The Angelus Brothers Chronicles - The Red Witch

CHAPTER FOUR

"Aye, you be fucked my friend if you don't mind me saying."

"Want to know the real icing on the cake?"

"That wasn't it?"

"Oh no, being a lesser creature and not even one of the famous brothers, and tearing out someone's throat while naked in front of her isn't even close." Duncan pushed the whiskey bottle towards him and Raphael poured himself another drink.

"When she rejects me, I have a lifetime of pining for her and never finding another woman attractive again, till I'm driven mad or just finally have enough and end my pathetic existence. Unless I'm one of those lucky Vampires who just become empty emotionless shells." The Scot winced sympathetically.

"Aye lad that's shite. It's about the same for werewolves. The need for our mate drives us mad and eventually we just turn into a wolf and never change back. We lose our human half and just become a crazed animal. Our clan usually puts us down at that point before we end up mounted on some human's wall. Why don't you come back to the Hidden Isle with us? It's a quiet place where a man can lose himself to hunting, fishing and farming."

Both men knocked back another whiskey.

"Duncan!" A woman's voice boomed behind them and the huge man cringed. Turning to see what kind of deadly Harpy could make a man the size of Duncan of the Hidden Isle cringe, Raphael was amused beyond words to see a small middle-aged-looking red-haired woman dressed in, for Venice, a rather plain burgundy dress and corset. She looked somehow out of place in the grand bar area they were currently sitting in. But there was something about this stout little woman, an aura, that filled the room and spoke of a mature experienced woman who feared no one.

"Ma?" Duncan sounded like an errant child who'd just been caught out, which amused Raphael no end.

"You are meant to be in that meeting with your Pa. It started half an hour ago!" She turned her fierce amber eyes on Raphael.

"And don't you sit there smirking young man. I'm assuming you are Raphael, the same young man that ran through the fountains with my knuckle-dragging son. Your brother is also at that meeting and he is after your hide as much as this bumbling Oaths Pa is his." The two men exchanged looks.

"Do not just sit there like a pair of stupid lumps. Shoo, off with the pair of you to that meeting now." There was something about the little she-wolf that gave Raphael the impression that answering back would get him a thick ear or a chunk bitten out of his worthless hide. Despite her fierce words, she looked kindly and he imagined she was as loving a mother as his own had been. Jumping up from their stools at the bar both men strode quickly from the room with the tiny she-wolf at their heels all the way to the meeting hall.

Inside the hall, all eyes turned to the two late comers as they shuffled in trying not to make a noise and failing spectacularly. Every footstep they made echoed in the huge chamber. A tall dark-haired bearded wizard watched them with agitation undisguised on his thin, dark-eyed. face,

"Nice of you to join us, gentlemen. Please take your time. Refreshments?" The sarcasm dripped from each syllable. Both men just hunched their shoulders and found their seats with their respective families. Gabriel gave Raphael a look so cold and angry he knew there were going to be murders when this was over. Well, at least that would save him from decades of pining for a woman out of his species class followed by madness or death. A clean quick death was seeming quite appealing right now, which spoke volumes about the day he'd had. Noticing an empty seat with the witches and wizards at the front of the room, he wondered if it was meant to be hers. She wasn't in the room. if she had been his demon would be doing somersaults in his effort to reach her while that strawberries and cream scent tortured him.