Vampires
Traveling under the heating sun tired him more than usual. One week had he been far away from his homeland and it would be more time even, but it was the heat that was causing him discomfort. Especially the Queen of Zulcan's stubbornness. She was crazy to join him in this quest to find who was breaching the treaty, especially as she would be leaving the throne without an heir. It would be better to send a warrior, but no argument was capable of moving her. It was different for him,. He was no heir or king, even if Lucius lay sick, it was Morgaine who took care of the decisions, even if she was younger than him, he had abdicated the throne when his father had died, he always preferred the carefree life of freedom that he gad than to take decisions for the whole kingdom and be shackled by them that way if he died Morgaine or Lucius would find a replacement for him. He knew Morgaine had mixed feelings about him, for one side she respected him being older and from the First Line of Vampires for another side she was afraid that he would revert his decision and grab the throne, leaving her in a precarious situation, especially with Lucius sick, Edwin in the other hand was loyal to the throne itself, to the ruling house of Elatre, but he also though that blindly following someone was not the answer, so he made himself a person who questions every decision and that thinks for himself, many times had he stopped Lucius from passing a stupid law that would improve the vampire lives but end up making the humans leave Elatre, and in the end destroy the balance between humans and vampires.
He stopped near a stream and drank from the refreshing pure water, and he was startled to see his figure. His once dark hair was almost light brown, his skin darker than its usual pale color, and small green veins spread down his neck. His black eyes were starting to turn amber, he hated these effects that the heat had on him, making his image so much different than what he was used to see, but spending time apart from the Icy Sun had that effect and he knew that he would see even more changes, before his mission with Alexa was finished. He was irritable. The comments that the queen had made when they meet had gotten under his skin, and he was tired and thirsty, and worried about breaches of the treaty and that the werewolf queen was coming with him on a mission and the responsibility to protect her would fall on his shoulders, he hadn't thought of it before, but now that the thought had gone through his mind he couldn't stop thinking about it, they would need to prevent a diplomatic incident between the two kingdoms, and if something that was not his fault happened to the queen, he would be held responsible and a war could come out of it, so in coming with him, the Queen was placing the responsibility of her safety in his hand, that was cunning of her, if any other wolf had come, he did not had a responsibility in protecting them, if something happened to them that was not directly Edwin's fault, the two kingdoms might be able to recover from it, but being the Queen, he needed to ensure nothing happened forcing his hand in the cooperation.
Not only was the heat changing him, it was changing the forest. On the way to the palace, he had crossed a stream frozen solid, running only beneath the icy surface, but ow was running freely with a fresh feeling and not the usual icy bite of the steam. That made him even more worried., He needed to get to Morgaine as fast as possible, to relate everything, so she could find a way to keep Lucius alive for a while longer, since he did not got anything to help him fell better and he would also like if Morgaine could explain how this attacks from vampires on werewolf land had been happening. He needed to do that quickly to go back to his plan with the Queen of Zulcan, he only had a few days until he needed to meet with the queen.
As he walked through the densely forest, there were no marks of trails, no passages between the trees. The snow seeped through and covered patches on the narrow path. When he heard footsteps, he stopped abruptly. Within the silence came a rhythmic breathing and the faint beat of a human heart.
Curiosity took the best of him and he approached silently to observe the human., She looked frightened. She was alone in the woods, running. The icy air made her cheeks pink and the wind ruffled her long red hair, his mind was confused, what was she doing in this forest, in Elatre the humans were not traveling in the forest, not alone, but she seemed to be running from something, but he could not feel or smell any other humans nearby, but her constant looking through the shoulders told him that she was running from something, but she never looked on his direction, so she was not alerted to his presence.
His predatory instinct sharpened, his thirst was burning through his throat. He felt his fangs came out, he could hear her the blood drumming through her veins. It was a temptation even for someone as well controlled as him,. He smiled, imagining the flavor of every drop of blood touching his tongue, soothing the burning n his throat.
Climbing the tree, he reached the top fast and watched her She stood still, listening to the sounds of the forest, but the wind picked up, making the branches strike each other. All the noises muffled into a distinguishable cacophony of sounds.
Edwin readied himself too pounce on her, to sink his fangs into her pearl white skin, when he heard branches snapping and leaves crackling came from his left, he came to his sense. He was fighting for the treaty, between the two kingdoms and at the sight of a human he was about to break it, hunting in Alexa's territory. The breach of the Treaty was punishable with two hundred years buried and amendments would need to be sent out to the Queen and the girl's family, the Council of Merchants would see to that that the compensation is paid.
He quickly jumped ahead to another tree, the tantalizing smell of the young woman still tempting him. He shook his head trying to dispel the scent that stuck in his nose, so his instinct did not take over and made him come back to hunt the girl and he just kept going through the forest, the barrier between the two territories almost visible for him, like a curtain of smoke and fog . He ran for it, once he reached the castle he would find food to quell is thirst.
It was dawn when he first saw the great white stone castle. In the middle of the snowy mountains, his home had an eerie feeling seen from the outside, the marble white stone and the long windows reflecting the sunlight, and it seemed no life was seen from where he was. Only two guards stood at the gate and they bowed as they saw him came, he was well known as the Prince of the House of Vladi, Edwin paid them no attention as he crossed the bridge over the pits covered in ice pikes. The first person that he encountered while reaching Morgaine quarters was her personal maid, Izia, the small woman was sitting in a chair in front of the fireplace of the antechambers of Morgaine, sewing something. She lifted her head up, her small yellow eyes narrowing in a question.
"Where is Morgaine?" he asked.
"She is in a meeting with the village council, from Sersoria, and she is not to be interrupted." Her soft voice was more of a whisper, and strained to hear.
Edwin snorted, and smoothed his hair, he wanted to get this over quickly "tell her that this is urgent. I'm going to clean and change and I'll be going to her office and I don't care who will be there." Ignoring everything else that she had to say, Edwin turned his back and left, Izia was turned by Lucius, at Morgaine's request, and she was like a guard dog, loyal to Morgaine to her core, and that type of blind loyalty was dangerous and it was her entire personality.
As he walked up to his room, silence reigned over the castle. There were no conversations between servants, no rushed feet over the stone floor, the castle was usually brimming with life on the inside and this silence was unusually. Everything was changing.
In less than an hour he had changed clothes and cleaned himself, and was back to the antechambers of Morgaine's quarters. Izia smiled at him, when she saw him and indicated with her head that Morgaine was ready for him he gave her a curt nod and went ahead to the door of Morgaine's office. The fireplace was blazing, giving an excess of smoke smell in the room, although vampires did not needed the fire, the humans did needed them, and Morgaine had received the village council. The massive table was set a few feet away from the fireplace. There were two comfortable leather chairs in front of the table, and Morgaine was sitting across it, with her usual pale complexion and red eyes, she was a beautiful woman, but not his type, however Lucius always loved darker things. Her dark hair screamed darkness and many feared her only for her face, she bored an aura of beautiful scary darkness.
Others feared her for the stories they had heard and the bravest of them feared her for the man that she was married to.
"Son, so good to see you, I hope you have good news." She had a low, seductive voice and a plastered smile, that always annoyed him, it was a fake smile, there were no real connection between them. Edwin sat down in one of the chairs in front of the table. "Things are even more difficult, now. It's not hard to see." A wrinkle appeared on his forehead. He touched his chin, uncertain how Morgaine would react to his news or even if she would agree with his plan. But he decided that he would not go back on his word.
"Even the humans must have noticed something., The village councils are coming to ask for reassurances and the humans no longer dare to walk the forests alone for fear of us."
"Maybe that is why the treaty is being broken.," Edwin raised a brow at Morgaine, who looked at him with an expression of incredulity.
"We know that, the werewolves are growing in number and we are suffering with that."
"The treaty is being broken by both sides, apparently." He studied her closely, looking for a sliver in her perfect mask. "Like I was going to report, I have news."
"I hope so. Were you able to secure something to help Lucius?" She was shuffling through paper, looking at him sideways, from the border of the papers she was pretending to read.
The question made Edwin stomach churn and the hair of his arm stand up. He did not bring anything to help heal his father, but he needed to get ahead of Morgaine, "No, I did not, because the Treaty is being broken by both sides. For what I see there is not enough wolves in Zulcan to cause this heat, we know humans do not feel the heat the same way, but they are noticing something" He paused to examine Morgaine's face that showed signs of irritation.
"Are you saying there's another Natural Werewolf? Who could transmit the genes? That is impossible."
"I'm not sure what is going on. But I can assure you that there is nothing wrong on that part of the world."
"I do not understand what is happening, then." Morgaine crossed her arms in front of her chest.
Edwin stood up and walked to the window, to see the view of the village and the few people that walked it's street. "Then there's the matter that our people are also breaching the treaty. Humans have been killed and drained in werewolf territory." He drifted his look to the window, remembering that he almost did the same thing about the treaty.
"What do you mean?" She stammered, clasping her hands.
"Have you been giving consent for this behavior?" He clenched his fists on the side of his body, and turned to the woman, she had tried something similar a couple of years ago, that had been found and Lucius had punished her accordingly.
"I… I did not knew until now." She bit her lip, turning her face away, but her finger was trembling lightly.
Edwin was frowning at Morgaine. She was the only one with the power to make the elder and younger vampires obey the treaty, and she had ears and eyes everywhere so if something happened she was the first to know about it, he was torn, was she afraid that her control was slipping or was she consenting to this behavior. "I'm off to find out what's going on." He didn't expect an answer or further approval from the women, since he was not sure about her real involvement on this"I've joined the Queen of Zulcan, and together we will go to the bottom of this. I will find all the answers that I need, and I ask only one thing from you in return it is silence. Speak with no one about what I'm doing or with whom I'm doing it."
"What?" Morgaine stood up, her voice shaking "that's absurd." He already anticipated that she would say this.
"To guarantee that we can find answers and not cause a war,. I will go alone with her." Seeing the shock on Morgaine's face, he added, "No guards, no pack."
"I do not accept it!" Morgaine slammed her hand on the wooden table, Edwin smiled, he anticipated this reaction from her, but he really hoped that she would not try to prevent him to go.
"I can't expect approval from someone who does not condemn the Treaty Rules being broken," Edwin sternly told her, stopping her with a cold look, he was just getting the accusation out there to she how she would respond to it.
The treaty was a legacy from his father and he would do anything to keep, Morgaine was the acting ruler and he defer to it, but since he was older and a Pure Blood, his word would always have more power than her "I hope you will not try to stop me. I'm doing this for the greater good of our kingdom."
Edwin did not wait for an answer from Morgaine, but left the room.
For one side his mistrust of Morgaine actions were not confirmed and even grew heavier, he gave her the information that he needed to relay in relation to his plan and of what was happening, Morgaine could take action in regards to Lucius health now that she had the information.