The Angelus Brothers Chronicles - The Golden Hind

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Marie?" The she-wolf came down the stairs and smiled, Gabriel watched the graceful little creature as she descended the stairs. Her black hair was twirled up and pinned at the back of her head and she wore the barest amount of make-up. Just enough to make her ice blue eyes pop. Wearing her usual slacks in a shade of earthy brown and a white blouse with cream and yellow flowers on with a yellow scarf tied at her throat. She looked every bit the modern French woman. Gabriel often found himself contemplating how lucky Duncan was and wishing he had such a bride.

Marie found the vampire standing by the front door of her hospital looking awkward.

"How is Rouge? I hear we brought a guest back with us, too?" Marie nodded and gestured back up the stairs she'd just come down.

"Rouge is sleeping in the ward upstairs; Raphael is with her. Our new guest is reveling in the invention of the bathtub right now." The vampire frowned, a usual look for the tall brooding-looking eldest brother. The she-wolf had commented to her mate more than once that Atlas took less weight on his shoulders than Gabriel did.

"Who is she?"

"If what she, Cassiel, and Duncan are saying is right. Her name is Kaia and she is the last Golden Hind." The frown turned into an incredulous expression.

"Golden Hind? They're extinct."

"That's what Duncan and Cassiel said and why I said the last." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, I'm still learning about this world. But from what I know of Greek mythology from childhood stories, Hinds had golden antlers and brass hooves. I've only seen her as a girl, but she has golden horns and what looks like brass fingers and toenails. I'm not sure she had access to nail polish in that prison. I also don't think she has a reason to lie. It sounds like she was locked in that hole for thousands of years. The poor creature's completely skeletal and can't handle more than the barest amount of light due to being in darkness for so long."

"You don't think she's a threat?" Marie laughed, causing the skin around her blue eyes to crease. The vampire had to agree with Duncan; she had a beautiful smile.

"She's almost blind and 6 stone underweight by my guess. She'd struggle to harm a newborn even if she was." Gabriel nodded distractedly as he sniffed the air.

"What's that smell?"

"Smell?" The she-wolf sniffed the air, "disinfectant? Soap? That's all I can smell." she looked at him questioningly. He blushed slightly at the tingles that traveled across his entire body at the faint cinnamon-like scent.

"It's nothing, I'm probably just tired. You said she's in the bath?" Images of a naked woman laying back in the porcelain tub filled his mind. What was wrong with him? He wasn't Cassiel.

"Yes, she was amazed by the bath and the taps and that we have hot water in the tap. It's going to take her time to adjust. I've set her up in the small bedroom in the loft. It's quiet, and the window is tiny and easy to cover over." Gabriel smiled at the she-wolf; if he ever found a fated one, he hoped it was someone like Marie. Duncan was a lucky wolf to have the intelligent, articulate, and incredibly caring she-wolf.

"You're a good woman, Marie."

"She's the best there is." Duncan, Marie's huge werewolf mate, walked past Gabriel to put his arm around his tiny mate's waist. They looked like such an odd couple; he was over six and a half feet tall and hugely muscular with shocking red hair. She was five feet tall at most and tiny with black hair, shot with a little grey and icy blue eyes. No one would ever put them together; Cassiel had joked more than once that if Duncan ever put a puppy in Marie, it would be the same size as her at birth. The vampire gave the wolf a small smile and, nodding to Marie, headed back to the main house via the kitchen door.