AN: So I've run into one of those little 'author is not paying attention' issues here… the spelling of van Helsing. I keep switching between van Hellsing and van Helsing. Stupid author! I was so not paying attention. So! Although I may go back and fix it in the future, for now I am making it officially van Helsing! One L as the original Bram Stoker's version was. There. Phew, I'm glad I got that sorted. Also, I'm well aware of the inconsistent nature in which I capitalize and not capitalize the word king. I still haven't decided the proper way to do that so forgive me for being so sporadic. If any of you have any insight as to the proper English rule regarding that particular title, please feel free to let me know. It would be a great help!
Also… I still do not like writing Selene. Damn you, woman! Grow some sarcasm!
Chapter Eleven: Heart-To-Hearts
Aislyn sat with her legs dangling over the gutter, watching over her shoulder as her mother scrutinized the shingles. The sun shone weakly down from a gray January sky, barely breaking the haze of early morning fog that drifted vaguely by on an equally half-hearted wind. The weather promised to be cold but Aislyn did not intend to spend much of it outside so she was not concerned.
As the minutes ticked by, the young woman began to feel impatient. Her mother had done little more than acknowledge her presence – and reassure her that her belly-wound was very well healed and she was just fine to be up on the roof, thank you very much - but had yet to ask why her daughter had climbed up onto the roof in the first place. This was very un-Lina-like behavior and Aislyn was suspicious of her mother's peculiar silence.
"Well, that about does it. Looks like we'll need to get this patch re-roofed if we want to maintain a nice, dry attic." Lina finally scuttled over to her offspring and let her own legs hang off the side. She said nothing more, though, and flopped back onto the roof top as if watching clouds roll by.
Aislyn, in turn, raised her brows at her mother, leaning back on her palms to better see the other woman's face. "Did you and Daddy have a fight?" she asked after a moment in which Lina remained unusually silent.
"What? No, of course not." Lina looked perplexed and sat up to regard her daughter though her secretive red eyes. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"You're being uncharacteristically un-nosy," Aislyn retorted. "If you're not brooding about some spat then what's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." Lina blinked rapidly a few times but offered nothing else by way of explanation.
"Then why haven't you asked why I'm up here?" Aislyn pressed, feeling more and more exasperated by the minute.
"I figured the only reason you'd come up on the roof was to find me," Lina replied with a tone that suggested it should have been obvious. "I figured, whatever that reason was, you'd get on with it and let me know."
They stared at each other for a very long moment, faces mirroring the same guarded expression that left little doubt of their relation. Finally Aislyn sighed more dramatically than necessary and smirked. "She told you already, didn't she?"
Lina returned the sardonic smile. "Not precisely. I deduced the answer for myself when she refused to say anything."
Aislyn shook her head, more to herself than to Lina. "Have you told His Lordship yet?" she asked blandly of her father.
"No. I promised to pretend I didn't know."
"You're a terrible actress," Aislyn said dryly.
They lapsed back into their own thoughts. Aislyn gazed out over the cold expanse of the complex, eyes tracing deserted streets she knew by heart. For a long while she felt a prickle of apprehension creep up her spine when Lina had yet to say anything more. They were Hunter-born; Lycans were their prey not their usual idea of a life-partner. She was rather expecting Lina to come up with some argument to the arrangement. Finally, she turned abruptly to her mother and said, "Well?"
"Are you happy?" Lina returned gently, a single brow arched.
"Yes," Aislyn replied without even considering the question. It was not something she needed time to mull over.
"Then that is enough." Lina smiled at her daughter with a flush of maternal warmth in her eyes. She wrapped an arm around Aislyn's shoulders and pulled her close. Aislyn leaned her head on Lina's shoulder and took a deep breath.
"I was starting to think perhaps you'd disapprove, given what he is," the younger vampress murmured.
At that, Lina chuckled softly. "Disapprove? I've been shoving you two together since you brought him back!"
"What?" Aislyn sat up and pulled away slightly to see Lina's face more clearly. The older woman was still giggling under her breath, squinting her eyes mischievously at her daughter. "How in the world could you perceive this ever happening?"
Lina tilted her head slightly, her impish grin from so many times before returning full-force. "You don't get to be the best of anything, let alone of the Hunters, without being very, very observant. You've been in love with that man since you brought him home, you just didn't know it."
Aislyn could only gape at the other vampire. How could she have seen such a thing when not even Aislyn knew at the time? Was that even possible? Lina ignored the flabbergasted look on her daughter's face and continued as if her words made complete sense.
"I could see how he looked at you when he thought no one was watching, how much he cared when you went and did something idiotic. He may be a lycan, but he is a good man. What more could a mother want for her daughter than a son-in-law that would walk through fire to protect his wife?" Lina's tone softened with her words. She gently cupped her daughter's face and brought her lips to Aislyn's forehead. "You have more than my blessing, Honey."
"What about Daddy's?" the younger vampire blurted before she could stop herself. "He's been moping around for the better part of a week and I know it has nothing to do with Christmas."
Lina rolled her eyes and sighed. "Your father is just being your father. He loves you, Aislyn, and wants you to be happy. He's just having a hard time letting go." Lina smoothed her daughter's black locks back, pushing them away from the younger woman's face. "He's assured me he likes Lucian well enough."
"Enough to be okay with this?" Aislyn pressed as Lina's hands dropped to her shoulders.
"There's certainly one way to find out." Lina jerked her chin toward the ground to indicate they should get off the roof and go inside. "I think Lucian should be present, too, however."
Aislyn looked uncertain but set her face into grim determination and nodded. She knew well that the longer she waited to tell her father, the worse his reaction would be. However, waking him up in the early morning hours would not go over very well, either. "Lucian is in a meeting with his pack to let them know and to discuss the Hunter issue that needs to be brought up at the full-moon gathering. I'm not certain how long that will last."
"That's alright. We probably shouldn't wake up the esteemed patriarch until after the sun goes down, anyway," Lina mused, echoing aloud the thoughts that had just so recently passed through Aislyn's mind. "Let your husband-" Lina smiled broadly at the term "-know the plan when he's done with his pack."
Aislyn nodded, frowning for a moment as she and Lina stood and leap off the ledge. They landed safely on the grass three stories below and the mother paused to eye her daughter's contemplative features. Lina cleared her throat lightly and widened her eyes at Aislyn in question, silently inquiring what was wrong now.
"It's that term," the younger answered. "We're not exactly married. It's different than that."
"Not really, if you think about it from their point of view," Lina replied as they made their way into the manor through one of the side doors into the kitchens. "Have a seat, I'll make tea," she offered, moving toward the stove. Aislyn slid onto a kitchen stool at the island counter top where Trina had sat not long before.
"Marriage implies a legal contract, though. Mating is more…" Aislyn made a vague gesture with her hand as if trying to find the right word.
"Spiritual, perhaps?" Lina supplied, snapping the little metal tea-strainers shut before dropping them into empty mugs to await the water in the kettle. She turned and leaned against the side of the stove while she waited for the water to heat, turning her attention to her daughter. "Marriage can be spiritual, too."
"No, that's still no quite what I mean." Aislyn rapped her knuckles on the counter top, lips pressed thin as she thought hard about what she was really trying to say. "Marriage can be broken. You and Daddy can split up any time you want for any reason you see fit. Lycan mating, though, is final. I'm bound to an unwritten and immortal contract that's deeper than a simple marriage."
"Trust me, Honey, there is nothing simple about marriage." Lina snickered at the annoyed look on Aislyn's face.
"Not what I meant," the younger woman snapped.
"I know, but can you blame me for throwing that in? You left it wide open for me." Lina smirked and turned to snag the kettle as it started to whistle violently. She deftly filled the two mugs and brought them to the counter. She slid one across the Aislyn then took a seat and sipped lightly at her own brew.
"I'm trying to have a serious, adult conversation here, Mother." Aislyn toyed with the handle of her mug, staring hard across the span of the marble at Lina.
"You take yourself too seriously sometimes, Aislyn," Lina returned, although she let her smile subside to a more somber expression. "But I understand what you're trying to get at," she continued before her daughter could make any more arguments. "All I am saying is that you shouldn't get too stuck to terminology. Your new union is not a marriage in the conventional sense, but you two have made a promise to honor each other for the rest of eternity and beyond, to stick with each other through any hardships, etcetera etcetera and so forth, as long as you both shall live, amen. Yes, your father and I could break our vows at any moment for any reason. That does not mean we ever intend to do so. When we were wed, we made a promise that we have worked very hard to stick to. Lucian may not have to work hard at it as it is his races' natural inclination to be monogamous, but you will have to work at it. You don't have that instinct and but you were raised to value the idea of marriage – unlike a lot of our people – and even though there is no piece of paper legally stating that you two are what you are, this is a marriage of souls as much as mine is."
Aislyn listened intently to her mother and said nothing for quite some time, mulling over what Lina had told her as they savored the rapidly cooling herbal tea. Finally, she propped her chin on her hand, elbow on the counter top. "I suppose you're right. Lucian did say that for all intents and purposes, we could be considered married. To him and the packs, this is a marriage. I suppose the problem is that I just don't feel married."
"And what does 'married' feel like?" Lina asked, hiding her smile in her mug.
"I don't know," Aislyn said hopelessly. She let her hand drop to the counter top, palm slapping the smooth marble. "Different than this."
"Enlighten your old, doddering mother?" Lina stood and moved to a cupboard, rummaging around for a moment before producing a box of Jammie Dodgers. She poured them onto a plate and brought it back for them to munch on while they chatted. It had been a long while since they had really sat down and shot the breeze; Lina was fully intending to enjoy herself.
"You're not doddering," Aislyn snorted in the back of her throat. "Anyway. I always imagined it would feel different. It would feel like something had changed or that I had somehow changed." The young woman frowned. She snatched a cookie from the plate and nibbled at the edge. "Not even my name will change with this mating. Lucian has no surname. The closest I'm going to get is 'Aislyn, Mate of the Alpha.'" She pulled a face. "It doesn't exactly flow off the tongue."
"He could take yours if you need to have someone's last name change. I've heard of it before; it's some sort of new-age idea some guys have been doing when they hate their own surname for some odd reason."
Aislyn rolled her eyes. "Weird," she muttered.
"Maybe," Lina said slowly, as she idly examined the dregs of her tea, "maybe what you're missing is not a feeling of difference but a feeling of finality or actuality."
At this, Aislyn sat up a little straighter. "What do you mean?" She had an odd sense that Lina was about to hit the nail on the head and put a name to the bizarre feeling Aislyn had been having.
"What I mean, my dear," Lina continued, her eyes starting to sparkle. "Is that you have grown up in a society were sex is not a promise. Hell, even your father and I were together before we were married."
Aislyn gazed at her mother bemused. "Still not fully with you," she admitted.
"You want a wedding." Lina smiled widely.
"And now you've completely lost me," Aislyn told her, shaking her head. "Why would I want a wedding? We're mated. Mated might not be quite the same thing as being married but a wedding would be redundant."
"No, no. Stay with me for a minute. You feel as though nothing has changed because, to you, nothing has changed. Nothing biological or physical has happened that tells your brain, according to your culture, that you are now married. According to how you were raised and how your society views sex, all you've done is found yourself a lover, not a husband."
"But it's different, it's mating-"
"To a lycan, yes. You are not a lycan," Lina interrupted, stating the obvious. "Your actions have brought you into a new culture that has a lot of different customs and views than your own, but you are still a part of your old society, too. You're going to have to find a way to merge the two. In his eyes, you are the lycan equivalent to married and he probably feels that differentness you're lacking. In your eyes, though, you won't feel any different until you've had that official ceremony that your culture claims means you're married." Lina punctuated her words by tapping the counter top firmly.
Aislyn stared at Lina unabashedly. "You really think-"
"Completely."
Aislyn cleared her throat, blinking rapidly. As much as she didn't want to admit it, her mother's words were starting to make sense. She shot Lina a suspicious glare. "You just want to plan a wedding."
"What mother doesn't? It's not like I have another chance." Lina smirked back.
"This is ridiculous." Aislyn stood then and dusted biscuit crumbs from her fingers. "We have to go to the full-moon gathering tomorrow. I'm not going to plan a wedding when I'm officially mated. Like I've said, it's redundant. We have more pressing issues than weddings anyway. I'm sure in the next few days I'll start feeling more like I'm actually married."
Lina tried her best to not look disappointed but shrugged. "Suit yourself, Honey. I'll probably be in my office near sundown if you'd like me to help you break the news to your father."
Aislyn let the tension leave her shoulders and reached across the table to cover her mother's hand with her own. "Thanks for the talk, Mom," she murmured. "Does it mean that much to you if I were to have an actual wedding?"
Lina's eyebrows rose fractionally. "Why would it mean that much to me? I'm not the one getting married."
Aislyn was not fooled by her mother's falsely innocent expression and squeezed Lina's hand. "I'll talk to Lucian." The younger woman turned and left the kitchen through the door that led into the living room area.
Lina sat at the counter, fingering a cookie for a long moment, eyes settled on the door Aislyn had vanished through. A small, barely discernable smile was flittering through her eyes. "May would be a good month… the cherry blossoms will be in full bloom by then…"
The later it became, the more frustrated Aislyn found herself getting. It seemed like fate was trying its damnedest to keep her and her new husband as separated as possible. The meeting of the lycans had taken them all the way into lunch and, although she had poked her head in a number of times to check on them, they all reassured her that there was nothing she needed to stick around for if she had more pressing issues to deal with.
So instead of dwelling on how long they were taking in their own business, Aislyn occupied herself with a sprawl of maps and diagrams of the greater (and lesser) areas of London. She spent a number of hours pouring over the dots the represented Doll sightings and attacks, attempting to put some logical sequence to them. Somewhere in the back of her mind she suspected their occurrences were not just a random series of events but that there was order to when and where they showed up. She felt that if she could crack the code then perhaps they could start predicting the next location. It was, perhaps, a bit far-fetched but it did the job of eating away her time while she awaited the pack meeting to adjourn.
Just when she thought she had made a little headway, her phone – she had transferred her number to one of her mother's old ones since her own was deemed unsalvageable - rang and broke her concentration. Cursing, she threw down her pencil and flipped the device open. "What?" she snapped more harshly than she had intended. She felt immediately contrite about it but did not apologize as the person on the other end did not give her the chance to say anything else.
"I need your help," Darlene's equally cranky voice snipped back. It was her usual way, though, so Aislyn thought nothing of it. Instead, she inquired what was going on that needed her attention.
"I have a situation here that may need an extra set of competent healing hands," the old woman said dourly. "I swear half my coven has heads full of fluff. Are you busy with something or can I borrow you for a couple hours?"
"I'm not going to get anything more specific out of you than that, am I?" Aislyn asked almost rhetorically. Darlene merely grunted and the vampire sighed. "I've lost my gloves but I'm sure if I borrow Daddy's while he's asleep he won't mind. Where are you?" Aislyn glanced up as Lucian entered. He started to speak but she held up a hand, snagged a piece of paper, and jotted down the address Darlene was giving her. "I'll be there in about half an hour." She hung up, stood from the table she occupied, and pocketed her cell.
"Something important?" Lucian asked as he moved to pull her close. She leaned against him in warm greeting for a moment before pulling back and giving him a slightly lopsided smirk.
"Darlene needs a healer who isn't a half-wit. I'm going to go help her out for a couple hours. I should be back before nightfall."
The briefest of frowns flickered across the lycan's face but he knew that if her skills were needed then she should go. He had just been hoping they could have a little alone time before they became stuck underground for the next day or two with an entire community of werewolves. He pressed his lips to her forehead and let her slip from the room. It looked as though he would have to find something else to do until that evening.
Lucian checked the clock on the wall then peered out the windows of their sitting room to see a large, yellow-white moon peeking over the tops of the complex houses. Aislyn still had not returned. He had tried calling her phone half an hour ago but she did not pick up. Whatever medical emergency was happening, it must be more serious than he originally gleaned from Aislyn's tone.
Sighing, he finally left the rooms and glanced around the hallway. His mind was idle and he needed something to do to keep him from worrying about her. She was fine, he kept telling himself. If something had happened, she would have called.
The lycan-king stood undecided in the hallway as he considered his next move. He had thought it would come to him the moment he stepped out but that was obviously not the case. As he pondered, he caught a scent that put a thought into his mind. There was the distinct aroma of burning candles, old books, and fresh blood.
Each person had their own, unique smell. Usually it was too subtle for human noses to pick up but a lycan had a much superior sense of smell. Just like how Aislyn smelled of green apples and cinnamon, every member of the coven could be identified by their mixture of scents.
Lucian sniffed again and turned left down the hallway, following the traces of where Vlad had walked so recently. He remembered quite distinctly that they had an unfinished conversation hanging over their heads that the lycan wanted to complete. Plus, Lucian had a few other things he needed to discuss with the Lord that he felt he should probably do without Aislyn around.
The lingering trace that screamed Vlad led the lycan up the stairs on the far end of the house to the third story: the mostly unused junk floor. Near the back of the house, the scent disappeared behind a closed door. Lucian knocked gently but there was no reply. Steeling himself, he pushed open the door, letting it close behind him with a soft, almost inaudible click.
It took a moment for Lucian's eyes to adjust to the dim light of the attic-esque room he had stepped into. The drapes had been drawn across the window so no moonlight shone into the small, rectangular room. A single, naked bulb hung from a cord in the ceiling, illuminating clearing only the objects that sat directly underneath it. A human would have been mostly blind. A lycan, or a vampire, however, was able to use that small amount of light to see the entirety of the chamber without much difficulty.
Lucian took a moment to look around the room, trying to see where Vlad was hiding himself. The vampire Lord was not in sight but the scent of him was strong enough that Lucian had little doubt that he was no alone in the room. Instead of making that known, however, the lycan gazed at the artifacts in the room with a growing curiosity. It looked to be jammed full of objects that would have belonged to a child.
Taking a few more steps in, Lucian ran his hand along the railing of a mahogany crib and reached into it to pluck out a teddy bear whose ears had obviously been lovingly gnawed upon. It was missing one eye and there was a rip along the back. He put it back down and poked at the mobile consisting of pink unicorns and baby dragons, smiling despite himself. His eyes fell on a nearby rocking horse that was missing half of its yarn mane, a stuffed lion plushy that was almost as tall as he was, and a shelf of picture books. There were old cardboard boxes that had been written on in a fat, black marker: 0-3 months, 6-9 months, and 9-12 months, all the way up to 3 years.
He nearly tripped over a wooden train when he had been too busy looking at an ornate toy chest shoved against a wall. He nudged it out of his path with a boot before pausing at a box labeled simply "Aislyn." He glanced around again, still not seeing the master of the house, before prying open the top of the box and peeking inside.
The box was filled with what looked like kindergarten art work. There were crayon drawings of a house and vague stick-figures. In an adult's penmanship – probably Lina's - they had been labeled 'Mommy, Daddy, and Me' with arrows pointing to the very similar representations of her family. There were crate-paper flowers, construction paper mosaics that had obviously been made with too much glue, and paintings made with pressed leaves. Lucian forgot himself as he sat down next to the box and starting pulling out objects as if they were precious treasure.
The further into the box he got, the older the creator seemed to get. The drawings of people took on a more substantial air and he nearly laughed when she starting putting the shape of breasts on women to show they were girls. He saw her early attempts at handwriting turn into a flowing cursive that was later forgotten as she started to print everything. There were campy poems about love, some odd abstract sketches, and finally, at the very bottom, a book. He thumbed it open and smiled softly. It was a diary and, by the dates, it was of her teenaged years.
"She very nearly didn't make it," a soft voice interrupted his musings. Lucian dropped the diary as if burned and glanced around the room with wide, searching eyes. There, in a corner, was a dark figure sitting on a discarded wicker-backed rocking chair. Vlad's form slowly materialized from the shadow he had been skulking in until he was as clear in the lycan's eyes as the rest of the room's contents were. "How did you find me?"
Carefully, with obvious reverence for objects from the past, Lucian placed everything back in the box with the exception of the diary. He placed that on the shelf of picture books before taking a seat on the toy chest. "I could smell you," he replied honestly. Although he did not know why Vlad would assume he was looking for him, Lucian decided it wasn't really important and let it go. Then, as Vlad nodded his understanding, Lucian continued. "What do you mean, she nearly didn't make it?"
"Aislyn." Vlad nodded at the box of mementos that sat between him and the lycan. "She was three months premature, came out breech. The birthing nearly killed Lina and no one expected Aislyn to live past the first week of her life. She was so tiny… I could hold her in one hand." He looked down at his palm, expression very far away for a moment.
Lucian wasn't sure what to say but it wouldn't have mattered. Apparently Vlad wasn't done anyway. "We couldn't take her to the hospital. There would have been too many questions asked. We are not exactly an inconspicuous breed." Vlad smirked at that and Lucian mirrored the expression in appreciation. The smile soon faded from the vampire's features though and he sighed deeply. "I still don't fully understand how she managed to hang on to life; she was so weak. I had to bottle feed her milk mixed with blood when Lina lost hers to infection.
Vlad looked up and caught Lucian's eyes, holding them fast. "The entire pregnancy had been difficult and the birthing cemented in our minds that Lina should not have any more children. It was too risky to both her life and the life of any future babies. I hope you can understand now why Aislyn means so much to me. Her very existence is a miracle."
Lucian refused to look away from the intense gaze of the vampire, hardening his resolve to not give in to this man. They had managed a decent working relationship in the past three months and a sense of mutual respect had started to form in the last day since they had gone to Saint Grace's. That did not mean they were done pitting their wills, however, and Lucian was determined to prove he was just as commanding.
"I think you're well aware that I would protect her with my life as well as the lives of the entire pack if it came to that," the lycan informed Vlad firmly.
Vlad tilted his head to one side in that Aislyn-esque gesture she must have gotten from him as he regarded the wolf. He stood, setting aside a shoe box that had been sitting on his lap. Lucian briefly wondered what was in it but did not have the chance to explore that thought as the vampire held a hand out toward the door. "Walk with me?" Vlad asked politely.
Lucian stood and followed the other man from the room and into the hallway. Vlad led them through the third floor to the stairway that led down to the second, then along the hallways of the middle level. With hardly a pause, the vampire unlocked and pushed open the door to his and Lina's personal quarters.
"Please, come in," Vlad murmured when Lucian hesitated on the threshold.
Feeling terribly out of place, Lucian moved through the doorway and heard it click behind him ominously. As nerve-wrecking as this situation was becoming, Lucian forced himself to take stock of his surroundings and relax. He truly doubted that Vlad was going to do him any harm but he still did not feel comfortable alone with him in Vlad's own rooms. Lucian was naturally wary of vampire-fathers after his association with Viktor.
"I have been hearing some rumors murmured through the hallways," Vlad was saying. He had moved over to a cupboard and was rummaging around inside it. Lucian heard the distinct clink of glass being knocked lightly together. Vlad made a slight 'a-hah' noise and pulled something out from the back shelf: a bottle of amber colored liquid. The lord set it aside on a nearby table and opened a different cupboard, pulling out two glasses. He filled them with ice from a fridge that had been well camouflaged, built into the wall itself. Then, with a sigh, he popped the top of the bottle and poured both glasses full.
He offered one to Lucian, who took it politely. Although the lycan did not intend to drink much since the events of the Wake, he could hardly refuse the father of his mate if he was offering something that was obviously valuable. He was pretty sure he had seen 1922 scrawled on the thin paper label and one did not get a taste of nearly eighty-year-old scotch every day.
"What are these rumors saying?" Lucian asked after taking a sip of the fiery liquid. He could feel it burn down the length of this throat and settle with a warm glow in his stomach. Vlad merely sent Lucian rather bland look.
"We are not young men," Vlad murmured. "We have both seen enough of this world to not have to bother with preamble or the irritating dance of social niceties. I really would like to hear the truth without having to fish for it. It is my understanding that my daughter is now considered your mate?"
Lucian held Vlad's stare evenly and nodded once to confirm the rumors. This wasn't entirely how he had intended to go about telling the lord of the house but it was better to get it out in the open anyway. "I have need of discussing a few things with you regarding that, actually." He wanted to be able to say it in just the right way and needed to set it up. He was inwardly grateful that Vlad had brought the topic up in the first place, saving the lycan from having to steer the conversation in that direction. "It is the reason I hunted you down in the first place."
"Do go on," Vlad encouraged, finding a seat on an arm chair near the empty fireplace. Lucian planted himself in another recliner but did not feel much like sitting back.
"I wanted to officially ask you for Aislyn's hand," Lucian replied bluntly.
Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Is that entirely necessary given what has occurred? I have been led to understand that your acts are a binding contract as they are."
"I believe it is," Lucian returned. The lycan sighed and took another sip of the scotch. "To my people, it is already official, but not to yours. As much as I would like for this to be it – I hate pomp and circumstance as much as I'm sure you do - something tells me Aislyn won't be quite satisfied without being allowed to follow her own customs regarding us being us." Lucian was unaware of the conversation Aislyn and Lina had had in the kitchen that morning, having only seen his wife once since Raze and Trina had interrupted them. He was not an uneducated or inconsiderate man, though, and was wise enough to know the social differences between their respective cultures. There had been a considerable number of hours between the end of the meeting and now in which Lucian had pondered the implications mating had for vampires. If the members of this coven were going to recognize their union, it would have to be done their way as well as the lycan way.
Lucian watched Vlad unobtrusively as he finished his drink. He wasn't entirely certain, but Vlad possibly looked pleased. The older man stood, setting his glass on a side table, and disappeared into an adjoining room without a word. Lucian briefly wondered if he, too, should stand, when Vlad returned holding something in his hand.
It was a small, silken bag no larger than a tea-strainer. There was a very slight bulge in it that indicated it was not empty. Vlad turned it out into the palm of his other hand and Lucian stood to get a better look at the object the vampire had just retrieved.
"This," Vlad said slowly, as if considering his words, "belonged to my grandmother. It is from her that I truly inherited my powers and, subsequently, so did Aislyn. My daughter has always ogled it and I think it would mean a great deal if you considered it for your purpose."
Lucian held his hand out and Vlad deposited the object into the lycan's palm for him to inspect. It was what first appeared to be a simple gold ring. As Lucian fingered it, however, the complexity of the band became more obvious. It had been made from five separate wires of gold, woven together in an intricate patter than was not at first discernable. For the age that this piece must have been crafted, the goldsmith would have to have been incredibly skilled. It was slim and lightweight, too, not thick and coarse. Lucian was duly impressed and turned it in the artificial light, watching it shine between his fingers. He had seen many expensive trinkets in his life from that era and this one was up there on the list of the best.
He glanced over at Vlad but the man had returned to the liquor cabinet and was refilling both their glasses. Lucian saw the silk bag on the coffee table and replaced the ring before slipping it into the pocket of his trousers. This was an obvious sign of approval if Vlad had supplied a family heirloom for a wedding ring and Lucian suddenly felt a lot lighter for it. He had not realized how heavily this scenario had been weighing on him until it was done and over with. He sighed inwardly with relief and sat back down as Vlad returned with the drinks.
"I was wondering if you had some time to further discuss what we were talking about in the car yesterday evening." Lucian swirled his drink slightly, listening to the ice tink around the glass.
Vlad glanced at the clock and nodded. "My Nightingale has yet to charge in, hollering about this and that, so it would appear I am off the hook for now, sort to speak. You were smart not to choose an American girl. They are a terribly loud bunch."
Lucian let the corners of his mouth twitch upward at the quip. "Aislyn's temper does rival her mother's though." Vlad nodded thoughtfully and Lucian pondered how exactly to ask the proper question for the information he wanted and steer the conversation back to the biological. "Speaking of genetics," he started, "when last we spoke you were starting to tell me more about how it is that your vampirism is passed along."
"Ah, yes." Vlad tapped his glass against his top incisors, peering up at the ceiling while he gathered his thoughts. "Let me think here where we were last."
"Perhaps an outlining of what I already know?" Lucian ventured helpfully.
"That sounds reasonable." Vlad set his drink down, steepled his fingers, and leaned forward slightly. "What we refer to as Viral Vampirism is, like lycanism, transmitted through the saliva when one species bites another, be it human or otherwise." Lucian nodded absently; that was common knowledge in their underworld. "If I'm not mistaken, Aislyn has bitten you at least once to use your blood for tracking? She told me of how your group found your brother."
"That's correct," Lucian confirmed. "She had told me before that your kind do not change through bite so her biting me would not pose a threat."
"She told you, if I remember correctly, that our type is based more on the magical." Vlad paused and looked at the lycan expectantly.
"She was reluctant to refer to it as such, but yes."
"She was right to be reluctant because it is not entirely magical. After all, if it were a matter of magic, she would not have been born a vampire but would have needed to be turned. But she wasn't turned, she was born. What does that tell you about our kind?"
"It is genetically inherited, carried in the genome," Lucian hazarded. "If that is the case, how could anyone be turned?"
"How is it that Virals are born Virals?" Vlad returned.
Lucian had once sat in on a few university lectures when he had first started to formulate the idea of isolating the viruses and blending the species. There was only so much book learning could do and, when he had needed a scientist, he went in search of one. It was how he eventually found Singe. Sitting now with Vlad was starting to strongly remind him of listening to the professors attempt to weasel the correct answer out of half-baffled students.
"The virus is transmitted in-utero, though shared tissues and fluids."
"As far as our understanding, yes. What do you suppose would happen if the mother were human?" Vlad mused next.
Lucian opened his mouth to answer and then clamped it shut as the question floated between them. It was a valid query but not something any of them had ever considered. No one from either species had ever considered a human as a possible lover. Humans were basically the food source or a means to increase their own numbers.
"That is neither here nor there," Vlad finally said dismissively, waving a hand around in front of him as if banishing the question. "Perhaps later, if you're so inclined to indulge my science projects, we can look into that together?"
Lucian was momentarily startled by the invitation and his intellectual side jumped at the opportunity. "I wasn't aware you were a scientist," he told the other man. "I think I would enjoy a new biological study."
The two men eyed each other for another moment, both silently pleased they had found a new colleague in the quest for biological discovery. It would seem their respective spouses were correct in thinking the two of them just needed to get to know one another better and they would find a common ground.
"So Virals – both lycan and vampire – can be born via the amniotic fluids carrying the virus and non-virals can be turned by the virus carried in the saliva. This we know," Lucian summarized. "Your non-Viral kind can be born via the genome that carries the trait. That brings us back to how you are able to turn humans into vampires and how it is that Marcus contracted Viralism from you at all."
"That is where the true secret lies," Vlad replied.
Lucian frowned. Secret implied that he was not going to get any answers but Vlad had indicated he would explain the difference. He waited with hidden impatience for the vampire lord to get on with it.
"I carry in my genes a mutation. I have yet to be able to fully isolate which chromosome it sits on but I am very close." Vlad eyes were suddenly lit with excitement. "Another project perhaps you could help me with in the future as you have some experience in the field. But-" Vlad cut off Lucian as the lycan opened his mouth. "The mutation affects most aspects of my entire physiology and biology. It is in the cells of my skin, it is in the cells of my organs, it is in my very blood."
The vampire suddenly jumped to his feet and the hair on the back of Lucian's neck stood on end at the rapid movement. He forced himself to relax as he realized that Vlad was merely getting excited over the biology behind the phenomena. Lucian reflected, rather ironically, that he had met a kindred spirit in his new father-in-law and he wondered if his isolation of the virus would have gone a lot faster if he had met Vlad fifty years ago.
"I think this next part is best explained downstairs. Come!" Still exuding excitement that the lycan was obviously following the conversation perfectly and that he had found a willing lab partner for down the road, Vlad moved rapidly from the room. Lucian scrambled out of his seat and had to half-jog to keep up as the taller man was already halfway down the stairwell. They were oblivious to the quizzical looks from both vampire and lycan as the odd pair hurried under the walkway and vanished into one of Vlad's personal and out-of-bounds rooms.
Lucian took a brief second to glance around at the oak paneled, oak floored, red-draperied office they stood in. It looked like any standard, tidy, boring office. Lucian raised his eyebrows at the square of floor that suddenly sunk and slid away when Vlad tinkered with something on the desk. He held his tongue when a comment about how clique it was bubbled to his lips. Instead, he followed the older man obediently down the revealed stone stairway into a basement that had not been mentioned before.
The lights flickered to life as they reached the tiled floor at the bottom of the steps. Lucian blinked in the bright, florescent lighting, gaping at the facility around him. It was at least the size of the living room it was situated below. Three rows of island counter tops ran the length of the middle, fume hoods positioned down the length of each. Sinks dotted the counters next to valved spigots. Glass-fronted cabinets lined the outer walls, positioned above more counter tops. Behind the panes, Lucian could see hundreds of glass beakers, flasks, test tubes, graduated cylinders, and the various apparatus involved in finagling them all together. There were more doors situated periodically along the walls, leading into storage rooms and other chambers.
"If I had access to such a facility, it would not have taken me fifty years to isolate the virus," Lucian breathed, stepping further into the laboratory.
Vlad's face was set in smug satisfaction as he gazed around his lab. "It has taken me longer than that to unravel my DNA and I've yet to complete it. That is for another trip here, though. I have brought you here to better demonstrate an answer to your question. Over here, if you please."
The vampire moved through the laboratory to a station of microscopes on the far side. He pulled the protective cover off the first one he reached, plugged it in, and started rummaging around the drawers for something Lucian could not see. After a moment he made a little 'a-hah' noise and pulled out a box of fresh slides and some cover slips. Without a backward look at Lucian, Vlad set them on the counter and hurried off into one of adjacent rooms. Lucian could hear the sound of a refrigerator open and shut, and then Vlad returned carrying a vile of a deep red Lucian knew instantly as blood.
"Now," Vlad started, setting the tube in a rack made just for that purpose and placing that rack next to the microscope. "You are familiar, I am sure, with human blood." The vampire smirked at his own joke before unstopping the vial and dipping a pipette into it. He placed a drop on a slide, covered it with a slip, and slid it into the microscope platform. "There is an anticoagulant in here but otherwise this is pure, untainted human blood."
Lucian bent his eyes to the microscope, fiddling with knobs until the blood sells came into clear focus. He nodded then looked up to watch Vlad take a sharp knife and pick his thumb. The lord let a drop fall onto another slide, covered it with a small, square glass slide clover, and handed it to Lucian. The lycan switched the slides and bent to the eyepieces again.
He could tell a marked difference in the red blood cells immediately and frowned. "They're nucleated." He straightened. "How can that be?"
"That I have yet to determine fully. Now, watch when I mix my blood with the human blood." He passed Lucian the third slide and the younger man turned his eyes back to the scope obligingly.
"Nothing is happening," Lucian spoke after a moment of watching the two different blood cells sit passively on the slide, ignoring one another.
"Precisely. And nothing will. My blood is not infectious in itself, just genetically mutated from the norm. However," Vlad said, his tone taking on a decidedly excited tone that Lucian suspected was barely contained, "watch."
The edges of Lucian's mouth were downturned in thought but his curiosity was peaked and he went willing back to the microscope. Beside him, Vlad was muttering something under his breath, tracing lines in the air near the microscope. There was a brief flash of white light from Vlad's direction then the most peculiar thing occurred before Lucian's eyes. Vlad's cells starting moving.
Like particulate matter experiencing Brownian motion, Vlad's cells jitterbugged their way amongst the human cells. In what could very well be akin to Pac-Man, the mutated blood cells opened up and devoured the normal blood and spat out a nucleated copy. Within seconds, the entire slide was indiscernible from the one of just Vlad's blood. Lucian straightened rapidly and stared at the vampire.
"What the hell just happened?" he asked sharply. In his years of following biological breakthroughs, he had never seen anything quite so bizarre.
"When given the proper stimulus, my blood becomes carcinogenic."
Lucian glanced back into the microscope, sheer will keeping his jaw firmly shut. "The magic Aislyn spoke of?"
"Yes. Although it was not quite so developed back when I was young, I have since been able to pin point the exact spell needed to create a metastasis within my own blood that will pass into the blood stream of a human, effectively mutating their very genetic make-up along with all the cells within their body. Only myself and my son have the knowledge and the magical ability to pull it off. Aislyn is capable but she has never asked me for the secret. I do not think she wants to know."
"No one else knows the magic?" Lucian murmured.
"No one living," Vlad amended, his expression far away for a minute before he shook himself and smiled wanly at the lycan. "Our family has many shadows of the past that will bring themselves to light now that you are part of it. I am sure you have heard some history of my rule?"
Lucian thought instantly of the book Aislyn had given him for Christmas and nodded. He had not had much opportunity to go through it but he had read the first chapter, which dealt mainly with the history of Vlad's reign.
"I have been wed three times. The first foolishly threw herself out a window before I had figured out how to transmit my immortality but considering she would commit such an act probably saved the world from her idiocy. The second, Ilona, was a much brighter – and witch-born – consort."
"The first one turned," Lucian murmured, rubbing his chin lightly through his beard.
"Yes. She was Nagire's mother, as well as the mother of two sons that were not turned." Vlad's lips thinned slightly. He did not elaborate but Lucian had read how those two refused the offer of immortality, denouncing their father for his ways and basically estranging themselves from him when he fled to England. The lord had lived a troubled and dark life; Lucian was not inclined to pry into the more intimate details. "Ilona knew the secret and helped me to create our empire here before she died."
Lucian raised a brow fractionally at that. He had yet to read that far, although his manners did not out rule his curiosity. He refrained from asking but his question must have been plain on his face as Vlad chose to elaborate without being otherwise prompted.
"She was burned as a witch, ironically enough, in the seventeen-hundreds. Her power was not great but her heart was kind. She had tried to save a town stricken with pox and they burned her for a witch." Vlad capped the vial of blood and moved back into the adjoining room to replace it in the fridge while Lucian let that information sink into his memory.
"Human nature is to fear the unknown and strike out at it, even if it is detrimental to their own well-being," Vlad continued as he returned to the lab. Quickly, he cleaned up and unplugged the microscope, then led Lucian from the underground room back into the office.
In an attempt to steer the conversation back on track and away from the demons of the past, Lucian cleared his throat. "What about Marcus? The spell only explains the activation of a cancer-like effect, not a virus."
"True, but it is in that spell that our answer lies." The vampire sighed and went to the windows, quickly drawing the draperies closed to block out the world. Once the office had been effectively made private, Vlad raised a finger and started tracing lines in the air. The symbols scrawled beautifully across the open space glittered pale blue and Lucian was certain he recognized a few from things Aislyn had etched before. Below the first set, Vlad started a new grouping, this time in red.
"The color of the spell can indicate its purpose," Vlad intoned once the symbols were in place. "These spells are innocuous without the pentagrams to empower them, but the symbols are correct. Tell me, what do you see between these?"
Lucian surveyed the gibberish closely, picking out patterns and finding connections to the best of his ability. Finally, he pointed to a set of symbols in the red grouping with one hand, and a set in the blue with his other. "These parts are identical but I do not know what that implies."
"The blue spell is the one used to activate the mutagen in my blood that can transform a human into a vampire. The red spell," Vlad smirked crookedly, "is the one that transforms me into a bat."
An inkling of what Vlad was getting at started to pick away at the edge of Lucian's mind. He started to speak but closed his mouth, frowned, and crossed his arms. He hadn't fully formed the thought and did not want to blurt it out before he knew what he was saying. Vlad saved him from having to dwell on it too long.
"The night I fed on Marcus, as a bat I had fed on one other beast first: a buck. That buck, angered by the fact that I was trying to bite it, managed to detach me by way of smacking me against a tree. The impact broke one of my teeth."
"When you bit Marcus, some of your blood mingled with his," Lucian said when Vlad paused. The vampire smiled almost eagerly and inclined his head to indicate the lycan was correct. When the elder did not continue, Lucian took it as Vlad inviting him to hypothesize. Scientific minds did enjoy the company of other scientific minds and Lucian was struck with the feeling that Vlad did not often get to have this type of conversation with those around him. He must have been itching for this the same way Lucian had craved any intelligent companionship when the lycan had been holed up in Hungary.
Lucian paced across the floor, fingers tugging unconsciously on the short hair of his beard as he thought. "The similarities in the spell must be the part that actually catalyzes the reaction between your blood and that of a human. The question would then stand why is it that it reacted virally and not as a carcinogen." He paused and eyed Vlad. "You know why."
"I have a theory that I have not yet been able to test. However, with a Viral in residence, one only twice removed from the original strain, and a direct descendant of Corvinus, I may be able to fully ascertain why. Even with Selene's peculiar inheritance of the Corvinus strain through Alexander's blood, we may be able to isolate my original carcinogenic component from the Viral aspect."
Vlad had worked himself up into quite a fit and was starting to get a mad gleam in his eye that Lucian found rather disconcerting. He was as fascinated by the prospect as the other man was, but Lucian seemed to have a much better grip on his self control. He cleared his throat almost self consciously and Vlad snapped back into reality as if he had never left.
"My theory," he continued as if the tangent hadn't existed, "is that something in the Corvinus blood, whatever virus he carried that made him immortal and that he passed to his sons, reacted with my mutated blood cells. My activated blood spread through Marcus, devouring his cells and creating clones of themselves, mutating the way I showed you downstairs. Somehow, and this is where I'm merely guessing, the Corvinus virus attached to the vampiric cells and created a virally transmittable version of vampirism."
As the room fell into silence, Vlad brushed aside the spells and they vanished in tiny wisps. Lucian was left with his thoughts while he absorbed and categorized all the information Vlad had just divulged. "Why tell me all this?" Lucian finally asked. "Just because I asked does not mean you are under any obligation to enlighten me."
Vlad studied Lucian, his red eyes half closed. "You're family now," he replied simply. "I may not tell you many things, but I see no danger in telling you this. You are a man of intellect and I think we share a passion of discovering our roots. If you wish to join me in my quest for knowledge, it would be best if you were up to speed on the research."
"Well, I thank you for being so willing to share your work," Lucian replied amiably. "Maybe once I return from this damn meeting we can convince Selene and Michael to share some of their blood for the good of science."
"Ah, yes, your Gathering." Vlad nodded thoughtfully. "I need to make Aislyn a new pair of gloves before you leave. Mine are much too big for her and can potentially slow her down with their cumbersome size."
"I will leave you to it, then." Lucian excused himself and left through the door they had entered through, his mind whirring with new thoughts and ideas. He checked his watch, wondered again where Aislyn was, then made his way up the stairs to their chambers to think things through more thoroughly.
As he pushed open the door to the bedroom, however, all thoughts of genetic mutations and viral transmittance fled his brain to be replaced with a vague, fuzzy happiness. Aislyn was half naked and rapidly removing more clothing as he watched. She glanced up at him, smiled apologetically, and dropped her father's gloves onto the nightstand.
"That was a pain in the arse," she announced. "I'm sorry I'm so late."
Lucian pulled her close and inhaled her scent, nose pressed into her hair. "Don't be. It gave me the opportunity to spend some quality time with Vlad."
Aislyn pushed him back slightly and raised a sardonic eyebrow. "Oh?"
"You never told me that there was a laboratory right under my feet."
"My father showed you his lab?" Aislyn asked incredulously. "For all the posturing you two have been doing, he must actually like you. No one goes down there. My mother doesn't even get invites into the lab!"
Lucian raised his own brows at that. "Certainly you're joking."
Aislyn patted his cheek gently. "My mother and laboratory equipment have a very bad relationship. She can break a beaker with a single look. But still, I'm glad you two are getting on. It will be easier to tell him about us if he's taking a shine to you."
Lucian tried very hard not to look guilty. "About that…"
The smell of wolf was overpowering, as it had been the first time she had stepped foot in Adrian's den. Now, however, her senses were on an even higher level of alert given what she would have to face the moment they stepped through that door into the meeting chamber beyond. Currently, it was all she could do to stand amongst the small, Hungarian pack and not fidget.
Aislyn gazed around the empty commons to try and distract herself while Lucian spoke in quite tones to his officers. She stood slightly off to one side, attempting to compose herself and prepare for the objections and challenges she was pretty sure would come her way when the other packs fully recognized what had occurred. The young woman had just decided to inspect the small, snoring lapdog in its niche when a figure moved somewhat nervously into her periphery. She glanced up and tried her best to give Michael a reassuring smile. By the drained look on his face, he was about as jittery as she was.
"You didn't have to come," she said softly, using Hungarian for his benefit as he glanced around the high-arched commons. "You still don't have to, we haven't gone in yet."
The hybrid shook his head slightly and tried his best to smile back at her. His expression looked more pained than brave and Aislyn patted his arm in her best attempt at support. "Lucian turned me first," Michael tried to explain. Aislyn supposed he felt the need to justify why he had chosen to accompany them. Selene, smartly, had stayed back at the manor at the urging of both Lucian and Aislyn. There would be enough excitement between Aislyn's queenship, Trina's adoption into the highest ranked pack, and Michael's very existence, without throwing in that the hybrid was also mated to an ex-Death Dealer of Viktor's creation. "I feel like I belong with these men more than with your people or Selene's."
Aislyn nodded her understanding. "Just be ready for the shit to hit the fan. This gathering is not going to be very fun," the woman replied grimly, folding her arms across her middle.
"Compared to what Selene and I have been through, I don't have much reason to be afraid of these lycans."
Aislyn raised her brows at him, smirking a bit. "Then why do you look like you just swallowed a goldfish?"
"So I am a little bit nervous." Michael laughed slightly in the back of his throat. "But at least I do have your scandal to hide behind."
Aislyn shook her head at him, rolling her eyes. "I think the hardest part is waiting to get it over with."
"Then we shall have to remedy that," Lucian cut in, moving up to the pair. He glanced over his shoulder at the door into the meeting chamber. "We'd best get ourselves in there before they come looking for us and ruin my perfectly planned entrance."
With Lucian in the lead, the rest of the pack shuffled themselves into place behind him as he took a firm grasp on the handle of the meeting chamber's large door. Aislyn, half a step behind and to one side, took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and followed him into the wall of sound that greeted the pack as the door swung open.
The walk toward the make-shift throne took an agonizingly long time to the small group of men and two women. Silence followed them like a tiger, the collective hush waiting to spring at any moment. Aislyn kept her eyes glued on the empty chair where Lucian was expected to conduct the opening announcements for the meeting and, if he so chose, sit for the duration. She refused to give into the tingling sensation running along her spine that was urging her to look at the lycans surrounding them.
"And what the fuck is this?"
They had reached the far end of the room and, unsurprisingly, Adrian had moved to intercept them. Lucian's expression remained bland as he watched his brother through half-lidded eyes. "You're in the way," the elder wolf intoned then took another step toward the elaborate chair.
"The hell I am," Adrian snarled. "What the fuck is this?" He pointed an elongated fingernail directly into Aislyn's face. Although she narrowed her eyes, the woman held her tongue. She needed to let Lucian handle this until a direct challenge was issued or she could lose face for her position. She may have had a degree of power over them as Queen, but the social hierarchy of the clan dictated that, as the mate of an alpha, she still had to defer to him. It took a considerable amount of willpower not to snap that finger off and shove it up Adrian's nose, however.
"I do believe that is considered a woman," Lucian replied calmly, folding his arms with an obvious air of impatience. "Considering that you have grandchildren, I had assumed that you knew the difference between the sexes."
Adrian bristled visibly. "That is not what I meant," he spat, glaring at Aislyn with unguarded hostility.
"Then enlighten me, Brother, as to your true motives. And I ask that you spit it out now so we can get on with this meeting. There is much to cover and only a day to do it."
The younger of the elder lycans struggled with himself for a moment as if trying to figure out how to say what he desperately wanted to say. Lucian started to shift impatiently. Adrian leaned in slightly, jabbed his finger at Aislyn once more, and spoke in an undertone that was meant only for those in the most immediate vicinity. The lycans crowding the edges of the room murmured amongst themselves, guessing the direction the conversation was taken when they could not hear Adrian's words.
"This is a mockery of our packs and our ways," Adrian hissed to his brother. "The last time you were this foolish, our entire race was plunged into war!"
"You speak as through you have any authority on that war," Lucian scoffed back, his own volume lowered to keep the argument between them. "If my memory serves me correctly, you stuck around just long enough to raid Viktor's castle, then ran north with your tail between your legs."
"But at least I kept my dick in the right species," Adrian snarled. Aislyn's knuckles popped nearby but she held her tongue. The corner of Lucian's eye twitched ever so slightly but Adrian did not seem to notice as he plunged on. "Not once but twice you have defiled yourself and then dare to bring that in front of our faces. You may be King now but I will not be ruled by a man who chooses a blood-sucker over his own kind."
"Oh because you were so compliant with my rule before I took a mate." Lucian bared his teeth slightly and moved again to brush past Adrian. "Go back to your place, Adrian. I tire of your pettiness."
The larger wolf shifted as Lucian did, effectively preventing the king from passing. The murmuring of the crowds grew more intense at the sight of the former king waylaying the current one. "I am not finished," Adrian pressed. "This is an abomination of our ways." For the third time, that long, irritating fingernail was pointed in Aislyn's face. Adrian raised his voice as he continued, "And I, for one, am not going to stand here and let it happen!"
If Adrian intended to say anything else, it never made it out of his mouth. In that split second when his hand pointed at the vampire and he made it known to the room that he was against the whole situation, Aislyn moved. She had been told, after all, that should anyone actually make any challenging move or comment in her direction, she was within her right to defend herself. As far as she was concerned, Adrian had uttered just that challenge and she was getting really tired of being pointed at so rudely.
There was a series of bone-crunching cracks as Aislyn snagged Adrian's finger and snapped it with a twist, then jerked his wrist into a sprain, pulled his arm straight, and slammed her forearm against the back of his overextended elbow. The lycan screamed as he fell to his knees, broken arm still clutched tightly in Aislyn's hand. She placed a boot flat to his shoulder and wrenched, effectively popping the entire limb from its socket. Kicking out, she sent him sprawling to the ground. The gathered packs watched in stunned silence as the former king slid a few feet away from the vampire.
Adrian drew his knees up under him, forehead pressed to the stone floor as he gasped in pain. He cradled his damaged arm gingerly as his shattered elbow made feeble attempts to heal itself. Aislyn moved from her place next to Lucian, stalking over to where Adrian knelt. When she reached him, she nudged his ribs with the toe of her boot none-too-gently, eliciting a grunt from the wolf.
"For future reference," she sneered down at him, voice carrying over the quiet crowd, "I do not like to be pointed at or spoken of like I am not in the room. If you have something to say about me, say it to my face." She lifted her head and took her first real gaze at the gathered lycans. It was disconcerting to have hundreds of eyes fixed on her face but Aislyn hid her unease behind cool indifference. "Does anyone else have any objections or can we get on with it?"
No one stirred as eyes flicked between their vampire-queen and the lycan elder curled on the ground. A dark voice finally spat softly out from the ground at her feet, "Don't think this is over, Bitch."
Aislyn crouched down next to the man, her face close enough that he could feel her breath on his cheek. "And don't you think you're safe from me just because you're my husband's brother," she whispered. "He hasn't killed you yet because of some deep-seeded family respect. You dare to usurp him again or threaten me, and I will kill you. I have no compunctions regarding your worthless life." She straightened and moved back toward Lucian, who had claimed his throne during Aislyn's heart-to-heart with Adrian.
"Well done," the king murmured for her ears when she reached him. "Just enough force without going overboard."
Aislyn smiled slightly and nodded almost imperceptibly. As much as she would relish being rid of Adrian, she knew better than to get carried away. She just needed to hurt him enough to show dominance. Killing him now would only make the others think she was ruthless and that wasn't the image she was trying to project.
As a couple members of Adrian's pack moved to pick their alpha off the floor, Lucian stood from his seat and nodded at his pack, who were standing around him protectively. They moved back slightly, although Raze remained close by as he usually did. Although a murmuring had broken out amongst the other lycans while Adrian melted back into their ranks, they quieted once more as Lucian raised his hands for their attention. Knowing what was coming next, the throng moved closer to the chair, forming a semi-circle of lycans facing the throne.
"Tonight is the full moon," he started, voice carrying easily to the four corners of the room. "Welcome. Much has happened in these few short weeks since we last met and there are a number of important issues that must be addressed before we can convene as one Pack." He reached his hand out to Aislyn, who took it and stood firmly by his side as an equal would.
"As many of you could sense and the rest have heard through the mutterings of the crowds, I have brought to you a new queen. For those of you who are active in the war efforts and frequent the coven, this should not come as a terribly big surprise." The briefest shine of adoration flashed through his eyes as he looked at Aislyn. He quickly masked it as he looked back to the gathered lycans. The packs were eyeing Aislyn with mixed feelings. Some were glowering similar to Adrian, some were perplexed, others indifferent. A few actually looked pleased, including the she-wolf Gilda who had known Lucian when they were young. "For any of you who have been living under a rock for the past few months, her name is Aislyn, daughter of the heads of our vampire allies."
Lucian cast his eyes around the assembly, face turning suddenly very dour. "Are there any present who find reason to challenge this?" It was formality to ask, even though Aislyn had already voiced the question moments ago. No one did more than cough discreetly and Lucian nodded once with a sharp jerk of his head. "Good." Lucian was fairly certain a good deal of them did object but, after watching what she had done to Adrian, no one was inclined to be likewise injured. The lycan-king doubted very much that Adrian would be the last one Aislyn would have to deal with but at least for the time being she would be safe from having to exert her authority.
He dropped Aislyn's hand and motioned for Trina to come forward. She shuffled out from behind Raze and fidgeted slightly in front of so many familiar faces. She waved vaguely with one hand at a group of lycans around her age: friends and year-mates from Adrian's pack she had grown up with. "I would like to officially announce that I have adopted Trina into the ranks of my pack and, as such, she is no longer of the Pack of Adrian."
There were a couple whispers at that information. Although kingship could change, rarely did members from one pack defect to another unless there was a mating involved, and hardly ever did such a young and untried lycan get picked up by a higher ranking pack. Lucian had not mentioned Trina being mated, which was information that would not have been left out at a full-moon meeting. Those who were members of Adrian's pack did not look directly at the young woman standing next to the king; they were well aware why she had left and were duly embarrassed by the fact that Adrian's temper was to blame.
Eyes turned next to Michael as he moved to stand near the leader at Lucian's beckon. He had not been noticed originally as Aislyn had been the major focus of the packs when they entered. Now, as he stood rigidly next to Lucian, there were a collection of gasps and an incoherent rumbling from the lycans. They could smell that he was not normal and the entire room went instantly on edge.
"This is Michael," Lucian announced, brining the room back into order as his voice cut through half-formed questions that were about to be voiced. "Those of you who fought at Christmas may recognize him as the foreigner we were rescuing. As you can sense, he is not exactly lycan but he claims loyalty to me and, thus, the packs and the war against the Dolls-"
"What is he?" a voice somewhere near the back finally managed to call out. More voices joined that one, agreeing with the question. Lucian held up his hands again and they stilled.
"Michael is a hybrid," Lucian explained carefully. "He is the direct descendant of Alexander Corvinus who was the father of us all."
There was a series of confused mutterings. Only Lucian's pack had been involved in the blending of the species and, although a number of the lycans present had been in the Christmas battle, they were not familiar with what Michael actually was. They assumed he was something else, something new like the Dolls, but had yet to get a clear answer as to what that was.
"A hybrid what?" another voice asked. Those around nodded and looked anxiously between Lucian and Michael.
"He has been bitten by both species. He is neither one, nor the other." Lucian eyed the unease on his peoples' faces. "But I assure you that he is a friend and he is a member of my Pack and should be treated as such." No one argued under the baleful eye of their king but there looked to be a number of them who looked like they were tempted.
"There are no other changes within my pack," Lucian concluded. Trina and Michael moved back to stand with the rest of the small pack they belonged with. "On to the next set of business. Will the members of Daniel's pack please come forward?"
There was a shuffling as fourteen or so separated themselves from the two-hundred. Lucian looked them over with a deep feeling of compassion. They were good lycans and had been unerringly loyal to him since his arrival, despite their small number.
"Daniel was lost to us at the Christmas battle. It has been a week since his death. Have you chosen a new Alpha or do I need to?" Lucian secretly hoped they had made that decision. He did not feel as though he knew the non-alphas well enough to make an informed decision and the last thing he wanted after Adrian's broken bones was another display of dominance fighting to pick the new alpha. The worse case scenario would be that Daniel's pack would be absorbed into the numbers of another of the packs that shared territorial boundaries with the former's turf. The highest ranking of those packs was Adrian's and Lucian hated the idea that such loyal wolves would be placed under the command of a man he was barely keeping a reign on.
"We have," one of the members of the pack spoke. Was it just Lucian or did he look a little nervous? Daniel's pack glanced at each other, shuffled a bit, then their chosen spokesman cleared his throat and ploughed ahead. "We have chosen Brenna." Despite his outwardly twitchy demeanor, the man's voice held a great deal of conviction.
Lucian's eyebrows rose fractionally. That was highly unconventional but he did not voice that opinion. He had a vampire mate and a hybrid in his pack. It seemed hypocritical to question their choice based merely on tradition. Lucian turned his eyes to the woman who had moved a step or two in front of the pack. "Do you accept this appointment?" Lucian asked curiously. It was not part of their ceremony for him to ask but he was genuinely interested that the pack had chosen Daniel's mate to continue his rule.
"Yes," she replied firmly, meeting his eyes without a hint of fear. Lucian found himself liking her as much as he had Daniel. His association with the woman had only been brief before as the mates of the alphas did not usually partake in the leading of the pack. The job of the female alpha was more domestic. The male protected the pack, the female actually organized it. For a woman to be voted into the office of the actual Alpha meant she would be doing the jobs of both. It was a very new idea but not one Lucian was against.
"Very well." Lucian slipped back into formality. "Brenna, formerly of the Pack of Daniel, do you swear your allegiance, and that of your pack, to me?"
"Yes," she said again, nodding definitively.
"Then from this day, you are now the Pack of Brenna. Be welcome." Lucian moved back and sank into his chair as Brenna and her pack dissolved back into the masses. He reached a hand out and was happy to feel Aislyn's fingers grip his from where she stood next to the throne. A lot had just occurred that was not within the norm of the lycan world and he knew there would be objections and feelings would need to be smoothed out. As good of a negotiator as Lucian was, all he really wanted at that moment was to be back at the manor, curled up in bed with Aislyn.
"Now, Alphas to me. I'm sure we have much to discuss. The rest of you, feel free to mingle. It is the full moon tonight. Let us meet as one pack." He lowered his voice and murmured to Raze from the side of his mouth, "Tell our people to keep their ears open. I want to know the opinion of the actual packs on everything that has transpired." Raze nodded as he slipped back to spread the reconnaissance order to the rest of the small pack. Although Lucian would soon know how the Alphas viewed the situation, the majority of the lycans did not always agree with their leaders and it was important that Lucian knew where everyone stood.
There was an instant rush of noise as the crowd started to mix together. The Alphas moved to Lucian's chair, many of them eyeing Brenna suspiciously. Despite the stir she was causing, she hardly seemed to take notice of the males' looks of superiority and mistrust. Females were never elected Alpha, it just wasn't done. But their king did not seem to object and he had a penchant for the unusual. Times were changing but that did not mean the other Alphas had to be happy about it.
It was difficult to tell who they were more untrusting of, however, as they noticed Aislyn not move away. "She's not Alpha," one of the men blurted. He was about to lift a finger to point it at Aislyn, glanced at Adrian's still-bleeding elbow joint, and withdrew his hand hastily lest he loose his own limb to the vampire.
Lucian raised his brow slowly, expression hedging on bored. He said nothing as the Alpha squirmed under his gaze.
"You did call for just the Alphas," another man put in, trying his best to bolster his comrade's confidence.
"Oh, shove it," Brenna snapped, rolling her eyes. "So there are two sets of breasts here. Deal with it. She's the Queen and if His Majesty wants her to take part in our meetings, that's his prerogative." The short, curly haired woman turned suddenly to Aislyn and gave her a supportive smile. "I for one am glad to have some sensibility in this sausage-fest."
Aislyn opened her mouth but wasn't sure what to say. Beside her, Lucian was coughing spasmodically into his fist as he choked on his own spit. The other Alphas looked rather affronted although a couple, Aislyn noticed, were trying their best not to laugh. Brenna, apparently, was a very outspoken woman and not afraid to let others know what she thought. Aislyn mentally grouped the new Alpha amongst her allies.
Lucian regained his composure and waved Brenna back a bit, masking a smile the best he could before turning to the other men. "Perhaps it would do you good to include your mates in important matters of state. You never know what insight they may have that you would overlook. Plus Aislyn is an officer in the vampire forces. Her knowledge is invaluable to our discussion."
"More about these stupid Dolls of yours?" Adrian grumbled, rubbing tenderly at his newly relocated shoulder.
"I'm sorry that the threat to our existence is a hindrance on you," Lucian replied dryly. "If you would be so kind, Brother, to let me finish you would know we have more than that to speak of tonight." At that, the elder flicked his eyes to Aislyn and nodded slightly. She pursed her lips, folded her arms, and nodded back.
"For a number of years, our coven has been at peace with a number of the lesser Hunter clans. Less than forty-eight hours ago, we learned that these clans have betrayed our trust and sold us out to van Helsing. This does not bode too terribly well because, up until now, our alliance with them has kept them off your backs as well. If they are now in league with van Helsing, that means there will be more Hunters out there with a lot better equipment." Aislyn studied their faces for a moment, her eyes stony.
"After this, and the events of Christmas, it would seem as though we have not only a war with the Dolls on our hands, but one with a combined force of Hunters and Slayers brewing as well. We need to keep vigilant to any activity by humans that indicates they may be from either of those factions." She shifted her weight slightly and looked back to Lucian.
"Well." One of the men frowned. "That's… well… shit." He shook his head. "You come here, bring us into one war, and now you're saying we have Hunters breathing down our necks, too?" He glared at Aislyn. "Maybe Adrian has a point."
"Is that a challenge?" Aislyn returned, her tone dangerously low.
The Alpha paused, his expression changing rapidly from anger to unease. "No," he said hastily. "It's just that…" he faltered, searching for his words. He cast a hand out toward the gathered lycans, at the soft men, women, and children greeting old friends and chattering amongst themselves.
"We are not warriors," Brenna supplied for him, eliciting a surprised but grateful look from the male. "Sure we have had our skirmishes with the Hunters but they have mostly left us well enough alone as we don't cause any trouble. Before you came, Aislyn, and brought us our long, lost king, we were relatively peaceful people. You're basically dealing with a bunch of farmers wielding pitchforks compared to your army of guns."
Aislyn's lips turned down in thought. The woman had a point. "If we are dealing with Hunters," she muttered, "then perhaps we should start training you how to actually fight them."
"And if we don't want to fight?" another man asked gruffly.
"Then it is quite likely that you'll end up dead," Lucian said drably. "Aislyn is right. I have overlooked proper training for those of you acting as a fighting force. It is second nature to me now, I often forget others are not as accomplished." He pursed his lips and looked at each of the Alphas in turn. "Aislyn's people train almost constantly. I'm sure there are plenty who will be capable of teaching the fighting arts to others." He glanced at his mate for confirmation and she nodded.
"Right. I need lists of everyone considered battle ready from each pack. Before tonight is out, I want everyone to have a scheduled time in which they will report to the coven for combat training. In the meantime, I wish to speak to each of you individually. Adrian," he shot a look at the tempermental lycan, "I will start with you. Come, let us talk privately." Without waiting to see if his orders were obeyed, he stood, squeezed Aislyn's hand, then left the hall into the commons. Adrian trailed behind him, looking particularly sour.
The Alphas dispersed and Aislyn sought out Michael. "I figured you could use some company that isn't afraid of you," she greeted, switching back to Hungarian.
"Thanks. A few have come up to me, actually, to welcome me to the packs. I think they're from that little pack at the beginning, the one with the woman leader."
"Brenna. I can image they may be a little more progressive than the others, electing a female as their Alpha. I like her, though. She's a bit brash but I can image that's easily ignored once you get used to her."
Michael smirked. "So how long do these things go on?" he asked, changing the subject.
Aislyn shrugged. "Last time I attended it was a couple weeks." She chuckled at the startled look on his face and held up a hand, "But that was because Lucian had just taken over and there was a lot of organizing to do to get the packs to cooperate with the coven. Last month, Lucian was only gone for the day and night. He returned early morning the next day so we should be home no later than ten tomorrow morning."
"What time is it now?" Michael questioned. He glanced at his watch and dropped his arm heavily. "I keep forgetting to make it local time," he grumbled.
"About six-thirty," she informed him, glancing at her own watch. "We have a while yet."
"I should have brought a deck of cards." Michael glanced around at the happily milling pack. "This could drag on when you don't know anyone."
Aislyn suddenly grinned and dug around in one of the inside pockets of her trench coat. "Cop a squat," she told him, dropping cross-legged to the floor. She held up a battered deck held together with a bright yellow rubber band.
"You," Michael said as he sat, "are my hero."
She laughed at him and pulled the rubber band off, putting it around her wrist for safe keeping before starting to shuffle. "I learned well from my mother: be prepared for anything!"
Selene was not sure what to make of Vlad the first time they were formally introduced. It had been a very brief few words of welcome before he had whisked off to do whatever it was he spent his time doing. That had been a few days ago, right before Aislyn and Lina's encounter with Helena.
Now, as she sat across from him in the kitchen, sipping politely at a glass of blood, she had a very odd tingling sensation creep up the back of her neck that she would not have described as pleasant. There was a very disconcerting gleam in his eyes that he was not bothering to hide as he attempted to spit out what it was he was trying to say. He had worked himself up into a tizzy but she barely understood anything he was trying to explain involving chromosomes, viral replication, rDNA, and something called carcinogenic mutation. She was a Death Dealer. The most biology she had ever studied was to find out the best points of entry for a sword into the body of a lycan.
Selene found herself regretting her choice to venture out of her and Michael's rooms while her husband was at the meeting. She knew she needed to get something to eat or she would start weakening, but she had not anticipated this bizarre turn of events.
Vlad had come into the kitchen moments after she had sat down with her blood. She noticed him glancing at her periodically as he prepared to cut himself a slice of what appeared to be cherry cheesecake. Then, as if he couldn't contain himself any longer, he launched into this elaborate and convoluted jabbering that left Selene's head spinning, his slice of pie mostly forgotten on the countertop. Finally, with a deep breath, he finished with a rush what he obviously assumed was the best explanation ever, and attacked his cheesecake with vigor.
Selene was left with one distinct impression of Vlad Tepes: he was completely, absolutely, unequivocally barking mad. He didn't appear to notice her blank expression until after he had finished his dessert and wiped his mouth on a handkerchief pulled from the sleeve of his dress-shirt.
"I'm terribly sorry. Did you want some cheesecake?" He blinked at her, motioning to the empty plate.
"Ah, no thank you." Selene tapped her glass. "I cannot eat human food. It has the potential to kill me."
Vlad nodded thoughtfully for a moment, opened his mouth, and instantly made Selene regret elaborating on her refusal. It took him at least another five minutes to run out of steam while he contemplated the reasons behind that phenomenon. Finally, when he had once again fell silent, Selene managed to break into the one-sided conversation.
"I really do not mean to sound rude, but is there something you need from me? To be perfectly frank, this is more of Michael's field than mine." She hoped whatever it was he was looking for it wouldn't take him another fifteen minutes to explain it.
Vlad blinked again, reminding her a little bit of an owl. "Michael's field?"
"He was a doctor." Selene held her breath, waiting for the rambling to start again but Vlad remained thankfully coherent.
"I can appreciate that. I'm sorry if I have come off as being a bit excitable. What I am looking for, to be more straight-forward, is a sample of your blood." Vlad rested his elbows on the countertop, steepling his hands in front of his face as he regarded her.
Selene thought that 'a bit excitable' was the understatement of the month but let it go. She wasn't the kind to make a snarky comment to someone she had only met twice and in whose home she was being so hospitably housed. "My blood?" she asked instead.
"Yes. My lovely wife has mentioned to me your unique ability. It is my understanding you inherited that from Alexander Corvinus through consumption of his blood." His mood had shifted so suddenly to calm and serious that Selene had a very hard time believing it was the same man. Warily, she nodded confirmation to his statement, praying to whoever was listening that he didn't go off on another rant. "She has also hypothesized that, should I drink your blood, I, too, will inherit this ability."
"Yes. We spoke of that briefly while Michael and I told our story. Do you think it is possible?" She braced herself, waiting for the mad scientist to re-emerge. He seemed to have gone to bed for the night, though, as the cool and collected Vlad remained across from her.
"Perhaps. But before I condemn myself to some horrid side effect should it be incompatible with my own anomalies, I wish to test a small sample of your blood against mine and watch how it reacts. Microscopically, naturally."
Now that he was talking more sensibly and not akin to a cattle auctioneer, Selene could follow his train of thought. She had to agree that his plan would be a very good idea. If it hadn't been for the fact that they were terribly strapped for time when Alexander was dying, she may have stopped to question the exact effects of drinking his blood. She had been lucky that nothing devastating had occurred but she already housed a Corvinus virus. Vlad was an entirely different matter and it was wise to approach the idea of mixing her blood with his cautiously.
"Of course. I am more than happy to give you any samples you need. Michael and I are in debt to your people for saving us. We would be rude to not repay your generosity."
Vlad stood abruptly and Selene's nerve endings fired at the unexpected movement. After so many years of reacting instinctually to any sudden motion, she was barely able to keep herself from flying backwards off her seat. As it was she was pretty sure her fingers twitched toward where her guns were usually concealed, even though she knew perfectly well that she was unarmed. The man didn't notice however.
"As soon as you're done eating, I'll be in my study. It's the middle door under the walkway. Knock thrice and I'll take a sample of your blood." That unstable glint had returned to his eyes as he took a step back and was unexpectedly and unexplainably gone from the room.
Selene slipped off her stool and spun around, eyes wide as she realized she was completely alone in the kitchen. The prickle at the back of her neck returned and, needing to get away from the spooky feeling, she snagged her glass and nearly ran into the commons. The vampires present glanced her way curiously before going back to their various activities.
The Viral composed her features, gripped her glass more tightly, and moved across the room with purpose, heading to where she saw Lina in discussion with a few others. There was a set of maps spread out on a table they were looking at intently and, curiosity getting the better of her, Selene went to investigate.
As the woman approached, Lina looked up and smiled a greeting. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," the younger vampire commented, straightening her back from where she was bent over the map. She arched it, popping her spine, and sighed deeply.
"Your husband just vanished," Selene near whispered in explanation.
"Oh, yes. He does that. Just try your best to ignore it when he's showing off like that." Lina waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Sorry if I didn't mention that before. Must've come as quite a shock."
Selene nodded slightly before turning her attention to the maps. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not entirely certain," Lina admitted. "I found these in one of our conference rooms. It smacks of Aislyn's hand but she didn't mention anything to anyone about what the hell she was getting at with all this. Take a look and see if you see anything."
Selene moved closer and bent over the maps. She picked up a notepad with Aislyn's scrawl, then glanced back down at the maps with pursed lips. She tilted her head, moved around the other side of the table, and then cocked her head in the other direction. "It almost looks like she's trying to make a pattern out of it."
"Precisely. But a pattern of what?" Lina tapped her fingernails on the tabletop. "It's so annoyingly familiar but I can't place it. It's right there, on the tip of my tongue but I can't seem to grasp what it was she was starting to put together."
Selene looked at the notepad again. "It would seem she was having the same issue. When do you suppose they will be back?"
"Before noon tomorrow morning, most likely." Lina shrugged. "I just know this is going to bother me all night, though, like when you're trying to remember the name of someone specific and it suddenly comes to you at three in the morning but no one else is awake to tell."
Selene nodded, although she wasn't entirely certain she knew what Lina was talking about. "Well, if you come up with anything, you can always tell me. I'm usually awake at three in the morning." Her small attempt at a joke was met with a light chuckle from the lady of the house.
"I'll hold you to that, mark me." Lina sighed and bent back over the maps. Selene excused herself and made her way toward the overhang, her glass almost empty. She had a pretty good feeling that Vlad was waiting on pins and needles to get his hands on a vial of her blood. After seeing his random and somewhat unnerving changes in emotion, she did not really want to make him wait.
Aislyn looked up as a shadow passed over her and Michael. She smiled grimly at Lucian as the lycan crouched next to them. "Well?" she asked quietly, setting her hand of cards to one side to focus her attention on her mate.
"They're divided almost exactly on their opinions," he murmured back. "But they will comply for now. Trying to get Adrian to promise to behave himself was like pulling teeth, though."
"Not unexpected," Aislyn commented.
"No, but annoying. If he weren't my brother…" Lucian let the thought float in the air. "As much as I hate that man, he hasn't actually done anything to warrant killing him."
"What about the others? Who's on our side?"
"Brenna, of course, and two of the Alphas from smaller packs. Nathan, too, although I'm not sure if I should trust him to be sincere. I would not have taken him for being supportive."
"He's the one-eyed one, right?" Aislyn asked and Lucian nodded.
"His mate was killed by vampires before he fled Hungary," Lucian elaborated. "Time will tell if he's actually being truthful about his allegiance."
"Well, six is better than none," Michael offered, slipping into the conversation.
"Yes, but that is just the Alphas," Lucian reminded the other two. "The rest of the pack has been moving through the crowds, trying to get a feel for the opinions of the entirety of the clan. We may have more support than we think."
"So, if the majority of the actual packs are supportive, then what happens if the Alphas decide they won't follow you?" Michael tossed his cards onto the deck as the game had obviously ended with Lucian's arrival.
"One of two things may happen." Lucian sat from his crouch, leaning in and lowering his voice to keep their conversation private. "If the Alphas hold enough sway with their own people, I could well be dethroned and we will lose a lot of allies. However, if, like Trina, the packs hold more regard for me than for their own leaders, there is the potential that I can dissolve the entire pack system."
"Anarchy?" Michael sounded like he was hazarding a guess.
"No. What I mean is no more multiple Alphas, no more negotiating, no more Kingdom. They will be assimilated into the numbers of my pack and we will again be a single, cohesive unit of lycans. One clan. One Alpha."
Michael glanced around them then laughed shortly in the back of his throat. "That's a lot of wolves in one pack."
"And a lot of territory," Aislyn added. "Plus these are only the London packs. If they were to become a single den? Can you imagine the threat that would pose to the dens in the surrounding townships? Or even the Scottish packs?"
"Threat? I don't understand," Michael admitted. He was terribly new to the entire idea of werewolves and knew the least about the actual social workings of the species. "Why would they be threatened?"
"For centuries, the London packs have been united under a single king but they retained their individual communities." Lucian shifted slightly. "Imagine if, suddenly, someone came in and took complete control from the Alphas. Now, imagine if you're an Alpha living just outside that new, giant pack's territory."
"I'd be scared shitless that the war-mongering Lucian would come after my pack next, trying to absorb me into the ranks. To become an Alpha and then lose that authority entirely is a huge blow to the ego of a lycan," Aislyn supplied. "You're not truly lycan, Michael, and you haven't spent a good deal of your life studying them like I have. Once you know how they think, you can see these things more clearly."
"That does make sense. So we try to avoid assimilation, then?" The hybrid looked to Lucian, who nodded firmly.
"If we can get by without changing how these lycans have lived for centuries that would be best. I've already brought too many new ideas and ways to them."
Aislyn chucked and started gathering all the cards together to put away in her jacket. "Ironic, since you're basically the father of the lycan breed."
As the three stood, Michael cast his eyes around the room once more. "Now what?"
Lucian gazed over Aislyn's shoulder as the woman checked her watch. "It's nearly ten."
"Yes, and I need to walk the crowds for a bit," Lucian added. "You're welcome to join me. It may help me gauge their feelings better. After midnight, we will probably retire to the guest dens and then I can find out what our people have discovered." He held his hand out to Aislyn, who took it with a smile. Then, with Michael at his other elbow, Lucian led the way into the throngs.
AN: Took me long enough, huh? I hope that's sufficient for this chapter, because that's what you're going to get! I also hope that the conversation between Lucian and Vlad made enough sense. Although I do have a background in the biological sciences, I know I had to fudge a few things to make the whole idea work. Let me know if you think it needs work or if you were still confused on anything.
And sorry Shaz… I didn't quite make it to 20,000 words! Maybe next time…
