Chapter 3

Sitting just as tall and as proudly as the prince sitting opposite of him, Ethelbert addresses him with a respectful and admiring tone, "You have shown passion and conviction before me that I cannot ignore. I too shall pledge this night that we shall either have peace or my people will have another as their next king." 

Ethelbert could feel his dad's glaring eyes upon him but he didn't look at his dad. He was a crown prince and future king; he had been raised as such. He had been raised to always have his way and to always do what was right for the people and for the mortals whom they secretly protected. Peace was the only right course and he would stick to it even if it meant that he had to give up his crown but he was no fool, he was the only heir as he was an only child and any other family eligible for ruling had been kill long ago. His dad would never let anyone but his son take his throne when the time came. 

There would be peace this night. 

Ethelbert sense his dad turn his attention in the direction of the vampire king, "It seems that our sons have spoken for us and are set in their ways. My son is the future king of my people; soon his word will be the law of my people. How can I ignore my son's voice?" 

King Kaden chuckle, clearly amused, "I too cannot ignore the voice of the future king of my people. It seems that sometimes wisdom truly lies in the innocent eyes of the young." No one misses the pride he held in his voice for his son. 

Ethelbert held his tongue that he wasn't so young; within the next century his one-thousandth year would come to pass and by no means was anything about him innocent. He was a warrior, the strongest, most skilled, and the most feared of all the Lycans; he had fought, he had drawn blood and he had killed in cold blood, many of which had once been called friend and brother. 

King Kabir rose to his feet and extended his hand to the vampire king, "Then it is done. The war is done with no conditions set other than that there is forevermore peace between us." 

For a long moment King Kaden look up at the other king and his outstretched hand, "Understood, I wish peace as much as you but what of the damned? Despite all else, they must be stopped. No matter who they are tied to."

Oh no. There was no way Ethelbert was going to let anything come between the quickly agreed-upon peace treaty. By his own life, there would be peace declared this night, no matter the sacrifice on his part. 

Before another word could be said, Ethelbert was on his feet and staring at the two great kings with hard resolve and determination, "The damned are no longer any concern of yours." He declares, with all the authority he had as the prince of the Lycan race, "From this day hence the damned will be mine to contend with." 

"And mine." Prince Lamar stated as he jumps to his feet in a single movement of grace that was typical of the vampires and joins Ethelbert in staring down their dads. 

The two kings exchange a long glance before they both turn back to their sons and nodded once, portraying their agreement. 

Finally, one war was at an end. After so long, so simply, the war between the Lycan and vampire kind was no more. 

Ethelbert breathed a deep sigh of relief, even knowing that the other war wouldn't end so easily but still, the relief was a nice reprieve after so long without any. 

Now, at last, there was peace between the two immortal races but had it come to pass in time enough to save their people, or was it already too late? What did the future hold for them and did the future hold his salvation or would he become one of the damned who fell to the madness of the darkness? 

Already Ethelbert could feel the bloodlust, the beast, within him trying to get free and claim him, to drag him into the darkness forever more. His beast yearns to be free of his control but that was the thing about the human mind, even an immortal one, it could only hold onto sanity and hold back the howling madness for so long. It needed an anchor, it needed light and warmth. 

He needed his destined mate, the one born to soothe the beast within. 

Would he find her before it was too late or would he be left to slowly lose himself to the darkness of which there was no return?

---

Deep within the silence of the dead of the night, far from civilization and the blind callow eyes of the mortal humans, a silent black shadow stalk its prey. Brown eyes watch with dark predatory intent and focus as the predator focus on its helpless unsuspecting prey. 

The helpless and completely unaware rabbit sniffs the damp forest earth in search of food. 

The rain had been generous this year, the grass was lush and green and the rabbits were fat, juicy, and plenty. No creature was likely to starve this season, not that his kind would ever starve, not when they no longer depended on nature's hunt as they once had long ago. No, these current times were all about convenience and as little effort as possible, thanks to the ingenuity and unlimited potential and imagination of the mortal human race that he and his own protected from the evil that lurks in the shadows of the night. With one phone call and some money, his own would have all the food they would ever need. 

It had for so long amazed and somewhat amused him that a race with such inventiveness and a thriving thirst for knowledge were so, by their fear-driven will, blind to the evils that lurk in their world that they had long ago shrug off as figments of the imaginations and myths. A fear-driven relentless denial that made them such easy prey for the damned; deep down the mortal race did remember, did see, what lay beneath the icing that was their world but it was their refusal to believe that there was something bigger, stronger than them left in the world. That was something to fear in the dark, despite their delusional denials.