Zoë dreamed, within her protective shell, of Hell.
Fires and screams lapped at her scaly flesh. She bathed in magma and drank tortured blood. Condemned flesh was her favorite toy; raw evil, the blanket she wrapped herself in.
Several times, she woke. It was too early to be active. In fact, without night around her, she was at a fraction of her power. Now, she focused all her energies on maintaining her elven appearance, in the event someone broke through her defenses.
Tonight, however, she would have so much fun. She grinned at the thought.
The two werewolves spent the bulk of their day in quiet embrace. There were a thousand questions to ask, and be answered, but they waited for the impending night. They let the phone ring, and allowed the mail to sit untouched in the box.
With about three hours to go, Karyn broke the silence. "We need someplace to go."
Jon nodded. "I was thinking about the addition. We could draw the blinds from the side windows, and still have the sun er, moon roof." They both snickered.
"What about the howling?"
"You plan to be a noisy one, eh?"
She playfully bopped him with a pillow. "I was talking about you!"
"No sweat. Dad soundproofed it last year. He got sick of hearing Richard Simmons when Mom wanted to use the addition to sweat to the oldies."
She gave thumbs up. "Perfect."
Jon smiled. "We'll lock and brace the doors shut. I'll leave a note for Zoë to stay out of there for the next few nights. I'll be as vague as possible."
"Works for me, but do it soon." Karyn began tugging nervously at her T-shirt, and at Jon's. "I'm starting to get a bit anxious."
Heath lay awake inside the packing crate that served as his makeshift coffin. Thankfully, regeneration had allowed his jaw to put itself back together after the last attempt to tell someone what was going on with Zoë.
He knew time was wasting, but he had to ride out the day. He had a better handle on things at night, anyway.
So far, he had a basic plan. Mist in, go solid, grab the stone, mist out. He could worry about damage control later.
The X-Factor was Karyn. The moon was full tonight. He hoped and prayed the she-wolf wouldn't be there.
Caroline sat in the airport terminal in frustration, waiting for the cab to arrive.
She'd given up on trying to get a connecting flight out in Aspen, and just decided to cut her trip short.
No one was answering at home. She supposed she'd just have to surprise Jon and Zoë when she arrived tonight
