TITLE: Icarus Manor, chapter 22 AUTHOR: lillywhite1, but you can call me Casey. SUMMARY: In a mysterious mansion in a secluded part of North America, a man discovers that he is far from alone in the world. Here at Icarus Manor several species of non-human description live together to survive in a world that does not know they exist. LAST CHAPTER: Sean continues to carry out his grim business of suppressing Mr. Boyd’s consciousness. Viggo, Orlando, and Elijah decide to do something for Mr. Boyd. Orlando and Viggo share a moment. THIS CHAPTER: Dominic is faced with the grim reality his family is facing and receives a late night visit from the bane of the pack. PAIRING: DM/BB, hints of EW/SA and now OB/VM RATING: R FEEDBACK: is my neutella on a spoon that makes me go all gooey and melty and mmmmm... A/N: Text in asterisks (*) represents italics indicating remembering, creepy voice, thoughts, or general emphasis. This is a book and a work in progress. Be gentle. Comments to cswann1@gmail.com. Chapter 22 The full moon was only ten days away when Dominic strode towards his sister’s trailer. Dark as it was, he could see by the moonlight as well as a human could see by daylight. He smiled at one more perk enjoyed by the free wolf, but as he cast his gaze towards his feet, he began to lose his grin. Debris littered the bare ground between the trailer homes. Miscellaneous items coated in dirt and grime lay in his path: a doll missing an eye and a leg, three and a half playing cards, an old radio that had left a trail of mechanical carnage from where it had begun its crawl and where it had finally died. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right that his family had to live like this when they had been promised paradise. Dominic shook his head as half-remembered sentences filled his mind: *…and we will never have to stay within a boundary when hunting…share only with each other to thrive in this new country…run free through endless forests teaming with game…my brothers, sisters, and family, we will never again have to feel the stamp of our detached elders on our freedom…we WILL have our needs met: not by some politician, but by our relatives and mother Earth. We will always take care of each other.* These were the very words he had spoken to his pack before taking his case to The Counsel. These were the words that he had meant to truly free his family and create a new life. Whatever could befall them, nothing could be worse than what they had in Manchester. This had not been so. The rebels listed their grievances over and over again as if they described it enough, he would feel as if he had been there and witnessed these atrocities himself: *“…He’s been taking advantage of his privileges as Alpha. Three girls are with child by him, and one of them is only sixteen. We don’t know how much consent the girls gave, even though they swear they weren’t raped, but what prideful weregirl would admit to that...?”* *“…this incident with Mrs. Avery is just one of the many times Richard has failed to protect older members of the pack. He looks down on them and says that if they can’t handle themselves, then they should crawl off and die. It would be better for his wallet, wouldn’t it? A couple of our seniors went off hunting and never came back. Richard didn’t deploy any search teams to find them…”* *“He’s getting all the young men jobs at a local car-parts factory that is ancient and unsafe. The pay is better than the other places, so he says it’s the best way to go. He just doesn’t want them around here so he can do whatever he likes…”* *“…and when they backed over little Natalie Hoskins, he did nothing! He said he didn’t want to get involved with the police, but he really just didn’t like Natalie because her father was human. Now she’ll be crippled for life…”* *“…it’s almost as if he’s weeding out the weak links and adding a few made of his own mettle, playing with the family; pretending to be God. There is foul play written all over this, and it’s in Richard’s handwriting.”* He had been wrong about the move. He had been wrong about the town they chose. He had been wrong to leave his family in the hands of a power-obsessed maniac. He couldn’t afford to be wrong again. Once inside the door of the little blue trailer he threw his coat on the couch (which tripled as a window seat and a guest bed) and began to rummage through the refrigerator. A quiet noise disrupted his search. It was the gentle sound of something breaking, more like a “ping” than a smash. “Sissy?” He called out to hear his voice ring back at him with foreboding reverb. She wasn’t here. The sound had come from the far end of the trailer – where his sister slept as did his catatonic mother. He cringed at the thought of opening that door and seeing what used to be his mother, but he had to investigate. She could be hurt, or he could be making something out of nothing, but there was no question about what he had to do. He reached for the knob despite all the horrific ideas and images entering his mind about the vacant monster she had become. He hadn’t realized he’d shut his eyes until the ugly creak of the door jerked him back to reality. The room was blue with daisy décor just like the rest of the trailer. A bed occupied the right side of the room as did most of Astrid’s possessions. The left side of the room was mostly reserved for their mother’s things. Two boxes rested in the nearest corner. They probably contained everything salvageable from the old house. Shelves layered the left- side walls like fungi growing off a tree. Each shelf was packed to the brim with tiny figurine cats; the ones Astrid said their mother liked. The window was open, letting in a cool night breeze and the heavy curtains floated listlessly from the window frame. Beneath the window was the small wreckage of one of the figurine cats. His eyes drifted to the person center of the room. Dominic thought his heart would break. She was slouched in a wheel-chair staring at nothing. Her nightgown was clean and tidy; her slippers soft; her robe plush and wrapped. Blonde hair that was once long and radiant was now stringy and streaked with coarse white strands sticking up every which way like alien antennae. You never would have guessed that her glazed-over grey eyes had once been a sparkling stormy-blue, like a tempest-tossed sea. Her face had fallen and aged rapidly, showing bags and veins through the pale, fragile skin. Dominic was filled with a sickness, rage and sorrow that tore at him. “Hello, Little Brother.” Dominic froze. The voice came from the darkness of a neglected corner. The light fell on his blonde hair and lean body as he revealed himself. In the shadow, his eyes appeared more black than brown, but showed nothing. His face was frozen in a mildly amused pose. He stood half a head taller than Dominic which his lanky stature accented, making him appear taller still, but fragile. Dominic knew better than to trust appearances. Richard was fast and much stronger than he needed to be to beat his younger brother in a fight. “Welcome back. I’m truly sorry I didn’t get a chance to visit you sooner. Being the Alpha can consume your free time easily, but don’t believe I haven’t been checking up on you.” “You’ve been spying on me?” “Not at all, Dommie. I’ve merely been keeping tabs of sorts, but let us not talk about that.” Richard absently waved his hand in the air as if keeping away from unnecessary conversation. “I want to talk about you! How have you been all of this time?” This was much too casual for such a strange intrusion. Dominic kept that in mind as he played along, “I’ve been well.” “Good. Good. The word was you were living in a mansion. That did raise a bit of jealousy amongst the pack.” “What?” Dominic surveyed his surroundings with mock surprise, “You mean they don’t enjoy it here? I think it’s as close to paradise as we could have gotten. I mean, deep down, who doesn’t want to live in a trailer?” Richard chuckled in a way that could almost be described as good-natured. “We did lose the 18th century chez lounge in the fire, along with all the heirlooms. Come now, Dommie. You know as well as I that we didn’t have much money to start with. It was a miracle that we could afford more than tents.” Dominic was not expecting Richard to be the picture of calm and rationality. After all the horror stories and joining the rebellion, he’d believed his brother was a raging sociopath. It was all Dominic could do not to follow Richard’s lead and relax. “Come now, Richie. You know that’s not the reason there is unrest.” Dominic leaned forward subtly, “You will fall hard and fast from your throne, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Richard’s confident smile melted away and revealed tired, frustrated eyes, “Do you really think you could do a better job, Dommie? Do you think that you or Astrid could have sucked it up after we lost Mom and Dad and taken the reins? I had the courage. I’m doing very well by my standards. Last time I checked,” Richard bent a finger for every point he made, “we are all still alive, we are not being hunted, we are near a few uninhabited mountains with ample game, and jobs are being secured for the able-bodied.” He gave a smug smile, “We are looking to make a full recovery and achieve our ultimate goal, albeit behind schedule.” “That’s not the complete truth, Richard, and the pack knows it.” Richard growled and struck out at the air, “Oh, who *cares* if some old bitch can’t hold her own and gets what was coming to her?! Who the fuck *cares* about some ancient, dried up wolf who can’t run down his own dinner without croaking in the woods. Those people were *parasites*, Dommie. They were draining us of our few resources and we are better now that they are gone.” “That’s disgusting, Richard. You can’t toy with the pack like that! They are people, not servants, and you certainly can’t make light of having them *killed*! They came over with the rest of the pack, and we are supposed to protect them.” Dominic pictured poor Mrs. Avery, her battered face, and the cast on her arm. “The circumstances have changed! I’m not going to let them bring us down into the pit with them. They should have the decency to leave and let us prosper!” “Dear God, would you murder all the children, too?! What of Natalie Hoskins?” “She was a dirty mistake made by that slut mother of hers. That half-breed doesn’t deserve to be under our protection. She should have been strangled at birth.” Dominic’s fists clenched, nearly puncturing skin, “But not like your illegitimate children, right? Not like the three girls that you raped. Are you breeding your own army, Richard?” “I already have my own army!” Richard wheeled with manic energy. “I am well supported so don’t think for a second that you and your runt group of whining bitches can create a successful mutiny!” Dominic was stunned. Richard knew about the group. He knew their plans. Richard nodded triumphantly, “Oh, yes. I know full well what has been brewing in the woods late at night. And believe me when I say that I’ve done the calculations and you could not win if you had *twice* the number you have now.” “Then why the threats? Why show up in the middle of the night? To gloat?” “No, Dommie,” Richard paused to catch his breath. His chest heaved and a sweat had broken out on his brow. The pale light made him appear sickly, “I came to save you.” “The fuck you did.” Richard sighed heavily, “Is it so hard to believe? Dommie, you and I got along fine until Dad died.” “You mean up until the point where you tried to kill me?” “That was never my idea, and it got out of hand. I’m sorry, but it was unavoidable. Everyone blamed you, and quite frankly, most of them still do. If you attempt a run for Alpha with your puny group of supporters, those that tried to kill you last time will succeed this time.” Dominic knew this couldn’t be true. His sister wouldn’t have brought him here if it was. Richard continued, for once appearing sincere, “You were not just the scapegoat for Dad’s death. They blame you for it, and they didn’t want you to be Alpha. That’s why they ran you out. It was both Astrid and I that kept them from killing you by convincing them to drive you away. We knew you’d live. We saved you. “But we can’t do it again if you get into the circle with me and compete. As long as I remain Alpha, there is no danger for you. They will listen to me. They are angry and more scared than ever, but they will listen to me. And do you think that they will be at all sympathetic towards you now that they know you’ve been living in the lap of luxury and they’ve been thrashing about in squalor? Of course not.” Richard approached Dominic and placed his hand on his shoulder, “They will tear you apart whether you win or lose. I don’t want to see you hurt again. Once was almost more than I could bear. Go home to your new friends and enjoy your new life. There is no life for you here.” Dominic nearly gave up right then. He was seconds away from packing his bag and leaving this all behind forever, when he thought of Natalie, the little crippled girl in her wheelchair. He thought of how much she would miss out on. Being a werewolf without running, playing with her pup friends; no learning to hunt in the woods with her mother or howling under the moon on all fours, proud to be a wolf. His blood boiled with indignation for her untimely injury and all that it robbed her of. He thought of those three girls, pregnant and forced into a life they did not choose. Who would want to have them now that the Alpha had made his claim of them? What female would be safe in a pack where this was allowed? And what if this encouraged others to do the same: take without asking? And what of Mrs. Avery in her cushioned chair by the space heater, more black and blue than fleshy pink? She was still fighting. What gave him the right to pack it in if she was still fighting? How could he give up like that when the much more beaten and tired were carrying on? How dare he even consider being such a coward. No, there were plenty of reasons to fight, and the main one was touching him. “Richard, even if all of that was true, I would still fight with them. You have abused your rights as a leader, and you treat your pack like your own personal evolutionary experiment. And I won’t have it. Out of respect for my family and especially my father, I will do everything I can to force you out of Alpha, even at the risk of destroying myself.” For a moment, Richard didn’t even react. Slowly, he lowered his arm from his brother’s shoulder. His lip curled into a snarl of absolute hatred. Dominic could hear the low sounds of grinding teeth, and readied himself to duck if Richard threw a punch. Richard quickly turned away and paced towards the far side of the cramped room. He was quiet for several moments, and then Dominic heard a low laughing hum. “Of course you would sacrifice yourself, Astrid probably would, too,” Richard stood behind their catatonic mother’s chair, “but what of the innocent victims caught in the crossfire? Would you save them?” His fingers drummed significantly on the back of the chair before he swung her about to face him. “Doesn’t it just make you sick?” Richard glanced over his invalid mother with disgust, “She doesn’t even know we’re here. And we used to hang on every word,” His long fingers found her chin and lifted it, “coming from these lips.” Without warning, Richard’s hand recoiled and slapped their mother’s face with stunning force, the sound echoing off the walls, “She doesn’t even care.” Richard recoiled and slapped her again, and again she didn’t move, but the horrible sound reverberated off the walls and filled Dominic’s head with horror. “Stop it!” Richard looked surprised, “But you knew that innocents would be hurt. You said you would fight me. If this disturbs you, how will you ever be able to live with yourself if someone is injured or even killed in the struggle?” Richard forced her head to turn towards Dominic with a solid punch, “And she doesn’t even FEEL it!” He backhanded her, cuffing her nose. Blood dripped onto her pristine nightclothes. Still she did not move. “Stop it, Richard!” “She’s *weak*! She can’t feed herself, clothe herself, shit by herself,” He kicked her legs out and she fell to the floor limp as a rag doll, her head hitting the floor with a harsh thump. “Why is she even allowed to live off our charity!? She’s of no use to us!” Richard kicked her side hard, and their mother folded reflexively. “We should leave her in the woods for the scavengers!” Dominic lunged towards him, transforming in under five seconds. He head-butted Richard, sending him flying into a wall of porcelain kittens before pouncing. Sharp clay shards scattered across the floor. Dominic aimed his jaws for Richard’s neck when Richard’s nails scratched deep into Dominic’s abdomen. He yelped and drew back as Richard punched him three times in the stomach. Dominic rolled away and put distance between them. He put his back to a corner and poised himself for another volley. Richard panted and growled out a sentence, “I will kill her and anyone else I please to ensure my rein. Enjoy your last ten days alive.” And then he was gone, slamming the trailer door behind him. As Dominic reached towards his much-abused mother, his claws retracted and his hands became human again. He lifted her back onto her chair, doing his best to smooth her hair and clothes, but as he looked around him, he saw the shrine had been much disturbed. The room was trashed, the figurines destroyed; the worst was the blood on his mother’s recently pristine nightgown. “Oh, William,” Dominic all but prayed, “what have I gotten myself into? This place seems a trap of my own making. I wish only to be with you. I miss you.” “Dommie,” Astrid had returned. She stood horrified in the doorway, her brow knitted in confusion. A hand went over her mouth when she saw their mother, “what—?” “Richard thought he’d try to talk me out of the rebellion. He thought wrong.” Astrid’s mouth closed, resolute. The line had been drawn, the gauntlet thrown down and Dominic had chosen his side. She turned to leave the room. “I’ll get the dustpan.” ~ Thanks for reading! Please email comments to cswann1@gmail.com.