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Revenge of the Wolf

Chapter 26 – Back in Black

Jade's POV

I felt strange for a moment and soon found myself somewhere else. As my head cleared I realized I was standing in a small clearing next to a road. It was dusk and just ahead I could see the lights of a small town.

We had arrived at Shultzhaven, which would be our portal to my world. Immediately I looked up and there it was. On a peak, towering over the town was Castle known as Rabbenest. This one however, was brightly lit and looked quite inviting. For a moment I took in the cool air as I watched a cable car rise up above the town towards the castle.

The other version wouldn't be so inviting.

Picking up my suitcase, I motioned towards the town. "It's about 6 in the evening, let's go to the hotel, check in. Then I suggest we find someplace to eat in town and wander around a bit. Get to know the layout of the town. We'll look around the castle itself tomorrow. Everyone good with that?"

It was only about a 20-minute walk for us to arrive at the cablecar station that would take us up to the castle. We walked mostly in silence, save for Julia and Valentina who had lagged a behind a short bit. They were talking, whispering and giggling amongst themselves.

It was a hotel, albeit a small one. The website said that it had some 25 rooms and some were rather small, but for the traveler that wanted to stay an authentic alpine castle, there was no better choice.

Ridding up the cable car, I took Tori's hand as looked as the town disappeared below us.

"Tori, don't you love it. All her nice defenses and we're going to walk right through the front door. With reservations no less."

Tori smiled, but only just. "Getting in isn't the part I'm worried about, it's getting out, assuming we do."

"We will, Tori" Assured Una, with a classic, Jade smirk. "Well find this wench and crush her. What's her official bio anyway?"

Julia quickly answered. "Her name is Clauda Van Moor, she's 69 years old, but looks 20 years younger. She was born in Amsterdam, to parents, who while not magic, knew of magic and were friends with a powerful wizard Gers Schilf. They recognized her magical talent at a very young age and asked if Gers would take her on. Gers was a well-respected, but rather reclusive wizard and had shown no interest in students, but took her as an apprentice. When her parents died in a plane crash when she was 9, Gers took her in full time. He raised her until she was 18, when he died of old age."

"Then what?" Asked Dawn.

"She joined the wizard community, and by the age of 25 was very powerful. She had a reputation for spending long hours diligently pouring over her old spell tomes, but at the same time, was generous and friendly. Openly she supported various charitable causes and grew in power. By her mid 40's she had become so well-known and powerful that when a spot on the wizard council opened up, she was the one they chose. She's been an upstanding, hardworking and dedicated member of the wizard council for more than a quarter of a century. She was married once for a number of years, her husband died some 10 years ago of cancer and she has 3 adult daughters, all wizards who look like they'll be just as powerful as their mother."

Una laughed. "It's always the ones that look most innocent. It's a safe bet, that parts of her bio are bullshit. Did you look into her background at all, Julia?"

"No. I couldn't afford to even give her the slightest indication, that I or anyone else knew what she was into. If I went poking around in her background, she could very well find out. I discussed it with Valentina and we determined that it was not worth the risk. Our element of surprise, needed to be protected at all costs."

I would have liked to have known more about her background, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't all that big of a deal. She's just another bad egg, that's the end of it. Maybe she was bad all along, maybe she went bad, who cares. just as long as I eliminate her. They made the right call.

"It makes sense Julia. You and Valentina made the right call. Our concern is the now." I said.

The cable care soon arrived at the castle. We were directed down a hallway to an elevator which took us up to the main entry chamber.

The room wasn't terribly big, but opulently furnished, with a small reception desk to the left and several corridors leading off. A sign on one, indicated the bar, was that way.

We checked in, using cash provided by Una of all people. I was rich but had no access to cash. She was rich and had access to cash and gold. She brought some gold into this world, sold it and used the cash to pay for our little event.

I just wish she didn't have to look so damn smug about it.

A bellman came up and promptly showed us to our rooms. They were small, by hotel standards but as always well-furnished and they actually looked very comfortable. Plus the view was incredible. It faced away from the town with a stunning view of the mountains. It was also a 1000 foot drop straight down.

As I looked out over the valley, Tori walked up and wrapped her arms around me.

"Look Vega. I'm sorry about being a peeping tom with…

"Jade, in a way, that's comforting. It's you having fun, creepy fun but fun. I'm still ticked about it, but its' a sign of normalcy."

I sighed. "I'm not normal. I'm holding myself together, I look cool and calm, but a lot of that's acting. The closer I get to this the worse my nightmares get. But what about you. Yours was pretty bad last night."

She kissed me on the neck. "We'll be fine Jade. We will make it through this, we'll go home, see our precious babies again and live happily ever after. It still may be far off, but if we stay together, we will make it. I love you Jade. I always will."

"I love you too."

Una's POV

After checking in, we met in the lobby at about 7:00 in the evening. There we headed into town to get something to eat at the local bar/restaurant. It was a typical German affair with good music, good beer and a cheerful atmosphere. Dawn and I ate the food, though we didn't need to. Both of us have special cooler compartments in our suitcases with enough blood to last us. Even if there wasn't any, I could come up with some easily and without taking a life.

It's hard to be good, it is. I'm so used to being bad, despite my fragment of a soul. But it's the only way I can get to be with Tori, it's the only way I can be human again and only then I can get into heaven and see my son again.

He died 3000 years ago and the pain of losing him is fresh. He was so young when get got sick, I remember that last day, that last moment.

I was sitting with him at his bedside, he was so weak and pale. I sang an ancient lullaby to him and smiled and said he loved me. The he closed his eyes forever.

Now I have love in my life or unlife again and each day I spend with dawn is beautiful and special. I want to be with her always.

We ate and had a good time, though Jade and I exchanged a constant stream of insults. God is she ever, a total fucking dumbshit. After dinner we broke up, deciding to walk and explore the town.

So I took dawn's hand and started down one of the streets.

We hadn't gotten pretty far when Dawn asked. "Why did you even consider helping Jade in the first place. You detest her."

"I do detest her. She's a total bonehead and she looks like me, that's a reason to hate her in itself. I'm the original, I was born 3000 years ago. All the rest, their just copies of me."

"But why help her?"

I stopped and lowered my head in shame. "Dawn…er Tori. You're a vampire because I screwed up. Because the vampire council and Christopher pulled a fast one on me. Because I was stupid myself. I was suspicious, but not enough or smart enough to stop it. I failed you and you're like this now because of my stupidity. Jade was tricked too and I know how that feels. The humiliation, the guilt and everything else that goes along with it. In that one respect, I feel a kinship with her. That she was tricked and nearly lost her love because of it, I've been in the same place and feel the same anger at this Claudia. She's just as twisted and evil as Serapis was and just as deserving of death. He was made to pay for what he did and to put it simply, I think I'd enjoy making Claudia pay for what she did as well. It's the right thing to do."

She smiled at me, in that way that always makes me feel special. "I don't blame you. It means we can be together, it means we have a destiny, to be human again. Jade and Tori have their path to walk and they will walk it together. You're helping them do that again and that makes me love you even more. It makes me proud to walk the path we will walk and I will be with you every step of the way. Come on soulmate, let's just walk, explore the town and enjoy the evening."

"I love you Jade."

"I love you too Tori"

Julia's POV

I've dedicated my life to the magical arts and in pursuit of those arts, I've sacrificed a lot of things to make it to the level of ability I've reached. Mostly its chances to get out and meet people, make friends and develop relationships. I have friends and colleagues in the wizard world, but very few outside of it.

But now, I can't trust anyone I know in the wizard world. Claudia, a person I once greatly respected and admired, turned out to be utterly corrupt and evil. This woman used magic to mind control girls and sell them into sexual slavery, how utterly revolting. My stomach churns just thinking about it. Not to mention she's apparently resurrected an ancient cult of wizards dedicated to gaining power through black magic. It's like discovering, that everything you know is a lie.

I was taught that magic should be used for good and that was that. That dark magic will gain you power at the expense of your soul and nothing is worth losing your soul. This turn of events has left me disillusioned in the wizard world, in addition to feeling somewhat betrayed.

About now, the only person I trust is Valentina. I've known about werewolves and had only met one once, before I encountered Jade. Our two society's, throughout history have rarely mixed and at once come into open conflict.

She's a werewolf, a master hunter and tracker, a major in Russian Military intelligence and in the last two months has become a very very close friend.

At first it was just business, helping her find Tori who was locked in wolf form, keeping tabs on Claudia and keeping her and her minions from knowing what we were doing. It was nerve wracking; I couldn't even trust my own apprentice, Sara.

But Valentina remained calm, collected and whenever I showed signs of stress, supportive.

Then we started to talk about other things, our personal lives, our likes our interests. She would tell me fascinating stories of her mother's family, a distant branch of the Romanov family. She tells me she's a descendant of Peter the Great. Her father was a werewolf and a career Russian army officer, he taught her how to hunt and track. She's grown to love the wealth and luxury, afforded by her mother's family, but at the same time has a great love of the outdoors.

I told her about the wizard world and given her displays of magic that she found breathtaking. She tells me that I'm clever and funny. She's shown me her wolf form and in it, she's a majestic looking wolf with greyish black fur.

We would sit at my home or her very large Moscow apartment, and we'd drink wine and talk for hours. It's amazing how the time would slip by.

When the heat was off, we started to go out and do things socially. I took her to this tiny movie theatres in L.A. that showed silent movies. They even had an organ to play the music like the old days. Then we ate at this tiny hole in the wall Mexican restaurant which had the most fabulous food. She really enjoyed it. I feel a connection with her.

She took me to some of the most exclusive dance clubs in Moscow, where she'd point out who were government officials and who were the Russian Mafia. In some cases, there were one in the same. She took me shopping and was very generous.

We confided in each other. I'm in my 40's and have never been married and had few relationships. I've been making up for it by being a bit of a cougar. But I told her that it's not satisfying. I always lose interest and increasingly find these young men, vigorous, but boring.

She told me she's dated men and women, but never found the one. Though she was bisexual, she never once came onto me or even remotely pressured me to do anything I didn't want to. She was just a good friend.

But I found myself thinking about it, not much at first. But I found that the more time we spent together, the more I wanted to spend time with her. We had similar taste in fashion, movies, not everything, but a lot of things. My feelings of friendship and closeness with her, all of a sudden became more complex and confusing.

Was I attracted to her. I found woman attractive, but never thought about dating one. Now I was having those thoughts. Did she not hit on me because she didn't find me attractive? I'm at least 5 years older than her. I found myself wondering about that.

Recently in the time we've been spending together, she asks if she can spend time in wolf form. She says she likes to assume wolf form a few times a week to let that part of her out. I don't mind it a single bit and she'd just curl up next to me on the couch while I watched TV and I would just pet her soft fur. It's very relaxing and as always I feel safe with her.

Maybe I wasn't her type. Did I really want to go further? Am I bisexual? Maybe I got bored of the men, because I prefer women. All these things started to populate my mind more and more.

Tomorrow night, I return to my own universe to battle with one of the most powerful wizards in existence, plus her minions. I've never faced one of my own in outright combat. I could die, but tonight as Valentina and I walk around the town I find myself oddly worrying about something else.

What if we do win. Then what happens. She acts like a close friend, but I simply could be part of the job. Once she's done she might just say, it was nice working with you, bye.

I see her walking off into mist like Rhett Butler at the end of Gone with the wind.

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn"

And Rhett, walks out of Scarlett's life once and for all. Considering how whiny and self-centered she always is, I can't say I blame him.

I don't want her to walk out of my life. I'm so confused, but I don't.

Suddenly I find myself being nudged, which jar's me from my thought's "Julia?"

"Huh….What?"

"I've been talking about the new line of Giulana Teso coats and furs for the last five minutes and I don't think you've heard a single word of what I said. What's wrong?"

Flushing with embarrassment, I quickly apologized. "I'm sorry Val, I'm just a bit distracted."

"By the fight coming up?"

"Yes." But the way I said it, I think I unconsciously indicated that wasn't all on my mind. Perhaps I did it on purpose.

"That would be normal, but I get the feeling something else is bothering you. It's been bothering you for the last couple of weeks. Or so I think. Come on, tell me?"

She's concerned and that makes me feel even more confused.

"What happens after this? If we win, will we still be friends." I feel like an 8 year old saying it, so stupid. But I'm so nervous.

Valentina let out a laugh and slapped me on the back. "Of course, don't even think that."

She reassures me, but I don't feel reassured. I'm so nervous that I simply blurt out the next question.

"Why don't you find me attractive?"

Stopping suddenly, she turned to look right at me, with an expression indicating she looked slightly hurt. "Why do you think that?"

"I…I…I've been, no we've become so close friends, that I find myself wondering why you haven't hit on me. I think…I like you and that's not easy to admit, but I just got the feeling that you didn't feel the same way. That and the thought of you walking out of my life….I don't want that." It all came sputtering out at once in rapid fire fashion.

For a moment she remains silent with a unreadable expression, then gestures to a bench in front of a bakery just a few feet ahead. "Sit, I think we need to talk."

I sit down and she takes her place next to me. I feel utterly foolish.

"I'm sorry I said that. I'm just really nervous about the fight, I don't know what I'm…."

Cutting me off, she smiles and says. "Julia, I do find you attractive. In fact, I'm extremely attracted to you. "

I'm stunned she feels like that, just hearing her say that makes my heart skip about 20 beats.

"But why not tell me?"

Sighing she looks up at the moon for a moment. "It's not all that easy, and not just because, you're a woman who's never dated a woman before. I did want to respect you and not pressure you in any way. I did hope you'd come around and I'm glad you did. But if you didn't, I did not want to do anything that would ruin our friendship. And that's something I value greatly. But to be honest, I was a bit scared myself. I'm a werewolf and being with one of us is not always easy."

"Why?"

"I look human but in reality, I'm only half human. I'm half wolf. When a human is with a werewolf, in some cases, it ends up where they view the human part as their lover/mate and the wolf side as a pet. It would be like having a spouse whom you treat like a spouse half the time and just as a friend the other half the time. In those cases, the werewolf, will eventually begin to resent the human. Those relationships don't last. It can be quite heartbreaking for the werewolf. You follow."

"Yes."

"My parents were very much in love. My mother loved not only my father's human side, she was just as much in love with the wolf. The bond of love between them was deep and special. My mother was truly my father's mate and when she died, he was so heartbroken he died 2 months later."

"What about this bonding?"

Valentina continued, "Werewolves can have boyfriends, girlfriends, lovers, husbands, wives, but there is no relationship more special than having a mate. It's hard to describe, but when it happens, which isn't always, it's very special. When it's between two werewolves like Tori and Jade, they can sense each other's feelings and during times of intimacy, their minds and bodies, function as one. But with a human and a werewolf, the wolf will still bond with the human and be able to sense their feelings. It's a biological link between…I'm sorry, it's hard to describe."

"I think I get the gist of it. It's a special biological bond between a werewolf and its mate. It's more than love, it's more than physical. But back to us, you're scared that I wouldn't accept…all of you."

Valentina stared straight ahead for a moment then brushed her hair behind her ear and nodded. "As I said, I'm very attracted to you. But I'm scared, you wouldn't accept all of me. I think I…I hope we might have something really special. But I'm afraid of scaring you off."

"What if wasn't scared off. I guess….what do you want? I've been fooling around, dating for the last several years. I don't want that anymore, I'm getting tired of it. I would like to…."

"fall in love….settle down. But for now…I don't want you walking out of my life either. " Valentina said with a smile, knowing she felt the exact same way as me.

Then I thought of something. "Here we are about to go into battle and we're talking about possibly dating. I feel silly."

Valentina jumped off the bench and shook her head. "NO it's not. Look, we're both scared but each of us feels like the other could be someone we could really fall for. Am I right?"

I blushed, but nodded.

"Well then, we could die tomorrow night, so perhaps we shouldn't waste time. "

"What?"

"How about we make the rest of this rather beautiful evening, our very first date. No wait. I'm jumping the gun a bit. Julia, would you like to go out with me. "

Hearing that, felt like I was 16 again, the world was new and full of possibilities.

Standing up, I took a slight bow. Not sure why, but it felt right. "I'd love too."

Just then I could see a sparkle in her eye and right then and there, I knew I had made the right choice. I just knew it.

"Thank you."

We stood there for a moment in a strange, awkward silence. "So now what, do we talk about how we feel about each other."

"No, we do what we've been doing since we met. We walk, we talk and enjoy each other's company. But now, instead of fearing our feelings, we let them develop. I'm your best friend, my parents were best friends too. Who knows….what can happen."

"I like that."

So just like we had been, we resumed walking about the town, looking at the stars and talking about everything from fashion to movies. We both laughed and joked and had a great time, there was a magic in the air.

I didn't even know how it happened, but as we started to walk back to the castle, I found myself wanting to hold her hand. Such a silly innocent thing, but at the same time new and wondrous.

It was then I felt her soft warm fingers suddenly slip into mine. Like she had known what I was thinking. They say that werewolves and sense the feelings and even thoughts. Perhaps she's already begun to bond with me, hopes that I can one day soon I would be her mate. Perhaps she simply took a chance at the very moment I happened to think about it.

With the feeling I get from simply holding her hand, this warm wonderful feeling, I find myself hoping. It's the first one.

No one's POV

Long after Tori, Jade, Una and Dawn had returned to the Castle and retired for the night, Julia and Valentina walked and held hands. Neither of them wanted it to end, nor at any time did the conversation lag. By the time, they had decided to return to the castle for a drink, they found the bar had already closed.

Instead they decided to call it a night and had their very first kiss. Not sure if they would survive, they made a promise to have a second date, if they came out alive. Oddly, at that moment, both of them had never felt more alive.

Everyone in the group, slept in and had the morning to themselves. They met for lunch in the town and last minute arrangements were discussed. The next day was all business, with everyone focused on the task at hand. Even Julia, and Valentina, though the exchanged a few smiles and held hands briefly under the table at lunch, were very serious.

Once lunch was done, they went to the castle and started to explore it. The whole place was full of narrow stone corridors, that wandered all around, like a maze. They knew that they needed to know every inch of that castle and could leave nothing to chance.

At 3:00 they took the tour and each listened carefully as the guide led them around the castle telling them about its long history.

One feature caught their attention, on the lowest level one of the group saw a large oak door at the bottom of a flight of stairs and asked where they went.

"The catacombs." Said the guide. "There's a whole network of catacombs and rooms down there."

"Can we see it?" Asked another woman.

The guide shook his head. "No. The tunnels have not been maintained and are not safe. In fact the management, had most of them sealed off some time ago. Now days, we just use the first two rooms as storage. Now onto the next room which is called the blue room."

Each noted the location of the door to the catacombs, realizing that Claudia, just may be using them.

After the tour, the group, after an argument between Una and Jade over what to do next, decided to go with Valentina's suggestion. That to plan out the exact route they would use in searching the castle and use this one for a dry run.

So they did just that and by 7:00, they had now only the layout of the castle down, but knew the exact route they would take. The they also decided to use the very top of a small tower on the northeast corner of the main building, where Julia would open the portal between worlds.

They then ate dinner and split up, agreeing to meet at 9:45 in the center courtyard.

At 9:45 the group assembled in the center courtyard.

"Is everyone ready?" Asked Jade, who was clad in black blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a black leather jacket, with a streak of red in her hair.

The assembled group nodded.

"Ok, before we go, if anyone wants to back out, now is your time."

Jade waited for anyone to respond but the group remained quiet.

"Ok, let's go then."

In silence, the group made its way up the winding steps of the tower to the very top. In this universe, there was a few telescopes where tourists could see some of the spectacular views of the country side.

Jade nodded to Julia. "Ok, It's 10:00. Cast your spell."

Julia removed an item from her bag, it was an object from her own universe, in this case a quarter and using that, began to cast the spell to unlock the boundary between worlds.

After about a minute of changing a small light began to glow and soon it expanded into a large round portal. On the other side, could be seen a mirror image of the room. Only that one was dusty and full of old boxes.

With Jade leading the way, the assembled group stepped through the portal and once everyone had passed through it, Julia ended the spell.

Jade looked around for a moment, taking in the fact that after two months she was finally home. It was a welcome feeling. When last she was here, she had been defeated and was almost dead. Now she was back and as strong as ever and best her mate was at her side. Now, she was in the heart of Claudia's domain and it would be here, she would destroy her once and for all. Just thinking about it, gave her a charge.

After double checking she had her scissors in her boot, she smirked.

"Ok, Claudia, you had your chance to kill me and you failed. Now it's my turn….ready or not….here I come."

As they slowly started down the stairs Jade quietly began to sing to herself.

"Back in black, I hit the sack
I been too long, I'm glad to be back
Yes I am
Let loose from the noose
That's kept me hanging about
I keep looking at the sky cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse, cause I'll never die
I got nine lives, cat's eyes
Using every one of them and runnin' wild
Cause I'm back
Yes I'm back, well I'm back….."

It's been a long journey for Jade. Now she has returned to her universe and now is in Claudia's castle and ready for battle. Now the question is, just what will she find.

Will Julia and Valentina make it to their second date, only time will tell.

The chapter title, "Back In Black" Is from the AC/DC song of the same name. Lyrics used without permission.

Quote from "Gone with the Wind" Also used without permission.