~1834~

As the week of Christmas, Kristofer’s forty-first birthday and new year’s all bled into the beginning of 1834, there was not much celebration going on in the Harris family. Earlier in the week the thirteen year old twins had gone to market and ended up not heading home again until it was nearly dusk. On their way home they ran into a bit of trouble with some unsavory sorts that saw two thirteen year olds as easy prey for them to rob of the supplies and any money the two were bringing home that evening.

Only they were very sorely mistaken when the stress and fear of their robbery awakened that waiting beast inside Sebastian’s twin. Her name was Sophie and she was already a beauty at only thirteen. She had both her mother’s blue eyes and flame colored hair. Though that was not all she had inherited from Rose. When the men stole their belongings and cash, and then threatened to ‘get rid of’ the boy and ‘find another use’ for the girl, that was when that sleeping beast inside Sophie awoke and brought a very bloody end to all three of the robbers, in mere seconds at that.

Sebastian was beyond traumatized by what he had witnessed, and Sophie had run off and disappeared after the attack, most likely in even more shock than her brother had been, if that were possible. That was when Sebastian returned home to find his father already asleep on the couch and waited all night for his sister to return before finally giving into exhaustion himself. Then he had the unpleasant task of trying to recount the entire story to his father, sure that there was no way Kristofer would ever believe such a tale. Yet, he was thrown even further when his father seemed not near as shocked as his children had been, though there were plenty of other emotions there.

That was when Kristofer had to try and explain to his son about what both his mother and his uncle had been. The obvious question was of course why Kristofer had never told either of them of their heritage; and the only answer he could give was that he hoped he wouldn’t have to, at least not before the two were ready to start their own families. He then had to go on to explain that their mother had wanted them to go back and live among others of her kind if this did eventually happen, but that Kristofer did not have any desire to take his children back to that life.

Of course, now that his own daughter was Garou, he had to once again ponder the choice. It was true that other Garou would be better able to answer all the questions Sophie was sure to have, whenever they finally located her again; but at the same time, Kristofer knew that raising them the way he and their mother had been raised was not something he wanted to do at all, even if he hadn’t been compelled against letting them believe what they would surely be taught back in the Caern.

That entire week, Kristofer and his son searched for her though it seemed she had not wanted to be found. At least Kristofer hoped that that was the best possible scenario as he didn’t want to think of any others. It was true that she was obviously quite capable of defending herself against any danger, but he couldn’t help his worry; she may have been one of the creatures that he had always feared and hated being subject to for all of his childhood and even his short marriage, but she was still his daughter.

They returned home late that night, hoping that maybe just maybe that would be the night she finally decided to come home to them, Sebastian was obviously not ready to simply go to sleep and hope that the next day would bring an end to this crisis. He just stared hard at his father as Kristofer removed his coat and took a seat on the couch that had been his bed while he worked toward getting the additional rooms built onto the small home.

“The gun’s in your coat pocket, isn’t it?” Sebastian had to ask as Kristofer took that seat.

“Gun?” Kristofer replied for no other reason than buying time to find a good answer to that particular question.

“Please dad, no more half-truths. I know you always have it with you” Sebastian returned.

“This whole situation proves that the world can be a dangerous place; so yes, I carry a gun” Kristofer admitted as he looked downwards.

“Is it for Sophie?” Sebastian asked bravely, which caused Kristofer to look up quickly at that question.

“Why on earth would you even ask that, Sebastian?” Kristofer shook his head at the young teen with dismay.

“Because I saw what she did” Sebastian sniffled as he looked down to hide his still very real trauma that he had been through less than a week earlier.

Kristofer took a deep, shaky breath. His own long-held opinions of how terrifying the Garou could truly be were making it even more difficult to try and offer the comfort his son so desperately needed right then. He finally took one more breath before trying to find some sort of answer for the boy, “from what I understand, the First Change is pretty terrifying. Most Garou aren’t really aware or in control of what’s happening to them that first time. Just because Sophie hurt those men doesn’t mean that she’d ever hurt her own family” Kristofer replied, trying to sound more sure of his words than he honestly felt, considering the number of times Kaleb did come awfully close to hurting Kristofer himself over the years of their childhood.

“She didn’t just hurt them, dad. She tore them to pieces” Sebastian returned with another sob as Kristofer tried to keep his own emotions in check at the idea that his innocent little thirteen year old girl could have done the things that his brother had done to Claire’s friends all those years earlier. Though, he knew that Sebastian would have no reason to lie about what he had been forced to witness; and that thought troubled him just as badly.

“They were trying to hurt the two of you though” Kristofer returned shakily, his own voice wavering while trying to supply any comfort at all whilst feeling none of his own, honestly.

“She’s a monster, dad” Sebastian returned through another broken breath.

“She’s your sister” Kristofer told him with what he hoped sounded like conviction.

“I saw what she did though; you didn’t” Sebastian argued, though weakly.

“She didn’t hurt you though. That’s what you need to remember” Kristofer insisted. He then added, “believe it or not, I understand better than you think; I had two grandparents, a brother, and a wife, your mother, who were all the same thing as Sophie. I’m still here, aren’t I?”

Sebastian was quiet for a long moment, still looking unconvinced. He then finally spoke again, “what happened to our mother, anyway?”

That question threw Kristofer more than a bit as he paled slightly and swallowed a lump in his throat before he could manage an answer, “I’ve already told you that, Sebastian; she died when you were babies.”

“Yes, I know that; but I wanna know how. You said she was like Sophie and I wanna know what happened to her” Sebastian pressed.

“Like I said, she died” Kristofer repeated as he looked away.

Sebastian just shook his head over at his father as he continued to refuse to give him an adequate answer, “I’m not dumb, dad. I’ve looked at your gun when you were asleep…”

“You shouldn’t be touching a gun, Sebastian!” Kristofer exclaimed.

Ignoring the scolding, the boy continued, “I looked at it and I know there’s one bullet missing. I also know that the bullets are silver, dad” he told him plainly, which caused Kristofer to tense even further, “why would you have silver bullets if you weren’t…” Sebastian just shook his head, “that’s why I asked what happened to our mother; and if the gun was for Sophie” he finished as he sniffled.

“I’m not planning on killing your sister, my own daughter, Sebastian. I swear” Kristofer assured.

“But those could kill her” Sebastian pressed.

“Or another Garou, if I ever had to. But like I said, I have no intention of…”

“Did you kill our mother?” Sebastian interrupted plainly.

“That’s a really good question” a young girl’s voice interrupted tearfully from the doorway, Sophie having finally returned home.

Sophie’s pale cheeks were tear-streaked, her red locks disheveled, and her clothing torn and dirty. Kristofer and Sebastian both turned at the sound of her voice. Her father quickly got to his feet from the couch as Sebastian tried to sink more deeply into the chair that sat next to the stand where Kristofer had left his coat upon their arrival home minutes earlier. Kristofer moved to embrace her while Sebastian froze in obvious fear, not leaving his seat to greet his sister at all.

Only when Kristofer took a step towards her to wrap her in his arms, she startled backward, her dirty bare feet moving her quickly back to stand in the doorway of the tiny home. Kristofer halted his move to reach for her sadly as he spoke instead, “are you ok?”

“Not even close” Sophie sniffled as she cast her blue eyes over at the obvious fear on her brother’s face where he couldn’t even look directly at her.

“We’ve been looking for you all week” Kristofer replied, speaking gently as his eyes moved over the dirt covering her, hoping it wasn’t mixed with bloodstains like those his brother returned covered in over fifteen years ago; however, after hearing his son’s recounting of the night of her First Change, he had a feeling that there was quite a bit of blood mixed in with that dirt.

“Why?” Sophie asked shakily, her blue eyes still tear-filled.

“Why? You’re my daughter and his sister; of course we were looking for you” Kristofer stated as he shook his head over at where she was already nearly taller than his own modest height, despite her age.

“To kill me?” she choked out, refusing to move from the doorway.

“Sophie” Kristofer scolded her as Sebastian couldn’t help moving his eyes to his father’s coat laying there on the stand next to him, and the gun he knew was in the pocket. Kristofer then added, “when have I ever done anything to hurt either of you? That’s a ridiculous question.”

“Ridiculous?” she returned through more bitter tears, “like me turning into some horrible monster? That kind of ridiculous?” she sobbed again, her statement mirroring her own twin’s earlier one.

“What you are is a Garou. They actually usually try to do good with the power that they have. It’s what your mother and my brother both were too” Kristofer attempted to assure her.

“My dead mother and your dead brother?” she shot back, though it was still with more sadness than there was anger; though Kristofer couldn’t help reminding himself that with all Garou, that temper was always deadly close to the surface.

“My brother was killed in a war where white men were trying to murder natives; there’s many Garou among the native tribes. He was outmatched, that’s why he’s dead” Kristofer told her in some further attempt at comfort.

“And our mother? Why’s she dead?” Sophie had to bring the conversation back to where it had been when she had returned home that night.

Kristofer swallowed hard again, “I’m sure you have much more important questions right now; about what you are and what that means.”

“That’s the second time you’ve refused to answer” Sebastian interrupted, though his words were a choked whisper as he still was staring a hole in the coat next to him instead of being able to cast even the slightest glance at his own twin.

“I just think that what is happening right now is a lot more pressing than what happened thirteen years ago” Kristofer attempted to deflect.

“If she was what I am, and you killed her…” Sophie just shook her head as she looked down to hide more tears.

“I never said I killed her” Kristofer attempted one more time.

“And you aren’t denying it, either” Sophie scoffed, “and you wonder why I didn’t want to come home?”

“Sophie, what happened with your mother was years after her First Change. During that first time, you’re in so much shock you don’t even know what you’re doing. Your mother had been Garou for fifteen years when she… tried to hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. That’s why she died” he forced himself to finish.

“So you’re saying she was a monster?” Sophie returned as she looked away again.

“I’m saying she lost her temper and went after someone who did her no wrong. She was twenty-eight years old when that happened. She wasn’t a monster before that, she just made one very bad decision and… and paid with her life” Kristofer attempted to tell as much truth as he possibly could.

“How am I supposed to know what to believe?” Sophie responded after a long moment, “all I know is that you say she wasn’t a monster, but you had to kill her for what sounds pretty monstrous. And I know what I did to those men. So how am I supposed to believe I’m anything but a monster, if my own father killed my mother for doing something like… for being the same thing that I am now?”

“Like I said, she wasn’t killed for being what she was; she was killed for trying to hurt someone that didn’t deserve it” Kristofer repeated.

“If she was so good then why did she try to hurt this person at all? Explain that” Sophie told him with another sniffle.

Kristofer took another long breath as he tried to find any answer for that question that he could. After another moment, and swallowing another lump in his throat, he finally made himself answer, “your mother and I, and the rest of our kind, and your kind… we were raised believing some very untrue things about certain people” he swallowed again, “I got away from that and I actually met some of these people, and they helped me and made it possible for me to have anything resembling the life I wanted. But your mother never knew them and still believed they were evil; so when my friend came to see me, your mother was still convinced that this friend was nothing but that evil, even though I knew her way better than your mother did. Then your mother was going to kill her, just because of those wrong beliefs that she had about people like her; and I couldn’t let her kill someone who had always been a friend to me, and had helped me when I needed it most. I had to stop her. I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let her kill someone just because she had been misled about them all her life without ever knowing any of them at all” Kristofer finished with his own attempt at biting back emotions.

“And the only way to stop her was to kill her?” Sophie sniffed again, as Sebastian also finally looked their way as he heard the tale finally recounted at last.

“Your mother was Garou; meaning she was faster, stronger and deadlier than just about anything else in the world. And she had a temper as well as those ingrained beliefs about what my friend really was like. Believe me, if I had had any other choice at all…” he just shook his head as he also looked down then.

“And I’m supposed to believe that I’m not a monster?” Sophie choked out again.

“Your mother’s incorrect beliefs are what got her killed; not just the fact of what she was. And I’ve made sure neither of you were ever raised with those kind of beliefs; just in case either of you did become Garou after all” Kristofer attempted one last assurance. He then added, “having the kind of power you now have can be a great gift, but if you’re led to believe things that make you use that power against the wrong people, like your mother had been raised to do; then it’s nothing but a curse. Which is why I’ve spent my life not teaching you those sorts of beliefs” he reaffirmed.

Sophie was quiet another long moment before she spoke again, “if you honestly believe that being this doesn’t make me a monster… then why do you still have the gun?” she finished with another sob as she hurried past him and into the bedroom, locking the door to the forlorn looks on the faces of the two mortals who were her only remaining family now.