Chapter 6 – Fangs in the Dark
869 Words
Chapter 6 – Fangs in the Dark
Seren awoke to the pounding of fists against the heavy wooden door.
"Up! Now!"
Lyra’s voice. Sharp, urgent.
Seren scrambled out of bed, heart thundering. The furs tangled around her legs as she grabbed the cloak from the edge of her chair. By the time she opened the door, Lyra was already halfway down the corridor, sword strapped across her back.
"What’s happening?"
"The watch picked up movement on the west border. A breach."
Seren’s breath caught. "Another human?"
Lyra looked back over her shoulder. "Not unless humans have glowing red eyes."
The cold that gripped her had nothing to do with the mountain air.
---
The Moonborne stronghold was a flurry of motion. Warriors shifted mid-run, fur replacing flesh as they leapt into the forest beyond the stone gate. Kaelen stood at the center of the chaos, his voice commanding, giving orders in the old tongue.
When he saw Seren, his jaw clenched.
"You should be inside."
"I’m not helpless."
"You're not trained either."
Lyra stepped between them. "She stays by me. If Lucien's scouts are here, they’ll want to see the girl."
Kaelen didn’t like it. But he nodded.
"Stay close. Don’t speak."
Seren followed them beyond the gates and into the snow-laced trees. The forest was eerily quiet. The howls from earlier had gone still. The pack fanned out, shifting into wolves, their eyes glowing gold and silver as they scanned the shadows.
The scent of smoke drifted through the air.
Then they found it.
A clearing.
The snow had been disturbed—not by paws, but feet. Humanoid footprints. Blood smeared across the bark of trees. A corpse lay sprawled near the center.
It was one of theirs.
Lyra knelt beside the body, pressing a hand to the man’s shoulder.
"It’s Halden," she said. "Third watch."
Kaelen's expression was stone. "Neck snapped. No struggle."
Seren took a step closer, gagging slightly. The man’s throat was torn open. His eyes wide in frozen terror.
Lyra stood. "We’re being hunted."
"Scouts only," Kaelen said. "Testing our lines."
"Or baiting us."
Suddenly, a snarl rang out from the left.
The pack turned.
Three shapes emerged from the tree line. Pale. Lean. Beautiful.
And wrong.
Their skin shimmered like polished bone. Their eyes burned crimson. And their teeth—not two, but rows of jagged points—flashed as they smiled.
"Well, well," one of them purred. "Look what fell through the veil."
Kaelen shifted instantly, fur ripping through his skin. His wolf form was massive, all muscle and fury. He lunged at the speaker.
The vampire moved faster.
Seren barely saw the blur of motion before Kaelen was hurled backward into a tree, bark shattering from the force.
Lyra drew her blade.
The second vampire lunged.
Steel clanged against claw as Lyra parried. Another wolf joined the fray, tackling the third assailant.
Seren stood frozen.
Until one of them looked at her.
The first vampire c****d his head. "So you're the little bridge. I thought you'd be taller."
She backed away.
"Stay away from me."
"Oh, but I came all this way..."
He lunged.
And the world exploded.
A pulse erupted from Seren’s chest—not light, but force. The vampire shrieked as he was thrown back, slamming into a tree and crumpling to the ground.
Everyone froze.
Even the fighting stopped.
The other two vampires hissed.
"She’s awakening."
Kaelen rose from the snow, growling low.
"Go back to your master. Tell him she’s under our protection."
The vampires bared their teeth.
But they vanished into the shadows.
Leaving silence behind.
Seren collapsed to her knees, breathing hard.
Kaelen shifted back to his human form, blood trickling from a cut on his forehead. He walked toward her.
"You have power."
She looked up at him, shaking. "I didn’t mean to—"
"You didn’t control it. It protected you. That’s worse."
"Worse?"
"Because if you can’t control it, it can be turned."
He offered her his hand.
She hesitated. Then took it.
---
Back in the stronghold, the mood was grim. The wounded were tended to, the dead laid out beneath shrouds of pine. Kaelen called a meeting with the inner circle of the Moonborne.
Seren was not invited.
But Lyra found her later, in the tower.
"You need to start training."
"I don’t even know what that was."
"Magic. Or something like it. It comes from bloodlines."
"You think I’m not human."
Lyra hesitated.
"I think you’re not only human."
Seren stood. "Then help me. I can’t be hunted like this. I won’t be useless."
Lyra nodded.
"At dawn. The training fields. Bring everything you have."
"I don’t have anything."
"Then bring that fire I saw in your eyes tonight."
And she left.
---
Far from the mountains, in the depths of a forgotten crypt, Lucien sat upon a throne carved of bone.
The scout knelt before him, trembling.
"She awakened," the vampire rasped. "A pulse. Stronger than expected."
Lucien's smile was slow.
"Good. The blood remembers."
He stood, cloak dragging behind him like smoke.
"The bridge is opening. And I will walk through it."
The scout looked up. "They protect her."
Lucien’s gaze burned.
"Then we burn them all."
- Writer
