A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

In a snowy field in front of a small town in Norway, a dark blue light flashed. In its place appeared three people, a tall handsome man with silver-white hair, and two beautiful women with strawberry blond hair who looked a little familiar.

They all wore casual clothing and varied expressions, from calm confidence, to excitement, to surprise.

"Woah!" Liv exclaimed in shock as she looked around at where they were. Then she scratched her head and looked at the man next to her with a hint of awe, "You know, I'm starting to run out of alternative explanations for all this crap you pull… Does that entire complex seriously exist inside you?"

"Why would I lie to you?" Erik grinned as he started walking towards the town of Kirkenes. "You are family, and my woman, even if we won't marry for a while yet."

"Hmpf," the older vampire scoffed as she followed him. "You know I can still change my mind about marrying you." While she greatly enjoyed herself last night, she found herself with a desire to retain at least a little autonomy in this man's presence.

"You could, but you wont," Erik smiled smugly. Technically there wasn't really anything stopping them from doing this now, but Elora refused to put that tattoo on anyone who hadn't proven themselves through the heartfire sigil. And while he was sure Liv felt lust for him, like he did for her, there was no love there yet.

Then he turned and grabbed Liv's chin before kissing her hungrily. When he pulled back, he whispered, "By the way, you'd better not let any other man touch you intimately from now on. I'll kill him, and you and I will be over." Then he continued walking, leaving a lightly stunned Liv behind.

The older vampire blinked a moment, still savouring his taste on her lips, but then grinned and ran after him, "You know, I like a possessive man. I might just make up some stories to see you kill a few people for me."

Erik pursed his lips with amusement, but didn't respond. Fact was, her plan might work.

Meanwhile, on his other side, Astrid grumbled a little, "Aren't you supposed to be marrying me later? Why do I feel like my mother is getting more attention?"

Erik chuckled, and turned to kiss Astrid as well. "You and I will have a lifetime together, Astrid. But we won't see your mother for a while, remember?"

"Alright, alright," Astrid rolled her eyes, but nodded in assent. She couldn't help a smile from appearing due to his kiss.

They walked leisurely, and now passed the congregation of a thousand vampires, guarded by a horde of ghouls. As soon as they neared them, Liv lost her playfulness and looked at them with a complicated expression of equal parts guilt, fury, sadness, and shame.

The ghouls remained dull and emotionless, but the vampires reacted much the same. They all looked haggard, depressed, and hungry, but when a free and non-ghoulified Liv walked past they perked up, and looked at her with hopeful and pleading expressions. They started clamouring for her attention, but went ignored for now.

Seeing her emotions, Astrid sidestepped Erik and hugged her mother as they walked. Meanwhile, Erik frowned, "It's not your fault what happened to them, you know."

But Liv scoffed, and tore her eyes away from them, "Then whose fault is it? Sigurd, sure, but I could have stopped all this if I'd just noticed the signs, or been a little more wary of his despicable sigils."

Erik sighed and shook his head, "Hindsight is always twenty-twenty, but that's no reason to blame yourself. If I had seen through Edda's duplicity, maybe my father would still be alive, but I can't blame myself for that either. Bad things are going to happen, and all you can do is your best."

They remained quiet for a moment as they walked into town, before Liv finally grumbled, "I didn't take you for a wisdom dispenser…"

Erik laughed a little, "Honestly, I blamed myself for what happened in Frostvik for a while as well, but it was Elora who convinced me not to."

Thinking back to last night, Liv's eyes narrowed a little, "Right, that little wife of yours. For someone without any fighting strength, she sure has a domineering presence. I still can't believe I let myself fall into her flow..."

Having already had some experience with Elora, Astrid could only chuckle helplessly and agree with her mother.

They encountered very few shapeshifters on the way to the town plaza, but each one of them looked at Liv and Astrid with hostility. The only thing stopping them from acting on it was a combination of their power, and the conflicted respect they felt for Erik.

Conflicted because, by now, everyone knew that it was Erik who had stopped the Dominion from enslaving them, but also Erik who had stopped them from getting their revenge.

They didn't dare come closer, but they all started following the trio from a distance. Soon, a procession had formed as it moved towards the middle of town. Neither Erik nor his companions paid any attention to this for now, however.

Finally, they arrived at the town square. A large number of people had still gathered here to look, curse, or throw stuff at the third-ranker vampire chained in the centre, but it had fallen off somewhat. There was no line waiting anymore, so it appeared the entire Enclave had gotten their due over the last few days.

As soon as the gathered shapeshifters noticed the new arrivals, they started making way, not wanting to obstruct the path of two third-ranker equivalents, one of whom was their supposed leader.

At the same time, hushed whispers started spreading across the plaza.

"Look! It's Lord Erik, and two vampires…" one man frowned and addressed the woman next to him.

"That's not just two vampires, one of them is Liv Frost!" the woman exclaimed in surprise. Then, her expression turned grim, "Maybe that means we can finally put that shitbird in the ground…"

The man nodded in agreement, "It's been fun messing with that despicable rat for the last few days, but now I just want to see him dead and be done wit it"

Tension had been rising for a little while now, as the Enclave was getting restless. Technically they had won three days ago, but Sigurd was still alive, and there was still a massive group of ghouls and vampires gathered in front of the town. People were getting nervous.