The Wolf of the Wilds

The Shadows

Cruor stood ahead of them as a large, dark blot. Well, stood was the wrong word. Cruor loomed.

Each building stood tall as pine trees in a dense forest, the stone a startling white. However, it wasn't the buildings that made Cruor so intimidating, it was the darkness that shrouded it. As she looked up, Helena found her eyes drawn to the many criss-crossing sheets of fabric that stretched out between rooftops and walls. The dense canopy cast a heavy blanket of shadow onto the streets below.

As their group approached, they stepped the line between day and night. Instantly, the air gained a coolness, a stillness. Breathing deeply, she looked to Adrian.

"We're finally here," she said, looking around. Her voice was neither joyful or morose; it was painfully neutral and grey, even to her own ears.

"This place is already making me nervous," he replied.

"Cruor isn't a bad city, it's what lays within it that scares me. You'll get used to the darkness soon enough."

Without Ed there, they navigated the neatly arranged streets with little difficulty. As with the time of year, many of the city stables were at full capacity, so they spent a long while moving beneath the slowly fluttering fabrics. Eventually they found a place with space and continued on foot.

With their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they headed towards Vila's place, the inn that Oskar had recommended they stay at. While Helena was dead set against the idea of lodging anywhere the man even vaguely knew about, Adrian had convinced her that at least some of them should stay there for the sake of appearances. The pair helped the others carry their things to their rooms, taking the opportunity to snigger at the naked woman painted on the sign outside.

Standing in the small, clean foyer Adrian addressed the group. "Lena and I are going to go and find a place to stay, but we should be back in the next hour or two. Until then, relax and settle in. You'll need it, because we'll have to meet with Oskar this evening. Iona, since you're posing as our underhand, could you drop this notice off to Oskar's hotel? It's only a couple of streets away."

Iona took the note and glanced over it with pursed lips. "Alright," she said, glancing over to Felix and sending him a significant look. "Come with me?"

Felix's eyes flickered up to meet hers and he smiled lightly, nodding back.

Adrian and Helena left soon after, taking to the shaded streets. In a compromise of style, Helena had taken to holding Adrian's arm as she walked. She was sick of tripping over and his height made him the ideal leaning post.

"What kind of place are we looking for?" Adrian murmured as they walked opposite a blood bar. A flood of vampire chatter spilled out into the street, laughter and pleasant greetings staining the air.

"Somewhere vampire owned would be best." Her eyes glanced over the dimly illuminated signs that flickered against the stone masonry. "They usually have a spare roof room that they rent out for cheap. Difficult to get to and one of the last places anyone would expect."

They wandered for a long while, talking in hushed tones and growing accustomed to the city's curious nature. The architecture was fine and uniform, each building with matching doorways and intricacies, even though most of them housed gambling dens and brothels. Here, the prostitutes dressed in fine silks, with painted lips and decorated hair, while drugs were sold in well-made boxes, not the innocent pouches most places seemed to prefer. It was a shadowy city, one filled with crime and depravity. But instead of being ashamed of its nature, Cruor was a city that embraced the darkness with arms stretched wide open.