Hybrid: The Mark

The Threat

Sirah's eyes flew open. She peered out of the window and she realized that she was late. She got up and dressed in her navy blue gown that she wears for hunting.

She hastily pulled her hair back in a braid. She wasn't much of an expert in braids but she atleast made it look enough to be a braid. She hurried out of her room, grabbing her dear knife she always hid in the hilt of her dress.

Her father had welded all the knifes in the house when he learnt that Sirah had an interest in them. Now all that was left in the house was a plain, blunt kitchen knife.

Sirah walked out to the dining room and saw her father washing his hands. He probably must have finished his breakfast, that significantly meant that there was nothing left for her to eat. She followed her father out to fetch their weapons, keeping a hopeful eye for a morsel of food.

There was none left.

She grabbed her bow and her quiver of arrows and set out to the woods with her father.

Upon reaching the common place of the lair where generally the vampires held meetings, Sirah saw the other two clans. The witches and the werewolves.

She neared the crowd along with her father to see the chaos behind the three clans who despised each other so much are now standing in the same ground.

Her eyes followed along with the stares, that of the others.

She saw a man maybe in his forties along with a young woman with straight black hair.

Sirah recognized them immediately. Matt, the orator of the werewolves clan along with Fereinia, the orator of the witches clan. They were standing beside Andervain, the orator of the vampires clan. Their expressions seemed serious over something.

Her eyes scanned the huge, muscled men and strong women of the werewolves clan along with the timid men and women of the witches clan with their usual subtle expressions.

Andervain held his hand to silence the muttering of the clans.

"My dear brethren," He spoke, "We have a rather very serious message to deliver it to you.." Andervain faded. His face seemed to tense.

The orator of the witches, Fereinia, took it up from where Andervain had left. She stepped up to the center of the clans.

"We behalf of the other beings, regard the safety of all the clans."

There was a sudden gush of criticism because the beings knew that it was a lie.

"Oh, stop this nonsense!" One of the beings of the werewolves clan chided.
"What we want to convey is," Matt faced his clan members, "That there is a threat in this town."

A threat?, Sirah thought. The sudded reaction of the clans got Andervain getting even more tensed.

"It's a warlock, we assume." spoke Andervain, "Who is different from all of us, more powerful and with more motive."
"He's been responsible for the three deaths in ours and the werewolves clan." said Fereinia.

"What we know that he's a rare breed with a strong motive to seek a haven here. He was spotted with a few companions which we assume must be the minor warlocks on the run from their dimension which is unknown to us." Matthew regarded.

"Within five days, we will form seven spheres consisting of all beings in unison to hunt this being down and bring peace to Mayvarch." Fereinia addressed.

"At the fifth day, we will organize a hunters proficiency to test the abilities, that of a hunter who will accompany in the hunt. Hunters will be chosen without any bar of age to hunt down the threat. Whilst the others who score average in the proficiency will be made to guard the minor but dangerous territories." Andervain announced. "The others who are not fit will be sent to the other side."

There was a huge gaping shock from the clans on hearing of the 'other side'.When a supernatural being is dead or killed, it's reminiscent soul is stuck on the other side until it finds peace to which Fereinia is the bridge to. The souls feel like they are in a state of oblivion but they can be brought back from the dead. Atleast that's what Sirah had heard.

The tension between the clans got uncomfortable."You will have to trust us." Fereinia's voice cut through the clouds of chaos, making the silence wave again, so much that Sirah could hear her fellow clan member shuffle on his feet uncomfortably beside her.

"We have made all the preparations we need. You just have to trust us in our decisions because we don't want this to lead into another uprising." Fereinia spoke to the eerie-hushed crowd.

"We estimated that the hunt will take more than a month. The ceremony of the Mayvarch will be celebrated by transporting the souls back to the present with the death of the warlock." Matthew pounded at the clans.

A huge clatter of weapons and cheer wavered through the large crowd in agreement.

"The warlock is stronger than ever. The number of deaths are increasing day by day and we, the orators of the clans, promise that we will agree to unite in this battle together by sealing the covenant." Andervain addressed and held the parchment in his hands, high enough for the large crowd to see.

Sirah, along with the crowd saw the orators sealing the covenant with the blood by slitting their own wrists. They all saw the drops of blood forming the symbol of covenant, a triangle overlapped by an inverted triangle, stating the sealed covenant of the three clans.

Loud shouts and cheers waved the crowd. The marking of the hunt began by chalices of blood handed out to the vampires and the werewolves while Sirah saw the witches enjoying their strange, clear vial to mark the hunt.

Sirah usually tried to avoid drinking blood because she never felt the hunger for it as normally vampires paled when they saw their victims away. She never did blood. The only time she tried blood was when she was six, marking her as a member of the vampire's clan along with the others of her age, who were handed the chalice of blood in the marking ceremony just like her. She saw the ruby coloured fluid in her chalice, nauseating her senses. She tipped down the blood and gulped it hard. Later after the ceremony, she threw up against a tree. Since then, Sirah was careful not to let anyone know about it.

She was never followed by any blood drinking celebrations and now here it was.

She smiled at the ones who raised their chalices at her in greeting and made way to the familiar company of the forest away from the loud and cheering people.

She walked to the deepest part of the forest and poured the blood under the canopy of the bushes.

"Don't like blood?"