Page 25 of The Bloody Ruin Asylum & Taproom (Sam Quinn #7)

Twenty

Werewolves Bite First and Ask Questions Later

“At the palace,” Vlad continued, “I threatened the boil-ridden man to say no to her father. He was quite upset, but I assured him he’d be at the end of a long, sharp pike if he pursued the marriage.”

“Nice,” I said, grinning.

“He means it,” Clive murmured, and I remembered the Impaler part of Vlad’s name.

“Oh, yeah,” I muttered.

Vlad smiled, and it was terrifying. “No one had yet heard about the attack on the road. Ilona hadn’t sent word to her father, no doubt because she hated him and didn’t want to be called back for a wedding.”

“I realize it may pale in comparison to escaping death—twice—but I’m sure she appreciated being saved from the boil-ridden man,” I said.

He nodded. “I went in search of her, to tell her I’d stopped the alliance, and to offer myself instead.

I took a room at a lodge an hour’s ride away and returned each day to court her.

At first, I’d been struck by her beauty, but as we talked, I found—as you said about your husband—her beauty was the least interesting thing about her. ”

He stared into the fire. “She was smart, witty—I wasn’t used to that—and strong. She loved challenging me, wanting to hear the stories of war and then arguing how I’d done it all wrong and what she would have done in my place.”

Clive looked up with a smile, reached over and squeezed my hand, and then went back to researching.

“I fell in love with her, and I think she softened to me. Weeks later, at the full moon—not that that meant anything at the time—she got sick. There were only two servants in the house with her, but both were doing their best to take care of her. She was feverish and sick to her stomach. She didn’t want me to see her, but I kept close in case I needed to visit an apothecary. ”

Staring into the flames, he seemed lost in the memory. “I heard a shout and a scream. I ran into the house and saw a huge wolf break through the back door. I ran up the stairs, looking for Ilona, and found her servants dead on the ground, their throats ripped out.”

I covered my mouth. I knew what it was to change all alone with no idea what was happening. Thankfully, I hadn’t hurt anyone. I didn’t know how I’d have lived with myself if I had.

“Her bed was empty, the sheets ripped. I’d thought she’d been taken by the wolf, strange as that would have been, so I ran out into the woods to look for her. For hours, I tracked the wolf, trying to find Ilona.

“Eventually, I found it in a clearing and made to kill it. It was behaving oddly, though. It just sat under a tree, watching me. When I got close, it raised the side of its lip and growled, but it was half-hearted at best. It was the eyes that got me. The color was lighter, but the intelligence was Ilona’s. ”

“Yes,” Clive said. “Sam’s eyes lighten to gold, but they’re her eyes. I still see her in them.”

I didn’t know that.

“I hadn’t believed such things existed, but there she was, staring at me. I said her name and she came to her feet, backing away. She bumped into the tree behind her, yipped, and ran off again.”

“It’s terrifying,” I said. “Changing for the first time with no warning, no understanding of what’s happening.

” I tightened my arms, wrapped around my legs.

“I thought I was going crazy. Everything looked and smelled different. I kept tripping because I couldn’t get my brain to understand I had four legs. ”

A shiver went through me. “I thought it was a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. And I hadn’t killed anyone, hadn’t had the scent and taste of blood on me. The poor thing was probably in shock.”

Vlad had turned his attention from the fire while I spoke. He nodded. “That was what I thought too. I’d seen young men in war after they’d killed for the first time. Eyes huge. Body trembling.”

“Yes,” Clive agreed. “The enormity of taking another’s life, of not only cutting off their potential, but that of everyone connected to that person, everyone who might have come after that person. It can drop a man to his knees.”

Vlad studied Clive a moment. “I know your reputation. You’ve killed countless numbers over the centuries, but I would guess that you were the one on your knees after your first kill.”

Clive went back to tapping and scrolling. “It was so long ago. Who remembers?”

The corner of Vlad’s mustache lifted.

“I went back to the house and waited for her to return. Midmorning, she came out of the woods, dazed and naked. I gave her my coat and took her in to clean and tend to.” He shook his head. “There are no manuals.”

Clive chuffed out a laugh. “Sam is annoyed by that as well.”

“I mean, if you’re part of a pack, okay,” I said. “There are others who can guide you, but if you’re all alone?” I threw my hands up. “It’s a life of trial and error.”

“Yes,” Vlad said, “but we figured it out together. We married—”

“Did you bribe or threaten her dad?” I asked.

He smiled that scary smile again. “Guess. I bought a large parcel of wooded property and had a house built. Once a month, she had a safe area to run in and hunt. I made it far enough away from her family that they rarely visited.”

Pausing, he stared into the fire again. “We were happy.” He scratched his jaw. “First time in my life I was happy. It lasted a little over a year. I was called back for another battle. I had to leave Ilona. That was the battle where I was mortally wounded.

“As I laid bleeding on the field, I wished only to see Ilona one last time. That was when the vampires came, feeding from those of us on the edge of death. The one who changed me knew who I was, said I was quite the prize.”

He looked inward a moment. “I believe he thought he was getting a guard dog.”

“Idiot,” Clive murmured.

Nodding, Vlad said, “It was his last stupid decision. Clearly, he did not know me. I handed him his final death and raced home to Ilona. When I returned, though, Ilona wasn’t there.

It was the night after the full moon. Our servants were beside themselves with worry.

They’d told me Ilona hadn’t been in her room that morning.

I assumed she’d slept in the woods, but they said they hadn’t seen her all day.

“I went out looking. Her trail was easy to follow in this new form of mine. I tracked her to a clearing. There was a lot of blood and the scent of two men. I tracked them to a tavern in the village center, telling stories to all assembled of the huge wolf they’d tracked and killed.”

“No,” I whispered.

“The short version is I killed everyone in the tavern and found Ilona’s wolf dropped on the floor behind the bastards poaching on my land. I brought her home and buried her in the garden beneath our bedroom window.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said.

He nodded, not looking at me.

In the ensuing silence, Clive said, “I found Aliz’s family.”

“You did?” I put my feet down and turned to him.

“He found them almost at once,” Vlad said. “He was giving me space to remember and talk about my wife.”

“Thank you for sharing your memories with us,” I said, wiping my face dry.

Brushing off my sympathy, Vlad stood. “Where are we going?”

Clive rose as well. “There’s a graveyard beside a small church up in the hills. Darling, meet us just inside the metal door. Vlad and I will go retrieve Aliz and bring her to you.”

“Did you learn nothing from my tale?” Vlad said to him. “I’ll get the child. You stay with your wife.” He left, closing the door quietly behind himself.

Clive opened his arms and I walked into them.

“It’s so sad. All of it, Aliz, Ilona, Léna.” I hugged him tightly and felt his kiss on my head. “Give me a minute.” I went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. Grabbing a washcloth, I dried off and bucked up. We had work to do. Aliz needed to go home.

When I went out, Clive was waiting by the door. He opened it and we walked silently past all the doors on our way to the main hall.

Is anyone watching us? I asked him in my head.

I assume there’s always someone watching.

Paranoid much?

Realistic, he responded.

When we reached the door, he pulled a tiny can of mechanical lubricant out of his pocket.

Always thinking, you are, I said. I hated the damn screeching door, letting people know where I was, but I hadn’t thought to fix it.

He sprayed the hinges, opened the door a couple of inches, and then sprayed again. We slid through a narrow opening and then he sprayed the hinges from the inside. Placing the can on the earthen ground to the side of the door, he said, In case you need it again.

A moment later, Vlad slid through the now quiet door with a small duffle bag in his hand. He saw me staring at it and said, “There wasn’t a better way to transport the child when we’ll be running through the streets.”

I hated it, but he was right. We went through the tunnel, out past the dumpster, and then Clive swung me up on to his back and we were racing through streets. It wasn’t long before we left the town proper and were crossing fields into the hills.

Vlad said something, but it was too low for me to hear.

What did he say? I asked Clive.

He said he scents wolves. As do I. We may be on pack grounds.

Before too long, we came to an abandoned wooden chapel in the woods. Windows were missing, as was some of the roof. Vegetation had overrun the tiny church. Clive put me down and we walked around the side. Headstones, cracked, moss-covered, and leaning, were lined up in drunken rows.

Silently, we walked in different directions, trying to read the worn stones, looking for Csonka.

The markers were so different from American ones.

These looked like stories, like sentences about the deceased.

I had no idea what was written, but it felt more personal than the simple names and dates on ours.

Not knowing Hungarian, I had to just scan, looking for the right letters in the right order.

“Here,” Vlad whispered.

Clive and I went to him, and we studied all the stones in this section with that name, looking for dates that might coincide with her life, her family.

“Here,” Clive murmured. Reading the Hungarian, he said, Here lies Csonka Lenci, Born in Szentendre, Daughter to Takács László and Klara, Wife to Medárd, Mother to László, Keve, Aliz. Rest in peace.

Yes. I squeezed his arm. We need to bury her with her mother.

Clive knelt and began to dig, with Vlad dropping to help.

I should have been paying attention to our surroundings.

Instead, I was holding the duffle bag with Aliz’s bones, hoping she’d been reunited with her family on the other side long ago.

As I’d never seen her ghost at the asylum, I hoped it was so.

An angry shout made me jump. Before I could register the movement, Clive and Vlad stood between me and the angry man. László, the Buda pack Alpha, was standing at the tree line, a look of horror and outrage on his face.

Clive said something, but then László threw his head back and howled.

From the forest, wolves stalked toward us. At least forty of them surrounded us.

Shit.