Chapter 8 first blood

A hour earlier 

"So Owen, how long do we have to be out here? It's creepy," the elf said, looking at her partner with a shiver. "I don't know Daphy; when ever the hunters get here, I guess," Owen said, looking at his little sister sitting in a tree next to him. "Come on, Daphy, stop sulking and do a scan," Owen said to her, sighing. "Don't call me that Owen; I'm not a little kid anymore." Daphne sulked, but stood up and followed his orders. Her eyes started glowing as she scanned the area around them. "They are still just sitting in that little cabin," she told him. "They probably won't make a move until night," Owen concluded after a moment. "Let's see, there is one, two, three, four. Wait, where is the fifth one?" Daphne said, counting them to make sure they were all there. "One is missing." 

Owen jumped down from the branch he was sitting on and grabbed his sword. "Find it," he whispered to her urgently , she readied her crossbow as her eyes started glowing once more. "I can't find it," she whispered, scanning the forest around them. The hair on her neck stood on end as she felt a cold shiver go down her spine. "Owen?" she whispered, her voice shaking. 

"Daphne behind you," Owen yelled, looking at her. She turned and saw a pair of red eyes looking at her from the shadows. Fangs were glistening in the setting sun as they pulled back in a snarl. "Vampire," she whispered just before it lunged at her. Her crossbow fires, but the arrow misses, hitting a nearby tree instead. Owen's eyes widened as he rushed at her, his silver sword shining in the sunlight. But he was a step too late as the vampire claws raped across Daphne's chest, breaking her crossbow and sending splinters flying and digging into her chest. With a shriek of pain, she crumpled to the ground, holding her chest, blood leaking through her fingers. "You fucking vampire!" Owen screamed as he raised his blade and cut the vampire's arm off at the elbow, his forearm and hand falling to the ground. The vampire screamed in pain and backed away from the two of them as it cradled its bleeding stump. "You'll pay for that," the vampire hissed before jumping into the air and landing on the treetops. "Intruders!" He yells at the top of his voice, getting the attention of the rest of the clan. "Well crap, this will be fun," Owen muttered under his breath before helping his sister lean against a tree. "Stay with me, Daphy," he said with pain in his voice as he lifted his sword to protect her. 

 As the sun fell, blanketing the forest in darkness, a shadow creeped through the underbrush. Its glowing green eyes scan its field of vision as its noise twitches at the smell of iron carried on the wind. As the shadow silently moved its way towards the smell of fresh blood, A beam of moonlight gleams off of a silver sword stuck point down in the dirt. The shadow's nose flares at the scent of freshly spilled blood mixed with fear. A figure clings to the sword's handle, kneeling down, blood seeping out of his wounds. A young woman behind him clutches her bloodied shirt, her face paled by the blood loss as the man attempts to defend them. The woman mutters under her breath as she continues to bleed. "Owen, run, just leave me," Daphne says. "Shut up, Daphne." Owen replies, not letting go of the sword, as his vision starts to go blurry from blood loss, looking at the three vampires surrounding them as two more lay dead between them.

"Such a brave elf, "the lead vampire sneers. "But sadly, not strong enough to stop us," he laughs, showing his fangs to the pair of elves. Owen stumbles on his feet as he tries to stand, leaning on his sword. "Give up now, and I might kill you painlessly," the lead vampire says with a smug look, walking closer to the two. Owen uses all his strength to stand up on his own as he raises his sword with a growl at the approaching vampire. As the shadow pounces at the wounded vampire standing in the back, its mouth is agape, revealing the razor-sharp teeth hidden inside, and it bites down hard on the neck of the unsuspecting vampire as its claws dig deep into his back. The shadow wrenched its head back, ripping out the vampire's spine with a loud crack. The two remaining vampires watch in shock and horror as their brother's corpse falls to the ground. "Finally hunter," the elf said, collapsing next to his sister as the shadow was revealed to be a black panther. Her green eyes pierce the darkness as she glares at the remaining two vampires.

The leader of the vampires leaps at the panther, his claws reaching to slash at the cat as it nimbly dodges the attack, her powerful paws lashing out to disembowel the vampire. He twists away with a snarl, barely avoiding the deadly blow, hissing at the panther as he bounds backwards, landing next to the other vampire. "What do we do, honey? The clan has been destroyed," the female vampire asked her partner with a pout. "We can rebuild it. We just have to take care of these nuisances." The leader hissed back at her. "I'll distract the panther," the male said, crouching down before lunging at the panther again, his claws lashing out in an attempt to grab her.

 The panther's paw swats at the vampire as he tackles her. They roll on the ground with each other, exchanging slashes and claws, until the panther sinks her fangs into his arm, ripping it to shreds as he screams out in agony.

"Run! I can't beat her !" He shouts at her, trying to keep the panther occupied as the female vampire starts running away, leaving the clan's corpse behind her. 

The panther kicks the male away from her as she rolls up to her paws and follows after the fleeing vampire. Seeing the direction she was running made the panther panic, thinking of the teen sitting in the car defenseless. The panther let out a loud roar as she accelerated to her top speed, only to be stopped by the vampire on the ground, grabbing her tail with his one working arm. Snarling with rage, the panther turned around, leaping on top of him and sinking her fangs and claws into the vampire as he tried to fight back. His clawed hands scraped down her side, but she didn't feel it as she bit down on the back of his neck and crushed his windpipe, letting him die gasping for air.

"Man, this is boring so much for hunting vampires," Rowan said, kicking his feet up on the dashboard of the mustang while listening to music on the radio as he gazed out into the forest, though the windows, having been put up, kept warm as the sun set. "Damn that cat leaving me here alone," Rowan whined in his head as he waited for Selena to return. "At least it is a nice view," Rowan said as he gazed at the moon coming over the tops of the trees. Movement in the trees catches his attention. "Finally she is back," he said, opening the door and climbing out. "Hey Selena, what took you so?" he stopped and looked closer. "Long," he trailed off, seeing some unknowing women, her clothes ripped and tore from running in the forest, her long blond hair tangled and muddy from rolling in the ground. Rowan froze as the unknown girl's eyes landed on him, and he realized that the woman was not Selena. 

"Well, that makes my escape easier," the unknown girl said with a smirk, showing off her long, pointed canines as she licked her lips, looking at the car that Rowan had just gotten out of. "Who are you?" Rowan's words fell on deaf ears as the woman leapt forward with inhuman speed, knocking him back into the car pinned against a seat as her fanged mouth closed in on his throat. "Wait, stop." Rowan struggled, trying to push the vampire off of him, but his strength was no match for the supernatural creature. A screech of a bird overhead causes the woman to pause, looking behind her scared, giving Rowan a chance to fight back. He swung with all of his strength, connecting his fist with the side of her face, causing the woman to fall off of him. "Fuck Fuck!" Rowan screamed, trying to close the car door, only for the vampire to grab it already recovered from the hit. "You shouldn't have done that." She seethed her beautiful face twisted in anger.

Ripping the door open, the vampire launched herself at Rowan, her body pinning him down again. "I don't know who you are, but I don't have time for you," she hissed before biting his neck as he screamed, hands grabbing for anything to get her off him. His hands brush against something cold and smooth on the floor of the car. 'Selena's dagger' he thinks, remembering what she told him about silver being bad for vampires. As he grabs the dagger and pulls it up to himself, stabbing the woman in the side with a wet squelch and her screams, her head comes up from his neck, leaving a trail of blood dripping down her chin. Rowan shoved the wounded vampire with all of his strength, pushing her off himself and onto the ground as he landed on top of her, ripping the dagger out of her side as she cried out in pain, only to plunge the dagger into her chest over and over again, watching as her once beautiful eyes went dull and lifeless as she lay dead under him.