Vampires
Edwin was pacing around the room, that had been given to him, in colors of red and black with a moldy smell, from never been used, it was a rarity that an emissary from the Kingdom of Elatre would come to the Zulcan Kingdom, this room must had been sealed the majority of the time, it was mandatory by the Treaty that an accommodation should be kept at Amora's Castle for any emissary of Elatre.
He had arrived late at night, the guards had recognized his coat of arms, as belonging to the Vampire Ruling Family, and had let him in, a servant had taken him to the emissaries room. Once he arrived during a night of a full moon, it was understandable that the queen was not ready to see him, but the sun had already came out a few hours ago, and still no word from the queen.
"I will finish what my father started!" He hissed with his teeth clenched, feeling disrespected to not have been called to meet the Queen yet, his father was the first vampire to sacrifice himself for the Treaty, that brought peace to the land, when the first war between the werewolves and the vampires broke out.
Vampires lived up north, where the weather was cold, the warm weather of the south caused the vampires to be sick, and the unbridled creation of werewolves affected them, since it increased the overall temperature, the sorcerer's from the Merchant Council had created a barrier between the two kingdoms, making the werewolves not able to cross over, and they had created a icy sun on that side of the barrier, it protected every vampire on that side of the barrier, it was like a blanket was used between the sun and the earth, making everything a little whiter and the temperatures always cold, this was his fathers gift to the world and would die before seeing it go to waste.
Edwin heard some steps followed by a knock on the door, the scent of human blood filled his nostrils, making him salivate after his travels he was hungry but knew he would not die of thirst until he reached home he was almost two thousands yeas old he certainly could control himself.
The vampire opened the door and a servant smiled nervously at him, the freckles on his face accentuated his paleness, the beads of sweat and the rapid heart rate told Edwin that the man was afraid of him.
"Queen Alexa is ready to receive you, in the throne room, I was tasked to take you there," the man curtsied and Edwin nodded for him to show him the way.
Arriving to the throne room, Edwin noticed a young woman sat on the throne, her braid fell over her shoulder, showing white hair, compared to the other spare women on the throne room, her attire was simple, a black corset with straps over her shoulders a midnight blue velvet skirt, plain with a slit on both sides showing some ridding pants and leather boots, two daggers rest, one in each boot, a simple sword was on scabbard, the pommel carved in the shape of a howling wolf, but the authority that she exuded did not made Edwin refrain to skip the pleasantries and go straight to the point.
"I am Prince Edwin Vladi the Second. I am here at the request of Morgaine Vladi, wife of Lucius Vladi the ruler of Elatre!" this sparked some surprise on the wolves and Edwin smiled, proud to noticed that the confidential information was not leaving Elatre, "King Lucius is on the verge of death," he scouted the throne room, making sure that everyone was keep attention to him, the two man on either side of the throne smelled like wolves, and so did other people on the far corners of the room, he counted six of them, "the heat you generate has been increasing, and Morgaine sent me with two proposals." He locked eyes with the queen, her wise, calm brown eyes, was not what he was expecting, he expected more savageness and that by now the werewolf queen would already shown some rage, "the first one, you give up half of Zulcan, so we can expand our borders and the icy sun," he noticed the thinking that the queen was making, and she would know of the Icy Sun, after all it was what was allowing vampires and werewolves could exist in the same continent without driving the other species to extinction, "the second proposal, you sacrifice a Natural Wolf so that we can make the Recovery Ritual for our King." Edwin reached out the dagger from the scabbard on his hip and every warrior on the room became stiff, their hands reached out for their swords, he smiled he had anticipating the movement of the guards, this dagger was both a relic and an attainment of his reputation, but was still a weapon.
Alexa raised her arm in a sign to her warriors that they should not take action, her calm demeanor was getting on Edwin's nerves, all werewolves that he had the displeasure of meeting, had been prone to anger at the first hint of an insult.
"Your answer, now!" Edwin shouted, his teeth clenched, raising the dagger so everyone in the room could see it. "Do not forget who I am."
The pommel and the hand guard where decorated with strand of hairs of werewolves, varying in color, showing all the kills that Edwin had done a thousand years ago, before the treaty he was one of the huntsman in the war.
Edwin grinned, looking at Alexa's intent gaze, as she weighed their options, she placed a finger on her plush lips, "Prince Edwin, please, calm down, may I speak with you alone?" A ripple of dissent spread among the people in the room.
It was the first time that he heard the queen talking and her voice sounded soft and melodic, but it carried over authority and calm, he was not prepared for this encounter, he based himself on his past experiences when dealing with werewolves for this meeting, but she was contradicting all of his knowledge.
"It is not safe, my Queen." the man on the right hand side of the queen voiced, looking directly at the queen, a small silver-haired man, with a broken nose, told Edwin that although he was used with weapons by the way he carried it the smudge of paint on his fingers told him that this was a more diplomatic person.
"Do not worry, Charles." she smiled, looking at the man, and getting up from the throne, "I believe Prince Edwin wishes a deal as much as we do," she turned to Edwin, "let us reach an argument that it is nor rushed, where both parties stand to win,"
"I do not care for your side of the deal, so long as my Queen and my people do not loose," he answered, quickly and harshly, she moved closer to him and pointed to a door, motion him to follow her, the people on the room, parted to let them pass.
Edwin shrugged his nose, unaccustomed to taking orders, but reminded himself that he was here for Morgaine and all of the vampires and this Queen was breaking every rule and everything that he had for grantees when the topic was werewolves, he was curious to know more as well.
The queen led him to the outside, to a small patio with a fountain, "there are many interesting things in our village, that I would like to show you." Edwin remained in silence, surprised by this approach that he never saw coming, he was not expecting it, the sound of children playing filled his ears, the heat was affecting him, making him sweat but he did not falter, the smell of baked goods, iron being forged and the blood of humans filled his nose, "I do not understand what we can do about Lucius' health" she spoke, looking far away, with her back turned to him.
"You are not complying with the Treaty," the wind picked up, making her smell flow towards him, a smell of mint, rose and honey startled him, so sweet that he almost could savor it with his tongue, "the increase in wolves also increases the heat that you emanate, and that is dangerous for our kind," Edwin started, his fist clenched, being so close to a wolf made him even more susceptible to the heat and his emotions were starting to flee him.
Alexa did not gave him an answer right away and kept walking through the village, the stone path leading to the back of the castle, the highest point of the village. Two children an past them and Edwin frowned, he was expecting much more people on the village, than what he was seeing at the moment. That fact only added to his doubt about what was really happening, only six werewolves, of course she could have more hidden away, the humans in the village were only a few, which was intriguing since this was the heart of the kingdom and the providers of the pack, as it happened with Elatre, the humans had given their loyalty and willingness to provide to the ruling family in exchange for guidance and protection,so it was strange that the city had fewer people, but also the kingdom of Elatre had seen some strange things, fewer people walked the forests alone, and there were reports of some missing vampires.
"I'm the only one with the power to create more werewolves," she started when they reached the top of the stone wall, on the back of the castle, from where the village and a guarded forest was visible, she turned to him and looked him in the eyes, for the first time, since they started speaking outside, and Edwin could see his doubts mirrored on her eyes, "my mother sacrificed herself for the treaty, I would never let that be in vain."
"Queen Morgaine sent me on a mission, and I will not return until I finish my mission!" Edwin turned his eyes to admire the huge lake in the other side of the forest, it's surface seemed like a silver, bringing him a feeling of peace and resolve, for as beautiful as everything seemed to be here, he needed to help his people, Morgaine was his uncle Lucius' wife, and the ruler of Elatre in since he had fallen ill, even if they never saw eye to eye they were still his family and his Kingdom, "I have already come with two proposals for you to choose from."
"Either proposal only favor the vampires," Edwin noticed a hint of annoyance in her voice, even if she schooled her face to a blank expression.
"The treaty favored both species, but you broke the rules and only the vampires are being affected," he snapped, bearing his teeth at Alexa who arched an eyebrow to the behavior, startling him, she did not even went to a defensive posture.
"I will not accept either of those proposals, both are intolerable. I cannot give you half of my kingdom, as I cannot send an Natural Wolf to be sacrificed." Edwin held the dagger in front of her, a reminder of what he had done in the past, while she only grinned.
"Your actions do not frightened me," she growled and position herself in an attack posture as pure instinct commanded her to do.
Edwin just laughed at her, since beating her would be too easy, but he did not wanted to start a war only because the conversation did not go as planned. He had come here to get a peaceful resolution of their problem and enforce the Treaty laws if they were being broken.
"I also felt the change in the heat we emanate. It is stronger as if there are more of us out there…"
"Do not play me for a fool," Edwin cut her off, Alexa's forehead wrinkled, "If you are the only one who can create new werewolves you are breaking the Treaty!"
"I cannot explain, I only feel it," she continued ignoring his aggression, "but you are also in violation of the Treaty," she paused to look him in the eyes, he had a startled expression, "we received reports of humans being killed and drained of blood in my territory, which is a direct violation of the Treaty," she smiled, a small coy smile of a winner of someone that played her winning card.
Edwin was startled by this information he was unaware of any vampire movement on the forbidden territory, "You are bluffing," he called her out.
"I have evidence of this, since I do not need to use my strength to win an argument, I prefer reason over brute force, so I gathered as much as I could, we were studying it when you arrived, today" she added still smiling, and something told Edwin that Alexa was not one to bluff, all of this conversation all the bait that he had thrown at her and she did not once break in rage, as other werewolves would have done, this puzzled Edwin.
Alexa moved to a stone bench near a old and huge tree and sat down looking up to him, waiting for Edwin to remember manners and to sit down besides her.
Edwin was deep in thought when he sat down besides Alexa, wondering what Morgaine might have withhold from him. there was no shortage of food in the vampire lands, if what Alexa was saying was true, some sort of rebellion was beginning to brew.
"If both of us are being affected by something unfamiliar, I suggest we leave our rivalry aside to look into it together," Alexa started, Edwin shook his head in disbelief with the queens proposal, joining vampires and werewolves in a hunt for something unknown was never attempted in their history.
"Never," he growled harshly, never would he work alongside a filthy dog, prone to rage and violence, even if vampires needed to drink blood to survive, they always were more in control than the werewolves, they were thinkers and in some way more civilized than the wolves, they did not kill to feed, but werewolves would kill anything in their sight just for the thrill of the hunt.
"Only together will we be able to find out what is happening out there in our territories," she ignored his hostility and that made him think, if she was right, something terrible was happening and it would grow very fast, and that could leave both kingdoms at the mercy of whatever was happening, after all his people stood to lose far more than the werewolves if this unknown was allowed to go on unchecked.
"Very well, I accept your contra proposal, however I do have some conditions," he started and his mouth tasted like ash, for agreeing to work with werewolves, Alexa motioned him to keep going, she was willing to hear them, "I will go on this journey, and you may choose one of your warriors, preferably one that is not too wild," Edwin laughed at his own joke, "but just one, I will take no one else, no guard and no other member of the pack are to follow as well."
"What if there is a bigger danger? Only two might not be enough to handle a bigger problem," a wrinkle formed between her brows while she looked directly at him, her eyes piercing him, like she was searching into his soul, he thought that her concern was remarkable, but she never had seen a vampire in action and he was sure she was underestimating his abilities as a warrior.
"I will not take more than one. It would be a bigger risk for a war, since we are still rival species!" Edwin knew that the wolves were volatile and him being a vampire it would make their instinct scream to kill him, he did not wanted to risk more than one wolf attacking him at the same time and starting a war because of uncontrollable behavior.
Alexa was stilled for a moment, looking through the horizon, "I will go," she blurted out, suddenly looking at the sky as if it would give her some inspiration.