Chapter 16

My heart instantaneously speeds up the moment the place I'm at comes into view, but for once is for a good reason as I cannot contain my excitement for being in such close contact with magnificent creatures like themselves.

So once I can stand by myself with my own two legs again I, with curious big eyes, try to take in everything at once, but fall back a little from shyness as everywhere I look there are pair of eyes staring at me curiously as all the werewolves of the village seemed to have gathered there to have a glimpse of myself, which makes me blush and look away.

"Come on now, the show is over, let the boy rest a little we will lot?!" Says the old woman in front of me while frowning at the crowd, and a hit from her cane on the ground is enough to send everybody back to their own business as if their tails were set on fire.

After that she comes back to me and smiles, wrinkling her whole face as it curves her eyes up.

"Poor boy you are, getting dragged into ancient creatures problems like such, there is a lot of grievance and anger on those ones, thankfully the boys found you and brought you to me." With those words she suddenly reminds me of my saviors, but as I take a look back most of them have already dispersed and walk into the dispersing group of people except for one that, with bulging arms crossed in front of him and a sharp gaze set to stare me down, did not seem to be pleased with my presence there.

"Don't worry about him boy, he may look like a scary big bad wolf but he's a completely softy inside."

"Elder…" A deep voice comes from him warningly, but the other woman only laughs it away while brushing the air off with the back of her hand.

"Come now, let me show you around before Lucien comes to snatch you away cub." With those words and a nod from her head she sets the other werewolf back to probably warn Lucien about my whereabouts.

Thinking of that deflates me a bit, knowing far too well that I had screwed up big time this time around, and rightfully so would hear a lot from him.

"Don't worry hon, Lucian may be hard sometimes but as ever other alpha males in this parts in the end they only want to keep us all safe, they can be very thickheaded at times, well, most of the time, but that's why we mates must stick together and help each other out, uhm?" She walks slowly with the support of her cane, and I could barely tell such force from before dwelled withing such withering old thin body.

"Mate?" I know the term it's used in many ways and that it holds a special meaning for the supernatural, and yet I'm still a little out of it after the experience I had the moment I got to realize her words, and once I ask she's already walking away from me, becomingly me to follow her.

"Come on slowpoke before this old lady has to drag your ass down with her."

Curious about many things already I don't think twice before following her around.

At first I thought the village made by where wolves in the middle of the woods would be made of lumber and stones, but it actually it looks very much like modern houses, made of bricks and rooftops, only looking slightly more homey and rustic by the balconies at the front with rocking chairs and talking people and by the positioning of it all as well, as if made to have closeness to each other somehow, with stone roads and a fountain at the center with well placed trees and benches, surrounded by two floor houses wrapping around it in a circle and extending to the sides.

But not before long all my attention is soon consumed completely by what lay in between the made up small waterfalls of the fountain.

A statue.

It is resting right at the center of their community, resembling a woman wearing a long tunic gazing above to the skies, and yet most of her face is covered by a marble crafted veil that only increases the mysterious value of such well crafted being, especially when her lips poke out, full and slightly open, merely enough to show two pointy fangs peeking in between.

A… vampire? Such intriguing things are somewhat expected I supposed in a city like this, though it is surprising that such a representation is in a werewolf village, and yet what is more intriguing is what she holds in her hands for in one, following the movement of her head and being raised, is a round orb that resembles the moon, and resting at her curved other arm is a resting small wolf pup with his little paws curved and the fur single handily crafted by hand, eyes closed with a newborn resting small face.

Is a masterpiece for sure but even more intriguing with so many meaningful symbols all around her.

Sensing my curiosity the elder beside me looks up and, with a smile curving wrinkles all over her face, says: "I see you were captivated by the Moon Goodness as well." Her words make my eyes shine at the image for I've heard of such deity many times before, but it is the first time seeing her image in such details, and…

The elder chuckles. "You want to know why she has vampire fangs, do you not?"

I nod. It wouldn't be odd to find it strange that the werewolf's deity had vampiric characteristics within her.

"It is funny, how many thinking of us werewolves and vampires as mortal enemies, but far from the reality it is, we had some fights as any other siblings may have, but we see each other as part of same family tree…most, at least, but well, it is not wrong that we have our differences but not because of our species, but rather in our way of thinking, especially regarding the humans."

That greatly picks my interests, especially after experience it first hand.

I know I won't be sleeping tonight from all the information I'll have to write in my blog that my fingers are already twitching in excitement.

The older woman seems a little taken back to talk more about the subject, almost as if ashamed of it, but in the end she gazes towards me and sighs.

"Well, I guess you're part of the community now, so there are things you must know no matter how shameful they are…"

I swallowed dry, attentively listening.

"Uhm, so many things to talk but I will keep it brief today, after all I'm sure you mate will want to tell you about the rest, but the vampires have always been driven into three groups that, for many years, had a lot of disagreements to deal with so to say."

"There are the Moon Blessed clan, they are the majority in the city and your mate is one of them, they are the ones that, like us werewolves of the Moon Goddess, are guided by her light and believe in the fated pair and in our destiny written within the stars."

"The other ones are Nightshades, they believe in their mates as well and the strength of the bound but, differently from the other they do believe that the supernatural, more specifically the vampires, are a superior race and therefore must govern the humankind and therefore controlled than in some sort of way." I get the feeling I can already tell where this is going to end at.

"And there is the last and worst kind, the Dark Descendants. They do not only disagree with the teachings of the Moon Goodness and completely discard the pull between mates but believe that humans are mere cattle and as such must be deal with in that sort of way, they are the cruelest of them all for they do not feel any sort of sympathy in regards to others that they are not from their own, if they can feel any sympathy at all. They have been basically suppressed out in the wars and are forbidding from most vampire territories but their strength is still great and they still work in the shadows, so be very careful around them, and no matter what happens do not be captured."

As if used to give these teaching the old woman keeps talking without the need of me prompting her further, so I'm left to attentively listen to her words as to not lose a single bit of information.

"And in that regard we are very similar to humans and their holy wars for it all started by misinterpreting our Goodness is words, for she said." At that point the older woman points at the base of the statue as her next words were crafted in the stone to every last word, rembered by heart by the elder woman. " 'For my children of the night I leave these blessings for each path to follow there are those to be guarded by the strong as one must look after the balance of the cosmos so the peace of the night may be eternal.' "

The old woman talks a lot about various things all at once, so the moment she is done she lets the silence fall so I can take in all the information she has thrown on me, but one in special bothers me the most, enough so as to make me look at her and ask.

And that is…

"What do you mean by… my mate?"