Alterations

by Lucretia Stanhope

  “I wasn't exactly safe here, was I? These savages haven't attacked my home realm. A few hours for a few visits and I will be done. I can take a soldier.” She pulled his hand away from her face. “Please, I'm not ready to be touched.”

  He sucked his tongue against his teeth.

  She knew she was pushing, but she wanted to go and settle things. She could not risk going against his wishes. Annoying him by asking would be less risky than just going and facing his wrath. “Can Kelly make your arrangements? I can have Mikhail bring her on his next report.”

  Gwen considered the offer. She did want to talk with Mikhail. “She can arrange some things, not all. Can I have one night and then I can have her finish up for me?”

  “I simply do not have time to go with you. Matvei must stay here.” He reached out a hand, leaving it opened, palm up.

  She gave him her hand and let him take his time before she continued. “When is Mikhail reporting? Can I meet with him and get details on what's been discovered? I would still like to know who was responsible.”

  He looked at her with more gentle eyes. “Will that settle you temporarily? Can we discuss the realm visit next time I am home?”

  “Yes, thank you.” She offered her hand again.

  “You really are my most precious treasure. I will have Matvei arrange a meeting with you and Mikhail.”

  “Timofei.” She took a step to him and let his arms wrap around her. “If I really am to believe I am all you need, then why must I be with that witch Lucian? I will be yours forever. I never deny you sustenance.”

  “I am not replacing you. You are all I will ever need.” He kissed her and pulled back, looking at her closely. “Don't feel like you have somehow not been enough. You are more than I expected.”

  “Why then? When I gave myself to you, I knew it was forever. I thought you would be my last lover. I wanted you to be my last lover.”

  He kissed her again. “Do not make me say things that will hurt you. It is all about resources. You are different. If I had females like you in the colony, I would never ask such things from you.”

  “Really? You wouldn't, or you can conveniently say that because it isn't a real option.”

  He pulled her tight against him. “I would not. I crave you in ways you can’t understand. I don't understand. I need to possess you.”

  “Then how can you share me in such an intimate way?”

  “Resources. It is that simple. Please, let us do something more pleasant with the last little bit of time I have here. Take me to the festival site. I would like to see how the plans are coming.”

  She swallowed back her anger and resentment. “Don't you need to meet with Matvei, or your soldiers here?”

  “Come on, sweetheart, let's make an appearance. They need to see us happy and together. I understand everyone is so worried about you, that they have nightly rituals.”

  “If everyone is so observant of me, what will they think if I am successful in your hunt for more resources? It will be disgraceful.”

  He tucked her under his arm and they started walking down the hall. “No witches know that we can’t mate. They will celebrate with us for our expanding family. A few might be alarmed with wonder over what sort of creature we would create, but when they see a magical little witch is born, all those fears will ease.”

  “Vampires know, don't they?”

  “You are their queen. They wouldn't dare judge you any more than they would me.”

  Being able to walk without rain pouring down on them made Gwen smile. “Can you at least ask him not to come by my office? I don't want lunch, dates, or friendly conversation. He can do his new job and go away.”

  He hugged her tighter. “If that makes you happy. You should try to be pleasant. Should you have success, he will be called upon again.”

  “Again?” She pulled away from his arm. “You really are a heartless monster.”

  He held out a hand and stopped walking. His eyes hardened. “Play happy, Gwen. The witches want to see you happy. I want to see you happy.”

  She breathed in slowly through her nose. One battle at a time, she told herself. She put her hand in his and they started walking again. “Of course. Happy.”

  They were greeted by several witches as soon as they neared the main building. It was a rare occurrence they both showed up together. She spent so much time off realm at the council, and he likewise spent his time off realm at Odeen.

  They walked to the celebration site. She told him where everything was going to be, and about the planned events. “Will you be coming?” she asked.

  “If I am able to be here, I will accompany you. If not, I am sure Brac or Matvei would be honored. Would you like to join me at the compound? I have a few orders to issue before I go.” He gave her a forced smile.

  She thought a moment. He appeared to be trying to smooth things over before he left. “I don't need to. We are fine. You can go do what you need to.”

  “Walk with me. I would like to spend more time with you.” He took her hand and started toward the compound.

  She let silence hang heavy between them. It never crossed her mind he would want to use her in such a despicable way over and over. Anger crept in as the thought lingered. She pushed the thoughts to her safe place. She wanted nothing more than to free her children, and couldn't imagine having more, more that he would see as more valuable, sell off, or turn in to resource machines themselves. She needed to get away before it happened.

  She looked up when Matvei approached.

  “Father, Gwen,” he said. “You are much improved.”

  Gwen smiled at him. “Yes, it seems I just needed some time with your father.”

  “See to it Mikhail meets with Gwen on his next report. I need to speak with my lead soldiers. Excuse me.” He walked away, leaving them just outside the compound wall.

  “That was awkward. Are you still annoying him?” Matvei looked at her with one raised eyebrow.

  She shrugged. “I do seem to be getting better at that. I heard you were dealt with harshly. I'm sorry that happened.”

  He laughed. “It's how we communicate our frustration. You might remember that when you push boundaries. What do you want with Mikhail, and how did you get that visit arranged?”

  “I want to speak with him about council matters.” She looked at his smug face and winked at him. “It appears I have some sway.”

  “Fascinate. Manipulate. Satiate and I imagine that sway could really swing.” He raised a lip, showing a fang. “Complacent might not have been the right word. Perhaps you make him careless.”

  She stepped back a step. “I have had a most awful day, please do not add to it.”

  “I wouldn't dream of it. How was your night? I didn't get a chance to ask as I was busy on a wild goose chase.” His grin turned into a full smile.

  “I hate you. Go away.” She watched his eyes sparkle with amusement. “Did you find anything?”

  A few chuckles escaped his mouth. “If I had, I wouldn't be so hungry. You smell like dinner.”

  “Don't you dare.”

  “Dare I? Dare I with him approaching?” He leaned in and sniffed her hair, his breath cold on her neck.

  She felt a hard pinch and smacked him. “Are you insane?”

  “Reckless, it's exciting.” He licked his lips and backed up a few steps.

  Timofei rounded the wall seconds later. As he approached, he growled some orders to Matvei in their language. “Come, my dearest. I have to leave, see me off.”

  She took his hand and didn't give Matvei another look. “Is everything okay?”

  “Perfect. Even more perfect now that I am back in your presence.” He pulled her into a side hug.

  O nce she was alone at the house, she started walking down all of the halls. She twisted the handle of each door, and peered inside to see what the rooms held. She wanted to know more about Lucian, and knew that Timofei would have some records, somewhere. She figured he would have them in one of the million r
ooms in the fortress, rather than his office on the colony proper.

  The compound crossed her mind, but he was seldom there. He did all of his logistics plans from the fortress, that gave her hope he did all of his witch plotting from there too.

  Door after door opened to either pointless sitting rooms, dusty empty rooms, or what she assumed were staff rooms. Nothing looked even remotely like an office or file room. She was done with the basement, first floor and half of the second floor when she found a locked door.

  She twisted the handle again. Locked.

  She unlocked it easily with the first trick Sebastian taught her, back when life was simpler, and unlocking doors was a big deal.

  The door opened silently and she peered inside. There was a desk. She walked over and sat down. The surface looked to have been used, no dust. She frowned that there were no papers. The top drawer opened and she found pens, and miscellany. The drawer under it did not budge when she tugged the handle. She unlocked it and found more scrolls, like the ones she had been working with. If she didn't have more intense things on her mind she would have tried to decode them, but that wasn't her top priority. It was all she found. She locked the drawer and door, and took a mental note of where she was, so she could return when she had more time.

  She didn't find anything else interesting on the second floor and after five doors on the third floor, she hit another locked door. The room had three walls of filing cabinets, and a large wooden desk took up the fourth wall. She saw there were papers on the desk and started to make her way to them.

  When she felt the temperature drop, she stopped, held her breath and turned around.

  “Matvei, what…” she started.

  He pulled her from the room and closed the door, locking it. “You should be doing good queen witch activities, not snooping around his things. He will smell you if you linger in his rooms.”

  “I was just. I didn't see anything.” Her hands started to tremble.

  “I know. I've been here a while. What are you hunting for, sweetheart? You could just ask me. We are…” He paused and leaned in, biting her neck and drinking deep before he continued. “Working together now.”

  “How long would I need to be in there for him to notice?” She backed away from him.

  He looked at her with a suspicious glance. “Leave that room alone.”

  “What's in there?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about. It won't affect your plans, or our lessons.” Matvei looked away from her and sniffed. He took her by the wrist and started down the hall.

  “Ouch, easy.” She struggled to keep pace with him as they went down the stairs.

  There were met by a vampire on the second floor.

  “Excuse me, Sir, there is a breach at Odeen.” The vampire nodded at Gwen. “My queen.”

  Gwen's mouth hung opened.

  Matvei tugged her closer. “Where is my father? Have we suffered a breach here?”

  “Timofei is entrenched in battle. We are secure here.” The vampire stood straight at attention.

  “Squad A needs to be here, in the fortress. You find and shadow Brac, Sergei shadows Gwen. Do not leave these walls. Should we be breached here, you take the two of them to the safe room. Guard them with your lives. The remaining squads take position in the colony. No one makes a move, unless we are compromised.” The expression on his face went from his usual smug ease, to a serious look that resembled his father.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Well. Go!” As soon as the man left he turned to Gwen. “Listen.”

  Her eyes filled with worry. “Matvei, Timofei, Brac.”

  “Gwen, listen to me. I have to go. You will be safe here. Stay inside, I will be back before you miss me.”

  “Don't. Send them, you stay.” She swallowed a dry lump.

  He put a finger under her chin. “I must go. I am the second in command. Act happy. Queens do not alarm their subjects.”

  “But Odeen…” She started to say, but he stopped her with a finger on her lips.

  “Listen closely. I must go. Soldiers were pulled from Odeen for the war, and to secure other realms. I need to go to Konstantin and get a battalion or two. Only I can do that. Once I have beaten back the breach, I will leave them with my second. Understand? You are safe here. I will be back before you go to bed.”

  She straightened her back and looked up at him. “Of course. We will be fine.”

  “That's better.” He kissed her forehead. “No earth magic should things get dodgy. Ogres are earth based and we don't know what they do with magic, if anything.” His eyes scanned her a second. “Have cake. Chat with Brac.”

  She watched him walking away. War brought out a different side of him, she thought. “Matvei.”

  He paused and turned toward her.

  “Thank you.”

  He bowed slightly.

  Chapter Eleven

  B rac closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair. “I don't see why we have to be on lock-down. Odeen is realms away. It gets breaches all the time.”

  Gwen pushed away the plate of cake. “It's because I am here. With what happened to me and Kyna, Matvei can't take risks.”

  “I guess. Hey, you want to walk? Can we walk, Sergei?” Brac looked toward the two soldiers in the corner. “We will stay inside.”

  Sergei looked to the other man and they had a fast discussion.

  “We can all walk.” Sergei smiled at Gwen. “You know I can disappear into the shadows, and you can feel alone.”

  “Just give us space, Sergei.” Gwen stood and walked over to Brac. “You can catch up to us in seconds. Please, allow us to talk.”

  “Yes, my queen.” He bowed his head and waited with the other vampire until Gwen and Brac were some distance away, just in tracking range.

  “What is site two?” she asked once they were far enough away.

  Brac looked at her with shock taking over his features. “Mom! Don't you ever think about that place. You are not supposed to know.”

  “Just tell me.”

  He stopped walking and turned to stand in front of Gwen. “The witches who disappear.”

  “They take them? Why?” Her eyes focused and she felt around to make sure they were out of earshot of Sergei.

  “It is where the strongest witches are made. Matvei runs site two, the witches are all like us. Eternal. When they come, they are usually older.” Brac had a relaxed look of indifference as he spoke.

  “The missing witches? Made?” She looked at his eyes, hoping to see something that she wasn't hearing in his tone. “What do you do when you go there?”

  He smirked. “Now that I am changed, I help make witches. I train. Mom, we really shouldn't talk about it.”

  “Train?”

  He started walking again. “War matters are not for queens.”

  “Brac.” She took several fast steps to catch up. “What has happened since the last time we talked?”

  “He knew. What I showed you, he knew. He knew we left, and he already knew what I could do.”

  She reached out and stopped him. “Look at me. What did he do to you?”

  “Nothing. That's just it. I should have known I could tell him. He tells me everything. Even things dad wouldn't want me to know.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “We are safe with him and if he needs us to fight these savages, I'll be the first to sign up.”

  She swallowed and twined her hand in his. She wanted to explain to him that Matvei was the worst of them all, but temporarily, he was safer with Matvei as an ally. “Of course we are. Him and your father would never let anything hurt us, not any of us.” Gwen shifted her weight from foot to foot. “Thank you for telling me.” She turned around and started back toward the sitting room. “You can go to your room or do whatever. I'm just going to knit or something.”

  Brac gave his mother a kiss, and left her alone with Sergei.

  After several hours, a lot of knitting, a small snack, and a few glasses of wine, Matvei returned. He sm
elled of death, earth, and wore a satisfied smile.

  “Miss me?” He walked over and sat down across from her.

  She took a slow sip of her drink. “No, not even a little bit. How did you manage to go to Konstantin, and battle, and be back so quickly?”

  He made a clicking sound with his tongue and raised both eyebrows. “Impressed? The attack was a ploy to get Timofei and his battalion off the front line, not an attack with any greatly planned force.”

  “Doesn't sound like savages to me if they are using decoy attacks.” She sat her glass down.

  “Leave that to us. You may go now. See your witch.”

  She turned her head sharply. “Tonight?”

  “Of course.”

  “What happens when two bonded witches have a child? We are altered on a very deep level.” She wanted to know for herself, but also to know what he was doing on site two.

  His eyes looked at her as if he were searching for the hidden meaning of life. “Something magical.”

  “You've done it?” She knew he had, but she wanted to know why. What was the reason Lucian had to be altered before they were together?

  He tapped his fingers. “Questions, questions. Will she find the answers? It is interesting to see you are asking some of the right things now.” He smiled at her. “I'd rather see the answer to what you will create. You are not just any eternal, and neither is he.”

  She brought her hand to her mouth. “You. This was all you, wasn't it? Why? Why would Timofei agree to let me be part of some experiment for you?”

  “It would appear I'm better at subtle suggestions than you are. Go. Maybe we will talk more later.”

  Gwen left, and the night was not unlike the two that followed. Her days were filled with colony affairs.

  Jarrod stayed with her, always close, often in her lap. She thought a lot about Kyna and where she might be, the file room and what secrets it held, and the scrolls. She never found herself alone with time to look into either rooms.

  Matvei stayed as her surrogate shadow as soon as she left colony every day. When she thought of him, it took her to dark places. He had some realm of all eternal, altered witches, he knew something, something he used to sway Timofei to force her into another child. That he could sway Timofei would make it big, and knowing Matvei, it was likely dark as night. It also meant he was the architect of her newest nightmare, and the look on his face said he enjoyed her suffering.