The Luna's Conquest

I Am Hunted By Vampires

"I am fine, alpha." I say sharply, disgust turning my mouth to bile.

"Call me Kendrick."

"I'd rather not." I retort.

He stiffens at my words, then finally pulls back. The crowd of battle survivors part to let his horse walk through, and then they all follow. The horse's gait is slow as we move through the forest and towards the pack's border. His hand is wrapped around my waist, holding the reins of the horse, and soon I start to relax, leaning into his warmth. For a moment, I feel like all is right with my world again, even though I'd just witnessed my entire pack being butchered to death. My mind is screaming orders at me, urging me to jump down that horse, grab my mother and make a run for it, but my heart is comfortable.

This is home.

As we walk through the forest, my eyes dart around, trying to catch any sight of my brothers or their familiar scent. But my wolf eyes and ears sense something much more curious. First I smell it: the nauseating stench of unwashed bodies, and underneath that, the sharp, metallic tang of blood. Then my eyes catch the slinking shadows on the edge of the forest, several metres away from our procession. I can hear them whispering, or perhaps it is only the sound of the wind moving through the trees around us.

"Vampires?" I whisper, and I feel the alpha behind me stiffen.

"What did you say?" He asks. I point in the direction of the creepy shadows. As I do so, one of the shadows turn to me with a sudden, creepy precision, and my eyes meet a pair of hungry, bloodshot ones.

"s**t!" I hear the alpha curse behind me. Then another melee starts.

The shadow moves swiftly towards us, covering the short distance, and leaps towards me. I catch a pair of sharp fangs and bloody lips before the alpha pulls a stake from his belt and drives it deep into the vampire's chest.

I watch as the creature's eyes grow dim. "Wolfborn..." It whispers, then falls away from us.

A sigh of relief slips from my lips, but the worst is yet to come. Around us, the other shadows are rapidly closing in. The alpha's soldiers form a protective circle around us, stakes raised high to ward off the vampires. I can hear their whispering and see their hungry eyes through the darkness of the woods, most of which is focused on me.

"We have to leave here. It's you they want." The alpha whispers in my ear.

I turn to him in the saddle. "What about the other captives? What about my mother?—"

"They will be safe, trust me." He murmurs, then kicks his horse into action again.

"No!" I yell, my heart jumping into my throat as he pushes through his circle of guards and takes me away. "Mother!"

The alpha ignores me as he pushes the horse farther and farther away from the scene. I can see the shadows closing in on the guards and the captives, and another battle has ensued. I cannot imagine leaving my mother alone in that pandemonium.

She would die, and I would be alone again. So, terribly alone.

I glared at the alpha."Take me back to my mother this instant!"

"I think you have other things to worry about than your mother, Sekinah," he grunts. Then I see what he means.

Several vampires had dislodged from the main group and are actively chasing us. I can see their swift, sleek bodies covered in black cloaks moving against the wind. Their stench is even stronger now, and I retch a couple of times in disgust.

"Hold this," the alpha orders, and I take the reins of the horse from his hands.

I have no idea how to ride a horse.

The alpha fetches a wooden bow strapped to the side of the horse, and a quiver full of arrows. The arrows don't have metal heads like the ones I'd seen, but they are completely made of wood: head, shaft and all.

The alpha slings the quiver over his back, then takes one of the funny-looking arrows and pulls it against the bow, aiming for one of the vampires.

Then he lets go.

The arrow whistles in the air as it flies in the direction of the vampire, and buries itself in the creature's throat. I hear several snarls as the other vampires see their comrade go down. The alpha behind me keeps shooting arrow after arrow after the shadows, but they are gaining on us fast.

"Sekinah, you might need to jump." He yells in my ear. "They're closing in!"

What?!

I am as ungraceful as a cripple. I would break every bone in my body the moment I land.

"Trust me," he murmurs, and I feel my heart leap at those words. My eyes are on the road before us as I hold on to the reins in terror, but I can feel his heart beating behind me.

"What—" I start to speak, but the alpha has pushed me off the horse, cutting off my words. I let out a terrified yelp as I fall off the horse and roll down a steep slope in the forest. My back hit a tree hard and I groan in pain, then roll to my feet. I stagger back to the narrow forest path and watch as my mate is being chased down the road, a dozen vampires hot on his heels.

Then I look back towards the direction we'd come, and I see my mother chasing after him on her own horse.

Her flaming auburn hair is billowing around her face with reckless abandon, her fierce green eyes prominent even from this distance. She is hunched against her saddle, a large stake in her hand, her eyes narrowed against the wind.

I'd never seen my mother ride a horse. I didn't even know she could ride one.

In that single moment, she reminds me so much of paintings I'd seen of the Moon Goddess. If I couldn't see the birthmark on her upper lip that tells me it's my mother, I would have believed she'd fallen straight from the skies.

"Mother!" I yell. Her eyes turn to me as she blazes past where I stand, and they widen in alarm. She is shouting a warning, but I cannot hear her from this distance. Then something closes in on me from behind. I see the shadow before I hear the creature, and I turn in fear.

"Hello, Wolfborn." The vampire grins, then raises a club over his head, bringing it down on me in one swift movement.

Then all my world goes dark.