Of Nature and Shrapnel
The trio entered the office of Wolf One, which was as if entering another world entirely. The room was was the result of someone requesting an interior designer to be as close to nature as possible. everything that could be made of natural objects were. The chairs were treated stumps, the desk a tree trunk cut in half and the curtains made to resemble the cover of trees.
The man behind the desk was imposingly large, the room barely holding his size. His neck was bent at an angle, as if a wolf was added to the the genes of a man. That is quite exactly what he was, he was a werewolf.
One of the few werewolves that could hold their true form. The whole hog of hair and muscle was fit into a suit so large it would take three times the amount of cloth as one for a regular man, yet the suit was barely enough. Muscles and hair stuffed in tight.
"Why have you lead a vampire to our nest, Wolf One?" Wolf Zero said his voice barely recognizable from an animal growl. Somehow every word was still legible through the extended muzzle of his. Only if he added a pair of glasses on there would he be a modern rendition of red riding hood's wolf. One were grandma even in her olden days was a dapper business lady.
"Because I said so" Nelly said stepping right in front of the desk. Zero didn't turn to look at Nelly at any point, his gaze fixed on Kabek. Wolf One was nervous, Nelly could feel it, but he didn't bend to the point of breaking. With her assistance, he should be above this man.
"I think Wolf One can speak for himself can he not?" Wolf Zero said, but still didn't turn his gaze. Contempt was in strong supply here, enough to render the most veteran of drinkers unable to stand straight.
"He can not, he is mine" Nelly said and took a seat for herself. Wolf Zero finally turned to look at her. Nelly was still wearing the anonymous mask on her face, but she was quite sure he knew who she was. It would be quite weird if there were other vampires in frequent contact.
"I thought the treetop didn't care what happened at the roots," Zero said, but didn't seat himself.
"If you intended your words as a slight, knowing what our family motto is, I have taken note. Please do be seated" Nelly said unperturbed and waited for Zero to take a seat before continuing. For a while the only sounds in the room was the heavy rasped breathing of Zero and the ticking of an awfully loud grandfather clock. They stared each other in the eyes for untold ticks of the seconds hand, measuring each other. Zero harrumphed and did finally sit down, and Nelly heard Kabek breathe out a sigh of relief behind her.
"I do mean what I said." Zero said, after sitting down, and his stump creaked at the weight under him.
"Of course you do." Nelly said and took of the mask she had been hiding behind. Zero snorted at the sight of her, spittle spreading on the desk in front of him. Nelly raised an eyebrow and wondered if he had expected that it was the Empress in disguise and not her.
"This is not a place where you should traipse around. We wolves have never really liked vampires to begin with and are only working for you due to ancient precedent." Zero said, now clicking his sharp nails on the table.
"I love how you wolves always lie to yourselves. You always pride yourself highly, but there is nothing you enjoy more than finding an Alpha to follow. Time after time, an Arbore has proved themselves worthy to the title." Nelly said resting her hands in her lap. "You call your troupe alphas as you consider yourselves better than the others, but you truly are nothing but the first of the weak."
Wolf Zero had anger hiding in the gray eyes of his, but it took only Nelly sitting nonchalantly to get the man over the edge. It started with a raspy laughter, and soon followed by gnashing his teeth against each other.
"The words you speak acclaim to a fiery spirit with a sharp mind, but can you truly dare to call yourself our alpha, my alpha" Zero said and smashed the table in front of him to smithereens. The table exploded in to shrapnel of varying sizes at the force of his blow. Nelly got whipped by a few small pieces of wood, one that left a small gash on her left cheek.
Kabek jumped up ready to lunge in combat, precious small pup ready to rise up for their master. Yellow on the other hand standing perfectly still even as the wood pelted her and left small wounds on her hands. A few moments later Nelly's nose was prickled by the light smell of cedar.
Nelly grabbed the battle ready Kabek's hand and squeezed it. When Kabek finally turned to look at Nelly it took a few seconds of a reassuring gaze and squeezes with similar meaning to calm him down. She didn't even bother to give a look to what Zero was doing, attention was earned not given. With Kabek calmed down, she turned to the other side.
Nelly grabbed the hand of Yellow and licked some of the small blood up, enjoying every small taste of it. The blood spread out on her tongue, every taste receptor available sang its hallelujahs.
When she didn't sink her fangs in, she couldn't mark her victim. Not that she wished to mark Yellow without her consent to begin with. The blood tasted great, and the few drops were enough to heal the wound on her cheek and bring forth a feeling of power in her chest.
Nelly looked up at the towering werewolf and uttered a warning.
"Kneel or bleed"