Blood Hunt

Chapter One

Thunder crashed, the sound reverberating through the woods and sending the woodland animals into hiding from the treacherous downpour, or that’s what an ordinary individual would think at first glance aided by moonlight. However, lightning flashed illuminating the lone figure bent over a boulder. It struggled to lift its weight from the boulder, but when it finally did, it began stalking toward the barn in the distance. Its gait was unsteady, impeded by the weakness generated from over 600 years of forced slumber. A slumber without proper nutrition, he could smell the wetness of the earth squelching beneath his bare feet as he trudged through the muddy forest floor. Eventually, he burst from the edge of the woods, clutching a tree and breathing heavily from the effort it took to travel. His hardened stare was on the barn in front of him. He could hear the rhythmic beating of a human heart, and it flooded him with such immense hunger that he began salivating. Resolutely, he heaved himself off the tree and stumbled until he arrived at the barn door. This time, he could smell the fresh blood of the human inside, and it was exhilarating. A grin split his lips, revealing sharpened, yellowed fangs. With a shove, he opened the door and happened upon his meal.

Elina’s happy whistle as she threw a bale of hay onto the stack she had meticulously pilled, stopped when she heard the doors open. “Jason, I told you to” her words dried in her throat when she turned around to meet the rundown figure before her. “Jason!” was the last word she uttered before the figure lunged at her and sank his teeth into her carotid artery. Warm, delectable blood pumped into him as he drank greedily. Whimpers and moans escaped from her mouth as she struggled weakly against his hold. With every drink, he felt his strength and vigor returning.

Victor was invested in the fresh and tasty meal in front of him as he dug his fangs into her neck, proceeding to suck her dry of every ounce of blood in his victim. He could tell she was in her mid-sixties and had a B+ blood type, feeding basically on vegetables which made her blood have a sweet and tangy taste, and all her underlying ailments. Victor was still drinking when he felt a sudden air of bloodlust targeted towards him, the thought of someone having murderous intent towards him a few hours after awakening filled him with a thrill. Viktor had not felt more alive in centuries. “Get away from her!” he yelled c*****g the riffle at the door side and started firing shots into the creature that was draining his wife of her life’s blood. Jason was shocked at seeing the creature rise and turn to face him, fear ran down his spine as he saw the most malicious smile he has ever seen, and the beast started walking towards him with stride. Muttering a prayer with fear, Jason fired rounds at the creature again. Victor moving swiftly from side to side, dodged most of the bullets, with some piercing him but doing no dangerous damage, and within seconds he had covered the distance between himself and Jason. Choosing not to kill him but have a little fun, Victor parried the gun from his attacker’s hands, lifted him with one hand, and flung him to the wall. Jason could swear the creature was at the other end of the barn, but in seconds he saw himself in the air and moving towards the other end of the barn, bracing himself from impact and expecting to hit the ground painfully, but instead found himself hanging on the air, it appeared that the creature has somehow also managed to return to this end of the barn and caught him midair. Victor was having his fill of thrill as he punched the air out of his victim’s lungs and flung him against the wall. Victor could hear the speed at which Jason’s heart pounded against his chest and his gasps from pain and the need for air. Jason fell right beside his wife and was still trying to get air into his lungs when he turned and saw his wife’s lifeless body, he knew he would soon succumb to the same fate, as tears trickled down his face, he prayed his daughter does not make it in time to be in this mess. Victor watched as the weak man struggled to stand and was glad his toy was not so feeble and had not broken, whistling and walking towards the struggling figure, fantasizing how he would kill his prey. Dragging Jason by the hair and turning his head until their faces were inches away from touching each other, suddenly feeling a sharp burning sensation as something pierced his rib side. Jason had picked up his wife’s hairpin, a gift he had given her earlier today as they celebrated their anniversary. Sensing the creature walking towards him, he waited until Viktor grabbed him, then drove the silver weapon into Victor’s side. Throwing Jason into the air and still feeling the burning sensation from the weapon logged in him, Victor forcefully pulled off the pin, wincing at both the injury and the burning on his hands while pulling out the object in him. Angrily walking towards Jason and determined to kill and drain his fluids, Victor pauses midway after hearing a horse neigh, followed by the door opening. “Dad what’s keeping-” the girl stops in her tracks trying to understand what was happening. While in shock when her eyes met with the yellow glow in the dark, screaming as she ran out of the barn. Strength from nowhere filled Jason as he rose and rushed the creature shouting “Run Olivia, RUN!!”. The thought of losing his daughter to the same creature he lost his wife to made him losing his own life be an understatement. Catching and strangling Jason midair in his attack, Victor sank his teeth into him and drained him as he struggled to pull free. His body went limp after much drinking, and Victor dropped his dried prey. He could still hear the panting and the fast pounding of her heart from a mile away, the meal had heightened his senses, and he was almost at his best again.

Victor takes a while to heal and shapeshift into a young, beautiful man, with flawless skin, and dark wavy hair. He retracted his pointy ears, and then using magic, he hid his fangs, as he steps out to go after his new chase.

Hurriedly running and trying to navigate the forest in the storm was proving very difficult as rain and tears flowed down her face, tasting the saline mixture of her running nose, tears, and the cold rain. She couldn’t get the picture of what she saw out of her head, what seemed to be her lifeless mum poorly illuminated by the flashes of Zeus bolts. Then her dad was fighting for his life with whatever was in there, she has never felt fear so crippling as what she felt at that point, the yellow gaze that peered into her soul, his sharp fangs, pointy ears, and pale skin, looking like a creature that came straight out of the movies, but she knew that this is real. Even as fatigue crept into her muscles, she could still hear her dad screaming and telling her to run. At this point, her tears were battling the rain for dominance over her face. Stopping to rest on the trunk of a nearby tree, she dozed off. Woken by the rustling of bushes, fear filled her as she waits to see the vile creature again until a squirrel ran out of the bush near her. Standing, she continued running again, exhausted but pumped by sheer adrenaline and her dad’s instructions to run. Poor Olivia was running out of juice and fast. “Is this the end for me too” was the only thought going through her mind as she fell on what seemed to be the sloppy side of the forest. She tried standing again and lost her footing, rolling down the slope and screaming.

As Viktor goes outside into the rain, shivers ran down his spine as the cold water hit his sensitive skin, he must have not been bothered by this feeling earlier because all he thinking about was his meal. Lowering his body temperature to rhyme with the rain, he started moving in the direction he thought the girl moved in. He found tracing the girl quite difficult as he couldn’t use his senses to their maximum because his attention was on keeping a low temperature, pausing in his tracks and trying to locate the nearest shade to use his sonar abilities, he heard a scream, and that scream was all he needed to be pointed in the right direction, shifting gears, he sped in the direction the sound came from, tingling from excitement and with a refreshed vigor he increased his speed.

Finally coming to a halt in her descent, Olivia was already bruised up and had fallen into a garlic plantation. The stinging scent of garlic hit her nose as she struggled to pull up her bruised-up body. Parts of the garlic she fell on brushed the injuries she sustained falling, and with a wince, she jolted away from the plant. Upon her trial to stand pain from her sprained ankle hit her and momentarily caused her to sit down. She stood again, but this time with much caution, and began to hop towards the church in front of the plantation. Taking a while to get used to the new feeling of walking with a sprained ankle, she increased her hoping pace as she prays to find redemption and refuge from the house of God. Arriving at the huge gates of the church resembling a good depiction of the gates of heaven from her favorite cartoon movie, “the golden knight”. This was not the best moment to start thinking about cartoons, her life was in danger from what she surely thought was the devil himself. Slowly creaking open the gates, she slipped in and hopped towards the church door.

Approaching the spot the sound came from, he tried to see if he could follow her scent, but the rain seems to be on her side as all he could perceive was the musky scent of rain on the soil. Spotting a trail that looked like something was dragged along the muddy forest floor, and speeding down the trail, he was punished with a harsh burning sensation from his eyes, nose, and skin. He has not felt this way since the last time he faced a witch hunter sent from the catholic church and he could certainly tell that somehow, he had landed in a garlic-infested area. Scanning the area, he saw that it was a cleared vast area, with only garlic planted in the whole area, and a building that appeared to be a church was on the horizon. Jumping backward away from the garlic plantation and into the landslide from the forest, he tried to heal up and strategize on how to capture his prey, the tingling from the thrill of capturing the girl was turning him on, the fight she had put up makes her a very worthy meal, he could not wait to taste the fear and over secreted adrenaline in her blood. The storm was letting up, revealing a starless sky illuminated by the bright kiss of the moon’s smile. The air was now chilly and he could let his temperature return to normal as he began focusing his senses to catch the slightest trace of the girl, he could hear different heartbeats coming from the church, but one stood aside as it pounded so fast without a definite cardiac rhythm, letting a grin carve out on his face knowing he had located his precious prey, he launched himself unto a tree nearby and jumped over the vast land of garlic plantation, his horizontal leap was so far you could assume that he flew across the field. The heartbeat grew stronger the closer he came to the building, there were other humans, but no one was so close to the girl, he could tell she was in a separate section of the building, he could no longer hold back his anticipation, he flash stepped towards the church with alarming speed.