by R Murray
Stopping outside Emilie's run-down little house she could not feel the presence of the wolf for which she was grateful. He would only stop her from inflicting any damage on her sister when she interrogated Emilie for the information on her daughter. Lifting her hand up she hammered on the door before waiting to be allowed entry. It took some time, but finally Emilie opened the door her eyes darkened instantly when they fell on Melaina,
“Hello sister. Are you going to let me in?”
“What do you want Melaina?” Emilie fired, not moving from her spot blocking the entryway. Melaina sighed dramatically,
“Come now Emilie, do I need a reason to come and visit my younger sister, especially since it has been a few days since we last spoke. I want to catch up on all you have been doing with your new little wolf friends,” Melaina smirked as Emilie reluctantly moved aside to let her in. She knew that Emilie could not refuse her if she used the excuse of coming to see her about the wolves. Following Emilie through to her bedroom where it was clear she was gathering some more of her clothing to take to the lodge, she was obviously still under the watch of the pack, which meant Maccon would be here soon enough to take her back. Melaina had to act fast.
“Where is your pet?” she questioned innocently.
“He is collecting some food; he will be here soon enough. Before you inquire, no I have not discovered much as yet, but their alpha in London is speaking with Raff. I intend to convince Maccon to find out what is happening; then get him to confide in me,” Emilie explained. Melaina did not take her eyes from her sister, as she spoke her next words slyly,
“I spoke with Thanatos last night, he told me something very interesting. He informed me that I was an Auntie, that my sister had a secret daughter.”
Melaina watched Emilie's body stiffen as she turned to face her, the look in her eyes was one Melaina had never seen in Emilie before. It was that of anger so dark that it made Melaina almost proud that such a darkness ran through her sister, she never thought Emilie capable of such dark rage.
“He is lying,” Emilie seethed.
“No, I think it is you that is lying dear sister. It is written plainly all over your face,” Melaina sniffed, “I can smell the emotions on you. Why did I never get told of this child's existence?” Melaina asked solicitously.
“No one knew, and no one was ever meant to know. I do not know where she is, and even if I did Melaina I would not tell you. I know that is why you are here and you are wasting your time. Now I suggest you leave before Maccon comes back,” Emilie replied, her words coming out more as a snarl; she turned her back once more toward her sister. Melaina growled grabbing Emilie roughly by the shoulder spinning her round to come face to face. Hurling her onto a chair, Melaina willed invisible ropes to bind her securely.
“I suggest you stop lying to me Emilie,” Melaina hissed, grinning as Emilie let out a cry as the ropes tightened around her wrists, burning her delicately perfect skin.
“I told you Melaina I do not know where she is!” Emilie cried as she struggled against her unseen bonds. “And I will never tell you! Under no circumstances will I ever allow you or Thanatos to get your hands on her!” Emilie spat, her own icy eyes ablaze with a fire that would burn Lucifer himself. Melaina was about to respond, to tighten the ropes even more, when the door crashed open with a loud thud as it hit the wall. Before Maccon could even reach them, Melaina had released Emilie and was standing at the window. Maccon came storming in; Melaina once more found herself trying not to retch at the sudden stench that filled her nostrils whenever she was near a wolf.
“What the hell is going on in here? Emilie what happened? I heard you cry out,” Maccon asked moving to her. Melaina rolled her eyes. The poor pup was in love with her that much was obvious. Melaina threw Emilie a warning glance. Emilie just shook her head,
“It was nothing Maccon, I just tripped. Melaina helped me up, hence why I am sitting on a chair,” she lied.
Melaina felt those grey eyes pierce through her, he did not believe a single word Emilie had said. This wolf was not like the others, there was something different about him, something more powerful than she had ever felt when near a dog; it made her uneasy. Smiling she moved to the door,
” I will leave you two alone, I am sure you have to get back to the lodge. It was nice to meet you again Maccon,” turning warning eyes to Emilie, “I will speak with you again soon, dear sister,” she sneered sarcastically. Once outside she quickly moved back towards the Louvre, Emilie did know where her daughter was; of course she did, and Melaina would find out the truth. She just had to be more careful how she went about doing it now that Maccon was never far from little Emilie's side. Next time he would not be there to stop her.
Chapter Thirteen
There was a tense silence filling the room as Melaina left, and Emilie knew that Maccon had not believed her explanation, he was not stupid. His grey eyes flashed with betrayal and anger. There was no trust held in them, none of the tender love that was so often held in his gaze whenever he looked at her. No, instead Emilie was met with a cold harsh stare. Standing, she flashed him a tentative smile before returning to where she had been packing her clothing.
“I would not bother packing anything. You are not coming back with me, well not until you tell me the truth. The truth of who you are,” Maccon demanded. His gruff voice sent a shiver down Emilie's spine. She knew that she would have to tell him the truth as to who she was, it was the least she could do. She just did not have to tell him the real reason she had stumbled across his pack. Sighing deeply, she took a seat on her bed, Maccon did not move from his spot by the door, his intense gaze never leaving her.
“Yes, you are right. I have not been honest with you; I am not just a mere mortal girl. I am witch,” she admitted, not daring to elaborate much more wanting to gauge his reaction first before delving deeper. His sullen silence was unbearable, and Emilie could see his jaw clenching as he digested her words. His hands curled into fists exaggerating his muscled arms, scaring her, he would not hurt her surely. Finally, he spoke.
“And am I right in assuming your sister is also a witch?” Raising his large hand to stop her from speaking, “Actually do not answer that, I knew what she was the moment I walked into the room today. What did she do to you?” he demanded. Emilie swallowed heavily, well he had not killed her for revealing her true identity, that was something at least, nor had he left.
“She tied me to the chair, with invisible ropes, the cry you heard was because she tightened them and they were cutting into my skin.” She held her arms out to him as she spoke, the red lines ringing her wrists were quickly fading but they were still visible.
“Why would she do that?” he questioned.
“Because she wanted something I cannot give her,” Emilie admitted quietly.
“Which is? You want me to trust you Emilie; to believe you. To do so I need to know the whole truth not just the bits you want to tell me,” he said.
“You are right, it is a long story Maccon, so maybe you should sit down,” she suggested, grateful when he did as she asked and took a seat on the chair she had been bound to just moments ago. He opened his hands slightly indicating that she should continue.
“Melaina came because she found out my biggest secret, one that I have kept from her for more than one hundred years.” Seeing the look of surprise on Maccon's face she smiled slightly, “I am immortal. I have the Dark Blood within me. Please believe me when I say I wish I did not and I promise you that what I told you is true. I am a healer in the city; I do work at the hospital and all the medicine I used on Conan was not cursed. They are herbs I use on the mortals. Those, mixed with your ability to heal quickly, is what helped him to recover,” she explained. Maccon's silent nod was enough to tell her to carry on with her story.
“I have a daughter, but I have no idea where she is. When she was just a few months old I gave her up. At the time, our world was dark and full of death and I did not want her to be part of it. I placed a s
pell on her that would keep her hidden from the Lamia and from me. I could not know where she was, the risk would be too great. Thanatos, the leader of the Lamia, could easily have delved into my mind and discovered her hiding place. Now that Melaina has discovered her existence, she wants her for some reason. I assume she has been put up to this by Thanatos, they have a history together and she would do anything to keep him happy. But I did not lie to her; I truly do not know where my daughter is. I also know Melaina does not believe me,” Emilie told him. Her blue eyes never leaving his as she spoke. She wanted Maccon to know that she was not lying to him. He ran a hand through his dark hair as he always did when he was perplexed; she could see the battle within him, raging behind his beautiful grey eyes. She knew he was deciding what to do with her revelation; whether he should tell the others, whether he should still protect her.
“Why did you not tell me the truth from the start? I would not have told the other two. I care about you Emilie, more than I should and I really thought you felt the same for me.”
Emilie bit down on her lip dropping her gaze, guilt seeping into every part of her soul, she had lied to him, she had used him, and she had played with his mind to force him to fall in love with her. To hear him admit that he had loved her, and still did only fuelled that guilt. She had unravelled the spell only a day ago, and he still felt for her, still wanted to give her his heart. She had to try and fix this, if she could placate him then he would surely tell her what she needed to know. If she could not give Melaina what she wanted in regard to her daughter then at least she could give her information on the wolves.
“I do Maccon. I just could not risk it; my kind and yours have never seen eye to eye and being immortal I was frightened you would think I was working alongside the Lamia which I am not. I may have the Dark Blood in my veins, but I hate them. I hate the blood drinkers. My powers I use for the good, it is why my sister hates me, because I am not like her,” Emilie assured him. She reached over to him and touched his arm gently, she wanted to release a power into him that would force him to believe what it was she said, but she found she could not. He had to believe her words himself, had to trust, she could not lie to him anymore. His large hand come over the top of hers and squeezed it gently.
“I believe you, and as we are being honest I suppose you have a right to know why it is I am in Paris. The three of us are to bring word of a revolt against the Lamia. We are the strongest we have ever been and they will be forced to grant us the blood of immortality; they will not be able to refuse us this time.” Emilie stayed silent for a few moments before replying quietly.
“Maccon, you are the youngest of the pack, you once told me that you were not sure what your purpose was, why you were here with them. What if they are going to use you as the first wolf to accept such a gift? The first wolf to see if such a blood will work on your species?” She could tell by the look in his eyes that this thought had never crossed his mind and she pitied him. Emilie knew what it was like to be used as an experiment as she and Melaina had been. Since them no other witch had been turned, they did not need to. Emilie and Melaina would always be under the command of the Lamia no matter how hard they tried to deny it.
“No. They would not expect that from me, there are more powerful, more alpha wolves that would be the first to have the blood,” Maccon replied quietly, more to himself than her. Suddenly, he pulled his hand from hers and stood quickly.
“Where are you going?” Emilie asked, fear lacing her words as she watched Maccon head towards the door; she was not far behind him.
“I need to go and speak with Raff I want to ask him. I want to know if what you say is true,” Emilie reached out and grabbed his arm causing him to stop and look at her.
“Let me come with you.” She begged, her heart dropping as Maccon shrugged her off.
“Stay here, I will return,” and with those last words he disappeared from her sight. Emilie could do nothing more but what he had asked, wait for him to return.
Maccon waited till he was out of sight before transforming into the black wolf; taking hold of the clothes he had discarded before the change, in his mouth he headed home. He wanted to get to Raff quickly and it was easier to cover ground in his true from than that of the human he spent most his time reluctantly as. Emilie's words whirled in his head as the endless trees sped past him as he ran; was what she said true? If it was, then how was it he had not been told any of this? If he was honest with himself, he was not sure he liked the idea of being an experiment for something so immense as this. He was not even sure he wanted immortality.
It did not take him long to reach the lodge, stopping just on the outskirts of the clearing he lifted his nose to the air. He could smell both Conan and Raff inside the building. Good, they were both there, which meant that Raff would have no choice but to speak the truth. Stalking towards the door he allowed himself to turn back to human form just as he reached them. Quickly donning his clothes, he pushed the door open allowing it to bang against the wall, his grey eyes burned with a flame of anger as he spat out his question.
“Is it true that I am only here to serve the purpose of the first wolf to have the dark blood placed in me?” He could tell by the look of surprise on Conan's face that he had no idea what Maccon was talking about, but Raff did not flinch. Instead his caramel hues fixed themselves intensely on him.
“Where did you hear that?”
“It does not matter where I heard it Raff. I asked if it was true and I suggest you tell me the truth,” Maccon snapped back.
“Sit down Maccon,” Raff said. The tone in which he spoke warned Maccon there was to be no argument, and he did as he was told. No matter how angry he was he could not disobey a direct order from the acting alpha in this small pack.
“I am sitting, now answer my question,” he snarled.
Raff remained silent for a few moments, which only angered Maccon more, the silence to him was confirmation that what he suspected was true Finally, Raff spoke.
“Yes Maccon, what you have discovered is true. You are here for the purpose of taking the blood and that alone.”
“Why? Why me? Why not Conan, or you, or any one of the other more alpha males? Why the youngest of us all?” Maccon fired.
“Because Maccon, you are the only living wolf that is a direct descendant from the first alpha of the Silent Walkers. You are the most powerful among us and one day you will be the alpha of the pack; it is what is expected of you. Add the blood of immortality and we will be more powerful than any Vampire,” Raff explained. Maccon did not speak, he glanced at Conan, he too was sitting in shocked silence at Raff's admission. After a few moments, he shook his head standing, turning to face Raff his voice cold.
“I will not be an experiment! I will not be controlled like this! I do not want this goddamn curse and that is what it will be, a curse! I do not want to live forever!” Maccon’s voice taking on a deadly calm tone as he demanded, “Choose someone else.”
“It is not as simple as that Maccon. You have no choice, this is your destiny and you will fulfil it,” Raff stated simply.
“No, I will not! We all have choices, and mine is not to fulfil this destiny, and no one can make me,” he spat before retreating out the open door, slamming it behind him. Once more he allowed the wolf to take over and with a howl to the wind he was gone. He had to run, had to hunt, had to be free, there was no way anyone was going to make him become something he did not want to be.
Conan sat in stunned silence listening to all that was being said between Raff and Maccon, he could understand why Maccon was so angry. He would have been too if he had just discovered that he was basically being used as an experiment for their kind. He flinched slightly as the door slammed shut behind his brother as he dared a look towards Raff, even a human would have been able to sense the anger radiating off him. After several seconds of silence Conan finally dared to speak.
“Why did you not tell him?”
“I was not permitted, and I am not
sure how the hell he found this out,” Raff growled. Conan shrank back from the glare that was now focused on him.
“Raff, this is not my fault, but I think I may know who would have put the idea in his head. The girl. I am not sure she is what she says she is; I am not sure she is even human.” Conan said, watching as Raff stood and started pacing the length of the room.
“I have thought that since they day she came, something never sat right; it is why I kept her close, but it seems our friend Maccon may have fallen for her and seems to hang off her every word. Now the fool has gone.” Raff stopped and turned to face him, Conan did not like the look held in his eyes.
