I have been thinking about moving this fic to ao3 where it is easier to tag stuff. But I'll let you know if this happens.

Chapter 6

It was late night when a pillar of black fog appeared in front of the gates of Garside Grange. In a blink of an eye a person was standing in the yard, as if he had walked out from the fog. He was wearing a dark blue cloak with the hood pulled over his head and his face was swallowed by the shadows.

Fleance strode to the main entrance and knocked three times. It took a moment but he heard someone moving inside. Eventually, the door was opened by a man who looked pretty much like a homeless junkie. The vampire wrinkled his nose.

"Yes?" the butler asked looking at him like Fleance was the one of them who had crawled in the building from a sewer.

"Are you Renfield?" Fleance asked and the man nodded with a frown. "Is Wolfie Dracula home?" The butler shrugged.

"He was leaving when I last saw him. I don't know where he went. Zoltan might know, though", he muttered.

"So, where can I find Zoltan?" Fleance asked impatiently. He didn't have time for this, he needed to get going. Vlad was okay, he knew it, but as long as he wasn't personally there watching over the Chosen One... he was restless. Something was coming and Fleance wanted to be by the side of his leader when it happened. "Can you take me to him? Please?" The butler didn't seem intrigued but he gestured Fleance to follow. The vampire stepped inside and pulled the hood off his head letting his dark curls cascade on his face before he flicked them off. He was lead to the upper floors and left in front of a closed door. Fleance thanked, knocking only after he had been left alone.

"You are welcome to enter, stranger", said a raspy voice with a strong foreign accent. Fleance took a deep, needless breath before he pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room was almost empty except for a chair and something that looked like a stuffed hellhound on wheels. A stuffed hellhound on wheels. What the actual fog? "Did Master Vladimir send you?" the creature asked. Slowly, Fleance bowed his head at this thing he didn't even know could exist.

"He did. My name is Fleance Gaspar", Fleance introduced himself again. The hellhound looked at him firmly making him feel rather uncomfortable.

"That I could imagine. You look just like him", the hellhound muttered. Fleance blinked a few times thinking that this was probably the oddest situation he had put himself in so far.

"If you are referring to mister du Fortunessa, I hope that's not the only reason I was chosen for this job", Fleance said blankly. "I'm here to check on his Highness' brother. To see if everything is fine." At this, if possible, the hound looked mortified.

"I'm afraid things are not good for him", it said. Fleance cocked a brow. "He did... look in the family's Blood Mirror on his sixteenth birthday. I'm afraid he is in trouble. Someone came here to meet him when he was about to leave. I don't know where he is but he is no longer in this building, that I can assure."

"If you are looking for the brat, I haven't seen him after he talked to that woman", Renfield's tired voice cut off the hellhound's words. "He said he didn't want to talk with her but I heard them and saw them walk into one of the empty rooms downstairs. I went to check it later that day and the window was broken. If you asked me, they didn't just talk in there." Both turned to look at the butler who stood by the door.

"Can you take me to that room?" Fleance asked. He had expected to see an uninterested expression on the man's face but he couldn't care less. He nodded to Zoltan again and followed Renfield out of the room and down the stairs back to the foyer. He glanced at the portrait of the Chosen One that hung on the wall but said nothing. Renfield opened a door and let the vampire in. The window was broken just as Renfield had said and there was an odd scent in the air. Fleance looked around and it didn't take him long to find the first bullet Cane had shot and that Wolfie had dodged. He stared at the bullet that had sank into the wall. It was made of silver.

"Hey", Fleance shrieked and turned around to find that the butler wasn't there anymore. He growled and flashed back upstairs to Vlad's room without knocking. The hellhound hadn't moved but it turned to look when the advisor rushed inside. Fleance's eyes were wide open and he looked slightly shocked. "Is Wolfie Dracula a pureblood vampire?" Zoltan tilted his head.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Wolfie Dracula. Is he a vampire?" Fleance asked again raising his voice. "I need to know. He has his reflection now, yes?" Zoltan looked as shocked as the vampire and for a moment they merely stared at each other.

"Master Wolfie is... he is son to Magda Westenra but his father is...", Zoltan started but didn't get the chance to finish the sentence. Fleance swore out loud cutting him off. Actual breather swear words exited his mouth as he turned around. This wasn't what he had expected. No one had warned him about this possibility. Vlad had never told him. "You didn't know?"

"No, no one informed me", the advisor growled deep from his throat. "I'm fucked." The advisor turned around ready to leave when the hellhound's voice made him stop.

"What are you going to do?" he asked. Fleance swallowed.

"I have to tell His Highness that his brother has disappeared. And if I'm still alive after that... I have to find that bastard."

Wolfie woke up indoors. He was laying on his stomach in a rather hard and uncomfortable bed and the pain in his back was tearing him apart. He felt someone touch him, gentle fingers pressing against the tender skin around the wound. Someone let out a whistle.

"Are you awake, puppy?" asked an oddly familiar male voice. Wolfie tried to move but a pair of strong hands pressed against his back and held him down. "Don't move. We'll have to remove the bullet or it'll poison you. It has burned your flesh on its way and the veins are closed. That's why you don't bleed but it'll kill you if we leave it there." Wolfie opened his mouth but no sound came out. The voice ordered someone to help and a sigh reached Wolfie's ears. He felt another pair of hands against his skin.

"I'm going to pull it out now. Don't worry, I've done it before, but it'll hurt like Hell", the man said and placed something in the wound. Wolfie flinched and groaned in pain. "Okay, I got it. I'm going to pull it out now. Unia, please, keep him down. Don't let him move, no matter what." Wolfie felt the grip tighten. He tried to move his head to see what was going on but he found himself incapable to control his own body. "At my three. One... two..." the three never came. Wolfie wasn't ready when a sharp pain tore through his whole body as if it had been pierced by a thousand blades. His body tensed but in the second he moved, he was pushed back down and restrained. The scream died in his throat and he blacked out again without letting out a sound.

The next time Wolfie opened his eyes he was staring at the opposite wall. His back was still aching but the pain wasn't anything like it had been. He lied down for some time just listening to the voices around. The male voice kept talking in distance and there was a quiet female voice answering him every now and then. He couldn't make sense of the words. There was a strong smell of blood in the air. Wolfie pushed himself up in a sitting position and looked around. He was sitting on a bed, in a huge room that looked like it was part of a cabin in the woods. The walls, the ceiling and the floor were made of huge tree trunks and close to his bed there was a stone fireplace. On a table not far away from the bed there was something that looked like a first aid kit, a bowl and some bloody towels next to it. It was the smell of his own blood. Blood and metal. On the other side of the room was a door stood ajar. The voices seemed to come from there. Wolfie tried to listen to the argument but his ears were ringing and his head aching. He gave up and was about to lie back down when the door opened and the man stepped in the room.

He was much more normal than Wolfie had expected him to be. Slim and tall, with dark brown hair and a stubble. Nothing special, just a middle-aged, tired-looking man.

"Oh good, I see you are awake", he said smiling as he came closer. Wolfie stared at him as if he was another hunter ready to kill and skin him. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. That wouldn't make much sense after I saved your life, right?" The man grabbed the bowl and the bloody towels. Wolfie watched his every movement as he disappeared back in the other room for half a minute. "How are you feeling?"

"Better", Wolfie admitted. His throat was dry and talking hurt, though. "Where am I?" The man smiled.

"You are in a check point", he said and Wolfie's expression told him the crossbreed had no idea what a check point was. "Those are places were wolves can go when they are too far away from their haven. This was the closest to the place we found you. Don't ask me about the name, I know it's ridiculous" Wolfie's eyes widened.

"Are you a werewolf?" he asked suspiciously. The man nodded and pulled a chair from under the table, placing it close to the bed and sitting down.

"Yes I am", he replied. "And, apparently, so are you. There are no many creatures that get shot with silver bullets. And the way the silver affected you, that's common to wolves only. You were running from a hunter, weren't you?" A nod. The man sighed. "We found you just in time."

"...thank you", Wolfie muttered looking down at the bloody sheets. The smell was irritating him.

"It's okay. We are always ready to help those of our kind. Aren't we?" the man asked glancing over his shoulder. Wolfie's gaze followed until he saw a figure leaning against the doorjamb. The owner of the female voice he had heard earlier. She was not much older than Wolfie. Whilst the man looked as normal as possible, the girl had long, wavy hair of a dark cherry red, rather pale skin and a pair of eyes far from normal. The left was dark brown and the right ice blue. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she stared at Wolfie with a cold, intimidating gaze. The only answer the man got from her was half of a nod.

"Who are you?" Wolfie asked tearing his gaze away from the girl's mismatching eyes to look right at the man.

"Oh, sorry. My name is Taz. That's Unia", the man introduced both of them.

"Are you a... pack?" Wolfie asked cautiously. The man smiled gently, in a way a father would smile thinking about his child.

"Part of it. The others are at the haven. We were just on a little excursion", he explained. "Who are you? Where are you from?" Wolfie opened his mouth and was about to lie but he had a better idea.

"Wolfie", he said truthfully. "That's what they have called me for years." Vampire humour. But Wolfie was okay with his name, no one had ever questioned it. Neither did Taz. The man nodded seemingly waiting for him to continue. "I came from Liverpool." Taz stared at him and Wolfie saw Unia frown behind him. "Where am I?"

"Near Glasgow", Taz said. "It doesn't make sense how you got here so fast. Your wound was fresh. You hadn't been running for long." Wolfie stared emotionlessly into emptiness and chewed on his lower lip deep in his thoughts.

"I must have flashed."

"Flashed?"

"Flashed, zoomed, whatever it is. It's a vampire thing. When they move so fast human eye can't follow. I guess that's how I got so far in such short time", the crossbreed explained but the others still looked astonished.

"Wait. So, you are saying that you are a crossbreed?" the man demanded. Wolfie nodded slowly and as he did, he realized it would have been better not to. The man looked shocked and a deep growl escaped the girl's throat. Wolfie saw her clench her fists. "Unia." Taz's voice seemed to have no effect on the girl and she kept on growling and showing Wolfie her teeth. Her eyes did the same thing vampires' eyes tended to do, the black of the pupils swallowing almost all the white. Only a thin white ring around them showed that the eyes weren't completely black. "Unia! Do I have to remind you which one of us is the alpha around here?" This time Taz's voice was harsh and cold and it seemed to help. The redhead snapped out of her rage and took a few steps back lowering her gaze. Taz sighed. "Wolfie, I think it would be better if you came with us to our haven. You'll need a few days to fully recover."

"I can't. I have to get to my brother's and..."

"Please, don't object. I can't let you go in that state. You'll be safe with us", Taz said and helped Wolfie to his feet. The crossbreed looked at him and, eventually, nodded.

Taz and Unia packed their bags and carefully cleaned the place up before they left. They really were in the middle of a forest and the cabin looked old and decayed from the outside. Wolfie followed the others slowly, trying to push the pain away from his consciousness. Unia strode through the woods without even glancing behind. Wolfie wanted to ask Taz why she was so pissed off but he had to concentrate on staying on his feet. It was painfully slow for him but Taz didn't seem to mind. He stopped every now and then to check if Wolfie was alright. They walked for what felt like hours, but eventually the woods started to thin out and the forest was left behind. They stopped by the outline of a field. In distance Wolfie distinguished the figure of a manor. Taz tapped his shoulder gently and Wolfie followed.

The manor was majestic. It was huge and old, made of light grey stone. The lands around it extended as far as eyes could see. They stopped right in front of the mansion. Wolfie could hear voices shouting in distance but he didn't see anyone.

"This, Wolfie, is the haven of my pack", Taz said. Wolfie stared at the building. It was bigger than Garside Grange and Wolfie wondered how big this pack was. "Unia, please inform the others that we have arrived. We'll be having dinner within an hour so tell them to get ready." The girl scowled but did as told and started to walk to the same direction the voices came from. When she was far enough, Taz cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. Unia has a problem with vampires but she should learn to cope with it." Wolfie glanced at him but apparently the man wasn't going to explain more about it.

"Is this yours?" he asked.

"We've lived here for some time now. No one disturbs us", he said glancing down at the boy. "Come, I'll show you your room." Wolfie followed, although he didn't understand why he needed a room. He wasn't staying for long. He could have slept on the couch.

They stepped inside and Wolfie realized sleeping on the couch wasn't really an option. The crossbreed had no idea how a pack of werewolves could afford a manor like that. The floor of the foyer was white marble and even the vase of flower on a side table looked like it valued more than everything Wolfie owned put together. The boy followed Taz up the stairs to the third floor. They stopped in front of a door.

"You can take a shower and a nap if you like. I'll send someone to get you when dinner is ready", the man smiled and left Wolfie alone. The boy closed the door and stepped in the huge bedroom. It was furnished with an enormous bed, a big closet with mahogany doors and a beautiful writing desk made of walnut. There were a couple of paintings on the walls but for the rest there was no much decoration. Wolfie dropped his backpack on the floor and took a moment to just think about what had happened. He had been attacked by a hunter and rescued by two werewolves. Neither had been part of his plan. He would never get to Vlad's if there were some more surprises waiting for him.

Sighing deeply, Wolfie got up and went to the large bathroom which was connected to the bedroom. He took a long, hot shower being extremely careful with the bandage and sung by himself random songs that popped into his mind. When he stepped back in the bedroom with a soft towel wrapped around his waist he felt a whole lot better. He had packed along only a pair of clean socks and pants and a shirt. His trousers were torn but he put them on anyway. The shirt was bloody and had a hole in the back so Wolfie took the clean one and pulled it carefully on trying not to hurt himself. He laid on the bed on his stomach and tried to think again but a terrible headache attacked him as soon as he tried to focus on any thought. Eventually, he just laid in bed eyes closed.

After some time there was a knock on the door. Wolfie got up and opened to Unia who was leaning against the doorframe and turning a Rubik's cube around in her hands. Their gazes met and Unia straightened herself.

"Dinner's ready", she said. Wolfie didn't dare to say a thing for he saw the mistrust in her eyes. He wanted to ask what the hell was wrong with her but he couldn't find the strength to care. He merely nodded and closed the door behind him, following the girl down the stairs and into a spacious dining room. Taz was already there with a woman sitting by the table. She was approximately in her late thirties and that was more or less all Wolfie could tell about her. The light danced on her honey blonde hair as she moved her head to look at the two of them. A smile appeared on her face.

"Hey, Wolfie", she said as they approached. Wolfie liked her voice instantly. "I'm Papillon. Welcome to our haven." Wolfie smiled back and thanked. The woman gestured him to take a seat. Wolfie sat down next to Taz who was sitting at the end of the table. Unia sat down by the other end.

"How are you feeling?" Taz asked.

"Much better, thank you", Wolfie said. "An amazing place you've got." The alpha grinned.

"I'm glad you think so", he said and was seemingly about to say something else when the dining room's doors opened again and three young men stepped in. They were all dressed in sackcloth trousers and white linen shirts but for the rest there was nothing similar in the three of them. One was maybe a bit younger than Wolfie while the two others were clearly older and with ostentatious appearances.

One was taller than Taz, roughly six feet and 3. His raven black hair were short and messy and his eyes were of such an onyx black Wolfie couldn't tell where the pupil started. The loose neckline of the shirt revealed a strand of tanned, firm chest. He looked like a guy with whom Wolfie would never like to end up in a fight with. He could only imagine the man's wolf form.

The second boy was shorter and slimmer but equally interesting. It almost looked like he was made of glass. His silky smooth hair was of a shiny silver and his steel grey eyes matched it rather well. His skin looked even paler than it actually was as he stood next to the taller man. He had pulled his sleeves up and Wolfie could see the text tattooed on his right arm, although he couldn't make sense of the words. The most outstanding feature of this man, however, was the grin that was plastered on his face. As if the world was an amusement park and life the biggest joke reality had to offer.

Wolfie was so distracted by these two that he hardly noticed the last boy who entered the room. He didn't stand out with his feminine body and perfectly normal features as much as the others. Later on Wolfie could recall only that he had sandy blonde hair.

"Good to see you all here", Taz said getting up and placing a protective arm around Wolfie's shoulders. "This is Wolfie. Unia probably told you that we found him from the forest and saved him. He was wounded by a hunter. He will stay with us for some time and I hope you'll all treat him as a brother and make him feel welcomed. Is this understood?" Wolfie realized the last words were mostly meant to Unia who was still playing with the cube and didn't even bother to look at them. "These are Honda, Anubis and Pete. Honda has the room next to yours but anyone will help you if you need something." Wolfie nodded and tried to give the others a smile but found it hard. His vampire side was uncomfortable with staying in a room full of werewolves.

The dinner was quiet but Wolfie didn't complain. Real meat tasted sinfully good after eating what he could find to avoid Renfield's cookings. Wolfie enjoyed his steak, potatoes and salad even if it didn't satiate him. He needed blood. Taz asked the rest of the pack about their day, never bringing up what he knew about Wolfie. The young crossbreed didn't know whether it was a good or a bad thing but he certainly wasn't going to shout it out to the world himself. Only during the dessert Papillon turned to look at Wolfie.

"So, you were running from a hunter", she said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Do you know the name?" Wolfie stared at her for a moment trying to remember.

"Cane. Emmeline Cane", he said. Taz frowned and he wasn't the only one.

"No, that cannot be. Emmeline Cane died thirteen years ago", he muttered. "That's just a cover. What did she look like?" Again, Wolfie had to take a minute to think about it.

"Tall, slim, elegant... blonde hair. I'd say she was in her mid-thirties. Classy. Blue eyes", Wolfie listed everything he could remember. Everyone in the pack turned to look at the black-haired, tall man. He didn't even look back but the gaze in his black eyes was anything but amused. Wolfie was puzzled. "What's going on?"

"That was Evangeline Lovelace", Taz explained. "She's a hell of a hunter, best in what she does and very passionate about hunting our race down. A very dangerous woman indeed."

"And we can thank our beloved prince Charming for making her into what she is by breaking her heart", Papillon said. For a moment the room was dead silent. Papillon glanced at Taz who took a deep breath and got up.

"Okay, guys. Take Wolfie with you and do something fun", he said. "Papillon and I will take care of the dishes." Wolfie got up along with the others and thanked, following the boys and Unia out of the dining room. He was still puzzled about what had just happened. Unia parted from the group while Wolfie was lead into a living room that was probably the most beautiful room in the mansion he had seen so far. He sat down on one of the old-fashioned armchairs and looked around. The walls were covered with bookshelves full of books. There was a piano in the corner and an amazingly beautiful fireplace. Unlike vampire nests, this haven was luminous and airy and the last rays of the setting sun painted the cream-coloured walls with shades of orange. In that particular moment Wolfie appreciated the fact sunlight didn't burn him like it burned vampires.

"We didn't get to introduce ourselves", said the silver-haired boy and stepped closer. "My name is Honda. That's Anubis" he pointed at the tall, dark man who had sat down on the table on the other side of the room. "And that's Pete." The boy sitting in another chair smiled and nodded.

"Wolfie."

"For real? I thought Taz was just kidding", Honda said sitting down and crossing his legs. Wolfie was about to say that his name wasn't much better but he decided to shut up on the matter. He shrugged instead.

"Vampire humour", he explained and at that all three of them frowned. Suddenly Wolfie remembered that he wasn't supposed to talk about this side of him, for Unia had shown clearly that werewolves didn't particularly like vampires. The two species didn't, in fact, hate each other but for some reason they preferred to live their separate lives without interaction. Honda shifted slightly.

"So that's true then", he said. "You are half a vampire." Wolfie nodded slowly, realizing they had been told and there was nothing to hide anymore, anyway. Silence fell in the room for a while as the three just looked at Wolfie cautiously. Anubis then cleared his throat.

"Well, that was unexpected", he muttered. "Has anyone ever thought about the amount of illegal stuff Taz does? He's going to get us all killed one day." Wolfie's brows pressed into a frown as he looked at the dark-haired man.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "What is this fuzz all about?" For a moment Anubis looked troubled and stared down at his bare feet.

"You don't know much, do you?" he asked. "About politics between vampires and werewolves." Wolfie looked at him suspiciously. For now he wasn't going to say a word about his brother's status in the vampire world. However, the man wasn't wrong. Wolfie didn't know much about politics, mostly because no one had ever thought him to be clever enough to understand it. Eventually, he shook his head. Anubis took a deep breath. "You should ask Taz about it, he could explain this to you. But I can tell you that there are no alliances between werewolves and vampires. The Oath, signed long time ago, prohibits them. And a crossbreed is fruit of such an alliance. Which means, Wolfie... that your existence is illegal. Beings like you, mixes between vampires and werewolves, should not exist."

A/N: Probably not the best way to end a chapter but I decided to dedicate more time and effort to explain Wolfie's situation. Thanks for reading xx