Chapter 4
1117 Words
I thought we were going to die that night.
The fight was worse than anything we had ever faced. The claws, teeth, blood and everything, it was just a blur. I couldn’t tell which scream was mine and which belonged to the intruders. But somehow, by some miracle, we survived. My brothers fought like wolves born for war, and I tried not to get in the way, even though fear wrapped around my throat like smoke.
When the intruder and his pack finally ran away like cowards scrambling back into the shadows, they left my brothers bleeding and breathless. Brendan’s arm dripped steadily, Brian’s shirt was torn, and Bradford….. Bradford’s eyes glowed with a quiet rage.
Back at home, they sat me in the middle of the room like a fragile thing. Brendan complained the loudest.
“This is getting worse,” he growled as he cleaned his wounds. “We can’t let her walk around freely anymore.”
Bradford didn’t even speak. He sat sharpening his claws, every slow scrape filled with anger I knew he was trying to control. Brian tried to smile at me, but even he winced at the pain shooting through him.
They all blamed themselves. They always did.
They said if something happened to me, they would never forgive themselves. So they doubled the guards. Brendan started sleeping outside my door every night. Brian followed me whenever I walked, pretending it was a “coincidence.” And Bradford? Bradford watched me like I was a ticking bomb waiting to explode.
At first, it felt comforting. But then it began to feel like a cage closing around me.
After days of silence and tension, I begged them to let me take one walk outside, just one. I said I needed fresh air. They refused, of course. But Brian eventually sighed and gave in. He agreed to follow from a distance. I promised not to go far.
The sky was gray that evening, heavy like it wanted to cry. The woods were darker than usual. I could hear every snap of a twig, every rustle, every whisper the wind carried through the trees. My heartbeat quickened. And for the first time in years, Elder Sofeya’s prophecy echoed in my mind.
“One day, your steps will lead you to something that will change everything.”
No one believed her.
Not even me
Until I saw him...
At first, it was just a shadow between two trees. But then it moved, and I saw eyes.
Not golden or wolf-like.
It was red.
Bright, burning red… like fire trapped in glass.
My whole body froze.
A vampire.
In our woods.
I knew I should have run. I knew I should have screamed. But I stood there like the ground held my feet hostage.
He didn’t attack me. He didn’t even blink. He just stared at me like he knew me, like he had been searching for me in every forest. His clothes were torn, his hair messy, and he looked lost… but his eyes carried secrets I couldn’t even begin to understand.
Something inside me pulled forward, even though every wolf instinct in me screamed to stay back.
I found my voice. Somehow.
“Who… who are you?”
His lips parted slightly, but no sound came out. He looked like he wanted to speak, like the words were trapped behind something he couldn’t break through.
My knees trembled. A vampire so close? This was wrong, dangerous and forbidden.
My brothers would kill him on sight. And maybe me after.
But I didn’t run.
Then there was a snap.
A twig behind me.
I turned around and it was
Brian.
He was running toward me so fast I barely had time to breathe.
I turned back to the vampire and he was gone.
He vanished like smoke.
Brian grabbed my arm. “Braya! Are you okay? What happened? What did you see?”
I swallowed hard.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “Just… nothing.”
But the truth pulsed in my chest.
Not nothing.
Everything.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. Every time I blinked, I saw those red eyes glowing in the dark. I felt his stare like a mark on my skin…. like he had found something in me he wasn’t supposed to find.
I didn’t know his name.
I didn’t know his story.
But I knew my life had just split into a before and an after.
*************
When Brian brought me home, the others were waiting.
Bradford stood at the door with his arms crossed. Brendan paced back and forth like he was waiting for someone to give birth. The tension was thick enough to choke on.
“What happened?” Bradford asked sharply.
Brian stayed silent for a moment. Then he sighed. “She walked too far, I told her not to.”
My heart was still racing. I stared at the floor.
Bradford stepped closer, eyes narrowing. “Braya… did you see anything?”
I clenched my fingers. “No,” I whispered. “Just the trees.”
He didn’t believe me. I could see it in the way his jaw tightened.
Brendan knelt beside me. His voice was soft, too soft.
“Braya, if there’s danger, you have to tell us. We can’t protect you if you lie.”
I hated the guilt rising in my chest. But I held my ground.
“I said I saw nothing.”
There was a heavy, tense silence.
Then Bradford spoke again. “From now on, you’re not leaving this house without me. Do you understand?”
I nodded. Slowly.
But deep inside…..
I knew I had seen something my brothers would kill for.
A vampire boy with a mystery with red eyes.
And even
though he vanished into the shadows, I could still feel him watching me and waiting.
Like the prophecy had finally begun.
- Writer
