Inheritance

By: Amilya Yirsa

The crunching of the leaves beneath my paws was almost deafening as I
sprinted through the undergrowth. I heard the barking of the wolves following me,
each attempting to grab me first. Being a mostly black wolf, it was easier for me
to blend into the shadows, but I also was smaller than the average wolf, being an
omega, and had a large streak of white along the left side of my body. It began at
my muzzle and went all the way down to wrap around the tip of my tail.
I leaped up from the ground to a tree branch, transforming into my human form
halfway up. I leaped from branch to branch, my red eyes glinting in the
moonlight. I ran and jumped continuously, pressing on the speed to go faster
than the pack of wolves on my heels. The branches barely even acknowledged
my presence, not even bending when I landed on them.
The rustling of leaves behind me quieted more the farther I got. I almost
thought I had gotten away when I saw the abrupt end of the forest and a giant
chasm ahead of me. Great job jinxing yourself, Dylan, I thought to myself.
Instead of stopping or slowing down, I went faster, making a plan in my head as I
ran. When I reached the end of the last branch, I leaped over the gap.
There was both good and bad news. The good news was that I landed on the
other side, virtually unharmed. The bad news was that I was now in the
Vampires’ side of the forest. Crap, I thought. Sadly, they hate me, too, maybe
even more than the Werewolves do. The Werewolves were slightly respectful
(that meaning they would make my death quick and as painless as possible, if
they ever caught me) because my father had been their Alpha before he had
passed away.
The Vampires were another story altogether. They hated me and had no
respect for me whatsoever, as they saw me as the reason why my mother, who
had been their Queen before she died, had died. She passed away whilst giving
birth to me, so I guess I couldn’t entirely blame them. However, this was still very
bad for me.
I cast a quick spell to hide my scent from them, in hopes to delay the
inevitable. My spells were quite strong, and I didn’t have to say anything for them
to work, unlike most of the witches I know. Even though my spells are strong,
they don’t work very well against the Vampires’ best trackers. If they even got a
small sniff of my scent, I would be caught very quickly. I turned around in hopes
to cross back over to the other side of the chasm, but no such luck. Waiting for
me on the other side was all the wolves who had been following me earlier.
The head wolf transformed into his human form, a middle-aged man with salt-
and-pepper hair and scar over his left eye, and the rest of them followed suit. I
could make out my cousin, Zeldara, and her mate, Rain, standing near the back,
both of the young women had a slight frown contorting their usual beautiful, kind
features. Zeldara and her wife had always been kind to me, although they
couldn’t really be there for me anymore, as it’s been considered treason to
interact with me ever since my Uncle became in charge.
Speaking of my Uncle, the cruel man stepped forward and smiled cruelly.
“Sorry, Little Wolf. There is nowhere for you to go. Come back and we can give
you a painless death. Or, you can go and take your chance with the Vampires,”
he said with mock sympathy. By the tone of his voice, it sounded like he was
hoping I’d take my chance with the vampires and get torn apart painfully.
I faked a smile. “Nice to see you again, Uncle Helmand. You know, I’m really
sorry, but, ah, I think I’m gonna take my chances with the Vampires. It was great
seeing you all again, though. Ta-ta!” I waved and then darted into the Vampires’
forest.
I knew something was off almost instantly. As soon as I stepped into the trees,
everything was silent. It felt as if everything in the woods was holding its breath in
anticipation, as if there was something big was about to happen. My instincts
were telling me to get out of there as soon as I could and to take my chances
with the wolves. Sadly, I ignored that feeling and ran harder, my feet carrying me
further and further into the forest. If I had listened to my instincts and my inner
wolf, maybe none of what happened next would have happened and I could have
gotten on with my regular life.
I tripped over a tree root and fell face first, stumbling multiple times and flying
forward almost 20 feet. I narrowly avoided ramming into a tree trunk and landed
on my side, scratching most of my body. I started bleeding slightly and quickly
cleaned it up before the Vampires’ caught a whiff of it. My blood is incredibly
unique, being a tribrid. If they got even the slightest scent of my blood, they’d
know it was me immediately and would be her within minutes.
The blood had already stopped and the cuts were healing themselves. One of
the perks of being a Vampire, I guess. Really fast healing mixed with immortality
is a good recipe for a virtually indestructible teenager. I looked around and
realized that I had landed next to a pond. I walked over and looked at my
reflection in the water.
 I was a mess. My wavy locks of black hair were covered in dirt, and the natural
white streak was almost brown now. My red eye was slightly swollen and my
silver eye had a cut over it, both of which were healing quickly. My fangs had
rocks in between them and I was covered in mud from head to toe. My usually
pristine red hoodie and white jeans were tinted brown and dusted over almost
completely. My jeans were also full of scratches and holes from some of the
close calls with the werewolves.
My eyes widened when I saw a slight splotch of red on the knee of my jeans.
Blood, but not mine. Nevertheless, the fact that I had any blood on me meant that
the Vampires had known where I was the whole time and they had just been
biding their time. Uh oh. That was my last thought before everything turned black.
When I awoke, I was in a tiny room with a barred window on one wall, letting in
a miniscule amount of light. I attempted to move, only to then realize that I had
chains and handcuffs on my wrists and legs, connecting me to the wall. “Idiots,” I
mumbled with a slight smile, performing a spell. My smile quickly turned into a
frown when I realized that the spell hadn’t worked and I was still chained up.
Apparently, the Vampires had learned their lesson from the last time they caught
me, as they had made the handcuffs magic restricting.
As my eyes quickly adjusted to the dim light, thanks to my night vision, I
caught sight of a dimly glowing blue plant in the corner of the room. My eyes
widened and I backed away from the flower as much as I could. “Wolfsbane,” I
whispered, fearfully.
“That it is,” came a voice from somewhere to my left. I looked over and caught
a glimpse of a figure standing outside the doorway. I growled slightly, as I could
smell that it was a Vampire. But they smelled strange. I tilted my head slightly in
confusion.
“Who are you?” I growled. The man barked out a laugh.
“I’m the current Vampire Prince. I’ll be the King in a few months though,” the
man responded in an authoritative voice. Ah, I thought, that explains the weird
smell. The royalty or leaders of a species always smelt different so that people
knew what they were and knew not to mess with them. It didn’t always work
though, as my father discovered. Or I guess he didn’t, as he was dead before he
got the chance.
“Where am I? And why am I not dead? And where the heck did you find
Wolfsbane?” I questioned. Before I could ask another one though, the man
opened the heavy door and walked in, shutting the door behind him. He walked
towards me and I growled to let him know I wouldn’t hesitate to bite him.
 He backed up slightly when I bared my teeth. “To answer your questions, you
are in the Blood Castle, you’re not dead because I ordered you to be brought
back alive, and I’m afraid that I cannot tell you where we found the Wolfsbane. I
heard that it is deadly Werewolves, and weakens part-werewolves, so I sent
someone out to retrieve some,” he answered, counting on his fingers as he
answered each question. Well, that did answer my questions.
But one thing still bothered me. “What do you mean by useful?” I asked,
feeling fear begin to bubble up. I was already weakened and shivering slightly
due to the Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane is deadly to Werewolves, which makes it
almost completely diminish my Wolf abilities, which include the one that regulates
my temperature and keeps me warm, and I was beginning to notice just how cold
the room was.
The man raised his finger and waved it back and forth, as if he were scolding a
child or, more accurately in my case, a puppy. “Tsk, tsk, Tribrid, I can’t go off and
tell you all my plans, now can I? Oh, where are my manners? I didn’t necessarily
make a proper introduction,” the prince cleared his throat and held out a hand,
mockingly, as I could barely lift my arms above my chest. “My name is Quint
Frost, I’m 18, and am the Prince of the Vampires. Now, your turn!” the man,
whom of which I now knew was Quint, exclaimed.
“Dylan Moon Shadow, 17, a nobody,” I responded through chattering teeth.
“Well that’s not exactly true, is it? You were technically born Prince of the
Vampires, Leader of the Blood Moon Coven, and the Alpha of the Eclipse Pack.
But that stopped being true as soon as you were born, as all 3 species and
groups considered you a disgrace and banished you.” Quint added smugly. He
had a slight smile on his face that I knew meant he was quite proud of himself for
knowing that.
“I see you’ve done your research on me, Prince,” I spit out, as though the title
was an insult. I started shivering harder as it suddenly seemed to get 20 degrees
colder in the room. The way his smile widened, I could tell he wanted the room to
get colder, and that he was expecting me to break soon, or something.
“Dylan, are you alright? Not too cold are you? I can get you a warmer room if
you agree to some simple terms,” he suggested with mock sympathy. I bit back
the urge to attempt to punch him for acting like my Uncle, as I knew it wouldn’t
get me anywhere.
“What are these so-called ‘simple terms?’” I answered, trying, and failing, to
keep my voice steady as I started to shiver harder.
 “Well, you just have to promise to not attempt to perform magic, to not attack,
and not wish any ill will to any vampires, unless I permit it, if we were to remove
the chains, magic-restricting handcuffs, and the Wolfsbane. You will also have to
do what I say and want. Do you agree to these terms?” he reported, with an easy
smile, as though this were the simplest thing in the world.
I yelped at the sudden freezing sensation where the chains were. I looked
down and saw that there was frost slightly covering where they touched my leg.
“Yes, yes, I agree to the terms!” I exclaimed quickly, still staring at the quickly
spreading ice.
“Do you promise?” he asked, patronizingly. I growled up at him, before quickly
yelping again as it began on my wrists, as well.
“Yes, I promise! Now make it stop! Please!” I shouted, only feeling slightly
concerned that I hadn’t really thought over what I had just agreed to, more
worried about the ice quickly spreading up my legs. At that, the man smiled and
walked over to me, pulling out a key and taking off the chains and handcuffs.
After he removed them, I let out a sigh of relief, slightly disoriented.
Every vampire is born with some type of magic. I was born with Fire, which is
another thing that regulates my temperature. Because of this gift, neither heat
nor cold typically bothers me. However, since it is technically classified as magic,
it was therefore blocked by the handcuffs and chains.
That’s when I realized what he’d made me do. For a witch, saying I promise is
a binding swear that they cannot break. I began to growl before I felt a sharp pain
and yelped. I quickly stopped growling and the pain quickly went away. If a witch
attempts to break their promise, they will feel pain, and if they persist, it will
quickly get worse, until it eventually kills you. “You’re horrible,” I stated, numbly. I
was now bound to his will, and couldn’t defy him, unless I wanted to die painfully.
The main smiled and chuckled a bit. “I wouldn’t say that to your new master.
Now, let’s go,” he declared. He began to walk out, and I had no other choice but
to follow him. Time to start my new life, I guess, I thought.