Krystiana Sokal

[Krystiana]

NAME: Krystiana Sokal.
NICKNAMES: She prefers to go by either Krysti or Ana rather than her full name, her mother only ever used her full name when she was in trouble so it has a negative connection for her thus her preference for shortenings of her name.
RACE: Lycanthrope; bitten.
OCCUPATION: Pack member.
GENDER: Female.
SKIN COLOUR: Caucasian with a hint of a tan.
NATIONALITY: Polish.
AGE: 221, though she could pass for early twenties or maybe even late teens if she’s dressed right.
CLOTHING: In the past Krysti never really cared about clothing having more important things to worry about than how she looked but since joining the pack and becoming best friends with Regina Vienneau that has changed. She now takes the time to pick out clothes that accentuate her best features whilst not drawing attention to the fact that she looks too thin. She sticks to more feminine clothes, skirts and dresses over pants and jeans with tops to match. She sticks to lighter colours and pastel shades, darker colours have the tendency to make her look washed out and ill. Whilst she is a werewolf she isn’t immune to feeling the cold, though that might have something to do with the fact that she has little to no body fat to speak of so she does often wear sweaters in the evenings or when it is colder outside. When she wears jackets or coats they are usually on the longer side, being tall means that shorter ones can look odd on her. Being on the tall side she tends to avoids heels, opting for flats to make sure she doesn’t tower over her friends. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t occasionally wear heels but when she does they do tend to be small heels.
HEIGHT: 5’9”.
WEIGHT: 108lbs.
TATTOOS: None, though she does want to get one, she just can’t decide what she should get and where she should have it done.
PIERCINGS: Has her ears pierced once.
JEWELLERY: She goes for more subtle pieces really, small stud earrings, light necklaces with small pendants and maybe a bracelet to match. She has a few of necklaces that she rotates between, they are all on the longer side, with three have pendants and beading through the length with either white gold or gold chains. She also has one made of two lengths of leather with gold leaves hanging from a chain, this is possibly her favourite piece and the one she wears more than the others. She has one bracelet that doesn’t really match any of her necklaces but she wears almost all the time, it is made of brown leather with white gold links in the middle, the whole thing has brown thread wound around the leather and holds the links in place.

BODY MODIFICATIONS: She has the scars from her turning and that is it really, she has managed to avoid getting herself in to situations where she had to fight or run the risk of getting injured.

WOLF FORM

BUILD: Krystiana’s wolf form is at complete odds with her human form, as a human there is really nothing to her but as a wolf she is thick set and looks as if she were built for fighting. She looks like a wild wolf the only difference is that she is much larger. She is strictly a quadruped as a wolf, lacking the extra joints in her hind legs necessary for bipedal movement. Her head is equipped with large ears that allow her to pick up the smallest sounds around her and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth that would make light work of tearing muscle from bone. Her paws end with sharp thick claws, yet another weapon she can use to defend herself as a wolf. She might look helpless as a human but as a wolf she is not to be messed with.
HEIGHT: Quadruped – 4’12.
WEIGHT: 237lbs.
HAIR: Her entire body is covered in thick grey fur which varies in length from short hairs along her sides and down her legs to long hair around her neck and down her back which gives her a rather impressive appearance when she raises her hackles. Her fur is darker grey around her body with her face being covered in lighter grey, almost white hairs.
EYES: She has pale icy blue eyes.
DEFINING MARKS: A thick ruff of fur around her neck, a large wolfen head, a thick bushy tail and large powerful claws.

PACK
PACK: Bella’s Pack.
POSITION: Member.
TERRITORY: Bella’s side of Los Angeles.

HAIR[/u]
LENGTH: Just reaches her shoulders with it being slightly shorter at the front.
STYLE: Her hair has a mind of its own at times and as a result she has a tendency to tie it back or clip it up out of the way. Her hair is quite fine so even when she does tie it back there are usually wispy bits that hang down around her face and unless she uses hairspray it ends up looking a bit messy before the end of the day. Most of the time she doesn’t even bother trying to make it neat because it is a battle she almost always loses and she would waste so much time just trying to tame her hair so she just does the best she can and hopes she doesn’t look like she’s been dragged backwards through a hedge.
COLOUR: Light brown with some natural highlights in it.

FACIAL HAIR[/u]
LENGTH: N/A.
STYLE: N/A.

EYES[/u]
COLOUR: Blue.
ODDITIES: As with others of her race she is able to flash her eyes the colour of her wolf, she does this to tease and occasionally intimidate others. She can do this at will but it can also happen in times of heightened emotions such as when she is feeling fear, anger or even pain.

PERSONALITY: To look at Krystiana you might think she is a giggly young girl but that is not the case at all, that’s not to say that she is always dead serious and doom and gloom because she’s not. She is a fairly quiet individual who likes to watch the world go by and learn what she can from studying things that go on around her. Not really one to draw attention to herself she is happy to just sit in the company of others and join in their conversations if she has anything to add or anyone talks to her. She’s never been a loud and boisterous person and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon. Krysti has always been more of an observer and a thinker, she considers what she might say before opening her mouth and putting in her two cents but if she’s got something to say she will say it, she’s not going to sit there and bite her tongue if she has an opinion on whatever might be being discussed. In fact if she has something to say and she feels passionately enough about the matter you might have a hard job getting her to shut up, once she gets on to something she feels strongly about it can be impossible to stop her until she’s had her say. It is that trait which has landed her in trouble on more than one occasion in the past, sometimes with disastrous results but within the confines of the pack that at least isn’t likely to happen, the worst that will come from her saying her piece is a few irritated pack members.

There is something of an air of sadness around Krystiana, it’s not always obvious but if you scratch the surface it is there hiding behind the life she has tried to build from the ruins of her past. Truth be told she is still haunted by the loss of her family and the knowledge that it was her fault that they died, that isn’t something that is ever going away and no matter what anyone might try to say she will always blame herself. Not that she has told many about what happened to her family, she doesn’t like to talk about how they died and if she can avoid talking about it she will. Even though it happened so long ago she still finds it painful to talk about. The only people that know the truth of what happened are her three closest friends within the pack, Regina, Casey and Lee. It is something she wishes she could forget and she’s tried many times over the years to push away the memories of that night and it even seemed to work on a couple of occasions but it never takes long for them to come back to the fore and make her mourn for them all over again. She does her best to not let the past affect the present, she doesn’t like being sad and for the most part she thinks she does a good job of being happy but there are times when it just won’t be ignored. It’s rare that she lets it really get to her, she has lived with the pain for so long now that she has gotten pretty good at burying it, if it does get too much she tries to make sure she can spend some time alone as she doesn’t want her mood to bring anyone else down. She never wants to have her emotions affecting others which is why she tries so hard to be positive and happy all the time.

Krystiana is a deeply loyal individual, she would never betray anyone that she considers a friend and will do while she is a pacifist at heart if one of the people she cares most about is in danger she will do anything she can to help them out. She loves the pack and they are her family now, there isn’t a single member that she doesn’t consider a friend. Of course there are some she is closer to than others, most notable the three individuals that saved her life and brought her to the pack in the first place, Regina, Casey and Lee. They are her best friends and the ones that know her better than anyone, she doesn’t hide anything from them and probably couldn’t even if she wanted to. She knows she owes them everything and will do anything for any of them without a moment’s hesitation. She has come to view them as so much more than just friends and she doesn’t know what she would do without them and hopes she never has to find out.

WEAKNESSESS: Just like all of her race, Krystiana is deathly allergic to silver. Proximity to it will cause nausea, contact with it will burn her skin and cause scarring to occur and if it were ever introduced in to her system it would make her incredibly sick and if not removed it will kill her. She has a fear of fire, more precisely being trapped in a burning building, she barely escaped when her family home was burned to the ground and as a result it has left her with a very real fear of burning to death. Most of the time she can push this fear to the back of her mind but anytime she smells smoke there is a moment of panic that spikes in her and it is only when she realises that no one else is reacting to it that she knows there is no imminent danger.

She has a tendency to over think things to the point where she begins to doubt her own decisions and think that she has made the wrong choice. She is fully aware that she does this and yet she still seems unable to break herself of the habit, even when others are there to tell her that she has done the right thing and that she needn’t worry. The root of this stems from the mistakes she made which she believes are the reason behind her family’s deaths, there was no one left to tell her that it wasn’t her fault and that she didn’t do anything wrong so she began to over think everything and it has spiralled from there. It is something that she is getting better at, thanks in no small part to her closest friends, given more time she might break herself of this habit but that has yet to be seen.

Her lack of fighting skills or rather her lack of desire to learn how to fight are something of a weakness. She lived alone for long enough that she knows the basics of how to defend herself but she is much too reliant on the skills of others to keep her safe now that she is with the pack. She hates violence and doesn’t want anything to do with it if she can help it. She knows the world is a violent place, her past has taught her that much but she still refuses to partake in it unless it is absolutely necessary.

ABILITIES: She has the standard set of perks that come with being a werewolf, heightened senses, enhanced speed, strength and agility, as well as an accelerated healing rate. Given her age she is also in complete control of her transformations and is able to resist the pull of the full moon and the surrounding nights, as well as call on her wolf at will with relative ease. Unsurprisingly given her birthplace she is multilingual being fluent in Polish, English and French, she has a passing knowledge of Spanish and German. She enjoys learning new languages and will take any opportunity she can to try out a new language and if there is anyone in the pack willing to teach her she will take advantage of that. Krystiana actually loves to learn anything new, she isn’t afraid to give anything a go, as long as it’s legal anyway.

Krysti is something of an artistic individual and likes to draw and paint when she gets the time, she doesn’t consider herself to be any good and really it is just something she enjoys doing for herself rather than something she does to earn money or anything like that. She also loves music, she can sing and does so often sometimes when there is no music to sing along to, she really wants to learn how to play the piano but she just hasn’t gotten round to asking anyone to try and teach her.

WEAPONS: While she doesn’t believe in violence she understands the need to be protected so she carries a switchblade stiletto on her at all times, usually tucked in to her clothing somewhere so it won’t be accidentally discovered.

PRIZED POSSESSIONS: She doesn’t really have much that she holds dear, having little in the way of material possessions from her earlier life and having spent her life as a werewolf drifting across Europe before crossing to America she travelled light and only really carried what she needed with her. Since finding a home with the pack though she has ended up with a few things that she wouldn’t want to find herself without. Most notably is a stuffed Care Bear that was given to her by her three closest friends in the pack. Then there are the trio themselves, Regina, Casey and Lee. Their own little pack within the pack, they all mean the world to her and she would be lost without them.

HOME(s): The Four Seasons with the rest of the pack.

HISTORY:
Krystiana Sokal was born to Aleksy and Martyna Sokal, she was the first child to the pair who lived on their small farm in the Polish countryside. The family didn’t have much but they had enough that life was comfortable even with the addition of a baby. The first few years of Krystiana’s life passed by without anything noteworthy happening, her father was always busy working on their small farm and making sure they had enough food and money to get them through the leaner months and her mother spent her time taking care of the household and her child. The only thing that really changed in those first few years was that her mother fell pregnant with her second child. The addition of another child in to the household meant that her father had to work harder to ensure they had everything they needed. Krystiana didn’t really notice much of a change in her daily life apart from the fact that she was expected to help Martyna more around the house especially as the time for the new baby to be born grew closer. When her brother, Henryk was born she was given even more responsibility while her mother recovered from the birth but Krystiana didn’t complain she just did as she was asked.

As she got older Krysti, as she soon preferred to be called, noticed that her father was becoming more absent from their lives but she wasn’t sure why. On more than one occasion she tried to ask her mother about it but she just brushed off the questions or started shouting at Krysti to go and do some apparently forgotten task. When Krystiana began attending school things became even stranger at home, she would come home to find her mother crying for no apparent reason and if she tried to talk to her about it she was shouted at for not doing her chores. Krysti quickly learnt that it was just easier to not ask her mother questions and so she stopped asking. If she had continued to question things it might not have come as such a surprise when she came home one day to find a packed bag by the front door and her father putting on his hat and coat. Somehow she knew that he was leaving, on some level she had known things weren’t good between her parents even though she never actually heard them arguing or anything. Aleksy explained to her that neither her of her brother were to blame and that he still loved them both but he had to leave. He hugged her and promised that he would see her soon before he picked up his bag and left, that was the last time she saw him.

Life was not easy now with her father gone. Martyna tried her hardest to keep the family going but it was difficult to try and keep the farm running and look after two children as well. Slowly the family slipped in to debt and it was beginning to look as if they would have to give up the farm and move out. Just when her mother seemed to be giving up any hope of keeping the family home things changed with the arrival of a stranger who offered to help with the farm in exchange for a roof over his head. Normally Martyna wouldn’t have invited a stranger in to her home but she didn’t see any other way of keeping a roof over her children’s heads. The stranger called himself Vasilli Marszalek, he was a man of few words but he worked hard. Krystiana barely saw him as she was always busy helping around the house but from what her brother told her he was as strong as an ox and never seemed to get tired no matter how much work he did. With his help the family began to claw their way out of debt and were able to stay in their home.

Things carried on like this for the next few years and for the first time in ages Krysti saw that her mother was actually happy, happier than she could remember her ever being in her life. That should have been her first clue that something was going on that she was unaware of. It was only by accident that she found out her mother had started a relationship with Vasilli, she came home early one day and walked in on them kissing in the kitchen. Not really knowing what to make of what she saw she fled the house and went to the only place she thought no one would look for her, the middle of the nearby forest. Krystiana cried for what seemed like hours, she somehow thought that Vasilli was to blame for her father leaving and never coming back, a ridiculous thing really seeing as the man hadn’t even appeared until long after her father had left but in the mind of a child that didn’t seem to matter. It got dark before she even realised and she found herself alone in the forest and unsure of how to get back home. Frightened and alone she started trying to make her way back to the house, the sounds of the night only adding to her fear and causing her to completely lose her way. The longer she tried to find her way out the worse her fear became until she heard a noise and panicked. Krysti took off running in to the darkness sure that she was about to be eaten by some unknown predator, the more she ran the more the panic took hold and so when she tripped over a fallen tree she thought she was going to die. She lay there sobbing, praying to God to save her and it seemed that he heard her prayers because the next thing she knew she saw a light and Vasilli walking towards her.

Somehow this only made her cry harder, seeing this man who she had decided was responsible for her father leaving coming to her rescue. If he realised that he was the reason she had run off he didn’t let on, he just knelt down near her and checked that she wasn’t injured. He asked if she hurt anywhere and if she needed help getting up, all she could do was shake her head and try to wipe away the tears that had fallen. Slowly she picked herself up of the forest floor and brushed herself down. Vasilli waited until she had steadied herself and then slowly led her back to the house. When they walked in the door her mother almost immediately started shouting at her, asking her what she thought she was doing running off like that and if she realised how worried they were about her. To her surprise it was Vasilli who stepped in and told Martyna to calm down and stop shouting at her daughter. He told Krystiana to go and get herself cleaned up and off to bed. She did as he instructed without a word, she daren’t speak for fear of setting her mother off again.

The next day things were slightly strained, there was an odd atmosphere in the kitchen when she walked in there to find her mother making breakfast as if nothing had happened the previous night and with her brother already sitting at the table she didn’t want to mention anything so she said nothing. Krystiana decided that she wasn’t going to bring it up unless her mother did. It was only as she was leaving the house that her mother even said anything to her and then it was only that they would talk when she got home. There was something about the way her mother worded it that made her worry, after the way her mother had shouted at her the night before she didn’t want to be subjected to more of the same. There was a small part of her that wondered if she could just not come home but she knew that doing that would only make things worse for her in the long run. As it turns out she needn’t have worried at all. When she got home later that day her mother was smiling and humming to herself in the kitchen, something Krysti hadn’t seen her do since before her brother was born. She told her to sit and then went on to explain that she was going to marry Vasilli and they were going to be a proper family. While Krysti wasn’t exactly overjoyed at the news she couldn’t deny that her mother was happier than she had been for a long time. Martyna explained that they hadn’t wanted her to find out the way she did and that she only shouted at her because she had been worried sick. Krystiana apologised for running off like she did and said that she was happy that her mother was happy, what she didn’t say was that she wished her mother had trusted her enough to say something sooner.

It wasn’t long until her mother and Vasilli decided it was time to tell Henryk and shortly after that the pair got married. Krystiana was resistant to accepting Vasilli at first, even though she hadn’t seen her father since the day he left she still felt that by accepting her mothers’ new husband she would be betraying her father but over time she got used to him and even came to think of him as something close to a father. Her brother being so young didn’t really understand and soon began calling Vasilli father, this seemed to make her mother even happier and so while it didn’t sit right with her at first Krysti began doing the same thing until it just became habit to call him that.

Life for them settled in to something close to a normal rhythm. The farm was doing well and both Krystiana and Henryk helped when they weren’t either having lessons or playing with friends. That wasn’t to last though.

It turned out that Vasilli had been hiding a secret from all of them, even Martyna. He was a hunted man. One cold winter’s night when Krystiana was around fifteen some strangers came calling, Vasilli was off in the small village at the time and Martyna had no idea that the men knocking on the door weren’t the friends of his that they claimed to be so she invited them in and explained that her husband would be home early the next morning. The next morning when Vasilli arrived back home it soon became clear that the men were not who they said they were. Vasilli and the strangers began talking in raised voices in a language that Krystiana didn’t recognise or understand. When one of the men grabbed her mother she reacted without thinking and hit the man to try and get him to let her mother go but he barely reacted to her. She was so focused on him that she didn’t realise one of the other men behind her until he had grabbed both her arms and pulled her back. It was only then that she realised they had her brother to. While she didn’t understand what was being said between the strangers and Vasilli she heard his almost pleading tone. It didn’t do any good though. She heard her mother cry out in pain just before she felt something cut across her back causing her to scream, the pain was intense and caused her to black out almost immediately.

When she came to the men were gone and she could hear voices in the other room, looking around she realised she was in her room. Slowly she moved waiting for the pain that had caused her to blackout to come screaming back but where she knew there should have been agony there was only a dull ache. Even when she stood up and began to walk towards the voices the pain didn’t increase. She began to wonder if maybe she’d been out for days, long enough for the pain to lessen but when she went through to the kitchen she saw her mother and Vasilli stood there wearing the exact same clothes as when she had passed out. The moment she stepped in to the room they both stopped talking and Martyna practically ran across the room to pull her daughter in to a tight embrace. Vasilli stayed where he was and it took a moment for Krystiana to notice the expression on his face, it was one she had never seen him wear before, one of sorrow and regret. When her mother finally let her go she just stood there not really sure what to do or even what to think. Her eyes were fixed on Vasilli as she found her voice and asked who the men had been and what they wanted. It struck her as odd that he refused to look at her or her mother as he spoke but that was soon forgotten as he explained that he hadn’t been entirely truthful about who he was or rather what he was. Krysti could hardly believe what she was hearing as he explained he was a werewolf and the men had been members of a pack he had once been a part of. It all seemed so farfetched and she had long ago grown out of believing stories of monsters and mythical creatures but when Vasilli actually transformed in front of them she couldn’t deny it even if she wanted to.

He went on to explain that the men had made them werewolves as well as a form of punishment for him leaving the pack and not returning. It struck Krystiana as an odd way to punish someone and when she said this Vasilli went on to explain that there was one very big downside to them having all been changed, they would lose themselves to the wolf for three nights a month, the night of the full moon and the night either side until they were old enough to control it. She heard the apology in his voice even before he said he was sorry for having brought this upon them but he promised that he would do what he could to make it as easy as possible for them. Krystiana realised that her mother hadn’t said a word the entire time that Vasilli had been talking and when she looked at her she saw the tears on her face. It was only then that she noticed that there was someone missing, her brother, Henryk. Her eyes returned to Vasilli and when she asked where her brother was she saw his shoulders slump slightly before he spoke. The men had taken him with them in Vasilli’s place. He went on to add that whilst they had taken him they hadn’t made him a werewolf yet, they would but not until they got back to where the pack lived. It made little difference to her though, her brother was still gone and she blamed Vasilli. He must have seen it on her face because he vowed to get Henryk back and that he had only been waiting until she had woken up before he went after them.

Still reeling from what she’d just heard Krystiana went back to bed saying that she wanted to be alone. She heard her mother tell Vasilli to be careful and to get her son back safely before she fell asleep. When she woke the next morning she heard her mother crying and for a moment she forgot what had happened to them the day before but it quickly came rushing back when she went in to the kitchen and found her mother still wearing the same clothes even though there was a cut all the way down the back that was crusted with dried blood. Krystiana sat beside her mother and tried to comfort her as best she could. She wished there was more that she could do but all she could do was make sure her mother ate and kept her strength up whilst they waited to see if Vasilli could get Henryk back.

The next few days passed in a daze for Krystiana. She took care of her mother and tried to keep the house in order but everything blurred together and she found it hard to concentrate on anything. She felt restless and like she should be doing more. There wasn’t anything that she could do though so she waited and waited. She was starting to give up hope of ever seeing her brother again and thinking that Vasilli had abandoned them just like her father before him. The more days that went by the more it seemed as if she was right in thinking that. All the while she was plagued by what Vasilli had said about losing herself to the wolf that was now part of her when the full moon came. If he didn’t return before that happened then she didn’t want to think what might happen to her and her mother.

Just when it seemed that all hope was lost Vasilli returned with Henryk, just as he’d promised. What should have been a happy occasion was marred by the fact that he hadn’t reached them in time to prevent them from infecting Henryk. Vasilli went on to say that they couldn’t stay where they were, the pack would send others looking for them and this time they would not let them live. So after all the hard work that they had done to keep their home they had to leave anyway. They left the next morning leaving most of their possessions behind. They needed to travel fast to find somewhere to hole up for the approaching full moon.

As it got closer to the full moon and the surrounding nights Krystiana began to notice that the restless feeling she had been experiencing whilst waiting for Vasilli and Henryk to return home was growing stronger. When she asked Vasilli about it he told her it was a perfectly natural thing for a new wolf to experience such unrest the closer the full moon got and that it was nothing to worry about.

Eventually they found somewhere that was both isolated enough and secure enough to allow for Krystiana, Martyna and Henryk to be confined safely for the three nights of the full moon.

The nights around the full moon passed in a blur for Krystiana, all she remembered is the pain and the feeling of restlessness as the effects of the moon exerted themselves over her. She had little to no recollection of the days and absolutely none of the nights. It was a little unsettling for her to not be able to remember and it was only when she asked Vasilli about it that she found out that it was normal and that to begin with she wouldn’t be able to remember anything that happened when she was a wolf. It would only be once she had gained more control that she would be able to recall anything. While she didn’t find this comforting it was a relief to know that it was normal for someone in her situation.

In the following days Vasilli scouted the area and decided that it was idle for them to stay there for as long as possible. It appeared to be an abandoned farm and it had plenty of buildings that could be used to secure a new wolf around the full moon. Far enough away from civilisation that even if one of them did manage to break out Vasilli would have enough time to catch up to them and stop them from doing any harm.

Slowly the place began to feel like home. It would never feel exactly like their family home but over time it became as close to a home as was possible for what was basically a prison for them as they started trying to learn how to control their new animal sides. Vasilli had explained that it would take a long time and that it wouldn’t be easy for them but he promised to stick with them. For all her initial resistance to him being in their lives as more than just farm help she knew that if he said he would stick by them then he would. They were a family now.

They settled in to a routine with Vasilli teaching them all how to gain control over the wolf and accept it as part of them now. They all knew it would take decades before they could control the animal within but at least they were still together. Krystiana had always believed family to be the most important thing, ever since she was little and she believed that even more now that she had come so close to losing her brother. There was something else though now, an even stronger feeling of connection with her family and one that she thought must have been as a result of the fact that they were all now werewolves.

Over time Krysti became more aware of her new side that was part of the wolf. She began to accept her dual nature and realise that it gifted her certain abilities that would help her survive in what was a dangerous world. With Vasilli’s help she began to recognise and listen to that instinctual part of the animal that alerted her to possible danger. She embraced all the new things she discovered and wanted to learn more, if Vasilli was willing to teach her than she would gladly let him. Out of all of them she was the one that was always asking him for more and pestering him to teach her how to use the new skills that came with being a wolf.

One day when Vasilli took her out for a lesson in tracking they came across something that made him freeze on the spot, signs that the pack had finally caught up with them and were lurking in the area. Immediately they returned to the house and in minutes had grabbed enough supplies to last them a few days. For the second time they were running for their lives from the pack which Vasilli had left.

It quickly became clear that there was nowhere the pack wouldn’t find them in Poland and that the only choice was to leave the country. They picked their way through the European countryside until they found themselves in France. It was only once they were there that Vasilli felt they were far enough away that the pack wouldn’t be able to find them. It had been months since they had seen any signs of being followed and as much as the pack wanted revenge on Vasilli he didn’t think they would leave Poland to find him.

Once again they found themselves making a new place home.

They settled in to what was to become their home quickly. Much like they had in the abandoned farm in Poland they settled in to a routine. Vasilli was always on high alert for any signs that the pack hadn’t given up their pursuit of them but as time went on it seemed as if they had finally let them go. That didn’t stop Vasilli from keeping an eye out though. He seemed unable to settle knowing that there was even a small chance that the pack would find them. His unease meant that they were all a little on edge. Not a good thing for three new werewolves and Vasilli knew this. He tried his best to keep his unease to a minimum when he was with them but it was difficult when he already blamed himself so much for what had happened to them all. Krysti knew he blamed himself and she often tried to talk to him about it but anytime she tried to broach the subject he made up some excuse and walked off.

No matter how much time passed it seemed as if Vasilli just wouldn’t let go of the fear that the pack would keep looking for them. He even started patrolling further and further from the house to ensure that they weren’t being stalked by anyone. They had gotten too close once before and they couldn’t let that happen again. He began to take Krystiana with him on patrols to teach her what to look for. She wanted to learn more but she was worried that Vasilli was letting the idea of the pack chasing them consume him. She worried that he was becoming paranoid and that his paranoia would destroy them all. After all without him she knew they wouldn’t survive. Her mother relied on him heavily around the full moon. Out of all of them her mother was struggling most with what had happened to them. Even though it was years ago she didn’t seem to be able to accept it and move on. Something that pained Krysti greatly, she didn’t know why her mother refused to accept what she now saw as a gift.

As the years passed Krysti became more and more comfortable with her wolf side, as did her brother Henryk but her mother still refused to accept it fully. Krysti knew her mother wasn’t happy but there was little she could do about that, she certainly couldn’t change the past and so she did all she could by helping out and doing more of the work in the house that her mother would usually do. As time went by even Vasilli seemed to relax a little, he still feared they would be discovered by the pack but he did a better job of hiding it from them. They were all still a long way from control and while that irritated Krysti she was comforted by the fact that she could now remember what happened around the full moon more than she could when she had first been turned. She wanted to have full control so that she didn’t have to spend the full moon locked away but she understood the need for it.

They isolated area of France that they had settled in had slowly started to become more populated and after thirty years Vasilli decided that civilisation was getting too close for comfort. It was decided that right after the next full moon they would pack up what they needed and search for somewhere more isolated.

As it got closer to what would be their last full moon in their current house all of them became more restless and uneasy. Martyna was particularly unsettled and became very anxious anytime that Vasilli left them alone to go and patrol the areas around the house. Krysti was actually looking forward to the possibility of moving somewhere new. It wasn’t that she didn’t like where they lived but it was just after so long in the same house she was beginning to feel the need to be somewhere else. She hadn’t even lived in the house she was born in for as long as they had lived here and for some reason that didn’t sit right with her.

The full moon came and went before they knew it. They had already packed up everything they needed to take with them and the morning after the third night they left their home again. They set off to the west hoping to find somewhere that hadn’t become heavily populated but the longer they searched the more unlikely it looked. It was beginning to look as if they wouldn’t find anywhere where they would feel isolated enough but they had few options open to them and they had to find somewhere before the next full moon came along. They even debated travelling to Spain but the Pyrenees were an obstacle that they couldn’t cross easily so they settled for travelling back through France and trying for Germany.

When they made it to Germany they headed for somewhere that they had passed through the first time they had been hunting for somewhere to stay when they left Poland. It wasn’t as isolated as it had once been but it was better than anywhere else they had and with the full moon approaching they were out of options. Once the full moon had passed Vasilli decided he was going to go to one of the nearby towns and ask around about anywhere that was more isolated. He had the perfect explanation already lined up in case anyone wondered just why he wanted somewhere so out of the way. Martyna wasn’t happy that he was going to be leaving them for a few days and Krystiana knew that she would have to do what she could to keep her mother calm whilst Vasilli was away.

They expected him to be gone for a week or maybe even two but after a few days he returned with a proposition for them all. He had been speaking to a local business owner and discovered that there was a ship heading to America right after the next full moon. The man had told Vasilli that if he wanted somewhere isolated then America was the place to go with all the wide open spaces and vast areas that had not yet been populated. Initially Martyna was resistant to the thought of leaving Europe for somewhere half way across the globe but once Vasilli explained that they wouldn’t ever have to worry about the pack finding them again she began to see that it wasn’t a bad idea for them to go there. After more discussions between them all it was decided that they would go to America and try and make a new life over there away from the threat of the pack finding them and the promise of finding somewhere isolated enough that they wouldn’t have to worry about anyone finding them or getting hurt for years to come.

There was just one thing that might stand in their way, money. They had been living in complete isolation for so long that they hadn’t been earning any money. If they had still been at the family farm they might have been able to sell it but it had been so long since they left it that even if they returned now it would be run down and no one would want to pay much for it or someone else would have moved in and there was no way to prove that it had once belonged to them. Vasilli provided a possible solution though and said that he had heard of someone offering good money for work that few people wanted to do, he suggested that he and Henryk take the work for the next few weeks in an effort to make the money they needed to pay for passage to America, this idea didn’t please Martyna but there was little choice. They needed money and there was no other way to get enough quickly that wouldn’t land them in trouble.

So Henryk and Vasilli left Krystiana and Martyna so they could go in to the town and earn the money they needed. Krysti wasn’t exactly keen on being left alone with her mother, they hadn’t been getting on as well as they once had and Krysti believed it was because of her mother’s resistance to what they had all become and Krysti’s complete acceptance of her wolfen side. With the men gone she took it upon herself to patrol the area around where they were staying so she could keep a look out for trouble, she didn’t expect any but it was better to be safe than sorry. Krysti spent most of the next fortnight outside in the small forest that surrounded the house they had found to stay in, she felt at home in them, they reminded her of the forest that had surrounded their farm and she found that incredibly comforting when everything else seemed to be so up in the air. The more time she spent in the forest the more she felt at one with herself and for the first time she felt like she might finally be learning how to control the animal inside.

When Henryk and Vasilli returned they had a few days to spare before the full moon. They had made more than enough money to pay for passage on one of the faster ships leaving for America which meant that they wouldn’t have to worry about being stuck on board a ship during the nights of the full moon. The tickets had already been purchased, all they had to do was be at the dock the morning the ship was leaving. Before long it was time for them to leave another place. This time they were going to a completely different country, one that none of them knew anything about and while that was a little unsettling they were together and somehow that made it easier for them to accept. The prospect of finding somewhere that would allow them to all learn to control the wolf without the worry of anything happening to expose them was also something that made it easier.

The journey went as well as could be expected with a few episodes of sea-sickness from all of them. It turned out that wolves weren’t exactly designed to travel by sea. After what seemed like a lifetime they finally landed in America and with the extra money the men had earned before they left allowed them to buy the necessary supplies before they headed out in to the wilderness to find somewhere that they could finally call home. Vasilli knew that they wouldn’t have anywhere to be confined during the full moon so he ensured that they had things to secure them until they could build a proper home equipped with somewhere for young wolves fighting for control to be locked up during the full moon. They travelled as far as they could before stopping somewhere well away from any town before their first full moon in America. Krysti, Henryk and Martyna more than a little anxious at the prospect of going through this lunar cycle without being restrained as they were used to but Vasilli promised them that it would be fine and that he wouldn’t let anything happen to any of them.

It was just as he’d said and they all came through it without harm. As soon as they were able they set off again and after another two weeks of travelling they found what seemed to be the ideal place for a family of wolves to build a home. The nearest town was a two day ride away and there were no immediate plans for any settlements closer or any other developments such as railway lines. The area was heavily wooded as well which would provide plenty of cover and also plenty of room for them to be secured around the full moon until the house could be built. The whole family immediately went about making all the preparations for building themselves a house, not that Krysti, Henryk or Martyna really knew anything about building a house. They helped in any way they could though and slowly things began to take shape.

Over the coming months the house was built along with three outbuildings that were reinforced to withstand a werewolf under the influence of the moon. They finally had somewhere to call their own, somewhere that meant they were safe and could learn to control their animal sides. Without the worry of the pack that was hunting them Vasilli was able to let go of that unease that he had been carrying since the first time he had realised they had been found after they fled. This allowed Martyna to relax as well and she seemed to begin to accept that there was no changing the past. With her mother beginning to accept what they now were Krystiana felt like a weight had been lifted from her, a weight that she hadn’t realised she had been carrying.

The years slipped by with little incident. Krystiana, having always been a bit more accepting of being turned began to learn to control her wolf sooner than either Henryk or Martyna. Vasilli told her that it wouldn’t be long before she would be able to resist the call of the moon completely. She worked harder knowing that she was closer to getting control. Something that she desperately wanted more than anything else in the world and now that she knew it was close she was even more determined to gain that control.

Life was more settled that it had ever been for them. Vasilli had managed to find work that made them money but didn’t require him to be gone for more than a few days every two weeks and with Krysti being so close to gaining control he was even away nearer to the three nights of the full moon than he’d been before. It became her responsibility to ensure that they were all locked up well before the sun went down and the animal took over. Somehow that extra responsibility made it even easier for her to work towards that control she wanted.

Before she even realised it she had control over her wolf. It was only when the full moon was approaching and Vasilli said she should try and resist the call of the moon that she even realised that she finally could. If it hadn’t been for his urging her she might not have tried. She’d been able to remember more and more as the years went by and it hadn’t occurred to her to try and resist changing as the nights of the full moon came. She was overjoyed that she could now resist the moon and knew that it could only get better for her. Under the instruction of Vasilli she had learnt to control the animal that she had never asked to be. It wasn’t long until Henryk got control either. Only Martyna struggled to gain control and her continued resistance to her new nature meant that she would continue to struggle. Krysti tried to talk to her mother about it but the older woman didn’t want to hear it, she screamed at her daughter that she knew better and that it wasn’t her place to tell her otherwise.

Things became increasingly tense between Krysti and her mother to the point where Krysti couldn’t spend more than a few hours in the house with her. She took to spending time in the surrounding trees honing the use of her senses often stalking around in her wolf form to help her gain further control over that side of herself. This only made things with her mother worse though. Krysti tried everything she could to understand why her mother felt the way she did but she couldn’t. To her the wolf was a gift and something that made her stronger than she ever could have been as a human. The two just couldn’t see eye to eye, even when Vasilli tried to mediate between them it didn’t do any good.

Krysti only really stayed around the house for her brother, the two closer than they had ever been before. He even stared going along with her when she went out in to the surrounding woods after he got control of his wolf. They would spend hours scouting through the trees, sometimes in human form but more often than not as wolves. Occasionally they would hunt down animals that lived in the trees; they never actually killed them but practised stalking their prey and running it down. It became a game for them when they got restless to just go off hunting through the trees. It never occurred to them that they might not be the only ones hunting out there. They were so isolated that they became lax about checking for any scents or signs that anyone else was about. It had been so long since any of them had seen anyone else around the property that they thought it would be okay. They were wrong.

The night before the next full moon was when Krysti realised just how wrong they had been. She had already made sure her mother was secure in the outbuilding, Martyna still a long way from controlling the wolf despite her age. She was returning to the house when she heard a noise in the trees, using her senses she realised that there were men out there and a lot of them. She ran for the house to tell Vasilli and Henryk but before she could reach the door there was a loud crack from behind her and she stumbled and fell, one of the men had taken the opportunity to shoot her as she’d run to warn her family. The agony through her shoulder made her pass out momentarily and when she came round she smelt smoke or rather fire. It took her a second to realise where the smell was coming from as she got her bearings but as soon as she did she wished she hadn’t. Their home was on fire. In the time it had taken for her to regain consciousness the men had set the house and all the outbuildings on fire and assumed she was dead or dying from the gunshot wound and left her where she’d fallen. Panicked she looked about to see if Vasilli or Henryk had gotten out but there were no signs to suggest they had, she heard the agonised howls of her mother from the outbuilding as the flames engulfed the building. The sound paralysing her where she sat on the ground as the realisation that her entire family were dead because of her carelessness sunk in.

Unable to move she sat there as her home and family burned. The shock of it making her numb to begin with before grief took over and she started to sob as she realised she was all alone for the first time in her life. It was morning before she even considered moving. She knew she had to get away in case the men came back to look at their work and if they found her alive they would surely kill her. After all they’d had no qualms in shooting her in the back a she’d tried to warn her family so she didn’t doubt that they would do that or worse if they came back and she was still there. She knew she couldn’t head for the nearest town because while she had rarely gone there herself there might be someone there who knew what had been done to her family and if she walked in to town then there was no telling what might happen. So she headed in the opposite direction but not before she said her last goodbyes to her family.

She knew she couldn’t just wander around forever, she needed to find somewhere to stay but she had no money. It was a few days before she came across a small town and by then she looked a little worse for wear. She didn’t really know what she was going to do about food or somewhere to stay but she needn’t have worried because as she was walking down the main street an old woman stopped her and told her she needed a meal and that she should go home with her. Not really knowing what to do she accepted the woman’s offer. The old woman seemed to be lonely because she ended up talking Krysti’s ear off for the next couple of hours as she fed her and let her wash up. The old woman had no family and few friends it turned out but she had a kind heart and said that Krysti was welcome to stay with her until she found her feet.

Krysti wasn’t entirely comfortable with the woman’s offer but she didn’t have any other options so she took her up on it. Over the coming weeks she learnt a lot about the woman who had taken her in, Angela Woods. Despite her initial hesitation about staying with Angela, Krysti liked the woman and started to do what she could to help her around her house. With Angela’s helps she also got a job in one of the small shops in the town. It wasn’t much but it was enough that she could earn herself some money. Krysti decided that she would save what she could until she had enough to move somewhere far enough away that there would be no chance of anyone recognise her. When Angela learnt that she was intending to leave she gave her a large sum of money and told her to live her life and to not end up alone like she had. She tried to tell her she couldn’t take the money but Angela insisted.

It didn’t take long for her to have enough money to strike out on her own, she wasn’t entirely sure where she was going but that didn’t really matter. She said goodbye to Angela and thanked her for her kindness saying that she would take her advice and live her life. She clear across the country in the hopes that she could run away from her past but no matter where she went she couldn’t forget what had happened. She knew it was foolish to think that running away would somehow erase the memories but she’d wanted to try anyway.

Krysti travelled from place to place, never staying in one place for longer than it took to make enough money for her next ticket. She lived like this for a few years before trouble found her. She was walking back to where she was staying when a group appeared out of nowhere, they started talking to her and asking her if she wanted to have fun. She was scared, she’d avoided getting involved with anyone really and to suddenly find herself surrounded by strangers who apparently wanted to use her for their entertainment was almost too much for her. No matter how many times she told them they wouldn’t take no for an answer and they started getting nasty. One of them grabbed her and she panicked, she started struggling to get away and it was only due to her superior strength that she managed to break free. That only made things worse though. A few of them grabbed her and she did the only thing she could think of and screamed for help.

She honestly hadn’t expected any help to come but it did. Three strangers appeared out of nowhere and in moments the group that had attacked her had fled. It took her a moment to realise that the three people who had come to her aid were werewolves just like her. They took her back to their pack with them. The whole situation a little overwhelming for Krysti she stuck to one of them like glue whilst the other two had left to get help. When curious members of the pack came to have a look he saw them off with a growl. It had been a long time since she’d had anyone to look out for her and despite her initial fear she came to realise that maybe this was a good thing. When the Alphas offered her a place in the pack she accepted.

Over the coming days she settled in to the pack home. With the help of the three members that came to her rescue, Casey Adams, Regina Vienneau and Lee Stafford she began to think of the pack as home. They quickly became her closest friends and she considers herself blessed to be part of their group, their own pack within the pack. She never expected to find somewhere that felt so much like home again but now that she has it she’s going to hold on to it.