Ravening Hood

by Kendrai Meeks

  “I recognized a silver decree posted above your shop today, even if it was in another language.” Pause to swallow the lamb stew. “A Writ of Authority, official permission to operate your shop? The reds outlawed that sort of practice a century ago. And you, living here, stories below the city in a crypt, forced to stay out of sight? What kind of old-world practices are these?”

  Serhan leaned forward. “Where is it you suppose you are at? This is not the Americas, or England. Nor are we in the gleaming shadow of Schloss Wolfsretter. This is Istanbul. This is Constantinople. This is Byzantium. We are not some privileged, pampered pack. Your modern world is all boxes. A cradle when you are a baby. A house when you are an adult. A coffin when you die. We are the gökkurt, descended from Asena himself. No one will confine us in a box, not even the onyx.”

  I leaned forward, searching for recognition in Tobias’s expression, but he seemed just as clueless as I was, confirmed a moment later when, his mouth full of potatoes and lamb, he leaned forward.

  “Asena?”

  “Yes, Asena. The father of us all. Come, now, Tobias, you must know?”

  A dribble of broth raced down his chin. “I’m sorry, no.”

  A grin crossed Serhan’s face. He rose to his feet, encouraged at intervals by the claps, the cheers, the shouts of his pack. From out of nowhere, a violin rang out, scratching against the surface in an echo of the daily calls to prayer the city above rang out with five times a day.

  “Aramızda kim Asena'yı tanımıyor?” His arms akimbo, Serhan spun. His wolves shouted a response as he pointed to several in turn. Then, back to us, he brought his long, dirt-encrusted finger. “What wolf does not know of Asena? A wolf who does not know Asena does not know how he is a wolf.”

  “I am a wolf because my father and mother were wolves.”

  The alpha shooed away Tobias’s retort with a wave of his hand. “But why was your father? And his father before him? And his before him? Because of Asena. We are all his children. It was he whom the shewolf chose to father our people, and she by him who gave birth to the ten packs. So werewolves came into the world, but we... we are sons of the eldest pup born of Asena, Ashina. We are the truest wolves.”

  I elbowed Tobias in the side. “So maybe you’re not English after all. You’re descended from Turks.”

  My guardian ignored me. Rightfully.

  “And have you been in Istanbul all this time?” Tobias asked. “Living here, beneath the city?”

  “We have always been Turks, and so our packlands have moved with the fate of our ancestors, as have the Turkish hueys. From the Steppe, to the Caucasus, to Anatolia, and into the Balkans. Our pack was among those who took the city from the Romans.”

  But that brought up a question in my head that the others didn’t seem concerned with. “And what about hoods? Um... başlık?” I asked. The mere utterance of the word sent a hush of the gaiety of the pack. “Where did they come from?”

  Serhan’s smile flatlined. “Do not you know? Your kind who flies? Your kind who speaks to birds?”

  “Birds?” I almost tugged Tobias’s shirt sleeve clear off. “Tobias...”

  His hand lay over mine, stilling it and my words. “Protecting this relinquished hood is not the only reason I... we are in Istanbul, Serhan Bey. We’re here trying to find someone. Several someones, actually.”

  Serhan fanned the air. “In a city like this, finding one is difficult. Finding many, easy. Who is it you seek?”

  “He has had many names,” I said. “A vampire. A very old vampire. Most know him as Vlad.”

  The name. So simple: four letters, one syllable. For all that, v-l-a-d might have spelled stop or silence. Even the wolves who stayed some distance from the fires on the edges of the crypt stilled. In the chamber, a chill descended upon me, upon us. I felt at once old worries rise. A moment ago, I’d been surrounded by a clan of people who had welcomed me into their home, such as it was. Now, I felt the weight of lupine curses.

  And only one wolf who would defend me.

  I focused in on Serhan as I shot to my feet, my hand clutching the silver dagger’s hilt. The alpha needed but give an order, and the pack would take their wolves and rip me limb from limb. Instead, Serhan turned to Ayşe, barking out gruff foreign words before, without any further explanation, he whirled, trouncing off into the darkness, diving into shadow.

  Ayşe’s disappointment was palpable as she began to lead us back the way we’d come in. Neither Tobias nor I needed ask what had transpired, though I was certain that he, like me, desperately wished to learn the why. As we reached the street, Ayşe covered herself and led us back toward the main street.

  “We can find our way from here, Ayşe,” Tobias offered. “That hood is still nearby. I can sense her. Both Geri and I apologize for any offense we committed. We never meant to upset you.”

  “It is not... the word you use, offense?” The shewolf rounded a corner, practically clinging to the walls. “It is haram. You say, I think, forbidden? Yes, forbidden, for us to talk about the Ravens.”

  I fisted Tobias’s shirt. “You do know about them!” Despite the daggers Tobias shot me, I couldn’t let this go. “Please, Ayşe, tell us what you know. We promise, we won’t tell anyone.”

  Tobias sighed. “Geri, she’s under alpha orders. She can’t say a thing. Come, the hood that’s patrolling is very close. Let’s not get anyone into trouble, or get noticed ourselves. Good night, Ayşe. Thank you for letting us sit at your fire.”

  The girl nodded once, turned to go back into their subterranean landscape, then halted. Inner conflict pulled tight the expression on her face. “Advice?”

  Was she asking for it, or offering to give it? Tobias nodded some sort of acceptance.

  “Birds that hunt need to soar high,” Ayşe said. “But please, do not look for them. You will die. That is all I can say.”

  SEVENTEEN

  “Baby, you have to let this go.”

  I was trying. Damn it, I was trying. “But they were opening up to us! And then I had to make a mountain out of a molehill. One tiny mention of birds, and I blurted out Vlad’s name, and then we were personae non gratae. I swear I have that ‘awkward non-sequitur’ award of the year cinched this year.”

  I could only hope that Tobias had some luck in getting them to accept our apology. When he told me earlier in the morning he was going to find Ayşe at the Bazaar and offer our regrets, I had begged to come along. He’d insisted that it would go over better without me there. When even Caleb agreed it was probably better to let the wolves work it out among themselves, I deferred.

  Amy, however, had not. The second she found out Tobias was on his way back to that magnificent place, she was out of bed and on the prowl in record time.

  Caleb continued massaging my shoulders, relieving the tension that had me wound up his primary objective. “One, let’s try to limit Latin phrases to one per statement. And two, I don’t think there’s any casual way to bring up the Prince of Darkness in polite conversation. You saw an open window, you jumped for it. I would have done the same thing.”

  “No, you would have gotten one of the female wolves alone, then turned on your awesome sex-god powers and charmed the information out of her. In Turkish too.”

  His mouth came down the juncture of my neck and my collarbone. “Sex-god powers? How would you know about those?”

  With the shifting mood, I softened my voice. “I’ve never left your place unsatisfied.”

  “Mmm, true, but you’ve never left my place entirely... fulfilled.”

  “If the brochure is that great, I can only imagine the actual view is mind-blowing.”

  “Oh, it’s blowing.” His hot breath funneled through pursed lips as he blew on my ear, sending a wave of anticipation up my spine. “We’re home alone. We should take advantage of that.”

  My head tilted to the side, giving Caleb de facto permission to ply willing flesh with his demanding mouth. “Technically, Inga and Igor are home, even if they’re in torp
or in the cistern.”

  “They won’t hear us if we go upstairs, which leaves only one question: your room or mine?”

  I could see it in my mind, how simple this would be. I’d stand, turn to Caleb, offer him my hand. He’d take it, stand as well, and kiss me. We’d fumble our way upstairs, taking only brief glances beyond each other to navigate the climb and then, the door, and then the bed. We’d take turns robbing each other of clothing, piece by piece surrendered to the floor, until ultimately, we’d stand before each other wearing only the balance of our confidences.

  I’d call out his name when he entered me, and think of another...

  That broke the vision, and suddenly, what my body had wanted, my heart denied.

  I needed more time. I needed more distance. I needed to just convince myself that I had to move on.

  I needed an excuse.

  “Caleb?”

  His voice vibrated against my skin. “Mmm?”

  “I’ve been thinking.” I swallowed hard, trying to block out the sensations he sent spiraling around my body as his hands encircled me from behind, one of them sneaking its way under my shirt. “This is going to sound...” Crazy? Puritan? Prudish? “...old-fashioned, but I think I want to wait.”

  Clearly, his blood had already vacated his brain for other parts of his body, as he asked in a dreamy tone, “Wait for what?”

  “Wait for this,” I said, pulling away, turning to face him. “I never thought I’d be so traditional, but where I come from, this—” I motioned between us. “This doesn’t happen until marriage. I thought I could do this, but you’ve seen what happens when I try. I think it’s because, deep in my heart, I know that I want to wait.”

  Undeterred, the slayer leaned forward, balancing on his hands as he ghosted a kiss over my lips. “I bet parts of you deeper down think otherwise. And I’m willing to go searching for those parts. Way—” Kiss. “Deep—” Kiss. “Down.”

  He fell facedown onto the couch as I took to my feet. He’d only sat himself up when I turned to face him from the hall.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not negotiable on this.”

  EIGHTEEN

  They dragged themselves in before the morning light, each wearier than the last. Igor and Caleb had scouted out most of the districts on the Asian side, each night ringing out further into districts springing to life on the edges of the eternally-growing city. Three weeks of effort, and nothing more to show for it than the discovery of a few good all-night kebab houses. Inga and Caleb, in the meantime, had cut lines through the European neighborhoods, testing even the endurance of an immortal.

  “Cities should not be allowed to grow so vast,” the vampire lamented as she fell back on the couch, brown hair falling like a halo around her. “Damn Istanbul. It’s like a cancer, a giant, pulsing tumor spreading across continents. Give it another hundred years, and this city will cover the world and strangle the whole planet.”

  Amy managed to wander in just as the vampires made it home. “I think it's going to bump into Beijing and, well, frankly, all of China before that can happen. Morning, Geri. We still on for the boat ride today?”

  Tobias looked up from his breakfast of fried sausage and egg. “Boat ride?”

  “We're taking a Bosporus cruise.”

  Caleb ran a hand over his face. “Great. We’ll spend our nights looking for villainous vampires, but you guys pretend to be tourists and take in all the sights. What’s the point in having that training space upstairs if you’re only going to use it for yoga?”

  “First, Geri has actually been teaching me a few attack forms, so there.” Amy peeked over the fridge, a carafe of orange juice in hand. “And two, we thought it might be a good idea to see the city from a different perspective – especially since you won’t let the poor hueys go out at night all defenseless and alone. Seriously, you guys have been at this for three weeks, and have nothing to show for it but a cryptic message from a werewolf who now refuses to talk to you. The worst thing that happens is that we get nothing out of it.”

  Caleb sat up. “And the best thing that comes out of it is that you get someone out of it.” He turned to me with begging eyes. “Geri, come on, you know she only agreed to this to scope out guys, right?”

  “Caleb Helsing, are you calling Amy a flirt?”

  “I’m calling Amy the female version of me.” He blushed under my scornful gaze. “The old me. Before I was with you, I mean.”

  I slipped my cell phone and bottle of water into a backpack and threw it over my shoulder. “I’ll make sure she behaves. And uses protection, if it comes to it. In the meantime, you guys get rest. Only two nights until full moon. We’ll have to spend tonight finding someplace to stash our own werewolf during it.”

  “I still volunteer my room.”

  The slayer’s hand lashed out in response to Amy’s quip. “See? That’s what I’m talking about.”

  THE ONLY REVELATION that came about from our two-hour cruise was that there were dolphins in the Bosporus Strait; something which made total sense in hindsight but which I hadn’t anticipated.

  Amy folded her hands and leaned on to the railing. “It really is a beautiful city. Isn’t it?”

  “Indeed.”

  “And you still want to go back to Paradise?”

  I shrugged. “Not Paradise, maybe. But some place like it, not too far away. Sault Ste. Marie, maybe.”

  Sunlight bounded off the water, forcing Amy to shield her eyes. “And then?”

  “And then... what?”

  With a sway of her arm, she indicated the city, as though it were evidence in some court proceedings. “The world is so big. You got your degree, you can go so many places with it. What are you going to do back in the backwoods of Michigan? What is Caleb going to do? I picked up on his type the moment I met him: likes fashion, fancy restaurants, clubbing. One hundred percent city boy. You think he’s going to go along with the Suey Ain’t Mary plan?”

  “Sault Ste. Marie,” I corrected. “Why is it that he’d have to go along with it?”

  “Hello? Because he’s your boyfriend, and he’s going to either want to be in the same place as you, or stop being with you. Seriously, Geri, what was your goal when you came to Chicago to begin with? Let me interrupt you, because you probably don’t know, and I do: You were trying to escape Paradise. Even if you’re not willing to admit that to yourself, that’s what you were after. You either have to accept that Caleb is part of that escape, or let him go.”

  The words struck me harder than if I’d fallen in the waters below. “You’re blowing things way out of proportion here. I’m only twenty-two. Barely twenty-two. I don’t have to make those kind of long term decisions yet.”

  “Sorry, but you do,” she countered. “Didn’t you tell me just a few days ago that before the two of you hit it off, he was a bit of a lady’s man?”

  “By his own admission. And Inga’s reports. So?”

  She rolled her eyes. Something I was saying really watered the stupid tree. “If a guy like that goes cold turkey it means he’s found—and believe me, even I can’t believe I’m using this term—‘the one.’ Caleb is planning a life with you, and if you’re not doing the same, you got to let him know. Trust me on this.”

  In the eddies swirling off the boat in the waters below, murky visions of a life with Caleb emerged. Running from city to city, always in hiding, unless under the protection of a vampire who already admitted she was living on borrowed time. Tall buildings, landscapes of concrete, crowds of people everywhere. Everywhere. So many people. And kids. He’d want kids. Lots of them. He was the last of his kind, after all. At the very least, it was his duty to procreate. And what would I be then, but a breeding sow, raising slayers who I couldn’t even bring to understand the kind of person I’d been before my mother had relinquished me.

  Amy’s hand settled on my back. “You see it, right?”

  “I do.” The words cracked when forced over a dry palate. “But he loves me.”

  A soft
ness overcame her. “All the more reason to end it.”

  Only a blind man could stare at the sun and deny its light. “Damn it, you’re right.”

  “I know I am. Now, let’s talk about Tobias...”

  My hands went up. “Whoa, remember that big talk about werewolves and hoods you and I had a few weeks ago? Tobias was mated, and wolves mate for life. No exceptions.”

  “I know,” she said. “But there’s something between the two of you, something... dare I say, primal? You two just click. Like, platonically, even if the physical stuff is never a part of it. Which I can’t believe I of all people am saying, but that’s not so bad, is it?”

  “Oh, yeah, we’d be great together. Long walks through the woods, baking cookies, sighing mournfully in unison each morning. Twice on Sundays. No, Amy. A life with Tobias means living with the Paradise Pack. It’s me watching Cody and Lisa and their perfect little cubs running around for the rest of my life under the shadow of my mother’s domain. It’s about the worst thing I could think of.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so.” Her eyes settled on one of the boat’s crew handing out glasses of tea on the aft deck. Igor had been right; tea really was everywhere. “Too bad Tobias didn’t get hit with that serum stuff that vamps have. It could solve all of this.”

  “That serum was designed to work on alphas and betas,” I said. “Tobias is neither.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because he’s not. It’s that simple. Cody’s his alpha, Rick’s his beta.”

  “And back in England...?”

  “His dad, then his brother, then ... I’m not sure. Someone else who kicked him out.”

  “And Kara was a beta in her pack. Isn’t that what he said?”

  I nodded. “What are you getting at?”

  “Nothing, just based on everything I’ve learned about werewolves and hoods and slayers so far, there’s a lot of hereditation involved in the way you guys determine leadership. Now, I might think it outdated and undemocratic, but if that’s the way y’all roll, fine. But in that case, wouldn’t political marriages be a thing? Wouldn’t it be weird for Tobias, son and brother of an alpha, to be mated to another pack’s beta?”