Gods of Old, Part 2: Morrana

Chapter 3: Consequences

Vito struts in like he owns the place, coky and full of himself, the ultimate alpha wolf. He hardly gives a glance to Vesna in passing and glares daggers at Marco.

“You dared to ask for an out clause?” He yells. “I will disown and banish you before you make me look weak. I am your alpha and you will do as I say!”

Marco gets up and takes a small step away from Morrana before he addresses his father. “Father, please listen. I found my mate. I can’t be with her if I serve Vesna.”

“That’s no bone of mine.” Vito answers. “She can play servant, too.”

“Excuse me? What?” Morrana rises to her full height and in her stilettos she has a two inch advantage over Vito. “I am nobody’s servant. And if you won’t listen to my sister or your son, you will listen to me.” There is ice in her voice and the room temperature drops for a few degrees.

“You’re nothing to me, you’re not even a wolf.” Vito retorts arrogantly.

Vesna walks to him slowly and puts her arm on his shoulder. “Vito, be reasonable and listen. I released Marco from my service. I can’t hold him away from his mate, his wolf will never survive the separation.”

“Break the contract or tell us how!” Morrana demands of him.

“No. I won't do it. I’ll never go back on my word. I have a reputation to uphold.” Vito smirks.

“You!” Vito looks at Marco with malice. “You are no longer my son, you are hereby banished from my pack. Death will release you from the contract, too.” He growls and pulls a gun from his jacket. He trains it on Marco and fires, he can’t actually miss from the distance of a few feet. 

Morrana acts in a blink of an eye and spins Marko around to save him from the impact of the bullet. It hits her in the back, pierces through her body and grazes Marco’s arm on the way to the far wall. She slowly slides down the length of Marco’s body and collapses on the floor. He goes down with her, holding her close and calling her name. “Morrana, Morrana, please! Tell me what to do.”

She is silent and has tears in her eyes and a smile on her bloodied lips. Her eyes slowly close and Marco feels like his heart was just ripped out of his body. He holds her close and cries silently.

Vesna looks at Vito in disgust and just rams her elbow in his stomach, she disarms him and pushes him down on the sofa. She puts the gun to his temple and dares him to move. “Sit! If you move, I’ll pull the trigger.”

Vito tries to say something. “I...?”

“Quiet! I don’t want to hear it. All you had to do was cancel the contract.” Vesna’s voice is hard and unyielding. “No, you had to go and f**k up. You are lucky Marco didn’t die, Morrana would damn you to eternal pain. Now you are only looking at a fast death.”

“Vesna?” Marco raises his head and she can see the tears flowing freely down his face. “She’s not breathing. What do I do?”

“Nothing. Hold her, believe in your bond.” Vesna listens carefully. “She is not dead, she is Death. She is healing, give her a few minutes. It hurts like hell to be shot.”

Morrana slowly comes back to her, she can feel the pain coursing through her body. The bullet just barely missed her heart and made a gaping hole in her lung. Damn, close range hurts like hell and that f*****g wolf used silver bullets and a large caliber gun. He really intended Marco to die, his own son! She is so angry at that thought and wishes her body to hurry up and heal already. She opens her eyes and finds herself in an embrace. Marco is holding her tight to him and she can feel the quiet tremors that shake his body as he silently cries. She raises a hand to brush his hair back and she smiles, her lovely, gentle wolf really loves her.

“Don’t cry, Marco.” She says gently. “I’m immortal, guns can’t kill me. They just set me back for a few minutes and seriously piss me off.”

Marco looks deep in her eyes and smiles through the tears. “I thought I lost you, you stopped breathing. Don’t scare me like that again, please.” He helps her get up and sit on the sofa. He arranges her dress for her, because he hates his fathers eyes on his beautiful mate.

“Now, where were we?” Her icy voice pierces the silence. “You made your point, you had your little tantrum. Now, break the contract or I will break you.”

“It can’t be broken.” Vito swallows hard. “I signed in blood, I have to keep my word.”

“Is there magic on the contract? How do you enforce the consequences?” Morrana asks.

“I have spies, I keep tabs on him. If he steps out of line, I do what I must to keep my word.” Vito answers. “Can you stop pointing that gun on my head?”

“No.” Vesna smirks. “So, you’re telling us, it’s all about your word, your honor?”

“There is no magic about it? Just you?” Morrana asks again.

“Yes.” Vito says as he realises they have found the loophole.

“Well great! Burn the thing!” Vesna orders Marco. “And you will tell your pack you are releasing Marco from that abomination of a contract. Pick up your phone and call your beta. Tell her!”

“Do it fast.” Morrana looks him in the eyes.”You just might knock off a few days from your sentence.”

“What sentence?” Vito asks as he dials his sister Marra. “I hereby release Marco from the blood contract. And it’s not of a free will, Vesna has a gun to my head.”

“Oh, you fool. You just had to add that.” Vesna says as she hits Vito over the head with the gun and he goes out like a candle. She catches his phone and raises it up. “Marra, you're on speaker. Vito had the audacity to shoot my sister Morrana, he tried to kill Marco and he failed to listen to simple instructions.” 

“Oh, no.” Marra sucks her breath in sharply. “What will you do? What penalty do you demand of the pack?”

“Hey, Marra. This is Morrana. There won’t be any penalty for the pack, just Vito.” She looks at Marco with a cold smile. “Marra, you’re in charge for the next five days, while Vito serves his sentence.” 

“Ok.” Comes a quiet reply from Marra before she disconnects the call.

Marco looks at Morrana and she is in her ice queen mode again, but he can feel her anger through their bond. He smiles because that means she let him in, she included him in her walls. There is a hole in her dress where the bullet went through and a lot of blood on his white shirt. They both look like a mess, but a happy mess. He is free to be with her.

“A happy mess?” Morrana asks him? “What are you thinking about?”

“You can hear my thoughts?” Marco asks back. “I was just thinking that we look like a mess, with this blood all over our clothes. But I am happy, because I’m free to be with you.”

“That makes more sense.” She smiles at him. “Go prepare a picnic basket. Enough food for your father, so he doesn’t starve, but he has to ration carefully. Five bottles of water, so he has to be really careful with it. And you might think of things he doesn’t like too much. Give him that to eat. This is a punishment, not a vacation.”

“Oooh, the Underworld.” Vesna laughs. “Not Veles’ island?”

“Of course not! It’s a punishment, Veles has all the imaginable luxury on his island. I’m not sending him to a spa.” Morrana laughs, too. 

Marco comes back with a basket of food and five bottles of water in the hand. He has a smile on his face and sparks of mischief in his eyes. 

“I took granolla bars and wheat bread, some cheese and a lot of fruit. He has a few packs of sardines, they make the fur look all shiny.”

“Naughty!” Vesna bursts into laughter and shakes Vito back to consciousness. “Wakey, wakey. Time for your punishment.” She lifts him up to his feet with ease and pulls his hands behind his back. It’s a bit unsettling for Marco to see the slender Vesna manhandle the much burlier Vito around.

Morrana leads them to the door and uses her portal key to open it. Marco can see wild grass and some bushes on the other side. He steps over the threshold first and finds himself on an island. It’s fairly small and there are only three trees, a small cottage in disrepair and some bushes on the lawn that has definitely seen better days. There is a rickety dock and no boat in sight. Morrana smiles gently at him and nudges his arm.

“This is the so-called summer cottage. I think I was last here about 300 years ago.” She turns to Vesna and nods. “You can let our guest go now.”

Vesna lets go of Vito, but she keeps standing in the door so he can’t go back. She can be unmoving like a tree if she wants. She just raises an eyebrow and silently dares Vito to try something stupid. She can see he is rattled and cautious about his surroundings. 

“What is this place?” Vito demands.

“A place that will teach you humility. You have provisions for five days, if you ration. There is nothing to eat or drink here otherwise.” Morrana tells him coldly. “Don’t try to go for a swim, the water is toxic. See you in five days, if I don’t forget.” She takes Marco’s hand and walks through the portal with him. The door closes and they are back in Vesna's apartment in Milano.

“Is the water really toxic?” Marco asks a bit concerned that his father might not heed advice and try to swim.

“Yes. No living being can survive in that water for more than a few minutes. And the first island is about 2 killometers away.” Morrana says.

“You will leave him there for five days? Are you sure?” Vesna asks Morrana.

“You think it’s too much?” Morrana inquires. “I guess we can go see him in three days. He should be thoroughly broken by then.”

“What is it about that island? It looked quaint, though a bit run down.” Marco wants some more information. 

“That is the beauty of the place. There is nothing there. No waves on the water, no wind in the trees, not even a single cricket in the grass. Absolute silence during the day. Nights are a different thing. The water amplifies sound. He will hear the tormented souls on the other islands, the screaming and howling, begging for mercy. It doesn’t stop, not even for a minute, all night the same. Every day, again and again.”

“Harsh.” Marco mutters.

“It’s punishment.” Morrana says coldly.

“You’re free now, Marco.” Vesna tries to lighten the mood. “What do you want to do?”

“Am I?” Marco asks. “I’m thinking about his words. He banished me from the pack. I have to do something about that, because wolves are no good alone.”

“Do you need wolves? Or can I offer a different solution?” Morrana takes his arms in hers and tries to ground him a bit.

“What solution do you have in mind?” He asks.

“Most of my employees in Iceland are polar bears. Would they be a good replacement for a pack? Morrana inquires.

“No.” Marco smiles at her. “It has to be wolves.”

“How many wolves do you need for a pack? And where can we get some?” She smiles back in encouragement.

Marco smiles a bit more genuinely. “Three. And I know just who to ask. Can you find jobs for a bartender, an accountant and an english teacher?”

Vesna starts to laugh at that. “Taz and his parents?”

“Clue me in, please?” Morrana feels a bit left out.

“Taz is my cousin, he is a world class bartender and a great showman in the bar. His father is my uncle and he was made omega of the pack when he married a human against grandfather's wishes. Every member of the pack is cruel to aunty Mary and she is the sweetest woman imaginable. They stonewall her at every step, she can’t get a job. And uncle Ted is an accountant for a small independent company in the suburbs. They barely get by on his pay.” Marco explains the situation.

“Oh.” Morrana is silent for a minute. “I always need a good bartender, my accountant Maritt has been asking for retirement and I think we can find your aunt a job. Maybe not at the local school, but something will come up. I do own a hotel with a spa complex.”

“Have I told you, I love you?” Marco beams a smile at Morrana. “Coz, I really, truly do.”