After the emotional blow-up with Em and Thom and the assurance that Max would take care of it, Merrick and the kids settled into a new normal. It was strangely comfortable even if it were super fuckin' weird to what they were used to.

Max crammed his gullet full of magic. All the magic Merrick could eat, and then some. They emptied the box of magic trinkets Max had mentioned, and then she had him taking supplements packed with so much magic, he puked the first time he swallowed it down. The hangover was intense. After the first week of eating his fill, Merrick wasn't ravenous for magic anymore and the hangovers weren't as bad. After taking the supplements for a few more days, for the first time in his life, Merrick found he had moments when wasn't hungry for it and he didn't have morning head-or-stomach aches. Thoughts of unleashing himself on the world in an explosion of bloody mayhem didn't constantly skirt the peripheries of his mind. He stopped fearing lapses of control and was able to be a carefree young wolf who ran through a hidden forest, chasing deer and rabbits for fun, while Thom flew overhead and screeched happy caws, and Em chuckled in the distance.

It was life-changing.

Em and Thom got along well with the elf kids. No shifter fighting for dominance posturing happened, and no attitude problems that inevitably ended up being problems that Em or Thom brought home with them occurred. All the elves, kid and adult alike, surrendered dominance and showed their throats to all three of them when they were first introduced, making his siblings love and adore all of them.

The elves inside the mound treated Em and Thom like the children of royalty. Which, Merrick guessed, they were. They were the Scions of the House of Max. Weird.

All the older children of the mound, Em and Thom included, started spending their days cultivating mana and learning everything anyone wanted to teach. The youngest, who was five, clung to Cora and the King and took up residence as the king's personal squire. Merrick was unsure what a squire was, but the elves all smiled softly when they said it, so it must be something either good or cute. He didn't know and didn't want to know enough to ask.

The older kids learned how to bind, print, and display books, sometimes being taught by Max, but mostly by Miles. Max wanted to stock up on books for the library just outside of their apartment in the basement and the shelves in the store. Miles made the books at night while everyone else was sleeping. Books about the history of the world, languages, other continents, and magic graced the library's inventory. Copies made by the kids went to the store. The shelves were lean so far but filling by the day.

Cora taught them how to make minor potions in the apothecary, herbalism in the forest, and how to weave fabrics at the loom that would sell for more credits than Merrick would make in his shitty little town in a year doing manual labor. She had planned on teaching them to sew, so she could start making clothes to sell in the shop that still had no customers.

They were taught by the king how to properly shoot a bow. The king had a better time than Em and Thom, but the other kids took to it like water, even the youngest. Archery competitions judged by the king were held daily and the kids used their victories as bragging rights. The king was thrilled and was wanting to teach them other things, too. Like swords. And knives. He had said army tactics, too, but Merrick thought he was probably joking.

The shadows-- who were people and not just a fucked up magic effect of Max's shop, turns out, and were all so pretty that Merrick constantly had to stop himself from ogling at them like an asshole-- all started not being shadows so much and started interacting with the rest of the court. Cyrus taught the kids metallurgy. Romy taught the kids how to field dress a deer-- culled from the herd that had growing numbers in the demesne, a few being brought in every few days by all the people who could catch them wild. The one Max called Rig, but was named Rigel, was always either hovering near Max, Merrick, Em, or Thom. It caused Merrick to question his intentions until he realized that he was guarding them like they were important.

Which, yeah, they are. Okay. I guess we're technically nobles now? Mindblowing.

In the late afternoons to early evenings, everyone in the mound gathered in the clearing in front of the huge tree, sat with crossed legs, and was guided through meditation and mana cultivation by Miles, before scattering into smaller groups to eat dinner and complete the day. Some of the elves, children and adults alike, were incandescent when they learned how to cast their first small cantrip. Max told Merrick she was certain they'd lose their minds once they started casting 'real' magic.

It was all strange and wonderful, and Em and Thom were having the time of their lives. They stopped talking about their hometown. Stopped thinking about it.

Merrick learned that Max wanted to groom him to be a seneschal, so he could be the person who was approached by anyone needing things or issuing requests of the court instead of Max. Merrick, at first, thought it was bullshit, but he found he thrived in the role. Running interference and problem-solving for Max is probably the best thing I can do to keep the mound peaceful. Max would be shitty at dealing with them, anyway, because Max is bad with people.

The soldier elf solely worked at the shop and stocked shelves, keeping to herself, while glaring at the door, as if expecting the world to breach into the mound with weapons and screaming ill intent. She sometimes humored the elf kids when they wanted to dust and stock, but kept a wary eye on the Scions of the House. Merrick did not like Ines at all. Thought she was a bit too much like their old Alpha, and how he had a strong distaste for outsiders.

He'd given her a chance to warm up, but her attitude was wearing his generosity a bit thin. She could glare all she wanted at Em and Thom, but the second she said a word to them he didn't like would be the second he'd lay her low. Possibly eat her. She was the outsider here-- not them-- and she knew it, so she stayed on her best behavior. The kids did not live through the failure of every adult around them just to have some snobby elf get shitty with them.

They, in turn, just avoided the store and only went in when someone went with them, like Max or Merrick.

Max had spent a lot of time for the past week or so at her forge, when not teaching the kids something useful, dreaming up ways to mix technology and magic to create regular household items that could work while living in a tree. A cooktop that had wards for heating. Showers that had water-summoning abilities and water-banishing drains. Spells to heat or cool rooms or boxes that held food. She seemed to throw herself into research and development. Sometimes, he could hear her forge's explosions at the edges of the demesne when he was running as a wolf.

She, for she was she again and back in the body Merrick had met her, also had several projects written down and drawn out on the forge workbench. She had explained it was a plan to make their anchor to reality "idiot and evil proof," and had started to off-and-on make future-looking limbs for the scarred man who kept to himself in the rooms under the tree he had turned into a winemaker's forge. A winery? Hugo was friendly but distant and spent his time wandering the small fields Max had given him to grow grapes to turn into booze. Merrick was excited.

Max had explained to Hugo that regrowing limbs was bloodier and more painful than losing them and was a longer process. She offered to make him into something called a Syberg and told him they would be better than his original limbs. Everyone in the court was interested in what her results were going to be.

A week, and then two passed in blissful tranquility. Everyone was done feeling out the others, roles were filled, and the comfort of routineness was achieved.

***

The television tuned to Central's news station was on in the living room of the shared space under the warehouse that housed Max, Miles, him, the kids, and supposedly the shadows (he'd not seen any of them actually sleep in the rooms they were given, but assumed they had to sleep sometimes).

Em was laughing with Thom and making a dinner of Miles-baked bread, herb-braised deer meat, and a lush, magic-heavy salad harvested from the demesne for the family. The female shadow, Romy, was putting plates on the table. Thom was joking about something one of the other kids said during the lesson when they learned how to darn their undergarments. Max was drawing details on the plans for Hugo's arm. Miles was pointing out her mistakes. Merrick was only half paying attention to them, having had his eyes drawn to the news report.

"A small town named Valleyview has been put under quarantine after the town's council was found murdered in the streets late last night. The Conclave issued a travel warning and has asked anyone who has information on the attack to come forward with their statements. Insiders believe a group of rogue casters were involved." The reporter said. It wasn't shocking news to anyone else. The Conclave sometimes wiped packs off the map. But Merrick knew it wouldn't have made the nightly news if the Conclave had done the killing. It had to have been Max.

The other kids didn't hear or weren't paying attention, but Merrick looked at Max. Max looked him in the eye, nodded, and then returned to her drawing.

I guess it's over now. Good. And she only killed the council. Good.

Merrick nodded and relaxed his shoulders. Sheila was probably okay. Clark-- that jerk-- and the rest of his old friends, too. At least they could live their lives now without the worry their crazy-as-shit Alpha or corrupt Betas would find something wrong with them, too, and have them executed or turned into collared slaves.

"In other news, another body was discovered dumped in Central's streets. It's the tenth killing in two weeks. The victim was drained of blood and was disfigured post-mortem. The Conclave is investigating but urges citizens to be, quote, 'mindful of their manners.' News Channel Four asked for clarification on what was meant, and the Conclave representative said that only the notoriously rude were being killed." The anchor spun her chair to her colleague that shared her anchor desk. "Ha, ha. Mind your manners, Ellis. Over to John with the weather."

"Sounds like they have an elder vampire on the loose. Abysmal creatures." Romy was standing next to Merrick, and he didn't know she was there until she said something. He tried to not show that she made him jump, but he jumped anyway. She grinned.

The shadows played a game they created called "Sneak Up On Merrick" and she and the other two were keeping score. Cyrus was winning so far, but Romy was doing her best to catch up.

Merrick didn't mind it so much.

They were all so very pretty.

"Wait! There are vampires, too? Wicked cool." Max said absently and continued to draw.

Romy replied, "Yes, Lord Max. The blood drinkers have killed many of our surviving people. They favor the way the light ones taste."

"Dang. I was thinking they'd be cool, but cool people don't hunt other people to extinction for their flavors. You gotta have a good cause to wipe out an entire civilization." Max said, "Maybe you should all stay inside the demesne until he finishes passing through."

"I agree on both counts, Lord Max."

"Are you gonna do anything about it?" Merrick asked. He expected Max to be more interested in people being murdered right outside.

"Why would I?" Max continued with her paper.

"Because people are dying?"

"Yeah, but they're rude people. Fuck 'em. And they aren't of my House. If that guy tried to eat any of my elves now, it'd be another matter." Max rolled her eyes and looked a Merrick. "Why do you think I'm here to save the world? I'm not. I told you before. Morally gray. If Hero Miles wanted to save the world, one vampire death at a time, he can scuttle his little golden ass out there and do it. I'm busy." She tapped her pencil on her paper and went back to drawing.

Miles chuckled from the dining room table, pointing out another flaw Max had just written into her plans. "Nah. Vampires gotta eat, too. And I agree with this one's food choices. I'd want to eat rude people, too. And if I started, who'd save the world from me?"

"A conundrum, Golden One." Romy gave Miles a toothy grin. Merrick's heart skipped a few beats.

Rigel walked in looking freshly showered. He smiled a small smile at Merrick and bowed his head at Max and Miles. He waved at Thom and Em in the kitchen and sat at his seat at the dining room table.

Godsdamn they're all pretty. I really hope their sense of smell is less than mine because I'm stinking up this room with arousal smells. Dang. Embarrassing.

Merrick cleared his throat, "Where's Cyrus?"

"He said he found a skulk of foxes and wanted to bring them in today, Lord Puppy. He's probably still charming them out of their burrow. Foxes are one of those animals that are just on the brink of being too sapient for charms to work on. He picked a challenging task." Romy said with conviction and pride.

Merrick worried, "Is he gonna be okay with the vampire on the loose out there?"

"Other than having excellent manners and being the best at vampire evasion, he is marked as a Shining One and has Lord Max's mana signature all over him, Lord Puppy. To any looking at him not inside the demesne, it would be obvious he is a member of a powerful Court. I pity anyone who tries to make a meal of him." Rigel answered.

They all took a moment as if thinking about what Max would do if someone hurt one of 'her' elves. Any of the ideas were not pretty for the one responsible. Merrick changed his mind about thinking Max should stop whatever is going on in Central. Max would probably do something big that he would probably have to spend a lot of time talking to authorities to diffuse. He'd seen things spectacularly blow up in her forge, complete with flames and heat, that were supposed to summon water. Central didn't stand a chance if she set her mind to destruction.

"What other animals are hard to charm, Romy?" Thom asked, changing the subject.

Merrick was sure Thom just wanted Romy's attention. Understandable.

"Cats, Lord Flower. They just get angry." Romy hissed like a cat then smiled at Thom, and Thom blushed a deep red.

"Makes sense." Max said and raised her voice to be heard in the other room, "Beasty, is dinner ready? Should I put my stuff away?"

"Yeah, Lady. It's done." Emma walked in with the dish holding the meat.

"Neat." Max put Hugo's Syberg plans to the side on the floor.

Emma smiled a huge smile, sat the large platter of food down, and walked over to her seat. Thom murmured a quiet joke to Max that had her smile obligingly and pat his head. He preened. Miles did his dinner dance routine on the tabletop, and the elves bowed their heads to Emma and Max to thank them for the meal before digging in.

Merrick was certain that this moment, right here and now, was the happiest he had ever been in his life.

 

---

 

Aldred, for all his age and knowledge, did not know what to think about the person he was stalking.

Central City was much the same as it had been the last time he had been here. And the time before that. Sure there were cars now, and electricity, but technology did not change the nature of the people who lived here. They were almost always rude. He assumed it was because most of the city's residents thought they were the scariest thing around, so they all acted like they were the king of the hill. They were not.

And he could not abide rudeness. It was one of his oldest pet peeves. The first lesson he'd learned.

He'd been in the city for two and a half weeks and hadn't found any major signs of what he was looking for. The fabric of the world's mana bent just so over the city, so he knew something big was either currently here, or had been here in passing. It was also the closest city to God's Fall Cavern, so even if the being wasn't here, it probably had to have passed through. He checked all the other major cities the month before arriving in Central, alerting his progeny that something had changed in the world, and asked them to take precautions in case of the worst possibility. This was the last city to look at before he started scouring the countryside in search of whatever had arrived through the supposedly shattered portal.

It could be building its forces right now in some dank corner, amassing size or numbers, readying itself to strike.

Unworried people jaywalked in the streets, talking loudly on their little hand-held boxes to other people, he assumed, walking like idiots down other streets, probably jaywalking, too. They used to do that with newspapers. Before that, books, and before that, they talked to one another while acting like fools.

Cars zoomed down streets, sometimes breaking traffic laws. It used to be horse-drawn carriages or just horses. People careening this way and that, using differing modes of transport, was the same throughout history.

Sounds louder than should be allowed in civilized places echoed down streets and between buildings, making his teeth grind. That was always the same, too.

Laws and manners are what hold the fabric of society together, you monsters.

The person he was stalking did none of these things. Quiet and avoiding all others, they were hard to see. Following foot traffic laws and the laws of good neighbors, the person silently and quickly rushed to their destination. They floated from one place to the next in what Aldred assumed was an elvish cloak. They looked elven, too, although they smelled like a mixture of fox musk, a personal mana well, and potent Sidhe magic.

Curious.

Aldred wouldn't have even noticed them if they weren't the exception to the rule of rude Aldred always saw in the city. The person was the model for what he wished all others to be. It made the person stand out, rather than blend in like they obviously wished to do.

He moved closer.

The person finally-- after blocks of the city and before that, a few miles of the disgusting and poisoned forest -- noticed that Aldred was following. The smell of terror mixed in with the bouquet of fox and fae and mana. The person started moving faster, rushing toward a group of manicured trees, finally breaking the rules that Aldred held so dear. Aldred swooped in and--

The person vanished.

Curiouser.

There one minute, and gone the next. Aldred checked for look-away spells since a Sidhe was involved. What he wasn't expecting to find was a full druid grove in the middle of the city, complete with a transportation gate.

Well, well, well. Where did that lead?

He stepped foot inside to follow.