Chapter 3

“This meeting will be called to order!” King Alistair declared to the room as he took his seat at a table with 11 surprised and disgruntled Alphas during their monthly Alpha meeting.

“What do you mean Alpha Mitchell was killed by a Vampire?”

“This is an act of war!”

“What about the treaty?”

King Alistair leaned back in his chair, placed his fingers on his temples, and attempted to massage the incoming headache away. The constant questions and demands coming from the Alphas were warranted, but loud, and they did not help the overall situation. He was at a loss on what to tell them, there was just not enough information on the whole attack to warrant taking action. Finally, after a few more minutes of the Alpha’s screams and demands he had heard enough, the King slammed his hands on the table in front of him and glared daggers at the other occupants of the room. “ENOUGH! We are still gathering information and details on the attack earlier. We will not make any offensive moves without a full investigation into the attack and motives of the attacker!”

“Your Majesty, with all due respect, this Vampire killed an Alpha and you are going to let it go?” Alpha Conner from the Red Moon Pack demanded an answer as he jumped to his feet, slammed his fist on the table in anger, and locked in a stare-down with King Alistair.

“Alpha Conner, need I remind you that this same Vampire attempted to take the life of both my daughters and did take the life of one of my warriors! I am aware of the severity of his actions, but I am not going to preemptively strike and break a treaty without having all the details first.” King Alistair replied as he took deep breaths to calm his wolf, who didn’t appreciate the challenge issued by Alpha Conner through the stare-down.

Alpha Conner huffed in disgust at the answer but sat back in his chair and looked over to Serena, Kimberly, and Ravenna with pity. Serena sat on the couch with little Kimberly wrapped in her arms. She was the shoulder Kimberly needed to grieve the loss of her father. The angry Alpha stared at Kimberly as clutched Serena like a lifeline and quietly sobbed into Serena’s chest. Due to this attack, this child’s life will never be the same and she may never recover from the horrors she saw this day.

The burning glare that was focused on him caused Alpha Conner to look at Ravenna. She sat there with a glare and stood to her feet once she realized she had his attention. “We are fully aware of what this Vampire did; we were present and got to see him first hand. Half ass running around and attacking covens with no details on why the treaty was broken or who this Vampire is pointless. It will only cause unnecessary losses for us! So, we need to calm down and try to get to the bottom of this situation, before we go running to the Vampire kingdom with guns ablaze!” Ravenna shouted to the Alphas, her voice rising with each word she spoke.

“Well-spoken Ravenna,” King Alistair replied and he lifted his hand up to motion for his daughter to quiet and sit back down. “Now, let’s work on the agenda and I will call a meeting once the investigation of this situation is complete.”

The meeting continued to progress as the Alpha’s brainstormed furiously. They were looking for new ways to help lessen the damage their packs have encountered due to the constant Rogue attacks they were faced with. The Rogues have caused a lot of damage, losses, and a few smaller packs had been wiped out by their attacks. The worst part was; that these Rogues were showing no signs of ending their assault in the near future.

The room was distracted by the Rogue issue, which gave Ravenna a little time to silently slide her phone out of her back pocket. She clicked on the text icon and scrolled down to contact. She quickly typed the words: We need to talk. Meet me in the usual spot.

She hit send and casually slid her phone back into her pocket, then continued to listen. The Alpha’s carried on their discussions on the Rogue issues, and overall kingdom finances and wellness, bickered among them. A few hours later the meeting was finally adjourned; Ravenna took a deep breath and walked up to her father.

“How are you holding up Dad?” She asked as the stressed and worried look on his face concerned her.

“We are on the brink of war with our own, and now the Vampires had to go and kill an Alpha. I don’t know if we will be able to let this go, there’s just too much bad blood between us.” King Alistair took a deep breath and placed his head in his hands. After deeply sighing, he looked up at his daughter. “This is not your concern, and we are at a standstill until the investigation is complete. How about we go get some dinner?”

“No thanks Dad it has been a long day, I think I’m going to go lay down.”

He nodded at her and she left the room and made her way into her bedroom. She decided to take a shower; so she stripped down, stepped in, and let the warm water relax her, she washed her body and hair with unscented shampoo and body wash. When she was finished, she stepped out and wrapped herself in a towel, and dressed in a pair of black jeans, a black T-shirt, and black combat boots. Her waist-length black hair was pulled tightly into a bun, and she applied a light coat of foundation, lip-gloss, and eyeliner. She then checked her reflection one last time and headed towards her window.

She quietly climbed down the tree outside her window, and carefully made her way through the woods to avoid any passing patrols. Finally, she arrived in neutral territory, when she came to the familiar clearing she just stood there and waited. Ravenna watched the moon and began to think about Kevin and the events of the day, her mourning was broken by the feeling of hands that roughly grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Mutt.”

“Leech.”

The Vampire pulled her towards him and began to drag his lips down her neck until he reached where her neck and shoulder met, and he lightly scraped it with his fangs. “You know I could end your life right now.” He informed her smugly.

She let out a small moan and turned to face him. “You wouldn’t do that; you would miss this too much.”

She pulled him close as they shared a passionate kiss. Ravenna ran her fingers through his black hair and pulled him even closer. He slowly began kissing her neck and scraped his elongated fangs down her neck causing her to moan in pleasure. Finally, they pulled apart, he looked into her eyes. “You know we said we were going to stop this? We still have mates to find.”

“What can I say? I just can’t get enough of you Prince Alias. But this is not why I called you here, I had another reason.” She said as she looked into his red eyes, doing everything she could to keep herself from heading back into his arms.

“And that is?” He looked at her upset expression and immediately got concerned.

She took a deep breath, pulled away from him, and stepped back. “We had an Alpha killed today by a Vampire.”

“Are you sure it was a Vampire?” He asked in disbelief and confusion, “We do have a treaty.”

“I’m aware of the treaty I’ve heard about it too much today. I am always aware it was a Vampire as he tried to kill me, my sister, and my bodyguard. This Vampire did manage to kill not only Alpha Mitchell but also my sister’s bodyguard.” The pain of Kevin’s loss reflected in her eyes as she explained, and it took everything she had to not let the tears escape that was forming.

Alias took a deep breath and turned to her pulled her close and wrapped her in a hug. “I will get to the bottom of this, but I need time. Please call off the dogs.”

Rolling her eyes at the Werewolf pun, she gave him a peck on the cheek. “I will do what I can; now we should go before we get caught.” She turned around and began to walk towards the edge of the clearing.

“Raven!”

She turned to look at him and almost melted with his crooked smile. “Thanks for trusting me enough to talk before you attacked.”

“What can I say? I just can’t get enough of you Prince Alias.” She gave him a slight bow, smiled at him, turned, and disappeared into the woods. A really bad feeling overwhelmed her and her wolf, so she quickly began to make her way back to the safety of her bedroom.

Alias watched her leave the clearing and turned to leave as well. Slowly, as he walked through the woods, the conversation with Ravenna continued to replay in his mind. “Who would break the treaty?” He asked himself out loud, the trees were swaying in the background as he walked through the woods. Alias knew what his first course of action would be, which would be taking this information up to his father King Lucius. However, his internal debate was interrupted by a scream. He quickly picked up speed to see a Vampire child being carried away by human Hunters; his eyes were red with anger, and he sprinted faster to catch up with them.

“What do you think you are doing?!” Alias demanded as he looked at the fear in the face of the child.

“Well Boys, we get two Leeches for the price of one!” One Hunter exclaimed and he threw the girl to the ground.

Shimmering behind the Hunter, Alias quickly drew the dagger he kept in his sleeve and slit the Hunter’s throat. “Run home now,” he screamed to the girl. The girl quickly rose to her feet and began to run in the direction of the castle, which caused Alias to sigh in happiness. However, his victory was short-lived; he was thrown to the ground by another Hunter who jumped on top of him. The impact of his body hitting the ground caused him to drop his dagger, but he managed to punch the Hunter in the face and used his legs to throw the man off of him. Alias rose to his feet as he saw a different Hunter charging at him, he grabbed the Hunter by the arm and rolled him over his shoulder. Quickly Alias ducked a punch that was thrown by the first Hunter, stood straight up, and reached out his arm. He grabbed the Hunter by the throat squeezing as hard as he could.

“My dear stupid humans, you all should know better than to take on the Prince of the Vampires.” Cockiness filled his voice as he continued squeezing the human’s throat even harder. Alias smiled deviously as the face of the Hunter in his grasp continued to turn a darker shade of blue. Suddenly, sharp pain in his chest caused him to look down. The fact that he forgot about the Hunter he flipped was his fatal mistake as he looked angrily at the silver stake point piercing his chest. Alias dropped the Hunter, as he slowly fell to the ground; the last thing he heard was the snickering of the Hunters before he took his last breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The little girl ran home as fast as her legs would take her, eventually, she managed to locate her father Mathias. Mathias was the lead general of the Dark Light army and she found him relaxing in the King's study sitting at the table next to Vampire King Lucius.

“Daddy! Daddy help!” The girl screamed in panic as she ran into the room.

“What is the matter sweetie?” Mathias asked instantly concerned by the fear in her voice and her tear-stained cheeks.

“Hunters kidnapped me and tried to kill me, but Prince Alias showed up and they were hurting him!” The tears flowed freely as she told her dad the story up until the part where she ran away.

“I NEED ALL GUARDS IMMEDIATELY TO FIND MY SON!” The King yelled to the surrounding guards as they frantically began to scurry out the door and to the woods.

Mathias began to release his daughter and stand; he was softly pushed down by the King. “Tend to your daughter. She needs you; I have enough men looking for Alias.”

Mathias nodded gratefully and picked up his daughter. “Let’s get you something to eat and go find mama.”

Hours passed as King Lucius and his second son Prince Zane paced the floor in anticipation of news on Prince Alias. Their worry was interrupted by the door opening slowly, they both turned to see Mathias slowly walk into the room.

Mathias stopped in front of the men and kneeled in respect, the tears forming in his eyes were not missed by the men.

“Your Majesties; I got the report from the search parties, I’m so sorry, Prince Alias didn’t survive the battle against the humans.”

King Lucius gripped his chest tightly and slowly sat down in his chair. The grief was flowing from his body, and he placed his head in his hands. Zane slowly walked to his father putting his arm around him for comfort.

A few minutes had passed when King Lucius took a deep breath and looked up at Mathias. “Alert all Covens I want a meeting here in two days. We need to discuss our next steps and how to handle the war the humans just waged.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ravenna jumped back into her window and quickly dressed in her pajamas. She climbed under the covers and closed her eyes. The sound of her phone beeping caused her to open her eyes as she realized she had a text.

Miss me already Alias?

She smirked at the thought and grabbed her phone. However, it was not from Alias at all, it was from her manager Titus.

You’re needed at the Midnight Rose Arena tomorrow night!

She yawned, placed her phone back down on the nightstand, and let sleep overtake her.