Council of Elders Ch. 07

Fenris was too busy choking down his third double-cheeseburger to notice the stranger, but Caesar's eyes were wide open in terror. This alone made Owen very anxious.

"Fuck!" Caesar gasped. "Fuckity Fuck Fuck Fuck!"

Evidently the person outside was not someone he wanted to see. Fenris heard Caesar and turned to look into the face of the stranger. Fenris did not react at all, which if anything made Owen more nervous than if some flash of horrified recognition had appeared.

"Uh... sorry to bothering you." The man started in broken English, muffled by the windscreen. "I am having been lost – yes?" Caesar seemed to remember that he couldn't be seen and sagged in relief. The man smiled vacantly and tapped on the glass of the car door window, signalling for Fenris to wind it down so they could speak.

"Don't let your guard down for a second. He's a vampire; don't be fooled by the whole exotic foreigner routine. He's killed thousands of werewolves in his time, and he may take the opportunity to wipe out one more." Caesar whispered this, even though he knew he couldn't be heard. He wouldn't put it past this particular vampire to overhear his very thoughts if they were too loud.

"Can I help you?" Fenris' expression did nothing to convey any depth of emotion, but Owen could sense the tension in his body.

"I am lost very much and I am thankings for you to help me? What is place of nearest sleep?" The man projected an air of blandly pleasant ineptitude, a disguise that seemed carefully crafted by years of practice. This, combined with formidable good looks, made him a very successful predator.

"Well... the nearest hotel is about a quarter-mile that way." Fenris pointed what he vaguely assumed was north, though in fact he had no idea where he was pointing.

"You could am driving me?" The vampire gazed deeply into Fenris' eyes, employing the mesmerising stare that made such easy prey of werewolves.

"Uh... sure, why not?" Caesar was frantically waving his arms to prevent this from happening, but the vampire slid gracefully into the back seat next to where Owen was huddled beneath a coat.

Content that he was no longer in need of a disguise; the vampire drew an emerald-hilted dagger from his sleeve and laid it flat against Fenris' neck.

"Drive." The command seemed to echo in the confines of the car, and Fenris pulled away from the curb as instructed.

***

The drive took a lot longer than it would have taken for them to reach the hotel. Instead, the car was bombing down the M4 at 70mph. Owen was still hopelessly trapped and he couldn't work out a way to communicate that wouldn't let the vampire know what he was saying.

He couldn't communicate with either Fenris or Caesar, but he was desperately trying to. When he was certain that it wouldn't work, he turned his attention to the vampire. He reached out with his mind and tentatively poked at the vampire's mental defences. Surprised with the ease with which he could walk the line of the vampire's mind, he shoved a little harder.

The car swerved dangerously as Apollo lost control of Fenris' mind. It was hard enough to keep the boy under wraps as it was; only his excessive age and skill was keeping the boy's mind at bay. Whatever had just attempted to breach his defences had to be nearby. He scanned around the car, but there was only himself, Fenris and that shapeless overcoat. He must have just been imagining things. Just to be sure, he tasted the air with his tongue. Nope. Nothing there.

Owen had taken note of the reaction to his probe and very carefully reached out again. His mind was close enough to touch the vampire's and as though he had been taught how to do it and had been practising all of his life, he struck out. The whipcord of energy that smashed into Apollo's mind was almost too painful to bear. He lost total domination of Fenris who, suddenly finding himself awake and driving a car, promptly ran the vehicle off the road.

The squeal of the tyres as they went 'off piste' sent a further lance of confusion into the vehicles passengers. Owen braced for the impact and felt his body change form again.

***

"Fucking HELL!" cried Caesar as he observed the wreckage. Part of the benefit of having no physical presence was being able to simply drift through the fabric of the car at will. Did that counteract never having a rare steak again? No. But it was cool all the same. 'Cool?' He thought. 'Damn, these youngsters are a bad influence on me.'

It was quite impressive that the humans could build something that burst into flames so readily, but the smoke creeping out from under the hood looked exceptionally dangerous. Cursing his luck, he lay down on the prone form of Fenris and, after sliding into the young werewolf's body, did a soft reset of his consciousness.

Fenris shot up in a fairly over-dramatic fashion and began to breathe heavily. He'd always wanted to flip a car, though the effect was spoiled somewhat by the throbbing pain in his skull. He stood up and searched for his lover's body, but when all he could see was an empty overcoat and the small pile of torn clothes that Owen had been relieved of by his transformation, he began to be concerned.

As though sensing the worry, Owen descended into Fenris' arms from above, his shadowy wings dissipating into the air as he landed.

"Don't worry." He cooed. The affectionate comment was somehow marred by the scratchy rasp that made it audible, but Fenris blushed all the same, his tanned skin becoming cutely splotchy rather than evenly rouge. "I'm not going anywhere unless you're there too."

They snuggled a little, ignoring the burning car debris that smoked in front of them. A tiny idyll away from the insanity of the world. Again, Owen's brand spanking new talons dug into Fenris' arms and somewhat ruined the moment, but Fenris didn't care one bit.

They were brought out of their personal paradise by a high, cold voice.

"How romantic. I'm positively touched." Sarcasm may be the lowest form of wit, but it's still wit and the vampire Apollo had literally had millennia to nail it.

Fenris snarled and bared his teeth at the vampire. Owen's new body seemed incapable of exhibiting his mood so to observers he seemed unfazed by the vampire's approach.

"Down boy. I'm not here to make trouble, heavens no." The patronising tone was incredibly irritating, but as neither Owen not Fenris felt like fighting at the moment, they swallowed their ire.

"Then why did you attempt to kidnap us?" Owen had some sixth sense that told him that the vampire wasn't lying about hurting them, although the spirit of Caesar was still quaking in fear. Apollo flinched imperceptibly at the voice that uttered the words, but Owen's new eyes could see every twitch.

"That was merely to ensure that you didn't say no to my request in a public place. I had every intention of releasing you from my power when we were far enough away from civilisation." He looked around briefly. "Now that I think about it, this seems like a perfect place for a little rendezvous."

He scratched his chin. "Speaking of, how on earth did you manage to break free? I'm very, very strong and very, very old, and no one's ever done it before, so I'm genuinely intrigued with how you did it."

Fenris pulled Owen tighter, a dual display of pride and protectiveness that the vampire saw straight away.

"Oh my, how touching. The big bad wolf wants to save the nasty Daemon. But you're not one of them, are you." It wasn't a question. "I can smell them. I can smell dog-breath over there. But-" His forked tongue tasted the air again. "I just can't get a whiff of eau de Daemon."

Owen was as surprised as Apollo, but it didn't register on his emotionless face. Instead, he asked, "So what am I?"

"That answer, only the Creator knows. I suppose that if we prodded and poked you enough times with some scientific equipment we might learn your true nature, but something tells me that fur-brain over yonder might complain.

"Do you have to call me that?" Asked Fenris, visibly pissed off at the insults.

"Yes." Apollo answered, simply.

He grinned then bowed gracefully. "On behalf of the Triumvirate of Blood, the High Council of Elders and the Denizens of the Supernatural World, I hereby congratulate you for your defeat of the Chaos. As reward for your heroic deeds, I have a... business proposition for you."

***

'Why on Earth did I agree to this?' Fenris asked himself when he was strapped into the Rome-bound chopper.

'I'll tell you why,' answered Caesar. 'You did it to protect him. You did it so that you would no longer have to run.'

'But we could take on anyone who wanted to stop us. There's no limit to our combined strength.' The younger werewolf mused. He had changed Owen back into his human form with a kiss and he was thankful that they wouldn't need to fuck every single time because his arse was incredibly sore from just the one occasion.

'Eventually he would tire of battle. He would grow to resent you and the life you would be forced to live. Humans do not love as we love. They are fickle. "Gods weep at changing winds" and all that jazz.'

'That is an awful translation coming from someone who lived back then, but I get the point." Fenris laughed, but then seemed to shrink in his seat. "I can't feel his thoughts anymore and it scares me.'

'That's a good thing. Reading minds is invasive to the point of torture and there's no guarantee that what you hear will make you feel better.'

'But I love him. I need him.'

'Yes. And the terrible truth is that you probably always will. That is part of the curse of life mating and having such longevity as a species.'

'He won't leave me. Not ever. He feels the same way as I do.'

'You don't know that for sure my boy. This could just be a fling to him. It could be, but something tells me that you're not wrong about him. He is... different from any mortal I've met before.'

Fenris turned to Caesar and smiled, the lines around his eyes belying the mirth in his face. It had been a difficult decision, but he honestly believed that it had been the right one. This way there would be nothing to keep them apart.

***

"There's no reason to look so glum." Apollo said as he and Owen sat side by side in the other helicopter. "That mutt must love you dearly to give up his freedom for you."

"Shut up!" Owen growled, his teeth bared angrily. He was incredibly frustrated with the entire business. "Just shut up! If you hadn't come along and attacked us then we could have been happy by now."

Instead, they were flying through the sky towards the very people who had ordered his death so many years ago. Apollo had filled him in on the whole story about his birth, the parts that his parents hadn't known.

Owen had tried to be angry with Caesar, but given the destruction that he had caused whilst under the control of the Beast he had to accept that on balance it was the right decision to make.

"So tell me again how you two met..." Apollo began, smiling broadly.

"Why on Earth do you need to know that?" Owen was disturbed by the fascination that his relationship with Fenris seemed to cause in the ancient vampire.

"I like to learn about love. Having never had it myself I have to get my kicks vicariously."

Owen was taken aback by this. "But... you're thousands of years old. How have you never been in a relationship with someone?"

"Oh I've been in plenty of relationships. But I don't have it in me to love." Owen blinked and remembered what the old man had told him about the vampire general who had gone into hiding to stop himself from hurting others.

"So you're the one who waged war on the werewolves and golems!" Apollo looked at him, mildly surprised.

"Where did you hear that? I doubt even your tail-wagging friend knows that particular bit of history. It was removed from the records specifically to prevent panic about the Chaos." Apollo wasn't angry, just curious.

"I must have picked it up somewhere. I don't know, maybe the Daemon knew about it and it just transferred to me." Something told Owen that telling the vampire about his brief stint in the afterlife would be a bad idea.

But years of experience had taught Apollo how to spot a lie when it was being paraded under his nose and he wasn't fooled.

"Really? I suppose that makes sense." Owen sighed in relief. "Of course, what would make more sense is that Caesar's ghost told you."

Owen spluttered in shock at the revelation that Apollo knew Caesar was there.

"Don't worry boy, you didn't give it away. I felt him, briefly, when I attacked your lover's mind in the car. Sloppy really." Apollo smiled benignly and awaited a response from Owen. When it didn't come, he continued. "You should be proud of your little stray, he fought me tooth and nail, but in the end my personal experience in invading the minds of others was superior to his brute power."

Owen clenched his fists again at the continued comments about Fenris' lineage. But as he was, there was nothing he could do to punish the vampire. Without Fenris' permission, he could not become the beast again and without Fenris to stop him, he could do more harm than good. He decided to sit in silence as they flew closer and closer to the Vatican City.