Celtic Rose

by Campbell, Jill

  He followed the stench of the soldiers into the deep forest. The odor got stronger as he neared a clearing. There were voices on the other side. He peered through the brush and saw a fire in the middle. The voices he heard were two of the soldiers who were walking the circle. One soldier sat next to the fire, and another stood on the other side. By the look and smell of it, two were dead, near the far west of the camp; the others apparently planned to bury them. Gabriel wasn’t going to let them get that far.

  The two that had been walking the clearing came right in front of where Gabriel crouched. He ducked down a little further and waited for them to get past, then launched himself at them. He hit one and then the other before anyone even noticed he was there. Then he ran at the two by the fire. Each grabbed a burning log and jumped up, apparently assuming from all the growling that he was a wolf. They jabbed the fire in his direction, and as the light hit Gabriel’s eyes, they reflected as a real wolf’s eyes would. Gabriel smiled at the thought of being a wolf; a rabid wolf maybe. Fire had absolutely no effect on him, just as it would have no effect on a rabid wolf. As he smiled, his fang’s extended, as well as his claws.

  The soldiers’ eyes went wide with shock. The one whose scent Gabriel had followed was standing there. Gabriel looked at his arm, seeing he’d cauterized it, but it bled again; it must’ve split when he picked up the log. To Gabriel it smelled like the most enticing meal. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, crouching down, ready to spring. One soldier misjudged where the fire was and tripped over it. He fell back into the fire, distracting the other soldiers. Gabriel jumped onto him first and ripped out his throat. He didn’t have time to savor the taste, and the soldier died instantly. There was no need for torture, at least not at that moment. Gabriel jumped out of the fire and onto the wounded soldier. He struggled to get up, but his injured arm made him move too slowly. He screamed out as Gabriel’s teeth sank into his arm. Steak tartar came to mind when Gabriel killed, and the wounded soldier was the most succulent steak tartar he’d had in a long while since he was only allowed animals to eat, and they tasted rather bland compared to human. Gabriel had planned to rip him limb from limb before finally killing him, but his screams were like that of a young girl. It tore at Gabriel’s heart, so he went straight for his throat. The scream turned into a gurgle as he died. The only sound left in the clearing was the sound of tearing flesh as Gabriel satiated his hunger.

  The silence was disturbed by a twig snapping under foot. In that moment, Gabriel remembered that there had been seven smells on the trail. He wondered where the other soldier had been. There was a whistle in the wind a moment before Gabriel felt something bite into his arm; it was a Scottish dirk. Gabriel had a moment of wondering how the Roman obtained a Scottish dirk before smiling at the fact that it wasn’t made of silver. The wound closed almost immediately as he spun around to face the soldier. The Roman saw the wound heal and his eyes widened. Gabriel almost laughed. Recovering from his shock, the Roman ran toward Gabriel with a silver knife glinting in his hand. That could do damage to Gabriel easily.

  Gabriel flipped over him, clawing his back on the way. He screamed out, grabbing his back, but turned to face Gabriel again. The first two victims started to stir. The Roman looked toward them, just long enough for Gabriel to jump on him. As he fell, Gabriel smacked his head into the ground just hard enough to knock him out. He only needed one soldier alive, but as his human mind started to come back he realized it would be better to have three. That way, if one of them lied, they would have others to check the story with. In the blink of an eye, Gabriel leapt over to where the other two stirred. He pounced on their backs, knocking them back to the ground and immediately smacked both of their heads to the ground as well, and then tied the three together and placed them on a make-shift pad that he could drag behind a horse.

  When Gabriel returned to the castle he was met at the gate by the king, Kallisto, Talus, Kalan, Ramina, William, and several guards. Gabriel recognized them all when he saw them, which was more than he had recognized any other full moon; at least that quickly. Normally when he was in that mindset he wouldn’t regain his human self until the full moon was at its highest; before, when he was younger, he wouldn’t gain control until the sun came up, but then his control came only a few hours after dark.

  His eyes never left Kallisto as he brought the men who’d attacked her like an offering. She was his to protect, his duty and his reason for existing.

  He climbed off the horse, watching Kallisto as she gazed at him in adoration, as if deeply touched that he’d avenged her. The guards came forward and grabbed the men, then carted them off to the dungeon. Gabriel walked to Kallisto, but stopped short when Talus stepped in front of her. He growled, although his eyes never left Kallisto. It was a warning for Talus.

  Seeing Gabriel’s rage, the king grabbed Talus’ shoulder.

  “It is all right, Talus. He’ll never hurt her.” The king pulled Talus out of Gabriel’s way. He continued moving to Kallisto and she lifted her hand, placing it on his face. Gabriel rubbed his cheek into her hand for a moment, closing his eyes and enjoying the soothing sensation of her touch. He loved how she could reach through the animal to find the man inside. Overcome by the emotions, he grabbed her into a tight hug. He could sense the distress in Talus at Gabriel’s quick movement; Talus’ heart sped up and his breath quickened. He was truly worried that Gabriel would hurt her. Gabriel thought it was ludicrous–he could never hurt his little cub. Kallisto squeezed him tightly, clinging to Gabriel in gratitude. As he smelled her hair, drawing in her scent, he could smell a hint of Talus’ fragrance on her. It seemed to open another part of his brain and he realized Talus was a friend. Gabriel reached his arm out, pulling Talus into the hug with Kallisto. Talus tensed at first, probably expecting to become a meal, but as he realized Gabriel was just pulling him into the hug, he relaxed and squeezed both of them.

  “I am sorry I growled at you.” The sound came out gravely and unfamiliar. Gabriel flinched at the sound and so did Talus. Kallisto giggled with her face still in Gabriel’s chest.

  “No harm done,” Talus said finally.

  Gabriel released him but couldn’t get himself to let Kallisto go. She pulled her head back and smiled up at him. “Can you say something again? It tickles when you talk.”

  Gabriel found himself smiling at her. He bent his head, kissing her forehead, and then pushed her head back to his chest.

  “I will always protect you, my little cub.” She giggled and pulled her head back. She rose on her tip-toes and tried to kiss him on the cheek. He picked her up rather than bending down to meet her, chuckling at her squeal of surprise. After she kissed him, he placed her back on her feet, and she led him into the castle. The king stopped them just after they stepped inside.

  The king patted Gabriel’s shoulder. “Do you feel up to interrogating the captives, my wolf?”

  “I think I could make them talk,” Gabriel said, giving the king an evil sneer, eager for the chance to question the fiends.

  The king smiled, clapping him on the shoulder again. “Let Talus and the others take Kallisto inside, and we’ll go to the dungeon and get some answers.”

  Gabriel looked to Kallisto for approval. She smiled encouragingly and stroked his hand.

  “They’ll take good care of me, Gabriel. They love me as much as you do.” She lifted her hand toward Talus. He came and took it.

  “I promise no harm will come to her Gabriel. Not as long as there’s a breath in my body.” Talus caressed Kallisto’s hair.

  Kalan, Ramina, and William fell into a protective circle around her with Talus. In that moment Gabriel knew she would be fine. He smiled and turned to the king.

  “I am ready, my king.” The king turned and walked toward the dungeon; Gabriel followed, happy in knowing Kallisto was safe.

  Down in the dungeon, the soldiers were chained to different torturing devices in different areas. They couldn’t see each other, but they would hear each other’s screams.
‘Psychological warfare at its best’, Gabriel mused.

  The first soldier sat there with his thumbs locked in the thumbscrews. Of all the lethal torture devices they used, that was the least damaging. Pulling and crushing the thumbs was excruciating, but it was definitely not the worst thing they could do. They’d put a scrawny looking soldier into the contraption, but he was grinning. Gabriel was astounded. The soldier sat there with his thumbs locked in and he was grinning–there was no fear in him. Gabriel shrugged the grin off as the stupidity of youth and walked towards him.

  As Gabriel stood next to him, the soldier looked straight in his eyes, showing his strength and determination. Gabriel towered over him so much that his neck was twisted at a painful angle.

  “I’ve been trained to take all types of torture. You’ll never break me or my comrades. No matter what you do to us, we can handle it all.”

  ‘He is so confident’, Gabriel thought, ‘but of course he must never have really been tortured’. Everybody broke eventually. It might take days, maybe even a week, but they all broke.

  Gabriel bared his teeth at the soldier and a guttural growl vibrated from his chest.

  The soldier jumped and finally Gabriel saw fear in his eyes. “What are you?” Tears seemed to fill his eyes as he spoke. Gabriel could only guess that maybe he remembered that sound from the clearing before he was pounced on. Maybe he’d thought it was an animal, and now he saw otherwise.

  “I am werewolf, young one.”

  The young soldier’s eyes widened with fear, the smell of it making Gabriel see red. He wanted so badly to feed, but he knew he couldn’t. He gripped the chair in front of him, digging his claws into wood, and the young soldier started screaming. Another of the other soldiers started yelling for his comrade, but the young one couldn’t stop screaming to answer. Gabriel heard the scout start talking, and all he wanted was for them to stop torturing the boy. The scout spoke about a force coming in to take over the land, and the only reason they were there was to explore and report their findings. Realizing they had what they needed, Gabriel started to calm and walked away from the young soldier. He calmed and quit screaming, but Gabriel still smelled the fear on him. The overwhelming hunger washed over him and he ran out of the dungeon and into star-lit night. He hunted and the blood rage calmed.

  Gabriel woke in the darkness; there was a red tint to the room as he looked at the clock. The bloodlust was still present, but it was fading. It was nearly six o’clock, the perfect time to wake the others and start training. He knew it would be a grueling process. It always seemed to be in every life. If the past lives were any indication of what he was up against, then Kallisto and Kalan would learn the quickest and William would learn the slowest. Since Kallisto was down for a while and the curse was working faster than ever, then maybe there would be something different this time around. William would definitely be getting a few extra energy balls thrown at him. The thought made Gabriel grin.

  Gabriel went to each room, waking up the others. He went into William’s room first. He didn’t even bother trying to wake him up gently; it never worked before anyway, so he just walked in, grabbed the side of the mattress, and flipped it–and him–onto the floor. He landed with a thud and the mattress landed on him. William woke cursing him with every breath, but he was awake so Gabriel moved on.

  After waking the others, Gabriel went down the stairs. As he stepped into the living room, he caught a whiff of bacon being cooked–or maybe it was ham. He realized after a few minutes that he smelled both. He trailed into the kitchen to look. Ephiny stood in front of the stove, cooking on all burners. She fried bacon in one, and ham in another. A skillet of scrambled eggs sizzled, and she flipped pancakes with a spatula. Plates of sausage and toast sat on the table. It was the biggest feast Gabriel had seen since their time with the royal family.

  She turned toward Gabriel and laughed. “It’s alright Gabriel. It’s only food.” She turned back to the stove. “I knew you’d be in such a hurry to get started that you’d forget they need food to build their strength. And you’re not infallible, Gabriel. You need to eat, too, maybe more than the mere mortals in the dining room.” She smiled mischievously and looked at him from under her lashes with an evil, yet seductive, smile. He could see the wolf roaming inside her, like she was going to change at any moment. Gabriel jumped back and crouched in a defensive position. Ephiny laughed, shaking her head at him as she turned back to the stove.

  “Why did you do that? How did you do that? The only reason I can stop the change is because of the necklace. You stopped it with no help at all.”

  “Oh, I had help; it’s called internal control. I did it to remind you that you are more than man and need more food than a normal man. The enchantress told you you’d learn from me as the others learn from you, and I’m starting with your training now. Without food the hunger and blood lust will be harder to control. You can’t ignore your most basic needs, Gabriel. You must tend to those first and foremost before you can be of any use to anyone else. Now, go sit down and watch as everyone sees me for the first time in centuries.” She turned and started making plates, so Gabriel followed her orders and went on into the dining room.

  “Hey, Gabriel. Who’s cooking?” Kalan sat down at the table. “I thought we were the only ones in this house.”

  “Well, Kalan, I had a visitor last night and now we have another asset in the curse.”

  The others stared at Gabriel with wide and curious eyes.

  Ramina was the first one to question. “You mean someone willingly joined the curse?”

  “In a manner of speaking…yes.” Gabriel grinned.

  The door opened and Ephiny came into the dining room, carrying several trays of food. The werewolf part gave her new-found strength and balance, and she used it as though she’d possessed it for centuries, rather than one night. Gabriel stared at her wide-eyed, astonished at how quickly and easily she’d adapted to the new power. The others hesitated for a moment, staring at her in awe. They jumped up simultaneously and ran to her.

  “Ephiny! I had no idea you would be one of us!” Ramina hugged her.

  “Wow, Ephiny, I’ve thought about you so many times.” Kalan picked her up and spun her around. “I wondered what became of you, girl!”

  She laughed whole-heartedly.

  “Kalan, you silly thing. How could you think of me? Most of the time you didn’t know who I was.”

  “I know, but since we’ve been dreaming I wondered what happened to you after we died. You cared so much for my sister and me.”

  “Well, I’ll just say that your father released me after you died. He didn’t have the heart to kill me. I lived a full and happy life. Your father gave me a lot of money–I hardly had to work for anything. I married and had six children. My line is the one who kept you throughout your many lives.” Ephiny didn’t show any emotion as she spoke, even though their mouths dropped in surprise.

  “Didn’t you wonder why these families agreed to do this? You didn’t think it was a family who cared about you and cared about what happened to you?” Ephiny scolded playfully. Everyone sobered a bit as realization hit. Gabriel had known it was Ephiny’s line that cared for them, but he had never thought to tell the others.

  “Why did you agree to be a part of the curse? I’d say you’ve put enough into the curse by taking care of us all.” William gave her a hug, and she held onto him a bit longer than she had the others.

  “I have my reasons, William.” As she pulled away, she kept her hands on his arms and smiled brightly as she looked into his eyes. Gabriel realized in that moment that she had feelings for William. He couldn’t remember any memory where these feelings would’ve shown themselves in their first life.

  She turned away from William. “Uh-oh, Kallisto is awake. She’s about to start down the stairs.” In a flash, she was gone. Gabriel ran into the main hall and looked up the stairs just in time to see Kallisto hug Ephiny.

  “You shouldn’t be out of bed yet, Kallisto
,” Gabriel said as he ascended the stairs. Kallisto and Ephiny pulled away and looked at him. Although Kallisto’s face was extremely pale and she had dark circles under her eyes, she smiled. His heart dropped at the sight of her small, almost skeletal looking frame. He picked her up gently and started for her room.

  “Kallisto? Are you alright?” Talus jogged up the stairs.

  “I’m fine, silly,” she assured him. “I just feel a little weak.”

  “I’ll get you some breakfast before all these men eat it up,” Ephiny announced with a smile. In the blink of an eye, Ephiny vanished. Kallisto stared at the place where Ephiny had stood, then looked at Gabriel. He started toward her room again, with Talus on his heels.

  “She just appeared in front of me as I reached the stairs, and now she’s disappeared just as quickly. What is she?” Kallisto asked as Gabriel placed her in the bed.

  Gabriel chuckled. Talus looked at him questioningly, so he must’ve been wondering the same thing. Gabriel covered Kallisto and Talus sat next to her on the bed.

  “Ephiny was brought to us last night by the same enchantress that saved us in our first life, by changing the curse. She’s made Ephiny a werewolf like me.”

  Their mouths dropped.

  “Don’t worry, she’s been given the knowledge to control the beast. The enchantress did it so she could help me control mine. She doesn’t need the silver necklace.”

  As if on cue, Ephiny came in with a tray of food. There were two plates with a little bit of everything she’d cooked on them.

  “You two better go down and eat so you can get started. I’m going to stay up here and eat with Kallisto. We have some catching up to do. I’ll be down later to help with the training.” She went to the side Talus was on and waited.

  Talus kissed Kallisto and held her for a few moments, and then walked to the door, gazing at Kallisto the whole way. Gabriel thought he might run into the wall, but he stepped to the side and out the door just as he reached the wall. Gabriel thought maybe Talus would learn quicker than he had before as well. He seemed more coordinated and aware of his surroundings.