Free Web NovelChapter 104: Full Moon I
Ariana and Petral’s eyes lit up with hunger. Even from where they were, latched onto the ceiling like the monsters of the night they were, I could see the menacing glow of their red eyes. Their fangs had a sheen that reflected off the sparse light of the caves, their saliva practically dripping from their mouths as they stared at me like starved beasts. freewёbnoνel.com
A shiver ran down my spine, prickling my skin with all sorts of unease as Damon tucked me further into his arms.
"Not good," I mumbled.
"Run."
I didn’t need to be told twice. Immediately, I turned on my heel, my hand tightly clasped in Damon’s larger ones as he led me through the caves. We whizzed down various pathways that were seemingly random. Damon, however, seemed to know exactly where we were headed and I was more than happy to blindly follow.
Better him than those two blood-crazed maniacs.
"Damon, wait!" I gasped. "I can’t keep up!"
My legs were burning. Every step sent my muscles screaming in agony, bursts of torment tearing through my feet as I struggled to keep up. Even though he was surrounded by endless piles of silver, Damon could still move at speeds that were impossible for a human to keep up with, much less one who was injured and suffering from blood loss.
Damon said nothing. When he heard the panting in my voice, he immediately slipped his arms under me. I yelped in surprise when I was swept off my feet and into his arms, bridal style. Instinctively, my arms wrapped around his neck, holding on for dear life as he tore through the cave network.
Ariana and Petral’s growls of frustration did not cease. There were sounds of the flapping of wings and I knew that they were too close for comfort. Vampires were fast― they had always been more agile and swift than werewolves, who had greater strength in comparison. Paired with the disadvantage of the silver mines slowing him down — along with my added weight — it was only a matter of time before the vampire siblings caught up with us.
"We can’t stay here!" I yelled, looking over Damon’s shoulder just in time to see a bat swoop down.
It transformed mid-fall into Ariana. Going just on adrenaline and panic, I knocked my wrist against her hand right as she made a swipe for me. The chains that Petral locked me in were still on my hands, not completely off, and that served as a good makeshift weapon for attack.
I must’ve still retained some strength from last time, for with just one hit, Ariana was sent spiraling in the opposite direction. The sound of her slamming against the wall of the cave rumbled around us, followed by the thundering collapse of a pile of rock, most likely caused by her impact.
"Good thing you have a weapon, huh?" Damon mused in between haggard breaths. The silver was putting a clear strain on his body. Any longer and he wouldn’t hold against a human, much less two high-rank vampires.
"A weapon..." I murmured under my breath. Then, I practically lit up. "That’s it!"
As Damon sprinted the rest of the way with Petral still hot on our tails, I reached for my pockets, feeling around for a small, inconspicuous item no bigger than a small torchlight. Pulling it out, I beamed in relief― they hadn’t confiscated this.
"You brought it?" Damon asked, surprise clearly written in his eyes. It wasn’t an emotion I caught on him often and my chest swelled a little in pride.
"I can take care of myself, you know," I teased.
"But can you use it?" he countered, then nodded ahead of us. I turned to look at where he gestured, my face immediately falling. "Because if not, that fancy weapon will be as useful as lipstick."
A whole swarm of vampires had gathered in front of us, forcing Damon to stop in his tracks. I could already see the exit of the cave right behind them― we were so close. Night had fallen outside and the silvery moonlight was cast in both ahead from the cave’s entrance and above us, where a hole allowed us a clear view of the full moon.
Wait... A full moon.
Damon caught on quickly to what had just crossed my mind. The silver deposits here were scarce too.
"You have nowhere else to run to," Petral said, his voice echoing through the cave.
He still hadn’t shown himself, and instead, allowed the lesser vampires to act as fodder for him. They snarled, circling in on us slowly as Damon looked back and forth.
"How’s your wrist?" he asked, murmuring and making sure to keep his voice as low as possible.
I looked down at my hands― they were still coated with blood and sore, but under the light of the full moon, my skin was stitching itself back faster than I had ever seen before. It was as though I was going through days of recovery all within a matter of seconds.
"Better," I said, moving my hands around. They still hurt but they already felt much better than before. This prickling sensation couldn’t be compared to the pain I felt when thrown deep into the silver mines, my skin torn open in multiple areas.
"Good." Damon placed me back down on my feet, making sure I stood firmly upright before he took a step away from me.
My ears pricked with attention. I thought I heard the sound of a distant howl mingled with the snarls and growls of the vampires.
"Use the staff to protect yourself," he said. "And make sure you keep out of our way."
Before I could reply, Damon shifted, his bones snapping and fur sprouting from his naked back within just a second. He pounced immediately, leaving the ground as a human and landing on a pile of vampires as a monstrously large black wolf, his canines plunging into the throats of the vampires and ripping through them without warning.
The vampires swarmed towards him like ants to a piece of candy, quickly enveloping him from my view with their bodies.
"Damon!" I screamed, my heart in my throat. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"Better look out for yourself instead, poppet!"
I looked up just in time to see Petral clinging to the ceiling right by the oculus. He grinned widely before letting go, falling straight down and directly toward me.
