Theresa Reinhart's Story

♫ I Want To Know What Love Is ♫

The werewolf world was a small one, and news traveled fast, especially when it concerned a once powerful Alpha of an influential pack. Word of Lawrence Talbot's death spread like wildfire, and it wasn't long before it reached Russell. While the rest of the pack mourned over the news of his father's death, Russell was numb to it. His father had been dead to him the day he left their pack after his mother's death. No, he was more angry that he didn't get to unload the years of resentment, and hatred he built up towards his father. Despite any contempt Russell held towards Lawrence his death would need to investigated, he was still the former Alpha of the Talbot pack, and an attack on him is an attack on them. Though the humans had ruled his death as a freak accident they knew better, werewolves don't die in freak accidents. They were far too tough, and possessed incredible reflexes that would make death by a simple accident unlikely, if not impossible.

The pack in their caravan of beat up looking RVs, SUVs, trucks, and other assorted vehicles arrived to the rock Lawrence hid under, the town of Jasper, late into the night, and set up camp around the secluded cabin that Lawrence once called home. The cabin was way out into the forest, with the closest humans being a farm, but even they were several miles away. The perfect place for a werewolf to call home. It was an easy enough thing to find the cabin, well at least with their incredible tracking skills.

Russell walked into the cabin alone as those still awake set up camp. "So this is the glamorous life you left us for." Russell said to himself as he looked at the state of the cabin. The inside of the cabin was a total mess with empty bottles of booze, and beer cans littering the floor. Unsurprising given the amount of alcohol a werewolf would need in order to even feel a little bit tipsy. The living room had a old TV that was probably new in the 80s with a VCR hooked up to it sitting on top along with an old shoe box, and a stack of tapes sitting next to it. A musty old couch with several stains from spilled alcohol sat in front of the TV. The kitchen was small, with only a refrigerator, and a countertop next to it with a single hot plate sitting on top of it. Between the kitchen, and living room was a small round table with a single chair. It was obvious Lawrence didn't entertain company very often, if ever.

Russell walked over to the TV, and looked through the stack of VHS tapes. The tapes were old home movies of the family that Lawrence took with him, with labels such as 'The Wedding', 'Russell's 1st Birthday', and 'Zoo Trip'. He opened up the shoe box, finding several pictures of the pack inside. Sitting on top of the pile was an old picture of the family, with his mother and father holding his youngest sister Michelle when she was a baby, and Lizzy, and Russell next to them, all with smiling faces. Even Michelle was smiling, as when she was a baby she was notorious for crying all the time. Russell picked up the photo, allowing the nostalgia to wash over him for a brief moment, overtaking the grief he still felt for his mother, and the anger of her murder, and his father's abandonment. But soon the moment was gone, he couldn't allow himself to be hung up on the past, drowning himself in it like Lawrence did. No, he had too many things to do before that.

At daybreak it was decided that the pack should explore their new home, and get a good look around the town. That, and Russell needed to go to the Sheriff's Station to collect any of his father's things he left, as well as seeing his body. He was once apart of the pack, and still was entitled to a funeral among his family, much as Russell would deny it. Russell led several vehicles into town on his black Dyna motorcycle. They stopped off at a diner, deciding to get breakfast for the lot of them.

As he parked on the street in front of the diner he slipped off the sunglasses he liked to wear while riding, and hung them on the neckline of his favorite Nirvana shirt. Russell was the first into the door, followed closely behind the large number of pack members that came, which included his sisters. As soon as he entered the diner he was hit by the strongest scent he has ever smelled. It wasn't something he was expecting, he had expected the smell of cooked food, but it was being drowned out by a sweet, almost intoxicating smell. And then he saw her.

A waitress with golden brown eyes, and red hair, the scent was coming from her. As their eyes met his heart nearly stopped, and thanks to his enhanced hearing he could tell the same could be said of her. When she spoke her voice echoed in his eyes, sounding as sweet as the scent he got from her. Russell merely nodded, and followed her to the largest table they had. Russell took his seat at the head of the table with his sisters at either side of him.

"I'll take a coffee. Black." Russell said as he tried to keep his eyes on the menu she laid out, trying not to stare at her. It was a strange sensation, while normally a million and one different smells would bombard a werewolf for whatever reason all of it was being drowned out by hers. She was the only thing he could focus on. "Oh, I'll take a coffee as well!" Michelle ordered. "Right because you need the caffeine. Try again little girl." Russell stated, being the ever stern older brother. "Fine. I guess I'll have some iced tea since you're so lame." She said as she stuck out her tongue towards him. "I'll also have some of the bacon, sausage, and eggs." He ordered, still keeping his eyes on the menu to avoid staring at her, despite how desperately he wanted to. The rest of the pack ordered similarly to him, all of them wanting some kind of meat dish, save for Lizzy, who merely wanted a glass of water. Werewolves did tend to prefer meat to anything else. And they could eat a lot. The downside of their healing was the increased metabolism they had. They tend to need to consume roughly the same weight of the average cow. Even more after a full moon, or after excessive amounts of shifting.

"And get her the same as well." Russell said as he pointed his thumb to Lizzy. Lizzy briefly looked up at him as if to argue, but she quickly brought her eyes down to the table. She had been taking the news of their father's death much harder than him or Michelle. Michelle had taken to resentment much like her brother when it comes to Lawrence, while Lizzy was much more understanding of his need to leave after their mother's death. She had taken their mother's death hard, and just completely shut herself away. It took her awhile to open up even to Russell, who she shared a much closer bond with than the rest of the pack, even more so than with Michelle. Russell reached his hand over to hers, and lightly squeezed it. "You need to eat." He said with an encouraging smile. She merely nodded without a word.

He watched as the waitress went into the kitchen to place the orders, it being almost impossible to keep his eyes off her now. Once she was out of sight he turned back around to find his sisters, and several of the pack closest to him staring at him. "What?" He asked, trying to play it cool. Of course they would pick up on his irregular state. It was hard to hide anything from a werewolf. While humans may not be aware of it, but people tend to telegraph their emotions. Be it their heart rate, or the pheromones they themselves don't even realize they give off. Things like anger, sadness, fear, and most strongly attraction can be easily picked up by the enhanced senses of a werewolf. The same can be said of animals as well.

"Don't 'what' us, both of your hearts were practically jumping out of your chests like a cartoon." Michelle said with a smirk. Russell groaned, and rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it's nothing, just drop it." Russell hoped to end it at that. "Mmhmm, sure it was." Michelle said with a slight giggle. "Anyways, when I get done eating I'm heading to the Sheriff's Station. I'll get a look at Lawrence's body, and get anything he might have left at his office. You guys just don't make any trouble." Russell stated. "Trouble? Well I for one am as innocent as a lamb." She smirked.

"I want to go with you to see the body." Lizzy chimed in, probably the first words she's spoken since they received the news of Lawrence's death. "I promise I'll take you to see him later before the funeral. Just wait a little bit longer." Russell said with a reassuring smile. Lizzy was about to argue but she brought her gaze back down to the table. "I don't know why you want to see him, or what we're even doing here. He left us, he doesn't even deserve to be mourned by us." Michelle stated bitterly as she folded her arms. Lizzy's eyes shot up, and glared at her. "Don't say that! Even if he left he's still our father! No matter how much you two like to pretend he never existed!"

"DON'T call him that! He stopped being our father the moment he left!" Russell growled. Their raised voices began to catch the attention of the few other customers in the diner. Russell glanced around, and shifted in his seat uncomfortably at the attention. "I'm sorry for yelling. I know this has been hard on you both of you. I feel that anger too Michelle, but mom would have wanted us to do this. We'll talk about this later." Russell stated, trying to calm them down. "Fine." Lizzy growled as she brought her eyes back to the table. Michelle kept her arms folded, and looked away from her. Russell let out a sigh, teenagers were so hard to deal with.

It wasn't long before the waitress returned with a tray of drinks. As she started to hand out the drinks, and the cups for the coffee Russell reached out, and grabbed the cup she was setting down for him with his hand briefly brushing against hers as she pulled away. With even that slight of touch he felt what he could only describe as a bolt of electricity shoot through his body, catching him off guard. Apparently she was surprised as well as she nearly dropped her tray, but Russell was quick enough to keep it steady, and prevented it from falling to the ground. "Um...sorry."

♫ I Want To Know What Love Is ♫

Russell was only half aware of anything else that went on during breakfast. Seemingly all his senses were focused on the waitress, Tessa. The pounding of her heart beat drowned out any sounds, not even the smell of the breakfast could delude the sweet scent that emanated from her. It was almost like he and her were the only ones there. He barely registered the children, Tessa's siblings, showing up. He tried to keep from glancing at her, or at least try not to let her notice that he couldn't keep his eyes off her. Michelle watched with an amused smile at what was now Russell and Tessa just playing peek-a-boo as they avoided looking at each other directly, or get caught looking.

As he watch her interact with her siblings he couldn't help but have a small smile creep up on the corner of his face. There was something so comforting about her, almost motherly. It was the strangest feeling, the more he spent around her, even from across the room as they were, he wanted to get closer to her. He felt a strong urge to get closer to her, one that he was finding difficult to fight. It almost felt like she walked right out of a dream, and would disappear if he wasn't close to her.

Finally after it was no longer amusing Michelle cleared her throat, and poked Russell's hand with her fork. Russell's attention was brought to his sister as he glared at her. "If you and waitress are done making googly eyes at each other I'd like to talk about tonight. Y'know the full moon and whatnot." Michelle glanced over Russell's shoulder, making direct eye contact with Tessa, and giving her a knowing grin. "I haven't forgotten. And I thought I told you to drop the waitress." Russell's face turn ever so slightly red as he lowly growled at her. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It stopped being funny, and started to get painful how awkward you two are. Don't get me wrong it's cute, but it has it's limits. You have many talents dear brother, but subtlety isn't one of them. And neither is it hers apparently. But from what I can till you'd both make a pretty cute couple." She made sure to speak increasingly louder by the end of sentence, just loud enough for Tessa to have heard the last bit clearly.

"Keep your voice down." Russell groaned as he brought his head down on the table, trying to hide the embarrassment. "Anyways make sure you're by the cabin before nightfall. Don't want anybody to turn in town. You guys know the drill. There’s some game around to hunt, so at least we won’t be bored." Russell said, trying to steer the conversation away from Tessa. They all nodded in agreement as they chowed down on their breakfast. For lack of a better word, wolfing down their breakfast, well save for Lizzy who only peaked at her food, and moved it around her plate rather than actually eating it.

"You need to eat, especially on days of the full moon." He said as he squeezed Lizzy hand lightly. "Yes, I know. I'm not a little girl." Lizzy said as she ripped her hand away from his. "No matter how much you like to pretend I am." She muttered lowly to herself, but of course it was loud enough for any werewolf to hear. Russell couldn't blame her for her increased aggression, and irritation, the full moon was upon, and with it comes the more aggressive side of werewolves, well that is the case for the inexperienced. Control over oneself during the full moon was a difficult ability to learn for most, save for Russell. He has always possessed a strange aptitude towards controlling his feral side.

"And I told you I wasn't hungry. But it always has to be your way doesn't it?" Lizzy took in a deep breath, and let it out again, trying to regain control of her emotions. Eventually she drops her fork on her plate, making a loud clanking sound, and stomped her way out of the diner. Russell let out a loud sigh. How was he supposed to survive two teenage she-wolves? "I'll go talk to her." Michelle volunteered before she ran off after her.

'Smooth one Alpha.'

It wasn't long before the rest of the pack to finish up their breakfast, and began pouring out the diner one by one to explore the town, their temporary territory. Apart of what makes the Talbot pack unique is that they prefer a life on the move, never staying one area for more than a years. Werewolves are as diverse a people as humans, and many different packs have different customs than each other. Soon Russell was the only one left as he continued to sip on his coffee. Looking around at the walls of the diner. It was decorated with pictures of people, no doubt of loyal customers, or the other residents of the town.

His eyes immediately fell upon the pictures of Tessa. Her smile was the first thing he noticed of the photos, they drew him in like a bug in a light. And then he saw him, glimpses of the late Sheriff in the background of some of the pictures. There was only one direct picture of his face, he was pale, and ragged, looking like ghost of what he once was. He used to be one of the most powerful Alphas in the U.S., and a well respected leader in the werewolf community, but now he was a mere phantom of that man, a walking corpse. The sight of it sent a flood of emotions including anger, disgust, hate, sadness, and grief.

Russell stood up from his chair and walked over to the picture. He pulled out a box of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, and a silver zippo lighter from his other one. As he lite up he let out a deep, and calming breath, breathing out a puff of smoke right into the face of his father's picture. "You were dead a long time ago, your body just finally caught up." He mumbled to himself. After a couple more puffs of his death stick he flipped the picture over, no longer being able to stand the sight of it.

He turned away, and leaned down over a small table with a ashtray that sat against the wall of the diner, and put out his cigarette. He pulled out his wallet, and tossed a couple hundred dollars of his wallet on the table. As he went to leave he stopped in front of the door, hesitating to open it. There was something, some invisible pull that didn't want him to leave the diner, didn't want to leave her. He felt like he needed to keep her in his sights, like she'd just disappear forever if he left her. But there was something else. The brief touch they shared moments ago. The flash of electricity he felt, even now he could still feel the lingering sensation, it was something that he wanted to experience again. He knew what that meant, what she might be. But he needed to test it to sure.

Russell turned away from the door and headed over to Tessa. "Sorry if we were too noisy. My sisters have been having a rough time lately. Long time ago your sheriff used to be our father, and they've been having a difficult time lately. We haven't seen him since my mother's funeral." Russell stated, surprising himself by how much he was sharing with a complete stranger, a human no less. But there was something about her that made it easy to trust her. "Oh, I'm Russell by the way, Russell Talbot. We’re planning on sticking around town for awhile after we do our funeral. So expect to see us around for the next couple weeks." He introduced himself as he held out his hand to hers. A simple handshake would do, a handshake is normal a thing to ask for, perfect to test if it wasn’t a one time fluke.