Servant of the Moon #1 - unedited draft

Essie sat in Del’s rooms, her sister had been traveling for months, trying to find anything she could about the Sunwolf and how to stop him. Essie sighed in despair as she read Del’s latest correspondence dated a week ago. She was on a small island hoping to get access to the vampire archives hidden in an old human monastery. The High Oracle of the Delphi temple in Greece, and the Elder Oracle of the Moon’s Blood temple near Petra had both suggested it. Her sister sounded desperate and like she was losing hope. A knock interrupted her reading and she shoved the letter into a book.

“Come,” Essie called out, doing her best to sound like Delilah. She was just glad to have a day where she could wear Del’s yoga pants instead of her oracle gowns.

Louis walked in and gave her an adoring smile, Essie immediately regretted succumbing to the temptation to start having sex with him again. “Delphi, correspondence from several packs has arrived. Oracles in many places are asking if there has been a disturbance in the Tides in the last few months. Many are reporting that the Moon has closed Her Eye to them.”

Essie almost snaps at him, but her grandfather walks in so she smiles slightly and says calmly, “Thank you Louis. I will read the letters and see what I can discern from them. Yes, grandfather?”

“Have you read the correspondence from your sister, Delphi?” He asked coolly.

“You have heard from Esther, I wasn’t aware of that,” Louis said almost angrily.

“My sister’s messages are to come straight to me or my grandfather. She and Kaiyou are seeking information on the Moon’s enemies,” the false Delphi declared. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Coordinator, I require to speak privately with our Elder Wanderer.”

Louis looked hurt but he grumbled out, “You shouldn’t keep secrets from me, Delilah, you can trust me.”

“Not... Now... Louis,” Essie growled back.

Eliazar looked back and forth between the two of them, and then pinched between his brows, groaning, “Esther, what have you done?”

Both look at him shocked, then Esther smirked and pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from her cardigan pocket and to Louis’ horror lights one, drawing a long deep inhale before blowing smoke rings at him. “Sorry, grandpapa, I couldn’t help it. I have needs and Louis is just so enthusiastic. Not his fault really, he thought I was Del.”

“You... You BITCH!” Louis shouted at her, the veins bulging from his temples and in his neck. He looked like he was on the verge of shifting. “I fu*cking hate you!”

“I know you do, but you 'love' me too.” Esther laughed, mocking, “Seriously, do you really think my sister would screw you after she had Luca. Pshhhh! You’re deluded, Louis, seriously, seriously deluded. Del only likes you as a friend and her coordinator because you do a decent job and were Luca’s brother. She would never fu...”

“Enough, ESTHER!” her grandfather snapped, cutting her tirade short. “Louis, I apologize for the deceit, but it was necessary for Delilah to travel to places only the Delphi is allowed to go. Her sister was supposed to pretend to be her for the public only. You should be aware, the Delphi can only be mated with her true mate or she risks surrendering her power and position. I am sorry that you did not know this. Since Luca had gone to the Moon, Delilah will never be able to be with another until she stops being the Delphi.”

Louis trembled with rage as he glared at Esther like he wanted to kill her. Slowly. he turned to Eliazar, “So, it was Esther who was attacked and not Delilah?”

“It was, but that is of no consequence, the attack was meant to kill the Delphi. As have many other attacks before. Delilah needs our aid and protection so she can do her duty. Louis, do not let Esther’s selfish actions affect you feelings toward Delilah or your service to the temples. I know she cares for you a great deal in spite of what her sister thinks. I will see that Esther is punished. Please, excuse us.”

Louis bowed slightly to the Elder Wanderer, then growled, “I won’t work with her anymore.”

“You won’t have to, she is going to meet her sister at the Moon’s Gate,” Eliazar announced.

Esther groaned, “But it’s still winter there. I’ll freeze my ass off.”

“Good,” Louis snapped, “It will match your frozen heart.”

“Louis,” Eliazar warned sternly.

The younger wolf stomped out and slammed the door behind him.

Esther shook her head, laughing softly to herself, “By the Tides, that wolf is a fool. Three months and he never figured it out.”

“Esther, that was completely inappropriate. What would Delilah say?” Eliazar scolded.

Essie smirked, mimicking her sister’s voice perfectly, ” ‘Ohhhh Essssiieeeee, whyyyyyyy do you hate me?’ That’s what she said.”

Eliazar rubbed his forehead tiredly, muttering, “Goddess give me strength.”

In his office, Louis cleared his desk with a single swipe. As he stood there vibrating in rage, a business card caught his eye. If Delilah couldn’t be with him while she was the Delphi, perhaps he needed to start making arrangements for her to retire. Then he could take her home to the house he and his brothers built for her before Luca’s death. Both their mates were dead, there was no reason they couldn’t be together after all this duty to the Moon Goddess nonsense was put behind them.

Charles was sitting at the head, Charlemagne on his left and Helios on Charlemagne’s left. Lothaire sat on his brother’s right, with his cousin Lucius on his right and their youngest Beta Damien who had taken his elder brother’s place after he was killed. The Deltas and Gammas filled in the far end of the room. The power of the Des Rues around one table. His dark eyes darted around to those who sat with them, his wolf was unsettled. In the center, a map of all the territories merged with Des Rues in red, the strong allies in orange , the weak allies in yellow. It looked like the map was burning. Lothaire watched the identical way Charlemagne and Helios’s eyes devoured the map.

Someday all this would be theirs and that day couldn’t come soon enough in Lothaire’s mind. His eyes were drawn to the blue outlines of those who were allied with the Moon’s temples and the brown of fallen territories that remained unclaimed. He stared at the New Wemyss territory at the far northern edge of the continent, he had been there the night of that disastrous attack. Charles had sent him to secure the alpha’s daughter for Charlemagne’s mate, but they had failed as grandly as the failure at Benjmin-Naphtal, and the girl had escaped while their numbers were decimated. He inhaled and exhaled slowly.

The truth was that the legendary skill of the Wemyss warrior wolves that Charles had laughed off as an exaggeration, had only been overcome by Lothaire’s planning and arranging for double the warriors originally to be sent. The witch who was to aid them had barely affected the battle. Only 39 of 258 warriors, who went, had survived the attack and made it out of the storm of the century alive. The goal of wiping out their most formidable opponent was a success, but the cost had been the heart and backbone of the Des Rues warriors. The Beta had been rebuilding since then. But two years ago, they got word that some of the mercenary wolves they had hired were being killed. Last week, two of the retired warriors who had survived the attack were murdered in a neighboring pack’s territory, and news of one merc further west.

A golden warrior covered in tattoos had decapitated one in front of his home with his mate and child inside, but not before making him confess to her what he had done that night. When Lothaire had gone to speak to the shewolf, she had spat in his face after telling him what she knew. More damaging and insulting, her Alpha had ended their alliance with Des Rues declaring with four other alphas that their packs would not ally with the murderers of pups and raised the questions about the fall of Benjmin-Nephtal again. Whoever the surviving warrior was, he was killing Des Rues allied warriors and revealing the truths Charles had struggled to keep secret for years.

As they discussed the deaths, Beta Lucius asked to return and search the New Wemyss territory again, Lothaire scoffed. A mirthless chuckle escaped before he could stop it.

“You have something to say, brother?” Alpha Charles growled.

“Yes, brother. I know you mean well, Lucius, but you should have found any survivors last time you were there. I believe it is obvious they are not living in the New Wemyss territory proper. The three killings are only days separated, but too far apart to be the work of a single wolf. The surviving Wemyss Rogues are hunting us. They will come here.” Lothaire answered coolly.

“No one would dare attack our territory,” Charlemagne blurted out. Helios, however, watched Lothaire keenly.

“What makes you say that, uncle?” Helios’ voice purred, so smooth like his mother’s manner of speaking. Lothaire despised him.

“We know part of the Wemyss wolves were Servants of the Moon, they were probably at one of the Temples when we attacked. One of them rescued the Delphi from us and the rest fought for their escape when we tried to capture her. They are moving though the packs, hunting those who hunted them, they are using the Temples as their credentials.”

Charles scoffed, “The Oracles would never allow such a vendetta.”

“Delilah Ayala is not like other Delphi. Rumor is she and her Protector sister trade places so she can travel as the Wanderers do. She can even fight and killed a wolf who tried to assassinate her,” Lothaire noticed that everyone, but Helios seemed surprised by this. There was a smug smile that tugged at his mouth and he licked his lips before he took a drink that did not hide the vicious smile in his pale golden eyes as Lothaire continued. “The Delphi would allow the Wemyss wolves to hunt us, for no other reason than it avenges her own birthpack.”

Gasps and murmurs followed.

Helios set his cup down, “You sound very sure, Uncle. Can you be sure that pathetic girl is the one who was attacked and not some doppelganger who was more warrior than oracle?”

“My source is very reliable, nephew,” he growled.

They stared at each other, and as much as Lothaire’s wolf wanted to look away from the power in those strange polished metal eyes, Lothaire did not look away. He would never bend his neck to the halfling son of a witch.

“Brother, do not challenge my son,” Charles growled.

“Your son has yet to prove himself to me, Alpha,” Lothaire reminded him. “Either of them.”

Charles enraged growl rattled the cups on the table, but Lothaire did not bend his neck. His brother’s power had waned in the last few years, and Lothaire’s had not.

“I am going to the place of the last killing, please choose one of your sons to send with me. If you want them to be your heirs then they need to do more than chase whores and party in the desert,” Lothaire snarled back.

Charles came out of his chair at the challenge, but Helios reached across to grab his father’s arm, “I’ll go, father. Uncle Lothaire is correct. Charlie and I have been lax in our duties as your heirs. We apologize.”

Charles sat back down with a proud expression, glaring at his brother, “Is that satisfactory to you, Beta?”

Lothaire wanted the smash his fist into the table, he did not with to travel with Helios except to carry his ashes to be dumped in a pit, but he nodded, his face passive. “Yes, Alpha. We will leave at dawn.”

The meeting continued, discussing which packs to seek alliances with, and increasing training and security. The continued low birthrates were a concern of those who had not managed to have children and those who had failed to find or been rejected by their mates. Lady Soleil and her witchcraft had increased the conception rate of the breeders, but it still wasn’t enough to keep pace with the numbers of those dying. The Des Rues had to continue recruiting younger pack members and rogues to keep their numbers up.

As the discussion moved on to other matters, Lothaire’s mind dwelt on the reason for the lack of pups. Over two decades had passed, since the curse of the last Benjmin-Naphtal Luna had rendered their pack infertile. Charlemagne was the last pup delivered after that night without witchcraft. The night when Lothaire’s brother and father brought the Moon’s wrath down upon them all. Lothaire watched Charlemagne and Helios talking. They had been born the same year only months apart. The second year of the curse that has reduced the packs population and robbed dozens of families of children and females, including himself. It was a bitter feeling to know the once proud Des Rues had fallen so far because of his brother’s arrogance, and his nephews were no better. He longed to leave this cursed place behind. Again he wondered how his brother had gained the power to had become Alpha and he puzzled if it could have anything to do with his bitches, the witch and the oracle.

As the discussion drifted back to allies and annexing empty land, Lothaire thought about the rumors of the small pack and small coven disappearances. These wolves and vampires didn’t leave, they just vanished. There were also whispers of a new secret pack of Sun-worshiping wolves and their charismatic golden Alpha who promised and provided the dreams of his followers. Lothaire couldn’t shake the feeling that his 19 year-old nephew and the welp's witch mother were somehow involved with that group. Something about Helios kept his wolf on edge, something about him seemed mature beyond his years, like an old man trying to pretend to be young and carefree. Something that rang false, like the artificial flavor of cheap liquor, which was more poison than pleasure.

After the meeting, he watched the two 19-year-old Alpha half-brothers leave together, he wondered how much sway the older held over the younger. Six months difference in age seemed more like six, or sixty, years with the way Helios spoke and acted sometimes. Lothaire stalked through the halls, away from them and his brother, away from those who were destroying the proud history of their family.

In his rooms, his evenings’ entertainment sat in a chair by the window. The moonlight and the breeze moving around her. Long dark hair and eyes made deep blue by false lenses with curves covered in gossamer thin silk; the resemblance was close enough to please him. The Goddess-like beauty of the mother of the twin oracles, had been lost to his eyes the day the Benjmin-Naphtal Pack house had burned to the ground. His own pregnant mate who resembled her, had died not a week later from the curse the Benjmin-Naphtal Luna had placed on his pack. But still he longed for the fantasy of beauty and moonlight and the soul-filling love only an oracle could give.

Tamaza had been special, and that was why Charles had wanted her for his own, even though he already had the oracle Valeria and Luna Anne, and secretly, the witch Soleil. While the female fed and bathed him, she softly sang the prayer songs of the Temples. Then she messaged his whole body with oil that reminded him of Tamaza’s scent; lilies, tulips and temple incense. Her hands relaxing him completely before he made love to his beautiful fake. It was all a lie, but it was the only hours of peace he knew. Tomorrow, Lothaire would be traveling with his brother’s eldest bastard, but until dawn, he was going to enjoy the privilege of his birth and the illusion of one that was never his.