Kitty Pryde, Logan, Excalibur, the X-Men and all characters therein are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copy write to me.

Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at
mshakespeare@callnetuk.com

This story is set in my 'Excalibur Redrawn' timeline, whilst Kitty was still with the X-Men, before she returned to Excalibur. The reference to their battle with the Hand is to do with a story not yet told......

Notes : Please note that this story is a Horror story - it contains graphic imagery, sexual content, violence and strong language. If that sort of thing is offensive to you, or illegal where you live or for someone of your age, please do not read on. You have been warned.

* * indicates telepathy

< italics > indicates thoughts

[" "] indicates non-English speech

Hunters Moon - Part 1

"Ya ready, pum'kin?"

"Sure thing Wolvie. One lightly stuffed travel bag, one well-stuffed dragon. Oh hush up, Lockheed," she smiled at the growled protests of her closest friend, "you ate three rashers of bacon and four sausages for breakfast! Honestly, I don't know where you put it!"

Logan chuckled. "Bet Scottie raised a stink over that, darlin'! Ya know he thinks ya shouldn't be givin' good food to that blasted dragon o' yours ..."

The slim brunette shrugged. "Tough nookies. Lockheed's not a pet, he's part of the family. That means he gets proper food if he wants it - and today he did." She shouldered her bag, and they began to walk towards the garage. "I'm surprised you didn't invite Jubilee along. I know it would've meant we couldn't use your motorbike, but you know she'll be jealous of the two of us spending time together - we may be friends now, but she'll never get over her insecurity about me knowing you before she did."

The stocky man at her side shrugged in turn. "I asked, but she said she couldn't - somethin' about exams, an' Emma not wantin' her gone. I'd've thought Sean would agree, but apparently not. I'll have ta spend time with her when we get back, otherwise ... " His voice trailed off, leaving the girl next to him to fill in the blanks. They walked on in silence.

"I tell ya, though, I thought Chuck would never stop complainin' about us leavin'. 'You are X-Men, your place is here. Neither of you has reached a standard of performance with which I am satisfied.' Flamin' cheek o' Baldy!"

Kitty snorted. "Could be worse. 'You are still young, Katherine. I am afraid that your time with Excalibur has left you unprepared for returning to the rigors of life with the X-Men, and you are unfamiliar with some of your new teammates. Therefore I think that for you to avoid further training by taking time off on a frivolous trip like the one you have planned is careless in the extreme.' Well up yours, Professor! You aren't my father, and I don't have to stay here - and right now, I really don't feel like it!"

"Plannin' on leavin', Kit?"

She shrugged as they entered the garage. "Not yet, but one day, yes probably."

Logan pulled his keys from the pocket of his sheepskin jacket as Kitty placed her bag on the back of the powerful trail bike. He placed his battered hat on his head, and looked over at her, eyebrow raised. "Ya want a helmet, darlin'?"

She shook her head. "If we crash, I just have to phase us both to safety, right? Don't worry, Logan, this is just a nice, relaxing cross-country tour. What could possibly happen?"

If she had known what was waiting for them ......

******************************************

The thin old woman rushed into her house, slamming the door shut behind her, as if the very demons of Hell itself were after her. She bolted the door, fixed the security chain, then ran to shut all the windows, peering out into the gathering gloom as she did so. Her eyes darted from side to side, seeking ... Something. The little house had become a fortress, it's doors and windows bolted tight shut, as they had never been before. The shabby furniture was pushed against doors to hold them shut, broken glass scattered under windows.

It was not a large house, more a cottage in the woods. The furniture was old, battered, worn, like the people who lived there. Only one floor, no insulation, the only warmth a log fire in the hearth. No electricity even, a rarity in modern America. But it was their home, their refuge from the world, the place they called their own. And now it was threatened, under siege.

["If they're out there, what makes you think that we can bar their entry?"]* The voice was harsh, bitter and defeated. The short, thickset man knew that, if what they suspected was true, then there was little that anyone could do to stop ... Them.

* (Translated from the Wallachian)

The old woman ignored his comments, and, pulling a handful of garlic buds from her basket, began to rub them around the windows, leaving a trail of glistening oil. He snarled in exasperation; his mother was obsessed with the 'old ways', the ways she had learnt in their old home country from her grandmother. He, for his part, was far more a child of the modern world, having little faith in folklore and superstition. But then, how did he explain .... Them?

["If they are not invited, they cannot enter,"] the old woman muttered to herself, ["that the old tales say. And the smell of garlic is repulsive to them. As long as we shut all windows, and anoint all entrances with garlic, we will be safe."]

["Mother, we cannot simply stay indoors all of the time! We have to get food, we..."]

["Grigor, I have told you: our salvation is coming! I have seen them, in my dreams! The man and the girl - they come!"]

****************************************************

" ...get it into their heads - I'm just not interested in Peter anymore! I stopped being fourteen three years ago! Just because Ororo and the Professor want me to be the same person I was back then, doesn't mean that I can, or will, be what they want, dammit!" Kitty slumped back into her chair, grabbed a handful of fries from her plate, and stuffed them into her mouth with a scowl.

Logan chuckled at that. He'd noticed the Russkie hanging around her since they'd rejoined the team. He'd also noticed a distinct lack of enthusiasm on her part. Not that he blamed her - he couldn't see why she should want to go back to the man who had dumped her, then let her think he was dead - <but then we all did> - just because they'd been together once before.

He had wondered about the viability of the two of them when they had first been going out. Piotr came from a fairly traditional background, one where women were supposed to stay at home and look after children whilst the menfolk went to work, an attitude which the younger girl would never go along with, not with her liberal American upbringing. Also, whilst a pleasant enough young man, the big Russian was not exactly the brightest person that the older man had ever known. Kitty, on the other hand, was a bona fide genius - Logan had seen her talking science with Reed Richards, fixing high-tech equipment, hacking the hell out of top-secret computer systems, and beating Scott and the Professor at chess (not an easy task!). The feral Canadian just could not see how the two of them could ever have a long-term, serious relationship. They were just too different!

Of course, she had terrible luck with her men ...... <Cripes, I hope Jubilee has better luck with the men in her life! Kit's all seem to end up dyin', or else they break up badly. Hell, she's got one o' the worst records in the X-Men, an' that's sayin' somethin'!>

And he had to admit that the way that Ororo seemed to be pushing them to get back together, refusing to see that the relationship was dead, was starting to grate on him. That, combined with the Professor's new, harsh attitude to the team, the way he was pressing them all the time, as if trying to drive them to breaking point, was making him reevaluate being in the team .... and it seemed that it was doing the same for her.

"Yep, me too darlin'. Gotta admit, whilst there ain't anybody on th' team I'd rather have watchin' my back than 'Ro, she can be flamin' annoyin', the way everythin's got to be the way she wants all the time."

"Too true, Logan! She wants us back together, and just won't accept that I'm not interested anymore. Neither will Peter - he's always hanging round me, he won't take the hint that I don't want a relationship anymore .... I dunno, maybe he and 'Ro ought to get together... a good night's screwing each other's brains out and they might not be so tight-assed."

Logan coughed into his coffee at that image.

**************************************************

The small village of Golden Bridge might not have been the biggest, or cleanest, place that either of them had seen before, but after a long journey down the narrow, winding roads, it was a welcome sight for the two travellers. The bike pulled up outside the only motel that they could see, and they dismounted, pulling their bags from the back of the machine. Later on, they planned to spend their time sleeping out under the stars, so this was their last opportunity to get a night's sleep in a proper bed, and maybe even a shower - though by the look of the dilapidated old guesthouse, that might not be available.....

"Okay, Logan, you're paying - get in there!"

He grunted as he hefted his bag onto his back. "I'm payin', am I? How come?"

"Because I've never had a job, so my money's pretty limited." Her bag seemed quite heavy for just a light travel set, and the older man felt that he had to find out what she had with her. <Later....>

"Fair enough, darlin'. Ya can make up f'r it later, by cookin' breakfast when we're out on th' trail."

She laughed. "Agreed. But I warn you, cooking isn't one of my strong points! You might come to regret this deal later!" She was glad to change the subject. One of the things that had most annoyed her about returning to the X-Men was the way that people treated her. In Excalibur, she'd been a full member of the team, an adult, even at the beginning when she'd been fourteen. Brian had given her a credit card, for her to use as she liked. Now she was back with the X-Men, and what happened? The Professor had put her on an allowance. <Like I'm some sort of fucking child, who can't be trusted with real money! I don't know, I used to respect the Professor when I was here before, but now his control freak tendencies are really starting to piss me off!>

He laughed with her, in easy companionship. Logan could guess her thoughts, but decided not to pursue the matter just yet. "Even you can't ruin bacon an' eggs grilled for breakfast, darlin'! It'd have to be pretty bad for me to miss out on that!" Logan was pleased with the way things were going. The two of them hadn't been as close as this for a long time - since the events in Dallas, really. He had often regretted that they'd deceived Kitty and Kurt the way they had done, with only Peter ever saying anything about those they'd left behind. This, for him, was a way of re-establishing the closeness of those years ago. He stretched, popping a muscle in his back. Kitty must be in the same state, he knew, or worse, probably. <She won't be used ta the hours on the road, and she don't have a fast-healin' factor. Lessee, two hours from settin' off till the airport, then six hours by plane till we landed and ate, then another five hours on the road - thirteen hours, she'll be bushed after that! Still, we covered well over one hundred an' fifty miles since we landed. Another day and we'll be well off the beaten track. Then we can start ta relax.>

*************************************************

He undid the bundle he'd been carrying with him since they started out. <We can get in a bit o' practise while we're out here. Which reminds me....> He rolled up the bundle once more, and, tucking it under his arm, stepped out of his somewhat dingy room, and went along the ill-lit corridor to Kitty's door. He rapped on it, and waited.

"Yeah? Oh hi, Logan, what is it?" She'd washed her hair - presumably in the sink, as the motel had no shower facilities - but still had on her travel-stained jeans and tee-shirt. He stepped into her room.

"While we're out here, darlin', I think we could keep up with some practise - so I brought these.... " And he unwrapped his bundle again.

Kitty just couldn't help it - she just had to start laughing. The stocky man raised an eyebrow in bemusement. After a few seconds, getting irritated, he growled, "what's so flamin' funny, Pryde?"

She giggled. "I guess we both have to be true to our natures, Wolvie. Even on a break, you bring those," and she gestured at the two wooden bokken training swords and the two steel blades, one curved, the other straight-bladed, both in the Japanese style, "and I bring this." And she reached down and pulled, from under her bed, the bag she'd been carrying, and opened it out. He stared in disbelief at her laptop, fitted with a satellite link and solar-charger. Then he started laughing as hard as she was.

"Cripes! Here we are in the back-end o' beyond, and what do ya bring?? A flamin' computer!!" And with that he fell back against the wall, holding his sides with laughter, as she fell on the bed, giggling hysterically.

**************************************************

["How can you be sure that these people, if they even exist, will help us? What can they do?!"] He paced up and down in mounting frustration and helplessness. His hand clenched a large knife, a hunting knife, though he knew it would be all but useless.

["I do not know! All I know is that the dreams, they show them, again and again!"] She pulled the curtains wide for a second, and peered into the gloom. ["I do not know what they can do, but the dreams say they will help, and that is all - "]

She heard the door open, the sound of metal falling onto hard wooden boards, and spun round. ["Grigor!! Do not open - "]

["Enter freely, and of your own will."] It was her son's voice, but heavy and leaden, intoning the words she dreaded.

She saw the woman standing there, and backed away, slowly. The slender young woman smiled, sweetly, tenderly. Her arms were around the neck of the man who knelt before her, his eyes glassy, the knife, futile now, discarded. Her eyes, almost luminous in the dark, fixed upon those of the mother, and her cry of warning died in her throat.

["Do not fear, old woman. We had not forgotten you. The Americans, they might not believe, but you do. You know of us. And that we cannot allow. You might know a way to destroy us, to send us to the final death. So you must be silenced."] Her voice was sweet, tender, as she turned her head to kiss the neck of Grigor. ["I think I will have him do it - he will do anything I say, right now, will you not, my darling? He has already opened the door for me to enter. Grigor? Kill your mother for me."]

The thickset man rose, and stalked towards the old woman, fists clenched.

**************************************************