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1085 Words
He couldn’t fathom what happened. It seemed as if the attackers killed everyone then left, walked away without taking anything. Why? What was the purpose? The boys huddled around a dead campfire in the center square. None spoke for a long time until Roen said, “Something is off. Why doesn’t this look like a killing field?”
“Because,” Alain started, “there is no blood anywhere: the ground, on clothes, on hands. Nothing.”
Trevan looked around again. Alain was right. It looked as if everyone was asleep on the ground. Just passed-out. A few people had the side of their neck ravaged. But the lack of heartbeats in their ears told the truth.
At that point, he knew the vampires to the west had done this. But why? They’d lived alongside each other peacefully for over a century. Well, peacefully except when caught in wolf territory. Even then, his brother just gave them a hard time to remember whose property they were on, then let them go.
The vamps wouldn’t have done this to take over the land, would they? No, that wasn’t a good enough reason to kill his family. Over f*****g dirt? Just to be closer to the human population?
A hardness settled in Trevan’s heart. He would get revenge for the injustice done to those he loved. He would hunt down the vampire who led the attack, tie him up, and watch him bake in the sun. Then the rest of the clan would follow.
The boys gathered the bodies to the center then set the village on fire as they walked away, never to return or see their families again. They planned their own vengeance attack for a few days later after the creatures were forced to escape the sun.
As soon as light spilled over Stone Mountain, the three hiked the woods to where the vampires roosted. Trevan didn’t know what he expected to see when they arrived, but it wasn’t what lay before him now.
The patch of ground the killers called home was little more than several abandoned-looking one-room shacks with a structure resembling a cabin at the end of the dirt path. He didn’t understand why they hadn’t developed the area like his parents did the wolf settlement. And where did they hide from the sun?
They searched the shacks and stumbled across a trapdoor in the dirt. It opened to stairs leading into darkness. That was where they were. Fine by him. He set the stairs on fire and then the shack. The others met the same fate as the first.
When they approached the cabin at the end of the lane, a girl dressed in the fashion of the day stood out front. She couldn’t be a vampire because she was in the sun. So who was she? A terrifying thought crossed his mind—maybe this wasn’t the vampires’ hide out.
The boys stopped a few feet from the girl. She was around thirteen, he guessed. Definitely not a threat to them. A frown marred her face, but she had the most beautiful violet eyes he had ever seen. Actually, the only violet eyes he’d ever seen. Her dark curly hair draped over her shoulders.
She crossed her arms. “You better get out of here before my father gets upstairs. He’ll be mad at you for burning the houses.”
Trevan didn’t smell a lie from the human, but there was something different in her scent. He liked it. A lot. He shook his head to clear it from such stupid thoughts. He asked, “Is your father the one in charge?”
She raised her chin as if in defiance. “Yes, he is. The only leader.”
The girl was cute. He liked her spunk. “What’s his last name?”
“Valderi. Don’t forget it,” she yelled.
He never would.
The door to the cabin opened. A female voice said, “Darling, why are you yelling?”
She turned around. “Because these men set the houses on fire.”
They didn’t stick around to see what the mother said. The three were gone as fast as their wolves allowed. Luck was on their side when they were able to jump onto a new-fangled iron horse called a locomotive. They rode the lines to the East Coast.
From there he started his life’s new goal. Revenge.
They watched the door to the vampire guesthouse open. Roen elbowed Trevan, but he was already itching to go. He set them up downwind from the home, hoping he could catch her coming out on her own during the daylight hours. Bingo. Did he know her or what? A little twang pinched his heart. He brushed it aside to focus on his prey.
His mate stepped outside. His breath whooshed from his body. It’d been a couple months since he’d seen her last, and damn, she was beautiful. More so than when he last saw her. She crossed the porch, headed for the steps leading to the sidewalk. She stopped and took in a big breath, as if smelling something.
His finger refused to pull the trigger. He reminded himself why he was doing this and that it was only a tranquilizer, not a bullet. Not that a bullet would hurt her any more. In his periphery, he saw the other two eyeing him. He squeezed the trigger.
The dart hit exactly where he wanted, between her shoulder blades where it was harder to reach. She spun around and somehow found his eyes through the cluster of forest between them. His mate was not a happy camper. Her fingers plucked the shaft as her legs gave way, sending her to the grass. The men came from their hiding place and hurried to their victim.
Alain reached out for her first and Trevan about ripped his arm off. He couldn’t help his growl, and his eyes probably showed his animal. But dammit, no one would touch his mate except him. Maybe he should share that mate fact with the others. The other two probably suspected something, but mate would never cross their minds. Species didn’t mix, for the most part.
As he stood with his precious cargo, a curtain on the shadowed side of the house moved. Good. He told them he’d take care of her, and that was exactly what he planned to do. Part one of his strategy was completed. Now he needed to make up part two.
- Writer
