Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The next morning, I’m in time for the festival. Most of the lycans are drinking and dancing in flirtatious manners. It is nearing spring, which will be the start of the mating season. The end of the festival marks that season, which is why girls are desperate to pair off. It’s painful if you do not have a partner in that season. Females have been hospitalized for being mateless, while males become extremely aggressive.

I stand off in the shadows and dismiss Kia. This is day two. I expect for him to take his victim tonight since he’s begun escalating. My bet is that it’s the beta’s daughter this time around. She’s already found a mate for the season, but she’s not happy that it’s with the alpha’s son. Logically, the victim should be the unmated alpha’s daughter, but that’s not the sense I’m getting. I can’t find her though. Where is that girl?

I pull away from the party, staying in the shadows. Where is this feral? I’m trying to find a man that is beyond extraordinarily handsome. Ferals are able to shapeshift into what their victim is attracted to. Most lycans are attracted to beauty. I nearly facepalm with that thought. I’m thinking in general again. I was taught better than that.

Elora is the beta’s daughter and is upset about being paired for the season to the alpha’s son. From rumors I’ve heard since my arrival is that Elora loves stories and is always hanging around her girlfriends. Where are her friends?

I scan the crowd as I look for a slightly less crowd than the current pile surrounding the alpha’s son. She would definitely be as far from him as possible. I can see a particular group of girls who would love to take Elora’s spot. Maybe…I wave that thought off. I cannot get involved in their rituals or assignments. Last time I nearly lost my head.

What is Elora attracted to? Gorgeous and status doesn’t seem to be her priority in her selection. It’d be easier to spot what I’m looking for if I knew more about who I’m looking for. I can’t let my presence be known. If the alpha caught wind that I am here, panic would race through this village faster than I could speak. Stupid mental connections.

Where is that silly girl? I demand as I try to find her. Several minutes later I catch sight of a woman with short auburn hair leaving the crowd. I know it’s the beta’s daughter since her hair matches her father’s. I start to move, making sure I keep my scent hidden. If the alpha spots me, this plan fails miserably.

I catch sight of the girl following another girl with black hair cut short, framing an entrancing face. A small smirk crosses my face. She’s attracted to females, which explains why she is so dismissive of the son. Silently, I stalk them, both of them walking away hand in hand. She’s leading Elora into the woods. Elora is wearing a turquoise dress that is cut at the knees with delicate sleeves that hang loosely on her arms. She truly does look beautiful. However, the other female is truly the eye catching one. Her hair is cut short, framing her pixie like face. Telling burgundy eyes are giving Elora a mischievous daring look while fluttering her thick lashes at her.

Toying with Elora, the girl pecks her cheek and gently pulls up the skirt of her dress. The girl pulls Elora along as she lowers the strap of her white dress. I follow along, careful not to make my presence known. I want to make sure that this is definitely the deranged feral. They’re charming when in an appealing form, but they’re lethal. Ferals are not able to speak, so they have to be mysterious and seductive to get their prey away from its pack.

The feral pulls Elora to a stream and draws Elora’s hand in hers, pulling her in for a kiss. Elora closes her eyes and leans in. The feral smirks and moves to bite her neck. I force myself to wait, listening to my senses. Elora screams as the feral sinks her teeth into Elora’s neck. Elora falls to the ground while the feral just looks at her.

A horrifying scraping hiss comes from the feral, making shock ricochet through me. “M-M-Mastah.”

“Good job Lushbel.” A sobering male voice says, not too far from the water. “Quickly, let’s hurry before they discover her gone.” A man comes from behind a thick tree. He’s strong, burly, and face completely obscure under a hood. I can see a small nick in his sharp chin as his fangs descend. My eyes widen. Vampire, but a strong one. I’ve never seen fangs that long before. What happens if he were to bite her with those? Is that what caused the other victims memory loss? Vampire venom doesn’t cause amnesia though…so this shouldn’t be who is attacking these girls…I think. Still, it’s best not to let him bite her.

“A little late for a snack,” I say as I step out from behind the trees. The man stiffens, and in a matter of a breath, is off in a run.

“Oh no you don’t,” I hiss. “Kia!” I yell as the feral screams in rage. I race towards the vampire, ignoring the feral. I’ll kill it later. What in the name of Faye am I hunting?

The mystery attacker is quicker than me. He leaps over the four foot stream effortlessly. I’m right behind him. His hood is starting to fall, which is letting me catch a glimpse of a scar on his neck. It’s long and jagged, so whatever cut him wasn’t smooth. This man is almost a foot taller than me, and he’s using every inch of that to his advantage. I take one of my throwing knives and throw it when I get near him. He screams in agony when it lodges into his shoulder blade.

Taking that opportunity, I tackle him, causing us to go crashing into the ground. We both tumble through the dirt as he yells in pain. I yank out my throwing knife from him and cut at the back of his hood, trying to get to his brainstem. Once I manage to cut him, he growls and rolls so he’s on top of me.

“Mastah!” A raspy voice yells as I stab the knife into his neck. The man is thrown off of me while I hear snarling. When I look up I see a gray creature that is skin and bone. White teeth stretch from a surprisingly small mouth, almost human size, packed with an alarming amount of teeth. The creatures black eyes are wild as it reaches to scratch me with its six inch long talons. I grab my turquoise dagger off my thigh and slash its arm as I roll.

When I get to my feet, the “Master” is crouched, his teeth bared. “What are you doing with an Aquanian Goddess Blade?”

“Delivering your death,” I hiss, my blade tucked inward, protecting it from being grabbed.

“We’ll see about that next time,” he says as his feral gets between us.

“Hello?” Someone yells, making me swear. The man chuckles as his feral springs into an attack. The man turns and starts running while I step to the side of the feral and slash the feral’s arm. I grab its arm as it screams and cut it. While it screams it raises its arms, daggered claws at the ready. I high kick its chest, sending it into the woods. A man steps into view as he looks at me. I turn to tell the idiot to get out of here.

“Watch out!” He yells as I already hear the deafening growl.

I stab behind me, hearing Lushbel scream out in agony as my blade goes into her heart. Her body begins convulsing under my blade. I turn my head and see as her eyes return to a beautiful violet shade. Correction, him. His face turns masculine as his tan features return. Silver hair and a strong chin are the last things I see before he turns to dust. Well, that’s interesting. It’s a turned feral.

“If you’ll excuse me.” I say as I see Kia run into view. “You might want to heal Elora. She was bitten less than five minutes ago.”

I swing onto Kia and don’t allow her to break stride. “Follow his scent.” I order, ignoring the man’s protested yelling.

Kia growls after searching for an hour. His trail has gone cold the second we enter the slightest clearing, showing the moon perfectly. It’s full and beautiful tonight. The stars are close today, and I can see individual glows of the surrounding gasses. It is said each star you see, is a God or Goddess watching us. Well maybe they can tell me where the mystery man went, because Kia sure can’t.

I get off of her and look at the tracks. They vanished, as if he was never there. I can’t even see the shifting steps if he were a shapeshifter. He is something vampiric…“Kia, trees. Go!” I tell her. She jumps up the massive trees and takes off, catching a scent.

I wait for her for an hour. She comes back, limping slightly but no bite was taken out of her. There is a note attached to her saddlebags:

“If you wish to play with me, don’t send the cat. I’ll be waiting to sink my teeth into that supple neck of yours the next time we meet. Please let Lushbel’s family know I send my sympathies; or I will not be so kind to your dear feline next time.

-Greyson”

I check Kia’s leg. It appears it’s only bruised, not broken. “He let you off easy.” I say then kiss her massive head. I rub her head; grateful he didn’t kill her. If he was able to get her to retreat without drawing blood, he’s stronger than I anticipated. At least I have a name, right?

“Come on,” I tell her. “We have clues to look for.”

Kia lays down and starts licking her paw. I look at it and groan. He put a spell on her paw. He can use wards. This ward can only be broken with one thing. My blade. I read the ward. I put my blade in the center, in order to unlock the ward. In exchange, the ward will report back to the caster my name. Why would he want my name?

“You’re lucky that I love you,” I say, giving her a toying smile. I put the tip of my blade into the ward. The ward shifts, turning red as it attaches to my blade. It pulses, searching the blades memory. Soon the ward breaks, crumbling into sand onto the ground. I grin as Kia jumps to her feet. He can’t know my name, if it was the original Aquanian Goddess to create this blade for me. The newer Aquanian blades are assigned to soldiers by name. Ones that are created directly by the Goddess, are made through the blessed ones blood, and used in that armory solely. This blade will only work by me. He didn’t write that part, and it caused the ward to fail.

I giggle as Kia jumps to her feet and starts leaping from tree to tree. She lands back down in front of me, ready for me to get on. “Let’s go check on our feral friend.” I tell her. She licks me and then pushes me into her, telling me climb on.