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“Laura? Is everything ready?”, Elizabeth Kepler asked Belgrave’s new temple magus for the 5th time this day. “I don’t want any mishaps…”
“Everything’s ready, Bitsy!”, the brunette reassured her again. “Everything’s going to be fine. Just take a deep breath.”
Laura and Bitsy had been entrusted to handle the situation after word of Vera’s loss of magic had reached the council. They had decided to put this year’s new acolytes to work by assigning each of them one of the knights and Vera to monitor in their new lives. Now they had arranged to meet Vera and the wolves in the order-run hotel under false pretences to give them back their memories because their help was needed. Bitsy didn’t like it but she didn’t have a choice. She was sure Vera would be furious with her and even if she would never admit it, she scared her a little bit.
“Hey, magistratus?”, Kepler nervously snapped Nicole out of her daze. She had been put in charge of organising the meeting. “When are they supposed to arrive?”
Looking at her notes Nicole obediently read, “Mr. Carpio is supposed to arrive at 10 am, he thinks he’s attending his high school reunion. Jack Morton should check in around the same time, he believes he’s been invited to a friend’s bachelor party. Miss Dupres will arrive at half past 10 under the pretence of receiving a prize as one of her school’s most accomplished students.”, she then took a deep breath and tried to swallow the lump in her throat at the next name. It had been a hard blow for her when she’d learned about the council’s plan to powder Lilith after she had just gotten her back from the demon realm but the alternative was them killing her, so she had agreed. Observance. Subservience. Obedience. Right? “Miss Bathory thinks she’s attending a distant relatives funeral and should be here at…around 11 am.”
Looking up Nicole caught Kepler’s impatient gaze.
“What about the Grand Mag…I mean what about Vera?”
“She and Mr. Duke should be arriving at 11 am as well to attend a teacher’s conference.”, Nicole informed her.
“They’re arriving together for the same reason?”, Kepler asked in confusion.
“Um…I guess so. That’s what the two acolytes responsible for them told me.”
“Huh…get me those acolytes.”, she ordered after a moment of consideration.
Her and Laura had purposefully split the whole group to avoid triggering any memories if they ever met each other. Powdering the wolves hadn’t worked last time but this was only because Vera had refused to use the Pulveris Memoria to its full potential since it could lead to permanent loss of some memories. The council had also chosen to use a spell on the wolves to suppress even the slightest of werewolf trades. It might take them a while to be able to regain those after the spell was revoked. Vera could have easily done it back then, she had just been too soft. Bitsy was pulled from her thoughts when the two young acolytes she had requested arrived. They were as expected sons of high accomplished members, polished and spoiled from head to toe.
“Why are Chancellor Stone and Mr. Duke who were put in your charge arriving together?”
The two boys looked at each other nervously not quite meeting her eyes.
“Oh, what did you do?”
“We just thought since the university’s you assigned them to were actually quite close…”, one of them explained slowly, already knowing they were in for some trouble. “…well, we thought it would be a waste of time for us both to watch them separately. So, we had Mr. Duke transferred to Chancellor Stone’s school...”
“…so, one of you could take the day off??”, Kepler finished with an incredulous look on her face, barely keeping her voice down. “Are you completely out of your mind?”
The acolytes kept staring at their feet with guilt evident on their faces and she sighed, there was nothing she could do since they were part of the Order’s elite.
“But you did watch them, right? And nothing out of the ordinary happened?”
“Yeah, sure…”, they both assured her quite unconvincingly but one faltered under her stare and hung his head in shame. “Not really…there was this nice bar in the area…”
Bitsy had heard enough and turned on her heel fuming. Maybe she shouldn’t have put the new acolytes in charge of such an important task, but they were unknown faces to the wolves as well as Vera, therefore it had seemed like a reasonable decision. Apparently, she should have checked on them herself from time to time. She informed Laura of the boys’ failure and after a long discussion they agreed that there couldn’t be any consequences for them, due to their families being loyal members for centuries, as long as their actions hadn’t triggered any repercussions.
When the wolves arrived under watchful eyes they were shown to their rooms and treated like the other non-magical guests, who frequented the hotel oblivious to the magic surrounding them. Later that evening they were supposed to find a blue rose in their room with a letter, telling them to arrive at the lounge area in the back of the restaurant at 5pm sharp. It was already 4pm and Bitsy was running in circles, Hamish and Vera still hadn’t arrived.
“Maybe they’re just running late…”, the manager tried to soothe her.
“Laura, I appreciate you being so calm but would you please shut up!”
“We could have the hotel call them?”
So they did and the temple magus was right, there was a problem with their car and their check-in would be delayed.
Finally, while Kepler and the other disciples were already welcoming the clueless knights to their midst, entertaining them with wine and food until the group was complete, Hamish and Vera arrived. Laura awaited them in the hotel lobby and was quite relieved when she finally saw her former, could she call her a friend no certainly not she was much too uptight for that, more likely a colleague, Vera Stone stride into the hotel in her usual confident manner with the young wolf leader by her side. She noted to her surprise that she let him carry her bag and had a big carefree smile on her face. Huh, the magus wondered, apparently being an ice-queen wasn’t actually part of her personality but only a mask she wore to appear unapproachable and the Pulveris Memoria had erased that. She had to admit Vera was quite a sight in her big black fake-fur coat and heels, she radiated authority and confidence, no wonder the wolves had followed her willingly. Laura greeted them wearing her business-like smile when they came up to the desk to receive their rooms and hurried to inform Bitsy about their arrival. They would immediately discover the blue rose with the note in their room and hopefully make their way downstairs at once to meet them.
And indeed, not even 10 minutes later the couple arrived in the lounge area with confused looks on their faces. Laura immediately took note of their clasp hands and how closely they walked next to each other and shot Bitsy an astonished glance but she didn’t seem to notice.
“Welcome!”, she greeted. “Would you please take a seat?”
“What’s going on here?”, Hamish questioned, eyeing everyone warily.
“Dude, we’ve been asking them the same thing for about an hour!”, Randall let him know.
“And you’re still here?”, Vera responded.
“Well, there’s food and alcohol…so yeah”, he shrugged, taking a big gulp of his wine.
“Now that everyone’s here I’d like to explain…”, Bitsy said when Laura handed her a small pouch filled with white powder but instead of explaining she took a handful and dusted the whole group and they all fell unconscious.
Gabrielle was the first to wake up, “This has got to be a joke…all the time I spent studying, all my achievements this year were for naught?”
“You made me retake all my exams? No wonder I aced them!”, Jack exclaimed annoyed.
“I just came back from the demon realm, finally remembering my life only to be powdered and forget everything again!?”
Hamish jolted awake with a simple “shit” escaping him before his head turned to the woman beside him who was still unconscious. His hand coming to rest at the side of her face, tenderly stroking her cheek until her eyes opened.
Vera was the last one to come to her senses and first took in her surroundings slowly until her gaze landed on Elizabeth Kepler.
“What the fuck have you done, Kepler?”, Vera almost growled at her.
“I know you’re angry but it was the only way”, she tried to calm her. “The alternative was killing all of you, so you should actually thank me.”
Vera was speechless for once in her life and sat back down contemplating what to do. She looked at Hamish who was watching her with a mixture of shock and sadness. She grabbed his hands.
“No, Hamish, don’t even think that. You know that’s not what I meant. I regret nothing, it just probably would have never happened had we known how dangerous our lives actually are. Believe me everything was…is real.”, she frantically told him earning herself a few bewildered and some puzzled gazes.
Hamish gave her an understanding smile and pulled her to him. He placed a soft kiss on her lips which she returned but as the kiss started to deepen, Hamish drew back remembering where they were and what was happening. Vera seemed to have had the same realization and kept her gaze on the floor refusing to meet anyone’s eyes.
“What’s happening?”, Kepler demanded confused, looking back and forth between the couple.
When they both stayed silent, Laura spoke up, “I guess the boys’ laziness did have some consequences after all, Bitsy…”
“So what? They had a fling. As long as it ends now that they know who they are, I don’t see a problem.”
Everyone turned around surprised at Vera’s stifled snort, until she couldn’t hold back anymore and started laughing hysterically.
“Are you ok?”, Hamish interrupted her outburst.
“No…no I’m not ok. This is not funny”, she calmed down and her expression turned serious again. “This is not funny at all…Bitsy”, she looked other woman in the eye, “This is not a fling…we’re married.”
Kepler opened her mouth but nothing came out so she closed it again, looking like she was reconsidering all her life choices up until this moment.
“Your actually married?”, Jack was the first to break the uncomfortable silence, holding back a grin but at their nod he held out his hand to Hamish and genuinely said, “Well, congrats, guys.”
Despite the situation he shook Jack’s hand with a broad grin and took Vera’s hand in his.
“Dude, I don’t know what to say…you actually married Vera Stone.”, Randall stared at them in disbelief. “Are you happy?”
“Very.”, Hamish replied lovingly wrapping his arm around Vera and pulling her even closer to him. She couldn’t help the smile forming on her lips and dropped her head on his shoulder.
“Well, then congratulations are in order I guess”, he said, surprise and shock still evident in his eyes. After that Gabrielle and Lilith joined in as well before being interrupted by Kepler.
“This marriage has to be annulled. Vera, you can’t possibly think the council will approve of this…”
“It’s not our fault…our memories were taken…and who decided to place us together? I mean that’s not very smart, even if we hadn’t been an item before…”, Hamish stated.
“Excuse me? What? You were already in a relationship?”
“Why else do you think we’d get married 5 months after we ‘first met’”, Vera explained agitated making air quotes. “Obviously our subconsciousness remembered.”
“Why does nothing I do ever work out? I mean what are the chances…?”, Bitsy uttered talking to herself rubbing her temples and added louder. “Anyway…you’re getting an annulment or a divorce or whatever I don’t care. And we’ll act as if this never happened and no one gets in trouble, everyone understood?”
“Oh, Bitsy your incompetence surprises me again and again.”, Vera gave a hollow laugh.
She stood up and placed her hand softly on her mid-section to draw everyone’s focus to her bump though still small and therefore easily overlooked if someone didn’t know but impossible to deny in her tight black dress.
“You’re pregnant…”, Randall stated the obvious, then turned to everyone and exclaimed stunned. “She’s PREGNANT!”
“You’re so fucked”, Jack said not even trying to hold back his laughter as he turned to Kepler who looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She turned to Laura for help but she looked just as defeated.
“You’re having a baby…with Vera Stone.”, Lilith stated amused. “I’ve certainly missed a lot when I was in hell!”
“Are you Vera Duke now? Mrs. Duke?”, Randall burst out laughing.
“God, no! That sounds awful, Mr. Carpio!”
“What are we going to do now…?”, Laura asked after cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention.
In the end Laura and Bitsy decided to tell council that Vera had been so furious about them powdering her that she had refused to work with them and since everyone knew the former Grand Magus and none of them would ever want to cross her, they let it slide. She also told them a believable tale as to why Hamish had to be sent with her. The expecting couple went back to their lives at the university without being powdered, unbeknownst to council, since Bitsy didn’t stand a chance against Vera. A few months later they welcomed their son into the world. The wolves took pity in Kepler and agreed to help the Order out in exchange for a contract which acknowledged them as an equal but separate group. They later rented a house, the new ‘den’, near Hamish and Vera’s, so they could reunite as the knights of St. Christopher.
THE END. TADAAA.