Embraced By the Blood Moon

Chapter Twenty Five

Serenity’s POV

Darkness surrounded me, and there was a torturously loud ringing in my ears. My body ached all over as I lay unmoving in the darkness, and there was a great weight that rested on my chest, making it even more challenging to breathe. A wheeze of agony hissed through my teeth when I heard muffled voices all around me. The more precise the voices became, the more I could hear, and the more I realized that they weren’t voices but wails of sorrow. I coughed, and blood spilled from my parted lips as I opened my eyes to the calamity all around me.

That is when I noticed that the weight that I had been feeling on my chest was a person’s lifeless body. My breath caught in my chest as my mind was flooded with the scene that led to this tragedy.

***

“So why did they want to meet us at the store in front of the arcade?” Sammy asked as Gretta glanced at me with a knowing look, then quickly returned her focus to the road ahead as she drove.

“Because your mates and my brothers are all little children at heart,” I said with a soft chuckle.

“Indeed they are,” Gretta said as she looked at me from the corner of her eye.

Without warning, we smashed into something that was hard and unmoving. Glass shattered all around me, and everything seemed to move in slow motion. The car flipped over, rolling through the trees as jagged, sharp debris tore through the vehicle, leaving deep cuts covering my body. Blood spilled from my chin over my face, blurring my vision as I hung suspended upside down in the wrecked car. I turned to Gretta and then Sammy; both of them were a bloodied mess as they hung unconscious in their seats. A shudder ran down my spine, and the hairs on my neck rose.

‘We have to get out of here, now, Ren!’ Artemis said, fear thick in her voice.

“Why, wha…” I began to ask as I sent a quick message to Quinn about the accident when I saw what Arty was worried about.

Five menacing vampires stocked towards us. I tightly clenched my teeth, ‘Can we transform?’ I asked Arty as I tore the unhooking seatbelt from my body. My movements were fast and precise as I carefully unhooked Gretta, pulling her from the crushed lump of a car, and then did the same for Sammy. By this time, the vampires had stopped and carefully watched me as I pulled the girls safely from the sparking car.

‘Not yet. Can you buy me some time?” Artemis asked as I nodded, and the mangled car exploded, sending flying flames and debris in all directions.

I shielded Gretta and Sammy’s bodies to the best of my ability, not wanting them to get even more injured than they already were. I glanced over my shoulder at the unmoving vampires, their eyes burning red from all the blood that had been spilled from the accident.

I looked down at my cuts and lacerations, all of which were almost completely healed already. Suddenly, a loud laugh bellowed out behind me. Standing up, I turned to face the vampires before me, “What do you want?” I asked with an emotionless expression on my face.

“Now I understand why King Jullian is so interested in this particular she-wolf,” The tall, broad, chested vampire with short, shinning blond hair and crimson red eyes said as a gust of wind blew across my face, and before I realized what happened, he was standing beside me. He looked down at me with a devilish grin and ran his fingers over my cheek. A shiver of disgust pulsed over my cheek, and I lurched away from his creepy touch.

“Why,” One of the triplets asked.

“Because,” The blond said as he tilted his head and continued, “This particular she-wolf seems to heal just as quickly as a vampire.”

“That’s impossible,” said a vampire with black, braided hair and beautiful light chocolate brown skin.

“I would have thought so too, but just look at her,” Said the one with the shining blond hair.

Within a split second, the remaining vampires stood before me to examine my healed wounds.

‘This isn’t good,’ Artemis said.

I swallowed hard, ‘I know,’ I mentally responded to her words as my phone vibrated with Quinn's response.

“Anyway, grab the girl and finish off the witnesses,” The blond stated as he turned to walk away, and the triplets turned towards Gretta and Sammy.

“DON’T TOUCH THEM!” I growled as I dodged the black-haired vampire and raced between the triplets and the girls, my movements swift and fluid-like.

“You think you can stop us,” they laughed in unison.

I quickly glanced at Quinn's message, which read, “We're on our way to your location now.”

A smile spread across my face, “I might not be able to stop you, but I can hold out till help arrives.”

‘Can we transform now,’ I asked as I loosened my grip on my phone slightly.

‘Almost. Can you buy me a few more minutes,’ Artemis asked as I nodded.

“What are you talking about,” The triplet in the middle said.

My smile widened, “Think fast.” I said as I chucked my phone at him and quickly punched each of the triplets in the ribs, causing them to double over as their ribs broke from the impact of my fist.

“Catch me if you can,” I said as I weaved in and out through the burning trees.

Roars of anger echoed through the forest as all three raced after me, and the golden-haired vampire picked up my phone and read my text from Quinn, his expression turning serious.

I glanced over my shoulder towards where Gretta and Sammy lay, ensuring the other two vampires didn’t move any closer to them than they already had. No matter how hard the triplets tried, they could still not touch me. I could see the anger within them as it grew greater.

‘It feels great to be…’ I began to tell Arty when I heard a whimper behind me. Turning around, my eyes fell upon Gretta and Sammy, held in the air by the black-haired vampire. Another whimper escaped their lips as his grip seemed to tighten.

I clenched my teeth, ready to give up, when Jace and James tore Gretta and Sammy from the vampire's grasp, and Quinn raced to my side. A wave of confidence began to wash over me, only to be stifled by the blond vampire.

He turned to the triplets, “Zack, Zero, and Zion, end this.” He said, his expression going cold.

“Gladly,” they said in unison as they wrapped their arms around each other. Their bodies began to morph and twist, melding into something unnatural.

The black-haired vampire chuckled, “It’s all over now.”

We all stared in horror as the triplets melded into one massive creature nearly ten feet tall. The beast looked like an enormous bat with wings that had a double membrane of skin that stretched between the enormously elongated bones of four hooked clawed fingers and extended along the body from the forelimbs to the hind limbs and from there to the tail. Their protruding snout was lined with large dagger-like fangs, and they had large floppy pointed ears and huge round black eyes with a ring of red around them that seemed to glow as they stared at us.

I could feel myself shaking in fear when Artemis exclaimed, ‘Now!’

A dark growl rumbled within my chest as my bones began to jigsaw out of place, my transformation beginning. I threw my head back and howled as Jace, Quinn, James, Gretta, and Sammy all echoed my howl as they shifted into their wolf forms.

The surrounding battle blurred together as we fiercely battled the five vampires. With each move that the vampires made, you could tell the difference between their strength and ours, and even though there were more of us than them, we were clearly outmatched.

How is this possible? I am supposed to be this insanely powerful hybrid, yet I am unable to take down a few vampires.

As I drifted further into despair, my movements slowed, giving the triplet’s beast opening after opening. With each opening, their massive claws ripped through my flesh, leaving gaping wounds. As I began to get lightheaded from the loss of blood, everything started to move in slow motion, and I readied myself for death. But just as the monster was about to make contact, Quinn shielded me with his body.

Tears began to flood my eyes as Quinn’s body went limp in my arms, and blood rapidly spilled from his massive wound. I looked up at the creature, anger swelling within me. I could feel the darkness growing within me, and there was a power beyond anything I had ever felt in that darkness that was building deep within my core.

Releasing the darkness within, it flooded out of me with one word, “DIE,” and headed towards the monster that the triplets had become. The triplet monster and the blond and black-haired vampires stopped their attacks as my darkness completely consumed them. I could feel their lives slipping away as blood began to spill from their eyes and ears.

And just as I was about to snuff them out, Quinn reached his hand up and touched my cheek, making all anger within me disappear. Unconsciously, I released the vampires and looked down at my little brother. Blood spilled from his weak gray lips as a frail smile touched his face.

“Th…there’s the b…big s…sister that I l…love.” His words barely came out as a whisper. ‘D…don’t let th…them turn y…you into s…something th…that you’re n…not.”

Tears began to spill from my eyes, “Shhh, you should save your energy. We’ll get help, and you’ll be fine.” I said in a shaky voice.

A soft laugh escaped his lips, “D…don’t l…lie.” He said as a tear escaped the corner of his eye, “I w…was f…finally able t…to protect you. I l…love you, Ren.” He said as his hand slipped from my cheek, and he stopped breathing.