So, this is a try out. First time writing stuff. I hope you enjoy it.
If you have any advice, critics or anything helpful. Send it to erp_wulf@hotmail.be
We have been travelling for 29 days now, this should be our last. Unfortunately it's six o'clock, the sun is setting and the village of Phuk is still nowhere to be seen. It is getting dark, which is not good. The village should have appeared two hours ago. . I send Phil, to scout ahead an hour ago which means he hasn't found the village either or he would have signaled to us. We are very close to vampire territory, it isn't wise to stop now. I was about to call for our cartographer when two men stepped on to the road.
“Stop, who are you and why are you travelling in the dark?” The youngest of the two men asked.
I signaled for the rest of the gang to stand down while I answered: “I am captain Allison Ghyl from the cerulean army, I was sent to the village of Phuk to assist in its defenses. We tried to reach the village before the dark but somehow we didn't make it. Who might you be?”
“I am Mlyn, son of elder Khan, my friend here, is Silar. You are lucky we have found you, you have been travelling the wrong way for a good hour. We are patrolling the border to vampire lands. We normally don't show ourselves to strangers. The only reason we made ourselves known is because you were about to ride into bat territory. It is not safe that way”
A growl escaped my lips when I heard his words. “Yashira, get your ass up here, You said we only needed to follow this road to get to the village!”
“Captain, I'm sorry, but this is the way according to the map.”
“Yashira, You only checked one map? You never asked anyone which way to go? You are our cartographer for The White Wolfs sake! I sent Phil in vampire territory because of you! You better hope he comes back alive, or I'll skin you!” This didn't feel right. I didn't want my people to stay here much longer. “Mlyn, would you mind if your friend showed my men to the village? And if it's possible, for you to wait with us. There is one of our people still out there. I would like to wait until he comes back.”
“Sure, Captain. Silar, go with these people, make sure they get home well.” With that the silent Silar signaled for my men to follow and left on the trail we just came from. When Yashira was about to follow I called her back. “Yashira, you can wait with us, you got us In this mess, If I got to suffer while waiting, so do you.”
“Yes, Captain” Was her reply.
***
A few hours passed without much happening. Mlyn didn't say much. I looked at the people waiting along with me You never know what information can be useful. Mlyn seems to be the silent type or maybe he just doesn't want to talk to a captain of the cerulean empire, or he was afraid. The empire's army has a certain reputation. The young man is quite handsome, for a human anyway. He was tall, muscled and long black hair and a scruffy beard to go with it. I kind of like the scruffy types. They are usually fun to play with.
Yashira didn't talk either, she just studied her maps, with a frown on her face. At least now she checks more than one map. Mlyn didn't seem to be fond of Yashira, but then again, most humans don't like reptilians. Yashira is a repto, repto's aren't the largest and she is small even for a repto. Maybe a meter fifty, certainly not more. She is kinda pretty if you are in to scales and forked tongues. Although the color change of the scales is amazing to watch. At the moment she is a leaf-green color. It fits in with the tree's surrounding us.
I really didn't mind the silence, When it's silent you can feel nature at its best. And the dark helps to. When it's dark the sounds around you are intensified. You can hear the insects crawling in the dirt, the small wildlife coming out of shelter to hunt and in the distant you can hear a larger predator howling to its mates. I always love to be out in the wild while its dark. When I closed my eyes I could hear in the distance someone approaching, very carefully, very slow towards us. I didn't say a word to the others, just listened to the movement of the creature nearing us
A few meters from Mlyn a twig snapped. “Huh? who's there? Show yourself.” Mlyn said clearly terrified. Out of the darkness Phil slowly emerged wearing a big grin. “chicken” he said to Mlyn.
“You took your time exploring Phil, didn't you?” I said, opening my eyes and looking at the man standing in front of me.
“Hiya, Capt. Yeah, I sort of got in to some problems.” Phil said. He leered ad Yashira and continued. “Thanks to Yashira's directions, I walked into a vampire's lair. Luckily there was only one bat, a young one too. It took me some time to outrun it. I shot it in the leg, before I started running though. I don't think I would have made it otherwise.”
The bloodsuckers can be fast runners when they sense easy prey. Lucky for us they don't go for the long runs, if it takes too long they just give up and search for someone easier to eat.
“We will deal with Yashira when we reach the village. Come Mlyn, thank you for waiting, can you show us to your village?”
“yes, sir” he said. Which surprised me, I thought he was one of those guys who hated the military, the empire or both. Guess I'm a bad judge of character, first Yashira, now Mlyn.
While we were walking to the village, I was thinking about Yashira. What's up with her, She is trying to get us into vampire lands and she sends Phil into a lair itself. This isn't just coincidence. But this is not the time to confront her, it will have to wait until we reach the village .
After another long hour of stumbling through the forest trail we reached the village, Mlyn wanted to take us straight to elder Khan, but I wanted to check on the others first. Mlyn complied and took me straight to a big building in the center of the village. And since the village only existed out of ten huts it didn't take long. When I walked in, I found the troops. They were enjoying themselves greatly and drinking a tad too much.
“Hey, get up you guys and go to bed. We are here to defend this place, not to drink ourselves senseless. Tomorrow we have work to do.” When I didn't see movement I banged the table they sat at and demanded: ”Am I clear?”
They quickly got up and chorused in unison “Sir, Yes, Sir!”
“Good, Jack, can you find someone to guard Yashira, I want to deal with her after I'm done with Elder Khan.”
“Sure Capt. Ghyl.”
When I asked Mlyn to take me to his father, he pointed towards a small hut at the edge of the forest. He took off saying he needed to attend to his wife since he had been away longer than he should have. I didn't see many people around here. I guess they don't like to be out in the dark.
I went to see the elder on my own. While walking towards the hut near the forest edge I had the creepy feeling that I was being watched. I guess the closeness to the vampires is getting to me. When I got near the hut I knocked on the doorframe (since there was no door) and entered. “Hello, I am Capt. Allison Ghyl. I'm sent by the empire to help set up defenses for this village”. No one answered at first so I walked in to the dark room. Suddenly a light flared in front of me. Because I was used to the dark for so long, the light left me seeing dots for a few moments.
“How can I help you?” said an elderly shriveled man who sat in the center of the room on a carpet, surrounded by the now lit candles. Why would an elder man sit alone on a carpet in a cold, dark room? Who knows, who cares, went through my mind. There weren't any furniture in the room, just the old man on the carpet and the candles.
“Hello elder, Mlyn told me to talk to you, so here I am.”
“Yes, I know that and I also know why the empire has sent you. You still haven't answered my question. How can I help You ?” The old man said without looking at me. He was staring at some spot a bit left of me.
“Euh, well it's dark, a bed would be nice, or a warm meal with some company.” I said, while trying to find what he was looking at. “Tomorrow we will see in what way we can help with defending the people.” Where on earth, is he staring at? There is just a blank wall there. “I could use some people to help me with that. Maybe you can tell me how you have been defending yourself so far?”
“You can ask to the villagers for help. They will help if they chose to. If not they will not. We have no need for your defenses.” The elder was still staring at that spot on the wall.
“Euh, aren't you located an hour away from vampire lands? You never get those bloodsuckers in here?” I moved a bit to my left and waved my hand in front of the spot. He didn't blink.
“They come at times. They do not harm us.” Still no movement from the man.
“So big bad vampires come and just go. No missing woman, no bite marks in the morning,?” I gave up trying to get his attention and sat down on the floor before him.
“No.” Still no movement.
“Well then there is no point for us being here, is there? Why did the empire send me and 4 soldiers to this village when you guys have no need in our help.” This guy is starting to work on my nerves.
“The empire sent you here, because we have plead the empire for help.” He said, still staring a bit left of me.
“Okay, can you elaborate?” I moved a bit in front of his sight field. At least now he's looking at me . “ Not to mean disrespect elder but I feel like we are going in circles.”
“We have no problem with the vampires, they come and go, they do not harm us. There is one vampire though, that has refused to pay his bills. It is this vampire that you need to locate and make sure he pays everything he owns us.” He was staring at me now. Somehow, it doesn't feel any better than when he was staring at the wall, ignoring my presence.
“What?” I got up and started pacing. At least now he's not staring at me anymore. “ A vampire that doesn't pay his bills? We are send in the middle of nowhere because of that? Why would that vampire even have a bill here? Do you sell blood in the inn or what?”
“Young one, we do not sell blood. Everyone knows that is illegal. We sell Uhah, a home-made drink. We would like it if you would reclaim the money we own from the vampire, that is all.” He pointed at the place I had just vacated and said. “will you please sit down, pacing makes me nervous.”
“Is Uhah a code for blood?” I asked, while dropping sitting down. “Elder if you are selling human blood to the vampires, I will arrest you!”
“Relax Captain, Uhah is not blood. Uhah is made from the leafs of the Groal tree's that grow near the ancient temple. It is a strong beverage, that has been used by our warriors for centuries. Somewhere in time, we discovered that vampires are able to drink it as well. We have been selling it to them since then.” He was staring at me again now. Damn, this guy is creepy.
Wow, I've never heard that vampires were able to drink anything else but blood. Must be something pretty interesting this Uhah.” I said, while trying to shove a bit out of his staring path. “So how do I make this vampire pay? Where does he live?”
“That is our problem, he has moved from the lair he has used. . You could ask around. The people in the village might know something. But for now it is getting very late. Mlyn will take you to where you can sleep.” He signaled me to leave.
After saying goodnight to the elder. I went outside and found Mlyn waiting. He took me to a small house not far from the elder's place. He put some bread on the table before he showed me around. It isn't big, it has a small living room, a bedroom with a small washing area, and a kitchen. All I need. Just before Mlyn left I asked him a question I've been thinking of for a while.
“Mlyn, Why would vampires want to drink anything other than blood?”
Mlyn chuckled when I asked him that while I didn't see what's so funny from the question. He retrieved a small flask from his back pocket and gave it to me. “This”, he said, “is the famous Uhah. Vampires come from far away to buy this. They get drunk like a priest on vodka in no time. Goodnight, Capt.”
“Goodnight”, I said.
I went inside and put the flask onto the kitchen table next to the bread. Well, it does explain why vampires don't raid this place. If bloodsuckers really are so fond of this stuff as the villagers say, it must be a pretty lucrative business.
I still didn't get why the empire would send a bunch of soldiers to a town, just to collect some lost money. But I'm not the one to neglect orders. The letter I have received with the march orders to this place was pretty clear. Go to the village and assist in its defenses in any way possible. Not much arguing there. While thinking about my strange mission, I got ready to go to bed.
Just before I went to sleep, I opened the flask of Uhah that still stood on the kitchen table. The smell coming from the flask was disgusting. Like a mix of old beer, stale wine, and some things I probably don't want to know. Well, they said it's pretty strong . Closing my nose with two fingers against the scent, I took a small sip. The burning started from the moment the liquid entered my mouth, and only stopped after a minute when it finally reached my stomach . It only tasted a little bitter than it smelled, but it was strong. Jase will love this, he likes to try new things The drink did invigorate the body. Which means I'm wide awake now.
After closing the flask, I crawled in bed and laid there thinking. I didn't really mind being awake, there were so many questions I had without answers. Why did Yashira did what she did? Why did the empire send us here? How in earth do I find a vampire and how am I supposed to convince him to pay his open bills? I don't think the elder would like it if I just killed it. He seems pretty fond of his ‘customers'. Ah, come on sleep, why won't you come. Morning will come way to soon anyway. I want some sleep. After saying that a few times I actually fell asleep.
***
When the sun started coming through the window blocks I thought: Yup, morning is here waay to soon. I'm not an early riser, never was, never will be. It took some time to get myself out of the nice warm bed and into the cold morning air. Oh no, there is a mirror in the room. Ugh, one thing that is worse than getting up early is seeing yourself when you've just crawled out of bed. My long black hair was a huge mess. I don't understand why people like to use gel to get their hair to stand up. It stands that way every morning and it takes a while to get it normal. My face wasn't much better, I still had some sleep wrinkles from the pillow and my eyes were not really open yet. While combing my hair I tried to get my long legs into my combat trousers. Not an easy task so early.
A few minutes after that I walked out. Oh good, of course the army boys are fit and ready to go so early. They all stood in front of my small house, looking freshly washed and wide awake.
“Sir, ready for your orders”. Stated Jack, my second in command.
Which is kinda funny because after him and me there are only three others. Jack is the true soldier. The shaved head, the muscles. Just plain old G.I. Joe. He is also build in squares. Square muscles, square face, square jaw. Everything is square.
“Jack, can you start by checking the village out and talk to the villagers, try to get a feel of this place.”
“Sure Capt. what about Yashira?”
Oh, great. I forgot about her. Okay, I guess I need to talk to her. To get an explanation for her actions.
“I'll talk to her, where is she?”
“We tied her up in the stables.”
“You tied her up? Why?”
“She started acting weird, she tried to hit Jase over the head with a rock. Luckily for him he has a thick skull. He overpowered her and tied her up.” Jase you see, is our Werewolf liaison. And he is the pure muscle, very big. Not fat big, but huge big. Nearly 2 meters and has shoulders you can actually build a house on. I once saw him crushing a rock between his hands. Just don't ask him to do calculations. He gets a weird look in his eyes when you ask that. Some sort of empty look. It is actually scary to see it, it's like's no one is home.
“Okay, I'll see what I'll do to her”.
While walking towards the stables I had a weird feeling, I could smell something strange in the air. It wasn't natural. It felled magical of some sort. Now I see you thinking. How can you feel if something is magical or not. Well, you never had that tinteling feeling in your body? Just small stinging bits from your feet to your head. It doesn't hurt but it's there. If you feel that then it's probably magical. And that creepy feeling of being watched was back as well.
I was almost at the stable doors. When a white haired woman pushed me out of the way. “What is that for!” I asked. Looking up I felt my breath stock. Now you would think in stories when that happens, they have met the most stunning person ever. Unfortunately for me, this was not the case. She frightened me. There was a huge scar running across her face. From her hairline to her chin, right across her right eye. It was a broad scar. Like some scorch mark. The scary thing is that her eye was crossed by this scar but it still moved and it still looked at you. A black slice at the center of her eye.
I wanted to say something but I was to stunned by her appearance to say anything. She must have seen my look of disgust because she gave me a grim smile (that didn't do any good to her appearance) and offered me her hand. I took it and she pulled me up. Standing I noticed that I was a bit taller but not much. She kept looking at me but didn't say a word. Again I tried to speak but when I opened my mouth the stable exploded. Just out of the blue. Don't you hate it when that happens.
It was quite impressive. One moment a stable, next moment a fiery hell. A lot of villagers started screaming and some had the sense to throw water on the fire. Too numb to think, I just started helping. The other soldiers pitched in as well. Everyone stood in line and buckets of water filled from the river was passed from person to person , where the people closest to the remains of the stable threw it on the fire.
***
After an hour the flames were extinguished. I looked around for the scarred woman that pushed me but couldn't find her anywhere. If she didn't push me on the ground, I would have been in the stable when it blew up. She saved my life . When I asked the villagers where she might be, they just answered that they didn't know any white haired woman. It occurred to me that this was strange. It was Jack who made me think about Yashira by asking if she survived. We started searching the ruins for any sign of her but couldn't find any. This made me wonder. If she would have died in the fire, we would have found something but we didn't. She must have escaped before the place blew up.
Who is this Yashira? Let's hope she's not a vampire pet. You always have the weirdo's who think they can get riches or power by sucking up to a bat. I didn't know her so well . She just entered my squad 3 months ago. Before this mission there have never been problems. But now she has send us the wrong way then send Phil straight into a vampire lair. And now she is gone. Something is not right about her. I can sense it now. Should have seen it earlier. I should have talked to her last night. But thinking that way won't help either.
“Jase, can you transform to wolf and search for Yashira? You should still have her smell from last night. Track her, I want her found, fast! Jack, talk to the villagers, see if they need any help after this.”
“What will you do sir?” Jack asked.
“Since when do I need to explain what I do, Jack?”
“Sorry, sir”. Watching Jack run away fast, I started realizing I had actually growled at him while saying that. Damn, this place is getting to me. As a Captain I need to control myself better.
Ow, did I mention before that I'm a werewolf too? No, guess I forgot. Yeah, I'm a wolf. The wolf clans that still live in the wilds call us dogs. Because we gave up our freedom for a human leash. Like the vampire pets in old days. When it was custom for vampires to capture a wild wolf and make them their pet dogs. It is true that a lot of our freedom has been cut, but that is the price we pay in exchange to be able to change something.
This is also the difference between Jase and me. I'm just a stray dog that found the army while Jase is actually from an important clan. He was sent here to strengthen the ties between the human cities and the wolf clans. There are some liaisons like Jase, but most wolves who join the army are strays.
They don't know it but we do it for every were creature out there. Not just the wolves, also the big cat's, the savage bears, the flying ones. By leashing ourselves to the human army, we have given rights to were's. Before when a human killed a were, nothing was done. Now there will be the same consequences as when you killed a human. I won't say all murder trail's are conducted fairly. But at least things are starting to turn for the better.
Mostly wolves enter the army. I guess a wolf works better with humans than bears and flyers. Bears tend to think humans are a snack and flyers tend to steal all the shiny object they can find. It's not easy to go on a mission and discovering somewhere in the middle of a fight that there is a very important part missing from your gun, nor is it fun to have lunch when there is someone sitting across you with a look in his eyes that he'd rather eat you than the grub he has been given. But still there are a few who are able to adapt to military life.
Cat's are another problem. They are solo artists, cat's don't do well in groups, especially not when there are a bunch of wolves in it. So not many enter the army, maybe it is just because it is full of us wolves. No matter what Cats and dogs will always dislike each other. Most wolves go far in the army. Jase is an exception, but he can be excused because of his thick skull, .
The empire isn't really happy with the were's in general. But when the vampires got to powerful, the humans didn't have much choice but to make a treaty with the were's. That was a few hundred years ago. Still humans don't like it when an ‘animal' tells them what to do. But better animals than those bloodsuckers.
When Jack got out of sight, I went in search of Phil. Yesterday when we were travelling to the village I asked him to talk to the villagers and get as much information as he could. I know he needed rest, but somehow I hope he has something. Locating him wasn't the easiest of tasks. He had a habit of disappearing when he was off duty. So that was why I was looking for him across the village when he appeared by my side asking “You looking for something, Captain?”.
“Phil! How many times do I have to tell you? If you're going off duty, tell me where you're heading. I won't search the entire town for you next time. I'll wait and when you do show up, I'll use you as vampire bait.”
“Yes, but wouldn't that give me incentive to stay hidden for longer?”
“You know I will sniff you out eventually Phil. It would just take me a long time to find you. But when I do, you'd wish you were just a blood bag for the suckers.”
“Got it Capt. So why were you looking for me?”
“Don't play dumb Phil. You're not and you can't hide it. What did you find out?”
“Not much so far Capt. These people clearly do business with vampires, they trade some kind of drink.” He said this with such a smile saying that he had found something that would attract me like a moth to a flame. I could see the disappointment dripping off his face when I mentioned I already knew.
“Yeah, I know. What else?”
“Euh? … Well, one of those bloodsuckers didn't pay his bills. He still needs to pay a certain amount of money. Nobody actually knows how much since he did his transaction solely with the priestess of this town.”
Uh oh, a priestess? In a town like this. That means some lunatic thinking she could turn the barbarians of a small village in to good White Wolf fearing religious followers. “Okay, I guess I should talk to her.
“Might be for the best, Capt. I couldn't find out more than that.” Which means there isn't anything more to find. Even if he had only one night to find out. Phil is a good scout, but he is an even better spy person, or whatever you call it. He always gets the info that matters. When he says he couldn't find out anything more, that means there isn't anything else to find out.
“So where does this priestess live? In some remote temple a day's walk away in a hidden meadow?”
“Actually it's a ten minute walk downriver.” He answered pointing to the river. So I headed of towards the temple.
***
While contemplating over the past day's events, I reached the temple Phil has given me the directions of . I didn't know what to expect. It wasn't located in the village and because of the trees you couldn't see it.. When I first saw it my mouth fell open. It was one of the ancient temples. Those temples are legendary and really old. This one was pretty big. I have only seen one ancient temple before, located in the capital of the empire: Orien. The one in Orien was just breathtaking. The old temples were magically build, you can't see any mason. It's like the entire building is made from one stone-like material. Unfortunately for the people, during the long wars the skill on making these beauties was lost .
If I thought that the temple in Orien was amazing, I'm an idiot . This one was pure beauty. It was build in line with nature. The building didn't break with the forest, it was part of it. In the front there were pillars made in the shape of trees, where the branches were supporting the roof. At the bottom you could see roots that went into the ground. Almost if it were once real trees. This building was made from the same stone-like substance like the one in Orien was made. What was also quite unique was the way the river flowed through the temple. Next to the huge double doors that was the entrance. Not many buildings have their own rivers.
Since The front doors were open, I just walked In. The corridor was lined with statues. I wondered about the beautiful statue's. Who were these people? They didn't look like any one mentioned in the book of the White Wolf . Each statue was a woman in armor, even though some things they were wearing couldn't be called armor. Armor is meant to protect, so it must actually cover parts of you. There were things that could just be called underwear and that would be a nice description.
I counted 14 female statues when I heard a voice behind me. “Can I help you?”. Startled, I turned. I was so intrigued by these statues that I didn't notice the priestess coming. I'm a fool. If my trainer ever found out I allowed someone to startle me, he would hit me across the training area (again) and yell really loud. Trainers tend to do that you know, yelling. I once asked one if he could repeat in a normal way. Not really a good idea, thrust me. I did learn how to skin potatoes after that.
“Hello, I am Captain Allison Ghyl from the Empire. The elder in the village told me about a vampire with payment troubles. Could you give me some information on where I could find him?”
“Oh, grace the White Wolf. You have come to help us. Yes, there is an evil vampire who doesn't pay his bills. Can you believe that! And the magic the White Wolf granted me isn't helping anymore. In the beginning I was able to locate him with my magic, but somehow he has found a way to block it.”
Oh boy, a religious freak just as I expected. What have I done wrong to deserve this? I'm not a fan of religion. Especially the White Wolf religion. Yes, I do use the wordings, but that's just because everyone does that. It's the stuff they preach I really don't agree with. No violence, no love? Come on, that is just against nature. They can't and won't take that from me. I don't understand why anyone would accept a live without love or to test the ability to defend themselves at least. Yup you need to be insane to become a priestess. And here I am, talking to one. What does that say about me? I wondered .
“Do you have an idea who this vampire is, no one actually said who he is?”
“Oh, yes, it's Count Liaro. He is leader of the Delon vampire clan.
“Why did he do it?” I said, sounding like a real detective.
“We have a strict policy about how we sell Uhah. If you got the money, you get the Uhah. It's simple but it works. Anyhow, he convinced us to ship him a cartload of Uhah in advance. He would pay it when he would collect the other 3 carts himself. He never did. He took the one cart and drunk it all. He refused to pay because he said the Uhah made him sick.”
“Okay, how can I locate him? The faster I find him and beat him up, the faster you guys have your money.”
“Oh, my child, why so eager on the violence.” She tsked, she even waved a finger at me. “His clan exists out of 200 vampire bred and about 50 full bloods. You will beat them all up?”
While listening to her words my mouth started to hang open. They want me to inn their bill from a vampire leader who has 250 bloodsuckers under his command like it's nothing, or what?
I enquired in disbelief: “How am I supposed to defeat 250 bloodsuckers with just 5 men?”
“My child, calm down, as I said, you are too eager to use violence. You can start by talking to lady Amaranth. Her den, is a day's walk to the north of here. She is leader of the Bloodthurst clan. He cannot say no to her. She is a true vampire queen. “ the priestess happily informed.
“A queen? I will just walk into a vampire queens lair and ask her to help inn a bill from a wayward vampire count? How many bloodsuckers does she have? You do know we are trained to kill vampires, not to have chit chat with them.”
“Child, mind you manor. You are in a sacred place here. I will not hear such tongue from you or any one. The queen does not mind human visitors. She will not harm you, as long as you do not harm her, nor her pets”
“Okay, so this queen can help me in defeating this non-paying blo.. euh, vampire?”
“I told you so. And my vows make it impossible for me to lie.” She answered virtuously.
“Okay, I guess so. So who are these women” I said while mentioning to the statues.
“Honestly, I have no idea. This is not a temple created by the priestesses of the White Wolf. When we came to this village, we just usurped this existing one. No point in building a new temple when there was such a magnificent one here.”
“Why didn't you remove these statues? They don't seem fitting in the white wolf ways.”
“That's a simple answer, we don't remove them because we can't remove them. They are put here in a magical way. When the first priestesses discovered this, this place was pretty much a ruin. They cleaned up a lot. But there were no books or other things to say who these people were. They are impressive I must say. One priestess once thought they might be vampire queens. Ridiculous, vampires don't build, they destroy and they live in caves. Everyone knows that.”
“Interesting. What happened to the priestess who said that?”
“She was sent back home to the main temple in Orien for re-education. If a priestess thinks in such a way, she must be falling from our way.”
“Okay, I must be going, bye.” I said while walking away.
“Wait, I have a different story for you. You can spare a few minutes for an old woman can't you?”
Oh no, how do I get out of this one. If an old woman asks that, you can't say no. “Euh…, “ drat!!!! “I guess I have some time, but not much. I do have a job to do here.”
“Of course honey, but this will not take long.” She answered.
While she started telling her story, we walked to the exit. She talked to me about the history of the White Wolf religion. Oh Boy, what fun .
The White Wolf was the first of all wolves to become bonded with a human. Thus creating the first werewolf. You see, were's aren't a naturally evolved race. They were two separate beings that bonded with each other through some magical ritual that is now lost. The name of the White Wolf was Amea and she was a beauty still unrivaled to this day. Unfortunately no images of her were found. ‘ And how can they know that her beauty is unrivaled without pictures? I thought.' She is said to have white hair in human form and wolf form. Thus: White Wolf . 'How Original. Went through my mind. ' She brought peace to a land that was filled with terror. The vampires were the strongest race at that time. , treating every other race like mere cattle. During her ruling, she united the humans and wolves creating the first werewolf clans. Not every human or wolf that came to her bonded with each other. Some just stayed human or wolf but ran with the others when she called. She opposed the different Vampire lords that ruled through time. She made 3 vows, and by making those vows she was given great powers by the spirits of nature. She vowed never to harm a living creature, never to tell a word untrue and to stay pure in mind and body. She truly was great. Even today all priests and priestess live to those vows, those vows enhance our magical abilities. The legends said The White Wolf even defied the great Vampire Queen. The Queen that conquered all except for the lands of the White Wolf.
And so on, and on. Why did I say yes? I have never been religious. I never wanted to pray, I never believed the crap about Vampire Queens and White Wolfs. It is just stupid religious babbling. Two hours of torture. I truly must have done something wrong to deserve so much punishment.
***
After finally escaping from the evil priestess, I found Jake and Jase building walls around the village. Sandy was giving orders on how to build? Well, the two guys are the bulkier ones. Sandy is young, just over nineteen and not the tallest of people. Just a meter sixty. Long blonde hair, and a pink bow in her hair.
“Euh, Sandy , you got a pink bow in your hair. Don't you think since we are military, you should wear something else?”
“Oh hi, Capt. Oh you're right, I forgot. I'll go change. Can you keep these slackers working? If you don't push them they get lazy.” With that she took off running towards the inn, where she had her room.
“Oh, thank the Wolf” Jase exclaimed.
“That kid is just a psychopathic bitch, Capt.” Jack joined in.
“Come on you guys, You two have each 50 kilo's on her easily” I grinned, knowing all too well, that Jack was just right. Sandy is a psycho and our medic. She really is smart and good at all she does. She completed medical school at the age of 15 and joined the military afterwards.
I once asked her why she wanted to heal people. She answered that she isn't that interested in healing people. It are the wounds and the bruises that interest her. She just patches them up, so they can make more and neater lacerations and stuff like that. According to her own words. That is also why she joined the military, she figured she could see more wounds. You know gunshots, broken legs, disembowelments, and so on. When she asked me if I was wounded, I just started walking away from her slowly saying I'm perfectly fine, while she got some weird psycho grin on her face. Still, that doesn't change the fact that she's the best medic I have ever had. The men under my command only need to see the medic once. After that they seem to have perfect health.
“Did you find anything about Yashira, Jase?” I asked
“I tried to follow her trail but at some point, I got a lot of different smells in a short period of time. There's no way anyone is able to make sense of that. All the different smells go to all different paths and the original smell isn't amongst any of them. The trail stopped ten minutes north of the village.” He responded. “We don't really have to do what Sandy asks, do we?” he asked hopefully
Jack answered that one. “We don't have to do what she says, since we are the same rank and everything. But she is our medic and when we are hurt badly she says what we needs to be done, and we won't have any choice then. She can do whatever she wants with us.”
“Oh” was all that Jase said.
I just told the guys to continue working without complaining so much. My thoughts wandering about my impending visit to the vampire queen. It was when Sandy got back that I woke up from my musings. Oh well, she removed the pink bow, that's the good part. Somehow she had found a bow in army colors. Where in earth can you find such a thing? No point in talking to her. I told them to continue their good work and left quickly. Sandy smiled at that, Jase and jack somehow looked at me with blaming eyes. I wondered why.
I have never talked to a vampire. Killed them, sure, a lot. When you see one you shoot them, that is what you are taught. But to actually sit at a table and talk to a vampire is just weird. How am I supposed to talk to that thing? There is also Yashira, did she belong to this queen or to Liaro who got me in these problems. Maybe, she wasn't even a vampire pet but a rogue infiltrating the army. Wheh, too much thinking . I walked into the Inn and demanded a bottle of Uhah and started drinking.
***
The next day I woke up with a feeling in my head like a blacksmith was using the inside of my skull as an anvil. How am I supposed to get out of this bed . Oh, damn, not head first apparently . I thought when I fell on my head. Somehow I got into the washing area and flipped the bowl with cold water from yesterday over me.
After a while I finally got the right muscles to respond and was able to get up. Oh good. Now let's be off to chat with a vampire queen . When I got outside, the boys were already working on the walls. And this time even Phil was willing to help. Although I doubt the willing part. Jack and Jase probably dragged him by his ankles and threatened him. Normally when he sees hard work he takes a long detour. Guess you can't take long detours in a town with ten huts . Since they were doing a useful thing, I decided to bring Sandy with me and let them work a bit longer. Maybe they would forgive me from letting her supervise them yesterday.
“Hey Mlyn, Do you think you can guide us to this Bloodthurst Queen or something?” I called when I saw him passing by.
“Uh, sure, it's a day's walk so we will need to spend the night there.”
“Oh, goody we get to see the mating rituals of the vampires!” Sandy exclaimed from behind me.
“Damn, Sandy not so loud. My head still hurts.”
“Poor Capt. Do you want me to look at it. I think I have something that helps with that”. Sandy offered.
“NO, no, I think it's going away.” I said quickly, hoping to avoid one of her disaster pills. It always does what she says. But somehow her pills always have some awful side effects. Like a jaw that seems to get dislocated really slowly or blood running from the nose. Those side effects came from a pill I took for a small headache. I can't imagine what would happen with a headache like this.
It was then that I noticed that Sandy was wearing the pink bow again. “ Sandy , you're wearing pink again.” I said and for some reason had a feeling it didn't really matter what I say.
“It's really pretty isn't it?” She said while checking if it was still in the right place. “I read somewhere that vampires are attracted to pink.”
Do I really want to know why she wants vampires to be attracted to her? I asked myself. Nope, I really don't want to know.
We headed outside of town and actually had a nice walk for a while. That was until Sandy started talking. She's a good kid, she really is, she just doesn't shut up.
“Oh, look a butterfly. What's your name? oh don't fly away.”
“Hello Mr Twig, what are you doing laying across the road? Just napping huh?”
“The itsy bitsy spider crawled on my arm, Oops there goes one leg. Hihi, lucky for him he has seven more. Bye little spider have fun sucking the fluids out of other insects.”
It went on like that forever. Mlyn seemed to think It was cute. Men, you can't judge their taste .
“Hi little bat, you want to play with us.”
I don't know why, but I think the bat remark somehow caught my attention. I looked behind me to see a big vampire lunging at Mlyn. Mlyn screamed and kicked it's hands away while trying to run backwards. It wasn't really a smart move since that got his two legs spread-eagled. He screamed at that point. But I didn't think it was because of the vampire on top of him.
Sandy just smiled and happily said: “That's not nice, little vampire. Girls go first you know.” While saying that she got her axe out and split the vampires skull up to its neck. .
Okay, this needs some explanation. We all have our military outfit, combat pants, tank top, shirt and jacket. This is filled with useful stuff if we remind ourselves to restock it. Somehow Sandy, who is a meter sixty is able to fit an axe in her outfit which has a pole of a meter and a blade that is at least 50 centimeters wide. How? Well a lot of bets have been made, but somehow we haven't found out yet. You cannot see the axe. Not until she gets it out and by then it is far too late to for the idiot to realize his mistake to take on the little girl first.
“That was fun” Sandy said as she started removing the blood from the blade. Mlyn just looked at her with a grateful look.
“Thank you” He said in a little voice.
“Okay, now that you've had your fun Sandy can we go?”
With that we continued towards the Vampire Queens lair. The rest of our trip was just plain boring. No vampires, no ghouls, no rabid wolves. Just trees and flowers and plants and more trees and flowers and stuff I don't know the name of and don't care.
When we arrived at the cave, I was disappointed. Somehow I expected for a queen's cave to be more, you know, royal. This was just a hole in a wall of rock. At the entrance we were greeted by a hooded figure.
“Come in, Capt. Ghyl. The Queen is awaiting you.” A strange croaking voice said. It somehow sounded familiar. I had no idea why but it did. I wasn't startled that the figure knew my name. I am meeting with a queen, they have weird vampy powers.
The cloaked figure led us deep into the cave. When I thought there was no end to it we finally reached a large room that seemed to be lighted by …. “Are that bugs on the ceiling?” Sandy asked, stopping my musings.
“Yes, we call them lighters, because they light up the darkness.” The cloaked one said.
Who would have thought that. Vampires really have no originality what so ever .
I looked around the room to see where the queen was. It was pretty empty, some old sofa's and a bed here and there. There wasn't any one in here. So I just followed the person I have named cloaky.
“So Cloaky, how far is it to your queen?”
“Not far” the croaking voice said. While entering a room.
When I followed her, I froze at the spot. There at the end of the room, stood the white haired lady with the scar. It's hard to miss the scar. She only wore a wrap around her breasts and a split skirt around her waist that fell to the ground. Now I saw that the scar on her face continued on her neck down her body towards the skirt. I didn't notice that before, you know, with all the things blowing up around us. You could easily tell this woman's strength. She had a wild aura around her, she must be a were, no human can look that way. I was so engulfed by the white haired woman, that I actually forgot why I was there.
It was when Sandy pushed me in my back that I got back to reality. Damn I need to watch out with this zoning out, I seem to be doing a lot of it recently. I started looking for the queen in the room but couldn't find her. The only other person in the room was some kid that sat in the chair before the white haired woman reading a book. The child looked at me, dismissed me and continued reading.
“The priestess said I'm supposed to meet the queen here, Cloaky, stop playing with me. The priestess can't lie, so you're the one pulling me a leg.” I asked my cloaked friend.
“The queen is a busy person, she will come to you when she has time.” My soon not-to-be friend said. “I will bring drinks for you and you're friends. Just wait and she will come to you.”
I was a bit angry at that. A full's day of walk to get here and now we have to wait. Cloaky came with something to drink. No Uhah, just ordinary beer. I don't think I could have survived any more Uhah. But still the pints they brought where alcoholic. Sandy and Mlyn decided to go to bed early. I just looked at them and gave them a clear signal that I was not amused by their treason, to leave me alone with creepy Cloaky to wait.
About three in the morning I fell asleep on my table, Cloaky had left a minute before that. I was a bit tipsy from the pints, shouldn't have tried to out drink Cloaky. Apparently that guy/woman/thing has a stomach of iron. Maybe I was more than tipsy and maybe, just maybe you could call it drunk.
***
I woke up startled when I felt a touch on my arm. “Wha.., get ‘f me” Opening my eyes, I saw the child from before sitting at my table. Now I saw it was a girl, she had long black hair with a shin of blue pulled back in a pony tail. She couldn't be more than 14 at most. “Get lost kid, I'm waiting for a damn queen to show up.” I said leaning my head back on my arms. After a few seconds I lifted my head again and glanced at the kid. She was still there. “What do you want, kid?”
“I am here, because you have something to ask me. What do you want to ask?” The child replied with a soft voice.
At that moment I realized the white haired woman stood behind the kid like a bodyguard. At that sight, I just started laughing out loud. “You're the queen that can take down 250 bloodsuckers? You're just a kid.”
My laughing stopped when the white haired woman pushed me out of my chair and against the wall with a knife to my throat. Damn, that's a very cold knife.
“My pet, doesn't like it when people insult me. You would do wise not to do that again. Let her go kitty”
Growling, the scarred woman removed the knife from my throat, but she still held my eyes when she retook her position behind the child queens chair. So a pet huh? I really hope not a body Pet, nah, the queens just a kid, that would be sick. Don't think that. I shook my head and sat back down.
After finally being able to tear my eyes away from hers I looked at the queen. “Sorry, just the priestess didn't say you were so young. I should have suspected a priestess would do something to get me in trouble.” When I said that last, the guard woman started growling at me again. “Could you please tell your pretty pet to stop growling at me, it is hard to talk through all that rumbling isn't it?”
The queen smiled with that remark. She lifted a hand and the were stopped growling.
“Thank you, it isn't actually me that needs your help. It is this village. Some vampire count refused to pay his bills and now they might go bankrupt.” They didn't actually say that, but exaggeration can't hurt, right? ”Somehow they want me to collect their money, I just don't have a clue how. Since the guy is nowhere to be found.”
“hmm, The elder told me about that before. My pet will help you locate the count and aid you in reclaiming the money. Go with her.”
“That's it? I just go with your pet and she helps me collect? That easy? Peachy with me.” I said while starting to get up.
“I never said it would be easy, but kitty knows a way to locate the count. The rest is up to you.”
With that said, she stood and left to some other place in the cave. I stared after her for a while before I looked at the white haired woman. “So where to beauty?” Why did I say that? She might have been pretty without the scar, but the scar really destroys any right to be called a beauty.
The silent woman just headed for where Cloaky brought us through a long while ago. Startled I started running after her. She just walked towards the forest and I just followed. “So not the talkative type huh? I don't mind I like the silence”. At that time we reached the forest edge and the woman just started taking her clothes of.
“Who, oh, you seem like a nice person, you do, but Isn't this going a bit fast?” She just looked up and smiled while she started to change. The change didn't look right. It was like something was holding the transformation back. It looked painful as well. After a few minutes the woman had transformed into a big white cat with black striped patterns across the body. The scar was still there.
“Ow, like that.” I started shedding my own clothes, while noting the appreciative look I was getting from the pale cat. This could get good, A pet cat and a pet dog. I started changing. While the cats change was difficult, mine was fluid. After a bit, I was in doggy form. A big grey wolf but still smaller than the white cat. Ah it felt good to be free again. I need to do this more often. Damn military and their rules for transforming. We only get to transform on a full moon night. Or when it is necessary during a mission. Guess this qualifies, I'm doing this solely to finish my mission, yeah right, keep lying to yourself. Ah it feels so good.
When I was fully transformed, I had to fight the urge to chase the much larger cat in a tree. She started running into the woods, smiling inside I started going after Kitty. The hunt is on . While sniffing the air for the cats smell. We started running faster and faster. I nearly was able to take down the cat but in front of us another temple appeared. The white cat entered the building and I went after her, not really thinking about collecting money, but more about the cat before me.
I was brought out of my thoughts when she started to shift back to human form. Reluctantly I decided to follow. Knowing well that it would be working from now on. Kitty walked slowly over the altar that stood in the center of the room. This temple is old. Older than the one in the village. The place is in decay. Trees and shrubs grow all over the place. Yet it still seems sacred. The greenery even seems to be a part of the place.
Kitty got behind the altar and started pushing some buttons that were hidden in the relief of the altar. Slowly a flicker started to appear in the air above the stone slab. Something greenish spread in the air. All types of glyphs I have never seen started to move around the green area. The woman just stood there staring at the symbols that were floating in the air. I slowly walked over to her and started to hide behind her shoulder. I cringed when she touched the green stuff. I thought It would suck her up. Grinning sheepishly I noticed that the glyph she just touched got bigger.
The glyph started changing inn all different lines and circles. After a few seconds the movements stopped. Kitty stared at it for a while and then pointed at something left from two circles. I looked at it, I looked at Kitty, she looked at me, I looked at the green stuff again, back at Kitty. She sighed and pointed at me, looking in my eyes, making sure I was listening. I nodded. She pointed left from the two circles again. I didn't know what to do. I slowly nodded. Kitty just nodded and started walking away.
I hurried after her. There was a niche in the back of the building. Out of that niche She got a bottle and a bowl. She grabbed my hand, smiled at me and walked on. Oh, she smiled at me . My stomach felt fluttery at that. And she's holding my hand, it felt really nice.
I was so disappointed when she finally did let go. Oh, what's wrong with me. I've never been infatuated with any one this fast and this woman get's my blood pumping by just holding my hand. Oh drat, I'm doomed. Instead of thinking of my horrible timing to get an interest in someone, I started watching what she was doing.
She put out the bowl on the altar where the green things from before have disappeared. She poured the content from the bottle into the bowl and then beckoned for me to come. I stood by her, only know noticing we were both naked. She took the bowl and lifted them to my lips. A bit startled I took a sip. She smiled and then took a sip herself. She put the bowl on the stone and took my hand again.
She led me through a door near the back into the open space behind it. It seemed like an arena of some sorts. There were rows of seats made from stone surrounding a circular area that we were standing in. There was no roof and I saw there were other entrances as well. The stone surface of the inner circle was covered with dust piles here and there. Kitty walked over to the center.
“Euh, Kitty, What are we doing here? We are supposed to find the vampire count.” I asked, finally remembering my mission.
The woman didn't answer just stood at the center looking around the place with a forlorn look on her face. She lifted her hands in front of her, closed her eyes and started doing various moves. It looked a bit like combat moves, but not really. It more seemed a dance. Great, the cat lost her mind, she's dancing to no music when she's supposed to help me locate the vampire . I'm only watching this very sensual dance because I'm supposed to stick with her to complete my mission. Only because of that. Oh, who am I kidding and why am I thinking all this stuff in my mind. It's not like someone can read it. I really hope not. Wouldn't it be weird if someone just read everything you do and think. That's just creepy. Okay pretty woman dancing in front of you. Pretty? Where did that come from. Start concentrating now and stop thinking silly thoughts. With time the moves got more complicated and she started using more space in the arena.
At a certain point she was standing a few meters away from me, she opened her eyes and looked at me. Offering her hand to me, she urged me to take it. She still hasn't said a word which is starting to frustrate me, but I did what she silently asked. I took her hand and stepped closer.
She got closer as well and started moving again. I tried to copy her moves, but without music I couldn't find the rhythm. I wanted to say something again but she just put a finger on my lips and got closer than she already was.
She put her arms around my shoulders and started moving her hips against mine. I got the idea and allowed her to move my body. I moved where she pushed me. I followed when she left me. I even had the courage to put my arms around her waist.
I don't know how long we danced, I didn't even notice when the music started, but after a while I noticed the music. How wonderful it was. The music so full of life, and we were dancing to it. The birds, the critters, the wildlife, the tree's, the flowers, the sound of life. She smiled when she saw realization dawn on me.
At that point she surprised me again. She gave me a soft, shy kiss on the lips. It felt really nice. I wanted to kiss her, but she shook her head. Ah, well can't have everything. At that point she started doing more complicated moves that involved more limbs and for some strange reason I found that I was able to follow her moves. Dancing isn't a thing I'm good at. I was disappointed that she wasn't holding me anymore but the dance and the connection we felt made up for a lot. We danced for hours. Maybe even days. I didn't know and didn't care. All I knew was that she was here with me and that's all that mattered.
We started to slow down the dance to the point that we both stood still looking in each other's eyes. The scar is still ugly. Nothing will ever change that, but she had something that drew me. Her eyes had two different colors. Her left iris had a pale grey color while her right didn't even have an iris. The scar went through her eye where her iris should be. Just a black slit.
I was still baffled from our experience that I noticed that she started changing only when she was already halfway through. I quickly followed suit. She started running to the forest and I eagerly followed. It was dark and the full moon hung high in the sky. Although I would love to just fool around, I still had my mission I had to complete and so far we haven't located any vampire. I started running faster to close the distance between us. So did she. I tried to close the distance by running even faster but she stayed ahead of me easily. Damn cats. They always run. If she wants to run, then I'll just have to hunt her down. At least that was what I thought.
What happened was that when she jumped over a fallen tree, I followed as fast as I could. They always say that felines hate water en canines like it. Well, that is so not true. I don't like water. If you don't brush your hair after you wash it, it's a mess and that's just in human form, in doggy mode it's even worse. That is why when I jumped over that tree, I whined in a pitiful manner. Yeah, I know, the big bad wolf whining like a pup. But you would too if you just jumped off a cliff and were falling towards a lake which would probably contain freezing cold water. When I fell in the water it took me a moment to get my bearings and swim for the surface. And for those interested, it really did have freezing cold water. Once I was able to breathe again I looked around searching for that awful cat.
Of course she was sitting at the shore cleaning her fur in a very feline way and if she wasn't in Cat mode I would have thought she was smirking at me. That cat's gonna get it once I get out of these waters . Slowly I paddled in a non-elegant way to the shore. Since I don't like water, I'm not really good at paddling, but all wolves know the basics, thank the White Wolf for that.
After a few minutes I finally reached the shore. Dripping wet I emerged from the water, my eyes still on that damn cat. Growling I closed in on her, my fur standing straight. A meter from her I stopped and tried to look her down. She finally sensed my challenge and looked at me with her scarred and normal eye. We stood there for some minutes until I finally got sick of it. I'm sick of this, she's been playing me for too long! I jumped and tried to bite her.
You know wolves have the advantage of being fast hunters that can run for hours and being able to work in groups. Cat's are fast you can give them that, but they're just lazy. After a half an hour they give up and they really suck at group work. But they have one advantage over the wolves. It is that advantage that I overlooked when I assaulted.
Halfway through my jump I started realizing my mistake but it was too late to change my trajectory. Kitty just lifted her right paw. Slowly unsheathed her claws and hit me straight on the nose. While still being airborne, my path drastically changed and I landed against a tree trunk. Damn that cat's strong, this really hurts.
I laid there panting and feeling my nose with my paw. The flesh on my nose was cut to bits. Carefully I transformed back to human, so to help the healing process. For some reason changing from one mode to the other helps healing. Small wounds heal at instant. Bigger wounds just hurt less. Once in human form I got up and checked my body. Nothing seems broken, my nose doesn't seem to bleed anymore and I will have some nice bruises on my ribs. I'm going to hide these from Sandy , for sure. There really is no point in seeing a medic for this and she's not here anyway.
I didn't stay on my feet for long when I turned to face the cat, I fell on the ground again. This time with a big cat on top of me. “My you weigh a lot. What does that vampire feed you? Entire cows?” Kitty had started the transformation process when I said that. Halfway through and growling she answered “dogs.”
Hmm, this isn't going so well is it. At least she's changing to human mode, this means she's not going to eat me. Once the transformation was done she asked with a chilling voice: “Why did you attack?”
“Oh, I don't know, maybe because you made me jump off a cliff into freezing cold water!” I snapped. Hearing that she just started laughing. “It's not funny, it was cold and deep.” I whined. Still angry I tried to push her off but she easily grabbed my hands and held them in check next to my body.
“So the doggy's scared of water.” she said with still a smile on her face. Okay, now she's thinks I'm afraid of water. Well I am aren't I, so why am I angry that she knows.
“Get off of me I said” Getting angrier by the minute. I tried to get her off of me, but she was stronger.
“What if I don't want to.” She answered while showing her teeth. Oh, my she has pointy teeth in human mode. Maybe I'm not as safe when she's in that mode as I thought. Again, I tried to push her of me. I was able to move my arms but she just pulled them down over my head this time instead of next to my body. At this point I noticed how close we both were and how naked. Her hair still wet, fell next to her face. A drop of water fell of her nose onto mine. I felt her body pressed against mine. Oh White Wolf , you're angry with her, don't start thinking in those lines! Something inside me screamed. Smart people always listen to their inner voices. Especially when it's screaming. Guess what, I'm not a really smart person.
Instead of listening, I kissed her. She responded to it pretty well. She loosened her grip on my hands. Yes, this is it, now you can overpower her and get out of here. My inner voice said. Again I refused to listen, I turned her on her back and continued our kiss. She seemed to like it. I know I did. A few minutes passed before we broke apart. We just stared at each other for a few minutes while heavily breathing. I wanted to touch her but she must have seen something in my eyes or movements because she took my hands and shook her head.
“Why not?” I asked.
“I can't” was her solemn reply.
She crawled from under me and got up. She offered me her hand and helped me get up as well. I was sad. I did want more, Guess she doesn't seems to feel the same way.
“Don't think that way.” She said before turning to Cat mode again. In the mood I was in, I didn't notice that she had answered to something I never said out loud. Sadly I changed as well and followed her. This time, there was no running for fun. We headed straight back to the vampire lair in silence.
It didn't take long before we were back to the spot where we had undressed. Still in silence we turned and put on our clothes. I didn't want to speak, afraid to say something wrong. To chase her away even further. I shouldn't be so sad about this. It's not like we know each other very well. I mean she's a pet. What could ever come from that.
When we got at the place where the queen talked to me, she turned and kissed me again. Her hands traveled across my body, making my blood run, making me needy. I wanted this badly. She played with the tattoo I had on my wrist. I'm not fond of tattoo's but somehow when I was sixteen I wanted a tattoo of a white lily on my wrist. Yeah, I know, a white flower, real badass.
She ended the kiss and looked me in the eye. I wanted her to stay with me, I tried to ask but she just shook her head. She turned and all I could do was stare. She took a few steps, turned around and kissed me again soft and sweet, this was the last one. Before I could recover she left and I was all alone again. At that point I was frustrated and getting very tired. The sun was already setting which means I have been awake for a long time. I quickly searched for the bed cloaky told me about when I was still waiting for the Vampire Kid Queen. Once in bed I thought about my mission and realized that this night didn't make me learn anything about the vampire I'm supposed to hunt. But those thoughts quickly faded my mind when sleep took over.
***
After a quick nap I went to look for the Queen, I couldn't find her, nor my Kitty. I really hoped to see the last. What I did found was cloaky, clearly hung over. Smiling I walked up to the creature.
“So Cloaky, rough night?”
Cloaky was clearly startled, the thing jumped about a meter in the air.
“Oh God, don't do that!”
The voice seemed even more familiar now, but I still couldn't put it. “So, guess you can't take alcohol as well as you seemed.”
“What? Oh no, I didn't feel that and you have been away for a night and day. You missed my hangover which I didn't have.” Was cloaky's too fast reply.
“Yes, you did. I have told you before not to lie. That means not only lying to me, but also to others” a deceptively soft voice said from behind the now frightened Cloaky.
“Sorry, my lady. It will not happen again.” Cloaky bowed several times while saying that.
“Leave, I have things to discuss with lady Ghyl” the child queen said. Without giving a reply the cloaked figure quickly retreated. “lady Ghyl, please relax, take a seat.” The queen said while motioning towards the seats.
“If Cloaky doesn't have a hangover, why does she acts like she does?” I said, trying to sound uninterested while I clearly wanted to know.
“The feeding process can have this effect on the person that has donated blood.” The Queen simply replied. That was an answer I really wasn't expecting and honestly I didn't wanted to know. I actually didn't think about this queens feeding rituals before.
“Euh, okay, I went with your pet last night.” I didn't want to say what happened between us (as if I knew what really happened) not how much I enjoyed it. “She didn't show me how to find this wayward vampire.”
“She showed you, you just didn't look” she sighed.
Maybe we passed it while running around. I didn't really notice my surroundings, I had something else occupying my mind at that time . “Euh, Maybe you could give me a hint then?” I fished.
Sighing the queen just said: “He lives an hour south of Phuk. In human-were lands. Now you know that, could you please leave. You seemed to have an ability to upset my pets.”
“Can I see Kitty before I go?” I desperately asked. I nearly begged, but desperate is better. At least I think so.
“She allowed you to call her Kitty? Ice tends to shred the people who call her that.” The queen looked shocked.
“I thought that was her name, since you called her that. Ice is her name then?” I asked clearly confused now.
“I'm her queen and I own her. I call her what I like. The people that don't own her call her a variety of things. Sometimes she listens, sometimes not. Usually she answers to Beast or Ice. But the ones that call her kitty usually have short life spans.” The queen answered.
“Can I see Ice then?”
“No, leave now.” The queen said with a hint of threat in her voice.
Well, at least she gives you a clear signal when your dismissed.
I went to find Sandy and Mlyn. After I found them I just went back to the village in a fast tempo that the two pups had trouble following. They seemed to sense my foul mood and didn't make any comments. Even Sandy kept her mouth shut. Which says a lot.
***
My first meeting in the village when I got back was going straight to the temple of the priestess. I asked her a few questions that were hanging in my head. One was about a temple in the forest. The priestess looked shocked when I finished that question.
“That sounds like the temple of the First. Amea the first White Wolf build it herself. It was the place where she defended her people against the Vampire Queen. After the great war a century later, it was lost, but some say that they have seen a building covered in silence somewhere in these forests.”
“How was she able to defend if she could not use violence?”
“Ah, but she was a master at block magic. She could put up walls that no one could get through. But still, even the great White Wolf, needed other defenses. She had a sort of militia. But not the soldiers like you are. The White Wolf Militia. They were great warriors, but they never killed. They were able to defeat armies without killing a single person. It is said that the head of the militia was a human. I believe I have read somewhere that her name was Adelorna. How come the sudden interest? A few days ago you were not so eager to listen.”
“Huh, just curiosity I guess, thanks for the intel.”
“Bye, my child.”
My walk back to the village was short but it gave me enough time to think of a plan to deal with this count Liaro. In the village I walked up to the elder's place. Knocking on the door I entered without waiting for an answer. “Elder, are you here?” I asked. No answer, strange. There was nothing for me to do here so I walked out and bumped into Mlyn. “Hi, Mlyn, have you seen the elder?”
“Captain, that is why I'm looking for you. The elder found out where Count Liaro is hiding. He took some villagers and went south to confront him. They want to get paid.”
“Okay, let's go find my men and let's go collect some money.” It wasn't hard to find my men since they were giving the finishing touches to the new wall surrounding the village. “Sandy, Jack, Jase and Phil, are you guys up to some bat smashing?”
That quickly caught their attention. They happily dropped everything they were doing. Sadly for Phil Jase dropped his hammer on his toes. “Ouch, that hurts you know!” Phil yelled at Jase. “I can't help it that you have weak toes” Jase honestly replied.
“Hey, I'm in, anything is better than to build walls” Jack said while ignoring the arguing going on behind his back by the other two. “I'm glad we can at least kill some vampires, I was afraid Sandy and Phil were the only ones who got to play.” Jase joined in, while holding Phil back with one hand while Phil was trying very hard to hit Jase but was short a few centimeters.
“Okay, stop playing, give each other a handshake to make up and let's go.” I said. Grumbling they both did what I said.
While walking to the vampire's lair, Mlyn told the soldiers about the elder and his intentions to confront the vampire. “Oh, boy. Does the elder actually think that is going to work?” Phil asked
“Elder Khan, is a follower of the White Wolf, he visits the priestess every day. He believes in a peaceful way even with the more violent races.”
Oh boy, this is going to get good. The elder thinks that by simply asking the vampire will pay up. They will end up as snacks. The count will have all of his men with him. That's for sure. 251 bloodsuckers against about 10 villagers. Yes, the odds are really in favor for the villagers.
“Does the Elder know the count has more than two hundred followers?” I asked Mlyn.
When hearing that Mlyn got pretty pale. “Oh, no, we thought it was just him. Our people are dead if that's true.”
“Don't worry, Captain Ghyl will fix it. Right Capt?” Sandy said full of confidence. At least someone has confidence. It surely isn't me. How am I supposed to fix this? Why did the elder need to do this. I'm screwed. And so are the rest of us.
“Euh, we'll see” I said, while still trying to come up with a decent plan. The guys started talking about how many they would kill. I left them talking while I started thinking. About an hour later Mlyn whispered “It should be around the corner.”
“Okay, Phil, you go left into the forest and see what you can find out. Jase transform and try to do the same from the right. If you walk into a nest, howl. The rest can follow me, we'll see what we can do.”
We approached the bend in the round slowly. Looking past a tree that conveniently stood just next to the road, I saw the elder. By what I saw things weren't going the way the elder wanted it to go.
“Can you see something, is everything alright?” Mlyn asked.
“Euh, I can see the elder and the villagers.”
“Thank The Wolf. That means they are alive, we can save them.” Mlyn said while walking on the road and straight into the back of a vampire that stood on guard. I tried to grab him before the vampires got to him but I was too slow. Luckily Jack had quick reflexes and skewered the vampire on his combat knife before the vampire could bite the young man. Sandy quickly looked around to see if there were others close by. Signaling okay with her fingers she walked up to Mlyn and Jack, hitting Mlyn on the head. Pretty hard if I may say.
”Idiot! you nearly got us killed” she whispered harshly. “ But my people are there!” he yelled pointing at the villagers that still stood motionless about 400 meters away. I quickly covered his mouth with my hands and dragged him in the tree line. “Are you crazy?” I whispered in his ear. “We are surrounded by vampires. If they find us, we lose our element of surprise and we're doomed.” I held him a while longer to allow the message to sink in. “Will you do what I say?” I released him when he finally nodded. “Good. Phil and Jase haven't signaled anything, that means they haven't run into bats.” Let's follow the road through the trees and see where we come out. And why the villagers don't move.”
“Euh, Capt?” Sandy said.
“What is it Sandy , we need to get going.” I said while getting up and checking my weapons and equipment.
“Euh, I think we found the vampires.”
“What?” I looked up and looked straight at about nine vampires that were pointing crude weapons at us. Oh crap. I quickly assaulted the first two that stood near me. They laughed at the sight of a human jumping at them. Their laughter quickly faded when they saw me turn into a large grey wolf right before I tore their throats out. The gurgling noise the two dead vampires made, distracted the others which allowed Sandy to get out her favorite axe and slash those that were holding her. On the other side, Jack just used some really nice military moves on the bats surrounding him. He knocked 3 unconscious before the younglings noticed what he was doing.
Mlyn was in the middle and he wasn't doing as well as the other two. Actually he was held up by his arms and legs by two vampires and a third was actually shaving his neck.
“Why are you shaving his neck?” I asked, walking slowly until I stood next to the vampire.
“Oh I just don't like to have hairs between my teeth. You know how it goes. A bit hair here and there and it sticks. It's just not tasteful.” He said while continuing his shave.
“Okay, I guess it's an explanation like any other.” At that point I cut his head off with my machete. The other two vampires didn't get a change to act on that because Jack and Sandy got to them.
“Did we got them all?” I asked Sandy .
“Yup, all of them. There was one hiding in the bushes but Jack got to him before he could escape.”
“Good, okay, let's see what we can do for the villagers.”
When we got on the road where we were before, the villagers were gone. Nothing to be seen. I walked to the place where they stood before. There was nothing to see except for a piece of paper that was hung to a tree bark. It read the following:
‘ The Elder and his friends are prisoners of me now. If you want them back, make three cartloads of Uhah by sunset tomorrow. We will trade you the villagers for the Uhah.
Yours sincerely
The High Count, Supreme Vampire Lord, Count Liaro
Ps. All debts that may or may not have been made before will be erased.
Hmm, okay that seemed pretty clear. So the vampires will come to town. I guess I can do something there. “Okay, the vampires want three cartloads of Uhah in exchange for your people MLyn, Can you make so much?”
“I'll have to ask the priestess, she usually has reserves.” He replied.
“Okay” I howled to the sky which made Mlyn jump high.
“What happened to being quiet.” He asked clearly scared.
I didn't answer, just stood there listened if I couldn't hear a reply from Jase or Phil. Two seconds before I could howl again. Phil and Jase came out of the trees. “Did you found any Capt?” Jase asked looking around hopefully.
“Oh, Jase you're too slow, just as Usual. They are all dead.” Sandy answered before I could say anything. She stood there grinning at Jase while poking him in his stomach. He just gave me a helpless look.
“Okay, let's get back to the village then. We might be able to set up some surprises for the vampires. How many vampires are still out there?”
“well, the count had two fifty bloodsuckers, we killed nine, that makes two forty two I guess.” Jack answered.
***
When back in town, I went straight to the temple Again I'm going to the damn temple. If this keeps up my reputation is going through the drain.
“Priestess, are you here?” I seemed to be asking that question a lot. Anyhow, the priestess was home.
“Yes, my child, do you need something?” she asked in that annoying tone of hers.
“Yes, I could use three cartloads of Uhah. Do you have it?”
“Sure, it's in the basement, here are the keys. Don't forget to lock up after you” She said and left me standing with my mouth open. Okay, guess that is good luck. Or just a cheap priestess. Either way we got enough Uhah. Let's get some guys to transfer all the barrels to town.
Walking back to town along the river I saw Mlyn running towards me. “Capt. We have a small problem. Count Liaro is here.”
“Huh, Why? He isn't due till tonight?”
I started running while speaking to Mlyn. When I reached the walls we build, I walked straight to Jack. “Jack, what's the status?”
“Hey, actually we're okay, thanks to these walls. Count Liaro is outside waiting till sun fall. So he can get closer. He got here an hour after us, just before dawn. He was surprised by these walls. We were able to shoot at least 50 of those blood suckers from the walls. “
“ Oh goody, just a hundred and ninety two to go. How many men do we have? Including villagers?”
“Uh, well with us included that would be 36.”
“Not good, Jack. Mlyn. That vampire queen wouldn't be here with help would she?”
“Sorry, Capt. She only comes once a month, and she was here last week.”
“Damn, this sucks.”
“Didn't the queen gave you something to help?”
“That child queen? Nope, we just wasted time there. Okay, make sure everyone has a bow, can we talk to these bats?”
“You can try.” Said the ever amusing Jack.
I climbed atop the wall and looked out. Under the trees I could see the vampire bred huddling close, afraid of the sun shining through the branches. By the smell of it, not every vampire was well covered by the leaves. The smell of frying meat made me hungry.
“Hey, jack can you get something for me to eat. Something with meat if it's possible?”
“Sure captain, but do you really think is the right time to eat?” he enquired.
“My mother always said, never enter a fight with an empty stomach. So if you wouldn't mind obeying my orders for once?” I innocently asked. He just nodded and went off in search for food.
Turning back to the half burning vampires under the trees. I yelled:“Okay, Liaro, you want the Uhah? Then fight me one on one. If you win you get all the Uhah you want. If I win, you give back our villagers AND you pay up your debt with interest. Do we have a deal?”
Silence followed after my words. Hmm, if he's a chicken head, this will go bad. If he's got a big ego like most vampire's, this must go well. I still have no idea how to best him, but it should be easier beating him one on one than going 36 to 192.
“Doesn't looks like he's accepting Capt.” Jack said when he got back with some grub. These are really good hot dogs. I thought while eating them.
“Ah vampires like to play waiting games, he won't be able to resist, just wait.” I said
We were waiting side by side, Watching time passing by with the sun setting over the horizon. At the moment when everything was pitch black and torches where lighted around the village we heard a sound.
It was like some sort of a trumpet. “This is Count Liaro of the Delon clan. I accept your challenge. Meet me outside the gates to fight one on one. The winner gets all.”
Okay, I wanted to go out there, get it over with, but something told me to wait a bit. “I will meet you in an hour.”
I heard his unbelieving muttering “ bitch… ”
“Why wait another hour? Go kick his ass” Jase said.
“No, take your hour, I have got something to do.” Sandy said, before she left.
“Relax Jase, I need an hour to prepare.” After saying that I got in the center of the village and started removing some parts of my uniform. Leaving me standing just in a tank top and my combat pants. I really hope Sandy has a good idea, since I didn't have any. I started doing warm ups. Slow moves. Unintentionally I started doing the dance I did the night before with Kitty. I still think of her as Kitty even though the Queen said that wasn't her name. While doing this I relaxed. Remembering all the tension I had build up since the night with Kitty.
“You're hour is up doggy, come out and face me, or die within your walls” Liaro called from outside
Slowly, I came out of the meditational state I was in. Sandy wasn't back yet. Guess I got to face him without a plan. Calmly I walked to the doors. Opening the doors didn't went smoothly. I tried to do it in an very nonchalant way so it would really impress the vampires. But failed at that when they got stuck in the dirt and needed Jase's help with pulling them open far enough to let me through.
“Sorry, I forgot to adjust the doors hinges.” He mumbled while closing them behind me. Now I still tried to walk nonchalantly to the vampire, but somehow the effect was spoiled by those doors.
So this is the bastard who refuses to pay his bills I thought when I stood in front of him. He didn't look like much. He was small, chubby and had warts on his face. What happened to the beautiful, seductive vampire? Myths, you just can't thrust them.
“I will crush you, you..”
“Ah cut the crap bat, just fight okay”. With that said the fight began.
He lunged with his left fist and hit me in the stomach.
“Oof” Oh, that isn't nice. With that I started to change shape. Unlike before the transformation stopped in between. Leaving a tall dark grey haired creature that looked like it could be a human, but failed at that because of the long teeth, large claws and extended amount of hair.
“Oh, my the doggy has showed its teeth now I'm scared.” Said the vampire while trying to hit me again in the stomach. This time I got out of the way, unfortunately I stepped straight in the path of his right foot that went for my head. I went down. Liaro laughed and started kicking me where he could. This is not really going as it should.
“End of round one” sounded from the walls.
“Huh? We fight in rounds?” the vampire asked.
“Why yes, we fight in rounds. You silly bat. There are three rounds. The best out of three wins.” Said Sandy while walking from the gates to the beat up wolf. She was wearing a white with black striped bow this time. Somehow she didn't notice the 200 hungry eyes that seemed to have an unhealthy interest in her.
“You okay Capt.?” Sandy asked
“No.” was my bright answer.
“here take this pill, it will help”.
Since I was beaten up and laying on the floor I couldn't do much when she put the pill in the back of my throat and closed my mouth with her hands.
After being forced to swallow that pill. I asked something that was on my mind. “ Sandy ?”
“Yes, Capt?”
“Why on earth are you wearing a white bow with black stripes?”
“Oh, this thing” She said while pointing at the thing in her blond hair. “I'm the referee, you know all referee's wear white with black stripes. Now be a nice doggy and go beat up the evil bat guy.”
She pulled me up and pushed me in the direction of Liaro. Still a bit groggy I looked at Liaro through a blood encrusted eye. At that moment I got an idea. I switched back to full human mode. To help the healing. When I was back as human I got a feral grin on my face. I had an idea (and really hoped it would work).
“uh oh, I don't wanna be this Liaro person” Jack said.
“Why?” Mlyn asked.
“It's the grin, every time she grins like that, the other guy usually ends up in a bloody pulp” Sandy the medical of the team said, while smiling happily at the foresight of bloody violence. As said before Sandy is a bit of a psycho.
While the stooges had their little conversation I started dancing. Trying hard to remember the music from last night.
“What's this you're gonna lap dance me to death? “ Liaro laughed “What no talking, oh, you're so boring little dog.” At the end of his words, he lunged towards me. I just danced out of his reach. He lunged again, trying to hit me over and over like before. I just danced around him. Frustrated he went into vampire overdrive. Hitting me hard and fast over and over. I just blocked while dancing around him.
This went on for a couple of hours. At a certain point he just walked back. I stood my ground dancing on the spot. He watched me for a while trying to find a point to break through. Every time he thought he found it, he was wrong.
Screaming in frustration he assaulted again. This time I felt something in the dance. I felt the music from the night before, the life, started flowing through me. This time I allowed him to hit me. When his fist connected with my head I grabbed his wrist and turned it. Somehow I did something, I have no idea what. Afterwards I will always claim it was the music that did it. It doesn't really matter who did it, all that it did was paralyze the vampire in place. He could still move but not beyond one square meter. He was stuck in a box.
“You think this will stop me you filthy cat? I will get out and I will suck you dry and everyone else out there. “
At this point I spoke for the first time since the fight started. “You better escape within the hour, since the sun is starting to rise.” I said, with a very high pitched voice. The words didn't sound as tough as it was supposed to. Sandy said afterwards that it is a small side effect from her pill.. Sandy and her damn pills!!
With those words I turned and walked through the gates Mlyn had opened for me.
The vampire breed tried to get to their master since they felt his fear and frustration. The Purebloods were a bit smarter at that point, they just vanished in the forest, abandoning their master since they knew it was futile and suicide wouldn't help.
Once the sun rose, it only took a few minutes to burn through the vampire breeds, they just went up in smoke The count however took some time. He went down burning and screaming. Unfortunately for the people of Phuk it took nearly an hour. Have you ever listened to someone scream for its life for a whole hour. That is just plain annoying, thrust me.
“I knew you could do this without the violence, my child” the priestess said after count Liaro screams have stopped.
“You call that without violence, I got beaten up and that guy just screamed himself to dead in the baking sun? That was horrible priestess. “
“yes, it is horrible, yet your soul has not been corrupted by the violence, since you did not commit the violence yourself.” The priestess replied
“So watching someone die is good for the soul? No offense priestess but that is not what this is about. I did it this way because I couldn't defeat him in any other way. I take it you can find the money somewhere?”
“I believe so, the hunters have already spread to hunt down the Pure bloods. They aren't so though without their master and without their liar, they will pay for his bills or work them off. So are you leaving now?”
I wanted to see Kitty again, talk to her. But I knew the little brat of a queen would never let me. “Yes, We have other missions to do.” That just sounded like a workaholic.
“Great, back to civilization. Too bad we have to travel twenty-nine days through the middle of nowhere to get back.” Phil said.
“Oh, Capt. Can't we stay one more day, I saw a kid with a wicked bone fracture. I want to see what comes from that. Please?” Sandy pleaded.
“I'm sorry Sandy , but that kid won't heal in one day and we really need to get back.”
“Guess, I'll pack” Jase said.
The others started doing the same. Sandy still whined a bit but eventually followed the rest.
“let's go home.” Jack said, when everyone was ready to leave. Which we did.
***
A day ride away from Phuk in a black coach.
“Are you not sad that you have to lose her again, because of me?”
A voice that sounded like icicles in the winter sun said: “My queen, I have made a fourth vow to watch you grow, to protect you and to be your family. I will not break that vow. But more importantly I promised your mother I would look after you. She sacrificed herself to protect my people. I will honor her sacrifice and I keep my promises.”
“Still, you love her, yet you must abandon her just now you have reunited.”
“Yes, I love her. And it hurts a lot. I wish I could take her with me, but it is too dangerous. The keepers could go after her, if I took her with me. I enjoy the time I have been given. But we have had this conversation every century since this started and I will tell you the same as I said the first time. There will be a moment where we will be reunited and that I do not have to let her go. That moment we will celebrate and maybe I can get rid of my third vow of chaste by then.”
“Oh, Shiva, I hope someday you will be reunited. And I am sorry it must be this way.”
“Don't be sorry, Amaranth, You had no say in this. You were just a baby when we were betrayed. Do not worry, all will be right in the end. And thank you”
“Maybe you're right. Yashira! Get the coach move a bit faster will you, I want to be home by tonight.”
“Yes, My Lady”
***
29 uneventful days later:
It took us some time, but we're finally home. Back at the Rock. The main military base of the Cerulean empire. It felt good to be back home. What I didn't expected was our welcome party. It existed of one pretty pissed of general.
“Where have you been Soldiers!” Yelled general Techor.
“Oh, he doesn't sound happy.” Jase said.
“Shut up Soldier. All of you, go to the barracks and check in. Captain Ghyl. You! I will see in my office, now!” He yelled again.
This is not good. When he yells it means that someone is going to get hurt. Somehow I got the bad feeling it could be me. He didn't say a word during the long 5 minute march to his office. Once inside and after slamming the door shut behind me he started. “Where have you been for the past two and a half months Captain?” he asked more calmly now.
“On a mission sir.” I replied, while trying to find out what I did with my mission letter.
“I never sent you on a mission, soldier! You better tell me where you have been, or I'll put you In jail” he said.
“We received a mission letter, sir!” I finally found the letter in one of the many pockets in my combat outfit. “Here it is sir.” The generally nearly ripped the paper while yanking it out of my hands.
After reading the letter he said. “Wow, this is a good one.”
I asked “What is sir?”
“This letter is forgery. I didn't write this. I must say, they did it pretty well. If I didn't knew that I never written a letter like this, I would have believed these orders myself.” He said. “Who gave you this letter.”
I thought about that for a moment and then it hit me. “Oh, damn, it was Yashira, she betrayed us, at least I think she did. We never found out. She either got burned in a stable or she escaped and we couldn't find her anymore.”
“Who is this Yashira? Why would you accept mission letters from her?” He asked.
“? You don't know Yashira, sir? She was transferred to my squad three months ago. After Slig died from food poisoning.”
“I never transferred any one to your squad, captain.”
“But she had the papers to prove it.” While saying that it dawned on me. She was a good cartographer. And apparently a damn good forger.
“Captain, I believe we have been breached.”
“I would think so sir.”
“Next time, someone is transferred to your squad, please talk to me.”
“Yes, sir”
“Dismissed”
The end.
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