Hair of the Wolf (12 page)

The light seemed to soak into the boy’s unruly black hair, and his wiry form quickly darted back a couple steps out of the circle of light cast by the streetlamp. He wiped sweat from his brow. Turning the Vampire’s will hadn’t been easy, even with his mind amplified through the sword’s power. Had he not done so, though, the wolf would have been killed.

He watched as a bouncer stuck his head out of the club and walked to the mouth of the alley next to the front door. When the man looked in the alley he gagged and ran back into the club.

The watching figure nodded to himself and muttered, “Cor! That stinks something fierce!” Almost like he was talking to himself, he replied with, “That would be the stench of Evil. Looks like our hunt is finally beginning. You are about to taste your first real combat.” His voice was that of a teenager, and clipped with a British accent. With a swish of his coat he turned and stalked toward downtown Denver.

***

Tabitha Magyari

“Rob, are you kidding me?” Tabitha pushed at Robert’s arm, softly, as the two walked through Washington Park, enjoying the warm day. The park had a flower garden that stretched a quarter of a mile in each direction, with a maze-like walkway that wound through it.

He grinned, overacting a loss of balance and catching his footing with his cane. He held out the envelope containing the information he had dug up about Travis. “I don’t joke. Seriously though, yeah, you need to bring in the P.I.”

The two walked on for a few moments, moving from the reds section of the garden to the yellows. Scents filled the air, subtly shifting as they walked. Tabby thought, then finally spoke. “I respect you. You know I always have. But I have a family to protect and you are asking me to bring in an outsider. This is highly unusual.”

“I understand.” Robert replied. “But you need fresh eyes. Your pack is so scared of drawing notice that they miss opportunity. There is also the fact that a nose can’t track someone over the internet. A private eye can. My man is discreet, and very good. Trust me on this.”

She sighed, stopping as a bee landed on her hand. Kneeling, she gently reached forward to a flower and watched as the fuzzy little flyer climbed off her finger onto the petal. “I do. This transcends trust, though.”

Robert watched her, torn. Over a decade ago, he had pulled Jonathan Harker to reweave the patterns of Fate. Since that time, everything had changed. While he still had his own thread, woven into the Talisman he wore around his neck, his ability to access the Web of Fate shrunk every year. Perhaps it was the changing shape of the web of humanity, though he suspected that Clotho’s death had more to do with the shrinking power of the talisman.

“Tabitha.”

She glanced back over her shoulder. “Mm hm?”

“What I’m going to say, you can’t ask for more. Okay?”

She arched an eyebrow.

Robert laid a hand on her shoulder, she reflexively reached up and put her hand over his. “I know about the second child. I know about Andrew’s brother.”

Confusion crossed her features. “How long have you known about m … the baby?”

He hung his head. “Since just before we met. The man on the train with you back in nineteen seventy-seven is a relative of mine. When we met the following year, I knew who you were. And who the kids were.”

“Then you know they are actually mine?”

“Yes. I also know that if the Vampire had thought you had children, she would have killed you. I understand why you had to live the life you did.”

Her face grew cold, distant. She pushed his hand off her shoulder. “Thirty years and …” She stumbled over her own words, too frustrated. “No. Just …” She stood up and walked away from him, stopping once she had put a solid distance between them.

Robert watched her. He thought about the talisman, what it had shown him. “What tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive,” he quoted to himself.

She was, to him, beautiful. Strong and proud, she was one of the fiercest people he had ever met, despite the quiet and contemplative veneer she wore. But it was too late now. He was in his sixties, too old to do anything about it. Especially now that he had revealed that he had been hiding so much from her.

Making her understand that the lie had been out of necessity might be beyond the scope of his capabilities now. He scratched at his forearm, waiting. Suddenly, acutely, he was aware of the aches and pains of his aging body. They added up over the years. He missed his body at age forty. Even in his late forties he had been in terrific shape. But now his body reflected his spirit. Tarnished from doing things he really shouldn’t have, from a lifetime of chasing evil and eating peyote.

Tabitha’s shoulders straightened and she turned around, walking back to Robert. The slap was loud, and though her jaw was clenched in anger, she allowed him a moment to compose himself.

Robert rubbed his cheek. It stung. Werewolves slapped a lot harder than the average person. “I deserved that, and more.”

“Yes.”

“But you understand that I couldn’t say anything?” He looked pleadingly at her, hoping for understanding.

“You are a jackass Robert.” She shook her head. “You didn’t have to tell me that. But you didn’t tell me that you knew anything about me when we met. If you had bothered to talk with me about the fact that you knew things, you could have shared, I wouldn’t have pushed for more. I spent a lifetime wishing and praying for someone I could talk to. And the whole time you were so wrapped up in a lie …”

“I,” he struggled for the right words, “couldn’t. I was trying to protect you. I couldn’t just tell you things without it bringing a lot of attention to you.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make, Robert.” He noticed that her hands were curled into fists. “Whatever your reasons, you lied to me. For thirty years. That’s messed up. How can I trust anything you say?”

“Well. Think about what I just told you. I was trying to protect you. I think you can trust that.”

Exasperated, she crossed her arms. “Robert. Set aside the hurt and betrayal I am feeling right now. If you found the information, someone else could have, too. For thirty years the secret I thought buried was out there. Other people might know. I could have been working to protect the second child. Hiding him further. And you took that from me. Just how the hell is that protecting me? How is that helpful?”

“The way I came across the information. Please understand,
no one
else could have. It was unique to me. When we met, I didn’t know who you were. I wasn’t close to you. I had information that could change the world if it was discovered. Part of that was that I needed to protect you and your pack.”

She stood silently, watching him.

“I couldn’t tell you.” He looked down to the ground.

“And at what point, Robert, did you decide that instead of saying, ‘Hey, now that I’ve gotten to know you better I want to share this with you to be honest’ and instead decide to say ‘I’m going to hide this from you, despite knowing you now.’ When, Robert? And since you are finally being honest with me, what else are you hiding?! Any other little gems?”

Flinching a little at the vitriol in her voice, Robert framed his reply carefully. “I’ve never hidden anything from you except for information I’m not supposed to share. There was no point in time when I made a decision to not tell you things I could have. Even now I’m not supposed to let you know that, but I can’t see another way to get what I need.”

“So I’m just about what you need?” She spat the words out. “And who the hell are the
they
that you report to. Who is giving you this information?”

He rolled his eyes, exasperated. “You know I can’t tell you that. Look, Tabby, everything I do is done so that my grandson and your pack will survive the coming storm. I’m enigmatic by necessity, not by choice.”

Her eyes narrowed at the words. “I’m too pissed. Give me a minute.” The two stood in silence for a few moments, struggling with their own thoughts and emotions.

Tabitha broke the silence. “I think I know you well enough to know that you really do have our best interest at heart. My problem is that you think lying to me serves my best interest. That’s a damn fool thing to do.” She sighed and rubbed her temple, silent for a moment while a jogger passed on the trail. “So you know that the second child exists. Does that mean you know who the first one is?”

He nodded. “Andrew.”

She frowned. “And what he is?”

He nodded again. “A vessel. Though not a pure one, like the younger child.”

Taking a deep breath, she asked the million dollar question. “And do you know who and where the second child is?”

He tensed. “I do.”

“What is your game in all this? Besides making sure we all survive, what’s your angle?”

He frowned. “I will not endanger the child, nor make him visible to those that wish to use the power of the vessel. What I am trying to do is engineer the circumstances that will bring about the fall of Bathory.”

She took a step forward. “You’ll let me dig my claws into that bitch?”

“I will.”

“We’re not done, Robert. Not by a longshot. It’s going to take you a long time to fix this with me. But for this I am in. We will talk about it more later, once I figure out the first of the many things you are going to do to make this up to me.”

“Thank you, Tabby.” He sighed in relief. “The detective’s name is Ian Stone. I have his address in the car.”

The two headed out of the park.

***

Robert Crowley Sr.

“The lost child is grown, and is about to be dragged into this.” Robert moved his bishop.

Loki picked up the eight-sided die and rolled. It came up with a one. Robert shook his head. Grandfather Coyote always turned games of strategy into ones of chance. It was just his way.

Toying with his pawn Loki studied the board. “I suspected as much. He shouldn’t be involved in this till much later.”

“I know. Believe me I know. But is the wolves are about to drag him in.”

Loki grinned and shifted a pawn forward. “We are the embodiment of chaos, my old friend. Don’t be deceived by the linear progression of events. Things never being what they seem is the one thing you can count on to be exactly as it seems to be. Even if you seem to be tied into something I don’t know about, that will remain a constant.”

Robert nodded and spent a few moments quietly studying the board. “If my grandson is to grow into the power of the family, then we must change the shape of things as they are.”

Loki laughed. “Don’t forget, Robert, I am your guide, you my Scion. As much as you have a game to play, you are being played. It is the nature of what and who we are.”

Robert, counted as wise amongst his friends, shrugged. “I don’t understand.”

The god watched the board. “Let me make this simpler on you. You were put under a burden of secrecy back in the seventies. You were granted power from structure, from Fate. Ah, ah!” He held up a finger. “We are of chaos. I could smell the stink of Fate on you. By watching how chaos shifted around you, I could extrapolate the patterns of Fate. I just couldn’t act on them, otherwise others would be able to read the pattern off me. So I had to trust you to act in the way I would have.”

He grinned and met Robert’s eye. “Which you have. I know you were the one who counseled the wolves to bring in the mortal before his time. It is on your word that they are about to do so. It seems such a waste, after Tabitha went to so much trouble to hide him. But it isn’t. You have done what I would have.”

Gritting his teeth together in frustration, Robert clenched his fist. “Grandfather Coyote. Please. You told me the deal was that we guide the wolves, and Wells guides the Angel. Do you no longer trust me that you have to spy on me? It seems like you are controlling everything, on both sides.”

Loki held up his hands to placate Robert. “Allow me to explain. What you have said is true. I do not accuse you of lying to me. You never said that you didn’t give that advice. You only made me aware that a move was being made. But make no mistake. I am trying to survive, and I am trying to destroy those who would destroy us. I may seem to be a harmless and friendly person, but I am the embodiment of trickiness. I must play my games, by my nature, and so must you, because you are of my bloodline. I understand this. We move to thwart the vampires, and their allies … all those unbound by Fate who seek to steal our power for themselves.”

The two stared at each other. Communication was always tricky between them, saying a thousand things that couldn’t be spoken with words. The game continued.

Loki finally broke the silence. “I have only hinted at what is going on. Much you have learned yourself. Elizabeth Bathory and Vladimyr Tepes are trying to destroy us all. The gods, the werewolves, you and our family line, the Archangel. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. I know that Kaine, the first murderer, the first vampire, is behind them. What I don’t know, is who is behind him. He is not the penultimate power. If I can draw that power out, expose it, I will have won. That is the end to which I fight.”

Robert seemed to regain his composure. “That is … that’s … asinine.”

Loki looked at his great-great-great-grandson and sighed, allowing a moment of seriousness. “Robert. You are my Kin. I’m not like the other gods, I care about my family. But look. Things are about to change in a way you cannot see coming. Tell the others you talk to I said that. Gain what weapons you can. There will be a time I can no longer help you, or you me. It may seem asinine to you, but it doesn’t have to make sense.”

“But, as yo—”

Loki held up a hand, cutting him off. “I can’t say more. Oh, and checkmate.” He slid a piece forward; the last move of the game. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

***

Ian Stone

Ian wiped at the ice-cold water pouring down his face. He shook his head then tossed the towel aside.

“Time to work.” He mumbled.

Shuffling through the desk drawers, he pulled out a digital recorder and began speaking into it. “New case file. The case of the manipulative woman who walked into my office …”