The New Pack

"Hi everyone, it's me again. Hank, the werewolf."

[Group: Hi Hank!]

"It's been fifty-five days since I devoured anyone, and that one was a tyrannical, three hundred year old vampire so he shouldn't really count. Heh.

"Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I lost my job at the used car lot. With the economy the way it is, you'd think used car sales would be going up. And they are everywhere but where I worked. The idiot who owns the place figured the increased market for late model used cars meant he should jack up his prices. He figured he'd make even more money with each sale. What happened was people just went to another used car lot that wasn't trying to rip them off. He had to have someone to blame, though, so I got canned. I'd gotten to where I hated working the used car lot, anyway, so I don't mind not having to go there every day. But I still need a job, so if you know any place that's hiring, let me know.

"Over the weekend, Michelle, my vampire girlfriend, decided she was going to cheer me up. I always like it when she cheers me up, if you know what I mean! But this time she meant to get me out of the apartment, somewhere we weren't likely to run into any of Riley's rallies against us ALPSers. I don't think I'd have chosen a youth soccer game, but the son of Michelle's best friend, Wanda, was playing and the boy had been begging 'Miss Michelle' to come see him play. I figured why not go? It would make Michelle happy and might even be fun.

"I had no idea that youth soccer was such a big business! I figured we'd just go to some park somewhere, watch the kids and then go home. Nope. We went to this huge soccer complex. There must have been at least fifty soccer fields and kids as young as four or five up to teenagers. Thousands of parents and grandparents were out there with folding chairs, cheering on the kids. With the crowd and all those fields, it took Michelle and me a while to find the game we were looking for. The game had already started when we got to the field.

"Michelle walked up to a man a woman and said, 'Hi Wanda! Sorry we're late.'

"Wanda smiled, 'You know, you really didn't have to come.'

"Michelle just laughed, 'Jack made me pinkie swear. And he says you can't go back on a pinkie swear!' Then she turned to me, 'Hank, this is my friend Wanda and her husband Ron. And the little scamp who just had the ball taken from him is Jack.'

"Wanda gave me an appraising look masked in a polite smile, 'So, this is the man I've been hearing so much about!' Wanda leaned close and loudly whispered, 'She's totally gaga over you, you know!'

"Michelle growled, 'Wanda!' I love it when she growls like that!

"I whispered loudly back to Wanda, 'She's sunk her fangs pretty deeply in me, too!'

"Wanda chuckled a bit but Michelle started laughing so hard at my joke that Wanda gave her a questioning glance. Pulling Michelle into a hug, I quietly whispered in her ear, 'Wanda doesn't know about you, right?'

"Still laughing, Michelle whispered back, "No. She doesn't know about you, either.'

"We turned back to watch the game and make small talk. It wasn't like a regular soccer game. There wasn't really any flow, just kids getting around the ball and kicking for all they were worth. Every now and then a player would break away from the big mass of kids, make a run on the goal and sometimes even score. The coaches would stand on the sideline and call out instructions like 'Stay in your position!' or 'Pass the ball now!' or even 'Jimmy, don't take the ball away from your own teammate!' But the kids looked like they were having fun and parents were all supportive, so it did take my mind off of being unemployed.

"In the second half of the game, things started to get tense. I couldn't figure out why, but the parents all around us were getting nervous about something. Michelle noticed it, too, and asked Wanda what was going on.

"Wanda replied, 'Our team is winning and the other team can get really...upset...if they lose. It's not really the fault of the kids on the other team. They really can't help it, but...' She trailed off, like there was more she wanted to say but didn't think she should.

"I figured it wouldn't hurt to kick up my senses a bit and figure out what was going on. It didn't take long. Every single player on the other team was an ALPSer! I looked at Wanda, 'Why is there an entire team of kids with ALPS?'

"Wanda looked surprised, 'How did-? Never mind. Some of the parents didn't want their children on a team with kids who had ALPS. They were afraid of what might happen, I guess. So the league took all the ALPS kids and put them on one team. But that just makes it worse. The ALPS kids feel like they're being shunned, so that makes them more likely to get mad at the other kids. Sometimes, when they're losing, some of those kids get really mad and then they change. It doesn't help that the ALPS kids' coach is as scared of them as all the other parents.'

"Right then Jack's team scored another goal. They jumped up and down and cheered but the parents got even more tense than they had been before. With my heightened senses, I could tell they had good reason to be tense, too. A couple of the ALPS kids were pretty upset and were probably going to transform in the next few seconds.

"Turning to Wanda, I said, 'Get Jack and his teammates off the field now.' Then I walked out onto the field, heading toward the ALPS team.

"I could hear the coach and parents behind me calling to Jack's team to come over to the sidelines. I saw the ALPS team's coach just standing on the sidelines, totally out of his element. The ref saw me and ran over, yelling, 'No parents are allowed on the field during a game!' When I ignored him, he came up to me as said, 'Sir, no parents are allowed on the field during a game.'

"I didn't stop walking but said to him, 'I'm not a parent and you are the one who should get off the field. You're about to have a bunch of little were-creatures running around out here. They won't want to hurt you, but they will if you get in the way.' The ref's face went pale and he turned and left the field.

"I walked right up to the kid who seemed most likely to transform and said, 'You don't want to transform, kid. It won't help you win the game or make you feel better.'

"The kid had a really good 'up yours' stare already; pretty impressive for a six year old. He gave me that stare and said, 'You better run, mister.' And then he transformed in a little werewolf cub -- cute little thing -- and he started growling at me. That kicked if off for the other kids and they all transformed, too. I had ten little were-cubs in front of me; six wolves, two tigers, a bear and a cougar. They were all snarling and growling and ready to leap. So I transformed and gave the little pack what it really needed; an alpha.

"A bit of growling, a little nipping at their ears, a couple of good cuffs with the paw and I had the ten of them sitting in front of me acting a whole lot more polite. I growled a bit more, letting them know who was boss, then transformed back. The kids transformed back, too.

"I called over the ref and both coaches. The ref came and so did the coach for Jack's team. The coach for the ALPS team just stood there on the sidelines, staring at us. Ignoring him, I said, 'The kids are under control now. We can finish the game.'

"The ref looked at the other coach. He shrugged and said, 'Why not?' Then the ref looked at me, 'Are you willing to stay on the sidelines with these kids? You've got some, uh, standing with them no one else here can match.' I agreed and led the kids to the sideline. Sometime during the discussion with the ref and other coach, the ALPS team's coach had left. I guess it was just too much for him. Anyway, we finished out the game without any trouble. My ALPS kids even scored a goal before the game ended.

"Both teams did the 'Good game' walk. Since no one else was around, I took the place of the coach in the line. I led the kids back to their parents and wasn't really that surprised when they asked me if I would take over as team coach. I told them I didn't really know anything about coaching soccer, but if they didn't mind that, I told them I'd be willing to be the coach.

"The kids cheered and the parents smiled and Michelle came over to meet my new little pack. She said Wanda had a whole bunch of questions after I transformed. Michelle just told Wanda she'd talk about it later.

"All in all, we had a fun time out at the soccer game. And later, when we got back to my apartment, Michelle cheered me up again!"