The Hunger of Wolves

by Ashley Ruggiero

  "I'm sure you would have pulled the truth out of me eventually. Also, I don't know how to explain it, but I have…this feeling that something is coming. And when that thing does come, I think the fewer people who know about me, the better."

  Alex bowed his head to her and said, "As you wish, your highness."

  Ω

  "The amount of rage coming from that girl is purely supernatural," Raduta said.

  Together, they all looked over to where a cluster of gargoyles sat under a blooming cherry blossom tree. It was Martisor, the celebration of the spring equinox, and Alex had been true about choosing the vampires. This was a decision that had caused Charlize to go into a rage.

  Victoria looked back just in time to see Albert wink and blow a kiss her way.

  "Albert!" She exclaimed.

  "What? I can't help what I do. I thrive in chaos."

  "Sure you do," Raduta added.

  Albert gasped at her, but it was Adrian who cut him off.

  "I don't think Charlize is the only one appalled by us." It was true. Ever since they had become a little unit, they had received many astonished gawking. "A princess, a gargoyle, a Planeswalker, an Illusionist, and a Necromancer. What an interesting little group we make."

  "Very interesting indeed," Albert said. "So interesting that many of my dear old friends from the Academy don't talk to me anymore."

  "I'll toast to that," Alex said raising his glass of moonshine.

  The rest of them raised their glasses as well. "To burning bridges," Victoria cheered.

  "And building new ones," Alex added.

  Victoria looked at the world around her. Everything had stayed the same for the past seven years in the lives of her people. The moon would rise and fall as life went on like normal. She wasn't sure why she had expected it all to be the same as it was before she had hidden in her tower.. Seeing it now, she wished dearly that she could go back and do it all again, so as not to miss out on everything that this world had to offer.

  Victoria saw Amnesty and her brother Valor across the lawn sharing laughter and sipping drinks with a couple of gargoyles. She would be eternally grateful to her father for allowing them asylum in Sangera, especially since they had nowhere to go after both Bruce and Azazel had exiled them from their kingdoms. Amnesty caught Victoria's eye and raised her glass of moonshine in a silent salute. Victoria did the same.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Prometheus Discovers Fire

  Prometheus Megalos had never come across an obstacle he couldn't overcome.

  When King Speranta had shown up with his daughter saying she was 'broken,' he accepted the challenge, believing he would find the answer within the week, which he did.

  The truth was… not good. Not for the king and queen. Not for the princess. Not for anyone. So Prometheus buried his findings before confronting the queen and king about it. The queen was scared, as was the king, but neither were surprised.

  "Keep this a secret, and I will give you more gold than you've ever had in your entire life," the king promised.

  Prometheus shook his head. "My notes on the whole matter have already been destroyed. I never intended to tell anyone, and you don't owe me anything. I've never known much about the Draconis, only that the Council in Templaria claimed that they were power-hungry and evil creatures." Prometheus looked outside of his window, where he saw the young twins playing in the grass. They were innocent. They didn't deserve to die. He knew that Antonius's powers had already manifested on their own, so he was not in any immediate danger, but Victoria would definitely be killed. If Victoria was killed, then there would be a strong chance that Antonius would be, too, simply out of fear… or maybe something else. If the Council was so powerful, then what else could they possibly be afraid of besides losing their own power?

  "We'll watch her," Prometheus spoke up. "All three of us. Tell no one else. Not even those who are closest to you. It's inevitable that she'll grow stronger and begin to stand out from the rest, even without any abilities, but that's the best we can do for now."

  And so, several years passed and Victoria never showed any spark of an ability or how strong she might really be. When the prince was murdered, it seemed to kill something in her. Any will that she had to fight was now long gone. Fearful of losing their second child, the king and queen kept her in the castle and hired her a personal bodyguard who would also be her private tutor. In order to keep up appearances, the princess came to Prometheus once a month for a check-up. The 'tests' that he did meant nothing. Any kind of DNA evidence he gathered, he destroyed immediately. All the while, Prometheus watched as Victoria's spirit died slowly month-by-month.

  Then, something changed. It was the night she showed up with the gargoyle boy, her knew bodyguard. He was young, but Prometheus could tell he was quite capable. Every other visit, Victoria had always been quiet, often replying to him in single word answers. This time, she was lively, bantering with the boy. It seemed that she had found something that she had lost long ago: a friend.

  The return of her spirit showed in other ways, as well. Her past bodyguard had made her an incredible fighter, but there was something beyond that, that was different about her.

  "She's growing stronger, Alina. Soon, there won't be much I can do to hide what she is."

  "You're particularly sane today, Prometheus. I find it sobering." The queen took a deep breath. "I just don't know what to do. If the Council finds out about her, she'll be killed, just as the others were five hundred years ago."

  "Not your sister, though. She still lives."

  "That's because my mother sent her to live with my grandmother, which is still something that pains her to this day. That woman is nothing but a monster. My own mother left her because of what a wicked woman she is. That, above everything else, should tell you something."

  "Maybe so, but the mortal world is a far safer place for Victoria's kind then Terrarum. You're grandmother is a force to be reckoned with, for sure, but that's the reason rules don't apply to her. While every other vampire is forced to relocate to Transylvania, she remains in Egypt. Alina, there's no other choice."

  The queen shook her head. "We always have choices, even if it's easier to think we don't."

  "Then what is the choice you choose to make?"

  "We hide her… for as long as we can."

  Looking at the Princess now, muddied and bloodied, clad in Noctis armor and wholly dead in the eyes, Prometheus knew, there would be no hiding what she was, not anymore.

  It was clear that Victoria was now a dragon hiding within a den of wolves.