In the Light of Day {Banning, openish}

[Kaera Fenrisulfr Vuldanshe]

Morning. Another day, another phase of time to pass through without letting anyone see the cracks in her composure. Another sunrise she faced without feeling the warmth of her mates embrace or hear his laughter on the wind.

Resigned to her fate, Kaera tossed her covers back and went about the business of getting ready for another days work. A quick shower and then she was sliding into one of the many power suits she was accustomed to wearing before dabbing on a sprinkle of makeup. Leaving her hair down to float casually around her shoulders, the petite blond slipped into a pair of heels and was out the door to her car before she could allow herself to dwell on the night be fore's dreams.

The drive across town was always a long one but Kaera had become accustomed to turning her radio up loud and singing at the top of her lungs. It helped drowned out any pesky thoughts and got her ready to face the day. This morning was no different as she flipped through her IPOD and found some Nickleback. The blast of "Something in Your Mouth" had a smile gracing her beautiful face and then she was off.

Stopping briefly at a small cafe on the way, she picked up some coffee and a muffin, said hello to Kayla and then decided to take the scenic route to work. She was early anyways so it wasn't like she didn't have time to pass. The traffic of the main roads was always congested by motorists heading to their offices and she just didn't feel like dealing with it this morning.

Turning off on to a small highway that winded its way along a section of woods, she was only half aware of her surroundings as she drove. With the radio up and her window down a bit, the woman was oblivious to anything but the moment.

So..... It was only normal that the sight that greeted her as she rounded a curve would completely throw her for a loop. There, in the middle of the road, stood a huge silver wolf. Not only a wolf but one so achingly familiar that it took her a long moment to compute what she was seeing and for the instinctual reaction to kick in.

Slamming hard on the brakes, Kaera felt the car fishtail but it didn't stop its onward progress. Horrified, she gazed at the animal in her path as it turned its head towards her and their eyes meet. She knew that she was going to hit it and her scream was the last thing she remembered as she jerked on the wheel and felt the car spin. The corner bumper caught the animal just as the vehicle headed for the ditch and flipped into a roll that ended with a collide into a huge oak.

Then, there was only darkness.

[Banning Vuldanshe]

Oh, look at that. Pretty bright lights that lit up the dimly, sunlit street around him…familiar, almost. A little niggle of memory stuck itself into his brain as he kept his eyes on those lights, a name whispering through his brain. Odin? Why was he thinking about a guy who’s name sounded like a commercial for a deodorant? And wait…what’s a deodorant?

It was in this way- much to his future chagrine- that he found the bright lights offering nothing but the crushing pain of metal on bone. With a loud yelp, he found himself souring through the air and crashed to the ground a few feet away with a bone crushing thud. He could taste blood in his mouth, felt the screaming pain of broken bones piercing sensitive organs. As the car careened into a nearby ditch, Banning lay on his side a few feet away. Blood soaked the cement beneath him, but those eyes…

As the car had careened toward him, his taller-than-natural stature had allowed him to see something through those mesmerizing lights. Something clear as Heaven, achingly beautiful and so familiar…he knew those eyes. He didn’t know how, but he KNEW those eyes.

And he had to get to them. Maybe their owner could tell him who he was? And…he had to get to her, had to protect her, HAD TO GET TO—

“Easy there, guy. It’s alright,” A voice sounded near his ear and he looked up, blinking at the fuzzy face looming over him. From the backside of nowhere, he heard the dull snap of bones being rearranged, and slowly, fur turned to skin before the now wide eyed stranger.

Immediately, he missed the wolf, wanting to call it back with all of his might. On four legs, he could get to the woman quicker. There wasn’t any movement from the other side of the ditch; was she hurt? Unconcious? Dead? The mere thought had him lurching to his feet, much to the stranger’s dismay. A haze of angry red descended over his eyes as the man touched his arm, pulling him to a halt when he made to throw himself at the car. Words were being yelled, a name called, and something sharp pricked his neck. Whirling with a snarl, he backhanded the foolish thing holding onto him, but another pair of arms encircled him before he could move away.

Pain, Gods, the pain! Arms tightened around broken ribs and he cried out, twisting to throw his opponent off. Something warm and roaring broke loose in his head, but he felt so sleepy, all of a sudden. Maybe if he pushed back that snarling anger and rested for a little while, he would be well enough to help the woman. Just five minutes…

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Pete, did you SEE that?” Gasping, Morey, employee of Montegue Inc, shook his head in amazement. “One minute, he’s a wolf, the next, a man. Man, I TOLD you I wasn’t seeing shit! And Christ…the schmuck can hit.”

Pete just shook his head, hefting the bleeding man over his shoulder. Having dealt with these kinds of…people before, he knew that the guy wouldn’t be dying on them anytime soon. The Doc would love to get his hands on a specimen like this one.

“Just shaddup and move it, Morey. We gotta get this one to the lab before he bleeds out all over the damn place. You got the bleach?”

With a grumble, Morey produced a large jug of industrial grade bleach and poured it over the blood that the shifter had spilled. As his partner carted the unconscious wolfman to the van parked around the corner, the smaller man dripped the bleach over the dripping blood, sighing in relief when the body was loaded in back.

The boss would really love to get his hands on this one, especially after the tip they’d got. A real, semi-live Scotsman! Hello Braveheart, and hello pay raise.

[Kaera Fenrisulfr Vuldanshe]

Darkness flickered in and out. A sense of urgency demanded that she wake up but Kaera had trouble rousing her pain drugged mind. Visions flashed before her closed eye lids even as she fought to shake off the shadows that hovered in her mind. Suddenly, all the pieces aligned and she jerked awake. At first, the beautiful shifter was disoriented because she seemed to be hanging upside down from her car seat.
Realizing that her seat belt was holding her in place, she used trembling fingers to unlock the device and then shifted to her side as she fell painfully to the roof of the car which was now the floor. Wincing, she brushed a lock of hair from her face and realized she had blood dripping in her eye. Shit, she really HAD been in a wreak. If so.. that meant... Oh .. by all that was holy.... BANNING!! BANNING WAS OUT THERE AND SHE"D HIT HIM WITH HER CAR!!!

Kicking and shoving at the door, she gradually worked the dented metal open and crawled from the battered vehicle. No sooner than she'd done that then the smell of gasoline hit her nose. With eyes widening, she realized that the gas tank had puncture sometime during the wreak and was now leaking volatile fluid.

Knowing it was just a matter of time, she jolted to her feet and managed to get behind a huge boulder before the explosion ignited. The sound was so loud and so sudden that it shook the shifter to the bone. Reality at how close she'd come to death not only once but twice made her collapse on to the ground. She wasn't sure how long she had been out but if she had been just moments longer....

Shuddering wildly, she forced herself to her feet and then realized that some how, shed had the presence of mind to hang on to her cell phone. Hitting the third number on the speed dial button, she put it to her hear with a trembling hand and waited for the deep voice to sound on the other end. When it did, she gave a sigh of relief.

"Ty? Ty , its Kaera.... I need you... I've been in a wreak..The car exploded... Ty... I saw Banning..... He's here.. He's alive...I hit him with my car before going off the road on the old wooded highway...."

Knowing she was rambling but unable to make herself stop, Kaera reached the road and stare at the empty pavement. Immediately she began to search for the body of the wolf and hysteria set in when she couldn't find it.

"He's not here, TY! He's NOT HERE!!"

Collapsing in the ditch, she began to cry.

[Tyreese Gla'dour]

For all that was freaking holy, it was hot. The sun beat down on his bare back as he hammered away at a particularly annoying pipe that ran behind the café. The thing was dented in ways that metal just should not be dented, and given the owner’s obvious discomfort at being given anything without paying for it, he was doing his best to save the damn thing. Even if it had more rust than actual metal, and the rivets holding it together were practically melted into the damn holes.

It was in this slightly frustrated, ready to die of heat stroke yet unwilling to walk into the café and stand in front of the AC until he froze, that he answered the buzzing cell phone at his hip. Barking his usual hello, he absently wondered how Kayla would react, if he waltzed into the café half naked and sweat drenched. Poor woman would probably die from the smell and throw clothes at his ass.

Oh, what a happy morning it was turning out to be. Whoever was on the other damn line had better have a good damn reason for bothering him…dammit.

And it turned out that they did. Ty didn’t even need to hear the rest of her message; that terrified tone was enough to send the skinwalker into action. Dropping the hammer onto the ground, he scooped up his shirt, shoving his arms into it as he quickly made his way through the café.

“Kaera, honey, calm down,” He said, deep voice uncharacteristically gentle. Sending Kayla a ‘gotta go’ look, he practically ran for the door. “Just calm down and tell me where you are. Gods…no, Kaera, honey, don’t cry. Tell me where you are.”

Good Gods, when she started to cry, the need to rip something apart became too much to bear. Only two women had ever managed to wiggle through his angry façade; one working happily in the building behind him, and the other crying over the phone.

With a curse, he screeched to a halt on the sidewalk as a soft boom sounded, followed by the far off wail of sirens. An explosion…Kaera had said her car had blown up. Another curse sounded as he turned toward the noise, taking off as fast as his legs could carry him.

“I’m coming, Kaera. Just stay away from the car, alright? Stay on the phone. I’ll be there soon.”

Ten minutes and a soaked shirt later, the skinwalker pulled up to a stop on the road beside the ditch. Her car was still smoking and sizzling, and the sight of that crushed metal made a strange sensation surge into his chest. Gods, if Wulf found out about this, she’d never be allowed to drive again.

“Kaera!” He bellowed, practically flinging himself into the ditch. Following the sounds of crying, he dropped to his knees beside her. From past experience with those of her kind, he didn’t immediately scoop her up into his arms, knowing the animal inside of her might see him as a threat. Moving slowly and deliberately as he shoved his phone back into his pocket, he reached out for her.

“Are you hurt, honey? C’mon; let’s get you back onto the road. The police are coming, and if this gets out on the news, you’re brothers are going to have heart attacks.” Holding out a hand, he let his eyes scan her body, searching for injuries. Dried blood on her forehead, bruising around her neck…he tensed at the sight, the urge to protect surging forward.

“C’mon, Kae. Let’s get out of here, then you can tell me what happened.”

[Kaera Fenrisulfr Vuldanshe]

Kaera was so lost in a trance that she didn't even recall what exactly she blubbered about in that long ten minutes that it took Ty to get from where ever he was at to the stretch of road she sat on. Tears feel unheeded down her face even as she tried to bring herself under control, for Ty's sake if not for her own. Something in her registered the tremor in his voice that said she'd spooked him with her call but she couldn't help her own emotions.

Vaguely, she knew she was suffering from shock but her mind simply couldn't get past the last thing she'd seen before her car had gone off the road. Everything in her recognized the wolf for who he was... Banning Valdanshe... Her DEAD mate. How could this be? Was she finally loosing her mind after all these years? Or was this someones idea of a twisted joke? What in the hell was going on?

Even as all these questions bounced madly around her brain, Kaera was scanning the nearby area. How long had she been out? The sound of sirens in the distance spoke of approaching law officials and she knew she needed to move but couldn't. Her limbs were simply to unsteady and she wasn't sure where she could go even if she could move.

Then, suddenly, Ty was there. Her rock solid friend who always seemed to be there when the world went to hell. Thank God for the skinwalker. From a distance, she took in his words and then shook herself. Glancing down at her body, she sighed and then reached to take his hand. Allowing him to pull her upwards, the pretty shifter assessed the damage and then replied.

"Its nothing life threatening.. Just a bit banged up and bruised I think..Nothing I won't live to tell about.." she said through in a voice husky with tears. "Ty.... We can't leave.... I .. I saw Banning... I hit him with the car.. I can't find him though...."

Glancing around wildly, she was torn between the need to get away and to search for the creature she'd seen. "My car... the plates.. they will trace them back to me anyways, Ty...."

No sooner had she said that then the first police car came whipping around the curve and slid to a stop not ten feet away. Sighing heavily, Kaera glanced at Ty and then leaned heavily into his side. The shit was really about to hit the fan now. She was SOOOOOOO not looking forward to this. From the way he stiffened, neither was he.

"Damn it...If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all."

Jumping from the vehicle, the officer hurried towards them and the circus began. Stiffening against the suspicion in the mans eyes, Kaera did the best she could to assure him that she was fine and no one else had been in the vehicle. An ambulance followed closely in his wake and then what seemed like a whole squad unit of law enforcement showed up.

Before she knew it, she was seated on the back bumper of an EMT unit being looked over and trying to answer a whole barrage of questions coming at her from every direction. Vaguely, she was aware of someone saying that there was blood on the highway and she'd immediately shot to her feet only to have Ty shoove her back down and stalk off to look himself. The look he's sent her threatened life and limb if she moved from her spot so she'd meekly done as ordered. It helped that her body objected to any movement she tried to make anyways.

Now, with an aching head and a fragile state of mind, it was all the shifter could do not to break away from the all. Her inner wolf wanted the freedom shift into the form that would allow her to find or track the creature she had seen earlier. How much blood had been on the road exactly? Was he laying in the woods somewhere? Maybe dying?

Shaking away those morbid thoughts, the female force herself to keep control. Shifting in front of humans was forbidden and would only expose their kind. Wouldn't that give these fools something to talk about though? She'd already heard one officer derogatory comments about women drivers so it might actually give htem something original.

Wearily, the petite blond rubbed her face as the last officer finally walked away and looked around. Ty had been assessing the scene in order to keep from bashing a few heads in and she could only be grateful. He hated cops more than her brothers did.

Speaking of brothers, Kaera looked at her cell phone that had begun to vibrate again. As she suspected, Broms number flashed up on the thing just as she heard Ty's go off once more also. No doubt, the over head news copter had broadcasted the wreck and her brothers were frantic. Wulf was out of state and Brom was on a job for the council so they were no doubt trying to figure out just what the hell was going on and how she'd managed to blow up her vehicle.

"I'm SOOOOOO not in the mood, Brom!" she said by way of greeting as she opened the cell.

Sure enough, the other end of the line went haywire and she closed her eyes. She could hear the concern, fear and anger in his tone and it was the last straw.

"Brom, I'm hanging up now. I'm not going directly back to the Den and you can shove your orders where the sun don't shine."

WIth that, she flipped the thing shut and got to her feet. She had to get out of there or she was going to lose it. She could feel the wolf scratching at the surface of her control and it was just a matter of time. Moving as steadily as possible towards the skinwalker, she reached his side in time to meet his eyes and then whisper.

"I've got to get out of here... NOW...."

[kayla]

Things had been fine. She was singing along with the radio as she half danced, more bopped, around the Cafe serving customers, cooking food, and of course stealing into the back room to peek out at the man banging away on the pipes whenever she could. The flush in her cheeks had nothing to do with the heat of the day and everything to do with the shirtless, sweating man out back.

So when he entered the main room talking on his cell she was more than a little surprised as he merely shot her a look as she poured a big glass of iced sweet tea for him and continued out the doors. A brow arched as she heard the words he spoke on the phone but she said nothing. The look on his face and the way he was so hurried...it wasn't like the man she'd come to know.

Of course,....she reasoned to herself, she didn't really know him all that well did she?

Looking puzzled she raised her hand, fingers waggling a little as she bid him goodbye and watched him practically run out the door. It wasn't too much later that the sounds of screaming sirens were passing nearby and even though she had no reason to think so, she couldn't help but wonder if the two things were related.

She couldn't dwell on it. Couldn't let her overactive imagination run away with her as she turned to the oven, popping in the chocolate lava cakes. It was a new recipe she was trying to mix up the tried and true with the bold and new.

As with most things in life, only time would tell how it would all turn out.

[Tyreese Gla'dour]

Good Gods, there wasn’t ever a dull moment around his family, was there? Upon seeing Kaera alive and well- for the most part- he’d almost fainted right there in stark relief. The fact that she’d been mentioning her dead mate was a bit disturbing, but he would deal with that later.

She was breathing, and she wasn’t physically harmed in ways that her wolf couldn’t heal. Thank the Gods. When he’d gotten her phone call and heard the explosion on the road…it was the closest thing to fear that he’d felt in a very, very long time.

He’d lost too many people that he’d cared about over the centuries. And the Fenrisulfr’s…he had no idea what he would do if any of them were ever harmed. Especially Kaera; the woman who’d managed to drag him out of his world of self hatred. Together, they had healed and came to terms with what they’d lost. They had accepted the past and embraced the future.

Well, that is…until now. Why did she keep saying that she’d seen Banning on that road? It just didn’t make sense.

As the police swarmed around the scene- all keeping a good distance away from the scowling skinwalker- Ty fought the urge to scoop her up and drag her somewhere safe. He didn’t like having so many unknown faces scurry around his friend, especially when she was in this state. He hovered over her, growling and snapping at anyone not wearing an EMT badge, and even went so far as to turn his scowl on her when she leapt up to inspect some blood.

And speaking of the blood…how strange. There were a few tiny droplets a bit off to the side of the ditch, but none around them. One sniff confirmed that it wasn’t Kaera’s blood…and that the surrounding area had been washed with bleach. Who the hell took cleaning fluid to a dirty ass sidewalk, unless they were trying to hide something? There was another story hidden here and he would find out what it was.

He returned back to the shifter only to have his cell phone vibrate. As Kaera proceeded to snap at Brom, Ty proceeded to reassure her eldest brother that she wasn’t harmed. Wulf was definitely not happy about the accident, convinced that the best course of action would be to wrap the younger sister in cotton and keep her stashed away at the family compound. He managed to cool his friend’s temper, and promised to keep an eye on her for the rest of the day.

…Well, almost. In reality, he merely growled something about ‘she’s fine, don’t get your panties in a knot, Lilly Ass’ and hung up the phone.

He almost sighed in relief as Kaera decided that now was a good time to leave. The police and EMT’s were reluctant to let her go, but with a bit of insisting- and glowering- he managed to extricate her from the ‘crime scene.’

And proceeded to start cursing the fact that he had no car. Dammit, how smart was that? Run to the place instead of driving there, because an explosion didn’t mean that Kaera would need transportation. Gods, he was an idiot sometimes.

“We’re just going to walk slowly to Kayla’s Café,” He said, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her steady. “I told Wulf that you were fine, but the household will be in an uproar until you get to the Den. I figure that we have an hour before they call the cavalry on us.”

Keeping his stride slow and even, he led the shifter toward the previously abandoned café. They could sit, relax, he could give her a look over in the restaurant owner’s back room and she could tell him what the hell happened. Remembering the sound of the explosion, his arm tightened slightly around her before he forced himself to relax.

He wanted to scoop her up in his arms and carry her, but past attempts warned him that it would only make her more nervous. So, slowly, they made their way toward the Sip. Handling her as if she were about to break at any moment, he guided her into the café and nodded to Kayla when she caught his eye.

“We need a wet towel and some gauze, if you’ve got a minute,” He said, voice a deep rumble. Awkwardly, he did his best to wipe at the blood on Kaera’s face with the hem of his shirt, while trying not to poke her eyeballs out. Keeping his voice low so that only the shifter could hear, he kneeled down before her.

“What happened, Tiria (dove)?”

[Kaera Fenrisulfr Vuldanshe]

(Moved to COMING UNRAVELED )