The Devil's Wolf

"I have just gone in to feed our devil and found him alone," it was not a complaint exactly, but there was a tone in his voice of unhappiness.

"Aww," she blew a kiss into the phone. "Did my big vampire come to bed wanting a f-k and found it empty except for his devil? I chatted to my dad, like you said to do. There is a little problem I need to take care of. I will be back soon and I will happy bounce around in bed with you then, I promise."

"What problem?"

"Don't you worry your pretty head, I have got it under control," she had to run out a couple of steps as she landed in her parent's backyard, almost falling into the swimming pool. "Cael's right, I need to work on my landings. Practice makes perfect, I guess."

Elior sighed heavily. "Are you somewhere safe?"

"I am at my parent's house, honey, don't worry," she opened the back door. "Hi mum, dad."

Cecelia was making coffee, the kettle in her hand. "Ashlynn," she set the kettle down and framed Ashlynn's face. "Look at your beautiful wings! And he has turned you."Her mother looked teary eyed. "I am so happy for you, and so sad, as well. My cub, all grown up and mated."

"Oh, mum," Ashlynn kissed her cheek fondly. "Can I drink coffee?" Ashlynn wondered to Elior on the phone. "It smells odd."

"You can drink and eat," Elior replied, mildly amused. "The blood alone, however, is sufficient, and you will find you will prefer it to other sources of nutrition. Some turned vampires retain a liking for foods they used to consume. I was never human, so I personally cannot understand it. I do not like the texture of most of the things I have tried to eat out of curiosity."

"I will have to introduce you to chocolate cake," she smiled. "The non-devil kind. Don't make me a coffee, mum. It really doesn't smell great. I will be right back," she said to her parents. "I have to clean up a mess in your den, and then we will have a chat."

"Ashlynn," Raiden followed her to the secret entrance to the den. "What are you-?"

"Here, chat to Elior for a moment," she passed the phone to her father. "Be nice. He is one of my husbands, and probably will father your grandchildren, or some of them, eventually, when we decide it is time to multiply - not for many years, so don't get excited. I will be right back."

She used her code to unlock the steel door into the den, finding its weight less troublesome than before her change. "Go Other muscles," she crowed, pleased. She closed it behind her out of long instilled habit and breathed in, her new, keener senses scenting more than one vampire. She tracked the scents down the tastefully decorated den hallway, past the bedrooms, bathroom, storage rooms and her parent's safe room, to the main chamber of the secured den, her code opening the second steel door.

There were five vampires in the den. Three were injured, on the couches, the spread of sheets to contain blood spillage and the first aid rendered indication of Raiden and Cecelia's care. The two uninjured vampires stood, their jaws dropping as she entered, her wings filling the doorway.

"Hi," she grinned at them. "Who is Caleb Roth?"

"Ashlynn Grenmeyer," a woman recovered sufficiently to identify her.

"That is me," Ashlynn agreed, and retracted her wings, causing the vampires to exclaim. "They are not really practical inside a house. Great as a mode of transportation, disastrous on knick-knacks. Really painful to take in and out, however, so it is tempting to get lazy with it. Now, Caleb Roth?"

"I am Caleb Roth," one of the injured vampires stood. He was beautiful, as all born vampires tended to be, his hair auburn and his eyes green. He had been shot multiple times, blood seeping slowly through his clothing as he healed. She saw that he wore a gold ring on his smallest finger as Elior did, evidence of his birthright as a vampire."We thank your family for their hospitality and shelter."

"You know, right, that Elior is my mate?" Ashlynn considered him.

"Yes, we have been following the social media posts. Elior's weapon of choice," Caleb Roth grimaced in distaste. "He has obviously turned you. Your father assured us that you would listen to reason, regardless."

"I am very reasonable," Ashlynn agreed. The vampires visibly relaxed, and the woman helped Caleb Roth to sit again, which he did with obvious exhaustion. "How did you come to be injured?"

"Humans turned against us," the woman said.

"Well," Ashlynn raised her eyebrows. "That wasn't exactly unexpected, was it?"

The woman glared at her.

"So, my father says that you believe that Elior has been planning this since Lucian?" Ashlynn prompted. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

"The vampire hierarchy were decayed," it was the woman who spoke again. "Rotten to the core."

Ashlynn considered her. Caleb Roth was the figurehead of the movement, she decided, but the push came from the woman at his side.

"They were fixated with holding to the old-ways," the woman explained. "Not moving with the times. A number of rising vampires were beginning to jostle for position, when the power swung to Lucian, who had always been a lower-level vampire, a made vampire over a born one.

"It was then that we began to suspect that someone was clearing the way for him. The question was why? Why would someone with the power to clear the way do it for another vampire, and not him or herself? After Armageddon it became apparent - Elior had been responsible, casting Lucian as villain and himself as hero.

"As Elior's power has grown, we have prepared to move against him. He grows too strong. There is a saying," she met Ashlynn's eyes. "Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely." "I am familiar with it."

"Elior is corrupt. His system of leadership is corrupt. Look at what has happened now. The Other world is exposed! There is no going back from this. The world is irrevocably changed," Caleb said.

"And what would you do about it?" Ashlynn wondered. "How would your leadership be different?"

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"Caleb would be transparent. He will not hoard power as Elior does. We need someone with strong moral fiber to lead us into the future. This vampire military is an example - Elior hid this even from vampires! Why else does one build a secret army unless one plans to become a dictator?" The woman was impassioned.

"Who are you?" Ashlynn wondered. "Who is she?"

"My wife," Caleb placed his hand on the woman vampire's knee and smiled up at her adoringly. "Celeste."

"And who will wear the crown, Caleb? You or her?"

The woman snarled, baring her sharp canine and pre-molars.

Ashlynn moved, snatching the woman from the arm of the couch, and breaking her neck before any of the vampires could react. It was not a fatal wound for a vampire, the damage would eventually heal, but it immobilized her.

She tossed the limp body into a corner, and grinned. "I guess being a font and a vampire means that I am quicker and stronger. Isn't that fun?"She marveled, pleased. "It would have sucked if Elior had all the speed and strength, though it is very sexy on him." She seized Caleb, giving him the same treatment as the woman, and adding his body to the corner. "We will chat again in a moment, Caleb."

The other three vampires screamed, the couches turning over as they sought to flee. One pounced at her, and she tore him to pieces, trying to keep the mess to a minimal. One clawed and struck the steel door, seeking freedom. "You need the code," Ashlynn told her. "Or the door does not open. Bit foolish, really, to take shelter in a werewolf's den. There is only one vampire who can do that, and that is my vampire."

The third vampire plead for mercy.

"I am sorry," Ashlynn said gently. "I feel bad, I really do." She didn't, she decided as she gathered their pieces onto the drop sheets her mother had set out for the purpose of protecting her furniture. She had to protect her mate, and that meant destroying his enemies.

Despite her efforts, blood had sprayed, and she sighed as she saw that it had struck the roof. "Shit. Dad is not going to be happy about that."

"Sorry about your friends," she said to the paralyzed vampires as she finished setting the couches back into place and looked around the den. It was as tidy as she could make it, considering the blood spray and the body parts. "But you were quite right. We need someone with a strong moral fiber to lead us right now, and I think we already have that leader. I am a bit biased, admittedly. He is my mate."

She took the vampires by the hair, released the first steel door, and dragged them up the hallway to the second door. She pushed it open and towed them up the stairs, wincing at the tha-thump of their bodies as she pulled them up.

"I am sorry about the bumps. I imagine that is not comfortable." Neither vampire responded. "I guess it is hard to scream, when you are struggling to breathe," she observed as she opened the door at the top of the stairs and pulled them out into the hallway of her parent's home.

"What the f-k?" Raiden was holding her phone to his ear the Other flashed golden in his eyes. "Ashlynn."

She shrugged and released the vampires, whose heads struck the floor with dull thuds.

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"Thanks dad," she took the phone from him and held it between her shoulder and ear as she grabbed the vampires again by the hair. "Hello, honey. Oh shit," a chunk of Caleb's hair tore free. "Sorry." She said to the vampire and shifted her grip to their wrists.

"Ashlynn," Elior sounded tired. "What is going on? Your father is far from happy with me."

"Yeah, I got that," she agreed. "He and mum had a rat infestation in their den. I have taken care of it. I will be along shortly. How is Cael?"

"Getting stronger and hungrier."

"That is great," she was relieved. Her mother stared as she dragged the vampires into the kitchen. "Sorry about the scuff marks on the walls, mum, but dad wasn't in a hurry to give me a hand."

She dropped the vampires onto the tile. "Alright, my vampire, I have to have a quick chat with my parents, and then I will drive back. Keep my other boy happy in the interim, hmm? And have a nap, maybe? You sound tired." "I love you."

"I love you too." She disconnected.

Her father had followed her into the kitchen and put his arm around her mother's waist, as both parents watched her with matching expressions of bemusement.

"I did promise them that you would be reasonable," Raiden told her grimly.

"And I was," she assured him. "They presented a danger to my mate, it was entirely reasonable to end that danger."

"That was not," Raiden closed his eyes. "What I had meant by reasonable. Did you at least listen to what they had to say?"

"Yes dad. I already knew it, from Elior, however. The vampire hierarchy was going bad," she told them. "And there were many parties rising to revolt. Rather than let them all tear the vampires apart, Elior manipulated the situation so that a weaker vampire would rise against the hierarchy. His intention was to let this weaker vampire do the dirty work, and then Elior would take out the vampire.

"Unfortunately, the weaker vampire got his hands on mum. Elior couldn't predict that mum even existed. He couldn't predict what effect mum's blood would have on vampires. The weaker vampire suddenly wasn't weak anymore, and, as you know, Elior was gravely injured as a result."

She leaned on the cool marble of the kitchen bench top. "Elior has spent the last twenty years doing his best to repair the damage of Lucian. He feels guilt for what happened, Tara's death included.

"But he was in no way responsible for what happened, any more than mum was," she met and held her father's eyes. "And if you think about it, you know that to be true. You also know how much he has done since in service to the Other world.

"As to the current situation, that was all Caleb Roth and his wifey, here. They were planning to use the half-truth of what happened with Lucian to tarnish Elior's reputation in order to enable Caleb to replace him.

"The Other world needs a strong, selfless leader. Elior is that. You are that mum and dad. Caleb and his wife, they are just not," she pulled a face and shook her head. "So, this goes no further than this room. And I need to borrow the car."