Chapter 4: Legends

" One minute, you are missing and the next, you come causing trouble. How long do you think you would live if you go on like that?"

"As long as necessary. Besides, your people asked for it."

"My people? And how on earth do you know who I am?"

"I don't think I was born yesterday. Simply because I didn't recognize your Luna doesn't mean I can't tell a wolf when I see one."

"Its the Luna, for your information. Now, get your a*s off my territory.

And Bella,"he called just as she obediently turned away, leaving," take this. It bears my seal. One would think twice before they touch you if they see you with that."

"Huhhh...what are you now? The alpha?"

"Don't get on my nerves, young lady. Now get going."

Rubbing the silver surface of the square shaped seal, with engraving of two wolves, Bella held it and staring at him, she tied it to a thin rope and placed it around her neck, " may I know your name."

"I'm Vincent... Vincent Dagama."

******

"Vincent!

Vincent Dagama! Babe, what have you gotten yourself into?"

"Don't scare me, Nikki. He was just trying to keep me safe."

"Exactly! But why? Why would Vincent be so interested in keeping you safe to the point of giving you his ID?"

"Okay. Now it seems like you know the man better than I do."

"You still have no idea whom you met, do you?

He's the beta to Marcus! Second authority in the empire. Not even the council of elders can counter his words."

"But, he is less known than they all."

"No, he is less noisy. I would put the blame of your ignorance of him on you alone.

The man is legend. Without him, the devil would still work among us in his sheep skin."

"If you are alluding to the story of the son of the devil, I would opt for another," Bella signed.

It wasn't fitting well, it didn't make sense until Nikki explained that she would believe her if she had ever visited the valley of death.

The images returned slowly, and she squinted, tense and anxious.

"What's the matter with you?"

"Nikki... can you show me this place that you speak of, that is if it's not off limits."

"Naa. Alpha Marcus didn't do that. When the war ended, records say that he left the site open for people to know and remember the cost of freedom and peace. But superstitions and rumors quickly spread out like fresh gossip concerning the powers that were imagined to be possessed by the son of the devil. His name was Lucian, and legends say that his silver strands could illuminate the night. His eyes were said to change colours each time he is was enraged, and some records has it that he is the first vampire to walk the earth, and when he was bound, his children fell into eternal sleep with him, but those who were not near at the time, the sun turned against them.

And this is it. The place where the son of Lucifer fell. No one can tell his own grave and no one has ever dared to wander alone in this valley, especially at night. Those who have dared, never did again. 

Mr. Helmswort once said over a drink that he felt a dark aura that gave him chills right inside his bones. Others said that the have seen him but of course, those aren't facts. What's true is that he lies here somewhere."

Observing how frightened, she had been, Nikki nudged her slightly but she freaked out, crawling back like she ha seen a devil.

"What's wrong with you, Bella?"

"Nikki... I was here some night ago. They had left me to die there,"she pointed at the position behind where Nikki stood, and following her direction, she traced where Bella must have been, going on to only to halt at once.

"Nikki... Nikki, what do you see."

Hastening up to her, she nearly fell into the hole but was safely caught by Nikki who held tightly onto her coat.

Evening had slowly crept away to usher in the night and as time ticked away, the things Nikki had called simple superstition was beginning to frighten her.

The dark aura and eerie silence, the way the leaves of the oak rustled intermittently, and the way Bella constantly felt like someone was behind her scared bell out of her, and gulping her own saliva, she tried concentrating but images were beginning to pop up before her eyes

The owls hooted nonstop, always in opposition of their presence at the site and each time the hooting came, it would seem closer than before, and unconsciously, they both drew closer to each other.

"What in God's name is this?"she exclaimed , looking at the depth before then whose end could not be seen even with the torches.

"Who's there?"Bella called out suddenly, flashing Nikki's torch around.

"Guess my mind is even playing games with my me,"she thought and returned the torch. Meanwhile, at the time the leaves rustled, a red haired youth had flown to one of the branches of the large oak that stood in the midst of the long stretch of land , and was watching them from above. Watching and listening to them, and once he was convinced that they were not wolves, he calmed down, observing them while on the lookout for others.

"What could she be,"he thought, his eyes resting on Bella for sometime. Observing the inconsistency of her scent with the girl beside her, he was drawn to look closer.

"Whatever was bound here...has escaped,"she said and flashed her torch for Bella to see, but something else had caught Bella's be attention, something like the remains of a broken chain, and lifting her right hand, she pointed away from the light.

Tracing it, Nikki stared at the chains littered everywhere before the mouth of a similar hole, and ruminating for awhile, Bella soliloquized," and it didn't leave alone. It's not just one of them. It's two."

"But, how do we know who?" Bella asked.

"Let's just pray Lucian has not risen,"Nikki said, " for the sake of us all...let us pray."