(16) A New Beginning
It was a strange sight in the holding cells. Four werewolves, all Watsons, currently resided there for the next few days. Arlin was separated from the other three & kept in his own cell but he was near enough to hear & see them. Sherrinford basically moved in to the cell next to him, though they didn't speak to each other apart from occasional offerings of honeycombs. It was impossible to separate the vampire from his long lost wolf despite the love/hate state of affairs at the moment. Sherrinford refused to leave Arlin's side.
Sherlock avoided the cells as best possible whenever he was there, knowing Arlin still hated him for killing his pup, but he did show up once with Enola. She went upto the bars, gazing in. "You really are still alive!" She finally spoke.
"Yeah, I am."
"You tried to have my brothers destroyed," Enola went on. "I mean, I get it. What they did to you, but I'm still mad at you!"
"That's ok," said Arlin. "I'm still mad at them, particularly him." He nodded towards Sherlock leaning against the fall wall.
"It's all Micah's fault, you know."
"So everyone keeps telling me."
"But it is!" Enola declared. "Had your son succeeded in destroying me, Micah would have killed him, anyway. Micah ruined everything trying to cure himself."
"I heard you got that cure," Arlin glanced down to her abdomen. "You're pregnant now."
"Mm? Hmm, yes, I am," Enola pressed a hand to where a bump would soon appear. "I really don't know how to deal with you still being here."
"You have other problems to worry about," Arlin said. "Don't worry about us."
Enola looked through the bars into the open cell where Sherrinford was set up. "What are we going to do with them when the full moon comes up?"
"They'll be at the castle with me & Irene," Sherrinford answered. "Sherlock has offered to stay away to give Arlin some space."
"I guess that's a good idea, for now," Enola sighed. She looked back at Arlin. "It really is weird seeing you again after seven centuries."
"You've barely aged a day," Arlin said. "Still so beautiful after all this time."
Enola smiled softly as she turned & left with Sherlock following. Sherrinford went to the bars between their cells & passed over some more honeycomb.
John visited every day, partly excited to find more of his own but also partly furious that they were the ones who had tried to destroy Sherlock & Sherrinford. One day, he came in for the release of Sarah & her two children. They were to stay with him at his home until the full moon. Sarah initially refused.
"You have no choice," John reminded her. "I own this pack & I hold your husband's death sentence in my proverbial hand. One word & he is gone. But none of us want it to come to that. You, Kyle & Larissa will be staying with me until further notice, make no mistake. Those are the conditions set by the Undead Law that we all agreed to. Besides, I could use some help with my own pups. They're starting to chew on everything." Sarah managed a laugh in spite of it all. "You can visit him any time," John went on. "I come here every day."
Sarah went to stand close to Arlin's cell. "Go with him," Arlin came to the bars & slipped a hand through to hold her shoulder. "He's one of us. It'll be alright."
"He's friends with," Sarah glanced at Sherrinford. "them."
"That can't be helped," Arlin said. "But you'll be safe with John. I trust him more than I do them."
"Which is something we will be working on," John informed him with an air of finality. "You need to get used to the Holmes men, sooner or later."
"Much later," Sarah groaned as she followed John.
Arlin turned away to find an orange & fire wing tip stuck through the bars, dripping with a huge chunk of honeycomb. He stalked over & pulled it off, growling under breath the whole time. But he ate it, anyway. Sherrinford went back to his computer, working remotely, acting as if nothing had happened.
There were two guest rooms at Mary's house. John set Sarah up in one & rearranged the other one to accommodate two beds for Kyle & Larrisa. Sarah went straight to work on John's pups & they quickly learned to behave around her. John wondered if this was something similar to what Mary would have done, for both Mary & Sarah had much stronger Lycan blood than he did.
Despite the rough beginning, Sarah got along rather well with John. She would watch silently when John would work some other case for Lestrade, often with Sherlock's help. She had never met anyone from the Holmes family before now & knew what Arlin had told her. John's story about Sherlock, however, was very different.
The first time Sherlock had come to John's home on a case, Sarah had made sure she stayed hidden with her two children in the upstairs bedroom. John had to talk her through it to get her to come out after Sherlock had left. She still stayed away whenever Sherlock was around & John was reminded so much of Mary in the first year when Mary had shied away from everything. But Sarah wasn't wild. She had only ever known Arlin's version of events & it took time for her to incorporate John's version. Worst thing was, both sides of the story were correct.
Sarah made the mistake one day of answering the door while John was out with his two pups. It was Sherlock. They stared at each other in silence. Sherlock took off that silly detective's hat people seemed to like as he asked, "Where is John? I am supposed to meet up with him."
Sarah slowly stepped back from the door to let him in. "He brought his pups to Molly's. He should be back in a minute or two."
Sherlock stayed outside. "It's ok, Sarah. I can wait out here. I know you're scared of me."
They stood in silence for a while. "How's Arlin?"
"He & Shane are at the Undead Law's British headquarters, right now," Sherlock began. "Now that the mess with Lestrade is sorted, he has to face the Undead Law. Don't worry. He won't be executed unless John says so."
"We never expected a human to get involved," Sarah said. "I'm sorry about your cop friend. Arlin didn't want anyone outside the Undead Law to be hurt. Everything just went so wrong."
"That's what usually happens when you try to plan murders for a blood war that has been ended for over a year," Sherlock pointed out. Sarah hung her head. Sherlock took out some honeycomb & held the tin in his hand, moving towards her. Sarah tried to resist it but the sweet scent was not to be ignored. She suddenly grabbed half the honeycomb in it. Sherlock continued to hold the tin open, waiting for her to take the rest of it. "Arlin should be back in Lestrade's cell tonight. You'll see him tomorrow at our castle for the full moon."
"You w—mm! Wax," Sarah removed the wax from her mouth.
"You can eat it, you know," Sherlock informed her. "It's all fine for Lycans."
"Too chewy."
"You took half the tin in one go," Sherlock pointed out. "Try smaller pieces next time."
"I'll, mm-mm! I'll try to remember that." Sarah took another piece, a much smaller piece. "You won't be there, right?"
"Not for a while," Sherlock closed the tin & left it on the table for her. "Arlin will need a long time to get used to me, again."
"I wonder if that's even possible."
"I hope so," Sherlock replied. "I used to watch over him during full moons. All four of us. Now we are down to just the two of us. Enola is human again & Mycroft," he pulled out the crystal of ashes. "Micah's doing. Again. All of it."
"John told me all about Micah," Sarah said. "How he was the one that got your family turned into vampires by attacking Mycroft & everything else he did. Did he really throw you down with the Titanic?"
"For almost two days."
"I'm somehow glad Micah is destroyed," Sarah admitted.
"We all are," Sherlock lifted a hand towards her. "It's alright. Take my hand." Sarah tentatively tried but only grasped his fingertips with her own. "Shane, Enola & I had a bit of a talk the other day. No matter what, we will never harm another Watson again, even if it means our own destruction. No one will force us apart again like what Micah did. We won't allow it." Sarah nodded silently.
"Well, that's nice to see."
Sherlock & Sarah glanced around to find John in the doorway. "There you are," Sherlock stood up & put the hat back on. Sarah turned away, giggling. "Shall we go?"
Once they were in the cab, John asked, "So, what did I walk in on?"
"I gave her a whole tin of honeycomb for that to happen," Sherlock said.
"Really?" John smiled for a moment. "Whatever works, right?"
"Whatever works," Sherlock repeated. "I wonder what color she is? She's not a Watson by blood."
"Chocolate," John said. "Dark chocolate brown. Best I can describe it. She has pictures. Kyle is almost the same light brown as his father & Larissa is light brown on top & white underneath." Sherlock folded his hands under his chin. "You will see them one of these moons," John said. He put a hand on Sherlock's shoulder before getting out of the cab.
They solved another case that day, a murder-suicide. It was ready for Lestrade by the time Arlin would come back. Lestrade's new look was the talk of the office when they walked in. His face was still tender but thanks to Sherrinford's help, it was healing quickly, leaving behind a long unique scar. He hung up as Sherlock & John sat down in front of him.
"That was Shane," Lestrade began. "They're on their way back. Arlin will stay here a little longer. We're waiting until after the full moon tomorrow to get his transfer to a real prison since Shane will take care of him tomorrow."
"How'd it go with the Undead Law?" John asked.
"Arlin is in a lot of trouble," Lestrade began. "With both governments. His attack on me earns him six months in prison along with a three thousand pound fine which Shane already paid. He got the maximum sentence for kidnapping Irene, twelve years in prison. Another twelve years for his use of drugs. Then things get really tricky. He has to pay nearly three million pounds for the damage of the hotel he caused & Shane already took care of that. As for arson & withholding information by burning down the hotel, England wants him in jail for life, especially since it killed seven people, all of which are considered manslaughter. Arlin thought the hotel was empty but miscalculated. He didn't want us seeing Kyle in there. But ... well, he's an eight hundred year old werewolf with possibly a few more centuries to go & now the Undead gets to take over his case. They are mad at him for trying to restart the blood war between Holmes & Watson, kidnapping both Sherlock & Shane with intent to destroy, creating & owning a weapon that affects vampires &, as John said, weaponize them. Planning to destroy the Undead Law. Not to mention the fact that he raided Micah de LaCie's home after he & Mycroft were both destroyed & stole some personal vampric weaponry. That's where we get Micah's wing ridge he would have used to destroy you. So put that all together with seven hundred years of evidence & pretty much any single one of these charges would have earned him an execution if not for you, John. The Undead Law also wanted to keep Arlin in prison for life since John won't let them kill him, but now we're dealing with Shane who is trying to compensate for the trauma you Holmes put the Watson pack through. So now, Arlin basically will spend most of the rest of his life in prison. A hundred year sentence."
"He's already a bit over eight hundred years," Sherlock said. "He doesn't have much time left."
"We know," Lestrade said. "Shane really had to bargain to bring it down. He managed to exchange years in prison for time in therapy since Arlin was traumatized by the blood war. He is allowed at your castle for full moons, but there will be twelve vampire guards to drop him off & pick him up every time. Every single moon. Even if you go back to helping out, later. Shane really had to fight for the right to have him at home for those. He really likes Arlin, in spite of everything."
"They were always like that," Sherlock said. "Until Micah got involved."
John checked his mobile, rolled his eyes & put away. "It could have been worse," he said. "I'm just glad it's all over. Now the hard part begins."
"Are you ignoring Harry, again?"
"Shut up, Sherlock," John muttered. They eyed each other. "Stupid hat!" John yanked it off & then promptly put it on his own head. Lestrade laughed at them.
"Give it back!" Sherlock whined.
"Nope!" John got up & hurried away.
"I'm going to bite him!" Sherlock ran after him.
Lestrade groaned. "Ahh, you dumb kids." He began clearing up his desk for the evening.
John only gave the hat back when he left with Sherrinford. It was weird not having Sherlock with them that night. Most of the Grant pack were a little younger & have never met Arlin but have heard plenty about the original Watson wolf pack. The older Grant wolves however, were rather stunned at seeing a familiar face & suddenly rushed at him, all whining excitedly.
But it was the reunion with Sherrinford that everyone was waiting for. Though the man still refused to have much to do with him, the canine, on the hand, recognized his old caretaker & ran right into his arms, frantically pressing close while wagging his tail so much, his whole body wiggled. "Well, I'm glad some part of you still wants me around," Sherrinford knelt down to pet him. "But it's just your animal instinct. I hope the man trapped inside will come back to me someday, as well."
In the morning, Arlin was the first wolf to leave, being taken by twelve vampire guards at sun up. Sherrinford felt it was better to get him off the property as soon as possible so he wouldn't have to spend any more time than necessary in the place where the whole blood war had begun. He stayed with Arlin until they got back to New Scotland Yards. Sherrinford & Lestrade took care of the paperwork for transferring Arlin to a large prison run by the Undead Law just outside London.
Sherrinford went into the back were the holding cells were to find Arlin sitting back on the bench as if waiting for him. "They'll move you, tomorrow," Sherrinford began. "This is where we're going to part ways for a bit. John is going with you. I won't be here at all since I'm called back to the office, but I guess you might like to be rid of me. I won't be able to stay beside you anymore, but I will be at the prison for your arrival & help you settle in."
"Settle in,"Arlin echoed. "I'm going to be trapped in a cell for a hundred years."
"No, you won't," Sherrinford said. "I'll keep working it down. Good behaviour can knock some time off & later, we could try for more psychiatric help in exchange for years. Also, you probably don't want to hear this right now but, some day perhaps, you should try letting Sherlock back into your life."
Arlin glared gold at him. "Sherlock is the reason I have avoided London all this time."
Sherrinford held up a hand to silence the wolf. "You don't have to any time soon. Things like that take time. But it would help your case. Might take some time off your sentence. We will bring it down, Arlin."
"I'll never be with Sarah, again," Arlin said.
"Your family can visit at any time, of course," Sherrinford said. "You'll also be all together each full moon. At the prison, you would just be chained up in solitary confinement for those nights. Your wolf form had a lot of fun last night, being outside with other wolves & I think that would be good for you."
"It still won't be the same," Arlin said. "I'm better off dead."
"Don't say that!" Sherrinford ordered.
"But it's true," Arlin insisted. "Things will never be the same."
"I know, but it's a new beginning," Sherrinford slid a tin of honeycomb through the bars. "I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow," He added before turning away to leave.
"I remember a bit of last night."
"That's good," Sherrinford leaned on the bars. "Let's just take it one moon at a time." Arlin turned to lie down on the bench, back towards him.
"How is he?" Lestrade asked as Sherrinford came back to his office.
"How is anyone when their grand evil plan backfires so hard on them?" Sherrinford replied. He put another tin of honeycomb on the desk. "They eat it like a rabbit eats carrots. Give him that tomorrow before he goes."
Lestrade took the tin. "How are you doing?"
Sherrinford glanced down the hall towards the holding cells. "Very weird. I never expected to see him, again. His wolf seemed to accept me almost immediately but that's just one night a month."
"They remember the nights, don't they?"
"Uh, sort of. Like a jumbled up dream," Sherrinford explained. "It's like dealing with two entities. But I think we should wait a bit before bringing Sherlock back. Like any dog, the wolf might react a bit differently if Sherlock is around."
"It's quite a mess," Lestrade leaned back in his chair.
"It sure is," Sherrinford sighed. "Arlin already knows this but I won't be able to be here when they pick him up. Got some business back in the office to take care of. But I will meet him at the prison in the afternoon."
"You're really attached to him, aren't you?"
"Not like that," Sherrinford said. "He was married back then at the time & I don't think he's into guys. It's more of a boy & his dog kind of thing. Similar to Sherlock & John. Yes, they're human most of the time but they're also our pets once a month." He stood up to leave. "Don't tell that to them, though." He flicked up his brow in much the same way Mycroft used to do. Lestrade just laughed as Sherrinford left.
The next day late in the afternoon, John met Lestrade in front of the holding cell to get Arlin. He removed the medical dressings wrapping Arlin's wrists to find large round tender spots on each, but it had finally healed enough to not need bandages. "That will scar a bit," John began. "But it should be healed up completely in a few more days." He used plain large band aides to cover the top & bottom of both pin-points but they no longer needed a lot of padding. "By the way, never get mixed up with Irene Adler, again. She's a wild one even before Sherlock turned her."
"I know," Arlin groaned.
"Sarah, Kyle & Larissa are in Lestrade's office to see you before we go," John went on as he gently slipped the handcuffs on (being the doctor, it was better he did it so as to take extra care of the damage Irene had caused). "I'll bring them to visit you at the prison, tomorrow." Arlin simply nodded as Lestrade pulled out the extra tin of honeycomb. John fed Arlin more than half of it before letting Lestrade take Arlin to the office to see his family before leaving with four vampires.
Though Arlin said it low enough so that Lestrade, Donovan & Anderson could not hear, John's wolfish senses heard it just fine. "Good bye."
Arlin allowed himself to be taken away. John glanced at Sarah who turned away. She seemed to by crying. John hurried after Arlin. "It isn't good bye," John said. "Shane is determined to keep everyone together."
They got to a cop cruiser that was completely black. It belong to the Undead Law, not New Scotland Yards. Arlin paused at the open door. "John? Can you stay here with them? Please?"
John started to get an uneasy feeling. "No, Arlin. I'm going to help you move in over there."
"Sarah needs a lot more help," Arlin said. "You promised you were going to take care of us, so do it. I'll be fine. Shane will be there & you can come later when Sarah's calmed down."
John glanced at the doors to the lobby where Lestrade was standing. "Alright. Fine," he sighed. "I'll meet you there." He stepped back & let Arlin duck into the caged back seat.
As the car drove away, John went up the steps to Lestrade's side. "I have a feeling something's going to go wrong."
"It already has, John," Lestrade said. "Now, it's time to make it right."
"Greg! There's a huge riot down town!" Donovan called. "Someone waving a gun around. Might have a shooting on our hands."
Lestrade turned on his heel to go inside. "Why is this my division, again?" He groaned.
John called a cab & took Sarah, Kyle & Larissa back home where Molly was waiting for him, watching his pups. Sarah went straight to her room & closed the door, not wanting to be bothered. John watched her two grown pups play with Derek & Jessica. Unfortunately, all four were growling. Playfully, but still growling. By now, John had all but given up on trying to make his pups completely human. Maybe when they were old enough to talk, he could sit down with them & have a long conversation about behaving more human while they were actually human.
He went to the kitchen & made some sandwiches for everyone. He placed the plate on the coffee table, Kyle watching his every move. John sat on the couch. "I have to go out. I'm going to meet with Arlin & Shane at the prison. Don't worry. We will get your Dad back, some day. Shane & I will work on it." He pulled out his mobile as it started ringing. "Oh. Great. Someone did get killed in that riot. I'm probably going to have to go out with Sherlock as well."
"I might be needed at the hospital since someone got killed," said Molly.
"You could probably drop Derek & Jessica off at the flat," John said as he called someone. "Mrs. Hudson, do you mind if Molly drops the pups off? We both have to go out."
"Sherlock is already on his way to get you," Mrs. Hudson's voice sounded a bit grim. "John? Your sister is in the middle of that riot."
"Oh, no!" John gasped, standing up sharply. "Is-is she dead?"
"I don't know, yet," Mrs. Hudson replied.
Sherlock was at the door by now. Molly hurried off to drop the two young ones at Mrs. Hudson's flat before going to work. John went into the cab with Sherlock to head into downtown. "Sherlock, you always know before anyone else. Just tell me. Is Harry dead?"
"No," Sherlock answered. "It's worse than that."
"What could be worse?" John asked as the cab stopped close to the yellow tape being set up.
Sherlock got out first & it was all John could do to keep up with him. They pushed through the crowd & ended up in the middle of the street. A large black car was smashed into a building & on its side. Beyond the car, the great Phoenix wings of Sherrinford could be seen as he covered something in the street. Blood was flowing out from under his left one, too much to be coming from the wing wounds. Sherlock went for him & tried to pull him off but Sherrinford refused to move.
"Shane," Sherlock tried once more to push him back. "Be careful! That's Lycan blood."
Sherrinford knelt back enough to let Sherlock move in. His wings shuffled back & John saw Arlin lying in a pool of blood coming from his chest. He hurried forward. "Let me see. I'm a Doctor, Shane! Let me see him."
"It's too late," Sherrinford gasped through tears. "He planned this! He's gone!"
"What do you mean 'planned' this?" John demanded.
Sherlock handed over a note. "We found this in his pocket."
"He didn't want to live separated from his pack," Sherrinford said. "His last damned back up plan if all else failed!" He wiped away tears. "He hired someone to take him out before he got to the prison."
"That's why he made me stay behind," John muttered.
"It's a human weapon," Sherlock said. "Just a gun, similar to yours. His vampire guards were not hurt. But, something unexpected happened." He turned & led the way to the side of the street. Two people were holding onto a woman who seemed to be passed out.
"Harry?" John surged forward. "That's my sister!" He put a hand to her neck, feeling for a pulse.
"She's ok," one of the men holding her said. John recognized him to be one of the vampires that had come for Arlin. "Her body just needs to sort some things out."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"John?" Sherlock came to stand beside him. "She was next to the shooter when the gun was pulled. She tried to stop him. Her hands were on the gun went it went off so ... John, she's becoming activated."
John gaped at him. "Are you—she—do you mean—?"
"She just needs to rest," Sherlock said. "She'll be ok & when she is better, I will need to talk to her. She knows what the would-be shooter looks like & is our only witness."
"But she shot the gun! She shot Arlin!"
"By accident," Sherlock said. "She tried to stop it but the original shooter was too strong, so possibly another Lycan or perhaps a vampire. But her hand was on the gun when it went off anyway, so she will be joining us at the castle for the next full moon." John put both hands through his hair & groaned. "She'll be ok, John."
"NO SHE WON'T! SHE WILL NOT BE OK!" John bellowed. "Now she has to deal with the pain of transforming every month! I didn't want her to have to go through that!" He leaned over, hands on knees, gasping.
"John," Sherlock said in a soft voice. "She will live about as long as you, now. You won't have to bury her in a few decades, provided nothing else happens to her." John just shook his head.
Harry stirred. With a soft whimper, she sat up & rolled away to press her forehead against the metal railing around a small garden lining the sidewalk. "The pounding will stop soon," one of the vampire guards said, putting a hand on her back. "You're an active Lycan, now."
"What? H-how?" Harry panted, lying down. "Everything aches!"
"That will pass," Sherlock knelt beside her. "You'll be able to get up in a few minutes." He began explaining to her what had happened & what to expect.
John slowly stood straight as the two vampire guards moved away. "The story of that Watson pack just keeps getting stranger & stranger," one remarked to the other.
"Now we have another Watson Were," said the other. "It's good to see them return. With John running it, the pack should be fine."
The two of them went to join Sherrinford & began the work of clearing the street & building. Arlin's body had to be moved to the hospital. Blood was washed from the streets. The car had to be taken out of the building & removed.
When Harry could stand without shaking, John took her to her own home. Despite her not wanting to, John called Clara & told her what happened. Clara came in about an hour later. The two women glared at each other & both John & Clara noticed the gold. Harry took time to control the inner wolf. Sherlock soon joined them to get Harry's statement. John left the last tin of honeycomb Arlin ever touched with her so she could finish it off.
He went home & straight up the stairs. Throwing the door open, his eyes landed in Sarah's eyes. They stared at each other for a long moment before Sarah stretched out on the bed & rolled over, back towards him. John sat on the edge & put a hand on her shoulder for a few minutes. She knew this would happen. Perhaps not about Harry's involvement, but of Arlin planning to die there was no doubt that she had known. John patted her shoulder & left her alone.
Arlin was buried a few days later. Sherrinford was beyond crushed & was so out of it that he took time off work for a few weeks. He was still inconsolable for the next full moon so Irene stayed to help for another round, this time with Sherlock who could now come back since Arlin was gone. Sherrinford locked himself away on the Holmes yacht, Leda & took it out onto the bay under the glowing light of the full moon. Late in the night when the wolves had made their way to the beach again, he flew inward to see what Harry would look like as a wolf, but he did not stay long.
It was a strange new normal to get used to. For a while the Grant & Watson pack were down to just one Holmes guardian even though Irene stayed with them as well. Sherrinford took time to recover losing his favourite wolf a second time just after barely getting him back. The Watson pack had gone from two, down to one, then upto five in a very short time.
It was a new beginning for all of them.