Being Led into Temptation
#63 of The Moonrise Chronicles
Edward
growled. "Why? What have you to offer?"
Maggie
was still perched on his shoulders holding her ring to his wound. "Hush!
He
turned to look at her. "Why do you speak to me so brashly?"
"Because
you're being a big bully! My father was never a bully. He was a kind loving man
and I wish he were back!"
He
paused and blinked his eyes. "I am sorry little sister. He and I cannot be the
same one. I can find nothing in my memory about kindness or loving. I see killing
and mating. That is all I see. And unless I can do one or the other soon, I
will be doing both. Do you understand?"
She
climbed down, tears streaming from her face. "I will get you back dammit!"
He
shrugged fatalistically. "I am here. I have not left since we first met."
He
turned to the she-wolf. "Here are your choices. You can lead me to this other
alpha, as the pup calls me, or I can find her myself."
"I was
just going to lead you. Your female has spoken words to nullify my promise to
never disclose her location.'
Maggie
was startled. "I did?"
"Yes,
now if you must kill us, then do it, though we will not make it easy on you. If
you follow and have patience, then perhaps I can give you what you seek."
Maggie
looked up at him. "Please just do as they say. It'll get this over with quicker
than fighting."
"Fighting
is more fun! But since you seem to want me to, I will. But you owe me."
It was
under an uneasy truce that the group moved through the woods. It took two days
to get where they were going and each mile was an agony of keeping Edward and
the pack away from each other's throats, or worse bodily locations. It was like
he was regressing, daring the lead female to say something that gave him an
excuse to attack.
When
they arrived it was at a group of small hills, covered in trees and dense
vegetation, thick with the smell of wolves. There were any number patrolling
the region, and they all congregated when they saw the spectacle approaching.
Lupines were not able to make the sign of the cross, but if they could, many of
them would have been doing it. They understood what they were seeing and
smelling and they knew that if two powerful forces collided, there would be
great trouble for all.
Another
female wolf, larger and more sinister looking stopped their progress.
"Nortalia, as of this moment your life is forfeit. You know the rules against
bringing..." Her words turned into a yelp.
Edward
had her in the air. "Hmmmmm." He sniffed her. "You're bigger. Maybe I can breed
with you."
She
yelped and in her fear transformed into a full werewolf. Maggie smiled. So
there were more than met the eye in this group. As a full werewolf, she should
be able to take him on, assuming she was in heat. If not, well Maggie wished
her the best of luck.
Edward's
cock was sliding out like a fiery red snake. He repositioned the female and was
just ready to try impaling her with it when a shout; or rather a growl of
extraordinary volume halted his attempt.
"Drop
her right now!"
Maggie
turned to see who the new voice belonged to and got another surprise. Even
Edward growled out his shock. The voice belonged to the most out of place thing
they could have imagined out here in the wilds of Russia. The newcomer stalked
around Edward as if she thought he was a bowery bum, or a diseased boar. She sniffed him and recoiled. She came over to
Maggie and sniffed her. Her reaction was equally evident, though entirely
different.
"This
beast is an abomination. But you girl; what is your story?"
Maggie
looked at the woman in the old, out of date, dirty white dress. The thing
looked like it had been lifted from a corpse, for it was filled with bullet
holes, each ringed with brown stains. It was a hideous thing to wear, even out
here.
"First
off, he is not an abomination. He's my adopted father and my lover. You just
aren't catching him on a good day."
That
much was evident as he was still holding the other female werewolf and was
avidly sniffing her backside. Maggie sank her claws into his leg. He looked
down. "What is it little sister?"
"I
think that you might want to wait just a little before getting so familiar with
the ladies..."
He
sniffed the werewolf one more time before dropping her on the ground. "Whatever
you say little one. But I won't wait too long." He cracked his neck and flexed
his muscles. "I want action!"
"You
see, he still has a few redeeming qualities."
The
woman ignored her remark. "I do not wish to engage in any unnecessary fighting.
Please state your purpose for being here and then leave."
Maggie
started to say something but the words stuck in her throat. She stared hard at
the woman before lifting her hand and displaying her fingers. The woman looked
and gasped.
"Who
are you?"
"I
might ask the same question." She
grabbed Edward's huge paw and held it in front of the woman.
She stepped
back several feet, the look of alarm making her ancient visage horrible with
the pain of what she was seeing. "If you've come to finally kill me, I will not
make it easy on you, rest assured!"
Edward
was not feeling generous. He snatched her from the ground and held her aloft.
"Look you, I will kill whatever I want. Maybe that's you, maybe it's not. But
little sister wants to know who you are. So tell her!" He punctuated his words
with a mindless roar.
The
woman remained defiant. "I asked first!"
Edward
thought about it and dropped her on her head. She came up spitting dirt. He was
hardly apologetic. "So you did. Tell her little sister who you are, and who you
say I am. Then maybe I can move on to mating. I see so many prospects."
The
girl morphed into being a human and held out her hand. "My name is Maggie Peterson,
and when he's not acting like a jerk, this is truly as I said before, my father
and lover."
The
woman was brushing off the debris from her dress like it was an evening gown
and she was supposed to be making an appearance at a ball. "Those names
mean nothing to me. Why are you here?"
Maggie chuckled
grimly. "Here as in right here? We had no intention of being way out here. We
started off in St Petersburg when..."
The
woman jumped back again. "Why were you there?" There was suspicion in her
voice.
Maggie patiently
explained their presence in Russia. "So you see, as far as I can tell, my
grandmother was Anna Nikolaevna."
The
woman had tears in her eyes. "That is impossible child. Anna died a long time
ago with the rest of the tsar's family."
"So the
story goes. And yet, I have found recently that a photograph that my
grandmother had was also on the internet and attributed to being the dead
tsarina. I know the photograph well. They are one in the same person." She remembered
belatedly that this woman probably had no idea what the internet was.
The
woman stared hard at her. "Come here girl." Maggie got close, wary but not
frightened. The woman morphed into a werewolf and sniffed her up and down. When
she stopped, her eyes were full of tears. "Indeed, I would know the smell of my own
family even after a hundred years. But how did this happen?"
"Family?
Who the hell are you lady?"
The
werewolf transformed back, suddenly aware that she had spilt out her dress. "As
of today little one, I thought I was the only survivor of the massacre at the
hands of the Bolsheviks. I'm Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Anna's older
sister."
This
meant nothing to Edward, who was still looking over the gathering with the
intent to cause mayhem. But it meant everything to Maggie. "Then you're my
great aunt, aren't you?"
"So it
would seem my dearest child. So it would seem. But we can talk about that later.
Right now, tell me what is the matter with this friend of yours."
She was
going to argue the friend part, but Maggie was overwhelmed by the day's developments.
"He was shot in a bar in St Petersburg and took a silver bullet to his skull. I
think it's still in there scrambling his brains around."
"So
they are still hunting our kind. I knew as much. It's part of the reason I
rarely go back and visit. It's just too dangerous, as much so now as it was
right after the revolution. "
"You
still journey back and visit? Why?"
She
smiled. "I have so many happy memories of the Winter Palace little one, so why
would I not? When you live as many years and in the manner I do, you long for
the happiness you had as a child."
"When
were you there last?"
"Maybe a
year ago. I buy a nice dress and shoes from the thrift store and visit the
museum that was once my home. After all these years all I have come away with
though are just those memories."
Maggie didn't
think the dress she had on was a "nice" one, but she kept he mouth shut. "You
were looking for something else?"
The woman
frowned. "You are an awfully perceptive child. Yes, I was hoping to find the
box that this ring belongs with."
Maggie pulled
open her rather worn and stained bag. "Do you mean this?"
The woman
fell to her knees. "Child, how could you know? But yes, I see. You both have
rings. Where did you get this?" She held out her hand as Maggie set it in her
palm.
"It's a
long story. Right now, let me say that I think Edward's ring is the only thing
keeping him alive right now."
He
looked down at the silly human figures and laughed. "A toy keeping me alive!
Bah!" He pulled it off and tossed it at their feet. Maggie screamed as he did,
launching herself to put it back on his gnarled finger.
He
stood there looking defiant. "See little sister. I do not need a bauble to give
me power. I am power. No one can defy me; NO ONE!" His roar was not in anger
but in pride.
She
stood and gazed at him, waiting for the silver to start burning him from the inside
out. The seconds ticked away and nothing happened. The old woman, Maria, watched him with
unabashed curiosity. "Are you sure the bullet was silver my dear?"
"Yes. I
suffered more than a few strikes during the attack. I know silver when I feel
it."
"This
is very odd. Silver kills the kind unless they have a ring. His ring would only
protect him while he's wearing it. So either the bullet is gone now or it wasn't
silver."
"Trust
me to know silver!" Maggie shouted angrily. "The bullet in his head was silver,
coated in wolfsbane. He should have died. He was struck while the ring was off
his finger. I slipped it back on and he ended up living, but with his mind
gone."
The old
woman walked around him. She stepped up and rubbed his chest. It was harder to
see with all of his fur, but the scar on his chest was still visible. "What happened
here?"
"That's
old. He took a sword through his chest."
"A
sword? No one uses swords anymore. Everyone prefers guns; the weapon of cowards
and revolutionaries!"
"It was
an old sword, wielded by a terrible werewolf. If it weren't for the master he
would have died then."
"The
master? Who is that?"
"Leonardo
Da Vinci!"
The old
woman shook her head. "That's impossible. The creator of the rings died centuries
ago."
"I hate
to tell you this, but a hundred years ago you died too, didn't you?"
She
frowned. "Yes. I see your point. But Leonardo is famed for making the rings.
How did he help this...man...or whatever he is, in recovering?"
"He used
a special chamber he designed himself."
"I'm
sorry my dear, but I do not think that there is any chamber in the world that
can save one of us from silver."
Maggie
was growing frustrated with her reluctance to accept what had happened. "Well,
we battled a werewolf that had silver in his body."
"There
must be things going on of which I am woefully uneducated on my dear. I have
never known of any of my children or grandchildren surviving the dreaded metal."
Edward
was growing tired of this conversation. "I don't care about any of this. If
little sister says I have something in my body, then I have whatever it is
inside my body. I am strong enough to handle anything, do you hear me?
ANYTHING!" His roar blew out her hair like the winds of a hurricane.
He
cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Now, it's time to breed."