Key to Conflict

by Talia Gryphon

  Pavel, like most Human and non-Human patients alike, was terrified that he was actually crazy, at least in his layman’s idea of psychosis. He desperately wanted to know what was wrong with him and had been praying relentlessly since Cezar had suggested speaking with Gillian that she would determine what was wrong and how to fix it. He was slumped down in the chair across from the tiny blonde, watching her as she wrote, her brow furrowing a little in concentration. When she raised her eyes to his, there was triumph gleaming in them. For the first time in years, he felt something of a glimmer of hope.

  CHAPTER

  16

  “P AVEL,” Gillian began gently, “I think I have an idea of what’s bothering you.”

  He looked so sweet and hopeful that she leaned forward and took his hands in hers, offering comfort through her empathy. She could feel his fears, read his need to know what was tormenting him, understand what was wrong. The antiquated Freudian notion that a patient didn’t need to know what their disorder was or how to treat it, had been thankfully thrown out years before. An informed patient was a patient that would work toward battling their disorder rather than living in terror over what it might be in abstract terms.

  “Yes? What can it be?” Afraid to hope, he waited.

  “Your symptoms are that of post-traumatic stress disorder, probably as a result of the original attack which led to your conversion, then compounded with the mastiff attack which led you to move here. But Pavel…” She paused a moment, making sure his eyes were back on hers and that she had his attention for the bombshell she was about to drop on him. “…I think that your allergy is to fur. It’s probably related back to the traumatic stress you’ve endured. Sort of like if you weren’t a wolf, this last attack wouldn’t have happened. If you hadn’t been around a wolf, the original attack wouldn’t have happened. I hope I’m making sense here. I’d like to find out, with your permission, and see if we can’t alleviate this for you.” She waited while that sunk in.

  Pavel’s hamster was doing overtime on his mental wheel. Click. Bluer-than-blue eyes widened with understanding. “You mean I am doing this to myself? The itching? The shedding? Am I mad, Gillian? Have I gone crazy?”

  Gillian held his eyes with her own. “No, Pavel. It means that you lived through a life-threatening, nearly life-ending experience twice. Your first attacker was lupine. Your last mastiff attackers were canine. As a wolf, they are your distant cousins, animal or not.”

  Careful, she thought. He’s new to this. Pushing warmth and compassion toward him with her empathy, she went on.

  “So what happened is that at first, you were in shock, then numb. You went through your first transformation and I’m thinking it was scary. When your mind was ready to start processing what happened to you, you started having nightmares, flashbacks. The fact that your allergies did not respond to any known medical treatment and that you did not have them before all this occurred, suggests that it is taking place in your mind. Something with fur nearly killed you twice; now you’re reacting to fur, even your own. Does that make sense?”

  It did, but they discussed it for a while longer. Pavel noticed that her pheromones had shifted. She was projecting warmth and support to him. He hadn’t known Humans could do that. Focusing on what she had said, he asked, “But I was bitten when I was changed. Why would I fear being bitten again?”

  “When you were turned into a Lycanthrope, something with fur bit you. I don’t know if that was during an attack or the throes of passion, traumatic or not, but the result is the same. Two near-death experiences happened to you which are related to furry beings.”

  Pavel visibly relaxed. “So this condition, can it be cured? Can you make it stop, Gillian? At least make it less bothersome?”

  “I believe so. I would like to try something with you, if you agree.” Flying blind now, she had no idea how well her suggestion would be received. She’d never tried anything like it on a Shifter. Pavel trusted her, hopefully enough for this to work.

  His deep blue eyes focused on her. “What? Please help me, Doctor. I cannot live like this.”

  She noticed his return to her professional title and let it stand. To remind himself of what she was obviously was comforting to him. “I would like to try hypnotism on you, Pavel. Go back through both those situations and see if we can alleviate your stress, help you come to terms with all of it. Would you trust me to do this?”

  To her surprise he laughed. “Doctor, I am a simple peasant, but even I do not believe in this hocus-pocus. You are a very bad girl for trying to fool me in this way.”

  Grinning, not the least bit offended and glad he was reacting with genuine humor, she responded, “I didn’t believe it either, Pavel, until I saw it done and received training in this method. Will you at least let me try? I am not an expert, but I know what I’m doing. The worst that can happen is that we fail. You will be no worse off.”

  While he thought about it for a moment, she thought about it too. She’d had success with a Vampire who kept dreaming about being staked and a tiny demi-Fey who had been tormented by a dryad with threats of pulling off her wings, but she’d never hypnotized a Lycanthrope. Patient and quiet, she let him make his decision.

  “All right, Doctor. I will do it. Should I lie down?”

  “Please call me Gillian, and no, you don’t need to lie down. We don’t even have to do this right now or even today if you’re not comfortable.”

  “I am not comfortable, that is true,” he agreed, but his eyes were anguished. “But if there is a chance, I will try it. I will even try magic if it will make it stop. I will think of what you do as a type of magic, Gillian. I want you to help me, not just anyone, I want your help because I believe you are sincere and not making jokes about the Russian peasant wolf.”

  “Pavel, I would never make fun of you or any patient’s problems. I want to help you, not make you feel worse about it.” Gillian’s eyes were the warm green of a hot spring, her empathy and pheromones filling his senses with calmness. He could smell her anxiousness over him and his condition. She couldn’t have been more sincere than if she’d taken a blood oath before him. He believed her, believed in her.

  “What do I do?” he asked, his eyes earnest.

  “Just sit back in your chair and watch me.” She gave his hands a final squeeze, then pulled back to allow him to get situated.

  He obeyed her and settled back in the large wing-backed chair. Gillian lifted her pen; it was diamond-cut metal and sparkled in the light. She twirled it between her fingers, giving him a forced focal point. “Focus on the pen, Pavel, and listen to my voice.”

  Softly, coaxingly, soothingly, she spoke to him. Assuring him to trust her, that all would be well. Counting him down into the half sleep of the beta level of his mind, her empathy wide open to him and his deep fear, she felt it when he went under, relaxing into her voice’s suggestion.

  Hoping and praying to whatever gods were listening that she was doing the right thing, Gillian tapped into him, focusing on the most recent attack first. Deeply under, his breathing heavy and slow, Pavel heard her.

  Twilight came and the Vampires rose. Shielded within the castle stones, all windows covered with heavy tapestry drapery, they could move about before full dark fell. All of them were old enough and powerful enough to stand the last rays of sunlight and could move about freely during the day if it were heavily stormy and overcast or if they were out of direct sunlight. The library doors were shut and Aleksei could sense Gillian inside with someone. His senses told him it was Lycanthrope. He had his hand on the door, then stopped, not wanting to interrupt if it were a client.

  Cezar entered the front door in Human form just as the Egyptian Vampires filed into the hallway. Tanis also paused at the library for a moment until Cezar spoke. “Your little doctor is helping one of my pack, Aleksei. I hope you do not mind.”

  “Of course not, Cezar, it is her job after—” He was interrupted by a horrific snarl that lifted into a blood-curdling howl, coming
from the library.

  Heart in his mouth, he and Tanis moved as one with blurring speed, reaching for the doors with the rest of the Vampires and Cezar crowding on their heels. Nearly ripping the doors off their hinges, they barreled into the room. The sight that greeted them froze Aleksei’s blood.

  Gillian was behind Aleksei’s heavy desk, face white but determined. Her legs were braced and apart, her gun drawn and pointed at a pony-size blonde wolf who was stalking her in a classic attack position, growling low in his chest, ears forward, tail held in a flat line behind him. Pavel was crouching, growling, gathering himself for a lightening pounce. Gill had about four and a half pounds of pressure on a five-pound trigger. Any movement by Pavel was going to open a porthole in him. That she hadn’t plugged him already was amazing. No one would have blamed her.

  Visibly trembling, Gillian didn’t glance over or acknowledge their entry, though the wolf’s ear flicked momentarily toward them. He’d heard.

  To her credit, her arms were rock steady but her hands were quivering. When he’d shifted less than five feet in front of her, she’d crawled backward up and out of the chair as he convulsed rapidly into the blonde beast before her. Never taking her eyes off him, gun drawn, she’d backed across the desk, putting as much furniture between her and the snarling Werewolf as possible.

  Going for the door was out, so was yelling. Pavel would be on her if she so much as twitched. Also to her credit or her stupidity, Aleksei thought briefly, she hadn’t made so much as a squeak in the face of impending death. Her fear was palpable in the room, but she looked death in the face and dealt with it.

  Nobody stopped for questions. With blurring speed, Aleksei went for Gillian, imposing his large body between her and the nearly charging Werewolf, taking her gun arm down and away from him and the others, shoving her behind him. The Egyptians formed a wall between them and the drama unfolding scant feet away.

  Tanis and Cezar went for Pavel, who was slavering in an openmouthed growl, his body turning to meet the new threat; haunches bunching for a leap that would take him into his alpha and the Vampire. Cezar’s commanding bellow filled the room as Tanis blurred, grabbed the wolf in a deadly embrace, pulling him up on his hind legs, the Vampire’s left arm across his chest, the other positioned to snap his neck if he did not obey his alpha.

  “Pavel!”

  By the time the authority in the leader’s voice stopped echoing, everyone was shaking. The blonde wolf stopped struggling in Tanis’s arms. They were well matched at about the same height on two legs, but the wolf outweighed Tanis by quite a bit. Still, proving that Vampire strength was more than legendary, Tanis held him and kept his balance, his arms like tempered steel that would crush the wolf’s chest or snap his neck like a twig if he moved again.

  Cezar grabbed Pavel’s muzzle and forced him to look at him. The alpha’s power poured through the room and Cezar forced Pavel to shift. In moments, Tanis held a naked man in his arms who was bathed in sweat and semiconscious from the forced change. Taking his wolf in his arms, Cezar apologized profusely to Aleksei and to Gillian, who had come out from behind the Vampires and was looking at them with a querulous look on her pale face.

  “No, it’s all right, Cezar. I don’t know what happened. He shifted on me while he was under hypnosis.” Her voice shook a little. Anubis and Sekhmet flanked her instantly, effectively blocking Aleksei, who also tried to get to her side.

  “I will speak to you later then.” Cezar started out, carrying the naked Pavel, Montu and Noph following him closely in case more intervention was needed. Maeti ran to get the door.

  “Please don’t hurt him, Cezar.” Gillian didn’t want him harmed. “I don’t know why he shifted. Please let me find out. I don’t think he attacked me intentionally.” She wasn’t sure what happened, but she didn’t think Pavel would really try to hurt her in his right mind.

  “I will not punish him then, Gillian, until I hear from you or Aleksei.” Then they were gone into the night. Maeti locked the door, and the three guards returned, falling into place by the library doors.

  Aleksei was shaking. That had been too close and right under their noses. Tanis tried to lift Gillian in his arms but she struggled and he had to put her down or drop her. “Cut it out, Tanis. I’m all right.” She wasn’t, but damned if she’d let them know. It broke Aleksei’s heart to see her so vulnerable and be unable to comfort her himself.

  “What happened, little sister?” Anubis’s gentle, rich voice was soft but compelling.

  Sekhmet put an arm around her shoulders. “You must tell us, dearest. He is your client but his leader must know or he will execute him.”

  “I…I’m not sure.”

  Hell, might as well add “breaking confidentiality” to her list of blunders. She would tell Pavel later. If he wanted to report her, there was little she could do.

  “I hypnotized him to get to the origins of a trauma. I went through two major incidents in his life, the most recent one first. He did very well. We walked through it easily. He was responding to my questions, my suggestions. This shouldn’t have happened!”

  She started to shake and Sekhmet squeezed her shoulders tightly. “Go on, love.”

  Nodding, she did. “We got to the earlier trauma, were right in the middle of it, and he shifted on me.”

  “What was the trauma, Gillian?” Aleksei asked softly, needing to know.

  “When he was changed. We went over the first night he changed. Oh God!” Her eyes widened. “That must have been it. He was in a beta mental state—it’s the state we dream in, can function in. He relived it, but he really relived it.”

  Turning to Aleksei, her eyes pleading, she said, “You have to tell Cezar! Don’t let him kill Pavel, please! This wasn’t his fault!”

  Frantic to make him understand she started toward him, forgetting her legs were wobbly from the shock of nearly being lunch. She staggered against Sekhmet when they wouldn’t hold her.

  Aleksei moved instantly, brushing the others aside to get to her, unable to bear her fragile state a moment longer. Sweeping her up in his arms, he turned back to the room. “I am taking her to her room. I will be back shortly.”

  Gillian was still too shaken to argue, then realized she still held the Glock in her hand as Aleksei carried her from the library. Only Tanis noticed that she did not struggle this time.

  “Christ, I forgot I had this. Thanks for not letting me shoot anyone.” Looking up at his perfect profile, she smiled as his icy gray eyes turned to her. “I feel the shakes coming on again.” Her teeth chattered helplessly.

  “Shock,” he said gruffly. “You are in shock, piccola. You need to rest, to eat something. I will send Maeti or Sekhmet to you. You do not need Tanis tonight.”

  Reaching her door, his voice held an authoritative note of finality as he opened it with a thought, taking her into her room and laying her on the bed. The gun went on the nightstand beside her. He looked down at her for a moment, raw heat in his silvery eyes. Every cell in his body demanding that he hold her, comfort her, love her. Dominant, protective, alpha instincts rose within him, demanding that he take her, make her his so he would have the right to shield her, keep her safe. His body became an imperious ache, his arousal a hard line against his thigh. If he stayed in this room…if she touched him now…

  Gill reached up to take his hand in thanks and he jerked back, not trusting himself for the moment. He had to turn away from her surprised and hurt expression so she wouldn’t notice the reaction of his body to her need. She would misinterpret his desire for her as only sexual and that would destroy her trust in him.

  “Forgive me, Gillian. You want Cezar to know what has happened. I will tell him. No harm will come to Pavel. You have my word.”

  Keeping his back to her and striding out of her room, shutting the door behind him, was the hardest thing he’d ever done. She could have died tonight—if he and the others had been seconds slower, Pavel would have torn out her throat.

  Leaning on the wa
ll outside her room, he got his raging emotions and protesting body under control. He couldn’t get her small form out of his mind. She was so unbelievably fragile but so incredibly strong. Anyone else would have been curled in a sobbing heap on the floor. Even he was trembling.

  “Does she know, Count Rachlav?” Maeti’s soft voice was pitched only for Vampire ears to hear, and Aleksei spun at her words, staring at her incredulously. He’d been too distracted to hear her approach.

  “Know what, Maeti?”

  “Know how much you care for her?” There was a twinkle in her sky-blue eyes as she walked past him, and into Gillian’s room without waiting for permission to enter.

  Aleksei was astonished. Was he that obvious? Maeti barely knew him and she had guessed. Tanis knew, but he was his brother and shared blood and a relative bond. He needed to be careful or he would wind up compromising his own honor and Gillian’s oath. Swiftly, he went outside to inform Cezar that he did not have to execute Pavel for violating the pact of protection for those under Aleksei’s care.

  Tanis was just as surprised by what had happened and by his brother’s abrupt assertion. He’d started after them but had been stopped by Anubis. “Let him take her, Tanis. You may be her lover but sometimes a lover is not what is needed at the moment.”

  Grousing, he’d stayed put, letting himself be drawn into a conversation with the rest of them about the intricacies of Gillian’s profession. Maeti stayed with Gillian, finally talking her into food and a hot bath.

  Later, clean, relaxed and fed, Gillian pulled up her e-mail on the laptop. More festive news. The Italian therapist’s remains had been located. More of her cadre were now going missing in various countries. Looking over Gillian’s shoulder, Maeti quickly read the news, stunned by what she saw.

  “Count Rachlav must know this, Gillian. It concerns your safety and ours,” she lightly chastised her friend.