Chapter 657: News About Charlotte
Shenka and I stepped out of the veil in the Wilhelm throne room. Sunny approached us immediately, Uncle Frank behind her. I hugged the stunning, blonde queen, feeling the warmth of her body, telling me she'd fed not too long ago. It used to bother me, thinking about how vampires survived, though only peripheral bother. But now I carried the vampire essence inside me, had almost died from being drained of my blood and left a withered mummy, I had a totally different perspective.
Uncle Frank's arms pulled me in, his broad chest just how I remembered it. Every time he hugged me, I felt like I was a little girl all over again, with my tall, handsome uncle looking out for me.
Just because he was a vampire didn't mean he couldn't be the best uncle ever.
Had my vote.
"I don't know how much time we have," Sunny said, taking my hand and leading me toward the back of the throne room. I looked up at the stained glass window, a beautiful, round piece of art depicting Sunny and Uncle Frank, smiling in tinted silicate. The previous one, a more deathly scene, but stunning nonetheless, had been shattered last summer when I freed the Wilhelm Blood Clan from the sorcerer's taint. Nice to see they'd gotten around to replacing it with something happier.
"Applegate promised me she'd stay out of things, but I'm not sure she really meant it." Sunny's chin tilted to the right where a small group of vampires waited, her court always assembled, it seemed. Piotr Wilhelm, my biggest vampire fan aside from Celeste and Pannera Sthol, glared at me before turning and leaving the throne room.
"You do know he's snitching on us, right?" I had no doubt in my mind the handsome, if arrogant and totally misguided, vampire still blamed me for the death of his beloved queen, Yvette. Like it was my fault Batsheva Moromond turned her power-stealing ways from witches to vampires after almost destroying the North American High Council. Or that Yvette hadn't been strong enough to stand against the Brotherhood and Batsheva.
That, I would never feel guilt over.
Sunny sat gracefully on a low divan, her skirts whispering around her. Though she and Uncle Frank had mostly abandoned the vampire's tradition of wearing elaborate court attire, she still dressed more formally than her favorite suits and jeans. I took a seat next to her, Shenka joining Uncle Frank on a matching bench just opposite, the four of us tucked behind the throne dais for a little privacy.
I shuddered at the cold, amping up my demon's power to push back the chill of the air in the old castle. Sunny hissed softly at my personal temperature when she gripped my hand, though she didn't pull away.
"Sorry," she said with a kind smile. "You always suffer the cold here."
"You're just lucky you don't feel it." I shivered, forcing my jaw to relax so my teeth wouldn't chatter. A waft of steam rose from my breath as my demon stepped up the heat. "So why don't you boot Piotr's ass if he's making trouble?"
And trouble was coming, yes indeed. Always did, in the form of Margaret Applegate. No matter what I did, how I shielded, how much I pushed down my power, within ten minutes of arriving at Castle Wilhelm, I was invariably confronted with the arrogant and angry form of European Council Leader and her posse of grim-faced Enforcers. I noticed her Enforcer leader never joined her and often wondered where was Elliot Pearson. The jovial Irish witch at least kind of liked me, though I was positive Applegate's animosity had less to do with personal reasons and more with the Brotherhood's attempt to take her over.
Didn't make me like her any more, though.
Sunny shrugged, pulling away. "You asked about Charlotte."
Ah. Oops. I guess I did step over the line. I'd never accept Sunny telling me what to do with my coven, so fair enough.
"I did," I said. "Thank you for looking into it for me."
She accepted my focus as my apology as much as I did her redirect as a rebuke. Loved her for her class.
"I want you to meet someone." Sunny looked up, gestured. I glanced over Shenka's shoulder, saw a slim, pretty girl emerge from the shadows. No, not a girl. A vampire, her light brown hair rippling with streaks of gold, bright eyes almost the same color. She dipped a bobbing curtsy to me, slender body wrapped in a dark cloak.
"Hi," I said. Looked at Sunny.
"This is Isabelle," the vampire queen said. "She has the news you asked for."
The young woman-vampire-bobbed again, small hands gripped tight before her. "Coven Leader," she said in a refined voice. "When my queen asked for information about the werewolves, I immediately contacted a friend in the Ukraine."
Charlotte's old stomping grounds. That made sense.
I nodded for her to go on.
"I don't know how much you know about werewolves, Coven Leader?"
"Educate me." Yeah, really didn't know much at all. I'd asked a few questions of Charlotte, but she never answered. And though a few of her werewolf friends hung around a bit after she first bonded to me, they left shortly after Mom took over as Council Leader.
A little anger stirred inside me. Aimed at Charlotte. Stubborn, tight-lipped, bratski-
Isabelle shed her robe in a fluid motion, revealing jeans and a black turtleneck sweater. I did a bit of a double take, she seemed so ordinary. Well, except for her beauty, how pale her skin was.
The fact she was undead.
Yeah. Ordinary.
"I was born in the Ukraine," Isabelle said. I could hear the hint of her accent despite her polished tone, the same accent Charlotte struggled with when the weregirl grew emotional. "My family was tied to the faction who created the werewolves so long ago."
"Sorcerers?" I looked at Sunny then back at the vampire girl. "Are you saying you were a sorcerer before you were turned?"
"My father was," Isabelle said. "But my mother was normal. My brothers had power, but my sisters and I were latent. It is often this way with sorcery. The magic falls to one gender or the other in the bloodline."
Another thing I didn't know. Educate me, no kidding.
"So your family was-or is-Brotherhood." I tried not to judge her, but damn it, I'd almost had it up to my aching eyeballs with Liander Belaisle and his crew.
Isabelle shook her head, spiraled waves moving in ripples around her shoulders. "Not at all," she said. "Nor were they Steam Union."
Right. The "good" sorcerers. I had as yet to believe that was possible, though Demetrius Strong had proven a wonderful ally after shaking free of the Brotherhood, and he had originally been part of the mysterious Steam Union at one point. At least, until he lost his marbles.
"The sorcerers who created the werewolves are a small sect," Isabelle said. Was her voice shaking all of a sudden? "Led by a powerful family. They resisted both the Brotherhood and the Steam Union for centuries, keeping to themselves. It was their goal to become Creators." She paused. "To out-create the maji."
Interesting. "I take it they failed." Didn't think my voice could come out any drier without me choking on it.
"They did." A ghost of a smile widened her rosy lips. "The werewolves might be fast healing and very strong, but they lack their own magic. Like vampires, they are magic. But we have access to ours, can use it to our advantage. Werewolves' only ability is their shape shifting and extra strength."
"Which they cannot always control." Sunny patted my knee as she spoke before gesturing for Isabelle to continue.
"The sect was known as the ????? ????, the Black Souls, and, as a way to protect themselves from others, they formed an alliance with the Russian royal family. The earliest Czars always had werewolves as bodyguards and sorcerers as advisors." Isabelle shifted a little on her bench. "You've heard of Grigori Rasputin?"
"He was a sorcerer?" My history lessons came back, a vague memory of a hairy guy women supposedly went nutso over, murdered by the last Czar, Nicholas II, for sleeping with the queen or something.
"He was," she said. "And, at that time, he was the ????? ???? leader. It was his desire to end the reign of Nicholas II, but was murdered before he could bring his plan to fruition." She shivered. "He was a terrible man, but he held sway over the sect and his death marked the turning point where the Black Souls turned against the Imperial family and plotted their removal." She wrinkled her nose. "And Yure Danko took his place."
Why was I not surprised some sorcerers had something to do with world-changing events?
"It was he who conspired to incite the revolution and it was the Black Souls who murdered the last of the Russian Imperial Romanovs." Isabelle's chin dropped, a soft sigh escaping her. "My family, Coven Leader. I worked as a governess for their daughter, Anastasia. All of us did, those without power but connected by blood to the Black Souls. When the Romanovs were killed, when my family betrayed those I loved, I fled the country."
And somehow became a vampire. I was so wrapped up in her story I wanted to ask more. But this was supposed to be about Charlotte.
Isabelle must have realized it at the same moment, because she shook herself a little. "The werewolves were bonded to the Imperial family, but because their creators were the murderers, there was nothing the wolf folk could do. Once a proud and mighty fighting force, forced to watch their bonded die, the werewolves descended into despair."
I flinched, remembering Charlotte's death. "Assholes," I said.
"Agreed," Isabelle said. "This was a huge blow to their ca?." I'd heard that word before. Charlotte told me about it when she refused to leave me even though her life was in mortal danger at the time I was held by the vampire queens. Isabelle wrinkled her nose. "The closest I can come to in translation is 'blood honor'. The werewolves stood on their word, were known to be faithful and courageous to the very end. But once their souls were broken, they never recovered." Another pause. "Well, most of them."
Whatever that meant. I didn't get a chance to ask.
"And now?" Shenka's voice startled me. I'd forgotten she was there.
"Now," Isabelle said, "they are a pack of bullies, used by the Black Souls sect, forced to do their bidding, reduced to thugs and animals." Anger ran under her voice, words shuddering with it. "The sorcerers use them to control the mafia."
Um, what?
Isabelle's lips twisted as she smiled a little. "Yes," she said. "I see your surprise. But it is the ????? ???? which created and control the majority of organized crime in Europe."
So the Brotherhood weren't the only ones taking on normals as targets.
Sorcerers sucked.
"The werewolves remain low in numbers, partly because of a very strict breeding program." Like they really were animals. That core of anger fanned into smoking coals at the thought of Charlotte being treated like cattle. "And all but one family has succumbed to the pressure of the sect, owned by them but refusing to bow to their rule."
Oh hell yeah. "Let me guess," I said. "Charlotte's family." Because, that would be just like her, wouldn't it?
Isabelle nodded, but sadly. "It is true," she said. "But their numbers are small, and dwindle further every generation. If Charlotte can't be saved, it is possible her loss could finally mean the end to the werewolf royal family."
Wait. Saved?
Hang on. Royal family?
Holy.
***
