Susana - Sins of the Mothers

Virginia slowly stepped back into the cave to a confused Wolf. He sensed her shock and despair. He did not break the silence. Hunched over, she stared into the struggling fire. After a long time she drew in a deep breath and calmly asked, "Wolf, why didn't you tell me about Andromeda?"

He scratched his eyebrow, puzzled. "Andromeda? Well I once knew a she-wolf named Andromeda... She was very er...exotic I guess; dangerous. I think she had some kind of crush on me be but I wasn't interested. She was not my type. She had an air of...I don't know...I don't think she had a kind heart."

Virginia stared open-mouthed at him,and sputtered, "Well that is the understatement of the century! This she-wolf-bitch-thing thinks you were her 'One True Love' that got away. Since she feels you ruined her life by rejecting her she is bound and determined to ruin your life. She intends to kill your daughter to do it. Okay, I've run out of ideas - you talk to her. Do whatever you have to. Kill the bitch - I don't care - just stop her!!"

Wolf was so close to the flames he was nearly on fire, yet he shivered violently. His eyes were glassy as he whispered, "Don't curse, please Virginia, you know I hate it when you curse." Perplexed, Virginia studied Wolf and realized what was happening. He was in shock. He did not seem to feel the trickle of blood running down his cheek from where he was biting his lip. As he gazed into the fire his face changed. "I will face her Virginia, it's the only way. I have to do it right now." He rose from the cave and stepped into the cold mountain night. He looked at the medallion in the rock, then touched it as he had seen Virginia do. He felt the surge of electricity, then blackness.

When he could see again, he was in the ice cave. Andromeda sat on her raised, throne-like chair. "So now Wolf, you've come to beg," she sneered. She was a large, slender, magnificent jet-black wolf, with the same glittery, cold, emerald-colored eyes. Beside her chair stood a long, banquet-sized table. It held the carcass of a whole cow which she was busily disembowelling with her teeth. "Hungry? Have some breakfast. Real meat like a real wolf," she sneered, showing her bloodied teeth.

He blinked and she stood there in her human form. She strode toward him. "No, you like it like this, don't you?" She leaned over him until his face was almost buried in her cleavage. "See anything you fancy?" Startled, he jumped back from her. She laughed derisively until she caught the scent of his repulsion. "Oh I know what you like," she spat. She snapped her fingers and the boulder lit up, showing the image of Virginia asleep in the small cave. Her face was smudged with soot, her hair sweaty and matted. A thin stream of drool escaped her mouth as she whimpered in her sleep. It was the most beautiful sight Wolf had ever seen. Andromeda scented that too.

Eyes flashing, she snapped her fingers again, blacking out the image of Virginia. "How could you prefer THAT to ME?" she screeched.

Wolf pondered his words. A lot rode on this answer, but he did not know the right thing to say. He felt the same hollow feeling he had always felt in school when the teacher would give a surprise test. Only this time much more than a grade rode on the correct answer. He stammered nervously, scratching at his brow. "I don't know. I always found you extremely attractive" and scary, he thought to himself. "You were very clever and brave. I just wasn't ready to settle down. Maybe I was too young and you were too wolf." He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Cripes! he hadn't meant to say THAT. No use trying to take it back. She would smell the lie.

"You TRAITOR!!" she hissed. "You always wanted a human didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" she screeched; the black hair on her head rose like hackles.

Wolf's quick mind zoomed - damage control time. "No," he replied quietly. "I didn't want anybody until..."

"Until you met HER!" Andromeda roared. "You have forgotten your place and your heritage. Wolves do not get 'happy ever after'. Get ready to fulfil your destiny pretty boy. I have the power; I have the will. Your little family will soon be nil. It's your choice, don't plead or cry. If you don't make a choice they both shall die. I AM THE BIG BAD WOLF!"

Back in the small cave her insane laughter still echoed in his ears. Wolf found himself crouched before the dying embers of their fire. Numbness was filling his mind. Virginia woke and cupped his chin in her hand. She gently raised his head until their eyes met. "Don't leave me Wolf, I need you, we all need you."

In his dark green eyes she saw terror, pain, and despair. In a husky whisper he spoke. "Virginia, in prison once they put me in solitary, in the dark for four days. No room to move, no food, no fresh water. They wanted to break me and they nearly did. I feel that way now. I'm slipping, I'm losing myself."

Virginia snuggled close and whispered, "Then hold on to me. I won't let you slip. God knows you've caught me enough times, it's my turn now to catch you."

On that dark, cold mountain a wolf clung to his mate and cried into the night. When his tears were gone, she held her face against his and together they howled a song of desperation and agony, and finally, at the end, it became a ballad of unity and love that even death could not seperate.