The Bloody Masquerade

Rain began to fall heavily as I ran back to Nora’s house and I was shivering but not from the cold. The cries of Lucius and his pain haunted me like a phantom in my mind. Shame, guilt, and fear was enveloping me. Shame and guilt for hurting Lucius so. Fear for the pain that I would undoubtedly feel at losing the man I loved. I didn’t want to feel any of this. I just wanted to hide from it all. I then realised I wouldn’t have to feel that sort of pain. I shouldn’t have to feel shame for a job I completely, I didn’t even know Lucius that well. I also had nothing to fear as I had no one that close to me. I breathed heavily and tried to cling to those ideas. It helped a little.

In the darkness and curtain of water I could see the fake wolves making their way back slowly. Some of them would probably already be feeling the effect of Murray’s death. With the original wolf now dead, the created will begin to fade. The fakes will become human. Sometimes it takes minutes, other times it takes days. Either way these fakes will be forced to return to their normal life and mortality. Or death, if they had been alive for centuries. Needless to say Nora will chase them from her house and rapidly try to heal her wounded Pack.

My hair was sticking to my cold face by the time I reached the house. It was darker in the storm and almost invisible on the horizon of black clouds but even so I could tell something was wrong.

I picked up my pace and wiped the water from my pale cold face, almost running when the front door open and figure came darting down the uneven steps. Nora came to a stop before me, wet and with muddy bare feet. She looked worried, frightened even.

“I am sorry about Murray. Susan shot him.” I said softly, thinking it was the death of her mate that was the cause behind that expression.

“I know what happened to Murray but he is not the problem.” Nora said and wrung her hands tightly. “Eugene has gone missing.”

I swear my world fell apart from those words. My heart virtually stopped while a horrible cold numb feeling took over me. Nora was speaking fast now and I only vaguely picked up what she was saying. Something about a note.

"Show me it.” I demanded.

Nora only nodded then turned and fled back into the house. She shut the door behind me to keep the rain and now howling wind out before she ushered me into her private rooms. She got me to sit down then went to get me a towel but not before handing over a small scrap of paper that was sitting quietly on the coffee table.

I stared down at it for a long time before I opened it. Written within it were only a single sentence scribed in handwriting I didn’t recognise. It just said simply, ‘Unless you wish more deaths to bloody your hands, come out to me.’ Eugene had been lured out obviously but it both angered and saddened me that Eugene felt he was to blame for Martha’s and Diana’s deaths. He wasn’t. He wouldn’t need protecting if it wasn’t for Ethelinda.

“He just vanished. He left my rooms to wonder around now that it was safe for him to do so but he never came back.” Nora said sadly, handing me the towel for my hair. “The Pack is out looking for him and Alexis is worried sick.” She paused and sighed. “He blames himself.”

“Eugene was meant to be safe as long as he remained in doors.” I said blankly, trying my hardest to stop the shaking and rising panic.

Eugene was gone. Anna had finally taken him away. This horrible thought left a void in me. He was going to be so scared and Ethelinda will possess him, killing the boy. My throat closed at the thought. Eugene was going to die. He was going to die if I didn’t get to him quickly.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I stood sharply and darted for the door. Nora cried out and rushed after me with speed I never thought she possessed. When her outstretched fingers brushed my arms I instinctively retaliated and burst into moths before her. I only felt a slither of her astonishment as my mind vanished then reappeared outside, flinging my body on the floor when it gathered once again. I pushed myself up onto my feet and ran. I didn’t know where. My emotions were running rampant and the single thought of Eugene was ruling my body. I had to find him. I didn’t want him to die.

I ran aimlessly until I heard the wet muddy thuds of something coming from the west. I barely had time to avoid the bulk of fur as I had been so unfocused I hadn’t heard Alexis coming. He rammed into my side and caged me to the floor.

I stared up at him, glowering now from panic and rage. “I need to find Eugene.” I snapped.

His bared his fangs and wrinkled his snout in annoyance. “You’re going nowhere, not until you’ve calmed down.”

“Eugene will die if I don’t find him!” I yelled. My voice was breaking as tears threatened to flow.

“He will be fine for a couple of days.” He said sharply. “We need to find him and Italy is the place we need to go. But we go calmly and with a cool head.”

We. No. I didn’t want us to go. I wanted me to go. I wanted to get far away from Alexis. I would get Eugene and guard him someplace safe alone. I should never have called Alexis back to me.

“I go to Italy.” I said firmly.

He looked taken aback for a moment then growled softly. “We go together. You can’t do this alone.”

“I can and I will.” I snapped. “I don’t need you.”

The growl stopped sharply and for a moment he just stared at me with his soft blue eyes. “You need me.”

My eyes narrowed and I glared hotly as I pushed him away. He didn’t resist and let me stand, shifting slowly and trailing after me as I strode deeper into the woods and through the heavy rain.

“You need me, Augusta.” He repeated louder.

“I don’t. I don’t need anyone, Alexis.”

He laughed humourlessly. “You do. You need Eugene. Why do you think you’re so desperate to get him back?”

“I am desperate because he is taken by the woman who has killed two allies. I want him back to keep him safe. My duty demands it of me.” I said sharply.

“It’s not just your duty. You love the boy, as if he was your own.” Alexis pressed firmly.

I stopped abruptly and whirled on him as the words of my grandmother began to echo like gunshots in my head. “I don’t. I can’t. He is just my duty. I don’t love him!” I said wildly, glancing that the wet floor beneath me.

“You do Augusta.”

“I don’t! I’m not allowed. If I love him it means I am living.” I was panicking now as realisation was beginning to sink in. “I’m only allowed to exist.”

“You’re allowed to live, Augusta. You don’t have to follow your grandmother’s laws so rigidly.” He said in a softer tone.

Lucius’ pained cries suddenly filled my ears and tears began to break free from my eyes. “But I don’t want to love anyone. Not if it hurts so much to lose them.”

“That’s called living, Augusta.” Alexis said with that sudden gentle smile I missed so much. He cupped my face and wiped way my tears, covering his thumb in blood in the process. “I was scared Augusta. After nearly loosing you to that fire I have been terrified. I didn’t want to feel that fear again so I tried to hold you away.” His smile twitched. “It was hard. You’ve been acting so affectionately towards me recently that you have been very hard to ignore.” He shook his head lightly, shaking water from his hair. “But I’m not going to let fear stop me. I am going to love you, Augusta, whether you like it or not.”

I was just silent but his words soothed me and calmed my panicked mind. His strange yo-yoing actions towards me finally made sense. He loved me still but didn’t want to get hurt, just like I didn’t want to feel pain at loss. We were the same. But he was stronger than me. He was willing to hurt if it meant feeling such bliss. I glanced at his eyes before I rapidly came to a decision. I pressed my mouth against his, hard and filled to the brim with affection but only for a couple of seconds. When I pulled back, an expression of shock and pure pleasure was plastered over his wet face.

“I will try to live a little too then.” I said, smiling at him. “And we go get our boy back together.”

He smiled broadly and leaned forward to let the tip of his nose stroke my cheek and let his hands slip from my face to hips, tugging my close to him. “We head to Italy then.” He kissed my mouth lightly and very hesitantly, as if I was going to push him away. “We’ll get him back, Augusta. I promise.” He promised sombrely then pressed his lips against mine.

Very quickly did we progress from simple kisses to something far more passionate and lustful. I hadn’t realised how much I had wanted this, how much I loved Alexis, until now. I almost regretted not doing something about this five years ago. All my worries and fears, even my grandmother’s voice, had fled before his fervent kiss and possessive embrace. Feeling this much joy and contentment from a single man astounded me but also made me quite happy at the guilty pleasure of finally having someone to love, of having a true family.

I would guard this man. I wouldn’t let anyone, woman or death, take him from me. He was mine to love, to argue with and worry over. And we would go get our son back together.