I was taken through the halls of the vampire fortress to a room that turned out to be a kind of audience chamber, like a throne room, but not quite so ornate. There were vampires everywhere except along the back wall. That was kept clear except for a large but almost severely plain stone throne, and seated on it I saw at last the face of my prey.
He looked like a distinguished old gentleman, with short white hair, and a suit – in black, naturally. There was nothing that gave him away for what he was, except a smile that had daggers in it. It spoke volumes by itself.
The other vampires who'd been with me broke away to the edges, leaving only the two carrying me. I was thrown unceremoniously to the floor in front of him. His eyes were on me in moments.
"Master," one of them said in a distinctly servile tone. "The last werewolf. We finally caught him just outside the south tower."
He said nothing, but made a curt gesture with one hand, still watching me. The two backed away.
I struggled to push myself up, to try to do anything. I couldn't just do nothing.
"We meet at last, Sora," he murmured in a deep, calm voice. "I wondered how long it would be before we met. You've become quite a nuisance, and a murderer too, I note. Oh, but you don't consider it murder if it's one of us, do you? I might not have liked my grandson, but Commander Valgor was still a part of the family."
I ignored him. I had to get the cuff off my leg. He watched me with some amusement as I tried, but however it had been locked onto me, I couldn't figure it out. It didn't seem to have any kind of lock, it was just one unbroken ring of light-brown bark.
"You can't even admit defeat, can you?" he taunted me. "Here you lay before me, incapable of even the slightest bit of resistance. What should I do with you, I wonder?"
This was it – what I needed to plant the idea in his mind, so I could make the plan work. I mustered everything I had left, looked him in the eye and answered, "Kill me. In front of all your kind. Wouldn't they all love to see the demise of the last werewolf from the last pack?"
"Oh, quite probably. But I don't think even you're that suicidal."
"Not suicidal."
"Oh, really? I have existed for centuries, yet a mere child like you thinks you stand a chance?"
"I don't have to stand a chance. We've tried to get rid of you since our creation. I'm just upholding that. I have to try."
He leaned forward, tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"There are a lot of us," he said finally. "It will take some time for them to assemble here, and there will have to be preparations and arrangements made for the... amusements. I'm still left with the decision of what to do with you until they arrive."
I said nothing. He at least gave the appearance of going along with the plan. I didn't want to do anything that might make him change his mind, and I was still left weakened. It was hard to do anything.
"I think I'll keep you as a pet," he decided with a smirk. "You there," he snapped his fingers at a nearby vampire. "Get me the collar I had inlaid with silver."
This was not turning out how I'd expected or wanted, and the idea of being kept as a pet...
"As you wish, Master," the vampire answered, with the faintest hint of a sneer on his face as he turned away.
I had no idea what was going on here. As far as I knew, silver wasn't going to do anything to me. I turned out to be wrong on that score.
"Surely you don't mean to let him stay here, Master?" another asked him.
"Of course I do. Look at him. Do you really think he poses any kind of threat like this?"
"But... he's a werewolf, Master. No werewolf has ever set foot here before."
"He has," he pointed out. "Not only did he make it into the town below undetected, but also into the fortress before he was found and caught." Something seemed to occur to him, and he went on, "Need I remind you that the town guard falls under your jurisdiction Vidan? Would you care to care to explain just how one werewolf managed to defeat everything you put in place to stop them and reach us? Or maybe you were hoping he'd defeat me so you could take my place?"
Vidan suddenly looked very guilty. Others drew back from him, most of them trying – without much success – to look innocent. I doubt there's ever been an innocent vampire-
Actually, I take that back. I did meet one who could be considered innocent. I'll get to that later though.
Vidan tried to stammer out some kind of excuse, but their master waved him into silence. The one he'd sent off to retrieve this silver-inlaid collar returned, standing nearby the guilty one. It looked like the kind of collar you'd put on a dog, I'd expected it to be black like everything else, but instead it was a simple blue leather band, with intricate silver designs on both the inside and out.
"Hand it to him," their master told him. "I give you a chance to redeem yourself. You will be the one to switch the cuff for that collar. Don't try to put the collar on him before taking the cuff off, or you'll probably kill him, and I want him alive."
All other vampires drew even further back, and Vidan's eyes widened in fear. I was still human, but I could practically smell the fear on him. I knew what he was afraid of, and so did they. The moment he removed the cuff from my ankle, I'd be back at full strength and more than ready to act on it. Vidan's 'redemption' was practically an open invitation to his own end.
The room was absolutely silent. Their master hadn't moved at all, watching Vidan carefully. Vidan himself had the collar in one hand and was staring at me in what looked to me like abject terror. All others had either cleared out or were trying to hide in the corners of the room, or peeking around the supporting pillars down either side. They looked no less afraid than he did.
While it was quiet, I formed a plan of my own. Sooner or later, they were going to try and get that collar on me, and if they couldn't put both it and the cuff on, I'd have a chance to strike. Whether because he was lax or not paying attention, Vidan had allowed me to get this far, so I decided not to harm him. At least not yet.
No doubt the Master would be ready for anything I'd try to do to him, so that put him off-limits as well. That left the other vampires in the room. I surreptitiously studied where each of them were, how many were hiding where, and figured out the best route through them before they caught me, hopefully making it to the door and back out into the fortress proper to find a place to hide.
My plan made, I looked back at Vidan and weak as I still was, I treated him to my best wolfish grin. I might have been human, but he knew what I was, and knew what it would have looked like on the face of a wolf. He flinched back, evoking a brief chuckle from the Master.
"What are you waiting for?" I asked him. "It's not like I'm going to be any weaker if you keep waiting." He stared at me, looking surprised, so I continued, "Come on, what's keeping you? After all, I'm just a dog, aren't I?" I might not like being called that, but I wanted him to take the cuff off, and that meant I either had to give him the confidence to do it, or taunt him into it.
"He... he can't..." he started.
"No," the Master answered. "He can't change his form while the cuff is on him."
"That's right. I'm stuck as a weakling little human, aren't I?"
Some of the fear seemed to fade, and the Master laughed again.
"He's playing you like a well-tuned instrument, Vidan. He's up to something. Get on with it; I want to see what our werewolf has in mind."
Still somewhat hesitantly, he knelt down, watching me carefully. The collar was set down on the floor beside me while he reached for the cuff, which seemed to snap apart easily. He kept it in contact with me, then quickly set it down, reaching for the collar.
I felt my strength come rushing back, and quickly changed not to my Hybrid form, but became a wolf again instead. I sprang past him before he reacted and aimed between two of the pillars to the vampires hiding behind, who scattered quickly, sounds of terror echoing around the room as I bounded through them. I did not harm a single one of them. I could have, but that wasn't in the plan.
I moved quickly around, herding them like sheep toward the doors which they obligingly opened. I stopped herding them at that point and bolted out of the door again.
"Oh dear," I heard their Master sigh, heavy with amused sarcasm. "He seems to have gotten away again. I do wonder what we'll have to do now."
The corridor I was running through seemed to blur slightly around me, then I was back in the audience room again, this time facing the side of his throne. I hadn't had time to stop, so ended up hitting it. I don't suggest trying it yourself, stone hurts a lot when you run into it.
Vidan hadn't moved after I'd bolted, looking stunned himself, but now I was back and dazed from my collision, he seized the chance to put the collar on.
It was then I found out the significance of the silver. While it isn't a lethal as such, it does hurt – a lot. It felt more like it was burning, and as with the Wolfsbane, I once again lost the ability to change form. I was not weakened by it, but it didn't really need to do that, the burning feeling was distraction enough to keep me from trying anything.
Then somehow it seemed to lessen when someone tugged on it. It turned out to be their Master.
"I see you've noticed it's effect," he noted. How could I not? "Behave, and I will reduce that effect, misbehave and I will return it. Understand?"
I didn't want to reveal that I could still speak human language like this, even though it wasn't good, so I just made do with a kind of nod. Wolves don't normally nod at all, so I couldn't manage a proper nod. He seemed to get the idea.
"Good boy," he said, as if to a pet, then smoothed down some of my fur that had been ruffled after Vidan had put it on me.
I didn't like it, but if it got me what I wanted, I'd have to tolerate it.
"I'll overlook his brief escape from you," he told Vidan then, leaving me to lay beside his throne. "You've redeemed yourself for now, but if I find out the security isn't up to scratch again..." he left it hanging ominously.
"I understand Master, I'll do better."
"Good. See that you do. Oh one other thing. I understand a group of missionaries have set up shop outside the old church in town and intend to renovate it for their own uses. Deal with it."
I never saw what happened to those people myself, but I found out later that this happened regularly. Missionaries of any religion would periodically show up, unaware of the nature of the inhabitants of the fortress, and try to spread their influence. They never lasted more than a week, and were often considered snacks. The church, I learned, had been used before the vampires took up residence, and they'd pulled down the entrance to stop anyone getting inside. Apparently they don't like religious folk, but I still can't see why.