Delilah 'Lily' Anne Sterling
6/11/1936 - 8/3/2010
Age: 75 years old
Born: Delilah Anne DancingFeather
Nationality: Sioux Native
Race: Wolf
Gender: Female
Eighty years of life with her, forty-three years of marriage and all of their lives ahead of them he never stopped loving her. They grew up together, from children running across the black hills to having children of their own, and every day was an adventure for them. They had their rough patches, especially in the beginning. The Great Depression had taken it's toll on the Great Plains and the dust bowl was draining them of their clan's resources. They only had each other in the early years, being two of the few kids their age during the dirty thirties, so they grew up close and dependent on the other. She shifted first and it terrified him at the prospect that he might lose her, watching her writhing on the ground beside his truck. All he did was give her that first kiss and she was seizing up, collapsed to the dirt. After a few more minutes, there rested a beautiful white wolf. Still had her dark eyes. Victor carried her over a mile back to his Alpha's home, scared that any bumps from the truck might hurt her.
Lily cared for their pack when he was shipped off to Vietnam in '54, sending him a letter every single day until he returned on February 14, 1967, the year they married. They made love for the first time that night he came home. He knew she'd wait an hour every day to make sure she never missed the post as they finally trekked into the tiny village. It was barely a town, nothing but a little supply shop and a post office. South Dakota didn't really pull free from the drought. But Lily always made it work in her favor, always made the most of what they had. Her humility, forethought, and intuition were a few of the most important aspects of his wife that he loved. She was always so patient, so caring and kind. A born mother, even taking care of her own younger siblings as she was growing up. Taking the lead to protect them. Victor knew from the moment he met her that she was a woman of worth. A woman that could be equal to an Alpha male. When he proposed, she had said no at first. Thought he had been joking, teasing her. When she realized he indeed was not, it took her a full minute to stop crying and squeezing her arms around his neck. The day she gave birth to their first child and son, Samuel, he cried from the love he had for her. His chest swelled with a pride that would have broken a weaker man. She had been through pain and blood to make him a father, to make their family, and he swore on that day that nothing would take her away from him without first killing him.
"There is no celestial body, no earth wonder, no all consuming flame or rock carving flood that compares to how much I love you." - Victor to Lily, 5/31/1967
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Samuel Philip Sterling
11/5/1987 - 8/3/2010
Age: 23 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Male
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
Victor's first born child. His first son. His legacy. Samuel was his pride and joy in all the world and watching him grow up, all the firsts, all those moments that just made him so happy to be a father. It killed him inside when Sam's first word was 'mama' but gods be damned if he didn't make the biggest deal that his son spoke as clear and perfect as any adult could in those days. Samuel loved working with his father on their wood hauling business. Making sure the families further from towns had fuel for fires in the frigid South Dakota winters. He enjoyed cooking with his mother and going to school. Samuel was always making sure his younger siblings did their homework before running out the door to play. Something Victor was always so proud of.
Samuel shifted for the first time when he was sixteen years old, scaring the pants off his parents. It was a random unprovoked shift, brought on by an ease of nature and a general love of life. He was a black and white wolf, earning him the name Chimera.
"Of course I love my parents. Who doesn't love them?" - Samuel
Jackson Tobias Sterling
5/12/1991 - 8/3/2010
Age: 19 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Male
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
Lily won the bet that their second child would be a boy. They had made it a surprise until the day she gave birth, enjoying the pregnancy and their life as a growing family. Victor ended up owing her twenty years of foot rubs. Jackson was born premature and had remained hospitalized for two and a half weeks after Lily was discharged. It had been the most trying month of their entire lives, worrying if their second child would survive after birth. Victor could remember standing over the hospital plastic tube his son was sleeping inside, wires and tubes attaching him to machines, and feeling his son grip his forefinger so tightly it nearly broke his heart. He knew his son would survive...would thrive.
Jackson always had a passion for music. Since he was capable of organizing sounds into emotions, his face would light up when the radio would play music. Grunge was his choice and first love, collecting albums from Nirvana to Pearl Jam. For his sixteenth birthday, he was gifted with two tickets to Seattle to check out the EMP Museum and meet some of the members of his favorite band, Smashing Pumpkins after they returned to the music scene in 2006. They signed his guitar and Victor never thought Jack would play it again, hanging it on the wall above his bed like a shrine to all things grunge, so he bought him a second. For a month Jackson did nothing but play until his fingers bled, even starting up a band called Daft Munkey. He also loved making his mother laugh, always telling jokes and pulling pranks on his siblings.
Jack shifted for the first time on his seventeenth birthday out of fear that he wouldn't shift at all. Having a family full of wolves and being a late shifter brought a lot of pressure on him. It was his being a premature baby mixed with stress that caused him to stunt the shift until his stress grew so much and it just exploded from him. His wolf was almost fox like in colors, embracing his prankster persona.
"I'm going to be the next Yngwie." - Jackson
Francine 'Frankie' Nicole Sterling
4/23/1993 - 8/3/2010
Age: 17 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Female
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
His first born daughter and the apple of his eye, Victor threw the biggest party ever when Frankie was born. It was mostly to rub in Lily's face that he won the bet for that pregnancy and earned himself the right to smoke a pipe on the front porch without being chastised for it. But this was his baby girl. His daughter. His little princess. The light in his life. She grew up with her two older brothers playing out in the fields and learning how to work on the family truck. Life in the Great Plains wasn't easy but she made it look natural. Her favorite past time was usually playing softball until she realized she thought boys were exciting as well. Victor's little Tomboy was already causing him great amounts of stress when these boys would come knocking on their door asking to see her. Needless to say, he kept a shotgun by the front door for the few that had no business even looking at his daughter.
Frankie shifted for the first time at fifteen, the earliest in their family. Her softball team had just won their first game of the season and their excitement had them all emotionally heightened. Instead of just going to a Pizza Hut for their party, she shifted into her white wolf and was too happy and excited to be able to shift back. Vic and Lily stayed up and played catch with her for hours until she fell asleep, finally too exhausted to keep running.
"Dad is going to kill him!" - Jackie on Prom Night
MacKenzie Renee Sterling
12/17/1995 - 8/3/2010
Age: 15 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Female
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
His little fashionista and genius, Mac had the highest IQ of her siblings and always had her nose in a book. When she was younger, they were all so worried about her learning abilities. Mac refused to settle down or pay attention and they thought they might have to put her on medication, believing it was some form of A.D.D. But it was Jackson that brought it to everyone's attention that maybe there was something wrong with Mac's eyes. He had wanted to show her some music he'd written and held it out to her thinking she'd be able to read it. Mac took the pages from his hand and shoved her face closer to it, laughing it off like his confused expression was a reaction to her joke. Lily drove her to an eye doctor and fitted her for glasses, instantly changing their daughter's behavior and study habits. Everything had become clear to her and more vibrant than ever before which piqued her curiosity and sent her spiraling into the world of science and mathematics.
Mac had shifted for the first time a week before that fateful night and everyone's guards were down, joyful with the ease and nature of their family all being wolves. She had also been a white wolf, with a red stripe along her spine and through her tail.
"Teddy! Come curl my hair while I study!" - Mac to her younger brother Theodore
Theodore 'Teddy' Russell Sterling
8/7/1997 - 8/3/2010
Age: 13 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Male
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
When Teddy was born, Victor immediately thought he was the prettiest baby he'd ever seen, and his daughters had been precious. But Teddy had something about him, even as an infant, that was alluring. Even the nurses at the hospital noticed it as they would crowd around the maternity ward window. His attention was always on on something sparkling or dangling, often grabbing hold of necklaces or earrings that could come into reach. As he grew older, he was always playing dress up and getting into Lily's make up. "I'm a pretty girl like my sissers!" He would always exclaim when Victor would find him with lipstick smeared across his face. When Teddy was ten, he decided to decorate his room with vintage black and white photos of Hollywood leading ladies. Everything was glitz and glam and sparkles. More often than not, he and Mac would be in his room trying new outfits on and chatting about whatever boy bands were big at the time. Vic figured it was a phase and Teddy would grow out of it so it never bothered him to tell his son he couldn't. Kids are kids, right?
One Sunday afternoon, when he was twelve years old, Teddy curled up against his father and watched The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly with him. It wasn't until near the end of the movie that he casually said he thought Clint Eastwood was cute. This caught Victor by surprise but he never said a word until the movie was over. Only then did he set his son aside and asked him something serious. Teddy had no idea what he was talking about when Victor asked if his son was gay, just that he liked what he liked and maybe he had a crush at school he couldn't tell anyone. It was then that Victor realized that Teddy might have been having some sort of sexual coming of ages problems that he couldn't understand, that not many people in their part of the world would understand. That even though his son was on the track team and loved his family, that his possible sexual preference was going to be a huge pressure on him in later years. Later that night he spoke to Lily about what he'd found out and they spoke in depth through the night about how they both felt regarding it and what they could do to keep their son happy. They agreed to support him, to defend him from the critics and negativity but also give him the resources so he could learn from books the history of who and what he might be.
Theodore never got the opportunity to shift into his wolf and Victor never got to see what his son might be like as an adult. To see what kind of person he might become.
"I refuse to live in a dull world. If Elizabeth Taylor has diamonds...I will have glam!" - Teddy
Samantha Marie Sterling
7/30/1999 - 8/3/2010
Age: 11 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Female
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
Samantha was their last planned child and they were both so excited to have another girl to balance out the ratio of girls to boys. She was such an energetic baby, always smiling and laughing, always moving and trying to play with the others. When she was two, Vic and Lily had gone out for a shopping trip with Samuel, leaving the rest of the kids at home to watch the baby, Samantha had been able to slip out the screen front door and followed a prairie dog out across a field. When the others realized she'd gotten out of her highchair and she was missing, they spread out across the property in search of the baby. Their parents arriving home finally, they still hadn't found her, so Vic and Lily shifted and hunted down their baby only to find her curled up at the base of a tree...sleeping with a prairie dog nestled on her back.
Locks on the doors and escape proof everything was applied to the house and it still never stopped Sam from being able to slip from supervision and do what she wanted. Victor fully expected her to become a gymnast or a travel fanatic. But she also was never able to shift nor would she become an adult.
-screen door slaps closed- "Samantha! Where are you?" Lily when her back was turned.
Caroline 'Cookie' Bridgette Sterling
2/29/2004 - 8/3/2010
Age: 6 years old
Nationality: Sioux/Scandinavian - Icelandic
Race: Wolf (Varulfur)
Gender: Female
Lineage: Hamrammr of the Clan Kveldúlfr (Clan of the Evening-wolf)
Caroline had been a complete surprise and became a joking tease to Lily because Cookie looked more like her grandfather on her mother's side than she did her own father. Victor would poke her and say Lily must have found a random milkman in a corn field. Lily would punch him in the shoulder and scowl, leaving Victor to laugh and smother Caroline in kisses. Her very first word was ‘cookie’ and the nickname kind of stuck with her. She loved to color and paint and their kitchen fridge was always covered in her artwork, ranging from colored macaroni to glitter doused pages that of course Teddy and Mac had helped her with.
She loved her daddy more than anything in the world though and could always be found in his shadow, walking through the house or outside around the property. Stuffed baby doll under one arm and a look of wonder in her eyes, she was always curious of what Victor was doing. Always asking questions. It was the light in those eyes that had been snuffed out that really made that horrific night as real as he wished it wasn’t.
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August 3, 2010
MacKenzie had just shifted earlier in the week and Victor and Lily were planning a surprise party for her. Something to celebrate yet another wolf added to their little pack family. She had been begging them all year for a certain back pack that had enough pockets to put minivans to shame and was sturdy enough to withstand travel as a wolf. It fit in such a way that a wolf could slip it over it's head and it would stay secure while they ran. Thing was, this bag was made of such a material that it cost over five hundred dollars. Mac had scrounged every dime and worked every day however she could to earn the money for her bag and when she finally shifted, she gave the money to her parents.
"Please...I just want the pale blue bag."
What she didn't know was that they had ordered and paid for that exact bag for her months prior. Production and shipping took quite a while so they made sure to order it early. That night, Victor headed into town to put that money into a checking account under Mac's name and to pick up the package that had finally arrived with her bag. These trips usually took an hour to get to town, forty five minutes in town and then another hour back home, which he drove under the guise that he needed to get the oil changed on the truck. Which he could have easily done himself.
Three quarters of the way home, the sun had been below the horizon for an hour and he knew the party would be under way. The entire family clan usually showed up for these things and it tended to last throughout the night.
Ten minutes from home and Victor suddenly felt uneasy and anxious to return.
Five minutes and the thin clouds above where his home would be were glowing orange. Much too bright for just the large bonfire they would have. He could smell the smoke, much more rancid and pungent than just burning wood.
Pulling up as close to the house as he could, the truck came to a skidding halt on the gravel road. Engine was turned off and he climbed from the truck as fast as he could. It felt like he was walking through mud or cement, holding him down with each step as he neared his home, engulfed in flames. He turned his gaze back toward where the bonfire usually was and the barn where they had set up the party. It too was sweeping the sky with searing fire. In a pile beside the bonfire was his family members. Those of his elders and cousins, aunts and uncles. His and Lily's parents, those that had still been alive. Two beings were tossing the bodies into the flames, cursing and laughing as they did so.
Across from them, just out of his sight until he began trudging closer, were three more figures standing almost ritualistically above his wife. Above Lily as she knelt there on the ground, bleeding and half conscious, watching as one by one they pressed a branding iron against their children's shuddering bodies. They were still alive, screaming for their father because he wasn't there, as this creature before them tore out their beating hearts. And so now there was just Lily left, beaten and broken now that her children were all dead. The bloody mouthed figure lifted the brand to Delilah's chest and she screamed as it ruined her perfect bronze skin. Words were uttered, guttural and demonic, and the being thrust his hand through her ribcage and tore from her the heart that belonged to Victor. That was his. His wife. His entire life. His whole world.
And it was pressed to the creature's mouth and he drank from it. Drained it of the life giving blood that had kept her alive and in Vic's arms for so many years. Everything went black for him then. The next thing he remembered was waking up covered in blood and ash. He was closer to his kids then, the creatures gone, and he looked up to see Caroline's face staring at him. Eyes empty and dark.
Victor screamed and clamored over to their bodies, pulling them into his arms. Then he saw his Delilah and he tentatively crawled over to her, hands hovering over the wound on her chest and at her jaw, like she might disappear into the earth with one touch. He mourned over his wife and children, not being able to accept that they were gone but knowing he needed to give them a proper burial. It took him two days before he was able to build the memorial and bury them beneath the earth.
On top of a hill in South Dakota, a plot of land has been squared off with train track ties and the entire Sterling lineage is buried neatly, uniformly. To one side of this grave yard, a wooden carving in the likeness of Delilah Sterling, stood above eight graves. At the feet of this angel were seven wolves of varying sizes followed behind or beside her, while her own hand reached out like she was waiting for someone to join her.
