The Witch and the Wolf: Part Three (6 page)

Rory didn’t even feel bad for not dressing up. The Council was wasting her time frankly. They already had the story. There was nothing she could add. She wanted answers
, not to have to tell the same story over and over. The coven and Moon Brothers arrived shortly after her and Cross. They parked in a circle and waited outside.

“You guys are early
, but that’s perfect,” the fae assistant to the Council said when they arrived. “They can see you right now if you want. They just finished up an interview. I’ll tell them you’re here.”

They waited in the hall for the fae to return. The Council was made up of a representative from each race of supernatural creatures. There was Tran, a tiger shifte
r; Delilah, a vampire; Susan, a fae; and William, a wizard. They were all very old, though they hadn’t been around for the banishment of the Lost Tribe. They didn’t usually convene in the “New World”, preferring instead to stick to locals in Africa, Asia, and Europe for their meetings. Rory supposed it was an honor to have them travel to her little town just to meet her, but she was just bored of it all.

“You nervous?” Cross asked
, arms circling her waist.

“No, I didn’t do anything wrong. I feel fucking awful about what happened
, but there wasn’t much of an option for me.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” she sighed. “You did what you thought was best. I don’t know if it was the right choice, but I’m not mad at you for making it.”

The assistant returned. “They’re ready for you now.”

They were waiting at a small table in a big room. The setting looked a lot less intimidating than Rory had expected. They should have picked a smaller room. It felt like she was coming to do an audition for a community play. The four council members were sitting man-woman-man-woman. Cleary they planned the seating that way and it made Rory giggle. It wasn’t particularly funny, but she was suddenly nervous.

Cross squeezed her hand. “This will be over before you know it.”

“Please have a seat,” Tran instructed. All of the Council members had the same emotionless look. It must have taken years to perfect the facial expression. Up close it was intimidating, like you were giving testimony to a wall. Of course that was the point. You couldn’t know if they were on your side or if you were digging yourself into a hole with your testimony.

“Thank you,” Rory said.

“We’ve obviously heard Cross’ take on events. We don’t need to rehash the story,” Susan said.

“We still have a few questions for you,” Delilah said. “Did you have any idea beforehand that you were half fae?”

“Not at all,” Rory said. “I didn’t even believe Sophia when she told me we were related.”

Delilah didn’t nod or move at all to indicate that Rory’s answer was sufficient. Rory steeled her nerves. If they weren’t going to have a conversation with her, she would be as cold as they were. Just give the bare minimum answer to their question and move on.

“How do you feel about what happened to Sophia and the rest of the Lost Tribe?” William asked.

“Torn. Some of them may not have deserved to be left behind
, but we had to get back to our home. There wasn’t really any other option.”

“What if we told you that the Lost Tribe you encountered were in fact innocent of their crimes and were only banished as a precaution?” Susan asked.

Rory blinked twice before answering and kept her expression neutral. The fae had said
what if
. This was a hypothetical question. “I would feel bad for the Northlands Fae who were left to rot, but it’s not my job to fix the mistakes the Council makes.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Cross give her a warning look. It was sweet of him to be worried
, but she had this. They weren’t going to mess with her head. What she had told him earlier was true, she wasn’t mad anymore, just sad. They weren’t going to make her feel any worse about what had happened. The decision was already made. She couldn’t go back and change it now.

“So you wouldn’t try to save your sister and her people even though they were wrongly banished?” Tran asked.

“No. As I said, it isn’t my job to clean up your mistakes.”

She could hear the edge in her voice and willed herself to calm down.

“Do you feel no responsibly to help your own kind?” Tran asked.

“I do not,” Rory said carefully. “My people are my coven. I don’t know Sophia enough to risk my life to rescue her.”

“What if Sophia made it over herself?” Delilah asked. “Would you join an effort to banish the Lost Tribe again?”

More hypotheticals. Rory could see where they were going. “If you think that I’m going to try
freeing the Northlands Fae now that I know I’m one of them, then you rest easy. I would never do anything to endanger those I care about.”

Tran nodded. “I think we’re done here.”

Delilah looked at the other Council members. “I think we have all we need about this incident. As long as there are no more attempts to open a portal to their dimension, I see no reason for the Council to have anymore dealings in the New World.”

“Thank you,” Cross said
, standing up. He shook the Council members' hands. Rory followed his lead and they left the hall together.

Cross went to talk to his father when they got outside while Rory went to the coven. Magda put her arm around Rory’s shoulder.

“How did it go?” Jamie asked first.

“Ok. They don’t want to talk to me anymore and don’t think I’m a traitor. I would say that’s good.”

“That’s great,” Magda said
, squeezing Rory.

Cross came over to her.
“You up for a little side trip?”

Rory shrugged. “I guess. Where to?”

“The Moon Brothers got the name of the hotel Prescott is staying at.”

She could only no
d her approval. Magda didn’t say anything but nodded and gave Rory a small smile.

Rory gave the coven a wave before getting onto Cross’ bike. “I’ll see you guys at Jamie’s house later.”

She was excited and anxious the entire ride to the hotel. He was staying in the middle of nowhere at a one-storey hotel between Cleary and the next town.

Cross checked his phone
when they got there. “It’s this way.”

The door to Room 23 opened when they got close. There was a man standing in the doorway smiling at Rory. He looked a lot like her
, only with brown hair like Sophia. His features were delicate and very youthful. Rory would have guessed his age was 28 if she didn’t know he was a hundred-year-old fae. He looked more like her brother than father, younger even than Sophia.

“Hi,” he said. “Please come in.”

There was only a bed, dresser, and table with two chairs in the small room. Cross sat down on one of the chairs while Rory stood by the dresser. Prescott took the other chair at the table.

“Wow. You’re beautiful
, just like your mother when I met her,” Prescott said staring at her. “How is your mother?”

“Alright. She doesn’t talk about you. Ever.”

Prescott chuckled. “I didn’t think she would. It was only one night after all. It wasn’t like we were in love or anything.”

Clear
ly, Sophia had gotten her agreeable personality from her own mother.

“I imagine you have some questions for me,”
Prescott said. “I’ve heard the story about what happened to you and Cross. The way the guards hightailed it out of here, your meeting must have gone well.”

“It did.” Rory regretted coming to the stupid hotel in the middle of nowhere. She gave Cross a look and he shrugged. She would give
Prescott a few more minutes before she left.

“Are you going to stand?”
Prescott asked. He motioned to the bed. “You can have a seat if you want. Or I could give you my chair?”

Rory crossed her arms and leaned back against the dresser. “No
, that’s fine. I don’t plan on staying long.”

Prescott
nodded. “That’s fine. I just wanted to see you one time. It’s pretty wild being summoned to testify for the Council about a daughter you never knew about. You know?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I think you might want to know that Sophia is about as evil as they come. I’m sure she fed you the line about being innocent and all
, but how do you think she became queen?”

Rory’s heart beat faster. She didn’t change her posture. “I never asked for details
, but she said you were king and then you deserted your people.”

Prescott
laughed. “I was a small time farmer. Her mother was a barmaid. Sophia killed the sitting queen when the queen didn’t want to go along with the ‘destroy all supernaturals campaign’.”

Rory blinked back tears. She believed him or at least she wanted to. It was ok that she left the Northlands Fae to die.

“What about the fae who set fire to the village?” Cross asked.

“Probably a ploy. She wanted Rory to feel bad for her and help them. I’m surprised she didn’t kill you the first chance she got. Lucky for you both, you had vampire blood before crossing over. It protected you from the seduction of the tribe,”
Prescott looked at his hands. “I didn’t know about Sophia either until she rose to power. That’s when I left the tribe. I’m a lover not a fighter, you know?”

“I guess,” Rory said
, wiping at her eyes.

“They killed your head witch too
, you know,” Prescott continued. “She would have gotten in the way. Elena was a very powerful witch and she was crafty. Bumping her off gave them much easier access to you. It was enough to distract your coven while they were getting everything in place to take you. Do you know how fae magic works?”

“No,” Rory said.
“It’s different than a witch's though.”

“Yup. That’s why she wanted you,” he told her. “If you share blood, it amplifies the magic. You aren’t the first she took
, you know.”

Rory moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

“There were two others before. This was years and years ago. In the 1800s maybe,” Prescott said. “Anyway. It didn’t work out. You were her last chance. As far as I know anyway.”

Nobody said anything. It made sense what he said more than what Sophia had said anyway. Honestly, Rory would probably never truly know what Sophia’s motives were or if all the Tribe was guilty. Everyone had a reason to lie. Nobody involved with the banishment would admit to sending over innocent people. It would hurt the public’s confidence in the Council. They could have easily told
Prescott to lie and keep their secret. There was no spell for her to cast to get them to tell her the truth or a book that held all the details she wanted.

“Is there anything you wanted to ask me besides all of that mess?”
Prescott asked her finally.

“No, there’s nothing else I wanted to know.”

“Ok,” he nodded. “Would you mind if I asked you some questions?”

Rory looked up. “I guess not. Ask away.”

Prescott motioned to Cross. “You with this werewolf here?”

Rory smiled. “Yeah. I am.”

Her dad nodded. He turned to Cross. “What are you planning to do with her?”

“Huh?” Cross looked at Rory. “I mean. I don’t know
, shit. Date her? Be with her? I guess I haven’t gotten farther than that right now.”

“You got a job?”

“I transport guns for the Moon Brothers and sell stuff in our shop,” Cross said, sitting up in his chair. “I live on a compound just outside of Cleary with the Brothers.”

“You two do know werewolves and witches don’t mix
, right?”

Cross smiled and looked at Rory. “Yeah I think I’ve heard that one before.”

“Witches and fae also don’t mix.” Rory stood up and went to the door. “I think its time we leave.” 

“Alright. You know how to find me if you ever want to talk again or anything.”
Prescott stood up too. He shook Cross’ hand. “I know where to find you too.”

Rory shook
Prescott’s hand and followed Cross back to his bike. They would go back to Jamie’s house and talk more about what had happened. She hoped for the last time. She didn’t know what the future held for her and Cross, but she was hopeful. Maybe witches and werewolves were supposed to mix after all. 

Hello lovely!

I hope you enjoyed the
Witch and Wolf
serial. I have SO many ideas for more stories in this universe. In fact, in the early winter of 2014/15, I plan to release a new story that follows some of the characters from this serial. I’m not saying who right now but it’s an epic story I have in mind. I don’t know yet if it will be another set of serials or novels but I’ll update the
Release Schedule
on my website and announce it on my
Facebook
page
when I do.

Up next though, I will be releasing three
Black Oak Shifter
stories. If you haven’t read my first two serials, pick up
Taken by the Shifters
now! The first full-length novel will follow the couple from
Taken
, Elle and Luke. It will be released the third week of September. If you want to be notified as soon as the novel comes out, sign-up to my new release
mailing list
!

Thanks for reading,

Lola