Nine

Vali

“Well. That went significantly better than I thought it would.” Jackson said as we reached our new accommodation, which was inside the chateaux that the Summit was being held in. We had been offered the rooms upon our exit from the meeting, and for lack of wanting to travel between here and Paris we had decided it would be a good idea to stay.

“To say the least…” I trailed off, rubbing my neck in an attempt to get rid of some tension. It wasn’t going to do anything but anger the pain, but it was still worth a try.

“How long until they give us the agenda for the next few days?” He asked, I looked at him as I sat down at the table in our quarters. It was the easiest way to describe it, with a common area and bedrooms coming off of it. The table was in that common area, with a fireplace along one wall, which was lit and bookshelves on the other.

“They failed to mention that, Jackson. We need to plan though.” I said, he nodded as Marcy scouted the rooms and reported back.

“We’re clear. Can’t find any listening devices either so we should be safe.” She said.

“Thank you.” I replied, taking a deep breath and finally letting my shoulders relax. This stupid fucking dress was gettin on my nerves. “Do I have to wear dresses for the rest of the days?” I asked, my eyes once again on Jackson who was nodding in reply. “Fuck.”

“However, I will let you go barefoot and I can paint your nails black, I know how much you love both of those things,” he said. I let out a slow breath and nodded.

“What can we do while waiting for the agenda?” I asked, Marcy looked around.

“We need to get our bags,” she said. Shit. I didn’t even think about our bags. “I can do that. We shouldn’t be in danger here, now that everyone from that room knows our names it will be very suspicious if one of us goes missing.”

“That was odd…” I trailed off, remembering Prince Mircea’s voice echoing through the room. His words, asking to know our names, wanting to humanise us.

“The Vampire Prince?” Jackson asked as if to make sure we were on the same page.

“Yes. Why would he, of all people, want to work with us?” I asked, his exact words echoing through my mind.

I look forward to working with you.

“I don’t know, but it could be very helpful. My sources tell me that he hasn’t been at the last four Hunts. He could sympathise with us.” He replied, I nodded.

“Okay, well… Marcy can go get out bags. Jackson, stay here and begin planning. You’ll need to be here in case they drop off the agenda before I get back, I don’t want them to think we’re not serious about this.” I said, taking off my heels.

“And where are you going?” Marcy asked a bit too quickly.

“There’s a forest surrounding us and I need to ground myself. I’m going to go for a walk.”

°•°•°

The forest was quieter than I had thought it would be. That meant one of two things: that this place was haunted or there was another predator around. I wouldn’t mind if it was the first, because it would mean I would have a relatively peaceful walk. The latter, however, could mean that the other predator was human or human-like and that could mean having to make conversation.

Or at least acknowledging their presence.

I also knew that the second option was the most likely, so I made sure to walk off of the path and through the trees. My feet were cold, but I would rather walk barefoot with cold feet than be separated from the earth anymore than I already had been.

Through the absence of animal sounds I was able to hear the movement of water, bubbling with consistency. My feet instantly carried me to the brook, large rocks lined it’s sides and the trees seemed to whisper to me. Sit down, stay with us. I walked to the edge of the water and dipped a toe into it’s icy body before I did as the trees were telling me.

I sat upon a dark rock, closing my eyes and just listening to the world around me. The water running at it’s rhythmic pace, the wind rustling the leaves of the oak trees around me. The sounds lulled me into a meditative state, every worry I’d had melted off of me and into the water, being carried away by it’s current. My body felt lighter, my mind clearer.

But none of it had distracted me from the light footsteps that had crunched the fallen leaves, the sticks on the ground, as if they didn’t care to be located. I opened my eyes and turned towards the sound, my eyes landing on the Vampire Prince of all the people in the world.

“And what do you want?” I asked, noting how he was dressed in a modern suit but had it covered with a traditional cape. Black with red stitching and red lining. “This isn’t the place for a suit.” I pointed out, he didn’t even look at his own clothes before he spoke.

“And no place for a dress.” Touche. “And I don’t want anything, I was simply taking a walk and stumbled across this little body of water.”

“Of course, Little Red Riding Hood. But didn’t your parents tell you to stick to the path? For a big bad wolf could eat you?” I said, a smile on my face as he walked to stand next to me. That was when he looked at his cloak, seeing the red like I had.

“Red Riding Hood? Nothing better?” He asked, I tilted my head to the side.

“Nothing yet, Little Red.” I replied, beginning to wonder what the ulterior motive was here. He wasn’t here to kill me, that would be too obvious and too disastrous. “What do you want?” I asked again, because there had to be a reason. He either wanted information or to manipulate me. Possibly even both.

“Nothing.” He said, and I almost believed him because his voice was that genuine. “I just… I needed to let you know that I had no idea…” He trailed off.

“That your people have been willing us into extinction or that you have been killing others during these Hunts?” I asked, he let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. It was a dark ebony and the length reached his chin, framing his face as he tucked some loose strands behind his ear.

“I didn’t know either of those things.” He replied, his eyes now on me and in the slowly disappearing sunlight I could see now that they were a honey-brown. His heart rate stayed steady, his tone once again genuine and there wasn’t any evidence of sweat. Either he was well practised or he was telling the truth.

“Well, now that you do, what you plan on doing about it, Little Red?” I asked, smirking since I knew I was getting on his nerves with the little nickname I had given him. “The people doing this to my kind are going to be yours soon enough. So how will you fix this?” I asked.

“I don’t know yet. All I know is that my father won’t let this go without a fight. He truly believes that the Hunts are our right, either that or he just wants to continue the bloodshed-”

“If you don’t mind me cutting in, I would like to say that I know exactly why he doesn’t want to give up the Hunts. And if you don’t, then you need to re-examine everything.” I said, standing up and looking into his eyes. “He hates wolves, it’s as simple as that. His hate stems from fear, we are the only ones who can kill vampires with a scratch of our teeth or claws. This is his only way of being able to exert total power over my kind, why else do you think the Hunt takes place during the blue moon?”

“It’s the only time of the year when you are forced to shift, you’re stuck until the sunrise.” Mircea said, like he was trying to prove that he did know something.

“Exactly. It’s harder for us to fight back because we are stuck. We cannot speak. We cannot voice why we should be shown mercy, should be freed. It means that those taken cannot express their innocence over never having bitten a human, so the ones killing us don’t feel guilt because they assume every wolf in the Hunt is a bad one.” I walked closer to him, standing just a few inches away to show that I wasn’t afraid of him or his people. I needed him to know that I wasn’t afraid. I needed Traian to know that I wouldn’t back down no matter what he threw at me.

“The last Hunt, my second had been taken. Dallas had never hurt an innocent, and yet he was taken by vampires and never seen again. You want to know what to do? End this.” I said before walking away, feeling his eyes on me the entire time.