A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Erik shortly paused in surprise, and so did everyone else in the room. Then he scoffed and continued to put his armor on. "Damn council. I didn't think we'd have to deal with them again so quickly. Do you think they're here for us, or is it just a coincidence?"

"You know I never assume anything is a coincidence until proven otherwise," Elora said, as she chewed on her hair in thought. "We should assume he's here for us."

At the same time, Emma also unfroze but said nothing as she continued to put her clothes on. 'I'm sure Master and Elora have a plan for this,' she thought. 'I just need to do as they say.' As usual, she simply put all her trust in the two of them.

Emily unfroze as well and began to pace around the room, with her eyebrow scrunched up in worry. 'What the hell are those assholes doing here?!' she thought to herself. 'I thought we left them behind in London!'

Emily hadn't been there to hear about the council's presence in these lands when Viljar talked about it, and neither Erik nor Elora had mentioned it in front of her, so this came as quite a surprise to the woman.

She glanced at the pair of fairy and shapeshifter anxiously, 'They won't… give me up, will they?' she suddenly thought.

Meanwhile, Erik frowned at Elora's response while he put the last piece of his armor on, "He? There's only one?"

But his partner remained quiet. Erik didn't mind, though. He looked over at Elora and saw her twisting her hair while she chewed it. Her brows were furrowed in thoughtful concentration, and her pupils were darting around.

He knew what that meant. 'She's currently making plans A through Z to cover every possible scenario, I should let her be for a moment,' he thought to himself. 'Instead, I should go warn Astrid. Who knows how little time we have.'

It was now no more than a minute after he woke up when he stormed out of the bedroom in full armor, smashing through the door.

Astrid barely needed to be woken up as the crashing door, combined with Erik's heavy armored footsteps echoing through the house, had already done the job for him.

Her eyes sprang open, and like a wild animal ready to pounce, she jumped out of bed, straight into combat stance. Astrid may not have lived on the edge for seven years like Erik, but her instincts were still sharply honed.

When an ebony-black, large, heavily armored tank in human form stormed into the living room where she had been sleeping, she immediately attacked.

Luckily, Erik saw her coming and barely managed to dodge. Something that was much harder to do than it was a few days ago, as Astrid had made a full recovery and was now in the best shape of her life.

"Calm down, Astrid! It's me!" he quickly shouted, before things got out of hand. He didn't want to know how his armor would hold up against Astrid's sunbeam attack.

Just about to call on her affinity, Astrid quickly held herself back and blinked when she recognized Erik's voice. "Erik?! What the fuck is that armor?!"

He hadn't worn this at all in the last few days, and Astrid hadn't been inside the bedroom, so this was the first time she saw it.

"Never mind that now!" Erik waved his hand and shook his head. "Get ready for possible fight, and probable flight. Frostfang is here."

"What?!" Astrid paled when she heard that news. Before Sigurd betrayed her mother and took control of the Dominion, her mother had butted heads with Frostfang on more than one occasion while contesting control over the region.

While the fact that Frostfang survived these encounters with Liv may suggest he is more powerful than Sigurd, that wasn't actually true. The main reason Liv was such a danger to her usurper, was due to her sun affinity—an understandably powerful asset against vampires. And one that she passed down to her beloved daughter.

Regardless, Astrid had no idea how Frostfang would react if he discovered her identity.

But suddenly she frowned. "Wait a second," she wondered out loud. "Isn't Frostfang some kind of devotee of your mother?"

While the armor thing simply never came up, Erik hadn't kept any actual secrets from Astrid. Which meant he had told her everything he heard about Frostfang from Viljar, Nora, and Björn.

Erik scoffed dismissively while he went around the room to put some family pictures and mementos in his armor's storage space. There was a good chance he'd have to leave here today, and he had no idea when he'd be back.

"I'm not about to put my faith in the loyalty of someone I've never met before," he said while looking fondly at a picture before putting it away. "Until proven otherwise, he is an enemy."

Conviction burned in his eyes, and Astrid had no doubt he meant what he said.

"Besides," he continued. "The council is with him. I wouldn't hold my breath over a peaceful resolution today. If the council somehow got wind of our location, I have no doubt they offered some kind of support in the war against the Dominion, in exchange for me and mine, served on a platter."

"I see," Astrid frowned, worry etched on her face. 'I only just reunited with him, is it gonna end just like this?! How are we going to fight off a third-rank shapeshifter?!' she thought to herself.

"You know," Erik suddenly stopped packing, as he turned to Astrid with a serious expression. "If we run now they'll simply chase us, and there's no way we can outmaneuver a third-rank Runebound, but it's not the same for you. They're not looking for a vampire. If you run now…"

But before he could finish, Astrid softly punched his armored chest. "Shut up!" she said, partly annoyed, partly angry. "You actually think I'd leave you now?! After we finally met again?!"

Erik grinned happily, "No. But I had to at least say the words."

But Astrid harrumphed and mumbled, "No you didn't."

Suddenly, her expression softened and she smiled a little. "You know, this is pretty fitting. Last time, I thought you died in an attack on Frostvik. I couldn't help you then." Small tears appeared in her eyes. "But you came back to me! And now, here we are again.

Another attack on Frostvik where your life is in danger."

Her tears suddenly dried up, and her eyes began to burn with the intensity of the sun as all those tear-stained nights where she wished she had been there to defend her crush came back to her, "But this time, I'll fight by your side!"