the blood pack

blood pack chapter 3

THE BLOOD PACK

Chapter Three: The First Hunt

The horn echoed through the forest, followed by complete silence. Darius stood at the edge of the mansion grounds, staring into the darkness between the trees. He could smell them now. Humans. Dozens of them. Their blood carried the sharp scent of fear, but beneath it was something else—silver, gunpowder, and the bitter smoke of weapons designed specifically to kill vampires.

"Nobody leaves my sight," Darius ordered.

Victor smiled.

"Finally."

Darius turned toward him. "This isn't a game."

Victor's smile disappeared.

Seraphina stepped beside Darius. "They're surrounding the house."

Darius looked at her.

"How many?"

"Twenty-three."

Marcus's eyes widened. "You counted them already?"

Seraphina nodded.

Adrian stared at her in disbelief. "I can barely hear ten."

Seraphina looked toward the trees.

"That's because they're trying not to be heard."

Darius felt a strange chill run through him. Her senses were stronger than any vampire he had ever encountered. He had been alive for nearly two hundred years, and yet Seraphina seemed to hear things even he couldn't.

Suddenly, an arrow flew from the darkness.

Darius knocked it aside.

The arrow exploded against a tree, sending pieces of burning wood across the ground.

"Move!"

The pack scattered.

Victor charged into the forest first, moving faster than any human could see. He struck the first hunter before the man could raise his weapon. Marcus followed, disappearing into the trees. Adrian attacked from the opposite side while Lucian moved silently behind the enemy line.

Seraphina remained beside Darius.

"Go," he told her.

She shook her head.

"I'm staying with you."

Another arrow flew.

This time Seraphina caught it.

Darius stared.

The arrow was coated in silver.

Seraphina snapped it in half.

"Interesting," she said.

Then she disappeared.

Darius barely saw her move.

One moment she was standing beside him. The next, three hunters were thrown through the trees.

Lucian watched from a distance.

"Who is she?"

Victor heard him.

"Doesn't matter."

Lucian smiled.

"It matters to me."

Victor's eyes turned dark.

Before he could respond, another hunter attacked him with a silver blade. Victor blocked the strike, but the blade cut across his shoulder. Smoke rose from the wound.

Victor screamed.

Seraphina appeared behind the hunter.

She grabbed him and threw him into the ground.

Victor looked at her.

"You saved me."

Seraphina extended her hand.

"You're part of my pack."

Victor hesitated before taking it.

Across the clearing, Darius watched the exchange.

Something about it bothered him.

He didn't know why.

The battle continued for nearly an hour. The hunters were well trained, but the vampires were faster and stronger. Eventually, the remaining humans fled into the forest.

Darius ordered the pack to stop chasing them.

"Let them go."

Victor looked furious.

"They'll come back."

"I know."

Seraphina looked toward the direction the hunters had escaped.

"No," she said quietly.

Darius turned toward her.

"They won't come back."

"How do you know?"

She looked at him.

"Because those weren't the hunters I was talking about."

The pack went silent.

Seraphina looked toward the distant mountains.

"That was only their scouting party."

Darius felt the weight of her words.

"How many are coming?"

Seraphina's expression changed.

"Enough to destroy every vampire in this city."

Nobody spoke.

Then a distant scream echoed through the forest.

It wasn't human.

It was vampire.

The pack immediately turned toward the sound.

Darius looked at Seraphina.

"Stay close."

She nodded.

They moved through the trees together.

But behind them, Victor and Lucian exchanged a look.

The hunt had ended.

The jealousy had begun.