I felt the probing eyes of the elder lycans as I walked into Risi’s audience hall. And Risi sure loved an audience. Victor had stayed at the door. Him being a furry didn’t sit well with the lycans; they saw them as second-rate creatures. On top of which, him being a lion would be more like a horny cub in Risi’s presence, for every move she made the woman gave off a pure and raw essence of sex.
“Tara Duluc, what brings this worthless waste of flesh to my audience room?” Risi asked, with her usual air of superiority. I simply looked at her, knowing that after all that had happened to Mikhail Fox had been blamed on me, I had still managed to knock the scholar who arranged the peace treaty between the vampires and lycans down a peg, His tongue had been ripped out and he had given up his secondary persona as an information broker.
A concert of angry growls was heard through the entire room as I walked closer to Risi, who gave me a foul smile that seemed to tell me she had the lycans ready to pounce on me at the snap of a finger. It didn’t matter; I knew she wouldn’t do it.
Risi stood and the two eldest lycans, so old they were unable to transform back into their normal humanoid form, followed her, growling aggressively at me. She was showing her dominance of the lycans by making sure I was aware that she was the alpha in the room.
The growls continued until Risi raised her left hand in the air, at which point the room became silent as the echoes of the growls died out.
“I asked you a question, Tara, and have not yet received an answer,” Risi snarled at me.
“Why do you think I am here? It’s not a social visit, and I don’t want to swap stories of the good old times, because there are none,” I snarled back at her.
She gave me the most deadly look I had ever seen and growled low in her throat. “I asked why you are here, not why you are not here.”
I shrugged. “I was expecting you to have figured that one out on your own already,” I replied, showing that I wasn’t impressed by her growling.
Suddenly she lunged forward; something I had expected her to do from the moment she had stood up. Her hand was on my throat and she made sure her fingers dug deep into my skin. As she had grabbed me, I had drawn my pistol and aimed it at her head.
“Go ahead and shoot me, skank, and within seconds you will be torn to shreds by the elders in this room,” she growled. “No, they won’t. They will be at each other’s throats the second I squeeze the trigger, seeing who the new ruler of the lycans will be,” I replied.
Risi gave me a vile look as she dug her nails into my skin one more time and then let go. “Just tell me why you are here and then fuck off.” she said as she stepped away from me. “I need help Risi, from you and all the elders and lycans,” I replied.
Risi laughed loudly as the elders in the room made a sound that could only be described as doggish laughter. “And why should the lycans help you? Why should I help you?” Risi asked as she shook her head.
“I need your help finding a possible dead girl, or soon to be dead girl. Just a search to determine that she’s not in your territory,” I told Risi.
She took three steps forward and punched me in the gut, making me drop to the floor, coughing.
A voice came from the doorway behind me. “You will help her because she kept your pathetic truce in place and prevented a civil war amongst the creatures of New Billingham.” It wasn’t Victor who had spoken; it was a female voice.
As I looked behind me I saw a young-looking woman in a grey-striped three-piece suit and business loafers walk into the room. Risi kicked me in the gut before walking past me to face the young woman.
“And who the fuck do you think you are, to command me like that? I am the fucking leader of the lycans, bitch,” she growled at her.
The young woman didn’t seem to be fazed by this show of aggression and dominance. She reached into her jacket, took out a small metal case from which she withdrew a cigarette, and lit it.
She looked squarely at Risi and calmly replied, “That you are, and I am not telling you to help her, I am just suggesting it. It would be in your benefit if you did help her; she would owe you a favor in return.”
Risi glared back at her. “And who the fuck are that you think you can tell me what to do?” she asked the red-headed girl, growling.
“Who indeed, you insolent cur,” she replied as she walked over to the elder lycans. She held out her hand, and the eldest nuzzled it before licking the hand like an obedient puppy, rather than an ancient, ferocious wolf.
This made Risi even more angry; the elder wolves who followed her around everywhere were her status icons. She controlled them, they obeyed her, and now one of them was licking the stranger’s hand.
“Get away from there,” Risi hissed as she walked to the girl, ready to slash her face open with her nails.
The woman looked at Risi and took a step back. “I am starting to get insulted. You do not know who I am,” she replied as she blew smoke from the cigarette into the air.
“Answer me, damn it. I am the leader of the lycans, you bitch.” “Still a broken record, I see. You know, Risi, you have not changed one bit. I will not make a fuss on you not knowing how to greet an unchanged elder,” the girl replied.
Risi seemed to melt back to a small wolf cub as she shrank to the floor. “How could I have been so blind?” she replied. “Please Cherilyca, forgive me my rudeness. It is just that I am the lycan leader…”
The girl, who I assumed must be some kind of rare genetically defective lycan, petted Risi’s head and looked down at her. “No need to grovel like that, just be mindful of your elders.” Risi got up and looked at me. “Fine, we will help you in looking for this girl,” she snarled. She turned and walked away, growling, “You owe me for this.”
I just shrugged and looked at Cherilyca. “Care to tell me what you are and how you got Risi to her knees?” I asked her. She laughed as she offered me a cigarette. “I see that you are not so adept in lycan lore as I would have given you credit for, my dear,” she replied as she took another cigarette out for herself and lit it. “For one in every million lycans that are born there is a chance that it will end up unable to transform. This makes them so rare and special that they are given the title ‘unchanged elder’ from birth.” She pointed at herself. “I am the first to be born in a thousand years. That is why Risi reacted as she did. She might have seized power through her uncanny ability to be good at fucking, but she still grovels at my feet. You see, she wants me to be hers: the ultimate power move, the lycan leader together with an unchanged elder,” she blew smoke in the air, “and luckily for you I hate her guts.” I smiled as I took a cigarette, and she presented me with a match so I could light it. “So why are you helping me?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “Does it matter why I am helping you? The most important thing is that you are being helped.” Somehow I was sure she knew more than she was letting on, but I had no idea what it could be. Cherilyca smiled at me and walked to the door. “No need to stand around here all day; she gave her word and she will stick to it, no matter what,” she said as she walked past Victor, who was standing in the shadow by the doorway. As she passed, she gave him a little wink. When I reached him he looked at me. “Tara, can we go now please? I don’t like being here,” he begged.
I smiled at him. “Sure, let’s go. We still need to figure out what the hourglass riddle is good for, and visit the vampires to see if they are willing to help.”  

Next Chapter: A true lion