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Chapter 45 - Picnic

Over the night Ember is plagued with grotesque scenarios, in all variations of a bloodlust at the banquet, all resulting in some form of casualty. Each time, he wakes up a little more ragged and weary, yet also that bit more thankful that it wasn't successfully triggered. If Alek didn't have the foresight to equip his collar with defensive magic, or had it not worked, at least one person would have ended up hurt or dead. Every alternative route always ended with his friends falling victim to the repercussions of his actions, and his life being taken. He hopes, as his nightmares slowly fade to dreams in remembrance of the true events, and as he shuffles up against the wolf beside him, that Lewis is having an equally unpleasant night.

After spending some time being lewd, the morning passes by uneventfully. Hess climbs himself out of the rec room bed, leaving Voigt to snooze a little longer. He and Ember prepare breakfast as usual, while Cal makes his rounds doing cleaning and washing and setting up the table. The Warhammer map and pieces remain untouched until there's time enough for a full game, which Hess hopes will be tonight after dinner.

“How was sleeping with the chastity collar, pet?" Ember asks, brewing coffee in a cafetière after having been instructed how to moments before.

“Difficult, sir," Hess growls. “Voigt teased me a lot."

“I bet he did. Now I have to wonder if I should let you take it off to go to the park."

“We'll all have to put our chastity collars back on if we're going to a public place together. The Master knows how suggestive we get. Plus, getting a boner in jeans isn't comfy."

“Ah, yeah. You're right about that. Guess you'll have to wait until your session then," Ember grins.

“Yes sir," the brown wolf huffs through gritted teeth.

After everyone has breakfasted, the butler starts cataloguing and packing all items needed for the picnic while the chefs make a variety of travel food. The groundskeeper isn't seen helping and is assumed to be readying himself in his own way.

“I have a dumb idea, but I really wanna do it." Hess says, leaning on the table as he tries to think of some good finger food.

“You know this isn't a gourmet picnic, right?" Ember chuckles, cutting one of the pre-made sandwiches into 9 little, crust-less pieces to be put on toothpicks.

“Shut up," Hess pouts and goes back to his explanation. “So we cook tiny meatballs with sausage meat and let them cool. Then we peel and boil some potatoes, mash them up and wrap the meatballs in it. Then, wash them in some whisked egg, roll them in a mix of flour and breadcrumb, and drop into the deep fat fryer."

“This sounds like a lot of work."

“Well yeah, but imagine how good that's gonna taste!" He hums softly as he simulates biting into one. “Fuckin' delicious."

“Alright, alright," Ember concedes, holding up a placative hand. “Anything else?" He asks, tossing the cut-off crusts in his mouth.

“I was thinking about making some onigiri as well, but it's basically the same thing: carb-wrapped meat."

“We could just buy some finger food. Like those cocktail sausages or mini pork pies?"

Hess frowns and scrunches his face.

“No. I prefer putting in the effort and coming up with new ideas. Ooh!" He says suddenly “How about a sweet and savoury desert. I could prepare a sort of fondue with Red Leicester and cheddar, cut up an apple into chunks, dunk them in lemon juice, coat them in icing sugar and then submerge into the cheese. I can then throw them in the fridge to harden."

“Apple and cheese?" Ember asks, turning his nose up. “That sounds really weird."

“Oh my, a virgin. One sec." Hess gleefully pulls himself off the chair and runs to the pantry for an apple and the fridge for the cheese. He slices off a piece off each and hands them over. “Trust me."

Ember, reluctantly takes the odd combination and tosses them into his mouth. Instantly the flavours mix together on his tongue; the salty, savoury tang of the cheese, and the sweet and sour from the apple. He can't help but toss his head crooked as the profile works so well to satisfy. “That's bizarre," he says, too eager to finish before talking but covers his mouth out of politeness.

“Good innit?" Hess smiles. He chomps down on the apple and cuts off some of the cheese for himself.

“Ok, yeah you have me sold. I want more of that." The black wolf laughs.

They finish the apple together and get to work making the remaining snack foods for their trip. When it's all done, it's thrown in the fridge to cool and set as needed. Ember sticks around to help with washing up and wanders out to see what Cal is up to. He catches him in the hallway, putting down the phone.

“Ah, Ember," he says, “You'd better start getting yourself dressed. In fact, I'll come with you and have a look at that suit."

“Can you get blood out of clothes?"

“Yes … hopefully," he replies with a nervous smile. “Or the Master won't be best pleased."

They walk up together and into Ember's bedroom where the suit still lays on his bed from the day before. While he searches his wardrobe for a suitable outfit, Cal examines the soiled garments and finds the jacket, shirt, tie and trousers all with some amount of blood staining the fabric. He tuts and sighs heavily, neatly folding it up so he can carry it away with him.

“I'll see what I can do. Go see the master when you're all dressed."

“What for?"

“You need your chastity collar putting on." He smirks and saunters out of the room.

As instructed, once suitably clothed, the study door is knocked on until his master's voice permits him entry.

“Barely been here three days and you have two wounds on you." Alek remarks with a dry chuckle. “It's a good job we have a medic on staff eh?"

“Yes Master," Ember replies sheepishly.

“It's to be expected. Cal always comes back with a fresh cut or two after a Hunt. Try to be more careful though."

Ember just nods, not wanting to give sign that he has something to hide.

“I'll be glad when I can finish the hot-swapping spell tiles." Alek adds, drawing up the chastity collar from his desk and slipping it around the wolf's neck. “I've removed the fear of blood spell by the way, I don't think you'll need it anymore."

“No, I hope I won't."

“I think I should really come up with a name for these new collars. Any ideas?"

“Hmmm," Ember ponders, sitting down in the chair for invitees of the study. “What about an acronym that sounds like collar?"

“Like what? Quick … obedience … I dunno." Alek shakes his head.

“Why not just 'hot-collar'?"

“Yeah, I don't hate it, I just feel like it should have one less syllable."

“'Collar' then," Ember suggests flippantly and they laugh.

“I'll have a think about it. 'Hot-collar' is my favourite so far though. How are you feeling today? Did you sleep alright?"

“Not the best," the wolf admits sadly, “My mind wouldn't stop thinking of what could have happened."

“That's understandable. When you no longer have anything to distract you, the gravity of one's actions become so much more real in silent reflection. We are at our loneliest when we are left to our thoughts. I trust you still believe the events happened as we told?"

“Yes Master, I'm not delusional," he chides playfully.

“It's worth checking. The imagination is a convincing force. Nevertheless, I've made some calls this morning and an investigation is already underway."

“Into what exactly?"

“Into the generally unlawful behaviour of the Hunters. What happened yesterday, while not illegal, was clearly provocation. It was unethical and proves to me how unrestrained they've become."

“It's really nice to know that there are people fighting for us," Ember remarks coyly.

“You'd be surprised how many more there have become since the turn of the millennia. Still not nearly enough though," Alek adds wistfully.

“I'm hopeful, Master."

“Me too pup." He smiles. “Are you all ready to go now? Food prepped?"

“Yes, even when we're going to a park, Hess wants to make fancy finger foods."

“Ha ha, yep, that's my boy. Alright, he's still got his collar on so that's everyone ready I think." Alek stands up and walks around the desk towards the door with Ember in tow. “You know I've been thinking about this owner-pet relationship thing you and Hess have going on …"

“Oh?" Ember asks, nervous that it may come to an end.

Alek smirks, opening his door and walking into the landing. Voigt is standing out of his bedroom door, threading through a belt. “I'm excited to see how he reacts when I put you in pup gear and parade you around as my pet. Seeing his owner so prone will be an exciting torment for the both of you."

“I'm still nervous about that master."

“You seemed to enjoy being put in your place last night," Voigt interrupts, having overheard.

Ember squeaks quietly and his tail falls limp.

“I take it you managed to squeeze in some time together after the hunt then?" Alek queries, still grinning.

“Tell him," Voigt commands, looking at Ember.

Alek raises an eyebrow and shifts his gaze to the black wolf.

“Um … we … didn't get around to … hunting, Master," he murmurs, shifting his weight slightly from foot to foot and never making eye contact.

“My my. Didn't even make it out the door before the need overwhelmed you, huh?"

“Um … no Master … we were … halfway through the woods at the time." Ember grimaces nervously, hoping he isn't admitting to a punishable offence.

“Gosh, you're really opening up to a lot of new stuff since you came here. Sex in public." He shakes his head, chuckling.

“He was a very good boy for me, Master," Voigt adds, heading to the top of the stairs, “I know he will be for you too."

“I'm very glad to hear that," Alek says. “Come on pup," he tugs on Ember's collar making him squirm.

“Yes Master."

—

Alek and his wolves all gather downstairs; Cal and Hess have packed away the food in a chilled hamper and readied it with a backpack filled with water bottles, hot drinks flasks, plastic crockery and a blanket. Once all together, they head out through the front of the house and down to the gate. They wander out onto the road that circulates the nearby town and start walking toward the Main Street. People are already about and stop what they're doing to observe the party of four wolves and the human as they go along their way, talking amongst themselves. The wolves chatter happily, excited for their day out in the sun and grass; Ember silently hoping there will be a large tree they can sit under for shade.

They soon approach a public footpath that branches off the road and runs parallel to a residential estate behind the shops. They have to go single file and make their way along it, turning back a dog walker who seems very agitated to have her path obstructed. Alek apologises to the woman and suggests her pass by if they all stand to the side, but she is already ambling away and muttering to herself. So they continue on to a gate opening up to a grassy plain surrounded by a thick hedge. There are scattered trees, bushes and mounds, along with several benches set around the perimeter. Dotted amongst are patches of bordered earth with all kinds of well-tended flowers and a thin, but dense outline of wildflowers along all the edges.

The wolves all stop and admire the scenery, disregarding the startled and frantic scrambling of people as some decide to pack up their belongings and hurry off. Several groups seem unfazed by their entrance and go back to their conversations, meals or activities, but these folk are less common. Children cease their gaming and stare, some of which are escorted away by fussy parents. As they venture deeper into the park, a rare few either wave friendlily, or shout a rude remark in their direction, depending on their disposition towards werewolf kind. Yet, they find a suitably secluded spot, lay down a large mat several meters long and sit in a circle with the basket in the middle.

“It's beautiful isn't it?" Cal asks, noticing Voigt staring at a strange set of blue flowers while he hands out the crockery.

“Yes, I'm very impressed with the gardening," he responds without turning around. “I wish I knew what some of these plants were so I can request to get some."

“I just wish people would stop staring at us and yelling." Ember mutters, peering over the hedge that's giving them some modicum of privacy.

“Yeah it's always those little'uns." Hess glowers at a small party in the distance. “Bet if I stormed over they'd make a run for it."

“Yes, but we're not going to do that, are we Hess?" Alek says, calmly.

“No master, just imagining it."

“Good lad. So what did you prepare for us today?"

Hess brightens up instantly and grabs the hamper to start pulling out items.

“I experimented a bit …"

He explains the items as he hands everyone two of the deep-fried mash-potato meatballs, four of the cheese-enrobed apple chunks, and six mini-ham-on-toast-sandwiches with half a pickled onion skewered to the end of the toothpick.

“I also brought some crisps, and some hot and cold drinks with us," Cal adds, unpacking them from the rucksack.

“Thank you both. Hess these sound very interesting and I'm looking forward to trying them." Alek says, picking up one of the crispy meat eggs. He bites into it and the pleasant response is all Hess needs to start wagging.

Everyone pecks at the food and drinks over the course of the next two hours, spending the time to let Ember know more about all of the wolves and their interests. Cal talks about his music interest in school and how much his parents wanted him to be a classical musician. He modestly expresses his interest in composition, but with little to show for it. Hess talks more about his gaming interests and how excited he is to show Ember things called Final Fantasy and that World of Warcraft he's mentioned before. Cal brings it back to talk about simulation games and how he enjoys world building and managerial type stuff making theme parks and managing economy. Hess counters by calling them dumb and boring, and that role playing games are way more fun. However they both agree on a common ground with collectathon puzzle adventure games that were so prevalent in their childhoods.

Voigt manages to stay quiet during most of this, and when prompted, talks about the rise of the video game industry, and how he saw all the adverts for early computer games before the idea of video graphics. He had little interest in it then or even now, but he was able to recognise its growth through media. His interests stayed consistently practical as he talked about making shelves and units with increasing complexity in his house. Or tending to his garden and expressing adoration for a beautiful plant pot he'd found in a charity shop. Since entering the manor, he'd become interested in board games, after now having someone to play them with. Cal taught him how to play backgammon, othello, Chinese checkers and several others, and will sometimes play with the master. It's at this point the Ember realised he doesn't know very much about his master, and asks about him.

“Not much to tell really. I lived with my parents much further away in a more rural estate. My mother's side owned a lot of land and when she died my father lost custody of the house to her family and we had to move. He wanted to turn it into a werewolf sanctuary, but her family didn't approve and fought for it to be returned to her family. So my dad got the manor here about 7 years ago. I worked with him to turn his modest estate into what he'd dreamed of, and eventually he convinced the Venatoriat. He and I became co-owners of the Werewolf Habilitation and Inclusion Program."

“Horrid name," Hess grumbles. “You know they only called it that to make it sound slave-y."

“Thank you for your insight, Hess," Alek sneers, which makes the wolf cower. He turns back to Ember to continue. “As you can infer by that, this name was given to us by the Venatoriat. When my father died I had it renamed to just Werewolf Inclusivity Program, to be a more subtle civility work-in-progress scheme. Anyway, the friends he had, helped us get started with initial funding, but it was very difficult to even get our first werewolf. Unfortunately, his attempt to capture one when it was found for us, cost him his life."

“You mean …"

“A werewolf killed my father, yes."

Ember stares at Alek for a moment and then pulls his eyes away.

“I'm sorry, if it's rude to ask, Master, but if you lost your father to a werewolf why did you still decide to help us?" Ember queries gingerly.

“I loved my father, but I was not him, nor was I what he wished me to be. I had very different plans in mind for the manor, and in a way, his death facilitated it." He laughs darkly, “It makes me sound so cruel. I mourned him as any son would, but he and I shared one very powerful truth; and that was that werewolves are treated unjustly. Even when he died at the hands of one, I couldn't help but think of the things that led that wolf to do that in the first place. The Hunters caught up to him soon after, and executed him on sight.

“Upon investigation, I discovered that the wolf was terminally ill and had very little time left on this world. I dug deeper and found that the cancer that was afflicting him had been discovered at stage one, but he was refused treatment and repeatedly turned away by clinics, unwilling to treat a non-human. That's a quote from the report by the way. Without anyone to help him, the cancer spread. So he fought back against the humans that left him to die."

The wolves all dip their head a little, knowing how true the pain is to be despised. You can hide your face and walk amongst them, but as soon as they see the fur beneath the skin, they become scared or violent or both.

“All those people that walked away in the park when we showed up, the shitty kids over there, they're all people brought up with the same ignorant prejudice. The same fear of what could happen. A human is just as capable of killing another, yet we don't walk in fear of each other. It's racist profiling like this that makes me so hateful of the idiots that facilitate it." Alek's voice raises a little, getting annoyed, “The internet has only made it worse because now news is so easily spread. A werewolf attack becomes a globally known event in seconds and only worsens the bigotry."

“Master …" Cal interrupts, trying to soothe Alek.

“Sorry boys … I'm sorry," Alek says, shaking his head and sipping some water. He holds up his hand to stop them from fussing. “I appreciate that, it sounds so hypocritical being your master," he smiles apologetically “but I only do that because it's really hot."

Voigt snorts and collapses into full hearty laughter making the rest of the wolves titter.

“I was supposed to be telling you my story …" Alek grimaces, looking at Ember.

“It's alright, master. I got the gist." The black wolf smiles. “Your dad wanted to make this a rehabilitation center, but you wanted it to be hornier."

“Pretty much. Shallow I know …" Alek admits. “But hey, it seemed to turn out alright."

“Yeah … it's still just kinda weird to me that you'd be so calm about talking about your dad like this," Ember says, holding his coffee tightly.

“Ah, well, like I said. He and I didn't always see eye-to-eye, I was already co-owner and heir to the mansion, so there were no legal issues. It was a brutal end, but in a grim way, him dying allowed me to survive. Plus, it meant that I could do things around here the way I wanted. My father relied too heavily on investment funding; and when you have so few people on your side, the money would have quickly dried out. I knew that magical contracting and certain dealings in rare substances, shall we say, would be much more financially sustainable."

“I'm more than happy to boost your income, master." Hess beams, waggling his eyebrows.

“You will, later, I'll make sure of that," Alek retorts, returning the grin.

“Master …" Ember says, still curious for information. “What about the whole magic thing?"

“My mother never had a knack for it, but her sister could. So she taught me how it works and I soon surpassed even her," Alek explains.

“Can anyone do it?" The wolf asks.

“Yes, albeit some have more natural ability than others. Just how some people are more dexterous or better with calculations; you just need to know how and have the right tools. Get it wrong though and it could have disastrous effects, so even those who even know it exists are wary to learn even if they have a way to do so. I remember her telling me a story of a guy putting a spell on a skimming stone, so that every time he threw it, it would return to his hand after a few seconds. So when he was done, he tested it by throwing the stone over the water, watched it bounce a few times and plop into the water. What he didn't specify was how it was supposed to return to his hand, so instead of just disappearing and reappearing like he'd hoped, it hurtled towards his hand and shattered three bones." The wolves all wince, Hess even rubs his own hand sympathetically.

“Ouch. So you have to be really careful how you write the spell. … Could I learn?" Ember asks, even more curiously. The other wolves all look at him and shift their eyes to the master, who seems equally surprised.

“I didn't expect you to show an interest in that … but I could teach you if you'd like." He says, shrugging a little.

“I have a lot of new things to try, why not this as well," the wolf replies, smiling as he finishes his drink.

“I guess so. Right, finish up your drinks and we'll be on our way back. After all, your session is in an hour, Cal."

“Yes Master."

The wolves all help pack away the food wrappers, used crockery and fold away the blanket. Once all packed, they set back off home where they can once again be free of judgemental eyes, derogatory comments and clothes.