6 #MY_BLACK_KNIGHT 6
Happen 8
As Produced By SheriffSquinty
Theme: Vampires!!!
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“Actually, I’m going to go to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
Without waiting for his reply I quickly stood up and made my way around the edge of the dance floor towards a hallway on the far side of the club. At the end of the
hallway was a door marked ’employees only’but the hallway curved left at the door, leading to the restrooms.
I opened the door to the restroom and strode in. The lighting was extremely bright after the dim atmosphere of the club and I winced, rubbing my eyes. There was a girl at the sink applying her makeup and I thought I heard someone in one of the stalls but I ignored them, shutting myself in a stall and resting my head on the
inside of the door.
To my surprise,my Wolf’s agitation actually increased and she whined again. What’s wrong with you? I asked, concerned.
I don’t know, but something is wrong. I can sense danger. We’re closer to it now. It’s in here? I asked incredulously.
No…but we’re closer to it than when we were sitting in the booth.
I took a deep, shaky breath. Are we in immediate danger?
I don’t think it’s after us.
That confused me. Why would she be so concerned if the source of danger wasn’t focused onus? Why was she so unnerved? I had never felt her behave like this.
Opening my senses, I took a deep whiff of the air, closing my eyes. The music pressed in loudly on my sensitive ears but I attempted to block it out and focus only on the smells.
The stench of urine was quite poignant along with sweat and alcohol. Wincing, I sorted through these scents to find others that were harder to trace. I detected a
slight whiff of werewolf scent along with the overwhelming smell of human, but this did not interest me. I focused intently as I tried to find something out of place. A minute trickled by, then another, with no luck, but my Wolf insisted I keep
trying. Thenithit me all at once.
Blood. A lot of blood, the smell growing stronger by the second.
In a flash I had exited the stall and rushed out of the bathroom. The blood was
human, not werewolf, but I still felt duty-bound to investigate. I wasn’t going to let someone die if there was something I could do to help, and with the overwhelming sense of danger I detected, I knew this wasn’t an ordinary accident.
The smell grew stronger as I strode down the hall, approaching the ’employees only’ door. Without a second thought I shoved the door roughly open. Inside I found a wide hallway with cubbies and cabinets on the walls, likely for the
employees, and another door on each side. The trail did not lead me there, however. Another door was at the far end of the hallway marked ‘exit only’.
Taking a deep breath I dashed to the door and shouldered it open, stepping outside.
The smell was so strong out here that to my sensitive nose it was nearly overwhelming. It was coming from an alley a short distance away.
Something’s not right. My Wolf was saying nervously as I dashed towards the mouth of the alleyway. There’s something here….something else here.
I did not have time to ponder her meaning as I reached the alleyway, but it soon
became quite clear. A lonely streetlight hung nearby and threw the scene before me into dim relief. I saw two figures, one a few feet away from me, sprawled on the
ground with her head facing me, and another hunched over the limp form.
The one sprawled on the ground was dead or near-death judging by the amount of blood leaking out of her neck. Her dark hair was spread out on the ground and her face was deathly pale. The smell of her life force was sickening and I had to fight the urge to gag.
*
Hall Of Supernatural Stories
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But the body was not the main source of my problems, not even close. For a split second after I examined the body my eyes snapped to the other figure, the one that was slowly standing up to tower over me.
It was a man but he wasn’t human. His behavior had alerted me of that
immediately, and my stomach clenched with revulsion when I saw his face. He
was as pale as the corpse and his irises were as black as his pupils, giving him a
frighteningly haunted appearance. He had sharp fangs extending into his bottom lip and they were tipped with blood, and his fingers were curved into claws. His skin was thin, taut and pulled back, his cheekbones almost looking like they were going to cut through it.
‘Vampire,’ I thought, dazed, my wolf howling in the back of my mind as he took a step towards me. He was so gaunt and ghostly pale that he looked quite dead
himself. My instincts quickly kicking in, I swung into a defensive crouch. Until
now I had thought vampires were a legend but I fervently hoped they weren’t as
strong as werewolves. To my surprise, his smell was faint, even to my nose, but it was oddly familiar. I shook the sense of familiarity off and raised my lip to expose my canines, which were slightly elongated in my preparation to shift into wolf
form at a moment’s notice.
“Don’t come any closer,” I snapped, a menacing growl echoing deep within my chest.
He stopped, cocking his head. “Didn’t expect to see a werewolf here…I’m surprised I didn’t sense you sooner. You smell awful.” He sounded a lot younger than he
looked. I snarled in response to the insult.
“Get out of here,” I growled.
“But I hadn’t finished eating dinner…” He drawled, a cocky smirk appearing on his pale face. I felt my skin prickle in irritation. .I glanced down at the corpse.
“Hmm, I’m surprised. I thought werewolves would be a lot uglier.” His dark eyes had focused on my face and his smirk was wider.
I growled again, loud and menacing. I thought I saw wariness cross his expression. It was then that I realized I was in a tight skirt and heels. Not exactly the ideal
outfit to be wearing in a fight. I thought I had enough of a sense of balance to make
the heels work if I absolutely had to, but why take the risk? What if one of them broke mid-fight or made me twist my ankle?
I was bending down, eyes on the vampire, preparing to surreptitiously remove my shoes, when it happened. The only warning I got was the vampire’s eyes flickering slightly as he glanced at something over my left shoulder before there was a quiet whisper of sound behind me and a slight rush of air. I spun around quickly to face the intruder, cursing myself inwardly for being so easily distracted, but I was a
heartbeat too slow. I felt clammy hands clamp down on my bare shoulders and then sharp teeth were sunk into the side of the neck.
The next thing I felt was excruciating pain.
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*
Hall Of Supernatural Stories
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Eli’s POV
I was tired of patrolling.
For the past three days Gabriel had forced us to relentlessly patrol the borders at every hour of the day and it was draining the entire pack. Ever since the incident the night of the meeting, when one of our pack members had been brutally
murdered, every wolf had been on edge. As Gabriel’s Beta, I respected his decision and would likely have made the same decision in his place, but it didn’t mean that I wasn’t feeling the same exhaustion as everyone else.
My Wolf was feeling it, too. I could feel his relief that our patrol had ended and I got to return home for some much-needed rest. I had volunteered to take the extra shift tonight but was sincerely regretting that decision.
Still in Wolf form, my head drooped as I climbed the craggy terrain that led to our pack homes. Our territory was much more difficult to traverse than most but kept us in good shape. My muscles still burned, however, as I scaled the last steep
slope. I would need to stop by Gabriel’s house first to give him my report.
*
As Produced By SheriffSquinty
*
Several minutes later I shifted back to human form outside of Gabriel’s large house, dressing quickly before knocking three times on his door.
“Come in,” his deep voice commanded and I opened the door, shutting it quietly. Gabriel was sitting in a large chair reading a stack of documents but he glanced up when I strode in.
“Patrol went as normal, ” I began without preamble. I knew Gabriel better than
anyone else in the pack so I could drop most of the formalities. “No strange scents or tracks. Whoever killed Amelia seems to have vanished into thin air.”
His expression darkened and I knew he felt the pain of losing one of our own.
Gabriel may have been austere and seemingly emotionless but I knew he cared
more about protecting the pack more than anything else in the entire world.
Except, maybe, that brunette girl from the Meeting. His Mate. But there was no way in hell I was asking Gabriel about that until he was ready to talk; it had been shock enough to learn he had a Mate. He had seemed slightly dazed the last few days as if he couldn’t believe it happened.
While my instincts urged me to talk to him about it, because he was clearly
conflicted and needed my help, I held my tongue. Gabriel and I had known each
other a very longtime. We had grownup together. As far as I knew, he trusted me more than anyone else. When we were younger, he’d been quite withdrawn and
hard to get to know, although he’d confided in me a few times. Now, he was even more withdrawn, and it was very rare that he spoke with me about anything
personal. I only hoped that if he needed to talk about it, he wouldn’t hesitate to ask me.
“I suspected as much.” He finally muttered, breaking me out of my train of thought and back into our conversation.
“Who do you want to patrol tomorrow?” I asked, folding my arms in front of me and widening my stance.
“Not you. You’ve been patrolling three times as much as anyone else.”
I agreed,but better me than anyone else. “As Beta it’s my duty to-” I began but he cut me off.
“No, Eli. You’re wearing yourself out and I need you to be at your best.”
I lowered my head, slightly relieved and knowing there was no point in arguing with him. It was impossible to win against Gabriel and he always did what was best for the pack either way. He had been the greatest thing to ever happen to the Black Mountains pack, I thought. I knew my pack agreed with me; he was
certainly a better Alpha than his father had been.
“Should we warn the other packs?” I asked, slightly wary of his reaction. He had been tiptoeing around the subject ever since the Meeting.
His dark eyes snapped to my face and narrowed as if he knew exactly what I was
thinking but he didn’t reply, contemplating. I knew part of him, big or small, would instinctively want to protect his Mate no matter how far away she was or what
pack she was in.
“It’s possible that whoever did it crossed into their territory,” I continued.
After that statement I saw a clearly visible expression of concern flit across his features. So he definitely did care. I desperately wanted to press but knew now wasn’t the time.
He stood up, slowly, rising to his full height. I was 6’3 and taller than the average werewolf but Gabriel was even taller than me. His stature only served to add to his intimidating Alpha presence.
“It’s possible.” He admitted, eyes narrowed. “We should-”
But I never found out about what we should do because Gabriel abruptly cut off, face contorting into an expression of extreme pain. He grabbed the chair beside him and hunched over, a loud snarl escaping his throat.
“Alpha?” I asked, striding over to him, concerned. His muscles were taut, his frame shaking. Gabriel’s expression was absolutely feral as he bared his teeth. I could tell he was fighting with all of his might against the pain but I could not determine the source of the injury.
“Where are you injured?” I demanded but he moved away from my outstretched arm.
“Not me…” He breathed out heavily, gritting his teeth. “Skylar…” His fingernails dug into the fabric of the chair and the veins stood out on his arms. I watched him, alarmed.
He snarled again, furious. His eyes were exceptionally dark and I wondered if it was the pain, the fury, or both.
“Skylar? But you haven’t-”
“It’s hers.”
“But-”
“There’s no other possibility!” He snapped, straightening abruptly, fists clenched. His shaking slowed slightly as I watched, and he took a deep breath, though he
remained tense. It seemed tome that his Wolf was clawing at the surface and he was fighting to control it.
“Is she…” I couldn’t finish the sentence, afraid of his reaction.
After several seconds, Gabriel unclenched his fists. Apparently the pain had abated somewhat, and he had won the internal battle with his Wolf. “It’s her pain, it has to be.” His expression was absolutely terrifying to behold. “She’s in danger.” I saw his resolute expression and knew where this was going.
“Watch the pack.” He leapt to the door in one large bound. “I’ll be in touch.” “Alpha you-”
Gabriel turned around, fury evident in his expression. “I said WATCH THE
PACK, Eli!” He roared furiously, putting a Command in histone. He rarely had to use the Command onme. I bowed my head in submission.
Then he was gone, the door ominously banging shut behind him.
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#Tobecontinued…..