Eyes of the Serpent

AN: Well; I had a HUGE chapter, responded to reviews, and THOUGHT I added it, but apparently not. That REALLY grates my cheese! Arrrrrrrrgh! Oh well, here\'s shot number 2...



DecadenceRefined: Thank you SO MUCH for the detailed review! I hunger for reviews like yours, and the hit count I have seems rather lacking in the review department...I always figured no one likes this enough to review...Oh well. Maybe one day more people will feed me as you have! In regards to the Josie x Wolf scene, that was just a sheer expression of Ironpaw\'s "take what I want" character. Josie responded the way any terrified submissive female would, one who hadn\'t really had a sexual life, and was new to the feelings of it. Rather like force-feeding a child candy, if you will. Trust me, she will NOT be your common female AFF star. You can bank on that. The small and helpless bit will be ending. As for the wolf form issue, I simply failed to explain it the way my mind sees it. See, think of the moon\'s waxing and waning as an energy source on a sort of wavelenth, with the full moon being the strongest, and new moon the weakest. Now, when the moon energy is it\'s strongest, is when the weres have the MOST energy, and can be the typical bipedal vicious beasts we all know and love. On the NEW moon, there\'s not much lunar energy, and they have to be the weaker, quadrupedal beasts we\'ve seen in places like Twilight. Also, they wear the clothing to denotate jobs to new recruits instead of just going "I\'m security" or "I\'m the lab wolf". I\'ll explain it all a bit better. As for the character detail and spacial detail, I have two completely different ideals on that. As far as spacial goes, I like the reader to see the area as I see it, yet the characters as they see them in their heads. Though, I will try increasing character detail, and decreasing spacial a little, just for you. :). Also, I have described Josie, in the first chapter I believe. In case you missed that part, she is a typical blond-haired blue-eyed New York raised girl who weighs very little for a female and has a small, little frame. And, thank you for your compliments! ^o^ Your review certainly has made my week! :)





SightSoBlind: Lol, thank you, I think. :D Yes, Remmy has made a few large mistakes, and that won\'t be the end of them! ^.~

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"WHERE IS SHE?! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE WITH HER?! LET ME OUT!" Remmy barked, slamming a fawn-colored paw against the glass that caged him in. It wasn\'t a very forgiving cell, and only gave him enough space to stand in place or lean against the wall. He\'d been in there for many hours now, and it was quickly draining his energy. Soon, he\'d have to revert to his human form - and that was forbidden in the Den. Then everyone would know exactly who he was topside, and anyone who hated him could simply take advantage of it, and kill him - that\'s why it was made law to always be in wolven form in the Den - for everyone\'s protection, and the safety of the pack\'s numbers.



A silvery-black toned and scrawny little wolf female slipped over from her spot near a balcony at the other side of the room, and heaved a large sigh as she dangled her paw from her large, navy blue collar. "Okay, misfit. If you calm down long enough to listen, I\'ll let you come over by the balcony to listen to the pack meeting. It\'s your right to hear it, but only if you\'ll be a good boy. I\'m sure your woman play-thing will be just fine, wherever they took her. I have no idea, and I told you that before. Now, you gonna shut up long enough to watch?"



Remmy snorted indignantly, but crossed his arms over his chest as he relaxed back against the glass behind him. He wanted so badly to break out of this damn cage, find Josie, and get them the hell out of here; but the moon was waning, and it\'s strength was fleeting; his own energy was draining quickly, and breaking out of this glass chicken pen would sap the last of his power - and he could not escape as a slow, weak little human boy. Of course, even if he could, they would know his face, and would kill him. Years of him being in this form made them forget HIS face; but Josie\'s was fresh in their minds, even IF he broke out and got out without loosing form.



"Fine." he resigned, frowning with agitation.



"Good. They can\'t hear you up here, so don\'t bother putting in your two cents." she told him, as she began to push his glass prison, which was on wheels, towards the balcony that overlooked the meeting room. There were the Alphas of every pack existing, sitting in a large circle of thirty members in the middle of the circular room. Behind them were their two betas, the two strongest male pack members the respective alphas had - all except for Ironpaw, whom hadn\'t taken his spot yet, who had only one. The rest of the wolves weren\'t present it seemed, or at least, as usual, the lower ranked wolves weren\'t invited at all.



After a moment, the large black wolf trod in to the meeting room on all fours. So, he had lost most of his energy as well. Or, he was conserving it. A few of the other Alphas had followed suit.



"Well." he started, taking his place at the higher end of the room, seemingly at the head of the circle. "While we are waiting for the old man to wander in at his leisure, I will inform you of what he has been informed of by none other than myself. Word has come from scouts on the outposts that the hunters, whom have been silent for a few months, has been preparing for a full-scale attack on either us, or the Vampires. We do not know when or whom will be struck, but we do know it has been confirmed - our scouts witnessed a coded conversation in a bar spoken by two of the most recognizable leaders. We have also gained knowledge that the Vampires have no idea about this attack, as they had no scouts in the area at the time whatsoever."



A murmur crawled over the pack leaders, as they exchanged quiet comments. Why hadn\'t Ironpaw come to tell Remmy about this at all? He frowned silently, and turned his ears sharply in order to hear the conversation better.



"We should prepare!" one tawny colored wolf exclaimed, clenching his fists. "We must be ready in case we are struck!"



"But, they don\'t know where any of the den sites are!" another butted in, shaking his head. "They can\'t attack where they can\'t arrive to."



"Exactly!" Ironpaw injected, reclaiming domination over the packs. "They DON\'T know where we are, or they\'d be in here a LONG TIME ago! That\'s why I believe they\'re going to try to take out the Vampires to scare us out into the open! We should seize this opportunity, and attack the Vampires as well, before the Hunters get there! We will eradicate those blood sucking morons once and for all!"



"But they haven\'t bothered us in YEARS!" cut in another, smaller, grayer wolf.



"Yeah! We should concern ourselves with our OWN agendas!"



"No, Ironpaw is right! They have never showed us any mercy, this is a chance to return the favor and finally stop worrying about if they\'re going to attack or pick us off in the human world."



"SILENCE!" called an old, raspy voice from the door. All eyes turned to see a wolf even larger than Ironpaw, and whiter than any of them - but still on the yellow side of white - with blackened eye patches, much like a raccoon\'s. "Are we such common mongrels, that we strike out at that which has not raised a talon against us since our mindless bestial forefathers were alive? Are we so angry at the past that we cannot move forth to the future? Are we so confident in their lack of knowledge that we are certain they have not possibly learned of a den on earth? No brothers; we are not. Will you all not open your eyes and see, those of the past are not our enemies? We share the same fight as they; the wars of the past are no longer, the wars of the present are where we must cast our eyes. It is not too much to assume that they are conversing the same issues as we. No brothers; we will not be raising our paws against those who have not raised to us. We will not be engaging in wars of the past; no, we must brace for the wars of the present, and fight for the peace we have attained. Ironpaw; choose a successor from your two, and step down. You have not learned the lessons I had hoped you would."



With no more words, the large white wolf exited the chambers. Not a word was argued with, not a nose was twitched in disrespect - except one. As soon as the ancient wolf had left, Ironpaw snarled after the head of the packs as he left.



"No one will make us to be pacified puppies. Highear; find him, hunt him down. Kill him." The muscular grey wolf behind him stood to all fours and nodded, dashing from the room without a moment to spare. A few Alphas looked incredulously at him, while a few pretended not to hear, but no one stood to argue with him. They all shared the same thought; why were they at least not doing SOMETHING?



"No....NO! Goldfleece has done EVERYTHING for us all, he is the reason we have all survived this long! What the hell is Ironpaw THINKING?!" Remmy exclaimed angrily, trying futilely to shove open the cage door, which was locked with a solid steel bar. "He can\'t...get away with this! You MUST let me OUT! Let me defend Goldfleece, he\'s too old for a scrap! It\'s my right, jail-bitch! LET ME OUT!"



The silver-black she wolf that had been assigned to watch over him heaved a grand sigh. "I know. This could mean my ass, you know....but there are greater things at play now than there were before." she said, as she strode over. "Here, I\'ll make it look like you broke out..." she muttered, grasping a table beside her. With a short burst of energy, she threw it into the glass cage, making Remmy brace, and curl up as much as he could. The table clattered away a few feet beside him, as a rain of glass fell down upon him like snow.



"Thank you..." he spoke, then lashed a paw out against the female\'s head. She fell quietly to the ground, knocked out from the force. That way, it wouldn\'t be her fault. Chances were, if he didn\'t get back in time, they would kill her - but at least he made the effort to save her.



Without another thought, Remmy flew from the prison room, on the trail of Goldfleece, and his intended killer, Highear - his own co beta - his brother and confidante.