FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

                The

pope was beside himself with joy and kicked out everyone else from the room.

"You are most amazing. Leo has told me about your trip, but only with the

barest of details. You must tell me more!"

                He

looked at the older looking woman and the younger looking boy. "Can it really

be?"

                They both

looked embarrassed. Alexei went to speak in Russian, but stopped when he

realized that the pope wouldn't understand him. Edward smiled and handed over

his ring to the pontiff and the conversation flowed.

                "Your

Eminence! I am so very glad to meet you!" said Alexei.

                "And I

as well sir," answered his sister.

                "And

you are - brother and sister? Children of the last tsar?"

                "Yes."

                "Extraordinary.

I might not have believed such a story were it not for the fact that the great

Leonardo da Vinci is now one of my advisors. You must have lived incredible

lives for all these years. You are much older than I am, and I have many

stories I could tell if my position allowed it. Did you know, for example, that

I was once a bouncer in a bar? That was before I found my calling of course,

but it makes for some interesting memories."

                "Life

has been...difficult for us. But it has turned itself around thanks to these two.

Without my grand niece and her, uhhh, companion, we would never have been

reunited again."

                "Family

is important. God made it the focus of our lives, and so it remains today. But whatever

will you do with yourselves now? Not that anyone would ever believe you, for

the world is not ready for such strange events and people as yourselves. I mean

you no offense. It's just that people hate change, and you would disrupt

everything they think they know of the world, which I might add is woefully little.

God gave us brains, but so many followers prefer to put the proverbial basket

over their lamp and hide the light. We are not in the days of old anymore. We

must keep pace with the changes"

                Maria

smiled. "We have been living in the past out of fear. But we have found that

the only thing we really feared was ourselves. There is no point in us trying

to convince the world who we are. I have lived too long in the wilderness to

desire any notoriety."

                "And I

have lived a less than savory life too. But I will change that now that I have

reason. With your blessing of course your Eminence." Alexei made a little bow.

                "If you

are looking for forgiveness for your sins, I will give it to you. But in the

end it is God who forgives, so you must ask him. I do my best to do his

business on the Earth, but I presume to never assume I know his will. It is far

above my humble mind."

                "Thank

you. Whatever are you going to do about people like us?"

                "Do?

Whatever do you mean? I will do nothing about you. God made you like you are,

so who am I to interfere with his work? If you believe you are inherently evil,

then I will say this. Evil is something you chose to do. So if you have

committed acts that are abhorrent to you, then refrain from doing them again.

That is where your salvation lies; self reconciliation. Ignore everything else.

A wolf lives out his life as a wolf, and a man as a man. But you; you are torn

between both of those worlds. I do not envy you your tough choices."

                Edward

was smiling. Maggie grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "What?"

                "I

think the ring may be rubbing off on him. He hardly talks like a hardcore

theologian."

                "He was

nice right from the start!"

                "Yes, I

suppose he was. I think he would make a great werewolf, don't you?"

                Her

hand grew claws. Those claws dug into his hand. "Don't you dare!"

                His

smile grew larger. "I won't. It wouldn't work anyway, not in any beneficial way.

But I still think it would be funny to see him change up on the balcony while

delivering a prayer. Wouldn't that make the headlines?"

                "That

would be the least of the problems it would cause!"

                He

chuckled. "True. But like you said, he must stay the way he is. He still

doesn't realize that he has the gene in him, and I think we'll just keep it

that way. No point in alarming him over nothing."

                The two

wandered across the room to a window overlooking St Peter's Square.  There were visitors below, staring up at the

surrounding edifices, among them the pious and the heathen. The place was

imbued with a near mysticism for many, and despite his lack of a belief in a

deity, he could see where people might find solace in religion.

                "Hey

Mags, do you think we should start going to church?"

                She

looked up to see if he was joking. "No. Francis is nice, but I don't think

everyone is. You've read the news accounts about all of the scandals?"

                "Of

course. Maybe you should get a job as official house cleaner."

                "Very

funny. You should know that I don't feel the need for killing anymore. I did

what I did out of necessity."

                He

squeezed her hand. "Yeah, I know. I've done some stuff too. I guess you can't

dwell on it. But I still have to find a way out of this mess I've created. We also

still have to find a place for your aunt and uncle if they want it. That might

not be so easy to accomplish."

                "I not

so sure of that. I have an idea."

                "Really?

I'm all ears." He sprouted werewolf ears on the sides of his head.

                "Ha ha,

very funny. It's been done before." But she discussed her idea at length, and

in the end, he seemed pleased with it.

                "You

know, either way, I think we might be able to make this work."

                "I glad

you agree. We'll just have to convince them to come with us."

                "Mags, we

still have to figure out a way of getting home on our own. Our paperwork is in

shambles, and Maria probably hasn't had any ID cards for decades, if ever.

Alexei's is probably pointless and useless, and as he is now aging, it would

hardly matter. They don't have passports, so even being here in Rome makes them

illegals, just like us. We'll be alright once we make it back into the States,

but there is no guarantee we'll make it.

                "Father,

you worry too much. Religion brought us here, and religion will return us."

                She was

right. The pope bent more than a few rules again, and got them on a jet. Papers

were drawn up, photographs were taken, and in the end, the documents were good

enough to fool even Homeland Security. Of course, it helped that they landed in

Midway, and were picked up by someone from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

                They

were taken to a hotel, where Edward paid for an overnight stay in the top

suites. He wanted them to be as far from spying eyes as possible, because

anything involving the pope was now being viewed by many as an inquisition. Mags

thought it was funny the way the man was cleaning house. Edward didn't envy him

one bit. He was trying to perform a Herculean task. It was far better and

cleaner to battle a monster in the streets of New York than it was to clean up

something like the Catholic Church. It was a good thing the man had the genes

necessary to wage a prolonged battle.

                Verona

drove in from Wolf Creek to pick them up the next day. They had traveled light,

so they were able to cram themselves and their luggage into the Range Rover with

room to spare; for maybe a mouse.

                Edward

was mildly perplexed when he first saw her again, for he rather figured she

would be all over him. She wasn't icy, but she seemed a bit distant. Apparently

his interval away had given her time to think, and she had been running on a

hormone fueled high when they first met. Absence can make the heart grow

fonder, but then again, there's the saying about out of sight- out of mind. He

had a feeling that she was now reconsidering things. He was almost happy about

it.

                But he

had a responsibility to her now, and he had no intention of shirking that duty.

She had given him a hug and a kiss, but even Maggie noticed that it wasn't

fired up like before they had left. The girl felt good about that. She didn't

hate the woman, but she did envy the fact that she was fully grown and carrying

a child that she wished was her own.

                There

were other things to worry about though, like Alexei, who seemed to be entering

another grown spurt. She envied him too. What she wouldn't give to grow up

overnight to have an hourglass figure and mature ovaries. She grew hair from

her arms in her agitation. She realized it when her nails sprouted into little

black daggers. She shut down her thoughts and drove down the anger and envy.

There was no point in getting riled up over nothing. She knew Edward loved her.

She simply didn't see a way for them to be together with any peace.

                The

ride proved to be rather tense until Maria started talking with Verona.  She had on one of the rings, so their

conversation went fluidly.

                "So,

you are Edward's wife."

                "No,

not yet. I just happen to be carrying his child."

                She

looked towards the back seat and winked at Edward.

                "I see.

The child of two werewolves. That will prove most interesting in the future,

don't you think?"

                She

nodded. "Yes, and I don't think I'm looking forward to it. A child needs to

have a father and I'm not convinced that will be the case."

                Maggie

pinched Edward on the thigh. "She sounds like she's pissed."

                "I

suppose she has every right to be."

                "I can

hear you guys just fine you know. I'm not pissed. But I am beginning to see

that my hormones got the better of me. I think that I got caught up in the moment.

No offense Edward."

                "None

taken. I still have a lot to learn about being a werewolf and you had a need. I

filled that need. But now it seems we might not have as much to build upon as

perhaps you first thought. And of course, there is the other problem."

                "Yes I

know. You don't love me. You love Maggie."

                Silence

fell in the car. Only the sound of several miles of tires over pavement

permeated the interior. Alexei finally spoke.

                "I'm

feeling ill again."

                Edward

knew what he meant. "How long until we reach Wolf Creek?"

                "Not

far now. Don't you recognize the road?"

                Sure

enough, there were newly patched holes in the highway from where a terrible

chase had occurred in the recent past. Edward smiled grimly. He had been too

caught up in thinking to consider where they were at. The events that had taken

place here were already distant memories, washed to the side in the flood of occurrences

that very nearly trumped what he had done here. They came back in a rush. He

had packed in more life in the past few months than he had in his entire

previous existence.  And he wasn't close

to being done. He looked into the future for a moment, and when the moment was

done, there was a slight smile on his face.

                They

pulled into her parent's house just as Alexei let out a cry. Billy was just

coming out to see what was going on when Edward strode past him carrying the

limp body. The biker didn't know it yet, but it was going to be a very long

night.

                He

didn't ask any questions. He went to the care, assisted the others out and

helped to unpacked. The nice thing about Billy was that while he looked rough

and stupid, he was keenly aware of many things. One of the them was knowing

when to ask questions and when to keep his mouth shut. He was dying to know

everything that had happened, but he knew in his bones that things were still

going on and that he would find out the underlying story if he was patient.

                He

slammed the back of the Rover down and waddled up to the house, laden with

everyone's bags. He was still running over in his head who the kid was, and the

old lady. His cousin had been pretty mum about what had been going on in Italy.

He couldn't imagine them bring back such a strange combination, but then, who

was he to question them? He was just Billy. But he had his eyes and ears open.

That's what he did and it kept him alive.

                Inside

the house things were a bit solemn as Edward explained about the kid. So that

was part of the problem, this kid was going through his first transformation.

He hadn't seen much of that, and hadn't been able to change his own form, but

he knew the stories. That kid was going to have it rough. It was a good thing

he was young. Kids were a lot tougher than adults when it came to changes. It

probably had something to do with flexibility and immaturity. A young body

could still bend and be molded, whereas an old one was set in its form and

pretty rigid. Just like an old-timer's mind.

                He

listened to everything that was said, but seemed to get lost in the

conversation when it was mentioned that the two new folks were brother and

sister. That made no sense at all. She was obviously a crone, even if she still

cut quite the figure, and he was a kid, barely an adolescent.

                He

finally gave up. Being in a werewolf family didn't make a lot of sense, so

standing here trying to figure it out made even less sense. Someone would clue

him in eventually. He carried the luggage to the spare rooms and went outside

to tune up his motorcycle. That was one thing he could always make sense of.