Lady Jacqueline at The King's Court

The meeting being over, Maul escorted the troupe of faeriekin to the second floor to rest and gather themselves before the next phase of what was turning out to be a series of more unfortunate events than Lemony Snicket would ever have encountered. Growl telepathically summoned several of his junior lieutenants: Feist, Trek, Husk and the twins Leaps and Bounds, and gave them their various instructions. Leaps and Bounds were being sent to scope out the terrain and would telepathically link with Growl to show him exactly what they were up against. Under no circumstances were they to engage Queen Vashti or anyone else. Growl paused and reflected on those orders. "But don't hesitate to defend yourself from any immediate threat to life and limb." They stood more erect and nodded simultaneously. The other three were being sent to a certain agriculture shop down by Delancey.

As Growl slowly walked back upstairs, he mentally reached out to a few other packmates who nimbly bounded up the stairs after him and shortly paced him as he took his time getting to his quarters. "Fractal," Growl spoke, and a tall, nerdy looking young Black 'wolf eased through the quintet of other 'wolves. Right by his side was a short and stocky Hispanic girl called Rodeo, at whom Growl turned his head and eyed. She cringed, slightly, and fell behind Fractal... again, slightly. "You're in charge of this team." Growl told Fractal, and felt a mental surge of... glory (?) burst forth nearby, correctly guessing it to be Rodeo. "I'm just wondering how those irradiated werewolves got to Manhattan." Only one bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn was crossable, the Brooklyn Bridge. Growl did not want any surprises creeping up behind him. "You and the others secure the area. Failing that, or in addition to that, you all are merely to observe."

"Yes, sir," Fractal said, nodding and pushing up his ever descending and ever beloved spectacles.

"That bridge links us to Brooklyn and beyond, and we know Brooklyn's radiation is sky high, so treat anything coming out of there warily." They arrived at the bend to the stairwell leading up to Growl's large chambers. Normally the other packmates would have crowded in there with Growl, but with the visit of the faeriekin and Lord Growl's subsequent orders, everyone knew something was afoot. Something portentous and pregnant with disaster. They had to let their leader and Alpha think, so they stood at the bottom of the staircase as Growl continued his climb. He was three steps up when he realized no one was walking along with him and turned back around. Such young werewolves, he thought to himself, as he scrutinized the five before him. Turning to Fractal, he spoke. "You have your orders." As Growl turned to continue slowly trekking back upstairs, hands clasped behind his back, he remembered something and turned back. "Oh, and Fractal?" Fractal and the others turned back towards Growl in haste. "When you get to the bridge, expect a large group of humans from Queen Ketch's people. And a couple of vamps from her bite. Welcome our new human and vamp allies accordingly."

"Yes, sir, I sure will. Actually, I'm already calculating the specifications of bivouacking-" Growl raised his hand.

"You're the leader of this sub-pack, Fractal," Growl averred. "I believe you, I have faith in you. Get it done." Fractal's explanations could be dizzying - he was a genius level autodidact, being born on Randall's Island as the second nuclear bomb had almost decimated Lower and mid-Manhattan. As he had grown up scavenging for books anywhere he could find them, his parents and almost all of their friends had all died of radiation poisoning. He, too, had been slightly poisoned as a young kid, but somehow, despite the odds being stacked against him, he had survived. A chance encounter with a young female werewolf in one of the abandoned areas on Randall's Island changed his entire life. That werewolf was Rodeo, herself turned by Husk in an earlier encounter at the ghosted Staten Island ferry.

Growl had on quite a few occasions called on Fractal's expertise and vasty knowledge. But now he needed Fractal elsewhere, at a particularly sensitive time and location. Growl did not know for how long he would be gone. In all honesty, to be honest with himself, he did not know if he would even make it back. There was a time during the meeting with the faeriekin when Vervain had tried to telepathically transmit images of Queen Vashti and the snake that guarded her - the images had been blurry, since interspecies telepathy was notoriously unreliable. Would brute force and sheer strength be enough to do away with the irradiated serpent? In Growl's estimation, no.

They would certainly find out in the beginning stages of this impending confrontation.

Growl came into the room and went to his window seat, where he sat down lightly and began meditating. In a meditative trance, he rose from his body and glanced around. This was yet another talent that Alphas possessed: astral travel. Thinking about where he wanted to be, he suddenly appeared there.

*

Queen Ketch was reclining on a king-sized bed, as lush as ever. She had just finished almost draining some members of her bite, not because she had to but because she wanted to. The blood is the life. She had been looking too pale of late and a bit more color in her cells brought out more of the natural beauty in her. She was in a suite under Le Croqué, one of four on that floor, and Bastion was in the parlor with the other vamps, recuperating from her voracity. Suddenly, she looked up and around. There was a... presence about. Vampires, especially old and powerful ones like herself, could immediately sense the presence of other supernatural beings in their vicinity. Closing her eyes, she concentrated a few moments and, when she opened up her eyes again, she turned to the side and was face to snout with one of the largest werewolves she had ever seen in her undead life.

Before noticing the distinctive silver light limning the beast, Queen Ketch levitated back so fast she went through the wall and into the bathroom. The werewolf, still visible, crossed its massive arms across atop massive and tremendously furry pecs. The beast seemed to grin. "So a vampire can know fear!" Growl said. It was then that Queen Ketch realized the creature was in astral form and was even marginally translucent. There was something about the way the werewolf spoke, and just like that! Growl's human visage replaced his bestial spiritual form. That was how it worked in the astral realm. Once you knew someone's identity, their true being or more recognizable self appeared.

"Your Alpha form is frightful, Growl. Anyone not fearful of you in that guise is a fool." She levitated back into the suite at the same time Bastion opened the front door.

Bastion looked at the hole in the wall behind his mistress, then across the room from her, then all over the suite itself. "I thought I heard noises, like voices too," said Bastion, again looking around the room. Jacqueline smiled at a smirking Growl before smiling at Bastion.

"It's okay, Bastion. I was just testing some of my other powers. After all the blood I just imbibed, you could say I'm a bit... inebriated." Bastion's eyes widened and his skin paled further at the power radiating from his mistress. Vampires possessed various abilities, and as time passed, these abilities strengthened and other, new, abilities sprang forth. This was true of many faerie races, including werewolves. Telekinesis was a power that older vampires possessed. Paradoxically, older werewolves possessed mentalism strong enough to annul a vampire's telekinetic attack on them.

"Yes, your Majesty," said Bastion, bowing. "If you need me-"

"I know how to get you, my dear," Jacqueline finished. When the door closed, she locked it and went to lay back down on the large bed, aware of how alluring she was and the ample flesh showing from different parts of her lingerie, another indulgence she still allowed herself. "My Lord Growl the Alpha. How may I be of assistance?" Growl tore his eyes away from her large and juicy breasts.

"So yeah, Queen Ketch, I received some visitors a bit earlier who recounted an extraordinary story to me. To make a long story short, I have to go kill a giant snake protecting a queen of faerie, whom I also have to kill after doing away with the snake, in order to keep the world from being vegetatively terraformed."

Queen Ketch essayed a small smirk and shook her head slightly. "I don't envy you your responsibilities in this new world, Lord Growl."

"To whom much is given, much is required," Growl quoted, still to this day remembering his Bible lessons.

"Indeed," Queen Ketch agreed, standing up and slowly walking into Growl's apparition. It temporarily destabilized his concentration, but he raised his eyes in supplication to YAH for more patience with this thick and delicious creature of his. Queen Ketch undressed unabashedly, with Growl looking on just as unashamedly. She redressed in a flowing and clingy dress, of titian hue, not too off from her eye color. There was a red sash at her waist and she threw over all of this a dark and cowled cloak. "When do we leave?"

"Who said you were going?" Growl asked testily.

"I did," Jacqueline asserted, looking herself over a final time in the mirror. Gazing at Queen Ketch, Growl allowed the response he had been about to volley die in his mind.

"It can only be you and me. I'm not risking any other lives unnecessarily."

Queen Ketch thought about it. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Growl pondered deep thoughts as he merely stared at the Queen Vampiress. He finally shrugged. "So be it."