Alpha Blood Box Set(19)

“Yeah, it was something else.” Something like terrifying. “Are you guys staying around this part of the building?” I wondered.

Her parents come up behind her and bowed their heads at Luke, who returned the favor. “The werewolves from the same district are grouped together to better discuss their vote,” Mrs. Stewart explained to me. She smiled at Luke. “Of course, we’ll vote for you, my lord.”

“And I’ll be glad for your support,” he replied.

“If you’ll excuse us, we need to get to our rooms,” Mr. Stewart spoke up. They led Abby away, who turned and waved at me.

I waved back and leaned toward Luke, where I lowered my voice to a whisper. “Are all werewolf children that energetic?”

“She’s quite energetic for any child,” he told me.

“Ah, good. I was afraid I’d have to leash up all my children to keep them under control.”

Luke chuckled and guided us a little further until we reached one of the larger doors. Alistair opened the entrance and led us into a large bedroom with windows overlooking the large deck thirty feet below us. The room also had its own balcony with a small table and two chairs. I glanced up to see the wooden rafters above us that held up the slanted roof. “Fancy,” I complimented.

“It’s the lord suite for my region,” Luke explained. “The bathroom’s to the right, and Alistair’s room is connected to this one through that door beside the bathroom door. And speaking of Alistair, I have a few errands for you.” The servant stepped up to his master for the commands.

I peeked my head inside the bathroom and was glad to see the toilet seat wasn’t made of wood. I didn’t want to get splinters every time nature called. I wandered back into the main room and noticed Alistair was gone. “Where’d Alistair go?” I asked Luke.

“I’m going to keep him very busy with a few errands while we’re here.”

“Lucky him. Speaking of servanty-type people, what was Mrs. Stewart talking about with that vote stuff?” I wondered.

“That’s the reason why we’re here. This is the vote for High Lord, and only those present at Sanctuary can cast a ballot,” he answered.

I fell back onto the covers and sighed. “This werewolf society is seriously complicated,” I commented.

“Yes, it’s had a lot of time to change while other parts have remained the same,” he agreed.

“Like you being a lord?” I wondered. “You said that was inherited.”

“In a way it is inherited from my Maker,” he replied.

I glanced up at the open rafters and the comforting scent of old pine. “How come Alistair knows so much about this place?” I asked Luke.

Later in room she asks Luke why Alistair more familiar with history of place. “He helped build it.”

I frowned. “But didn’t he say it was built three hundred years ago?”

“Yes.”

“So he’s that old?”

“Yes.”

I sat up and looked at him with a suspicious glance. “Wait, how old are you again?”

He smiled. “Old enough to be your great-great-great-grandfather.” I shuddered at the thought of making out with my ancient relative, and he laughed. “I promise you I won’t look my age until I’m as old as Alistair.”

“And that means I won’t look my age, either?” I guessed.

“Exactly. The aging process practically stops when you’re changed. Some werewolves have been known to live a thousand years or more.”

“Provided they aren’t caught by pitchfork-wielding villagers,” I added.

“Yes,” he agreed.

“So what do we do now?” I wondered.

“If you’d like I could show you around,” he suggested.

“Do you have a map for me in case we get separated?” I teased.

Luke chuckled. “So long as you don’t wander off too far I’ll be able to find you.”

“That super sniffer?”

“Yes, the super sniffer.”

“All right, I’ll go. This room’s got a nice view but my legs need a stretch.”





16





I slipped off the bed and Luke led me out into the maze of halls. A person’s claustrophobia was given relief by the numerous skylights and a few large rooms, namely the dining hall and the lobby. The dining hall was a clean, exposed-rafter area with long wooden tables and benches lined up along the stone floor. On the rear wall away from the large windows and balconies was an array of foodstuffs the likes of which I’d never seen, and all to the tastes of carnivores. Lots of meat, deep-fried foods, and a salad bar for the more particular guests.

“I have an account if you ever need to buy food,” he assured me.

Visiting the cafeteria wasn’t completely uneventful. We walked by the cash register and I accidentally knocked my shoulder into someone coming out with their food. “I’m sorry!” I quickly apologized. My head whipped around and I was met with a very cold stare from a stern-faced man about middle aged with gray-speckled brown hair and tanned skin. He sneered at me and went on his way. I slid up to Luke’s side and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Are werewolves cannibalistic?” I asked Luke.

“Not generally, why?”

“Because that guy looked like he wanted to bite my head off.”

“That’s Tom Baker, the commoner lord of the rural district,” Luke explained to me.

“Friendly fellow,” I quipped.

“He doesn’t like leaving his district, especially for bureaucratic matters like these regional dispute meetings and the vote,” he told me.

“A week must be an eternity to him,” I mused.

“I imagine it is, but let’s move on. I have a few special places to show you.”

Luke led me away from heaven and into the depths of the large villa. We passed through residential areas for the other regions and walked along the deck to see the entire valley spread out below us. Wolverton was just a speck in the distance. I followed Luke down off the deck via stairs along the right side of Sanctuary and twenty yards into the woods. Then he took a sharp left up the incline of the mountainside where, nestled in the trees, we found a set of wide, sturdy wooden steps. These drifted away and above the villa so when you were halfway up and looked to your left you could see the roof below you.

We climbed the stairs, and I heard and smelled the water before I saw it. The steps flattened and I found myself on a stone platform that overlooked a deep, beautiful watering hole. The twenty-foot deep bowl was circular with flowers and mosses along the rocky edge. In front of me flowed a sparkling waterfall that fell from a point a hundred feet above the platform. It cascaded down over a few outcroppings of rocks and splashed into the pool of its own making. The pool drained itself into a small creek on the right side, and on the left was a small, camouflaged dam through which more of the water escaped the pool.

The water ran through the turbines and created electricity. Then the water was released out the front and slipped down the mountainside toward the villa. “What do you think?” Luke asked me.

“Wow,” was all I could reply.

“The extra water goes down to Sanctuary and provides fresh drinking water,” he explained to me. He pointed at the creek on our right. “That was diverted a long time ago to keep the spring flood from washing away Sanctuary’s foundation. The original drainage point was where the stairs are now.”

“This must have taken a while to tame,” I mused.

“Yes, but only because they wanted to keep the beauty of the pond intact. Very few of the stones were moved, and lower down the creek rejoins its original bed.”

“So can anyone swim in the pool?” I wondered.

Luke chuckled. “Everyone in Sanctuary would rather you didn’t,” he quipped.

My shoulders slumped over. “Damn.”

Luke smiled and grasped my hand. My cheeks reddened, but he didn’t seem to care. “I have one more place to show you.” He pulled me back to the villa and to the lobby where we stood before the pair of large doors at the rear of the room. “Inside here is where the fate of all werewolves is decided by those who elected them,” he told me.

“So you’re going to show me a government meeting room?” I blandly wondered.

He smiled. “You’ll see.” He pushed open one of the doors just wide enough for us to slip inside. I expected to find a dark room with a light switch to flick on the long fluorescent lights, but that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Natural light spilled down from the domed ceiling above us and washed over a primitive Greek amphitheater. The walls on either side of us curved around the top of a gradual incline that led fifty feet down to a large stage. Countless rows of curved benches sat on either side of a flight of steps that led to the stage, with two more sets of stairs on either end of the room.

I glanced back at the doors and then back at the stage. This was like a tardis, a hell of a lot bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. “How many people can this fit?” I asked Luke.

“If they’re crammed in we can fit a thousand,” Luke replied.

“Wow.”

“Isn’t it? Did you want to sit down?” He led me a few benches down and we sat beneath the full light of the sun.