Ryker was asking Fenia something simple but the unspoken weight of the question made the air in the room intense. The explicit answer to the question was that Valerica had sent her.
"So why are you here?" Ryker repeated.
Fenia's stomach clenched at that question. She respected him for drawing a line in the sand but the audacity to think she would care about his trust angered her.
"You're a nobody," she said, her previous playfulness gone, replaced by a cold sharp tone, "You're a child that just learned the world is round. If I lie or tell you the truth, it changes nothing for me."
She leaned over him.
"You think just because you're suddenly a Dracula you get to ask questions?"
Ryker remained silent. His non-compliance to the bait enraged her even further.
The wolf was staring directly into his red eyes and she grinded her teeth. It angered her.
"Your eyes aren't even purple," she scoffed, "A defect."
He knew that better than anyone.
She grabbed him by the neck, not to choke but to establish dominance. He didn't fight back. Her mismatched wolf ears stood upright, waiting for him to struggle but he just sat there, watching her.
Just like he had done. Fenia was suddenly pulled into an old memory of hers. A past that was so long ago yet so clear in her mind. Centuries or millinia after she still remembered that day.
The map was in front of her.
The papyrus map had two paths, one went through a valley and the other over a mountain. In the tent, there were countless other wolves arguing about the correct path.
"What if it's a trap?" one of the wolves said.
"Of course it's bloody trap! Those Fenrir's don't play fair," another one replied.
Fenia was sitting at the head of the table, barely an adult compared to these wise wolves.
One of the wolves with white fur had enough. He kicked a candle down. Wax splashed all over the map.
The entire room became silent.
"Are you going to sit there like a fucking doll?" the snow wolf got in her face.
He turned to the others, "She's useless. Why do we have to listen to this mutt?" he spat at her.
The insult struck her in the core. For wolves the word 'mutt' was equivalent to calling her subhuman. She hated them for that.
With his back exposed to her. Fenia took her dagger from her thigh and slit his throat. Blood gushed onto the floor.
Gasps and growls filled the room.
"I know the path we'll take," she said.
Wiping away the wax, she pointed at the enemy's camp on the map, "We will attack head-on."
"Miss Fenia..." one of them protested, "Yrgen Fenrir is there,"
"That's the point," she answered with a grin, "I'll bring his head to father."
Shortly after wolves on horses marched, obeying the Alpha's daughter. Even if she was young, they obeyed out of tradition and fear.
The wolves had been traveling for days. The night was so cold that their breath formed thick clouds in the air. But once the enemies torches came into view an all out battle ensued on their camp.
Fenia had found Yrgen. He was an old wolf, with only one ear and multiple battle scars. Electric mana was surging from him.
She rushed in, her own dagger slicing the air.
The old wolf was cunning, not just raw power. He evaded her with an experience that made her feel clumsy. Instead of fighting her head-on, he toyed with her. A punch here, a kick there.
"Truly a mutt. Fighting so blindly," the Fenrir taunted.
With a surge of electric magic, a jolt hit her, it traveled to her dagger, making her throw it away from her own grasp. Capitilizing on the opening, he quickly held a blade to her throat in a second.
Her eyes were sparkling. Not with fear. With excitement that this Fenrir underestimated her this badly. She was going to kill her first Fenrir.
Just as Yrgen went to stab Fenia, she merged into shadows and vanished. His eyes darted behind him but he was too late. Fenia had already reappeared and her claws sank into his neck, severing his spinal cord.
The battle was over and Fenia was heading home on a horse, her tail wagging as she twirled the head of Yrgen in her hands. A prize. Reaching her home, the gates opened and she was welcomed with cheers, drinks and even a few whistles.
She was devoid of patience as she ran up the steps to her father's mansion. She was giddy. This was what she was waiting for her whole life.
Opening the door to his study, a scent of old books and leather hit her. Her father was sitting in front of the old fireplace, a glass of red liquid in his hand, swirling it with a detached air. He wasn't even looking at her.
"Father! I have done it!"
Yrgen's head was planted on the table by a grinning Fenia. Her mismatched ears were dancing. She was looking forward to some praise from her father for her victory.
"Father?"
She tilted her head, confused when he didn't acknowledge her.
The Alpha didn't even lift his head, he just took another sip.
"I'm sorry Fen," his voice was hollow. The voice of someone without hope.
"Did you not hear? Yrgen is dead."
He finally looked up. His amber eyes were filled with something she'd never seen before. Sadness. Not even when her mother died did he shed a tear.
Then something caught her eyes. A bat was perched on the window sill, its purple eyes were staring right at her. Her father gestured with his hand to the bat.
"Do as you must," the Alpha said to the creature.
The bat swooped down, and as it did, its form shifted and contorted into the shape of a man in a simple black suit.
Chills hit Fenia. Her claws retracted and she tried to step back. But there was no escape. An invisible pressure pinned her to the floor. The magic was not like anything she had ever felt before. It felt like being crushed by space itself.
The man revealed his claws and he carved something into her neck. A crescent moon.
Spots were appearing in her vision and nausea was building up. Fenia desperately tried to hold in her screams only to fail.
"Dad?" she whimpered.
Her father refused to meet her gaze, finishing the rest of his wine. That night her freedom was taken away, her father handed her over to Dracula's clan.
The vision ended and she realized she was still strangling Ryker. A single tear she hadn't realized was forming made its way down her cheek.
She let go of his neck. Ryker fell to his knees and started coughing, trying to catch his breath, rubbing the red marks on his throat.
He saw the vulnerability in her eyes. For a split second she looked like a lost puppy.
Fenia crouched down to Ryker's eye level, her mismatched wolf ears drooping, their usual sharp attentiveness replaced by a soft beaten-down posture. Her sweat mixed with the tears that had carved a path down.
"I want you to free me."