Maria didn't understand why she had to drag the boy back to the clearing. From the looks of it, he was about her age, and from the feel of it, he was pretty heavy. James was older, he could carry this Vampire Boy back much easier than she!
The trip itself was rather painful. Maria was already unwieldy, but carrying this boy was making it three times harder to not trip over things. So far, on the incredibly short trip back to Full Moon Clearing, she'd tripped on four different tree roots and two separate rocks. Yeah, pretty pathetic, she knew, but whatever. She was twelve, she wasn't supposed to have to carry other twelve-year-olds (maybe)!
When they (finally, Maria thought) made it back to the clearing, James told her to stand watch over the boy she had lugged back before stalking off to talk to his Beta wolves. Politics.
Maria rolled her eyes. Just because James was technically her older brother did not mean she had to do everything he said! She was her own girl, and she was old enough now she didn't need to be babied or bossed around. It was then that she noticed that the ghost had stayed her, hovering over the boy.
"Hello," Maria asked the ghost. She looked like a bleached character from a cartoon, but Maria had never seen a character that looked like this woman. She had long flowing hair that when combined with the high spiky collar on her jacket gave her a very fearsome look, but she was far too pretty to be a cartoon villain, with a soft, motherly face and knee-length sundress that seemed to be permanently flared out a little bit. Maria thought she was the most wondrous looking woman she had ever seen.
"What will your pack to do him?" the ghost spoke without looking at Maria, opting instead to move closer to the boy protectively.
"I don't know," Maria admitted. "I'm twelve, and my brother says that's too young to be one of his Betas, but I want to have a say in what happens in the pack! It affects me too, so shouldn't I get a say too?"
""I won't let any of you hurt my son. I believed that you could help us."
"We can!" Maria yelped, clenching her fists. "I know the pack has enough resources. James has me take inventory lots of times, so I know that we have more than enough! I just… I don't know if James will."
The ghost woman turned to look at Maria for the first time, her blank eyes glowing in the low dusklight. "I thought you said you weren't getting a say in the rules?"
"Um, no. I'm not a Beta. Do you not know how Werewolf politics work?" Maria tilted her head curiously.
""Not really, no," the ghost woman looked at her oddly, like she was trying to read Maria's mind.
Maria grinned. "The head of the pack is called the Alpha, in this case my brother James. Then the Alpha hand picks six Betas to serve as his counsel to help create the rules of the pack. Then a separate were is picked to be the Gamma, the pack's representative to the overall wolf counsel and other high profile events. The Gamma is also the prospective heir to the pack, so if something happens to the Alpha, the Gamma becomes the Alpha. The rest of the pack doesn't actually have a title, but we're sometimes called "Omegas" by ignorant outsiders or arrogant title-holders."
"That's fascinating," the ghost woman actually smiled slightly. "But then why do you do inventory?"
Maria rolled her eyes. "James is lazy, and has me do as many of his responsibilities as he can."
The ghost woman made a slight face and a quiet noise of acknowledgement, but then turned back to her son silently. They sat in silence until the sun came up the next morning.
Maria wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but she did know that when she came too, there was a vampire boy prodding her and giggling. "Hey, werewolf girl, wake up!"
"That's not my name," Maria groaned as she sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and taking in the Vampire Boy fully, now that he was awake. He seemed oddly disheveled, but well put together. His backpack was no longer on his back, and from the looks of it he had been reading a book about… well, she wasn't sure what it was about, but there was a picture of a boy in a raft on the front, so maybe it was about a boy in a raft. His eyes were actually quite mesmerizing, darker than blood but brighter than the full moon on the pond. How beautiful.
"Yeah, but I don't know your name, and neither does Maman," the boy gestured at the ghost woman. That's right, this was her son, Maria remembered now. "My name's Alexander, by the way," he went on to say.
Maria nodded. "Maria."
"Well Maria, can you tell me anything about what's happening?" Alexander gave her a lopsided grin, like he didn't have control over the other half of his face.
"I was hoping you could tell me something, honestly," Maria yawned. "James never tells me anything, all said and told."
Alexander cocked his head oddly when she said her brother's name, then shook it, perhaps to clear it, and muttered something under his breath. Maria thought it sounded like, "It's a common name," but honestly Maria had no clue why Alexander would say something like that, so she might have been wrong.
"What was that?" Maria asked, hoping to get Alexander to tell her what he had just said, but not really expecting it to work, but it couldn't hurt to try.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing!" Alexander rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly, eyes closed and all. He was the very picture of a bad liar. "Now, what did you want to know?" he unsubtly attempted to change the subject. Maria decided to go with it.
"What happened to you and your mother that caused you to come to this neck of the woods?" she asked, smiling but nervous.
"The Witch King," Alexander replied simply, looking down at the ground and drawing random patterns in the dirt with his finger.
"The Witch King? George the Second? What was he doing anywhere near this area?"
"I… I don't know. He was burning the town, though, destroying it, tearing down our home, so Maman went to try to stop him but…" Alexander choked up a moment, then spat out the words, tears in his eyes. "He killed her!"
"I'm so sorry, Alexander," his mother said from where she was hovering nearby. "I failed you. In so many ways."
"Maman!" Alexander looked up at his spectral mother, "It's not your fault! That mean king is the one that killed you!"
"If it really was George II, you really can't blame yourself," Maria broke in, "He's insane, and he won't stop at anything to get what he wants - recently, destruction."
"Why does he want destruction?" Alexander asked, tilting his head ever so innocently and blinking his adorable red eyes.
"I think, if I'm judging the interactions I saw correctly," Rachel put her finger on her chin and sat in midair, which looked rather odd, "I believe the King was trying to impress his grandson into… something. The grandson did not look very convinced or impressed, truth be told."
"That's odd… so much destruction… to impress a four-year-old child? That makes no sense, politically, personally, economically, or any other -lly I can think of!" Maria said, throwing her arms wide to illustrate her point.
"I honestly haven't heard very much about Prince Jake," Alexander commented, looking thoughtful. "Just that the King had release a statement that his sister, Princess Georgette, was now Crown Princess Georgette."
"Maria!" suddenly, a voice snapped from off to the werewolf girl's right. She jumped and turned to face to source of the voice.
"James! Um… what do you need?" Maria stood up and faced him, face splitting into a painfully fake smile, hands hidden behind her back, everything seeming twitchy, like she was fully prepared to bolt at a moment's notice. Alexander's mother seemed to note that this was rather unusual behavior to be expressing to one's brother.
"You are not supposed to speak to the vampires! You titleless b-child! Get out of my sight. I will speak to the vampire and former vampire," James caught himself from calling his little sister a very nasty name. He did not, however, stop himself from yelling at her, launching droplets of spit at Maria's face, his own twisted into an awful shape.
"Of course," Maria said, quickly, far too quickly, then turned and fled the clearing. She felt bad for abandoning the Vampires, but couldn't bring herself to go back. The edge of the clearing grew nearer and nearer - she cleared the boundary.
The forest itself was a wonderful safe haven. The birds twittered far off in their trees, crickets chirped in the undergrowth, she saw fluffy rodents pass by every once in awhile. The forest meant everything to Maria. It was where she hid when James was angry, when Beta Monroe was trying to frame her for things again. It was where she found comfort when she was sad, where she hid things James tried to take from her.
Deep down, she knew James wasn't going to help the Alexander and his mother. But she knew that they could. No - that she could. She had hidden more than enough things in the woods, terrified James would one day become so mad at her she would have to spend the night, or a week, or even months hiding in the woods. She would grab one of her stashes and give it to Alexander. The one at the great stump, as it was the closest and one of the largest, would probably be best. Yes, she would give him the one from the great stump.
The great stump wasn't very far from the clearing, but if you didn't know where you were going, you would probably miss it. The stump itself was hollowed out a long time ago, probably to tan animal hides, but the trees around it grew thick and close together. Centuries old trees fought high above the stump for sunlight, meaning that the stump itself was constantly shrouded in shadow. All of these things meant that simply placing things inside the stump was hiding them very well.
Maria had been storing things in the stump for a very long time; it was her oldest stash. She supposed that in that way it was like she had grown a different kind of tree inside it - a kind of tree made of food and clothes and bottles of water. She wasn't sure how much of that Alexander could use, but she didn't care. He had come here looking for help, and Maria was going to give it to him!
At the very bottom of the stash was an old backpack, with a single book inside it - Mary Poppins. She couldn't remember much of it now, but she remembered she used to read it again and again every moment she could. She had loved the whimsy that came with Mary's kind of magic, but as she got older, all the whimsy of the world was drained away, until she was just Titleless Maria Reynolds, the Alpha's little sister who he piled most of his duties on. Reading about Mary and the children had turned from an escape into a horrifyingly unattainable fantasy that she was acutely aware she couldn't have. It began to only make her feel sad, so she had hidden it here, in hopes that one day she could bring herself to open it again. But perhaps she should just give it to Alexander. Perhaps he could still find whimsy in the world. Yes - she would leave Mary Poppins in the backpack when she gave it to Alexander.
Satisfied with her decision to leave Mary Poppins in the bag, she began to fill the thing with other things she had hidden here. She stuffed in a few shirts and even a few skirts, as she didn't own any pants (it was uncomfortable to stuff her tail in there!), along with some of the food items she had, like weeks-old granola bars, stacks of crushed Saltines, a couple boxes of Kraft Mac n Cheese, and a bottle of vitamins she had found, still entirely full, in Beta Monroe's trash.
As soon as she had finished stuffing the backpack full of various things she hoped would benefit the young Vampire, Maria heard her name being calling from back inside the clearing, James' voice carrying heavy over the forest. Not wanting to risk his ire, or miss Alexander's departure, Maria hurriedly zipped up the backpack and raced back to the clearing, letting the straps all the way as she went, so it could fit over Alexander's other backpack.
The clearing had hardly changed during the short time she had been gone in the woods, but she already felt out of place. She shook her head. That was normal when she first got back from the woods. She'd feel at home again soon enough, surely.
Alexander had put his book back in his backpack and was standing on the opposite edge of the clearing while his mother hovered in front of James and pleaded with him to help her child. James looked so far beyond caring that Maria wanted to hit him, but knew it would only get her in trouble.
While James dismissed Alexander's mother once again, saying they would bring the witches to the wolf pack, which was complete and utter nonsense if Maria had ever heard it, Maria crept over to Alexander and handed him her backpack.
"Here," Maria said, "I scraped together what I could from my personal stash, so I hope it helps."
"Thank you," Alexander gave Maria this look, like wonder and acceptance and hope and joy and the dispelling of hatred. For a moment, Maria felt a spark of whimsy, like Mary Poppins had patted her on the head. It was a glorious moment, and she very nearly asked Alexander to take her with him before -
"Maria! What are you doing?" James snapped, as Alexander's mother had apparently given up trying James when she saw Maria give Alexander her backpack.
"N-nothing important, James," Maria stuttered, backing away from everyone, knowing that the backpack was the best and the worst thing she could have done at the same time. She could not regret that whimsy, could not regret that hope, but James would try to make her.
For the moment, James only huffed, his Betas escorting Alexander out of the clearing. Everyone stood silently, waiting, until the Betas returned, hours later, with the news that the Vampire Boy and his mother were no longer in territory. Then James turned to Maria, grabbed her by the wrist, and dragged her home.
"What were you thinking?" James roared, spit spraying into Maria's face as he held her by her upper arms, fingers digging in so hard Maria thought they might bruise. "Helping that Vampire like that? What the hell, bitch?"
"I-it was my personal stuff, it doesn't affect the pack -" Maria tried to defend herself, although she knew the attempt was more than likely futile.
Maria's suspicion that her attempt would not work was confirmed when her head was forcibly snapped to the side and cheek started to hurt - James had slapped her.
"Like hell it does, bitch. Now they'll think we're soft. Get the fuck outta my sight," James shoved her to the floor and stalked out the house, fuming.
Maria could hardly think. She lifted her hand up to her stinging cheek as tears rolled down her face, but it didn't feel real. Maria felt trapped in this waking nightmare.