Hunted

Chapter 32

.... Elizabeth ...

"Y-you mean like Ethan? King Ethan?" Shock runs through me. This is impossible.

"Yes, you are his heir. Daniel didn't kill him, he missed his heart by about a centimeter." Tracy says impatiently. King Ethan is the King of all Vampires, he invented the Hunting system to take care of rogue Vampires. It's weird. You're a Vampire and you make a team to kill Vampires.

"You are going to get powers beyond your imagination, but to figure them out, you're going to have to survive this." Tracy starts untying the rope from around me.

"How do I survive?" I whimper.

"You live. Now go!" She pushes me out the door before I can stop her. As soon as the door shuts behind me, I'm faced with a flight of stairs with another door at the top. "Wait!' The door behind me opens and Tracy runs out with a stake and a pair of gloves.

"What? I can't carry a stake."

"That's what the gloves are for." She hands them to me and I quickly slip them on. They're fingerless. I then grab the stake from her and throw it from hand to hand without pain.

"Wow, thanks." I smile at her and she grins back.

"And again, I'm really sorry about the stake..." She tries to apologize, but I cut her off.

"I know you had to do it, but I don't think I'll ever forgive you. I'm sorry." I turn away so I don't have to see her cry, and I race up the stairs to the wooden door. I blast through it, and before me stands the front room of the club. It's empty. Except for Burt, the werewolf. He leaps up from a chair in the corner and races towards me. He snarls once before turning into a giant, black wolf. He's at least as tall as me, and when I say giant, I mean huge.

He jumps on top of me and I plunge my stake into his side. He squeals and jumps off of me, but immediately begins to pace. "Burt, I know you're being forced to do this." I plead with him. "I don't want to kill you."

As in response he huffs a bit. "I know you want to be in a pack, and I'm sure we can find you one."

I'm sorry. A voice whispers in my mind before he leaps at me. He pushes me to the ground. I do the one thing I've been trained to do all my life. I thrust my stake into Burt's chest.

I'm sorry. I whisper back and he falls to the ground next to me, his eyes glazing over.

Thank you... He breathes out and tears leak out of my eyes. It's one thing to stake, but to stake someone you want to help... But he was too far gone already.

Trying to ignore the pain erupting in my heart, I rush out the front door and into the cold night.

I know one place where I have the advantage. The forest. After all, I can control the nocturnal animals there. I shift into my fox and sprint to the edge of Newport News. Everyone has seemingly disappeared. No cars roam the streets. No laughter fills the air. Not even a scent of blood. It is deserted.

I finally reach the forest and I quickly conceal my scent by rolling in the mud. I don't mind, I've never been one to cringe at the thought of jumping in mud after the previous rainfall. Afterwards, I shakily stand up, my heart beating painfully in my chest. God, this Batalia stuff is really hurting. I push through it and run to one destination. Nowhere.

I keep running until I can't anymore. I find a crevice underneath a couple of rocks and make it to where no one could look in. I wait like this for about thirty minutes, my body tense and my breathing quiet. Most people wouldn't be able to be patient this long, but I'm a Hunter, and they made us take patience tests. Those are awful. You stand alone in a room for as long as the teacher wants you to. If you lose focus and something jumps through the door and grabs you, you're automatically disqualified. I won every single test we've had.