The Gift

Chapter Four

Tobias entered the private study of Queen Maila behind Jackson alarmed by the urgency in his voice.

"Evening my Queen," he greeted.

"Good you are here," Maila said as he closed shut the door behind him. "A creature was roaming about in our grounds unlike any other we have come across in the past. I need to know if it's a friend or a foe."

'Maila, Maila, my fair queen. I can give you the answers you seek,' the voice whispered to her.

"I see," Tobias's croaky voice answered her.

Struggling to ignore the whispers in her head Maila continued, "Unfortunately, we managed to lose the creature before we could figure out what it was."

"Would you like to give me a description your highness, and I will go through the texts to see if I can find it for you?" He offered.

'Oh my sweet Maila, come to me and I will reveal to you all that is,' the alluring voice whispered to her. Maila clenched her fists to restrain her wolf from giving in to the voice.

"Yes that too, but I also wanted you to have a look at a scroll that I received from the Vasilescu twins if there is any validity to it," Maila remarked pushing her tablet towards him.

"If you send it to my email I could have a look at it and cross reference it with our scrolls from the library."

'Stop being foolish young Queen, come to me.' The voice pressed.

"No."

"As you wish my Queen," he replied surprised by the harshness in her voice and took the tablet in his hands.

Tobias was reading the scroll over and over again. He knew the scroll. They had studied it meticulously with his mentor, Professor Winston, when he was a trainee. It was one of the great scrolls any advisor to the King or Queen of their nation needed to know.

"It is valid my Queen. This is one of the five great scrolls, the five prophecies."

Maila's eyebrow raised as she contemplated what he had just told her. "Do we have any more information on the scroll?"

"Yes your majesty, that we do. I will need you to give me a description of the creature you have seen, anything you can remember might be helpful."

Tobias scratched his temple as he muttered to himself, "Who would be so desperate to resurrect the Undead. Who would be so daring to use the bloodstone."

"You are telling me that someone did this on purpose, created the Undead, you are certain of this," her voice boomed off of the walls.

'I have the answer that you seek, come to me my Queen.' Maila did not respond to the voice.

"Yes your majesty, precisely that."

Maila took in a deep breath to steady her nerves, her wolf was shifting with angst wanting to break out. "It had yellow beady eyes, and the smell of it, it was mix of foulness and moisture."

Tobias nodded, "I see, can I be excused my Queen and come back in the morning with the answers needed?"

"You may take your leave." She said with an inner need that grew restless by the minute. She urgently needed to go for a run; to let her wolf run wild and exhaust itself out.

"It's too late and you already went for a run today," Jackson pleaded her before Maila could even utter a single word. Their wolves were in tune; that was the way it worked between mates.

"I have to," she said firmly.

"I'm coming with, and I'm not taking no for an answer."

◇◇◇◇

Rose dragged herself out of bed, unlike her friend who was chirping merrily on this glorious morning, she was having a hard time to wake up. She looked at her phone, it was a quarter to six.

"This is brutal," she mumbled to herself, "this was supposed to be a vacation." Vacation for most people meant being able to sleep in in the mornings until the sun was in the middle of the sky, not before it even rose from behind the mountains.

Rose was never a morning person and the fact that on her vacation she had to wake up in the crack of dawn meant that she was cranky.

"Come on, chop chop, let's get ready. We have a long day ahead of us. Oh I do hope we run into Mr. Vampire today. He looked absolutely ravishing. Don't you agree?"

Rose looked at her excited friend with murder on her mind. "How long do you think one goes in prison for murder in Romania?" Rose asked flatly.

"Not in a good mood are we? I'm sure that as soon as you have a shower everything will be better," her friend added sweetly.

"You are very annoying. For the life of me I can't figure out why I am friends with you," Rose said as she picked a fresh pair of underwear, her towel and headed to the shower.

"You are not wearing that, are you?" Amber asked her pointing at the outfit she had picked out.

"Why not?"

"Well, it's not very flattering."

"I am not aiming for flattering Amb, I'm aiming more towards comfort, hence the baggy jeans," she said.

"Fine, the baggy jeans can stay but at least wear this on top," Amber ordered as she gave her a body hugging orange crop top.

"This is orange, not even considering it."

"Fine." Amber said upset at her friend, "wear this, it's black."

"I'll wear that only if you don't make me run around trying to find Mr. Vampiros." Rose stated as she glared at the crop top.

"Deal, come on now hurry up we are late. Oh and it's Mr. Vampire."

Rose caught a glimpse of her reflection as she finished dressing. Her face was so pale, makeup was urgently needed before she could step outside. A few minutes later she was ready, her hair was as good as it was going to get - a red curly mess all over the place.

Word count: 1012