Katherine Nelling stepped off the ship gladly. If she had to be on that stomach-wrenching boat much longer she’d go insane. It was nice to be on solid ground after that trip across the sea. She never wanted to be on a boat again!

Distractedly she looked for whomever her sister had sent to pick her up, staying near her luggage in the unfamiliar town. Her sister lived in this town somewhere to the west but that was the extent of her knowledge of the area. She had been written to by her sister. She was urgently needed to help with a case. She looked around in time to see a younger woman come barreling into her.

Katherine caught her sister in her arms happily and swung the younger woman around. “Amelia! It has been so long. I couldn’t believe it when you sent to school in England for me. I cam as soon as I could.” She said hugging her sister close. She smiled and ran a hand through her unmarried sister’s hair and down her back.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt your school year sister but I just couldn’t handle this case on my own. Oh it’s taken forever for you to get here!” Amelia spoke into Katherine’s bosom and Katherine grinned and ruffled the younger woman’s hair.

“Yes I know! But I had to graduate properly before I could even think about coming. Luckily, your letter came in the last month of the year.” Katherine smiled, happy that her sister had written at all. Their career choices and lifestyles didn’t often cross paths. Amelia was engaged to be married and Katherine was a single woman who had no love life to speak of. She was a bit too contemporary for most men.

“Yes but that was spring!” Amelia protested venomously, “And it’s autumn now!” Katherine winced imperceptibly as her sensitive hearing was attacked by her sister’s high pitched voice.

“But I am here now.” Katherine said tapping Amelia on the nose and taking a step back. Her sister swatted where her hand previously was annoyed at the intrusion to her nose.

“Take me to your carriage and have your man take my luggage, sister. We should probably get going.” Katherine pointed out smiling at her sister’s annoyed expression.

“Yes, how horrid of me to make you wait Kathy.” Amelia took Katherine’s hand and began looking for her servant. “I shall tell you all about our case as soon as we are in the carriage.” She spotted the man and waved. “Yoo-hoo! John, over here! John could you take my sister’s things to the carriage, please?” She smiled happily as he picked it up and led the way. “Thank you!”

Amelia grasped her sister’s hand tightly in her own and began weaving her way through traffic on the dock. Katherine laughed and followed along carefully dodging and ducking behind her shorter and more flexible sister. She may be a warrior against the forces of the supernatural but that did not make her as flexible as the lithe young woman holding her hand.

“Amelia dear! Slow down some. Surely there is not that much of a hurry to tell me about one little case.” Katherine protested their speed laughing the entire time. The air form the colonies, not as smoke fogged or grimy feeling as London’s own, was making her nearly giddy.

“Oh but there is Kathy. There is.” Amelia said, perfectly serious and somber, the smile disappearing from her face.

Katherine shivered at the serious tone in her normally carefree sister’s voice. Whatever this case was, she was already worried. Almost nothing could make her little sister sound quite so serious. She couldn’t help but wonder what it was

As the reached Amelia’s carriage, well enough away from the docks that the fish smell was not quite so clingy, Katherine couldn’t help but think that whatever the problem was, it was nothing her little sister should be involved in. She climbed into the carriage as John opened the door for her.

Amelia settled herself into her seat as Katherine watched. Katherine was already sitting and glad to be so. A horse-drawn carriage was at least familiar territory. Particularly this one with all the little nooks and crannies that their family’s carriage was made to have.

There had to be some place to store there stuff and make life more bearable as they constantly traveled from case to case. So some many times great grandfather of hers had designed the first of the family carriages. It was made to withstand all manner of attack and hold any manner of weapon, hidden in its cracks and crevices.

Their family had been working in the supernatural hunters business long enough to have become renowned and feared in the world where humans had no place. They were raised from birth to protect themselves and those around them from immediate attack. And if they so chose, they could become a Hunter themselves.

“Your carriage is very comfortable!” She gushed happily to Amelia, in a moment of feminineness. She smoothed her skirts and adjusted her clothing slightly, moving her skirt just so. She hated these confining outfits; she'd take her Hunter’s outfit any day. “Now tell me about this case that troubles you so. I can’t imagine why you would call for my help on anything at all!”

“Well you know how I normally take on non-supernatural cases right?” Amelia began clearly nervous and upset. She had chosen a more peaceful alternative in the family line and became a freelance detective. “This case is not like those. It’s more in your line of work. That’s why I sent for you. I don’t know how I’d ever manage to get it done on my own.”

She hesitated then leaned foreword as if to confide a secret, “There is a creature that is terrorizing the community on the full and new moons for the past few months. It is the same creature but not a werewolf as far as we can tell. Whatever it is it is absolutely terrifying. And the prints…they are not natural.” Amelia shivered at her own statement and Katherine perversely thought that no supernatural beast’s prints were natural.

Katherine laughed gaily and patted her sister’s knee. “Oh Amelia! I could have written how to take care of your creature from England. You were right to lean towards werewolf, of course. It is a were-creature of some sort. I don’t know what yet as I’ve yet to see it or its prints. Can you describe it for me?” Katherine patted her sister’s knee again and wondered why her sister never wanted to further her training and become a Hunter. Then again, she was glad she hadn’t.

“Oh yes, I can describe it just fine. It is large and brown with shaggy fur. It stands on its two hind legs and is about two foot taller than the average man does. It’s got yellow-orange eyes and its prints have four toes and a heart shaped pad.” Amelia ticked each point off on her finger sand checked to make sure she had them all.

Katherine frowned, confused. “Well it is not like any were-animal I have ever heard of. But none the less I can take care of it. If it is allergic to silver, then it is dead.” She was perfectly serious; she shot to kill.

“Oh Kathy! Whatever would I do without you?” Amelia squealed happily, once again hurting Katherine’s ears. Only Amelia was able to get away with squealing and calling her Kathy at the same time.

“Suffer terribly of course.” said Katherine, “Now tell me about this fiancée you mentioned in your letter. I simply must know all about him. I have to know if he’s good enough for my little sister.” After all, no man would dare touch her sister without her consent.

With that invitation, Amelia launched into a long a breathy account of her fiancée and his life and their love life. Katherine listened to her sister happily. She, herself, would take care of the problem of course. She had the specialized equipment and clothes for the job. And it wouldn’t do to risk her little sister’s health.

After all, a mere scratch from certain were-creatures could cause a total transformation into one. And while were-mice were relatively docile a werewolf would be a fierce predator ready to tear its hunter in two. No, her little sister didn’t need to take the chance of having to wear silver anklets to suppress the beast all her life. Kathy had the feeling in was very uncomfortable.

Besides, Kathy had things well under control, after all. No one was a better exterminator of supernatural beasts in all of Britain and she was more than positive that she could take down any beast from the colonies. They were, after all, the same as the British beasts.

Katherine laid out her hunting outfit and loaded one last silver bullet into her revolver. Silver was the only way to kill the beast that a were-creature was. And if the shot wasn’t fatal then she would clamp a silver bracelet or anklet on to the limbs of the person who was forced to change to keep the were-beast suppressed. Of course it hurt a little at first, until you got used to the pain actually, but that was a small price to pay for normalcy. She shirked off her everyday clothes and slipped into the outfit.

Silken shorts went on, only to be quickly covered by white leather pioneer pants. A skirt was too difficult to ride and shoot in at the same time. Skirts simply weren’t suitable for her job. She then slipped on a silk undershirt with silver sown into the hems and her priest blessed over-shirt on top of that. It had been woven of a material finer then silk but stronger then steel. Nothing she had encountered so far could tear through it. Then she put on the white leather vest and some moccasins and looked into the mirror.

In the all white outfit and with her platinum blonde hair she looked like the ghost of a cowgirl or an Indian. Her reflection shrugged at her; she gave it a glare that told it to behave. She hated when it moved without her. She gently put on her shaman blessed necklace from one of the Indian tribes in one of the colonies; it would protect her from any unfamiliar American creatures.

She slipped two belts on and promptly began loading the belts with a crossbow and extra bolts, her revolver, her sword, a flask of holy water, and a silver knife on each side. Her rifle had been carefully arranged on her back. She was prepared now. Very few creatures of the night would be able to harm her tonight.

Quietly, she slipped out the window of her ground floor room. She didn’t want to worry her sister after all. It was a new moon outside; she planned on getting rid of the beast tonight if she could. She rode her white stallion out to where the beast had last been spotted and thanked her sister mentally for keeping George in the colonies and ready to go. She made a note to do so in person after she woke up in the morning

“Hello.” She whispered eagerly about a half hour later when she saw the creature loping along side of George, looking ready to attack. She loosed the first bolt in the crossbow and expertly swerved George around as it attacked, loading at the same time. Another bolt fired and another miss as the creature jumped over her head and she loosed another bolt at it. One war cry later, her bolt connected and she slowed George to prance in a circle around the man slowly forming from the creature. This must have been a recently changed creature to be so easy to take down.

“Are you alive?” She called trotting in a tightening circle. “Can you talk sir?” A moan was her only answer and she nodded, satisfied, before dismounting, and removing the bolt from him after clamping down the silver anklets. She hurriedly applied pressure to the wound to keep it form bleeding to heavily. A few minutes later, when she was certain the bleeding had stopped for now, she picked him up gingerly, placed him on her horse in front of her, and began to ride to her sister’s home. He slowly awoke about five minutes from the house.

“Where am I?” He groggily whispered holding a hand to his injured side. His head felt fuzzy and he knew something was wrong here. Like who the heck was he riding in front of and when had a horse ever let him near. They hadn’t done so since his transformation. He missed working with them, being a stable hand on a nearby farm before he had first changed.

“You are on my sister’s property, on the back of my horse. What’s your name?” Katherine informed him, abrupt and demanding. She had no patience for fuzzy heads. He shouldn’t have been bitten in the first place.

“Paul. I remember changing….” He trailed off, unsure if she had seen him change back or not. If she hadn’t he would hate to be forced to find a way to keep her quiet. He thought he might have a few more problems if he had to. After all, what kind of decent woman wore pants?

“Never remove those anklets and you’ll never change again.” She easily guaranteed him. “What were you anyways?” Her curiosity had been peaked, as she had never seen a creature quite like that one.

“I had been bitten by a wolf and scratched by a cat. I was a little of both I think.” He whispered weary, just glad to finally be normal again.

“Well that explains the prints. Thank you. You may rest when we get to my sister’s house. You’ll have to leave in the morning though.” Katherine said sternly. She didn’t want to be responsible for some reckless young man. Their life was dangerous.

“I don’t remember where I live.” Paul whispered absolutely miserable. Katherine tut-tuted at him. This just wouldn’t do. It looked rather as if she would be on baby-sitting duty for awhile after all.

“Then you’ll just have to stay with me, for now.” Katherine declared pulling up to a stop in front of the stables. He relaxed as soon as he saw the familiar architecture that could only mean stables.

Paul simply nodded quietly and dismounted after she did, sliding to the ground limply. “I will, forever. I owe you my life.” He began to bow but stopped by her hand on his shoulder.

“Save your debt until after you’ve healed were-man. Right now, you’re in now condition to pledge fealty of any kind.” Katherine told him, not unkindly. She helped him into the house and then into a spare room. She could have him properly checked out tomorrow.

Until then, he’d just have to sleep here. Maybe her sister would think of some way to get him out of their hair tomorrow. She certainly didn’t want any oaths of fealty sworn to her. They generally turned out to be a nuisance in the long run.

This will probably end up being a one shot as I just don’t see Katherine and Paul going in where in my mind. But if you want more just tell me.