephone and she could reach them. She set off again across the moors, trusting her nose to find her some kind of habitation that would have a telephone.
But the habits and instincts of a lifetime cannot be overridden with such a simple decision. Wolfsbane found that instead of heading directly inland and away from Ullapool she was following a more southward path which had her circling the hills around it, so that she was still in her own territory, overlooking the place that was indelibly linked in her mind as 'home'. With an extreme act of will power, she decided to force herself to head east, and away from the place one and for all. But she had to take one last look at 'home'.
At first glance the town seemed utterly unchanged on the surface, despite the fundamental overhauling of so many of its preconceptions and values that had taken place that night. The rows of granite houses appeared just as they always had, implacable and unchanging no matter what went on amongst their ephemeral inhabitants. But then Wolfsbane noticed an infrared glow coming from one of them – the signature of immense heat. Another gust of wind from the west reached her sensitive nose and she detected the unmistakeable odour of smoke. Completely forgetting about her plan to contact the Institute, she set off again – back toward the town.
A small part of her refused to accept the suspicion that had arisen, and was begging her to investigate, to know for sure. And so soon she was back at the outskirts of the town where the houses started. Stealthily and silently, she moved through the streets. But her efforts were almost unnecessary – there appeared to be no one around on the streets or in the houses. However, as she gradually approached her target, the fire that was still burning in one of the houses, she began to hear the noises of a crowd, and catch some scent of people through the overpowering reek of ash and smoke.
The traces that reached her held a glimpse into the emotional state of the people gathered there. The diffuse and somehow almost salty taste of excitement and expectation was interspersed with the sharper, spiky scent of anger. Sometimes she caught a whiff of a rich, almost golden aroma – something akin to pleasure or exhilaration – but underlying all of these was the cold and brittle scent of chronic fear.
Her suspicions were confirmed long before she reached the street where what had once been her house was burning, but for some reason Wolfsbane was drawn on inexorably toward the crowd which was gathering outside it. Unnoticed by the crowd, who were completely focussed on the blazing building and the man standing in front of it, she changed into a transitional state and crouched behind the fence of one of the neighbouring houses.
"We have let this demon get away tonight," the man, who she now recognised as the Reverend, was saying. "We have been unable ta completely eradicate this evil from the world. But we will eradicate all traces of it from our community and we have done well ta start this tonight!" there were some cheers at this. "The insidious nature of this evil is known ta me – it can only be removed by the cleansing scourge of flame." Rahne caught traces of the twin brassy scents of confusion and anxiety from some members of the crowd at this. The Minister seemed to notice something too, and increased the pitch of his voice and its tone of certainty, as if to convince the waverers. "The Lord is pleased that we have purified this house that was so utterly tainted by the malevolent presence of this devil, and we have done His will by punishing those who harboured and protected the demonic creature!" Rahne choked back a gasp. What had they done to her parents? "Tonight we have finally set them free of this scourge of evil which took over their lives - the evil had infected those two so deeply that only fire could remove all its traces from them!"
A gamut of emotions flooded through the wolf-girl as she realised what he meant. Her parents had been in the house – they were dead now. Horror, disbelief, and grief rushed successively through her mind, but they were all quickly replaced by a single burning rage. There was only one thought that remained in Wolfsbane's head, and that was to kill the man who had done this.
This time there was no Sam, Roberto and Ray to restrain her. Still in her transitional state she leapt straight for Reverend Craig. Her claws raked down the side of the minister's face as she drove him to the ground, landing hard on the packed earth that had only recently been a carefully tended garden. She was stronger in this form, and she retained most of the characteristics of a wolf. Which meant that her jaws were easily powerful enough to tear out a human throat. And that was exactly what she intended to do.
However, despite their fear and dislike of the minister, the villagers were not about to let him be killed by a demon. Two pairs of hands gripped her shoulders, pulling her off the quaking man. Snarling, the wolf-girl whipped around to face them. The scents identified them as familiar, but she couldn't place their names and didn't care – they were merely a distraction which had to be dealt with before she could complete her goal.
When they went to seize her again she reacted quickly, swatting one away with a sweep of her paw and knocking him to the ground. The other managed to get a hand to her arm but she twisted, grabbing his elbow and wrist and snapping the bones cleanly in two. He staggered backwards, cradling his arm against his body, eyes wide in fear and disbelief.
Wolfsbane turned her attention back to the minister, who was still lying on the ground.
Kill, tear, rip, punish – the litany pounded through her head over and over again. She was beyond any kind of rationality - this was bloodlust. But once again, before she could reach the man to exact her revenge she was borne down to the ground by a press of people. The sheer weight of numbers was too much even for her werewolf strength, and the mob had her completed surrounded. There would be no escape this time.
"The demon has shown its true face!" called the strident ringing tones of Reverend Craig, his composure recovered and a new satisfied note of triumph added into his scent. "It is an inhuman creature that knows only violence. We are right to rid the world of such a bestial, dangerous menace! It must be destroyed by the cleansing power of the Lord's flame… but first – let it know that whatever harms it causes will be repaid tenfold!"
At his words the mob let out a roar of approval, and then the first fist descended, connecting with the wolf-girl's face. More followed, fists, feet, whatever the crowd could find. Wolfsbane raised her arms, trying vainly to shield herself from the blows that would not cease. As the barrage continued, she sank to her knees, losing control of the transformation and shifting back into her purely human form. The mob seemed not to notice that the demon they were punishing had turned into a small and defenceless teenage girl; the beating continued, punches raining down, thudding remorselessly into her flesh. Slowly Rahne felt her consciousness fade away…