Split in Time Ch. 06

"That didn't answer my question."

Amy tilted her head and smiled at Crystal, but before she could say anything further Ghan started to approach. Amy turned her attention to Ghan, and then looked beyond in surprise as a grown up Keira followed him. She was pleased that Keira had managed to survive the turmoil and find Ghan, but she was a little peeved with herself that she had forgotten Keira, which meant she had also forgotten Maddie. Focussing back on Keira, her eyes scanned for differences, Keira was a lot thinner and more guarded but what had her attention was the heavy length of chain in her hands which was connected to a collar around Ghan's neck. Amy wondered for a moment what Ghan had done to warrant the need for a chain.

"Ghan what did you do to warrant being chained up?" She asked with a little bit of amusement as Ghan and Keira came to a stop beside Crystal. Keira growled at the familiar tone Amy used but it was Ghan who stepped before her, mentally telling her that he knew nothing of the woman before him. He crossed his arms and held his body rigid, trying to keep from trembling. Crystal felt terror when she looked at Amy, Ghan felt helplessness. Amy could easily strip him of everything that he was and had, but what he couldn't decide was whether that was a good or bad thing, he felt beholden to her as if she was his Alpha but no one had held that sway since his father's death.

"Sorry." Amy closed her eyes and focused, dragging her influence back within her body and locking it up tight. She opened her eyes and watched as Ghan visibly relaxed. "Better?" She asked.

He nodded, "Thankyou... that was disconcerting." He said. "How do you know me?" he asked.

"That's complicated." Amy answered. "How about we sit and I'll try to explain." She suggested.

Ghan nodded and started to lead the way.

"So what did you do Ghan?" Amy asked as she started to follow the others bringing up the rear.

"This is retribution for my own actions towards Keira." He answered truthfully.

Keira took a deep breath as Amy turned to her. "See... I ran away..." She answered a little bashfully.

Amy snorted to keep from laughing and Keira blushed. "Didn't your mother teach you not to run from a Were... oops... forget I said that..." She corrected herself. Of course her human parents would have taught her to run from Were, in this world that was the safe thing to do.

"Actually they did..." Keira admitted and Ghan chuckled, "I just had other obligations which made me run."

"She didn't give me a chance to help her." He corrected with a playful glare.

"I had a reason." She argued.

He nodded, agreeing with her, before glancing back, "What did you mean by 'forget I said that.'" He asked.

"Well... where I come from the war you've all lived through... never actually happened. Where I am from Were and humans are friends." Amy answered.

"And that is how you know Keira..." Ghan surmised as they walked into the mess.

"And you... and Maddie," Amy added as her eyes focused on the young woman who she only knew as a young teenager, having seen pictures of Madeline taken before her abduction she could see that her daughter mirrored her both her features and colours.

"How did you get here if I may ask?" Ghan said, being as old as he was nothing bothered him, he recognised one of the people in her group, the famed blacksmith who lived at the lake back when he was much, much, much younger.

"Complicated... I'll try though." Amy answered honestly although explaining everything was one of the last things she wanted to do, she only wanted to repeat her story so many times but she knew he would need an answer. "How did Maddie join you?" She asked pleased that Maddie was safe and sound. Maddie's head snapped up upon hearing her name, then focused her complete attention back on getting the woman with the heavy cast on her leg to a chair, another woman was already at the table and just as heavily bandaged.

Ghan walked them over to Maddie. "As I was just forming the pack, back when the madness began, I came across a woman who had obviously only just escaped from a really bad situation, she was clutching Maddie. I brought them back to my den only to get the woman's name and to watch her die." He said regretfully. "So I named her after her mother and she's been with me ever since." He finished with a bit of a smile, he didn't see Amy's frown as she realised that Maddie's story here mirrored her story back in Amy's world. "However, I feel that I will lose her soon as she is looking for a teacher to further her healing ability. She's powerful and Blast has taught her all he can."

Amy nodded and reached into her pocket to her globe making a note to remind her when she got back to her world. "Nathanael in Wolfgang's pack is a powerful healer. I'm going there next; however you can ask Wolfgang yourself as I am inviting both of you to a gathering." She explained.

"What's a gathering?" Keira asked as she was unfamiliar with the term. Ghan gave her a shrug when she cast a curious look to him.

"A gathering, in my world, is when all the Alphas get together to talk and create peace and good will. This gathering will be mainly around ending this madness." Amy explained.

Ghan nodded, "it's about time something was done to stop this." He said pleased.

A woman with the cast on her leg hissed as Maddie carefully propped it up. "Sorry," Maddie said as she carefully slid a pad under it to support her injured leg.

"Blast should just cut it off." The woman said pain clearly etched on her face.

"It might still heal." Maddie replied wanting to believe it would heal even though she knew deep down the woman would be crippled for the rest of her life. The bones in her lower leg had been crushed and needed to be pinned together to heal right, and as neither Blast nor herself had that kind of skill they were stuck.

"Bull shit." the woman snapped her brown eyes flashing in anger, "A truck ran over my leg, it's crushed, if I was with humans they would have chopped it off." Her hair was dark almost black and kept short as long hair was too much of a hassle, her face was heart shaped but was strained as she was in pain.

"They could have repaired it." Maddie argued.

"Right," the woman said sarcastically, "and waste resources on a no body." She said hatefully, "No offence Keira, glad you saved me but I don't want to be a burden."

"You will never be a burden Piper," Ghan said firmly, "There are other things that you can do which don't require two good legs."

"Such as?" Piper questioned crossing her arms. She wasn't unhappy with her life, the pack had done everything in their power to help her and Helen and made it plain they could stay or go once spring came. They knew they couldn't leave, with the scent of Were stuck to their skin they would be killed and to be honest being here didn't bother them, not now that they knew it was humans who were attacking humans and making it look like Were. Not that they could speak out about it even though they wished they could.

"You can read... which means you can teach the young ones, you can write which means you can keep inventory, you have two good hands..." Ghan said starting to list her attributes.

"But I will always have to be remembered if something forces us to move quickly..." Piper argued.

"And you will have to be remembered even if you get a fake leg." Amy said intervening. "As a human you can't run as fast as a Were, aren't as strong, but you are important." She turned to Ghan. "Mind telling us what happened?" she asked not realising she had used her subtle unamused voice she employed when getting answers out of people without ordering but still implying it to be an order.

Ghan blinked for a moment but deep down he knew he had to answer. "We were forced from our previous den, when we stopped to rest Keira experienced her first shift..."

"How long ago was this?" Amy asked a little confused.

"Two weeks ago." He answered.

"And you've been mated for?" She asked.

"A little over a week, I only just got permission to mate Keira because she had come into her heat." He explained a little grumpy that Keira's heat had only last a week.

"Pardon..." Amy said wondering why when technically he could have mated Keira months ago. "I don't understand; you could have mated Keira months ago."

Ghan stood very still as his mind raced over that information, he could have had Keira the moment she stumbled into his life! He quickly dismissed that notion, he liked the fact that he had been forced to get to know her and respect her before he bound them together.

Keira was just as shocked but like Ghan she was pleased that they had been forced to delay their mating, that they had gotten a chance to get to know each other. "There was confusion about my age." Keira started to explain. "See when I was very little my biological mother was killed during a terror raid, I was almost killed, I still carry the scars. I was found by my adopted parents, two Were who raised me as their own. But they didn't know how old I was, they guessed I might have been a little under three." She shrugged.

"So what do you shift into?" Amy asked curious.

Keira glanced to Ghan; it was one thing for the pack to know she was some weird mix of two but for this virtual stranger. Ghan nodded for her to tell Amy. "My mother is a Snow leopard, my father a white tiger..." she paused when she saw surprise flick across Amy's face but she continued. "I am a blending of both; I am the size of a white tiger..."

"Immortal white tiger..." Ghan corrected.

Keira sighed, "Fine, immortal white tiger, but I have the body type of a snow leopard and the markings of both."

"Immortal." Amy said surprised and suddenly remembered what Thais had said, that fate had wanted her Were this way, turned by a snow leopard and a white tiger, the same way she had become Were here. Another thing quickly pushed its way forward, his insistence that they use Serenity's blood. Immortals generally didn't get blood transfusions, for starters they didn't really need it, blood loss couldn't kill them and secondly their blood had an adverse reaction to anything that wasn't its own blood or wasn't also immortal. It meant that in Amy's world, Keira hadn't needed the blood to survive her wounds but since Nathanael didn't know that and wanted to transfuse her, Serenity's immortal blood was the perfect match for Keira's.

Thais was right, he had known, he had always known but had also known he couldn't tell her, because knowing something and understanding something are two different things. So now she understood why Thais hadn't tried to stop Keira being scratched as this was how she was meant to be Were. Why he hadn't told them about the attack because that too was meant to happen, he saw things and sadly most of the time he could only watch them unfold and do nothing to stop it. It was still something she hadn't learnt yet, that sadly some things were just meant to happen. Which meant this Wolfgang was meant to meet her, love her and lose her for whatever reason that was.

Amy reached into a pocket and pulled her globe out, she held it between her fingers, it glowed for a moment as she put a large note in it, most of it about Keira and some about her son. She would have to apologise to him when she got home before she jammed it back into her pocket when she was done.

"What was that?" Crystal asked.

"A piece of Atlantian technology that Ancients find useful." Vivian answered.

Amy ignored Crystal and Vivian and approached Piper and knelt. "May I?" She asked and indicated at the splint. Piper nodded. "So I'm guessing Keira had to hunt and stumbled across you guys." she said and got a confirming nod from Keira.

"Are you a healer?" Maddie asked suddenly excited.

"No... not quite, not one who can train you at least." Amy answered as she gently undid the ties which were holding the leg straight. She rested one hand on Piper's ankle the other on her knee and closed her eyes focusing for a few moments. "Piper... this will hurt but it will help." She warned then turned to Maddie, "She's going to want to bite down on something and she is going to have to be restrained."

Maddie nodded and raced to get a wooden spoon for Piper to bite down on.

"So you can fix it?" Keira asked.

"We'll see," Amy answered.

Rhun went to open his mouth but suddenly felt an elbow in his side.

Shut up and watch... then you'll finally understand what the rest of us have been seeing. Taylor told him and got a confirming nod from Vivian. Taylor was slowly losing the blind fear she felt towards Crystal and made a mental note to ask what Crystal was if it didn't come up soon.

Piper was offered hands to hold as Maddie put the spoon handle between her teeth then hugged the woman from behind. Vivian took Piper's ankle and Ghan pressed down on her thigh, Blast looked on from the sidelines as he nibbled on a thumbnail.

Amy closed her eyes and placed her will on the shattered bones, willing them back to where they were meant to be. For long moments nothing happened then slowly the bones started to move. Piper cried out in pain and tried to kick Amy away. Maddie was suddenly in her mind and blocking the pain now that she knew where it was coming from, Piper went limp, she could feel the bones moving but nothing else.

Ten minutes later when all of the bones had moved back into their original positions, Amy changed her focus, willing the bones to fuse, grow and strengthen. Ten minutes later the bones were strong and whole, Amy opened her eyes and smiled pleased with herself. "Okay release her," she turned and grabbed Piper's ankle. "Push against me." Amy prompted and although hesitant at first Piper pushed against Amy.

Amy smiled, "All fixed." She said and stood.

"You said it will help not that it would be healed." Piper said as she stood.

Amy shrugged, "Hedging my bets." She told her. "Either way I couldn't have made it any worse so everything's a bonus." She finished with a smile.

Piper rolled her eyes and tested her leg by putting all her weight on it.

Rhun glared at Amy for a moment then turned to Vivian, "I'm agreeing with Boadicea... that's not fair."

Vivian chuckled.

Amy grinned and turned to Ghan, "Old argument." She explained and he nodded. "Okay so the gathering... are you coming?"

"When and where, I'll be there," he agreed.

Amy smiled, "Four days, in England, you'll be picked up by an Ancient who will transport you there. Pack for a week, bring Keira and I'll get your mating acknowledged."

"And you think you can get all the Alphas to get along for a week?" He shook his head as he wondered how she was going to do that. "I'll bring Keira." He told her, "But I'm bringing Crystal too, to keep Keira safe."

Amy nodded accepting that.

"So... why are you complicated?" Crystal asked.

"It's a long story I would prefer to repeat as little as possible, you'll find out at the gathering, when you hear my story I would love to hear yours." Amy told her.

Crystal frowned for a moment, "Pardon?"

"I think your story would be as interesting as mine..." Amy elaborated a little. "I've never seen a vampire awake during the day and with a heartbeat."

Crystal was gob smacked for a moment but slowly she started to smile, "You have good senses, most people just think I'm dangerous and can't tell what I am."

Amy smiled and stepped forward her focus shifting to Ghan, "Keira to my mind is my niece, if I ever hear of you chaining her up against her will I will come and kick your arse back to the ice age it came from."

"Like I would ever let him chain me up again." Keira stated.

Amy chuckled, "really, it can be exciting if done right," and with that her and her group vanished.

Ghan snorted, "Ancients." He said before he tugged Keira into his arms for a kiss, the thought that Amy had placed in his head of tying Keira down for sex was appealing to his base instincts and desires.

"Get a room!" Crystal complained playfully.

*

They appeared in a different forest. Taylor was still slack jawed; she had never seen a vampire before or been in the presence of one. Amy clicked her fingers in front of Taylor's face to snap her out of her stupor. "Earth to Taylor... wake up."

Taylor blinked, "Vampire..." she said, "So that's what it feels like to be in the presence of one."

"No." Rhun said, "Not what you were feeling, Crystal is... different..." He said hesitantly. "I thought she looked familiar, Crystal St Claire. You will have a problem there, some Masters believe she is a freak and Judas was an idiot for creating her." Rhun explained. "She also has a reputation for attacking any vampire who so much as looks at her funny."

Amy nodded, "I am really looking forward to that story..." She said before glancing down at the invisible line which she knew was a step away. She didn't want to cross the line and come face to face with Wolfgang. Her beast was silently pacing in her mind, but she had been silently pacing in the back of Amy's mind for weeks so Amy wasn't worried.

"Don't worry; we'll do what we can to help." Vivian said, she could feel Amy's anxiety rolling off her.

Amy nodded and focused for a moment, putting on her 'poker' face although she knew she would lose it quickly when faced with Wolfgang's pain. She opened her eyes and nodded ready to do this, she took that all important step, crossing the invisible border, triggering the alarm.

"Should we walk or wait?" Alanna asked suddenly anxious.

"Wait..." Vivian answered as her senses were stretched out to the limit of her range and already she could feel a group approaching at speed, "They'll be with us in a few minutes."

Everyone waited silently; those who could were listening for the approach. Amy stayed where she was, one foot on either side of the invisible border line and that was how the hunting party found them. The hunting party were led by a white wolf; it took Amy a moment to recognise Becky as she was a very different wolf to the one Amy had known. She no longer had the look of a stray about her; she looked as if she had gone through a voluntary turn in this world.

Becky skid to a halt and tilted her head to the side examining the way Amy stood as if she had known exactly where the alarm line had been placed. A blue roan wolf, black bear and panther quickly joined Becky, standing slightly behind the obvious Beta female. The others of the group formed a loose ring around Amy's group.

Amy felt her beast come closer to the surface, it wanted to stamp her dominance over those she considered HER underlings, them growling at her only added to her anger. Her eyes flashed for a moment before she pushed her beast back. Her beast growled at her but relented, going back to pacing in the back of her mind.

Amy focused her eyes on Becky, "we've come only to speak with your Alpha, and we have come unarmed." She told Becky directly.

How did you know this was where the alarm was set? Becky asked calmly slowly relaxing her body, her hackles went down, and her lips went down covering her teeth.

"I'm... complicated." Amy answered simply.

Becky tilted her head, that hadn't answered her question but she had the sudden notion that questioning the strange woman might end up with her dead, she had seen the flash of a pissed off beast in the strange woman's eyes. She also knew that the strange woman was powerful, she did her best to hide it but she was definitely an Alpha, a powerful Alpha who resented the fact that she had to submit to people below her rank. Back off guys... she's an Alpha and her beast is pissed. She privately warned her team.

The group dropped their aggressive stances, they were wary but they were no longer showing teeth and growling.