Chapter 2: The hunt for a Stranger

   The hunt for the stranger began. The princess had gone with the lone prince of a werewolf rogue pak. But many, including the king, suspected that she was kidnapped. They instituted a search in order to bring her back to continue with the royal dance.

   Everyone was angry at a stranger whom they suspected to have kidnapped her. They all wanted princess Zuba back to continue with the ceremony. Many were disappointed at her too for leaving the square, without which their enemy would not have an opportunity to kidnap her.

   Nobody knew really what transpired.

   “We enslaved them for centuries!”Some said

   “They are our eternal enemies!”

   “His last drop of blood is demanded!” others said

   Broods of vampires gathered for a search. Each of the gathered clans was shouting one thing after another. They were all determined to kill the lone werewolf for snatching their princess away from the royal dance at the square. The king demanded that she be brought back to fulfil her obligation to the kingdom.

   Dario and Oscar were angered most amongst those that were shouting. The two were from the noble families of the kingdom of Borney, therefore in contention to mate the princess.

   Their families led the search for the missing princess. They instigated the love wars of the islands, and with suspicion they watched their backs to see who could betray the other between themselves.

   The other nobles had given up on her. Apparently, they accused her of letting down the traditions of the land when she needed to uphold them. They felt insulted for falling for the mysterious stranger instead of them.

   Princess Zuba was now in the strong arms of a werewolf stranger.

   “Hold on; come here”, said Jason, holding her tight. He bit her side neck with his fangs and hugged her a couple of times.

   “For what now?” she asked, her side neck bled but none of her blood dropped to the ground.

   “I am breaking the curse of a witch”, said Jason, looking at her pretty face with satisfaction, “What stops them won’t affect you”.

   The princess stood still, holding his hands, and looking into his face. And she embraced him a number of times before bending on her knees to bite him on the thighs and his huge chest.

   “What for!” Jason screamed from their hide out. He raised up his head in sensational pain. “Will you take my blood?”

   Zuba never said anything. She looked into his eyes, and grabbing his chest forcefully, she plunged her fangs gently right into his flesh.

   “The other one is for love”, she said as she looked the other way. She gave her back to him.

She looked away for a moment to wipe away her tears.

   “And the other one?” he asked

   She then turned around, facing him again, “The curse of a witch is broken”, she replied. “From now on you will shape shift at will without waiting for the tree days of the full moon”.

   The two left their hiding place. They ran away for their love as fast as they could to get to a more secured place far away. The vampire princess fell in love with a werewolf despite traditions of the kingdom that forbade her from doing such a thing.

   Broods of vampires were left behind scratching their heads. A good number of them scattered in different directions in search of them. More and more clutches were assigned to go and fetch her from different locations.

   But the two were gone. They went to a hiding place where they planned to stay temporarily before leaving for a distant land together.

   “So how old are you Jason Clay? She asked

The two walked side by side; they held their hands as they moved forward.

   “Jason”, she pulled back

   “What?”

   “You heard me”

   “It’s better we walk forward”

   “No, its better we talk first”

He looked at her with a smile, “Zuba, you’re right”. He stopped and held his hands on his shoulders. Then he smiled slowly.

   They stood there for some moments facing each other. “I am 18 and have existed from the first century. Now we are in medieval era but I am just the same”, he said

   “Immortality”

   “No Zuba, how I wish it was so”

They both smiled and held each other tightly. “I hope this will help; I mean our love”

   “Really”, said Zuba

   “And how long have you existed, my princess?”

   “Longer than you and from way beyond the first century”, she said, pointing her index finger at the cheeck of her new found mate.

   “And that makes you 30, there about? He asked, drawing her closer to him.

   “No. Vampires count differently. I am just 19 years old”

   “Yea. Teenager affairs! Come let me hug you more”, he said, as he pulled her closer to him.

   The two teenagers held their hands and ran away towards the safe islands. For Borney was just part of that ancient land of Kacedon. But in the medieval era, it was divided into three parts because of conflicts and wars amongst the tribal chiefs.

   And the witches that lived in the land did not help matter either. It was they that had placed curses on werewolves and vampires, driving a wedge of hatred between them. But the two, that represented sworn enemies, looked at each other with love and walked hand in hand with much affection.

   They were planning to leave for the land of humans far from the vampires. But humans tried by all means to avoid contacts with any of them.

   They fortified themselves in the hills of the main lands of Salama and the Barbarian plateaux. They built forts around themselves, and the valleys on either side of the main lands helped them fight off any invading aliens and other intruders.

   So the love teenagers had plenty of choices to make in as far as where they could stay was concerned. But they first chose to go to farow islands in Cedina, beyond the island of the vampires. It was believed to be a place where Jason Clay came from. But he had not disclosed this to the princess yet.

   Meanwhile, the hunt for two love birds had continued. King Macedoni and Mirabel the queen had however commanded that their daughter be brought home safe and sound. And all the subjects of the vampire kingdom were agreeable. It was in everyone’s interest for her to return home safe to continue with the royal dance where she was to choose her mate. The good fortunes of their kingdom relied on her.

   So the nobles who had vested interests in that royal dance led the searches to find her. Oscar led the vampire broods to the south of Borney while Dario went to the north. Others went to the west and east side of the islands.

   Everyone in the kingdom was alerted. They searched everywhere. Some ran as fast as they could to far away places, while others like the nobles of the land used horse driven carts. Had the princess and Jason not hid themselves in the enclaves, on the road leading towards the main land, they were going to be found easily.

   Since that time, Jason and princess Zuba started behaving the same, but quite different from the rest. The curses of the witches placed on them were broken. They needed no blood to live on.

   Not quite different from the rest though. For the inhabitants of Borney were not the same as other vampires of the earlier times. They could erupt anytime much like a ready volcano, but at most were peaceful and beautiful. They thirsted for blood not just anyhow; they needed it for rejuvenation and energy. Once they had their fill, they lived just like anybody else on the main lands.

   However, the curse placed on them by the witches made them not to like the werewolves. No packs were tolerated in Borney, and as such the relationship between the princess and Jason was of great concern to everybody.

   It was a matter of pride and of necessity for the princess to be separated from him and brought back home. Besides, contending nobles such as the families of Dario and Oscar worked so hard in order for one of them to be selected as a suitable mate for her. The throne was one of the major benefits for whoever was to be mated to her.

   Everybody in the vampire kingdom converted the status of royalty. Even relatives helped those earmarked nobles for the search until there was nothing left in them. But they searched everywhere without yielding any intended results.

   But that did not make them letup. They swore to continue with the search until she was found and brought home. Besides, they planned to hurt and destroy the stranger once found. Loyalty motivated them; but what they did not know was that it was a curse of the island witches that moved them to avenge on their sworn enemy.

   However, the search had one problem; there was some mistrust amongst the nobles. No one wanted the other to succeed. Even in their search, they did everything possible to frustrate one another.

   That was the case especially between the clans of Dario and Oscar. For other nobles had given up. However, even they that had given in to hopelessness were secretly positioning themselves for any opportunity. No one was willing to hand over the princess to either of the two leading potential mates if chance to catch her were presented to them. But she was no where to be found.

   At some point the searching clutches of Dario and Oscars almost went into a physical confrontation. Each one had suspicion on the other that they had hidden the princess to buy time for other clans to forget the matter. Each interested brood leader had secretly placed an agent in the camp of the proponents to spy them.

   The nobles of the vampire kingdom were greedy. It was for that reason that the princess swore that she would not pick a mate from among any of them. But the king did not mind about it. He only wanted his princess to be mated to any of the nobles of the land to fulfil an obligation that had been instituted centuries earlier.

   However, the princess was so mindful about it. She never wanted any of the greedy and boring nobles for her mate. Instead, she chose to be mated to a werewolf. This was something she called destiny.

   So when she ran away, she believed that she was merely placing herself into the good hands of destiny. Mating herself to a werewolf was her dream that had come true. But her family and the inhabitants of her kingdom would not let her be.