Disclaimer: I own nothing and I make no money. This makes me sad. ::Sniff:: Now I can't buy Velkan.

Chapter Edited 03/02/07: New and Improved because I missed a continuity error when I posted it last time. Ooops. I haven't forgotten the next chapter (was it fifteen or sixteen that was next?) but I'm updating old ones while I struggle with it and this one is the first. :)

Chapter 5:

Mara crouched behind the pile of refuse until her nose felt like it would rot and fall off from the stench. Carefully she backed up, keeping her eyes and ears trained in front of her until her back hit the brick wall at the back of the alley. She inched her way along it, feeling with her hands until she reached the window. Taking a small dagger out of her boot, she pressed the tip against the base of the window and was rewarded as the class shattered inward from the pressure. Careful to use only the sleeve covered part of her arm, she wiped away the remaining shards of glass and crawled in through the window.

Immediately she wished she had stayed in the alley. The overwhelming scent of alcohol hit her sinuses hard enough that she nearly got drunk from the smell alone. Gin, rum, vodka, and some stronger potions that were probably local specialties. Her hand went up over her nose and she made a pointed effort to breath through her mouth.

The room she was in was dark. If anyone else had come in they would have stumbled over the crates and barrels piled up against the walls or laying out on the floor, but Mara was of the cat clan and that had advantages. Darkness held no barriers to her sight. She worked her way around the barrels and over to a short flight of stairs. The sound of floorboards creaking warned her that someone was coming and she ducked beneath the overhang of the stairs. The door above her opened and light poured in from the room. Mara covered her eyes briefly as they adjusted.

Sounds of laughter drifted in, following the portly bartender as he walked down the stairs, groping in the dark for the candle attached to the wall. Mara snuck around behind him when he passed her and crept up the stairs and out the door. The cellar door was behind the bar allowing Mara to stay hidden as she inched around for a look at the people crammed into the room; most spilling beer and falling over themselves as they laughed and drank. She crept around the bar, staying close to the wall and found and empty chair and table in the corner where she could sit unnoticed, if she was quiet, and watch the people.

One man a few seats down from her asked something of the man next to him, drunkenly slurring the words together as he spoke. He sloshed his drink in the direction of the door and said something incomprehensible to Mara, though the anger in his voice would have been clear to anyone. His friend tried to quiet him and he slammed his drink down hard on the table.

A few heads from nearer tables turned toward the two men and put their fingers to their lips, trying to convince him to be silent. The man said something that made one the younger men at the other table blush before finally succoming to the arguments of the people around him. He set his drink back on the table and stared into it, his eyes taking on a distant look as if he was seeing something far away from the crowded and dirtied barroom.

The way they acted reminded Mara a great deal of sheep that ambled pointlessly around the hills when they knew a wolf was on the loose. She snorted contemptuously and began looking for a way to make a quick exit when a word caught her attention.

"Velkan…" The drinking man tipped a little in his seat, nearly falling over before his friend straightened him and nodded in response to whatever had just been said. Both men took another sip of their drink; slumping further down on their stools as they continued to gabber at each other in the strange language that was native to these frozen mountains. The mention of the wolf prince's name sparked Mara's curiosity and she bent all her senses to her quarry with renewed interest.

The loud drinker took another swollow out of his clouded mug and this time his friend did as well, clinking their classes against each other before downing the contents. Even if their hunched shoulders and beaten eyes had not spoken to Mara of despair and defeat, the smell coming off of them would have been enough. They know him? She realized suddenly, making the connection between Velkan's name and the villagers apparent attitude of mourning. They know him and they think he's dead!

A number of people at the tables near the one who had spoken raised their glasses to toast in an echo of the first two and the conversation of the room dwindled to nearly nothing. Mara felt the emotions of the tavern people growing; despair and grief that nearly overwhelmed her.

He must have been well liked and known here, she realized. And apparently they think he's dead. Why doesn't he come back and let the people…these sheep, know that he's still alive?

She looked around and saw that the people in that corner were not the only ones that seemed so fearful. Everyone in the the dank poorly lit room sat hunched over their drinks and the atmosphere in the tavern was not what she remembered such things to be. No one was laughing or telling crude jokes, no bar fights were starting-- everyone seemed to be trying to stay as unseen as possible.

This bloodsucker he fights? Why does only his family fight it I wonder. Surely the people of this town could defeat it by force of numbers alone.

She thought back to the alley, to the dark presence that had so chilled her and shuddered. Maybe not. Whatever dark thing lived here was like nothing she had seen before.

A bell pealed out across the night, sounding even over the din in the bar and everyone fell silent for a moment, listening.

Mara watched the villiagers, one and all, cower at the sound and felt anger rise in her breast. No matter how terrifying this monster may be, It's still better to go down fighting rather than milling about like animals for the slaughter! She thought scornfully. What does he see in protecting these…these sheep!

The bar doors opened and the people started leaving. No one leaving without at least one friend to accompany them on the walk home. Mara watched the two men at the table stand, and one help his drunken companion out the door before leaving. As she passed the doors, she heard someone she assumed was the bartender calling out, demanding to know who she was and what she was doing here. She ignored him and ran off alone into the night, toward the forest. Toward Kai, and the prince of wolves.

Kai ran full tilt toward the town, well aware that the warrior man was following behind him at a respectable speed. As he broke through the tree line and onto the path leading to the human town he saw the shadow creatures fly over the sky again, away from him and the village.

Mara. He thought. She was in the town. He ran again, with renewed strength and ignored the heavy breathing and breaking branches behind him that was the man. All that mattered was getting to his sister. Of course he would find her well. She was a cat. But that was beside the point. The point was that she had been in danger of being in danger and he wanted to see for himself she was safe.

A figure was running up the path toward him and his nose told him it was Mara before he actually made out the unique gait that was the best a two legged cat could manage a run. He slowed and stopped in front of her, regarding her with dark green eyes narrowed in annoyance and waited for the man to join him. A few moments later he did, breathing heavily but otherwise none the worse for wear.

"What the hell were you doing?" He yelled and Kai felt like joining him but settled for turning his back with a admonitory twitch of his tail and leading the way back.

Velkan came up behind the cat, chest heaving from the exertion of keeping up with it. He saw Mara trotting toward them and breathed an unsteady sigh of relief. Quickly he felt the relief change inside his chest to a fire of anger. How dare she run off like that! I told her the danger and she runs off without telling me anything of where she is going, leaving me with the monster of hers! He felt his hands clenched into fists and wanted to wrap them around her arms and shake her hard for her idiocy. He forced his hands to relax, realizing the bite was causing him to react so violently.

"What the hell were you doing?" He bit out through clenched teeth.

"Scouting." The redhead said curtly as she walked up behind the great cat and stroked its ears, murmuring something into them in her own tongue, obviously trying to placate him. That she would console the cat and so ignore him sent another wave of anger running through him.

"Scouting?" He repeated derisively. "Scout what? I live in that town and could have told you anything you wanted to know oh queen of cats"

Mara looked up from stroking the cat and stared at him with her own strange slit-pupiled eyes. "It's been a long time since I have been in a human town and I was curious." She told him calmly.

"Curious?!" He repeated loudly, eyes wide, shocked. "There are vampires out there! You could have died!" The girl looked up at him, curiosity sparkling in her green-gold eyes.

"I heard that term used in the village. What's a vampire?" He looked at her for a moment and only when he saw her expression set into a glare did he realize the look on his face must have been an insulting one.

"The bloodsucker. He's a vampire." He told her waiting for her reaction.

"Why are the people so afraid of him. All of them together could surely take out one monster." Velkan shook his head.

"Your brave Mara, I'll give you that, but you have a lot to learn about Transylvania if your going to stay here for any length of time." He ran a hand down over his face and felt the rough growth of stubble that had sprung up in the last two days. "Dracula, the vampire, he's stronger than any hundred men. And so are his brides."

"Brides?!" Mara exclaimed. "You mean as in more than one?"

"Yes. Dracula has three brides, each near to being his equal in strength. Even if the entire village attacked, from the oldest man hobbling on his cane to the youngest one wielding his toy sword, It would make no difference to the fight. Only to the village which would lose every son, brother, father and husband in it. And neither I nor my father will throw our peoples lives away like that. "

The walk back through the woods was a quiet one.