“I can do both, if you let me.” Drew as well,I can protect him also, at least that’s what my heart says. I know better logically. There’s no way that I could help him now. And yet, as the screams begin to grow closer and closer, I know with more and more certainty that he needs me. Things have gone terribly wrong. The Blood Moon is hungry and we are the prey. “Go upstairs and hide, salt the threshold of your door, don’t make a sound, and don’t come out till morning, no matter what happens.”
Her eyes are shining; her mouth purses. She wants to fight me. I know she does. But she won’t.
Because this is who we are.
This is who we’ve always been.
Everyone in Hunter’s Hamlet has one foot in the grave and one hand on a silver weapon. We don’t go down without a fight. We are the only thing standing between our world and the vampires that would consume it.
“Be safe. Don’t make any rash choices,” she whispers and pulls me in for a tight embrace. “I will see you in the morning.”
“I’m just going to guard the door.” I don’t know why it sounds like a lie. That’s all I should be doing; all I can be. And yet my heart is racing. My feet are antsy to do so as well. “I’ll see you in the morning.” I pat her back and she pulls away.
Mother takes the bucket of salt and leaves.
I am alone with my worries and distant screams. I rest my hands on the hilts of the sickles and go to twist them out of their hooks. Movement makes my hands go slack with shock. I almost fumble my weapons, quickly recovering before they can clatter to the ground.
A lone shadow cuts through the night.Not human, I can tell that much by its movements. It’s too fast, too fluid, yet somehow frantic and irregular. The monster comes to a halt and it swings its haunted eyes from left to right. They’re completely black orbs, only the smallest fleck of gold at their center. Teeth line its gaping maw—pointed and deadly. With one bite it can carve out the throats of its victims and engorge itself on blood.
Judging from the explosion of crimson down its front, it already has. It hasn’t even bothered stealing the faces of its prey. It knows it doesn’t need to tonight.
Slowly, I reach into my pocket and retrieve the obsidian vial that’s there. Hunter’s Elixir. A powerful, ancient draught to grant strength and speed equal to that of the vampires so that we might go toe-to-toe with them. But it’s so potent that it’s forbidden for any but the hunters to consume because of the hunter’s madness—a state of frenzy that old hunters descend into.
Drew said it would be all right.
I look back to the vampire. It stalks across the street to another doorway while sniffing the air. Its brow brushes against the low-hanging bells. They chime softly, but it does not flee at the sound. Panic and doubt make fast friends in my heart. Were the hunters wrong? Will the bells or salt help at all?
Flicking open the vial, I look at the meager few drops of liquid within. Even in the red moonlight it’s black as pitch. I inhale its unique scent as I bring it to trembling lips. My whole body aches; an urge I’ve never known wrests itself from the depths of my being at the aroma alone. It is as if I’ve been waiting for this freedom, this power to make my own destiny, my whole life and have never known it.
I drink.
The thick, clotted liquid goes down as one lump. It slips down all the way into me, lining my throat, falling into my stomach like a lit bottle of liquor smashing against the ground. Fire erupts within and I fall to my knees.
Images flash before my eyes. Of the fortress. Of eyes as bright as sunlight. Of starlight and mountain cities only drawn in picture books. They are gone in a blink.
More, my muscles scream. The burdens and pains and aches of reality drift away to nothingness.Give it to me. Rush through my veins and turn me into a hunter.Transform me into someone who can protect all that I love. Everything I’ve ever known. Make me strong enough to defy all that everyone thought I could be, if only for one night.
I push myself away from the ground, trying to keep from doubling over and throwing up the gift of strength that Drew has given me. The world blurs, vibrating, faster and faster until everything is illegible. Air has never tasted so sweet, so sharp. I have never smelled so keenly—the night’s dew, the charcoal in the forge, the tiniest amount of residue of last night’s dinner in the cooking pot, I can smell it all. Feel it all. The world is suddenly more than it has ever been and I am ready to take it all.
The door slams open. The whole earth quakes.
Moonlight hangs over the vampire’s shoulders like a bloody halo. The creature hisses softly through its elongated teeth.
“Die,” I snarl. My voice does not sound like my own. It is deeper, tinged with a hunger that is gnawing my insides.More, the elixir urges,give me more. Give me power and give me blood. Finally bring an end to the long night.
I leap, becoming a whisper of death on the wind.
CHAPTER4
The vampire letsout a primal screech and reaches with its claws. I dodge from the monster’s grasp. Its movements seem to be slower and more telegraphed than they previously appeared. Though it’s still fluid and silent, it seems to move only on instinct. It’s nothing like my brother and the disciplined steps of someone trained in combat. I see every strike before it comes.
The vampire tips forward when I’m not where it expected me to be and I sidestep around while it’s off-balance. In one motion, and with a firm grip, I hook my sickle between its ribs and pull, unbuttoning its chest with sickening plops of black and grayish innards. The vampire lets out a cry and writhes as the silver purifies its mottled blood. Life leaves its body. The sensation is more than it going limp over my blade. It is a distinct awareness of existence suddenly vanishing—a void where there was oncesomething.
I free the sickle with a jerk, unable to bear its weight, panting softly.I did it. I actually did it. My hands tremble. A few steps and it was over. I moved just as Drew told me. He’ll be so proud. If he believes me. I’ll have to tell him first thing when—
A scream reverberates through the air from far, far away.
The sound is different from all the others I’ve heard, all the others Ishouldn’tbe able to hear. The sounds of battle, near and far, reverberate in my ears. There are distant shouts and cries, orders given from one desperate hunter to another. It is as though, with the elixir flowing through me, the whole world has opened up to my senses to an almost unbearable degree. Hunter’s Hamlet is a din of noise, hammering heartbeats and frantic commands. I can smell the blood spilled on distant battlefields. Every sensation is lit up on my senses, fear and panic of all humanity thrumming against mine on this forsaken night of sinister, red moonlight.
