Faith With Wolves Book 2
15. The Vampire Princess

Faith

Caleb immediately stands in front of me blocking me from the vampire. He’s growling and watching the strange female vampires’ every move. She’s in her early twenties, has brown hair, and looks oddly familiar.

I quickly button my pants and growl right back at her. “Do you know who you’re threatening? I’m Faith Wilder, the vampire king’s daughter!”

The brunette smirks. “I know exactly who you are.”

“Then you know threatening me is a crime. I suggest you leave now while I’m being kind.”

She slowly takes a step closer and Caleb growls again at her. He hasn’t said anything, and I know it’s because he’s trying to control his wolf.

The brunette holds up her hands in mock surrender yet still smirks. Her voice is arrogant as she says. “I was told to give you a warning, you need to stop investigating. What’s going on is bigger than you and your little wolf pack. I promised my alpha I wouldn’t kill you, but I’ve never been a good listener.”

The crazed vampire suddenly lunges for me but I’m pushed back by Caleb as he shifts and begins fighting the vampire. I want to help him, but I can’t. All my senses are going off and I turn just in time for another vampire to run out of the nearby woods and lunge at me.

But he’s too slow because I dodge him just in time and rip out his heart. His body immediately turns to ashes and more vampires rush out of the thick forest that’s behind O’Dell’s. Caleb struts up beside me covered in blood and growling. I ball up my fists because apparently, the fight is just beginning.

“Warriors are on their way; we just have to hold them off until they get here.” Caleb mind-links me.

“Who the hell was that vampire she looked familiar?”

Caleb growls. “She was the vampire that flirted with me at Sweet Desire.”

“That bitch!” I break our mind-link and my eyes glow gold and my fangs release as I prepare to fight for me and my mate's life.

The vampires arrive quickly, and Caleb and I split up and start tearing them apart. Even though I’m angry someone is attacking us I’m also sad about it. Many of the vampires I’m killing have no fighting skills whatsoever. Their amateurs and someone sent them to be slaughtered.

When I replace out who I’ll kill them

After I rip out the heart of the last vampire around, I glance at the destruction around us. O’Dell’s large dumpster is knocked over, a tree has a large split down the middle and there’s blood everywhere on the ground along with the dead vampires’ ashes.

“The warriors are here now; I’ll have them clean up,” Caleb announces placing his hand on my shoulder. He’s still shirtless but has jeans on now. They're different from the ones he had on earlier so I’m sure he grabbed an extra pair from his car.

“I can’t believe this happened.” I sob. “They were literally sent to their death because someone wanted to send a message to us.”

Caleb wraps his strong arms around me, and I cry into his chest. Even though I’ve been trained to defend myself all my life I have never liked the thought of taking a life.

I always take very little blood from the humans I feed from. The first time I killed someone was the attack back at the Royal Palace. I acted okay in front of everyone but once I was back home in Caleb’s arms I cried, just like I am now.

“It’s okay baby.” He soothes me by rubbing my back. “You had no choice.”

“I just hate killing, especially my own kind. We’re just trying to help them. Who would send them to do this?” I ask looking up at Caleb.

His jaw ticks. “No idea but we’re going to replace out. I promise you we’re going to end this soon.”

“I hope so.”

When we get back to the pack house Caleb and I are immediately surrounded by pack members. They're all worried and asking a million questions. Caleb just pulls me closer to him as we walk through the mass of people.

“Alpha! Luna! thank the moon goddess you’re okay!”

“Who attacked you? Was it rogues? Are we in trouble?”

“You smell like vampires? Where are they now?”

The questions just keep rambling off, but we just continue to ignore them. Hand in hand we walk upstairs and into Caleb’s office. He sits at his desk and pulls me onto his lap.

He sighs and leans back in his chair. “Sometimes it sucks being Alpha.”

I nod. “So, what are you going to do?”

Caleb sits up. He looks frustrated and when we lock eyes, I can tell I won’t like what he has to say. “Well, I have to prepare a statement to tell the pack, so they don’t worry. Second, I have to call Alpha Dexter. Vampires attacking us on neutral territory breaks our agreement, it’s a sign of war.”

“Are you serious?” I stand up and glare at my mate. “You want to go to war with vampires because a few attacked us, are you crazy?”

“Crazy?” He narrows his eyes at me. “No, I’m not. But I have a pack I have to keep safe. If the vampires will attack us on neutral territory, then what’s stopping them from coming here and slaughtering our pack members?”

“Those vampires were sent by somebody! That bitch said she was delivering a message. We need to replace out who it was not attack innocent vampires!”

Caleb also stands up. “What we need is to send a message that our pack is not to be messed with. I will not let some filthy bloodsuckers attack me and my mate and think it’s okay! The next vampire I see I won’t hesitate to rip its heart out!” he growls and I’m in disbelief at the words coming out of his mouth.

“Is this the Caleb you were before you met me? Ready to wage war on an entire species because of a few bad ones?” I shake my head. “I don’t think I like this version of you.”

The scowl on his face disappears at my words and he reaches for me, but I back up. “Faith, I didn’t mean-”

“Don’t try to change your words now Caleb, you meant what you said.” I turn away from him hugging myself. “You should go to bed it's late, this filthy bloodsucker needs to go feed so don’t wait up for me.”

Using my vampire speed, I rush out of the pack house and through the thick woods. Caleb attempts to mind-link me but I block him and continue my run needing space to think.

The wind whips through my hair as I trek deeper into the woods past our territory. I jump on a nearby tree and climb up to a high branch. My heart’s racing and I’m not sure if it’s from adrenaline or if I’m still upset over my mate’s words.

Probably both

Leaning against the tree trunk, I squeeze my eyes shut and try not to cry. My feelings are so hurt, I thought Caleb was past his prejudice for vampires, but I was wrong. His hate for my kind will never fully disappear and I’ll constantly feel torn.

How can I choose between the two?

Caleb loves me, I know he does. But every time he mentions how disgusting and horrible vampires are I wonder if he thinks of me that way? Would he love me even if I wasn’t his mate? My heart says yes but the logical part of me says no, never.

I’m a filthy bloodsucker!

I feel terrible for questioning his intentions. Caleb has been a near-perfect mate. He’s kind, protective, and very caring. His patience is my favorite thing about him though.

Caleb never pressured me to have sex before I was ready, and he courted me like humans do instead of just mating and marking me quickly. We took our time falling in love and every day I learn new little things about him.

The way he can’t stand still when anxious, how he hates it when his food touches, and the cute purring sound he makes when he’s asleep after a stressful night. It’s the little things that make me love him even more.

But the way he belittles my kind still hurts. I thought being with me would show him how great vampires can be. That he would see past his hatred and realize our kind aren’t that different. We all just want to be accepted and loved.

When I get back, I’m going to talk to him. I can’t keep running away every time I get upset, it’s very immature of me. I’ve just always had issues with confrontation. It’s the main reason why I waited two months after my eighteenth birthday to tell my parents I was moving out.

Caleb is my mate though and I know he’s worried about me. I’ve got him blocked so he can’t mind-link me and I’m sure he’s sending several warriors to look for me and probably himself. I’m way past our pack territory so it will take them a while to replace me.

I climb down the tree and get ready to run when a strange scent catches my attention. It’s not really a strange scent because it's familiar but it’s strange to smell the two things together. It smells like a werewolf but also a vampire.

Are they working together now?

Before I have the chance to decide if I want to run or fight, I hear shouting, no more like someone begging for help. I take off, running further into the woods towards the sound.

The shouts get louder, and the smell of fresh blood also floods the air. I run even faster, not caring if I’m running right into a fight, someone needs help, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I ignored their plea.

I run through the thick trees until I come upon a clearing. My jaw drops at the sight of me. It’s a woman limping as she carries a baby in one arm and her other hand is clasped around the tiny hand of a toddler.

“Oh, my goodness!” I rush over to the lady who looks startled once she finally sees me. She screams and holds her pups closer to her.

I stop a few feet before her and hold my hands up. “Please stop screaming I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Please don’t hurt us. If you want blood kill me, spare my kids.” She cries and I shake my head.

“I’m not going to hurt you or your pups, what happened to you?’ I ask. The woman’s clothes are torn, and she has several spots of blood all over her.

The woman doesn’t answer though so I try again. “Please ma’am I just want to help. I’m Faith Wilder Luna of The Blue Moon Pack what’s your name?”

“I’m Rachel,” she whispers.

I nod. “It’s good to meet you, Rachel, can you tell me what happened? Are you hurt? You’re covered in blood?”

She starts to cry, and I would comfort her, but I don’t think she would be comfortable with that. “We were attacked, our pack is gone. Shadow Pack is no longer.”

I’m shocked. The Shadow Pack are our neighbors to the east. Thier all about peace and farming. Who would attack them?

“Gone? Everyone?”

Rachel nods. “I'm not sure, I barely got away with my pups.”

A growl escapes me, and Rachel backs up. “I’m sorry it just upsets me hearing about wolves being attacked.” I shake my head. “I’m going to have warriors sent this way to get you and your family back to our pack. You will be safe there.”

“Thank you. But aren’t you coming with me?”

I grit my teeth together. “No. I’m going to your pack to check for survivors. Keep going straight, the warriors will meet with you soon.”

Without waiting for a response, I run towards The Shadow Pack. I open up my mind-link and ask our head warrior Alex to send warriors to pick up an injured woman and pup. They try to ask more questions, but I cut off my mind link and keep running.

I didn’t need to ask Rachel who attacked her, I could smell their scent all over her, it was vampires and lots of them.