by Harry Nix
“They shot Bish in the head. I mean no disrespect to your mate's father, but I feel Julius has been a fool for far too long. We cannot have civilized werewolves while we still live in the wilderness. We cannot compete or defend ourselves against the mages or the vampires when they can use every trick they know to take our land away from us. I joined the Greenacre pack because it was the most modern view on absolute change. There is land here, and there are jobs, and if we are in their face and part of society, we cannot be forgotten and dismissed so easily. Aside from the witches, most supernaturals don't even think of us. We’re just wild things that live out there somewhere, squatting in the mud. We need to do something to change that,” Jeremiah said.
“Okay, but if I have to live over here, can we least get one of those gigantic televisions that are like twelve feet across with super surround sound?” Jacob said.
“What, you want to play videogames with Yvonne?” Alex said.
“Yvonne? Why would she want to play videogames with me?” Jacob said.
Alex and Jeremiah just chuckled to themselves as a very confused Jacob watched them as they drove back home.
19
“Hate to see you leave, but, baby, love watching you go,” April called out as Alex walked away from Boris. He turned back to look at his three grinning mates. They were all dressed in identical red dresses that showed off cleavage and leg. Nia was wearing the stolen necklace with the green emerald while Juno and April were wearing simple gold, the jewelry taken from Ruby’s jewelry box. Just looking back at them, he felt the urge to grab the three of them and take them somewhere private but they'd been given their instructions and Ruby had warned them to follow them to the T.
“Come on, let's go,” he said. He enjoyed a moment as his three mates came slinking towards him, then turned away, so the blood flow wouldn't go south, and looked at the enormous mansion in front of them.
This was Prince’s mansion, the vampire. It was evening, just past twilight, and they were over in the rich part of Baxter where there were enormous estates with manicured gardens and silver-tipped spiked fences.
Alex had noticed them as they had driven in with Ruby behind the wheel.
Thinking of Ruby, Alex took a quick look around, but she was nowhere to be seen. The moment she’d parked the car, she grabbed the box of sleep crystals from the trunk and vanished off into the darkness. Ruby was wearing an evening gown too and high heels, and Alex had no idea how she was able to move so fast in them. As he looked around he caught the sight of patrolling guards, each one of them giant men with no necks. Alex let out a breath and tried to relax.
“See you soon,” Jeremiah said. He was waiting in Boris, their getaway driver. Jacob had been left at home with Esme and Lydia and hadn’t been happy about it until promised he could order as many pizzas as he wanted.
Nia took him Alex one arm and April by the other. Juno slinked ahead of them, heading towards the mansion.
Alex tried to keep his eyes off her hips swaying from side to side, but it was difficult. The thoughts in his mind were one-track.
The closer they got to the mansion, the larger he realized it was. It had to be three or four stories at least. At the front there were large marble pillars like something from the Pantheon. There were giant double, mahogany wooden doors ornately carved and guarded by two female supermodels, wearing killer suits. As they got closer, Alex realized they were twins, although one had black hair and the other was blonde. Juno pulled the invitation out of nowhere.
“Venetia, Histria,” she said.
The blonde supermodel, Venetia apparently, glanced at the invitation, then gave Juno a scathing look.
“Firstly, this is plus one and you have three,” she said.
Histria took the invitation from her. “Secondly, this has your grandmother's name on it, not yours.”
“That is true, but do you think the daughter of Hera goes anywhere without her entourage?” Juno said.
A worried glance passed between Venetia and Histria that seemed loaded with meaning. Alex suddenly felt like he was underage, trying to sneak into a club.
“Well, no…” Histria mumbled.
“Excellent! Everyone with me,” Juno proclaimed, and she marched forward pulling them along in her wake. For a moment it looked like the models might say something but then they let them go.
They emerged into a frankly ridiculous entrance area that screamed wealth. Two enormous dark wooden staircases led to the second floor. The railings were gold. Glittering chandeliers hung above them. Even the patterned wallpaper shimmered. To each side were large archways, blocked off by unsmiling guards and red velvet ropes. The stairways had ropes across them but no guards. There was art on every surface—paintings with ornate frames, marble busts and other sculptures.
“Vampires always have money,” April murmured in Alex's ear. Juno confidently walked ahead, leading them toward a second pair of large engraved doors. There were two doormen in suits greeting people as they went through. They at least seem much happier than the two supermodels outside. They passed through the second doors without challenge and into the ballroom which seemed larger than a football field. There were multiple chandeliers hanging everywhere. The ceiling itself glimmered with sparkles like distant stars. Marble pillars were set throughout the room, and there were long swatches of colored fabrics hanging from them, partitioning sections off. Gentle orchestral music played from an unseen source. There were people moving through the hall and most of the men were in suits, like Alex, while the women were glittering in gold and gems.
“I hear that's diamonds embedded in the roof,” Juno said, pointing up.
“I say cheap lights, but no one has ever got close enough to find out,” April said, waving over a waiter. She grabbed four glasses of champagne in tall flutes and passed them around. Alex forced himself to sip it rather than gulping it down.
“Using my name to get into places still, I see.”
Alex turned and gave a double blink at what was surely another Juno. The woman approaching them had blonde hair and was wearing a blood-red gown with a gold necklace that looked heavy enough to seriously clobber someone.
“What other benefits are there to being your daughter otherwise?” Juno replied archly.
Alex glanced at April, who seemed unperturbed. This is Hera, Juno’s mother? She looked the same damn age!
“Excellent bone structure? A razor-sharp wit… although darling I fear your father may have blunted yours.”
“Yes, he was rather worn down for some reason. I wonder why?” Juno said.
They were watching each other the way cats do when they’re preparing to fight.
Juno’s mother looked away from her daughter and smiled at Alex.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Jadis.”
“That’s a bad joke and you have to stop it. Her name is Hera,” Juno said, deadpan.
She got a pinch for her trouble.
“Ow! What was that for?” Juno protested, rubbing her arm.
“One, for ruining my joke and two, for burning my back fence.”
“You haven’t even been home! How do you know about that?”
Hera cupped her hands around her mouth, forming a loudspeaker. “Hello, I’m a powerful witch. Have we met?”
“I wish we hadn’t met,” Juno muttered.
“April, Nia, good to see you both. I see you’ve fallen in with the same suddenly famous werewolf.”
They all shared kisses, Alex’s brain still not quite working at the sight of Juno’s mother appearing to be her twin. Eventually something clunked into gear.
“What have you heard?” he said.
Hera flittered her fingers, imitating something flying away.
“This and that. I’ll tell you everything if you do me a favor,” she said.
“No deal! No favors!” Juno said, leaping in front of Alex.
“Your loss. He’s adorable darling but please do try not to get bitten harder than is good for you.”
Juno kissed Hera on the cheek and the snap of the emotional whiplash from fighting to calm and happy was palpable. Alex wasn’t sure what to think. Was their fight all just an act? Maybe this was how witches showed affection?
“Mutton dressed as lamb,” Juno called out to Hera as she walked away.
“Lamb who wishes she looked as good as this,” Hera called back.
“That’s your mother? She looks so young,” Alex said the moment she was out of earshot.
“She’s a witch, she can look whatever way she wants. You have to be careful around the magic ones, they’re not always as they appear,” Juno said.
“Shall we look around?” April said, waving in the general direction of the crowd.
They walked deeper into the ballroom. Alex wasn’t sure exactly what diamonds were worth but there was a fortune of them on display tonight. They passed a fabric partition and Alex couldn’t help but notice a tall woman with dyed blue hair who must have been seven feet at least, towering over her companions. She had a green gem the size of a baseball around her neck.
“That’s Portia. Was a serious contender for next head witch until her accident,” Juno said.
“What happened to her?” Alex asked.
“Spell gone wrong. She used to be the same size as everyone else. Now she’s slowly growing and so far there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Eventually her heart will give out,” Juno said.
She was all so matter-of-fact about it, like they were discussing a tree or something, rather than a person.
Alex turned to look around, and almost crashed into a man who had loomed up beside him.
“My mistress would like to speak with you. She is waiting for a dance,” he said. He pointed to the far side of the dance floor where there was a woman waiting in an exquisite green gown. She had to be in her mid-forties, but still had the body of a cheerleader. Her hair was so black, it was almost blue, and between her red lips and pale skin, she looked slightly like a demented Snow White.
Alex turned to Juno, but she was nodding and waving him on.
“Go, go,” she whispered.
Although tonight was mostly about Ruby’s heist, Alex also had hearts and minds and getting noticed on his agenda. There were mages, vampires, witches and other supernaturals at the ball. Sure, some of them might try to collect the bounty but it was a risk he was willing to take. He had to stop being a rumor and become real to these supernaturals.
Alex handed back his now-empty champagne glass to Juno and followed the man around the edge of the dance floor and over to the woman.
“Alex Lowe, may I introduce Isabella Antoinette,” he said and then melted away into the crowd.
Isabella was even more stunning up close up than from afar. She was only slightly shorter than Alex and had to be wearing a fortune in jewels. The green dress she was wearing had left her shoulders uncovered and Alex saw she had a swirling tattoo down one arm, deep red like a flame. He couldn't be sure but he thought it moved when he looked at it.
“Nice to meet you,” Alex said, falling back on his default.
“Come and dance with me, so people may see you dancing with me,” Isabella said.
He couldn't quite place her accent but she certainly wasn't from around here. Alex took her offered hand and led her out onto the dance floor. Although he hadn't enjoyed it at the time, Jane, his stepmother, had made him take dance lessons so he wasn’t an uncoordinated wreck out on the dance floor like most other teenagers his age. In later years, Alex was very grateful she’d done this. As it turned out, girls liked a guy who could dance.
Although it had been a little while since he’d last danced, Alex smoothly took her hand and put the other on her back, just above her waist, and together they began moving to the music. Now they were close together, he could smell her perfume. It was something exotic and when he first breathed in, he smelt leaves and fruit, but then a moment later it was sand.
“The perfume changes every minute to another scent designed to elicit nostalgia,” Isabella said.
“I can smell sand, like the beach,” Alex said.
“Did you spend a lot of time at the beach as a child?” Isabella asked.
“Only a few holidays with my stepmother. We didn't have that much money, but I remember she took me once when I was about ten and it was amazing,” Alex said.
“I remember the beaches of my homeland, some of them the same as here, golden or white sand. The ones closest to my home were black volcanic sand and when the waves came in, the water would disappear through it. I haven't seen my home in many years, not since a mad dictator took it over, and we had to flee,” she said.
They moved and spun, Alex not quite sure what to say. His first impulse was to say he knew how she felt, considering his entire life had been torn apart after discovering he was a werewolf and then a mage.
“Do you think you'll ever be able to return?” Alex asked.
“Only if a great number of things go right, and only if there is an army waiting because the dictator will still need to killed,” Isabella said.
Alex saw more than one pairs of eyes on them, various men and women in the crowd, doing their best to look and then not be caught looking. Nia was waiting over near the bar, sipping on a cocktail, but April and Juno were nowhere to be seen. Alex even took a quick look as they spun again, hoping to spot April's pink hair but she was nowhere in the ballroom.
Ruby had given them times to do things, but it wasn't time yet, so he wondered where they'd gone.
“Someone you're looking for? Am I not enough for you?” Isabella said and gently pinched him on the arm through his suit. Alex focused back on her. Even though she was just some random woman he’d met at a party, no girl liked to be ignored.
“Just trying to see one of my mates. I'm not sure where she’s gone,” Alex said.
“Ah, yes, the werewolf who did not know he was a werewolf. A most curious story, and you can cast spells too, something no werewolf has ever done. Is this true?” Isabella asked.
If there hadn't been here to rob Prince, Alex would have summoned the healing flame to his finger, but that wasn't part of the plan, so he merely nodded.
“That's right. Almost twenty-five years under some mysterious spell that kept me hidden and also stopped me going insane because I'd never shifted. After it broke, a weredog almost killed me. It would have if it hadn't been for my mate, Nia, the redhead by the bar,” Alex said.
Isabella glanced over and gave a gentle smile.
“She is a beautiful one indeed. Is it true you've been making your own spells, enchanting your own rings?” she asked.
Alex had a moment again where he wondered how much he should say, then he just decided to tell her. After all, they were getting attacked anyway, and the more rumors about him spread, particularly that he had weapons, perhaps insane mages would have second thoughts.
“The ring on my left hand is a fireball spell—three charges—I wrote it myself and enchanted it. It only took a few minutes all in to make the enchantment. I've been able to make thirty to fifty rings a day and still come back for more the next. Does that answer your question?” he said.
“That's very impressive. Do you think the mages want to kill you because of that?”
“I suppose so. How did you know I was enchanting rings?”
“I am quite high in the witches’ coven, not the top, but close to it and it does not escape our attention when a witch whose mate is a werewolf mage begins selling rings that no one has ever seen before.”
Alex briefly wondered if Juno knew who Isabella was, but guessed she had, considering the way she had urged him to go over to her.
“I understand that witches are partial to werewolves. What would it take to get you and yours to help me and mine to stop those attacking us?”
The song they were dancing to had transitioned to another. It was faster, and they sped up their beat, Alex spinning Isabella and then pulling her back against him. He wasn't rough about it, but it wasn't a g
entle spin either as he pulled her body against his.
“We do like werewolves, but it is important that their bite is far worse than their bark.” Then she stopped abruptly and touched Alex on the face before kissing him briefly on the lips. Her perfume had changed again and now smelled like a garden. Alex caught the scent of jasmine, the vines that had grown outside the house he’d grown up in with Jane.
“And so far, darling, your bites have been nibbles. So, if you would like our help, make sure you use those sharp teeth,” Isabella said before stalking away.
Alex stood still for a moment, still tasting her on his lips before he realized that everyone was staring. The music was still playing though, so got himself together, and walked off the dance floor over to where Nia was at the bar. She silently passed him a cocktail that was as black as ink. He gulped a mouthful. It was a coffee martini.
“Is kissing one of the senior witches part of Ruby’s plan? Because I don’t remember that,” Nia said, completely deadpan.
“She kissed me,” Alex said, then immediately shook his head at how feeble the denial sounded. The truth was that as he been dancing with her, moving her body with his hands, ideas had been crossing his mind. That feeling of being a sex-crazed teenager was back again and now it was every night and every day he was with his mates and apparently it still wasn't enough.
“You looked for a moment that you wanted to take her to bed,” Nia said. She finished her drink and waved to the bartender for another.
Alex gulped the rest of his down but didn’t ask for another, wanting to stay on the alert. But as the alcohol plumed down to his stomach he decided just to tell the truth.
“I don’t know what's happening to me. I think I’m going sex-crazed. Maybe it's from generating all the sex magic and then using it. You know, like Juno said, the magic you use changes you, so if you’re into death you start focusing on death all the time. At first it was pain that was a problem since my hand got ripped off and regrown, but now hardly any time goes by, and is just sex, sex, sex, on my mind all the time,” he said in a low tone to Nia. Even as he spoke about it, he touched her waist and moved closer. Nia had taken her drink but hadn't taken a sip. Her eyes were wide open and alarmed.
