The van pulled into the motel parking lot and ground to a halt. Dustin leaned over the seat and told everyone to remain there until he got the keys to the rooms. Kelvin already opened the door and was stood stretching his legs in the parking lot. Dustin closed the door, and they headed toward the motel reception.

"You think Glen's up to his word?" Kelvin asked.

"I'd say so, he seems to be a solid guy."

Kelvin pulled the door open to the reception as Dustin walked inside. He followed and let the door swing closed by itself. He stepped forward and slapped his hand on the bell. A hand appeared through the beaded curtain before an old guy pushed his way through with a pipe hanging from his mouth, and a gray and yellow beard that reached almost to his chest.

"Can I help you there, pardner?" he asked as he pinched hold of the small clay pipe that looked like a bears head. He pushed it to the side of his mouth and puffed.

"Three rooms. Two doubles and a single," Dustin said. "Glen told me to ask for Hank."

The old guy sucked on the end of the pipe. Red embers glowed as he sucked in the hot tobacco smoke. He pulled the pipe from his mouth and exhaled.

"Glen sent you, eh? You folks mus’ be shifters," he drawled. Dustin nodded. "Bears?"

"Wolves."

"You’re lucky things have changed around these parts. We used to clash. Suppose you heard all this from Glen, donewanna repeat what he's told ya," he remarked.

"Yeah! He said it was like that until Noelle passed through and held a meet to explain it all."

"She's a ballsy girl, that one, full o’ spunk," Hank said.

He reached out with his chubby fingers for three sets of keys. He pulled them off the steel hooks that were screwed into the slice of a tree trunk that hung on the wall with room numbers branded into the wood above the steel hook. It was well-varnished.

"What you folks a hiding from, anyways?"

"I would’ve said you wouldn't believe me. But, with a bear shifter handing me motel keys, I think you'd believe anything." Dustin smiled. "We call them vlads. First stage vampire-werewolves, before they become full daywalkers."

"Ah! That old story again.” Hank rested his pipe in a large ashtray. “Yes, that’s been tried before. A long time ago. It never worked as they never had a hybrid’s blood.” He looked at Kelvin. “Are you a hybrid, son?" he asked.

"I don't know. My ma never spoke much about any of this before she passed away. I don't think I'm pure, if I am. We do know that Noelle was, and now she isn't. She has a kid, though."

Hank nodded as he tapped his pipe in the ashtray and reached into a leather pouch pulling a ball of tobacco he pushed into the pipe. He repeatedly sucked as his Zippo flame was sucked down into the bowl of the pipe. The tobacco finally lit, and the Zippo snapped shut.

"That’d do it, firstborn is he?"

"Yeah, they’ve headed down to…” Hank held up his hand and cut Kelvin off, mid-sentence. Kelvin got the gist immediately. “Well, it’s another place, but we don't know where," Kelvin said.

"You never know who’s a-listenin’ around here. Walls have ears, and vampire-werewolves have better hearing than the walls," he said. "Why are you heading this way?"

Dustin fumbled with the motel keys as he lifted his gaze. "One of the pack was turned human a few months ago. There was a witch, yet she can't help him because he turned back from his own doing. He has to find a shaman, and we only know of New Orleans. Kelvin here, he might have family down there that can help."

"You need the Voodoo Queen to help you," Hank said, plainly.

"Who’s she, and where can we find her?" Dustin asked.

"She isn’t a person anymore. She's dead, so you need to find her grave. Marie Laveau was her name. Find her in the St. Louis cemetery, and you'll get led to a shaman. There’re tales it's haunted around her grave or tomb, or whatever she's buried in."

"We should be there, either tomorrow night, or the following morning," Dustin said.

Hank started laughing as his pipe hung from his mouth. "I hope you're in a party mood," he commented. "You do know its Mardi Gras season, though I'm not certain if that's gonna help or hinder you."

"We might have a problem with the masks.” They heard the door open behind them. Gabriel walked in. “We won't know who's who."

"Can I help you there, sonny?" Hank asked.

"This is Gabriel, he's the dude who's human," Kelvin commented. "We were just talking about you, to Hank." Gabriel furrowed his brow. He had no idea that Glen was a shifter as was Hank. He looked bemused as he walked to the counter.

"You think it's wise to talk to anyone and everyone about what we're doing?" Gabriel asked in a not-so-jovial tone.

"Hank can keep a secret," Kelvin said. "He's a…” Hank shifted his body and rose up behind the counter. His jowls quivered as he roared and stood on his hind legs.

"Fuck me!” exclaimed Gabriel. Hank turned back into his human form. “I've never seen one of them before." Gabriel nodded and grinned. "What's the chance of being a bear shifter instead of a wolf, I wonder?"

"None at all," Hank replied, now picking up his pipe and flicking the cap open on his Zippo. "It's a select club."

"I was only joking. I like being a wolf. I can run faster and feel at one with nature."

"Each to his own, each to his own," Hank replied. "You better get some rest if you want to get down to the big easy, tomorrow evening, it’s a long haul, but doable."

Dustin scooped up the keys and walked to the door behind Gabriel and Kelvin. "Can you give us a wake-up call around fiveish?" Hank nodded and confirmed that he'd be up and have breakfast ready and waiting in the dining area.

Kelvin paused and chuckled to himself. He turned back to Hank as he struggled to light his pipe. "Hey Hank, what do you call a bear with no ears?" he asked.

"I don't know. Tell me."

"B. You get it, B with no ears, the spelling of it?" Kelvin laughed more as he walked out of the door.

"Hilarious kid… as if I've never heard that before," he replied. Kelvin chuckled as he walked through the door. He tutted as he stepped into the cool fresh air.

"The old ones are always the best fun," he muttered to Dustin.

"Is there anything you can remember about this Sanders guy?" Gabriel asked as he rolled over toward Megan.

She explained again that she couldn't help much because she hadn’t been well, and when she had been in his company, everything was up in the air with Garrett and Abigail. She rolled over and started to kick the bedsheet from her legs. Too many thoughts of Sanders wouldn’t be a good thing for her. Her bare leg rested on Gabriel as he teased his nipple with her fingernail.

"Back on the road early in the morning, so we’d better make the best of the time we have now. We have no idea what crap we're going to run into down in New Orleans," she said.

Gabriel felt the warmth of her leg against his thigh, Megan pulled it higher up his body, and the heat started to fill his loins. Arousal was around the corner, and Gabriel rolled Megan onto her back. Her long hair covered her pillow. She smiled and licked her lips as Gabriel rested on his hands and lowered his head to flick his tongue across the tips of her nipples. Megan pushed her breasts together. She squeezed them as Gabriel's tongue danced across her dusky peaks.

"Oh God! That feels nice," she murmured.

His head lowered and a slow line was traced by the tip of his tongue over Megan's belly. The faint, sweet smell of sex wafted up to Gabriel as his head lowered and her legs widened for him. His hands pushed against the warm soft skin of her inner thigh and he spread her legs wider. His head dipped as his hands lifted to the crease of her womanhood. Gabriel spread the velvety lips of Megan's hotness and pushed his tongue against her, in a definite, breathy lust.

She moaned and groaned as her hips squirmed with pleasure and her fingers tugged at the bedsheet. Gabriel savored her nectar then lifted his head. Megan had her eyes closed and licked her top lip. He knelt between her legs and took hold of his hardness and began to stroke himself. Megan opened her eyes and marveled at his hard shaft. His hand stroked slow and seductively as Megan lifted her head and patted between her legs.

"Come on Gab, make love to me," she cooed.

Gabriel edged his hips closer and lowered himself. The tip of his shaft inched inside Megan's arousal before he plunged his hardness to the hilt and filled her full of pleasure. Megan squealed with delight and arched her back in ecstasy. Her hard nipples jutted forward as her breasts pushed toward Gabriel. His lips became locked around her areola and his tongue flicked purposefully over her nipple.

Megan tugged her fingers against his short hair. She raised her hips as she rested on her back. The mound of her needy place sheathed the full rigidness of Gabriel as he drove his hips, crashing against the juncture of her inner thighs.

"Holy Fuck," he murmured as the muscles in his shoulders rippled.

Megan reached up and caressed the bulged biceps that held his weight. His tempo increased as Megan ran her hands down his back and sank her nails into his boulder-like buttocks. Pain flashed through his skin. Gabriel jolted his hips forward. Megan responded.

She bucked wildly under his rampant thrusting as the faint sound of their bodies crashing together in a state of lustful excitement filled the motel room, with a heat unmatched by most. His shaft filled her hot wet depths as the walls of her body sensually coaxed his manhood to a state of readiness.

"I think I'm close to coming," Gabriel exclaimed in a pant. Megan pulled against the cheeks of his ass and dug her nails deeper.

"Come on Gab, fuck me harder. Let that inner wolf find a way."

"I'm not a wolf," he replied in a soft tone.

"I know, but you can still fuck like a beast."

She replied to fulfill his ego, tugging hard against the taut skin of his ass. Gabriel lifted his shoulders and dipped his back. He tilted his head back as he drove his hips with a force he hadn't experienced since he’d become human. His beast-like fervor rose deep inside him. His mind felt like it was free from the burden he had carried with him for a while. He thrust his hips faster and harder as Megan writhed and squirmed under the steely contours of his rampant body. Megan panted seductively as Gabriel made love like a lithe and dominant animal in the wild.

Gabriel increased his tempo. He lifted from his rested hands and grabbed at Megan's breasts. His fingers sank in the soft plum mounds that jiggled on her chest. Megan's legs lifted as she pulled them around Gabriel's waist. She tightened her clench as his hips started to seize. His head leaned back, and he groaned upward.

"Holy shit Megan.” Now, his body quivered, he tensed to hold back. “I want you to come with me."

Megan's belly filled with butterflies as she panted like an animal on heat. Shallow breaths escaped from her body as her legs quivered against Gabriel's back.

"Co-co-come on Gab, I'm almost there. Fill me," she stuttered and stammered, feeling the passion igniting them.

Their bodies entwined and knotted in the height of their sexual expression. The ribbed stomach of Gabriel tensed as Megan brushed her fingertips against him. She felt his body seize as he let go into her pleasured depths. Her hotness met his pleasure too, and wave after wave of sexual release flooded through her veins into every fiber of her core.

Megan yelped with satisfaction. Gabriel thrust in a rapid fire as his hips seized. He felt his hot seed shoot forth and spill over into the depths of her pussy. Ripples of pleasure flooded through her as Gabriel thrust his tight hips forward for the final time. Megan felt his pleasure explode with one final orgasmic jolt that felt like electricity. He gave a last scream of satisfaction as Megan sank her teeth into the hard skin of his broad chest.

Megan had a thought that filled her mind. It was one that could ruin everything. She felt his skin clamping between her teeth. She tightened her jaw as her body pushed her over the orgasmic edge and she plummeted into the crevice of sexual gratification.

Shit, don't draw his blood. He’ll suspect something…

"I dragged you in my vision, trapped and submissive to my needs, maybe it's in my imagination, the place my dark side feeds."