Howl of the Heavens ch.02

    The last time he had traveled to Versa in this manner was back when no Europeans had set foot on the continent, now so much time has passed since those days that not only are there people here, they have developed an advanced culture further than anything he would have thought humans could produce; a random thought he has been prone to through out his life, or at least over the last century or two. He had meant to come to her in the year 1890 when her estrus began but upon arriving to this world after a few centuries of being absent he found the nuances of New York, and the industrial age far too distracting, then came the wars that would even draw him across the Atlantic in the opposite direction.

     He has no time to linger on such thoughts now as he is in California and has chosen the most direct path he could find to where he sensed his mate.  He was surprised to find the road paved out here in what seemed to be the middle of no where. He stops before a sign that reads “30 miles to Pine Ridge” and below that “50 miles to Brooksville”. He thought it odd that he would be sensing her so close to a town; he figured she must be with in ten miles of Pine Ridge but with all these mountains even such a short linear distance can place one on the other side of a mountain.

     His attention is diverted by the trace smell of blood, not just any kind of blood, but the faint trace of werewolf blood. He turns to see the source coming from a green pick up truck passing him going the same way as himself.

     “Well” he thinks, “this is certainly interesting. If it is only a coincidence than I won’t bother, but that person may be heading to the same place as my self.”

      “Hmm perhaps I should have tried to read his mind” he says aloud to himself with a shrug, “but it is such a bother to read a mind traveling in a car moving away from me.” He just shrugs his shoulders again and starts into a jog along his, granted to anyone watching this job would be of a surprising speed.

    She had been sensing his presence on the continent for a very long time now even across the continent she could sense his unique energy signature; he had expected him to arrive right away. By the time he had come to the continent she had already learned from new people in the area, a surprise to her, that the country was changing and technology was advancing quickly. So her mate had many distractions and she knew he was easily distracted by anything new or potentially world effecting.

     So he was likely to stay in the east for awhile; at least until he remembered why he was on the continent in the first place.

     “But now” she thinks this day looking back over the last century or so, “he has finally found his way here. I wander what he will think of this little town I have allowed in my territory, I had better send him a mental message for a meeting place… the Trading post perhaps.”

     She knows he is now close enough to receive a mental message and this day by coincidence is the very day she regularly goes to get some extra food from the trading post, from his distance he would probably take until the next day at a regular pace so she sent the message to come quickly so he could check out her current human form and see how she interacts with the local human population before he moves in, it has been so long and the last she saw him he wasn’t exactly tolerant of humans.

    He receives her mental message of the gas station and that she would prefer to meet there that night. He had however of course already started into a jog. When he reaches the gas station he notices the smell of werewolf blood is there as is the green pick up truck. He senses that his mate isn’t far away and her message said she would arrive in only a few hours. As he still has money from his previous encounters with humans he figures he might as well go in and get a little something to drink. Plus this would give him a chance to size up the man with the smell of werewolf blood on him.

      Inside it is a fairly well sized establishment with a large desk with shelves of preserved *rustic food* from jerked beef, pork, venison and all sorts of canned and salted fish and even hard tack something he hadn’t seen for a century. There are bar stools at the desk and about five tables, this place seems a bit more modern than he expected from gas stations in isolated areas. The man with the blood stench sits at a table to the side of the bar.

    Behind the bar is a fairly large man who he assumes is the attendant, he can smell a third person in the building whose scent tells him is a much younger person than the man behind the bar yet clearly related to him. He sits down and asks for a cup of milk.

    A moment later he asked the attendant, “So tell me what is the deal with this place?”

    The attendant starts in with the history of the town which disturbingly to him includes what is clearly a description of his mate, which for some reason attracts the attention of what at this distance he can confirm is definitely a werewolf hunter.

    He listens as the hunter asks about the “grey haired woman”. As the conversation wears on he grows bored, until the scent of his mate draws his attention.

    She had approached the trading post when the scent of werewolf blood caught her attention; it was coming from a green pick up. Although she didn’t recognize all the scents she definitely recognized skin walker type werewolf blood which she had encountered in the area many years before. She was curious about it and approached with caution.

    As she now draws close to the outside of the building she receives a mental image of the hunter, who is inside, from her mate who is now inside the as well. He thinks it best that the hunter not see what she looks like in her human form just yet, although she can’t imagine why. However she trusts his judgment as he travels around a lot more than she does and thus is likely more familiar with these types of people. She ducks to the side of the store where she can listen to the whole conversation inside, her hearing able to listen in even on the breathing of mice in the basement if she so chose to zone in on them.

    When she hears the hunter ask about her and when she would arrive she takes control of Paul the attendant’s mind and forces him to say she would be around in seven days. Unfortunately human minds don’t react well to the over powering effect of her kind’s mental abilities so Paul gives a very pathetic excuse for a sentence. But it seems to work as the hunter leaves the store. She eyes him from the shadows as he leaves for she knows this won’t be the last she sees of him.

    Finally she can enter with out this extra annoyance, and that is when for the fist time in a very long time the two had laid eyes on each other and the first time either of them had seen the human guise of the other for even longer. It is an odd sensation; both recognizing and not recognizing each other at the same time. They both feel that their behavior is attracting the attendant’s attention so they break off so she can finish her business there.

    To his amazement she pays in gold and even shows some of her strength by carving the gold right in front of the humans, she must see that the little human is un-nerved by what she is doing but pays no mind. She sends back the mental image that she had never seen the little one before but the older one thought nothing of it. This was confirmed by the man’s behavior, she sent the man’s name to him “Paul”.

    She was clearly familiar with the locals at least to a point that to him seems to be a rather careless. She left ahead of him showing more of her strength than he thought appropriate but oddly enough Paul comes up with an excuse for it even with out mental control.

     He pays and heads outside himself. In the dim light he and his mate exchange the customary greeting of circling each other while smelling the air and sending the greeting mental impulse which causes their eyes to glow a haunting blue. This ritual involves a series of images showing their experiences, desires, and one last piece...their names and titles.

   She addresses her self as “Versa of the Rai”

   And he addresses himself as “Rhuen of the Elder Rai.”

   And that is the means by which they are re-acquainted after so much time apart. Rhuen lifts her parcel and they disappear into the darkness together.