Conquering His Cold Heart

Slayer looked at the lean boy who was standing by his side and then answered, “I have decided to take him as an apprentice from today. His name is Cillian. And he is an orphan.”

Romulus raised his brows and kept on looking at Slayers in disbelief. After a while, he scoffed and tried to make sense of what his beta said. “You must be joking, right?” He laughed for a while and then asked again, “But really, tell me who he is.”

Slayer took a deep breath and answered with a serious look on his face, “I just told you. I wasn’t lying.”

And before Romulus could ask any further questions about Cillian, Slayer gave a brief report, “Milord, I have bad news from the secret mission.”

Romulus’ facial expression turned serious all of a sudden. He went to sit down on the chair that was mounted on an altar as if it was his throne. He looked down at Slayer and the boy and asked in a grim voice, “Tell me everything.”

Slayer gazed down at the floor and then briefed what he saw back there in the village, “All of the werewolves who had volunteered to go there were dead. When we reached there to investigate, their bodies were lined up in front of the inn that those vampires were staying in.”

Romulus narrowed his eyes and then asked, “Apart from that, what’s the bad news?”

Slayer turned to look at the boy and asked him, “Why don’t you tell the alpha everything that you saw back there?”

.....

Cillian bowed his head and confidently started to tell the tale, “I was coincidentally stopping in the same village yesterday. I heard blasting noises and then sounds of people fighting. The battle went on for quite a while. When the noises settled down, I got out of the house and then went to examine the surroundings. And to my horror, I saw a lot of werewolves lying dead on the ground.”

He took a deep breath in and then continued his side of the story, “At first, I thought that it was a fight between the packs. But then I saw a few men standing near the door of that inn and realized that they weren’t giving off the distinct smell.”

“So you saw them?” Romulus grumbled and then clenched his jaw.

“Yes, alpha.” Cillian gave a nod and continued with a bit of excitement in his eyes, “I noticed that all of them had distinct red eyes. I was intrigued, so I decided to watch them for longer even when my instinct was telling me to run away from there. Thankfully, they didn’t notice me because… well, I have been hiding and running from dangers my whole life.”

Romulus restlessly tapped his foot on the floor and asked in a low growl, “Come to the point, boy.”

“Ah! Please, excuse me.” Cillian gave a nervous smile and then continued after composing himself, “I saw them doing something. I didn’t get a closer look but it seemed like they were treating the wounds of the injured ones. And–”

Romulus suddenly chuckled and said, “Treating the wounds? Really? Maybe they were praying for their dying friends.”

Cillian gave a bow and then dared to correct the alpha. “Actually, they were feeding and rubbing some kind of herb. And the injured ones weren’t screaming in pain or anything. So, I believe that they were indeed treating the wounds.”

“Impossible!” Romulus suddenly got up on his feet and growled. “There’s no cure for our bite!”

“Not that we know of,” Slayer corrected his arrogant alpha and further said, “They fought against us in the war. They must have found the cure to our bite. And they live on for centuries. Surely, they must have someone who actually fought in that war, and has knowledge about each and everything that could harm us and things that could protect them.”

Slayer suddenly took out the solidified heart from his pocket and then held out his hand toward the alpha.

Romulus had a stunned look on his face because he instantly recognized what that thing was. And he asked his beta, “What do you mean by something that could harm us?”

Slayer passed the heart to the alpha and then answered him, “I found bullet holes in a few of the bodies. And upon further examination, I found out that those bullets weren’t just any normal bullets, but they were made out of silver.”

Romulus widened his eyes even more; his eyes almost looked as if they were going to pop out of his skull. He inspected that solid heart closely to find a silver bullet lodged inside of it. He sat back down on his chair with a thud, as if he felt greatly defeated by the vampires.

The alpha held his head with his hand and let out a twisted laugh, almost spooking the poor boy who wasn’t used to his creepy behaviors yet.

Then he mumbled to himself, “Silver bullets, huh! And here I was thinking that those ancient creatures were still living in the past. But it looks like they have caught up with the rest of the world. Not bad, not bad.”

He suddenly looked up at the ceiling and let out a grim cackle.

Cillian looked dumbfounded as he watched the alpha laughing like that. It almost looked as if the alpha had lost his mind. He gulped and then thought to himself, ‘What’s with that terrifying laughter? It’s giving me chills in my heart.’

Cillian jumped a little when the alpha suddenly gave a death stare to him.

“What else did you see?” Romulus asked in a low growl.

Cillian subconsciously shifted closer to Slayer. When his shoulder brushed against Slayer’s elbow, a sense of relief hovered on his face. He lowered his head to avoid Romulus’ piercing gaze and then finally replied, “I saw them lining up all the corpses. And after about an hour or so, some of them ran off at the speed of the wind. And some of them rode on the carriages.”

Romulus narrowed his eyes and asked again, “None of them were dead?”