Chapter 16
By early evening I took to the grounds, excusing myself from dinner with the rest of the Pack Masters , and joined the others in the tents, making sure everyone was accommodated. Marie had finally came out of her mini honeymoon with Louis and came to walk with me. She and I gathering lists of needs and necessities. The elderly Wolves we tended to first, I hated that they were reluctant to be in the manor where they could be looked after better, a part of me thought of how my parents always told me to take care of our elders better and with more respect. But the joining wolves here for the next few weeks felt the BloodMoon festival was the last hoorah for them. They wanted to feel the full vibrancy our Goddess gave us on that evening. My parents always made the Festival an extravagant thing, for all ages, I was just hoping to match that this year. It was still only a week away.
A small pain always reached me wishing they were still here so I could take care of them myself. It didn't matter if I had to bathe them or be on my hands and knees to crawl through glass for them, if I was able to have them here I would. I would've hoped if they were here they would be proud of me, proud of what the pack now was.
We had the tents separated during the evenings, a tent for the elderly, tents for the men and boys, one for women, and girls, and finally mated families that wanted to stick together.
From afar the tents wouldn't have looked big enough but obviously with a little magic, Marie was able to Hermione it up in a jiffy. The interior was something else, with feather beds beside each other , every bed had its own trunk for their belongings, and one large bathroom at the end of the tent. It looked as if it were a grand wing.
Every morning the beds would be taken away while everyone reddied for breakfast , only to find their bedding and trunks replaced with room length picnic tables filled with food throughout the day. With this amount of Magic I sometimes felt I was pushing Marie, but from what she claimed glamour/ household magic was the easiest to be done. This woman was so young to be doing so much. I needed to share my appreciation.
Before I found myself beginning to praise her and ask if she wanted anything in return she beat me to it.
"If it isn't too much to ask Maze...you can thank me fore all this by…" she took a breathe, scratching at her arm, something that gave away her nervousness "Uhm let Louis and Rosemary move in with me at my house, I think the Packhouse might be too routy for them and an infant."
I almost laughed at her "Marie it's your house. You don't need my permission to let someone move in with you."
She squealed and hugged me "Wait but I just thought because Louis isn't a part of this pack, and we still need to know what happened in MarshView, and-and-"
I cut her off, handing her a pile of blankets we had to deliver before bedtime " Marie you trust Louis, and I trust you. We're going to get to the bottom of what's happened in MarshView, but if you feel there's an underlined threat with him on the grounds we can make other accommodations, I only trust you will come to me if something is bothering you. He's a rogue yes, but not by choice. Which is why I've accepted him being here, just as I did with you and Micheal. If he decides he wants he and Rosemary to stay here indefinitely. I'm all ears. For you, because I trust your judgement. "
She looked like she could have cried right then and there "Thankyou Maze...I just don't know where I would be if you hadn't brought me home."
Home. I smiled before giving her a kiss on the head and sent her off. When I first brought her and Micheal home, they didn't adjust too well. We had a packhouse but most of the members there were young and training warriors or healers. The house was always in chaos. Micheal was too used to silence, he'd sometimes run into the forest and sleep in his wolf form to get some quiet. I learned this when I went for a run and found him snoring away.
Marie hadn't liked being around so many people, she'd scurry away from anyone that wasn't Micheal or I . Male wolves were a must she steered from, and Micheal made sure to keep them away from her. Though Micheal wasn't a part of what we went through, she bonded with him when he saved us. She took to Ezra immediately, seeing as he did all he could to save her before Rhett finally got his hands on her. Sometimes on nights she had nightmares she'd end up in one of our beds. We protected her, and helped her as much as we could.
My gift to them both were their own little cottage homes. Their own serenity. Slowly and surely that's where they stayed happily. Micheal got his peace and quiet, and Marie had her peace of mind, that she was never going to be harmed in her own home. When we finished our rounds with the packs, Marie invited me for dinner in her own little home. I linked Ezra to keep patrols tight, even going as far as recruitment of other packs members. I needed to let them know what could be coming, and very soon.
We got to Marie's cottage, I could smell Louis on almost every surface of this place. They sure didn't waste any time did they. Rosemary was with Twitch tonight, and Louis had volunteered to make runs to the town for more food. Our groceries had to be bought in the evening, considering we nearly bought out the whole store it was understandable. Things we didn't need to buy, we grew, sometimes with the help of a few nature fairies. As payment for services we laid out safe passage portals for them to pass in and out of realms. It seemed fair enough, and not threatening at all when someone sees a ring of mushroom here and there.
Most wolves kept to themselves, never letting other supernatural creatures mingle with our kind, but being raised with such an open mind it was hard not to accept whoever came our way. It was peaceful enough, and beneficial.
"So are you going to tell me what's been on your mind the past few days?" Marie handed me a plate of pasta salad she prepared earlier.
"Where do I begin?" I rolled my eyes sarcastically, digging in, not really wanting to talk about it, but I knew I'd need her for something.
"How about you pick the more fixable one ." She shrugged, starting in on her own plate. Mother's warning, the child the ancients are looking for, Hel and Her mate, endless slaughter till that kid is found, a traitor amongst wolves, my mate? Which? Gods!
"I need to find a way to contact Hel." I finally decided.
A fork full nearly dropped from her mouth "Hel? As in Keeper of the Dead?!"
I shrugged, no need to get too excited " Yes, I'm sure her summons is a bit trickier than summoning mother. "
Marie chewed her lip thinking "Definitely, we'd need a demon actually."
"That's all? "
"Well…" Marie slid out of her chair and went to her floor boards, pulling one aside, she pulled out a small pink notebook bound by leather string and opened it to show me spells for demon summoning, I surely can judge this book by its cover. A small pink thing reeked of malice aura. " To summon someone from the underworld such as the keeper of the underworld, we need someone who is nearly an equal. A demon is in some sense a keeper as well. They're always so complicated. But we'd need someone of a royal bloodline . Hel is technically a goddess of death, we need equal measure. "
I grinned "God's I'm so happy I make the oddest friends. I'll give Sama'el a call."
Marie's eyes bulged "Goddess I hate that thing! Why can't you call someone else Maze! "
"One Sama'el is of Royal blood for one , and a demon. Two exact things we need. Why would I over-look it?"
Marie slumped groaning , "Fiiiiiine ."
We finished eating and I waved Marie off, heading back to the manor. I was almost so absorbed with excitement. We would be that much closer to getting things handled. Even if this was a great step forward, I'm now patiently waiting for the other shoe to drop. It has to, it always does, and we need to be ready just in case. I found myself laughing a bit, I knew why Marie hated Sama'el. They once had an evening of fun, but Marie couldn't figure out if Sam was a female or male. I knew of course but it was amazing and astonishing to see how many wolves were fooled. Even Ezra caught himself a bit confused at meeting Sam.
Sama'el was part of Royal demons. There weren't many around in this century so it was a shock when Sam's parents called to be made King and Queen of Earth's realm. There were no objections as long as they kept their peace and refrained from harming creatures such as ourselves. They obliged.
Demons were tricky sort of creatures, they were so unbelievably beautiful, being that of a male or female was always the fun part of Trying to figure it out if they didn't spit it out the first time around. They loved to toy with many, and we're very reluctant to strike up alliances with other supernatural creatures. They were givers or despair and torment, but they were also just as normal as any other. Sam and I became friends for one reason: Rhett.