Chapter Five
Repercussions
Connor sped through the park like he was being chased by one of the hounds of hell. A primal reaction to seeing those sharp teeth just inches from his face lent speed to his feet. He was exhausted and shaking when he finally reached familiar surroundings, the large open public spaces of the park, close to his church refuge. He slowed, catching his breath, constantly looking over his shoulder but seeing nothing but the usual beggars and cut-throats typical of NY at night. Well, there were far worse things haunting this city, this he knew for sure! he thought, a strange gurgling laugh escaping him. The park vagrants slunk away, no doubt thinking him mad. Coonor might have agreed with them on occasion, but he had SEEN. Now, all he had to do was say so.
He bolted across the street, using his keys to unlock the giant cathedral doors, pushing his way into sanctuary, shoving and relocking them against the night and it's hunters. He scurried down the main aisle towards the priests' quarters.
Virginia woke slightly at dawn, feeling the sudden weight on the bed and strong arms enclose her from behind. Her mate had returned. He smelt like a mixture of grass, leaves and pond water. He nuzzled her neck, licking quietly at the bite wounds he had given her, healing them in wolf fashion. Soon, he slipped into a deep sleep.
Some few hours later Virginia awoke, gently disengaging herself from Wolf's arms. He would sleep like the dead for a few hours more, she knew, so she made herself a late breakfast and got some meat out for Wolf when he roused. She sat listening to the morning news, somewhat relieved that no one had come forward with wild tales of beasts running around Central Park at night. She didn't really believe that such a thing would get any air time anyway, one had only to look at some of the daily tabloids to read more outlandish stories than the truth that was snoring in her bed right now.
After a nice hot bath, Virginia curled up on the sofa, idly browsing through Wolf's latest book collection. He was "into" wolves this week, or "fullbloods" as he called them. He had played a video for her earlier in the week in which conservationists had been re-releasing wolves into the wild, tracking and studying them. He seemed spellbound when the researchers had recorded wolfsong, exclaiming excitedly that these wolves spoke the same language as that of the wolves in the other 9 Kingdoms, one he could understand. He had tried to translate some of the song into human words for her, but many of the wolfish concepts and perceptions went quite beyond any human language.
She picked up a book that was sitting on top of the pile, sighing as she saw how much he had dog-eared it. It was about werewolves, sort of a mini encyclopaedia detailing the legends and supposed sightings of such creatures. She wondered if he thought himself to be a werewolf. She was so engrossed in the book that she didn't notice the large hand creep over the back of the sofa to grab hold of her arm. She managed to stifle a scream, at the same time swatting her "attacker" with the book. Wolf was playing his second favourite game of Stalk-and-make-Virginia-yelp. He kissed her fiercely before bounding off to the kitchen in search of his beloved lamb dinner.
"Dream girl, can we go to Europe this afternoon?" he called from the dining table.
Trying not to laugh, Virginia once more got out the atlas and attempted to convey the concept of scale and distance, not to mention the fact they had to work tomorrow and one of them had no passport. He looked disappointed.
"Why do you want to go there anyway?" she asked.
"Oh, I wanted to see if I could find any were-wolfs" he replied thoughtfully.
"I'm not sure they exist, Wolf"
"Maybe not, but they must have once, or else where would the stories have come from?"
She had to admit, he had a point. Virginia had seen so many strange things in the past few months she was prepared to accept things that ordinarily she wouldn't have given any creedence to.
Later, to cheer him a bit, Virginia dug through her fathers old vinyl record collection and played the old classic "Werewolves of London". Cheer him it did. Wolf rolled on floor laughing till tears ran down his face, mimicking the "aarrooo" over and over till the record needle nearly wore out. She also played an old tape from the eighties with Duran Duran singing "Hungry Like The Wolf". This put him in an entirely different mood. But it had started raining outside, so Wolf settled for a chase-the-maiden-around-the-apartment game, cornering her finally in the broom closet and loving her hungrily and tenderly.
Afterwards he went back out to the park, spending the last few hours of the full moon gambolling about like the lovestruck creature he was. A while later he began to feel the influence of the moon start to leave him, his wolf side lapsing back and his happy-go-lucky human personality returning. He had the usual hazy memories of the moon time but felt confident that he hadn't hurt anyone, and another lunar cycle had passed him safely by.
Connor stood in the very same clearing that he had witnessed the demon in only 24 hours earlier. It was full daylight now as he prayed and thought about the things that had happened to him. He had been believed, that was the most important realisation. Of course some had had their doubts about his account, bursting into their small monk like cells in the early hours of yesterday morning. But he had the light of fanatisism in his eyes and he spoke with the conviction of someone who has seen the truth. Not only that, but they postively wanted to believe what he told them, he could see it in their faces. Imagine, a real demon to fight, a flesh and blood creature!
He stooped now, retrieving an object from the ground, something he had seen that night but had not stopped to study. It was indeed a typical waitresses notebook, lined and printed, ready for taking whatever orders. At the bottom of the front page, a small line of printed information. Thankyou for Dining at THE GRILL ON THE PARK, New York City.
Connor returned to his brethren, and together they made their plans.