Before moving on to the meat of the letter, Zuri remembered another important warning.
"There's one other danger you need to know about," wrote Zuri. "A 'monster' hunter called Victoria 'Tori' Vordenburg is coming to Stokerville. She's here to investigate your connections to Beck Hamilton on behalf of her Aunt Kim. Besides being Tori Vordenburg's aunt, Kim is Beck's mother. It would appear Kim is immune to geises and as seen enough strange things to think there's something supernaturally wrong with Beck. She has a hunch it's connected to all the time Beck spends with you, and she's paying her niece to find out what. You're going to have to either negotiate with Ms. Vordenburg or best her in battle if you don't want to wind up with a silver bullet between the eyes.
"If you want to know more about Tori Vordenburg and her monster-hunting ancestors, ask Matriarch Carmilla von Karnstein and Consort Mircalla. Their clan has apparently been fending off the Vordenburgs for centuries. As I understand it, a vampire named Count Tiberius von Wisborg wanted revenge on Carmilla's maker and lover, Matriarch Lilita, for abandoning his clan and hired Tori's ancestor, Baron Heinrich von Vordenburg, to stake Lilita. He managed that, but he underestimated the power of a grieving vampire, the fury the deathless feel when a love that should have lasted forever is cut short. Baron Vordenburg tried to seduce his way out of the situation, but Carmilla was obviously having none of it. Once he was dead by Carmilla's hand, his children swore revenge and the cycle continued.
"My research speaks of a particularly intense incident in 1863, when Carmilla first tried to turn her future consort Mircalla, then called Laura. Most sources, including a novella by a distant Vordenburg cousin named Sheridan Le Fanu, portray Laura as having been unwilling, but one vampire I once met insists that Laura was enthusiastic about joining Clan von Karnstein and was opposed by her father and his friend General Spielsdorf, who hired Baron Joseph von Vordenburg to help them kill Carmilla. They very nearly succeeded, but Clan von Karnstein enlisted the help of Morgana Faye and her mother Morrigan Faye in restoring their matriarch eight years later in 1871. Carmilla then found Laura again and turned her into Consort Mircalla. I'm inclined to believe this version of events, considering Carmilla's established behavior pattern of valuing consent. If I left out any details, I'm sure Carmilla and Mircalla could fill you in.
Tori Vordenburg isn't traveling alone. She works closely with her girlfriend Erzulie Lachouette, a witch from New Orleans who is skilled in Voodoo. The two appear to have formed a temporary alliance with a fledgling vampire and a Scotswoman they recently cured of vampirism. The Scotswoman is quite interesting as, while glad to be freed of vampirism, she still feels drawn to the supernatural. Perhaps she'd like to join your pack. If not, the forests around Stokerville are teeming with magicals who might intrigue her. I hope this intelligence helps keep you safe."
That last warning out of the way, Zuri finally got to the meat of her letter: werehyena culture and what it meant to be a pack alpha.