Blood Lust

Chapter Seven - Sacrifice

Hours later, Dr Nat finally allowed Justin and Jason to leave his care having forced them to undergo observations and get some sleep, making their way back to the pack house the sun was already high in the sky.

Looking around them they saw their members trying to clean away the blood and bodies that still littered the centre of their town, the dead Vampires were being placed onto a roaring fire at the edge of the territory, their own dead were covered in sheets, laid out in lines as their family’s stood around them and mourned.

Making their way through the crowd, the four stopped at each family they passed, giving hugs and comfort, mourning with their members over their losses.

As they finally reached the stairs that led to the pack house front door, they slowly climbed the stairs and made their way inside, heading for Justin’s office. Once within the confines of the Alpha’s study, the four dropped into various chairs, Halle curled up next to her mother on the sofa, Jason sat across from his father at the desk. A sharp knock echoed from the closed door before it opened to reveal Leo, his face tired and his demeanour low.

Bowing to everyone he took the spare seat across from Justin and ran his fingers through his hair absent mindedly.

‘How is the pack?’ Justin asked warily

Shaking his head, Leo met the Alpha’s worried gaze, ‘not good Alpha, we have suffered a fair few losses, we have other fighters in the clinic being treated, and everyone is exhausted, I'm worried about the next attack’ he admitted as Justin bit his lip distractedly.

‘We’ll manage’ he replied finally, his face determined, ‘tell everyone to get some sleep, Viktor will be back at night fall and we need to be ready, we’ll rotate the warriors, the ones who were in front of the pack house can take position just inside the barrier, the remaining warriors who can still fight will switch back to the pack house. I think we should change our tactic and only have a few members outside the barrier, we need to get Viktor through before he can bring his fighters with him, then we will be able to take him down’ he growled.

Leo nodded, ‘sounds like a plan, I'll go and organise our remaining fighters, we have about six hours before they strike again.’

A small voice piped up from the sofa suddenly, ‘how many died?’ turning in his chair, Leo’s eyes landed on the pained face of Halle who was staring at him.

‘Don’t worry yourself about that Halle, everyone went into that fight willingly’ Leo replied, trying to brush her question off.

Shaking her head Halle growled slightly, ‘how many Leo?’ she demanded.

Swallowing hard, Leo reluctantly answered her, ‘twenty seven died today.’

‘And how many were injured?’ Halle whispered, her eyes bright with the tears building, trying to fall down her face.

‘We have about forty in the clinic and another thirty to forty wolves with injuries that are in their own homes healing.’ Leo replied hesitantly.

Nodding, Halle cuddled further into her mother’s side, looking down at her fingers silently.

Rising from his chair, he bowed to the Alpha and his family before striding from the room, Justin reached forward and picked up the phone, hesitating for a minute before dialling a conference call with Silver Cross and Red Moon. The phone rang twice before it was picked up and James’ and Aaron’s voices could be heard over the speaker.

‘How did you fair boys?’ Justin asked, bracing himself for the bad news, silence came across the line before Aaron replied,

‘They didn’t attack us Jus’

‘Nor us’ James added.

Raising his eyebrows toward his wife, Justin shook his head, ‘I don’t understand, Viktor said if we didn’t relent that he would take us all out.’

Giving a large sigh, Aaron replied, ‘The Vamps were here, still are in fact, surrounding our territory but they have not attempted to cross, the one warrior group of warriors we sent out of the gate were given a warning to return but no harm was made to any of us.’

‘This makes no sense’ Justin muttered rubbing his eyes tiredly.

‘Yeah it does mate’ James said dejectedly, ‘They are stopping us from sending you reinforcements, what better way to stop you getting back up than to threaten our packs. They have no need or desire to hurt us, they just don’t want you getting any help’

Letting out a sharp breath, Justin realised that the Red Moon Alpha was correct, if he didn’t have the man power of his alliance packs then Oak Ridge was much weaker and they could over run them with sheer numbers.

‘Well at least you guys are all safe’ he said with relief.

‘I wish we could help you man’ James replied angrily

‘Well I still haven’t given up’ Aaron growled, ‘Merrick and the boys are trying to find a way off the territory without alerting our Vampire army, if we can find a way out we will send you help.’

Giving a small smile, Justin said ‘cheers mate, I appreciate it, we’ll do our best to hold the fort down but if you could find a way to get anyone up here it would help.’

After a few more minutes of chat, the three said their goodbyes and hung up.

Standing up, Halle stretched before looking around everyone, ‘I think I'm going to go and get some sleep, I didn’t get much last night, is that OK?’ she asked hesitantly as her mother grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

‘Of course baby girl’ Justin said, standing up and walking around the desk to give her a hug before releasing her again so she could leave.

Giving her father a quick kiss on the cheek, she then kissed her mother before turning to Jason and looking uncertain for a moment before throwing herself at his surprised body as he sat dumbfounded for a moment before returning he hug.

‘What was that for?’ he asked eyeing her.

Shrugging her shoulders, Halle mumbled, ‘nothing really, just a thank you for trying to protect me.’ before heading toward the door. With her hand on the handle she turned to look back at her family and gave them a small smile, ‘I love you guys’ she said sadly before pulling the door open and shutting it softly behind her.

Making her way down the hall, Halle slowly walked past each of the closed doors on their floor before reaching her own room at the very end of the carpeted hallway. Opening the door softly, she stepped inside and felt her body relax slightly. She loved her room, being at the end of the pack house she had a corner window that gave impressive views over their land and the surrounding forest. Her queen size bed was covered in a rainbow blanket that her grandmother had knitted for her when she was small, it was soft and warm and reminded her of her grandmothers hugs.

Sitting down on the bed, she pulled the blanket around her shoulders, cocooning herself in its folds as she lay down and allowed her grief to overtake her.

Sobbing desperately, she thought of all the men and women who had lost their lives that day because of her, the families who were no longer complete. After a while her sobs quietened as her body gave out from the emotions of the previous night, her mind sinking into a troubled sleep.

Hours later Halle awoke and it was as if her mind had been working on her guilt whilst she was dreaming, standing up, she walked over to her desk and rummaged around until she found her writing pad and her favourite pen with the fluffy pom pom on top that had violet ink inside.

Taking off the pen lid, she sat for a few moments thinking before finally starting to write.

‘Dear Mum, Dad and Jason,

Please know that I love you all so much, and thank you for everything you have done to keep me safe but I have decided to give myself to the Vampires. Please understand why I did this and please don’t try to bring me back home, I am an Alpha’s daughter, and as such I have to put my pack first.

We lost twenty seven members today because of me, twenty seven is too many for just one person especially as I'm being asked to marry someone, not being sent to be hurt.

I know you all will be angry with me, but please, it was my decision. Keep our people safe and know that I will always love you even if I can no longer be with you.

All my love

Halle'

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Halle stuffed the note into an envelope and scrawled her parents name on the front. Checking her wrist watch she saw it was 5pm, grabbing her rucksack, she quickly stuffed a few changes of clothes, her phone and the small cuddly rabbit that Jason had given to her when she was born, that still lived on her bed, inside before zipping it closed and slinging it on her back.

Slipping her feet into her trainers, she grabbed a warm hoodie off the arm of her chair and pulled it over her head.

Giving her room one final cursory glance, Halle opened her bedroom door and peered down the hallway, checking the coast was clear before slipping out and creeping her way toward the stairs. Stopping outside her brother’s room, she pressed her ear to the door and could hear his gentle snores coming from within.

Stepping away Halle continued on her way, silently making her way down the stairs and into the deserted foyer. Breathing a sigh of relief, realising everyone was either sleeping or still clearing up from the first battle, she made her way into the empty kitchen and out through the back door.

Checking her surroundings, Halle sprinted the short distance from the pack house to the surrounding trees, keeping herself low as she skirted the territory, keeping her ears out for any of the pack members who might stumble upon her.

Sending silent thanks up to the Goddess, she made her way unhindered through the trees and toward the boundary, hoping that the Vampires would be keeping watch so she wouldn’t have to hunt for them.

Finally reaching the edge of their territory, Halle took a deep breath to try and calm her racing heartbeat before stepping forward through the shimmering barrier and out into the mountain brush.

Stumbling her way along the hidden path, Halle’s eyes darted from left to right as fear gripped her body. Fighting internally, she pushed aside the nagging feeling telling her to go back as she continued down the path.

A soft swoosh behind her caused her to jump, stiffling her screams.

Turning around slowly, she met the lustful red eyes of one of the Vampire guards who had been watching their territory.

His eyes tracing down her neck, lingering momentarily on the area that covered her veins, he smiled down at her, licking his lips, ‘where are you running off too little mortal?’ he crooned as she stepped back involuntarily.

‘Uh, I, um, i’ she stuttered, as he stepped closer to her, ‘I am looking for Viktor’ she finally managed to say.

Halting, the Vampire gazed at her surprised, ‘not many people have the nerve to use our King’s first name mortal, are you very brave or just very stupid?’ he asked.

‘I’m Halle’ She blurted out panicking, ‘he is here for me, i’m giving myself over to him.’

Backing up a step, the Vampire took in the frightened girl in front of him, ‘how do I know you really are the one our King searches for?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘Call him, I assume he knows what I look like or how would he be able to find me?’ she replied, trying to keep the tremour out of her voice.

Signalling to the hidden Vampires around them, he nodded, ‘I cannot call him, but I can take you to him, if you are lying, well we’ll just kill you and return for the real Queen.’ he said nonchalantly.

Before Halle could respond, a cloud of bats descended upon her, each one grabbing part of her clothing with their claws before they lifted her from the ground.

Screaming out in terror she tried to swipe the bats off of her as the Vampire she had spoken too called out, ‘I wouldn’t do that mortal, you are safe as long as they don’t drop you.’ before turning in a circle and taking on his bat form, flying to the front of the group and leading the way over the trees and back toward the Vampire King’s castle and Halle’s new life.