The Tale of a Vampiress
Part Two
Chapter One:
It has been two years since my beloved Larten gave his life in battle to take down the Lord of the Vampaneze, I am still in mourning for him, and I do not believe that I will ever get over losing him. I miss him terribly, and I still talk to him even though I understand that he cannot answer me, I see him in my dreams as well, I dream of the times we spent together, and of the times when we were intimate with one another, I still dream about our Blessed Mateship ceremony, and to this moment I still consider myself to be in a Blessed Mateship with him, I also wear my rings, and I look down at them all the time, I wear his on a chain around my neck, for some reason it was not destroyed by the flames in the spiked pit he tumbled into, it was the only thing which survived, but his body, and weapons were nothing more than ashes after the fire had died down, only the ring was saved, and I have no idea how it managed to withstand the flames, I am glad that it survived the fire though, and I shall never take it off of the chain, I do not wish to lose it, and it is far too big to fit on my slender fingers.
I have got to take care of my wolves, I have fifteen of them now because the remaining members of my pack were joined with Gavner's pack, he also gave his life to save me in the heat of battle, and this is a debt which I can never repay, however it does prove exactly how much he cared about me, he pushed me out of the way, and the incoming blade which was thrown towards me had struck him instead. I was heartbroken by Gavner's loss, but then to lose Larten so soon afterwards made me think at the time that the Vampire Gods had made it that way so that they could meet together in Paradise, but I would still rather that I had been the one to die first, this way they could have joined me, but they're gone, and I've been left behind, the only thing which keeps me going is my wolves, they need me, and I can't be without them, I curl up with two of them when I go to bed, they keep me warm when it is cold.
I still sleep underneath one of Larten's cloaks, he had so many of them, I keep them hung up in his wardrobe, and I have one which I sleep under, it is my favourite one because it is so soft, and it does still smell of him, I miss sleeping in his arms, he always held me so close to his body, it made me feel so safe, and warm, we also shared many passionate encounters during our time together, I miss these the most because every single occasion was incredible, I do not believe that anybody will ever match up to him as a lover, he was just too skilled, and he never hurt me once, not even in the beginning which was back when we first worked at the Cirque du Freak, I was Larten's assistant at the time, but I fell for him pretty hard soon afterwards, and it went from there, we faught the Vampaneze together, we also raised wolves, sparred with each other, trained for the Trials of Death, and I spent some of the best years of my life with him by my side, I love him so much that I cannot face being without him, and as for finding a different Clan member to be my mate they will have to be somebody very special, as well as having an understanding of my unconditional love for Larten, for I am certain that I can never love another as much as I loved him...
As I'm a Vampire General I often have to stay behind at the mountain so I can do my duties, I have meetings to attend, and Clan disputes to settle, I have always been firm, but fair when judging those who've made mistakes as that is how Larten treated me, I am very like him in some ways, and whenever I am not working I wear red to honour his memory, however when I am on duty I have to wear my official Generals' robes which are black, however seeing as I'm in mourning it makes sense for me to be wearing black most of the time.
I need to feed and brush my wolves before my duties for tonight are started, however I am not sure what they are yet, I have to report to the Hall of Generals for my instructions, the Hall of Gavner Purl is its other name, and we never used to have one, but when the number of Generals got past a certain number it was decided by the Princes that we should have our own hall where we can organise ourselves, and we have our own sleeping area now which is located just beyond our hall too, you have to be a General or the assistant of a General to gain access to the Hall of Gavner Purl, and to our sleeping area, the sleeping area is like a large dormitory with separate sealed pods which are behind doors so that we can maintain our need for privacy, think of it like a corridor in a hotel with rooms on both sides, we keep men on one side, and women on the other, not that there are hardly any female Generals, however the mates of certain Generals do stop over occasionally, especially if their mate is off duty, but they have to get permission to visit, we just can't let anybody into our hall for security reasons, as such we have a system where the Generals who have got mates wear matching talismans with them so we know who is with who, of course the Generals who are in long mateship agreements have mates who are familiar faces, they tend to visit at the same time on the same nights so we know when to expect them, as such they usually get let in straight away.
I am the only female General who hasn't currently got a living mate, but I am not ready to move on yet, I feel that if I were to accept a new mate then I would be betraying Larten's memory, I know his last letter to me said that he gave me permission to accept a new mate, however I am not ready to take that step yet, especially when I'm still so very much in love with him. I am very grateful to him for the special device he had made for me, it works wonders when I want to feel him close to me, I have no idea how he managed to have it made, but it really does help me to cope with his loss whenever I use it, it is basically a sex toy with a difference, it is an exact to scale replica of his manhood, but it is digitised, it has settings on it, and it can be filled up with his own seed, he froze an immense amount of it into cubes, I keep them on ice in a bucket, when I want to use my device I simply melt a couple of cubes, pour his seed into my device at the top, close the hatch, set it up and off I go. It really makes me feel as if I'm having sex with him, and it gives me some really strong orgasms, especially when his seed is released through the hole in the bottom, the device vibrates, and after a certain point it releases the seed, but I've usually already orgasmed way before this point, having his seed vibrating through my body just makes it last longer, quite a few minutes to be precise. I use my device almost every other night, I can't help it, I just love how it works on me, and besdies that Larten, and I used to have sex all the time, we'd mate at least twice almost every time we were in our coffin together, we had a very active, and healthy sex life, the device I have does match up to that somewhat, and it can make me very vocal if I am not careful, but if I have my coffin lid closed, and a cloak over me then the noises I make tend not to be so audible, I really do try to keep the noise levels at an acceptible range, I even hold my breath as I orgasm so I sort of make lower pitched sounds with my mouth closed, they can be heard, but they aren't exactly distinguishable so anybody who hears me probably won't realise that I'm having one.
I miss kissing Larten as much as anything else, he always made it so intense, I miss having the feeling of my head spinning, and feeling dizzy afterwards, and no matter how good my device is it can't kiss me or run hands all over my body, and lick my sensitive spot, he was always a master at going down on me until I begged him for more, and told him not to stop, he would tease me, but then he would finally give me my release, and I'd show my appreciation by saying his name loudly enough for the entire Clan to know how good he was at making me orgasm. I couldn't hekp it, he made me lose all control, and the only way around it was if he kissed me as I climaxed, that way I'd make noise, but it would be muffled by our kisses, and because he would kiss me as I climaxed it made everything feel so much better, especially when he released his fluids into me at the same time, he really was a lover of a calibre that is rare to find, and now he's gone, but at least I have my device to keep me satisfied until such time as I can find a new mate, hopefully he'll be able to match up to Larten's skills or come close to it, but I'm not ready to move on yet, I love Larten way too much.
My wolf Storm is getting older, and losing her brother Blaze has taken its toll on her, Blaze was injured in the battle with the Lord of the Vampaneze, and although he survived the initial attack he never regained the full use of his legs, and he had to be carried everywhere, I nursed him for as long as I could, but one night he didn't wake up, we put it down to the immense strain that his heart had been under since the battle, it really pushed him to his limits physically, he was on that battlefield until he was so exhausted he could no longer fight, then he was attacked, and he collapsed to the ground, my wolf Athena stood over him, and signalled for help, but she lost her own life whilst doing so because she refused to move from Blaze's side, the enemy surrounded her, and she faught them off until the end which gave us the chance to save Blaze which we did, and she would have done the same for me had I been the one on the ground injured, and vulnerable to attack.
I also lost my wolf Skye in the battle, she had been mortally wounded whilst trying to drag one of our Clan members to safety, but even though she was dying from the blood loss she stayed with him until the Medics came, by the time they arrived it was too late for Skye, but the Clan member she had dragged to safety survived, she was my youngest wolf in the pack, and I miss her so much, but she did have pups so I have some of her litter in my current pack, one of them is jet black which is just like her, but this wolf is a male so he's been named Midnight. I also have another jet black wolf which Storm gave birth to, and he's been named Shade, the genes for purely black fur must be strong in my pack because I always seem to get one black wolf in almost every litter I breed.
Wolf family tree:
Storm-Artic
Shade, Spirit, Stalker, Bolt, Tala (new ten week old pups)
Skye (deceased) -Blitzen (four years old)
Amber, Tundra, Glacier, Midnight (two years old)
Flame-Diesel (four years old and nine years old)
Ember, Kyra, Jewel, Diamond, Seraphina, Kia.
(Eighteen months old.)
I haven't bred Khan because I've already got my hands full with the five pups I already have.
I bred my wolf Storm with Gavner's white wolf Artic, and this is why I now have twenty wolves, I have my wolves, plus Gavner's pack whom I adopted when he was killed, and five pups that have come from the pairing mentioned above. I am planning to rehome the pups when they are big enough because a pack of twenty is a large number for any single person to look after, having nine wolves was bad enough, but back then I had Larten to help me, however now I'm alone, and doing it by myself, the pups are around ten weeks old so they're at the fluffy hairball stage of development, plus they're cutting their teeth, and testing the boundries, having said this Storm is a fantastic mother to them all, and I have no doubt that they will all go on to lead long, healthy lives. I love my wolves to bits, and I wouldn't change them for the world, but they can be a bit naughty sometimes because Gavner's pack were quite young when he died, and he never got the chance to complete their training either, however they know the basics, and they've been trained for battle so they make a formidable team when they work together as a unit. I watched them in the battle with the Lord of the Vampaneze, they tore the Vampaneze they caught to shreds, and worked alongside the Medics to drag our casualties to safety, or at the very least they'd alert the Medics to where the injured were located by howling.
I have to get some collars for the pups because they don't have theirs yet, and Gavner did not put collars on his wolves, but all of mine have always worn collars, now that I'm responsible for his wolves they will get collars and medals which have their names on one side, and who owns them on the other. It will help me to tell them apart as well because they look similar to other wolves, lots reside here in the mountain, and not all of them have owners, most are totally wild, they only come in for food, and warmth in bad weather, but the others are owned by Clan members, and you can pretty much tell which ones the tamed ones are, well I say tamed, but they are still wild at heart, and only the most loyal wolves stick around to reside here full time with their owners, these ones are raised by hand from birth, and trained from a young age to accept us as their pack, but my pack is special, they've been selectively bred over the years, by doing this I've produced placid natured wolves who are intelligent, and loyal to me, so loyal in fact that they will defend me to the death if they have to, they will also guard me if I'm sick or injured by standing over my body, and alerting the Clan until somebody comes to offer their aid. Even if I fall to the floor in an accident the wolves will leap to their feet, and surround me in a ring until I am safe again, my old pack this quite a few times, when the beam snapped during my fourth Trial of Death and I crash landed on the ground Sasha, and Shadow leapt over the barrier between the spectators' seats, and the Gauntlet, they stood over my body, and they did not stop lunging at anybody who came near me, they growled, and snarled like two Hell Hounds, even after all these years I've never forgotten either one of them, Sasha gave her life to defend me from a Vampaneze ambush, I was on the ground injured after a fight, as a result she stood over my body until the end when she collapsed from blood loss, and died, but she did not die before she had taken down as many of the Vampaneze who'd approached me as she could, as for Shadow he died of old age after sticking with me for a good few years, but his bloodline goes on through Skye's pups, Skye was Bandit's pup, and Bandit was the pup of Sasha and Shadow, hence why they are so loyal to me, it is in their DNA.
I'm heading to the Hall of Khledon Lurt for something to eat, I haven't eaten yet, and I can't work on an empty stomach. The wolves need feeding too or they'll start eating the scraps that are on the floor, and fighting over them because they still have their wild instincts intact, wolves always fight over food and scraps whether there's enough to go around or not so I try to discourage it if I can, they get a whole deer usually, and when I say whole I mean entrails, and all, they eat the lot, and nothing is ever left to go to waste. I feed the wolves daily, but they also hunt three times a week, and they get to keep whatever they kill minus one leg which I keep for myself as it provides me with a good meal. I usually braise it or slow roast it with a marinade which I was taught to make by Larten, I really miss his cooking, everything he made was tasty, and I was always well fed. I never went hungry once in all the years that we'd spent together, however on special occasions he pushed the boat out, and really cooked up a storm which was usually three courses, soup for a starter, roasted meat with jus and stuffing for the main course, and roasted stone fruit with creamy sauce for dessert, followed by a few glasses of Champagne or cocktails, and we usually had wine which was paired with each course as well. I haven't had a meal like this in a long time, as it is only me now I see no point in cooking myself a three course meal, the wolves eat raw, uncooked meat or scraps, and suitable leftovers plus bones with the marrow in them, they don't need to have any of their food cooked, but I do allow them to lick my plates clean sometimes just so that the gravy or sauce remains are used up.
I've had my food now, and I'm in the Hall of Gavner Purl, the adult wolves are settled down quietly by my feet, but the pups are in the den as they're a bit young to be on the floor of the halls, they need their vaccines first, I don't them to get sick from catching something nasty, and I don't want them eating unsuitable foods either, plus the Clan tends to fawn over wolf pups at this age because they're so darn cute, and fluffy, they love being held, and lying on the laps of whoever will allow them to do so, however they can only do this for so long before they get too big, and heavy to fit on a lap comfortably.
"Anna, Anna, there you are, I was looking for you. The Princes need to see you," Alicia has just come up to me, she looks flustered. "it is important apparently so they sent me to fetch you."
"Alright, there's no need to panic, I'll come with you right away. Do you know what it involves? Why have I been summoned? I hope I'm not in trouble," I am a bit worried, the Princes don't usually summon you directly unless it is vital.
"No, I have no clue, but I do know that you are not in trouble, you've done nothing wrong," Alicia sounds confident about this which is a relief to me. "Can you take me to see your new pups after we've seen the Princes? I want to meet them."
"Of course I can, I know how much you miss Gavner, his death has been hard on us all, but especially upon yourself due to how long you'd been his mate, and as for Jade Gavner practically raised her after her mother Liz died, the Vampaneze murdered her brother, after he died she was left totally alone in this world until she found her way here to us, and Gavner took her in," Gavner was very charitable, and kind, he was always helping out stray animals, and taking in orphans who had nowhere to go. "I miss him too, he, and I were very close as you know, plus he gave his own life in exchange for mine on the battlefield so I owe him, and all those who were associated with him a big time debt. I would be dead if not for his sacrifice."
"I know Anna, what Gavner did for you is something that proves to me how much he cared about you, you don't just knock somebody out of the way, and take a knife in the chest in the heat of battle for no damn good reason. Gavner did what he had to do, I think he knew that you had to live no matter what, for all of our sakes, and Larten never would have forgiven him if he had allowed you to come to harm in any way," Alicia, and I are walking to the Hall of Princes, the wolves are following us because they go wherever I do. "I loved Gavner so much, I truly did think that he was the one, but destiny had other plans." I can see tears welling up in her eyes, and even I am getting emotional now.
"He's in Paradise, and he's in your heart Alicia, he'll never leave you as long as you remember him."
"Yes, that's true. I still talk to him you know, of course he can't answer me back, but I can still feel his prescence sometimes, it is strange. I see him in my dreams too." Alicia was hit hard by Gavner's death, but now she's the official mate of Prince Vancha so she's well looked after, and she wants for nothing, he gold and sapphire coronet suits her very well, and it matches with her official blue dress, all of the Princes' mates wear a unique talisman, a coronet, and a blue dress to signify that they are the official mate of a Prince.
"Madam March is coming, open the doors." one of the Guards has just announced, the Guards always open the doors to the Hall of Princes if a Prince or the mate of a Prince approaches the Hall of Princes, but only the Princes can open the door to the Princes' Dome itself, they have to touch it or it stays closed. "We have to search you Madam Crepsley, even as a General you are not exempt from our security measures."
"That's fine, I understand. I have nothing to hide anyway, you know how loyal I am to the Clan," I have spread my arms and legs, and let my hair down loose, they do what is called a frisk search where they pat you down over the top of your clothing, but they don't touch your skin, and they run a comb through your hair to check for concealed weapons, of course I never carry weapons unless I'm going hunting, although as a General I am permitted to carry my official blade if I so choose, and I may use it in defence of the Clan only, I am not allowed to pick fights or use it in a challenge, nor am I permitted to use it in the Halls of Sport, an official blade is literally used to defend myself from a direct threat or to defend other Clan members from a threat, and nothing else.
"She's clean, let her pass." the Guards never take long to search those who wish to enter the Hall of Princes, since the incident where I was sexually assaulted by two Guards who searched me inappropriately the Princes have changed the rules on searches, now the Guards have to be witnessed by a member of the Clan who is the same sex as the Clan member who is being searched, this provides a witness in case anthing goes wrong, and it also means that the Guards have a line of defence, for example if a Clan member were to make a false claim of assault against the Guards then the witness can vouch for the Guards if they're innocent.
We've entered the Hall of Princes, and a couple of wolves have bounded over to me, they like to sniff anybody who enters the Hall of Princes, and besides that they know me because I raised them, they're from the only litter that Blaze fathered before he was killed, I rehomed them all because I had enough wolves in my pack at the time, after losing Delta, and Bandit to old age the Princes decided that they wanted two more wolves to guard them in the Princes' Dome, the Princes knew that I was looking to rehome Blaze's litter when they were old enough so that's what I did, only two pups out of the six that were born to Blaze and Seba's wolf Snowy survived, the others all had a congenital heart defect so they passed away young, it was heartbreaking, but that's life sometimes, we are however very fortunate that two pups survived, they have made it to adulthood with no trace of any heart issues which is great news, these two wolves are also strong enough to pull sleds of logs, and other supplies during harsh storms without any difficulty, we just attach them to a wooden sled with a sled dog harness we made from scratch, and they do the rest, it is so useful, and not only that but if one of us gets injured whilst we're working with the sled, and the wolves then they can simply pull whoever has been injured straight to the Medical Wing at some degree of pace, but that depends upon how urgently they need to be seen to by the Medics.
I've walked up to the thrones where the Princes are sitting, there's only two Princes in the Princes' Dome at the moment, I'm not sure where the others are, but they must be busy. I've bowed, and now I'm waiting for one of the Princes to acknowledge my prescence, of course Alicia doesn't have to wait she can just go right up to an empty throne, and sit down if she chooses to do so, they've relaxed the rules for the mates of Princes if they've been together for a certain amount of time, however the newly chosen mates, and any non official mates with priviledges have stricter rules to follow, they're basically the mistresses of the Princes, they get some of the perks that comes with being the mate of a Prince, but they're not allowed to do certain things as they're only a mistress, and not the official mate, for example only the official mate of a Prince gets to wear a coronet, and only the official mate can sit upon a vacant throne if they choose to do so, no other Clan member is allowed to do this, and there are strict punishments for those who break this rule, even if it is only done in jest as one pair of Generals found out when one General ordered another General to sit on an empty throne, Prince Arrow caught them in the act, and he came down on them like a proverbial tonne of bricks, I didn't see what happened, but I did hear about it. Prince Arrow does not take kindly to those who deliberately break our rules, especially when it comes to the unwritten rules of respect, and vampiric etiquette.
"Anna, welcome, we have not seen you for a while, but we have heard lots of good things about you, and about how well you are doing as a General despite the obvious heartbreaking situation that you are living in, we cannot even begin to imagine how losing your Blessed Mate has affected you, it has been over two years since Larten died for our Clan, and made the ultimate sacrifice so that the Lord of the Vampaneze was killed, for that we owe a debt to him which we cannot repay, and nor can we ever repay you for what we have had to put you through," Prince Mika has said with a sad tone in his voice. "We do however have a confession to make, and what we did we had to do for the good of the Clan as a whole, Larten was fully on board with the plan, but he was forbidden by us from revealing the truth to you, you see Anna, Larten is not actually dead, what you witnessed was a decoy who fell into the pit, and onto the spikes, Larten was never actually at the battle, he was here with us the entire time, we used a decoy who we found through your genetic research into Larten's family, we found a descendant of his who looked, and acted very much like him, we tricked him into joining us, and paid him well, you never knew the difference because the real Larten was always with you, however they switched places on the battlefield, and it was the decoy who led the arrow formation, and fell into the pit, we had to do it this way so that the Lord of the Vampaneze would be killed, and we would not lose our best, most loyal Clan member who would do anything to keep you safe from harm, even if it meant faking his death in battle, and living in our private quarters for the past two years, we could not reveal the truth to you sooner because we had to wait until it was safe to do so, also the entire Clan knows about this plot, but they were all sworn to secrecy on pain of death if they revealed anything to you, seeing you mourning for this amount of time, and watching you suffer was one of the hardest htings that we've ever had to do, however it was the only way that we could destroy the Vampaneze, and keep the real Larten safe, and well instead of risking his life on the battlefield. I hope you can forgive us for what we have had to do, and that we did it for the purpose of keeping Larten alive instead of sacrificing him, Gavner knew that his role was always going to be defending you at all costs, even if that meant giving up his own life which he did so that you could live, and now without further ado I believe that a long awaited reunion is in order." I cannot believe what I've just heard, I'm in total shock, and close to collapse. "Larten, come on out." I looked up, and there standing infront of me was Larten, the Blessed Mate I'd mourned for continuously for the past two years looking just as well, and healthy as he was the last time I saw him.
"Is it really you Larten? I'm in shock right now, like what the fluff has just taken place?" I still cannot believe that Larten is alive, and well. "I understand why the Princes did what they did, but still I can't quite fathom that you're alive, and well. I've been in mourning for so long, plus I have not even considered taking another mate, and nor would I ever do so because I love you too much to betray you, you know that."
"I am alive and so are you thanks to the Princes, and their well made plans which we hatched a long time before the war with the Lord of the Vampaneze ever happened, now come here, and hug me because I have not felt your body against mine in far too long." Larten looks happy to finally be released from his hiding place, I've just performed a vampirically charged leap into his arms, we're just standing still, and holding each other like we've never even been apart, I am overwhelmed with emotions right now, but as I am a General I feel as though I must control myself, especially seeing as I'm infront of two Vampire Princes.
"I cannot even express in words what I am going through right now, for over two years I've been mourning, and crying myself to sleep every time I go to bed, I've had to cope with raising twenty wolves on my own including five pups who're now ten weeks old, I've had to emotionally support Jade, and Alicia alone whilst I've struggled to keep it together, I've been wearing your ring around my neck since it was recovered in the ashes after the fire went out, now I know why it wasn't destroyed by the flames, the truth is that it was never in the flames, it was placed there for me to find after the fire had gone out, everything makes sense now, and I wondered why none of the other Clan members ever asked me to become their mate, it is because they knew you were alive, and they did not want me to cheat on you," I'm beyond happy to know that Larten is alive, and well, but I'm still in shock. "I think that you and I have got some serious catching up to do Larten, and I'm really struggling to find the words to describe how I'm feeling right now."
"Yes, we can imagine that you are struggling, however please understand that what we did we did so that Larten would live, and not die, we had to convince you that he was dead so that you wouldn't go discovering our plans before it was the correct time for us to reveal them to you," Prince Mika has just explained. "Anna, we saved Larten by effectively killing him."
"I see what you mean Sire, and I am of course thankful to you that you saved my Blessed Mate, however it is going to take a long time for me to get over the shock, and adapt to having Larten around again after being apart for so long."
"Yes Anna, we understand that, and as such we are giving you two weeks off, you are now free from completing any duties or official business until yourself, and Larten are back to some representation of normality, now get outta here, and start making up for lost time," Prince Vancha has just added. "I think you know what I mean by that."
"Yes, naturally we do." I'm still being held, but only now I've been scooped up into Larten's arms, my arm is around his neck, and he's holding me bridal style...