The Wolf of the Wilds

The Night

Helena lay awake, conscious of the crawling feeling against her leg as something wriggled beneath the sheets. It took all of her restraint to not move. She didn't dare wake the other occupants of her room. Well, she was pretty certain that both the beta and the warrior were asleep. One of them was snoring like a bloody fog horn.

Eventually she was certain she was safe and sat upright slowly, pushing the dusty blankets from her person. She stretched over the edge of the cot and carefully dragged her bag across the ground until she could lift it up and slip it over her shoulder. Then she slipped on the boots one by one, fastening them with a tight bow. Her knife was safely tucked beneath the cot, out of the sight of wandering eyes.

The window was to her left and she knelt, biting the inside of her cheek as her clothes rustled slightly too much for comfort. She reached out and carefully lifted the latch up, gritting her teeth as the window creaked when she pushed it ajar.

"Mhmmhm," Abella mumbled in her sleep, rolling onto her side and pulling the blanket tighter around her.

Lena released a steady breath and crawled onto the worm infested window sill, silently pulling her body out into the cold night air and lowering herself down onto the slanted roof below. The heavy soles of her shoes chinked against the crooked slates and she pushed the window back into its frame, making it appear closed to any curious onlooker that happened to look up.

She moved, step by step, down the roof, trying and failing to not damage it. To be fair, the roof was already in desperate need of repair so the added absence of two or so slates would probably go unnoticed. Once at the bottom, she checked that the ground was clear and jumped down, breaking the fall with a well timed roll.

When she rose to her feet, she brushed down her clothes and began walking though the dimly lit city. Her destination was a certain district up towards the inland where the city guards turned a blind eye and the true monsters of the night came out to play.

Semul was a city of diversity. In its early days it had been the territory of three opposing packs and a vicious coven of vampires. Eventually, as the population grew they forged an alliance and merged their land, creating the haven of crime and depravity it was now. In the day the streets were populated by wolves and other sun loving creatures, but as the sky darkened a new set of characters came onto stage.

Vendors had opened up their doors, stark electric lights illuminating the grey cobbles. Other shadowy people wandered the roads, giving one another a cautious berth.

"Get your blood here! Finest quality blood for competitive prices! Freshly drawn at dusk for that crisp, life-giving taste. I've got pig blood, cattle blood, roe deer blood and one pitcher of goblin blood! Get it while you can!" The man was stood at the corner, several tables of blood taps arranged along the raised pavement in order. Vampires flocked around it, haggling and trading for tankards of the crimson liquid.

Helena watched with masked curiosity. She'd always found the fanged members of society rather fascinating. They were similar to her own kind in many ways, tethered to life by forfeiting their compassion and giving into animalistic urges. For all of the haughty dog jokes they threw about, they weren't too dissimilar from wolves.

"Are you after some?" A vampire that was standing nearby asked her in hushed tones. Helena looked at him and shook her head.

"Ah, I forget that your kind doesn't have the olfactory sensitivity of wolves. No, I'm just passing through," she said, internally berating herself for staring for too long. The vampire scrunched up his face at her.

"You wolves are an odd bunch," he muttered, passing her by with silent foot falls.

After that she tried not to get distracted and navigated the increasingly thin streets with a tense poise. She had been to Semul before, something she had conveniently not told her fellow party members and she knew where she was going.