Chapter 7
Mona's eyes were closed as she stood at the edge of the forest. Night turned into day, and snow had began to fall. The cold mountain air whipped her midnight hair around her face; her body was relaxed, but her focus was relentless. While she had been casting the spells on the Romanian wolves she had felt it. A current of power. Not dark power, not witch power. It had been centuries since she felt the smooth, cool tendrils of Fae magic, but she had felt it early this morning while the moon still shown and the fire roared through the silent sky. She had felt Fae power, and beneath that was something even more subtle. Gypsy. And this wasn't a young, new gypsy like the one in the Romanian pack. This was old blood, powerful magic.
Mona continued to send her will out into the trees and over the snow-covered mountains, over rocks, plants, dirt, and the lives of the wildlife seeking shelter there. As she sought her query, she thought back to the last time a gypsy healer was known. Three centuries had passed since then, nations had risen and fallen, civilization had grown and evolved, all manner of technology now ruled the world. But even with all those changes, some things remained the same. Gypsy healers would always be where Canis lupis roamed. She knew that Melinda's daughter hadn't died. She had felt when Melinda had been slain, felt the life force drain from her body. But not Rachel.
Mona had searched for decades without so much as a wisp of power. She had come to the conclusion then that the Fae must have helped the gypsy and her mate out. No mere gypsy healer could stand against Mona's power. She was the most powerful witch her coven had ever seen. When the Fae came in and wiped out the covens that were scattered over the Eastern world Mona had done what any smart predator does – she took to ground to bide her time.
The Fae had decided that the witches were becoming too powerful and needed to have their population downsized. It worked better than they anticipated. Mona knew of no others that had survived beside herself.
After her people had been wiped from the earth, Mona had found refuge with the Serbian pack. The Alpha wanted the healer from the Western Romanian pack, wanted her bad enough to hire a witch, and by doing so isolated himself and his pack from the other Canis lupis.
Mona had agreed to his terms. She would get him the healer and he would protect her from any foe until she could regain her power. She was still powerful, even after the Fae, but she had been cloaking herself for so long and it was draining her.
What the Serbian pack Alpha didn't know was that Mona had her own reasons for wanting the gypsy healer. Reasons that had nothing to do with the Alpha and everything to do with making her the most powerful witch ever to walk the earth. Mona was old. She'd been old three centuries ago. She remembered things long forgotten about the supernatural beings, remembered why gypsy healers were prized not only by werewolves but witches and Fae alike.
"Where are you, little gypsy?" she whispered. "You can't hide forever." Mona opened her eyes, scanning the forest.
Whatever she had felt earlier was now gone. She wasn't discouraged, Mona knew that hunting supernatural prey took time. Luckily for her, time was something she had plenty of.
As she turned to leave, she began to hear the chorus of Electric Light Orchestra's song “Evil Woman”. Mona smiled to herself. So maybe the ringtone was a little much.
I'm a witch, she thought. Surely no one would expect her ringtone to be “Lean On Me”.
"What?" Her words were clipped as she answered.
"I need to know what your plans are," Thad answered.
Mona rolled her eyes. She was so sick of answering to the wolves. But, when she finally had the healer they would no longer hold any power over her.
"I made my move. Now it's time to let the Alpha make his. Sometimes, Thad, the best course of action is to wait and watch."
"Fine. I expect you to keep me updated."
"Careful, wolf. Do not think to give me orders like I am one of yours. You do not want me as your enemy." Mona ended the call just as Thad began to respond. She didn't have time to argue with the overbearing wolf. She needed to do some searching through the archives that she'd managed to keep the Fae from destroying; she needed to know who could have helped Rachel remain in hiding and she needed to find a weakness.
Mona had plenty to do, but Thad didn’t need to know that. The thought of doing her own research brought to mind the fact that Vasile was smart. He had to be to have lasted this long and be this powerful. It only made sense that he would do his own digging, especially since the Canis lupis seemed to have disregarded witches altogether. So perhaps it was time to pay a visit to the powerful Alpha's home – after all, while the wolf is away, there's room for the witch to play.
Mona laughed to herself. I must be getting old if something so simple is funny to me, she thought. She grinned as she swept her deep red cloak around her.
After sending out a mental call, she waited. Soon hoof stomps became audible and a second later there stood her black-as-night steed.
"Ahh, Octavian, my faithful friend." Octavian was eighth in his line to serve the witches, hence his name. He was a steed of old, his life supernaturally long just as the ones before him. The witches had begun breeding them further back than Mona could remember.
"Let's go on a journey," she told him as she swung up onto his back. She didn't disrespect him with a saddle. She knew that he didn't have to serve her. He, like any supernatural being, had magic of his own. Octavian turned and headed in the direction he had come, away from the crumbled mansion and the woods that held secrets that Mona would uncover.
Decebel took a deep breath as he waited for Jen to answer him. He didn't have to wait long.
"Where have you been? Why have you been blocking me? Do you have any idea how worried I've been? Do you know what I've been through?" Jen's questions were like a gun going off in his head.
"Are you talking to Jen right now?" Jacque asked as she watched Decebel's eyes get bigger and bigger.
Decebel nodded once, then with a wrinkled brow he asked, "Does she have an off switch?"
"We've been looking for one for years," Sally offered, "but it's a no go."
Decebel held up his hand to the two girls as he listened to Jen in his mind.
"Why are you acting so weird?"