by R Murray
“What is your name?” he demanded, the fear in her beautiful blues eyes softened him slightly, this was not her fault and he imagined she was terrified having been nearly killed by vampires, having watched a wolf transform in front of her and seeing the vampires killed with the help of his brother.
“I am Maccon, this is Conan and the other that is with us is Raff. Now what is your name?” he asked again.
“My name is Emilie, please let me help your brother, his wounds need to be treated now before he loses any more blood,” Emilie replied and Maccon was surprised at the confidence in her voice despite the fear he could smell from her. He glanced over at Raff who nodded slightly before inclining his head indicating he wanted to speak with Maccon outside. Maccon sent an uncertain glance at the bed where Emilie was already inspecting Conan, grabbing a long black coat he reluctantly followed Raff outside. He found him leaning against a tree, arms folded over his strong chest, his golden-brown eyes were fixed intensely on Macon as he came to stand next to him.
“Care to tell me what the fuck is going on, why it is Conan is lying half dead, it seems, upon the bed with a mortal tending to him?”
“I do not know the full story Raff, funnily enough it was not high on my list of priorities when I came to Conan's call and found him fighting off a bunch of blood sucking monsters,” Macon explained. “I could not leave her out there alone Raff, we may not like the mortals but it is not in us to leave them to the Vampires. There are plenty more out in this forest, you know that; she would not have survived the night. Being a healer from the hospital, at least she will be able to stitch him up and be sure that he does not suffer any after effects of his wounds,” Macon's words came out in a rush as he tore his eyes from Raff fixing them back on the lodge.
“Besides she could be useful. If we keep her she may be able to make those awful steaks taste good,” he joked as he watched Raff push himself from the tree growling slightly as he did, he was angry at the recent development; Maccon knew that. Emilie would be a risk to them now and if they were to let her back on to the Paris streets she could very easily expose their arrival.
“She must stay here for now, until I can decide what to do, we cannot allow her back into the city. She could and most likely would mention us to someone. I will send word to Bardou about this situation, he needs to know what has happened. She could ruin everything if we are not careful and until I hear back from him she stays with us. Under your charge,” Raff commanded. Maccon shook his head,
“No. This is not my fault. Why must she be my responsibility? It is Conan's fault that he chose to play the knight in shining armour and rescue a damsel in distress. And you say I am not the one to be trusted with female mortals,” Maccon protested.
“That may be Maccon, but he is currently unable to do much right now, so she falls under your watch. Believe me, it is not an ideal situation but I have no other choice. I will not be around enough to watch her. If she must leave to return home to retrieve anything medical to treat Conan, you are to go with her. Is that understood?” Maccon nodded mutely, knowing that he would not win the argument, Raff had a point.
“Now go back in and help Emilie any way she needs of you, I am going to hunt us some food as Conan lost our meal. Tonight, we eat well, it will do Conan good to have a decent meal to restore his strength.” With those words Raff was gone leaving Maccon alone. Sighing deeply, he turned and headed back towards the lodge, at least they would have a decent piece of meat in their stomachs this night.
Emilie carefully ran her hands over Conan's solid body trying to keep her thoughts clear, with much difficulty, he truly was a perfect specimen of a human. Though he was not a human, he was of course, a werewolf. Yet Emilie did not remember the wolves she had met in the past being this gorgeous.
“How bad is it? Will I live?” came a weak voice. Emilie looked down seeing emerald green eyes gazing back at her, so different from the deadly gold they had turned to when he had been faced with the Vampires. Emilie flashed him a gentle smile,
“You will be fine, I will make sure of it. Thank you for saving my life, and that is why I will make sure you will not lose yours. Now you rest and I will have a search and see what I can find to patch you up,” she spoke in a low soothing voice, watching his eyes flutter shut as she stood. Her eyes darting around the large room, it alone just about standing thanks to the festering pillars. The walls had small holes forming that allowed a chilling draft to sweep through the room every so often. The smell of damp was potent to her senses even more so in the wake of the storm, and she wondered how long this aged-old building would stay standing. She assumed there would be very little in the form of medical supplies here but she hoped she would find something she could soak in the water she had already started boiling over the fire, and something she could use to stitch up his wounds.
“What are you looking for?” A voice made her jump causing her to spin around coming face to face with the black wolf Maccon. Again, his eyes rendered her speechless for a few seconds, until she managed to gather her thoughts enough to reply.
“I, erm...I need something to use as a bandage for Conan's wounds, and something I can use to stitch him up. If you can help me I would be grateful.”
“We do not have much, but I can give you this,” he replied handing her an old shirt, which Emilie took and straight away began to tear it into shreds; as she did a needle appeared in her line of sight.
“We have a few needles that I have just found, but no thread,” Maccon added. Emilie took the needle feeling a shiver run through her veins as their hands touched for the merest of seconds.
“It is fine, I will use loose thread from the shirt.” Taking hold of the bowl of boiling water and dipping the makeshift bandages in it she turned back to her patient beginning her work.
They stayed silent for some time, Emilie could feel those intense eyes boring into her; watching her every move to be sure, she supposed, that she did not kill Conan. After a while longer of tense silence, Emilie could take no more.
“I will need to return to the city tomorrow to get some medical supplies, this will do for tonight but I need clean bandages and medicine,” Emilie broke the silence as she moved back from the bed standing and stretching out her sore muscles, suddenly feeling exhausted from the evenings events.
“Raff has told me that I must accompany you wherever you go, so I suppose we will both be taking a day trip to the city tomorrow,” Maccon replied. Emilie could tell that he was not happy about his charge, bristling slightly at the look of disgust in his eyes as he spoke.
“I am capable of looking after myself you know,” she retorted.
“Clearly you are not, otherwise you would not be here would you? My brother would not be lying on a bed half dead,” Maccon fired back.
“It was not my fault, I did not know that there were three vampires hunting this night, that a storm would befall us. All I did was come into the forest to gather more wild flowers for my medicines. I never asked for any of this,” Emilie snapped back, reaching for her cloak and wrapping it back round herself, her dress drying thanks to the warmth of the fire. Turning on her heel she made to head out the door, a strong hand stopped her, gripping hard on her shoulder.
“Where do you think you are going?” Maccon questioned her. Not looking at him she replied coolly,
“Home. I will not stay where I am not appreciated, you can watch as your brother suffers a fever because his wounds are not treated properly. I know you wolves are not immortal and that you can die just as us humans can. Now let me go,” Emily demanded trying to break free from his strong grip, making sure she did not look up into his eyes.
“You are going nowhere little miss. Tomorrow we will go to the city, but tonight you will eat with us and then rest. We will not hurt you I can promise you that.”
“No, you will not hurt me because I am of use to you, for now, but what happens when your brother heals? And I am not needed any longer?” The look on Maccon's face caused a shiv
er to run down her spine and she was not so sure she wanted him to answer. To her relief it was not him that spoke next.
“We let you go, but for now, please join us for some deer. It is the least we can do after all you have suffered tonight and the kindness you have shown to Conan,” Raff's voice broke through the tension, and Emilie felt Maccon let her go, her eyes fell on the dead animal Raff had brought in, and she had to admit she was hungry.
“Thank you, Raff, I am hungry after the evening’s events.” Sending Maccon a dark look, she went to help Raff prepare the meal to be cooked. This black wolf was not going to be easy to tame.
Chapter Seven
Lorcan paced the floor of his royal bed chamber, blood red eyes fixed intensely on the swirling patterns embroidered into the deep blue material that coated the floor. To France he was known as King Louis XIV, seen as the great leader and he had been for a good many years, but in his true form he was Lord Lorcan of the Lamia, the oldest vampire family and the only family that possessed the Dark Blood of Immortality. Lorcan could not deny that he enjoyed ruling and the parties, fortune and women that came with it, and his wife was a beauty. Though she did not know his true form and she never would, but it had become easy for Lorcan to keep his true identity from mortals, and his oldest friend Nikolas had always been there to bring him the much-needed blood when he began to weaken.
Stopping to look upon the palace grounds from one of the big bay windows that shed the endless light into his chamber, he could see Nikolas and his black witch Melaina in deep conversation. He assumed it was about the latest development in the plan to expose the current rumoured attempt from the wolves to bring trouble upon French shores and her people. Lorcan laughed to himself at such a thought as he went to pour himself a cup of blood fresh from the latest stock Nikolas had brought him. They had tried a century ago and had failed, now the Lamia family were stronger than ever and having been the ruling clan of France for hundreds of years, they had faced every threat there was; the English dogs would not bring them down this time. No, the threat of werewolves was not what was bothering him, it was the other witch that Nikolas had been speaking with just a few days ago. The one that was currently in amongst the pack to find out what they were doing here. The White Witch as she was known; Lorcan had never met her he was sure, but yet she looked so familiar. He knew she was the sister of Melaina, and that she too had the Dark Blood running through her; but there was something about her that he did not trust. Taking a long sip of blood, he continued his pacing as his mind cast itself back to years past, how had he never seen her in Paris before? Closing his eyes briefly as the image of the girl flashed into his mind, long chocolate curls, crisp white flawless skin, and the most enchanting ice blue eyes, his own flew open at that thought. Those eyes! He had seen them before! She had been the reason for the death of his brother Aleron, the one that should be in his position as the King of France.
Aleron had been a gifted, strong vampire but he had turned rogue and rebelled against the Lamia. He believed all nature's forsaken creatures deserved the right to become immortal if they so wished. Thanatos had turned to the white witch Emilie to draw Aleron back to them, she had the power to seduce anyone and have them do as she wished, but she had not bargained that she would fall under Aleron's spell and give her heart to him. Her mistake had been what had caused Aleron's death at the hands of the Black Witch Melaina, who had been ordered by Thanatos to kill Aleron and his believers. If Emilie had just protected her heart and done what was asked of her, Lorcan's brother would still be alive and ruling. Growling angrily at this very thought he downed the remainder of the blood in his golden goblet slamming it down on the table. Now the witch was once more trusted to use her powers of seduction to gain valuable information and he wondered if Thanatos knew of this risk?
“In answer to your question Lorcan, yes, I am aware that Emilie is working for us once more,” came a deep lazy voice causing Lorcan to startle and spin around finding a tall blonde man with the darkest red eyes, the leader of the Lamia and his brother, stood behind him.
“Hell, Thanatos you really should not sneak up on people like that. What are you doing here?” Lorcan questioned Thanatos, having not seen his brother since he had taken the throne in France. Thanatos did not reply at first, and to Lorcan's annoyance helped himself to the blood that was still sitting on the table by the window.
“I could sense that you were troubled by the appearance of the White Witch, I would have come sooner but I wanted to let you figure out just who she was, and as you have done just that, well here I am,” he replied, the smirk gracing his lips angering Lorcan.
“How can you let her? She was the reason Aleron was killed, if she had brought him back to you as she was told then he would be standing in my place right now, still very much alive. He was a damn good vampire Thanatos, he was just what France and the Lamia needed.”
“You are wrong Lorcan. Aleron would have used his power to do just what it was he had set out to do, and we would have packs of werewolves running around immortal, and I dread to think what other monsters also. I had to stop him, and so I did. I knew that Emilie would not be able to kill him, she loved him. So, I ordered her sister to; though Emilie does not know it was Melaina, she truly believes it was her that did it. So, you see she was not to blame and you cannot let your pain for the loss of our brother cloud your judgment over her. We need her alive Lorcan, for I have just discovered something that should concern us more,” Thanatos explained to him taking a sip of his drink.
“What is that you have found out Thanatos?” Lorcan questioned watching the dark red of his brother's eyes flash with a look he did not like.
“It seems we are Uncles my dear brother. Emilie gave birth to a child I believe to be the blood of Aleron and if that is so then that child will be more powerful than any of us. That child will be half witch and half vampire and carry the Dark Blood. The problem is I have no idea where she hides. Emilie must have put a spell on her so that she cannot be tracked. You see? We need to keep our little White Witch on our side and alive if we are to find her child,” Thanatos replied. Lorcan fell into stunned silence as he processed this news that his brother had just delivered to him.
“She would be a direct descendant from the Lamia, and from one of the only witches to possess the blood of immortality. Does anyone else know of her existence?” Lorcan finally asked. Thanatos looked out at where Melaina and Nikolas were still speaking.
“In answer to your question brother I am not entirely sure, and that is what I want you to find out.” Thanatos turned back to fix a steady gaze on Lorcan as he continued.
“I am certain the wolves have yet to find out. They are here, I believe, to make a stand and to try and revolt against us in a hope we may bless them with the gift we hold. We cannot let them find out about this child, I do not even want to imagine what would happen should they.”
“Yet you have willingly allowed her mother to work amongst the pack knowing all this?”
“I have, because I believe Emilie is not aware of the power her child holds, and she would never speak of this to anyone. She obviously does not want this child to be found. I am certain even Nikolas and Melaina do not know of its existence, but I cannot be sure and those are the two people I wish you to speak to about it, but carefully and discreetly. Do I make myself clear?” Thanatos spoke steadily, his voice holding a clear warning that he was not to be disobeyed.
“I will speak with them both, do not worry brother, but what will you do in the meantime? Just sit idly and wait for this crossbreed to turn up?” Lorcan asked, his black eyes narrowing as his brother let out a laugh.
“I am never idle Lorcan. No, I will keep my own watch over Emilie; see if she may give me any clues as to where it is her child hides.”
“You mean you will be staying here in Paris?” The disappointment was so obvious in Lorcan's voice, he tensed as he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder.
“Why of course brother, and I will be st
aying right here in the Louvre with you. It has been such a long while since I have been in this palace and seen the sights of France. I do love this country.” Shrugging off his brother's hand Lorcan snarled out a response.
“Then I hope you will be very welcome here brother.”
Chapter Eight
The dawn light bounced off the clear stream as it danced playfully over the rocks on its journey to the Seine; the sky was a clear blue a stark contrast to the angry black it had been the night before. The animals were singing their morning song and Maccon found himself relaxing in the solitude of his spot. It was the only place he could find some peace and a little freedom from the confines of the four walls of the lodge. He hated being in France, and he hated being forced to stay away from the city. It angered him that he was not trusted among the mortals all because of a mistake he made in London; it was not his fault the mortal had been so beautiful that he had to have a piece of her even if it was just for a night. Only her husband had found out and Maccon had been lucky to escape with his life. He had never disclosed what he truly was yet he had been punished greatly; and now he had to play bodyguard to this Emilie that had appeared amongst their pack because Conan had to play the hero. There was something about this girl that Maccon did not trust. He could not place it just yet, but he planned on finding out all he could about this healer, and it would start on their trip into the city later that day to gather more medical supplies. His thoughts drifted to his brother, Conan had been restless through the night, the pain interrupting his rest and the rest of the others. He supposed he should give Emilie credit she did not leave his bedside and was there when he woke in the night to settle him back to sleep. Raff had left before the first light had come to go and have a message sent to Bardou explaining the situation they were now in.