Soren
"Arkan!"
I turned around at Alara's voice.
"They caught Kayra," she continued.
This was it. We were finished. The Alpha shouldn't have broken the rule our elders had established. He shouldn't have allowed the Luna to mark him... He should have thought about us, too.
These thoughts of mine might have been selfish, but there was an entire pack that needed the Alpha. Without him, which pack would accept us? Even if they did, how would they treat us?
Besides, the Alpha was a Lycan—the last Lycan. Like one of the nobles among werewolves. This had always kept us in the spotlight. Because a new Lycan could appear at any moment.
Though nothing like that had happened for a hundred years. But our Alpha had finally found his Luna.
Maybe this was a disaster.
And now that disaster was happening. Because the Vampire King had forced our Luna to drink his blood.
Could the Luna turn into a vampire? She wasn't a werewolf, but she carried werewolf blood. Under normal circumstances, werewolves couldn't be turned into vampires. Our blood destroyed the cursed blood of vampires. But could Luna Kayra's werewolf blood do the same? She was a hybrid… and hybrids were not welcomed here.
The Vampire King quickly broke our Luna's neck. At first, I couldn't even see it happen. He was so fast, perhaps even faster than Kongar.
"No—"
Before the Alpha could finish his sentence, he collapsed to the ground. I watched his fall for a moment. Was this really happening?
"Alpha!"
Alara's scream brought me back to my senses.
"Alpha," I said as I immediately rushed to his side. Alara caught up with me and immediately started performing CPR on the Alpha without wasting any time.
"Hold on," Alara whispered. Then she pinched the Alpha's nose and breathed into his mouth.
The wolves, who had been silently watching these events, began howling when the Alpha collapsed to the ground. Then they began growling at the Vampire King.
"I have no business with you," said the Vampire King.
"But we do," I said.
He fixed his gaze on me.
"Ah, you must be the Beta," he said. "Do you think you can defeat me?"
He was right. I couldn't defeat him.
"I don't care," I said, baring my lengthening fangs.
Our Alpha's death had to be avenged. If we could stall him for a while, the sun would rise.
"Your heartbeat is too fast. It's giving you away," said the Vampire King.
Then he grabbed the Luna's chin as she hung motionless in his arms and turned her face toward me. Her neck had already turned purple from being broken, and her eyes were closed.
"Do you want your Luna to burn to death?" he asked, glancing around at the wolves surrounding him. "Do you hate your Luna that much?"
For a while, no one spoke.
"She is a vampire now," one of the pack said.
One corner of the Vampire King's lips lifted slightly.
Was he angry, or did he like it? It was very difficult to tell.
"Most likely," he said.
He didn't seem certain either.
"From now on, Kayra is no longer your Luna," he said, raising his right hand and moving his index finger in a circle in the air.
Was that a signal?
Before I could call out to the pack, more vampires appeared from the forest. But this time, there were far too many of them, and some couldn't control their speed, crashing into trees and even into each other. There could only be one explanation for their clumsiness. These had to be newly turned vampires, just as the Alpha had said.
The newly arrived vampires attacked the wolves surrounding the Vampire King, trying to free him from their circle. The vampires inside the circle, meanwhile, supported the newly arrived vampires by attacking the wolves from behind.
"You're wasting your time," said the Vampire King.
Then he picked up the Luna in his arms and looked at me.
"Think about the pack," he said. "You no longer have an Alpha. Don't let your pack grow any weaker."
Was I really going to take advice from him?
Just as I was about to tell him to shut up, they took advantage of the chaos and disappeared with the well-dressed, powerful-looking vampires behind him. They left the newly arrived vampires behind.
What was I going to do now? I wasn't the Alpha. I couldn't protect an entire pack.
"Soren!"
I turned around at Alara's voice.
I froze.
This couldn't be real.
My eyes widened in shock as the Alpha pushed himself up from the ground, coughing. Without waiting any longer, I rushed over to them.
"Alpha," I said, unable to believe my eyes. "You're alive!"
The Alpha first touched his chest, over his heart. Then he looked around.
"Arkan, are you okay? How do you feel?" Alara bombarded him with questions.
The Alpha seemed not to hear her. He turned his gaze toward the crowd, watching the joy of those who saw that he was alive and the wolves ripping the heads off the newly turned vampires.
Then his brows furrowed, and he looked at me.
"Where is Kayra?"
---
Kayra
My head was being jolted. Lara must have taken my pillow. She was always messing with me, after all. And now that she had noticed I was asleep in the car, she must have taken the pillow from under my head because she couldn't resist.
I opened my eyes, grumbling.
There was… a change. The inside of the car was very spacious and covered in cream-colored leather. There were two seats facing each other, with a table in between. There was also a mini fridge in the corner.
Whose car was this? We couldn't afford to rent a car like this. Besides, you wouldn't go camping in such a long car.
What, were we going to camp in a limousine instead of a tent?
I giggled at the thought. But when my throat hurt, my giggle turned into a whimper. I brought my hand to my neck and gently rubbed it.
Why did it hurt so much? It felt as if I had slept in an uncomfortable position all night.
I was also very thirsty. My throat was practically parched. There also seemed to be something in my mouth. I took my hand away from my throat and brought it to my mouth.
"Ah."
My tooth had cut my finger.
Since when had my teeth been this sharp?
Just as I was about to suck the blood from my finger, someone grabbed my hand. It must have been Lara.
"Lara, what are you doing—"
I froze when I saw a man in front of me. He had long black hair and pale skin. Extremely pale. His clothes were very elegant. He looked as if he had stepped out of a fairy tale. His eyes glowed bright red.
Wait… I felt like I knew him—
A sudden pain shot through my head. Then I remembered meeting Kongar and Arkan at the camp. And then…
My eyes widened in fear.
"Vampire King Valen," I whispered.
Where am I?
My heart clenched for a moment. Where was Arkan? What about Kongar?
Valen leaned toward the hand he was holding and licked my bleeding finger. I shuddered as his cold tongue moved across my skin. Then he put my finger into his mouth and began sucking on it.
Pervert!
I tried to pull my hand away from him, but I couldn't. He was very strong. The more I tried to pull my hand away, the tighter he held it.
As he pulled his lips away from my finger, he licked my wound again. Then he pulled back.
I watched him in shock and fear. By now, I should have been able to hear my heartbeat in my ears. But something was strange. It seemed… very weak.
The sound of the seat creaking as Valen moved was very loud. Did vampires make this much noise? Also, his heartbeat was stronger than mine.
I furrowed my brow.
How could I hear his heartbeat?
When I turned to him to ask about it, he held out a small glass bottle to me. It contained a thick red liquid.
"Drink," he said.
Seriously, did he want anything else?
I shook my head.
"No—" I began, but then I started coughing. The pain in my throat was getting worse. I was extremely thirsty.
I pushed aside the bottle Valen had held out to me and walked over to the mini fridge. I almost bumped into it. I had reached it much sooner than I had expected.
I was disappointed when I opened the fridge. There were only bottles of red wine inside.
"Kayra."
I tensed when he said my name. I slowly turned toward him.
"Come here," he said. Then he patted the empty space beside him. "Sit here."
I looked at the seat first, then at him. Then at the black window. Why couldn't I see outside through the window? With tinted windows, shouldn't people inside be able to see outside?
But I didn't care about that right now. I quickly got to my feet and bumped into the window.
Why was I being so clumsy today?
Then I pressed the button and patiently waited for the window to slowly open.
Yeah. It wasn't a very smart idea. But did I have any other choice? If I did, I didn't know what it was.
"Close the windows and lock them."
I flinched at Valen's voice. Then the window that had been slowly opening stopped and began to close.
No! That damn window had been my last hope.
I turned toward Valen as anger suddenly surged through me.
"Get me out of here!" I hissed in his face.
I… hissed… Why?
I immediately regretted it, too, because my throat hurt so badly.
I needed to find some water.
Valen, however, stared at me silently for a while with his red eyes. Then he put the small glass bottle containing the red liquid into a black leather-covered box. It was like a mini pocket fridge because when he opened the lid, white smoke came out of it.
After setting the box aside, he turned toward me.
"Kayra," he said in that hypnotizing voice of his.
Why did he keep calling me Kayra? He used to call me Luna Kayra.
"You wouldn't want the sunlight to get inside," he continued.
No, I would. Maybe then he would burn and turn to ashes, and I could escape this damn car. After all, vampires couldn't survive in sunlight, right?
I opened my mouth to speak, but immediately changed my mind. I didn't want to hurt my throat any more. Instead, I frantically hit the right window, then the left, trying to break them.
Break already!
"Kayra, calm down."
I can't.
As I frantically moved back and forth in front of Valen, he grabbed me from behind and quickly pulled me toward him by the T-shirt.
I started struggling in fear at the sudden movement. Valen picked me up into his arms, wrapped his arms around me, and held me tightly against him.
"Let me go—" I started struggling. But when I felt movement beneath my hips, I froze.
Was this what I thought it was?
Then he sank his teeth into my neck.
He was sucking my blood.
I wanted to pull him away from my neck. But my body wouldn't obey me.
As he continued sucking my blood, everything slowly went dark.