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                Edward

growled. "Why? What have you to offer?"

                Maggie

was still perched on his shoulders holding her ring to his wound. "Hush!

                He

turned to look at her. "Why do you speak to me so brashly?"

                "Because

you're being a big bully! My father was never a bully. He was a kind loving man

and I wish he were back!"

                He

paused and blinked his eyes. "I am sorry little sister. He and I cannot be the

same one. I can find nothing in my memory about kindness or loving. I see killing

and mating. That is all I see. And unless I can do one or the other soon, I

will be doing both. Do you understand?"

                She

climbed down, tears streaming from her face. "I will get you back dammit!"

                He

shrugged fatalistically. "I am here. I have not left since we first met."

                He

turned to the she-wolf. "Here are your choices. You can lead me to this other

alpha, as the pup calls me, or I can find her myself."

                "I was

just going to lead you. Your female has spoken words to nullify my promise to

never disclose her location.'

                Maggie

was startled. "I did?"

                "Yes,

now if you must kill us, then do it, though we will not make it easy on you. If

you follow and have patience, then perhaps I can give you what you seek."

                Maggie

looked up at him. "Please just do as they say. It'll get this over with quicker

than fighting."

                "Fighting

is more fun! But since you seem to want me to, I will. But you owe me."

                It was

under an uneasy truce that the group moved through the woods. It took two days

to get where they were going and each mile was an agony of keeping Edward and

the pack away from each other's throats, or worse bodily locations. It was like

he was regressing, daring the lead female to say something that gave him an

excuse to attack.

                When

they arrived it was at a group of small hills, covered in trees and dense

vegetation, thick with the smell of wolves. There were any number patrolling

the region, and they all congregated when they saw the spectacle approaching.

Lupines were not able to make the sign of the cross, but if they could, many of

them would have been doing it. They understood what they were seeing and

smelling and they knew that if two powerful forces collided, there would be

great trouble for all.

                Another

female wolf, larger and more sinister looking stopped their progress.

"Nortalia, as of this moment your life is forfeit. You know the rules against

bringing..." Her words turned into a yelp.

                Edward

had her in the air. "Hmmmmm." He sniffed her. "You're bigger. Maybe I can breed

with you."  

                She

yelped and in her fear transformed into a full werewolf. Maggie smiled. So

there were more than met the eye in this group. As a full werewolf, she should

be able to take him on, assuming she was in heat. If not, well Maggie wished

her the best of luck.

                Edward's

cock was sliding out like a fiery red snake. He repositioned the female and was

just ready to try impaling her with it when a shout; or rather a growl of

extraordinary volume halted his attempt.

                "Drop

her right now!"

                Maggie

turned to see who the new voice belonged to and got another surprise. Even

Edward growled out his shock. The voice belonged to the most out of place thing

they could have imagined out here in the wilds of Russia. The newcomer stalked

around Edward as if she thought he was a bowery bum, or a diseased boar.  She sniffed him and recoiled. She came over to

Maggie and sniffed her. Her reaction was equally evident, though entirely

different.

                "This

beast is an abomination. But you girl; what is your story?"

                Maggie

looked at the woman in the old, out of date, dirty white dress. The thing

looked like it had been lifted from a corpse, for it was filled with bullet

holes, each ringed with brown stains. It was a hideous thing to wear, even out

here.

                "First

off, he is not an abomination. He's my adopted father and my lover. You just

aren't catching him on a good day."

                That

much was evident as he was still holding the other female werewolf and was

avidly sniffing her backside. Maggie sank her claws into his leg. He looked

down. "What is it little sister?"

                "I

think that you might want to wait just a little before getting so familiar with

the ladies..."

                He

sniffed the werewolf one more time before dropping her on the ground. "Whatever

you say little one. But I won't wait too long." He cracked his neck and flexed

his muscles. "I want action!"

                "You

see, he still has a few redeeming qualities."

                The

woman ignored her remark. "I do not wish to engage in any unnecessary fighting.

Please state your purpose for being here and then leave."

                Maggie

started to say something but the words stuck in her throat. She stared hard at

the woman before lifting her hand and displaying her fingers. The woman looked

and gasped.

                "Who

are you?"

                "I

might ask the same question."  She

grabbed Edward's huge paw and held it in front of the woman.

                She stepped

back several feet, the look of alarm making her ancient visage horrible with

the pain of what she was seeing. "If you've come to finally kill me, I will not

make it easy on you, rest assured!"

                Edward

was not feeling generous. He snatched her from the ground and held her aloft.

"Look you, I will kill whatever I want. Maybe that's you, maybe it's not. But

little sister wants to know who you are. So tell her!" He punctuated his words

with a mindless roar.

                The

woman remained defiant. "I asked first!"

                Edward

thought about it and dropped her on her head. She came up spitting dirt. He was

hardly apologetic. "So you did. Tell her little sister who you are, and who you

say I am. Then maybe I can move on to mating. I see so many prospects."

                The

girl morphed into being a human and held out her hand. "My name is Maggie Peterson,

and when he's not acting like a jerk, this is truly as I said before, my father

and lover."

                The

woman was brushing off the debris from her dress like it was an evening gown

and she was  supposed to be  making an appearance at a ball. "Those names

mean nothing to me. Why are you here?"

                Maggie chuckled

grimly. "Here as in right here? We had no intention of being way out here. We

started off in St Petersburg when..."

                The

woman jumped back again. "Why were you there?" There was suspicion in her

voice.

                Maggie patiently

explained their presence in Russia. "So you see, as far as I can tell, my

grandmother was Anna Nikolaevna."

                The

woman had tears in her eyes. "That is impossible child. Anna died a long time

ago with the rest of the tsar's family."

                "So the

story goes. And yet, I have found recently that a photograph that my

grandmother had was also on the internet and attributed to being the dead

tsarina. I know the photograph well. They are one in the same person." She remembered

belatedly that this woman probably had no idea what the internet was.

                The

woman stared hard at her. "Come here girl." Maggie got close, wary but not

frightened. The woman morphed into a werewolf and sniffed her up and down. When

she stopped, her eyes were full of tears.  "Indeed, I would know the smell of my own

family even after a hundred years. But how did this happen?"

                "Family?

Who the hell are you lady?"

                The

werewolf transformed back, suddenly aware that she had spilt out her dress. "As

of today little one, I thought I was the only survivor of the massacre at the

hands of the Bolsheviks. I'm Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Anna's older

sister."

                This

meant nothing to Edward, who was still looking over the gathering with the

intent to cause mayhem. But it meant everything to Maggie. "Then you're my

great aunt, aren't you?"

                "So it

would seem my dearest child. So it would seem. But we can talk about that later.

Right now, tell me what is the matter with this friend of yours."

                She was

going to argue the friend part, but Maggie was overwhelmed by the day's developments.

"He was shot in a bar in St Petersburg and took a silver bullet to his skull. I

think it's still in there scrambling his brains around."

                "So

they are still hunting our kind. I knew as much. It's part of the reason I

rarely go back and visit. It's just too dangerous, as much so now as it was

right after the revolution. "

                "You

still journey back and visit? Why?"

                She

smiled. "I have so many happy memories of the Winter Palace little one, so why

would I not? When you live as many years and in the manner I do, you long for

the happiness you had as a child."

                "When

were you there last?"

                "Maybe a

year ago. I buy a nice dress and shoes from the thrift store and visit the

museum that was once my home. After all these years all I have come away with

though are just those memories."

                Maggie didn't

think the dress she had on was a "nice" one, but she kept he mouth shut. "You

were looking for something else?"

                The woman

frowned. "You are an awfully perceptive child. Yes, I was hoping to find the

box that this ring belongs with."

                Maggie pulled

open her rather worn and stained bag. "Do you mean this?"

                The woman

fell to her knees. "Child, how could you know? But yes, I see. You both have

rings. Where did you get this?" She held out her hand as Maggie set it in her

palm.

                "It's a

long story. Right now, let me say that I think Edward's ring is the only thing

keeping him alive right now."

                He

looked down at the silly human figures and laughed. "A toy keeping me alive!

Bah!" He pulled it off and tossed it at their feet. Maggie screamed as he did,

launching herself to put it back on his gnarled finger.

                He

stood there looking defiant. "See little sister. I do not need a bauble to give

me power. I am power. No one can defy me; NO ONE!" His roar was not in anger

but in pride.

                She

stood and gazed at him, waiting for the silver to start burning him from the inside

out. The seconds ticked away and nothing happened.  The old woman, Maria, watched him with

unabashed curiosity. "Are you sure the bullet was silver my dear?"

                "Yes. I

suffered more than a few strikes during the attack. I know silver when I feel

it."

                "This

is very odd. Silver kills the kind unless they have a ring. His ring would only

protect him while he's wearing it. So either the bullet is gone now or it wasn't

silver."

                "Trust

me to know silver!" Maggie shouted angrily. "The bullet in his head was silver,

coated in wolfsbane. He should have died. He was struck while the ring was off

his finger. I slipped it back on and he ended up living, but with his mind

gone."

                The old

woman walked around him. She stepped up and rubbed his chest. It was harder to

see with all of his fur, but the scar on his chest was still visible. "What happened

here?"

                "That's

old. He took a sword through his chest."

                "A

sword? No one uses swords anymore. Everyone prefers guns; the weapon of cowards

and revolutionaries!"

                "It was

an old sword, wielded by a terrible werewolf. If it weren't for the master he

would have died then."

                "The

master? Who is that?"

                "Leonardo

Da Vinci!"

                The old

woman shook her head. "That's impossible. The creator of the rings died centuries

ago."

                "I hate

to tell you this, but a hundred years ago you died too, didn't you?"

                She

frowned. "Yes. I see your point. But Leonardo is famed for making the rings.

How did he help this...man...or whatever he is, in recovering?"

                "He used

a special chamber he designed himself."

                "I'm

sorry my dear, but I do not think that there is any chamber in the world that

can save one of us from silver."

                Maggie

was growing frustrated with her reluctance to accept what had happened. "Well,

we battled a werewolf that had silver in his body."

                "There

must be things going on of which I am woefully uneducated on my dear. I have

never known of any of my children or grandchildren surviving the dreaded metal."

                Edward

was growing tired of this conversation. "I don't care about any of this. If

little sister says I have something in my body, then I have whatever it is

inside my body. I am strong enough to handle anything, do you hear me?

ANYTHING!" His roar blew out her hair like the winds of a hurricane.

                He

cracked his knuckles menacingly. "Now, it's time to breed."