Around twenty years ago...
In an undisclosed location somewhere in Washington state...
Within the Rainier Pack territory...
A rare blood moon ... apropos for this inauspicious night ... serves as a foreboding harbinger as it ominously hovers above; prominently standing out amidst a starless, pitch-black sky.
This has the Moon Goddess feeling very unsettled ... something is amiss.
It's nearing midnight, as a seemingly innocuous dark blue cargo van turns off the rural county road onto a secluded, narrow dirt road cutting through a dense forest.
The vehicle slowly moves along the dangerously uneven terrain for nearly fifteen minutes before reaching one of the outer-perimeter checkpoints surrounding the Rainier Pack's main compound ... which covers an expansive area of about thirty square miles, give or take.
Not aware of any scheduled expected visitors, three hulking sentries, each armed with subcompact machine guns, warily approach the cargo van; then strategically position themselves around it ... one in front; one behind; and one beside the driver's side door.
The sentry at the driver's side door gestures for the driver to roll down the window. Once down, he addresses the driver in an authoritatively professional tone...
"Excuse me, gentlemen; I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to turn around and leave, now. In case you aren't aware, this is private property."
Without turning to face the sentry, keeping his eyes looking forward, the driver aloofly says, "I am aware that this is private property."
The sentry immediately replies, "Then what you're telling me is that you're knowingly trespassing upon this property."
Highly suspicious, the sentry inconspicuously gestures for the other sentries to switch their weapons off their safety-position. This is caught out of the corner of the hawk-like eye of the driver.
A barely noticeable smirk begins to emerge upon the driver's thin. pallid lips. Again, refraining from turning to face the sentry, keeping his eyes looking forward...
"Come now, my anxious lupine friend..." That smirk slightly expands across those lips. "Don't think I didn't notice what you did there ... taking your guns off of their safety-position..."
Now, the driver turns to face the sentry...
"Not very welcoming of you now; is it?"
The sentry momentarily loses his professional demeanor as he curtly snaps, "Look here you...!"
The driver cuts him off. "But I digress. ... Now, where were we? Ah, yes ... you had just accused us of 'knowingly trespassing upon the property'. But tell me now, can you really consider it trespassing if one is expected?"
The agitatedly confused sentry immediately demands to know...
"What are you talking about ... we weren't informed about anyone being expected. Just who exactly are you? And who is expecting you?"
The driver turns back around and keeps his eyes looking forward...
"The eight of us are political emissaries from the Clan of the Old Order, here at the bequest of our Matriarch, Countess Esmeralda Ardelean, with orders to pick up and bring her grandniece, Katarina Ardelean, back home to Transylvania."
The driver gestures for the individual sitting in the front passenger seat to give him what's in his hand; and in turn, once receiving it, the driver passes it along to the sentry. It's a fancy looking envelope securely closed with a wax seal bearing the official royal crest of the Ardelean family.
Still not facing the sentry, "This is the letter Countess Ardelean instructed us to give to your Alpha Julian; who is expecting our arrival this evening. Does this suffice as enough of an explanation to satisfy your curiosity and answer all your questions?"
The wary sentry incredulously glances over the seemingly official-looking letter, then suspiciously asks, "If that's the case, then why weren't we notified of this alleged expected arrival?"
Another smirk emerges upon the driver's thin, pallid lips as he slowly turns to face the sentry, then condescendingly taunts...
"Oh, I don't know ... perhaps it's because wolves of your low-ranking positions in the pack have no need to be made aware of important matters which are clearly above the 'need-to-know status' of glorified security guards?"
This instantly irks the sentry, which once again has him momentarily lose that professional demeanor; causing the sentry to, out of intense frustration, instinctively tighten his grip on the handle and butt of the subcompact machine gun in his hands. The sentry growls through clenched teeth before angrily snapping...
"Just who the fuck do you think you are?!"
The driver turns back around and keeps his eyes looking forward; with that annoyingly provoking smirk still etched upon his lips, he continues condescendingly taunting...
"I already told you ... we're emissaries here at the bequest of the Matriarch of the Clan of the Old Order with orders to bring her grandniece back to Transylvania. I would think that even a lowly watchdog would have a longer retention span. Perhaps that's why they didn't bother telling you about our expected arrival..."
He turns and looks at the sentry, expanding that smirk as he delivers a final dig...
"Or maybe they did; and you just forgot."
The highly infuriated sentry is about a millisecond away from riddling the cargo van with bullet holes, when luckily for everyone there, two jeeps heading from the compound pull up at the checkpoint.
Gamma Raymond Silva, head of the pack's Security Defense Force, steps out of the front jeep; and upon noticing the clearly frustrated, rigidly tensed-up sentry's throbbing veins bulging out of his temples, quickly shouts out...
"Stand down, Xavier!"
The driver returns to keeping his eyes looking forward, as he snidely comments out of the side of his mouth, "Yes ... stand down, Xavier."
The Gamma comes up behind the infuriated sentry and places his hand on Xavier's shoulder...
"Easy; calm down. I'll take it from here." Gamma Ray steps up to the driver's side window. "And you gentlemen are?"
The driver keeps his eyes looking forward as he exaggeratedly huffs; then says in a smart-aleck fashion...
"Oh, for crying out loud ... we are emissaries sent here under the bequest of the Matriarch of the Clan of the Old Order, Countess Esmeralda Ardelean, with orders to bring her grandniece, Katarina Ardelean, back home to Transylvania. Seriously, how many times am I going to have to repeat this?"
The Gamma ... who's even more muscularly developed and towers over the other three hulking sentries ... reaches in and tightly grasps hold behind the back of the driver's neck, then forcibly turns the driver's head to face him...
"Allow me to introduce myself ... my name is Gamma Raymond Silva, leader of the Rainier Pack's Security Defense Force, and in charge of overseeing all of the pack's defensive and offensive procedural protocols. And now that you know who I am; you will face me when I'm addressing you. Have I made myself clear?"
With all that former false bravado and cockiness suddenly washed away by the extremely imposing Gamma, the driver nervously nods. Gamma Ray releases his grip from the driver's neck and pulls his arm out of the vehicle.
"Good. And now that that's been settled ... regarding your previous inquiry ... you'll repeat it as many times as I ask you to. Understood?"
The driver makes it a point to look the Gamma directly in the eyes when answering, "Understood."
"Good."
Suddenly, that false bravado begins to creep its way back into the driver, as he boldly, and most definitely mistakenly, asks...
"Gamma Silva ... you do understand that this is a diplomatic mission that we're on; don't you? Do you always make it a habit of putting your hands on foreign dignitaries visiting your pack? ... Is that part of those pack's 'procedural protocols' you said you were in charge of?"
And now, a smirk emerges upon the Gamma's lips, as he steps in closer and rests his massive arms on top of the cargo van; then leans in the window and whispers in the driver's ear...
"Would you rather I let my sentry over there blow you away to pieces with his gun?"
Again, that false bravado quickly washes away, and the driver nervously shakes his head.
"Alright then..." The Gamma steps back away from the vehicle. "I'll take you to see Alpha Julian, now. Follow us."
As the Gamma heads back to the jeep, Xavier momentarily stops him...
"Pardon me, Gamma Ray..." The sentry hands him the letter. "They brought this letter from Countess Ardelean to give to Alpha Julian."
The Gamma takes the letter. "Thanks. I'll see that the Alpha gets it."
As the Gamma steps away, the sentry blurts out, "Pardon me again; Gamma Ray...?"
"Yes?"
"With all due respect, sir ... but why weren't we informed about this expected arrival?"
The Gamma shakes his head and lets out a brief laugh. "Don't take offense of it, Xavier. I was only just informed about it myself by Delta Colin before being sent out here to escort them."
"I see. My apologies for my impertinence."
The Gamma places his hand upon Xavier's shoulder. "No apologies necessary, my friend. I saw no impertinence in your question. Keep up the good work."
"Thank you for your understanding, Gamma Ray. And I will do my best to serve you and the pack well."
"I'm sure you will." The Gamma begins to walk away, but momentarily stops to jocularly tell him, "Oh, and Xavier ... asshole or not ... be sure not to shoot any visiting emissaries. ... At least at not until I give you my okay."
The Gamma shoots the sentry a quick wink. The sentry laughs...
"Yes, sir; understood."
When the Gamma enters the jeep, the headlights flash to signal the emissaries to follow them. The 'tiny entourage' sets off for the Alpha's manor; with the Gamma's jeep leading the way and the other jeep following behind the cargo van.
As they secure the fence's gate, one of the other sentries tells Xavier...
"If you ask me, you should have cut down that smart-ass bloodsucker while you had the chance. Opportunities like that don't come around that often, you know."
Xavier takes a brief moment to mull over and reflect upon the situation in his mind; looking as if he were relishing in the thought of blowing away that 'smart-ass bloodsucker'. But once that fleeting moment of gratification passes, he responds...
"Actually, Frank; it's a good thing that I didn't."
"Why's that?"
"Think about it, they said that they're here to take Katarina back to Transylvania; right?"
"Yeah ... so?"
"Which means ... the pack's finally able to get rid of that damn, little bloodsucking dampyr."
The other sentry interjects himself into the conversation by asking...
"Hey ... is she really a bloodsucker? I never heard anything about her actually sucking anyone's blood out since being here. Did she?"
Xavier and Frank quickly roll their eyes and look at him like they can't believe he just said that. Xavier tells him...
"What difference does it make if she did or didn't; she still isn't one of us ... she isn't a werewolf; she's a dampyr. Nothing more but a watered-down vampire."
Frank emphatically concurs, "Yeah, you've got that right. ... If you ask me, Alpha Julian should have never allowed his sister to take her into the pack in the first place."
"Agreed." Xavier adds with underlying contemptuous disdain, "Now all we have to do is get rid of the good-for-nothing, rogue she-wolf his sister also brought in."