{"sf1_id":776961,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Being Led into Temptation","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2314,"posted_at":"2014-11-02T02:52:00.000Z","tags":["Amnesia","Feral","Human","Plot Development","Story Progression","Transformation","Werewolf","Wolf","aggression","russia"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/776961-being-led-into-temptation","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/776961","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=776961\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#63 of The Moonrise Chronicles","content":"                Edward\ngrowled. \"Why? What have you to offer?\"\n                Maggie\nwas still perched on his shoulders holding her ring to his wound. \"Hush!\n                He\nturned to look at her. \"Why do you speak to me so brashly?\"\n                \"Because\nyou're being a big bully! My father was never a bully. He was a kind loving man\nand I wish he were back!\"\n                He\npaused and blinked his eyes. \"I am sorry little sister. He and I cannot be the\nsame one. I can find nothing in my memory about kindness or loving. I see killing\nand mating. That is all I see. And unless I can do one or the other soon, I\nwill be doing both. Do you understand?\"\n                She\nclimbed down, tears streaming from her face. \"I will get you back dammit!\"\n                He\nshrugged fatalistically. \"I am here. I have not left since we first met.\"\n                He\nturned to the she-wolf. \"Here are your choices. You can lead me to this other\nalpha, as the pup calls me, or I can find her myself.\"\n                \"I was\njust going to lead you. Your female has spoken words to nullify my promise to\nnever disclose her location.'\n                Maggie\nwas startled. \"I did?\"\n                \"Yes,\nnow if you must kill us, then do it, though we will not make it easy on you. If\nyou follow and have patience, then perhaps I can give you what you seek.\"\n                Maggie\nlooked up at him. \"Please just do as they say. It'll get this over with quicker\nthan fighting.\"\n                \"Fighting\nis more fun! But since you seem to want me to, I will. But you owe me.\"\n                It was\nunder an uneasy truce that the group moved through the woods. It took two days\nto get where they were going and each mile was an agony of keeping Edward and\nthe pack away from each other's throats, or worse bodily locations. It was like\nhe was regressing, daring the lead female to say something that gave him an\nexcuse to attack.\n                When\nthey arrived it was at a group of small hills, covered in trees and dense\nvegetation, thick with the smell of wolves. There were any number patrolling\nthe region, and they all congregated when they saw the spectacle approaching.\nLupines were not able to make the sign of the cross, but if they could, many of\nthem would have been doing it. They understood what they were seeing and\nsmelling and they knew that if two powerful forces collided, there would be\ngreat trouble for all.\n                Another\nfemale wolf, larger and more sinister looking stopped their progress.\n\"Nortalia, as of this moment your life is forfeit. You know the rules against\nbringing...\" Her words turned into a yelp.\n                Edward\nhad her in the air. \"Hmmmmm.\" He sniffed her. \"You're bigger. Maybe I can breed\nwith you.\"   \n                She\nyelped and in her fear transformed into a full werewolf. Maggie smiled. So\nthere were more than met the eye in this group. As a full werewolf, she should\nbe able to take him on, assuming she was in heat. If not, well Maggie wished\nher the best of luck.\n                Edward's\ncock was sliding out like a fiery red snake. He repositioned the female and was\njust ready to try impaling her with it when a shout; or rather a growl of\nextraordinary volume halted his attempt.\n                \"Drop\nher right now!\"\n                Maggie\nturned to see who the new voice belonged to and got another surprise. Even\nEdward growled out his shock. The voice belonged to the most out of place thing\nthey could have imagined out here in the wilds of Russia. The newcomer stalked\naround Edward as if she thought he was a bowery bum, or a diseased boar.  She sniffed him and recoiled. She came over to\nMaggie and sniffed her. Her reaction was equally evident, though entirely\ndifferent.\n                \"This\nbeast is an abomination. But you girl; what is your story?\"\n                Maggie\nlooked at the woman in the old, out of date, dirty white dress. The thing\nlooked like it had been lifted from a corpse, for it was filled with bullet\nholes, each ringed with brown stains. It was a hideous thing to wear, even out\nhere.\n                \"First\noff, he is not an abomination. He's my adopted father and my lover. You just\naren't catching him on a good day.\"\n                That\nmuch was evident as he was still holding the other female werewolf and was\navidly sniffing her backside. Maggie sank her claws into his leg. He looked\ndown. \"What is it little sister?\"\n                \"I\nthink that you might want to wait just a little before getting so familiar with\nthe ladies...\"\n                He\nsniffed the werewolf one more time before dropping her on the ground. \"Whatever\nyou say little one. But I won't wait too long.\" He cracked his neck and flexed\nhis muscles. \"I want action!\"\n                \"You\nsee, he still has a few redeeming qualities.\"\n                The\nwoman ignored her remark. \"I do not wish to engage in any unnecessary fighting.\nPlease state your purpose for being here and then leave.\"\n                Maggie\nstarted to say something but the words stuck in her throat. She stared hard at\nthe woman before lifting her hand and displaying her fingers. The woman looked\nand gasped.\n                \"Who\nare you?\"\n                \"I\nmight ask the same question.\"  She\ngrabbed Edward's huge paw and held it in front of the woman. \n                She stepped\nback several feet, the look of alarm making her ancient visage horrible with\nthe pain of what she was seeing. \"If you've come to finally kill me, I will not\nmake it easy on you, rest assured!\"\n                Edward\nwas not feeling generous. He snatched her from the ground and held her aloft.\n\"Look you, I will kill whatever I want. Maybe that's you, maybe it's not. But\nlittle sister wants to know who you are. So tell her!\" He punctuated his words\nwith a mindless roar.\n                The\nwoman remained defiant. \"I asked first!\"\n                Edward\nthought about it and dropped her on her head. She came up spitting dirt. He was\nhardly apologetic. \"So you did. Tell her little sister who you are, and who you\nsay I am. Then maybe I can move on to mating. I see so many prospects.\"\n                The\ngirl morphed into being a human and held out her hand. \"My name is Maggie Peterson,\nand when he's not acting like a jerk, this is truly as I said before, my father\nand lover.\"\n                The\nwoman was brushing off the debris from her dress like it was an evening gown\nand she was  supposed to be  making an appearance at a ball. \"Those names\nmean nothing to me. Why are you here?\"\n                Maggie chuckled\ngrimly. \"Here as in right here? We had no intention of being way out here. We\nstarted off in St Petersburg when...\"\n                The\nwoman jumped back again. \"Why were you there?\" There was suspicion in her\nvoice.\n                Maggie patiently\nexplained their presence in Russia. \"So you see, as far as I can tell, my\ngrandmother was Anna Nikolaevna.\"\n                The\nwoman had tears in her eyes. \"That is impossible child. Anna died a long time\nago with the rest of the tsar's family.\"\n                \"So the\nstory goes. And yet, I have found recently that a photograph that my\ngrandmother had was also on the internet and attributed to being the dead\ntsarina. I know the photograph well. They are one in the same person.\" She remembered\nbelatedly that this woman probably had no idea what the internet was.\n                The\nwoman stared hard at her. \"Come here girl.\" Maggie got close, wary but not\nfrightened. The woman morphed into a werewolf and sniffed her up and down. When\nshe stopped, her eyes were full of tears.  \"Indeed, I would know the smell of my own\nfamily even after a hundred years. But how did this happen?\"\n                \"Family?\nWho the hell are you lady?\"\n                The\nwerewolf transformed back, suddenly aware that she had spilt out her dress. \"As\nof today little one, I thought I was the only survivor of the massacre at the\nhands of the Bolsheviks. I'm Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, Anna's older\nsister.\"\n                This\nmeant nothing to Edward, who was still looking over the gathering with the\nintent to cause mayhem. But it meant everything to Maggie. \"Then you're my\ngreat aunt, aren't you?\"\n                \"So it\nwould seem my dearest child. So it would seem. But we can talk about that later.\nRight now, tell me what is the matter with this friend of yours.\"\n                She was\ngoing to argue the friend part, but Maggie was overwhelmed by the day's developments.\n\"He was shot in a bar in St Petersburg and took a silver bullet to his skull. I\nthink it's still in there scrambling his brains around.\"\n                \"So\nthey are still hunting our kind. I knew as much. It's part of the reason I\nrarely go back and visit. It's just too dangerous, as much so now as it was\nright after the revolution. \"\n                \"You\nstill journey back and visit? Why?\"\n                She\nsmiled. \"I have so many happy memories of the Winter Palace little one, so why\nwould I not? When you live as many years and in the manner I do, you long for\nthe happiness you had as a child.\"\n                \"When\nwere you there last?\"\n                \"Maybe a\nyear ago. I buy a nice dress and shoes from the thrift store and visit the\nmuseum that was once my home. After all these years all I have come away with\nthough are just those memories.\"\n                Maggie didn't\nthink the dress she had on was a \"nice\" one, but she kept he mouth shut. \"You\nwere looking for something else?\"\n                The woman\nfrowned. \"You are an awfully perceptive child. Yes, I was hoping to find the\nbox that this ring belongs with.\"\n                Maggie pulled\nopen her rather worn and stained bag. \"Do you mean this?\"\n                The woman\nfell to her knees. \"Child, how could you know? But yes, I see. You both have\nrings. Where did you get this?\" She held out her hand as Maggie set it in her\npalm.\n                \"It's a\nlong story. Right now, let me say that I think Edward's ring is the only thing\nkeeping him alive right now.\"\n                He\nlooked down at the silly human figures and laughed. \"A toy keeping me alive!\nBah!\" He pulled it off and tossed it at their feet. Maggie screamed as he did,\nlaunching herself to put it back on his gnarled finger.\n                He\nstood there looking defiant. \"See little sister. I do not need a bauble to give\nme power. I am power. No one can defy me; NO ONE!\" His roar was not in anger\nbut in pride.\n                She\nstood and gazed at him, waiting for the silver to start burning him from the inside\nout. The seconds ticked away and nothing happened.  The old woman, Maria, watched him with\nunabashed curiosity. \"Are you sure the bullet was silver my dear?\"\n                \"Yes. I\nsuffered more than a few strikes during the attack. I know silver when I feel\nit.\"\n                \"This\nis very odd. Silver kills the kind unless they have a ring. His ring would only\nprotect him while he's wearing it. So either the bullet is gone now or it wasn't\nsilver.\"\n                \"Trust\nme to know silver!\" Maggie shouted angrily. \"The bullet in his head was silver,\ncoated in wolfsbane. He should have died. He was struck while the ring was off\nhis finger. I slipped it back on and he ended up living, but with his mind\ngone.\"\n                The old\nwoman walked around him. She stepped up and rubbed his chest. It was harder to\nsee with all of his fur, but the scar on his chest was still visible. \"What happened\nhere?\"\n                \"That's\nold. He took a sword through his chest.\"\n                \"A\nsword? No one uses swords anymore. Everyone prefers guns; the weapon of cowards\nand revolutionaries!\"\n                \"It was\nan old sword, wielded by a terrible werewolf. If it weren't for the master he\nwould have died then.\"\n                \"The\nmaster? Who is that?\"\n                \"Leonardo\nDa Vinci!\"\n                The old\nwoman shook her head. \"That's impossible. The creator of the rings died centuries\nago.\"\n                \"I hate\nto tell you this, but a hundred years ago you died too, didn't you?\"\n                She\nfrowned. \"Yes. I see your point. But Leonardo is famed for making the rings.\nHow did he help this...man...or whatever he is, in recovering?\"\n                \"He used\na special chamber he designed himself.\"\n                \"I'm\nsorry my dear, but I do not think that there is any chamber in the world that\ncan save one of us from silver.\"\n                Maggie\nwas growing frustrated with her reluctance to accept what had happened. \"Well,\nwe battled a werewolf that had silver in his body.\"\n                \"There\nmust be things going on of which I am woefully uneducated on my dear. I have\nnever known of any of my children or grandchildren surviving the dreaded metal.\"\n                Edward\nwas growing tired of this conversation. \"I don't care about any of this. If\nlittle sister says I have something in my body, then I have whatever it is\ninside my body. I am strong enough to handle anything, do you hear me?\nANYTHING!\" His roar blew out her hair like the winds of a hurricane.\n                He\ncracked his knuckles menacingly. \"Now, it's time to breed.\""}