Vanilla Moon: Acrimony

by Airiel Hawkins

  I nodded. "I know," I said. "It took me a little time, but I remembered how Wolfgang and I were when we first met," I explained. "God, we could barely keep our hands off each other."

  She chuckled. "Nice, isn't it?" she asked. "To finally be with someone you want?"

  I nodded. "Very," I agreed. I looked through the glass and smiled as I watched him talk with our guests. "I didn't think it could ever be like this, you know?" I asked. "I mean, with Todd, I basically slept with him because I felt obligated to do it. We were together for so long that it seemed like I would just be asking for him to cheat on me if I didn't put out." I shook my head. "I wish I'd never dated him. I wish I'd never slept with him."

  "I wish we'd been able to talk you out of it," Selena added. "When your mom told us that you didn’t know and that she wasn't planning to tell you, we started keeping an eye on you. Protecting you. Just so the others would stay away. But we couldn't be there all the time, you know? You and Todd had that one class together and that was it." She shrugged. "I wish she'd been honest with you from the beginning."

  I chuckled. "For the most part, I'm actually grateful she wasn't," I confessed.

  "Oh? Why?"

  Wolfgang looked up and met my eyes. He stopped in the middle of what he was saying and smiled at me. "Because I wouldn't have met him," I answered.

  "Which means I wouldn't have met Riley. And Soph wouldn't have met Luke."

  "Exactly."

  "Okay, I'd like to officially change my opinion," she said with a laugh. "I'm glad your mom lied to you." She was quiet for a moment. "Are we okay?" she asked.

  I nodded. "We're okay," I answered.

  She let out a long sigh. "Oh, thank god!" she cried. "These last few days have sucked! I missed you!"

  I smiled before we hugged. "I missed you too, Lena."

  We walked back into the apartment after that and took back our places on the sofa. Wolfgang smiled at me as I sat and leaned over from his seat on a dining chair to give me a kiss. As always, whenever we were in the same room, we gravitated toward each other. It made me wonder if every pair of mated Lycans was the same.

  Riley returned around ten minutes later and had three two-liter bottles of ginger ale. "Want the bottle or a glass?" he asked.

  Selena glared at him. "Excuse you, I'm a lady," she said. Even she had difficulty keeping a straight face as she said it. I'd seen her drink from two-liter bottles, funnels, and everything in between.

  Riley held one of the bottles out to her. She took it, twisted off the cap, and took a long swig as he took the other two bottles to the kitchen. We may have come from the top, but we didn't mind living like we weren't.

  "So how does it work around here?" Declan asked. "I know the town is mostly Lycan, but you guys must have jobs and all. I mean, you guys need to buy groceries and pay taxes, right?"

  Wolfgang nodded. "Absolutely," he said. "One of the things my father will ask you guys is what you can bring to the pack that is unique. He's always looking for more ways to improve things around here. One of the draws he had for accepting Ceres is that she's multi-lingual and she's a lawyer."

  "You're kind of young to be a lawyer, aren't you?" Daphne asked.

  I chuckled. "Well, not anymore, but I was," I agreed. "Technically, I should be finishing up an internship at my age, but I graduated college early." Selena scoffed beside me. "What?" I asked.

  "You graduated everything early," she said. "High school, college, law school…. I swear to god, you are literally the smartest person I know."

  "And I use my powers of evil to prove I'm right," I said with a chuckle. It was an inside joke between us from when I decided on my course of action. She stuck her tongue out at me. "Besides," I said, "it's not that I'm smarter, it's that I apply myself more. You spent Freshman year partying and getting drunk. I spent it in the library."

  "You're so boring," she sighed. "You and Soph. I tried! I tried so hard to get you guys to come out of your shells, but no. You had to study."

  "It paid off," I argued.

  She sighed. "Yeah," she agreed. "You're still boring though."

  Wolfgang winked at me. "I'd beg to differ," he said with a sly grin.

  Selena held her hands out. "Okay, stud," she said. "Ceres is my sister. I don't need the details of her sex life," she said, causing everyone to laugh.

  "Anyway," Wolfgang said, turning back to Declan and his question. "Everyone in the pack who can work does work. There are a lot of different jobs we need to have done throughout the city. And, to be honest, if you need something and we don't have a position for you, we'll probably just make one. My family owns the best diner in town. We're going to get Ceres situated in the law office out here. Sophia has already started working at the clinic. Selena has her hands full as Riley's woman, but she's also a veterinarian. Everyone is in different stages and doing different things. We respect that. We also know that we have to do what is necessary to maintain the human façade."

  "Is that why there are as many humans out here as there are?" he asked. "Back in Arizona, we had only about a dozen or so humans in the town. Everyone else was Lycan—either from our pack or the rival one."

  "Rival packs in the same town?" Wolfgang asked. Declan nodded. "How did that happen? Territories aren't usually that close."

  Declan chuckled. "Right?" he agreed. "They were once all the same pack, but then local legend and differing opinions split the pack into two factions. After a few generations, they were officially two separate packs. Through local legend, they all thought that we would be the ones to unite the packs again, but it ended up being my brother and another woman from the rival pack that did it. We actually created more problems than we solved."

  "Is that why you were forced out?" I asked.

  Declan nodded. "Yep. They were far less than thrilled with us and encouraged us to go away."

  "By encouraged, he means that my biological father threatened to literally feed us to the pack if we didn't pack up and hit the road."

  "That's a lovely image," I said with a chuckle. "What did you do that was so bad?"

  "Unintentionally started a battle that ended up taking about half of the town's population," Declan confessed. "It was for that reason that the Moab pack didn't trust us. They figured we'd cause problems with other packs, which is what lead to us having problems there. I had to get good at fighting very fast because I was constantly challenged. They couldn't fight Daph because she was already pregnant by the time we got to Moab."

  "How long ago did you guys find out what you are?" Wolfgang asked. "You were both adopted, right?"

  Daphne nodded. "I've known that I was adopted since I was sixteen. Declan found out that he was adopted a few days before he turned eighteen. A couple of days after my eighteenth is when I found my birth parents. Fast forward a few more months and that's when we found out about being Lycan."

  "How old are you now?"

  "Thirty-two," Declan answered. "Math doesn't add up, right?" he asked.

  "Yeah… no," Wolfgang replied.

  "We stayed with our biological pack for a few years," Declan explained. "It wasn't until we fell for their local legend that things started getting stirred up. In that time, my brother started dating the rival Enkidu's daughter. They figured that we were supposed to be able to negotiate peace between the packs, but first, we had to learn everything we needed to know about being Lycan. That took about three years or so, and even then, we were still shaky on what we thought we understood. Once they were confident in our knowledge, they started grooming us to bring peace in. Problem was, they were the only ones involved in it. We knew next to nothing about the other pack. Another couple of years passed before we approached them, and when we did…"

  "They laughed their asses off at us," Daphne said. "They looked at us like we were idiots and then proved it. We retreated, licked our wounds, and tried again. Same result. The third time we tried, they physically attacked us, and we realized that we weren't going to be able to do it on our own, but
we also weren't going to be able to bring anyone in with us. We kept trying, failing, and trying again. Finally, it sparked a war because the rival pack was sick of us trying to get them to return to the original pack. The only reason it ended when it did was because Declan's brother and the other Enkidu's daughter came out with their relationship and put a stop to it themselves. The problem was everyone had interpreted their prophecy thing wrong. They were under the impression that it was us because our birthdays are three days apart, but we weren't the only pair like that. Our pack just didn't know about that the girl born three days after Declan's brother because she was with the other pack."

  "So, you were with your biological pack for almost ten years before everything blew up?" Wolfgang asked. "Is this your first child?"

  Daphne shook her head. "No, our third," she said. "Our other two are with your aunt and uncle."

  "Why did you come here then?" I asked her. "I mean, obviously, you didn't come here to fight."

  "We're mated," Declan explained. "While Moab isn't that far away, it's far enough that we would have suffered the distance."

  "Ah," I replied. "I don't really know where everything is around here, so I didn't realize it was that far."

  Daphne nodded. "Just far enough, it seems."

  Chapter 26 ~Ceres~

  The following night, the remains of our pack and our visitors from Moab gathered at the Resting Grounds. It felt strange to stand in the place where so many people were massacred. I could sense that most of the others around me felt the same way. They fidgeted, shifted, and looked all over with wide eyes and pale faces. This was hardest on the people who had been here that night. No one wanted to stand in this once-sacred place, but we needed to bring the dead their rest.

  The recent storms washed away the blood, but evidence of the carnage remained in scorches and gouges on the trees and the broken brush around us.

  We stood in a circle in the clearing. In the center of our circle, Anica knelt with a burlap sack covering her head. She faced Leon at the head of the circle. Her hands were cuffed behind her back. She wouldn't be going anywhere tonight, except to Hell.

  Ravyn and Wolfgang stood to either side of our leader. Richard and I on either side of them. The other Guardians should have been here, but Anica was responsible for their deaths as well if only because the events she put in motion led to Brenda's arrival.

  Leon stepped forward. "Anica Isabelle Garcia of Vanilla Moon, the Neuri accuse you of betraying your pack, resulting in the deaths of more than four hundred Lycans. You have since confessed to these crimes. We are here to listen to judgment in response to your actions. Do you have anything to say in your defense?"

  A woman dressed in red walked up to Anica and lifted the burlap sack away from her face. Anica looked at us with fury in her golden eyes. She didn't look like the same woman who came to our door, demanding a fight I now felt guilty for. She looked like a woman ready for the end and pissed off about it.

  She stared at Leon. "I would do it again," she replied with a voice that was little more than a growl.

  Through willpower alone, the pack did not scream with outrage. Leon took a moment to calm himself before he could speak again without revealing how much her words affected him.

  "The Neuri will announce your sentence," he said with a gruff voice.

  The Neuri stepped forward out of the circle to surround Anica. They came from different directions. If we were a compass, we were standing at the north and each of the Neuri took one of the other points. They dressed in their usual white robes and masks.

  Scholler spoke first, identifiable by the golden S embroidered in his robes. "Anica Isabelle Garcia of Vanilla Moon, you are hereby known only as Traitor, for you are guilty of the crimes of treason and murder. The punishment for these crimes is execution and erasure from the pack. The Moeris will carry out your sentence in the same place where your victims were slaughtered, so that your blood may cool their angered spirits."

  When he finished speaking, the Neuri returned to their places in the circle. As they moved, the woman in red bowed to Leon. She was the Moeris. Her golden eyes peered out at us from beneath her mask, proving that justice was blind, but vengeance was not. She carried a knife in one hand and a spear in the other.

  She slammed her spear into the ground. She didn't speak. Her eyes settled on Leon, waiting for the green light to execute the sentence.

  "Do you have any last words, Traitor?" Leon asked.

  Anica's eyes moved to Wolfgang. She had so much hatred in her gaze that I almost expected my mate to spontaneously combust. "May you fail as the leader to this pack," she cursed him. "May you never have a son. May your life be empty and dishonorable. I hope you fucking rot in Hell," she spat.

  Moeris reached out and grasped the braid hanging down Anica's back. She used the knife to cut it off, then threw it at the ground at Wolfgang's feet. My mate ignored the hair and continued to watch.

  Moeris flipped the knife in her hand. Somewhere in the clearing, people started to beat drums I didn't realize they'd brought. The pace of the drumbeats quickened. With them, our hearts and breaths sped up. When the drums stopped, the Moeris howled and plunged the knife into Anica's back, causing her to scream in pain. The knife wouldn't kill her. She wasn't meant to die like that.

  The Moeris picked up her spear and stepped around Anica, whose back was arched and face tight with pain.

  With her neck exposed, it made it easy for the executioner to place the tip of her spear to our traitor's throat. Her form was perfect. Her spear went through Anica's throat in one fluid motion. The Moeris, somehow, made it look effortless.

  Blood poured down the spear and into the ground. Moeris let go of the shaft and then retrieved her knife from Anica's back. She turned to Wolfgang. The blade was coated in Anica's blood. She threw the knife at us and it lodged into the braid at Wolfgang's feet. He didn't flinch. He ignored the blade as he watched his former lover bleed to death.

  When Anica was dead, the Moeris removed her spear from Anica's neck before she picked up the body and slung it over her shoulder. She left the circle and the people parted to let her pass. I assumed she would take the body to the crematorium to be disposed of the same way every Lycan was laid to rest. With fire.

  I looked at Wolfgang. I wanted to ask him about the hair and the knife, but this wasn't the time. I waited to see if he would do something, but he just stood there.

  Leon stepped forward. I'd have to wait to find out what would happen with the hair. "Tonight," he said, "the blood dries. Tomorrow, we dance."

  The crowd dispersed. Wolfgang stayed still, so I didn't move either. Leon stepped up to him. "You have to accept it, Son," he said.

  Wolfgang shook his head. "No, I don't," he argued.

  "Her words hold no weight," his father said. "She was a traitor. Her ancestors will ignore her final wish. You do more dishonor to this pack by ignoring her. The traitor's last words were to you. This is your burden."

  "I can't," Wolfgang whispered. I saw the tears in his eyes as he looked at his father. "I can't."

  Leon reached up and held Wolfgang's face in his hands. They were the same height. Same build. Same pride. My mate looked at his father the way a son begged for his father's guidance. "You will have sons," Leon promised. "You are already a great leader. Her curse comes too late. Your mate is pregnant. I know it's a son," he whispered. He hugged Wolfgang. "You must accept it," he whispered.

  Wolfgang hugged his father tight. They stayed that way for a minute or so before Wolfgang pulled away. He wiped at his eyes. I did the same. After he took a deep breath, he bent down and pulled the knife from the ground. The hair came with it. Ravyn handed Leon a metal bucket that he placed in front of Wolfgang. My mate dropped the knife and hair into the bucket.

  Next, Leon produced a book of matches from his pocket. Wolfgang's hands shook as he struck a match. Ravyn wrapped her arm around me. None of us said a word.

  The match flared to life with the nose-wrinkling scent
of sulfur. Wolfgang used the match to light the others on fire, then dropped it all into the bucket.

  Hair stinks when it burns, but it stinks even more when your nose is more sensitive than a bloodhound's. It took a few minutes for the hair to burn, leaving only the knife behind. The leather wrapped handle scorched and burned yet managed to stay intact. The blood on the knife seared into the blade.

  After the fire burned itself out, Wolfgang reached into the bucket and pulled out the knife, wincing as it burned his hand. He walked up to the spot where Anica was executed and knelt as he stabbed the knife back into the ground.

  Leon walked away. Ravyn followed him, leaving me as the sole witness to this moment. Wolfgang stayed on his knees in front of the knife. His head bowed. His long dark hair hung in waves around his head. It took me a moment to hear it, but I soon realized he was praying.

  I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly feeling chilled. Tears fell from my eyes and I struggled to understand the implications of Anica's words and the ritual that followed her death. I hadn't had much time to read the book yet. The most that I could understand was that Anica's last words were her plea to the Ancestors and that they were a curse on my mate because of her hatred toward them. However, the Neuri had declared that Anica was to be stricken from Memory, meaning that as of this moment she was never part of the pack and never to be acknowledged as such. That meant that her ties to the Ancestors were cut off.

  Which made what Leon said about her words coming too late make more sense. She had no Ancestors to pray to because she was cut off from them. Her words were just words.

  Yet, that didn't stop Wolfgang from being fearful that her words would hold weight.

  There was still so much that I didn't know and understand about being Lycan. Too much, considering everything we had gone through in the last three months—God, was it only three months?

  I ran my hands through my loose hair. I closed my eyes and placed my hands over my stomach. I searched inside myself for the life that grew within me. Was it a son? Was it our next Volsunga? Was it an heir worthy of this legacy?