{"sf1_id":758368,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Roman Holiday","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2523,"posted_at":"2014-09-19T13:22:00.000Z","tags":["Adolescent","Discovery","Human","Plot Development","Rome","Story Progression","Werewolf","hotel","silver"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/758368-roman-holiday","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/758368","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=758368\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#42 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"          After a brief tussle on the bed,\nEdward left her to sleep and went out into the main room. It was nice, and he\nwould have loved to have had the windows open \nfor the nighttime air, but he didn't want to encourage anyone from\ntrying to enter.\nA determined person, not to mention\nthe average werewolf, would have no problem in scaling the side and making\nentrance to their suite. But even then a closed window kept their scents\ninside. If nothing more it might give them a little more time before they were found out.\nEdward thought it through. Since\nthey were here illegally, then the cardinal might just allow the police to\narrest them and then finagle the stolen items back from the impound room. So he\nand Maggie's main option was, that in case of a raid, to turn feral and deal\nout some damage. It wasn't an idea solution whatsoever. \nHe sat down at the computer and did\na lot of werewolf searches. There was so much crap online that he quickly gave\nit up. She had mentioned that. So he looked up Alexander the Sixth. It turns\nout he was from the region of present day Spain originally. He tried cross referencing\nwerewolves and Spain, and didn't have a ton of luck. There was something about the\nseventh son turning into a werewolf, but that seemed kind of weird, so he gave up.\nGetting back to the pope, Edward\nwas shocked to find out the guy had mistresses and kids. So much for celibacy!\nOverall, it sounded like it was party time in Rome during his reign. He read up on all sorts of\nscandals, including one that reported cost the man four mule loads of\nsilver.  Silver! It looked like the\npapacy had no shortage of the metal.\nBut most importantly, it was this\nman who founded the House of Borgia. So there was definitely a lot of play going\non in working towards power, whether it was ecclesiastical or social. So what\nwould he have wanted with the rings? To take power away from the Medicis? And\nhe couldn't help but notice a date of 1492. That was the date that Columbus\nsailed to America. And he had something to do with the Spanish queen, didn't\nhe? He was beginning to feel like a conspiracy theorist. But it made sense that\nmuch of the history of werewolves would be shrouded in mystery.\nHe moved on to searching for stuff\non Maggie's variety. There was hardly anything. Maybe if he knew Russian, more information might come up. But it seemed to him to be a dead end.  So he sat and stared at the screen and\nthought of other questions that he could look up. If a werewolf was touched by silver, it burned. In the right form and\ndelivered the right way it killed them and their bodies went up in smoke. So\nwhat happened if they died of old age?\nFor that matter, did a werewolf\ndied of old age? His parents were gone, but were they really dead? A pile of\nashes told you nothing. Look at the way Maggie had tricked everyone. His\ngrandparents died by silver. He had that on good authority. Maggie's mom had\ndied... But she said she had transformed back to being in human form. Otherwise,\nhow could they have accused her father of killing her. Very strange.\nHe had seen it burn her fingers,\nand the metal had worked on Albert Fish. He dimly remembered his own paws\nduring that fight. There were inconsistencies in all this. Of course, some\nhumans had allergies to some compounds while others didn't. Some people died from being stung by\na bee. So different werewolves had different vulnerabilities?\nHe was seeing more and more why\nthese rings would be so important.  If\nthey removed all vulnerabilities, depending on who you were, then indeed, he\nwho controlled the rings controlled a lot more. A power hungry man might indeed\nrise to a rank from which no one could easily remove him. It hardly mattered if\nthe world viewed him as a werewolf or not. If he was capable and charismatic,\nthen people would look too him for leadership. And if no one could take him\ndown, then how long might he stay in power?\nThe Taborum had listed a number of\npeople within its pages, but overall tended to gloss over specifics. It made\nsense. If the book fell into the wrong hands, then whole family lines might be\nhunted down. Cardinal Medici might very well spend half of the Vatican's assets\njust to get it for his own.\nEdward turned away from the\ncomputer. This was so much deeper than he could ever have imagined it. Who knew there were all\nthese secrets being kept? His own parents never told him a word. He hoped it\nwas because they knew the dime in his hip would prevent him from ever being\nanything more than a normal guy. He had never felt completely normal, but then\nwho did?\nAnd now he was contemplating these\nquestions in a hotel room in Rome with a young girl he was both the father to\nand the lover of. No wonder there was so much secrecy involved with werewolves.\nThe transformation and killing was only a small part of the irregular behaviors\nof the breed. He found the corner of his mouth turning up in a quirky smile. A\nwerewolf's existence certainly wasn't boring.\nHe went over to the couch and\nkicked back. He would have put on the television, but he didn't speak Italian.\nHe took off his ring and spun it in his fingers. Then, thinking of where she\nwas keeping hers, he slid his on his cock and relaxed.\nThey had the financial means now to\ntravel, but they were essentially prisoners in the hotel.  She wanted to go to Russia, but getting into\nRussia wasn't going to be so easy. And for that matter, where in Russia? That\nwas an awful lot of territory to cover. \nHe had a feeling she was planning on doing a lot of it as werewolves.\nHer feral form was pretty good, but his? He would stand out like a stiff cock in\na nunnery.\nHe wondered if he really could\nbecome something smaller than the massive form he automatically became. He\ncould adjust a few things, like being able to walk upright, but shrinking that\ngargantuan body to the size of a normal wolf was nigh close to impossible. He\nstood, undressed and willed his change. His body slid from one form to the next with\nease. Then he walked in front of a mirror. Damn! He thought. I'd hate to meet\nmyself in a dark alley!\"\nBut he concentrated. His form\nshrunk and withered until he was staring at a normal, timber type wolf. He was\nstill dark, but that was alright. Variances occurred in nature. He stood there\nstaring in the mirror, pondering why suddenly he could do it. It came to him\nquickly. The ring! It seemed to balance out the powers of transformation too!\nThis was way too cool! He stood there playing around for nearly an hour before\nhe grew tired of the game. At one point he was so big the floor creaked. It was\na good talent to know about!\nHe reverted to his human form and\ngot dressed. Being mostly bored, he dialed up room service and had them send up\na variety of cheeses and wines. It was time to see if the alcohol problem\nvanished as well.\nWhen Maggie came out of the bedroom\nlater on, she saw the service cart piled high with cheese, bread, fruit, and\ntwo bottles of wine. Edward was leaning back in a chair pouring himself a\nglass. \"Mags! You're up!\"\nShe frowned. \"And you're drunk!\"\n\"I wish! Guess what! Apparently\nthese rings protect us from other poisons too. Well, if you consider alcohol to be a\npoison. I've been sitting here drinking and eating and I can't even get drunk!\"\n\"What? I see three empty bottles on\nthe floor!\"\n\"Yep, plus this one, plus the two I\nhaven't even touched. This is unbelievable!\"\nShe plunked down and grabbed a\nfresh strawberry. \"Mmmm. I always hated these, but now they taste great! And\nthey squish red too. My favorite color!\"\nShe leaned in an grabbed a bottle\nof wine. \"So how does this stuff taste?\"\nHe tossed her the corkscrew. \"Make\nyour own opinion.\" She fumbled with the top for a moment before pulling out\nthe cork. Looking at the label she remarked, \"Geez, this stuff is older than I\nam. Was nineteen eighty five a good year?\"\n\"According to the sommelier it was\nexcellent. I'll trust him. As you know, I've never been a drinker. But maybe\nnow I can change all that.\"\nHer eyes went wide. \"Do you realize\nthat with the ring you could win bets? Bet people that you can drink more than\nthey can and then collect on it!\"\n\"Seems a bit childish, but I\nsuppose you're correct. I guess if the money you confiscated ever runs out,\nwe'll know what to do in a pinch.\"\nShe chuckled. \"Sure. Better yet,\nI'll do it. Most guys are so stupidly macho they would never let a little girl\nout drink them.\"\nShe poured herself a glass and\ndowned it. \"Eh. I think I'll stick with the fruit for now. It's so nice to be\nable to eat normal things again.\"\n\"Again?\"\n\"Duh! I ate normal food until I\ntransformed!\"\nHe tried to suppress his grin. \"You\nwere normal once?\"\nShe caught his poke and sighed. \" Yes. And there are things I miss about it. Mother mostly.\"\nHe instantly felt bad. \"I'm sorry\nMags. I wasn't thinking.\"\n\"Don't worry about it. Looking back\nis only good when you're being followed. Nothing can change that day, so forget\nabout it.\"\nHe suddenly wished the alcohol\nwould work on him. Since it didn't, he blindly tried to apologize again. She\nhushed him. \"I'm not one to dwell on things I can no longer control.\"\n\"Still, I am sorry. You never talk\nabout your mother much. What can you tell me about her?'\n\"She was beautiful. Of course what\nkid isn't going to call their mom beautiful? But she had flowing hair and\nlovely eyes. Father used to remark how wonderful they were.\"\n\"Do you know what her maiden name\nwas?\"\n\"Yep. Smith.\"\n\"Oh. That's not very helpful is\nit?\"\n\"No. There are Smiths coming out of\nevery ass crack from here to eternity. Grandma's wasn't much better.\"\n\"Jones?\" Edward said with as much\nlight heart humor as he could muster.\n\"No. Not that bad. Nicholson.  Anna Nicholson. I remember seeing a photo of\nher and Grandpa after they got married. She outlived him. I remember her, but I\ndon't know what happened to her. The people at the adoption agency said they\ncouldn't find any record of her anywhere.\"\n\"Wait; what? There had to be some\nrecord of her. She was born, got married, had a kid; stuff!\"\n\"Yep, and despite all that,\nnothing. I could have gone to her place maybe, if she was still alive. I\nfigured she was pretty old so I would probably actually be looking after her. But on\npaper it was like mom was created out of thin air.\"\n\"But the records!\"\n\"Yeah, tell me about it. But being\na werewolf sort of took precedence over anything else. But now that things are\nrolling, I'm kind of curious what I could find if I dug deep enough. I see that\nthere is a lot of subterfuge going on with our kind. Verona was right. It isn't\nall fun and games.\"\nThat got him thinking about her. He\nhoped she was doing alright. They had volunteered a black out on\ncommunications. Only in a dire emergency were they to contact each other. The\ncardinal wasn't tech savvy but there were those who were. Governments kept\ntheir eyes and ears open constantly. No one was safe.\n\"Yeah, she's right. But let's get\nback to your family. Where were they from?\"\n\"I have no idea. Grandma Anna used\nto babble at times, to herself when she thought no one was around. It wasn't in\nEnglish. But as to where she was from, I just can't say. If I were to guess, I'd say somewhere in Russia. That's what that Bernard fellow said.\"\n\"I knew that I descended from\nFrench stock, but nothing much else. As a kid, you have other things to worry\nabout. Now I wish I knew more about my family tree.\"\n\"Me too. And now you have me\nthinking; what happened to all the stuff that was in my house? There were\nphotographs and things. I wonder where they went.\"\n\"That would be a question for the\nstate. For that matter, you should have gotten some money or something from the\nsale of the house. That would be another thing to look into when we get back.\"\nShe smiled grimly. \"If we get back. I don't think we'll be\nflying out on the same plane we came in on. That would take a miracle. Anyway,\nwe need to leave here soon.\"\n\"I've been thinking about that.\nRussia isn't all that close and I don't see any conceivable way of getting\nthere.\"\n\"We aren't going to Russia.\"\n\"No? You've changed your mind?\"\n\"No. But we need to go to France\nfirst.\"\n\"OK, I'll bite. Why France?\"\n\"Because we are going to go to the Chateau\nd'Amboise.\"\n\"Never heard of it. Is it a purported werewolf\nhaven?\"\n\"I have no idea. But it is where\nLeonardo Da Vinci is buried.\"\n\"And you want to meet a dead guy?\"\n\"Shut up father. I'll have you know\nthat there was once a bloody war that is referred to today as the French War of\nReligion.\"\n\"I never heard of it. I guess history class\nmissed that one,\" he said sarcastically.\n\"Shut up! The important thing is to\nnote who those opposing forces were.\"\n\"Ok, I'll bite. Who?\"\n\"The Huguenot House of Bourbon and\nthe House of Guise.\"\n\"My family?\"\n\"To a degree. But the real thing\nwas who settled the war.\"\n\"And that would be...\" His patience\nwas remarkably less than hers today. \n\"Catherine de Medici. She was the\nqueen of France at the time.\"\n\"Bourbons and Medici.  Oh how I am beginning to really hate\nhistory.\"\n\"So I think that there is more to\nLeonardo's grave than people let on. So I say we visit the man who gave us\nthese boxes and see if there are any clues in France.\n\"Gee, you make it sound so easy.\"\n\"Hey, I never said it would be\neasy.\" She then turned and craned the back of her neck towards him. She looked over her shoulder with her most fetching look.\n\"What are you doing?\" he asked, perplexed.\n\"You've said twice now that you'd\nbite. Now pay up. I want the mating stance and everything!\""}