The rescue mission

Cold beads of sweat started to form on my forehead despite the warm sunset rays that glowed orange in the background and goosebumps started to rise on my arms.

In my mind's eye, I could see a medieval castle surrounded by hundreds of acres of deer park, it was accessed through a drawbridge that suspended 30 feet over the waters of the moat. The gatehouse contained three portcullises where guards with rifles were posted.

Not far from there was a waterfall, on its either side were heavy vegetation, the forest canopy was thick and blocked the light like umbrellas. The river gushed at great speeds and plunged 70 feet over a vertical cliff edge that was made up entirely out of ingenious rocks and fell into a wide water basin throwing up mists and splashes as it bounced off the surfaces.

A tall, young man was laid down on the ground next to the pool of water. His clothes appeared to be soaking wet. The white shirt on his body was torn and stained with crimson blood, revealing the ripped torso underneath. His eyes were tightly shut and every breath he inhaled seemed to be causing a torrent of pain.

Did he fall from that huge waterfall? I gasped out loud and reopened my eyes in bewilderment.

"Are you alright?" A look of concern clouded over Selena's tanned face.

"We have to go save him! Now!" I grabbed Selena's arms and looked at her with urgency like I've never felt before. The clock was ticking and as every second passed, its as if I could feel the signs of life draining out of his body.

Selena looked at me as if she understood. She didn't argue nor did she question, "Ok, let's go! I'll go grab the keys. Meet you by the truck. OK?" She started running towards the tent.

I blinked a few times and nodded. Half-shocked from my vision still, but more than that, I was a little taken aback by how much faith Selena seemed to have in me.

Our ride was an old beat-up truck, whom I had named 'Optimus Prime' after I started becoming obsessed with the Transformers. It was one of my favourite characters of all time, in a way, I'd always dreamt that one day our truck would be able to morph into a 19 feet tall robot.

I had already taken out my phone to search for nearby castles, and to my amazement, there was one that looked almost identical to the one I had seen in my vision. And on top of that? It had a nearby waterfall to boot!

As I started giving out instructions of left and right, my heart started to flutter with excitement! This was the first time that my visions had been this clear. I could almost see the outline of his chiselled jaw and the tiny droplets of water on his long eyelashes. He was probably the most handsome guy I'd ever seen.

The men in our pack were all good looking, even my father wasn't bad. But this guy was on another level. He looked like a film star, like he belonged to the works of Michelangelo, his skin albeit pale was flawless, like fine bone china porcelain.

"Which way now?" Selena threw up her hands and asked.

Realising that I had been daydreaming, I quickly snapped back into reality and checked the map on my phone. "Right! Right! Right!" I screeched, as she swirled the driving wheel like a mad-woman, narrowly just made it to the exit.

"Phew! That was close." She giggled then pretended to wipe the sweat from her brows.

Why didn't I bring Colin instead?! I wondered, half kicking myself. He knew the Yorkshire Dales well and he was used to driving on the left side of the road.

"You have passed your test, haven't you?" I turned my head round to ask Selena after she hit another bump on the road.

"Huh?" She asked, then relied sweetly. "Yes, Of course, honey."

Just checking!

Then she opened her mouth again: "It was in the States though."

I felt my jaw drop. What if we get stopped by the police?!

"Don't worry Aria, it'll be fine. You worry too much." Selena said airily as if reading my head before quickly swirled onto the other side of the road, narrowly missing a rabbit trying to cross the road.

"Look out!" I screamed, gripping onto the door handle for dear life.

"Oopsy!" She giggled.

Oh great. I glanced out the window, outside was the undulating green hills of North Yorkshire and begun secretly praying that we won't come across any police cars whilst not killing any wildlife as well as keeping the young man alive.

The country roads were narrow and full of twists and turns. Selena's driving was erratic, she was more used to expressways, she broke hard around the bends and I could feel poor old Optimus Prime groaning in pain each time.

According to the map, we could enter the castle grounds via the south entrance, then we would have to carry on by foot to the bottom of the waterfall. But if we entered through the north gated entrance, we would be closer to the waterfall. It was no brainier which way we'd go.

"Look!" Selena exclaimed, pointing out the window.

I drew in a deep breath. To her far-right, peeking out over the tops of the trees were the towers of a medieval castle. It was tall and majestic. And looked just like the one in my vision!

"Turn right here," I said, motioned towards a narrow exit road.

We stopped by the side of the road and unloaded our supplies. In my backpacks were bottles of water, some energy snacks, bandages for dressing wounds, antiseptic cream and a torch. Selena's backpack contained similar items to mine aside from a sharp knife as well as a gun that contained a single silver bullet.

Silver was the only material that could be used to kill a werewolf. Be it a silver knife, a silver-tipped cane or a silver bullet. The negative effect from silver was so strong that the mere touch of such objects would cause burns on a werewolf's skin. A silver bullet straight to the heart would block off blood vessels and poison the cells, thus killing the werewolf in an instant. Luckily we've never had to use it in the past.

We placed the backpacks on our shoulder and started walking down a beaten path.

The sunset was slowly fading away and as darkness loomed in, the temperature started to drop, there was an element of chill in the air. Selena wore a white T-shirt and denim shorts with sturdy hiking boots, her long arm and legs were musclely and toned. She was very agile and moved gracefully.

I, on the other hand, was much shorter than her and barely had any muscles at all. Even with a long-sleeved shirt as well as a waterproof jacket and was wearing denim jeans that reached down to my hiking boots, I still felt cold.

"This way, " she said as she climbed up a steep hill. "Can you hear it?"

I nodded, following her closely. The sound of falling water was getting clearer by the second, and I could almost feel the cooling sprays of water on my cheeks.

We hiked for another 5 miles uphill and finally, there it was, right in front of our very own eyes was the bottom of the waterfall. Light reflected over the water basin creating a rainbow, it looked like a magical kingdom where fairies would be expected to fly out any moment.

I walked along the side of the pool frantically searching for the young man, but there was nothing. Maybe he regained consciousness and left?

"Over here." Selena called out. Selena may have been bad at driving but being a werewolf her sense of smell was excellent, especially at detecting the faint scent of blood.

Behind the bushes was a small trail of blood. It was a darkened red colour, signified that it had been exposed to oxygen for some time already. The blood stopped dead track outside a small cave. Its entrance was narrow and looked completely pitch black inside.

"I'm going in." I took out my torch and started crawling into the cave, Selena quickly followed. The low ceiling meant we couldn't stand up straight and had to kneel as we entered. Everything was silent apart from the sound of our hiking boots rubbing along the rocky terrain.

The cave was surprisingly sheltered from the outside wind, offering a perfect hideaway. It was damp and musty inside, but the smell of blood was getting stronger and stronger. Our torches formed two divergent beams of light and as we negotiated our way into the darkness, Selena's eyes adapted quickly and her vision was far more superior.

"Oh my God." I heard her muttered, directing her torch towards a shadowy figure lying on the floor ahead.

I too aimed my torch in the same direction and felt my eyes widen in shock.