Chapter 9

When Alanna hung up the phone, Morana was looking at her, with curiosity in her eyes.

"Why are you looking at me that way?" Alanna questioned her.

"You look different to me. I don't know how to explain it exactly." Morana replied, looking at Alanna from head to toe. Alanna swallowed hard.

"Oh… I need to feed, Morana. I'll call one of my donors." Alanna declared, trying to change the subject. Morana stopped looking at her suddenly, as if she had just snapped out of some kind of trance.

"Alright. I'll make myself something to eat and, of course, for your guest as well. A person needs to be more than well fed to be able to support a vampire thirst." Morana said, smiling. And, while walking away, she clicked her tongue.

Alanna knew she only did that when she was upset about something. 'I hope she's not suspicious of my connection with Faolán.' She thought.

Alanna called the donor, and less than an hour later, an overweight burly man appeared at her door. He was big, as she preferred. After all, someone small would offer less blood, and the risk of the person dying was much greater, if Alanna didn't stop at the right moment. He was obsessed with vampires and dreamed of one day becoming one of them, believing that once he had this status, he would become handsome and all women would fall at his feet. Alanna had no intention of turning him, however, she kept him in an enchanted world, using the mental power she had over humans.

Morana gave him a plate full of sandwiches, and Alanna made a mental note to inquire her about the ingredients, after her feeding time.

After Alanna fed on him, he left, content, floating on the emotions she had implanted into his mind.

When Alanna was turned into a vampire, she woke up with a dry throat, feeling very strange. She got up and Morana told her where Aillard was. Alanna, whose birth name is Zilda, went after him. She killed many men before she got to him, drinking their blood until there was nothing left in their bodies. According to Morana, the vampire bite caused a certain hallucination in the victims, making them not feel so much pain. And so she did not bite Aillard, but ripped out his heart, so that he would agonize to death. She didn't know, but Morana wasn't happy about it.

Zilda had returned to the place where the death of her beloved had taken place. However, as much as Morana had told her that it was possible to turn someone into a vampire, one needed to drink the blood of the undead. Drink enough so that there was a generalized contamination in the individual's body. The problem was that Adarlan was already dead, and since his heart no longer pumped blood to his entire body, it was useless to either bite him or inject Zilda's cursed blood into him.

"My child, do not be like this. His soul will return to this world at some point. As I said, you will be able to live eternally, with seeming youth, that when you two meet, he will love you just as he did in this life that was taken from him." Morana had said, when Zilda was crying with her lover's body in her arms. "You will be able to bite him and you both will live happily ever after."

Alanna waited for 600 years and, in the end, fate had decided to tie her soul to the man who had killed the man she loved, as if it was a macabre inside joke between the supreme forces of this universe.

"You were pretty quick with that fat guy." Morana said, leaning against the kitchen doorway jamb.

Alanna was still standing by the front door, absorbed in her thoughts, with her hand still on the doorknob. Morana's voice woke her up.

"Ah, yes. I don't like to make it any longer than necessary. I only feed because I need to and you know it." Alanna said and saw that Morana had an empty plate in her hand, as she bit into a sandwich she was holding with her other hand. "Where did you get that from?" Alanna asked.

"Oh, what a silly question. I bought the ingredients at the store, on my way here." Morana said, as if it was obvious.

"I didn't know you shopped for groceries like an ordinary person."

"Hmm." In fact, Morana had summoned the ingredients from the supermarket, with magic. She hated walking among humans. And standing in line in the grocery store was definitely out of her plans.

"I am going to bed. Make yourself at home, as usual. You already know where your room is." Alanna said, heading to the stairs.

"You've turned out to be a terrible hostess. It's not like you actually need to sleep. But you'd rather go and leave me here on my own, having to deal with these weird technologies by myself." Morana complained, pouting. Alanna hated it. Morana simply didn't want Alanna to be left alone to think, since Morana didn't have access to the vampire's mind. At least that was a good thing in that empty existence, in Alanna's point of view.

"Right. Do you want to watch a movie?" Alanna asked, to which Morana nodded.

They watched a cheesy romantic movie, which was really weird. Morana didn't even like dealing with human technological advances, and she sure as hell wasn't very romantic, but she still picked that type of movie. Alanna was sure this was just to be impertinent. Morana could be a pain sometimes, and her idea of fun was absolutely annoying.

*

Faolán was sleeping and dreaming of the meeting he would have with Alanna. There, she readily accepted him and offered her neck for him to mark her as his female. When the cell phone rang on the bedside table, waking him up, he tried to keep his eyes closed, hoping he would be able to return to the dream, completely ignoring the cell phone.

"Ugh… Okay, I'm awake!" he yelled, reached for the device, still with his eyes closed, and put it to his ear. "Hello!" he said, sullenly.

"Faolán, we're in serious trouble." It was Zander and his voice didn't sound good at all. He hardly ever called Faolán by the name, which could only mean that the situation was very serious, indeed. Faolán opened his eyes and sat up.

"What happened?" he asked worriedly.

"The 'rogues' are attacking. They attacked yesterday, when it got dark. And they are still surrounding us. You need to get back here." Zander said. Faolán mentally cursed, and Rafe got nervous. He didn't want to abandon his female, however, the pack needed help, and it was his job as the Alpha to ensure their safety.

"I'm going to get my stuff and go to the airport." Faolán said and hung up the phone.

'Rogues' were what they called wolves that didn't exactly belong in a pack, despite the fact that they were together. There was no hierarchy among them as there was in the packs. They were nomadic, going from territory to territory looking for food and, of course, attacking packs in order to obtain it. And if the place was well-situated, they would try to settle there, eventually being able to structure a formal pack. Most of them were mad and angry. They were the lone wolves.

Faolán quickly packed his bags, and while he was waiting for the checkout to be done, he decided to send Alanna a message. He wouldn't call her because it was three in the morning and she was most likely sleeping.

'Alanna, I won't be able to meet you tomorrow. There was an emergency with those people I protect and I had to get back to Wyoming. I'll keep you updated on everything that's going on and when I'll be returning to Westminster. I will miss you. Love, Faolán.'.

He clicked 'send' and after ensuring that the message was indeed sent, he turned his attention to the receptionist and, as soon as he was released, he got into his rental car, drove it back to the car rental company, within the airport grounds. Since it was an after-hours return, he only had to park the car in the designated area, return the car keys and the rental agreement in the drop box, and he was good to go.

*

Alanna had finally gotten rid of Morana and gone upstairs to her room. The problem was: she didn't notice that her cell phone wasn't where she'd left it earlier, on top of her bedroom desk.

Morana looked at the device and read the text message received by a 'Clingy Wolf'. Upon seeing the signature, she knew he was the Alpha of the pack that wanted the Wyoming lands, the reincarnation of Aillard. She simply deleted his recent message, but not the entire conversation. That way, Alanna wouldn't even know he'd warned her about the need to cancel their date.

"Love..." Morana reread it, and a sinister smile crossed her face.

Morana knew what to do. She was waiting for the right moment to bring 'him' back. Alanna had thought that just keeping her mind sealed off, so Morana couldn't read it, was enough to hide things. What she didn't understand was that Morana was always one step ahead. Alanna had failed to fulfill her role in this game, last time; but Morana would make sure that, this time, everything went as planned.