Veiled Truths

By Kell Hound

Part One: New Road

Chapter 3: Dark side of the Moon

Brad looks at the young woman before him. He has been making small talk with her for a at least a half an hour now. Mostly their conversation has been exchanging simiple information, like what they both do for a living. So far he has found out that she runs a club in the very city his is about to move to. She leans a piece over napkin on her knee as she jots down her phone number. "They got some pretty decent music playing. Wanna dance?"

Brad scratches the back of head. "Well I would if I could dance."

Ally laughs at him. She places the napkin in the front pocket of his suit jacket. "Oh come on. It's a slow song." She gets to her feet taking Brad's hand. "Slow dancing is easy."

With a small tug, Brad got to his as well. The young woman takes his hands, placing one on her waist and then intertwines her slender fingers with his. Brad quickly moves his fingers up as he feels a burning where his skin touches her rings. He gives a small sigh of relief when Ally didn't notice. She has her head downward as she brought his hand lower. A red coloring once again comes across Brad's face. "Um…I th-this okay?"

Ally looks up at him with a smile. "Yeah, it's just fine. See. I told you slow da-"

Brad's foot slamming on top of her's interrupts her sentence. She grits her teeth as a panicked expression takes over the young man's face. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry!"

She looks up at him and smiles. "It's okay. Really."

Meanwhile, Seth takes a sip of a glass of scotch while watching the werewolf attempt to dance. He pays more attention to the woman though. The vampire turns to the man sitting next to him at the bar. "Darkfire, why in the seven hells did you bring her?"

Darkfire lets out a sigh and blows up at the ebony locks that are in his face. He starts to reach for his beer. The vampire snatches it from him. "Are you even listening to me?"

The ruby eyed man retrieves his beer from Seth's hand. "Yes, Seth. I'm listening. I brought her because she is far better company than the sleazy females who work for me." He takes one last swig and finishes the drink. "Plus, she already had an invitation. All I did was buy her a plane ticket and spare myself a headache."

Seth finishes his own drink. "You have a weird opinion of women."

The Asian man order himself another beer. He opens the bottle and turns to his companion. "The fairer sex is far more dangerous than most think. They are mostly lairs and thieves who use their bodies to taunt the men around them and get what they want. Kissing the wrong one I like kissing a viper."

A smirk creeps across Seth's face. "The voice of experience?"

Darkfire shoots him an icy glare. "Hardly, but I have seen it enough times to know it's true."

"Whatever you say." Seth turns around in his seat to face the crowd. "But since we're discussing whores, do you know where Fayth is?"

The man sips his beer. "She is doing what you told her to, flirting with Damien."

The vampire's eye follow the direction Darkfire points. In the corner of the room, he sees the red head in a revealing gothic dress playing with the newly crowded king's tie. The huge grin on Damien's face lets everyone around him know he doesn't mind at all. Seth casually walks over, laughing as he hears she slurred drunken speech. He comes up behind them. "Fayth, don't touch that mutt. He could have fleas."

Fayth grins. "Hi Shesh. I'm Shurry. You having shum – WHOA!" She stumbles while trying to walk over.

Seth catches and laughs. "Have a bit too much to drink?"

"Nah I onlysh had a ship." She holds up her hand so her index and thumb are about an inch apart.

Seth puts his arm around her. "Sure you did. We're just going to get you a place to sit down now." He begins to lead her away and she nods.

While this was all going on Damien has spent the past few moments letting his anger build up. He glares at the vampire who was walking away. He snaps, "WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE JUST INSULTING ME LIKE THAT AND WALKING AWAY YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

Seth smirks for a minute. He then straights his face and looks over his shoulder. He pushes Fayth a bit telling her, "Go sit down." He walks up to Damien, standing over a foot taller than him. "Stunning vocabulary you have there."

Damien glares up at him and snarls, "You don't know who you're dealing with, you prick!"

Seth runs his fingers through his hair. "I know who you are. You're the new king of Lynnbria, Damien Night." He took a few more steps toward Damien and leans over to be eye level with him. "You see the problem here isn't me being misinformed. In fact, the problem is that YOU don't know who YOU are dealing with."

The werewolf glares at him. "Why you…" He throws a punch at the vampire and stumbles only to hit air. He feels a tap on his shoulder. The young man turns around.

Seth leans over, waves at him, and smiles. "Now was that aimed at me?"

Damien spins to face Seth. He growls as his fangs sharpen. "You bastard!" He young king's ear begin to grow to a point.

The vampire suppresses a chuckle. "Aw, is the little doggie mad?"

Cassia over hears the commotion and rushes to Damien's side. She put a nurturing hand on his shoulder. "Damien," she stats in a stern tone. Then in a lower voice continues, "Don't transform in public."

The werewolf's fangs subside. He glares at the man he was arguing with. "He started it."

The woman glances over at Seth how is cleaning on of his fingernails incompletely uninterested in the couple next to him. She runs her finger through Damien's hair. With a worried look she pleads with him. "Please, go sit down. We have to meet with that mercenary I told you about anyways."

Damien nods reluctantly. "Fine," he shots a glare at Seth. "But this isn't over."

The two of them walk away. As Cassia passes the other vampire, he grabs her hand. She struggles to try and break his grip, but fails. "Let go of me, Seth" She tries to make her voice sound confident but there is an uneasy waver as she speaks.

A devilish smirk comes across Seth's face. "Why? It's not like you can make me."

Cassia tries to struggle again. This time Seth twirls her so she is up against her chest. He puts his arm around her shoulders while still holding on tight to her wrist. Cassia shutters as she feels his finger twirl her long braid. "I…I'm …I'm not scared of you anymore, Seth."

Seth tilts her head toward him while leaning over her shoulder. "Are you sure, my dear? Because you seemed scared a moment ago when I was having some fun with your dog." He turns her head to watch Damien walk over the bar. "Though I don't blame you for wanting to protect him, a nice dog like that, which you went though so much trouble to get." Seth leans in closer and whispers in her ear, "It would be a shame if something happened to him."

She pulls herself away and glares at Seth. "You know the rules. You can't touch him without my permission. I had him turned into a werewolf to make sure of that!"

Seth laughs. "Ah yes that tiny law does complicate things. However, I can work around it." He gives her a smug look. "Did you know, Cassia, that rule doesn't say a werewolf I have claim on can't do the job for me?" Her eyes widen at the realization. He lets go of her hand. "Enjoy your pet while you can, Cassia, because soon he'll be taken care of." Cassia runs after Damien. Seth watches her panicked expression. He smirks while walking away. "Fools are so amusing."

19 days before September's Full Moon, Morning

Ally looks out the window of the small private jet she is taking home. A huge smile is across her face. She adjusts her self in the large first class seat. Darkfire glances over at her from the seat next to her. He goes back to typing on his laptop. "You seem happy. I take it you had a nice time last night."

She nods. "Yeah. I spent most of the party talking to a very nice guy until he had to help find Prince Daniel."

Darkfire read through the file he had on his screen. "I know."

Ally turns him with an eyebrow raised. "Do you keep tabs on everyone or just me?"

"Everyone," he stats without looking up.

Both of them are silent for a moment. Ally speaks first. "That's really creepy. You know that, right?" She looks over at the pile of paper Darkfire has in front of him. "I take it from the paperwork you got the job." Darkfire nods. Ally nods and looks back out the window. "So what's the job?"

Darkfire glances back and forth between his computer and his files. "Simple stuff. King Damien is a werewolf and he just wants some more knowledgeable guards." The mercenary then opened up a file on his computer with Brad's picture on it. "That and a background check on another werewolf whom he might want killed. Personally, I don't know why. The guy doesn't look like much of a threat." Ally nods while only partly listening.

A few hours later.

Damien sits in his large dining room half asleep while eating a large bowl of cheerios. His hair sticks up in every direction as he sit there in a over sized t-shirt and his boxers. Cassia walks into the expensives dining room. "What are you doing?"

The werewolf looked down at his bowl of soggy cereal. "Um…eating breakfast."

She looks at him confused. "It's past noon."

"So? I just woke up." He shoves a spoonful of food into his mouth.

Cassia takes a seat next to him. "Okay…well I need to talk to you about last night."

"What for?" the werewolf asks with a mouth full of food.

Cassia looked him in the eye. "If you ever see the man you argued with don't go near him. He's very dangerous."

"He didn't seem so tough." He rolls his eyes.

She gives him a stern look. "I'm serious. He is one of the strongest vampire alive. Almost everyone in the supernatural world know of Seth and what he is capable of, especially me." She glances down at her feet. "He is the one that turned me into a vampire." Her glaze returns to the young werewolf. "And he want you dead."

Damien nearly chokes on his breakfast. "WHAT! WHY? I DON'T EVEN KNOW THIS GUY!"

"I don't know." She sees the worried look on the young mans face. "Don't worry though. There are certain rules in the vampire world that prevent him from killing you…unless you attack him first. So just leave him alone."

"Okay," Damien turns his attention back to his meal. "So everything is cool?"

The vampire gives him an unease look. "No. Not really. See Seth is helping that young man you bit and he has probably gotten him to agree to kill you."

The werewolf thinks for a moment. "Who? You mean Danny's friend Brad?" He gives her a skeptic look. "You sure?"

"Positive. You need to take care of him."

"I don't know."

"Damien!" Cassia's voice is very stern, "You can't ignore this. Your life is at stake." She caresses his cheek. Her eyes are full of worry. "Please do something."

"Okay. I'll handle it." Damien then goes back to eating. Cassia smiles and kisses his forehead before leaving the room.

7 days before September's Full Moon.

Brad finds himself watching to people run in Central Park. It was nighttime and the moon was full. He watches as to the couple runs by some brushes. There is a low growl comes from the shadows. Before either of the joggers could respond a giant black wolf lounges at one of them. It quickly tears through its victims flesh, ripping out his throat. It then turns its attention the other jogger and runs after her.

A loud bang wakes Brad up from his nightmare. He groggily rubs his eyes and tries to figure out what woke him. The smell of alcohol and sound of his roommate's slurred speech quickly tells him that Danny was just returning home with a date. The werewolf lets out a sigh and rolls over to go back to sleep, knowing if he didn't get to sleep quickly the noise of his friend's activities would keep him up for a good portion of the night.

1 hour before September's Full Moon

Brad walks up the steps of medium sized suburban in New Mahtlaw. He holds a small bag with clothes in it. The house is fairly normal looking. The lawn is well taken care of. The white paint shows a little bit of chipping but everything else looks neat and prefect. It is definitely not what Brad expects to match the address Seth gave him. The werewolf rings the doorbell. A short blonde boy answers opens the black door and pokes his head out. "Can I help you?" He adjusts his glasses.

Confusion comes over the werewolf's face. He pulls out the piece of paper with Seth's address and checks the house number again. "I'm sorry. I must have that wrong house." He turns his head to see if he is even on the right street.

The boy looks up are Brad. "Are you Mr. Wolfe?"

Brad turns back to him. "Yeah."

A grin comes across the kid's face. "No you have the right house." He opens the door all the way to let Brad in. "My Keily is up stairs waiting. I'm Tommy by the way." Brad walks in as Tommy shakes his hand eagerly. "It's nice to meet you."

Tommy leads Brad through a front hall that is covered in junk. Ever where the werewolf looks there are papers, videos, books, and even a few weapons lying about. It is like walking into an antique shop with no organization to it. The werewolf looks down in disgust as he steps into a bowl of cereal and milk that smelt as like it has been out for at least a day. Meanwhile, Tommy completely ignores the mess while talking. "So you're a werewolf huh? You look a lot like the last werewolf Mr. Keily helped out. He was a real nice guy. You seem like a nice guy too. Well duh what am I saying of coarse you're a nice guy other wise you wouldn't care if you hurt people during the full mo-"

"Um …excuse me but…" Brad tries to interrupt.

Tommy looks at the guest embarrassed. " I'm talking too much aren't I? I'm sorry I don't get to talk to a lot of people so when I do, I kinda ra—"

"No, it's okay," the werewolf assures him. "I just wanted to know if by Mr. Keily you meant Seth."

The boy nods and leads Brad to a door. "Yeah that's him."

"So you live here with him?"

Again Tommy nods while he opens the door. "Well most of the time he isn't home so usually I just take care of the house while he is gone."

Brad looks down at the blonde boy in front of him. This boy looks like he is barely old enough to be in middle school. "But you're just a kid…"

From inside the room Brad hears Seth's voice explain, "Actually, Mr. Wolfe, Tommy here is much older than you are and quite capable of taking care of himself."

Brad walks in to the room that seems to be a library or a study. He can't tell because it is just as messy as the rest of the house. Seth puts the book he is reading on top of a pile of papers that covers what seems to be a desk. The vampire stands up and looks at a clock hanging on the wall. "Now the sun has almost set, so Tommy should get you locked up." Seth picks up his coat from the chair he had been sitting in. "Normally I would be the one watching you but I have to do something tonight. Understand?" Brad nods. The vampire heads toward the door. "Good. Now hurry up before you grow paws."

The werewolf follows the blonde boy out of the room once Seth leaves. "So um… how old are you?"

The boy looks back at him with a smirk. "Older than this country."

He leads Brad down a flight of stairs. The werewolf takes a step on to the creaky stairs. "So are you a vampire?"

Tommy shakes his head. He slides past Brad to get in front of him. "No. I'm human. It is just Mr. Keily did this thing he calls a blood bond so I don't age until he dies. He said it's called a blood bond." He hops off the last step. The basement is barren except for a pile of boxes, a broken desk, and cage in on corner. "This is where you'll spend the night. Cozy, huh?"

"Um…yeah." The werewolf looks at the rusty old cage. "Are you sure this will hold me? Doesn't look very sturdy."

He examines the cage and reaches his hand out to see how sturdy the bars were. The boy behind him comments, "You might not want to touch that."

Brad places his hand on the cage. "Why not?" Before he even finishes his sentence, a burn rushs into his hand. He quickly pulls his hand away and shakes it in air to cool it off. "Jesus! What the hell just happened?"

Tommy snickers while unlocking the cage. "I told you not to touch it. The bars are made of silver so don't worry about breaking out."

Brad looks at his burnt hand. "Well I guess that's good."

The blonde boy opens the cage to let him in. He points inside, "There is a small shelf inside the cage for you to put your clothes."

Brad nods as his companion sits himself on the broken desk. The werewolf begins to undress. He lets out a sigh once his tail escapes from his pants. He still isn't used to seeing the furry appendage. To keep his mind off things, he turns his attention back to Tommy. "So um how come you live with Seth?"

The boy adjusts himself on the uneven desk. "Well he saved my life. I'm repaying the debt."

Skepticism came over Brad's face. "He SAVED you?"

Tommy nods. "Yeah. Plus a lot of exciting stuff happens to him. "Like one time while we were in Sipan this lord sent a whole army of samurai to kill Mr. Keily and he took them all out single-handedly." His eyes widen in excitement as he continues. "OH! And another time there was the demonic bounty hunter after him and…" Brad watches him and laughs. He stops himself. "I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

Brad shakes his head. "It's fine keep going." The werewolf undresses while listening the boy ramble. It helps keep him distracted until the full moon rise.

The Next Morning, Sun Rise

Seth slams a feline shape shifter against the brick wall of an alleyway. Blood streams down her forehead. Her eyes are wide with fear. The vampire glares at her. "Tell Frost to come after me himself. I'll let you live so you can tell him that. Next time I won't be so merciful though, no matter what the rules say." He tosses her to the ground like a discarded doll.

He leaves the alley just as the sun starts to come up. He puts on a part of dark glasses as the sunlight starts to hit him. He passes by a man opening the early morning paper. The middle ages man smiles at him. "Want to buy a paper?"

The vampire begins to decline the offer. That's before he sees the headline: MAD DOG, KILLER OF KING, STILL LOSE. He hand the human money and picks a copy.