Lycanthropy Files Box Set: Books 1-3 Plus Novella

by Cecilia Dominic

  I can’t get far on a broken leg, I decided. Let me see if there’s another way down. When I approached the side of the balcony, a harsh buzzing filled my ears, and my knees grew weak. A trellis clung to the side of the house—yes, I cringed at the cliché—but my muscles grew too weak for me to reach it. The door to my suite opened, and I turned to see Henry in the room.

  “What do you want?” I looked over my shoulder.

  He walked out on the balcony. “I came to ask what you want for dinner. You’re not invited to the table after that trick.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “I doubt that’s all you’re here for.” I bit my tongue. It sounded like I was propositioning him. I pulled my robe tighter and crossed my arms.

  His round features would have looked harmless on any other guy, but his eyes had a cold, feral tint—like the shark’s but with more cunning and less curiosity.

  “You’re quite the mystery, Miss Marconi.” He brushed a finger down my shoulder. Whereas Max’s touch gave me pleasurable tingles, his left a trail of cold in his wake and the feeling a snake had just slithered over my skin, even through the robe.

  “I’ll ask again, Henry. What do you want? If it’s to take my dinner order, I’m not hungry.”

  “The role of the broken-hearted mistress doesn’t suit you, my dear.” He leaned in close, and his cold breath across my face made unpleasant goose bumps rise on my arms.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked and backed away. “It’s the blood magic, isn’t it? You’re paying the price.”

  “Not that it’s done me a lot of good,” he said and followed me. “I’ve been waiting five years to bring Deirdre back, and you were the perfect vessel.”

  “I’m not anyone’s vessel, Henry.” I allowed my tone to betray my disgust.

  “No, only Maximilian’s. Or should I say his prick’s?” He snorted. “What do you see in him? Deirdre told me I underestimated him, but I never found anything particularly appealing about him. Is it the doctor thing?”

  I struggled not to let my jaw drop open at his questions. “You sound jealous.”

  He grabbed my wrist, his thumb an ice pick where he anchored his grip. “I can feel the blood flowing in your veins, you know that?” He licked his lips.

  “Okay, I’ve dealt with werewolves and wizards. Don’t tell me I’ve got to learn how to tame vampires too.”

  He snorted. “Vampires are only legends, my dear. Blood magic allows me to manipulate and control beyond any fictional creature’s dreams.”

  I struggled to wrench my wrist away from him, but his hand could have been a frozen manacle. “To what end? If it’s sex you want, there are easier ways to get it. Not from me, of course. Cold bastards like you aren’t my type.”

  “You are a naïve little bitch, you know that? It’s too bad my father won’t allow you in the library. You could look up why you are so special, so important for us. You’re going to help us get revenge on werewolves for my sister’s death.”

  Another man withholding information from me. This time when I stomped my foot, it was on top of his, and he finally let go. I rubbed my wrist to warm it.

  He snarled at me, and I bared my teeth at him.

  “Ah, I mustn’t forget you’re a predator, for all I can smell your fear. Well, keep it coming, honey, and tomorrow we’ll find out which one of us is the hunter, and which one the prey.”

  I was trapped against the railing, and he leaned in like he was going to kiss me. I ducked, and he laughed.

  “You won’t be so shy tomorrow night. Not that you mainland harlots ever are. Is that how you enticed Maximilian away from the memory of my sister?”

  “Your sister tried to take over my body, or did you forget? If you rape me, that will be like incest.”

  “If I take you, I’ll enjoy making him watch.”

  27

  I heard Henry’s evil laugh in my ears long after he left the room. What the hell was he talking about? How am I special?

  Saraya had changed the sheets on the bed, so I didn’t hold out much hope that the book I’d filched from the library was still in its hiding place, but it was. Henry had called me naïve, so I hoped it was basic information I lacked. Leafing through the index for werewolves brought me to the chapter on werewolf-wizard relations.

  Apparently there was a type of wizard or shaman called a vargamore, usually a female, who could also influence them. Legend had it that these were wizards with werewolf blood, or vice versa.

  Giancarlo—even thinking his name brought his last moments to mind, and I had to close the book and take a deep breath to focus—had mentioned there were few families of mixed blood. Was that why? Self-preservation so they wouldn’t create children that could be their downfall? To this point, I’d labeled the wizards elitist for not wanting to mix with humans. But maybe the werewolves lived among humans and mated with them so they wouldn’t be tempted by wizards. It made them seem less like they liked and respected humans as equal creatures and more like they used them to satisfy their urges and keep from allowing the gene pool to get too inbred. If there was something werewolf legends had in common, it was some sort of excess, often sexual.

  I didn’t have time to ponder the social implications of werewolf mating strategy and how it fit the legends. I had a more immediate threat to consider.

  If Henry finds a way to manipulate me, he could gain control of the werewolves! This didn’t have anything to do with anti-aging products. Peter led me astray…again. Or maybe he was fed the wrong information.

  The sun set, and I watched the light from the moon and stars play over the waves while I tried to figure out a way out of my position. It all came back to me getting Max’s blood away from Henry, me being able to change, and finally, if possible, helping Max get his memories back.

  Saraya had said I could come with her to talk to her village holy man at ten o’clock. If I couldn’t do it physically, I would go spiritually since I seemed to be good at dodging the wards with my astral projection. Soon the wizard primer put me to sleep.

  I opened my eyes at a quarter until ten and found myself standing on the path outside the mansion’s kitchen garden, which I had only seen through the back door. Wolf-Lonna sat beside me, and I wore my favorite long brown skirt and green halter-neck top from home. At least it’s not Deirdre’s clothes.

  Saraya and the male servant Alastair, whom I had learned was the cook and her brother, were getting their things from the small room behind the kitchen.

  “Do you think she’ll come?” her brother asked.

  “She will come. She has much power, and they can barely contain her. It is her ignorance and her resistance to what she is that hold her back.”

  “Hmph,” I said to Wolf-Lonna. “The things you hear when people don’t think you’re listening.”

  “Humans,” was Wolf-Lonna’s reply.

  Saraya and Alistair came out into the soft night. They seemed to move to the rhythm of the bugs singing in the forest, and Saraya’s face broke into a huge grin when she saw me.

  “See, Alistair? She is here with her companion.”

  I placed my hand on Wolf-Lonna’s head, and she stayed calm.

  “Thank you for allowing me to come tonight,” I said. “I’m not sure how well this will work, but I’ll try.”

  “Our holy man has wanted to meet you since he heard there was a female wizard here with wolf blood,” Alistair told me.

  “Which part makes me interesting, being female or the wolf blood?”

  Saraya’s laugh danced among the sounds of the forest. “Both. He has heard of creatures like you but has never spoken to one.”

  I followed her and Alistair through the forest until we came to where the wards should supposedly keep magical creatures like me in or out. Like the ones around the library, however, these hung in tattered strips that Wolf-Lonna and I could easily slip through.

  “Why are they so poor?” I asked. “You can see them, right?”

  “We cannot, but our shama
n can,” Alistair said. “He says the old man Carrigan thinks he is more effective than he is. The wizards have a weak leader, and so they are in constant danger in their war with the wolves.”

  “Why doesn’t someone come and fix things?” I asked.

  “He was powerful enough that no one looks closely, and so no one knows what is wrong. Plus, if he were to step down, his son would take over, and no one wants that.”

  I nodded and cringed at the memory of Henry’s earlier visit. “He’s twisted, and I suspect he was like that even before he started dabbling in things he shouldn’t.”

  “You are correct,” Saraya said. “He has been like that since he was a boy.”

  I studied her and Alistair, both of whom looked like they couldn’t be much older than I. “Do you all have magical blood?”

  “Yes, but few of us have the ability to do much with it,” Alistair said. “So we just watch the wizards and warn our people when things change.”

  “Interesting,” I murmured. We came to a clearing where a large bonfire had been lit.

  “This is as far as we can take you, for only we are allowed into our village,” Saraya said. “Our shaman will come for you when it is time.”

  She and Alistair melted into the shadows and left me to wait with Wolf-Lonna.

  “Well, that’s not what I expected,” I said to her.

  “None of this likely is,” came a voice from behind the fire, and a man with long robes and whose face was obscured walked around the flames. With the bonfire behind him, it was impossible to make out exact age or skin tone, likely so I wouldn’t be able to identify him later should the wizards try to force me to.

  I curtsied. “Greetings, Wise One. All I can say is that I apologize for my ignorance of protocol in this situation.”

  “I know you are as a child when it comes to these things,” he said. “Those who were well-intentioned kept you in ignorance and inadvertently taught you to hide the truth from yourself. Someone here wants to speak with you.” He waved his hand, and Aunt Alicia appeared.

  “Auntie!” We embraced, and I was surprised she seemed solid and real.

  “Lonna, my ragazzina,” she said and put a hand to my cheek. “Listen closely. This is my one chance to make up to you for all those years I kept things from you. If I had known what you would face, I would have been honest with you from the start.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Your wolf-friend is like Gladis Ann was to me, separate and yet part of you. You are afraid of much, so she cannot yet act independently, but you will need her help soon.”

  “Why can’t I change?”

  She squeezed my hands. “You can, my sweet girl, but the ability is behind the wall you have put up in your memory. You need to push through and face the reality of what happened the first time. Although you did so once before, they will be resolved, or they will destroy you.”

  I had to remind myself to breathe because thinking of the time in the cave made me feel like I was suffocating. “Max said something like that.”

  “Yes, in spite of what they did to him, he is and was yours. The two of you need and complete each other. That is why you don’t leave in spite of being able to do so.”

  I knew in my heart she was right. “I am tired of running, of living half a life. I want to fight for what is mine, but I have lost my most powerful weapon.”

  “You have lost nothing, merely blocked it by hiding from your truth.”

  “What is my truth?” I asked.

  “It is in your moment of greatest peril that you will find your truth, which will lead to your strength if you have the courage to take it.”

  “What? That’s not an answer—that’s a riddle.”

  She disappeared, and the medicine man chuckled. The sound melted into the crackle of the fire and the hum of the insects. I found myself alone in the clearing with the tail end of a fire and Wolf-Lonna.

  “What the hell?” I asked.

  “The answers we want the most are never easy,” Wolf-Lonna told me.

  “Since when did you get so wise?” I asked her and started on the path back to the mansion.

  “Since you decided you want me around,” she replied. “That’s some progress, at least.”

  I cringed at how rejected she must have felt when I was struggling against my true nature.

  But what is my true nature? Wizard, wolf, or human? Or all three?

  The sun woke me the next morning. I had forgotten to pull the curtains before returning to my reading, which had put me to sleep, as textbooks always had. Now as I squinted and cursed myself, one of the many strange things about the house came to mind. The sun rose on the other side of the island, which made the placing of the house odd considering how wizards typically built facing east unless there was some sort of geographic barrier to doing so. It took a moment for me to recognize where I was and for the memories of the previous night’s events to come crashing down on me.

  They have Max, and they’re going to take control of my change and make me into a slave so they’ll be able to manipulate the wolves. Henry had said it was revenge for what they did to his sister, but in the morning light, something Deirdre had said came back to me—how he wouldn’t allow her to escape in death like she hadn’t been able to escape in life. By marrying Max? It made me wonder just how long there had been something weird going on in wizard-land, which would partially explain why I hadn’t seen any others.

  Carrigan implied they only appeared down here for major holidays and feasts, but shouldn’t there be some sort of administration? More than two servants? I should have asked Max while I had the chance.

  “You’re avoiding thinking about what you have to do today.” Wolf-Lonna chimed in. “Today is when you defeat them.”

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  She appeared in the middle of the room and stretched, then lolled with her tongue hanging out. “We’re hungry.”

  My stomach growled. “You’re right, we are.” Joanie had once told me that I lost my appetite when I fell in love at first sight. All of that seemed like another lifetime, and I wondered if I would ever see her again—would get to meet her baby.

  A knock on the door startled me out of my maudlin thoughts, and Saraya entered with a tray. Wolf-Lonna disappeared.

  “Did you get what you needed last night?” Saraya asked.

  “I think so. Maybe. Your holy man speaks in riddles.” I decided not to tell her my dead aunt had paid me a visit. I should have asked where her body was.

  She smiled. “He says he is understandable to those who make the effort. Easy answers are for preachers who care more about money than saving souls.”

  “He’s probably right. Thank you,” I said as she poured a cup of coffee for me out of a silver pot. “Can I ask you a household question?”

  “You may ask, but I am forbidden from answering anything that might give you an advantage over Master Carrigan.”

  “Fair enough. I don’t want to jeopardize your employment here. This is a huge house. Where are the rest of the people? Shouldn’t there be more servants? Administrators?”

  She bit her lip for a few seconds before answering, and she spoke carefully. “This is only one of the houses on the island, and magic is helpful when it comes to easing chores. That is all I can say.”

  “So this may be headquarters, but others don’t live here full-time. Interesting.”

  “They are sensitive to each other, and so they like their privacy.”

  I wondered just how much of that privacy was defensive so they couldn’t steal each other’s secrets. “Can you tell me what happened between Carrigan and Henry?”

  Saraya shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Master Henry was dabbling in magic he shouldn’t have been, and Master Carrigan told him to leave or stop.”

  “When was this?”

  “About four and a half years ago, after Mistress Deirdre’s death.”

  “Right.” Perhaps Carrigan knew what Henry was going to do wi
th Deirdre’s body and spirit but didn’t get to him in time.

  Today Saraya laid out a plain white gown and sandals. “This is what Master Carrigan said for you to wear. It is an initiation dress. You must be doing well with your studies.”

  “I suppose that’s one way to put it. I certainly know more than when I came.”

  “And yet you look sad.” She wiped a tear from my cheek. “Do not be afraid. I’ve been told it doesn’t hurt, but it will change you.” She braided my hair in a simple plait down my back and tied it with a white ribbon. A knock on the door told me it was time to go.

  “I hope I’m ready for this,” I said to Wolf-Lonna, but she was silent. What I’d feared my first morning there was true—they’d put the antipsychotic in something I ingested to block me from accessing my inner wolf. It seemed to work more quickly than previously, and I worried the stuff might be building up in my system with repeated dosing.

  Oh, now they’re really playing dirty. I will find a way to get her back, and I will not let Henry win.

  Henry blindfolded me and tied my wrists before we left the room. He tugged me along with a rope attached to the wrist ties.

  “Just in case you get any ideas of making a run for it. I don’t feel like chasing you. Not that you’d get far,” he sneered.

  I only lifted my chin and didn’t dignify him with a response.

  He led me to the dungeon, all the while heckling me with comments like he was looking forward to stealing my will and breaking my spirit. My silence seemed to goad him into further revelation like, “And once I have control of you, I’ll be able to manipulate the werewolves, and then I’ll become leader of the wizards. We won’t have any more of this passive standing aside and letting humanity alone. They’ve mucked things up on their own for far too long.”