"Father..." Serenity began.
"Micheal," the Catholic priest answered.
"Father Micheal, I must ask you a question, do you and your brother still have turns in the Game?" Serenity asked calmly, but still nervously.
"No, but neither did we pass it on to anyone else," Father Micheal answered, "If you will come with me, madame."
Trevor made an attempt to follow, but stopped after a couple of steps. He was still too weak from trying to escape Mr. P back at the manor.
"Go on," Trevor said to Madame Serenity when she stopped to check on her cat ally, "I'll wait here with Judas."
Serenity nodded and followed Father Micheal into a different portion of the church.
"So, you used to be human?" Judas asked once they were out of earshot.
"Yes, though I'd rather not go into the back story," Trevor answered, "Let's just say someone didn't like me and did this out of spite."
"Sounds like a great sin to wish such things on someone," Judas answered, "I do not know what I would do if I suddenly found myself human."
"It's not that bad," Trevor told the black cat, "You'd have opposable thumbs, you'd live longer..."
"The length of one's life matters little in comparison to HOW one lives one's life," Judas told him.
Trevor only nodded.
"And this Queen, she was... your mate?" Judas asked.
"She wanted me to be," Trevor said sadly, "I spent most of my time trying to run away from her... because, well because I was human. If I am to mate with anyone, I'd want her to care about me, to be with me, not to leave me when the "job" is done and be willing to mate with a different male the next time she is in heat... of course, maybe that's the fact that I'm really a human in a cat's body..."
"You sound regretful," Judas commented.
"She shouldn't have been there," Trevor said, "she shouldn't have. Serenity sent me there to find the nest of this harem that had stolen Mrs. Butler's husband, and now her children and herself as well. Queen didn't have any interest in that... but she helped me get in, helped me get what is needed... it's my fault she's dead. The wolf had me treed and was about to knock me out of it to eat me when Queen attacked him... and I ran to a hiding spot and watched it eat her. I'm nothing more then a coward, Judas. I should have helped her should have done something to save her. All she wanted was to have kittens, and by following me, she'll never get that chance again."
"You've come to "love" her as humans put it," Judas commented.
Trevor found himself crying into Judas's shoulder, "Yes. God, yes. The first "person" I ever fall for, and it's a house cat... and to top it all off, I got her killed."
"But if not for her sacrifice, your human would not know what you have learned about this manor and the harem within it," Judas tried to comfort Trevor, totally unconcerned with whether or not Trevor had been born a cat, "From the way you put it, what Queen did was selfless, and if there is any justice in this world, you will meet her again in the next life."
Trevor looked at the black cat who had earlier told him that he didn't think cats, or any animal could go to heaven had now just told him that he and Queen would be reunited in heaven. Was he meaning that Queen's final sacrifice truly was selfless, subverting the whole "selfless versus selfish" point on heaven and the afterlife? Was he saying it because Trevor was once human and needed that sort of reassurance? Strangely, Trevor found he had no argument. He wanted to see Queen again now, and his guilt at letting her die such a violent death weighed heavily on his heart. He wanted to speak to her again, if only to apologize.
"I hope so, Judas, I really hope so," Trevor answered.
++++++
"As I said before, neither I nor my brother have our turns," Father Micheal spoke, "The game is a work of witchcraft and black magic. The only way to end it is to end all of the turns."
"The Game might be the only way to reverse what has been done to the people now trapped in that harem," Serenity countered, "I will need at least one person with a turn to begun undoing what the perverted male that started all of this did."
"I might have to agree with you on that," Father Micheal answered, "but I and my brother no longer have our turns. Not for the fear of temptation, as I, unlike so many priests, have not fallen to the temptations of the flesh. But, we have both agreed to try and end the Game in our own way. So we found a way to terminate the game with us so that way no one could force us to use our turns, ever."
Serenity followed Father Micheal down a flight of stairs into an area underneath the sanctuary of the church. In history specials, these areas in Europe commonly housed the remains of important church goers or members of the clergy, or if it was in a major city was the only place to bury the dead.
What he lead Serenity too looked more like a hidden vault then anything else. He reached onto a shelf and produced a small vile containing a white powder. He then pulled out a scroll.
"And this is how we can help you," Father Micheal said, "I have taken a vow of non-violence, personally. Because all too often, warriors do very evil things, even if they believe what they are doing is good. The Holocaust... the Nazis that perpetrated that vile and unforgivable act believed they were saving Germany. Which WE KNOW to be a lie. And Truman... he believed he was saving lives when he ordered the atomic bomb to be dropped on Japan. And in that case, maybe he was right in reference to stopping the war with potentially fewer casualties, but when that is balanced out against the number of lives threatened by nuclear holocaust because of the genie let out of the bottle at Los Alamos, I can not believe that it was a good thing in the long run... and my brother, while he has an orangutan's strength, which is greater then a human's, I do not think he is strong enough to face down close to thirty wolves... but this can help you."
"What is it?" Serenity asked.
"Agents of White Magic dating back to Merlin Ambrosius, teacher of Arthur Pendragon," Father Micheal answered, "it will terminate the turn any of the harem wolves hold. If you can turn them back first, it will help end the game... if not, it will at least allow you to prevent these wolves from spreading the curse further."
"I had thought the Church had rules against the use of Magic?" Serenity asked.
"Against BLACK magic, yes," Father Micheal answered, "against WHITE magic, no. Merlin, though this fact has been lost to the myth tellers of King Arthur, was a member of the cloth. It is through his teachings that we are able to tell black magic from white magic. It should help you against these wolves, one way or another. The scroll contains the instructions for making more of the powder and how to use it, should you require it."
"Thank you," Serenity told him, "This might be the only thing that can end the game if it can truly end any unused turns."
"It can," Father Micheal spoke, "It can."
"Now here's only to hope that the wolves have taken no action against that neighbor, and hope that he's willing to heed the warning," Serenity thought, "and hoping there is time for Trevor to heal. Because thanks to the police's strange and self-restricting rules when it comes to the game, I doubt they'll be of any real help..."
++++++
Jensen listened quietly as Julie finished her report on Madame Serenity and what she knew of the investigation the woman had made so far. He was surprised to learn that the woman's familiar, Trevor, was once a football player that he, when he was still Jennifer was prepared to ask out when he had seemingly disappeared. Jensen however, shrugged that off. He was very much a male, himself, now and had Kaylee and the triplets to sire his own line with and pack of mostly female wolves that would adore him, even if their children, likely wouldn't be his. A boyfriend would be an impediment to him now.
Though, he now did hope that it was Trevor that escaped and that Mr. P had eaten the stray cat with him. He didn't want to see a person he had thought highly of as Jennifer eaten.
Mostly, Jensen was relieved to hear that Madame Serenity wasn't a witch. Close, maybe because of her immunity to the game and her ability to somehow sense when it was used, but still not quite a witch. She would likely still try to undo his pack, but without supernatural powers of her own, she would likely need the Game to do it, and with Alice, the Pack's master of semantics, Jensen was sure a "transform" or a "dare" could be worded that would lock the Big Bad Wolf Pack in its present wolven forms.
"Thank you, Julie, for the information," Jensen spoke, "It will make dealing with Serenity MUCH easier."
"You're welcome, Master," Julie smiled.
"Neighbor always WAS too nosy for his own good," Kaylee grumbled about the neighbor spying on them as they left the Perkins home.
"There, there," Jensen ran his fingers through Kaylee's red-brown hair and fur, "He is unimportant. And he has no clue as to where we are... and at his likely age, I doubt he is physically a threat. Only Madame Serenity is, and countering her, since she doesn't appear to be a witch, will be relatively easy."
"How do you plan to do that, Master?" Fran asked.
Jensen then turned to Alice, who was still at Darla's side.
"First, we use the Game on ourselves to insure that the Game can not be used against us," Jensen said clearly enough, hoping that the glass pup would catch on.
"Lock our present forms through a "transform" or "dare", father?" Alice asked.
"Yes," Jensen nodded, "If you can think of a way to permanently lock us in our wolf forms, let me know before your bedtime."
"You will know of it by dinner time," Alice vowed, "even if dinner isn't too far away."
Jensen then turned to Kaylee and the triplets, "the evacuation order, however, is only on hold. Even if Serenity isn't a witch, she may have political connections that we don't know about, and remember what I said about our chances against the army or the marines..."
"Next to no chance of victory, Master," Kaylee spoke, her earlier glum back.
"I wouldn't think she has those connections, Alpha Female," Julie told the reddish brown she-wolf, "She's only a private investigator who specializes in investigating the Game."
Kaylee only nodded.
"In the meantime, Kaylee," Jensen said to his mate, "talk with the click, as privately as you can that one of them is to use their turn to insure that Zack is absolutely loyal to me before we make us immune the to game's powers."
"At once, Master," Kaylee answered and went in search Grace, Hope, and Isabelle.