Five Hundred Years Ago
The High Priestess of the warrior clan showed up at the chief’s residence the day after Ruby’s father died.
If she had shown up a month before, she would have been ambushed right away by the guards. But things had changed. The adversary had changed, and the tribespeople were aware that the werewolves they had banished could be their only saviours.
Ruby was in the front hall discussing funeral arrangements with Maeve’s mother when the priestess walked through the front door.
Nobody had heard of her since the werewolves were exposed. She was the first of the warrior clan to appear openly in the tribe since the hunt began.
Were there others in hiding like her? Could she know what had happened to Eric?
Ruby rushed forward and met her. “High Priestess–”
“I’m here to meet the acting chief,” she cut her off.
Maeve’s mother appeared beside Ruby. “Who allowed you to come into this house?”
The priestess’s cold eyes moved to her. “Should I go back? Perhaps you’ve already found a way to get rid of the vampires without our help?”
“You are here to help us?” Ruby asked. Why would she help them after what they did to her clan? “Are there more of you left?”
“Why, so you can hunt us down to the last of us?” the priestess asked, turning to her.
Ruby shook her head. She took a step closer and touched the priestess’s arm. “We’ll do anything you want if you’ll help us get rid of the vampires. I know we can never make up for what we did to your people. But if there’s anything we can do, we’ll do it in an instant.”
The priestess gave her a wide-eyed look, as if she was seeing her for the first time. Then, forcefully, she pulled her arm from her touch and took a step back.
“Your betrayal can never be forgiven,” she said, her voice alive with emotion that was lacking earlier.
“I’m the acting chief,” Ruby’s uncle said as he walked into the room. “If you have anything to say, say it to me.”
Ruby took a step back, unsettled by the look the priestess had just given her. It was not a look of disgust, or hate. More like shock. But why?
Her uncle came to them. The elders had unanimously agreed to appoint him as the acting chief. A new chief couldn’t be enthroned until after the mourning period for the dead chief, which would take forty days.
Since the former chief hadn’t officially declared his successor, it was up to the council to decide who would take over.
It was no secret who they would choose.
But the throne was the least of Ruby’s problems at the moment. Before the forty days were over, she was going to find her father’s murderer and bring him to justice. Vampire or not, she would find him and kill him.
When her people were safe once more, she would fight for what was rightfully hers.
“Let’s speak in private,” the priestess said.
The priestess and the acting chief disappeared into an inner room.
“Blood for blood,” she said the moment the door shut behind them.
“What?”
“That’s the only way to get our protection. You shed our blood without remorse, and my people’s cries reached our Goddess. Unless you placate her anger, we cannot help you.”
“What do we need to do?”
“Sacrifice the princess.”
“What?”
“She represents the tribespeople, so she is the perfect sacrifice. It’s not enough to make up for all the lives we’ve lost. You are fortunate our Goddess is merciful and willing to accept just one sacrifice.”
As the priestess’s words sank into the acting chief’s mind, he felt as if he had struck gold. What could be better than this? The princess was the only thing standing between him and his quest for power. Without her in the picture, there’d be no one in his way.
“Is that all we need to do?”
“For now.”
“Why are you doing this?” he asked. “We killed your people. Why would you help us?”
“Because it’s our duty.” A duty she had been proud of until the moment the people they existed to protect turned against them. Now, everything she did would be for her people. Her kind.
That night, five guards rushed up to Ruby’s room and asked Alexander to step aside. He refused to budge. When he heard Ruby’s voice from inside asking what was going on, he locked the door from the outside.
When he opened the door a few minutes later, the hallway was littered with passed out guards.
Ruby took in the scene in horror. “What happened?”
He took her hand and led her back inside. “They were here to harm you. Don’t worry, I’ve taken care of it.”
“But they are our guards,” she said. “Why would they want to harm me?”
“Do you trust your uncle?” he asked.
She swallowed hard and shook her head. “He wouldn’t…” Sure, he wanted the throne. But would he go to such lengths to get her out of his way? The council was already on his side. What was he trying to do?
Alexander took her hands and looked into her eyes. “As long as I’m here, no one can hurt you. Don’t worry about it.”
Her eyes fell to the ground. How could she not? Her father had been murdered two nights ago, and now, she was almost attacked in her room. There were several guards lying in the hallway. What would have happened if Alexander hadn’t been around?
“Ruby.”
She met his gaze.
“Go to sleep,” he told her. “It’ll be okay.”
Sleep? How could she go to sleep after what had happened?
“I’ll not let anything happen to you,” he promised softly. His words slithered into her mind like a drug, soothing. Her eyes suddenly felt heavy.
As her body went slack, she felt him catch her just in time and carry her to the bed.
The next day, the news about the attempted attack spread. The acting chief promised to investigate the matter and to add more guards inside and outside the residence.
Alexander assured him that the princess was safe with just him, but he insisted.
That evening, he told Ruby that the next day, they would make a trip to one of the neighbouring tribes. The purpose was to seek an alliance. Ruby was surprised that he would ask her. Why would he involve her when he was hell-bent on pushing her to the sideline?
When she asked why he wanted her to go, he explained that the chief of the other tribe had been good friends with her father, so her presence might make negotiations easier.
Ruby knew he had something up his sleeve, but she agreed anyway. It was one way to find out what he was planning. She would act like she trusted him while she tried to figure out his next move.
Also, Alexander would be coming with them on the trip. She felt safe.
She had warned Alexander that her uncle might target him because he considered him an obstacle. He assured her she didn’t have to worry about that.
The road to the next tribe was through the mountains. On horseback, they would get to their destination just before sundown. A dozen warriors led the group upfront while another dozen took the rear.
Alexander sensed the werewolves before they showed up.
There were many. Ten? Twenty?
Everyone else saw them a few seconds later, and the group came to a stop. Swords were drawn, and the warriors formed a circle around Ruby and her uncle.
Alexander was the only one who heard the commands the werewolves exchanged through their telepathic link.
Gerard, don’t let the vampire get away. Owen, take the girl!
They knew about him. And there were too many of them. He knew the acting chief was in cahoots with them. That in another instant, the two dozen warriors with them would also turn against them.
He could have fought the human warriors in the blink of an eye. But a group of werewolves?
He couldn’t take them on and also ensure Ruby’s safety.
He looked at her and held out his hand. “Ruby, take my hand.”
She looked at him, her eyes full of worry. “I can talk to them. Maybe…”
She thought the werewolves were there for revenge.
“They are here for you,” he told her.
“What?”
At the same time, her uncle barked an order to the guards. “Back off!”
Suddenly, the wall of warriors around them backed off, leaving the two open to the werewolves rushing on them from all sides.
In the same moment Ruby realised it was a setup, Alexander grasped her hand.
In an instant, they were gone.
They teleported to an old hunting cabin in the jungle.
Ruby looked around in confusion. “What just happened? How did we get here?”
Alexander walked up to her and held her shoulders to keep her still. “I had to get you out of there.”
“Yes, but…how…how did you…” She backed away as realisation dawned on her. “What are you?” she whispered.
“Calm down–”
“Don’t tell me to calm down,” she snapped, her hand going to her waist. She unsheathed her dagger. “What’s going on, Alexander?”
“They want to sacrifice you,” he told her. “It’s the price the werewolves are asking for their help.”
“Sacrifice me?”
He nodded. “Yes. That’s the agreement your uncle made with the High Priestess.”
She swallowed. “What about you? Can you explain this?”
“I can get you out of here,” he said. “Take you somewhere safe.”
“You are one of them, aren’t you?”
“Ruby–”
“Are you a vampire?” she yelled.
“Yes.”
“Oh my God.” She stumbled back, getting away from him. “But you can walk in the sun.”
“Yes.”
“Did you lie about that? So that we could never find you?”
“I–”
“How many of you are there?”
“It’s just me.”
“Just you? All those deaths…” Her face paled as disbelief took over her features. “My father. Did you kill him?”
He said nothing.
But the look on his face was enough answer.
She felt sick. The world spun around her and she had to grab the nearby wall to support herself. “Are you going to kill me too?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Come with me. I can make you one of us.”
A deranged laugh broke through her lips. “Why would I want to become one of you?” she sucked in a deep breath and pushed off the wall, her grip on the dagger tightening. “I’ll make you pay for every life you’ve taken.”
“Ruby, please, listen to me. You cannot stay here–”
“You killed my father!” she screamed. “He trusted you, but you deceived him and drained him to death! You are a monster! I would rather die than go anywhere with you!”
“The werewolves trusted your people and kept you safe, but you hunted them down. Doesn’t that make you monsters too?”
“What?”
“Think about it,” he told her. “Stay here for now. If you go back, they’ll kill you. I’ll come back tonight.”
She lunged forward, dagger raised. He disappeared at the last moment and her momentum sent her stumbling to the floor.
Tears of regret, anger, and shame rolled down her face. All along, he had been so close, so close! He had fooled them all. He had orchestrated everything from the beginning, and they had played along like fools.
How dare he think, after everything he had done, that he had the right to tell her what to do?
Go with him?
She would rather die!
***
After the High Priestess struck a deal with the acting chief, he allowed her to go back to the warrior clan’s shrine.
He had assured her that he would deliver the girl within two days. But she had just received the report that the vampire had vanished with the princess.
“If we don’t get rid of that vampire, we are all doomed,” the priestess who accompanied her said. “Let’s forget about the sacrifice. If we act fast, we can get to him before he gets away or kills more people.”
“We are not doomed,” the High Priestess said. “They are. They massacred our people. After everything we’ve done for them for hundreds of years, they did not think twice before hunting us down. We cannot help them without a price.”
“It’s our duty to protect humans from vampires.”
“And that’s what we’ve been doing for ages until they turned on us. Do you think they’ll welcome us back into their community even if we help them? Who knows, they might use us to get rid of him and then hunt us down again.”
“We don’t have to go back to their tribe,” the priestess reasoned. “We can move on to somewhere new. Begin afresh.”
“We have been here for hundreds of years and we are not going anywhere,” the High Priestess affirmed. “This is our ancestral land. If they don’t show repentance and sincerity, I’m ready to sit it out and wait until the vampire is done with them. Then, we can have what’s ours back.”
“High Priestess! Will you go against the Goddess’s will?”
“I’m doing this for the good of our kind. That’s why I must also kill the princess. If we let her live, she’ll become an even worse enemy than the vampire.”
“What do you mean? She is just a human girl.”
“For now. The other day, she touched me and I had a vision. She was like a werewolf, but also like a vampire. I saw her massacre our kind.”
The priestess frowned. “That’s impossible.”
“My visions have never been false. If I let her be, one day, she’ll bring destruction to werewolves. This is my only chance to change fate and also make the humans fear us, as they should.”
“Can you interfere with the fate of a human? If you do this, you’ll risk the Goddess’s wrath and–”
The High Priestess raised her hand to signal her to keep quiet. “There’s someone outside.”
A moment later, the tribe’s princess entered the shrine.
“What do I need to do?” she asked as she came forward. “What do I need to do to stop the vampire?”