*Rafe*
“Pardon me,” I mutter as I bump into someone coming around the corner near what smells like a bakery. I’m in too much of a hurry to say more as my two highest ranking advisors and I rush from the sheriff’s office to our meeting with the mayor. Our conversation with Sheriff Brown hadn’t gone as expected. I asked about crime rates, the number of officers they keep on staff, budgets, etc., and all of his answers were vague, as if they kept no records, and he wasn’t even familiar with his staff.
“I’m telling you, it’s always like this in these outlying villages.” Kris, a wiry fellow with short dirty blond hair narrows his eyes and shakes his head. He’d been a secondary advisor to the king before being assigned to me recently, and I’m still not sure how I feel about him. Something about him just seems to rub me the wrong way, though I’m not sure why. “The mayor will be better prepared.”
“I hope so,” I say, preparing to add to that remark when I hear a voice behind me.
“Hey! Hey you!”
Normally, I would just assume that the young woman’s voice has to be addressing someone else because it sounds so rude, but the volume and anger she’s bellowing out into the universe makes me think I need to see what’s going on, regardless of who she’s speaking to, so I stop and turn around.
A petite young woman with wild copper hair and even wilder blue eyes stalks toward me, her blue cloak swirling around her as she approaches, her hands in fists.
I turn and look from Kris to Zeke, my most trusted advisor and best friend, who smirks and shakes his head, and then turn back to face her.
She is looking at me with a murderous glint in her eyes. I might find it comical considering I could crush her in a split second, but there’s something interesting about her. She’s beautiful, despite her thin, ragged appearance and the hate rolling off her.
“Me?” I ask, trying not to smirk.
“Yes, you. Do you have any idea what you just did?” She stops before me, her hands on her hips as she glares up at me.
Clearing my throat, I try to guess what she might be talking about, but I honestly have no idea. “Me?” I ask again.
“Yes, muscular guy with the dark hair and… unexpectedly stunning eyes.” She shook her head and continued, still shouting. “You just ran into me back there and knocked my bread out of my hands, you asshole!”
Behind her, a large line of people standing on the walkway gasp and begin to whisper.
My forehead creases as I try to piece together what she’s so upset about. “I said pardon me when I ran into you. I honestly didn’t see you.”
“We’re in a hurry,” Kris adds, not that I need his help. “And you need to watch who you’re calling an asshole, little girl.”
Zeke thumps him on the chest as Kris leans toward her. I don’t look at him, but I don’t have to in order to know what he’s thinking. Kris wants to tear her apart.
I’m more reasonable, and so is Zeke.
“I’m sure you are in a hurry.” Sarcasm drips from her tongue as she continues. “I bet you have important people to see and a significant list of things to do. But you ruined my fucking bread, and now I have nothing to feed my family.”
Once again, I have to wait to respond as a tall shifter lad with dark brown hair comes flying up behind her, shoving several loafs of bread under his arm. I wonder if this is her husband, or if she is even old enough for that. When he wraps an arm around her middle and pulls her back, I want to tell him not to touch her for reasons I can’t understand.
“Come on, Ainslee. You’ll get more tomorrow,” he says. “Leave them alone.”
She breaks free of him. “No, I can’t wait until tomorrow. Well?” she addresses me. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I already told you I’m sorry. Can’t you just go buy another loaf?” I wonder if I even have any vlads on me. I don’t usually carry money, leaving that to others. Zeke likely does.
It doesn’t matter. She’s laughing like a rabid hyena. “Buy more? With what? No, I can’t just buy more.” Her hands shoot out, almost striking the fellow who was trying to lead her away. “First of all, I don’t have any money left. I gave all of that to that bastard, Laslo Black, for the first loaf. The loaf you ruined. Secondly, it’s not like I can just go give more blood today to get more money. It’s forbidden—and I’d die. So, I’m shit out of luck until tomorrow, and now my sick mother and little brother and sister are going to have to eat nice, big bowls of air for all three meals today instead of just two.” She pretends to scoop some air into her mouth with an invisible spoon. “Mmm, air!” she sais in a mocking voice then growls at me. “Thanks a lot, pretty boy. Really. I do so appreciate how you fuckers come into our village and ruin everything.”
“You will not speak to us that way!” Kris is on the move again. This time it’s me who steals him by raising a hand.
Never in my life has anyone ever talked to me like this. Well, at least not in the last one hundred eighty years I can remember. Before that, when I was a human, it might’ve been possible. But certainly since I’ve become a vampire I’ve never had anyone speak to me in such a tone.
I’m fascinated by her. She’s unleashed so much anger at me, yet disclosed so much information I cannot understand. I want to ask this young woman a thousand questions instead of questioning the mayor.
But Zeke clears his throat. “Sir? We need to be going. Perhaps we can handle this later?”
I nod, knowing he’s right. “I am very sorry,” I say to her again. “Miss?” I think that boy called her Ainslee, but I don’t know her last name.
“Bleiz,” she says. Perhaps that’s her name, or maybe it’s a curse in an ancient tongue. After all, when she utters it, I think I hear Zeke gasp a bit, though he tries to hide it.
“Come on. You’re making it worse.” The boy tugs on her arm, and she starts to walk away with him, but in her blue eyes I see unshed tears. Her jaw is set, and she is clearly distraught.
I want to help her, but I can’t at the moment. Besides, as I turn and walk away, I have to remind myself that she is a wolf shifter who lives in an outlying village, the furthest one from the castle, a border territory between our realm and one controlled by our enemies. She is nothing to me but a number—maybe a body count if the situation between us and Warfang continues to unravel.
“That was… peculiar,” Zeke remarks.
“Indeed.” I’m not sure what else to say. I try to get my head on straight so I can interview the mayor. I need to have a better understanding of this place so that I’m ready for what’s to come.
“Stupid little bitch.” Kris shakes his head, but his words offend me for reasons I can’t quite place.
“Enough. We’ll take care of it later.” We approach the mayor’s office and are shown inside by an elderly woman with a severe bun.
Angus Black is a large man, which surprises me. All of the people I’ve seen in the town so far have been thin, some of them extremely so. Even the sheriff was about average in weight.
But Mayor Black is hefty. He invites us inside, offers us pastries and wine. We refuse all of that. While we can eat and drink substances other than blood, we don’t enjoy most of them. Besides, I’m here for business reasons, not for pleasure.
I begin firing questions at him as he sits behind his desk, the three of us in grand green velvet chairs with intricate carvings on the armrests and legs. It seems a bit much considering how dilapidated many of the buildings in town are. The sheriff’s office was nice, as is this office, the bakery I caught a glimpse of, and a few other buildings on the main street. The houses we passed in order to get here were run down, paint peeling, holes in the roofs. I can’t figure this place out.
The mayor explains the situation with several shrugs and simple answers. “These people are lazy, Your Highness. That’s really all there is to it. They don’t want to work. Hell, we can barely get them to give blood. It’s a shame, really. This place used to be so prosperous. Now, it’s full of slums. No one takes care of their homes.” He shakes his head as if it pains his soul to see his beloved village fall into such a state of disrepair.
I consider his response, but I’m not sure that can possibly be the only answer. “Why would they suddenly become lazy?”
“Honestly, I don’t think they respect the king. There’s been talk of how it used to be, back when we had sovereign rule in our territories.”
He is speaking of the wolf shifters as a whole. Decades ago, this land was part of another territory, one known as Longclaw, but King Axel conquered these territories, and the new rulers he instated came to an agreement with him that they would supply both blood and feeders to the castle in exchange for being left to self-rule. While they are now subjects of the king, we don’t do much to govern them, only check in from time to time to make sure all is well.
That is, unless the blood supply dwindles as it has in some villages recently.
Or if a culling was required.
As far as I know, this village, Beoutown, has been good about turning in the blood taxes, and I believe the last culling was two years ago. I am visiting to become more acquainted with the territory, as I have recently made my way through all the lands and holdings of Shadowglade. I need a better understanding of the people I will soon be ruling over, once King Axel steps down.
“If you want my honest opinion, Rafe,” the mayor begins.
Kris interjects. “Prince Rafe.’
“Yes, yes, sorry.” The mayor chuckles like the fact that he’s forgotten to use my title is a hiccup and not intentional. Looking into his beady dark eyes, I have to wonder if it was intentional, but I gesture for him to continue. “Prince Rafe, I believe what we really need is a culling, get these people back in line and remind them that King Axel—and you—are still in charge. Donations are dipping fast. They refuse to show honor to the king.”
“At the moment, only King Axel can call for a culling,” I remind him, stroking my chin. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Generally speaking, we only harvest feeders through cullings every five years. If there are special circumstances, that can change. I had no idea donations have been down.
“The feeders are running low,” Kris whispers. “We could use a fresh batch.”
I turn and look at him, my forehead knitting. “Aren’t there other villages that are due for a culling soon?”
“Yes, but only four or five. If we could add this one in, it would help significantly.”
“Why don’t I look into it?” Zeke drops his large hands down on his larger thighs. “Check populations, that sort of thing.”
“Please do.” Mayor Black smiles, and I can see his wolf behind his eyes, his long canines seeming to sharpen by the second. “I would like to help Sheriff Brown get things under better control.”
I nod, but I’m not sure this is a good idea. Why doesn’t the mayor already have control? Ultimately, King Axel will have the final say.
But I do not trust this man, Mayor Black. Not even a little bit.
*Ainslee*“Ainslee, what the hell were you thinking?”It’s not the first time Lenny has asked me this question since we left the bakery—since we left the street outside of the bakery where I’d accosted those three large male vampires. He’s right to be angry because I could’ve easily drawn him into a fight we couldn’t possibly win. Just because he wouldn’t help poor Ms. Mildred, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have stood up for me if those vampires had attacked. Lenny would do anything for me.Except for give me his loaf of bread. The smell of it has my mouth watering as we make our way along the muddy streets toward home. He lives a few blocks over from me and always walks me to my house after we got bread together.“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I admit. “I was just… mad.”“Why do you have to be so mad all the time, Ainslee? You’re going to end up getting yourself killed.” He shakes his head, kicking at a rock in the road.Again, he is right. He is always fucking right, which I of
*Ainslee*“I’m not thrilled to see you again either,” the thin, tall vampire says. I manage to toss the bow behind the door, but I’m pretty sure he’s already seen it.He doesn’t seem to care, which is contrary to everything I’ve ever heard about vampires. I stand there, staring at him, trying to figure out what the fuck he’s doing here.“Ainslee, invite our guest in.” My mother’s words are clipped as she is likely talking through a fake smile. That or she’s terrified. Maybe both.“He’s tall,” Brock says. The vampire’s eyes flicker to my little brother, and I don’t like how he’s looking at him like he wants to chomp the child in half.“Brock, Sinead, go into Mom and Dad’s room.” I turn and give them a pointed look, and they both know better than to argue. They meander in that direction, not disobeying but not in a rush to get out of the room with the strange new visitor either.I remember my mother has asked me to invite him in, which I haven’t done yet, but it doesn’t matter. He’s com
*Ainslee*Looking up into the grin of the vampire I’ve just run into, I take a deep breath. “Shit,” I mutter under my breath and take a step back.“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you,” he tells me, his glowing amber eyes disturbing. But he’s not smiling at me in a menacing way like that other asshole.“It’s okay.” I’m not sure what else to say. This guy was there earlier, and he’d seemed relatively nice, at least compared to that last guy.It’s not the vampire I’d been hoping for, though. Where the hell was the hot one?Not that I preferred to run into a vampire—hot or not. On any given day, I’d choose running into a vampire over nearly nothing. Maybe I’d prefer this to getting my foot stuck in a fire ant mound, if my foot was slathered in honey. But maybe not.“Can I speak to you for a moment?” His tone is polite as he folds his arms across his massive chest. This guy is the largest of all of them. That one who just walked away was tall and wiry. The other one, the one that had actually
*Rafe*“They’re just lazy, that’s all there is to it,” Kris says with a flourish of his hand and a shrug of his thin shoulders. “We need to whip them back into shape.”The carriage bumps along over uneven ground. The mechanics are top of the line, making it as smooth as possible, but the roads away from the area near the castle are not maintained like the roads I’m used to traveling, and it’s not comfortable.Not that I leave the castle much. Until King Axel declared that I would take over the throne for him, to me and a few of the other royals, not the entire kingdom yet, I rarely left the castle. Now, I find myself visiting a new village at least three times a week.But we are on our way back to the castle now. I’ve seen several smaller villages in one day before visiting Beoutown. That took longer than expected. While I’d sent Kris to fetch and deliver the food, Zeke had been off on his own errand, and I’d taken a walk through the woods. I’d wanted to visit Stone River, the site of
*Ainslee*Laughter spills from inside our house. I stand outside with my arms wrapped tightly around my body, watching the familiar forms of our neighbors’ pass between the candles lighting the small dwelling and the windows. A smile takes over my face. I can’t remember when I last heard that sound—laughter--but it makes me happy to know that, at least for one night, some of the people in the village here can find something to be joyful about.“Cold?” Lenny’s voice cuts through the darkness as he comes to stand next to me.“A little,” I admit. The two of us back further away from the house, finding shelter beneath our favorite pine tree. We’ve spent many hours sitting here together, discussing the fate of Beoutown and our fellow wolf shifters. I’m always cynical and pessimistic. My pragmatic friend often reminds me that things tend to work out for the best. I’m not sure I agree with that, but today I feel more hopeful than I have in years.Beyond the tree, the moonlight gleams on a cr
*Rafe*King Axel looks smaller than usual behind his desk, though I’m not sure why. His graying hair, long and thick despite its change in color, hangs loose around his shoulders. He leans back in his chair, listening to our reports, saying very little until we finish going over everything we’ve discovered while we were on our mission to collect data about the status of the wolf shifter villages.“I feel the only way to get some of these territories back under control is through a culling,” Kris is saying. “Leadership in several of them told us just that. I saw such unruly behavior, such blatant disrespect for the crown.” He shakes his head, clearly still irritated with what went on in Beoutown.“Disrespect for the crown?” King Axel doesn’t hesitate to speak up now. “In what way?”“Well, in one town, an insipid girl called Prince Rafe all sorts of horrible names and nearly attacked him in the streets just for bumping into her.” Kris exaggerates the story, and I find myself growing irr
*Ainslee*Two days after the incident with the vampires, I wake up feeling better than I have in a long time. Food makes a world of difference, and as I stretch and yawn, looking out the window at a still dark sky, the feeling of renewal has me looking at the world in a more positive light.It’s difficult to pull myself from bed without disturbing the littles, but I must. The trash has to be collected, and then, I need to go donate blood. We have a bit of food leftover from the basket the vampires dropped off, but not as much as I’d hoped. My mother didn’t do a very good job of hiding the unperishable items from the neighbors, so they ate a lot of the bread, fruit, and vegetables, besides the meats and cheeses we’d asked them to share with us. We have enough to last us a few more days if no one comes calling, begging for more from our gift. I’ll have to keep up with my usual schedule if I want to make sure that my family continues to eat, despite the unexpected gift we were given.I’d
*Rafe*King Axel is quite chatty tonight. He pauses in his description of the house he plans to move to in a few months to take another sip from his goblet. I nod and do the same. Every night this week, he’s gone into elaborate detail about his plans once he retires. While I don’t mind hearing them, there are only so many times I can tell him I’m ecstatic that he’s going to have more time to work in his gardens.His two daughters sit on either side of us with me across from him. We’re having an intimate dinner tonight, as we do several times a week. No advisors. No other nobles. Just the four of us. “The Royal Four,” as King Axel likes to call us. He is obviously the leader with the two princesses and I as the other ranking nobles. Sometimes I wonder why he chose me all those years ago to be his next in line. All he’s ever said is that he saw something in me, whatever that means.“Maybe you’ll meet another woman and have someone to share all of this with.” Sophia smiles prettily at he