Liaisons of Veiled Devastations

by Quibilah, WereKitte

Summary:

If different paths, however small, had been taken at the end of season one, what would the ramifications be for all parties involved? This is a complete rewrite of the ending of season one and season two to explore those differences and fix anything we couldn't make sense of while exploring dropped plots from the show.

**ABANDONED**

Notes:

The much talked about collaboration is finally here! It is a seriously slow burn with angst and humor throughout. Day 1 is long... like really long, but you'll understand why soon enough.

Chapter 1: An Attempted Rescue

CHAPTER ONE

“No! I don’t want to go with you! Dad! Dad, help!” Maddox screamed as he tried to bury himself further under his dad’s desk. Randall’s efforts to reach the boy halted as he heard Tundra’s grunt of pain from the hallway outside the office.

He fought the urge to shift and join Hamish, knowing that no matter how much he wanted to be out there helping, he had to get Maddox. It was the whole reason they were here. They needed to get Maddox out of here to save Lilith. Hamish was doing his part, he needed to do his.

“Listen kid, you’re in danger. We were sent here to help you-”

“I don’t believe you! Get off of me! DAD, HELP!” Maddox yelled louder as Randall reached his hand under again. When Randall’s fist closed around the front of his shirt and started pulling him out from his hiding place, he felt the kid grab his arm and pull himself closer so he could sink his teeth deep into his forearm.

“OW! WHAT THE HELL?!” Randall bellowed as he jerked his arm back out from under the desk with Maddox in tow. His irritation immediately dimmed as he saw the absolute terror covering Maddox’s face.

“Listen to me, okay? Your dad sent us to get you away from them. We’re not going to hurt you, I promise, but they’re trying to kidnap you to kill you.” Just as Randall was explaining the situation, Tundra was forced into the room by a volley of spells.

“There’s another one!” someone screamed, panic thick in their voice. Next thing Randall saw was a jet of red hurdling towards him.

“NO!” The shouted order from the woman at the front of the group was barely audible as the spell hit the desk and sent splinters of wood in every direction.

Randall quickly pulled Maddox into his arms and turned his back on the chaos to shield the frightened boy. He felt a shard dig deeply into his left side and wavered before getting his feet beneath him again.

“You idiot! You could have hit the boy! We’re supposed to take him in alive!” The same feminine voice pierced the sudden stillness before Tundra took advantage of the distraction and lunged forward, claws dragging deeply across the neck of the one who’d launched the lethal spell.

Immediately there was chaos again, but Randall saw that no one dared send any attacks his way. Not while he held their precious prize. By their reaction alone, he knew his plan to trade Maddox for Lilith would work.

As long as they could get him out of here.

With a growl, he reached behind him with one arm while the other held Maddox to his chest and ripped the chunk of wood from him. Movement in his peripheral vision had his arm snapping out as he buried the wood deep into the attacker’s chest.

“See! They don’t care if they hurt you as long as they take you alive. We are trying to protect you from them! Let us help you.” Randall hunched down behind the ruined desk and pulled Maddox down with him to get the boy to look at him instead of the madness that was happening around them.

“Who are they? Why do they want to hurt me?” The boy’s voice trembled violently as his fingers curled into Randall’s shirt, as if just keeping contact with him would be enough to keep him alive. Randall felt a sliver of guilt begin to bubble up within him as he looked at the wide terrified and innocent eyes of the boy in front of him before Lilith’s face flashed in his mind.

“Bad people don’t need a reason to hurt someone, they just do. Will you let us get you to safety?” He swallowed heavily, rationalizing that they weren’t the ones that were going to sacrifice him. They were just handing him over to his father in exchange for their friend. What Coventry chose to do with Maddox after that was on him.

He knew he was lying to himself but forced the guilt down as Maddox nodded.

“What do I do?” Maddox asked before another attacker rounded the desk with a dagger raised. His eyes shut just before Randall dragged his claws against the attacker’s throat. The sickening sound of tearing flesh was followed by a wet gurgle, causing the boy’s hands to slap over his ears as he gagged.

Randall wiped his bloodied hand off before gripping the boy’s shoulders to pull his gaze back to him. The boy noticeably relaxed in front of Randall when he sent him a lopsided grin.

“Run to the tree line. Stay hidden and stay quiet. If someone other than one of us sees you, scream like hell and don’t stop running until we find you.” Randall waited for Maddox to nod in understanding before looking over the desk. “Run, now and don’t stop until you’re in the trees.” He gave a quick shove to the kid before his eyes silvered over and he let Greybeard loose.

Between Greybeard and Tundra, the remaining practitioners were finished with minimal fuss.

“Where is he?” Hamish barely allowed himself to breathe once the last practitioner was lying at his feet. If they wanted any hope of saving Lilith, they needed to get Maddox and leave.

“Tree line.” The younger Knight was already running off towards the direction Maddox had run. He couldn’t help the heavy eyeroll when he found the kid trying to hide as he surveyed his surroundings. Maddox’s entire bottom half was sticking out from behind the tree he was ‘hiding’ behind.

“Maddox? It’s us.” Randall held up both hands in amusement as the kid whipped around with what was clearly a decayed log. “We should really teach you how to defend yourself because this would likely fall apart before you finished your swing.” He felt the twinge of guilt at the thought as he took the log from Maddox and swung it in the opposite direction.

Randall’s smug grin of ‘I told you so’ spread across his face when the rotted log broke into three pieces with a wet plop the second it connected with the ground.

Maddox answered with a petulant pout, both arms crossing in front of his chest as his head tilted up and to the left. Randall couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped before reaching out to ruffle the kid’s hair.

 

Hamish watched the two fooling around, bickering back and forth for a second about the boy’s fighting skills, as if there weren’t more important things going on. “We need to move. Now!” Hamish interrupted before turning towards the car, leaving Randall and Maddox to follow after him. He could feel his anger rising with the younger Knight as Randall continued teasing the boy.

Had he forgotten about Lilith so easily? Was that all it took? All someone needed to do was dangle a distraction in front of him for a few minutes and suddenly everything was forgotten? Could he not feel the ringing getting stronger and stronger in his mind as they fought? Or was he just too naïve to realize what was causing it?

Another wave of pain jolted through him as he put the car in drive and began pulling away from the tomb they’d created, causing both hands to clench around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned bone-white.

He knew Lilith would be on the receiving end of the magic causing his distress.

---

Vera set a timer for ten minutes and was just about to set her phone down when her gaze returned to the Eye of Apollo. She tilted her head with closed eyes and focused on the noises surrounding her. She couldn’t tell if the creaks she was hearing were due to the shack she was in, or people walking around above her.

“Hello? Mr. Morton? Is that you?” she asked while slowly creeping up the rickety stairs. “Ms. Drake?” There was no response as she entered the living room and looked around. “Hmm, not bad.” She ran her finger over the label of the aged bottle of bourbon before pulling it out and pouring herself a glass to drink as she continued to search the house.

“Is anyone here?” The loud creak as she nearly reached the top of the stairs echoed around the house and had her freezing in place. When no sound followed, she continued and peeked into the first room.

Sports equipment and men’s clothes, both clean and dirty, littered the floor and bed. Her nose scrunched up as she toed a stained jersey out of the way before moving closer to the desk. Two medical textbooks lay open with scribbled notes in the margins.

Pulling her phone out, she quickly typed ‘Male. Sports. Premed.’ before ripping out one of the pages with scribbled notes and folding it up until it was small enough to fit into her pocket before turning to leave the room. A small glint from the corner of her eye made her pause.

There on the night table, which was littered with cheeseburger wrappers mind you, was a Saevbacch sigil. She could feel the tug on her suppressed rage as she picked it up and quickly dropped it again, flexing her fingers to rid herself of the uncomfortable tingle.

‘Experimenting with sigils?’ was added next to ’Premed’ in her notes.

Her lip curled slightly in disdain as she stepped into the next room. Furniture, clothes and personal items were haphazardly strewn across the room from what looked like some kind of fight. At least she hoped it was from a fight and not that the occupant chose to live like this.

Through the boards over the window, she could feel a breeze brushing against her, telling her it had been broken at some point but left unfixed. Barely boarded up, she thought after nudging one of the boards and watching it come loose on one end to swing back and forth.

“Are they all barbarians?” She heard the judgement in the quiet question, but how could she not judge?! Arms crossed in disgust, she used her foot to flip over a small basket of toiletries and grinned as the corner of the school ID became visible.

Dropping down, she plucked the card from beneath a hairbrush and flipped it over. Her smirk quickly fading into a scowl at the face staring back at her. She quickly looked over the chaos of the room again before rolling her eyes and clenching her hand around the ID in annoyance.

“Lilith Bathory. Why am I not surprised that hellion is one of them?!” Tucking the badge inside her pocket beside the page of scribbled notes, she carefully made her way towards the next room. The locked door barely delayed her.

“Well at least this one is clean,” she grumbled under her breath after a quick survey of the room. This one held a more sophisticated air to it, telling her that whoever lived in this room was likely at least a few years older than the other two.

The suits hanging above perfectly shined and organized shoes in the closet offered more evidence to that belief. Very few students wore suits or dress shoes. Moving closer to the immaculately tidy desk she found a red pen lying on top of a small stack of papers.

Her hand reached out to grab the stack when her gaze fell on the small bottle of perfume. The scent had her eyes closing and a small smile sliding onto her face. This was one of her favorites. Whoever had bought it had good taste.

Setting the glass bottle back down, she gathered the papers in her hands and started flipping through them. The names and handwriting were all different, which told her they were student submissions for grading.

Pulling out her phone again, she entered; ‘Male, well dressed, TA or teacher.’ She read a few lines of the essay on top of the pile and added, ‘Philosophy.’ Looking towards the perfume bottle, she cocked her head to the side and studied the rest of the room.

The decor wasn’t exactly feminine, but it clearly had a touch of femininity to it. Still, there weren’t any dresses in the closet, so it was unlikely two people lived in the room. More likely the werewolf was male and was in a relationship.

She added ‘Girlfriend – unlikely to be living together.’ just before she checked the time to see she only had two minutes before the potion needed tending to. With hurried motions, she dropped the papers back onto the desk, locked the door behind her and rushed to the next room.

It held very few items but enough to tell her it was occupied. There were books littered across the bed, but one specifically held her gaze. With determined steps, she snatched the book from the bed and flipped it to read the cover.

“This belongs in my reliquary, dammit!” she growled, thumbing through the pages to make sure everything was there. No wonder Ms. Drake had been so nervous when she told her she couldn’t find it last week. A fucking werewolf had stolen it right from under her nose.

And the girl probably knew which one was responsible and thought she’d be caught aiding their enemy!

Before she could look further or make a note in her phone, her alarm broke the silence and had her rushing back towards the basement, with a quick detour at the bar to refill her glass, grimoire tight in her hand. Timer set for another ten minutes, she brought her phone back out and read the short notes as a sinking thought struck her.

Jack Morton was a werewolf and Order member. Kyle Allbreck was a werewolf and Order member. Lilith Bathory was a werewolf and previous member of the Order before she’d been thrown out. Whoever had taken this grimoire, after Kyle was killed, was a werewolf and an Order member. The slob from the first room was a werewolf with knowledge of powerful sigils, knowledge that came from grimoires from the reliquary. Meaning he had to be at least a Magistratus.

Just how long had the wolves been infiltrating the Order?!

She read the notes again, adding in bullets for the fourth room before her gaze flittered over, ‘TA or teacher’ and felt her hand twitch in fear before she shoved it down and started typing again. ‘Philosophus? Adeptus?’ 

Had the werewolves already infiltrated the Order at the highest levels? It would take at least half the Order to take out five werewolves practiced in magic, possibly the whole chapter if they were as strong as the books claimed.

For nearly two minutes she waited with her head peeking out of the basement door before she felt confident that she was still alone. She looked back at all the objects lying around the room and felt herself grinning as she brought her phone up.

She couldn’t let this opportunity pass. Not when the Order was in danger.

---

“Hamish, slow down,” Randall bit out as Hamish slammed on the gas after the light turned green. He watched as Hamish’s fingers tightened around the steering wheel with a clenched jaw before looking back at Maddox who was gripping his seat belt with wide eyes. “Seriously, Hamish. Slow down already!”

“Lilith is-"

“More than capable of taking care of herself for a little while longer. But if all of us don’t make it home safe so we can help her, that could change,” he hinted, making it clear that he was talking about Maddox’s safety. If they got into an accident, the kid could die. If he died, there was no way they would be able to trade him for Lilith.

“Who’s Lilith?” Maddox asked once the car dropped back to a reasonable speed. Randall watched as the boy’s fingers uncurled from the seatbelt as he took a much needed breath now that he wasn’t fearing for his life.

“A friend. She was abducted and we’re trying to get her back. Now that you’re safe, the Order will help us.” Randall watched as Maddox’s eyes brightened while he nodded vigorously.

“My dad will definitely help you for saving me! He’s amazing and wants to help make the world a better place! He even said I could help him do that.” He smiled proudly while crossing his arms in front of his chest, completely missing Randall’s smile dropping as he looked towards Hamish.

“Hamish-”

“Don’t,” Hamish cut him off abruptly, fingers tightening around the wheel again.

It was quiet enough that Randall knew Maddox wouldn’t hear it, but when he turned in his seat again, he found the kid watching him. “What?”

“I know that you saved me to get your friend back but thank you. I don’t know what I would have done if you didn’t come when you did. So, I’ll make sure my dad helps you get Lilith back, okay?” he said with a determined smile and nod of his head that had Randall swallowing a wave of nausea.

He forced what he hoped was a reassuring smile onto his face, trying to ignore the fact that they had only prolonged his execution. That in order to rescue Lilith, they would be handing this innocent kid over to be slaughtered.

It wasn’t them doing it though. They weren’t the ones sentencing him to death. They were merely handing him over to his father. That was it. And maybe by getting him away from the Order for even a short amount of time, there could be a slight chance the kid might actually survive. They could have actually just saved his life.

Maybe if he said it enough times to himself, he might actually be able to believe the thoughts.

“Ohh, can we stop really quick?” Maddox asked suddenly, breaking the oppressive silence that had fallen. Randall and Hamish looked in the direction the kid was pointing to see a comic book shop just up the road.

“We just told you that our friend was abducted, and you want us to stop so you can look at comics?” There was a trace of a growl in Hamish’s voice before Randall hit his arm when he heard the boy’s quiet, ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… you’re right’.

“He’s just a kid, Hamish. And we can spare a few minutes for him to get a comic book before we bring him to his dad!” he ground out, knowing that Hamish picked up on his desire for wanting to stop when his shoulders dropped slightly in defeat.

 

Hamish let out a deep sigh, feeling the heaviness of their coming actions weighing on him. They were supposed to protect people like Maddox, innocent people. Instead, they were sending the boy as a sacrificial lamb to be slaughtered, just because of who had fathered him.

Randall was right. They were sending the kid to his death. The least they could do is give him a few minutes of happiness. Lilith would be okay if they took a few more minutes. She had to be.

“Fine. But be quick. I expect you both back in the car in five minutes,” he said while parking before turning to meet their gazes, making sure they both knew he was serious. Another brief twinge of something akin to guilt was quickly smothered as he watched the boy nodding enthusiastically with excited eyes.

Exactly four minutes and forty-seven seconds later, Hamish looked up to see Randall and Maddox running out of the shop. Maddox held a small bag while Randall clutched a single comic and he couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes.

Of course, Randall would get himself one. “Really, Randall? You too?” Hamish didn’t bother waiting for them to buckle their seat belts, ignoring Randall’s glare of disapproval, before pulling away from the curb.

“It’s about zombies and… Oh. My. God! Dude! Jack died and was brought back to life. That means he’s essentially a zombie… huh… I’m not sure I’m okay with that to be honest.”

“Would you prefer he stayed dead?” he asked, knowing Randall’s comment would have had him fighting an amused smile if the situation wasn’t so dire.

“What? No! Of course not!”

“Then shut up and just be happy we have a zombie werewolf on our side,” Hamish said as the corner of his lips crooked slightly.

“Uh… why is Jack saying Vera Stone is at the Den trying to help us defeat-” Randall thankfully cut off when Hamish sent a dark glare towards him before rewording the question. “He said she’s helping to save Lilith and-”

“Aunt Vera is Belgrave’s Temple Magus, of course she’d help you for my dad-” Maddox’s words were cut off abruptly when the car came to a forceful stop at a red light. Hamish turned around to look at the kid, already reading one of the comics, before looking at Randall.

“Chancellor Stone is the Temple Magus? For how long?”

“Yup, ever since I can remember-”

“And she’s your aunt?” Randall interrupted and Hamish knew by his expression alone that the younger knight was more focused on the fact that if Vera Stone was Maddox’s aunt, it meant the Chancellor and Temple Magus were Jack’s aunt.

Hamish wasn’t sure how he felt about that fact himself. Having a spy in the Order was one thing. Having two biological relatives at the top of the Order was an entirely different matter. But weighing more heavily on him at the moment was the fact that Jack knew the Temple Magus was Chancellor Stone for nearly a year and had said nothing to them. Had he been protecting her this whole time?

He was pulled from his musing when Maddox shrugged his shoulders and spoke up. “Well, she’s not my real aunt and my dad never told me to call her Aunt Vera like he did with Aunt Bitsy. But she was always closer to my mom and she called her Aunt Vera once, right before she-” he cut off suddenly, fingers tightening on his comic before shrugging. “Last week was the first time I saw her in a few years. She still seems pretty cool, though. You guys will probably like her, and she’ll definitely help you get your friend back.”

Hamish looked at the boy, still seemingly immersed in his comic, despite his posture being stiffer and his voice strained, before turning back to face the front. “I look forward to meeting her,” he ground out, eyes silvering over briefly in anger. Despite Jack’s attempts to hide her from him, he finally had a face and name to put to the position that had caused so much death and destruction over the years.

He would work together with the woman, for now. They would take care of Coventry, destroy the book, and get Lilith back. But after that, the Chancellor would have to answer for her crimes.

Chapter 2: Clash

Notes:

We're happy to see everyone enjoyed chapter one so far! As stated in the summary, updates will be switching to weekly... but we felt guilty making those that attended the reading wait so long between ch. 2 and ch. 3, so thank them for the quicker updates in the beginning.

CHAPTER TWO

“Fuck! How did they find us…?” Randall started and was pleased that Hamish trusted his senses and immediately put the car in park, turning towards him, head cocking to the side slightly to listen for what he’d heard. His eyes silvered over at the quiet chanting that was drifting towards them from the clearing around their house. “You don’t think that she told them, do you?”

“If she did, I’ll kill her first. Get the kid inside and keep him there. No matter what happens, he needs to stay safe. If Vera’s in there, send her out immediately to prove her loyalty. I’ll hold off this lot,” Hamish ordered while getting out of the car, Tundra already taking control before he’d fully exited. He gave one furious grunt with a jerk of his head before charging towards the direction of the chanting.

“ON YOUR RIGHT! ATTACK!” A voice cut through the quiet chatter before an explosion echoed around Randall and Maddox.

Randall felt the boy freeze and looked down to see his eyes were staring back at him, filled with hurt and betrayal. “You lied to me! That’s my Aunt Bitsy! You’re the ones that are kidnapping me and my dad is trying to save me! AUNT BITSY!! I’M HERE, AUNT BITSY!” He made it almost five steps towards his aunt before a strong arm wrapped around his waist and hauled him off the ground.

“You don’t understand what’s happening here! We’re not trying to hurt you!” Randall tried to reason with him, but the boy continued to kick and claw at him in an attempt to escape, screaming the entire time and attracting the witches.

“He’s here! Find him!” The same woman - Bitsy he now knew, ordered - just before a flash of orange lit up the clearing and a booming snarl filled the air around them. Maddox fought harder in his grip, and nearly escaped, before Randall shifted and started charging towards the Den. “THERE!”

Thanks to Greybeard’s quick reflexes, Randall narrowly managed to dodge a sleep attack. He snapped his head around with a growl, silver eyes connecting with a figure clad in black and wearing a horned ram’s skull. He watched the person’s hands twist before jutting towards him and sidestepped with a deep snarl as he ducked into the Den, kicking the door closed behind him.

The unfamiliar perfume slammed into him the second the door was shut. It hung thick in the stale air around the house, but he followed it towards the living room, to where it was more heavily concentrated, to see a bottle of bourbon sitting on top of the bar. Jack knew better than to mess with Hamish’s bar, so it was obvious Vera had decided to help herself to a drink. Typical Order, just taking what they wanted.

“If you let me go, I’ll tell my dad not to kill you-”

“If we let you go, they’ll take you to your dad and if that happens, you’re as good as dead! We saved you from him-”

“YOU KIDNAPPED ME! My dad is trying to save me!” Maddox shouted back, tears filling his eyes as he squirmed harder against Randall’s grip. “Please! Just let me go! I didn’t do anything to you! Why are you doing this?! DAD! HELP ME!”

The broken, terrified scream for help shot straight through Randall and he felt his grip on the crying boy falter before Tundra’s howl of pain brought him back to reality.

One way or another, Maddox’s fate was sealed. He would die at the hands of his father, a man he clearly worshipped. The Order would continue sending wave after wave of practitioners against them until the Knights couldn’t fight any longer.

At least this way, his plan to use him to save Lilith would give the boy’s death meaning.

“You’re wrong about him. And I’m truly sorry you’ll have to find that out before all of this is over.” He didn’t say anything else, knowing Maddox wouldn’t, or couldn’t, hear him and too busy trying to force his pained guilt down as the boy stopped fighting him and sobbed in his arms as he realized he wasn’t going to escape.

Randall moved towards the basement quickly as he heard another pained grunt from Tundra, and let out a sigh of relief as the perfume grew stronger. She was here. And one way or another, she was going to stop acting like she didn’t hear the sounds of the ongoing attack and actually do something to help them. He would make absolutely certain of that.

“Get out there and help-” His angry order cut off suddenly when he shoved through the doorway and saw the vacant room. A sickeningly sweet scent was rising from a basin resting on the desk in front of him, drawing him towards it to investigate. A deep blue liquid was boiling inside it, sending bursts of magical vapor into the air every time a bubble burst.

Greybeard shifted within him with each puff of gas, demanding he be set free to hunt down the one responsible for this vile concoction. But she was here. The scent of her perfume was still fresh. Meaning she was hiding from him.

A feral grin spread across his face at the absurdity of thinking she could hide from a wolf.

“It’s not going to work, Chancellor Stone, time for you to show yourself before I let Greybeard out. I feel I should warn you, he’s far less patient and forgiving than I am,” he taunted, slowly moving around the cluttered basement until his gaze landed on two boxes on the next table over.

The boxes were neatly packed with items that he knew weren’t there when he came down earlier that day. Moving closer to inspect the items, he felt himself kick something and looked towards the ground to see a phone. “What the hell?”

Shifting Maddox in his grip, he leaned forward and grabbed the phone. There was a crack running along the middle of the screen, showing the woman had retreated in a hurry, but the words were still legible and had rage flaring within him.

 

‘Wolf One – Jack Morton.’

‘Wolf Two - Male. Sports. Premed. Experimenting with sigils?’

‘Wolf Three - Lilith Bathory.’

‘Wolf Four - Male. Well dressed. TA or teacher. Philosophy. Girlfriend – unlikely living together. Philosophus? Adeptus?’

‘Wolf Five - Male or female. Possession of Reliquary grimoire. Magistratus? Higher?

‘Wolf Six - Kyle Allbreck – Deceased.’

 

“Son. Of. A. Bitch!” he growled while chucking the phone across the room, startling the boy in his arm as it slammed against the wall, before charging up the stairs. “THE BITCH BETRAYED US!” he shouted the second he made it to the top of the stairs, hearing Tundra’s enraged snarl of acknowledgment before the door shattered from an attack.

Randall threw himself on the floor, covering Maddox’s body from the splinters of wood and the following jet of flames. He felt Maddox squirming beneath him, and in his split second of confusion, the boy slipped out from under him and started running for the door. “AUNT BITSY, HELP ME!”

“SERIOUSLY?!” he ground out, allowing Greybeard to surface before he tackled the boy away from the figure in black that had reached for him. Randall just managed to catch the attacker’s arm with his claws and pulled, severing it with one firm jerk and relished in the man’s scream of agony as he dropped to his knees and clutched the spurting limb.

Randall pinned Maddox with one massive paw to his back, forcing him to remain on the ground and facing away from him as he turned his head towards the screaming man. His free hand snapped out, claws digging deeply into the man’s chest before yanking back, ending the man’s incessant screaming with one fluid motion.

Hearing a sudden barrage of thuds followed by a grunted whimper pulled Randall’s attention and had him hoisting the boy up by his shirt so he could move towards the door and see what was happening. Tundra was on the ground panting heavily and covered in deep bleeding gashes and burns.

In the two minutes Randall had been in the basement, Hamish had successfully dropped several of the attackers, but still there were more than twenty black clad figures advancing on him. And he was wounded and clearly struggling to push himself to his feet. He wouldn’t be able to fight them like this.

Randall growled in anger and made it two steps down the stairs before Tundra’s gaze snapped towards him with a deep snarl. The order was clear. Under no circumstances was he to leave the boy unprotected. They lose Maddox, they lose Lilith and that was unacceptable.

“What did I say?” a smug voice asked, pulling Randall’s attention to a short feminine figure wearing a mask with three jagged lines running down it. She was looking towards the horned figure in front of her, who he noted with mild amusement was waving her off as if she were a pest before turning around to look straight at him.

“Hand over the boy now, or your friend dies. Right here. Right now,” Bitsy threatened as she nodded towards Tundra and Randall watched as every member flanking her stretched out a bloody hand towards the silver wolf. Tundra was on his knees now but his panting had grown even heavier, to the point Randall was mildly concerned that he might pass out. He unconsciously stepped towards Hamish to try and help, but Tundra’s growl of warning had him pulling the struggling boy closer to him with a snarl. “So be it. Deleatur-”

But before the woman could finish her spell, a crazed howl sounded behind the group, followed by a gurgled scream before deafening silence. Both Randall and Hamish whirled their gazes around with the rest of the figures just in time to see the short smug woman get sent flying from a massive brown fur-clad forearm.

Randall’s gaze connected with the wolf and nearly punched the air above him in victory. Lilith had found her own way out, just like she always did. Too impatient and independent to wait for them to come to her rescue any longer. And by the looks of it, she was pissed and ready for revenge.

Killith was here to play. And not a moment too soon.

The figures barely had time to respond to Timber’s entrance before she threw herself at the nearest attacker, maw sinking deeply into their neck and tearing back. Blood oozed from her grinning muzzle in long rivulets, staining the brown fur of her chest. The image alone had one member stepping back in horror.

And right into Tundra’s broad chest. The beaked figure looked back at a battered Tundra, barely managing to get out, ‘please, no-’, before a sickening crack had his body dropping lifelessly to the ground. Randall watched Hamish push himself off the ground and slam his hand into another attacker, sending them flying in the opposite direction of the smug girl before looking over Lilith quickly.

She barely reacted, choosing instead to charge towards two figures that were trying to run away. Their terrified screams piercing through the clearing, sending waves of fear through their companions, before both forms dropped to the ground, blood pooling around their ravaged corpses.

Oh yes, Killith was definitely here to play.

Randall yanked Maddox closer to his chest before he jumped off the deck, pouncing on the figure that was trying to attack him from the shadows like a coward. He grinned widely, knowing the image of the snarling grin is what petrified the figure in front of him, as he subconsciously tucked Maddox’s face against his chest to block his view, before reaching out to tear the woman’s throat out, her warm blood running down his fingers.

It wasn’t enough, he wanted more. He needed more. They needed to suffer!

He stalked towards another witch that was sitting in the fetal position, trembling hands clutched over her ears as she rocked slightly, mumbling to herself over and over again that ‘it’s not real, it’s not real’.  Randall grinned at the scent of fear radiating off of her as he gently tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. The mask flung from her face as he snapped her neck, a growled chuckle covering the sound as her body hit the ground.

He howled in excitement as the Order’s numbers dwindled from the savagery of Lilith’s attacks. This was the true strength of the Knights of Saint Christopher in all their glory. They weren’t meant to fight one on one. They were a pack to be feared. After this, they would take down the entire Order. Leaving nothing but a trail of blood and corpses in their wake…

“Please! Stop!” Maddox sobbed into his chest, pulling Randall from the intoxicating euphoria of his bloodlust to see the side of Maddox’s face was covered in blood. The boy was trembling in his grasp as he took heaving gasps for air. He was absolutely terrified of them.

And yet, the boy wasn’t trying to get away from him. His hands were clutching his fur in a desperate grip. The same way he had clung to him when they were back at his house. As if Randall would save him from himself.

And a thought crossed his mind.

Lilith was back. They didn’t need to hand Maddox over to be sacrificed. They could keep him safe. They would keep him safe. He loosened his grip on the sobbing kid and brought up his unbloodied hand to gently wipe the blood from his face.

Maddox met his gaze, confusion and hope shining in his frightened eyes, before a pained scream had them widening in sheer panic. Randall watched him whirl around to locate to source of the scream, to see everyone except Bitsy had been felled.

But Bitsy was falling to her knees as they watched. She dropped her mask and brought both hands up to clutch over her chest in an effort to stem the blood rushing out of her. It was pointless, Randall knew. Not only because the amount of blood oozing between her fingers was life threatening, but because Lilith stood over the woman with her arm cocked back and ready to strike again.

“NOOOOO!” Maddox screamed, escaping Randall’s grasping hand and dodging Tundra’s lunge to grab him as he ran full speed towards his aunt. He slid right in front of Bitsy, just as her hands dropped from her chest, eyes closing and face going slack. Maddox managed to catch her in his lap as she fell and tried to shake her awake so they could escape, but she wouldn’t respond and no amount of shaking would wake her. She was completely lifeless in his arms.

“LILITH, NO!!!” Hamish screamed and Randall watched Maddox look towards him sharply, trying to understand what was happening before looking up at the wolf hovering over him.

Randall’s heart skipped a beat as he watched Maddox look towards him in confusion as he brought a shaking hand up towards his face before looking at his hand now soaked in his own blood. “But... I… I didn’t do anything wrong… why…?” he stuttered, face morphing from confusion to agony as the pain of the attack pierced through his shock.

The broken scream that tore from his lips as he swayed back and forth slammed into Randall’s chest and stole his breath. He watched the kid careening sideways, dropping beside the woman’s body in his lap as Lilith’s arm pulled back again, forcing Randall into action. “LILITH, STOP! HE’S JUST A KID! STOP!” he yelled, already running with Hamish, both of them desperate to stop the killing blow before it landed.

He knew they’d be too late.

And yet, as the kid lost consciousness, Lilith’s arm froze. Inches from the side of Maddox’s neck, it hovered there as Timber began to sway. Lilith was trying to come back from Timber’s bloodlust even as the wolf fought her so it could land the killing blow. He and Hamish ran faster.

Randall watched as Lilith dropped to her knees, forcing Timber back further as she reached out towards the unconscious boy. Her arm was violently shaking as the fur slowly melted to reveal pale skin.

Too pale, he noted in the back of his mind. Her skin was too pale. Randall froze as more of Timber slowly melted away, the wolf still fighting for control as more and more of the woman beneath the brown fur was revealed.

His eyes told him what his brain refused to believe. The woman he’d been running towards wasn’t Lilith. It would never be Lilith again.

In Lilith’s place was an older woman with straight black hair. She was drenched in blood and kneeling among the mutilated bodies, hands uncontrollably shaking as she held them up before her terrified face.

The slurred “Noo” slipping from her lips as she passed out barely registered in his mind as he dropped to his knees in disbelief. A broken howl of devastation tore from his throat as ice swept through him.

Vera Stone lay in front of him, where Timber had been. Belgrave’s Chancellor, the Order’s Temple Magus, was wearing Timber’s hide. Which meant Lilith was dead.

He hadn’t been able to save her. He failed her when she needed him most.

Notes:

Um... we're just going to go and hide for a bit 🙈 But now you all can understand why we felt guilty making the others wait 2 weeks for ch. 3 and why we have the tags 'Day 1 is long' and 'slow burn'... there is a *lot* to work through and still a lot to deal with...

Kitte - yeah, so this was the idea The Hide Chooses the Champion originally sparked. The idea of if there’d been an extra hide that day in the basement, if Vera had been chosen as a champion *then* and how it would all work out, given all the different dynamics and interactions back then. And yeah, we ran with it. So uh, enjoy!

Chapter 3: A New Champion

Notes:

Hopefully you all enjoyed that twist 😬 And now to continue the day that never ends... it will... eventually 😂

CHAPTER THREE

Lilith smirked as she watched Kepler and Gabrielle fly across the room. “Idiots.” She rolled her eyes at the sheer stupidity of bringing a knife close enough to your prisoner that they could cut themselves for a sacrifice. Perhaps next time, if they survived the blows to their heads, they would think twice about that move.

Shrugging off the chains, she felt Timber flare to life within her. They both wanted blood. She hesitated on the threshold of the reliquary, looking back at the girl that had enjoyed torturing her so much and took one step towards her before shaking her head. “Later. We need to meet up with the others and stop Coventry.”

The wolf grumbled in dissatisfaction but backed down, for now. Once they came back with the others, she would take great satisfaction on ending both women’s lives.

Lilith was pleased but mildly disappointed, to see the vacant altar room as she exited. The Order really was making this too easy for her. She liked at least a little bit of a challenge. Just as the thought crossed her mind, her nose twitched. A familiar scent filled her nostrils and had her stopping in her tracks. So, not a vacant Temple like she’d originally thought.

Her gaze landed on Coventry, his face tilted down at the open book in his hands. Timber immediately started pushing her way out as Lilith took two steps towards the man with an angry snarl. She heard his sigh of annoyance, followed by a muttered ‘pests’ before one finger lifted from the book and twitched.

Agony like nothing she’d ever felt before flooded through her veins, tearing a guttural scream as she sank to her knees, unable to hold herself upright. She watched through hazy eyes as Coventry casually flipped a page, still not bothering to look at her. “You won’t win,” she ground out through pained gasps and watched him flick his gaze towards her with a smirk.

“Yes, I will.” He was smug, and Lilith knew he had every reason to be, but she refused to make it easy for him, she would go down fighting. She got one foot planted on the ground and with a growl, started pushing herself to her feet. Much to the man’s amusement it seemed. “I’m inclined to keep you as a pet, Ms. Bathory. Choose. Death or pet?” he asked, one hand coming up to stroke over his beard as he watched her curiously.

“Go to hell,” she spat, far more blood than saliva coating the floor in front of her, causing Edward to roll his eyes.

“Very well.” He twitched his pointer finger again and Lilith felt her head jerking up and to the side suddenly without her will. A sickening crack was the last thing she heard as her body fell limply to the floor.

Wide, sightless eyes remaining fixed and unblinking as the man stepped over her body on his way towards the reliquary.

---

Vera catalogued each item she moved into the boxes, moving the more powerful artefacts first. She would come back for the rest of it when she had backup. She had just finished adding the last ingredient to the potion before the werewolf blood, when she heard a loud snap off to her side.

“Hello? Mr. Morton? Ms. Drake? Is that you?” She moved cautiously towards the doors at the back of the room; phone clutched tightly in one hand while the other readied an attack. “Edward?” She knew his power was growing by the minute the longer he stayed connected to the Vade Maecum. Perhaps he found some way to create portals between locations? If that were the case, she needed to try and close it before it finished forming.

The hand holding her phone reached for the door, but paused at the thought. Would she be able to close a portal powered by the Vade Maecum? What was she going to find behind the door? A mouse? A cat? One of the wolves? Edward, ready to slit her throat and complete the job he’d tasked Alyssa with?

Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she forced her hand to close the gap and yanked the door open. The flames she’d prepared died in her hand as saw the empty room. She moved forward, inspecting the large chests sitting on the raised platform surrounded by candles. It seemed almost ritualistic in makeup.

The green chest drew her attention, and she found her fingers running along the side of it, a hint of magic tingling at her fingertips. She was just about to open it when a clatter to her right pulled her focus to another chest. She moved in front of it and had just started lifting her hand to run her fingers along the crudely carved ‘Lilith’ when she realized what these chests were. Her hand jerked back towards her waist before she could touch it, but the top was already swinging open.

“Shit!” Vera whispered, stepping backwards as a blur flew from the open chest, straight towards her. It landed with a deceptively hard blow, knocking the wind from her and sending her flying backwards several feet. Her head connected with a smack against the unforgiving wall, phone flying from her hand and back into the outer room, before she slid down it in a daze.

The pain was pushed aside immediately as she felt the hide wrapping tightly around her and forcing her head up and to the left. She froze, all fight ceasing at the knowledge that it would only take one tiny jerk from the hide to snap her neck. Still, it pushed harder, straining the muscles and tendons in her neck as she clenched her eyes at the pain from the first grinding pop.

Hatred welled up within her for allowing herself to be put in this position. She never should have put her trust in Mr. Morton or Ms. Drake. She should never have thought a werewolf and a passible Medicum, at best, could help her stop Edward. She already had a plan in motion. A good plan. She didn’t need their help but once again, she allowed the protégé she never wanted to sway her choices.

And now, because of that weakness, she was going to die.

But the pressure on her neck lessoned, pulling back slowly and Vera allowed herself to breathe. Her lungs filled quickly, greedily pulling in oxygen that was used for a scream of agony as the hide started forcing its way into her skin.

“NOOO!” She clutched at the hide, trying to yank it from her even as her eyes swam with pain. Her back arched off the ground as she tried to use a severing incantation on the hide, but it only caused her pain to spike as the hide disappeared more quickly.

Her head felt like it was going to split from the pressure encompassing her mind, stealing the breath from her as she blindly clutched at remaining fur, still desperately trying to pull it from her. She couldn’t let this happen! She couldn’t let herself become a werewolf.

“Please, no!” she panted as her bones began to crack and pop, shifting and elongating as the creature continued binding itself to her. “Please!” Her plea ended on a victorious snarl. The last thing she saw before darkness took her was two massive fur covered hands pushing off the ground.

---

“But... I… I didn’t do anything wrong…”

Vera heard a familiar voice filled with pain and confusion. But it was distant. And so dark. Where was she? What was she doing?

“LILITH, STOP! HE’S JUST A KID! STOP!”

‘Lilith? Does he mean Ms. Bathory? Who is just a kid?’ As the questions ran through her mind, her vision started to clear. ‘Isn’t Ms. Bathory dead?’ Wait, how did she know that? She forced herself to focus, ignoring the pain building in her head as she did so.

The chests. Five of them. Six werewolves, one deceased. One chest for each werewolf? Lilith’s name carved into one. A hide leaping from Lilith’s chest directly towards her. Agony as fur slipped from her fingers into her… ‘NO!’

She forced herself to push through the pain attempting to smoother her and just managed to stop the monster’s attack when her eyes landed on Maddox. ‘Oh god, please no. No! Maddox, please! What have I done?!’ She could see darkness swimming at the edge of her vision as she fell to her knees, hands held up in front of her face.

They were covered in blood. His blood. She looked towards the mutilated form of the child before her and looked back at her trembling crimson blood-soaked arms. “Noo.”

---

Hamish froze as soon as he saw Timber’s eyes dim. The chocolate brown eyes, usually full of excitement after an attack, were absent. In their place were slate grey pools filled with horror. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be his injuries making him see things, right?

He couldn’t lose Lilith. Not like this. Not because he failed to rescue her. Cassie would never be able to forgive him. He would never be able to forgive himself. His gaze was fixed on the woman before him as the brown fur shifted to flesh.

It wasn’t Lilith’s black hair pulled back in her signature half up style that appeared, but long unbound raven locks that hung past toned shoulders. The woman was kneeling, but he knew the torso appearing was too long to be Lilith’s. The woman’s chest was too big, waist too thin and hips too wide for Hamish to continue lying to himself.

If only they’d been faster. If he hadn’t taken so long getting Maddox. If he hadn’t let Randall talk him into driving slower. If he hadn’t let Randall guilt him into stopping so they could get a comic. If he hadn’t listened to Jack and gone straight to the Temple like he’d originally planned.

If he hadn’t put any shred of trust in the Order, Vera Stone wouldn’t have been able to betray them, and Lilith would be here with them right now. But he’d failed. Lilith was gone.

And kneeling where she should be, wearing her hide - Timber’s hide - was an unwanted imposter. An enemy he had just promised to kill not twenty minutes earlier.

Hamish wasn’t aware of falling to his knees as he watched the woman collapse in front of him. He couldn’t breathe and his fingers started to turn numb from loss of oxygen. It was only Randall’s voice that pulled him from the haze of agonized defeat.

“What are you doing? Hamish, we don’t have time for this. We have to go! Come on, get up! We have to get to Lilith, remember? We need to help her…” Randall’s voice was filled with crippling panic as he shook his shoulder and tried to pull him to his feet.

“We can’t-”

“What do you mean, we can’t?!” he scoffed, eyes blazing even as tears slipped from them. “This is Lilith we’re talking about. We need to-”

“There’s no point, Randall!” Hamish ground out, hand gesturing towards the woman slumped in front of them. “You know what this means! Lilith is gone!”

“No! No, she’s fine.” He shook his head forcefully, hand coming up to swipe over his eyes as he paced. “We know hides can leave their champions now. We did it with Jack and-”

“Silverback rejected him to bond with the Vade Maecum. We pulled out a hide that didn’t want its champion any longer. And Jack died from it. Timber wanted Lilith, from the very beginning. Look around you, Randall! Timber did this. She massacred these monsters because her champion was taken from her and she wanted vengeance. Timber wouldn’t have bonded with a new champion if Lilith was still alive-”

“So, what? You’re just going to give up on her that easily? Timber bonded with the enemy and you’re just okay with that…?”

“No,” he responded; fist clenched as he glared at the woman before sighing in defeat, his shoulders dropping. “It’s not our place to stop a hide. If Timber picked her, there must have been a reason-”

“SHE’S THE ENEMY! She needs to die…” Randall snapped, claws elongating as he stepped towards Timber’s new champion. Hamish gripped his wrist and held him back, eyes glazed over with pain as he shook his head softly.

“She slaughtered her own people, Randall. We need to give Timber a chance with her. If Timber can’t rein her in and turn her to our side, then we kill her. Until then, we use her to our advantage…” It was cold and calculated, emotionless to any that heard it. But his rage was a swirling tempest within him.

That woman didn’t deserve to wear a hide. Especially not Timber’s. 

“You want to let her live? Are you kidding me?! She betrayed us! And you want to give her another chance so she can do it again? Kill another Knight?! You’re our leader, Hamish! You’re not supposed to give up on us so easily! Lilith just died and you’re giving her murderer her hide?! Are we that easy to replace to you?” His scream ended on a broken sob as he sank to his knees, burying his face in his hands as he wept.

“I remember every champion. Lilith is family, and those responsible for her death will pay for it with their lives. I promise you that,” he said, eyes flashing briefly as his hard gaze returned to Vera. ‘Timber saved your life, for now.’

“We… we were supposed to save her. I needed to tell her that I… she’ll never… she was supposed to be okay! She wasn’t supposed to even be there!” Randall howled brokenly, fist slamming against the ground repeatedly until Hamish caught it and pulled him against his side.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Hamish whispered over and over again, clutching the back of Randall’s head against his shoulder as he forced himself to hold it together even as his heart shattered. Lilith was the first real Knight that Randall had lost. He needed to stay strong for him.

Only once those responsible for Lilith’s death were dealt with, would he allow himself to grieve.

 

Notes:

Sorry... we don't *want* to hurt them... we *have* to 😭

Chapter 4: Waking Nightmare

Notes:

As always, thanks for all the lovely comments last chapter. Still working our way through day 1 - seriously guys, it goes for a while but we will move past it eventually😂 And as some of you are starting to realize the tag 'slow burn' really means slow burn... but we'll get Vermish eventually too, promise 😂

CHAPTER FOUR

Pain. That was all Vera was aware of as she started regaining consciousness. Every breath she took hurt. Every movement she made sent jolts of searing heat flooding through her. She felt as if she’d been running from something all day, only to be hit by an oncoming train.

A nauseating scent began to surround her, suffocating her and causing her stomach to flip. She cracked one eye open to locate the scent but the white-hot pain flaring to life in her head had it snapping shut again with a moan. Her teeth clenched to stifle the pained gasp as she brought her hand up to clutch her head, the nauseating scent only growing stronger with the motion.

The roiling in her stomach grew as she felt her hand slide against her forehead. It was a familiar mix of sticky and slick that had dread pooling in her belly. Fighting through the blinding pain, she forced her eyes open to look at her hand. The crimson liquid coating it only held her gaze for a second before she saw Maddox’s crumbled form behind it.

“No!” she whispered while shakily pushing herself up and pulling the boy into her lap. “Maddox, honey? Stay with me, okay? Oh god, Maddox. Please stay with me,” Vera pleaded quietly, eyes filling with unshed tears, as she pulled her trembling fingers away from his weak pulse to lay the blood-soaked hand over the deep gashes across his face.

As soon as her eyes closed, she began to pull on the healing magic. A gasp of pain, carrying the hint of an angry growl, escaped as her bones began to pop. “NO!” she snarled, shoving the beast back and forcing her gaze to remain on Maddox’s wounded face, reminding herself of why she needed to stay in control.

The wolf pushed harder against her as she tried to focus, her fingers splitting as razor sharp claws began forcing their way out to pierce the bloodied face further. A pained sob escaped her lips as she battled the monster for control. Her trying to mend and heal. It trying to maim and kill.

“I said, no!” she growled, biting deeply into her bottom lip while hunching over the boy, eyes closing in concentration even as the muscles in her back stretched past the point of humanly possible. Her spine was shifting, excruciating pain forcing a whimper from her. “Please don’t do this, not to him. He’s just a kid. Please!” she begged the creature within her, but it was pointless. The beast didn’t care that the boy in her arms was innocent, didn’t care that he was just a kid. All it wanted was blood.

A thick haze started pressing in on her as the pounding in her head grew to agonizing levels. She tried to force the presence back, but her control was failing. A pained whimper slipped from her as she felt herself starting to sway.

She couldn’t hold on. Her popping joints began echoing through muffled ears, the noise growing more and more distant until…

“Stop what you’re doing right now or you’re going to kill him.” A masculine voice jerked her back to reality as a hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked it from Maddox’s face. She looked up to see vibrant blue eyes glaring down at her as he held her wrist in a vice grip. “Stop using magic. Now!” he ordered with a snarl that had her quickly backing down and releasing the magic.

Her vision immediately started to clear, the pressure on her mind easing, her muscles and bones returning to the right places. She closed her eyes in relief, sucking in a needed breath. “Thank you.” It was barely more than a whisper, an unwilling admission stemming from pure relief at being able to stop the monster dwelling inside of her.

“I didn’t do it for you,” the man ground out as he dropped her wrist, the sudden movement and pain causing her eyes to open just in time to see silver eyes fading back to blue. He was one of them.

She pulled back from his outstretched hand and the robe he held, instead crouching protectively over Maddox’s prone form. “I won’t let you hurt him.” Her voice was stronger than she expected it to be and she almost took pleasure from that fact before she saw the man standing in front of her smirk slightly as he tossed the robe at her.

“You’re the one that nearly killed him. Twice. By our vantage point, it’s not us that he needs protection from, it's you,” he stated matter of fact while shrugging into his own robe. Her gaze lingered for just a second on his muscled chest before his words sank in and she turned back towards Maddox.

The wounds on his face weren’t bleeding anymore, but this was worse. She had failed on the healing spell and it couldn’t be undone. The marks would fade, with time, but he’d be scarred for life. Because of her.

Three raised jagged lines of puckered angry red flesh marred his face from forehead to chin. Five puncture marks trickled with blood on the edges of his face. Four following his hairline on the right side from forehead to where his ear and jaw met, while one pierced just behind his temple of the left. The exact placement her fingers had been. “Oh god. Maddox, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” She spoke just to him, but the man’s quiet scoff told her he’d heard the words.

“You shouldn’t have betrayed us. He’d be fine and your people would still be alive.” Again, his voice held no anger or judgement. Not that she would have heard it, even if it was there.  No, her eyes were already taking in the horrifying scene in front of her.

Dozens of bodies garbed in ritualistic black robes and bone-white masks littered the field before her. Grass that should be green and dry from a week of no rain was left drenched by vibrant swathes of crimson. Children lay with severed limbs, gaping holes in their chests or throats violently torn out.

“What did you do?!” Confused eyes filled with pain and anger swept between the two men before her. The one sitting on the ground with his knees drawn up to his chest glared at her with pure hatred, while the man standing in front of her shook his head with indifference as he unfolded one arm from his chest to point at her.

“Not us. This was you-”

“What?! Liar! I didn’t do this… you… you’re both covered in blood! You did this!” she argued, shaking her head as her stomach convulsed. She couldn’t have done this. She had come here to try and save her students from Edward. She protected them. She always protected them. The man was lying to her. He had to be.

She didn’t realize she was getting sick until she tried to breathe and started choking. Looking down, she saw chunks of flesh in the bloody vomit. Seeing it caused another convulsion and she shut her eyes to prevent herself from seeing what came up as she forced herself to stand. “I can’t… I… Edward. I need to stop Edward.” She ran past both men, back into the basement to grab the potion she needed, unconsciously wiping the sleeve of the robe vigorously against her face to remove as much blood as possible.

The mostly full glass of bourbon beside the potion was like a brief moment of sweet relief. She grabbed it with one swipe of her hand, alcohol sloshing from it as she brought it to her mouth. The first large gulp swished viciously in her mouth, bits of tendons and flesh sliding across her tongue and cheeks as they dislodged from her teeth, causing her eyes to tighten as she forced her stomach to settle.

She spat the vile concoction from her mouth, pulling another swig and repeating the motion until she could run her tongue along her teeth without feeling anything. One sip remained, but before she could swallow it, she dumped it on her unbloodied sleeve and used the now soaked fabric to run over her face, sighing in relief as the acrid metallic scent was overpowered by the bourbon.

Her hands shook as she tried to fill the flask, more potion missing the tube and splashing back into the basin than actually going where she wanted it. “Fuck!” she spat, throwing the ladle across the room in frustration, and dunking the vial in the blue liquid - something she would have reprimanded any disciple for. Stopper in place, she ran back up the stairs, sidestepping the man who’d given her the robe as he reached out for her arm.

“Stop!” he snapped, running beside her until his hand closed around her elbow and jerked her backwards until she was facing him. “Where are you going?!” His hand tightened on her elbow as she tried to escape, but loosened of its own accord when she winced.

“I need to destroy the book. Edward has to be stopped-..”

“You’re not going alone-” he started, but quickly stopped as she yanked her arm from him, glare darkening with the hatred shining in her eyes for what they had turned her into.

They must have planned it from the beginning. Using her disciple to lure her here, tricking her into a false sense of security, forcing her to become a monster that would hurt an innocent child.

“I nearly killed a sweet, innocent child because of what you did to me. So, congratulations, you got what you wanted. Your plan to turn Belgrave’s Temple Magus into a monster worked. Own up to it and stop acting like you give a damn about what happens to me or my students.

"I, on the other hand, had no ulterior motives when I agreed to this damned alliance and plan to follow through with the original plan. Which, in case you forgot, is stopping Edward and destroying the Vade Maecum with this before he kills everyone,” she said while holding up the vial, jerking it closer when the man moved to take it from her.

“What is that?”

“Nephilim’s Tears. Ms. Drake’s idea. Either kill me now or get the hell out of my way!”

His brows pulled down as he studied her, clearly intent on saying something, but she was pleased when nothing came and he didn’t try to stop her as she turned towards her car again.

Her steps slowed when she got near Maddox until she was standing right next to him. She stiffly knelt beside him and brought her hand up to gently trace over one of the jagged lines before threading her fingers through his hair. “I’m so sorry, Maddox. I never meant to hurt you,” she whispered as tears she refused to let fall welled up in her eyes.

“You can’t take him with you. If Coventry gets his hands on him, he’s as good as dead. We’ll watch him till you’re done-”

“And how do I know you won’t kill him the second I leave?!” she snapped, glare turning towards him to see the first signs of emotion on his face. Anger, disbelief and thinly veiled pain.

“We’re not like the Order. We don’t kill kids-”

“Oh, please! Every single person that was slaughtered here today, except for her,” she pointed towards Bitsy’s body, “was a kid! You are covered in blood and you obviously feel no remorse for their deaths. And whatever monster is inside of me, wanted - wants - to kill him-”

“Don’t you dare act like you and your organization are innocent in all of this!” he growled, eyes flashing as he took a step closer. “That monster that’s inside of you? That’s Timber and she wants revenge because the Order killed her champion! A kid! A kid that you turned your back on, not once but twice now. You were supposed to be helping us save her from your organization and now she’s dead! You say you had no ulterior motive for this alliance but you betrayed us and killed her. But that wasn’t enough for you, was it? You wanted to kill all of us, so you summoned these kids that you claim to care so much about to attack us. Timber stopped-”

“What the hell are you talking about?! I didn’t summon anyone here! The only reason that I’m here, trying to work with you monsters - instead of protecting my disciples at my Temple - is because Edward ordered Ms. Drake to kill me, and Mr. Morton came to me for my help in destroying the Vade Maecum and freeing one of his friends. Which I planned to do before this parasite jumped me and ruined everything. You’re the one that betrayed me-”

“I saw your phone. You were all over our house gathering information so you could attack us,” the other man interrupted, voice muffled by his knees, causing Vera to scoff in disbelief.

“That's your proof that I betrayed you?! A list?! Are you fucking kidding me?! You are an unknown threat, all of you. I am responsible for the wellbeing of all the students that attend Belgrave, including you. I needed to know what I was up against if you ever decided to launch an attack, but I did not summon anyone here. Edward likely killed Ms. Bathory and used her to find where you lived. This slaughter and her death are on you, not me!”

“STOP LYING! YOU KILLED HER AND STOLE TIMBER FROM US, YOU BITCH!” he screamed, eyes flickering faintly as tears pooled within them. Vera watched as he pushed himself off the ground, canines elongating as he advanced on her. She unwillingly curled into herself slightly – pulling Maddox closer to her - as his skin began to pull apart, making way for black fur to appear.

“That’s enough, Randall!” the older man ordered, grabbing Randall’s wrist with a growl. “We give her one chance.” At his words, all of the fight flowed out of the younger man as he sank back to his knees, face coming to rest in his hands as he cried silently.

The man, who Vera was realizing was likely the leader, moved towards her. “We don’t trust each other and we don’t like each other. But I already stopped you from killing the boy twice now. That alone should tell you that I have no intention of harming him. Once you’re done with Coventry, tell Jack where you want me to bring him and I will. Until then, he stays with us.”

She studied him closely, looking for something in his eyes to let her understand the type of man that was crouched down before her, but there was nothing. Randall was like an open book, all rage and anguish over the loss of his friend. But this man? Even the hints of anger she’d seen earlier were gone.

Now it was an emotionless void as he commanded that she leave Maddox with them.

She knew why he was doing it. No matter what he said, it wasn’t to keep Maddox safe. Or at least, Maddox’s safety wasn’t the real reason for the demand. If he cared about him, he would have stopped her before she’d been able to hurt him at all. No, that wasn’t why he was demanding she leave without him.

Maddox would be safer with them than if she took him with her, she knew that. But she knew he was going to be used as leverage. If she left Maddox with them and she didn’t follow through with her promise to destroy the book or turned in the Knights, Jack would tell them and they’d take Maddox as a hostage, likely kill him despite the assurance that they didn’t kill kids.

But if she took him with her, she couldn’t protect him. Edward or someone else from the Order would take him and kill him. And that’s the choice she had to make.

Leave Maddox with savage beasts that had slaughtered her disciples without remorse or take him with her and risk him falling into the hands of a man far worse.

She looked down at the boy, his face pinched in pain, and let out a resigned sigh. There was only one choice she could make that would give him a chance to survive. She knew she could trust them to keep Maddox safe for their benefit.

“If any more harm comes to him, I promise to bring the full force of the Order down on you werewolves,” she threatened and watched amusement shine on his face as he nodded.

“You mean us werewolves, don’t you? Because if you order our execution, I promise that you will be ordering your execution as well. Just something to think about when you’re back in your Temple.” He didn’t even look at her as he scooped Maddox up and stood before starting back towards the Den.

She had just opened her car door, hands tightly balled into fists as she tried to force the image of the massacre from her mind, when his voice rang out again. “A word of warning, from one werewolf to another. Unless you want to be responsible for more deaths, I caution against using or being present when magic is performed. Our wolves don’t like it and if you couldn’t tell already, Timber clearly isn’t satisfied with her revenge just yet. Good luck, Magus.” He spat her title in disgust and mockery before disappearing inside the shack.

Vera only allowed herself a few seconds to stare at her trembling hands with the knowledge that any magic would likely pull the beast from within her before stifling the budding panic. She didn’t have time for this right now. She had to stop Edward, destroy the Vade Maecum, and save her disciples and the rest of the world.

Maddox would have to wait.

The students’ bodies filling the mass grave behind her would have to wait.

She would have to wait.

Her devastation at what she’d become and what it meant would have to wait.

Researching a way to get the monster out of her would have to wait.

Once again, the Order came first. The Order would always come first.

Notes:

There! See, Maddox at least survived... though he's not doing great and will be horribly scarred for the rest of his life - however long that is, well... all I'll say is WereKitte said 'let's kill him' and I went 'What if instead, we...' and I'm not sure if you should take comfort in that or not considering we both happily decided to keep him alive... that's not a great sign for Maddox tbh 😬😂

Chapter 5: A Wolf Amongst Sheep

Notes:

As always, thank you to those that commented last chapter. 🥰 We're so happy to see you're enjoying the intensity between Vermish and the events unfolding as much as we are!

CHAPTER FIVE

Jack quietly crept down the hallway leading towards the upper level of the altar room, senses on high alert so no one would see him. Before he even opened the door, he could hear Coventry berating Alyssa for failing in her task to kill Vera. He could feel Midnight feeding off of and encouraging his rising anger - willing him to jump in and attack - as Coventry talked about killing Alyssa and had to pause before reaching for the door to reign the wolf in.

“You can drop the merciful god routine. I’m not buying it.” Alyssa’s disgusted response did more to soothe his rising anger than anything he could have done himself. She wasn’t under his father’s sway anymore. She was on his side now, not his father’s. She wanted to stop his father nearly as much as he did.

‘Just a little bit longer, Alyssa,’ he thought to himself while carefully pushing the door open, just as Clay did the same. He backed into the shadows behind a pillar, able to hear and see the other occupants, but remain hidden from view.

“Is Jack Morton my son?”

He let a small victorious smirk spread across his face as his plan played out perfectly before his eyes. Edward believed the golem was him. He knew that when Alyssa confirmed it, his father would sacrifice the golem and fail. Pulling out his phone, he quickly sent a message to the others.

‘Coventry fell for the plan, he’ll kill himself. Get potion here to destroy book.’ - Jack

A thud pulled his attention back towards the altar and he only just managed to stop himself from crying out when he saw Alyssa lying unconscious on the floor. Midnight was straining against him to act, to do something instead of just standing back and hiding in the shadows but he couldn’t. Coventry just said he needed her to witness ‘his’ sacrifice, so he knew she wasn’t dead. He had to stay back, wait until Clay was sacrificed, then he could check on her.

“Stand up and open your eyes, Ms. Drake, it’s time for you to bear witness.” Edward’s hand reached out, turned and invisibly pulled her into a standing position before branches grew out of the temple floor to support her slumped form. Two vines on either side of her face sliding above and below her eyes before forcing them open.

Jack cocked his head in confusion as he studied her. Her eyes were open, but they were fixed in a stagnant position. He could see her chest rising and falling but there was no life or semblance of consciousness in her eyes. He looked back towards Edward, knowing he would need to reveal himself if the man did attempt to pluck her eyes out, but he was already raising the sacrificial dagger above his head.

The dagger landed and Jack felt the burden he’d been carrying his entire life lift as he saw little pieces of the blade begin to float away from it and back towards the book. The man continued to stab the golem, growling furiously as nothing happened. More and more of the dagger disappeared until his hand was clenched around nothing but air. It was just like Coventry had told Alyssa; the book doesn’t give second chances.

Jack sent one last message, unable to smother his grin as he started towards the stairs.

‘He’s dead.’ – Jack

“It’s not working. Why isn’t it working?!” His father’s panic was like sweet music to his ears. If he weren’t so full of himself, he could have checked Clay’s thoughts, but he didn’t. He could have waited a few more hours - an entire day even - but he didn’t. He was so sure of his power, that he fell for the trick. Just like Jack knew he would.

“Probably because you sacrificed a golem,” he said smugly, savoring the fear shining in the man’s eyes as Edward whirled around to face him. Jack moved towards Alyssa, but froze when the confusion on Edward’s face shifted to rage.

“You lied to me. What happens next is on you.” His hand pointed towards Alyssa’s prone form and Jack felt his heart skip a beat before he grinned even wider. His father went from the pinnacle of near unlimited magic to powerless.

“Let’s be clear, dad,” he spat the title at him in disgust while continuing towards Alyssa. “Whatever happens next is because of you and your arrogance. I stopped you from bonding with the book and now my mother’s spirit can finally rest.” He caught Alyssa as the vines holding her started to dissolve at the same pace as Edward, until nothing remained of either one.

“Alyssa? Alyssa, can you hear me?” He shook her gently, but she stayed limp in his arms. He was just about to try again when he heard Vera’s voice on the other side of the room. Gently setting Alyssa down so she was leaning against the altar, he moved towards the doors.

Vera would be able to help Alyssa. She had too.

---

As Vera briskly descended the stairs, her panic was rising again. What if Edward had ordered everyone to kill her on sight? Would they listen to him? Who was she kidding?! Of course, they would listen to their Grand Magus. Did it matter though? What if she was too late and he’d already bonded with the book? What if-

She froze at the sudden thought blossoming in her mind. What was she going to do if someone did use magic on her?

She could feel the monster lurking just beneath the surface - almost vibrating in expectation and excitement - waiting for her control to slip or magic to be cast, so it could butcher anyone that stood in front of it. Could she protect the rest of her disciples from the creature lurking within her like a timebomb?

She had to get this thing out of her as soon as possible. Her control would only last so long, she could already feel it wavering. She just prayed she’d be able to dominate the creature until she dealt with the most pressing issue first.

Forcing her sore legs into motion again, she made it to the bottom of the first set of stairs and looked out at the sea of masked figures. No one raised their hand to attack her and the painful ringing she’d heard earlier was thankfully absent.

Instead, whispers and murmurs erupted throughout the antechamber. When she caught the single word, ‘blood’, she remembered the state she was in, stoking the panic she felt. Her mind raced to come up with an explanation and found herself blurting, “Werewolves attacked us. Everyone’s dead.” Silence followed her words, but the whispers continued. “We need to find Lilith-”

“Magus?” The question came from one of the male Philosophi and she looked over to see Robert Brown removing his mask to show confusion. “Why are you in a man’s bathrobe?” His cheeks were already reddening as his gaze unconsciously flicked towards her bare legs before jumping towards her chest, his eyes widening as he realized where he was staring.

Vera followed his gaze to see the large robe was gaping open at the front from collarbone to navel, it clearly having been made for someone with much broader shoulders and a longer torso than her. Her hand shot up to clutch the robe together between her breasts, desperately hoping her cheeks weren’t as red as the disciple’s in front of her as she cleared her throat. “Let this be a lesson for all of you. When the Order summons you, you come - no matter what - and you don’t waste time for any reason.”

“And that’s the reason she’s the Temple Magus instead of any of us,” a feminine voice whispered from somewhere off to her right but she couldn’t make out who had said it.

“But what was she doing?” Another whisper, followed by a badly masked snort of laughter and a “I think you mean who was she doing? I mean, just look at the robe and that hair…”

The whisper was followed by another, more flustered, one this time. “It’s probably her robe. And she said she was fighting werewolves, that’s probably why her hair is-”

“Oh no, that’s definitely, ‘I was in the process of being thoroughly fucked before I was rudely interrupted’, hair. And look, ‘H.A.D’, last I knew her initials were V.S., not H.A.D-”

“I can’t believe she left in the middle-”

“Who’s to say she didn’t finish? She looks flushed. Maybe they were just snuggling after-”

“Chancellor Stone? Snuggling?! You could do stand up with jokes like that.” Snickers followed the statement before a girl’s excited question masked it.

“Oh, oh, oh! Who do you think she was with?! What’s that professor’s name? You know, the smoking hot one everyone calls, Professor Sexy. They’d be hot! And you know she could totally bag him – or anyone else probably – with those legs and those-”

“ENOUGH!” Vera shouted, face flushing scarlet at the open - albeit whispered - speculation about her sex life before a Magistratus quickly moved towards her, one hand pulling her mask off while reaching towards her with the other.

“Magus,” Selena said, eyes shining with awe despite the blush, as she held out the black robe for her. Vera gratefully reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding the robe closed to take it when the door to the altar room swung open.

"Magus, you're here! Come quick, the book is doing something to the... holy shit. You’re-" Jack’s eyes grew wide - nearly as wide as Vera’s - as he looked over her, taking particular note of the robe she wore. She had snatched the robe from Selena and was moving towards the young man before she realized it.

“The book is doing what, Mr. Morton?” she asked quickly, drowning out Jack’s words that likely would have revealed what she’d become to the entire temple, while shoving him back into the altar room. “Everyone stays put!” she ordered to the rest of the disciples over her shoulder before kicking the door shut behind her and turning furious eyes on the werewolf. “Are you out of your mind?! You’ll get both of us killed!” Her enraged whisper was followed by silence as he continued gaping at her.

Looking around, she felt her panicked anger subside when she saw the closed book on the altar and moved towards it. She quickly dumped the potion on it, watching the flames burst to life and clenched her eyes against the beast suddenly thrashing inside her. She didn’t hear any ringing, but it was obvious the monster could feel the power of the book as it burned.

“You’re really one of us?” Jack’s shocked disbelief sent her anger soaring again, giving her the strength that she needed to smother the creature, and she snapped furious eyes to him.

“I am not one of you. I was taken against my will by an enemy and forced to hurt a child. As soon as I deal with Edward, the Vade Maecum, and the slaughter your friends left, I will get this unwanted, parasitic monster out of me-”

“Coventry is dead, he sacrificed a golem and the book absorbed him.” His hand pushed itself through his hair while he whispered to himself, “Once you’re selected, you’re a champion until the day you die.”

Vera waited for him to expand on the statement as dread pooled in her belly. “What was that, Mr. Morton?” Her gaze returned to the burning book - unable to meet his eyes – to see the potion was working. At least they had succeeded in stopping Edward and the book. Small victories.

“There’s no way to de-wolf you without killing you.”

She stared at him for several seconds before shaking her head slowly. “I don’t believe you. And even if I did believe you, it would only be that you think there isn’t a solution. Forgive me for not trusting a werewolf or Acolyte on magical matters-”

“Fine, believe what you want. I’m surprised Hamish even let you live-” He stopped abruptly, eyes widening in panic before he started pacing, mumbling to himself. “Silverback is there, the other hides are taken, which means…” He looked up at her, moving closer as his eyes silvered over, causing her to take an involuntary step back. “Who’s hide are you wearing? Fuck!  Is Hamish dead? Did Tundra bond with you? Tell me!”

“They said it was called Timber…” Vera watched his eyes return to normal instantly as he nodded, the wolf inside of him not seeming to care as much. His reaction providing more support to her theory that the man she’d spoken to - Hamish - was their leader. She made a mental note that his wolf’s name was Tundra and that another called Silverback seemed to be burning with the Vade Maecum.

“Lilith. Coventry must have killed her before we could...” He looked down towards clenched fists before looking back towards Alyssa and Vera watched the tension flow out of him. “She made her choice. Can you look at Alyssa? He did something to her and she won’t wake up-”

“And what do you expect me to do?” she asked, her sympathy for him vanishing in an instant when he dismissed his friend’s death without a second thought.

“Use your magic to fix her somehow,” he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, while brushing the girl’s hair behind her ear.

Vera gaped at him slightly before crossing her arms in irritation. “So, the monster inside of me can kill her, along with the rest of my disciples in the other room? I don’t think so. Your kind has already butchered enough children to last a lifetime-”

“Our kind! And judging by the state you’re in, you butchered plenty on your own.” He didn’t say it to throw it in her face, that was obvious. It was the same matter of fact way that Hamish had said it and Vera’s fingers dug into her arms as she forced the images of the massacre from her mind.

She didn’t kill them. She’d hurt Maddox. That was all. The other two had slaughtered everyone else. “I only hurt your brother-”

“He’s not my brother and I want nothing to do with him. I was willing to let Coventry sacrifice him and fail at bonding with the book. If I hadn’t thought of another solution, I would have gladly handed him over…” he shrugged, and Vera felt a shiver of disgust rush through her.

“He is an innocent child and your blood…”

“He was Coventry’s son-”

“So are you! Or so you claimed. But who knows, maybe it was just another lie to manipulate me into helping you? Is this what being a werewolf is? You lot don’t care who you kill so long as you get what you want? Even if there’s another way?” Maybe she should expose the wolves if that was…

“My whole life I wanted revenge on my father for killing my mother, but this was about more than that. If it came to him getting unlimited magic or sacrificing some random kid, the choice was obvious. Hamish and Randall apparently disagreed because they got to him before I could and were trying to protect him. The Knights fight bad magic-”

“The disciples they slaughtered today weren’t-” she started, only to be interrupted.

“What were they doing there then, hmm? Were they there for you? For the Knights? Out for a casual stroll? Or did Coventry send a group of practitioners to collect his innocent son just so he could be sacrificed? Hamish and Randall saved the kid from his father and the Order. I may have been okay with his death, if it meant taking down Coventry, but Hamish and Randall protected him from a group of monsters that wanted his execution-”

“They wouldn’t have known what they were doing,” she interrupted, but her rage was noticeably lessened as she was being forced into seeing the attack through the men’s point of view. It wasn’t enough for her to agree with them, they still slaughtered dozens of children, but it was enough for her to let the matter rest – for now – and return to the more pressing matter at hand. “We need to come up with a plan, and fast.”

“Why should I trust-?” Jack started, but Vera’s glare shut him up.

“Your friends have Maddox. I don’t want any more harm coming to him or any more deaths, I would hope that you’d feel the same? I may not agree with what they did today, but I can’t fully condemn them either. Not when they were standing against Edward while trying to keep Maddox safe. Edward and the book have been taken care of, but there’s still a massacre that needs to be investigated and answered for. If you want to protect yourself and your friends, I need your help to sell the idea that the werewolves have been dealt with.”

He studied her for several seconds, trying to see if she was lying but her eyes - for once - were wide open to him. She meant what she said. “What do you need me to do?”

Notes:

See! We can do funny too! This was a *very* early scene we came up with that had both of us gasping for air... of course, the funny can't last forever... 😬😭

Kitte - Planning that scene was probably one of the hardest times I’ve ever laughed. I truly couldn’t breathe by the end. I think the best part was we were planning the other details, then had that sudden “wait...she’s still in Hamish’s robe...” and then decided she’d probably be too panicked to think about needing to go home and put on clothes first. 😂

Chapter 6: Cover Up

Notes:

As always, thank you those that commented last chapter. One of you even reminded us about something we forgot - after noting to each other that we can't forget - so... thanks 😂

We just wanted to remind people that hate Jack/Alyssa - you know my stance at least on both of them by now 😂, but that stance was caused by Season 2, season 1 they were just annoying. So... like WereKitte said to some of you, forget S2 Jack/Alyssa, forget Claimed/Bonded Jack/Alyssa. We're hoping to fix their characters with this story. Also, for Jack, don't forget he's wearing Midnight - the one always ready to sacrifice his champions and kind of the embodiment of a bitter old man - *and* just lost his Grandfather. He's not saying Lil deserved to die by any means, just that she made that choice - which she *did* - and what's done is done, there's nothing he can do to change it so they need to focus on what they can change... but yes, he is a bit of an ass, but there's at least some explanation for it 😂

CHAPTER SIX

“Your attention please,” Vera announced as soon as Jack pulled the doors open. All of the occupants immediately stopped whispering amongst themselves and turned towards her. She noticed some were unable to look her in the eye without blushing and grit her teeth. She should have changed first. “From what I was able to find before the werewolves showed up, all except for one of them has been dealt with. The Order’s first priority is finding a woman by the name of Lilith Bathory. She is-”

“Magus?” Selena interrupted while shoving two acolytes and a Medicum out of her way with an irritated glare to reveal the crumpled form of Lilith on the floor. “The Grand Magus has already dealt with her.”

Vera’s response died in her throat and she only just managed to suppress the furious snarl from slipping through her lips as the beast thrashed against her control. Her hand fisted tighter around the black robe in her hand as she felt her fingertips beginning to split. Jack’s throat clearing right behind her was enough to suppress the monster and Vera was thankful she had decided to let him in on her plan. She knew he was the only reason the wolf inside her had retreated.

And it had only to relented to protect the other werewolves, not to protect the innocent people standing in front of her. Vera could sense how much it wanted to slaughter every last person in the Temple. She needed to get out of here.

“Good.” Her hand curled against the robe again at the creature’s fury and forced herself to smirk. “That should be all of them then. But until we’re sure they’ve all been taken care of, no one is to use any magic-” Murmurs of complaint erupted around the room and Vera cleared her throat, silencing them immediately. “The werewolves are drawn to it and they can affect your spells. The group that attacked the werewolves’ hideout held close to thirty members and was made up of Acolytes, Medicums, Magistrati, the Head Councilor and myself. Everyone was slaughtered or gravely wounded. By three wolves. If you use magic and even one wolf still exists, it will find you and it will kill you. So, no magic until you hear otherwise. Do I make myself clear?”

A chorus of ‘yes, Magus’ went through the room and, after studying the sea of faces and finding most everyone was properly cowed, she continued. “I want all Acolytes and Medicums to return to their dorms until instructed otherwise. All Magistrati and Philosophi will accompany me back to their hideout to collect the disciple’s bodies and check for any indication that there might be more werewolves we don’t know about. Adepti, I want you to remain here to-”

“Excuse me, Magus,” a feminine voice interrupted, and Vera looked over to see Joanne wearing an incredulous look. Vera sighed in frustration - Joanne always had something to say and it looked like today was no exception - and waved her hand, signaling the Adeptus to continue. “You may have authority over this temple and its disciples, but only the Grand Magus can order the Adepti to-”

“Our Grand Magus is dead,” she said and the room was once again filled with whispers. She was happy to note that several of the faces before her showed a hint of relief before looking around nervously to see if anyone noticed their reaction.

“Excuse me?” Joanne stuttered, craning her head to look past Vera and into the altar room. “What did you do to him?”

“I tried to save him by severing his connection to that damned book. You all saw how it changed him in the last few days. Any one of you could have stepped up and tried to break the Vade Maecum’s sway on him before it was too late, but you sat back and let it corrupt him further and further until it eventually claimed his life. Not only did I destroy it before it could use our Grand Magus as a weapon, but I did so before any of you got close enough to have your lives taken by it as well. You’re welcome by the way.”

Vera held her breath at the following silence. This was the biggest gamble in their plan. She was relying on everyone in front of her noticing the unstable monster Edward had become. She waited, forcing herself to keep her calm demeanor until one by one, the higher-level members nodded, the lower rank following suit and offering quiet thanks. Her relieved sigh was smothered as she flicked her hair over her shoulder.

“Now that we’re on the same page, with the Grand Magus and Head Councilor dead, I am asking that the Adepti step up and assist the Order in guarding this chapter’s Temple and vault while I lead the Magistrati and Philosophi back to the werewolves’ lair to take care of our dead and ensure there aren’t any more threats to our organization. Is that acceptable with you, Joanne?” She directed her glare towards the older woman, the corner of her lips lifting in a slight smirk at the discomfort on Joanne’s face while she nodded her acceptance. “Good. Medicum and below, you’re dismissed. Return to your dorms and wait there until you’re told otherwise. Magistrati and Philosophi, be ready to leave in twenty minutes. Mr. Morton, bring Ms. Drake to my office. I’ll be with you shortly.”

She didn’t wait for anyone to start moving, instead making her way towards the bathroom. Her hand shook as she turned the lock over before she leaned against the door with deep breaths. She knew she was taking a huge gamble on trusting that the werewolves would follow her instructions, but she had to hope that when she led the disciples to the shack, their tracks would be covered for their own preservation at least.

Pushing herself off the door, she moved in front of the sink and took in her appearance for the first time. Her eyes immediately silvered over as she looked at herself, a quiet snarl slipping from her lips before she clutched the counter and shook her head forcefully to shove the creature back. It was still there, straining against her will, but without magic playing a role, Vera seemed to be able to hold the thing at bay.

She just couldn’t let her control slip for even a moment. She knew that if she did, she would be the one dominated and everyone outside this room would be in danger.

With trembling hands, she undid the fastening of the robe and let it pool at her feet, revealing the swath of crimson coating her arms, torso and thighs. There was so much blood. Too much blood. This much blood couldn’t be blamed on Maddox’s wounds alone. For her to be this covered, for her to puke up human flesh, she would have had to…

‘NO! I didn’t kill them! I would remember killing them,’ she argued with herself, all the while forcing the sudden fractured memories of teeth sinking into flesh from her mind before they could take root. She wasn’t responsible for the massacre she had awoken to. She had gone to protect them. She didn’t kill her students.

It was repeated like a mantra in her mind as she stepped into the shower to wash the blood from herself. She’d been grateful as a disciple that the Temple bathroom had been designed with showers - ritual preparation could be messy and those participating had to be cleansed before to prevent contamination - but she’d never been as happy as she was in this moment. Of course, she’d never been so thoroughly covered in blood before, especially not human blood…

“I didn’t kill them,” she whispered to herself as a few tears, that she let herself believe was water, fell down her cheeks. If she said it to herself enough, she might be able to believe it.

---

Hamish watched from the window as Vera left, Maddox still in his arms breathing shallowly. He didn’t trust her - despite believing her words that she hadn’t turned on them, she was their enemy still. He wanted to kill her, wanted to rip Timber from her while she was conscious and keep her hide safely locked away until a suitable champion came along. He wanted Vera to feel the suffering he had felt at the hands of her organization for the past nine years. She deserved to feel his pain after everything she had done.

But she was a Knight now. That was the problem. If it had been another hide – Midnight or Silverback, even Greybeard – he might have followed through on his desire to slit her throat. But it wasn’t another hide.

Timber had chosen her for some reason. And she had been helping them before Timber bonded with her. She’d prepared the potion that Jack’s girlfriend had asked for. She had stopped Timber from killing Maddox – the only truly innocent one on that field by his assessment - and fought hard to heal the boy, despite Timber’s lust for vengeance. She pushed past the death of her students – though he knew she was lying to herself about her part in it – and ran straight into danger, risking Timber coming out again, to stop Coventry.

So what if she had started a list on them? They had done the exact same thing. By following Jack around – both before and after Silverback bonded with him - they had been able to discover the names of all of the neophytes and some of the higher ranked members. The others had stopped bothering once Jack said the oath - trusting their new Knight to share pertinent information with them - but Hamish hadn’t.

Every new name that Jack had mentioned in the last year, every description Hamish overheard, every person he saw walking with or talking to a known disciple of the Order, was added to his list. He needed to monitor the threat himself to keep his pack safe. He wasn’t going to trust his Knights’ safety to a double agent. Not when he wasn’t absolutely certain which side held their loyalty. His list was pages long by this point.

As a leader, he understood her. He hated everything about her and her organization, but he did understand her. And it was because he understood her that he walked right back out of the Den, snagging his car keys along the way, the second her car was out of his line of sight.

“Get up and start packing anything that would identify us, including her ripped clothes. Get the list you saw and destroy it,” he barked at Randall as he moved towards his car, popping the trunk and carefully shoving Maddox inside it. He couldn’t risk the boy waking up and running off- he was too important to their survival. Hopefully he’d remain unconscious until they finished and he’d never need to learn about his time spent locked in a trunk. “Now, Randall!”

“Why?! We have the kid as leverage. She’s not going to risk-”

“She’s going to come back here with reinforcements. Not to attack,” he interrupted Randall, likely about to snap something along the lines of, ‘I told you we should have killed her.’ “I doubt she’ll be able to sell the illusion that she was the only one to walk away from this slaughter and that she was able to take care of the werewolf problem. She won’t want them starting an investigation, not now that she’s one herself and we have Maddox. She knows that I kept Maddox as insurance, and she cares about him. She knows we’ll use that weakness to our advantage. She’s going to say the problem was taken care of to protect him and her own life. But there’s no way they’re going to take her word for it, not after how many people died. She’ll need to prove it. To do that, she’ll lead them here. We can’t be here, and we can’t leave a trail for them to follow. Now move.”

Randall was up in an instant and running towards the Den.

“Start with your room, get anything with your name on it, or anything that could lead back to you, out. Then move to Jack’s, make sure there’s nothing in it. I’ll…“ His words died in his throat as Lilith’s grinning face appeared in his mind. “Did Lil have anything of yours in her room?”

Randall froze and looked back at him with a pained expression. “I… I don’t know… I can’t go in there…” His eyes were filling with tears again and Hamish felt another piece of himself chip away at the knowledge that he’d have to go through her room.

“I’ll take care of it. Once you finish with yours and Jack’s rooms, go through the living room. Only leave stuff that could track back to Lilith, okay? The Order already knows she’s one of us. Vera will use that to her advantage-”

“What are you going to be doing?” Randall interrupted, but Hamish knew he only did it because he couldn’t let himself think about Lilith’s death. Hamish would happily change the topic.

“There’s no way in hell I’m going to let the Order get their hands on our lockers or our journals.” His eyes flashed brightly at the thought of their stuff being taken by the enemy. Vera he may understand and have leverage over. So long as he held Maddox and the threat of revealing her as one of them, she would cooperate. The rest of the Order - as evidenced by the mass of people sent to collect Maddox just to kill him - didn’t care if the boy died.

 

They had packed everything related to the wolves into their cars, leaving barely enough space for them to fit behind their steering wheels, and were doing a final sweep of the Den when Jack’s text came through.

‘Book is destroyed. The Order will be there in less than 20 minutes. Vera’s going to say there were 3 wolves and said to find 3 bodies that weren’t mutilated and burn them. She also said to make sure there’s nothing that traces back to us or more than 5 wolves existing, counting Kyle. Make sure you’re gone - with the kid - before we get there.’ – Jack

“What did I tell you?” Hamish said with a humorless smile while looking over the sea of mutilated bodies. “Hopefully she left something we can use.”

It took longer than they hoped, but less time than they expected, to find three acceptable candidates. One of which was conscious and had forced himself under one of the mutilated forms to hide. Before he could open his mouth to scream, Hamish snapped his neck with a growl and pulled him into the most likely position. Randall dragged a tall feminine figure towards him that had minor scratches and a cracked neck.

“Grab matches from the kitchen,” Hamish instructed while dragging the last body – the one he’d killed when Timber arrived – towards the other two and began pulling the masks and robes from the bodies. Once he was satisfied with the placement, all three bodies were set on fire.

They didn’t bother to stay and watch as the bodies burned, the pools of blood in the grass surrounding them would keep the flames from spreading.

Without looking back, they left the Den with everything related to the Knights packed securely in their cars. Hamish wanted to stay, to watch what transpired once the Order arrived, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t going to risk the Knights’ belongings ending up in the Order’s hands. No, he would wait until he got everything - including the boy - unpacked and under Randall’s protection, before heading back and watching from the distance.

There was a new potential champion to monitor. He needed to be prepared and in position to put her down if need be.

Notes:

I honestly feel absolutely *terrible* for Vera breaking down *slightly* in the shower. I don't know how much longer she'll be able to continue lying to herself, especially with Timber trying to force the memories on her 😭

Chapter 7: Coerced Memory

Notes:

As always, a huge thank you to those that commented last chapter. We know there's not a ton of Vermish scenes just yet - mostly because so much happens in day 1 - but stick it out and we promise they will come!

CHAPTER SEVEN

“So… are we just going to sit here till the others show up?” Jack asked when Vera stayed frozen behind the steering wheel. She looked over to see him slouched in the passenger seat, looking far too comfortable in her opinion, before looking back at the hazy sky in front of her.

If she didn’t look down, she could almost convince herself it was just a storm brewing and not the burning remains of students she was supposed to protect.

She knew they couldn’t remain sitting here. She’d given instructions to Mr. Brown to lead the rest of the disciples by foot so that they could bring stretchers with them to care for their dead. They should be here any minute now and she still had to make sure the werewolves had followed her instructions. She needed to get out of the car and confront the massacre she had walked away from before the others arrived.

And yet, she couldn’t get herself to let go of the steering wheel. She couldn’t convince herself to open the door. To open herself up to the metallic scent of blood and the stench of burning flesh. She couldn’t face the mass grave that she knew was right in front of her, if she just lowered her gaze a few inches.

“Magus?” he asked, voice lacking any respect but shining with a subtle humor that had her lip curling into a disgusted scowl. She had acted as if Mr. Morton had been in on her plans to ‘save Edward’ and that had apparently been enough for the others not to question her bringing the acolyte along.

The real reason for his presence - not that she’d admit it, even to herself - was that she was afraid. She feared the bloodthirsty monster lurking beneath the surface would break her control – she could feel it pushing against her even now - and take over if its fellow werewolf wasn’t around. She was tired, and sore, and she honestly didn’t know how much longer she could keep the beast back if it kept fighting against her.

No, rationally it made sense that she’d have him with her. He knew more about werewolves and those that lived here. He could make sure there wasn’t anything for the other members to find, especially when it came to his presence here. The last thing she needed was for the Order to find out he was a werewolf right after she said she’d been working with him to destroy the book.

So why couldn’t she get herself to open the door?

“Look, I get it. I didn’t ask to be turned into a werewolf either. I didn’t want to accept what I’d become, and acted like I could continue on as if nothing had changed in my life. I didn’t let the others help me or even try to understand what being a Knight meant. And Professor Clarke is dead because of that choice.  Instead of making the same mistakes I made, you might as well just accept what happened and stop-”

“You mean accept that fact that you tricked me into becoming a monster while your friends slaughtered my disciples? No thanks,” Vera snapped, throwing the door open and getting out of the car. She heard Jack starting to say something and slammed the door shut before he could finish, knowing it would be something to irritate her further.

Too much had happened today, her temper had never been so close to the surface that she feared she wouldn’t be able to rein it in if it was triggered.

She heard his door slam shut mere seconds after hers and nearly snapped at him again because of the unnecessary force he used. Knowing it would do nothing but make things more strained between them - especially since she’d shut her door harder - she let it go and stiffly moved towards the smoldering corpses.

Her gaze refused to drop low enough to register any of the other bodies as she walked.

She was halfway through the field of dead when Jack’s low whistle had her freezing in place, “Man, and here I thought it couldn't get more brutal than Killith. I guess you wanted to prove me wrong. Well done, Magus.” His words cut through her and her gaze unwillingly flicked down to take in the remnants of the savage attack in front of her.

Both hands clenched into fists, her nails puncturing the palms of her hands, the pain thankfully bringing her back to the present before the fragmented images could solidify in her mind. She could tell he’d meant the words, despite the thinly veiled amused irritation that laced them.

By the way he’d kept his back turned towards her, he knew his words of praise would come across as cruel. She couldn’t be positive, but she thought he’d even meant them to be. Words meant to hurt her while trying to force her to accept blame for the slaughter. If anything, it spoke more volume to her belief that his friends planned this.

All of them seemed happy with the massacre here, despite the fact that most of the dead would have had no idea what they were doing. There’s no way she could be responsible for this massacre. Her hands fisted again as she was forced to remember the feel of teeth sliding into taunt flesh as someone screamed.

It wasn’t her! Her mind was just playing tricks on her. Or perhaps the werewolves had done something to her to put these memories and feelings inside her mind? Had Mr. Morton given his friends - his true allies - pulvis memoria to use against her? She’d been unconscious for who knew how long. An easy target for memory manipulation.

She wanted to believe it, but knew she would have seen remnants of the powder stuck to the crimson liquid when she’d looked in the mirror. If they did something to her, it had to be something that wouldn’t leave a visible trace.

“Make sure nothing was left that would lead the Order back to you or your friends,” she ordered, refusing to look down as she stepped over the crumpled form of a Magistratus at her feet before moving towards the basement. She doubted they had bothered to cover up her tracks.

Sure enough, her purse was still beside the basin. The potion was still bubbling inside, but instead of the runny vibrant blue liquid that gave off a sweet aroma, it was replaced by a viscous, undulating mass liken to tar and was spewing a foul odor that had her scrunching her nose in displeasure. Her hand raised, ready to clear the spoiled potion magically, before the ringing started and she immediately dropped her hand to catch herself against the desk. Vera watched the black claws slowly receding, her blood trickling down her fingertips and onto the desk, as she caught her breath and pushed the beast back before quickly wiping her blood from the wood.

“You might want to be careful down there or Timber will come out to play!” Jack’s shout of warning drifted down from the top of the stairs, amusement thick in his voice. She let out a growl of irritation, ignoring the hint of desperation that escaped, and threw the basin across the room. It shattered on impact, the potion splashing across the wall and mixing with the thick layer of dirt and cobwebs.

“At least it’s unrecognizable now,” she murmured to herself, knowing the dust alone would have contaminated it. Grabbing her purse, she slowly started looking for her phone and clothing. Her search led her to stand in front of the open alcove, now stripped bare of the magical chests. She tried to step inside, to look around the corner to see if her belongings were there, but the second she passed over the threshold, it felt as if the air was being snatched from her lungs.

In the split second she’d been sucked into the panic attack, a vivid image sprang to her mind.

Kepler staring at her, terror radiating from eyes no longer hidden behind the ram’s skull, as a brown fur covered limb raked deeply against her chest. The woman’s hands desperately trying to stem the bleeding as she fell to her knees. Maddox appearing out of nowhere to catch Bitsy as she fell, before looking up at her with confused terror as those same claws slashed against his face.

She felt her knees connect with the stone floor once the beast released her from the image and pounded her fist against her chest to convince her lungs to take a shuddering breath. Vera could feel the creature’s enjoyment at the reaction the memory caused and hated it all the more. “That was you, not me. I will find some way to get you out of me and when I do, you will pay for what you did to them-”

“Yeah well, that impossible dream will have to wait,” Jack interrupted from the doorway. Vera tensed, before stuffing the items that had spilled from her purse back inside and giving up on her search for her belongings. Hamish and Randall must have taken her things as well to keep themselves safe. “The others are here and they brought two other people I’ve never seen. A tall guy with glasses and a woman that I think is Scottish from her-” he continued and Vera’s eyes widened.

“Shit, they shouldn’t be here!” She hurriedly pushed herself off the floor and looked around the basement quickly, making sure she’d gotten everything before turning towards Jack. “Did you get everything that could trace them back to you?”

“I went through my room, so-”

“Go through the other rooms. Make sure there’s nothing that anyone can find. And be quick about it…” She tried to force herself to relax but the unexpected arrival of the two adults had her on edge. If anyone would be able to tell there was something wrong with her, it’d be them.

“Who are they?” Jack asked while looking around the basement. Vera blew her hair out of her face as she adjusted her purse and smoothed out the black robe.

“Two Adepti that have more than earned their rank. We need to be extremely careful around both of them. Listen to me closely, Mr. Morton. You may not respect me, my title, or the Order, but around them, you need to act like you do. They are more skilled in magic than anyone you’ve met, outside of myself and Edward. Your father may be gone, but he wasn’t the only person in the Order that was capable of being a serious threat to you werewolves-”

“You mean us werewolves, right? You being one of us and all-”

Vera huffed in irritation as she whirled around on the stairs to glare darkly at him. She took one step closer and stood to her full height, which only brought her eyelevel despite being on the stair above him. “I am not one of you. I will find a way to get this monster out of me-” 

“Keep telling yourself that and it’ll only be a matter of time before you kill someone else. You need to accept what you’ve become and move on,” he ground out in exasperation, but she’d already turned her back on him and started up the stairs.

“The rooms, Mr. Morton,” she threw over her shoulder and took a deep steadying breath before stepping onto the main level of the house and walking towards the door. She could hear the two Adepti directing the disciples to start searching for any survivors and found the first genuine smile spreading across her face at the familiarity of their thick accents.

They may be the worst people to be around at the moment, but she had missed them dearly.

“Adeptus Adler, Adeptus Coburn. Lovely to see you both again, I just had hoped it’d be under better circumstances,” she greeted from the doorway, smile growing as they looked up and quickly made their way towards her.

“Really, Vera? Back to our surnames? After nearly two decades of being friends, I would think you’d know better by now.” The redhead grinned as Vera’s eyes widened and closed the distance before Vera could step back.

“Melissa, get off!” Vera flushed as she saw several of her disciples looking at her, but Melissa just snickered in her ear and tightened her arms around her. She looked towards the man behind Melissa, unsurprisingly laughing, and glowered. “Simon, get over here and get her off of me!”

“As you wish,” he said, giving a slight bow that she knew wasn’t out of respect. “Mel, you heard the lady-”

“Always being her knight in shining armor and killing all my fun.” She pouted, but pulled back and slung an arm around his shoulders as he shook his head and met Vera’s amused glare with his own. The moment didn’t last though as Vera watched the two look towards the field of dead, their smiles fading as they took in the slaughter.

“What happened, Vee? I thought we were supposed to meet you at the Temple but they said you were here for this… butchery? That you were helping them fulfill his request? Did you change your mind after you visited and neglect to tell us?” Simon asked while shrugging Melissa’s arm off and moving closer to her. She looked into his kind eyes and felt a little bit more control come back to her with the familiarity of his gaze.

She looked around at the disciples in the clearing while stepping closer to the two, making absolutely certain no one would overhear. “The werewolves kidnapped Maddox and Edward sent them here to take him back so he could complete the sacrifice. I couldn’t let him be taken and I had hoped to protect… Edward had tasked one of my Medicums to slit my throat, so I didn’t get the news until it was too late. Those still fighting were barely capable of standing, but with their help, I was at least able to finish the monsters off before they could escape and hurt anyone else.”

“And the boy? He was here, right?  Did he…?” Melissa asked, her eyes scanning over the bodies, likely trying to locate a child’s body amongst the chaos.

“He’s wounded, but thankfully still alive. But until I’m sure the threat to him is gone, he stays hidden.”   She was just about to say more when one of the disciples started shouting for help. All three of them snapped their attention towards the man to see him kneeling beside a body.

A body that was slowly pushing an Acolyte mask off their face to reveal Gabrielle Dupres.

Vera wasn’t sure if she felt relief or terror at the thought that the girl may have overheard her conversation – if she could even call their exchange of threats a conversation - with Hamish earlier. Did Gabrielle know she was a werewolf? Did she know she’d let Hamish and Randall go? Did she know she’d been actively conspiring against Edward?

She stayed rooted to the spot, questions she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answers to racing through her mind, as Melissa took off running towards the disoriented girl. She had assumed everyone was dead from the savagery of the attack. She should have checked for survivors before fleeing the scene. Who knew if there had been more of her people that she could have saved?

And yet, out of everyone that could have survived, it had to be her.  The one person who had already killed a werewolf. The one person who’d been insistent that there were more still out there. The one person that wanted to be known as a werewolf hunter. The one person that she doubted would just accept her assurances that there weren’t anymore.

Just fucking perfect.

---

Casting - These are in no way inspired by the characters they play. The images just happened to fit our unnamed/uncast 'Male Adepti' and 'Female Adepti'.

Simon Adler 

Melissa Coburn

Notes:

Timber's kind of being a jerk right now, not gonna lie 😟 But we've got some new faces! And can I just say, I adore them both already 😍 And oh dear, Gabrielle Fucking Dupres is still alive 😬😬

Just a heads up, we may not post next week since we're both crazy busy during Thanksgiving. We'll try but won't be pushing ourselves over the holiday. If it does get missed, we'll be back the following Thursday.

As an apology for the possible delay, little update...we're ALMOST finished writing day 1... almost 😂

Chapter 8: Survivors

Notes:

A huge thanks to those that commented last chapter, we love seeing your reactions to this alternate universe we're creating!

If you've noticed, we're changing up posting dates. Hopefully we'll be able to stick with the every week updates for a while now that the Thanksgiving craziness is over.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“The rest of you, spread out! Keep looking and check for pulses on everyone! If one person survived this attack, there may be others!” Simon barked his orders, breaking through the shocked reactions of the disciples as Melissa continued tending to the dazed Acolyte. He looked back towards Vera and moved closer a step so he could give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Maybe you were able to save some of them. You did good, Vee.”

She knew her smile was more of a grimace, but Simon didn’t seem to care. He likely assumed it was because he didn’t think she considered this slaughter ‘doing good’, even though they both knew he was talking about stopping the werewolves.

If only he knew the monsters responsible for the scene before them were still alive. If only he discovered that she was one of them, even if it was temporary. He wouldn’t be congratulating her if he knew.

It hurt lying to him, a lot more than she thought it would. He put so much faith in her. He’d been willing to put himself on the line to fight his Grand Magus – and the rest of the Order – when the only proof had been her word alone. And now, she was betraying that trust. She was turning her back on her own people – people she cared about, people that were willing to lay down their lives for her – to hide monsters that might turn around and hurt more of her people. What was she doing?

“Magus! Come quick, it’s Councilor Kepler!”

All thoughts of telling Simon what happened to her- thoughts she knew were born from fear and exhaustion, rather than trust - left as her wide eyes met his. Without a word, they ran towards the bone white Councilor.

Vera looked down at the deep gashes and congealed blood pooled around the woman’s body and raised her brow in disbelief. There was no way the woman could have survived this, right? And yet, the Philosophus staring up at her with Bitsy in her arms looked scared enough that something had to be going on.

Crouching down beside the mangled body, she reached out a hand to lay her fingers against the side of Bitsy’s neck. She was just about to pull away when she felt it. The slowest heartbeat possible thrummed weakly against her fingers. It was evidence of an extremely difficult and advanced self-preservation spell.

One that had to be laid hours in advance. Well before Edward had ordered the attack. Which meant Bitsy hadn’t trusted Edward. If she took the time and effort to perform this incantation, before the werewolves had become a problem for him, she had to realize what a monster he’d become.

Had she come here, followed through on Edward’s request, just to take care of the werewolf threat and save Maddox?

“I knew you were too stubborn to die that easily,” she whispered, but the relief at finding her old friend alive didn’t last. The beast within her slammed against her control at the knowledge that both Kepler and Gabrielle were alive. It’s work – it’s vengeance – wasn’t done.

She clenched her eyes tight and drew in a ragged breath, trying to force the beast down when she felt a hand come to rest against her back. The familiar weight instantly calmed her and gave her enough control that she was able to draw breath easily again.

“Do you want me to heal her?” he asked quietly. He was already shifting Kepler into his arms, reminding her that he was friends with Bitsy as well. Her mouth opened to tell him no, but Melissa slid onto her knees beside the wounded woman, hands instantly reaching out to lay over the ravaged flesh.

Between the three of them, Melissa had always been the closest to Bitsy over the years, despite the redhead constantly playing tricks on the Councilor.

Vera felt the ringing begin and her eyes blew wide as she realized what was about to happen. Her hand snapped out and closed around Melissa’s wrist before she could finish forming the spell and jerked it away from Bitsy’s chest.

“What the hell, Vera?! She’s barely holding on as it is. We need to heal her before-”

“It’s not safe,” she gasped out, trying to buy herself time to come up with a believable lie. “The werewolves did something that interferes with our magic. I tried to heal Maddox after they fell, but the spell failed. His face is going to be scarred for the rest of his life because I didn’t notice in time. We can’t risk our incantation failing when it comes to the Head Councilor. You and Simon need to take her back to the Temple and use whatever potions we have in stock. They were made before everything happened today, so hopefully they’ll work.”

“You should come back with us…” Melissa said as she shrugged off her cardigan and pressed it against Bitsy’s chest to try and slow the bleeding. Not that it seemed like she had much blood left. It was the preservation spell alone that was keeping her alive.

“I can’t. I have to make sure the threat has been neutralized. Unless you absolutely need to, wait to use the healing incantations until I call you. The wolves can sense magic being used, and if there’s any more of them out there, we can’t risk them attacking you or the Temple. Hopefully between the natural magic in the altar room and the potions, it will be enough to counteract whatever it is they did…”

“What if someone tries to interfere?” Simon asked while removing his hand from her back to carefully lift Kepler into his arms, Melissa keeping pressure on her wounds the entire time. Vera scowled, knowing one person in particular would likely have a problem with the foreign Adepti giving them orders.

“If anyone tries to override what you say and Councilor Kepler is harmed in any way, tell them that they will have the choice between The Fenestrated Man, Morlock’s Lament, or Solomon’s End as their punishment. No one is going to risk their life on an attempt that could potentially leave the Head Councilor scarred for life. Her preservation incantation should be enough to keep her alive until we know it’s safe to heal her, so long as you can stop the bleeding and clean her wounds.”

“You’re scary when you want to be, you know that?” Melissa smiled sadly as she looked down at her friend.

Vera reached out and laid a hand on the Scot’s arm with a quick squeeze. “She’s strong, Mel. And much too stubborn to let some mangy dog take her down. We both know she’ll be back to badgering us to go out to whatever new high-end bar that ‘all the critics are talking about’ soon enough and then we’ll be wishing she was unconscious still.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I would never wish for such a thing,” she said with mock offense seeping into her voice. Vera looked at Simon as they moved towards her car to see him looking back at her with his brow raised before they both turned their disbelieving gazes on the redhead. “Shut up, it was one time-”

“Exactly, Vera,” Simon said, turning to give Vera a cheeky grin. “It was only one time… every time we went out,” he added after a long pause. Vera partially returned his smile as Melissa let out a huff while rolling her eyes.

“She’s just so annoying sometimes! And she always ditches us for the first guy that looks her way. I mean really, who does that?!”

“Well, she was easier to deal with the next day, much more agreeable, which made my job easier, so I can’t complain about that-”

“Oh please, I still fully believe that you brought the men over just so she’d get distracted, and you and Simon could leave. I’m onto you, Vee…” Melissa scowled up at both of them and despite them trying to appear innocent, it was obvious from their matching smirks that that was exactly what she’d done.

“It wasn’t just her, Mel…” Simon tried to come to Vera’s defense, but Melissa only started laughing as she condescendingly patted him on the arm.

“That’s cute that you think so, but you didn’t exactly attract the right type of men, my dear. Vera pulled them in and when she made it obvious that she wasn’t going to be going home with them, they talked to us. But with the men you brought over, once they realized ’the hot German’ was straight, they left. But um… sure, we can say you helped if that makes you feel better.”

Simon looked towards her in shock at the news and Vera just shrugged with a subtle nod. “She’s right. It was always amusing watching you flirt with them so we didn’t stop you…” A tiny, barely there, chuckle slipped from her as he gaped at both of them.

“I was merely talking with them to introduce them to Bitsy, I was not flirting with them!”

“You flirt with everyone, Simon. Vera and I long since stopped taking bets on when your proclivity towards it would get you slapped by the wrong person. I mean, even your wife-”

“Ex-wife,” Simon corrected, and Vera saw Melissa flush slightly while giving him an apologetic look. It’d been about a year since they split - a mutual decision, he’d assured them both when he told them - but they’d been married for more than ten years.

“Sorry, it’s hard to remember that she wasn’t just traveling for work.” She waited until he shrugged the apology off, obviously not taking offense to the slip up, before continuing. “But my point still stands. Even when you were married, you flirted with anything that moved. We would watch you flirt with someone’s girlfriend, see the boyfriend coming over and think we were going to have to jump in to save you, only for you to somehow manage to charm him too. And yet you were oblivious to the attention unless it was some woman you were trying to sleep with. It really was quite entertaining.”

“I don’t flirt with everyone… do I?” He looked towards her and Vera nodded but she could have sworn there was something else driving the question than mere curiosity. Something to do with his ex-wife, perhaps? Before she could think on it too long, he looked away and indicated she unlocked the back door to her car.

“Take care of her for me, will you? I really don’t want to have to break in a new Head Councilor and Grand Magus at the same time,” she teased, but her voice was lacking any humor as she took in the pallor of Bitsy’s face. If someone as strong as Bitsy- despite her unoriginal thinking- barely survived, what hope did any of her disciples have?

And there were still three werewolves out there.

“Vee? Is everything okay?” Simon asked quietly, gently taking her hand again while stepping between her and Bitsy’s body, likely thinking it was seeing her friend in such a gruesome state that had her so troubled. She looked up and forced a smile she knew he didn’t buy before pulling her hand out of his and giving him her keys.

“Edward was stopped, and the book was destroyed, but my disciples are still dead, Simon. ‘Okay’ isn’t exactly how I’d describe today…”

“Oh god, Vera, you know I didn’t mean it like…”

She let out a sigh at his apology, giving another strained smile because she knew he was one of the few people that knew how much she cared for her students and would never even think to imply otherwise. “I know, it’s just been a long day. I’ll send Mr. Brown back with you so he can get you everything you need. If there’s any remnants of the Vade Maecum on the altar, can you move it into the Reliquary and keep anyone from entering? I doubt it’s still able to be tampered with, but with magic that powerful, it’s better to be on the safe side.” She looked towards the crowd of Magistrati being overseen by the Philosophus not searching the house, already seeing that more than ten stretchers were laden with bodies, before calling out for Mr. Brown to join them. “Please don’t crash my car. That’s the last thing I need after today.”

“I’m used to DC traffic, Vera. I’m pretty sure I can handle a ten-minute drive on Belgrave grounds,” he said with a half smirk before frowning. “Call us if you need help, okay? And be careful. You survived one attack but if there are more of these monsters out there, they won’t take kindly to their friends being killed. Especially if they know you’re the one responsible.”

She felt the monster’s furious agreement with the statement and couldn’t find the strength within herself to do more than nod slightly before she numbly made her way over to the only other survivor of the mass slaughter they’d found so far.

She knew the werewolves blamed her for their friend’s death, despite the fact that she had been planning to save her. Randall already made it clear that he wanted to kill her. Jack didn’t seem to care either way, but found the possibility of her death almost amusing. And Hamish?

He was a total mystery. She had seen hatred directed towards her in that brief moment he’d let his emotions show. But he had also stopped Randall from killing her and he stopped her from killing Maddox. That alone told her he didn’t want to kill her for some reason. At least, he didn’t want to kill her yet.

More confusing, though, was the fact that he’d given her a robe to cover herself with as soon as she’d regained consciousness. And according to the monogrammed golden letters on it, it had to be his robe. He could have taken pleasure in her humiliation, something she was positive both Randall and Jack would have done.

He could have made her walk around naked, or given her one of the other robes she’d seen hanging on the coatrack when she’d been surveilling, all of which would have been more revealing based on height alone, but he hadn’t. He’d allowed her – someone he considered an enemy – a modicum of respect and decency by allowing her to cover herself.

She couldn’t understand why he would bother.

Notes:

We had EVERY intention of killing Kepler in this one... but then I fell in loved with her in Claimed and WereKitte loved her in Mistaken Consequences we just sort of went... yeah, but what if we DON'T kill her? And we're both so happy with that...even though it's really not going to be great for Vera or the other wolves.

Chapter 9: Revelations

Notes:

As always, a huge thank you to those that take the time to comment each update. You really do keep us writers interested in continuing to write, so thank you for taking the time to let us know you're enjoying it 🥰🥰

CHAPTER NINE

“I’m not talking to you, get off of me!” Gabrielle snapped as she shied away from the Magistratus that was trying to help her up. Vera waved the man off, as well as the other three that were pestering the girl for answers. ‘Why do they always have to hover?!’ she thought to herself as the disciples slowly moved to follow her order before turning her gaze towards the girl on the ground.

Gabrielle was looking up at her, distrust heavy in her eyes and Vera’s steps faltered as her mind started racing. Had she been seen?  Had her conversation – if an exchange of threats could be considered a conversation - with the two werewolves been overheard?  Did Gabrielle know she had let them go?

“Ms. Dupres, sticking with your wish to become a werewolf slayer, I see.” She watched Gabrielle shy a little further away from her while crossing her arms protectively in front of herself. Vera noticed the other disciples lingering just at the edge of hearing range and impatiently waved them further away, giving the girl privacy to speak. The movement drew her attention to her nails, or more specifically, the blood under them. Before anyone could take note of the incriminating evidence, she crossed her arms – discreetly tucking her nails beneath each – and shifted the focus back towards Gabrielle. “Is there a problem, Acolyte?”

“Just something the Grand Magus said…” she trailed off hesitantly, as if expecting an attack and Vera realized the girl did suspect her, but not for being a werewolf. This she could handle.

“Ah, let me guess, it was something related to me, correct? That I was interfering with his plans of completing the book?” She watched the girl’s eyes widen in surprise before she nodded slowly, likely fearful of angering her Temple Magus. “That’s because I was. Tell me, Ms. Dupres, do you know why you and your fellow disciples were actually sent here?”

Gabrielle opened her mouth to respond, but paused as she studied Vera’s face. She could tell the girl suspected there was something more to it than just ‘to kill werewolves’ and raised her brow in expectation. “The Grand Magus ordered us to track down the werewolves…”

“Yes, but why?” She pushed Gabrielle to think, to use that distrustful brain of hers and follow through with that train of thought, but the girl stayed silent, eyes squinted slightly as she watched her. “The Grand Magus claimed that completing the Vade Maecum was all we needed to rid ourselves of the pests, correct? So, why would he order a bunch of disciples to track them down when Belgrave has dozens of Philosophi and Adepti on hand that are more equipped to handle such a threat? Why not just wait until he’d finished bonding with the book? What was he after?”

“He was looking for his son. Councilor Kepler and I interrogated one of the werewolves, but she wouldn’t tell us where they’d taken him. We were sent to save-”

“No, you weren’t. The Grand Magus had completed the book, so why hadn’t he finished bonding with it so he could rescue his son himself? Because he still needed one final critical piece to complete the ritual. The sacrifice. The Grand Magus sent a bunch of kids into a werewolf den, of unknown size, to get his eight-year-old son so he could sacrifice him.” She allowed her words to sink in as the girl’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“No, that’s not true, because that would mean that we were…” Gabrielle shook her head in disbelief, refusing to believe what Vera was telling her.

“That means, Ms. Dupres, that the Grand Magus knowingly sent you and your fellow students – people he saw as expendable - to what he fully believed would be your slaughter on the off chance you would be able to keep the enemy distracted long enough for Councilor Kepler to grab his son. He did not expect any of you, save Councilor Kepler, to survive. He didn’t care if any of you survived so long as he got his son. You were sent here to be a sacrifice-”

“No! You’re wrong. The Grand Magus wouldn’t do that! He was trying to better the Order. The werewolves kidnapped his son, and we were supposed to rescue him. That’s all-”

“Listen to me closely, Acolyte. The price the Vade Maecum demands is the death of your firstborn. The Grand Magus needed his son so he could be sacrificed on that altar back at the Temple. He was ready – wanted - to kill his son for power. Is that truly someone you want to continue giving your loyalty to?” she asked, watching as the girl deflated somewhat at the knowledge of what she’d almost done. “He wasn’t always a bad person,” she lied, knowing her student was likely wondering how she hadn’t spotted the man for the monster he was, even as he sent her to her death. “The magic in that book is evil and able to corrupt anyone that gets close to it. He’d been pulled in far too deep to be able to save him when the book was destroyed. Why else would your Head Councilor lead you and your fellow classmates to their slaughter, knowing you were getting his son to be killed? It manipulated her as well-”

“But you were around it. Why didn’t it corrupt you?” she asked and Vera could see the girl was listening to her as her eyes trailed over the sea of dead in front of her.

“It did. I knew what the sacrifice was before I gave him the third piece.” Her answer had the girl’s gaze snapping back towards her and the thinly veiled horror in them was nearly suffocating because she had known before she decided to go through with her plan.

She knew Edward suspected her approaching betrayal and she knew he would find the safety deposit box her Temple Magus had entrusted her with. This way, it made it seem like she was loyal, and it had allowed her the opportunity to visit Simon in DC. Together, they’d begun forming a plan. The first stage had worked well. She had seemingly bought Edward’s trust when she gave him the piece of the book, while back in DC, Simon had reached out to Melissa and Ian and began preparations for stage two and three.

What they hadn’t expected – her least of all - was that Edward would start bonding with it the next night, before he’d even found the fourth piece. She also hadn’t expected him to send Alyssa Drake to kill her just two days later when the final piece hadn’t turned up. A well thought out and perfectly timed plan had turned into a rushed disaster.

She almost gave a hollow laugh at that last thought, but the image the creature had forced on her in the basement caused her to choke back a gag instead.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with that choice until I gave up the piece in my possession and I was able to think clearly. I knew the book had to be destroyed before it pulled everyone under its sway. Unfortunately, the Grand Magus sensed I was released from the book’s influence and sent Ms. Drake to accompany me to pick up his son. Thankfully I was able to get her to let it slip that he’d instructed her to kill me on the way and I was able to talk some sense into her. Handling that issue, however, made it so we couldn’t grab his son-”

“And the wolves got to him first, so the Grand Magus sent us in as cannon fodder? Did they get away?” she asked, her eyes returning to her fellow students. Vera could see the anger on her face and though she couldn’t be sure, she believed it was directed towards Edward, more so than the beasts that had caused the slaughter. She understood. The man had sent her marching blindly to her death with some pretty words that she’d be a hero for rescuing his son. It was mere chance that she made it out alive because she’d been hidden beneath a corpse.

“No. Mr. Morton was aiding me-“

“Jack Morton? Why would you trust him?! He was around the Temple and Grand Magus as much as everyone else. And he’s a townie Acolyte that can’t even do a cleansing incantation,” Gabrielle interrupted in confusion, her brows knitting together in suspicion as she looked towards the man in question.

Vera’s mind raced to come up with an explanation as the girl’s distrustful gaze settled back on her. She needed to come up with something plausible before the girl realized she was being deceived. “Jack Morton came to me concerned that something was wrong with the Grand Magus and I realized he wasn’t affected by the Vade Maecum. While I was questioning him about it, he revealed that his grandfather suspected the Grand Magus was his father. As the book demands a willing sacrifice, it couldn’t sway Mr. Morton’s choices. As the only other person immune to its sway, he was the only one I could trust. I instructed him to assist me with creating a potion to destroy the book so we could free everyone while being my eyes and ears in the Temple. He got word to me of the Grand Magus’ plan. I didn’t get here in time to save all of you, but I was able to finish off the werewolves that were here because they were significantly weakened - ”

“How many were there?” Gabrielle asked suddenly, skepticism still present but Vera could tell it was directed at the situation this time instead of her. Her suspicion made sense, the girl refused to believe Kyle was the only wolf and she’d been right.

The thought of whether Gabrielle blamed her for this slaughter briefly crossed her mind.  She had dismissed the girl’s suspicions of more werewolves and forced her to end her interrogations prematurely.  But no, she couldn’t think like that. Not now.  She had to focus on the things she could control.

“Three, one had already fallen when I got here.” They had decided that it would be more believable if she only killed two of the three, and to act as if the remaining two were severely wounded by the time she arrived. The lie seemed to go over well enough.

Gabrielle nodded as she looked, unseeing, towards the remnants of smoke rising over the clearing. “That was probably the grey one that tried to fight all of us single handedly, while the darker one held onto the Grand Magus’ son. It was able to take down five - maybe six - of us, but it couldn’t even stand. We were getting ready to kill it when another one showed up out of nowhere and I-” she cut off suddenly, frowning at some thought and Vera felt a sickening panic flare within her, knowing she was the third one to appear.

There were thirty or more bodies strewn across the field. If Hamish, who had to be the grey one since Randall wasn’t grey, had only killed five or six disciples, then she had to…

‘NO! It wasn’t me!’ she mentally scolded herself, shoving back the smug beast within her that was trying to force some other memory onto her. She wouldn’t accept blame for this slaughter. Even if the monster inside of her had participated, it wasn’t her!

“Magus?” Gabrielle’s quiet use of her title brought her attention back to the present to see the girl was biting her lip in worry. She waved her hand to signal she go on and watched her eyes move towards the still smoldering corpses. “I think… the grey one was subdued relatively quickly and even when it was clear it was going to be killed, the darker one didn’t fight. I don’t think one wolf – or even two, if the dark one did start fighting for some reason - would be able to kill everyone that was left. I think there are more out there.”

Vera drew in a shallow breath, forcing it to remain steady so her mask wouldn’t slip. She looked back towards the battered shack as a Philosophus walked out carrying a box of books. “That is what we are here to find out. It seems unlikely that the werewolves would leave the boy and their wounded members when they were winning, but we can’t take the chance. However, that task is being relegated to the Philosophi, as they are more skilled than a mere Acolyte.” She interrupted the girl’s request that she join the search and instead held out a hand to help her up.

“Did anyone else survive?” Gabrielle asked quietly as Vera led her back towards the path and the waiting Magistratus she’d signaled over. She grit her teeth as she looked towards the overburdened stretchers. They hadn’t brought enough to carry their dead. Even she hadn’t realized just how many children the werewolves killed. How many kids Edward had callously sent to their slaughter.

“Councilor Kepler is in critical condition, but we did find her alive. She’s being cared for back at the Temple by two of our strongest Adepti. No need to concern yourself with her-”

“Is that it? No one else?” Disbelief was shining in her eyes as she studied the field. “Not even Brandon?”

“Mr. Caruthers?” She hadn’t seen his body yet, although, she hadn’t really been searching for it either. But the way the girl had asked made it seem as if she thought her fellow Acolyte should have survived over other, far more experienced disciples.

“He couldn’t stomach killing the werewolves, so he ran away, before any of them even showed up. I thought he’d go back to the Temple.”

“He wasn’t there when I showed up, but that doesn’t mean he’s among the dead. I’d like you to go back to the Temple with Mr. Grant and talk to Adeptus Adler or Adeptus Coburn about what happened from the point you interrogated the werewolf, up until the last thing you remember. Once they’re satisfied, you are to return to your dorm and stay away from the Temple until you hear otherwise. All disciples have been instructed to refrain from using any magic until further notice. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Magus,” she said, but Vera knew she was going to be a problem. She’d seen that tone and expression before, after Kyle Allbreck was slain.

The girl was much too clever for her own good.

 

Notes:

So we got a bit more about Vera's plan. Simon and Melissa were definitely involved, which shows Vera at least trusted them with that... will she trust them with the news of her becoming a werewolf? And well... at least Vera knows Gabrielle is going to be a problem 😂

Chapter 10: Necessary Risk

Notes:

As always, thanks for the reviews last chapter. We're loving seeing the guess and theories for this world we're creating! 🥰

CHAPTER TEN

By the time Vera walked back into the Temple, trailed by the disciples carrying their dead, she was exhausted. She’s couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this tired and drained before. She’d walked right past the sudden commotion that erupted as the Adepti began searching the faces of the dead as they were laid out, off to the side of the antechamber, and continued towards the bar to pour herself a much needed drink.

Her eyes closed, savoring the familiar burn spreading throughout her chest with the first gulp of the harsh liquid. She held the next sip, allowing herself a brief respite of momentary peace, before opening her eyes again to see the bodies lining the wall and more coming through the door.

“Make sure they’re covered before you leave,” she ordered while pushing herself off the bar and moving towards the altar room. “Mr. Morton, with me.” Without waiting for a response, she pushed the doors open and took in the scene before her.

Simon and Melissa were standing over Bitsy’s body at the altar. Her blood had stopped flowing, but that was all. The potions should have done more by now. They both looked at her with questioning eyes and she nodded.

“Everything we found seems to indicate there were only five wolves, two of which had been dealt with before the slaughter.” She saw the relief in their eyes, though Simon’s gaze lingered on her instead of returning to Bitsy as Melissa’s had.

“How are you?” he asked while moving closer to her. His hand twitched at his side, as if he wanted to reach out and support her, but thought better of it with a disciple standing behind her. She offered a strained smile and a short, ‘I’m fine’, causing him to give her a disapproving look before turning towards Bitsy. “With the threat taken care of, it should be safe to try and heal her now, right?”

Vera’s steps faltered, her worried gaze shifting towards Jack in an instant to see him subtly shake his head. She tried to think of some other believable reason to postpone healing her, but there was nothing and her eyes grew more panicked as she felt herself being backed into a corner.

Either she stopped them from performing magic by telling them she was a monster or the beast would break free and they’d realize it right before it killed them.

“The Magus almost passed out before we left!” Jack interrupted suddenly – his voice far louder than it needed to be in the quiet chamber – and Vera’s eyes closed, both in relief and annoyance. Sure enough, a hand landed on her upper arm within seconds and she opened her eyes to see Simon looking down at her with a mixture of irritation and concern, while Melissa began moving towards her, her gaze constantly flicking back towards the woman lying on the altar.

“Is this true? Were you injured?” Simon asked quietly, causing Vera to let out a huff of irritation.

“The fight took more out of me than I expected, but I’m fine.” She watched as both of her friends studied her with poorly veiled concern and crossed her arms tightly. “Will you both stop looking at me like that?! I’m just tired.”

“With the beasts’ magic at play, perhaps it would be best if just Simon and I try? You could finish disposing of the…” Melissa paused to look over Jack with a measuring gaze before continuing, “…ashes. And the Gnostic Council does need to be kept appraised of the situation or they’ll start getting… snippy, as you well know.”

“I’m sure after some rest, I can -” Vera started, but Jack cleared his throat and she looked at him sharply to see another warning shake of his head, hidden from the others as he brought his hand up to run through his hair.

“Magus, you wanted me to remind you about something when we got back, um… in private?” He acted like he was a confused Acolyte as he gave her the ‘reminder’, but when she met his eyes, they were hard and told her she needed to listen to him.

She let out a sigh and stepped away from Simon and Melissa with a quiet, ‘excuse me for just a moment,’ and moved towards Jack as he stepped further off to the side so the other two couldn’t hear them. “Mr. Morton?”

“Do you want Timber to kill everyone?” he asked in a whisper, one so quiet she was surprised she could actually hear him, while looking over her shoulder.

“I just need to rest, then I can hold it back-”

“No. If it were weak magic, and you were at full strength, you might be able to hold Timber back, but not now. Not only are you clearly exhausted, but the amount of magic it would take to try and heal that amount and severity of damage will pull her from you before you even know what’s happening -”

“We have to heal her. The potions aren’t working -”

“Then you need a Knight to hold you -”

“It’s not me,” she hissed quietly, forcing her hands to remain at her sides to hide the fact that they were arguing, but he glared at her in anger.

“Fine, Timber. Another Knight needs to hold Timber back. You need to trust me on this. You’re not ready to be around magic. Unless you want to add to your body count piling up in the other room…?” he asked ‘innocently’, but the stress he placed on ‘your’ had her lips curling in hatred.

“If they were to try to heal her without me, can you hold it back and keep everyone safe?” Her arms crossed in defiance when his eyes shone with amusement that she was asking him for help. “And just in case you get any ideas about letting your friend harm any more of my disciples, know that Ms. Drake will be in the room with us.”

His amusement shifted to anger, and surprisingly approval at her threat? Though that might be coming more from his own monster than him. “I can do it, but they’ll hear you…”

“Reliquaries were built so that conversations within them are silenced to those outside, so long as the doors are kept shut. If you keep the thing inside me from breaking through the doors, no one will hear a thing. Ms. Drake however, will be positioned in front of the doors to ensure you keep the beast from getting that close. You do your job, no one gets hurt and everyone wins.”

She waited till he nodded before stepping away and looking towards Simon and Melissa, who were huddled together and whispering between themselves. But she could hear them.

“We have to try and save her, Simon.”

“Give Vee a minute, Mel. This is obviously important.”

If she could hear them, did it mean they had heard her conversation? They weren’t acting like it…

“Just one of the perks about being a Knight,” Jack whispered from behind her, allowing her to breathe easier with the knowledge that they hadn’t heard her. It also explained the disciples’ comments about her apparent sex life. They weren’t openly speculating about it. They were whispering to each other and her enhanced hearing allowed her to pick up on it.

It was just another thing she couldn’t wait to be rid of.

“I have to undo a concealment incantation I placed on Maddox to hide him from everyone, including myself. I need to get him before someone finds him or he wakes up. Thankfully, Mr. Morton here is a long-lost half-brother so I can use the biological link between them. With the magic I’ve already expended today, and whatever corruption the werewolves did to interfere with our magic, I don’t think it wise for me to assist. But I do agree, we need to try and save Councilor Kepler at any cost. Do you want me to pull in anyone else to help?”

“No. Or at least, not yet. Neither one of us have worked with any of them before and I don’t want to risk something happening if they’re not as practiced or disciplined. We’ll get you if we need you -”

“Just knock first. Breaking the concealment will take all of my focus and if I stop before it’s broken, I may lose him for good. Good luck, you two. Mr. Morton, with me.” She moved towards the reliquary, forcing herself to appear calm so as to not invite unwanted attention.

Inside, she was a tangled storm of anxiety and panic.

The door shut behind her and with it, her lungs refused to work properly, only allowing tiny gasps of air in no matter how much she tried to draw. Her gaze remained fixed on her desk while Jack moved the still unconscious Alyssa in front of the double doors.

“Why do we exist?” a voice suddenly asked off to her side, in the opposite direction Jack had gone. She snapped her gaze towards the voice and took two involuntary steps back with a startled gasp at the man staring at her less than an arm’s reach away. “What is existing?” Clay continued, his head cocking to the side as he stared almost vacantly at her.

The golem was crudely made, a testament to just how unskilled Margaret had been. Golems were supposed to blend in. To be so intricately made they could pass unnoticed for years, even with skilled practitioners around. She still had several working around campus, some of which were from her first year as Temple Magus. Had Margaret not cared about the obviousness of this creature or had she seriously underestimated the Order members around her? Perhaps a mixture of both?

“What are you doing here?!” she snapped, her gaze swiveling towards Jack as he fussed over Alyssa. Was he planning to use the golem to attack her? Had she seriously just allowed herself to walk into another setup from him?!

“A man put me in here. He didn’t sound like you, though. Is he real? Are any of us real?” he asked, stepping closer to her, forcing her to cautiously move around the desk to put distance between them.

“Mr. Morton, if you don’t mind?!” she ground out, continuing to step back as the golem steadily advanced on her. She knew what she needed to do to stop the threat it created, but without her magic, she wasn’t going to risk getting close enough to smudge the engraving. Not when it could suffocate her well before she got close enough to reach it.

“Clay, come here for a second,” Jack ordered, the golem instantly following its creator, before smudging the mark against the creature’s forehead. The head immediately reverted to its inert state. The second she heard the heavy thud as it hit the ground, Vera was able to let out the breath she’d been holding as her eyes closed, hands balling into fists to hide the tremors.

She had forgotten what it felt like to be so utterly powerless. So defenseless.

In her frazzled state, the unexpected sound of a zipper coming undone pierced through the silence like a siren. Her eyes flew open, her body tensing in preparation for whatever she might find, but instead her gaze fell on a shirtless Jack stepping out of his pants. “Mr. Morton! What on earth do you think you’re doing?!” she snapped, taking a step away from him when he moved towards her and watched his eyes roll in amusement.

“What you should be doing. Unless I’m mistaken and you have a spare change of clothes in here somewhere?” He cocked his head to the side, waiting until she shook her head stiffly and shrugged before slipping his boxers off. “Then I suggest you strip… Magus,” he added at the end, and only a mild flush rose to his cheeks as he covered himself with his hands when her gaze unconsciously drifted lower before snapping back up and away from him.

“Turn around,” Vera said as she brought her hand up to magic the zipper at the back of the robe down before the subtle ringing reminded her that she couldn’t use magic anymore. She let out an irritated huff before bending her arms behind her back, only to let another grumble slip out when she couldn’t reach the metal tab and brought her arms back to the front to reach behind her neck to start lowering the zipper enough to where she could reach it.

“And should I stay facing the door when you lose control -”

“If I lose control,” she interrupted as the robe loosened enough that it could slip from her shoulders to pool around feet. Flushing hotly at the lack of underclothes, she knelt down and picked up the long black robe so she could hold it to her chest and keep herself hidden. “And no. You may turn around now.”

He was still covering himself with both hands, but didn’t seem too uncomfortable with his state of undress. When his gaze trailed down her body, unlike her embarrassment, his eyes held amusement. She scowled darkly and dropped one hand to adjust the robe across her hips so it covered more of her with a firm snap of, “Eyes up here, Mr. Morton.”

“Completely innocent, I swear. You don’t need to worry about me checking you out, Grand Magus. No offence, but you’re probably old enough to be my mom. Midnight and I were just sizing up Timber’s new champion -”

“How many times must I say it before you lot get it through your heads?! I am not -” her words cut off suddenly as a ringing far more intense and painful than she’d felt thus far pierced through her mind. Both hands dropped the robe - no longer caring or aware that she was standing before her disciple completely naked - to clutch at her head with a pained cry that ended on a snarl. “NO!”

“Fight it!” Jack shouted as he gripped her arms to the point she thought they’d break, but the pain continued building as the creature within her thrashed violently against her control, longing to be free. She panted, fingers digging into her hair as she fought to rein the beast in, but it was too strong.

Her agonized, desperate plea was the last thing she remembered shouting before the pain became too much and darkness claimed her, a vicious snarl echoing in her ears.

 

Notes:

Well... we all knew it was coming sooner or later, poor Vera 😭 Hopefully Jack/Midnight can keep Timber from killing everyone, especially her two friends in the next room trying to heal Kepler...the woman that tortured Lilith 😬😭

Chapter 11: Admitting Weakness

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to everyone that commented last chapter. I know a few were asking about Vermish, and I just want to remind everyone, day 1 is *long* (but we did finally finish drafting it out) and this is a slow burn. Think of this as more book like than Vermish fanfic. It *is* coming, but it'll take a bit to get there. Enjoy!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The first thing Vera became aware of was a blurry, scarred, black muzzle hovering right above her face, snarling angrily as saliva dripped from its canines. As consciousness slowly returned to her, she could feel her back being painfully forced into the unforgiving stone floor of her office. Confused outrage overcame her as the wolf slowly melted to reveal a panting Mr. Morton, completely naked, holding her to the floor. Her wrists were held in vice like grips above her head, her hips and thighs pinned beneath his bulk.

It wasn’t until he started pushing himself off of her that she realized her own state of undress and quickly shoved him the rest of the way while rolling out from under him, frantically searching for her robe.

Her hands were shaking violently as she pulled the robe over her head, her vision swimming with unshed tears. She tucked herself against the desk on the opposite side so Jack wouldn’t be able to see her and dropped her head into drawn up knees as she caught her breath, forcing the tears back before they could fall.

“That was a lot harder than I anticipated. Timber is pissed!” Jack got out through gasps for air as she felt the desk shift beneath his weight as he collapsed against it. She tried to ignore him, to ignore his words and their implications. To ignore the fact that she’d lost control again. To ignore the fact that if it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have been able to stop the beast within her from slaughtering two of her only friends.

It wasn’t working.

How had this happened to her? Why did it happen?

Before she could lose the last remnants of control she had on her emotions, an unexpected knock at the door caused her head to snap up and connect with the side of the desk. She raised her hand to rub over the spot just as Simon’s voice floated through the closed door.

“Vera? Is it safe to come in?”

“Do you need the Magus’ help healing Councilor Kepler, Adeptus?” Jack asked quietly through the slight crack he’d made in the door. He appeared to be the perfect, subservient Acolyte. Just another disciple, like all the rest. It was a complete lie - one she had fallen for in the past - but it did allow her to act as if she were still in the middle of breaking the enchantment on Maddox. Jack was buying her time to compose herself if Simon did say they needed her help.

“Not exactly. The spell took, but she needs to see what’s happening. When she’s finished -”

“I am. Just give me a moment to clean up and I’ll be right out,” she interrupted while shakily pushing herself off the ground and smoothing out the robe she had hastily pulled on. She heard the soft click, telling her Jack had shut the door and turned towards him to find him pointing at her hair.

“You might want to smooth that out a bit. It kind of looks like you were either fighting someone in here or fu -”

“That’s enough, Mr. Morton. I’m so glad you’re able to find humor in this but I suppose it is what you planned -”

“We didn’t plan this. You are probably the last person we would ever choose to become a Knight. I still can’t believe Hamish didn’t kill you on the spot to be honest. Unless he didn’t realize who you are?” he asked. His head cocked to the side while she ran her fingers through her hair, refusing to meet his gaze.

“They both knew. Randall tried to kill me but Hamish stopped him -”

“Really? That’s a twist. Hamish and Lilith were dead set on killing me for just being in the Order. Randall was the one that…,” he said as his phone pinged, ending whatever he had been planning to say so he could read the text. “I think you might have a problem.”

She raised her brow and snapped her compact mirror shut, waiting for him to continue. Instead of saying anything, he held out his phone so she could read the message.

‘The boy’s awake and freaking out. He won’t listen to us and is screaming for his dad and Aunt Bitsy. If Vera didn’t get herself captured or killed, tell her to get her ass over here to deal with him before he gives all of us away.’ – Hamish

“Shit,” she growled, storming past him, only to pause at the door and face him. “I don’t know where they are and my phone is… missing. Will you ride over with me and I can leave you with them?”

“I don’t know where they are either and I’m a little busy. Here.” He passed her the phone and with her newly enhanced hearing, she could tell he’d pressed call.

“Jack…” Hamish’s words barely registered with her as she heard Maddox screaming for help in the background.

“It’s Vera, I kept up my end of the arrangement. Tell me where you are so I can come and get him.” She listened to his instructions and was mildly surprised when she discovered they were in a very nice part of town. Why would he bother living in that hell hole if he had property in such an upscale neighborhood?

‘Because he’s a werewolf,’ she reminded herself. A werewolf would definitely be spotted in downtown Norwich. Better to hide in a run down, old forgotten shack in the middle of the woods.

“Put him on the phone,” she said quietly, far softer than she’d planned to, and quickly turned her back on Jack and moved behind her desk as she heard a door open on the other side of the phone as Maddox’s cries grew louder.

“It’s your Aunt Vera,” Hamish explained before he, at least what she believed based on the sudden clatter, threw his phone at the boy. She could hear the door shut again before shuffling and finally sniffling came through on the other end of the receiver.

“Aunt Vera? Is it really you?” Maddox’s asked in a broken whisper that had Vera’s heart breaking. He’d never called her aunt before and knew it had to have been influenced by Sophia. She felt her eyes water as she pictured the boy curled up in terror somewhere and tightened her grip on the phone.

“Yes Maddox, it’s me…”

“Can you get my dad? I’m really scared,” he cried as Vera felt a tear slip free and quickly brought her hand up to wipe it away.

“I need to do one thing quick and then I’ll be there to pick you up, okay? Give me thirty minutes tops. Can you do that for me?”

“I’m scared.” Panic was seeping into his voice, his breaths coming quicker, and her eyes closed tightly as she pushed the pain back and smiled.

“I know, sweetheart. But I promise I’m coming to get you. Just stay where you are and they won’t hurt you. I want to talk to Hamish, okay? Can you get the phone back to him, even throwing it carefully if you don’t want to get close?” She heard him mumble out a yes and waited as the phone skidded across the floor before gently smacking into what she assumed was the door. “Hamish?” Her voice rose but, assuming his hearing was enhanced as well, she didn’t feel the need to shout. The door creaking open told her she was right.

“What?”

“I’ll be there in thirty minutes. Please don’t approach him or tell him anything that will upset him further. I’ll explain everything when I get there…”

“Everything?” he asked, surprise and doubt accompanying his words. She paused, thinking about what she was going to tell him before sighing.

“Everything he needs to know but nothing that would risk endangering the werewolves. You’re welcome to listen in if you insist, but I’d prefer you didn’t. I just ask that you and Randall leave him alone until I get there - he’s scared enough as it is - and he doesn’t -”

“Thirty minutes.”  He hung up before she could respond, and a flicker of annoyance went through her. She wasn’t used to other people overruling her. Her hand lifted to wipe under her eyes, making sure no tears were visible, before turning and handing the phone back to Jack. He didn’t notice at first. His full attention was on Alyssa, who was finally beginning to stir.

“Ms. Drake, back with us, I see… or not?” Vera added upon seeing the girl’s glassy eyed stare before Alyssa started looking around her office. “Hello, Ms. Drake?”

“Sorry, Chancellor Stone. Um… where did my dad go?” she asked slowly, confusion thick in her voice as she studied something behind Vera’s shoulder. She followed the blond’s gaze to see the large painting that she’d seen many times over the last two years and turned back to face the girl.

“Your dad?” Vera moved the rest of the way around the desk so she could lean back against it and crossed her arms. “Where do you think you are, Ms. Drake?”

“Uh… I thought… my admission interview?” she said distractedly while looking at the rest of the office before seeing Jack and cocking her head. “Wait… I know you, don’t I? Jake? No, Jack, right?” Her frown grew as her hand rose to clutch her head. “Sorry, my head is killing me. It’s like…” Her head snapped up, wide, terrified eyes connecting with Vera’s. “Temple Magus! I didn’t mean to disrespect… I… something’s wrong, my head!” she ended on a pained moan, head dropping back into her hands.

“Fix her!” Jack snapped, his arm coming around Alyssa’s back, causing the girl to flinch slightly before recognizing him and sinking into his embrace.

“What happened to her?” Vera ground out, meeting Jack’s glare, as her fingers dug into her arms at the knowledge that she couldn’t help the girl if it came to using magic. Something Jack knew very well after the events of a few minutes ago.

“Coventry dug through her memories to confirm I was his son…”

“How? What artifact did he use?” she asked, mentally running through the different items that could be used before she took in his confused face. “It’s not a hard question, Mr. Morton. Did you see him use anything on her to do this?” she asked, feeling her nails slowly piercing her skin to keep her grounded.

“No, he just touched her temple, got the information he wanted, and she collapsed.”

“That shouldn’t be possible. Which means he used the Vade Maecum and didn’t care about her memories becoming jumbled. She’s likely experiencing everything at once and can’t make sense of time…”

“Okay, fine, fix her -”

“I can’t!” she snapped in frustration that was tinged with the slightest trace of helplessness before he glared at her with silvered eyes. Her hand came up, silencing whatever scathing retort was on the tip of his tongue before continuing. “Not just because of that. There are reasons we use artifacts like the glove if we need to find answers within someone’s mind. Delving into someone’s memories without these tools is extremely dangerous. We don’t know what he did or what magic he used from the Vade Maecum. If we go in and blindly try to fix her with magic, we could make things worse. Her memories are clearly there, she just needs time to sort through them. I believe I can entrust her to your care as she recovers?”

“Can’t you use powder?” he asked, causing her to roll her eyes and pinch the bridge of her nose while taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, trying to rein in her frustration.

“Do you want to risk wiping her memories for good? If so, sure, let’s use powder. It’s not as if anything bad has ever happened to someone from a misuse of powder.” She pointedly looked at him, wondering if he was clever enough to have pieced together that his mother – by Edward’s hands - had been the victim of just such a case. His expression told her he hadn’t but was at least listening to her warnings. “Belgrave’s Chemistry and Biology departments have an entire research team that have been working – for years - on a way to fix minds injured from memory manipulation. They, as of yet, haven’t come up with a safe or viable solution. So, instead of risking more damage being done to her, perhaps you could keep her and her memories safe by simply being patient and giving her mind a few days to sort through everything.”

 “And if she’s not better in a few days?” he challenged, his voice thankfully, lacking the scathing tone from before.

“Then I will try and help you find a way to safely reorganize her memories. Until then, I have to go.” She didn’t wait for a response; she still had to speak with Simon and Melissa before leaving to get Maddox.

Simon was waiting off to the side when the doors opened and she rolled her eyes at the once-over he gave her before moving closer. “How are you?” Again, his hand twitched to offer support, the way he always had in the past, before she quickly stepped back – reiterating their professional boundaries - and watched as it dropped to his side.

It was different here. Here she had disciples that looked up to her, disciples who were relying on her and her strength to lead them through this traumatic time. She couldn’t allow herself to appear anything less than in total control in front of them, and she knew Simon understood that.

“I’ll be fine. I was able to find Maddox, but I do have to leave in the next couple of minutes to get to him before the tracking spell fails. How’s she doing?” She gave a small smile to Melissa as she stepped up to the altar and looked down at Bitsy’s body.

Every few seconds a barely noticeable shimmer of gold flashed over her wounds but they were still gaping open. Her brow raised in confusion as she looked up at the others, trying to determine what they had done.

“Mel’s idea. All our instant healing attempts failed so she came up with this. We know it’s taken by the flashes, but something is slowing the magical effects - we believe on the potions as well. This incantation will work with time though. Her preservation spell is what allowed it. So long as she’s not injured further, that will keep her alive while our incantation regrows her tissue and mends any other injuries we can’t see. We just don’t know how long it’ll take.”

Vera saw an opportunity arise before her and leapt at it. “You don’t think…? We suspected that the werewolves and the Vade Maecum were connected in some way.  There’s evidence that the werewolves have always resurfaced alongside the book.  I tried to speak with Bitsy and the Council about it months ago, but per usual, they didn’t want to listen.” 

Vera pushed a hand through her hair to appear unnerved as she paced back and forth a couple times before continuing. “I hadn’t considered what destroying such a powerful grimoire could unleash.  We know magic isn’t destroyed. The half-life rule applies no matter how strong the magic is, meaning it has to be used up.  It keeps flowing, seeking its original purpose, until it fades enough to become pure, unharnessed energy again. That book was evil, corrupting magic, and I just unbound it inside our temple, at one of the convergence points of centuries of magic.  What if by destroying the grimoire, the only thing keeping that darkness contained, I’ve allowed corruption magic to connect with any incantations it can reach.”

Both Simon and Melissa’s eyes widened at the thought before Simon moved forward. He carefully lifted Bitsy off the altar and backed away several steps. “If this is true, we need to get her away from here. Our spell took, but if we lose control of it or the book’s magic corrupts it somehow…” A horrified silence followed as the possibilities sank in.

“It’s not just Bitsy,” Melissa added in a small voice as she looked at her hands, so recently stained with the blood of a friend. Melissa looked up at her, concern shining bright as she stepped closer and clasped both of her hands. “Vera, you need to convince Council to close the Temple until the magic has a chance to disperse. We’re experienced and we struggled to get this incantation to take. If you allow non Adeptus level practitioners to perform spells, any one of them could end in a catastrophe.”

“Council would never go for that…” Simon started but Vera held her finger up with a thoughtful expression.

“They might. There’s less than two weeks left of term and the summer retreat for those wanting to train further is in California this year. I’ll need to talk to Ian after I get Maddox, but I think if he calls Bennett about everything that happened and shows his concern for his alma mater, Bennett will talk to the others and it’ll sway them enough that I might be able to convince them to let me close it for the summer. If only to protect the Chapter’s reputation at the least. And I’ll remind them that with the number of casualties we took, my attention will need to be focused on recruitment for fall. We all know they’ll be more interested in filling the vacancies than a week or two of lessons. It’s the disciples I’m worried about convincing.”

“Tell them if you catch any of them performing magic that they’ll be demoted or, if they’re an Acolyte, kicked out,” Melissa said, causing Vera’s pacing to falter as she looked at the serious redhead beside her.

Melissa looked sweet and innocent, but her jovial teasing attitude often covered the tempest she could become if you went against her or those she cared about.  It’d been a few years since Vera had been reminded of the hell that could follow in the woman’s wake so she’d forgotten. “And you say I’m scary when I want to be. At least with me, you get what you see…”

“Liar,” Simon interrupted with a small grin. “We both know you act tougher than you are…” he trailed off at the glare Vera was sending him and took another step back to be further away from her. Vera’s lip curled in amusement as Melissa snickered. “I’m not backing away because I’m scared of you. Bitsy needs to be taken to the hospital is all.”

“Whatever you say, Simon.” Vera shook her head in amusement before adjusting her purse on her shoulder. “I need to get Maddox. Take Bitsy to the hospital; it’s ours and they’ll set her up in her own room. Once you’re done, come back here and fill Ian in if I’m not back already. Oh, and Mel?” She looked over at the redhead and grinned wickedly. “Feel free to scare any of the Adepti or disciples in the next room if they try to do magic.”

“With pleasure. Are you bringing the boy back here?”

The question had Vera hesitating for a second. There was still a risk that bringing Maddox back here would be too tempting for any Order members willing to try anything if it could somehow bring Edward back. But she couldn’t leave him with the werewolves and she didn’t trust anyone else to watch him.

“We won’t let anyone hurt him,” Melissa promised. “I’ll make it very clear to anyone here that the Fenestrated Man would be a welcome death for any that might try after we’re through with them.” Her words were hard again, the threat becoming an oath and even Vera, though she’d never admit it to the Scot, felt a tremor of fear.

“Yes, I want to keep him with me until I’m sure he’s safe. The book was destroyed, but several members were loyal to Edward. If any of them knew Maddox was supposed to be sacrificed, they might try to kill him just to bring him back…”

“Not that you need our help, but we won’t let that happen. You got him away from those beasts and Edward. Neither of us are about to let him get hurt by some brainless Adeptus trying to resurrect that monster.”

“Thank you both for coming,” Vera said, her hand reaching out to lay on Melissa’s forearm with a gentle squeeze before doing the same to Simon. They had dropped everything because she’d asked, and though they arrived too late to stop Edward or the slaughter, they were the reason Bitsy stood a fighting chance.

With the beast inside her, she knew she wouldn’t have been able to perform the restoration incantation that was slowly working to mend Bitsy’s broken body. And without it, her preservation incantation would have failed.

Without their arrival, Vera knew Bitsy would have been counted amongst the dead.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

See, mini Vermish interaction and more to come soon... just not a ton.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Chapter 12: Facing Reality

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to everyone that commented last chapter! We hope everyone that celebrates it had a wonderful Christmas and to start the New Year off, here's the next chapter!

CHAPTER TWELVE

Vera stood outside the apartment door, fist poised and ready to knock, but it wouldn’t fall. She’d heard Maddox’s soft cries from somewhere in the apartment but froze as Hamish’s irritated snap of, ‘She’ll be here soon, stop crying already!’ drifted through the door.

All that was playing through her mind were Jack’s words to her from earlier. How Hamish had wanted to kill him for simply being in the Order. How he was surprised that Hamish hadn’t killed her.

Had she misunderstood why he’d taken Maddox? Was it just to ensure that she would fulfill her promise to destroy the book and act as if the werewolves were killed off? Was he planning to use Maddox as bait to lure her back here just to kill both of them? Had that been his plan the entire time?

She was the local Temple Magus and Maddox was the son of the previous Grand Magus. If Hamish hated the Order as much as Jack claimed he did - and based on his attitude and lack of remorse while he was surrounded by dead Order members, he definitely hated the Order - it wouldn’t come as a surprise If that had been his plan from the beginning. After he used them for his own benefit, of course.

She needed to be smart about this. She couldn’t walk right into another trap. She needed to find some other way to get to Maddox and get him away from the two werewolves before…

The door swung open, revealing a mildly ruffled and highly annoyed Hamish standing behind it. Before she had an opportunity to say anything, his hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her into the apartment, the door slamming shut behind her before she could react. Without a word, he dragged her through the living room, past a glaring Randall, and stopped in front of a door that she assumed was a hall closet. “Make him stop,” he ordered harshly, but Vera could hear the note of desperation in his voice telling her he wasn’t used to dealing with children, especially not terrified children that wouldn’t stop crying.

That desperation was something she could use.

“Fine. But you’ll leave us alone so we can talk privately.” She glared up at him while jerking her arm out of his hold. He let out a tiny growl of irritation at being ordered around by her, but as Maddox started crying louder while calling for her, he let his eyes close as his shoulders dropped in defeat with a sigh.

“Fine. Just get him out of here. Randall can’t handle the constant reminder of the life we had to trade when we got him.”

Vera stared after him, feeling the weight of his pain – despite him trying to act as if it were Randall’s alone – for the first time that day and was unable to stop herself from adding a quiet, ‘I’m sorry, but you did save an innocent boy’s life today’. Her scowl – mostly directed at herself for the unwilling and unwelcome attempt to ease his pain - deepened when she watched him freeze, fists clenching at his sides as his shoulders tensed before dropping even lower with a tired sigh.

“It wasn’t worth the cost,” he whispered before moving towards the living room again without another word. Vera’s mouth nearly dropped open at the admission as she watched him for several seconds.

They had to know that Lilith Bathory’s death had been inevitable from the moment Edward captured her, right? Mr. Morton knew how ruthless he was. If he knew Edward had her, he had to know the chance of her making it out of the Temple alive was slim, at best. Surely, he would have told his friends that?

But from the way Hamish was acting, she doubted that was the case. He seemed to believe that the boy’s survival somehow guaranteed her death. But she could also tell he knew that wasn’t the case, even if he wouldn’t let himself believe it.

Which meant they might still come after Maddox if they decided to get revenge for Ms. Bathory’s death. And without access to her magic, she wouldn’t be able to stop them. She had to get him to face the truth, right here, right now.

“Liar,” she spat, causing him to tense again before he slowly turned to face her with fury in his eyes. Fury that she was sure must have matched her own. She took a few steps towards him, ignoring the way he stood taller and his eyes flashed silver as if preparing for an attack, before thrusting her hand back towards the door. “You know damn well that saving that child in there had no bearing on Ms. Bathory’s survival. The second Edward had her in his grasp, her fate was decided and there wasn’t a damn thing any of you could do to stop it.

“Now, I’m sorry you lost your friend, but Maddox is innocent in all of this. His only ‘crime’ was being born to a power-hungry monster. I don’t care why you saved him. I don’t want to know why you saved him. All I care about is that among the dozens of people that died today, that innocent boy wasn’t one of them because you and your friend took him from his home. But you need to face reality and stop blaming that child when you know you were the ones that put yourselves on Edward’s radar when you slaughtered those people at the church. If any of you try to come after him because you can’t face that reality and want revenge, I promise you that I will find a way to kill all of…”

“Who the hell do you think you are?!” Hamish snarled, quickly advancing on her, but she refused to back down despite the height difference or the hand reaching towards her. She felt her head roughly smack against the wall before her feet left the ground, his hand wrapping around her throat as he hoisted her into the air. Still her glare remained hard and fixed on his. “Just because Timber chose you, doesn’t mean I won’t put you down...”

“Do it,” she choked out seriously, causing a faint flicker of surprise to flit across his face. “You kill me, or Maddox, and you tell the entire Order that the werewolves are still alive. They will hunt you down and slaughter every last one of you. And you will be responsible for your friends’ deaths. Again,” she struggled to get the words out as his hand tightened around her throat but she forced her eyes to stay open, glaring down at him in challenge.

“We don’t kill innocent people. We give our lives to the cause…” he ground out, almost as if it was a mantra he’d been saying easily for years but the words were catching in his throat at the moment and she raised a brow, remembering what Jack had told her earlier.

“To protect innocents from bad magic, right? That’s what Mr. Morton claimed you do at least,” she forced out and felt the grip around her throat loosen marginally before she continued. “Lilith Bathory gave her life to that cause. She gave Mr. Morton time to stop Edward from bonding with the book and gave me time to brew a potion that would destroy the book.

“And what were you and Randall doing during her sacrifice?  Slaughtering innocent kids that didn’t understand they were just being used. We may not have been able to save everyone, but if Mr. Morton, Ms. Bathory and I hadn’t stepped in to stop the ‘bad magic’ like you claim you were supposed to, then a lot more people would have lost their lives today. Including that terrified boy in there.

“So, if you don’t think that saving his life was ‘worth it’ because you lost a member that had the guts to stand up to Edward alone, then you’re not the Knight you claim to be. I wonder, what would Ms. Bathory think if she knew you wanted to trade an innocent child’s life for hers? Do you think she’d look up to you? Do you think she’d thank you? Or, do you think she’d call you a hypocritical monster?”

Before she realized what had happened, she found herself landing heavily on the ground. Her hand came up to rub her sore neck as she coughed while looking towards his retreating form, a quiet but firm, ‘We don’t kill kids,’ slipping from him. Her gaze moved slightly, to see Randall standing at the other end of the hallway, his eyes troubled but filled with pain and anger, before Hamish grabbed his arm and pulled him back into the living room.

“Aunt Vera? Are you okay?” Maddox’s scared whisper pulled her attention and she saw his tear soaked face peeking out of a small crack in the doorway. Jagged lines raked down his face, distorting his brows, nose and mouth. Dried blood clung to his hairline; five thick splotches crusted above puncture wounds she’d caused.

She had done this to him. All of it. She’d hurt and disfigured him for life because she couldn’t control the monster inside. No, because she couldn’t control herself.

She should run from him, but he didn’t have anyone else. He was terrified and alone, with numerous threats still lingering around him. She had to protect him, had to be someone he could turn to. She had to tell him about his father, now. She forced herself to smile softly as she pushed herself into a sitting position to try to ease his fear.

“I’m okay, Maddox. It was just a misunderstanding. He wasn’t really going to hurt me…”

“Yes, he was. He said he was going to put you down. They killed Aunt Bitsy,” he said, words ending on a choked sob that had her quickly pushing herself off the ground to move towards him. She heard movement behind her; it wasn’t close, but it was close enough that she knew why the boy’s eyes widened in fear before he scampered back into his hiding place.

Ignoring the gaze burning a hole in her back, she opened the door just enough that she could slip inside and pulled it shut behind her. Her breath caught for a second when the door was fully closed because she could still see him clearly, despite the fact that the only source of light in the closet was coming from the crack between the door and floor.

It was just another unwanted reminder that there was a monster living within her.

“She’s still alive, Maddox,” she said quietly while pushing her way through the jackets and odd boxes until she reached the back of the walk-in closet where he was curled up in the corner.

“Really?” His hiccup as he tried to force out a hopeful question had her fists clenching in pain as she remembered the memory the beast forced on her. The feel of her hand, yet not her hand, raising back to slash across Bitsy’s chest.

“We were able to get to her in time and though it’s going to take time for her to heal and regain consciousness, she is alive. You didn’t lose your Aunt Bitsy, Maddox. I promise…”

“And my dad?” he asked brokenly, voice thick with tears. He stared up at her with pain shining in his eyes and she hesitated, trying to figure out the right words. Her pause was enough for him to know the truth. He looked towards his drawn-up knees, fingers digging deeply into his shins as he forced the shaky question out, “He isn’t waiting for me at the Temple, is he?” He looked back at her, hope still faintly visible on his face before she shook her head softly and moved to slide down the wall to sit beside him as a gut-wrenching cry of anguish cut through the silence and slammed into her, forcing the breath from her lungs.

He turned into her before she finished sitting down, arms wrapping around her torso tightly, his deep guttural sobs muffled against her chest. In the dark room, closed off from everyone except the small boy breaking down in her arms, she allowed her tough, closed off Temple Magus mask to drop and pulled the boy closer to her. Silent tears slipped from her eyes as she pressed a lingering kiss to the top of his head.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I… I couldn’t save him…”

“Did you want to? I heard what you told Hamish about their friend. You called dad a monster. And Hamish and Randall said he wanted to kill me. That’s not true, right? He loved me more than anything in the world. He said so. He promised me that he wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. That he’d protect me from everything. He wouldn’t… they… they’re lying, right? To hurt me. Daddy loved me, right?”

She pulled him closer at the confused devastation in his voice, the tremors from his sobs shaking her, distorting her already blurry vision, as she tucked her face further against his hair, trying to force herself to smell the scent of his shampoo through the metallic stench of blood crusted to the brown locks.

“Your dad did love you, Maddox. When you were born, you became his entire world. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for you. But he… after a few years, his thirst for power came back and overshadowed that love and he… there was this book…”

“The Vade Maecum?” he asked quietly while pulling himself closer to her. She brought her hand up to rub soothingly over his back and nodded.

“It’s a very powerful book and was ripped into four pieces to prevent anyone from being able to bond with it. Your dad found all the pieces and restored it but…” she trailed off, her throat closing as he pulled back to look at her.

“He said I was going to help him change the world. That he’d only need a little bit of blood, but it’d be okay afterwards. That… he lied?” he stared at her, tears streaming down his face because he knew the truth before she nodded sadly. Her free hand came up and gently brushed under his eyes, careful to avoid the raised gashes or pull at the wounds. “Why did he want to kill me?”

“I don’t think he wanted to kill you, sweetheart. He wanted power, but the price the Vade Maecum demands is the life of your firstborn…”

“He wanted to trade me? For magic? But I thought…” his words died in his throat, eyes filling with more tears as his hands fisted her robe tightly. “Is that why he changed his mind?”

“About what?” she asked, hand resuming its soothing motions as her other one unconsciously brushed his hair out of his eyes.

“Wanting me?” he choked out, voice cracking harshly as his breaths started coming faster, his eyes desperately searching hers for an answer to a question she wasn’t sure she understood. “Dad said the Vade Maecum is what changed his mind about having me. Did he only want me because he needed me?”

“I…” She wanted to tell him no. To tell him that his dad wanted him for him. But she couldn’t.

Just days ago, Edward had confirmed this exact thing, though she hadn’t truly known it at the time. He had told her, in no uncertain terms, that he had never planned on being a father. That he didn’t want to bring a child into a world so dark. That just the thought of the Vade Maecum and what it could do had given him hope.

He had distracted her before she could fully process the depth of what his words meant when he brought up Maddox’s allergy to peanuts. Her thoughts had left him and focused on those memories with her daughter. She hadn’t wanted to stay any longer. She’d found an opening, a rational excuse for her to give him the piece she had, just like they had planned, and left.

But Maddox’s question now brought it all back. If Edward had researched the Vade Maecum before he found out about Maddox, and she knew he had, then he had to have known that his unborn son was the cost for being able to change the world.

It didn’t matter that he didn’t plan to be a father. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want to bring a child into a world so dark. He only had to play the role of a doting father until he found the scattered pieces of the ancient grimoire. After he did, he wouldn’t be a father anymore.

He’d be childless with unlimited magic. Just like he’d always wanted.

“I’m sorry, Maddox.”

 

Notes:

There we go, have some Vermish interactions 😂 But yeah... we feel absolutely horrible for all of them but especially Maddox right now 😭

Chapter 13: Shield of Protection

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those that commented last chapter. We're glad some of you liked that Vermish interaction as they have a long way to go before there's any chance at 'real' Vermish.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Vera pulled her keys from the ignition as her gaze drifted to the rearview mirror. Maddox’s head was hanging off to the right, resting heavily against the window as he slept. His face was both pale and blotched with red around his eyes from crying himself past the point of exhaustion. It wasn’t the paleness that worried her though.

It was the way his face was pinched in pain. The way the angry, inflamed slashes became more obvious as the setting sun cast shadows across his face. But mostly, it was the thick beads of sweat that were dampening his forehead, neck and hairline.

His small whimper of pain, causing a deeper, drawn-out moan to escape as the crudely joined skin pulled against itself, had her opening the back door on the opposite side and climbing in before she realized she’d opened her door. She undid his seatbelt and carefully pulled him away from the door and towards her chest, another pained mewl escaping his parted lips as he turned into her, seeking comfort she couldn’t give.

Vera brought her hand up to feel his forehead, but the heat radiating off of it was enough to tell her he had a fever before it made contact. The temperature of her hand must have felt like a soothing balm against his burning skin because he unconsciously pushed himself further against her. His face scrunched tighter in discomfort as the movement put pressure on the raised gashes, heat scorching Vera’s hand in three distinct lines before she eased off.

She brought her fingers to gently thread through his hair, slowly coaxing him back into consciousness she knew he desperately wanted to avoid. “It burns,” he whined, trying to shy away from the pain before realizing he couldn’t and moved back towards her, collapsing against her chest with a sob. “Aunt Vera, it hurts.”

“I know, sweetheart, I’m sorry,” she soothed, her arm tightening around his back as he slowly caught his breath. The shock and fear that had been masking his physical pain had worn off after their talk in the closet.

In its wake lay a devastated and broken boy, both physically and mentally.

His mother was dead, years passed. His father, a man he loved and worshipped as a hero, had been brutally yanked down from his pedestal with the realization that he never wanted him for him. He only wanted him, only loved him, because he needed a sacrifice for something that he truly loved. Power. And that pursuit of power wouldn’t be stopped by anyone. The knowledge that his aunt, a woman he loved and trusted and tried to defend - only to be wounded for - deserted him to his fate to save her own skin was the final blow.

She was all he had left. It’d been years since she would visit him and Sophia while Edward was travelling, but she was still the only person he knew and trusted. And he didn’t know that she was responsible for the physical pain he was in now. Because she couldn’t force the monster back – couldn’t control herself – in time, he was in agony and would be deformed for the rest of his life. Everyone he trusted had let him down, but still he clung to her - trusted her - to keep him safe. To ease his pain and suffering. To simply be someone that would care about him and not about what he could do for them.

She had to help him. She owed it to him.

“Maddox, honey? I know it hurts. I want to see if we can’t find something to help, but we have to go inside the Temple to do so, okay? Do you think you can walk?” She felt his arms tighten around her waist with a muffled plea of, ‘please don’t leave me’, that had her breath catching as it sent a jolt of pain straight through her chest. “I’m not going to leave you, Maddox. And I’m not going to turn you over to someone else. We’re going to go to my office together and I’m going to try and make something that will help you, okay?”

“Promise?” he asked quietly, pulling his face away from her chest to look up at her with frightened hope.

Vera dropped her hand from his hair and gently brushed under his eyes while nodding softly. “I promise.” She waited for him to nod before slowly helping him out of the car and onto his shaky legs, his arms still clutched tight around her waist.

Her mask of the cold, emotionless and untouchable Chancellor was back in place for anyone that looked towards them, but she didn’t shove him away from her. She could feel the stares they were getting as they slowly moved towards the library and pulled him closer in case he felt them. She knew they were confused and shocked that she wasn’t shoving him off of her, that she was capable of showing kindness. It was uncomfortable and attracted more attention than she would’ve liked, but she wasn’t going to push him away and force him to walk on his own.

Not only because she didn’t think he could walk on his own right now - not with the fever coursing through his body and the exhaustion from the day’s events - but because she refused to hurt him any more by pushing him away just to ensure her uncaring reputation remained intact when he was clearly petrified.

Vera wasn’t sure if he was more afraid of entering the Temple where he would have been sacrificed hours before if things had gone differently, being taken away from her, or of having the last person he trusted turn on him, but he was clearly terrified.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you, Maddox. I promise,” she whispered, arm tightening around his back and pulling him closer against her side as they slowly descended the steps and walked into the antechamber. Silence instantly fell as Adepti turned towards her, only to be followed by gasps of shock as their eyes fell lower to take in the boy cowering against her side.

“The foreigners said we wouldn’t be sacrificing the boy. Did you change your mind?” Joanne asked in confusion while moving closer, causing Maddox to clutch her robe tighter, moving behind her slightly as he shook in fear. She scowled at the woman for making it seem like his father was still alive and that she was the one delivering him to his slaughter. Making it seem as if she was okay with killing children.

“Their names are Simon Adler and Melissa Coburn. Both of them are Adepti and I expect you to treat them as such.” She watched the other woman’s eyes start to roll before she thought better of it and stepped back.

Vera looked around the entire room, her eyes lingering on the covered forms against the wall, before clearing her throat and pulling Maddox closer to her in a clear defensive stance. “No one is to touch Maddox Coventry, is that clear? He is under my protection, as was our Grand Magus’ last request before the Vade Maecum claimed his sanity. And we will honor his final wish to protect his son, understood?”

Everything about her posture and expression were harsh and unyielding, except for the tiniest movements her thumb was making against Maddox’s side as she held him to her. It would be unnoticeable to anyone watching, but the tiny motion was a firm reassurance and transfer of her strength and protection to the boy.

She had tried to sell him on the same lie she’d told everyone else, that the book corrupted those near it. She hadn’t expected him to come back saying that he’d merged the third piece with the first two. That he’d held three pieces of the grimoire and felt nothing. He knew she was lying and quietly asked her to please stop trying to make excuses for his father.

Which with him, that was exactly what she’d been trying to do. But she wasn’t doing it to make Edward seem like a better person. She was doing it to try and ease Maddox’s pain by presenting a story that everything Edward had done was just because the book corrupted him. That his father had truly loved him.

It hadn’t worked, but after she had apologized and explained the need for the others in the Order to believe the lie, he just nodded and said he understood. She was grateful when he hadn’t pushed further. Edward and Bitsy’s betrayals were hard enough for him. She really didn’t want him to know his father had ordered her execution on top of everything else.

“Of course, we’ll uphold our Grand Magus’ wishes, Vera. The boy will, however, need to be questioned about the wolves. What happened to his face, how many he saw, what they looked -?”

“Not now and not to you,” she cut Joanne off with a dark glare as Maddox tensed. After she’d woven her story to him, telling him that she’d allied with the wolves and that they really were trying to save him and had lost Lilith by fighting Edward - a story she really wasn’t entirely sure was true - he believed they hadn’t meant to hurt him.

But he was still hurt by one of them, by her, even if he didn’t know that. And the unconscious fear and vivid memory of that moment was still there. He hadn’t stopped shaking from the pain and he felt like a furnace against her side from his fever.

But, of course, the Order wanted him to relive that trauma now. All that ever mattered was how a situation impacted them. What it could do to Maddox wouldn’t even cross their self-centered minds.

She knew he would keep the wolves’ existence a secret. Both for her safety and so they weren’t hunted further because they were the only ones who’d cared enough to intervene, to protect him. He didn’t want them to be killed after they saved him. She had detected subtle hero worship as he’d uttered a thank you to the two men when they left. He’d tried moving towards Randall before she gently tugged him back to her, not trusting the way the man’s fingers were digging into his arms, jaw tensed in fury as he refused to look towards Maddox.

And with the words that followed as she shut the door behind them, thankfully words that hadn’t reached Maddox’s ears, she knew she’d been right to hold him back.

“That’s it? You’re just going to let her take him? After what they did to Lilith? He’s our only…”

“He’s an innocent kid, Randall! And she’s right. Lilith wouldn’t want us using him to get revenge, something the Knight’s don’t do. Those are Lil’s own words, so listen to her if you won’t listen to me.”

Replaying those words now had her free hand tightening into a fist to control her anger. Thankfully the anger that crept onto her face only helped to warn the others to back off.  She wasn’t sure she would have been able to pretend she hadn’t heard them or control her anger if Randall had been able to finish his sentence.

At least she no longer thought Hamish would be a problem. Not after their… chat and his refusal to abide with Randall’s wishes. She only hoped that as the werewolves’ leader, Hamish would be able to control the younger man.

“Vera, we understand that you want to protect the boy, for our Grand Magus, and we do admire that, but this is Order business that can’t wait. We can question him now and then ease his mind of the… trauma he experienced today afterwards…” Joanne explained, words slowly losing conviction as Vera’s glare continued to darken at the suggestion of interrogating him, just to powder him afterwards. As if it would be a mercy.

And by Maddox’s desperate grip tightening, his fingers digging into her side, he knew exactly what the older woman was suggesting.

“That won’t be necessary. Maddox has already spoken to me and I will be calling Council to make them aware of everything. If Council would like to question him further, they have that right. You do not. I am closing the Temple for the rest of the evening. You’re dismissed.” She didn’t give them a chance to argue, though several were already voicing their complaints, before leading the boy towards her office.

“Can you really dismiss them like that?” Maddox asked while tilting his head up to look at her in awe, his arms still locked tightly around her waist. She smiled down at him, thumb stroking back and forth against his side as she nodded.

“Though they are Adepti and as such don’t have to answer to a Temple Magus, I have control within these walls.” She leaned in closer to him with a wicked grin and looked over her shoulder while bringing her hand up to ‘whisper’ in his ear, “No one will ever admit it, but technically in our Temples, we Temple Magi have total control. We bond with them and they, in turn, respond to us. With a simple wave of our hands, we can lock the entire Temple down or even have it go so far as to defend itself and those within. Even if the Grand Magus and Head Councilor wanted my Temple for something, they would need to get my permission first. The Adepti, and even most Council members, tend to forget the power we Temple Magi hold, thinking we’re just glorified babysitters.”

His eyes grew wider, an impressed grin tugging at the corners of his lips as he realized how powerful she was before he frowned. “Wait, if Dad needed your permission to do all of this, couldn’t you just have told him no? You could have locked it with your bond thingy and stopped everything, right?” he whispered, mindful there were still others around that might be trying to listen in, even if they were nearly at her office.

“I… I wanted to stop it, Maddox. But the Grand Magus can break our bonds with our Temples. The Grand Magus bonds with the entirety of the Order and therefore, a Temple will acknowledge and accept their desire if they wish to reject a Temple Magus…”

“So, you went along with his plans so you wouldn’t lose your job?” he asked harshly, but the pain beneath the words reminded her that he was most likely thinking about Bitsy’s betrayal. She waited until they were in her office with the door shut before crouching down in front of him, one hand on his shoulder, the other gently resting on the side of his head.

“It’s not as simple as you think it is, Maddox. If your dad chose to forcibly remove me as Temple Magus to gain control of the Temple, it wouldn’t just mean my job would be taken. It would mean my life. Listen to me and wait until I’m finished,” she ordered, sternly holding up one finger as his mouth opened to interrupt her. He closed his mouth and nodded but both arms came up to cross over his front defensively. “To finish the ritual of bonding with the Vade Maecum, he needed an altar at one of the eight Temples. He was already at Belgrave and the closest Temple from here is in DC. He wasn’t going to drive hours in the hopes the DC Temple Magus would say yes when there was a Temple right here.

“Had I said no, he would have killed me and gotten control of the Temple anyways. My death wouldn’t have delayed him in the slightest. It would have been pointless. I couldn’t risk that, Maddox. Not when there was no one else at Belgrave that opposed what your father was doing. Not when there would be no one left that was willing to stop him and save you. I had to be smart about it -”

“So, you gave him a piece of the book to get him there faster? You just handed it to him, knowing he already had half of it,” he accused, but his posture wasn’t as stiff anymore. He was confused and trying to understand what had happened, just like she was.

Just how much had Edward told him?

“Yes,” she admitted softly, guiltily, as she stood and guided him to the couch that was tucked away in the corner of her office. Her hands tightened into fists to stop the trembling, both from exhaustion and anger, as she started pulling ingredients from her shelves. “There was a reason I did what I did, though. I did have a plan to stop him before you were in danger. I just needed to buy time. Convince him that I was still loyal. I didn’t expect him to start bonding with it so quickly, or to send someone to kill me -”

“What?!” His shocked outburst had her head snapping towards him in concern to see him gaping at her in pained horror, breaths coming erratically. Her hand tightened over the empty flask while replaying what she’d said and let out a shuddering breath, eyes closing as her head dropped.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I wanted to spare you… Your dad and I never really got along, not like your Aunt Bitsy. He knew I was interfering, but couldn’t prove it so he sent his protégé to kill me. She just happened to be my protégé first, so I was able to make her see reason.” She could see his lip trembling slightly as he stared at her and smiled softly. “I’m okay, Maddox, really. I’m not going anywhere,” she added, watching him take in a shuddering breath while nodding and continued, frown quickly replacing the smile. “But because of that, I couldn’t get to you in time and I…” Frustration at how her carefully thought-out plan blew up in her face had the words dying in her throat.

She hadn’t prepared for things to go differently. And that was the problem. She’d been too narrowminded, too confident in her own brilliance and ability. She hadn’t even tried to bring Bitsy into her plan and she knew the woman had to have seen how insane Edward had become. And look where her cockiness had gotten her.

Edward was dead and the Vade Maecum was destroyed, but at what cost?

The Grand Magus had died. The Head Councilor nearly had as well, and they had no idea when, or even if, she’d regain consciousness. More than forty disciples had lost their lives between Edward’s house and the slaughter at the shack. Ms. Drake’s memories were jumbled and, though she’d assured Jack that they’d reorganize themselves, she didn’t actually know if that was the truth. Maddox had been wounded, and he would bear those scars for life, because she had failed to heal him properly. And she’d allowed herself to be turned into a monster.

She should have expected Edward to start bonding with the Vade Maecum earlier. She should have had Simon and Melissa come sooner and hidden them somewhere safe until she needed them. She should have expected Edward would send someone to kill her, not believing her false loyalty after her admission of believing he was pure fucking evil. She should have tried to convince Bitsy to turn against Edward, for the good of the Order, something the Councilor had always strived to protect. She never should have allied with the werewolves. And she should have gotten to Maddox before he’d been put in harm’s way.

She had failed so many people today because she’d gotten arrogant. People she was supposed to protect had been wounded or killed. All because she hadn’t believed Edward could outsmart her. She’d been naïve and her people paid the price for that foolishness. She had let everyone down. And families still needed to be notified of…

“I’m sorry.” His quiet voice broke through the swirling depressive storm that was brewing within her mind, a sudden grateful snap back to the present as his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. Both her hands braced herself against the desk, fingers digging into the unyielding wood as she forced the tears to stay back and her breathing to return to normal. Careful to not dislodge his grip, she turned in his arms and brought her own around his back, holding him to her in silence. Both of them taking and giving comfort through their embrace.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, Maddox. You have done nothing wrong and didn’t deserve any of this, okay? I’m the one that owes you an apology. I never should have left you in a position where you could be hurt…”

“You didn’t, Dad did. You teamed up with Hamish and Randall and saved me. I’m alive because of you,” he said, pain and love in his voice that left Vera speechless. It wasn’t just her own guilt that had her silent, however. The rage and hatred she’d felt since she’d woken up covered in blood, surrounded by her butchered students, was absent.

And she was only just realizing that it had been absent. It’d been quiet ever since she’d first taken Maddox into her arms in that dimly lit closet. Instead, there was something else. An emotion similar to guilt that she wasn’t entirely sure was all her. Prodding further in confusion, she felt the beast snarl within her mind as hatred flared in her chest, causing her breath to hitch painfully as she swayed slightly at the intensity of the emotion. Emotion that was directed solely at her.

“Are you okay?” Maddox asked, pulling back just enough that he was able to look up at her with worried eyes. She forced herself to smile and nod to ease his worry before silently guiding him back to the couch so she could finish gathering the potions and salves for the wounds on his face.

Wounds caused by the monster living inside of her.

Hamish might have been being honest with her when he said the wolves didn’t kill kids. He had seemed like he was telling the truth and she was positive she had picked up on the creature’s guilt, or something resembling guilt, as more of Maddox’s story was revealed. But the monster had hurt an innocent child in its blind hatred and lust for revenge. Something that, according to Hamish, Ms. Bathory would have been against.

But the level of hatred directed towards her right now, after recognizing a potential weakness in the beast, told her just how desperately it wanted to hurt her. And it knew now that this boy was important to her. Knew the depths she had gone – and would go – through to protect him.

There wasn’t a doubt in Vera’s mind that the monster inside of her would hurt, even kill, Maddox just to hurt her if she gave it a chance. But she had control, for now at least. And so long as she could convince Council to allow her to close the Temple early, she should be able to remain in control.

But she needed to find a way to get it out of her and fast.

Notes:

...There's just a lot of hurt being spread around in this one... sorry?

Chapter 14: Budding Strife

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those commenting and letting us know what you think.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Come on, Alyssa, you can do it. That’s it, just lean on me. I’ve got you,” Jack soothed encouragingly as he pulled more of Alyssa’s weight against him when her legs buckled beneath her with a grunt of pain. They were nearly out of the altar room, but their progress had been slow and carrying her had only led to her frantically hitting his chest to get down, the swaying motion too much for her head and stomach.

“It hurts,” she whimpered, shoving her face further into his shoulder, her tears soaking his shirt.

“I know, we’ll get you something to help, okay? I promise. Just a little further.” He carefully adjusted his arm around her so he could open the door and winced as her hand clutched the front of his shirt tighter, pulling several hairs out with the motion.

Jack looked around the antechamber as they entered, his gaze being pulled to Lilith’s body lying beside the ‘other wolves’ before seeing one of the Adepti moving towards him. “Adeptus, we’re waiting for - ”

“You both seem a bit young to be Philosophi. Are you the Philosophi? Though, this one seems a bit useless at the moment,” she interrupted, brow raised in what looked like disgust as she took in Alyssa whimpering against his side.

“What? No, we’re not. I’m an Acolyte and Alyssa’s a Medicum and she’s not useless, she’s hurt. We were helping the - ”

“Are you sure you’re not the Philosophi that are supposed to be taking inventory of the dead?” she asked, as if he would suddenly change his answer, despite knowing they weren’t, just because she asked twice. She was the last one in the Temple and obviously wanted to leave but couldn’t until the Philosophi arrived.

“No, but like I said, Alyssa’s in pain. She needs something - ” he started, but the woman waived her hand impatiently to cut him off.

“I don’t care. If she needs something, make it yourselves but you can’t stay here. Orders of your Temple Magus.” And with that, the woman turned her back on them and resumed her search for the elusive Philosophi.

“Jack, please. It hurts so much,” she cried as she gently hit her forehead against his shoulder repeatedly - he assumed it was to try and send a different sensation to her brain other than the constant pain. By her choked sob, she’d only made it worse.

He moved closer to the bar and gently eased her down into a sitting position, pain flaring in his chest as she instantly sank sideways against the wall until she could curl up on the floor, head tightly clutched between her hands. Sending a scathing look towards the retreating form of the selfish Adeptus, he pushed himself up and moved behind the bar to find a cloth and ice.

He’d been sitting against the wall for twenty minutes with Alyssa’s head in his lap, holding the ice-filled cloth to her forehead while his other hand sifted through her hair. She was asleep now, but it was restless. Her head kept jolting in his lap as new memories assaulted her, and her grunts of pain as her body shook continuously were as frequent as his own steady breaths.

The Adeptus didn’t want to help her? Fine. He would sit here and wait for Vera to get back. She would help, she had to.

It was as he was grabbing more ice – the previous having melted from the heat radiating off of Alyssa – that the Altar room doors swung open. He heard the woman growling under her breath about, ‘damn Philosophi and their meticulous approach to everything. Needing everything to be just right before they can start so the job never gets done,’ before she looked towards him.

“What the hell are you two still doing here? I told you to leave,” she snapped, quickly approaching and waking Alyssa in the process.

He ignored the irate woman and walked back to Alyssa, placing the cold compress on her forehead as her face scrunched up in agony. “I don’t know how to make a pain potion so I’m waiting for the Temple Magus to return - ”

“Not here, you’re not,” she interrupted, arms crossing in annoyance as she glared at him. He didn’t think it would phase a neophyte, let alone a werewolf.

“I’m just sitting here, we’re not in anyone’s way and we’re waiting for help, what’s the problem?” he ground out, anger mounting as Alyssa shied away from the woman’s shrill voice.

“The problem, Acolyte, is you were given an order by two of your superiors. No one is to be in the Temple for any reason, except the Philosophi. If you must, you can wait for your Magus to return outside. Not here. Get up, take her with you, and get out. Now,” she ordered, arm outstretched and pointing towards the exit.

He let out a low inhuman growl, barely reining Midnight in, before carefully lifting Alyssa off the ground and into a standing position beside him. She turned her head into his shoulder as her legs gave out – unable to support her weight.

“Shh, you’re alright, Alyssa, I’ve got you. I won’t let you fall. One step at a time, okay, that’s it.” If he wasn’t worried about making Alyssa’s migraine worse, he would have sent back a scathing remark when the Adeptus snapped for him to, ‘hurry it up already.’

Instead, he took a deep calming breath and gave Alyssa a small, strained smile as they took another slow step forward. He’d wait in his truck at the loading dock entrance, Vera would want to keep Maddox from prying eyes, he was sure of it.

And once he saw her, she’d let him into the Temple, and he’d be able to get something to dull Alyssa’s pain, maybe take it from her completely. She had to know of something that could help her.

He just hoped they wouldn’t have to wait too long for Vera to return.

---

Two hours and forty minutes. That’s how long it had been since Vera had made plans with Hamish to pick up Maddox. And it’d been nearly two since he’d been kicked out of the Temple. And still Vera hadn’t returned.

Jack was growing impatient.

No one, other than him, seemed to care about Alyssa’s condition. Not the Adeptus that had dismissed them as Alyssa lay curled up on the floor, head clutched in her hands and whimpering in pain. Not Vera, who hadn’t bothered to offer anything in the first place when Alyssa was already showing signs that she was in pain.

All he wanted was one fucking pain potion for her, something to help ease the agony she was in, but wouldn’t harm her memories. But no one gave a damn, and he was ready to explode.

At the Adeptus baring him entry to the Temple and Vera for implementing that order.

He was the one that defeated Coventry. He was the one that held Timber back for her while the others tried to heal Kepler. He was the one that had given Vera a reliquary to make the potion that had destroyed the Vade Maecum. And Alyssa had been the one to save Vera from Coventry and start this whole entire thing. Without her, Vera would have been dead and Coventry likely would have succeeded in bonding with the book.

And now, Alyssa was the one suffering and Vera refused to even try and help her. Just told him to sit tight and wait it out while she was in pain. Had kicked them out without a care in the world so he couldn’t ask her for help?! Well, he wasn’t going to let her dismiss them that easily. Not after everything they’d done for her. She was going to give Alyssa something for the pain at the very least.

That is, as soon as she stopped wasting time with Maddox and got back to work.

He looked towards the passenger seat as Alyssa whimpered in her sleep, brows scrunching together in discomfort. “Fuck this,” he ground out quietly and grabbed his phone.

“What?” Hamish’s emotionless voice came through the phone, causing Jack to pause for a second. It wasn’t often that Hamish spoke to the other Knights as if they were strangers, but that was the tone he was registering now.

He was about to ask if everything was alright when Alyssa shifted in the seat beside him, curling in on herself further. “Where’s Vera? I need -”

“Where is Vera?!” Hamish’s words were hard now, cold and laced with anger. “Where are you?!”

“At the school with Alyssa, she’s -”

“Lilith is dead. Did you know that?” Hamish cut him off suddenly, reminding Jack that he wasn’t the only one struggling at the moment.

---

Alyssa’s anguished cry had him freezing mid-step. That wasn’t a cry of physical pain. No, that was the wail of a broken woman overcome with sorrow. The kind of fractured howl that tore through the heart of anyone that heard it. He looked over his shoulder quickly, happy to see the Adeptus had returned behind the Altar room doors, before moving in front of Alyssa and cupping her face gently.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked quietly, mindful of the pain in her head, but she continued to stare past him with wide, tortured eyes.

“Lilith? Oh god, no. No!” She broke his hold on her and staggered towards Lilith’s lifeless body, dropping heavily to her knees with a gut-wrenching sob. “Lilith? Come on, Lil. Don’t do this to me, please don’t leave me. Not like this. Wake up, okay? Oh god, Lil, please wake up. Wake up! Lilith, please!” she pleaded, her gentle prodding turning to near vicious shaking as no response came.

“Alyssa, we have to leave,” he whispered, looking back over his shoulder as he heard voices approaching. They couldn’t find Alyssa this devastated over a known werewolf. Without Vera to stop them, they would take Alyssa in for questioning - hoping to gleam new information about the wolves – and he knew whatever methods they used would shatter any possibility of her getting her memories under control again.

“No, no, we can’t. We have to help her. She can’t be dead. Jack, she can’t! We have to help her! Help her, Jack. Bring her back, please bring her back.” She looked up at him, her eyes begging him for something he couldn’t give her. The image broke his heart more than seeing Lilith’s broken body lying in front of him.

“I can’t, Alyssa, I’m sorry. She’s dead and the Order knows she was a werewolf. They can’t find you like this or they’ll think you’re one too - ”

“Werewolf? Lily-Bell? No, she’s not werewolf, she’s my friend and she needs help -” she argued, pulling Lilith further into her lap and brushing the dark locks behind her ear. “You gotta wake up now, Lil, okay? Come on, just wake up. Please wake up.” She shrugged off Jack’s hand, hunching over Lilith’s body, face inches from the other girl’s.

“She’s not sleeping, Alyssa. You know that. And I know you don’t remember right now, but she was a werewolf. Just like I am. And the Order just lost everyone else that you see in this room because a werewolf attack. Vera told the others that all the werewolves are dead, she’s covering for us, but we have to keep up the illusion. We have to go, Alyssa…”

“We can’t just leave her here. Please, you have to help her.” Giant sobs were wracking her body as she clung to Lilith. He gently pried her hands off Lilith’s stiff form, before lifting the sobbing woman into his arms and moving towards the exit.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered over and over again as she buried her face against his chest and wept for the loss of a woman her jumbled memories told her was her best friend hours before.

---

Alyssa’s whimper pulled him from the memory from two hours ago, his hand scrubbing over his face as if to physically scrub it from his mind. He might not be the only one struggling, but he was the only one able to do something about what was bothering him. “We saw her body after Coventry was killed.” He waited a few seconds for the other man to say something, anything really, but there was silence on the other end of the phone, so he continued. “But that’s what the Knights do, right? Long the road, short the life. She was a good champion and now Vera will be -”

It was obviously the wrong thing to say.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Randall snarled loudly, clearly having taken the phone from Hamish, causing Jack to pull the device from his ear with a wince. “She was only there because you fucked up with Silverback! Because she stayed to save your girlfriend. Because you told us to trust Vera fucking Stone - ”

“And Vera did what she said she was going to do!” he bit back defensively, not so much in defense of Vera, but himself. “Based on the scene at the Den and the state she was in when she got to the Temple, it’s obvious she played a part in the massacre so Timber was able to act through her. But even before Timber chose over or before Alyssa and I said anything about an alliance, she was already planning to betray Coventry. She found out I was a werewolf, and instead of killing me outright, she allied herself to us to stop bad magic. She was already acting like a potential champion for -”

“Vera Stone is not champion material. We should kill her for her role in - ”

“In what? Lilith’s death? That’s on you and Hamish. I told you not to interfere with the Elemental Transference, but you didn’t listen to me. If you had listened, the Order wouldn’t have gotten suspicious, Kyle never would have stabbed Hamish, Gabrielle and Brandon never would have even seen a werewolf to confirm we existed, and I wouldn’t have gotten hunted down by a deranged necromancer. You have to know that Coventry wouldn’t have known or cared about us if you all just sat back and waited. Instead, you three ran in, acting like you were playing heroes and made everything worse. Lilith’s death isn’t on our hands, it’s on yours. You want to hate Vera? Fine. But at least hate her for something she’s actually responsible for instead of using her as your fucking scapegoat.”

He could hear sputtering through the phone and knew Randall was too angry to formulate words before Hamish calmly asked for the phone back. “You said you saw her body?” His voice was too calm, the danger lurking within it causing a few hairs at the back of Jack’s neck to stand on end.

“Yeah, she’s in the Temple.”

“Get her back or I will ensure everyone finds out that Vera Stone is a wolf and the one responsible for the slaughter at the Den,” Hamish’s threat sent a wave of cold through Jack, but before he could respond, the eldest Knight had ended the call.

There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Hamish - and Randall - would follow through with the threat if Lilith’s body wasn’t returned to them. They would kill themselves to kill Vera if she disagreed. And that would leave him and Alyssa in danger.

He had to convince her to give him Lilith’s body.

Notes:

As a reminder, for those taking joy in Alyssa's suffering... Alyssa is *not* the same Alyssa from season 2 or the show... so, you *shouldn't* be happy she's in so much pain. And yeah, the Knights really aren't doing so great at the moment...

Chapter 15: Compromises

Notes:

As always, thanks to those that commented last chapter. We're so thrilled to see people are actually feeling bad for Alyssa and starting to not hate Jack!

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Vera’s hand trembled slightly as she flipped the page of the book she was reading. Every page she turned had defeat continuing to rise within her but still she kept reading, hoping for something different, something she hadn’t picked up on before. She had read the book before, numerous times when she had first suspected that werewolves were responsible for killing her students at the beginning of the year, but she hadn’t been reading it with the knowledge she had now. And that was the reason she would continue to read every word in every book she had that even vaguely referenced werewolves with a fine-tooth comb.

When she had first searched the books, she hadn’t known how or why the werewolves were created. They weren’t the mindless beasts, humans bitten and cursed to kill indiscriminately, like the legends had made them out to be. They had been created for a purpose. And that purpose, that job, was precisely what gave them their intelligence, not only to select their hosts, but to form complex traps for their prey. And if she was right, it was what gave them the strength to hold onto their vessels.

She was hoping that knowing they’d been created with a purpose would give her some sort of insight into how the hides connected to their hosts. Something she might be able to use to get the beast out of her, possibly out of all of them. But everything she found led to Jack’s words being true. The only way to stop being one was to die.

She lifted the book higher to look down at her lap and felt the corner of her lips pull up in a sad smile. With the soothing effects of the salves and the potion for pain, Maddox hadn’t been able to stay awake long. But in his exhaustion, his fear of being abandoned again had become too much for him and he’d become extremely clingy.

She had tried to research at her desk, after repeatedly telling him to try to get some sleep on the couch, but he just hovered at her side less than an arm’s span away. It wasn’t until he started swaying and had to catch himself against her desk, that she’d given up on ignoring his hovering and snapped at him to sit down before he fell.

The quiet sniffle that followed her impatient retort had her head jerking up from the book to see tears in his lost eyes. His near silent question, filled with fear and hesitance, asking if she would hold him until he fell asleep, had a ball of guilt settling deep within her before a pleasant warmth blossomed in her chest. She was wanted, was actively being sought out for comfort by someone so innocent. The feeling had smothered the pain and anxiety churning within her, if only for a second.

She’d nodded – smiling as his eyes lit up - and, without a word, stood and guided him towards the couch, book in hand. He’d only lasted a few minutes in the following silence before shifting until his head was resting in her lap and he’d sleepily asked if she’d read out loud. Already knowing that the information it held wouldn’t frighten him further and nothing too sensitive was held within the tome, she began reading in a hushed voice.

Her fingers dropping to sift through his hair had him asleep before she’d finished the first paragraph. And if anyone asked, her fingers continued returning to trail through his hair after each flip of the page to soothe Maddox, not herself.

Just seeing his peaceful face, no longer scrunched in pain thanks to the numbing salves, eased the despair threatening to drown her. It was enough to chase away the living nightmare that her life had become in the last few days. Enough to remind her why she couldn’t just give in and roll over despite how tired she was.

It reminded her that there was still good in the world that needed to be protected. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, even herself, but she needed him as much as he needed her.

“I need to see the Temple Magus; she’s expecting me.” Jack’s voice right outside her office had her fingers jerking out of Maddox’s hair so fast she nearly ripped some of the strands out and dropped the book she was holding. She carefully pried his grip from her shirt and lifted him just enough that she could slip out from under him before pulling her robe – currently being used as a throw blanket - over his shoulders to keep him warm. One werewolf, the one she was battling, knowing Maddox was a potential weakness was more than enough. She couldn’t let the others find out and use him against her.

“The Temple Magus has closed the Temple to -”

“It’s alright, Simon,” she cut in while opening the door and giving a tight smile. “I can take it from here. Were you able to get…? Thank you.” She accepted the new cellphone he held out to her and pushed the door open further, waiving Jack in. “I’ll probably be busy for a few hours, why don’t you make sure Melissa gets something to eat?”

Simon frowned at the suggestion, clearly not wanting to leave, and she knew part of it was because out of the three of them, she was the one that skipped meals if there were other things to do. And after today’s events and the upcoming battle with Council, food wasn’t high on her priority list, something he obviously knew.

It was only Jack’s presence that kept him from saying anything like, ‘And who’s going to make sure you eat?’, which she was grateful for. He had a frustrating habit of ‘mothering’ their group when he thought they weren’t taking care of themselves. So typically, it was him forcing her and Melissa to take a breath and actually eat something or rest.

Still, he wouldn’t dare cross that line between professional and personal in front of her student.

“Now that I have a phone, I can order dinner. I’m sure Maddox will be starving when he wakes up,” she offered and rolled her eyes when he relaxed with a nod. He knew she wouldn’t let Maddox go hungry and when he’d checked in with her thirty minutes ago, he’d seen how tightly the boy had wound himself around her. She could tell he was trusting that Maddox would make sure she ate, just by his presence alone. The worst part is, he was right. She knew Maddox would get worried if she didn’t eat anything and to avoid worrying him, she would make sure she ate something.

“I’ll stop back in a few hours. You’ll call us if you need anything before then?” He waited until she nodded before walking out of the mostly vacant Temple. With a deep breath, she shut the door and turned to face an irritated Jack standing in the middle of her office with his arms crossed.

“How can I help you, Mr. Morton?” Vera prompted when he stayed silent, while moving back towards the couch. She picked up the book and turned to place it back on her desk.

“What’s that?” he asked, coming closer and tilting his head so he could read the book title. “Stubb’s Guide to Transformation? Interesting read? Find anything to contradict what I told you, yet?” His words were laced with humor, causing her to huff in annoyance as she covered the book with a folder. “That’s what I thought. It happened, just accept it and move on -”

“Is this why you’re here?” she bit out, looking over Jack’s shoulder to see if Maddox was still asleep, despite the heavy potions he was under, and let out a relieved breath when she saw he hadn’t moved even an inch.

“Alyssa needs help -”

“We talked about this already, Mr. -”

“No, we talked about her memories. But she’s in pain, even when she’s sleeping. You need to give her something for it,” he ordered before turning to look at Maddox, completely missing her raised brow, and pointed at him. “You obviously gave him something to help him sleep. You can give me whatever you gave him so Alyssa can have some peace…”

“I don’t have extra…”

Jack wasn’t listening. He had moved closer to Maddox, causing her to trail off as a flicker of fear rose at the thought that he might try to hurt him, before he took a deep breath and turned to face her, his eyes silver as he held up one of the two bottles resting beside the couch. She watched him bring it close to his ear and shake it. Even from this distance, Vera could hear the liquid splashing against the sides with the motion. “Seems to me like there’s some right here.”

“Yes, but it’s for Maddox, I’ll need to make more for -”

“For him. You need to make more for him. This should be for Alyssa. She’s the one in pain now, while he’s sleeping peacefully. She saved your life,” he added when she opened her mouth to argue, and despite knowing he was technically right, she still found herself mumbling under her breath, ‘that’s debatable.’ By his expectant expression staying the same, she assumed he hadn’t heard her, which she knew was for the best.

“Fine, give her one capful every two hours and make sure she eats, or it will damage her stomach.” Without another word, she sat down and pulled the phone out - ready to call Council – and waited for him to leave now that he’d gotten what he came for. But he just stood there expectantly. “Something else on your mind?”

“Lilith’s body, you need to let me take her back to the others -”

“Out of the question, the Order won’t allow me to dispose of her body,” she argued instantly, ignoring his irritated growl. Was he crazy? The Adepti were already drooling over the opportunity to study her. There was no way her body, the only unburnt werewolf corpse, wouldn’t be missed.

“You need to. It’s Hamish’s orders -”

“I don’t care about his orders. I am the Temple Magus in charge of -”

“And he is the leader of the Knights of Saint Christopher, not one of your disciples. You won’t get to pull rank with him, trust me on that. If you refuse to give her body back, he is threatening to expose the Knights and you.”

She gaped at him, fingers tapping against her desk in nerves and frustration, before leaning back in her chair with a shake of her head. “He’s bluffing, he has to be. If he exposes the werewolves, the Order will hunt all of you down and kill you…”

“He knows that. He doesn’t care. Neither of them care, but we do. They aren’t thinking logically right now, which means we have to.” His face was serious, showing his own worry. He didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire, but he knew he would if it came down to it. Which meant she wouldn’t be able to stop them either, especially without her magic.

“The Order plans to dissect her - against my wishes,” she interrupted with her finger up as his face shifted to anger. “I am just a Temple Magus, Mr. Morton. Contrary to what you and your friends seem to believe, I don’t control the Order. The entirety of the Gnostic Council and whoever is voted in as Grand Magus outrank me. I can argue for things and try to convince them, but they won’t budge on this. She was a werewolf. To them, there’s no reason not to learn from her. There’s no backlash that would come from making it seem as if her funeral has already taken place. Her body gives them an invaluable opportunity to figure out more and they planned to study it without interruptions -”

“And if everyone comes back and she’s just gone? They can’t do anything and will have to accept… what?” He shifted under her stare as she rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with a heavy exhale.

“Do you honestly believe that anyone wouldn’t question where she went? We are trying to stop further investigation into the werewolves, correct? So, if the body of a werewolf disappears when the Temple is closed, you think the Order will just… let it go and move on? Or do you think they’ll believe there are more werewolves out there with access to the Temple and that they are collecting their dead?”

“Okay, then we figure something else out…”

“Such as?” she asked, her tone anything but curious, as she waved her hand for him to proceed.

He shot a glare at her before pacing back and forth, trying to think of something that could work. “We can burn the bodies again, right? Act as if it’s some kind of wolf defense system so their bodies can’t be dissected?”

“And when they see that there is a body missing, as you want to take Ms. Bathory’s with you? A burnt werewolf body can still be dissected, as is the plan for those bodies your friends burned. What else would you like to try?”

“There was nothing left of Coventry when he died. His body dissolved and got sucked into the Vade Maecum,” he said slowly, trying to think of how it could be related but failing. Thankfully, it was enough for Vera to form a plan.

“No one knows he was sucked into the Vade Maecum. All they know is that he disintegrated in front of my eyes because of it. And Council already knows that the book is linked to werewolves in some way. I could potentially convince them that because the book was destroyed, the bodies weren’t affected right away, but the residual magic that was released from its destruction was still effective enough after a few hours.”

She tapped her fingers on the desk for a few minutes, trying to determine if it was a lie Council would buy before remembering she had just the thing to sell the story. If Jack could play his part right. Even if he couldn’t, she knew the risk of Council choosing to investigate on the off chance she was lying was far less than the risk of Hamish revealing the werewolves and exposing her along with them.

She pushed herself out of her chair and moved towards her cabinet on the opposite side of the room to start rifling through the drawers before pulling out a vial filled with shimmering silver liquid with a grin. She had learned early on that there were numerous benefits to having several of the more potent potions on hand, despite the teasing she’d occasionally gotten from Edward and Bitsy.

This potion was particularly useful, especially as most of the Order never bothered to learn it, since there was an easier – albeit far less powerful – spell they could use that had similar results. Yes, this should do the trick so long as Jack ensured it landed on all four bodies.

“This potion is a more potent type of illusion magic to an advanced spell called -”

“Quid quid requiritur fiat?” he asked, moving closer to look at the shimmering potion. “Why waste the time brewing a potion when all it takes is a quick drawing and drop of blood?” When he looked up at her, she was scowling.

“Did you not just hear me? I said it’s a more potent version. Most don’t care to take the time to brew it, but its illusions are far more powerful and convincing then anything that would come from the spell, in fact, most potions are more powerful than their spell counterparts. One benefit of this is the scale of the illusion you can create. So long as you can maintain focus, anything it lands on will be pulled into the illusion -”

“And you’re going to make the bodies disappear…? Why? I didn’t see anyone on my way in, other than Simon -”

“Adeptus Adler,” she interrupted harshly with a firm glare, scowl growing when he rolled his eyes. “So long as you are a disciple, you will give him the respect he –“

“Fine, whatever, Adeptus Adler. But he’s going to the hospital, yeah? No one is here, why not just move them and say they disappeared?”

“Firstly, there are two Philosophi here making a list of the dead. If you didn’t see them, they were likely carrying one of the bodies to the room where we keep sacrificial remains. Secondly, having someone witness the bodies disappearing will sell the story for us. But for this plan to work, I’m going to need you to do two things.”

“What?” His brow raised skeptically, arms crossing his chest as he studied her.

“The Philosophi aren’t in the Temple often, meaning they don’t interact with most of the disciples and that is why they’re still here trying to make a list on who’s deceased. They don’t recognize the bodies. This binder contains all of Belgrave’s current members and former neophytes. Carry this out - when you can’t hear them outside - and dump this potion onto all four bodies with the same desired image as what happened to Edward. Just make sure you mentally will the effect to wait five minutes so they don’t suspect you did anything to the bodies. That will give you enough time to give them the binder for me and leave.”

“Okay, easy enough. What’s the second thing?”

“The potion will wear off in one hour, so for this plan to work, I’ll need you to take the other bodies as well. Before I call Council to inform them, just in case they decide to send someone to investigate. Pull around to the loading dock and I’ll wave you in when the Philosophi are gone so we can move them -”

“Wait, back up a second. I’m not keeping corpses of people I barely know. What do you expect me to do with them?!”

Vera glared darkly at him, fists clenching at her sides with his refusal, before taking a steadying breath. “You will take them if you want this plan to have any chance of succeeding. I don’t have a way to transport them or the time to even leave the Temple. If anyone comes back before I get that chance, they will see three of four bodies remaining and know something happened and start investigating. Which is something we don’t want, remember? Besides, Ms. Drake will need more of the pain potion tomorrow morning, I will text you when and where to meet. And at that time, we will bury their bodies and no one should look any further. Need I remind you that this plan needs to succeed for all of us. So, I suggest you suck it up and move. Now.”

“Fine.” He snatched the potion and binder from her desk and started towards the doors, looking over his shoulder to add one last parting threat before pulling them open. “You get till tomorrow morning to take care of them or they’re being dumped in the woods.” He was already out the door before she could argue with him.

With a tired sigh, she turned around and moved towards the bookshelf to grab another book on magical creatures when the beast started fighting against her. She froze in an instant, listening for anything that could have set the monster off or the telltale ringing, but there was nothing. It wasn’t until she started looking around the immediate area that she saw what she knew must have set the monster off.

There was a glow emanating from her trashcan. The light was already gone by the time she had her hand wrapped around the object. Fully restored, only baring a faint residue of char along the binding, was the Vade Maecum. And with it came the realization that with everything that happened after she’d returned to the basement earlier that day, she’d forgotten to add the most important ingredient to the potion.

“Fucking werewolf blood,” she spat while shoving the accursed grimoire into her desk drawer and slamming it shut. Couldn’t anything thing go right today?!

Notes:

Welp... of course the Vade Maecum survived... hopefully Jack doesn't fuck up with the illusion!

For those reading Bonded, there won't be an update this week unfortunately. I'll be back with that one Friday.

Chapter 16: Stolen Futures

Notes:

A huge thanks to those that commented last chapter. This one is actually one of our favorites so far, so hopefully you guys like it too!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Vera wiped the back of her hand across her forehead as she shut the Temple door and collapsed against it with closed eyes. They had just finished moving the last body to the bed of Jack’s truck. She had made mental notes to herself about each body they had moved, the illusion doing nothing to mask their corpses from her, before they were neatly tucked away under a tattered blanket and hidden from the world.

Having both used and seen the potion in action before, she’d been anticipating the need to blindly rely on Jack’s instructions while moving the victims. The illusions from this particular potion were strong enough that she shouldn’t have been able to see or feel anything when she reached for the hidden bodies.

Yet, when she looked at the place the nervous Philosophi had pointed - both stumbling over each other with apologies for not only losing bodies they’d been responsible for, but the most important ones to the Order - she had thought the illusion had failed. All she saw was the same carelessly stacked bodies of the four ‘werewolves’.

‘So, you beasts can see through our more powerful illusions, can you? Good to know,’ she thought to herself, lips turning down in a scowl as she felt the creature’s irritation towards her mental notes.

The werewolves’ ability to see through their complex magics was something she wanted to know, something she needed to know, but she wished she hadn’t found out like this. She didn’t want any more reminders of the monster living inside of her, but the beast wouldn’t let her escape them.

She didn’t consider herself weak or out of shape, but she couldn’t lie to herself and act as if she was strong enough to carry four bodies that distance without breaking a sweat or getting winded. Even with Jack’s help, she should have struggled. The monster had given her unwanted strength and she could feel it taking pleasure with each new skill and memory it forced upon her. Taunting her.

She hated everything about it. The skills it gave her. The emotions it forced her to experience. The tangible memories it induced. That it was able to use her to hurt people. That it forced her to scar Maddox and leave Bitsy in critical condition. That she had to lie to people that trusted her. That she couldn’t get it out of her. That it neutered her ability to use magic. That it filled her with heightened senses and strengths, yet left her powerless.

Forcing herself to move past the sickening emotions, she replayed the list she’d created for each body she had moved. As soon as she had finished updating Council about the ‘werewolf’ bodies disappearing, she’d sent the Philosophi away for their ‘safety’. Not wanting to waste time – or allow her mind to wander – while she waited for Jack to get back, she had immediately started identifying the victims the Philosophi hadn’t been able to get to. She would identify the charred remains of her students. She would remember them as they were, not as the monsters the others now believed they had been, thanks to her need for a scapegoat. She owed them so much more, but she could at least give them that much.

Someone would remember them.

She would remember all of them.

With a ragged breath, she pushed herself off the door and started walking back towards the antechamber. She stood in front of the bar and stared at her binder filled with the faces of eager young students that she was responsible for. Students she was supposed to protect and train. Students she had failed.

Her shaking hand changed course at the last moment and reached for the bottle of bourbon instead. Only after her glass was drained and refilled did she reach for the binder.

She flipped through the pages – careful not to spill her drink – as she walked back towards her office before her legs refused to move. She caught herself on the altar, glass falling from numb fingers and shattering against the stone floor, as her legs buckled. The binder stayed open as it fell to the altar, her haunted gaze fixed on redhead staring up at her with a wide smile and bright blue eyes. Vera’s fingers dug into the unforgiving stone as her breathing grew erratic, heart slamming painfully against her ribs as she fought against images the beast tried to force on her.

Lisa Brennan. Magistratus. One of the few kindhearted members she’d managed to admit over the years. Vera had always put on an exceptional show of being cold and distant around other students – a necessity in the Order – but more than once she had come to the Temple late at night to see Lisa’s nose buried in a magical medical theory textbook. When most disciples tended to avoid speaking to her unless they had to, Lisa would always ask her how she was and if she could help with anything before returning to her studies. Vera had planned to introduce her to Simon after she graduated next year. She was hoping the older man would take her under his wing at their DC hospital before the Order could strip away that desire to help others.

The word ‘deceased’ written in slanted red text beside her date of birth ended that future before Vera had ever gotten a chance to bring it up to the girl.

“She was innocent,” she ground out under her breath – hatred and fury lacing every word – as she felt the monster’s satisfaction over the girl’s death. Her fingers dug into the stone further when she felt its humor rise and screwed her eyes shut as it tried to force another unwanted memory on her. “No!” she snapped, hand smacking the altar with far more force than should have been possible.

“Aunt Vera?” The quiet question had her instantly regaining her composure as she spun around to face the frightened boy. He was hiding behind one of the pillars, but the way he was sagging against it had her rushing towards him. She caught him just before he fell, his arms wrapping around her waist immediately with a tiny sob.

“What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” Her free hand fluttered slightly before tunneling her fingers through his hair, hoping to calm him, as he started to shake.

“I woke up and you weren’t there. I thought… You said you wouldn’t leave me. Why does everyone keep leaving me?! You promised me, you promised you wouldn’t leave,” he cried, tucking his face against her as he hiccupped. Vera’s eyes screwed shut against the pain blossoming in her chest as she curled her arms tighter around him.

His words had instantly reminded her of a similar conversation from three years ago…

---

Vera had been on the phone with Melissa when she saw Maddox running from the ceremony hall, tears streaming down his face. Edward’s voice trailed after him, calling for him to come back and say goodbye but the boy continued running.

Her need to schedule a time to meet with Melissa and Simon to discuss her suspicions about Edward’s involvement with Sophia’s death evaporated.  She offered a quick, ‘I’ll call you back’, before hurriedly trailing after the boy, hoping to get to him before Edward did. She found him curled up in the corner of the coatroom near hyperventilating with how hard he was crying.

Her dress skirt was restrictively uncomfortable, but she eased herself down beside him and waited in silence until the boy threw himself at her, deep guttural sobs shaking them both as she rubbed her hand against his back. She wouldn’t try to rush him or tell him to put on a brave face like she knew Bitsy and Edward had been doing. That wasn’t what he needed right now.

He was a five-year-old boy who’d just lost his mother. He needed someone to just let him grieve without telling him everything would be okay. She knew it would never be okay. It would get easier to bear with time, but the pain would always be there.

“Mommy promised she’d always be here, but she’s not,” he said between sobs, fingers tightening on her shirt. She ducked her head while pulling him closer and let her lips linger on his hair for a moment before her fingers started trailing through it.

“She didn’t want this to happen, honey…”

“I heard Aunt Bitsy telling daddy that she planned it -”

“Your Aunt Bitsy is wrong. And if anyone else says that, they’re also wrong,” she said, her words firm but the tone soft as she guided his face up so she could look at him. “You were your mother’s entire world, sweetheart. She would have done anything to stay with you if she could and she never would have left you willingly.” She gently brushed her thumbs under his eyes with a sad smile before kissing his forehead.

“She’s not coming back, is she?” he asked, eyes filling with more tears as she shook her head softly. “Why’d she leave me?”

“I don’t know, but I do know she didn’t want to.” Even as she said it, she felt the cold dread twisting in her gut. She had watched Edward throughout the entire ceremony. She had seen the near imperceptible cracks in his grieving mask, the way his frown would shift into a loveless smile when he pulled Maddox closer to him.

Edward may not have killed Sophia, but he at the very least, played a part somehow and she suspected it was related to the boy in her arms right now. She didn’t know how or why, but she knew Sophia had died trying to protect Maddox from Edward. And with that realization, all Vera wanted to do was take Maddox and run. Put him somewhere he’d be safe, but she couldn’t.

As long as Edward was alive, Maddox would never be safe. She needed to distance herself from him, from both of them, until she found out what Edward was after and figured out a way to stop him if it came down to it. And that meant sending the boy back to his father without inadvertently sharing her suspicions with him. Not if she wanted Maddox to stay safe.

“You know your dad is going to come looking for you if we stay hidden much longer…”

“I don’t want to say goodbye. Please don’t make me,” he pleaded, shaking his head against her chest. Tucked away like he was, he couldn’t see the scowl that had worked its way onto her face. People trying to force others to say goodbye and move on before they were ready was something she was all too familiar with. She’d heard it for months back home before she’d finally escaped.

“I won’t. You don’t have to say goodbye unless you want to and never let anyone else dictate when that is. But even if you did say goodbye one day, you know she won’t leave you, right? As long as you remember her and love her, your mom will always be with you.”

“You promise?” He was looking at her with wide, tear-filled eyes and she nodded with a small smile while fixing his hair. “Dad said I have to go up and see her but…” he broke off, eyes screwing shut and she brushed her thumb under his eyes again.

“What if we go up together, hmm? Just me and you? I promise you don’t have to look at her or say anything if you don’t want to.”

“But daddy said -”

“Your dad won’t know. No one needs to know, okay? We’ll only do what you’re ready for and everyone else will see what they expect to see,” she promised, hand moving to his back again as he studied her.

“Because of magic?”

“Not this time, no. An important lesson to remember is that some of the strongest illusions can be created by simple acting. People will see us walking up together, we’ll stand there for a few minutes and walk away. But because people expect us to be saying goodbye, that is what they’ll see, and no one will interrupt us. And on the slim chance someone does approach us, you can turn into me and I’ll be sure to keep the illusion going for us, okay? I won’t let you be forced into saying goodbye before you’re ready.”

“Will you say goodbye?” His question had her freezing as she read the double meaning in his eyes. She brought her hand up to cradle his face, thumb stroking along his cheek softly.

“I’m not ready to say goodbye to your mother yet. But Maddox, I… I love you and I want you to remember that because it’s probably going to be awhile before you see me again -”

“Why? You’re leaving?” His eyes were showing panic, so she brought her other hand up to cradle the other side of his face and kissed his forehead again.

“I don’t want to. But without your mom, I… your dad and I aren’t close, sweetheart. I don’t know if he’ll let me visit you and I… Here, take this.” She unclasped her necklace and slid the small charm off of it, tucking it in his hand with a forced smile before whispering under her breath. “If you need me, hold this in both your hands and talk to me. I will try to be there if I can, but this will only work once so make sure you use it wisely. And it has to be our little secret, okay?”

She wasn’t sure it would even work. It was something she’d created years ago with three other Philosophi during their near civil war. Two had died before using theirs and the third had only activated his and started contacting her before he’d been killed. Vera had heard him scream, so she knew it had worked at one point, but would it still? And would her enchantment allow Maddox to activate it. She hoped to never find out.

“Can I call you?” he pouted while shoving the charm in his pocket before letting her help him stand. She grabbed a scarf from the multitude of coats and carefully removed the tears from his face before tossing it over her shoulder.

“Of course. Your dad has my number.” She wasn’t expecting any calls would come to her. If she was right – and she was almost positive she was – that Edward had played a role in Sophia’s death, he wouldn’t want his son reaching out to any of his mother’s friends, especially not her. He’d shuttle him away from anyone that could interfere, possibly go so far as to turn the boy against her. Pushing her grief down, she smiled sadly at the boy she’d fallen in love with the instant she’d held him in her arms five years ago. “You ready to face everyone?”

“Promise you won’t leave me?”

“Not unless I have to.”

---

He had been so young and consumed by grief at the time, that she wasn’t sure he even remembered their conversation. But the way he looked at her now, she couldn’t stop the guilt at her purposefully misleading promise. “I’m sorry, Maddox. You were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you -”

“Where were you?” he asked, breathing slowly regulating as she led him back into the reliquary and shut the door. She grabbed her phone off her desk and moved towards the couch, shifting slightly as he curled against her again.

“I had to create an illusion with one of the werewolves so we could get Lilith’s body back to them. She didn’t deserve to be dissected and her friends wanted to be able to bury her… Maddox?” she asked, concern lacing her words when he shifted against her with a small grunt of pain. “You didn’t answer my question earlier, are you in pain?”

“I’m okay.” His words were tight, forced, and a straight up lie. She carefully pushed him back and gently tilted his face up towards her, her expression telling him that she didn’t believe him and wanted the truth. “Only a little bit.”

“That means the medicine is wearing off. I have to start brewing a new batch… don’t worry, I have everything I need in this room. I’m not going anywhere,” she soothed the second his hands fisted in her shirt. He eased his grip and nodded slowly but was clearly struggling to let go of her completely. “Tell you what, why don’t I order us food, first? Anything special you want?”

“Do you eat pizza?” His stomach let out a growl at the word and had Vera chuckling.

“We can do pizza, what kind do you want?”

“Pepperoni, please.” He grinned up at her, barely masking the pained whimper when the motion pulled against his wounds.

“One pepperoni pizza, coming right up.” She placed the order quickly and, after some gentle encouragement, was able to convince Maddox to let go of her so she could start gathering the ingredients for the pain potion.

If she started now, she should have just enough time to complete the first stage of the brewing process before dinner arrived.

Notes:

We were *not* expecting the funeral scene, but fell in love with Vera/Maddox's little moment there. We've got to be reaching the bottom of the pain well, right? Please?

Chapter 17: Confrontation

Notes:

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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Vera choked down a bite of her second greasy slice of pizza – not wanting Maddox to worry or see how much she hated pepperoni – as she studied the boy’s face while he ate. She knew the potion had almost completely faded by the way his face started moving less and less, his mouth barely opening to take increasingly smaller bites.

“Another twenty minutes and the potion will be finished brewing.” She watched him nod slightly while trying to smile but it came out as a grimace of pain. “Okay, why don’t we wait on finishing our dinner, hmm?” Putting her own plate down on her desk, she held her other hand out expectantly for his, frowning when he tightened his grip on it. “Maddox? I’m not trying stop you from eating, I just think we should wait until -”

“I’m fine, really. It doesn’t hurt much,” he interrupted with forced perkiness as a strained smile stretched across his face before looking up at her. She leaned back in her chair with a brow raised in question, causing him to shift uncomfortably as he looked towards his pizza. “You don’t have to worry about me all the time.”

“Maddox, I’ve known you since the day you were born. I’m always going to worry about you.” She didn’t understand the sudden shift in his behavior. An hour ago, he was clinging to her for dear life and now, he wouldn’t even meet her gaze. Leaning forward, she reached out to carefully brush the hair off his forehead before guiding his head up to look at her. “What’s going on? Maddox, look at me.”

His hands were wringing together nervously – causing her own anxiety to rise – and she reached out to wrap her hand around his. He met her gaze for an instant before looking away with a troubled expression. “I… I can take care of myself.” His words might have hurt her had his eyes not been filled with fear.

She nodded with a small smile while brushing her thumb along his knuckles. “I know you can, but…”

“So, you wouldn’t have to worry about me all the time and we could… I mean, I know you’re really busy but I… we… nothing has to change,” he stumbled, words running together and confusing her enough to have her brows furrow.

“What doesn’t have to change?” she asked, but when he looked back up at her, the fear, hope and pleading swirling in his eyes made her aware of what he was trying to ask. “Oh.” She had planned to have him stay with her until he was fully recovered, but she hadn’t had a chance to think past that – even to that point if she were being honest.

Could she handle living with a child? Could she handle being responsible for a young child again? Considering her past and that her life was falling apart at the seams right now, it wasn’t a surprise when her gut reaction was a resounding ‘no’.

“I promise I’ll be really good. I’ll do all my homework and whatever chores you ask me to do and you wouldn’t even have to know I’m there -”

“I would want to know you’re there, sweetheart. That wouldn’t be the issue. I just… I work really long hours, Maddox. I don’t know if it’s such a good -”

“Please? I… I don’t know anyone else,” he begged her as tears started filling his eyes.

Vera took a deep breath through the sudden pain gripping her chest and pulled a false smile onto her face while squeezing his hands. “I’ll tell you what, why don’t we see how your healing goes and we can talk about it again in a few days?” She watched the giant grin break out across his face, seemingly oblivious to the following grimace of pain flashing across his own face, as he nodded his head happily and quickly rushed to clarify. “I’m not saying, yes, Maddox -”

“I know. But you’re also not saying no. You’re saying, maybe. I can work with maybe. I’ll be really good, you’ll see.” He sent her another beaming smile before turning back to his pizza and she let out a small chuckle while picking her plate back up. “You know I do still love you, right?” he whispered, stare staying fixed on his lap and missing her hand freezing in midair.

She took a deep calming breath, forcing her voice to stay even as she lifted the pizza to her lips, and returned a quiet, ‘I love you too’, that was followed by silence as they both finished their dinner.

---

Jack waited beside the bed of his truck at the edge of the woods, gaze flicking back towards Alyssa’s slumbering form in the passenger seat. “Come on! Where the hell are you guys?!” He pulled out his phone for the eighth time in the short while he’d been there before stuffing it back into his pocket with an irritated growl at the lack of messages.

Alyssa’s pained whimper broke through his frustration and pulled his gaze back to her. She was moving. Not wanting her to suffer any longer than necessary, he ran to the driver’s seat and grabbed the pain potion he’d taken from Vera. All she needed to do was wake up enough to swallow a small amount.

“Nooo,” she moaned when he raised the vial to her lips, weakly trying to shove it away as a sob shook her frame. “I can’t help you get it! Please, Edward, please! I don’t want to go back there, you almost lost me last time! Please don’t make me go back,” Alyssa pleaded, fear oozing from her words.

“Shh, Alyssa, it’s me, Jack. I have a pain potion that Vera made for you. Do you think you can drink it? Just a sip and you’ll feel better, I promise.” He knew what memory she was stuck in right now. Coventry was sending her into the Collective Unconscious, tethering her to Sir Richard’s mind, over and over again to get the piece of the Vade Maecum. She’d been excited at the time – eager even to go back in and help – but after everything had settled, she’d admitted one night that she’d had nightmares for weeks about what she’d seen.

She hadn’t condemned Coventry at that point. Instead, blaming herself for not getting the piece faster. If she had, she wouldn’t have had to see so many horrible things. He wondered if she blamed Coventry now, if she realized the man had taken advantage of her desire to learn and her need to please and get approval.

“Jack? What are…? Where are we?” Her face was pinched in pain but she allowed him to pour a small amount of the potion into her mouth. “Did I fall asleep during a ritual or something? Oh god! Did the Temple Magus see me?! No, no, no! She already thinks I’m useless! They kicked Lilith out last week and I haven’t even been able to do a simple cleansing incantation since then! The Temple Magus is so smart and flawless and pretty and powerful and I can’t do anything! She probably hates me and thinks I’m an idiot,” she sobbed into his arms, her words slurring at the end as the potion started to take effect.

Hearing the damage Vera had done to Alyssa’s confidence, who was an amazing practitioner – obviously one of the best if his father was intent on having her as his protégé – had his temper blazing towards the older woman. “You’re not an idiot or useless, Alyssa. Far from it. You helped stop an evil man and you saved the Temple Magus’ life, as well as countless students. I’m sure Vera’s happy with you.”

And if she wasn’t impressed by what Alyssa had done, he’d make it clear that he expected her to act like it for Alyssa’s sake. Afterall, he now had enough leverage over the Temple Magus that she couldn’t just dismiss him as a lowly acolyte. She’d make things right with Alyssa somehow.

The blond had just fallen back into a peaceful slumber when he heard the low rumbling of an engine coming up behind them. After carefully easing her back into a comfortable position in the seat, he quietly shut the door and made his way to the back of his truck just as Hamish pulled up beside him.

He’d been expecting to see the haunted expression on Randall, but seeing Hamish with the same look – though more guarded than the other Knight - when he had experienced this sort of loss before, was harder. He looked older all of a sudden, more haggard and vacant than Jack had ever seen him before.

It made the normally classy, always composed man look almost lethal.

Before Jack had a chance to open his mouth to greet him, Hamish had ripped the blanket back to uncover the bodies. Jack watched his fingers dig into the metal lip of the truck bed as he took in the figures lying before him. He didn’t mimic Randall’s cry of rage and sorrow, nor show any outward sign of the emotions rushing through him, but the metal caving beneath his grip was enough for Jack to know Hamish was filled with fury.

“Why is she buried?” he asked, his voice a deadly calm, while staring at the unburnt corpse laden beneath the charred remains of the other three bodies. “Why would you bring them here?! Why would you use her body as padding for theirs?! They’re the ones that did this to her!” Hamish growled, fist slamming into metal as he turned to glare at Jack. “We told you to bring Lilith back to us, not to throw her in here like fucking trash!”

“We had to move all of them so they wouldn’t question Lilith’s disappearance! And we moved her first just in case the illusion hiding them wore off while we were carrying them! We did all of this just to get her back to you. I didn’t think you’d care so long as we got her out of there. And we did,” Jack defended, quickly shoving the burnt remains off of Lilith. “But there, see, good as new -”

“If she were ‘good as new’, she’d be standing here, alive, calling you an idiot. Not lying dead amongst her murderers -”

“They didn’t kill her -”

“The person they followed did! They’re just as guilty. We never should have let them live -” Hamish snapped, moving to lift Lilith out of the bed as Randall nodded in agreement.

“Woah, hold on a second. We went over this before and you both agreed. The disciples aren’t bad just because they’re in the Order.” Jack could tell they were looking for a reason to justify seeking revenge and he needed to stop them before they did something stupid. “Remember, Lilith used to be in the Order -”

“And they turned their backs on her and killed her!” Randall snarled, shakily moving closer to Hamish but not letting his gaze drop to look at Lilith. “She probably disagreed with something she saw and instead of listening to her, they took her memory and abandoned her! Her own friend! Your fucking girlfriend took her ‘best friend’s’ memories but it wasn’t enough for her, was it?! Alyssa manipulated her into remembering just so Lilith would feel the need to take her place. She should be the one we’re burying right now, not Lilith!”

“Watch it!” Jack growled, putting himself between Alyssa and the two Knights. “Lilith cared about Alyssa. You know that. She willingly traded places so Alyssa could escape. If you try to go after Alyssa at any point, you’re actively going against Lilith’s last wishes,” He watched as both men begrudgingly let his words sink in and let out a relieved sigh, letting his hands drop to his sides as he tried a different way to get them to see reason. “You both know that attacking the Order or revealing the fact that we’re still alive is suicide, right?”

“Only if we die. And the hides will choose new champions to finish off anyone we can’t -”

“Lilith wouldn’t want that -”

“What the hell do you know about Lilith?!” Hamish snapped, glare darkening with rage again. “Lilith wanted to slaughter the entire Order to protect innocent people. I was the one that said we couldn’t fight the Order head on. She was the one telling me to do the right thing and act -”

“Going after the Order isn’t the right thing because the person responsible for killing Lilith and reforming the Vade Maecum has already been killed! You saw Lilith when Randall was kidnapped. You know she wouldn’t want us to kill ourselves by seeking revenge for her. ‘We don’t do revenge’. Those are her words! What you’re planning is revenge, on innocent people, and it’s exactly what Lilith was against and you both know it!”

Neither Randall nor Hamish said anything, but both their shoulders dropped slightly in defeat and Jack knew he’d started to get through to them. “Vera is trying to -”

“I don’t give a damn about what that woman is doing,” Hamish interrupted harshly, causing Jack to glare at him.

“Vera is a Knight now -”

“She is not a Knight!” Both men spat, pulling a frustrated growl from him.

“Is being this goddamn stubborn a requirement to become a Knight?! She showed up to a full Temple, covered in blood and wearing your bathrobe. She forced herself to face the massacre she participated in – where you witnessed her butchering people she cared about - instead of sending someone else to supervise. She even transformed again, in her Temple, within hours of being picked by Timber and she still won’t admit she’s one of us.

“On top of all that, you both watched her come out of her very first transformation and instead of freaking out, she focused on finishing the mission. She didn’t think about herself, she didn’t think about her students lying dead around her, she didn’t think about the fact that she killed people she was supposed to protect. All she thought about was stopping Coventry and she ran right into a place she knew might cause her to lose control. She risked her life and the lives of her students because she knew stopping Coventry was more important. And yet, somehow, you’re both still acting like she’s not a Knight?! Are you fucking kidding me?!”

“You said it yourself, she’s a werewolf that won’t accept she’s a wolf or that she took part in the massacre. That’s not a Knight -”

“That’s not what I said. I said she won’t admit she’s one of us. She knows she’s a wolf and she asked me for help to hold Timber back so she wouldn’t kill more people when they were just trying to heal someone. But seriously, what is it with you guys and expecting people to just accept the fact that they murdered people they cared about?! You wanted to kill me because I didn’t want to join you or accept that I killed Professor Clarke. And he was being controlled by bad magic and actively trying to kill someone. I needed time to accept the fact that I actually killed someone and I still struggle with it sometimes. Vera was forced to become one of us and Timber killed – by the looks of it – several of her students. Students that were trying to – in their mind – save a child from a pack of murderous werewolves. She just needs some time to accept that -”

“We don’t have time!” Randall bit out but Jack’s gaze stayed fixed on Hamish, knowing he was the one he had to convince.

“Yes, we do. I’m telling you to give her time, let her accept what’s happened to her and what she did under Timber’s control, and she’ll be an asset to us. She’s already helped us more than you know -”

“Oh, yeah? How?!” Randall’s scoff told him he wouldn’t listen to anything he said, but Hamish was still silently watching him, face emotionless as he listened.

“Do you think the Order – a worldwide organization with hundreds, possibly thousands of members – would let the slaughter that happened at Coventry’s and the Den go unchecked?”

“She’s saving her own skin. We had Maddox at the time and -”

“And it’s been more than two hours since she picked him up. Still no magic alarm -”

“Because she’s protecting herself,” Hamish interrupted, but his words were lacking conviction, holding just enough doubt to tell Jack he was on the right path.

“Worldwide organization, Hamish. She’d turn herself in just to assure our execution if she wanted to. She’s smart, like freakishly smart, so I know it’s crossed her mind. But she didn’t. She was the one to come up with the idea that allowed us to take Lilith. She helped me physically load them into the truck. She’s not ready to accept what she’s become, or her part in the slaughter, but she’s still acting like a Knight to stop bad magic and keep us safe.

“But she can’t do it all alone. We need to play along, for all of our sakes. Give her and Timber a chance. You thought having a Knight in the Order as a double agent was beneficial? Well, now you have the head of this chapter’s Temple on our side, even if she doesn’t accept it yet. Give this a chance to work and it could change everything! We can stop any threat like what happened today or in the past from ever happening again with both of us on the inside. You know this could benefit us, Hamish. If you give her a chance to prove herself, you could help the Knights reach their full potential and allow us to act before something happens, instead of always reacting after the fact.” Jack watched Hamish studying him, studiously ignoring Randall furiously shaking his head in defiance.

Minutes passed as Hamish debated before finally nodding. “We’ll play her games, for now. But the second she betrays us -”

“She won’t,” he interrupted quickly, before shrinking slightly under the elder Knight’s dangerous glare.

“The second she betrays us, she’s dead. And if you try to stop us, we’ll go through you. Your allegiance right now is questionable at best -”

“The Order -” he started to deny, but quieted instantly at the flash of silver in Hamish’s eyes.

“Your loyalty isn’t to the Order. It’s to Alyssa. Which means you’re dangerous. To the Knights and the Order. If Alyssa changes her mind again, you’ll -”

“She won’t -”

“Seriously?! She went from Vera, to you, to Coventry, to you, back to Coventry, back to Vera, and back to you. She’s not reliable -”

“She thought she was making the right choice -”

“And that’s the problem. She doesn’t know what she wants or who to follow – and you’ll always defend her. If it comes down to her or us, I’m choosing the Knights.”

“I won’t let you hurt her -” Jack growled, stance going defensive in an instant but Hamish had already turned towards the woods and jerked his head for Randall to follow.

“If it comes down to it, you won’t have a choice,” he warned before pausing, head slightly turned towards him but not enough that Jack could see his face. “Are you coming with us to bury her or not?” His tone told Jack he already knew the answer, but the humorless scoff when he stayed silent, told Jack that he’d just lost whatever respect Hamish had given him since he’d become a Knight.

Not wanting to lose all of it, he tried to explain as Randall looked between him and Hamish in confusion and disbelief. Like he couldn’t process what was happening right now. “I can’t -”

“What do you mean, you can’t?!” Randall barked, moving closer to him as fury fell across his face. “We’re burying Lilith. Our friend. You have to be there -”

“I can’t, Randall. Alyssa needs -”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” he shouted, sputtering for several seconds, not bothering to try to rein in his anger. “Lilith is dead because she traded places with your precious girlfriend and you won’t even say goodbye because you can’t leave her side for two fucking minutes?!”

“You know it’ll be more than two minutes -”

“Who cares?! Lilith is dead! We owe her this! You owe her this!” His yell nearly woke Alyssa based on the quiet moan Jack heard behind him.

“I can’t leave Alyssa like this. Her mind is fragmented and she’s in pain -”

“I can’t believe this,” Randall scoffed incredulously and stalked forward until he was standing right in front of Jack, eyes blazing with fury. “Lilith, a Knight and your friend, died to save your girlfriend and you can’t even be bothered to bury her -”

“I can’t!”

“NO! You won’t!” he yelled, shoving Jack back a step as his eyes silvered over. “There’s no one around except for us. There’s no threat to befall your precious girlfriend. You can leave a note, lock the doors and spend a few minutes saying goodbye to the person responsible for saving her life. But you won’t even do that for her! What a fucking waste!” Randall growled, his lip curling in disgust. “I never should have selected you. I never should have stopped them from killing you. If I hadn’t fought for you, Lilith would be alive right now -”

“If you’d killed me, all of you would be dead from the elemental transference backlash. It’s not my fault, or Alyssa’s, that Lilith died. Lilith was the one that decided to go against Coventry. It’s her own fault she’s dead -”

Randall’s fist slammed into his jaw hard enough to send him sprawling to the ground in a heap. He clenched his jaw with one hand, spitting the blood from his mouth as he glared up at the enraged man above him. Someone he’d, up until this moment, considered one of his only friends.

“You’re worse than Vera. At least she acted like she gave a damn about Lilith’s death. All you care about is that someone was willing to die for her. Never again!” he spat at the ground right in front of him, before turning towards Hamish.

The elder Knight’s face was darker than Jack had ever seen it before.

“If I catch you anywhere near her grave, I will kill you,” he threatened, turning away from him and walking into the woods, flanked by a seething Randall.

Jack wasn’t entirely sure if he believed the threat, but the danger he’d seen in his friend’s – former friend’s? – eyes told him not to test it. He’d have to come back with Alyssa to say their goodbyes after things calmed down.

He just hoped they’d get the chance to say goodbye.

Notes:

Again, feedback is important to your writers.

Chapter 18: Conference Call

Notes:

As always a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“I said, no!” Vera snapped, turning her back on Maddox as her hand tightened around the phone in frustration. Twenty minutes. They’d been arguing about this same issue for twenty minutes now. She was this close to hanging up on the useless, arrogant, pompous, stuffed shirts on the other end of the call.

“We understand your… unusual desire to let the boy keep his memories, however-"

“He will keep his memories,” she ground out quietly as she heard Maddox coming up behind her before his arms wrapped around her waist. “The Grand Magus -"

“The Grand Magus is dead, according to you, and thus has no say -" a man, Jonathon she assumed, interrupted in a bored voice. She screwed her eyes shut in irritation and dropped her free hand to grab Maddox’s in an effort to calm herself.

“I understand that, Councilor. But -"

“Honestly, Vera, we’ll be doing the boy a favor by taking his memories,” Mindy’s shrill, grating voice cut her off and continued before she had a chance to interrupt. “Today alone, he witnessed two massacres, lost his father, watched his adoptive aunt get attacked and was maimed himself. He doesn’t need to remember any of that. Joanne has already called because she’s concerned you aren’t thinking about the boy’s mental wellbeing -"

“Excuse me? Maddox has been sitting right in front of me the entire time we’ve been having this conversation. I assure you, he’s fine.” Fine might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but she had no doubt he would be okay with time. He had handled the massacres, even thanked Hamish and Randall for saving him, and stoically accepted what his father – and aunt, though she had been able to convince him Bitsy hadn’t known – had planned for him. He was still scared and hurt, but he was handling it. He deserved to know the truth about what had happened today, to keep his memories like he’d asked.

She wasn’t going to let anyone take anything else from him. She would protect him. Just like she always had. Just like Sophia had asked her to do.

“That’s not what Joanne -"

“I’m sorry for interrupting, Councilor, but I’m struggling to understand why Joanne is being brought into this discussion. Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but it almost sounds as if you believe Council and the Temple Magus should be adhering to will of a mere Adepti,” she interrupted the woman and waited, letting her words sink in as the silence stretched on before continuing. “Now, if Council does wish for an Adepti to make the decision, I do feel it’s prudent to mention that I don’t believe she cares for his wellbeing. Just a few hours ago, Joanne was willing to sacrifice Maddox on the off chance that it might bring back Edward - something we all already agreed was unacceptable. The boy is here, awake and waiting patiently for a decision to be made after everything that happened today. He can handle -"

“Even if you’re right and he can handle it – which is a big ‘if’ – he’s still a minor with sensitive information about the Order. There’s a reason the Order has rules in place about waiting to tell legacies, Vera. They can’t be trusted to keep our secret. We can’t make exceptions for -"

“He’s already an exception! The Grand Magus is exempt from those rules, we all know that. The Grand Magus’ children are automatically accepted into the Order, if they so wish. Our late Grand Magus trusted his son with knowledge of the Order well before the Vade Maecum corrupted him. I know for a fact that Maddox has known about magic for at least three years now. And yet, no one he has had contact with has heard so much as a whisper of magic or the Order. Edward wanted Maddox to know about magic and his legacy status. He wanted his son to know about his birthright. We will not break tradition all of a sudden and undo what our late Grand Magus wished for. His son will keep his memories.”

Vera knew her argument was a load of shit, as did Maddox. Edward had told him about magic, but not to prepare him for his future in the Order. No, he’d done it so when the time came to sacrifice Maddox, he wouldn’t have to waste time telling him about magic so he would come willingly.

He had been playing the long game from the very beginning. But so had Vera. And she’d be damned if she failed the boy now.

She could hear whispering on the other end of the line – a fact she refused to acknowledge was likely only possible because of the creature – as Council debated. Maddox shifted as they waited, moving to stand in front of her so he could look up at her face. “Are they going to erase me?” he asked, terror flowing into his words as he wrapped his arms around her again.

Vera pulled the phone from her ear and crouched down until she was eye level with him. Her free hand cradled the back of his head as she held his gaze with a small smile. “I won’t let anyone take your memories, sweetheart,” she promised and found that she truly meant the words.

No matter what Council decided, Maddox would not lose a single memory. She would hide the boy from everyone before she let a single member mess with his mind.

“Vera?” a voice called and Vera raised her brow as she moved the phone back to her ear, not taking her gaze away from Maddox.

“I’m still here.”

“We’ve decided to honor Edward’s wishes -"

“Good. Shall we -"

“However,” he continued abruptly, causing Vera to scowl slightly as she waited for him to finish. “As the boy is so young and both his parents are dead, he needs to be monitored by someone within the Order to make sure no information is leaked -"

“Fine, I’ll watch over -" Vera started just to be talked over by another Council member.

“You will. Temporarily.” The older woman said, causing a ball of anxiety to form in Vera’s stomach. The average members weren’t allowed to tell their children of the Order until junior year, when they were determining what colleges to apply to.

If they wanted Maddox to be monitored by an average Adepti, that would be more than seven years. If she – one of the only members that would be willing to watch over a child that wasn’t theirs - was only watching him temporarily, who were they planning on sticking him with for the rest of that time? Would they use this placement as a means to wipe his memories anyways?

“Temporarily?” she asked hesitantly. She didn’t necessarily think he should stay with her – disregarding the monster living inside, her current lifestyle coupled with her past certainly wasn’t conducive with a good parental figure – but she wanted to keep him safe. She knew there were members still loyal to Edward and his more extreme wishes. If any of those members got their hands on Maddox, she was sure that an ‘accident’ would befall the boy within months.

“It is not a Temple Magus’ place to dictate the safety of our Order. That job rests solely with the Grand Magus and Head Councilor. We Councilors are here to act as mere advisors while Temple Magi, like yourself, are simply teachers for the next generation of members. As Councilor Kepler is currently unconscious and we do not yet have a replacement for our Grand Magus, we will – for the time being – task you with keeping the child in line. However, if the new Grand Magus – or the Head Councilor, if and when she wakes up – decides the boy’s memories should be wiped or wishes for him to be placed with someone other than yourself, we will abide by their wishes. As will you, Temple Magus.”

Vera grit her teeth to maintain a semblance of control as she took a deep, steadying breath. “Of course, Councilor. Was there anything else Council wished to discuss about Maddox Coventry before we move on to the next pressing topic?”

“We would like to question him about the werewolves -" Mindy responded quickly, clearly not ready to give up on this topic despite the rest of Council’s decision. She was still trying to find some way to sway them to wipe the boy’s memories. Vera wouldn’t let that happen.

She quickly brought her hand up to place a finger over Maddox’s parted lips before he could say anything, smiling at him to show him she had it under control. “As you had already mentioned earlier, he was badly wounded during the attack. I administered a pain potion before you called and it took full effect just moments ago while Council was debating the best course of action. I expect he will be unconscious for at least the next few hours, possibly the rest of the night, unfortunately. However, I did question him with Adeptus Adler and Adeptus Coburn when we found him. Perhaps between the three of us, we have already received the answers to any of the questions you may have? And if there’s anything we don’t have the answer to, I can of course, ask him once the magical sleep wears off?”

He was looking up at her in awe at the sheer flawlessness of her lie and she gave him a quick wink before tugging him closer.

“Very well. When Adeptus Adler and Coburn return from… the hospital, you said?”

“Yes, they are ensuring Councilor Kepler is settled and receiving the best care possible, as her station demands, of course.” There was no reason for her to tell them that Simon had returned to the temple thirty minutes ago and was currently working to identify the remaining dead. If they knew that, they would insist she pull him onto the call immediately and she needed more time to fill him in on things.

He was quick and decent at improvising, but he needed at least a little bit of warning to pull off a believable act.

“When they return from tending to Councilor Kepler, call us. In the meantime, we heard a rumor that you were wanting to close the Temple early and put a ban on magic for the summer. Is this true?”

“Yes, we -"

“That is absurd! We haven’t had to close a Temple in nearly sixty years! Surely, you can -"

“With all due respect, Councilor, if you recall, that event was linked to a failed attempt at reforming the Vade Maecum. Our predecessors understood the danger that grimoire caused and reacted in kind. And that was just the destruction of an incomplete reformation. Perhaps, we should heed their wisdom and do the same? Especially as all the records I’ve read during my tenure, we have never had a Temple so overwhelmed with unstable powerful magic before. This is a unique situation.” Vera interrupted, shocking even herself at how respectful she’d been able to make it sound.

“Explain,” a woman prompted, her curiosity giving Vera hope that at least one person might listen to her.

“We know magic is energy, which means it can’t be destroyed. Not really. It can change form and will disperse, eventually, but its energy does linger. We also know that the strength of magic is in direct relation to how long it takes to disperse. Weaker magic takes fractions of a second, while some of our more powerful magic can take days. It’s the reason we don’t perform rituals back-to-back. The lingering magic can corrupt the new ritual, yes?”

She waited for their agreement, some noticeably slower than the others causing Vera to roll her eyes. It really shouldn’t surprise her that they didn’t all know this. Council postings were more heavily based on popularity rather than skill. The Magi would understand her completely. This lot, she had to dumb it down to its most basic form as if she were teaching a bunch of first years. And even then, she wasn’t sure all of them would actually get it. “The Vade Maecum is arguably the most powerful magic we’ve ever encountered, correct?”

“No one is denying that fact, Vera. What we don’t understand is -"

“All of that magic that was held in the Vade Maecum was released when I destroyed the book to save everyone. Right on top of the altar – the very place that centers all of our magical energy in the Belgrave chapter. I was unable to heal Maddox - my incantation failed. Originally, I thought it was just the werewolves that were corrupting my magic, but after their bodies disappeared, I’m starting to think it was somehow related to their connection with the Vade Maecum. I also believe the magic no longer being bound by the book is why it took so long for their bodies to disappear -"

“But to close the Temple over this? Surely you can just… work around it -?”

“Adeptus Adler and Coburn tried to combine their magic at the altar to heal Councilor Kepler. They were unsuccessful. We used healing potions on her. They had no visible effect on her wounds. I used a pain potion on Maddox that I had created before the bonding rituals began - it took more than double the length of time it should have to start working. It’s not just new magic being affected, Councilor. It’s all of it. The magical energy in Belgrave is corrupted and dangerous right now. We need to give it time to purge itself of the Vade Maecum’s taint.”

“I don’t know, Vera. This is an unprecedented request. The Adepti won’t -"

“I’m not asking for the ban to apply to any of the Adepti. I would never suggest we tell Adeptus level mages they are unable to use their magic. They are all trained.” Highly debatable, she thought to herself. “But I would suggest that we tell them of the very serious risks that could come from using it.”

“I believe that is a reasonable request given the threat we’re facing,” Bennett chimed in, completely shocking Vera. Out of all of the members on Council, he was the least knowledgeable. And yet, somehow – after Bitsy – he was the most popular.

Perhaps she could use him to her advantage? “Thank you, Councilor Bennett. We’re lucky to have you protecting the Order.” She only just barely managed to muffle Maddox’s laughter at her eyes rolling heavily against her will. She assumed Edward had mentioned the Councilor to the boy at some point.

The important thing was she sounded genuine in her praise.

“It’s just a part of the job, Vera. No need to thank me,” he said, but she could practically see him preening at the praise. “Now, about this magic ban?”

“Yes, I would like to enact a ban for any member lower than Adeptus. Just until the new school year starts. We’ve already lost so many disciples from the werewolves and Vade Maecum. To ensure we do not put any more members at risk, I am requesting Council support not only the Temple being shut down for the rest of the semester and throughout the summer, but that the ban come with a blanket expulsion warning on all Philosophi and below -”

“WHAT?!” multiple voices shouted through the line, causing Vera to wince at the sudden volume shift. She should have seen that reaction coming to be honest. The Order was surprisingly lax on actually expelling members after they’d spent a year or two in the Order.

To enact a blanket expulsion order on Philosophi and lower if they were caught doing magic was a hard sell. One she knew wouldn’t work. But she knew she needed to start big so Council could act as if they were in charge at the end of the day after they knocked her request down to a more reasonable level.

Such as, say, the ban being enacted on Philosophi and lower but only acting on the expulsion threat for Magistratus and lower? She just needed Council to support the threat verbally and it would cow nearly all of the disciples from putting it to the test.

And after nearly thirty minutes of back and forth and Vera acting as if she had lost and was just grateful for anything they would give, she got almost exactly what she’d been after.

The Temple was closed to all members that were lower than Adeptus. Council would hold a Belgrave-wide meeting tomorrow at noon where they would make it clear that any disciple caught doing magic – for any reason – would be instantly powdered and removed from the Order. They would only act on that threat if Acolytes or Medicums were the ones caught – but of course, no one would say that. And at least for the time being, Maddox was being entrusted to her care.

It had been much easier to manipulate Council when Bitsy wasn’t there. Vera knew how to play the game well enough to fool even her, but the unconscious Head Councilor knew how to spot several of Vera’s tells after more than twenty years of their peculiar friendship.

Now, she just needed to fill Simon in on what was happening and go one more round with Council. One she was certain the two of them would win. Once that was finished, she could finally go home and get some much-needed rest before facing the coming days and weeks’ events.

She still needed to figure out what to do with the Vade Maecum currently hidden away in the vault. She needed to figure out what to do with Maddox, both short and long term. She needed to find any books she could on magical creatures and parasites to get the monster out of her or at least permanently suppress it. She needed to meet with Mr. Morton tomorrow morning to bury her disciples, something she didn’t want Maddox to witness if it were at all possible. She needed to find out how she was going to cover up all the deaths of her students and how she could get more than forty graves dug and headstones made in a matter of days – refusing to throw them into a mass unmarked grave like she’d seen the Order do when she was younger.

But most concerning was the coming arrival of Council and the Conclave of Adepti that would be flying in over the next few days. They would be selecting an acting Head Councilor and new Grand Magus. And they had decided it would be held at Belgrave for reasons Vera couldn’t for the life of her understand.

There was still so much to handle, but the promise of sleep on the horizon allowed her to continue pushing forward.

Notes:

Even a ❤️ is much appreciated!

Chapter 19: Twenty More

Notes:

As always a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter.

CHAPTER NINETEEN 

“Thank you, Simon. I can take it from here,” Vera said tiredly after Simon finished easing Maddox down on her couch. Her hand came to rest on the man’s shoulder as he carefully pulled a blanket over the slumbering boy, ensuring he was completely covered before standing and taking hold of her hand with a quick squeeze.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“No, we’ll be okay. He’ll probably be out for the rest of the night anyways -"

“What about you, Vera? Don’t worry, I’m not asking as some ‘concerned’ Adeptus. I’m asking because I’m worried about you. You lost students today and I don’t think you’ve given yourself time to -”

“Don’t try to get in my head, Simon. You know I don’t like it,” she snapped, jerking her hand out of his and turning her back on him to needlessly adjust the blanket covering Maddox.

“I’m not asking as a psychiatrist either, Vera. I’m asking as a friend. I know how much your students mean to you.” His voice was quiet and careful, the same tone he’d taken in the past when he knew something was wrong and wanted to help. The same tone she often found herself caving to in the end. If he pushed hard enough. If she didn’t have to keep it to herself.

She felt his hand come up to rest against her back and let out a sigh, eyes closing as her irritation flowed out of her. “I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s been a much longer day than I anticipated and right now all I want to do is take a long bath and go to bed. I’ll deal with everything else tomorrow -”

“Okay. I know better than to try and force you to open up after that time you set me on fire -”

“I didn’t set you on fire. I just singed your hair a bit and you deserved it. Besides, you were in a serious need of a haircut -”

“Wait, is that why you did it? Vera, Elise was furious with me for weeks -”

“Well, I didn’t expect you to go out and shave your head!” she defended, arms crossing in front of her chest but unable to temper the upturn of her lips.

“You ‘singed’ it short enough that it was the only way they could fix it!” He was glaring at her, much like he’d done after she pierced her finger and quietly muttered the incantation that had the nauseating stench of burnt hair filling the air around them.

She couldn’t stop the smirk as she brought her hand up to ruffle his hair playfully. “I don’t know why you’re still mad. It grew back fine… eventually.” A tiny chuckle slipped from her as he quickly tugged her hand away from his hair and ran his own fingers through it to make sure she hadn’t done anything to it. “What? You don’t trust me?” she teased, grinning as he let out a heavy laugh that was barely smothered at the last minute.

She knew he was worried about waking Maddox, despite the fact that they both knew the boy would be completely out of it for the next hour at least due to the pain potion. Still, she was grateful for his thoughtfulness.

“With my hair? Never again. Otherwise, yes, completely,” he said as his glare softened into a sincere expression, his hand sliding down her arm to grab hers again.

Vera felt her guilt over the day’s events flare up again, mingling with the monsters’ taunts as it undulated within her. She shakily pulled her hand out of his grip and turned her back on him. “You shouldn’t,” she whispered quietly, much too quiet for him to hear, which made her guilt fall all the heavier. Clenching her fists to smother the humor she felt coming from the parasite, she walked into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee and faced him.

When she looked back, she saw Simon was staring at Maddox again while gently brushing his hair off his face, ensuring it wouldn’t cling to the salve-covered wounds. A different pain – a safer pain – welled up at the sight. If things had been different between him and Elise, he would have made a wonderful father.

Years back, he’d called her in a drunken stupor to tell her he’d never get to be a father, that it was pointless to keep trying. And she knew they’d already been trying for nearly two years at that point. He hadn’t volunteered what had made him come to the conclusion he’d never have a child and she didn’t have the heart to ask. All she knew was that it wound up being the beginning of the end for his marriage.

She stayed quiet, watching as Simon fussed over the slumbering boy as if he’d been the one to know him all his life instead of her – almost as if he couldn’t quite believe the child had come into his life for even a short time - while preparing two mugs of coffee.

“Here,” she said, offering the second cup to him.

He accepted it gratefully but paused just before taking a sip. “Is this decaf?” He rolled his eyes at what they both knew was a ridiculous question before walking towards the counter to set the cup down. “I forgot I was talking to a woman that drinks coffee like it’s water. Some of us only need one cup to wake up, you know.”

“I don’t know how you function on just one cup while working in that political cesspool. Actually, I still can’t believe you actually chose to work there. You and Mel are certifiably crazy in my book.” She gave a mock shudder at the thought of having to deal with the DC or California Chapters. They were filled with the most pompous, self-absorbed, and snotty members that the Order had. Her Chapter and Temple were practically a cakewalk compared to those two.

“I want to help, enjoy my job, and I’m good at it. What more is there to understand?” he offered with a sly grin, before letting out a laugh at her raised brow. “Okay, running the department and choosing what cases I want to work on is enjoyable. Getting called into the Temple every week to ‘fix’ some selfish rich kid’s addiction or mental breakdown because they were given last year's phone instead of the new one, well, that’s less enjoyable.

“But it comes with the job and there is a bit of enjoyment that comes when I get to tell the parents demanding I fix their kid, that the ‘cure’ is changing something in their life. Their tone about something being wrong suddenly changes when someone in a respected position nicely puts the blame on them. Funny how that seems to happen, isn’t it?”

She nodded at that with a small scoff into her mug, having had similar experiences herself. Though, in her position as just a ‘lowly’ Temple Magus, the parents usually continued to insist she was the one to blame. Dealing with parents that weren’t part of the Order was always easier. When the Chancellor threatened to expel a student or refused to change their child’s major – without the child’s input – to something ‘more appropriate’, those parents tended to listen a little better. Well, they listened as soon as she made it abundantly clear that she wasn’t going to be pushed around, despite the threats or money they tried to throw at her school. She also tended to get them to donate that money anyways, which was always satisfying.

“I can respect that. What about Melissa?” she asked with a raised brow, causing Simon to let out a harsh laugh.

“Mel is insane. Not only does she like working with those hellions – arguably worse than the DC chapter’s – but we both know she thrives off of the constant confrontations she has with their parents. Their displeasure that a foreigner with different morals and political viewpoints is teaching their children always affords her the chance to put someone in their place. That and the twisted enjoyment she takes when she gets to scare people that underestimated her. Do you remember when we first met?”

“You mean when she knocked you on your ass within the first minute because you ‘shouldn’t have to fight someone three years your junior, and a girl at that, because it wasn’t a fair fight’? Oh, Simon. I will never forget that arrogant, sexist asshole being repeatedly knocked down by a first-year graduate. My only regret was that she got paired with you first. It was less impressive when I did it a few days later.”

“Yes, well. I certainly learned not to underestimate women practitioners - women in general – that summer.” He leaned back against the counter while watching Maddox, his smile dropping. “We were so young back then. We didn’t know how cruel the world could be.”

She actively avoided saying anything at that remark by bringing her empty mug to her lips, her eyes drifting shut at the unwelcome pain. She had learned just how cruel the world could be years before they met. The following years with the Order were cruel, yes, but they hadn’t taught her anything she didn’t already know. Except perhaps how horrible the Order could actually be.

She was thankfully pulled from the painful memories when Simon started talking again. “He shouldn’t have to know the cruelty of the world at his age.”

Vera instantly bristled as she pushed off the counter to glare at him. “I’m not wiping his memories. If Council ordered you to convince me to -”

“I would know that it would be a losing battle,” he interrupted while turning to face her with a calm expression. “Plus, you already know how I, of all people, feel about the Order’s overuse of the memory powder. I would never condone it being used on such a young child. I merely meant that he should have been able to stay blissfully ignorant for at least a few more years. He’s being forced to grow up faster than any child ever should.”

Her anger rushed out of her with his explanation, her throat constricting painfully at the sympathy for the boy. Even she’d gotten a few more years of childhood before the harsh reality of the world repeatedly stole it from her.

“He got more than I expected, to be honest. Which I think is even worse. He had eight years believing his father was a good man. Eight years thinking his dad loved him more than anything in the world just to realize it was all a lie. I know I said he’ll be fine with time, but I’m worried about him, Simon,” Vera admitted weakly, her fingers tightening on her mug.

“That’s good, Vera. Anyone that isn’t worried about him – and we both know that list includes most of the people that know about him – has something wrong with them. What he needs right now, is to see people are there for him. That people care about him. That he’s not alone and that he’s safe -”

“Is he?” Her voice shook slightly with the question as she kept her gaze fixed on Maddox. “I’ve known about Edward for years and couldn’t stop this -”

“He’s alive, Vee. You did that. You kept him safe. And you’ll continue to keep him safe -”

“For now. Council is leaving the decision to whoever becomes Grand Magus. They could decide I’m not fit to watch him and place him with someone else. Somewhere he might be killed just because his ‘guardian’ was loyal to Edward or they don’t want Edward’s son to jeopardize their position somehow. They could decide to powder him to make sure he doesn’t leak Order information. I won’t let that happen, Simon. I won’t fail him again.” She held his gaze at the promise to Maddox, silently telling the man just how far she was willing to go to keep the boy safe. The threat simmering behind the words telling him that if it came down to Maddox or the Order, she’d chose Maddox and fight anyone that tried to stop her. Including him.

“I’d expect nothing less. But if you don’t call Mel and me to help before you go rogue, we will hunt you down and I’ll sic Mel on you. Just so we’re clear about what will happen if you try to take on the Order by yourself.” He didn’t bother looking at her as he conveyed his threat, saying it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

She wasn’t sure if she was more relieved at the unwavering support or troubled with it. “Why are you so quick to follow me? When I came to you last week saying I needed help stopping Edward – the Grand Magus and most powerful member in the Order – you barely batted an eye. You helped me retrieve the Vade Maecum from the safety deposit box and just let me walk away with it. You and Melissa have been waiting for my call to tell you to run headlong into a confrontation where our deaths were almost guaranteed. Now I’m telling you that I will go directly against Council, and potentially the future Grand Magus’ orders, and go into hiding with Maddox. An act that will have the entire Order hunting for us, for me. Why? Why would you follow me on these suicide missions?”

He started to respond, a smile twitching on his lips that told her he was going to have some snarky response but closed his mouth when he looked at the seriousness on her face. His brows pulled together in thought as he studied her for nearly a minute before turning back to look at Maddox with a shake of his head as if to clear his mind.

“Your morals,” he finally answered, still avoiding her gaze, likely knowing she’d clam up if he looked at her while being so open. “When Mel knocked me on my ass that summer, you were the only one to congratulate her, did you know that? The others made sure to ridicule me for getting beat by a ‘tiny Scottish girl’, but no one praised the girl that took down someone three years her senior. No one except for you, that is.

“That’s why she stayed close to you after that. You accepted her immediately and kept her away from the worst of the disciples. That alone was admirable. But when you knocked me down, despite your obvious displeasure with me, you helped me up and healed the damage without hesitation or snide remarks. You were a year younger than the rest of your class and everyone knew how powerful you already were, but you never flaunted it or used it to hurt someone else.

“You’re the one that changed the way I looked at the world, Vera. Without you, I’d probably be one of those members we hate. You have the power and skill to surpass Edward – everyone with eyes knows that – which scares those that don’t want change. Mel and I – and I think Bitsy too, even if she loses sight of it - know you’re not a threat though. You are the embodiment of what the Order should be. You use your magic and knowledge to protect – to teach – the younger generation.

“You ask why we follow you? I ask why wouldn’t I follow you? Someone I know is always going to do what needs to be done for the greater good, no matter the risk to her own life. I just wish you’d be less willing to constantly throw yourself into danger so easily. But then again, that’s who you are. So, to keep you safe, we follow after you. You haven’t led us wrong in twenty years, Vera. I guess I’m just hoping for twenty more.”

He said it so easily, without pausing to second guess his words. It should make her feel better to know someone trusted her so completely, knew what she wanted to do with her life, but it didn’t. Not with the beast forcing her to remember – no, to imagine – how it felt when she – no, it – tore her disciples’ throats out less than twelve hours ago. Not when its taunts reminded her that she had lied to the two people that trusted her with their lives. Not when its very presence reminded her that she was a direct threat to everyone she cared about if she was near magic.

If she were to truly do the right thing – to protect her students and those she cared about – she would call Council up immediately and give them all of the information she’d gathered about the werewolves and take her own life. Remove the threat. That was what the right thing to do was.

But she was selfish. She wanted to believe she’d be able to dominate the creature long enough to find a way to get it out of her. That she’d be able to find a way to get it out of her. She wanted a chance to find some way out of this mess, despite the danger she was risking every second she kept the truth about the wolves – about her – to herself.

“I’m not a good person, Simon,” she mumbled, ignoring him looking at her as she started walking towards the front door, silently telling him it was time to leave. His frustrated sigh was audible with her enhanced hearing but she pretended she hadn’t heard it and opened the door for him.

She let him pull her into a hug but tensed when he started whispering in her ear. “You are a good person, Vera. I hope you’re able to stop doubting yourself at some point.” He turned his head enough for his lips to brush her cheek and pulled back as if he hadn’t said anything. “I expect you to call me if you need anything, even if it’s just to talk. And I meant what I said. If you plan to run away with him, you better call me.”

Unlike earlier where his words had held a note of teasing to them, this time he was one hundred percent serious. “I will, I promise.” What she didn’t say was that she was only promising to call him if she had to flee. She didn’t say when she would call him or where she would go if that happened. She had no intention of letting him or Melissa abandon their jobs to follow after her on what would – at best – be a life spent running or – at worst – lead to their deaths.

She’d keep them safe. She had to.

Notes:

Simon (And Mel) are just perfect!

Remember, even a commented ❤️ lets us know who's *still* reading. Anonymous kudos can be left repeatedly by the same person each chapter, so they don't tell us *anything*.

Chapter 20: Her Reality

Notes:

As always a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Vera stared at Maddox sleeping in her lap, the book on magical parasites forgotten on the armrest at her side. He looked peaceful like this. The illusion of it almost allowed her to forget the horrors he’d faced, because surely if they had really happened, he wouldn’t be sleeping right now. Even magically.

It was the jagged, raised marks dragging across his face that kept her grounded in the reality she desperately wanted to flee.

How could she have let this happen? How had she allowed the monster to dominate her so thoroughly that she hadn’t been able to stop it from hurting the innocent boy in her lap? She was supposed to be stronger that this, better. She was supposed to be able to keep him safe, keep her students safe. She had been so foolishly confident in herself.

How had everything turned out so wrong?!

“I’m sorry, Maddox. I should have been able to stop it from hurting you. I should have been stronger. I should have been able to protect you. I won’t let it hurt you again, I promise,” she whispered, fingers gently sifting through his freshly washed hair as he slept.

But it was only minutes later that she felt it.

Her terror overwhelmed the pain in her skull as the ringing started.

The beast slammed against her control as Vera frantically tried to pull her defenses back up. Its pressure on her mind had faded after Simon left, lulling her into a false sense of security. Maddox’s presence had already quieted the creature once before and she had allowed herself to believe they’d be safe, so long as it was just the two of them.

Why did she let herself fall for it?! It was clear the beast had no remorse or issue harming Maddox. It had refused to let her heal him before. It wanted him to succumb to his wounds. It had taken everything Vera had to stop it from landing that killing blow. But no, it had just been biding its time all along.

“I won’t let you hurt him!” she ground out, hand jerking away from the boy’s hair as her finger tips split, the beast snarling furiously within her as it fought to take control once more. She screwed her eyes shut as unnaturally sharp teeth sank into her bottom lip until the metallic tang coated her tongue, helping her force the monster back.

It was still thrashing violently inside her, searching for a crack in her hastily crafted fortification that Vera knew it would find. She was too tired, too unprepared for this sudden battle of wills. She’d thought she was safe in her home so long as she didn’t perform magic. She’d stupidly let her guard down and now Maddox’s life was in danger because of her. Again.

The first sickening crack as her back bowed sent a rush of fear and adrenaline coursing through her, clearing her mind long enough to slip out from under the slumbering boy and force her shifting legs to carry her towards the side door.

If she could just make it outside and get the door closed behind her, the enchantments she’d laid on her home would activate. The numerous layers of protection might be enough to hold the beast back so Maddox could survive. She made it five steps away from the house before collapsing, a snarl tearing from her throat as her knees slammed against the stones of her patio.

“Please, just don’t hurt him, please!” She didn’t care that she was quite literally on her knees begging a thing she despised for mercy. If there was even the slightest possibility that it could help keep Maddox safe, it was worth the humiliation she knew would come when the creature decided to use this memory to taunt her along with the rest.

Her vision started to swim, her hands blending into massive brown fur covered monstrosities. Not wanting to see anymore, she screwed her eyes shut and waited for darkness to take her, but she never stopped fighting. Maddox’s life was on the line. She couldn’t give in until the very end.

She would keep him safe. She had to.

Vera forced her fingers to curl, claws scrapping against the stone ground before digging deeply into her palms. Her shout of ‘no’ was more animalistic than human, but she was still able to hear herself in the growl.

This creature thought it had a right to be angry?! Thought that it could use her to hurt her people?! Thought that it could dominate her again, after everything it had done?!

“NO!” she screamed, fury pulling her further into consciousness, but the creature strained harder against her control and Vera could feel her exhaustion rising. “Please!” Her arms were shaking with exertion, breaths coming in harsh pants as her vision began to swim again.

It wasn’t working. She wasn’t strong enough. The beast was going to get out. She was going to fail again.

But then, just as suddenly as it started, the ringing stopped.

With the last shred of strength she still possessed, she forced the beast back into the recesses of her mind and collapsed against the ground. Her body shook violently where it lay as she sucked in deep gasps of air.

She had done it somehow. She’d held on long enough to keep the monster at bay. She could do this. She would do it. Everything was going to be okay.

She just had to figure out what had set the beast off this time. She had originally thought that magic had to have been used to cause the ringing, but she hadn’t used it. And Maddox was the only other person nearby and he obviously hadn’t done anything. Perhaps it was something in the book she’d been reading? Had she finally stumbled across something of use? Was there something it didn’t want her to see -?

Her phone vibrating loudly from its place between the stone and her hip interrupted her musings. Who would be calling her so late? Surely Council couldn’t need to talk to her at this hour, right?

With a laden arm, she pulled the phone out of her pocket and held it to her ear, too drained to open her eyes and check who was calling. “Hello?” If she weren’t so exhausted, she would’ve cringed at how weak the single word sounded. But lying here, half passed out on the hard ground, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Vera? Are you alright? I didn’t wake you, did I?” Simon’s worried voice had her alert in an instant. He wouldn’t have risked waking her up unless something was wrong.

“It’s fine. What is it?” She tried to force herself into a sitting position, but she couldn’t convince her arm to cooperate.

“I wanted to restock the potions we used for Councilor Kepler and Maddox - they’re set by the way - but as I was getting ready to leave, I caught a group of disciples trying to break into the Reliquary -”

“What?! What are their names?” she asked, scowl spreading across her face. It had taken less than five hours for her students to ignore her orders, despite Council’s support.

How was it she could still be surprised at their blatant lack of respect towards her?

“Mr. Harris and Ms. Lewis were following Mr. Campbell -”

“Are they still there? Put Mr. Mr. Campbell on the phone,” she instructed at his confirmation. “Mr. Campbell, can you tell me why a Magistratus is leading his charges to break the rules -?”

“We were just trying to say goodbye to our friends,” he explained, voice lacking any conviction or concern that he’d been caught. But she wasn’t surprised. He was a legacy after all, a lessor one than most, but still a legacy.  They all thought they were above the rules, especially her rules.

“Oh, I see. So, you believe that you and your friends are above not only your Temple Magus’ orders, but those of the Gnostic Council as well? Care to explain the logic behind that?”

“We weren’t doing anything wrong, Magus -”

“Is that so? Because as I remember it, my order was that all Acolytes and Medicums were to stay in their dorms until the assembly with Council tomorrow and that the temple was closed to all disciples -”

“This is bullshit! Our friends are dead because you couldn’t protect -”

“That is enough!” Simon snapped, his accent coming in thicker with his anger and Vera knew the man’s usually kind expression would be near murderous at the moment. “I apologize, Magus,” he said through the line, fury still lacing his words. “It seems this child has taken us both for fools -”

“What? I’m just answering her questions,” the young man tried to defend, but Vera heard fear creeping into his voice, the smug tone lost in the face of Simon’s anger and disappointment.

“Did you think the Temple Magus or I would believe your story? Have you forgotten how I found you or did you foolishly think I’d keep that information from your Magus? If you wanted to see your deceased friends, you wouldn’t be here. You’d be in the antechamber, one of two rooms you had to walk through to get here. If you were ‘saying goodbye to your friends’, I would have caught you breaking your Temple Magus’ orders to stay out of the Temple and refrain from using magic, but I wouldn’t have discovered you in the process of breaking the Order’s rules -”

“What? But I didn’t… he’s lying, Magus! I didn’t do anything!” Fear had shifted to panic and disdain.

“Simon?” she asked, feeling her headache rising as the seconds wore on.

“Mr. Campbell was attempting to give a Medicum and an Acolyte the sigil to access the Reliquary. A distinct breach of the Order’s -”

“Alyssa Drake has it! She’s just a Medicum! Why does she get it, but I can’t?!” the Medicum shouted, her voice shrill enough to have Vera jerking the phone away from her ear with a wince.

“Not that it’s any of their business, but Ms. Drake received permission from me to conduct research for the former Grand Magus. They did not have my consent and as such, the Temple would’ve rejected both Ms. Lewis’ and Mr. Harris’ sigils. However, all three of them still breeched both mine and the Order’s rules with this attempt. Let Council know what you found, they’ll be dealt with tomorrow,” she barely got out as a terrifying thought rose in her mind.

The ringing that had her nearly lose control was from magic. Her Magistratus’ magic. Weak magic from more than twenty minutes away. It wasn’t just magic performed near her that gave the beast power. It was any magic. Or at least, any magic within miles of her. And she nearly succumbed over a simple first year transference incantation?!

She wasn’t in control. Nothing would be okay.

“Simon?” she asked quietly, voice trembling as reality crashed down around her.

He seemed to sense the shift because she was vaguely aware of him dismissing the disciples and a door closing before he responded. “Vera? What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“I need… Will you come and get Maddox? Take him home with you -?” Silent tears were streaming down her cheeks as her throat constricted painfully.

“What are you talking about, Vee? We went over this already. He’s safe with you -”

“NO!” she snapped, barely holding back the sob as she remembered the defenseless boy sleeping on her couch. How close she’d just come to tearing his throat out over a simple spell. Council and the Adepti would be arriving tomorrow to start the selection process for the Acting Head Counselor and Grand Magus. Despite her warnings about the corruption, she knew magic would likely be flying nonstop. Powerful magic.

Maddox couldn’t be here. He wasn’t safe with her. She had to give him up to protect him from herself.

“Please, Simon. I can’t explain it, but I know he’s not safe with me. Not right now. There’s too many threats at Belgrave -”

“What about Council? They ordered you to watch over him -” he argued, his voice soft and she knew he was trying to convince her to change her mind. To stop doubting herself.

But that was the problem. She knew now with startling clarity exactly what she was capable of at the moment. Or more precisely, what she wasn’t capable of.

Maddox needed to get as far away from her as possible.

“That’s what I’m doing. I am entrusting him to the care of DC’s head of Psychiatry. Who better to help him work through the traumas he experienced? He needs you right now, Simon. And yes, I know you only do introductory consults, but you know what you’re doing. Watch him, keep him away from the Order and help him -”

“Vera, my life really isn’t suited to caring for children anymore. I’m always at the hospital or Temple -”

“I’ll figure something out for the long term. Just take him for a few days, please. He can’t be here when Council and the Adepti come -”

“Vera, I really don’t think -”

“You told me to call you if I needed help, right? Well, that’s what I’m doing. I need you to take him from me, please.”

Her head turned to take in the sleeping boy through the oversized windows as the silence stretched on, soundless heaves wracking her body as she choked back her sobs. How had she let it come to this?

“Fine. I’ll take off a week to work with him. One week, Vera, then you have to find some other place for him. DC isn’t safe for a past Grand Magus’ son and grandson and you know that. There’s too many powerful people looking to get ahead by any means necessary. He’ll become a pawn within hours of someone getting their hands on him. That is if he’s not killed outright. I didn’t see any clothes for him in your car, does he have anything?”

“At his house, I’ll send you the address. Go there first so he doesn’t have to see… I’ll… I’ll let him know what’s happening -”

“Have him call me if he wants anything specific, okay?” he interrupted, likely knowing how much she was struggling and she nodded silently before convincing herself to respond verbally.

“Thank you, Simon,” she choked out before ending the call just as a guttural sob slipped from her. Through tear drenched eyes, she sent the address and curled in on herself, no longer trying to smother her anguished cries.

She had been willing to give her life to stop Edward. She’d expected it even. She’d made peace with it.

This wasn’t what she’d expected. She’d given her life but hadn’t died. This, becoming a monster, was far worse.

She had brought books home but she already knew the truth she’d been running from. This was her life now. And she couldn’t even bring herself to escape her reality because the threat wouldn’t end with her life. The creature within her would find a new host and join the other three monsters out there. She was the only thing standing between them and the Order.

She would protect her people. Even if that meant fighting herself for the rest of her life.

But she was just so tired. Her own home wasn’t even safe anymore.

The monster had taken everything from her. She deserved to take just a second for herself to break. A few minutes to grieve her life before she had to put everyone else before her again.

She just needed a minute where no one could see how weak she truly was. A minute to let her mask slip completely so she could continue on day after day as if nothing had happened.

And so, she let herself break for the first time in close to a decade. The first time since she’d had to watch her friends die one after the other as the cancerous magic from a spell they were forced to perform ravaged their bodies.

She allowed herself to fall apart for the first time since she had watched another friend die in front of her and realized she was living on that same borrowed time because someone she had looked up to – someone she trusted – had manipulated her and her friends to become weapons for their own gain. That had been the moment she’d lost complete trust in the Order.

The moment she realized her and her friends were just sacrificial pawns for proper members.

She let everything come crashing down from that day to now. Nearly ten years of anguish slammed into her, tearing guttural wails from deep within her to echo through the night as she wept.

Unbeknownst to her, she’d been watched from the second Simon had brought her home. He had seen and heard everything.

Notes:

...sorry...we wanted Maddox to stay with Vera too... Poor Maddox will be devastated when he wakes up 😭

Chapter 21: Broken Promises

Notes:

As always a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

"Maddox? Sweetie, you have to wake up," she soothed while gently shaking the boy from where she knelt in front of him. She knew the magic of the pain potion was still at play - fighting to keep him asleep - but after her breakdown, enough time would have passed that it should be weak enough that she’d be able to wake him with some prodding.

He let out a small whimper while curling in on himself, shying away from the bothersome hand trying to rouse him. It was almost enough to reduce her to tears all over again. The poor boy just wanted to sleep and she couldn't even give him that.

"I know you're tired, honey, but you need to wake up, okay? That's it, " she praised when his eyes started fluttering open as her fingers moved to sift through his hair with a small smile.

"Aunt Vera?" he asked before looking around the living room. "Where are we?" he mumbled, unconsciously leaning into her fingers’ motions as he yawned.

"My house. Don't worry, you're safe.” She forced the smile to remain as the lie slipped from her lips. “Do you remember Simon? The man that was in my office with us after dinner,” she explained, watching his confusion shift to understanding as he nodded. “Good, he's a friend of mine. He's at your house now grabbing some things you might need. Is there anything specific you want him to pick up? You won't be able to get anything else for a little while, so make sure you think about it carefully, alright?"

He nodded while accepting her phone, the message screen already opened and waiting for him. His brows pulled down in concentration for nearly a minute before he slowly started typing out his list. Not wanting him to feel rushed – or breakdown at the thought of the coming conversation – she pushed herself off the floor and walked into the kitchen to start boiling water for hot chocolate.

It was her guilty pleasure when she couldn't sleep and she hoped it would help both of them.

She was so consumed with her preparation - losing herself in the menial task to try and smother her pain - that she didn't notice when Maddox set her phone down and started looking through the magical parasites book she’d left on the coffee table.

Not until she turned around and saw it open on his lap.

"Do you like reading?” she asked quietly as she set the spare mug down in front of him. He nearly jumped out of his seat at her question, book snapping shut as he shoved it off his lap and out of sight.

He looked terrified all of a sudden. “I didn't mean to snoop, I swear. I… I won't do it again, I promise -”

“Maddox, honey, calm down. I'm not angry at you for reading a book I left out, okay?” she interrupted quickly, grabbing his hands to stop them from gripping his pants in fear. “I wouldn't have something dangerous where you could find it and get hurt. You didn't do anything wrong.” She held his gaze until the fear retreated from his eyes and slowly released his hands so he could grab his hot chocolate.

“Why are you reading about magical parasites?” he asked before blowing on the steaming liquid to cool it down.

She hesitated for a second, debating whether it would be better to lie to him or not, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not when she could tell him the truth without endangering him further. “I was trying to learn more about werewolves and the books I had that are specifically about them weren't helping. I was hoping a broader topic might be of some assistance.”

“Why don't you ask Hamish or Randall? They probably know," he suggested innocently, his eyes closing at the first sip with a quiet hum of joy.

The display had a sad smile working its way onto her face. She realized with a sudden startling clarity that she didn’t want to give him up. Even for a little while. She wanted him to stay here, with her. Despite the pain in her chest at the thought of living with a child again, she wanted him to live with her. She wanted his innocence - even after the nightmare he’d been through today - to surround her. She wanted his presence to remind her every day of what she was fighting for.

But mostly, she didn’t want to be alone anymore.

"We came to an understanding when Edward was alive that we needed to work together, but we never trusted each other. With him and the threat he represented gone, neither one of us knows where the other stands. They kept you safe and I will always be grateful for that, but they also killed innocent students today. Kids that were barely old enough to be out on their own. Kids that didn't know what your father was planning. They weren't evil. My students were just following orders like I taught them to do. I can't forgive Hamish and Randall for that -”

“They were going to kill Hamish. I saw them. They were only defending themselves -” Maddox argued, keeping his voice soft, as if he was worried that she'd be upset that he disagreed with her.

She moved to sit beside him on the couch, her arm draping across his shoulders and carefully pulling him to lean against her side as her fingers trailed along his arm. "I know that. It's one of the reasons I lied to the Order about them surviving. I won't let them be hunted down and killed for defending their home from an attack the Order launched. But they feel no guilt over what they've done. They enjoyed killing those students. And I can't be sure they won't try to kill more as revenge for their friend's death. The Order and the Knights were – are - enemies, Maddox. We had a common goal of stopping your father but now that that's done, there's nothing to stop them from -"

"I don't think they will do anything. I think they're just really sad because their friend died. My dad hurt them.” He was trying to protect his rescuers, men he looked up to. If seeing them as heroes made him happy, she wouldn’t take that from him. Not when his happiness had been stripped almost to the bone.

"I know, sweetie. Edward hurt a lot of people today. I'm sorry you were part of that group -”

"It's okay -"

"Don't ever say that, Maddox!" Vera snapped, cringing when she watched him flinch, fingers tightening on his mug. "I didn't mean to raise my voice, I'm sorry. I just… I don't want you thinking that what happened today - what happened to you - was okay. You don't need to be strong for anyone. You were hurt by someone you loved and you don't need to hide that. Do you understand?"

He nodded while lifting the mug to his lips, an act she knew was used to cover up the tears, and tugged him closer. When he regained enough composure to lower the mug, she leaned forward and grabbed her phone, the blinking light telling her that Simon had responded to Maddox’s text.

The list she read made her heart ache.

‘Clothes, sneakers, gray bear under my bed.'

"Maddox, are you sure this is everything? There's nothing else you want him to -?”

“Mom got me the bear. Dad says I’m too old for it, so I hide it. It's… it’s all I have left from her, everything else has been ‘lost’ over the years," he said quietly, voice trembling as his hand dropped to clutch her leg.

She understood the silent plea to stop talking about it. She understood that ‘lost’ translated to Edward slowly removing Sophia from his son’s life. She understood that everything else Maddox owned was given to him by his dad. Most importantly, she understood that Maddox didn't want anything to remind him of the monster his father had turned out to be.

"Do you want new clothes and shoes?" Her gaze remained fixed on her phone as he looked up at her, giving him the space and time he needed to answer truthfully.

"Really…? That… that would be okay?" Tears were thickly coating the words, telling her his answer was 'yes', but worried she'd take the offer back as soon as he answered.  

Knowing Simon wouldn't have a problem with it - and would likely try to insist on paying, which she wouldn't allow - she sent a quick message asking him to just grab the bear, and let the phone drop to her lap so she could encompass his hand in a tight grip. "Yes." She didn't need to say anything else, his relieved sob told her she had done exactly what he needed at the moment.

"Can we go tomorrow or are you busy?" he asked after a few minutes, causing her heart to accelerate as her hand tightened on his. She'd been dreading this since she'd made the decision, knowing it would crush him. But she had to give him up. She had to protect him from herself.

With a deep breath, she turned to face him, unable to mask the regret and pain on her face as he watched her with worried eyes. “You can go tomorrow, but it won't be with me. Simon's going to take you. You can trust him -"

"And then he'll bring me back here, right? He’ll bring me back to you, right?” Fear and desperation were seeping into his voice, likely already reading the answer from her face. "Right?" he asked again, voice cracking painfully as tears filled his eyes.

 Her gaze dropped towards their hands as she swallowed heavily, forcing the lump in her throat down so she could respond. "Maddox, I'm sorry. It's not safe for you here -"

"No! You promised! You said we could try for a few days and we'd talk about it then. You promised you weren't going to leave me -"

"I won't leave you. You just can't stay here. I need to send you somewhere safe -"

"So, you're sending me away to live with a stranger -?”

“I’ve known Simon for a long time, Maddox. I know he'll take care of you. I trust him -"

"But I don't even know him! I want to stay with you. Please, Aunt Vera? I'll be really good, I promise. Please don't send me away, please," he begged as he threw himself at her, head burrowing against her chest as his arms wrapped around her waist like vices.

Silent tears flowed down her cheeks as she embraced him. She wanted nothing more than to give in to his pleas. To move him into one of the spare bedrooms tonight and blow off Council tomorrow to take him shopping. To show him he was safe. To show he was loved. She wanted it with every fiber of her being.

But she needed him safe more than she wanted him happy.

"It's not safe, honey. I can't protect you, but Simon can. He's already taken all week off of work so you two can get to know each other -"

"I don't want to get to know him! I want to stay with you! Please! What did I do wrong? Was it because I touched the book? I won't do it again, I swear. I’ll never -"

"You didn't do anything wrong, sweetheart -"

"Then what happened?! You said we'd have days together and now you're sending me away. Why? Why don’t you want me?" He cried, pulling back to meet her tear-stained face. "Please don't send me away." A broken sob escaped his plea, tearing straight through her chest and forcing a matching one from her as she fixed his hair.

"I want you, Maddox, never doubt that. But I have to do this." She watched his eyes fill with more tears before they closed, his head dropping towards his chest.

"Is it because of your daughter? It hurts too much to have me here? I'm not trying to replace her, I just... you're the only person that cares about me," he whispered as he tipped his head back to look at her shocked, grief-stricken face.

"How… how do you know I had a daughter?” Her mouth ran dry the second he mentioned her baby. Her tongue felt heavy, her heart thumping painfully against her chest.

She had failed both of them.

Her daughter was dead because of her mistakes. And now, twenty-two years later, she had not only almost killed Maddox but she was pummeling what was left of his shattered heart. She was forcing him to live with a stranger - for one single week - before she’d have to send him off to yet another stranger.

Would they be able to protect him? Was she wrong to send him away when she was the only one that knew the full danger?

She’d been wrong before. And she’d been sure she was doing the right thing back then too. If only she’d kept little Sophia in her arms instead of putting her down – instead of leaving her alone - she would be alive.

Maybe she was wrong now? Maybe Maddox would be safer with her -?

His moan of pain as he rubbed his hand across his face to clear the tears had her crashing back to reality with a shuddering breath. Her eyes trailed over the ravaged skin of his face that wasn't covered by his hand.

She’d done that to him. She’d hurt him. She’d almost killed him three times now.

She was the threat to him.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop. It'd just been so long since I saw you and Dad wouldn't let me say hi. I didn't... I… I'm not allergic to peanuts. Or anything else that I know of. He was lying, so if you’re scared that I'll die like your daughter, you don't -"

"That's not what I'm worried about," she said numbly, choosing to focus on the fact that Edward had been able to lie while under Veritas and wondering what artifact he’d found that allowed him to do so, instead of the crushing agony of her daughter's death.

She had gone in expecting Edward would make her partake. She had planned for it. But even knowing what she’d been up against, she had only been able to manipulate her truths so they sounded like things he'd want to hear.

Yes, she thought about fucking him. No, it was never a pleasant thought. Yes, she thought about him naked. No, it was never a lustful thought. The way he acted and spoke to her – his past with Chloe and the countless other women he’d used – had forced her to think about those things. In her mind though, she’d never been a willing participant. But the potion she’d prepared and taken before leaving her car had allowed her to use those vile thoughts as a way to stroke his vanity. She’d been able to manipulate the way they sounded so she could get the answers she wanted from him.

And he had been playing her the whole time somehow.

Consumed by the blissfully distracting line of thought, she didn't notice Maddox pulling out of her arms and reaching beneath the collar of his shirt to clasp his necklace. Not until he started speaking.

"I'm not scared of you. It wasn't your fault," he said slowly - his words hesitant and confused - jerking her gaze towards him.

"What did you just say?" she asked in disbelief, following his gaze to see his fist tightly clenching something attached to the leather cord hanging around his neck. Her hand shook as it rose to gently pry his hand open, her eyes fixed to the pendant as it fell against his shirt. “Where did you -?"

"You weren't the one that hurt me, it was the wolf..." he trailed off with the confused words, his eyes widening in disbelief as he gaped at her. "The third wolf. What happened to the third wolf? The one that saved Hamish?" he asked, hands clasping hers as a humorless scoff left her.

‘The wolf that saved Hamish.’

Not the wolf that attacked him. Not the wolf that nearly killed him. Not the wolf that nearly killed his aunt.

No, he chose to focus on the one 'good' thing the monster had done in his eyes.

"It's dead -”

"No, it's not," he interrupted, grip tightening as he pulled her hands closer. "That's why you were reading about werewolves at the Temple. That's why you’re reading about magical parasites. It did this to you somehow? It’s like a parasite and you want it out of you, right?" he asked, his eyes frantically searching her face as she desperately tried to pull her mask down.

Scrambling to come up with a believable lie.

"Maddox, you don't know what you’re talk-"

"When? When did it hurt you? Can I help you somehow? Maybe I could ask Hamish and -"

"No!" she snapped, hands pulling out of his to encompass them between hers, stern gaze fixed on him. "I don't want you going anywhere near either one of them. Do you understand me? It's not safe -"

"They won't hurt me... and neither will you, Aunt Vera. I trust -"

"I already did," she admitted weakly, haunted eyes trailing over the wounds raking down his face before her pointer finger followed the same path, careful to ensure her touch stayed light. "I don't have control, Maddox. The wolf that’s inside me used to belong to their friend Lilith. After she was killed, it attacked me. It used me to hurt you and your Aunt Bitsy -"

"But you stopped it. You do have control! I'm still alive -”

"Hamish stopped it from killing you," she whispered, hands balling into fists as she admitted just how weak she truly was. "It’s fighting me constantly to be let out. Any magic – even here - gives it power to take over and it hates me. It wants to hurt you just to hurt me. I can't let that happen, Maddox. I can’t be the reason you get hurt. Not again. Never again. That’s why I asked Simon to come get you. He'll protect you from the Order while I protect you from myself.”

"Just until you get control though, right? You'll come back for me when you have it?" he asked, tears flowing down his face as she saw acceptance and defeat in his eyes.

"I don't know how long that will be or even if can control it -"

"Of course, you can. Mom always used to tell me that you could do anything. That if I ever needed help or was ever in trouble, that my Aunt Vera would find a way to help me. And you did. You got me away from Dad. So, I know you'll find a way to get control and make it safe for me to be around you because I need to know that you'll come back for me. That you won’t forget about me." He was smiling widely but his sobs still cut through the silent living room.

He was trying to be strong, for her.

She hated the monster even more for making him feel the need to do it.

She let his hands go moved to cup his face carefully as she forced a smile. “I will have to move you a few times over the summer - only to people I trust - but I promise I will find some way to make it safe for you to come home," she promised, watching as his eyes grew wide.

"Home? As in...?” he trailed off, hope shining in his eyes.

She gave a quiet laugh, fingers gently brushing his hair out of his eyes as she nodded. "Once it's safe, I promise I'll bring you back here, back to our home. Are you willing to wait for me?"

"Yes!" he shouted, throwing his arms around her again.

They were both content to sit there, talking as they held each other, until Simon arrived. The older man must have read the emotions on both their faces because he didn't try to convince her one last time to keep him. He just stood quietly as he held the back door open for Maddox, allowing the two of them to say goodbye.

“You promise you won't forget about me?" he whispered in her ear, fear radiating off of him in waves.

She carefully pulled out of the hug and kissed his temple gently. "I promise."

Notes:

So, both WereKitte and I forgot this chapter existed (it's been a while since we did the first draft)... This is actually one of my favorite chapters so... not really sure how I forgot it happened, but well... I got to experience it for the 'first time' again and it crushed me just as much/if not more than the first...

Chapter 22: His Reality

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment.

As there was some confusion for a few readers last chapter, we just wanted to clarify that the necklace mentioned in the last chapter is not the charm Vera gave to Maddox at Sophia's funeral. It's the charm Edward used during Veritas, Maddox kept it.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO – His Reality

Hamish continued to watch from the shadows, far enough away that with the breeze blowing in his direction Vera wouldn't be able to smell him if she came outside, but close enough that he could catch snippets of the couples’ conversation when he was able to read their lips. He hadn’t recognized the man, but his heavy accent when he’d insisted Vera let him carry Maddox told Hamish he was an outsider. He was likely from one of the other Temples Jack had mentioned.

So, why was he here? Why now? What was his relationship to Vera? It was obvious she knew him, was comfortable around him. Could he be the one responsible for the magic earlier?

Hamish hadn’t recognized the magic at play, but he knew it was strong - exceptionally strong. And Jack had said they’d anticipated the incantation, that Vera had authorized it. It would make sense that she'd entrust the task of healing one of their top members to someone she respected. Someone that respected her in return.

This man had to have been involved. Which meant the stranger standing beside her right now was a threat to his pack.

Would Vera tell him about being bound by a wolf? Would she tell him about them? Would he return to his Temple - a place Hamish didn’t know and couldn't follow him to, not with the threat to his Knights here - and gather a larger, unknown force to fight them? Kill them?

He knew that Vera was clever enough to know that killing him would remove one of the biggest threats to both her life and her ‘people’. And having a powerful ally plan an attack where he couldn't monitor them would allow her to act as if she was holding up her end of their tentative truce.

He needed to have the upper hand, the control, between them. She was much too powerful for him to not have some type of leverage on. Randall and Jack had made remarks about her lack of control, her lack of strength, but Hamish knew the truth.

She shouldn't have been able to stop Timber from killing Maddox. She shouldn't have been able to stop Timber at all. Not during her bonding transformation. No one should be able to end their first shift on their terms.

It was always the hide that let them go once they were finished ‘stretching their legs’.

And it was clear Timber hadn't let Vera go. Vera had forced her to let go.

If Vera turned her back on the Order – if she chose to join them – then Jack was right. She could be an amazing Knight.

But the fact that she was the leader of their enemy – that she cared so deeply for those within it – kept him on edge. Her loyalty to the Order seemed unwavering. Add that to her unfathomable ability to force Timber back during her first transformation and how long she had been able to stay herself while attempting to heal Maddox, made her a serious threat.

One he thought he had under control. He had given Maddox – a big part of his leverage – back to her because he hadn’t anticipated needing the boy anymore and hadn’t wanted to deal with his incessant wailing.

He looked back towards the man to see him laughing as Vera smirked around her cup of coffee. He’d had everything under control until he showed up. His arrival threatened his plan. Threatened his Knights.

Hamish couldn't let him live. He wouldn’t let him live.

When the man left tonight – if he left tonight – Hamish would follow him, eliminate the threat to his pack.

It was when he watched Vera’s lips move, catching her admission that she wasn’t a good person, that he began to doubt his plan to kill Simon. Not because he wasn't a threat anymore, he was.

No, it was because Vera had showed weakness around him.

She had let him into her home. Had let him carry and tend to Maddox without hesitation. Had joked with him, even going so far as ruffling his hair and laughing. She opened up to him. She allowed him to embrace her.

All things he had never seen the Chancellor do. He hadn’t seen her much over the last nine years, but he’d seen enough to know that this side of her wasn’t commonly shared with others. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her smile before, let alone laugh.

But she’d done both, multiple times, in front of Simon. She was close to him, cared for him. If Hamish killed him, his threats against Vera wouldn't matter. Simon was like Maddox to her. Harm either one of them and she would turn herself in just to kill the Knights.

And she knew everything about them, including where they were staying.

A snarl slipped from curled lips as he watched the man drive away. He wanted to chase after him. He wanted to tear his throat out and watch him struggle for breath as he revealed that the woman he cared about - the woman he believed in so completely that he’d fight the entirety of the Order for her - was the one responsible for today's massacre. He wanted him to know the woman he trusted had lied to him, betrayed him. He wanted the last thing Simon saw before death to be Tundra's claws tearing his heart from his chest.

But Vera hadn’t broken their truce. Vera hadn't betrayed Timber or the rest of the Knights. She had lied to the Order about their identity and survival. She had returned Lilith to them. She was cooperating, for now.

He couldn't risk losing that tentative alliance with her. Couldn’t risk turning her against them just to kill a man that wasn’t from here. A man he might never even see again. A man that more than likely had done nothing to the Knights before. No, he couldn’t risk sparking a war between them. Not until he was certain she couldn't be a Knight herself. Not only was there too much potential behind having the Temple Magus on their side, but he owed it to Timber to give the wolf a chance with her chosen champion.

He may be their leader but it wasn’t his place to dictate who the hides bonded. Not unless that champion couldn't be worked with, couldn't adhere to the Knights’ oath.

And despite his hatred towards her - his desire to kill her - she had played the part of a Knight perfectly so far. Even if she refused to admit it. She may be acting like she had done everything she could for her people, but he knew it was a lie she was telling herself.

The safest option for her people would be to tell them everything. To have them raid his apartment with the knowledge that two, possibly three, werewolves were inside and have them chain their lockers before killing them. All of them, including her.

And from her admission to Simon about not being a good person, she knew it too. But he could tell she didn't care about her life. It wasn’t self-preservation that had dictated her actions today. He had recognized that haunted look in her eyes earlier. That look he could still see as she tried to read with the unconscious boy curled up on her lap.

It was an expression he was familiar with. One he saw in his own eyes every time he looked in the mirror. Self-preservation was something they both lacked, so her determination – her drive – was the same as his.

She was doing what she had to do to protect her people, just like him. Her people, however, didn't just include Order members like he’d originally assumed. If it had, Randall would have called him already to tell him about an attack and she would be chained at the Temple.

Which meant she'd been telling the truth earlier. She felt responsible for everyone at Belgrave, including his Knights.

Timber must have sensed her potential, sensed the possibility of turning the Temple Magus to their side. He had to give Timber a chance. Not for Vera Stone’s sake, but for the benefit she could have on his Knights.

---

He was about to leave and check on Randall, needing to make sure his friend was okay, when he felt it. His gaze snapped towards the woman sitting on the couch, expecting to find Timber mauling the boy that had been sleeping in her lap, but Vera was still in control. Barely.

He could see Timber pushing against her, fur and skin rippling as she stumbled outside, the door slamming shut behind her. His brows lifted in surprise at her control, her strength continuing to war against the hide’s desire to track down the one performing magic.

It was weak, easy for him to brush aside but she should have turned already. Her exhaustion had been evident when she left his apartment with Maddox hours ago. It had to be overwhelming by now. And she'd only been bonded for less than a day. Where was she finding the strength to keep fighting?

A fleeting thought - one he refused to let himself recognize or linger on - passed through his mind. What had this woman endured in her life to give her such immense strength?

"NO!" Her shout, filled with fury, created a sense of wrongness within him that he couldn't smother. It continued growing stronger and more demanding with each passing second as he watched Vera and Timber fight for control.

If Lilith were still alive, still bonded to Timber like she should be, hide and champion would already be charging towards the danger. Lilith loved Timber. Loved being a Knight. Loved everything that came with it. Just like Cassie.

Timber was the only hide that never knew what it felt like to war with their champion. She shouldn't have to experience it. She shouldn't have to know how it felt to be stifled by a champion that hated her. Any of the other hides, sure, they’d already experienced it, but not Timber. He should have been able to protect her from that pain.

And yet, that bitch was holding his Knight captive. Timber wanted out – deserved to be out so she could get vengeance for her fallen champion - and Vera was smothering her. Holding her prisoner.

He watched her arms shift, brown fur erupting from the pale skin. Her claws scrapped along stone as her back bowed, the popping of bones and joints audible from here. Timber was winning. She was overpowering her captor.

A furious snarl tore from the woman's throat, her face elongating as Timber's muzzle grew, canines lengthening to sharp points. He felt his lips curling into a cruel smirk as he watched Timber dominate Vera. Watched as their enemy begged on hands and knees for mercy.

And then, the ringing was gone.

Brown fur melted back to pale flesh as Timber’s snout shrunk, revealing a woman’s face again.

The wrong woman’s face.

Anguish gave way to hatred as he watched the woman's face shift to panic as she spoke on the phone. His rage continued to build as he listened to her plead for Simon – the man he had graciously allowed to live - to come back and take the boy from her.

Fury flared within him at seeing her curl in on herself, guttural sobs cutting through the night. At seeing how much she despised the creature who had chosen her. The creature that saved her from them.

He'd been wrong. About everything. It wasn't strength he'd seen in her.  It was hatred fueling her.  Hatred for Timber. Hatred towards his Knights.

She wasn't strong. She was so pathetically weak it sickened him.

Timber should have a champion that was eager to jump into the fray. One who loves the hunt and stops bad magic no matter who's responsible. She should have a real champion, not one that shirked their duty because they didn’t feel like doing it!

Not some woman reduced to begging on hands and knees for mercy. Not some woman left sobbing like a child on the ground after she failed to do her job as a Knight! Not some woman trying to protect the people she was supposed to kill. Now some woman leading and teaching the people they hunted, creating more and more evil to go unchecked with each passing year.

Not a woman trying to make herself appear human, appear like the victim, after slaughtering her own people. His people. People she'd been too weak to protect and too quick to condemn. Not a monster responsible for so much pain.

Lilith wouldn't beg for mercy. Cassie wouldn't beg for mercy. They had accepted Timber instantly. Were the first to kill on a hunt. Timber deserved better. Deserved a champion like Lilith.

No, not like Lilith. Timber deserved Lilith.

And this imposter had stolen her! Taken Timber from a deserving champion. Was holding Timber hostage. Was keeping Lilith's wolf a prisoner in a lesser, unworthy, and ungrateful shell.

Randall was right - Vera deserved to die. She needed to die so they could save Timber. It was too late to protect Lilith from her, but he would do his job. He would put aside his own emotions and thoughts so the rest of his Knights would stay safe.

Timber had made a mistake. It was the only possible explanation. Losing Lilith had confused her and she'd accidentally chosen Vera because she was the first person to approach her locker.

Now he had to save Timber.

Vera would die - should die. For Jack and Randall. For Lilith. For Cassie. For Timber.

He would rip the hide from her, save his wolf from the ungrateful bitch.

He pulled on Tundra’s strength as he stepped out from the tree line, willing the wolf to take over and put this pathetic ‘Knight’ down. But he felt nothing. He pulled harder on the thread to his hide, but Tundra stayed rooted in place, refusing to budge.

He growled as he stepped backward, teeth bared as he tried to force Tundra out. Force the wolf to kill the monster whimpering on the ground. Nothing happened. His fist slammed into the nearest tree - not sensing the pain from the broken digits - as his anger turned inwards, directed towards the hide he wore.

“You refused to let me try and save Cassie - a real Knight, someone I cared about – yet you protect her?!” he snarled furiously, fingers biting into the unforgiving bark of the tree. “She’s the enemy! She’s weak! Timber deserves a strong champion. A champion that enjoys being a Knight! Enjoys the thrill of killing. A champion like Lilith!”

His heated words shifted, anger melting to anguish as he fell to his knees with Lilith’s enthusiastic, blood-soaked face playing in his mind. He looked back at the woman sobbing on the ground, but this time he didn’t see her. Didn’t see a crumpled form surrounded by patio furniture.

He saw a broken version of himself, years younger, weeping as he held the ravaged corpse of the woman he loved.

He felt the coldness of Cassie’s body as if it were yesterday and screwed his eyes shut, desperately trying to push the image back. His arms grew heavier, the stiff form turning more pliant but just as cold. Just as lifeless.

He couldn’t look at it. Couldn’t confront it. Not yet. Not when he knew what he’d find. Not so soon after he’d lost her.

“You were supposed to protect her! You promised to keep her safe! You weren’t supposed to let her become a Knight in the first place! She would still be alive if you had just done your fucking job! If you’d had control! If you hadn’t waited months to become a Knight!” Cassie’s voice, far crueler than he’d ever heard, danced along the breeze, blowing through his hair. Taunting him. Blaming him.

“I know, I’m sorry, I -” he tried to drown her words out, focus on the sound of the leaves scraping against each other, but Cassie scoffed in anger, her words turning crueler.

“You know?! If you had just become a Knight when I originally asked, I could have trained you and we could have gone together that night! I wouldn’t have had to go alone and I’d still be here! Timber never would have called to Lil if you had just been there with me when I needed you, but you weren’t!”

“I’m sorry, I -” he whispered, curling in on himself as she continued, spitting the accusations out as if he’d said nothing.

“And now, she’s dead because you left her alone! You left her without backup to get a fucking comic book for a walking corpse when she was suffering! You left her without any backup. Just like you left me. And you can’t even look at her?! Look! Look at what you did! You’re the monster here,” she continued, taunting him. Blaming him.

Over and over again like a broken record for the last nine years. Ever since he’d become a Knight to protect her, only to wake up miles from her mutilated corpse. Ever since his hide had chosen his life over another Knight’s.

“I’m sorry, Cass. I tried -” he whispered brokenly, the familiar apology sounding more hollow with his recent failure.

“Not hard enough. Look. At. Her!” she screamed, just as the wind tugged at his hair, mimicking her fist clenching the locks and forcing his chin down towards his chest. Tears were already falling from his eyes when he forced them open, but the tortured, silent howl that tore from him at the sight broke the last shred of composure he’d been clinging to.

Lilith lay broken in his arms, the dirty gown she’d been killed in more muddied from her burial at his hands. Her eyes were lifeless as they stared sightlessly at him, but somehow still screaming that he’d done this to her. She looked so young -

“Because she was young!” Cassie snarled but her sob of agony harmonized perfectly with his. “You were supposed to protect her, Hamish. You promised me you’d keep her safe no matter what.” Her voice was growing distant – more fragmented – and panic seized his lungs.

“Please don’t leave me. Cassie, please, I need you -”

“My baby sister needed you! I needed you! You don’t deserve our help!” she bit out before the deafening silence suffocated him. He looked at the girl in his lap, tears streaming down his face before she slowly started to disappear.

“No, no, no! Lilith? Stay with me, okay? Please stay with me! I’m sorry, Lil. I’m so sorry. Please!” he pleaded, arms tightening around the phantom girl he had sworn to protect.

Just before he could bring her up enough to kiss her forehead, she was gone. Returned to her unmarked grave.

Right next to her sister.

Hamish shattered for the first time in nine years.

Notes:

So... this one hurt... 😭 But THIS reveal (Lilith being Cassie's sister) coupled with the thought of what if Vera was jumped by Timber while brewing the potion are actually the two pieces that led to WereKitte and I teaming up on this story... We've been waiting for this reveal and your reactions *forever*!

For those wanting it to be Hamish and that he'd grow sympathetic towards Vera/fall in love... sorry... it just wouldn't be true to his character (season 1, cutthroat Hamish) at the moment... Vera and all of the Knights have a *long* way to go.

Chapter 23: Parallels

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter. We know we're a day late, but we're both a bit swamped at the moment.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Hamish remained slumped against the base of the tree he'd collapsed against long after Vera had forced herself off the ground and returned inside. Silent tears born from rage and anguish, both battling for dominance, continued to fall from his eyes when Simon returned to collect the biggest leverage - and risk - he'd had against the woman.

Had he made another mistake when he'd let Vera take the boy?

He could do nothing more than let out a hollow chuckle at the thought. He was too tired - too weak - to do anything to fix it now. It would become another in a long line of regrets he’d had.

He stayed slouched against his tree, numbly watching through clouded eyes as the man he should've killed drove off with the boy he should've kept in his possession to ensure his Knights' safety.

"I wasn't cut out for this, Tundra. I'm not a leader, you chose wrong. Just like Timber did. Neither me nor her deserve to call ourselves Knights," he whispered to himself as he watched Vera's mask shatter the second Simon and Maddox were out of sight.

She wasn't strong. The whole entire thing had been an act born from fear of appearing weak...

She was just like him.

Weak. Pathetic. Fake. Unworthy.

A monster. And she knew it. Just like him.

"Is that why you won't let me kill her? You gave me a chance, so you need to give her one too? Look around us, Tundra. I failed! I'm not a Knight and neither is she. Let me do our job and at least take care of this mistake before she kills the others, real Knights," he begged, trying once again to pull his wolf out to kill the imposter sitting in an identical position to him, arms wrapped around drawn up knees, head resting back against the wall staring sightlessly straight ahead as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Still the wolf refused.

His head dropped to his knees with a choked gasp of defeat, fingers biting into his legs with bruising force. Tundra wouldn’t listen to him and do what needed to be done. Another thing he was powerless to change.

Tundra would make him watch Timber shift into the wrong woman. Would make him give Lilith up before he was ready. Make him turn the monster he detested into a real champion, a Knight.

So far, Vera hadn't opposed them. She'd protected them. She hadn't said the oath, but she hadn't broken it either. And therefore, Tundra wouldn't let him kill her. Not yet. Not when it was possible - likely even - that the Knights could get the Temple Magus on their side.

His wolf was far too pragmatic to waste this opportunity.

"I hate you," he ground out with nine years of fury, failure and guilt lacing his words.

Tundra brushed him off as if he were a child throwing a tantrum, just as he usually did.

Hamish went back to watching the woman he despised sit there, unguarded, staring sightlessly out the window for hours.

Ignorant of the vengeance he wanted, but was unable, to take on her.

She was safe to be weak because his own wolf had betrayed him in order to protect her. Forced him to stay and watch his wolf’s new Knight until, finally, she pushed herself up, turned off the lights and disappeared from view.

The compulsion from Tundra to sit and watch disappeared the second she went to bed.

He was instantly running back through the woods towards his apartment. He needed to check on Randall. He needed to make sure his Knight - his friend - was okay.

He didn't notice the grip of panic around his lungs, stealing the breath from him, until his wild gaze fell on a slumbering Randall. The younger man barely shifted when Hamish approached, carefully pulling the blanket up further underneath his chin before sitting beside him. He could tell Randall had cried himself to sleep and felt another piece of himself chip away.

He'd wanted to protect Randall from the pain of losing a Knight, a friend. Now, he was just another person Hamish had failed over the years.

"I'm sorry," he whispered while brushing the thick black curls off his friend’s forehead, tears stinging his eyes. "I'm so sorry I failed you."

Randall shifted at his apology - his face screwing up with a quiet groan - instantly stifling Hamish’s tears that wanted to fall.

He forced a weak smile on his face just before Randall's drowsy gaze connected with his. "Nightmare?" The words were soft, pleading, his voice breaking from what Hamish suspected had been hours spent crying.

Hamish frowned and shook his head softly, clenching his eyes shut at the broken wail that slipped from his friend as Randall curled into him, arms coming up to wrap around his waist like a life line.

He forced himself to console the younger man, silencing his own anguished sobs as his friend wept in his arms. He grew blissfully numb as he continued offering hollow words of comfort as his mind drifted back to a few hours ago.

Back to when he'd held Lilith in his arms as Cassie screamed at him.

How long would it be before Randall's lifeless corpse filled his arms?

The question summoned unwanted images before he could stop them. Haunting flashes of Randall choking on his own blood as he frantically reached out to him for help. His eyes glazing over with death seconds before Hamish made it to him.

The noise of Randall choking - gasping for air that wouldn't come - surrounded him, smothering him, trapping him in the vision until a loud, drawn-out growl shocked him back to reality. His panicked gaze snapped towards the sound to see Randall's eyes closed, mouth hanging open as he snored loudly.

It hadn't been Randall gasping for air seconds before. It had been him.

Driven by the need to stop his vision from becoming a reality, Hamish threw a change of clothes into his bag and started back towards Vera's. Back towards the most dangerous threat to his Knight's - his friend's - life.

She needed to be watched. Tundra may not be willing to kill her yet, but he would stop her to protect his Knight. That meant Hamish needed to watch her. Be in position the second she betrayed them.

He would save Randall from her.

---

Anger and determination faded slightly as he approached the house for the second time that night, making room for surprise. He’d been certain she was on her way to bed when he left. Her appearance confirmed that belief.

Her hair was slightly disheveled, face free of makeup, feet bare, blanket haphazardly draped around her shoulders. Her blue pajamas were easily visible as she held the mug of coffee in front of her with both hands.

He'd been gone for an hour, maybe two. Enough time to fall asleep but not nearly enough to be rested. So, why was she awake? And forcing herself to stay awake if the full pot of coffee on the table in front of her was anything to go by.

Why wasn't she sleeping? Surely, she had to know she needed to rest if she wanted any chance at controlling Timber…

He'd been moving closer without realizing it, but as he drew near, he could see the reason in her wide eyes. The white knuckles of her fingers clutched around the mug she held to her lips, just sitting there, not tipped to drink.

She wasn't scared. She was terrified.

Terrified that the second she fell asleep, Timber would take over. And by her appearance, the horror on her face, she was right to be terrified.

Timber had already tried. Had already made it clear to the woman that she wasn't done fighting. Warned Vera that the instant she gave up control, she would take it.

"Good," Hamish praised, pure hatred lacing the word as he settled himself against a tree to watch her, hoping for the chance to put her down when she slipped. Praying for a reason to force Tundra to act, to remove the threat to their Knights and free Timber.

And once he had Timber back, he’d keep the hide locked away until he was truly ready to let Lilith and Cassie go. Until the moment he could bear watching someone other than Lilith’s face emerge from the beast.

He wasn’t sure that day would ever come.

He knew Cassie had worn Timber, but he’d never seen her as Timber. Cassie had wanted him to make an unbiased decision on becoming a Knight, so she had always been careful about what she did and didn’t allow him to see for fear of swaying him to accept her offer for the wrong reasons. In the end, it hadn’t mattered. He knew if Cassie had survived that night and found out he only became a Knight to save her, she would have been disappointed.

Maybe if she had let him see what being a Knight meant, he would’ve accepted sooner? Maybe he would have been with her that night, saved her?

He knew she would’ve hated herself for being the reason he gave up his life to become a Knight.

But he wished she’d let him see her as Timber. It could’ve made this, watching Timber shift into someone other than Lilith, easier. But she hadn’t let him see. She’d always disappeared before transforming and always came back put together. Normal.

He’d never watched the elongated snout shrink into the kind half smile Cassie always used to wear. He’d never seen her face slicked with blood after a fresh kill. He’d never hunted with Cassie. He’s never run with her. Cassie had never been one of his Knights. He’d never been one of hers.

The baton of leadership had been unwillingly thrust upon him the night she died and he finally accepted his fate.

The same night he’d failed to protect her. It was the night he learned the truth about what it meant to be a champion. The night Cassie was ripped from him and Timber returned to her locker, waiting until Lilith finally heard her calling and wandered into the Den one day.

Now, history was repeating itself, but this time it was different. It was almost worse, in a way. He’d run with Lilith, hunted with her, killed with her. She’d been his Knight, his friend, his sister.

Today was the first time he’d ever witnessed someone else behind Timber’s harsh features. The second time, not even fully shifted, had hurt far worse than the first. He wasn’t sure he could handle watching it happen a third time.

Looking back towards the false champion, he saw her hands fisted in her hair, glassy gaze unfocused as her shoulders shook. Perhaps he wouldn’t need to wait for her to cross the Knights to free Timber. If she continued on like this, she'd likely get herself killed by her own people within days. And in the following chaos, he and Randall could escape.

Just as soon as Timber returned home.

Tundra wouldn't be able to do a damn thing to stop it if she got herself killed.

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Phew! And with that, day 1 is *finally* finished... on unfortunately pretty crushing notes for both Vera and Hamish.

Chapter 24: A Grave Responsibility

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those taking the time to comment every chapter and keep us interested! 🥰 Now to officially move past day 1! 😂

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Vera checked her phone again and let out an irritated huff. Mr. Morton was late and she was running out of time. With her foot tapping against the brake pedal in annoyance, she lifted her mug to take a sip of coffee only to find it empty. "Great, because that’s just what I needed," she growled while slamming the mug back into the cup holder.

Knowing she was out of caffeine was enough to send a wave of exhaustion through her and she found herself yawning. "No!" Her hands slammed against the steering wheel, sparking adrenaline to course through her and give her the strength she needed to push her exhaustion to the back of her mind. She'd be able to get a cup after she was finished here and she’d be fine.

She just had to make it until then.

Just as she snatched her phone up to call the missing acolyte and demand to know where he was, she heard a truck engine roaring behind her. Strung tight as a bowstring, she pushed herself out of the car and slammed the door behind her with a dark glare towards the man.

"So nice of you to show up thirty minutes late.” It took everything she had to keep her anger reined in when he not only brushed her off with a dismissive wave, but she spotted Alyssa sleeping in the passenger seat. "Why is she here?"

"Because your organization messed with her mind and - "

"That was Edward, not the Order -"

"They let him get to that point," he snapped before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "She betrayed Coventry and the Order to not only save your life, but play a pivotal role in defeating Coventry. Until I'm certain that she's safe from the Order, she stays with me. Besides, I doubt you want her wandering off and revealing that you sided with the ‘big bad werewolves’ to take Coventry down. She was rambling all night as she slept. Having her with me where I can watch her is to your benefit, as well as ours. Do you have more pain potion with you?" he asked suddenly, thrusting his hand out expectantly.

"You'll get it after we bury -"

"If you think I’m helping you dig graves for people I don’t know, you’re crazy. I kept them hidden for the night like we agreed. You can do whatever it is you wanted to do with them, I’m only here for the potion you promised for Alyssa." He crossed his arms in refusal, glare matching hers.

Vera studied him for a few seconds before her shoulders dropped slightly in resignation while shaking her head. "I was wrong about you," she said while walking back to her car to retrieve the potion. "Did you know I fought for you to get accepted into Belgrave and the Order? At the time, I foolishly thought you were the type of person we needed. That you would give a damn about someone other than yourself. I never should have bothered. You’re just as selfish as the rest of them."

She bypassed his outstretched hand and set the potion down on the hood of his truck with more force than she’d meant, but couldn’t bring herself to care if it broke. By Mr. Morton’s logic, she’d fulfilled her promise just by bringing the potion, not ensuring Ms. Drake ingested it. She didn’t look at either of her students - not wanting to deal with his irritation over the ‘risk’ she’d just taken with the glass vial – as she made her way towards the back of his truck and carefully lifted the first corpse into her arms. Without a word, she started walking through the line of trees before them.

It was as she was shoveling the loose dirt from the tarp to bury her student that she heard footsteps behind her. "Give me a second to set them down and I'll help you... How did you...?" he trailed off as he came to a halt beside her.

"I already told you, they didn't do anything wrong. They deserve to be remembered and their parents should be able to have a place where they can visit their children," she explained while looking at the body in his arms. She couldn't be positive which disciple the charred remains belonged to, but after a moments’ hesitation, she pointed to the perfectly dug grave two spots over from the one she was working on.

"But how? When did you have time to do all of this?" he pressed, easing the body into the grave with a temporary plaque reading 'Taylor Smith, April 5, 1997 to May 3, 2020'

"This isn't the first year that the Order has lost members that couldn't be returned their families. When I took over as Temple Magus, I wanted to do better than a mass grave hidden in the woods. I wanted the friends and families of those lost to be able to have some type of closure. It was the Temple Magus’ job, my job, to protect them. I couldn’t. I owe them this small, insufficient apology."

"You had one dug for Lilith," Jack whispered, his fingers tracing over the script on the temporary tombstone.

"As I said, it was my job to protect her. I failed, twice.” She didn't offer anything else as an explanation, just indicated he grab the other shovel so they could bury her student in silence.

"Here, between us, we could probably lift the rest,” he said, one hand wrapping around her shovel to halt her movements. She eyed the amount of dirt left before looking at him with skepticism. Was he trying to make her look like a fool when she failed? “Werewolf strength, remember?” He shrugged as if it were obvious before crouching down to grab the far corner and indicating she do the same. “Trust me.”

She rolled her eyes at the request while biting her tongue to stop the retort that the last time she’d trusted him, things didn’t turn out well for her and moved to match his position. “On three,” she instructed, waiting for his nod of agreement before counting down. It was a bit of a struggle, but she was still barely winded by the time the tarp was cleared of dirt.

“So… there was magic last night..." he started after they dumped the next tarp to bury Taylor. Her hands balled into fists at the statement, but she said nothing in response. "Did you hurt...? Is he...? I noticed you were alone and I know you cared about -”

"I gave Maddox to someone that can protect him," she said coolly, forcing herself to ignore the sudden sting behind her eyes.

"Because you couldn't?" His tone was both questioning and confirming, telling her he knew she couldn't, but still wanted her to verbally admit it. Needed her to admit it so she could accept it.

If she hadn't nearly killed Maddox last night and been up all night terrified the beast would take over, she would've argued against him. As it was, she was too tired to get into it with him again. And she was already painfully aware of her inability to protect anyone at the moment, let alone someone she cared about.

"From the Order? Perhaps. From the thing that’s inside of me? No." Her jaw clenched, nails biting into her palms at verbally admitting the fact that she knew she was unable to maintain control with the monster constantly fighting against her before sighing. "I can take care of the last one by my- "

"It's fine, I can help. Why don't you finish burying him and I'll grab…” he interrupted, pausing as he read the name on the last temporary gravestone before continuing, “Sarah so we can bury her together?” Before she could stop him, argue that she didn’t need his help, he’d turned and left. She knew he'd done it to give her time to compose herself and silently thanked him for it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you or give you anything better than this," she whispered as her gaze drifted towards the graves she'd had dug earlier in the year. Every student she’d laid to rest over the years had magical flowers along the base of their tombstones to symbolize the peace she hoped they’d be able to find. She’d chosen lavender to represent their purity, children snatched from this world before they’d had a chance to live, while hoping the scent would help soothe the families that visited.

Her heart ached at the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to give that parting wish to these students.

"Won't the Order dig these graves up to check for their bodies?" Jack asked suddenly, jarring her out of her depressing musings.

"No, I’ve created false, or rather empty, graves in the past when there wasn’t a body to bury. They’ll assume I’ve done the same for these four and won’t question it. Without a physical body, there’s only so much that can be done and those options all lead toward graves. They may not agree that they deserve a burial, but since they can't erase their existence without their bodies, thankfully, they’ll manipulate the cause of death -"

"Like you did with Amir?" Accusation was thick in his voice, instantly setting her on edge.

"One person in the Order was responsible for the deaths at the start of the year and she's been taken care of. I gave those kids' families a way to remember their children without tainting their memories with the true horrors of their deaths. Amir's parents can come here whenever they want and they will never have to see the images or videos taken of their son, eyes still open, impaled on a tree with his throat ripped out. Instead, they get to believe that their son died doing something that he loved. It's better than I can say for Eric Clarke. Did he get a grave?" she ground out, anger dripping from her words as his expression shifted from shock, to irritation and pain, before finally settling on guilt.

"Did he have a family?" he asked, setting the body into the empty grave besides the one she’d marked for Lilith. She regretted losing her temper immediately but she wasn't going to take back what she’d said.

He had killed a good man and hidden his body. He felt guilt months after killing his professor, but wanted to force her to accept what she’d let happen yesterday by not being strong enough to stop it. He wanted to make her feel bad for trying to do something for the victims' families. He wasn't the only one allowed to process emotions on his terms and he needed to be reminded of that fact it seemed.

Still, she was able to better understand what he'd gone through. The image of what she’d done to Maddox and Bitsy had played on repeat in her mind all last night despite her attempts to stop them. She knew what it felt like to wake up and find people you cared about hurt by your own hands.

"He didn't. The only person he was involved with was Robin Benson, your English professor. His parents passed away a few years ago -"

"Why didn't you say he died? Why'd you make her think he left her without saying anything to go on vacation with an ex?"

She hesitated for a few minutes, silently starting to bury the last victim. From the corner of her eyes, she watched him almost reverently shoveling dirt into Sarah’s grave and sighed softly. “People from your background aren’t Order material. I went behind Margaret Crain – who, yes, was responsible for the deaths of those kids, but was also a Council member – to get you accepted and have you selected as a neophyte because I thought you could do good here. I believed that people like you are who the Order needs.

“If anyone else had come to me like you had, we would've manipulated Eric’s death and announced it without so much as a slap on the wrist to the one responsible. You, however, they would have insisted on powdering, and likely expelling, for the sole reason of who you are. You told me what happened and I took care of it in a way his death wouldn't be investigated so you could get a second chance-"

"Are you saying you lied to the Order just to protect me?" he asked in shock, his gaze drilling into the side of her head as she studiously avoided looking at him.

"You came to me and took responsibility for what you’d done and showed remorse. I didn’t know what you’d done to him, but it was clear it was an accident. You deserved a second chance. And I didn't lie to the Order, I simply kept his death to myself. Eric wasn't related to the Order in any way and no one questioned his sudden decision to move across the country so -"

"That's still lying, Magus." He was grinning now as he bent to grab the corner of the tarp with her, completely missing her rolling her eyes as a smile twitched on her lips. “Thank you for taking a chance on me and for reminding me of who I'm supposed to be, who I want to be. This hide… he's a lot angrier and more opinionated than Silverback was. I'm still trying to get a handle on him."

Vera froze with the quiet admission, the cleared tarp slipping from her fingers, and slowly looked at him. "Do you mean to say you were previously bound to a different hide? How did you -?"

"I know what you're thinking, but I wasn't lying when I told you there's no way to undo it. It only worked because Silverback was part of the Vade Maecum and he wanted to unbind from me. The others cut me open to pull him from me and I did die. The link to the Knights brought me back but I still needed to bond with Midnight -"

"But that means that there might be away to -" she started, mouth going dry at the possibility of being free from the monster inside of her, before Jack cut her off.

"No, I'm sorry, I really am. But Timber isn't corrupted by the Vade Maecum and... well, I don't think she wants to leave you. Silverback was actively trying to kill me so he could escape and the second he had the opportunity, he took it. Timber wanted - wants - you for some reason -"

"It wants to use me and my position to kill people I'm responsible for. People I care about," she admitted quietly, fingers digging into the dirt as her eyes screwed shut. Everything she’d read so far confirmed that any attempt to extract a sentient symbiotic creature, whether it be mutualistic or parasitical in nature, against its will would cause death to the host.

The creature had to want to leave for the host to survive. And based on the beasts' taunting humor when she'd read that section last night, it had no intention of letting her go.

"I can try to help you? Or at least stay close enough to stop you at the Temple if you do lose control... I actually might know of something… There are these... well, Alyssa was muttering about seeing chains on the altar when Coventry took her hostage. He told her they’d be able to subdue Timber because they were special chains? Some gift from the Oregon Chapter or something like that? I could… I mean, if you wanted...?" he trailed off awkwardly when she looked at him with her brow raised.

"Are you asking me if you can chain me up?" she asked in shock, the slightest hint of amusement sneaking in when he started flushing vibrantly.

"I was offering to chain you so you don't transform and lose your clothes again before murdering someone. But if you'd rather -?”

“Thank you. I would... Could we test if they work outside the Temple before I risk it when Council arrives?" She hated the uncertainty in her voice. The way she had to rely on one of her students to keep her from killing people.

But if it could work, she needed to suck it up and try it.

"Sure, do you want to do it now? We have another hour before the assembly and Alyssa will probably be asleep for another hour or so under the potion. I uh… I don't know where they’re kept though."

"I do. Meet me at the back entrance to the Temple in fifteen minutes," she instructed while pushing herself up. She'd made it five steps before she noticed he wasn't following and looked back to see him staring at Lilith's empty grave. "I had it dug but I understand if you don't wish to use it. It'll stay empty and unburied until tonight if you do wish to use it. I... I promise I won't return until after it's been filled so you don't have to worry about me knowing whether or not it's been used. But Ms. Bathory’s family does deserve the chance to visit her - even if she's not there - if they wish. Every parent should have the ability to visit their child," she added quietly, fingers curling into a fist to stem the pain at the knowledge that she might not be able to visit her daughter this year.

"I'll let the others know. Thank you, Magus." He pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the grave, sending a quick message before slipping his phone into his front pocket. "After you." He waved his hand, indicating she take the lead and she couldn't help the small eye roll at the mock show of chivalry.

Her thoughts were already trying to find a way to use the chains - if they worked- in a way no one would notice. Maybe she wouldn’t have to worry about the arrival of Council and the Adepti and their ‘magical peacocking’ that always happened when they got together. Maybe she’d be able to bring Maddox home earlier than she’d thought. Maybe she’d be able to sleep tonight without fear of waking up covered in blood.

The small voice taunting that the chains would be obvious, and visible, the second she tried to leave her desk - which she knew she'd have to do - was steadily growing louder, drowning out the fleeting hopes she’d had, until it was a near scream in her mind as she drove towards the temple.

Notes:

I really didn't think it was possible to like Jack more than Hamish and yet... here we are 😂.

Chapter 25: Necessary Suffering

Notes:

A huge thanks to those that are taking the time to comment each chapter and keep us interested.

Chapter Twenty-Five – Necessary Suffering

Vera grit her teeth as another wave of pain rushed through her. She miraculously managed to keep her annoyed glare in place as she watched the disciples from last night try to plead their case - poorly - but her nails dug deeper into her thigh to try and mask the chain’s torture radiating from her calf.

Ten minutes later, all she felt was the searing agony where the chains were fused to her skin.

She'd thought they'd found a solution when her and Jack’s trials had shown she didn't need to be fully bound to force the beast back - they’d been able to get it down to three loops wound around one leg before Vera felt herself losing control to the beast within her.

It wasn't ideal, but after they cut the chain shorter, locked it and magically sealed them, they had instantly fused to her skin and were able to be hidden easily enough. She’d just have to add more pants to her wardrobe.

What she hadn’t anticipated was the chains quite literally burning into her flesh within mere hours. It wasn't terrible at first, just a mild irritant that had her mind wandering as Council droned on and on. They talked about their ‘condolences’ over the victims they lost, yet they couldn’t be bothered to even read the names off the list she’d given them. After that, they moved on to pat themselves on the back over ‘their’ discovery that the Vade Maecum’s destruction was corrupting magic near Belgrave, repeating her explanations to the gathered disciples as if they had known it all along. She had to look down towards her lap, acting as if she was inspecting her nails, to hide the heavy eyeroll and scowl when they went on to say they had decided to inform her that she’d need to close the Temple as part of ‘their’ plan to focus on keeping the disciples safe. Mel’s annoyed scoff - that she’d perfectly covered by a series of realistic coughs - had her own irritation shifting to mild amusement.

But as the assembly wore on, the debilitating ache had steadily risen.

Her leg bounced slightly in an effort to ignore it, but it did little to distract her. She couldn't even take satisfaction when Council had to convict all three disciples - including the legacy Magistratus - because they'd been stupid enough to challenge Council's direct order in front of Council.

But the agony of the chain was worth it when Council chose to place a magical trace ban on each disciple after powdering them. She had assumed they wouldn't be able to resist doing something to show their ‘strength’.

And she was right. She could bear the chain’s torment if it meant saving her people from a slaughter. She had to.

 

An hour later, all of the disciples had been cowed and shown the level of unquestioning obedience Council expected from all of them, no matter their lineage. Vera knew that at least half of her disciples wouldn’t have planned to attempt going against their orders after they banned a legacy, but their false revelation that they could sense and track magic by energy signatures had quickly swayed the rest. The disciples, at least, shouldn’t cause any issues going forward.

Council had seen it as well and finally released everyone, including her. She'd been ready to flee the auditorium and rush back to her office to remove the chains, or at least ice her burning calf when Gabrielle caught her eye.

"Ms. Dupres? Something we can help you with?” she asked, hoping the bite to her words would be interpreted as annoyance instead of pain. Melissa's eyes darted towards her in confusion but thankfully said nothing. Vera forced herself to relax, unclenching her hands while waiting for the girl to answer.

"Magus. Adeptus," she offered in greeting before her eyes widened. "Councilor," she added, standing up a little straighter as Councilor Bennett stepped closer.

"Ms. Dupres, any day now...?" Vera pressed, sending what she hoped was an amused grin towards the Councilor. He clearly bought it as he sent her one of his own, but Melissa's brows furrowed deeper before she took a discrete step towards her.

"Right, um... I was just wondering if you finished identifying the werewolves from yesterday?" She shifted ‘nervously’ under Bennett's stare, but Vera knew it was an act. The girl knew the Council members wanted disciples to be intimidated by them and she was simply playing the part that was expected of her.

"And you care, because...?" he asked, his voice lacking sympathy but filled with skepticism.

Vera laid a hand on his arm and gave a false smile, easily dismissing his concern with a simple look. "This is the disciple I was telling you about, the one that survived the massacre. Ms. Dupres can also be credited with locating the first werewolf we discovered months ago. After her success dispatching the creature for us, I tasked her with the job of exposing any others that may be hiding within the Order. Of course, if you’ll remember, those interrogations - which we now know were ineffective - were only stopped because Council believed we needed to use our resources to try and locate Estelle Marand before she sought revenge for her sister’s death. I can assure you, Ms. Dupres isn’t a werewolf sympathizer. In fact, she wanted to be our very own Werewolf Slayer.

He looked the girl up and down quickly before nodding, easily buying her lie - done more to dissuade any suspicions Gabrielle may have towards her - hidden amongst her truths.

He was so easy to manipulate.

"Very well. Your Temple Magus finished identifying them before their bodies disappeared with the Vade Maecum. We don't -"

"Was Brandon one of them?" Gabrielle interrupted, the lack of respect in her tone as she cut him off had both Vera’s and Melissa's brows raising despite Bennett's obliviousness. "Magus," she added, eyes darting towards the ground as her hands clasped in front of her.

"That's better," Vera said as she brushed imaginary lint from her blouse to stall for time. Jack had given her the descriptions of the students Hamish had selected for the roles. None of them had matched Mr. Caruthers, and with everything else she’d been dealing with, he had been amongst the last things on her mind.

How could she convince anyone who questioned the disappearance to believe her report that there weren’t more wolves when the boy wasn't amongst the dead?

"He was not -" she started before Gabrielle interrupted her.

"But he -"

"Don't forget your place, Acolyte," Vera bit out, watching a real flash of fear flit across the girl's face before continuing. "Two of the bodies were much too short to be Mr. Caruthers and the third was identified using an incantation that is not for -"

"You used necromancy?!" Bennett asked suddenly, a sick look rising on his face and Vera knew he was likely thinking back on the Marand massacre.

"It was contained and we mustn't forget the fact that I was ordered - by Council - to identify all the werewolves by nights' end. You know I would never touch the stuff otherwise." There was no need to tell him she'd used it earlier in the year to find out what was happening to her students.

"Of course. I trust you to use your discretion, Vera. But who is this boy she’s asking about?" His question was directed at her, but Gabrielle spoke before she could.

"He ran away when we were about to attack the werewolves. I think he might be one of them -"

"Vera? You said there were only five -" He took a step closer to her, nearly pushing himself between her and Melissa – the action gaining a heavy eyeroll from the redhead – to better protect himself from the possible threat.

If only he knew he was stepping closer to the biggest threat of all.

"Everything we found at their place points to only five existing. It is highly unlikely there's another -"

"I'm telling you, Magus, something isn't right!" Gabrielle ground out, a fire blazing in her eyes that had Vera sighing. The girl wasn't going to drop this until she was certain he wasn’t involved.

"Why do you think he's a werewolf? Because he ran away? He may have been frightened by the prospect of fighting an unknown number of -”

"No! He said he thought killing them was wrong! Even after they killed us first!” she argued, only just hanging on to a shred of respect as her frustration built.

"Perhaps seeing Mr. Allbreck turn back into a human when he was killed was too much for him? Perhaps he couldn't separate the monster from the man?" The question had a sickening thought forming in the back of her mind.

True-sight hadn't revealed Kyle as a werewolf because he hadn't been one when they started searching. The wolves had set him up to be jumped and killed to throw the Order off their scent. And it had mostly worked.

She was in the process of making a list in her head of items specific to the potion that she’d need to move to the vault to ensure no one discovered her, when another thought had her tensing. They’d set her up to be jumped, just like they had with Kyle. Were they planning a similar outcome for her now? Was she playing right into their hands again? Were they watching her?

Her gaze snapped towards the auditorium doors suddenly to see Jack standing there, watching her with concern as he shifted slightly. When he noticed she was looking at him, he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder as his head cocked to the side.

His silent request to leave – if she would be okay if he left - allowed her worry to subside. He had helped her with the chains and not only stopped her from killing Simon and Melissa yesterday, but likely saved everyone in the auditorium. She wasn’t positive, but she thought she could trust him at least.

And if he turned on her, she would take all of them down with her.

She gave him a subtle nod to dismiss him while bringing her hand up and inspecting her nails to disguise the motion as she re-focused on what Gabrielle was saying.

"…get out of helping us search for the werewolves and he tried to get me to turn back right before we found Kyle. He was also with me throughout the interrogations, Magus. Even if he’s not a werewolf, he could have warned them about the interrogations so they could find some way to neutralize the glove’s effect. At the very least, he's a werewolf sympathizer that’s missing."

"She does have a point. We had planned on having the disciples questioned for this very reason..." Bennett's almost guilty admission had Vera struggling to keep her expression neutral.

Despite being a Councilor herself – something they’d conveniently forgotten about - this was news to her, but she should have suspected it with all the false werewolves being Order members. It just meant Council would be here longer than she’d originally anticipated.

The thought brought the agony in her leg to the forefront of her mind again, causing her hands to clench as her eyes screwed shut.

"We're not planning to leave you out, Vera. And Council understands this school and its students are under your jurisdiction, but five of your disciples were werewolves. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of all people what happened the last time we had a faction hiding out within the Order. We have to make sure we don't have another Marand-type situation. Everyone must be questioned," Bennett explained, thankfully mistaking her pained reaction as frustration.

"I understand completely. I was already planning to question them on this matter. Having Council's assistance will help speed the process along," she lied, painting on a false smile that Melissa belatedly mimicked in her confusion.

“Oh, you misunderstood, Vera. We plan to oversee their questioning through your reports, not assist. We do have other priorities to attend to,” Bennett corrected with an amused smile that she would even think they’d stoop low enough to such a ‘menial’ task. That bit of knowledge significantly eased her worry about questioning two particular disciples.

"That’s okay, I can help," Melissa said suddenly, watching her reaction closely. "I already notified the California Chapter that I'll be extending my stay for a few days to render aid.”

"We're happy to have you," Vera responded and found she actually meant it, even if it would complicate matters for her. The woman was dangerous and far too perceptive, but Vera had missed her dearly.

And so long as she was able to keep the beast at bay and the woman from prying too deeply, she would be a strong ally against Council over the next few days.

"So… you believe me?" Gabrielle asked, reminding the three adults that she was still standing before them. And if her expression was anything to go by, she was growing increasingly annoyed at being ignored.

"Perhaps,” Vera answered with a slight tilt of the head before continuing. "You may be right that he ran because he's a werewolf sympathizer.” She watched the girl smile at the ‘praise’ and held up her finger, silencing her before she could speak. “Or he simply ran away and hasn’t returned because he's frightened. In either case, he's not Order material and needs to be located so we can question him and wipe his memories. You, Ms. Dupres, will not be assisting us with this search. You are to return to your dorm until you’re summoned for questioning," she dismissed, expecting the girl to leave but Gabrielle stayed still, hands wringing together nervously.

"Will you tell me when you find out?” she asked, her eyes darting towards Bennett to see annoyance cross his face at the request and quickly explained. “I need to know if I helped cause their deaths by not catching him in time."

Vera's shoulders dropped slightly, forcing an understanding smile on her face while turning her full attention on the girl. "What happened yesterday wasn't your fault, Ms. Dupres. The Grand Magus was corrupted by the Vade Maecum and selected your group. He gave the order, not you. You just helped Councilor Kepler locate them. But ultimately, I am the one responsible for my students’ safety. I should have seen the threats and dealt with them before it got this far." It was a lie spoken in truth because she should have seen the threats of Edward and the werewolves. She should’ve been able to stop both of them long before the slaughters yesterday.

Melissa frowned deeply, clearly wanting to argue with her, but understanding this wasn't the time or place.

"Would anyone on Council like to join my search for him?" Vera smothered the amused smile as she watched Bennett's face blanch white as a ghost as he stepped back and cleared his throat nervously.

"We have other plans at the moment. Perhaps Melissa -"

"Adeptus Coburn, please," Melissa interrupted with an overly cheerful smile. Vera glared at her for challenging Council already, but the redhead just smiled wider as Bennett flushed.

"Right, of course. Perhaps Adeptus Coburn would be willing to join you?" he fumbled, taking another step towards the other Council members and away from her.

"What do you say, Magus? I don’t know about you, but it's been years since I participated in a thrilling game of hide and seek. First one to find him wins?" Melissa challenged, humor and danger shining in her eyes as she grinned wickedly. She knew her friend was remembering the increasingly difficult – and sometimes frightening - games they had participated in when they were supposed to be sleeping during their summer trainings.

Vera fought the smile wanting to break out at the memory of the woman’s outrage when Simon accidentally let it slip that he and Vera had abandoned the game on several occasions when they got bored to hang out in whatever cabin was deemed ‘out of bounds’ that night.

She looked up towards Bennett at the display of familiarity, but the man had already rejoined the others and was quickly guiding them away from her, just barely catching his hushed ‘We need to go, they suggested we help look for a potential wolf. I said we were busy, but can you believe it?’ due to her enhanced hearing. She sent a glance towards Gabrielle and found she'd started retreating herself, clearly knowing she'd pushed far enough for one day.

"Bunch of cowards," she grumbled, sending an unimpressed glare towards the fleeing Council members as Melissa stepped closer, grin widening with a vigorous nod of agreement. "And no. We'll look for him together. I don't want you getting into trouble -"

"Oh, come on! Where's the fun in that?! Besides, I’m not the one who cheats," Melissa complained, waving her arm in a sweeping motion - that Vera knew was deliberately exaggerated - to signal she go first.

"How long did you say you were staying with us again?” Her voice was filled with mock dread and she only just managed to dodge Melissa's elbow jabbing into her side.

"Oye! See if I offer my help to you again! Bunch of ungrateful Americans! Where’s Simon when I need him?!" she grumbled to herself before sending a cheeky wink towards Vera as she caught the auditorium door.

Notes:

So, at least they sort of work... but uh oh. Mel is suspicious and Brandon is still missing.

Chapter 26: Rising Tensions

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those commenting each chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX – Rising Tensions

"I can't believe you're just going to hand her over to them to be experimented on," Randall snarled, the hatred and pain lacing his words slammed into Hamish's chest, causing him to lean on the shovel for support as his eyes screwed shut. A second later, Hamish felt something bounce off his shin as Randall grunted in anger.

His eyes opened as the younger Knight kicked more dirt back into the grave, tears streaming down his face. "Randall, stop-"

"YOU STOP!" he screamed, dropping to his knees with a ragged sob as he frantically started pushing the loose dirt back into the grave. "Don't give her to them! Please! She deserves -"

"She deserves an actual grave!" Hamish snapped, dropping the shovel as he crouched down to grab Randall's trembling hands. "She deserves more than a shallow grave in the middle of the woods where she'll be forgotten when we die. The Chancellor is offering a place -"

"So, you trust her now?! One night and you're ready to welcome the Temple Magus into the pack with open arms?! Trust her with Lilith?!" Fire was burning in Randall's eyes as he glared up at him, lip curled in disgust as Hamish's gaze turned hard.

"Where do you think I was yesterday?! This morning?! I've been watching her, waiting for her to step out of line and if she does, I will kill her. I don't trust her, Randall. She's not a Knight, not yet. I hate her and what she stands for. I want to kill her, but Timber chose her. Timber. I owe it to Lilith and Cassie to see why. I can't make the hides’ choices for them, especially not hers. I can't. All I can do is watch and step in if they break our oath."

"She leads the Order. She breaks our oath every fucking day! Why can't you see that?! Why am I the only one that sees that?!" Randall asked, confusion and desperation thick in his voice.

"Because someone decided to recruit an Order member and he changed the way we see things," he said, shrugging with a small smile as Randall glared at him.

"That's not the same thing and you know it. Jack was -"

"Jack had just been initiated and you lied to us about it because you saw the benefit of using him as a double agent. Look what happened, we lost Lilith -"

"You're blaming me for this?" he snapped, guilt flashing in his eyes before his head bowed.

“No, that’s not… I didn’t… that came out wrong.” Hamish sighed softly before shifting his hands so he could hold both of Randall's in one while the other moved to rest on the back of his friend’s head. "This isn't your fault, Randall. None of it. You made the right choice with Jack. But maybe, just maybe, Jack isn't the only Order member that isn't corrupt. Maybe Vera can -?"

"You can't honestly believe that! She’s been the head of Belgrave's chapter for years according to Maddox. How do you know she's not the one responsible for Cassie's death?" Randall's eyes grew wide before shying back. "I'm sorry," he mumbled quietly as Hamish forced himself to breathe steadily.

"I don't know," he admitted, trying to smother the familiar pain and guilt that always accompanied his memories from that night. "But I do know she wasn't the Chancellor when it happened. But if I find out that she was responsible for taking Cassie from me, she will answer for it," he promised, words mostly sent towards the memory of the woman that had plagued him for years.

"I… I'm not ready to see someone else wearing Timber." The words were whispered, a silent plea for Hamish to prevent it from happening. It forced the air from his lungs as if Randall had punched him.

"Neither am I. But that doesn't mean we have the right to kill her champion and keep her locked away until we are ready. We need to respect Timber's choice." He's wasn’t entirely sure if the words were said more to convince Randall or himself, but he knew that deep down, they were true.

"But Timber chose wrong! You know she did! She picked the Temple Magus, Hamish," Randall argued weakly, defeat starting to creep into his voice with each new protest.

Hamish swallowed thickly as his head bowed, not wanting to give voice to the treacherous thoughts but knowing he had to. "She did," he agreed, not meeting Randall's surprised gaze as he took a deep breath. "But maybe that's the reason Timber chose her? Could you imagine what we could do if we had the Temple Magus on our side?"

"She won't turn on the Order. You saw her yesterday. She was furious when she woke up. She blamed us -"

"Because she couldn't face the truth of what she’d done and we were there." The words, though true, were like ash in his mouth. "She was responsible for the lives of the people she killed -"

"That's what I'm trying to say!" Randall's fist slammed against the forest floor in frustration, completely shaking Hamish off. "They were practicing bad magic and she's the one that taught it to them. She broke our oath and she can't be trusted."

"Were they?" he asked quietly, fists clenching as his brows furrowed with the unwanted thoughts. "What if she was telling the truth? What if the only person that knew what was happening was Maddox’s aunt? What if everyone else really did think they were just trying to rescue the Grand Magus' son? What if we were the ones that needed to be stopped?" he asked questions he didn't want answers to, questions he didn't even want to consider, but Vera – or rather Timber by choosing Vera – had forced him to ask.

"They were trying to kill us, Hamish. They deserved to die." There wasn't a trace of doubt in the younger man's voice, but it did little to quell Hamish's turmoil.

Had he failed the other Knights by his callous regard towards practitioners so much they couldn't see what had happened yesterday? Couldn't see they weren’t infallible? Couldn’t see that they were able to make mistakes?

"Did they?" He lifted his head to meet Randall's gaze and saw confusion. "Randall, we attacked them first. I still believe they deserved it, but we killed their members at the church first. Then we kidnapped Maddox – we slaughtered the people trying to stop us – and despite what the others think, we didn't do it to save him. We were going to let an eight-year-old boy - an innocent child - be murdered for a chance at getting Lilith back. Don't let their belief that we did a good, selfless thing allow you to forget what we planned to do to a child. We weren't the good guys yesterday."

"That's not true, killing Maddox would've made it so Coventry failed at -"

"That's not why we did it and you know it," he ground out forcefully, silencing Randall's argument. "We made a mistake with him yesterday. We should have saved the boy for the reasons Vera, Jack and Maddox believe. He was the only one that was truly innocent - the only one in danger he didn't bring on himself - and as Knights, we should've protected him. Not handed him over to be sacrificed like a fucking bargaining chip."

Silence followed for several minutes before Randall shook his head. "No. You’re wrong. Our cause yesterday was Lilith. Those people came to our home. They tracked us by using her corpse. We did the right thing by killing them. They're not innocent." His words were hard, unyielding but Hamish just sighed as he grabbed the shovel again.

"And if they thought they were saving a child from a bunch of monsters like Vera claimed? If that's true, we proved them right. We didn't just kill them, Randall. We butchered them. And I... I know we enjoyed it. They were terrified, some catatonic, some trying to run, some pleading for mercy. We killed them, all of them – even those that weren’t fighting back, without a moment's hesitation or an ounce of guilt. We kill to protect, that's our job, but we shouldn't enjoy it. The second we do is the second we become the monsters they claim we are. Our actions yesterday were a disgrace to what the Knights of Saint Christopher are supposed to stand -”

"You're already letting her change you," Randall spat in disgust, pushing himself up to glare down at him. "We're Knights. We stop bad magic and it feels good to save people from it. Those 'innocents' you’re talking about? They were following Coventry. That's all I need to condemn them." He made it three steps away from the shallow grave before Hamish spoke up.

"Don't forget to go to Pete's house and kill Alyssa then." He watched Randall freeze mid-step and gripped the shovel tighter. "Afterall, according to Jack, she was Coventry’s biggest follower and had been his protégé for months. If all it takes to condemn kids - some younger than you - is following Coventry, then she's guilty and deserves to die."

"She didn't know what he was planning. She didn't know that Maddox was -" he started to argue, but Hamish heard the doubt in his voice and interrupted.

"If Coventry didn't tell her - the person that was by his side every step of the way, helping him reform the Vade Maecum - what makes think you he told anyone else?” He waited for Randall to say something, anything, but the younger man’s hands just balled into fists so he continued. “If Lilith hadn’t been the one taken, what would we have done? If you didn’t know they were Order members and they stopped anyone else that kidnapped a child, you would have called them heroes. That's why I picked you to be a Knight. Don't forget that.

"We defended ourselves, and if they attacked us again - if they attacked you or Jack - I would kill them all. But don't you dare act as if we’re the good guys here. Don't convince yourself that what we did yesterday was for the greater good. It wasn't. It was for us. The only people that did the right thing yesterday were Lilith, Jack and..." His throat closed up, stopping the word as Randall whirled around to glare at him in challenge, daring him to finish. "And... And Vera," he growled, fists clenching so tight the wood of the shovel splintered beneath his hands.

"I can't believe you! She -" he sputtered, pure fury settling on his face as his canines elongated.

"The potion was finished, Randall," he interrupted quietly, watching Randall deflate before crossing his arms in defiance.

"That doesn't prove anything."

"It proves she wasn't lying about helping us. It proves she was on our side. It proves she was trying to stop Coventry before Timber jumped her. It proves she didn't sell us out. She went against the Order – went against her own organization – because it was the right thing to do. That's why Timber picked her. It has to be."

"Sounds like you've already made up your mind about her -"

"I haven’t. She's still a threat and I won't forget that anytime soon. She needs to prove to me that she can be trusted. That this wasn't a fluke. And unlike my Knights, she won't be getting a second chance." The threat and promise radiated off of him like a wave, but Randall just shook his head.

"You say that, but you're already making excuses for her. You're choosing to forget what she's already done. She didn't care that Jack killed his professor. She didn't stop ‘Hot and Hotter’ when they were trying to kill their English professor. She didn’t try to stop Coventry before it got to this point, even though she apparently knew what he was planning a few years after Maddox was born. She didn’t even try to save Maddox and she knew he was supposed to be the sacrifice. She didn’t try to stop his Aunt Bitsy –”

"We don’t know any of that –” he interrupted weakly, watching as Randall’s scowl grew deeper.

“She said Bitsy knew what they were doing at our home and instead of letting her – someone that wanted to sacrifice Maddox – die, she healed her. And don’t forget that she came into our home and started snooping. She had a list on us, Hamish."

“You know she wouldn’t have been able to heal her and it would have been suspicious if she tried to stop someone else from healing Bitsy. As far as snooping goes, she's intelligent. Don't forget our lists. The Order and the Knights are enemies. Either side would be idiots to pass up the chance to investigate the threat and -"

"I can’t believe this! You are defending her! Don't you see how wrong this is?! How she's already manipulating you?!" He threw his arms up in exasperation as he turned his back, head shaking in disbelief.

"I'm not defending her! But I do understand her and the choices she’s making. We both have people to protect, Randall. Her job is to protect her students, my duty is to my Knights. Maybe Timber will help both of us by bridging that gap between us. Maybe she knew that I wouldn't be able to handle any more Knights – any more of my family – dying and bonded with the only person that can help put a stop to all the killing. I need to try, Randall. I can't lose you."

"Fine. But don't give them Lilith. Please, keep her here with us where she’s safe," Randall begged, his words seemingly having convinced the younger man to let him try with Vera - something he himself was still unsure of.

"Jack promised we could visit her whenever we wanted. That this whole cemetery was Vera's idea and the rest of the Order acts as if it doesn’t exist. They think the graves are empty – apparently she’s had empty graves dug in the past when there wasn’t a body to bury – so they won't dig her up." He knew he was mostly trying to convince himself so that he would go through with it, but Randall thankfully didn't seem to pick up on that fact.

"But why take the risk? She's safe here. No one knows about this place -"

"Exactly." He met Randall's gaze and frowned. "Her grandmother deserves to have a place she can visit. You know that's what Lilith would have wanted." He wasn't sure how much Lilith had told the other Knight about her family, save the fact that her connection to Cassie was a secret. That was a pain just the two of them shared. But he knew Lilith talked about her grandma at the very least. Knew that Randall was aware the woman had raised her since she was a child.

He didn't know if Randall had ever met the woman though, which meant he'd have to tell her alone. The thought sent a jolt of crippling pain straight through his heart. He hadn't been able to convince himself to see her after he failed to protect Cassie nine years ago. But now, he had to face her.

He had to apologize for letting her only grandchildren die.

"I don't trust her, Hamish. We barely got Lilith back and now you want to give her right back to them? Can't we just say Lilith's buried there? Her grandma wouldn't know."

He'd already had that thought himself, but he couldn't lie to her. He couldn't give her Cassie, but he could give her Lilith. He had to do this. Not just for their grandmother, but for them. If Cassie were still alive, she would've insisted on a real grave for her baby sister. A real place their grandmother could visit so Lilith’s spirit could rest.

It was the same request she’d asked of him a month before her death. That conversation days after she’d lost her last Knight, the one where she forced him to sit– ignoring his pleading to stop talking about it – and listen to her explain what she wanted if anything should happen to her, still haunted him to this day. He should’ve become a Knight then. If he had, maybe she would’ve survived and he wouldn’t have broken his promise to honor her wishes. He’d been too weak back then. He couldn’t fail her again.

Lilith would have a real grave so her spirit could rest. For Lilith, for their grandmother, and most importantly, for Cassie. He would give them this. He had to.

"I can't lie to her, Randall. Not about this, I'm sorry. I promise to make sure no one touches her, okay? I just… I need to do this for her."

"Just like you promised to keep her safe?" Randall's spiteful question had him freezing in place, breath refusing to fill his lungs as wide tear-filled eyes fell to the partially unburied body.

Randall's footsteps had long since retreated by the time Hamish sank to his knees, trembling hand reaching out to gently brush the dirt from Lilith's unnaturally pale face. "I... I'm so sorry, Lil. I should've been able to protect you."

 

Notes:

I know someone earlier mentioned how sad it would be if Hamish were to actually dig up Lilith's grave... we were biting our tongues because we knew it was coming... We're also liking Hamish's confused conflict over everything depending on who he's with/watching, but he's way too smart to not question it even if he doesn't want to. He knows they weren't the good guys yesterday and we felt that needed to be shown, especially him realizing he failed his Knights in the way that they couldn't see they *could* be wrong.

Chapter 27: Responsibility

Notes:

As always a huge thanks to those commenting each chapter. Things have been chaotic for both of us lately - hence the small delay - but it hopefully should start slowing down!

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Jack watched Vera nod, granting permission for him to leave, and quickly walked out of the auditorium. Hamish was already there waiting for him, leaning stiffly against the far wall, but quickly took the opportunity of the open door to peek inside. He knew the elder Knight had both felt the magic that had been seeping out of the room and spotted Vera the second his brows rose in surprise – clearly shocked that the woman was somehow still in control despite being in the middle of all that magic.

Without a word, Jack jerked his head to the side and made his way towards the front door, knowing Hamish would follow. Sure enough, within a minute he could hear him moving closer and subtly shook his head, silently warning him it wasn't safe, and continued walking as he pulled out his phone.

'Swarming with high-ranking members. We shouldn't be seen together. Follow me.' - Jack

He heard the vibration behind him as determined footfalls slowed and slipped his phone back into his pocket while pulling out his keys. When he saw Hamish climb into his own car and look towards him, he threw his truck in reverse and started towards the cemetery.

---

"So… is Randall coming?" he asked quietly, almost anxiously as he rocked back and forth on his heels. Hamish’s fingers tightened on the hood of his trunk, jaw clenching so hard Jack swore he heard the man’s teeth grinding before he let the trunk open completely, revealing Lilith. The sight of her lifeless body curled into an unnatural pose to fit the space had Jack’s stomach twisting painfully.

Yesterday, she still had color. Today, all vibrance was gone and in its place was a sickly grey pallor marred by streaks of mud from her previous burial. Jack could tell by the few clean smudges that Hamish had tried to clean the grime from her, but given how much remained and the way Hamish’s hands trembled and paused before sliding them under her neck and knees, he knew his friend hadn’t been able to bring himself to continue. And one look at Lilith’s deathly pale face, Jack understood why.

No one could pretend that Lilith was sleeping. Not anymore.

"No," Hamish whispered, the slightest trace of anguished defeat – almost too slight to notice lacing the single word before he carefully lifted the girl into his arms and waited for Jack to lead the way. Hamish’s jaw stayed clenched, the grinding of teeth no longer able to be dismissed, as Jack let himself really look at his friend. The man’s hair was thoroughly mused, his clothes were more disheveled than he'd ever seen, but it was his eyes that showed the depth of his pain.

"I'm sorry, Hamish. I didn't want this to happen to her. I didn't know he'd -"

"It's not your fault. You stopped Coventry. Lilith would've been proud. Besides, you were right yesterday. She's the one that chose to stay and face Coventry alone. She made her choice -" he said, voice hoarse but lacking any emotion.

Jack couldn't stop himself from reaching out and grabbing Hamish’s arm, halting his steps. "I never should've said that. Even if it is true, Lilith deserved – deserves – more than a quick brush off. She was my friend and you have to know that I would've done anything for her. I shouldn't have let Midnight dull my pain and make me forget she was more than just a soldier. I should’ve realized what he was doing, but I didn’t. I should’ve been there to bury her, but I wasn’t. I should’ve… I'm sorry," he apologized, knowing he meant the words despite the wolf trying to dilute his grief so he could 'continue the mission'.

"Midnight." Hamish nodded with a humorless laugh as his head shook. "I should have known something was wrong. A champion unbinding and bonding with a different hide is new for me. It doesn't feel the same as Silverback?" Hamish asked, both of them resuming their pace.

"They both want to fight magic, so keeping him reined in, in that sense, isn't really different. But when it comes to emotions and a sense of duty, it’s…," he struggled to find the right words to explain before sighing. "Different. My grandfather was murdered right in front of me yesterday – because I got distracted by Alyssa needing help and didn’t follow through with telling him I was okay. All I feel when I think about it is anger. Anger at Coventry for killing him, at you for calling him, and him for being dumb enough to think he could actually do anything to stop Coventry. I’m pissed that I could have saved him had I just taken two minutes to call him, but that’s it. He's filled with anger, but I honestly didn't realize I was even struggling until Vera confronted me earlier. She reminded me of the person I'm supposed to be."

"And what person is that?" Hamish's voice had turned hard, eyes sharpening with a suspicious glint that had Jack rolling his.

"That I should care about people. That I do care about people. That the deaths that happened should bother me. That I'm not the only one struggling right now and that I'm the person who used to want to help people. You don't need to worry about her, you know," he added at the end, shaking his head in frustration when Hamish scoffed.

"She is the Temple Magus of the organization we fight -" he argued, her title coming harsh and sarcastic from his lips as his lip curled in distaste.

"Yes, she is. But she wants to be a different kind of leader than what you're thinking. Hell, she already is a different leader than you’re thinking. She cares about what happens to her faculty and students, including us. She wants to protect people, even if those people aren’t in the Order. Did you see her with Maddox? The son of someone she hated and she put her life on the line to protect his. She actually admitted to lying to the Order about Professor Clarke's death to protect me because I showed remorse and deserved a second chance in her eyes. She even admitted that accepting me into Belgrave itself was against Council's wishes, let alone into the Order.

"You want visible proof she's different? Look around you. Every person that's been killed since she took over has a grave here, including Lilith, a known wolf, someone everyone in the Order will remember as an enemy. She did that without anyone asking, without caring what anyone thought, because she thinks she failed them. Because she believes their families deserve a place to visit. She needs time to come to terms with what she did and she needs help with Timber, but she'll be a good Knight. She was already doing what she could to stop bad magic before Timber jumped her. Once her and Timber settle, I think she'll be good for us."

"If her and Timber settle," Hamish ground out, carefully easing Lilith into the grave. "I felt the strength of the magic earlier, it came from the auditorium. If she's struggling as much as you claim, how was she able to -?"

"Enchanted chains. I reminded her of them and she asked me to bind her so she wouldn't kill anyone. I..." he paused, seeing the anger and surprise on Hamish's face before continuing. "I think she was hoping for a solution for when she's at the Temple, but she was in pain by the end of the assembly."

"So, she's keeping Timber chained now? Hurting her?"

Jack frowned at the angry questions as he helped bury Lilith. "No, Hamish. She's hurting herself because she doesn't have control yet. She can't keep Timber subdued on her own like we can - and do - every time magic is performed. And it's not like she has the luxury of not attending while she works to get control. She needs help -"

"Then help her. I won't kill her unless she betrays us or breaks our oath, but I don't care if she gets herself killed," he spat, but Jack swore he could hear doubt creeping into his voice and latched onto it with both hands.

"Timber picked her for a reason, Hamish. Vera will come to accept that with time and so will you. But right now, she needs to learn control, just like all of us had to. Despite what she says, we both know she can't do it on her own -"

"I did, so can she." His words had Jack freeze, fingers twitching on the packed mound of dirt as he slowly tilted his head up to study the harsh profile of his friend.

"I thought... you said you became a Knight for a girl... she didn't teach you?"

"I hesitated too long and Cassie died before I completed my first transformation. Vera won't be the first champion that needs to learn on her own," he said as he pushed himself up and brushed his hands off.

"And if she doesn't learn?" he asked in challenge.

Hamish looked at him with vacant unrecognizable eyes before shrugging nonchalantly. "Then she dies."

"Are you serious right now? …you are, aren’t you? You're an idiot," he muttered, shaking his head in disbelief as he stood and walked past the other wolf.

"It's not my job to babysit an ungrateful bitch who -" Hamish argued hotly, causing Jack to whirl around to face him with flickering eyes as his – and Midnight’s – anger rose.

"Vera Stone is a Knight whether you choose to accept it or not, which makes her your responsibility. She's a new Knight dealing with a pissed off wolf that was more than willing to hurt me, another Knight, to kill Vera's friends. People that were trying to save someone's life and came to help her fight Coventry. As our leader, you should train her. Not just for her and Timber, which should be enough on its own, but for us.

"If Timber breaks out, not only will innocent people die - something I honestly don't think she can actually handle right now - but the Order will know she lied about our death’s and that we're still alive. They will immediately kill me because I was helping her and they won't stop hunting till they kill you and Randall. But ignoring all of those reasons, you have a new champion and she is clearly falling apart at the seams. Stop blaming her for Lilith's death when Lilith chose to face Coventry. Stop wallowing in self-pity, stop blaming her for everything and accept the consequences of your choices. Be a fucking leader already and help your Knight before it’s too late to save her and us."

He didn't bother waiting for a response, Midnight's anger at the stubborn idiocy of the older man choosing to throw away what he knew would be a strong Knight just because he didn’t like the woman skyrocketing within him. He needed to leave before he lost control.

One thing was decided by both hide and champion in that moment. Vera was a Knight that needed training. If Hamish refused to do his job, Jack - and Midnight - would take it on himself.

The biggest problem he knew would be convincing Vera that she needed help with training, rather than just smothering the wolf.

Notes:

Hamish knows what he should do, but accepting it is going to be a real struggle for him. Thankfully Jack and Midnight don't really care about confronting him (or Vera for that matter) and taking matters on himself.

Chapter 28: Failed

Notes:

Thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Vera could feel Melissa's stare boring into her the entire trip back to the Temple. The woman was quiet, uncharacteristically so, and Vera knew she was being studied. She grit her teeth against the pain in her calf and forced a passive expression on her face before pushing the reliquary doors open with a bit more force than necessary. Melissa followed after her, still unnervingly quiet as they silently gathered ingredients for the tracking incantation.

Vera heard the redhead take a seat behind her as she started mixing the herbs together and shifted slightly. If it weren't for the hole being burned into her back by the unwavering gaze, she might have been able to forget she wasn't alone.

"You're staring, Mel. Stop it," Vera finally bit out in mock annoyance. She wouldn’t admit to it, especially not to her overly perceptive friend, but she was glad the woman was making her presence known. If she weren’t, Vera might let the pain overwhelm her and slip up. But the fixation of the stare concerned her. Did Melissa suspect something? Had she seen something? Did she know Vera had become host to a monster?

"I'm waiting.” The familiar tone in her friend’s voice had Vera turning around with a raised brow as she tried to smother her rising panic.

"For…?" She turned back to the nearly finished spell and closed her eyes with a deep breath, willing her heart to slow and her hands to stay steady. Perhaps she was reading too much into it? Perhaps Mel hadn’t seen anything and -

“For you to tell me why you're limping. Before you try and deny it,” she hurried to add, and Vera knew the redhead’s pointer finger had come up to silence any protests, “all of your weight right now is on your left leg. I'm not an idiot, Vera, something’s wrong. What is it?" she asked, expectation shifting to concern before Vera felt the woman's hand land on her shoulder, carefully but insistently turning her so Mel could see her face.

Vera opened her mouth, ready to spout off a lie that she was fine when her leg buckled slightly. She watched the concern etch itself deeper onto her friend's face and sighed heavily, hand coming up behind her to rest against her desk so she could ease some of her weight off her battered leg.

“I may not have made it out as unscathed as I made it seem. I didn't mean to lie to you,” she added quickly as Melissa's expression shifted to hurt and forced herself to swallow the bile that wanted to escape. She had meant to lie. She was lying now, to someone that trusted her enough to risk their own life for her.

Once again, she found herself wondering if she could tell Mel and Simon what happened. They were two of her oldest friends. They had been ready to fight the Order with her. Maybe they wouldn't say anything? Maybe they could help her find a way to get the beast out of her? Maybe she didn’t have to go through it all alone?

She caught herself just before the words fell from her mouth.

Edward had been a monster. He’d wanted to destroy the Order, destroy the world. Stopping him was the right thing to do. They hadn't followed her because she asked them to murder someone – something she was grateful for. They followed her because of who she intended to kill. They didn't turn on the Order. They’d turned on Edward and the corrupt members that followed him and were okay with murdering a child in their quest for power.

If they knew she was one of the monsters responsible for all those deaths yesterday - that she was the one that had nearly killed Bitsy and Maddox - they would put her down. Not because they wanted to, she knew they'd struggle and likely would never forgive themselves, but because it was the right thing to do. The thing that needed to be done to keep everyone safe.

If it was just her death, she'd jump at that fate, welcome it. But it wasn't.

She would die, but the beast would just find someone else. Someone that might have even less control than she did. Someone that wasn't willing to endure the chains’ torture. Someone that might hate the Order as much as the creature. Someone that basked in murdering kids just because of the organization they were a part of. Someone like Hamish or Randall.

No, she couldn’t let that happen. She had to bear this burden alone to protect the people she was responsible for, the people she cared for. Including Melissa and Simon.

"I didn't notice until the adrenaline and shock of everything yesterday wore off, but one of them must have gotten me in the leg. Don't worry, I've already treated it. It is healing, but with the corruption, it's going much slower than I’d hoped. I'm sure it'll be fine in a few days.”

The woman studied her closer, no doubt trying to tell if she was lying now, but thankfully nodded, choosing to believe her story. "Will you be okay with tracking the boy? I can do it myself if -?”

"No," she interrupted with a firm voice as fear bubbled up at the thought of what Randall could - and likely would - do to Melissa if he found her alone. She suspected that Hamish wouldn’t be able to resist killing a lone Adeptus either. Especially one that would have to use the clumsy, rudimentary tracking methods. Mel wasn’t familiar enough with the area to attempt the one Vera was preparing.

They may think she was tracking them and kill Melissa before turning on her for betraying them. She couldn’t risk it. "Not only would you likely not recognize the area the spell would reveal, but he won't recognize you and may fight back. I don't doubt your ability to protect yourself, but if he's scared which he probably is - he should see a familiar face. Not one he may mistake as a werewolf. He was with Ms. Dupres when she killed the first wolf. I don’t want to risk him trying to hurt you. There's been enough fighting, enough killing." Her voice broke on the last word, eyes screwing shut as unwanted sounds of tearing flesh were forced on her in her moment of weakness.

"I'm sorry, Vera. I wish we’d gotten here a bit sooner so we could've killed those beasts before they harmed your students. I wish we could’ve done more somehow," Melissa apologized, unaware of the caustic guilt she was pouring into Vera's soul.

They had offered to come sooner, twice. Simon had tried to convince her to let him drive back with her. When she’d called them after Edward had interrupted hers and Bitsy’s conversation about Hemmings, they had insisted they could leave immediately. Both times she’d told them she had it handled and would call them if and when she needed them. When it was safe.

Safe for who though? Her students? She couldn’t even remember the logic she’d had at the time because surely an earlier arrival wouldn’t have endangered her students… right? So, safer for them perhaps? By keeping them both in DC, they had stayed off of Edward’s radar and he hadn’t sent a disciple to kill them like he had with her. Or maybe… maybe she’d meant safer for herself? She had thought she’d had it handled, thought she’d bought time and trust with Edward when she’d willingly handed the piece to him. She’d thought their arrival would make Edward more suspicious towards her so she’d told them to wait. By the time Alyssa informed her Edward had ordered her executed, it’d been too late. What if she -?

"Vera?" Mel asked quietly, yanking her from the dark vortex she'd been sucked into. She took a shaky breath to steady herself and get her emotions in check before meeting her friend’s pained gaze.

"We knew stopping Edward would cost us, we just hadn't expected it to be this. No one thought the werewolves would kidnap Maddox or that Edward would send so many disciples to their slaughter." She paused as unwanted images of shredded children ran through her mind. The accompanying elation she felt from the creature caused her stomach to flip violently. "We didn't know any of this was going to happen, Mel. You and Simon saved Bitsy when I couldn't. Focus on that.”

It was as close to the truth as she could get. With a quick flick of her eyes, she saw the words had thankfully been enough to ease at least some of her friend's guilt. It helped Vera, allowed the thinnest layer of her own suffocating guilt to slide away with the knowledge that Melissa wouldn't blame herself for yesterday's massacre.

It wasn't enough to allow her to breathe any easier, however. Much the opposite as she felt more blame fall heavily on her shoulders. She'd listened to the wrong people, had allowed herself to walk into trap after trap alone. All the while she had two powerful loyal allies on the sidelines, just waiting for her to call them in to help.

She'd waited too long. Even if she hadn't killed the students currently lining the antechamber wall right now, her incompetence was the reason their lives had been cut short.

She’d failed to stop Edward. She’d failed to convince Bitsy to help her stop Edward. She’d failed to convince Council not to support the reformation of the Vade Maecum. She’d failed to predict Edward would start bonding with the Vade Maecum so soon. She’d failed to see she was being played by the wolves. She’d failed to stop the creature from bonding with her. She’d failed to stop the beast from attacking Bitsy. She’d failed to stop it from marring Maddox. She’d failed to accept Simon and Melissa’s help sooner. She’d failed to keep her students from walking to their deaths.

She’d failed. Over and over again she’d failed. Every single person she was supposed to protect had been hurt in some way because of her.  

"You ready?" she asked, trying to distract herself before she caved from the oppressive remorse. At the redhead's serious nod, she let her eyes fall shut, took a deep calming breath and dragged the knife deeply against her palm.

Agony seared through her calf as the beast fought against the chains for release, forcing a pained gasp through her lips as the knife fell from her hand so she could catch herself against the desk. Her eyes screwed shut tighter as she pulled on her magic, the monster fighting her every second, but unable to do anything against the magical bonds suppressing it.

She was vaguely aware of Melissa's worried questioning and the warm hand resting against her back as she struggled against the chain’s torment. Torture she knew the monster now realized could be made worse if it struggled harder against the magic, struggled for release. It gleefully thrashed against the bindings, triggering the chain’s magic and encouraging the metal links to burn further into Vera’s leg, melding with her flesh.

Shaking her head, she sank her teeth into her tongue until she drew blood. The metallic tang brought unbidden memories of others blood filling her mouth to the forefront of her mind but it allowed the pain in her leg to fall into the background, numbed by the greater suffering of what she had let happen yesterday.

Without pausing, she shoved the crippling agony back further, focused on her magic and yanked it forward. The chains tried to dull it, but they weren't designed for practitioners. The Oregon Chapter had designed them specifically for magical beasts. Monsters like Timber could thrash as hard as they wanted and never break free.

Vera's lips curled into a cruel smirk, drawing more of her magic, ignoring the heat licking across her leg as she felt the beast writhe in pain. She knew the more the monster fought, the worse her pain grew. But so did its. If it wanted to torture her, kill those she cared about, she would give it hell for as long as she could stand.

As her tongue started going numb, fingers twitching slightly from the pain and lack of oxygen, Vera released the words needed to enact the spell.

The world spun around her as the spell activated. She forced herself to focus on the dizzying images in her mind and easily identified the werewolf’s home as the images slowed slightly. Scenery continued whizzing past her, trees blurring together in shades of greens and browns as the rundown house faded into the distance.

Her brows pulled together in disbelief and dread when the images picked up speed again soon after entering the woods encircling the shack. A ragged gasp escaped as she was thrown from the enchantment. She caught herself against the desk with both hands, fingers biting into the wood before her fist pulled back and slammed against the surface.

The images never stopped, which meant the spell couldn’t latch on to its intended target. She knew what it meant but refused to face it. She couldn’t, not yet. Not until she physically saw the boy's body.

"Did you see him?" Melissa asked, hand hesitating just above Vera’s shoulder as if she was scared to touch her. She should be scared, just not for the reasons that were undoubtedly running through her mind.

"No," she growled, smacking the desk again before jerking upright and straightening her clothes. “We need to go -”

"Where? Don't we need to brew the tracking -?"

"He's near the werewolf's lair." Vera watched the other woman freeze out of the corner of her eye and grit her teeth as realization settled across Melissa's face.

“You saw that? So, the spell worked -?" Melissa started carefully causing Vera's fists to clench.

"It didn't work because I didn't see him," she snapped, yanking the reliquary doors open and storming forward as Mel rushed to catch up.

"Vera, you know what that means. The spell did work. The boy didn't run. He’s not working with those monsters. He's not hiding. He… he didn't survive -” she said softly, comfortingly. Vera hated it.

"You don't know that!" She whirled around to face her friend, eyes wild with desperation and anger, as she clung to the naïve hope that the spell was wrong.

She knew it wasn't.

Brandon Caruthers would be counted amongst the dead and based on where the images had slowed, deep into the woods away from the Den – away from Hamish and Randall – that left only one person that could be responsible.

Her.

‘NO!’ she snarled to herself and the now cackling beast, fists clenching as she ignored Melissa’s hurried steps beside her. ‘He could have died from anything. I… I didn’t kill him. I couldn’t.’

Even as she played those words on repeat in her mind the entire way, she knew she was lying to herself. The monster knew she was lying to herself. Hell, Melissa knew she was lying to herself. The other woman just didn’t know what lie she was telling.

Vera knew the boy was dead. She knew it the second the images started speeding up again. She wasn’t trying to convince herself that he’d found a way around the spell, that she hadn’t lost another student, like Melissa believed.

She was trying to convince herself that one of her disciples killed him when he tried to run. That Edward had found some way to kill anyone that didn’t follow through with his request. That he’d been the victim of a robbery gone wrong. She was desperate enough to try and convince herself that he’d tripped and broken his neck.

She needed to hold onto the belief that she wasn’t the rabid beast the werewolves claimed she was. That she hadn’t lost herself so thoroughly that she’d killed a kid she was responsible for. That she hadn’t taken someone’s child from their parents.

Despite knowing the truth, despite smelling the stale metallic stench thick in the air, Vera clung to empty hope up until her eyes fell on the gaping hole centered between five deep claw marks in Brandon’s chest.

Vera fell to her knees as proof of everything she was trying to ignore was laid out before her. She felt Melissa’s arm wrap around her back, pulling her against her side as she stared in horror at the ravaged form with anguished eyes.

She couldn’t hide from this truth no matter how hard she tried. Brandon was dead, by her hands.

This was her kill.

Notes:

Welp... Vera can't deny it any longer... she knows *she* killed one of her students.

Chapter 29: Wolves vs Champions

Notes:

As always, thanks to those taking the time to comment each chapter!

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Vera grit her teeth, eyes screwed shut, as she stepped into the bath. A hiss of pain escaped, bouncing off the bathroom walls as the hot water licked against her damaged leg. All of her strength left her in an instant before she collapsed, water splashing over the edge to coat the floor. She lurched forwards, hands reaching out so she could dig her fingers into the skin surrounding the wound, hoping to ease the sudden surge of pain the heated water was inflicting.

Her head grew dizzy as she held her breath, waiting for relief that wouldn’t come. When the pain became unbearable, she lifted her leg out of the tub with a ragged gasp and propped it against the side - careful to keep the wound from touching the ledge. Her fingers dug into the sides of the bath as her chest rose and fell erratically while she tried to focus on the feel of the cool air blissfully brushing across her ravaged skin like a soothing balm.

With her leg out of the tub, she was able to let the hot water soak deep into her stiff muscles. Her eyes drifted shut as her head fell back with an exhausted sigh as her aches slowly dulled. The usual calming scent of lavender was absent, a deliberate act to exclude the soothing scent done as a reminder that she couldn't let herself relax completely.

Her body may be getting a needed rest, but her mind needed to stay alert. Which is why she tiredly pulled the plug and dazedly watched the water flow down the drain the second she felt herself starting to drift.

She couldn't risk the beast escaping. She knew it was there, waiting for her to slip. Fighting the magic of the chains all day may have exhausted it, but Vera knew better than to underestimate its willpower. It wanted out and if the opportunity presented itself - if she allowed herself to lose control for even a second – its exhaustion wouldn't be enough to stop it. Nothing short of another wolf would stop it when she wasn’t wearing the chains. She couldn’t lose focus.

Brandon's mutilated body flashed behind her eyes again - his face forever stuck in a petrified expression, a soundless scream of terror captured for eternity - and forced her eyes open with a gasp.

“No! I won't let you use me anymore! This is my body, not yours! I won’t let you hurt anyone else ever again!” she ground out and pushed herself into a standing position, eyes tightening as she swayed from the sudden rush of dizziness.

Her own exhaustion after more than forty-eight hours without sleep was getting to her, but tonight would be better.

Tonight, she'd be able to sleep without worry.

---

Hamish once again was lurking in the shadows, watching as Vera meandered through her home. He'd already checked on Randall - despite the other wolf's angry retorts to leave him alone - and Jack to make sure they were safe so he could focus. He knew he'd need to check on them again in a few hours, for his own peace of mind, but for now, this was where he was needed. He couldn’t let his attention falter, not if he wanted to protect his remaining Knights from any threats.

He'd watched her carry two large tote bags to her living room before brewing a pot of coffee. The entire pot joined her mug on the table before she started pulling out item after item from the bags.

Grimoires of varying sizes and washed-out colors littered the table but it was the knife and chains that held his attention. He recognized the knife she was inspecting. It was the same one that had nearly claimed his life just months ago. She held it between her hands, tip precariously twisting against the pad of her pointer finger as if she was considering digging it in and letting the dark magic claim her life.

He hoped she would.

Instead, she sighed heavily, shook her head, and set it beside the books. Her gaze stayed fixed to it for a few tense moments, her arm shakily reaching out to hover over it before her hand clenched and she set one of the books on top of it, hiding it from herself.

He'd have to find some way to get that blade away from her so he could hide it. Get it out of the Order’s hands to ensure none of his wolves found themselves on the receiving end of the accursed blade again.

The chains, he suspected, were the same ones Jack had told him about. It unsettled him to see her fingers almost reverently trailing over each link on the smaller chain as she drank her coffee. His gaze shifted slightly, eyeing the larger length of chain coiled on the side of the table, the end dangling over the side. If she cut that one to mimic the restraints she was so fixated on, there would be enough to subdue all of his Knights. Is that why she had them? Was she planning to capture them? Would she use the chains to bind them before using the knife? Would she bind them all and call Simon back? Turn them all over to the Order to answer for yesterday’s massacre? He'd be powerless to stop her if she succeeded.

He couldn't let that happen. He had to protect his Knights, his family.

Without realizing it, he'd taken two steps closer to the house, fingers curling in preparation for claws. Claws that never appeared as Tundra fought him once again. He let out a low growl and tried to take another step before an animalistic snarl of warning - Tundra's snarl - erupted from him, forcing him to retreat to the tree line once more before he alerted Vera to his presence.

With Tundra's command came a memory from earlier in the day. Jack’s words of, 'She's hurting herself because she doesn't have control yet.", blasting in his head.

He tried to shove them away, tried to convince Tundra that wasn't the reason Vera had them. Tried to explain that even if what Jack had said was true, that she wouldn’t need both sets of chains. That she was planning something and they had to stop her before their people were hurt. The wolf ignored his warnings, instead forcing Hamish to remember more of his and Jack's conversation. Parts his wolf apparently agreed with.

'She needs time.'

'She needs help with Timber.'

'She needs help.'

'Timber picked her for a reason.'

'She needs to learn control.'

'Vera Stone is a Knight, which makes her your responsibility.'

'Be a fucking leader -'

"ENOUGH!" Hamish snarled, fury radiating off of him in waves as he shoved Tundra back to the deep recesses of his mind. "You don't get to control me anymore. You don't get to decide who lives and who dies anymore. You don't get to choose whether a champion gets put down or not. That's my job. That's what you picked me for, remember? That's what you made me! She is a threat and you are endangering my Knights by protecting her."

'Timber picked her for a reason. She needs help. She needs to learn control. Your responsibility.' Jack's words played on repeat in his mind, breaking him down until he let out a strangled breath and sank into a sitting position against a tree. His defeated gaze returning to the woman as she carried the shorter chains out of the living room, both chains and woman disappearing from sight.

---

Hamish had just been planning to check on her – steal the knife and chains if possible – after he’d returned from looking in on Jack and Randall, so he could finally let himself rest for a few hours. He’d been expecting the house to be dark still, having waited over an hour after she turned off all the lights and disappeared, but frowned as the trees thinned enough for the light to shine through.

She couldn't possibly be awake, could she?

Sure enough, the woman was awake and sitting on the couch as she’d been last night. Her hair was disheveled and she was wearing pajamas so he knew she'd gone to bed. So why was she awake? With the short shorts and the way her knees were pulled to her chest, chin resting against them, he could clearly see the burned skin of her leg. Three thick lines of crisscrossed marks were seared into her flesh, the discoloration vibrant against the pale skin surrounding it.

"Why isn't it healing?" he asked quietly, a new fear rising at the thought that those chains not only suppressed the wolves, but inhibited their ability to heal. Like the knife had done with him.

He'd wait until she fell asleep again and take both sets of chains and the knife from her. He couldn't leave something so dangerous in the Order's hands.

She would just need to find a new way to keep Timber controlled at the Temple.

Decision made, he walked the last few steps towards his tree and sat down against it to wait. It wouldn't take long, not with the coffee pot being empty in front of her and the way she was staring vacantly ahead of her. He'd give her maybe twenty minutes before she passed out from sheer exhaustion.

 

Twenty minutes had come and gone two hours ago and she was still there. He watched with scratchy eyes as she sat near catatonic throughout the night. The only times she’d moved were to make a new pot of coffee or rub something over her burns. She hadn’t even moved to get comfortable outside of that.

He could see tears slipping from her eyes as she drew her knees closer, nails biting into her shins until she drew blood, head shaking back and forth numbly as her lips moved in what could only be described as a silent, desperate prayer.

Even from this distance he could see the bruising under her eyes starting to form. He wouldn't get the chance to take the weapons from her tonight, but there was no way she'd be able to last a third night without sleep. Even with Timber's added endurance giving her strength, she'd succumb.

He could handle one more night of babysitting.

 

Notes:

Yeah... that needed reprieve Vera was hoping for didn't work out, unfortunately. It hurts to see her like this - same with seeing Hamish's conflict.

Chapter 30: Unraveling

Notes:

Thanks for commenting!

CHAPTER THIRTY

The sun was just beginning to rise when Hamish watched Vera bolt off the couch, jolting him into full consciousness with the sudden motion. He leaned forward slightly, blurry eyes squinting against his mounting exhaustion, and studied her hurried movements.

As expected, the coffee pot was started first, but unlike last night, she didn't hover by it as it brewed. Instead, she bent down behind her island counter and pulled out five small mixing bowls and two pots. Both pots were filled with a mixture of unidentifiable liquids and herbs before being positioned on her stove, one covered while the other was left open.

She stared at the mixing bowls for a minute with a leafy herb in her shaking hand before both elbows came to rest atop the counter so she could rest her head against her hands. He could tell the unexpected burst of energy she’d gotten had passed and exhaustion was pulling at her again.

As she started to sway, herb slipping from her hand as her head drooped lower, he was convinced she was finally about to pass out, giving him the opening he’d been waiting for to steal the chains and knife. Instead, she plunged a ladle into the uncovered pot and brought it to her lips, liquid spilling onto the counter with the unsteady movement.

The bruises under her eyes faded instantly, the fatigue seeming to disappear with each tiny sip she took.

"Clever," he muttered to himself, the word holding more disdain than praise as he realized the potion somehow replenished her energy she needed before allowing himself to lean back against the tree. "Wait until Timber burns through it." A cruel smirk twitched at the corner of his lips as he watched her start brewing an assortment of potions that clearly didn't require a magical component. Or at least, no verbal magical component from her to charge the liquid as his magic alarm stayed silent.

 

An amused scoff escaped Hamish just shy of an hour later when Vera stumbled, bowl falling from her hands as they shot out to catch herself against the counter before she fell. Her troubled frown as she fought the sudden dizziness caused a small wave of satisfaction to rush through him.

"Magic doesn't work the same for us, now does it?" he mocked quietly as she slowly walked back to what he’d started calling the 'Vitality potion' that was resting beside the stovetop. He expected her to take another sip, so when she bit her lip and stared at it with furrowed brows, he felt himself leaning forward again with curiosity.

As the bruising slowly surfaced under her eyes again, the same weary paleness washed out all color from her face. She looked even more tired than before. He watched her hand reach past the potion towards the coffee pot to pour herself a cup. His own brows pulled together in confusion at her choice of the obviously less effective energy boost while he watched her dump all of the potions she was still working on down the sink.

A brief thought of whether or not it was safe to dump not only one potion, but a mixture of potions, down the sink crossed his mind as she started bending behind the counter. He assumed he’d been right to question the safety of it from the way she froze and hurried back to the sink with wide eyes to turn the water on full blast, likely hoping to dilute the accidental mixture before anything dangerous happened. He watched her shove her hand through her hair to get it out of her face, revealing the frustrated scowl, before she turned away from the still running sink to bend behind the counter again. The large pot she pulled out was nearly four times the size of the previous ones and his curiosity grew.

What was she doing? When she added the sixth ingredient in the same order as before, he understood.

All it took was one 'failure' for her to understand she hadn't made nearly enough of the vitality potion to make it through even half of the morning. She'd chosen energy and alertness - control - over the other things she'd been brewing. The deep purple and green potions she'd already finished and bottled went untouched on the counter as she continued working.

"Is that safe?" he asked under his breath as he watched her fill a pint glass with the vitality potion before drinking the entire thing in one go.

If a few small sips made her look presentable, this made it seem as if she'd gotten a full night's rest on vacation. She held her hand out flat in front of her and studied it for a few seconds before frowning and forcing it through her tangled hair.

It wasn't until she was walking out of sight that he understood the defeat in her expression. She had started with sips, the normal amount he assumed, which meant he was right to question the safety of a full glass. She'd been testing, rather recklessly in his opinion, its effect on her. She likely had been expecting at least jitters with how much she'd consumed, but her hand had been perfectly still.

Meaning this was just another 'solution' that ended up being no more than a poorly laid band aid over a gaping wound.

---

Jack couldn't stop staring as he walked towards the house in front of him. It was the total opposite of what he'd picture Vera's house would be. The seclusion and modern look of it made sense in a way, but it was so bright and open and just so… different to what he’d expected. As he walked closer though, he couldn't ignore how non-homey it appeared.

It was too clean, too sparse, too white. The walls were glass, so no pictures hung on them, just three generic paintings positioned over a small built-in fireplace. There wasn't even a book on the table or throw pillows on her couch. How was it that the Temple felt more like a home than her actual home?

She opened the door before he could knock, halting his thoughts instantly, and waved him in silently while drinking a glass of water.

"So, this is what you call interior design? Detached, frigid and passionless? Because if so, you really nailed it. No wonder you didn’t approve of my grandfather’s house. Warm and inviting - lived in - is clearly not your style."

Vera stiffened at his barbs before a scowl worked its way onto her face as she continued walking past him. "For Ms. Drake," she said coolly, holding out a small vial.

"Right, thank you." He accepted the potion and slid it into his front pocket, shifting his weight anxiously as she sat on the couch. "And uh… sorry. Your house is nice. It's just... not what I expected."

Vera rolled her eyes as her head shook with a scoff and he knew he'd offended her more than she let on. She opened her mouth to respond, the curl to her lip telling him she meant to send an insult back, but closed it with a sigh, causing a sliver of guilt to rush through him. "It's fine,” she said quickly, waving off his apology with a scowl before he could say anything. “I have places to be, do you mind?" she asked while picking up the chains, clearly wanting to move away from the topic of her home and its decor.

"You looked like you were in pain yesterday. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm fine. I wouldn't have asked you to come to my home if I wasn't sure," she snapped while pulling her pant leg up.

"I thought you said it was best to do your right leg?" he prodded, accepting the chains with a raised brow as he knelt in front of her.

"That was yesterday. This is today." Her tone left no room for argument but he still hesitated before sealing the chains with magic.

"Why are we switching?" he asked, eyes darting towards her covered leg. He didn't notice he was reaching towards it until her fingers curled around his wrist and held him back.

"I asked you here to wrap and seal the chains, not to undress me. I'd thank you to respect my boundaries. I said I'm fine and I'd like to change legs. That's all you need to know. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, Mrs. Drake will be needing another dose soon. Do you really want to sit here arguing pointlessly and risk her suffering because you weren’t there to help her?"

He met her challenging glare with his own and saw the smallest flicker of fear as her grip tightened on his wrist as he let the chains go slack on her leg. "I'll be stuck in the altar room all day today with Council and Adepti. We’re working to elect the interim Head Counselor and potentially, an Acting Grand Magus, which means they're all going to be showing off their magical abilities all day to get votes. I need you to do this for me and the people you care about."

With a sigh, he shook his head in resignation and pulled his hand out of her grip and placed it across the cool metal before closing his eyes to seal the chains.

Her response was immediate as relief swept through her. "Thank you, you may go."

Knowing a pointless battle when he saw one, he pushed himself to his feet and started walking towards her front door. One glance over his shoulder had his eyes zeroing in on her right leg as she walked the opposite way, the slightest sign of a limp still present. "This isn't a long-term solution, Magus. I’m not sure it’s even a short-term solution, to be honest. You have to know that. When you’re ready to admit that, I'll help you train and teach you how to control Timber."

He didn't wait for a response, knowing she wouldn't welcome the words, before shutting the door behind him. He knew she heard them - that would have to be enough for now.

It was as he was climbing into his truck that a familiar scent caught his attention. It was faint, almost non-existent, and he would've missed it had it not been for the timely breeze, but he knew Hamish was there somewhere amongst the trees and pulled out his phone.

'How long have you been watching her?' - Jack.

'As long as she's been awake. What'd she give you?' - Hamish.

'A pain potion for Alyssa.' - Jack.

He debated for a minute before sending another message.

'The only thing you need to worry about with her, is that she'll lose control of Timber. Stop stalking her and actually HELP her.' - Jack.

His message stayed on read without any attempt of a response on Hamish's end. He growled, noting Midnight's irritation bleeding into his own, and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat.

He just hoped that Hamish's position would allow the older Knight to see his angry glare as he pulled out of Vera’s driveway.

Notes:

Jack is really stepping up in this one and we're totally here for it!

Chapter 31: Hushed Conversations

Notes:

As always, thanks to those taking the time to comment.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

"Look who’s finally decided to show up," Ian said from his seat across from her. Vera looked up and rolled her eyes with a small smirk as Melissa set a fresh drink in front of her.

"Unlike our friend here, I understand the unspoken rules that you should always be fashionably late to a party. It affords you the chance to make a proper entrance. Vera, on the other hand, just likes to slink in early and duck out before anyone notices her. Our dear Vera’s just not one for the spotlight, is she?" Mel grinned as she slid into the seat beside her and pushed the extra glass a bit closer, completely ignoring the already mostly full glass in Vera’s hand.

Vera tried to reject the drink, knowing that if she wanted to avoid the crash she was staving off, the only thing she should be consuming was the energy potion. "I've already got one, Mel," she said, while lifting her drink up to emphasize her point.

Of course, Melissa was having none of that.

"Okay… and now you have two. You’re welcome." She shrugged as if it were no big deal, but Vera felt the woman studying her. It wasn't like her to refuse drinks from her friends – having learned years ago that it was a futile effort - and had her mind been more alert, she would've just accepted it to avoid bringing extra attention to herself.

"I'm not planning to stay long enough for another drink -" she started, just for Ian to wave her off.

"Nonsense. It's been years since we've had a chance to catch up. You're staying. Besides, we have an election to discuss," he 'whispered' while leaning forward, grin firmly in place.

"Oh, that's right! Who wound up winning?" Melissa asked eagerly, copying Ian’s position while Vera did the opposite and let herself lean back a bit further in her chair.

"Bennett," she answered, taking another sip of her 'drink' as the exhaustion tugged at her.

At least the Acting Head Councilor appointment had gone according to plan. It'd been close for a few hours, but she'd been able to subtly sway the others to his side. And it had certainly helped that he was more popular than Joseph amongst the other, more outspoken Councilors. That was really all Council elections came down to and she knew the only reason she'd been 'elected', was because Edward had essentially forced her into the role. It was a decision she was certain the other Councilors – aside from Bitsy, who actually seemed happy with the news – hadn’t appreciated.

"Vera?" Melissa gently nudged an elbow against her side, snapping her back to the present to see both of them staring at her expectantly.

"I was thinking about something for work, what were you saying?" She quickly took another sip of the rapidly weakening potion as her head clouded over again. Even with the potion, she was struggling to stay alert and make sense of the conversation.

"The rest of the Conclave will arrive by tomorrow evening, so Bennett should hold the election the following day. We should prepare you," Ian said before downing his drink and raising his hand, pointer finger extended, to summon one of the waitresses.

"Here, I already told you I'm not planning to stay long enough to drink it." She shoved the drink Mel had gotten her towards him as her muddled brain fought to understand what was happening. "What did you mean by ‘prepare me’?"

"For your appointment to Grand Magus -"

"What?! No. No! I don't want to be Grand Magus," she argued. Ian nodded before winking playfully and she grumbled, "I'm serious, Ian. I have enough on my plate right now with everything that’s going on. I have no desire to become Grand Magus."

That would be one of the worst things that could happen at the moment. She could barely handle the debilitating pain from the small spells she'd been using the past two days. There was no way she would be able to endure the magic from the bonding ritual the Grand Magus had to perform and without that, the entire Order would be screwed.

"I hear you, Vera. Loud and clear. You don't want me to nominate you for Grand Magus. Even though you single handedly took down the corrupt one, defeated those beasts, pushed for the easiest to manipulate Councilor to temporarily take on Bitsy's position and told me to gather the Conclave because you knew we’d need a new Grand Magus elected within the week. But sure, you don't want to be Grand Magus. You just did all of that because it was the ‘right’ thing to do -"

"It was the right thing to do, Ian!" she hissed, eyes darting warily towards the Adepti at the surrounding tables. The closest one had gotten suspiciously quiet, setting her nerves on edge.

She needed to stop this ridiculous idea from spreading any further.

"Yeah, but maybe… maybe that's why you should be elected," Melissa added hesitantly, instantly getting her attention.

"Not you too. I don't want it. Listen to me when I tell you that making me Grand Magus wouldn't be in my or the Order's best interest. There are plenty of other candidates that -"

"Are there?" Melissa asked suddenly, halting her argument and holding her glare with a thoughtful one. "Think about it, Vee," she continued in a whisper, her own eyes darting around to make sure they weren't over heard. "You were the first one to question reforming the Vade Maecum. You were the only one that did anything when Edward sent those students to their deaths. Hell, you're the only one here that seems to even care about what happens to the disciples -"

"Which is exactly why I should remain Temple Magus. I'm not giving my students up to someone that doesn't care what happens to them. We all know how well that turns out or do I need to remind you this isn't the first mass slaughter we've endured because those in charge thought their charges' lives were expendable?" she spat, glaring darkly at both of them. She was pleased to see guilt, pain and anger flash across Ian and Melissa’s faces. It meant they remembered what happened, remembered why she’d fought so hard for her students. Remembered why she wouldn’t risk giving them up to someone else.

Her expression remained firm in the following silence, making it absolutely clear that she didn't want the position, wouldn’t give up her charges for the promise of more power, before pushing herself out of the chair.

"Wait, where are you going? Vera, come on, don't leave because you're upset we questioned your motives… Fine, you say you don’t want to be Grand Magus, we’ll drop the conversation, okay? Now come on, it’s still early. Sit, have a drink -" Ian protested, hand reaching to grab her wrist before she pulled it back to smooth over her jacket.

"I told you I didn't want to come out in the first place, but you insisted I had to show my face. I've done that. Now, I'm going home because I'm tired. And to be perfectly honestly, I’m not exactly in the mood to celebrate. Something about having forty-three of my students lying dead in my Temple just doesn’t put me in a jolly mood. Excuse me." She didn't give them a chance to argue with her - that was how she wound up here in the first place - or to see the effect the resurfacing memories were having on her. She couldn’t risk them asking questions they’d long since given up on getting answers to - not in the sleep deprived, emotionally wrung out state she was in.

She only had one vial left of her potion and a fifteen-minute drive ahead of her. If she wanted to make it home in time to brew more so she could last the night, she needed to leave. Now.

Distracted from her oppressive exhaustion, the unsettling conversation, the horrifying flashes of her students - Brandon’s face staying vivid no matter how hard she shook her head to clear it - and the unwanted memories of nearly a decade past, she completely missed the three sets of eyes following her.

---

Hamish hesitated as Vera walked by him, eyes drifting back to the table she'd just left. He had planned to follow her, wait until she passed out and take the chains and knife, but the recent conversation held him in place as much as his own exhaustion.

Someone named 'Bennett' had been elected to fill Bitsy’s position – the woman was clearly more important within the Order than he’d originally believed if this party and their apparent need to temporarily fill her position so quickly was anything to go by. Seemingly because Vera wanted him to be. Even the redhead had looked relieved at the news which meant she was involved in the plan somehow. He'd have to find out what position Bitsy actually held, who Bennett was, and why Vera wanted him in the position before he left. He and Bitsy were clearly high-ranking members if the election was the cause of the ringing all day.

The Scot's voice captured his attention again and he couldn't stop his amused eye roll at her poor attempt at whispering. "Is it possible for her to be Grand Magus and Temple Magus? At the same time?"

"You think she wants both positions for herself? Isn't that a little greedy?" Ian asked while leaning back in his seat and throwing his arm along the back of the one beside him.

Hamish still couldn't quite believe Ian Ziering was not only in the Order, but apparently one of the decision makers. And yet, he still was only mildly popular in Canada. Apparently, even magic couldn’t make you famous.

"No, I know she was serious when she said she didn't want it, she admitted years ago that she’d given up on that dream. The only reason she put this whole plan into motion is because Edward needed to be stopped. And we both know it wasn't just the book. He'd been leading the Order down a dark path for years and Vera took it upon herself again to do what needed to be done to save everyone. In this case, that was going against Edward and the Order. You know that she’s different from the others here. She didn't do it for her own ambition." Melissa was frowning as she played with her glass, fingers tapping against it almost nervously as she worried her bottom lip.

"Vera's more ambitious than you think, Mel. I mean, she was elected as the youngest ever Temple Magus. If that's not ambitious, I don't -"

Her frown shifted to a glower as her head snapped up, fury pouring from slitted eyes. "That wasn’t ambition and you know it! She did everything in her power back then to stop what was happening, tried to warn Council and urge them to do something instead of sitting around waiting for the next attack to happen, but no one bothered to listen to her or even help her because she was just a -” Her words cut off abruptly as her eyes widened and started darting around the crowded bar before leaning closer to Ian and dropping her voice slightly. “You know… because of what she was, no one gave a damn and we lost a lot of good people because of the Order’s barbaric, twisted ideology. She was the only logical choice left to take over after that massacre.” She was clearly fuming and filled with rage but surprisingly hadn't gotten any louder.

"She was their choice because she was strong, clever, and survived when the rest of them died in the attack. She'd been groomed and specially trained for years. She left the party that night and just happened to wind up where -"

"If you’re about to suggest what I think you are, I’m warning you now, don’t,” she growled, shoulders tensing as her fingers curled slightly as if readying for an attack.

Hamish found himself leaning closer, gripped by whispered conversation while those around them remained ignorant to the heated exchange. This woman was close to Vera, like Simon, but the aura of danger she was sending off at the potential insult towards Vera was almost palpable. He could already tell she would be a threat if any harm came to Vera – not that he believed he couldn’t handle her, but he definitely made a note to monitor her before shifting his attention to Ian.

The man had both hands raised, one still holding his drink, as his head casually lolled to the side as if he was unfazed by the woman’s fury. “You know I would never insinuate she had anything to do with that lot, not after…” He sighed heavily and ran his free hand through his hair before taking a heavy swallow. “I know she was close with Charles and we all know that Sophia took her to her dad’s that night. All I’m saying is that Vera happened to get the right training and be in all the right places to not only survive multiple attacks but be the only logical candidate for Temple Magus after the massacres –”

“But she didn't want it. Any of it. Not really and never like that! She just wanted to help her friends, the students, and the disciples. She’s only ever wanted to help -"

"Because Vera Stone is nothing but a bleeding heart that's incapable of seeing the big picture," a woman at the table beside them interjected before her companions started laughing quietly. "How much do you want to bet that she gave those mongrels their own graves in that little pet cemetery of hers?"

"Fuck off, Joanne!" Melissa spat, her glare darkening her expression tenfold.

Joanne held her hands up in a clearly fake impression of surrender while looking at the other four people at her table. "I didn't mean any offense by that. We need members like Vera to… indulge the younger generation while we make real change happen. All I meant, was that perhaps she's a bit too... soft to lead the Order. Don't you think? It is her fault after all that we didn't get a chance to experiment on those dogs -"

"Well, I think that's a little unfair, Jo. She couldn't anticipate they'd disappear before we got a chance," Ian interrupted, shifting slightly so he was blocking the now seething redhead's view, likely trying to deescalate the situation before it got out of hand entirely.

"I suppose. But she still insisted we wait until all the bodies were identified. If she wasn’t more concerned about identifying a handful of low-level disciples, we could’ve gotten answers. You know, I wonder why she cared so much about -"

"She cared because those children deserved to -" Melissa snapped, but Joanne stood from her seat and walked towards them to slam a hand down on their table.

"They weren't children! They were mindless beasts that deserved far worse than what they got. As for the victims they left, well. It’s not as if it would’ve been the first time we’ve needed to sacrifice a few… expendable members for the greater good, would it? Vera Stone should’ve understood that better than most and handed over those beasts’ bodies the second they arrived instead of wasting time trying to identify them. Especially since all her students’ identities may not matter much after tomorrow."

"What the hell does that mean?" Both of them looked at each other in confusion as Joanne shrugged ‘innocently’, a cruel smirk spreading across her face.

"Forty plus deaths doesn't exactly look good for the University, now does it? There's some, shall we say… concerns, about covering up their deaths without drawing unwanted attention. Especially after her failure at the start of the year.”

“What are you talking about?” Ian asked, but both their faces were showing dread as Joanne grinned.

“If either of you bothered to mingle with anyone outside your little group, you would've heard it by now with how chatty the Councilors are being about it. It seems as if they’re of the opinion that it would be better if their deaths, really this whole mess, just… never happened. Something I think we all can agree on, right?"

"You can't be serious." Horror had spread across Melissa's face as she gaped at the other woman.

Hamish felt his heart rate pick up at the seriousness of whatever they were talking about. His drink sat forgotten on the table in front of him as he focused on their conversation. He remembered the intensity - the wrongness - of the magic from the beginning of the year when those deaths were covered up. That was only a fraction of dead compared to now. And what the hell did she mean by make it so their deaths never happened? Were they planning to raise them from the dead? Was that even possible?

Could Lilith come back if it was? Could Cassie?

His hope deflated with the redheads' words.

"I don’t believe you. But even if I did, Vera's still the Temple Magus. You can't just erase her students from existence without her permission and she won't give it. Those families deserve closure," she ground out, but her doubt – her fear – was clear as day.

"Their 'closure' is interfering with our secrecy and this Temple's livelihood. Something a worthy Grand Magus would know and act on. So... I guess let's all just hope that the Conclave makes the right choice for our new Grand Magus." Joanne finished her drink and patronizingly waved goodbye at the couple before moving to close out her tab.

"Don't you dare let her win,” Melissa ground out. “Vera can change the Order for the better. You, me and Simon know that and so does Vera. She's overwhelmed by everything right now, understandably so, but she is the Grand Magus we need, even if she doesn't want to admit it. When it comes down to it, she'll do what needs to be done. She always does.

"But if you let that… that hackit fandan become Grand Magus, she will break Vera's bond with the Temple and appoint some diddy of hers. But she won't stop there, not when it's clear we're friends with Vera. She'll remove me from the California Temple and find some way to discredit you and Simon. Her next step would be finding Maddox - an innocent child - and sacrificing him, just in case it brings Edward back. She will destroy the Order if you let her have that power. Don't." She pushed herself away from the table and threw a few bills down before she started walking towards the exit.

"You're already leaving? But you just got here," Ian called over his shoulder, halting the redheads' retreat.

"I don't want Councilor Kepler to be alone right now." She said it with a smile and Hamish noticed no one else had picked up on the dangerous undercurrents. Perhaps because the entire exchange had been quiet enough to not break through the clamoring of the crowded bar? Either way, he caught it.

Melissa suspected the other woman would hurt Bitsy, a Councilor – one of the important decision makers - he now knew. If Joanne would hurt her own people, what would she do if she found out his Knights - Knights she clearly despised and wanted to suffer - were still alive?

Her words – filled with disgust and hatred - echoed in his mind.

‘…didn't get a chance to experiment on those dogs’

‘They weren't children!’

‘…mindless beasts that deserved far worse than what they got.’

It was enough to have him hurriedly sliding out of the booth he'd been hiding in. He had to make sure the chains and knife never found their way into Joanne's hands.

He was done waiting. He had to steal them tonight no matter what.

---

Hackit – haggard or ugly, is most often used in reference to a woman

Fandan – pretentious idiot

Diddy – Spineless idiot

 

Notes:

Whether it's a good or bad thing that Hamish overheard these conversations remains to be seen... but we do love Mel's fire (and her Scottish side coming out when she's angry 😂) - even if Vera may want to 'kill her' when she finds out what she's up to 😬

Chapter 32: Action or Inaction

Notes:

Thanks for the comments last chapter!

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

Jack paced back and forth at the foot of his bed, eyes darting to the clock again. Vera should’ve called him to take the chains off by now. Surely, she couldn’t be expecting him to stay up all night waiting for her… could she? He scoffed at the thought. If she did think that was going to happen, that he’d wait around for her like some lackey she could order about, she was sorely mistaken. He grabbed his phone from the side table, ready to tell her to end her evening immediately so he could go to bed, but his thumb froze and hovered over the call button.

He gently tugged the comforter up a bit more with his freehand to cover Alyssa's shoulders and let his fingers trail through blond strands while pushing them behind her ear. Seeing her sleeping peacefully and without the pain, thanks to the potion Vera had given him this morning, calmed his anger towards the older woman drastically. Vera was the reason Alyssa was free of pain right now. She was the only one willing to help Alyssa, despite everything else she had going on.

"I'll be right back," he whispered, not wanting Alyssa to worry if she woke up alone. Rationally, he knew she wouldn't. She still had ninety minutes before her next dose, she probably couldn’t even hear his words, but speaking them helped calm his own anxiety about leaving her side when she was so vulnerable.

The second the door was shut behind him, he had the phone to his ear. Three times his call went to voicemail before he decided to try Hamish.

“What’s wrong?” The worry in Hamish's question had the corners of his lips pulling up into a small smile. He hadn't realized how much it stung to have Hamish treat him so impassively before he recognized Midnight had been dulling his emotions. His concern now wasn't much, but it was enough to tell Jack that the eldest Knight still considered him one of the pack.

"Everyone's okay," he assured quickly, knowing the other man was still stuck in a worst-case scenario mindset. "Where are you right now?" Jack could tell he was outside, but beyond that it was just a hunch that Hamish was surveilling Vera’s house again. A good hunch, but still just a guess.

"You know where. Do you need something from me?" Defensiveness was creeping into Hamish’s voice now and Jack had to take a second to rein in his own frustration. Hamish’s refusal to listen to him and give Vera a chance might actually be beneficial him right now. So long as he didn’t piss off the other wolf first.

"Is she home yet? She was supposed to meet me at the Temple after some celebration, but she never called." Theoretically, he knew it wasn't that late, but with how tired she had looked the last time he’d seen her, he doubted she’d be out past midnight. And he really didn’t peg her as someone that enjoyed staying out late at what was essentially a work party on a good day. Much less when she’d barely slept, had a Temple full of dead students, and was fighting to keep control over a murderous wolf hellbent on killing everyone it could sink it’s claws into.

"She got home about an hour ago, but she passed out almost immediately. She's actually asleep at her counter right now." There was a trace of humor in Hamish’s response, enjoyment at the thought of how exhausted Vera was from fighting Timber. And probably from imaging the crick in her neck she'd have when she woke up.

Jack bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood in an effort to keep the angry retort at Hamish’s cruelty from slipping out and took a steadying breath through his nose. "Can you see her right calf from your position?"

He knew she wouldn't have removed the chains herself, not after Timber nearly broke out when they were testing her unbinding the chains, and he doubted she'd have anyone else remove them because it would raise unwanted questions. If he hadn't noticed her limp and her hands clenched into fists beside her thighs when he'd seen her earlier on campus, he would've let the subject drop and just checked on her in the morning. But he knew the chains were negatively affecting her somehow. He didn't want to risk her being unable to walk because she passed out before she could call him.

"She's wearing pants," Hamish answered as a hint of hope crept into his voice. "We need to get the chains away from her -"

"They're the only thing keeping her in control right now," he argued, but it didn't hold the weight he was hoping for. He knew the chains needed to be taken away from her because she wouldn't stop using them otherwise. She was too scared she'd lose control over Timber and kill someone else. A fear he understood after restraining the furious wolf the other day.

The only reason he was arguing about it was because he knew Hamish wasn't thinking about Vera's wellbeing. He simply didn't want something so powerful in the Order's hands.  

"I've seen her legs. They're not healing like they should. She can't keep using them." It was obvious that Hamish was trying to manipulate him, but it confirmed what he'd suspected. Timber should have healed whatever damage had been done by the chains within a few hours. She'd had nearly ten hours to heal after he removed the chains yesterday, but she’d still been limping this morning.

"It's still her choice to use them, Hamish. She's hurting herself so she doesn't hurt someone else. We can’t take them from her before she learns to control Timber. Unless you plan to help her -?"

"So, you're going to leave them on while she’s sleeping? Let them burn deeper into her legs for hours when there's no threat? You’re going to let her pointlessly suffer because she was so tired that she fell asleep before asking you to help?" he challenged, undoubtedly trying to change the subject away from her training and what his role in it should be.

Jack counted it as a win that he didn't outright refuse to help her like he'd been doing the past three days. Maybe they were actually making progress?

Or perhaps, Hamish knew he'd be able to manipulate him into doing what he wanted by not blatantly refusing to train her?

With that thought in mind, he hesitated. Should he remove the chains to spare Vera hours of suffering, but risk Hamish stealing them? Or should he leave them and hope Hamish was exaggerating the damage to her legs to garner sympathy from him?

A frustrated growl slipped from his lips as his thoughts started to spin out of control. He was too tired to try to compete in a battle of wits with the cunning wolf.

“You said it yourself, Jack. You were supposed to meet with her to remove them. She shouldn't be wearing them now and if she weren't so tired, she would've remembered to call. And where would she have brought the chains once you removed them? Home, right? Just like she did last night. So, nothing will have changed if you remove them now, except where you took them off.” His argument made sense, but Jack still felt his gut twist in apprehension.

He didn't know what to do.

The silence stretched on between them as he paced, Hamish apparently content with letting him torture himself with all the ‘what ifs’ and consequences of his choice. Remove the chains, have Hamish steal them and Vera have nothing to rein Timber in come morning. Leave the chains, risk Vera being unable to walk. Round and round his thoughts twisted before he froze, their experiments with the chains playing in his mind.

Perhaps he didn't have to decide? While they found that his hand needed to touch the chains in order to bind them, he’d been able to successfully unlock them without touching them. It’d even been successful when the entirety of the clearing stood between him and Vera. But would it work from this distance? There were miles between them and he couldn't see her. So, no… right?

But what if he could? Vera had been able to change his rejection letter to an acceptance letter miles away from the Temple – at least, he assumed she’d been at the Temple when she went behind Crain’s back. And Alyssa had explained that a respondio was capable of reaching across any distance. So, perhaps with the added boost Midnight afforded him, he’d be able to…?

"I'll try from here. If it doesn't work, I'm leaving them till morning.” He hung up the phone before Hamish could try to convince him otherwise.

He’d perform the incantation to release the chains and allow himself to remain ignorant of the results until morning. And really, Hamish was right. Vera had made plans with him to remove the chains, so if they came off, he was only following her plan. On the other hand, if they stayed on, well. Perhaps Vera should’ve gotten home early enough to call him before passing out.

At the end of the day, he had offered to help and she hadn’t reached out to confirm or change their plans, so come morning, it’d be her responsibility to deal with the consequences.

---

Hamish snarled in frustration as the line went dead. The only reason he was still outside, empty handed, was because he'd seen the shorter length of chain firmly fused to her skin when she’d gotten home. He wasn’t lying about the damage. He’d watched her wrap an icepack around the raw wound trickling with blood before she’d passed out, icepack slipping from limp fingers.

He’d been waiting for her to remove them before breaking in - having already found all the doors and windows locked after she’d left this morning when he’d tried to steal the spare chains and knife - but she hadn’t taken them off. And he wasn't going to risk breaking their fragile truce until he had all three weapons in his hands – which is the only reason he hadn’t broken in to steal the other items this morning. That small voice in the back of his head that had steadily been growing louder throughout the night reared its head again.

Did he want to break their truce? Did he want to take these tools from Vera when she was clearly using one of them for herself and not keeping it as a weapon against them? Did he want Timber taking control and endangering his pack? Could he risk Joanne finding out they were still alive because he made it possible for Timber to seek retribution – an act that would undoubtably turn Vera against them for good?

But the whispers he was desperately trying to ignore were the ones asking if he should hate her. If maybe Jack was right and Vera was different from the rest of the Order. If maybe she wasn't actually their enemy just because she held the title of Temple Magus. If maybe Vera was the best choice to lead the Order, if Joanne was the alternative.

The one he couldn’t think about – the one he refused to let himself think about ever since he watched Vera appear when Lilith should have - had been gaining more volume with every passing minute. That maybe, just maybe Vera Stone was Champion material.

He shook his head sharply to try to clear the infuriating thoughts, but they stayed rooted in place. The whispers had been easier to ignore when it'd just been Jack - and Vera - defending her. But tonight, he'd heard her own people arguing about her.

Some mocking her for being 'weak' because she had compassion, while others defended her for always doing the right thing. Some arguing she didn’t have the backbone to lead the Order, while others steadfastly pointed out she had been the one that went against Edward when everyone else cowered before him. That it, apparently, hadn’t been the first time Vera had stood up to the Order’s inaction, if her redheaded friend was to be believed.

And then, there'd been Vera herself. She didn't want to be Grand Magus. She was adamantly against it. And as much as he wanted to believe Ian’s words that she was just acting like she hadn't planned everything to get the position – and he desperately wanted to believe them - he couldn't. Her eyes had screamed 'no' to the promotion, the smallest tremor of her voice pleading with him and Melissa to listen to her.

Vera hadn’t done any of this for power. She’d done it, turned against her own people and risked her life – allying herself with known enemies, deadly enemies – because she wanted to protect the world from Edward and the Vade Maecum. From bad magic…

"That doesn't make her a Knight or Champion material. It just means she's got a spine and isn’t a total monster," he grumbled, arms crossing in front of his chest as he tried once again to silence the steadily rising voices.

A furious howl tore through the night, instantly jerking him from his thoughts. His gaze landed on the silver chain tangled amongst torn clothes seconds before he heard glass crack and shatter. His eyes darted towards the noise, seeing the broken window as Timber charged away from it.

They weren’t exactly close to it, but to Hamish, Timber’s destination and intent was clear. She was running towards Belgrave, charging straight towards the temple so she could reap her vengeance.

Notes:

Well... this isn't good...

Chapter 33: Moments of Truth

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those that are commenting!

LAST CHAPTER

A furious howl tore through the night, instantly jerking him from his thoughts. His gaze landed on the silver chain tangled amongst torn clothes seconds before he heard glass crack and shatter. His eyes darted towards the noise, seeing the broken window as Timber charged away from it.

They weren’t exactly close to it, but to Hamish, Timber’s destination and intent was clear. She was running towards Belgrave, charging straight towards the temple so she could reap her vengeance.

---

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

Tundra burst from him, claws digging deeply into the earth for purchase as he leapt forward and sprinted after Timber. Rage fueled the brown wolf, making her faster than Hamish had ever seen before. He snarled darkly, pushing his muscles harder, stride lengthening as he started closing in on the other wolf.

His growled command to stop went ignored, causing Tundra’s irritation to rise. He lunged forward, both arms stretched out, and sank his claws into the thick skin of her haunches. Timber howled in pain but twisted viciously away from Tundra's hold, bits of flesh tearing from muscled thighs.

Hamish’s huff of frustration came out as an animalistic snarl when Timber pushed herself back onto all fours and immediately started charging away again, ignoring the blood spilling from the deep slices he’d just inflicted. He shifted his weight back onto his legs, feet using the base of a tree for leverage to propel himself into pursuit.

Silvered eyes mapped over brown fur as he ran, trying to find a weak point to slow the other wolf down, before zeroing in on the ravaged skin on her right calf and the blood slowly coating the fur around it. He knew the chains had been harming more than just Vera but he hadn’t been anticipating this. Somehow, the chain's damage had transferred from champion to wolf – a rare occurrence in his experience – which made them even more dangerous than he’d previously thought.

Later, once his adrenaline wore off and the voices returned, he'd realize he had unconsciously called Vera a champion.

But until then, he focused on the bleeding leg and pounced. Claws sank deeply into the ruined flesh until they were curled between the bones. Timber's agonized howl tore through the silence, but he didn't release her. Timber was the most willful of the hides and in that determination, she became unruly and disobedient. He knew if he let go without making her submit, that she’d continue the chase.

Timber needed to be reminded of her place and that having a new champion – even one as stubborn and used to leading as Vera – didn't mean she could disobey him.

With that in mind, he yanked his arm back, ignoring her yowl of pain as he dragged the smaller wolf towards him until her upper body was beneath him. His free hand became a vice around the thick neck, claws piercing the skin on either side to deter further movement. She ignored his warning and tried to buck him off of her.

Feeling her starting to escape, he gripped her leg tighter and yanked her fully beneath him. He straddled her, knees beside her hips as clawed feet dug into the ground beside her ankles. Quick reflexes, honed by years of having to fight alone, caught her wrist before razor sharp claws were able to finish dragging across his muzzle, but he still felt the sting and tasted the metallic tang when his tongue darted out on instinct to lick the wound.

Timber bucked again as he pushed himself up and out of reach of her unrestrained arm, his left foot sliding onto her right leg before he sank his claws deep into the chain ravaged flesh and slowly extended his leg – just far enough that if Timber tried to move her leg to buck again, she would force him to slice through leathered flesh and bone. Her legs froze, muscles coiled but unmoving, before her free hand pressed against the ground, her upper body thrashing desperately to get away.

He growled in irritation and slammed the wrist he held down above her head, squeezing hard and feeling the bones grinding together with the bruising force. Three sets of claws curled deeper into her skin as he crouched down, back arching so he could bring his muzzle inches from hers, saliva dripping from elongated canines and coating the side of her face.

He waited until Timber's eyes connected with his and snarled furiously, demanding she submit to him immediately.

He watched as Timber realized it was Tundra above her and instantly stopped fighting him. So, she wasn't being disobedient, she'd probably assumed it was Midnight holding her back again. Still, she wasn’t submitting fully to him. She was still fighting to stay in control of her champion, despite his order.

He growled again, lower and more dangerous, as his hand tightened around her neck to cut off her airflow. He didn't care so much that Timber was fighting Vera for control. He, or more so Tundra, cared that Timber wasn't listening to him when he demanded she back down.

Defiant eyes locked on his, challenging him, and his jowls to pull back further, exposing more of his teeth in a warning. When she still refused to submit, he gripped her neck tighter and jerked his arm up, lifted her head and shoulders off the ground before slamming her down with a booming roar.

This was her last chance and he knew Timber recognized that fact.

Anger flashed in her eyes before she admitted defeat with a quiet huff. Vibrant silver eyes dimmed as brown fur melted beneath pale flesh, black hair fanning out across the forest floor. Vera's eyes were filled with fear as she stared up at him, a small part of him still feeling a rush of satisfaction at the thought.

"The families. They're going to target the families. We have to stop them," she whispered shakily, eyes wide as her unrestrained hand gripped his arm. His pleasure faded as he realized she wasn't scared of him or Tundra, but rather scared for the families.

Lilith's and Cassie's grandmother flashed in his mind and had him pushing Tundra back and taking control faster than he’d ever done in the past. "What do you mean, they're going to target the families?!" he demanded, shaking her slightly when she didn't respond fast enough.

Tears fueled by pure exhaustion fell from bruised eyes as her eyelids fluttered shut. He shook her again, both hands gripping her shoulders roughly. "Answer me!" he snapped, but all he got in response was a choked sob.

"I just want to sleep," she begged, eyes shutting again with a hiccup. Her breathing leveled out immediately, silent tears continuing to fall into raven hair even as she lost consciousness.

Her head snapped back and forth as he tried to shake her awake. “FUCK!” he shouted furiously when all he got was a mewling sniffle as unconsciousness continued to hold her tightly in its grasp.

He pushed himself off of her and slammed his fist into the nearest tree. Wood splintered around him from the blow as jagged pieces dug between the joints. Hamish pulled his hand back, shoulders heaving with ragged breaths as he watched blood bubble up from the cuts before they rapidly stitched themselves back together.

The process reminded him of the wounds on Timber's legs and he turned to inspect the unconscious woman below him. The punctures and gashes he’d caused were still bleeding freely. It wasn’t heavy enough to be life-threatening, but it was heavy enough that it’d begun to stain the ground beneath her hips.

Why wasn’t she healing?

He cocked his head to the side in confusion before crouching down beside her to get a closer look. He'd sparred with the other Knights in the past. He'd both dealt and received worse damage than the punctures on her wrist and neck. And though the skin would be raw for hours, her wounds should have been nearly closed already.

His hands reached out, fingers curling beneath the knee of her more injured leg and lower back before forcing her to roll onto her side. “Shit,” he mumbled to himself when he saw the damage he’d caused. Deep curving grooves caked with blood, dirt, and leaves raked down the sides of her ass to mid-thigh. “Why aren’t you healing?!”

It didn’t make sense. One of the benefits of being a wolf was their ability to heal, fast. He’d quickly stopped worrying about training with his Knights when he could watch their injuries heal before his very eyes. Which was why he hadn’t held back just now. But there was nothing happening.

“Heal, dammit!” he growled as his hand left her knee to brush the bloody dirt from the deepest cuts in the hopes that it was obstructing his view. It wasn’t.

Not wanting to waste any more time waiting for something that clearly wasn’t happening, he slid his arms beneath her back and knees and lifted her. Her arm hung limp at her side, head dropping back and swaying with each hurried step he took. It spoke of how exhausted she truly was to be able to sleep through the jostling.

He didn’t bother using the door, knowing it was locked, and stepped right through the broken window, hissing in pain when shards of glass sliced through the soles of his feet, digging deeper as he turned right and started walking. He hadn’t been in her house before, but after three days of watching her, he had a pretty good idea of where her bedroom was.

Sure enough, the small hallway by the side door led to a room that upon first glimpse, he knew had to be the master bedroom.

Distracted as he was, Hamish didn’t register the vaguely familiar scent tainting the breeze that blew by him before he stepped into the house. Had he been less tired, he may have registered the figure quickly stepping behind a tree on the opposite side of the glass house. If he’d only looked up before he rounded the corner, he would have seen the threat lurking in the shadows, but his gaze had remained fixed on the path before him.

---

The animalistic snarls had ceased nearly fifteen minutes ago, but she was still frozen in fear and staring wide-eyed at the last spot she’d seen the beast before it disappeared into the woods. There were at least two of them, she’d been able to discern that much when the sounds of their fighting traveled back to her. It’d been a long time since she’d felt true terror, but in that moment, it had overwhelmed her entire being and kept her rooted in place.

Not only were the mongrels alive, but Vera Stone was one of them.

The revelation had derailed her plans as suddenly as human shifting to beast before her very eyes.

She’d been mere seconds away from stepping out from behind the tree to approach the house. Had planned to break in and ensure Vera wouldn’t be around to be nominated for the position of Grand Magus. She refused to let Vera swoop in and take a job that she didn’t deserve. Not again.

She knew trying to fight Vera one-on-one would likely lead to her own death. She knew of Vera’s specialized training and of the sheer power the Fors Factorum had granted the other woman. She’d actually seen Vera in battle back then, had nearly been killed by her – thankfully, neither Vera nor the Order knew of that thanks to Mindy’s quick thinking. She also knew that had the Grand Magus and his pathetic daughter not coddled and protected Vera, that she would’ve become the perfect weapon the Order had spent all that time and effort crafting her to be.

That was what Vera Stone was meant to be. A weapon, nothing more than a tool for the Order to use and throw away. She wasn’t supposed to survive, she wasn’t supposed to become Temple Magus and she most certainly was not meant to become Grand Magus. She couldn’t let Vera gain that power or she’d destroy the Order.

She knew Ian would try to sway the Conclave, convince them Vera was the right candidate, and though she doubted they would actually pick her – how could they when they all knew what Vera was? – she couldn’t risk it. She had to make sure Vera wasn’t a choice.  

But she couldn’t beat Vera in a fair fight, she was smart enough to admit that – she was a legacy, not a disposable grunt like Vera and her friends. While normally, that was something she took satisfaction from, it did present some logistical problems. The main one being that in order to get rid of Vera, Vera couldn’t fight back. Which was why she’d been waiting for Vera to fall into a deep sleep before attacking.

She’d been planning to paralyze her, then kill her, making it look like a suicide - something she knew even her pathetic friends would be able to accept after Vera had failed so many students. But now? Knowing that Vera had lied about the beasts being killed? Knowing that Vera was one of those monsters? Knowing that she had been directly responsible for the death of Edward and forty-three students? That she had gravely wounded the Head Councilor and scarred Edward’s boy for life? Well, that changed everything.

She could use this to her advantage, ensure no one other than her would be promoted to Grand Magus. All she had to do was bring Vera before Council and prove she was a monster. If she did that, exposed the Temple Magus – the woman that ‘saved’ the Order from those beasts – as a werewolf, she would become the hero. Everything she deserved would be given to her on a silver platter.

A sinister smirk slid across her face as she slowly reached towards her back pocket to pull out her phone before freezing as she saw movement in the tree line on the other side of the house. A man stepped out and she squinted slightly, trying to see if she recognized him. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place him, so she didn’t think he was a disciple but rather someone she’d recently seen in passing.

She brought her phone up and opened the camera, ensuring the flash was off, before zooming in to take several pictures. She hadn’t seen him turn into one of those mongrels, but knowing there had been two fighting and based on his lack of clothes, the blood coating his skin, and the fact that he was carrying an equally naked, unconscious and bloodied Vera, he was one of them. Her smirk grew larger at the knowledge that she’d be bringing two werewolves down. The Order would finally have the opportunity to experiment on the beasts and see how they worked.

Vera had all but given her the position of Grand Magus, cementing her as the only rational choice for the title.

With a cautious step, she disappeared behind the tree just as the man carried Vera into the house. She quickly searched through her contacts before pressing call and brought the phone to her ear as she quietly walked away from the house and back towards where she’d parked her car.

It took four rings, but finally the woman on the other end groggily picked up.

“Sonya, it’s Joanne. I know it’s late, but we should meet and do a little research. You’ll never guess what I just discovered, but I know you’ll be pleased,” Joanne said, smiling at the thought of Sonya’s excitement when she learned the moment she’d been waiting for had finally come after nearly ten years.

A chance to kill Vera without retribution from the Order.

 

Notes:

Well, at least Timber was stopped and Hamish is sorta helping... absolutely terrible that the whole thing was witnessed by literally the worst possible person...

Chapter 34: Necessary Care

Notes:

Thanks to all those that commented last chapter, sorry for the delay, especially after that cliffhanger. This chapter... it uh... it kind of got away from us during 2nd&3rd draft and wound up doubling in length and needing to be split and we only just finished editing.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

The moment Hamish walked into the room, he knew he had guessed right and that this was the master bedroom. He quickly looked around before selecting one of the three closed doors along the right wall. A relieved sigh escaped as he flicked on the lights and saw the large bathroom.

With a little less care than he probably should have shown, he dropped Vera into the bathtub and turned the tap on, running his hand briefly through the water before pushing the stopper down. While the tub filled, he started searching through her medicine cabinet and the large closet beside the shower. He pulled out anything that looked even remotely medicinal until he had a small basket filled with bottles.

“Hopefully something works,” he mumbled, not entirely sure if he was talking to her or himself. Both, perhaps? She wasn’t the only one that was overtired after going days without rest.

He set the basket of creams beside the tub and turned the tap off before grabbing the stack of washcloths from her closet. An amused scoff slipped from him as he moved back to the tub and knelt beside it, dropping all but one. He held the pristine white cloth up, inspecting it with amusement before looking towards Vera’s face. “You should probably get some new colors, white really isn’t the best choice.”

Knowing a response wouldn’t come, he submerged the cloth and moved to clean the blood and grime from her skin, but a careless swipe against the side of her neck immediately reopened the slowly crusting wound. Fresh blood started trickling down her clavicle towards the water lapping against chest. He let out a tired sigh as he watched the first line of crimson touch the water, immediately swirling and tainting the water further. Pulling the stained washcloth away from her neck, he brought up his free hand and swiped it over his face to try and wipe away some of the exhaustion clinging to him, reminding him of the slash Timber had landed. He grabbed one of the extra washcloths by his knee and dipped it into the warm water to rinse the dirt and dried blood from his own face.

His fingers lingered on the sealed, but tender skin above his lip as confused eyes turned towards Vera's neck. He let the washcloth fall from his grip to line his fingers up with the wounds there. The punctures his claws had made were wide - he could sink his fingertips in without touching the edges - but he did meet resistance almost immediately as he let them sink in further, the wounds already narrowing beneath the surface, which told him they were at least healing.

"Why so slow? What did you do to yourself that won’t let Timber…?” His gaze narrowed before darting towards her legs. He carefully pulled his fingers from her neck, not wanting to cause more damage that would invite unwanted questions, before reaching into the tub and gripping her right ankle.

As the water flowed over her exposed leg, he moved closer to investigate the damage left by the chains – the wounds that hadn’t healed despite the hours he’d spent watching her. It was faint, but he could smell the familiar acrid scent of magic clinging to the ravaged skin. "Is that it? Even with them removed, they interfere with Timber’s ability to heal somehow?" he asked quietly before dropping her leg, completely ignoring the bloody water splashing onto the floor to soak his knees, and gripped the sides of the tub while pushing himself onto his feet.

He didn't think about the possibility of her waking up as he held himself crouched above her, supporting his weight against the ledge, and lowered his face into the crook her neck. His eyes shut in concentration as he sniffed along the column of her neck, trying to detect the same scent from her calf.

The strawberry from her shampoo filled his nostrils, so he moved further down towards the juncture of her shoulder, trying to smell past the fruity scent. Rich vanilla blended with the strawberry in a way that had him moving closer to inhale more of the intoxicating combination.

Hearing his own quiet moan of pleasure as he sank closer, he was jerked back to reality. His nose and lips were firmly pressed against warm skin, his mouth slightly parted and tongue starting to extend as if preparing to taste a decadent treat of vanilla tinged with strawberries. He threw himself away from her with a disgusted growl, head shaking as his lips pressed together to clear the fog from his mind. The scent lingered, tempting him to move closer, but he glared at her exposed neck as his lip curled in distrust.

" Whatever you put in there, isn’t going to work on me." It was the only thought that made sense to him. He'd never been affected by a fragrance like that before. And it was the scent he'd been attracted to, not where it had been applied.

Making sure to keep his distance so he wasn't pulled back in, he grabbed the soap and cautiously brought it to his nose, a relieved breath escaping when it lacked either scent. He squeezed a significant amount onto the washcloth and after a second's hesitation, directly onto her neck.

He tried to be as gentle as possible as he vigorously scrubbed over her neck to clean it while removing any trace of the tempting perfume she’d applied. Blood ran steadily down her raw skin by the time he felt safe enough to lean in again. When he didn't smell vanilla with the first tiny whiff, he let his eyes close again and breathed deeper. He hesitated for a second before pushing closer, nose firmly pressed against heated skin and inhaled.

There was nothing but blood and soap.

Frowning, he pulled back and cocked his head. Maybe the soap was strong enough to mask the taint of magic? With that thought, he reached into the pale purple water and pulled her injured arm out. He brought her wrist towards his nose and inhaled, instantly being assaulted by that same tempting aroma as before.

He reared back, holding her wrist as far away from his face as possible as he took a steadying breath. Gritting his teeth, he brought it back to his face, eyes screwed shut in determined concentration. He forced himself to smell past the heady perfume and focused on the sharp tang of blood instead.

The caustic stench of magic he’d detected on her leg was non-existent.

"What the hell is causing it?!" he growled in frustrated confusion as he gave her wrists the same abrasive cleansing as her neck, removing all traces of whatever magical seduction perfume she’d used. He'd hoped the magic of the chains were responsible for inhibiting all her healing, but it was clear it only impacted where the chains had touched her.

Which meant something else was interfering with her, or rather Timber's, ability to heal. That was a problem. His concern not so much for her, but rather all the Knights because it meant the Order had something that could affect all their abilities to heal.

There was also the fact that he knew from eavesdropping on everyone tonight that her presence would be required at the Temple tomorrow and she was currently riddled with werewolf injuries. If any of them saw her in the state she was now, they would instantly know she’d lied about the wolves being killed. He wasn't ready just yet to paint targets on his Knights by revealing they’d survived.

With that thought to remind him why he was taking care of someone he hated, he laid out one of her pristine white towels on the floor and carefully lifted her from the tub. Knowing the worst of her injuries were on her backside, he rolled her onto her stomach and grabbed more towels to dry her off.

With one hand, he held the towel firmly against her ass to slow the bleeding as he rifled through the basket he’d collected with the other. There were three salves that looked similar to the one he'd seen her use before. Unstopping the first one, he brought it to his nose and immediately recoiled at the stench of menthol. The second had the same scent, so he put it beside the first and checked the third.

Tundra didn’t alert him to any dark magic in them, but he couldn’t be sure. "Hope you don't keep anything dangerous in here," he mumbled, picking up the first salve – due to the more medicinal odor to it - and peeled the bloodied towel off of her.

He could see the gashes had closed slightly, so he knew she was still healing faster than a normal human, but they were still gaping open. The second he scooped the thick cream onto his finger, he could feel the tingling numbness spreading beneath it and looked back towards the open closet to eye the gloves neatly placed on one of the shelves.

“It should wash off,” he mumbled to convince himself he didn’t need to get up and put on the gloves, but it was his exhaustion that let him believe the feeble lie. He just wanted to finish with her so he could take a quick look around her house before resting himself.

Decision made, he studied the marks to find the worst of them before running his now numbed finger down the entire length of it. When each of the ten gashes were coated with a thick layer, he slowly rubbed the salve deeper, letting it absorb into the skin surrounding the cuts.

It wasn't until he was mindlessly massaging a fourth ointment over the marks on her ass and thighs that he paused, hands instantly lifting slightly to hover over the rounded flesh. This was something he’d do for any of his Knights if they needed it, he was working to heal her injuries for his Knights, but doubt crept into his mind.

All he was doing was trying to fix the damage he’d caused so both of them could keep their cover, but it could be crossing a line for her. She might see it as him taking advantage of her unconscious state to fondle her. On top of everything else, he really didn’t want to deal with that possibility. He shuffled sideways until he could wrap his hand around one of her shoulders and shook, trying to rouse her so he could at least get her permission to continue – or better yet, get her to wake up and treat herself. He didn’t even get a quiet groan of complaint from her as she rocked limply from his shaking.

“Fuck,” he whispered to himself while sitting back on his heels, scowling at her seemingly relaxed and untroubled expression as unconsciousness kept her firmly within its grasp. He was in the process of reaching for the top to the cream he was using when he looked back at the jagged marks - now significantly improved and nearly sealed - and shook his head.

She'd just have to take his word for it that he hadn’t felt her up if she asked. Resigned to the possible argument when she woke up, he reached for another bottle and brought it to his nose, as he’d done with all the others.

The comforting scent of vanilla enveloped him, pulling a contented hum from the back of his throat as his eyes drifted shut. With the third heavy breath, he realized what he held and threw the vial away from him. The glass shattered against the wall, potion dripping down to coat the floor. He quickly grabbed one of the soaked towels and walked towards the dangerous perfume, swiping the towel down the wall before dropping it on top of the pool of liquid, smothering the scent before it could permeate throughout the room.

There was a similar bottle in the small basket, so he cautiously brought it to his nose and took a shallow breath. At the first hint of vanilla, he held the hastily recapped potion away from him and walked towards the toilet to flush the contents. The empty bottle was wrapped in a bloodied washcloth before he let it fall into the trash can and returned to Vera’s side.

The last of the vials was smaller than the rest – nearly a quarter of the size – and had an almost crisp scent to it. He’d tried to ration it so it would last, but by the time he'd finished working it into the skin of her thighs and backside, he’d burned through more than three quarters of its contents.

Seeing the mostly healed flesh, he knew he’d made the right choice and carefully rolled her onto the last clean and dry towel so she was facing up. His eyes unconsciously darted to her full breasts, lingering for a second before he stood and grabbed the black robe hanging on the wall.

He could at least offer her a small shred of dignity by covering her while he worked.

Before he could cover her, however, a small splash of color near her hip caught his eye. Without thought, his fingers trailed over the small tattoo of an elegant smiling theatre mask nestled in the hollow of her hip.

“Huh, guess you’re not as stuck up as I thought. The blue rose kind of ruins it, though." He shrugged to himself when he predictably didn’t get a response and filed the image away to analyze later before covering her torso. By the time he’d finished giving the rest of her wounds the same treatment he'd given to her back, the small tattoo was nearly forgotten.

Empty bottles and blood-stained towels covered the bathroom floor, reminding him of the kind of murder scene you'd see on tv. He briefly debated tidying the room – had already started reaching for the empty bottles, driven more from his distaste of the mess alone, rather than cleaning for her – before he shook his head. This wasn’t his house so it wasn’t his responsibility. She could clean it when she woke the next morning.

Her barely sealed wounds had stopped bleeding – except for the ones caused from the chains, which stubbornly remained unaffected by his treatment – so he lifted her off the floor and walked back into her room to lay her on the bed. Hopefully, they'd be fully healed by the time morning came. Exchanging the black robe draped over her with the deep blue comforter, he wrapped the silk around his hips – tying the sleeves around his waist to keep it up.

He'd just take a few minutes to look around before letting himself rest while making sure Timber stayed put.

---

Vera's tattoo is the smiling mask on the left only - just change the lily to a blue rose.

Notes:

Hamish did do what was necessary and yet, I don't know how easily Vera will believe that when she finally wakes up...

Chapter 35: Scotched Memories

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those taking the time to comment!

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Hamish let his gaze sweep around the bedroom, starting with the small desk sitting in the far corner before moving on. There wasn't anything too surprising or out of place in the room, though he was a bit thrown by the thin-framed reading glasses perched atop an Oceanology book on her bedside table and the worn, stuffed bunny propped up in the middle of her armchair. He couldn't really picture her wearing glasses and reading marine biology books and he certainly hadn’t expected her to be sentimental enough to have stuffed animals from her childhood lying around.

He could feel his exhaustion rising again and stared longingly at the large plush chair the bunny was on, but rubbed his hand over his face tiredly and left the bedroom. He left the door open behind him so he'd be able to hear Timber if she decided to retake control, but he doubted she would. Not so soon after Tundra had reminded her of her place in the pack.

He walked right past the large posters on the wall, but the memory of her moving the frames this morning before Jack arrived, only to put them back after he left, had him turning around to look at them.

"That explains the tattoo," he mumbled as he studied the improv troupe poster. He couldn’t understand why she would go through the hassle of hiding something like this instead of leaving it up. Trying to make sense of her bizarre actions this morning, he moved closer to the poster, looking for anything that would explain the odd choice, but there was nothing. She looked like she was having fun in the picture. Like she was just another happy student that…

"Is that why?” Had she hidden it from Jack because she hadn’t wanted her disciple to see past the ice queen persona and learn she was just like every other regular human being with actual emotions? Before he could examine the unwanted confusing feelings that the thought brought up, he looked at the frame beside it, eyes growing wide with shock.

"You're a scholarship kid?!” He couldn’t help but wonder how someone from her background managed to become Belgrave’s Chancellor and Temple Magus when everyone around them seemed to value wealth and popularity above all else. Especially when he knew from the conversations he’d overheard earlier that night, that popularity was something she still lacked, despite her positions. His gaze flicked back towards her bedroom as a tiny swell of respect and curiosity bubbled up before he could stop it.

"Doesn't matter,” he grumbled, but he couldn't stop himself from reading the rest of the article. He told himself it could hold important information about the unconscious woman, information he needed to know to determine if Vera Stone was champion material, but the girl in the article was so different from the woman he’d interacted with.

The fifteen-year-old had been filled with hope and excitement during the interview, she almost sounded giddy in her responses, whereas the woman he’d been watching the last few days was anything but. Her eyes had grown dull and almost pessimistic, holding a level of regret and anguish that few would ever know. Vera Stone’s eyes held the same emotions as his when he looked in the mirror.

Not liking the thoughts swirling in his mind at the unwanted connection he’d just made, he quickly moved away from the article and towards her living room. He didn’t feel the need to linger long, having spent the last three nights surveying the room through windows, but he did note the box of knitting materials beside her couch with a small, disbelieving grin as he walked into the kitchen. Tough as nails Chancellor Stone apparently liked to knit, who could’ve possibly guessed that? He shook his head with an amused chuckle as he poured himself a glass of bourbon before continuing with his investigation.

The room adjacent to hers was locked and the slight tingle on his palm when he touched the handle told him she had magically locked it. He briefly considered letting Tundra out to break in, but he wasn’t here to trash her house. He was here to keep Timber under control until Vera woke and explained what she’d meant about targeting the families.

And given the rare opportunity before him, he would find out whatever he could about the mysterious woman. There was a small half bath across from the locked room, decorated in the same elegant fashion as the one in her bedroom. Beside it were stairs leading into a beautifully furnished basement with an entertainment center, laundry nook, and a wide floor to ceiling display case filled with an assortment of things – none of which pulled at Tundra to investigate further.

The fully stocked bar, on the hand, was something he’d never been one to pass up. He scanned over the collection, his brows rising in appreciation at the selection before zeroing in on one particular bottle, a Glenfiddich Age of Discovery. He’d only had the chance to try it once, years ago after his nana passed away. He knew this bottle had to have either been purchased on a trip Vera had taken and flown home with her, or been a gift from her Scottish friend as this specific brew could only be purchased in Scotland.

His mouth watered as he brought the opened bottle under his nose, letting the rich aroma flood his senses before filling his empty glass and taking a sip. As soon as the amber liquid slid over his tongue, he could taste the overtones of vanilla mixing with hints of tobacco, baking spice, and smoky oak. His eyes drifted shut as the smooth whisky made its way down his throat, the familiar taste pulling him back to the last, and only, time he’d tried it before.

He could vividly remember standing beside his sister as they stared out at the sparkling water of the loch, tears flowing down their cheeks and Blair’s rasping sobs being the only noise to break the silence. They’d been ‘banished’ from the house, their parents not wanting to listen to their incessant whining. Blair had tried to comfort him, but he didn’t want that, didn’t deserve it. Not when all he could think about was how he'd refused his nana’s constant pleas over the last four months to visit. Not when his final words to his nana were words said in anger, words bred from grief over losing Cassie and his nana’s unwanted attempts at comforting him. Not when he kept replaying her final words to him, soft anguished whispers of, ‘I wish you’d never had to experience such grief so young. I love you, mo laochain.’ He’d only scoffed back, and with words dripping of acid, told her he was no ‘hero’ before ending the call. That had been two weeks ago, and every day since he had ignored her calls. His granda was struggling with his wife’s death, but instead of grieving her passing, he’d had to call Blair and explain why she needed to be the one to tell her brother of his nana’s passing. All because he couldn’t be bothered to pick up the damn phone when their number flashed on the screen! Too scared it’d be his nana offering soft words he couldn’t hear. He’d cut her out of his life because of his grief and she’d died thinking he hated her. He didn’t deserve any comfort.

Of course, his granda disagreed. He’d firmly snapped that Hamish and Blair sit on either side of him, not taking no for an answer, and pushed a glass of scotch into each of their hands. Hamish had desperately tried to drown out his words by studying the black bottle and the gold outlining the stag above ‘Glenfiddach’. Still, his granda’s words had sunk in, forcing Hamish to accept the fact that to his nana, there had never been anything to forgive, that she loved him. That despite his harsh words and the way he’d cut her out of his life, all she had cared about was knowing Hamish was loved and safe and that he wouldn’t be alone. That she wished he’d let someone in and talk about Cassie, that he would grieve but he wouldn’t close himself off from his family that loved him. Neither his granda nor Blair had forced him to say anything – about Cassie or Nana – but they’d started sharing stories. Stories he found himself adding to, until the three of them were crying from loss and happiness. Till his heart felt lighter, till his lungs were able to take a full breath for the first time in nearly five months.

It was only a few weeks later that he’d showed up at Blair’s, half drunk in the middle of the night, and broken down about Cassie, sharing everything that had happened to him. She hadn’t shied away or showed any fear when he let his eyes change color and his teeth elongate. She’d argued vehemently that he wasn’t a monster and forcefully pulled him into a crushing hug as he wept. She’d helped him, not with accepting Cassie’s death, but with accepting Tundra. She was always there to listen when he showed up after losing another Knight - usually waking her and taking her away from her husband’s embrace in the dead of night. She’d always been able to lift his spirits and remind him of the happy moments. The pain never went away, some champion’s deaths had hit harder than others, but she’d made it bearable – even enjoyable at times.

Amongst all the pain and regrets that had been swirling around and suffocating Hamish, somehow this scotch, one he had never anticipated finding outside of Scotland, let alone here, in this basement, brought it all rushing back. Almost as if his nana had led him here from beyond the grave because she knew he needed to be reminded that he couldn’t close himself off again. That his life wasn’t just filled with pain and torment, but that he had cherished memories laying beneath the ocean of guilt.  One sip brought back all the times Blair had helped him, reminding him that he wasn’t some heartless monster leading kids to a slaughter. His sister knew all his failures, all his regrets, but still loved him. Still let him around her family without a second’s hesitation. She was the one person he could be just Hamish around, without the title of leader attached to his name demanding he always be in control and stay strong. No, the only titles he’d ever had with her were little brother and Uncle Hamish.

He started to smile fondly, warmth from more than just the scotch warming his chest as he started making plans to visit Blair. She would be able to help him with Lilith’s death, with preparing himself to face Lilith and Cassie’s grandmother, with the idea of Timber being worn by someone he’d once considered his enemy. She would make everything bearable. He’d just unlocked his phone to message Blair and ask if he could visit this weekend when Cassie’s cruel words from the other night played in his mind again. He knew she’d never said them, never blamed him, but he couldn’t stop them.

‘You were supposed to protect her!’

‘You promised to keep her safe!’

‘You weren’t supposed to let her become a Knight in the first place!’

‘She would still be alive if you had just done your fucking job!’

‘If you’d had control!’

‘If you hadn’t waited months to become a Knight!’

‘Timber never would have called to Lil if you had just been there with me when I needed you.’

‘She’s dead because you left her alone!’

‘You left her without any backup.’

‘Just like you left me.’

‘You don’t deserve our help!’

He quickly took several gulps to silence the haunting words. Cassie was right, he didn’t deserve help. He had failed Lilith and Cassie, led to both their deaths. Feeling this way, this oppressive agony threatening to smother him, was his punishment. He let his phone drop to the bar top with a ragged breath and clenched his eyes. He couldn’t visit Blair because she would help him and he didn’t deserve to feel better. Not after he left Lilith to her death. Not when he still couldn’t bring himself to visit their grandmother. He had created this hell and it was up to him to find his way out of it. Alone. He couldn’t risk dragging his sister’s family down with him. He tipped the glass back to finish the drink and felt how the alcohol uncomfortably pooled in his belly, reminding him of his lack of food over the past few days. His lip curled at the thought, knowing from experience that Tundra wouldn’t allow him to starve, and refilled his glass, downing the entirety of it with heavy gulps before filling it again.

Aware that if he remained at the bar any longer, his will to leave before he drank himself under the table would vanish, he forced himself to recap the scotch and slid it back into its spot before trudging up the stairs to investigate the second floor. There was another full bath, two guest rooms, and a sunroom.  Looking out the windows along the hallways, he noted there was a balcony running the entire length of the second floor. Everything was neat and furnished, just like the rest of her house, but only her bedroom, the knitting supplies, and those two frames held any semblance of warmth to it.

Realizing he wasn’t going to get anything else from the spare rooms, he made his way back towards her kitchen for one last drink, not wanting the voices to return, and walked back to her bedroom. She was in the exact position he’d left her in, blissfully unaware of him watching her.

He grabbed the book from her night table, letting her glasses clatter softly against it, intent on using it to keep himself awake, and moved towards the inviting seat. He dropped her robe onto the foot of her bed - no longer needing it with the patchwork quilt he pulled off the back of the chair - and shoved the stuffed bunny out of his way so he could comfortably collapse into the plush chair.

His eyes grew heavy almost immediately, pure physical and emotional exhaustion and the warm buzz of alcohol lulling them shut and guiding him into a wakeful slumber.

Notes:

So... we knew about Blair ahead of time, but we too found out about Hamish's grandparents/their history in this chapter after Hamish quite literally forced the memories on us during the second draft...

Chapter 36: A Bleary Conversation

Notes:

As always, thanks to those that keep commenting and giving us motivation!

And we've got a milestone! 100k words!

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Vera jolted awake with a ragged gasp for air. The nightmare had left her covered in a thin layer of sweat that instantly cooled her fevered skin as she sat up and pulled her knees towards her chest. Trembling fingers burrowed into knotted hair before fisting the damp strands as she fought to dispel the haunting images from her mind.

A quiet, nearly silent pleading whimper escaped her lips as it played again, drawing her deeper into the waking nightmare.

A female Magistratus was curled in on herself – much like Vera was now – but her hands were clutched over her ears, obviously trying to block out the sounds of other students screaming in terror as werewolves tore her friends apart. From where Vera stood, she could see long red hair spilling over black robes as she rocked back and forth, shoulders heaving with panicked breaths. Vera knew who the girl was, but her brain refused to let her acknowledge it as a dark grey wolf – Randall, she knew – stalked towards her, Maddox restrained, but still fighting to escape in one massive arm. Vera shouted for the girl to run, to shield herself, to just look up and attack, to do something but the Magistratus was paralyzed with fear and Vera’s yell was drowned out by a vicious animalistic snarl. The wolf towered over the redhead, jowls lifting into a twisted smirk as one clawed finger came out to tap the girl’s shoulder. Vera knew Randall was taunting her, playing with his petrified prey. Her terror wasn’t enough, he wanted more. He wanted her to know exactly what was about to happen to her. Vera tried to run to her as her head slowly turned towards Randal. She just needed to get between them, buy her disciple time to escape. Shadowy figures blocked her way, hot liquid she refused to let herself identify coated her hands and arms as she tried to push past the barricades. Horror froze her in place as the beast gripped the girls jaw and yanked backwards, her head twisting sharply until bones snapped in her neck. Vera’s eyes followed the beaked mask flying from her face as the girl’s limp form – a corpse now – fell at the wolf’s feet. Reluctantly, her gaze returned to the girl’s still form. An anguished howl ripped from deep within her chest as she saw Lisa Brennan, sweet and innocent Lisa, had joined the mass grave being created.

“Please stop,” she begged, nails digging purposefully into her scalp in an effort to send a different sensation, any sensation, to her brain. Confusion at the unexpected level of pain it caused allowed her to surface from the memories, one hand loosening and moving further into her hair. Her fingers gently probed the back of her head, registering dried blood caked over tender skin. “What the hell?” she whispered as her other hand moved to explore the area.

With the sudden awareness of the injury, pain flared in her skull and she moaned quietly. Her rapid heartbeat caused the pounding in her head to worsen, even as the unsteady thumping of her heart slowly regulated. She shifted slightly, leaning forward more to cradle her head above her lap, but her legs and back protested. It felt like she’d run a marathon, pushing her muscles beyond their limits.

What the hell happened to her last night?

Taking a shaky breath, she slowly opened her eyes, desperately trying to push past the blinding pain in her head. She was in her bedroom, she knew that much, but how had she gotten there? When? The last thing she remembered was sitting down to ice her…

She’d fallen asleep.

Fear seized her lungs, breaths becoming erratic as her eyes opened wider. Had she lost control again? Had she hurt someone last night? Why was she in her –

Her thoughts died abruptly as wild eyes landed on a figure sitting across from her. Hamish Duke was not only in her house, but in her bedroom. Sleeping on her furniture as if he owned the place. Before she could consider asking herself why he might be there, panic and anger overwhelmed her.

She pushed herself out of the bed and rushed towards the chair, yanking the quilt off of him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” she spat with an almost animalistic snarl as she shoved him off of the chair. His yelp of disgruntled surprise was background noise as she clutched the quilt to her chest with one hand while the other shook violently as she frantically searched for her daughter’s pink bunny that normally sat on the chair.

Rage nearly consumed her when she saw it carelessly shoved deep between the cushion and arm of the chair. Unsteady fingers reached out and gingerly wrapped around the body of the stuffed animal before gently tugging it free and bringing it to her chest. She could hear Hamish speaking to her – undoubtedly trying to get her attention - as she closed her eyes and buried her nose into the two items, trying to calm her racing heart.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Hamish growled, sleep thick in his voice, as he gripped her shoulder and spun her around. His hair was disheveled and exhaustion clung to him, eyelids drooping slightly from fatigue as he glared at her. “Is this how you say thank you?!”

“Thank you?!” She actually laughed at the ridiculousness of the question as she turned and carefully placed the quilt and bunny on the bed, safely out of the intruder’s reach before facing him, arms crossed over her chest. “You broke into my home, stole things that aren’t yours and -”

“I am only here because you can’t get a grip on your hide!” he growled, matching her posture. The words had her anger halting as she slowly lifted her hand to touch the back of her skull again, unable to stop the slight wince before he could see it. “Timber didn’t want to listen. I figured it would heal before you woke up. If it still hurts, it means you’ve interfered with her ability to heal more than I -”

“Me?! I haven’t done anything. She’s the one stopping me from being able to heal. My potions and salves that usually work have done noth…” A familiar sensation registered in her muddled brain, distracting her from finishing her argument. The hand in her hair fell to her ass, which she only just now realized was bare, and pressed against the rounded flesh.

It was tender to the touch, but the numbness told her a very specific salve – one not meant for healing - had to have been applied without her knowledge. And the only person that could have done it was standing in front of her. Naked. With a fully erect penis.

Her mouth dropped open, heat blossoming across her cheeks as her eyes darted down to take in her own lack of clothing before snatching her comforter from the bed to wrap around herself. “What the hell?!” It took longer than she cared to admit for her to drag her incredulous gaze – that had returned against her will – away from his stiff appendage.

It took her so long, in fact, that the only reason it was no longer in her line of vision was because he covered it with both hands. Knowing she’d been caught staring, her eyes snapped towards his face in an instant. He was trying to appear unbothered, but the embarrassed blush spreading across his face as he scowled said otherwise.

“It’s morning. It has absolutely nothing to do with you, so don’t flatter yourself. I couldn’t care less what you were wearing… or aren’t wearing.” His words held a little less bite and conviction than he’d probably wanted, but she still sent her own scowl back at him.

“Then why were you rubbing my heel cream into my ass?!” she spat, pulling the blanket more securely around herself as other spots made themselves known to her. “Jesus, and my thighs?! What else did you do to me?!”

“NOTHING!” he ground out, arms raising in frustration, before hurriedly dropping again to cover himself. “I have no interest in trying to do anything to you, believe me. You’re not my type.” His lip curled slightly as his gaze dropped to take in her appearance as if to confirm the words to himself.

Her glare darkened at the insult, fingers curling tighter into the blanket covering herself. “Then explain to me why my ass and thighs are numb -”

“I knew this was going to happen,” he huffed, eyes closing briefly before meeting her harsh gaze again. “You weren’t healing and despite my best attempts, you weren’t waking up to do it yourself. I did what we both needed to keep our secrets. Or would you rather have shown up to your precious Temple today with werewolf injuries? I’ll admit, it might have been amusing to see you try and spin that one, but I personally wasn’t willing to risk my Knights’ lives for a bit of entertainment. And in case you haven’t noticed, the marks aren’t visible now, so you’re -”

“How’d you even know what to do?! What to look for?” she interrupted, a small piece of her anger evaporating as gratitude towards Hamish – something she wouldn’t admit to – took its place.

He paused for a second, studying her face as his grew harder, head lifting slightly. “I looked for anything medicinal or similar to the one you’ve been using on your legs for the past two -”

“You’ve been watching me?!” She latched onto the anger, fueling it until it overwhelmed her embarrassment because she knew how pathetic and weak she must have looked the last few nights. The thought of what he may have seen unnerved her more than she’d ever admit.

Had he witnessed her breakdown the first night? Had he heard her howls of anguish? Watched her as she mourned Maddox’s loss? Had he seen her in disheveled pajamas, tousled hair, and crying as she struggled to stay awake when all she wanted was sleep?

“You’re lucky I was or who knows how many people you would’ve killed last night.” His harsh statement snapped her back to the present to see him moving towards her bed, arm outstretched to grab the guilt.

“NO!” she snarled, yanking it away before he had a chance to touch it.

“I just want to cover myself!” he snapped, reaching for the blanket again, causing her to step back and turn away from him slightly.

“Not with this.”

“It’s a fucking blanket, give it to -” He nearly closed his hand around the fabric before she fully turned her back on him, hunching slightly to protect it.

“No! Find something else!” She heard his frustrated growl right behind her, but didn’t move or relax her position. It’d be a cold day in hell before she let anyone touch her mother’s quilt again. Even she didn’t use it. She certainly wasn’t going to let some monster use it to cover himself.

“Well, I didn’t see the bathrobe I lent you lying around anywhere, so -”

“It was covered in blood, I threw it out,” she interrupted, ignoring his huff of displeasure. He was muttering to himself, clearly irritated, as he shuffled around her room. Just as she was about to turn to see what he was thinking of using, black silk was being draped over her head seconds before she felt her comforter being forcefully yanked.

Before she could stop it, the force of the pull had her spinning as he unwound the blanket from her so he could wrap it around himself. “Happy now?!”

Her irritated growl came out gruff and dangerous – though he seemed completely unfazed – as she quickly bent down to grab the bathrobe that had fallen to the floor. Once she had the tie cinched around her waist, she carefully set the quilt back on the bed and turned to glare at him.

“You are infuriating!” She watched one corner of his mouth twitch up as his brow rose and found – to her shock and displeasure – that her lips were twitching. Forcing them into a scowl, she crossed her arms tightly around her chest, fingers biting into her biceps.

“As infuriating as a werewolf that refuses to accept that she’s a werewolf?” he asked, but his words were lacking the malice she’d expected. He seemed as exhausted with everything as she was.

Her gaze fell slightly, frown pulling at her lips. “I know what you turned me into and I know I can’t get rid of it no matter how much I want to,” she admitted quietly. The scathing retort she’d expected didn’t come and she looked up to see him shaking his head as he eased himself back into the seat across from her bed.

He buried his face in his hands as his shoulders sagged. “What happened? Right before Timber jumped you, what happened?”

She was this close to going on the defensive, thinking he was trying to accuse her of something again, but she studied the way his hands tightened on his head. The way his shoulders didn’t raise at a steady pace. The way his voice shook just enough that she could detect it. He was asking her because he needed to understand what had happened.

She took a deep breath to distance herself emotionally before mechanically responding, like she’s heard about the events rather than lived them. “I was working on the potion and heard a noise like something slamming shut and went to investigate it, thinking Edward may have found a way to teleport. I was drawn towards a green chest and was about to open it when -”

“When the one with Lilith’s name started moving?” he asked quietly, looking up to meet her eyes. She knew he wasn’t really asking for a response, he already knew the answer, but nodded anyways. “The green locker is what Tundra, my hide, is tethered to. And as much as I’d like to pretend that I don’t understand why you felt drawn towards his locker, I won’t lie and say I don’t recognize the fact that you and I share traits that Tundra looks for in his champions. But, had you opened it, nothing would’ve happened because he’s already bound to me.

“All of the lockers were empty when Jack left you in the basement. You becoming a wolf wasn’t part of any plan on our end because it wasn’t a possibility. The only reason you and Timber are bound right now is because I couldn’t save Lilith. This wasn’t a plan -”

“Is there a way to undo it somehow?” she asked softly while sitting on her bed, one foot folded beneath her other leg as her hands anxiously wrung the black silk. “I promise I won’t come after you or reveal your survival -”

“We’re champions until the day we die.”

She deflated with his response, but the tiniest swell of something akin to pity bubbled up at how he’d responded. Mr. Morton had uttered those same words to her just days ago, but they’d been matter of fact, and almost proud. Hamish’s were resigned. In fact, everything in his appearance was resigned. And though she couldn’t be sure, she thought she’d detected the smallest bit of shame for her situation.

He was here, watching her and losing sleep since she’d been turned, out of duty because he was the leader of the werewolves. And as much as she hated it and wanted to deny it, she was a werewolf now. Which to him, made her his responsibility.

Notes:

We know several were eager for that interaction, so hopefully you enjoyed it!

Chapter 37: A Begrudging Agreement

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those commenting each chapter.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

"Thank you," Vera mumbled quietly, quickly smothering the embarrassing flush when his head snapped up to stare at her in confused shock. "For stopping me last night. I know you didn't do it for me, or even for whoever I was after, but still, thank you.”

Hamish's mouth opened as his eyes hardened and she felt herself bracing for whatever cruel words he was getting ready to hurl at her, but they never came. His mouth closed, lips turning downwards as he looked towards his lap, nodding slightly.

"Thank for you giving Lilith a proper grave. I know you didn't do it for me, but I'm grateful," he muttered as his fingers twitched against the comforter wrapped around his waist.

Vera could see he struggled just as much, if not more, as she did to say thank you. He'd recognized her extending an olive branch and not only accepted it, but offered one of his own.

"Werewolf or not, Ms. Bathory was a student of mine and someone's child. Her family should have a place they can… What?" she asked when he tensed, his penetrating gaze connecting with hers.

She played her words over in her head, trying to pinpoint what had set him off, but was coming up blank.

"The families," he whispered, anxiety rolling off of him in waves and threatening to drown her as well.

"What about them?" She could feel her heart starting to race as he huffed in annoyance. "Look, I don't know what you're -"

"When I stopped you last night, as soon as Timber let you go, you said 'they're going to target their families.’ That we have to stop them. Whose family?" he ground out, hands balling into fists until his fingers turned white.

Vera's eyes widened slowly as fragmented, hazy whispers from last night returned to her. “The Order doesn’t know the werewolves are magic hides. I overheard some of the Adepti theorizing they may have been born. Which means they'll go after the families to -"

"You need to stop them." His order came out as a threat and she instantly scowled.

"Yes, thank you for stating the obvious. It's so helpful in coming up with a plan. I don't know why I didn't - "

"You’ve made your point," he spat while leaning back in the chair, one arm moving to rest over the top.

"I'm working on a plan.” She squinted as he shifted in the chair and scowled. “You, on the other hand, seem to be working on making yourself right at home. In my bedroom, no less." she grumbled, watching as he tensed again before his arm dropped back to his side.

"I was just trying to get comfortable. I wasn't making myself at home.... Though, maybe I should -"

"Excuse me?! This is my bedroom in my house. Last time I checked, I never invited you in, much less invited you to stay for a fucking sleepover." Her anger flared at the audacity. It rose further when he rolled his eyes, as if she was being ridiculous.

"You need a babysitter -”

"Excuse me?!" Her shout bounced off the bedroom walls as her glare became deadly. The rage coursing through her forced her to her feet, needing to stand taller than Hamish.

The whisper in the back of her mind taunted that he was right and left her fuming as she paced.

"You don't get to come into my home and act like you're in charge -"

"The Knights are my responsibility -"

"And the Belgrave Chapter is mine," she argued, refusing to backdown as he stood, towering over her.

"I'm not in the Order, so that means nothing to me. You, however, are a wolf, which -"

"And you are a Teaching Assistant, a student! You are - at best – a low-ranking member of my staff." She knew her argument was significantly weaker - as did he, if his smirk was anything to go by - but kept her expression firm, challenging.

He studied her for several seconds, long enough that she started feeling the urge to shift in discomfort - not that she'd cave and give him that satisfaction - before he surprised her by nodding. "Okay."

Vera's brow arched high in disbelief, fingernails digging further into her arms. "Okay?" she prodded him to continue. She didn't know much about him, but everything she’d observed of him over the last few days told her he wasn’t the type to concede that easily.

"Okay. If we're on campus and something is strictly institutional in nature, you can be in charge, Chancellor. If it's something exclusive to the Order, you can be in charge – unless it uses or endangers innocents. But when anything involves the safety and well-being of my wolves, I'm in charge. Is that clear?"

"No." The response wasn't an answer to his question, it was a refusal. Something she knew he recognized by the way his eyes narrowed as his nostrils flared.

"No?!" he growled, and she swore she saw the faintest shimmer of silver clouding his eyes as he drew himself up to stand taller.

“The wolves and the Order are too interwoven. I'm not giving up control of an organization you know nothing about just because you think it might involve your werewolves. I control the Order -"

"Do you?" he asked suddenly, almost mockingly. "Because I heard ‘your people’ ridiculing you last night. Mocking you for being weak. Your own people respect you so little, yet you expect me to put my packs' safety in your hands?!"

“When it comes to the Order? Yes." She refused to show him how much the truth of his words stung. "I have been a member of the Order for twenty-two years. I've been Temple Magus here for nine of those years. The people you overheard? They were mere Adepti -"

"One of those 'mere Adepti' seemed to have a lot of support to become Grand Magus - " he interrupted, instantly derailing her argument.

His words brought back the memory of Melissa and Ian attempting to convince her to try for the position, but the details were foggy and she’d left right after. Had she missed a crucial conversation regarding the possible candidates? "Which one? Did you get their name?"

"Why? Concerned about the competition -?"

"I don't want it. And that was before my current situation," she spat, defending herself, but she realized belatedly that he was testing her. Either way, her answer was truthful and it seemed to be what he wanted to hear.

"Your Scottish friend called her Joanne -"

"Fuck!" And here she thought things couldn’t get any worse than they already were. She forced herself to breathe through her anger and dread before meeting his gaze. "The absolute last person you want in that position is Joanne. I’ve been playing this game of politics long enough to learn how to manipulate them. I should be able to twist the position away from her, but I need your cooperation. You can't keep blackmailing -”

"I haven't blackmailed - " His defense was weak, but she couldn't contain her irritated growl.

"You held Maddox hostage to ensure I played my part. But when you got tired of him, you forced me to drop what I was doing to pick him up or you'd toss him out. You forced me to risk everything to get Ms. Bathory out immediately -"

"We needed you to - "

"I would’ve done it anyways!" she shouted, instantly silencing him before she pinched the bridge of her nose to calm herself. "My point is, you're not giving me a chance to find the best possible solutions to either of our problems. I can't keep everyone safe when you keep changing the rules on me at a moment's notice. And if I can't keep everyone safe, you can't keep your people safe. If you want something, ask for it. Don't demand it. If it's reasonable and I can do it, I will. When I can. There's so much happening behind the scenes that you can't even begin to process how volatile things could get with the wrong move. Leave the Order to me.”

"I can't trust you not to side with the Order if -"

"All of you are my students. If it comes down to the Order or your Knights, I will find a way to get you to safety," she said, but frowned as she thought of her nightmare again. "So long as you and your pack come to me first before attacking anyone-”

"No. We go after bad -" he started and her temper flared.

"Don't," she shouted, surprising herself when she shoved him into the chair and glared down at him. "You didn't know a single person that was murdered the other day. I did. Some were selfish, entitled brats, but they weren't evil. None of them deserved to die. And you... you didn't just kill them, you toyed with them for your own sick satisfaction. One of your so called ‘bad practitioners’ was the sweetest girl I'd ever met. She abhorred violence of all kinds and all she wanted to do was help people. She had a bright future ahead of her at one of our hospitals, a place she could've saved people's lives when their families had given up hope. Randall took that future from her. Lisa wasn't attacking anyone. She wasn't running, wasn't doing anything, except sitting in the fetal position crying when he tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. Your Knight made Lisa look at him before he snapped her neck because he wanted her final seconds to be filled with nothing but sheer terror. So don't you dare tell me you only go after people wielding ‘bad magic’," she snarled, blinking her eyes rapidly to stop the tears from escaping as he stared up at her.

He stayed quiet for nearly a minute, holding her gaze before clearing his throat quietly. "Every single person in that clearing used magic -”

"Magic isn't evil. It's people that let it corrupt them into doing unspeakable things. Things like killing their wife and child for just a bit more. That’s what evil is. As Temple Magus, it's my job to weed out the disciples that show a predilection for malevolence. But I don't kill them, I take their memories of magic and let them go back to their families. If you have concerns, bring them to me. We have ways of handling them without resorting to murder."

Silence followed her order - her plea? - but she could see he was considering it. Perhaps not long term, but at least until things settled down. If she could get him to agree for now, she might be able to get it to stick if he sees there's another way.

He just had to say ‘yes’.

"I can't promise anything, but I'll talk with the others. Make them understand it's in our best interest." He waited for her to nod before sitting up slightly, eyes hardening in challenge. "On one... two conditions."

She forced herself to muffle her groan of exasperation as she crossed her arms again. "What conditions?" She could already guess what one of them was - it was the whole reason they were arguing right now.

"You agree to a baby…" he trailed off at her glare and rolled his eyes. "You agree to be monitored twenty-four seven by one of us until you get full control over Timber. That means having at least myself as a temporary housemate, but I intend to bring in Jack and Randall - "

"Why not just you?" She knew he could tell her question wasn't an agreement, but rather her gathering all the information before making a decision.

“In case you haven't noticed, I'm exhausted. I don't think I can continue the nightshifts on my own. I would suggest we rotate shifts, so you’d only have one guest at a time, but I don't think it's wise for me to leave when the only wolf Timber will submit to is Tundra. It's also dangerous right now. We’ve always lived together, close enough to protect each other, because a lone wolf is a dead wolf. We can't go back to the Den. My apartment only has one bedroom. Jack has a tiny, two bedroom house, but the bank will likely take it with his grandfather's death. This can be the new Den. Just until you get control and the threats have passed."

"I don't have room," she objected, but his brow rose as his arm moved back to rest against the top of the chair again.

"You have two completely furnished bedrooms upstairs and what looked like a sofa sleeper in the basement -"

"You went through my house?!"

"I did. Just like you went through mine. I must admit, your alcohol collection is impressive. I am interested in what you’re hiding in the locked room beside this one… Care to share?”

"None of your business. It has nothing to do with werewolves," she added at the end when he started to push. "It's essentially a study for when I take my Order work home with me, happy?

"Is it dangerous?” he asked, head cocking to the side with a serious look. She didn’t think he was threatening to destroy anything, but she still didn't know enough about the man before her.

"In the wrong hands? Yes, which is why it's locked with a blood seal and an enchanted key."

He watched her for a few seconds, likely waiting to see if she’d continue before nodding. "Okay. Unless something sets Tundra off or I feel there's a real need to go in, it stays locked. We can use the -"

"I never said yes," she interrupted, causing him to let out a long, low sigh as his eyes closed. He was frustrated - she knew that much - but was trying to calm down.

"Have you forgotten that I've been watching you since you've turned? You can act tough in front of Jack. I get you don’t want to appear… weak in front of him, and I don't really care to shine a spotlight on that lie where he’s concerned. But I've watched you sit on your couch every night in a trance, forcing yourself to stay awake. I watched you realize your energy potion doesn't work the same for you anymore, and I watched you pass out mere minutes after you got home last night. I witnessed you lose control the second Jack removed those infernal chains burning into your leg. You already know you can’t go on with them - you will lose your legs if you try. You and your lack of control are the biggest threats to you, your people, your students, and us. You may know how to ‘play the game’, but if you don't sleep, you're going to get sloppy. And you can't rest without the security that one of us will stop you from killing someone. That's all I'm proposing here. A temporary living arrangement that none of us will enjoy for the sole purpose of protecting the people we both care about. Do you have any other solutions? Because if so, the floor’s all yours.”

She desperately tried to come up with something, anything, so she didn't have to invite three men – werewolves - into her home. There was nothing. Her mind was completely blank.

Her shoulders dropped as she sat back on her bed, head shaking. “There would have to be rules. This is still my home." Resignation wrapped around her words as a wave of exhaustion swept through her.

"We can discuss them before I reach out to the others." It wasn't a complete agreement, but he wasn't refusing to hear her out.

"The other condition?"

"You keep me in the loop and explain anything I don't understand, with anything Order related that pertains to us. And that if a decision needs to be made that could affect us, you agree to talk it through with me first -”

"I can't always do that," she argued weakly, her resigned sigh matching his.

"When you can then. And I'll do the same in reverse. I may not know about the Order but I do know about the wolves. For the time being, let's try to work together for both our sakes."

"Okay," she agreed, hand sifting through her knotted hair as a yawn forced its way out of her.

"I could use a few more hours of sleep myself if you wanted to go back to bed? …Unless you normally wake up at four in the morning?"

A tiny chuckle escaped at his look of horror before she shook her head. "Not a minute before seven, if I can help it. Are you... are you planning to sleep there?" She turned her back before he could see the traitorous glimmer of fear that he’d say no and leave her alone with Timber again. Not wanting to appear obvious, she gently started folding her mother's quilt and grabbed the pink bunny.

"I think it's for the best, make it clear to Timber that I expect her to behave. Tonight, I can move to one of the other rooms... If that’s okay?" His tone told her he was trying to respect her choices in her own home, but wanted to make it clear that there was a right answer.

"It's fine." Her clipped response as she walked towards the closet to exchange the items in her arms for a new comforter told him she knew exactly what he was doing.

They both got what they needed, but had given way more than they wanted. Her especially. But if it kept her people safe, it was a price she was willing pay.

For now, at least.

Notes:

Let's just hope that don't go back on this agreement once they've both had a few more hours of sleep... and I wonder how Jack and Randall are going to take the news... 🤔😬 either way, definitely a conversation that was needed!

Chapter 38: Questionable Senses

Notes:

Apologizes for missing last week, time just got away from us. To apologize, here's the next chapter a day early.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

Hamish was startled awake by screaming. He threw himself off the chair, trying to locate the source of the screams and where the threat was, but tripped over the blanket in his haste and found himself face down on the bedroom floor. With a grumble of annoyance, he pushed himself up, untangled the blanket from his legs and went to stand.

Bare feet coming into his field of view stopped him. They stopped right in front of him as his drowsy gaze slowly trailed upwards. Red toenails turned into ravaged shins and muscular calves, before smooth, toned thighs and -

"Are you seriously checking me out right now?!" Her growled words yanked his stare from the slit in the black robe towards her irate face.

"What? No," he said slowly, trying to get his sleep muddled brain to catch up – it was always so much harder to get his bearings after pushing himself and Tundra to go days without rest.

"I just watched you do it! And you have an erection. Again," she snapped while tugging the hem of her robe down a bit more as she took a step back so he wouldn't be able to see up it anymore. Not that he'd been looking before.

"As I said last night, nothing to do with you. It's morning and I'm a guy. It's completely natural to wake up like this for no apparent reason. Surely, you’re old enough to have had some experience with this and know I’m telling the truth.” Despite his defense, he still leaned forward and quickly grabbed the blanket to cover himself again – all the while, fighting the urge to shift in discomfort under her stare. The movement brought him closer to Vera and he saw the bottle she was holding. "Get that away from me," he snapped, rearing back to put more distance between them.

Even with his quick reflexes, the warm scent of vanilla washed ever him. His hands and eyes clenched as he fought against the pleasurable hum trying to escape.

"Do you have any idea how much time and money it takes to make this?! And you just, what? Threw it away?!" She was fuming, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when he realized the scent he was trying to avoid was clinging faintly to the comforter draped on top of him.

"There's magic in it -" he got out, surprising himself with how even his voice was.

"Of course, there’s magic in it! The extract is from a magically altered vanilla plant! All it does is keep the scent pure and untainted. The magic I put in when I make it just ensures it doesn't fade throughout the day!"

"There's something else in it," he ground out, wondering if maybe the reason he'd woken up with a hard-on twice - though not uncommon - was because the smell lingered in the room. It would also explain the rather erotic dreams he’d had last night. She must use that perfume to enhance sexual attraction towards her from male suitors.

He wouldn't let her know it affected him as well. Thankfully, being a wolf meant it didn't have the full impact on him. He suspected a normal man likely would've been fully seduced - to and by her - within seconds, whereas he just wanted to inhale more of the divine perfume, nothing in relation to her.

Decision to appear unfazed made, he looked up towards her face and nearly laughed at her expression. She was pissed.

"Tundra didn't like the smell," It was a lie - one he thought she may have seen through - but it was the only logical excuse to give without admitting he found the smell intoxicating.

"Then stay out of my fucking bathroom," she spat before turning on her heel, droplets of water from recently washed hair flying from the damp strands, and storming back towards the bathroom.

He already knew she was angry - likely from the second she saw the mess of bloodied towels and water he’d left behind last night - but the bathroom door slamming closed behind her drove it home. Her irritated mumbling on the other side of the door had an amused smile tugging at his lips as he let his eyes shut for a few more minutes of rest.

"You used my face cream too?! It doesn't even look like the rest!" she shouted and his smirk grew larger.

"Do you see any werewolf injuries? No? Then you're welcome - "

"It's face cream! It had no healing -"

"I used what I found and took the time to tend to your wounds. You're welcome," he shot back, arms raising to lace his fingers behind his head as he leant back against the chair.

"You used up cosmetic -" Vera argued just as a cabinet door slammed shut.

"Maybe you shouldn't keep cosmetics and healing salves next to each other. Just a thought," he said as if it were obvious, which to him, it was. Based on her outburst, it wasn't.

"I do!" she snapped, yanking the door open while holding up a single vial. "This was the only thing you needed to use and it was by itself. Everything else was grouped on separate shelves based on what they’re used for."

He thought back to when he was gathering the bottles and realized she was right. The vial she was holding was the putrid smelling salve he'd used after the menthol one.

"No, because I used a numbing cream that was on a different shelf," he defended himself and watched her nostrils flaring slightly before she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"It was on a separate shelf because it was my heel cream - "

"Why do you need numbing cream for heels?!" he asked, thinking she had to be lying to him as she crossed her arms.

"I work long hours and walk a lot. Have you ever worn heels?! They're not pleasant, on the foot or calf. The cream helps.” She was glaring but he could detect the slightest blush at the admission.

"How was I supposed to know that a menthol numbing cream wasn't a magical healing salve? I grabbed everything that could be something that might help. Sorry I used the wrong things, but again, you're healed, so you're welcome.” His apology lacked any semblance of sincerity. He wasn't going to let her make him feel guilty for healing her ‘the wrong way’.

He rolled his eyes before letting them drift shut so he could continue 'resting’. He was just waiting for her to disappear back into the bathroom before fleeing her room - and the alluring scent.

Her quiet huff of aggravation was followed by a mumbled, 'Insufferable', under her breath. He let one corner of his lips twitch into an amused smirk as he listened to her stalk away from him.

"Guess I'll add insufferable to the list of traits Tundra looks for." He knew she remembered him telling her the two of them shared some of Tundra's desired traits when her steps faltered, an irritated growl slipping from her before the door slammed shut again.

He instantly got to his feet and rushed out of the room.

Fresh, untainted air filled his nose the second he was back in the sunny living room. The fog immediately faded from his mind, giving more weight to his belief that the perfume held some type of seduction magic.

A cool breeze brushed across his face, encouraging him to open his eyes. Chunks of glass were strewn about the floor, spilling out onto the grass. Bloody footprints led away from the broken window and towards Vera's bedroom. He considered cleaning it, but his stomach growling dismissed the thought before it could finish forming.

He had his hand on the fridge handle when his state of undress registered with him. He could go back for the comforter he'd left, but he really didn't want to enter her weird seduction lair again. Looking around at the pristine house, he knew she had to have something to protect her precious clothes from getting dirty while she cooked.

With that thought in mind, he made his way towards one of the walk-in pantries nestled on either side of the kitchen. The first one was filled with perfectly organized cans, jars and boxes of various foods – every item purposefully placed so their label was facing outwards. The unopened box of instant pancake mix on a bottom shelf caught his eye.

Box in hand, he walked to the other closet - setting the mix on the counter as he passed - and found dozens of aprons hanging along the side of it.

"I knew it," he muttered, pulling out the first apron - a white one covered in blue roses - and shook his head. "Talk about an obsession."

He refused to wear the Order's symbol and grabbed the next one - a black and white plaid print - and replaced the first one. It didn't cover nearly as much as he'd hoped, but it at least covered the important bits... barely, he noted while looking down. He'd have to make sure not to lift his arms at all. The breeze drifting in from the broken window behind him brushed against his uncovered ass and had him reaching for another apron – this one bright pink.... with ruffles.

He couldn't stop himself from holding it out and picturing the stoic Chancellor in it. The ridiculous image of Vera as some southern bell, Susie homemaker type pulled a deep laugh from him. He couldn't believe she’d bought something like this. Wanting to get a rise out of her by revealing he knew she owned such a frilly girly thing, he shut the closet and donned the apron backwards so both his front and backside were covered.

It wasn't until after he finished cooking and he grabbed two extra dinner plates from her cupboard that he realized instinct had taken over and he'd made breakfast for Randall and Lilith too. And neither were there, which meant he had made Vera breakfast by default, something he wouldn't have chosen to do.

He scowled as he held the two spare plates while glaring at the plate of pancakes and pan filled with scrambled eggs. Both plates were returned to the cupboard before he started piling the eggs onto the same plate as the pancakes.

He'd force himself to eat all of it just so she didn't think...

He watched as eggs started rolling off the heaping plate and back into the pan and sighed. Petty wasn't a common trait for him and he had to admit - rather reluctantly - that he couldn't follow through with it. Especially since he'd cooked all the eggs in her fridge, leaving her with nothing.

Shoulders dropping in resignation, he pulled out a second plate and started dividing the pancakes and eggs between the two of them. As he pushed the heaping plates across the counter, he couldn’t help but hope that the contents on the second plate would be cold by the time Vera emerged.

---

Image 1&2 are the aprons, 3 is just to help give a visual of how they fit Hamish lol

Notes:

Hamish made some big steps last night... we can let him be a bit petty every now and then lol

Chapter 39: Breakfast Negotiations

Notes:

Thanks to those that commented last chapter. Sorry for the delay, life's been a bit busy lately.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Vera's hand hovered over her bedroom door knob as she read over the finalized list of rules she'd rewritten twice already. She knew Hamish would likely insist on seeing it the second she left her room and, if she’d guessed right, would start questioning all of her terms, no matter how reasonable. Which was why she’d read it repeatedly, even going so far as to organizing each bullet by importance. She needed to be certain she had accounted for any potential situation before facing him.

She thought back to her time in the Den and each room she’d investigated and her eyes widened in horror. Quickly walking back to her vanity, she added two more bullets at the bottom of the page as memories of Randall's disastrous bedroom continued playing in her mind.

Her breathing came a bit easier with the needed additions as she set the pen down, reading it over once again to ensure she hadn't forgotten anything else.

 

• • • No one is to approach me or act familiar in any way while on campus or in public.
    • No one is to say anything to anyone about this temporary living arrangement.
    • My bedroom and bathroom are off limits at all times, NO exceptions.
    • No one is to enter my office for any reason.
    • No parties.
    • No guests.
    • For the duration of your stay, you are to remain in your bedrooms, the basement, or outside at all times, with the exceptions of mealtimes or trips to the bathroom
    • Everyone is to clean up after themselves. I am not your mother.
    • Meals are to be eaten at the dinner table or kitchen island.
    • Breakfast and dinner are to be split amongst everyone - additional meals and snacks are to be purchased individually.
    • Alcohol is to be purchased individually, mine is off limits.
    • Any communal chores are to be split amongst everyone. These include:
    • Washing/drying/putting away the dishes,
    • Cleaning/setting the table,
    • Cleaning the counter,
    • Cleaning the stove,
    • Individual bathrooms,
    • Individual towels/laundry,
    • Sweeping/mopping/vacuuming of communal areas.
    • Quiet time is between 10pm-7am,
    • No one is to touch anything on display within the house.
    • No shoes are to be worn in the house,
    • Absolutely NO food in the bedrooms.

There didn’t seem to be anything else that needed to be added at the moment. She couldn't see it lasting more than a few days - a couple weeks at most - so she was probably going overboard as it was. But the fact that she didn't actually know how long it would take, and the knowledge that she didn't know them at all and therefore couldn't make an informed list, wasn't lost on her.

"This will have to do." She let out a tired sigh, eyes closing of their own accord as she tried to center herself before pushing away from her vanity. List in hand, she stalked to her bedroom door and wrenched it open before she lost her nerve. All the while, trying to remind herself it would just be for a couple of days.

"I put together a... What on earth are you wearing?!" All her anxiety evaporated with the sudden rolling laughter spilling from her.

She watched him jump slightly with a muttered curse, coffee spilling from his mug and onto the counter. He set the mug down and shook the coffee from his hand as he turned to glare darkly at her, the flush tinting his cheeks lessening its impact immensely.

“I wasn’t interested in giving you another chance to check me out,” he grumbled while tugging the hem of her apron down a little further. It was still several inches above the middle of his thigh.

“I wasn’t checking you out -” she argued, brows pulling together as she tried – and failed – to stifle her laughter as the image before her burned itself into her mind.

“Right, and I didn’t wake up with a hard-on that you pointed out and couldn't look away from. Twice," he scoffed, eyes rolling heavily before he reached for one of the plates on the counter.

"I'm just surprised you chose frilly aprons instead of a towel to cover yourself. Especially as a towel would cover more." Vera watched him freeze and smirked as her brow rose. "You didn't think about that, did you? Or do you prefer wearing hot pink mini-skirts with ruffles? I'm not judging, just curious," she taunted, lips quirking higher at his disgruntled huff.

"I actually haven't used the bathroom yet, so if you'll excuse me." He didn't wait for her to respond before stalking past her, likely heading towards the half bath he must’ve found during his snooping last night.

"You're welcome to toss those aprons in the trash when you grab one of those towels. It's not as if I actually use those two… Unless you want to keep them? I think pink ruffles really suit you," she teased because she knew he’d chosen those two - both of which had been gag gifts from Melissa – in a foolish attempt to try and get a rise out of her.

His low growl told her he knew his attempt to embarrass her had backfired.

She waited until he was out of sight before walking into the kitchen. There were two heaping plates of pancakes and eggs resting on the counter. Her mouth watered at both the smell and sight as her stomach growled. Skipping meals the last few days had left her famished.

Ignoring the fleeting thought that he may have made breakfast for Jack – who was supposed to be coming over this morning to do the chains – she slid a plate towards her. With a mouthful of the fluffy pancakes, she walked to the coffee pot and poured herself a cup.

Before she could sit, her gaze moved to the broken window, a deep scowl working its way on to her face. Hamish witnessing her loss of control had been bad enough; she had no intention of letting anyone else see it. Decision made, she pulled out her phone and sent a quick message to her disciple.

'Reliquary, two hours.' - Vera

She knew Council likely wouldn't show until brunch was over, which would give her just enough time to have Jack secure the chains before they arrived for what she could only assume would be another day filled with meetings.

Without any other pressing matters demanding her attention, she readily dug into the simple yet heavenly breakfast. She didn't say anything when Hamish silently returned - garbed in a thick black towel - and sat down to start eating. If it weren't for the echoing clinks of fork meeting plate, she may have forgotten she wasn't alone.

Her hunger waned halfway through her meal, allowing her to slow down and focus on something other than food. She let her gaze move towards the man sitting next her to see he was trying to take surreptitious glances at the paper beside her plate.

"Here," she offered quietly, sliding the list towards him before studiously staring at the eggs in front of her.

"You actually made a list?!" The snark in his question had her scowling deeply as her fingers tightened on her fork.

“I told you there would be rules. This way you can see everything and we don't need to discuss it -"

"Oh no, we're discussing it. Some of these things are absolutely ridiculous, especially when you're the one that can't get control," he scoffed, swiveling in the chair so he was facing her, list crinkling in his clenched hand.

"This is my home. Nothing on that list is -" she argued, letting the fork fall to the plate as she matched his posture.

"You're joking, right?" he interrupted, staring at her as she shook her head before looking back at the paper. "'For the duration of your stay, you are to remain in your bedrooms, the basement, or outside at all times, with the exceptions of mealtimes or trips –’"

"Yes -"

"No," he cut her off with a humorless laugh, head shaking back and forth. "We aren't going to stay any longer than necessary - believe me, I want this less than you - but until we leave, we are here to make sure you don't lose control and go on another murder spree. I won't be locked in a bedroom because you're inconvenienced by a few house guests. Now, what I can agree to - though it will take convincing with Randall - is sticking to this ridiculous rule during 'Quiet time’. Is that acceptable?" His tone made it clear he wasn't asking.

"How long?" she asked while crossing her arms like a defensive shield around herself. She didn't do guests in the main house. Ever. It was the only place that was completely hers, where she could be completely alone to do whatever she pleased. She didn't know if she could give that up, especially to strangers.

"I can agree to the times you put on -" he started in confusion and she shook her head.

"Not how long 'quiet time' lasts. I'm asking how long you think this will take," she explained, nails digging into her arms in frustration when she couldn’t completely smother the tremble in her voice.

"That all depends on you. You need to accept what you've become and what you've done since bonding with Timber. Then, you need to work on control."

He paused after that, teeth clenching before he sighed. "I don't anticipate it taking long. You somehow stopped Timber from killing the boy and took control of your body again. Being able to suppress a hide during your first transformation is… I’ve never seen it done before. I didn’t even think it was possible to be honest. I also watched you keep control when he was here that first night. It's a good base to work with, but to build on it, you have to stop treating Timber like the enemy. So, if you can stop being stubborn for two minutes, we should hopefully be free of this uncomfortable arrangement in no time."

Vera watched his eyes dart towards her arms and knew it was the scent of her blood that had drawn his attention. She eased her grip and cleared her throat, hoping she'd be able to keep her voice even. "Fine. Is that all?"

"No. Your last bullet says -"

"I've seen Randall's room. I will not negotiate on that rule." Her eyes were firm as he studied her, head cocking to one side.

"Fair point. I can tell Jack and Randall that's the rule, even step in and stop them if I see they’re trying to break it. But it doesn't apply to me. It's the end of the semester and I'm a TA. I'll be up grading papers till the middle of the night. If I'm hungry, I'm going to eat."

She pretended to think about it so he wouldn't push for more before slowly nodding in agreement. She’d added the rule for Randall specifically; she had no doubt the man in front of her wouldn’t leave food lying around whatever room he chose. Not with how spotless his bedroom had been.

"Good. For breakfast and dinner, you say split amongst everyone. Do you mean money wise or actually eating meals together?"

She hesitated before answering because, honestly, she would rather eat in private. But thinking about four people trying to prepare separate meals was a nightmare. "Both. If you plan to eat breakfast or dinner here, and it's not something you personally bought, I expect people to be sitting at the table to eat all at once. Otherwise, it'll be hours of people fighting over space and dishes, wasting time and energy. Now, if you don't want to eat what's being made, you're welcome to eat elsewhere or get fast food. I also refuse to do all of the cooking. Everyone that eats here can pitch in."

"I'm not opposed to everyone eating together, but I do feel the need to point out Jack's financials. He doesn't have the money to keep up with the brands in your fridge. As I'm sure a fellow scholarship kid would be able to understand."

Her mouth dropped open in shock and embarrassment at the knowledge that he'd read her scholarship article. "That's personal information I'd rather not get out." She could see him nodding and knew he’d brought it up for that exact reason. He was blackmailing her. "What do you want?"

"For you and I to split the shared food bill. Randall doesn't think about money and Jack doesn't stop. Neither one needs to know where the food is coming from or who's purchasing it."

The request actually surprised her. She’d been expecting something cruel or drastic, not something so… caring. She honestly wouldn't have had a problem buying all of the food, she clearly could afford it and he knew it. His offer to split it evenly had her agreeing before she could let herself question why.

"Good. Everything else is reasonable enough, but..." His face pinched in displeasure before continuing. "Your bedroom being off limits -"

"It's my bedroom! I'm not letting -"

"I don't want to step foot in that... that... place ever again, I assure you. But I can't agree to never enter it. Not when we're only staying because you don't have control. I can promise not to enter unless I absolutely find it necessary. Same rules that apply to your office.”

She could see how much the thought of going in again repulsed him – she wasn’t sure if she should be amused or offended by his bizarre feelings towards her room. It wasn’t as if there was anything disgusting within it. She unconsciously chewed her bottom lip as she thought about his explanation, knowing he made a good point about why he may need to enter, but she still didn't want to let Jack or Randall have the power to decide when it may be necessary.

"Only you are allowed in either room. If the others think there's a problem, they need to go through you. Under no circumstances are either of them allowed in my bedroom, bathroom or office. Tundra would be the only one to get… her to back down, right? The other two could just make it worse," she added at the end when he started to object.

The reasoning seemed to be enough for him because his mouth closed slowly before he nodded. "Fine. Unless you can think of anything else, I'll take this to the others to discuss everything and if they’re okay with things, we can move in this evening."

Her heart started slamming against her ribs, a vice grip squeezing her lungs at the knowledge that her sanctuary would be snatched away from her in mere hours.

"Here," he said suddenly, yanking her back to the present to see him writing a name and two phone numbers on a napkin. "This is my cell, use it to keep me informed. This is the contact information for my repair guy. You can use him for your window. We may be werewolves, but we're not animals. Get it fixed."

All she could do was gape at his order as he started walking away from her. Her eyes followed him as he walked through the broken window, dropping the towel when he stepped over the threshold.

Against her will, her gaze fell to his ass quickly before grey fur appeared. Her gaze followed the fur up his back until her eyes connected with intense silver ones. They were boring into her, inspecting her, before he huffed and sprinted towards the woods.

The thought of his return, accompanied with Jack and Randall, stole the rest of her appetite. How was she going to get through living with them for the next few days when she wasn’t even comfortable having her closest friends stay the night?

"I just have to find a way to keep you suppressed and they’ll leave."

With Hamish gone, she could already feel Timber starting to fight her again, but her resolve was stronger now. She'd gotten rest and had even more reasons to beat the wolf now.

She refused to let the beast win.

Notes:

Well, at least they were able to reach an agreement on the rules even though they're not particularly happy with them... wonder how the other two will react.

Chapter 40: Rationalizing Pain

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter and to say thanks, we got this out as soon as we finished it instead of holding it till Saturday.

CHAPTER FORTY

"Come in," Vera ordered when the sharp knock drew her attention away from her research. She let her gaze flick towards the door to see who it was before closing the book she’d been reading. "Mr. Morton." Her greeting was curt but he didn't seem to care.

"Magus. I have to say, I'm surprised you wanted to meet here to do this instead of your place. Not that I'm complaining - I'm happy not having to drive more than forty minutes out of my way - I'm just curious about what prompted the sudden -"

"Yes, well, last night I had an uninvited… visitor drop by unexpectedly and I wasn’t interested in having more guests so soon," she offered, hoping to put an end to this line of questioning. The irritated bite to her words seemed to ruin that by drawing more of his attention.

"Oh… Timber? Or uh... Hamish?" he asked cautiously, telling her he’d known the eldest Knight had been watching her and still chosen not to say anything to her for days now. She shouldn't have been surprised that his loyalty was to Hamish, yet there was a small part of her that was. Although, maybe his silence was due to what Hamish had witnessed? Would he have told his Knights about her breakdowns and loss of control? She couldn't let herself linger on that possibility. Not here and certainly not when she needed to keep herself focused and sharp with the upcoming meetings.

She scowled deeply and looked down, brushing imaginary lint from her shirt. "Both. As I'm sure he'll take great pleasure in telling you later. Now, if you would?" she snapped while turning her seat so he'd have access to her leg. "I've already wrapped them, so you just need to seal them."

"Right. And what about working on control so these aren't necessary?" he asked as he knelt beside the desk and reached out to lift her pant leg.

She quickly pulled her leg out of reach before he could expose the ravaged skin hidden beneath the fabric and met his glare with her own. “I already told you, I wrapped them. You just have to reach under and touch the chain. There's no need to see -”

"No offense, Magus, but I’m really not interested in feeling up your leg trying to find them. if you just let me -” He moved closer, hands reaching out again before she swiveled the chair slightly to avoid him.

"No! There's no - "

"What aren't you letting me see?" he interrupted, sitting back on his heels as he studied her. "It's something to do with your limp, isn't it?"

"No, I...” She desperately wracked her brain to come up with a believable lie. "I didn't have time to shave this morning.”

Jack stared at her, head cocking to side as his brows furrowed. His gaze slowly moved to her pin straight hair, perfectly done make-up, immaculate clothes, and he crossed his arms.

"Yeah, I'm not buying it. What's the real reason?" Both his brows rose in expectation as her glare darkened, his posture clearly telling her that he wasn't going to move a muscle until she told him the truth.

But she wasn’t quite ready to do that yet. She knew the second she revealed that her legs weren't healing, he'd insist on seeing them. She also knew that the second he saw them, he'd refuse to seal the chains. She couldn't let that happen.

"Fine, if you must know, my socks don't match.” It was the dumbest lie she could’ve given but it was the first - and only - thing that came to her. Smothering the eye roll directed at herself for the ridiculous response, she crossed her arms and tried to continue the outlandish lie with as much confidence as she could muster, which wasn't much.

Jack's expression shifted to amused exasperation as he stared flatly at her. "You aren’t wearing matching socks? And that’s the reason you won’t let me see your leg? Really?! You know, I may not be as cunning as Hamish, but I'm not an idiot. Let me see your leg -"

"No!" she snapped before trying to kick the chair back again, but instead of reaching for her ankle this time, he dove for the chair leg. Her hands dropped to clutch the armrests when he abruptly jerked the chair back towards him. "Mr. Morton, that is enough -"

"Just give me your leg!" he ground out, one hand staying wrapped around the chair as the other tried to grab her ankle. His huff of frustration was laced with an animalistic growl when she jerked it away from him again. “Seriously?! You’re acting like a fucking child right now! Give me your… AHA!” he shouted in victory when she was too slow, his hand closing around her joint like a vice before he yanked her leg closer, ignoring her heel digging precariously into his gut as his other hand came up to grasp the fabric.

"Please don't, there’s honestly no need to -” she tried in a last-ditch effort to stop him, unable to hide the wince as his grip tightened painfully around her ankle when she attempted to pull away from him without success.

"Holy shit," he whispered as he took in the grisly sight. She felt his hold slacken in disbelief and instantly took advantage of his distraction to pull away from him.

"It's fine -” she dismissed while shakily straightening her pants to hide the wounds.

"Are you kidding me right now? That is not fine!" Jack argued while reaching out again as if to take another peek. She caught his wrist before he could touch her and held him back with clenched eyes.

"You've seen it. Now I would appreciate it if you did what I called you here for -"

 "What? You’re not serious, right? I can't. They're literally burning their way through your legs. How can you possibly expect me to…  This was from two days ago. Why hasn't it healed yet? That should’ve been gone before you even went to bed that night. Wolves heal unnaturally fast -"

"So, Hamish tells me. And yet he still felt the need to rub all my fucking beauty products into my ass and thighs last night,” she mumbled under her breath as irritation flared at the reminder of the thousands of dollars’ worth of creams and perfumes he'd depleted and trashed just because he ‘didn’t like the smell’. As if that’s a good reason to -

"I’m sorry… what did you just say?" Jack's confused question snapped her back to her surroundings and she felt heat crept across her cheeks at the face he was making. She’d thought she'd said that in her head, or at least quietly enough that he wouldn't hear her. Apparently not.

Damn werewolf hearing.

"Hmm? Nothing. Anyways, if you could just -?"

"No, no. What's this about Hamish rubbing your ass and thighs last night? Is that why you look so tired this morn-" His teasing smirk grew larger as she glowered at him, flush darkening her cheeks.

"He wasn't doing it for fun, Mr. Morton,” she interrupted harshly while trying to temper the embarrassment. “After he stopped Timber, I lost consciousness and wasn't healing. He used up my stock of healing salves, among other things, in his attempt to fix the damage he caused."

The urge to shift uncomfortably under the young man's amused grin nearly overwhelmed her. Right before she gave in to the desire, his expression changed to concerned curiosity. "Did it work? I mean, you said it was your ass and you're sitting right now, so I'm assuming it worked? But maybe you're just used to that kind of pain? Do you like a little bit of pai-?"

"Excuse me?!" Her arms tightened around her chest at the implication of his rambled speculations. Wide, horrified eyes jumped to hers as his cheeks reddened.

"Shit. I didn't mean... I mean, I did but not like... wait. I don't want to know anything about what you do or don’t like when it comes to… gross.” He shuttered violently, nose scrunching in disgust before he hastily tried to explain himself again. “All I meant was maybe I can’t assume whatever wounds you had are healed just because you’re sitting when I don’t know if you are into that sort of… Wait! Don’t answer that. I just want to know if you’re healed or not from Hamish rubbing stuff on your... Oh fuck it! Are you healed or not?" he grumbled in mortified frustration when he continued digging himself deeper, gaze hovering just above her shoulder to avoid meeting hers.

It took her a few seconds to get rein in her anger and humiliation at the thought of any of her students trying to picture parts of her sex life – much less actually asking her about it– before she found her voice, surprisingly more even than she’d expect. "Mostly. It's uncomfortable but the wounds are gone. Why?" She watched him frown in thought while nodding slowly.

"Will it work on your legs?" he asked, studying her again. She forced herself to keep her breathing even as she nodded, but his gaze hardened. "You're lying. Why won't it work?"

"I don't know!" she snapped, hand tunneling through her hair in frustration. "There are some instances where healing salves won't work but usually it’s because the damage is too severe or caused from lingering magical attacks, so this doesn't make sense. The Oregon Chapter didn’t mention anything about the chains interfering with healing abilities, but they were designed to contain and weaken a magical creature which could include the creature’s ability to heal. However, the second the chains are removed, any effect they have ends. Everything else about them does but the salve has done nothing any of the times I’ve used it, so the chains have to have some lingering magical effect to inhibit healing somehow. It’s the only explanation I can think of.”

"What do you do when a salve doesn't work? I mean for those instances you knew they wouldn't work."

“For most wounds, we'd do an incantation. When it comes to healing, incantations are stronger and faster than salves. But obviously, that’s something I can't do right now, hence the -"

"Can I? I mean, I don't know how, but you could teach me. It's the only way I’d feel comfortable continuing to use these on you.”

Vera studied him in silence for close to a minute before sighing. "It's worth a shot, but only after they're secured. We're in the Temple. I'm not going to risk losing control where I could hurt someone, so you can try it on the unbound leg," she added when he went to argue.

"Fine, but if it doesn't work, they're coming off -”

"It's my body, Mr. Morton. I can decide what I can and cannot do with it," she argued hotly, arms crossing again as he glared at her in defiance.

"Sure, but I’m the one that’s triggering the damage. I’m not going to let you use me to… to… punish yourself over what happened -”

“Excuse me?! That is not what’s -”

“You refuse to accept what you are and train, so you’re resorting to mutilating yourself to keep control of Timber. How is that not punishing yourself?!”

Vera took a deep breath as she glared at him, eyes squinting as she tilted her head to study him. “Do you know who's arriving over the next thirty-six hours? A group of extremely powerful Adepti that don’t particularly get along with Council. Having the two groups gathered in the same place, means they can't help but show off in an attempt to prove which organization is better, stronger, and more deserving of respect. And do you know where I'm expected to be when this happens? In enclosed spaces with at least the twelve Adepti that make up the Conclave, the Acting Head Councilor, and any Councilors, local or otherwise, that wish to stay until a new Grand Magus is elected – which may come as a surprise to you, but is likely all of them. And the first new arrival is set to be here within an hour.

“So, Mr. Morton, tell me, in your expert opinion, can I master control in an hour?” The question was rhetorical because they both knew it would be impossible, but he still scowled deeply, eyes darting away from her in defeat, and she nodded. "No, I didn't think so. So, to keep me from killing anyone - something you should be concerned about as it would jeopardize you and your friends in case you’ve forgotten - we will continue to use these, even if your attempt to heal the damage to my legs doesn’t work. Is that understood?”

Jack hesitated before he tentatively reached for her leg again, lifting the pants up enough to see the festering wounds. "I will continue to help until Council and the Adepti leave, but not a day longer. And I have a condition -”

"A condition?! I'm your Temple Magus, and as such, I expect not only your silence and subservience, but your -" she ground out in frustration. No one was listening to her or treating her with the respect her position called for and it was beginning to take its toll on her patience.

"Fine. Then kick me out and go find someone else to put Timber on a leash for you," he threatened, halting her argument immediately. She watched his brows raise expectantly in challenge, waiting for a dismissal they both knew wouldn’t come. “That’s what I thought -”

"What do you want?" It was the second time she had asked the question. The second time in less than two hours that a damn wolf was blackmailing her into negotiating.

"You let me… Actually, since you and Hamish seem to be on such good terms -"

"We’re not," she spat as the emotionless cool blue eyes flashed in her mind.

"Oh... I thought with the whole him rubbing your ass -”

“I said, we’re not. Now, move on," she growled, enjoying the way he flinched at her cold tone.

"Okay then... I'll continue locking the chains for you if you promise to train with me, Hamish or Randall for at least an hour after work each day. Oh, and you can't stay late to avoid it," he quickly added when she felt the corner of her lips twitch upwards at the possible loophole.

Her eyes squinted as she took him in, lips pursing in distaste. "Continue to seal the chains for me while I’m on campus until it's safe to get rid of them and I will train with you. But only after Council and the Conclave leave. None of us can risk me losing control while they're here.”

She knew she'd been played the second he nodded eagerly, his hand coming out to shake hers with a muttered, ‘deal’. She'd given up more than he'd expected she would, but as the chain started fusing to her skin, digging painfully into the already ravaged skin, she found she didn't care enough to point out to him that he’d been played as well.

Jack didn't know about the approaching living arrangement yet, so of course, he thought he'd won with her agreeing to an hour every night. She'd honestly probably push for longer each night so they would vacate sooner. But only having to be present for an hour and having the ability to walk away without risking him changing his mind about the chains wasn’t something she’d willingly give up.

“Okay, they’re on. What’s the spell?” he asked as he scooted closer before settling back on his heels again so he could bring her other foot up to rest in his lap. She realized belatedly that she should’ve had him try it on the same leg with the chains - bound they should affect her whole body… right? - so he wouldn’t see the damage done to this one.

The chains had been on far longer yesterday than the first day and with the election of the acting Head Counselor, magic had been flowing nearly all day. She also had to use more magic yesterday, which allowed the chains to burn deeper into her shin and calf. At the horrified gasp, her gaze flicked down to see the crusted scabs had split from their struggle and fresh blood was slowly trickling down her leg again.

“How are you able to walk on this?” he asked, fingers hovering over the disfigured, swollen skin before looking up to see her face. She knew he’d find an emotionless façade, only tainted by the slightest clench of her jaw to stem the pain as the wounds stretched uncomfortably.

“I’ve experienced far worse and it’s easier than the alternative.” Her response was clipped, leaving no room for questions or possible arguments as her fingers dug into the armrests. “This healing incantation requires a blood sacrifice. Often times, the one being healed is supplying it, as I am now for this leg, so you wouldn’t have to. If you were to try my other leg, a small slice across your palm would suffice for both the one you’re healing and to heal yourself afterwards. Not that you need it, it would seem,” she mumbled at the end in annoyance, bitter that the one thing that would be beneficial about becoming a werewolf seemed to be defective when it came to her.

“Maybe once you stop using the chains as a crutch, you wouldn’t need it either,” he shot back and she couldn’t tell if he was trying to make her feel better or was being sardonic. Not wanting to get into another argument, still exhausted from the few hours of sleep she’d gotten last night, she brushed it off with an unconvinced nod and continued.

When his hand settled over the grisly wounds, she couldn’t stop the wince as her eyes clenched in pain. His quiet apology as he went to lift his hand had her fighting through the discomfort to clasp his wrist and hold his hand in place. “It’s fine. Just give me a minute,” she rasped out as she slowly caught her breath.

“Any day now…” Jack pressed, his hand twitching slightly against her leg as he shifted. “Unless you want all the wolves to rub -”

“I’m not enjoying any of this, Mr. Morton. The enunciation needs to be precise, which means I need to speak it clearly so you can do it. If you’d stop moving, that would happen sooner,” she snapped through gritted teeth before taking a shuddering breath and forcing the pain at his constant twitching to the recesses of her mind. “This incantation is meant to restore the damaged section, repeat after me, Res-ti-ttu-atur,” she instructed, listening and correcting him over and over again until she felt confident that he was saying it properly and wouldn’t risk harming either one of them by a misspoken spell. “Good, now imagine what you want to happen, focusing solely on that image, and give it a shot.”

“Okay,” he muttered, brows furrowing as he stared hard at her shin, eyes closing for a few seconds as he focused before his grip tightened marginally. “Restittuatur.” His enunciation was clear and she could feel the familiar healing tingle starting beneath his palm, telling her it was working, before she felt Timber straining against her. Agony flared in her leg and head as the healing continued and she tried to fight through it, but a quick glance down told her that the two forces were fighting each other, neither one strong enough to beat back the other. She quickly shoved his hand away from her with a frustrated gasp of pain that had him lose balance. “What? What’d I do?”

“This is pointless!” she spat, fingers digging into the flesh around the wound, head dropping back against her chair as her eyes closed.

“But it was working, I saw it working and I don’t think you’re bleeding anymore -”

“Yes, and when your friend realized what you were doing, she decided to fight and trigger the chains’ -”

“Really?” he asked, cocking his head and looking down at her exposed leg. “Can we try again if I ask Timber to allow it?”

“It’s not going to work -”

“It’s worth a shot, isn’t it? Timber may not have known I was trying to heal you and assumed it was an attack.” He shrugged as he tentatively reached out and caught her ankle and guided it into his lap again. “I’m trying to heal her, Timber. She’s your champion now, you need to help her.”

Vera felt the unbridled fury erupt from the creature within her at that remark, but before she could catch her breath from the force of it and tell Jack not to try it, he’d uttered the incantation. Her head slammed back and dug into her chair with a pained whimper, fingers clenching around the armrests as her eyes screwed shut at the dual assault of agony in her head and shin. “St… stop,” she gasped out, panting slightly at the relief that came when his hand jerked back, ending the stream of magic.

“Sorry, sorry, I thought it would -”

“Vera, we need to talk about Jo…anne -” Mel’s irritated voice was followed by the sound of the reliquary doors slamming open. Vera jerked her leg out of Jack’s lap at the same time his head shot up from behind her desk… right in front of her lap.

Notes:

Quibilah here - just a heads up, with this chapter being posted today, there won't be an update this coming Saturday, hopefully the next one will be up next Saturday. And for those reading Bonded, I know I said on the last chapter I was hoping to be more regular, but... well, I wouldn't expect another chapter until October probably. Werekitte has been super patient and helpful (writing wise and sanity wise lol), but I am incredibly swamped/stressed with real life at the moment between trying to evict a tenant/roommate/'friend' that refuses to leave, work, and completely redoing my kitchen&bathroom with just my dad and me in my limited free time . Things should start to slow down in another month or two so we'll be able to get back to regular weekly updates, but just try to bear with us for a bit while I try to balance 'fandom time' and real life!

Chapter 41: Belgrave’s Sordid Past: Part One

Notes:

As always, a huge thanks to those that took the time to comment last chapter.

LAST CHAPTER

“Vera, we need to talk about Jo…anne -” Mel’s irritated voice was followed by the sound of the reliquary doors slamming open. Vera jerked her leg out of Jack’s lap at the same time his head shot up from behind her desk… right in front of her lap.

---

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

“What’s going on here, hmm?” Mel asked, lips quirking up into a sly grin as her gaze trailed from Jack’s head towards his feet that were sticking out from behind the desk. Vera knew the vibrant blush spreading across the man’s face did nothing to dissuade her friend’s scandalous thoughts.

“Nothing, Mr. Morton was just assisting me with…” Her mind was completely blank. Melissa’s grin grew wider as she walked closer.

“Oh, I’m sure he was. First, there’s talk about you showing up at the Temple in a man’s bathrobe, apparently with sex hair – I expect you to tell me who this H.A.D fellow is, by the way - and now this? And with a freshman no less? Oh, Vera, what am I going to do with you?”

She knew her friend was teasing her and normally it would have been something she could brush off, but she was cranky, overtired, frustrated, and Edward’s fixation towards Alyssa was too fresh in her mind. “I am not like Edward.”

Melissa instantly sobered, her smirk dropping into a frown as she moved closer. “No, no, I know that, Vera. I was only kidding. You have to know that I’d never think you’d take advantage of your students like -”

“Umm… here, Magus,” Jack interrupted, holding up a small grimoire she knew came from her bottom drawer as he surreptitiously fixed her pantleg with the other. She looked down at him, trying to show her gratitude while accepting the book before he stood. “Thank you for taking the time to explain how the pain potion is made. I’m looking forward to you actually showing me how to make it later this week. I know Alyssa will appreciate -”

“Yes, well, as it’s advanced magic, I will require you to continue practicing under your tutor’s supervision until you’re successful before attempting it on your own and that could take several weeks. As we discussed, it can be extremely dangerous, even deadly, to both the one brewing it and the one taking it if it’s mixed incorrectly. With all magic, I ask my students to perfect it during practice so if they make mistakes or run into complications, they have someone there with the knowledge to correct them and assist before it becomes dangerous.”

She knew he was essentially demanding she teach him how to make Alyssa’s pain potion so he wouldn’t have to rely on her, but he wasn’t ready to try potions at that level without constant supervision and as his tutor couldn’t string together coherent memories at the moment, all he had was her and she didn’t have the time to teach him with everything else going on.

There was a slight challenge in his gaze before he nodded, thankfully understanding the reason she wouldn’t teach him was because she didn’t think it was safe, not because she was trying to keep him in her debt. “Of course, Magus, thank you.”

She waited for him to leave before meeting Mel’s curious gaze. “What?”

“Nothing… you just seem closer with that one. I don’t mean it like that, Vee. I really was kidding!” A flicker of fear shone on her friend’s face and Vera sighed.

“I know. I’m not upset at you. You just reminded me of how close I came to losing one of my disciples to Edward. Actually, Alyssa, the girl he mentioned? She’s the one. She craved approval so much that as soon as an authority figure showed her the slightest bit of praise, she was willing to do almost anything to make them happy. Edward saw that and took advantage of it, just like the Order always does. Thankfully, she retained enough common sense that when he ordered her to kill me, she gave me a chance to confirm her suspicions by showing her exactly the kind of man he was, but… it was close.”

“She’s the one that had her memories jumbled, right?” Mel asked, sitting in the chair across from her as Vera leaned back with a nod. “Is it her or the boy you have a soft spot for?”

Vera’s gaze snapped up, ready to deny it, but Mel was staring at her with an expression she recognized. She wanted the truth. “He’s the scholarship kid I told you about.”

“The one Crain tried to reject? And he was Edward’s son? Hmm… do you think she knew who he was and that’s the reason she didn’t want him?” The question had Vera scoffing as she reached for her coffee cup.

“I’m pretty sure she would’ve been eager to induct him if that had been the case. Being 'the one' to find Edward’s first born would've earned her even more favor with him. No, she just didn't want a scholarship kid taking her son’s spot, especially when there didn’t seem to be any threats looming where they’d be useful. Us scholarship kids are nothing more than sacrifices, remember? We’re only truly beneficial to the Order if there’s a crisis."

She regretted the bitter words as soon as they were out of her mouth, but the other woman’s frown told her it was too late to take them back. “That’s not true, Vera. And you put a stop to that barbaric -”

“Only here and look what happened,” she snapped, slamming the cup down on her desk before running her fingers through her hair in frustration. “I didn’t supply enough ‘trained sacrifices’ so Edward sent more than half of my disciples to their deaths.”

“How many died? Scholarship kids, I mean,” Melissa clarified before she could respond. Vera quickly ran through the list of faces as her brows furrowed.

“None. He… he didn’t send any of them. But…” She thought about the few scholarship kids that were left behind at the Temple and leaned back in her chair in confusion. All three of them were more skilled than any of the Acolytes and Medicums, even some of the Magistrati, that were sent to their death. So why hadn’t Edward sent them?

“He was a scholarship kid, Vera. What if…? Do you think he knew?” Her eyes grew wide with the question, unconsciously moving forwards until her forearms were resting on her knees with the weight of such an idea.

“He was a Councilor, of course, he knew -”

“No, I mean before that. Back when he was a disciple,” Mel specified, meeting her disbelieving gaze.

“No… no, he couldn’t have. Everyone thought it was a rumor up until we were sent out, and even then, most still thought it was because we’d had more training. There wasn’t anything he would’ve seen that…” she trailed off as she was pulled back to those painful memories from nine years ago…

---

It was pure adrenaline and rage that kept Vera upright as she limped back to the Temple. Her vision was blurred from the energy she’d expended, but she forced her eyes to stay open. The fight wasn’t done, not for her. Not yet. Not until she got answers.

Ignoring the blood trailing down into her left eye from a gash to her brow, she shakily supported herself with one hand on the Temple wall and blinked several times in an attempt to clear the double vision. She couldn’t pass out yet. She would rest and heal herself later. She had to keep going.

It was the laughter drifting up the stairs that gave her the strength in the end.

A new wave of fury swept through her, drowning out the emotional and physical pain from the last two hours. They’d sent her and her friends out there, without the backup they’d promised, to die. And they were in here laughing?!

Her fingers curled into the unforgiving stone, nails scraping and chipping with her blood smearing across the ancient bricks, as she choked back her scream of fury. How dare they?! How dare she?!

Every ounce of consciousness she had was fixed on getting to Dawn and Linda. The women that had ‘graciously’ volunteered to conduct her and her friends’ Adeptus examinations. The women that assured each of them that the final test for all Adepti was the completion of that damned spell. The women responsible for her friends’ deaths.

She didn’t notice her slicked foot slipping off the stone steps. She didn’t feel the pain when her knees slammed against the harsh, unforgiving ground of the Temple. She didn’t register the way her arm was bent at an unnatural angle. All she was aware of was the deafening silence that fell when she jerked to a stop, head smacking harshly against the antechamber floor.

Her ‘good’ arm shook as she pushed herself into a kneeling position, too exhausted to try and stand, so she could meet Dawn’s cruel gaze. Disgust and annoyance flashed across the woman’s face, before Linda discreetly cleared her throat, reminding the Temple Magus they had an audience.

“Adeptus Stone, we’re so glad you’re back. I had hoped to send the others sooner, but time must’ve gotten away from us. But as you’re back, I take it things went well?” she asked, false concern – concern Vera had believed the woman felt towards her for the past two years - dripping from her voice.

Vera looked around the room, seeing the confused looks on the disciples’ faces as they held trays with flutes of champagne for the summoned Adepti, mouth dropping slightly in disbelief. “You sent three Adepti out to hold off a small army of necromancers until reinforcements arrived and you’re telling me that time got away from you?” Venom slid into her words, wrapping around them and choking the confusion until only pure hatred remained. She saw the worried glances some of the Councilors threw towards each other and curled her lip in disgust.

Seeing their faces was all the proof she needed to know that they were in on it.

“You had some Order reunion, complete with champagne, while you knowingly sent us to our deaths -”

“Obviously not since you’re still here,” Margaret Crain mumbled under her breath to Joanne, both smirking as they sent disdainful looks towards her, before she tipped the rest of her champagne back and held her hand up to signal the closest Acolyte to bring her another.

“That’s enough, Margaret,” Sophia snapped, pushing her way through the crowd to crouch down beside her. Vera felt her eyes stinging with unshed tears as the woman’s hand came to rest against her back, emotion seizing her throat closed. “Why don’t we get you patched up and you can tell me what happened, hmm?”

If the Councilors knew, the Conclave likely did as well. Did that mean Sophia knew? She'd been on the Conclave for three years now. Not only that, but she was the Grand Magus’ daughter. She had to know, right? Was that why Sophia had taken an interest in her all those years ago? Was that why she’d spent every summer working with the disciples that chose to go to the summer camp? Had she wanted to make sure the Order’s weapons were strong enough?

“Did… did you know?” she asked under her breath, feeling the first tear fall when Sophia’s hand froze on her back. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Not here,” she whispered, quiet enough that Vera had to strain to hear her. “Come with me. Please, Vera, I need you to trust me,” she added the instant Vera’s muscles coiled, to run from the Temple or attack, she wasn’t sure.

“They’re dead, they’re all dead,” Vera mumbled, numbness creeping through her veins like a welcoming balm. She could still hear Richard’s screams, but she couldn’t feel the crippling fear they’d induced when they were silenced mid cry. She could still hear Mary’s wet gurgles behind her as the woman’s eyes became glassy pools void of life, but she couldn’t feel the anguish of knowing her friend was dead.

Conversation resumed around her, no longer caring about the bloodied and broken Adeptus before them. Empty glasses clinked against metal trays and other glasses as members toasted to ‘their’ victory. Laughs filled with relief that they didn’t have to fight swirled around her, suffocating her, tearing her apart with conflicting emotions.

Emotions she didn’t want to feel. Emotions she needed to feel to feed the flames of hatred licking their way into every fiber of her being. She wanted to burn it all down to the ground, herself with it. One sweeping attack fueled by her own life that would topple Adepti and Councilors alike.

She wanted to watch them to suffer for what they’d done. She needed them to suffer. She needed them to know what it was like to have something you believed in be ripped from you in a moment of startling clarity you couldn’t dispute.

She wanted them to die. She needed them to -

“Vera, don’t do this. Please,” Sophia pleaded quietly in her ear, snapping her back to her surroundings to see Dawn and Linda watching her nervously. Her bloodied clothes that had been billowing softly, almost imperceptibly, from absent wind instantly fell limp against her battered body.

They hadn’t meant for her to survive. Her power – power they had forced on her – terrified them. Good. They should be terrified after everything they’d done.

“Please come with me before you do anything. Please, Vera,” Sophia begged while gently lifting Vera’s arm around her shoulders, her own winding behind her back to help her stand.

Vera didn’t bother fighting her. What was the point? She was just a pawn to do with as they pleased, right?

“I hate you.” Her words were swallowed by a choked sob, eyes screwing shut as her friends’ faces flashed in her mind. “I hate all of you.”

“I’m sorry.” Sophia’s tears were clear as day in her voice, but Vera refused to let herself register them. Sophia didn’t have a right to cry. This wave of necromancers had been stopped. That’s what Council wanted. So, Sophia lost some of her precious tools along the way, so what? There were plenty more where Vera had come from.

This time next year, Richard and Mary would be replaced. Just like Susan and Jeremy had been over the last two years. All they’d have to do was dangle a scholarship and some sad, pathetic teenager like her would latch onto it.

She numbly wondered how long it’d be before she was replaced as Sophia started healing her broken arm. Would it be the incantation or the next wave of attacks that would claim her life? Maybe she’d end it herself?  She could take her own life and leave them without a shield in the next fight.

“We were trying to stop it from happening again,” Sophia said, hand laying over her battered cheek before Vera felt the throbbing pain there subsiding. Her icy gaze settled on the brunette’s face, choosing to ignore the remorseful frown her ‘supposed friend’ was wearing.

“Stop what? Inducting poor, hopeful scholarship kids just trying to have a better life? Or maybe you were trying to stop us from feeling lesser than everyone else, hmm? Build us up, make us feel like we were important, like we were wanted, so we were eager to learn from you? So, we would train harder than everyone else? Make us become the perfect little soldiers for your -”

“No,” she snapped, interrupting Vera’s scathing remarks before continuing. “We were trying to stop the Order from seeing scholarship kids as anything less than human beings. That they aren’t just a convenient tool to be pulled out when they’re needed and discarded when the threat is over. That you deserve the exact same treatment as every other disciple that walks through those doors. That you are a person, not a fucking human shield!”

Vera studied the woman in front of her as the conviction in her words strengthened. Makeup was smudged around hard eyes, lips set in a firm grimace, fists trembling in anger. She’d known Sophia for twelve years now, she knew the woman’s tells when she bluffed. Sophia was telling the truth and she seemed to be just as furious with today’s events as Vera herself.

“You said you were trying to stop it from happening again? They made other kids perform the Fors Factorum to pass their Adeptus test?” She knew the answer before Sophia gave it. The woman’s horrified anguish washed over her like a tidal wave and threatened to suffocated her as more tears fell. “It’s not normal, is it? Council didn’t approve it? Dawn and Linda tricked us… why?”

“I… I don’t know, Vera. Did you… you performed it? And the other four?”

“Linda said it was the final test for all Order members. That without it, we couldn’t advance. It… I think it’s what killed Susan and Jeremy…”

“That incantation is a death sentence. It turns you into the sacrifice. Promise me you won’t do magic without a sacrifice. It won’t stop it, but it will slow it -”

“What does it matter? There’s a war going on and I’m the last -”

“It matters because I care about you, dammit! You are my friend, Vera, and I’m going to find a way to help you. My dad will -”

“He’s the Grand Magus! He let this happen!” she snapped, jerking her hand away as Sophia shook her head.

“No! He watched scholarship kids get sent to their deaths twenty-two years ago and vowed to do everything in his power to stop it from happening again. None of what happened tonight was sanctioned by him, Vera, I promise.”

---

“He knew, Edward knew,” she whispered shakily, wide eyes meeting Melissa’s. “That day I found out what they planned for me, Sophia told me Charles had watched the same thing happen twenty-two years earlier. Edward would’ve been a freshman then. He was still just an Acolyte, so he wouldn’t have been sent, but he would’ve watched it happen to the upper classmen. He would’ve known all along what the Order intended for him.”

Vera knew then with startling clarity that Edward had connected the dots. That he’d realized why he’d been accepted into the Order. And he had kept it to himself for thirty-one years.

---

Sophia

---

Song that inspired the whole idea of scholarship sacrifices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOC9BAuNygE

Notes:

We didn't originally plan for this backstory with the Order, but hearing that song (which is really pretty and I encourage you to listen!) sparked the idea and we ran with it. And now if you go back through some chapters, especially 'Hushed Conversations', things make a bit more sense on why Vera refuses to give up her Temple Magus job... poor Vera.

Chapter 42: Belgrave's Sordid Past: Part Two

Notes:

As always, thanks to those taking the time to comment each chapter. Sorry for the wait on this one, but things are still pretty busy at the moment, hopefully it'll slow down in the next few weeks.

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

“Vera?” Mel whispered shakily. Vera met her horrified gaze and swallowed heavily against the sudden swell of anxiety as Melissa struggled to continue. “Do you… do you think the reason Edward kept the scholarship kids at the Temple and chose to send out legacies and wealthy students was to get some sort of twisted revenge on their parents and grandparents? They sat by and watched when people like him were used as human shields for ‘important’ people. And if their reaction was anything like when you were sent out, he would’ve seen them laughing about their deaths or complaining about losing their precious weapons. I know everyone else seems to conveniently forget how he started, but we both know how he could hold a grudge.”

Mel’s theory had Vera’s stomach twisting in knots, bile creeping up her throat before she forced it back down with a shuddering breath. “If you’re right, then it’s my fault so many disciples were killed. I didn’t want to risk children being used as sacrificial tools, so I purposely held back on recruiting scholarship kids. And because of that, I didn’t have enough… Edward had to -”

“What?! No! No, Vera! That’s not what I’m saying at all! How did you even get to -?” Melissa cut her off, brows pulling together in confusion and frustration. “I’m saying Edward chose to send -”

“Obviously Edward sent them, but if there were more kids like Mr. Morton, there would’ve been less disciples to send that would’ve fit his revenge plan. I’m the reason -”

“He sent Bitsy,” she snapped, eyes blazing with hatred.

“That’s different, Bitsy wasn’t a scholarship kid. She was a legacy -”

“Not by blood. She may not have had her education paid for by the Order, but they never considered her a legacy. Bitsy was looked down on just as much as you were because she was 'just an orphan that got adopted by a bleeding heart Adeptus’ when her parents were murdered. Bitsy was singled out just like you were. She was pushed just as hard as you were. And when her mother died, the Order made it clear that she was never anything more than a wealthy scholarship kid. Bitsy was never meant to become Head Councilor. As far as the Order was concerned, she was recruited and trained with the sole purposed to be sacrificed if the need arose, just like you and you know it.

"The only reason she wasn’t sent out to fight with you that night, was because she was becoming more valuable to Order because she was on track to becoming a judge.  That is the reason she got elected onto Council and that is the reason she wasn’t sent on any of those raids. Though, to be completely honest, if she were in the country when the attacks happened, she still might’ve been sent out alongside you because no one told her what was going to happen before she left. They wanted her out of the way. And in case you somehow forgot, Edward didn’t do a damn thing when you were sent on that suicide mission. He clearly didn’t care that much about scholarship kids being used as sacrifices if it helped further his goals.

“He sent Bitsy into a werewolf den, knowing her death was the most probable outcome, and he liked her. What you did or didn’t do, doesn’t matter. Edward would have sent the same number of students, regardless of their standing or lineage. He didn’t care about keeping them safe. He wanted revenge, for himself, but he wanted power more. So, don’t you dare blame yourself for their deaths when he’s the one that condemned them! Do you understand?!”

Silence hung in the air around them, neither one willing to break it first. Vera knew Melissa would call her on the lie if she tried to act as if she agreed and Vera really didn’t want to get into an argument by disputing the woman’s words. She’d slept last night, but not nearly enough to make up for the nights without it.

Thankfully, she didn’t have to endure the tense silence for long.

A brief flash of annoyance flitted across Melissa’s face when Vera’s phone started ringing, clearly unhappy with the interruption, but she wouldn’t actually get upset about it. Especially when Vera turned the phone towards her so she could see it was Simon calling her.

“Good, maybe he can talk some sense into that stubborn head of yours,” she grumbled, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair, fully intending to stay.

“Mmm, well, he certainly never stops trying,” she quipped, earning an amused smirk from her friend before putting the call on speaker. “Simon, could you please tell Mel that I’m -”

“Aunt Vera?” Maddox’s nervous voice had both their smiles fading as Vera quickly took the call off speaker and held the phone to her ear.

“Maddox, honey? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to talk to you, but uh… Simon said I had to ask first if you had time -”

“I will always make time for you, sweetheart. What’s on your mind?” Her gaze flicked towards Melissa to see the woman smiling softly at her and couldn’t stop the small blush creeping across her face. They’d been friends for twenty years, but seeing her like this wouldn’t be a familiar sight for the redhead.

“Simon said we only had a few more days together and I… I was wondering if maybe I could come home yet?” The hopeful question instantly had her eyes closing as pain rushed through her.

“Maddox, I…” she trailed off, eyes taking in the worried frown on Melissa’s face before turning her chair to face the fireplace. “It’s not safe yet, honey. I’m sorry -”

“Oh, o… okay. I uh… that’s okay, I can wait. You… you haven’t forgotten about me, right?” Pain oozed from his voice and tore through her chest as her head shook.

“No, never. I could never forget about you, Maddox, I promise. I’m going to try something else so hopefully it’ll be safe soon, okay? I am trying -”

“I know. Can I… can you call me before bedtime? We could talk or maybe read some… Or not… that’s stupid, you're busy, never mind… I… I'll let you -”

“Is eight o’clock alright?” she asked in a rush, already recognizing his voice growing more embarrassed and distant as if he was pulling the phone from his ear. There was a beat of silence before his hesitant, ‘Really?’, sounded in her ear, pulling a sad smile from her. “Really, honey. We can read or talk about anything you want, okay?”

“Okay! I’ll stay awake and let Simon know. He… I think he’s worried about you -”

“That's nothing new, Maddox. Simon is always worried about me.” She looked over her shoulder and saw the smug grin the other woman was sending her and raised her brow with a smirk before adding, “So is my other friend, Melissa. They tend to forget that I’m an adult and can take care of myself -”

“Can you?” he asked timidly, worry coating his words and instantly silencing Vera. She cleared her throat a few times, not wanting to lie to Maddox of all people and forced a smile onto her face.

“I don’t know, but I’m trying,” she nearly whispered, not wanting to give Melissa any more ammunition to use against her. “We can talk about it tonight, if you want?” She couldn’t tell him she’d promised to train with a werewolf here. Not at the Temple and not in front of Melissa. But back in the safety of her home, she could try to ease the boy’s fears.

“Okay. Love you.” His words were cheery again, almost too cheery, but the warmth blossoming in her chest made it so she didn’t want to question it.

“I love you too, sweetheart. Be good for Simon and -”

“She’s kidding, give him hell, kid!” Mel chimed in, causing Vera to glare over her shoulder to see a mischievous grin on her friend’s face.

“Language, Ms. Coburn,” Vera snapped, watching the other woman roll her eyes before leaning back in her chair again. “Don’t listen to her, Maddox. She'll just get you and herself in trouble. Could you let Simon know I’ll call him tomorrow?”

She waited for the line to go dead before pulling the phone from her ear and turning back to face her friend, only to see Melissa studying her with unnervingly curiosity. “What?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothing, I just realized that you’d make a really good mom one day.”

Vera’s nails bit into her thigh, teeth clenching to stifle the painful memories before they could take root, and forced a sardonic smile onto her face. “I think I have enough children to look after with my day job, wouldn’t you agree? God only knows what would happen to them if my attention was split.”

“Good point. Not that I’m not happy you stayed and took over, but why did you stay with the Order? After you found out what they did to you, I mean? It just… it never made sense to us that you stayed, much less that you became Temple Magus right after Dawn betrayed you.”

The question was one Vera knew both Simon and Melissa had wanted to ask for years, but never found the courage to do so before now.

Vera’s head cocked to the side as she studied her friend while painful memories of that momentous evening played out in her mind’s eye.

---

“Is this why you singled me out? Why you spent time with me? Defended me? Trained me?” Vera asked as Sophia knelt before her, the woman's hands coming up to lay over the gushing wound in her leg.

“At first, to a degree. As soon as Dad realized what was happening back then, he tried to stop it but a common Adeptus can’t overrule a Temple Magus when it comes to their charges. He changed things when he took over, protected and trained all of his students and he let me help. We wanted to make sure that if it happened again, the students being sent out would have whatever skills needed to give them their best chance at making it out alive. But I… Vera, you were never just someone to train to me. You are my friend and I care a great deal for you. Please tell me you know that?”

Vera let her gaze drop to her lap, lost in memories of the past decade, and slowly nodded. Sophia’s relieved sigh did little to ease her pain though. “I don’t want to be here anymore, Sophia. I can’t be a part of an organization that sends kids out to die for them based solely on their background. Some of those kids are my students this year. I can’t teach those kids knowing that one day, I may have to watch them be sent… I can’t do it, Soph, I won’t. Will you… can you try and find a way to make it so you’re the one that powders -?”

“Please don’t finish that question,” Sophia interrupted, hands reaching out to cradle Vera’s as she stooped down to be eye level with her. “You survived, Vera. You’re here, you’re alive, and you’re going to continue surviving no matter what is thrown at you down the road. You could do amazing things if you stay with us. Change the Order with me. I mean it, Vera,” she added when Vera scoffed with a heavy eye roll.

“Change the Order? You really think it’ll be that easy? You think these people will really change their minds? You are naïve,” she spat, eyes blazing with anger as she held Sophia’s gaze. “Two Adepti. If just two more Adepti were sent out with us, the threat would’ve been taken care of and Robert and Mary would be alive right now, but they weren’t. We were sent out to die while everyone else stayed safe behind Temple defenses, drank champagne and caught up. Even you stayed where you were safe. They won’t change their mind about us, not when it’s obvious they're disappointed that I survived. Besides, it’s not as if I have a voice here anyways. I'm just a -”

“So what?!” Sophia growled. “Look at Edward. He had the same background as you, but he was Belgrave’s Temple Magus and now he’s a Councilor on his way to becoming Grand Magus or Head Councilor. Don’t limit yourself based on what they think you’re worth. You’ve never done it before, so don’t you dare start now. I will find a way to make you Temple Magus here -”

“Everyone knows after Dawn leaves that Joanne is the favored choice to take over,” she muttered, allowing her grief to pull her further into the abyss she was slipping into.

“If you promise me that you’ll keep fighting, then I promise to talk with Edward and my dad. Together, with Bitsy and Ian, you’ll have two from Council, two from Conclave, and the Grand Magus’s vote. That’s already five of the eleven votes. I know Ian and I will be able to convince at least one more Adeptus from Conclave, so you’ll already have the majority, but Edward can probably sway the entirety of the voting Council if I ask. I will make sure you have the ability to protect future students at this Temple at the very least, but you can’t give up on me, Vera. Please don’t ask me to powder you again. I can’t lose you by letting you forget about me. Not when my child will be in this Temple one day.”

Vera let out a sigh as her head shook before meeting blue eyes filled with pain and hope. “I’ll be dead long before that -”

“Eighteen years,” Sophia said quickly, lips twitching up into a brief smile as Vera’s eyes widened in disbelief. “I just found out last week. Nobody knows yet, not even Edward or my dad. I couldn’t risk it getting out and being used against us. Please, Vera. I want you in my child’s life. I want my child to see what the Order should be under your tutelage. We’ll find some way to slow the cancer, just please don’t quit. Don’t give them what they want. Don't let them win again.”

“If I agree, no one can know that I performed the Fors Factorum -”

“I’ll need help, Vera. At least let me tell my dad? We can talk to him together, see if there’s anything we can do?”

Vera wanted to say no. The only other people that knew she was living on borrowed time were Dawn and Linda. The more people that found out she performed the spell, the more likely she’d be pushed to the front lines again. Even if they knew the price of using the magic, they wouldn't change their minds. She was dying anyways, why bother sending someone else?

Her mouth parted to say that, but the fear in her friend’s eyes had her pausing. Vera’s gaze shifted to see Sophia’s hand resting delicately over her abdomen and almost reached out herself as the corners of her lips twitched upwards. She’d barely uncurled her fingers to do so when she saw Sophia’s shirt wicking her blood from her friend’s hand. The sight conjured horrid images of finding Sophia on her back and gasping for air, both hands clutched over a gushing, necrotic wound that refused to heal as it spread over her swollen stomach.

The nightmare stole her breath as if she’d been punched. She couldn’t let that vision become reality.

“Fine, just your dad. But we’re meeting with him tonight to tell him you’re pregnant. Yes, Soph. He needs to know that if it comes down to fighting or running, you’re going to run. I need you to promise me that you’ll run. That you will protect yourself and your baby above all else.”

She had failed her daughter, but she would make sure Sophia didn’t follow in her footsteps. She wouldn’t let her friend feel the despair that came from the death of one’s child.

“Do you promise you’ll be there for them as they grow up? That you’ll teach them and protect them from the cruelty of the world while showing them how to protect and care for others?"

Vera hesitated, not wanting to make empty promises to someone she cared about, before nodding slowly. "For as long as I'm able. That's all I can promise -"

"That's enough. Come, I want to talk with Dad before the twins send the next wave," Sophia said, holding one hand out to help her to her feet.

When Vera started to sway, blood loss, phantom pains of magical trauma, and the rush of adrenaline leaving her dizzy and weak, Sophia carefully guided Vera’s arm over her shoulders to keep her upright. "I've got you, Vee, and I'm not letting go again."

The quiet promise nearly broke Vera's grip on her emotions. Something she knew Sophia picked up on when she felt the woman’s arm tighten to pull her closer against Sophia’s side as they slowly made their way back into the antechamber.

"Adeptus Coventry? Our meeting isn't finished. Where do you think you're going? And with her no less -" Margaret's grating voice had Vera's eyes screwing shut as she scrambled to project an air of indifference, refusing to show weakness in front of the harsh woman.

"In case you haven't realized it yet, Crain, we're still at war. Adeptus Stone, the woman responsible for keeping all of us safe tonight, needs to rest. I have decided that seeing to our friend’s safety by accompanying her home is more important than my continued attendance at this… ‘meeting’, as is my right as a member of Conclave. Unfortunately, it seems you'll just have to spend the rest of the evening droning on and on about your 'perfect' son to someone that actually cares. I'm not interested. Now, if you'll excuse me," she ground out as silence fell on the small crowd beginning to gather around them.

With the little strength Vera still had, she lifted her head – smothering her groan of pain as the motion sent a ripple of pain down her back - to see the death glares both women were sending towards each other and smirked. Despite Margaret being older and a Council member, Sophia held a lot more weight behind her.

It was a rare occurrence that Margaret had to back down, but even rarer was Sophia's temper coming out to play. When it did, she had no qualms about making it clear that she was a Conclave Adeptus, the daughter of the Grand Magus and the wife of the man most likely to become the next Grand Magus when her father retired.

Vera couldn't wait to watch the pompous hag cave before the tiny woman beside her.

"Very well, I'll let Edward know -"

"I assure you, Crain, I am more than capable of telling my husband myself, thank you. Now, why don't you go fetch yourself another glass of champagne so you can actually have a conversation with your own husband, hmm?"

Vera dropped her head to hide the amused grin as Margaret huffed in annoyance before turning on her heel and storming away from them. "You know, not only did you just drive the wedge between Conclave and Council deeper, but you just put a target on your back for her wrath. She's going to find some way to make your life miserable for that one."

"Eh, let her try. She's always thought she's more important than she is. Six years on Council already and she's not even a consideration for Head Councilor because everyone there hates her too." Sophia leaned closer suddenly, lips hovering beside Vera’s ear. "Let's hope you've got a good selection the year itty bitty Greggy is ready to continue the 'Crain legacy'."

"Oh, god. She'd be at the Temple every day if he got in... You know, I'm starting to think your promise is more of a threat," she whispered back, giving a mock shudder at the thought of the snobbish, helpless, nine-year-old being her disciple one day.

"A bit of both, I suppose. Maybe now you’ll understand that you're not allowed to leave me. Oh wait, there's Edward," she said, her voice taking on that sickeningly sweet tone it always got when he was near.

It never failed to turn Vera's stomach.

"Sophie, tell me it's not true?" Edward’s smooth voice curled around them before Vera felt his hand land on her back. Vera balled her hand into a fist and bit her tongue until she tasted blood in an effort to smother the shudder of disgust before lifting her head again.

"Crain's already opened her mouth, I see." Sophia rolled her eyes with a shake of her head before looking up at her husband with a wide smile stretching across her face.

Vera's eyes darted away just in time to miss the kiss Edward gave her friend, thankfully choking back the gag.

"So, it is true? You’re leaving already?" he asked, fingers trailing through her hair as he ignored Vera's presence, much to Vera's relief.

"She’s exhausted and will be in pain when the adrenaline fades. She needs to rest, my love. I just want to make sure she gets home safe and is able to settle in for the night… though, maybe we’ll catch up for a bit -"

"What I'm hearing is you'll be home late?" he interrupted with an amused smile that had Vera fighting not to roll her eyes. "Will you call me to come get you when you're finished with your girl's night? The twins are still out there and I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

Vera wanted to believe he was actually concerned about Sophia, and maybe he was? Though, she couldn't help but hear something false in his tone. Biased history, perhaps? Maybe it was nothing more than that? Sophia had said that he'd changed and Vera had to admit that he at least acted more devoted to Sophia than any women he’d been with in the past. He’d actually gone so far as to marry her, so he could have changed…

No. No matter how much she wanted to believe that was the truth for Sophia ‘s sake, she couldn't forget what he'd done to Chloe. Even if most didn't believe it, Vera knew what he'd done. And who knew how many others there had been? She'd never be able to trust him.

"I promise." Sophia jostled her slightly by standing on her tippy toes for another kiss before carefully turning them around to leave.

"Oh, and Vera? You did good today. Really good." His praise seemed genuine, but like everything else about him, it was tainted by that same undercurrent of wrongness that made Vera suspect he was playing her somehow.

Notes:

Did we all know Sophia was already dead? Yes. Did our Muses still make us fall in love with the character just to hurt us? Also yes. 😭

Chapter 43: Belgrave's Sordid Past: Part Three

Notes:

Sorry again for the delay. We're really hoping things slow down soon so we can get back to weekly posting, but we're not there just yet.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Vera awoke to the feeling of warmth and wetness on her face and instantly tensed. She was still in the woods fighting the necromancers. She hadn't made it back to the Temple like she'd thought. She'd been knocked unconscious and was bleeding out. She was going to die -

"Shh, you're alright, Vera. I'm not going to hurt you."

Her body relaxed at the familiar voice, hoarse with age and exhaustion. "Grand Magus -"

"Charles, please, dear. You know I don't want there to be any titles between us," he chided softly before she felt the warmth brush against her face again.

"Where's Sophia?" She opened one eye to see the older man's gaze focused on her face as he carefully trailed the washcloth over it. He gave her one of his gentle half smiles that never failed to calm her and found her own lips twitching in response.

"You've been out for a while so I sent her to bed. I suspect she'll wake soon though. She tells me I'm going to be a grandfather?" His joy was infectious and Vera nodded happily but knew her tears had escaped when the man frowned, his freehand coming up to swipe a thumb under her eye. "What's wrong, dear?"

"Nothing, I… I'm just scared for her -"

"Because of the brewing war or because of what happened to your Sophia?" he asked quietly, thumb continuing its absent motions as more tears escape.

“You… you know?" she choked out, her bottom lip quivering violently as he nodded sadly. "Does… does she?"

"No. It's not my story to tell, Vera. I had hoped you'd share it with someone, perhaps that Andrew fellow -"

"You remember Andrew?" she asked, eyes widening with fear as he continued cleaning the dried blood from her face and neck.

"Of course, I remember him. I remember all of my neophytes. I was disappointed at the time that he wasn't selected with you, but after today, I... I'm glad he never made it in. He survived and I think you’ll need someone outside the Order -"

"Will they go after him? He was a scholarship kid like -"

"No, I made sure of that when he was powdered. Besides, he's already graduated and moved away. He's safe, Vera, I promise." He held her gaze, willing her to see the truth of his words before she slowly relaxed again.

She nervously bit into her lip as her fingers started playing with the hem of what she assumed was Sophia's shirt. "I… I never told him about her, but I think he knows," she admitted quietly, refusing to meet the older man's gaze.

"Oh?" he prodded gently, giving her the chance to change the topic if she wanted to. Did she?

"I don't know, I could be imagining it, but it was just that… well, wherever it was her… he was always.… He never…" She swallowed her sob, eyes screwing shut before Charles' hand enveloped hers.

"He's a good man and an even better friend. I'm glad you two were able to find each other after he was powdered -"

"When he realized he’d found the last coin and that we weren’t going to make it in together, he made me take it with the promise that whatever happened, I come find him afterwards. He's pushy," she grumbled around a watery laugh, grateful he was guiding the conversation away from her daughter.

"Yes, well, if I remember correctly, you can be rather pushy yourself when you want to be. It makes sense that you'd gravitate towards similar personalities." He grinned down at her before frowning. "The Order failed you. I failed you -"

"No, you didn't -"

"Yes, I did," he cut her off, gaze firm. "I should've warned you from the beginning. The day I became Grand Magus, I should've made it against the rules to continue this barbaric tradition -"

"If you tried, it would've triggered Invocare. I don't blame you, Gran- Charles. Council's reaction tonight showed me how much they love their cannon fodder. They would never let a Grand Magus take it from them. But… maybe Sophia was right? If I'm Temple Magus, maybe I could keep the students at my Temple safe?"

"You can and you will," he said, eyes filling with unshed tears as he guided her head until she was looking at him again. "Sophia told me you were tricked into performing the Fors Factorum two years ago. You're still alive so I know you haven't accessed the full extent of its power before, but… what about tonight?"

"I… I would’ve died if I… I didn't have a choice, I'm sorry -"

"No, no, Vera, I'm sorry. But there’s something I need you to understand about that incantation so you can survive -"

"But I already -"

"I know, but I'm going to help you. Before that, I need you to promise me something. That incantation allows you to do two things that the average practitioner cannot. One, is everyday type spells performed without the use of sacrifice or offerings. 'Free' magic, some call it, but it isn’t free. It advances the cancer with each use, using you as the sacrifice, but it's a slow progression. What I suspect happened to Jeremy and Susan is that they tapped into what some refer to as a separate 'well' of power that the incantation creates. I'm not sure if it's truly a separate source of -"

"It is. I could feel that ‘well’ as soon as I performed it but it was always in the background, something I could have forgotten about and would have needed to reach for. Now, though, I… I feel as if it's something I need to actively focus on suppressing. It’s almost as if I need to fight through it to get access to my normal magic. I was channeling it when I got back to the Temple without realizing it, like my anger accessed it without my conscious mind. But I wanted to use it… I… I want to use it," she said quietly, guilt and shame rising at the unfamiliar desire to flaunt her magic like everyone else.

"That's not your fault, Vera. That part of the incantation is like a drug. All it takes is one taste and you become addicted to it. No matter how strong you are or how much self-control you have, you won't be able to stop using it and it will burn through you in a matter of weeks, months at most. So I need you to promise me that you will never tap that well again. Not without exhausting every possible alternative first -"

"But you just said… I already… If I can't stop using…? How am I…?" She trailed off in confusion as a sad smile tugged at one corner of Charles' lips. "What's going on?"

"Can you promise me not to use it again?" he pressed, both hands moving to grip her shoulders firmly as her lip started quivering.

"Why?" She brought a hand up to latch onto his bicep, dread settling low in her gut as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Do you remember when I told you about the different types of bonds Magi have? Temple Magi have ones with their temples, but the Grand Magus has the entirety of the Order?"

"Yes, but what does -?"

"I'm bound to the Eternal Flame, the physical manifestation of the Order’s magic. I am going to use that connection to force a detox to purge that addiction from you, but I can't do it again so you must refrain from -"

"Why? Why can't you do it again?" Fear crept into her voice, nails biting into his arm as her head shook. "No. No, I don't want this. You have a daughter. A grandchild -"

"That will need you in their lives. I want to know that my daughter will have someone that will keep her safe. I want my grandchild to know and learn from his wonderful aunt. This war, Vera, I… I'm not going to survive it. There are enemies on both sides that needed me to fall. Some closer to home than I originally expected," he paused to study her after that revelation and she knew her expression betrayed her. "You suspect Edward of something as well, don't you?"

"I don't know what I suspect, but I don’t trust him. I can’t. But that doesn't mean you should think he’ll come after -" she argued, brows creasing as she struggled to form an argument he would listen to.

"There's a safety deposit box in Washington D.C. that I need you to keep hidden. I'm going to transfer the concealment spell to you, Mr. Adler, and Ms. Coburn. One of you will be enough to re-layer the concealment every year, but at least two will be needed to break it and gain access to it. It's my way of implementing a system of checks and balances for you three, but mostly it’s to assure you won't close yourself off from them because it may need to be moved someday. Edward can never get his hands on what's inside -"

"What is it?" she asked anxiously, the feeling of dread swirling within her like a maelstrom now.

He hesitated for a few seconds, clearly debating whether or not to tell her before his gaze moved towards the spare bedroom. "A piece of the Vade Maecum Infernal, specifically the piece that explains what is needed to bind oneself to it. If at any point in the future Edward searches for it, I need you to keep it secret and hidden. The sacrifice for that book is the life of your first born. My grandchild. If Edward is as ambitious as I fear, he will want it and he’ll remove any obstacles in his way. Including my daughter and grandchild. I need you to protect them, Vera."

"You can protect them!" she ground out, trying to pull away from his grip as she felt a wave of heat course through her veins. "Charles, stop! I don't want this! Don't kill yourself for me! STOP! CHARLES, STOP!" she screamed when the heat became scalding.

When he refused to stop, Vera closed her eyes and released the grip she’d been keeping on the deadly magic. She let the euphoria of it pull her deeper and deeper, drowning out the building pain and the fear of Charles trading his life for hers. The power continued to grow within her until she could no longer hold it back and let it burst from her without direction, fueled by the need to stop Charles before it was too late.

The grip on her shoulders disappeared, the dip on the couch beside her absent. She'd stopped him.

"See, pushy," he grunted off to her right, irritation and pain lacing his words.

"I'm not letting you trade your life for -" Her words died in her throat the second she turned her head to look at him. "What…?"

More than a dozen bodies littered the floor before her. Half were wearing the ritualistic robes and masks of the Order. The body that held her gaze the longest was the plump figure staring back at her with lifeless eyes, face stuck in a twisted expression of agony.

"I made sure she understood why she didn't get a quick death like the others," Charles said, venom dripping from his voice as Vera’s gaze stayed fixed to Dawn’s corpse. "She'll never hurt another student again."

"What happened?" she whispered, eyes slowly returning to look at the older man. They widened when she saw him still kneeling, hands trembling violently as they clutched his stomach. "Charles? What's wrong?"

She pushed herself off the couch, dizziness and fatigue causing her to collapse before him.

"I told you I wasn't going to survive this war, Vera." His quiet admission held the smallest trace of humor beneath an ocean of guilt and pain.

"No. No, you'll be fine, I'll… I'll heal you. The Fors Factotum can -"

"The necrosis has already started attacking my bloodstream, Vera. There's nothing you can do for me. But there is something I can do for you -"

"Noo, Charles, please. Just tell me what to do to save you. Sophia needs you -" she pleaded, numb fingers lifting the hem of his shirt to see the festering wound. An unconscious whimper slipping from her as trembling fingers reached out to trace a thick spidering vein of black leading towards his heart. "Please tell me what to do -"

He gently gripped her wrists and guided her hands towards his lips, gaze holding hers. "Allow me to give you years, possibly decades, of your life back," he urged, hands moving back to her shoulders. She nodded around her sobs and let him pull her closer until his forehead was resting against hers.

"I'm sorry I brought them here. They wanted me dead and I -" she apologized weakly, fingers curling into his shirt as she felt the heat rush through her veins again.

"No, Vera. This wasn't your fault, dear. They needed me out of the way. You and Sophia showing up made it so I could atone for my mistakes."

"You didn't -"

"I did, Vera. I should've made it so the scholarship kids always washed out. You could've lived blissfully unaware we existed like your friend."

"I never would've met Melissa or Simon or Sophia if you'd done that," she interrupted, another ragged breath escaping when he gave a sad laugh.

"Promise me you won't close yourself off from them? Trust yourself and don't lose trust in your friends."

"I'll… I promise." She felt more than heard his relief with the promise and screwed her eyes shut tighter. "What do I tell everyone?"

"Take credit for these traitors’ deaths. Tell Edward and Bitsy that you were the one to save Sophia and her baby. Sophia already knows I agreed that you should be Belgrave’s next Temple Magus, she'll push for it."

She nodded, unable to speak through the physical and emotional pain as he continued to purge the addiction from her body. It felt like lava was pumping through her veins now instead of blood and the cold breeze from the shattered windows did nothing to stop the sweat from coating her body.

She heard his continued words and fought to stay conscious, sinking her teeth into her lip until she drew blood, pulling herself more alert to hear his last words.

"Be strong and fight every day for what you believe to be right. Become the best Temple Magus the Order has seen in centuries. And… tell someone about your daughter. You've suffered alone long enough, Vera. Let someone com… comfort you."

She didn't have a chance to respond, let alone figure out what her response would be before ice swept through her. It soothed her ravaged body while simultaneously tearing her apart.

When her eyes finally opened, she found Charles lying amongst the dead.

"I promise," she whispered shakily, a trembling hand coming up to close his eyelids. "I promise," she repeated once more, letting it settle deep in her chest, giving her strength to keep going.

---

"Vera?" Melissa asked, pulling her back from her memories. Vera took a steadying breath, shoving down the anguish from that night.

"I made promises to Sophia and Charles that I don't intend to break."

Her response not only answered her friend's question of why she chose to stay with the Order and accept the role of Temple Magus, but it reminded Vera of what she was fighting for. Once again, giving her the strength she needed to continue.

She had failed Maddox and her students already. She wouldn't fail them again.

Notes:

So... Vera isn't *cured* of the Fors Factorum, but she's at least got years of her life back and was made TM thanks to Charles. Oh yeah, and he avenged his students by killing Dawn!

Chapter 44: Authors' Note

Hey all, we took a break for the last three weeks because Quibilah got really sick - she's on the mend now - but in that time, we both stepped back and reflected on things and decided that we want to use our time to focus on making progress on the original story version for this in our own universe. Sorry to all who read and especially those that commented each chapter.

Look for the LoVD series in a few years! And we'll likely come back to this story with a new 'chapter' note with information on the original. Again, sorry and thanks again for those that stayed with us.