Chapter 147

Time passed in the dark. Sometimes I heard noises, but mostly it was just my own breathing, the beat of my heart and the scuffle of my body against the ground as I tried to turn. I drifted in and out of hazy dreams that made no sense no matter how hard I tried to make them make sense.

Fear filled me. The cold was making me sink back into memories I never wanted to relive. I drifted back into Wolf Fang for a while, then that cold night on the highway, but there were no cars coming in my dreams.

“Candido,” I whispered to the dark. “Where are you?”

“Hey,” Messiah’s came through the bars. I opened my eyes, blinking into the light and trying not to move.

How many days had it been since Ian had come? I didn’t know. Messiah leaned on the bars as he plopped down on the floor.

“You look terrible.”

“Where is Candido?” I asked.

Messiah shrugged. “Not my jurisdiction. I don’t track down missing daddies.”

“Missing…”

“Well, he hasn’t show up on the broadcast,” he said pulling out his phone and leaning on one of his knees. I heard the sound of a roaring fire and scream. “Damian’s really going for all the dramatics. Honestly, their just wasting blood now.”

“Why… are you here?”

“For company,” he said. “I thought you might be lonely.”

“Let me out.”

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to,” he paused and looked at me. “And I don’t, want to that is. You’re just going to get people killed once you get out of here. No sense in hurrying that along.”

“Candido…” I rasped.

“Yeah?”

“Kill you.”

He scoffed. “Not happening. He might be able to stand a chance against one of the lower-tiered princes, but I’m just a step down from Uncle Ian. Your Candido is like… level fifty by comparison.”

“Liar.”

He looked at me. “Uncle Ian and Auntie Hedwig are the eldest of the king’s children. They weren’t sired. They were born. The King sired the others and I’m one of their kids. Trust me when I say that Uncle Ian is the stronger vampire walking around.”

“King… dead.” I huffed a little laugh. “Not that strong.”

“Gramps is alive,” Messiah said then frowned. “Well, in a matter of speaking. In any case, that doesn’t matter. Point is that Uncle Ian has more control over the other princes, me and Shiloh included, than any would think.”

I glared. “Can’t stop Damian.”

“More like won’t bother to,” Messiah said. “There are a few artifacts that had made their way to the werewolf world for reason or another that Uncle Ian is working on retrieving. Other than keeping them out of Damian’s hands, he doesn’t really care about anything else.”

“Why?” I asked. “Damian… cousin?”

Messiah frowned. “You know… you’re pretty coherent even with your half sentences.”

“Answer,” I grunted. “Or, go away.”

Messiah hummed and tucked his phone away. “On it, promise.”

He stood.

“Wait,” I chocked and coughed. “Water… Food?”

He scoffed. “Get it yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “You really haven’t figured it out yet?”

I tried to sit up. “Would I ask if I did?”

“Maybe, you’re pretty insecure… and dumb,” he shrugged. “And sure, Damian’s a cousin, but he’s more of a usurping, evil relative that we don’t invite around and don’t give our address to.”

“Usurping?” I frowned. “He… framed werewolves for the attack?”

“Oh, no, that was all werewolves. Damian’s the sire of the king’s brother. Hence cousin. No one likes him, not even his brother,” he wrinkled his nose. “I don’t even think Damian likes him. None of us… originals… descendants?” He shrugged. “Whatever you want to call us. The true heirs stand with him. They’re not even welcome in our world.”

“Your world?” I asked, wetting my lips. “What does that mean?”

“You…” He rolled his eyes. “Never mind. There’s the werewolf world, you know? The one you grew up in. Think of it like a bubble attached to a much bigger bubble.” He frowned. “Well, connected by the caves sort of.”

“You’re insane.”

“And you’re ugly.”

“I’m not ugly! You’re ugly.”

“And you’re a child,” Messiah said.

“I’m almost twenty! Stop calling me a child!” I shrieked.

“Tantrums back-to-back? Seemed pretty childish to me.”

I glared at him. “You insulted me.”

“You insulted me first.” He shrugged. “I’m perfectly sane, not a punching bag. I just thought since you wanted to insult me, I should return the favor… You aren’t looking so hot right now, though, just saying.”

I lifted my head. “You’re talking about other worlds. There’s only one world, and you all are living in caves!”

He laughed, loud and mocking. It echoed off the walls and rang in my ears.

“You are really clinging to that worldview, aren’t you? Next, you’re going to say that werewolves are more powerful than vampires and your precious Candido is going to burst in here to save you.”

“He will,” I growled. “I know he will and he’s way more powerful than you?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to argue battles that will never happen, but are you really going to sit there and deny the existence of a whole town? A palace that isn’t a werewolf estate? Magic stones? All of that? Just so you can cling to your sense of superiority?”

“You’re just trying to trick me. I know vampires can cast illusions.”

He shrugged, “Whatever keeps you warm I guess.” He tutted. “God, Raven’s going to be pissed.” He sighed. “She’s going to spend a lot of time with them… Uncle Ian’s going to have to give them leave.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Her lovers,” Messiah said. “Uncle Ian’s put us on lock down, since there are werewolves or traitors to kill, she’s going to be fucking a lot… Maybe I should take a page out of her book… or smoke more.”

He pulled out a cigarette and lit with casually, blowing the sweet-smelling smoke into the air.

“Vampires don’t breathe, how are you even—”

He rolled his eyes. “And werewolves don’t think.”

“You’re dead! What do you need to breathe for?”

He waved his hand. “I promise I’m very alive. Just like that town you were in is very much not in the werewolf world.”

“There’s no way vampires have a town. You’ve just taken over some old city in Candido’s territory! Werewolf territory.” I choked and coughed and he blew more smoke through the bars.

“Yeah, keep choking on that nonsense. By the way, our world is called Lunae, and it’s Uncle Ian’s territory. The Moon Goddess’ gift to us as her beloved children. That little patch of land that you wolves have been fighting over and running around on is… well, it’s complicated. Think of it like a backyard or a porch or something.”

“You’re lying.” I chocked. Lunae had been in a book I had read, some part of a history class that I barely remembered.

It didn’t matter when I had heard it, just that I knew that Lunae was a place of total darkness.

“Well, this has been… enlightening,” he snorted, and the light went off, leaving only the glow of his cigarette floating in the dark. “I’ll tell Raven I owe her at least five gold coins for this. I can’t believe I had such high hopes for you.”

I heard his footsteps fading then they vanished into silence, and I slumped back onto the floor.

He had to be lying. There was no way that Candido’s territory was… a backyard of some sort to Ian’s, to vampires. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t believe it. Vampires didn’t have cars or phones, or any of the other things we had. Some of them had phones, but it wasn’t because they’d built them. All the advancements of the werewolf world were ours and only made possible because of the leadership of Full Moon.

I heard something in the distance like a rousing cry of victory, like a stadium full of people and my lips twitched as I thought of the championship game.

Would I ever get to play rugby with Claire again? Would Candido ever kiss me in front of that many people? The thought made my chest tight. I wanted more than anything for the whole world to know he was mine. That he’d chose me. I closed my eyes and got lost in the fantasy of it. I could see his eyes looking at me. I felt his lips against mine and fell asleep to the sound of cheering, wishing that I could feel the sun on my skin the way I had then.

A mocking laugh shocked me awake. I sat and pain exploded in my head as I rammed my head into something hard. It radiated through my face.

“That looked like it hurt,” Ian said from somewhere. “Still content to stay in there?”

“Let me out,” I grunted, cradling my head in my hands.

“You’ve still learned nothing, I see. Well… carry on.”