United

United: part one Miranda and Landon Prologue

United: part 1 "Miranda and Landon" by Stephanie Anne

Prologue

I heard stories when I was younger about what was here before the different territories were set. Something called states; supposedly there were fifty of them. But that was nearly a thousand of years ago, way before I was ever born. Once humans learned about what really went bump in the night, the states split. Each type of creature took its own space, its own territory. One territory was set aside for anyone who chose to live there; the United was a peaceful place. That's where I grew up.

But it was an accident that brought me here. A car accident to be exact. I had been at a friend's house late. Diane had been one of my best friends since I was little and we were having our weekly movie night. Every Thursday we would get together, watch movies, eat junk food and update each other on what was happening in our lives. It was a day I always looked forward to. She lived close to the boarder between the United, a place where creatures of all kinds live with the humans without fear or prejudice, and the Vampire territory, a place where vampires rule and have their own set of laws. I never liked that she lived that close to the Vampire territory, I was afraid something would happen to her someday. But she insisted that it was safe. As a young werewolf I should have known better then to drive on the boarder during a new moon. Diane even wanted me to stay over night at her place, but I wanted to sleep in my own bed. I threw her words back in her face, said if she was safe on the boarder then I would be too. The highway was dark and it was misting that night. Not complete rain but wet enough to occasionally use my windshield wipers. Even with my high beams on I couldn't see whatever it was running across the road till it was too late. It looked like an animal, a dark shape running right in front of my car. I swerved, trying not to hit whatever it was. But the wet road caused my car to slide more then I thought, till finally the entire car flipped. It didn't stop until it smashed up against a tree. I tired to get out of the car, but I was stuck between the seat and the steering wheel. Then everything went black. It wasn't till I woke up that I learned my car landed in Vampire territory.

The vampires would auction off any creature that crossed their boarder to the highest bidder. I experienced this first hand. After I woke up from my accident, I was stripped of all my clothes and leased down to a stage. Vampire's bid on me; I can't remember exactly how high the cost got. But I do remember there were two guys getting into a bidding war over me. I didn't understand why these men were so interested in buying me. Why were they willing to pay so much for something that crashed it's car into their territory? I never did get an answer. The bidding war was over and the vampire who bought me looked pleased. He was an older looking man, I could tell by the slight gray in his hair and I could even see some wrinkles. He was dressed in what looked like an expensive suit and his hair was slicked back with too much gel. I will never forget the first time I saw that man's eyes up close. They were bright red and cold. His smile showed that he was happy, possibly even excited over winning me. But the smile didn't reach his eyes, they were emotionless. After I was bought and paid for, I was taken to a smaller room with a large fireplace. A fire was crackling and the flames were licking the bricks, it almost looked out of control. The old man who bought me walked over to the fire, he dragged me behind him by the lease I still had around my neck. He then tied me to a post next to the fireplace. He held an iron rod into the flames for a few minutes till the medal turned orange with heat. I was branded like cattle on my right shoulder blade with his initials, RS. It burned as if he had just thrown me into the fire. Then it turned to a dull sting.

My "owner" had six other wolves at the time. Vampires had two choices with their "pets". They could take them home, where the wolf would be treated like any other household dog. Or they could keep them in a kennel. The kennel, or at least what I saw of it, was a long hallway with cages on either side of the hall. It was always dark, hardly any lighting. It was something that eventually your eyes would get used to, and when it was closer to the full moon my night vision let me see everything but otherwise there was nothing to see. Cracks in the walls and ceiling let in a little sunlight, that's how I tracked time. Some wolves would go insane being locked up all the time, we are the kind of creature that needs room to roam and be free. I don't know how many wolves were in the kennel total, but there were always new ones arriving and old ones dying. We were truly nothing but animals to them. They addressed us by numbers, I was called seventy-one, and only fed us once a day. It wasn't until the full moon that we were ripped from our cages, in mid-shift and thrown into an arena. We were paired off, two by two and forced to fight one another in our wolf forms. Each wolf was represented their owner, who decided when the fight would happen, who they would fight and for how long, and bet on the outcome. My owner put me into the ring expecting me to die quickly. But I won, and made him a lot of money. Sad thing was this was my life now: caged for weeks with no real meals, no shower, my only company was my fellow caged wolves. There was one wolf who had his cage right across from mine, he was the only person I ever talked to. They called him "Wolf twenty-one". We didn't talk too much, they didn't like it when we talked to each other. And once a month I fought those wolves who were trapped with me. My own personal hell.