New Blood

On the outskirt of Allegra, a group of freshman from St. Antonio's College happily set up their camp for the night. It was the last week of their summer break, where five of them decide to go hiking and camping at Mount Verius, one of the highest and toughest mountain to beat. Dante, the camp leader was walking around their campsite, collecting fire woods for the camp fire when Alyssa and Morgan prepped dinner. They bought a few slices of beef and some chicken wings to barbeque. Eric and Lance were setting up the tents for everybody, when Eric paused in his track, his senses heightened as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stood. He straightened his body, looked around, completely perplexed as it started to get dark and he could not see anyone else but them.

"What's going on with you?" Lance stopped doing his task as he looked up at Eric's terrified face. 

"Dude, I felt this ominous feeling in my gut." Eric muttered, his eyes darted from tree to tree, watching the leaves swayed by the wind. "Are you sure we're still in Allegra's territory?"

"Yeah, Dante has checked it multiple times. There's no way we hiked that far out into the woods man. Come on, help me pull this tent up." Lance got up from his squatting position when both of them heard faint growls from the woods.

Both of them stood rigid on their spot, exchanging surprise glances with one another.

"It was blood moon two days ago man.... Did you see the news?" Eric stuttered as he shuffled his feet away from the woods, towards the middle of the campsite. 

"You mean... the dead bodies?" Morgan chimed in as she started cutting the meat up to make kebabs. She could not help overhearing the boys and their whiny conversation.

"It was real, dude. Like... people don't just die with no reason, especially being in that state of death.... shrivelled and all..." Eric looked pale as he continued to scan the woods, narrowing his eyes.

"That was messed up, fuck me. What were they doing in the woods during blood moon anyway?" Lance grabbed his tools and started walking away from the first tent that they set up, getting ready to build another.

"They did not leave their home in purpose, I say." Morgan responded, "They were brought into the woods. Gosh, did you guys not read the news?" she started chopping the meat in big chunks, some of the blood splattered around as she swung her knife. Alyssa had started the fire and she joined the group mid-conversation. She chuckled as she found Eric's pale face amusing.

"Such a pussy. Trade jobs then if you're that scare." said Alyssa, mocking him. Eric scoffed and dropped his hammer next to Alyssa's foot, almost hitting her. "Ow! Watch it!"

As soon as Alyssa yelled out, the rustling of leaves got louder and all four of them looked up and froze at the same time. The breeze had gotten much colder than what it was before; its icy cold temperature penetrated their jackets and chill their bones. Morgan stood up as she noticed that she was breathing out steam.

"Guys." she squeaked and gulped, "Where's Dante?"

All of them looked around frantically, Dante has left to collect fire woods about an hour ago and he still yet to return. Lance pulled out his cellphone and cussed, "Damn no reception."

"What's that?" Alyssa hushed as she watched the canopy around them moved steadily, as if someone or something has been jumping from tree to tree.

Eric and Lance huddled up with the girls, all of them shivered in fear as the cold atmosphere became stagnant. It was almost as if the whole world fell silent, the noises around them seemed to be muffled and they were consumed with fear.

Tsrkkk! The snapping of twigs behind them made all of them spun on their heels; their eyes widened as they met the other pair of eyes looking right at them - blood red with black replacing the white of the eyes.

"D-d-dante... mate... where have you been?" Eric summoned his courage to speak as the tall figure emerged from the bush, turning into someone they once knew.

Low snarl broke the silence, as Dante heaved and sighed, taking in the scent of the four humans standing in front of him. Fresh blood dripped from the left side of his neck, with clear bite marks on his flesh. One look and Morgan yelped "He's bitten!"

All of them scrambled to get some kind of tool to help them defend themselves against their own friend - or what was left of him. Eric grabbed the hammer that he once threw away, while Alyssa grabbed the knife from the chopping board. Lance frantically pulled out a gun that he concealled all this time, tucked in his back pocket. Only Morgan who chose a different way, she ran towards the tent and pulled out her mother's old necklace - one with a crucifix on it. 

"Stand back!" she screamed as she waved the crucifix at Dante, its silver colour glistened under the moon light. The refraction of light hit Dante's form and seared his flesh ever so slightly, making him groaned in pain only for a split second.

"Jesus, Morgan what the fuck are you doing?" Lance dashed at her and pulled her back into their mini circle, keeping everyone closeby.

"You're hurting Dante!" Alyssa wailed, as her lover turned primal right before her eyes. Morgan shook her body, "Wake up Alyssa! That's not Dante! That's a fucking vampire!" she screamed at her ashen face, as Alyssa started sobbing.

"What is a vampire doing at Mount Verius at this time? It's not hunting hours yet!" Eric mustered up his courage to grab a firewood and lit it up. The blazing torch illuminated their surroundings, blinding them for a second before they started hearing multiple low growls from the woods.

"Rogues." Morgan hissed, "Rogues vamps care not for rules. They just fucking turned."

"What do you mean rogues?" Lance stammered as he retreated back behind Eric.

"New blood. Freshly killed humans who turned into fledglings. They had no idea what happened to them and they cannot control their thirst or their magical power." Morgan calmly assessed their surroundings while Eric flashed them with the torch on his hand.

"The Prince won't be happy to know this." she muttered.

As soon as she said that, one of the rogues pranced ahead and attempted to attack Alyssa who was cowering behind Eric, still sobbing.

"Alyssa watch out!" Morgan dashed towards her, her body light as feather as she landed a hard kick on the rogue's head, sending him hurling on the ground. Enrage, more rogues appeared from the shadows, their white fangs threatened the four of them.

"God help us." Lance held his breath as the group of rogues started closing in.

"Lance, the flares!" Morgan shouted mid-fight as she started fighting the rouges who were advancing towards them. Eric followed suit, he flailed his torch around, burning the flesh of rogues who wandered too close, while his free hand held Alyssa's body close. She was in too much shock for her instinct to kick in.

Lance ran towards the tent and pulled out two flares just in time before another rogue sneaked up behind him. He punched the rogue in the face in panic, scrambling on his feet to get back to his friends and cracked up the flare.

Bright red light shot upwards, its' blasting sound was deafening as the growls got louder around them.

It was four humans against a dozen of rogues. It was never a fair fight and since the clock has not struck midnight yet, it was not hunting hours yet. No vampires were allowed to hurt the humans of Allegra due to the Peace Accord between the rulers way before their time. It was a powerful decree that allowed humans to co-exist with the vampires. Even during blood moon hunt, the vampires could only hunt but not kill their victims, and most importantly they have to obliviate their victim's memory to keep the peace.

The flares lit up the night sky, as the rogue scattered to hide from the light, four of them grabbed whatever they could and started running for the hills. They climbed into Dante's truck, parked nearby and Morgan took over the wheel while Eric and Lance started loading bullets into their hunting rifles. 

"Get a grip, Alyssa!!! Hold the torch!" Morgan barked orders at her friend as she tried to steer the truck away from the woods. They could hear the loud stomp of the vampires running on the ground, as well as the eerie rustling of the leaves above them. Eric took the first shot at a short haired rogue who dressed like a beggar, bullet whizzed past Lance's right ear as he cursed at Eric, "Dude you could've killed me!"

"Yea and they could've killed us!!!" Eric shouted back as he fired another round, "OR worse, turn us into one of them!"

"Shut up and start shooting already!" Morgan shouted from the front seat, driving frantically as their truck bounced up and down the uneven gravel road.

Rounds after rounds were fired, some of them struck the rogues and killed them while others only grazed them. With their strength and speed, the rogues caught up with them quickly with Dante as the fore runner.

"Dante! Fuck mate! I can't..." Eric hesitated for a second as Dante leaped and landed on the back of the truck, his hand reached for Eric's throat. 

Morgan saw it on the rearview mirror and turned the wheel hard to the left, to shake him loose but Dante was too quick. He pulled Eric out of the window of the truck with one swing and with a loud scream, Eric was thrown out of the truck. His body crashed against a mahogany tree, breaking his bones as a group of rogues surrounded him. His scream and pleas were drowned in growls and snarls as the rogues feasted on his blood. Eric was gone.

"DAMN IT ERIC!"

Morgan pushed down on the accelerator, trying to get out as quickly as she could but the rogues were fast. Lance's hands trembled as he nervously tried to reload his gun, but after seeing his bestfriend Eric being fed alive, he lost all composure. Alyssa, finally came to her senses started climbing over the seat to get to Lance and grabbed Eric's gun, reloading it with more bullets.

"Alyssa, grab my bag and take the white box!" Morgan shouted, "Use them instead!"

Both Alyssa and Lance looked at each other, confused but did as they told anyway. As soon as Alyssa pulled out the white box, another rogue jumped on top of the car and started pounding at the roof. Cold hard metal bullets poured out of the box, it looked different and definitely weighed more than normal bullets.

"Morgan... what are these?" Alyssa looked perplexed while Lance hurriedly shoved them into his gun and started shooting aimlessly, hoping it would hit any of the rogues by chance.

"Silver bullets." Morgan made a hard right turn, avoiding another rogue from the left. "Instant kill if you shoot at their heads!"

Understanding the meaning of it, although many questions flooded their heads, Alyssa and Lance started shooting with the silver bullets and soon the chaos turned into painful shrieks as one by one, the rouges fell and burst into flames. The truck has now left the dense jungle and hit the main road back to Allegra.

Morgan hit the brakes so hard their car skidded with a screech as a dark figure stood in front of them, in the middle of the road. She breathed heavily as Lance and Alyssa looked at her.

"Dante."

His muscles bulged, his eyes red and menacing as he let out a deep low growl, glaring at them.

"Baby..." Alyssa whimpered.

"Alyssa don't!!!"

Too late; Alyssa opened the door and jumped out of the truck. Lance followed suit, screaming her name and trying to get her back inside. However, Alyssa kept on walking, hypnotised by the presence in front of her. Tears streamed down her face as her heart constricted, mourning the loss of her boyfriend.

"Stay back Lance!!" Morgan jumped out of the car and charged at Alyssa, the force of it sent them rolling on the ground where she could pin down the hysterical Alyssa. Dante cracked his neck, flashing a wide bloody grin at Lance as he ever so slowly made his move.

"God damn it!" Morgan cussed as she knew she could only save one friend.

In a moment of desperation, Morgan was ready to drag Alyssa away and sacrifice Lance, if not for another's arrival. The shadow whipped past them like a bullet shot from afar. One strike to the heart, and Dante fell backwards. His eyes rolled back as the impact hit him hard. He landed on his back as he grunted and struggled to get up, the shadow manifested into human form and started sending punches and kicks at Dante mercilessly. A few minutes after, more shadows flew in from all directions, transforming into human form - they were the Royal Guards, the vampire warriors sent from The Gladstone Castle. Lance was awestruck as the guards dragged him away from the fight. Few others arrived and helped Morgan up, another carried Alyssa's exhausted body with ease. The Vampire guard nodded at Morgan, acknowledging the flares that they lit up few moments ago.

Few more rogues dashed at them from the woods, but the guards easily tackled them and captured them one by one, leaving Dante fighting the mysterious shadow. He was no match for the experience vampire, as he eventually lost his strength and was sent to his knees. With a quick snap, the vampire twisted Dante's head, breaking his neck and tossed his lifeless body away. He pulled out a lighter from his pocket and set him ablaze. Alyssa shrieked in grief as she watched Dante's corpse burn into ashes in mere seconds. Morgan stood stock still, witnessing the whole spectale with bated breath as the shadow turned and walked towards her.

"You sent the warnings." his icy blue eyes were cold and dark, his sharp gaze was locked at hers.

"You sent the flares. Did you know who turn the rogues?" he asked again, his voice was calm and charismatic. Morgan shook her head slightly, taking in the sight in front of her.

He was tall, much taller than her. He was lean but his well-defined muscles were apparent underneath his black leather jacket. His eyes were dark grey when he fought Dante, but it has now returned to the clear blue eyes that could captivate every soul who dared to look. His face was sharp, frighteningly handsome with messy dark chocolate hair.

"Thank you, for helping and saving us." she spoke with a quiet voice. She did not know how to act in front of him; in front of Reed.

The Prince himself came down to the fight. He was clearly furious. Abley approached him, with Lance in his tail.

"My Prince, according to this boy, they were setting up camp at Verius when the rogues appeared out of nowhere and attacked them. Their friend, Dante... the guy you killed, he was away looking for fire wood when he was attacked by the rogue and turned." Abley shifted his gaze at Morgan, "They attacked them unprompted."

"They must have a leader. Rogues are stupid, they won't attack without an order." Reed spit out dark coloured blood; it was his own from his fight with Dante, as he managed to split Reed's bottom lip with a punch. Morgan's eyes lit up as she watched the split gradually merged, leaving no traces of the wound on his face.

Morgan helf her breath as Reed's face came closer, "You must be crazy to use the flares like that. Who taught you to use it?"

"My grandmother." she gulped. "So... all the stories are true. You do exist."

Reed snifled a laugh, "Of course we are real, as real as you and your folks."

The weird emphasise on the word 'folk' made Lance curious. He whispered, "What is he talking about?"

Abley looked at Lance, amused "Oh? You don't know? The flares were no ordinary flares."

Lance looked confused, "Morgan?"

She took a deep breath, "The flares were enchanted." she paused, as Lance's eyes widened in shock.

"The flares called for the royal vampire guards." Abley continued, "As cliche as it sounds, the flares must only be used in unique circumstance or emergencies, by the summoner... not just any summoner at that."

Reed took a step closer and inspected Morgan, "Only a witch could summon the vampires with the flares." He looked at Lance's gaping mouth, "And here I thought, your folks have left town long ago."

"I came here for school." Morgan gathered herself and looked back at Reed, "I brought them just in case. It was blood moon two nights ago."

"Like a talisman, you say." Reed giggled. "Well, it served its purpose. That was a fun fight."

"My Prince, you should probably obliviate the humans." Abley raised his concerns as Lance and Alyssa looked bewildered at this sudden discovery of their own friend.

"You could do that job easily, Abley, why me?" Reed huffed. Abley shook his head, annoyed as he whispered into Lance and Alyssa's ears - magically erasing their memories of tonight's attack.

Morgan took a step closer to Reed, "Aren't you gonna obliviate me too?"

"You silly, witch. My powers won't get thru to you." Reed smirked, "Tell me, you've known all along that you're a witch, right?"

Morgan shook her head, "I've heard stories... from my grandmother about witches and vampires, and the other magical creatures but I have never..." she sighed, "I have never believed that I was one."

Abley sent his guards to send Lance and Alyssa back to their respective homes after getting them cleaned up. The guards transformed back into the blob of black smoke, taking the humans with them and disappeared into the shadows.

"Well, I guess it's time for you to learn your own heritage. Abley, do we still have her contact?"

"Yes, My Prince. I believe she now lives deep in the Cave of Lucia."

"Take her. She needs to learn about the magic in her blood."

"Wait." Morgan instinctively grabbed Reed's arm as he was about to leave, "What about my heritage?"

"Little girl, only royal witches could use the enchanted flares to summon the royal guards. You are not an ordinary witch."

Reed bent down and peered into her face, so close that their lips almost touched.

"You are a half-breed. Half-mortal, half-witch... and not just any witch, you have royal blood in you. Only descendants of the royal witch could summon the royal guards with the flares, and that's how we know you're not an ordinary human." His smirk was tantalising as Morgan could almost taste him, that was how close they were. "Take her to Giulia, she would know what to do."

Abley took Morgan's arm and in a split second her world turned into confusing swirls of million colours. As she opened her eyes, she realised that they have teleported away from Allegra as they now stood in front of the entrance to a dark cave - the Cave of Lucia, the cavern of witches.