Hunted「Book One」

「Prologue」

Run, Sky thought as he and his wife, Wisteria, got word of their newly pronounced death sentence. He, once again, found himself too caught up in his work to realize what was happening.

In only his late twenties, he was a successful and brilliant scientist. Three weeks before, while wildlife watching in the nearby forest, he discovered a town that was inhabited by the local werewolves called The Grove. To everyone's surprise, he and his wife managed to befriend the leader of the town, Thomas Reynolds.

Tom had been very friendly and welcomed the young couple to stay despite the rocky history between werewolf and man. Sky, being the curious young man he was, began studying werewolf DNA. Through his studies, he uncovered the magical healing properties found in werewolf blood. In addition to the blood's capability of healing werewolves, it could close a human wound twice as fast.

With her love of children, Wisteria helped take care of Tom's two young boys, Charles and Christopher. She even befriended Tom's wife, Lucille. Both women discussed possible names for Wist's current child-on-the-way. She loved her own name for its uniqueness and wanted the same type of name for her daughter. Lucille yearned to have a daughter one day so both women would spend hours talking to the other females in The Grove.

But as soon as this young couple was welcomed, they were thrown out of the werewolf town. All the help they provided for the werewolves was seen as an act of treachery in the enemy's perspective. As punishment, they were being hunted by the evil ones themselves: vampires.

Despite growing close to Sky and Wisteria, Thomas had no choice but to turn his back on his newfound friends. The vampires were quick to focus their wrath on The Grove's inhabitants because they were harboring the very humans the vampires were so angry with. It was either the werewolves or a couple of humans. Tom didn't hesitate to choose the werewolves.

Soon after Sky and Wisteria left the town, Wist finally gave birth to a baby girl, but the timing couldn't have been any worse. It didn't take long for the vampires to learn of where they resided and they would be closing in on them soon to deliver their punishment. As much as Wist wanted to take her child and run, Sky insisted on leaving their child at a safe place so the vampires would never have a reason to harm her.

"Please," Wisteria pleaded, tears streaming down her face. "Please. She's our daughter, Sky. We can't just give her up."

Sky placed his hand on his wife's shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, but it only proved to make her more upset.

"Wist, you need to be realistic. We can't keep her. The vampires want us dead for aiding the werewolves so much. They will kill us. If we bring our daughter into this mess, she will face the same fate as us. This way, she can grow up safely," he reasoned, his own voice cracking with sadness.

The tears flowed even faster now. Sky sniffled and wiped his eyes. He had always wanted a child and now he would only have a few days to hold his daughter. Each and every word he spoke to express his love for her would never be understood.

"We can try to escape. We can bring her along and escape them! Perhaps even try going back to The Grove again and see if they'll take us in. They surely wouldn't turn us down when they see our daughter, then we can escape the vampires-"

"We both know there is no escaping them. I'm sorry, Wist, I really am, but it's for the best. Don't you want our daughter to grow up? Even if it means never knowing us?"

Wist nodded, wiping the tears from her face. As difficult of a decision this was for a mother to make, she knew it was the only option. She could only hope that one day, just maybe, her daughter would realize just how much her parents love her.

Together, they placed their daughter on the step of the nearest foster home along with her birth certificate before fleeing. There was no doubt in either of their minds that they were going to perish that night at the hands of the vampires, but the young couple didn't plan on making it easy for them.

Throughout all of their running, they heard noises behind them; the rustling of leaves and periodic hissing. The vampires were merely toying with them. Sky had no doubt that they were capable of killing him and his wife even as they ran for their lives.

Soon, the sounds faded altogether. Sky stopped running and gasped for air, his lungs burning and legs sore from the long run. Wist was in no better shape.

"Wist," he choked out between heavy pants. "We have to keep going-"

They appeared surrounding the married couple. Sky wrapped his arms protectively around his wife as the vampires' bright red eyes protruded through the dark night. The dark-skinned vampire leading the group walked up to them. Although he was most likely hundreds of years old, his appearance was that of a young adult. His lime green hair stuck up in spikes and he had a smile tugging on his lips.

"You both," he purred, "are charged with assisting and giving information to our enemies. There is only one punishment suitable for this crime - death."

The vampires started to close in. Sky and Wisteria stood up straight and gripped each other's hands. There was nothing more they could do to delay the inevitable. All that was left was to accept their cruel fate.