Celeste often did business around Kurayo for Nemesis while he was away. This time was no different since he departed for Jayou taking her sister wife with him. Something about an ally needing help. Celeste knew that he would never lie and also knew her sister wife well enough to know the miracles she could perform.

It had only been a week or so into his departure and everything was going smooth. Not even Ivan had moved an inch out of line and Celeste was good at keeping a tight ship. It was a night of the monthly full moon and Celeste found herself in her small form for the remainder of the night. Whether small nor big it didn’t stop the alpha vaewolf from being a powerhouse. Her red eyes flickered to the door of her study as she filled out some of their monthly trade agreements with the mainland.

She had sent Yelena to the marketplace a fair time ago. It wasn’t like her beta to take so long. Her eyes lulled back as forth as she thought about how to handle this. If she sent Ivan it would be an embarrassment. So, to keep things under control the elder vaewolf opened the mind link with Nemesis’s beta Reaver. “I need you to come home, this is an emergency of sorts. I would do this myself but I don’t want to risk anything going wrong.”

Once Reaver had arrived Celeste slipped around her desk and brought Reaver to her so she could whisper in his ear. “I sent Yelena to the market some time ago. She should have been back an hour ago or so. Even for her, that would have been slow. Go into town and find her. Do not let Ivan know she is missing we could get her killed that way should he think she’s betrayed the family. And… he would embarrass our name more than he does.” She let the priest go from her grasps. “If she is in trouble the ones causing it will have wished they chose another victim.”

The look on her face was that of a concerned mother. “Yelena doesn’t get distracted when I send her out. Nor does she dillydally when it’s a favor for me. This is unlike her. Even if it is something small I just want to make sure she is alright.”

Jessamyn and Amarok had decided to make things a bit more personal. They hadn’t yet discussed the next course of action for their relationship but it was fairly obvious to just about everyone it wasn’t that far off. Jessamyn had quit the brothel since she wasn’t an owned woman and could do as she pleased. She had enough invested in local business to support herself and Amarok was being paid to watch over Gabriel. Not to mention her new stepfather was a big to-do in town.

However, these things mattered little in the overall matter of it. Jessamyn hid herself against a wall. Her cloak was pulled up. A group of dark elves was canvassing the streets. Apparently one of the lesser houses that frequented her brothel was now looking for her. Upset that she just up and walked out on them like they owned her. It wasn’t a surprise to Jessa since the bastards that went to the establishments often thought they owned their favorite whore.

She pressed herself to the wall and looked around the corner when her purple eyes. She hadn’t gone unnoticed though~

Yelena had gone into town with a long list of ingredients to pick up for her mother. It was to be a short trot and then back to making poisons for her. There was a never ending shortage of agents to kill other people with mostly because it was Ivan’s favorite hobby. “Wormwood, drake heart…” She muttered as she looked down at the list.

She looked a bit like an average girl as she had her hair swept back for the travel to town. She wasn’t scared to go by herself compared to Ivan the lot that would challenge her were nothing. Fear hit her nose first as she came to the edge of the market district. Her red eyes shifted around and they met the purple eyes that she was coming to know well enough.

“The whore has to be somewhere here. Find her Lord Faldrus wants her alive. She was his favorite~ So be gentle,” Yelena’s ears twitched a bit but she neither looked in their direction nor stopped her pace. They must have been talking about Jessa. Yelena had overheard Jessa telling her mother it would be no problem to quit but… Dark Elves tended to be a bit territorial over what they thought were theirs. It was probably a slight over slight by Jessa. Once she rounded the corner Yelena disappeared into a cloud of shadows before appearing behind Jessamyn. Quickly the vaewolf covered Jessa’s mouth. The half succubi went to scream before she noticed it was Yelena.

Yelena held a finger to her lips. Taking off her cloak she exchanged it with Jessamyn’s. “Go to the manor. Tell Mother,” Yelena whispered. She waved her hand and Yelena’s appearance changed into Jesssamyn’s while Jessa found herself a bit taller. So this was Yelena’s shapeshifting… It didn’t just have the ability to affect her. “Go but don’t run but calm,” Yelena directed and it was odd for Jessa to hear her own voice. “Your transformation isn’t that strong but it will get you out of town.”

Jessa nodded and knew that compared to Yelena right now Yelena was better suited for fighting an enemy who was well aware of Jessa’s abilities. Here her psychic abilities were at too much much of a disadvantage. Yelena came out around the corner and faked fear as the group spotted her. She took off in the opposite direction of the way out of town letting Jessa make her way towards the Volkov mansion.

It took a bit of time to reach there as she tried not to panic but the moment she touched the doors she came running in. “CELESTE,” Jessa’s voice shrieked up in her own voice now. She hadn’t noticed the transformation wear off.

Celeste stood up from her desk at the noise and looked at Reaver. She motioned her head. “Follow me,” she moved with haste down the stairs. “Jessamyn? What’s wrong?” She took the woman by the shoulders and Jessa took her hands.

“It’s… She…” She was panicked but she calmed down. “The dark elves found out that I left the brothel and they are pissed. They were hunting me down in the market. Yelena found me and shapeshifted into me to lure them out. She told me to walk here and I didn’t want to but she was trying to buy time.” Jessa looked at Reaver than to Celeste, “If they find out that’s not me they will kill her for sure!”

Celeste narrowed her eyes, "How many were in this group? Old or young?"

"Mix and there was about twelve."

"Yelena is good but she is no match for a group of that size nor if they have more experience. She must have good reason to have become a decoy and send you here."

"My magic doesn't work on people who are aware of it like they are. I was practically a sitting duck for them," Jessamyn felt bad but she had never been able to trick this house of dark elves not like Yelena had but it was two different forms of magic.

"Reaver go help her. Jessamyn, do you know where she was heading?"

"The dead woods up north of the city leading out the opposite side of town." Jessa was still heaving with her breaths and Celeste looked up at Reaver and beckoned him to go.

It had been a long day indeed at the Church; particularly the business end of things. Thanks to Nemesis' new champion, she was able to secure the deal with Graylhope and its Lord. The expressed details on how that came to go unknown to him, and it suited him just fine. What had mattered was the arrangements for both sides and he would prepare to see through that they held up their own bargain. With help from his cardinals, he was able to put into a big dent into the work, and the rest would have to wait until tomorrow. He left them to clean up while he was getting ready to pack up and leave. Before he got up from his seat, he heard the mental call and headed out. Celeste usually didn't bother him unless there was a particular reason involved. Combine that with the Lord's absence from the manor while he and Angela were on leave meant that she would need his help. 

Reaver slipped away from the Chruch and returned to the manor. Rushing up the stairs, he made it into the office and closed it behind him. "What is it?' He didn't have to wait long before she came over and addressed him. The last thing he wanted to do was to venture into town having already been mentally tired from the stress of work. Still, he had to admit it was odd that her beta hadn't returned. The girl was smart enough to come home without any problem. "Yeah, I go see what's the issue", he said, rubbing beneath his eyes. The last thing they needed was for Ivan to go a-hunting because he thought that she left the family again. 

Regardless of their stature in Kurayo, it could still be a dangerous place for them so he would have to go prepare for the worse. He was about to off and head for his room when they heard yelling coming from downstairs. They moved quickly and met with a distraught Jessamyn. She spilled her guts to the two of them and Reaver couldn't fathom why she hadn't just escaped with her instead of playing decoy. "Fucking hell", he snarled as he rushed back up the stairs and fled to his room where he sheathed his dagger and knives upon his being. 

He ran out of the house and into the stables where he found his black stallion. Reaver was faintly familiar with the woods and pondered if she had ventured into her favorite spot. It would be the first place he would head for. He rode off as quick as he could, his ears listening for any abnormal trace of a sound, either from Yelena or her pursuers. As he transverse through the woods, he heard low voices from the distance and slowed down his pace. He couldn't exactly make out what they were saying, but as he drew closer, he was convinced that they were the drow. 

By the time he made it to them, he could easily see that they hadn't planned on anyone else arriving. He could see it once they had prepared their swords and readied them at him. "Leave the girl alone. She is under the protection of the Volkovs", he said, a sharp tone lingered from his voice.

"The girl is ours!", one of them spoke and it was all he needed to know. They hadn't picked up on that they were tricked yet. 

"Care to explain that to Nemesis? Heard he has a wicked temper. Especially when it comes to threatening his family like his newly acquired daughter through marriage." 

His eyes narrowed darkly as he jumped off his horse, clearly unafraid and unamused by the lack of respect thrown. "Leave us be. The girl must be brought to our lord." 

Annoyed, Reaver moved to retrieve something from his steed when one of them had the gall to try and strike him from behind. Quickly, the vaewolf spun around and shot a bolt from his crossbow at the ground near the drow's feet. "Here's the deal. Leave this place peacefully and we can see if we can arrange something for your lord at the Silver Kiss. Our house won't completely stomp yours into the ground just for the hell of it. If this was the other Beta of the house, then he would have killed you lot for the fun of it. Now if you choose to completely piss me off" By then his eyes had turned red and his fangs were out as he hissed at them. From there, he loaded another bolt up. "Then I will make your deaths so gruesome that even the rats and the crows won't want to feast on your corpses. Then my lord will meet with yours and he will deal with a worse fate. Now piss off." 

The party looked upon themselves and slowly started to back off; the one that had tried to attack earlier seemed to be relenting, but a sudden tick of his body informed Reaver of otherwise. The drow, still filled with bravado, commenced with trying to strike him with his sword, only for Reaver to take hold of it with his free hand and shot the drow in his leg. "I could kill you, but I was told that was bad for business. Take him and go!"

The party gave in and took their comrade off past him and through the woods. Calming himself down, he got back onto his horse and rode onto Yelena's favorite hunting spot. "Yelena? You out here?"

Yelena’s plan was to run deep into the woods and lose them but it wouldn’t solve the issue of them hunting Jessamyn. Her primary reason for not leaving with Jessa was that it wouldn’t stop the hunt. Jessa would eventually have to come home and the succubus had done a great job of hiding where she lived outside of work. It was the journey to her house they had to be careful of.

Normally, Yelena would have transformed back since the small form was hard to run full sprint in, however, she had noticed that they hadn’t quite figured out they were duped yet. She flung herself over a huge fallen log and hid out of the way before her form changed. She dropped the cloak for them to find and shadow stepped to a safe distance.

Once she sensed Reaver she made sure he was in the vicinity if she was spotted now it would just cause more trouble. She went to the only spot she could think of where Reaver would come to look for her after he finished. The girl sat up in a white ash tree that had lost all of it’s leaves surrounded by an unnatural garden of white lilies that were in full bloom under the moonlight. Once he came around and yelled for her she made her presence known, “Up here… Reaver.”

Yelena knew she would hear about it, “Had to run them up this way so Jessa could get to the manor. Even if I went with her it wouldn’t have stopped the hunt and we would have had to scare them anyways.” Even with her odds being bad Yelena didn’t appear frightened as she dropped down.

“I’m sorry for worrying both of you. I would say that wasn’t the plan but I knew it would happen since it’s the full moon tonight.” She knew her mother wouldn’t come out of the house to fight issues like this. She was in pain and it limited her strength. Yelena approached the stallion carefully offering it her scent before it nuzzled her hands and she pet its mane. “Good boy,” she said softly.

“Jessa is fine right? She didn’t get herself hurt on the way there?”

Fortunately, his hunch was correct; once he reached the secret hunting spot, he looked up to see that she was in a tree. It appeared that she was safe, which would come as good news for her mother and in time, Nemesis would likely be told about this little adventure. He pondered what would happen to that Drow house, but he was sure that the alpha wouldn't want eons-long plans ruined because of a slight situation like this. A soft sigh rumbled from his lips as he got down. "I see. Really now though, it might have been safer for you two to come to the manor." It took him a few moments before he corrected himself, "Nevermind, I forgot that Ivan is at home." That dolt would have surely started a war solely out of boredom. Especially with Celeste in the state that she was in. "I get it. Still, your mother was worried sick after awhile. Might have torn out her hair if Jessamyn hadn't come home and informed us of what happened."

Reaver waved off the apology; she did what she had to, and her mother would at the very least be happy to have her daughter safe and sound. Now he just had to get her back there. 

He moved back to the stallion after it got a bit friendly with Yelena and reached out a hand for her. "Come on now. Let's get back to the manor." He helped pull her onto the horse behind him. "Hang on." A crack of the reins, his steed turned around and galloped through the woods and back onto the beaten trail heading to the house. It was about half an hour later before they made it home and he instructed her to go on inside while he put his horse back in the stables. As he was finishing up, a raven descended and landed close to his feet. With a caw, the bird shifted into a man. "Hey there Reaver, you brought back Lena?", Crowe spoke, clearing his voice. 

"Yes, she's inside. What were you up to?"

"The boss lady had me go and get those Byrkyn kids and that vampire of Jessa's. They headin' for the house like madmen, should be here shortly."

"Good." 

They headed inside themselves and before long, Amorak, Gabriel, and Esme had entered; the former heading straight for Jessa and checking her out to see if there were any injuries. "You okay? We came as quickly as we head…" 

Gabe was shaking his head as he looked at Yelena, "Hey Miss Hero. How are you holding up?" He then looked to Reaver, who had been sent out to retrieve her, "Are those bastards dead?"

"No. Didn't think it was necessary since they hadn't hurt either of them", he shrugged. 

"Well, if they had hurt her, then I would have…"

"Calm down", Esme scolded. "They belong to Faldrus. As much as he is loathed, we can't touch him directly and you know that. He has a lot of pull in this town." She then turned to Jessa, "Don't worry though, I have arranged for some guards to keep tabs on your house and watch over you from afar when out. I doubt that he will be making moves any time soon if your friend here had sent a message."

Gabe calmed down a bit, taking some breaths. "Alright. Just glad that both of you are safe."

Yelena offered a gentle smile as Reaver began to piece things together. “He is rather bored since Papa stopped sending him out every chance he got. I have to mind my elder beta…” She hesitated and laughed, “with much respect.” She nodded as if forcing herself to accept he was older than she was and therefore considered a bit wiser in Ivan’s mind.

The younger vaewolf nodded. “I figured she would be but I prioritized Jessa’s safety. I don’t really know Angela that well but she seems like she would go to war over a hair being misplaced on her kids’ heads.” Taking Reaver’s hand she lifted herself up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

She knew the area well since she and Gabe had been young and romped around with their own horses. Formal courting and all that, they were often supervised by her parents or by his. She gripped a bit tighter as they went over a slightly large brick bridge. There were memories all over the town for her and it was a bit hard for her to process everything still. Everything she had lost.

He sent her inside to where Celeste looked her over protectively. “I’m alright Mama,” Yelena was persistent.

“You told me you were alright even after I discovered not even minute old bruises on you when you were nine,” Celeste said dryly. “You always hide the pain,” Celeste found some scratch marks. “From climbing the trees?”

“Yes Mama,” Yelena offered her a smile.

Jessa wrapped herself around Amorak and nodded to him, “Thanks to Yelena. She acted fairly quick they never even noticed it wasn’t me.”

Celeste was still checking her out and pulled on Yelena’s skirts lightly to look at her legs. “Despite what Mama might think the only injuries I have are from the tree branches scratching me,” she gave a smile and Celeste lightly smacked the back of her head. “I’m alright I was more worried about Jessa.”

“You know Yelena, she lies when she gets hurt. You remember when she broke her leg when she fell from her window. She had attempted to climb out of it for the first time to go see you Gabe. She splinted it herself and tried to hide it under her skirt,” Celeste seeming pleased with her look over finally stopped and put her hands on her hips. “That is a good way to go about this Esme. I will write Nemesis immediately for both him and Angela. If we delay telling them it probably won’t leave a good taste in their mouths.”

Yelena looked over at Reaver and then looked at everyone else. “I could have handled a few of them on my own but I figured I gave Jessa enough time to get here and knew Mama would send someone. I took them to my hunting grounds so I had an advantage of knowing the area. They never noticed it was me so I could have slipped away but I was worried they would have gone back and hunted down where Jessa’s house was. I remember her saying no one knows where she lives in the city and was hoping to keep it that way.”

Celeste came over and pulled Reaver down and kissed his forehead. “Thank you for going to get her. She is stubborn but a good hunter. However, she is no match for a group of that size even with turf advantage thankfully I didn’t raise her to make stupid decisions. I am pleased with the route you took Yelena and you have learned well. As a mother, though I do wish you wouldn’t do such things,” Celeste smirked and laughed towards Yelena who returned her smirk.

“Jessamyn and Amorak are welcomed to stay here for the night if they wish. It would make me feel more at ease as I write to Nemesis to inform Angela her daughter’s life was threatened,” Celeste sighed a bit.

Jessa winced and nodded a bit. “We’ll discuss it but I am sure Amorak will want a safe option. He wasn’t happy the last time they put their hands on me but that was a long time ago now.”

Amorak was glad that they had made it through safely. He already had a bone to pick with that particular house, but there wasn’t much he could do without endangering Jessa and himself. In the end, he had wished he could put some fear into them to leave her alone. Fortunately, it seemed like Reaver did so, or at least enough of it. Gabriel was still crossed, even though the girls were safe. He kept his temper in check though and looked towards Celeste before groaning. “That wasn’t my fault. And besides, it’s not like I hadn’t returned that favor before. But you know of that.” There had been one time where he had snuck into her room when they were younger and he fell asleep holding her. Too innocent at the time to really do anything naughty, but he was punished all the same when he returned home to his parents. Fun memories, he would admit to himself.

Reaver came in and spotted Celeste checking up on Yelena, a mother at heart she was despite her current statue. “Not a problem. She, fortunately, was aware of the situation and did what she had to. Probably could have given them the slip completely but she was rightfully worried that they would just go back into town and hunt down Jessa’s house.”

“Well, even if they do now, it will be for nothing. She’ll be looked after by our house and they will regret forcing our hand if it comes down to it”, Esme stated. Her brother looked at her confused, “Just a moment, you said not to start anything with them… “

“That’s right, for us not to. I can arrange for things to happen if they decide to make the move. But for now, we keep it peaceful.”

“I can see why she’s the head of the family now”, Reaver smirked while Gabe rolled his eyes. He nodded to Celeste, it wasn’t a problem. As part of the family, it was his responsibility to see that he did what he could for their safety. “I think you are right. They should stay here for a bit. Heaven knows how Angela will take to the news. I know that she takes it rather personally if her children are in danger..”

“Got that right”, Amorak chimed in, “The last time that Lord did something to Jessa, Angela said something about sinking the whole island.”

“Jeez, and y’all tell me to calm down”, Gabe said, falling back into a chair. “Hopefully Nemesis convinces her not to when they get this. Anyway, will you two be fine here? I’d stick around but Paulina will be missing me.”

“Right, more like you don’t want to get hit over the head again”, his sister joked about. “But once we go back, we’ll see what that house is up to.”