Disclaimer:
~Big thanks to Enemyoffun for making this universe to play in, and to all my beta readers for helping me hammer out some of the details in this chapter. Also, a big thanks to djkauf, who's edits are always awesome.
Author's Note: I hope you all enjoy this chapter, somethings are revealed. Also, give EOF's "To Dance with the Devil" a read, as she was the character that started this universe. Please comment on this, I enjoy reading your comments and learning from them immensely.

Chapter 17

November 3, 2011

I tossed and turned for a long time, as I passed in and out of consciousness. I caught glimpses of people watching me when I thought I was awake, none of them looked familiar to me. They looked like they all belonged to the same family from what I could tell, in my current state. I couldn’t stay awake for very long, so I only caught bits and pieces. Finally, one day, I managed to wake up and stay awake.

I sat up in the bed the people from the river had put me in and looked at my surroundings. It looked like I was in the guest room of someone’s house. There was a closet, a set of dressers, a desk, and a chairs; everything someone would need to stay here. The only decoration that I could see in this room was a dream catcher hanging above the head of the bed I was sitting in. I turned my gaze toward the window and could see the forest outside. The trees looked thick and close together; I could only assume that I was deep in the forest now. Also, outside looked dimmer than usual, making me think that it was close to dawn or dusk. How long had I been knocked out?

Looking down at myself, I could see that I was still wearing my Halloween costume, although one of the sleeves was rolled up for the bandaged arm. I remember it being smashed against the rocks when I was careening in the river.

‘Wait a second!’ I thought. ‘I’m still wearing clothes and I turned into a bird! But, Mom told me that it was nearly impossible for a Were to keep their clothing on when transforming.’

My confusion seemed rampant as I tried to figure out what was going on. For starters, how could I even turn into a bird when I was a Wolf? Didn’t Weres only have one animal form?
I lifted my hand up and placed it on my forehead, which I sometimes do when I think hard. I caught a glimpse of the bracelet dangling off of my wrist.

‘At least that’s still there,’ I thought.

I looked at the charm bracelet and saw the charms dangling there. The ones symbolizing Zatanna and Star Trek, my interests. The silver wolf charm that had appeared after I had turned into a Wolf for the first time. A golden charm in the shape of a bird.

‘Wait a sec! Where did that bird come from?’ I thought, panicky.

I examined the bird charm that now hung from the bracelet. It looked like a bird sitting on a tree branch, gazing off into the distance as if waiting for something. What was with this bracelet? Why were there charms appearing on it?

Snapped from my inner thoughts by the turn of the door handle, a young woman walked in the room. She possessed dark hair and blue eyes. Her face was very pretty, and her figure looked athletic, yet feminine. She wore simple clothes; a sweatshirt and a pair of blue jeans. She would definitely be considered a hottie if I was still Michael; now, I still wasn’t sure on that subject.

“Uhh...,” I started.

She looked up with surprise and said, “Oh! You’re awake. I’ll go get Grandfather.”

“But I–.” Before I could say anything else, she was out the door and gone.

I thought, ‘That was weird. Why did she run off like that?’

I only had to wait a few moments and in walked the girl again, this time with an old man and a younger woman that looked she could be the girl’s mother. This old man looked very good for his age. He looked trim, in shape, and not tired in the least, as you would think for someone in advanced age. His hair was grey, so I guessed that he was at least fifty to sixty years old. He wore a long-sleeved button-up shirt and a pair of jeans as well.

The man walked over to my bedside, while the girl stood back near the door, as if she was waiting for some command by the older man beside me. I turned to him and before I could get anything out of my mouth he said, “Welcome, young one, to our home.”

“Uhh…,” I started, “Thanks?”

The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. It was like it was lodged in some memory that I forgot about.

“It’s our pleasure,” he answered, waving it off. “Jessica here has been at your side, making sure that your arm stayed in one place and set so the bone could heal.”

“What happened to me?”

“We’re not too sure about that. From what we could tell, you landed in the forest river and rode the rapids without a boat. Your arm impacted one of the particularly nasty rocks and broke. We found you along the shore, half-conscious, and I decided to take you back, to nurse you back to health.”

It felt like he was lecturing me on what had happened. It was a bit off-putting, but it did get the message across.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“You are in my home, and you’ll be safe here from prying eyes.”

“Okay,” I replied, still thinking that there was something familiar about this guy. Like I had met him before.

“What day is it? How long have I been out for?”

“November third. You’ve been out of it for about three days or so.”

“Three days? Is there anyone looking for me? My mother’s going to be going crazy when I didn’t come home from the party!” I panicked.

“Relax,” the old man calmly said, extending his arms out to get me to relax. “Don’t get yourself worked up. We will call her, and let her know that you’re alright.”

I breathed a little easier, but not much. “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you told me your name.”

“Call me Grandfather,” he replied.

“Just Grandfather?” I commented.

“Just Grandfather,” he smiled. “I’ll let you rest while Jessica and her mother look after you. Just let them know what you need, and they’ll take care of it. We’ll talk later, and I’ll try to answer some of your questions, okay?”

I nodded, “Okay, I’m Mikaela, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Mikaela” he replied with a smile, and left the room.

Jessica walked over to me and said, in a sympathetic tone, “How’re you feeling?”

“Fine,” I answered. “Maybe a little sore from the river.”

I could feel some of that soreness in my left arm, and in my legs. Instinctively, I reached down and gave them some rubbing. It seemed to help a little bit. I’m betting that the soreness in the legs was also due to all that running that I did that night.

“Feeling hungry?”

My stomach growled loudly in response. “Yeah. Do you have anything to eat?”

She smiled with a small laugh, and answered, “I’ll see what I can do.”

A few minutes later, Jessica came in my room to offload some breakfast, which her mother made, before she headed off to school. Like Cindy, she told me that she attends Ravencrest High. Unlike Cindy, she explained that she was an upperclassman. I ate the breakfast in bed and decided to deliver the tray that it came in back to the kitchen myself. I also wanted to stretch my legs and explore the house somewhat.

As I exited my room, I turned left and headed down the staircase. The wooden banister guided me down the house, from the second floor. The stairs did also lead up to a third floor, and I wondered what was up there.

Upon reaching the first floor landing, I saw a comfortable living room, equipped with big screen TV, comfortable couches, a sitting room table, and lot of books and movies. There was a short hallway that led off to the right, while there was a corner that I could turn to the left. I went left and found the kitchen with Jessica’s mother standing there.

“Good morning, Mikaela. I’m Helen, Jessica’s mother.”

She walked over to me and in a fuss, “You didn’t have to bring the tray down, I would’ve come up for it.”

“It’s okay,” I defensively answered. “I wanted to get out of bed. Anyplace you want me to put this?”

“Oh, on the bench by the sink will be fine,” she pointed out to me.

It looked like Helen was currently fixing some more breakfast, presumably for those that have yet to get up and out of bed, or for herself after fixing everyone else’s.

“How’re you feeling?” she asked me, after taking the finished sausage out of the pan.

“Alright, I guess,” I answered. “A bit chilly.” I brushed my hands over my crossed arms trying to warm myself up again.

“Makes sense, considering how you’re dressed.”

I looked down and realized I was still wearing the Zatanna costume from the Halloween party. I instinctively covered myself. “Oh, right,” I gulped with a bit of embarrassment.

“You can relax,” she continued, “Jessica’s going to pick some clothes up for you after school.”

“You don’t have–,” I started, but she cut me off.

“Nonsense,” she adamantly told me, “It’s the least we can do.”

She put a couple pieces of toast next to the sausage, grabbed a fork and napkin, and headed to the table to eat. I walked over and took a seat next to her.

She nursed her cup of coffee and nicely said, “So, tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?” I answered.

“Where you’re from, what you’re doing in Ravencrest, things like that,” she replied, taking a sip of her coffee.

“What am I, being interrogated?” I retorted.

Helen spat some of the coffee she had in her mouth and replied with a laugh, “No. I just would like to get to know you, that’s all.”

“Oh, okay.”

“So, where you from?” she returned, taking a bite of her toast.

“California,” I replied.

“Whereabouts? Hollywood?”

I laughed at that. Seems like whenever I answered that, people assumed that I knew movie stars or something.

“No, I’m actually from the Mother Lode,” I clarified.

“Mother Lode?”

“It’s where all the gold was during the Gold Rush.”

“Ah,” she answered, with some recognition. “Bet you’re feeling cold here even when bundled up, huh?”

“Oh yeah, but it’s not too bad right now.”

“Just wait until winter.”

She sipped her coffee, as I heard a door open and close quickly.

“Anyone home?” asked a voice that sounded a lot like one of the people from the river.

“In here, Castor,” Helen answered.

“Castor?” I asked.

“He’s Pollux’s twin. Their father has a real thing with the ancient cultures. Especially the Greeks.”

I giggled. “That would explain some things.”

“You must be Mikaela,” Castor said, walking into the room, wearing outdoor clothes that you normally see on a lumberjack. “Jessica told me about you before she left for school.”

He stuck his hand out, and I gave it a good shake. “How’re you feeling?” he asked.

“Alright,” I replied, “Glad to be out of bed.”

“I’ll bet,” he answered. “It looked like you got banged up pretty badly.”

“Felt that way,” I quipped.

“Next time, try using a boat to go over the rapids.”

I laughed at the joke he dead panned, before we returned to our conversation. I sat there in the kitchen and talked with Castor and Helen. They were talking about the family’s businesses, financial advisors and running a bookstore in town called Imagine. I asked if it was the one next to Master Chang’s, but Helen said that it was actually between the high school and university, closer to the apartments. She often was confused with the one next to the dojo, since she managed the store herself. The men, apparently, dealt with financial matters of people in the town and the surrounding area.

I reciprocated and told them about my interests and majors at the university. I also told them that I worked at the comic book store. Helen laughed a bit at that, probably something to do with the fact that comic books weren’t considered real books by some people, but I could argue otherwise, and how the pictures helped tell the story, like they did on television and in the movies. She countered by saying that it didn’t leave much to the imagination when the pictures of what was going on was right in front of you.

Through our talk, there were a couple of things that I intentionally didn’t bring up. I left out the part that I was a Were and used to be a guy. Those were my secrets, and I don’t share the information lightly.

We were sitting there, talking, for the better part of the day. The two of them were telling me about what was going on in town, other than what was happening at the college. The Ravencrest High School football team was playoff-bound, and some of the kids were excited about that. They weren’t playoff perennials, but they did get in to that round every so often. They also mentioned that the sheriff’s department was confused about a double homicide, which had taken place over the weekend.

I asked about it, and they said the sheriff’s had two set of remains, in different conditions, and that it occurred at the Stiles’ residence.
“Stiles?” I asked, very surprised.

“Yeah,” Castor said. “I think he’s the only identifiable victim.”

“What happened?” I felt like my something went clunk into my stomach.

I only counted Stiles as an ally of convenience. He wanted something badly, and that I was the means to his end. Now, I don’t think I’ll ever figure out what he was after that I could get him.

“Someone shot him in the head,” he continued, “Or at least so the story goes.”

“Are you alright?” Helen asked, reaching over to me, noticing how that information had affected me.

I brought myself out of it and replied, “Yeah, yeah. I’m alright.”

“Why don’t I make us some lunch, okay?” she suggested.

“Huh?” I glanced at the clock on the wall, and sure enough, it was a little after eleven in the morning. “Oh, you don’t have to do that.”

“It’s not trouble, honey. I got just the thing to help you out.”

Helen set about the kitchen and began making lunch, while Castor excused himself from the table. That left me there to process the information that had been given to me. Without Stiles around, I would be able to have some more freedom to pursue relations with the other clans in town. But, what if these were the same guys that were after me?

I pushed that thought to one side and shook it off. I distinctly remembered the goons talking about two kinds of lore, var and wicca. Wicca to me meant magic. So, witch? If that’s true, that means that var is Were. It fit with them referring to me having the varlore’s ring when I was alone and with Alex. I heard the door open again and a deep voice call out, “How’s she doing, Helen?”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself, Grandfather?” Helen fired back.

A few moments later, I saw Grandfather emerge from the entrance hall of his home. “Glad to see you’re up and about. Now we can have our talk. There is a great deal that needs to be talked about.”

“Sure,” I replied, Helen serving me a pastrami sandwich and returning to the center island to make her and the others lunch.

Lunch consisted of a sandwich and a soda. Grandfather and Castor were talking about some money matters, while Helen talked to me about her daughter. Apparently, Jessica was one of the captains of the cheerleading squad. She was working the girls hard to get them ready to show off their skills during the upcoming playoff games.

I smiled and thought back to my own days at high school. I went to Calaveras High, a small high school near Rancho. There were a number of cute cheerleaders there at the football games, and I had thought about asking one or two of them out. But, I always chickened out in the end. I didn’t know what came over me when it came to talking to girls like that. I didn’t seem to have that problem now, now that I was one of them, unless it just switched from scared of asking a girl out to asking a boy out. However, would any of my former classmates recognize me if I returned for a high school reunion.

When lunch ended Grandfather asked me to follow him outside. He repeated what Helen said to me and that there were a few things that the two of us needed to talk about. He led me out their backdoor and into a very spacious garden. There were a number of flowers that had closed up shop for the winter, but the fountains were still going strong. I couldn’t help but notice that they had birds as ornamentation for their fountains. He led me over to a bench that was near one of them.

“Please, have a seat,” he requested, as he sat down on the bench. I obliged and sat down next to him.

“I have some questions for you, young one. You can speak plainly here.”

“What?” I answered, confused.

“Relax, I know that you are a Were, young Wolf. We’ve had our eye on you for some time now. Starting with your meeting with the witches to learn what you are.”

I had a look of shock plastered over my face. How did they know about that? I thought that it was just between me, the Drakes, and Melissa. No one else was there in the house.

“What are you talking about?” I managed to get out, the shock and surprise still in my voice.

“Mikaela, you’re not the only one who’s a Were here.”

“Excuse me?”

“Watch,” he instructed.

He stood up from the bench and stepped in front of me. I kept my eyes on him, and a few seconds later, there was a black bird standing where Grandfather had been. The bird cawed at me, and then flew up to where Grandfather had been sitting a few moments ago.

“Whoa,” I commented. “How could someone so big turn into something so small?”

I heard a voice in my head, ‘Don’t know, just happens. Same with other Weres who become small.’

‘Wait a second,’ I thought to myself, ‘that voice sounds familiar.’

“Chiron?” I asked, hesitantly.

The bird turned back into Grandfather, sitting on the bench as if nothing happened at all.

“Yes, I am the patriarch of the Were raven clan.”

“Raven clan?”

“We’re what you would call, the hidden clan of Ravencrest.”

“Then how come…?”

“No one has ever mentioned us? Because so few actually do know about us. Most people just ignore us as ravens.”

“Then why are you revealing yourself to me?”

“Two reasons,” he started, holding up two fingers.

I looked at him, while he began to explain things.

“First,” he just had one finger out, “we were charged with being the Lorekeeper’s eyes and ears in Ravencrest. They know about us, and we help them by gathering and providing information to them. They are sworn to secrecy about our existence to all but the leader of the Were Council.”

“So, Tobias Locke knows about you?” I reasoned.

“Yes, and he has been a useful ally to us.”

“Ally?” I snorted. “He’s treated me with nothing but contempt.”

“He can be a bit of a bastard, I know. He hates not being in charge of everything, and in control of every little detail. He’s a bit more moody these days, especially after what had happened between him and the Stiles clan.”

“What happened? I knew that he was implicated in some kind of crime.”

“That’s a story for another time,” he sighed, bringing us back to the subject at hand. “My clan’s Beta and I delivered the Journal of the Weres to you, during that meeting with the witches.”

I nodded, remembering, and asked with curiosity, “Who’s the Beta? Castor or Pollux?”

“Them? No, not them,” he explained, shaking his head. “My first son is the clan’s Beta.”

He looked out behind me and said, “Speak of the devil, here he comes now. He’s been wanting to talk to you for a very long time.”

“Would he be the second reason why you’re revealing yourselves to me?” I guessed with some sarcasm in my voice.

“Yes, indeed he would be,” he answered.

I turned and looked at the man who was approaching. He looked familiar for some reason. It might have been his dark hair, or the way in which he carried himself. In any case, there just something that struck me that I knew this guy from somewhere. From somewhere long ago.

“Mikaela Vance,” Chiron introduced, “I like for you to meet Jason Davidson, your father.”

I turned and stared Grandfather straight in the eye. “Father?!”

I continued in a loud, defensive voice, “Wait a minute, my father’s name was Leon Hawkins. How can this man be him?”

“The Hawkins name is one of his many aliases that he employs,” Grandfather explained. “He’s very adept at gathering intelligence and information from various sources.”

I turned back to Jason and realized that I could see some of my traits in him. That could only mean that he was my father, given where the rest of my traits that I inherited from my mother.

“Yes, Mikaela,” Jason responded, when he was near the bench. “I am actually your biological father.”

Jason walked over and stood next to me. It looks like he was feeling extremely nervous being this close to me. Like it was the first time that he actually got a good look at me, at least at this range.

“That just can’t be true,” I replied, furious at this look-a-like imposter for even pretending to be my father.

However, as I looked closely, I could see parts of myself staring back at me. I thought back, trying to place this man in some context. The only memory that came up was me looking at some old photo albums back at home when I was younger. This guy did look like the man that was next to Mom in some of those photos.

“Dad?” I asked him quizzically, putting some of the evidence together.

“Yes, sweetheart. It’s me.”

I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes. I wanted to give him a hug for finally seeing him and punch him in the gut for him skipping out on my childhood.

“I’ll let you two talk alone,” Grandfather observed, getting up from the bench and heading back into the house.

My father walked around and took his place on the bench. Sighing and in a caring tone, he said, “I have, for so long, wanted to meet you.”

“Yeah?” I replied, with sarcasm. I wanted to yell at him, and tell him that he was not my father, since a father doesn’t abandon their child.

“I know it has probably been rough for you to not have me in your life. But, I’m here now,” he continued.

“Why did you pretend to be someone else with Mom?” I fired off.

“It was part of my cover when I was gathering information on the Were clans in the West,” he explained. “That was my mission, and part of the reason why I went to a western university for college.”

“Then how did you meet mom?” I quizzed him. My mother had told this story me a few times when I was growing up, ever since I knew that my stepfather wasn’t my real father. Even though my stepfather treated me like his son while I was growing up.

“We met in college; she was studying business, while I was studying physics. The two of us had a couple of classes together when our majors overlapped. And also those classes that filled G.E. requirements. We ended up in a group project, and after the project was finished, I asked her out on a date. I never expected to fall in love with her after that; it just sort of, happened.”

I could feel the tears in my eyes begin to water. He was spot on when telling me how the two of them met, from what my mother had told me.

“You used your relationship to gather information on the Vances?”

He sighed and admitted, “Yes, for a while at least.”

“At least?” I replied, sounding offended.

“Only for a while,” he defended. “I was, and still am, loyal to my family. After you were born, I realized that I couldn’t gather intel on the families anymore. I requested a transfer, and left.”

“Just like that?” I angrily replied. “Sounds like you didn’t even care about me or Mom.”

“I did care about you, and that’s why I left. I hated myself for spying on my own wife and son. Daughter, I mean.”

I still was feeling very angry at him, when he added, “I hope you can forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” I fired off, searing with anger. “You’re asking for my forgiveness? After you didn’t even bother to stay in touch?

Forcing Mom to remarry to have some kind of meaningful relationship again? You don’t have the right to ask for forgiveness!”

I could feel the hot tears sting as they rolled down my skin after my rant. He just put his hand on my back and tried to comfort me.

“You’re right. I can’t change what I did, but I can change what I do now.”

“Don’t touch me!” I yelled, getting up from the bench and forcing his hand off of me.

I stormed off toward the edge of the backyard, sulking with my arms crossed. I thought to myself, ‘How could this man come into my life and claim to be my long-lost father? Why was he doing this, when he couldn’t even show up for some of the other big events in my life?’

I heard him walk up behind me and say softly, “Please, Mikaela. I want to get to know my daughter.”

I couldn’t stand it any longer. I could feel my rage building up inside me.

“You want to get to know me?” I retorted. “Really? Now?”

“Please,” he pleaded.

“Have you even talked to Mom while she’s been in town?”

“No,” he admitted, sounding ashamed. “I’ve been afraid to.”

“Afraid to?” I snapped, turning around. “Why are you afraid?”

“I…,” he started.

“You know what?” I interrupted angrily, “Save it. I don’t want to hear it.”

I turned around and ran off into the forest. I just wanted to get out of there so badly. I turned into a Wolf and just ran. Right now, all I wanted was to be left alone.