                    -=   M   O   O   N   T   I   D   E   =-
                                  Chapter 14
                                 by StarStorm
                                                       (c) 1993-1994 StarStorm


The story so far:  Long ago, Tempest was first mate under his brother, Captain 
Bladed Jack, of the pirate ship Estrella.  In Port Royal, Tempest had 
purchased a ship's blessing charm from a mambo who warned him of the evil 
bocor who lived somewhere in the islands.  After sailing on the morning tide, 
the Estrella soon encountered an uncharted island shrouded in fog.  The ship 
at anchor, Tempest lay sleepless and uneasy in his bunk, heard footsteps and 
then saw a dark man with piercing, green eyes--the bocor.  A strange mist 
entered his lungs.  He thought his life was ending.  Instead, he awoke to find 
his mates, even his brother, dead and already rotting.  Rescued by a passing 
Spanish galleon, Tempest was thrown into a hellhole of a Caribbean prison--not 
for piracy, but for witchcraft.  Resigned to the fate he had somehow escaped 
aboard the Estrella, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to burn at the stake.

But fate had other plans.  Maria, the mambo's daughter, slipped into the 
prison to rescue Tempest.  The pair fled, with prison guards pursuing them 
into Port Royal and shooting until Maria fell, mortally wounded.  Tempest 
pushed on into the sea without her, later waking on a deserted and moonlit 
beach, wracked with fever as his body transformed into something gray, furred, 
and clawed...and a lupine howl erupted from his chest.  It was to be only the 
first of many such transformations from man to wolf and back again over a 300-
year span.  He was both Aru, wanderer, lord and elder of the pack...and Brad 
Anthony, Tempest, always the outsider among men.  As wolf, he fell to hunters' 
bullets while trying to defend his mate; as man, he sought help and found it 
in Mike Dell but wrestled with his doubts.  Could he trust Mike?  When he 
found the courage to speak the words he had previously said to no man, "I'm a 
werewolf," Mike merely chuckled, said, "You're a nut," and took it upon 
himself to nurse his new friend's wounds.  

After a brief encounter with a dark-eyed, raven-haired woman outside a 
clothing store, Tempest fell into fitful dreams of Maria, the mambo's 
daughter, as the loa called....  Another night brought more dreams, this time 
of his dead brother, Captain Bladed Jack, standing ready to wield his sword 
and claim not Tempest's life, but Maria's.  Tempest woke, drenched in sweat, 
screaming Maria's name and alarming Mike, who appeared from his bedroom with 
his .44 Magnum in hand.  After assuring Mike it was just a bad dream, Tempest 
flipped the TV on to a late news rebroadcast and heard Maria's voice in the 
person of the reporter, Leah Sanchez.  Still, the loa called, and Tempest once 
again left the world of men, slipping out Mike's living room window as a wolf.  
He followed the trail of Leah's scent to her office at the TV studios and 
learned that she was going on location.  Then he barely escaped the notice of 
guards and quickly returned to Mike's house just ahead of the dawn.  

By noon, Tempest sat with Mike in the station, waiting for the train to San 
Diego...the same train Leah was scheduled to take.  Tempest dozed fitfully, 
dreaming that Mike turned into a snarling wolf, ready to attack and keep him 
from Leah.  Bladed Jack was in the dream, too, plunging his cutlass into 
Leah's heart.  Tempest awoke in a frenzy, ran out of the station with Mike 
behind him, and collided with an old bag lady.  She knew him.  "After all 
these years, you've finally arrived," she said.  She led Tempest and Mike to 
her hovel and spoke of Tempest's past, the loa and the wolf's charm--and 
revealed that Leah Sanchez was Maria reincarnated.  As Tempest explained the 
threat to Leah he felt from Bladed Jack, the old woman offered help in the 
form of another charm--this one a crystal to capture helpful spirits.  Tempest 
and Mike left, told to return in the morning for the charm.  Back home at 
Mike's, Bladed Jack appeared again, slashing at Tempest with his cutlass as 
Tempest defensively transformed to wolf once more.  

                                     <-*->


     His side was killing him.  If nothing else in the world, Tempest knew 
that for certain.  He sat up gingerly, one arm protectively held to his ribs 
as he rose.  After swinging his feet over the side of the bed, he moved to 
examine the wound.  Mike had apparently dressed him in his pajamas, but the 
lack of blood at the side meant that it had been some time since he'd done so.

     Lifting the bottom of the shirt slightly, wincing as he moved his arm to 
expose the ribs, he could see the long white line that moved from his hip up 
to within six inches of his shoulder.  The skin around it was dark blue and 
black, leaving much of his side discolored, but very little blood was actually 
caked to the wound.

     On the floor, he could see the remains of his clothes where they ripped 
apart when he first transformed, scattered across the floor leading toward the 
window and replaced by a long trail of blood leading away, staining the blue 
rug a deep crimson purple.

     Tempest slid off the bed, ignoring the usual stiffness that came with his 
accelerated healing processes, and moved toward the hallway.  He could hear 
Mike at the table in the kitchen.

     Mike, shoulders mounted forward and head low, stared at him through the 
steam of his coffee.  His brow furrowed somewhat but he didn't speak.

     "Thanks," Tempest said, putting his hand toward the wound but not 
touching it.

     "Hell of a way to prove a point," Mike said, looking back down into his 
cup.

     Tempest smiled briefly.  Mike allowed himself a grin as well before 
dismissing it.  "I better go," Tempest said after a pause.  "You're too much 
in danger with me here."  He turned and headed toward the door.  He'd done it 
so many times before that it was as second nature as transformation.  One 
couldn't make new lives unless one could leave the others behind at the drop 
of a hat.  Of course, now he knew he could never return to the world of man 
again.

     "Way I see it," Mike said, turning his head to follow Tempest without 
lifting it from the steam, "I'm in danger now whether you're here or not.  
Besides, I don't take it too well when someone or something makes an attempt 
on my life."

     "Mike--"

     "No.  Look, you saved me from that whatever it was last night so I think 
it only fair I see you through this.  At least let me drive you downtown to 
get that charm thing."  He slid the chair back and rose to his feet.  "Let's 
get you dressed and get going."

                                   *   *   *

     The drive-thru at McDonald's was somewhat crowded, everyone rushing to 
grab breakfast before finishing the commute to work.  Mike had stopped at 
Tempest's insistence, to get a bit of food for the pirate.  Sausage McMuffins 
and hash browns found their way into Tempest's mouth within seconds of being 
handed through the window.  He made no concerted effort to savor the food, 
instead simply sending it down to answer the growling of his stomach.

     "God, chew it, Tempest.  Jeez," Mike said, pulling away and out into 
traffic again.

     "Too hungry to care," Tempest said between gulps.

     The remainder of the drive passed in relative silence as Tempest moved 
from one bag to another, downing the food as fast as he could unwrap it and 
dispose of the debris.  Periodically, Tempest would catch Mike looking at him 
while stopped at a red light or caught in slow traffic.  He'd arch an eyebrow 
to prompt a question from Mike, but Mike would only turn his attention back to 
the road again.

     To find the bag lady, they pulled through the lot of the train station 
and traced their route from the day previous, Tempest pointing out the street 
bazaar--still somewhat spare at the morning hour but quickly surging to the 
normal bluster--and then the alley in which the woman lived.

     As Mike pulled the Blazer up to the curb, Tempest jumped out of the door 
and began walking down the alley without even closing the door.  Mike called 
after him but could not get him to pause for a moment.  Closing both doors, 
Mike ran down the alley after him, his heavy footfalls echoing off the 
surrounding facades.

     Thirty feet from the bag lady's hovel, Tempest halted.  Something was in 
the air, something familiar.  He looked about, self-conscious that a shift to 
wolfen form might unsettle Mike more.

     "What's up?" Mike asked, catching up.

     "I'm not sure.  Perhaps you should look away a moment," Tempest said, 
beginning to unfasten his shirt.

     "Are you nuts?  Someone might see you," Mike said with hushed urgency.  
"If something's wrong, we'll find it.  Now let's go inside."

     Rebuttoning his shirt, Tempest nodded and moved toward the cardboard hut.  
Parting the sheet that hung in the door, they were met with an odor both damp 
and sulfuric that overwhelmed them.  The old woman was not inside.

     Tempest cast a glance at Mike and moved around the hovel, treading 
slowly.  He walked around the back toward the dumpster beyond.  "Mike."

     Mike stepped up behind him and looked down to see the body of the old 
woman, her skin blue and red in alternating patches of discoloration, chapped.  
One arm was wrapped around her, legs tucked close together, one hand extended 
outward.

     "What do you think?" Tempest asked.

     "Exposure.  Frostbite, perhaps."

     Tempest clenched his teeth and kicked the dumpster, moving it several 
feet and collapsing the cardboard dwelling on its other face.  It was the 
curse, he figured.  She'd been killed because she tried to help him just like 
Mike almost died last night.  It wasn't cold enough for blasted frostbite last 
night.

     "I should've been here," Tempest growled, fists clenched, the veins of 
his neck protruding slightly.

     "You can't be everywhere," Mike said.  "Besides, she knew what was going 
on.  She probably knew whatever it was would be coming for her soon.  I doubt 
it caught her unprepared."

     Studying her prone form, Mike looked in the direction indicated by her 
one straying arm.  She seemed to be pointing at something and he moved in the 
direction she designated, around the back of the building to a dead-end wall 
behind it.  Tempest stalked after him.  Looking up, he could see the reason 
for their return here.

     Lodged in a small nook on a fire escape overhead was the bowl the old 
woman had set aside for the charm.  It was a simple matter for Tempest to 
scale the brick siding and reach the landing.  He retrieved the quartz charm 
from the cold water of the bowl and jumped down over the side.

     "We need to get to San Diego," he said.

     Mike's lips parted a fragment and closed again.  Any questions were 
irrelevant.  Tempest led the way back to the Blazer and stood at the door 
until Mike had unlocked it from his side.  The Blazer screeched away from the 
curbside, stirring a nearby flock of pigeons to flight.

     "Why San Diego?" Mike asked, pulling onto the freeway, the speedometer 
approaching 65 mph.

     "Because they'll be going after Leah next."

     Six hours of driving, much of it spent in the daily morning rush hour, 
and the far distant lights of San Diego were coming into view.  Freeway signs 
had been steadily predicting its appearance over the past several miles, but 
Tempest hadn't taken much time to notice, staring instead at his hollow 
reflection in the window glass.  Mike had said precious little, only asking if 
he needed to go bathroom or eat or something, all of which Tempest responded 
to with a distant "No."

     "KXSD 101 FM," the radio chimed as a series of songs came to an end.  
"I'm Carli Hayes, filling in for Joe Batton, and it's just a little past the 
hour.  Now for a KXSD news update."

     Tempest turned to look at the radio, leaning his head on his hand.

     "KTLA reporter Leah Sanchez has been reported missing to San Diego 
authorities today.  Her cameraman was discovered badly beaten near the San 
Diego train station where he later explained to the police that an unknown 
number of assailants attacked them not long after they had disembarked from a 
train coming out of LA."

     His eyes widened as the report continued.  He couldn't have been too 
late.  Couldn't!

     "Robbery was apparently not the motive for the attack and authorities are 
currently engaged in a full-scale manhunt in hopes of locating Ms. Sanchez 
quickly."

     Mike spared a moment from the road to look across at Tempest, who had 
bared his teeth in anger, his fist tightly wrapped around the quartz charm 
he'd carried the entire trip.  "What're we going to do now?" Mike asked.

     Tempest looked down at the charm in his hand for a moment.  "Find a spot 
and stop," he instructed.

     The Blazer pulled to a halt along the side of the freeway.  Tempest 
stepped outside and slid down into the brush that lined the road, followed 
closely by Mike.  The quartz pulsed warmly in Tempest's hand as he used the 
other to undress.  Mike came around the brush in time to see the 
transformation near completion.

     Tempest never lost contact with the stone.  He reached out, his senses 
filtering past the diminished smog and freeway noise, searching out with the 
tangible and the beyond.  A deep spiritual tether stretched out from him, 
sweeping the countryside with ethereal fingers until, at last, they grabbed 
hard to--or were grabbed by--a deep, hungering force enshrouded in a void of 
darkness.

     Cold ran down his spine as he changed back, picking the quartz from the 
ground where his paw had covered it.  Mike handed him his pants and picked his 
shirt up from the dirt as Tempest dressed again.  "Well?"

     "The mountains," Tempest said.  "They're in the mountains."


To be continued...

                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
