A border collie lay in a dark alley way. Dirt seemed to move around the ground because of the huffing wind. Her eyes rested on the sleeping form of a puppy. 

 The puppy's fur was mostly black but her right front paw was gray and so was her right back paw and her left legs in both the front and the back and she had a gray face and a gray tail. She had eyes that looked like water and they danced like water too. The puppy's black chest softly rose and fell in time with her steady heart beat.

  A gray male wolf bounded into the alley. He trotted to the border collie's side then looked at the pup with distaste.

  "Just one puppy?" he asked. "One scraggly furball?" He let out a low growl.

  "Calm yourself, Shade," the Border Collie replied. "There is one more." She let her tail rest on a bundle of fur that was such an odd shade of gray that she looked almost light purple. Shade noticed that this puppy was much larger than the other one for some reason.

 "All right," Shade responded, dryly. "Two then, big deal. Honestly, Freckle, that truly is rediculous."

  Freckle sat up, a look of anger burning in her eyes. "Well," she snapped defiantly, "I think that they're beautiful."

  "You would," snapped Shade. "Although, this one isn't too bad." He rested his tail on the purplish one.

  Freckle responded, "Ginny is just as beautiful."

 "Ginny?" Shade looked at the black and gray pup. "You named it Ginny?"

  "After my mother," Freckle replied.

  "Then what did you name the other one?" Shade snorted. "Blueberry?"

  Freckle's fur stood on end as she stood to face her mate. "No, I named her Dusk."

  Shade looked at the purplish puppy again. "Hmm. That's not a bad name really."

   "thank you," Freckle spat. Her blue eyes blazed with a mix between satifaction and anger. Sudennly, her eyes glazed and stared at her mate sightlessly. Her body dropped to the dust-filled ground like lead.

  A light brown male wolf stood behind the dead Border Collie's body. He looked at the Border Collie with distaste and said, "You don't have good taste, do you, Shade?"

  "I made a mistake," Shade replied. "Let's get these pups to the pack, Mountain." Shade picked Dusk up by her scruff. Dusk opened her purpleish/blue eyes and yawned. When Mountain picked Ginny up, however, Ginny began to howl her puppy howl as loudly as she could.

  "What... did... you... do?" Shade growled.

  "Nothing!" gasped Mountain. "I just picked her up and then-"

  "Just... be... quiet," snarled Shade. He listened for the sound of pawsteps and, sure enough, he saw a sleek and powerful large German Shepherd up ahead, growling. The German Shepherd saw Freckle's limp body and looked back at Shade and Mountain.

  "Stay where you are!" he barked. "This is the police!" He barked over his shouler to tell the humans where Shade and Mountain were.

  "Put the pup down," Shade growled.

  "What?" Mountain hissed back.

  "I'll come back for them later. Put her down now!" snarled Shade. Mountain set Ginny down and Ginny trotted to her mother and let out a long, mournful howl. Shade let go of Dusk, who pounced on the sad Ginny. Ginny yipped and fought back. "Now," growled Shade, "RUN!" The two wolves turned and ran through the alley way, towards the forest.

  A human walked to the German Shepherd's side. He saw the pups and the dead mother and gasped. "Is this what you wanted me to see, Scout?" Scout barked. "Good boy." He picked up the fighting pups and gave Ginny to Scout. "Carry her, all right? They should be seperated. We'll keep the black and gray one and I'm sure that someone will take this one."

  Scout took Ginny from his master and studied her. She had scraggly, untidy black fur with two gray paws, a gray face, and a gray tail. she had aqua blue eyes and a soft, wet black nose. She turned her head and looked at him. she seemed to know that he meant no harm because she licked his nose.

   Scout carried the puppy carefully. his mate, Patch, would be happy to take care of the pup. He wondered if she could talk yet.

  "What's your name?" he asked softly. She just looked at him with those big, blue eyes. Of course she doesn't talk yet, dummy! he thought, angry at his stupidity.

  The puppy opened her small mouth. "G-G-G-Gin-Ginny. Ginny!" Scout was so shocked that he nearly dropped her.

  "Exscuse me?" he gasped through her fur.

 "Ginny!" she cried. "Ginny, Ginny, Ginny!" His brown eyes widened in disbelief.

  "How old are you?" he asked. "By your size, I'll take a guess at about 2 weeks." Ginny nodded frantically.

 "Here we are, boy," Scout's master said. He opened the door and let Scout inside. Scout trotted to his mate, Patch, a German Shepherd with amber eyes. She watched Scout set Ginny down with kind eyes.

  "Who is this?" she asked, her voice barely mopre than a whisper.

  Before Scout could reply, Ginny howled, "Ginny!"

   "She talks?" Patch gasped. She turned her brown head to her mate. "How old is she, Scout?"

  Scout shrugged. "I'd say about 2 weeks. She seems to think so."

  "And she talks already?" Patch whispered.

  "Ginny!" Ginny said, proudly. Then her eyes turned sad. "M-M-M-Mo-Mom..."

  "Where is her mother?" Patch asked.

 "Her mother was murdered," Scout replied. "I couldn't see who it was." He shook his head sadly.

  "Poor thing," Patch asked, rasping her pink tongue over Ginny's scraggly fur. "Is she staying with us?"

  "Yeah," replied Scout. "Her sister is going to a diffrent home though. They don't get along."

  "B-b-b-ba-bad D-D-Du-Dusk," Ginny said.

 "Dusk?" Patch repeated. "'Bad Dusk'?"

 "I guess Dusk is her sister," Scout barked. "Dusk and Ginny were fighting when I arrived." He looked at Ginny, who was curling up to sleep. He picked her up and set her down in the doggy bed. Ginny looked up at him and yawned.

 Scout turned around to go back to the rug by the window but stopped when he noticed Ginny following him. He picked her up again and moved her back to the doggy bed. She protested with a bark that sounded like she tasted a piece of bitter fish. He trotted back to the window to see her trotting after him.

 "Grr," she growled playfully. Scout sighed and allowed her to cuddle up next to him. Patch chuckled and curled around Scout and Ginny.

  Ginny stretched her legs and yawned. Her body was much larger than when she was a puppy. It was long with long legs to match. She had sharp claws that she didn't like to use. Her aqua blue eyes seemed like they were constantly splashing like waves. Ginny had truly become a beautiful dog.

  She didn't know that she had a sister however. Scout and Patch had decided to keep Dusk a secret to keep Ginny safer. However, it was in vain. The two had met when Dusk saved Ginny's life after the black and gray dog had fallen through thin ice on a lake.

  Dusk completly took control of Ginny. She had Ginny do her dirty work for her. In fact, Ginny had been caught stealing for Dusk many times. She now had a record with the police department. A record that should have been Dusk's.

   When Ginny tried to say "no" to Dusk, Dusk would say, "I saved your life and you can't even help me? I'm hurt, Ginny" and Ginny would feel guilty. 

  Ginny trotted to the sleeping form of Patch. Patch's chest rose up and down gently. Ginny smiled at her foster mother and gently prodded her with a paw.

  Patch opened her amber eyes and blinked warily then whispered, "Ginny? what is it?"

  "I'm going outside," Ginny replied. Patch nodded and fell back asleep. Ginny padded to the doggy door and exited the house.

  "Ginny!" Dusk ran to Ginny's side. "There you are! You can't just sleep in whenever you want to!"

  Ginny rolled her eyes. "Dusk, I have a life you know."

 "Well, you wouldn't if I didn't save you," Dusk replied. Ginny closed her eyes.

  "What do you want me to do?" Ginny asked.

  "I need you to go to a party in the boiler room," Dusk replied. "Go to Sandy and ask him to meet me by the lake at tonight. The party is taking place now. Go now!"

  "What if I run into Teal?" Ginny asked through gritted teath. Teal was a light gray husky who was Ginny's number one fan. Although it felt good to have someone admire her when Dusk was the most popular dog in town, he could be a real pain.

  "Do whatever," Dusk responded. "I don't really care."

  "Right," Ginny said. "so, i go to the boiler room, uninvited, just to talk to Sandy?" Ginny had had to do many rediculous things before but she was sure that, since Dusk had saved her, Dusk wouldn't really hurt her.

 "Yes," Dusk replied. "It's important."

 Ginny rolled her eyes. "Is he your boyfriend or something?"

  "No," snorted Dusk. "He owes me money."

  "I see," Ginny responded.

  "Ginny!" pouted Dusk.

  "I'm going, I'm going," Ginny reponded. She trotted to the boiler room and went inside. She looked around, saw the pale coat of Sandy and padded to him.

  "Sandy," she hissed. He turned around, saw her, and laughed.

  "What do you want Alienfur," he jeered.

  "Dusk wants to see you tonight at the lake," Ginny replied. "She says that it's urgent."

  "Fine, I'll be there," Sandy growled. "Now, get out." Ginny stood her ground, glaring into his eyes.

  "Make me," she hissed, barely parting her lips. Sandy growled back, his fur standing on end. Ginny knew that she didn't need "violence" added to her record so she stepped back.

   "Be there," she said shortly. Then she turned around and left.

  That night,