The Hunter ≫ h.s.

chapter one.

{peyton's pov} ~ 11 Years Later

I watched as the rain drops pelted against the window, my arms crossed below my chest as I bit the inside of my cheek. Thunder sounded from the gray -- almost black -- skies and I jumped as the house vibrated. It was such an ugly day to go for some blood, you were all probably getting drenched out there. But, you guys were also starving. Not having had a bite to eat in five days made everybody very snappy and tired. You were the ones who refused to take one of the blood bags stored in the fridge, though. It could've at least quenched your thirst and given you another day or two to wait until the storm passed.

"We insist on catching our food," Liam had said, "Blood bags are disgusting." A small smile formed along my lips as I remembered that, imagining Liam with a very high voice instead of his decently low, usual one.

I puffed out my cheeks and ran one hand through my long, naturally curly blonde hair, as I turned away from the window. Walking over to the spiny chair, as I liked to call it, I sat down and picked up the purple pen sat on top of the closed, brown leather journal. Opening it to the first page, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, before starting to write.

-:-:-

Taking cover behind a large tree, I breathed heavily in and out. It was silent besides the occasional snap of a twig underneath someone's boot. I grasped the wooden stake in my hand tightly, putting myself in attack mode. My brown eyes moved left and right, watching for any sudden movement around me. My jaw clenched and unclenched as the trees rustled above our heads. Something jumped from one branch to another skillfully and I heard the click of a stake gun, letting me know one of the other Seekers was preparing to shoot.

"Stand down," I hissed into the woods. Nobody from The Seekers needed to make the first move.

Suddenly something swooped down and grabbed a Seeker by their arms, pulling them up into the tree. "Shoot!" I shouted and we opened fire into the trees.

Creatures rained down from above us, landing harshly on the ground to give us more of an advantage. They were already down because of the special bullets, and them hitting the floor so hard would temporarily give them more pain to work through. The Seekers with stakes started stabbing the creatures; killing them. I did the same when one of them crash landed around me or I helped put one down with my gun for another to kill. It was a bloodbath for those Seekers that went down, the creatures either sinking their sharp fangs into their necks to drain them of their blood, or they fell to the ground as their necks made a sickening snap! sound.

Hearing twigs crunch around me, I spun in a circle to see what was approaching me. At the sight of red eyes, I aimed at my target and shot the creature, grabbing a smaller stake from my belt. With a flick of my wrist the stake went soaring through the air and struck the creature in the heart before it fell from my gun shots.

I was breathing heavily again and barely had time to recover before there was a sudden pressure on my back. Something hissed and its hands set in position on either side of my head. I was able to catch it off guard by doing a sort of tuck-and-roll, throwing them off my back successfully. I got up in a kneeling stance and aimed my gun at the creature, shooting them to distract them before I threw another miniature stake at their chest. They fell to the ground with a cry, and I stood up to continue fighting other ones.

This was practically the daily routine of a Seeker. When we weren't out killing vampires or werewolves, we were training in a special camp. I was the leader of this group, Seeker Troop #74. I'd been apart of this organization since I was nine years old, but my dad started my training when I was seven after I was almost attacked by a werewolf. I hated any creature with a burning passion, and never minded killing them. My Seeker Troop was stationed in Salem, where we were mostly known for the increasing population of vampires and werewolves. Nobody really knew how you were turned into one of the creatures, but the amount of them grew everyday.