Chapter 6 - Supernatural hold.

~ MELANIE’S POV ~

Our footsteps were as silent as shadows as we crept toward the tree line, knowing all too well how lethally sharp a vampire’s hearing was.

If we needed to catch at least one of them, we needed to be extra careful.

My boots came to a sudden halt as my eyes locked onto the structure looming through the fog. It was an ancient, rotting mansion—just as Hopper had described. It looked as though it had been decaying in these woods for centuries, swallowed whole by dead trees and moss.

The moment Hopper took a step closer, the tracking device in his hand vibrated violently, its dim screen pulsing with frantic red warnings.

My knuckles turned white around the hilt of my silver dagger. My pulse pounded in my ears, every nerve in my body screaming for action.

I had been a member of the Dark Knights for three years, and in all that time, I had never successfully captured a vampire. They moved faster than bullet trains, vanishing before a human could even blink.

Hopper caught my eye and flashed a series of silent hand signals, dividing us into entry pairs.

I fell in line with Calvin, while Ivan and Zoey circled around to the east wing, leaving Cora and Hopper to take the main entrance.

Calvin and I slipped through a shattered side window, our feet touching down on the creaky floorboards with barely a sound.

The mansion was empty. And it’d have been dark if not for the moon piercing through the windows.

Through the moonlight, I could see old human skulls and skeletons scattered across the floor. They looked like they had been there for years.

Staring at those shattered bones brought the nightmare of my twelve-year-old self rushing back. I saw my mother’s face. I saw my father’s lifeless eyes.

Blinded by the burning rage consuming me, my focus slipped. My boot hit a piece of dry, brittle wood resting under the dust.

The sound echoed through the hollow mansion like a gunshot.

“Melanie,” Calvin gasped.

Before the sound even died out, pack of vampires burst into the room from every direction with supernatural speed. Their eyes flashed a terrifying crimson, and their elongated fangs glinted under the moonlight as a chorus of feral snarls filled the air.

I locked my grip onto my dagger, glaring back at them with pure hatred. Their grotesque, predatory faces looked horrifyingly similar to the monster that had torn my life apart ten years ago.

“Humans?” one of them hissed, his voice like grinding stones. “What are you doing here? Are you begging for death?”

“You’re the ones who are going to die by my hands!” I growled.

I shot Calvin a quick glance, and we lunged simultaneously. But as hard as we swung, our silver blades cut through empty air. They moved like blurs, dodging our attacks effortlessly.

I whipped three hand-carved wooden stakes out of my belt and threw them with all my strength, but they only buried themselves uselessly into the stone walls or bounced off the rotting floor.

“Melanie! Watch out!” Calvin’s panicked scream cut through the chaos.

I spun around just as a female vampire lunged for my throat with bared fangs. Driven by raw instinct, I whipped my silver dagger around, slashing it

across her cheek.

Blood trickled down her face.

I barely had time to celebrate before the wound began closing right before my eyes.

Within seconds, her skin was completely healed.

Before I could bring my dagger up to strike again, her hand shot out like an iron vise, locking around my throat. The force of her grip knocked the weapon out of my hands, sending it clattering across the floor as she lifted me completely off my feet.

My airway closed up instantly. I coughed hard, kicking my legs wildly, clawing at her fingers as I struggled to break her supernatural hold. If it weren’t for the reinforced leather neck collar I was wearing beneath my jacket, her razor-sharp claws would have ripped my windpipe out instantly.

“You’re one brave little girl, aren’t you?” she grinned, her red eyes dancing with sadistic joy as her fangs elongated further. “Walking right into our nest. Let’s see how sweet your blood tastes on my tongue.”

Across the room, Calvin was desperately trying to fight off two other vampires, but he couldn’t break through their lightning speed to reach me.

Pain exploded behind my eyes as oxygen bled from my brain. Yet despite the suffocating darkness creeping into my vision, I glared at her with every ounce of hatred I possessed as her free hand reached up to tear off my protective collar.

“Melanie!” Hopper screamed out my name as he burst into the room. He reached into his bag and threw a handful of garlic powder into the air.

The vampires shrieked and stumbled backward, clutching their faces. They hissed furiously before fleeing into the darkness.

The female vampire dropped me. I crashed hard onto the floorboard, clutching my throat, coughing as air rushed back into my lungs.

Calvin rushed over, dropping to his knees and slamming his hands onto my shoulders. “Melanie! Are you okay? Speak to me!”

I shoved his hands off me, pulling myself to my feet. I was shaking—not with fear, but with an explosive, blinding rage. That monster had tried to drain me the exact same way her kind had murdered my parents.

“They’re all going to die!” I bellowed, my voice cracking with rage.

Without waiting for Calvin, Hopper, or the rest of the team, I turned around and sprinted out of the mansion, charging headfirst into the woods.

My heart hammered against my ribs, the sound of my heavy boots crunching against dead leaves as I ran through the woods in search of any vampire.

Deep in the woods, my ears caught a sudden movement—the rapid, unnatural rustle of leaves as a vampire darted back and forth through the trees, trying to throw me off his trail.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a wooden stake. I slowed my breathing, my eyes tracking him as he blurred between the thick oak trunks.

I snapped my arm back and threw the stake with every ounce of strength in my body. Fortunately for me, the stake touched his ankle. He fell hard on the ground, thrashing in pain.

I sprinted toward him, my mind completely consumed by blind vengeance. I grabbed him by his collar, dragging him up and slamming him against the tree trunk.

I didn’t see the monster in front of me anymore. All I saw was the vampire standing over my parents’ dead bodies ten years ago.

“You know him, don’t you?!” I screamed into his face. “Where is he?! Where is the vampire with only one eye and a deep, empty socket?!”