Some are born great
Some achieve greatness
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Being a father to their first litter had made him softer, despite his protectiveness over his pups. His love for them swelled within his chest and grew with each day as they grew. But being a father to his second litter? It had driven him to even deeper extremes. The hessian was even sweeter around his pups, wanting to make sure that each of them felt loved. He had had a rather shaky relationship with his father Kalgalath, and even with his older brother Aindreas (or rather half brother), and he wanted to ensure that that never happened to his own pups. Vlad wanted to ensure that they grew up being cared for. However, the rest of the time, the brute had grown nearly obsessed with protecting them, and it had made his Tempest rage burn all the brighter and become even more ferocious. It took very little to set him off when his mate and his pups were not around, and it seemed that always, his blue pools were burning with a cool, hungry fire. And then, of course, the death of his niece made it all the worse - he had known that they were vampires within the lands, but he had not thought that they would be stupid enough to openly attack the rainbows and the tempests. Dierne Hrof was a strong, powerful pack, and murdering the daughter of the king had sent a very strong message that could lead only to one future - war. Except, they were all at a stand still. Aindreas had not sent the word for an attack, and no definitive plans have been made. It made Vladimir antsy - why not just wipe all the vampires out, and have that be their plan? But Aindreas had declined that particular plan of action, and he had said that they needed more tact than that…
Vladimir was not king, but that did not mean that he had to agree with the king. After all, Aindreas was only a temporary ruler, seated upon the throne only until Vladimir came of age. And the prince nearly was - he was perhaps only a shy bit away from his full, matured height, and he had finally passed his awkward lanky teenager phase. His birthday was coming up within the next few weeks, or perhaps a month or two, Vladimir did not know quite when exactly, but it was then that he would take the throne from Aindreas. It would be then and there that he would be the one making all the rules. And if Aindreas had not set about making a war by then… Well then he would. One sudden, unannounced attack to wipe them all out at once. And if there were no vampires left to kill others and turn them, then the only way for another vampire to exist in these lands would be for a tempest to turn themselves. But he and the others were all extremely careful not to touch the rainbows, and so the likelihood of that happening was small.
To digress, the prince was on edge. Each day, he had ran a perimeter around his den, making sure that the area had no scents that he did not recognize, and had no trails of pawprints that were unfamiliar to him. And today was no different then the rest - he had woken before Seraphina and their hoard of pups and had taken off at a gentle run to stretch out his muscles. He had been so busy with his pups that he had been neglecting his training, and though he was still lean and muscles, he was not nearly where he should be out now. No doubt that if he came across his half brother, Vladimir would never hear the end of it. But what did Aindreas know? Aindreas had picked duty over family time and time again, and had let the distraction of that very duty destroy his family. Aindreas had only one remaining son… And Vladimir swore that that would not be the fate of his own offspring. He did not want to outlive any of them, and wished for them to die happy in their dens next to their mates someday far in the future. So what if he was not as strong as he should be right now? He would have plenty of time in the future to pick up where he had left off - after all, he knew how to train, he just had to actually do it again. Not to mention the fact that he currently had no sparring partner - it was hard to practice fighting when one had no one to fight with. And it was right then, that a set of unfamiliar vocals entered his twin towers. Immediately, they fell flat upon his head, and his lips rose high enough to expose his daggers. It had been a long time since a stranger had come unannounced to the pack, and even longer since Vladimir had met with one. He had never been particularly trusting of others, and was naturally suspicious of all strangers. The prince forced his pride down, swallowing the hard lump until it settled uneasily in his stomach. He had to remember that Seraphina had been a stranger once, one that he had not trusted, and now look where they were… And so the titan shook his head and began to trot off toward the boundary, leapt across one of the small streams before easing into a hastened lope.
After the expansion had happened, most of the packlands had become larger. Most now took a full days travel to fully navigate across, and Vladimir and his mate had chosen their den to be a cave in the southernmost aspect of the pack, at the northern border of the lake. Thus, it took a few hours of travel to get to the boundary, and when he did, he was cranky because he was separate from his pups and his mate, and because he hated to admit it, but that bit of a trip had exhausted him. It only spoke further to his level of inactivity and lack of stamina, two things that he was not happy to admit or accept. Perhaps this is what made his tone brusque, his body language aggressive with his elevated spines along his back, his stiffened gait. Or perhaps it was because it thought thought it would make him look more intimidating, and make up for his youth… Perhaps he wanted to imitate his older brother. Whatever the reason, it resulted in the same, and Vladimir released rude words to the stranger passion in front of him.
"I’m Vladimir, the next ruler of this pack. Who the hell are you and what do you want?"
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Some have greatness thrust upon them
~ Soulmate of Seraphina ~ Brother of Castiel ~ Warden of Scamander ~ Heir of Aurora Borealis ~ Sire of Ziva, Qiturah, Cassius.:.Maui, Liora, Ikuseghan, Roan~
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