Study - Debriefing a Mission

[Alena Wulf]

"News of your Den in New York has reached me. My more worldly envoys have spoken good things of the struggles against the Vampyres in the States. I admit I've never set foot in the Americas, but sometime soon I shall have to see your Den with my own eyes. You do our race proud, Pete."
When the concern about the attack on the base in Stockholm was voiced, Alena nodded slightly, "Yes, a few years ago the Vampyre known as Victor Van Alberict brought a minuscule group of leeches under his command to the footsteps of the Den. Apparently they had planned to blow up our home, but Pablo was able to recover and dismantle the explosives. The rank-less Vampyres were slaughtered and I sent Victor limping back to Raven." Alena looked almost bored reciting the tale of Lycan glory. "Since then there's been considerable in-fighting within the Vampyre ranks, that has only recently seemed to settle. Your presence is welcome. The joy and glory of ripping through our enemies should be shared with all."
Moving her gaze from Pete, Alena rested her eyes on Geoff, "When I assigned this mission, I gave you the responsibility of choosing where each of your team leaders should attack, Geoff. Not everyone I presented as team leaders were Lycans you had known, but you used the information you had to make the best decisions about which part of the city each Lycan should see to. This was your first big mission. What do you have to say for yourself?" A playful light flashed in Alena's eyes; she deliberately refrained from giving any compliments to test Geoff's confidence and to see how he would assess the work he and his Pack-mates had done.

[Geoff]

At Alena calling out Geoff, he stood up and walked to the front of the room to address the lycans he had been in command of. Geoff looked across the room, Pablo, Pete, Adele, Damien, among others. Geoff finally looking back to Alena, a smile on his face as he felt a rise of pride himself and this group of lycans. This mission was his baby, and he felt it went off quite well.

"I want to begin answering this question by thanking all of you for trusting me and giving us your absolute best. I could not have asked any better of any of you, and I thank you for that. I do feel like there could have been others that could have done my job just as well if not better. But I will admit my growing up in Rome has certainly helped this mission. I know that we lost a good many lycans on this assault, I take full responsibility for each of their lives, I am sorry for those who we have lost. I can only hope to make amends for those we have lost. But I will be addressing each of you on your performance on this mission. But be rest assured I am proud of each of you for the way your performed today."

Geoff started to slowly pace back and forth across the front of the room, hands folded behind his back, almost like a military commander.

"As some of you may know, and to the rest of you don't, the reason why I chose downtown Rome for my site to enter and take, was because that was where I lived when I was human. But a time came when the vampire's hand had reached to far, and they slaughtered my family, if it wasn't for Alena, I probably would have been among the dead. But I thank Alena for turning me, training me, and giving me to take back my home and deliver swift justice to those who took my family away from me."His mind began to sadden, and his eyes started to water, but he quickly refocused himself to the speech he was trying to give. "But enough about me, I want to begin commending you all for your actions in Rome."

He looked to Damien"First, Damien, I am proud to be the first to commend your bravery. Leading the charge right into the center section of the city, you and the lycans under you executed your orders to the letter, destroying many of the vampires before they were even aware of what was happening. I am sorry for the injury to your arm, but it was probably the only way the vampires could get a chance to breathe before the others came to all but annihilate them. I thank you for your tremendously great work in Rome."

Now his eyes were turned to Adele"Next, to Adele, I know this was your first assignment in a leadership position, so I know this must have been stressful, I wouldn't have done near as well my first time on such a big assignment. I know it wasn't fair to ask more of you then I would have had to do on my first leadership position, but these are different times, the vampires were becoming much more of a threat. So I needed you to do this, and I must say. You definitely didn't disappoint, as you moved through the catacombs under the city, you executed your orders perfectly, those vampires didn't know what hit them as you and your lycans moved through the catacombs, destroying many vampires as you went through. I thank you for your efforts, and I don't know how you feel, but I will tell you, you are a natural leader, and you will be getting more opportunities to lead if I have anything to say about it."

Now he looked to his step-brother Peter, "Peter, my step-brother, your time in America and the stories of your success in the states made me proud to be called your step-brother. As my only living family left, I cherish the times I get to see you, but I also know that because of that you are one powerful lycan not to be messed with, much like myself. But I am proud of how you were able to take out the north eastern coven there, many had wished you to be here on the first wave of the assault, but you and your lycans taking the North Eastern coven was a great stepping stone into the city, I thank you for all of your hard work here in Europe, and if you do this well in Rome, then I certainly want to make my way over to visit you in America and see how well you are doing over there."

"And finally, Pablo, I knew with your experience, this wouldn't have any problem with this mission. I have seen and heard of your expertise many times over. So I knew that when I would have you go to the north western corner and swing around to take the other side of the city meeting Damien in the middle, that you and your team wouldn't have a problem. I thank you for being able to rely on your vast experience in this matter, we couldn't have taken Rome without you."

"I want to end this little speech of mine by addressing all of you, we had a great victory in Rome this day, and I know that we lost many lycans in this assault. But we took ten vampires for everyone lycan we lost, and we have to honor their memory by continuing to fight the vampire plague across this world. I am certain of this, we may have dealt them a great deal of damage this time, but I feel as though this isn't over. So we have to keep going, for the vampires, they are down by a lot and it's the fourth quarter, they are probably looking for a come back. It's our job to make sure that doesn't happen, so I ask that as you remember our victory, that we also look to our future, always aware that a vampire could be lurking around any corner. Again I thank you all for your actions and I commend all of you for your tremendous bravery."

Geoff went back to sit down next to Adele, thoughts ran through his head of his fight in Rome, could he have done anything better, he began to think to himself, unaware of anyone who might be listening to his thoughts through telepathy. I wish I could have done more, I wish I could have saved more lycans, I wish I could have killed more vampires, the blood of all those lycans is on my hands. I can only hope that Alena doesn't hold me accountable for their deaths and punish me accordingly. I can only hope that my speech didn't linger on too long and have the battle become nothing more than dry words on my mouth. I can only hope that I will be able to make amends for those we have lost. He finished thinking to himself and looked up to Alena to see what she would say next.

[Alena Wulf]

The large wolf at Alena's side sniffed Geoff as he came to the front of the room to address his fellow Lycans. Throughout his speak the wolf followed Geoff with his eyes as the Lycan paced back and forth. Alena hoisted herself back onto the desk and crossed her legs at the ankles, listening with concealed interest to Geoff's judgments on the performance of his Packmates.
A small smile crept to the lips of the Mother of Lycanthropy. Who would have known the rebellious teenager she'd seduced a decade ago would have turned out so well? Geoff thanked each of his Packmates and recognized them individually for their contributions without hoarding credit anywhere. He'd truly come into his own and made a place for himself within the Pack. Something strange and fuzzy warmed Alena's chest as she watched Geoff and looked around at the Pups gathered; she scratched at her collarbone with black fingernails.
As Geoff concluded his speech and returned to his spot among his fellow Werewolves, Alena leaned back on her hands, staring thoughtfully at the group. "Well," she said finally, "that's about it. Geoff put it succinctly, and since I'm not one for long speeches, I'll leave it at that." Alena leaned forward and hopped off the desk once more. "While there were some areas where the task might have been executed a little more smoothly, each of you performed exceptionally well. Your deeds will not be forgotten, rest assured your positions within the Pack are stable and can only improve from here." She made eye contact with each of the young Werewolves.
"Rome belongs to Us now. I've contacted Lycans of a generation closer to my own and have made arrangements for a Den to be established there; but because of the critical work each of you contributed to the mission I would like your hand in the creation of this Den. Take some time to recoup if you need it; my daughter is in Rome securing a location to rally our forces in Southern Europe and will be awaiting your arrival. Tonight we will feast and the Den will celebrate your victory and see you all rise as Lords."

[Geoff]

Geoff listened as she concluded the debriefing, he felt relieved as she expressed content with his speech, even if it was quite long. Lycan Lords? It was something Geoff had heard people talk about, and he knew it was some great honor to be a lycan lord, it also meant you were a very powerful lycan, but he had never thought as himself as one who would ever gain such a title. Yes he knew he had done quite a bit in his time at the lycan base, but to help oversee the construction of a base in Rome, and to be a lycan lord, now that was something Geoff was going to have to mull over in his mind and let the idea settle before he could join the feast.

Geoff went back to his room, and fell like a log on his bed, Maybe I am over analyzing this, maybe she didn't mean what I think she meant, maybe she was just trying to think of the best way to congratulate us. Geoff tried to think of every scenario possible in his head, but he couldn't be sure unless he talked to Alena in private, and Geoff felt she was probably to busy for him. Geoff being busy himself hadn't gotten to spend too much time with Alena, Geoff still had dreams of the night he was turned, how his whole life was changed by a beautiful woman, how she seduced him and right in the middle of it, she attacked him and bit him. Geoff then reached his hand up and felt his shoulder for the scar where she bit him to turn him. He got up, went to the bathroom, and washed his face in the sink. He looked at himself in the mirror, so much had transpired in the past few days, weeks, months. So much has happened, and Geoff's mind was just starting to catch up with him. Geoff then grabbed some clean clothes and went for a shower, cleaning himself up and getting ready for the feast. He stood in his room after getting himself ready, and stood looking at the mirror, he couldn't get the lycans he lost at Rome, and the thoughts of all the lycans he lost, started to distress Geoff, and get him down. "How can I celebrate, when I caused the deaths of so many lycans, I should have been better." He said to himself as he stood in front of the mirror, not sure of what to do next.

[Adele Holst]

When Geoff approached the young woman, praising her for the efforts and victories she'd earned in Rome, Adele could only stare up at him, biting her lip. When the older Lycan said he was proud of her, she looked down to the floor, shoving her hands into her hoodie pockets. "You mean it? -I mean, thanks." His eyes were honest and his tone and smile meant that he was truly being genuine and supportive. Adele risked a small smile back. While almost too good to be true, this Lycan's praise did help to calm some of the anxiety Adele felt concerning Alena's judgments; she might have hugged Geoff for that, but refrained. Reluctantly, the blonde girl stepped forward after Geoff went to talk to someone else, at Alena's beckoning, moving to stand just beside the kneeling Damien. She looked down at the boy briefing, wondering what had happened to wound him, but remained silent.
Once everyone had arrived, Alena wasted no time getting down to business, and soon Geoff had been called on to give his thoughts on the mission in Rome. As he made his way to the front by Alena, Adele watched Geoff give his tanks and praise. She prayed the when he came to her task, he'd keep it short and simple. But he sounded just as impassioned if not more, than when he first approached her. She could feel her neck and ears get red out of embarrassment and the girl looked down at her feet and at the wolf Alena had by her side. He wants to give me more leadership positions?!?
Alena's follow up response was short, but she too exhibited pride in the actions of her and her Lycan friends. Even she wanted to raise them to leadership status. Adele chewed her lip at the thought of it, feeling a little nervous, but said nothing.
The feast, at least, sounded like it could be fun. But Adele needed to take a shower beforehand if nothing else. The girl feared if she laid down for a nap, she wouldn't wake up till the next full moon. "..Excuse me, Alena, I should shower before the feast. Thank you for your praise." The words felt awkward, but after that she left the study, grabbed the backpack she left in the hallway and went straight to her room down the hall.

[Alena Wulf]

"The feast will commence in about 2 hours at sundown in the main hall downstairs." As the Pups dispersed, Alena spoke briefly with two attendants who'd been waiting outside the study to make sure everything for the evening was going as planned, and then made her way to Geoff's room, leaving the wolf who'd been accompanying her outside in the hallway.
Without knocking, Alena entered the man's room and closed the door behind her. She heard the water turn off and a curtain slide open in his bathroom and sighed that she'd arrived too late to join his shower. Instead the Mother of Lycanthropy sat on the edge of Geoff's bed and watched as he walked into the room and to his mirror. He'd dressed himself in the bathroom to Alena's dismay, but the warmth that entered the room as he did was thick with Geoff's smell, and a mischievous grin rose to the Lycan Queen's mouth. That smell had been one of the deciding factors in why she chose Geoff a decade ago. She got up and stepped lightly over to Geoff, admiring his choice of clothes for the feast. As she neared him she slipped her left hand around his waist, resting it on his belly, and her right arm under and up around his armpit, resting her hand on his muscled shoulder. She squeezed him tight to her for a moment and nibbled on the back of his shoulder before looking around so he could see her face in the mirror. Four pointed canine teeth showed in her grin, and finally she stepped around to the side of him, linking one arm in his. "You celebrate, Geoff, because you are still alive. Besides, you are not fully to blame; the leaders of the Lycans who died share fault as well. Casualties happen under experienced Alphas too, not just green leaders on their first raid." Alena grinned up into Geoff's young face, but there seemed to be more troubling her Pup than he'd let on in the study.

[Geoff]

Geoff looked down at Alena, he wanted everything to be easy, he wanted everything to be alright. "Something is wrong Alena, I never let on in the debriefing room because I didn't want to make a scene in front of the others, I'm happy you came to my room, but not for the reason you think. I wanted to talk to you alone, because I've discovered something in Rome." Geoff paused, looked back at the mirror, his eyes started to water. "I went back to the house, my house. As I looked around, every scratch in the wall, every blood splatter, every detail in my mind tells me something, it tells me that my family may not have been vampires. I think lycans actually killed my family, and since you were in town, a town filled with vampires, a town no other lycan would dare enter on their own. It tells me that you killed my family, either directly or indirectly. If that is the case, then I would have to ask why?" Geoff paused for another moment, broke off of Alena, and punched his hands into the counter just below his mirror. He turned back to Alena, mad in his thoughts now, "Do you know how sick it is, killing my family, then turning me telling me that you were going to protect me from my family's killers? I've been living with my family's killers if I am right, and that is sickening to know. If this is true, then how can you live with that, how can you love me with that?" Geoff turned around to face away from Alena. He tried to think of what to do, trying to regather his senses. "Look, the vampires are still evil, that I understand, but how can I think of lycans as good when you, the leader of all of us, killed my entire family just to have me on your side, you lie to me, you deceive me, and you take my world away from me, just to have another lycan in your army. I'm sorry, but what you have done is wrong Alena, and I can't be apart of this den and support the things you have done, taking back Rome from the vampires was a great thing, but doing things like killing my family is wrong, so this wasn't an easy decision to come to, but I'm leaving, I'm going to show you all what you have done is wrong. I'm going to show you all what is right, I wish what you told me is true, I wish that you were that beacon of hope and salvation I originally looked to you as, but you aren't. So I'm sorry but I can't stay here anymore, I'm packing my things and leaving tonight, I won't be at the feast, it's probably easier that way." Geoff reached under his bed, grabbed a suitcase, and started loading up all of his clothes into his suitcase, and made for the door, not planning on ever returning to the den again.

[Alena Wulf]

Crossing her arms, Alena watched Geoff as his calm dissipated and anger, confusion, and frustration lashed out. "I had planned on making you the Alpha of the Den in Rome after its construction, Geoff." The Mother of Lycanthropy frowned now as she watched her Pup storm around the room and assault various objects of furniture. "The furniture can't fight back Geoffry." He can hardly look at me, she mused. She couldn't help but smile as the man she'd held dear to her for a decade called her sick and depraved.
"Do you know how sick it is, killing my family, then turning me telling me that you were going to protect me from my family's killers? I've been living with my family's killers if I am right, and that is sickening to know. If this is true, then how can you live with that, how can you love me with that?" Geoff spat.
"I love you because of it," Alena smirked darkly, and stepped aside, watching Geoff fume. The tone of her voice became callous, "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know they were your parents at the time; so no, I didn't kill them just to add another Werewolf to our ranks." Her tongue slid over her teeth remembering that night: the full moon leaking in through the windows where two children, a mother and father had slept unknowing. "Gods that had been satisfying." Sure, she might have done some things Geoff considered questionable or tasteless, but he was young still; in time he would understand, even thank her. Besides, his family had been Humans, they were going to die someday anyway, and Alena had found this way to be preferable in her mind. The look in eyes of Geoff's mother and father before they finally died had melted and enraged the Mother of Lycanthropy at the same time. It was a look silently pleading for mercy, the kind of mercy that if obtained would bestow the climaxing gratification of life lived; followed by a change in the lights of the eyes to utter terror. Geoff himself had gotten that same look the night Alena seduced him, but his eyes had been pleading for more before she bit him.
Licking her lips, Alena forced the blood lust back down and looked to Geoff, studying him for a moment. "So you are forsaking this family now? You will be hunted down for abandoning your Pack, my sweet, I hope you know that."

[Geoff]

Geoff turned back, "If that's how you feel about this, then fine, I know I am doing what's right." And with that Geoff disappeared, leaving the den for good. As Geoff took a car and drove off, he tried to gather his thoughts of what had just transpired. Alena was going to make him an Alpha, a leader almost to rival her. That would have meant quite a lot, but Geoff wanted to do what was right, he wanted to protect the human population from the vampires, to save the world, and if that meant the den wanted to kill him for that reason, then Geoff was willing to live with that deal. Geoff drove as far away from the den and from Stockholm as possible, he needed to clear his head and focus on what was to come, he took the car as far as it would go, until it ran out of gas, then he took his suitcase, and headed to a jazz club that he heard about near him. As he sat, pondering his thoughts, the massive betrayal that had been dealt him, knowing the other lycans weren't probably going to see him again, Geoff wouldn't want to risk them in this matter by trying to communicate to them what had transpired. He had to think this all out one step at a time, Geoff had connections from his time in the den, distant enough to not be tied with the den, but close enough to help him out. Geoff pulled out his cell phone and made a call, "Hey it's me, I need a favor, a big one, I need a place set up for me to live, in Athens. I need to get out of here for my own safety, thanks. He hung up his phone and stayed till the end of the song that happened to be playing, and took his suitcase and headed for the airport. He boarded the first plane to Athens, and as the plane took off, he looked back at Stockholm, knowing that if he wanted to survive, he would never see the place again.

[Alena Wulf]

Just like that, Geoff had left. Alena stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, eyes closed as the scent of her lover began to slowly fade. She had hoped to have Geoff around for quite some time, but these younger Wolves didn't seem to have the lust for flesh, all flesh, that her generation had exhibited. While Alena's particular desire for Human flesh was probably influenced by Raven's presence in her life, the Werewolves of old hadn't hunted with the same prejudice that some of their descendants today did.
It was a pity Geoff would have to die now. She had loved him, but no one just walked out and turned their back on the Pack like that; not even one of Alena's favored.
Without a further thought on the matter, Alena left the room, closing the door gingerly with both hands as if consciously trying not to disturb anyone. The night was still young and there was much yet to be done.
Downstairs the Den was buzzing with excitement. Lycans had come from all over Europe, and even some from the States, to celebrate the conquest in Rome that had returned the city into the power of the Werewolves. The Mother of Lycanthropy had not seen the Den this crowded and full of life in centuries; and tonight the entire mansion would sup to the success and honor of four Pups whose future in the Pack looked bright.
The giant hall was lined with long tables and already filled with guests. At the behest of some of the younger Pups, Alena had allowed streamers and banners to be hung around the hall, though she found them to be silly and pointless. Upon a dais at the end of the room, a smaller table was set up for Alena, the Pups who'd led the charge into Rome, and a couple of the elder Lycans. She spoke briefly with some of the Werewolves acting as servers, and made her way to the dais. The feast would begin soon.