"Scarlett, go with them!" Greyson shouted to me. No! My brain shouted back. I dug my nails into his arm, I couldn't let go.
"Listen to me, go with them to the underground bunker! Our pack members need you Scarlett. Keep the children and those who can't fight calm." he pleaded. No, not without him, my eyes watered.
"No, Greyson! I can't leave without you! " I shouted as his warriors pulled me in a different direction.
"Scarlett, please, I couldn't live if something happened to you. I need you to be safe in order to protect us. Please, I need to know my mate is safe" he then leaned in and kissed me hard, full of everything we have felt for each other since the beginning.
"I know humans love differently but I love you Scarlett. So much. Now go now!" as he shifted, not giving me a chance to reply or not reply. I don't know how I felt. I know it would kill me if something happened to him. Is that what real love felt like? Or the mate bond crushing against me?
Three pack warriors rushed me into the pack house and to a back room as people all around me shifted into werewolves, running in the same direction as their Alpha.
"Get the Luna to the bunker, hurry, it's vampires. They are inside the house" a woman in her late 60's yelled as she hurried us to bookcase. She tapped it three times and pulled out a book and the book shelf moved, revealing a door.
A loud scream erupted the air, panic exploded throughout my body.
"Go help, I've got the Luna" the woman said as she pushed me to the door. The pack warriors nodded as they bowed to me before running off.
"Go Luna! Go!" she hurried me through. She shut the door behind us, leaving us in a pitch black hallway. I stuck my hands out in front of me, trying to feel my way around.
"Keep walking straight Luna, we are almost there." the woman directed. I kept walking forward until a dim lamp lit up a metal door. It kind of looked like those watertight doors you would see at the bottom of a ship. Ironically, the wheel handles on the doors are called dogs, I almost laughed at the irony of who's home I was currently in. Instead fear tickled my skin, vampires were attacking, was this door supposed to serve as protection?
The woman squeezed in front of me as she pulled the wheel around in a pattern until it opened with a loud creak. I looked back to make sure no one was following us.
"Beyond the bookshelf, it is all sound proof down here." the woman's voice pulled my attention back to the front of me.
"Come on Luna, hurry inside" she held the door for me. I hesitantly peered around the door before fully entering.
Inside it was full of women, children and the elderly. In the mix of werewolves, there stood Adam and Travis looking terrified.
"Oh thank god you guys are okay" I said as I rushed to the guys pulling them into a hug. All around me the people slowly fell into a bow. Quietly whispering Luna.
"Oh no, please I'm not your Lu-"
"Shhh child, don't break their hope. Not in a time like this. They need you as their leader right now. After the battle you can do what you want, but right now they need you." the woman whispered to me. Taking in her words I slightly bowed back, feeling unsure of what to do.
"What is happening?" I turned to the woman.
"It looks like a vampire attack. It is rare and out of their character to attack wolves. Unlike popular belief, our species do not hate each other. We just don't bother with each other. The last vampire attack was back before Greyson became Alpha. Even with that, they hadn't attacked alone. " she looked confused. The night Greyson's parents and sister were murdered.
"I'm Scarlett by the way" I said sticking out my hand to shake hers. Everyone around us watching carefully.
"I know who you are Luna, I am Elena. The pack mother." she looked at my hand before taking it into hers. Her grip was strong, someone you didn't want to mess with. A woman like her, I could tell was fearless.
"Luna, Luna please help" a woman pushed forward hanging onto a teenage boy.
"My mother, she's missing. She is sick, she gets confused easily Luna. She wouldn't be able to defend herself. Please Luna help me find her" she cried. Elena pulled the woman to her.
"You know you can't ask her of that. Alpha gave us direct orders" Elena lectured. The look on the woman's face broke my heart. The look reminded me of the mother back at the river who's son fell into the river.
"Where was she last seen?" I cut in. Travis yanked my arm back, trying to stop what I was about to do.
"She was supposed to hang the clothes out to dry, when the alarm sounded. I went to find her, after taking a quick look and not seeing her, I thought maybe someone had helped her here" she cried, pure panic on her face.
"I will go" I decided. I don't know what I was up against when it came to vampires, but I had my magic and I could protect myself.
"You will do no such thing. The Alpha ordered for us to keep you here. " Elena demanded. Tough or not, no one was going to order me around.
"As your Luna, isn't my order the same as your Alpha's" I demanded back, thinking of the time Greyson explained the wolf hierarchy to me. She smiled widely.
"Yes Luna" she said, and for the first time, the title settled around me and gave me the strength to do what I needed to.
"What is her name?" I asked the woman.
"Opal, her name is Opal."she rushed out. I nodded as I moved towards the sealed door.
"Wait Luna, I will go with you" the young teenage boy walked to me. His mother cried out at the loss of his touch.
"Absolutely not" I stated as he couldn't have been past 16, his mother already lost her mother, she didn't need to lose her son as well.
"Please Luna, you don't know the territory like I do, let alone what my Nana looks like. She may not even come to you. My mother wasn't kidding when she said she very confused." he pointed out to his mother and myself.
He was right, but I couldn't take a teenager out of safety and into the middle of god knows what, could I? I turned to look back at Elena hoping she had some kind of insight on this. She looked between us, eyes studying the mother and nodded.
"Okay, but you need to stay with me at all times. No heroic shit okay?" I demanded.
"Yes Luna, whatever you say. Thank you so much" he kept yaping. Yeah, okay that would get annoying.
"Please take care of my son Luna" the woman pulled her boy back placing a kiss on his cheek. "Bring her back to us baby" she whispered against his skin. I looked away to give them privacy.
I instead looked to the sealed door and put my hand against it, letting my magic sense what to do. The lock suddenly clicked causing the crowd to aww and the use of my magic. I turned to Elena.
"I will be back, please keep them safe" I said as I gestured to Adam and Travis.
"With more authority next time Luna, but yes, I will guard them with my life" she turned back to the crowd.
I sealed the door behind me, adding an extra layer of protection before we walked down the dark hallway.
"What's your name hun?" I asked after wanting to call him 'the teenage boy'. Yeah, that wasn't very Luna-y.
"Kaiden, Luna".
"You can call me Scarlett" I blew out.
"Is that an order?" he whispered.
"No, of course not" I started feeling uneasy about ordering people around. It went against my natural instincts.
"Then I'd rather just call you Luna." he said as we neared the door. I leaned against it and waited a few seconds to see if I could sense anyone on the other side. After a few minutes of no sound, I slowly pulled the door open.
"How do we get past the book shelf from this side" I whispered to the boy.
"Why can't we mindlink? Have you not sealed the bond with the Alpha?" Kaiden asked. Umm, yeah, no way was I having this conversation with a teenage boy.
"Mind your business little boy, and tell me how we get out of here." I snapped.
"I'm just saying it would be a lot safer and easier to have a conversation if we were mindlinking" he rolled his eyes, teenagers were annoying as hell.
He then pulled me to another hidden door I had not noticed when I first came through. This door led us to another room, a room that was back in the main house.
We carefully and quietly tiptoed to the back door that led outside. The house was eerily quiet. We were almost out the door, when I heard a low whistling followed with an intense scratching sound coming from behind me.
I jerked back to see a tall pale man with blood dripping down his mouth stalking towards us. I gripped Kaiden in front of me to alert him of our unwanted company. I heard him take a sharp breath in as he tried to push me behind him. Sweet, but hell no.
"The lost prophet, Well hello love, we've been searching for you" his voice sent chills down my spine.
"Well here I am asshole" I flexed my fingers. I barely had time to comprehend his movements, I've never seen someone move so fast. One minute he was standing the middle of the hall, the next he had knocked me down and was on top of me.
"Run" I screamed at Kaiden. As I tried to fight off the vampire. He dug his sharp nails into my shoulder as I brought up my knees, attempting to knee him in the back. Each blow hurt me more than him. His skin felt like it was made of stone.
"They want you alive, but you smell so good, I think I'll have a taste." his fangs enlarged as he brought his teeth to my neck. Suddenly he jerked backwards trying to pull something out of his back. I used his distraction to my advantage and pulled my legs through, kicking him off before standing up. Kaiden. Kaiden had stabbed him in the back with an ax.
"Hurry Luna, that won't stop him" he said as he pulled me out the back door.
He was right the vampire was on his feet and heading towards us, now pissed off. He was too fast, we wouldn't be able to outrun him.
"How do you kill a vampire?" I shouted to Kaiden as we tried to put more distance between ourselves and the vampire.
"Beheading or fire" he yelled back. Seriously.
I pulled up my hands and pushed my magic at him, knocking him backwards. He jumped back up and came at us again. He was fucking fast. He reached out and grabbed a hold of Kaiden, wrapping his arm around his neck. NO!!! Not another person, not because of me!
Rage overtook my body as I pulled my hands together pulling my magic from deep inside of me. The vampire began screaming as he let go of Kaiden. He fell to his knees as he dug at his own throat. I felt my magic sliding into his mouth down his throat filling it with lava. The rage in me burned him from the inside out. Finally his body fell as Kaiden watched me with wide eyes.
"That was fucking badass Luna!" He shouted.
"Watch your mouth! and shhh, I don't know if I can do that again" I reprimanded Kaiden as I felt completely winded. Too much too fast. I steadied myself against a tree. Fuck, I needed to regenerate. Holding the protection shield over the bunker and what magic I just used on the vampire, left me feeling depleted. My breaths coming out in pant.
"Sorry Luna. Man that doesn't look good" Kaiden said as he pulled on my shirt around my neck line. I looked down at where the vampire scratched me. Damn he was right, it fucking stung. But I didn't have enough magic to heal it and be able to protect us too. I'd just have to deal with the pain.
"I'll be fine. Come on, show me where your Nana could possibly be" I said following him deeper into the woods. So they did come for me. Damn it, and now Greyson's pack was at war because of me. Shit, Greyson, I hope he was okay, my heart clenched at the thought.
"This way Luna" Kaiden led us a quarter mile from the packhouse. We slowly walked up to several houses that looked a lot like cabins. If I were not scared out of my mind right now, I might have found them absolutely adorable, cozy.
"Other pack members homes" he informed me.
There, I spotted a line of clothes hanging, blowing in the gentle wind. We both cautiously made our way to the clothesline, looking around in every direction, making sure the coast was clear. As we got closer, blood stains appeared on some of the clothing. I looked at Kaiden and really questioned my decision of bringing him. This isn't something for a kid to see.
"Stay here" I told him as I walked closer. A puddle of blood spread at my feet, fuck. The further I went, the more blood I found. I followed the blood stains as they seemed to look like something or someone was dragged through it.
The blood led to what looked like a washroom. I paused outside of the small building, laying a hand against it with closed eyes, trying to sense if anyone was in there. I sent my magic in first to be my eyes. It was a weird sensation, it was like being able to see with your eyes closed. I couldn't physically see inside, but more of felt it. There. I opened my eyes. I felt it, a heart beating slowly, a choking sound. I rushed in finding an elderly woman propped up against a washer machine. Holding her neck as blood rushed out. Shit.
"Kaiden" I yelled as I ran to the woman, placing my hand against her wound. Too much blood, she lost way too much blood. How the hell is she still alive?
"What is it Luna! Is she here?" Kaiden ran in, eyes falling on the woman.
"No, no, what did they do to you Nana?" he cried.
I could feel her life force fading, I had to act quick. I've never healed in injury this bad before, but I had brought a kid back to life. This is something I could do. I pushed my power through my hands, light traveled from my palms and illuminated her skin. It's working, I could feel the wound repairing underneath my fingertips.
Sweat dripped down the side of my face as the energy I was using to heal her, faded slowly. No, I wouldn't give up now. I dug deeper inside, the light brightening. The wound closed and her heart beat felt stronger under my hand. Yes! I did it. I pulled back as Kaiden laughed pulling his Nana into his arms.
"You should not be out here grandson! You should be protecting your mother" her voice raspy and weak as she scolded him. He laughed and held her tighter.
The woman looked to me and smiled "Powerful Luna, you are meant for great things. Take care of my grandson" her smile began to fade. What? No! She breathed in heavily, her heart rate slowing back down, coming to a stop as she took her last breath.
"No! No! I healed her wound! I fucking healed her!" I cried as Kaiden held onto her sobbing.
"Nana, Nana!" his cries ripped at my heart.
"Move Kaiden, I can resurrect her" tears rolled down my face as I readied my hands to summon the resurrection spell. Damn the consequences. Damn them all. She wasn't going to die because of me.
"No Luna, No!" Kaiden pulled my hands down as he cried heavily.
"She wouldn't want that. It was her time to go, we must accept that, no matter how hard it is." and just like that this fucking 16 year old boy was comforting me, because I couldn't get over my pity party.
I mean what really was the point of being the most powerful witch if I couldn't even successfully heal someone when it really counted? I shoved myself back in anger as I cried in realization that I am NOT powerful! I am NOT strong. I CAN'T do this. I am NOT built for this. I am NOT worth any of this.
Kaiden cried heavily as he held his Nana in his arms. Fuck! This was on me! Just like Harper, just like Sebastian, just like Axel, this shit was on me.
The sound of Kaiden's cries, fueled me with anger, grief, frustration and a thirst for blood. I stood up and wiped my tears.
This was the last straw, they want me, fine, I'm done hiding.
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Hey Loves,
Soooooo we are at war!? What are you guys thinking? Scarlett killed her first vampire and also experienced her first loss with someone she couldn't heal. She is really going the ringer in this chapter, but now she's pissed. Should they be scared??????
Feel free to comment and vote! Thank you all so much for continuing this journey with me, I appreciate every single one of you!
xoxoxooxoxo-
wearethepeople