Lloyd watched her with a frosty face. For a second no one spoke. Mireille watched the wolves in silence, 'Haa, great. This kind of sucks. I hope my next life is filled with love, at least.' Her eyes drooped, her head hung low and the air around her turned gloomy as she awaited his judgement.
Lloyd watched as the vampire stopped struggling to explain herself, for a moment he felt something shift slightly in him, but it was too faint for him to grasp it. Finally he spoke, breaking the silence, "Fine, you live-for now. But first, you answer a few questions."
Hearing that light returned back into Mireille's eyes, hope rekindling. She nodded her head so hard, as if afraid of not being seen. "I'll answer anything."
"First, what exactly are you?" Lloyd asked, "Why does your scent feel... mixed?"
"Well I'm a half vampire, half human."
"That explains the human scent, but why do you smell like herbs and moss? It's weird." Seven asked.
"Yeah, almost like an elf. Don't tell me you've got elf blood too, that'd be a first." Zave questioned. Alex snorts and mutters, "This is pointless."
Mireille remains quiet at Zave's speculations. "Anyway, I'm just a half-vamp not wanted by any of my two races. Ha," she let out a self-depreciating laugh.
The werewolves exchanged glances, turning their attention back to her, "Okay, how about this, do you want to join us?" Lloyd asked her.
Mireille's eyes widen in disbelief.
"No! I don't agree!" Alex bellowed, neck stiff, though he knew he was going against a decision of the alpha.
"I don't think this is a good idea either, Lloyd. Think about it again." Zave suggested sounding somber.
"Why not I think it's a great idea, it brings a new atmosphere and a change of pace in the pack." Seven added playfully, smiling.
Alex turned to look at Seven, glaring at him.
"Quiet, let's hear her choice," Lloyd interrupts them, "What do you say? Want to come aboard?"
"Huh? Are you being serious? You want me to join you? As backup dinner?"
"Anyway, it's your choice. But if you join us we can guarantee your safety and," Lloyd pauses, looking at her thin figure, "You wouldn't go hungry." he frowned slightly as he said that.
Mireille felt a bit hesitant, the offer was tempting, but she'd lived in the shadows long enough to know better. Especially with the blood moon looming. It might sound mind-blowing. Beautiful even, but it was a crimson curse. The blood moon doesn't last so long it takes about an hour to an hour and a half, but that one hour is enough for vampires and werewolves to annihilate an entire human city. It is said that during the blood moon vampires lose their sense of reasoning, descend into bloodlust, they burst out with an immense surge of power causing mayhem everywhere they pass. Werewolves were no pushovers either, for the werewolves it's a bit better as those with mates tend to get comfort from their mates, others without mates can find theirs and those who don't, seek out thrill. They engage in fierce battles over territory or fight a vampire that strays too close to their territory.
"Aren't you gonna talk?" Lloyd pressed for an answer when she took too long to answer.
"Umm, it's not that I don't want to answer but I think this isn't a very good idea."
"Yeah, Lloyd we can't keep a vampire in the pack what if she stabs us in the back?" Alex said begrudgingly.
"What, do you not trust my judgements, Alex?" Lloyd asked his voice dropping low with a hint of warning.
Alex turned his head away, frowning. Zave also remained quiet.
"Well, it's not that bad to have her around, it'll freshen up the place a tad bit. Right?" Seven tries to convince Alex, but gets no reaction from him.
Lloyd fixed his eyes on Mireille waiting for her answer.
"Give me some time to think about it." Mireille sighed in resignation.
"Okay, take this," Lloyd handed over a token-like item, "Once you decide, come find us."
Mireille looked at the token that looked quite exquisite, nodded then backed off slowly, she looked back every now and then over her shoulder to see whether they were following her. But when she saw they made no movements she ran, disappearing into the thick forest.
---
On the way back to her home, Mireille paid close attention to her surrounding this time, avoiding any mishaps, but unfortunately she still wasn't able to find dinner. "Well, I guess no food for me tonight." Mireille returned back empty handed. She looked at the place she called home, a cave carved into the mountains, it's entrance was well concealed by a large rock, you'd have to look closely to realise it was a cave. Upon entering you'd find an almost bare space, it was more a shelter than a home. A pile of dried grass, a scrap of cloth-her bed. Nothing else but silence and stone. Deeper into the cave were tunnels that had been dug by herself from who knows when. She sometimes used the tunnels as shortcuts to various sides of the mountain. They were her escape routes, her secrets, dug with desperation and solitude.
Mireille sat on her 'bed' thinking about the offer the werewolves made.
---
Back in the forest.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Lloyd?" Zave asked, his expression somewhat uneasy. Lloyd just gave him a look that said, 'of course!' then turned and walked away. "We're going back." Lloyd said shifting to his wolf form. His wolf was massive with thick black fur, his golden eyes glowed with superiority.
"This is going to be fun." Seven said, also shifting to his wolf form. He also had black fur but with a hint of grey. Zave shifted revealing a stunning silver furred wolf. They raced through the forest heading for their cabin.
Alex watched as they left, he looked in the direction the half vampire left, shifted into a beautiful white wolf and run in her direction.
He followed her scent, running through the forest until he got to the foot of a mountain, he decided to go up the mountain but realised her scent disappeared a few meters up the mountain, he decided to trace her scent again and descended. He caught her scent once again at the mountain base but before he could start tracing it he felt a sharp pain in his head, 'tsk' it seemed the alpha was summoning him, he darted back into the forest heading towards the pack.
****
Days went by and Mireille gradually forgot her encounter with the werewolves. One afternoon she was basking in the gentle sunlight at her cave entrance when she heard footsteps approaching her. 'huh, who is here and how did they find this place.' She hid herself in the cave as the footsteps drew closer.
"Are you sure it was this mountain her scent vanished at?" A few minutes at the base of the mountain Lloyd asked Alex.
"Yeah, I'm not mistaken." Alex replied, annoyed. He had been forced by Lloyd to lead the way to that half-vamp's abode all because she disappeared without a word after that night.
Back to the present. As the werewolves went up higher into the mountain, Alex picked up a faint trace of the half-vamp. At first he didn't want the others to know, but as they went higher the scent became easily detectable by the werewolves. They traced it all the way to Mireille's cave.
"Well, someone's good at hide and seek." Seven exclaimed in surprise when they found the hidden entrance to the cave.
Lloyd's gaze lingered on the cave entrance, his golden eyes unreadable. Something flickered behind them-pity? pain? curiosity, maybe.
"W-who's there?" Mireille asked, wondering what anyone would be doing all the way up here.