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         After a brief tussle on the bed,

Edward left her to sleep and went out into the main room. It was nice, and he

would have loved to have had the windows open 

for the nighttime air, but he didn't want to encourage anyone from

trying to enter.

A determined person, not to mention

the average werewolf, would have no problem in scaling the side and making

entrance to their suite. But even then a closed window kept their scents

inside. If nothing more it might give them a little more time before they were found out.

Edward thought it through. Since

they were here illegally, then the cardinal might just allow the police to

arrest them and then finagle the stolen items back from the impound room. So he

and Maggie's main option was, that in case of a raid, to turn feral and deal

out some damage. It wasn't an idea solution whatsoever.

He sat down at the computer and did

a lot of werewolf searches. There was so much crap online that he quickly gave

it up. She had mentioned that. So he looked up Alexander the Sixth. It turns

out he was from the region of present day Spain originally. He tried cross referencing

werewolves and Spain, and didn't have a ton of luck. There was something about the

seventh son turning into a werewolf, but that seemed kind of weird, so he gave up.

Getting back to the pope, Edward

was shocked to find out the guy had mistresses and kids. So much for celibacy!

Overall, it sounded like it was party time in Rome during his reign. He read up on all sorts of

scandals, including one that reported cost the man four mule loads of

silver.  Silver! It looked like the

papacy had no shortage of the metal.

But most importantly, it was this

man who founded the House of Borgia. So there was definitely a lot of play going

on in working towards power, whether it was ecclesiastical or social. So what

would he have wanted with the rings? To take power away from the Medicis? And

he couldn't help but notice a date of 1492. That was the date that Columbus

sailed to America. And he had something to do with the Spanish queen, didn't

he? He was beginning to feel like a conspiracy theorist. But it made sense that

much of the history of werewolves would be shrouded in mystery.

He moved on to searching for stuff

on Maggie's variety. There was hardly anything. Maybe if he knew Russian, more information might come up. But it seemed to him to be a dead end.  So he sat and stared at the screen and

thought of other questions that he could look up. If a werewolf was touched by silver, it burned. In the right form and

delivered the right way it killed them and their bodies went up in smoke. So

what happened if they died of old age?

For that matter, did a werewolf

died of old age? His parents were gone, but were they really dead? A pile of

ashes told you nothing. Look at the way Maggie had tricked everyone. His

grandparents died by silver. He had that on good authority. Maggie's mom had

died... But she said she had transformed back to being in human form. Otherwise,

how could they have accused her father of killing her. Very strange.

He had seen it burn her fingers,

and the metal had worked on Albert Fish. He dimly remembered his own paws

during that fight. There were inconsistencies in all this. Of course, some

humans had allergies to some compounds while others didn't. Some people died from being stung by

a bee. So different werewolves had different vulnerabilities?

He was seeing more and more why

these rings would be so important.  If

they removed all vulnerabilities, depending on who you were, then indeed, he

who controlled the rings controlled a lot more. A power hungry man might indeed

rise to a rank from which no one could easily remove him. It hardly mattered if

the world viewed him as a werewolf or not. If he was capable and charismatic,

then people would look too him for leadership. And if no one could take him

down, then how long might he stay in power?

The Taborum had listed a number of

people within its pages, but overall tended to gloss over specifics. It made

sense. If the book fell into the wrong hands, then whole family lines might be

hunted down. Cardinal Medici might very well spend half of the Vatican's assets

just to get it for his own.

Edward turned away from the

computer. This was so much deeper than he could ever have imagined it. Who knew there were all

these secrets being kept? His own parents never told him a word. He hoped it

was because they knew the dime in his hip would prevent him from ever being

anything more than a normal guy. He had never felt completely normal, but then

who did?

And now he was contemplating these

questions in a hotel room in Rome with a young girl he was both the father to

and the lover of. No wonder there was so much secrecy involved with werewolves.

The transformation and killing was only a small part of the irregular behaviors

of the breed. He found the corner of his mouth turning up in a quirky smile. A

werewolf's existence certainly wasn't boring.

He went over to the couch and

kicked back. He would have put on the television, but he didn't speak Italian.

He took off his ring and spun it in his fingers. Then, thinking of where she

was keeping hers, he slid his on his cock and relaxed.

They had the financial means now to

travel, but they were essentially prisoners in the hotel.  She wanted to go to Russia, but getting into

Russia wasn't going to be so easy. And for that matter, where in Russia? That

was an awful lot of territory to cover. 

He had a feeling she was planning on doing a lot of it as werewolves.

Her feral form was pretty good, but his? He would stand out like a stiff cock in

a nunnery.

He wondered if he really could

become something smaller than the massive form he automatically became. He

could adjust a few things, like being able to walk upright, but shrinking that

gargantuan body to the size of a normal wolf was nigh close to impossible. He

stood, undressed and willed his change. His body slid from one form to the next with

ease. Then he walked in front of a mirror. Damn! He thought. I'd hate to meet

myself in a dark alley!"

But he concentrated. His form

shrunk and withered until he was staring at a normal, timber type wolf. He was

still dark, but that was alright. Variances occurred in nature. He stood there

staring in the mirror, pondering why suddenly he could do it. It came to him

quickly. The ring! It seemed to balance out the powers of transformation too!

This was way too cool! He stood there playing around for nearly an hour before

he grew tired of the game. At one point he was so big the floor creaked. It was

a good talent to know about!

He reverted to his human form and

got dressed. Being mostly bored, he dialed up room service and had them send up

a variety of cheeses and wines. It was time to see if the alcohol problem

vanished as well.

When Maggie came out of the bedroom

later on, she saw the service cart piled high with cheese, bread, fruit, and

two bottles of wine. Edward was leaning back in a chair pouring himself a

glass. "Mags! You're up!"

She frowned. "And you're drunk!"

"I wish! Guess what! Apparently

these rings protect us from other poisons too. Well, if you consider alcohol to be a

poison. I've been sitting here drinking and eating and I can't even get drunk!"

"What? I see three empty bottles on

the floor!"

"Yep, plus this one, plus the two I

haven't even touched. This is unbelievable!"

She plunked down and grabbed a

fresh strawberry. "Mmmm. I always hated these, but now they taste great! And

they squish red too. My favorite color!"

She leaned in an grabbed a bottle

of wine. "So how does this stuff taste?"

He tossed her the corkscrew. "Make

your own opinion." She fumbled with the top for a moment before pulling out

the cork. Looking at the label she remarked, "Geez, this stuff is older than I

am. Was nineteen eighty five a good year?"

"According to the sommelier it was

excellent. I'll trust him. As you know, I've never been a drinker. But maybe

now I can change all that."

Her eyes went wide. "Do you realize

that with the ring you could win bets? Bet people that you can drink more than

they can and then collect on it!"

"Seems a bit childish, but I

suppose you're correct. I guess if the money you confiscated ever runs out,

we'll know what to do in a pinch."

She chuckled. "Sure. Better yet,

I'll do it. Most guys are so stupidly macho they would never let a little girl

out drink them."

She poured herself a glass and

downed it. "Eh. I think I'll stick with the fruit for now. It's so nice to be

able to eat normal things again."

"Again?"

"Duh! I ate normal food until I

transformed!"

He tried to suppress his grin. "You

were normal once?"

She caught his poke and sighed. " Yes. And there are things I miss about it. Mother mostly."

He instantly felt bad. "I'm sorry

Mags. I wasn't thinking."

"Don't worry about it. Looking back

is only good when you're being followed. Nothing can change that day, so forget

about it."

He suddenly wished the alcohol

would work on him. Since it didn't, he blindly tried to apologize again. She

hushed him. "I'm not one to dwell on things I can no longer control."

"Still, I am sorry. You never talk

about your mother much. What can you tell me about her?'

"She was beautiful. Of course what

kid isn't going to call their mom beautiful? But she had flowing hair and

lovely eyes. Father used to remark how wonderful they were."

"Do you know what her maiden name

was?"

"Yep. Smith."

"Oh. That's not very helpful is

it?"

"No. There are Smiths coming out of

every ass crack from here to eternity. Grandma's wasn't much better."

"Jones?" Edward said with as much

light heart humor as he could muster.

"No. Not that bad. Nicholson.  Anna Nicholson. I remember seeing a photo of

her and Grandpa after they got married. She outlived him. I remember her, but I

don't know what happened to her. The people at the adoption agency said they

couldn't find any record of her anywhere."

"Wait; what? There had to be some

record of her. She was born, got married, had a kid; stuff!"

"Yep, and despite all that,

nothing. I could have gone to her place maybe, if she was still alive. I

figured she was pretty old so I would probably actually be looking after her. But on

paper it was like mom was created out of thin air."

"But the records!"

"Yeah, tell me about it. But being

a werewolf sort of took precedence over anything else. But now that things are

rolling, I'm kind of curious what I could find if I dug deep enough. I see that

there is a lot of subterfuge going on with our kind. Verona was right. It isn't

all fun and games."

That got him thinking about her. He

hoped she was doing alright. They had volunteered a black out on

communications. Only in a dire emergency were they to contact each other. The

cardinal wasn't tech savvy but there were those who were. Governments kept

their eyes and ears open constantly. No one was safe.

"Yeah, she's right. But let's get

back to your family. Where were they from?"

"I have no idea. Grandma Anna used

to babble at times, to herself when she thought no one was around. It wasn't in

English. But as to where she was from, I just can't say. If I were to guess, I'd say somewhere in Russia. That's what that Bernard fellow said."

"I knew that I descended from

French stock, but nothing much else. As a kid, you have other things to worry

about. Now I wish I knew more about my family tree."

"Me too. And now you have me

thinking; what happened to all the stuff that was in my house? There were

photographs and things. I wonder where they went."

"That would be a question for the

state. For that matter, you should have gotten some money or something from the

sale of the house. That would be another thing to look into when we get back."

She smiled grimly. "If we get back. I don't think we'll be

flying out on the same plane we came in on. That would take a miracle. Anyway,

we need to leave here soon."

"I've been thinking about that.

Russia isn't all that close and I don't see any conceivable way of getting

there."

"We aren't going to Russia."

"No? You've changed your mind?"

"No. But we need to go to France

first."

"OK, I'll bite. Why France?"

"Because we are going to go to the Chateau

d'Amboise."

"Never heard of it. Is it a purported werewolf

haven?"

"I have no idea. But it is where

Leonardo Da Vinci is buried."

"And you want to meet a dead guy?"

"Shut up father. I'll have you know

that there was once a bloody war that is referred to today as the French War of

Religion."

"I never heard of it. I guess history class

missed that one," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up! The important thing is to

note who those opposing forces were."

"Ok, I'll bite. Who?"

"The Huguenot House of Bourbon and

the House of Guise."

"My family?"

"To a degree. But the real thing

was who settled the war."

"And that would be..." His patience

was remarkably less than hers today.

"Catherine de Medici. She was the

queen of France at the time."

"Bourbons and Medici.  Oh how I am beginning to really hate

history."

"So I think that there is more to

Leonardo's grave than people let on. So I say we visit the man who gave us

these boxes and see if there are any clues in France.

"Gee, you make it sound so easy."

"Hey, I never said it would be

easy." She then turned and craned the back of her neck towards him. She looked over her shoulder with her most fetching look.

"What are you doing?" he asked, perplexed.

"You've said twice now that you'd

bite. Now pay up. I want the mating stance and everything!"