I do not own any of the characters or basic story material, all rights belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Ch. 38: Lord Lupus

How is it that life came to be so precarious? What sister of fate was so cruel as to cut our golden threads so short? Terror after terror, misery after misery, truly; I was well within my rights to say that a peaceful life was an impossible life. Death, that eager lover, courts us at all times. And how sick I was of his embrace.

My pleas towards the mysterious carriage-driver went unheard, my frantic nails did little to the door. I was a trapped creature, and primal fears coursed through my veins for the thousandth time that day. Eventually, I exhausted myself and lay meekly within, planning for whatever should happen next. It was all I could do to keep my wits about myself. Somehow, the unknown was far more frightening than the known.

Perhaps they were hours that passed, or perhaps they were mere minuets, I had no way of knowing, but eventually the carriage stopped. And all was silent outside save for the heavy breath of my captor. My breath caught in my throat as the door was suddenly wrenched open and the cloaked figure reached inside to haul my unwilling body out into the night air. He threw me forward and knotted with deft fingers a knot about my wrists, the rope biting into my soft flesh. In all these weeks with Edward and Alice at the Imperial villa, I'd become weak and fleshy, my wiry muscles disintegrating towards Grecian fleece. I inwardly cursed myself as a blindfold was plastered over my line of vision, turning the night sky into oblivion.

"I be hating to do this to ye, lass, but a man's got to feed e'his family…and you know what they say about Imperial gold, it can buy a man e'his soul back from Pluto hisself." The gruff, uneducated voice of my captor hissed quietly in my ear. And while the bloodbeat sounded high and strong in my ears, I was able to gather a few precious clues from this brute. He was no doubt taking me towards the real danger, most likely Lupus was behind all of this…which meant both my brother and Philo's actions had failed to draw the cover over his eyes. The wolf Lupus hunted for me still, and here I came, a trussed up lamb ripe for the slaughter.

"You would act as a dog for the Emperor? You would lower yourself to that degree?" I meant to sound intimidating, or at least eloquent…but I had not the strength of a prostitute begging her master for release. Fear was making me weak, and that could mean a hasty death.

The captor only laughed loudly into the musty night air, meaning he was confident enough about our whereabouts that he needn't worry about volume. A fresh wave of fear took me by the throat. "I'll say this much for ye, you're a better talker than the others I usually bring em'. I wish ye luck lass, that tongue just might git em' to spare ye a bit of pain…barring ye know how to use it right." He bellowed his pleasure out once more and tugged at the end of my rope, leading me forward on foreign soil.

…...

It was a long while before I was able to sit and rest, my wrists raw against their rope. The heady smell of overripe grapes in the area made my nose curl, we were far from any of the main roads. As I took stock of my surrounding, I registered the heat of a fire upon my gown and the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching. I readied myself for whatever fate Lupus had for me this night, a silent prayer towards whatever deity shaped this loveless earth formed itself upon my lips, ready to fall towards my fate like a summer's rain.

"I've got the lass, milord, if you've got the gold." a rough chuckle here, followed by a heavy breath.

The voice that spoke next sent a wave of revulsion down my spine, had I been able to lash out, I would have done so, and I would have rent flesh with my fury….Lupus's thick, viscous intonations greeted my ears with all the welcome of a fox in the henhouse.

"Don't I always pay you handsomely Gauis? The gold is located in Herva's quarters, look for it behind the bookcase. And Gauis?"

A slight shudder rippled through my captor's pudgy physique as Lupus spoke his question. "Yes milord?"

"I'll ask you not to go talking about this one, I know you try to keep a tight lip about our business, but this is one incident I don't want spreading. If I hear so much as a whisper from the public, you and your wife will be back on the slave ships and bound for the colonies. Do you understand my dear Gauis?" Lupus's voice like poisoned honey eeked through to my captor.

"I understand milord….I shan't have a chat with me wife about this one. But if I be asking milord, won't people talk about this one? She's the wife of Edward Cullen after all….you usually take em' rough and poor from the streets, but this lady has a family waiting for 'er." Gauis's hands tightened their hold on my arms, the sweat dampening my gown. Clearly, this arrangement was not usual for the kidnapper.

I felt Gauis's grip fly from my body as the sound of sword being drawn greeted the night. Lupus shoved me to the ground and tore my blindfold away, revealing the piggish Gauis with a silver blade pressed at his jugular. His eyes gaped wide and his mouth was twitched into a fearful grin. Lupus kept one foot on my ropes and pressed the blade closer into Gauis, its edge was starting to cut into the fat collar of flesh around his throat. "Watch yourself Gauis, I am lord and master here, and when I say not to talk about this girl, I mean it. She may be Edward Cullen's wife, but people will have much more to talk about tomorrow….the Cullens will soon be of no consequence." Lupus removed his sword from Gauis's body and carefully pointed it towards the carriage. "Now then, be off, your part is done in this play."

I watched as Gauis moved away, a frown on his face. I tried to connect with his eyes, tried to make an impression upon this man who sold women to the emperor…but Lupus snatched my chin and turned it towards his loathing stare. Hate and only hate burned inside those eyes, and he never looked away.

…...

Lupus cut away my binding and threw me to my feet. He walked slowly around the blazing bonfire, eyeing me carefully. The thought of running occurred to me, but it was clear Lupus understood the topography, he also understood that I really had nowhere to go.

"So clever of my son and his old teacher, so very cleaver indeed…I had not thought them to be that resourceful, and your "death" might have easily fooled another. But like so many of my enemies do, they underestimated me." I stood stiffly by the fire, my hands pulled into claws and my feet ready to tackle the ground in a sprint. Lupus edged closer until he was but an arm's length away, his body strict in its posture. The heat of the fire blazed against his tunic, giving him a nearly demonic glow.

"Why? Why do you persist in this effort? My mother is dead and I was to leave the empire by nightfall. I was to out of your life for good! A mere memory! What joy can my death give you that my absence would not?" My voiced hissed and screeched at him, but he only smiled mockingly at me.

"I will willingly confess that I am a man with far too much pride. I enjoy victory entirely too much to let you walk upon this earth. You, the bastard child of my wife, a disgrace upon a disgrace. If I was not so bound by pride, perhaps I could have let you remain in slavery…." In a sudden dash Lupus was had one hand at my throat, and another wrapped about my waist, holding me to him. He bent my head backwards to expose my virgin neck, the only place on my body not marred by old cuts and bruises. As he spoke, his hot breath bit at my flesh, and my body writhed in revulsion. "But there is such a sweet pleasure in seeing the death of one's disgrace. I've done it before you know, every little mistake I've left behind in the brothels of Rome. Sweet little things torn prematurely from their foul mother's wombs. Can't have rumors of my love life spreading to Corda now can I?" He ran his hand down towards my waist, his nails biting into my belly.

I gagged powerfully against his hand, hatred roiling my organs. The man was a monster. If he had committed such heinous crimes against his own unborn, what would he have in store for the illegitimate daughter of his precious Viola? As if to answer my unspoken question, Lupus thrust me from his putrid embrace and drew his sword once more.

I stood weakly to my feet and faced him head on, like the gladiator my father had once been. If it had come this this, I would fight this creature for my right to live, fight him to my very end. There was far more to this than my life, Edward and his family were in danger…but I could not think of Edward now, could not think of his loving embrace. Blood called for blood, and love had no place at this table.

" Lupus, among those in Pompeii there is a common saying; a thrice shaken rat is dead. You have attacked my family without mercy for years on end now, and let me assure you, the rat is dead. It cannot harm you any longer, growl over the bones of my mother's misdeeds to you, but there is nothing more to do. Kill me if it so satisfies your pride, and yet what relief will it bring? The rat is dead." I kept my eyes locked on his own as I spoke this, trying to convey to him what a worthless death mine would prove. But I could see he was without emotion or reason. Slowly, we moved around the fire, each baiting the other , it was a cautious dance indeed.

"Viola had a quick tongue as well, she often tried to worm her way out as you do now. Unfortunately it never did work around me…" Lupus straightened his back and held his sword at arm's length. A look of cold calculation splayed upon his face, and I knew at once he was done toying with me. His suffering ego would not allow for more idle chatter, he only wanted me dead.

I threw myself away from the touch of the blade and ran for the dense olive groves beyond the sad little fire. As a girl I had often participated in races amongst the low trees, and I was often the victor. Lupus may have known the lay of the land, but that didn't mean I couldn't buy myself some time losing him in the forest. The steady breaths sounding behind me gave me confirmation that Lupus had given chase. Away and away from his campsite, without the glow of the fire and with me running, there was soon a very little bit of distance between us. Precious enough.

I swatted the low boughs of the trees away from my body, trying to keep my flight as silent as possible. My bare feet thudded through the dusty soil, the sky murky gray above. A frustrated growl from some yards behind me gave me confirmation that Lupus was struggling to maintain pace. This little hope gave my legs the encouragement they need to run beyond the groves and into real forest, thick and dank as a labyrinth.

As soon as I hit the uneven terrain of the wood, I kept watch for some small alcove, just one overhang of rock or wood that would serve as a shield between Lupus and myself. I ran until my throat burned and my legs shook with exhaustion. Walking now, I continued deeper into the wood, the scent of farm giving way to wilder aromas. I headed toward a thick swath of trees only to find a sizable herd of wild goats. It was a common occurrence on the outskirts of the great cities, goats and horses would often break away from their keepers only to establish herds of their own. Once in the forests, they became game for man and wolf alike. Keeping this in mind, I tread carefully around the herd looking for signs of a wolf pack. The goats bleated in alarm, huffed at me and a few rams lowered their curled horns to charge, but thankfully they stayed mostly calm. I lowered myself next to a large boulder and listened for the sound of human footsteps. The herd swarmed in around me, obviously not as wild as I had first thought.

"You…are…much your father's daughter…..Isabella." Lupus' frothing statement echoed frighteningly near me. His breath was ragged and I could tell he was near his sanity's end. "He was a foreigner, your father, from the lands of Egypt. And they are all cowards, foreigners. They run like vermin in the night from fate. He ran the night I killed him, he did. Viola's precious Amun. Ran even as the blood gutted from his slit throat. A Roman would have died with honor….your mother did. I'm told she stood over you, her little pulling kitten, and fought until the last." A brief glance from my hiding place gave me a sight that would burn within me for all eternity. Lupus, crazed and bleeding from the arms of the forest, staggering through the herd, stabbing randomly with his sword. I kept low and turned away.

"YOU, you, you are hiding Isabella, hiding like your mongrel father. Come and greet death as a Roman. Let your mother-land feel your blood as her sacrifice." Spittle ran from his chin and he suddenly lunged toward my hiding place. I started, fell, and started once more but I was torn from my hiding place. The thick ropes of muscle on lupus' arm kept hold of my ankle. I bit, clawed and torn my way into my captor, but to no avail. The dark green of the forest closed in and the rank smell of insanity filled the air as Lupus raised his great blade, gleaming silver amongst the pallor of the wood. His bruised, bleeding face and clenched jaw lent him a demonic glow as he slammed the sword toward me. It caught the edge of my gown and penetrated deeply into the root of a nearby tree. In his desperation Lupus had missed his crucial mark, my heart.

With a cry of fury I rent myself free of my gown and threw my body away from the mad emperor. I stumbled back into the herd of goats and stopped only to catch the queer sound coming from the edge of the wood. It was at once a low gurgle and high keen. Lupus frantically tried to free with sword but it stuck fast and sure to the root. He threw his head backwards and screamed his fury into the night. The leaves almost seemed to shiver from his utterance. As his scream ended another began, echoing his primal cry with a mate of its own. I ran back into the wood and threw myself behind a rock, keeping my breath light and low. Lupus stopped cold to listen to the wild cry and was rewarded with the flash of a predator's eyes. From the dark of the untamed forest came forth a mighty wolf, the largest I had ever seen. He had to have been the girth and height of a horse in the very least. And yet for all his size, he was starved looking. Ribs and hips protruded against a thin covering of skin and silver fur. The beast's eyes were wild with hunger, and yet carried the strangest look of intelligence. It was one I had not ever seen in an animal, short of the look a guard dog gets when he tackles an intruder. The wolf slithered from the womb of the wood and gracefully pounced upon Lupus, his massive paw pinning him to the ground. Lupus screamed in terror and rent at the wolf's claws, trying to free himself. It was bewildering in its sight, a wolf of god-like proportions pinning down the emperor of Rome. It was a tale worthy of Ovid's Metamorphosis. Seeming to grow weary of his prey's screaming, the wolf gently bit down upon Lupus' neck. The fallen emperor gurgled his resistance but it was too late, his was drowning in his own blood. The wolf lifted his maw and eased his paw off of the dying man, a look of satisfaction in his yellow eyes.

It was the oddest moment in the midst of this chaos when my eyes met those of the beast's. Across the wood my dun brown gaze locked with a glowing amber one, and it held. Something was said between our gaze, said and then done with. One moment of clarity between woman and wolf. And then it was quickly over. I feared that I would be the next under the behemoth's paw, but the wolf only snorted and turned towards the fleeing goat herd. With a sleek bound he captured two fat nanny goats and shuffled his kill deeper towards the forest, ignoring his first bloody kill gasping near the roots of great tree. Oddly, I did not fear the wolf's return.

…...

Even rung-out with stress and fear, I was able to make my way towards the fallen god of Rome. His purple robe gleamed wetly in the night, dark with hot blood. Arms and legs askew he seemed more insect than man, and I felt just as much pity for him as I would a beetle beneath my foot. The irony of his death did not escape me, Lord Lupus felled not by man, but wolf. An animal for an animal. My fear upon the discovery of his death was short-lived, as it was clear how the man was dying. His throat was shredded and ivory pieces of bone protruded. The claw marks upon his chest were also case enough. I didn't have to fear being blamed for his death, nor it the fault lie with any of the Cullens. We were safe, at long last.

As the ruin of a man lay dying beneath the ancient wood, I thought up my tale to tell the night guards alongside the road, how our dear Emperor had known I was ambushed and dragged out by robbers and valiantly rushed to my aid only to be felled by a rabid wolf. I would have to explain that it was he who freed me(as much as it would roil my guts). Perhaps one day when I was old and gray I would tell the correct story to someone, tell it whole and well. But not for now, now there was only me and him. A woman in rags and a cooling body, and the peculiar image of a sword stuck tight to the roots of a massive tree.

As I walked out of the primal gloom of the wood, I couldn't help but think of the stories that would come of this. Perhaps even legends would arise someday. But it was all quickly put out of my mind as I headed back towards my new life, content to ponder my place in Edward's arms. As if to give its blessing, the moon broke through the clots of ash and soot in the air and managed to make for a trail as smooth and pure as silk upon the dark earth. And it was in this pure light that I went, my conscious and mind its equal.