Serving the Council

Thanks to my editor cannd, and as a warning there is a scene that is both violent and cruel, there to establish the mindset of a character, but if you wish skipping is an option

Three months to the fullest moon summer 2019.

***

The beta walked up to Leon. "My Alpha, there has been no word on the location of The Beast since the enforcers where ambushed."

"No word at all?"

"No."

Leon looked over to Lily and pondered, "Of all other enforcers, he is the one I would have expected to return, no matter how injured."

"As would I have," answered Lily. "I wonder where he is."

***

ONE MONTH THE FULL MOON

"A month to the mating and my best warrior is still missing?"

"Yes, my Alpha, we cannot find any sign of him, nor has his body been found either."

Lily stood and watched Leon pace the room while talking to himself out loud, pondering ways to mate with one of the daughters of Roux.

"Leon, no one has put a claim on the younger one and if you mate her you become linked to the line and can work on eliminating the sister and Karl."

"Yes, I have thought of that, but do you think it would work?"

"Yes it would, no one knows of your first attempt on the bloodline and with me to muddle the minds of other challengers, you should win easily."

***

THE FULL MOON NIGHT

The Elders asked if there were any challenges or claims on the daughter of Roux, Allysin.

None in the gathered mass of weres called out to challenge Karl for the rite to mate Allysin.

Ashlynn stood and watched her sister approach the raised platform and disrobe. Looking over at her father, she asked with a childlike innocence, "Father, do I have to watch this?"

"No, you do not. If you wish you and Anna can join the warriors on the outer sides as guards."

Ashlynn turned and motioned to Anna, her appointed protector, that was what she wished to do. They set off with Vanya, her father's sergeant at arms and best warrior. As they walked, Anna looked down on her charge and said, "It will not be long until you are eighteen and males can make claims on you , you do realize that?" At first all Ash did to acknowledge the remark was nod, then she turned to look up at Anna and said, "I have met the male I wish to mate with recently, but I do not know if he will feel the same."

"And who is that?"

"You met him once, not scant months ago, for a moment."

"THE BEAST!"

"Anna, he is not a beast, I sensed that in meeting him."

Anna thought to herself that she must talk to Roux about this revelation and said to Ash, "How can you say that when you met him for mere moments?" With typical youthful assurance Ash answered "I just know!"

***

DEEP IN THE WILDS OF CANADA late spring 2026

A large form moved towards the two men who were holding a child between them, their voices carrying, "After we are done, kill her and bury her and no one will ever find her."

With sudden yet quiet fury the creature burst out of the tree line and hit the man on the left of the child in the head, crushing his skull. Soon, the other man met the same fate.

The child, who could have been no more than eleven or twelve, just stood and stared into space. She didn't look at the men who had held her, nor did she look at the massive animal standing before her.

With a surprising gentleness, the creature nudged the girl, getting her attention. It dropped its head and she instantly hugged it around the neck, her arms not even close to fully circling his neck.

With care, the creature shifted itself and encouraged her to climb up onto its neck and shoulders. Holding on tight, she rode it through the woods. Feeling the girl shivering, the creature moved as fast as it could, soon approaching a set of buildings deep in a small clearing near a river.

The creature let out a rumbling sound and a small man with a cane came from one of the structures calling out as he walked, "Ah,

Issohko

, you're back."

The creature lowered itself to the ground and gave a slight shake, the little girl, sensing that it wanted her to get off, slid to the ground and stood next to it.

She reacted silently as the animal which she had just ridden changed shape and became a man who spoke, "Grandfather, I have just killed two men who were about to kill this child."

The young girl stared at the two of them and it was obvious, even to her young eyes, that the two could not be related.

The old man was obviously first nation and the man/thing that had rescued her was obviously not. The man who had rescued her watched her expressive face as she pondered this. He said, "Let me get some clothes and from your reaction, it seems that the fact that my grandfather and I are obviously not blood related perplexes you more than the fact that I just changed from an animal into a man."

Soon her rescuer returned dressed as you would expect a man in the mountains to.

The old man approached her finally and asked her for her name. When she did not answer right away, he reached out calmly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Worry not child, we are not going to hurt you." Sudden movement from the other man made her jump as she heard him speak, "Grandfather, get her into the storm house, someone is coming and they smell like the men I just killed."

The old man and the girl hurried into a low slung building as the younger man walked out to the edge of the compound. As he stood and looked into the woods, a group of men entered the edge of the clearing and caught sight of him. "Have you seen a young girl by any chance?" came a question from one of the group.

"No I have not," he answered.

As the men spoke amongst themselves, the younger man heard the words: Were, princess and dead. He knew that this meant one of two things, though why he felt this way he did not know, but it brought fleeting images of what he thought was a past he could not quite remember.

The group of men started to fan out and he knew he was in for a fight, so he decided to tell them he had heard them. "It is obvious you know that I am not human, but what is this talk of princess and death?" The eyes of one who seemed to be the leader grew large and changed color, causing a visceral feeling to rise up from his chest and realizing that he was truly in for a fight, he decided to try one last thing to calm the situation. "I do not know what you want with this girl, but I must tell you, if you do not leave here immediately, none of you will do so alive."

The leader of the group laughed, "One Were against a group of blood bound means it is you who will die!" Knowing that grandfather would realize the danger and act accordingly, the man charged at the vampire warriors. How he knew what they were, he didn't know, but somehow he knew that he had the knowledge to kill them all quickly. As he charged, he shifted in to his animal form and went after the leader, knowing that that one was the greatest threat and needed to be dealt with first.

The vampire's eyes changed colors and turned black and his fangs and talons came out, but his face showed the shock of recognition of what he faced. His only and last words were "HE LIVES!' echoed in the were's mind.

Of the seven vampires he faced, six died in the battle and one escaped. The injuries he had incurred in the fight were almost non-existent and heeled quickly. He returned to the camp and shifted back to his human form, calling out to the old man, "They are all dead except for one and I am sure that he will bring back more than I can fight."

The old man opened the door to the building and spoke, "Then we must leave and I think it is time I told you who I am and, more to the point, who you are." The young man looked at him and said, "What do you mean by that?" The old man sighed and looked right at him, "Your name is Joseph Catania and you are called, among other things, 'The Beast' and 'The bringer of death.' I am called, in its English translation, 'The ghost of the woods' and am one of the last of my kind. I'm a true shaman, what you would call a witch or warlock in the European way, and I think it's time I took you somewhere, as it seems the time I thought I had has run out."

***

I stood there and wondered what he meant by that, my battle with the vampires had brought back memories of what I once was, but they were fragmented and sparse.

Grandfather, I asked (despite him having given me his name, it still felt more appropriate to call him that) "Where do we need to go, and what of the girl?"

He answered me, "I believe she's not just a simple girl and if I am correct, she is the princess of the blood bound, last link to the old ones."

I looked at him, "What does that mean?"

He looked at me, "I will explain while we pack a few things, but first, go open the far barn and get the ranger ready to go." I turned and went to do as I was asked, hoping that answers would be forthcoming soon. As I walked, I noticed I had a shadow, the young girl, who now looked a little older than I first realized. "So who are you little one?" I asked. She just gazed back at me with two huge eyes and a sniffle, so I decided not to question her for a little while.

We got to the shed and pulled out the ranger, which was grandfathers little toy, an old military ATV/snow machine/whatever and it was pretty ugly, but it got grandfather where he needed to go, so who was I to disparage it. I got it running and drove it over to the cabin and when I got there grandfather was waiting. "You drive, and I will explain."

"Where to?" I asked. "Just take us to where I showed you the old caves a while back."

"Ok," I answered.

***

As we drove, he explained what he could.

Grandfather began speaking, "Grandson, you know I found you bloodied and battered two years ago. The reason I found you is because one of my gifts is foresight, which means I can see the future or more to the point, points in time where one action or inaction can lead to various outcomes." Joseph nodded his understanding. "Well, on the day I found you, I was actually waiting for the ambush that injured you. For the first time, not only did I have the vision, but the desire to force an outcome, and to do that , I had to take you so your leaders could not find you. I also put blocks in your memories so you could learn to be your own man. You were the killing arm of the REX of North America and his bitch of a mate. I have the ability to show you your entire past, but before I do that, I want you to meet someone, someone who can explain certain things better than I."

Joseph looked over at him and nodded, used to these kinds of statements. "But your finding our passenger today, well that changed everything, for while I saw you two meeting, it was not to happen for a while yet. You said that people wanted her dead and that means that something else I saw is closer to fruition than I, or those I am about to introduce you to, are comfortable with."

***

ELSEWHERE

Leon and Lily where watching a sparring match between two female weres who were in human form. Both of them were admiring the females' naked forms. As they watched from the seats above the sparring area, one of the other council members came up to them and Leon called down to the combatants, "Break for a moment."

"Yes, Michael, what is it?" "News, sire, the princess lives. Both teams failed in the mission and we know who she is with."

"And who is that?"

"Sire, she is with The Beast and they are with the ancient called Ghost."

"What!" spoke a startled Lily.

"And sire, it is The Beast who protected the vampire."

Leon and Lily looked each other, both in shock, but not because The Beast lived. They were in shock that he was protecting the vampire and that he was with one of the ancients made it even more troubling. Leon spoke, "Assemble the council in three hours." Michael bowed his head and went to do his REX's bidding.

"This is bad, Leon. If Joseph is with an ancient, it means he has had my spell broken and that is definitely not a good thing for us or our allies on the other councils." Leon , now both annoyed and worried, called out to the females weres, "A change, this is now a death match, with the usual choice to the vanquished."

Both women looked up at the REX in horror, knowing what that choice was, bare there throat and die, or become one of the "service" girls for the pack. Neither was a good choice in either of their opinions and both looked at the other and decided that they would be the winner. "Sire, can we fight in any form then?"

"Yes" answered Leon.

Both woman shifted into their hybrid forms and went at one another with vicious intent. After ten minutes of battle, the slightly smaller of the two ended up on her back with the other's teeth at her throat and shifted back to her human form and yielded.

Leon then asked her choice. "I prefer death," was her answer.

Leon looked down on her and made a decision. "Stay there, I honor your choice and I choose to carry out the sentence."

Both women looked at him, knowing this was the normal course of events. Leon hopped down in to the arena and told the loser to get on her hands and knees and face away from him. She complied and Leon knelt down behind her and ran his hands along her sides and back. "Are you sure that death is what you prefer?"

"YES!" was her answer.

Leon reached down and opened his pants, freeing his member. "I will honor your request, but first, as I know you have never lain with a man, I will make sure you do not die a virgin." Before she could voice her protest, Leon shoved his cock in to her dry ass. Burying himself deep inside her and ripping her sphincter.

As she screamed and protested, Leon pounded into her ass, all the time saying, "What a waste of flesh, what a waste." As he neared climax he reached up and put his hands on the sides of her head gripping her head tightly. He pounded as fast as he could until he climaxed, and snapped her neck and shot his load into her ass. After he finished, he pulled out and told the winner of the fight to suck it dry.

With revulsion, but knowing her life depended on following his order, she did so, cleaning the blood and semen from his cock. He reached and grabbed her head, forcing himself deep into her throat, causing her to choke.

Lily watched her mate's brutality with an appearance of dispassion, but loved it.

Neither saw another set of eyes watching the spectacle, or knew that because of it doom was already assured.

***

As they rode along, the old man continued to talk to Joseph.

"Grandson, I searched through your mind and suppressed many of your memories of what you were before we met. In doing so, I found out your whole history and the things that have happened to you. The people we are about to meet are ancients like me, people of great age and wisdom, ones who have, due that great age, chosen to remove and hide themselves from the world."

"Grandfather, even though we have lived these years out in the wild, how can people 'hide' from the world with satellites and such?"

"Joseph, you know that I could hide our home from those who traveled near to us, well the other ancients can do this as well and being that there are many of them, they can do so even more effectively."

Not quite understanding what he was being told, he decided to change the subject to the girl he had rescued.

"Grandfather," I asked, "what do you know of our little friend in the back, it is obvious that she is not a vampire, yet those I just fought referred to her as vampire princess?"

The old man answered me, "She is a chosen one and upon her eighteenth birthday she is to be turned. She'll be joined with the most powerful of the vampire families, because for a period after her change, she can give birth to a child of a vampire, an ability female vampires lose after a few years."

I pondered that and soon realized we were at the caves he had told me to go too. I drove into the opening of one of them and drove it in a few yards to hide the ranger. We got out and grandfather walked over to a small pool of water that lay in a depression on the wall of the cave, he murmured words that I did not understand and a face appeared in the water.

"Yes old friend, what do you want?" came a voice from the air.

"Homer, I need to come to sanctuary. And I have two people to come with me."

Homer's answered back, "And who are they?"

"The first is Joseph, also known as Leon's Beast, and the other is apparently a vampire princess." I whirled as I felt something behind me in the cave and saw an opening that had not been there scant seconds before.

Out stepped a smallish man who spoke, "Ghost, please come and bring your charges, it is apparent that what you foresaw is coming to pass."

The young girl looked terrified and had started to back away. I reached out and pulled her to the front of me, encircling her in my arms. "Whoever you are, just know that this small one is in my protection and I take that seriously," I said.

"I understand that completely, as Ghost has spoken of you to us, but never has he told us who you are."

I looked at Grandfather and he spoke, "Joseph, may I introduce you to Hermes, the messenger of the ancients. Hermes, do not annoy him, as even your fabled speed wouldn't serve you well against him." Hermes gave Ghost a questioning look. To which Ghost simply said, "He is vastly more than he appears."

Ghost motioned toward the opening and I looked down at my little charge, she just reached up towards my neck, so I bent and as she grasped me around the neck I put my arm under her legs and carried her into the opening.

It seemed as if we walked a mere few feet, and we exited another opening into a field surrounded by buildings. There were men and women walking around talking. Hermes walked towards a building that was slightly apart from the others and imposing. I followed along, glancing at my little charge as we went, wondering what else could happen to me this day.

As we entered a doorway, I had a flash of familiarity, as if I had walked through that door at another time. The hallway was short and opened onto an interior court. I glanced around noticing a few people were clustered around a small raised dais. Hermes led us towards it and the voices quieted as we approached.

We came to a stop behind the group and Hermes cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all standing there. As I was taller than my two companions and still in a protective frame of mind, I gently set the girl down to stand in front of me, and glanced to see if any others where in the room. As I did this, I noticed a man sitting on a chair on the dais and he looked straight at me as if he recognized me.

He spoke as those around him moved to either side of the chair. "Ghost, it's good to see you after so much time. We are only waiting for Diana to get here so we can talk." As we waited I looked at the group in front of me, again feeling a sense of déjà vu. I heard a person walk into the room, approaching me from behind, I turned to see who it was and I am sure I looked as pole-axed as I felt. There was no questioning the fact that I knew the face of the woman who stopped not five feet from me. It was a face that had haunted me from my memory and from a single picture.

"Mother," I said.

"Yes, my son, it is I," she answered.