Chapter 2: Blood and Fire
318 Words
Luca couldn’t take his eyes off her.
She stepped out from behind the tall boy who had spoken first — wild hair like firelight, eyes a fierce, untamed gray. She looked around Luca’s age, maybe a year older, but she moved like a predator, graceful and sharp.
“This is him?” she asked, tilting her head.
The boy nodded. “Fresh blood. First shift.”
Her gaze raked over Luca — the torn clothes, the dried blood on his hands, the dazed look in his eyes. A smirk curled her lips.
“He lived through it. Impressive.”
Luca tried to speak, but his throat burned. “Who… are you people?”
The girl stepped closer. She smelled like pine, sweat, and something darker—something intoxicating.
“My name’s Raine, and you’re on our land,” she said. “Which means your life belongs to us now.”
His pulse jumped. Not just from fear—there was something electric between them. Dangerous. Magnetic.
“You changed last night,” she continued, circling him slowly. “The full moon brought out what your blood’s been hiding. You’re not human anymore, Luca. You’re one of us.”
A howl rose in the distance—closer this time.
Raine’s eyes flashed. “We don’t have time for explanations.”
Suddenly, branches cracked—fast movement in the woods.
“Hunters,” the boy spat. “They must’ve tracked the scent.”
“Get him up,” Raine snapped. “He either runs with us… or dies here.”
Luca’s legs barely worked, but when Raine grabbed his arm, fire surged through him—not pain. Something else. A pulse. A pull. Like his soul recognized hers.
She looked back at him once as they ran through the trees, lips close to his ear.
“You feel it too, don’t you?”
He didn’t answer. But he did.
- Writer
