Werewolf's Humanity

Elizabeth, Part 4

The pack had a grave dug at the base of a pine by evening. They all took turns, but Sammy wound up digging most of it. He might have dug it all himself had Odysseus not insisted he take breaks. He couldn't bring himself near her body, which had been wrapped in a shroud in the safehouse in the woods.

Night Sky wired money for an overnight flight to her brother in Louisiana, and Elizabeth's parents and brother and his family arrived by morning. Sammy sat in the living room corner, filthy and smelling of earth and sweat, alone with his own grief, watching the extended family pour in and fall into each other's' arms, grieving with each other. He had seen pictures of them all before, but had never met any of Elizabeth's family in person. Her brother had a four-year-old son in tow, and his wife barely looked pregnant.

They were a beautiful family--lower-middle-class, not part of any pack beyond each other. They had sent Elizabeth here as a teenage girl, thinking the wide open spaces and the greater socialization would do her some good. And it had, for a while.

"You mus' be Phoenix," a deep voice with a slight Cajun rhythm broke through his thoughts. He looked up to see a black man who was almost as tall as he, with a bald head and a salt-and-pepper beard. He had his hand extended outwards, palm tilted slightly upwards.

Sammy shook it. "Yessir," he said.

"My Nightingale spoke of you often. I just want to say thank you for everything you did for my baby girl."

He cast his eyes down. "She did far more for me than I ever did for her."

"That's where you're wrong, son. You... you literally gave her a reason to keep going on some of her darkest days."

Sammy's eyes shot back up, into the grief-stricken gaze of a man displaying more gratitude than he could comprehend.

"I wish I could have done more."

"We a' do, son. We... a' do. But there was a reason she wanted to spend her last day on this earth with you. You made her last day a happy one, and you will always have my gratitude for that. If you ever come to N' Orleans, you'll always have a friend 'mongst the Rougarou."

The door opened again, and in poured Madison and her mother, who bowed her head to Odysseus in the respectful obeisance of an alpha in another's territory. "I thought Mady should be here for this," she told her brother.

"Reilly told me you were coming when she called to express her condolences," Odysseus said. He embraced his sister. "Those are two fine girls you have raised."

Madison was already honing in on Sammy, crawling onto his lap and wrapping her arms around him without a word.

"Thank you for comin'," he mumbled into Madison's shoulder. Sammy melted into his Little Sister's embrace, even as her warmth reminded him that he would never again enjoy the warmth of his Big Sister, and his grief rose up in moans.

How could Elizabeth leave him like this? He still needed her, so much.

Maybe that was the problem, dark, voiceless words rose up from an unknown corner of his mind. Maybe you needed her too much and she couldn't take it any more.

No... no... that wasn't right. He told himself that wasn't right, but still the idea wouldn't leave him...

***

Sammy had his arms wrapped around Night Sky when Hatchet pulled up with the pickup, got out, and joined the rest of the assembly in their shifted forms. Night Sky's fur displayed trails where tears streamed down. It was an unsettling sight, but he was afraid to leave her alone. He knew it was irrational, that she was not sick like Elizabeth had been, and she had her family around her. But still he grew anxious when she was out of sight.