A month ago…

Evey wasn't supposed to be here. She didn't belong. No matter what some of the others may say, she wasn't really part of the family. But Alice had dragged her here regardless, probably so she could keep an eye on her. Clearly, she didn't think that Ted was a proper caretaker on his own. That hadn't stopped her from leaving the manor and essentially abandoning Evey, though.

The Ancients were waiting for the Bloodmother to arrive before the meeting could begin. Evey didn't even know what the meeting was about. They'd already discussed the Morgana incident at length, and they'd gotten nowhere regarding what they should do with Catalina and her two cronies. Alice wanted them dead, but even to Evey, that seemed an overreaction. They had already lost one Ancient…well, two, Evey reminded herself. Tony was gone. Not dead – Alice claimed that she would know if he were dead – but gone all the same.

Evey refused to accept that Tony and Walden would never return, even though it had been four months now since they'd left her, but whatever she believed, she did not wish to dwell on it. Not right now. Not when there were so many people around.

In any case, there were only twelve Ancients left, including the Bloodmother. If they executed Catalina, Cleopatra and Elizabeth for their crimes, that would leave only nine of them – which meant that they would be vastly outnumbered by the Wolves, in the event of a war. Gorgo insisted that there was no war to come, but the others liked to be prepared for any eventuality.

Of course, the people who shared the accused's blood were starkly opposed to execution. As far as Evey could tell, that was Ching Shih, the mysterious Ripper, and Zenobia. Though in truth, the latter's issue was more against violence itself than against the fact that it was her progeny's life that was stake.

Imhotep felt that execution was too strong a punishment, and the rest of them seemed to agree. The Mother had not offered a definite judgement on the matter. For now, the Infernal Trio was confined in Tony's cage, and that was it.

Darya had apparently narrowly avoided being involved in the Trio's shenanigans when her maker, Dracula, had found her in bed with her thrall. Such things were forbidden to Ancients – having thralls, that was. Being in bed with other people was acceptable, as long as the Ancients never revealed their true nature. Dracula had kept his daughter's transgression a secret until Catalina's ploy was discovered. His admission of guilt as well as Darya's had saved them both from punishment. The poor man who'd tasted Darya's blood had had to be put down and disposed of.

In itself, that was not a crime – murder was perfectly acceptable if it was done for the right reasons and with the utmost discretion. The "right reasons" always involved the possibility of the Ancients' existence being discovered.

The Trio's thralls, including Morgana, had been sent to St Mungo for detox, though their chances of survival were slim. In Evey's opinion, it might have been a kinder fate to kill them. Recovering from an addiction to vampire blood was much worse than recovering from addiction to any Muggle drug and, according to Alice, Ancient blood was ten times worse than regular vampire blood.

On the one hand, Evey believed that it was maybe best that Tony was gone. She would hate to have to be the one to tell him that his girlfriend had turned out to be using him to get close to Evey, just so she could try to murder her. On the other hand…

Gods, how she missed him. And Walden… Hades, why? What had Evey done to deserve this, to lose the two people she loved most in the world at once? Hadn't she lost enough in her very short life? Hadn't she suffered enough?

Why why why why why

"Evey? Are you feeling well?" a soft voice enquired.

Evey gulped down some air. She was sitting on the floor, she realised. She felt dizzy, nauseous. "I'm just peachy," she croaked.

Sarcasm. She couldn't help it. It had always been her last line of defence. It was all she had left now.

Praying to Hades that she wouldn't vomit all over the inquisitive Ancient, Evey looked up to see Gorgo with a hand extended toward her. She took it and stood up gingerly. "Thanks," she mumbled. She regretted being sarcastic. Gorgo was probably the kindest person in the world. "I'm…" The word fine stuck in her throat. What was the point in lying? "I feel sick," she admitted. "I'm angry. I'm heartbroken. I want to punch someone in the face." She bit down on her lip, hard. "Not you, though."

Gorgo chuckled. The sound was comforting, for some reason. "If it makes you feel better, please, don't hold back. But I'm afraid it will be more painful to you than to me."

"Thank you for the offer," Evey said. Gorgo always knew how to make her feel at ease, but enough about the self-pity and childishness. She ought to save that for when she was (almost) alone at home.

"Gorgo…did you ever find anything interesting regarding my ancestry?" Evey asked the Ancient on a whim. Gorgo had offered to look into it months ago, to see if Evey's lineage could somehow explain her…hybridisation.

"I'm afraid not," Gorgo replied with a human-like sigh. "I went back to the thirteenth century, until I encountered a dead end, but there's nothing of interest. I found no wizard or witch among your ancestors, and no involvement of any sort with magical beings or creatures." Her pretty face brightened suddenly. "I did come across a fun fact, however: one of your forefathers was a pirate in Blackbeard's crew, though that was before he became a Wolf."

For the first time in months, Evey allowed herself to laugh. "No way!" Seriously, what were the odds? "I knew piracy was in my blood. Ted and I should steal a ship, recruit some likely lads and sail the Seven Seas." At least it would take her mind off of less pleasant matters. Ted would certainly enjoy it, too.

"I don't imagine that people really do that anymore," Imhotep said. "Besides, it would be a waste of your talents, my dear."

"What talents? The ability to lose everyone I love?" Evey countered sourly. Oh, bugger. She really couldn't help it.

Gorgo and Imhotep exchanged a meaningful glance. "I meant rather-"

Evey cut him off with a sharp gesture. "Never mind. I was just kidding. I've never even been on a boat before. I've only been to the beach once in my life. And whales terrify me."

"Whales?" Imhotep repeated, his brow creased questioningly.

Evey shrugged. "Pinocchio traumatised me, as a kid. I hated that movie."

The two Ancients looked confused. They may be Muggles in the sense that they couldn't do magic, but they had little knowledge of Muggle culture – contemporary knowledge, in any case.

Or was it just a lack of Disney culture? Evey tended to assume that everyone knew all the classics by heart, but the Ancients' childhoods were long gone, and they rarely spent time around children.

"Never mind," she said again.

They fell silent, but before it could become awkward, everyone turned to look as someone was ushered in by the butler. The newcomer was not an Ancient; Evey had met them all.

The man was tall and slender, and…well, gorgeous, despite the scars marring his left cheek. Evey had never seen him before. Turning to Gorgo, she asked who the stranger was.

The Spartan queen was eyeing him suspiciously. "That would be Malkoran, I believe." Imhotep nodded in confirmation. "What he's doing here, however, I cannot begin to–"

The Bloodmother chose that moment to appear. She glowered at Malkoran as soon as she spotted him. The Wolf took a step forward in her direction, but the Ripper jumped in between them and hissed like a cat.

Malkoran opened his mouth to speak, but the Mother didn't leave him a chance to do so. "We will speak later," she said crisply. "Wait here while I talk to my children." She looked at Evey from across the room. "You will stay here, too, child." There was the barest pause. "Will you please cast a spell to prevent any...eavesdropping?" she added with a pointed look to Malkoran. Evey complied without a protest. It would be pointless to argue with her.

Gorgo patted Evey on the shoulder before joining the others in the meeting room. Feeling suddenly very lonely, Evey glanced at the Wolf, wondering if she should approach him. Eventually, her curiosity won over her timidity and she walked toward him. He hadn't moved since the Mother had dismissed him and was standing rigidly near the door.

Ted had always remained annoyingly vague about Malkoran, for reasons Evey couldn't fathom. There didn't seem to be anything special about him, except perhaps his captivating good looks. He was tall, but not nearly as tall as Greyback. Unlike the Bloodmother, he didn't radiate authority and dominance – which was odd, since he was supposed to be the most dominant werewolf in the world.

"So…you're the Supreme Alpha Wolf, huh?" She almost slapped her forehead. What sort of icebreaker was that? She regretted even considering this. She was going to make a fool of herself in front of this ethereally handsome man.

The Wolf didn't look at her. His golden eyes were fixed on the door with such intensity that Evey wondered if he could see through it. "I am Malkoran," he replied simply. He didn't ask her who she was, so she assumed that he already knew.

"You cheated on her, didn't you?" Evey went on without thinking. Gods, what was wrong with her? She felt herself blush.

This time the Wolf did spare her a brief, scowling glance before returning his attention to the door. "Ellessin led me to believe that she had shared nothing of our common history with her flock."

Ellessin? Was that the Mother's true name? Evey didn't even know that she had one, though it made sense. Malkoran had a name, after all. In any case, she didn't think that she could ever bring herself to call the Bloodmother by her first name. "She didn't," Evey admitted. She noted that he hadn't denied it, however. "It's just rather obvious." What with him looking like a lovelorn puppy and bearing scratch marks and the Mother glaring at him as if he were a particularly repulsive insect.

"Is the answer to her taking me back as obvious?" he asked softly.

Evey didn't reply. Was that the reason of his presence? He wanted his lover back, now? After everything that had happened with Greyback? Good luck with that, she thought derisively.

"I suppose that taking Greyback alive so that Elle can kill him as she sees fit will help," Malkoran went on grimly. "Provided that I can get my hands on the cursed cub."

Yeah. Good luck with that, too.

As a matter of fact, finding Greyback was not that complicated, not anymore. If one uttered Voldemort's name aloud, the leader of the Snatchers would appear within minutes, if not seconds. Alice and Ted had already tried it – before the Morgana business, before they'd had to give up the cage – but Greyback wasn't stupid. He'd fled as soon as he'd picked up their scents. Evey regretted that he was not overconfident enough to think he could defeat a Wolf and an Ancient at once, but Greyback knew that the Ancients were on his tail, not to mention his Alpha and his…other pack. He wouldn't risk capture on the off-chance that he might get rid of Alice, and he knew that Evey was confined at the manor and therefore beyond his reach.

Evey assumed that Malkoran knew about the Taboo and had already tried that, too. Apparently, Wolves couldn't be summoned by their maker or even their Alpha, unlike the Ancients.

Evey's mind suddenly backtracked. "Um…did the Mother really say that?" Evey asked. "That she wanted to kill Greyback?" Damn. Tony had been so sure that he had managed to convince the Mother to take the Wolf alive – and keep him that way.

Once again, Malkoran's gaze flicked toward her. "She said that she wanted him alive, but I assumed it was so she could kill him herself. After torturing him for an appropriate amount of time."

"Well, I bloody hope not. It would kill me," Evey muttered. Though at this point, would it really be such a terrible thing?

No. Don't think that. Walden wouldn't want you to.

Malkoran fully turned his lithe body toward her. "Why? Do you love him?"

Evey's eyes nearly popped out of her skull at the preposterous suggestion. "I most certainly do not!" she snarled. Was he out of his fucking mind?

As if things weren't strange enough, Malkoran actually took a step backward when she shouted at him. If Evey hadn't been so infuriated by his last question, she would have laughed.

She squinted at him. "She didn't tell you about me, did she?" That was the only explanation. "You don't know who I am." Malkoran shook his head. "Greyback bit me. As a result, he and I are…linked. We share a sort of physical connection. If the Mother hurts him…it will hurt me."

"If he bit you…then that would make you one of mine, wouldn't it?" He didn't seem troubled by the fact that Evey had been bitten by a werewolf and had survived it, but he suddenly seemed very interested in her nonetheless. "If so…why does Elle care? Why are you here?"

Evey told him the whole story. The Mother probably had her reasons not to have explained it to him before, but if she didn't want him to know, she shouldn't have left Evey alone with him.

"He murdered your family," the Wolf repeated when she was done. "And he said he attacked you because of your scent?" Evey nodded. "Your scent is quite fascinating, I have to admit, but not a cause to bite you, certainly." Well, Greyback wasn't right in the head, was he? And, admittedly, he claimed that her scent had changed after he bit her.

"This connection you have with Damian..." Malkoran began to say.

"Who?" she asked with a frown.

"Greyback."

"That's his name? Damian?" That didn't sound very Jewish. Or German, or Polish, or whatever Greyback was supposed to be.

"So Hannibal claims. Damian Wilk, anglicised to Wolfe after he moved to England in the seventies."

He had to be joking. "His real, actual surname means wolf in Polish?" Scabior had taught her a few words while she was being held at Asgard.

"It's a rather common surname," Malkoran pointed out.

Greyback wouldn't see it like that. "No wonder he's developed a god complex," Evey murmured. "He must think it was predestined." She shook her head. "I take it that you've never met him?"

"I'm afraid I have not been very…present lately."

"So I heard. Were you really hiding in some sort of Buddhist temple?"

His lips twisted, probably at her choice of word. "I was living in a Buddhist monastery, yes, until Elle decided that it was time for me to return to the world."

Yep, he was totally in love with the Bloodmother. "How long did you stay there?" Ted had told her exactly how long, but Evey was curious to see if Malkoran would tell her the truth. He looked like an honest bloke, but since the whole Morgana scandal, not to mention Snape's betrayal, she'd learned not to rely on appearances.

"Since the war ended," he said curtly.

There. The first lie. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so straightforward with him. Despite everything, she still tended to trust people she barely knew. In her defence, however, Ted had vouched for Malkoran. Whenever Alice complained that he was taking his bloody time arresting Greyback, Ted had defended his Alpha. "That was fifty years ago," Evey pointed out. Now she wanted to see if he would keep on lying or come clean. "Ted said..."

"No, I meant the First War," he corrected her quietly. "My apologies. I should have made myself clearer. I only recently found out about this…Second World War, and I seem to keep forgetting it happened."

He forgot about World War II? Blimey. He sounded almost like Evey's great-granddad, who had often been confused about dates and events as he grew older and more senile. Then again, in all fairness, Malkoran must have witnessed enough wars to start mixing them up. "Didn't the other people at the monastery wonder why you didn't age?"

"They never mentioned it," he said with a shrug.

Those Buddhist monks seemed like very chill blokes. Maybe Evey should consider retreating to a monastery in the mountains if Tony and Walden never returned from Middle-earth.

She'd lost the thread of the conversation again. Thinking about Walden and Tony always caused her mind to wander.

Malkoran's voice brought her back to the present. "I'm sorry."

Sorry? Oh hell, had she spoken aloud without realising it? Again? She was nearly certain that she hadn't mentioned Middle-earth or her missing husband, but…

"I will see to it that Greyback is adequately punished for his crimes. For what he did to your family, and for the curse he passed on to you without your consent." Oh. That. "For your sake," Malkoran went on gravely, "I hope that he didn't transmit his immortality to you, on top of everything else."

Oh, gods. It was one thing to believe that she would have to live the rest of her average, human life alone, but if she was doomed to live forever…

Evey shuddered, and prayed that both Hades and Malkoran were wrong about that.

"I told you to come here only if you had captured Greyback," Elle said in a voice cold enough to freeze over the entire Pacific Ocean. "Yet I do not see him," she went on with a pointed look around the room.

The other Ancients had been dismissed an hour ago and Elle had taken her time before summoning Malkoran to her. Her meeting with her children had lasted over three hours. Mal had spent all that time talking with Evangeline. She was quite something. No wonder Ellessin hadn't told him about the girl. She must be afraid that he would try to claim her for himself, since she had been bitten by Greyback prior to being bitten by the Wizard. That was the latest recruit to join the ranks of the Ancients, apparently. Antonin Dolohov, the first person with magical abilities to be turned into an immortal vampire. Evangeline said that he was a former Death Eater, but she had had to explain what that meant.

His Wolves hadn't told him everything – or perhaps they hadn't deemed the Voldemort situation important enough to mention. An error in judgement, certainly; his Wolves tended to condescend on anyone who wasn't one of them.

He didn't know about what Evangeline called the Taboo, either, but Mal had no reason to believe that it would lead him anywhere. Greyback may not know his scent, but he could tell a Wolf apart from another being. Even if he was curious, he wouldn't risk approaching Malkoran. Still, it would have been nice if someone had mentioned this before. This, and the cage that could supposedly hold a Wolf. It made him wonder if Elle truly wanted him to succeed in the task she'd appointed him.

He felt bad about Evangeline; everything that Damian had done to her, and everything he might have done to her that they didn't know about yet. That Voldemort person didn't know what he was wishing for. Immortality was a plague, an insidious disease that slowly robbed you of your will to live. Mal yearned for death, but he knew that Elle would never give him the satisfaction of killing him. And she would never take him back, no matter what he did. He was deluding himself.

"Elle, Greyback is a wizard. I am not. He can easily conceal himself, ward his surroundings against me, and even suppress his own scent, according to Evangeline."

Elle's eyes narrowed at that. "How much did the blasted girl tell you, exactly?"

"She told me everything." Or near enough, he assumed. He didn't think that the girl would get in trouble for that. Elle obviously cared about her, otherwise she wouldn't be here.

She would be dead.

Everything made sense now: Mal understood why Greyback had to be captured alive, and he had a feeling that Elle's promise not to harm him had been genuine.

He was curious to know why Elle cared so much about the girl, however. Sure, she displayed certain Ancient-like traits – though fewer than Wolfish ones – and she was apparently a dear friend of their fledgling Wizard, but still… The Ellessin he remembered wouldn't have stopped at that. She had murdered her best friend in cold blood in the hope of attaining divinity. She had butchered men and women and children for no reason other than her own selfish pleasure.

And now she refused to harm this one girl, who was not a full Ancient, even though doing so would avenge the death of one of her children? Even knowing that she had Malkoran's consent to kill Greyback if she wished? Because she only had to ask. She had to know that.

I take back my earlier statement, he thought derisively. Many things still don't make sense.

"Foolish child," Ellessin muttered.

"I asked Evangeline if her connection to Damian would allow her to find him, somehow, but–"

"You idiot! Why do you think I kept her existence a secret from you? I will not use the girl as bait." She stood up and started pacing, arms folded over her chest. "Coming to you was a last resort solution. Or an idea, at least, since it didn't solve anything," she said harshly. "Why are you here, Mal? To let me know that you have failed miserably? A message would have sufficed."

Well, she had never been one to mince her words.

"Why are you so reluctant to put Evangeline in danger? She seems to be a competent witch, and she has as much cause as anyone to want Greyback found and brought to justice for his actions." He still couldn't believe what the cub had done to the girl's family. He had been vaguely aware of Greyback's involvement in suspicious affairs, but this… It was partly his fault. He had a responsibility toward the girl, to arrest her kin's murderer.

"Honestly, how dense have you become? It is too dangerous, Mal. If she is captured again, we will never find her."

"But why does it matter to you?" he insisted. "Why are you so attached to her? Isn't putting an end to the menace that Greyback represents more important than the life of one partly-human girl?"

Ever since he'd discovered that magic was real, and that a small part of the population was gifted in its use, he'd been thankful that the demons had not cursed them with that ability. Ellessin was terrifying enough without being able to do actual magic.

The room seemed to darken with her mood, and she looked apoplectic. "You dare question me?" she asked in a low growl.

"No, of course not," he said quickly. "But I'm out of ideas, Elle. If you won't tell me all I need to know, if you keep vital information from me and refuse to let me use all the resources at your disposal… I'm sorry, but there's nothing more I can do. I tried my best, I assure you." With a bit of luck, she may yet kill him out of sheer spite, or in a fit of rage.

He'd never been particularly lucky, however.

"I do not give you permission to give up. Keep looking. Keep trying. You may request assistance from my children, if you believe that will help. They have special talents, as you know. But you will keep away from Evey. Is that clear?" she demanded imperiously.

"Crystal," he replied with a sigh.

Ellessin fumed for a long time after Malkoran departed. How dare he presume to question her commands? Evey was not to be harmed. Greyback was not to be harmed. Period.

Lilith, the man was so aggravating.

Unbidden, the Seer's prophecy assailed her mind again. One shall come to bring you together again, the Wolf and the Undead One. She will unite you. A young girl, from a land that has yet to be named, in an age yet to come. You will lead a wretched, pathetic existence, Cursed One, until this one reunites you with the man who holds your heart. But many a spring shall pass until that day, more than even I can foresee.

She had paid the Seer another visit mere weeks after her epic dispute with Malkoran, and this was all she'd received for her troubles. For millennia, the words had remained a mysterious enigma.

Now Elle wondered if Evangeline was the one who was supposed to bring them together again, Malkoran and her.

She also wondered if she would allow it, when the time came.