The Wanderer

three: old friend

“Shh, you don’t want to wake her!”

Akire squeezed her eyes. She ached all over but she was alive. The sun did not burn her. She gave a sigh of relief.

“Really kid. Stop sniveling; she’s going to be all right. If you wake her up, she’ll be spitting mad, aye! You understand?”

Akire frowned. She recognized the voice and that was when she remembered to open her eyes. She blinked and gasped in shock.

A low growl escaped from her throat as the vibrations from Sam painted her a picture.

“Welcome back, love! See, I told you she’ll be angry!”

Akire growled again. “What are you doing here Alex?”

Akire met Alexis McLaren when she and Haito first came to England. The three of them started on the wrong foot right away; especially since Alexis is a werewolf and wanted to take a chunk out of Haito and Akire with his wolf pack.

They managed a brawl with nobody getting bitten. There was a lot of blood lost but after the fight, Alexis surrendered (though, he would never admit it) He promised to leave them alone if he spared the lives of his fellow wolves.

Haito and Akire did not want their European holiday tainted by making enemies and allowed the wolves to go free.

A few weeks after that, Akire found Alexis in an alley near the hospital. She had just gone to feed off the sickly when a faint howl alerted her.

She realized who it was, he had transformed into a huge beast but bloodied. His pack had been attacked and he was challenged by a different Alpha and lost. He barely got out of the fight alive.

Akire had no choice but to bring him to their apartment. Haito frowned upon it but she would never turn away anybody in need.

The next day, when Alexis transformed into human form again, he expressed his gratitude and pledged his friendship and loyalty to the two vampires.

Akire felt closer to being human then because she had gained a friend. Alexis was two years older than her but for most of the time, he acted like he was younger.

He had managed to hang around with the duo until a true, genuine friendship developed. In fact, in few scrapes and close calls, Alexis had helped Akire survive. Apparently, he still looked out for her all the way across the Atlantic.

“You remember I told you, you smelled funny? Well, I tracked you down.”

Akire frowned. “Why?”

“You can say thank you anytime soon, by the way. If I hadn’t arrived in time to throw my awesome jacket over you, you would have been toast, love!”

“And I did not know you adopted strays…” He added, looking down on Sam.

Akire groaned and took off her jacket. It was already almost midnight. She sniffed and smelled blood. How did Alexis feed her? She could not survive on werewolf blood; it would poison her, but not enough to kill. Still, it was not a pleasant experience she wanted to have at the moment.

“I’m not asking again, Alex. Speak.”

Alexis sighed. “You left without saying goodbye. I arrived home and Haito was there, bloody tears on her face, telling me you were in the docks boarding a ship back to your motherland.”

A bag of blood flopped in front of Akire. She felt for it and sniffed. She looked at Alexis.

“Oh don’t worry! I did not kill anybody for that! I saw a small store just a couple of streets away. Apparently, they stock blood in case the monsters come. They give the blood in exchange for not getting harmed. Bloody lot it has done for them!”

Akire sighed. She did not have a choice. She still felt weak so she ripped at the bag and drank. She hears Sam’s intake of breath.

“Better the bag than you, kiddo!” Alexis retorted and then chuckled as Sam’s eyes grew wide and his face pale.

“How did you get here so fast? How did you know where to find me?”

“If you be looking behind you from that ship you were on, I would have waved back. There were two boats with the same route. Call it my Irish luck!”

“Okay, seems plausible. But why?”

He sighed and watched as Akire toss the empty packet of blood. “I told you and Haito I would be sticking with you guys as long as I’m alive. I owe you my life and we creatures pretty much take loyalty and debt seriously.”

“Hmp! Tell that to the pack who abandoned you!” Akire scoffed. “Besides, why didn’t you just stay with Haito?”

Alexis watched as the boy, who was looking at Akire a while ago with worried looks, make himself comfortable under the discarded trench coat. He didn’t seem to mind that it had a little bit of blood.

“What are you doing with that creature? Are you saving him for snacks?”

Akire whacked Alexis with her Katana on the head before she sheathed the weapon.

“So, you decided to tag along? Why? I think Haito would have wanted your company!”

“Actually, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere away from dear old England. But then she said that you were off to find this dangerous master vampire and thought you could use my help.”

 Akire groaned and stood up. She was feeling quite better already. She marched to the doorway and took a small ball of nylon wire. She carefully placed one end on one side of the doorframe and then extended it to the other direction.

“Do you think other vampires will be coming to avenge the fallen?”

“It’s not the vampires I’m worried about. It’s your kind. Your scent might have wafted to wolf packs hiding within the area. They might decide to pay a visit and check out the competition.”

“Hmmm, I never thought of that. I thought, seeing as how dusty and ancient your little town is, nobody would dare settle here.”

“Well, you thought wrong. Sam said he heard a pack of wolves howling and running past the dojo gate the other night.”

Akire tool a small packet filled with powdered silver and blew it across the zigzagging string she had attached to the doorframe. It looked like a door made out of nylon and glittered with silver dust.

“Hey careful with that! The wind’s blowing mighty fierce!”

Akire grinned. “Oops, I sometimes forget you’re a lycanthrope.”

“Well, remind me to remind you on a full moon!” Alexis muttered from under his coat. He had used it to shield his face from being exposed to the silver.

“So, who attacked you? Why didn’t you use your ninja samurai thingie on them? Don’t tell me you were out of shape! I nearly had a heart attack when I saw you lying lifeless, melting under the sun.”

“They were thugs. I-I didn’t get to feed before the fight. There were three and I was protecting Sam.” Akire sat down across Alexis who rummaged inside his bag for food.

Soon the smell of beef jerky assailed her nose. Trust Alexis to bring food anywhere. She could just imagine his wolfish face, green eyes and red hair munching happily. He wasn’t bad looking either.

“Ah yes, who is the stray?”

“He says he’s a prince. He showed me a piece of paper but I could not point out if it was a map or some scribbles. I’m blind as a bat!”

Akire watched the movement and vibrations brought about by Alexis who was rummaging inside the young boy’s bag.

A rustle of paper told Akire that Alexis found it.

“What would you do without me, Akire? You would have died because you’re out of your mind when feeding is concerned and now, you can’t even read a map.”

“If this is going to be a preview of what’s it like traveling with you then, I am better off alone. In fact, I have a wonderful idea!” She replied. “Why don’t you deliver the boy to his father?”

“Are you serious? You have no idea where this map points towards!”

Akire counted to 10. She had almost forgotten how annoying the Irish wolf was from time to time.

“It leads to Lycan city! Believe it or not, I think your little play thing –if he is who he claims to be- is the son of the king of a different breed of lycanthrope.”

“What do you mean, a different breed? You all look and smell alike to me!”

“Well, seeing as you might not encounter these shape shifters just about anywhere. They are a pretty proud, racist community.”

Akire heard Alexis’ heartbeat speed up as he licked his lips nervously and turned to where Sam was sleeping peacefully.

“Listen love, these werewolves are different from my kind because they can transform at will. They rule this kingdom somewhere across the Atlantic. They scarcely go out of their country to avoid conflicts and exposing their blood to the other were-kind.”

“Wait, hold up! You mean, in broad daylight without the moon hanging big and white, they can be werewolves? How come you’re not part of that gene pool?”

“That’s the thing! You are born into being a shape shifting lycan. It’s a glitch in the bloodline but if you get bitten by them and then they let you heal yourself with their blood in your system, ordinary werewolves like me can have a 50% chance of becoming like them.”

“That sounds a lot like vampire stuff to me… Would a lot of you risk 50% of your lives to have that power?”

Alexis heart skipped a beat and she heard his quick intake of breath. She knew that Alexis would give anything to have power over the wolf that nearly killed him and stole his pack.

“Alexis, you are not seriously thinking of risking your life? Really? Do you even know what that would mean?”

Alexis did not say anything but he kept looking at Sam’s sleeping profile. Despite being blind, Akire was quick enough to unsheathe her Katana and she had it on Alexis’ neck just as the Irish wolf was about to lean in on Sam’s unsuspecting body.

“Are we going to have a problem in this area, Irish?” She growled low. She knew that Alexis was a loyal friend but in a world where dog eat dogs, you can’t be sure just how much a relationship is worth if it meant getting the upper hand over demons.

Alexis breathed slowly and leaned away from Sam. He closed his eyes, attempting to reign in the beast that was raging inside of him. It wasn’t the full moon yet so there was no danger of him transforming into a full werewolf. Still, he had enough strength to kill a kid.

“You can’t understand just how big this is, Akire. I can be stronger, faster and not a slave to the moon! I can reclaim what I have lost! I can-“

“Shut up! Listen to yourself! You’ve become such a selfish bastard in 3 seconds flat! Now, before I let go of your neck, promise me you will not harm the child!”

Akire waited and listened as Alexis’ heart started speeding up. She knew he was battling inside. She needed him to be reasonable because she did not want to have to fight and kill the guy who saved her life today. Please, Alex! She thought, gripping her sword tighter.

“Okay. I promise –at least, I will try!”

“That’s not good enough, Irish!”

“Do you know you call me “Irish” when you’re pissed? You make me sound like a girl –“

“Cut the chitchat- I’m serious!” She pressed the blade closer.

Alexis let out a sight. “Okay, I promise! I will not harm the child and will not use him for selfish purposes!”

“Can I trust you on that, Alexis? Can I really believe you will not harm him for your gain? I don’t want to have to fight you and we’ve been down that route before...”

Alexis gripped the edge of the blade, it hissed as it met his skin. Soon, Akire tasted the rusty and mangy smell of werewolf blood trickling to the floor. She held her sword steady because she knew one small flick and she could cut off her friend’s paw!

“By my blood, I promise I will not harm the child in any way. I will not drink his blood unless he offers it willingly. You can trust me, Akire.”

She nodded. Alexis let go of the blade and then wrapped his hand on one of the remaining clothes from the incinerated vampire. He would heal a little longer than usual because of the silver in the blade but he was not seriously wounded.

It was going to be difficult but he would not betray his friend. Alexis sighed and looked out the door, across the dark courtyard of the dojo but his mind was on the little boy sleeping innocently.

If Sam was truly the prince of the Lycan land and he cannot drink his blood or at least go through transition through him, maybe returning him home could gain him this reward of being one of them!

“I know what you are thinking, Alex! Really, how can we be sure that Sam can transform you? I don’t even smell anything wolfish from him. If I had known he was werewolf, I would have left him alone.”

“They don’t manifest until they reach puberty. I don’t know. I’m not an expert on that lore. All I know is that we have to take him home before others find out what he is.”

Akire watched the vibrations as Alexis pulled out a sleeping bag from his bulging backpack.

“You might not get what you think you’ll be getting, Alex…”

Akire heard him shrug and she pictured an easy grin on his face. He tucked himself under the sleeping bag and muttered.

“I can always hope and pray for it, Akire. Besides, we have bigger things to worry about.”

Charles Atkins and now this prince to a Lycan dynasty- which when found by other were-folks would mean disaster! How could things get from simple to complicated in one day?