Blood Moon

4 | The Feeding

"Mother! Mother!" 

...

"MOTHER!" I shouted upon awakening. Ciro immediately goes to my treehouse to check. 

He sees me sitting on my bed looking blankly at the wooden wall. 

"Mother... mother..." 

"Selene, are you alright?" he asked concerned. 

"I... I..." I stammer and look down at my hands. "I.. I saw..." 

"What? What did you see?" asks Ciro. 

I looked into his eyes, tears about to well up when...

"Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!" 

A blood-curdling scream was heard from outside. Ciro quickly runs to where it is and I follow right after. 

Ciro holds his bow firmly with his right hand and places the other hand behind his head -ready to draw an arrow. 

Vida, Arlo, Damon, and the others were startled by the scream who are now outside of their houses. 

Slowly, Ciro approaches the large tree to where the scream came from. Vida, Arlo, Damon and I follow suit. 

And there, in the dark, a ghastly figure is crouched in all fours devouring some sort of animal - no wait - a human! 

Ciro shot an arrow to it but missed. The figure is quick to dodge Ciro's hit and hisses back at us before scampering away. All we could see was its grayish pale skin, red piercing eyes, and bloodied clothes. 

We look closely as to who the human is but we could no longer identify because of its grotesque state. All we could tell was that it was female. She was probably a survivor from another camp.

The whole tribe is alerted and are preparing for a possible ambush.

Arlo is stretching his legs and arms, ready to sprint and lead the predators to Damon's traps. Vida is swirling her knife and passing it from one hand to the other, focused on killing anything that dares to come close. Gus and the twins' father stand side by side along with their wooden spears, positioned to throw at any minute. Ciro stands above ground ready to snipe out attackers from afar with his arrow. 

The rest of us are gathered in our hideaway post preparing medicinal herbs while mother Maia is at the top of the highest tree whose command is awaited by the hunters. Ciro stands beside her for protection.

Everyone is anticipating an attack but everything is dreadfully quiet. I look at the window from our common area and see nothing. But all are in-tune with their surroundings. 

"Something's not right," says mother Maia.

"I sense it too," says Ciro. 

"This has never happened before. The Feeding is always havoc. Newborn vampires are very aggressive and famished."  

We continue to prepare medicines and clothes for them when Jermaine screams. 

We look over to where she is and see a Newborn feeding on one of the elders. How could've we missed that!? We all frantically ran out of the hut, screaming and climbed up into our own treehouses, separated from one another. 

"The elders!" says Vida. She turned to see us in panic when suddenly, more Newborns appeared. Two pounced at Vida and the blood bath begins. 

Ciro spots them immediately and proceeds to shoot arrows without mother Maia's go signal. He secures mother Maia behind him and kills two, three then four Newborns. 

Spears were thrown and pulled from the lifeless bodies of the vampires. Arlo ran to the nearest trap, fooling two Newborns to chase him to the woods where they fell into their deaths, impaled by large wooden spikes. 

While I hid in my treehouse, waiting for it all to end. I'm such a coward. I hear more screams but I'm stunned, frozen. I couldn't move. I was paralyzed by fear. 

"There's too many of them!" shouts Vida while tackling Newborns. " We can't kill every one of them the whole night!" 

"We need to evacuate the others!" says Arlo. 

"I'm on it," answers Damon. 

Damon runs to every treehouse to save us. He first goes to mine to ask for my help in gathering the others but when he checked inside he had a puzzled look on his face. I stared at him, waiting for him but the left. I didn't understand. 

" Everyone! Move! Get out of your treehouses and follow Damon!" shouts Ciro, still shooting arrows on the attackers. 

"Mother, I think you should -- Wh--? She's gone! mother Maia's gone!" shouts Ciro. 

"What!?" exclaims Vida as she puts a final blow on the chest of a Newborn. 

They're beginning to become exhausted but continued to fight still.

"I've got to find her!" says Ciro.

"I got your back, man"  answers Gus. He guards the area while Ciro continues to look for mother Maia. 

He kept looking and killing Newborns that got in his way but she was nowhere to be found. 

Damon had already gathered the others, including the twins.  I remained in my treehouse, still distraught; in shock. I stare at the wooden wall for like an eternity, mustering the strength to stand up and help them. 

Meanwhile, Damon prepares for battle as two Newborns start to approach them. He isn't much of a brawler but his quick thinking can save them.

Vida had just stabbed another Newborn when the other approaching vampires suddenly slowed down on their tracks and backs away. However, their bright, red eyes are still fixated at them; observing. 

"They're leaving," says Arlo. They all let their guards down and watched as the Newborn vampires retreat into the darkness of the woods - leaving but blood, the death of three elders and...

"No!!" shouts the father of the twins. He runs to his wife and holds her in his arms. She's dying.

"Don't leave me, amore! No!" he pleads. Panic covers his entire body. "Please! Help her!" he begs for the others. 

I stood in front of my window looking down at all that is happening. I could hear his words clearly.

I look at the husband, grieving and in shock. 

I slowly descend from my treehouse and approach them, carrying my medicines and intend to heal her. But Vida stops me and looks at me, her eyes telling me to just let it be for it is already too late. 

So I stared at the couple in front of us, the husband begging for help. Arlo approaches to see what he can do but knows he could do nothing. Her wounds are too severe and she has lost a lot of blood. Arlo puts his arm at the back of the husband to console him, looked into his eyes, telling him that she's going to go soon.

The husband's tearful eyes widen and he burrows his face to his wife's hair. He weeps at the life of her beloved wife who is fading right in front of his eyes. 

The twins were being pulled by Damon, preventing them from seeing their mother. But Val manages to escape the embrace of Damon and runs toward his mother.   

I will never forget the look on the boy's face. He will never forget this night. They will never be the same. 

"I..I.. lo-ove.. you..." the wife says, manages to point her finger to the children and looks at her husband one last time.  

"I love you." he whispers to her ear as he clutches her tight into his chest and sobs, rocking her back and forth. 

"I promise, I will take care of our children. Please forgive me. Forgive me for not protecting you"

We all cry silently. 

I didn't notice Ciro, who was standing behind me. I turned around to hide my tears and I see him, looking at the parents of the twins with a dark expression on his face. He didn't seem to notice me as I walked away from the scene. I couldn't handle it. It was too much for me. 

Gus sits at the foot of a Breech tree, bloodied and wounded. He stared at a distance. I see him and he says "They've got them" 

I stopped to listen to what he is saying. He looks at me and says "They've got mother Maia...and Jermaine" tears started to fall from his eyes. 

"We couldn't save them, Selene. I couldn't even save the love of my life." as he turned to look at me and wept like a child. I just stood hopeless beside him. 

The night is cruel. It has left us with pain, suffering, and grief. 

It was just earlier when we were laughing together and sharing our dinner but look at how quickly things can change. Now, blood has been shed and our little family is broken. 

And for the first time in our lives, a part of our little family was captured by the vampires and one of them is the most important person from us all.