Demon’s Moon

The Second Novel in the Thaumatology Series

By Niall Teasdale

Copyright 2011 Niall Teasdale

Kindle Edition

Contents

Part One: The Science of Magic

Part Two: The Wolves of London

Part Three: The Fair One

Part Four: Ragnarök

Part Five: Yule

Part One: The Science of Magic

Holloway, London, November 15th, 2010

The huge form of a transformed werewolf loomed over Ceri. Massive and black furred, he moved with lithe grace, despite his huge size. She had her back to him, concentrating on the display console in front of her, and did not notice his approach until a pair of huge hands, each finger tipped with a long, sharp, black claw, landed on her hips and began to slide up to her ribs.

Ceri gasped sharply and then giggled. ‘Alec, stop that,’ she said. ‘Save it for Cheryl.’ The big hands slid around to her breasts, groping them through her London Metropolitan University T-shirt, and she swatted at one of them. ‘Oi! Don’t make me zap you!’

Alec whined, but let her go, rather reluctantly and backed up into the containment circle. He slumped down onto the granite slab, looking like a kicked puppy; not an easy feat for a creature who could have torn Ceri in half without breaking a sweat. He was surrounded by three columns of high resolution, slit-scan thaumometer heads all hooked up to the instruments Ceri was working at. The lab was the perfect place to work now that the thaumic accelerators had been taken out; lots of space and isolated from the other university buildings. The isolation had been paranoia over what might happen in the High-energy Thaumatology Building… right up until the time Ceri and her boss, Doctor Cheryl Tennant, had almost blown up central London earlier that year.

Ceri smiled and turned to Alec. ‘These results look excellent,’ she said. ‘Thanks for doing this again.’ Alec rumbled something which was probably “no problem,” but werewolf throats were not built to make intelligible sounds; unless you were another wolf, of course. ‘This time, I want to record the reverse transform too,’ she added. ‘So give me a nod when you’re ready and I’ll start up the recorders.’

Alec held up a hand, finger and thumb curled into an “ok” sign. His eyes roamed over Ceri and he ran a very long tongue over his huge, very pointy, teeth. Alec, the man behind the wolf, fancied Ceri even though he had something of a relationship with Cheryl. Alec, the wolf, had the same impulse control issues that most werewolves had. Ceri trusted Alec with her life, had trusted him to keep her safe from a vampire assassin, but she was not sure she trusted him with her body. Still, it had seemed impolite to use a Wolfsbane amulet to keep him off.

The big wolf-man climbed to his feet, giving Ceri a nod. It took a minute or two before any of the were-forms could change back due to the energy needed in the transformation. She was a little surprised he could do it so fast, but she started up the recording system. ‘When you’re ready,’ she said.

Ceri did not actually need the instruments to watch the effects she was recording. Her Sight let her see the growing field of thaumic energy blossom around Alec as the transformation started. It was this ability which had allowed her to see it for the first time, when a foolish young were had got over-excited in the Jade Dragon, the nightclub where Alec worked as the bartender. The field grew, spreading out like the classical field lines around a magnet, and then collapsed back inward. As the energy of the field imploded there was an instant where Ceri could see both the man and the wolf superimposed upon each other, and then there was just the man, naked and panting in the middle of the circle.

Turning, Ceri shut down the recording and set the machine to collate the data for display. When she turned back, Alec had slipped into a towelling dressing gown he had brought with him. ‘Thanks,’ she said again. ‘It’s really good of you to do this for me.’

‘Hey anything for my favourite…’ He paused, considering. ‘For my joint-favourite thaumatologist. And, uh, sorry about… y’know?’

Ceri smirked. ‘It’s kind of flattering,’ she said, ‘having a guy unable to control himself in my presence.’

‘Huh,’ Alec grunted. ‘Total pain in the arse from my perspective. Don’t get me wrong, I got nothing against being a werewolf, I just wish the wolf form came with proper vocal cords and without the heightened instincts.’

‘You think you’ve got it bad,’ Ceri replied, ‘I’ve got a true lycanthrope coming in here on Sunday night.’

Alec’s face hardened. ‘Damn, Ceri,’ he said, ‘you sure that’s safe?’

‘I really need to scan a lick along with as many true weres as I can manage,’ Ceri said, ‘and Sunday night is as safe as it’s going to get. I have planned this out, y’know?’

‘Still… I assume you’ll have Lily there to help, I’ll come down too.’ Ceri grinned at him. ‘Which is why you told me,’ he said, sagging at being suckered into volunteering.

Ceri giggled. ‘Did you get word to Dane about coming down here?’

‘I sent word,’ Alec said. ‘May be a while before they get it.’

‘Nomads, yeah,’ Ceri said, nodding.

‘Oh,’ Alec said, ‘in the meantime, you heard about the new dancer at the Collar Club?’

‘New one? I have Jasmine, Tilly, and Pat coming in over the next couple of weeks, and Jasmine says she can get me two male werefoxes to study…’

‘Ah,’ Alec said, ‘but the new girl’s not a fox. Her name’s Naira. She’s from Brazil.’

Ceri’s eyes lit up. ‘A cat?’

‘Were-panther,’ Alec said, grinning at her enthusiasm. ‘She’ll be dancing for the first time on Wednesday, but if you talk nicely to Carter she’s in tomorrow practicing. You might get to talk to her then.’

Ceri beamed, bouncing slightly on her toes. ‘Oh wow, I’ve never met a were-panther before.’

‘As I recall,’ Alec said as he gathered his clothes to get dressed, ‘you hadn’t met a werewolf until Lily introduced you to me a couple of months ago.’

Kennington

High Towers stood in its lot near Kennington Park, dark and brooding as always. The windows were dark, some were broken, and cobwebs hung, thick and grey with dust, in the corners. It looked like a set for a horror movie, which was exactly what Ceri’s mother had wanted when she had crafted the illusion.

Walking up the path from the park, she went in through the side gate and a shimmer of light flickered around her; the house was welcoming home its mistress. Grinning, she walked up the path to the side door and into the second kitchen. The room was spotless; Twill, the fairy who lived in the attic, kept the room clean and it was never used. Her mother had had it put in for brewing potions and Ceri was not a witch. In fact, Ceri had avoided the room entirely until recently. It reminded her of her mother and she had tended to avoid things which did that.

The house was quiet as she walked through into the huge hall and then on into the kitchen where Twill was busy making dinner. The nut-brown fairy hovered in mid-air on feathery, blue wings flicking rapidly though, in practice, it was magic which kept her there. She was dressed only in a tiny, white apron with “Kiss the cook” printed on it. Around her, spoons stirred of their own accord, knives chopped vegetables apparently on their own, and then the chopped produce lifted into the air and dropped into the stew.

‘Hey, Twill,’ Ceri said. ‘That smells good.’

The four inch tall woman turned in the air. ‘Thank you, Ceri,’ she said, ‘and welcome home. How did the test go with Alec?’

‘Good,’ Ceri said. ‘The data looks excellent. I think I can get nuances from the analysis that the basic scan we had before couldn’t give me. Can’t wait to compare his data against the scans from the North Hills wolves.’ She grinned. ‘And I only got groped a bit.’

‘Better luck next time,’ the fairy said, and the sound of wind chimes floated through the kitchen; Twill’s version of laughter.

Ceri chuckled. ‘Where’s Lily?’ she asked.

‘Oh yes,’ Twill replied, ‘she’s been lying on the chaise longe in the study all afternoon with that… tablet thing of yours watching videos of some kind.’

‘Okay,’ Ceri said, turning back toward the door.

‘You’ve got about ninety minutes before I dish up,’ Twill added. ‘I’d suggest taking your clothes off first to save time.’

Ceri ignored her and headed up the stairs, turning right on the landing to go into the study. Sure enough there was a naked woman sprawled on the lounger holding a tablet PC. From the wash of heat Ceri felt pass over her as she walked into the room, Lily was watching porn videos again. Ceri schooled her features into a look of disapproval and marched into the room.

‘And what do we have here?’ Ceri said sternly.

Lily looked, wide-eyed, over the top of the tablet and tapped the screen quickly. Groaning sounds were cut off suddenly. ‘I was just, uh…’ Lily began.

‘Watching porn on my tablet again,’ Ceri said, hands on hips, ‘which I expressly asked you not to do, as I recall.’

Lily looked up at her with jet-black eyes. The woman was unnaturally beautiful, her skin porcelain smooth, her eyebrows perfectly arched. Thick, chestnut hair fell in waves over breasts which defied gravity and the rest of her body, down to the long, toned legs, was to die for. Then again, “unnaturally beautiful” was an apt description, Lily was a half-succubus. Right now her bottom lip was actually quivering pensively.

‘What,’ Ceri said, ‘would be a suitable punishment, do you think?’

Lily promptly sat forward and produced a paddle and a riding crop from behind her back, offering Ceri a choice of weapon.

~~~

They were still exploring their rather strange relationship. Neither of them were lesbians; Ceri was quite sure she was straight and Lily was… Lily. However, since Ceri had had her power as a sorceress unlocked by a massive surge of thaumic energy, Lily’s demonic side had fixed on her. Succubi, like most demons, sought out powerful magicians so that they could either take control of them, or become their pets, gaining power as a reward for subservience. Ceri had almost ended up as Lily’s slave, but had managed to overcome her demonic side, and that meant that, effectively, Ceri had a pet demon.

Occasionally, Ceri had to assert her position, making sure that the demon part of Lily’s personality knew who was the mistress, but in practice that happened relatively infrequently. Lily was basically just a kinky creature who liked sex and took the opportunity to get it whenever she could. No, Ceri thought as she lay on the lounger with Lily’s head resting on her shoulder, that was unfair. Lily’s nature meant that she knew people’s desires, and that meant that today’s little scene had been set up because Ceri had thought of it when she had told her friend off for using the tablet.

They were still very much at the “trying things out” stage. Ceri had had one fumbling affair in college which she was trying to forget. Despite her preferences in sexual partner, Ceri was having more fun with Lily than she had ever had with a man. She was no natural dominatrix, however, which made playing one for Lily harder than she had expected. She was rather glad that, most of the time, Lily seemed very content to cuddle up and just be near her.

Twill zipped into the room, a ball of glowing blue light which resolved into a tiny woman as she came to a stop above them. ‘Your dinner is ready,’ she said.

‘Thanks, Twill,’ Ceri said. She was starving. Succubi fed through a process which siphoned energy from their partner’s Tantric Median during sex. Some enterprising thaumatologist had got a grant once to observe people having sex with one of the same systems Ceri had used on Alec; The Metaphysical Orgasm had been a bestseller as well as proving that the eventual climax was the result of a massive surge passing up the Tantric Median from the genitals to the brain. By draining energy during this process, succubi could prolong that climactic rush for an almost unbearably long time. It was amazing, addictive, and exhausting.

‘Food would be good,’ Lily said sleepily.

‘You’ve just eaten,’ Ceri said. ‘Get yourself up so I can.’

Lily disentangled herself with grace born of demon heritage, allowing Ceri to stand, and they went down to the kitchen where bowls of stew were awaiting them. Ceri began to eat as soon as her behind was on the chair. Lily was a little more sedate about it. It was true that she needed solid food just like any normal human, but her recent meal of thaumic energy had, indeed, taken the edge off her appetite.

Twill settled onto the table and picked up a thimble of honey thinned with alcohol. Her eating habits tended to be a little repellent, so she generally ate in her attic, but she sometimes sat down with them when she was feeling sociable. ‘So,’ the fairy said, ‘you think this study will provide you with suitable material for your thesis, Ceri?’

Ceri remembered to swallow before speaking; Twill could get really sarcastic when you spoke with your mouth full. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘no one’s ever documented the mechanism before. And I get this feeling that there are nuances to it that will make for some interesting discoveries.’

‘Well Carter is really pleased with the detector system in the Collar Club,’ Lily put in. Ceri had suggested that a thaumometer installed at the tables could detect the unusual energy pattern during the early stages of a transformation, giving the staff an early warning. Sure enough it had worked. ‘He reckons it’s saved him thousands in damages and bad publicity.’

‘I may be able to improve the sensitivity,’ Ceri mused, ‘but it’s the additional information that I find interesting.’

‘Like the cascade pulse?’ Lily asked.

Ceri nodded. ‘The pulse that werewolves send out at the end of their transformation explains some of the effect,’ she said, ‘but not all of it. One werewolf changing sometimes triggers nearby ones to change, but not always, and it seems like it’s more probable among members of the same pack. So why? And is it more likely to happen if it’s a pack’s Alpha who changes?’ She forked more stew into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

‘And there’s the lick you’ve got to study?’ Lily said.

‘Might I suggest not calling him that on the night?’ Twill suggested.

‘Alec doesn’t mind when I call him one,’ Lily said.

‘Probably because he isn’t,’ Ceri pointed out, ‘and you mean it in fun. True lycanthropes possibly just consider it an insult.’

Lily shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t anyway. I’ll be too busy being worried.’

‘I’ve got everything covered,’ Ceri said. ‘He’s pretty used to it by now so he knows all the countermeasures. I’ve got you and Alec there, just in case. And just in case the “just in case” fails, I’ll have anti-virals there to treat anyone who gets bitten.’

‘It does sound like you’ve thought of everything,’ Twill said reassuringly. ‘Who is “he”?’

‘Oh, Professor Mallow, he’s a friend of Cheryl’s. He teaches cryptozoology.’ She made a little grimace. ‘He got bitten on a field trip in France about five years ago. It took almost two days for him to get to help and by then… Well, the anti-virals are only guaranteed to work inside of twenty-four hours and then it tails off…’

‘Which is why you’ll have some on hand,’ Twill said, nodding. ‘You do seem to have considered everything.’

‘Cheryl and Professor Mallow reviewed the experiment plan,’ Ceri said. ‘They were quite happy with it. I mean, experimental thaumatology is what I do.’

‘Doesn’t mean I can’t worry,’ Lily said.

Ceri smiled at her. ‘No, no it doesn’t. It’s kind of cute really.’

Lily looked thoughtful. She shrugged. ‘I can live with cute. Sexy, irresistible, the object of fantastically intense wet dreams, that’s preferable, but I can live with “cute.”’

Soho, November 16th

The staff entrance of the Collar Club was down a back alley off Dean Street, a black-painted panel door mounted in a reinforced frame, and with a spy-hole in it. There was also a pair of video cameras mounted nearby so Ceri was not really surprised when the door opened as she approached. A familiar face topped off with close-cropped, strawberry-blonde hair poked out.

‘Hey, Ceri,’ Jasmine said, her eyes shifting back to the two people following her. ‘And Cheryl. Who’s your friend?’

It was Cheryl who answered. ‘Hi Jasmine. This is Peter Mallow, Professor Peter Mallow. I hope Carter doesn’t mind, Peter’s a cryptozoologist and when he heard about…’

Jasmine waved the rest of the explanation away. ‘I get it,’ she said, ‘and I’m sure it’ll be fine. Y’know Carter can’t refuse you anything.’

Ceri saw the blush on her boss’ cheeks. Carter Fleming, owner of the Collar Club and a bunch of other nightclubs around the country, was known to the world as a very rich playboy who dated pop stars, porn stars, actresses, and models, usually for one night. Somehow, a thirty-something university researcher in thaumatology had attracted his attention. Ceri thought it was weird, but mostly because her middle-aged mentor got more action, male action anyway, than she did!

Jasmine backed up, letting them in and closing the door behind them. ‘They’re on the main floor,’ she said. ‘Go on through.’

The back corridors of the club were dark so it was not until they had made it through to the changing rooms for the floor staff and dancers that Professor Mallow realised that the buxom young werefox who was escorting them was dressed in three patches of fabric precariously attached in strategic locations with string. His Adam’s Apple bobbed like a cork.

Cheryl noticed and laughed. ‘It is a strip club, Peter,’ she said. ‘We’re going to meet an exotic dancer, not a nun.’

Mallow was in his mid-forties, slightly balding, but aging fairly well. He had the look of a man who took his work very seriously, probably too seriously, and the half-glasses did not help in the least. Jasmine smiled at him and his cheeks glowed. ‘Well, yes, obviously,’ he said. ‘I’m, uh, just…’ He grinned sheepishly at the dancer. ‘I don’t get out much.’

Jasmine sniffed. ‘Especially around full moon?’

Mallow blanched. ‘Yes, unfortunately.’

‘Sorry,’ Jasmine said, ‘it’s got to be…’

‘Something of a curse,’ Mallow supplied. ‘One learns to control it. Or rather to contain it for a couple of nights a month.’

‘Must be hard though,’ Jasmine said. ‘Gotta be strong to deal with it.’ The compliment had the intended effect; Mallow stood up straighter and looked rather proud. ‘C’mon,’ Jasmine added, ‘Naira’s dancing. You’ll want to see this.’ She led the way through to the door which led to the main floor and around the screen which hid it from the customers.

Up on the stage, lit by several bright spotlights, a jet-black furred cat-woman was swinging around the chromed steel pole. She was built like a gymnast; long muscles flexed as her body twisted into positions impossible for a human spine. Her long tail twisted with her, providing balance where needed, or simply curling sensuously to add to the effect. Mallow stood watching with his jaw hanging open. Cheryl and Ceri were a little more composed, but stood watching the girl writhe on the stage in amazement. Even Jasmine stood watching in silence until the throbbing music finally came to a finish and Naira came to a stop.

Everyone clapped. Ceri’s attention was drawn to the sound of hands slapping together coming from one of the booths, followed a second or so later by Carter emerging from the shadows. He was less the playboy millionaire today, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans, but he still managed to look like the smooth operator he was. His ash-blonde hair was elegantly and perfectly cut, the result of an expensive barber. For a man in his fifties, he was doing very well. There was a silk wrap draped over his shoulder and he placed it on the stage beside Naira. ‘Excellent, my dear girl,’ the club owner said. ‘Truly excellent.’

‘She’s amazing,’ Jasmine said. ‘She’s going to be really popular. Her boobs aren’t the biggest, but the way she moves… Customers’ll be queuing up for her.’

Ceri was watching the stage. Her Sight was not as precise as the scanning equipment at the lab, but it was more portable. Naira had already begun the change process; Ceri could see the thaumic field starting to contract. As it collapsed completely there was the usual moment where woman and cat-woman existed in the same space, and then she was looking at a naked, attractive, dusky-skinned woman with a cap of silky, blue-black hair. She had features which suggested a native South American background, though her cheeks were narrower and there was a hint of some Spanish blood in the nose.

Naira reached out and picked up the robe, standing to pull it on. ‘Thank you, Mister Fleming,’ she said. She had a soft, Spanish accent which gave her voice a purring quality. ‘Who are our guests?’

‘Ah yes,’ Carter said, turning with a smile. ‘Naira, may I introduce Ceridwyn Brent. I mentioned her earlier.’

‘Yes, the lady who wants to study the way I change,’ Naira said, ‘I remember.’

‘And this stunningly attractive young woman is Doctor Cheryl Tennant,’ Carter went on making Cheryl blush profusely, ‘who I suspect is here with the excuse that she’s Ceri’s supervisor.’

Cheryl nodded. ‘I could hardly miss out on meeting a were-panther and seeing you,’ she said. ‘And this is Peter Mallow, Professor of Cryptozoology at the Metropolitan. Technically, were-creatures don’t come under his auspices…’

‘But the cat-variants are simply too rare in Europe to miss the opportunity,’ Mallow said. He stepped forward, offering his hand to Carter. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mister Fleming. Obviously I’ve heard a lot about you.’

‘All of it bad, I’m sure,’ Carter said with a grin. He took Mallow’s hand in a firm grip.

Mallow glanced at Cheryl. ‘By no means all of it has been bad, no,’ he said.

‘Peter and I have been friends for years,’ Cheryl said.

‘Shall we sit?’ Carter suggested, leading the way to one of the booths which ringed the outer edge of the room. Each had a low table set further away from the bench seats than seemed comfortable, designed to accommodate both drinking and table dances. Cheryl sat next to Carter, who placed an arm along the back of the seat and across her shoulders. Naira elected to sit beside Ceri, who was the one who she had actually been told was coming, while Mallow perched on the end of the bench diametrically opposite the dancer, looking slightly uncomfortable. And then Jasmine shoed him further into the booth and sat beside him, which made him look like a pot about to boil over.

‘So,’ Naira said, ‘Mister Fleming tells me that you wish for me to change while you record it?’

‘Sort of,’ Ceri said. ‘We discovered…’

‘You discovered, Ceri,’ Carter corrected her. ‘Don’t be modest.’

Ceri smiled at him. ‘Okay, I discovered a couple of months ago that werewolves give off a very specific pattern of thaumic activity just before they transform. We ran a test here with Alec and Jasmine, and found the same pattern in werefoxes.’

‘We use a device here based on that discovery,’ Carter interjected. ‘It gives us advance warning when a were is getting… over-excited.’ He grinned. ‘It’s been a lot safer around here since we installed it. I’m rolling it out into the other clubs, Ceri. Worth its weight in gold.’

‘Glad to be of help,’ Ceri said. ‘Anyway, we have far more accurate, specialist equipment at the university and I want to do a full study of the effect, on as many weres as I can. Learn all about it. I scanned Alec yesterday, Jasmine and a couple of the other girls are coming in to do it, and I hopefully have a whole werewolf pack coming in to be recorded, and Professor Mallow is getting scanned on Sunday night. I’d really like to compare your results to the European species.’

Naira glanced across at Mallow, frowning slightly. ‘You will pardon me, please,’ she said. ‘Brazil is not a heavily developed country and our education system is yet weak. I do not understand this “thaumic?” And the Professor is a werewolf?’

‘I’m a lycanthrope,’ Mallow said. ‘Ah, but the disease is not common in South America, you may not have heard of it.’ She shook her head and he explained. ‘The Reoviridae Lycanthropia virus. It’s a distant relative of influenza which brings about genetic alterations in the victim. Under high stress, or the light of the full moon, I turn into a wolf-man. It’s different from a werewolf. I remember little of what happens. I become little more than a beast until I calm down or the moon sets.’

Naira shuddered. ‘That sounds terrible. There is no cure?’

‘Not currently. If caught quickly it can be arrested before the damage is done.’ Mallow gave a weak smile. ‘I believe they are working on gene-therapy treatments to reverse the effect.’

‘”Thaumic,”’ Cheryl said, ‘is just a posh scientific word for “magic.” Well, mostly for the energy used in magic. Ceri, show off for our new friend.’

Ceri blushed and raised her right hand, the fingers slightly cupped. Concentrating, she summoned up a ball of soft, blue energy which sat in her palm gently shimmering. Naira’s eyes widened. ‘Thaumic energy,’ Ceri said. ‘In the fifties they discovered that this is composed of a lot of tiny particles called “thaumitons.” The ones magicians use are positively or negatively charged and have a little bit of mass. This same energy is what weres generate to make them transform.’ She closed her hand and the ball of energy vanished to the nowhere it had come from.

‘This is very new to me,’ Naira said, ‘this… science of magic. The Church in Brazil is very strong. They say “magic” is evil, something the forest tribes use, doing deals with the Devil. They say I am evil and then they come hunting me with magic they say is good because it comes from God. This is why I leave.’

‘We hear very little out of South America,’ Carter commented. ‘There’s some trade with Brazil through Rio, but the Church keeps the country beyond locked up tightly from what I understand.’

Naira nodded. ‘They say that demons and horrors came from the jungle when the world shattered. Priests called upon God to save the world and angels came, and since then the Church has been the State. They take young men for the army, to fight along the border. Church attendance is required, every day. Anything which does not fit in with their beliefs is hunted down and killed. It is no place for someone such as me.’

‘So, how did you end up in London,’ Ceri said, ‘and working for that reprobate?’ She waved a hand at Carter, who bowed his head in acknowledgement.

‘When my parents… died,’ Naira said, ‘I managed to get aboard a ship bound out of Rio harbour. I had no idea where it was going.’

‘She turned up in Southampton,’ Carter said. ‘Of course, she was arrested as soon as she got off the boat. Luckily for both of us, a friend of mine in Border Control contacted me and I sponsored her immigration request.’

‘Where did you learn to dance like that?’ Ceri asked. ‘I mean, it’s amazing, the grace, the sensuality. I just can’t believe you learned that in a church state.’

Naira smiled, showing her fangs a little. ‘Oh, I did not learn. I have always danced. I would go out of our village into the forest and dance among the trees.’ She looked up at the stage. ‘The pole was something new, but Jasmine was kind enough to show me her dancing yesterday.’

‘She’s a natural,’ Jasmine said. ‘Of course, in cat-form her body can do things a normal human body just can’t do, but even in human form she picks up dance moves quickly and she’s really intuitive about sensing the music and going with it.’

The were-panther shifted a little uncomfortably, her cheeks colouring. ‘You are too kind,’ she said. ‘I see how you dance. It will be long time before I am as good as you.’

Jasmine laughed. ‘Hun, you won’t need to be as good as me. Trust me, the punters’ll be eating out of your hand as soon as they see you.’

‘We’ll start you just on the stage,’ Carter said. ‘There’s more money to be made on the tables, but you’ll need some training for that. I’m sure Jasmine will be happy to take care of that.’ Jasmine nodded, rather enthusiastically.

‘Thank you,’ Naira said, and then turned back to Ceri, ‘and I should be happy to help you with your experiment. I was told that my shape-shifting was the gift of the Devil, I should like very much to know what it really is.’

‘Well, I’ll do my best to show you,’ Ceri said, grinning and patting Naira on her hand, which was resting on the nearest thigh. The were-panther smiled back warmly.

Kennington

‘Have you met Naira yet?’ Ceri asked. They were sat in the study, Ceri going over Alec’s scan data on her tablet while Lily just lounged and kept her company.

‘Not yet,’ Lily replied. ‘Jasmine says she’s an awesome dancer.’

‘She is,’ Ceri said. ‘Actually… I’m going to get a dance pole to put up in the dungeon.’ She said it in a rush so that she could not change her mind.

‘Really?’ Lily said, grinning wide enough to show her fangs. ‘Why?’

‘Well, I heard it was great exercise,’ Ceri said, ‘and it sure looked like it. I figured you could teach me and dance for me, and it’s something else to cuff you to.’ She grinned at the last part. The dungeon was one of the three rooms down in the cellar and had been her mother’s summoning room. Lily had turned it into a dungeon partially so that they could play dominatrix and sub down there, but also because she was able to lock herself in behind a door of magic resistant metal when she felt her demon side was getting too strong. It was Lily’s personal safety net for when her confidence failed her. So far it had worked very well since, knowing it was there, she had never had to use it.

‘That’d be great!’ Lily enthused. ‘I’d love to dance for you. I might be a little rusty though, I haven’t danced for a few years now.’ Before becoming the head waitress at the Jade Dragon, Carter’s most prestigious nightclub, Lily had seen a lot of the less savoury side of the sex industry. Pole and lap dancing had been some of the nicer things she had done for money before Carter had hired her for the night and ended up taking her under his wing.

Ceri laughed. ‘Lil, hun, the way you move I can’t imagine “rusty” ever being a valid term for your dancing.’

Lily was about to answer when they heard the sound of a motorbike engine outside. ‘Dane, you think?’ Lily asked.

‘I’ll go see,’ Ceri replied, putting her tablet down. Lily started to stand as well. ‘Uh, you’re naked, Lil,’ Ceri said. ‘I doubt Dane would complain, but the neighbours might.’ Lily sagged back onto her chair. ‘Besides,’ Ceri said, ‘it’s November.’

It was not Dane. When Ceri opened the front door she saw two people walking up the path from the gate, a man and a woman. She did recognise them. The small woman with the slightly stocky, slightly boyish body and the mop of mid-brown hair was Tabitha. The rather scruffy looking man with a thin face and body, short hair and a day or so of stubble was Kort, her boyfriend. They were two of Dane’s pack and Ceri hoped their arrival did not mean that her request for help was going to be denied.

‘Kort, Tabby,’ Ceri said, trying to keep any disappointment out of her voice, ‘nice to see you. Come in. How’s the pack?’ She stepped back, allowing the two werewolves to pass through. The house had two sets of double doors on the main entrance, separated by a stone floored entrance hall. The enchantments on the floor did not respond to the newcomers; they were quite capable of stopping anyone entering the house with malicious intent.

‘They’re all good,’ Kort said. ‘Dane sent us down to see you, seein’ as we had some business in town. We’re headin’ back out to meet them tomorrow.’

‘We were kind of hoping we could camp in your garden,’ Tabby said.

Ceri laughed. ‘You can sleep in a bed.’

Tabby giggled. ‘Kort? In a bed? He’ll eat the pillows!’

Any response from Kort was lost behind a gleeful, ‘Tabby! Kort!’ from Lily as she bounced down the stairs. The naked half-succubus threw herself at Tabitha, who was nearest, wrapping her in a hug. ‘Am I allowed to hug Kort?’ Lily asked once she had released her first victim.

‘Yeah,’ Tabitha replied, ‘I trust him. He’s a one bitch sort of wolf.’ Kort still managed to look rather pleased with himself as he got to hug the sexy, naked girl.

‘The pack’s doing some work this week,’ Kort said once he had been thoroughly hugged. ‘Should finish up Monday or Tuesday next week, then they’ll come down and do your experiment thing.’

‘Oh, great,’ Ceri said, waving that they should follow as she went through to the kitchen. ‘You guys want anything? Coffee?’

Twill was hovering over cooking pots again. ‘There’s coffee in the pot,’ she said, ‘and I’ve put more rice on. You two don’t have a problem with curry I hope?’

‘That’d be great, Twill,’ Tabitha said. ‘How did you know we were coming?’

‘I know when anyone enters the grounds,’ Twill said. ‘It’s a fae thing. Technically, the house isn’t my territory, but I sort of… sub-let.’

‘She’s the cutest doorbell ever!’ Lily said. Kort chuckled as he poured a drink for himself and Tabitha.

‘I will starch your underwear, Lily,’ Twill stated flatly.

‘I don’t wear underwear,’ Lily replied.

Kort struggled to avoid snorting his coffee.

~~~

Ceri found Tabitha standing in the study by her desk. ‘This is where you’ve got to,’ she said, wondering what the wolf-girl was doing there.

Tabitha turned, a slight smile on her face and a small, jet carving of a wolf in her hand. ‘You keep it on your desk?’ she said. The wolf had been a present from the North Hills pack on Ceri’s last birthday, but Dane had said at the time that it was Tabitha who carved them.

Ceri shrugged. ‘I like it,’ she said, ‘and I spend a lot of time at that desk.’ She looked at the statuette. ‘You make those, right?’

Tabitha nodded and placed the wolf back where she had found it. ‘That’s why we were in London. I make the figurines and sell them to Baltzman’s store. He sells them to the norms who go in looking for something magical. “Genuine Werewolf-made Talismans” he calls them.’ She giggled. ‘Not the wolves though, those are special. We only give those to people we can trust.’

Ceri smiled slightly. ‘I wondered about that,’ she said. ‘Dane said it meant I was a friend of the pack. I mean, I’m honoured, but really you guys hardly know me. Alec asked you to guard me when Barnes was sending assassins after me, I invited you to my birthday party as thanks…’

‘Well,’ Tabitha said, ‘first off, Alec trusts you. That would be good enough on its own, but Dane trusts you too. He’s got an instinct for stuff like that. If he thinks you’re good for the pack then I think you will be, and that means we’ll be there for you if you need it. Simple as that. Werewolves aren’t complicated, y’know?’

Chuckling softly, Ceri said, ‘If you say so. I’ve read a load of papers on pack behaviour and…’

‘Ha! Books. You can’t learn what a werewolf is from books.’ Tabitha was grinning widely. ‘You want to know about werewolves, you come out with the pack for a couple of weeks.’ She walked the few feet between them, stepping in a little closer than was entirely comfortable. ‘Maybe you can get Dane to stop mourning Aleena and get on with being alive.’

Ceri looked into Tabitha’s eyes, not really sure what to say. She thought she knew what the she-wolf was getting at. ‘I, uh, thought Alphas mated for life,’ she said for something to say.

‘They do, but it doesn’t mean they can’t have a sex life after. Look at Alec. He lost his mate, but he was sure having a good time with Cheryl the night of your birthday.’ Tabitha’s face had lost its grin; she was quite serious and quite concerned. ‘We’re a small, tight pack. Dane was really close to Aleena, but she would hate to see him putting his life on hold like this. All the girls have tried to get him to go with them. He’s nice about it, but he always says no. And he likes you.’

‘Oh,’ Ceri said. ‘Don’t your boyfriends get a bit… annoyed at you offering yourselves to Dane?’

The grin resurfaced. ‘Hell no. For starters he’s the Alpha. If he was the kind of leader who did that sort of thing he could have any of us whenever he wanted. He never did, but he could have. Second thing, they’re as worried as the girls. Like I said, we’re a small pack, we need a strong Alpha.’

‘Uh… wow…’ Ceri stammered.

‘Sorry,’ Tabitha said softly. ‘I’ve made you uncomfortable. I was sure you liked him too.’

‘Oh! God, no Tabby, don’t get me wrong, Dane’s gorgeous, I’d love to… uh, get him out of his funk.’ Ceri could feel her cheeks heating. ‘I’m just probably not the right girl to do it.’

Tabitha looked confused. ‘You like him, he likes you. You get out in the fresh air under the stars, share a bedroll, get all cosy, and I promise we won’t listen.’

‘It’s not that,’ Ceri said. She let out a soft sigh and turned, moving to the chaise longe, patting the space beside her for Tabitha to sit down. ‘My parents built this house. I mean, contractors put the thing up, but they designed it, put the enchantments in, everything. We moved here when I was tiny and I’ve lived here more or less all my life. Then they went to Wales one day. I stayed home alone because I was big enough… Only they didn’t come back.’

‘Oh,’ Tabitha said. Her hand reached out to rest on Ceri’s. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know your parents were dead.’

Ceri smiled weakly. ‘Thanks. Thing is, it was a car accident. They ran off a cliff. I took it pretty badly. I hardly ever left the house for over a year and a half. I get panic attacks when I travel long distances, or when I’m in a car for more than about thirty minutes.’ Her smile broadened a little. ‘Being on the back of Dane’s bike wasn’t so bad, actually, but it wasn’t for that long. Even if Dane likes me, I don’t think he’d be too keen on someone who might freak out behind him after a few miles.’

‘Ah,’ Tabitha said, nodding. ‘Alec told us you got nervous around cars, but not why.’ Suddenly she was wrapping an arm around Ceri’s shoulders and hugging her. ‘Damn,’ she said, ‘I was sure you were the one.’ She sucked on a fang thoughtfully. ‘Still not convinced you aren’t.’

Ceri began to feel a little uncomfortable at the way Tabitha was staring at her. ‘Seems unlikely,’ she said.

Tabitha’s nose wrinkled. ‘There’s something about you. You smell of power, but not like a magician. More like an Alpha… or a demon.’ She grinned. ‘Not that you smell like a demon. I know what demons smell like and it’s not you. Just like… power, not magic.’

‘That’s odd,’ Ceri said. She grinned to hide her discomfort. ‘I’m no Alpha either.’

Tabitha smiled brightly and bounced to her feet. ‘When we need to know, you’ll tell us,’ she said.

November 17th

Ceri opened her eyes, wondering what had woken her. It was still dark and she did not feel like lifting her head to find out what the time was. She was just starting to think that some noise outside had got through to her sleeping brain when Lily moved against her back.

‘You awake, Lil,’ she said softly.

‘Yeah,’ Lily replied. The arm which had been laid around Ceri’s waist squeezed a little tighter. ‘I woke you, sorry.’

‘What’s up? Restless?’

‘Kind of,’ Lily replied, wriggling slightly against Ceri’s back. ‘It’s Tabby and Kort. They’ve been taking advantage of the more comfortable bedding.’

Ceri lifted her head, looking at the dimly glowing digits on her bedside clock. ‘It’s four-fifteen! They’ve been at it for four hours?’

‘Pretty much. They’ve taken a couple of breaks.’

‘So you’re horny?’

‘As fuck,’ Lily said, giggling softly.

Ceri opened her mouth to say the first thing that came into her head, and closed it again. Lily did not sleep in Ceri’s bed for sex. Lily slept there to be close to Ceri. Lily did not initiate sex, because that was giving in to her demon-self. Ceri was the Mistress, Ceri had to start it, even if she was responding to Lily indicating in some way that she would like to do something. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘you woke me up, you better do something to get me to sleep again.

Lily’s hand crept up toward Ceri’s breasts. ‘Yes, Mistress,’ the half-succubus breathed. ‘I’ll make you very sleepy. Promise.’

Soho

The bell over the door jangled as Ceri walked in and she was favoured with a bright smile from the perky blonde behind the counter. Ceri smiled back, though she was feeling less than perky; Lily had been very horny. Closing the door, Ceri started to walk through into the main floor of Baltzman’s, the best magical supplies shop in London, but then something caught her eye and she stopped at one of the display cabinets.

The front room of the shop was designed for one purpose. It had lots of stuff which caught the eye, looked magical or mystic, cost too much, and appealed to normals with a taste for the supernatural but no knowledge of it. Baltzman called them “tourists,” and the front room was a tourist trap. In the display case were a number of figurines carved from jet set beside some cheap charms for warding off curses and a number of interesting crystals which likely did nothing at all. She picked up one of the jet statuettes and examined it. It was a delicately carved figure of a woman dressed in a flowing gown; perhaps a fae.

‘I doubt you’re interested in that, Miss Brent.’ She turned to find a stooped old man with intelligent, grey eyes looking at her over wire-framed half-glasses. Earnest Baltzman had scared the living hell out of her when she was young. If she were honest, his ability to sneak about like a ghost was fairly scary now.

‘I know the girl who makes them,’ she said. ‘She gave me one for my last birthday.’

‘A wolf?’ he asked and she nodded in reply. ‘Tabitha is a talented artist. I pay her more than I should for her figurines, but then, I charge more than I should for them as well.’ Ceri glanced at the bottom where a price label had been stuck and her eyes widened. ‘The tourists snap them up,’ Baltzman said. ‘I could move twice as many as she sells me.’

‘She stayed over at my place last night,’ Ceri said, ‘with her boyfriend. The pack are helping with one of my experiments next week.’ She straightened up and put the figurine back on the shelf. ‘But for something this week, I need some supplies. Wolfsbane powder, three ounces, and silver shavings, two ounces.’

‘Hmm… dealing with a lycanthrope?’

‘Yeah, need to contain him safely without all the iron,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m researching the thaumatological mechanism for the transformation, comparing that to the were-forms.’

That actually got a raised eyebrow from the old man. She thought she saw approval in his eyes, but it was probably a trick of the light. ‘You’ve discovered the mechanism for natural shape-shifting?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Ceri smiled. ‘That’s going to get me my doctorate.’

‘The Wolfsbane powder is on the second floor. The poisonous herbs section. You’ll need to talk to an assistant. We keep the precious metals in a safe so I’ll have the silver measured out and put behind the counter for you.’ He turned and looked at the blond behind the desk. ‘Trudy, charge this to Miss Brent’s account when she comes down.’

‘Yes, Mister Baltzman,’ the girl said. She had a perky voice to go with the perky smile.

The old man led the way into the main shop floor and then vanished off into the racks of less dangerous magical ingredients leaving Ceri to navigate the maze. She had vague memories of how to get around from her childhood visits with her parents and she found the stairs up to the first floor relatively easily. However, that did not get her to the second floor, the place had been organised to make sure no one had an easy journey. Most of the herbal and alchemical supplies were on this floor and the comingled smells had Ceri wishing for nose plugs by the time she found the flight of stairs up.

At least the poisonous herb section was easy to spot once she got there. It was actually labelled for one thing; a sign over the door indicating that the contents of the small room was hazardous. The room had a heavy, iron-grill door which was open since there was an assistant waiting inside. The middle-aged, portly man sat behind a small desk with scales and packaging on it. He rose to his feet as Ceri walked in.

‘Can I help you, miss?’ he asked in a rather nasal voice, though it sounded like he was saying, “You’re lost, where do you want to be?”

‘I hope so, I need three ounces of Wolfsbane powder.’

‘I’ll need to see a PPC card,’ he said in reply.

Ceri looked at him and fished her wallet out of her shoulder bag. Finding the little plastic card which proved she had passed her Public Practitioners Certificate exam, she showed it to the man and then said, ‘No, actually you don’t. I could go to a good herb shop and buy Aconitum. I’m getting it here because my family has used Baltzman’s for its supplies for years. Mister Baltzman doesn’t pull that attitude with me, so you sure as hell don’t get to.’

‘My apologies miss,’ the man said, clearly taken aback. ‘I’ll get your powder.’ He scurried across the room to one of the many small, wooden drawers.

Ceri was self-aware enough to know that her anger was partially born of tiredness. On the other hand, she knew what she was doing, did not deserve to be lied to, and the creep did not deserve an apology. When he returned with three vacuum packed and sealed plastic bags containing a greyish powder, she checked the labels and left.

As she approached the front desk, Trudy produced a small bag from under the counter and laid it on top ready for her. Next up was a thick, black book and a pen. Ceri put the Wolfsbane packets down beside the silver and Trudy picked one up to check. ‘Okay, three of the Wolfsbane, two ounces of silver…’ She jotted something down in the book; Ceri suspected that if Baltzman’s ever went computerised, the world would end. Putting the book aside, Trudy put Ceri’s purchases into a paper bag and handed them over. ‘Wow,’ she said, ‘working with a lick. Good luck.’

Ceri grinned and took the bag, dropping it into her shoulder bag. ‘Thanks,’ she said, ‘but it’s all in the preparation.’ She turned and headed out onto Great Pult Street feeling rather happy with herself. She would go north and catch the tube at Oxford Circus, do a little window shopping on the way to work.

Holloway, November 21st

Everything was prepared. The moon was already up, hidden behind a blue sky fading into evening and Professor Mallow was already sitting in the lab’s containment circle wearing a towel wrapped around his waist.

‘To be honest,’ he said to Ceri as she laid a trail of powder around the outer ring of the circle, ‘this is rather nicer than my accommodations on most full moon nights.’

Ceri smiled. Mallow was nervous and he was talking mostly to cover it. Partially it was because the experiment could potentially go wrong and he could rip the participants apart before rampaging through London. Mostly it was because he was sitting in a room, half-naked, with a werewolf, a half-succubus, and two of his female colleagues. ‘It is?’ she said.

‘I’ve got a cage in my cellar,’ he said. ‘The cellar door is reinforced as well. Both are on time locks so I can’t get out until morning. You’re quite sure this will work?’ He indicated the circle.

‘Absolutely,’ she said. ‘This is a mix of Wolfsbane and silver, bulked out with salt.’

‘Yeah,’ Alec said from across the room, ‘I can smell the ‘bane from here.’

Ceri grinned. ‘Once it’s energised, which I’ll do shortly, you won’t be going anywhere in wolf-man form. And just in case anything goes wrong, either Alec or Lily will be on hand all night to stop you if you get out.’

Mallow eyed Lily carefully. ‘Begging your pardon, but Miss Carpenter doesn’t really look like she has much chance of stopping me.’

Alec laughed. ‘I can tell you’ve never been hit by a succubus aura,’ he said.

‘Lily’s aura, full on, could stop a charging rhino,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ve seen it take down a werefox. It even gives old vampires pause.’

‘And I’m really just here for health and safety reasons,’ Cheryl said. She waved a dart pistol. ‘I doubt I could hit a barn door with this thing, but regulations say we have to have it on site.’

‘And you have the anti-virals?’ Mallow asked.

Cheryl picked up a small, plastic case with a set of pneumatic injectors in it. ‘Really Peter, you read the experiment plan Ceri produced, she has all the bases covered. Frankly, if it came to it, I’ve seen her blast a demonically possessed zombie into dust. I have no doubt she could stop you herself.’

‘Yes well,’ Ceri said, ‘let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. All right, I’m going to raise the circle and check the instruments.’

Standing straight, she moved to the northern side of the circle, marked by the top point of the pentagram inscribed into the enormous granite slab. The circle was designed for magical containment, the design cut into the rock to make it permanent. Ceri was not really using the circle itself, all the carefully cut runes were superfluous. She concentrated on the ring of salt, focussing her will on it. Raising her arms she poured power into the ring and there was a gasp from Lily and Mallow as the powder glowed a delicate golden colour.

Ceri grinned. ‘There we go,’ she said.

‘That’s a different colour from usual,’ Lily said. ‘Your circles normally glow white.’

‘It’s the Wolfsbane,’ Ceri said. ‘Yellow flowers.’ She turned to her instrument panel and powered up the recording heads set around the circle. ‘Let’s see… Yep, the circle isn’t interfering with reception.’

Cheryl wandered up and looked over her shoulder. ‘You’ll have to screen out the thaumic field from it though,’ she said.

Ceri grinned and tapped her way through a series of menus. On the screen, the image of the sphere of energy surrounding Mallow vanished leaving only a wire-form image of the man sitting on the granite. ‘I had thought of that,’ she said.

Cheryl laughed. ‘Of course you did.’ She turned to Mallow. ‘I have said she’s the brightest student I’ve ever had, haven’t I?’

‘Only a couple of times,’ Mallow said dryly. ‘A couple of times a day, that is.’

Ceri was busy configuring the recording system. ‘We can’t be sure when he’ll change,’ Alec said, ‘how are you going to be sure that you catch the whole sequence?’

‘I know this one!’ Lily piped up. ‘The recorder is reading the data into a ten minute rolling buffer. The buffer can be dumped to hard storage at any time, so when the transformation is over Ceri saves the last ten minutes of data.’ Alec looked at her, clearly amazed that the girl who waited tables at the club where he worked as a bartender had a clue about this kind of thing. ‘I’ve had to listen to her planning this for two weeks now,’ Lily said, grinning.

‘It’s true,’ Ceri said, mock-sadly, ‘I’m a thaumatology nerd.’ She tapped a key. ‘Okay, recorder set, now we wait.’

Ceri was watching with her Sight when it began and she was aware of it even before Mallow. The sky outside had darkened until only the light of the moon was providing a stark, white illumination in the room. As she sat watching the professor, a flare of light burst from the region of his forehead. She recognised the area, it was the Ajna point on the Tantric Median, roughly in the area of the pituitary gland. She watched, fascinated, as the glow intensified.

Quite suddenly, energy lanced down Mallow’s Tantric Median, from the pituitary gland to the head of his penis, and he doubled over in pain. Cheryl jumped and took a step forward, but Lily was there to stop her. Ceri was watching as the familiar bloom of energy formed around Mallow. To her it looked like the traditional drawings of a magnetic field, but this one was composed of thaumitons. In weres who were actively transforming the field grew quite quickly, but in Mallow it was slow and faltering, and it seemed as though it was very painful.

‘He goes through this every month?’ Cheryl said softly.

‘I’ll refrain from the obvious analogy,’ Ceri replied.

The field bloom seemed to have reached its peak and began to collapse. Again it was different from werewolves. Within the circle, Mallow screamed in agony as his body distorted more and more as the field got tighter. Muscles expanded, ribs seemed to break and then reform, Mallow’s face seemed like it was being torn apart and restructured with a long muzzle. As the field collapsed entirely, there was a slight flare of energy from the wolf-man’s core and Ceri was left looking at a naked wolf-man with grey fur, sprawled on the concrete. It was panting heavily and so it came as quite a shock when it suddenly leapt to its feet and rushed toward Ceri.

Everyone jumped except Alec, who dropped into a ready stance instead. There was a howl of anguished pain as the wolf-man hit the circle and bounced back. There was a faint smell of singed fur.

Ceri pressed the save key on the recording system. ‘Well,’ she said, relieved, ‘that works.’ Mallow was prowling around the circle, swiping it and then rearing back. ‘Though if he keeps attacking the circle we might have to tranquilise him before he hurts himself badly.’

‘What did it look like?’ Cheryl said. ‘I’ve never seen a lycanthrope change before… thankfully. I wasn’t watching the display.’

‘It’s fascinating,’ Ceri said. She was busy pushing the data through the imaging software. The live image was interesting, but the processed image data would be far more informative. ‘The basic mechanism is the same as for true-weres, but the power generation is through the Tantric median, not the Chakral. And it originates in Ajna and then flashes down.’

‘Energy’s not supposed to flow that way,’ Lily said, frowning.

Alec looked at her. ‘Don’t tell me you know what this “median” stuff is too,’ he said.

‘Some,’ Lily replied. ‘I asked Ceri to explain how I feed. I siphon energy from the Tantric Median. Normally, the energy generates at the base,’ she smirked, ‘which in your case would be that great big cock of yours.’ Alec blushed, which was cute. ‘Then it travels up to the top, surges, and you come.’

‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘the reverse process seems to be inefficient and painful. I think that’s why the transformation is visible as well. The collapse is far slower and it seems to process the change all through it instead of in an instant at the end.’

‘Looks like there’s a sort of echo of the pulse werewolves generate at the moment of change,’ Cheryl said.

Ceri nodded. ‘Nowhere near as powerful, but it seems to be the same kind of process, yes.’ She looked around at Mallow. He had settled into a sullen crouch in the middle of the circle and was eyeing them all balefully. ‘And now we settle down to wait for him to change back.’

November 22nd

‘Mind if I ask a question?’ Alec said. It was close to four in the morning and it was his shift staying up with Ceri, the one person who could not rest. He was standing just outside the circle, watching the wolf-man inside it.

‘Go ahead,’ she replied.

‘Lot of people wonder what the relationship is between my kind and people like Peter here.’ Alec turned away from Mallow toward Ceri. ‘Does this suggest anything about it?’

‘Scientific answer,’ Ceri replied after a moment’s thought, ‘would be not enough information and not my speciality. You want my opinion?’

‘Kid, I’d take your opinion over a bunch of scientific papers any day.’

Ceri laughed quietly. ‘Why thank you, Alec. Okay, the process is similar, but less efficient. Seems to me like… like this came first. Somehow, someone, way back in time, mutated because of the virus. They adapted, took the change and made it their own. In the process the mechanism became more efficient.’

‘So, we probably came from… that?’ The sound of disgust in his voice was obvious.

‘Werewolves don’t think much of licks then?’ she asked.

‘Not a whole helluva lot, no,’ Alec replied. ‘Want my opinion?’

Ceri grinned. ‘Alec, I’d take your opinion any day of the week.’

‘Well,’ Alec said, ‘they remind us of our basic nature. It’s like, when you did that scan on me and I was pawing at you. I was standing there forcing myself not to just bend you over a table. You did right, threatening me the way you did. Transformed werewolves operate more on instinct and emotion than intellect. I was thinking, “no way could she stop me, I could just take her,” and then you reminded me that it might just hurt, a lot. A transformed lick is all animal, smart animal, but animal. They remind us we’re not so far off being the same.’

Ceri considered that. It made a degree of sense, people often hated things which reminded them of themselves. Still, it was getting far too serious. Ceri had never stayed in student halls, so she had never done the four am drunken philosophy discussion, and she was damned if she was going to start now. ‘So,’ she said, ‘what you’re telling me, at a fundamental level, when it all comes down to it, is that werewolves like it doggy-style?’

Alec clapped his hand over his mouth to avoid laughing. Ceri grinned at him. ‘Anyway,’ she said, ‘what were you doing pawing at me? You’ve got Cheryl to paw at. I mean, I know you’re kind of sharing her with Carter…’ Ceri’s cheeks coloured. ‘The night of my birthday did you three really, um?’

‘Wouldn’t be the first time,’ Alec said, having the grace to blush. ‘Cheryl’s not the first woman we’ve both fancied and, uh, if she’s willing and the circumstance comes up…’ He shrugged. ‘Can be a pain sometimes. Good thing we’re good friends. We both have the same sort of taste in women.’ He looked at her meaningfully.

Yeah, if Alec wanted Ceri bent over a table then it was a fair bet that Carter felt the same way. What she just could not figure out was why he had never done anything about it?

~~~

Ceri and Lily were huddled together in a blanket when Cheryl walked out of her office, wrapped in her own, unzipped, sleeping bag. She had sleepy, half-awake eyes. ‘It’s almost dawn,’ she said. ‘I thought I should come out.’

Ceri nodded. ‘The recorder’s still running. He’s just been lying there the last hour.’

‘Any trouble during the night?’ Cheryl asked. ‘I mean, I’m assuming there wasn’t anything major or I’d have been woken.’

‘He’s tried to get out a couple of times,’ Lily said. ‘Mostly early on. I guess the burns finally persuaded him it was futile.’

‘He’s going to be a bit sore in the morning,’ Cheryl said.

‘I’ve got some burn treatment handy,’ Ceri said. ‘I thought it might be useful.’

Cheryl smiled. ‘Do you always plan things out so meticulously, dear?’

‘No,’ Ceri said. ‘I like to, but no plan survives contact with reality. I tend to wing it a lot.’ The first signs of light appeared in the lab windows and Ceri said, ‘It’s starting.’ Her eyes widened. ‘Oh!’

Cheryl looked around at the wolf-man in the circle and frowned; she could see nothing odd, or changed. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Not wrong…’ There had been a flare from the Tantric Ajna node as before, but that had died off and, instead, the energy began to burn at the base of Mallow’s spine. It began building upward, rising along the Chakral Median, just like with were-creatures. ‘It’s different,’ she said. ‘The reverse change works along the other median, just like with Alec, or Jasmine.’ She watched the thaumic field begin to grow and this time it was strong and constant.

‘He doesn’t seem to be in pain this time,’ Lily commented.

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘the reverse transformation seems to be just like…’ There was an instant where both man and wolf-man lay in the same place on the granite, and then there was just Professor Peter Mallow and the violent animal he became was gone. ‘Just like a were-form transformation,’ she said, finishing her comment.

‘My God,’ Cheryl said, ‘this is certainly going to add some spice to your thesis. I think Peter will be very interested. He’s made himself a bit of an expert on lycanthropes, even though it’s outside his normal field.’

‘Well, I would,’ Ceri said. ‘Should we move him, or just cover him up?’

‘Cover him,’ Cheryl said, ‘and then you two get off to bed. Alec and I can take care of Peter when he comes to.’

Ceri got up and saved her data while Lily laid their blanket over the sleeping man, stepping through the circle as though it were not there. To her, it was not. Ceri looked at the ring of salt, herbs, and metal which had been keeping her safe all night, and allowed the magic to dissolve.

~~~

It was well into the afternoon before Ceri woke up. Lily was, as usual, curled against her back, warm and comfortable. Lying under the blankets in her pet demon’s arms, Ceri found it very difficult to find a reason to move. She managed to persuade herself to lift her head. It was three-fifteen and the sun would be setting again in less than an hour.

‘You’re awake finally,’ Lily said softly.

‘You actually got some sleep last night,’ Ceri replied. ‘Why didn’t you get up if you’ve been awake for a while?’

‘Silly question,’ Lily replied. Her arm tightened around Ceri’s waist.

Ceri sighed and closed her eyes again. ‘I’m glad you didn’t.’

‘You want to…’

‘In a bit,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m warm and comfortable, and I never thought I’d say this, but I enjoy just lying with you against me.’

‘That’s what I always liked about living with you,’ Lily said.

‘We didn’t used to do this?’

‘No, this is even better,’ Lily said, giggling softly. ‘But before, when you still had your enchantments, you treated me like a human, not a demon, or a toy.’

‘You’re not either,’ Ceri said.

‘That didn’t stop people treating me that way,’ Lily replied quietly, ‘until Carter, and you. I loved that. And now, if you wanted, you could have me do anything you wanted. And here we are, spooning.’

‘Maybe I just want to use you as a bed warmer,’ Ceri said, giggling softly.

‘Nice try,’ Lily said, poking her friend’s ribs gently, ‘but it was me who started coming in and asking if I could sleep here.’ There was a slight pause and then she said, ‘I would, you know?’

‘Would what?’ Ceri asked.

‘Do anything you wanted?’ Lily replied. ‘Absolutely anything, without question.’

Ceri opened her eyes. ‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Because you’d never ask me to do anything I wouldn’t do,’ Lily said, ‘and because you’re my friend and I love you.’

Ceri closed her eyes again; the word “mistress” had not been mentioned. ‘I love you too, Lil,’ she said.

Holloway, November 24th

For a brief instant, Ceri was looking at a black-furred cat-woman and a tanned, lithe dancer occupying the same space, and then there was just the woman. Looking to her instruments, she checked there was no more activity and closed down the recorder. When she looked back, Naira was smiling at her. ‘Did you get what you wanted?’ she asked.

‘I think so,’ Ceri replied. ‘Do you want to see how you change?’

Naira nodded eagerly and walked over to where Ceri was standing. She moved like a prowling tiger, even as a human. Standing a little closer to Ceri than was totally comfortable, the were-panther watched as the imaging software compiled its model and then began to play.

‘See,’ Ceri said, ‘the power generation begins at the base of your spine, travels up it, and when it hits the top… There, that’s the thaumiton field starting up.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ Naira said.

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘though you understand this is just false colours added in by the computer. The particles themselves have no real colour. There, it starts to collapse… And there’s the point where you change.’

Naira let out a little gasp. ‘I was always taught that what I was evil, a thing of the Devil. How can the devil’s work be so beautiful? You have shown me a wonderful thing. Thank you.’ She leaned over and give Ceri a kiss on the cheek, her naked breast brushing against Ceri’s bare arm as she did so.

Ceri smiled. ‘I don’t believe in the Devil,’ she said. ‘Demons, yes. I’ve killed a demon. But I don’t believe in the Devil.’

Naira shifted a little closer, her nose twitching slightly. ‘You have killed a demon? Back home, the Church says that only the Holy can kill demons. You must be very powerful, I think.’ She sniffed again. ‘I like your scent.’

‘Uh, Naira… I appreciate the compliment, but…’

The woman stepped back, lowering her eyes. ‘I am sorry, I have offended you.’

‘No, really no,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s flattering, but I’m not… I don’t swing that way.’

Naira frowned. ‘Jasmine told me that you have a girlfriend, Lily. Well, that you slept with a girl.’

‘Ah, yeah…’ Ceri’s cheeks coloured. ‘Well, I like guys… and Lily. She’s my best friend, and she’s also a half-demon. Half-succubus, actually. Since I started working magic we had to make it sort of an official relationship. I’m her Mistress and she’s my pet demon, except it’s not quite like that…’ She trailed off, really not sure how to explain it. ‘It’s, uh, complicated. If you meet Lily you’ll understand. She could make a corpse get up and beg to kiss her boots.’

The were-panther sagged and walked back to where her clothes were waiting to be put back on. She had the same fluid grace, but some of the confidence had gone out of her step. ‘I am sorry,’ she said. ‘It is so hard… adjusting to this place. The… the freedom is difficult.’

Ceri looked at her, frowning. ‘I don’t understand.’

Naira stopped halfway through putting on her bra and looked up. ‘For being a monster,’ she said, ‘the Church would hunt me down with dogs, kill me, burn my body, and scatter the ashes in running water. For sleeping with a girl I would be tortured to find out the name of my lover and then I would be burned at the stake.’

‘You what!?’ Ceri exclaimed.

‘It happens,’ Naira said. ‘Here I am free to pick the partner I choose. It is… a heady feeling. I maybe go too far.’

Ceri laughed. ‘Maybe, a little, but if you stick to the girls at the club, and people around my generation and a little older, the worst you should get is a rejection. Ever since they invented the Pill and the Prophylaxys spell people have been kind of… easy about sex. No one really objects to homosexuality anymore.’ Naira was still looking a bit downcast as she resumed dressing. ‘Seriously, Naira, I’m not offended. Up until a few months ago no one made passes at me. It’s still a novel enough experience that I find it very flattering.’

Naira looked up again. ‘No one? You exaggerate.’

‘Uh, it’s a long story, I was under an enchantment.’

The were-panther shook her head. ‘You have had a very interesting life, Ceri.’

Ceri chuckled. ‘No, but I’ve had a really wild few months.’

Kennington

The roar of motorcycle engines was a lot louder this time and Ceri was not surprised to see the entire North Hills pack funnelling in through the garden gate when she opened the front door. There were eleven of them altogether, four of them women; Tabitha had been right when she had said it was a small pack, by werewolf standards. Leading the way up the gravel path was Dane with his shoulder-length, dark brown hair and his broad shoulders. She remembered those shoulders well from riding through London on the back of his motorcycle. She smiled as they approached.

‘You called?’ Dane said with a grin.

‘I did,’ Ceri replied. ‘I’m glad you guys could spare the time. How long can you stay?’ She pushed the second door open and waved the pack in, stepping aside so she could continue talking to Dane.

‘Long as you need,’ he said. ‘Or as long as Mistress Twill will put up with us cluttering up her hallway.’

A ball of light trailing glitter whipped over the heads of the werewolves and materialised into Twill as she landed on Dane’s shoulder. ‘Werewolves are no trouble,’ she said. ‘You’ll get fed up of having a roof over you before I get annoyed with not being able to sweep the floor.’

Ceri grinned and followed the last of the wolves in, closing the door behind her. Dane did the same with his side and then followed his pack in. ‘Did Alec’s message actually say what I wanted?’ Ceri asked.

‘Something about sticking us in a machine to find out how we worked,’ Dane said.

Ceri laughed. ‘Well, the gist of it is right. I want you guys to change for me while I point some scanners at you.’ She grinned a bit mischievously at Dane. ‘So I get to see you all naked.’

‘Will you be naked?’ one of the other males said, grinning back at her wide enough to show his fangs.

‘Down, Wayne,’ Dane said, wearing a grin of his own.

‘If it makes you feel more comfortable,’ Ceri said, ‘I can be naked too. I’ll have to lock the lab door anyway.’

‘I don’t think that will be necessary,’ Dane replied. ‘Wayne can cope with not getting an eyeful.’ Wayne did his best to look disappointed. ‘You’re okay with us sleeping in here?’

Ceri slapped him on his leather-clad arm. ‘Don’t be silly, of course I am. I can’t offer much, but room and board is the least I can do.’

‘We’d throw a party,’ Lily said from the staircase, ‘but I have to work tonight.’ She trotted down the steps and into a wall of hugs.

Ceri watched for a second and then said, ‘You know, I don’t seem to get hugged on these occasions.’ Of course, it was the wrong sort of thing to say if you wanted your ribs intact.

~~~

It was not quite “sitting around a campfire,” but the lounge with its huge fireplace in which logs crackled and burned was a fair approximation. There was still enough booze left over from Ceri’s birthday that the pack could sprawl across the floor with drinks, while Ceri and Dane sat in the two, big, wing-backed chairs, as befitted the Mistress of the House and the pack’s Alpha.

They had brought their bedrolls up from the hall after Twill had started the fire in the lounge. It was a little less spacious there, and they would be a little more tightly packed, but being more tightly packed seemed to be something they rather liked. At the party Ceri had been too distracted to really notice, but now it was quite obvious; the pack liked a lot of physical contact. They were constantly touching, brushing against each other, just lying with random limbs in contact. Where two men who found their legs touching would have separated, probably making apologies, two male werewolves did not care.

Somehow Ceri found that she had been included in this intimacy without anyone seeming to make a conscious decision. Dane’s long legs were pressed up against her bare feet as the both of them sprawled in their chairs. The fire was warm and it did feel like a sprawling sort of night. One of the she-wolves, Tessa, was curled up in the angle between those legs, her back resting against Ceri’s calf. Kort was leaning languidly against Dane’s chair while Tabitha had balanced herself on the arm of Ceri’s. The conversation was sporadic; it was a night to sit and relax, and words seemed a bit superfluous.

Ceri looked up at Tabitha and came up with something to say, however. ‘You do realise,’ she said, ‘that if you sit there then you’re my honorary pet demon.’

Tabitha contemplated the statement for a second and then looked across at her boyfriend. ‘That okay with you, babe,’ she asked. The wiry man shrugged absently and took a pull on the bottle of beer he was holding. ‘Cool,’ Tabitha said. Grabbing the sides of her T-shirt in crossed arms, she yanked it up over her head. Then she stood up and started wriggling out of her jeans.

Ceri watched, bemused for a second before realising that her “pet demon” was traditionally naked when she sat there. Ceri giggled, and Dane and Kort, who had been watching her, both chuckled quietly. Tabitha curled back up onto the chair arm, perhaps a little closer than before, and Ceri grinned at her. ‘There’s a good girl,’ Ceri said. ‘If you’re very good there might be a treat later.’

‘Promises, promises,’ Tabitha replied smoothly. She lay back against the chair, the light from the fire glinting off her skin.

‘Huh,’ Ceri said, ‘true. I had to turn down a were-panther today.’

‘Seriously?’ Dane asked.

Ceri nodded. ‘New dancer at the Collar Club. Carter found her when she tried to get into Southampton docks, apparently.’

‘Gay or bi?’ Tabitha asked.

‘Lesbian, as far as I could tell,’ Ceri replied and Tabitha winced. ‘Yeah, I’m not really sure whether she left Brazil because she was a were or because she liked girls.’

‘I’ve heard some nasty stories about the South American Catholics and their witch-hunts,’ Tabitha said.

Kort made a grunting noise. ‘Yeah, bring the mood down won’t you, there I was just getting into a daydream about you and Ceri on the hearth rug and you have to mention Catholics.’

‘Nothing wrong with Catholics,’ Dane said, ‘as long as they’re schoolgirls.’

‘Oh well, yeah,’ Kort said. ‘Schoolgirls is different though. Little skirts and knee socks… Strictly over eighteen mind. No point in lookin’ if they’re too young to do anything with.’

‘Well yeah,’ Dane said, ‘they’re better when they’ve filled out a bit anyway.’

‘See what I have to put up with?’ Tabitha said, one hand idly playing with Ceri’s hair.

‘I live with a half-succubus, Tabby,’ Ceri replied. She knew it was the alcohol and the laid-back sensuality of the wolf pack, but her inhibitions were weakening and Tabitha’s hand was sending shivers down her back.

‘Good point,’ Tabitha said, ‘you’re probably used to subtle innuendo. Not that Kort would know subtle innuendo if it sucked his dick.’ Ceri giggled.

‘Hey!’ Kort protested. ‘I can be subtle. I can be real subtle. I can do subtle, can’t I boss?’

Dane’s lips twitched. ‘Yeah, Kort. You’ve got subtle written all over you. Look in a dictionary, find “subtle,” and there’s a picture of you beside it.’ Kort grinned proudly. ‘Under it there’s a bit of text saying, “Definition of unsubtle.” Kort sagged, grumbling.

Tabitha giggled and her hand strayed down the back of Ceri’s neck. Ceri’s lips parted as her breathing quickened. Almost unconsciously, she began to stroke Tabitha’s thigh. Dane was watching them; Ceri did not have to look to feel his eyes on her. Kort had not noticed yet, but she figured he would. It did not matter, Ceri had a pretty good idea what Tabitha was doing and Kort was not the target.

‘What’s it like?’ Tabitha asked ‘Sleeping with a succubus, I mean. Must be…’

‘Like nothing you’ve ever experienced,’ Ceri said. ‘Imagine you’re right on the edge of coming, and you’re just hanging there.’ Her hand strayed down between Tabitha’s thighs, stroking gently back and forth. ‘Your body is singing, totally out of control. You can’t stop it. You don’t want to stop it, ever, but eventually she lets you climax and it’s like… like every nerve in your body has turned into star-fire.’

The murmurs of conversation around the room had grown silent as Ceri talked. The only sound left was Tabitha’s soft panting. Ceri realised where her hand was and what it was doing to the she-wolf. Dane was still watching, the whole pack was watching. For a fraction of a second, Ceri considered stopping, but she could see Dane’s tongue running over his lips. Maybe, just maybe, this would get the North Hills Alpha where his pack wanted him again.

Ceri pulled Tabitha into her lap and pushed her legs open…

November 25th

Ceri opened her eyes to find Lily looking down at her. The half-succubus had a bright grin on her face. She leaned closer, placing her lips against Ceri’s ear. ‘Coming to bed?’ she whispered.

Ceri nodded and struggled to her feet, having to move one of Tabitha’s arms to do it. The wolf-girl grumbled in her sleep, but did not wake. Ceri looked around and frowned. ‘Where’s Dane?’ she said softly.

Lily waved for her to come with her and led the way through the maze of bodies to the door, waiting until they were outside before speaking. ‘He’s in the study, curled up on the lounger,’ she said.

Ceri sagged. ‘Damn. I lost track of him. I was hoping he’d hooked up with one of the other girls.’ Lily raised an eyebrow and Ceri shrugged. ‘Tabby and I kind of… well… started an orgy to get Dane interested.’

‘You and Tabs?’ Lily asked, beaming. ‘Hot damn I wish I’d been there. That is so hot!’ Ceri frowned at her. ‘What? It is! How many people did you do it with?’

Ceri’s cheeks flushed brightly and she developed a sheepish grin. ‘I, uh, I’m not really sure. I got kind of carried away.’ She sobered up. ‘Didn’t work though,’ she said.

Lily started for the stairs up to the top floor and the bedrooms. ‘Of course it didn’t,’ she said. ‘You can’t just make someone want to have sex.’ She turned and looked back. ‘Well, I can, but that wouldn’t do any good because they’d know they’d been messed with after.’ She started up the stairs again.

Ceri followed. ‘The pack is really worried about him,’ she said. ‘Worried he’s… losing his edge or something.’

‘Losing his will to live, more like,’ Lily said. ‘Half-succubus, remember? They’re wrong, he hasn’t. He doesn’t want a woman, or a man, but what he wants he can’t have.’ Walking into Ceri’s room, she began to undress; not a long process since she was wearing nothing more than a stupidly short dress, the uniform of the Jade Dragon, and a pair of heels.

Ceri leant against the doorframe, frowning. ‘What does he want then?’

Lily looked up at her, sitting on the bed to undo the straps on her sandals. ‘Isn’t it obvious? He wants the demon who killed Aleena, so he can do something much worse to it.’

Holloway

‘All right,’ Cheryl said loudly to make herself heard over the chatter, ‘will everyone not being scanned please go into the cage.’ It was not easy, herding ten naked werewolves; for a start, Cheryl really did not know where to put her eyes. Still, Ceri needed the help and there were worse ways to spend a day.

Dane was standing in the circle watching Ceri set the instruments with an intent, intelligent look on his face. ‘This is just a very accurate version of the thaumometers I’ve seen magicians use?’ he asked.

Ceri nodded. ‘Yes, well, they’re very high resolution. There’s a line of tiny holes in a silver-iron plate in front of the receiver head and that gets moved back and forth so that it gets a scanned image of the subject.’ She tapped the box in front of her. ‘This thing takes the combined data streams from all nine heads and combines them, giving a live display which is a fairly rough approximation, and then the data is saved out to the computer which assembles a full, three-D, animated map of whatever you’ve scanned.’

‘Interesting,’ he said. ‘The thaumometers I’ve seen were all, well, mechanical.’

‘Yes, I’ve got several at home,’ Ceri said, looking up with a smile. ‘Dad swore by them, said the electronic ones were never as reliable, but you can’t make them to read much less than a hundredth of a thaum.’

‘So, what’s the difference?’

Dane seemed genuinely interested, and also seemed to be grasping what she was saying, so she explained. ‘Well, the mechanical ones work using a bi-metallic strip. You know that a properly prepared alloy of silver and iron tends to block magic?’ He nodded that he did. ‘Well, that’s actually because it absorbs thaumitons, inducing a current in the metal. If you stick a thin strip of that to a thin strip of copper with an insulating adhesive, you get heating in the iron, which makes it expand, which makes the strip bend. Attach a needle via some gearing and you have a thaumometer.’ Dane nodded again to indicate he was with her so far.

‘These electronic ones have silver-iron circuits,’ she went on, ‘tiny ones fabricated directly onto a silicon substrate. They measure the current induced in the iron. These can measure currents down in the micro-Ampere range so they can pick up very low thaumic emissions.’ She hit the record button. ‘Any time you’re ready,’ she said.

He nodded and she saw the start of the reaction flare. ‘This is one of the reasons we’d like to call you “friend,”’ he said. ‘I think someone like you could be very useful to us in the future.’

Ceri was about to ask what he meant, but his final words were punctuated by a soft growl. He had changed and she was looking at a large, grey-furred wolf-man who would not be able to answer her, and something about his transformation was odd and she was too busy concentrating on that to consider what he had said.

Saving the data, she smiled at him. ‘When you’re ready to change back, give me a nod, okay?’ He rumbled an affirmative sounding reply and padded softly over to stand beside her, watching the replay of his change on the computer. ‘Something about that is kind of strange,’ she said. ‘I can’t put my finger on it, but I’ll figure it out.’

A clawed hand reached out, tracing a furry knuckle across her cheek as gently as a feather. Ceri looked up into his eyes and reached up to run a hand along his jaw before she had even thought about it. His hand closed around hers before she could touch him and her heart jumped at the look of pain in his eyes. Pushing her hand down, he gave her a firm nod and walked back into the circle to change back.

A fully human Dane was breathing hard and almost stumbled as he walked out of the circle. Ceri frowned at him. ‘You changed back too quickly,’ she said.

‘I’ll be fine,’ he said quietly. ‘You carry on. I just need to… be alone for a minute or two.’ He turned and walked through into the office Ceri used before she could say anything else.

A little confused, Ceri looked around at Cheryl, who shrugged back at her. ‘Let’s have the next one,’ Ceri said.

She had scanned through three more wolves, two males and a female, before the anomaly jumped out at her. Dane had wandered back into the room, dressed only in a pair of black briefs, but no longer naked, and was looking over Ceri’s shoulder at the displays. He frowned as she dropped into the archived data menu and pulled up a file labelled “Alec – to wolf.”

‘That’s Alec’s transformation?’ Dane asked. Ceri nodded, her fingers tapping quickly over keys to narrow the analysis parameters to just the end of the sequence. ‘Does he look the same while he’s transforming? Same energy patterns I mean.’

‘Yes and no,’ Ceri replied. ‘That’s what’s been bugging me.’ Her gaze ran across four sets of readouts from the analysis. ‘Yes! I was right.’

By now Cheryl had joined them. ‘Is that saying what I think it is?’ she said.

‘What am I looking at?’ Dane said.

‘This is a frequency and modulation analysis of the final pulse werewolves give off as they actually transform,’ Ceri said.

‘We’ve theorised,’ Cheryl said, ‘that it’s the mechanism which causes other nearby wolves to start transforming when one does. The foxes don’t seem to have it, and neither does Naira, the were-panther Ceri tested.’

‘Huh,’ Dane said. ‘I always thought that was just psychological.’

‘You’re not alone,’ Ceri said. ‘Answer a question for me, if you would. That cascade effect, is it more likely to happen among members of the same pack?’

‘I’d never really thought about it…’

‘Yes,’ Tabitha said, ‘it is.’ Dane raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Think about it, boss,’ she said. ‘When we get into a fight with another pack and they start changing, their people start shifting, but we don’t tend to shift until you do.’

Dane nodded thoughtfully. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘I guess that’s true. Again, I always put it down to psychology.’

‘Looking at this,’ Cheryl said, ‘there’s a physiological basis to it as well.’

‘Dane and Alec have pretty similar profiles,’ Ceri said, nodding. ‘The pulse generated by the other pack members I’ve scanned is of lower amplitude, but the frequency and phase are a match for Dane’s pulse, while Alec’s is different.’

‘That can’t be genetic though,’ Cheryl said. ‘I mean, a pack this size, you can’t have many members who are related?’

Dane shook his head. ‘Wayne and Ben are brothers,’ he said, ‘but no one else. Not had any pups in the pack for a while. Like most packs, we get a lot of our members from outside.’

‘So it’s learned behaviour,’ Cheryl said. ‘New pack members must synchronise with the Alpha’s pulse. Part of the bonding process.’ She beamed at Ceri, who was looking just as excited. ‘We’re going to have to put out some preliminary papers before your thesis goes out. This is going to create an explosion in research on the Changing Races.’

Ceri giggled. ‘Well let’s get my current subjects sorted before we get too excited,’ she said. ‘Kort, Tabby, I have a special task for you. I want to scan Tabby while Kort changes outside the circle. Everyone else in the cage. Come on people. Don’t force me to make a “herding cats” analogy!’

Kennington

Ceri was in the study going over some details of the data she had collected during the day when Dane wandered in, propping himself against the desk. ‘What’re you doing hiding in here?’ he asked. ‘Trying to avoid another orgy?’

Ceri laughed. ‘Actually I was going over the data from your tests. I wanted to make sure I’d covered every angle before I say “yeah, all done,” and you guys run off to the hills again.’ She looked up. ‘Not that I wouldn’t mind having you here a few more days, but I don’t want to keep you here if you’ve something to do.’

Dane smiled. ‘We’re good,’ he said. ‘We got paid pretty well for the last job and we weren’t planning on looking for anything else before Monday anyway.’ He paused, looking away. ‘I… owe you an apology,’ he said.

‘You do?’ Ceri responded, blinking in surprise.

‘Yeah, I do.’ The big man looked a little uncomfortable, not sure where to start. ‘I know you went to all that trouble last night to get me interested,’ he said.

Ceri’s cheeks coloured. ‘That obvious?’

He shrugged. ‘I know you’re into guys,’ he said. ‘Well, guys and Lily. And I know the pack’s worried about me, and I figure Tabby talked to you when she was down before.’ He shifted slightly, still looking uncomfortable. ‘Then when I’d changed… Touching you like that was…’ He straightened and took a deep breath. ‘You remind me of Aleena,’ he blurted out. ‘It’s not just me, Tabby and Kort both mentioned it. It’s the hair and the line of your jaw, and she had blue eyes like yours. She was bigger, more muscle, but she was gentle, kind of like you are. That’s why Tabby asked you to do something about me, and why I touched you in the lab, and I’m sorry, okay?’

‘Oh,’ Ceri said after a second or two. ‘I, uh… Well, you don’t have to apologise for anything. It’s not like you can help it if I remind you of Aleena. I’m sorry if I’m causing you pain…’

‘Pain? No,’ he replied. ‘There’s a little confusion. You are making me want things I haven’t been bothered with for a long time, Ceri. I just have things to do before I let myself indulge those desires.’

‘Finding Aleena’s killer,’ Ceri said. It was plain that it was a statement, not a question. ‘Does the pack know? No, don’t answer that, I know they don’t.’

‘How do you know?’ he asked, his eyes intent and a little distrustful.

‘You can’t keep your desires from a succubus, Dane. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything and Lily only told me because I was annoyed that last night’s little orgy didn’t go as planned.’ Ceri watched as Dane visibly relaxed. ‘But Lily said you can’t really have what you want,’ she added.

Dane nodded. ‘She may be right,’ he said, ‘but I’ve been feeling…’ He stopped, appearing to consider what he should say. ‘Something’s coming,’ he said and then grinned sheepishly. ‘I know that sounds horribly clichéd and a bit melodramatic, but… it’s a feeling like… impending…’

‘Doom?’ Ceri suggested.

‘Doom-like-ness, yeah.’ He grinned, though there was a hint of something like fear behind his eyes.

Ceri put her hand on his arm. ‘You’ve got your pack, and your friends,’ she said. ‘Stand together and you can defeat anything. We can defeat anything.’

‘I used to think that,’ Dane replied, ‘then Aleena died.’

Ceri frowned. Anything she could think of to say seemed empty. ‘We should go join the others,’ she finally said. ‘If we hang here too long they might think we have been up to something.’

This time the grin was genuine. ‘Huh. Maybe it’d calm them down if they did.’

Ceri rose to her feet and started for the door. ‘I’m not that good an actress,’ she said. Padding across the landing and into the lounge, Ceri stopped, Dane almost bumping into her. The pack turned and grinned at them as one. Tabitha was already sitting on the arm of Ceri’s chair, stark naked, aside from the hopeful smile she was wearing. Ceri sighed. It was going to be a long night.

Part Two: The Wolves of London

Soho, London, November 26th, 2010

It was relatively quiet for a Friday night at the Jade Dragon. A storm front had rolled in during the afternoon and it was not a nice evening outside. However, the pack had left that morning and Ceri found herself wanting company, and she also had an ulterior motive.

‘What’s up, kid?’ Alec said, sidling over with a glass and a cloth in his hands.

‘Am I that obvious?’ she asked, grinning.

‘It’s crappy weather out,’ the werewolf said, ‘but here you are in the club when you could have stayed home, and you’re not really into nightclubs. And then you put on one of your shortest skirts and a lace teddy, and you know I like that. So, yeah, fairly obvious.’

Ceri pushed her chest out. ‘Is it working?’

Alec tried manfully, but his eyes darted downward. ‘Damn, yeah, okay. What d’you want?’

‘More wolves,’ she said, giggling. ‘I need to scan some wolves from another pack to confirm something. A couple would do, don’t need many, but if I can get a few from a couple of packs that would be really useful.’

Alec sucked on one of his fangs. ‘Well, we could probably get some of the Royals to do it,’ he said. Ceri blinked at him. ‘No,’ he said, ‘not those royals, the Royal pack. Their territory includes Regent’s Park and they’re a bit…’

‘Pretentious?’

‘I was going to say “up their own arses,” but that’s a really good word.’ He put the clean glass down behind the bar. ‘I’ll ask around and see what I can do. I’m surprised you want more werewolves, I heard the North Hills wolves had a really good time at your place.’ His smirk spoke volumes and Ceri’s cheeks flared.

‘Three Vee-Bombs for table six, Alec,’ Lily said, placing her tray on the counter.

Ceri glared at her. ‘Have you been gossiping?’ she snapped.

‘I just said that you’d been an excellent hostess,’ Lily said, entirely unabashed. ‘With two or three of the pack at once,’ she added without changing her tone.

‘I did not do three at once!’

‘So,’ Alec said, ‘just two.’

‘I’m just going to shut up now,’ Ceri said.

‘You could tell me why you want more wolves though,’ Alec pointed out.

‘Oh yeah, tease me after I get dressed up for you, and then expect information.’ She grinned at him. ‘The pulse at the end of your transformation, you remember that?’

Alec nodded. ‘The theory was it was what caused the cascade effect.’

‘Yeah. The one you produce, and the ones the North Hills weres produce are different. I think it’s pack-specific, learned from the Alpha, but I need some wolves from another pack to prove it.’

‘Now that’s interesting,’ Alec said.

‘It certainly is,’ Carter commented. Ceri turned to find him behind her, dressed in a crisp, black suit. ‘You’re taking all the mystery out of the world, my dear Ceridwyn.’

‘Oh, I hope not,’ Ceri replied. ‘I like a bit of mystery.’

‘Don’t we all,’ Lily said.

‘Amazingly,’ Carter replied, ‘no. There are plenty of people who don’t. Most of the Ministry for Supernatural Affairs for starters.’

Ceri giggled. ‘The one who came to see me was allergic to magic,’ she said.

‘Strange, but true,’ Carter said in an instructive tone, ‘there are no supernaturals in the Ministry.’

‘None?’ Lily asked, picking up her tray as Alec placed the drinks on them.

‘It was a policy decision made in the fifties and never reversed,’ Carter replied. ‘Despite considerable lobbying, not one supernatural of any kind, including magicians, has ever been part of the Ministry’s civil service or political staff.’

Lily shrugged and headed off toward table six, her hips swinging. The dress she was wearing, if it could be called a dress, was black silk with a floral pattern in red, blue, and gold. Cut very high on the hip and very short in the skirt, it showed off the half-succubus’ exquisite body fantastically well.

‘I thought there was some sort of affirmative action policy in the government,’ Ceri said.

‘There is,’ Carter said, nodding, ‘but not in the MSA. Their original purpose was to police magical practitioners and they are still using the excuse that supernaturals should not police their own to keep them out.’

‘Even though they now control all government supernatural activities,’ Ceri commented sourly.

‘One of the reasons I stay out of politics,’ Carter replied. ‘If I spend too much time with politicians my skin suffers from scrubbing it in the shower.’

‘How’s Naira doing?’ Ceri asked. ‘The Wednesday Witch had a small article on her this week. “Rare were-panther joins the Collar Club” kind of thing. The reporter seemed… enthused.’

‘She’s doing very well. As predicted, she’s been going down a storm with the customers.’ Carter smiled. ‘Jasmine’s been teaching her table dancing, which they both seem to have been enjoying.’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘Naira offered to demonstrate her dance technique to me.’

Carter nodded. ‘I’d gathered she had a preference for the fairer sex. It won’t be a problem for her work as long as she can pretend for the clients, and she has been acting to stay alive most of her life.’

‘It’s got to be a pretty sucky way to live,’ Ceri said. ‘Always lying to people, not being yourself. Hiding what you can do from everyone.’

‘Yes,’ Carter said, looking at her, ‘it must.’

Neither Carter nor Alec knew that Ceri was a sorceress, as far as she knew. They knew she could work magic, but not how. Very few people knew that particular fact because Ceri’s parents had worried over what might happen if it were generally known. In particular, Ceri’s mother had suggested that she should be very sure of Carter before trusting him. Now Ceri wondered just how much Carter did know. She looked back at him and said, ‘Carter, could I ask a favour?’

‘You can ask, my dear,’ he replied. ‘I cannot say until you do whether I can do as you wish.’

‘I could do with learning a few spells,’ she said, grinning at his rather political answer. ‘Y’know, defensive stuff. Maybe some basic utility spells.’

The wizard contemplated for a second or two. ‘Do you think you could join me at my flat tomorrow?’ he asked. ‘Lily knows the way, don’t you, Lil?’

Lily put her tray down on the counter and smiled. ‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘I know where it is.’

Ceri nodded. ‘Okay, I can do that.’

‘I’ll come over to your place Sunday afternoon,’ Alec added. ‘We can go up to Regent’s Park and talk to some werewolves.’

‘A busy weekend,’ Carter said, smiling.

Lily giggled. ‘After the last couple of nights she’s had, this’ll be relaxing.’

Ceri’s eyes narrowed. ‘That’s you spending the night in the dog cage in the dungeon,’ she said, knowing exactly what the answer was going to be.

‘Promise?’ Lily said brightly.

Chelsea, November 27th

Chelsea Square, a grassed and treed area in one of the richer areas of London, was flanked by brick-built flats and houses which cost more to rent for the year than Ceri’s entire salary. Lily and Ceri walked down from South Kensington tube station, past the Victoria and Albert museum, and on to the three storey building on the east side of the square which housed Carter Fleming’s flat.

‘It’s at times like this,’ Ceri said as they stepped up to the door, ‘that you realise he’s loaded.’

Lily just grinned and pressed the button for the top floor flat. There was a short pause and then Carter’s voice from the speaker. ‘Ladies, do come straight up.’ There was a click and a buzz from the door and Ceri pushed it open.

Inside was a hallway with a staircase leading up, and a grey-haired old lady poking her face out through a door. Old, but hawk-like, eyes regarded the two girls walking in and she said, ‘You’ll be going to see the gigolo on the top floor then?’

Lily grinned. ‘That’s right, Mrs Winter.’

‘Does he ever sleep?’ Mrs Winter asked. ‘He’s already got one up there.’

Ceri could tell that Lily was trying not to giggle. ‘You know Carter, ma’am. Why have one girl when three gives more options?’ Ceri felt her cheeks heat up; it was not like they were there for that.

The old woman grunted. ‘Your friend seems like such a nice girl too.’ She fixed her gaze on Ceri. ‘You don’t let that man corrupt you with his decadent ways, girl!’

Ceri blinked. ‘Uh, no ma’am, I’ll try not to.’ The chance would have been a fine thing.

Mrs Winter’s face vanished behind her closing door and Lily started up the stairs, giggling quietly. ‘Such a nice girl too,’ Lily mimicked. ‘Such a nice girl who’s spent half the week getting boned by werewolves.’

‘Am I ever going to live that down?’ Ceri asked.

‘No,’ Lily said. ‘Not until they’ve done me anyway.’

Ceri grumbled up the next flight of stairs to the top landing where the door was already ajar and they could walk straight into Carter’s flat. They entered through a small hallway with two doors off it. Lily pointed to one of them and said, ‘That’s the bathroom, for reference,’ before opening the other door and walking through.

The lounge had a lot of cream coloured, leather sofas, chrome and glass tables, and heavy-looking, oak chests of drawers. It also had an attractive blonde wearing a push-up, black satin bra and matching thong lying on one of the sofas with a TV remote in her hand. The TV had to be at least fifty-inches across, and currently displaying some soap that Ceri did not recognise.

Carter emerged from one of the inner rooms wearing a silk, floor-length robe loosely tied around his waist. He smiled. ‘Ceri, Lily, I don’t believe you know Petra,’ he said.

Petra looked up at them with interest. ‘Afternoon,’ she said in a precise, upper class accent.

‘We’ve sort of met,’ Lily said. ‘Petra Charles, yes? You’ve been to the Jade Dragon a few times.’

‘That’s me,’ Petra replied. She narrowed her eyes slightly and then recognition dawned. ‘Yes, I remember. You’re the waitress with the awesome body.’

Lily grinned. ‘You’re not so bad yourself,’ she said.

‘And Ceri,’ Carter said, ‘is a very promising young thaumatologist and practitioner.’

Ceri was frowning. ‘Charles as in Malcolm Charles?’ she asked.

Petra smirked. ‘He’s my father.’ Petra was the daughter of the Minister of Supernatural Affairs. Ceri recalled reading that she was something of a wild-child, prone to drinking, clubbing, and sleeping with the “wrong” people. She made it into the gossip column in The Wednesday Witch on a fairly regular basis.

‘Petra and I have an arrangement,’ Carter said.

‘Yeah,’ Petra said. ‘Whenever I want to piss Daddy off, I make sure plenty of people see me retiring for the night with Carter.’

‘What do you get out of this arrangement?’ Ceri asked Carter.

He chuckled and walked over to stand over Petra. ‘Petra, of course,’ he replied. ‘I’m a man of relatively simple tastes. One of them is nubile, attractive woman who happen to be young enough to be my daughter.’ Ceri happened to know he was embroidering the truth; Carter liked women, age irrelevant. ‘Petra, my dear,’ he said, ‘would you mind using the television in the bedroom. I promised to give Ceri some magic lessons.’

Petra turned off the TV and rose from the sofa. ‘Sure,’ she said, ‘just so long as you come in later and give me some schooling.’ She strutted off toward the door Carter had emerged from, giving him a flirtatious grin as she passed.

Carter turned back to Ceri when Petra was gone and shrugged slightly. ‘What can I say? I’m irresistible.’ Both girls giggled. ‘Shall we begin? You wanted defence and utility spells, yes?’

Ceri nodded. ‘Yes. I thought… I had this feeling I needed to learn to defend myself better than just reacting on instinct.’

‘Very well,’ Carter said, ‘we’ll start with a couple of basic combat-oriented spells so that you can throw them at me and I can show you how to block them.’

‘And I suppose I’m the target dummy?’ Lily said quite happily.

‘Well,’ Carter said smiling, ‘since you’ve offered, my dear Lily…’ He pulled himself up straight and raised a hand, speaking a few words in a language Ceri did not understand, but suspected was demonic. Ceri watched the power build in Carter’s spine, forming a pattern at the crown of his head before flashing down through his arm and across the room where it settled around Lily’s head. Normal sight revealed nothing other than a shimmer of light around Carter’s fingers, but Ceri’s other Sight showed the magic twining about the Median nodes in Lily’s head.

Lily stood there with a slight smile on her face, apparently entirely unharmed. Frowning, Ceri waved a hand in front of her friend’s eyes, getting no reaction at all.

‘It’s called a Daze spell, generically,’ Carter said. ‘Some call it “Distraction” or “Confusion.” Essentially her mind is tied up. She’s in a world of her own. Nothing you do short of slapping her will be noticed and she won’t remember a word of this conversation or anything she’s seen.’

‘Useful,’ Ceri commented.

‘Very,’ Carter replied, ‘and since it’s temporary and does no lasting harm, quite legal.’

‘How long does it last?’

‘A minute or so, but you can put more power into it to keep it going. However,’ he grinned, ‘give her a slap and wake her up. There’s no point in prolonging it.’

Ceri grinned back and slapped Lily on the behind. The half-succubus jerked and then giggled. ‘You’re supposed to be learning magic, not foreplay,’ she said. She looked between Ceri and Carter as they grinned at each other. ‘Did I miss something?’

‘Think you have it, Ceri?’ Carter said. ‘The words don’t matter so much as the will and intent.’

‘Okay…’ Ceri raised her own hand toward Lily, forming the same pattern of energy she had seen in Carter as she murmured some meaningless words under her breath. She released the spell as Lily started to turn toward her. Her friend stopped, blinked once, and was just as vague as she had been when Carter had thrown his spell. Ceri waved her hand in front of Lily’s eyes and nodded.

‘You’re a quick learner,’ Carter commented. ‘Now, try it on me and watch what I do.’

Nodding, Ceri raised her hand, built the spell, and released it. Carter dropped into something like a combat-ready stance, his arm sweeping across before him. ‘Thetidas!’ he said and Ceri saw a wall of thaumic energy form briefly in front of him. Her spell struck it and there was a flare of visible light as it fizzled and died. Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘Thetidas means “stop” in Devotik,’ Carter said, ‘but again it’s the intent that counts.’ He raised his hand. ‘Ready?’

Ceri nodded, moving herself into a more steady stance to prepare. ‘I’m ready,’ she said. She saw the spell building and reacted as it was launched from Carter’s hand. ‘Aros!’ she said, sweeping her hand across the space before her. The spell burst as a bright light as it struck the thaumic shield which appeared before her and she grinned brightly. ‘Yes!’ she exclaimed.

Carter laughed. ‘I’m not sure why you needed me to teach you,’ he said. ‘You seem quite capable of working all this out for yourself.’ He raised an eyebrow quizzically. ‘What’s “aros”?’ he asked.

‘Welsh,’ she replied. ‘It means “stop.”’ She grinned. ‘I’m not too hot on common demonic, but I was born in Bala.’

Lily shook her head. ‘Did I drop off or something?’ she asked.

‘Or something,’ Ceri replied.

Carter wandered around to one of the couches and sat down, leaning back and crossing his legs, the picture of the languid playboy. ‘I was quite serious, Ceri,’ he said. ‘You are, I think, not so much learning as observing and applying what you know from magical theory. That is a most unusual talent.’ He looked intently at Ceri. ‘Certainly for one so recently come into her power.’

Ceri looked at Lily. The half-demon shrugged; she trusted Carter completely, but she had not told him about Ceri’s powers because Ceri had told her not to. Ceri looked back at Carter. ‘I’m a sorceress,’ she said. She watched him for a second and then added, ‘You don’t seem terribly surprised.’ Sorcerers were things of legend. The last of them, if they had ever truly existed, had died at the Battle of Badon during the Dark Ages. Most modern scholars believed that actions attributed to them were actually the work of wizards with demonic pacts.

‘I may have had some idea that you were not a common practitioner,’ Carter said. ‘Equally, I may throw a fit later when the repercussions have sunk in.’ He considered for a few seconds and then said, ‘How many people know?’

‘Lily, Twill, and Cheryl,’ Ceri said.

Carter nodded. ‘Thank you for including me in the club,’ he said. ‘Why Cheryl?’

‘She did some tests for me, discovered I was generating power in an abnormal way,’ Ceri explained. ‘She would have figured out something herself. I told her so that she would stay quiet.’

‘Wise,’ Carter said. ‘Very well, I will also tell no one. I know of a number of people who would not take the return of real sorcerers well. I believe that, for now, you are better off not knowing about them. Keep your secret and learn all you can. That would be my advice.’

‘These people you’re talking about,’ Lily asked, moving closer to Ceri, ‘they’re dangerous?’ Her arm slipped protectively around Ceri’s waist.

‘Some of them will simply try to exploit you, Ceri,’ Carter replied. ‘Some will want you dead.’

Lily gasped, her grip tightening on Ceri’s waist. Ceri was rather less surprised; her mother’s letter had suggested it would not be an easy ride. ‘Why would someone want her dead for being what she is?’ Lily asked.

Carter looked at Lily, his expression almost amused. ‘Lily, you ask that? Given what you are.’

‘People fear things which are different,’ Ceri said quietly, ‘things they don’t understand. My parents feared it. That’s why the locked it away behind powerful enchantments.’

‘Enough depressing talk,’ Carter said. ‘I suggest that I demonstrate some more of my spells and you demonstrate your amazing ability to recreate them, and so become a better practitioner.’ He pursed his lips, considering. ‘Some divination spells, perhaps. Information is always useful. I assume that you are aware of the laws of Contagion and Sympathy? These can be particularly useful…’

Ceri disengaged herself from Lily and moved around to sit on one of the couches. She had the feeling that she was going to have a long and tiring afternoon.

London Underground, District & Circle

Lily stood patiently on the platform, waiting beside Ceri for the next eastbound train. Unlike the trip to South Kensington station, Lily’s coat was draped over her shoulders, the arms swinging free at her sides, and Ceri was wearing something of a smirk.

‘So,’ Lily said, ‘do you think that was an afternoon well spent?’

A gust of wind jetted down the platform presaging the arrival of the train and Ceri did not speak until the two were settled onto plastic seats in the car. It was late for shopping and early for clubbing; there were relatively few other passengers and Ceri selected an empty pair of benches facing each other, Lily sitting down opposite her in a slightly awkward pose with her hands behind her back under the coat.

‘It was certainly instructive,’ Ceri said. ‘He knows a lot about magic. The practical side of magic not just the theory. I could probably work out all that stuff myself, given time, but it’s much easier to see it done and then work things out from there.’

‘I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,’ Lily began, but the rest of what she was going to say died off as two men approached from further down the car. Ceri had her back to them, but the look of irritation in Lily’s eyes put her on guard immediately.

‘What we got here then?’ The voice had a distinctly illiterate North London accent and the tone of someone who thought he was all that. Ceri turned slowly in her seat to observe the speaker, a relatively short man with a face like a ferret and mouse-brown hair. His grin showed fangs, quite obviously intentionally. His friend was taller, beefier, actually more attractive, but he was possessed of the kind of vacant expression that it took years of not paying attention in school to achieve. Ferret Boy’s grin grew wider as he got to see Ceri’s face. ‘Two good lookin’ women, out on their own,’ he said. ‘That just ain’t right, is it Dingo?’

Ceri suppressed a wince at the nickname while Dingo nodded dumbly. ‘Which pack are you boys from?’ Ceri asked.

Apparently that was not supposed to be her line. Ferret Boy looked vaguely confused for a second before pulling himself back together. ‘Serpents,’ he said. ‘You got on the train in our territory, got to pay the toll.’

‘The Serpents do claim Kensington,’ Lily said, ‘including the park. Hence the name since the Serpentine is in there. And I recall they do claim down to Cromwell Road.’ She looked up at Ferret Boy. ‘Except we came down through the south entrance on Thurloe Street so we didn’t go through your territory.’

‘Have to pay the toll, lupa, cos me an’ Dingo say you do,’ Ferret Boy said. Ceri worked her way through the possible meanings of “lupa” and came to the conclusion that he was implying that he thought they would be easy lays; neither were she-wolves, or ancient Roman prostitutes, and Ferret Boy was unlikely to have heard any rumours about the good times Ceri had had with the North Hills pack.

Lily, apparently, came to a similar conclusion. ‘Look lupa,’ she said, ‘my friend and I do indeed find a few hours spent in the company of some well hung wolves to be a perfectly worthwhile experience, but unfortunately you fail to live up to requirements.’

Ferret Boy frowned, not quite sure what Lily had said. Dingo was probably never going to figure it out. ‘Just get lost,’ Ceri said, ‘before you do something stupid.’

Something had finally sunk in. ‘Are you sayin’ my dick’s small?’ he said, glaring at Lily.

Ceri sighed and gathered her power. ‘You’re also too thick to party with,’ she said. As he turned to glare at her, their eyes met. ‘You need to get off at the next station,’ she said, pushing the suggestion into his mind.

Ferret Boy blinked. ‘C’mon Dingo,’ he said. ‘We don’t need to listen to this crap.’ Dingo grunted and followed his pack-mate to the door like an obedient puppy.

‘That’s a cool trick,’ Lily said when the train was pulling away from Victoria station, leaving Ferret Boy and Dingo on the platform with the former wondering why he had decided to get off.

Ceri nodded. ‘One of the spells Carter demonstrated,’ she said. ‘You push the suggestion into their head and they act on it.’

‘Right,’ Lily said. ‘So that’s why I thought it was such a great idea to cuff my own hands behind my back?’

Ceri nodded again. ‘Yeah, pretty much.’ She grinned. ‘Though I suspect you weren’t averse to the idea anyway.’

‘He had just explained that they were enchanted and wouldn’t come off,’ Lily pointed out. ‘Even I may have thought it a little unwise.’

‘Possibly,’ Ceri replied, ‘but Carter was quite sure I could work out how to disable the hex before you had to go to work.’

The train pulled into St James’ Park, stopped, and then pulled away again. ‘So, uh, how long do you think it’ll take you to do that?’ Lily finally asked.

‘What?’

‘Get me out of these cuffs?’ Lily replied, slightly exasperated.

‘Oh, that. I figured out how to do that before we left his flat.’

Lily’s eyes narrowed. ‘So I’m walking around with my hands cuffed behind my back because…’

‘Because we’ll have at least an hour at home before you have to get ready for work,’ Ceri said, ‘and I feel like taking full advantage of your unfortunate situation.’

Lily’s lips twitched as she tried not to smile.

Camden Town, November 28th

Regent’s Park on a dull day in November was not the most glorious place to be, but it was nicer than Camden, which was where they had got off the tube.

‘The Royals like to hang around near the zoo,’ Alec explained as they walked along the path toward Broad Walk. ‘I think it makes them feel a bit more wild. Frankly, they’re about as attuned to nature as the average city dweller. No more wild than the werefoxes.’

The first signs of the pack came as they spotted a man in biker leathers at the side of the path near the zoo’s fence. He might have appeared nothing more than a loner who had picked that place to stand and smoke, but Ceri spotted his gaze fixing on Alec as they drew closer, and the small nod of acknowledgement.

Alec led Ceri and Lily into the trees and suddenly there were werewolves everywhere. Men and women, they leant against trees or sprawled on blankets on the grass beneath. Ceri watched them as she walked past, deciding that Alec was probably right. These wolves were nothing like the North Hills pack. For starters, they were less connected. Most were in sub-groups where the nomads had been one, homogenous whole. There was pack loyalty, but not to the same extent. Alec had told her there were more than fifty werewolves in the Royals, and even on a Sunday afternoon, there were perhaps twenty-five here.

Lying on a blanket near the centre of the pack were a couple, surrounded by a few hangers-on. The male was smaller than Alec or Dane, but still moderately powerful looking. A handsome man in his late twenties with blond hair and carefully trimmed beard, his female was younger and looked almost like the trophy wife you saw older men with, haughty, with her honey-blonde hair tied up in a tight bun at the back of her head. They had a picnic basket and an open bottle of wine between them.

‘Joshua, Catherine,’ Alec said, ‘I hope you don’t mind me disturbing your picnic.’

‘Of course not, Alec, dear chap,’ Joshua said. ‘Especially when you bring such lovely creatures with you. Sit down, have a glass of wine.’

‘A little early for me,’ Alec replied. ‘I think you’ve met Lily before, you’ve been to the Dragon.’

It was Catherine who answered. ‘Indeed,’ she said. ‘Lily is the waitress you drool over whenever we’re there, dear.’

Joshua’s lips curled slightly; the two Alphas were clearly not on the best of terms. ‘And her companion…’ he began.

‘Ceridwyn Brent,’ Alec said, ‘Lily’s Mistress and a powerful practitioner.’ Ceri tried to keep the surprise out of her face. She was not sure why Alec was laying it on so thick, but she was sure he had his reasons. ‘I brought her to ask a favour of the Royal Pack, one which would most assuredly cast yourselves in a favourable light.’

Joshua raised an eyebrow. ‘Ask away,’ he said.

Alec turned slightly, a twitch of his brow indicating that Ceri should proceed. She stepped forward and, dropping easily into her role as Ceri’s pet demon, Lily edged forward slightly, standing at her right flank, eyes slightly downcast. Okay, if she was meant to be some great wizard she had better act it…

‘I’m a thaumatologist as well as a magician,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m currently researching the metaphysical transformation process of were-creatures and I find myself in need of some additional test subjects. Two of your people would do and there’s no danger in the test, just a scan while you transform.’

Joshua nodded. ‘What do we get out of this… experiment?’ At least he was direct.

‘My thanks,’ Ceri said, ‘and… there’s a considerable amount of interest in the aspect I’m working on. A lot of very, very prominent thaumatologists, supernaturalists, cryptozoologists, and probably psychologists will be reading the paper and seeing the names of the weres who helped in providing the data.’ She smiled. ‘There will likely be newspaper reports as well. The last thing I collaborated on made it into the Times.’

That had them; she could see their attitude change. Potential fame was waiting. ‘Very well,’ Catherine said, ‘we can provide the assistance you want… Who to send?’

‘The best results come from the pack’s Alphas,’ Ceri said.

‘And it’s their names who would appear in the acknowledgements,’ Lily added.

‘I can arrange something,’ Catherine said. ‘Tomorrow morning?’

‘I can be ready whenever you can make it,’ Ceri replied.

Joshua sucked on a fang and then nodded. ‘I’ll be there at nine,’ he said.

‘Thank you,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ll leave you to your… meeting.’ She turned and started away, Lily and Alec falling into step just behind her. The wolves watched her as she passed. There was a level of respect in the looks she was getting which had not been there before and she suspected it was more to do with the fact that she was leading Alec than that the two Alphas had agreed to her request.

‘What did you think of them?’ Alec asked as they got back out onto Broad Walk.

‘They were like… wannabe werewolves,’ Lily said.

‘The pack is far less tightly bound than the North Hills group,’ Ceri said. ‘Like you said, less wild, more… suburban.’

Alec chuckled. ‘Joshua’s a stockbroker, Catherine runs a little boutique clothes shop off Oxford Street. Most of the rest work in the city and live out in the suburbs. They meet up in the evenings sometimes, but it’s mostly at weekends.’ He gave Lily a gentle swat on the behind and she giggled. ‘Wannabes is right, they don’t even change unless it’s full moon night and they’re partying. There’s not so many real packs around these days.’

‘We ran into a couple of Serpents yesterday,’ Lily said.

‘Huh,’ Alec grunted. ‘They don’t count at all. They’re a street gang that turns furry when they want to scare people.’

‘They tried to intimidate us on the tube,’ Lily said, smirking. ‘We weren’t particularly intimidated.’

‘What other packs are there around here?’ Ceri asked.

‘Well, the Royals and the Serpents are the two main ones north of the river,’ Alec said. ‘There’s also the Dog Boys on the Isle of Dogs. South side you’ve got the Battersea pack between Vauxhall, Battersea Park, and Clapham, and the Marshwallers from Millwall way. The Dogs and the Marshwallers beat each other up regularly. Their territories are divided by the river, but they still manage to get into scraps. The Marshwallers like their fighting, bunch of violent thugs.’

‘What about the Battersea pack?’ Ceri asked. ‘We’re practically neighbours, I hope they aren’t too bad.’

‘No,’ Alec said thoughtfully, ‘they aren’t. Keep themselves to themselves, mostly. Rumour says their Alpha female has… mystic powers or something. Some say she’s a witch, but I’m not sure that’s even possible. Whatever, they aren’t a huge pack, but they’ve managed to hold a fairly big area. Always seem to know when someone’s invading their territory.’

‘Sounds interesting,’ Ceri said.

‘I’d introduce you,’ Alec replied, ‘but I don’t really know them myself.’

Ceri nodded. ‘Can’t have everything,’ she said. ‘You want to come back to ours for a drink or something? Say “thanks” for the introduction.’

‘I wouldn’t say no,’ Alec said.

‘Twill’s doing a roast,’ Lily added.

‘Now you’re just trying to make me drool,’ Alec said, laughing.

Holloway, November 29th

It was rather amusing to see a werewolf in boxer shorts. Technically the undressing was to save their clothes which could suffer if the body inside them suddenly grew, and the elasticated waist on a pair of loose shorts would work fine. It was just that Ceri had rather grown used to weres stripping to change, and there was Joshua, a brown-furred wolf-man in black silk boxer shorts with “Calvin Klein” printed on them.

She had to supress a smirk as she saved the recorded data from Joshua’s transformation. ‘Thank you, Joshua,’ she said. ‘Now if you take as long as you like before changing back, but give me a signal before you do, please.’

The werewolf nodded. There was a rather uncomfortable look to the way he was standing. It was as though he were not happy being in wolf-form. Alec had said that the Royals tended to change rarely; perhaps this was down to their Alpha being unhappy about his nature.

If that were the case, there was nothing abnormal about his transformation sequence, aside from the final pulse having a lower amplitude than either Alec or Dane. A weak leader creating a weaker catalysis pulse? As the analysis started to roll in, Ceri’s face lit up; she had been right, it seemed, and the frequency and modulation of the pulse was different from Alec, or the North Hills wolves.

She noticed Joshua waving an arm out of the corner of her eyes and flicked the record button on. ‘When you’re ready,’ she said, smiling at him. The reverse transformation was just as per normal, though Joshua went straight for his clothes and began to get dressed as soon as he was able. Ceri decided it was not that he was not comfortable with his nature, he was not comfortable in his own body! How he had become the pack Alpha she had no idea.

Catherine seemed to have no such issues, unwrapping the robe she had brought with her and stepping nude into the circle of sensors without the slightest sign of discomfort. Her body was not exactly model material, but she clearly worked out and kept herself in trim and nature had gifted her with a reasonable bust; it had to be nature, no were-creature could have implants. In fact, Ceri got the impression Catherine was posing for her. Wondering whether she needed to get an “I am not a Lesbian” badge to wear for such occasions, Ceri started the recorder and said, ‘When you’re ready, Catherine.’

‘I need to dash,’ Joshua said, ‘I have a meeting in twenty minutes.’

Ceri smiled briefly at him. ‘Thank you, Joshua,’ she said, and turned back to see the final moment of Catherine’s change. Catherine’s fur was grey and sleek, and the small amount of extra muscle her reformed body added was enough to turn her into a very nice shape, aside from the canine head mounted on top. Ceri stopped the recorder and began running the data through processing, looking back to find the grey wolf standing just behind her. ‘Uh,’ Ceri said, ‘this is you changing shape.’

Catherine took the opportunity to step closer as she looked over Ceri’s shoulder at the screen. She was making little mewling noises in her throat and her hands moved to rest lightly on Ceri’s hips. The animation sequence went through to the end, but the wolf-girl remained where she was, showing no sign of wanting to move. ‘When you’re ready to change back,’ Ceri said quietly, ‘just go back to the circle.’

Catherine panted hesitantly for a second, and then padded back onto the granite looking a little deflated. Ceri watched her revert to human form. ‘Thanks,’ the thaumatologist said, ‘those results are great, and pretty much exactly what I expected. Um… do you have to rush off or can you stay for a coffee?’

The werewolf perked up a little at the question. ‘I can stay a little while,’ she said.

‘How d’you take your coffee?’ Ceri asked, starting for the little room which served as a kitchen.

Catherine had the sense to put her robe back on. ‘Black, a little sugar, if you’ve got it,’ she called. Vaguely decently dressed, she followed after Ceri to lean against the doorframe as Ceri set the coffee machine going.

Ceri looked at her. ‘You mind if I ask a couple of questions?’ she asked.

‘No,’ Catherine replied, ‘go ahead.’ Ceri got the distinct feeling that the Alpha was being a lot more open now that she was out of sight of her mate and her pack.

‘Do I come across as gay?’ Ceri asked.

Catherine blushed. ‘No,’ she said, flustered, ‘I mean with the half-succubus… I mean, I’m not actually, um…’ She sagged. ‘Some Alpha I am.’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ Ceri said, smiling, ‘you’re the first Alpha female I’ve met. So, it’s Lily. I’m wandering around with a pet succubus so you figured I might like to go with you? I’m sorry to put you on the spot like this, but you’re the second… the third were-girl who’s made a play for me and I’m starting to wonder if it’s me.’

The she-wolf frowned. ‘You smell like an Alpha,’ she said. ‘A proper one like Alec. Josh… doesn’t.’ Her frown deepened for a second and then she shook her head and brightened up a little. ‘Werewolves are attracted to that kind of scent. Don’t know about the foxes, but I’d imagine they’re attracted to power to some extent or… Well, humans are kind of the same, even if they don’t know it. You’re more visual, but you size up prospective mates the same sort of way. Kind of “does this person look like they would be good to raise kids with.” Same with weres except there’s a lot of other senses involved.’

Ceri put half a spoonful of sugar into a mug and poured the coffee. Handing the mug with sugar in to Catherine she asked, ‘So how did you end up with Joshua?’

Catherine shrugged. ‘Everyone makes mistakes,’ she said. ‘Trouble is, werewolves are stuck with some of them. We mate for life, the Alphas anyway.’

‘Just the Alphas?’ Ceri asked. She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear Catherine say it.

‘Yes, though the others may mourn a lost mate the rest of their lives too. Depends on the wolf.’

‘So how come you have to put up with it?’ Ceri said flatly.

Catherine blinked. ‘Well, uh… It’s tradition, I guess. Always been that way.’

Taking a drink from her mug, Ceri let that answer sit for a second. ‘Your pack is hardly traditional, is it? Traditional packs would never have Joshua as their Alpha. And I’m betting he sleeps with as many she-wolves as he can get, despite knowing it bugs you, and then gets pissy when you go with anyone else?’ Catherine nodded tightly. ‘I gotta say, I don’t know why you put up with it. My understanding is that the two Alphas are different but equal. If he’s being an arse leave him. I bet a fair part of the pack would go with you. You’re stronger than he is.’

‘No, I’m… How can you say something like that?’ The she-wolf looked confused, unwilling to believe what she was hearing, but intrigued.

‘Science,’ Ceri said, ‘come and look.’ She indicated that Catherine should go back into the lab and then moved around her to lead the way back to the scanner system. ‘The reason I wanted you guys to come and be tested,’ Ceri explained, ‘is that I found a thaumatological basis for the cascade effect werewolves exhibit.’ She tapped the computer’s keyboard, pulling up the animation of Catherine’s change.

‘That’s me?’ Catherine asked.

Ceri nodded. ‘And you see this pulse at the end? That’s the cause of the cascade. I ran some scans of a wolf being hit by that pulse and it causes a reaction in the Chakral Ajna node, which is,’ she reached back and put her finger on the back of Catherine’s head, about level with the middle of her forehead, ‘about there. It’s responsible for a lot of metaphysical senses. I sense magical effects around me through there.’

Turning back to the computer, Ceri tapped in several commands and produced a bar chart. ‘Alright,’ she said, ‘the frequency and phase modulation of the pulse appears to be related to the pack. Pack members have the same basic pattern in the pulse they generate, but each of them produces a different amplitude which seems to relate to their rank in the pack.’

Catherine looked at the various bars. ‘What do the colours mean?’ she asked.

‘The red bar is Alec,’ Ceri said. It was the tallest of them all. ‘The orange ones are the members of the North Hills pack, except for that yellow one, that’s their Alpha, Dane. As you can see, he’s stronger than the other members of his pack, but not quite as powerful as Alec.’

‘And the green lines are me and Joshua?’

‘Yes. Yours is about fifty per cent higher than his.’ Ceri looked around at Catherine. ‘You are a more powerful werewolf than he is. To be honest, I’d guess the pack is hanging together because of you, not him.’ She put a hand on Catherine’s shoulder. ‘Seriously, if he bugs you as much as it seems, put a leash on the creep. Believe me, sometimes you have to assert yourself or you’ll get walked over. You’re an Alpha werewolf, girl. Act like it.’

Catherine looked for a second like she was going to agree, and then sagged. ‘I can’t,’ she said, ‘no packs are ruled by a female. It’s just… impossible.’

Kennington

‘Can’t sleep?’ Lily asked quietly. When she got no immediate answer she added, ‘What’s bugging you?’

‘I thought you always knew,’ Ceri said.

‘Not always. Not with everyone.’ Lily paused before going on. ‘I can’t read Carter well at all, except for the most basic stuff, and you’re getting harder.’

‘I am?’

Lily pulled her body closer against Ceri’s back, almost as though the proximity would help her distil Ceri’s needs. ‘Yes. I can still tell what you want from me, but other things are harder. It’s like the better you get with your magic, the more you shut me out.’

Ceri sighed. ‘I’m sorry. I really don’t mean to. Really. It’s the werewolves, I just don’t understand them.’

‘Experiments not working out?’ Lily asked. ‘I thought it was all shaping up nicely.’

‘No, no, that’s great. I’ve got more out of it than I expected. No, it’s…’ She stopped, trying to vocalise her thoughts. ‘You’ve known Alec longer than I have. Does it seem to you that he’s… waiting for something? Same as Dane, some chance to make things even?’

‘Alec’s hard to read as well,’ Lily replied, ‘but yes. Sometimes I catch him just standing behind the bar looking sad and I get this desire for vengeance from him, but it never lasts long enough for me to get an idea of the target.’

‘Ever asked him about it?’

‘He told me it was none of my business.’

‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted. ‘You remember Catherine?’ She felt Lily nod. ‘She’s stuck in what amounts to a loveless marriage to Joshua. She’s better than him, but she won’t do anything because females can’t lead packs. They’re all so… hidebound.’

‘Dane doesn’t seem to be as bad,’ Lily said, not contradicting the overall sentiment.

‘No,’ Ceri conceded, ‘he does seem to be more open than some. I just don’t understand them though. They act like the only thing that’s changed since the Shattering is that they can admit they’re weres and not get shot with silver bullets.’

Lily was silent for a few seconds, then she said, ‘Okay, different tack, why is it bothering you?’

Ceri barked out a short laugh. ‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘that’s why it’s bothering me.’

‘Sleep on it,’ Lily said. She shifted, the arm over Ceri’s waist moving up to her chest, cupping one breast, yet there was no sexuality about the action at all. The half-demon’s smooth skin slid against Ceri’s as she moved her head slightly closer, and then she was singing; a soft lullaby sung in a language Ceri did not understand.

‘What… what is that?’ Ceri said. Her eyes were feeling heavy already.

The singing broke off just long enough for Lily to say, ‘My father used to sing it to me.’ The odd words began again, the soft melody soothing away Ceri’s worries like water washing over pebbles on the beach.

‘It’s… beautiful…’ Ceri murmured before her eyes finally closed and she slid away into sleep.

December 1st

Lily had been right, sleeping on the problem had been a great idea. Ceri had come up with a plan; one which she was fairly sure would result in a better understanding of werewolves. However, she was also pretty sure Lily would throw a massive fit if she knew what she was going to do so she waited until Wednesday, when Lily was out at work, before doing anything.

Taking a bag with her she went out, cutting across Kennington Park to the tube station at the Oval, hopping down one stop to Stockwell. All she knew about the Battersea pack was that they operated around Battersea Park, which was a fair walk north, but Alec had said they operated in a fairly large area and she was hoping to find some of them before she got there.

Still, she saw no sign of anything lupine as she headed through South Lambeth toward Nine Elms. New Covent Garden Market was quiet. She saw a couple of homeless people who watched her as she passed, but no wolves, and soon she found herself on Battersea Park Road looking out across old, industrial landscape to the power station. Sighing, she turned left and began walking down Battersea Park Road toward the park itself.

There was no moon in the sky yet and it was dark under the trees. Still, a simple spell, one of the ones Carter had showed her, enhanced her vision enough that she could see that she was quite alone. She wanted to be quite sure of that since the next stage was undressing and putting her clothes in the bag she had brought along. Naked and shivering, she pushed the bag into a space between some tree roots and closed her eyes, concentrating.

She had seen it now over a dozen times. All she had to do was replicate the change process she had seen Alec, Dane, Tabitha, and so many others do before. She felt the magic swell around her, allowed it to build to a peak, and then focussed on the form she was going to take as the thaumic field collapsed in on itself. She gasped, her body seeming to ripple. Her skin tingled as though a current were being passed through it and she opened her eyes on a different world.

The colours were muted, mostly shades of grey with some dull colours mixed in, but the night seemed bright now. She lifted her muzzle and sniffed, and was almost overwhelmed by the mass of scents which struck her. Dissecting the smells, she thought she caught something familiar on the breeze coming from the lake. She started in that direction.

The scent, she realised, was coming from the island in the park’s boating lake and she prowled along the shore, trying to see where it was coming from. She could see a fire, or what she thought was a fire, over there and was wondering how she was going to get to it when she realised that she was surrounded.

There were six of them, all male and bigger than she was. None of them were acting in an overtly aggressive manner, but she was an unknown werewolf in another pack’s territory. The grey-furred creatures closed in around her and she dropped to her knees, looking down at the floor in front of her. It was a gesture of submission and it received the reaction she had hoped; one of the wolves moved forward, sniffing at her. As she knelt there, waiting to see whether she would be killed on sight or accepted, she noticed for the first time that her wolf-form had black fur. It had not been a conscious choice. If anything, she had expected to come out looking much like Tabitha.

The wolf was circling her slowly, and came to a stop in front of her. She did not raise her eyes until he gave a curt bark and waved for her to follow him. He loped forward, slipping into the water of the lake and swimming out toward the island. With a quick glance at the others, Ceri followed. The water was cold and her breath caught as she swam the short distance to the island. The male was waiting on the shore when she arrived and he led the way through some trees to a small clearing.

There were people there, gathered around an old oil barrel which had a fire burning in it. None of them paid any attention to the two werewolves, but then Ceri could smell the wolf scent thick in the air. All of the dozen or so people, dressed in random clothing scrounged from all over the city, she guessed, were werewolves.

That included the woman standing beside the fire, but she was somehow different. She had long, silver-grey hair and looked to be in her late fifties at least, possibly older. Still, she was upright and there was the look of beauty aging well about her. As Ceri approached, she turned and regarded the new wolf with eyes almost as black as Lily’s. This was the pack’s Alpha female, Ceri knew it instinctively, whether by the scent, the deference of the other wolves, or her own sorcerous abilities she was not sure, but she did know it. Again, Ceri dropped to her knees, averting her eyes and waiting.

‘Well, a new wolf in our territory,’ the woman said, ‘and a black-fur at that.’ She chuckled. ‘I’d wager you don’t even understand the significance. Come girl, you’re no more a werewolf than I am the Queen.’ She took a blanket from a small pile of belongings near the fire and tossed it toward Ceri. ‘Take your normal shape so that we may talk properly.’

Ceri looked up. Changing back for her was not quite the same as for a true werewolf. Her shape was being held in place by the spell she had cast, a second’s concentration and her body shimmered back into her normal, naked, cold shape. She picked up the blanket and pulled it around herself. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘That’s quite all right, Miss Brent,’ the woman said. ‘Come closer to the fire, you’ll be warmer. I am Alexandra. As you have no doubt guessed, I am the Alpha of the Battersea pack.’

Ceri frowned. ‘Sorry, how do you know who I am?’

‘Alec told me of you, described you. You live nearby, I imagine he assumed we would meet at some point.’

Her frown deepening, Ceri said, ‘Alec told me he didn’t know you.’

Her soft chuckle came again. ‘I’d imagine he would. I have no doubt he was hoping we would not meet for some time yet. I knew we would, but when he gets like this there really is no talking to him. What brings you here dressed in wolf’s clothing, Miss Brent?’

‘Ceri, please.’ Alexandra bowed her head in acknowledgement and Ceri went on. ‘I… don’t understand werewolves,’ she said. ‘I’d hoped I could learn more by experiencing it.’

‘A noble goal,’ Alexandra said. ‘It’s well that you came here to do it. Other packs would have been… unforgiving though they might not have seen through your spell so quickly. My people are the dispossessed of the London, the homeless, those who choose to live on the edge of society. We are rather more open to newcomers and I must say you have excellent manners for a human.’

Ceri smiled. ‘I read a lot.’

A bell-like laugh rang out and there was a murmur of laughter from the others. Alexandra had a beautiful voice and an accent Ceri could not place. ‘But you find that what is written in books and scientific papers does not capture all you wish to know?’

‘I’m an experimental thaumatologist,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m used to testing theories in a lab. This is a very big laboratory, I admit, but it’s the same principle. If I don’t know something, and can’t discover it written down, I go find it for myself.’

Alexandra looked at her for a few seconds, apparently considering her words. ‘Very well,’ she said. She raised her voice slightly so that those around her could hear clearly. ‘Ceridwyn is to be an honorary member of the pack for as long as her… research requires it. Treat her as one of our own.’

Ceri smiled. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘You’re welcome. However, your education as a wolf can start tomorrow. Come back then and Michael there,’ she indicated the male who had escorted her to the island, ‘will be your guide. I think that will be agreeable to him?’

Michael was sitting at the edge of the clearing, a shadowy grey shape. He nodded his head and gave a short barking sound. Ceri could not understand whatever detail he had put into the reply, but apparently he was happy to take her under his wing.

‘Good,’ Alexandra said. ‘Tonight I’d like to talk to you a while. There are things you should know and the only person who will tell them to you is me.’

Ceri’s grin was uncertain. ‘That sounds kind of ominous,’ she said.

Alexandra smiled enigmatically. ‘It does, doesn’t it?’

‘You don’t know a fairy named Twill do you?’ Ceri asked. Twill had an annoying habit of making rather cryptic comments when she was trying to make some important point.

‘No, I don’t know many fae at all. They tend to stay out of our park.’

Ceri smiled. ‘Sorry, there’s no reason you’d get the reference. Could I ask what you meant about the black fur?’

‘Hmm, yes… Did you choose the colour when you worked your magic?’ Alexandra asked in return.

Ceri shook her head. ‘I was expecting to be grey really, like a friend of mine. Tabitha of the North Hills pack?’

‘And how many wolves with black fur have you ever seen?’

‘Seen? One. Alec.’ She narrowed her eyes a little at the Alpha female. ‘But if I had to guess I’d say you have.’

Alexandra laughed. ‘I’m going grey around the muzzle these days, but yes, I have. Black fur in werewolves is found only in the most powerful, those with the purest bloodlines.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Ceri said, feeling foolish. ‘I’ll make sure to make it grey tomorrow.’

‘No, dear. I think you became a black-fur for a good reason. I suspect that you couldn’t be grey or brown if you tried.’ Alexandra smiled. ‘And I don’t believe it’s any form of insult to our kind.’

‘Where does the brown fur come from then? I’ve only seen that once.’

‘Interbreeding with humans,’ Alexandra said. There was no distaste in her voice, though Ceri could imagine it if Alec had been saying the same. ‘Some of mine are brown, about two-thirds of the Royals are. It’s no stigma, as far as I’m concerned. You’re a werewolf or you aren’t, and we were getting close to extinction before the Shattering. We would be interbreeding far too much if we did not mix in some human blood. The real problem is that many of them are… more comfortable being human.’

‘The Royals seem that way,’ Ceri said. Talking about them brought Catherine to mind and Ceri looked around. ‘Alexandra, if you don’t find this insolent or painful, where’s your mate?’

The she-wolf smiled, thought there was a little pain behind her eyes. ‘Dafydd died fighting the Nazis during the war,’ she said.

‘And you’ve been running this pack ever since?’ Alexandra nodded her reply. ‘So much for females not being good leaders,’ Ceri said.

‘It’s not unheard of, but not common,’ Alexandra replied. ‘It’s more common for the female to be the “power behind the throne,” so to speak.’ She paused and Ceri got the impression she was considering her words carefully. ‘You know Alec and Dane fairly well?’ she finally asked.

Ceri laughed. ‘They’re both a bit enigmatic,’ she said. ‘Dane trusts me, I think. Enough to open up a little, and his pack have been trying to get him to sleep with me. Alec…’ She frowned. ‘I think Alec is trying to protect me from something.’

‘You and his pride,’ Alexandra said. ‘Something is returning, something from Alec’s past, and Dane’s. Alec believes that it is a problem which must be handled by werewolves. Dane knows he can’t win against it without help, but he will be swayed by Alec, as always.’

‘This thing you’re not really telling me about,’ Ceri said, ‘it could kill them?’

Alexandra’s smile was bleak. ‘The lucky ones will die, yes.’

Battersea, December 2nd

In her wolf-form, Ceri loped back to where her clothes were hidden accompanied by the sleek, grey shape of Michael. She was informed, but frustrated. Alexandra had refused to be further drawn on the danger Alec and the North Hills pack were in. Instead she had concentrated on telling Ceri things about pack etiquette and what she could expect on returning the following day. Going over it all in her head, she was not really paying attention to Michael until they reached the tree where her clothes were still waiting.

Pulling the bag out she prepared to transform back into a human, and then stopped. Michael was watching her, his jaws slightly open and an intent look in his eyes. She could smell his arousal without looking to confirm it and she found her wolfen body responding. Alexandra had said nothing, but her own reading had told her something she had not really thought about; new females joining a pack were traditionally anyone’s until they were taken as a mate. She also recognised that Michael was giving her a choice; if she wished, she could transform back and, she suspected, he would leave her be.

Slowly, Ceri turned her back on Michael and waited. A second later he was standing behind her, his hands on her hips, pushing down. She could feel his breath on her neck, hot and urgent, and she sank to her knees, and then all fours. Werewolves were not big on foreplay. Ceri felt his tongue lap between her legs, confirming her readiness, and she pushed her knees apart. Then he was entering her, forcing a grunt from her throat. He was big and forceful, and he seemed to care little for her thoughts on what was happening. She pushed her muzzle into the grass, covering it with her clawed hands. Her breasts bounced as he thrust and she felt her climax swelling. She clenched her jaws tight to avoid howling as she felt him come and her own orgasm exploded through her.

His breath, panting now, was hot on her neck again for a second or two while he recovered. Then she felt one hand stroke along her spine before he pulled out of her. She knew he was gone; his scent, musky and strong, was dying around her. Still, Ceri just lay there, her nose in the grass and her butt sticking up in the air as though waiting for Michael to return or another to take his place. She felt… wanton, and very aroused.

Struggling to her feet, she pulled her clothes out of her bag before changing back. It was early and the air was cold, but it did nothing to cool her ardour. Checking the time, she realised that she would have some explaining to do to Lily before she could get down to what she wanted from her succubus. She giggled as she started for home. It was going to take quite some explaining.

Kennington

‘You’re completely insane you know?’ Lily said. Ceri had been wrong; Lily had taken one look at her and taken her straight to bed, quite willing to indulge her Mistress’ desires before asking why Ceri was coming in later than she had. It was now almost dawn and they were cuddled together under the sheets and Ceri was quite exhausted.

‘I knew more or less what I was doing,’ Ceri replied. Lily was actually taking it far better than she had expected.

‘You walked right into the middle of a pack’s territory,’ Lily said, ‘and just hoped they wouldn’t rip your throat out. I’d say that was pretty crazy. Unless this Michael is feeling kind and claims you while you’re doing your research you’re going to spend most of the time being passed around between every unmated male in the pack. That’s pretty crazy too.’

‘Then how come you’re not yelling at me?’

‘Well,’ Lily said, ‘they didn’t rip your throat out, and if you’re going to come home horny as hell every night I can hardly complain. What’ve you told Cheryl?’

‘I said I’d be out of the office for a couple of days doing some research on other packs,’ Ceri replied. ‘Don’t mention this to Carter or Alec. Especially Alec.’

‘I’m not stupid,’ Lily replied. ‘He obviously lied about knowing Alexandra, and the only reason I can think of for that is that he didn’t want you to meet her. I doubt he’ll be happy to know you have.’ She paused for a second and then added, ‘Are you sure you should have told me everything she told you?’

Ceri frowned, considering. ‘Let me ask you something first. Would you have let me go ahead with this if I’d told you about it before I went?’

Lily responded almost immediately. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’ve never known you do something without thinking it through, given time to do the thinking. I trust you. I’m glad you didn’t tell me, because I’d have been worrying the whole time, and I’d have asked a lot of questions, but I believe in you.’

‘Exactly,’ Ceri said. ‘I didn’t tell you because I thought you’d throw a fit. I should trust you more. I will trust you more. You’re my friend…’

‘And your pet demon,’ Lily said, grinning.

‘And my pet demon,’ Ceri agreed, grinning back. ‘The only reason I should need to keep something from you is because it could harm you.’

‘Thank you,’ Lily said and her grip around Ceri’s waist tightened. ‘You’re allowed to not tell me if you’re planning to do something nuts too. Save me worrying. Though a note would have been nice.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ Ceri said. Her eyes were drifting closed.

‘So, you’re on night shift then?’ Lily asked.

‘Yeah… guess you could say that.’

Lily pulled Ceri closers still, snuggling against her, warm and soft. ‘Good,’ she said, ‘no need to get up early.’

Battersea, December 4th

Michael was waiting by the tree where Ceri was once again planning to hide her clothes. He had been there the night before as well, ready to take her to meet a group of around twenty pack members, two couples, and a lot of single males. She had then spent the night, as Lily had suggested, being passed around between wolves as they “sampled the goods.” However, the two females seemed to be on hand to make sure she was okay and take care of her when she was given a break, and their mates along with Michael, were on hand to ensure that no one got too rough. Ceri got the distinct impression that, since this was what would happen to a new female entering the pack, she was being given the experience, but the end result had already been decided.

Still, as she completed her transformation, Ceri was wondering what was on the agenda tonight. She was not aware that any of the males had claimed her. For all she knew she was about to be taken to yet another group to repeat the experience. Alec had said that they were not a large pack so it seemed unlikely that she had not met, intimately, all the unmated males, but then Alec had lied about knowing Alexandra.

Michael waited for her to become a she-wolf before moving closer. Almost immediately she spotted the change in behaviour. He moved in close, his muzzle caressing hers. She had seen the same sort of behaviour among the North Hills couples. She could hear him sniffing at her face and neck, and she returned the gesture. He smelled of fresh air and grass; she guessed that she probably smelled of Lily. Sure enough, when he pulled back and looked at her there was something of a quizzical look on his face.

Ceri was starting to get the hang of werewolf communication, but there was simply no way to explain Lily to him without reverting back to being a human. Instead she bowed her head, seeking his acceptance of her peculiar ways. He reached out a hand to lift her chin, his own head bobbing upward. She should not be so silly, of course it was okay. Ceri moved closer and rubbed his muzzle with her own in thanks.

Turning, Michael took off across the park. He made no indication that she should follow, but she knew it was what he intended. Sure enough, he held back his speed until she had made up the gap and was running at his right flank, and then they were rushing across the grass at full pelt.

After a minute or so she began to realise that they were not really going anywhere. He was simply taking her for a run. She was not entirely surprised when another couple joined them, coming out of some trees as they passed and falling in step to Michael’s left. The new male let out a bark of glee and Michael howled a reply. It was a rush; Ceri, a human girl, was running wild with the wolves.

Eventually all four of them collapsed into a breathless pile of fur in a group of trees near Fountain Lake. There was gentle touching and light caresses. Muzzles were rubbed, even between the two males. What Ceri’s human brain interpreted as intimacy was really more to do with pack bonding, though she noticed that the contact here was not as prolonged as when Michael had greeted her earlier. She was going to have to reassess her views on what physical contact meant because right now she was getting turned on, and she could sense that it was normal to them. Worse, she knew full well that they could smell the effect it was having on her.

The little party disbanded with the other wolves looking at her with amusement showing in their eyes. The other male tilted his head slightly at Michael and licked his lips, but Michael shook his head. The female looked a little disappointed. Ceri dipped her head in embarrassment, but she was not surprised at the reactions. Michael seemed like a good catch; Ceri could not really understand why he was single.

Michael nodded in the direction of the river and started away, Ceri loping along behind him. He crossed the park to the edge and then, ignoring the few people walking along the river’s edge at this time of night, crossed to the wall and leant against it. Feeling self-conscious, Ceri joined him. Michael reached out, looping an arm around her waist and pulling her closer. They were a couple standing by the river’s edge, like many others did every day. The only difference was that they were naked aside from their fur, and they had wolf heads.

He was making a point and she could see it well after a bare few minutes. There were three basic reactions from the passers-by. Some ignored them, or seemed to. Some were fascinated, and in one case even aroused. Ceri watched the look on the man’s face as he eyed her body in passing; the girl on his arm had to nudge him to get his attention back. The majority, however, walked as far from the werewolves as they could, their steps quickening once they were past. Ceri could smell the fear and after a few minutes of it she turned toward the water so she no longer had to see the people.

‘Shouldn’t be allowed.’ Ceri heard the woman’s voice clearly though it was meant to be a whisper. ‘Things like that on the streets. Shouldn’t be allowed around decent people.’ Ceri’s body stiffened and she felt her anger rising. Michael’s arm tightened around her waist, pulling her against him. His muzzle brushed hers.

‘Shush, Vera,’ the woman’s partner, likely her husband, hissed at her. ‘They’ll hear you.’

Michael held on to Ceri until the couple were well past, constantly comforting her, rubbing muzzles and hands stroking her back. As she settled, he released her and nodded toward the park. She felt sick and nodded back. She wanted to be among wolves; she had never before been ashamed of her own race.

~~~

They were busy chasing rabbits through the park when Ceri began feeling odd. At first the joy of simply running alongside Michael blocked out the sensation she was feeling, but slowly she began to recognise a tightening in the skin at the back of her skull. There was magic at work; a lot of magic. She came to a stop, looking around for the source.

Michael slid to a stop after a few seconds, wheeling around. He had caught her distress and he dropped into a crouch, searching for whatever had caused it. Catching no scents, or anything else which seemed troublesome, he padded over to her, his head tilted in question.

There seemed no source for what Ceri was feeling. She should have been able to smell a vampire, or a human mage. She was not so sure about a demon or a fae, but if neither she nor Michael could sense anything then she found it hard to believe that there was something there. She blinked, bringing her Sight up, and her eyes widened. There seemed to be magic all around her, a sea of thaumic energy swelling out from her.

Ceri staggered and dropped onto the grass, and the next thing she knew she was being lifted in muscular arms. The world sped past as Michael carried her toward the boating lake, but he had not made it to the shore before a half-dozen wolves led by a female with black fur intercepted him.

Alexandra shifted back into human form on the run, her face full of concern. ‘Don’t shift back,’ she said to Ceri. ‘Put her down, Michael, and step back.’ Michael laid Ceri carefully down on the grass and, reluctantly, moved away.

Ceri looked up at Alexandra, unable to communicate much more than her distress to the Alpha. Alexandra moved closer, pressing a cool hand to Ceri’s forehead. Her brow wrinkled and she drew her hand away, clenching her fist. ‘You’re giving off huge amounts of magical energy, child,’ Alexandra said. ‘Your aura is raging. There’s… I’ve never seen anything like it. Your body is suffused with magic.’

Starting to panic, Ceri tried to stand and Alexandra pushed her back down. Something happened; Ceri was not entirely sure what, but suddenly she felt calmer. She had sensed no magic building in Alexandra, but she was convinced the woman had cast a spell. She heard Alexandra say, ‘Michael, bring her clothes here,’ and then she found herself drifting. She blinked, seeing Alexandra’s face floating before her, and then even that image dissolved away.

Kennington, December 5th

Ceri awoke in a cage. There was candle light to see by, and by the candle light Ceri could see Lily sitting on the floor outside the cage. ‘Clever move,’ she said quietly. The cage bars were designed to contain Lily’s auras if necessary; silver-iron cores with earth wires would drain away the energy. Of course, they would also work perfectly well to neutralise the field Ceri had been generating.

Lily bounced up onto her feet. ‘You had me worried,’ she said. ‘When I got home there was a werewolf and an old lady in the hall with you, and Twill was buzzing around like a demented firefly.’ She picked up an inlaid wooden box and pushed it through the bars. ‘Care to see if you’re done yet?’ she asked.

Ceri opened the box. It was one of her father’s thaumometers; a mid-range one with a scale which stopped at twenty thaums. The needle did not even twitch. ‘Looks like I’m safe,’ she said. ‘I want to go into the lab later and run the scanning system over me.’ She closed the box again. ‘Was it your idea to put me in here?’

Lily nodded. ‘The door’s not locked. I figured if it would stop my aura, it would keep any odd effects from you in check. The lady said that you were just generating magical energy, like you were a walking magic source. Not dangerous at that level, but much higher and it could have been. Was that Alexandra?’

‘Well, I was asleep, but probably,’ Ceri replied. ‘The wolf was probably Michael. Was I human when you got home?’

Lily nodded again. ‘Alexandra said she had dismissed your spell. She said it was easy, there was so much magic around you that she didn’t have to draw on her own power.’

Getting up, Ceri opened the cage door and stepped out. ‘I really need to get myself scanned,’ she said. ‘I’ll call Cheryl later.’ Suddenly she was wrapped in a hug.

‘Don’t do that again,’ Lily told her. ‘That was scary.’

‘Yeah… It scared me too.’ Ceri wrapped her arms around Lily and held on.

‘So that was Michael, huh?’ Lily asked.

‘Well, probably, yes.’

‘I can see why you like him,’ Lily said. ‘I wouldn’t mind a bit of that myself.’

Ceri giggled.

Holloway

‘Well,’ Cheryl said, ‘there’s no doubt about it. Your body has a residual charge of thaumic energy stored in it.’

Ceri walked out of the circle of instruments to look at the image on the scanner’s screen and frowned. ‘I’ve been using a lot of power for a couple of nights in a row,’ she said.

Cheryl nodded. ‘It seems that we have discovered the limiting factor on your abilities.’ She looked around at Lily who was standing at the side of the room looking concerned. ‘What did you say she was reading last night?’

‘Not sure,’ Lily replied. ‘Over twenty thaums.’

The thaumatologist sucked on her teeth thoughtfully. ‘There must be a threshold effect,’ she said. ‘Your body is able to contain the energy up to some limit and after that it leaks out. Up to about thirty thaums isn’t dangerous, per se, but after that things start getting interesting.’

‘Interesting?’ Lily asked.

‘Random magical events,’ Ceri said. ‘Weird lights, illusions, spontaneous creation, random transformations, sudden matter disintegration.’

‘Nothing good then.’

‘Not really, no.’ Ceri let out a sigh. ‘I was really getting somewhere with the pack too. Now I have to limit the time I can spend with them.’

Cheryl looked at her. ‘You figured out how to turn into a werewolf?’ she asked. ‘You know transformation magic is practically unknown? Even if people think witches can turn people into toads, that kind of spell was lost centuries ago.’

‘It wasn’t that hard,’ Ceri replied. ‘I’ve watched enough of them do it, but it does take a lot of power to turn and then keep the shape up.’

‘Hmm…’ Cheryl frowned and considered the screen for a few seconds. ‘Your parents were some of the best enchanters in the country,’ she said, ‘and you haven’t considered making something to do the work for you?’

Lily giggled. Ceri grinned sheepishly. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘this is why I’m the research assistant and you’re my boss.’

December 7th

Ceri sat dejectedly at her desk splitting her attention between two sets of data analysis being run on the lab’s computers and a large book on enchantments she had brought from home. The analyses were going quite well, though she would not know whether she was getting really useful information from them until she had a chance to properly examine the results. The enchantment research was going rather less well.

She had found several symbolic complexes which could allow her to transform. They required activation, sure, but they would allow her to stay in werewolf form for as long as she wished without expending extra energy. That was the good news. Unfortunately, every single one of them was going to take her years to complete on her own. She was just about ready to toss the book across the room, not an easy thing considering its size, when Cheryl poked her head around the door.

‘Uh, Ceri, there’s a young man here to see you.’ Cheryl was looking a little perplexed and Ceri frowned. ‘He says he knows you,’ her boss added, ‘but I’ve never seen him before.’

Ceri stood and walked around her desk, crossing the room to look out through the door. Cheryl backed up and pointed to a tall man, long in the leg, who was looking rather uncomfortable as he stood near the main door into the lab. He did look young, maybe eighteen, though the long T-shirt, cargo shorts, and basketball boots with laces untied were possibly making him look younger than he was. His tanned face was narrow and a little flat, with a narrow nose, high cheekbones, wide mouth, and a slightly prominent, cleft chin. His hair was almost shoulder length, untidy, and black. As she watched he pushed some dark strands out of his face and looked up. He smiled uncertainly.

Ceri blinked. Clearly he knew her… ‘Hi,’ she said, ‘you were asking for me?’

‘Uh, yeah,’ he said, shuffling his feet. ‘Um… you probably don’t recognise me… uh, it’s Michael.’

‘Michael!’ Ceri brightened, though seeing his human form was a bit of a shock. ‘Uh, this is my boss, Doctor Cheryl Tennant. Michael is one of the werewolves from the Battersea pack.’

Cheryl smiled and walked over to the werewolf, offering her hand. ‘Pleased to meet you, Michael,’ she said.

Michael took her hand and shook it, but he looked rather hesitant. ‘Uh, pleased to meet you, ma’am,’ he said. The confident werewolf Ceri was used to was far from confident as a human.

Ceri was not entirely sure how to react. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here?’ she said.

‘Uh, yeah, sorry,’ he began.

Suddenly she knew how to react. Stepping forward, she quickly closed the distance between them, rubbing her cheek against his. The action surprised him, but seemed to lend him confidence. He returned the cheek-rub and his body straightened a little. ‘You don’t need to be sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m pleased to see you, just surprised.’ She kept the close position up for a second or too longer, her body rubbing against his, and then she moved back.

The look on Cheryl’s face was utterly priceless. Ceri could not help laughing. ‘You two… know each other quite well then?’ Cheryl asked.

‘Michael’s been helping me get assimilated into the pack,’ Ceri said. ‘We’re…’ She stopped and looked around at Michael. ‘Are we mates? I’m not sure whether it’s some sort of official thing or…’

The werewolf’s cheeks coloured. ‘Uh… well if you were a real pack member, we’d be mates,’ he said. ‘Alexandra said you wouldn’t be a permanent member, so I guess it’s more like we’re dating… or something.’

Ceri was a little relieved. Michael the werewolf had seemed very involved in the relationship, but in wolf form they were more emotionally driven. If Michael the human was more realistic, then hopefully things would not get difficult. She looked back to Cheryl. ‘Michael is my temporary mate,’ she said.

‘I guess that explains all the rubbing up against each other,’ Cheryl said, smiling. ‘You seem to be picking up the culture rather quickly. Perhaps I should try it.’

Ceri laughed. ‘I’m not sure Alec would approve.’

Michael frowned. ‘You know Alec, ma’am?’ he asked.

‘Quite well,’ Cheryl replied. ‘Though I hasten to add that neither of us would consider the other as our mate. I’ll leave you two to your business.’ She turned toward her own office and then stopped, glancing back. ‘If your office door is closed, I won’t disturb you,’ she said, grinning, and then she went on her way.

‘C’mon,’ Ceri said, heading for her office, ‘there’s chairs in here.’ She led the way in, sitting down behind her desk and waving at the chair behind the second desk in the room. ‘Grab that and pull it over,’ she directed. ‘You know, I like being a wolf with you, but it’s nice to be able to talk properly.’

Michael smiled slightly and went to grab the chair. ‘Won’t the owner of this want it?’

‘He’s dead,’ Ceri replied. ‘Twice.’

‘Sorry?’ Michael stopped moving the chair and stared at her. He had very blue eyes.

‘Someone killed him and brought him back as a zombie,’ she explained. ‘Then I blew a hole in his chest after he was sent to kill me and Cheryl.’

‘Oh,’ Michael said. He finished pushing the chair over and sat down with his knees touching Ceri’s. Werewolves had little sense of personal space, but in this case Ceri did not mind. ‘Alexandra said you were powerful. She said you were a special kind of magician.’

‘I’d appreciate it if you kept that quiet,’ Ceri said a little sharply. ‘You could maybe mention that to Alexandra as well?’

‘You can tell her yourself,’ he replied. ‘She needs to talk to you, tonight. She said it would be fine if you came as a human, but she needs to see you.’

‘So she sent you?’ Ceri asked.

‘Well…’ He blushed and looked a little sheepish. ‘She wanted someone to come and I said I would… I, uh… I missed you and I was worried.’

Leaning forward, Ceri put her hands on his and smiled. ‘I’m okay. What happened was a side effect of me using all that magic to be a wolf and me being… special. The magic builds up in my body until it kind of overflows. Cheryl ran another scan on me this morning and it’s draining out. A little slow for my tastes, but I’ll be clear in another couple of days.’

‘So… no wolf tonight then?’ he asked.

‘No, sorry. I could probably risk it for a little while, but I’m still trying to work out what I can and can’t do.’

Michael nodded. ‘Come anyway. Alexandra was pretty intense about it. She really needs to see you.’

‘I’ll be there.’ She leaned back again and looked at him appraisingly. ‘You’re younger than I expected,’ she said. ‘How did you end up with Alexandra’s pack?’

He heaved a sigh and then gave a short, self-deprecating laugh. ‘Stupidity,’ he said. ‘I was born into the Brecon pack.’

‘I thought there was a little Welsh in your voice,’ Ceri interrupted. ‘I was born in Bala, though we moved to London not long after.’

He grinned. ‘Took me a bit longer. I developed a bad case of teenage rebellion, said some things I probably shouldn’t have, and ran away to the big city. One of the pack found me after a couple of months, thank God.’

‘Alexandra seems to trust you.’

‘Yeah,’ he replied, nodding, ‘she treated me like an adult, y’know? I’m part of her guard team, uh, when I’m not showing humans how to be a werewolf. To be honest, I’ve always been better at being a wolf than a human.’

‘How old are you, Michael?’

He pulled himself upright in his chair. ‘I was eighteen in April.’ She had guessed right.

Ceri grimaced. ‘Wow, five and a half years… People will accuse me of cradle robbing.’

‘Does it bother you?’ He looked a little worried.

Ceri considered her answer for a second. Michael was definitely one of those werewolves who was more at home in fur and werewolves were more demonstrative than vocal. She stood up and walked around her desk to the door, pushing it closed. The only carpeting in the office was a scrappy rug, it was thin, but it was better than concrete. She walked to the middle of it and then slowly turned her back to him, glancing back over her shoulder.

He did not say a word, but a second later his hands were on her hips and he was nuzzling at her neck.

Battersea

Alexandra had obviously considered their meeting with some care. Michael and a couple of the other wolves met Ceri at the tree where she normally hid her clothes, and they had borrowed one of the row boats from the lake to get her across to the island. When Ceri arrived in the clearing with its oil drum fire, the pack’s Alpha was boiling a kettle over a small kerosene burner.

Alexandra smiled at her. ‘Care for some tea, dear?’

‘Uh, thank you,’ Ceri said. Alexandra had got in before Ceri could go through the proper motions and it felt a little awkward, but she moved forward and dropped to one knee anyway.

Alexandra chuckled softly. ‘No need for that, child. I’m happy to accept that when you’re being one of mine, but you’re human tonight, and my equal.’

Shifting herself around so that she could sit with her legs tucked up, Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘Not sure about the equal bit, Alexandra.’ Michael moved to crouch just behind her.

‘That, my dear, is because you, like others I could mention,’ the Alpha’s eyes drifted over Ceri’s shoulder, ‘have no idea of your potential.’ The whistle on the kettle gave a valiant attempt at shrieking, but Alexandra plucked it off the little stove and turned off the gas. ‘It’s Earl Grey,’ she said, ‘would you like milk?’

‘Uh, no, it’ll be fine without.’ Ceri watched, bemused, as Alexandra poured boiling water into an actual china teapot; it seemed rather anachronistic in the setting.

‘I’m sure you’re wondering why I requested you come?’ the Alpha said. ‘However, I’m going to keep you waiting a little longer. Does the name “Remus” mean anything to you?’

‘Well, there’s Romulus and Remus? They were supposed to be the brothers who founded Rome.’

Alexandra nodded. ‘The twin sons of Rhea Silvia, daughter of Numitor who was the rightful king of Alba Longa. Numitor was deposed by his brother, and to ensure that there would be no one to object to his claim on the throne, Amulius, the brother, had Rhea sent to be a Vestal Virgin. Somehow, some say by divine means, Rhea conceives two sons, and Amulius had her buried alive and the children sent to their deaths by exposure.’

‘However, the boys are found by a she-wolf who suckles them and keeps them safe,’ Ceri said. ‘There’s that famous statue of the infants sitting under a wolf. I hope you’re not going to tell me that was you.’

Alexandra laughed. ‘I’m old, dear, older than I look, but not quite that old. Supposedly the boys are raised by a shepherd and his wife. They grow up, discover their heritage, kill Amulius, and restore their grandfather to the throne. However, they did not wish to live under his rule, so they left Alba Longa to found a city of their own.’

She stopped to pour the tea into a couple of mugs which did not go well with the teapot, but did fit their setting more. She handed Ceri a mug which proclaimed “Werewolves do It in the Woods!” The old woman had a distinct smirk on her face and Ceri grinned back at her. ‘One of the pack bought it for me,’ she said. She took a sip of her tea and went on. ‘So, the brothers find a site, but argue about exactly where to put the city. They do a bit of divination to see whose site is best. Remus sees six vultures first, but Romulus sees twelve later. Both say they have good claims on the best augury, but their followers go with Romulus and construction begins atop the Palatine Hill. Remus was, as the modern expression goes, “a bit pissed off” and spends his time pointing out flaws in the buildings and defences.’

‘I think I know this bit,’ Ceri said. ‘Doesn’t Remus leap over the city’s wall or something and Romulus kills him?’

‘More or less,’ Alexandra replied. ‘It was a trench rather than a wall, but the legend goes that Romulus killed his brother over the insult. He then creates the festival of Lemuria to placate Remus’ resentful ghost. Eventually, Romulus is killed, some say by his own senators, and deified as the god Quirinus.’

Ceri took a drink of tea. ‘You didn’t call me over here to give me lessons in ancient history,’ she said.

Alexandra smiled. ‘Actually, I did. Romulus and Remus were real, however, there’s another version of the legend which is a little more accurate. They were raised by Luperca and her mate Lupercus. She was a wolf-goddess, venerated by the packs across Europe at the time. He was related to shepherds, bringing fertility to the flocks and keeping his spouse’s followers off them. A good arrangement. It’s said that both of the twins benefitted from this divine upbringing, but Remus in particular gained much from his mother.’

‘He was a werewolf?’

‘Not… exactly,’ Alexandra said. Ceri frowned. There were times when she got very irritated by the habit people had of being enormously cryptic around her. One of the things she loved about Lily was that the half-succubus was pretty much an open book. ‘Romulus killed his brother because Remus had taken more and more of his foster mother’s spirit into himself. By the end he was suffused by it. It corrupted him, but he corrupted it. When he was killed, his spirit began roaming the hills outside the city, striking down anyone foolish enough to go out alone.’

‘So Romulas created this festival to placate his brother’s restive spirit,’ Ceri said.

‘Yes, and it worked,’ Alexandra said, ‘but it was also a huge mistake. Channelling power to the spirit eventually allowed it to come after the one it really wanted revenge upon. Romulus was not killed by his senators, he was torn apart and consumed by his brother who had enough power to regain a physical form.’

‘A wolf?’ Ceri asked.

‘We call them the Remus Pack,’ Alexandra said. ‘He was the first of them and he would have likely been the last if the Romans had not deified his brother. All that worship over years, he kept growing in power and learned to make more like himself. They are… demon-wolves. They have no human form and they reproduce by “infecting” werewolves. They are the vampires of werewolf-kind, if you will.’

‘I’m still not quite getting what this has to do with me,’ Ceri said.

Alexandra smiled her enigmatic smile. ‘Remus and his pack have been a bane on werewolf society for millennia. During the last war the Ahnenerbe, a part of the SS tasked with promoting and researching the Aryan Race, discovered them and made a deal. A pack of werewolves was causing the Nazi’s problems in the Black Forest and Hitler requested that the Remus Pack deal with them.’

‘What happened?’

‘You’ve met the only survivor. The Black Wolves were the largest group of surviving black-furs left before the Shattering.’

‘Alec?’ Ceri said. ‘Dane once said that Alec was one of the Black Wolves. Then he kind of… suggested that I hadn’t heard it.’

‘Yes,’ Alexandra said, ‘Alec has made it quite plain that he considers the Remus Pack to be a problem for werewolves to deal with. I believe your friend Carter has offered to help before now, but despite their friendship, Alec refused.’

Ceri frowned. ‘If Alec’s so determined to avoid outside help, why are you telling me? Even if I know about it, he won’t let me help.’

‘Because, my dear, Alec’s attempts to deal with Remus have been disastrous. His pack took a fair number of Remus’ wolves with them, but they were destroyed and Remus continues. His homelands were destroyed when the demons invaded Italy, so he moved into Southern France during the years after the Shattering. He has been trying to spread his influence ever since. Alec enlisted the help of the North Hills pack a few years ago when he sent a group into England.’

‘And Dane lost Aleena,’ Ceri guessed.

‘Oh, more than just her. The North Hills’ territory extended almost to Cambridge back then. Dane lost well over thirty wolves in that encounter.’

Ceri frowned. ‘Can’t you..?’

‘I’m intelligent enough to know that I can’t, no.’ She drained her tea. ‘Oh, I’m skilled, but my power lies elsewhere. This requires a practitioner of considerable power, Ceridwyn. Perhaps only a sorcerer could defeat Remus. It’s such a shame they all died out so long ago.’

Ceri coughed. ‘I know you know,’ she said. ‘I don’t know how you know, and I don’t think I mind so long as you don’t spread it around. That still leaves me with questions, how do you expect me to persuade Alec to let me help, and why now?’

‘I’m afraid the former will have to be up to you,’ Alexandra said. ‘As for the timing… I sensed something on the night of the New Moon. I believe that something is going to happen, soon. Remus is beginning something and the North Hills pack will be involved. You must find a way to help them, Ceridwyn. More than just the werewolves are in danger here. Remus is going to do something terrible. The Winter Solstice this year coincides with the Full moon. Whatever is going to happen, it will happen then.’

‘Two weeks,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ve got two weeks to try to teach an old wolf new tricks.’

Alexandra laughed. ‘And with the fate of the country, if not the entire world, resting on it, dear.’ She smiled. ‘No pressure.’

Part Three: The Fair One

Kennington, London, December 8th, 2010

Demons were not something Ceri had ever planned to have much to do with. There was Lily, of course, and there was some probability that Lily’s father might show up at some point. By all accounts, he was not too bad, but Lily was still quite happy to sleep in a house which an incubus could not walk into unless invited into it. Lily herself was enough demon for Ceri to be messing with, as far as she was concerned anyway. Sadly, life had an alarming habit of flushing your plans down the toilet.

Ceri’s father had been a wizard, however, and while his dealings with demons had largely consisted of minor exchanges for information, he had collected a reasonably extensive library of demonology books. Ceri had consulted them before, but mostly concerning a symbol which had been used to try to kill her, and then had saved her life. Now she was digging through volumes on actually summoning the things, even though what she was looking for was a way to get rid of them.

Of course, the easiest way would have been to ask Carter. The man was reputed to have made his first million in a demonic pact, though Ceri actually doubted it entirely. He did seem to hang onto his youth rather too well, but that was entirely possible with the right genetics. Still, Ceri was not going to ask Carter for help on this one. There was entirely too much chance of Alec finding out about what she was up to. No, Carter was going to have to sit this one out.

The phone on her desk rang, wrenching her out of her examination of Latin texts. Picking it up, she glanced at the number and frowned; Lily rarely called from work. She hit the button to answer and said, ‘Hey Lil, something up?’

‘Hi, and yeah.’ The voice on the other head sounded worried. ‘Alec didn’t come in this evening and he’s not answering his phone. Carter asked if you could be persuaded to go over to his place and check on him.’

Ceri headed back to the rug with its piles of musty books, sitting down and tapping a notepad application into life on her tablet. ‘I’ll need an address. He didn’t leave a message or anything?’ she said.

‘If he had, we wouldn’t be asking,’ Lily replied. ‘Carter would go himself, but he can’t find anyone to take care of the bar. It’s hell down here. The address is 10 Fife Road, East Sheen. Carter says it’s due south of Mortlake station.’

‘Alec lives out in Richmond?’ Ceri said. ‘That seems a bit upmarket for him.’

‘I know. I was a bit surprised too.’ Her voice lowered slightly. ‘I thought, y’know, considering what Alexandra told you…’

‘Yeah,’ Ceri said, ‘I’ll get out there as fast as I can.’

Mortlake

The last time Ceri had been to Mortlake was when she was twelve. Mister Hopkins, her History teacher, had organised a school trip to see John Dee’s house. Ceri had spent the first hour of the trip being poked in the ribs by a girl named Cynthia Bennett who was convinced that Ceri was “a witch who would turn everyone into toads.” When Ceri had pointed out that poking a witch in the ribs when you were convinced she would turn you into a toad was incredibly stupid, Cynthia had told everyone Ceri had warts. Ceri did not have great memories of Mortlake.

At least it was dry and not too cold as she walked down Sheen Lane toward East Sheen and the fairly huge expanse of greenery that was Richmond Park. Ceri may have been surprised to hear that Alec could afford to live here, but she was not surprised that he wanted to live next to the largest expanse of parkland in the city. The closer she got to the end of the lane, the more her nose picked up less city and more country, and the more she had an urge to turn into a wolf and just run. When she got to Fife Road and saw the expanse of open ground stretching away before her, the only thing stopping her was the lack of a Michael to run with. Sighing softly, she turned left and headed along the road looking for number ten.

It turned out to be a fairly large, rambling building which seemed to have been split into flats. It still seemed expensive for a bartender, but at least it made a bit more sense. Ceri walked up the drive, her eyes taking in details. The lights were on in the upper floor windows, but downstairs was dark. Stopping a few yards from the door, she concentrated and spread her senses out across the building. There were two humans on the upper floor, and that seemed to be it. Of course, if Alec was lying in a puddle of blood…

The labels next to the buzzers at the door did not help much. The one at the bottom read “A. Black” so that confirmed that Alec occupied the lower floor. She pressed the button and waited. No answering voice sounded from the speaker, the door did not open. She gave it another try, not really expecting a different result. Frowning, Ceri put her hand over the lock and said, ‘Ymagor.’ There was a click and she pushed the door open, stepping inside.

There was a large hallway with a flight of stairs up and a door to her left. She was a little surprised to find that Alec’s flat was unwarded, but it did have a fairly standard alarm system with a control box just inside the door. Disabling it before she unlocked the door was not particularly hard. She slipped into Alec’s flat as quietly as she could manage, closing the door behind her.

It was dark, but she could see in the pitch black if required and turning the lights on seemed a bad idea. The hallway inside had three doors off it. One turned out to be a bathroom. There was no sign of Alec, in a pool of blood or not, and she moved on.

The next door opened onto a lounge and Ceri walked in feeling a little self-conscious. She was searching the house of a friend who could just have needed some personal time or… Okay, so she was looking for a friend she was worried might be lying somewhere with a silver dagger rammed through his heart. Alec could turn up any minute and demand to know what she was doing sneaking around his home in the dark, but that would be much better than finding his body, or having to tell Carter that she had not found his body because she did not want to break in.

She was not quite sure what to expect of Alec’s living room, but somehow this was not it. He seemed younger than Carter, but his furniture was all pre-Shattering. It looked Victorian, if she had to guess. Then again, Alexandra had said that he had been leading a pack against the Nazis so she figured he was older than he looked. It seemed odd. Werewolves were not known to be longer lived than humans, but then Alexandra had said she was older than she appeared.

There was no sign of Alec in the lounge, or the kitchen beyond it. Ceri walked back to the entrance hallway and the last door. Since she had yet to find it, she figured this would be the bedroom and she opened the door to it rather reluctantly. There was no Alec lying dead in the bed, but the place was a mess. For a second she thought the room had been turned over; drawers were pulled out, the bed was unmade, the doors were open on a huge, dark oak cupboard. However, that made no sense at all and a few seconds of looking around suggested instead that clothes were missing. Alec had packed in a hurry, which begged the question “why?”

Ceri headed back out through the flat’s door, and then out through the front door, stopping beside the buzzers. She pressed the top one and a few seconds later a male voice came over the speakers. ‘Hello, who’s that?’

‘This is Detective Sergeant Middleshaw, with the Greycoats,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m looking for your downstairs neighbour. I was wondering if you could spare me a few minutes to answer a couple of questions?’

There was a pause and then, ‘Of course, Detective.’ The door buzzed and clicked open. ‘Come up,’ said the voice.

Ceri composed herself and pushed the door open, heading up the stairs to the landing. A man in a dark green robe was waiting outside the inner door. ‘Could I see some form of identification?’ he asked, smiling a little uncertainly.

‘Of course,’ Ceri replied. Reaching into her coat, she produced absolutely nothing and held up her hand as though showing a warrant card. ‘As you can see,’ she said firmly, ‘all in order.’

The man blinked. ‘Thank you,’ he said, ‘please come in.’ He turned and let her follow him through a hallway and into a lounge not unlike Alec’s, though the furniture was a lot more modern. A woman in a silky, white gown more suited to the bedroom than the living room was sitting on the couch trying to look like she had not been up to anything before Ceri had arrived. ‘I’m Brian Trent,’ the man said, ‘and this is my wife, Sharon.’

Ceri smiled. ‘Mister Trent, Mrs Trent, I’m DS Middleshaw. I was simply going to ask whether you had seen your neighbour.’

‘Alec?’ Sharon said. ‘He’s been away since…’

‘Monday morning,’ Brian finished for her, ‘very early.’

‘He woke us around three am,’ Sharon said. ‘That big motorcycle of his speeding off. He’s not normally inconsiderate despite being, y’know, a werewolf.’

‘He hadn’t been acting strangely at all before then?’ Ceri asked. She did her best not to react to the werewolf comment.

Brain frowned. ‘Is Alec in some sort of trouble?’

‘No, sir, not at all,’ Ceri said. ‘He was reported missing and we’re just looking into it. It sounds as though he just wanted some time to himself. Werewolves can be like that.’

‘He may have gone to visit the one who comes by every so often,’ Sharon suggested. ‘What’s his name, dear?’

Brian smirked. ‘You know very well,’ he said, ‘Dane. I think he’s a pack Alpha from north of London.’

‘Yes,’ Sharon said, ‘that’s the one. He was here… a week or so ago, I think.’ Brian nodded in agreement.

‘Thank you,’ Ceri said. ‘You’ve been very helpful. I’ll let you get on with your evening. I can see myself out.’ She turned and headed out through their hallway and down the stairs. She stopped briefly beside Alec’s door to reactivate the alarm and then walked out into the night.

So, Dane had visited Alec last week, and Alec had ridden off into the night in the early hours of Monday, when Alexandra was busy sensing that something had happened. Ceri’s stomach felt heavy as she walked back along Fife Road. Something had happened all right, and Alec was trying to handle it his own way. Ceri had a strong feeling that it was not going to go well.

Soho, December 9th

It was well after midnight when Ceri arrived at the Jade Dragon. She felt distinctly under-dressed, but she was in no mood to be bothered by the looks a few of the patrons gave her as she walked up to the bar and lifted herself onto a stool.

‘I’m going to assume,’ Carter said from behind the bar, ‘that you did not find him.’

‘His neighbours say he rode out about three o’clock Monday morning, in a hurry,’ she replied.

‘I see.’ Carter was silent for a moment. He looked a little incongruous standing there in a white shirt with the collar undone. It was not his usual look when at the club. ‘I take it they had no idea where he was going?’

‘No,’ Ceri replied, ‘but I think I do.’

Carter placed a glass of white wine down in front of her. ‘On the house,’ he said. He was waiting for her to continue; the question was too obvious to ask.

‘You know how Alec’s pack was wiped out, don’t you?’ Ceri said.

The wizard nodded. ‘I also know it was the same thing which almost destroyed the North Hills pack. I’ve made it known that I’m willing to help, but Alec is a proud, and very stubborn, man.’

An arm slipped around Ceri’s waist and Lily planted a kiss on her cheek. ‘He’s gone off hunting Remus?’ the half-demon asked.

‘He has been trying to kill the thing for over half a century,’ Carter stated.

‘All he’s going to do is get himself killed,’ Ceri said, ‘or worse. And he’s going to take Dane and his people with him.’

‘If you don’t mind me asking,’ Carter said, his voice calmer than Ceri thought it should be, ‘how do you know about this?’

‘Do you know much about the Battersea pack?’ Ceri asked. Carter shook his head slowly. ‘Their Alpha… knows things,’ Ceri went on. ‘I was told that I was going to have to help Alec. Something bad is happening. Something to do with Remus. It’ll happen at the Solstice. And that’s about all I know at this point. With Alec already gone I don’t even know where to start.’ She took a swig of wine. It was good stuff, crisp with a fruity taste.

‘Might I suggest you employ the oldest adage of warfare?’ Carter said. ‘Knowing your enemy is half the battle. You need to learn as much as you can about what you are facing.’

‘Good idea,’ Ceri replied. ‘Where do I find out about demon-demigod-wolf-monsters? I’ve been digging around in Dad’s books, but what I’ve mostly found is that I need to find more.’

Reaching under the counter, Carter produced a notepad and pen and began writing something down. ‘Tomorrow afternoon,’ he said as he wrote, ‘go to the British Library and ask to see this man.’ He looked up. ‘Afternoon mind. It’ll take me a couple of hours to arrange things.’ He ripped off the sheet of paper and handed it to Ceri. ‘Dress smartly, be respectful, but don’t take any of his lip. He’s a misogynistic arse, but he can give you access to what you need and if he respects you he can be a lot of help.’

Ceri blinked. If Carter thought this Charles Fitzlawrence was a misogynist she had to wonder how any woman in their right mind would put up with him.

‘What’s the other half?’ Lily asked.

‘Sorry?’ Ceri asked.

Lily was looking at Carter. ‘If knowing your enemy is half the battle, what’s the other half?’ she asked.

‘Ah,’ Carter replied, smiling slightly, ‘that would be knowing yourself.’

Somers Town

The woman behind the counter eyed Ceri suspiciously. ‘Doctor Fitzlawrence is an extremely busy man,’ she said. ‘Do you have an appointment?’

‘I was told to come here and ask for him,’ Ceri said.

The woman picked up a telephone and dialled an internal number. ‘Doctor Fitzlawrence? There’s a young woman here to see you… Yes, Brent…’ Her cheeks flushed and she looked as though she had been kicked. ‘Of course, Doctor. I’ll send her through.’ She put the phone down as though it had suddenly turned into a large spider and pointed at a door in the back corner of the room. ‘Through there. Take the lift down to sub-basement four.’

Ceri smiled as her, even if she did not really deserve it. ‘Thank you,’ she said and started off.

The door had a fairly discrete sign on it which said, “Restricted Access. Library Staff Only.” Ceri ignored it and walked through. Not far beyond was a set of lift doors which opened as soon as she pressed the call button. She noted the camera in the corner of the ceiling as she stepped in, located a button labelled “SB4” and pressed it. The lift seemed to go down a long way and there was a significant gap between the indicator over the doors stating that she had reached sub-basement three and the lift stopping at sub-basement four.

The first thing she saw when the doors opened was a humourless-looking man in police uniform with a sub-machine gun cradled in his arms. She swallowed and stepped out of the lift to find herself in a small hallway. The guard nodded to a door on her right and she walked through.

Sitting behind a desk in a very bare, concrete walled office was a man in his mid-fifties, slightly balding with grey at his temples. He was bean-pole thin with a face like a hatchet and piercing, grey eyes. Ceri had decided to wear her interview dress which was a little low cut and a little short, but very business-like, and the man, who was presumably Fitzlawrence, did not bother disguising that he was examining her legs as she walked in. She closed the door behind her and turned to look back at him.

‘So,’ he said, ‘you’re Fleming’s latest piece of fluff?’

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, she decided that it was a calculated insult. ‘I’m Ceridwyn Brent,’ she said, ‘research assistant at the London Metropolitan University, thaumatologist, and practitioner, and Mister Fleming was kind enough to arrange this meeting.’

‘Fleming was “kind enough” to get Malcolm Charles to arrange this meeting,’ Fitzlawrence snapped. ‘Just because the Minister says you can come down here, doesn’t mean I have to like it and I’ve never known Fleming do anything for a woman he hadn’t got something from first.’

Ceri smiled tightly. ‘We learn new things every day,’ she said. ‘You know Carter, I take it? Went to Cambridge with him?’ He looked the right age, though Carter was wearing the years a great deal better. ‘You possibly knew my father, David Brent?’

‘Oh, you’re that Ceridwyn Brent.’ Ceri wondered how many there were. ‘I knew your father, yes. I knew your mother as well.’ He grinned a little maliciously. ‘Only woman I ever met who left Fleming, rather than the other way around.’ Now that was news; her mother had been Carter’s girlfriend? The shock of it was overtaken by the surprise of seeing Fitzlawrence’s body language change as though someone had just flicked a switch. ‘If you take after your mother,’ he said, ‘perhaps Fleming hasn’t had his grubby paws on you. What is it you’re looking for?’

‘I need all the information I can get on the legends surrounding Remus,’ Ceri said. ‘As in the brother of Romulus.’

Fitzlawrence considered for a second and then rose up from behind the table. ‘These are the rules,’ he said and took a deep breath. ‘I’m going to take you to a reading room. The books and manuscripts stored in Section Seventeen are kept under very strict conditions and readers are only allowed access to them within their assigned room. Each room is equipped with a toilet and drinks machine. Don’t drink over the books. Each room has a catalogue terminal which you may use to research further reading. No external network or telephone access is allowed.’ He stopped, allowing himself to breathe again. ‘Is that clear?’

‘Yes, Doctor,’ Ceri replied.

‘Good. I have a good idea where you should start, so I’ll have two books brought to you immediately. The assistant who brings them will give you some instruction on handling the texts.’ He started toward an inner door, punching a six digit code in to unlock it before waving Ceri through ahead of him. The corridor behind it had five, widely spaced doors along each side of it. There were no windows, and each of the doors was heavy iron. Ceri suspected they had a silver-iron layer built in like the summoning room doors in her house.

The doors were code-locked, and Fitzlawrence did not tell her what the code was before showing her into the room. Not that it would have done much good; inside the room there were two buttons beside the door, one to request assistance or exit, and one for emergencies. There were cameras in all four corners, near the ceiling, allowing whoever was observing the rooms to see what was being done on each of the large tables which took up three walls and the middle of the room. One table beside the wall had a basic flat-screen display and keyboard arrangement which was presumably the catalogue terminal.

‘There’s a camera in the toilet as well,’ Fitzlawrence explained, ‘but I assure you it’s turned on only when you’re in there for too long. Don’t take anything in there with you. If you need anything, press the call button. Someone will be down with those books shortly.’ Nodding to her, he turned and went out through the door. There was a solid sounding clunk from the locks. Sealed in, Ceri settled onto a chair and waited.

~~~

Fitzlawrence had been as good as his word, and obviously knew his collection well. A man in a white coat had arrived after about ten minutes of waiting with two large books on a trolley. There had also been a pair of clean, white, lint-free gloves which Ceri was made to put on before handling anything, and a half-hour of careful instruction on how to handle any of the types of book which could be found in the restricted library. These two just had information in them which had been deemed dangerous to allow into public knowledge, but Section Seventeen apparently stored some books which were more actively dangerous.

There had also been a fairly thick document which she had been required to sign before she could touch the books. She had accepted the summary version, though the man had suggested that she take her copy away and read it properly. Basically what she was signing said that she would not tell anyone where she had learned anything in the room, that she would not reveal materials where covering documents indicated the contents where to be kept secret, and that she would suitably restrict knowledge of anything she discovered there to those who needed to know. Oh, and she agreed that the government could do horrible things to her if she disobeyed the rules.

Ceri had been working carefully through a fairly thick tome on the esoteric history of Rome which was, unfortunately, providing little more detail than Alexandra had, when the door opened again and a small, mousy woman entered carrying a metal case which she placed on the middle table before turning to look at Ceri.

‘I am required to state that the contents of this briefcase are to be communicated to no one,’ the girl said in a bored voice. ‘The fact that these documents exist and are stored here is classified as “Secret.”’ She turned and marched back out, locking the door behind her.

Curious, Ceri opened the case. The documentation inside was in discoloured card folders, all headed up with the symbol of the SS and another logo she did not immediately recognise; a sword in some sort of ribbon, surrounded by stylised letters which she puzzled out as “Deutsches Ahnenerbe.” All the documents were in German, but her father had provided her with a solution to that. His own reading habits had included more languages than it was reasonable to learn, so he had used a bracelet which allowed him to read most human languages. Ceri rubbed it absently as she picked out the first folder and began to go through it.

Our studies of papers discovered in the Vatican Library have led us to search for our quarry in the Dolomites east of San Martino di Castrozza. The writer was an SS officer, it seemed, reporting to one of his higher-ups. Ceri flicked to the end. Sturmbahnführer Heinz Lehrner was apparently writing for the attention of Heinrich Himmler himself. Kind of impressive in a creepy way. Schuler disturbs me. His methods are sloppy, unscientific, but his results are too good to ignore. Schuler appeared to be an advisor from the Thule Society rather than a true member of the Ahnenerbe. He believes that we will discover something vital to our goal in these mountains, but I fail to see how some ancient Italian godling might prove our own, superior heritage.

The unit had set up camp and begun searching, but had found nothing for several weeks. Lehrner’s reports grew more negative. Schuler continues to be convinced that we will discover what he refers to as “the Quirinus Being” if we keep searching, but it becomes clear to me that we are on a fool’s errand. Then things had started to go wrong. Three guards were discovered dead this morning. They had been pulled limb from limb, their heads torn off. While there was little evidence that weapons were used, I am convinced that Partisans from the village nearby are responsible. Schuler claims that some manner of beast is responsible.

They had lost more men the following night and had responded by going to the village and executing ten of the villagers. These peasants claim that the deaths among my men are the result of “the monster wolves from the mountains.” Schuler asked if they meant werewolves, credulous fool, but they said that there was too much Wolfsbane in the hills for that. It is true that the flower grows wild here, but talk of monsters? We have told them that the next time our men die, we will burn their hovels to the ground.

Just from reading the reports Ceri could tell that Lehrner was an educated man, not disposed to acts of violence such as those he was proposing. He was scared, perhaps for the first time in his life. She opened the next report.

They revealed themselves to us last night. They call themselves the Sons of Remus, huge creatures with heads like demonic wolves, and thick claws on hands and feet with three digits. We saw more than twenty of them, but only one, the largest, could communicate. Even he does not speak, as such. His voice sounds in your head like a roar. He claims that he is the god Quirinus and the man known as Remus, brother of Romulus. Schuler claims that this fits with what he believed to be true, though it was my understanding that Quirinus was the deification of Romulus.

So, Schuler had somehow learned the truth of the Romulus and Remus story and had gone searching for Remus and his pack. Alexandra had said that Remus’ stronghold had been destroyed when the demons had invaded. The Dolomites were just east of the German Rift and would have been overrun quickly. What Ceri could not understand was why the pack had not simply destroyed Lehrner’s people. That quickly became clear, however.

They come at night. It seems the daylight is anathema to them. Remus returned to talk with us. Apparently our show of force demonstrated to him that we were worth talking to. He claims that he is a god and Schuler seems to believe him. I believe that he is certainly something outside our normal understanding. His “pack” are strong, fast, totally without mercy, and their leader is more merciless than any of them. Can we ally ourselves with a creature like this?

The next document in the case was a telegram from Himmler stating that one Gruppenführer Schultz would be coming to begin negotiations regarding a special mission which the German High Command wished Remus to undertake. Ceri could guess what that was.

The actual reports ended then, but there were a series of personal notes from Lehrner which grew increasingly more… insane. They picked up when Lehrner’s team, Schuler, and a company of SS troops escorted the Remus pack to the Black Forest, setting up camp near Neustadt.

During the day the troops are upbeat. They are on home ground and the supposed Partisans who have been plaguing these regions tend to attack only at night. When the night comes, they huddle around the camp fires with their guns close at hand, but not for fear of these terrorists. At night Remus and his creatures go out to hunt, and soldiers who have seen war and death tremble in fear.

Two days later and Alec’s pack had taken the fight to the Nazis. We lost half our men last night. While Remus was out hunting them, they came for us. Huge things, bestial, powerful. Wolf-men, black and grey in colour. They seemed resistant to our bullets though we killed perhaps two of them. Their claws and teeth, however, proved most effective. Men were ripped in half, torn limb from limb, or had their throats torn out. Yet I cannot blame them, for I saw what happened to the ones Remus’ pack captured when they returned. I believe I will take the memory of their howls of agony with me to the grave, and I fear that it may be only a short time before that grave claims me.

At first Ceri thought that Lehrner had meant that the Black Wolves had been tortured to death, and perhaps some had been, but she found one passage which suggested otherwise. Remus’ people grow in number with each raid on the werewolves. He takes creatures who seem somehow noble and turns them into demons. I know not how, though Schuler seems to have some idea. The man’s madness has grown. He speaks of finding methods to control Remus lest he destroy us all. I can see no way anything could keep this monster in check.

After that there was only one more note, handwritten by a man who was clearly in shock. It was barely readable, but she puzzled through it. Schuler was nowhere to be found today, until we located what was left of him. He spoke to me last night of Ragnarök, receipting poetry in Old Norse about the Time of Wolves. He told me that Remus would resurrect an ancient spirit, a monster wolf, Fenrir. I would have laughed at him a few months ago. Remus claims to have destroyed the werewolves and I have asked him to come to the camp with his pack to celebrate. Men I trust have mined the area. It ends tonight. May God have mercy for what we have done.

Ceri sat back, still holding the sheet of worn paper. Lehrner had sacrificed himself and all his remaining men to try to kill Remus and it had not been enough. How could Alec expect to stop him with just a small crew of nomad wolves Ceri could not fathom. The question was, how the Hell was Alexandra expecting anyone to stop him?

Kennington

‘Isn’t that kind of mixing your legends?’ Lily asked. Twill had made stew, but Ceri was not particularly hungry after spending the entire afternoon in a concrete room under artificial light.

‘Legends come from many sources,’ Twill commented. ‘Fragments of fact from various sources make their way into legends all over the place.’

‘Schuler was talking about the Poetic Edda, I think,’ Ceri said. She picked up her tablet and flicked the screen into life. ‘Pardon my Old Norse… “skeggǫld, skálmǫld, - skildir ro klofnir - vindǫld, vargǫld - áðr verǫld steypiz.”’

‘And for those of us without a magic literacy bracelet?’ Lily asked.

‘An axe age, a sword age, shields are riven, a wind age, a wolf age… before the world goes headlong,’ Ceri said.

‘That’s not ominous at all,’ Lily commented. ‘And this “fenrir” thing?’

‘Better known as “Fenrisúlfr,” Fenris Wolf,’ Twill said.

Ceri nodded. ‘A monstrous wolf, according to legend. He was one of the three children of Loki, so large and evil that the gods had to bind him until Ragnarök. At that point, Fenrir escaped his bonds and killed Odin. Basically, setting Fenrir loose is a sign of the End Times. Like Schuler said, we’re talking about Ragnarök. I don’t know whether Remus actually means to end the world, but whatever he’s doing, it won’t be good.’

‘We kind of knew that,’ Lily pointed out. ‘How do we stop him?’

Ceri shrugged. ‘Still working on that. I’m going back to the Library tomorrow to see what else I can find. I need to know more about Remus and Fenrir. There has to be something in the books that’ll tell me how to end this.’

Twill fluttered up off the table, hovering level with Ceri’s eyes. ‘Sometimes,’ she said, ‘you can’t learn what you need from books. You know that, otherwise you wouldn’t be off frolicking with the wolves.’

‘I know, Twill,’ Ceri replied, ‘but we can’t go up against this creature without some idea of what we’re dealing with.’

‘The time may come,’ the tiny woman said, ‘when you have to take the risk.’

Somers Town, December 10th

The catalogue terminal chimed and Ceri looked up from the book she was reading. Fitzlawrence had shown her to exactly the same room, unlocking the door to allow her in, and locking it to keep her there once she was inside. The books and papers had still been exactly where she had left them. However, before trying to find something useful in what she had, she had set a search going to see whether she could find more.

Standing, she winced as her back refused to straighten properly, and she had to stretch to get the kinks out. Her gaze wandered over one of the cameras in the corner of the room, its little red light glowing below the lens. She hoped Fitzlawrence, or whoever was on the other end, was enjoying the view. Crossing to the terminal she tapped a button to get the screen to return to life. The search had been running for over an hour, and it had managed to come up with exactly two results. She tagged both and requested that they be brought to her.

It was another thirty minutes before the same bored woman as the day before arrived at the door, this time carrying two metal briefcases. She placed them down near the Ahnenerbe records and looked up at Ceri. ‘You remember that speech I gave you yesterday?’ she asked.

‘Secret documents, I didn’t see them, they don’t exist,’ Ceri replied.

‘That’s the one. Kindly substitute “Top Secret” for “Secret” and I won’t need to repeat myself.’

Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘Okay, I got it. Thanks for bringing these up.’

The woman shrugged as she headed for the door. ‘It’s what I get paid for. Thank me if you ask for anything out of the Barrington Annexe. Need protective clothing for those.’

The first case contained a folder with the now familiar emblem of the Ahnenerbe stamped on it. The contents were disappointing, little more than a set of administrative documents detailing the resources placed into the location of the Remus Pack, their transport from Italy into Bavaria, and the provisions used while they were there. There were a few notes from Himmler to Schultz regarding the Black Wolves, which were referred to as “the Black Forest Partisan Group,” and the need to arrange for Remus to deal with them as they were proving “especially difficult to eradicate by normal means.” There was a later note congratulating Schultz on progress in the Black Forest, and then a final letter. One passage jumped out at her. Lehrner’s superstitious folly has cost us a valuable ally in the war on the Eastern Front. Troops of the Third Panzer Division have determined that there were no survivors of the atrocity the fool committed. He will be tried for treason posthumously. Lehrner had possibly saved the world, had almost certainly saved the man who was condemning him. Ceri shrugged, reaching for the second case; Lehrner had joined the wrong side in the war, he could hardly expect them to understand his sacrifice.

The second case contained a box-file. There was no writing on it, she opened it up and looked inside. A sheet of headed notepaper topped the pile, a letter from Jorgen Schuler to some higher-up in the Thule Society indicating that his research into the wolf cults of pre-Roman Italy was going well and requesting resource to discover more. She pulled out the pile of papers underneath and began to read.

It seems that ceremonies have occurred in the Lupercal for millennia. Long ago, before the foundation of Rome, sacrifices were made there, and it is believed that this is the cave where the brothers Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf. My own research suggests that this story may not be entirely true, but has some basis in fact.

Schuler had travelled in his youth, it seemed, and had come across information from an unexpected source. The notes were compiled in a small book, perhaps meant as a diary, and written in long hand. He calls himself Ulfgar and lives alone in a cave some fifteen miles north of Ulvik. Transformed, his fur is black in colour, but he returns to human form in order to speak with me. Schuler had found a ronin, it seemed, though Ceri doubted that the term was used back then. Probably a lone survivor of some long lost pack if he was a black-fur. He seems half mad. I have no idea how long he has lived here alone, but his eagerness for company is palpable. He says that his pack roamed the mountains once, but they are gone now. I have asked what became of them, but he will not speak of it. It seemed that being reticent was a habit among black-furs, the males anyway. Schuler had managed to get Ulfgar to open up over time, however, just not about his personal history.

Ulfgar claims that his kind remember things from the lives of his ancestors, some form of racial memory. He claims to remember one ancestor fleeing the growing Roman Empire, and riding aboard the Dragon Ships on raiding missions. I believe that he could be a great source of information in furthering the Society’s goals if I can persuade him to speak of the humans he remembers from that time.

Long ago, he says, a demon-wolf walked the Earth and the fearful natives of this land identified it with the legendary creature Fenrir. In that time, Ulfgar claims, the sun grew dim, crops failed, and men died of starvation or fighting for resources. I believe this is linked to the events of 535-536 mentioned widely in ancient texts. Ulfgar calls this the Time of Wolves and says that there are those abroad who would bring that time back. I have asked him who these people are, but he remains reticent as yet.

Ceri sat back in her chair and rolled her neck. So, if this ronin was to be believed, Fenrir had walked the Earth before now. Was he a demon of some sort? Ceri had never heard of a wolf-demon before the Remus Pack had been described to her, but perhaps there was something to it. Standing, she walked to the terminal and punched in a query. A window opened with a progress indicator in it; progress was slow. Sitting back down, she continued her reading.

He scoffs at the Romans, saying that their foolishness and credulity brought horror to the world. Their founder was a murderer, a fool who feared the power of his brother and struck him down. Yet after that Romulus feared the vengeful ghost of Remus and created a festival to keep the monster at bay. The thoughts of a city fed the ghost and made it powerful, and the monster such thoughts created eventually destroyed its killer, but could not sate its desire for revenge upon those who had cast it aside. The Romans made a god of their founder, little knowing that they fed his killer through their worship. These tales of ancient happenings are difficult to believe, but Ulfgar seems so sure. He claims that he has seen Remus, the Great Ghost-wolf, the son of Luperca, and the vision still haunts his nightmares.

Right, that was so useful. Ghost-wolves, demon-wolves, what was going to come next? Ceri was half-expecting Thor to turn up to say it was all a big gag. What she got instead was even stranger.

A woman came to the cave today. Her hair was black with wisps of grey and I have to say that I have never seen anyone more beautiful or imposing. Ulfgar seemed to know her, calling her “Alexandra” and greeting her with a great deal of touching. I believe that she is of the same race as him, though I hesitate to use the term “werewolf.” She stayed the night with us, listening to Ulfgar’s tales of past ages. In the morning she came to me and said that I should go. She said to me that I had learned what I needed and that my part in the coming days was fixed.

Alexandra. Somehow the Battersea Alpha had been involved in all this long before even Alec had. Ceri had no doubt that it was the same woman. Alexandra had some form of prophetic ability. How long had she been wandering the world, setting up circumstances so that Remus could be defeated? Assuming that was her intent. If she knew of Ulfgar and Schuler, had she known what would happen to the Black Wolves? Had she been unable to stop it, or unwilling?

The terminal chimed and Ceri went back to it. There was one result, labelled as “Collection of writings on Greater Manifestations, No. 42376.” Catchy. She put in the request and sat down to examine the rest of Schuler’s papers.

There was nothing much of interest beyond the talks with Ulfgar and Ceri was getting bored when the door unlocked and a trolley was pushed in by Ceri’s personal book-seeker, or so it seemed from her frequency of appearance.

‘This time,’ the woman said, ‘you can thank me.’ There was a cabinet mounted on the trolley which looked like the kind of thing people used when working on bio-hazards, but the heavy, iron construction suggested that it was designed to contain magic rather than germs. The woman took a lead from the back of the cabinet and plugged it into a socket in the wall. A bright spark jumped between the single pin and the socket housing before she rammed it home.

‘Uh, thanks,’ Ceri said.

Her helper straightened up. ‘Do not remove the papers from the cabinet. If the cabinet is accidentally breached, press the emergency call button immediately. If you feel any sensations of discomfort, disorientation, drowsiness, pain, or oncoming madness, press the emergency call button. Psychiatric assistance can be provided following your examination of the documents. I will return in one hour to return the papers to the archive.’

‘Why the time limit?’ Ceri asked.

The woman started for the door. ‘The last guy who read this stuff for longer than an hour murdered fourteen people and is currently occupying a room in Broadmoor.’ Ceri blinked; the sound of the lock re-engaging seemed louder than usual.

It really was a collection. The pages were all different; different languages, different paper, different inks and scripts. Some of the paper looked like hide. One of those looked alarmingly like treated human skin and the ink had a dark brown colour which suggested the donor’s blood had been used. Ceri felt discomfort all right, but it was mostly revulsion. Handling the sheets through fixed, two-ply rubber gloves which felt as though they had a silver-iron mesh in them was hardly easy. She was relieved to discover what she was looking for not far down through the pile.

The page was torn, stained, and had holes in it, but the cabinet had a magnifying lens on a goose-neck stand in it to help. Ceri began to pick her way through the text. It could never be killed, the Son of the Trickster… The true nature of the beast is beyond… seeks only destruction. It is the spirit of the Beast and has dominion over all of wild blood. When Its Time comes again all of wolfen blood will turn to… Then will Luperca’s Corruptor stand at the head of the Army of Fenrir.

Alexandra had said that Remus had been corrupted by Luperca’s essence and that he had corrupted it. From what she had read, Ceri could guess that Remus planned to raise the spirit of Fenrir and that somehow this would give him an army.

By foul magic, the noble beasts are… and become great in power and ferocity. The Corrupter drives them mad that they accept Him freely. That had to refer to the howls of agony Lehrner had heard. Remus tortured his prisoners until they… what? Turned into members of Remus’ pack, presumably. It seemed to imply that the Remus Pack were possessed. Did that mean they could be cured?

The last part of the page was almost complete and seemed to be a prophecy of some sort. The Corruptor will come, seeking an ancient place of stones, gathering the Horde of Blood. With all together blood will flow and the Beast’s Blood will rise. The sun will grow dark as it did in ages past and the Time of Wolves will come again. Let the Fair One, the Reborn, make… lest all become darkness.

Soho

‘It would all seem to fit with what we know of Remus,’ Carter said. They were in his office at the back of the Jade Dragon. The club would be opening in about thirty minutes, but Ceri was not really there for the night life.

‘I had trouble making much sense of it, to be honest,’ she said. ‘I think Remus’ pack are transformed by some sort of possession.’

‘I know of some forms of demon able to physically alter a host body by possessing it,’ Carter said, nodding thoughtfully. ‘It is possible to revert the victim to normal in most cases, though the psychological damage can be permanent.’

‘There’s a type of demon Dad told me about,’ Lily said, ‘that tends to infest teenage girls. Turns them into a more aggressive form of succubus. The damage that does to their mind is irreparable.’

Carter nodded. ‘I know the one. This seems different, but the torture Remus uses to cement the possession may be too much to overcome.’

‘So we might be able to save these people,’ Ceri said, ‘but they may be psychotic after we do. Joy.’

Carter looked at her. ‘How long were you cooped up in Fitzlawrence’s cavern today?’ he asked.

‘Uh… I don’t know… I got there at nine-thirty and left at…’

‘She got home at seven,’ Lily said.

‘I was trying to find something useful!’ Ceri exclaimed.

‘You need to switch off for a night,’ Carter said. ‘Your brain is going in circles, ever tightening ones.’

‘I can’t relax,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ll go nuts if I don’t keep occupied.’

Carter considered for a second. ‘I have a favour to ask,’ he said. Ceri blinked at him. ‘It’s Friday night,’ he went on, ‘my bartender is off trying to get himself killed and one of my waitresses has come down with the flu.’

‘You want me to play waitress?’ Ceri said, not quite sure she was believing what she was saying. ‘Somehow I have to find Alec, Dane and his pack, and this “Fair One” before the Solstice. I have no idea where to look or even what I’m looking for, and you want me to serve drinks?’

‘Yes,’ Carter said flatly. ‘Concentrate on something else for one night. Get tired doing something mundane and forget about the end of the world. Go home in the small hours so tired that you sleep like a baby’

‘He’s right, y’know, Ceri,’ Lily said. ‘You’re wound up tighter than a bowstring.’

Frustration was the dominant emotion. They were right, but… ‘I haven’t got one of those absurd dresses,’ she tried plaintively.

Carter sized her up expertly. ‘Ten or twelve,’ he said. ‘I think we have a spare.’ Ceri’s eyes widened. ‘We always have spare ones on hand,’ he explained. ‘Drinks are spilled, werewolves get over-excited. It pays to have a replacement available for accidents.’

Ceri looked at Lily, resplendent in her nearly non-existent garment. ‘I can’t wear that,’ she said. ‘I’d feel…’

‘Gorgeous?’ Lily suggested.

‘Naked,’ Ceri said.

‘As I recall,’ Carter said, ‘you’ve turned up here in skirts about as short, wearing semi-transparent nothings to cover your chest. If anything you’d be more covered up.’ He could see her weakening; unfortunately they were making sense. ‘I would, of course, pay,’ he added.

‘C’mon,’ Lily said, bouncing gleefully to her feet, ‘you’ve just got time to get changed. This is going to be so much fun!’

Ceri climbed to her feet slowly and followed Lily to the door. It was insane. She was going to strut around a nightclub in a micro-dress carrying drinks on trays while somewhere a demigod-wolf creature was plotting to take over the world. Somehow it seemed like it was exactly the right thing to do.

~~~

As she bent over to put the drinks down on table fourteen, one of the booths near the back of the club, Ceri once again felt a hand slipping under her skirt to grab her behind. She turned and smiled at the creep with the hand, and his two friends sniggered. They were werewolves, probably Royals, out for a night on the town. It was not just that this was the fourth time he had snuck a feel, it was that they seemed to have absolutely no respect for her or any of the other waitresses.

‘You better leave me a real big tip when you go,’ she said to the man with the hand. His eyes went slightly vague for a split second as her spell hit home. Straightening up, she strutted away from the table, putting as much swing in her hips as she could manage. Carter and the girls had done some shuffling so that Ceri’s territory was adjacent to Lily’s. Partially it was so that Ceri could see how Lily worked, and partially it meant that they were together so that Lily could lend moral support where required.

As she approached the bar, Carter waved at her and then gestured toward the doorway. Diverting, she headed to the small waiting area to take care of the newly arrived patrons and almost dropped her tray. They were a moderately attractive couple, not film star quality, but good looking. Without even switching her Sight on, Ceri could tell that the woman was a vampire. Her skin was pale and her eyes had the oddly intense quality the vamps tended to have. Her straight, black, shoulder-length hair set off her complexion beautifully, and beside her he looked ordinary. Gathering herself up, Ceri stepped forward and smiled. ‘Good evening, Detective. This must be your wife. Pleased to meet you, Mrs Radcliff. I’m Ceri, and I’ll be your waitress for this evening.’

A hint of red appeared in the woman’s eyes. ‘I thought you’d never been here before, John?’ she asked and Ceri could see Radcliff trying not to flinch.

‘I haven’t,’ Radcliff said.

‘Your husband met me on a case, Mrs Radcliff,’ Ceri supplied. ‘Please follow me. I’ll take you to your table.’ She turned and started through the tables, checking over her shoulder that they were following and noting that the vamp’s eyes still held a dull, red glow. Radcliff’s partner, DS Kate Middleshaw, had told Ceri that Radcliff’s wife had been turned against her will. Like lycanthropy, there was no cure for vampirism. There was no way back for her, or her husband. She stopped at one of the booths, table twelve, and smiled back at the couple. ‘This okay?’ she asked. ‘I know a lot of vampires prefer the booths.’

Mrs Radcliff’s eyes flared red again, the wave of unconsciously generated fear the vampire pushed Ceri’s way simply diverting around her. ‘How did you know I was…?’

‘I’m a mage, ma’am,’ Ceri replied. ‘That’s how I met your husband.’

Seeming nervous, but a little mollified, the vampire slipped into the booth, moving toward the back where her eyes were out of the light. Vampires did not burn or turn to dust in sunlight, but they were adapted to the dark and bright lights irritated them. ‘I didn’t know you worked here,’ Radcliff said as he slipped into the seat beside his wife.

‘I don’t,’ Ceri said. ‘Carter’s short staffed and I was here anyway. It’s hard to say no when you’ve got a succubus and a playboy millionaire persuading you to do something.’ She smiled. ‘What can I get you? The Jade Dragon prides itself on carrying all manner of drinks for all manner of clients. We have a broad selection of cocktails suitable for our vampire clientele, as well as all the usual range of human beverages.’ She grinned. ‘And the coffee’s pretty good too.’

Mrs Radcliff’s undead demeanour slipped. ‘Sorry, cocktails for vampires?’

‘I told you, Lorna,’ Radcliff said, ‘and you can have a couple of drinks without worrying, can’t you?’

‘If you’ve never tried one before,’ Ceri said, ‘I can get Carter to recommend something. He’s not a vampire, but he knows his bar almost as well as the regular bartender. The drinks are mixed with a little warmed, synthetic blood. One of the few things the drinks industry can be said to have created which does some good for people.’

Lorna looked uncertain, but her husband obviously wanted her to have fun so she nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘If he can recommend something… fruity, that would be nice.’

‘I’ll take a beer,’ Radcliff said. ‘Newcastle Brown, if you’ve got it.’

Ceri nodded. ‘I’ll be right back,’ she said. Turning, she headed to table fourteen and picked up the wad of cash which had been left there by the departing werewolves before heading for the bar.

‘You know them?’ Carter said as she walked up.

‘Him,’ she replied. ‘Detective Inspector Radcliff, one of the Greycoats assigned to my case in the summer. He’s a norm, his wife was turned vamp against her will. And do you stock Newcastle Brown Ale?’

Carter smirked and produced a cooled bottle of beer from a cabinet. ‘For the lady?’ he asked, flicking the crown cap off the bottle with practiced ease.

‘Could you recommend something fruity and suitable for a vampire?’

Carter placed a beer glass down beside the bottle and turned to his array of bottles. ‘I believe I can,’ he said. ‘Dragon Blood usually goes down well.’

‘It’s a Mai Tai with Syn in it,’ Lily supplied as she appeared behind Ceri as if by magic. The half-succubus’ hands landed on Ceri’s bare hips, long fingers curling around to stroke at places which made Ceri’s breath catch, but this time Ceri did not object. ‘That was Radcliff I saw you wheeling in right?’ Lily asked.

‘And his wife,’ Ceri said. ‘Out for an evening on the town, I guess… Yeah, the shows should be about wrapping now, right?’

Carter placed a drink down beside the bottle. ‘See how she likes that,’ he said. ‘And yes, the shows are mostly over, we’ll get a bit of a rush, so make sure table fourteen is cleared.’

Ceri produced the cash she had been carrying and said, ‘What did their tally come to?’

Carter’s fingers tapped quickly at the till. ‘Forty-two, twenty,’ he said.

Ceri counted out three, crisp twenty pound notes and handed them to Carter, tucking the remaining two into the little pocket she had discovered was sewn into the bodice of her dress; she had always wondered where Lily put her tip money, and now she knew. ‘They might have stayed longer if I hadn’t got sick of one of them sticking his hand up my skirt,’ she said. ‘That’s to cover lost revenue for my impatience.’

Carter chuckled as she picked up her tray and disengaged herself from Lily. ‘An honest waitress,’ the playboy commented. ‘You can come work here again.’

Ceri giggled as Lily began protesting her total honesty. She had given up trying to put too much strut into her walk while carrying a full try. If she were ever to do it again, she would make sure she had better shoes; her heels were just not high enough to give the right effect. She would also practice carrying things while being outrageously sexy beforehand; it was way harder than Lily made it look. As she walked over to the Radcliffs’ table she mentally kicked herself. She was doing what she usually did, what her parents had fostered on her from their own habits. Brents did well at everything because, given the opportunity to do the best they could at something, they found themselves lacking and tried harder. She came from a family of over-achievers.

She placed the cocktail down in front of Marion with a smile. ‘Apparently,’ she said, ‘it’s basically a Mai Tai for vampires. Carter called it Dragon Blood.’ She lifted the bottle and glass down for John. ‘Of course we do Newcastle Brown. This is the best nightclub in London.’

‘So I heard,’ John said. ‘I admit it has a bit of a reputation, but it’s the first chance we’ve had to go out for a night since I got Lorna moved down.’

‘We saw Les Miserables,’ Lorna said happily. ‘I’ve been wanting to see it for years and now we actually live in London…’

‘Perfect opportunity,’ Ceri said. ‘Well, I hope you enjoy your drink. Just call if there’s anything you want.’

Lorna smiled. There was something a little childlike about the vampire who had been Lorna Radcliff. Ceri knew very few vampires, and relatively little about them, but she knew they were dead. Ceri turned away to go to table fourteen and clear. She knew that Lorna’s personality would have shifted when she turned. Vampires were predators; the older they got, the more the predator took over and their humanity subsided into a mask to hide their true nature. But Lorna had been turned against her will, an act as vile, and violating, as rape. It was fairly apparent that Lorna had not totally adjusted to her unlife yet, and Ceri suspected that John had not either.

Ceri carried her tray of empty beer bottles back to the bar, placing it down for Carter to clear. ‘Best take your break now,’ he said as he removed the bottles. ‘We’ll start filling up soon. Lily and Tess will cover for you.’

The Dragon operated what Ceri thought was quite a clever system of scheduled breaks for the waitresses. As Carter had said, it was damn hard to look fantastic when your feet hurt, and since the girls were required to wear heels, blisters would result fairly quickly if they did not get adequate breaks. So, each girl got a break every hour with the other girls expanding their territories to cover the gap.

Perching herself on a stool at the bar to take the weight off her feet, Ceri smiled at her temporary boss. ‘It doesn’t seem too busy,’ she said.

‘Actually,’ Carter said, ‘I’d be expecting more werewolves in by now. The moon’s waxing, it always makes them upbeat. We get more undead on the waning moon, more werewolves on the waxing.’

‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘we had those Royals in. At least, I think they were Royals.’

Carter nodded. ‘Browns,’ he said.

‘Alec tell you the difference?’ Ceri asked and Carter nodded in reply. ‘Are you quietly telling me that the more pure-blood werewolves are staying home?’

‘I hadn’t really noticed it until now,’ he replied, ‘but it does seem like it.’

‘I’ll go over to Battersea tomorrow night,’ Ceri said. ‘Maybe I can get some better idea of what’s happening there.’

Carter passed her a glass of water and she gulped it down, suddenly aware of how thirsty she was. ‘Enough of that,’ he said. ‘You’re supposed to be relaxing, sort of.’ His face suddenly lit up with a bright grin. ‘I have to admit,’ he said, ‘I’d never have believed I’d see you in one of those dresses the first time we met. Your father would not have approved.’

Ceri tugged at her skirt. ‘I don’t think either of them…’

‘Your mother was more of a free spirit,’ he interrupted. ‘I think you get your more rebellious side from her. Your father was the meticulous, cautious one.’ Ceri could not really deny that; it had been her father who had wanted to keep her sorcery locked away behind powerful enchantments, though her mother had gone along with it. Ceri’s thoughts flashed back to Fitzlawrence’s revelation and she wondered whether this might be a good time to bring it up, but then she felt hands on her sides and knew that Lily was there.

‘Mrs Radcliff would appreciate another Dragon Blood,’ Lily said, ‘with compliments to the owner for his selection.’

Carter turned to start mixing the drink with a slight smile. ‘You don’t get to be appreciated for your actual work so much, do you Carter?’ Ceri said.

‘No, my dear,’ he replied, ‘I do not. Truth be told, I learned to do this from Alec just in case. I’ve never had to do it in anger, and it is rather pleasing to be doing something with my hands, so to speak, rather than just playing the host.’ He placed the drink down on the counter.

Ceri slipped off her stool, doing her best not to feel embarrassed since she was positive there was no way of doing it without flashing the room. ‘I’ll take it over, give Tess a break,’ she said. Placing the cocktail on her tray, she started off toward the Radcliffs.

December 11th

It was just past two in the morning when Ceri spotted John Radcliff looking annoyed and listening to his phone. Lorna did not look happy either and Ceri moved over to their booth. The concern must have been obvious on her face because the look of surprise on Lorna’s features showed that she was not expecting that from someone she had just met.

‘I have to go into Greycoat Street,’ John said. ‘Apparently we’ve had a huge fight among a couple of werewolf packs and they need all hands on deck.’

‘But it’s your night off!’ Lorna exclaimed. There was an edge of panic in her voice and Ceri felt her aura expanding.

Lily was suddenly beside them, her own aura spreading and counteracting fear with pleasure. ‘If Lorna can stay until we close up,’ she said, ‘we can get her home.’

John looked uncertain. ‘We live in Hammersmith,’ he said. ‘If there’s some sort of trouble with werewolves…’

‘The Serpents?’ Ceri said, grinning slightly. ‘Seriously, Detective, those monkeys don’t stand a chance between me and Lily. Lorna would be perfectly safe.’ He was still looking dubious. ‘Or we could take her to High Towers. A horde of demons couldn’t get in there and you can pick her up in the morning.’

‘You’d do that?’ Lorna asked. ‘Invite a vampire into your home just…’

Ceri shrugged. ‘I already have a half-demon and a fairy,’ she said, ‘a vampire spending the night isn’t exactly strange. I trust you, besides, I’d ask a favour of your husband in return.’

‘Oh?’ John said warily.

‘I’d just like to hear what happened with the werewolves,’ Ceri told him. ‘I’ve been doing a lot of research on them recently. I may even be able to help.’

John looked at his wife and then nodded. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll come over tomorrow. About eleven?’ Ceri nodded. ‘And any information you can supply would be appreciated I’m sure.’

‘Come up to the bar, Lorna,’ Lily said. ‘You can keep Carter company. I think he’s lonely stuck back there.’ She grinned at John. ‘And don’t worry, he’s far too busy to be more than just flattering.’

The detective ran his hand over his face, wondering what he had let himself in for. Lily giggled happily and half-dragged the vampire across to the bar. Ceri escorted John to the door, watching him leave for the headquarters of the Greycoats. Something was going on and it seemed more urgent than ever that she find out what it was.

Kennington

Lorna the vampire was just a little giggly as they walked from the tube station through Kennington Park to High Towers. Ceri had never seen a giggling vampire before; Lily was apparently a little more used to it. Actually, Ceri had the distinct feeling that the only thing stopping Lily from taking advantage of the situation was Lorna’s husband, though she was also not sure that Lily could feed from undead. She caught herself wondering whether the sexual metaphysics were the same and giggled herself.

‘What are you thinking?’ Lily asked, smiling around Lorna who was being half supported between the two friends.

‘Metaphysics research,’ Ceri replied. ‘For once I’m going to supress my curiosity, however.’ Lily smirked as though she knew exactly what Ceri was thinking about.

‘John said you were a thaum… thauma… magic scientist,’ Lorna said. ‘What were you thinking about?’

Ceri blushed. ‘Uh… just something to do with Lily’s succubus powers,’ she said, hoping the vamp would not ask for details. Somehow, Ceri did not think the timid woman would really appreciate being told that Ceri wanted to watch as Lily licked her into a frenzy.

Whether Lorna was curious or not, she did not ask. Instead she stopped suddenly, her eyes fixed on a spot in the shadows ahead. ‘There’s a werewolf up ahead,’ she said. ‘In the bushes on the left of the path.’ Ceri could see nothing, but the reason vampires hated bright light was that they had such good night vision.

‘If you live, show yourself,’ Ceri murmured, the little cantrip focussing her will as her senses spread out around her. There were six of them, surrounding the trio of women. ‘You’re not too drunk to pull your aura are you,’ Ceri asked quietly.

‘I h-haven’t really worked out how to control it,’ Lorna said. ‘If they scare me I’ll probably do it automatically.’

‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘they could be friendly. Alexandra may have sent some of her pack to keep an eye…’ She stopped as her Sight picked up on something further back among the trees. It was big and giving off a thaumic field which reminded her a little of Lily and the demon Matthew Barnes had summoned, but… different. ‘We head for the house,’ she said. ‘We do nothing unless they do.’

The three women began walking again, Lorna’s eyes fixed on the werewolf ahead of them, Ceri watching the creature in the trees. Nothing happened until they were almost adjacent to the wolf, and then Ceri felt Lorna’s aura flare. Both Ceri and Lily flinched, but they were ready for it, the werewolf which had started toward them, stalking, was not. The bushes thrashed as the wolf suddenly backpedalled through them. ‘Run,’ Ceri said. She heard noise behind them as the other wolves gave chase, but the side gate was just ahead of them and she was sure they could make it through before they were overrun, even if Lorna’s aura did not keep them back. The familiar flare of pale orange greeted them as they pushed through the gate, even more reassuring and welcome than usual as the house greeted its mistress.

Ceri stopped, looking back as half a dozen grey-furred werewolves charged toward them. As the first howled and charged the gate a sheet of bright light arced high into the air and the howl turned into a yelp of pain as the barrier enchantment blocked the creature. The two who tried to vault the fence were thrown back as though they had hit a solid wall. Ceri’s lips drew back in a malicious grin.

‘Sh-shouldn’t we get inside?’ Lorna’s voice still held an undercurrent of terror.

‘Yes,’ Ceri said, ‘but we’re quite safe, see? They can’t get in and there’s something I need to see.’ She raised her voice. ‘Come on you cowardly bastard, show yourself. Stop sending your dogs to do your work.’ Nothing happened, aside from the werewolves howling at the insult, and she tried again. ‘I thought the Remus Pack were supposed to be something special, but you’re nothing but a weakling, a runt!’

The night was shattered by a howl of rage and the thing which had been hiding among the trees rushed out toward the gate. It was big, a hulking, muscular from with dark brown fur and a misshapen, demonic, wolf’s head perched on its broad shoulders. A hand with three, thickly clawed fingers hit the barrier first and there was a brilliant flare of scarlet light. Behind Ceri, Lorna hissed as adrenaline began to overcome the alcohol. The monster-wolf roared in frustration and its minions rushed the barrier again, bouncing back as before.

‘Go back to your Alpha,’ Ceri yelled. ‘Go back and tell him you failed. Go back and tell him he’ll never raise Fenrir because I’m going to find him and rip his black soul out through his chest!’ She raised her hands and twin spheres of energy formed in her palms, shimmering and writhing as the power built and trails of it began to spiral around her forearms.

The demon-wolf turned and loped off into the trees and the werewolves scattered, whatever hold the creature had had on them broken. Ceri waited until they were out of sight and then sank to her knees, letting the power she had gathered drain back into multi-dimensional space.

‘Th-that was fantastic!’ Lorna exclaimed. ‘You were amazing! Are you okay?’

Lily moved forward and picked Ceri’s shaking body up from the path. Lily smiled weakly at Lorna. ‘Let’s get inside,’ she said. ‘She’ll be fine. She says she’s not good at acting, but she’s actually way better than she thinks she is.’

‘That was all show?’ Lorna asked, he voice rising in pitch.

‘Oh no,’ Lily said as Ceri clung to her. ‘She really could have blown that thing in half, and one day she’ll probably realise it would be that easy.’ She started for the door to the second kitchen without another word.

~~~

Kate Middleshaw looked a little uncomfortable watching the Radcliffs seated on the chaise longe in the study. Ceri was not sure whether it was worry over her partner, or his wife, or whether it was simply that the detective sergeant had fallen for her superior. It did not really matter, they had business to attend to.

‘You think this… demon-wolf was directing the werewolves?’ John asked.

‘I think it was,’ Lorna said.

Ceri nodded. ‘It was one of the Remus Pack. They’re this semi-legendary bunch of… possessed werewolves. Rumour has it they arrived in the country around the time of the new moon.’

‘Remus?’ John said. ‘As in Romulus and?’ Ceri nodded. ‘You’re saying some ancient, dead guy has become a demonically possessed werewolf and has come to Britain to start all the other werewolves fighting?’

‘Actually,’ Ceri replied, ‘no, but which part of that bothers you? Y’know, since you’re sitting in an enchanted house with two magicians, a fairy, a vampire, and a half-demon.’

The detective opened his mouth to respond, and then closed it again. Finally he said, ‘So, what are you saying?’

‘Remus himself is a ghost,’ Ceri explained. ‘A very old, very powerful one. Centuries ago he killed and “consumed” his brother in revenge for his own murder. I think that “consumed” has more of a metaphysical connotation than just eating his flesh. When the Romans deified Romulus, they actually began feeding more and more power to Remus. He’s strong enough that he can materialise at will now, after dark anyway.’

‘He’s found a way to possess werewolves with the spirit of a slain wolf-god,’ Twill said.

‘And his plan,’ Ceri continued, ‘is to bring that god back. I don’t know why, exactly.’

‘But you have an idea,’ Kate stated flatly.

Ceri nodded. ‘What happened last night?’ she asked.

Kate and John looked at each other. She answered. ‘It began around midnight,’ she said. ‘We started getting reports that the Marshwall pack had staged a mass invasion of the Isle of Dogs. The Dog Boys responded. There were werewolves ripping each other apart all through the docks. We went in with riot teams armed with ‘bane-gas canisters.’

‘Then the Serpents attacked the Royals,’ John continued. ‘We’re not sure, but we think the Royals lost their Alpha male. The female’s in the university’s hospital. They say she might pull through.’

Ceri winced. ‘Did you hear anything about the Battersea pack?’

‘Nothing official,’ Kate replied. ‘We had a report of some Marshwallers being sighted heading for Battersea Park. If there was any trouble, it was kept quiet.’

Ceri looked over at Lily. ‘I’ll have to go see her tonight,’ she said.

‘Be careful,’ Lily replied.

‘See who?’ John asked.

‘Alexandra, the Alpha of the Battersea pack. She’s the one who gave me most of the information about Remus.’ It was easier to lay it all on Alexandra. Technically, she was not allowed to discuss the books at the Library, even with the cops. ‘I’d like to visit Catherine as well,’ Ceri added, ‘if she’s well enough for visitors.’

‘You seem to have been getting around the packs,’ Kate commented.

‘I’m doing my doctoral thesis on the metaphysical process behind were-creature transformations,’ Ceri said. ‘Catherine and her mate helped me. Oh! Have you heard anything about packs outside of London?’

Kate clearly thought she knew what Ceri was thinking, and was not too far off. ‘The North Hills helped?’ she asked. Ceri nodded, but was not going to go into details. ‘Not heard anything,’ Kate went on, ‘but it’s probably worth pursuing. I’ll make some enquiries when we get back to the office.’

‘Thanks,’ Ceri said. ‘That would be appreciated. I’ll let you know what I find out.’ Well, she would let them know what she could of what she found out. She had a strong feeling that there were limits to what the Greycoats were equipped to handle and Remus was not one of them.

Bloomsbury

There were two uniformed policemen and two werewolves standing around the doorway to Catherine’s hospital room. All four of them looked distinctly uncomfortable, and all four looked as though they were going to try to stop Ceri and Lily as they approached. Ceri was getting ready to mention Kate Middleshaw when one of the werewolves recognised her.

‘Hey, you’re that mage that came to see us with Alec,’ he said.

Ceri smiled at him. ‘Ceridwyn Brent,’ she said, ‘that’s me.’ The two cops relaxed as well; Kate had said she would send the name ahead. ‘I’m sorry to hear about Joshua.’

The two wolves looked at each other and then back at Ceri. ‘Catherine will be happy to see you,’ the man who had recognised her said. Something in the way he said it said much more about what he was not saying. One of the policemen opened the door, allowing Ceri and Lily to enter the room.

Catherine was a mess. Both her eyes had been blackened and there were visible marks, probably from teeth, around her neck. The Alpha had got lucky if someone had got that good a grip on her throat. Her voice sounded thick when she spoke, as though words hurt. ‘Ceri, thanks for coming. You brought your, uh, friend too… I’ve, uh, looked better.’

‘How bad is it?’ Ceri asked, moving to the side of the bed with a look of concern on her face.

‘Aside from what you can see? Three cracked ribs, several claw wounds.’ She picked up a cup of water from her bedside cabinet and sucked on the straw stuck in it. ‘I was lucky,’ she said.

‘The Serpents…’ Ceri began.

Catherine let out a short bark of a laugh and then winced. ‘The Serpents didn’t do this,’ she said. ‘This was Joshua.’ Lily gasped, Ceri’s face turned from concern to anger. It was frustrated anger, the man was dead, there was nothing more to be done about it.

‘What happened?’ Ceri asked.

Catherine sighed. ‘Something came to us late Friday night,’ she said. ‘Some sort of… I don’t know what, but it came and there was a voice in our heads. It thundered. It said that we could have great power if we allowed it in, let it lead us. Our enemies would fall before us, blah, blah, all that shit.’ She sucked on her water. ‘Joshua agreed, I didn’t. Next thing I knew, Joshua was attacking me. I fought back, but he surprised me. Stefan, one of the guys outside, smacked him over the head with a bottle just before he could rip my throat out. The pack members loyal to me fought the rest off and got me away from the park. Later I heard the Serpents had raided into our territory. They won’t tell me what the casualty figures are and they won’t tell me if they’ve arrested Joshua or are just treating it as “in-fighting” among the pack. You know the way they get.’

Ceri glanced at Lily. ‘Joshua died in the attack,’ the half-succubus said. ‘The cops probably figured you’d react badly. Alphas mating for life and that.’

‘Oh,’ Catherine said. She looked blank for a second. ‘That means the pack’s leaderless.’ She grabbed her bedclothes and started to pull on them. Lily was stopping her before Ceri could even react. ‘But… the pack.’

‘You’re in no shape,’ the half-demon said. ‘Don’t make me use my aura on you.’

‘Tomorrow,’ Ceri said, ‘you might get a visitor. Another werewolf. I think she can help you heal, but I’m sure she can help you get the pack sorted out.’ She put her hand out, gripping Catherine’s arm firmly. ‘We need another pack in the city able to stand up to Remus.’

Catherine looked at her, confused. ‘Remus?’ she said. ‘Who the hell is Remus?’

Battersea

‘Tea, my dear?’ Alexandra asked as Ceri walked into the circle of light from the fire.

‘You were expecting me,’ Ceri stated. ‘I’d love some, thank you.’

‘I’d be a very poor soothsayer if I hadn’t been expecting you,’ Alexandra said with a smile. Ceri smiled back and settled onto the ground, Michael settling just behind her again, as the Alpha prepared the teapot. The kettle was already on the stove and near boiling. ‘Things have begun to heat up.’ Alexandra was not referring to the water.

‘Did he send one of his people to see you?’ Ceri asked.

‘Yes. He sent one to all the packs. The only other pack to resist was the Royals, well, partially.’

‘He sent one after me as well,’ Ceri said, ‘leading a team of wolves. I… scared it off, but it couldn’t get past the house wards anyway.’

‘As you have no doubt discovered, his wolves are almost entirely demonic in nature once they accept the power he offers.’ Alexandra smiled weakly. ‘If offer is the right word. Your parents were likely taking great care to keep demons at bay unless they summoned them themselves.’

Ceri nodded. ‘Could I ask you to pay a visit to Catherine tomorrow? She needs… a pep talk.’

The kettle began to boil and Alexandra plucked it from the stove and poured water into the pot. ‘Do you believe she is worth my time, Ceridwyn?’

‘Yes,’ Ceri replied without a moment’s hesitation.

‘Very well, I’ll pay her a visit.’ The old woman smiled. ‘You have questions you don’t know how to ask. I find the best thing to do is to just ask them.’

‘Schuler,’ Ceri said, ‘the man who brought Remus to the Black Forest. You met him before then.’

‘Yes,’ Alexandra said.

‘You knew what was going to happen,’ Ceri said.

‘Not exactly,’ the Alpha sighed. ‘There are points in time I can’t see past until they happen. I can see how things piece together, but then it goes dark. It’s like… like the whole world hinges on what happens at that time. The choices made then are too complex and far-reaching to see past.’

‘The Shattering?’ Ceri asked.

‘No,’ Alexandra said. She poured the tea and handed a mug to Ceri. ‘No, I don’t believe there was any choice to that. It was always going to happen once Hitler chose to continue his alliance with the Thule Society.’ She took a sip of tea. ‘This coming full moon though, that is dark to me.’

‘I found something,’ Ceri said, ‘a prophecy of some sort. It seems to imply I need to find someone. The “Fair One, the Reborn.” Does that make any sense?’ Alexandra laughed. ‘Seriously,’ Ceri almost snapped, ‘this seems to be the only person who can stop Remus.’

‘Have you considered your name, Ceridwyn?’ the old woman said.

‘Sorry? I was named for the ancient sorceress.’

‘Yes,’ Alexandra said, ‘and you are a sorceress. So you could say that you are Ceridwyn reborn.’ Ceri blinked at her. ‘The name itself has a couple of meanings, but one of them is “Fair Poetry.”’

‘Crap,’ Ceri said flatly.

Alexandra smiled. ‘I couldn’t have put it better myself,’ she said.

Kennington, December 12th

‘Officially,’ Kate said, ‘I’m on my lunch break so, uh, thanks for the sandwiches, Twill.’

‘My pleasure, Detective,’ the fairy said, settling onto Lily’s shoulder. The half-succubus was leaning against the kitchen counter wearing only a concerned look. Kate probably did not realise that Lily’s lack of clothing meant she had been accepted as “part of the extended family.” Right now she just looked a little uncomfortable.

‘Anyway,’ Kate went on, ‘I did some checking and no one’s heard anything about the North Hills pack recently.’

Ceri sighed. ‘I was kind of hoping there was some news,’ she said.

‘I didn’t say there was no news,’ Kate replied, ‘just that no one had seen them. There’s a larger pack, the Fenlanders. They cover most of land between Bedford and Norwich, and King’s Lynn down to Clacton. The eastern end of the North Hills territory borders theirs, but a large group of Fenlanders was seen in Oxford on the seventh.’

‘That’s the western end of the North Hills’ territory,’ Ceri said, frowning.

Kate nodded, finishing up a bite of her lunch before continuing. ‘There have also been some odd reports from the Cambridge cops. Werewolves being more violent than usual. Some livestock going missing. This is going back as far as the sixth, way before we had our problems.’

‘So,’ Ceri said, ‘he arrived on the east coast on the night of the new moon and kicked off with the Fenlanders.’

‘They’re a large pack with some good connections,’ Kate said. ‘They would make for a good source of troops. Rumour out of the Cambridgeshire force says they’re hooked up with some sort of occult conspiracy group.’

‘Three werewolves are coming up the front path,’ Twill said suddenly.

Frowning, Ceri got to her feet. ‘I’ll be right back,’ she said before heading to the front door.

She did not recognise one of the two males, but she smiled as she opened the door to see Alexandra and Michael. The unidentified man nodded politely to her and took up what looked like a guard position on the porch.

‘I went to see Catherine,’ Alexandra said, ‘and thought we would stop off here on the way back.’

Ceri nodded. ‘Good to see you,’ she said. ‘I have a cop visiting, but she’s a witch and she can be trusted.’

‘That will be fine, dear,’ Alexandra said and Ceri led the way through to the kitchen.

‘Kate,’ Ceri said as she walked in, ‘this is Alexandra, Alpha of the Battersea pack, and Michael. Kate’s a detective in the Greycoats, investigating the recent violence among the werewolves.’ Ceri moved over to her chair and waved for Alexandra to sit. The old woman smiled and accepted the offer. Michael stood at the door, trying his hardest not to look at Lily.

‘Pleased to meet you, ma’am,’ Kate said. ‘Pardon my eating. I’m on my lunch break.’

‘Not an entirely sanctioned sharing of information, Detective?’ Alexandra asked.

‘Not entirely, no.’

The Alpha smiled. ‘Has Ceri told you about the Remus wolves?’

‘Some,’ Kate replied, ‘though I suspect she’s not telling me everything. We were just getting to the bit where she does the sharing.’

‘Then I’ll tell you what I told her,’ Alexandra said. ‘Remus sent one of his wolves to each of the London packs two nights ago. Catherine was the only other Alpha who resisted them.’ She looked up at Ceri. ‘She’ll be going back to rally her people this evening. I have high hopes for her, if she can get through the next few days.’

‘Well,’ Kate said, ‘we had some success in keeping things quiet last night. We had teams out with riot gear and gas. The Royals seemed like they were staying out of town, but if she’s going to bring them back tonight maybe we could stand by on the borders.’

‘No,’ Alexandra said, ‘if they are going to survive as a pack they need to stand on their own.’ She looked at Ceri. ‘Though there would be nothing to stop some of their less… governmental friends from assisting.’

Ceri looked over at Lily, who nodded. ‘We may drop by Regents Park tonight,’ the sorceress said. ‘Do you think any of Remus’ goons will show up?’

‘Yes,’ Alexandra said. ‘I expect him to take this opportunity to destroy one of the packs who rejected him. If you’re going, then I shall send some of mine with you. He’ll come for us once he’s finished with the Royals so we would be helping ourselves as much as them, and an alliance between the two packs would be… useful. I’ll be relying upon you and Lily to be our ambassadors in this, Ceridwyn. My wolves will take orders from you. It will be up to you to see that the Royals accept the help, and I’d like my people back in one piece if at all possible.’

‘I’m no tactician, Alexandra,’ Ceri said, looking uncomfortable.

‘You don’t have to be, dear,’ the old woman said. ‘Most of leadership is letting the people who know what they’re doing do it and making sure everyone believes in themselves. If it helps, I believe you can do this.’

‘So do I,’ Michael chimed in.

‘I don’t need to believe it,’ Lily said quietly. Ceri looked at her quizzically. Lily looked into her eyes and quite calmly stated, ‘I know you can.’

Regents Park

People cleared away from them as the two women and dozen werewolves marched out of Regents Park station and headed for the park and Broad Walk. Ceri and Lily walked at the head of them, the wolves fanning out as they entered the green land like an honour guard. There were no humans to be seen; the news was full of the dangers of being near the werewolf territories after dark and no one was risking it.

Ceri walked with a determined stride, the tall staff Carter had given her for her birthday in her hand. She had brought it simply to look impressive, having no idea what it actually did. Carter had said that he had bought it thinking it might grant him power and it had not. He had also said that he was giving it to her because he thought she could use it. So far it had spent its time hung over the fireplace in the lounge.

From somewhere, Lily had produced a pair of curved daggers and some heavy-looking, metal bracers which now adorned her forearms. She was dressed in leathers and low-heeled boots, ready to fight though she had never mentioned knowing how to. She had not explained where the weapons or armour had come from either and Ceri had not pressed her for an answer. Still, Ceri could almost smell the enchantment on the metal.

Michael was marching just behind the two of them. The wolf-man was constantly sniffing, searching for sign of anything dangerous around them, and they were just crossing Chester Road when he let out a soft growl.

Three werewolves moved out onto the path in front of them. Ceri stopped, planting her staff in the ground. ‘We’re here to see Catherine,’ she said. ‘The Battersea pack lends its assistance in the Royal pack’s time of need.’

The leader of the three was suddenly a human. Ceri recognised him from the hospital; this was probably Stefan. ‘Catherine will want to greet you personally,’ he said. He glanced at his pack-mates. ‘Go and tell Catherine that Miss Brent is here with help.’ As they loped off into the trees, Stefan fell into step beside Ceri and introduced himself. ‘I’m Stefan, Catherine’s… General? I spent five years in the Marines so I’m the best tactician we’ve got.’

Ceri glanced over her shoulder at Michael, receiving a nod in answer to the unasked question. ‘Fine,’ Ceri said, ‘Alexandra gave me leadership of these wolves, but they’ll take direction on tactical disposition from you.’

‘Thank you for your trust,’ Stefan replied.

‘I promised Alexandra I’d bring them back alive,’ Ceri said, smiling slightly. ‘I’m no soldier. I’m just using the talent I find available.’

‘You’re sure we’ll be attacked tonight?’ Stefan asked quietly.

‘I have it on good authority.’

‘Then we’d better get ready for it.’ Ceri glanced at Stefan. He sounded determined. It was not something she had expected to hear from one of his rather decadent pack, but she was glad to hear it.

Catherine was waiting for them near the spot Ceri had met her before. She looked like someone who was very nervous and trying very hard not to let it show. As they approached, she stood up and the long cloak she was wearing parted enough to show she was naked beneath and ready to shift if necessary. ‘Welcome,’ she said. ‘Darren tells me that you’ve brought wolves from Alexandra. I bid you all welcome and offer free passage through our territory.’

Ceri bowed her head in acknowledgement. ‘The Battersea pack is proud to stand beside the Royals against this danger to all. And Lily and I are proud to stand with both.’

Catherine smiled and bowed her own head, and then her resolve to look regal broke and she rushed forward to wrap Ceri in a hug. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘I’m not sure I can keep doing this without help.’

‘Yes you can,’ Ceri whispered back, hugging the Alpha in return. She raised her voice. ‘My wolves are at your disposal. I understand that Stefan is leading the defence?’

Catherine stepped back and pulled herself upright. ‘Yes. He’s very capable, and he’s been a rock in this turmoil.’ Her gaze flicked toward the tall, muscled man with his military cut, sandy hair and rugged good looks. Ceri was pretty sure that there was more than pack loyalty there.

‘What’s the plan?’ Ceri said, turning to Stefan herself.

Stefan dropped into a crouch and picked up a stick, quickly scratching a rough map of the park into some bare earth. Michael dropped down beside him while Ceri, Lily, and Catherine stood watching. ‘The Serpents are the most likely to attack,’ he said, ‘and they’ll likely come in from the west side. Unless they’re absolute morons they’ll avoid the main park. It’s all open ground and we’ll see them coming long before they get to us. So they’ll stick to the trees around Inner Circle until they can break across the shorter distance. I’ve got a scout on the island in the boating lake watching for them.’ He grinned. ‘We got a couple of those cheap walkie-talkies kids use. It’s got enough range that he can warn us before they get too far into the park.’

Michael reached out a claw and marked a line up from the south side where Broad Walk would be, then dipping in to about where they were sitting. He looked up at Stefan and the ex-soldier nodded. ‘Yeah,’ Stefan said. ‘I figure the main attack through the park will be a diversion and they’ll send a hit squad in around the back. Their main objective has to be assassinating Catherine and that’s their best chance.’ He paused and glanced up at Ceri. ‘So… this is where I return your trust, ma’am. My plan is to commit as many of our wolves as possible to the main assault. I’m going to trust the defence of my Alpha to you and yours.’

Michael made a low rumpling sound deep in his chest and bowed his head toward Stefan. ‘We won’t fail you,’ Ceri said.

‘What if they send those creatures?’ Catherine said.

‘They will,’ Ceri stated. ‘And I have a few ideas for taking care of them. I scared one off the first time they came. They aren’t all powerful, and they can be defeated.’

‘That’s why I brought these,’ Lily said, patting the daggers sheathed at her hips.

‘A pair of knives?’ Stefan said.

‘A pair of demon-bane daggers,’ Lily replied. Ceri raised an eyebrow, but made no comment; now was not the time to ask why Lily had them.

‘All right,’ Stefan said, ‘we have a plan, now we get to the largest part of any war.’

‘The waiting,’ Ceri said.

~~~

It began just after the moon had set for the night, plunging the park into darkness. Ceri had just cast a night sight spell on herself and Lily when the toy radio Stefan was holding as though it were the most vital thing in the world hissed and a voice could be heard indistinctly over the static. ‘They’re just passing the lake now,’ it said. ‘Sticking to the trees like you said.’

Stefan thumbed the transmit key. ‘All right, you know what to do. Stick to the plan.’ He dropped the walkie-talkie onto the grass and rose to his feet. ‘Good luck,’ he said to Ceri, and then he was moving toward the point they were expecting the attack to come from, shifting as he ran.

Ceri closed her eyes briefly and then turned to Michael. ‘We need a lookout,’ she said.

The grey wolf-man nodded and looked to his right giving a short bark. A female crouching near the edge of the clearing barked a reply and bolted into the trees. Ceri watched her go with a growing sense of tension. She had been in fights before, but they had always been unexpected with no time for planning or forethought. This was different; all the waiting gave her plenty of time to imagine the possible outcomes, and she had other people to worry about, people relying on her to lead them.

Lily’s hand on her shoulder almost made her jump. ‘We’re ready for this,’ the half-succubus said. ‘We’ll beat them.’

‘But people could die,’ Ceri almost whispered.

‘Yes,’ Lily replied, ‘people will die, but not our people.’

They heard howls from the south west. Battle had been joined, but none of the sounds coming from that direction sounded like they were being made by Remus’ wolves. There was nothing they could do about that now. Ceri pulled herself up straight and nodded. ‘Yeah,’ she said loud enough for the wolves to hear her, ‘I just wish they’d get on with it. It’s rude to be late to your own funeral.’

There was a rumble of cheerful agreement from the surrounding weres. Michael looked up at her with a mixture of pride and humour in his faintly orange, feral eyes. Ceri winked at him just as their scout dashed back into the clearing making growling noises and a few gestures.

‘They’re coming,’ Catherine translated, though Ceri had got that much. ‘Ten of them, plus two of the demon-wolves. We’ve got about a minute before they get here.’

‘Were you seen?’ Ceri asked. The she-wolf shook her head. Nodding, Ceri took in a breath and said, ‘Show time, people. Let’s do Alexandra proud.’

Catherine rose to her feet, undoing the catch on her cloak as she did so. By the time she was upright she was a grey-furred wolf-woman flexing clawed hands in readiness. There was a faint scrape of metal on leather as Lily drew her blades and stepped up beside Ceri. Michael gave a short bark and two groups of wolves split off to either side, vanishing into the trees and leaving what looked like a bare guard of four werewolves keeping watch on their Alpha.

Ceri began to concentrate, focussing her power through her staff. The complex pattern of blue inlay around the upper third of the staff began to glow, as did the large crystal sphere mounted in its head. ‘No one gets between me and the first demon we see,’ she said, and then they saw it.

The hulking form stepped out from the cover of a tree and managed to look triumphant with a face incapable of showing much in the way of expression besides “mean.” Michael and his three wolves let out long howls, dropping into crouches in readiness as the demon gestured and a small horde of werewolves broke cover around him. The demon gave a roar, seeing his prey almost entirely unguarded. He began to charge.

Ceri raised her staff, levelling it toward the oncoming creature, and released her spell. A bolt of blazing white light shot from the crystal, meeting the monster’s chest and blasting clear through. It stumbled, falling headlong and skidding to a stop on the grass. Still moving, it began struggling to turn over and right itself, but the shock value was already having an effect. The wolves faltered in their charge and Michael took advantage, barking an order and charging forward. The flanking groups hit them from the sides in the confusion and the Serpents were caught in complete disarray.

‘There!’ Lily hissed and Ceri turned to see the second demon charging at them from their left side. It had obviously seen what she had done to its brother and considered her the most important target since it was charging straight at her, ignoring Catherine and the girl with the daggers between it and its quarry.

Lily held her daggers back-handed, stepped into the charge and dropped low under the huge arm which swung in toward Ceri. The monster howled as the short blade cut through its thick hide like butter, opening a deep gash across its stomach. Ceri raised her staff, blocking the talons swinging toward her head and stepped back; she needed time to ready her next spell.

Suddenly Catherine was on its back sinking her teeth into its bull-neck and Lily was spinning around to plant her blade deeply into its chest, and it had more to think about than Ceri. A clawed hand reached back to try to dislodge the werewolf, the other swinging a badly aimed, easily dodged blow at Lily. The half-succubus’ dagger slashed its wrist in passing, the second blade swinging about to carve a line through its thigh.

‘Catherine! Get clear!’ Ceri yelled as she rammed the head of her staff into the monster’s throat. She saw the lithe she-wolf jump back, somersaulting to land in a low crouch, and then Ceri released her spell. Light flared through the top of the demon’s skull and there was the stench of burnt fur. Lily had to roll aside to avoid the falling body.

Turning, Ceri took in the scene to her right. As far as she could tell, the fallen wolves lying in pools of blood and gore were all Serpents and, faced with what had suddenly become a very superior force, the ones still standing were starting to turn and run. The demon-wolf was pulling itself upright despite the gaping hole she had blown through its chest. She growled under her breath; the thing would start regenerating soon.

It looked at her with eyes which were burning red in the night. Its lips drew back to reveal two rows of vicious teeth and Ceri began to ready another light bolt. Then Michael appeared out of nowhere, his jaws clamping around the beast’s throat. It slammed a clawed hand into his chest, pushing him away and leaving deep gouges in its own neck.

‘No!’ Ceri yelped as her mate fell to the ground and she could see the blood on the wolf-thing’s talons. She was aiming her staff and loosing the spell before she was even aware of it, the bolt blasting through the demon’s guts. The light went out of its eyes and it collapsed even as Ceri was rushing toward Michael.

The fallen werewolf had three large puncture wounds in his chest and Ceri could hear the air sucking through the wounds as he breathed. Well, at least he was breathing. ‘You fucking idiot!’ she screamed. ‘If you bloody die on me I’ll kill you myself!’ Werewolves healed fast, very fast compared to a human, but they could still die if you did enough damage. There was enough evidence of that lying around the clearing already.

Catherine was there, in human form, pressing a sterile pad she had produced from somewhere over the wounds. ‘He’ll be all right,’ she said. ‘He’s a werewolf. We just have to stop him dying for a few minutes and he’ll be fine.’

Ceri nodded, swallowing hard, and looked around. ‘Is anyone else hurt? Lil, check them for wounds. That bastard didn’t hit you, did he?’

‘I’m fine,’ Lily said a little blandly for Ceri’s tastes. The half-demon began checking the werewolves as Ceri turned back to Michael.

Closing her eyes, Ceri summoned her power. Placing her hand over Catherine’s and the wounds below, she funnelled energy into Michael’s body. Somewhere at the back of her mind she was aware of Catherine telling Lily about a first aid box, but she was too busy concentrating. It was the first time she had ever tried to heal someone for real, though the basic spell had been part of her PPC course. Michael let out a groan and she opened her eyes to find him looking back at her. Bending forward, she rubbed her cheek against his muzzle.

‘We’ve got a couple of minor wounds, mostly bites,’ Lily said from behind her and she straightened up to look around. ‘Nothing that won’t heal fast. The Serpents are cowards at heart, only thing getting them to fight was the Remus wolves.’ Opening the green first aid box she was holding, Lily pulled out a wet-wipe and handed it to Ceri. ‘You have some boyfriend blood on your cheek there, hun,’ she said with a grin.

Ceri rolled her eyes and wiped blood from her cheek before turning back to Michael. Reaching out she gave him a light swat on the nose. ‘Don’t do that again,’ she said. ‘Aside from anything else, I don’t really want to spend another night being passed around the available males in the pack.’

Catherine looked at her across Michael’s prone form. ‘That’s only done with new females,’ she said. ‘Is he your mate? I don’t…’

‘Long story,’ Ceri said.

‘She likes to really get into her research,’ Lily said, dead pan. ‘Occasionally she lets her research get into her, repeatedly. Rhythmically, one might say.’

‘Go see what’s happening with the other fight,’ Ceri growled. ‘Take David and Ellen to keep you out of trouble.’

Lily grinned and saluted smartly. ‘Yes, Mistress.’

Catherine was lifting the pad away from Michael’s wounds to check them. ‘Whatever you did,’ she said, ‘it worked.’ She tossed the pad to one side to reveal three marks beneath half-obscured by blood-matted fur. ‘You’ll have some battle scars to brag about, but you’ll be fine,’ the Alpha said to her charge.

Michael pulled himself up into a sitting position, probing at his damaged side with a knuckle. He let out a small whine.

‘Serves you right for being a hero,’ Ceri told him. She looked around toward the fallen demon he had attacked. ‘I was ready to blast the foul…’ She stopped, frowning, and then stood up to walk over to where the body was. Where the hulking shape of a Remus demon-wolf had fallen, there was now an ordinary-looking grey-furred werewolf with most of its torso missing. Legends aside, a werewolf that died in wolf-form did not revert to human; not even lycanthropes did that. Changed by the possessing demon while in werewolf form, however, this one had gone back to its original shape when the spirit had left it.

‘I guess that proves what they are then,’ Catherine said from behind her.

Ceri nodded. ‘The other one was a female,’ she said. ‘They all just become the same, sexless slaves to Remus’ will when they change.’

‘Same thing out on the field,’ Lily said, returning amid a horde of werewolves. ‘There was one of them there, bringing up the rear, it seems. The body changed back once it died, though there wasn’t that much left to identify it.’ She glanced around at the gore covered wolf-man beside her. Catherine’s eyes widened and she darted toward the first aid box. ‘Don’t worry,’ Lily said quickly, ‘most of that is from the demon. If you’re feeling solicitous, he’s got a gash on his back. The rest is just cuts and scrapes.’

Werewolves were all around them now, stroking, touching, rubbing muzzles, and generally reassuring each other that they were all okay. They had fought and won, and now it was time to lick their wounds and wear their scars with pride. Ceri grinned and moved around to where Lily was standing, looping an arm around her waist.

Lily had to stretch up slightly to whisper into Ceri’s ear. ‘If Mistress doesn’t object, she’s getting laid tonight. Big time!’ Ceri giggled.

Catherine was in the middle of cleaning Stefan’s back wound, but she raised her voice enough to be heard over the sound of happy werewolves. ‘You’ve all made me proud to be your Alpha,’ she said. ‘The Royals can hold their heads up high tonight, and I expect you to do just that. We’ve been a second-class, urban pack for too long. It’s time we lived up to our name.’ She glanced around at Ceri and Lily, and then Michael. ‘We have strong allies. I look forward to seeing more of our friends from south of the river in the future. From tonight, the Royals will go forward as the greatest pack north of the Thames. Are you with me?’

The sound of wolves howling in agreement was almost deafening.

Kennington, December 13th

Ceri fell back onto the bed, gasping for breath. She felt as though she had just run three marathons, aside from the fact that marathons did not make your skin tingle like that. She looked down at the predatory expression on Lily’s face and focussed hard on speaking. ‘N-no! Not… not again.’

Lily pouted. ‘It’s only been three times,’ she said. ‘This morning,’ she added.

‘Exact… exactly. What’s… what’s brought this… on?’

Lily crawled up the bed and settled herself down against Ceri, snuggling up and laying a hand across her lover’s stomach. ‘Last night,’ she said. ‘You were… fantastic. Powerful, compassionate but willing to make the tough decisions. That first strike…’ She shivered, a shudder of erotic recollection. ‘That came out of nowhere and the demon just… wham! God that was…’ She trailed off into a moan.

Ceri giggled. ‘Me? Y-you were the one… carving up… demons. God… I think you… killed me.’

Lily casually reached up and gave Ceri’s left nipple a squeeze. Ceri shrieked. ‘No,’ Lily said, ‘I’m quite sure dead people don’t make noises like that.’

Ceri was panting again. ‘They’re sensitive,’ she whined. ‘Where did you learn to fight like that? And why do you have demon-bane daggers?’

‘One of my ex-boyfriends was a martial arts instructor,’ Lily said.

Ceri waited for a second before saying, ‘And the daggers?’ She felt Lily stiffen against her. ‘It’s okay, Lil. Sorry, I shouldn’t press.’

Lily took a deep breath and then relaxed. ‘There was an enchanter I knew when I first came to London. He was into taking pictures of underage girls and I posed for him. And then I kept my mouth shut about it in exchange him for making me the daggers and bracers. I needed them… in case Dad showed up again.’ The last came out in a rush and Ceri realised the half-succubus was trembling.

Pulling Lily closer, Ceri said, ‘I don’t understand, Lil. I thought you got on with your father. I mean, he taught you stuff. When you talk about him it’s usually good stuff.’

‘It was,’ Lily said. ‘He turned up when I was… eight. Mum wasn’t pleased, but he kept his business away from home and she was kind of lonely. He told me great stories and taught me about demons, and he was actually a pretty cool dad. And then I hit puberty. I can’t resist his influence, y’see? We share… some sort of metaphysical link. Because of me he can stay here if he’s summoned and then he can kind of… I dunno. He makes my demon side worse.’

‘That’s why you flunked school?’ Ceri said. ‘Why you went all wild?’

Lily nodded. ‘When Mum finally figured out what was going on, she got some friends, the people who had originally summoned him, and they banished him. Damage was done by then though. I was a lost cause, until Carter… and you.’ Ceri pulled her close and Lily hugged back. For a few seconds there was silence and then Lily said, ‘You remember I said I loved you because everyone else treated me like… like a blow-up doll?’

‘Yes, and you never were.’

‘But I was, Ceri,’ Lily said emphatically. ‘It wasn’t just that people treated me that way. That was how I acted. Dad turned me into that, and that’s why I have the daggers. Next time he turns up, if he tries to turn me back, I’ll cut out his heart.’

Ceri was silent for a moment, holding her friend against her. She had never heard Lily so vehement about anything. She knew some of the depths Lily had fallen to before Carter had pulled her out of them, but she suspected she had been spared some of the details, perhaps even some entire episodes. The fact that it was her father who had pushed her to that life was…

‘You’ll have to get to him before I do,’ Ceri said.

~~~

‘This is becoming a habit,’ Ceri commented.

‘Well,’ Kate said, ‘the sandwiches were so good that…’

‘You brought your partner?’ Ceri finished, fixing her gaze on John who was tucking into a second set of sandwiches opposite her. ‘How’s your wife?’

‘Still dead,’ John replied flatly. ‘Thanks for keeping her that way, by the way.’

Ceri shrugged. ‘She’s not quite as fragile as you think, and if she hadn’t been there we wouldn’t have spotted the werewolves stalking us.’

John looked as though he were going to argue, but what he said was, ‘On to the business we aren’t here for. Rumour has it that several Serpents met a messy end last night.’

‘They retreated into the Kensington Gardens,’ Kate went on. ‘Intel says there were three of those larger creatures with them at the start of the night and none after.’

‘Intel also says one of them was involved in a fight in Regents Park,’ John said, ‘though no body was located.’

‘They turn back into the werewolf they were created from on death,’ Ceri said. ‘The other two led an assassination squad against Catherine.’

‘Ceri blew holes in them,’ Lily said, beaming. ‘It was awesome!’

‘Lily is still a little high on my magic use,’ Ceri said, grinning. ‘Whatever, we took out the Remus wolves, gave the Serpents a bloody nose, and cemented an alliance between the Royals and the Battersea pack. I suspect that Remus will back off a bit having failed last night, but it might be an idea to keep up the riot squads.’

‘Yes,’ John said. ‘Officially, we don’t know what happened. The Commissioner isn’t going to back down the threat level until we’ve had a few nights of quiet.’

‘The Solstice,’ Ceri said. ‘After the Solstice it’ll be over, one way or another.’

‘What, exactly, happens then?’ John asked.

‘I don’t, exactly, know,’ Ceri replied, ‘but I know who to ask.’

Battersea

Ceri rubbed her cheek against Michael’s muzzle, her body pressed against his. The fur along his jaw was a little bristly, but on his cheek it was soft and she smiled as he rubbed back in greeting. ‘You’re all right?’ she asked. ‘The wounds healed properly?’ He nodded, his hands straying down her back and over her behind, pulling her hips against his. She had showered, but to his sensitive nose she probably still smelled of sex. ‘I need to see Alexandra,’ she said. She could feel his need pressing against her stomach. ‘It’s kind of urgent,’ she added.

Michael gave a small whine and let her go, very reluctantly. He dropped into a semi-crouch and looked up at her. Ceri had never imagined that a werewolf could look like a love-sick puppy, but Michael was pulling it off beautifully. ‘After,’ she said, ‘if there’s time.’ His eyes brightened and he actually gave a short bark before starting off toward the boating lake.

Alexandra was already pouring the tea. ‘I assumed you would appreciate some refreshment,’ the Alpha said. ‘I got the report of the battle with Remus’ wolves and the Serpents. Most impressive. You did me and mine proud, Ceridwyn. I am honoured to call you a friend.’

‘Yes, but it’s not over is it?’ Ceri said, settling down beside the fire with Michael sitting a little closer than usual behind her, his calf resting against her hip.

‘No, no it’s not. Remus must still be defeated.’ She placed a mug in front of Ceri and settled down in front of her before drinking from her own mug. ‘By now Alec and the North Hills pack are tracking his movements and making plans to attack him. You have to find them to find Remus.’

‘If they attack him, they’ll die,’ Ceri said.

‘Indeed,’ Alexandra said, ‘but that won’t happen. The path to the Solstice is laid out already. Before you ask, I can’t tell you what it is.’

‘Can’t or won’t?’ Ceri said, a little more annoyance showing in her voice than she would have wished.

Alexandra seemed to understand her frustration. ‘I can’t. It’s part of my… curse. There are things I can do, things I can change, things I can say, and a lot I can do nothing about. There is one who might be able to tell you more though. Calling her, however, would be… difficult.’

Ceri sipped her tea. ‘Luperca,’ she guessed. ‘She was Remus’ foster mother, a wolf-goddess, and I think she gave you this precognitive power.’

The old Alpha actually looked surprised. ‘You have a remarkable ability to take facts and connect them without all the information, young lady. Yes, Luperca. She’s lucid some of the time. Remus took her power into himself and defiled it, turning her from a beneficent entity into something far more capricious. If you can get her to talk, she may be able to help you.’

‘I wouldn’t even know how to summon her,’ Ceri replied, ‘never mind talk to her.’

‘She can be summoned through me,’ Alexandra said, ‘though “summoned” is, perhaps, the wrong word. A ritual of possession. She would take my body to use while manifesting. You would need to contain her. I have no doubt that Remus’ influence on her is strong during the waxing moon, especially this one.’

‘Dangerous?’ Ceri almost laughed the word. ‘Are you nuts? She could kill you, Alexandra. I won’t risk your life just to get some unknown amount of information some goddess might not be willing to give anyway.’

There was a rumble of agreement from the wolves around the fire and Michael’s hand caressed Ceri’s shoulder; a gesture of thanks? Alexandra looked around and then back at Ceri. ‘You must, girl. I must. You have a summoning circle at your house, one suitable for summoning spirits.’

Ceri opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Alexandra’s eyes brooked no argument. ‘My mother’s circle,’ she said. ‘The room’s been, uh, converted to another use, but the circle’s still intact.’ Even though the circle was tailored to spirits, not demons, Lily had liked the symbolism of placing a St Andrew’s Cross in the middle of it. Ceri had thought it distinctly kinky, but now it seemed like it would have another use.

‘I will need time to prepare,’ Alexandra said, ‘and you will, I think, need to look up some notes on such a summoning. Your mother’s books should give you all you need. I’ll come when it gets dark and they won’t let me come alone. You may need to put up a few wolves for the night, but I think you’ve done that before.’ The old woman’s eyes said she knew exactly what was going to happen; Ceri wondered whether she knew her death was coming, but said nothing. ‘For now, however,’ Alexandra said, ‘please take care of your mate before he pines away entirely.’

Michael had the decency to give an embarrassed-sounding whine.

Kennington

Lily was standing in the lounge. The lights were out and her naked silhouette stood out against the light from the fire as Ceri walked in. ‘It’s glowing,’ the half-succubus said.

Ceri blinked, taken entirely off guard by the statement. ‘I know we had a lot of sex last night, but glowing seems a little extreme,’ she said. Inappropriate humour, totally the best thing when your stress levels are becoming extreme.

Lily turned and grinned. ‘No, silly, your staff.’ She turned back and pointed up at the wooden rod hung above the fireplace. Now she mentioned it, it was true. The complex pattern of blue inlay was glowing, far more dimly than it had as she had channelled her power through it, but still it was giving off a delicate, blue light.

Moving closer, Ceri allowed her Sight to manifest. The normal patterns of magical flow around the house’s enchantments were there, as ever, but there was nothing particularly odd about the staff until she came up level with Lily and looked closely. ‘Well damn,’ she said, staring at the patterns of energy which were twisting through the wood.

‘Are you going to tell me what you see?’ Lily asked. ‘Or do I have to resort to begging? I will, y’know? I give fantastic beg.’

Ceri glanced at her, grinning. ‘I know you do, Lil.’ Her gaze returned to the staff. ‘It was odd,’ she went on, ‘I kind of felt like… like it was easier working those big spells yesterday. Like I wasn’t building up the charge I should have from using that much power. It’s the staff. If I channel through the staff, it absorbs the build-up instead of me.’ She reached out a hand and stroked the wood gently.

‘Wouldn’t that mean…’ Lily began, trailing off.

‘What, Lil?’

‘Well, surely that means that it was made for a sorcerer,’ the half-succubus said. ‘I mean, the energy build-up thing is part of your power, the limiting factor like Cheryl said. This thing would be no use to any other mage.’

‘Yes,’ Ceri said, ‘good deduction.’

‘Ceri, there haven’t been any sorcerers for… fifteen centuries,’ Lily said. ‘This thing must be old.’

‘Yes, yes it must,’ Ceri said. ‘Makes you wonder what Carter was doing with it.’

December 14th

Ceri’s mother had never done much in the way of summoning. There had been a few nature spirits when she was feeling particularly witchy, and Ceri knew for a fact that she had once summoned a lust spirit to possess her as a present to her husband one wedding anniversary, but mostly Marion Brent had left the summoning to David. Ceri’s father had been of a more wizardly bent, and demons were generally of more use to the couple in their work as enchanters.

Still, even if Marion had married into the Brent name, she had the Brent tendency to accumulate books. Even when she had no inclination to practice what was in the book, if it pertained to her field of expertise and expanded her knowledge, she would buy it and devour its contents. The couple’s knowledge and attention to detail had been one of the things which had made them such good enchanters. It was something Ceri aspired to, though she had given up trying to amass their combined knowledge; it would have taken her the next thirty years just to read all the books.

It took most of the morning to find three books on the summoning or calling of what one of them described as “ancient spirits of great power,” and a couple of hours of speed reading to find one of them which seemed to contain the most complete material on the kind of ritual which would give the best chance of success.

Despite the fact that Ceri was sure what she was doing constituted “boring beyond the limit of most humans to endure,” Lily spent the entire time lying on the chaise longe watching her mistress working, with a rapt expression on her face. When Ceri finally sat up straight in her desk chair and looked at the window, seeing the light going, Lily got up from the lounger and walked over to her. Delicate, but strong, hands began to massage Ceri’s neck and shoulders, and the sorceress let out a groan of pleasure.

‘Loosen your shirt,’ Lily said, ‘you’re tense as Hell.’ Ceri undid the buttons on the over-sized shirt she was wearing and allowed it to be pushed off her shoulders so that Lily could work. ‘You’ve found what you wanted?’ the half-demon asked.

‘Yes,’ Ceri replied, though the urge to just sit there and be melted into a puddle by Lily’s expert hands was great. ‘We should have all the necessary materials down in the lab. I’ll check in a minute.’

Lily giggled softly. ‘If you keep doing things like this you’ll actually need to restock.’

‘Not any time soon,’ Ceri said. ‘Though some of the stuff may be out of date. That’s why I’m going to check.’ Her parents’ death had left her with a house without a mortgage and an enchanter’s workshop come alchemical laboratory stocked with a year’s supply of materials which she had not touched until that summer. Five years had taken its toll on some of the more perishable items, she had had to buy new oil to make ink for example, but there was still plenty there. Especially when you did not use much of it. ‘Salt,’ she said, ‘I may need to start buying more salt.’

‘You’ve got a couple of scratches on your neck,’ Lily commented blandly.

‘Uh, yeah,’ Ceri replied, her cheeks flushing, ‘Michael was a little… urgent last night.’

There was silence for a while as Lily’s hands worked their magic on Ceri’s tight muscles. ‘You know I don’t mind, right?’ Lily said.

‘About Michael?’

‘Yeah,’ Lily said, ‘or anyone else. I’m your friend, not your girlfriend. The sex is just…’

Ceri stood up, her shirt falling away completely as she turned and pulled the half-succubus into a tight embrace. ‘The sex is fucking wonderful and if I’m totally honest I’m probably so addicted now I couldn’t give it up if I wanted, but you are more than just a friend, or a good lay, and any man I meet had better understand that or he won’t last long. You hear me… pet?’

Lily blinked. Her eyes were wet and a tear threatened to fall from the corner of one of them. She opened her mouth, and then closed it again, choosing to simply nod.

Ceri reached up, lifting the half-succubus’ chin in a firm grip and looking into her unearthly, black eyes. ‘Are we quite clear on this, pet?’ she demanded.

There was the briefest flicker of red in Lily’s pupils and she straightened her back. ‘Yes, Mistress,’ she said.

‘Good,’ Ceri said quietly. She placed a soft kiss on Lily’s lips and the half-demon let out a sigh which was half moan. ‘Now go and put some clothes on, Alexandra and her wolves will be here soon.’

~~~

‘Well,’ Alexandra said, ‘this is… nice.’ She was standing in the dungeon, looking around at the two cages and the St Andrew’s Cross, and… luckily Lily had remembered to put a sheet over the shelf unit with all the sex toys. Ceri could feel her cheeks heating up as she watched the old woman look around.

‘I put it in,’ Lily said. ‘I guess you might have guessed that, but it’s dual purpose. That door up there is shielded against magic and can’t be opened from the inside without the key. I don’t have a key.’ She walked over to the big cage and patted one of the bars. ‘And this has earthed silver-iron cores to the bars. If I’m inside it, my aura can’t touch anything outside it.’

‘It’s Lily’s safe room, basically,’ Ceri said. ‘If she feels like her succubus side is getting too strong, she can come down here and lock herself away from me.’

Alexandra walked down to the other end of the room where there was a summoning circle carved into a slab in the floor in front of a large, stone altar. The cross was mounted in the middle of the circle such that anyone chained to it would be facing the altar. The altar itself had a cross-shaped, black, ceremonial cloth draped over it, upon which Ceri had placed the candles and incense sticks which were needed for the rituals. She was not going to tell Alexandra that the cloth was there because that altar was damn cold to lie on.

However, the old woman smiled as she stroked the wood of the cross. ‘This brings back memories,’ she said. Ceri’s eyes tried to bulge out of her head. ‘What?’ Alexandra said. ‘I was young once you know.’ Amid Lily’s giggles, she asked, ‘Can this thing restrain a werewolf?’

‘It’s pretty over-engineered,’ Lily said, ‘and we have silver-iron manacles and chains.’

‘Excellent,’ the Alpha said, ‘if you would get them, Lily dear. Ceri, you prepare your circle while I get undressed.’

‘The ritual doesn’t require you to be naked,’ Ceri said.

‘Perhaps not,’ Alexandra replied, ‘but she often forces me to change when she comes and I don’t want to ruin my clothes.’

Ceri was still laying salt into the inner circle as Lily started chaining Alexandra to the cross. The old woman was smiling and Lily grinned at her. ‘Could I ask how old you are, Alexandra?’ Lily said.

‘Black-furs tend to age slowly,’ Alexandra replied. ‘Ceri knows I was not a child before the war. I was born in eighteen-ninety-eight.’

Lily blinked. ‘I hope I look this good at a hundred and twelve. You’ve… really kept your figure.’

‘Lily,’ Ceri said, ‘we’re working, not seducing.’

Lily pouted as she locked the last padlock in place, stretching Alexandra’s right arm over her head.

‘Really, dear,’ Alexandra said, ‘it’s quite all right. Lily can complement me on my figure any time she wants.’

Ceri winced. ‘Sorry, it’s just… it was bad enough when she took my boss to bed without seeing her considering the molestation of my Alpha while she’s chained to a Saint Andrew’s Cross. It’s like… like when I walked in on my parents when my Mum had summoned a lust spirit.’

‘I was not!’ Lily protested. She smirked. ‘Though now you come to mention it…’

‘Lily!’ Ceri squeaked.

‘Technically I’m not your Alpha, dear,’ Alexandra said, ‘and at my age I’ll take all the molestation I can get.’

Ceri groaned. ‘Could we maybe get on with this before I have to explain to the pack upstairs why it took an hour longer than expected and they try to gut Lily?’

‘And then I’d have to explain to them why they had just spent twenty minutes rolling around on the floor in ecstasy?’ Alexandra suggested.

Lily backed carefully out of the circle, being sure not to disturb the salt, and Ceri began filling the outer ring. The circle consisted of two rings around a north facing pentagram with sigils in various points around it and between the two rings. As Ceri finished marking out the circle, clockwise and starting from the north, she looked up at Alexandra. ‘Ready?’ she asked.

‘As I’ll ever be, dear,’ the old woman replied.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ Lily asked.

‘Light the candles, and the incense, please,’ Ceri instructed. ‘Start at the left and work across. Incense last.’ As Lily began doing as asked, Ceri turned back to the circle and focussed. Letting out a long breath, she pushed power into it. Somehow it felt like some words were needed. ‘By my power I raise this circle,’ she said and the rings and sigils shone brightly for a second. She ignored the little whimper from behind her.

Closing her eyes, she let the aroma of sandalwood permeate the room and went over the ritual in her mind. Then she turned and took a pestle from the altar. She had prepared the contents earlier, a mixture of caraway, fennel, and rue, ground into powder. She placed it just outside the circle, at the northern point, and straightened up. ‘Here we go,’ she said and raised her arms.

‘Spirits of the Earth, harken unto me and protect this place from the north and from the realms beneath.’ Ceri felt the first stirrings of energy around her as the magic began to flow. ‘Spirits of the Air, harken unto me and protect this place from the east and from the realms above.’ She felt her hair stir as a wind which did not move the candle flames sprang up around her. Lily let out a tiny gasp. ‘Spirits of Fire, harken unto me and protect this place from the south. Lend us thine energy that we might pursue our goals. Spirits of Water, harken unto me and protect this place from the west. Lend us your power to break down barriers.’

The pestle of herbs flashed, a blue flame flaring for a second and white smoke rising up in a plume before swirling up around Alexandra. The old woman gasped softly, breathing in the smoke and relaxing into her chains.

‘Luperca, Goddess of Wolves,’ Ceri called out, ‘come unto us, your humble petitioners. We seek your audience. Take this vessel for your body, come into our presence.’ Ceri could feel the power building around her, reaching out across what magicians called the Realms, and she knew by the rather more weird sounding term of “p-branes.” Somewhere, hopefully, her words were reaching a goddess. She raised her arms in supplication. ‘Luperca! By my power, and at your will, I call you! Neither time, nor space, nor the walls of reality stand between us. Luperca, Mother of Wolves, Blessed Protector of Werewolves, come!’

There was a loud growl from within the circle and Ceri lowered her head to find a black-furred werewolf in the shackles on the cross. She thrashed against the chains, but Lily had been quite determined that if it were her so strung up she would not be getting free. Ceri allowed the thrashing to continue for a minute or so. ‘Thank you for coming, Goddess,’ she said. ‘You can’t get free. Perhaps you could change back so we can talk.’

The only result of her request was a howl which sent shivers down Ceri’s spine. In all probability, if the circle had not been there, she would have been cowering in terror after hearing it, but whatever magical effect it had was stripped by the barrier.

‘Please, Goddess,’ Ceri said. ‘I need to speak to you about Remus.’

The struggling stopped and suddenly they were looking at Alexandra in human form again. The voice which issued from her mouth, however, was not hers. There was more resonance and an odd, guttural quality, and the accent was thick and unidentifiable. ‘My wayward son? What of him? Still he seeks to raise the demon he used to twist my gift.’

‘Fenrir, we call it,’ Ceri said. ‘In a week he plans to do something, yes. The Solstice coincides with the full moon and…’

‘He will bring the Time of Wolves,’ Luperca said. ‘Winter will last for a year and the world will fall under my children.’

Ceri’s stomach sank. ‘That doesn’t really sound like something you’d want to stop,’ she said.

‘Before Remus I taught my children to live alongside your kind. He is driven only by his hatred of those who cast him aside in favour of his brother. I raised them both, but Remus chose the path of the wolf while Romulus stayed human. Romulus controlled his power while Remus unleashed it with all of a berserker’s fury. Romulus forgot me in his rise to power, leaving me to the bitter hatred of his proud brother.’ Alexandra’s lips drew back, showing her fangs as the goddess within her snarled. ‘If Remus succeeds in his aim, the children I have watched over for aeons will be my children no longer. Every werewolf, everywhere, will belong to the demon Remus has pledged his soul to.’

Ceri’s heart was pounding. She swallowed hard. ‘How do I stop him?’ she asked.

Luperca barked out a laugh. ‘Once there were men he feared. No longer. They all died when the magic died in this world. Those who wielded the raw power of magic.’

‘Sorcerers,’ Ceri said. ‘Look closer, Goddess.’ She lifted her right hand, fingers cupped, and summoned a ball of thaumic energy into it.

Alexandra’s head tilted to the right, and she squinted at Ceri. ‘So, they return from beyond,’ the goddess said, and then shook her head. ‘But you are barely into your power, child. You have the blood, the heritage, but not the skill. My foolish son is more than a match for you, even if you are the Fair One spoken of in prophecy.’

‘I’m all we have,’ Ceri said, closing her fist. ‘He has to have a weakness, some way to defeat him?’

‘Raw magic will destroy his physical form, but it will not finish him. He is a spirit of darkness and he will return to darkness if you end his body. You may gain time to learn to fight him, but he will return and try again.’ Luperca sighed. ‘Only the light of the sun can end him, and he will seek solace in the earth before sunrise. Your quest is a hopeless one, child.’

‘No!’ Ceri snapped. ‘I won’t believe…’ But Alexandra was slumping in her chains, her breath coming in pants. The goddess was gone. ‘Crap,’ Ceri said. Lily started forward from behind the altar. ‘Wait,’ Ceri said. ‘If you go in there right now you’ll fry.’ She focussed once more and spoke clearly. ‘Spirits of the Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, our work is done. I gave thanks for your assistance. Be gone and rest.’ Behind her on the altar, four candles flickered and went out.

Rushing forward, Ceri did not even wait to drop the circle, letting her body passing through the barrier do the work. She felt the shock of the power slamming through her, but ignored it to wrap her arms around Alexandra, taking the weight off her arms as Lily started to undo the shackles.

December 15th

Ceri yawned as she padded into the kitchen in search of the coffee her brain needed in order to fire on most of its cylinders, never mind all. She was a little surprised to find Alexandra sat at the table reading the morning newspaper, a cup of tea in one hand. She was dressed in a robe which Lily had bought at some point and never actually worn.

‘Good morning, Ceridwyn,’ the Alpha said brightly. ‘You look considerably more tired than I feel.’

Ceri poured a mug of coffee. She was never sure how Twill managed to have a pot ready whenever one was needed, but she was usually far too grateful for the fact she did to worry over it. ‘Lily finds conspicuous displays of my power to be…’

‘An aphrodisiac?’ Alexandra suggested, grinning.

‘Yeah, that,’ Ceri said, her cheeks colouring. ‘She never actually asks, but she’s very good at making her desires known and I find her very difficult to resist. And then she got Michael involved… I left them sleeping.’

‘We left him sleeping,’ Lily said as she padded in the door. Her nudity suggested that the pack had now been included in her list of “people who I don’t have to dress up for.”

‘I think we may have broken him,’ Ceri said, grimacing slightly. ‘It almost broke me.’

‘If you break him, you buy him,’ Alexandra commented blandly. ‘Did you actually get anything useful out of Luperca? I’m afraid I don’t remember a thing that happened after she possessed me.’

‘A lot of negativity?’ Lily suggested, pouring coffee for herself. ‘Lots of “you’re all doomed.”’

‘She seemed to be suggesting that I don’t have the power to kill him,’ Ceri said, ‘or maybe just the skill. I might be able to stop him from completing his ritual this time, but he’ll just come back and try again.’

‘That’s not the worst bit,’ Lily said. ‘She told us what would happen if he succeeded.’

‘I can’t see past Solstice night,’ Alexandra said. ‘Actually, my knowledge ends about four days hence.’

‘A year of winter,’ Ceri said, ‘and every werewolf on the planet falls under the will of Fenrir, presumably with Remus as their general, though she pretty much said Fenrir already controlled him.’

Alexandra put her cup and paper down. ‘I… believe I would rather you stopped him, dear,’ she said, ‘even if only this time.’

‘Well,’ Ceri said, ‘she suggested something which might work. I guess we have to try, but I don’t know how to find him to do it.’

‘You need to find Alec and the North Hills pack,’ Alexandra said. ‘As I said, they will be tracking Remus by now.’

‘How?!’ Ceri exclaimed. ‘I can’t contact them. I know Carter tried Alec’s mobile with no luck and I don’t have a contact number for the pack.’

Alexandra smiled, picking up her cup again and taking a sip. ‘You’ll know how soon,’ she said. ‘Trust me, that won’t be the hard part.’

Ceri scowled. She hated enigmatic statements.

December 16th

Ceri turned over and looked at her clock. It was just after three in the morning and she had not slept a wink since going to bed at one o’clock. In retrospect, going to bed had been a bad idea anyway, she was too restless. She had spent the entire day going over every book she could find in her parents’ library on ghosts. Lily had worried over her all day and had finally gone to work for something to occupy her as much as to get paid.

Pushing the blankets aside, Ceri swung her legs out of the bed and grabbed the shirt she had been wearing earlier. If she was not going to sleep then she might as well do some more studying. Lily would be home around half past four; then maybe her demon pet’s presence would still her mind enough to let her get some rest.

Padding down the stairs, determined not to disturb Twill who would be asleep in her attic, she made her way to the study, turning on the desk lamp to read by. She was about to open a large tome called Haunting Spirits, A Field Guide when something drew her attention. There was something… wrong with the little wolf figurine which sat there on her desk. It looked exactly as it always did, a black figure of a wolf, it’s head raised in a howl, but it felt different. Gingerly, Ceri reached out to pick it up.

Blood! Pain! Loss!

She snatched her hand away, letting out a sharp cry, almost a sob, as the emotions and images washed over her. The jumble of impressions had been too quick and too intense for her to really get a picture of them, but it was bad. Steeling herself, she reached out again and wrapped her hand around the jet wolf.

Still the images came too fast to fully comprehend. She saw werewolves and Remus wolves. Blood splashed her face and she smelled the metallic tang of it, tasted it on her tongue. A werewolf fell. Fire exploded near her and there was an image of a man she did not know. Pain lanced through her guts and she dropped the statuette, clutching at her stomach and half expecting to find it ripped open. There was no blood and the pain was a memory in an instant.

Ceri looked down at the wolf, lying on its side now. Tabitha made them. Tabitha made them especially for people the pack considered to be friends, trusted allies. There was a little of the witch about Tabitha.

She stood and strode purposefully toward the door. She needed to get dressed and go to the Jade Dragon. She needed Lily, and then she needed to find the North Hills pack, because she was as sure as Hell that they were in trouble and now she knew how to find them.

Part Four: Ragnarök

Soho, London, December 16th 2010

The Dragon was almost empty, even for a Thursday night. Ceri’s purposeful stride slowed as she took in the empty tables and the waitresses with little to do standing around near the bar. The patrons who were there were quiet, mostly norms who sat in booths and kept their conversations to themselves. It was like someone had thrown an oppressive blanket over the place. She picked up her pace, nodding to the girls as she passed, but not stopping until she had reached the end of the bar where Lily and Carter were talking quietly over the counter.

‘Ceri?’ Lily said, surprised. ‘Shouldn’t you be in bed?’

‘I was,’ Ceri replied. ‘Couldn’t sleep.’

‘So you came all the way over the river to visit our mausoleum?’ Carter asked sourly.

‘It’s… kind of quiet,’ Ceri said in acknowledgement.

‘It was like this last night,’ Carter said. ‘Lily taking the night off to help with your little exercise did not exactly stretch our capacity. The werewolves are barricaded up in their territories, or out fighting each other. The other supernaturals seem to know something is going on and are staying off the streets.’

‘Something’s going on,’ Ceri said, ‘that’s why I came.’ Both the wizard and the half-demon frowned at her and she continued. ‘That wolf figurine the North Hills pack gave me, it…’ She stumbled, unsure how to explain it. ‘I picked it up and it showed me things. Just images and feelings, but I’m sure they are in trouble. I think they were attacked by Remus’ wolves. I think Tabitha was hurt.’

‘You want to go after them,’ Carter stated.

‘How?’ Lily asked. ‘We don’t know where they are?’

‘The Law of Sympathy,’ Carter said. ‘The figurine is tied to the pack somehow, through Tabitha I suspect.’

Ceri nodded. ‘And that means I can use it to find them.’ She looked at Carter. ‘I need to borrow a car,’ she said, ‘and Lily, for a few days. Either I bring them back after the Solstice or…’

‘Or the last thing I’ll be worried about is my missing Range Rover?’ Carter suggested.

‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied, ‘pretty much.’

‘You don’t like cars,’ Lily pointed out.

‘I don’t have a choice, Lil. If I start going wiggy you’ll just have to… club me unconscious or something.’ Ceri shrugged. The thought of driving for miles in a car was not something she was looking forward to. In fact, just the thought of it was threatening to drive her into a dark corner to hide. But she really did have no choice. If she wanted to save Alec and the pack she had to do it.

‘All right,’ Carter said, ‘you two head home now and get ready. I don’t think we’ll miss Lily for the rest of the evening, or until you get back if this keeps up. I’ll drive over with the car as soon as I can get away.’ He grinned weakly. ‘Besides, I’m investing in my business. If you can’t sort this out, I won’t have one.’

A416, five miles east of Aylesbury

‘Oh God, what was I thinking of,’ Ceri moaned. Her right hand gripped the arm rest, her knuckles white. Her face was almost as pallid and clammy with sweat. Twill’s parting gift as they had left the house was a roll of plastic food storage bags and Ceri’s only happy thought so far was that, having been sick in three of them, she no longer had anything left to throw up.

‘You were thinking that we had to find the North Hills pack because they were in a lot of trouble,’ Lily supplied. They had been driving for about an hour and the sun was fully up. So far they had just been heading into North Hills territory without a specific aim, but the navigation system said that Aylesbury was dead ahead. As near as anything, that was the middle of their patch and some real directions would be needed.

‘If we come across a layby, pull over,’ Ceri said. ‘I could use the air.’

Lily did not comment on the fact that the air conditioning was blasting out cold air at gale force in Ceri’s face. Instead she glanced at the navigation display. ‘We can turn off at the next junction,’ she said. ‘About half a mile. We should be able to pull over there.’

Carter’s car was absolutely top of the range, black with jet coloured leather interior and walnut panels, a virtual instrument display, and a multi-function entertainment and navigation system. Ceri would have given anything to be anywhere else. She had been okay for about ten minutes, right up until the fact that she was going to be in the thing for hours had really sunk in. She had been struggling to hold herself together ever since.

Lily signalled left and took the off-ramp, the car’s big, supercharged diesel engine not even changing pitch on the gradient. She went left again on the roundabout and drifted off down what the nav-system said was Tring Hill. As soon as she found a suitable spot, she pulled the car to the side of the road. Ceri was out of the door immediately and retching into the bushes. Lily checked nothing was coming down the road and then stepped out, walking around to pat Ceri gently on the back.

‘We need to pick a direction,’ the half-demon said. ‘Whatever magic it is you plan to work, now’s the time to do it.’

Ceri spat into the bushes at the side of the road and nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘let’s do this.’

Opening the back door she reached into the bag lying on the seat and pulled out a small, cloth-wrapped bundle. She unwrapped the wolf figurine from it, holding it in the cloth. Taking a breath, she reached out and touched it. She let out a gasp of pain and Lily grabbed her waist, holding her up.

‘They… they’re somewhere big, open… rolling hills,’ Ceri said. She swallowed hard. ‘I need to cast…’ Light flickered around the wolf as she murmured words which did not make any sense to Lily. It seemed to take a long time, and then the light died away and Ceri opened her eyes. She turned slowly and then stopped, pointing. ‘That way,’ she said.

Lily leaned into the car and looked at the navigation display, tapping the screen a couple of times. ‘That’s… Salisbury way,’ she said. ‘You said somewhere open. They have to be on Salisbury Plain somewhere.’ Ceri let out a groan. ‘We can stay here a little while,’ Lily said, ‘before moving on.’

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘we go on. The less time I have to keep this tracking spell going, the more energy I’ll have to deal with whatever we find when we get there.’ She wrapped the figurine up again and stowed it away. Taking a second to gather herself, she closed the rear door and climbed into the passenger seat. Soon they were driving toward Wendover, heading south west toward where Ceri felt the pack was.

A338, two miles south of Hungerford

‘Look,’ Lily said, ‘up ahead.’

Ceri looked out through the windscreen. At first she did not understand what Lily was getting at. Then she spotted it, a patch of cloud, perhaps a mile and a half across, casting thick shadow onto the ground below. The rest of the sky was clear, but the patch of cloud remained where it was. ‘Remus and his wolves are creatures of darkness,’ she said. ‘Someone’s expending serious amounts of power to keep the sun off them.’

‘So… we head for that?’ Lily asked.

‘No… No, the pack isn’t there. Frankly, if they were we’d be wasting our time.’ She looked at the navigation display, guessing the position of the cloud against the map and the marker which tracked their position through a locator enchantment. ‘Keep heading that way for now. The packs won’t be too far away from one another.’ She slid her finger over the touch screen, tapping it to zoom in. ‘Stonehenge,’ she said.

‘Sorry?’

‘The cloud, I think it’s hanging over Stonehenge, or maybe a bit west of it.’ Ceri frowned. ‘Of course, “the Corruptor will come, seeking a place of ancient stones.” The henge is pretty hot. Basic field strength is around eight thaums. Not dangerous, but moderately high. There aren’t too many places in Britain with that much power. He’s going to do his ritual at Stonehenge.’

‘Huh, that’ll piss the Neos off,’ Lily said, though the laugh was a little hollow.

‘The neo-pagan festival is in the summer, Lil,’ Ceri replied.

‘Still, “our great ceremonial centre which we did not build, but claim our ancestors did, even though it’s bollocks, is being used to bring about the end of the world! Oh lorks!”’

‘Lorks?’

Lily managed a giggle. ‘I heard it on some TV show. Sounds Neoy.’

‘Did one of them kick you when you were a kid or something?’

‘I’m just not real big into pseudo-religious arseholes,’ Lily said. ‘Or tree-hugging hippies either. Magic-using tree-hugging hippies I really hate.’

‘I don’t,’ Ceri replied.

‘No? Why?’

‘You hate them because your father wouldn’t have been summoned to impregnate your mother if she hadn’t been one, right?’ Lily nodded in response. ‘Yeah, well I happen to like you the way you are.’ She checked the time; it was almost eleven already and they had maybe another hour of driving before they would be close. She gritted her teeth and forced down the urge to scream.

‘Put some music on or something,’ Lily suggested.

‘Doesn’t help.’

‘What does?’

‘Being drunk enough to not know I’m in the car. Uh, being asleep, but there’s no way I’ll get to sleep.’ Ceri grinned weakly. ‘Not much really.’

‘Okay,’ Lily said. ‘Ceri, look at me would you?’

Ceri turned her head to look before she had thought about it. Lily’s defensive aura did not, technically, operate through a victim’s optical system, but pretty much all of a succubus’ powers in some way required them to be seen, or through touch. She realised what Lily was doing as she turned and saw the bright red sparks in her pupils, but she was far too wound up and on edge to resist. ‘Lily, no, I…’ She trailed off into a long moan. Some part of her brain knew that the Ajna node on her Tantric Median was being stimulated invoking a catastrophic chain reaction through the whole median. The rest of her brain had just melted in ecstasy.

Salisbury Plain

Ceri opened her eyes, struggling to remember where she was. She was lying back and looking at… the ceiling of Carter’s Range Rover. They were stopped somewhere and it was… The sky was getting darker. It was almost four. She pulled herself upright and looked around. Lily was asleep in the still upright driver’s seat. Ceri grabbed her shoulder and shook it a little more urgently than she had intended.

Lily’s hand moved with demonic speed, grabbing Ceri’s wrist. Lily turned, her lips drawing back from her fangs. She stopped, realising it was Ceri who had woken her. ‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘I must’ve dropped off.’

‘Where are we? It’s getting late.’

‘Durrington,’ Lily said. ‘We’re a couple of miles from the henge. I had to stop because I didn’t know where to go and I figured I’d let you sleep a bit longer. You kind of conked out after I zapped you. You’ve been up for over twenty-four hours… I guess I dropped off. Sorry.’

‘No… it’s okay.’ Ceri patted her friend’s arm. ‘Neither of us have had much sleep. I know you need less than me, but you can’t keep going forever.’ She opened her door to get out. ‘I’ll need to cast the spell again,’ she said.

The pain was less this time, but it was still there. Somehow it felt more like emotional pain than physical. Climbing back into the car, she looked at the digital map display as she strapped herself back in and raised the seat back. ‘Head along the Packway,’ she said. ‘Looks like they’re south of it, but I’d rather not get any closer to that cloudbank than we have to.’

Lily nodded and started the engine. She pulled away, taking the next right turn down the road toward Larkhill. ‘Let me know when to stop,’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied. Now that the end was in sight her nerves were calmer. She could cope with this. ‘I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with the skirt?’

Lily was decked out in what looked like a gypsy costume. The skirt was wide and layered, and shorter at the front than the sides and back. It looked great on her, but it was not something Ceri was used to seeing on the half-succubus. ‘Whatever you may see in films,’ Lily said, ‘skin-tight leather sucks to fight in. I can move properly in this.’

‘I’d have thought the leather offered more protection?’

‘Not really, and I rely on the bracers and dodging. Can’t dodge if you can’t move.’ She glanced at Ceri and grinned. ‘The guy I learned from used to wear a huge great Japanese robe thing to practice in. Never did him any harm.’

‘I’ll stick to blasting things,’ Ceri said.

‘It works,’ Lily replied, ‘though since you have that staff maybe we should see about you learning to use it.’

‘Me? Martial arts lessons?’ Ceri laughed.

‘Why not?’ Lily said. ‘You’re fit. You’re going to try pole dancing. Martial arts is a great way to keep fit, y’know? And the guy I learned from still likes me, which I can’t say for all my exes. He can probably put us in touch with someone who knows staff fighting.’

‘Uh… right.’ Ceri did not sound too convinced. ‘Pull over along here. I think we’ll have to walk the rest of the way.’ She looked at the map again. ‘No, that track there, drive down to the end of that road.’

The land around them was agricultural and they drove down what was probably a farm track until they reached a small coppice of trees at the end and Lily squeezed the big car in against the hedge. Getting out, they collected their bags and Ceri’s staff from the back of the car, and started south. Ahead of them was a larger area of trees perhaps a hundred and fifty yards away.

‘They’re up ahead,’ Ceri said, ‘in the trees.’ It was getting darker and, further south, she could see the cloudbank starting to break up. Remus’ pack no longer needed the cover, it seemed, which Ceri considered a bad thing. ‘Looks like we’re going to get there not a moment too soon as well,’ she said.

There was track way until they hit the next fence and then just a barren field. Ceri was glad for the walking boots she had put on as they walked over ground which was at least dry. There was still enough light to see where they were walking, but ahead of them the trees were a mass of shadow. Anything could be hiding in there. Their only hope was that Alec and Dane were bright enough to stay out of sight of Remus and his wolves. And that they would realise who was approaching before they attacked.

They were almost at the tree line when Lily stopped. ‘Something moved,’ she said.

A dark shape lifted from the shadows in front of them and then became a human. ‘Good eyes,’ Alec said. ‘What are you doing here?’ Two more wolves, grey-furred instead of black, moved out of the bushes at the base of the trees. One of these was what Lily had seen.

‘We’re here to help,’ Ceri said. ‘I got called.’

‘No one called you,’ Alec snapped, ‘and we don’t need help. Get out of here before you get yourselves killed.’

Ceri had had a bad day. She had not had enough sleep, she had driven miles in a car for the first time in over five years, she had felt the attack on the North Hills pack as though she was there, and now she was faced with Alec and his one man crusade against Remus. ‘How many did you lose in the attack, Alec?’ she said. ‘I know Tabitha was hurt. Stomach wound, right?’

Alec glanced at the sky. ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘they come out at night.’

There was no fire in the little camp and only one tent, a small one off to one side of the clearing they had set up in. The disconsolate-looking werewolves were huddled together, for comfort as much as warmth. And there were not enough of them. Ceri could see only two of the females and five males. One of the males stood as Ceri and Lily entered the clearing behind Alec. There was an instant of man and wolf-man, and they then were looking at Dane. He looked terrible; his face was pale, almost sick.

‘Dane,’ Ceri said. ‘I’m glad to see you’re still standing.’

The werewolf looked at Alec, who turned away, shifting back to wolf-form and moving out into the trees. ‘Not everyone was so lucky,’ Dane said.

‘Where’s Tabby?’ Lily said.

‘The tent,’ Dane replied. ‘Mary’s looking after her. She…’

‘Had her guts ripped open,’ Ceri said, heading for the tent.

Lily gasped as she saw the woman lying on a bedroll in the little nylon tent. Both Mary and Tabitha were in human form, Tabitha looking very, very pale, and Mary looking very worried. Ceri hunched down and crawled in to kneel on the other side of Tabitha from the slight, mousy form of Mary. Small for a werewolf, Mary did have medical skills which were very useful to a pack of nomads, but apparently not enough to help Tabitha.

‘I’ve bandaged her,’ Mary said quietly, ‘stitched up the worst of her wounds, but she…’

‘When Kort went down she… gave up,’ Dane said from the tent’s door opening. That explained the werewolf Ceri had seen falling.

‘Did he die, or was he taken?’ Ceri asked.

‘We thought he was dead,’ Dane said. ‘I took Donny and Ben back to see if we could retrieve the bodies, but we only found Jake and Leon. He might have been alive and they took him. That’s not exactly better.’

‘It might be,’ Ceri replied. She leaned in close to Tabitha’s head and spoke quietly. ‘I’m here, Tabby. It’s Ceri. I heard your call.’

‘C-Ceri?’ Tabitha breathed. ‘You… you have to… save them. Don’t let… m-more die.’

‘I know, hun,’ Ceri said, ‘but right now I’m more concerned about saving you.’

‘Kort… Kort’s gone.’

‘He’s probably not dead, Tabby,’ Ceri replied.

‘Worse.’ Tabitha let out a groan.

‘Please don’t…’ Mary began, but Ceri waved her into silence.

‘They’re possessed, Tabby. I’ve seen them turn back when they die. If we can kill Remus, there’s a chance that we can turn him back.’ She waited, hoping for a response. ‘We can get him back, Tabby.’ She waited again, but all Tabitha did was turn her head away.

Ceri sat up, her face twisted in anger. ‘Well, screw you. There’s no damn way Kort would want me to let you die.’ She placed her hand over the bandages on Tabitha’s stomach and light flared around her fingers. ‘By my power and in the name of the boyfriend you’ve given up on you’ll fucking well live you stubborn bitch!’ Tabitha let out a sharp cry and the light died around Ceri’s fingers. The sorceress looked up at Mary. ‘Get the bandages off and take the stitches out,’ she said. Then she scrabbled out of the tent taking a couple of strides before stopping and leaning on her staff.

Lily’s hands were around her shoulders. ‘You okay, Ceri?’

‘Fine, fine,’ Ceri said. In truth she felt drained; not by the magic, but by the stupidity of what she was seeing around her. She looked around at Dane. ‘What happened? Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to attack Remus?’

Dane picked up a blanket and draped it around his shoulders. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I vetoed that option after we found their camp. He’s got about fifty wolves down there, we would have been slaughtered.’ Ceri had a suspicion the she knew who had suggested the attack and Dane confirmed it a second later. ‘Even Alec had to admit it would have been suicide, so we backed off and kept watch. We were hoping we could figure out what he was up to, maybe catch him with a smaller guard group on a scouting mission or something.’

He settled down in the grass, tucking his blanket under his backside. Ceri and Lily settled down facing him. ‘Last night,’ the Alpha went on, ‘they hit our camp. I’m not sure how they found us. We’ve seen some humans with them, which I don’t get because he hates humans. But some of them seem to be mages, wizards I think. Maybe they traced us somehow, or one of us was spotted and tracked back. It doesn’t really matter. Jake and Leon were on guard duty and they were taken down first. One of them got off a howl and we were warned, but they were on us before we could react properly. Kort went down. Tabitha tried to get to him and one of them cut her open.’ He closed his eyes. ‘She just shifted back to human and fell to her knees. Wayne got his arm cut open stopping the thing from finishing her. Alec gutted it and picked Tabby up, and we ran. I mean ran!’ He hung his head and swallowed hard.

‘They trashed the camp,’ Alec said from behind Ceri. She looked around to see him wrapping a blanket around his shoulders. He started around the two women to sit down a little way away from Dane. ‘What you see here is what we managed to salvage.’

‘And what’ve you managed to find out about them?’ Ceri asked.

‘Enough to know it’s dangerous and you two are getting out of here as soon as it’s light,’ Alec replied. ‘We can…’

Ceri snapped. ‘You can what, Alec? Get the whole of the North Hills pack killed in your stupid vendetta? Die uselessly trying to kill something far more powerful then you, who you can’t kill anyway? Tell me, Alec. What in the name of all that’s widdershins do you think you can do?’

Alec’s lips drew back in a snarl. ‘I’ve been fighting these things since…’

‘Before the Shattering,’ Ceri interrupted. ‘Yes, yes you have, and you seem to have been making the same mistakes all that time. They killed or converted your entire pack, probably the most powerful pre-Shattering pack in the world and they died to a wolf. So what do you do? You get another pack slaughtered trying to avenge their deaths. Why? Because if a pack composed of mainly black-furs dies at their hands, then obviously a smaller pack of grey-furs is going to be able to defeat them. Did you ever stop to think that maybe learning something about them might be a good idea? I know Dane did. Dane thought I’d be useful.’ She glared at the pack’s Alpha. ‘But you were dumb enough to let this bitter old bastard tell you it was a matter for wolves, weren’t you?’

Alec’s eyes flashed angrily and Ceri saw the bloom of his change starting. ‘Shut… up,’ he growled.

Ceri reached her hand out into the still growing bloom of energy. It was his anger making him shift and the gathering of power was slower than if he was willing the change. ‘That’s quite enough of that,’ Ceri said. She could feel the thaumic energy flowing and it took only moment’s concentration before it was being sucked away to gather in her palm instead.

Alec let out a gasp and sagged forward. ‘Damn you, girl,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘What have you found out, Ceri?’ Dane said. ‘I know you wouldn’t have come empty-handed.’

Ceri grimaced. ‘Yeah… first I need to be.’ She concentrated and the ball of glowing, bluish energy in her hand turned into a ball of bright light. She flicked it away toward the nearby ground where it drilled a smoking hole into the soil. She shook her hand; her fingers tingled. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I spoke to Alexandra.’ She ignored the hot look Alec gave her and went on. ‘She’s… fucking enigmatic. God I hate that. Is there some rule somewhere says that people who know things have to be cryptic as the Times crossword?’

Dane managed a slight smile. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Pretty sure it’s Cosmic Law.’

‘She sort of indicated that I should help, somehow,’ Ceri went on, ‘and I’m basically a researcher, so I researched.’

‘She didn’t go to Alexandra looking for information about Remus,’ Lily said. ‘She wanted to know more about werewolves, from the inside if you like. She’s a sort of honorary member of the Battersea pack.’

‘Gets about a bit, your Mistress,’ Dane commented.

‘I’d have come to you guys,’ Ceri said, ‘but as Lily can attest, I don’t get on well with moving vehicles. That’s beside the point. I found various records from the SS group who found Remus during the Second Wold War, and the Thule Society guy who was directing them. There was a prophecy regarding what Remus was up to, unfortunately that was damaged and enigmatic, of course. So, finally, Alexandra helped me summon Luperca.’

Alec looked up, blinking. ‘You summoned the Goddess?’

Ceri nodded. ‘She filled in a few blanks, but the most important thing she told me was what Remus is actually planning to do.’ Alec looked at her, frowning. ‘You don’t know, do you?’

‘He seems to be building an army,’ Dane said.

‘That’s what he’s always done,’ Alec said. ‘Gather up werewolves, convert them to his kind, kill others and humans.’

‘No,’ Ceri said, exasperated, ‘that’s not what he’s doing at all.’

‘The wolves he converts aren’t even the same as he is,’ Lily supplied.

‘He tortures them,’ Ceri said. ‘Twists them until they willingly accept a fragment of the spirit of a demon, an ancient wolf-creature.’

‘Fenrir?’ Alec said. ‘I thought that was just some… stupid religious basis for his war. Fenrir was slain millennia ago.’

‘He’s a demon,’ Ceri said. ‘Probably some sort of demon lord. They aren’t that easy to actually kill.’ Ceri snapped her fingers. ‘Of course! He puts fragments of the demon into werewolves and that changes them into his minions, but it also brings more and more of Fenrir into this world. So all he has to do at this ritual of his is to join them all together.’

‘So that’s why he’s camped near Stonehenge,’ Dane said.

‘And he’s waiting for Tuesday night,’ Ceri said, nodding.

‘Full moon and the Solstice,’ Alec said. He squeezed the bridge of his nose. ‘So he’s going to loose an ancient demon-wolf on the world? Great.’

‘Oh, that isn’t the best bit,’ Lily said.

‘If he succeeds,’ Ceri continued, ‘then he’ll have that army you mentioned. Every werewolf in the world will be under Fenrir’s sway. All of you become his slaves and he uses you to destroy the world.’

‘You left out the “year of winter” bit,’ Lily added helpfully.

‘Oh, right,’ Ceri said, nodding at her friend. ‘Yeah, to top it off we get a year of unending winter. Even assuming we defeat the werewolves, which would likely mean your extinction, millions will die from food shortages, cold, and werewolves gone mad.’ She frowned. ‘What I don’t get is these humans with him. One of them was in the attack, right? Threw a fireball into the camp?’

Dane nodded. ‘I’ve no idea, but yes, mages of some sort.’ He looked at Alec.

Alec grimaced. ‘Look, I know I’ve been a bit… reluctant about sharing information, but I don’t know who they are either. During the war he worked with the Nazis. Or for them.’

‘A bit of both,’ Ceri said. ‘I read the reports they filed, the Nazis that is.’

‘How?!’ Alec said, looking bemused and annoyed.

‘I asked for help,’ Ceri said. ‘Unlike you, if I can’t do something myself I ask the people I know what they know. Carter got me access to some records at the British Library. A man named Schuler was most responsible for finding Remus and his pack, but it took an SS archaeology unit to actually contact them. They were in the mountains in northern Italy. When the Nazis figured out what they were, the high command arranged for them to go to Bavaria where a certain pack of werewolves were causing trouble.’

‘So they were mercenaries?’ Alec said.

‘Except that Schuler worked out that Remus was planning something,’ Ceri said. ‘He called it Ragnarök. Remus killed Schuler and Lehrner, the SS commander, blew up the entire Remus pack against orders. He was dishonourably, and posthumously, discharged for saving the world.’

‘He blew them up?’ Alec said. ‘But Remus survived?’

‘I told you, Alec, you can’t kill him. He’s a ghost. You can discorporate him, but he’ll come back unless…’ Ceri paused. ‘It might be possible, okay. Maybe. I’m not sure I’m strong enough. We have to make stopping the ritual the prime objective.’

‘I want him dead,’ Alec said.

‘So do I,’ Ceri replied, ‘but I’m putting the safety of everyone else ahead of my personal feelings.’

‘You haven’t lost your entire pack to him,’ Alec snapped.

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘he just tried to kill me and Lily, and if I stop him and he’s not dead, I’ll have a great big bull’s eye painted on my forehead for the rest of my, probably short, life. I think he’s got a prophecy saying I’m the only one who can stop him if I do something I haven’t been able to figure out yet.’

‘He tried to kill you?’ Dane said.

‘I doubt you’ve been listening to the news,’ Lily said. ‘He started a war between the packs in London. Joshua’s dead. We helped the Royals fight off an attempt to finish Catherine. Ceri put down two of his wolves. The night it started he sent a hit squad after us, but we made it inside the wards on the house and Ceri scared them off.’

‘You killed two Remus’ wolves?’ Alec said. ‘I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know it can be done, but…’

‘I used a lot of excessive force,’ Ceri said, smirking. ‘I agree, they’re hard to take down and they recover fast, but they were dead. They turn back into the wolves they were when they die. The Royals took out another one during the same attack.’

Alec frowned and Dane looked like he had been slapped with a wet fish. ‘The Royals?’ Dane said. ‘The Royal Pack took out a Remus demon werewolf? Look, whatever Alec may think, I can believe you killed a couple, but Joshua’s pack? You’re stretching credulity.’

‘They’re Catherine’s pack now,’ Lily said, ‘and she’s a lot harder than Joshua was.’

‘Assuming we all live through this,’ Ceri said, ‘remind me to show you the results from my research. I actually found a way to judge the relative strength of a werewolf within the pack. Catherine’s the one who’s actually been holding that pack together. She’s stronger than she looks and I got Alexandra to give her a little pep talk.’

Alec stabbed a finger in Ceri’s direction. ‘You, missy, are trouble. You’re changing the politics of the werewolves over the whole of central London.’

Lily replied before Ceri could. ‘Uh-huh, the most powerful packs on both sides of the river will be run by women,’ she said. ‘Massive improvement.’

Alec grunted and Dane chuckled softly. ‘Never knew Catherine had it in her,’ Alec said. Ceri was a little surprised that his tone did not really suggest he thought it a bad thing. Then again, Alec knew Alexandra had been running the Battersea pack for years. ‘So, if you know all about what’s going on, kid, what’s next?’

Ceri looked at him. ‘I don’t know all about what’s going on, Alec,’ she said. ‘So how about we wait until it gets light and you take me over to where I can take a look at Remus’ camp? I don’t know what I’ll be able to see there, but the alternative is sitting around waiting for next Tuesday.’

‘You mind taking a shift at watch?’ Dane asked. ‘My wolves are getting a bit strung out, especially after last night.’

‘I will,’ Lily said. ‘She needs rest, she was up all of last night worrying about you lot.’

‘I’ll take a shift,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s a long night tonight, there’ll be plenty of time to sleep.’

~~~

It was pitch black aside from a little starlight and Ceri was beginning to wish her jacket was thicker. Sitting at the far southern edge of the trees, she was fairly certain she would spot anything breaking the cover of the copse fifty yards away and she had her Sight active, which might help, but she was still nervous. She almost jumped when a sleek, grey shape dropped to the ground beside her.

She looked at the she-wolf and frowned slightly. ‘You should be resting, Tabby.’ She returned to scanning the trees ahead, but saw the bloom of power expand out as Tabitha shifted.

‘I’m taking a short shift,’ she said. ‘Dane wouldn’t let me take a full one.’

‘Good on Dane.’

‘And I wanted to talk to you,’ Tabitha added.

‘Oh? What about?’ Ceri had a sinking feeling in her stomach.

‘You healed me,’ Tabitha said, and Ceri’s stomach sank further. ‘I wanted to die, Ceri. Kort’s gone. I don’t believe we can get him back. I just don’t.’

‘I’m not promising anything,’ Ceri replied.

‘Then why didn’t you let me die?’

‘Well that’s a totally widderwise question,’ Ceri replied. ‘What is it with you werewolves? Alec’s spent most of his life on a quest to kill a creature he can’t kill on his own, refusing to seek help because it’s “a matter for werewolves.” Dane knows he’s wrong, but won’t go against him. Catherine wouldn’t go against Joshua because “females don’t lead packs.” And you, you know Kort wouldn’t want you pining away over him. You were all worried about Dane doing the same over Aleena for God’s sake.’

‘You don’t understand…’ Tabitha began.

‘Too right I don’t!’ Ceri snapped. ‘I know your kind can think outside the box when they try.’

‘Tradition and sticking together is what kept us alive,’ Tabitha said. ‘You’re not a werewolf, you don’t know what it’s like.’

‘I took your advice. I spent a couple of nights with the Battersea pack,’ Ceri said. ‘I figured out how to shape shift and I went there as a lone female wanting to join. Well, it didn’t quite work as planned. Alexandra saw right through me, but she let me go on with the plan. One of the males took me as a… temporary mate, showed me the ropes, so to speak. He took me out by the river on the second night and we stood there and watched the people go past.’ She paused, swallowing. ‘I’ve never felt ashamed to be human before.’

‘Oh,’ Tabitha said.

‘Yeah. Thing is, the Shattering happened. Werewolves have the same rights as anyone else, and the same responsibilities.’ Ceri glanced at her. ‘If you keep yourselves to yourselves, stick to traditions that rely on pack hierarchy and mistrusting humans, nothing is ever going to change, but I think most of you are too stubborn to reach past your own prejudices.’

There was silence for a time as the two women watched the tree line. Then Tabitha spoke. ‘I don’t think that explains why you healed me.’

‘Because you’re my friend? Because we might get Kort back and he’ll need you if we do? Because the pack needs you now? Take your pick.’

There was silence again. ‘I’m not sure I can do it,’ Tabitha almost whispered.

‘You can,’ Ceri replied, ‘because you have to. I thought the same when my parents died, but I had to keep going. I owed it to them. I wish you had more time to adjust, but you don’t, and I’m sorry.’

Tentatively, Tabitha leaned over, resting against Ceri’s shoulder. Ceri reached around, putting her arm around Tabitha’s shoulder and pulling the naked wolf-girl closer. After a few seconds, Ceri could feel her shaking. Tabitha was crying, silently so as not to give away their position. Ceri held her tightly and let her grieve.

December 18th

The sky was starting to lighten when Lily woke Ceri. The sorceress felt stiff and not particularly well rested; her sleep had been fitful at best, broken by bad dreams she could not quite remember. The hard ground had not helped. To make matters worse, there was no coffee.

‘We’re heading out as soon as it gets light enough,’ Lily said. ‘Dane said I should wake you. They’ve got some rations of some sort we can eat.’

‘Joy,’ Ceri grumbled, but she crawled out from under her blanket and found her jacket.

Alec was nowhere to be seen, but Dane was there to give her some sort of compressed meal biscuit. ‘Thanks,’ he said quietly.

‘For what?’ She took a bite of the bar and more or less immediately regretted it.

‘Tabby’s looking… better,’ he replied.

Ceri looked around, trying to spot the she-wolf, but one grey-furred creature wrapped in blankets looked a lot like any other. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘What’s the plan?’

‘You, me, Lily, and Alec will head across country to their camp when you’ve finished that. It’ll be light enough to see clearly by the time we get there. As long as we stay hidden you can take as long as you want watching them.’

Ceri nodded, and then grimaced and waved the bar at him. ‘Maybe we should go and I’ll eat as we walk. If we have to wait for me to finish this it’ll be midday.’

‘Highly nutritious,’ Dane said, trying not to smirk, ‘and they really fill up the stomach. Keep you going for hours.’

‘I’m sure,’ Ceri said, ‘it’s just a shame they taste like shit.’

~~~

The patch of trees and scrub ground was about two hundred yards north west of a larger, treed area which had the mysterious cloud bank centred over it. Ceri sat uncomfortably, half-in a bush which seemed to have more thorns than it had a right to, watching the camp hidden there. Dane was still in wolf-form, the enhanced senses better for keeping watch, but Alec had changed back and was thankful to the girls for bringing a blanket with them.

‘Is it just me,’ Ceri said, ‘or is it getting colder?’

‘I wouldn’t know,’ Lily commented absently, her eyes fixed on the figures of men moving in among the trees opposite. Demons, all of them as far as Ceri knew, generated heat by reacting thaumitons together; Lily had her own heating system even though she was not of the classic “hellfire” demon type.

‘It’s colder,’ Alec said. ‘You’d be able to tell if I wasn’t wearing this blanket. I think my nuts are actually shrinking.’

Ceri giggled softly. Everyone was keeping their voice low even though it was unlikely the humans would hear them. It was nice to hear him making jokes though. ‘The wolves must be out of sight, keeping out of the sun,’ she said.

‘They would go to ground at dawn in the Black Forest,’ Alec said. ‘Back then they had Nazi’s to guard them.’

‘Well,’ Lily said, ‘looks like they’ve got mercenaries of some sort doing it this time.’

‘Never figured out where Remus goes,’ Alec said. ‘None of my scouts could ever spot him during the day. Not even the last time when we hit their camp.’ He glanced at Dane who looked back and nodded.

‘He turns ghost and hides in the ground during the day,’ Ceri said.

‘Well damn,’ Alec grunted.

‘He doesn’t like the daylight any more than his wolves do,’ Ceri told him. ‘Maybe even less.’ She looked up at the cloudbank overhead. ‘Y’know it takes a lot of power to keep a cloudbank stable like that for, what, eight hours.’

‘Could they be channelling power from the stone circle somehow?’ Lily asked.

Ceri frowned and concentrated, focussing her energies on examining the local thaumic levels. After a minute she said, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’

‘Because I’m just a genius,’ Lily said deadpan.

‘Brains and beauty in one sexy package,’ Ceri agreed.

‘Could we flirt when the fate of the world isn’t hanging in the balance?’ Alec said, though he did grin. ‘What can you see?’

‘Stonehenge is a massive thaumic decay catalyser,’ Ceri said. ‘It’s not quite as good as the device Cheryl built, but it’s pretty beefy. Magic floods out of it over the whole plain. I saw survey results saying that it raises the level to five or six miles out. They’ve put a tap into it. Artificial ley line, if you like. They’re using the henge as sunblock.’

‘I doubt Remus came up with that,’ Alec said. ‘He’s not stupid, but he’s no thaumatologist either.’

‘We know he doesn’t like humans,’ Ceri said, ‘but it wouldn’t be the first time he’s used them to get what he wants. I’m pretty sure he did what the Nazis wanted because he wanted your wolves, Alec.’

‘Y’know,’ Alec said thoughtfully, ‘I have this vague feeling the Solstice coincided with a full moon that year too.’

‘He could have been trying to pull this ritual off for centuries,’ Ceri said, ‘though if the alignment of full moon and Solstice is important to it he’s going to have to wait a while for the next one, and he’s not going to get another like this year’s for a lot longer.’

‘So,’ Lily said, ‘much as I enjoy sitting in a thicket with a twig up my butt, what’s the plan?’

‘Sit with sticks up our butts,’ Ceri replied, ‘watch, gather information. Sorry, Lil, this is going to be boring.’

Lily shrugged. ‘Boring and alive is better than exciting and dead,’ she said.

~~~

The camp had moved by the time they got back. Ceri looked around the empty ground, bemused, but Alec and Dane just waited, apparently knowing it would happen.

‘You were expecting this?’ Ceri said to the wolf who was Alec and he nodded. Dane twitched his head at her, a soft rumbling sound coming from his throat. ‘Right,’ she said, ‘normal security measure. You might have told me.’

‘So they moved while we were away so that if we were caught or followed we couldn’t give the camp away?’ Lily asked.

‘Uh-huh,’ Ceri said. She was watching Dane. ‘They’ll check no one’s following and then come get us.’ Alec was staring at her, his jaw hanging a little open. She smirked at him. ‘What? I said I’d run with the Battersea pack. I picked up a bit of wolf.’

‘I thought you picked up a wolf,’ Lily said.

‘That too.’ She grinned. ‘It was defensive. I had to at least work out how to say “I’m sorry, I’m new at furry” to people.’ Alec rolled his eyes expressively. Ceri giggled. ‘The first night was crazy. I was getting porked by every unmated male in the pack and I couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying. There seemed to be a lot of laughing at my expense.’

Dane made a few noises and Ceri’s eyes widened. ‘What did he say?’ Lily asked.

‘They normally take a couple of weeks over that particular custom,’ Ceri said. ‘I guess I really did get the crash course.’

‘Well, Michael was going to claim you anyway,’ Lily replied. ‘They probably wanted to give you the experience.’

‘I kind of thought that at the time, but I wasn’t sure until the next night.’

‘That,’ Lily said emphatically, ‘is because you’re not used to being wanted. I’ve seen the way that young man looks at you. He’s besotted.’

Alec grumbled something and Ceri’s cheeks coloured. ‘He’s, um, eighteen,’ she said. Both wolves made noises that sounded a lot like laughter. ‘I am not a cradle snatcher!’ Ceri replied, trying hard to keep her voice down.

Thankfully, three werewolves emerged from the trees at that moment to save her any more embarrassment. Tabitha was leading them and she immediately rushed forward to nuzzle at Dane. The she-wolf was, perhaps, better adjusted to her situation than she had been, but Ceri could tell she was still a little emotional.

Dane nodded off toward the north west and they started to move. Tabitha fell into step beside Ceri and Lily, and some grumbling noises came from the back of her throat. Ceri sagged.

‘What did she say?’ Lily asked, sounding a little irritated that she could not understand the wolves.

‘She wants to know why I’m not a cradle snatcher,’ Ceri whined.

Lily giggled.

December 18th

The sun seemed thin, weak, and the morning air was colder than the day before. The night had been cold too and Ceri had ended up using Lily as a hot water bottle, huddling against the half-succubus under both their blankets. Lily had not seemed to mind and they had both slept better for the closeness.

Carter’s big, black car was where they had left it and Lily started it up as soon as they were inside so that she could get the air conditioning working. Warm air quickly filled the cabin and Ceri let out a sigh of relief. She pulled up the menu on the entertainment system and found the radio controls, switching it to Radio Four. Desert Island Disks was on and Ceri grimaced. Her mother had listened to it a lot, Ceri had always been irritated that they never played the tracks all the way through. Still, the news would be on in a few minutes and that was why they were there.

‘You really think this cold is unnatural?’ Lily asked as the presenter asked her guest what book they would be taking to their fictional desert island.

‘Ragnarök comes with a host of delightful add-ons,’ Ceri replied, ‘and I’m disturbed by the coincidence.’ The guest picked Hawking’s A Brief History of Magic.

‘It can’t just be, y’know, winter?’ Ceri looked at her. ‘I mean,’ Lily went on, ‘winter is cold.’ Ceri kept looking at her. Lily sagged a little. ‘News is on,’ she said.

‘…the cold weather continues,’ the presenter was saying, ‘and meteorologists are suggesting that the eruption of Mount Thordarhyrna with considerable production of upper atmosphere dust is affecting weather patterns through northern Europe.’

‘Right,’ Lily said, ‘just great.’

‘Current concerns are that Mount Grimsvötn will also erupt. Geologists have noted that the two volcanoes are linked and that the eruption of one generally results in the eruption of the other.’ There was a pause from the presenter. ‘Authorities in Reykjavík are enacting emergency measures, but so far the ash cloud is drifting east, away from the city.’

‘It’s a volcano,’ Lily said, ‘they erupt, y’know?’

‘At Ragnarök,’ Ceri said, ‘there are supposed to be giants. One of them with a sword of fire.’

‘The giants died out thousands of years ago,’ Lily replied, ‘even assuming they ever existed.’

‘Uh-huh,’ Ceri replied, ‘but we’re dealing with legend here. What if this fire giant is a volcano? It brings about the long winter. There’s evidence that volcanic activity can cause violent shifts in the Earth’s temperature.’

‘I hate mythology,’ Lily commented.

‘Shush,’ Ceri said.

The newsreader had moved on to her next article. ‘…growing concern over violence among the werewolf packs. The Minister for Supernatural Affairs, Malcolm Charles, gave the following statement.’

The report switched to a resonant voice, a recording of Charles. ‘The Greycoats continue to monitor the situation, but at this time we have no news concerning the reasons behind the sudden upsurge in werewolf on werewolf violence. We have received assurances from the Alpha werewolf of the Royal Pack, based around Regents Park, that they will be taking no part in this conflict. Further, Catherine assures me that the pack who make their home in Battersea Park are similarly safe and no one should worry about the werewolves in that area. Police are working with these packs to ensure as much safety as possible for humans in these areas.’

‘Catherine’ll be happy,’ Lily commented.

‘Won’t she,’ Ceri replied reaching for the radio’s off button. She paused just before hitting it.

‘There are reports of further werewolf conflicts going on in other areas of the country, from Scotland and throughout England,’ the presenter said. ‘Wales seems to be unaffected at this time…’

Ceri hit the switch and the voice cut off. ‘This is getting worse,’ she said.

‘Yes,’ Lily said, ‘but what can we do about it? There are twenty mercenaries and maybe five wizards down there guarding the pack in the day. You can bet those guns have silver bullets in them and you’re good, but five mages?’

‘I know, Lil. I need to think.’ Ceri frowned, staring at the map on the navigation display. ‘There has to be something.’

~~~

‘What if we can’t stop them?’ Tabitha said. She was once more sitting with Ceri while they swapped watch duties. ‘I don’t think I want to be a demon’s warrior slave.’

‘We… I won’t let that happen, Tabby.’

‘You’ll probably be dead,’ Tabitha replied.

‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted. ‘Looking on the bright side, I won’t be around to witness the end of the world.’

‘Big comfort.’

‘I think so.’ Ceri frowned at the darkness. ‘There’s a way to stop him.’

‘I can’t see one,’ Tabitha replied.

‘No, neither can I,’ Ceri said, ‘but that doesn’t change the fact that there is one. I have to do something. I just wish I knew what it was.’

She looked out to the south and west. A mile away Stonehenge was invisible in the distance, but the invisible light from its magical field was bright in the night sky. Ceri remembered going to the monument with her parents years earlier. They had not been able to get too close to the stones, but she remembered thinking they looked smaller than they did in pictures. Still, building the thing had been a hugely impressive feat, all to focus magical energy. There were easier ways.

‘If anyone can figure it out,’ Tabitha said, pulling her back to reality, ‘you can.’

‘I’m not as confident of my capabilities as you seem to be.’

‘No,’ Tabitha said, ‘I know you aren’t.’ She turned and her hands gripped Ceri’s. ‘My turn. You’re intelligent and powerful. You know when to act and when to stand back and work out what needs doing. You need to know that the pack is behind you, whatever you need to do. I can’t speak for Alec, but I think even he’s come around to believing it’s you who will get us out of this.’

Ceri sighed. ‘No pressure then,’ she murmured.

December 19th

‘You’ve been staring at that pile of rocks for hours,’ Lily said. They were sat in the car park at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and Ceri had had Lily park so that they could look across the road to the site itself, but Lily was nervous. ‘We don’t know they aren’t watching this place,’ she said.

‘They aren’t,’ Ceri said. ‘They don’t need to. Their best bet is to stay out of sight as much as possible. The cops and the Ministry know what’s going on. If they find that camp they’ll go in in force and Remus’ wolves can’t stand up to artillery.’

‘Then why don’t we tell them?’ Lily suggested.

‘Because that’s just going to delay the inevitable,’ Ceri replied. ‘No matter what Luperca says, I think this is the chance we have to finish Remus for good. If I can’t kill him now, he wins.’

‘How do you kill a ghost, Ceri?’ Lily asked.

‘There are ways,’ Ceri replied, ‘but it’s usually specific to the ghost. The young ones can be destroyed by draining their energy away, though it’s not exactly a nice thing to do. It’s nicer to sever them from their focus. That works for the older ones too, lets them move on, but we can’t do that with Remus because his focus is his hatred for humanity.’ She frowned.

‘So… what then?’

‘Lily…’ Ceri stopped, unsure what to say.

‘What?’ Lily asked. ‘You’ve thought of something?’

‘I think I know what I have to do,’ Ceri said, ‘and there’s some things I need you to do.’

Lily frowned. ‘I’m not going to like this, am I?’

‘No,’ Ceri said, ‘you’re not.’

Lily nodded. ‘Well, you said you were going to trust me more.’ She took a deep breath. ‘All right, tell me.’

~~~

‘Lord Remus.’ The man in black combat gear with the SA81 assault sub-machine gun cradled in his arms was looking the most excited that he had in a week, which was not saying much. You could tell from his tone that calling the hulking figure in the tent “Lord” rankled, but it did pay to show some respect, especially at night when there were more of the slightly smaller hulking brutes about than there were men with guns.

Remus turned and looked at him. The wolf-creature’s lips drew back for a fraction of a second. ‘What?’ There was no sound, just a rough, inhuman voice that echoed in your head.

‘Someone’s here to see you,’ the human replied. ‘She says she’s giving herself up.’

From the other side of the tent a human walked into view. Middle-aged and balding, he still had intelligent, piercing, blue eyes. ‘Show her in, Phelps,’ he said. ‘If she’s trouble we can feed her to Lord Remus’ brothers afterward.’

Nodding, Phelps stepped back, motioning to someone outside and Ceri stepped into the tent, her hands clasped at the back of her head. ‘Hi,’ she said, ‘I’m Ceridwyn Brent, I understand you’re trying to kill me.’

‘The Fair One,’ Remus’ voice roared in her head and she flinched. ‘Good, you’re afraid of me.’

‘You’ve got talons that could rip me open in a heartbeat,’ Ceri replied, ‘I’d be kind of stupid if I wasn’t.’

‘This is the woman who can disrupt our great work?’ the middle-aged man asked. ‘She’s… nothing but a girl.’

‘Prophecies,’ Remus said, ‘have a way of ignoring age, sex, race… This is the only woman in the world who can stop us. She has been working with the black-fur and his pack of fools, she has consulted with the soothsayer. She killed two of my brothers to save the worthless Alpha of that worthless pack in Londinium. And here she stands.’

‘Well,’ the man said, ‘what are you waiting for?’

‘Nothing.’ Remus raised a hugely muscled arm, swinging it back. ‘Time to die, Fair One,’ he said.

Ceri’s heart thumped in her chest. She closed her eyes and lifted her chin, exposing her throat, and waited.

And waited.

‘No,’ Remus said. Ceri opened her eyes gingerly to see him lowering his arm.

‘What do you mean, “no”?’ the human snapped.

‘Something is not right,’ Remus replied. ‘Why has she come here? She must know that I wanted her dead. She has clearly seen some version of the prophecy so she knows that she is the only one able to stop me. So why come here?’

‘Does it matter? I’ve read it too, she can stop us. End her!’

A rumbling laugh echoed in Ceri’s mind. ‘Oh, but the document is incomplete, damaged. The part explaining what the Fair One must do to is missing. Tell me, Magnus, do you know what her part in this is?’

‘I… No,’ Magnus said. ‘No, I don’t Lord.’

‘Precisely. Perhaps it is this sacrifice which results in our downfall and I will not give her the pleasure.’ He reached out and gripped Ceri’s chin, lifting it so that he could look into her eyes. ‘No, the safest course of action is to make sure that she can do nothing.’ He stared at Ceri, his eyes glittering with humour. ‘Pass word to the other humans. She is to be kept alive. They will look for her in daylight. She is to be exercised through the camp during the day to be sure she’s seen. Have something brought to bind her.’

Ceri looked back at him. He was looking for some indication of emotion and she was not confident enough of her ability to fake something suitable, so she went for blank, expressionless.

‘Good,’ Remus said, ‘you’re going to be a difficult one. I’m glad. I’ll enjoy breaking you, child. Breaking, but not killing. When my god is made manifest, you’ll offer yourself willingly as his first meal.’ He let go of her chin and turned away from her. ‘What do you think about that, Fair One?’

‘I can’t stop you trying,’ Ceri said, trying to keep her voice steady.

‘No,’ Remus replied quietly. ‘No, you can’t.’

~~~

‘Tell me, Fair One, where are the fools who camp nearby hoping to stop me?’

Ceri was cuffed to one of the thick tent poles, her hands behind her back, and she had been largely ignored for perhaps an hour. She was almost surprised when Remus spoke to her. ‘I haven’t a clue,’ she said.

‘Come now…’ Remus began and then stopped. ‘Ah but this black-fur is a clever one. He knows you came here and has moved his camp. If you escaped you would have no way to return to them.’

‘Most importantly,’ Ceri said, ‘you can’t get their location from me. I have no idea where they would go. You know you’ve met the black-fur before?’

‘I fought him the last time I came to this island,’ Remus replied. ‘He led the pack of nomads to their doom.’

‘And before that,’ Ceri said.

‘One of the pack I took in the Black Forest?’ Remus said. ‘I hadn’t connected it, but it explains his desire for revenge. We never killed their Alpha.’

‘That’s him. He’s been trying to kill you for decades, never realising he can’t.’

The rough sound of laughter filled her head. ‘I was murdered long ago. It’s hard to kill a dead man.’

‘I’m not sure if you’ve looked into a mirror recently,’ Ceri said, ‘but you’re not exactly a man.’

‘No?’ There was an odd element of displeasure in his voice Ceri could not quite place. ‘Wait until dawn and tell me that.’

‘You’ll forgive me,’ Ceri said, ‘but I’ve had enigmatic up to the eyeballs.’ She heard the rumbling laughter again. Remus was a different creature out of sight of Magnus. Ceri had been expecting violent interrogation and had just been ignored. Now he seemed to be enjoying talking to her. ‘Why the humans?’ Ceri asked; since Magnus was not in the tent at the moment, there was a chance she might get a straight answer.

‘They are useful. My brothers need guarding during the day.’

‘Do they know what’s going to happen if you succeed?’ Ceri asked.

‘They believe that they can control my god when he comes,’ Remus replied. ‘Don’t think you’ll convince them they can’t. Magnus is quite a powerful wizard, steeped in demonic taint. I’m quite sure his master is pulling his strings.’

‘And it doesn’t bother you that some demon lord wants you to succeed? That doesn’t ring any alarm bells at all?’

There was the laughter again; it was starting to irritate. ‘Bother me? No, why should it? My objective is to revenge myself upon the human fools who betrayed me, cast me out, murdered me.’ The voice in her head was growing louder, angrier. Ceri could see Remus’ fists clenching on the table he was standing at. ‘Why should I care if the world ends, or demons invade? Tell me that, little girl?’

‘The people who killed you have been dead for two thousand years,’ Ceri said. ‘You’re asking the entire human race to pay for something your brother and his followers did.’

‘Your point being?’ The anger was gone, just like that. Ceri had figured Remus was having his buttons pushed by Fenrir, but it looked a lot like he was basically unhinged even without the demon’s influence.

‘You don’t consider that a little… excessive?’ she tried.

‘No,’ Remus replied, ‘frankly I don’t think it’s excessive enough. Your race has ruled this planet for too long, driving the wolves to near extinction…’

‘So you’re going to end that rule by making sure they’re extinct?’ She got no immediate answer. ‘You know what’ll happen, don’t you? The humans will fight back. They have silver bullets and explosives now. They might not be able to take out Fenrir once he’s here, maybe, but they can sure as hell destroy every last werewolf. Then they’ll likely turn on the other were-creatures, the fae, the mages…’

The table splintered as Remus’ fists came down on it. ‘So be it!’ he roared. The sound on her head was deafening and she cringed back against the post. For a second his red eyes fixed on her, and then he wheeled on his heel and stormed out of the tent.

‘Okay,’ Ceri said to the empty space, ‘I think I hit a button there.’ Just so long as he kept thinking he could not kill her she could keep pushing buttons until the world ended. Which might be Tuesday.

December 20th

‘It’s almost dawn, Lord,’ Magnus said. Ceri’s eyes drifted open at the sound. The man was standing in the entrance of the tent while Remus was seated on the floor at the opposite side from Ceri. He had not woken her entering; apparently he could move relatively quietly despite looking like he had the stealth of a tank. ‘Your brothers are settling down for the day.’

Nodding, the huge wolf-creature climbed to his feet. ‘I’ll do the same before the sunlight forces it,’ he said.

Magnus was looking at Ceri. ‘Do you want me to remove her?’ he asked.

‘Leave her,’ Remus replied, which seemed to surprise and also irritate the wizard.

‘Have I your permission to interrogate her while you’re away, Lord?’

‘If she dies in your interrogation,’ Remus said, irritation apparent in his voice, ‘it will take you so long to die you won’t remember a time you were not in pain. Now leave.’ Magnus looked annoyed, but turned, closing the tent flap behind him. ‘He won’t bother you until dawn,’ the ghost-wolf said. ‘I don’t allow them to see me come or go.’

Ceri frowned. ‘Then…’

‘Why am I letting you stay?’ he said. ‘You’re my enemy. I’ve no need of secrets with you. You know what I am, you understand what I’m going to do. We both know that, eventually, one of us is going to die. We even know when it will happen. You, Ceridwyn Brent, are the one person I can be honest with.’

Ceri blinked, not sure how to respond, but she did not get to. Remus’ body shimmered and Ceri switched her Sight on. Energy was flowing from the hulking form, streaming out into the environment around him, and his body seemed to drain away with it, eroding like dust falling away from a sand worn statue. Soon she was left looking at the ghost beneath, the semi-transparent, misty shape of a tall, muscled man. He had the kind of body they put on statues in ancient Greece, even the curly hair, though he was definitely lacking the little strategically placed fig leaf. Ceri might have actually fancied him if he had not been dead, and a homicidal, megalomaniac psycho. His eyes sought out hers as he sank into the ground, hiding from the light of day.

~~~

The tent remained lit only by a couple of lanterns for over an hour before the flap was pulled aside and Magnus strode in. Ceri could see the light outside; the man had, indeed, waited for it to be full day before entering the tent. Grabbing a camping chair from the side, he placed it in front of Ceri and sat down. She looked up at him for a moment, waiting for him to speak. He probably thought he was being intimidating.

‘Tell me all you know, Miss Brent,’ Magnus finally said.

Ceri laughed, which did not go down well. ‘Do you think you could be a bit more specific? I’m working on my thaumatology doctorate and we only have until Tuesday night.’

‘About the ritual, the North Hills pack, about how you plan to stop us?’ Magnus growled.

‘Oh, that,’ Ceri replied. ‘Well, I can tell you a few things. First, your suit is so out of date. I mean, seriously, have you been living in a box for a decade?’ She saw the slap coming, but there was really not much she could do about it. Her cheek stung. ‘Second,’ she said, ‘I’d say you hit like a girl, but I hit harder than that.’ Her other cheek stung. ‘Okay, you’re really crap at this interrogation thing. I’ll give you a hint, the person you’re interrogating needs to know more than you do when you start.’

‘Where are the North Hills pack?’ Magnus snapped.

‘I don’t know. I could tell you where they were, but they will have moved. They know I’m here and they know you’ll be doing this to me.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘That’s because you’re stupid,’ Ceri replied. ‘And before you hit me again, Remus believed me.’

Magnus sucked his teeth. ‘There are twenty men outside, big, strong men who haven’t seen a woman in well over two weeks. They would be happy to take turns at you I’m sure.’

Ceri looked at him. ‘I live with a half-succubus,’ she said. ‘I’ve been through two werewolf packs. A bunch of mercenaries? Sex is sex. I might even enjoy it.’

Magnus looked at her. Then he got off his chair and headed for the entrance. ‘Someone will be in to take you for a walk later,’ he said.

‘That’ll be nice,’ Ceri called after him. He pulled the tent flap open. ‘If you want to send that Phelps guy in to “interrogate” me, I wouldn’t mind too much,’ she added. The flap closed on his retreating back.

The other thing he had forgotten about interrogation was that the person you were interrogating really had to have something to lose.

~~~

Phelps pushed through the entrance flap and, briefly, Ceri worried that Magnus had actually decided to take her up on her suggestion. ‘On your feet,’ Phelps said. ‘We’re going to take a nice walk.’

Ceri struggled to her feet while Phelps walked behind her and un-cuffed her hands, leaving the handcuffs swinging from one of her wrists. Ceri put her hands behind her back ready to have the cuffs snapped back in place, but Phelps just pushed her toward the tent flap. ‘You’re not going to cuff me?’ she asked.

‘No, no point,’ Phelps replied. ‘I am going to tell you that if you make a run for it I’m authorised to shoot your legs out. You won’t die, but you’ll be in a lot of pain.’ Ceri nodded. She had no plans to escape anyway.

Between the denuded tree limbs and the heavy cloud, even though it was getting close to eleven by Ceri’s estimate, there was not a lot of light outside the tent. Still, rather than the scattered groups of Remus demon-wolves she had seen the night before, the area was now decorated with thick, camouflaged tarpaulins and the mercenaries seemed a lot more relaxed. At a guess there were two or three wolves under each tarp, hiding from the dingy light. A second man joined Phelps and Ceri was directed to move.

‘That’s far enough,’ Phelps said as they reached the edge of the trees. ‘We’ll do a loop around the edge of the copse and then take you back.’

‘As you wish,’ Ceri said, shrugging and turning left.

‘My wishes have nothing to do with it, kid,’ the mercenary leader replied. ‘I get paid to do what Remus and Magnus want done. As long as the contract runs for anyway. Tomorrow at sunset we’re out of here.’

‘Wise,’ Ceri remarked. ‘I’d rather not be around for the ritual either.’

‘Don’t think you’re getting a choice,’ he replied. ‘Why’d you do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘Walk into camp last night. How’d you know you wouldn’t be shot on sight?’

Ceri shrugged again. ‘I counted on you being professionals. I figured you don’t kill unless you have to, or you’re told to. Remus was another matter.’

‘Calculated risk then,’ Phelps said. He sounded a little impressed. ‘Doesn’t explain why you came at all.’

They had reached the first corner and Ceri turned left again, continuing to walk. ‘If anyone’s going to stop Remus, it’s me,’ she said. ‘Neither of us know how I’m supposed to do it. Remus is letting me live because maybe my death causes his failure, and maybe he’s right. Maybe I’ve already failed.’

‘Magnus thinks you know,’ Phelps told her.

‘Magnus is a delusional arsehole,’ Ceri replied.

Phelps snorted. ‘He’s not someone to make an enemy of, kid. Bit of advice there. His people know how to get to people they don’t like.’

Interesting; so Magnus was part of some larger organisation. ‘I think that horse has kind of bolted,’ Ceri said. ‘Somehow I doubt I’d want them for friends anyway. I’m not fond of people who make pacts with demons.’

‘I’m not in a position to make value judgements,’ the merc stated.

‘It’s all just business?’

‘Just business,’ he said, ‘yeah. They got the money, and it’s a lot of money, then I don’t care about their morals.’

‘If you don’t mind me saying,’ Ceri replied, ‘that sounds like a recipe for a short life.’

‘Says the girl who walked up to a demon and said, “hi, I think you want me dead.”’

Ceri had to concede the point. ‘He’s not a demon,’ she said.

‘Sure looks like one,’ Phelps replied. ‘I’ve fought werewolves before. America, two years ago. Tough fighters, but they don’t take well to silver bullets on auto-fire. These things are something else.’

‘Oh, the wolves are demons,’ Ceri agreed. ‘Well, demonically possessed anyway. Remus is a ghost.’

‘Pretty solid for a ghost.’ It was the other man who spoke and Ceri glanced at him. He was young, probably younger than she was. His shaved head was hidden under a black baseball cap, but he looked more like a teenager playing soldier than a professional killer.

‘Ghosts can materialise if they get enough energy,’ she told him. ‘Remus has power by the truck load. At a guess he draws power from the wolves he converts, but I think he has other sources.’

‘Boss is right,’ the merc said, ‘you’re smart.’

‘I have a masters in thaumatology,’ Ceri replied. ‘Working on my doctorate.’

‘So how the Hell did you end up doing this?’ Phelps asked.

‘Sheer bad luck?’ Ceri suggested. Both men laughed. Ceri glanced at the Phelps’ helper again. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

‘You don’t want to know his name?’ Phelps said. Ceri frowned and kept walking. It was an odd turn of phrase. Not “need to know,” but “want to know.” She stopped talking and just walked, keeping her eyes on her surroundings.

She was now sure that Magnus was a wizard, maybe even the one who had been in the attack on the pack. He had four others with him, and looking at them with the right eyes, she realised what bugged her about their leader. All but one of them was pacted, she could see the ugly stains along their Chakral Medians with her Sight. It had to be akin to the energy which got trapped in her own body when she used magic, but this was… hard to look at. It seemed to twist and writhe, distorting the flow of energy beneath it. Magnus’ median was almost entirely black.

They were back where they had started and Phelps was directing her back to Remus’ tent before she knew it. Sighing, she made her way through the camp, ignoring the looks from the mercenaries she passed. Someone had replaced the broken table with a new one while they were walking. This one was better than the previous one, more solid looking, and Ceri was admiring the turned wooden legs when something was pushed into her back. There was a buzzing sound which she barely heard as her nervous system lit up like a Christmas tree.

When her brain rebooted she was being grabbed, manhandled. Her vision was too blurred to determine what was happening but she felt something pressing against her chest and stomach, her arms stretched out. She pulled, but metal cut into her wrists. Blinking, she managed to make out the end of the table and the two sets of cuffs tethering her to the table legs. Someone was tying her ankles to the other two legs, stretching her across the table top, and her jeans were being wrenched off her hips.

‘Sorry kid,’ Phelps voice said close by her head, ‘nothing personal, y’know?’

She struggled, but it was too late. She felt heavy hands on her buttocks, spreading them. Yeah, just business. Then there was just pain and screaming.

~~~

Ceri drifted into consciousness as a blanket was placed over her. She shivered and tried to focus. Moving sent pain searing through her body and she let out a cry. ‘I’m sorry,’ Remus voice reverberated through her mind and she flinched sending further pain up her spine.

‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated, ‘but they are still useful to me.’

Her vision blurred again. Perhaps she was only imagining the tone of… respect? Her body spasmed and she blacked out. Her last thought was a prayer that she would not wake up.

December 21st

The cuffs were gone. That was the first thing Ceri realised. The next thing was that her clothes were gone too, but she was wrapped in a blanket. She twisted, turning to look around and the third thing struck her; the pain was gone.

‘Your garments were ruined,’ Remus said. ‘Well, the jacket and boots are there beside you, but I felt you would sleep more comfortably without.’

Ceri pulled herself up into a sitting position. She was still beside the tent pole so she leant against it. ‘You healed me,’ she said.

His rough laughter filled her head. ‘Not I, child. My talents lie in destruction. One of Magnus’ associates is still untainted and I… persuaded him that you would be easier to ask questions of if you were conscious.’

Ceri nodded. ‘One of them isn’t pacted. I noticed this morning. One out of five. That’s a fairly stupid, power hungry bunch of mages.’

‘You’d be more comfortable in the chair,’ Remus stated, presumably ignoring the implied question on purpose rather than because he had not noticed it.

The camp chair Magnus had used earlier was still there. Ceri pulled her blanket tighter and tried to stand up. It was not easy. After a couple of attempts, she gave up and let go of the blanket, pulling her boots over instead; her feet would be warmer with them on. Picking up her jacket, she stood and slipped her arms into it before reaching for the blanket again. When she straightened up she saw Remus, his eyes watching her intently. She raised an eyebrow, but he continued staring so she wrapped the blanket around herself under her arms and then zipped the jacket up over it. Sitting down, she wrapped her legs in the blanket and lay back. He was right, it was more comfortable.

‘I’ll make no apology,’ he said. ‘You’re an attractive woman and I’ve not had the chance to examine one so closely in a century.’

‘Thanks,’ Ceri said. ‘You’re pretty hot yourself.’

‘Hot?’ There was confusion in his voice. ‘Oh, colloquialism, yes. Thank you.’

Ceri grinned. The lack of pain was boosting her spirits so long as she did not think about how she had got the pain in the first place. ‘Shame you can’t materialise in human form,’ she said.

‘I could, once,’ he replied, ‘when my brother’s foolish people worshipped me. I would appear to them sometimes, though my form was restricted by their beliefs.’

‘Quirinus,’ Ceri said, ‘a bearded man in military uniform, right?’

There was the rough sound of laughter again. ‘Indeed. Later they stopped depicting me in religious art. I grew more like this as time went on and stopped coming to them.’

‘But you never attacked them?’

‘I led hordes of barbarians to sack Rome,’ he replied with good humour, ‘once their worship had fallen away and I could gain more from others.’

‘I don’t understand you,’ Ceri said. ‘You want to destroy the world, but you care for your enemy. You could have left me, cold and hurting, and I’d have been in a much worse position to try anything to stop you.’

His eyes sparkled as he looked at her. ‘Where would the challenge be in that, girl? You may be of the Blood, but you came into your power recently, I think. Rest now. By this time tomorrow one of us will be dead. You’ll need your strength.’

Ceri closed her eyes. He was right, she might as well rest. She had come to the camp hoping to gain some piece of information, some advantage, which would let her finish the creature before her. There was nothing to find, no advantage to be found. She either had what she needed, or she was going to be the one to die. But as she drifted into sleep, her drowsy mind wondered what he had meant about blood. He was the second one to mention it like that, as though it were some sort of heredity. Well, she would probably never get to find out…

~~~

She was woken by a slap on the face and fully awake enough to catch Magnus’ wrist as he tried again when she did not immediately look at him. ‘If you’re going to do that,’ she said, pushing his arm away, ‘you’d better cuff me again.’

Magnus backed away from her, his face showing anger and, perhaps, a hint of fear. ‘Remus assures us that you will do no harm to us until tonight,’ he said.

‘You don’t believe him though,’ Ceri stated. ‘You think I’m just waiting for the right moment to strike.’

‘Aren’t you?’

She shrugged. ‘I suppose I am,’ she said. ‘You think I know when that is though.’ She stared at him for a second and then said, ‘Should I get undressed?’

‘That tactic appears to be ineffective,’ he replied. ‘I have another.’ He turned slightly and raised his voice. ‘Tanner! Get in here.’

A small, rat-like man pushed the tent flap aside and came into the tent. He looked older than Magnus did, balding with a long nose and hazel eyes which flicked back and forth nervously. Ceri had seen him out in the camp and he had been on his own then. He was one of the pacted ones, second to Magnus in his abuse of demonic power as best she could tell. He smiled at her and she suddenly felt like she needed a bath.

‘Tanner’s demon is an Incubus Lord,’ Magnus said. ‘I’m sure you’d be surprised to discover how many women he’s had. However, he’s not going to touch you, are you Tanner?’

Tanner looked distinctly unhappy about that, but he said, ‘No, Master Magnus.’

‘Give our fair slut an example of why she’s going to talk to us,’ Magnus ordered.

The rat-mage raised his hand, muttering something under his breath and Ceri frowned. His fingers clenched suddenly into a fist and Ceri’s body arched up off the chair, her eyes widening as energy burned up through her Tantric Median, exploding in her brain like a nova. It lasted perhaps ten seconds, ten seconds of concentrated, rapturous, ecstasy, and then she was collapsing back into the chair, panting.

‘Tanner calls it “Rapture of Heaven,” don’t you Tanner?’ Magnus said.

Ceri’s blanket had opened during her seizure and Tanner was staring at her, grinning broadly. ‘Yes, Master Magnus.’

‘It has nothing to do with that particular plane, however,’ Magnus went on. ‘A few more applications of it and you’ll be begging him to give you more. Horribly addictive. Would you like to try it again?’

Ceri pulled her blanket back into place. Her breathing was still laboured. ‘I… I had a… lot of cock yesterday,’ she said. ‘I’m... pretty over-sexed, you kn-ah!’ A second wave of pleasure hit her, but this time she bit down on it, her will crashing against Tanner’s. She glared at him and he flinched back. Now he was panting, the exertion of generating the power for the spell showing in his face.

Magnus grunted. ‘Again, Tanner,’ he snapped.

Ceri was watching this time, her Sight engaged to see the spell building through Tanner’s Chakral Median. The blackness twined around the thread of light burned darker, adding to his power. Tanner clenched his fist and the spell flared from his hand. ‘No,’ Ceri said calmly, ‘your turn.’

Tanner’s body stiffened as the spell twisted around and lashed back at him. He trembled, panting, and fell to his knees. Ceri wondered how often he had felt those effects before. He fell to all fours, gasping for breath, and Magnus kicked him in the chin. The rat-mage went down like a sack of rocks and Magnus stormed toward the tent flap to the sound of Ceri’s laughter.

~~~

Ceri looked up as one of the mercenaries stepped into the tent. It was the one who had escorted her around with Phelps the day before and he avoided looking at her face as he placed a plate on the table. There were a few sandwiches on it. He placed a water flask beside it and turned to leave.

‘You enjoy it?’ she asked. There had been two men in the tent when it had started, and Phelps had been speaking to her, close to her face now she thought about it. Someone else had taken her first.

The young merc turned, looking back at her, but still looking anywhere but her eyes. ‘I can see why Phelps said I didn’t want to know your name,’ she said. ‘He knew what Magnus wanted you guys to do. This way I can objectify you, make you into nothing more than a thing that persecuted me. Nice of him.’ She watched the boy’s discomfort. ‘I don’t suppose he told you my name for the same reason,’ she went on. ‘It’s Ceri, Ceridwyn Brent. Daughter of David and Marion Brent. I want you to know that. I want you to know who it is you raped.’

He was trembling as he left the tent. As she picked up one of the sandwiches she heard the sound of someone retching outside.

~~~

Darkness was falling when Phelps walked in. Ceri had been left on her own for more or less the entire day. There had been a couple of mercs who had dragged Tanner’s unconscious body out of the tent, and the boy, but otherwise she had been left with nothing to do and had dozed through half the short afternoon.

‘I wanted to say goodbye, Miss Brent,’ the mercenary leader said. ‘I won’t be seeing you again whatever happens.’

‘Goodbye, Mister Phelps,’ she replied. ‘I’d like to be able to say it was a pleasure, but it was anything but.’

‘It was just business,’ he said. ‘That was a nasty trick you pulled on Rogers.’

Ceri shrugged. ‘He’s in the wrong business. Can I give you some advice?’

‘You can give it,’ he replied.

‘Get out now. Don’t wait for Remus to turn up. Leave.’

‘That’s not the contract,’ he said. ‘We leave as soon as it’s dark. Not waiting for her reply, he turned and walked out, leaving her in the gathering gloom once more.

She only had to wait another ten minutes or so before Remus’ ghostly form rose from the ground in front of her. He actually smiled at her, his eyes glowing brightly. Then she saw the energy gathering around him, swirling and tightening until it solidified into the horrific form he walked through the world in. She definitely preferred the ghostly version.

‘I’ll be with you briefly,’ the ghost-wolf’s voice said in her head. ‘There’s something which needs to be taken care of first.’ He raised his head and a howl ripped through Ceri’s mind. She flinched back in her chair, struggling to control the urge to run.

Screams and gunfire followed the howl. Ceri knew what was happening out there. She had warned Phelps, even if he had not listened. She knew that Rogers really was in the wrong business, or rather he had been in the wrong business.

Magnus burst into the tent. ‘Why?’ he snapped. It was the wrong thing to do.

Remus’ hand moved far faster than Ceri would have given the creature credit for, gripping Magnus by the throat and lifting him off the ground with no obvious effort. ‘If you had not had them violate a defenceless woman,’ Remus hissed, ‘I might have allowed them to live. They are of no further use to me. See that you do not become of no further use to me.’

The wizard was dropped to the floor, his legs buckling under him. Scrabbling backward to the entrance, he left as quickly as he had come.

Remus turned and his voice carried more than a hint of good humour. ‘We have several hours before the time of the Solstice, Fair One. What would you like to talk about?’

Ceri blinked. ‘I, uh…’

‘Wine!’ Remus interrupted. ‘We need wine. And a feast, I think. One should greet one’s demise on a full stomach.’ He was marching out of the tent before she could say anything else. Apparently, mass homicide made for a very happy demi-god.

~~~

The sound of Remus’ laughter echoed through Ceri’s head once again. He really was in good humour and the wine, a rather good Chianti, was flowing a little too freely for Ceri to keep her head entirely straight. She imagined that it was unlikely that Remus was suffering much from his enthusiastic alcohol intake, but he seemed to be very merry. So long as she did not consider where the meat he was eating had come from, Ceri was pretty merry too.

‘And then,’ he said, continuing his story, ‘Analeous shot the fool in the behind!’ Ceri’s eyes widened and she burst into a fit of giggles. ‘Right in the meat, and he spent the next ten minutes shrieking and running around in circles, and the only thing we could make out was, “You shot me in the arse! You shot me in the arse!”’

If Ceri were honest, tales of what an ancient Roman and his brother got up to a couple of thousand years earlier, and mostly involving overdone violence, boozing, and the enthusiastic deflowering of virgins were not entirely to her taste. The wine was good and Remus was a congenial psychopath. There was nothing much she could do about it and she might as well enjoy it. She could imagine Alec’s opinion of her behaviour, but Alec was not there.

Leaning forward, Remus poured more wine into her glass. ‘Are you trying to get me drunk?’ she asked, grinning.

‘I’m hardly in a position to take advantage,’ he replied.

‘Sorry about that.’ She was a little surprised to realise she meant it.

‘Not as much as I am,’ he stated. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve had a woman, or even a man.’ His voice was not really sad, more… resigned. ‘Tonight it ends though. Either way I won’t care about that.’ He looked up at her. ‘You’re young, virile, quite attractive though a little more meat on your bones would not go amiss. You’ve had many lovers?’

She was taken a little by surprise by the question, and really she was not sure how to answer it. ‘Uh, lovers? No, not many of those, not really.’ His brow furrowed, clearly not believing her. ‘I mean, real lovers,’ she explained. ‘I’ve had sex with more, but all of it’s been pretty recent.’ She grinned. ‘I’m not being very clear. My parents were both practitioners, enchanters. I was born with no magic so they gave me some.’ It was a lie, sort of, her enchantments had contained and directed her own, sorcerous power, but the effect had been the same. ‘They gave me a protection enchantment which stopped magic and supernatural things from hurting me. Thing is, when a father is protecting his daughter, he can go a bit overboard. Boys just didn’t notice me until this summer when the enchantments were destroyed in an accident.’

She took a sip of her wine. ‘So, since then I’ve had two werewolf packs, I’ve been sort of mated to a werewolf, and I’ve taken a half-succubus as a lover because otherwise she would have taken me, but that’s about it.’

Remus’ laughter filled her head. ‘Is that all?’ he said ‘Two werewolf packs?’

Ceri’s cheeks coloured. She did sound like a slut. ‘Well the first was to try to get the pack Alpha to be a bit more lively. His pack were, uh, worried, and I, uh… That’s not really helping. The other time was research. I shape shifted to a female werewolf so I could learn about werewolf pack behaviour and…’

‘I recall the usual ritual when a new female joins the pack,’ Remus said. ‘Did you enjoy yourself?’

‘It was a little crazy,’ she replied, blushing. ‘I didn’t really understand most of what was going on. I was just being passed from male to male and werewolves… aren’t exactly big on foreplay? But there were females there to make sure I wasn’t overwhelmed or hurt. It was weird to be part of a ritual that was caring and bestial at the same time.’ Her blush deepened. ‘And, yeah, it was really… I felt kind of… I don’t know how to explain it.’ She frowned slightly. ‘And I honestly don’t know why I’m telling you I liked getting fucked by a dozen werewolves.’

His face was not designed to smile, but she got the feeling that he was. ‘I told you,’ he said, his mental voice carrying the humour of the feeling, ‘there’s no point in secrets between us, Fair One. We both sit here waiting for the other to move, or slip that we might take advantage.’

‘I’m not,’ Ceri said.

‘Not consciously, perhaps,’ Remus replied, ‘but I’ve seen… well, in truth it has been men I’ve sat watching in these circumstances, but the look is the same. Most have sat in armour, or clutching a weapon, but they look the same.’

‘What do I look like?’ Ceri said, bemused. ‘I don’t understand. I’m no warrior or general. I’m a college student.’

‘I was raised a shepherd, girl,’ Remus replied. ‘I recall hearing of a famous swordsman in Japan who killed his first man as a boy of thirteen, beating him with a stick. Do you think he learned that? No, it was inborn talent. You destroyed two of my wolves defending that female in Londinium. You led your contingent well on that day, and you had the courage to stand up to another of mine before then. I see your eyes and your heart, Ceridwyn Brent. Your eyes are quick and intelligent, your heart is strong, your bloodline powerful and ancient. I think, now, that I should have killed you when you first came to this tent.’

‘You could still do it,’ Ceri said. ‘Now, before the ritual.’

He shook his huge, wolfen head. ‘Not now. Then it would have been easy, but now… We will see this through together, however it ends.’ He raised the flagon he was drinking from and reached across the table toward Ceri. ‘Deal?’

Ceri raised her glass, clinking it against the dented metal cup Remus held in his thick digits. ‘Deal,’ she said, ‘we see it through, no matter what happens.’

~~~

‘I can’t wear this,’ Ceri said.

‘Your clothes are ruined, Ceridwyn,’ Remus replied, ‘and you have to wear something.’

‘I’ll freeze to death.’

‘Nonsense, togas were worn in the harshest of conditions.’

Ceri held the garment up. Twill wore something similar when there were guests at High Towers. It had a single shoulder and if it came down to mid-thigh she would be lucky. ‘This isn’t a toga,’ she said, ‘this is someone’s slightly dubious idea of a toga.’

The huge creature looked down at her. ‘I’ll have you carried to the circle,’ he said, ‘and the fires there will keep you warm enough. Hurry and get dressed, or is the deviously clever act of the Fair One to detain me from performing the ritual by taking four hours to prepare?’

Ceri laughed and took her jacket off. Once again the wolf-creature watched her as her skin was revealed. A long tongue ran over teeth which could rip Ceri apart with barely a toss of his head. She pulled on the tunic, settling it down over her body and shivering as the cool fabric touched her skin. There were rope sandals as well and the tunic would have looked terrible with walking boots.

‘Where did this come from anyway?’ she asked as she wrapped the blanket back around her shoulders.

‘I had Magnus obtain it for you when his rudeness dictated that your own garments would be destroyed.’ There was the undercurrent of humour again. ‘He believes that you are to be sacrificed during the ritual and should be dressed properly.’

‘Am I?’ Ceri asked.

A soft chuckle invaded her head. ‘If things go according to my plan, you won’t survive,’ Remus said, ‘but I believe you know it would be better not to.’

‘If you succeed,’ she replied, ‘then yes.’

‘And you still believe you can stop me?’

‘Honestly?’

‘No secrets between us, remember,’ he said.

‘I don’t know,’ Ceri told him.

‘A good answer.’ He turned to the entrance to the tent and one of his minions stepped inside. ‘Take her to the circle,’ he told the wolf. ‘See that Magnus does no harm to her.’

Stepping forward, the creature whisked Ceri off her feet, still wrapped in the blanket. They were out of the tent and running through the camp before she could pull the wool tighter and the cold air bit into her bare skin. She frowned, unsure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing, until they broke out of the trees and the first flakes of snow stung at her face. The ground was already covered in half an inch of white fluff. If Fenrir became fully manifest it would get much worse.

The demon-wolf was not particularly fast, but it kept up the same pace, never slowing and not even breathing hard. They reached the A303 quickly and Ceri was surprised to see no cars at all on the road. The monster carrying her was across the road and into the field beyond with a couple of quick jumps, and she could see the henge in the darkness. There were a couple of large fires burning among the stones, turning the monoliths into vast, black shadows. Overhead, the moon was a little past full, but the sliver missing from it was hardly noticeable. Somewhere in London, locked in a cage in his cellar, Peter Mallow would be transformed into an animalistic beast-man. Here on Salisbury Plain, Ceri was about to stand among a horde of things far more brutal and savage than he would ever be.

They entered the circle, passing through the outer ring of huge sarsen stones and into the middle where Magnus and three of his associates were working, setting out candles and slates with inscribed Futhark runes at strategic locations around the site. Tanner was nowhere to be seen; maybe Magnus had kicked him a little too hard. Ceri was placed carefully onto the thin grass and the wizards looked at her. It was certainly warm with two blazing fires nearby. She shrugged off her blanket and stood there, waiting as defiantly as she could manage.

‘Bind her,’ Magnus growled.

One of the wizards started toward her and she began to raise her arms; it was easier and safer to allow herself to be tied rather than being forced. Her demon guardian, however, had other ideas. It stepped forward, looming over Ceri, and a deep growl sounded in the back of its throat. The mage stumbled to a stop looking uncertainly back at Magnus.

Ceri suppressed a grin, but Magnus was uneasy and so were the others. If she had any chance of stopping this, she needed the wizard to be doing what he should be doing, not watching her. She looked up at the monster who was, despite all reason, keeping her safe. ‘You’d better hold me,’ she said. It looked back at her, appearing confused and unwilling. ‘Just hold my arms. It’s all right, if Remus is annoyed I’ll tell him I told you to. It’ll be safer for me if the wizards are happy I’m restrained.’ It was insane, she was reassuring a creature who’s brothers had tried to murder her.

Huge, thick-fingered, taloned hands gripped her upper arms firmly. Magnus looked disgusted, but he waved to the others to go about their work as he walked over. ‘You may have fooled Remus,’ he said, ‘but you don’t fool me. Not that it matters, soon you’ll be laid on that rock with your throat cut.’ He waved at the horizontal stone nearby which looked like an altar of sorts.

‘I haven’t fooled him, Magnus,’ Ceri replied. ‘I didn’t even attempt to fool you. Your own paranoia did that.’

Magnus raised his hand to strike her, but the growling coming from behind her back stopped him. He turned dismissively. ‘When you’re dead, it won’t matter,’ he said.

Ceri ignored him, looking around for something, anything, which might help her. The flow of magic around the stones caught her attention. This close she could see the field twisting and swirling around the rock pillars. She was standing in the middle of one of the most amazing pieces of magical engineering ever built. It was damaged now, fallen stones causing irregularities in the field. It generated around eight to ten thaums, depending on the time of year; the amount of power it would have generated when complete must have been quite phenomenal. Remus planned to use that power to reintegrate the parts of Fenrir’s metaphysical body. They would be pulled from the possessed werewolves he had inserted them into and patched together like a demonic Frankenstein’s Monster. It would take a lot of power, maybe more than the circle could supply. Maybe. There was a lot of power here…

The demon-wolves filed into the circle, forming their own ring of flesh just inside the sarsen stone ring. Forty-nine of them, standing tall and waiting, with the last of the fifty still holding onto Ceri. Remus strode in after the circle was formed, walking to the “altar” stone and looking around. ‘We’re ready?’ he growled, his eyes glowing a dull red though it was difficult to tell whether it was a reflection of the firelight or some inner glow.

‘All is ready, Lord,’ Magnus said firmly. ‘The exact moment of the Solstice is…’ He glanced at an expensive looking watch on his wrist. ‘Three minutes away.’

‘I must prepare then,’ Remus said. He lowered his head, closing his eyes. Around them, the wind stilled. The candle flames flickered and then suddenly rose again, blinding, blue white columns of flame erupting upward into the night sky. The runes placed around the inner circle began to burn a deep red.

‘It begins,’ Magnus whispered, ‘prepare yourselves.’

‘No,’ Remus said quietly. One of the monsters from the outer circle marched up to them, dragging something which he dumped onto the altar stone before stepping back. It was Phelps, tightly wrapped in thick ropes, his mouth stuffed with what looked like a pair of socks. He was terrified and Ceri knew why; she was not going to die on the stone, he was. ‘Now it begins,’ the ghost-wolf said, ‘with blood.’

A single strike tore Phelps’ throat open, blood splashing across the cold stone and freezing to it almost instantly. Ceri would have gagged, but she was overtaken by the sudden rush of power. The circle throbbed as blood ran out of the dying mercenary, soaking into the rock. The power flowed and Remus raised his head to the sky, stretching out his thick, muscled arms and howling to the full moon.

The hands holding Ceri’s arms tightened and she winced as sharp talons dug in, breaking the skin. She felt it, the moment of the Solstice, the instant when the world changed and the light around her seemed to die entirely. There was only the gut-wrenching sound of Remus’ howl and the swelling power of the circle. The hands let her go and she felt the beast falling, slipping sideways onto the grass.

There was light again, the light of the brilliant candles, twisting together over their heads. Ceri looked back to the spot where the monster which had been holding her had fallen. A werewolf lay there, unconscious. It was a female, grey-furred and looking quite content in its comatose state. She looked up in time to see the wisps of demonic spirit gathering in the flame-columns, twisting and writhing as they joined, slowly reforming into the steadily growing shape of a vast wolf’s head. She began to laugh.

The men turned to look at her; all but Magnus were cowering in fear of the thing overhead. The lead wizard growled, a ball of flame growing in his hand. Ceri ignored him, her eyes on the thing forming overhead.

‘Glorious is it not, Fair One?’ Remus said exultantly. ‘My god comes. Nothing you can do can stop it now.’

Magnus threw a ball of fire toward Ceri, only to watch it hit an invisible wall a few inches from her body, sputtering and dying as it fell to her feet. ‘I’ll tell you what you did wrong,’ she said. She raised her right hand, light beginning to burn between her fingers. Remus turned, a frown furrowing his brow. ‘It was a schoolboy error, and if I’m honest, the only thing worse than making it is the fact that I didn’t realise the mistake you were making until now.’

Above their heads, the vast head began growing a body, ghostly and shimmering blue as yet, but solidifying. ‘What you did,’ Ceri said, ‘is to put a sorceress in the middle of a huge magical field and let her stand there for ten minutes, gathering up all that power, siphoning it from the circle and containing it. Hundreds of thaums of magical energy ready to be used to burn you down.’

‘My god is here, Fair One,’ Remus said calmly. ‘Killing me achieves nothing, even if you could kill me.’

Ceri laughed. ‘But he’s not a god, Remus, he’s a demon. Demons can only stay here if they’re bound, and he’s bound to you.’ A flick of her wrist threw the ball of light in her hand at Remus’ chest. His eyes bulged as the blaze of white light blasted clean through him. ‘When you die,’ Ceri finished quietly, ‘he goes.’

‘Stop her!’ Magnus yelled, rushing forward. A clawed hand, covered in black fur intercepted him, wrapping around his throat and lifting him off his feet. Alec snarled into his terrified face before throwing him bodily across the circle to smash into one of the standing stones. The other mages turned, but they were surrounded, the North Hills pack and Lily, her daggers in her hands, were on them before they could move.

Ceri ignored it all, her eyes on Remus. His body was unravelling, turning to dust as he staggered away from her. Still he existed and the monster wolf over their heads continued to grow in strength. As Remus’ wolf-form dissolved, leaving the immaterial ghost behind, Ceri stretched out her hand. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I’m sorry, but there’s no other way.’ She poured energy into him, solidifying his structure even as he tried to escape into the ground.

She stepped forward, standing over the body of a powerfully muscled human with curly, blond hair. She looked down at him and he looked back, struggling to lift himself. Above them, the demon wolf Remus howled into the night sky. ‘My will…’ Remus said. ‘My will is done.’

Ceri shook her head. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘but I know how this ends now. I’m going to show you something you haven’t seen in millennia.’ She raised her arms. ‘Let there be light,’ she said.

The clouds overhead parted as though some vast fist was punching though, and the entire circle filled with bright, impossible sunlight. Remus looked up at it for a second, one arm covering his eyes, and a gasp which might have been awe escaped his throat. Then he screamed, his skin blackening and burning, his body decaying before Ceri’s eyes until there was nothing but dust which blew away in the breeze taking the scattering remains of the Fenrir with it.

Part Five: Yule

Salisbury Plain, December 22nd, 2010

Ceri pulled the foil wrap closer around her body and sipped from the tin mug of coffee she had been given a few minutes earlier. It was instant, and too bitter, but it was better than nothing. Sat in the back of a military ambulance, she watched as soldiers and policemen, military and civilian, worked their way through fifty people who had been demon-werewolves up until just before midnight. The sun was just over the horizon and the cops had finally finished with her twenty minutes earlier. She had been glad of that, on edge the entire time the uniformed men had been asking her questions.

Lily appeared beside her, moving in close immediately without the slightest care for who was watching. Soft lips sought out Ceri’s and for a few seconds there was nothing but the half-succubus’ gentle touch. ‘I did as you asked,’ Lily whispered. ‘It wasn’t easy, especially when we saw you being walked around the wood.’

‘I know, hun,’ Ceri replied. ‘How did you manage to keep Alec from charging into the camp with his teeth bared?’

‘I told him you wouldn’t be helped much by him getting torn apart by machine-gun fire,’ Lily replied.

‘And that stopped him?’

‘No,’ Lily said, grinning slightly, ‘but he couldn’t really run very far with a werewolf on each limb.’ Ceri chuckled. ‘Did they ask a lot of questions?’ Lily asked, gesturing at the various authority figures scattered around the Visitor Centre car park.

‘One or two, but it seemed like they were fairly well briefed.’ Ceri took a sip of her coffee, grimaced, and went on. ‘I think someone at the Ministry briefed them, and that someone knew more than a little about what was happening.’

‘Seemed like that to me too.’ Lily looked up as she spoke and nodded toward the car park’s entrance where a big, black Range Rover was pulling in, Alec behind the wheel. ‘Looks like our ride is here.’

‘Oh, Alec’s in a hurry to be out of here’ Ceri said and turned to look at the medic at the back of the ambulance’s interior. ‘Hey, fella, you got any tranquilisers?’ she asked.

Soho, December 24th

The Jade Dragon was closed until the twenty-ninth. The Jade Dragon was also full of people. It was Christmas Eve and the night of the staff party. The dancers and staff of the Collar Club, and the various partners of both clubs’ staff were there, many of them currently dancing in the space which had been cleared where the tables normally sat.

Ceri sat on a stool at the bar, Lily standing right beside her. Lily had picked out a phenomenally tight, short dress to wear and was attracting a lot of attention. Ceri had gone for one of her shortest skirts and a teddy which was not exactly opaque, but she was not quite into the entire party mood and was not selling the look.

Alec placed a glass of wine beside her. ‘Cheer up, kid,’ he said. ‘The end of the world was Tuesday.’

‘Damn,’ Ceri replied, ‘did I miss it again?’

‘Again? How many times you stopped it?’

‘Oh,’ Ceri said, ‘happens every other week to me. Didn’t you know?’ She picked up her drink and took a sip. It was not a Chianti, thankfully.

Alec reached across the counter and patted her on the shoulder. ‘You did a good job, Ceri. My pack’s avenged, even if I didn’t do it. I should apologise for being an old idiot. I owe you.’

‘You don’t,’ Ceri said, ‘I…’

His hand squeezed her shoulder and he looked at her meaningfully. ‘I owe you.’ He let her go and turned, heading back down the bar to sort out drinks for someone else.

‘He’s been acting a little weird since we left Stonehenge,’ Lily commented.

‘Alec is merely coming to terms with the fact that a twenty-four year old girl did what he couldn’t,’ Carter said quietly from behind them. ‘He’ll be fine. There’s some adage about old dogs and new tricks.’ He looked out at the dance floor and the various gyrating figures. ‘It’s funny,’ he said, ‘I get to watch scantily clad women strutting around this floor all year, but watching them dancing in casual clothes is somehow sexier.’

‘I dunno,’ Lily said, ‘Naira’s pretty hot in just her fur.’ The were-panther had, indeed, stripped and changed fairly early on and was twisting about the floor in only the way someone with the spine of a cat could manage.

‘It’s a good thing this is a private party,’ Ceri said.

Lily shrugged. ‘We usually end up with at least three couples shagging somewhere.’

Carter grunted a short laugh. ‘We’ve had it end up with a pile of writhing bodies on the floor more than once. I generally abstain.’ Ceri looked at him, one eyebrow raised. ‘All right, unless I have a friend here and we end up in my office. I avoid having sex with the staff. It ends up causing problems.’

‘I thought you “tried out” all the dancers at the Collar Club?’ Ceri said.

‘I do,’ Carter replied, ‘but not like that.’ He gave a mock-serious frown. ‘Credit me with some professionalism, young lady.’ The frown slipped. ‘They dance for me, that’s all. I’ve had a number of offers, but I always refuse. Well, except for Jasmine, but I knew her before I employed her.’

‘Plans for Christmas?’ Ceri asked.

‘I’m going to my country retreat,’ he replied. ‘A quiet Christmas in the country, well, until Cheryl joins me in the evening.’

‘Oh really,’ Ceri said, smirking. ‘She said she was visiting her sister. She didn’t mention she was going down to see you after. This is getting serious. You’re not thinking of settling down, are you?’

‘I’d imagine I’ll have to eventually,’ Carter said, ‘but not quite yet. Cheryl is a very interesting and entertaining woman. There are very few I can enjoy physically entertaining and hold a good conversation with. What about you? Doing anything special?’

‘Christmas Day,’ Lily said, ‘is for Twill, and Ceri, and me.’

‘The last couple of days have been Hell,’ Ceri said.

‘Well yes,’ Carter said. ‘You saved the world, but it cost you…’

‘Oh God, not that,’ Ceri said. ‘I’ve been rushing around getting presents! I mean, I was so busy I just forgot and I’ve had to rush to get things. Last minute Christmas shopping makes a horde of werewolves seem easy.’

Carter burst into loud laughter. ‘I suppose you may have a point,’ he finally said.

‘Boxing day,’ Ceri said, ‘the North Hills wolves are coming down to stay for a few days. At least until the weather improves.’

‘That could take a while,’ Carter commented. ‘From what the meteorologists are saying, while the volcanic activity in Iceland has subsided, the ash cloud will still give us a cold winter.’

‘I think we can handle having a bunch of cooped up werewolves on the premises,’ Lily said, grinning.

‘We are not having orgies every night,’ Ceri said. Lily pouted. ‘I’m a respectable mated werewolf,’ Ceri pointed out. ‘I can’t be sleeping with every furry body who happens to be lying around my lounge.’

‘Get Michael over,’ Lily suggested, ‘he can join in.’

‘Are you trying to corrupt my boyfriend?’ Ceri asked, glowering at Lily with almost a hint of sincerity.

‘Yes,’ Lily replied happily. ‘He’s good. Strong, great stamina, big…’

‘Lily!’ Ceri exclaimed.

‘Heart,’ Lily finished with a smirk.

Carter’s booming laugh filled the room again. He patted Ceri on she shoulder. ‘You did very well, my dear. Have a good Christmas and try to relax for a while. You’ve earned it.’ Smiling, he wandered off to circulate among his staff.

Kennington, December 25th

Ceri’s vision finally settled into something like normal and she lay on the bed panting as her nerves stopped humming. Lily crawled up to lie at her side, licking her lips. She cuddled up, snuggling against her friend with a contented sigh.

‘Happy Christmas,’ Lily said. ‘Thanks for breakfast.’

Ceri laughed breathlessly. ‘Happy Christmas, love,’ she said.

Lily let out a little gasp and Ceri frowned, not understanding why until she realised what she had just said. Lily’s soft lips touched Ceri’s cheek. She said nothing, but her body language was suddenly very contented. Ceri relaxed into it. It was not as though she did not love Lily, so why not express it? Right now, cuddled together on Christmas morning, Ceri could not think of a single reason to deny it.

After a few minutes, however, she could think of a reason for getting up. ‘C’mon,’ she said, ‘presents!’ Lily’s giggle was gleeful. It never failed to amaze Ceri that her friend was probably the most sexual creature she had ever met, but could take such fantastically child-like delight in small things. The half-succubus virtually bounced out of bed and gave Ceri no time to get dressed, dragging her out into the hallway. ‘Wait!’ Ceri said as she was dragged toward the stairs.

Lily looked around, pouting. ‘But… presents?’ she said plaintively.

‘Shower first,’ Ceri told her, ‘especially if you’re not going to let me get dressed.’

Lily’s pout vanished and her eyes brightened. ‘Shower,’ she said, ‘yeah I can get behind that.’ She began pulling Ceri toward the bathroom instead.

‘I thought you wanted to get to the presents?’ Ceri said as the water was started in the shower cubicle.

‘Yes,’ Lily said, ‘I just want to wash you.’ She stepped under the stream of water, closing her eyes for a second, and then waved Ceri in.

‘Just washing?’ Ceri said as she stepped into the cubicle and the hot water hit her. It did feel good.

Lily reached for the tube of ginger scented shower gel and squirted some into her hands. ‘Turn around,’ she said and Ceri turned into the water. Lily’s hands wrapped around her waist and began lathering soap over her stomach. ‘Just washing,’ Lily said and then continued in a slightly sing-song voice, ‘Customers are warned that washing may induce the following side effects. Sensations of stroking, long drawn out sighs, gasps, moans, intense pleasure, and prolonged orgasms. May contain, or drive you, nuts.’ Her hands slid up to Ceri’s breasts and the sorceress let out a long moan. ‘See?’ Lily said, grinning.

~~~

Lily had one, distinct, disadvantage following a shower. Ceri could dry off with relative ease; her hair was short and black, aside from the tufts of red she died into the front, and it dried quickly and easily. Lily’s hair, thick, luxuriant, long, and a vibrant chestnut, did not look so great wrapped in a towel, but she had no choice for half an hour or so after showering. Twill had offered to get her a shower cap once, for those occasions when her hair did not need washing. Lily had stated flatly that she would never be seen dead in anything that made her look like a character from Coronation Street.

So, as the girls of High Towers gathered in front of the lounge’s fireplace, with logs already burning in it thanks to Twill, Lily was the only person wearing anything for once. Balanced on her head was a huge, fluffy, yellow towel, kept in place by her hair and keeping her back really straight. It made it difficult to open presents.

‘Oh,’ Ceri said as she unwrapped a package from Lily, ‘this is why you were dragging me downstairs naked.’ It was a new teddy, a garment style that Ceri had fallen in love with long ago and therefore highly useful as a present idea for those who knew. Even Alec had spotted the preference, buying her one for her birthday, even if he had been embarrassed about doing so.

‘Put it on,’ Lily requested, beaming. Ceri stood up to comply, pulling it on over her head, stretching it down over her body and then fixing the press-studs in the crotch. Many of her teddies were bought to be worn as outerwear, sexy, but quite decent. Some were more club-wear, mesh or lace, or more brief in coverage. This one clearly fell into the less decent bracket and Lily was licking her lips as Ceri sat down again, grinning at the half-succubus’ reaction.

‘Here,’ Ceri said, handing a brightly wrapped package to Lily, ‘open that.’

Lily took it, grinning, and began to carefully dismantle the wrapping. Her finger nails were hardly claws, but she kept them long and they had an amazing ability to cut sticky-tape with no apparent effort, so Lily tended to carefully open every present she got, leaving barely rumpled paper at the end. Ceri suspected that Twill kept Lily’s discarded wrapping paper to reuse later; no one would ever be able to tell.

The half-demon squeaked in glee as she held up a new dress which could have best been described as “ephemeral.” Short and tight in the way only a stretchy fabric could manage, the dress was made of a deep purple, almost black, fabric which had delicate, vine-like patterns woven into the mesh. Lily gave her hair a rub and poked a finger under the towel. Nodding, she unwrapped her hair, which did not quite have its usual buoyancy, but still managed to look gorgeous despite being uncombed and damp, and then pulled the dress on over her head. It clung to her like a second skin, following every curve and hiding nothing underneath it; it just added that exotic touch to the exotic girl.

‘How do I look?’ Lily asked. Ceri grinned, and licked her lips. ‘Good enough,’ Lily replied and looked up at Twill. ‘So you’re the only one not dressed,’ she said.

‘If you call that dressed, then yes,’ the fairy said and was presented with a small package to unwrap. Generally they did not get clothes for Twill, even as a present. She was tiny, and everything had to be especially made because dolls clothes were never the right shape. She also wore clothes so rarely that buying them seemed sort of pointless. As Twill’s little hands ripped apart the parcel she had been given, both the fairy and Ceri were wondering what it was that Lily had found.

It was, perhaps, a little fairy tale for the down-to-earth Twill. A long gown of gossamer-like, brown and red fabric, essentially a tube which knotted behind her neck, open at the back and clinging from the hip, and then fanning out from about knee height to a wide hem. The tiny woman stood and held it up, turning it back and forth before stepping into it and pulling it up her lithe body and tying it in place. She looked up at the two larger women, holding her arms out for inspection, and did a quick twirl.

‘It’s gorgeous, Twill,’ Ceri said before turning to Lily. ‘Where on Earth did you get it?’

‘Catherine,’ Lily replied. ‘You know she runs that boutique? I went because I thought it might be interesting and then I saw that teddy there, and I was saying to her that it was for you for Christmas and how difficult it was to get presents for Twill…’ She stopped to pull in some air. ‘Apparently,’ she went on, ‘the population of fairies, sprites, and a few other smaller fae has got large enough in the bigger cities that it’s become a market some of the fashion houses are trying to cater to.’

Twill smiled and lifted up from the floor, tiny wings flicking. She hovered before Lily’s face and then darted forward to kiss the half-succubus on the cheek. ‘Thank you, Lily,’ she said. ‘It really is lovely, and sexy. I’ll wear it for now, and then for special occasions.’

Lily nodded. ‘Now we’re all sexy, we can get on with the silly presents.’

Not all of them were entirely silly. Ceri had got Twill a set of copper cooking implements as replacements, improvements, or spares, and there was also a new cookbook for the fairy based on what was apparently a popular cooking show on TV. Twill looked a little dubiously at the book until Ceri showed her a couple of recipes; the book harkened back to Victorian cookery practices, of which Twill thoroughly approved. Twill had been on the Internet, placing orders, and had got Ceri a copy of The Practitioner’s Handbook, which was a yearly publication containing all sorts of useful material for those who practiced magic professionally. Technically, Ceri did not make her living from magic, but the book did help keep her up to date on stuff she had learned for her PPC.

And then things had got silly. Another Internet purchase had Ceri going bright pink as she pulled a twelve-inch, double-ended, bright pink dildo out of some wrapping paper. There was a little label attached to it which said, “Just don’t let me see the two of you using it.” Ceri had bought Lily a porn DVD, to which was attached a little note saying, “Now don’t let me catch you using my tablet for that in future.” It went with the present Ceri had bought for the house; an entertainment system, currently gracing the far end of the lounge, complete with a large TV screen, DVD player, and integral Internet link.

Twill had cursed the pair of them with over-starched bed sheets for a month when she opened a package to discover 101 Uses for a Dead Fairy inside, and had then chortled her way through the first few cartoons. Then she had handed out similarly wrapped packages to Ceri and Lily, which they had opened together, both producing what looked like the same thing at the same time. They were matched ankle chains made of what looked like silver, but Ceri was not entirely sure that “silver” was exactly what it was. ‘You need to put them on and close the clasps at the same moment,’ Twill said.

‘Is this fae silver?’ Ceri asked as she placed the chain around her right ankle and Lily did the same.

‘Yes,’ Twill said. ‘On three… one… two… three!’ Both girls closed the clasps and then gasped simultaneously as the metal shone brightly for a second. ‘There,’ she said.

Ceri and Lily looked at each other and then at Twill. ‘There what, Twill?’ Ceri asked.

‘Call them “friendship bracelets,”’ Twill replied. ‘When two lovers put them on, they close and can’t be removed by either until one or the other dies or the love is gone.’ She giggled. ‘And in the mean team it, uh, increases your libido.’ Lily giggled. Ceri looked at the little woman as though she had just grown an extra head. ‘What?’ Twill said ‘They’re fae bracelets, what d’you expect? Fluffy feelings and happy bunnies?’

Ceri groaned. ‘We’ll never get out of bed!’

‘Of course you will,’ Twill said.

‘Yeah,’ Lily agreed, ‘we’ll just want to do it everywhere we go.’

‘We don’t already?’

‘I do,’ Lily replied.

Ceri rolled her eyes, and they fell upon an unopened package. ‘What’s that?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Twill replied. ‘Michael delivered it yesterday. He told me it was from the pack and a special gift, but he also said that he was very keen that you like it.’

Ceri raised an eyebrow and reached for the parcel. Her fingers tingled as she touched it. ‘There’s magic in there,’ she said.

‘Well open it!’ Lily said enthusiastically.

Ceri pulled the wrapping apart to find a small, cardboard box within. She opened it to find a collar inside, along with a card. She picked both up, frowning at the piece of leather with metal studs, and then began to read the card aloud. ‘Dear Ceridwyn, I’m sure you’re wondering why a werewolf pack would present you with a magic dog collar for Christmas. Blame the Goddess, she has an odd sense of humour now that you’ve freed her from her disturbed son.’ Ceri looked up from the card. ‘I seem to have a Christmas present from Luperca.’

‘Cool!’ Lily said, grinning.

Ceri went back to the card. ‘The enchantment on the collar will allow you to transform into your wolf form and stay that way as long as you wish. Just one word of warning, don’t lose the collar, especially when changed. You’ll be stuck if you do. Enjoy it, I’m sure Michael will. It’s signed by Alexandra.’

Lily burst into a fit of giggles. ‘Will that anklet of yours stay on her when she changes, Twill?’

‘Of course,’ Twill replied. ‘It’s a variant of the kind of curse people use to fix malefic charms. I’d imagine Ceri could work out how to remove the chain if she really wanted to, but it wouldn’t be easy.’

‘And this libido thing’s not just directed at me, is it?’

‘Well, no, fae magic is often a little twisted.’

Ceri groaned again, and Lily said, ‘Michael is going to absolutely love the combination.’

‘I’m doomed,’ Ceri stated flatly.

‘And the North Hills wolves are coming tomorrow,’ Lily reminded her.

Ceri rolled resignedly onto her back and covered her face with her hands. She was so amazingly doomed it was untrue.

December 26th

Werewolves in human form were sprawled all over the lounge, basking in the warmth of the open fire. It was closing rapidly on midnight and most of them were at least partially naked. Lily, of course, had started out that way and was not looking back. Rather than her usual perch on Ceri’s chair, she was in Ceri’s lap. Ceri suspected that this was a combination of the fact that they were both feeling the effects of their anklets, and because they was mirroring the other big armchair.

Dane had a woman in his lap. She was tall and attractive with short, black hair and piercing blue eyes. Her body was all lithe muscle, but there was a set to her jaw which was a little like Ceri’s. She had not left Dane’s side since arriving on the back of his bike at midday, and he seemed to want to be close to her just as much as she did him.

Tabitha was on the rug in front of the fire with a man spooned against her naked body. They had not been apart since their arrival either, even though Kort had been missing for a lot less time than Aleena had. Ceri had been happy to see that Tabitha had her man back; Aleena had been the cherry on top. The pack had lost two people, but it had got an important one back. Things could have been much worse.

‘Ceri?’ Tabitha said. It was the first thing anyone had said in a while; another languid evening of alcohol and togetherness.

Ceri looked down and smiled at the she-wolf. ‘Tabby?’ she said back.

Tabitha nodded up at Dane and Aleena. ‘I said you were the one who’d bring him back, didn’t I? I just didn’t think you’d do it like this.’

Dane chuckled. ‘You’re a miracle worker, Ceri. I thought I had to avenge Aleena’s death, and you gave her back to me.’

‘You don’t remember any of it, Aleena?’ Lily asked.

‘Fragments,’ Aleena replied. She had a beautiful, resonant voice. ‘It’s like I had a nightmare for four years. I could remember more of it when I first woke up, but it’s just… fading away.’

‘Same here,’ Kort mumbled from behind Tabitha, his mouth busy kissing her neck.

‘Seems like it was the same for all of them,’ Dane said. ‘Most were Fenlanders. He must have converted half the pack. There were some others he must have picked up in France and western Germany.’

‘The police were planning to repatriate them,’ Aleena said. ‘Or deport them, depending on your point of view.’

‘Some have applied for asylum,’ Dane said, ‘and more than a couple of the Fenlanders suggested that they might be seeking a form of asylum as well.’

‘Huh?’ Ceri said, confused.

‘Seems a fair few were not exactly volunteers for Remus’ army,’ Dane explained, ‘and they weren’t too pleased to be handed over to a demon by their Alpha. They plan on going ronin and seeking out new packs. I mentioned we would be in town for a while, and that the Royals might consider taking people in after their losses.’ The Alpha smirked. ‘Maybe the North Hills can get back up to full strength again.’

‘I didn’t think the Fenlanders were very trustworthy,’ Lily commented.

‘No,’ Dane agreed, ‘but some of them will have joined up because they were just joining the local pack.’

‘We’ve seen the odd promising one at times,’ Tabitha commented, her statement punctuated by a quickly supressed squeak as Kort did something to her.

‘I’m hoping Alec’ll help with the interview process,’ Dane said. ‘He knows people. Can probably spot the problem ones better than me or Aleena.’

Ceri smiled. Alec had seemed to be a bit unhappy about things when they had left Stonehenge, unsure of how he stood with the pack and Dane. At least it seemed that Dane had forgiven the older wolf. ‘What happened to the wizards?’ she asked.

‘The ones we hit when we came in after you?’ Dane said. ‘They didn’t survive.’

‘What about the other one? Tanner his name was. He wasn’t at the circle for the ritual.’

Dane frowned. ‘Wayne? Was anyone at the camp when you checked it?’

‘No one, boss,’ Wayne replied from somewhere in the room.

Ceri grunted. ‘Shame,’ she said, ‘I’d have liked to have known who they were, but…’ She trailed off as soft lips began kissing her neck. She let out a tiny whimper. ‘You’re letting yourself initiate,’ she whispered to Lily.

‘Yes,’ the half-succubus said softly. Her breath was hot against Ceri’s ear and neck. Ceri’s skin tingled. ‘I don’t have to be afraid of my demon side with you. Not anymore.’ Her lips resumed their work against Ceri’s neck.

From the floor, Ceri could hear Tabitha making soft mewling noises, and Aleena had turned to Dane to mimic what Lily was doing to Ceri. ‘Here we go again,’ Ceri said with a contented sigh.

Battersea, December 27th

Ceri wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and sat down beside the fire. The tea was already being poured and Michael was sitting right beside her, a furry arm laid around her shoulders. He had been very pleased to see her in wolf form again.

‘You’re a little later than I thought, dear,’ Alexandra said. There was a knowing smile on her face.

‘Michael and I were…’

‘Renewing your acquaintance?’ Alexandra suggested.

‘Yeah,’ Ceri replied. ‘There was definitely some renewing.’

Alexandra handed her a mug of tea which she took gratefully. Without her fur it was a cold night. ‘The collar works,’ she said, touching the strip of studded leather around her throat. ‘Thank you.’

‘I’ll pass on the thanks,’ the Alpha replied. ‘The pack got the collar, and performed the ritual, but it was Luperca who provided the magic. You’ve done more than simply kill Remus, you’ve freed her from his influence. Things will change for the werewolves now. You’ve done us a great favour.’

‘I was just helping my friends, Alexandra,’ Ceri said.

The old woman smiled warmly. ‘I know, child, that’s what makes it special. You’ll be welcome in our territory for as long as you wish to come. I hope you’ll continue to learn.’

‘I plan to,’ Ceri said. ‘Things worked out better than I could have hoped. The future’s pretty bright from here.’

Alexandra smiled. ‘For now it is,’ she said.

Ceri frowned and drank her tea. There was a slightly ominous quality to the statement which she did not want to explore right now. Right now, she was drinking tea among werewolves who were free of a malign influence for the first time in two thousand years. Despite the cold, she felt warm and happy, and nothing the old soothsayer could say was going to change that.

Kennington, December 31st

Once again, High Towers was crammed with people, but this time to celebrate the birth of a new year rather than the anniversary of Ceri’s birth. Pretty much the same people were there again as well. Naira had come with the dancers from the Collar Club having become more or less fixed at the hip to Jasmine. Alexandra had regretfully declined, but had not just given Michael permission to skip the pack’s celebrations, but had told him he was representing the Battersea wolves; it was his duty to have a good time. Catherine and Stefan had come; Catherine had decided that the Royals would have a New Year party on the first full moon of the year. Kate Middleshaw was there in a shorter dress than she had worn to Ceri’s birthday, and this time the Radcliffs had come.

The snow outside was thick and still falling, and the fires had been lit in both the lounge and the study. The body heat of dancing people was keeping the hall quite warm enough without additional heating. Alec had been running a ferry service during the early part of the evening, using Carter’s Range Rover to get people from the local tube stations to the house. Ceri watched as he finally put the car keys aside and looked around trying to figure out what to do next. Walking up to him with a bottle of beer, she handed it over and said, ‘Thanks for doing that, Alec?’

‘No problem,’ he replied lifting the beer to her in thanks.

‘So,’ Ceri said, ‘are you avoiding the North Hills wolves, or just not feeling too much like partying?’

Alec looked at her. ‘Too damn perceptive,’ he grumbled. ‘Bit of both?’

‘Not feeling like partying because you’re having to avoid Dane?’ Ceri gave him a slap on his silk-shirted arm. ‘Talk to him, Alec. You cost him a lot of friends, but he got one of them back. A really important one. I think he wants to discuss some other stuff with you too. Talk to him.’

‘I, uh…’ Alec began.

‘You talk to him,’ Ceri said, ‘or I’ll get Cheryl and Lily to gang up on you.’

‘Okay, okay!’ he said, retreating toward the stairs. ‘I know when I’m beaten.’

‘Damn right,’ Ceri said, grinning, and turned, wiggling and dancing her way through the throng of were-creatures and waitresses who occupied much of the hall floor. Dressed in the teddy Lily had bought her for Christmas and a skirt which barely covered her behind, she felt more than a few hands in places she might have objected to in other circumstances. Tonight… well she had probably had sex with half the people there anyway.

Kate and the Radcliffs were in the kitchen, along with Twill, Lily, and Michael. Michael was in human form and, as seemed to be typical of him when he was not covered in fur, he looked a little uneasy. Possibly it was his clothes, the same shirt and shorts he had worn to visit the lab which looked a little scruffy compared to everyone else’s party outfits. Alternatively it was that Lily, in her Christmas dress, was draped around him in a rather possessive manner. Lorna looked a little bemused at the half-succubus’ behaviour as well, despite the fact that she was draped around her husband in a similar way.

Ceri headed straight for Michael and Lily, snuggling up to her mate on the other side from Lily. ‘I hope you guys aren’t going to spend the entire evening in the kitchen,’ she said.

‘We’re being sensible,’ John replied, ‘and eating before we start into the alcohol.’

‘Not that I’ll be getting drunk,’ Lorna said.

‘Don’t bet on it,’ Lily said. ‘There’s Syn in the fridge. It just needs warming through and we have a water bath ready to do that. Alec said he’d mix cocktails if you wanted.’

Lorna giggled and John laughed. ‘We shouldn’t stay too late,’ he said. ‘The weather’s foul out there and…’

‘You can stay over if you want,’ Ceri said. ‘I think everyone else is. Cheryl will likely end up in the spare bedroom with Carter and Alec, but we have got some bedrolls set up in the dungeon if you want some privacy. No problems with light in the morning.’

‘The… dungeon?’ Lorna asked, blinking. Vampires did not blush any more than succubi, but Lorna gave the distinct impression she was blushing, even without the colour change.

‘It’s… a long story,’ Ceri replied. ‘We have a dungeon and you can sleep down there if you don’t want to head home tonight.’

‘We’ll see how it goes,’ John said.

‘And I’ll take one of those cocktails any time I can get one,’ Lorna added. Her gaze turned to Michael as Lily disengaged from him to sort out the artificial blood. ‘You’re a werewolf, Michael?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Please,’ the vampire said, ‘it’s Lorna. You seem less… confident than the others’

Ceri felt like she had to defend her mate. ‘Michael’s just one of those wolves that’s more comfortable in fur,’ she said.

Lorna shrugged. ‘Then why not…’

‘I’d only be able to talk to the other wolves,’ he said, ‘and Ceri. Seems kind of unsociable. Besides, uh, I feel a bit out of my depth anyway. I live in the park, or on the streets, don’t really socialise with humans much, and my clothes are a bit…’ He plucked at his shirt. ‘I’m underdressed.’

Lorna giggled and looked down at the little black dress she had decided to wear. ‘No, I’m underdressed, Ceri is very underdressed, and Lily is practically naked.’ Lily giggled in turn, placing a bottle of red liquid into a pan of water on the stove.

‘Chances are,’ Ceri said, ‘clothing will be optional by the end of the night.’ She grinned at Lorna’s expression. ‘The optional is entirely optional, it’s just… well, werewolves, strippers, waitresses from a nightclub… one thing leads to another…’

Lorna smiled. ‘Oh, it’s not that,’ she said. ‘My underwear doesn’t really match.’

January 1st

The lounge was warm and comfortable, and had once again become the place to hide from the orgy going on in the hall. Not that it was entirely free of that in the lounge. Lorna was tipsy again, and her underwear did, indeed, not match. Ceri was a little surprised to note that John did not seem displeased at his wife’s state of dress, but then he was a little drunk too.

‘So,’ Cheryl said from her position in Carter’s lap, ‘you’re going to write up the paper on the werewolf cascade pulse this month?’

‘Uh-huh,’ Ceri replied. She was in Michael’s lap, her feet over the side of the chair. Lily was absently playing with her toes and at some point her skirt had gone missing. Then again, so had Michael’s shirt. ‘I’ll write that up, scan the foxes, compile all the data, and then write up the thesis. Should be wrapped… March?’

‘If you girls are sober enough to be thinking about this,’ Alec commented, ‘you need another drink.’ Cheryl looked rather pleased to be referred to as a “girl.” A few seconds later she was handed a glass of whiskey.

‘Are you trying to get me drunk so you can take advantage of me, Alec?’ Cheryl asked coyly.

‘Do I have to?’ he replied.

‘I sincerely hope not,’ Carter said. ‘Have you considered what you plan to do after that, Ceri?’

‘Uh… no, not really. Depends on what money is available and whether Cheryl still needs an assistant.’ Ceri’s fingers were absently playing with Michael’s hair and he was reacting to it in the expected manner.

‘I’ll need an assistant,’ Cheryl said, ‘if we can get funding to work on the zero-point generator. The university is a little wary about the technology I’m proposing.’

‘Can’t think why?’ Ceri said. Lily’s fingers were stroking her ankles and playing with the chain.

‘Because we almost blew the city up last time we ran it?’ Cheryl suggested.

‘Oh,’ Ceri said dismissively, ‘that.’ There was a rumble of laughter from around the room.

‘You think it’ll work?’ Carter asked.

‘Yes,’ Cheryl and Ceri said at the same time. They looked at each other and giggled.

‘Something can be arranged I’m sure,’ Carter said. ‘It’s been quite a year. Let’s hope this new one is a little less stressful.’

Cheryl raised her glass. ‘I’ll certainly drink to that,’ she said.

‘To a quiet new year,’ Carter said, raising his own tumbler.

Ceri raised her own glass. It had been a hell of a year. She had become a sorceress, saved the world, freed a goddess, but the most important thing to her was the group of people sat around her, alive and well after all that had happened. ‘To new friends, and old ones,’ she said. ‘Cheers!’

###

About The Author

The first book I ever wrote was typed, on one of those strange mechanical things with a ribbon. You remember those, right? Typewriters. It was bad, but I was fifteen or thereabouts. I haven’t stopped writing fiction of one kind or another since. The Thaumatology Series is the first set of books I believe I can put in front of other people for their enjoyment.

Out in the world, I write computer software. For relaxation, when I’m not writing, I play online computer games. I’ve been a geek for as long as I can remember. I’ve even played role-playing games, and done live action role-play. Magic, though, has always fascinated me; not doing it, I don’t believe in it. The theory and practice of it, however, is fascinating, and from that kind of mind-set, someone like Ceri just seems to flow.

When I grow up, I’d like to be an astronaut.

For More Information

The Thaumatology Blog: http://thaumatology.wordpress.com

Look Out For

Legacy, the third novel in the Thaumatology Series.

Table of Contents

Part One: The Science of Magic

Part Two: The Wolves of London

Part Three: The Fair One

Part Four: Ragnarök

Part Five: Yule