Wolves and Men

The Elder took a deep breath and gathered her hair behind her. She rested against the bars of the cage. “Who are you, Kenneth?”

He turned his head in surprise at the question. “You should be more worried about the question I asked you.”

Ansuya’s voice dropped an octave and took on a very sweet sultry tone. “I want to know about the man in front of me. Who are you, Kenneth? You don’t really care about werewolves. What is it you truly want?”

The tone was unexpected and he found himself wanting to answer the question. This woman was even more dangerous than he had learned so far. Her reserves of strength and endurance were beyond anything he had experienced. She was using some sort of control on him, maybe from the moment he stepped down to the basement. It wasn’t like his domination, it was more subtle than that, far more seductive and very, very dangerous.

He slowly made himself stand up even though he wanted to stay. Without a word he forced his legs to carry him away from the woman in the cage. The farther away he got from her, the easier it was to move. But the pull to go back was such a pleasant thought. He moved away and kept himself locked on the idea of getting out of the basement.

When he reached the interior of his house, on the other side of the basement door, he turned and locked it without allowing himself to think about it and sat down. He was very glad to sit down in his chair once more. The bitch had wanted him down there with her. She had kept him there and stalled for time so that whatever she had tried to do to him could take hold. He cursed his legs and mind for falling into such an obvious trap. He knew that she was a viper in a rabbit hole, but he hadn’t expected to learn that he was the rabbit.

He looked up at the clock, it read 5:45 am, and soon the sun would rise. It was time for him to sleep. He had wasted another night in contemplation of what to do with that woman downstairs and he had almost played right into her hands. If he hadn’t been trained so well by his master and teacher Alessandro, he might be letting her out of her cage right now, enslaved to her power. He would rather commit suicide by sunlight then allow himself to ever be enslaved by anyone, especially a hairy animal like a werewolf, no matter how beautiful their outward appearance may be.

He made his way upstairs. Natalia was waiting for him. He didn’t have the energy to deal with her right now. “What is it?” he sighed.

She tucked her hands behind her back forcing her chest out. She looked him directly in the eyes; there was no playfulness there regardless of how her stance might appear. “Something happened earlier that you will want to look into.”

Kenneth rubbed his eyes, he was more tired than he had thought and he wanted rest, the sun would rise soon. His house windows had been heavily draped so no sunlight would get in but he just wanted to sleep. “I don’t have time for games, Natalia. What happened,” he said a touch harshly.

His mate replied coldly, “One of your clubs was burned to the ground.”

It took him a moment to understand what it was he had just heard. One of the clubs? “Which one?”

She answered, “Does it really matter? What’s strange is that the preliminary arson investigators have found no accelerant at the presumed base of the fire. Faulty wiring is assumed to be the cause.” She turned her head and looked at a window at the end of the hall, its black curtain still as death against the oncoming sunrise. “What does that tell you?” she asked.

Kenneth pursed his lips. Faulty wiring could be the cause? Just a coincidence? If it was faulty wiring then why hadn’t the staff there delt with the flames early on? Any vampire could smell burning rubber and sparked copper a mile away. He knew exactly what that meant and his anger flared. He replied simply, “Werewolves.”

Natalia nodded, “That was my guess too. Does it have anything to do with that bitch we have downstairs?” she jerked her head down toward the basement.

He didn’t know. It was pretty pointless to have a distraction a half a city away, that he hadn’t even learned about till now. And if the investigation is already underway that meant it happened at least a few hours ago. He had been sitting in his chair thinking about what to do with Ansuya a few hours ago! There was something going on. He didn’t know what it meant, but maybe the wolves had decided to start making a nuisance of themselves again? It was a bold stroke even for them. But ultimately pointless, they had clubs all over the city. Even this one would be rebuilt, such a reckless gambit which afforded them very little. No, the wolves never did anything just because; there was a specific reason for this hit.

“What club was it?” he asked again.

“I can’t remember, my mate. I do know that it was owned by House Dukart,” she answered.

Coincidence? He didn’t believe in coincidences. Were the wolves trying to find their lost Elder? Or something else. “Did anything else happen tonight?”

His mate nodded her head. “Yes, but you won’t like it.”

Kenneth let anger flash in his eyes, he didn’t have time for games. “Natalia? What else happened?” he said with a deadly quiet.

Her eyes widened in fear upon recognizing his tone and voice. “One of the Farm’s got raided earlier this morning.”

Kenneth closed his eyes and tried to hold back his rage. He took a step over to a side table and brought his hand down through the stained finished surface, smashing the delicate router work edges and splintering the smooth polished top. He had felt that something had gone wrong tonight. He had been convinced that it was just the Elder in his basement that was frustrating him. The club could be repaired in months, but the Farm? It would take a year at least to get that place back up and running!