A Birth day

Ruby smiled at Simone and nodded "Thank you for coming over " she said and huggged her once more. Ruby sat down and smiled relived Angus had put the gun high up but at the sound of a scream she looked at Angus picking up Caprice as she did so. She listened to Angus and nodded "of course" she said accioing the baby's over night bag.

After a minet Ruby headed for the main house and burst in to see Jess sat reading , Jess moved over to her quickly but Ruby pointed back to the main house " Angus, somethings in Edwards home" she said as Jess aperated to Edwarfds side of the duplex . She imidiutly hears growling from above and took out her wand and quickly asended the stairs seeing Simone at the top " hold on" she said kneeling down she quickly aperated her to the main house then went back.

"okay Angus where do you want me?" she said firing a spell at the beast as she koined his side.

"Take a position by the door," Angus told her. "If I can't overcome him, maybe I can drive him out. Try not to let him get loose in the rest of the house if you can help it." Angus fired his wand at the balcony doors to blast them open, hoping that the night air would be attractive enough to this werewolf to lure him out of the house. The beast made a leap to try to attack Angus, and Angus moved out of the way, moving towards Jess, rather than towards the balcony doors. He flung a number of spells at the werewolf, including fireballs. The fireballs caught the beast's fur on fire, and the stench was intense.

The werewolf gave out a loud, howl of rage and pain that Angus was sure would be heard by most of the people on the estate.

"Big mouth," Angus said, deliberately making a little light of it to try to keep himself and Jess calm under fire.

At the sound of the howling, Robert and Edward perked up. Even in the northwest sector, they could hear it.

"God! We have to get back," Edward said.
"I'll meet you in the yard," Robert told him. They apparated out and over to the back yard of the estate. They didn't see anything, but they soon smelled the burning fur.

"That way," Robert pointed towards the duplex. Edward raced towards the duplex, thinking of Simone, Angus, Ruby, and the baby. Robert was right beside Edward, step for step. The beast howled again.

"He's in the house!" Edward shouted.

Jess moved to where Angus told her to be , she kept firing to msnover the were to where Angus wanted him to be . When Angus cast incendio Jess smelt the burning fur " few I do not like the smell of burning were fur in the morning" she jokes and chuckled to her self " hope Edward does though" she heard voices and loekd to Angus " sounds like robert and the others returned.

Jack heard the howl as he stood in Jessie and Yu's home Yu motioned for him to go and he bolted out the door and over to the house just intime to see Robert and Edward aperate into the coart yard " it came from your place Edwrd." it was now he sniffed and screwed up his nose " were wolf , sindgeg were wolf by the smell" he added looking back at the house where he could see flashes of spells being fired. " ready when you are" Jack said his voice how having a slight growl to it.

"He's noisy and he stinks," Angus said. "At least this one can't talk and bore us to death, like James." When Jess said she hoped Edward wouldn't miss the sounds or smells, Angus was positive about Edward's senses. "Edward won't miss it," Angus said, knowing Edward would not miss the sound of howling. "He'll be here."

Robert and Edward saw Jack in the yard and they listened to him saying that the werewolf was in the house.

"He cannot have my family," Edward said fiercely, racing to the house. Robert was right with him, and he motioned to Jack to come along. Edward ran into his side of the house, and he heard the howling from upstairs, from the master bedroom, and he was instantly terrified for Simone. He snatched down his ax from its place on the living room wall and he headed upstairs, ready to fight to his last breath to protect his bride.

Angus was firing rapid fire slashing and fireball spells to try to drive the werewolf out to the balcony, but the beast was just becoming enraged and was trying to dive at Angus to attack. Edward was stopped just inside the doorway by Jess. He looked into room, saw blood on the floor but did not see Simone.

"Good work," he said to them, trying to calm himself. "Where's Simone?" As he spoke, Angus's impatience was getting to him, and he misfired and fired a fireball massively bigger than he intended, and this fireball was almost as big as the beast itself.

"Oops," Angus frowned.

Jack heard Edwrad and Robert and followed them into the house and up the stairs just in time to see Jess duck some flying debris from Angus's extra large fireball" hey, wow there fireball, watch my wife " he said chukaling knowing she could take care of her self. Jess smiled at Jack as she fired.

"look after yourself and get this bloody werewolf out of the house," she said seeing jack run towards the youth and grasp him around his neck only to be flung against a wall next to her with a grunt. Getting up Jack took out his wand and fired at the young were " shesh, doesn't he quit, I think it's down to you Edward, do your thing" he shouted then looked to Jess who saw the look on his face.

"They're fine, Simones a bit scratched up but she's at the main house with Ruby and the baby." Jess told them,"now...focus" she told him and he looked back into the fight.

Robert made one attempt to fire a spell to stop the werewolf so that Edward did not have to kill him. He fired the spell but the young werewolf wasn't phased. Instead, he took a massive swing at Robert, and it sent Robert flying out the balcony doors, off the balcony and down to the ground before Robert could try to stop it.

"Stand back," Edward told them seriously, not wanting to catch any of them with his ax. Angus backed up to stand in front of Jess and Jack, and he threw up a shield spell to try to keep the three of them protected from any edge of the ax during Edward's swing. Edward took one big, swift swing at the beast, and it was over in an instant.

Angus raced out to the balcony, looked over the side and saw Robert motionless on the ground. Without thinking, he leaped over the balcony and landed on the ground on his feet and knelt by Robert. Edward went out to the balcony and looked over.

"Is he alright?" Edward asked.

"Looks like he hit his head. Knocked him out. He's getting a bruise and a knot on his forehead, and it's bleeding," Angus called back.

"I'll be right down," Edward said. He went back into the bedroom, stepping over the remains of the beast, and he looked at Jack. "You alright, Jack?"

Jess heard Edward and watched Angus move to them she re enforced Angus protago with her own as she saw Edward swing his axe and the were went down. dropping her protego she moved to tend to Jack then looked at Angus " just some bruising " she told him and Jack nodded.

"go to Robert were fine" he said as Jess helped him move down the stairs and out into the courtyard. Jack moved to Roberts side " I can carry him inside " he said carfully picking Robert up into his arms. Jess crossed her arms as she shook her head .

"could have just used a levitating charm Jack." she said but Jack smiled and pulled a tounge at her as she moved to start Roberts wounds healing.

"If you've got this, I'm going to go check on Simone," Edward said.

"She has a bleeding wound on her right thigh, I think," Angus said. "I was concerned she'd gotten bit, but she said it was claws."

"I have to see it for myself," Edward said, wanting now to rush to her.

"Go," Angus said. "We've got this."

Edward hurried over to the main house, and when he got there, he saw Simone sitting in the kitchen at the table, and Kate and Michael were sitting with her, tending her leg. She looked up, and when she saw Edward, she involuntarily burst into tears, grateful to see him. He went over to her, and she stood up, wrapping herself around him. He held her close for a moment.

"I wasn't sure I'd see you again," she told him softly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he told her. "How's your leg?"

"I don't care," she said, too glad to have him back. He understood. This was one of her first experiences being that close to a werewolf. It had terrified her. This was the part of his life that it wasn't fair to bring anyone else into, but she had been so sure that they could handle it together. He kissed her forehead and gave her a hug and then lowered her back in her chair.

"Let me see," he said.

"Claw marks," Kate said quietly. "Not bite marks. I'm sure. Robert can tend them when he gets here." Edward nodded, not wanting to tell Kate about Robert because he didn't really know how Robert was or wasn't at the moment.

At Edwards, Robert was coming around. He woke to find himself on Edward's sofa.

"What happened?" Robert asked.

"You took a header off the balcony," Angus replied, "apparently on your head."

"Well, at least it wasn't any part that was critical," Robert said sarcastically, realizing he had a fierce headache. "Thanks, Jess. What about the werewolf?"

"Edward handled it," Angus said. It took Robert a moment to understand the meaning. Then he nodded.

"Probably for the best, but now I have more questions than answers. Who was he, and how did he get here?"

"I'm sure we'll find out," Angus said, silently determined to find out if Suzanne had sent this creature to kill them.

Jess nodded and Jack moved Robert inside and onto the couch gently laying him down while Jess set about cleaning him up . Seeing him come around she relaxed and smiled " part of my job Robert you know that" she said as Jack placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke to him

"Yeah, Edward literaly made him lose his head" he said Jess gave a soft groan. " might need a clean up crew up there" he pointed with his thumb to the stairs. Realizing what he'd said he sighed and nodded " Im on it" he kissed Jess and headed to the doorway.

Jess nodded her head at Angus's words "Angus you might find something on the body" she sugested "before Jack has the clean up crew clean it all away." she reduced the headache for Robert then set the kettle to boil for some tea. " some calming tea will help" she said placing her hand on his shoulder " but staying laid down will help too."

"Tea would be great," Robert said.

"Good thought, Jess," Angus said. He went back upstairs and started searching the werewolf's body for any sort of clues. As he did, he found something he had never seen before. This werewolf had been branded, like a steer. He had never ever seen a branding mark on a magical creature, much less on such a fierce creature like a werewolf. He rooted around and found a scratch pad and a pencil in Edward's nightstand, and he made a copy of the mark. Who on earth would do such a thing? He quickly ruled out Fenrir and James. They didn't believe in marking themselves or their pack like that. No, this was someone who had some need to try to establish ownership over a werewolf, like cattle. Like they were animals that didn't matter. That infuriated him. He didn't find any other marks or clues. He raced back downstairs.

"He's been branded, like a bloody cow!" Angus exclaimed.

"What?" Robert frowned deeply, sitting up quickly. That made his head spin. He groaned, putting his hand to his head.

"Yeah, you might not want to do that, Mate," Angus said.

"You're a bit late on that," Robert replied. "What's this mark look like?" Angus handed over the scratch pad with the sketch.

"Does it mean anything to you?" Angus asked.

"Not yet, but I think we should try to find out," Robert replied.