"Any word?" she inquired but the look on their faces gave her the answer.

"It's all my fault," Duane said as he went and took his usual place at the computer.

"It's not your fault, Duane," Sedona replied. "Stop torturing yourself."

Everyone looked at Sedona in disbelief. She rarely spoke to Duane without insulting him and now she was actually trying to comfort him.

"What?" she asked as she met their stares.

"We're not getting anywhere standing around here," Daniel said. "We should get back out there and keep looking."

"Looking for what?" Sedona asked. "He's been missing for two days. Where are we going to look that we haven't already looked?"

"We have an entire city out there," Daniel returned. "Not to mention what's under it."

"Where do you suggest we start? Torrance is missing. His girlfriend is missing. The doctor he visited at the University is missing. The only thing we have to go on is an unidentified pickup truck that Geekboy says isn't registered at the DMV."

"Calm down, Sedona," Leslie said. "This is getting us nowhere."

"I know," Sedona said softly. "But he's our friend and we don't know where he is. We don't know if he's all right. We don't even know if he's alive."

For a brief moment the room was silent. Everyone stared at the floor, not wanting to think of the inevitable. They had already lost Gerald Wilson. The loss of another teammate was more than any of them could stand.

Then the silence was broken by another knock on the door. Their heads rose at once and they looked into each other's eyes. Could it be him?

Sedona ran to the door and fumbled as she gripped the knob. She finally managed to pull it open as the others crowded around behind her. Instead of Torrance, they found a lovely blond young woman. She looked ragged and tired like she hadn't slept for a few days.

"Julie West?" Leslie greeted her.

"Hi," she said timidly. "I'm sorry to bother you but I didn't know where else to go."

"Do you know where Thor is?" Sedona blurted out.

"Yes," Julie said. "That's why I'm here. Torrance was captured."

"Captured?" Ariana gasped. "By whom?"

"They were driving a black van. There was a circular insignia on one of the doors. It had three falling stars in a parallel pattern within it."

"That's not much to go on," Duane said. "But since I already have a patch into the DMV why don't I check it out?" Duane turned around and began tapping at the keyboard.

"Don't bother, Duane," Ariana said. "You're not going to find anything in there anyway."

She raised her hand to her head and massaged her temples as she grabbed the phone. She pressed a single button indicating that the number she was calling was on speed dial. A few moments later she spoke.

"This is freelance agent MS21. I'd like to speak to collections. . . I'd like to check the status of a lycanthrope. . . Two? . . . Thank you."

Ariana gazed into the faces of the four very confused youths. She gave them all a re-assuring smile.

"Torrance is alive," she said with a smile. "Unfortunately he's a guest of the Agency."

"The Agency?" Sedona asked.

Then the room exploded with questions as everyone demanded to know what was going on.

Ariana raised her hand to silence them. "Didn't any of you ever wonder where all of the creatures you captured went to?"

He uttered a phrase, and a knife appeared in his hand. He reached up and started cutting the rope.

The knife made its way through the rope and then Silas fell to the floor, hitting it hard.

"Damn," he exclaimed. "Should've remembered the cushioning spell too." He placed his hand on his head, near his temple. His head continued to pound, now increased by the sudden impact on the hard floor.

As Silas began to stand up, he looked down and saw a note tagged onto his leg. He ripped it off and opened it up.

"I have the heir. You have the map. Shouldn't we be working together?"

Silas crumpled the note up, anger building up in him. He threw the note into the air. It arched up and started descending to the floor. As it reached the apex, it burst into flame. By the time it would have hit the floor, only a few ashes remained.

Silas stood up, brushing off his ceremonial robes. He opened them up.

He looked down to see a map tattooed onto his chest.

"That bastard," he muttered, touching the tattoo.

There were cages all around him. As his eyesight slowly recovered he began to search the room. There were three other creatures with him. The first was an Oni. Its leg was bandaged and it limped around its cage looking for freedom. Torrance wondered if this was the same one that Sedona had struck with the firewood.* He'd probably never know for sure.

*(issue #1)

Next, was a Troglodyte floating in a holding tank. It seemed to be asleep and was probably sedated. It would have been like any other Trog except it was still wearing a white lab coat.

"Dr. Connors," Torrance said.

"Who?"

Torrance finally looked to the third and found Wilburne McConnell.

"Looks like your blood feud is almost over," Torrance said.

"Believe me, Laddy, I didn't want it to end like this," Wilburne replied. "There is no honor in dying like this."

"Why do you want to kill me anyway?" Torrance asked. "What is this blood feud all about?"

"To tell the truth," Wilburne said, "I don't know."

"So you're telling me there's honor in killing a man when you don't even know the reason," Torrance said.

"It's a blood feud, Laddy. There was rarely a reason for them."

"Still you were willing to kill me over it," Torrance growled.

"The debt had to be paid," Wilburne said. "It is our way."

"It's not my way," Torrance said. "I didn't even know I was part of a clan much less the last member of it."

"I'm sorry," Wilburne said and shook his head. "Ignorance does not excuse you. Now be quiet. I'm trying to find a way out of here."

"You're wasting your time," a voice said.

"Dr. Thorpe?" Torrance asked. "What is going on?"

"Hello, Torrance," Dr. Thorpe said. "It's good to see you awake. Sorry, I will not be able to cure you. Sadly there is no hope for you but your sacrifice will help others."

"Sacrifice?" Torrance asked.

"Yes," Thorpe said. "I have to kill you."

"Why?"

"So I can cure humans of lycanthropy," Thorpe said.

"I'm a human," Torrance growled. "What about me?"

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Thorpe shouted. "You're one of them." And he pointed at Wilburne. "There is no cure for you because you were born this way. Unlike Clarissa. Unlike my dear sweet Clarissa."

For a moment it seemed that Thorpe was about to break down. Then he gathered himself together and glared at Torrance with hatred.

"You see, Torrance, you are not truly human. Your DNA has a few additional chromosomes. If Darwin had known about your kind, he would have had a field day."

"If I'm not human then, what am I?" Torrance asked.

"You are a true werewolf," Thorpe said.

"Now, you're going to tell me that there are imposters running around out there," Torrance quipped.

"Not imposters," Thorpe replied. "Diseased."

Thorpe turned to his instrument table and began setting surgical tools on it.

"You see Torrance. There are those of your kind that are born this way. You are a separate race. Oddly enough, you are reproductively compatible to humans. So you are closely related to homo-sapiens. Still, you are another race. From time to time your race contracts a very common disease. We call it rabies. However, for your kind, it's more like the common cold. Eventually you will get better. The downside is that it still causes a form of madness and if not monitored, your kind attacks.

"Now, if he attacks one of his own kind, he merely passes along rabies. Yet if he attacks a human, the human contracts lycanthropy. A diseased were-wolf. These poor creatures have no control. They are rabid slobbering beasts that only live for the kill. They are bound by the cycle of the moon only taking their abominable form for three nights of every month. Unlike you, they have no choice on their change."

"So why do you need me?" Torrance asked. "What can I do about this?"

"You can give me your adrenal gland."

"My adrenal gland?"

"Yes, Torrance," Thorpe replied. "That is the answer to it all. The adrenaline you release when you take your wolf form is how your body cures the rabies. Oddly enough when adrenaline from a true werewolf is passed into a diseased one it not only cures the rabies it removes lycanthropy as well."

"Then why not take the adrenaline?" Torrance pleaded. "Why do you need the entire gland?"

"Because it has to be pure. If it's mixed with anything else, it is useless. It has to be extracted from the gland and the gland is located next to your brain. There is no way to remove it without killing you."

"Maybe you don't want to find another way," Torrance accused.

"Perhaps you're right," Thorpe agreed. "If you will excuse me. I have a few other preparations to make. You should probably make some as well. After all you are about to meet your maker."

Thorpe walked out of the room.

"Do you believe that?" Torrance asked Wilburne. "That man is insane."

"Actually, he was telling the truth," Wilburne replied.

"What?"

"Except that stuff about the adrenal gland being a cure. I don't know about that but everything else was right on the money."

"So I'm going to be a werewolf for the rest of my life," Torrance said.

"Laddy, you are a werewolf," Wilburne said. "But look on the bright side. The rest of your life may not be that long."

He reached into his jacket and removed a flare gun. He smiled when he remembered what Sedona had said when she gave it to him. Don't ask.

He sent a flare into the air and watched as near darkness became as bright as day. He positioned himself on his seat cushion and waited.

"You rang," Blade stated.

"I didn't know how else to reach you," Daniel said.

"Some people use telephones."

"Some people know the numbers," Daniel returned.

"Good point," Blade agreed. "We have to work on that. Now how can I help you?"

"Torrance has been captured by a black-ops group that calls itself the Agency. They specialize in paranormal activity."

"Sounds like my kind of crowd."

"We're going to bust him out and we could use your help."

"Deal me in."

"I'm sorry, Torrance," she whispered as she put the pen to paper again.

She finished the letter and signed her name at the bottom. She sat the pen down on the desk, and reached for an envelope. She placed it beside the letter and started to fold the paper. She stuffed the paper in the envelope and wiped another tear from her eye.

She scribbled Torrance's name on the front of the envelope. Standing up, she carefully placed the envelope on the bed. She picked up her bags and started walking toward the door.

At the doorway, she stopped and looked back at the bed. The envelope with Torrance's name glared back at her.

"I . . . I'm . . . " Julie couldn't even get a thought out.

She started crying, unable to hold it back this time. She placed her hand on her mouth and walked out of the house, and Torrance's life, for good.