An Elder helps, but he also judges and when necessary, punishes.

*****

Robby looked down at the small, savagely mauled dog. He was angry, his heart racing. "What do you think, Robby, a dog or werewolf." asked Ted Peters, the chief Animal Control Officer of Benson, who already suspected and had called upon Robby to confirm or deny his suspicion.

Robby squatted down beside the dog, and put his hand on an obvious bitemark. The DNA left in the wound told him, "Werewolf, Ted."

He closed his eyes and went deeper, the Healing ability which he had recently acquired helping him. He saw other deaths, going back a long way, dogs and cats and other animals, but the twelve most recent were what disturbed him the most. Half of them were human, and half of them were dogs. Both human and animals were either elderly or sick, or too small to defend themselves against a full grown werewolf.

He opened his eyes and stood up his heart thundering in his chest, and Ted Peters looking at him backed up, a chill running down his spine. The pupils of Robby's eyes had grown so large in his rage, that they obscured the usual green color.

He stood there for more than five minutes battling his rage, taking deep breaths, hands clenching and unclenching. Finally, he began to calm, his pupils returning to normal, his heart beat returning to its normal rate. "A rogue, Ted, and a serial killer, first he kills the dogs and then a little later he kills their masters. He's a coward, his victims are unable to fight back, because of age, or illness or size."

When he spoke next he spoke as an Elder, "I'll tell my mother, but we won't involve the police in this. This is a werewolf affair, we will take care of guarding Mrs. MacTavish, and when he returns we will hunt him down.

*****

"Are you sure about this, Robby." asked Hary.

"I'm sure. If he gets caught by the police, I know just what he would do. He would tell them he was a werewolf, and since of course it's true, he believes it, he'd be judged not guilty by reason of insanity, and sent to a mental hospital. After a while when they relaxed their guard he would escape and start all over again. I won't allow that." said Robby.

*****

*He's coming, Robby. He's about a quarter mile out.* said Rose.

Robby looked at the other three in the blind that had been constructed so they could watch the MacTavish house without being seen. "Rose sighted him, so he's coming from the east. I'll circle around and get behind him. Let him see you, and when he turns back, keep him moving directly to me, the others will close in on his sides, so he can't suddenly veer away."

*****

The wolf came into the small clearing, and stopped when he saw Robby at the other end of it. He was breathing hard, not from exertion, but from panic. He crouched down ready to spring at the apparently defenseless little boy. *That wouldn't be wise.* and from the timbre of that voice in his mind, he could tell the speaker was very young. Obviously, the boy he had been about to attack. His fear heightened, only an Elder could speak mind to mind in human form.

He changed to human, an ingratiating smile on his face. He stiffened as the wolves funneled out of the trees to surround him. They sat on their haunches, just staring at him coldly.

Robby took a deep breath, fighting the rage down. This part must be done without any anger on his part. The rage he could feel from the other werewolves was the only anger that he could allow here, and theirs was a passive anger, they wouldn't attack, they would leave the rogue to him, as the Elder.

Robby spoke without emotion now, "I do not know your name. But I know enough about you to judge you. The animals, well that was despicable, but a lesser punishment would have been merited in that case. But the humans, going back over a period of four years, that was unpardonable. We have always been allowed to kill humans in self-defense, and at other times when we come upon a predator among humans and decide to go by Werewolf Law and end that predator's life. I did so myself, last Halloween."

"But the deaths of 37 year old, Sam Reach, quadriplegic, or 83 year old Martha Higgins, or 11 year old Maisie Thail, or 17 year old Bruce Abernathy, mentally retarded, or 57 year old Taylor Richards, bedridden or finally twenty-four year old Serge Robichaud, cerebral palsy, can only be described as evil."

"Werewolf Law, is harsh, and could be considered barbaric, by those who do not know the values by which we live. I judge you guilty, and will carry out the punishment for what you have done, and the only punishment that fits this crime is death.

In fear, the man tried to move, to run, but found he could not move. "You will change back to wolf form, because you do not even deserve the dignity of a human funeral."

The man bared his teeth in a snarl of defiance. but suddenly he shrieked in pain, as his mind was suddenly pounded with the command to change, to change, to change. Finally unable to bear the pain of Robby's command, he was forced to obey.

Still unable to move except for the trembling of his body, he watched Robby approach him, pulling a gun out of his pocket. Finally he could no longer see Robby, who was in back of him, but he heard him, "I don't know if you believe in a God, but I will give you a few seconds to make your peace with Him."

Frantically he tried to move, to run, but he was helpless, and after a few seconds, he heard a BANG, and permanent blackness fell over him.