Blaze in the Darkness | ✔

Chapter Twenty-three

Without a sound, all six of us were thrown out of the darkness and into the light. I had to stop the shudder that wanted to pass through me as the warmth of the spring sun touched my skin. The scent of werewolf was thick in the air.

Raset looked around, the three ambertails in her arms. "This is the Sharion pack territory?" she asked, keeping the trio from running off.

After a short pause, Thoysal opened his eyes and said, "Yes. This is the place I've called home for a few centuries. I also alerted the Ira of our presence, so that a warrior squad doesn't come our way."

"Fighters? They'd attack us?" I gave him a wide-eyed look.

"If I teleport, it gives off a pulse of magic. However, that pulse is nearly the same for any magic user, and only the size is different, depending on what the user did. That means we could've been an enemy appearing in their territory, too," he explained. "By letting the Ira know we're here, she knows not to worry."

When he said it like that, it made a lot of sense. I bobbed my head up and down in understanding. "But what if I use a lot of magic? Would that mean my momma would see that and be able to find me better?"

"Your magic is a little dangerous. Fire tends to hurt people a lot if it's too strong. Besides, she will recognize your scent, even after all this time." The vampire ruffled my fur before looking at Raset.

"Do I have to let the Ira know I'm on her territory? She has most likely heard of me before, as I visit every Alpha and Ira pair at least once in their life, but she is fairly recent." As she spoke, she barely managed to grab the ambertail that tried to leap out of her arms. She chirped indignantly, unhappy that her curiosity went unfulfilled.

Thoysal shook his head. "No, I let her know. She's currently in a meeting to discuss how to handle the attack the best we can, but you can formally meet her later."

"But where's the Alpha, Oscen?" I asked. "Isn't he a leader too?"

"He's trying to reach his allies as quickly as possible to request aid. It's how it usually goes. The Ira handles the pack itself, while the Alpha does relations - yet both work equally hard to protect their people."

Raset chirped back at the ambertails before commenting, "And it seems like your leaders will need a lot of help. Don't they have over a thousand warriors, and rapidly growing numbers?"

"A thousand?!" My eyes widened at the figure. I had never seen a thousand people in one place before. It had to be more than the people I had seen when they made me stand in front of the pack.

"We can make it," Thoysal said confidently, though his eyes didn't reflect his tone. His gaze was fixed on the spirit, as if silently berating her for something. "Now, I will show you the way to the safehouses there are around the territory. We can't return to the abandoned mines we were at; they're too close to the border for if an attack happens."

Raset stepped back and gestured for the vampire to take the lead. Confidently, he walked on the paths in the forests and then the roads of the town. I followed behind him with Raset, though I couldn't help but look around the closer we got to the settlement. The scent still clung to some buildings, and there were some black spots that hadn't been created with paint.

Although guilt coursed through my body, it was quickly extinguished by the much stronger force of anger and hurt. They didn't want me, they deserved to be hurt. Right?

I dismissed the thoughts with a shake of my head. All I had to do now was follow the vampire, not think about what happened. And so I walked after the two of them, focusing on their footsteps.

Abruptly, the footsteps stopped, and I almost bumped into Raset's armor-clad legs. I looked up with a confused whine, watching as Thoysal gestured towards a seemingly normal, wooden door.

"This here may seem like just another door to a building, but if you open it..." He trailed off, opening it as it did so. Unlike other doorways, it opened to a stairwell going down instead of a room. "Down there is the main safehouse for this part of the town. Come on."

With a flick of his hand, an orb of light appeared above his palm, lighting the stone walls of the stairwell. I let my fur brush against the smooth stone as we descended the cold steps. Although there were torch holders, none of the torches were lit, and the only light came from Thoysal's magic.

Over twenty steps later, the hallway opened up into a large, dark room. The three ambertails immediately hopped out of Raset's arms and chased each other on full tilt. The only way to track them were the trio of faint, orange lights from their tails and the loud chirps.

I looked at the room in awe once my eyes adjusted; it seemed enough to hold a hundred people, and thousands of ambertails. With my head tilted, I looked at the items stacked in the corner. "What are those?"

My own barks made me flinch, the sound echoing through the room. Thoysal brushed my fur in reassurance before saying, "Those are sleeping bags. There are more stowed away in the storage rooms. Enough resources have been stuffed up in here that we can hold out for an entire month, which should be plenty of time for reinforcements to come."

"Are there any other exits?" Raset asked, watching the trio of little fire creatures frolic around. She was probably afraid they'd find one of the exits and run off before she'd realize. I could definitely see the three of them doing that.

The vampire nodded. "Yes, but each can only be opened by either wolf or human. Something as small as an ambertail has no hope of getting in or out. They can't escape from here by accident."

"Ah, good," Raset said. The two of them then started going over what supplies were stashed here, and out of boredom, I chased after the ambertails.