The Prophecy

|| Chapter Twenty ||

The injured elder seemed tiny in the large bed and if not for the multitude of pipes attached to him and a selection of machinery, you would think that he was just having a very nice nap. But take a second look and you’d see the sallow tone of his skin, hear the painful rasp as he struggles to breathe, spy the scratches and bruises that seemed impervious to werewolf healing, and see the twitch of his eyelids and his fingers. He may have been napping but he looked like he was trapped in a nightmare.

Bea pulled up a chair and settled by his side, the Lycan’s copy of the aged volume in her hands. She ran a gentle finger down its spine and shuddered when a tingle ran down her back. The weight of the volume paired with the familiar smell of aged books brought some form of comfort to her even if there was something about it that made her hair stand on end. With this unexpected downtime, Bea might as well attempt to find another lead.

This particular volume traced the history of the Lycans and the origins of wolf kind. At the beginning of time, there were only Lycans. Werewolves evolved as close cousins of the Lycans when the humans moved in favour of farming permanent settlements, leaving behind their nomadic roots. It was safer to attempt to blend in and move amongst the community than to spend the next thousand years hiding away but to do that required the more human side of wolves to appear dominant. They needed to keep their wolves further at bay and to learn a certain kind of patience to deal with humanity.

With the expansion of civilisation, werewolves became the dominant species in number but what they got in numbers and comfort amongst humans, they traded with abilities from their wolf. The Lycans too had to learn to adapt. While today, they don’t seem much different, on the surface, than the run of the mill werewolves, there was still something about their aura that intimidated and made humans wary of them. They still kept away from humans, mostly, and only interacted when absolutely necessary. Unlike the werewolves, they haven’t evolved much from the early days and have kept the enhanced physical attributes, including the blessing, or curse, of longevity.

Eventually, Lycans learnt to shift in different ways. Instead of giving into their Lycans with each shift and taking on their true form, they learnt to shift into the more familiar wolves. The humans had more control in this form and were more docile, less dangerous and unpredictable. Now, the wolf seemed to be the preferred form when shifting but strong emotions tend to bring forth the more dangerous counterpart.

Dark Moon was the largest Lycan pack with small groups of Lycans scattered across the world. These groups were not formal packs and moved without an Alpha but instead of viewing them as rogues, Dark Moon accepted them as an affiliate of sorts. Further from the pack but still family.

Bea’s finger stopped at the start of the next page - The Transformation of a Werewolf.

Lycan mating is the full integration of two souls into one, of two wolves working in tandem. They will live, breathe, and die as one body.

Upon completion of the mating ritual, the mate of a Lycan will enjoy longevity for as long as their Lycan mate shall live. Their sounds will be forever entwined.  

If the true mate of a Lycan is a werewolf, the couple may choose to perform the ritual of the blue moon. Upon completion of the mating ritual and the ritual of the blue moon, the werewolf mate will awaken the Lycan within and truly discover their true potential. Their bond will be ironclad in body, mind, and soul.

At the bottom of the page, there was an illustration of the moon, in ombre tones ranging from a light grep, finishing off in deep charcoal. White and black diamonds surrounded the moon, rimmed in gold and glistening slightly in the light.

Despite having flipped through the volume dozens of times in the past few weeks to find answers, Bea had never even seen this page. She traced the moon lightly and reread the few lines of the blue moon ritual. Did she want to perform the ritual and “unlock” her inner Lycan? What does “unlocking the Lycan within” even mean? Did Alexander know about the ritual? Well, of course, he does. He’s over two centuries old after all. Did he perform the ritual with Olivia? But if their souls are meant to be entwined, why is he alive and why is she dead?

---

“Nothing, I can’t find anything.” Matthias groaned as he returned the book to the heaving shelf.

Jasper’s tan wolf woofed at him in agreement. He continued to sniff around the entryway of the Elder’s villa and along the shelves in the library. In wolf form, their senses were heightened, and Jasper wanted to reap the full benefit of this enhancement to see if he could sense anything out of the ordinary. A sharp scent entered his nostril and he sneezed involuntarily. He shook his head to try and clear his nose but sneezed again.

“Jas?” Matt called out.

“Sulphur,” he responded through their mind link. He followed the scent of sulphur, intending to find an origin point but the trail ended as abruptly as it began. Jasper continued to sniff around the skirting boards and made his way up the stairs towards the Elder’s living quarters. The scent of sulphur was intermittent on this floor but again, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact origin point. His Lycan scratched at him to be released and deep down he knew that he’d find more with him unleashed, but he fought it back. Padding back towards his clothes, he shifted back and dressed.

Matthias was sitting in an armchair surrounded by books he’d found of particular interest but the presence of the wrinkle between his eyebrows showed that he’d had as much luck as Jasper had.

“Couldn’t find anything else, Matt, just lots of sulphur.”

Matthias nodded at him, engrossed in the book he was reading, but then his eyes widened, and he snapped up to look at Jasper. “Hang on, did you say sulphur? And lots of it?”

“Yeah, intermittently around the place. We mustn’t have noticed it last night and it's faint now, but my wolf picked it up right away. Why?”

“What commonly uses or produces sulphur, Jas?”

“I don’t – oh. Witches and warlocks.”

Matthias jumped to his feet and headed to the door, gesturing at Jasper to follow. “We already know that they’re involved in this for some reason. They must’ve done something to mask the scent of the vampires.”

“Couldn’t they just blip in and out anyway? Why do they need any of that witchcraft?”

“They can only blip short distances, so they’d need a starting point somewhere. We’re right in the middle of the territory so I’d bet they would’ve had to elude security measures, cross the boundary on foot and then lay low in the village. We need to find where they blipped from within the village.”

“Wait,” Jasper grabbed his shoulder to stop him, “so what you’re saying is there’s a traitor in the pack.”

Matthias’ grave look was the only answer Jasper needed.

---

Alexander sat patiently on the couch, scrolling through his emails on his phone while he waited for Ricci to finish up with his Beta. Upon arriving earlier tonight, the Alphas had retired to Ricci’s private office to discuss their next steps, while Jasper and Matthias had returned to the library to poke around for more leads.

“Raduna I guerrieri per un briefing dopo pranzo,” Ricci muttered lowly, “il cortile andra bene.”

(Gather the warrior for a briefing after lunch, the courtyard will be fine.)

“Si, Alpha,” Giulio replied. He bowed briefly and exited the office.

Ricci rifled through the papers on his desk, searching for some document and have no luck other than to knock over his steaming cup of coffee over another stack of documents.

“Fanculo!” he swore, jumping up to avoid the torrent of his hot beverage while frantically trying to save his documents.

“You need an assistant, Antonio,” Alexander chuckled, still scrolling through his phone.

“At this rate, I need another Beta,” Ricci found himself a towel to mop up the table but grumbled at his now soaked ledgers.

Alexander strode over to examine the wet documents and squinted at a list of petty complaints from the pack. He looked between the list of sundry needs and the macho Italian alpha standing before him.

“You don’t need another Beta you need a mate to take care of this shit.”

Ricci snorted, “You don’t say. This pack needs a Luna to handle the more delicate internal s**t and they’re stuck with me.” He settled back into his seat and leaned his head back, “I’ve been searching for 10 years, Alex, I haven’t had much luck.”

“She’ll come. I waited over 200 years for Bea, gave up for a little bit thinking I’d never find her, and now I’m not even sure how I’ve gone this long without her.”

“Being me doesn’t make it easy. I know my reputation precedes me; you should see the looks other packs give me when I’m around. They all think I’m cruel, bloodthirsty, but -”

“- but you are who you are to protect your pack.” Alexander finished for him, understanding.

Ricci nodded.  

There was a tap on the door and Giulio slipped back in followed closely by Matthias and Jasper.

“Well, have you found anything?”

“Yes and no,” Matthias started. He gave the group a quick rundown of their discovery and his suspicions regarding the presence of the sulphur.

“That explains how they got past the patrols but we need to find their base within the pack.” Jasper finished, “I may have an idea for that.”

The men settled in for a quick discussion and moments later, three wolves flanked by Alexander and Ricci emerged from the office and headed out of the packhouse. With their snouts to the ground, the wolves lead the group towards the centre of the village.

Matthias woofed towards Alexander who translated, “There’s a faint scent of sulphur but it’s slowly getting stronger as we head into the village.”

They continued through the village square, drawing curious glances from pack members. Aside from these 3 overgrown wolves seeming to go around in circles to look for a comfortable spot, it looked like just another regular afternoon. Families lounged on the grass and young pups giggled, reaching for Giulio as he passed them by. He obliged, pausing in front of the pup and licking her gently on her cheek, earning herself a giggle.

“Come on Giulio,” Ricci chided. He sounded stern but he smiled at the giggling pup. Giulio woofed and continued his nasal inspection of the square.

“It’s strong here,” Jasper yipped. He took off on a run with the group following closely behind, skidding to a stop in front of a building.

Its exterior matched the rest of the buildings around it; brickwork with wood accents and La Panetteria carved into a large wooden sign hanging over the door. The scent of fresh-baked bread seemed to form a seductive hand to lure them in the door.

Ricci entered the bakery, holding the door open for the rest of the entourage to enter. A young pup stood behind the counter wearing a white apron over a flour-stained blue shirt. He was busy kneading some dough but paused and stared agape at the new customers who’d just entered.

“Buongiorno, Alpha, uh Alpha Knight. What can I get you?” He stuttered. The boy couldn’t have been more than 15 or 16, clearly, an apprentice baker working his shift after school.

Jasper woofed and pushed past the group and past the “staff only” door. He stopped to sniff at the boy momentarily and squinted at him but continued his investigation towards the kitchen. The wolves dispersed to cover as much ground when Giulio woofed from within the walk-in freezer.

He dragged a linen bag out from under a shelf and nudged it towards Ricci. The contents of the bag clinked lightly and came tumbling out of the bag when Ricci reached out to pick it up. An assortment of powders, herbs, and liquids clattered on the ground accompanied by a tattered sheet of parchment. Jasper and Matthias growled and bared their teeth at the items, recognising the jars as supplies for a spell.

“Boy, come here!” Ricci barked, not taking his eyes off the items.

The apprentice rounded the corner and entered the room. He paled and shook visibly as the three wolves stalked towards him and backed him into a wall. “Y- yes, Alpha??” He stuttered.

Ricci turned to glare at him and pointed towards the offending items on the ground. “Explain these.”

The boy didn’t respond, just continued to stare at the three wolves baring their teeth before him. He was pressed up against the wall and it looked as though he was either attempting to become one with it or he was trying very hard to break the wall so he could pass through and escape. Either way, he didn’t hear his alpha’s question.

“Boy!” Ricci barked again.

This time, the boy turned to find the two alphas staring down at him and he swallowed visibly.

“I – I – I don’t know Alpha, I’ve n-never seen them before,” he stuttered.

Giulio barked at him and growled menacingly causing the boy to wince.

“So why is it in here. Who else has access back here?” Ricci continued.

“J-j-just me, a-alpha. And the – the – the master baker, sir, Fran-Francesco.”

Ricci’s eyes went wide. “Francesco DiNardi?”

“Yes,” the boy nodded.

“Francesco DiNardi, the Elder?” Ricci pressed.

The boy, puzzled, just nodded in response.

“What’s wrong?” Alexander asked, concerned.

“We have to get to the medical bay. Now!”