I didn’t know what what worse: the absolute silence that consumed the air, or the empty void inside of my head.

The pain woke me up. I was laid out flat on my back, stiff as a board. What wasn’t stiff throbbed with every heartbeat, especially the areas that were being repeatedly stabbed by the hay I was on. Blankets that I recognized from our hall closet were tucked in tightly around Hilde and I, which made laying on the hay much more bearable than it otherwise would have been. The rain had stopped, but the moisture in the air was muggy enough to promise more misery later on in the day. Add to that was all of the stillness; the wind didn’t blow, the crickets and cicadas, silent, the dawn, crisp. It felt like I was in a vacuum. Hell, maybe I was. Perhaps this farmhouse was the vacuum and as soon as we left it, nature would return to life again. It was as good an explanation as any, for I felt as if we were stumbling from one Twilight Zone to another.

Howard remained seated at our heads, blanket up to his neck but shotgun laid across his lap to be used in an instant. His eyes were closed and his head was tilted back against the steel wall, but I didn’t think he was deeply asleep. Usually, the man had a snore that could rattle the shingles off a roof. His silent breathing only added to the feeling of being in a vacuum.

Hilde remained curled into me, breath blowing softly against my cheek. Her body remained too still, too stiff, with her eyes squeezed tightly closed as she slept. I could see the distress on her face as she dreamt of the terrible things that had happened last night, and to know that things could have gone very wrong for us made me grateful to feel her breath against my cheek.

Despite the pain I was in, my mind felt numb. I was grateful for this, believe it or not. I really hadn’t had the time to assimilate everything that has happened, and I was not in the mood to have a bitch fit right now. Instead, with great difficulty, I sat up. Looking out, I could see that the moisture in the air was visible in the form of a mist that continued on to the horizon. That gave off a feeling of isolation, and combined with the sense of being in a vacuum, I could be easily convinced that we were on a faraway planet.

Staring out, I pulled the blanket up around my shoulders in defense against the chilled air. None of us were dressed appropriately, and our adventure last night did not help. My plaid and lilac pajama set was thoroughly saturated with mud and possibly deer shit, as well as my fluffy house shoes and hair. Hilde was a little better off with a pink long sleeved tee, gray jogging pants and tennis shoes while Howard sported his infamous Hawaiian shirt, cargo pants and Timberlands. Their clothing and faces were covered in mud as well, giving us the appearance of middle class refugees.

With great effort, I managed to maneuver myself from my hay bed to the door of the farmhouse. Curled in as tight a ball as I could manage, I wrapped my blanket around me as I leaned against the doorway and stared out. Trollé told us to wait for someone to come get us, so wait we would. I certainly wasn’t in any condition to physically travel, and I didn’t know where we would go exactly. It could be to my and Hilde’s house, Howard’s house, the International Space Station… one never knew with the Shenlong. I let that thought and anything else that entered my mind have free reign. What the hell, I didn’t have anything else better to do. Inevitably, due to the silence, my thoughts and the warmth from my blanket, I fell back to sleep.

Some time had passed before the feeling of being watched pierced through my consciousness, and I woke with a start. Looking around blearily, I didn't see anyone or anything out of the ordinary. Confused, I glanced behind me to find that Howard and Hilde were still sleeping. Sighing, I turned back around and jumped again when I saw the Adze standing about two feet in front of me with a canvas bag in his hand. We stared at each other, me waiting for him to say or do something, him waiting for who knew what. After a short eternity of this, he finally came forward and placed the canvas bag on the farmhouse floor. I watched him like a hawk as he took out a thermos and held it out towards me. Cautiously, I took the thermos from him and opened it to find it filled with chicken noodle soup. Pleasantly surprised, I smiled my thanks and began to eat as he sat there and stared out into the mist. Once I finished my meal I screwed the cap back on and handed it to the Adze. It was as our fingers brushed that I was assaulted with a vision.

The point of view was from an angle the Adze would be if he was kneeling before someone and looking up at them. The person he was kneeling before was Quatre.

Quatre was almost unrecognizable. He was dressed in the nomadic garb that was similar to the man in my visions, from the covering over his head to the muted colors of sand. If his face was covered I wouldn’t have even known it was him. He was speaking rapid-fire in another language that I guessed to be Arabic. He was pacing back and forth in front of the Adze, agitated but not exactly panicked. I couldn't tell exactly where he was, but he appeared to be in some hotel room. (Didn’t Mariemaia say he was at the Marriott?) He faced the Adze again and said more that I couldn’t understand before he said a word that I had heard before: Chimera.

As quickly as the vision started it ended, and I found myself slowly lowering my hand back into my lap. It was obvious I was distracted, and the Adze was looking at me strangely. Blushing, I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment but did not offer any explanation. The Adze, suspicious, pulled out another two thermos for Hilde and Howard and put the empty one in the canvas bag. With a final suspicious look he shrunk into his firefly form before flying away into the mist. I watched him until I couldn’t see him anymore, then covered my face with my hands. I was so distracted that I couldn’t tell if he was nearby or not, but my meltdown could not wait.

What the ever loving fuck?! Seriously?! Were we serious right now? My head could honestly explode and I would’ve been okay with that. Nothing, and I meant nothing made any god damn sense, and now this shit? I wanted to throw something. I wanted to throw a lot of somethings. A lot of pointy, sharp somethings because this shit was getting crazier and crazier as we went along. I pulled the blanket over my head and pressed my face hard into my knees. What was I to think? He was kneeling before Quatre! Kneeling! Voluntarily! This felt different from how Quatre was treated from the Pack. Our Packmates understood and respected the shape-shifter’s strength, but they have never bent a knee to it. This however, felt very… visceral. So, what? What did that mean? Was the Adze a good guy? Or… was Quatre a bad one? Were we being betrayed again? We better not be. I was not in the mood for that shit.

“God damnit!” I swore as I popped my head out of the blanket. I took a deep breath of fresh air, but I wasn’t really seeing the mist before me. I was in my head, in my memories, reviewing what I saw and making connections.

I was on the cusp of two different fronts: one for the Shenlong and one against the shape-shifters. The Shenlong front consisted of the fight against the Blue Mummy and the Hunters. I knew those were connected and directly related. The Blue Mummy was the driving force behind the Hunter attacks. Deal with that bitch, and the Hunter problem would resolve itself… maybe… okay not really, but the attacks would have a more normal pattern. After all, we couldn’t possibly be the only thing on their shit list. They must have tons of other creatures to murder in the meantime, surely? Plus, the Hunters I knew were after me. That was made pretty clear.

The front that had my brain melting were the shape-shifters. The shape-shifters were the ones that troubled me the most because they seemed very fragmented. The group with the Earth Wizard seemed a different ‘breed,’ for lack of a better term, than the ones that have attacked here in Pike Creek. In fact, I had no idea what the ones with the Wizard were, I just figured that due to that one Shifter’s South African accent that they were probably African. I have no idea why I saw them, or why the Earth Wizard was able to see me. I have no idea what their agenda was either, besides the murder of one of the most beautiful but helpless creatures I have ever seen.

Now, the shape-shifters that came to Pike Creek seemed to be of their own ‘breed.’ They came by helicopter, had massive firepower, and had their own wizard who was killed by Heero. They seemed to be privately financed whereas the Earth Wizard and his crew felt like the military. The Pike Creek Shifters seemed to be of a similar ethnicity, too. I assumed as much, because they all seemed to speak the same… language… “Oh my god,” I murmured to myself, feeling incredibly stupid. The visions, the attacks… as I played things back through my mind, something became apparent. “This shit is all about Quatre.”

How coincidental that all of these shape-shifters were from the same part of the planet that our shape-shifter was. When Heero and I were attacked, Quatre was supposed to have been my bodyguard. When Quat and I were attacked at Wufei’s home, the Shifters specifically asked Quatre how he made me his slave. Could it just be bad timing on the Shifter’s part? The Hunters had been trying to kill me for months; the shape-shifters just kind of appeared out of nowhere. Rude as hell was what they were. If I were a Hunter, I’d be pissed. The Hunters had first dibs, though technically each group had different targets… Anyway, the Hunter and shape-shifter problem did not appear to be related to each other. What about the Hai-Uri though? Who the hell did that guy belong to? The creature seemed to have appeared randomly, but I didn’t buy that for an instant. It was powerful but it had the mentality of a homicidal animal. There was no way in hell someone was not holding its leash, even if they couldn’t outright control it.

I took a deep breath and blew it out. All of this shit was giving me a headache. I was hurt, in pain, filthy, in the middle of nowhere, confused and feeling lost. All I wanted was to go somewhere where my family and I could be clean, warm and safe. It was coming to me now that I have been surrounded by death for months. I have killed, and someone had killed me. I just wanted… I…

“This shit is not okay,” I whispered to myself, pressing my face against my knees again. I wanted this insanity to stop.

There was some rustling behind me. “Duo?”

Turning around, I watched as Hilde sat up, grimacing from being stiff no doubt. Exhaling a watery breath I carefully reached out and picked up a thermos. The shit in my head could wait. It wasn’t like I could do anything about it now. “Wake up Howie and come eat,” I told her, waving the thermos. “Got some chicken noodle with your name on it.”

“Oh?” Her eyebrows rose to her hairline, wanting the food but highly suspicious of it. Good girl. “How…?”

I shook my head. “It’s best that you don’t know.” She frowned at me. “It’s safe to eat, honest,” I told her softly. “I ate mine already and I’m fine. Just… the less you know, the better.”

She seemed to roll this over in her mind before she stood, shook Howard awake and joined me at the door. I stared out into the rapidly fading mist as Hilde ate her food and then Howie. After we were done the three of us remained sitting in the doorway, lost in our thoughts as we waited for our rescue that was taking its sweet time in coming.

***

The sky was beginning to turn pink and purple around the edges when I woke from the sounds of a vehicle approaching. Glancing around half awake, I saw that Howard had also fallen asleep against the other side of the doorway, whereas Hilde had gone back to her hay bed. Clawing the sleep out of my eyes, I watched as Trowa’s Hummer came over the grassy terrain. As it neared, the noise it made woke Howard and Hilde. The two of them stood and started to collect the blankets. I tried to look around as surreptitiously as I could. The thermos and canvas bag were missing; the Adze had made another visit while we slept but I couldn’t feel him. I didn’t think he was still here.

The vehicle barely stopped before the passenger side door was thrown open and Mariemaia came running out with her arms open and reaching for me. I braced for the pain, but it was unnecessary. Marie was gentle as she hugged me and I squeezed her back as hard as I could manage. I kissed her hair and mumbled comforting nonsense to her even though her eyes were dry. I thought I needed the comfort more than she did. Sally approached from the driver’s side, and with a quick glance and sniff she knew that Howard and Hilde were fine. Stepping to me she gave Marie another moment before having the cub step back so that she could look me over. She wasn’t particularly impressed.

“That troll was supposed to protect you.”

“She did the best she could,” I defended quietly. “I didn’t get hurt so much as really exacerbate what was already wrong with me.”

“Hn.”

Still unimpressed, Sally picked me up bridal style and carried me to the Hummer. Hilde and Howard followed behind silently, with Mariemaia bringing up the rear. She was sniffing the air with a look of unhappiness on her face that scarily reminded me of her aunt. “Something has been here. Shape-shifter.”

“Yes,” Sally admitted as she settled me into a middle row seat. “I can not identify what type though. I have never scented this before.”

Mariemaia inhaled again. “What is that? Bird? Insect?” she muttered to herself, sniffing multiple times. “It smells like it has wings.”

The look on my face at that announcement had Sally looking absolutely murderous. She misunderstood my expression, thinking I was shocked that a shape-shifter had been near us without us knowing, when in fact I was amazed at Mariemaia. When that cub grew up she was going to be lethal. “I will defend you with my life, Primus,” she vowed, as Hilde and Howard climbed in. My uncle closed the door as Sally ran around to get behind the wheel, Marie hopping into the passenger seat. Throwing the vehicle into drive, she took off as fast as safely possible in the direction of home.

***

We ended up back at mine and Hilde’s house. It didn’t receive any damage from the fire and Trowa wanted the Pack to remain close for protection, so two thirds of the Pack were rebuilding Wufei’s house while the other third stayed at mine to protect me and my family. It wasn’t bad. I was thrilled to be able to shower and get into some warm, clean clothes. The Pack had food out for us and picked up after us before we could raise a finger. It if weren’t for the events of last night and today, I would’ve mistaken this for a vacation.

I was happy to see only minor injuries on a few of wolves, and although the atmosphere was muted, the morale was still very strong. Some of them did lose toes, chunks of tail and muscle, bits of ears and damage to eyes, but every werewolf with an injury like that seemed to have taken it in stride. They said they would heal or regenerate them eventually, so I let their nonchalance soothe my worries. When I saw Trollé (nearly invisible under her bandages) and Quinze carrying some lumber, I felt even more relief. I nearly fell out of my kitchen window waving and calling out to her, glad that she was going to be okay. She seemed embarrassed at my carrying on, and I couldn’t help but to laugh at her. She gave me the finger.

Trowa, Heero, Rashid and Auda were relatively unscathed. Catherine had been shot with a silver arrow from a crossbow, and was so pissed that she ripped it from her body and put it through the Hunter’s eye. She was recovering in my bedroom. Mariemaia made her first kill last night by biting the head off of a Hunter who tried to capture her uncle in a silver net.

Abdul though, was the man of the hour. He punched another two RPG’s. One, out of a tree he was in (I didn’t ask why he was in the tree), and another he punched back at the Hunter who fired it, blowing her up. He seemed especially proud by that, cheerfully helping me to the bathroom when I turned green from his description.

The battle came to an end when Wufei returned from a lead he was following. Seeing his home in flames and his Pack under attack made our Packmaster absolutely decimate the Hunters. The descriptions I was given were terrifying. Many of the Hunters were wiped up with paper towels, because that was all that was left after Wufei was done with them. That still wasn’t enough to abate his fury. After the battle was done, Wufei took off somewhere to calm down. We heard him though, every so often howling out in rage while a small explosion occurred in his vicinity. A few concerned looks were thrown in my direction by some of the werewolves, but I would only wave them back to work. As far as I was concerned, him tearing shit up where ever he was meant he wasn’t tearing shit up here. Him not tearing shit up here, meant I could try to get in touch with Quatre without him at my back.

The rest of the Pack was unconcerned, even Trowa, about Quatre’s absence. I however, knew that he was gone by his own design. Quatre was in the middle of something, and was using the guise of figuring out what was going on with the shape-shifters to do whatever he was trying to do. I didn’t know what it was about the situation that I felt I had to be involved. I was starting to feel… pulled in that direction. I wanted to help Quatre, but I also felt there was another reason for my feelings. I just couldn’t pin down what my own feelings were. I felt like an idiot. Who did that?

Night had completely fallen before I got my chance. Some of the lesser Pack members raided a nearby deli, and sandwiches and sides of all kinds were being spread out over stacks of lumber that were serving as a buffet table. In between getting the pups situated with dinner and the sleeping arrangements, I contemplated how best to go about getting ahold of the shape-shifter. I kept what I learned and thought to myself. I wasn’t sure exactly why, I just felt that if I told Wufei what I thought, it would not end well. In fact, if I told Wufei some heads would roll, so… best not go there.

I had slipped into the bathroom and locked the door, leaning against it. Pulling out my cellphone, I paused. I didn’t really want to do anything that could be read by anyone else, so I was cautious about texting him. Heero could hack into anything, so I didn’t want to use Facebook. Quatre didn’t have a Twitter account and I sucked at Snapchat. Besides, I thought he had enough images of me farting rainbows. In the end, I thought ‘fuck it’ and texted him.

/ Quatre, I know you’re with the Adze. What’s going on? I only want to help. /

I stared at my phone, hoping for a quick response. After a few minutes of silence, I turned around and was about to leave when he answered.

/ What did you see? /

“Oh god.” I leaned forward until my forehead rested against the door. I took a deep breath and blew it out, my lips vibrating from the motion. I knew I was right, I just didn’t like it. With my forehead still pressed against the door, I moved the phone into my line of sight and texted back.

/ Enough. /

/ I’ll see you soon. /

I huffed and rolled my eyes. With nothing else to do except wait for him, I shoved my phone into my pocket and left the bathroom to continue my duties.

***

It was the middle of the night when Wufei let himself in. I was sitting on the couch, an open bag of potato chips in my lap as I stared at the muted tv without seeing it. Some informercial was on about how to tighten crepey skin. The energy it would take to get the remote and change the channel was too much. Besides, there wasn’t shit on anyway.

My feet were propped on a random werewolf’s back. I didn’t know how many I had in my living room, maybe fifteen, all in their true forms so that they could sleep on the floor comfortably. The rest of the Pack was doing the same thing, spread throughout the house; bodies packed the kitchen, Hilde’s room, Howard’s room, my room, the back porch… where ever there was room. Thankfully it wasn’t raining tonight, so the werewolves left sleeping outside were as comfortable as they could possibly be. Quinze and Trollé decided to sleep on the roof with the handful of remaining wolves. Opening my senses, I could feel that everyone was full and at peace. That left me with a satisfied feeling.

Wufei sat down next to me, curling an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his body. I went willingly, resting my head against his chest and allowing myself to relax. I wrapped my potato chip free arm around his waist, and brought my legs up on the couch to curl under me. Kicking off his boots, Wufei propped his feet on his own random werewolf and dropped his head on the back of the couch. At this moment all was well, and I wanted to bask in it. I nuzzled Wufei's shirt and sighed happily. I’ve missed my lover. “Feeling better?” I whispered.

I could feel his frown. “No,” he said shortly. I snorted.

“Are there any Hunters left?” I was being facetious, but Wufei surprised me with an answer.

“Not in Texas.” This time I could feel his smile. It wasn’t a nice one. “It will take some time for them to regroup. I have thousands of crows and pigeons at the airports monitoring any Hunter travel. Any news I receive of a Hunter’s presence will be rewarded.”

I knew right away that any inkling of a Hunter would be told to Wufei immediately. His rewards were always fantastic. I’ve lost count of how many times his underlings beat the hell out of each other so that they could be the one to present what he wanted in order to receive a reward. Feathers were going fly over this one. “Hopefully, we won’t hear anything for a while.”

“Hopefully,” he agreed. With a kiss to my forehead, he murmured against my skin. “Sleep, Duo.”

“I can’t,” I whined. “Been trying to sleep for hours. Too keyed up.”

His eyes remained closed. “Why are you not in bed?”

“Bed’s in use,” I told him. “I didn’t want Cathy sleeping on the floor. She’s too hurt for that. I wanted the cubs in there too. Didn’t want them to accidentally get smooshed or anything.”

Wufei sighed. “You are the Primus, Duo.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “And as Primus I look after the Pack as I see fit. And I saw that fit.” I snorted again. “Believe me, she gave me shit about it. But since she couldn’t sit up enough to get out of bed and had argued herself into unconsciousness, I felt I was justified.”

“Hmm.” As Wufei sat there, I felt his hand slid from around my shoulders, slowly down my chest toward the band of my jogging pants.

Uh oh, I knew where this was going. “Wufei, no.”

“Shh.”

“Wufei, I’m serious.”

“Shhh…”

“Wu-” The rest was choked off as his hand slid into my pants and gripped me tightly. I felt myself harden in excitement. Shit. “Wufei, no.” I tried to push away from him but his arm was like steel around me. The way my legs were under me gave me no traction. In my attempts to free myself the potato chip bag fell to the floor. While being at Wufei’s mercy was usually a turn on, right now it served to embarrass me. “Not here, not with everybody in the room.” I tried again to push away again, to no avail. Reaching down, I grabbed his wrists as if I would be able to get him to release me that way. Unsurprisingly, that didn’t work. “S-stop.”

“Shhh Duo,” he murmured against my ear, slowly pumping me up and down. I muffled my cries in his shirt, my fists, his shoulder, where ever I could. I was mortified because I knew that the werewolves would know what was going on. They could give a shit, I knew that, but this should be personal. However, I was helpless against Wufei. My attempts at cussing him out would turn into moans. The wet sounds of his hand against my flesh was loud in the silent room. It took everything I had not to scream which left me constantly gasping. All of this egged Wufei on, his hand alternating between fast and slow, tugging long and twisting or low and tight. “Yes,” he whispered in my ear as my hips started moving with him instead of against him. “That is it. Take your pleasure from me.” Using his other hand, he reached for my braid and pulled my hair tie free. My hair unraveled. “Yes,” he hissed, breathing in the scent of my shampoo.

After a particularly long tug and squeeze, I came so hard I was left breathless. Before I could recover, Wufei flipped me over, my ass up in the air and face down in the cushion, and jerked me off again. I came again, clawing at the couch and seeing stars. Wufei then backed me up against the arm of the couch, spreading my legs and pushing my knees damn near to either side of my head. Wetting his fingers he worked two into my entrance, spending nearly an hour teasing my prostate until I came so hard I nearly lost consciousness.

Wufei released me briefly to find something to clean me up with. Freshened up and in clean clothes, Wufei tucked me against the couch and his body. “You are mine,” he hissed into my hair, nearly a snarl. I was too exhausted to open my eyes, but I felt my eyebrows scrunch together in confusion. What on earth?

“Yes,” I answered, even though it wasn’t a question. It wasn’t news who I belonged to.

“Anyone who tries to take you from me will die.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “I will find him, and destroy him.”

“Who?” I said in sleepy agitation, “Wufei, what are you on about?”

“I smell him near you, around you, in places where you have been…”

I huffed. “Wu, lea’ me alone. ‘M sleepy.”

He snorted a laugh. “Go to sleep, Duo. You are a grouch when you are tired.”

Body spent, I did just that.

(tbc)