Into the Darkness

by SportingCoop

Gareth Dempsey. A man without much direction in life has purpose thrust upon him.

4. Chapter 4

Into The Darkness

Chapter 3

Back at my house in St. John's, the four of us gathered up and discussed a few developments. The cottages would need a little more work, before being habitable, Tanith and Nadia knew a few people that we could talk to. They came back and gave us news that they could get us sorted reasonably soon, with services and some contractors to check over the property. We would just have to wait, which suited me, because I'd become attached to this house and couldn't bring myself to leave just yet.

A few days later, Nadia gathered us in the lounge – she had been cross checking some records with Harvey and they had a few findings to present to us.

"We'll have to go in again. In theory, the more times we go in, the weaker the opposition will be and the deeper we will get into the hospital." Nadia summed up her findings, which was mostly background of former patients.

I sat up and placed my mug on the coffee table. "Granted, the defeated spirits are unlikely to be able to manifest again so soon. If they are borne of corruption, they will retreat to the depths and aim to rebuild and reinforce. To defeat them and prevent them from resurfacing, would be to root out the corruption from which they are born." I sighed, rubbing at the stubble on my chin. "Of course, there could be the more powerful ones just controlling the ambient spirits."

"On the subject of what we need to do, I was thinking that we need to pay tribute to those that died here. They have been buried without ceremony and many of their names have been stricken from the records." Tanith seemed quite passionate about those victims that had been resident of the hospital, through no fault of their own.

"What sort of tribute? Some sort of benefit concert in the grounds of the hospital?" Nadia seemed serious about this, but I couldn't help but think there might be a trace of sarcasm there.

"No, something similar to a war memorial – a stone sculpture, with the names of the people carved on it. Perhaps a fountain, or something, that would make the grounds look nice, while seeking peace for the restless spirits. How does that sound?"

"Hmm, it could work, if we can achieve balance – we would need to get a lot of work done there first, to wrestle the buildings toward controlled. At the moment, they are far too dangerous." I thought Tanith's idea was fantastic, but at the moment, I could not see it, as we had too much work to do - too much of the hospital remained unexplored and potentially dangerous.

"Well, regardless of that, we would need to make a move on the Hisil, since that is where the spirits are most restless and where we would have the greatest impact. Gareth, when would you say is it best to go in?" Nadia turned to me and all eyes regarded me for my wise council.

"Well, the Hisil is the opposite of here – midnight is as bright in the Hisil as Noon here. I'd say that going there at night would be the best bet. Scouting and supplies would be needed, though. The centre of the hospital is the point of power and undoubtedly where the spirits draw their power from." I sighed, knowing that we would have to attend the hospital in the Hisil at night, to get a decent chance of calming the more volatile entities there in one sweep.

"Right, I would suggest we go tonight, then."

"Actually Nadia, could we make it tomorrow night? I have work in the morning and a day off the day after. That would give me time to recover." I was braced, as Harvey shot me a look. To my right, Tanith visibly tensed, which felt strangely comforting.

"Sure, we can go tomorrow night. We can spend tonight on the Malvern's, then you can work, we can sleep and prepare, before going in for the night. We will need supplies and anything else that is needed, we can pick up tomorrow." As the pack agreed, I stood up and headed into the kitchen, throwing a couple of bottles of Jack in my backpack, so that I was ready for a trip to our local nature reserve.

I'd always been good at dealing with the cold weather – a natural side effect of working the occasional evening helping dad in the driving rain with uncooperative sheep. You learned not to complain and so after a while, the cold just stops bothering you. Since undergoing the first change, it seemed to be even less of a bother and even in the early part of the year; I had been wandering about in frosts and snowfall without the proper winter clothing and had barely noticed any ill effect. Now it just seemed natural to walk around wearing a snug, but not small T-Shirt, which I seemed to be filling out a little better.

I was finally finding my comfort zone with the pack and while there were tensions with Harvey, I understood that he meant well. Nadia regarded my counsel on spiritual matters with a sense that I knew more about it than she did. I was the so called expert here and while I would hold her experience of being a musician above my knowledge of spiritual and Ithaeur matters, I could not deny that I had received better training on this front.

The past few days had passed pretty quickly and the only real time I'd had to rest and relax seemed to have been when I was sleeping. I got out of the car in the now familiar visitors car park, which was deserted tonight and I stretched my arms out, easing some of the day's tension. As I started walking towards the grassland and the open hills, I suddenly hit the floor, as I was bowled over again by Tanith, clearly enjoying her wolf form. I rolled over onto my back and she playfully rolled with me, pinning me, before nuzzling my neck and running off, jumping the fence and out onto the grass. Lying there for a few moments, I saw Harvey shift into his Urshul form, the giant beast of a wolf making powerful lopes and disappearing into the dusk.

"Gareth, are you alright?" Nadia queried, looking at me in a puzzled fashion. I sat up, rubbing my face and checked my pack, making sure that the integrity of the bottles was preserved.

"I am now, thanks." Standing up, I shouldered my pack and headed on over the fence and into the wilds of the Worcestershire countryside. The fading light and the new moon was robbing my eyesight, so as I jogged off after Nadia, I bulked up my form, taking on my 'near-man'. "I should learn to expect that from Tanith – these hills bring out a sense of playfulness in her."

"Yeah, but you've got to drop the serious facade every now and again. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

"Nice guy, that Jack." I pulled one of the bottles free and took a swig of the rye whisky within, before offering Nadia the bottle. She shook her head, to which I shrugged. "Sorry for causing all that shit the other morning, by the way."

"What shit? You mean that with you and Harvey?"

"Yeah, it needn't have gotten that far. It was just a discussion and I should have just walked away."

"I think that might have made it worse. Look, I made the decision and it's finished now. You do your postal route for your own reasons. Sure, he might be a little bitter about not being able to pursue his human life, but he'll come around. Come on, let's catch up with the two reprobates." We headed further from the beaten track, to our more favoured spot on the hills, in a lea below the Worcestershire Beacon. The cover here kept our activities quiet and every now and again, we could decide to run to the top of the beacon or even the North Hill, for a bit more of a run out. Here, there was a gnarled old oak tree, which we all recognised instantly and knew as a marker for us to meet at, even if we were in forms that didn't allow us to communicate with one another. Nadia sighed as she approached the tree and noted that neither Tanith nor Harvey was there. "I'll take the north, you head south and just call for them. We'll meet up back at the tree in fifteen minutes." I nodded and dumped the backpack under the tree, before heading up the slope, over the rough ground.

"Harvey! Tanith!" I called into the night, not receiving any response, as expected. The ground was damp, but the night was quite clear. What little moonlight there was became amplified by the night-sight afforded to me in my improved form. It felt strange being on the hills alone, despite the fact that they were large enough to lose any one of us in. After a few minutes, I snuck back down the hill and lay in wait near the tree, but far enough away not to be obvious.

Sure enough, a few moments later, a wolf came trotting down the hill from the north. The red coat unmistakably Tanith and she walked around for a moment, checking the surroundings, spotting my bag with the booze in. Reasoning that there are roads relatively close on the east and west sides of the lea, she started to ascend the hill to the south, where I had been sent to find her. A chance for revenge had presented itself and I followed, carefully picking my steps, so as not to draw attention to myself.

I stuck to the tree line and watched as she trotted about, quietly barking, but not full out howling – the sound of proper howls could probably be heard all the way to Worcester and it could cause quite a stir, so we had learned. Suddenly, Tanith started to run south, possibly thinking about running the length of the hills. I stepped from around the tree and putting my fingers in my mouth, I tried to whistle. Sadly, despite all my time working on the farm, this was one of the skills that I had failed to master. After a few tries, I gave up and whistled with just pursed lips. Her ears pricked as she heard me and skidding to a stop, she looked around. Eventually catching sight of me, she ran back towards me. I braced myself for the leaping tackle that she was used to inflicting on me by now. It never came and she stopped at my feet. If it were possible for a wolf to laugh, she would have been. I looked down at her and realised that I had flinched as she got close.

"You pain in the arse, Tanith." The look on her face was dejected, but it quickly turned to joy, as I crouched down and stroked her fur. "Either I'm good at hiding, or you're bad at looking."

"I don't need to look, remember. I know where you are if you're close enough." She said, stepping up to her human form, leaving me crouched down at the ground, looking confusedly at her thighs.

"Well, let's go back to the tree and see if Nadia has found Harvey then." I stood up and brushed some dirt off my jeans.

"You know, I think that look suits you, Gareth." Tanith commented, as we headed back.

"You're looking at me in the dark, as a human. I'll bear that in mind, but thanks anyway." We got back to the tree and I grabbed another finger of Jack, idly passing the time, while we waited for Nadia and Harvey to make their presence felt. I offered the bottle to Tanith, who refused. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long to get the pack back together, as Harvey came sprinting over the crest of the hill and descended into the lea. Nadia, in her wolf form was not far behind and we all gathered around the base of the venerable tree.

"We've had a chance to get to know one another now, but there's still something missing. If we're going to be a pack, we'll need to identify ourselves. People coming into our territory aren't just going to hear 'you're now in the territory of The Pack', because that won't work. Has anyone got any ideas?" This met with a chorus of mutters that no-one had been thinking about it really. Nadia held her head in her hands for a few moments.

"Alright, it doesn't have to be now, but we've got to come up with something – it's our identity, like a name for a band – we couldn't just go around calling ourselves Nadia, Tanith, Harvey and Gareth, could we?"

"Okay, so what are we doing tonight then, if we're not sitting about under the oak? I fancy a hunt again." Harvey suggested, eager to use his time well.

"You know, since we're doing a little pack bondage, we should probably head out into the Hisil and see if we can get a powerful spirit to join forces with us. What are you all laughing for?" various smiles and smirks had crept across the faces of the pack and eyebrows had been raised at my slip.

"You might want to look up the meaning of the word 'bondage', Gareth. I pray that you mean 'bonding', because I've got all sorts of wrong images going through my head right now." Tanith said through fits of laughter, wiping away a tear.

"I don't understand, what's going on? I've missed a joke here."

"Jeez, Gareth, you have led a sheltered life. Try picturing werewolves in cat suits, armed with whips, paddles and other such stuff. That would be pack bondage. Far too kinky, besides, it would only cause trouble, as we all know, right?" Nadia declared, shrugging off the giggles and putting on a more serious face, momentarily.

One of the main rules about werewolves that has been passed down for generations, since the First Pack, is that werewolves cannot mate with one another. They must take human partners and procreate with them. The failure to do this results in the concentration of potent werewolf blood in the progeny. Our connection with the spirit world causes a particularly nasty spirit to inhabit the mother and snuff out the life of the unborn child, while it takes up residence for the duration.

When the mother comes to give birth, she just bleeds, or gives birth to a stillborn baby. In the Hisil, it is much worse, as the powerful (did I mention evil?) spirit rends its way out of the mother in a reverse-caesarean. Then it runs away, to the darkest depths of the Hisil, to grow up.

Then, for some reason, it hunts down mommy and daddy. These are the sort of ghost stories told to warn young werewolves, who are a little too old to believe in Hansel and Gretel. None of us seemed willing to try and test this theory.

"Yeah, I know about that, but it's not what I meant!" I swear they were out to get me for this.

"Okay, so what were you suggesting about a spirit then?"

"Well, every pack tends to attempt to enlist the help of a totem spirit – something to guide us and help us, for a price. We can give them access to the essence that the hospital will provide us with, for example, or other similar things."

"Hmm, that sounds like something that we could use – what would you suggest, Gareth?" Nadia regarded my suggestion and seemed ready to take it on board.

"Well, shall we head to the Hisil and see what sort of spirits are there – hopefully we'll find something suitable, that we can talk around to our side."

"Alright, why not lead us through to the Hisil, Mr. Ithaeur." Nadia gestured for me to begin and I prepared myself. Slipping my sight out of focus, I looked between the lines of the material world. I found the barrier called the Gauntlet, the intangible silk strands showing themselves, just beyond my normal vision. Picking a way slowly through the webbing between the worlds, I guided the pack across into the dawn-like conditions of the shadow realm. The gnarled oak tree looked much the same here, standing, gazing up at the sky, between the mighty hills. It seemed quiet here, without the occasional passing car to remind us of how close to humanity that we had been moments ago.

"So what are we going to find around here? It's not like we'll find some wolf spirits, is it?" Harvey queried to the group at large.

"I doubt it. Why, did you want some sort of predator?" Tanith asked.

"It seems right to have something like that, as opposed to, say a rabbit or a squirrel." Harvey raised a valid point, but I couldn't resist a quick dig.

"Squirrels can be vicious buggers – just you try going for their nuts!" As we walked away from the tree collectively, Harvey suddenly stopped, shaking his head. I turned my head, flashed him a wry smile and carried on my climb, toward the beacon. "But there should be plenty of predators around here, this is a pretty good ecosystem. Foxes, hawks, stoats, weasels, just to think of a few off the top of my head."

"So far, the hawk sounds like the only option, the others all sound a little too much like scavengers, Gareth." Harvey strode out of the woods and looked up at the monument on the pinnacle of the hill, peering about to see if he could spot any suitable spirits.

"I like the idea of a predator, but I'm not sure what we should go for. Any other birds of prey around here? Maybe an eagle or something." Nadia seemed to have an idea forming and she was putting her feelings out there for my benefit mostly.

"I don't think there are any eagles in Britain, are there? That's a real shame though." Tanith mused, lying down on the hillside among the heathers. "Doesn't the sky look weird around here?" She commented as the clouds wheeled overhead, exposing the light blue of the sky, flecked with navy blue swirls, making it look like a cloudy marble.

"I've spent what must be months in the Hisil and I've never considered what the sky looked like here, except that it's dark at day and light at night." I allowed myself to fall back into the heather and fidgeted around, adjusting the scenery and trying to get comfy. "How on earth do you manage to do that without getting a fucking stick in tender areas?!" I pulled a whole heather plant out of the ground and discarded it to one side.

"It's quite simple, if you look, before you plonk down on the undergrowth," Tanith laughed at my misfortune, while considering the shadowy heavens. Nadia found herself a patch and lay down on the other side of Tanith and on seeing this, Harvey jogged down from the hilltop and found himself a place as well.

"I'm not sure that deer live around here any more, but there might be some older spirits around." I mulled over some thoughts aloud.

"So if the spirits were of things that used to live here, we might get a wolf?" Harvey seemed to perk up at this news.

"Difficult to say, really. I'd guess that if they've not been on the material for a while there, then there's less chance of having one here, as it might have moved on, or fallen victim to some of the less than savoury things that live here."

"So the hunters become the hunted?"

"Why not? While they were hunted in the human realm, their spirits will have been harangued by Jagglings, Gafflings and other such stuff – look at that abomination that we dealt with at Powick, for example. You don't know who or what might be out there."

"So, what else can you see, Gareth? You've got more experience here than us." Nadia pointed out, sweeping her arm in the direction of the other hills. "We've got a while, but the way you were talking, it's for the best that we get it done now.

"Look, a Kestrel!" I nodded at the sky and a dark shape was picked out above the heathers, barely half a mile away. The swift beat of its wings held it up, hovering above the hillside, intently focused on the ground. "Such a graceful creature, even in the Hisil," I noted. With no regard for itself, the bird plunged towards the ground and both Harvey and Tanith sat up, watching intently. I cracked my knuckles and sat up, craning my neck for a better view. Just like the material bird, this ethereal reflection of a creature stood there in the heather, tearing strips of meat from the fresh kill. It turned to look at us and with a keening screech, it launched into the air, flying towards the woodland.

"That would be a nice bird to try for, but would we be able to find it in the woods?" Nadia turned to me, as Harvey and Tanith nodded in agreement at Nadia's declaration. I could only shrug, never having tried to capture a bird of prey before.

"We could go for a walk and see, that's about the best I can offer you." I tried to give enough of an indication, but after all, I was still learning, as were the pack.

"I'll run round the back of the woods and move through, to meet in the middle. We'll find it." Harvey declared, breaking into a jog down the hill and wheeling away to the right. The other three of us made our way quite a bit slower, picking our way toward the forest.

"Not the tactic that I'd have suggested, but there we go." I kept my vision fixed upon the woods, where I had seen the kestrel spirit disappear only moments before.

"Give him a break, Gareth. His heart's in the right place and he's making an effort."

"Nadia, I'm not saying he isn't. I'm merely stating that if he gets close to the spirit, he won't be able to speak to it any easier than you talking to a real kestrel. If it takes flight, he won't be able to catch it, no matter how fast he runs."

"Anyone would think you feel threatened by him, Gareth." Tanith chimed in as Nadia suppressed a smirk.

"Perhaps I've still got an issue with him from the other morning?"

"Then perhaps you'd better just drop it and move on?" Nadia took her turn in the conversation and poked me in the side as she strode past. I had just been told with little uncertainty that she was unimpressed with the way I felt over it all. Suitably reprimanded, I followed down the slope.

We descended the hillside and entered the woods, which was a particularly dark environment in the Hisil, night or day. The trees had been allowed to grow unattended without human micro management on this side of the gauntlet and some oaks had been given the chance to become ancient and twisted, while ashes and birches stood tall, creating a high, dense canopy. Unusually, the footpaths appeared swept of leaves and almost well kept. Somehow out of place – a reflection of the realm that it mirrored across the intangible barrier.

The three of us spread out a little, keeping within sight of one another and Tanith co-ordinated us toward Harvey, whom we still could not see. I tried to watch my step, treading carefully over large roots that formed the forest floor.

"Here he comes!" Tanith hissed to us and as she pointed, the advancing shape of Harvey was obvious, making great strides through the woods towards us. Ahead of him, the spectral shape of the kestrel was flying, beating its wings furiously. It sighted us and sensed a trap, veering upwards to the safety of the canopy. Harvey leapt and his massive arms barely missed the flapping wings and he landed on the floor, falling into a roll and looking around frantically for the quarry. I looked past him, watching the kestrel fly off into the trees, completing its escape.

"Welcome back, Harvey. Any luck?" Nadia asked, walking over to the large man, hunched shoulders and one fist on the floor, as he knelt.

"A slight problem, but we'll get him next time."

"Oh, good. Any ideas when this will be, Harvey?" She did not look impressed, but then again, she was not as angry as the elder of her tribe – the Storm Lords – had been on that first day.

"What was that?!" Tanith was looking up at the canopy and pointing, as Harvey tried to regain his composure. I turned to look and could see nothing, trying to follow where Tanith was pointing. Nadia and Harvey wandered over, the incident forgotten, at least for now.

I strained to look into the trees, with shafts of light penetrating the dense cover of the canopy, making it very difficult to spot anything at all. "I don't know what it is – all I can see is trees, Tanith."

"No, over there – it's landed now." Tanith pointed out a large feathered mass that blended so subtly with the tree it has nestled upon, that I would just have passed it by again. As my eyes adjusted to the light, I picked out that this was an owl, with shades of browns, grey and the occasional flash of white in its plumage.

"Wow, you're beautiful, aren't you?" As I stepped forward one pace, to get a better view, the eyes on the magnificent bird snapped open – brilliantly vivid orange, with huge black pupils, taking in every detail of me and the pack. Quickly glancing at Nadia, she nodded excitedly and urged me forward.

"Um… okay." I looked up at the owl and smiled, before trying to talk to it – I felt such a lemon. "Hello, I am Gareth and I represent our pack. We would like to ask if you would bless us and act as our totem spirit, to guide us." The owl swivelled its neck turning its gaze upon me and the two orange discs regarded me silently. "We would be willing to offer you gifts – a proportion of our kills from the hunts in tribute and of course essence." Still, the owl watched me, unblinking, as if looking through me.

Suddenly, the words arrived in my head, without the creature moving its beak to say them to me. It was almost guttural, but somehow old and wizened. "Wolves feed owl… Owl help wolves… Yes." As I started to smile, it leapt forward and flew overhead, past the rest of the pack, to a chorus of "Oh great" and "not again". Instead of flying off and inviting us to pursue, the owl reached a stop on another branch and I walked past the pack, to regard it closely again.

"We have not yet hunted, but I can offer you some essence. Would that do for now?" I offered a hopeful expression toward the owl, palms upturned. I was hoping that if it agreed, I would know how to channel essence from myself to a spirit. I could feel the expectant looks of the pack, boring into my back, almost burning. Lifting my hand up towards the great bird, I stretched and looked for inspiration. Strangely, my fingers started to go numb, as if something had cut the blood supply off from them. As the tingling sensation started to creep down my hand, to the base of my fingers, I saw blue-white tendrils of light seep forth and start to drift towards the owl. These tendrils grew longer, still attached to my fingers and the tingling made its way further up my arm, passing the elbow.

As these silky threads approached the owl, it opened its beak and took the offering, pulling the feeling from my whole arm. There seemed to be a corona or halo of this blue-white light around the creature, which glowed as it feasted on what I presumed was my essence. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the ritual ceased and the owl let out a mighty screech, flapping its wings. In response, the whole forest seemed silent. Not just quiet, but deadly still, as if no thing, living or dead, dared move.

"Wolves hunt for owl… owl give power, knowledge and skill." It was almost as if the great bird was bowing to us all. Then it leapt from the tree branch, taking flight once again. As our eyes followed it, the halo around it flickered and it disappeared from view. The pack turned towards me and I looked at my hand, as if it was only this minute returned to me. I took a few faltering steps toward the pack, with a bewildered smile on my face.

"I think I need a drink." As I declared that to the pack, my knees gave way and I fell. The ground did not come to meet me, as Tanith and Harvey stepped in and prevented me from falling completely. They set me down at the base of a tree, allowing me to get some feeling back in my arm, which was completely numb, shoulder to fingertips.

"That's some of the weirdest shit I've ever seen. What did you do, Gareth? All this fucking sorcery with that… stuff coming out of your hand!" Harvey declared as he lowered me against the tree. I sat back and massaged my shoulder, trying to get the feeling back.

"Would it comfort you to know that I haven't got much of a clue myself?"

"You what?" Harvey stared at me in complete disbelief, as Tanith fumbled around in my backpack and grabbed the bottle of booze, which she tried to place in my left hand. No matter what I tried, I could not make my fingers work and grasp the bottle. I reached across and grasped it with my right, then considered the lid and offered it back to her, so that she could help, which drew a sigh.

"I'll keep that a secret then." I swigged the whisky and passed the bottle back to Tanith. "It might be something to do with essence, which I was told about in passing. That's like the stuff that feeds spirits, but everything has some. It's also why we want to control the hospital, because there's some sort of point of power in there." I cringed and grabbed at my shoulder, feeling the warmth of blood flow returning. "Somewhere in there, is a well, or spring, where we can gain access to more of this essence. That might also be why there are so many powerful spirits there."

"And the stuff with the owl? What was that about?"

"Well, I had no fresh meat to offer her… except for us, but I'm not about to suggest a werewolf burger. Essence is a fair compromise. If we hunt, we'll have to lay aside a part of, if not one of the kills, in a sort of tribute. She will give us some of her wisdom and skill in return."

"What do you mean, skill?"

"Maybe you'll be able to fly, Harvey. I think it will be similar to the sort of thing she's skilled with herself. If I were a spirit, I'd teach people how to be sarcastic."

"Well, that's a given. How are you feeling now?" Nadia stood there, turning back to me, after having looked around the clearing, hoping to see the owl once more.

"Better – the feeling's coming back now."

"What, you've just had a dead arm? Should have taken five minutes then, rather than sitting under the tree." Nadia's horrified gaze turned to Harvey and I bit my tongue, as there was no need to take this any further.

"No… just, no. If you're thinking what I think you're thinking about, Harvey!" Nadia pointed at Harvey, waggling her finger and chastising him. "Can you walk, Gareth? I'd quite like to get out of here."

"I think so. Listen to the forest, there's movement again." I hauled myself up, assisted by Tanith and we walked out of the woods again. Finding a convenient spot, I picked my way carefully through the gauntlet and we returned to the Malvern Hills by night.

Trudging back down the slope to the oak tree, the moonlight was briefly obscured by a large shadow passing overhead. We all turned to look at what was casting that shadow, without making a sound on the evening air, but could not see anything. As we turned and carried on walking, a familiar screeching sound could be heard from the trees that we walked towards. I could not help but smile, showing my pride.

"Now all we've got to do is come up with a name for the pack and we're set. Nice work, everyone." Nadia showed her pleasure and thanked us all for the part we had played. I tried to remind myself that everything happens for a reason.

"I've had a thought about the pack name. How about Running Free? None of us is particularly slow on their feet." Harvey suggested

"Hmm… I'm not sure it's really something that I can see working for us, to be honest, Harvey." Nadia declared.

"How about the Hunting Moons, then?" Tanith offered her thoughts to the conclave.

"Doesn't that sound a little like it favours my tribe?" I said, indicating the Hunters in Darkness. "Why not choose something more all-encompassing?"

"Spectral Moons or Spectral Wings?" Nadia put forward. This met with a discord from the rest of us and so she backed down from those suggestions.

"Shadow flight? No, that sounds a little too dark for us…" I thought aloud, rejecting my own idea. I was too busy chastising myself for lack of creativity when the idea of Gossamer Wings was tossed into the discussion.

"That is more than just a little queer. Should I put an order in for four neon pink sweaters now, or later?" Suggested Harvey. An uneasy silence descended over the group and then as one, we all started laughing amongst ourselves. Deciding that this was getting us nowhere, Tanith reached into my bag and grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels. She took a generous pull, before passing it around. I was glad to find that when it arrived back with me, there was still some left. I shrugged and took a pull, before dropping the bottle at the base of the tree, following it with my bag.

"If we're going anywhere, we need to work on something that gives mystery, yet grace and poise. Let's try and focus on something that we all do, yeah?"

"Well, we can all go into the Hisil and we can all change to wolves." Nadia surmised.

"Alright, well if people know we're werewolves, we don't need to announce it, do we? So that leaves the Hisil, which is kind of an ethereal place… What about the owl, should we focus on her, since she's our totem spirit?" I tried to focus and was getting frustrated by my brain letting me down.

"I like that, let's use Ethereal." Said Tanith, clicking her fingers at a brainwave.

"I was going to say 'Spiritual', but if you want."

"Ethereal Wardens?" Harvey suggested.

"No, that sounds too aggressive."

"Sorry, I didn't realise we were running a crèche here." His face split into a wicked grin as Nadia shot him a filthy look.

"What about messengers? I mean I've got my singing, Tanith's a journalist and Gareth's a postman, so that's three quarters of it covered," Nadia surmised.

"Leaves me out though, so it kind of blows the 'all encompassing' side of the plan." Harvey didn't seem as riled by being left out as I thought he would have been, he merely stated the fact.

"You're not left out, Harvey. Look at your speed, who can we compare you to? No human, that's for sure, so what about Mercury, the messenger of the Gods?" Tanith threw out the idea, hoping for a positive response.

"Yeah, that could work. I'm pretty quick on my feet." Seemingly satisfied, Harvey jumped up and down, limbering himself up for some more running.

"Unless anyone has any objections then," Nadia looked around the group, checking to see if anyone had anything to add to the discussion. "I declare the four of us to be known as the Ethereal Messengers."

"May our messages transcend barriers." Tanith said, raising the bottle. I shot her a look, for grabbing my booze again, but echoed the sentiments, as the bottle finally made its way to me.

"I think that we should go for a hunt tonight. It's been a few days, after all." Nadia looked through the trees, south toward the smaller hills. "Harvey, you've been looking forward to this all night, so why not lead us?" As a massive grin spread across his face and he ran to the crest in elation. Dutifully, we followed and waited for his plan.

"Owl is a fine hunter, wouldn't you agree? Let us use her skills to bring her back a fine haul tonight. Perhaps a deer?"

"If we find one, sure, but I'm not sure we will. Maybe rabbits, squirrels, a fox perhaps. We'll just have to see." I shrugged, noting what I had seen in previous trips here, before looking over the landscape. It was mostly heathers, but with the occasional tree springing out of the hillside, offering very little cover.

"Alright, so if we spread out, with Tanith and Nadia on the sides and myself and Gareth in the middle. What we'll do is surround them, where we can enclose them for the kill. If they run, I'll sort them out." Marching off, we obeyed his orders and he shifted to his Urshul form, loping off into the heather. I followed, spreading further to his left and staying low, trying not to advertise myself to anyone or anything watching us.

Nadia and Tanith spread around the flanks and watched, listening for Harvey's instructions, as I waited. I observed as a few rabbits moved away, but these were not of any interest to Harvey and he was set on the idea of a venison dinner. As one of the rabbits bounded over a grassy tuft, a fox snapped at it, taking one of their number for its own sustenance.

We moved slowly for what must have been half an hour and still no sign of any deer, nor the instruction from Harvey to go for anything less. Away to my left, beyond Nadia, I spotted some sort of game bird, picking its way dozily through the heather. Slowly and deliberately, I moved towards it, trying to keep my movements fluid, not wanting to give myself away, thus scaring off the prey. I lay myself down among the heather and waited, as it walked ever nearer.

My sight enhanced by being in my near-man form, I saw the bird encroach almost within arm's reach. Without thinking, my hand darted out and grasped the bird around the neck. It was a female pheasant, beautiful, but soon to be just dinner. I quickly wrung the neck of her and thanked her for presenting us with a meal. With the bird in my hand, I crawled through the heather, back to where Harvey had told me to be.

"Where's Gareth?!" Harvey's anger was evident, as I arrived back, still staying below the line of the heather, listening to him stomping around. I waited for him to walk past me, then stood up.

"I'm right here, relax."

"Relax? What the hell have you been playing at?!"

"I was bored. I saw a pheasant, so I went and got it. You were making too much noise for a hunter – any dear would have been scared off long before." I held up the pheasant, as evidence.

"I've not seen anything to hunt, tonight."

"There are plenty of rabbits out there, plus the odd pheasant, duck, even a fox that I've seen this evening. You've just got to know where to look, plus have the patience for it."

"Can you do something that doesn't undermine me, for a change?"

"Can you not object to everything I do?" By this point, Tanith and Nadia had both approached us. They seemed ready to try and break up a fight, though I thought that unnecessary.

"How about we both just stop trying to get at one another? We can't go on if you two are going to keep sniping at one another, after all." Nadia had seen enough and in the book of the Messengers, a thick black line had now been drawn, as the alpha had spoken.

Harvey led the hunt for another hour or two and we returned with a few animals – a brace of rabbits, a squirrel and of course the pheasant. We ate a little and left the squirrel for Owl at the base of our tree, before we left the site and headed home for the evening.

The next afternoon, I returned from work and went straight to bed. When I woke up from my all too brief nap, I was greeted by a great smell of cooking wafting up the stairs from the kitchen. I ambled down and rooted around in the fridge for a drink and said hello to Tanith, who was cooking.

"So, what's on for lunch, then?"

"Lunch was hours ago, Gareth. I'm knocking up some pasta, because it's quick and easy." She turned around, seeing me standing there dressed in only my shorts and holding the bottle of milk. "I don't care if it is your house, you will need more clothes than that, if you're going to eat with us though." I spotted my cap lying on the worktop where I had left it when I came in. I slapped it on my head and grinned at Tanith. She laughed and pointed towards the stairs. "You know what I mean!" My face fell and I trudged back upstairs, taking the bottle of milk with me.

Since my first change, I've noticed that my appetite has changed radically – if ever food is on offer, I accept and only after a sustained session of consumption do I ever feel full. Like when eating burgers from most fast-food outlets, you never feel satisfied for long. While we drank quite heavily, our higher metabolisms enabled us to remove the alcohol from our systems much quicker, without feeling the effects so much. When I came down, the large vat of pasta was still bubbling away and the four of us gathered around the table to eat. Feeding a pack of four werewolves was always a logistical challenge, but Tanith had gotten used to it and the Bolognese was incredible, as we polished off a good few helpings each.

"Alright, we've got what we need to head back to the hospital, right?" Nadia picked up her glass of wine and sat back a little, to give herself time for the food to go down. Just because we were werewolves and burned through it quicker didn't mean we had any more space in there.

"I feel much better, now that we've got Owl to watch over us. Just something else on our side, when friends will be hard to come by in places like that."

"How do you all feel about going in through the front door this time?"

"Well, we should get there this time, even if we go via the Hisil. Gareth, how long do you think it will take for that spirit to re-spawn?" Harvey asked.

"Re-spawn?" I looked confused and then left the table to help myself to some more pasta.

"Like in gaming – you kill a bad mob and after a while it'll reappear."

"Sorry Harvey, I've never had a computer – never heard of anything like that, I'm afraid." I gathered my thoughts and sat back down. "Well, it'll probably retreat into the Hisil and wait a while, feasting on essence, regaining its strength. We might have gotten lucky and killed it, but then again, it might regain more control if we remove some spirits that were having a bad influence on one another. No guarantees, I'm afraid."

"Good enough for me." Harvey sat back, drinking and thinking.

"Tanith, anything you wish to bring up before we move in?"

"I'd hope no-one would want to bring up anything – I've worked very hard on this dinner! Seriously though, I've got nothing to add, except you three have got washing up to do." She finished up her last morsel of pasta and bolted for the lounge, giggling.

I merely sat there, still moving steadily through my seconds. "If she cooks like this again, the washing up is a small price to pay." I declared.

Chores done, we headed out of the front door, Nadia in full leathers mounting her impressive looking bike, leaving the rest of us to ride in Tanith's car. It seemed like such a waste, just a few short miles through the country lanes for such a machine. But then again, we had a job to do. The former hospital's main building came into view after a few minutes and Tanith pulled up, allowing us all to rejoin Nadia. Despite Tanith's aggressive driving, Nadia had not had a chance to be lost, over a few short miles of country lane that we had all learned well enough. I spent most of the journey trying not to ruin her back seat with that lovely meal she had prepared. Tanith moved to the boot of the car and took out a thermos flask, which she walked over to Nadia with. The unmistakable smell of Alice's mushroom tea wafted over on the evening breeze.

"You sure you wouldn't like a cup, Gareth?" Tanith offered, a cheeky little smirk crossing her face.

"Pass, thank you. Why are you two drinking that stuff, anyway? Surely I've served as a guinea pig for that and that ought to put anyone off." I tried to focus on the job at hand, but remembered the bitter-sweet taste that the soup had with it.

"Alice said that we should use some to help us see what we need to." I raised an eyebrow and pulled my face at the thought of it, to which Tanith laughed. "Don't worry, we won't drink as much as you, nor as quick." Tanith raised the plastic cup, taking a sip, as Nadia drank hers slowly, almost savouring the flavour.

"Hmm… I'm not sure I could manage a whole mug of the stuff." Nadia decided, smacking her lips.

"Lightweight." Harvey nudged Nadia jovially in the ribs, bouncing lightly on his toes, ready for some action. Nadia glanced at him in calm silence.

"How much is left in that flask, Tanith?" As she was putting it back in the car, she gave the Thermos a quick shake.

"Maybe a decent mug full." I tried my damnedest to avoid bursting out laughing and struggled to regain my composure in front of my packmates.

"That's not something you should have to threaten anyone with, Nadia. Just the taste is bad enough."

"This time, we'll get in and see what's really there," Nadia declared, leading the rest of us up the gravel drive. Weeds had sprung up and the gravel was now intermingled with the topsoil, losing the neat impression of an English country manor that you would have expected. Mother nature was acting to reclaim the land from the order of humanity that had established itself.

As we approached the hospital building again, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, as if something were amiss. I dropped to all fours as I prepared myself, assuming my near-wolf form. I sniffed the air and could pick up the almost tin-like aftertaste of the mushroom tea, provided by Alice a few days previously, though there was little surprise that I could pick this up. I looked slightly to the right, where Harvey was limbering up, presumably ready to unleash his Gauru form on the corrupt spirits of this realm. As I looked to the left, I spotted a familiar looking figure looming out of the dark. I almost swallowed my tongue, as the visage of my deceased brother, Iwan, marched purposefully towards me.

"Have you come for me, brother?" Impassively, he stood to attention, focusing on a point just beyond my tail.

"You alone have brought me here, Gareth. Clearly our fates are still bound together." I drew myself back up to my hind legs and suppressed the wolf for the moment. I was surprised that he had recognised me in a form that looked nothing like he had seen before, yet he smiled, knowingly.

My mind returned to the day I left home. For some reason, I stopped at Iwan's room and walked in, looking at the small shrine that mum had made. A Welsh flag was hung there, with "Cymru am Byth" (Wales Forever), the motto of the Welsh Guards emblazoned across it. I looked at the pictures of Iwan and saw the medal that he had won while he was still alive, proudly displayed next to the one that was presented to us after he had died. Without thinking, I pocketed the box with his campaign medal and left, beginning my journey into the wider world. I couldn't think where I had put the medal now and for the first time in years, I really needed to see it.

"Forgive me, brother. I took your medal. I should not have removed it." I guess you are bound to it, so you have come here because of it.

"Now is not the time for this, boy. You will know what to do and where to do it. Now, I am here to help you with this fight. I regret, but my experience does not stretch far in here, but I've learned a lot since leaving home... as have you, it seems." He nodded, indicating behind me and I turned, instinctively. He walked up behind me and placed one of his massive hands on my shoulder. His voice was barely a whisper, but I heard the words perfectly clear: "Cymru am Byth!"

While I watched my pack, trying to keep abreast of the goings on among them, I saw the walls of the asylum dissipate, giving way to verdant grassland and rolling plains. Something that may have meant a lot to me a long time ago, but for the moment only served to confuse my senses. Frantic, I looked around, trying to catch glimpses of my allies, as my consciousness fought to regain control from the deeper recesses of my being, not even aware of Iwan's presence any more.

A chill mist rolled across open hills, tracks among the heathers and grasses carved out only by the footsteps of generations. A black wolf prowled on one hill, watching stoically as soldiers dressed in red and silver marched, escorting unwilling peasants toward the coast. Slowly, the wolf turned and stalked away from this, only breaking into a run when he was sure that no-one was aware of his presence.

As he approaches a village, the wolf stands on his hind legs and resumes the form of a man – a thick black beard with a wisp of grey, his broad shoulders the only indication of the power that he has. His axe is carried limply – more for show, than actual combat. He may have been a woodsman once. His face looked eerily familiar, yet I could not really place it.

The conversation between this man and the head of the village sounded incredibly far away, even though I was stood a few feet from the werewolf. It was difficult to make out, but I thought the general thread of the conversation was to preserve the village, so that they may live on. The werewolf nodded agreement and a woven basket containing a young child is brought forth, the child's mother in uncontrollable tears. With barely a grunt, he takes the babe and walks solemnly out of the village, securing him to his back to run as a wolf once more.

I snapped back to Powick, covered in cold sweat, Iwan's hand still on my shoulder. Gently, I placed my hand on his. 'Iwan, you've given me something that I cannot possibly explain. I hope that I live long enough to make use of it.'

"We both will." With that, his hand released my shoulder and I became aware of my surroundings – the Hisil, Harvey standing there, looking confused and jumpy, while the two ladies looked rather spaced.

"Did anybody just see that?"

"Oh, you did as well, then." Harvey looked relieved to hear that I was still with us, as I turned to regard Tanith and Nadia

"And what about..?" I looked at the expression of a distant confused smile on Tanith's face and a similar, but steelier expression from Nadia. "Never mind, I'll talk to you about it later… much later."

As we walked into the hospital itself, I was overcome with this sense of trepidation once more and I looked around for Iwan, but he was no longer visible. I felt somehow comforted by the knowledge that he could not be far away.

The sounds of whispers were all around me as I crossed the threshold, though my pack mates seemed oblivious to it all. They seemed to be calling to me and I recognised Iwan's voice amongst them. The pack walked into the main atrium and looked around, keeping their wits sharp. As I moved my gaze around the room, I noticed a gaunt looking wolf stalking within the spirits that milled idly about. Sensing that she had caught my eye, she walked out of the main door. I followed, compelled as if by some unseen hand, turning my back on the pack. I could hear their questioning voices coming from a distance.

As I followed the wolf outside I noticed that this wolf was extremely thin, as if ill, or perhaps malnourished. Considering the surroundings, I was not surprised. Had the patient refused to eat, the nurses were probably not inclined to force feed their charges. She turned towards me and in a hoarse whisper commanded me:

"Kneel, child." Obediently, without any real thought for myself, I dropped to my knee and bowed my head slightly. "I will have your eyes and you will be mine, Gareth Dempsey." My mind jumped back over a year to the last time that a wolf stood over me and said something like that. I had not known at the time what was going on, so was powerless to resist. I fought and forced my head up, gazing into the black, almost dead eyes of the wolf before me.

Standing before me was a vision of Kamduis-Ur, the Death Wolf. She had been a member of the first pack, the children of Father Wolf and Mother Luna. To top it all, she was also a sister of Hiakon-Ur, the patron of my tribe, the Hunters in Darkness. Her gaunt features stared at me sardonically, as I dug deep within, just to lift my head to look her in the beady eye.

"I cannot be yours. My life is pledged to Hiakon-Ur and the Hunters in Darkness." Sweat pouring off my brow. I knelt before the Death-Wolf, trying to defiantly trying to stand, as my pack mates came after me. Furious, she struck out for me and scored her claws deep across the front of my shoulder, catching my lower jaw. I dropped back down to one knee, punching my fist into the floor to balance myself.

"You might just live long enough to regret those words, my boy. When you return, I will have those eyes of yours. Do not think that I shall be so forgiving next time." She turned and stalked into the ether, crossing the gauntlet without even a gesture and I stood, wiping the blood from my lips.

"What the hell just happened?" The shocked excitement from my pack mates was intense, as the sounds rushed back to me and I was released from the spell.

"I think I was just head-hunted by the Bone Shadows. Perhaps saying no was a bad thing in this case." I turned back to the hospital and walked past my pack mates once more, spitting the remaining blood to the ground.

"Come on, I don't want to stand around waiting for her to come back, when we can be doing something to pass the time well enough." As one, the pack moved back through the front door of the hospital.

The events of that particular evening had a profound effect on me. The honour of being chosen by the Death Wolf, dubious as the timing may have been, mixed with the feelings about potentially dishonouring Hiakon-Ur, the Black Wolf. Throw in the re-opening of the twelve plus year old wounds from seeing my brother's spirit stand next to me and I suppose you could say that there was an emotionally charged atmosphere about my location. I took a deep breath, putting a lid of calm over my personal turmoil. If anyone in the pack noticed, it was most likely to be Tanith. Everyone remained quiet about the subject, either noticing my heightened emotion, or being eager to get down to business.

As we entered the corridor, I would not allow my gaze to sway from Tanith and Nadia. As they had sampled the mushroom tea from Alice, my view was that they were at the most risk. Harvey's task was to subdue them, should they give in to the rage within and mine was really as a lookout, since trying to calm down any Uratha from their enraged beast form would probably lead to me coming off worst.

The Hisil is a strange place - figments of the imagination can come to life and your very being can influence the changes within your field of vision. I've seen it before under the influence of the mushroom tea at the Mage's library and while I may wish to indulge my mind with this once more, I felt that more controlled situations would be preferable.

This time when we entered, the place looked familiar – like it was when we walked in almost a week ago. The large staircases flanking the room dominated the scene, while two reception desks were in a state of disrepair and clutter, while the rest of the room was large and empty. I stood around with Harvey, as the girls took in the sights from their own version of the green fairy.

"Are you nervous?" I asked Harvey, while we waited.

"I'm not sure what there is to be nervous of. Ask me later." Harvey threaded his fingers together and cracked his knuckles, loudly.

"That's a good way of looking at it. I thought that the Elders wouldn't have sent us here if they didn't think that we could deal with this place, right?"

"I hope you're right." His form rippled and he dropped to all fours, his huge part beast, part wolf form dominating the empty space of the foyer, as Nadia declared that we would go left. As a pack we moved into the hospital, exploring our way around the ground floor, which seemed to be mostly admin and filing rooms. There was the occasional room for 'socialising', where the residents could presumably sit down and see visitors, though I felt it unlikely that the patients would receive any. Writing off the ground floor as relatively safe and / or sane, we headed up the stairs, with me trying not to recall the young soldier who had bounced off the marble stairs in the past.

Heading left from this main landing, we found our way into the first proper wing, which had 'cells', consisting of a single medical bed, table, cupboard and very plain decoration. The occasional mournful spirit wandered listlessly around, but they were quickly deemed non-threatening.

The one room we came to had the door slightly ajar and Nadia cautiously pushed it open, unsure of what to expect. Vivid would be the best word to describe it, as the walls had become a vibrant, psychedelic mural, composed of various media, but all seemingly blended together. Like the Bayeux Tapestry, it told a story, though finding the beginning and the end proved to be problematic. The colours carried on up onto the ceiling and the entire available floor space was occupied as well. The nature of the spirit world had caused some of the pictures to become embossed, making the whole effect quite awe inspiring.

We trod carefully around the room, trying to take in the whole place, though there was no window. The only light source would have been a light, however a dangling piece of flex was suspended from the ceiling, without a bulb. Suddenly, Nadia squatted down next to the bed and peered under it.

"Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you." I peered into the darkness and saw a figure, no more than a young woman, possibly in her early twenties, as she cowered under the bed. I backed away a little, as four of us might be too much for her to bear. Eventually, Nadia convinced her to come out – the budding artist that lived in this windowless closet of a room. The plain, skinny girl, with unkempt appearance sat down on the bed, as Nadia talked and tried to get some answers. I felt something creep across my spine, as I watched the monologue from Nadia, with Tanith trying to offer assistance. Intrigued by what I assumed was a spiritual presence, I withdrew completely from the room, as the girl seemed no threat.

The floor of the corridor was dusty and it was clear that no living soul had been here for years. This had to be a reflection of what the world on the other side of the gauntlet looked. As I looked down the corridor, the black and white tiles of the floor seemed to drag my gaze toward the end of it. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes to try and force myself to focus on the room. Practically in a trance like state, I stepped down the corridor. Just on the edge of my hearing, I caught a few whispers and incoherent mumblings from the other side. I leant forward, craning my neck to hear what they had to say.

"Gareth!" Harvey interrupted my train of thought, with a large hand on my shoulder and his voice snapping me back to the pack. I jumped visibly and turned round quickly, like a guilty teenager caught in the act by his mother, beads of sweat starting to form on my forehead.

"I'm… just… what?" My reply backed up the guilty teenager to the hilt.

"I said, are you alright? You'd wandered off."

"I'm fine." I declared, catching my breath, as Nadia and Tanith came out of the windowless room with the artist, to see me looking ill at ease with Harvey looking highly confused. "She wasn't a threat, so I tried to give her some space – four of us was probably too much for her."

"Well, she's an artist, though that was pretty obvious. Apparently, she kept her works hidden in the room's storage." Tanith flipped her note pad closed and clicked a pen, before replacing it in her top pocket.

"We'll check that out later, that's not a priority at the moment." Nadia decided and turned her gaze to me. "So, what's with you jumping like you've seen a ghost, Gareth?"

I turned back down the corridor and pointed "Something weird is going on there. Can you feel that?"

"I can feel something, any idea what's up?"

"The spirits… they seem more agitated at this end of the corridor." I hypothesised, not entirely convinced of what was happening. "Something's not right here."

"That might stack with my hair then. All the hairs on my arms have just stood on end." Nadia declared. She walked off further down the corridor and stopped at a door that seemed to have suffered a lot over the years. I looked closely at the frame and could see what appeared to be scratches covered over with decades old paintwork. While care had been taken to decorate, money had not been spent on reparations to the fabric of the building that the victims may have inflicted upon it. Looking over her shoulder at us, Nadia checked us each in turn for objections and the like. When she was certain that our path was the same as hers, she threw back the door.

This room seemed sizeable, yet compact in the layout. Against the wall to the left was a decaying bed, the metal frame tarnished, the mattress fetid and dank. Cupboards and lockers had fallen into disrepair, as had the desk, facing the bed, with a generous view of the window. The view outside must have offered some detachment for the doctors as they went about their business.

At the foot of the bed, there was a complicated machine, lots of switches and dials. A printer, now empty of paper would probably have spewed out readouts, along the line of an early lie detector.

"Why don't I feel very good about this room?" Nadia asked the question, seeking answers from the clues present in the room. Harvey wandered over to the desk and started poking around, opening drawers and searching for something that might help. My gaze was drawn back to the machine, which seemed strange. Surely something like this was valuable and could have been salvaged from the place, when it went under.

"It might be something to do with the machine. I've no idea what it's for, though."

"Let me have a look, see what I can work out." Nadia walked over to the machine and started inspecting the control panel, trying to read the faded dials and make any kind of sense of it. Tanith walked over and looked over her shoulder, trying to see if there was any way to help.

"Um… you might want to leave it alone." I ventured, following one cable back to the wall. "I think it's still plugged in."

"Can electricity flow in the Hisil?" The words left Nadia's mouth and it was as if something had been switched on, but very slowly. A crackle of electricity seemed to come from the machine and I could have sworn that I saw the cables, with the little pads, start to twitch, as if like long-dead fingers coming back to life.

With a crack like a whip, the cables seemed to come alive, sparks and arcs of electrical discharge walking along them. Almost instinctively, Tanith dropped and her form shrank down to the snarling lupus, as Nadia took a step back and Harvey's menace was very evident, building from across the room, as paperwork swirled around him.

We were not getting anywhere with this spirit – having the power of electricity on its side, we were not going to be able to beat it to submission, without taking a few injuries ourselves. I stepped to my left towards the door, trying to get a better look at the spirit controlling the machine. As I did so, it lashed out in my direction, an arcing finger-like cable, making its way toward me. I flinched, fearing the pain that was sure to come and was surprised when it didn't.

Sensing the movement of the spirit-machine combination, Tanith had leapt to her left, bravely putting herself before me and taking the force of the blow. Winded, she hit the floor awkwardly, but gathered herself momentarily afterwards. I wheeled back around, behind Tanith, more toward the centre of the room, still trying to sense a chance to assist my pack here.

Harvey ducked and weaved, unsure of where to hit the 'beast', as he dodged a few aimless flails from the menace of cables and tendrils. Snapping her jaws in her near-wolf form, Nadia was not quite so lucky, one of the sharpened edges of the pads opening up a nasty cut just above her eye, though she seemed unperturbed by this. As I moved around to the plug socket, I heard a slapping noise and the crackle of electricity as it struck Tanith across the face in a wild slap. That made my mind up and I wrenched the plug from the wall.

I still can't believe that I was surprised it didn't seem to work. The rage flowing through her, Nadia let go of her restraint and roared, her muscles bulging and she struck at the animated wires. As she dragged them away from Tanith, there was another crackle and it struck her once more. Bounding over, Harvey grasped the main body of the machine and lifted it up, while Nadia pulled the ends of the cables closer to her, away from Tanith, who got back up. Desperately, the possessed machine flailed at Nadia and dealt her a blow in the head, though she seemed not to notice. Bracing herself against the cable, she pulled, as Harvey pulled the machine away, ripping the lengths of cable from the contraption and causing the spirit to vacate the place it had called home.

A swirling mass, almost like a small thunderstorm jumped out of the broken box of electrical components, rumbling and showing signs of malcontent. Not impressed with what she had seen, Nadia started clawing madly at the mass. I moved back around, away from the wall, while trying to stay aware of anything else that might cause us problems. Feeling safer now that I had Tanith back between me and our rather angry alpha, I glanced at her injuries – she had a nasty cut above her eye and she was holding her left hand over her abdomen.

"Window!" Harvey yelled and the pair of us headed for the old decorative windows, while Harvey kept an eye on Nadia and her opponent.

"It's stuck!" Tanith cried as she messed with the catch and couldn't get it to move. I grabbed at a chair and called Tanith over the sound of a minature clap of thunder.

"Tanith, duck!" She dropped and I succeeded in putting the chair leg through the small squares of glass, but did little to the framework. Standing back up, Tanith put her shoulder against the chair and heaved open the window, with a little help from me. We moved back to a safe distance and Harvey allowed the fight to manoeuvre, almost like a dancing instructor, guiding the couple across the ballroom. Nadia saw through her rage and snapping her jaw just wide of the spirit's claw-like limb. It backed off and her mighty claw came over the top in a smashing blow, pushing the spirit off balance, through the open window. Only Nadia dared to look out of the window, as she snarled and snapped, almost rabid in her determination to cow the spirit that had sought to wreak havoc upon us. A massive fork of lightning outlined Nadia's monstrous form and the strike seemed to signal finality. Nadia allowed the rage to seep away and she reduced herself to her near-human form. She wiped her face and inspected the blood on the back of her hand, before spitting out of the open window.

"You alright?" I queried, as Nadia's breathing calmed a little.

"I've been in rougher pubs," she declared, breathing heavily and standing up, looking around the pack. Satisfied with Nadia's assessment, I turned back to Tanith, who looked a little unsteady. "How about you Tanith?"

"I've been better, but I think I've been worse." As she shifted back to her human form, Tanith peeled back her blood-stained T-Shirt from her midriff and exposed a nasty cut around her navel, which had started to heal. Similarly to Nadia, she had a mark above her eye, which had bled quite a bit. "Damn, I really liked that top as well."

"Buy yourself a new one when we get out of here. Let's just focus on getting out first." Nadia declared.

"Well, that's not everything dealt with – we'll be here for months if we keep doing it one step like this, then run home." Harvey seemed mildly irritated by the situation, almost as if he had been fed a mere morsel of combat and not fully tested.

"We have the East Wing to try, or we could go further upstairs." I ventured.

"Then there's the basement, as well." Tanith countered.

"Whatever, let's make sure we search the whole place and make sure we remove violent spirits. Perhaps when we get rid of some, the rest will be less feisty." Nadia stepped out of the door and we continued on our way.

After about half an hour of searching this floor, we had found a few spirits wandering around like lost souls. Tanith took as much detail as she could, hoping to find some names for her memorial plan. All of the rooms were treatment rooms here and they seemed to have been stripped, unlike the one where the spirit caught us by surprise.

We headed upstairs on the west of the hospital and found more bedroom-come-cell arrangements. The walls were bare and where one or two had been left with the occasional piece of paperwork, these were gathered up for future use in the detective work.

"It's sad to see a piece of history like this reduced to such a poor looking shell." I commented, as we looked through one ransacked room.

"You think the hospital worthy of preservation? I think it is a wretched place." Nadia announced.

"Maybe so, Nadia. But is it not said that beauty is only skin deep?" Tanith pointed over towards a section of the crumbling plasterwork. "Look at that – you can see where the old function of the room is covered by the hospital's plaster and the needs changed. The suffering of the inhabitants of the hospital is only skin-deep, in the grand scale of things."

"I'm not sure, that might just seem to trivialise the lives that were lost here. I agree that there is more to this place than death, suffering and malice, but we must convince the spirits of that as well." I pointed out a wisp of a man – not physically old, but haggard and drawn in the face. "Don't worry, my friend. We will help restore this place to how it was before the hurt came." Idly, the spirit plodded on, straight through me, as if not aware of my presence. It was as if someone had just walked over my grave and my whole body shivered momentarily with the cold. "See? It was as if I weren't there."

A little later on, our search of the second floor completed, we moved back to the main building and continued to head upstairs. On the third floor, we found a wet room, complete with sunken baths, which drew our interest.

"Could be a trap, stay alert." Harvey noted. "The only equipment that was left so far has had spirits in it."

"Are you going to get a set of tools and remove the baths from the floor, when you're leaving this place?" You could get money for the equipment that was possessed, but nowhere near as much as you'd spend on breaking the baths out, surely." I caught Harvey's scornful look as I walked into the room, the rest of the pack looking around, anxious. "I see your point – there is cause for concern, but I'm just playing devil's advocate." Even so, I dropped to all fours, my vision changing to monochrome, but my nose more than making up for it, by picking up intricate details in the movement of the air.

"Be careful, Gareth." Cautioned Tanith, as I approached the edge of one bath and kept low to the ground. I sniffed and noticed one specific thing, which I had difficulty in conveying to the pack.

"Water… smells strange… not old." I managed with some effort to contort my lupine throat around the words. I turned to drop back down the stairs to my packmates and as I pushed off against the floor, my feet slipped from under me.

I felt like a cartoon character, running as fast as I could across thin air, struggling for purchase on the wet stone of the floor. Suddenly, I hit the floor and slid ungainly into the dark water. This did not feel like water, as there was a solid feeling of hands probing and groping at my sodden fur. I tried to observe them, but could see nothing due to the darkness. Snapping at anything getting close enough to my jaws and kicking my legs frantically, I connected with something and felt the arm recoil in pain. Not a groping hand any more, but a bunched fist, it slammed into my midriff and I doubled up, losing a lot of air and gulping back a mouthful of foul tasting stagnant water. Strange patterns danced across my eyes and I started to feel light headed as my air supply began to run out. For what seemed like ages, I struggled against the grip of this fell spirit and a hand grasped me at the scruff of my neck. My energy sapped completely, I could not fight any longer and gave in to the pull that hoisted me away.

"Didn't I say to be careful?" Tanith scalded me as I coughed up a mouthful of the foul water. It didn't take much effort to look like a kicked puppy, my fur soaking wet and with me lying across the ground in an expanding puddle. As my eyesight cleared, I noted that Nadia, Tanith and Harvey were all quite sodden as well. Slowly catching my breath, I nodded to Tanith and struggled to my feet on shaking legs.

I pushed the hair out of my eyes and looked around the room apologetically at my pack mates. "Looks like I'll need a shower tonight then."

"Don't push your luck, you're not funny." Tanith declared and walked off, leaving a wet trail across the floor.

"Sorry?" I tried, but got no response and squelched off after the pack.

"Right, so where do we head now? This floor has been swept and we know a little more about the inhabitants – some malicious, others in need of assistance." Nadia, aware that tempers were getting short, still wanted to continue a little longer.

"I'd say the first floor on the other side. It looks like we've got movement there," said Harvey, casting his glace down the corridor and taking advantage of his animalistic senses.

"Alright Harvey lead on," declared Nadia. We descended a flight of stairs and entered the main corridor, which was considerably shorter than on the other side. The double doors opened into a huge dormitory or ward, where there were beds spread out on either side, with rails for isolating curtains, long since departed. As the four of us stood in the doorway, we took in the appearance of the people walking around was not that of normal humans. They seemed like they were in 'near human' form, but demonstrating attributes of other animals. Among them, we spotted the occasional werewolf easily enough, as we had seen our own forms. At the far end, a larger bay seemed to house a well built figure of a man, the lower half of his form akin to that of a horse.

"What is this place? One of Rolf Harris' more macabre jokes?" Nadia stepped cautiously forward, as one or two of the spirits regarded her warily, but not with any degree of malice, shrinking away from her. Even the powerful and proud Centaur at the far end of the corridor shrank back from her gaze.

"Yes, it looks like Animal Hospital on drugs." Harvey declared, as Tanith looked questioningly at me, as I could only shrug. We followed the pair through the watching crowd of creatures and spirits, but we sensed that they were wary. Even those that reminded us of other Uratha were backing off, as if we were unlike them somehow. A couple of sets of eyes glanced at us from beneath the cover of the antiquated hospital beds and we largely ignored them. Walking confidently to the end of the corridor, Nadia found herself face to chest with the centaur. He towered over her and looked down, though the look on his face was still one of quiet fear.

"We do not come to harm you – our aim is to restore balance to this place and subdue some of the renegade spirits here." Behind her back, I cringed slightly at Nadia's choice of words. "Could we count upon your support?"

Detecting a shift in the mood of the room, I glanced about at the other spiritual denizens, who did not seem outwardly altered by this coming together. Slowly, the centaur nodded agreement, to Nadia's satisfaction. She turned and walked out of the room, allowing us to follow.

As we exited the double doors and pulled them to behind us, Tanith turned her head to the left, regarding a door to what looked like a storeroom. "Did you guys hear that? It sounded like a dog scratching at the door, there." Sure enough, the sound was just like a dog's claws dragging down the door, to attract a master's attention, letting them in. The spherical handle of the door explained why something like a dog or cat could not operate the handle.

When Tanith opened the door, the most surprising visage came into view – a young man, no more than his early twenties was squatted on all fours by the door. As it opened, he backed away hurriedly, so as not to be struck by the door. We all stared at the barely clothed individual, as he rocked back on his haunches and scratched his ear with his foot. It was like watching some weirdly immersive interpretive dance. I was horrified at the mental state of the man, while Tanith decided to crouch down and address him herself.

"Thomas? Thomas Belmont?" She queried after a few seconds examining the young man before her. The young man looked up at her, with knowing in his eyes. A glaze of a tear caused his eyes to shimmer slightly and he strained his throat to emit a dog-like whine.

"You know him, Tanith? What's wrong with him?" Nadia queried, as Tanith reached out and patted the young man's head, ruffling the lanky hair trailing down his back and noting his reaction to her advances.

"I've picked up some details from the files – he might be one of the patients that was 'delusional'. I think he was one of us and they literally beat the wolf out of him."

"Is there anything we can do for him now?"

"Short of ending it for him, I don't think so. Though I think we'd better see what else there is first, as that might not be the best idea." Tanith hastily amended her idea, as she caught my look of panic, behind Nadia's back. We walked out of the room and the spirit of a man, with the mind of a wolf tried to whine, sounding very sorrowful, as we left the corridor and descended back to the lobby.

"Where now? We've still got a few floors above that to check out." I queried as we gathered our emotions and grabbed a quick snack.

"Well, upstairs is bound to be something powerful – I've played enough video games to work that out." Harvey declared to the pack.

"I'm not sure that life works like that, Harvey. Well, not all the time." Tanith piped up, as Nadia peered at a door leading under the stairs, which had remained largely untouched.

"We could try in there, if you don't fancy going up for now. We'll have to do it at some point." She stood near the door, but didn't open it

"Yeah, but Rome wasn't built in a day, was it?" I responded, checking my watch and seeing that we were now approaching eleven at night. Knowing I had to be up for work in the morning, I had to make sure I'd at least attempted to sleep, before embarking on the rounds. I didn't want to take the Mick with my new supervisor at the depot, kinfolk or not.

"Come on, you wimp!" Harvey nudged me with his shoulder, as he pushed past, approaching the door, while Tanith stood there, transfixed by the arched woodwork above the door.

"What's up, Tanith?" I waved a hand in front of her face, breaking the spell.

"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing." She faltered and brushed my hand away. "After you."

The door opened up to reveal a staircase descending into the darkness. I placed my fingers along the wall and dragged them down, trying to keep my balance. It was bone dry and not as cold or clammy as I had suspected. As I pulled my hand from the wall, I noticed that there was some deposit on the tips of my fingers. I sniffed and recoiled from the smell of the soot. "Is this the boiler room, or something?" I asked to the void in front of me.

"If that smell is anything to go by, it probably is!" Harvey commented on his way down into the darkness. Messing around with a torch, we eventually managed to find out way down among old pipes going over head and a large furnace. The black dust led to a small pile of coal, with a spade and an ominous glow emanated from behind the grille of the dormant beast that was at one point used to heat the building. The large water tank above the grate was now rusted, holey and overall useless, but something seemed alive within this area.

"I just want to check I'm not seeing things now. Can you all see that?" I pointed at the grate and looked at everyone else. Tanith hadn't taken her gaze from the orangey-yellow glow from beyond. As we all looked and peered closely, there was a sound of crackling and an intense heat, as if a bonfire was raging a few feet from us.

I watched as the grate lifted itself up slowly and a sizeable ember fell out. We all took a step back and I hooked Tanith's elbow, pulling her back ever so slightly, seemingly unbeknown to her. The ember seemed to writhe and contort, slowly growing, as it took on a humanoid shape. It drew itself up to an impressive height then stood before us, making a clinking noise as what I had assumed was a spirit started to cool down and we beheld a muscular young man, carved out of flame. He was wearing a pair of tattered trousers and looked about us with an arrogant sort of grin on his face. His flaming gaze fell on Tanith and his smile turned to one of delight. She smiled back, almost lost in the flames that seemed to be his very being.

"What on earth is it?!" Hissed Nadia, trying to find an answer to this latest dilemma. "Is it hostile?"

"If it were hostile, I'm sure it would have killed us by now. Maybe it's trying to assess us," I hoped aloud.

"I think it's hungry," Tanith snapped out of her apparent stupor and walked over to the pile of coals. Selecting a reasonable lump, she walked back and proffered it to the man standing before her. A deep rumbling growl accompanied a grin spreading across its face and it reached out tentatively, taking the coal and looking at it. He bit into the rock and chewed it thoughtfully, his smile returning and the fires of his eyes glowed with renewed vigour.

"We are trying to balance the spirits in the hospital – things have got a little out of hand. Will you help us?" Tanith seemed strange as she talked to the spirit, very relaxed, but that felt so wrong to me. I noticed that the pupils of her wide eyes were dilated and something seemed wrong. On impulse, a light growl escaped my throat.

It was difficult for the spirit to articulate, but it opened the grinning mouth and some smoke belched forth from between his teeth. The sound of a roaring fire accompanied the voice, but I think that the response was one worded – "YES!" While Tanith smiled and clapped her hands, the other three of us tried to make our way out of the basement, wiping sweat from our collective brows.

"Well, that was interesting. I take it that you're back with us now, Tanith?" Relief flooded my system as we had managed to walk out of the furnace, even though we had practically carried Tanith away.

"Hmm?" She seemed to be reacting as if she was coming around from meditation, or down from some sort of substance abuse.

"You went a little weird there, that's all."

"What? It was fine."

"I'm sure it was – I'll talk to you about it later."

We ended up back in the main foyer, giving us a chance to clean off some of the dirt and dust from ourselves and the bottle of booze was passed around once more. I was getting knackered and with the evening we'd had so far, I wanted a decent shower and a warm bed, though I had the feeling that the rest of the pack weren't as close to that conclusion as me.

"So, shall we finish this building before hitting the hay?" I stared at Nadia, incomprehension bubbling underneath, but suppressing it, in case the pack saw it as weakness on my part.

"Well, if we go to the top, that's where these things usually finish, isn't it? Logic," declared Harvey.

"I think that's more like cliché, Harvey." Tanith pointed out.

"What's the difference – life has become more than a little unbelievable of late, no?" Shrugging at Tanith, I followed Harvey and Nadia up the stairs, with Tanith catching up, tucking the now depleted bottle of rye back into her pack.

The stairs led up into a large spacious hallway or anteroom. A skylight in the ceiling had leaked water in the mortal realm and this was reflected here slightly, with distorted panes of glass, twisted into unrealistic and jagged shapes – clearly the skylight in the material realm was broken and Mother Nature was trying to reclaim this from humanity. A large, imposing set of double doors stood before us, the intricate carving picturing little demons, laughing and making disgusting faces at us all.

Harvey turned the handle and pushed open the door into a large, spacious ward, quite bright and airy, compared to the others which we had visited. Nurse spirits wandered from bed to bed ministering to unseen patients, while a white coated doctor figure paced around, checking a clipboard at the foot of one of the far beds. A nurse turned to look at us, though we could not tell with what she saw us – her face was smooth, without feature. No mouth, nor eyes or ears and the whole effect took me aback. She glided over to us and seemed to inspect us, as if trying to work out who or what we were.

Suddenly, she declared "The doctor will see you now." And stepped aside, revealing the doctor, who walked over purposefully, yet slowly. His features were plain to see – they looked sad, with his thinning, greying hair, sunken eyes and almost grey complexion.

"Ah, visitors." His voice had all of the cheer of an accountant facing redundancy. "I shall have to let you see the Matron first." It was only at this point that I had noticed we had strayed into the middle of the ward and the door was quite some distance behind us.

"Oh, it's alright, we came to see you," trilled Nadia, as there was a boom of the door behind us slamming. Cautiously, we all turned around, to see what was in store for us. A rather large female figure, dressed as a nurse, which could only possibly be the Matron stood there, dwarfing us. The stern expression across her features said that she was a no-nonsense type from the 1950s.

As we prepared ourselves to face the spirited Matron, she seemed to look over us, waiting. As this happened, the doctor clicked his fingers and said "You, gel! I think I shall see you now." On impulse, Tanith turned around and stared into the face of the Doctor. I felt something stir nearby and wanted to be sick, but kept it together, as he mumbled something to Tanith and then said "give in!" One of the beds seemed to have a patient in, who got up. He beckoned to Tanith, who walked off in the direction of his bed. Helpless, I watched the Matron, as I felt my feet rooted to the floor. The Doctor turned and walked to the next bed, continuing his rounds.

The Matron continued to drone on about something, but this was lost on me as I tried to take stock of the situation, with Tanith being captured by some sort of a spirit and the other three of us trying our damnedest to do something about the Doctor and his Matron here. Two orderlies flanked us and a nurse grabbed an old fashioned syringe from one of the medical trolleys nearby

"Or we will have to sedate you." Said Matron, as Nadia made a decision, punching one of the orderlies squarely in the face. Harvey immediately assumed his terrifying Gauru form, striding forward and trying to get to the Matron, so he could tear her to smaller pieces. I backed off as the nurse came after me with the syringe. I grabbed a clipboard from the end of the bed and brought it up just in time, as the hypodermic slammed into the notes on the patient, they referred to.

"Sorry mum, but she's not a lady." I stood on the nurse's foot and slammed the clipboard into her faceless features, causing her to stagger back. She flailed her hands at me, though didn't make any contact, as I proceeded to whack her a few times with the clipboard to make sure. The curtained booth where Tanith had been taken seemed calm and as I looked over there, I heard Tanith giggle, inexplicably.

"I'm glad you're having fun. We could use a hand though!" I dropped the clipboard and ran over to Nadia, lending my aid as Harvey tore one of the orderlies in two, a massive chunk of torso flying through the air. He let loose a roar of defiance as he flicked his head from side to side. Nadia had chosen her beast-wolf form and was biting at whatever she could get at. I grew into my Dalu form, taking on the monster to augment my human features. I grabbed the orderly and allowed Nadia to bite and claw to her heart's content, while keeping a view of Harvey's situation, as another spirit flew across the room and was slow to get back up. Wisely, this spirit nurse kept her distance, content to lick her wounds and live for another day.

The orderly stopped moving and seeing a look of terror cross the 'face' of the nurse, as Nadia rounded on her was really odd. Harvey swung a fist at the Matron, who dodged the blow by taking half a pace backwards. Had it made contact, that may have severely damaged the more powerful spirit and Harvey overbalanced slightly, cursing as only a werewolf in Gauru form knows how. Another nurse grabbed his arm and he made short work of her, severing her head in one powerful bite. All of the rage took its toll on Harvey's form and as he launched himself for the Matron, he shrunk considerably to his Urshul form, the mighty weight of this beast still crashing into the Matron, sending her sprawling. Nadia was not content to allow this to pass, so she moved into her war-form, striding forward and casually knocking me aside to clear up the mess.

Nadia got to the writing mess of spirit and werewolf and picked up the Matron as if she were made of paper. Harvey hung on with his jaws and let go as she were lifted from him, before watching as Nadia punched the Matron and slammed her head into the door. Quickly checking the other spirits were not advancing on us, I hurried over, as Nadia burst the Matron's head like a horrible boil, an ethereal puss oozing out onto the floor, as the figure went limp and Nadia dropped the remains. She turned and charged back past me, knocking me sprawling once more, as this time her stamina reached its limit, causing her to stumble, but continue running as a human once more, pointing at the Doctor and leading the charge.

The three of us ran hell for leather down the room, Harvey arriving first and pouncing on the Doctor's back, tearing at whatever he could get his jaws around. Nadia arrived second and I was getting quite annoyed to be missing out on the fun. I gave in and let my own rage take over. I felt the raw power of the beast within me. I felt the speed and my muscles swelling to huge proportions. Above all else, I felt angry, really angry! I strode up to Nadia and tossed her aside, grabbing at a strangely solid flesh for a spirit, tearing and biting my way through. Harvey got in the way and prevented me from getting too much damage in, but the effect was the same, given that a bloody "NOOOOO!" emanated from what was left of the doctor's spirit, as we devoured its essence, cleansing part of the hospital. I dropped to my knees, exhausted and sodden, our hardest encounter a success.

Slowly, Nadia regained her composure and walked back over to the curtained bed. She drew back the curtains and remarked "what the hell?" I pulled myself back to my feet and staggered over, remembering about Tanith, as my head cleared and the rage returned to its compartment for another day.

Tanith lay on the bed, hair and makeup a mess, with a confused girly grin on her face. "Did I miss something?" She queried as Nadia stared at her open mouthed, impersonating a goldfish.

"If what I heard was true and that was the sort of spirit I think, he won't even call you." Tanith's happy state subsided a little and she struggled up, with our help. "Come on, let's go home now."

"Judging by the sounds coming from behind the curtain, you had a much better time of it than we did." I tried not to look bothered by it, though conflicting emotions take some hiding, even for me.

"Really? What sort of noises?" Tanith questioned, as she regained more control of herself, following us out of the ward's doors.

"There's only one of the seven deadly sins that would do it justice, I think." I tried tact, hardly a strong suit of mine.

"That's not true, Gareth. Give the keys to Fort Knox to Scrooge McDuck and he'd sound just like that," Nadia quipped as she looked at me, grinning. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Tanith had started to blush. I shut up, putting my hands up to Nadia, conceding the argument and we walked on. The four of us staggered down the stairs, nursing cuts and bruises and I stopped at the foot of the stairs, looking into the distance for a moment.

"You gonna check the files now, Tanith?" Harvey queried

"They'll still be here in the morning, no doubt. Let's go back home, I could murder a cuppa."

"And a cigarette, I suppose." Nadia added. Tanith playfully slapped the Alpha across the shoulder.

"Hardly a way to talk about someone you barely know, is it?" She feigned offence and staggered out of the door, with Harvey's assistance. I stopped them just outside the door and peered into the scenery, pryingly.

"What are you doing now? You'd better not be finding us any more spirits, Gareth." Nadia tapped her foot impatiently.

"No… I'm just not sure why it's here, that's all."

"What's here?" Tanith was now getting curious at the turn of events.

"Hold on, I need to concentrate a second." As I watched, I allowed my vision to drift out of focus. I saw a telltale blue shimmer, which I had found before, meaning that the gauntlet was at its thinnest, almost frayed like a sheet of insubstantial fabric. I put my hand up, catching a 'strand' of the gauntlet and pulled gently. Slowly, I picked my way through, opening a way back across to the material realm and home. The pack followed me back to the hospital at gone midnight in the world of humanity. "Brilliant. Now we don't have to walk home… although, you might not be fit to drive."

"Piss off, Gareth!" It was my turn to receive a playful slap, as we made our way down the drive, to bundle into Tanith's car and head back home. For the record, I don't ever want to be slapped by her. Even a playful slap hurt.