“But what many of you don’t know…those who did not have loved ones fall…is how the fallen are now surviving and still with us.” Everyone starts chatting real loud, causing Kira, this time, to raise a hand to silence them so that Callie may continue.
“It is with great admiration that I tell you who our heroes are that have brought us this antidote to heal us from vampire venom and have also ended the battle.” Callie holds up a bottle of the antidote, which must’ve been left behind by the “good” vampires, just in case it’s needed again. The villagers all look up, and I hear oohs and ahhs coming from some of them, while others quietly question who these heroes are that Callie is talking about.
At that, Jonathon, who is off to the side, gestures as if calling someone in, and we are all surprised when Julian, king of the vampires, comes outside from the doors of the palace, followed by Camilla. Suddenly, everyone gasps and starts to yell.
“Hold them back!” orders Caleb.
“What’s the meaning of this??” yells someone within the crowd.
“Why are these wretched vampires here??” yells another.
“Are you trying to get us killed??” yells someone from the back.
All those who don’t know about the source of the antidote – those who did not have loved ones fall – start to come forward as if desiring to attack our new allies.
“Please, everyone, stop!” Kira yells, holding up both arms. “Let us explain!” Everyone indeed stops, because their trust in Kira is great, but the chatter continues quietly.
“What you don’t know is these vampires – Julian, Camilla and their followers – are different. While we were all awaiting word inside the palace, these vampires – along with others in their clan – fought alongside our warriors to fight those who came to attack us.”
Julian speaks up then. “We call them ‘the evil ones’.”
“Yes! And it is with their help that we were able to completely annihilate the evil ones AND save those of our kind who have fallen. It is these vampires that gave us this antidote that cured our kind of the venom that would’ve otherwise killed us.” Kira points to the bottle Callie is holding up once again.
“But how is this possible??” asks someone in the crowd. I try to tell who, exactly, but all I can tell is that it’s a female’s voice. “I thought all vampires were our enemies.”
“May I?” Julian asks Kira and Callie, who both nod at him.
“That is my fault, I have to admit. You see, the evil ones were once under my power, and we were all of one kind. We were, as you white wolves know, allies then with your clan.” Julian then closes his eyes and looks down. “However, I had no knowledge that our brother, Christian, did not feel the same way as we did. So he betrayed us. He was the one who turned a young boy into a new vampire and set him off to attack your kind. And then it was him who framed you all for the murder of this young boy.”
Julian opens his eyes and then looks up at us all again as he continues his story. “When I found out about this wrongdoing, I ousted Christian from our village, but what I didn’t know was that he was also secretly gathering his own followers who were also against us and did not believe that we should have a peace treaty with wolves. When I kicked him out, he took these followers with him, but they left in the night while we were asleep, so I had no idea where they went. I then sent some of our people out to look for them, but unfortunately we did not find them in time before they attacked your kind the first time several months ago.”
Julian again looks down and closes his eyes. “I am sorry for that. If I had known what he was truly capable of, I would’ve stopped him while he was still with us…”
“As would I,” agrees Camilla.
At that, Kira walks up to Julian and puts a hand on his shoulder. I am a little unnerved by this, seeing a wolf consoling a vampire. Then Julian puts a hand on hers, looks up, and continues.
“We finally found out his whereabouts and the whereabouts of the few left that had escaped the first battle with your clan, but we found out when he had already turned more people into vampires. Knowing that he would then outnumber you, we came as quickly as we could to help your kind take him and his followers out. And we also brought our antidote to help those who would fall from our venom.”
“But what is this antidote made of? How do we know it is truly safe?” asks someone else in the crowd.
“It comes from a combination of our own blood mixed with some magical berries we have in our village,” explains Camilla.
“You can trust me!” Jessie suddenly speaks up, releases herself from our “wall” of protection, and joins the others on the steps of the palace. “You all know that I can sense one’s true intentions, and these vampires’ intentions are quite clear. They are indeed as good as they say and truly want us to live and thrive. And this antidote that they gave us...it will work to heal our fallen, I’m positive of that!”
The crowd starts to let out more positive chatter now. There are, of course, still some skeptics within, but most of the people are now relieved that these vampires are here for the good of both our kind and theirs. They start to back away, lessening the stress that I and the other patrol members were starting to feel.
Callie then steps back up to the front. “So do we welcome these vampires, then?”
Most everyone cheers.
“Thank you, all, then!”
At that, Caleb relieves us of our duty and some of our kind even goes up to shake hands with the vampires and thank them.
I, on the other hand, wonder why Ethan was not present at this time.
Secret Rendezvous
After the meeting, Caleb and I pay a visit to Seth to see how he’s doing before returning home to the black wolf village. He is much better now, stronger, and asking for details of what happened at the meeting. We tell him that everything’s alright.
“Can I meet whoever it was that gave me the antidote, then?” asks Seth. “I want to thank her. All I remember is seeing a beautiful glow and smelling a sweet scent before I passed out.”
“You can in time,” responds Jessie, sitting on her bed next to him, “after you’re fully recovered.”
Caleb and I say our goodbyes and tell him “get well soon” before heading out. He also tells Jessie to take some time off to take of Seth, to which she agrees.
Outside and on the path home, we are somewhat following behind the other black wolves who are heading back to our village. Caleb notices me looking a bit out-of-sorts and stops walking.
“What’s going on with you? Are you okay?” asks Caleb.
“It’s nothing. Just thinking about Seth and how he could’ve died.” Sort of a lie, but sort of not. I can’t tell Caleb I can’t stop thinking about a vampire. That’s totally unheard of for a wolf.
“Yeah, I can’t stop thinking about that either,” responds Caleb. “I just wish they had found out in time to save Mya.” Caleb shakes his head.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks.” I take my hand off as we get closer and closer to the black wolf territory boulder, but then I hear a sound calling out to me. Sort of a quiet whistle. I look around the forest as Caleb continues to look ahead. I slow down, and Caleb is a step ahead of me now, but hasn’t realized I’ve fallen behind yet. I see someone in the trees now, looking down and waving at me. It’s Ethan.
“What are you looking at?” Caleb causes me to flinch, and I quickly look away from the trees and directly at him. I hear the leaves shift. Ethan must be hiding now.
“I thought I heard a bird…a very rare one. You know how I like birds.” Not a lie. I love birds. “Why don’t you go on ahead? Now that there’s no ‘evil ones’ to worry about I’m sure I can manage to walk home alone safely. I want to stick around here for a bit and look at the birds.”
“Okay,” says Caleb. “See you at home, then. But don’t be late for your afternoon patrol shift!”
“I won’t, I promise.” Caleb gives
me a quick, brotherly-like hug. When we part, he waves at me as he continues on.
“Bye!” I quickly say.
When he’s out of sight, I look up again and gesture to Ethan to stay where he is until we are positive Caleb is too far along to hear us.
After several moments, when Caleb and the other black wolves seem to be long gone, I climb up the tree to join him.
“What are you doing here?” I say, with a little bit of panic in my voice. “You’re in wolf territory! You could get caught!”
“Which is why I’m here in this tree,” jokes Ethan.
“Yes, but what if any of them had looked up here?”
“I was very well hidden,” explains Ethan. “I was even at the meeting in the center of your village, and nobody saw me.”
“But how? Jessie must’ve sensed you. She has a special ability where she can sense vampires.”
“From what I understand, she can only sense us when we are close. I was high up on a tree.”
“But why weren’t you there with Camilla and Julian in the first place?”
“Because Camilla and Julian are actually brother and sister. The rest of us were asked to stay home since they didn’t know how the rest of your kind would react to vampires having had saved you.”
I think on this and realize it makes sense. I remember how angry the crowd became when Camilla and Julian alone appeared, and how surprised we all were when these vampires showed up at the battle.
“Well…I’m glad you are here,” I say, changing the subject. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the day I saw you gathering flower and berries.”
“It was that far back, was it?” Ethan grins, and I blush.
“Yes, I have had quite the crush on you, I must admit, now that we’re together alone.”
“Well, if we’re being so honest,” says Ethan, “I must admit that I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you presented yourself in human form at Jessie’s house.”
“Really?” I ask, not believing him.
“Yes,” said Ethan. “I haven’t found a vampire that I’ve had those kinds of feelings for before, and then I see you, a wolf…”
“I know. I’m having the same kind of trouble, but with other wolves. I haven’t been attracted to any other wolf and then I see you…”
At that, we stare at each other for a few moments, taking each other’s beauty in.
“But I’m also afraid of what the others will think when they find out I’m pursuing a relationship with a vampire, of all creatures,” I say.
“I know what you mean,” Ethan agrees. “Well…um…how about we get out of here…in case we get caught?”
“Lead the way,” I order, jokingly.
He starts jumping from one tree to the next, one branch to another, and I follow swiftly behind him. We decide to head out of the borders of the wolf territories and follow along the outer edge, being careful not to be seen by any of the wolf patrol members. We also avoid anything near his vampire territory.
We eventually come to a lake that is far away from both our territories. We stay in the trees to take in the beautiful views surrounding us.
As I’m looking out onto the lake, the animals below, and the other scenery, I feel eyes staring at me. I look over at Ethan, and find that it is him. “What?” I ask, curiously.
“Nothing. I just can’t ignore how pretty you are today, and there’s something I want to do, but I know I shouldn’t…”
“What is it?” I ask.
“This.” He leans towards me, takes my body into his arms, and then kisses me on the lips. I kiss him back and we kiss for several moments before we finally release each other, being careful not to fall out of the tree, of course.
“That was…nice,” I comment. He then reaches out his hand and I take it. He pulls me in and then puts his other arm around my waist. I turn around to once again take in the breathtaking views around us, and I know despite what everyone’s going to say, I want to be with Ethan forever.
In Trouble
“Oh my God, I’m going to be late! No, I’m already late!” I quickly start to climb down the tree that Ethan and I had been standing, embracing, kissing, and getting to know each other for the last three hours. I learned that he was fully human until he was twenty-five years old, when he was inflicted with a fatal disease that would’ve killed him, if Camilla hadn’t had found him and turned him into a vampire, which then killed the disease when his human blood was replaced with the healing properties of her blood. He learned that I have been a wolf my entire life, as was my parents.
‘Now hold on, Cinderella!” Ethan calls down to me. “What’s going on?”
“I was supposed to start my afternoon patrol shift…an hour ago!” I look down at my feet to make sure I haven’t lost a shoe. Cinderella, indeed.
“Wait! When can I see you again?” he calls down to me.
“I have Friday off! Let’s meet here at nine o’clock in the morning! Assuming I’m not in real trouble and get grounded or something.”
“I’ll be here! But how would you get grounded? I thought you’re old enough to live alone?”
“I am! But Caleb is like a big brother to me, and he might just use that as permission to ground me.” No, not really, but he could at least suspend me from my job for a few days like he did Seth.
“I really gotta go now!” I blow him a quick kiss goodbye, and then take off running, shifting into wolf form as I speed through the trees below. I’m willing to bet he probably saw me transform, but I don’t care. He would’ve seen me doing that at some point, eventually.
Seeing as we went extra far out to avoid being seen, it is a long journey back to our borders, but would’ve been longer if I had made the journey back in human form.
When I am within hearing and communication distance, I quickly apologize. I’m sorry I’m late!
You should be. I am surprised to find Jessie there instead of Caleb, and then realize he must’ve ended his shift an hour ago. Still, Jessie was taking care of Seth, and shouldn’t be here.
Jessie, what are YOU doing here? Shouldn’t you be with Seth?
He’s fine and his mother has arrived to help take care of him so that I can go back to my patrol duties. Why are you late?
I lost track of time. I was out taking a walk, enjoying all the different kinds of birds—
You can’t lie to ME, Dalia, like you did Caleb. I know what you were really doing out there, and why you’re late.
I finally make it to where she is standing, and she glares at me as soon as I am within view. What do you mean? I ask, attempting to sound innocently clueless.
I know you were with Ethan all this time.
Could her powers also sense that? I’m about to ask her this when she interrupts my thoughts.
It’s not my powers, if that’s what you’re thinking. Darn, she’s good! You think I didn’t see the way you two looked at each other at my house the other day? I am a female, like you. My intuition told me that you were attracted to him, and I saw that he was attracted to you, as well.
Again, I’m sorry. Please don’t tell anyone…
Don’t worry, I won’t. I know what it’s like to spend years looking for Mr. Right, wondering when and where you’ll finally meet him. But you should also know that our kind will not approve, and I don’t think the other vampires will either.
So I should end it, then?
Absolutely not. You finally found somebody. Who knows if you’ll find the same love in a wolf, right?
I nod my wolf head.
But my advice to you is this…run away together. Think up a well-thought-out excuse for wanting to leave the clan…both of you…and then get as far away as you can from both our territories. Only then can you be truly happy together.
Leave? Why can’t I just plead to all…
No, that won’t work. I think it’ll just lead to nothing but trouble for the both of you.
I think about her advice for a moment, and realiz
e she’s right. There’s no way the wolves or the vampires could accept a relationship between a wolf and a vampire.
So what should I do in the meantime? I ask.
Keep yourselves well-hidden. Where did you meet today?
We started out in between the white wolf and black wolf villages, because that’s where he intercepted me, but then we moved as quickly as possible to the land by the lake.
That’s good. Make that your secret meeting place until you’re ready to leave, but be careful. Just because it’s outside of our borders doesn’t mean you won’t get caught.
I understand. Thank you.
Jessie and I embrace is a wolf hug. Now, your punishment for being late…
Uh oh.
I want you to make two rounds around the borders instead of one.
Yes, ma’am! At that, I take off.
Realization
“It’s okay, Julian will accept you into our village,” says Ethan, after I tell him Jessie’s advice. “You can come with me and live there.”
“Are you sure?” I ask. “Have you spoken with Julian about us directly?”
“No, but he is a kind and understanding man,” Ethan tries to assure me. “He will see that having you there makes me happy.” He puts his arms around my waste and kisses the top of my head.
“What about the others, though?”
“We can convince the others that you will make me happy and you will not hurt them. Am I right to assume you won’t hurt them?”
“No. Not unless they give me reason to. And besides, what if the wolves find out? There’s no way for them not to now that the wolves and vampires are allies once again. We can’t keep hiding all the time. It’s better if we run away somewhere…far away. Where they won’t see us.”
I cringe at the thought of this, of having to go far away in order to be with Ethan. After all, the wolves are my family, and I have known them since birth. I love them all, but I love Ethan as well. As I stew over this, I bury my head into Ethan’s chest. He holds me tight and starts to stroke the back of my head.
“I think Jessie is right,” I say into his chest. “The only way for us to be together is to leave both our clans.”
She Wolf and The Detective: (Suspense, Crime, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy) (Book 1-3) Page 10
