by D D Mathews
Inside the house, he found everything was old and poorly maintained. The décor and furniture had been exquisite once upon a time. Now everything was covered in dust and filth. Amazing fine tapestries with moth holes and French antique cabinets with broken glass lined the walls of the front foyer. Vivian moved slowly deeper into the house and Colin’s unease grew. Mr. Nygaard caught up to Vivian leaving Colin walking with Colleen. The hall ended at a central sitting room designed in late Louis the fifteenth. A couple of gold painted chairs with pale pink fabric sat opposite two regular French settees. In one settee sat a rotund man with fat arms, fat legs, and a fat face. His bulk took up the entire seat. He was also white-haired, but mostly bald on top. He had a full white beard and looked like an angry, bald, depressing Santa Claus.
He yelled, “Who is it, Vivian?“
“It’s Nygaard and two stupid pups from England,” she yelled back.
The old wolf squinted and tried to get his eyes to work. He looked about three feet to Colin and Colleen’s left and hollered, “It’s been a long time since we’ve entertained, please sit.“
He might be blind, but Colin thought he was nicer than the horrible Vivian, at first.
“I’m Hallbjorn Hexum son of Jorgen Hexum, the proud family who fought with Erik the Red,” he said loudly still looking at the wall behind Colin and Colleen.
Colleen and Nygaard sat down in the chairs while Vivian took up the other sofa. Colin stood up against the wall near the hallway. Colleen said, “This is a fascinating home, how long have you lived here?“
“227 years. My family built this home in 1789 when the Hexums ran the Vikings clan. We were aristocrats and the best of the best.” Hallbjorn said still yelling.
Vivian screamed, “We still are the best of the best.“
Colin thought these wolves were delusional. Colleen kept asking questions being the perfect guest while Colin listened. He soon lost interest and scanned the room. The room was a perfect square, the chairs and sofas occupied the center of the room. A large window covered in grime looked out into the backyard; however, the light through the grime was minimal. On the interior wall was a fireplace, covered in soot. The decorations around the fireplace were simply and well done. Colin felt if anyone else lived here, their guests would feel the class and wealth the home could have shown. Unfortunately, the Hexums lived here.
The main features in the room were two paintings above the side doors leading to other parts of the house. On the right side was a painting of gore. A group of Weres tore and ripped apart people, mostly women, and children. The painting was medieval style, so the people and wolves looked flat and cartoonish. The blood and bodies created a horrific contrast with the style. The scene had some boats on water in one corner, so Colin assumed this was a raiding party scene.
The other painting was weirder. The painting was Rubenesque. A werewolf in the center of the painting was torturing a human, blood dripped from claw marks. Behind the torture, all kinds of despicable acts of killing, rape, and violence were painted in a realistic manner.
“Lovisa is a pathetic waste of werewolf blood, you should have killed her at birth Nygaard,” said Hellbjorn. It was the first thing Colin heard from the conversation and he snapped.
“What kind of monsters are you two? That’s his daughter you vile disgusting dogs!” Colin yelled. Everything up to his outburst had set him on edge. The screaming, the spitting, the yelling, the grime, everything had affected him, but the glorification of torture and killing provoked Colin and when they spoke about Lovisa, he snapped. Colin spit on the floor toward Vivian and walked out of the room.
He exited the house and got into the back seat and waited for Nygaard and Colleen. He would have to apologize to them for his behavior. He sat alone for almost twenty minutes calming down before they appeared.
“I’m sorry Mr. Nygaard; I don’t know what came over me. They are bad people and seem to revel in it happily. I don’t like them, but I should have shown you more respect.“
Mr. Nygaard was serious and said, “Colin, You stood up for my daughter, a girl you’ve never met because those two monsters, as you put it, attacked her. That’s more respect than I hoped to receive. Please call me Lukas.“
***
The day after the Hexum visit, Lukas invited Colin to dinner with his family. All afternoon Colin worried about impressing Lovisa. If he failed to catch Lovisa’s eye Colleen would kill him first, and then Sarah would.
Lukas Nygaard picked him up the same he had done all week. This time he was somber, all business. During the ride to his house, Lukas barely said a word. Colin was sweating. The house sat on a lake. It had a modern boxy look with lots of wood tones. The front double door was dark wood carved with Viking ships and waves. The walk from the car to the house was nerve wracking. Colin had imagined this moment a hundred different ways from a fairytale to a terrible nightmare. He imagined Lukas’ daughter was everything from a drooling hunchback to a six foot tall Victoria Secret model. An attractive woman dressed in a formal, slinky, blue dress opened the door. She smiled formally then turned aside revealing a girl of seventeen wearing a dress of white, with a colorful bodice of light blues and greens. She was cute, with delicate features. Her almond eyes were bright grey and her hair was blond falling loose over pale shoulders. She looked at Colin for a second and looked down at her own shoes.
Mr. Nygaard did introductions, “Colin I wish to introduce you to my wife Laila,” Colin shook her hand firmly, “and this is our daughter, Lovisa.” Lovisa was a couple feet away and walked quickly over to him, she glanced up momentarily and put out her hand, which he took and kissed lightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I didn’t know what to bring so I brought you both necklaces I found in this jewelry shop near the hotel.” Colin said handing a simple long black jewelry box to Laila.
She opened it and smiled, “You have fine tastes.“
“Your generous husband helped me. He said it would bring out your eyes.“
“I did marry a smart man.” Laila commented.
“May I help you, darling?” Mr. Nygaard asked and he proceeded to expertly handle the necklace and clasp it around his wife’s long neck.
Colin turned to Lovisa, who still starred at her shoes. He took out another long black necklace box, “I hope you like this. I picked it out myself.” He opened the box and inside sat a simple gold chain with three different colored teardrop shaped gems, one under the other. He nervously took the necklace out of the box and tried to place it on Lovisa’s neck, but her hair got caught. After a short struggle both Colin and Lovisa were able to pull her hair away from her neck. He clasped the necklace, which she fiddled with until the top gem sat on her neck and rest dangled to her cleavage. She looked into Colin’s eyes and smiled, felt self-conscience, and went back to looking down. Colin wasn’t sure how this introduction was going but he was fairly certain she liked the gift.
Mr. and Mrs. Nygaard guided the two young pups into the living room with more boat motifs, the dark wood of the walls were brightened up with paintings of boats and the ocean. On one wall over a fireplace was a family portrait of the three Nygaards.
Colin wanted to get to know Lovisa, but most of the conversation was between him and Laila. She asked a ton of questions, and if Colin’s answer had some commonality with something Lovisa did, Laila would try to include her daughter.
“Tell Colin about last year’s archery contest.”
Lovisa responded with short answers and rarely looked up, “I won third.“
The pressure from Lukas, Colleen, and Sarah McCarthy pushed him to leave Ireland and pledge to help his clan, but the main reason he tried so hard to connect with this shy girl was that he found her pretty.
After a drink, the party moved to dinner, where the conversation stayed the same as before. Lovisa was polite but didn’t add much. After dinner, desperate, Laila suggested to her daughter, “Take Colin to the greenhouse and show him your flowers.” Lovisa brightened up and stood taking Colin
outside. The backyard opened to the lake. Trees covered the other side of the water so much Colin couldn’t tell if any other houses existed over there. Lovisa was less timid and took Colin’s hand and pulled him off the porch to a greenhouse. The path inside was stone, but flowers were everywhere. The colors were fantastic; Colin had never seen a garden so colorful. Lovisa took him over to a bunch of blue and purple flowers, “these are my favorites; I call them Blue Dancers, see, watch when I shake the flowers.” She shook them by a stem and they slowly waved back n forth. “They’re really called Sour Grapes.” She pulled him to another flower. “Over here are my most favorite. It’s an orchid with pink and red design, everything else is white. I think it looks like the flower is bleeding. I call them Suicides; they’re really called Miltonia orchids. Wait, wait,” she pulled him again. Her excitement overwhelmed him. He didn’t know much about flowers, but all of sudden, he wanted to. “This is my most-est favorite.” In front of him were bunches of black lilies. “I call these Black Cups, they’re really Calla Lilies, and they’re very hard to grow, especially in Sweden. I worked hard on them.” She saw a flower drooping over. “See, they’re temperamental, like a person. This one wants something. Grab a glass from the corner over there and get some water from the lake. Hurry.” She was direct and sure of herself. Colin complied and rushed out of the greenhouse to fill the dirty glass. He returned and found Lovisa had dug into the dirt a little with her bare hands and carefully held the dying bulb. “Here pour the water down here.” Both worked together trying to save the flower, mostly Colin grabbed things and handed them to her. They got increasingly dirty, after about ten minutes Lovisa declared, “We’ve done everything we can, she’ll have to do the rest.“
She turned to her new gardening friend; she had a line of dirt across her forehead. Colin had never been the aggressor with girls, but over the last couple weeks, things had changed. He kissed her tenderly on the lips while they stood next to her most favorite-est. She kissed him back.
Chapter 24
Joseph collected his few belongings and crammed them into a bag. Veronika was also rushing to collect everything she needed for Sweden. The calm of Boston was destroyed with a mad dash to the airport. The cab was slow, the airport people were bored, Joseph’s passport was accepted, and Veronika was tense. The entire experience of flying for the first time wasn’t turning out as he expected. When the plane took off, Veronika took a pill and fell asleep. Joseph watched the cars and buildings get smaller and smaller. He felt like a giant. It was glorious. The evening came and Joseph watched the colors of twilight dance between the clouds. Soon after, the day’s excitement along with the weeks of work and the constant running caused him to fall asleep soundly.
***
Tamara and Ursula handled all the details for Nuri’s party. It was held in an upscale underground venue called Baroque in the old town. Nuri worked the entrance introducing herself to every Amazon who showed up. Many families from all of Eastern Europe sent representatives or groups. Nuri couldn’t believe the variety. Apparently, word had spread of her actions and possible intentions. Nuri had no idea how many Amazons existed in the entire world, but it seemed like most had descended on Krakow.
Due to politics, the queen and Heidi Zimmermann didn’t show, which was fine by Nuri. While many showed up after no RSVP which meant the place was packed. The women were of all ages and styles. Some were dressed in silks others in leather. Some were pale as snow while others were tan to near black. Some were blue haired tattooed rebels, others were conservative businesswomen. These were her sisters and they each got a handshake at the door and polite conversation. Nuri smiled and shook hands, asked simple questions of each guest and welcomed them to the party.
Nuri met and spoke to Amazons from Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia, even a few from Turkey. Most of the women were from Poland, a few from Warsaw, which meant the queen was watching. Oddly no Germans were there, which probably meant Heidi had forbidden any Dresden wolves from visiting.
Nuri was speaking with a Slovak Were who was interested in American movies. Nuri spoke about some of her favorites and listened politely as she watched a town car pull up to the building. An impressively tall woman who exuded class stepped out of the back seat. She was handsome not beautiful. She handed her purse to an assistant who looked frazzled. She spoke in Russian as she pulled on two long white gloves, then the assistant handed back the purse. The frazzled girl rushed back around the car and got in the front passenger seat. The black town car left as the mysterious woman walked over to the front door. Nuri thanked her Slovakian sister for coming, already forgetting her name.
The Russian Were was curt; she held out her long-fingered hand and stated, “I am Katia.” She acted like Nuri should know who she was already, without losing a beat Nuri responded, “I am very happy to meet you. I would like to invite you into my party.“
The battle of wills was under the surface, Nuri felt the now familiar tug because both women were natural leaders and strong of will. Nuri still wasn’t sure Justine’s idea was very good. Having her and Tamara constantly competing was hard enough. Adding this woman seemed risky and foolish. Katia didn’t say anything for a long time, “I heard your words, but I don’t work well with others.“
“You haven’t worked with me before. I need a second in command who is invested in my rise to Queen.” The assumption Katia was already working for her bristled the Russian werewolf.
“You act like I already took an oath,” Katia stalled already feeling the tug on her.
“No oaths here, I want sisters who work together to protect each other, love each other, I don’t demand words, I demand actions. We will talk later.” Nuri changed into her host voice, “Thank you for coming to my party, have a drink relax, you are with sisters.“
Katia didn’t like being dismissed like a subordinate but went into the club anyway.
Nuri welcomed three more Amazons and headed into Baroque to mingle some.
Mouse and Hanna were at home, Hanna’s decision. Nuri decided Ursula and Yuli could join the party along with her other family members. Nuri scanned the room making sure the young pups were okay. She walked through the crowd continuing conversations started at the door. “Nice nose ring,” or “I preferred the Swedish version of that movie better,” or “I like a little sports car in the summer.” The conversations were mostly benign.
This evening was about making friends and learning about the bigger Amazon world. It was about showing her sisters who she was. She had to be ambitious without arrogance and tactful without cruelty, those were fairly easy for Nuri. Trying to act passive with other clan leaders to show them how well she could control herself was trickier.
Tamara, Nox, Gretchen, and Justine were busy around the club singing Nuri’s praises when Nuri overheard a Duchess from Romania. “In my city, we would show better class than this dump.“
The comment bothered Nuri, because her sister Tamara had spent time on it. It was a good party. She was about to let her mouth get her in trouble when Katia appeared out of nowhere, speaking with the Romania Were. The wolf was cowed by Katia, which was weird because the Romania wolf was a Duchess.
Katia put her hand on Nuri’s shoulder and guided her away to the bar. After ordering two drinks for them Katia spoke, “You were about to fight that stupid woman over decorations?“
“No, I was going to stand up for my sister’s work preparing this event. Why did you intervene?“
“I don’t think Amazons should fight other Amazons,” Katia said flatly.
Nuri thought this was a rather naïve way to look at werewolf politics, but liked the altruism, “What about other clans, like the Viking?“
“Fuck those misogynists, I had to lock one of those up in Kiev and feed him dog kibble for a month before he got a clue and left my fiefdom.” She had a wicked smile as she remembered her actions.
“Well then, I have a story for you.” Nuri started to tell her story about Alek.
/>
***
The party was going strong as Nuri finished speaking with Katia. She felt good about the budding relationship. Friendship would be too strong of a word, probably ever. Katia had agreed to stay around and see the Krakow operation. Nuri walked up the entrance stairs for the added height to address the crowd, “I am glad to see so many sisters here tonight. I love every one of you. I won’t speak long but must thank my family, Tamara, Justine, Nox, Gretchen, and our newest sisters, Ursula and Yuli. I would like everyone to take a moment and remember how amazing those first few days being an Amazon were, the fear, the excitement, the wonder, and the sisterhood. I believe our sisters make us strong and the more sisters we have the more love we can share. I’m sorry the Queen was unable to make it, but I pray she will get well soon; my heart goes out to her. Now let’s enjoy the night and remember when we were young like our newest pups. Salute.“
The music started after the speech and the Amazons enjoyed behaving like they were in their twenties again. Over the next few days, the word spread that Nuri was a strong leader and knew how to treat her sisters right.
***
Most of the Amazons left the next day, but a few hung around. The ritual of passage was done at the office. Katia along with two wolves from Romanian stayed in Krakow. Tamara handled finding them rooms. On Monday, Katia lurked around the office rarely speaking to anyone. Nuri made sure everyone gave her a wide berth and total access. Nuri hoped the expose everything strategy would help entice Katia to her cause. The woman was sharp and by noon had realized Heidi Zimmermann was the enemy and the biggest headaches came from Lutsk and Warsaw.
As Katia shadowed Nuri’s at her desk which she didn’t like but allowed so this fishing expedition might work, a call from Lutsk came in. The Duchess there was in an uproar about Katia. She cussed Nuri out in English, Polish and Russian. Nuri calmly waited until her rage subsided, and answered, “So,” which sent the woman into another curse-filled rant. Nuri calmly spoke into the speakerphone, “I would never speak to an enemy like that much yet a sister. If she means so much to you, why did it take you four days to notice she was gone? You’re not only rude but stupid. From now on when you call here you will treat me like a sister.” She hung up the phone. Nuri went back to examining an itinerary for Stockholm when Ursula announced a call from Lutsk. She answered and a stream of cussing started.