The Hunger of Wolves

by Ashley Ruggiero

  "I trust this year will go by very smoothly." She looked at Alex for a moment, and then to her daughter. For whatever reason, her gaze lingered on Victoria for quite a while.

  Still, Victoria remained obedient as she looked down to her feet and said, "Yes ma'am."

  Queen Speranta stood up from her seat. She seemed to tower over all of them, even Marcellus, who was actually much taller than she. She had that kind of power. Both she and the king always seemed to be the strongest people in the room. Victoria doubted she would ever become that powerful one day.

  "You two may leave. General Marcellus," she directed her attention back towards the man. "If I could have a word?"

  "I am at your service, my queen."

  Ω

  "I guess causing trouble is a habit of the nobles?" Alex asked Victoria as they navigated the crowded halls of Viata Academy.

  Her first impression of him had been correct. Ever since the two had left her mother's office, a goofy grin had appeared on his face. Victoria would have called it smugness if it didn't seem so sincere. In addition to this, another gargoyle would occasionally high five or wave to him in the halls. He seemed to know an awful lot of people.

  "What?" she asked him. She wasn't really listening all that much. Instead, she was mostly just focusing on keeping an eye on her surroundings, locating exits, paying attention to anyone who seemed at all strange. The scene before her was way too chaotic and made her far too uncomfortable.

  "You're kind of a troublemaker?" he asked again. "I only assume so because of what your mother said and, well, other vampire nobles I know."

  "No," she replied rather absentmindedly. "Not really."

  They were silent for a moment longer before he said, "You're not much of a talker, are you?" His sudden aggression made her finally focus on what he was saying. "I know I'm just some lowly gargoyle cadet to you vampires, but you could at least cut me a little slack." His goofy grin fell from his face as though it had never been there and was replaced with a stern expression to match his harsh words.

  Victoria suddenly found herself filled with all kinds of confusion. She just met this boy and out of nowhere he seems to dislike her. Was she already doing something wrong? "I don't know what you've been told," she said stopping in the middle of the hallway. She did her best to channel the strength of her mother but felt that she was failing miserably. The flowing river of students bent around the two of them. Every few moments a disgruntled look would meet them before they got a good look at Alex and decided it would be better not to cause a scene. "But I'm really not that shallow. The fact that you're a soldier or a gargoyle holds no judgment from me. I'm just not a big talker. Not everyone is. It's as simple as that."

  She continued her march through the crowded halls of Viata Castle with Alex trailing close behind. She could feel those sky blue eyes piercing into her back, but she simply ignored him.

  "Why does no one know who you are?" he asked her. His voice had become softer. His tone more gentle. Victoria decided that she wasn't a fan of his unpredictable nature. Sizing him up for a moment, Victoria decided that she would in fact be able to beat him in hand-to-hand combat, especially in these close quarters. But then she thought of how her mother would react and decided to attempt civility instead.

  "It seems that I am not as social as you are."

  "You're certainly not what I expected." Alex quickened his pace to walk beside her rather than behind.

  "Based on what you said earlier, I suspect that is a good thing."

  Alex looked at her quizzically as though he were still trying to figure her out. "You know, I figured you would hate me."

  "Why is that?"

  "Albert Vasile was the one who was supposed to be with you, not me, some gargoyle from a little village in the mountains of Piatra. Also, your betrothed doesn't exactly have a whole lot of manners."

  That fact, she knew all too well. For as long as she'd known Albert, he'd been a bit of a wild child. Whenever he was out from under his father's watchful eyes, that is.

  "You have to understand, Albert is… pretty much my only friend. Unlike you, I don't know anyone here, so I was looking forward to his company. He's strong, too. I always feel safe whenever he's around. I don't understand why my mother switched my bodyguard at the last second, but," She looked up into Alex's rugged face. "Let's do our best to make this year go by smoothly, yeah?"

  Alex nodded and relaxed a bit beside her. Gradually, Victoria began to relax herself. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Alex twisting his head this way and that as he looked at the architecture around them.

  "I had all kinds of expectations of what Batara would look like," he said. "I imagined monsters living in a world surrounded by dark magic, but this…" He looked around himself in a state of awe. The white marble walls of Viata Castle were adorned with ornate, golden crown molding. The lush, velvet curtains had been pulled back to allow the moonlight to shine on the paintings of constellations on the high domed ceilings. Golden candelabras hung from the walls and dazzling chandeliers held lit candles that broke the darkness of the night. "I suppose I never imagined a place could look like this."

  Victoria resisted the urge to frown at his use of the word 'monster.' "Really? I suppose it's all that I've ever known. I've never been to Piatra, or anywhere, really. I suppose it's a lot different than this?"

  "To say the least." This was all Alex offered. The conversation between the two quickly died out making Victoria realize just how different the two really were. It made her wonder just how smoothly this year could really go.

  It was in silence that she and Alex continued to wind their way through the hallways of Viata Academy. It was better this way, if a little awkward. It allowed for Victoria to monitor her surroundings more carefully. Every doorway, every dark corner, every breath that the other students took, it was all observed by Victoria's paranoid eyes. Life and death went hand-in-hand. In a single second, one could bleed into the next. Victoria wondered just how much Alex really knew about the darkness that hunted in this world.

  When they at last arrived at Victoria's assigned room, Alex stopped her, his mood suddenly serious.

  "There's people inside," he warned. "Let me go in first."

  Victoria held her breath as the gargoyle carefully slipped inside. His movements were eerily quiet for someone of his size. As soon as he was in, he was opening the door with a frown on his face. "It's safe," he groaned.

  "If it's so safe, then why are you upset?"

  He opened his mouth to speak but was pushed to the side as another boy appeared in the doorway with a broad grin.

  "Victoria!" Albert exclaimed as he took in his oldest friend wrapping her in a hug.

  "Albert!" a smile stretched across Victoria's face for the first time that evening. Albert was here. Maybe everything would be okay. "I'm surprised to see you here," Victoria said focusing on him. In the corner of the room stood Alex, completely forgotten about with a frown on his face.

  "I may not be your bodyguard, anymore, but I still have guard duties that your father asked me to attend to while here at Viata Castle."

  Relief flooded Victoria's heart, but then Albert was casting malicious eyes over to Alex who was doing the same.

  "As appreciated as your presence is, Vasile," Alex said with a bite in his voice. "What is it that you think you're doing here in the girl's dormitories?"

  Albert rolled his eyes, moving over to recline on a vacant mattress

  "Am I not allowed to visit my friend? Not to mention that I always like to make myself familiar with the living arrangements of females," Albert Vasile laughed. Victoria rolled her eyes.

  Alex groaned. "Ever the charmer, I see."

  Albert narrowed his eyes at him. "Always the judgmental stick in the mud. Sorry to tell you this, Lupe, but you're the odd one out this time. You're in vampire country now."

  Alex let out a low growl, which Albert ignored, running a hand through his previously neat auburn hair, clearly frustrate
d by the situation.

  So much for this year going smoothly. It seemed unlikely that the civility between Alex and Victoria would last long given that Alex and Albert were mortal enemies.

  Albert, unwilling to let the issue go, spoke up again. "Lupe, is it really necessary for you to guard Victoria while I'm around? It seems rather redundant to me."

  "Maybe if you'd actually gone to class every once in a while, I wouldn't have to be."

  Victoria cast Albert an aggravated look, and he had the good sense to look sorry.

  Wild as he was, Victoria had never known Albert to be the kind of person to skip classes. He was typically very ambitious. They may have been old friends, but Albert had been unusually distant these past few years. For a while now, Victoria had been wrapped up in her own family drama, completely forgetting that Albert had some of his own. She wondered if maybe that was what had brought about such a change in him.

  "Albert Vasile!" a girl yelled from where she stood in the hall. Victoria jumped having not even heard her approach. Observing her black uniform, Victoria noticed that Albert wore a similar one. It was the Noctis cadet uniform, the uniform Victoria was supposed to be wearing had her life turned out differently.

  Shaking her head, Victoria willed the thought out of her mind. It did no good to dwell on the things she couldn't change.

  "It's time to go! Stop slacking off!"

  Rolling his eyes, Albert dragged himself up from the bed. "Alright, no need to yell. Who do you think you are, my mother?"

  The girl walked away angrily with Albert trailing after giving Victoria one of his trademark winks before he left. As the two walked down the hall, Victoria heard Albert's voice trail off, "Do I need to remind you about something called a chain of demand?"

  That was all Victoria heard before the two were out of earshot. She let out a sigh as she realized that, even though Albert was her only friend, she certainly wasn't his.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Making Friends is Hard to Do

  As much as Victoria liked living on her own, her mother wouldn't have it. Apparently, isolation isn't a good way to make friends.

  How ironic.

  "I'll be in the room right next door," Alex told her for maybe the fifteenth time that evening. "Just shout if you need anything."

  She wouldn't, but still, Victoria nodded silently as she watched the only other person she knew leave her by herself. Worry soon crept into her heart as she wondered what her two other roommates might be like. As nervous as she was, she decided that she was going to do her best to become friends with them. After seeing how Albert had other people in his life, she decided that she couldn't rely on him anymore. He had to be allowed to live his life without feeling the weight of her own insecurities weighing him down.

  At least, that's what she planned. All of this went out the window as her first roommate stepped through the door. Immediately, she could tell that there was something rather frightening about the girl. Her wavy long hair was dyed a vibrant pink and those piercing golden eyes stared out at Victoria, almost daring her to a fight. She was tall, taller than Victoria, and just about as muscular, too. Everything about her appearance said, 'stay away from me.'

  Still, Victoria stretched a smile across her face as she kindly greeted her. "Hello," was all she could muster in her warmest tone of voice.

  "Hi," the girl replied.

  "I'm Victoria. What's your name?"

  "Blair," was all the girl replied before turning away signaling an end to the conversation.

  Victoria sank. Making friends sure was hard to do.

  As the night went by, it was still just Blair and Victoria inhabiting the room. The prospect of just the two of them sharing a room would be miserable. In a second attempt to strike up a conversation with her indifferent roommate, Victoria opened her mouth to speak again.

  "Hey—"

  "I'll be back later," Blair cut her off.

  "Oh, okay," Victoria barely got out before Blair closed the door. "I'll be here," she finished sadly to the closed door.

  It was a few hours before dawn and Victoria sat alone in her new room, the silence louder than the noise that was no doubt emanating from the Great Hall. It was there that her more social schoolmates were meeting up together before school began. Alex had asked her if she intended to go, but she had only shaken her head with a frown. The thought of joining strangers who no doubt already had their own expectations of her sounded like an actual nightmare.

  She would receive enough curious and irritated glares when classes began; she didn't desire anyone else's company now.

  It was when no one else was around that Victoria humored the idea of which of her parent’s abilities she might have inherited had she not been born so broken. Opening her palms, she willed riotous red flames to erupt and flow between her finger, but nothing happened. Her mother's flames would not save her now, just as they never had before.

  With a broken-hearted sigh, Victoria turned her attention back to the book she was reading until the steady approach of a loud banging sound met her ears. Rising to her feet, Victoria prepared herself to be attacked. As the door burst open, though, there was no enemy before her. Instead, there was only a petite girl clearly overwhelmed by all of the luggage she had brought with her.

  Rushing over to help her, Victoria barely caught one of her bags before it got dropped on the floor. Between all of the bags, Victoria saw a pair of vibrant, violet eyes staring back at her.

  "Thank you!" the girl cried. She had a small frame, unlike the warrior's build that Victoria had achieved over the years. No wonder she was struggling. Taking the majority of her things, Victoria cleared away enough of the bags to see that the girl was quite petite with chin-length platinum hair and a slight smattering of freckles across her nose. "I'm Raduta! I'm new to Terrarum."

  Victoria blinked in surprise. "All of Terrarum?"

  "Yeah," Raduta set some of her bags down on the last empty bed before collapsing onto it. "I was living in the mortal world before this, but it's not an easy place for people like us to live in, so my family and I moved here."

  "So you don't know anything about this world?"

  "Nope," Raduta laughed. "But I'm excited to finally be able to live as a vampire. We have to live in hiding in the mortal world. So," Raduta looked at her expectantly. "What's your story?"

  Victoria chuckled. "I'm not sure you want to hear."

  Raduta frowned. "Of course, I do. I wouldn't have asked otherwise."

  "Okay, uh…" Victoria was suddenly nervous. "My name's Victoria and I come from the Speranta family. They're the ones who are in charge of this place."

  "Your family is in charge of this school?"

  "The country, actually." Raduta's eyes went wide. "My family is the reigning monarch of all of Sangera. As their only child, I'm next in line for the throne. It's kind of a tradition that the future monarchs all attend Viata Academy."

  "So, you're a princess?" Raduta asked. Victoria nodded. "That's so cool!"

  "You really think so?" Raduta seemed excited about this new world she was experiencing. It was true that she wasn't yet aware of the kind of horrors that could take place in Terrarum, but it was a kind of innocence in Raduta's eyes that Victoria once knew. She hoped that the light within her never died. "Because of my status, I'm not exactly friends with a lot of people here. I'm kind of new to this whole thing."

  "So, it seems like we're both the new kids in this area," Raduta said. "We should be friends."

  "You want to be friends with me?"

  "Yeah! Why not?"

  "I just didn't think anyone would really want to be my friend."

  "That's ridiculous. You seem super cool, for a princess that is," Raduta joked.

  Victoria found herself laughing as well. "Okay, yeah, let's be friends."

  Ω

  "So, you're a noble, then?" Raduta asked as the two sat together looking through their schedules in their dorms. Victoria nodded. "You must have insane powers then. I don
't know much about Terrarum, but I have heard that the nobles of Sangera are said to have amazing powers."

  Victoria sighed as she turned the paper containing her schedule for Raduta to see. On it was listed mathematics, Terrarum and Sangera history, Defense and Retaliation class, Terrarum languages, but no magic classes.

  "I don't understand. Are you not taking any classes to control your power because you were already taught how?"

  "I've never received any lessons in magical abilities because I don't have any. I'm a cripple. I'm sure you've been curious about why I'm not exactly well known. It's because, before now, I haven't left Viata Castle in seven years."

  "That's a long time," Raduta replied sadly.

  Victoria nodded. "My lack of abilities has made me a target for anyone with any grievances against the Speranta family. In order to keep me safe, my parents wanted me to stay home all of the time." Victoria re-examined her schedule. "So, no, I don't have any amazing magical abilities."

  Victoria prepared herself for Raduta to laugh. It was what everyone else did, so Victoria found herself quite surprised when Raduta only said. "I'm sorry. I can't imagine how difficult that must be."

  Victoria shrugged. "I get by. Instead of training with magic, I've been trained as a warrior. I'm quite advanced when it comes to skills on the battlefield."

  "I think that's amazing. Instead of giving up, you've only worked harder to become someone that your people can lean on. You're very brave."

  Victoria was surprised by her new friend. Everything that she had become accustomed to was different with Raduta. When others would laugh and tease her, Raduta gave encouragement. Maybe this whole friend thing wouldn't be as hard as Victoria originally thought.

  Except Blair was still acting indifferent towards Victoria. Not Raduta, though. The intimidating girl was all smiles towards Victoria's first friend here at Viata Academy. Victoria figured she knew why Blair was acting somewhat hostile to her. Many children in Sangera had been raised to believe that the princess of their kingdom cared little for her title and preferred to enjoy her wealth far away from the eyes of commoners. It was ridiculous, but Victoria supposed that people would believe any explanation for something that they couldn't explain.