Unmasked | Book 1 in "Dark Descendants" (Editing)

Chapter 35

Joe halted in his steps, the demon knife now coated till its hilt in several different soldiers' blood, and regarded the remnants of the army with a speculative eye, effectively summing up all their physical qualities with one sweep of his gaze.

Swearing and currently mildly dizzy, he glanced at his brother and found that he had already tilted his head towards him. Silence that came with the sudden stillness only lasted a second before both brothers bolted in the same direction, shoulder to shoulder. One the way, Fallon swooped down to pull his flick-knife from a dead soldier's chest.

Surprised cries followed as a small group of soldiers went after them, although they had been half-expecting it. A sense of familiarity coursed through their human-like veins. Chases such as this one had been spread out throughout the years so frequently that the feeling almost brought a look of fondness on their normally emotionless faces.

The rest of the army stayed behind—either already much too wounded to carry on or tending to those who had fallen. Though immortals, none healed as fast as other supernatural beings.

Now merely a quarter of the army were temporarily dead and another half injured, out of a total strength of two-hundred men. One such injured soldier, cradling his broken arm with one hand and hoisting his dart-gun to his side with the other, passed his companion a pained smile.

"It's never gonna get easier catching those two," he said. The other almost mirrored his expression.

"No, it won't."

Joe took a quick glance over his shoulder before turning his attention towards the horribly tangled path they were taking in hopes of gaining more distance between them. Though they were just plain immortals, they ran at similar speeds of the vampires. While the brothers tried to outrun them as often as possible—frequently speeding up and slowing down, their pursuers remained at a constant speed all throughout, conserving their energy.

They couldn't turn to animals either; both were shot with the tranquilizers and though they didn't pass out yet it hampered a few of their most dependable qualities such as shape-shifting.

"How do we lose these guys?!" he exclaimed questioningly to his brother. In response, he also glanced back before muttering:

"Follow me."

Picking up speed once more and this time accelerating faster than before, they sped up far into the forest adjacent to town.

As the soldiers caught up to the calculated distance they had seen them disappears to, they still ran on, eyes searching carefully for any hiding place.

"Where did they—WAHHH!" One soldier broke off with a scream as a figure swooped down from the branch of a tree. A moment later, a sickening crunch was heard as the soldier was returned to the ground with a broken neck.

The remaining soldiers—still running—now involuntarily allowed their attention to drift to the muffled scream. "Did you guys hear something?"

A dark silhouette stepped out from behind a tree and clamped his hand over yet another soldier's mouth before tearing into his carotid artery with his fangs.

One by one, the group of soldiers disappeared until only two were left. By now, they had their guns aimed and ready, back to back, searching frantically for their new kings.

Somebody stepped into view. Without thinking, one soldier pulled the trigger on his dart-gun.

Unexpectedly, they heard a female cry. Staring wide-eyed, they watched as a dark-haired teenager met their gaze with a similar expression.