I am moving and continuing my Wyrd Girls story from What Happened In Your Game Today? over here to Creative Corner. I plan to repost and possibly expand the existing story here and, of course, continue it. - L
The Wyrd Girls
Gwen https://i.imgur.com/XavjqDx.png Gwenivar Silveroak-Goth Age: Young Adult (Immortal) Traits: Childish, Erratic, Loves Outdoors Parents: Arianrhod Silveroak (mother, deceased), Doug Brown (adopted father), Lillian Brown (adopted mother) Romances: Cassanrda Goth (wife) Children: Miranda Goth
Cassie https://i.imgur.com/oEskWEz.png Cassandra Goth Age: Young Adult (Immortal) Traits: Creative, Gloomy, Music Lover Parents: Mortimer Goth (father), Victoria Goth (mother, deceased), Bella Goth (stepmother) Siblings: Alexander "Xander" Goth (brother) Romances: Gwen Silveroak (wife), Don Lothario (complicated) Children: Miranda Silveroak-Goth (daughter)
Miranda https://i.imgur.com/xffY1N4.png Miranda Silveroak-Goth Age: Teen Traits: Creative, Good Parents: Cassandra Goth (mother), Gwen Silveroak-Goth (mother), Don Lothario (father)
"Mr. Lothario," the detective said. "My name is Williams and this is Detective Grant. We'd just like to clear up a few points with you about the death of Olivia Kim-Lewis."
"Sure," Don said, uncertain. "I don't know what I can tell you..." https://i.imgur.com/AuLhGqe.png
"You were in a relationship with Ms. Kim-Lewis, isn't that right?" Detective Williams asked. "You had a date at a club in the city, the night of her death?"
"Yeah," Don nodded. "That's right." https://i.imgur.com/fyvBS47.png
"It was a good date?"
"Yeah, it was a pretty good date," Don said. https://i.imgur.com/b2wwryy.png
"Now why are you lying to us, Don?" Detective Grant asked fiercely.
"It wasn't a good date, was it?" Grant continued. "In fact, witnesses saw you two arguing that night." https://i.imgur.com/oFl0FXx.png
"I broke up with her, OK," Don groaned. "She was getting all serious... talking about weddings and stuff. I'm... I'm just not that kind of guy. So, I broke up with her... and then she went home and someone murdered her. I didn't... I didn't want to tell people I left her the night she got killed." https://i.imgur.com/BoS4B7C.png
"You're exes have bad luck, don't they Don?" Detective Grant said. "Olivia's dead. Cassandra's dead."
"Cassie and I broke up a long time ago, man," Don said. "We... wha' do call it... reconciled. You know, for Miranda's sake. Cassie and I get along... got along... OK."
"Did you know Olivia was investigating the disappearance of Cassandra and Miranda Goth," Detective Williams asked, "and Gwen Silveroak-Goth?"
"Maybe she was looking into things you didn't want her to," Detective Grant snarled.
"What?" Don said, puzzled. "No, I... I didn't know." https://i.imgur.com/mDl0a7t.png
Olivia was investigating what happened to Cassie and Gwen? She'd been looking for Miranda? Maybe... Don thought. Maybe she found a clue to what happened. https://i.imgur.com/e7LPD1m.png
OK, I'm a horrible boyfriend and rotten father, but maybe... maybe I can find a clue too. Those cops sure don't know anything but what if Liv did. How would she have found out? Liv wasn't a detective. She was a reporter. She was great at asking people questions. She could get someone to spill there whole life for a story. https://i.imgur.com/ZbdTObX.png
Well... asking questions is just talking. https://i.imgur.com/bUvvAhm.png
I can talk to people... https://i.imgur.com/yqsDqRE.png
People, well, women, like to talk to me... and stuff... https://i.imgur.com/tw2GBEX.png
So, what do I know? Well, Cecilia is really...
Focus! About Miranda... Cecilia said she remembered some strange guys hanging around the woods at night. They scared her. She had nightmares about pale men coming into her house, hurting her... Something really weird is going on.
Man, I'm getting all spooky... thinking about Cassie and her ghosts and stuff. I'm tired... maybe I shouldn't have stayed so late with Cecilia. Heh... right... get some sleep, figure it out in the morning. https://i.imgur.com/uFQgo9a.png
They'd been going out for over a month now. After a certain point, it had just made sense for her to move her stuff in from across the hall. She was there all the time anyway, so why pay an extra rent? https://i.imgur.com/NROZSdE.png
They still went out most evenings. She liked going to the museum to look at the paintings. https://i.imgur.com/BI6VSRk.png
She said they were some of the best dates she'd ever been on, really. https://i.imgur.com/DPLqcos.png
On the other hand, the mysterious Lilith... https://i.imgur.com/8JUHYik.png
Xander couldn't believe she'd never done karaoke before... but at least her singing voice was better than his. https://i.imgur.com/aQef0Lt.png
Spending his nights with her was great. https://i.imgur.com/OOy4mW9.png
Honestly, he thought to himself, the biggest problem with dividing his time between beautiful women was he wasn't getting a lot of sleep. Still, he thought he was getting the hang of it... https://i.imgur.com/8gAHDvn.png
Still, he felt a little guilty that, with Morgan coming down with a stomach bug, he could get a little more rest. She'd been sick almost every morning for a few days now. https://i.imgur.com/SxuIRJo.png
"Elsa, it's good to see you," Xander said, pulling his ex into a warm embrace. "Are you OK?"
"Oh God," Elsa sobbed. "Why do you have to be so nice about it?
"I'm sorry?" Xander said with a sheepish grin. "I'm happy and I've been worried about you."
"Well, No," Elsa said. "No, I'm not OK..."
"Come, sit and talk to me." https://i.imgur.com/b11nu5H.png
"It's funny," Elsa said. "We never talked when we were married, but you were the only person I could think of to talk to now." https://i.imgur.com/BEJkV8O.png
"Oh God... Max," Elsa took a deep breath. "He's horrible. He's a criminal, Xander. Not like some petty crook or anything... he's seriously involved in organized crime. He... he dragged me into it. He made me embezzle from the company." https://i.imgur.com/9pZcBo0.png
"He made me do... horrible things. Xander, I'm so ashamed. https://i.imgur.com/ekkzZmZ.png
"It's not your fault," Xander said soothingly.
"You don't know that," Elsa shook her head. "I'd try to fight him, sometimes. We'd argue... but I kept going back to him" https://i.imgur.com/1VjrSYZ.png
"Are you going back to him now?" Xander asked.
"No," Elsa took a deep breath. "I'm not. I... I had a pregnancy scare. I couldn't bear the thought of having his baby... of bringing a child into that life. Worse, I wasn't even sure if it was his. In the end, it was a false alarm... but it woke me up. https://i.imgur.com/7r17Nuu.png
"I told him we were though... https://i.imgur.com/2YmyzVg.png
"He didn't take it well. He threatened me..." https://i.imgur.com/zlLJ7Pf.png
"... but I'm done being intimidated by him." https://i.imgur.com/FKQnbNP.png
"Well, you're away from him now," Xander said. "If you want, you can stay here, until you figure out your next move. We can put a cot in Talos's workroom or something. I'm sure Morgan will understand."
"Understand you letting your ex-wife move back in?" Elsa shook her head. "She must be a pretty remarkable woman." https://i.imgur.com/78UxojZ.png
"No, Max," Morgan snapped back. "You're not welcome here. Crawl back under whatever rock you came from."
"Out of my way!" Max yelled. "Or I'll put you six feet under, like I should have done when you skipped out." https://i.imgur.com/AWuqY7C.png
"Goth!" Max barged into the apartment. "You think you can take from me? You can keep the red head. We used her up a while ago... but this one is mine." https://i.imgur.com/zw2YLJ9.png
"Get outa here Max!" Xander yelled back. "I'm not going to let you hurt them anymore." https://i.imgur.com/2fpHBcg.png
Only, it wasn't the police Morgan called. https://i.imgur.com/gp3rtcU.png
They couldn't save Xander... https://i.imgur.com/D4eklko.png
... but she could. https://i.imgur.com/eT9S7bO.png
"We always agreed, the nights belong to you," Morgan said sadly. "I guess... at least he'll still be..."
"Morgan, darling," Lilith replied, "it will take some time for him to become accustomed to his new life but you will see him again." https://i.imgur.com/qlzoCja.png
"Sleep now, Alexander Goth," Lilith said. "When you rise, we will have much to discuss." https://i.imgur.com/2LWxJwi.png
On top of the start of school, Miranda faced renewed grief. She'd gotten word that her father, Don, was dead... murdered in his home under mysterious circumstances.
Yeah, he hadn't been the best dad in the world... starting at leaving mom pregnant at the altar and ending with rarely, if ever, being around. Yeah, he'd cheated on every woman he'd ever dated. (With as many affairs as he'd had, Miranda sometimes wondered if she had any half-brothers or sisters out there in the world.) Still, he'd been her dad. What little time they had had together had been good. https://i.imgur.com/e3OXNAV.png
It was a time where Miranda really missed her mom and Gwen. At least she had her friends. Jake was there for her, offered her a shoulder to cry on when she got the news. https://i.imgur.com/riTlTno.png
She was really glad to have a friend like him. https://i.imgur.com/6AhYw4G.png
Miranda had been worried about attending school again. She was, after all, the missing daughter of a (believed to be) murdered world-famous celebrity. What would happen when the Community High School asked for her records?
Fortunately Community High School, which educated teens from several small towns, communes, farms and lonely houses in surrounding area, was more than willing to turn a blind eye to strange teenagers showing up. No one questioned the sudden appearance of "Jake's cousin, Miranda Volkov" or her total lack of previous school records. https://i.imgur.com/Bhany5M.png
It was quite enough that the new girl from Moonwood Mill was polite, studious and not prone to sudden outbursts. High school was never easy, but it was an especially hard time for teenage werewolves. The wolf inside them longed to run under the open sky, not to sit in cramped desks listening to teachers drone on about math.
Nick and Beth spent most days after school at the Volkov's. https://i.imgur.com/ox56XvS.png
Nick wasn't a great student... book smarts were Jake's thing, not his. https://i.imgur.com/5fJeXYL.png
Beth did her best to encourage her brother and keep him focused. https://i.imgur.com/0qJRwj3.png
A few times, the boys missed school entirely simply because they couldn't hold the wolf back anymore... https://i.imgur.com/WJOujW2.png
... but for the most part school was school. https://i.imgur.com/8qbck8M.png
While Miranda still eagerly wanted to unlock the secrets of Moonwood Mill, those early days of fall didn't leave any of them much time. Between school and homework, it was sometimes all Miranda could do to find some time to practice her violin... https://i.imgur.com/nn9HQxo.png
Xander Goth acknowledged that his family had a rather macabre reputation. The stories about his ancestors tended to involve various combinations of tragedy, misery and dread. Popular opinion held that the family mansion was haunted. A fact his father had embraced openly, while adding to the family fortune as a successful horror novelist. His sister Cassie's musical and performance style played on the Goth name and reputation.
Xander had been trying for years to distance himself from it all. He was a computer programmer. He lived in a modern apartment in the city. Maybe he'd never quite shaken the family tendency to dress in black but, he insisted, black went with everything. Really, Xander Goth had no use for ghosts and spirits and things that go bump in the night.
Waking up in a coffin, with his pale, spooky, blood-play girlfriend looming over him, was therefore a rather unsettling experience for him. https://i.imgur.com/KoK8Pyw.png
He didn't really hand it well... Lilith just calming let him shout himself out, observing to herself that he'd inherited some of his father's literary flare at least when it came to creative profanity. https://i.imgur.com/CqebCzK.png
She waiting until his emotional outburst brought him around to the actual events of the night before...
"Oh my God! Max shot me. He shot me!" Xander yelled before considering an impossible possibility. "Lilith... did I... am I dead." https://i.imgur.com/bpuADsh.png
"Not yet," Lilith said sadly, "but you are dying."
"What?"
"Max shot you and you were going to die of it. I did the only thing I could do. I took you blood and gave you my own. In the next day, maybe two, your body will die and rise again. You will be like me - a vampire." https://i.imgur.com/eT9S7bO.png
"A vampire," Xander whispered. "That's impossible."
"Perhaps," Lilith agreed, "but it is also true. Now you need to learn what it means... and met my family."
"Caleb Vatore, the writer?" Xander was surprised. "My dad talks about you. I thought you were older."
"I am," Caleb laughed.
"Caleb's wife, Irma," Lilith continued.
"Wait, Irma Gold?" Xander said. "Didn't you host the fundraiser for World United?"
"I'm glad you remember me," Irma smiled. "You see Xander, we're not all that different from you." https://i.imgur.com/DVZYaY2.png
"Vampires," Caleb expounded, "are only monsters if we choose to be... much like mortals." https://i.imgur.com/9ZF8zoj.png
Caleb, Lilith knew, was prepared to go on at great length about the nature of the curse and his philosophy on controlling it. She decided to spare Xander that - for now - and reminded her brother he had a deadline with his publisher.
Recognizing that Xander was, and always had been, a lover of books she instead provided him with some - tomes of vampire lore and secrets.
"You know," Xander mused. "We have a copy of this in the library at home. Cassie read the whole thing. I started it but I never really took it seriously."
"Now you should," Lilith purred. https://i.imgur.com/CU8I0p6.png
Lilith had brought him clothes to change into. For the most part, they left him alone to read the books Lilith gave him. https://i.imgur.com/UzIl1Zi.png
Honestly, Xander still didn't believe it. Lilith had always been dark and intense, but so was Cassie. Caleb was a bit odd, in the way that eccentric rich people were odd and Irma, well she was fairly normal for a powerful woman - focused and very self-contained. The idea that these people were vampires... that he was become one... seemed crazy.
Still, he couldn't shake the memory of Max shooting him. https://i.imgur.com/GsX9DxO.png
A gnawing hunger set in... but the Vatores cupboards yielded only dry pasta and an old jar of tomato sauce. Xander was pretty sure the sauce had gone off... eating made him feel sick and didn't do much for the hunger. https://i.imgur.com/JzpoVdK.png
Alone, in the tower room, the three vampires discussed him.
"You shouldn't have done this," Caleb said.
"He would have died," Lilith countered.
"Why shouldn't she bring him over?" Irma said. "She cares for him, like you cared for me... and it is good to have a new member of the family." https://i.imgur.com/rBBwHYa.png
For Jake, the idea that he was expected to eventually replace Kristopher as leader of the Moonwood Collective was always in the back of his mind. The expectation gnawed at him, like the Fury of the Wolf, and, like the Fury, it drove him. He'd long ago taken to calling his circle of friends the Young Collective. While neither were formally part of the real Collective, Nick and Beth had both embraced the Young Collective and followed Jake's lead. The addition Miranda, even though she wasn't a Wolf, to the Young Collective had given them purpose.
Now that they were getting a handle on school, Jake thought it was time for them to start digging into the hidden history of Moonwood Mill. https://i.imgur.com/T4JSsfe.png
Jake and Beth were learning the old werewolf runes and reading the books of history and lore. https://i.imgur.com/jupjOLe.png
Miranda started practicing her spellcraft again. https://i.imgur.com/Od3ia7M.png
Nick... well, Nick wasn't much for studying. He focused on keeping himself fit. https://i.imgur.com/iNCiLiT.png
Jake knew that the best way to learn about the history of the town was to talk to the man who had lived through most of it... Kristopher. His father was always cagey about his past, but every once in a while he would let something slip. https://i.imgur.com/eNpoBji.png
With what he could find in the books and learn from his father, Jake started delving into the tunnels under the town. https://i.imgur.com/2TJ1Otr.png
From there and other places, they started gathering a collection of old artifacts... https://i.imgur.com/BBzrs5C.png
Beth set herself the task of studying them... https://i.imgur.com/LWe22YB.png
... translating the runes and unlocking the history of the Mooncasters - witches who drew power from the moons and eventually became the first werewolves. https://i.imgur.com/4WzQtzu.png
Miranda found she could take the fragments Beth was discovering and use them to inspire her spellcraft (with a little help from Bluebell). She was starting to learn how to channel and focus the energies of the moon. https://i.imgur.com/WRYTAVf.png
Beth was learning a lot about the past - the magic of the Mooncasters and the roots of her own power - but she knew there had to be more. https://i.imgur.com/yzHkOkm.png
It was Kristopher who let slip the last piece she needed... that the infamous and mad werewolf Greg was the oldest living werewolf. https://i.imgur.com/gcP21f3.png
Greg was an immortal like Kristopher himself... he might be the last surviving Mooncaster. https://i.imgur.com/8ndzqjV.png
If anyone had the answers they needed... https://i.imgur.com/Nloc7ig.png
Beth set out to find her answers... https://i.imgur.com/MkiOLwY.png
She knew digging around in Greg's yard, looking for clues, was probably the most dangerous thing she had even done... https://i.imgur.com/36oZD3p.png
She could smell him out there... and she ran! https://i.imgur.com/g43d5Jm.png
"Where have you been?" Miranda shouted. "I've been looking all over for you. Jake said he saw you heading toward the lake." https://i.imgur.com/IeX5phY.png
"I found it!" Beth gasped.
"Found what?"
"The journal of Greggorius Lunvik, the oldest living werewolf," Beth grinned. "The last Mooncaster!" https://i.imgur.com/HpXUsIs.png
On the whole, Xander was finding that Irma was right... his life as a vampire wasn't all that different from life as a mortal. https://i.imgur.com/3cxPn02.png
Lilith had insisted that he stay in the house, at least until he developed a better understanding and control of his new state. So, he took a short sabbatical from work (which wasn't that difficult... it was his company after all). He spent a lot of time playing chess and talking with Lilith, mostly about what it meant to be a vampire. https://i.imgur.com/3CFNqZg.png
The biggest thing that took some getting used to was his new diet.
Lilith explained that blood packs were an easy way for vampires to sustain themselves. The Vatore family, she explained, was dedicated to peacefully co-existing with mortals. Caleb lived almost exclusively on blood packs. She and Irma fed from mortals from time to time... but only with their permission... like she had fed on Xander.
"Yeah, but I didn't believe you," Xander said.
"Whether you believed I was really a vampire or not," Lilith smiled, "you still allowed me to drink from you." https://i.imgur.com/PW2nn3D.png
Sometimes, she admitted and despite Caleb's disagreement, when the Hunger was great they needed to feed without permission. Those vampires who saw mortals only as food, drank deeply from unwilling mortals and sometimes killed their victims. If she had to drink from the unwilling, Lilith said, she took only as much as she needed. The key was control. https://i.imgur.com/EIlmLfo.png
"If you are going to return to some semblance of life among mortals," Lilith said, "you need to learn this control... control of mortals and, above all, control of yourself."
After weeks in the house with other the Vatores, Xander was happy to be out in the world again. Lilith had taken him to the old city... https://i.imgur.com/mZ5YKZS.png
It was late and the streets were practically empty. Still, for the artists and poets of the old city it was never too late to go to the coffee shop. https://i.imgur.com/2p7OJUs.png
Lilith was a good teacher. It was easy... so easy... to slip into the woman's mind, to compel her to obey. https://i.imgur.com/Hh8jCFR.png
The blood... hot, living blood... shaded with the colors of life itself. So much more than the bland, cold blood of the packs. Xander understood now. For the first time, he thought, he really understood what he was.
He was a vampire. https://i.imgur.com/ZhexcaC.png
"You did well," Lilith said.
"I wanted to take it all," Xander admitted. "I could have."
"But you didn't," Lilith replied. https://i.imgur.com/hx0uTcK.png
"I told you, Wolf," Max sighed. "We got to lay low. I got heat on me since I offed Goth-boy. Now the damn blonde's singing to the DA. Shoulda done her too... That's what I get for bein' sentimental." https://i.imgur.com/FHs0uAu.png
"Come on. We gotta talk to the Boss." https://i.imgur.com/9Qoo1nT.png
"You've been careless, Max, careless and stupid. You killed Alexander Goth without my permission. You allowed Elsa to break free of my control and now she's talking to the authorities. I cannot allow such carelessness."
"Give me another chance boss," Max pleaded.
"If you were anyone else, I would have you bled dry," the Boss snarled, "but out of the deep respect I held for you father, I will give you one more chance. One chance, Max. Do not make me regret my generosity." https://i.imgur.com/qE4psgc.png
