The landscape was blanketed in fresh, crisp snow. Even the trees were frosted, nothing having disturbed the dusting from the evergreen branches just yet. I light rowr of a yawn could be heard from beneath a thick bush sending a dove into the sky frightened from the sound.

Yellow eyes blinked open and peered out from beneath the bush. Once the creature was certain it was clear it wiggled its way out from under the bush. It was a wolf, a strange reddish colored coat with a hint of a black undercoat beneath it. This wolf was also larger than most and clearly a solitary predator by its lack of a pack.

It shook the fresh snow from its fur and headed in the direction of the nearest town.

It was, perhaps, odd seeing a vampire weakened with the loss of blood when there were a lot of fresh blood in the nearby town to replenish and close his big wounds. A vampire was already dead so having to die a second time is quite ironic. Trails of blood could be seen from the distance he'd covered. Every step was as heavy as iron and with his every step, his strength was slowly drained out of him. The thick snow made it even more harder for him to travel through. He couldn't see what he was stepping on. His normally composed self was now threading through the thick snow with little to less grace.

It wasn't surprising he'd tripped over a tree branch and found himself falling onto the sea of whiteness. The sun shining through the trees burned his skin, but it was not enough to kill him. Vampires like them don't die with the sun's rays. They only get even weaker, which wasn't good in the current state he was in. He used the last of his strength to turn his head to the side, to have his already cold cheek get even colder as it continued to touch the snow. His blood was freely slipping out of him, to dye the white frost as he laid there like a corpse. His crimson pupils have dilated, his lips pale, almost white, as he'd parted them a little - not to breathe - but to take what ice he could in his mouth. As always, he missed being human. The taste of everything is bland, making his life colorless and criminal-like with him finding comfort in blood of the living.

Not so very long ago, he had followed his brother - not by blood - out in the field. He'd only expected of him to talk to him as he never really believed in having to kill one's own kind or in the shedding of blood just to create understanding. That was, of course, naiive of him to do. The next thing he'd found himself in was a dangerous situation for a vampire like himself. His brother had taken in half of his blood wherein he couldn't recuperate as quickly when he had enough blood with the vampire wounding him deeply enough to crack his spine and mess up his guts. He'd remembered the vampire's last words with a smug grin before he'd left.

"I'm doing this to save your coven. A war should save our kind."

A dark nose sniffed at the air as the wolf moved through the woods but he halted in his path towards the village as his nose caught the metallic scent of blood. Yet this blood was strange, however familiar in a way he could not recall. The large beast changed it's direction and headed towards the smell. His large feet treading, surprisingly quietly, over the fresh snow. The wolf paused mid-step as yellow eyes fell upon spilled blood.

Lowering his snout to the blood-stained snow he parted lupine jaws to snap up a sample. Vampire? It shouldn't have come as a surprise but it still seemed to anger the beast a little. What was a vampire doing in his woods. The creature picked up his pace and trotted forward following the blood until he found the creature to which it belonged.

Halting at the vampire's feet the wolf looked him over with his intense yellow stare. He was all for letting the poor sod die there, but something in him made him step forward to lick the wounds. The wolves saliva working to clot the blood and stem the flow. When finished he moved to sit under a tree, his form shifting to one of a human. Dark red hair fell unto tan, broad shoulders. Yellow eyes peered out of a hard yet handsome face. Despite the cold this human only wore a pair of black pants.

"Shouldn't be here," the voice was raspy at best.

The vampire was just about to let himself lose consciousness when a scent had caught his attention. Though he couldn't move his head, he forcefully dilated his pupils to look towards the wolf. The wolf's scent was oddly different, unique. It'd have made his mouth water if he were human. Barely, he could barely feel the tongue of the wolf that licked his wounds but if it were anything, at least, his blood wasn't leaving his body anymore. His guts and spine were still a mess though. Seeing the big wolf transform to that of a rather handsome, red-haired human, the first thought that got into his head was: This is a mess. I've gotten myself into a werewolf's territory.

It was true. He shouldn't be here but this scent wasn't present a while ago. At least, until he'd probably stepped into the wolf's territory without him knowing. His lack of blood prevented him from smelling any scent miles away. Now that the wolf was close, his scent was there, though a little faint. "My apologies," he'd managed to breathe out loudly enough for the werewolf to hear him. His own voice wasn't far off from the raspy tone of the werewolf's. It was more... cracked up and forced since he didn't have any air in his lungs that should help him use his voice box. "If you will let me hide here for just a few days..." the vampire trailed off for a moment. His brother may have thought he was dead for sure. It'll do him well to recuperate while he was at it. But, with the amount of blood he currently have in his system, it was going to take a long time for him to get his strength back. At least, he isn't bleeding any more. He wouldn't die even if he were left out here in the snow.

"I won't be in your way, sir."

The werewolf canted his head this way and that as if listening to his surroundings. His gaze stayed on that of the vampire. He didn't know what to do with the other creature. He had nowhere to hide him, except under the large bush that he'd slept under. Well there was a human dwelling within the woods, but he'd have to take care of the inhabitant; he doubted anyone would notice. That and the vampire did look like he needed something to eat, and he wasn't about to offer his own blood to the other.

"Fine," rasped the creature before going wolf once more. He carefully approached the other, though the vampire indeed looked incapable of harming him he wasn't going to risk it. Carefully he grabbed hold of the back of the vampire's shirt with his jaws and started to carefully drag him through the snow towards the location of the human dwelling.

As far as the werewolf had ever been able to tell only one human lived there and they seemed cut off from the rest of their world, much like the werewolf was from his own kind. He stopped behind a bush ten feet from the small log cabin and changed once more into his human form. He wasn't sure why he was helping this vampire, he had nothing to gain from it.

"One human lives here, you need to eat."

It was sad that the werewolf wasn't going to be offering his blood to him. To think, too, his blood smelled the sweetest he'd encountered in his entire life. Though he'd met two other humans with the same scent, he never got a taste of them because his brother got them as wives. Sadly, in order to create a vampire out from a human, they have to be drained of their blood and take in the the blood of a vampire in any way possible. Even through intercourse would do as long as the vampire was wounded down there.

When he'd felt himself be carefully grabbed of the back of his shirt, he found himself idly wondering what it was that the werewolf was thinking. The vampire couldn't help but be surprised at the wolf's words. He had enough strength, at least, to turn his head up a little to look at the redhead. He'd changed again, it seemed. A small, weak smile touched his lips and he'd let his head fall back to the snow. His hands could move but he still couldn't move his legs. The half of his body was useless because of his broken spine.

"Put me in front of the man's door and knock on it," he told him, "I'll take care of him then."

The werewolf seemed intent on the door of the cabin but his ears caught what the vampire said to him. Tilting his head a little he looked down at the other and wondered if he'd really be able to do it on his own. Broad shoulders shrugged a little before he picked the vampire up much like one would do a cat, as if he was afraid to be scratched or bitten.

He half dragged, half carried the vampire to the front porch of the small cabin and set him down before knocking on the door and moving to wait around the side. He wasn't a huge fan of human contact, he only did so when necessary. Most of what the werewolf required to survive he got from the forest. It was the winter months when he had to go to the village to find enough food.

He crouched down and peered around the side of the cabin to watch. He could have just left then and there; nothing more to do if the vampire gained enough blood to heal his wounds faster.

There was a grumpy man that opened the door when he'd heard the knock. The vampire saw it and he looked up a the man. He was still wearing his bloodied clothes and he could have been very well thought of as dead with the horrified look he saw on the stranger. It amused him, and at the same time worried him that he couldn't deal this on his own but luckily for him, the man did as he had planned. He had come close - not too close at an arm's length, though - and frowned at the vampire. "Who are you?" he asked, already having put his defenses down when he'd seen the male on the ground bloodied up and 'wounded'. He couldn't see past the dark shirt the vampire was wearing, damp with the snow that melted on his clothes.

"There is a wolf here. It's best for you not to be here," he told the male on the ground. "My legs are useless, if you would... perhaps a little help, sir?" When the man hesitated, the vampire gave him a gentle smile - one that seemed to entice the said man. Even a man who'd cut himself off from the world cannot turn his back on the ethereal beauty that laid down on the ground for him. Carnal pleasure was the first thing the vampire saw spark in the human's eyes and he'd taken that to his advantage. When the man had came closer and had taken his hand to start pulling him up, the said parasite reached up with his free hand to grab ahold of the man's shirt. Before the man could even start pulling away, the vampire's fangs bared and sunk deep into the man's neck, into the veins that throbbed quickly with fear.

Shock took over the man's body and the vampire took this to his advantage, he wrapped his arms around the human's shoulders and took all of his blood until the man turned as pale as the snow. His blood wasn't as sweet as he'd thought and by the time he'd finished up drinking him, he'd taken his fangs back and licked his own lips. It wasn't enough to fill him but it was, at least, enough to make his spine recuperate quicker. His guts may not be able to be formed again but this didn't stop the vampire. He pushed the human off of him with an ounce of his strength and slowly pushed himself to sit up. His spine was starting to form and he turned his head towards the scent of the werewolf that helped him.

"Thank you," he told the werewolf, gratitude apparent in his voice, "I owe you my life."

Yellow eyes watched intently from their place by the side of the house. He'd never seen a vampire feed before, and he noticed that it wasn't too much different from many predators. Taking the prey by the neck until they stopped squirming. He wasn't sure but he didn't think that a vampire always had to drain the full body of blood, but of course he wasn't about to find that out for himself.

"Imagine still you need place to hide?" asked the werewolf, his speech a little broken due to his lack of contact. The humans of the village always thought he was a foreigner visiting and never paid it any mind. "House good as any," he continued tilting his head a little and moving out from the side of the house.

There was no longer any reason to hide. He moved forward cautiously looking more at the corpse than the vampire now. "Should get rid of body?" he asked looking up at the vampire now. The werewolf would easily be able to dig a hole into the ground to bury the body but he wasn't sure if maybe the vampire had other ideas.

Vampires, indeed, didn't feed too differently from other predators. They were still human, though, in form and just, well, a living corpse so to speak. When the werewolf had started to speak, he noticed the other's speech but he didn't pay it any mind. In fact, his amusement rose a bit. "Ah," was what he'd managed to say before he'd smiled. So it seemed that the werewolf had that in mind. "It's perfect, thank you."

Just as he was about to try and get up to his feet, the vampire found himself blinking at the other's next words. "We should," he told him with a nod before he'd brought a hand up to his shirt. He, on the other hand, needed a clean shirt. "Can you do it?" he asked the werewolf, slowly moving to get himself up to his feet. It was a little difficult to have his upper body straighten up but at least, he didn't feel the scraping of his broken spine against each other when the werewolf had dragged him a little while ago. "Will you need any help?"

"Should be okay by myself," said the werewolf looking over the body once more. Again his form shifted to that of the large red wolf and he picked up the human's body by the shirt. His ears swiveled forward towards the vampire before he started to back away from the door dragging the body along with him. To him it was a lot easier to move the body while in wolf form and it would be easier to dig a hole with his paws than to spend time finding a shovel or something.

Disappearing around the side of the house the werewolf found a spot that looked fairly easy to dig up. He began to scratch and paw at the frozen ground. It would give the vampire some time to find new clothes within the small cottage and to clean up. There werewolf was happy to dig a hole, somewhat at home with the dog-like activity.

Once he had finished and had deposited the body into the earth and covered it up he went back to the cottage. While the vampire had gotten a meal the werewolf was hungry and his trip into the village had been delayed. He was certain that the cottage should contain something edible to eat. Back in human form he started to poke around the cabinets in the kitchen.

The vampire was still searching for clothes even when the werewolf had finished burying the body. When he had found one, he smiled a little to himself and blinked towards the werewolf's way who was poking around the cabinets in the kitchen. "Hungry?" he asked him as he'd started to unbutton his bloody long shirt. Taking it off and revealing his pale skin underneath, he seemed to have a lithe body that wasn't as big as the redhead's but enough to say he cared much about his body back when he was still alive. He moved back out to search for the pump and he'd pumped a bit of water into some clean clothe he'd found in the cottage to clean himself off of the blood. His finger mindlessly ran through where the wound once was and noted how amazed he was by the werewolf's healing ability.

It was his first time to meet a werewolf. He's heard of them but he's never really had contact with one until now. Heading back into the cottage, the vampire slipped on the plain white and a little worn-out shirt. It fit well with the black pants he was still wearing. The hems of the pants were tucked into boots that ended up below his knees. With the vampire now standing in his full height, one could see the gracefulness of his movement while he walked to the cabinets. He didn't think he could make food. It's been a while. But, soup shouldn't be so hard to make, right?

He found a stove and some items he could boil. There were even a little bit of ingredients he could use to make the soup sticky. "Get me some water outside," he told the werewolf as he'd smiled at him, "My apologies, I could only offer to make soup. I don't know any other dishes to cook."

The werewolf brought his head out of the cabinet as he heard the vampire speak. There was a slight nod of his head to the question. While there were plenty of things in boxes and cans; the cans stumping the werewolf as to what was inside them because he couldn't smell the contents, the boxes all smelled vaguely the same to him as well. So on top of his broken speech one could add an inability to read.

Tilting his head to one side the werewolf considered the vampire as he returned inside the cottage. He'd been told that vampires were not to be trusted, that they were above humans for creatures to avoid. But he no longer had a pack to worry about so he didn't see the harm in finding out more about this supposedly dangerous creature; who so far had proven to be polite and nice.

Blinking slightly he nodded his head and went outside to the pump where he knew there would be a bucket for the water. He'd seen the human use it so it didn't take him long to get enough water out of it to fill the bucket and bring it back inside. Once back inside his gaze shifted to the ingredients the vampire had gotten out.

The vampire was glad he could read and at the same time, he was glad the werewolf was easy to talk to. Not much vampires like him liked being ordered around so to have someone do what he says was oddly nice. "Thank you," he told the werewolf when he'd seen him come back with the bucket of water. Taking the pot he'd found under one of the cabinets, he'd gotten a bit of the said water from the bucket and started boiling the water. It took him a while to know how to get the fire running. He'd even gotten some burns and got a little of his hair burned out from that.

If he were alive, that would've had been a really painful thing and would've had made his heart race but he didn't have much blood in him to make him feel human again. It was rare for him to be really full so he did miss the feeling. Plus, he was glad he didn't have much blood in him. If he had, he would be afraid he'd scare the werewolf away with him drooling at how sweet the scent the other's blood is.

In what seemed to be a couple of minutes, the vampire had turned the fire off - with much difficulty as well - and went to put the soup in a big bowl. He put it on the table and smiled at the werewolf. "I'm not sure if it's good enough," he told him, "I don't have the taste for food." The vampire took the couple of strands of his hair that had been burned and pursed his lips a little. Maybe... I should've pulled my hair back.

The werewolf stood back a ways watching with curious eyes. He blinked a little as the other burned himself and wondered if it hurt. To him it would have stung, he wasn't used to fire or really anything in the house really. He'd lived in the woods all his life, he was one of the few born werewolves that still existed. So despite his curious nature he was older than he seemed, naive to the ways of humans but knowledgeable of his own kind and of the taboos surrounding vampires. There had been wars in the past but he had kept his pack out of them, he hoped that the new alpha would do the same.

Every now and then he stepped closer to peer over the vampire's shoulder. However he did not stay close long as he paced back to the other end of the kitchen after each glance over the other's shoulder. "Sure it's fine," said the werewolf sniffing the air and looking at the bowl. It was weird to eat in his human form so once again the large wolf took his place. His body was high enough that he could easily reach the bowl with his mouth and he licked up the soup in record time.

There had, indeed, been wars between vampires and werewolves in the past and though he may not be proud of it, he'd been part of it. There had been a lot of lives killed by these hands of his, blood that can never be washed off in any form, and his guilt that still played in his nightmares whenever he'd sleep in the mornings. Though he don't normally kill humans like what he'd done a while ago, he could sense the willpower of the said human to kill the vampire if he left him alive. He can't also have him after the head of the one who'd saved him, this werewolf.

The vampire watched with wide eyes as the werewolf drank - or ate? - the bowl of soup in his wolf form. He was surprised. He hadn't really gotten used to seeing someone eat so messily. Not that he knew he should comment but he couldn't help but ask, "Do you want the whole pot?" The vampire let go of his hair and motioned to the pot with a rather amused smile playing on his lips. Honestly, seeing this rather animalistic side of the werewolf made him remember the one who'd saved him was a wolf and just part human. "We could cool the soup by putting the pot out on the snow."

Before this particular werewolf had been a pack alpha he'd participated in one or two of the wars. But it seemed so long ago that he forgot what the point was. It was curious how open minded he was given he wasn't a young pup anymore and hadn't been for quite some time. There might even be a few vampires that would recognize his wolf form, it was after all a rather unique color. But generally those vampires that had met him in battle hadn't lived to tell the tale.

A long tongue licked across the wolf's muzzle, a little of the soup dripping down the fur off his chin. It never occurred to him that he had no manners. His ears perked forward at the questions and nodding his large head trotted towards the door expecting that the vampire would follow with the pot. That red and black tail of his swishing happily.

The vampire couldn't help but feel very much amused at the wolf and his traits that seemed to resemble that of a dog. He remembered having a dog once but even that was very long ago. Only fragments of it remains in his memory after the numerous and countless of centuries that had flew past him. He took the pan's handles with his hands. They had burned him but he wasn't at all affected by the pain. There was a tinge of it, but just the tiniest feeling that was bearable at least. Following the large, red-furred wolf out the small cabin, he put the pot onto the snow and felt himself cringe a little.

It seemed that he'd overused his back. Looking at his pale hands that had horizontal burns on them, he bent down a little to grab a handful of snow. They didn't melt because of the warmth of his hands. He didn't have any of that. They melted because of the burn he got from the pan. "Enjoy," he told the wolf as he'd smiled a soft smile towards it. Odd how he seemed to be calm around the wolf even though he was believed to be quite fearful. After the things the wolf had done for him, he couldn't bring himself to fear him. He didn't even smell fear from the wolf. He'd only smelled the hint of child-like curiosity and wonder from the other.

It was a great change from the usual doings of his other fellow vampires.

The wolf noticed a little that the other seemed to be suffering some kind of pain, though the vampire was masking it quite well. Settling his large body down into a seated position his tail thumped at the snow watching the steam from the pot. His ears flicked casually as he waited for it to cool down. Once he was quite certain that the soup was cool enough to consume he leaned over it and started to lap up the contents hungrily. It did not take him long to finish off the soup.

Once done he stood back up and grabbed the pot by one of the handles and started to drag it back into the house, he guessed that was where it belonged so best to bring it back in.

Blinking at the werewolf dragging the pot back into the house, he found himself laughing quietly. If anything, his savior was acting like a well-trained dog of some sort. Following the wolf back into the house, he shut the door behind him to stop the cold from coming in too quickly and walked to the wolf's side. "I'll take care of it," he told him, reaching out for the first time to touch the side of the other's face. Maybe the other would feel his cold hand, maybe not, as he'd waited for the other to let go of the pot before he took it to put it in the sink.

"Where do you stay at?" the vampire asked as he'd turned to look at the wolf. He used up the rest of the leftover water from the bucket to wash the pot - or at least rinse it - and leave it there. "And, I seem to have forgotten my manners. My name is Alair. Thank you again for saving me."

The werewolf on instinct locked his jaw around the pot handle but seeing that the other only wished to take care of it he let up and backed away. He sat down on the wood floor scratching behind one ear with a hind leg as the vampire washed the pot. He stood back up when the vampire was done and more questions were asked. Again his form shifted to that of a human's. He could not, after all, speak as a wolf at least not to a vampire.

"Stay wherever it is dry," said the werewolf, he understood humans slept in their houses on soft beds, it had been a very long time sense the wolf had stayed in a house. "Alair," he repeated the name testing how it felt to pronounce it, "I am Shiro."

The vampire smiled again when the other had tried his name out. Though it sounded a little awkward coming from the wolf, it wasn't all that bad when it was pronounced. "It's a pleasure finally knowing your name, Shiro," he told the wolf as he'd nodded and looked around the cabin, yet again. Alair settled his gaze back again on the other. "Is there a town nearby, as well?" He could smell the faint smell of a mixture of scents - ones that aren't as pleasing as the werewolf's though. They also seem to be smelling of excitement and anxiety. Was there a festival of the sorts coming up?

"A few miles from here," said Shiro nodding his head a little. He didn't know exactly how far it was just that it didn't take him much time to get there while in wolf form. Moving from the kitchen the wolf headed into the living room. There wasn't much there except a fireplace, which had a small fire in it probably from the human after all it'd been a short time sense they killed him and it seemed that the fireplace was one of the few things that provided the cottage with heat. Shiro looked next to the fireplace noticing the logs for the fire, he picked one up and tossed it in. Sometimes he remembered things about when one lived in a house such as this. Other than the fireplace there was a fold out couch and an antique looking wingback chair, also in one corner the wolf noticed a bookshelf full of old books, or so it appeared to him that they were old.

"Hm," he said thoughtfully before he'd blinked at the other moving around the house. He silently watched him, his head tilting just a little when he seemed to be caught up with the fire. Now that he could see the other up-close and in better view, he had to say, the other really was handsome and his red fur when he was in his wolf form was rather unique. The vampire moved to stand beside the wolf. Looking at the fireplace, he lifted his hand a little. He couldn't feel any warmth from it. "The people in the village seem to be excited about something," he told the other before he'd looked at him and followed his gaze to the bookshelf.

Alair was surprised. He moved towards the bookshelf and skimmed through the titles. There were different genres, he'd noticed, but one part of the shelf seemed to be dedicated about werewolves. As if remembering something, the vampire frowned a bit. "Shiro, don't you have a pack?" he asked as he'd turned to look over to him, "Wife or maybe, little cubs?"

"Festival time," Shiro said slightly looking up from the fire and out the window. It was one of the few times of the year that he felt safe enough to venture into the village. People seemed to notice him less with the increase in visitors from other places. He liked the festival too, and actually spent some time watching the people move about.

"Used to," he said a bit forlornly. It had been years since he'd been challenged and lost. There were still scars on the back of his neck hidden under his red hair that marked him as the exile that he was. He may have been a bit of a legend in his youth but now he was little more than an outcast.