Chapter Three: Blood Gushes from Open Wounds

CHAPTER THREE (NEW MOON)

Chapter Three: Blood Gushes from Open Wounds

Bang!

Mallory instinctively sat up as the sharp, booming sound penetrated her ears. Her eyes quickly shut close. Her pale, skinny hands were pressed tightly against her ears, her whole person was trembling like leaves against a heavy storm. Amidst the cacophonous ringing in her ears, Mallory heard the distinct chaos happening outside the house.

Woods were breaking. She could hear flesh tearing and smell blood in the air.

Her heart raced, feeling a sense of familiarity in her heart. That made her almost deny the reality, but the noise of destruction and screams of terror only continued.

This brought her sense of self, and immediately, she stood up and left her room to look outside the window.

And just in time, she saw a figure piercing one of her kind with a rapier, its hilt covered in gold. The man looked down at his bloody chest, his eyes gleaming with malice and unacceptance.

The figure’s face was slowly illuminated by the fire.

Plae face, bloody lips, long fangs, red eyes.

Vampire…

Mallory’s heart constricted from the sight. She shrunk back and almost screamed in terror.

They were a quiet distance away from her house, but Mallory clearly saw who that was.

The familiar build, that familiar face, and that eye-catching blue hair.

Her lips trembled, and slowly, she whispered. “Damian…”

Damian, Melita’s eldest son. Oddny’s older brother. The pillar of the family that protected Mallory.

Her whisper attracted the vampire’s attention. The blood-sucking creature snapped his neck towards her, and when their eyes met, he grinned devilishly. Even with the distance and the glass window separating them, Mallory still felt the bloodlust in those eyes.

Every hair on Mallory’s body stood up without missing a beat. She couldn’t even scold herself for being so careless when the vampire took out the blade from Damian’s chest and, in a blink of an eye, the vampire was already outside her window, towering over her pathetic figure.

Mallory suck a cold breath, she fell on the floor with a thud. The vampire peered at her, his fangs peeking out from his lips. He raised his hand to smash the window--

Mallory closed her eyes to accept her fate.

However, no matter how long she waited, Mallory didn’t hear the shattering of the glass window and didn’t feel the shard rapier digging into her.

“Run!” Mallory jolted back to her senses from Damian’s loud shout.

She immediately opened her eyes and saw Damian in the middle of holding back the vampire. Slowly, his fur was coming out of his body, slowly transforming him into his wolf form.

“Damian!” Mallory shouted in alarm. She pushed herself up, wanting to help him. Her eyes looked at the scene. Horror doesn’t fail to hide in her eyes. The sense of familiarity even thickens.

She reached out an arm, trying to stop the person she already looked up to as her older brother. “Stop it!”

Damian hadn’t reached that age yet! He had not undergone the Blessing Ceremony! If he did that–he wouldn’t be back as human again and lose his mind!

Obviously, Damian knew that. He looked at Mallory and smiled slowly.

‘It’s fine.’ He mouthed. Mallory can’t help her tears from rolling down her cheeks. Damian’s smile immediately disappeared as if it had never been there to begin with. He looked at her seriously and shouted again. “RUN!”

Mallory stood on her feet, and with much difficulty, she ran out of the house, her heart aching from the scene of Damian. The last time she’ll ever see him.

The situation outside was more devastating than she thought. Many were running like headless flies trying to save their lives while the older ones in the pack were trying to save as much as werewolves as possible. They used their own bodies, transforming into big, furry wolves with their sharp fangs and claws glistening under the moonlight.

Fire erupted everywhere. The pack where normally dark during the night and was like a place for festivals, there were lights everywhere. However, contrary to the cheerful atmosphere of festivals, only shouts of fear are heard all over the place. And the lights from the fire didn’t emit a festive atmosphere, but it emitted a sense of destruction and horror.

Mallory ran and ran. Her feet ran towards a familiar path while trying her best to stay away from the fight.

Her feet never stopped; they sped up as the thought of the place where Damian’s family lives entered her mind.

‘Melita, Oddny!’ Mallory yelled pathetically in her head, hoping for some miracle that the two would hear her shouts.

Thud!

Far away, a heavy body fell on the ground, lifeless.

Another werewolf died.

Next to it, the vampire who put an end to its life looked at Mallory. He had blood smeared on his face, and when he smiled, his long canines revealed itself. They were covered in blood. Some even leaked from his mouth to his chin. Mallory felt herself shiver, but she didn’t stop. Her feet kicked more on the ground, leaving a dusty trail on her path.

The vampire saw this, and tried running after her, but then was pounced on by another werewolf that had lost his rationality, biting forcefully on his shoulders, tearing it up. The vampire yelled in anger and used his sharp nails to dig holes into the wolf’s body. And then the two engaged in a fearsome fight.

Mallory saw this and couldn’t help but cry inwardly. ‘Goddess, it’s happening again! Why? Why? Why? Why must this happen again to me?’

Vampires had been actively killing their kind for the past eighteen years. Everyone knew why because, like them, humanity and the wolves were looking for it too---the goddess blessed. Their only hope, and the only poison to the vampires.

But the search only brought forth nothing but bloodshed. Eighteen years had passed, but no one found the only hope for the two species. This also means that the vampire hasn’t seen the largest threat to their race.

Mallory touched her left eye as she ran as if she felt an unbearable pain in there.

In her eighteen years of life, she had switched packs three times already. With this pack for the fourth one. Last time, their pack got attacked, with only her and a few survivors living. Almost everyone there died protecting the young, including her mother. This left Mallory alone.

Afraid, she hadn’t opened up her heart to anyone, until Melita found her who, after that, treated her as her own daughter. With that, she also gained a sister, Oddny, and a brother, Damian. Since then, a year has passed.

Damian and Mallory’s birthdays were only a few days apart. They are turning eighteen next month, and they would undergo the ritual to obtain the goddess’s permission to freely use their werewolf form as well as receive additional power to protect themselves.

The two of them were supposed to go together…

Mallory held back her tears to prevent them from blurring her vision, and she couldn’t help but curse in her heart. ‘Could you tell me why? And where is the Goddess, and her Blessed? When are they planning to stop this massacre? Have we not suffered enough?’

She bit her lip and strengthened her resolve. ‘I will protect them in your place, Damian!’

Without hesitation, Mallory zoomed through the once a peaceful pack, but now a bloody battlefield. She bypassed everyone and miraculously survived the chaos. And then, finally, the familiar wooden house entered her eyes.

The door was tightly shut, and for some reason, no enemies could be seen.

Mallory felt relief from what she saw.

‘They haven’t reached this part of the pack yet!’

Her lips unconsciously formed a smile as she sped up.

Bang!

Mallory slammed the door open.

Her heart was beating so fast. Immediately, her eyes scanned, and she instinctively called out. “Melita---”

The house is dark, but the lack of light is nowhere a liability to the creatures who can see in the dark.

So Mallory instantly saw the situation inside.

Her heart sank.

Initially, she had already smelt blood when she was running towards the house. However, as everywhere was practically stained with blood, Mallory thought it was ‘normal’. But the scene in front of her says otherwise.

There were women everywhere on the floor. Dead, with two deep holes in their necks. They were all pale, like the snow in winter. Their eyes were closed as if they were in a deep slumber. A sleep where no one would wake up ever again.

And in the middle of the room was a vampire wearing different clothing from the vampires outside. It was more elegant, refined, and clean-looking.

‘Ah,’ Mallory understood it now.

It wasn’t that the vampires hadn’t reached the part of the village yet; it was because someone with a higher status than all of the vampires outside had already claimed this place.

A noble. The vampire who leads troops that attack a pack. 

A noble was inside the house, feasting on the blood of the female werewolves.