Larten Crepsley's Daughter

The journey begins

"Do we really have to go the long way?" Gavner Purl complained.

Our traveling company made up myself, Darren, Gavner, and Father.
"We must go this way to show our strength and that we can handle what nature throws at us." Father said, he took things like this very seriously, as a former Vampire General, and it was bad enough that he was making us walk the entire length of the journey with no shoes!
Even though it wouldn't be a problem for us because we had tough soles on our feet, but that didn't keep them from getting cold. We also weren't allowed to flit, which would have gotten us there a whole lot faster.

"Yeah, we're trying to impress the rulers that wanted to kill me and who now want to kill Darren, definitely my idea of fun," I rolled my eyes, trudging on the snowy forest floor.

Darren held my hand as we attempted to make our way through the snow and ice. "Who are the Vampire Princes? Why do they want to see me?"

"The Vampire Princes are our leaders. They lead and protect the clan from our enemies, and to keep us safe, they need to see if we will remain loyal and if one has the strength to protect the clan," my father explained to Darren.

"When I first became a vampire, Father was about to be executed because children, including teenagers, aren't allowed to become vampires; however, I was able to plead my case by completing the Trials of Death," I recalled cryptically.

"Did you win?" he inquired. "I'm here, aren't I?" I playfully kissed Darren on the cheek. We took in each other's warmth by walking closer together; he put his arm around me and we held each other to keep each other warm.

Father didn't seem to mind our relationship which was good. I hoped the Princes wouldn't mind, then again, I didn't necessarily care about what they thought of me and Darren.

We stopped to camp for the night because the sun was rising. Darren and I could survive the sun with no damage, but Gavner and Father weren't like us; they needed to stay out of the sun to survive.

We would be on our own until nightfall.

Darren and I were sitting on a log at our campsite, bored out of our minds. We had nothing to do.

In the meantime, we foraged for food to eat because we still needed sustenance, but not as much as a human needed food.

"Everything looks the same," Darren complained, we were looking for edible plants to make soup with.

"Yeah, it's very tricky to figure out," I was closely observing the plants to make sure they weren't poisonous.

"We could probably hunt rabbits to get some protein in us," I informed him after foraging for a while.

I was trying to sniff out the creatures by attempting to pick up their scent.

"Hopefully Crepsley won't mind," Darren said picking some plants. "Father will eat as long as it will sustain his hunger before he thirsts for blood, that's why he always keeps those vials with him," I explained.

The air was getting cold and it began to lightly snow, and the wind was whistling through the trees. Midday was approaching.

Just then, we heard rustling in the bushes and we were suddenly on high alert. "We need to get away from the bushes," I whispered sharply to Darren. "Why, what's going on?" he was confused, but he backed away with me anyway.

"It could be the vampaneze, they could be lurking around here." I recalled finding corpses of dead vampaneze along the trail when I was going to Vampire Mountain for the first time, so that's how I knew this.

Suddenly, a large wolf slinked towards us with bared teeth. It was a grey wolf with bright yellow eyes, crouching low as it stalked us.

"Don't make any sudden movements," I warned. "You don't have to tell me twice," Darren replied staying beside me.

The wolf was still walking towards us, and suddenly it was inches away from my face. It's dark, wet, nose was sniffing me; trying to figure me out.

"Lilly, what should we do?" Darren whispered fearfully. Before I could answer, the wolf began wagging its tail and then licked me.

Then I remembered wolves were cousins to vampires. I grinned and pet the wolf, "Hey buddy, long time no see." I tickled him under his chin and the wolf began to give me more kisses. It was my pet wolf, Winter. "Who's a good boy," I pet the wolf some more. "You scared us so bad," I tickled the wolf, and it rolled onto its back to have his tummy rubbed.

"Wait, what?" Darren was confused, and I couldn't blame him; a minute ago, the wolf looked like he was about to have us for dinner, and now he was acting like my own puppy.

"This is going to sound very strange, but wolves are cousins to vampires." I told him, still petting Winter.

"How is that possible?" "I don't know, but that would explain why they always walked beside us when we went to Vampire Mountain," I recalled my own journey.

"Say hello to Winter, he's very nice." I invited Darren. "Will he bite?" Darren asked with hesitation. "No, he won't bite once he knows who you are," I innocently told my boyfriend.

"Okay, I will, for you." Darren held out his hand for Winter to sniff.

Winter got up and walked toward Darren, his black nose sniffing his hand, figuring him out, and then his tail began to wag and began giving Darren kisses.

"See, he likes you." I told Darren happily. "Yeah, he's a good boy." he pet Winter's head. Darren's words made Winter's ears perk up, and he ran away and brought back a twig.

"He wants to play with you," I gestured for him to take the twig. Winter nudged Darren's hand and luckily he did take it. "You know, I've always wanted a dog." my boyfriend smiled and threw the twig. Winter sprinted in the direction of the flying twig and caught it midair. He ran back to Darren and dropped it as his feet.

"Winter is our dog now," I informed Darren with a loving smile.

It was nice to have a fun and playful moment before the real struggle of the journey came to be. We were about to be in more danger.

Darren and I were playing with Winter just to pass the time. It was nice to have some fun after the long day of walking on the icy and snow terrain. I was happy I was with the boy I loved, and even though we were heading into danger; I was grateful we were together. There was no one I'd rather be with than Darren, he was the love of my life. He made me happy.