TITLE: Icarus Manor, chapter 25

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 attends the howl and fights his brother to both their deaths. 
Jeremy becomes the new Alpha. THIS CHAPTER: Last chapter revisited and continued 
from the point of view of Astrid. With the help of a mysterious lycan visitor, will she be 
able to save Dominic?

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 25

When Astrid awoke she was lying on dirt ground that smelled unfamiliar. It was so 
drastic a change that she snorted awake, immediately got to her feet and tried to 
transform to a wolf defensively. It was only then that she realized she’d been bound and 
gagged. The knots held fast but stretched enough to prevent breaking. She dropped to her 
knees; human and defeated.

The warm, werewolf bodies around her needed no light to be identified. Smell would 
have been enough to bring to mind a face and a name, but she knew already that they 
were her rebels. Every soul in on the planned coup against Richard was here. How could 
they not be? Of course – she sniffed – Dominic wasn’t here. He couldn’t be. He had to 
fight Richard. Astrid only hoped that Dominic would realize the danger he was in and 
would stay safe until they found their way out of here. 

The room was a small enclosure made of heavy oak boards carefully nailed tight 
together. No light shone through. If there was a door, it was probably dead-locked, 
bolted, chained, and reinforced. 

Astrid’s head ached as she stood again, probably from whatever drug they had used to 
subdue them at the time of their capture. She moaned, and her moan was answered. It 
was Jeremy picking his way through the carpet of rapidly reviving bodies. He came 
close; she could feel the warmth of his body and felt the press of his mouth on her gag as 
he swiftly pulled it away. He kissed her quickly before the others woke.

 “Are you okay?” He said with more sweetness than he spoke to anyone else. She nuzzled 
his neck in silent affirmation of her well-being and her affection for him. They pressed 
back to back, fingers flying at the cords. What were they to do? Astrid knew that the 
moon was not far from its zenith and judging by the scents around her, they were at least 
fifty miles from home. There was no way to get back in time to save Dominic.

The others were beginning to get to their feet, confused and worried. Several murmurs 
and nervous whimpers wove through the stale enclosure air. It knitted them together in 
their common knowledge of their complicated predicament and the futility of their true 
goal. Astrid looked to Jeremy for some simple answer, hoping that as long as she had him 
to help her, nothing was ever truly lost. But he remained silent as he helped loosen the 
bonds of his packmates. 

Then out of the darkness, Astrid heard footsteps. Everyone fell quiet, hearing the being 
approach. She sniffed the air; it was real. He was there. Something about him made him 
very difficult to smell, as if he had been frozen, or a cold wind was between them. But he 
was decidedly male, not much larger than one of them and the footfall was – strangely 
enough – lycanthropic. 

It was one of them! Maybe someone escaped capture and followed them here. Perhaps 
not all was lost.

 “Astrid Monaghan?” The person asked. The voice was not unfamiliar but did not belong 
to one of the pack. She struggled to remember.

 “Yes? Who are you?” She pressed her hands to the impenetrable wooden walls of her 
cage.

 “We don’t have much time. I’m here to help. I need to you to tell everyone to cluster 
towards the center of the pen and get down on their knees. Have them cover their heads 
as well.”

Astrid barely hesitated before barking orders at the confused pack as best she could. 
“Everyone do as he says! Get to the center. Put Mrs. Avery in the center and cover her 
well.” The pack snuggled together in the quickly thickening air and balled themselves up 
on the dirt floor. Jeremy and Astrid were the last to huddle up.

 “Okay! We’re ready!”

A moment of silence passed and Astrid began to think they were being fooled by this 
mysterious person when the very enclosure itself began to vibrate. The ends of the boards 
violently wiggled in the dark soil as if frightened into moving. Several snapping sounds 
were heard as boards that couldn’t take the movement cracked and splintered. A fine rain 
of dust fell down on them with smaller pieces of wood. A few scared voices cried out and 
Astrid braced herself, praying that no one would be hurt. The pack tightened closer 
together as a large ripping noise was heard overhead, and the ceiling pulled itself apart. 
Several screams sounded and then turned into wonder as the two halves of the pen floated 
softly to the ground freeing them and leaving them without harm.

Before them stood their savior. Astrid snarled inwardly. She knew this face. This was the 
one who opposed them every step of the way when they had moved to the US. He had 
done everything in his power to prevent them from obtaining their dream. Now it was a 
broken dream, a polluted paradise, and he may have been right to try and stop them – in 
retrospect – but that did nothing to quell the hatred she had for him.

 “Sean. Had this been any other situation I would spit in your face.”

He smiled apologetically before quickly approaching. “I know, but there is no time for 
old grievances now.”

Astrid could sense a strange shift in this lycan who she was so used to seeing as an 
enemy. He seemed enlightened and wholly different. This alone may have been the 
reason that she believed him and decided to trust him for the now.

 “Speak. I’m listening.” She said.

 “Dominic is in serious trouble and I need to get you all back to the Howl as quickly as 
possible.”

 “I appreciate your zeal, my friend,” Jeremy stood forward, the archetypal leader, “but I 
don’t see your car, and even if we drove at top speeds, we would never make it in time.”

 “I was not proposing that we drive there.” Sean said without inflection. It was a simple 
fact, however intriguing. Astrid’s skepticism returned.

 “I need you to trust me for just a little longer,” Sean held up his hand in defense, 
“Dominic’s life depends on it.”

Astrid and Jeremy exchanged looks. What choice did they have?

 “We’re with you.”

 “Okay, I need you to get the pack together again, and tell them to bundle up. It’s going to 
be cold and very windy.”

Slightly puzzled, they relayed the message and did as Sean requested. The pack clustered 
and faced due south – the direction home.

Sean stood with his back to them. He appeared to be feeling for some unseen force or 
object. His orders floated to them over his shoulder.

 “Hold hands and wrap your arms around each other. Interweave as best you can to stay 
together.”

Astrid’s mind raced with questions, but she pushed them aside, grabbing Jeremy’s arm 
then Robbie Howard’s interlocking elbows. The pack, too nervous to voice their concerns 
made light work of Sean’s requests.

 “Okay.” Astrid heard Sean whisper to himself. Her focus was so trained on him that the 
surprised gasps around her almost went unnoticed.

 “Astrid, look what he’s doing.” Jeremy said in such a calm voice that she nearly ignored 
him, but then she looked down.

They were floating. The entire group was floating some ten feet above the ground.

 “Oh my moons, we’re going to fly.”

HOLD ON. It was a command not heard, but felt.

They began to move as one floating higher till they were above the trees, then they 
picked up speed as they flew south towards home, towards the Howl, towards Dominic. 
Astrid sent out another silent prayer for her brother.

They raced headfirst through the chilly air towards their destination gaining momentum. 
They had to be going over a hundred miles an hour by now. Astrid craned to touch her 
ears to her sweater, not daring to let go of either Jeremy or Robbie’s arm. It was quite 
cold and she knew they were still accelerating. The air froze her to the very bone. She 
only hoped the others were holding up better because there was no way she was going to 
ask Sean to stop them. Dominic was her main concern now. 

Sean looked back at them a few times before dropping back to Jeremy’s side.

 “How are you?!” He shouted over the howling wind.

 “Cold!” Astrid was frank, “How soon till we’re there?!”

 “Soon!”

 “Can we go faster?!” Astrid asked.

Sean, Jeremy, and even Robbie stared at her in disbelief. This speed was almost all the 
pack could bear, and she knew it, but she had to ask.

 “Astrid, what good will we be to Dominic if we arrive half-frozen and in no shape to 
fight?!” Jeremy argued his ears red from the cold.

 “I’ll see what I can do.” Sean sped ahead of them and took up his lonely post at the front. 
Suddenly, the wind lessened about them, though they did not slow down. In fact, as they 
accelerated at and even greater rate, they were shielded from the biting cold. It was still 
there, but now it was bearable. Astrid smiled. If you had asked her before tonight if she 
would ever put her trust in Sean Astin she would have laughed in your face, and here he 
was protecting more than just her loyal pack and family, but the future of their existence 
on the very soil he had so desperately tried to keep them off. 

It wasn’t a few minutes before Astrid recognized their town up ahead. Her heart leaped as 
they began to decrease in altitude and speed.

Sean looked back, “Put your paws down to the ground! Start running!” Sean shouted 
back at them.

Astrid shuddered with the change and transformed herself in seconds. She breathed 
deeply through her snout as she regarded the quickly moving ground beneath her. One 
paw made contact, pushing off, then she kicked with her front two paws. All four made 
contact and she began running at impossible speeds as Sean still pressed them forward. 

They closed in on the howl. She could see the fires burning though the trees obstructed 
any view of the arena or her brothers. Astrid could hear Jeremy’s paws touching the earth 
next to her. All her hopes lay in him and his winning this fight.

Sean was gone, his hold on them expired. They tore towards the light burning through the 
trees. She heard voices.

 “YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CHALLENGE ME?!” It was Richard. She 
charged forward hoping they were not too late. Then they burst through the trees on to 
the very arena itself, Jeremy immediately barreled into Richard, throwing him at least ten 
feet.

Dominic lay in a bloody heap. Astrid skidded to a stop on the ground and turned from the 
fight to help him. She shifted to a human again as her five pink fingers felt for a pulse. He 
was barely there. 

Dominic’s skin was a map of punctures from Richard’s teeth. Bruises were quickly 
forming on every available surface. His ribs jutted in very wrong ways, probably half of 
them were broken. A large gash in his left arm was still bleeding freely as was his neck. 
Astrid immediately put pressure on the neck wounds and tried to ignore her instinct to 
scream and weep at the sight of her beloved brother so badly wounded.

 “You came.” Dominic’s voice was barely above a whisper and blood seeped from his 
lips as he smiled for her. “I knew you would.”

She ignored the tears that came from nowhere. “You’re going to be fine. Stop talking.”

 “I love you, Sissy.” Dominic’s grey eyes fixed on her, “I’m gonna miss you.”

 “Don’t you do this, Dominic!” She screamed at him as he slowly put his head down, 
“Don’t you fucking do this! DOMINIC!!!”

The gush of blood under her hands stopped and she sobbed uncontrollably. Astrid pulled 
his lifeless body from the ground and cradled her beloved brother in her arms. It was too 
much. It was absolutely too much.

Astrid heard the hum rise from the pack. She looked towards the fight. Jeremy had his 
jaws around Richard’s throat who was choking and gurgling. Jeremy looked to her for 
permission. What could she do? The pack wanted it. They were humming their approval. 
It was a new order rising and they couldn’t have Richard creating any more damage than 
he already had. Under werewolf law she didn’t have a choice, but Jeremy, wonderful 
Jeremy was giving her one. She nodded. Let him die.

Jeremy delivered the blow, and it was over. She felt so alone. Her father gone, Dominic 
murdered; Richard was lost to her a long time ago; a maniac and sociopath. Her mother a 
sad statue of her former self. She was all that was left now.

 “Astrid,” It was Sean again, brilliant, enthusiastic Sean, “don’t grieve for him.” He put 
his hands under Dominic’s head, righting it to look up to the moon. He then placed 
Dominic’s arms and legs straight and laid him flat. “His work is not done here.”

Astrid was confused and a little affronted that Sean was so casually moving her brother’s 
body as if she didn’t mind. Sean picked him up and moved him to the center of the arena.

 “We need the whole pack for this. If you want to save him, I need them all in attention.”

Jeremy was by her side quickly, covered in blood, but human again.

 “Astrid, what’s—”

 “No time to explain. Just relay Sean’s orders to the pack. He’s going to save Dominic.”

Jeremy looked upon her kindly, but unconvinced, “He’s gone, Astrid. There’s nothing—”	

 “We flew tonight, Jeremy. FLEW! I didn’t think that was possible. I don’t know the 
extent of Sean’s powers, but I’m not willing to discuss it now while Dominic’s body gets 
colder. Just please, do this for me.”

Without another question, he was on his feet shouting to his people as diplomatically as 
possible.

 “What do you need, Sean?” Astrid crouched next to him while he continued to arrange 
the area. He had moved Richard’s body out of the circle with more respect than anyone in 
the pack was expected to. 

 “Tell Jeremy to get everyone to hold hands in a long chain. Tell them to hold on no 
matter what they feel and not to let go if this is to work.”

Astrid relayed the message and soon the entire pack was snaked about the arena holding 
hands. It felt a trifle corny, but Astrid’s heart was beating so quickly that she didn’t 
notice.

Sean put his hand to Dominic’s lifeless chest, and then he grabbed her hand. “Don’t let 
go.”

 “Never.”

Things got very quiet, and then the ground where he was kneeling became very cold as if 
frost had suddenly formed. The air seemed thinner and every breath she took was less 
replenishing. There was a pull beginning at her hand that reached through her body, 
absorbing her energy. Her lungs felt smaller, her life force weaker. It was as if tendrils of 
some parasite were threading through her, taking parts of her away. And then it was 
painful.

She gasped as tiny shocks of electricity coursed through her, and then past her. The 
tendrils were still there like hot wires, but had passed through her to the next person. She 
looked at the unfortunate pack-mate next to her. It was Dominic’s friend, Jackson. The 
pain flashed through him in an instant, but she saw in his face all the same emotions she 
felt. And quicker than she could follow, the pain ripped through the pack snaked about 
the howling ground connected hand to hand and gained speed. And amazingly, not a one 
let go.

Sean muttered under his breath and beads of sweat collected on his furrowed brow. 
Astrid was entranced by the look of complete concentration on his face. He was visibly 
straining, and for the second time that night she felt a surge of gratitude so great that all 
past transgressions were forgiven.

HOLD ON. Came the command that was more felt than heard and just as the words sunk 
into her mind there was a brilliant flash of pain as the hot wires that had grown through 
them all surged, draining them of what felt like their very souls. Astrid could swear she 
was screaming, but she couldn’t hear herself over the pain. The rest of the pack must 
have been enduring the same torture. She cringed at the thought. But then suddenly it was 
gone.

She fell to the dirt ground, welcoming the familiar smell. The chain of hands had been 
broken. She heard someone coughing and wondered if it was herself.

A hand reached out for hers, and when he touched her, she looked up into his face, still 
coughing, but whole and alive.

 “Dad says ‘hi.’” Dominic said, coughing still as he lay back down.

Astrid could not help herself. She scrambled to him, held him and cried. The pack 
crowded around them, her sobs of joy drowned out by applause.

Sean laughed a little, “You’d better get some sleep. We’re going home tomorrow.”
~
Thanks for reading! Please email comments to cswann1@gmail.com.