The Vampire and the Alpha's Son

Through the Desert

I awoke the boys in the early dawn, just before the sun began to rise. The birds had already started their morning chorus as the boys arose uncomfortably from the dew-dampened ground. I promised them a better night’s sleep once I could procure beds for them. Even though David was an alpha by birth and by right, I still felt an inexorable urge to care for them and provide for them. Part of it was that they were basically children, but I also felt a sense of responsibility for having put them in this situation. They both came with me of their own choice, of course, but knowing that did little to abate my guilt.

I had spent the night brooding as I sat watching over them, but it only took one quick glance into David’s chocolate eyes to calm my anxiety. No other being had ever given me such feelings before, though it was too soon to call it love. Despite the whole mate bond thing, we still barely knew each other. However, I definitely felt a certain pull, an undeniable attraction, an irresistible lust. It felt like it had been much longer than a day and half since our last steamy exchange, and I found myself aching for his touch.

I reached my hand down to help him up, and our eyes met again as he grabbed my hand. His round lips parted slightly as the now familiar electricity shot through my veins. As with every other time we touched, the fire that flowed through me almost made me feel like I was truly alive.

“I see, no one’s going to help me up,” Bate grunted sarcastically, “It’s fine, that’s fine. I can do it myself.”

David glanced at him as he stood, breaking the spell of the moment. I smirked to myself at Bate’s subtle interruption of a moment that was probably awkward for him. I had to admit that I kind of admired his humor and sarcasm, especially in the midst of our dire circumstances. I felt that this trait of his would be a powerful asset in the difficult times ahead.

We spent the early morning traveling further south into Wyoming, with the river on our left and the mountains to our right. We passed over fields and farms and hills, finding very little signs of civilization. The quiet countryside was great for anonymity, but not so great for trying to make money. I led us toward a paltry highway I could see in the distance, hoping it would at least take us to a gas station where I would find a map.

However, as we neared the edge of the road, it became clear this may not be the case. The little highway stretched far into the distance over a barren landscape, with nothing to be seen in all directions. I sighed heavily as we stood looking out over the empty road. There was no traffic in either direction, save for a lone semi truck many miles ahead.

I could imagine such a road would be heavily warped by heat waves in the summer sun, but on this cloudy, chilly day on the twenty-ninth of September, everything just looked sort of gray. The sky was a dusty gray, with darker tones in areas where the rolling clouds seemed unsure whether they would weep or not. The blacktop of the road was faded, and the brown, dusty ground felt somehow gray as well.

“What should we do now?” David asked the group, his voice both curious and disheartened.

“Keep going south,” I shrugged, “What else?”

“Um, so…” Bate stammered, sounding uncertain.

“Yes?” I looked at him openly, trying to seem as friendly as possible so he would be comfortable speaking whatever was on his mind.

“Well, we might have a teensy little problem,” he continued, his tone now adopting an edge of sarcasm.

“What is it?” I asked with concern.

Just then, I heard a very audible gurgle coming from both of their stomachs and I laughed out loud at the comedic timing. David looked away, embarrassed, but Bate continued to look at me pointedly.

“I’m sorry, I forgot about eating too,” I laughed.

“Let me guess, you don’t eat either?” Bate asked, a little less amused.

“Stop, it’s fine,” David mumbled to him.

“It’s not fine, I’m freaking starving! I’m wasting away to nothing over here, and there probably isn’t a place to eat for freaking miles!” he argued loudly.

“Then shift into your wolf and go hunt something!” David shouted back, looking him in the eye as he gestured to the wilds around us.

“Hunt what? We’re kind of in a desert, in case you didn’t notice!” Bate yelled back even louder, violently pointing to the emptiness to our right.

“Um, guys,” I interrupted them before things got too heated. While they had been arguing, I had remembered the pack I was carrying and had searched through it to find a handful of protein bars. I held them out to the boys like a peace offering.

“Oh, nice,” David said calmly, taking two of them.

“It’s not much, but it'll do, I guess,” Bate grumbled as he snatched the other two and began unwrapping one.

They munched quietly on their pitiful, yet sufficient breakfast as we started walking southward beside the road. Thunder rumbled somewhere in the distance, but thus far the laden clouds showed no sign of release. After we had walked for about a mile, weaving through the stunted shrubbery and collecting layers of dust on our feet and pant legs, Bate finally broke the silence.

“Hey guys, I’m sorry,” he mumbled apologetically.

I looked back at him with an understanding smile, but he was looking down and kicking a rock as he walked behind us. David had joined me by my side after eating, but Bate had hung back a pace, I assumed, out of embarrassment and shame.

“I get a little grumpy when I’m hungry. Didn’t sleep well, either,” he explained.

“Hey, it’s ok. No worries, man,” David reassured him as we slowed down simultaneously to walk on either side of him. David wrapped his arm around Bate’s shoulder and patted his back.

“I was mostly talking to Liz; she doesn’t know me like you do,” Bate sighed.

“Well, after spending over a hundred years trapped in the company of a malicious, ruthless, blood-thirsty vampire, one hangry little werewolf does not phase me at all,” I stated casually.

“That’s cool and all, but you didn’t have to call me ‘little’,” he muttered under his breath.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” I replied, laughing.

“I know, I know, I tease,” he laughed back, giving my arm a playful punch.

After that, we continued walking for the next few hours in a more amiable manner, much as we had the day before. We could have traveled much faster and covered more ground by running, which would require their wolf forms, but the area was far too exposed and thus posed too heavy a risk. It was a general, unspoken rule that anything non-human was to keep their existence hidden from humans, though I considered taking the risk anyway, being that we were traveling through an uninhabited nothingness.

Fortunately, I was too responsible to tempt fate in this way. There was still an occasional passing vehicle, though very rare, and while they may think ill of three random walkers, they would be far more shocked to see two large wolves and a woman running faster than humanly possible. Therefore, we continued to walk at our snail’s pace along the dry, hardened dirt.

The sky remained heavily clouded, but I could tell from the tiny rays of sunlight peeking through directly above that we had reached midday. As though on cue, I heard Bate clear his throat from behind me. I hadn’t even noticed that he had fallen behind again.

“So, um, not to be a bother, but…” he started cautiously.

“Are you hungry again?” I asked with a kind smile.

“Yeah,” he answered with a defeated sigh.

“I think there was some trail mix in the bag as well,” I offered, pulling it out for him and David. It was a large enough bag for the two of them, thankfully.

It wasn’t much better than the protein bars, but it looked like it was going to be a long time until we had access to anything else. He took it and ate it without complaint this time, and after a few hours more, the scenery finally began to change.

The tiny, two-lane highway finally led us out of the desert and back along the riverside. It squeezed around the foothills of a mountain, away from the river again, as it intersected a few other equally small roads. We reached the other side of the mountains sometime during the mid-afternoon, and finally we could see signs of life. I couldn’t help but feel an ounce of hope at the sight of the green fields and the city beyond. The afternoon sun broke through the clouds at last, glinting off the metal and glass of the buildings in the distance. After the vast expanse of desert we had traversed all day, the twinkling reflection of sunlight felt like the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. After my beautiful boy, David, of course.