Noah’s vision blurred as he propelled forward and slashed open the vampires’ throats. Blood splashed against his face, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.
Showing his fangs, he muttered to Paul, “So, where were we?”
The vampire snarled. “I’ll kill you myself before going into that house and killing the threat that the Alliance is training to destroy us.”
Noah’s interest piqued, but he didn’t have the time to start a conversation with the vicious monster. He was there to destroy his nemesis and avenge his family.
“Do your worst,” the rogue hunter taunted.
After decades of being shunned by his kind, Noah was finally face to face with the monster who ordered his parents’ death.
“All of this would have been prevented if your parents didn’t disobey and give birth to you, aberration.”
Noah paused. “I have no idea why my parents decided to have me. You didn’t let them live long enough for me to know them. I just have memories of us running and hiding from your assassins. Memories of what your beasts did to my mother and father.”
“Cry me a river, Noah!” Paul chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. Tonight, you’ll…”
The vampire didn’t finish his sentence because a glowing dart flew in his direction and hit his back. The dagger in his hand dropped to the floor as the impact made him step forward, looking for balance.
Noah had no idea where the energy dart came from, but he wasn’t going to let that opportunity go to waste. In a blur of black, Noah lunged forward and broke the vampire’s neck, only to rip his slugging heart after. Blood dripped from his right hand as the organ gave the final beatings and withered.
Stepping back and dropping the creature’s heart to the ground, Noah watched Maximillian’s horrified expression as he disintegrated.
Mortality rarely crossed these vicious creatures’ minds. They believed that their immortality would make them invulnerable and undefeatable. Hunters like himself were the only ones that could prove these coldhearted monsters wrong.
Noah’s vision focused on the tiny specks of glowing ashes extinguishing. He didn’t feel remorse for the killing—not when it came to vicious murderers. For decades, hunting and killing the evil vampires was the only thing that made him feel alive. With his nemesis gone and his revenge complete, Noah felt a deadly coldness grip around his heart and slow it down even more. So much that he felt the air escape from his lungs and his chest burn.
“Mom, Dad, you are avenged,” he whispered to the cosmos, hoping that they’d heard him in the afterlife. His throat constricted as sadness burned his eyes.
Why were tears welling in his eyes? He wasn’t the crying type. He had focused all his rage on his revenge. He had cried enough when he was young and became orphaned. He had enough nightmares growing up, afraid that they’d come to finish what they started.
When he was strong and fast enough, he swore that he’d kill his parents’ murderers and he make sure they wouldn’t tear apart another family. He was going to save others from experiencing the same pain and grief.
Crying was for the weak.
The feeling of emptiness only grew inside his soul as he blinked away his tears and looked at the ashes of his enemy. His aunt would be proud of him. Yet, no one was there to pat his back and tell him he did a good job. He was alone. Completely and utterly alone in this world.
An aberration without a purpose.
Growls echoed around him as more enemies filed out of the woods. Even after their master’s death, the other vampires didn’t seem to give up and run for their lives.
There were too many for the academy students to handle. After all, they weren’t even graduated. He couldn’t leave the youngsters to their luck. The death of heartless beings might not make any difference to him, but the death of innocents was a different matter.
After killing his parents’ murderers, his life goal was completed. Taking with him to the afterlife a few more evil vampires was now a priority.
Summoning all his remaining energy, he pushed forward and sped to the assassins coming his way. His claws slashed and cut as he hissed through the vegetation of the academy’s manicured gardens and took life after life.
When he ripped off the heart of the last assassin, his eyes locked with the assassin’s ones as he faded away and his body burst into fire and turned into ashes that flew slowly with the night breeze.
No one was able to kill him. His heart still beat like a mad one, and his body was intact. He wondered if he would burst into flames like vampires did or if his body would just tumble down and remain lifeless.
There weren’t many like him—half-vampire, half-werewolf. He never took the life of one of his kind either. So he had no idea if his body would remain or disintegrate. It would be better to disintegrate. Less messy. Not only that, no one would know he had been there. The werewolves didn’t need to know he had helped them. It was better to die and leave no trail.
Since he was still alive, he had to escape before the werewolves would mistake him for the enemy.
The pain in his chest woke him up to the fact that the wound Maximilian inflicted didn’t heal. His mixed blood allowed him to heal faster than anyone else.
Why wasn’t the wound healing?