by L. C. Davis
"Why the hell are we here?" Sebastian asked, coming to my side. He squinted into the distance. "And where are the hunters?"
"It's the morning of the hunter's moon," Victor muttered. "For all we know, they're attacking the Lodge."
"I don't think so," I said, noticing the pillar of smoke in the distance. It was coming from a thick row of trees on the otherwise grassy terrain. "Look at that."
"Is that a fire?" Sebastian asked, taking a step forward. A moment later, a flash of light staggered us all. It took a moment before I could blink away the spots to make out Sebastian's massive silhouette in front of me. The twins reached for me and I called, "I'm fine! What was that?"
"The Patriarch," said Victor. "With a light that bright, it has to be. They must be doing some kind of ritual."
"Time to crash the party," muttered Sebastian. "You stay here with Remus."
"Wait!" I called, rushing after him before Victor could grab me. "I'm going with you."
"The hell you are."
"I just got us out of the clutches of death, I think we're past the point of you treating me like a fragile flower."
"He has a point," said Victor, walking towards the source of the flash. Sebastian's lip curled back in a snarl of protest, but he stalked after his brother and I followed them both. At the edge of the trees, there was an arched entryway and a stone path.
"This must be the Walk of Souls," I murmured, following them through the garden entrance. Sebastian batted at the foliage that kept brushing his face. The path was clearly meant to accommodate hunters of average height, not a werewolf of his size.
The sound of a struggle from up ahead filled the path. I could hear a wolf snarling and Victor held his arm out to block me, letting Sebastian go forward first.
"Holy shit," Sebastian muttered. "Arthur?"
I ducked underneath Victor's arm and ran forward to join Sebastian at the entrance to a clearing further down the path, lined with stone monuments and statues. Right beside a large statue that had been shattered stood Hunter in his beastform and across from him was Prentice, Arthur's body resting limp in his arms. When Prentice turned towards us, his eyes glowing gold, I knew it was really the Patriarch.
Taking one look at Arthur's broken body, his neck resting unnaturally in the Patriarch's arms, I let out a strangled cry of grief and Sebastian barely caught me before I fell to my knees.
Victor was beside me in an instant, his eyes flashing red in a reminder of just what he had become during our time in the aether. His lips curled back and his fangs lengthened in a more menacing snarl than I had been capable of in the entirety of my time as a vampire.
"Calm yourselves," the Patriarch said, taking a step back. "This isn't what it seems."
"The hell it isn't," Sebastian growled, pushing me aside as his shadow began to crawl up his flesh. "You killed the kid."
"He isn't dead permanently," said the Patriarch. "He will rise as all my children do."
"Is that supposed to be a consolation?" asked Victor, his voice slurred around fangs he hadn't yet learned to accommodate.
"Don't take my word for it," said the Patriarch, looking in Hunter's direction. "Ask your brother."
The white wolf eyed us warily, but he became transfixed on Victor. A low growl rumbled in his chest.
"He's okay, Hunter," I said earnestly. "I'll explain everything, but it's really Victor."
Hunter hesitated before crouching down. A silver shadow overtook him and a moment later he was human. Victor shrugged out of his jacket and offered it to him. The young man hesitated only a moment before taking it to cover himself and gave us all a bewildered once-over. "I knew shit was going to get crazy on the hunter's moon, but this is fucking ridiculous."
"Is the Patriarch telling the truth?" Sebastian asked, his voice strained as he hovered in the painful mid-shift state. Only he could withstand such agony of his own free will. "Is Arthur coming back and is there any reason I should think that's a good thing?"
"I think so," Hunter said carefully. He spent the next few minutes telling us everything that had happened, and the only thing that kept me from assuming that he was merely hallucinating was the fact that everything I had just been through with Sebastian and Victor was even more unbelievable.
"So the prince destroyed himself?" Victor asked, frowning. His fangs had receded and, for the moment, he seemed to be back to his old self.
"Seems like it," said Hunter. "Arthur is what's left and his last wish was for this asshole to leave us alone," he said pointedly, looking at the Patriarch.
The god's golden eyes narrowed. "Watch your tongue, wolf child. You may be my wife's priest, but if you've read enough of your lore to become initiated, you know that does nothing to endear you to me."
"You don't wanna threaten our priest," Sebastian growled, stepping between Hunter and the Patriarch. "Not if you're as weak as he says you are."
The Patriarch stepped forward and we all tensed, but all he did was place Arthur's body in Sebastian's arms. "You know how to perform a hunter's funeral, I trust?"
"Didn't work out so well the last time," muttered Hunter.
"The prince's spirit was interfering, preventing Arthur's transformation," said the Patriarch. "This time, he will truly be a hunter when he rises."
"And how do we know he's not gonna turn into a homicidal maniac like the rest of them?" asked Sebastian.
"My will has a part to play in that," said the Patriarch. "I am a man of my word and I will honor my promise to Arthur. My children will no longer seek you out, not unless you give them reason to by disturbing the natural order. As for Arthur himself, I suppose you'll just have to have a little faith. That is the expression, isn't it?"
Victor and Sebastian exchanged a look. "So that's it?" asked Victor. "You just walk?"
"There is nothing left for me here," said the Patriarch. "No vengeance and no hope for reunion with the one I love. I am not a merciful god, but neither am I a capricious one. Speaking of which..."
We all followed the Patriarch's gaze to further down the path where Selene's silvery form was hovering just off the ground. She always was one for a dramatic entrance.
"Rordan," she whispered, taking a step forward.
"My name is a curse on a whore's lips," the Patriarch snarled. "Speak it at your peril, Selene."
She flinched visibly and if she wasn't the indirect reason that Arthur and so many others were dead, I would have almost felt sorry for her. "You don't mean that."
"You were expecting a happy reunion?" he spat. "After what your children did?"
"It wasn't all of them," she cried, pointing to Victor and Sebastian. "It was them. Slay them if you must, but spare the others and don't speak to me so coldly."
"You bitch," I hissed. "What they did was a thousand lifetimes ago. You're the one who started all this. You're the one who violated the balance of nature by filling the earth with your creations, and we've all been paying the price for you ever since."
I knew I had successfully drawn her attention from the others when I felt her judgmental gaze. "You're just a wolf now," she said, her silver eyes flickering over to Victor. "He has your soul."
"I was made to be sacrificed, remember?" I quipped. "Sorry it didn't work out the way you planned."
"No," she cried, rushing forward. "You fool, now the vampires are trapped in the aether forever!"
"Enough," Rordan snarled, getting between us before either Victor or Sebastian had the chance. "Enough of the blame, enough playing the victim when you're the one who has orchestrated all our suffering. The hybrid child is right, if it wasn't for your jealousy and your childish creations, none of this would have happened."
"Don't you dare blame me when you're the one who took a human concubine," she cried, raising her hand to strike him. Rordan caught it, leaning into her with a sneer.
"You think Arthur is the one who came between you and I, you foolish, insipid child? I never loved you. I would have escaped to the aether myself if I thought it
would bring an end to your prattle," he taunted. "On second thought, perhaps I was mistaken about this world holding nothing for me. Perhaps there is something I can do to right my sins."
"What are you doing?" Selene cried, struggling to pull herself from his grasp to no avail.
"I'm giving you the togetherness you have always desired, my darling," Rordan said, his voice dripping with malice. He turned to me with a look of resolve. "I will not ask forgiveness for what I have done to you, hybrid, but rather a favor. This world must continue, and the balance must be preserved. There must always be representatives, both for her kingdom and mine. Perhaps you and your lovers will take up the mantle better than we did."
"No!" Selene cried as her silver energy began to mingle with Rordan's. "You can't take me to Thanatos, he'll --"
"Kill you?" Rordan sneered. "You're so quick to sacrifice your own children, one for another. Perhaps it's time you tried being a real parent and sacrifice yourself if your vampires are truly so important to you."
In one final, brilliant flash, the two disappeared into the aether as the sun reached its peak in the morning sky. By the time we had all recovered, I had the strangest feeling that this time, as I stared into the sky, hung with the retreating moon and the sun fast on its heels, that they really were just celestial bodies. Prentice's fallen body blocked the path, but the steady rise and fall of his chest told me he was still alive. I didn't dare get close enough to verify that fact. He was dangerous enough even without the Patriarch's possession.
"What the hell was that?" Sebastian demanded.
"I have no fucking idea," muttered Victor.
"That was the changing of the guard," said a familiar voice from behind us. I turned to find Clarence walking towards us, a weary look on his face. He was wearing his usual uniform of a black T-shirt and a letterman jacket with jeans, but there was something different about him that I couldn't place. His golden hair glowed with a halo of light that didn't seem affected by which direction the sun was coming from.
"Clarence?" Hunter cried, rushing towards him. Before they met, the smaller wolf stopped short and punched him hard in the arm.
"Ow," Clarence muttered, frowning as he rubbed his arm. He gave Hunter a once-over, sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. "Where are your clothes and why do you smell like Victor?" he asked, casting a withering glance in Victor's direction.
"Where the fuck were you, you fucking asshole?" Hunter demanded.
"With a welcome like that, it's any wonder I didn't come back sooner," Clarence said in his usual monotone.
Hunter shoved him hard enough to stagger him. "You think this is funny? You think you can just stalk me for months on end, drive me crazy, act like an overprotective asshole, make me give a shit about you and then just leave without any explanation?" He wiped his eyes with Victor's sleeve but I could see them fill up again with tears even from a distance.
Clarence stared down at him for a moment with that same unreadable expression he always wore. "I'm sorry," he said finally, his voice low and intimate as he reached down, tilting Hunter's chin towards him. "I'm sorry for everything."
"Bullshit," Hunter said, batting his hand away. "I don't want your apologies, I want a fucking explanation."
"That makes two of us," said Sebastian, shifting Arthur's body in his arms.
Clarence looked at Arthur's lifeless form, but he didn't seem the least bit surprised. His shoulders fell with a heavy sigh. "In time. First there are more immediate matters to address. We need to bury him."
"How do you know that?" asked Victor, eying Clarence with suspicion.
"Like I said, I'll get to all that," muttered Clarence.
"You'll get to it now," I said firmly, earning a startled glance from everyone.
"I see someone found his spine in the aether," Clarence scoffed.
"Looks like the gene for beating around the bush was attached to my vampire side," I shot back, folding my arms. "It's just full of surprises. Now talk."
"Not here," he said, casting a glance at the homestead. "They'll come looking for him," he said, nodding to Prentice's unconscious body. "Maybe the Patriarch has called off his other dogs, but somehow I doubt Prentice will be quick to forgive when he sees Arthur's body."
Silence fell over the garden for a long while.
"Fine," said Victor. "We'll get back to the Lodge first."
"This time no disappearing acts," said Hunter.
"I promise," Clarence said, holding his gaze with a solemn one of his own. He offered his hand in a gesture full of hope and longing. Hunter seemed about to take it when the sky split open with an otherworldly roar and a stream of black smoke poured from the newly reopened aether.
Sebastian dove to cover me as a shadow flew over our heads, narrowly missing us before it dovetailed and shot off in the direction of the town. "What was that?" I cried.
"That would be tens of thousands of vampire souls returning to their bodies," Clarence said, holding Hunter against his chest to shield him. "I suggest we get indoors before the hunters have the same realization.
Chapter 32
REMUS
An hour and one second-chance hunter funeral later, I found myself in the living room lounge of the Lodge surrounded by Victor and Sebastian, who took up the couch on either side of me. Clarence was sitting across from us in the armchair and Hunter was standing, a bundle of nerves and rage. Not a moment passed without him stealing a glance in Clarence's direction, but it was a tossup as to whether the next look would be one of longing or agitation.
"You expect us to believe all that bullshit?" This time it was Sebastian's turn to break the silence and he did so with all his usual eloquence.
"Believe what you want," Clarence said with a shrug, taking a long swig of Ulric's scotch. "That's what happened."
"So you just happened to show up after the battle was over?" asked Victor. "That's a little convenient."
"I didn't have to come back at all, and it wasn't my place to interfere in cosmic events, but I had unfinished business," he said, looking in Hunter's direction. The younger wolf wouldn't meet his eyes, understandably. "I was watching to make sure no harm came to Hunter."
"So you were just going to abandon the rest of us?" Sebastian growled. "We're brothers. Does that mean nothing to you?"
"Just because I've lived among you for the last decade doesn't make me one of you," Clarence said firmly.
"Then what the fuck are you?" Sebastian demanded.
"What I am is less important than what the two of you are," Clarence said, looking between Victor and Sebastian. "Who you are. I trust by now that even you have put the pieces together about your past life origins, Sebastian."
"I know I'm the dumbass wolf who killed the original Arthur and started all this shit in the first place," he grumbled. "And Victor's the reincarnation of the asshole vampire who made me do it. So what? That was so many lifetimes ago it hardly even counts as us."
"Maybe, but I wonder if either of you have really learned your lesson," Clarence murmured. "How you rule now will be the measure of that."
"Rule?" asked Victor. "The Patriarch was serious about that?"
"You're a vampire now, and you have half of the hybrid's soul," said Clarence. "There will be a leadership vacuum in both kingdoms greater than there ever has been now that both Selene and the Patriarch are gone. All we can do is hope that the Arthur who rises from that grave out there in the garden is more worthy of leading the hunters into a new age than his predecessor. As for the Kingdom of Night, you and Sebastian are the ones responsible for all the chaos that has transpired in this world. It may have happened a thousand lifetimes ago, but the only way to rectify your souls--karma, if you wanna call it that--is to lead the two houses, the vampires and the wolves, and bring balance. Selene and Rordan may have sacrificed themselves for the vampires, but if Gaia thinks that the order of nature is in jeopardy, she won't hesitate to renege on the deal to preserve it."
"Gaia?" I frowned. "Why do you sound l
ike her spokesman all of a sudden?"
"Because I am. An employee, at any rate," he muttered.
"What the fuck does that mean?" asked Hunter, who had been notably quiet the entire time Clarence talked.
Clarence's defiance withered the moment the priest spoke and his entire countenance turned almost submissive. "Like I said before I took Remus into the aether, I'm not a wolf. Not really."
"Then what are you?" Hunter demanded, stepping in front of him.
Clarence reached out for his hand and, to my surprise, Hunter didn't yank it away. "I'm a spirit who possessed this body a long time ago for a specific purpose."
"Possessed?" Hunter narrowed his eyes. "You're a fucking demon?"
"No," he said quickly. "The opposite. If anything, you'd consider me an angel."
Sebastian snorted. "Maybe the moon's a bitch and my brother just got turned into Dracula, but there ain't no way you're an angel, buddy. I've seen the shit you look up online."
Clarence's face filled with color and he quickly redirected his focus to Hunter. "Before you accuse me of lying to you, I didn't know. Not until Selene restored my memories. When Ulric found me, I had no idea who I was. Now I do."
"Then why are you here?" Hunter asked, pulling his hand away. "Why screw with us all like this?" Why him was his unspoken implication.
"As I said, I came to earth with a purpose. To put it more accurately, I fell."
"Fell?" I echoed. "Like Lucifer?"
"I like to think my cause was nobler than pride, but yeah, I guess you could say that."
"And what was your 'cause?'" Hunter asked bitterly.
"You," Clarence said without flinching.
"Bullshit," said Sebastian. "He came here for the same goddamn reason every other celestial being has been hanging around this shit town. To get closer to the hybrid. The question is whether he's more loyal to the earth bitch or to us, and he's made that obvious."
"Her name is Gaia," Clarence snarled. "Being stationed near Remus might have been my mission, but it was never why I fell. I was still in the service of the Patriarch when Gaia approached me, and she offered me a deal. Stay close, live among your kind and keep watch. If anything happened outside of the mission's parameters, my memories would return before schedule, but otherwise I was forbidden to interfere."