Rebels [Blood Magic, Book 4]

Chapter 14: Of Weres and Wolves and Werewolves

We ate the following night's dinner in the parking lot of the McDonalds I'd spied when we'd arrived at the motel. It was outside of were territory and therefore on neutral ground, or so my father explained as Lucia and I scarfed down our burgers. Once we crossed the boundary, we'd be expected to head directly to the meeting place; any failure to do so could be perceived as an act of aggression.

He also relayed the rest of what we needed to know before reaching the ranch. Firstly, the meeting was formal, so only our best and most diplomatic behaviour would do. It was why we were dressed to the nines. Me, in the black velvet dress Keel had left by my bedside following the shooting, and him in the same suit he trotted out for all such occasions. Lucia and my father both wore dress pants and sweaters - his dark green, hers black. I wondered if anyone else noticed how dour we looked, as if we were heading to a funeral.

The second, and perhaps even more important thing to remember was that were bites were extremely dangerous, so shields needed to be employed whenever we were not in the main meeting hall. Lucia, unable to cast any spells of her own, would always travel in the company of one of us.

"I'm not expecting trouble," Ephraim said. "The weres would not intentionally turn heads in their direction, but given the ghosts' concern, precautions are wise."

The three of us nodded in agreement. Despite being invited, it still felt like we were about to walk into enemy territory - the unfortunate psychological toll of too many assassination attempts and too many sieges.

"Weres are the only supernatural whose condition is contagious," my father said. "If a human becomes infected, they will no longer be fully human. Any children conceived after a bite won't be fully human either. Nor will their descendants. Were DNA will carve its own place out in their lineage."

"And yet they live amongst humans," I marvelled, wondering how many people have been accidentally turned and how many intentionally. "What happens if a supe gets bit?"

"If a supe gets bitten, it's often deadly, but the weres are very careful and do more self-policing than any other supe community. Biting is verboten. They don't want the League to send in fixers, or anyone else trespassing on their lands for that matter."

"Then why have they invited us?" Lucia asked.

My father shrugged. "Best guess? Given that they are no fans of the League, they may have decided to consider taking a side in this dispute."

"The were we met at the drive-in did ask about our intentions," Keel noted. He'd been silent for a lot of the conversation, watching the rest of us eat.

"The other possibility is that they want to gauge if the two of you are going to cause any upheaval to their way of life," Ephraim said.

"The dogs want to sniff us," Keel remarked.

"Keel!" I admonished him.

"Well, that's what it sounds like."

"You'd do well to watch that sarcasm," my father said. "We're trying to make friends here, remember?"

By the time we'd stuffed our empty wrappers into the takeout bags, my father had concluded his briefing. I'm not sure if it left me more or less nervous for the meeting to come.

We had one more stop to make before the ranch: somewhere Keel could hunt. Another thing that needed to happen outside of were territory. We drove to a more populated part of town and pulled into a dark parking lot. My father cut the engine and lights. Keel slid out of the SUV and disappeared into the night, while we waited in silence. He returned twenty-five minutes later, sated and spotless, and we were on our way.