“A note was left on the table. She gingerly bent down to read it and it said: Vampires play in the night. A gasp escaped her lips as she breathed out those words. You see, it was a stormy night like tonight is and the sun had just set an hour ago. She glanced out into the darkness hoping that something would reveal itself, but all she could see were shadows. The girl stepped away from the window and closer to the wall. The lightning flashed, and in the doorway stood -”
I screamed. In the entrance to the cave was the silhouette of a man. All I could see was his caramel eyes and his shining smile that was quickly matched by Amaya. Although I calmed down, I could see Souta-kun was uncomfortable. Thankfully he left and knowing Amaya wanted to follow him I pretended to drift off to sleep. She left as soon as Souta-kun was snoring.
“Hey Souta-kun.” I whispered.
“What?” he muttered still half asleep.
“Why don’t you like that Kyle guy?”
“He’s vampire.” He rolled over and snored again.
“Thanks,” I whispered as I stroked his cheek and sneaked outside. I could see Amaya and Kyle. She slipped off the rock they were sitting on and walked past me in a daze. I silently made my way over to Kyle and asked him some questions.
“Why do vampires and werewolves dislike each other?” I asked.
“I see that you get straight down to business. Vampires and werewolves were in a war a long time ago. They fought for control over the land and being king and we won. They think it was because we cheated and had spies or poisoned them somehow so they taught all of their generations to hate vampires. Even though they don’t teach it anymore, they had for so long that it was as if they had a vampire tracker implanted in them and whenever one is near they have an urge to kill it. We vampires don’t have anything against werewolves. It’s more so them being obvious with their hate towards us.”
“Also who is the king?”
He smiled. “A vampire of course.”
“Thanks.” I continued as I walked away, “and if you hurt Amaya, I will hurt you back.”
“I don’t think you’re the one who has to worry about that.” He jumped off his rock and disappeared into the darkness. What an asshole, I thought.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We made our way to the next town as Kyle led the way and stole three horses. It seemed Kyle forgot about our talk the other night. We kept riding for days with breaks when Amaya and I would practise our powers. Kyle would normally watch us as Souta-kun would wade in streams for fish or run through the forest and bring back a deer or some fowl. While we rode Kyle would be in the front and Amaya in the middle. I would ride in the back with Souta-kun sitting in front of me. We found out that it was better to keep Souta-kun and Kyle away from each other the hard way.
I could see Amaya come out of the woods and I rushed over to her and we walked along the banks of the stream together.
“So where’s Kyle? I thought the two of you would be walking together. It looks like you never want to leave his side.” I joked.
She playfully pushed me while slightly blushing. “It does not and he’s starting the fire.”
“No he’s not.” I said. “Souta-kun told me that he was.”
“Don’t they hate each other?” I took off running towards the camp which was about twenty minutes away. “It’s faster if you fly.” Amaya was on her psi-ball and had already caught up to me. My feet lifted off the ground as I sped up. When we arrived at the camp, Kyle was holding Souta-kun in the air with one hand. Souta-kun had a bruise around his eye while Kyle had some scratched on his cheek.
“Put him down!” I screamed as I flew over. Kyle threw him aside and I stopped to catch him.
“You better watch out,” he touched his cheek. “He’s learning how to control his transformations. You don’t want to be around him when he ascends.” Souta-kun spat at Kyle and managed to hit his leg. Kyle turned around and walked into the forest, followed by Amaya.
“I got the fire ready.” Souta-kun smiled, and then grimaced while trying to turn his neck. I placed my hand on him and began the healing magic.
We arrived at the border of Kouseitan’i and stared out into an ocean. “This is the end of the human country.” I continued, “All that’s past here is water. The King’s men have searched past here by boat many times.”
Kyle just laughed at me then took a couple steps into the water. “Maybe you just haven’t looked hard enough.” He bent down and picked up a pile of sand from the bottom of the shallow water. “Now follow what I do.”
We each picked up a pile of sand too. He threw his sand in the air and as the dirt hit him, he disappeared. Amaya did too. Next was Souta-kun. I closed my eyes and felt sand hit my face.
“You can open your eyes Rini.” I opened them to see Amaya looking at me from about a foot in front of me. She moved and I could see ...sand.
“I didn’t work.” I said.
“Yes it did.” Kyle confirmed. “Our world and the human world look the same. Well, they are the same. We are just in a different dimension. This dimension is the original while the human world is a copy made by a power-hungry wizard.”
“Sure... I’ll believe that... for now.” Our horses weren’t waiting for us a mile from the beach like they were in the human world. Instead there were two hippogriffs. “What? No dragons?” I asked in disbelief.
“They don’t like vampires.” whispered Souta-kun. He winked at me and hopped onto the hippogriff. He gestured for me to climb up behind him.
“First we’re going to Chikara. When we get there I will stay a mile away at our meeting place.” He and Amaya took off and we followed. I held onto Souta-kun the whole time. I think he rode one before.
“Just so you know,” said Souta-kun. “Chikara is an all werewolf village. That’s why Kyle can’t come in.” We only had to ride the hippogriffs for an hour when Kyle pointed to where we would meet. He landed and let Amaya in control of the reins. She quickly caught up to us. It was just two minutes until we were at the gate of Chikara. The village was built into a hill and had a wall going all the way around it. The guards standing at the top of the wall stared down at us. One of them waved at Souta-kun and opened the gate. We followed him through the gate when two guards stopped Amaya and I.
“Souta-kun.” I called him and he turned around. He stood on his tippy toes and whispered into the guards’ ears which made them let us go and then bow to apologize to us. “What was that about?” I asked him.
“They only let werewolves in, but they made an exception this time.” We followed him through the village. Most of the buildings were circular stone huts with straw roofs. The only one that wasn’t like this was at the very top of the hill. It was made of stone and had a straw roof, but it had two floors and was as long as four of the other huts. That’s where Souta-kun was leading us. We took a step inside to see a hallway. We followed it and entered a large room. In the center of the room was a man of about 40 years of age. His hair was blonde, the only blonde I’ve seen in this village, and he sat upon a giant cushion. It resembles one of those circular beds. He was also surrounded by two huge, brown wolves. Three small cushions were a few feet in front of him. I’m guessing one was for Souta-kun, one for me and one for Amaya because Souta-kun sat on the one in the middle. Amaya and I sat on each side of him and waited.
“I see you’ve done your mission, Souta. Your place in school has been taken care of. You are dismissed.” I watched as he left the room without looking back. The man, who is probably the mayor or chief of this village, looked down at us and opened his arms. “Welcome to Chikara.” His smile grew wide. “I hope you’ll like the room you’ll be staying in. Of course you’ll be sharing because I know how you sisters like to stick together.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“I hope you like the room...”
“I mean the part about us being sisters.”
Amaya turned her head away from the wolves and looked at me. “Didn’t Kyle tell you?”
“No, he’s been avoiding me and Souta-kun.”
The chief werewolf looked at us and continued, “Now that that’s over, you can listen to my proposal. As you probably know, vampires currently rule our country.”
“Yes, we’re going to see the King now.” Amaya said.
“A friend who will show us the way is waiting not too far from here.” I explained.
“Oh, then never mind.” He looked to his left. “Show these women out.” One of the wolves started to change shape and morphed into a young woman with brown hair. She gestured and we followed. Outside the chief’s hut, Souta-kun was waiting.
“So meeting us and making friends with me was just a mission?” My anger had to be quenched. “Did you even care for us at all? How do you think this makes me feel?! Why di-” Amaya put her hand on my shoulder. We were already halfway to the gate and were getting closer with every step.
“My mission was to bring the sisters here. I didn’t know you were them until the night with the fire,” he said quickly, “I really want to be your friend.”
“Of course you do.” I said as the guards pushed us though the gate and closed the doors. On the other side I could hear someone shouting for the guards to open the door. We saddled the hippogriffs as tears ran down my cheeks. I wiped them off.
“You really liked him.” Amaya stated.
“You saw nothing.” I pulled on the reins and flew upward. Amaya caught up and explained how to fly. We met up with Kyle then took baths. He yelled at us to stay away because we smelled so much like werewolves. We sat on our hippogriffs, this time Kyle had one to himself as I rode sitting behind Amaya. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me that Amaya and I were sisters?”
“I thought Amaya would tell you and you smelled so much like that werewolf, I might have actually hurt you.” He kicked his hippogriff’s sides and it rose in the air. “It’ll take three days to get to the castle.”
Amaya kicked our hippogriff into the air too. “Hey,” I said. “That cloud looks like a turtle.”
I screamed. In the entrance to the cave was the silhouette of a man. All I could see was his caramel eyes and his shining smile that was quickly matched by Amaya. Although I calmed down, I could see Souta-kun was uncomfortable. Thankfully he left and knowing Amaya wanted to follow him I pretended to drift off to sleep. She left as soon as Souta-kun was snoring.
“Hey Souta-kun.” I whispered.
“What?” he muttered still half asleep.
“Why don’t you like that Kyle guy?”
“He’s vampire.” He rolled over and snored again.
“Thanks,” I whispered as I stroked his cheek and sneaked outside. I could see Amaya and Kyle. She slipped off the rock they were sitting on and walked past me in a daze. I silently made my way over to Kyle and asked him some questions.
“Why do vampires and werewolves dislike each other?” I asked.
“I see that you get straight down to business. Vampires and werewolves were in a war a long time ago. They fought for control over the land and being king and we won. They think it was because we cheated and had spies or poisoned them somehow so they taught all of their generations to hate vampires. Even though they don’t teach it anymore, they had for so long that it was as if they had a vampire tracker implanted in them and whenever one is near they have an urge to kill it. We vampires don’t have anything against werewolves. It’s more so them being obvious with their hate towards us.”
“Also who is the king?”
He smiled. “A vampire of course.”
“Thanks.” I continued as I walked away, “and if you hurt Amaya, I will hurt you back.”
“I don’t think you’re the one who has to worry about that.” He jumped off his rock and disappeared into the darkness. What an asshole, I thought.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
We made our way to the next town as Kyle led the way and stole three horses. It seemed Kyle forgot about our talk the other night. We kept riding for days with breaks when Amaya and I would practise our powers. Kyle would normally watch us as Souta-kun would wade in streams for fish or run through the forest and bring back a deer or some fowl. While we rode Kyle would be in the front and Amaya in the middle. I would ride in the back with Souta-kun sitting in front of me. We found out that it was better to keep Souta-kun and Kyle away from each other the hard way.
I could see Amaya come out of the woods and I rushed over to her and we walked along the banks of the stream together.
“So where’s Kyle? I thought the two of you would be walking together. It looks like you never want to leave his side.” I joked.
She playfully pushed me while slightly blushing. “It does not and he’s starting the fire.”
“No he’s not.” I said. “Souta-kun told me that he was.”
“Don’t they hate each other?” I took off running towards the camp which was about twenty minutes away. “It’s faster if you fly.” Amaya was on her psi-ball and had already caught up to me. My feet lifted off the ground as I sped up. When we arrived at the camp, Kyle was holding Souta-kun in the air with one hand. Souta-kun had a bruise around his eye while Kyle had some scratched on his cheek.
“Put him down!” I screamed as I flew over. Kyle threw him aside and I stopped to catch him.
“You better watch out,” he touched his cheek. “He’s learning how to control his transformations. You don’t want to be around him when he ascends.” Souta-kun spat at Kyle and managed to hit his leg. Kyle turned around and walked into the forest, followed by Amaya.
“I got the fire ready.” Souta-kun smiled, and then grimaced while trying to turn his neck. I placed my hand on him and began the healing magic.
We arrived at the border of Kouseitan’i and stared out into an ocean. “This is the end of the human country.” I continued, “All that’s past here is water. The King’s men have searched past here by boat many times.”
Kyle just laughed at me then took a couple steps into the water. “Maybe you just haven’t looked hard enough.” He bent down and picked up a pile of sand from the bottom of the shallow water. “Now follow what I do.”
We each picked up a pile of sand too. He threw his sand in the air and as the dirt hit him, he disappeared. Amaya did too. Next was Souta-kun. I closed my eyes and felt sand hit my face.
“You can open your eyes Rini.” I opened them to see Amaya looking at me from about a foot in front of me. She moved and I could see ...sand.
“I didn’t work.” I said.
“Yes it did.” Kyle confirmed. “Our world and the human world look the same. Well, they are the same. We are just in a different dimension. This dimension is the original while the human world is a copy made by a power-hungry wizard.”
“Sure... I’ll believe that... for now.” Our horses weren’t waiting for us a mile from the beach like they were in the human world. Instead there were two hippogriffs. “What? No dragons?” I asked in disbelief.
“They don’t like vampires.” whispered Souta-kun. He winked at me and hopped onto the hippogriff. He gestured for me to climb up behind him.
“First we’re going to Chikara. When we get there I will stay a mile away at our meeting place.” He and Amaya took off and we followed. I held onto Souta-kun the whole time. I think he rode one before.
“Just so you know,” said Souta-kun. “Chikara is an all werewolf village. That’s why Kyle can’t come in.” We only had to ride the hippogriffs for an hour when Kyle pointed to where we would meet. He landed and let Amaya in control of the reins. She quickly caught up to us. It was just two minutes until we were at the gate of Chikara. The village was built into a hill and had a wall going all the way around it. The guards standing at the top of the wall stared down at us. One of them waved at Souta-kun and opened the gate. We followed him through the gate when two guards stopped Amaya and I.
“Souta-kun.” I called him and he turned around. He stood on his tippy toes and whispered into the guards’ ears which made them let us go and then bow to apologize to us. “What was that about?” I asked him.
“They only let werewolves in, but they made an exception this time.” We followed him through the village. Most of the buildings were circular stone huts with straw roofs. The only one that wasn’t like this was at the very top of the hill. It was made of stone and had a straw roof, but it had two floors and was as long as four of the other huts. That’s where Souta-kun was leading us. We took a step inside to see a hallway. We followed it and entered a large room. In the center of the room was a man of about 40 years of age. His hair was blonde, the only blonde I’ve seen in this village, and he sat upon a giant cushion. It resembles one of those circular beds. He was also surrounded by two huge, brown wolves. Three small cushions were a few feet in front of him. I’m guessing one was for Souta-kun, one for me and one for Amaya because Souta-kun sat on the one in the middle. Amaya and I sat on each side of him and waited.
“I see you’ve done your mission, Souta. Your place in school has been taken care of. You are dismissed.” I watched as he left the room without looking back. The man, who is probably the mayor or chief of this village, looked down at us and opened his arms. “Welcome to Chikara.” His smile grew wide. “I hope you’ll like the room you’ll be staying in. Of course you’ll be sharing because I know how you sisters like to stick together.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“I hope you like the room...”
“I mean the part about us being sisters.”
Amaya turned her head away from the wolves and looked at me. “Didn’t Kyle tell you?”
“No, he’s been avoiding me and Souta-kun.”
The chief werewolf looked at us and continued, “Now that that’s over, you can listen to my proposal. As you probably know, vampires currently rule our country.”
“Yes, we’re going to see the King now.” Amaya said.
“A friend who will show us the way is waiting not too far from here.” I explained.
“Oh, then never mind.” He looked to his left. “Show these women out.” One of the wolves started to change shape and morphed into a young woman with brown hair. She gestured and we followed. Outside the chief’s hut, Souta-kun was waiting.
“So meeting us and making friends with me was just a mission?” My anger had to be quenched. “Did you even care for us at all? How do you think this makes me feel?! Why di-” Amaya put her hand on my shoulder. We were already halfway to the gate and were getting closer with every step.
“My mission was to bring the sisters here. I didn’t know you were them until the night with the fire,” he said quickly, “I really want to be your friend.”
“Of course you do.” I said as the guards pushed us though the gate and closed the doors. On the other side I could hear someone shouting for the guards to open the door. We saddled the hippogriffs as tears ran down my cheeks. I wiped them off.
“You really liked him.” Amaya stated.
“You saw nothing.” I pulled on the reins and flew upward. Amaya caught up and explained how to fly. We met up with Kyle then took baths. He yelled at us to stay away because we smelled so much like werewolves. We sat on our hippogriffs, this time Kyle had one to himself as I rode sitting behind Amaya. “By the way, why didn’t you tell me that Amaya and I were sisters?”
“I thought Amaya would tell you and you smelled so much like that werewolf, I might have actually hurt you.” He kicked his hippogriff’s sides and it rose in the air. “It’ll take three days to get to the castle.”
Amaya kicked our hippogriff into the air too. “Hey,” I said. “That cloud looks like a turtle.”
