Marshal woke up from the bed he slept on in the jail to the sounds of people arguing. He strapped on his gun belt and pushed open the door to see a crowd of people outside in the middle of the road. When they saw him, some of the towns people started complaining to him. Their words all jumbled together and he couldn't understand what they were saying until Mary finally spoke over them.

"All of the creatures of the dark, anybody related to anything supernatural has fled during the night, taking all their things and their businesses." She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What are you going to do about this marshal?" asked one of the woman. "We lost some prominent businesses."

"Livery is empty, saloon, healer's place, boarding house, and another two shops." Said a man in irritation. Other men threw in their agreements, only because there was no more liquor to be had.

"This town has regressed, marshal. I thought this change was supposed to be for the good." Mary said archly.

"It is good. There's always the weeds that need to be pulled before the true beauty can be seen." Marshal Bryce said with a smirk.

"All I see are empty buildings and a third of the town gone."

"Those creatures are just a bunch of thieves and they will pay with their lives if necessary if they don't return the goods stolen."

Some of the people looked a little hesitant at this.

"Marshal, these creatures, they're dangerous. Maybe it would be good to have back up." Said one of the men.

"Citizens shouldn't get involved in the affairs of the law." Marshal said, shaking his head. When he headed back into the jail, he grabbed his extra rifle and his Wolf's Bane. The sound of someone clearing their throat made him turn around to see the newspaper woman standing there.

"Mary." Bryce said with a smile.

"Marshal," Mary said, and paused to think of how best to say what she was going to next, "These creatures, they all fall under Larabee's territory. I think if you just try to reason with him and come to some kind of agreement then the people will return."

"So this is Larabee's doing then." The marshal knew something was fishy.

"When Chris was in charge there was no cause for disagreement between the town. If you threaten a third of the town, then stuff like this will happen if people don't die first."

"You shouldn't worry about things that are above your understanding. Leave this to me."
Mary was close to using those same colorful words that Mr. Standish used the other day, instead she took a deep breath. "Why don't I take you out to Larabee's land if that's where you're going." She didn't phrase it as a question so Marshal just accepted the offer.

They set out about ten minutes later and Mary was annoyed with the fact that the man thought it was okay to just chat with her after his insult. She tried to stay civil, but she was growing irritated with his presence. The only thing that saved her from answering his latest sexist comment was the pole that was set up to mark the beginning of Larabee's land.

"We're here." She sighed in relief.

Marshal looked around, not really seeing anything but land. "The hell we are, there's nothing out here. Did Larabee move his house and leave too or something, or are you leading me around in circles?"

Ever since his time under the influence of the alpha who turned him, Ezra felt uneasy around the time the full moon was to occur. The agitation would build up in his muscles as he laid in bed. Sweat pulled on his collar bone as he tossed in his sleep. His hands gripped the covers and his claws came out tearing them.

JD ran to the main house, having been told to wake up their pack brother, Ezra. It was his turn to do it and he enjoyed coming up with new ways to wake him. Opening the door, he saw the man tossing under the covers.

"Ezra?" JD approached the bed hesitantly. He tried to wake him up by shaking him but was immediately thrown to the side. JD collided with the wall and grunted.

Ezra was in a crouched position on his bed growling at the teen. His fangs were out and gold eyes flashed. JD scrambled to his feet and ran out the door. Ezra chased after him, running on all fours.

Buck turned to see JD running at full speed out of the house and was closely followed by a shifted Ezra. Buck was on his feet in an instant, he tackled Ezra to the ground, trying to restrain him. Ezra thrashed against him, trying to get at Buck's throat.

"JD! Get Chris!" Buck yelled.

JD broke into a run again and went to where Chris was off organizing the families.

Ezra continued to snap at Buck, saliva flying out from his mouth.

"Now Ezra, I know you don't wanna kill me. Well not really. Not unless it's for the last time I woke you up with a skunk."

"Ezra!" Chris growled out the name as he walked with determined steps to the two still rolling around in the dirt. He stopped when he was a few feet away. "Buck, let 'em go."

Buck did and Ezra got back onto all fours like a cat ready to pounce. He kept his distance away from the pair.

"Ezra, I need you to ease up. No one's here to hurt you. You're among family." Chris said, reaching one hand out towards the werewolf. Ezra slumped a little and his fangs receded. He looked at JD and Buck and then turned to Chris.

"I apologize if I cause any of you harm. I seem to have lost my senses again."

"No worries, Ezra. We know you didn't mean nothing." JD smiled.

Chris helped the younger man up and Ezra headed inside to get dressed. Just as he reached the porch there was a howl coming from the distance. The rest of the werewolves recognized it as Vin.

"Must be the marshal." Buck murmured.

"Buck, get Inez, Nathan, Rain and any other witch or warlock. Have them put up a cloaking shield to hide us." Buck nodded and ran off to find the mentioned people. "JD, go find Josiah and tell him what's going on and then stay with Ezra."

"I ain't some kid that needs looking after Chris. I can help."

"And you are. Ezra is in no shape to be out and definitely not around a hunter."

JD nodded glumly and set off for the main house. Chris began making his way over to where he heard Vin. If there was going to be a fight, he was determined to keep as many of his family out of harm's way.

Mary was getting annoyed with the marshal questioning her sense of direction. The howl close by made her look to her left. Tanner stood by the group of trees, his bare chest heaving as he snarled.

"Tanner. Vin. We just want to talk. Can we please not have to resort to violence?" Mary pleaded. The sound of a rifle hammer being drawn back made her send a glare to the marshal. He was smart enough to lower it back down.

"Leave." Vin growled.

"Not without a word from your master." Bryce shouted.

"You aren't welcomed here."

"Welcomed? What the hell is he on about?" Bryce turned to Mary for explanation.

"Larabee owns this land. That wooden pole right there, that's the beginning of his land. He owns it with no affiliation to Four Corners."

Another howl came from the right and they saw that it was Chris, standing completely in black. Mary steered her horse over to him and pulled a stop a few yards away.

"Chris, we just want to talk." Mary said, waiting to seek permission to dismount.

Chris looked to Bryce who was on the horse behind her.

"Mary." Chris murmured.

Mary took that as an invitation and climbed off the back of her horse. Vin came over and took the reins for her. When Bryce tried to dismount, he was stopped by two weapons pointed at his chest and head.

"This is Chris's land. Bringing weapons here that can harm him will not be permitted." Mary explained.

"You heard the lady." Vin growled.

Bryce dropped his weapons and his Wolf's Bane. "Alright, I'm unarmed."

Chris jerked his head to the side where there was a clump of trees they could stand under. Vin took up position next to him.

"What brings you out this way?" he asked curtly.

"The missing townspeople. Them creatures of the dark and others. Emptied out several buildings in town before working on their disappearing act."

"Well as I see it, those things that went missing belong to them. They put down a payment on them and worked off the money owed, making it apart of their property then. It don't belong to the town." Vin said crossly.

"If that's true," Mary turned to Bryce, "then it's legally theirs."

"It's true." Chris said, leaving no room for argument.

"Ezra saw that it was." Vin added.

"Your bast—"

"You best not finish what I think you're going to say. I will rip your tongue out and feed it to the pigs." Chris gave a low growl.

"You should be happy," Vin directed his frown towards the bigger man, "there ain't anymore of our kind in town."

"So you all plan to stay out here?" Mary asked in surprise.

"It ain't us you should be worried about." Chris murmured before turning to leave, "Find your way off my land now. Full moon is tomorrow."