THE STRANGE TALE OF TWO ROYAL SISTERS

23 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, CONTINUED

This strange tale was according to Ki. He claimed that it was a well known tale told among the vampires in their theatrical performances. There were many versions of the story, but in general, it was about how the younger sister became queen.

Once upon a time, there were two royal vampire princesses, both daughters to the vampire king. The elder sister was serious and ambitious, the younger enjoyed pleasures and arts.

The sisters were very close, despite their differences. One night, the elder sister confided to her younger sister that she planned to become queen.

"But you would have to kill our father!" The young sister exclaimed, "Our father has lived forever! It would be a hundred years too early for you to hurt him, but less successfully assassinate him!"

(Bear in mind they were vampires, so there was no love lost at the prospect of their father's death.)

"Don't worry, I have a plan." The elder sister smiled mysteriously, "I will summon the Tyger."

"The Tyger? What's that?" The younger sister asked.

"Just come with me." The older sister said, "And you would see for yourself."

So according to popular vampire lore, the Tyger was a fearsome god who held great destructive power. Either that, or it was a cursed beast - for everywhere the Tyger went, it would seep the dark curse on everything it touches.

But there was one wonderful thing a Tyger can do. If you made a wish on a Tyger, he would grant your wish as long as you were able to give him a treasure that was of equal value, and according to the value of your gift, the Tyger would grant your wish accordingly.

So the younger sister met her older sister on the appointed night. She did not realize it, but an elder sister who plotted to kill their father, would also plot to use their younger sister as a means to her end.

The elder sister summon the Tyger. His hair and eyes were black like sin, and the curse radiated from his body, "Who dares summon me?"

"I summoned you." The elder sister stepped forward, she gestured to the tables laden with jewels and food, "Thank you for coming."

The Tyger looked around at the offering, "What do you want young vampire princess?"

Because the elder sister was not yet a thousand years old.

And the elder sister made her wish, "I wish my father was dead, and I held the ring instead."

"And what would you give me for this wish? A life for a life, and a treasure from your heart is required." The Tyger said.

"I will sacrifice the life of my own sister." The elder sister said.

The younger sister was shocked, "How could you? I had loved you sister!"

And the elder one said, "Yes, I offer to the Tyger, the only one who had ever loved me."

"Such is a sacrifice indeed." The Tyger growled, but I cannot accept this sacrifice, for she is not a maiden.

Because the younger sister loved pleasure and pursued it in its every possible form.

The Tyger considered the situation, and announced to the elder sister, "I will take you instead."

Because the elder sister was still virgin since she had been studying and training seriously with the single minded focus on her ambition to be queen for the last few hundred years.

"But how can I be queen, if I am the sacrifice?" The elder sister whined.

The Tyger shrugged, "That was not your wish."

"You should have been more specific when making your wish." Her younger sister chimed in.

"But I said I wanted the ring!" The elder sister argued.

The Tyger produced a ring as if out of thin air, "Then you may wear mine."

And that was how the Donovan Coven came to be. Ruled by a Tyger and the vampiress who should have been queen.

The younger sister returned home. Her father was dead and she was all that was left to inherit the throne.

The End.

After hearing this story, I truly wonder why we were doing stuff like Romeo and Juliet at school. This story was way more exciting.

"Wait, so the Tyger mated the vampire?" Ben asked.

"I think the focus here should be the fact that our luna just handed over the Tyger's ring to Trevor." Ki pointed out with his gentle smile.

"I handed Trevor the replica." Bell corrected, "The real ring is with us."

Ben chuckled, "You're gonna make Trevor betray his alpha over a fake ring."

I don't think that was the point either.

Now that Ben and I had been educated on vampire historical drama, Bell continued to explain the inner workings of his mind.

At first, he only wanted to bring me back safely - which was touching, but the moment he had found me in the hidden lair, he had recognized it as a vampiress' suite. The precious treasures left around the lair, the water porcelain vases filled with flowers. He had immediately gone up the stairs in search of signs of the vampire. Upstairs, he found books - many rare books both of vampire and ancient lycan origins. He had flipped through a few of them, using his eidetic memory to capture as much information as possible.

He could not decipher the ancient vampire texts, but the lycan books were curated to document accounts of the Tyger. According to one record, summoning of the Tyger was a strictly forbidden practice in the Colored Mountains. There was also a book entitled, "To the future Tyger" and it included hand written and drawn maps and directions to the Tyger's cave.

When he was about to replace the book, he noticed the ornamental bust in the shelf was attached to a hidden lever. I pulled on it and discovered the hidden entrance to where the vampiress slept. She had such an uncanny resemblance to the vampire queen that he had to call Ki up to confirm it.

Very, very, few have ever seen the vampire queen face to face. In public, she would be veiled. But because of her great love for pleasure, one of the greatest being beautiful fight dogs, both Ki and later on Bell had been ever the privilege of entertaining her in private.

Boo growled protectively at the idea of her poor wolves being made use of for vampire entertainment. Bell laughed a quiet laugh, "Jealous much?"

Huh? Why should I be jealous? Its not like I ever wanted to entertain a vampire, much less a vampire queen. I wondered if it were like having to walk Maria around in school. What did vampire queens do for entertainment?

The rings we found proved that it was the Donovan Coven's queen.

"Since my princess picked the true ring, I took the fake one to bait Trevor." Bell concluded. He patted my head as if to soothe my wolf, "The black gas that seeped out proved my theory. We were on Tyger territory."

"The black gas was the Dark Curse!" Ben was quick to understand.

"Keep the ring into the argon box. From what I've read, the curse can only be sealed with pure argon, and destroyed by blue fire." Bell said, "I will dream travel back and return the diary. If all goes well, Alpha Solomon is going to rush head first into the lair to steal the treasures, their gear would not be able to withstand the corrosive nature of the curse. When his wolves retreat, they would bring the treasures and curse back with them. The entire Black Forest is going to be corroded away by the dark curse. I heard the curse would decay life and spread over wood and stone, cloth and paper alike. Eventually, the only way to salvage the land would be to put blue fire to burn it all away - blue fire which I will control." Bell decided.

"Wait, you want the blue fire?" I asked. I thought the point was to not let Bell near the blue fire.

Bell smirked, "I've found a way to save your life, Princess."

Not that my life needed saving, but pray tell what you have in your convulated mind, my luna.

Bell didn't need any prodding, "I will become the Tyger and wish your life to stay."

Did it work this way? Could a Tyger wish on himself?

"You better work on the phrasing." Ben advised, "Maybe get Harv and Ki to write it for you."

"What do you plan to sacrifice, luna?" Ki asked with his gentle smile, "Even if you're wishing on yourself, surely a price would be demanded of you."

At this point, Bell actually grinned. He was so proud of himself, "I will sacrifice my princess."

"What me?" I flared.

"Yes." Bell was extremely confident about it, "To myself. You will be mine."

I don't know... Was it just me? Or did this plot have more loop holes than Swiss Cheese?

Bell smirked, "Very soon, not only would my cursed prophecy be fulfilled and my princess's safety secured, but the largest pack in our continent would be desperately in need of my intervention."

And because it wasn't enough to release the dark curse over Black Forest, Bell continued, "I would also be returning the elder sister to her grand nephew at Ciara Coven. Edward would keep her safe, and should she awake, she would be hunting down all her personal belongings."

At this Ben grinned, "The Black Forest wouldn't know what hit them."

"By then Trevor would have no choice but to take over the Black Forest Pack and ally it with our Moon Bell." Bell concluded.

"This would certainly position Moon Bell at the top." Ki smiled lightly.

Yes, but at what cost.

"It's a good plan, Luna." Ben, in a rare show of admiration, approved.

"I know." Bell nodded.

I shook my head, "I don't agree."

"Why not, Sam?" Ben asked.

"I don't know." I admitted.

"Don't worry, Princess." Bell was brimming with confidence, "Just leave everything to me."

Even if he said that, how could I not worry?

"What would you say was the morale of the story about the two royal sisters?" I asked.

"What morale?" Bell asked, "It was merely a vampire drama, there was no morale."

"But there had to be!" I insisted, because I felt quite sure a story like that was definitely trying to say something..

"I believe the vampires took it to mean that the younger sister's decadent lifestyle had not only saved her from being sacrificed but also rewarded her with the vampiric crown." Ki explained.

I shook my head again, "No, no, that's just what a vampire would think."

"Like I said," Ben repeated, "Make sure the wish is airtight."

I shook my head again and sulked. Something wasn't quite right - okay, the entire thing was twisted, but there was something that made me feel anxious to my guts. I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Oh!" Ki exclaimed, "That name!"

"What name, dog?" Ben narrowed his eyes.

"I wonder if it's just a coincidence." Ki mused.

"Just spit it out already, dog." Ben growled.

"Well, the name Donovan. It isn't a vampire name, is it?" Ki pointed out.

How would I know what kind of name Donovan was?

"Oh." Bell said.

"Oh." Ben said.

"What?" I said.

"Donovan is a wolf name." Ben informed me, "It's not very common, particularly because it's a snow wolf name."

"Like a certain Alpha we know." Ki smiled.

Ah, the plot thickens.

I only knew one snow wolf alpha, "Alpha Gunter?"

"Alpha Gunter Donovan." Bell smirked as he said the name quietly in his low deep voice.

Oh. But what kind of coincidence was that?

"So it's set then." Bell decided.

Wait, no! I flared, and then I woke up with a start. I was back home, in my clam shell bed and lemon scented sheets.

It took me a moment to remember that I had been dream travelling. And then my alarm rang. It was time to go to school and face my second day of exams.