Wolves in the Shadows (The Wolf Clan Chronicles) (3 page)

Mercifully, the waves of power that still sought to wash her away to nothingness began to recede, and Elizabeth found that she could breathe easily once again.   Feeling rushed back into her body and everything around her seemed to become solid and real. 

“Thank you,” she gasped, taking in great gulps of air.  It might have been musty and stale but at least it was air.  She would never take breathing for granted ever again.  The smells of rotting wood and orange peel filled Elizabeth’s nostrils, along with another bittersweet smell that she could not identify. 

“Forgive me, young one,” Lord Reginald’s voice was like a warm blanket beginning wrapped around her shoulders.  “I will restrain myself as best I can until you become more accustomed to my presence.” 

Elizabeth had to bite her tongue yet again.  The idea of becoming used to such a presence was laughable, but she didn’t think that this ancient vampire would appreciate being laughed at.  Not that she would be laughing at him of course, but he might not understand.  He seemed far more solemn than Sir Marcus.  And absolutely more dangerous. 

“I did warn you,” Sir Marcus said with a touch of a smirk.  He gave Elizabeth a sly wink. 

Lord Reginald shot him a withering glare. 

“What?” Sir Marcus asked.  His expression was impossibly innocent. 

The ghost of what might have been a smile flitted across Lord Reginald’s aristocratic features. 

“Lord Reginald,” Elizabeth said, feeling compelled to speak.  “I don’t think I’ve ever been more
terrified in my life, but at the same time, some part of me feels like I’m perfectly safe.  It doesn’t make any sense.  Especially considering what you just did to me.  I don’t even know what it was, but it was like I was trapped inside my own head with you.”   She shuddered as she spoke.  She hadn’t thought it was possible for any power to tear into her psyche like that and make her see and feel such terrible things.  She knew that she would never be the same.  “And I don’t know how I was able to get out.” 

Romulus, who Elizabeth had almost forgotten
about at this point, rested his head on her leg.  She could feel his hot breath on her thigh through her jeans.  It was strangely comforting.  She patted him on the head. 

“It was a test, young Elizabeth,” Lord Reginald’s voice was filled with remorse.  “Forgive me, but I needed to look inside your mind without taking it over completely.” 

“You could have warned me.”  Elizabeth was surprised at her own daring.  She desperately hoped that she hadn’t offended him. 

Lord Reginald shook his head.  “It would have been more painful for both of us because you would have resisted me.” 

Elizabeth frowned.  “It was painful for you?” 

“Yes.
” 

“Could you see everything that I saw?” 

“Yes.” 

Elizabeth looked down at Romulus and tried to gather her thoughts and keep her composure.  It was horrible to think that this complete stranger had so easily seen into her mind. 
She hated how exposed and vulnerable she felt, but wondered how she was able to feel as calm as she felt.  Up until an hour ago vampires and psychic powers and centuries old whatever Romulus was were just things that she might read about in one of those novels that her roommate loved so much or watch on some TV show or movie, but here she was.  Before she even realized it, she was gushing to Lord Reginald how confused she was about her own response to meeting him and Sir Marcus and Romulus.  “It makes no sense,” she said shaking her head as she finished sharing her thoughts.  “Hell, it makes negative sense.  How can anyone be so scared and not scared and calm but totally confused at the same time?  Part of me is certain that I’m going to wake up and find that this is all a dream, but I know it’s real.” 

“You know that it is real, because deep down, you always knew that we existed.”  Lord Reginald said a
fter she had finished.  “You are afraid because you have never encountered such dangerous creatures, but not afraid because you also know deep down that we will not hurt you.” 

“But how do I know?”  Elizabeth asked.  Part of her was screaming at her to stop talking.  Was she really questioning a vampire lord who had already shown how easily he could rip into her mind?  Was she crazy or di
d she just have a death wish?

Lord Reginald frowned slightly, but Elizabeth got the distinct impression that Sir Marcus was trying to hold back a smile. 

“You are a strange creature, young Elizabeth,” Lord Reginald said after what felt like an eternity to her, but was surely only an infinitesimally short period of time to one as old as he was.  “You are far braver that you think you are and honest to the point of impertinence, but I do not blame you for that.  You are both ignorant and innocent, but hungry for answers.  The pursuit of knowledge is always admirable.” 

Elizabeth couldn’t help but smile his words.  “Thank you, I’m usually not this brutally honest about how I feel, but I can’t help it right now.  It’s like-I don’t know what it’s like-it’s just strange.” 

Lord Reginald smiled slowly, as if she had reminded him of some pleasant memory, but there was something else in his expression that Elizabeth could not quite read.  Pride?  Sorrow?  Regret?  She had no way to tell. 

“Father,” Sir Marcus said softly.  “You should tell her why you summoned her here.” 

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair nervously. 

Lord Reginald seemed to rouse from whatever his thoughts might be nodded and said.  “Young Elizabeth, I wish to tell you a story from my youth.  Would you like to hear it?”  He said it with so much gravity that Elizabeth knew she could not refuse.  Though there was no way that she would pass up such an opportunity anyways.  After all, how often does one get to talk to someone who’s lived through so
many centuries?

Chapter 4

“It was not love at first sight,” Lord Reginald’s voice was rich and sonorous as he spoke.  “Nor was it lust at first sight.  Indeed I hardly noticed her when fate first brought our paths together.  I imagine that it was their youthful naivety that gave them the courage to walk home without an escort on that dark night.  Anya and Elise, two of the most beautiful mortal women to ever walk the earth.  They were sisters and best friends, the daughters of Aldo who would later be known far and wide simply as Der Siberschmeid, or in English, the Silversmith.  They were both slender and fair, with clear blue eyes and flowing golden hair.  Anya was the eldest, wise far beyond her years, but Elise was reckless and impulsive.  Quicker than her older sister to bouts of passion and anger, quicker to laugh and smile but also quicker to folly.  She was forever filled with excitement and emotion that she could hardly contain.  It was a good thing for her that her beloved sister was so gentle and patient.  Anya was the calm at the center of the hurricane that was Elise. 

It once pained me to admit that it was Elise that first caught my eye that night.  She was laughing loudly and telling Anya of the many young men that were madly in love with her and the many games that she would play with her suitors before she would chose one to marry.  She had the radiance of youth that made her feel invincible. 

Anya was listening but ever on the alert for anything or anyone that might disturb them as they walked.  She was armed with a small dagger that she always carried up her sleeve when they walked at night.  Not that it would have done any good against the likes of me. 

She loved her sister dearly, and she did not care that she was neither as beautiful nor as beloved as her sister.  Her features where not as perfect, her lips not as full, her teeth not as straight.  Her quiet nature made her easily overshadowed by her sister’s gregarious personality.  Indeed, there were some who were even a little intimidated by Anya, mistaking her silence for arrogance, but those who knew her
quickly saw that she was gentle and kind.  There was no malice in her heart, and as the years went by, she would grow more and more beautiful while her sister’s beauty faded along with her youth.  She was truly the more beautiful of the two though few could see it at first.”  Lord Reginald trailed off into a thoughtful silence.  His grey eyes were looking into a faraway place as he recalled their first meeting all those centuries ago.  Elizabeth found that when he spoke, she was able see the sisters before her on that dark road.  She had heard Elise prattling on unaware of anything around her as she walked while Anya’s eyes continually darted here and there.  She had been able feel the blood coursing through their veins, so fresh and warm.  Now that he was silent, the sisters faded from view, and she was again sitting on an old orange crate. 

“I was hunting alone as I often did in the days of my youth,” Lord Reginald continued
, and Elizabeth plunged back into the vision that his words created.  “I was hunting alone as I often did in the days of my youth.  I had only been in the Wolf Clan for perhaps two hundred years, but I was already so high in the esteem of Lady Selina, the master of the clan, that she had already named me as her heir, much to the displeasure of some of the older and more powerful members.  This will be important later, as you will see, but at the time it was of little consequence to me.  Like Elise, the carelessness of youth was ever present. 

As I roamed the countryside, cloaked in shadows and hungry for blood, I saw them dancing gracefully even as they walked in the moonlight.  How could I resist such creatures?  So pure and young and delectable. 
I could taste their blood on my lips as I swept down upon them and took them by surprise. 

I weaved the most incredible fantasies before their eyes.  They deserved at least the illusion of happiness before I took away their lives, for I was certain that once I tasted their blood, I would not be satisfied until I had drunk every last drop.  Such was my gluttonous appetite in those years.  I showed them a life within the most beautiful of palaces with the finest servants and the richest furnishings.  I showed them a banquet with the most succulent of meats and more decadent of wines.  They were dressed in the softest of silks and bathed in the choicest perfumes.  I showed them a glorious world where they
would always be safe and happy. 

Elise was utterly mesmerized and within my power, but Anya, sweet Anya, proved to be far more resilient to my charms than anyone I had ever encountered.  Anya, who at first had seemed to be less fair that her sister, proved to be stronger and more beautiful than I had ever thought possible. 

‘My lord,’ she said as she stood before me without fear.  ‘Do whatever you will with me, but I beg you to let my sister go.  I have seen her destiny, and I know that she will bring a lasting peace though it might be through terrible destruction and a river of blood.’ 

I was amazed.  Never had any mortal thwarted my power so completely and cooled my desire for blood.  I could feel her life force clash against mine and sate my hunger.  It was beyond anything that I thought possible. 

‘Why should I permit my prey to walk free when they so rashly wander through the hunting grounds of the Wolf Clan on a night such as this when the moon shines so brightly?’  I asked.  Though my thirst had been slaked, my pride could not permit me to accept defeat from a mortal girl.  ‘Who are you to beg a favor from Sir Reginald, the prince of the Wolf Clan?’ 

‘I am no one of consequence,’ she replied.  She fell to her knees and looked up at me with tears in her eyes.  ‘I am the mere daughter of a blacksmith, but for the sake of my sister, I would gladly lay down my life.’ 

‘But you are even now within my grasp,’ I said.  I was angered, for though she knelt, there was something like pride in her supplication.  Who was she to stand against me?  What a fool I was not to my own hypocrisy!  ‘No power on Earth can save you from me, and yet you beg for the life of another?’ 

‘I do,’ she said simply. 

‘What if I wish to take you both of you this very night?’  I asked though I already knew that I could not harm this gentle creature.  It vexed me that she somehow seemed to know this.  How else could she have spoken with such confidence? 

‘Then there is nothing I can do,’ she said as she pulled her dagger from her sleeve.  ‘But still I will try to fight you until my dying breath.’ 

I laughed.  How could I not?  This little girl actually thought to fight me!  Never had I encountered such a bold creature.  Even as she begged for the life of her sister and threatened me with a weapon that she knew was worthless against me there was a dignity and grace and fearlessness to her that I could not ignore.  I shall never forget the image of Anya on her knees before me begging not for her own life but for that of another.  It was a thing of beauty.  I could not help but be moved by her fierce loyalty and gentle kindness towards her sister. 

‘Lady Anya,’ I said, for truly she deserved such a title though she had not a drop of noble blood in her veins.  ‘You are indeed a strange woman
.  You will come to the castle of the Wolf Clan and swear fealty to me and my clan forever more and serve as my own personal servant and seer.  If you do this, then I will spare your sister.’ 

She turned deathly pale, as well she should have.  The mortals that entered the castle of the Wolf Clan rarely left alive.  And those who did were forever changed.  She would be entering a life of terrifying servitude to the deadly Wolves as the lowest of slaves.  I will not deny that it gave me pleasure to see her finally show fear.