Sous walked with a lollipop in her mouth that mid day afternoon. She had just got out of herbology 3 class and was on her way to the computer lab within the library.
She walked in and made a straight line to the assistant librarian at the time, a human with curly hair with white highlights.
"Hi, I'd like to use the computer."
The human gestured for Sous to follow her and the two walked toward the back of the library, up the stairs, and to another room. The room was filled with mostly elves and even a small group of human students.
Sous chose one of the computers toward the back wall to the right by the windows. She sat her backpack down and looked to see how to work the machine.
Over to the side of the computer, there were a couple of laminated papers. Instructions of how to use the computer.
Zzzhing!
A parcel appeared in front of Sous emissioning off gold light. Sous took the parcel, seeing that it was addressed to her. There wasn't anything she was expecting so she sat down and opened it.
Dear Sous,
We are a small vampire community that has been pushed out of Red Woods and forced to set up shop by the Woodlands of Canas. We read about your ability to help the goblins gain their freedom on Dimona by bringing awareness to their plight. Although its sad an elf lost his life, an entire community was able to be set free.
Right now we are being watched under the eye of the Apex pack and are being forced to work in the mines come sundown. We would like to be stripped of these chains and go back home to Red Woods. Please help us!
Patriach Zonsky
"Zonsky?" Sous whispered to herself. She sat back in her chair and thought whether she should take the request. She had helped the goblins, maybe she could do the same with this clan.
Sous pushed the button on the computer and watched it light up. She was going to originally search for information on the centaurs who were forced out into the forest but she changed direction.
After slowly, very slowly typing in her log in creditionals, she was able to get on. And after slowly, very slowly searching for the internet browser, she was able to get on.
"A vampire clan reached out to you?" Zan asked at lunch.
Sous nodded her head and plopped the piece of bread into her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, she explained more of the situation. "I'll be making my way to them come next weekend. They were forced out of Red Woods about two hundred years ago. They've been forced into the mines since."
"What do you plan to do?" Tany asked.
"I plan to negotiate on their behalf, like I kind of did with the goblins. Apex doesn't mess with me anymore, not since getting stronger. I am also now seen as a political pawn due to my interaction with the Dimona kingdom. Killing me isn't as easy as it once was."
This conversation allowed time to swing by as it was two weeks later. Faye and Randali would be traveling along with Sous. With permission from Shadow who was seen as Sous' guardian, they were able to sign out of campus as a result of having a mission.
Faye was given coordinates to the location allowing her to teleport while Sous and Randali summoned their animals to get a ride on their back similar to how Sous rode on Jason's tiger.
Woodlands of Canas was located about three or so hours from Red Woods. It was a place of darkness due to the trees covering the sunlight from getting there. The air was black and filled with soot. Machinery could be heard just outside the small village deep within the canals.
The three girls met up at the sign that read Welcome to Woodlands of Canas. They looked around, feeling like they were the only ones there.
Their animals puffed away and they walked into the village toward the address the parchment came from.
The wooden steps creaked below their feet as they stepped up onto the mail room building. Sous tapped on the side of the open door.
"Yes, I'm looking for Patriach Zonsky."
"You'll have to wait until sundown," the mail clerk said. "Cloaks are expensive. Most vampires can't afford them."
"Where will he be at sundown?"
"He will come here as he does every morning then he'll head to the mines. Meet him at the mines, if you will. But do be careful. We are a territory of Apex and the wolves often patrol this village and the mines."
They could see the non transitioned wolves when they walked outside the post office. They could smell the three girls, the wind had carried their scents.
The wolves were plentiful. They stood and sat on the rooftops. They hung among the telephone poles, they walked the streets of the small village.
"They're watching us," Faye whispered to her friends, debating whether she should take her needles out.
The girls pretended to walk with their heads down in a submissive state but a wolf soon appoarched them. He was young, probably in his early twenties. A cigarette hung in his mouth.
He took a puff and threw it on the ground in front of the girls. He then stepped up to Sous and blew the smoke in her face. He smirked at her, with Sous clearly unimpressed.
"My, my, my, have you grown," he said circling her, her friends stepping back to give him some space. Sous kept her eyes ahead. "I remember you being just a little thang some years back when you fought Alpha."
Sous' ears twitched. She could hear the other wolves closing in on them. Her antennas moved about so she could get a visual on their locations.
"Mm, you got your little fairy antennas like the mutt you are. Those some ugly little thangs."
"I came to bring the vampires back to Red Woods. Their home."
The wolf smiled, stomping his foot. "They been gone from Red Woods for over two 'undred years. They ain't gonna back. This is where they belong and will stay."
SPLAT!
Sous struck her hand into the wolf's chest, grabbing his heart. The heart beat slowed and his eyes were in shocked. Sous squeezed his heart, blood came from his nose.
Sous yanked his heart out and squeezed it, causing it to burst in her hands. The wolf fell to his knees and then faced down on the ground, dead.
Her antennas moved, visually seeing many of the wolves who were in the distance were starting to back up.
Someone was in charge of this place and she wanted to know who. She stepped on the dead wolf's body and looked upward. Sous yelled out to the wolves.
"I'm here to negotiate!" The fourteen year old called out.
The vampire from the mail room stepped out. Containing a smile upon seeing the dead wolf in front of him. Sous turned to the vampire.
"Who is the head Alpha of this project?"
"I know his name is Diamond, an elite of Apex."
Sous nodded her head. She knew all too well who he was. She wondered if the elites all had projects they worked on individually. Diamond here in the mines. She wonder where Zhiliary would be posted up.
"Diamond is an elite wolf of Apex. He sits to the side of Doureena," she told her friends. "I know I'm stronger than him." She knew that because she beat Zhiliary and besides for Doureena, no one was stronger than Zhiliary.
Later that evening, the three girls trekked toward the hills to the mines. They stood to the side, eating food they brought with them and slowly waited for night to fall. In the meantime, the wolves looked on at them. No one daring to attack. No one wanting to die.
Sous smiled to herself. They were going to be extremely disappointed by this outcome tonight.
"Are you Sous?"
Sous stood up come sundown and faced a man with long white hair, tiny yellow eyes, and sharp fangs. He wore all black with a hard hat with tools for picking such as an ax. Several dozen men stood behind him, all vampires.
The whistle blew to signal it was time for the vampires to go to work.
"Yes." She saw his eyes get watery and he gulped. He turned to his vampires and nodded his head. Sous sat back down and continued to eat her sandwich that Tany had made for her. "Take your helmet off," Sous commanded. "You're not working tonight."