Coping With Change[Katra]

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Reina moved slowly through the deserted graveyard, searching for her mother's gravestone. She had never been as close to her mother as she had been to her father, but she had still given the woman an immense amount of love and respect. Her mother had been one of her best friends. So in the face of her new circumstances, in anticipation of her first change, she had decided to come to visit her mother for the first time since the funeral.

She finally stumbled across her mother's grave and bent down to touch the headstone that read "Cassara Goodspell". She felt her heart contract and she fell back, sitting on the ground and resting her face against the cool marble.

"Hi Mom." She said softly, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I'm sorry I haven't come before now. Things weren't going so well at home. Daddy misses you too much, Matthew does too." She had trouble thinking about her brother. "He's changed Mommy, you wouldn't like him now." She sniffed, wiping at the tears.

"Oh Mom, you remember how we used to joke about werewolves and vampires, how they were real? Well, they are...and I'm turning into one. A werewolf, not a vampire. Can you believe it? I'm turning into a werewo..." She choked on the end of the word, no longer sure if she could cope with the change she was about to go through. Changing into a werewolf? It was scary and new and different and she didn't like it. But she had to be strong. For Landon if not for anyone else. She couldn't be this upset about it in front of him, he would just keep beating himself up over an accident he couldn't control.

Reina stretched out over her mom's grave, burrowing into the grass. One hand remaining always in contact with the gravestone, tears flowing unchecked down her face.

[Katra Maguire]

Katra was in the graveyard as well. In fact, not far from the girl who was crying. She had come to think over things and over what was going on in her life. She had a little bit of blood on her fingers from the recent vampire she had killed. It hadnt been hard and she enjoyed taking that evil creatures life. It killed people. People like her parents...and sister.

At the thought of her sister she had to hold back tears. Her sister had been her best friend and the only thing she couldnt protect from that stupid vampire. So she wanted revenge. And as she licked off the blood from her fingers, she couldnt help but think it tasted so sweet. But she had heard the tears and looked up from her own thinking.

She was up in a tree and so she could see the child easily. How had she not noticed her before? But she breathed in deeply and could tell the child was a werewolf. A new werewolf. And she could smell another werewolf scent on her and a vampires scent. So she was intrigued. She jumped down from the tree and walked over quietly. "Whats wrong hun?" She asked kindly.

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Reina jerked to a seated position at Katra's words. She was shocked, thinking she'd been alone in the graveyard. She looked up at Katra through her tears and shook her head. "It's nothing, it's just....."She pointed to the headstone. "My mom." She knew the words would explain a lot of why she was crying but not everything. She had no idea that Katra was a werewolf too, she hadn't learned how to distinguish people that way yet, and her senses also hadn't developed much yet, so she said nothing about being a werewolf.

"She died of cancer about a year ago, and I've been having family troubles." She knew that was evidenced by the bruises that still covered her body from her brother's attacks. She gave a weak smile to Katra and shrugged. "My brother gets angry a lot." She glanced away. At least she wouldn't have to deal with that anymore. She wiped the tears from her eyes, angry that she was crying again in front of a stranger. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"I'm Reina Goodspell." She said, holding out her hand. I'm a werewolf. She nearly added. But she couldn't just go around saying that to random people, it could cause problems and people would think she was crazy.

[Katra Maguire]

Katra looked at the girl with sympathy in her eyes. She knelt down so she could be at the girls height and she touched her cheek gently. The girl was a brand new werewolf. Her senses probably werent even developed yet. So there was no possible way she knew what Katra was. She would have to change that. Maybe throw in a few words that would give it away. She couldnt smell any humans around...but she had to be careful.

"Im sorry about your mother. And your family now. Its no fun with an abusive family. And no fun loosing someone you love. I know how you feel. My whole family was murdered. I barely made it out." She clenched her fists slightly and had to take a calming breath. She always got hyped up at the thought of that gruesome night. "I can feel your pain pup."

She then smiled again at Reina. She liked that name. It was different and not common at all. Like her name. She had never met another Katra before. "Im Katra Shade. A fellow werewolf." She whispered to the girl. She knew she would be able to hear her with how close she was.

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Reina smiled grimly. She could feel the sympathy emnating from Katra and she appreciated it. She wasn't one of those who refused to take others pity. She felt pity fill her own mind as she listened to Katra's words. She lost her whole family? That was infinitely worse than losing a mother, at least Reina still had her family there. Sure they were changed, but they were still alive. Reina reached out and laid a hand on Katra's clenched fists. "Thank you." She whispered. She got her first inkling of the truth when Katra called her pup. Her eyes grew wide and she looked up at her with something akin to suspicion in her eyes. Could it really be possible that she'd run across another werewolf?

Her suspicion turned to a smile when Katra told her her name. It was a beautiful name. She then smiled and nodded. "I should have known." Reina said simply. Specially after the casual way Katra had called her pup. Reina actually liked it, she thought the endearment would be one upside to being a werewolf. "I didn't think I'd meet another of my kind so fast." She said, being careful as well, though she wasn't sure why. "I'm so new, I guess I'm kinda still assuming there's only a few of us. Is there a lot?" She was asking questions that she probably should have asked Landon, but it had been so weird to wake up in the hospital and find out that you were turning into a wolf. The tears had stopped completely now and she was getting back into carefree teenager mode, gradually forgetting about the sadness so she could just be a kid again.

[Katra Maguire]

Katra smiled at her as she pat her clenched hands so gently. This girl really was young and new to all this. So she let her anger fade and she looked at Reina with kindness in her eyes. She also had to chuckle when Reina looked at her with suspicion. She could have let her figure it out but she had just decided to get it out in the open. It would be easier to stroke up conversation. And they both wouldnt have to hide it and be careful around each other. They knew what each other were and now the borders were down.

She had to smiled and laugh at the girls question. She could tell she was being careful when there really was no need. She could smell everywhere she had been and who she had been with. If she had known them by name it would have helped. But of course..she did not and so couldnt place who. She stroked the girls cheek and said, "There are lots of us. Im amazed you havent met someone else besides your sire." She then grimaced slightly. "And that vampire." She sighed and then looked at her curious. "Whats a vampire want with you hun?"

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Reina looked at her with confusion clearly written on her face? What was this about a vampire? As far as Reina knew she hadn't come in contact with any vampires yet. She had only just found out about them when Landon told her they actually existed. "You smell vampire on me?" She asked, the question obvious but also necessary. Perhaps she had come in contact with a vampire and she didn't know it, but she doubted it very much. She was sure she would have known and even more sure that Landon would have told her, protected her.

"I really don't think I've met any vampires. Or at least none of them told me what they were. I mean, it's possible. But even if I have met one, I have no idea what they want with me." She knew nothing about Ali, Landon hadn't been very forthcoming with personal information, he had been too focused on explaining to her what was happening to her body. What was going to be happening to her on the next full moon. She sighed. Too many confusing things had been happening lately. She felt like her head was going to burst.

[Katra Maguire]

Katra was a little confused. But then again that proved the girls senses were not up to full effect. She would have to learn those quickly. A wolfs nose and hearing were their best defense and their best weapon. She would be lost without her smell now. She used it so much that she barely noticed whenever she took a deep breath in to find out evrything about her surroundings and the people in them Its just what she did. Who she was. She was a wolf.

She shook her head though and told her, "Well...You personally havent seen this vampire. I think your sire is in contact with it. Very close...I might add. Maybe ask him on it later. It would be rather intresting to know why a vampir would be around him." She was more then interested in that. She wondered if this other werewolf was friendly with vampires. She had to hold back a growl at that thought. It seemed he was pretty friendly with this vamp. She was disgusted. But she didnt show it. "As you can tell...I dont like vampires very much. Thats what killed my family."

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Reina nodded, her face forming the classic "oh" look. Well that made more sense. She was sure that she'd never met any vampires, specially since she hadn't recently met anyone at night. She was surprised that Landon hadn't mentioned a vampire to her. Just that he knew they existed, no mention of anyone that he was close enough to that a fellow wolf could not only smell it on him, but on his 'pup' too.

"I'll definately have to ask him about that. I mean, I'd like to know if some vampire's going to be around me on a daily basis, and if he's close enough that you can smell the vamp on me than I probably will see them daily." She shuddered. She didn't know how she felt about vampires. She had no reason to hate the whole race, though when Katra mentioned that was what killed her family she knew there was at least one vampire out there she hated.

"I'm sorry." She said. She didn't know Katra very well yet, but already she was comfortable enough with the older woman to reach out and give her a very soft, gentle hug. "You go ahead and hate vampires all you want. You deserve it." She smiled gently.

[Katra Maguire]

Katra smiled at the girl and chuckled slightly. "Yeah. I would ask my sire the same thing. Vampires and werewolves dont mix. They just dont. Our species were not ment to mingle. So it makes me nervous and intrigued about your sire. He shouldnt be around vampires. He should be with a pack and helping us kill that race. Until they are gone...no one is safe." She once clenched her fists but her hug made her soften again.

She was just a pup and she didnt know about the war coming very soon. It would be the turning point to all vampires and wolves. Personally, she couldnt wait to rip them apart. Have them die beneath her jaws. It was a sweet revenge that. "I hate them with a passion. I have since I was eight. Patrick...my alpha, took me in and changed me at sixteen. I have helped ever since then to get rid of the vampires. They are nasty vicious creatures who kill innocent people for fun. If you see that vampire who hangs out with your sire...you should kill it."

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Reina listened carefully. She was made slightly uncomfortable by Katra's words. She really hated vampires, but Reina just couldn't comprehend it. All vampire's couldn't possibly be as bad as the one who'd killed Katra's family. Yet she still hated them all. Wouldn't that just cause more problems than solutions? Hating an entire race because of one person's mistakes. It was madness. Reina just couldn't do it. She'd never met a vampire, and while she could see how Katra was angry about her family being killed, she knew that if Landon was consorting with a vampire, they couldn't all be bad.

She gasped audibly when Katra told her she should kill the vampire if she saw it. "I don't think I could do that." She said softly. Mainly because she didn't think she could hurt another person, but also because she knew that Landon probably wouldn't be happy. And she already loved him too much to do that to him. "I trust my sire and if he's hanging around with a vampire there must be a reason. Besides, I could never kill another being. And even if I could, I would have no idea how to go about killing a vampire. Isn't that, like, really hard?"

[Katra Maguire]

Katra saw she had made her upset and she instantly went into apologize mode. She looked at her sadly and said, "All right. Thats your choice. But please be careful around it. It probably wont hesitate to kill you if it wnated to." She shook her head and then smiled wickedly somewhat. "Killing them isnt hard. There are many ways. But the most common is throw them out into the sun. It fries them. The other opetion is fire. They can die by fire."

She sighed once again and said, "Im sorry for scaring you. Im not normally this cruel. But those creatures make me angry. They dont have any sympathy." She shook her head and then looked at reina. She touched her cheek gently and said, "Im just worried about you. Your such a young pup. This really was not the time to be changed. Not with the war growling at our doorstep. Its not safe for anyone. Not even humans."

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Reina felt bad for making Katra feel bad. "No, it's fine. Really. You're entitled to your opinion. And I really do understand where you're coming from. It's just not me. I'm a pushover. But I'll be careful. I promise." She smiled. "I'm always careful, sometimes too careful."

Her entire body shuddered as Katra described how to kill the vampires. She very nearly got sick in that moment and she didn't like the smile Katra wore. She almost wished she'd never been brought into this harsh world, almost wished she could go back to getting the crap beat out of her by her brother. But then she remembered that she had hated that life and that this was infinately better.

Reina nodded simply, of course they made her angry. Her family had been taken away from her so cruelly. It was only natural for her to become cruel in return, at least when it came to vampires. She knew that Katra hadn't meant to scare her, or gross her out, or try to force her to do anything she didn't want to do. It was as natural for Katra to assume that everyone should hate vampires as it was for Reina to assume that no one race could possibly be that unilatterly bad.

She looked up at Katra when she touched her cheek, Reina's eyes full of worry. "There's a war going on?" She really was out of the loop. Landon had not really elaborated very much and she wished that he had, so she could be prepared for moments like this. She was momentarily seized with dread but then she slowly shook herself out of it. "Thanks for worrying. I really appreciate it. I can use as many people worrying about me as possible. I had to leave my family behind when I came into this new life, and as much as that is not a bad thing I'm still pretty much alone. All I have is my sire."

[Katra Maguire]

Katra smiled at the girl. She had such life in her. It kinda reminded her of herself when she was that age. She had no worries or cares and just stayed protected with the pack. She then was changed and she went into a world of blood and crying and death. It was a sad world but it was one she would stay in for the rest of her miserable life. She really didnt want that for this girl. But she couldnt be blinded by vampire tricks. She wouldnt bring that up though. She had disturbed the poor thing enough.

"Your not all alone. Im your friend now am I not?" She asked with a kind smile. "Ill help you pup. I can help your sire protect you. Because one werewolf sometimes isnt enough." She wanted to help this young pup and she wanted to learn more about the werewolf that would hang around a vampire. What was this world coming to? The war right there. Then she realized she had never answered that question for her. "And yes. There is a war. Between the vampires and werewolves. Two sides really." She shrugged. She wasnt going to go into detail when she herself didnt know that much.

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Reina nodded with a large smile on her face. "Yes, I think you are my friend. Which is nice, because I don't have many." She kept the smile in place to show that she didn't mind not having a lot of friends. She was pleased that Katra was her friend. Reina really liked the older woman and she found herself looking up to her for the strength Reina saw hidden there. She was glad that Katra was on her side, that Katra would protect her.

She noticed that Katra wasn't going into detail about the war so she figured that there wasn't much information to tell. "I guess you're on the side against vampires, huh? And since my sire is hanging around willingly with a vampire, I'm guessing he's on the side with the vampires. Where does that put me?" She hated this feeling, this feeling that she would ultimately have to decide between Katra and Landon. She had no idea how she would make such a choice, or even if she could make such a choice.