CONTENT WARNING: Murder, arson, slavery mention
Wolfram cursed at that, then turned his senses to the heavens above. He hadn’t had time to align himself with this realm, so he couldn’t sense the moon without concentrating—
And just as he’d feared, the full moon hung pregnant above.
“Loup garou… that’s going to be a problem,” Morcant was saying as Wolfram focused again on the conversation. “One bite from them and we’re toast.”
Wolfram nodded and raked a hand through his hair. “I think I have something to give some measure of protection, but nothing that’ll make any of you immune.”
“You… you don’t think we’ll have to fight him, do you?” The young vampire’s voice stuttered at the thought.
“Loup garou can’t control themselves during their shift,” Wolfram began, holding his hands a meter apart. As he spoke, a swirling purple and black portal formed in the air before him. “They have no choice but to shift on the full moon and attack anything that smells like food. They’re more animal instinct than sentient creature at that point, and the best thing for them is to keep them from hurting themselves and their allies. I have chains that can contain things a lot stronger than loup garou, assuming your friend isn’t an ahroun. If he is, well, the best thing would be to let him loose and get out of his way.”
“A…. A what?”
Morcant took over as Wolfram stuck his upper body into the portal and began rooting around.
“An ahroun,” Morcant began, “is their warrior class. They’re the strongest of the loup garou and the rarest after the war between Winter and Summer. The Winter used werewolves like cannon fodder, and the loup garou were hit the worst. As far as I’m aware, none of the packs ever recovered fully. So… I may be cursing us with this, but I highly doubt your friend is an ahroun. Hopefully he’s a galliard—they’re far weaker and easier to deal with.”
With a grunt, Wolfram sat back in his seat, a small chest on his lap. The Witch opened the chest and pulled out several necklaces made of bones and fangs. “Take one and pass. Wear these, they’ll give you a resistance to the loup garou bite. I want these back when we’re done, so don’t lose them. These are hard to get, and even harder to maintain the properties.”
Once each vampire had a necklace, the Witch replaced the chest in the swirling portal and closed the opening.
“Those necklaces will not make you immune, so try not to get bit,” Wolfram continued, “and just hope that Liam’s friend is either not there or out cold.”
“These are all the records they had,” Morcant huffed, wiping a streak of blood from his cheek. “They didn’t want to give them up without encouragement, so hopefully it’s what you needed.”
Wolfram took the books and sat them in his lap, flipping open the first. “When did you buy that vial?”
“A few weeks ago—maybe a month and a half,” the vampire replied.
With a nod, Wolfram began to flip through the pages until he came to the estimated date. Scanning each line for Morcant’s name, Wolfram flipped through the pages until he found the entry. “Found the lot number. Stand back a little.”
Murmuring over the books, Wolfram spread his fingers and pushed his magic into the books. The records flipped open and the pages turned of their own accord. Focusing on the task, Wolfram pulled each entry relating to the lot number of the blood vials. Several entries appeared in glowing purple letters above the books until all the books slammed shut.
Wolfram narrowed his eyes at the names attached to each entry. “Do you know those names?”
Morcant leaned close and scanned the names. With a shake of his head, the vampire frowned and rubbed at his neck. “Sorry, I don’t recognize any of them. If they’re vampires, they’re not from houses I’m familiar with. I don’t socialize with many non-humans outside of the vampire counsel and the houses.”
With a chuckle, Wolfram shook his head and collapsed the entries into a black card. “Of course. The vampire obsessed with my blood is antisocial. How’re your children doing?”
Wolfram and Morcant turned as one towards the auction house. The night remained quiet as none of them wanted to attract attention. After a moment, Morcant spoke.
“They’ve cleared the upper floors and are moving towards the cells below. We’ll know soon enough if Liam’s werewolf friend is—“
An earth-shattering howl broke through the night as if on cue. Morcant vanished in the next moment, rushing to his children. Wolfram groaned and got out of the vehicle. The Witch drew in the night air to steady himself before exhaling both breath and magic. A thin, protective layer of magic settled over the Witch like a blanket. Then Wolfram shifted, taking to four paws instead of two. Fur dark as night absorbed the moonlight without reflecting anything back as the Witch loped through the auction house’s open doors.
On his way down, the Witch paused long enough to set up the trap. A gravity spell with the chains mixed, and a sleeping spell should take care of the out-of-control shifter.
He found the vampires easily as they dodged the huge werewolf’s claws. Liam, however, lay cradled in one of the other’s arms, a nasty gash on his head. Letting out a sigh through his black muzzle, the Witch wove through the vampires and stood before the werewolf. He growled once before letting out a bark of challenge, getting the beast’s attention.
Wolfram taunted the werewolf with a yip and a growl. As soon as the beast charged him, the Witch leapt back, turned on his heel, and ran. The beast took the bait. Getting down on all fours, the huge loup garou charged after him. Up the winding stairs, Wolfram leapt over the trap spell and skidded, turning to growl and bark at the beast.
Acting on animal instinct alone, the werewolf barreled right into the trap spell. The gravity well slammed into the loup garou, and the rattling chains wrapped around the beast like tentacles. As the beast howled and struggled, the sleep spell draped over the creature.
The werewolf staggered under the combined spells and finally crashed to the floor. Grinning with triumph, Wolfram shook off his wolf form and stretched. Moments later, Morcant came stumbling up the stairs.
“What… how?”
“I told you I had a plan,” Wolfram said simply. “Get the rest of the people out of those cells. We’ll take this guy back to your castle and chain him up securely until he comes back to himself in the morning.”
Morcant nodded, warily eyeing the slumbering werewolf. “I’ll send Aderyn up here to move him to the car.”
Once Morcant disappeared again down the stairwell, Wolfram hunkered down beside the werewolf and stroked the beast’s fur. “I’ll have to tell Ivan there’s an ahourn loup garou in his territory. I wonder how he’ll take it.”
Loading Ulvar into the vehicle didn’t take as much effort as Wolfram had expected. Aderyn proved herself far stronger than she appeared, and the huge werewolf took up most of the floor. Those that had been trapped in the underground cells scattered to the wind, most returning to their homes. A few had offered to help, but Wolfram turned them away.
“The less you do, the less likely anyone will come after you,” Wolfram explained before sending them off. Once all had left, and the vampires were safely out, the Witch snapped his fingers—starting the fires that consumed the building in a matter of minutes.
Morcant snorted as he looked over the huge werewolf as the vehicle raced away from the building. “Do I want to know how you became friends with this walking time bomb, Liam?”
The vampire in question flinched, his green eyes dropping. His gash, at least, had healed already thanks to the blood bag in his hands. “He… came to my defense… in a pub…”
“And why did he need to do that?”
Liam nibbled his lower lip and did everything in his power not to look Morcant in the eyes. “I… was about to punch a fae who grabbed my ass. He had a lot of buddies with him. And he was saying that he’d… like to make me a slave to his blood. A-and other vulgar things.”
Morcant frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “I see. Do you happen to know the name of the fae?”
The young vampire shook his head. “No. A-and anyway, it was years ago. It’s not a big deal.”
“The next time anything like this happens,” Morcant began quietly, “you will inform me immediately. Such vulgar insults shall not stand. Understand?”
“Yes, Sire,” Liam murmured, sinking back into his seat and sealing his lips on the blood bag.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Wolfram leaned back into his seat. “Alright… I need to contact the local Coven leader and the werewolf pack of the territory. Quiet for a moment, would you?”
The vampires scooted away from Wolfram as the Witch slid his fingers through the air in a complicated symbol. After a moment, the air before him shimmered and created a two-way mirror. Wolfram spoke the witch’s name and Rose appeared in the mirror, surprise on her face.
“Wolfram! Where have you been?! Ivan’s been frantic! No one could find any sign of you—”
Wolfram held up a hand and offered a small smile. “Sorry about that. Unforeseen circumstances came up. You’ll be happy to know the problem’s mostly dealt with, but could you and Ivan meet me at where I’ve been staying? I’ll explain everything there in person.”
Rose huffed and narrowed her eyes. “That was fast. What did you do?”
“I promise I’ll explain when you two get here,” Wolfram replied smoothly. “Please.”
With a sigh, Rose nodded. “Send me the location. We’ll be there.”
Once the vampires arrived at the castle, Liam, Aderyn, and the others took the unconscious Ulvar to the underground chambers—ancient rooms meant for avoiding sunlight. As soon as they were out of sight, Morcant grumbled and rested his forehead against Wolfram’s shoulder.
“I take it you’re hungry,” Wolfram asked with a chuckle. “This is the last time I’m feeding you, Morcant. What I came to do is done, and I’ll be moving on. Rose and Ivan can handle the rest of the cleanup with you.”
Wolfram turned to face Morcant and tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck. “So feed. Enjoy it. And I’ll stop you if you can’t stop yourself.”
Looking much like a petulant child, Morcant turned away and nibbled on his lip. “Must you leave?”
The Witch chuckled again and caressed Morcant’s cheek, turning the vampire to look at him again. “I don’t stay anywhere for very long. Please understand that, Morcant. I’m a drifter. I don’t have roots to put down.”
Morcant leaned in and grazed his fangs over Wolfram’s neck, but he did not bite. Instead, he wrapped the Witch in his arms and clutched him tightly to his chest. “Then, I’ll treasure the taste of you, the memories of you, and hope that we cross paths again.”
With that, Morcant released the Witch and turned. “When your friends arrive, join me in the drawing room. I’ll have refreshments prepared.”
Ivan and Rose arrived soon after. They exchanged greetings, Rose berated Wolfram, and Ivan held back tears.
“I thought you died!” Ivan howled, clutching at Wolfram.
Gently, Wolfram peeled the big wolf off of him. “Please, Ivan, I am not so easy to kill. Now, come. I’ll introduce you to the vampire who helped sort everything tonight.”
Wolfram showed the two into the drawing room and introduced everyone. Then, Wolfram explained the night to Rose and Ivan, ending with the record findings and the loup garou.
“I had no idea a loup garou resided in my territory,” Ivan growled, frowning, “and an ahourn at that. Damn rude of the wolf. He should have come to introduce himself.”
Morcant snorted. “Oh, please, you don’t own all of London. The Isles are my territory.”
Ivan’s eyes narrowed, and he glared at Morcant. The vampire met that glare with one of his own.
“Please stop, both of you,” Wolfram sighed. “Ivan, I just need you to take care of Ulvar and see to it he stays out of trouble. Loup garou are dangerous on their own, with no one to watch them when the full moon comes.”
The wolf nodded, turning his attention from Morcant.
“Rose, I need you two to work with Morcant and ensure no more vials of my blood are floating around,” Wolfram said, pulling out the black card. With a murmur of a spell, the card lengthened and letters appeared. “Each of these are names of those who purchased a vial. Do whatever you can. I’ve removed the witch blood market here. If it pops up again, work with Morcant to get rid of it. Otherwise… otherwise, call me again. I’ll come if you call.”
Morcant perked at those words and leaned in, pressing his nose into Wolfram’s neck. “Can I call you? Will you come if I call for you?”
Wolfram chuckled and ran his fingers through Morcant’s short silver-white hair. “If you promise not to call just for a quick fuck or a quick snack, I’ll give you a way to contact me.”
The vampire grinned and rubbed up into the petting. “I promise. No, I swear it! Please?”
Smiling, Wolfram pressed a kiss to Morcant’s forehead, then pressed an amulet into the vampire’s hands. “A drop of blood to activate… then call my name. If I can come, I’ll come. I can’t promise I’ll be able to drop whatever I’m working on to come to you… but I’ll try.”
Rose chuckled and shook her head. “Caught another one, huh? I am not picking up the broken heart of a vampire.”
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