Chapter 2

A Chapter by WhiteWolfAvenger

I wasn’t a big fan of vampires. Sure, they were pretty powerful and commanded a lot of authority in the supernatural world; but they had nothing on me. I could kick their asses up and down their fancy mansions. Of course not all vampires had mansions, but the ones I worked for did. Maybe that’s because I worked for the king and queen vamps. Okay, technically I only worked for one king. Of all the modern things vampires had accepted, democracy was not among them. Vampires tended to be extremely selfish and possessive, so it made sense that the higher-ups wouldn’t want to give up their power and control if they could help it. Each king or queen vampire had control over their own little kingdom. Lucky for them, the United States was broken up into convenient sections that were clearly defined, which meant less border disputes (in theory). Some vampires were able to claim several states as their territory at once, but those regimes didn’t seem to last long, mostly because of a lack of available vampires to defend all the territory.

Walking up the large concrete steps of his mansion, I wondered how long the king I worked for had been king. Of Michigan, that is. King Ivan had ruled over my home state for as long as I had known about vampires. Beyond that I knew very little about him. Vampires were very secretive about the inner workings of their society. I did know that Ivan was considered one of the more powerful vampires in the U.S. and his followers were very loyal to him. Supposedly the loyalty came from pure respect; but I had seen the king lose his temper once or twice before and if I had been one of his subjects I certainly would have been cowed into submission.

As I pushed open the large mahogany doors that led to the massive foyer, I heard something snarl from somewhere inside. Does he have a werewolf in there? I thought to myself. Vampires didn’t do a lot business with Weres as a rule, mostly because the vamps thought they were above the lowly animals that were Weres. Ivan was no exception.

Slipping inside, I didn’t immediately understand what was going on. I saw a mass of vampires on the far side of the room, standing in circle and preventing me from seeing what was in the center.

One of the vampires, a tall dark-haired man named Desmond turned and saw me.

“Blake! Bought time you got here.” Desmond grinned, walking over to me. He was one of the few vampires I actually liked.

“What’s going on?” I asked, still unable to see through the throng of vamps.

“Got us a werewolf. He attacked Mason out in the forest and ripped him to bits,” A large forest surrounded the mansion and it wasn’t uncommon to run into a supernatural creature or two, especially near the full moon, “Debbie was out with him and, like the fool she is, came running back here with the wolf following her. Now we got the wolf cornered and that thing is pissed as hell.”

“Why haven’t you killed it yet?” I asked.

“Well you know Mason was one of the King’s favorites. We all figured he’d want revenge,” Another snarl came from within the circle and Desmond looked back worryingly, “But maybe we should kill it anyway. Thing is going to start attacking any minute.”

“Odd behavior for a wolf, isn’t it? Why wasn’t its pack with it?”

“I’m guessing it’s a new wolf. Whoever made it must not have stuck around long enough to help the Were gain control. Or maybe this one killed the one who made it.”

“Can I have a look?” I asked.

Desmond frowned and I knew he wasn’t sure if that would be a good idea. Though I got along with Desmond and a few other vampires, most of the vamps distrusted me and considered me a threat. I was a threat to them and I liked that they knew that, but it did have its drawbacks.

“C’mon, I can help if he gets out of control.” I said.

A vampire cried out from over in the circle and Desmond didn’t waste any more time thinking.

“Alright.” He said, going over to the circle with me following.

Several of the vampires turned towards us as we got closer and I could see the distaste on their faces immediately.

“Desmond, why is she here?” A small blonde woman asked. She could have passed for human; the only reason she didn’t was because of the fangs that had run out with the Were’s attack. There was also the too pale skin, but I’d learned that to a normal human, the contrast didn’t seem as great as it did to me.

“Mary, Blake has come to report the results of the latest job she did.” Desmond was curt, trying to get me into the center of the circle and to the wolf.

With a little maneuvering and a slight shove from Desmond, I found myself in the middle of the ring of vampires. The circle wasn’t small, but I still couldn’t avoid almost stepping on the wolf, which did not make the wolf happy. It backed up to the other side of the circle, careful to not get too close to the vampires surrounding it, snarling. It was bigger than a regular wolf, which is how werewolves tend to be. Its fur was a light brown color, streaked with a darker brown across its back. Its eyes were almost the same brown as its fur, with smudges of gold ringing the pupils.

“Is it aggressive?” I asked over my shoulder.

“Well it killed Mason, so yeah, it’s a bit freaking aggressive.” A man snapped.

“Chill, I was just asking.”

I debated just going for the kill, Desmond had a point. I really didn’t need to upset Ivan, especially since he would already be furious that Mason was dead. I could use my sword to cut the wolf up a bit and incapacitate it, though I risked killing it if I hit the wrong spot. I didn’t really feel like getting in a fight with a werewolf tonight, but I wasn’t totally opposed to it.

However, before I could step forward and confront the beast, another woman shoved her way beside me. It was King Ivan’s resident witch, a tall 50-something year old who also didn’t particularly like me. Though at least she had a good excuse, what with me almost ripping her arm off. She was muttering words that I didn’t understand the meaning of, though I had heard them before. Jacqueline was a very powerful witch, with one of her selling points being that she could change a Were back and forth between their human and wolf form with only a few words. Sure enough, it only took a few seconds before the wolf felt the effects of the spell.

The wolf let out a strangled cry as it collapsed on the ground, jerking and twitching. It was trying to fight the Change which only made it that much more painful and difficult. I looked away from the writhing mass of agony. I wasn’t terribly fond of the noises a werewolf made as it was shifting, either from human to wolf or vise versa.

When I shifted it didn’t take any time at all; one second I’m a human and the next I’m an animal. Werewolves could take up to ten minutes to fully shift; the younger wolves took longer than the older ones.

I had a feeling the pained cries and whimpers were going to go on for a while and personally I didn’t want to stick around that long. I wanted to be out of here before Ivan arrived.

As I pushed my way out of the circle of vampires I saw Ivan striding in from somewhere deeper in the house. Speak of the devil, I thought to myself.

Devil is actually a fitting name for Ivan and not just because of his personality. King Ivan is not a very tall man, I pin him around 5’9. He has short, jet-black hair with dark brown eyes. Despite his less than intimidating appearance, he exuded power and dominance. No one doubted his ability to lead after meeting him. He was known for keeping his temper in even the most extreme of situations. But when he did lose it--you’d better watch out.

This was defiantly one of those times to watch out.

Ivan’s eyes were practically glowing with rage and his mouth was open slightly, showing a glimpse of his fangs. Ignoring me, he stalked over to the group of vampires who parted to let him through. Every vampire adverted their gaze, none of them wanting to draw the attention of their furious king.

“You,” Ivan spat, “You killed Mason?”

I couldn’t see from the angle I was at so I moved over until I could see down the open path the vamps had made for Ivan. I saw Ivan’s back, soldier-straight with curved, claw-like hands at his sides.

He was so pissed.

Ivan snarled and smashed his foot into the crumpled body, eliciting a cry from the Were.

Though I couldn’t see the much of the Were past Ivan, the pitch of the noises it made told me it was a male.

“How could Mason have been killed by the likes of you?” Ivan growled, disgusted, “You are a pathetic creature who should not have had the distinction of killing one of my most powerful and loyal vampires. When I am done with you, you will know the true meaning of pain.”

Ivan reached down, grabbed the Were with both hands and, as if throwing a baseball, whipped the Were across the room. The Were missed me by a couple of feet and carried on until he hit the wall. I heard bones crunch as the Were made contact with the bricks. I turned to see the Were lying on the floor, limp and immobile.

The kid couldn’t have been older than sixteen. His face was soft and unlined and he looked completely harmless lying there as if he was sleeping.

I bet he wished he was sleeping.

The Were opened one eye"the same milk chocolate color as his wolf’s"looked at me and whimpered.

I heard a noise behind me and turned to see Ivan walking towards the Were, murder in his eyes.

I knew it was a stupid thing to do, but when Ivan got within a few feet of me I stepped into his path, blocking him.

Ivan didn’t like that.

“Get the f**k out of my way, demon,” No matter what I said, Ivan believed I was more demon than wolf.

“He’s just a kid, Ivan,” I said.

“He killed Mason,” Ivan snapped back.

“Yes, but that’s only because he’s young and untrained.”

“More reason to kill it then. We don’t need to worry about it killing any more vampires if it’s dead.”

“But you won’t just kill him, Ivan. I know you; you’ll torture him until he’s begging for death. He’s just a boy. It is not his fault that he has no control.” Even as I was saying this, I knew my words were falling on deaf ears. Ivan wanted the Were to suffer for killing his only vampire child.

Desmond had told me that Ivan had made Mason a vampire around the early 1100s. Evidently Ivan had been searching for a human that displayed all the qualities he thought a leading vampire should have. Ivan supposedly discovered Mason while traveling through Denmark. A son of poor farmers, Mason impressed Ivan with his strength and determination, working day and night to keep the farm going. Mason was also very cunning, he was able to persuade the local markets to buy his farm’s crops for twice what they were worth.

Ivan thought he saw in Mason his chance to rise to great power within the vampire ranks until he was on top. Ivan was wrong about the last part. Mason had all the qualities needed to become a leader among the vampires except ambition. Mason was content to merely follow Ivan.

Ivan managed to rise to power on his own, but he never made another vampire child. Desmond said that despite Mason’s lack of want for power, Ivan had found everything he’d wanted in his child. The two were closer than any other vampires I knew.

Which, unfortunately, meant I could see where Ivan was coming from.

Still. He was just a kid.

“What if I took him?” I asked desperately, knowing what kind of hell awaited the Were if I let Ivan take him, “I could help teach him control.”

“Please, you can’t even control yourself half of the time.” Ivan spat, pushing past me.

I grabbed his arm as he passed, which was a mistake. He jerked his arm back and struck the side of my face.

Did I happen to mention how strong vampires are? Especially one as old as Ivan?

I found myself splayed out on the ground as Ivan continued over to the Were. I watched from my place on the floor as Ivan grabbed the boy and flung him over his shoulder. The boy’s injuries caused him to cry out, earning him a snarl from Ivan.

As Ivan carried the kid away, the Were looked at me, eyes full of pain and anger.

This isn’t your fight. Stay out of it. I told myself stubbornly. Still, I felt a twinge of regret as Ivan and the Were disappeared behind the door Ivan had originally come from.

The effect Ivan’s departure had on the other vampires in the room was easy to see. Stiff postures relaxed, breathing began again, and movement commenced.

As I started to get up, Desmond came over and gave me a hand. Pulling me to my feet, Desmond looked down at me.

“That was really stupid, you know,” He said mildly, “Trying to stop him and all that. You’re lucky he didn’t put more force into his swing.”

“He’s lucky I didn’t want to help that kid more.” I muttered, touching just under my nose where blood was trickling down. I looked up when Desmond stilled.

Great. Now Desmond was angry.

I had found out very quickly that the vampires didn’t like having someone more powerful than them anywhere near them. Though Desmond was more willing to give me a chance as a person, he still didn’t like to be reminded of what I was.

Though, funny enough, I actually wasn’t real sure of what I was.

Since the vampires had sought me out because of what I was and what I could do, it would be logical to think that they might know what exactly I was. And actually they did know what I was. They just refused to tell me. All I knew was that it had brought me into a world I often wished I didn’t know about.

Media had made supernatural creatures very popular as of late. Still, it’s a bit of shock when you find out that world is real. Though maybe if I had known that I too was part of that supernatural world when the vampires had come to get me I might not have been so astonished. I would have been in a better position if I had known. It would have saved me a lot of pain and Ivan a lot of time. Ivan got what he wanted though, so I guess it wasn’t a total bust for him.

Ivan got himself an assassin.

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© 2014 WhiteWolfAvenger

Author's Note

Well, here's the second chapter. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of writing a bit and then not writing for a month, so I hope this chapter seems to flow okay. This chapter is definitely longer than the first (maybe I should have split it up? o_o). Once again, any constructive criticism, suggestions, or pointing out of errors would be super helpful! Thanks :)

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Featured Review

EsdeeAyo

Again, like with your first chapter, there are plenty of places that could use less words. The word of this chapter is 'very,' and as empty modifiers go, it is used 'very' much.

I like how this chapter digs deeper into this universe without forcing exposition. Things are explained when they need to be. I like how this is set up. Kingdoms for vampires within state borders allows this story to go many places.

The narrator being not of the vampires but with them is also intriguing. It gives a different spin on the whole origin story. As opposed to the narrator learning about the universe to introduce the reader, the narrator must learn about themselves.

Please keep writing. I don't think the chapter is too long. It is one continuous scene. Just keep up the good work. I look forward to future chapters.