Blood Lineage

Weeks had passed and the Madame’s happiness seemed to grow. Finally the night of the full moon had come. Shrue had the house cleared and most of the staff sent home. Only Selia was there for the night. The orphan Shrue had brought had come to adjust to the new home. She wore gowns fit for a young duchess and ran with a smile on her face down the halls. She had indeed brought a new vitality to the household, but this would be the first night that she brought potential terror.

Selia took the child’s hand into hers, “Come on ‘Mati… your mother wants to see you.”

The child looked up at Selia, “Yes ‘mam.”

Her language skills had improved significantly over the little bit of time she had spent in the household. Uzumati was very smart and very perceptive.

“What is it that mother wants?” Uzumati asked looking up at Selia.

Selia returned the statement with a hint of sadness to her tone, “tonight is your night dear.”

Uzumati’s smile dropped. She had heard Selia and her mother talking about this behind closed doors. It took a few weeks for her to get her mother to open up and finally admit to her what was wrong.

“Wolf’s blood…” Uzumati muttered.

“Yes,” Selia responded, “wolf’s blood.”

Uzumati tightened her embrace on the hand of Selia. Right now she wanted nothing more than to be near her mother. To be wrapped in her warm arms and hear the lovely songs that she sang to her. They walked down the hall to the Madame’s bedroom and entered. Shrue turned to the girl.
Uzumati ran to the arms of her mother, “Mama… is it time?” She asked.

The Madame nodded, “yes, it is time.”

Shrue picked up Uzumati into her arms and began to sing. As time passed the child’s eyes closed and she fell asleep in her new mother’s lap. Selia turned and locked the door and windows to the room.

“And now we wait,” Selia stated.

“Yes,” the Madame responded, “and now we wait.”

The sun descended beneath the purple hued clouds and night over took the skies. The Madame clutched onto her child with worry. The moon rose high to the sky and its pale light caste upon the girls face.

Nothing happened. The child remained asleep, and remained calm.

The Madame looked to Selia curiously, “nothing is happening… I thought wolf children turned to vicious monsters with the light of the full moon.”

This is no normal wolf child… the Madame thought to herself. A loud thump echoed down the halls.

“Someone has entered the building…” The Madame stood carefully holding the child.

Selia nodded, “do you wish me to inspect?”

The Madame gave a silent response of affirmation.

Uzumati’s eyes snapped open suddenly and she began to squirm. She no longer wished to be held by her mother and made an effort to escape the grasp she was in. A strange new scent had entered the household, and she wanted to see what it was.

“Let go Mama,” Uzumati struggled. Her eyes were aglow, almost as if illuminated on their own instead of by the moon light. The tattoos on her face began to shine through a bright red color. As Selia opened the door to the room Uzumati ran out faster than the two women could move to grab her. Her speed seemed to pick up, her senses heightened. She ran down the hall to the middle of the home where the grand stair case was at.

She took a few steps down to the middle of the stair case and peered at strange man that had entered. He stepped forward surprised to see the child on the stairs. Uzumati scooted forward carefully down each stair.

The girl was elegantly dressed. She had a satin green gown with expensive lace trimmed around the collar and sleeves. The base had been hemmed to fit just above the ankle showing off a shinny leather buckled boot that extended far into the skirt. This little girl had been in such a careful manner that one was left to assume that this could only be the new child the Madame had picked up. Her eyes were strange and her face was foreign.

The man smiled at the girl and waved. She stopped four steps above the ground eyeing the man with suspicion. Often the lady of the household would regale Uzumati with tales of the man she served. A tall man, thin in body weight, black perceptive eyes, and light brown hair almost blonde. Here was a man with a confident stature and one whose existence could not go unnoticed. He matched the Madame Shrue’s descriptions.

“Dubal?” Uzumati spoke with a gentle tone, similar to the one his mistress would speak to him in. It was a careful tone, one that didn’t add offence, but did add trust behind the voice.

Dubal revealed his surprise since the child had correctly recognized him, “and you must be our new little girl.”

He held a look that seemed to welcome the new stranger in his home. Uzumati could still smell her mother’s scent on him which further strengthened her suspicions about the identity of the man she addressed. She kept a look of simple reservation about her as she walked to the man.

“I’ve heard about you my little one,” he said in a voice that was almost a whisper. She peered up at him with curiously with those strange yellow eyes of hers that signified she was not the same as him.

He reached behind his back moving his arms out of her sight. For a brief moment panic took the girl and she stepped back into the darkness. Unsure of the immediate movements or this man Uzumati did not know how she fared in his presence and decided it best to take a more defensive stance.

“No, no,” the man spoke recognizing the change in her posture, “look.”

From his back he pulled forward a small little doll. The little girl’s eyes widened as she released a sigh of relief. A large smile broke across her face as she reached out for the doll.

Dubal handed it to her then carefully pat the top of her head. His lady certainly could not have adopted a queerer child. He allowed an amused complexion to guide the features of his physiognomy as he continued to observe at the child’s red tattoos; what a strange girl indeed.

The Madame nervously approached the stair case, “Dubal…” she gasped.

The man looked up to see his lady above him. “Ah, Amelia, please come down. We have much to discuss.”

Shrue gulped anxiously as she could not ascertain whether or not he’d react as kindly toward her desire to keep the foreign child.

“Mama!” Uzumati turned with an eager grin splayed from cheek to cheek. Her teeth seemed sharper now but that is all that had altered of her physical features. The Madame breathed relief when she saw Uzumati turn with a doll in her hands.

Dubal looked up in order to speak to his woman, “I talked with the butler on his way out. You seemed to be in a hurry to get the servants out of the home before I arrived. I happened to catch the reason before entering. A new child my lady?”

The Madame hesitated.

Dubal looked back at the little girl, “a pure blood werewolf at that. My you bring home interesting company my love.”

The Madame stood still terrified at the prospect of Dubal’s anger. His kindly appearance was a façade he was more than capable of maintaining until they were away from the ears of the girl, “My lord…” she whispered cautiously.

Dubal picked up the small child into his arms and examined her she played with her new doll, “ah, she is perfect. Years and years of intricate breeding. A desert princess. She can maintain her human form and blend perfectly into our society. With the pack she would have learned to utilize her wolf form as well. She will grow, and she will age, but she will never die of any human death. To have a near immortal in the home, she’ll not be easy to raise.”

The woman nodded quick to agree with her master, if the child was a true wolf lord then the pedigree certainly was able to explain why she had such self control. A young pure blooded werewolf.
“Then she is a daughter… of the queen’s very first summons? One of the first pure-bred children of the clans… that would mean…” The Madame felt her words captured in her throat suddenly realizing just what Uzumati is.

Dubal drew a serious tone to his voice. “Did you not here the news? One of the queen’s dearest pets had been stolen. The mother was brought back as a corpse to the queen, but the puppy was never found.”

With the words Dubal spoke Shrue completed her descent down the stairs to reach out and return the child in her arms. Uzumati felt nervousness overcome her mother, a foreign worried sensation she had never felt in her mother before.

“What’s wrong?” the little girl spoke.

Dubal knelt down next to the Madame and gave the illusion of a smile while speaking in a dark tone, “well youngest one, it would seem that we have formed a family.”

The Madame’s grasp on Uzumati tightened but she felt a sense of relief wash through her. Madame Shrue was grateful for Dubal’s words. Even though he spoke in a harsh tone he had affirmed that Uzumati would be here to stay.

“Oh thank you Dubal…” she muttered in a whisper barely audible to the ears of the human near her.

Dubal nodded in response to his woman. He had been taken the first time he had laid eyes on the elegant woman, and even now he was still taken. So far in love was he that he was more than willing to break yet another royal law and hide more illegal activity within his home. But this time it was a child who he had stolen from the vile Queen.

Dubal had never thought prior to this moment to take on a family before, but how could he resist now that he held the gratitude and affections of two beautiful ladies. He could not help but wonder what the child’s back story was. Was she a runaway or was she stolen from the Queen’s kennel, this was a daughter that was too perfect to say no to. Dubal would have to bring in his bastard to help with her. A child should have siblings, and it was high time he rescued the lad from the woman across the seas who currently called herself the mother.

The little girl beamed up at him again with her new dolly in her hands. A child of near innocence, and perhaps she could remain so under his household. She would be better suited in this home where she would be treated with love from Amelia and spared the harshness of the servitude from living near the queen. Dubal brought Amelia in close to him and kissed her deeply on the mouth. Uzumati ignored the two and continued to play with her doll. A family had been born that night, and Dubal would now have to commit to it.