Dartanian de Agosino watched over the club goers at Villa Valentcia, the Italian villa design appealed to him as did the electro swing music it hosted on the weekends. The high-end restaurant and bar added to the club's appeal as did the resurgence in the music style beloved in Italy before and after the second world war. He missed the old country, but the Romani clan had taken over the Italian territory and did not allow other cruor to trespass in any city except Rome and Venice. Idly, he glanced through the camera security feeds again then decided to walk through the club. There was a new group he wanted to get a close-up scent of. Every so often he watched them mingling at the open bars but only two danced and not well. His regular female patrons seemed curious about the handsome newcomers. Walking through the restaurant portion, he greeted several patrons before heading to the club dance floor.

He could smell the pack scent he had discerned months ago at the Manor of the Las Vegas Coven; sun-burnt meat and a spicy cedar smoke covered with the latest trendy body spray. Other than the few Vampyri child survivors which Anjael took to Patmos, none were ever found or scented, just like the leaders of the Lake Mead Coven. He tapped politely on the archway into the private alcove.

"Hello, I'm the Villa Valentcia manager. I came to see how your evening was going?"

The wolves smiled at Dart, but he noticed the human females with them were all high on something. Usually, his sense of smell would reveal the drug to him but this time, he only scented clay and herbals like witches used. Nothing that he could think would be hallucinogenic.

"We love the food and decoré but the music isn't really our thing. Can you put on something more techno or metal?" One male asked.

"The music type for our club is blues, swing, electro- swing, and techno-blues. I can ask the D.J. to play something more to your taste if you would like to move to a private room but the music on the dance floor is for swing dancing. We do have instructors if you like." Dart offered with a smile, he showed no teeth to not offend the wolves. "I would, of course, comp your lessons tonight since it is your first time here." He could smell that the females were all running a fever as they giggled and fawned over their dates.

"Cool, cool, send them back. The more the merrier."

He nodded and stepped out. On his way to the floor, his intuition was screaming at him to get the human women away from them. "Felicity, I need two volunteers to teach the guests in Alcove Trios how to swing dance but be careful, I think they are drugging their dates."

His lead instructor frowned and nodded. The college social work major gave him a keen glance. "Do you want me to see what it is?"

"If you can get whatever it is then do but absolutely do not take it."

"Yes, sir." Felicity nodded to Molly and they plastered on their best smiles.

He hovered closely but there was nothing he could do because the women all seemed to be consenting to be with the males and even having sex with them behind the pulled drapes of the alcove while their fellows were learning the simplest style of swing dancing. Dart shook his head as he watched. He had never seen such ungraceful Lycani.

Werewolves, he reminded himself, they are called werewolves now.

Felicity walked past him, at the bar and pressed a tablet in his hand. Palming it, he retreated from sight and sniffed it.

The pill smelled of volcanic clay, cannabis, and several dried plants or plant oils, but it smelled spicy like capsaicin. He scratched a bit off with his nail and touched the powder to his tongue. It burned and turned bitter. His stomach tightened like he wanted to vomit as he quickly reached behind the bar for a bottle of water. Whatever was in the pill was highly toxic. He saw one of the wolves drop a pill into Molly's spritzer and sprinted across the room faster than the humans could perceive.

"Molly, darling, why don't I get you and your student fresh drinks," he turned to walk away but the wolf grabbed his arm.

"Hey, buddy, we're fine. Give them back," He growled.

Dart let his eyes show the wolf he wasn't what he appeared as his teeth showed their points, "Don't try to drug my staff again, or your alpha and pack will answer to me and mine."

The wolf backed up. Molly glanced between them then glared at the wolf. "Look, I don't know where you're from, Lefty, but guys aren't my thing and if my boss is telling me not to drink my drink then I won't, and we are done with your lessons."

"I think you and your companions should leave, and leave those girls here," Dart demanded. When the other two wolves started to approach them, Dart growled inhumanly as his sideways cat-like pupil slit became more pronounced. "I wasn't asking and there aren't enough of you here to even attempt to take me down." He stretched taller as his midform emerged.

"Damn, he's hot," One of the feverish girls slurred then she pitched forward and vomited on the floor."

Almost immediately, she began to convulse as Molly tried to catch her. "Omigawd, she's burning up!"

Felicity ran to the bar to get a towel of ice as Dart demanded, "What did you give her?"

"She wanted to take it. It isn't our fault she can't handle a little..."

Dart grabbed his shoulder, sinking his claws through the shirt into the werewolf's flesh. "What is it?"

Another wolf grabbed a chair and tried to smash it over Dart's back but the Cruor stood completely unaffected by the shattering wood.

The third wolf just stared at them then fled dragging one of the girls with him, shouting over his shoulder, "I'm not with them, we aren't together."

Dart pointed and the other bouncer blocked their escape.

"Ambulance will be here in two minutes, boss," the bartender called across the floor.

A woman bent over the limp girl, "I'm a doctor." Her scent said Wicce and Dart pulled his eyes from the wolf to stare at the female Wicce he hadn't seen in decades. She looked up at the wolf, demanding hotly, "Who made this for you?"

"They said it was organic... completely natural." The wolf blurted out when Dart shook him. A bag of pills fell out of his pocket.

The Wicce Doctor smelled them then sneezed violently and sealed the bag. "It's poisonous to them, you fool dog. She's going into anaphylaxis."

A patron pushed forward, "I have an EpiPen, it's for bees but will it work?"

"Thank you," the doctor injected the girl then pointed at the other two women, "They need to vomit as soon as possible. Get them soda water, as much as they can drink until they throw up."

The flurry of ambulance and police activity overwhelmed the club and interrupted his need to kill the werewolves. The Police held the werewolf males in the back of a cruiser as the ambulances screamed away. Detective Sargent Biaz approached Dart as the officers let the wolves out of the car.

"What are they doing?"

"They are free to go. The pills you took from them had nothing that tested as illegal." Biaz lit a cigarette, then looked at it after he had a long draw. His expression seemed like he was blaming it for not killing him yet.

"But one of those girls almost died," Dart refuted him.

"She did die, but it was ruled an allergic reaction by the E.R. doctors." The old man was quiet for a moment then added, "You probably shouldn't tell Anjael. You know what she will do."

Dart snorted then reminded, "The same thing I want to do. Baiz, you need to get this stuff on the D.E.A.'s radar. Those girls... they all started running a really high fever and hallucinating. They were having sex with those males in the club and didn't care that there was only a curtain between them and the whole dancefloor."

Inhaling then exhaling smoke, Baiz promised, "I'll interview them about consent but unless they claim those boys raped them, nothing will hold up in court, especially since there's nothing in those pills that test as a narcotic."

"The pills aren't a narcotic by your definition, they are old magic, pharmacia, a profane mix that is poisonous to humans and nonhumans alike... And those boys were werewolves and perfectly aware of what they were doing by giving it to them. They are going to kill more innocent humans, just like that girl."

Stomping back inside, Dart looked around at the club. Most of the patrons had gone back to eating or drinking or dancing like three girls hadn't been poisoned and one hadn't died. He suddenly didn't want to be there. Going to the roof, he took off his shirt and jacket then spread his wings. He thought he was flying randomly until he landed at the hospital and realized his inner self had brought him here with a purpose. Dropping to the ground in a shadowed spot, he folded his wings over his shoulders then put on his shirt and jacket. Going to the emergency entrance, he met who he was seeking as she walked out. They stared at each other for several moments. She looked older, silver was threading her rich ebony mane pinned back in a stylish chignon. He wanted to pull it free and run his fingers through it as he had every night for almost a century.

"Guinevere."

"It's just Gwen now, Dartanian." The Wicce healer tipped her head at him. "She didn't make it."

"I know... And it's just Dart now." He answered as his inner demon inhaled her scent. "Do you..."

"Would you..." They spoke at the same time then both laughed nervously.

Gwen looked up at the sky. "So, Las Vegas, do you live here now?"

"Yes, our clan settled here about seventy years ago, after the war." Dart answered and noted the slight frown that creased her brow and pulled down slightly at the corners of her mouth. He sighed. "I had to come, she is my queen."

"I'm not jealous."

"Liar."

Gwen shook her head at his accusation. Her next words flowed fluently in French, "I am not going to have this fight with you again. First my sister, then you chose this continent over me, repeatedly. I loved the villa we shared, but every time Queen Wasi whistled, you left me, left us."

"She is my Queen, I owe her my fealty," Dartanian reminded.

"Have you gotten your egg yet?" She laughed sadly when he didn't answer. "That would be no. It's been hundreds of years."

"Anjael was traumatized, she cannot bear the touch of a male Cruor, not after what was done to her by Queen Echidna and her brother Thaumas," Dart explained again but Gwen closed her eyes.

Her almost-emerald colored eyes were pained. "I suffered the same, but I have born four children for the coven of my blood. One every century. She's what 800 now, give or take a few decades? She's a queen, if she doesn't find a way to conceive and lay females, your species will be extinct in a generation. You deserve a child, Dartanian, and for someone to love you as much as I did." Gwen walked away when an Uber stopped. Over her shoulder, she called out, "You were a good father to my son when you were there. Like Agostino was to you." She walked away from him, and he let her with a tear running down his cheek.

"I still love you both," he murmured. Leaving Guinevere and Nico in Tuscany was the greatest regret of his life.

/\^^^^/\

1312, France...

A very young Bibre Cruor, Dartanian closed his eyes and stood very still as the soldiers waited for the bishop. Pretending to be the statue of a cherub, he wanted them to leave. His step-brother Giovanni chipped away at a piece of marble beside him. The beautiful woman who came last night, now stood atop it, pretending to be a statue too.

His father raised his voice, "No, I will return to Italy before I carve those... those corpses."

"They are just stones now," the bishop of Cologne argued.

"They were once the living beings with souls. You claim they are Demons or the Pope says they are not. Either way, I will not touch them or carve them. None of the sculptors in Italia will. It will bring a curse on any who raise a chisel to them." Agostino yelled at them, "Get out! Get out, I will not aid in your cursed work."

One of the soldiers pulled his sword and the white marble woman trembled but the bishop held up his hand. He glared at the sculptor. "You may be renowned for your work on the Cathedral of Siena with Giovanni Pisano but you will never work in France. You tell me to get out of your workshop, well, I am telling you to get out of my country. If you have not left France by tomorrow, your head will have a hole in it like those cursed abominations of the devil." Then the bishop stormed out with his guard following.

Giovanni reached over and touched Dartanian, "You did well, little one."

A giant dark man with wings dropped from the ceiling. "Agostino, my apologies for putting you and your son at such risk."

Agostino walked over and picked up the toddler Cruor. "Sweet child, you are being so brave." He turned to the tall, dark male as the pale white female stepped down. "Please, Lord Ouroborus, Lady Anutari, can you help us escape?"

Holding onto the human who had protected him since the day the sun turned dark and the light hurt, Dartanian looked up at the Bibre Cruor who was much taller than his guardian.

"Yes. We will get you to Gruissan. Take a ship to Italy tonight." Ouroboros agreed.

They packed only a bag of clothing each. Their tools were packed and sent by cart to the port to be sent to Tuscany by ship. As soon as the sun set, the Bibre Cruor flew the father, son, and toddler cruor to the town on the coast. Dartanian stared up at Lady Anutari as she carried him and Giovanni to safety.

Anjael looked down to look into Dartanian's eyes. "Do not worry, little one. My uncle or I shall find you again, I promise. Agostino is a good man, and Giovanni will be a wonderful brother for you." She ran her hands over his curls then kissed his forehead. When they landed, she handed him back to his protector. "Take care of him."

"I vow to do so with my life, Lady Anutari." Agostino bowed. "I will call him Domenico. I left Siene long enough ago that it will seem I found a second wife and lost her as I did the first. They will be starting a cathedral in Arezzo soon. I am to carve a cenotaph."

"We will seek you there." Ouroboros promised then he reached up and pulled one of his fangs out and handed it to Agostino. "Blow through this and we will come as quickly as we can."

He still remembered the smile Anjael gave him before she flew away. He wouldn't see her again for almost a century, but he never forgot the motherly kindness in her eyes for him. Ouroboros would come to check on him after Vampyri attacked the family and killed his father. That was when Domenico, as he was called in Italy, realized he was special, a day-walker like Lady Anutari. His inner gargoyle emerged early and killed the three Vampyri to save his stepbrother. After a Wicce healed Giovanni, he and Giovanni would finish their father's work. He stayed with Giovanni for the rest of his life then joined Ouroboros at the Saint Martin-du-Caginou Abbey but found himself returning to the land of his father and brother and visiting the places they carved every decade or so. He met and fell in love with the Wicce healer there, and always returned to her after the call of his queen, yet Guinevere always seemed to struggle with his dual loyalty. After World War 2, she walked away from him, just like tonight.

~~~~

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