Filed to story: The Rejected Werewolf Princess (Camilla & Tyson) by Didi Adeyemi >>
I smiled and him softly. I could tell he was a bit worried, it was in the creases around his eyes and the way he gripped my hand lightly. I decided to make the first move by pushing the door open. The physician and his son were muttering to themselves and they jumped when they saw us. The room was just as I remembered- there were vials and jars lining every wall filled with weird liquids. Books took up the rest of the space and of course, the little bed where the victim was lying down.
“Thank you for coming,” he rushed over to welcome us. “I hope I am forgiven for requesting your presence but this wasn’t something that could be uttered outside of this room. The walls have ears and if anyone gets a wind of this, it could be disastrous.”
I cast a wary glance towards Ryker. His eyes met mine and I could see that his emotions mirrored mine. He squeezed my hand in silent solidarity and we turned back to the physician.
“There is nothing to forgive,” Ryker was the one who spoke because I couldn’t trust my voice. “What is it that you wanted to show us?”
He beckoned us over to the b*dy and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity as I looked down at the boy. He couldn’t have been older than mid–twenties. The physician didn’t seem to hold the same concerns I held in regards to the b*dy because he just walked by it and began fl*pping through his notes.
“I noticed something when I was looking over him. I would like to preface by saying that I am a physician and sometimes, I may be wrong. I doubt that I am wrong here because I have checked three times just to be certain,” he cleared his throat before continuing. “This boy was dead only a mere three hours when he was found. There is also no indicator that he had been out in the cold long before then.”
“Why was his skin so cold then?” I asked. “He looked like he could have frozen to death.”
“I wish that were the case,” he paused as if wondering how to continue. “I am sure you have heard about the blood being the life force of an individual. Your blood is part of what warms your b*dy and regulates the temperature.”
I nodded not quite understanding where he was going but trying to follow nonetheless.
He turned the head of the boy to the side and pointed to two barely there puncture wounds.
I felt Ryker tense beside me and I couldn’t help but remember what he had told me earlier about the vampire. I refused to believe that was what happened. Maybe it was just an accident. Maybe we were just overthinking and reading too much into things.
“This is a vampire bite. Normally, I wouldn’t be too bothered about it because we have the occasional vampire roaming around. In my time, I have handled three vampire cases but this is different.”
“How so?” my voice was barely over a whisper. I was scared to ask because I was scared to know the answer.
“This man was somehow drained completely of blood.”
“Why is that weird?”
“When vampires bite, it is for two reasons- to feed or to turn. They rarely ever completely drain bodies of blood, not even the newly turned make that mistake. The only time a vampire would make that mistake is if they lost control and this man wouldn’t have a head if that were the case. I believe this was a deliberate action on the part of whoever did it.”
No one dared to speak. It was one full minute of Ryker and I staring at the b*dy and not knowing what to do. Our worst fear had been confirmed- the rumor was true and for some reason, the vampire was here.
Ryker was the first person to snap out of his reverie. He straightened his shoulders and faced the physician eye–to–eye. “Do not breathe a word about this to anyone. Tell the family whatever you need to in order for them to let this rest as quickly as possible.”
“But your majesty-” his son began speaking for the first time and Ryker leveled him with a sharp gaze.
“If anyone breathes a word about this, they will have to pay, am I clear?” he asked and they both nodded. “Go over the b*dy one more time and tell me if you missed anything”
Without another word, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. I had so many questions but I didn’t know where to start so I stayed silent.
RYKER’S POV
I hated being out of my element and this was one situation where I couldn’t control that.
From the moment I saw that b*dy. I knew it was a vampire attack. I tried to convince myself that maybe it wasn’t the one from the stories. I allowed Camilla convince me that I was overreacting but now the evidence was directly in front of my face and I couldn’t deny it. As we left the physician’s room. I couldn’t help but run my hand down my face in frustration. For the first time, I was at a disadvantage- I knew nothing about vampires.
I knew nothing about the rumors as well because I had completely dismissed them. If I had just chosen to investigate it a little then I would have a little information on hand instead of walking completely blind. I wanted desperately to punch something.
“Ryker,” Camilla began slowly from her spot by my side. She sounded almost hesitant as if she were unsure of whether she should speak.
The last time she sounded like this was when she was still getting to know me and didn’t know how to trust me. I turned to her almost immediately, all thoughts of the vampire were forgotten. I never wanted my mate to feel like she needed to walk on eggshells around me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked and she hesitated for far too long before responding.
“What do we do now?” she asked. “I don’t know where to start.”
“We don’t start anything. The last thing the people need is to panic. We are going to summon the elders and convince them to implement a curfew for the people.”
“They would want to know why. No one panics more than them,” she added the last part with a snort. “Why can’t I just put the curfew?”
“If you do it then people will realize that something is wrong. If we make the elders believe that it was their idea then they will have to come up with a reason behind it. Just leave the talking to me, I can handle them.”
She nodded and I couldn’t help but bask in the complete and absolute trust she had in me. Her eyes softened and I could see in her eyes that she would have done anything I said in that moment. There was something euphoric about knowing that and I swore that I would never do anything to make her second guess that blind faith she had put in me.
It took half an hour to get the elders assembled in the council room. It would have taken longer but to our relief, they were already in the palace when summoned. There were varying levels of confusion on their faces and I prayed to the goddess that I wouldn’t mess things up.-
“if I am correct then it is your job to keep us up to speed with everything happening in the palace, correct?” I asked and they all hesitated before nodding. “Then explain why I didn’t find out until today that people have been getting lost in the woods. in the dead of night.”