A/N: I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll ever finish this story. I'm not 100% I will never come back to this, but I think it's very unlikely. So here are my last drafts and what I wanted to do with this story.

They moved to the suburbs of Chicago when Sang was thirteen. It was horrible.

First of all, Chicago had three packs, all of them slightly insane because apparently the idiots didn't understand that wolves were meant to live in nature, not the city. Any supernatural creature was subjected to their rule, though none of the packs seemed to care about them much and would just as soon kill them. The hunters didn't help; instead, it seemed like they were egging the wolves on, keeping tally on how many monsters had died. And the government, surprisingly, was nowhere to be seen. Life was dangerous in certain parts of the city. Nathan made it his mission to suck up to as many hunters as he could and steer Sang and Gabe well away from them.

Secondly, they lived in the suburbs. Of a large city. With large suburbs. No forest to be seen anywhere. Instead, the houses were practically standing in each other's yards, nosy neighbors getting into each other's business. Though they lived as secluded as possible for the sake of Mrs. Sorenson's peace of mind, sneaking in and out of the house was still very difficult. And Sang would hopefully not end up going feral.

Thirdly, there was just so much going on in Chicago. This was not bad, per se. There were museums the three of them wanted to visit, shows they wanted to see, buildings, stores, companies... The problem was that they were pretty much broke. Now, it wasn't like they'd ever had any money. Sure, Sang had stolen her mother's credit card when she took the responsibility of grocery shopping and cooking, but there was never all that much money on it. For clothes and other things (such as paying for Nathan's material arts classes) she'd always relied on messing around with her fathers bank account and getting the money from there. It was the least he could do after never being around and leaving her with her mother. The thing was, her father wasn't the most upstanding person. He'd married her (step)mother, had Marie, had a fling with Sang's mother and ended up with Sang in his household and finally had another fling he was carefully keeping secret from Mrs. Sorenson and to which he was paying child support. But he'd started a new relationship with a woman he'd met on a business trip. Single mother, two children, adorable family from what Sang had found out. And yeah, her dad had a good job and made lots of money, but he was now supporting a cancer patient, three children and trying to contribute to his new love's family, not to mention the cost of all their moves and his flights to his secret family's. He was straining the budget so much that he'd not been able to pay anything into Marie's and Sang's college funds for months now, and Sang wasn't sure where she was supposed to find even more money when she could barely keep them covered as it was. They were to young to find any regular work, and they were much too scared of what was going on in Chicago to sell their supernatural skills. Nathan managed to become an assistant trainer to for a group of five year olds learning taekwondo, and Gabe mowed lawns and washed windows, but it was all just barely holding them afloat. And no matter how good Sang was at sneaking and forgery and deception, she was definitely not a pickpocket. So they were kind of stuck.

The only good thing about living this close to Chicago is that there's a shaman near by, and they'd convinced (*cough* Nathan and Sang had a little chat full of knives and claws and Aroonihsi *cough*) her to take Gabe on as a student. He's finally learning a bit more about himself, though he doesn't really appreciate it most of the time. Apparently, even the shaman is an asshole that is going slightly insane from the lack of nature.

"Trouble" Gabriel whines, listlessly looking at the papers spread out in front of him. "Why is math not making any sense?" "You were drawing caricatures of Mr. Gordon in class again, weren't you?" Sang sighs. She turns back to the sink of hot soapy water and scrubs down another plate. "You should really do that at other times. Math makes much more sense when someone explains it to you." She hands the plate off to Nathan and grabs the next. "But Mr. Gordon is just so perfect for drawing." Gabe says sadly. "Maybe if you'd let me play with your hair more often..." "Maybe if you'd finish your homework..." Sang hands Nathan a pan. "I'm trying" Gabe complains. "So, if I have an inequality, when does the direction of the inequality sign change?" "When you multiply it with a negative number" Nathan tells him. Sang hands over a handful of forks. "Oh. Oh! Yes, thank you, I think I've got it now." Sang fishes out the knives. "All right, it's Thursday evening, any plans for the weekend?" "We can't go shopping, miss I-am-a-great-shaman-get-out-of-my-way has kicked me out for a few days and I don't have anyone interested in yard work. No, no plans." Gabe says, scribbling in his notebook. "I have a class till ten a.m. on Saturday and Jujitsu at five p.m. on Sunday, but otherwise I'm free" Nathan remarks, accepting the bowl Sang hands him and drying it off. "It's dreadfully boring here. Let's hitchhike someplace interesting and have an adventure." "I guess" Sang swirls her hand through the hot water; looking for any dishes she might have missed. "Do you have any idea where you'd want to go?" "Well..." Sang's ear twitches (and yes, she wears cat ears now because it makes Nathan and Gabe want to cuddle with her all the time) as she catches the sound of a car. A very familiar car. "Hide!" Nathan and Gabriel grab all the papers and run out of the room, feet silent on the wooden floors. A moment later Sang hears the car pull into the garage. The car door slams, there's a jingle as the door to the house is unlocked and then her father is walking into the kitchen. "Hey Sang!" "Hey Dad!" "Where are you mother and sister?" "In their rooms, I guess. Mother wasn't feeling too well." Her father hums a little tune as he sets his briefcase down on a chair and takes off his jacket. Sang tries not to stare in disbelief. "And how was your day? Everything all right at school?" "Yeah... it's all... fine" Sang can't believe it. Father never asks about her day. She doubts he even knows what grade she's in. "Lovely, lovely. I was invited to a concert this evening – it was like angels singing! Have you ever heard of Victor Morgan and Helen Su?" Sang shakes her head mutely. Father seems to abruptly realize she's doing the dishes all alone. "Shouldn't Marie be helping you? Never mind, I'll do the dishes now that I'm home. You can go play or do your homework or whatever's the fashion this day. Texting your friends? You're getting old enough to want a phone, aren't you." He hums thoughtfully, takes Sang's place at the sink and starts washing dishes. This is the first time in Sang's memory that she's seen such a thing. He notices her staring at him. "No, no, I can do this alone, really, it's hardly any work. I know you're often busy taking care of your mother when she's not feeling well; your young, you deserve some free time. Go play!" Sang gives him one last bewildered look and leaves the room.

The boys meet her on the stairs. "What is up with him?" Nathan hisses. "Is he high? Drunk? Have you ever seen something like that before?" "No, never" Sang hisses back. She opens the door to her room, flicking on her radio to cover the sound of their talking. "That was just creepy" Gabe announces. "Like a complete 180. One moment all 'I am a busy man and don't even ever look at my family' and the next like 'I'm that family man in all the commercials'. That can't be natural, can it?" "Maybe... maybe it is. I... I don't really remember so well, but... when I was still very little, he was a little like that. He used to read to me every night before bedtime." "But why change now?" Nathan asks. "It doesn't make any sense that he changed so suddenly. Especially without a giant sorry about how he's been ignoring you for the last eight years. No, this can't be natural, I agree with Gabe." "You're just jealous your own fathers never did a complete turn around." Sang flounced off to bed. Gabe and Nathan just shook their heads at her willingness to believe her father had changed.

They woke up on Saturday to find Mr. Sorenson flipping pancakes in the kitchen. Marie and her mother stared at him in open disbelief, while Sang just basked in the attention.

"This can't be natural" Nathan insisted, again, after everyone had cleared out and Sang had given them the pancakes she'd saved. "I'm not saying this isn't part of his character or anything, but it can't be natural for him to suddenly do such a 180. We've got to figure out what's going on." "Why can't you just believe that something good is happening for once in my life?" "Nathan's right, Sang. We should figure out what made this change happen. Maybe he just talked with someone and decided to change his life, but what if it's magic? And what if this niceness is not the only effect of the spell? We have to be sure." Sang glared at them. "All right. He mentioned he'd been at a concert. That's the only thing that seems to be different from what he usually does, so we should start there" Nathan strategized. "If there was magic, either of you should be able to find some residue, or some other sort of clue. If we can't find anything, we'll put this behavior down to him being a good person, okay, Sang? Just help us investigate this concert." "Fine" Sang huffed. The boys high-fived.

The internet told them that Victor Morgan and Helen Su, the two musicians her father had mentioned, had performed at the Symphony Center in Chicago last night, and were going to have more performances throughout the week. They managed to find a driver who was willing to take along three (small) kids ('cause Sang looked way younger than she was – they believed that the development of werecats was slightly slower than your average human, at least physically) on his trip to Chicago, though he let them off in a rather sleazy neighborhood. "And this is why I keep saying that we have to find the money for a phone" Nathan complained. "If we had GPS we'd at least know where to go!" They randomly picked a street and hoped for the best. An hour later, stuck in another dead end, Sang kicked the wall in frustration. "Oh my god, this is ridiculous! Let's just bother people long enough until they give us more concrete directions than 'that direction, sweetie'." She slumped against the wall. "Courage, soldier!" Nathan proclaimed grandly and strutted back to the street they'd come from, Gabe at his heels. Sang rolled her eyes. They'd been out of her sight for half a second and she was just about to follow them when she noticed movement in the shadows. She hissed, letting her claws appear raking them over whatever she could reach as two men jumped her. They were surprised, but not scared – they'd dealt with the supernatural before and won. Shit. One man had grabbed hold of her side when the fist came flying, and she was unable to duck in time.

Gabe and Nathan had of course noticed that Sang wasn't following them directly, but when she still hadn't come after them after a few minutes they grew worried and returned to the dead end. Sang wasn't there, though there were a few drops of blood. "Shit" Nathan exclaimed. "She's gone! O my god she's gone! There's blood! What are we going to do? What if they hurt her? She was kidnapped, right? Do you think that's her blood?" Gabe panicked. "O my god, we don't even know who kidnapped her! They can't have known we'd be here, so it was probably just random – how are we ever going to find her?" He wailed. "We're doomed! Why did we ever just leave her like that – we made a pact that we'd always be there to protect each other, remember? And then we just left her for a moment, and look what happens! O my god, d'you think that's her blood? Are they going to torture her? Did she take out her claws? Do they know she's not human? I can't do this! What are we going to do?!" "GABE!" Nathan set firm hands on his shoulder. "Gabe. You need to calm down. You're no use like this." "Right. Calm down. CalmDownCalmDownCalmDown I can't do this!" "Deep breath, Gabe, really deep breaths. Listen to me and try to match my breathing, okay? In...2...3 and Out...2...3 and In...2...3 and Out...2...3" Gabe slowly calmed down again, though now he looked terrified. "D'you think she's gonna be okay?" He asked in a small voice. "She'll be fine. This is not the first time she's been kidnapped, and this won't be the last. But she has us, and we're going to go find her, okay? We're going to find her, because we promised we'd protect her, and we won't rest until we do."

*******

Sang woke with a groan. Her head was pounding, not to mention the rest of her body. Slowly, she remembered the violent assault by the two men and what she suspects was a subsequent kidnapping. She opened her eyes, blinking blearily into a face literally in her face. "What have we here?" A voice crooned, then giggled manically. The face pulled back; revealing it to be a young man, almost still a boy. He was dressed in jeans and a shirt and is wearing the craziest grin she's ever seen. "My, my, my: a shifter on our territory. You're not one of us" and he leans back in, mouthing at her neck. "Because you don't smell like pack." Sang suppresses her shudder and automatically shifts from her own, mixed body language to a clearly werewolf one. "I-I'm from the suburbs!" she squeaks. "Who are you?" She's tied to the chair, she notices. "Who do you think I am?" He sticks his face in hers again, their foreheads touching as he stares at her with too big eyes. "I am the terror of your dreams. I am hear to speak with you on the Clavani Pack's behalf." He pulls away from her again. "Name?" he barks. "Ma-Ma-Marie!" Sang squeaks. "Marie Benson! I'm from the suburbs, I don't have anything to do with your packs, please!" "Oh really... Marie Benson" he lets the words roll around in his mouth. "And why are you here?" "I-I wanted to visit a museum in Chicago, I swear, nothing more, but-but I got off at the wrong station and then I was lost! I swear I didn't mean to enter your territory, Mister! I swear! If you'll just let me go I promise I'll never ever get off at the wrong station again, I swear! Just please! I-I don't want to die!" He asks several more questions about her, her family and what she's doing in Chicago, all of which Sang answers untruthfully. This is not her first interrogation by kidnappers – she'd quickly learned not to give them any information they could use to find you again if they didn't already know who you were. But she's never been interrogated by a man this blatantly crazy, and it's starting to freak her out. "Hmm" the man says, leaning back in his own chair. "Let me think. Should I believe her?" He strokes his chin for a few moments, than grins at her. "No, I don't think I will. Now be a good little girl and wait here – I'm just gonna step out and go find my friend. Perhaps she'll be able to convince you to be more truthful." With a last manic wink the man walked out the door. The lock clicked shut as he walked away, humming.

Sang had not working at the rope around her hands during the interrogation, and within a few more moments she had her hands free. After that it was rather easy to undo the rope around her middle and ankles. Finally free, she looked around the room. There was nothing much in it – just the two chairs and some empty shelves on the far wall. But there was a window. Quickly, Sang walked over and tried the handle. It wasn't even locked! Shaking her head at their stupidity, she opens the window as quietly as she can. She's two stories above another abandoned alley, but that doesn't matter. She's a cat. And so she jumps.

Gabe thought he'd been scared, but that was nothing compared to turning a corner and seeing Sang jump out of a second story window! He was frozen, unable to do anything as he watched her plummet. At the last minute she shifts to a cat, landing gracefully on her feet and darting down the alley. "Come on!" Nathan urges, grabbing his arm, and suddenly he's moving again, dashing down the alley after her. Only two blocks later does Nathan dare to start calling for her. "Sang! Sang, wait for us!" The cats tail twitches, but it stops, looking around warily. Gabe rushes forward and scoops her up in his arms, relieved beyond measure. "Thank God. I was so worried about you! You were just gone! And I know this is apparently not uncommon for you, but this is the first time I've witnessed it and I don't want it to happen ever again! It was awful! Nathan thought it might have been the pack, so he scared some people shitless to find their location. I don't ever want to have to experience that again you little ball of trouble! And imagine! We get there right on time to see you throw yourself out of a window! You could have died! What were you thinking!"

A/N: then there's a fight, because this is the first time Gabe has seen her do such stupid things. They make up and continue on their way. Eventually they find Victor - it turns out he is a male siren (he has feathers down his spine and in his hair - his dad makes him wear a wig) and his dad is forcing him to manipulate people with his voice by singing a special siren melody during his concerts (this siren melody can't be heard consciously , but people are influenced anyway). Victor has no idea what he's actually influencing, except that sometimes he tries to put good human feelings into his voice, after he sang what his father wanted. Sang's father was influenced by the good human feelings and is now regretting being a crap father. Sang has just invited Victor to come stay with her (no matter that they have no money) when Owen bursts in. There has been another murder, he figured out it wasn't Helen Su, and he wants to shoot Victor on sight. Sang, Nathan and Gabe stop him, explain the situation, and in the end they go after Victors father - who dies (not sure if that was deliberate). Victors mother is actually pretty nice, but she's not his biological parent (his biological mother was a siren who set him out for being a boy) so she always felt like she couldn't really intervene in the relationship between Victor and his father. Anyway, she's feeling really guilty, and allows Victor to go to "boarding school" (or Sang's house - but yay, they have money now thanks to Victor!). Owen and Sang get along surprisingly well, but Owen needs to go back to Charleston.

Anyway, back in Charleston, Owen keeps muttering about how he wants his cat back. Sean eventually gets fed up and drags him to a shelter, but Owen doesn't want any of them. Sean finally figures out that he actually is talking about Sang. They write letters to each other all the time, and it's super cute, but Sean sees that Owen's actually in love, in his weird way, and is all concerned about the age issue. He won't allow them to actually meet again. Then, about a year later, the letters just stop. Sean finally relents and goes with Owen to search for Sang, but she's not there - her father's heartbroken since they'd finally started to get along (though he still hadn't noticed the three boys living in his house) and he's left his wife and Marie. He moves to his other family in Charleston (the woman with two kids). Owen and Sean hunt down leads, but they're going nowhere.

There's a flash forward and we find Sang, Nathan, Gabe and Victor again (now just shy of eighteen). They appear at her dad's house one day, broken: they get panic attacks when they don't know where the other's are, always go everywhere in pairs, can't sleep unless they're in a big puppy pile. Victor's vocal cords and throat are mangled beyond belief and a lot of Gabe's bones were set crookedly at one point - both of them are terrified a lot, though they work through the terror when they must, and are especially afraid of men. Nathan and Sang, on the other hand, come out angry. Sang has turned dark - she's using all sorts of black magic, it turns out she has an affinity for blood magic, but she's gone further and is dabbeling in  necromancy and the type, though even she couldn't fix Gabe or Victor. Nathan has weapons (particularly knives) everywhere and he can't sleep without his sword (he's gotten really good, too, though he has scars everywhere). Both of their reactions to anything bad is: let's kill them.

Owen finally tracks them down, but it's awkward, because this is not his little kitty cat anymore. The relationship with Sang's father is also awkward, because he's really guilty for her childhood, but now he has to deal with this daughter that's a killer and he's suddenly exposed to the supernatural world. But Sang and her boys slowly integrate into the supernatural community around Charleston. There's a national forest nearby which a lot of creatures in it - there's a wolf pack which includes North and Silas. North got turned as a kid in Germany, came home as a wolf and his father shot at him. He ran away, somehow made his way back to Silas, and accidentally turned him as well. There's a lot of guilt going on there. Luke is actually half-fey - his dad never knew about him, he just appeared in a basket on Uncle's porch one day. As he grew older they were introduced to the supernatural and Owen eventually tracked down North and Silas for him. Kota and his family are druids, taking care of the forest - Erica's also a ranger, they kind of police the supernatural.

Anyway, it turns out Sang, Nathan, Victor and Gabe were kidnapped by this Vampire who goes by Volto at the moment. This vampire is millennia old and totally bored, so his favourite thing is to make people do things they don't want to do or are ashamed to do. He has these awful sex-club-like-things, along with fighting rings, and for his most exclusive customers he has a supernatural one. A were-cat, a male siren, someone with Gabe's powers and a human boy fighting the supernatural were to much to resist, so he kidnapped them and held them captive (there are a lot of powerful witches and the like working for him). Victor's voice was taken after he tried to use it to escape, but after that he wasn't that interesting anymore and was made into just another pretty sex-slave. Gabe was tortured a lot, especially his hands - Volto thought it was funny how he desperatly tried to  draw to heal his friends with his broken hands. Volto's favorite thing was the situation he put Sang and Nathan in though: Nathan was put in the fighting pits against some older supernatural creature, and he wouldn't get a weapon until Sang had performed to his satisfaction. It was awful for all of them and Gabe eventually took most of their minds with him to the spirit world, where they did all sorts of funner stuff, like learning how to cook. Eventually, though, Volto announced a plan to bread lots of little were-cats for the club, and Sang tried blood magic. Normally it should have killed her without even helping the other's escape, but it turns out she has an affinity for it and they all escaped. Afterwards they'd been hunting down Volto's cronies, and Sean and Owen had been hunting down other cronies while following leads on Sang, but when they couldn't find Volto they eventually returned to Sang's father.

Now there is a new lead on Volto, and the whole team goes after him and kills him. And they are still a mess, but they're getting better, and this story was supposed to end on a positive note.