Part 54 (2/2)
Ballard's motorcycle was over by the tree near mine
”May I join you?” I asked Other people were departing back to their do the picnic area
Asher and Laurinaitis looked like they were vegetarians That seemed to tally with the idea I'd had It sent me into a ht Later, I said again Right now, I needed answers I sat down and they offered to fetch me dinner, but I could not be bothered What is food when there is figuring out to be done?!
”Halsey, Laurinaitis, Laurinaitis, Halsey,” said Asher
”Pleasure”
”So, you're a witch, huh?” said Laurinaitis, shaking my hand ”I'm an ailuranthrope”
”What animal do you turn into?” I asked
Laurinaitis flashed his fangs at ood luck, really, Laurinaitis being here
”That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” I said ”Both of you” Their reactions were encouraging ”I ondering about shi+fting But first, what is that sy around your neck, Asher? It looks like a triangle with a swirl inside of it”
”Oh, this? This is the Wiccan-slash-benandanti symbol for rebirth,” he said ”And everyone knows the pyrale that points upwards a symbol for the benandanti?” I asked
”It's complicated,” said Laurinaitis, who jumped in
I didn't flinch, stutter, double take or WHATNOT None of that
”There are four cardinal points, Halsey Rookmaaker, North, South, East, and West This pendant is like the arrow of a compass It points North,” said Asher
”Go on”
”North is for Benandanti Lornwould you like to?” He passed the pendant to Laurinaitis
”With pleasure,” said Laurinaitis Laurinaitis put the pendant down on the bench and angled it so we all could see He angled it down
”You're fro late, and Asher lit a torch to put over us
”Me? NoMassachusetts Why?” I said to Laurinaitis
He angled it that way, across the Atlantic Ocean, to St Martley's
”Well, we are from Rome,” he said The keratin in his nails was thick Laurinaitis kept them clipped, but even in man-form they were deadly How must he look transformed? Like Ballard? Or no Selwyn Selas a cat
”But I thought there were the Sons and Daughters of Roori and the Benandanti? That they were separate 'You to your corner, we to ours,'” I repeated
Laurinaitis hissed at the naether, not the second,” he said
”The Sons and Daughters of Romulusand the Benandanti,” I said ”Better?”
He turned the arrow back down I kneho: Rayven What ith the enht?” he said
”I a to feel like an excuse
”Not anymore,” said Laurinaitis ”Asher? What d'you say?”
”She needs to know,” he agreed
”I agree” said Laurinaitis ”Halsey, have you ever wondered why Il Gatto is the King of Cats, and the Werewolf King the Magister Equitu? Compounded by the fact equuson theof the Wolves resides, Digby Doubleday, our packhead's non-pack sobriquet Today there are domesticated cats, but no ailuranthropes, in Rome, is that correct?”
I nodded, confused
”The reason is the Last War,” said Laurinaitis ”We really should have Manon here with us, Asher, and Enzo”
So in me clicked
”Lorenzo? Is he here?” I said
Both Asher and Laurinaitis shook their heads
”He died, unfortunately,” said Asher ”Perhaps we should start with that”
”Lorenzo used to be Head Wolf,” said Laurinaitis, ”the position your friend Ballard currently holdsbut he got thrown out of Roave him the bootthe benandanti as well”
”Rome is shaped that way,” said Asher, who drew a shape of the Italian Peninsula in er
The pendant on the table looked like an upside-down, all-seeing eye The diarist in oing to be a long night, but I needed to know this Asher and Laurinaitis continued on
”The Grigori were not as they are now,” said Laurinaitis ”They're stillthe Warthey had nu the Covenant of 1887, the respective covens, kords, clans, and dwayles, went their separate waysyou to your corner, we to ours, never to fight again We hoped Which should've been an end to it But the Grigori hters of Roic was busy elsewhere, rebuilding their world, while ours was falling aparta clever trick, to turn their backs on us, after we had deciue owes Roet that, Halsey
”Eras had been initiated, but Lenoir had been cast out In one respect, Hiving is good,” said Laurinaitis ”In every other, it isWas It had happened That was theyou, and maybe I am, but I assure you, all will bein the middle or the endand let us hope it is notis you never hear about the beginning,” said Laurinaitis ”We will now endeavor to indoctrinate you into the Past
”It was Rayven who killed Vanity Ravenseal, Erasmus's Mistress On the orders of the vaori were all but extinct; they liked to fight ast themselves, and so were undermined from within Like a dead House, a conflict arose between the Roman Packheads The Head Wolf, a cyanthrope naori off After all, they had attacked us! But his brother, Doht otherwise 'Haven't we suffered enough?' said Doreed and overruled him It ithin his power 'We must end this threat to us,' he said, 'once and for all' That night, Domitius killed his brother, and it was Roain Rome was in free fall