Walden stood staring gloomily at some abstract painting when Tony finally came out of the room. To be fair, it couldn't have been more than half an hour since the meeting had started, but he was impatient. They couldn't afford to lose any more time, for fuck's sake. What was taking so long? If they'd decided to kill them, let them get on with it already. Walden certainly wouldn't go down without a fight.
His brother signalled for him to follow inside. Tony didn't look like someone who'd just been sentenced to death; that was something.
When Walden walked in, thirteen pair of eyes – well, twelve and a half – looked up in unison. Some of the Ancients were clearly angry, but the others appeared mostly intrigued. Jeanne was the only one standing, and she gestured for Walden to stay where he was. Tony stood beside him after closing the door behind them.
"Everyone, this is Walden," Jeanne introduced him. "He is not Antonin's blood brother, but his only living family nonetheless."
"They're not even blood kin?" a fiery-haired woman exclaimed, astonishment plain on her delicate face. "This is–"
"He is my brother, alright?" Tony interrupted her. "Give us a break, Cat. I get that you're pissed off, but just shut up and listen, for Merlin's sake. There's more at stake than you know."
"What do you mean by that, blood of my blood?" the tall, bald man Walden had spotted earlier demanded calmly.
Walden heard Jeanne mutter in French. "Mais tais-toi, bon sang. Tu ne fais qu'empirer les choses."
Walden didn't know if Tony was really making things worse, but he figured that now would be a good time to try to defuse the situation. "What he means, sir," – he still had no idea who the man was – "is that there's more to this…issue than first meets the eye." When no one said anything, he went on. "But first, I'm sure that you'd like to know what Tony's turned me into." The man nodded, as did several other Ancients. "I'm afraid I'm a common vampire, for the most part. I sleep during the day, I drink animal blood, sunlight is lethal to me… Nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that I can retract my fangs at will." He smiled tentatively to demonstrate. "That's not much, granted."
The only person who smiled back was a slender woman of medium height, with wavy, dark brown hair that fell just below her shoulders. "Can you turn invisible?" she asked him softly.
"No, I cannot, ma'am," Walden replied politely. That made her chuckle, for some reason.
"That is disappointing," the tall man said with a rueful expression. "Most disappointing indeed." He was seated beside Alice, who put a hand on his arm.
"Enough of this useless chitchat! He's a plain vampire, and the fledgling has fucked up. I think we can all agree on that, at least." The woman who'd spoken was rather tall, with short white hair that contrasted with her youthful face and the tone of her skin - she was almost as dark as the Bloodmother. She had a crisp London accent. No one contradicted her, so she continued. "Tell us, handsome, what else is going on? We're dying to know." She giggled at her little joke, but no one else reacted to it.
Walden glanced at Tony, then looked toward Jeanne. She nodded to him and sat back down in her chair. She would let him explain. Good.
It took Walden some time to recount Evey's story – he had to give them some context. When he first mentioned Greyback, as he related the attack perpetrated against the Kanes, there was a collective gasp around the table.
"The Greyback?" an Asian woman demanded. Chinese, Walden thought. She held herself proudly. He wondered who she was.
"Yes, the Wolf," Jeanne replied glumly. "The fool who dares call himself Fenrir."
"Just let the lad finish his story, Ching," Alice chided the Chinese woman.
Ching Shih, the pirate lady? Bloody hell! Walden had always loved pirate tales as a kid. He hoped that he would get an opportunity to talk to her, when this was over. Well, her and the others – if they decided not to have him executed, of course.
"Actually, now might be a good time to mention the Wolves," Jeanne said. "I haven't briefed them yet."
She proceeded to explain that the Wolves – those who were usually called "Elders" in the children's books – were immortal werewolves with special abilities. They were, in essence, the werewolf equivalent of the Ancients. Walden had already figured out as much. It explained why Jeanne had appeared so agitated at the mention of the werewolf's name, when she'd visited the Burrow.
When she was done, Jeanne allowed Walden to pursue his story. He kept it short and to the point.
A moment of complete silence ensued as everyone contemplated the situation. "This girl, your fiancée, she can't actually turn into a werewolf, can she?" Alice asked, her keen eyes narrowed.
"No, she can't," Walden replied. "And she has no ability that is specific to werewolves – although she could already regenerate rapidly before Tony bit her, so we must assume she got that from Greyback, if it's a thing the Wolves can do."
"Well, she also has an incredible metabolism," Tony pointed out.
"And she can turn invisible at will? For unlimited periods of time?" Alice went on, ignoring Tony's remark.
"I don't know how long she can remain invisible. She didn't do it very often," Walden admitted.
"This girl could be your only shot at redeeming yourself, fledgling," the woman with the London accent told Antonin. "She doesn't have fangs, so it's unlikely that she can turn people into vampires, Ancients or not – she's not one herself, from what your not-blood brother tells us – but if she can procreate…"
The words hung heavily in the air. Unlike normal vampires, none of the Ancients could bear children, Walden knew. He'd considered the fact; he'd known they would eventually come to that conclusion as well. He had no idea whether Evey could have children, though, and no idea what any child she bore would turn out to be. But until they knew for certain, this was their best chance at rescuing her. If there was even the slightest possibility that she could bear children and transmit the Ancient gene… This could change everything, for the Ancients. They couldn't pass up the chance. They would have to rescue her. Preferably soon, before Greyback got the same idea and attempted to make Wolf cubs.
Gods, I hope he hasn't considered that. It would mean that Evey was being kept alive, but at what cost? Walden shuddered violently at the thought.
"But you tell us that she was abducted in June. How do you know that she's still alive?" Darya asked bluntly.
"I don't," Walden murmured. "Not for sure. I can only hope that she is. That Greyback realised she was special and kept her alive and unharmed to…" Rape her. To try to get her pregnant with a werewolf of his pack. "…I don't know, study her or something. I know the reputation he's made for himself, but he's not a brainless savage." He's not brainless, but he is savage. "I hope he's curious about her, and is trying to puzzle her out." He also hoped that Evey hadn't driven the man insane by mouthing off constantly. The werewolf was utterly unpredictable when triggered.
"We must help them find the girl," the pretty woman with the dark, wavy hair declared eventually.
"I agree." That was Alice.
"Of course you do, you would do anything to protect Jeanne's progeny," the woman Tony had called Cat retorted. "But even if the girl can bear children, I still think that the fledgling should be punished. And we have no use for the mongrel brother," she added disdainfully.
Walden was tired of being called that. "And if you get rid of me, which one of you will procreate with her?" he asked wryly. "As far as I know, I'm the closest thing to a fertile male Ancient you've got."
"He's right, Cat," the tall man interjected before the flame-haired woman could respond. "This is our only hope at restoring our line."
"And if it works out as we hope, it will change everything. For all of us," Jeanne said eagerly. "There may be others like this girl. A chance for us to vastly increase our numbers."
That, Walden hadn't considered. He supposed that there may be others like Evey, but that was of no concern to him. They could discuss the matter further at a later date. Before he could move on to actually staging a rescue, however, he realised that they were going to debate this at length.
"But she's been polluted by the Wolf," Cat said.
"Catalina has a point," the Dragon conceded.
"What I propose," Alice said, "is that we find the girl first, then decide what should be done about Antonin and his brother. We must see this Evey for ourselves, study her and estimate how much of her was contaminated by the Wolf. Only then could a fair judgement be passed; only then may we decide if the right balances the wrong."
"But how exactly are we supposed to find the bloody girl?" the white-haired Londoner asked. "Does anyone know where she is, where the Wolf has established his lair?"
"I'll take care of that," Jeanne replied. "Give me a few days. I'll root the damned beast out. I already have a few leads…"
"You will not find him, my child." The Bloodmother spoke in a low voice, but was easily heard from across the room. Everyone had fallen dead silent the moment she'd opened her mouth. "Our counterparts have tricks to conceal themselves, even from us. And this Greyback is a skilled wizard, with sinister acquaintances."
No one else dared to speak into the silence that followed her ominous statement, so Walden cleared his throat. "There must be a way," he said, despair in his voice. There were so close…
"Oh, there is indeed." Her black eyes met his, and Walden shivered involuntarily. It felt like staring into the Void. "We must convene a meeting with the Wolves."
Walden was told to leave the room once it was decided that he wouldn't be killed right away, and that a meeting would be arranged between Ancients and Wolves to discuss Evey's safe return. He had to wait another hour before the meeting was finally adjourned. Tony joined him outside, with Jeanne and Alice.
"The Mother will attempt to contact the Wolves' leader – apparently, he's the one they call the Elder," Tony said.
"Indeed, although we've had no dealings with him that I know of, not since I've been turned," Jeanne said.
Alice nodded. "I believe the Mother and her…counterpart have a history, but nobody knows exactly what happened between the two of them. Imhotep claims that he's never even met the man, and he's been around for quite a while."
Imhotep? That had to be the tall man, the third male Ancient – or, more accurately, the first. Walden's mind was somersaulting. According to history, he had been a high-ranking official during the reign of the Pharaoh Djoser, sometime during the 27th century BCE. He was an architect, and a high priest of the sun god, Ra. According to myth and legend, however, he was almost a god himself.
Walden was trying to digest that new piece of information when he suddenly remembered that this was not what he was supposed to be thinking about. Focus, burn you. You can geek out later, with Evey, after she's been rescued. "Will the Elder turn up before the sun rises, or do you think I should find a place to sleep?" he asked the others.
Alice let out a dry laugh. "Oh, I wouldn't expect him any time soon, lad. There will be a lot of talking and arguing before they even agree to meet with us, of that you can be certain. I'm not even sure if the Mother knows how to reach the Elder, or if he will talk to her when she does."
Bloody hell. Another delay. "Can't we help?" Walden offered. "We can Apparate, or send magical messages to the bloke. Surely we can hurry this up–"
"Walden, you must be patient," Jeanne told him gently, far from her usual brisk manner. "The Mother is old, and what you consider a long time is only the blink of an eye, to her. You must not interfere, you must not try to rush things. You're lucky enough to be alive – and that no one decided that you should be dissected." Alice nodded in agreement, and Tony shrugged helplessly.
Brilliant. More waiting. Walden wasn't sure how much more of that he could take but, unfortunately, he didn't have much choice in the matter.