Werewolf: Chapter 3 "Carolina Moon"

[LadyTevar]

SeesFaces' ears bent back as he gave way to Alex's anger. It was still just past the Full Moon, angering the Ahroun was a bad idea even if he had yet to declare himself Alpha. "Sometimes ... Gaia asks for trust." he said, keeping his ears and nose low.

[Cynical Cat]

"Trust?" Alex laughed. "Trust? It's quite clear that no one trusts me. That they trust the worst stories about the Shadow Lords. In case you haven't noticed, that isn't fucking Gaia over there. It's an insane ghost. Gaia has nothing to do with this. I will not trust the insane not to screw me over. I will not trust those who regard me only with suspicion to to believe the truth. I will not trust those who have given me scorn and derision with opportunities to wound me further. She," he said, pointing at the ghost, "has waited for a while. She can wait a few days longer. I'm leaving."

[LadyTevar]

Ears perk up as SeesFace looks up to Alex. "I trust you," he said, only be to overwhelmed by Moriah's reaction to his words.

NO! NO! NO! the ghost screamed, the blue-green fire shooting skywards, blocking the path out. YOU MUST GIVE IT TO ME! Must Give it Back It is mine! YOU BROUGHT IT BACK, YOU CANNOT TAKE IT AWAY! It is Mine! My Promise, My Vow! GIVE IT TO ME FOR MY LOVE'S SAKE! I Promised By the Moon! I promised Him! I promised... I failed...

Fire now wrapped itself around her, dangerous red, not the blue-green around the clearing. She was burning, the fire burning away her flesh, recreating her death even as the vision of her homestead showed the roof crashing in and folding the farmhouse upon itself, leaving only the chimney standing. That vision faded away, the Gnosis that had fed it gone, leaving only Moriah's rapidly skeletonizing figure leaping at Alex and the Bone in his hand.

Give Me The BONE!!!

[General Havoc]

The fire exploded skywards, the ghost screamed as only a damned soul could, and a hideous monster cast aside its failed raiment and rushed towards them. Yet, oddly enough, Sophie did not react to any of it. She did not shoulder her shotgun or scream or curse. She did not react with anger or repeated insistence that this was beyond her. To Sophie's own surprise, she did not react to the fire and the ghost at all.

It was all automatic.

As the ghost roared and the flames shot up, Sophie turned to Alex. For a second, for two seconds, she said nothing, did nothing. Then taking a deep breath, and holding it, Sophie stepped around Alex until she was standing in front of him, her back to the ghost and the fire and all the other insanity that had become her world. She ignored it all, ignored the chaos, ignored the fear and the anger and the confusion and frustration and the deep sense of displacement she had felt since coming down to this place. It boiled around her like a stew, but she ignored it, as she raised her eyes and did something she knew, somewhere in the back of her mind, was the worst idea she had ever had.

She raised her head, locking her gaze with Alex's, and holding her shotgun with one hand, extended the other to him, palm up.

"Give me the bone," she said, her voice as cool as an iceberg. "Give me the bone and back off."