"Hum... what ?"

"I'm coming with you."

"Huh ?"

'Remind me how many languages you speak ?'

Even Nate starts to roll his eyes at my inability to form coherent words.

"No, I mean really, what ?"

"You're the one who keeps telling me I lack knowledge because I never left the territory."

"True. But I don't think this is the right time to do so."

"Don't worry. Jared has instructions and Lincoln and George already agreed to see things through during my absence."

I look at said Lincoln standing a little further and he nods.

"Everything is under control, and if anything goes wrong we'll howl for help." He smiles.

"I still think this is insane."

Nate's eyes shoot briefly to the car, his jaw tense, before he looks at me again.

"As the leader in charge of this coalition, I should be the one to appeal to these communities."

Without leaving me the time to protest he gets in the back of the car.

Now, that wasn't the plan. Can you explain to me how I'm supposed to forget he exists when I'm stuck in a trip with him. I'm already crazy enough as it is, there is no need to add to it.

This is going to be a nightmare.

I can't even start to imagine what it will be like, the four of us in the same team. I shudder at the thought. I look at Jared in panic. Apparently he hasn't processed the situation yet either. He is looking at his alpha with an incredulous expression on his face. There is another glint in his eyes too though.

'He wants to come too.'

I smirk at him.

"Now Bolivar, be a good boy and wait for mama. I'll be back soon." I tease him.

That finally brings him out of his reverie as he growls at me. I am shocked when he closes his eyes and breathes slowly to calm himself before shouting a snarky comment back. Is he trying to act like Nate now ?! This is the end of the world people.

That's it. We're doomed.

A world where even Jared behaves like a grown man and I am left alone with my childish antics means all hell broke loose and the spawns of Lucifer are ready to invade our lands.

'Hope Lucy Michaels, don't blame others for what you are.'

Didn't Satan take the lead after I retired ?

'Doesn't change the fact that you were the first Queen of hell.'

I am meant to rule.

"Be careful." Jared starts. "You can't make any mistakes now that he's coming along. You need to bring him back to us alive."

There is a certain desperation in his voice and I believe it's due to the fact that he can't come himself to protect him. It's probably hard for him to step back.

"Don't worry. I'll send you postcards." I dismiss the subject.

Nothing can go wrong if I'm there.

'Can you repeat that ? Who started a fire last time in Cancun ? Who created a tsunami in Tahiti ? Who had a hurricane blow up some parts of Orlando ?'

Ah, that one is on the butterfly. I had nothing to do with it.

'You sneezed.'

No correlations. The butterfly flipped its wings. It did it.

I stride to the conductor's seat and take my place making the motor roar. I stroke the leather affectionately.

"I missed you." I coo.

I don't need to turn around to know that Nate is rolling his eyes at me at this exact moment and Leila isn't trying to be subtle beside me as she snorts creepily.

"Alright. Last chance to reconsider." I announce.

Everyone stays silent and I take it as my cue to drive off into the sunset... and the sunset is reached fifty never-ending minutes later when we enter the parking lot next to the airfields where an imposing jet is waiting for us.

These were the longest fifty minutes of my life. I imagined jumping out of the window at least a dozen times during the ride, even if it meant abandoning my baby to crash behind. Anything to escape this insufferable awkward silence. No one uttered a single word and I didn't even try to turn on the radio. Let's just say Leila and I disagree on music. It's not as if I destroyed her music speakers twice and she run me over when I went to a Queen's Concert. I got back at her when she went to see the Beatles by throwing a grand piano at her breaking both her legs in the process. So now we don't talk music and we certainly don't listen to it in the same room, or even the same country. I'd say it's a fair compromise.

I was hoping to learn more about Xavier too but his eyes stayed on his phone the whole time. There must be something really interesting there and now I kind of want to know what it is.

I know, curiosity killed the cat.

'Puh-lease, Schrödinger always knew you did it.'

I take the fifth.

I tried really hard not to look in the rear-view mirror and not to gawk at the hottest piece of candy seated behind me even though I could feel his eyes on me for the entire ride. Now I feel exhausted. I went back and forth in my mind thinking of topics to discuss, imagining this trip if it was only the two of us, remembering my life before all this insanity. In the end I played tic-tac-toe with my wolf for the last twenty minutes of the ride.

We all take the different bags in the trunk and board the jet. Leila whistles as we enter. The interior is elegant and modern, decorated of soft white and gray, with a few touches of wood here and there. I go directly to greet the werewolf pilot waiting for us in front of the cockpit and Xavier follows my lead. It might be his plane but I'm the one in charge.

'Isnt your mate supposed to be the leader ?' My wolf smirks knowing the answer perfectly.

Sure, he can command his people. And this trip was my idea to begin with. I add stubbornly.

I mean he wasn't even invited.

The wolf bows to Xavier but I ignore it, to me he's not even an alpha yet, still the fact that his pack members respect him to this extent already is a good sign for the future.

"I would like to start with the vampires in Argentina." I inform them. They both nod and start making preparations. I walk back to Leila who is still admiring the room. You'd think after all this time traveling with me she would be used to it.

Nate is already siting, frantically tightening his seat belt as much as he can. I observe him fidget in his seat with a smile playing on my lips. It's not everyday you can see the mighty alpha losing his composure.

"There's still time to go back." I tell him.

He looks up at me and shakes his head.

"I have a feeling you don't want me here but I'm staying. I might be of some help."

I quiet down the urge to contradict him, I'm already convinced he won't be anything but a pain in my a... well let's just say I won't be efficient during this trip. That's actually bad for my reputation, I'll have to be careful.

"First time on a plane ?" I tease him as I take my seat next to him.

Yes. There are eight other seats in the room, farther away but I don't care. I'm stuck with him anyway.

"I'm not scared." He grumbles.

"Never said you were." I smirk. "You'll see, it won't be that bad."

"Right." He gulps.

For the next five minutes he seems to be debating with himself whether to talk about something or not. I wait patiently but I think it's giving me an ulcer. I might die before he starts.

'Do you want me to sing.'

Oh boy, please no. I'm fine waiting in silence.

'Are you sure ? I've been working on a new song for the past couple of weeks.'

Man ! I wish we had the time for it. Maybe later.

'It goes something like that.' My wolf clears its throat.'

I'm telling you I'm fine, thanks.

'I'm a beast, Im a priest,

Listening to her wail.

She's too soft, she is lost,

My human is too frail.

There is no hope. Give me the soap.

My human can't find a male.'

My jaw tightens.

You really have too much time on your paws. Want to hear mine ?

I was a queen with the world at her feet

Until a conniving beast trampled it on a whim.

'Pfft. It doesn't even rhyme.' My wolf grumbles.

"Jared told me about Cory." Nate finally mumbles.

What is he talking about ? Right, he wanted to tell me something. So what was it again with Cory ?

'Who's Cory ?'

Do I know her ?

'Maybe a rock ?'

Maybe a cockroach

'Definitely a creeper.'

Right ! The too-elegant-for-her-own-good insect creeping in the castle.

'Should have squashed her.'

"Nothing I couldn't handle." I shrug.

"Still, she shouldn't have done that. She can be... difficult sometimes."

Wow. That's the understatement of the year.

"Don't worry, a little knife won't kill me. I'm Wonder Woman, I'm stronger than steel." I try to reassure him, it's really not a big deal.

"A what ?" He exclaims .

"You know, sharp metal that cuts through meat, it comes in pair with a fork and you use it to eat."

"I know what a knife is." He growls exasperated, "Why on earth would she do that."

"She said I was trying to seduce you." I mock lightly rolling my eyes.

His jaw tenses again.

"Is she wrong ?" He inquires.

"Come on, we both know you're the one trying to seduce me." I laugh as I get deeper and more comfortable in my seat.

"That never happened."

"Sure." I stretch the word.

"I'm not flirting with you." He insists.

He isn't ?

Now that hurts. He didn't have to say it like that. But more importantly this means I have created a parallel universe in my mind where he is indeed flirting with me and I lost the notion of reality, the borders of my imagination spilling out in the real world. Leila was right, I've finally lost it.

'How many fingers do you have ?'

Twelve.

'We're good. You still can't count.'

"Well then, she doesn't have anything to worry about." I try to smile but it's fake and hurting my jaw.

I close my eyes and relax as much as I can, ignoring my worried neighbor. I hear Leila take her seat as the plane starts to tremble as it moves on the tarmac. The murmur of its iron a lullaby to my hears.

Fly fly away. Crash crash down. This surely will makes Hope happy.

'Dear Sun, this woman is crazy.'

I don't turn to Leila, ninety-nine percent sure to find her smirking at me.

"We should arrive in Buenos Aires in five hours, we'll take a smaller plane and then a jeep from there to reach the Selk'nam tribe." Xavier informs us.

"I thought they went extinct during the last century." Nate frowns.

At least he knows his history.

'Or a part of it.'

"They faked their deaths and hid from society to protect themselves and the others. As you may know vampires need blood to survive but they can't reveal their existence to humans. With the South America's colonization it became more difficult for them to protect their secret so forty years ago they decided to relocate in the hidden mountains of Argentina where humans can't access." I cut in.

"Then how do they get their blood supply ?" He questions, truly curious now.

"National blood banks. They own most of them. It's almost as though going to the supermarket for them and I have to say that's a smart move."

Nate's eyes grow as big as saucers and his mouth falls open.

"Don't worry they still leave some for hospitals." I laugh at his expression.

"Did you know that supernatural blood is also part of their diet ? You could donate some especially with such a big pack as yours. They are always in need of blood." Leila adds matter of factly.

"You should listen to the Doc." I nod in agreement.

'Wait, are you sure he can ?'

What do you mean.

'Isn't he like you ?'

Like me ?

'Special I mean.'

Special ?

'STOP REPEATING EVERYTHING I SAY !'

Sorry. Force of habit. You were saying ?

'Hope, he is a white wolf.' My wolf sighs exasperated.

Aaaaah... that.

"Actually, Leila, that may not be a good idea. He's an alpha after all." I tell her pointedly.

"What are you talking about ? Alphas can give blood. It's even more effective because of their strength."

I roll my eyes imperceptibly.

"Then you should do the tests you always do. Like the tests I remember you had prepared for me."

'Why am I stuck with such a suspicious fool ?'

It's her turn to frown her gaze sweeping around. Suddenly it seems to dawn on her. As the white wolf from the legends his blood probably has special properties the same way as my blood made the vampires stronger during the great war.

"You're right, first time donors need to go through a battery of tests." She tries to catch herself.

The plane shudders the pilot informing us that we are currently entering an area of turbulence and thankfully the subject of blood donors is dropped. While Leila and Xavier don't seem fazed by the situation in the least Nate's wolf is resurfacing, his eyes glowing a deep yellow and darting around the cabin for a way out, his claws gripping the armchairs tightly.

"Do you know what is the more frequent kind of accident on a plane ?" I ask him lowly.

"I have no idea. Bad pilot ?" He answers desperately his eyes now closed.

"Lion attacks."

"Are you kidding me ?" He asks his eyes shooting open to me.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I smile reassuringly. "Now I don't know the exact circumstances but that's a fact, you can check it and all."

His gaze doesn't waver from mine and I can't look away, the emerald sparks are back.

"So. These vampires, are they friendly ? Should I be worried." Nate tries to concentrate on something other than the monstrous flying piece of metal whizzing through the air which goes against every scientific reasoning. A bird that big can't fly.

"Do you know last year's Peace Nobel prize ?"

"I heard of him." He nods.

"He's the third son of the tribe's chief."

"Is there anything you don't know ?" He laughs the tension leaving his shoulders little by little.

"Nah. I'm the all mighty."

"How can you know so much though. You're still young. He suddenly asks more seriously.

"I have a good memory ?" I offer with a raised brow and a smile.

'Hey granny, what did you eat yesterday night ?'

That doesn't count. I eat five times a day, over three hundred and sixty-five days a year and I can't work out the millenniums anymore.

He waits for me to continue.

"I travel a lot." I admit truthfully. "And I love this world's History. I find it fascinating. I want to see how much we can evolve and change or if humanity is doomed to repeat the same mistakes again and again. I wonder if we can really learn from our mistakes and our experience. Did you know that throughout the Antiquity the Greeks and Romans kept repeating the same cycle over and over. There would be a rebellion and a Triumvirat would form with three leaders working together. However one would end up killing the other two, going back to the idea of a unique Emperor and a dictatorship. And then there would be a new rebellion and it would start all over again. That's also why your Library is so important. They built it to protect the wolves and supernatural creatures and to guide the packs."

"But don't you think it stops us from making our own choices ?" He questions in wonder.

I shake my head.

"Men are egoists, narcissists and egomaniacs, they want to conquer and rule. The more powerful you are the stronger the need becomes. The books are a reminder of the past and what happened then when a leader selfishly put himself first instead of the pack's future. And in the end you are the one choosing to learn from what you read or to ignore it entirely."

'Speaking from experience ?'

I said men. The Almighty Me is above all that.

Nate doesn't answer to that and seems to think about it for the remainder of the flight. When we land another smaller plane is waiting for us and this time around the trip is absolutely uncomfortable, the metal shrieks and shudders around us, vibrating in our legs, dropping a few feet suddenly before going back up in the sky. The alpha next to me is livid all along, going a little green at some point.

Even I am thankful when we finally land and get in the jeep. I'm not used to this lack of comfort anymore. Now that we can finally hear ourselves over the sound of the engine Leila takes command of the group.

"I need to know what you can and can't do. We don't know what we'll find ahead but from the information we've gathered the vampires might have been attacked too. I'll need every hand on deck at best of your abilities."

"I know first aid but that's it." Xavier admits while Nate nods in agreement.

"We'll divide into teams. Hope, you and Xavier will ascertain the situation and bring me anyone needing medical help. Nate will help me with the wounded if there are any."

We all agree to our tasks at hand.

The roads slithers around the valleys, bringing us deeper and deeper in the mountains. Soon there are no traces of humans anymore, the few houses here and there disappear, the tracks are covered with weeds and we end up leaving the car behind, hiking for the rest of the journey. My wolf whimpers, asking to be let loose.

I stop suddenly when I smell burnt wood and ashes mixed with the scent of blood. A lot of blood.