Blood Borne

-Sam-

"Sam.." I shook my ginger fur out, growling softly as my lupine eyes adjusted to the shadows of the forest. I turned to face him, the fur on my hackles rising with annoyance. He met my anger with a cool compliance, like he was dealing with an incompetent child. Caleb, my adopted brother and unquestioned Alpha, spoke softly, calmly. "We need you. You're the only wolf who's fast enough to keep up with Borne vampires. You go in after them, we'll be hot on your heels. We'll come in to help you finish the job when we hear you stop."

My ears perked up then, and I whined quietly. Borne vampires were the Maserati of the vampire world, extremely hard to catch because they could hide the tell tale signs of vampirism that their genetically muddled counterparts couldn't. Unless they showed you their vampire traits, or were caught in that form, they were needles in a proverbial haystack.

Thirty minutes later, I was on one's heels. He was flitting through the woods, just out of the reach of my fangs, I could hear my pack, howling in anticipation and hanging back behind us, waiting.
A low growl slid from my throat, as the vampire's scent rolled off of him, smelling like vanilla and tinged with a dark, metallic edge. He poured on another burst of speed, but I was ready for it. He took a sharp turn to the left, trying to throw me off. I felt my hind paws throw up pine needles and grass as they dug into the earth, skidding as I turned sharply to follow him. I kept chasing him until we reached the cliff face, and then he turned, hissing with his fangs pressing into his bottom lip.

Green eyes met piercing ice blue ones. I whined softly as I realized who I was staring at.

Devon.

I heard my pack, snarling and racing towards us, hot on my paws and snapping. They'd heard me stop, and were coming in to finish the job. Sharp howls and yips split the air, signaling their excitement at the thought of killing a Borne vampire. I turned to look back at him, wide eyed and standing balanced on the edge of the cliff, watching the wolves pour out from the treeline. I didn't have to think about what I did next.

Snarling, I leapt in front of him, putting myself between him and my pack. The fur along my spine was standing up, my ears were laid back, teeth bared. It was universal stance of protection. In the pack world, seeing a wolf standing over another wolf like this had a clear message. "This is mine, and you'll have to kill me to get to it."