"But do not fear," Antonia continued, sensing her trepidation. "I would not harm you. You are so very lovely, and you are mine."

Antonia's den was higher up in the mountains than the place where they had first encountered each other. She lived in a cave that appeared but a narrow fissure from the outside, but widened considerably once squeezed through. The cave smelled unsurprisingly of death, and Jessica could see the bones of other werewolves here. The scant light which came in through the fissure opening did little to light the place. "Yes," Jessica said, somewhat mournfully.

"Now you can tell me why you came here, why you were looking for me." Antonia was now a human woman with a wolf's head. In this state, she put Jessica in mind of an Egyptian goddess. "Now that you cannot lie to me."

Jessica kept to her wolf form, since she had no clothes with her, and the temperature was quite low at this elevation. Antonia owned no clothes that she could see. Jessica did not know how she could stand the cold with that bare human flesh. She must have been used to it. "I did have a reason for coming here, other than mere talk," Jessica was forced to admit.

"I knew that," said Antonia smugly. She kept to werewolfish, as she did not seem to know wolfish well, if at all, and her only human language was the Latin or Latin derivative she spoke. "Tell me of your reason."

Jessica did not mind providing her with the information she asked. She had meant to tell her eventually. She had hoped she could be delicate in her broaching of the subject, but such niceties were to be denied her, it seemed. "You said you know of the Hekatoi?"

"I do."

"We safeguard the stories of our kind. We gather them and keep them alive. We listen to stories and we tell stories. So things will not be forgotten, so our people will have a history, will not dissolve into timelessness and ignorance."

"A lofty purpose," said Antonia, and Jessica sensed the irony in her voice.

She continued undaunted. "We do not want to lose anything, any part of our history, no matter how painful. No matter how sad. And we have visited werewolves of all the lines, and from every line we have gained new members for our pack which is not a pack."

"Every line?" Antonia asked. Her tone seemed to imply that she knew more than she let on, and this gave Jessica pause.

"Every line except yours."

"Yes. We Cicatri keep our secrets to ourselves. We don't like you, you with your prying. We don't want to tell you anything." With her 'we', she seemed to be referring to more individuals than herself, as though she did not accept the fact that they were all dead, save her. Or was it something else that made her speak so?

"Yes. Of all the lines, only the Cicatri gave us nothing. They told us no stories, and none of them joined our numbers. Then, or so it was believed, your line was destroyed. All we had left was hearsay from those of other lines who had observed the lives of the Cicatri. We thought that was all we would ever have, until we found you."

"Ah, me." Antonia's wolf head shifted slowly into a human one, save for the eyes. "Yes, you have found me. What next? Stories? Is that what you want from me? What if I don't know any?"

"But you do know them. You know them all, don't you?"

Antonia growled, deep in her throat, though her body remained all human save for her unblinking amber eyes. "What do you mean?"

"We know enough about the Cicatri to know that they were their own Hekatoi."

"Do not compare us to you!" Antonia's voice was great with anger, and she started forward with a snarl.

"Yes, alpha." Jessica cowered. "I meant no disrespect."

Antonia calmed. "Good. Continue."

"I believe you had a way to pass all the stories of your people down into your young, over and over again. A kind of magic, related to ours, but different. A magic you found for yourself and did not share with anyone else. And by this magic, in each member of the Cicatri lived the stories of all their ancestors. So that they did not die, but lived on in their descendants."

"I see. It is a fairy tale you tell me." Antonia's voice was scornful, but she did not deny outright anything Jessica had said. She could have easily; although Jessica was obligated to tell the truth to her, she was not obligated to be truthful in return.

"Although this story of Cicatri magic may not be true," said Jessica, who did not dare to contradict her new alpha, "we had to discover the truth of it. For if such a magic existed, it would be of great use to us. So when we learned of you, we knew we had to approach you. Not only to learn the lost stories of the Cicatri, but to learn their lost magic as well."

"So this is what you want of me? For me to tell you what I know? For me to give you priceless secrets and get nothing in return? The Hekatoi are arrogant. They have ever been so."

"No," said Jessica. "That is not what we want. For even if you simply told us of such magic, such stories, we could not truly use them unless they were wedded to our own magic. That is the nature of Hecate's power. What we want is for you to become one of us. If we are to tap into the Cicatri, if we are to keep the Cicatri line alive in memory as they should be kept alive, as all other lines are, we need a Cicatri among our number."

Jessica was expecting an explosion from Antonia following this announcement, but the Cicatri's reaction was the opposite. She fell completely still, completely silent, staring with her amber wolf's eyes. Jessica did not dare to speak first, and so what seemed like many long moments passed before Antonia's voice was heard in the dark cave again. "What makes you think we wish to be kept alive?" She moved towards Jessica, dangerous, slow, her voice low. "And what gives you the right to offer us this choice? Between life and death. Such insolence. I should kill you for that."

Sensing the strength of Antonia's rage, Jessica rolled over onto her back at once, displaying her wolf's belly. This halted Antonia's movement towards her, but did nothing to dissipate the Cicatri's anger.

"We were the greatest line," said Antonia. "No other line built such an empire. Ah! How can you know of it? What it was like! Our cities, our palaces, our riches, our power! You cannot see it, but I can. I see-- everything." She bared her teeth. Jessica's eyes fixed upon her fangs. "I see how we have fallen, how far. And why would I want that shame to live on? The shame of knowing what we once were and what we have become? Why would I want that to survive?"

Antonia turned her head towards the werewolf bones lying in the back of the cave. "My brothers," she said, and Jessica was chilled by the way she said it, staring at the bones of the dead without any feeling, especially not remorse. "They wanted to continue the line, even though there were only the three of us, two of them and myself." She laughed, a sound born in the back of her throat that had little of true mirth in it. "I refused. No male will mount me. I would die before I allowed that." She turned away from the bones, back towards Jessica. "But they were the ones who died. They were weak. I am the alpha male."

Jessica was afraid, as she did not know what Antonia might do from one moment to the next. Jessica did not trust that Antonia would not harm her as she had promised earlier, but she allowed herself to feel triumph for a moment. Judging by Antonia's words, it seemed that the story of the Cicatri's magic might well be true. "Yes," she agreed. "You are."

"You might have submitted to me, but there's no need to sicken me with your compliance."

"Yes, of course."

"I should have been an emperor," continued Antonia. "But there were no female emperors, were there? And I am only this-- a nothing, living in a cave, eating rabbits to survive, slowly going madder and madder. It is a bitter fate."

Jessica was moved to feel some sympathy, but she had little patience for self-pity. "It need not be your fate," she said.

"Oh yes. Because now I can join the Hekatoi, can I not? You have been kind enough to come here and offer me this choice. But I refuse your offer. It disgusts me, in fact. How dare you even contemplate the possibility that I would betray countless generations of my people by sharing our secrets? No, they will die with me, and that pleases me to no end." She laughed again. "The wolves call me death, and that is what I am."

The wolves. Jessica thought of Dark Thicket and his shadowy pack members. Their cause she did feel deeply, forced to suffer beneath the untender mercies of this despot. "I don't see why you torture them. They are a fine pack."

"Good." Antonia nodded. "Question me, at least a little. I will kill you if you bore me." How easily she contradicted herself, her earlier promise not to harm Jessica so quickly broken. This did not surprise Jessica in the least. Antonia went on, "I don't like children. Why should their bloodline continue if mine cannot?"

"That is selfish."

"I do not need the Hekatoi to approve of my actions."

"That is good, because the Hekatoi do not. And I do not."

"You must want to die," breathed Antonia. "Are you challenging me?"

Of course. Jessica had been, until now, in the thrall of submission, but these words awakened her, effecting her much as her own speaking of the word alpha had, only in reverse. She rose to her feet quickly. Pecking order was never permanent in the wolf pack. Antonia had had the advantage of surprise when they had first met, and Jessica knew the Cicatri was strong, but her madness weakened her. She could not control her body. This would work against her in a fair fight, one wherein Jessica was not jumped before she could defend herself. Jessica growled, bristling. Antonia might be able to terrorize a small wolf pack, but Jessica was a werewolf in her prime, and she was no stranger to battle.

Antonia was all gold, then, her body a wolf's. But Jessica could see her claws become fingertips, saw her eyes had round human irises and human whites. Saw she had no tail. Jessica lunged for her, sought out the gold throat with her jaws.

Antonia jerked to one side, snapping, and Jessica felt teeth in her ear, the sharp warmth of bloodletting, pulled her head away. Undaunted by the pain, she lunged again, and this time her jaws found purchase where she intended them to. Antonia staggered. Jessica felt human hands striking her, but they were not strong enough to fight her off. Then the throat in her jaws was human too, and all Antonia was human, save, Jessica saw, for her ears. It was impossible to tell whether her eyes were human or wolf, as she had shut them tight. It was almost heartbreaking to see her that way, suddenly so weak when she had been so strong before, but Jessica was not deceived. She knew that if she pulled back, Antonia would attack her again in an instant.

Antonia did not open her eyes, but she spoke, her voice quiet yet not weak. "I won't submit."

Part of Jessica, a raw, instinctual part, urged her to tear out Antonia's throat. This was how those who would not submit must be dealt with. Her teeth were right there; it would be so easy. Yet such an act would end the Cicatri line, and Jessica's reason stayed her jaws. Jessica's reason and-- something else. "Open your eyes," she said.

In this, at least, Antonia submitted, and Jessica saw amber wolf's eyes gazing up at her out of the girl's grave face. Girl, she's just a girl. Younger than me. I couldn't kill this girl. "We can call it even. I have won one and so have you."

"Even?" Antonia's eyes narrowed. "You and I--?"

"Yes. Equal."

"I will not be considered the equal of a Hekatoi--!"

"Oh no?" Jessica pressed her teeth against Antonia's throat again.

Antonia flinched. "No," she said softly.

Jessica pressed her teeth more firmly against that lean, muscular neck. Just enough pressure to break skin, to draw blood. A slight redness welled from the broken flesh. Unthinkingly, Jessica brought her tongue to the front of her mouth and lapped briefly at the warm liquid. Just to taste.

Antonia shivered as if Jessica had given her a kiss instead of a bite. "Ah, Hekatoi! You have cursed me, haven't you?" she hissed.

Jessica dared to move her jaws away from Antonia's throat, just far enough so she could speak. "Cursed?"

"If it's not a curse, then why-- why does this thing move through me like a fire?" Antonia moaned softly, like someone in pain. But then her voice changed; the suffering went out of it, and when she spoke again, her tone was strangely detached. "Ah, lovely Hekatoi-- I don't think you realize what it is you ask of me."

"What do you mean?"

"You want me to wed my magic with your own, to make the Hekatoi and the Cicatri one. Is this true?"

"More or less, yes."

"But you do not know-- Listen, I will tell you one secret. A pretty story for you."

Jessica did not say anything, but let Antonia continue, her mouth still poised at Antonia's throat, wary. This could be a trick, an attempted distraction.

"Long ago, there were twin brothers. Twin werewolves, alike in every way, two sides of the mirror. None could tell them apart. Their names were Romulus and Remus, and they were the first of the Cicatri. I think you have heard of them, yes? But you will not have heard the truth. The story is that Romulus killed Remus because Remus mocked the walls of the city he was building. But no. It was Remus who killed Romulus."

Jessica breathed in sharply.

Antonia laughed. "I see I have surprised you, yes? But it was Remus, not Romulus, who dreamed of empire. It was Remus who aspired to found the greatest werewolf line. And not only that, but he wished to found his line in such a way that he would see his dream come true. Remus did not dream small dreams, you see. He wanted to live forever. But there was a prophecy, and the prophecy said that it was Romulus whose descendants would flourish, would create the greatest civilization the world had yet seen.

"So," Antonia continued, "Remus grew envious. Though he kept a fair face around his brother, he began to despise him. He began to plot against him. And at last, he came across a way to bring about his brother's downfall for his own greater glory. It was the Fae who helped him. Drawn by the strength of his envy and his dreaming, they came to Remus and struck up a bargain with him. They told him of a great magic. He could, they told him, create a line such as the one he dreamt of, a line wherein every child was born with all the memories of its ancestors. But there was a great price to be paid for this magic. It was blood magic, and blood magic of a sort that only a very few might perform."

Jessica had almost forgotten to be wary at this point,. She had become human in form again. Strangely, she did not feel the cold on her bare skin. She was so caught up in the story that she drew back to wonder at it. Antonia was caught up as well, in the telling, and she took no advantage of the lapse in Jessica's guard. "This magic could only be wrought by a twin, a twin as indistinguishable from his sibling as are two falling raindrops from each other, and the working of the magic was this: under certain conditions, using certain rituals, he must murder his twin. And in so doing, he would become his twin. And his bloodline would be opened to the great song that the Fae sing, the song by which the Fae know all their kin much as they know themselves. Remus was made weak by his longing, and so he did as the Fae told him with their winning words. He killed his brother Romulus in the manner the Fae described and thus became Romulus, the one destined to found an empire."

Antonia paused here, and when she continued, her voice had dropped in tone, grown confessional. "But what the Fae had not told him was that there was more of a price to be paid for his deed than the life of his brother. Not only did he open his bloodline to the song of the Fae, but he brought a curse down upon us. A kinslayer curse. So he wrought our glory and our doom in one act." She laughed again, the sound despairing, cold. "Our blood is cursed, Hekatoi! There is a madness upon us which few of us escape. And so we murder each other and plot against each other and destroy ourselves. Our empire has fallen, and now there is only one of us left, living in exile."

Jessica was not certain whether it was Antonia herself who was speaking, or some other member of her line, or perhaps it was all of Cicatri who spoke with one voice, that low, growling, feminine voice. "Kill us, Hekatoi. Let us die."

Jessica did not know who she was speaking to, but she replied all the same. "Now that you have no kin left to slay, you resort to suicide? No, I will not do what you ask of me. I will not kill her."

There was a pause. Antonia lay still. Jessica waited expectantly, scarcely breathing, with no inkling of what might come next. Jessica heard a sound, something like the wind. It was Antonia, taking a deep breath. She sat up, slowly. Jessica allowed the movement, though she remained on her guard. Antonia stared at Jessica with those eyes which were something like the color of gold dipped in blood. "You are a fool not to," she said.

"Then let me be a fool," said Jessica lightly. "It is my choice to make."

Antonia blinked. Then laughed. "So it is. You are free once more." She leaned towards Jessica, and though Jessica should have stopped her, should not have trusted her, she allowed this movement too. She found the Cicatri's mouth pressed against her own. Jessica parted her lips and let Antonia's kiss in. She let Antonia's arms encircle her, although it was a foolish thing to do-- but perhaps, as Antonia had said, she was a fool.

It was Antonia, not Jessica, who broke their kiss. She pulled away abruptly, releasing the Hekatoi. "Go," she said, rising. "Leave me."

Jessica opened her mouth to reply, but Antonia went on before she could say anything. "You wish me to join you, but you will only bring our curse down upon your own kind."

"I do not think that will necessarily happen. Perhaps the curse can be removed."

"Removed from who?" asked Antonia bitterly. "From me?" She gestured towards the werewolf bones which lay in a corner of the cave. "I am as much the kinslayer as Remus was. The curse will not die until we are all dead." She fixed Jessica with her gaze. "Go," she commanded again.

Jessica, of course, was no longer obligated to do as the other werewolf said. "I wish you would at least consider my offer."

"Is that what it will take to get you to leave? Very well, then. I will consider it. Does that satisfy you? But I think you do not yet fully understand what I am." She smiled. "Let us strike a bargain, Hekatoi. You will return here-- someday. I do not care when. Perhaps years will pass before you return. But you will come when the moon is full. When we are both in the fullness of our strength. And we will fight again. If you win--" The cave and the world outside were silent. Jessica would not have been surprised if someone had later told her that there had been no sound anywhere on earth in that moment, save Antonia's voice. "If you win, I will join the Hekatoi. I promise you this."

"And if you win?" Jessica's words were a whisper.

"If I win, you will join the Cicatri. And you will assist me in refounding the line."

Jessica had not expected this, although of course she should have. She watched Antonia, that grave-eyed girl, and she realized, as absurd as it might seem, that the Cicatri still dreamed of empire. Jessica did not, of course, have to accept the terms of this bargain. She was in no way certain that she could win against Antonia a second time. They were too evenly matched. Nevertheless, there was something strange about this girl. Something which prevented Jessica from refusing this fool's bargain. She was bound to Antonia in some way; she could sense it, although she did not know in what way that binding would express itself finally. "Yes," Jessica said softly. "I agree to your terms."

Antonia nodded, but her expression said that she had known this would be the case. "Now go," she said, and her voice was strangely gentle. She closed her eyes. "Go."

Jessica felt the cold on her human skin all at once. It was so cold, she wondered that she had not felt it since she had shifted from her wolf form while Antonia had been telling her story. Turning, she became the wolf again, and in that sleek, brown-furred body, she slipped from the cave out into the crisp mountain air. She started down the mountain at an easy lope, but before long she was running. As she ran, she marked the route so that she might find her way easily when she returned.

The sun was setting, and the sky above the Alps was bloodstained. The sunset reminded Jessica of Dark Thicket's pack. She avoided them, however, on her way to lower altitudes. She had had the opportunity to rid them of the tyrant who plagued them, yet for her own selfish reasons, she had not taken that opportunity. Perhaps they would not blame her for her failing; perhaps they had not expected so much of her, but at the next full moon, the Child-Killer would descend upon them again. Jessica would, in some way, be complicit in every murder she committed from now on. So she came down the mountain in secret, stealing away like a criminal. She fetched her clothes from the copse where she had hidden them, and she fetched her car from the market town. She spoke not a word to anyone.

She saw him again in the airport. Amato. Just for a moment, their eyes met. He was not at the car rental counter where she had seen him before, but in the middle of the terminal, as though he too were waiting for a flight. Jessica stopped and stared. Amato smiled at her, tilting his head slightly to one side. Then a tour group passed between them, filling the air with the sound of their chatter and the smell of human bodies which have been too long together in one place. When they were gone, Amato too was gone. Jessica, however, had had enough time to tell that the look in his eyes had been one of approval.

She did not know whether to laugh or to weep.