Den Mothers

I appreciate professional dedication, but seeing Ferris sit in the fold-out chair that compromises one of the four pieces of furniture in my apartment surpasses all expectations. We both sip bourbon out of a paper cup and she has a notepad out in front of her. I think she catches me eyeing her legs. “I’m here to make sure you work, Shade. I can appreciate your needing a drink but right now that book is the most important thing. We need it back,” she says firmly. “What happens if they burned it?” I ask flatly. Her eyes narrow and she bites her lip. “I don’t know. There won’t be much to do if we can’t kill vampires,” she remarks. Ah, her bit about helping the Paladins because they gave her a chance to kill my former kind. “Can I ask you something? It’s been coming across my mind a lot lately. If you could go back, would you?” I finish my cup of bourbon and pour myself a second. Her eyes drift to the window. “When I was a little cub, they told me I was a…there isn’t a word for it but I guess princess gives you the idea. Runs in front of the pack. That all changed, when the Den Mother was captured by vampires,” she says, “The males were forced into service as agents. Truth detectors and assassins. The women were made to do…unspeakable things. We became a risqué, a fetish amongst those self-righteous scum.” Her voice is cracking a little and I’m a bit stunned at her being so honest. For just a second, she looks vulnerable. The Den Mother was the family head of a wolf clan. Women were considered the rulers of werewolf groups because they were the originator and controller of the bacteria that made the group’s lycanthropy possible. If you killed her, which took a lot of work but was possible, then the rest of the clan’s strength and abilities would collapse. Take the Den Mother hostage and the rest of the clan had no choice but obey. If they didn’t, they risked being turned human again. “I’m sorry. The enslavement had nothing to do with me or the Enlightenment. That was the Guild of Nod’s doing. We never sanctioned abusing people like that and I’m sorry,” I finally say. It was nice for the truth to be appropriate for once.