Blood Farm

Chapter 4

Noah grabbed my hand and followed the path quickly, Julius wasn't that far ahead of us.

"What does he mean unclaimed?"

"Linus must have claimed you somehow and you've managed to break it." Julius responds.

Noah gasped as he looked at me, his eyes looking at my neck.

"Your necklace, did he give that to you?"

"Yeah."

"What did he say when he gave it to you?"

"That he wanted to declare it to the world that he loved me and I was his."

I stepped over a large tree root, struggling to remember the words. At the time I had thought he was being all cute and loving but now I was worried.

"Uh, he said 'Veronica Marshall you are my love and I declare it now to the world that you are mine forever, wear this necklace as a symbol to our world that I own your love.' Is it bad?"

"Standard claim phrase." Julius said mildly "Not a vampire's claim though, you know what this means, don't you Noah?"

Noah nodded as he looked at me.

"What?" I said a little cautiously.

"Claiming like that is a werewolf thing. It means he's either come across a werewolf text and taught himself or he's come in contact with one. Either way, it's not good."

"That guy back there, he was a werewolf, wasn't he?"

"Yes." Noah sighed "He is a werewolf."

I watched as the small crowd of vampires began to disperse into the night, men, women and children, all of them vampires that had once been a community now they were going somewhere that was ideal for them. Somewhere they were going to hide from whatever it was that had tried to enter the compound. I couldn't understand why they were running, the place seemed pretty fortified. But it had rattled all of them, their faces were worried.

"Why are you running?" I looked to Noah.

"It was a legion of wolves that had descended upon us Veronica, they have never openly come after us like that, we have always had our occasional run ins with them, but nothing like this. They wanted to start something without any provocation on our part. Everyone is going to another safe house, hopefully they will be able to return soon. Our little group on the other hand will be going elsewhere."

"You mean team super amazing blood suckers plus one?"

Noah grinned with a half laugh.

"Yeah, I guess so. Is he always like that?"

"You mean crazy? Yeah, it's what makes Curtis awesome."

The sound of a child crying filled the air, a soft whimper of a boy maybe around the toddler age. Noah looked around, trying to find the child. There was only our small group that consisted of Julius, Curtis, the big bear of a man which I was yet to be introduced to, Noah and I. We were now at the edge of the city, terraced houses lined the empty street. No child should be out at this hour, unless they were one of us, travelling to their new home with their parents. Yet the quiet wail slipped around us, leaching at our hearts, we were desperate to find the poor child. Curtis and the bear followed what they thought was the right direction, down an alley, Julius was moving toward a set of stairs that led down into a hidden alcove below the stairs that led up to the terraced house. Noah was about to turn around to search the nearby park when something hit me, realisation dawned.

"Stop!"

They all turned and looked at me, moving to me when I gestured.

"Don't you see what you are all doing?"