SilentCreekPack {Origins}

Chapter 10

Lucaine and Dianna got home around 7am that morning. They both return to their human forms, and Lucaine opened the door to see a rather unhappy Cynthia waiting for him at the door. Her expression changed when she saw Dianna. "Dianna!" Cynthia cried, rushed toward and clinging to her daughter. "Ehehehe.. Hey mom..." Dianna murmured in an unsure tone, as Cynthia had her face buried into her chest. She then whipped around at Lucaine. "Where have you been?" She yowled almost stalking toward him like a panther. "I was.. Uh..." "Camping!" Dianna said cutting him off. "Oh really?" Cynthia replied, putting her hands on her hips. "Yeah! Dad was showing me all the wildlife, and.. stuff.." She added, as she began to run out of ideas. "Right." Lucaine said, as his wife glared at him. "Hmm.. fine. Get inside both of you." She snapped, still sounding annoyed.

Since then, Cynthia kept Lucaine on a tight leash. They'd argue often... Well, Cynthia would argue often, usually over the silliest things, only to have Lucaine reply to her with calm, rational responses, which was always very amusing to Dianna. They were doing just that one morning, when Dianna walked out of the door. "Dear where are you going?" Cynthia asked, once she had given Lucaine his ear-full. "School." She said with a perky tone continuing to walk. "Alright, have a nice—" She was cut of as the door was shut tightly. "..day..." She added in a lower tone. After managing to get about two blocks away, Dianna darted up a tree and hid her backpack in it's branches, and leaping back down in her wolf form just as she touched the ground. She searched out the nearest damaged fence, with a hole just large enough for her to get through. Once she did, she ran full speed into the open forest, as a quick whip of feisty energy charged her steps. However, secretive eyes watched her, without her knowing. She did this daily, and Lucaine knew quite well, and refused to tell Cynthia. Each Dianna would return home to her mother's usual, "How was school today?" and time after time, Dianna would answer with an indifferent "good".

One morning, just minutes after Dianna left for "school", the phone rang, and Lucaine wasn't there to "handle" the call. Cythia picked up the phone. "Hello?" "Oh,  Mrs. Estelle! So good to finally hear from you! I've been try to reach you for weeks, but I my calls kept getting dropped!" Cynthia raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Aubrey, I don't remember you calling here--" "Oh, but I did! Many times! Lucaine would always answer the phone, and by the time I say what I called for, the lines would trip and--" Cynthia stopped him. "Wait, when I asked Luce who it was he kept saying that the person had the wrong number..." She said tightening her grip around the cordless phone. "By the way, why did you call?" Mr. Aubrey cleared his throat, suddenly becoming serious. "Well, Mrs. Estelle, as the Principal of Rutherford High, I make it my personal business to ensure that students' out-of-school lives are in order--" "Of course, but Dianna's perfectly fine, I assure you. You see her at school just about every day, she could tell you herse--" "Actually," Mr. Aubrey saidd cutting her off. "Dianna, hasn't been coming to school lately.. for the past three weeks actually. I called to see what was going on." Lucaine trotted down the stairs just in time to meet Cynthia on the phone with the principal, and paused sharply with a look of certain doom on his face, taking a step back. Outside the door Dianna's ditigal watch sounded off as she opened the door to see Cynthia staring at her father, and clutching a frying pan. Cynthia then turned to look at Dianna, who looked at Lucaine. Cynthia continued to speak to Mr. Aubrey, and as she did so, Dianna looked to her father. "What did you do???" She lip-synced silently, hoping he could read her lips. "I did nothing!" He replied silently, with a shocked and confused expression on his face. "So she hasn't been to school at all?" "Not at all. She has over-due assignments stacked up to the ceiling!" He replied. "You didn't know?" Cynthia gritted her teeth. "No I didn't. I'll be sure to have a talk with her when she gets home." She replied calmly hanging up the phone. "Young lady, you have some explaining to do." She said staring at Dianna, who seemed to cringe under her mother's gaze. "Y-yes mom..." "I'll deal with you later.." She said watching Dianna darted up the stairs. She then turned to Lucaine. "And as for YOU!" She barked at Lucaine. "You're no better, covering it up for her! As a matter of fact, you have been acting strange for quite sometime!" She said approaching him. "W-what? No I haven't--" "Yes you have! And until you feel like I deserve to know why, you can sleep on the couch!" Dianna whispered a little "Ouch" under her breath, as she watched in silence from behind the midwall, where the staircase changed directions to head to the second floor. She scampered the rest of the way up the stairs, as she saw her mother begin to head in that direction. Dianna had just made it safely to her room before her mother entered. "Dianna!" She called out sharply. "Ehehe... heyyy mom..." She said with a nervous smile." Cynthia sat down on the bed beside her daughter. "Care to explain?" She said in a more calm manner. "Uh... not really.." Dianna said looking down and her toes. Cynthia sighed. "Listen Dianna, I'm not here to attack you. I was once your age too, and I've experienced these things.." She got a bit more comfortable on the bed. "So, what is it.... skipping school to spend time with boys?" Dianna's head jerked back at the question. "Boys? Pfffft what?? No..." She answered comically. "Dianna--" "I'm telling the truth mom! I've always been a wall-flower, you know that. Boy's just... don't talk to me. Humans in General, don't talk to me." She huffed. "Then what is it? I can't help you if I don't know..." Dianna looked up at her mother. "What you don't know is going to be way much for you if I told you..." She said walking out of the room, leaving her mother on the bed as she softly slid the door closed behind her. She went down the stairs to see her father, quite content as he lied sprawled out to his full length on the couch, clutching a can of sprite. "You know you have to go to school now, right?" He said with a chuckle. "Yep." She laughed back squeezing her way into the couch with him.

Meanwhile, a very familiar one eye'd bastard dribbled on about what he'd seen to the local animal control authorities. "Please! You have to believe me!" He screamed, as security guards dragged him out the back door of the establishment. "I know I'm not crazy! The girl turns into a wolf!" The guards toss him outside in the dark, and close the door, only to have him pound on it with his fists. "Listen please! There may be more than one of these demons! They'll rise up disguised as our kind and drive the human race to extinction!" He said throwing himself upon the door, and sliding down slowly. Just then, a hand rested on his shoulders. "Desmond Estelle?" The deep voice questioned. "Yes, that's me.." Desmond said standing up, and brushing himself off, seeming a bit shaken up. The man who had approached him wore a long white coat, with multiple silver buckles around the sleeves and down the back. He flipped a business card out of the pocket of his coat. It read: "Proffessor Vincent Jaye Minson, Seminal work, Animal experiments, Scientific proficiency in Genetics." Desmond stared at the business card, then looked up to see the stranger who had already began to walk back up and out of the alley way. "Report to my Laboratory first chance tomorrow. We have much to discuss." He said darkly as he disappeared into the night.