The Hybrid

Chapter 23

How many hours had passed? She didn’t know, all she knew was that she was trapped within the darkness, no matter how much she screamed or thrashed around; no one heard her. No one was coming to save her.

Soon enough she felt the burning pain in her lung as it moved up to her throat, water coughed from her lungs as she gasped loudly. Her eyes opened; a shade of red now replaced the emerald that she held. Coughing and spluttering; Grace sat up and looked around the room. The candles were burnt out but the moonlight shone across the wooden flooring.

Glancing around she swung her legs off the bed; her body aching and protesting as she forced her limbs to move. Where was everyone? She couldn’t hear the pack outside; nor could she smell them. Their scent was fading.

Memories suddenly flashed through her mind as she remembered what happened to her. Anger raged through the hybrid when she remembered some fucker had snuck in and tried to kill her.
“Bastards..-“ She grumbled to herself as she stormed over to the door and yanked it open as an all too familiar pain burnt her throat.

— An hour later
Grace was walking through the woods, the ground wet from the light drizzle that fell from the sky, it soaked her bare feet but she didn’t care; it wasn’t like she could feel it. The carcass of a squirrel was in her hands, it’s blood soaking her flesh and staining her lips. Its blood wasn’t enough, she still felt hungry. Far too hungry that small game wasn’t going to satisfy.
Red hues looked around the forest; she couldn’t hear anything, it seemed like the world had stood still; only the moonlight lighting the way for her. She had no idea where she was walking to but she had to keep walking.

Suddenly she heard a branch break, pausing in her tracks she looked around; eyes scanning the area when she couldn’t find anything but she could smell something like death.

Vampires.

Footsteps could be heard coming towards her at a fast pace and she turned around in time to see a pair of boney hands reaching towards her, pale flesh that looked grey and a high pitch wail came from dry cracked lips, Grace span to the left avoiding the dirty claws before her own hand grasped the back of the vampires neck and slammed them down to the ground. The wailing grew louder and it hurt Grace's ears.

"Shut the fuck up!" Grace snarled as she smashed the vampires face into the ground, a crunch came from its face before it howled in pain, its hands reaching behind and clawing at Grace's arms drawing blood and soon pain flooded her arms causing her to hiss loudly in pain and let go.

Clutching her arm Grace took a step back and inspect her arm for a moment before watching the vampire rise to its feet. Her eyes widened for a moment, she couldn't tell if it was male or female. What the fuck has happened to vampires? What the hell happened whilst she was gone?

"What happened to you?" She asked the vampire who stood up, their red eyes just looking at her, her heart hammered in her chest for a moment.

"Deaaath...-" The word was hissed from its mouth as it took a step towards her, Grace took a step backwards keeping as much gap between them as possible, her arm still burning from the scratch.

Before the vampire could even lunge at her a large brown wolf suddenly appeared between them and its mouth instantly latched onto the throat of the vampire before dragging it across the grass away from Grace who quickly turned on her heels to run away.

However her body slammed into a larger frame and she gasped at the scent that invaded her lungs and soon large arms wrapped around her. "I've got you..-" The voice murmured and he pulled her closer to his chest. A heavy sigh escaped her as she buried herself into him "Theo..- What is wrong with him?" She asked.

The sounds of snarls and bones snapping was barely a few feet away and all Grace felt was the pain from the vampire who was wailing. The pain was almost crippling her to hear it but soon it fell silent.

"I told you things had changed, I'm taking you somewhere more safe than here. You need to feed and now the vampires know you're free? It won't take long for them to come in mass if they are already sending their subordinates.." He said.

Hearing padding of paws behind her Grace briefly turned around to see the large wolf stood watching them both. Something about the wolf was familiar but she couldn't point her figure on it. Who was it? Grace didn't get chance to ask who it was before Theo guided her by the shoulder and back in the direction she had originally walked from.