The Alpha Princes Duty

Chapter 3

Cormac

We step out into the crisp clean night air of the mountains and walk down to get food. There are quite a few warriors out and about who nod and say hello. I am struck that all I see are warriors.

Zac seems to tune into my thoughts “There are no families here, it is not a place for them. The permanent residents of the pack are warriors who have lost their mates or not yet found them and they will be allocated to a pack as they find them. Let’s face it who wouldn’t want to take in one of these guys or girls?”

True true I see the logic and it will make their duty easier if they are not worried about families “But what about Aldous? He is the Alpha he can’t just leave”

“When he finds his mate they will live separate until their pups are old enough to train. At your pack in fact, that’s why Aldous was there when you were growing up”

A light bulb goes off, of course that makes sense I had never really thought why they lived with us before, I had just accepted it when I was young.

“Why would they make such a huge sacrifice though? I still don’t really understand why the warriors are out here anyway?”

He gives me a knowing smile but stops at the entrance to what seems to be a food and drinks place. He pushes the door open and a friendly older woman greets us “Take a seat lads, will it be steak and beer?” She looks to Zac with a twinkle in her eyes, clearly my friend is a regular.

“Yes please Agnes we’ll be in the booth in the back we have catching up to do and keep the beers coming please!”

She laughs, “As you wish, go get comfy it’ll be with you in a minute!’

Already I like this place, it’s rustic and welcoming with large leather trimmed booths and carved wooden tables. Almost as we slide into our seats Agnes pops the beers down in front of us.

Zac lifts his in a toast and I tap mine against it in return. “Right we’re settled I am burning to know what the deal is!”

“Okay buddy sit back and prepare to have your mind blown!” A big statement, surely there can’t be that much I haven’t been told about this place but the feeling from that house seeps into my very bones. I know it’s secrets mean something.

“So you remember about 150 years ago there was the big war with the vampires?” I nod yes this I know about.

“Well we only survived it because of a witch! She fought with us, she was hugely powerful and it was because of her the vampires didn’t wipe us out”

I sit back in my chair in shock, I knew from my history the battle was bad and we lost many, they tell the story it was looking like the vampires would win but fate was on our side and we turned the tables striking a huge blow to the vampires that they still to this day haven’t recovered from. I know he sees my train of thought.

“Yes the witch was the turning point, she gave us the tactical advantage on the battle field but she also single handedly took on the Vampire King. She had him, her hand was in his chest ready to crush his heart but then one of his warriors came up behind her.

He was about to bite her neck to turn her and Aldous’s great great, however many great grandads jumped into the fray, he ripped his head off but another vampire launched himself onto him. The witch turned in a panic to save his grandad and in that moment the Kings warriors managed to pull him away. He was mortally but not fatally wounded, some say he has still not fully recovered from the damage she inflicted even today.”

This version makes sense for how the battle suddenly turned in our favour and the reason the vampires have left us alone ever since. I’m curious “What about the witch?” Something inside me wants to know everything about her.

He smiles sadly and nods in the direction of the eerie house, leaning in his voice lowers in a conspiratorial tone.

“You’ll see for yourself in the next few days but they call her the crone now. Rumours are she is nearly three hundred years old!”

My eyes widen “she’s still alive!”

“Yep! No one knows how but they say she won’t die until she kills the King. They also say she was the most beautiful creature to walk the earth, that her voice was mesmerising and all who met her loved her.

Legend is the Vampire King was madly in love with her, he wanted to enslave all creatures under vampire rule and make her his Queen but she refused to become something unnatural. Instead she vowed to destroy him.

Apparently at the battle and I don’t know if this is true but they said she disfigured herself and ripped her own throat so she could never be made to speak or do magic for them if we lost the battle.

We hide her here because we owe her a life debt that can never be repaid, it is our duty to keep her safe and protected. Aldous says even now the King searches for her and wants her still, even disfigured and decrepit with faded magic he still wants her. That is another level of obsession eh!”

The story gets under my skin and makes me feel strange. I’m uneasy, the thought of the vampires coming for her sparks something feral inside of me. ‘We will fight for her!’ Conri growls in my head. ‘Steady boy no need to get worked up there is no immediate threat’

Our steaks arrive at that moment and they look and smell delicious. I try to shrug off the weird feeling the story leaves me with but it just won’t go.

“You said I’ll get to see for myself with the Crone?”

He puts down his cutlery and looks me dead in the eyes “dude Aldous will send you there in the next few days, we all get sent I dunno why, it’s creepy as f**k. There will be a few nurses there caring for her but otherwise the place is empty. She just sits in a wheelchair never moving, never speaking, her face is covered in a black veil. Suppose if the story is true that’s a good thing!”

I guess I’ll know for myself soon enough. I push the thoughts to the back of my head turning the talk to training as we finish our meal and catch up.