Elayn woke the next night to no sign of Serana but a faint hint of a scent telling her that it had been at least an hour since the vampire left. She rose and stretched, her muscles delightfully loose after a night in a real bed instead of on a stone floor.

At first she thought she might go searching for her mistress-- an honorific that was starting to become an almost playful joke to her-- but on second thought, she wondered if there might be some aspect of their plan to foil Harkon that she could further if she looked. With a fuzzy idea of what to do in mind, she went walking through the castle, eyes open for any vampires that might happen upon her.

As luck would have it, she didn't run across any of them, but she did find one of Harkon's monstrous creatures standing guard by a large door. It didn't notice her at first, so she slowed her approach so she could get a better look.

The creature was a twisted combination of wolf and man, standing on two legs but hunched with the weight of huge shoulder muscles supporting long arms ending in vicious claws. It's eyes were silver like hers, and it also wore a collar around its neck. It's pelt was dark and mottled, thick around its back and thinning around its chest.

“Hail,” she said, coming closer with caution. “Do you speak?”

The creature gave her a sidelong look and lifted its lip to snarl quietly, but said nothing otherwise.

“Is that a no?” she pressed. “I won't go away until you answer.”

“I speak,” it said in a basso growl that rumbled her chest.

“Good.” She sat against the wall, looking up at it. “Do you have a name?”

It said nothing for a few moments, until it became clear Elayn wasn't leaving. It let out a sigh that sounded disgusted and looked down at her.

“You lied,” it rumbled.

“What?”

“You said you would go away.” It growled a sigh. “What do you want?”

“To chat,” she said, and added casually, “We are kin, you know. Before Harkon's magic took hold of you.”

As if struck, the creature stiffened. “We do not speak ill of the master,” it said, and if Elayn didn't know better she might think it sounded nervous.

“Why not? It isn't as though he'll hear.” She smirked. “Come on, what's the harm?”

It was silent, she hoped it was considering her thoughts. “Ask your questions.”

She thought about what she might ask for a moment. “Does this magic enslave you?” she asked, lowering her voice to ease the creature she spoke to.

It shook its head. “Our thoughts are our own. But we obey regardless. Our master's strength is absolute.”

She meant to ask another question, but movement down the hall distracted her and she looked up to see Vingalmo striding toward them. She jolted to her feet, eyeing him distrustfully.

“Ah, Serana's pup,” he said, smiling with a cruel glint in his eye. “I thought you learned your lesson about straying where you shouldn't.”

“I'm not doing anything wrong,” she lied, and hoped that he couldn't smell her dishonesty like one of her kind.

“Really now.” He turned to the guard. “Well? Has she been poking her nose where she shouldn't?”

The guard regarded him, then said, while Elayn held her breath, “No.”

“I see.” He looked at Elayn with malicious disappointment. “Very well.”

He disappeared down the hallway while Elayn fought to calm her rapid heartbeat. “Thank you,” she said after a moment's thought.

“Don't make me do it again,” the guard said, not looking at her, and she all but ran back to her mistress's room.

Serana, assuming her werewolf could use the extra sleep if she wasn't awake by the time Serana got up, left her to her rest and went to her lab to read more about her father's ritual. Her mother's journals were quite detailed, spanning centuries of work, and it would take her time to get through it all and find answers.

Then, midway through reading a passage describing the set up of the ritual, she got a bad feeling that had her rising to her feet and descending the tower stairs before she really thought about it. She went to her room first, following her gut.

There she saw Elayn, crouched in the corner, looking up with wild silver eyes. For a moment Serana thought she might attack, but then dismissed the idea. Nothing she had done had given her the impression Elayn would do something like that. So why were her eyes so wide?

“What happened?” she asked softly, crossing the room to sit on the bed, noting the way Elayn watched her like she might spring and attack at any moment.

After a few seconds, Elayn stood up and paced the length of the room. “Vingalmo found me,” she said finally. “I was talking to one of the guards, if it hadn't lied and told him I wasn't up to anything, I'd be--”

She broke off her hurried stream of words with a grim smile. “Well, nothing good.”

Serana sighed in frustration. “Of course he did. Even the collar didn't work. I'm sorry.”

Elayn halted her pacing to regard her with a curious look. “You apologize a lot for someone who's supposed to hold my leash.”

She raised her hands and shoulders in a shrug. “Why shouldn't I? It's not like I asked for-- for a pet.”

“No, you didn't.” She kept staring.

“Are you going to keep standing there all night?” she half-snapped when the staring made her uncomfortable.

In response, Elayn sat down at the other end of the bed and raised an eyebrow that asked, “And now what?”

She had no answer to that, and leaned back on her pillows with a sigh. “Things,” she said, rubbing her temples. “Are becoming less simple every day that passes.”

She heard a grunt of agreement.

“I did some more reading in the lab,” she said to fill the silence. “My father's ritual takes the sacrifice of a hundred innocents. There aren't that nearly many humans in the castle, but I'm sure he could find them quickly enough in the countryside.”

“Then we’ll know he’s ready to begin when he gathers more chattel?”

“I suppose so.” She considered the next part a moment before she said it. “There was more, something about a vessel they would need to find, but I didn’t read far enough for any details. Once we know what that is, maybe we can steal it before he can perform the ritual? I’m sure I can find a way to escape the guards while their attention is on the humans, we can--”

She stopped, feeling her cheeks pink. Funny how she had that tell despite lacking a beating heart. “I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.”

Elayn tilted her head and looked at her for a few beats. Then she said, “I know a cabin across the west border, a family lives there, they’d give us shelter until we found somewhere further to run.”

Emotion tore through her and she gasped even though she didn’t need the air. “You would… travel with me? Even once we’re free of this place?”

The werewolf cleared her throat and stood abruptly, pacing yet again, and did not speak at first.