Wolf's Bane: Book Three of the Demimonde Read online

  Dierk paid him no mind. "Alise, answer me, and answer Her. Do you intend to bring harm to my mate, directly or indirectly, through your words, actions, desires, or thoughts?"

  "No. She's…really?" She looked at me through tears. "You are?"

  "Yeah." I wondered if I should hug her for comfort. I've never encountered anyone who reacted this way before. "'Fraid so."

  She drew her shaking hands up and crossed them over her chest, below the base of her throat. "With all that I am, and all my Goddess has granted me, I will serve. You are hers. I am yours."

  A clank of air puffed past me, causing me to blink.

  "Your oath is accepted," Dierk said. "We are most pleased."

  "What happened?" I whispered.

  Dierk stood and moved to pull my chair out for me. Apparently, we were done here. "She has bound her word in magic. You can fully trust her. She is ours."

  Alise smiled up at me like a fan girl. Hoo boy.

  Waxing gibbous | moon 76% visible

  Rodrian drove me back to the Stocks that night, despite numerous unhappy protests from Dierk. Going with Rodrian had been the right thing to do. He'd been so distressed over the whole witch attack that I worried he'd go over the edge.

  He seemed to have recovered somewhat from our earlier conversation, but it was too hard to tell. He was shut up tight against the touch of the Sophia, and his mouth didn't let me get a word in edgewise.

  I would have thought that scoring a big point against Dierk in the Great Battle for Sophie would have made him happier, but no. All he did was complain about my car the whole way back.

  No keyless remote. Automatic transmission. Windshield wiper on the wrong side of the wheel.

  It had a tape deck and no MP3 player. The seats were too lumpy. The steering column didn't adjust. The windshield was a dinged-up mess and the rear window was a bird strike disaster. And, gasp! The side mirrors had to be manually adjusted.

  I doubted he'd make it back to the Stocks with his sanity intact. Even worried he might require smelling salts at one point.

  At length, even the Cavalier's countless short comings weren't enough to sustain the conversation. We were still several miles from the Stocks so unless he dove from the moving vehicle, I figured it was time to tell him something I didn't think he wanted to hear. "Rode, are you sure she's the one you want to be with?"

  He didn't ask me to clarify who she was. "She's my mate."

  "But she's—"

  "My mate, Sophie." His voice held the same dead weight his eyes had earlier. "I don't expect you to understand, but I don't need you to berate me over it."

  I was starting to get the whole mate thing because I was facing a slight mating issue of my own, thank you very much, but I didn't feel it to be a prudent choice to argue. I wanted to tell him how mean she'd been to me—in my own home, no less—but I didn't want to sound like a whiny kid.

  I had to give an objective assessment, to offer him logic. "But she's a disease. I feel it in her. She's pushing for a fast end, Rode, and she'll drag you down with her."

  "Nobody forces my hand, Sophia, not even you."

  Sophia. For some reason, his use of my title instead of my name pissed me off. We were closer than this, despite all the Leni crap. I had an overwhelming urge to seize him, shake him, slap some sense into his stupid head. I opened my barriers, full wide, and blasted him with an unadulterated rush of Listen to me, dammit!

  He just side-stepped it. I felt my intentions glance harmlessly off his shields, as unheeded as a lecture by a teenager.

  So I grabbed his arm and pinched him, hard. Anything more might make him drive off the road and I didn't want to get into an accident just to prove a point. "I have not endured all that I have endured, just to see you shredded by a woman like her."

  "At least she's putting me first." He set his jaw and said no more.

  I was glad of it. If that's all he had to say, I didn't want to hear any more.

  Dierk arrived to drive me to work the next morning, just as I expected he would. I appreciated the dependability. Some men should take a lesson from a gentleman like that. Not naming any names.

  He also surprised me by saying he'd arranged for Alise's high priestess to visit me at work. He suggested I would benefit from a human perspective as well as a chance to ask my own questions without him hovering or influencing me.

  It was exactly what I wanted. Once again, he fulfilled a wish without my having to ask. It was becoming a pattern with him and I wondered who else had benefited from the sweetness of his intuition. Was there anyone else?

  Before I got out of the car, he placed his hand on my arm.

  "She is an important person, my dear. Just remember that she is powerful. We need her to be sympathetic."

  "I'm not sure I follow. Can I get you in trouble?"

  "Not me. Perhaps just keep in mind one thing—you were very noteworthy even before the Leni. She will be a curious person. Don't overshare."

  Unsure of what to make of that, I waved him off and spent the rest of the morning feeling like Fraidy in a cat crate. Confined and hyper-anticipatory. Each rotted on its own. Both together, well, that was worse.

  The witch arrived just before lunch and waited patiently while I finished up a few column letters. She busied herself looking through the picture frames (and wasn't immune to Rodrian's photogenicity; I heard her tiny appreciative mmm), but I knew she watched me with keen interest.

  Nakia Hopkins was probably the oddest woman I've ever met, and that's saying something.

  She sounded British, but said she had been born in Wichita. She was ginger, but didn't have a single freckle in sight. Completely gaga for gadgetry, hands calloused from hard work, yet the carriage of an empress. She wore men's tweed trousers with the cutest of heels (seriously cute heels. I kid you not) and a pearl necklace over a pentacle that had been tattooed below the hollow of her throat. Smaller matching tats danced across the inside of her wrists. Her ears seemed gaged, but instead of the hollow tubes favored by the majority who pierced that way, she wore enormous pearls tucked inside. And she was eloquent, even when she fell to using the vernacular.

  I'm not trying to say that any of her traits or characteristics should have identified her with one particular social group over another. I'm just saying that the first impression she made on me was, well, kaleidoscopic. I didn't know what the hell to make of her.

  Two minutes into our conversation and I had a new impression: extremely likable.

  Nakia had been briefed by Tancred (whom I mentally referred to as Chief Science Officer) as well as, I assumed, the young witch Alise. She confided that, although she trusted both of them, she wanted to check me out herself. Once again, I sat through the hold-my-breath-and-stare test.

  Didn't need a tissue afterwards, either. This lady had finesse.

  "Um, can I ask you a question?" I pressed the corners of my eyes, wondering what she saw.

  She clicked off her pen light and motioned at me to sit back in my chair. "Sure."

  "This Leni…what do you know about it? I mean, not just the Leni, because that's all I hear about. But you're human, right? You're not half-something magical, right?"

  She laughed. "We're all magic. Even you. Especially you. You are the Sophia. Isn't that magic?"

  "I don't know, I mean. I'm just regular people."

  "Regular people, right. That's funny. I heard your eyes change color every time a Demivamp sneezes."

  I scowled. That really wasn't my fault. And it only happened once. "I'm not Were."

  "Oh, I see where you are coming from. True, you are not Were yet."

  "I hate that word."

  "Were?"

  I shook my head. "Yet. I'm so sick of this will-I-won't-I crap."

  Nakia put the penlight into a side pocket of her purse and sat down. "Full moon is almost here. You don't have long to wait."

  "Isn't there a way to tell if I'm going to Turn? Like a Werewolf EPT?"

  "No." She tried to suppress a
snort. "No, it either happens or it doesn't."

  "But why, though?"

  "Well, it has to do with the lunar cycle and star alignment. See, there are thirteen full moons in every year. Regular people will call a moon full for hours, if not days—but that is so inaccurate. Each full moon has a zenith, just like the sun does each day, when it seems to be hung in the sky, perfect and unchanging. That's when it's one hundred percent full, just those few minutes. And that's when the change would occur. Up until that moment, it's just waxing full, still climbing to that magical moment."

  She leaned to dig her phone out of her purse and started tapping the screen. "And that's not all. Each of those thirteen moons is accompanied by a unique star pattern, and each one has its own unique divinatory significance. That means the blessing is slightly different from moon to moon."

  She leaned to show me a chart she'd brought up on her phone. It was complex and ornate, but didn't make any sense to me.

  I took the phone and turned it sideways. Oh, there it was. "Like the Chinese Zodiac? Except every year is the Year of the Wolf."

  "Yes!" She clapped her hands. "Brilliant, that. I can see t-shirts with that logo on. But, getting back on track—it's not just mystical, like the Were will have you believe. It's science. It's the power and the energy of the universe, the pull on the tides at its most powerful. It's dependent on location and altitude and a thousand exquisite variables. We have the tech to calculate and triangulate the precise moment the Were element in the blood will respond to the fullness of the moon. See?"

  Yeah, I saw. I saw a lot more than I wanted to. Suddenly, the will-I-won't-I option seemed better than knowing the exact second. "So you can tell me the exact moment I'm going to turn into a werewolf?"

  She nodded. "Well. Plus or minus twenty-two seconds. To account for altitude, humidity, other factors. You want me to send you the calculation? Where are you mooning? Lancaster, right?" She held out her hand for her phone. "Turn on your NFC and I'll send it to you."

  I took my own phone out of the desk drawer and handed it over to let her do it. "Why is humidity a factor? Do Weres frizz up a lot?"

  "No, it's water. The moon affects the tides, right? Well, not just because of gravity and the fluidity of a large moveable body. It's the water. When you look at the moon, what do you see? A white ball with black smudges. Those smudges are called seas. There are lakes covering the surface, too. But where is the water? The moon's surface is devoid of water and spends the majority of her cycle trying to pull the Earth's water up to herself, to fill her empty seas. If it wasn't for Ocean—with a capital O—and his children, who are sworn to protect the Earth, all the water would simply fly up to be with the treasure of the night, the pearl that hangs amongst the diamonds of the sky."

  "That sounds like legend, not science." I'd also noticed the shift to a feminine pronoun when referring to the moon.

  "It's…murky. Sometimes, things are easier to describe using legends and stories. There's no scientific basis for water flying off through outer space. It's preposterous, really."

  She handed me my phone. "I installed an app on your phone. When you click on it, it will open up to your time point and use the GPS to calibrate itself. I even added a little countdown to it. Check out the live tile. It uses a full moon graphic like a clock face."

  "Not yet. I want it to be a surprise." Only half of me meant it. "So, there's no little prodrome to it?"

  "No. Why? Are you experiencing something? This is a Leni. It's not a regular change so you might be able to shed a little light on the whole thing. This is scientifically relevant." She scooted closer. "What exactly are you experiencing?"

  "Last night, when I was outside, I could feel the moonlight on my skin. It felt as heavy and as real as a cotton shirt. And—I heard a voice. A woman's voice. My friend Toby said the moon talks to Weres—"

  "—but you are not yet Were."

  "No, but still. What if it's the moon telling me that it's inevitable?"

  She shrugged and thumbed at her phone.

  "I really want to study you. I mean, it's so hard to sit here and not just seize you and examine you, inch by inch." She said it with such strained control that I didn't doubt the seizing part.

  She stayed in her seat, though. "But I will tell you that we don't only work with the Were. We are ourselves daughters of the moon. Diana, Celeste, Isis, Astarte--every aspect of the feminine divine. And Wolfenkinder aren't the only ones who hear Her. I think what you heard was something different. Something older. The Goddess who shines upon us with Her silver blessing has taken note of you. It may mean something to the Were. But then again…it may not. You may be in a class all your own. Maybe She is threatened by you. Keep your enemies closer, and what not. This Sophia…what is it?"

  "It's me, I guess." I paused for a swig of tea. "An instinct. It feels what the DV feels and knows what the DV has to do to straighten their heart. It eases their sorrow. It takes up the burden of their pain so they can act judiciously."

  "No, no, I don't mean what does it do. I mean, what is it? Is it an entity, a separate existence? Do you experience a possession by another force?"

  I made a fugifino face. "No, it's just me."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Not one little bit."

  "Well, the obvious answer is research and documentation."

  "Marek was the champion at that."

  "I know. I also know he was last in possession of an ancient text."

  I had a feeling I knew what text it was. Didn't think that telling her said text was sitting under a lava lamp in my parlor was a good idea, though.

  "That text is the last of a set, the set long gone. There are rumors that a secret society holds them, but there is no such thing as a secret when it comes to society. Somebody always knows something and is willing to spill. We'll find it. It is essential to add to the common knowledge. Of my association," she clarified. "I don't mean putting it on a billboard."

  "Last year, I spent a lot of time with a vampire. I didn't know she was a vampire, though," I added hastily when I saw her reaction. "She was with this—weird thing. Dorcas. I still don't know what she was. What's an Unseen?"

  Nakia just shook her head, a tiny quiver, her mouth still open. I really had to learn how to deliver the v-word with a little more care.

  "Whatever. This vampire was pretending to be a Sophia with the help of that Dorcas, right? But she told me things. I don't know what's true or what's not. I mean, she taught me how to raise my barriers—really, she did. That much, I know she didn't lie about. But what about the rest?" I sat back in my chair and swiveled it, bouncing back and forth. "I don't know. But she said there were canons—books that Sophia used. And there was a group of people who kept them."

  "Hmm. The books are real. The barriers are real, because you use them. Maybe that group is real, too. I don't know, but I'd be sure they existed. And, why do you keep saying she? There are no—"

  I smiled my tightest. "Yeah. Well. She had help. That Unseen thing."

  "Oh, my." She sat a little straighter, pulling away just the slightest bit. "If you have witnessed one of the Unseen…I really need to spend more time with you. What does your schedule look like this week?"

  "I'm full up," I said. "Leni and all. Speaking of which…"

  I wanted to get her off the Sophia subject and back onto the moon. "What kind of moon is this?"

  She titled her head and frowned, as if not understanding.

  "You know—the zodiac thing."

  "Oh, it's very auspicious. Fifth moon following Winter Solstice is called a Kingmaker's moon."

  "But Dierk said he didn't change until the harvest moon."

  "The Kingmaker's Moon is named that because it is the only moon of the cycle during which the Leni might occur. The full moon comes on the fourteenth day of the fifth moon. Those are significant numbers, we believe, that are connected to the Leni phenomenon. So. Why Kingmaker you ask? A King is born, a happenstance of that Y-chromosome. But a King is
made…by his mate."

  The way she emphasized the word made caused me to grin. "That's both feminist and lurid."

  "Innit, though?" She winked at me, the sassy broad. "The Yin and Yang, the wax and wane, the swing of the pendulum. All is part of an endless cycle. Balance. See, a king can rule, and rule well, all the days of his life. But a king's rule ends upon his death. A king's mate provided him with offspring. A future ruler. An endless cycle.

  "You've been feeling terrible about this. I can feel it in your energy and I can see it in your eyes. You feel raped, victimized. But Sophie, you are no victim."

  Rape. I'd never once considered the word but, hearing it now, I wondered why. "I didn't choose this—"

  "And there are a lot of things you don't choose. You don't choose for a street light to turn red. You do not choose when it rains. You do not choose when to stop being thirsty halfway through a glass of water. You do not choose 99% of the things that occur to you, near you, behind you. But you adapt—you react. And how you react is what determines if you are the conqueror or the conquered.

  "And in the Leni, you are the conqueror. You become the ruler of the king himself. That's why this is a Kingmaker moon. This is why the Leni has happened here, and now, and with you. The moon sees something in you that is worthy of a king—a strength, a resilience, a power. Yes, a power."

  "That's the trouble. That power isn't for the Were. It's for the DV."

  "Says whom?"

  "The DV—"

  "Right. The DV. Because with whom else have you shared—or tried to share—this power?"

  I never thought about that. "You sound like Dierk."

  "I'm playing Devil's advocate, sweetie. Before you manifested as Sophia, what other types of magic users, for lack of an easier term, have you known? You don't even need to answer because I already know. And need I say that Demivampires are slightly biased against Wolfenkinder?"

  "You'd say that because—"

  "Because I knew Marek." Her voice was gentle but firm, her eyes darting back and forth across my face. "Ah. I knew that would have an impact. I meant nothing unkind. I am simply saying there is a bias because one that was close to you had such bias. No?"