Alive

Chapter 11

"Halt, vermin!" A male shape-shifter spoke from the shadows, piercing his blade towards me and the two girls.

"We mean no harm to you, shapeshifters." I said, speaking calmly as I looked at the hostile shapeshifters with a calm, pure white gaze.

"But we mean you harm, Arrow." The female shapeshifter spoke up, stepping out of the shadows and into the new moonlight. She was pale, and looked weak from some sort of sickness, her arms skinny and fragile. I took a step back when I noticed the male watching over her protectively, they must've been partners.

"There's a bounty on your head, boy, and we mean to collect it." The male shapeshifter spoke once again.

"What are they talking about?" I heard Crystal whisper from behind me. I shrugged in response, keeping my eyes plastered to the armed bounty hunters.

"Enough talk!" The male shapeshifter snapped, readying his blade. "You'll either come with us willfully, or I'll slit your throat! So, which would it be Arrow?"

I waited for a moment, thinking about this chaos only made my mind spin even more. Why was I even being hunted in the first place? My mind spun like crazy until Crystal finally broke the silence.

"He's not coming with you bottom feeders!" Crystal snapped, unsheathing her own mortal made sword.

"We'll see about that blondie." The female shapeshifter said with a sly grin and lunged forward with her own sword. In an instant the battle heated up. The male shapeshifter quickly morphed, changing his form into a vampire and lunged towards me with fangs pierced and ready. He had tackled me to the ground as he placed his hands over my throat and started to squeeze. Quickly I jerked around to get away from his grip, kneeing him in the stomach with vampire strength. I felt the wind leave him as he grows weaker and I push him off, hearing his back thud against the grassy ground. He stood up almost a moment's notice after, letting out a long furious hiss as he lunged again. With a quick slam of my fist he fell to the ground, clutching his throat where my fist made impact.

I stood up quickly and rushed over to the shapeshifter, pushing my palm into the front of his throat with vampire strength, watching as he changed back to his original mortal type form once more. A gagging sound coming from his throat as he tried to get away from my grasp.

"Arrow, look out!" I heard Mel squeal before I suddenly fell, feeling my feet being pulled out before me as I face planted into the fresh earth. In almost a sudden minute I heard a quick whoosh of air and looked up to see Mel using her water witch magic before me. Her face seemed to be draining of moisture and she started to look frail as she used more of her magic. Quickly, I stood and put a firm hand on her shoulder, signaling her to stop. She let out a deep sigh and drooped her arms from where they were held up straight in front of her to pierce her magic at my attacker, who I now could see was the female shape-shifter. Her face was a deadly pale and her skin looked terrifyingly dry. Mel seemed to stagger for a moment before the rushing of footsteps sounded and Crystal rushed from the undergrowth and back to Mel's aid.

"Let's get her back to camp." Crystal said in a calm tone. "She needs to get to water before her skin dries out."

"You two go ahead." I reply, glancing at the unconscious shapeshifters. "I'm going to take care of these two." I finish and Crystal gives me a curt nod before taking Mel away from the scene. Once the two girls were out of sight I had glanced around where the small battle had taken place. The male shapeshifter lay on his back, unresponsive. His skin was pale and my hand mark was left on his throat, a white silhouette of my hand that read death. I had walked around his unmoving body for a moment, watching for any signs of life in the unresponsive mortal, but when I had seen his yellow colored eyes glazed over and dark, I knew he was gone. Sorrow had hit me straight in the chest. Not because the shapeshifter was dead, but because this would be the second time a bounty hunter had gotten away without giving me any information.