AN: Thank you once again for the reviews, and your continued patience. I'm on spring break right now, so I'm taking the break as an opportunity to update. Also, I am still not going to watch the movie, because I have heard enough negative comments about it. And once again, most of the characters and setting belong to Annette Curtis Klause. That being said… here comes…

Chapter 11 (Part Two)

The sun set before the pack was finished getting ready. With Vivian as their leader, most of the males were deep in the woods out back, ready to travel up north. For some reason, Nathan was very certain of Gabriel's location. So he offered to be the pack guide. "Adam, take this." She handed him a walky-talky. "I would give it to Nathan but..."

"I know. You don't really trust him." His face was strangely blank and detached.

"It's not that. I know he doesn't care for Gabriel much. Please. I need you to make sure Gabriel gets back home safe. Do that for me."

"The both of you saved me. I'd do anything for you, my queen." She nodded and stepped back, holding onto Maria's hand. Willem separated from his new love, Emily. The blonde was holding back tears for his sake. It was as if she though that by not crying, or showing weakness, she could give him some strength. Vivian was glad for Emily. Willem deserved to have someone like her in his life.

"Take care of yourselves. We expect all of you to come back safe." On Vivian's lead, the pack howled at the moon. Please moon goddess, protect them, and give them strength.

"Vivian."

"Yes Aunt Persia?"

"Come with me child, its time you'd begun." Vivian nodded and walked with the old woman to her hut in the woods, leaving her mother and Emily in charge.

Meanwhile, back at the edge of the reserve, Gabriel was busy surveying the wreckage left by the rogue pack. He was glad Nathan had given him the head's up. As he dug amongst the broken pieces of wall and debris, his blood boiled and he fought to suppress an angry howl. They had no right, he thought. And it's because of packs like these that my people will have to continue to hide who they are from the rest of the world. As he threw pieces of brick into a pile, he vowed justice.

Gabriel had taken a jacket from one of the EMS guys, as well as a flashlight. He would help look for survivors. It was the very least he could do.

The males were inching closer to Gabriel's location, but had to take a break to rest and prepare for what they knew was going to be a fight. If there was a rogue pack, they had to be ready to take them on. Willem watched as Adam and Nathan left the campfire and walked away. He was about to call out to them when the rest of the Five interrupted his thoughts. "Hey man, come here before all of the grub's gone."

"Yeah, coming."

"What the hell's the matter with you?"

"I should ask you the same thing. Do you honestly not care what you've gotten us into?"

"Me?! I didn't do anything."

"Cut the crap. I know you wanted to get Gabriel up north, to our old pack so you could fight him or whatever."

"Yeah, so?"

"So! Why did we leave, Nathan?!" Nathan didn't say anything; he just sat down on a log that had been tumbled over by a storm a few months ago. "We left because the wendigo spirit's still up there! The moon goddess only knows how many members from our old pack have been affected."

"Shut up, Adam. You're talking like Vivian, with all of that moon goddess shit."

"No, you shut up! You make me sick, Nate. You think you're stronger than all of this, stronger than him. But you're not. At least I believe in something higher than myself. At least I'm not delusional." Adam got up suddenly; ready to join the rest of the pack. Nathan watched his brother leave him, angry that his little brother was so ready to accept anyone who came towards him with open arms. But at the same time, he was worried that his brother was right. It was hard to fight a wendigo possessed loup-garou, much less kill one. What have I done? He got up from the log and kept trekking north. Maybe if he got there before the pack did, he could make amends for some of his mistakes, and at the same time, hoping he got to finish Gabriel, before anything else did.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Vivian, focus." The cuckoo clock chimed out the time. It was 10pm.

"I'm sorry." She held on to her belly, willing Jacob to be still. The child was getting more anxious recently. Aunt Persia brought the earthenware bowl with the silvery liquid back onto the table, and told Vivian to take a few more deep breaths.

"What do you see?"

Her eyes felt as if they were being weighed down as she stared at her own reflection. Just then, it was as if she had fallen asleep with her eyes wide open. Vivian looked around and saw a forest, covered in rubble. She was wearing a white dress and her moon pendant. Jacob was holding onto her hand. He was a year old. The child with her golden eyes and his jet black hair looked peaceful as he surveyed the wreckage. He pointed towards a tree. Vivian walked towards it, picking up Jacob and resting him on her hip. When she took a step the vision shifted like ripples in water. Gradually she made her way over to the tree. Gabriel was sitting there, looking serene. "Are you alright?" He nodded. A weight was lifted off her shoulders, and Vivian wondered if she would start floating in her water-like vision. Then she noticed he had a package in his hands. "What is that, Gabe?" He looked at her like he wanted to say something, but couldn't bring himself to. Just then, a voice disturbed her.

"You've been in long enough Vivian, its time to go." She nodded and closed her eyes. When she looked up, it was into the old woman's familiar face. "You can't stay in the visions too long, or else be consumed by them."

"What?"

"What did the vision world feel like, Vivian?"

"It felt like… swimming underwater."

"That's right. And if you stay in too long, you won't be swimming anymore. You'll be drowning."

"I understand." Vivian placed one hand on her belly and the other around her moon pendant.

"What did you see?"

"Jacob was my guide. Gabriel was alright. He had a package in his hands."

"Jacob? Ah, that child has incredible spiritual strength."

"How?"

"He came to you once before in a vision, didn't he? He introduced himself. And now he's your guide. Gabriel was in your vision. Could he talk?" Vivian shook her head. "Not many of us can. Your child is very strong already." Vivian smiled, and took some small comfort in that thought. "Now, about that package… we still have a lot to do…"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Where is Nathan?"
"Has anyone seen Nathan?"
"Nathan!"
"We don't have time for this."

"Enough! Everyone follow me. I know where to go." Several pairs of eyes focused on Adam. He was normally so passive. "We're very close. From here on out, everyone stay as a loup-garou, but be careful you're not seen. There are humans around here." The pairs of eyes nodded and grew inhumanly wide, developing their colors and brightness as if backlit by the moon itself.

I hear something, he thought, carefully climbing around a few torn branches. Whatever pack was here had left recently, but Gabriel couldn't help feeling like he was being watched. The rest of the EMS had rounded up the rest of the victims and had left, but Gabriel had stayed back to deal with the cause of the problem. Police and Park Rangers might show up, and he had to make sure they wouldn't find any loup-garoux.

"Gabriel." He spun around, his face and claws feral. "Calm down, it's just me."

"Nathan? What are you doing here?"

"Where is everyone?"

"There's no one here. At least, no one that I can see."

"Good."

"Why-" Gabriel didn't have time to finish that thought, as a giant mass of dark matted hair came hurling towards him. He recognized the acrid stench. As the creature pounced on him, he fell onto his back on the floor. The flashlight he had in his hand rolled away from him, and as he looked away, he caught Nathan's gaze. "Nathan!" The young man didn't move, or speak. Gabriel looked back at the devilish eyes of the wendigo, and risked being seen as he quickly changed into his loup-garou form.

He was able to kick the wendigo off of him as he scrambled back up onto his muscled paws. Nathan was nowhere to be seen. Bastard. Nathan had set him up. Gabriel had known for a long time Nathan had his eyes on Vivian. "I'm not going down that easy." Gabriel squared off against the wendigo, ready for it to make the first move.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Maybe you should take a break, Vivian."

"Not yet. I almost got it." Vivian stirred the herbs and safflower oil gently, uncovered for a few more minutes. Then she took the mixture and strained it over a cheese cloth into a glass jar. Strong smells of added a few more drops of the lemon oil onto the green paste in the bowl and mashed it up with the pestle. The smell was stronger then, of sandalwood and eucalyptus.

"Well done Vivian, you've just made your first bottle of antiseptic." Vivian smiled, wiping the sweat off of her brow.

"Good. Now teach me to make the ointments." Aunt Persia smiled, handing her a clean cloth, and turned around to fetch the agrimony, bay, juniper berries, mugwort, oregano, and sage they would be using to make different ointments for muscle and joint pain. In a little less than an hour, Vivian had mastered the process of breaking down the herbs well, straining them, and allowing them to set. She then added melted beeswax while this mixture was still warm, and jarred it when it cooled.

"Calendula or comfrey ointment is widely recommended as a first aid cream, and I have quite a few bottles left, so we won't need any of that. I think its time to take a break now, Vivian," she said, cleaning up the wooden table with a bright red cloth. "You have to give the comfrey, hyssop, lemon balm, and vervain time to steep if they're going to work as soothing herbs." Vivian nodded and lay on one of her Aunt's couches. Within minutes, she was asleep with strands of hair clinging to her face and nostrils full of the scents of that which she had learned to make.

In her dream she saw Jacob. Normally he walked or crawled over to her, but it seemed as if he had somewhere to go. "Go to him, Jacob. Keep him safe." Jacob smiled, and walked into the deep woods. He was strong. He would find a way to help his father.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Gabriel panted and rolled onto his side, wiping off blood and spit. The wendigo and he were matched, blow for blow. Another punch to his back and Gabriel was down, and his lights were out momentarily. In the blur that followed, he felt as if a small hand was brushing the dirt off of his back and tugging on his shirt. Jacob? The thought of his child brought a renewed strength, and Gabriel opened his eyes and stumbled back up onto his paws.

He howled, and his howl was returned by several other howls. The rest of the pack had finally arrived, as had the rogue pack, to protect their wendigo member. Now we're matched.

Adam changed into his loup-garou form, and surprised Gabriel. Under the light of the full moon he seemed bigger than all of the other loup-garou. He recognized his size as the same as that of the wendigo. Adam looked over at Gabriel as if to say, "I can take him." Gabriel nodded and looked for Nathan. They had a score to settle.

He found the young man standing at the edge of the village, on top of a broken down car. Gabriel growled furiously, and all of his hair stood on end. Nathan had an evil glint in his eye, but waited for Gabriel to make the first move. Gabriel ran full speed and sank his teeth into flesh, but was bucked off just as quickly. All of their play fighting had taught them the other's weaknesses, and what to keep from getting exposed.

Ulf looked around; narrowly avoiding getting swiped at by a blue haired male, but couldn't find Nathan or Gabriel anywhere. He reckoned they were fighting elsewhere, and went back to the male.

Nathan panted, knowing sooner or later he would have to be on the offense instead of the defense. But as long as Gabriel kept coming at him with as much force and anger as one scorned, he was stuck trying to save his own hide.

Their fight was interrupted by the strangest cry. Nathan and Gabriel looked at each other, as if to call a momentary truce. They were angry at each other, not at the owner of the cry. But the wendigo heard it too. It was coming from the base of a tree nearby.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Vivian stood at the doorway of the inn, apologizing to the last of the humans. "It was unexpected to find this termite problem. I'm sorry for any inconvenience." The last of the humans was gone inside a yellow taxi, but Vivian wasn't worried about the monetary loss. She was more anxious to see when they would return.

The edge of the reserve wasn't more than an hour away. I should go to him, she thought. But the pack needed her here. Vivian paced around the room, and declined the cup of tea one of the triplet's was offering her. "Not now, Mercedes."

"Don't worry about it, Viv. They'll be back soon. I can feel it."

"I hope so."

Half an hour passed, then one hour passed, and then three hours. The brunette on the television didn't have much to report about the incident reported earlier.

"Officials conclude that the attack was indeed caused by a bear, which has been put down a few hours ago." The brunette on channel 31 cut to a Park Ranger, basically repeating what she had just said, as well as a big green map of the reserve.

"The bear looked pretty ferocious. But we got it taken care of just fine." Taken care of. Like a disease. Oh, if only you knew, she thought. Emily walked in with the half-child, Katherine and her mother. The women were all gathered in the living room, waiting for some kind of signal.

She looked at the clock again. 6 am.

7 am.

7:40 am.

8:15 am.

There was a tired howl coming from outside. Tomas had run ahead of the pack. Esmé squealed and ran towards him. He was cut and bruised, but otherwise just fine. "Who made it?"

"All of us. The other pack is fine too. Only one was killed."

In unison the women sighed, and gasped. "Who?"

"A wendigo."

"Adam?" The triplets looked like they'd been struck a blow. Adam had been opening up around them recently.

"No. One of the others." Over the horizon several figures emerged, some of them as half changed loup-garou, others as humans. Vivian fought the urge to run towards the group and find Gabriel. Instead, she turned and yelled orders at the women.

"Listen up. You five," she said, pointing, "clear out the living room. We'll need a lot of floor space. You four go to Aunt Persia in the kitchen and fetch the bottles and jars she hands you, and bring them to the living room. Two of you go get the barrels of rain water outside in the backyard. Katherine, Emily, and Sandra, go get as many towels as you can from the laundry room." The figures loomed closer.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Strange scents filled the large room with their musk: blood and sandalwood, lemon and sweat, rainwater and eucalyptus. Vivian went around with Esmé, Sandra, Emily, and Aunt Persia, cleaning and putting ointment on cuts, and poultices over gashes to avoid infection. The rest of the women waited outside the living room to avoid crowding, and tend to those less injured.

Finally Vivian reached Gabriel, and he lay panting on the sofa. He had a lot of gashes, but he was trying his best to sit upright. "Gabe… its Viv. You're going to be just fine now." He didn't move, as if he couldn't hear her. "Gabe?" Gabriel looked at Vivian with delirious eyes and finally showed her what he was holding in his hands. The package.

Vivian looked at the bundle, and then heard it cry. Jacob kicked. It was a child. A loup-garou baby. Vivian held it in her arms before Gabriel slumped down onto the couch from loss of blood. She looked at the child's blonde hair and blue eyes. It was a girl. Vivian handed the child over to Aunt Persia, and the old woman took the child away somewhere, as if she had been expecting this all along. She knew what the package was.

Vivian didn't waste another second as she got to work, cleaning Gabriel's cuts, and practicing what she had just learned about healing.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

He awoke to a cool cloth on his forehead, and the scent of sandalwood around the room. "Viv?" His eyes danced around for a moment, not able to focus on anything, then focusing only on her golden eyes and hair. He heard the soft coos of a baby next to him. "Gabriel?" "No. Its not Gabriel. Not yet. How are you feeling?" He got up onto his elbows, and found that he was lying on his bed, in his room. Safe.

"Better." He pulled Vivian onto the bed, next to him, kissing her with all the ardor of being alive after all that had happened. The child next to them stirred again.

"Gabriel, who is she?" He racked his brain trying to remember. All of the events that had happened weren't fitting in his memory correctly.

"I found her. Her mother… was dying. She gave the child to me. She said her name is Delilah."

"Then she is our daughter. Our daughter named Delilah."

"Nuestra familia está creciendo." Our family is growing, Gabriel stammered as he looked into his daughter's bright blue eyes and golden hair. She looked enough like Vivian and he… but Gabriel would never lie to her. Delilah would know what a blessing it was that her mother gave her away. And that he caught her before the wendigo did.

"Gabe, where's Nathan? I didn't see him among the men who came back," she said, resting her head delicately against the space between his chest and shoulder.

"I honestly don't remember." And how Gabriel wished he did. He knew the coming days would be difficult. They would have to piece together what had happened back at the edge of the reserve, find Nathan, and get ready for Vivian's delivery. Jacob was due in less than a month. But the golden eyes of his wife, and her warmth, and the soft coos of his daughter, and the thought that his son was just itching to be born filled him with a new sense of strength, of life, and hope.

AN: Thanks for waiting. As always, if you liked it, tell your friends! And please leave reviews.