For one hundred million years, vampires and werewolves were at each other's throats. If a vampire saw a werewolf, its first instinct was to hate and kill. The same could be said for the werewolves.
Things had been this way for so long that neither race remembered why they hated each other. Instead of stopping, they found new reasons to hate each other once more: over territory, food, and more.
But if there was one thing they both had in common, it was their shared interest in humans. These vile and despicable creatures were brave enough to hunt vampires and werewolves, living with the prospect of being hunted by what they considered weak children. In response, both races struck back at each other and the humans.
The humans, however, were prepared. Utilizing their knowledge of each creature's weakness, they began a ruthless attack, trying to eradicate what they feared and did not understand. Caught in a war against both the humans and each other, the vampires' and werewolves' numbers slowly dwindled from hundreds of thousands to a fraction. Eventually, they figured out how to turn humans into their own kind, and an all-out war between the three races began. The humans fought to rid the world of the monsters walking among them, while the vampires and werewolves fought to turn as many humans as possible to gain the upper hand over one another.
In the end, none of the races were completely wiped out. The humans had lost too many of their peers to the curse of the vampires and werewolves, so they retreated, choosing to live and fight another day. They built cities to protect themselves and to live peaceful, happy lives where nothing could reach them. Soon, vampires and werewolves became nothing more than myths and stories told to children.
Yet, the vampires and werewolves were victorious in their own way. They left the battle knowing they had taken from their enemies and gained much in return. Armed with the knowledge that they could now turn humans, people became their main prey. They snuck into the human cities, pretending to be ordinary citizens. Over the years, people began to disappear or turn up dead. Refusing to believe that creatures such as vampires could actually exist, humanity blamed the tragedies on other things or on each other.
And so, vampires and werewolves continued to roam the world, with only a small group believing in their existence. These people called themselves Hunters. But even though they managed to kill a few of the creatures roaming their cities, they couldn't kill them all, for the monsters kept returning.
Any wound that was not immediately fatal would quickly heal. Once again, humanity began exploiting the vampires' and werewolves' weaknesses, but this time was different. The creatures had evolved. They had become even smarter than before, so while knowing their weaknesses was a big help, it wasn't enough to turn the tide as it once had.
"And why do you feel the need to tell me this?" asked a man bound to a chair in a dark room. "You don't think you can scare me with children's stories, do you?" he continued, even though his face was a bloody mess.
"Scare you? Now why would I want to do that? I'm just letting you know exactly what you're about to deal with," came the unmistakable voice of a female. The tone of her voice sent shivers up the man's spine.
The lights in the room flickered on, casting a dim glow. From the darkest corner, the voice spoke again.
"Now, what to do with you? Feed, or turn you? I could just make you my new personal servant, but at the same time, I find myself a bit hungry," she murmured, slowly walking out of the shadows.
The first thing the man saw was her cold, red eyes—eyes that showed that whatever she had planned for him, he could do nothing but sit and accept it. As she stepped further into the light, her red lips parted in a knowing smirk, revealing a pair of elongated fangs.
"What are you?" he asked, panic growing in his voice.
"You haven't figured it out yet?" she asked, tilting her head. "I would have thought the story, the red eyes, and the fangs would have given you some idea. Humans really are slow," she said, shaking her head in disappointment.
"You can't be. It's impossible. They don't exist," he stammered, squirming against his binds to break free.
"Oh, but I am," she said, smiling.
"I saw you today! You were walking in broad daylight! If you really were one of them, you would have..."
"Let me stop you right there," she said, cutting off his protests. "Where did the idea of vampires burning in the sun even come to fruition?" She pinched the bridge of her nose in mild annoyance.
"What do you want from me?" he pleaded.
"It should be obvious, shouldn't it?" she asked, the smirk returning to her face. "What do vampires do with humans?" She placed a finger on her chin, pretending to think. "Oh, that's right! We feed on them, or we turn them," she said with a wicked grin.
Hearing this, the man screamed as she stepped closer, hoping someone would hear him. But it was no use. He was in the middle of nowhere, all alone with a vicious monster ready to wipe his existence away. The last thing he saw before his world went black was her fangs growing longer as she leaned in toward his neck.
Fast forward one week later.
A man ran through the dark woods as fast as he could, frantically looking around. He knew he needed to leave this place, or his life would soon come to an end. Deep down, however, a primal voice told him his life would end tonight. He knew someone—or rather, something—was hunting him. Something far bigger, faster, smarter, and stronger than he was. He was trapped, nothing more than a predator's toy and a soon-to-be meal.
He came to a sudden stop in a small clearing to catch his breath. Hearing leaves and twigs snap all around him, his heart began to hammer against his ribs. He cried out, asking who was there, even though his instincts screamed at him to stay silent.
A small chuckle echoed from the trees, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
"Heart, liver, kidney, lung, brain... but most importantly, the heart," a voice murmured from the forest. "The heart—the organ that keeps the body alive, pumping blood to every inch of it. They say it's also the organ most in touch with human emotion."
"Me? No. I say it's the fastest way to kill someone, and the part of the body that tastes the sweetest," the voice finished.
"Please, spare me!" the man begged.
"Spare you? Now, that's the thing with humans. You do things, and when the consequences arrive, you beg for mercy. So tell me... what makes you so special that I should spare you after you tried to kill me?" the voice challenged.
"You're a werewolf, right? I could be useful to you! You could turn me, and I could serve you! Just please, don't kill me!" the man sobbed.
"Now, why would I turn an insignificant worm like you when you'd better serve as my food?" the voice asked, stepping out of the shadows. He revealed bright brown, slitted, wolf-like eyes. Looking into them, the man saw no room for reason—only the gaze of a wild animal looking at its prey.
Knowing his life was lost, he turned and tried to run, but he only made it three feet before dropping to the ground, his final moments drawing near.
With his last breath, he looked up to see that the man who had stood before him was gone, replaced by a massive, six-foot-tall wolf-like beast holding his heart in its large, clawed hands above its gaping maw. The creature glanced down at him before dropping the heart into its mouth and devouring it.
"Pathetic," the beast muttered, looking over the corpse. "All humans are the same. You start something, and when you see it's not going according to plan, you beg like the insects you are."
Just as he finished speaking, two more beasts just like him stepped into the clearing, carrying fresh bodies of their own. They dropped their burdens onto the ground and kneeled before the first beast.
He looked down at them with a satisfied smirk. "Tonight, we bring our prey back home. And then, we feast under the moon, taking comfort in knowing that all who were foolish enough to disturb us have fallen. Tonight, we return knowing that whoever or whatever tries to stand in our way shall always fall."
He looked to his pack, and they all turned their gazes up to the brilliant, shining moon. Together, they unleashed a loud, triumphant howl.
Their howls echoed for miles, carrying through the night air. Anyone who heard them brushed them off as ordinary wolves, oblivious to the danger. Little did they know, some of their loved ones would never return because of their sheer ignorance. And little did they know that things beyond their wildest understanding were now walking among them.