Welcome to Meansville, Peter
Wherever the Portal had brought him it felt very wrong. There was a strench of decay and sickness in the air that almost overshadowed the wrongness of these woods because he knew he wasn’t in Louisiana anymore. Even worse the moon was wrong, it had been newmoon just moments ago and now it felt as if he was a few days away from a full moon. The most severe difference - even more then the change of the moon - was that Peter had lost his connection to the land.
Ever since Peter had been a little boy did he have a close connection to the territory he lived in. For 32 years that had been the Hale territory surrounding the Nemeton near Beacon Hills. And for two months it had been the territory surrounding New Orleans. The Nemeton of New Orleans was actually in the city in Courtyard of the Diana Coven in the French Quarter. Peter had been an Alpha again for a week and in the city for two days when the Coven had allowed him access to the Coven to help him connect with the land again.
„ You often get Wolves come to visit your Nemeton?“, Peter asked the Witch, Marianna, that had led him into the Courtyard.
„ Not as often as you might think, mostly the surrounding packs that each visit at least once a year but no more then three times.“ Peter looked around the yard with the old tree in the middle and wondered:„No lone wolves?“
„Some newly turned poor lost souls wandering around that seek sanctum here, we help them connect with one of the packs.“
„So no one like me?“
„Depends.“, Marianne replied with one of those allknowing smiles as they both kneeled down on the grass infront of the Nemeton. Peter raised an Eyebrow and expected her to elaborate more, which she did:„ Lone Alphas? No. And you are hardly newly turned but are you sure you aren‘t a lost soul seeking sanctum?“
„I‘m not quite sure. I am just looking for a new start.“
„And excitement? Afterall this is New Orleans, you won‘t find quiet here“
„That would bore me anyway and I can‘t be far from a Nemeton.“
„The connection to the land, it‘s addicting, isn‘t it? We witches feel it to. I haven‘t left New Orleans for nearly 60 years, I just couldn‘t leave after feeling that connection.“
Yeah Peter thought, it had been hard to leave Beacon Hills even after all the sorrows the town had brought him, it had been a necessary evil for him to leave and disconnect to the land. Marianna had hardly looked a day over 30 but her explaining she had been part of the coven for 60 years didn‘t suprise Peter. Afterall things are not always what they seem.
Now walking through these unknown woods he tried to ignore the strench in the air and the sounds or twigs being broken, the bushes rustling and the groans and moans of the Zombies.
Salvatore the Vampire had ran of in a direction faster then Peter had ever seen anyone or anything move and then shortly afterwards reappeared infront of Peter and Tom again telling them in which direction a town was and that there was a whole horde of the Zombies in one directions of the woods. Salvatore also had brought two Whiskey bottles with him that he was drowning while showing them the way.
Tom seamed to be a quite guy lost in his thoughts and a bit clumsy when walking through the woods. It reminded Peter a bit of himself shortly after his resurrection, his body hadn‘t felt quite right and some movements were odd.
——————
Arriving in town was odd. It was quiet but also not. There was the creaking of doors moving in the wind as they had been left open after a hastly escape as Peter suspected. The smell of death and decay was also prevelant but not as much as it had been in the woods… there truly must have been a huge heard of the zombies there for the amplified smell.
There also was the shuffeling and moaning he could here from the zombies in town, surprisingly they were few. No heartbeats near them though besides Toms and Peters own. They clearly were still in America if the way the shield said „Welcome to Meansville, Georgia, Population 208“, though that the town seemed like a ghosttown was now even less suprising with a population that low.
„Lets meet at that bar tomorrow again.“, Damon said nodding towards a building. Peter didn‘t care either way and Tom seemed to be dead on his feet so it was probably best to look for a place to sleep. „Sure, when though?“ „Midday? Or whenever you are up, I will spend the night drinking near there so just come and find me then.“, Damon replied and then disappeared in said bar.
Peter looked towards Tom who seemed both glad that Damon was gone but was also eying the surrounding houses suspiciously. „ You wanna find a place to stay at together? Two people are more likely to notice the Zombies or someone else coming close then one?“, Peter decided to offer. Really Peter doubted the Wizard would hear or smell one of the Dead before he himself did, but Peter didn‘t have a connection with the land and despite not knowing the Wizard he didn‘t want to be alone in this Strangeplace. Also Peter could potentially protect the Wizard who was their best bet to get out of this place and back home - not that Peter had much of a home but away from wherever this place was.
Tom had been quiet for a while, seemingly evaluating his options but agreeing:“Fine, but if you try to betray me I will make you pay even in death. You mentioned before that pissing off Witches is a bad idea? I am the current ruling Dark Lord where I am from… you really don‘t wanna mess with me.“
Peter hummed and nodded in agreement, he didn‘t wanna piss of the Wizard and for now they worked better together. Even if his wolf recognized Tom as a danger, he was less of a danger as the Vampire, because Damon had seemed quite unstable and someone like that was in this moment more dangerous then someone seemingly rational and sane as Tom - as long as Peter was vigilant that Tom and his interests aligned.
they ended up in a small in with only three zombies in it , one of which Peter threw hard enough against a wall to have his head split open and stop moving and one who he put a chairleg through one eye to not have to touch another one of the decaying bodies… only to have Tom blast a light against the last one of them making him explode. The Wizard seemed bloodless though it was as if all the bloodsplatter and gone was stopped by an invisible wall before hitting him, unlike Peter who had become drenched in those guts. One look with a twitching eye towards the youthful looking wizard had the younger man flapping his hand as if to wipe away a fly and Peter was cleaned. Not only of the Gore but also of the dirt from the rough landing back in the woods. Okay yeah he good live with having a Wizard like that on his side and Peter would try his best too keep him on his side, if he was useful like that.