The Werewolf and Vampire's Princess

Travelling

Outside the city was a small group of vampires.

‘This everyone?’ Conley addressed the group. One vampire nearby nodded.

‘Yes, Sire. The rest of the group are leaving tomorrow, or taking the scenic route through Wallan.’ The vampire tilted his head as if he were about to bow, but Conley waved a hand to stop him.

‘Just call me Conley, none of this “Sir” nonsense.’ He said with a small shiver. The vampire frowned, and Conley turned to a confused looking Aleida. ‘If you really insist on giving me a title, you can call me Alpha. But my pack ... my community ... is my family, so we don’t need formalities when it’s just us.’ Conley made sure to project his voice for the whole of his new family to hear.

‘I understand ... Alpha.’ The vampire smiled hesitantly. Conley clapped a hand on the vampires shoulder.

‘What’s your name?’ Conley asked. And began the long progression of learning all the names of the vampires who had opted to go with him to his experimental community. While his pack travelled – with Beta leading the way - Conley took the time to greet all fifty of the vampires, to ask their names, if they had family, and why they’d wanted to join his community.

Never once did he let go of Aleida’s hand, or miss an opportunity to introduce her as his new mate.

As dawn began to break, Conley excused himself from the last group of three vampire sisters he’d been talking to (Anne-Marie, Beth-Marie and Carly-Marie), to catch up with Beta.

‘Beta,’

‘Conley.’ Beta glanced at Aleida. ‘Luna.’ He greeted, more cheerfully to her than he had been to Conley.

‘Aleida, this is Beta. My beta. Beta, this is Aleida.’ Conley introduced the pair. Aleida moved from Conley’s right side to his left so she could properly look at Beta.

‘Just, Beta?’ she asked. Beta glanced at her out the corner of his eye, and nodded. Conley opened his mouth to change the subject, but Beta beat him to it.

‘My parents disowned me when I was young. I found my way to Conley’s pack, back when his dad was Alpha. They took me in, but I never told them my name, so they let me decide on my own name. I couldn’t find one I liked, until Conley asked me to be his beta. It all just ... fell into place.’ Beta shrugged. Aleida had given Beta her full, undivided attention, and nodded attentively, appearing to be deep in thought.

‘Well, Beta, I’m honoured that you already feel comfortable enough to call me Luna ... but I feel it will be a long time before I’ve earned that title, so please, just call me Aleida.’ Aleida gave Beta an adorable small smile that made Conley’s heart melt.

He knew that meeting your mate turned you into a total lovesick fool, but he didn’t realise how intensely the emotions would feel deep in his heart. He squeezed Aleida’s hand in support, and when she squeezed back, he wanted to fall to his knees and worship her then and there.

Beta gave Aleida a single nod, and a rare smile. That was a friendship Conley hadn’t been expecting, but certainly wouldn’t complain about.

‘Do you want to stop for the day?’ Beta seemed to be asking both Conley and Aleida. Conley glanced at Aleida questioningly, who shrugged.

‘I slept ten minutes yesterday, so I’m good for awhile, I just don’t know everyone else’s schedules.’

‘You... slept ten minutes?’ Conley stopped walking, pulling Aleida to his chest. ‘You need to sleep.’

‘No?’ Aleida looked confused. ‘We don’t need to sleep that much.’ Aleida and Conley both gazed into each others eyes, seemingly having forgotten the conversation, when Beta and the Marie sisters cleared their throats.

‘It’s true, Alpha.’ Beth-Marie spoke up. ‘We vampires only need six or eight hours of sleep each month.’

Conley tore his gaze away from Aleida to look at the Marie sisters in surprise.

‘Really? Is that all?’ Conley said. The three sisters nodded, as did a few vampires behind them. The sun was beginning to rise, and a few of them had pulled out their umbrella’s.

‘Oh.’ Conley felt stupid, but irritated the vampires hadn’t felt the need to share this piece of information when telling him everything he would need to run a vampire and werewolf community. It’s not like the two species were oblivious of each others habits, just some of the finer details – such as how often one needed to sleep or eat – were blurry.

‘Well, Beta and I need to rest for a couple of hours during the day at least, when’s the best time to do that for you blo- guys?’ Conley asked. Aleida and Beta’s eyes narrowed at his near slip up, but no one else seemed to notice.

The Marie sisters started a game of Chinese Whispers – a game that remained from their human ancestors’ reign, although the word Chinese had faded from modern language and no one knew the meaning of it - to ask the other vampires when they would like a break.

It took almost three full minutes for the whisper to circle back to the front. Conley heard some words in the wind, but they died before he could make them out. From the looks of all the faces before him, the vampires were all in singular agreement.

‘Just after midday would be best for us, Alpha.’ Anne-Marie said, smiling shyly. Conley decided then and there the three sisters were a force to be reckoned with, and wanted them on his council.

‘Just after midday it is. Does everyone have umbrellas?’ Conley asked the sisters, who darted their way through the crowd to check.

‘Everyone has an umbrella or shawl to cover themselves.’ Carly-Marie stated, almost roughly, once all three had returned. Conley frowned, slightly confused.

‘Shawl?’ He asked, feeling silly. Anne-Marie held up the oversized scarf that was draped around her neck.

‘One of these.’ She explained. Demonstrating how it could be held over ones face for him.

‘Thank you, Anne-Marie.’ Conley smiled at her. ‘I guess we’d better keep moving. We should reach the middle of the mountains by midday, so be ready to admire the coastline!’ Conley gave the vampire crowd, and his Aleida, a wide grin. Aleida was still frowning at him, but once he’d smiled at her, she seemed unable to stop herself with returning one of her own.

***

Sure enough, they made it to the mountains by midday. There was a series of shallow caves that had been built into the mountainside specifically for weary travellers. Conley told his vampires to take shelter and rest, that he and Beta needed three or four hours of rest before they would continue. The vampires seemed content with this, pairing off in groups to find a cave to settle in.

Conley turned to Aleida, who hadn’t moved from his side. He hadn’t failed to notice she didn’t have an umbrella or a shawl, but instead had rotated between sharing Anne-Marie’s shawl, Beth-Marie and Carly-Marie’s umbrellas, or his own shadow. Somehow, she seemed to have managed to avoid getting even the tiniest burn.

‘Don’t you want to go with them?’ he asked gently. Aleida looked torn.

‘Beta and I will be taking turns sleeping and eating. It won’t be terribly exciting.’ He insisted, even though he despised the idea of being separated from her.

‘Who’s sleeping first?’ Aleida finally asked. Conley glanced at Beta, a question in his eyes.

Me.

‘Beta will be.’ Conley answered, glancing back at Aleida. Something akin to resolve grew in her eyes.

‘Then I will stay with you until it’s your turn to sleep.’ She said, linking her fingers through his. Conley noticed she spoke loudly enough for the Marie sisters to overhear, who had been hovering nearby. The three left after hearing Aleida’s decision, finding a cave higher in the mountain.

Beta hesitated before curling up on the floor at the back of the cave they chose at ground level. His snores filled the space immediately, and Aleida giggled.

Conley sat at the side of the cave, gesturing for Aleida to join him. Aleida sat next to his feet and gazed out towards the distant ocean.

‘Do you miss the sun?’ Conley found himself asking.

‘No. I can still go out in it. And I always preferred the winter sun anyway.’ Aleida winked at him.

‘How long ago were you turned?’ he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

‘Nine years ago, in almost exactly a month from today.’

‘So, you’re young?’

‘By vampire standards? Very.’

‘And human years?’

‘I’m twenty-eight. How old are you?’ Aleida turned her gaze to Conley, her blue eyes locking him in place.

‘Thirty-three.’ Conley replied, feeling as though he were in a daze. Aleida lifted an eyebrow.

‘Isn’t that young to be Alpha?’

‘Dad died in the war. I became Alpha at twenty-two.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Aleida hesitated before reaching out and placing one hand on Conley’s knee.

‘It was war,’ Conley shrugged. ‘Everyone lost someone. I just happened to gain an entire pack.’

Aleida smiled softly, and withdrew her hand. The two of them sat in companionable silence for a few moments, gazing out towards the sea. There were one or two human ruins in the distance, but they added to the landscape, reminding them this place wasn’t always run by their species.

‘Do you only turn at the full moon?’ Aleida asked, so quietly Conley almost didn’t hear her. He had to stifle his laughter to not wake Beta.

‘No. We can change whenever we want. But our first change is always during the full moon of our birthday month.’

‘Do you need to eat?’ Aleida’s eyes had fallen on his backpack, which he had unceremoniously dumped on the ground, where a container of food was poking out.

‘I probably should.’ Conley reached for the container, pulling out the dried meat. ‘Do you want some?’

Aleida scrunched her nose at the meat.

‘If you’re that offended by it-’ Conley began, but Aleida interrupted.

‘It’s off.’

Conley gazed at her, uncomprehending.

‘The meat is off. It’ll make you sick.’ Aleida spoke slowly. Conley frowned and sniffed the meat in his hand. It smelled fine to him. He took a bite ... chewed ... and ... spat it out. Aleida smirked at him.

‘How did you know?’ Conley demanded. Aleida just shrugged.

‘Something I’ve always been able to do.’

‘That would be so helpful.’ Conley’s mind was already buzzing with ideas for her to teach others, to keep their pack safe.

‘Just don’t turn me into your personal blood sucker sniffer slave.’ Aleida said, glancing at Conley angrily out the corner of her eye. Conley froze in place. He knew she’d picked up on his near slip up earlier, but hadn’t expected her to call him out on it so soon.

‘I’m sorry. It’s an old habit from the war. It won’t happen again.’ He hung his head in apology, sending her waves of remorse through their bond. But that only seemed to frustrate her more.

‘If you’re so sorry, don’t hide your face from me.’ Aleida snapped. Conley blinked in confusion. Bowing your head to another was a sign of submission, of accepting you are wrong. Aleida stood with a growl.

‘You need to wake Beta.’ She spat over her shoulder to him and disappeared up the mountainside. Conley gazed at the spot where she had disappeared in confusion.

‘Guess vampires’ apologise differently than we do.’ Beta spoke up from behind him. ‘Let her cool off. I’ll keep an eye on her while you sleep.’

Conley grumbled his gratitude before curling up so he could succumb to his tired eyes