"Rescue Team"

Daichi cradled Prince Max's head on his lap while Salima massaged the young prince's temple. He looked so weak and fragile. Daichi wasn't use to seeing him like this and he hated every second of it.

The cell they were in was quiet except for the sounds of birds, particularly pigeons. They were located high up in a tower for prisoners, at the back of the castle.

The birds' cooing noises were the only thing they could actually bear.

"Why is this happening?! Wait till the King and Queen find out about the old hag," Daichi grumbled. Salima only looked more saddened. "What if...what if I'm already too late?" she whispered. "I hope they're alive," a tear slipped out of her eye, rolled down her cheek and fell on the Prince's neck.

"They are." Prince Max breathe out. He admired Salima for her brave attempts. She was an incredible friend.

"Thank you my prince. I just hope we had a way of getting all these awful news to your parents somehow," she sniffed.

"You said you came on a horse?" Daichi asked.

"Yes?"

"Where is it?"

"In the stables. Why?"

Salima looked puzzled.

"I just wish there was a way to send a message through it." Salima just gaped at him.

"So where are we going to get the paper and the pen genius?! And does Rexamus know how to go to White Winter's Land?! Does he know where to find the Royals? Oh, and how do we get to him?! Hmm? What a genius." Salima muttered.

"Hey let me brainstorm. At least I'm trying!" he said defensively.

"Animals were used to send important messages. People still use animals sometimes," he muttered thinking hard.

"Yes Daichi, but we can't write anything and we're locked up! If we're going to use them anyway, we need one which is free and then we'd have to tell...tell...t...tell

Them." Salima finished. Her eyes suddenly filled with realization.

"You wanna tell your horse what to do? And you insulted me just now?"

"We can use them Daichi. Just not a horse...and thank you," She moved forward and kissed Daichi's cheek.

After moving away from a surprised Daichi, Salima reached up to the small window and looked out for the birds. The problem was the gap between the bars. They were too close.

Prince Max saw this and sat up with much difficulty. The venom was starting to take full effect.

"Lie down before you kill yourself boy!" Daichi panicked unnecessarily.

To Salima's amazement, two bars started to bend and curve outwards making the center gap bigger. "Nice. Thank you again my prince." The young prince however fell back on Daichi. His eyes were closing and his body became so much weaker. He couldn't use much of his powers in his current state. Just by bending the small bars, it worn him out.

Salima wasted no time in stretching her hand out. She then started to whistle a tune. This went on for some time until finally a bird landed on her open palm. She gently closed her fingers around it and brought it in.

She sat down with the beautiful white pigeon in her hand while she gently stroked it's head and back while whispering something to the bird.

"And she's talking to a pigeon. Why does everyone call me crazy?" Daichi whispered to himself.

"I'm trying something. All my life, I've only seen my great grandma do this twice. Hopefully it works."

"She talks to pigeons too?" Salima rolled her eyes.

"No! I mean it's not what you think. We have a spell which can somehow link ourselves to a being and show them whatever you want them to do."

"It only works on birds or...?"

"I'm...not too sure about that. I've only seen my great grandma do it with birds so...we'll see."

"How is it to know where to go, and unless you can make pigeons talk, how is it going to let the Royals know what's going on?!"

"Sshh, he's asleep," she whispered pointing at Prince Max. He didn't have the strength to stay awake anymore.

"It's not just me telling it. This spell allows me to share my thoughts and what I know. I know the way to White Winter's Land and that's enough even if I haven't been there before. I know what the Royals look like so these information should do," she said with hope in her eyes.

Hopefully she remembered how her great grandma did it.

"Okay, shoot." Daichi said impatiently. He was put in a cell for three nights just for visiting his sister and now he's locked up for no particular reason.

"Fuck my life," he grumbled. Then stared at Salima and the bird. He didn't understand what Salima was doing or what she was mumbling but the bird actually seemed to be listening. It remained still only concentrating on Salima.

Salima looked deep into the pigeons eyes and allowed her thoughts and knowledge flow. She freed her mind and thought about the way to White Winter's Land and the Royals. She thought about the events that took place the moment after she met with the young Prince. To make things easier and more specific for her messenger, Salima concentrated on one Royal in particular.

Prince Raymond Hiwatari.

He is a warrior and he's young and powerful. He'll surely bring the princess as well. Another fighter. She couldn't afford to waste any more time. Salima could only believe the message will get through. Fast.

While she allowed her thoughts to flow she spoke out the simple spell. It was one of the very first spells taught to her by her great grandma. While she was saying it, the pupils of the pigeon dilated. Then it turned completely black.

"Go now. Hurry," the bird immediately flew out the window.

"Now, if I did everything right, Prince Ray will only have to hold the pigeon. everything I allowed the bird to know will flow to him."

"I think it'll work," Daichi spoke up.

"Why do you say that suddenly?" she raised a brow.

"Your eyes were almost glowing." Daichi said still staring at her.

The Princess Julia was training the pack warriors tirelessly. Pushing them for hours and making sure that everyone was excellent enough in her eyes. She was a perfectionist when it came to battles, training and fighting. This was a whole different side of the gentle, feminine princess. She could be sweet and poise or a vicious warrior when she chooses to be.

She made the warriors fight and train in both wolf form and human form.

That particular day, she was angry with her older brother. He gave all the work to her while he sat down and watched the werewolves train.

After two more hours of combat training, the princess grew tired herself and ended it. She turned around and saw that Prince Ray was still sitting under the tree. He seemed to be doing something but she couldn't make out anything as his back was facing her.

She marched up to where he was, all sweaty and worked up.

"Listen here you idiot! I'm not coming out of the mansion tomorrow! You'll train them yourself and I'll be watching while sipping on a big jar of cold orange juice!

Ray are you listening?! I'm talking to you!" he then slowly turned to face her. He had a sullen look on his face. He was also puzzled at the same time.

"What's wrong?" the princess questioned. She knew something was off. Her brother then revealed a white pigeon in his hands.

"Are you sad because it can't fly? Becau..."

"It came with a message Juls," he spoke without a hint of playfulness.

"O..okay what is it?" Prince Ray sighed before telling her that their little brother is being held captive by Lord Boris Valkov.

"There's something more Julia, I'm just not getting it. All the 'whys' and the 'hows' still remain a mystery. We have to go."

"Okay, but how do you know? I mean how do we really know? Because of this bird?"

"I know it sounds weird but this pigeon came directly to me. Flew directly at me. It wasn't carrying a letter. The message was given through a spell."

"More reason to be weary but...if Max's in trouble..."

"Then we have to go. It's Max we're talking about. It seemed like he was already hurt. Truth or lie, we have to find out."

"Let's go to mother and father." With that both siblings went inside the mansion.

"You're saying Lord Boris Valkov. A Lord, a noble vampire and one of the main council members has my son locked up in a cell?" King Alexander demanded.

"That's the message," the prince answered. "We have to go father. If it's true then he might hurt Max more."

"Take some of the pack warriors with you," the King commanded.

"Already planning on it. Julia is also coming with me. I need her." King Alexander nodded at this. "Careful princess," he said softly to his only daughter.

"Always am, father."

They turned and were about to leave when their mother stopped them.

"One more thing. If the message was true and Max is hurt, I want you to keep Lord Boris Valkov alive," she spoke in a low tone which made even the King feel uneasy. "Tell him the Queen and her eldest son, Prince Kai will deal with him separately. Nobody messes with any of my children. Nobody."

"My precious, if the message is true we will have Lord Boris Valkov punished alright. Calm down," he reached for the queens hand but she slapped it away.

"Not now." She said coldly and glared at him.

"Okay."

The princess smiled at the queen with pride. "I'll tell him that myself mother. Nothing to worry about."

"Be very careful, both of you. I expect a call as soon as you have everything under your control." Queen Misaki said before they left the mansion.

Prince Ray rounded up twenty of the pack's best werewolf warriors all chosen by his sister, and they took off towards Silver Heights.

(P.O.V Of Ray)

Me sister and I rode in my favorite car while some of the werewolves drove behind us. The rest of them decided to run in their wolf form, insisting that they would reach Lord Boris Valkov's castle faster. I was more than willing to allow it.

It was a five hour drive. With my car. The werewolf warriors who ran reached the castle only a little earlier than my sister and I. The rest who drove arrived less than an hour later. I immediately went to front gates and demanded entrance.

The guard at duty however explained that Lord Boris Valkov was at a meeting and that he had no permission to let anyone in.

I almost ripped his head off but then I controlled myself. The werewolves in their wolf form gave all the guards menacing growls.

"I am Prince Ray Hiwatari and this is my sister, Princess Julia Hiwatari. The children of King Alexander and Queen Misaki. As you know we are also Royal Pure Bloods. So I'm telling you again, guard, let us in before we kill every single one of you in a blink of an eye."

He just stared at me, frozen to the ground. For a second I believed he actually didn't know who we were. Whatever the case, he was talking too long I was going to snap his neck when another guard came running towards the gates. He seemed to be their leader.

(P.O.V of Guard)

The Sun was setting and it was already getting dark when the head guard came to check up on all the prisoners.

When he reached our cell, he stared at Prince Max's half asleep state.

"Is this going to be worth it?" I asked the man who let me into the castle. "You are going to pay for this you know."

"We are under direct orders from Lord Boris Valkov. We serve Lord Boris Valkov. We swore an oath!"

"This is your Prince! What do you think is going to happen when the King and Queen come barging in?!" Daichi yelled at him.

"Let us out sir," I said to the head guard. I knew he didn't want to do this. None of them wanted to. They were just following orders given by their master.

He smiled at what I said. "Let you out? And then what? The prince will go running to his parents and all of us will die. That is if, Lord Boris Valkov doesn't kill us first for defying him."

"What do you think is going to happen anyway moron?!" Daichi was getting pissed off. So was I honestly.

"I am a dead man aren't I?"

"Yes! Yes you are! Wanna know what else?..." Daichi suddenly stopped. I heard it too. Far away voices. A commotion.

"My guards are arguing again," the guy muttered.

"Not only that." I said softly with a small smile. "There's someone at the gates."

My smiled widened as I looked at Daichi. "It worked," I whispered.

The head guard looked at me confused then he looked out and yelled at another guard asking who the visitors were.

When he got his answer, he paled. He swallowed hard then turned to me. "Y...you did this didn't you?"

"Of course I did," he remained silent.

"Look here mister! You're right! You are a dead man! The least you can do now is free us and open the front gates. That's right, defy Lord Boris Valkov and remain loyal to the King and Queen.

As you should be in the first place instead of carrying out this idiocy! That way you pick a side. And maybe, just maybe if you do this we'll put in a good word for you and perhaps you'll get to save your life and the lives of others." The guard stared at Daichi, contemplating his words. He looked so confused.

"You don't have time! The prince and his sister are going to go on a killing spree at any moment!"

"Alright! I'll do it. Take the keys!" he threw the keys at Daichi and ran out like his life depended on it. Well, it really did.

Daichi truly amazed me at times. How can a person be so stupid and smart at the same time? I guess there's one of them everywhere.

"That was awesome Daichi. You were great."

"Yeah, I know. That's what I keep telling everyone!" I rolled my eyes again but he made me laugh too.

"Eerrgh, you h..have to stop talking o..once in a while human," Prince Max's tired voice came. We looked at him and noticed that he looked more pale.

"Quick, let's get him out of here." I said helping the prince up.

"Come on Maxie, wrap your arms around my neck." Daichi said.

"That won't be necessary," all three of us looked at a very pissed off princess Julia. Her gorgeous blond hair flew wildly as her dark eyes widen at the scene before her.

I immediately bowed and looked down. Daichi did so after he made the prince to sit.

Princess Julia rushed to her younger brother.

"You alright?" she cupped his face and noticed how pale and weak he looked.

"N..not bad," she swiftly turned around to me and Daichi. "What happened to my brother?! What made him this weak?!"

"It was Lord Boris Valkov." Daichi spoke up. "He shot him with what he said was dew from the Core of Life and werewolf venom. He said it would cause some complications and Prince Max would be weak for a few days," Princess Julia looked beyond shocked.

"Dew from the C..Core of Life and werewolf venom?" she asked.

"Lord Boris Valkov said he was trying to create a weakness for the pure bloods for some time now. I bet he has created many."

"I...I'll be fine Julia. S...she came with more pressing news. You need to h..hear her out."

"Sshhh, rest now. Ray is coming. He'll take care of you," she then turned to me. "I'm guessing you're the witch who sent the bird to my brother."

"Y...Yes, Princess."

"Thank you," she told me sincerely. "Now what could be more important or worse?"

That's when I poured everything out. I didn't leave a single detail out. I told Princess Julia everything from my hunch to the moment me and Zeo got here. "That's when Lord Boris Valkov shot Prince Max. He overheard whatever we said. Prince Max was going to call your parents to let them know about Lady Esther."

Prince Ray came in halfway and listened to whatever I said.

After I was done, he informed the princess that Lord Boris Valkov is arrested and will be thrown into the dungeons until the Queen arrives. He also asked how he should punish the guards.

That's when Daichi and me explained that they only followed orders and the head guard actually let us out. The Prince only stared us down.

"They will be punished anyway. Nobody has the right, power or authority to go against the Royal Pure Bloods. The ruling family at that. Even if they were following orders, they should have known better." Prince Ray spoke leaving no room for arguments. Me and Daichi kept quiet after that.

"However, I will spare their lives this time," he said at last.

"Y..yeah. Can we get out of here?" the young prince asked. He tried to stand but too weak that he fall on Daichi.

"You need to take blood." Daichi signaling for him showing his wrist. "You will gain strength."

Daichi stretched out his hand in Max's mouth. Prince Max brought Daichi's wrist close to his mouth and bit into his skin, sucking out enough blood to make himself stand up.

Julia watched with amusement Max really got a true friend finally.

I was becoming anxious and impatient every second spent in the damn cell.

"My Princess, with all due respect, you or your brother must go to Red Kingdom at once! Or anyone from your family! Please! I don't know whether they're dead or alive!" tears ran down my cheeks. They needed to be there before its too late. Mariah put a lot of faith in me.

The Princess was already sitting on the ground. I understood it was a lot to take in and a lot has happened for the day.

"Lady Esther is a ruthless vampire. She will kill anyone who she does not like or if she simply feels like killing. We are most probably already too late, human. I'm sorry."

I wrapped my arms around myself and slowly fell to my knees, sobbing. "Y...You have to at least try. Please.. "

"We have to take care of our Max first and we'll be too late anyway,"

"Please ?" she raised her palm stopping me.

"That's why we're just going to leave it to our oldest brother," both me and Daichi stared wide eyed at the Princess, damning the rules. Even Prince Ray stared at his sister in surprise.

"It finished much sooner than he expected it to." She shrugged at him before turning towards us.

"We can only hope and pray that all your friends,...including Mr and Mrs Tate are alive," Princess Julia whispered. She too was afraid now.

"Mr and Mrs Tate?" me and Daichi both voiced out looking confused.

"Jury and Taro." Prince Ray answered us solemnly. The princess looked at him worried.

They meant lot more to the Royals than I thought.

"At least they're gone for now! Cheer up a little!" Alpha Tala is the most irritating friend in the world. But a friend indeed.

Tala is only one year older than Kai. They grew up together or spent some horrible experiences together to be exact. However the red head understand Kai better than anyone in the whole universe. But most of the time he was a pain in the ass.

"We didn't win Tala! We only chased them away. They will be back. In numbers far greater than this. Me, a hybrid, an Alpha King!" I slapped Tala's shoulder. "King Robert, Queen Yoshie and King Bruce Granger. All working together and what did we managed to do Tala?! Scare them away for a while!"

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. "Five powerful beings with four separate armies on our side and we could not manage to permanently end the war!"

"We waited too long." I sighed. "We ignored everything for far too long. My father waited too long." I muttered out.

We were on our way back to Red Kingdom. I needed him to sign some reports and discuss our next move. The beta of the pack Bryan was currently driving while me and Tala sat behind.

Tala turned towards me and stared. "This was the first war against the trolls for you. That's why you're feeling this way Kai. This is like my what? Sixth? Seventh?" he grabbed my shoulder. "And you know what, this is our first victory. We didn't win for good, yeah I know that. But it's our first real victory. They will not come back for a year, maybe more. That's something and we owe it all to you Kai."

"You shou..."

"You have all of our sincere gratitude. Even the proud Vila King Bruce was impressed. That guy is never impressed! You just uplifted the names of every Royal Pure Blood. You should be a little proud. They will no longer call you guys the damned creatures from hell."

"We were called that?"

Kai sweatdropped.

"And much much worse. You do not want to know the rest my Prince. Evil bastard, horrible prince, blood su..

" Fine. I get the point Ivanov."I growled. It doesn't take a genius to figure out Tala is pouring his own imagination in it as well. He grinned.

"Fine. Aaahhhh, I can't wait to sign everything and go home."

"We still have some vital things to discuss," I told him strictly. Tala Ivanov would avoid meetings every chance he gets. I envied that. There was no one above him. He's the alpha. More specifically, the alpha King.

"Can't my beta fi..."

"No! Don't you dare Tala! Either you attend the meeting or I will freeze your head again. Maybe this time I'll set it on fire!"

If I have to suffer. Then might as well make him.

"Okay! Damn you! You really live up to your title," he looked away, sulking like a toddler would. The beta Bryan laughed at this.

"Forgive my friend. He just wants to get back to his mate, our Luna."

"I can imagine the surprised look on her face when she sees me, tonight." He sighed dreamily.

"Why would she be surprised?"

"Why my Prince, we're back three days earlier. Of course my mate would be surprised," he told me with a look of excitement.

"I bet your betrothed, Lady Esther would be surprised as well." I glared at him making the temperature rise up. He raised his hand in a surrender way.

"Whoa if anything happens to our ride we'd have to walk Prince Kai," the beta sounded worried. I immediately calmed myself but I still glared at the irritating Alpha.

"She's not my betrothed. She's not my anything Tala."

To my surprise, that idiot just grinned like the stupid he was. Of course wolves wouldn't mind if I killed their Alpha. Would they?

"I know, I just enjoy pissing you off," he said casually. "But seriously, why do you hate her? She's beautiful, she's a noble lady, she's obsessed with you, she'll do anything for you. Why don't you want to marry her?"

"I don't feel anything towards her. I don't love her and she loves the crown, not me. Adding on, I don't want to spend the rest of my life with the wrong partner. Enough of your stupid questions."

"All valid reasons. Acceptable. Okay." he spoke like I owed him answers in order to solve a bloody case.

"I still couldn't understand what happened back there. Why weren't we able to end the war?" I muttered.

"There he goes again!"

"I'm serious," I looked out the wind shield. "We didn't win, but we didn't lose either. How is that? There was something missing in that battlefield. We had the numbers, the strategy, everything. I still feel like there's a missing puzzle. I believe we fought beyond well, just not enough..."

"Hey remember the time you and Queen Yoshie were fighting side by side?" I knew where he was going with that.

"The unexplainable explosion?"

"Yes! Both your powers combined to create that explosion. The Vila Queen's gifts were great but what made it awesome was, when it got mixed up with yours!" he said it like he was still living in that moment. "We need more of that to win Kai! That's the answer! Too bad that was the maximum extent of her powers."

"What are you talking about Tala? We didn't even know what we did! It was an accident actually. We bumped into each other and then it...just happened."

"Did you see the look on all the trolls' face?! You scared the shit out of them!"

"Whatever, anyway how do you know that was the Queen's maximum force?"

"I asked her to do it again of course. You guys managed to wipe out a huge number of trolls. Although, when I asked, she told me she couldn't. She had used up most of her strength and the King went against it as well.

I guess we need to surround you with Vila creatures?"

"That sounds stupid Tala."

"Not entirely!...Maybe a little but seriously we need someone more powerful. You. You need to train hard and keep practicing your gifts. There's a lot you don't know. Like the extent of it and by training you get to unlock many secrets to your powers. We both are what ? more than hundred. Yet even you had no idea you could do something like that didn't you?"

"No. No I didn't but it wasn't just me." He was right. The Queen's powers were outstanding but if only she had more of it, then we could plan better strategies and actually win.

"Hmmm, either she'll have to train harder than ever or you can actually work with two Vila creatures," Tala suggested. Not a bad idea. We could always try different approaches and training techniques but my head was starting to hurt.

I let out a heavy breath and massaged my temples.

The three of us reached Red Kingdom alive. The beta got down and went with the other soldiers. They wanted to explore the town area.

Once me and Tala walked inside the castle, servants came to take our coats off. The castle seemed a little too quiet. I brushed off my curiosity and turned to the alpha.

"Show Alpha Tala to the guest room upstairs." I ordered one of the servants. He nodded and waited for the alpha a few feet away.

"Freshen up and rest. I'll meet you in an hour."

"An hour?! I wash up in less than 15 minutes. What do you expect me to do for an hour?!" I glared at him again.

"Don't you want to sleep for a while?" I gritted out. He was deliberately pissing me off.

"Nope!"

"Then dig into the kitchen," he beamed at me.

"You know Prince Kai, no matter what the world says about you, you're still the best to me."

"Flattered," I said coldly and disappeared in a blur.

I sped up to my chambers. I needed her. These past few days were so empty without my Little Flower.

When I opened the door, it was silent. Not normal silence. More like an eerie silence. Emptiness was what I felt.

She wasn't here.

Hei guys,

Here is the new chapter. You guys waited too long at such a climax. I hope you enjoy now. I will update soon. Leave a review please.