Chapter 151-The bite

Chapter 151: 151-The bite

Maisa lunged at the werewolf. Her fangs sank deep into the girl’s neck, piercing through skin and straight into the vein beneath.

"Aaargh!" The werewolf let out a sharp, agonizing scream.

Her body jerked violently as Maisa drank her blood, but in a desperate act of self-defense, she twisted toward her attacker. With Maisa’s neck exposed, the werewolf opened her jaws and sank her fangs into it.

Maisa clammed up. For a moment, she didn’t even understand what had happened before she felt it.

A sharp, burning sensation spread from the wound in her neck. The werewolf’s venom, It entered her bloodstream like fire, racing through her veins with terrifying speed.

Maisa abruptly stopped feeding from the girl’s neck, her breath catching as her eyes drew closed closed for a moment.

Her hand flew to her throat. The burning intensified, and her vision blurred.

Her pupils contracted sharply, and a crimson hue began spreading across her eyes until even the whites around them turned an unnatural, blood-red.

The venom was already coursing through her veins, and for the first time, Maisa realized the stories hadn’t been myths. She panicked.

Above them, the moon seemed to freeze in the night sky. Then, without warning, its pale light began to change, and the white faded into crimson.

The moon turned completely blood red. A strange pressure suddenly filled the forest. Before either of them could react, an invisible force exploded between them.

The blast tore Maisa away from the werewolf, ripping her fangs from the girl’s neck and sending them flying in opposite directions.

Maisa’s body was hurled through the trees. Branches snapped against her as she was thrown deeper into the forest before she slammed violently into a massive boulder.

The impact was brutal. Her body went limp instantly, and she fainted before she even hit the ground.

Far on the other side of the forest, the werewolf was sent flying through the darkness before crashing into the surface of a distant lake.

She plunged beneath the water. "Uuugh!" She choked on water.

Already wounded and severely weakened from the blood Maisa had drained from her, she struggled desperately to stay afloat.

Her arms thrashed beneath the surface. Her lungs burned, but she had no strength left. Slowly, the water pulled her under, and she sank deeper and deeper until the darkness of the lake swallowed her completely, and her heart stopped beating.

Then something strange happened. Her heart, which had gone completely still, gave a faint beat and then another as her pulse returned.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

And suddenly, her heart began pounding faster than ever before. With every beat, something inside her awakened and beneath the blood-red moon, the werewolf’s eyes suddenly snapped open before she closed them again and sank down to the bottom of the lake.

~

At the palace, Queen Velanora sat at the head of the council table, listening intently as her advisors delivered their briefing. Then the room changed. A strange crimson light spilt through the palace windows, washing across the floor, the walls, and finally over the Queen herself.

Velanora froze and slowly turned her gaze toward the window. Outside, hanging impossibly high above the palace, was the moon that had just turned blood red. For several long seconds, the Queen said nothing.

The crimson light bathed her snow-white hair, giving it an almost ethereal glow. Though the colour was nothing more than a reflection, it transformed her appearance completely.

Her normally white eyes seemed to mirror the moon itself, glowing with the same deep crimson hue.

There was something almost otherworldly about her: majestic and untouchable, with the mature beauty of a woman who had ruled for years. She carried an elegance and authority that age had only refined.

She was, in many ways, an older reflection of her daughter, Varitreya. The resemblance was unmistakable. But where Varitreya possessed youthful beauty, Velanora carried the commanding grace of a queen who had weathered years of power, responsibility, and secrets.

Around the table, the council had fallen silent. Several of the men stared at her, momentarily forgetting the briefing entirely. None seemed capable of tearing their eyes away from the Queen long enough to question the strange phenomenon outside.

But Velanora wasn’t distracted by her own reflection. She knew exactly what the blood moon meant. She had lived long enough to witness its appearance before, and it was never an ordinary celestial event.

The blood moon appeared when something entered their world that had the potential to alter the fate of the vampire nation. Something powerful and unexpected. An anomaly.

Velanora’s expression slowly hardened. If the blood moon had appeared tonight, then something had changed. Something had entered the game that held their existence in its hands.

Her crimson eyes narrowed as she stared into the night sky. What had come for her people this time?

The Queen remained silent, but deep within her, a single question echoed. What anomaly had awakened beneath the blood moon?

~

At Evelyn’s compound, Laralene and Luriel Everheart were deep in discussion, reviewing the recent sighting of a vampire and planning their next hunt, when a strange crimson light suddenly spilt into the compound.

Both of them froze and slowly looked up. The moon above them had turned blood red. Their eyes met, and they didn’t need to say anything. They shared the same look—the realization, the anticipation, and the excitement.

"A blood moon," Laralene whispered, her voice carrying a hint of awe. "You know what that means..."

Luriel’s expression hardened with understanding. "The Flower of Fate has been awakened... or disturbed."

"Exactly!" Laralene said as a bright smile slowly spread across her face. "Do you know what this means?" She moved closer and pulled her husband toward her, her excitement impossible to hide. "This means we won’t have to hunt vampires one by one anymore. We only need to find the Flower of Fate and destroy it, and every single vampire in the world will die."

She paused, letting the weight of the revelation sink in. Luriel’s expression immediately mirrored hers. For the first time that night, the hunt seemed almost effortless.

"Then what are we waiting for?" he said eagerly. "We start searching for the Flower of Fate immediately!"

The two Everhearts continued plotting, their minds already racing through possibilities, locations, and ways to track down the mysterious Flower.

Neither of them noticed the cruel irony woven into their plans. They were searching for the very thing they believed could destroy their greatest enemy.

They were preparing to hunt down the Flower of Fate, but they had no idea that its holder and the one person standing between them and the death of every vampire in the world was none other than their missing youngest child, Maisa Everheart.

~

At the Silver Crest Pack, the True Alpha led his wolves through the dark forest, searching for Freya; the werewolf who had defied him and refused to be sacrificed to strengthen their pack and give them the power against their enemies.

"She’s wounded and won’t get far," he said. "Once we find her, we’ll use her blood to strengthen the pack."

Suddenly, a crimson glow spilt through the trees as the blood moon rose.

The moment its light touched them, invisible claws tore through their bodies. The pack screamed and scrambled for cover, while the True Alpha staggered in shock.

"Aaaaaaargh!"

Under the sheer torture of the red moonlight, they sensed something beneath the pain, Freya.

Her fear, pain, and heartbeat pulsed through the crimson light. It felt as though she was rejecting them, and the moon had answered her and turned on them.

For the first time, the True Alpha wondered if something more powerful had chosen to protect her. Beneath the Blood Moon, the Silver Crest Pack understood one terrifying truth: the moon was no longer theirs.

"What the hell is going on?" The alpha growled after getting under the safety of a shelter. "What is thus cursed moon?"