Outcasts

[24]

Jace's body laid across the snow, his eyes in an eternal state of shock as they stared into the sky. If I had been in human form, I would've closed his eyes. You could've been great. I thought, mourning the fallen warrior. This war didn't have to happen.

I tore my eyes away from Jace, and howled into the sky. Immediately after, I was joined by my pack, even Lana and Romeo started howling. (Though Romeo sounded like a dying cat.)

As the howl ended, a pained cry came from in front of me. I looked and saw the hooded girl, standing with her mouth agape at the dead warrior. Taking off her hood, I stared in horror at the falling red curls and sorrow-filled, blue eyes. "Monster!" Megan cried, falling to her knees. Meg. I thought, pitifully.

I took a step forward, for a moment forgetting I was giant wolf who just killed her brother and not Malia, her close friend. Her responses was to grab an arrow and shove it in my shoulder. I stumbled back, it hurt, but not as much as her tears. "You killed him!" She exclaimed through watery eyes, "You killed him!"

She grabbed another arrow and ran towards me. Any fight I had left had gone. I was ready to die. Before she could kill me, however, another hooded girl stood in front of me and grabbed the arrow. "Stop!" The girl said, her voice thick with emotion, "It won't help. He's gone."

"Such a pity. I would've thought these hunters would've killed at least one of the mongrels." A strange voice said.

"Yes, but I suppose what can you expect from humans." Another voice, a woman, said. There smell hit me before I could even look at them.

Vampires.

There were only nine of them, wearing cloaks that were black on the outside, but were a dark red on in the inside, clasped at the collar bone with a golden brooch shaped in what I would assume was the coven's crest, a raven flying towards the sky with a dead snake in it's talons. The woman who had spoken was significantly paler than all the other vampires, if she was not wearing such dark clothes, I probably would've only seen her red eyes against the snow. Even her hair was a pure white, almost like she belonged in the arctic. The man who had spoken was pale, but not too unusual for a vampire, had darker red eyes and dark brown hair. Like most vampires, his features were incredibly sharp and hard, with a jawline you could slice cheese on. Both the man and the woman looked like they were in the mid to late twenties, and based on their matching rings, were married.

"Why do we even bother to let humans take care of supernatural problems of such proportions?" Another one said. This one was shorter than all the other vampires, and even though her features were hardened,they weren't very sharp, instead they were round and youthful looking. She looked like she was about fourteen, with an olive tint to her pale skin and long, dark brown hair. She, and the two others who had spoke, were the only ones without hoods on, so clearly they were people of some importance.

The male gazed around the battlefield vigilantly, his eyes landing on Romeo, who was surrounded by ten bodies "Romeo, I've been wondering what happened to you." He said, "I see you've been busy."

Romeo shrugged. "Well, I wasn't one to just sit around, Marcus." He said, "Of course, it's a pleasure to see the three of you. Diana, looking lovely. Demeter...you're...looking." Demeter, the youngest looking one, scowled at him. "Well, you can either come peacefully, or we'll have no choice but to kill you." she said.

I growled, anger flowing through me. How dare they come here and demanded our surrender after the battle we just went through. I was angrier than I should've been. Much, much angrier. "Come and meet your maker." That unfamiliar voice said. My voice. The wolf's voice. The voice of an alpha. The vampires looked at me, first shocked, but then they recovered. "So be it." Marcus said.