Circle of Wolves

by Jacqueline Roth

  Circle of Wolves

  Chapter Fourteen

  Painted Wagons

  “Come along, Evan, I want you to meet Elena. She’s one of my dearest friends.” Kira stood impatiently at the door to his room.

  “Darling, if I don’t take the potion I won’t be able to talk to your dearest friend.” He smiled at her eagerness. It was a change to see her so excited, she was usually so calm. He stepped into the bathroom and filled a glass with water. He dropped the potion into it and swallowed it down. Stepping out into the room he raised his hands, palms up. “Ready. Now I’ll know if you two say something about me.”

  “Trust me, if Elena wants to say something about you, your knowing what she’s saying won’t stop her,” she warned. “Her opinion is very important to me so you better make sure she likes you.” Her devilish grin caused him to raise an eyebrow.

  “This is suddenly starting to sound like not a good thing,” he said slowly with feigned concern. “Don’t tell me. You’ll brave your mother and brother for me but if this Elena disapproves it’s ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’?”

  Her smile dropped away slowly. She wasn’t upset, he could tell, only very serious. Her arms slid around his waist. “Now let’s see, Evan. I can’t stop touching you. I want your kiss every waking moment. I’m willing and ready to join my life to yours irrevocably and in ways even I don’t understand. No, Evan you’re right. I’ll crumble into submission because someone doesn’t fall at your feet in admiration.” Her shoulders straightened and a fierce look filled the brown eyes. “Have you forgotten who I am? I answer to no one Evan, no one but Father and not even he has a say in this.”

  “I was teasing, Kira,” he replied a bit impatiently. “I was just teasing.”

  “For someone who is teasing you mention leaving an awful lot.” She turned her head and laid her cheek against his shoulder.

  “Kira, when I leave this place and I do need to leave here fairly soon, it is my intent that you be with me.” He lifted her chin to make her look into his eyes. “You said ‘wherever that may take us.’ I was hoping it would take you back home with me, at least for the time being. Later, when all this is over, there’s no reason we can’t work something out that moves us between the two places. If your parents would welcome me.”

  “That’s what tomorrow night is about. Father will make it clear that you are welcome.” She smiled softly. “I’m sorry I made such a big deal over simple words. I still find it hard to believe you won’t simply disappear. That I won’t wake up tomorrow and find that you’ve been a dream.”

  Evan stared at her. She felt that strongly about him? It was still hard for him to believe that here was someone who loved him, not despite who and what he was but in part because of who and what he was. Because of this part of him that he had kept buried. It was this that had drawn her to him, just as it was the part of him that had pulled him to her. He tightened his hold on her, “Kira, I’m not going to disappear. Promise me you won’t either. Promise me I won’t wake up tomorrow to find that you’ve changed your mind and can’t accept what I am.”

  Her smile was still shining at him. “We both sound like a couple of insecure adolescents, don’t we? Only one of us has an excuse for that.” Her smile changed back to one of devilment.

  “Come on you old crone, we’ll keep your friend waiting.” He released her except for the arm he kept looped about her waist and moved her toward the door.

  “Let’s go pup,” she said, her voice a chuckle. “I need to dry you off behind the ears before you’ll be presentable.”

  He turned her to him and nuzzled her neck playfully. “As long as you do it by blowing in them, you’re on.”

  She nipped his earlobe gently and turned away, tugging him after her.

  He followed her out of the house and down the road toward the small gate they had passed through when he accompanied her to the school. Alexi was standing at the gate talking to a man over the bottom half of the door. The top half had been opened and Evan saw the man look over Alexi’s shoulder and hurriedly excuse himself.

  When he turned to them his face was clouded with apprehension. He approached them, or rather Kira, quickly.

  “What is it?” she asked, her voice mirroring his face.

  “In the village,” he answered. Evan caught only the last half of the sentence. The first half had sounded unfamiliar and he realized it was the potion slipping into effect. Alexi had not spoken English.

  “It’s no good, Alexi,” Kira warned, “he’s taken the potion. We’re on our way to see Elena. Just say it.”

  “Angelo was just telling me that strangers have been seen in the village,” he repeated for Evan. “They’ve not yet made their way to us but word is they are looking for us. For the Family.”

  “Did Angelo know why?” Kira’s forehead was creased with worry. Evan’s heart was beating faster. Even as a stranger here himself, he knew enough to know this was not good news. Were they hunters? There had been more than a few of those back home, gifted and ungifted humans who banded together to hunt dark creatures. And they counted Weres among their prey. Or rogue mages? A mage in Chicago had recently been found with a list of names that no one could account for. Each person on the list, it turned out, was a werewolf. He had already killed one of the werewolves known to live in the area, all in the name of the greater good. Problem was, a great number of the conclave didn’t see where it had been such a bad thing. Many had argued the man was at worst a vigilante, doing what the hunters were slow to do. Destroy the dark creatures that pretended to play nice.

  “No but speculation is…” he looked swiftly at Evan, then away again, “speculation is that behind them are mages. The two mages, one dark man and one very fair woman, have made it known they will pay for information leading to us. They do not search on their own but have remained in comfort in Budapest for the past couple of weeks hiring others to search for them. Angelo says the men asking questions in the village were told to follow the painted wagons to the gate.”

  Kira closed her eyes and groaned. “And Elena has led them right to us.”

  Alexi nodded. “I have no idea if she knows she was followed. I need to get this news to Father.”

  “Go, Alexi. I’ll go find out if Elena knows anything about it. I doubt it though, she’d never have led them to us on purpose.”

  “She’s getting old, Kira. Maybe…” Alexi trailed off.

  “She’s old but she’s still sharper than you or I. We’ll find out soon enough. We can’t undo what’s done. Go tell Father.” She turned to Evan with a somewhat dimmed expression. “Let’s go find Elena. I’m still eager to see her and for you to meet her.”

  “Wait, Alexi,” Evan sighed. “I may know who they are.” They both turned to look at him. “I don’t think they’re hunters. I told you when I first came that the trouble in my world was caused by the challenge of a man who my master believes to be dangerous. It is likely he would want to sabotage these efforts. If these are not hunters, they are most likely sent by him.”

  Alexi swung his gaze sharply to Kira and when Evan looked at her, her eyes were hard. “If they are hunters we know how to deal with them.” Her voice was cold and Evan found that strangely enough, he didn’t feel as chilled by her words as he expected. “The concern is if they are not. Evan, do you have any idea who they are? How they will react when they find us?”

  “Without more information I could only guess who they might be but they will undoubtedly ask for or demand your assistance and loyalty under threat of reprisals. That failing, or if Ian has gotten smarter, he will try to turn you against us period. The ultimate failure here would be an all-out aggressive act on your part toward humans or mages.” He couldn’t believe he was going to say this. Part of him felt guilty for suggesting it but he kept reasoning it was the only safe course. “I suggest if they approach you, that you meet with them just as you met with me, in a public place. I would further suggest you don’t let them know that any dec
ision has been made. Hear them out and tell them you will pass along their message just as you passed along mine.”

  “Do you think they know about you?” Kira’s voice was tinged with concern.

  “I’ll guarantee they know about me,” he replied. “I’d almost wager my life on it. Don’t underestimate them. That would be a dangerous mistake.”

  She nodded and her eyes were unfocused as she was lost in thought. “Alexi, you should go tell Father. Tell him it might be a good idea if he met with Evan and me tonight. I know he was waiting for the hunt but we may not have the luxury of doing things the nice and proper way anymore.”

  * * * * *

  Kira led Evan through the gate and around the natural curve in the path where it skirted a cluster of trees. He reached for her hand, what seemed almost absently and she curled her fingers around his. She tried to tell herself that worrying wasn’t going to accomplish anything. It was one of her father’s favorite mantras. Time spent worrying is time wasted. Still she knew Evan was right, the existence of the man at her side and the arrival of the strangers were not coincidence. She gave herself a mental shake. If trouble came, they’d take care of it as they always did. They had handled mages before and they would handle them now.

  Evan watched her pensive face and the apprehension in him rose. What had he been thinking to suggest they meet with Ian Carsten’s emissaries? They should declare their support openly and soon, that would be in the best interest of his master. But his head knew what his heart had done. He was worried about these people. What would the reaction be to the announcement that they were willing to negotiate with Master Ryder? There was actually no real question. There would be violence and threats of violence. Two mages. One fair and one dark. He couldn’t be that lucky. One dark. No, he told himself. It could be anyone. It could be any number of people. If only he could get lucky and it would be Julien, then immediate violence might be avoided. Would Carsten really trust the man with something like this? No, he wasn’t usually that lucky.

  She paused and he pulled back to her. He felt the tension ease in her and saw her smile. He followed her gaze and found himself looking at a circle of six wagons each with two large horses tethered nearby. An older model auto sat outside the ring. The wagons were brightly painted and reminded him of pictures of circus wagons from children’s books. Some of the gilded paint was faded and peeling. Several small children ran laughing loudly about the area. Two dark haired young women with thick raven braids were hovering near a very old woman who was sitting in a chair near one of the wagons. Flags fluttered in the breeze, a flag of two large stripes, one blue and one green. In the center was a red sixteen-spoked wheel.

  “Gypsies?” The word escaped his mouth, twisting the lips into a grin.

  Kira rounded on him quickly with a frown. “Never use that word. Not to them. It is an insult, a distortion of who and what they are. Worse, the word has come to mean thief, criminal, or simply beggar in most languages. They are not gypsies, Evan.”

  “I meant no offense, Kira.”

  “I know. It is simply a hard word to hear and not remember what they have suffered at that word. They are descended from a proud people, a people who call themselves Roma or Rom. This small band, this tiny group has been attached to our family for over four centuries. They came to us after one of their number was bitten by a curse wolf and my father stopped them from killing the boy outright. He taught them to deal with the boy’s nature. Over time it has been inevitable that more of them have been bitten. This group lives separate from the others, from other Roma, because theirs is a culture of the wolf. Some of the customs of our peoples have merged and blended, pieces of language, of traditions. Everyone you see here, all the adults are werewolves.”

  “How is that possible?” Evan frowned at her. “Kira they can’t pass it along by birth, so how could they all be?”

  He felt her shudder beside him. “We don’t condone it, Evan but it is their way. They have developed a way of deliberately inflicting a bite once the individual has reached maturity. And no, not everyone survives this adulthood rite. I don’t pretend to understand it but after five hundred years, it has become their way.”

  They deliberately inflicted this curse upon themselves? Upon each other? “Kira, that’s insane and dangerous.”

  “Shh,” she put her finger to her lips, “they’ll hear you. We are close enough, I’m sure Elena can hear us. I agree. I’ve tried to talk to her about it. I’ve even offered to help any of them who don’t wish to continue this, who want to leave the group, go to school. But they don’t accept. Not once in over one hundred fifty years has one of them accepted my offer.” She looked back at them with a sad smile. “They have an amazing sense of family and tradition. That is the Roma in them. The Roma and the wolf. It has made for a strange combination.”

  The idea of deliberate infection was so alien Evan was still struggling to wrap his mind around it. He was still fighting to accept what Kira was actually saying. His entire world seemed to have turned upside down in the past week. Everything he was supposed to be ashamed of, everything he was supposed to hide, to repress, was to these people to be sought out and proudly displayed. Alexi wore his animal nature like a banner, reveling in the joy of instinct and the power it afforded him. These people deliberately became what he wished desperately not to be.

  He looked down at Kira. She was watching his face. Even she cloaked herself in what she was, in the wolf that lurked inside her. Even she stood unapologetically as what she was. Almost. She felt as much shame at whom and what she was as he did. The difference was that her shame was in the part of her he lived proudly and openly. The magic. The contrast had been weighing on him for the past hours. She would have stripped away and been rid of the magic but she took pride in the wolf. He would have stripped away and been rid of the wolf but he took pride in the magic. He recognized an urge in himself to help her learn to be proud of who she was and further recognized that it was exactly what Alexi had been trying to do for him.

  She smiled patiently. He was a thinker. She doubted that would ever change. He’d never act out of instinct…well not in most areas of his life. A faint heat crept into her cheeks as she tried to push away the more pleasant memories. He definitely had excellent instincts. It’s not such a bad combination, she thought. It had its advantages over Alexi’s mad headlong rush to follow his gut at every available opportunity. But if this was to work between them, if Evan was to find his place in her family, he’d have to push harder. His position would demand it.

  “Evan?”

  “Kira?” A smile curved his lips.

  “Let’s go introduce you to Elena.”

  She let go of his hand but motioned for him to follow her to where the three women were. The two younger women turned and smiles broke their faces. Her name was cried out and several heads appeared from other wagons, a dozen women and girls suddenly clustered around her, separating him from her in their eagerness to see her. Most of them covered their heads with scarves, their bright colored skirts and blouses swirling about them. A newborn was passed into her arms and she cradled it. He watched her and pride and a flush of what he was coming to accept as love, rushed through him. People loved her. He had yet to see a single person not smile at her smile or brighten at her words. Even Nico seemed soothed by her…mostly.

  The sun was shining down on them brilliantly and it seemed not reflected by, but absorbed by, the reddish glow of her hair. Strands of fiery gold interlaced with soft warm browns creating a color he thought not only a defining beauty of this woman but one that called to him to tangle his fingers in its softness, to wrap the twisting curls around his fingers and feel them spring away when he released them. He saw her place the infant to her shoulder and lower her face to coo at it. The familiar pain came back to him, only this time it struck so deep it stole his breath. A family. Her holding his child, her curled into his side as a child sat on his lap, cuddled against his chest waiting for one last story, one last hug, o
ne last…

  “Evan,” her voice teased at the corners of his mind. “Evan. Come meet everyone.”

  “He’s no doubt gone deaf at all this clucking and caterwauling,” a rough and scratchy voice cackled. “Too many flustered hens can send even the most amorous of roosters fleeing in panic.”

  The women laughed and the crowd cleared. His path back to her side was now open. She passed the baby into a pair of outstretched hands and beckoned him to her. “Don’t be shy. Come meet my darling Elena.”

  She was the oldest woman he had ever seen. Her face was as lined as a badly tended map, folds and creases overlapped one another on the tiny face. Black eyes as sharp and bright as a beetle’s carapace shone out from the heavy eyelids. Her head was covered by a tightly tied black babushka. The dark skin was leather, tanned and weathered by the elements, the mouth pursed and deeply lined. Her hand reached up to motion for him to come closer and he saw the gnarled fingers with their deformed joints, the crepe-thin skin stretched tight over veins and spotted with age.

  “Come here, boy. I want a good look at you.” The darkly tanned face was regarding him curiously. He stepped forward and watched the eyes.

  A smile twisted the lips. “She’s done it again.” The words were meant for the older three women who stood behind her now and they began to laugh. He saw Kira’s face color slightly and fill with a reluctant bit of pride. “She’s found the handsomest man among us and latched on to him.”

  “You are a wicked little thing,” Kira fired back at the woman.

  “Oh, be quiet old woman,” Elena chortled. “Be glad you can still garner the attentions of one such as this.” She gave Evan a wink. “She has told you she’s older than Methuselah hasn’t she?”

  “Well she didn’t let on she was quite that old but I am aware that she is a bit of an antique, yes.” He couldn’t resist smiling back at the impish grin.