"You forgot these." My eyes snapped over to Sebastian, who suddenly appeared beside the black haired Durand. He tossed me something. I grabbed them midair and saw the wrist guards that Vladimir had sent me for my birthday.
I smiled as I pulled them on.
"And this," I handed Cassiel my mom's sword and exchanged it for mine, the one Alex had given me.
"Now let's go." Gabriel took the lead as we left the pack house. I didn't mind. I simply fell into step behind him and followed him to the Jeep.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"Explain this to me again…" Sebastian's voice had become never ending during the fifteen minutes we had been in the Jeep. Seriously, it seemed like silence was an unknown concept to two out of four males in the car. Neither Seb nor Greg could seem to clam their jaws shut.
I heard Greg sigh from the back seat. I was glad to learn that I wasn't the only one who was finding this conversation annoying. "How hard is the concept to grasp? We don't have a plan."
"We're breaking the devils dishes." That saying normally made me laugh. We had picked it up from Vladimir, who heard it in the U.S. state New York. However, at that moment I didn't even crack a grin. My expression was hard as I stared out the fogged and water streamed windows.
Greg snorted, "Your words not mine."
It had started raining once we reached the end of our road. I didn't know if that was a sign or not. I didn't want to think about it too hard. I didn't want to chicken out and make Gabriel turn us back around. No matter how young everyone claimed me to be, I knew I had to do this. The wolf inside me, knew it was her responsibility to find my parents.
"We're walking to our death if we don't have a plan." Sebastian wouldn't let this go. Half of me understood his disbelief. He had grown up with Nathaniel as a father, so naturally the proper ways of war had been engraved in him at a young age, no matter how hard he fought against it. What we were doing was on the same level as running into a gun fight with a knife. Stupid.
"Maybe we could make a plan if you guys would be quite." Cassiel remarked. I inwardly smiled at his bravery, but knew that the feeling would be short lived.
A split second of silence followed the young man's comment, before Greg snapped, "Listen, pup, you don't know the ways of war yet. Plans are created by discussing strategies."
"You aren't discussing strategies." I chimed in. That had been the first time I spoke since we left the house.
"Everyone just shut up!"
Everyone in the car snapped around to face Gabriel. I sat back in my seat, shotgun, but my gaze never left the pissed off Durand.
"Sebastian, learn patience." I would have scoffed if it had been any other situation. After all, who was Gabriel to lecture others about patience? It was kind of funny actually. "Greg, just shut up. Cassiel stop fidgeting. I can hear you every time you sigh! And Elaine," I winced when he threw a dark look my way. "start thinking. I don't care if you come up with a lousy plan, but I'm not walking into Romania without a backup plan."
"I don't see why Cassiel's here anyway. He's younger than Elaine, and I know I'm not the only one who's concerned about taking her to the castle Nicolais and his pack are most likely hiding." Greg obviously hadn't noticed the danger edge to Gabriel's voice, and spoke his mind.
I turned in my seat and glared at Michael's son, "I brought Cassiel…" I was cut off when Gabriel slammed down on the brakes, "What the-"
"Stay in the car!" Gabriel ordered. I barely registered that Gabriel got out of the jeep until he slammed his door shut, that's how fast he was moving. I unbuckled myself so I could get a better look at where the dark haired Durand was going. He was heading into the woods.
"Are we being followed?" Cassiel asked from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, to see Cassiel's blond hair. He had leaned forward, out of his seat, and was now practically sitting between the driver's and passenger's seats.
I couldn't answer. I didn't know.
Then, when Gabriel came back into view, I knew who had been on our trail.
"Great," I grumbled, "More chatterboxes." Cassiel chuckled, and both of us climbed out of the Jeep. He followed me out of my door; leaving the rest of the guys to use the back doors.
"What are you doing here?" I heard Gabriel demand.
Sean growled, "The same thing as you."
"I doubt that." I made our approach known, "You're not exactly known as a pack player." That earned me a glare from Sean and another laugh from Cassiel.
Sebastian and Greg, who joined us, looked just as confused as I felt.
"We want to help too, El." Martin turned his bright and hopeful eyes. I always found it odd at how two brothers; twins no doubt, could be so different. Martin looked so young and small compared to Odolf who was covered with muscle and hardness that only belonged to a man.
I sighed, but wasn't given the chance to reply. Gabriel was growling, "This isn't a training match, Martin."
"Cassiel gets to go!" Martin objected strongly; outraged, "He hasn't even gone through his change yet!"
"I brought Cassiel because he's the only one who paid attention to any of Leah's lessons." I spoke up.
During the fall, winter, and a fair portion of the spring months Leah tutored me and the other under aged members of the pack, since we didn't attend a mundane public school. It wasn't very disciplined, for Leah wasn't good at standing up to us. We didn't bully her, but we'd often act so impossible that she'd just dismiss us early. That didn't happen too often, but sometimes the weather was too nice to be stuck indoors, so we'd start a verbal riot.
"I'm sure that's not true." Greg interjected.
I cocked up one eyebrow before turning my gaze to the twins, plus Sean, "Who was Vladimir the Impaler?"
My question was met with blank stares. Finally, Martin opened his mouth, "Nathaniel's oldest son?"
Cassiel let out a muffled laugh while I rolled my eyes, "I rest my case."
"Fine!" Gabriel barked, "Get in the back, keep your mouths shut, and when we get there don't talk to anyone."
Martin practically fell over himself to get to the Jeep, while Odolf and Sean simply walked. My eyes went to Odolf as he walked past me. He hadn't said a word since their appearance. In fact, I hadn't talked to him since the run. However, his gaze said a lot. I was overwhelmed with the passion in his eyes.
"Lets go." I held out the blade of my sword, still in the shield. It took him a second, but Odolf finally lifted the right side of his mouth into a grin. He lifted his own blade and tapped mine.
"Lets go." He repeated.
Then, we piled into the Jeep. Our numbers had grown, and I only hoped that our luck had grown with it.
CL
The next day, around five, we arrived to Romania. It was truly a work of beauty and should be a museum. There wasn't a building that didn't look like it came straight out of an oil painting. The modern world hadn't touched much of it.
Gabriel parked the Jeep a while ago, and now we were just sitting, or strategizing as Greg put it. It was going on sunset when we got the ball rolling.
"So Cassiel who was Vladimir the Impaler?" Martin asked as we got out and stretched.
I glanced at my friend, but couldn't give him an encouraging smile. Instead, I found contentment with fiddling with the material of my sweatshirt that had stuck out from underneath the breastplate.
"Vladimir was the ruler of Romania in the 15th century. He ruled with fear, and had been rumored to be mad… to everyone not in Romania. Everyone here knew the truth. They knew about us, about the vampires, and about each race's secret."
My interest was peaked, just like everyone else's. I seriously had no memory of this. Well, I kind of did. I remembered the day we were supposed to learn this. It had been just when summer ended. We got out of classes early, and had the best swimming day known to man.
"She was said to be Vladimir's companion, but she was really his security; the only one who could keep him safe from the other supernatural races." Cassiel continued. He lowered his voice to almost a whi
sper when Gabriel sent him a look. His gaze was traveling over the roads. There were still mundanes walking around. He obviously didn't want them to overhear us.
I didn't blame him.
"She?" Sebastian interrupted.
"Don't ask, I don't know who she was. Leah didn't get around to saying her name, or what she was." Cassiel shrugged, "All I know is that Vladimir was willing to do anything to keep her safe from the races, so she could continue to keep him safe."
"What race was Vladimir?" I asked. My ears were focused on Cassiel's soft voice, but my eyes were roaming the streets, just like Gabriel's.
There was a muffled laugh in Cassiel's voice as he said, "He's said to be Dracula. What do you think?"
Vampire. None of us had to say it. We all knew who Dracula was.
"So, he was really Dracula." I turned my attention back to the youngest of our Alpha's son. Once Cassiel nodded I asked, "Dracula was said to be the most powerful of Vampires. Why would he need protection?"
Cassiel was outwardly smiling now. He was almost vibrating, he was trying to keep from laughing, "Don't you remember the movie Van Helsing? What could kill a vampire?"
"A…" I trailed off when I remembered the answer.
"Werewolf." Cassiel answered aloud.
"Okay, but that doesn't explain everything." Odolf's voice startled me. I had almost forgotten that he was there, along with Martin and Sean who were standing near my back. "What was so special about the girl? Why'd he try and keep her so safe when she could obviously protect herself?"
Odolf's wording reminded me so much of the arguments I'd had with the Durand's the last few months. I scoffed and turned to Gabriel, "Yeah, answer that." I had meant that to be more of a joke, but the more I thought about it, the more this whole discussion reminded me or me and my childhood. "Yeah…"
Gabriel's eyes snapped to mine and his expression grew dark, "Lets get started. I'm not entirely sure how to get to the old castle."
The look on his face gave me a flash back, to when the pack had been gone those many weeks ago, when Gabriel had been watching us. We'd taken that walk, after our screaming match, and he'd said, "There are just some things that you're not ready to hear."
"Wait!" Martin waved his hands around and I snapped out of my trance, "But what does that have to do with Leo?"
"I'm not sure it's about him anymore." I muttered, under my breath, as I slowly sidestepped up the sidewalk. Only a few rays of the sun were left of the day, and the knowledge that night was approaching sent chills of anticipation down my neck.
I pushed away my thoughts and focused on the streets around me. It wasn't the time to start yelling at Gabriel.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I didn't see moving, or alive, shadows, ghosts, or bats coming at us. But, then again, I shouldn't have expected it to be like that. This wasn't Van Helsing after all, and we weren't dealing with vampires… hopefully.
"Do you think we really are dealing with Vampires?" I asked, only half joking.
"As far as I know, they're all dead." Gabriel informed me. I trusted him, so I nodded in acceptance of his answer.
With more confidence than a few seconds before, I started down the street. My eyes grazed over every sign; looking for something that would lead us to the Bran Castle.
"Does anyone speak Romanian?" I asked as an afterthought.
"Does Ya Ma Hi count?" Martin asked, he was close behind me, with fear in his voice. He obviously didn't find the 'vampires are extinct' information quite as reassuring as I had.
I frowned, but said jokingly, "I don't think us singing that song would really help us out."
Then I saw an older woman across the street. She was definitely older, with graying skin, a wrinkled face, and hunched shoulders, but she looked kind enough. At least she wasn't a drunk. So, I jogged over to her. Maybe I'd get lucky and she'd know English. They did in the movies, I joked.
I slowed down when I reached the cobblestone sidewalk. I didn't want to startle the woman.
I could hear the guys' footsteps not too far behind me, so I felt fairly confident as I approached a civilian.
"Excuse me," I noticed that was pushing a cart. It was wooden and cracked in several places, but carried the apples just fine. I wondered if that was her work; selling fruit, but didn't ask about it.
"Hello, dear." I almost said thank god right in front of her, but thought that would be disrespectful, even though she didn't know English. She did, however, speak Hungarian, which I knew the basics of. I'd thank Leah for that later.
The sun was going down and I was standing in the shadows when she turned to me. She, on the other hand, seemed to make it her mission in life to stay in the rays of the sun. "You're new here." I struggled to translate her fast Hungarian, but I managed.
"I am from England." I kept my tone soft and gentle as I spoke. Something told me that she was the type of person to spook easily. Telling her I came to fight deranged werewolves probably wouldn't go over very well. Thinking of her reaction, if I said that, made me laugh. "Where is Bran Castle?" I started wishing that the woman had spoken Russian instead of Hungarian. I was always better with Russian. Or French maybe.
"Old Bran castle." Cassiel added from behind me. His accent was a little better than mine.
"The old castle," Her expression changed from thoughtful to horrified in less than a minute, "No, no, you can't go there. No one should go there. His remains are still there… no one ever found his…" She trailed off and suddenly grabbed my arm. I gasped in shock, and I felt someone's breath on my neck. I would have felt trapped, if not for my wolf. She knew it was a packmate who stood at my back.
My full attention was on the hunched woman who was almost clawing my skin as she held onto my arm. "You can't…" Her eyes locked on mine and not a split second went by before she ripped her hands off mine. "You're one of them!"
I took a step away from her without meaning to, and fell into someone's chest. Two hands wrapped around my upper arms, and steadied me.
"You've returned. They've returned." The woman's eyes started darting around, as if expecting people to jump out from the shadows. "…can't go near the castle." She chanted as she limped down the sidewalk.
"What the heck?" Cassiel asked from somewhere behind me.
"People around here know the truth of the supernatural races. They won't take kindly to our visiting their city." Sebastian walked until he was half in front of me.
I took a deep breath and learned that it was Gabriel who was half holding me up. I stepped out of his hold, "Do you know the way?" I asked Seb.
A light smirk worked its way onto his features, "We're almost there."
"Why were you talking to her?" Gabriel snapped at me.
I grudgingly frowned at him, "I was asking for directions."
"Well next time ask Sebastian." Gabriel took off ahead of me. I glared at his back for two seconds before half jogging to meet up with the group. Cassiel gave me a comforting look, but it fell on blind eyes. All I could focus on was my wolf. She was stirring anxiously and getting worse with every step I took.
I knew we were close, but what were we close to? Or who?
CL
The Old Bran Castle was underground. Not everyone knew about it. The Romanian people, or at least the locals, probably worked hard to keep it that way. Vladimir the Impaler wasn't a friend to many, and since no one ever actually found his remains, many expected him to still roam the Earth. I, personally, hoped that was all fable.
Of course, it wouldn't have changed my mind if it were true. A werewolf killed a vampire. Our blood couldn't and wouldn't mix. We were fatal together. However, that didn't stop fear from slowly making its way into my system.
By the time we reached the cracked pavement steps that went down into the castle it was dark. I could still see, but Cassiel couldn't. He had grabbed hold of my arm, and I wondered if bringing him had been the best idea. If anything happened to him…
I shook my head to rid myself of those thoughts. I
had to focus.
Gabriel and Greg, who were in front of Cassiel and I, slowed to a stop. I followed, but didn't understand why. Greg narrowed his eyes at the trees, "Smell that?"
Gabriel only nodded.
I frowned and sniffed the air. First, I caught the scent of the pack, but it was dull. Not many of the pack had been through this way. That must have meant that there was another way in, or…
No, it wouldn't be that. If something happened there would be blood. The scent would have been stronger, not faint.
Other than the pack scent there was something else. It was musty, but that didn't seem odd for this time of year.
"I don't." I voiced.
"Listen." Sebastian was at my side a millisecond later. He obviously smelled something too. His tone had grown grave, and I was almost positive that he had winced, as if remembering a painful event. I remembered our adventure in London, and wondered if whatever he sensed had something to do with that.
My vision blurred as I concentrated. A light breeze kicked up around us and scattered leaves on the concrete road while the wind itself whistled in my ears. At first I heard nothing but the gentle sounds of nature. I was about to give up and face my failure as a werewolf, but then I heard it.
It was faint, but a distinctive pant. The animal, whatever it was, was obviously using a lot of energy to not pounce. It was waiting for something. Somewhere.
I scanned the dark tree line that formed a half circle around us, but saw nothing.
Someone approached me from behind. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Martin was hesitantly stepping up to where Gabriel and Greg stood.
Gabriel whirled around, "Stop!"
Then, it was like a scene from a horror film. Martin stepped out of the safety zone, and that was what the watching animal had been waiting for.
The panting I heard grew rough and loud. It reminded me of a rabid animal trying to reach its target, but was unable to because of restraints. I turned in a circle. My eyes darted everywhere, but I didn't see anything.
The only clue of the animal's appearance was Gabriel. He grabbed the hand of his sword and adoringly pulled it out of its shield. The metal clanked together while the blade itself glittered from the street lamps.
Howl (Howl Book 1) Page 34