Chapter 1

A Chapter by PlotBunny

Victoria's eyes darted all around her, pressing her back against the cool stone of the rock wall behind her. 'I knew this was a bad idea! I'm such an idiot!' Wolves are always intimidating, but when you're alone in the mountains, at night, all by yourself, surrounded by them, they're downright terrifying. She flinched as the largest, most likely the alpha, snarled at her, stepping closer as the other wolves blocked her escape routes.She whimpered as she realized that this was probably where she was going to die. 'Why don't I listen?' Her grandmother had warned her about coming up the mountain at night, warned about the wolves and the cliffs and all the other dangerous things luring about. But she never listened.
The wolf snarled again, calling her attention back to it, and she screamed when she saw it run at her, the others following closely, and she shut her eyes, not wanting to see. She'd only just closed them when she heard a sound, like something flying through the air, followed by a sharp, high pitched yelp.
When she doesn't feel teeth and claws tear at her, she slowly opened her eyes to see a dark figure standing before her, holding what looked like a tree branch out in front of him. The alpha wolf was picking himself up off the ground, holding his right front leg up off the ground. He snarled at the figure, and to Victoria's horror, the figure snarled back.
To her shock, the wolf laid its ears back and whined, and with a low bark, the pack fled back into the trees, disappearing into the darkness. They stood in silence for a moment, the figure standing in a defensive posture for a moment longer before straightening up and tossing the branch aside. It said, not turning towards her, "What are you doing on the mountain so late at night?" A boy's voice.
Victoria's eyes darted to her abandoned flashlight, which was lying on the ground a few feet away, the beam running uselessly along the edge of the rock wall. She stuttered, edging towards it, "I-I was looking for someone's cat. It wandered off." Which was true. She'd seen the missing posters and figured she'd look where no one else had. And this is where it got her. Curse her caring nature.
The boy turned towards her and she froze, desperately hoping her wasn't a rapist or anything.
He says, his tone apathetic, as if he could care less about the situation, "It is dangerous here. You need to leave."
Victoria felt a chill slide down her spine and she shivered. She tried to look nonchalant as she took the few steps to the flashlight and picked it up saying, "I was just leaving. but um... Thank you, for saving me."
The boy doesn't reply, and she turns her eye from her flashlight to the figure before her. And that's when her brain catches up with the situation, and she furrows her eyebrows. She says, fingering the light thoughtfully, "Actually, how did you save me? That wolf nearly had me. You'd have to be able to move incredibly fast to intervene. And what kind of person has the power to knock a wolf ten feet back with a tree branch? It's not even humanly possible."
There's not even a glitch of hesitation in his voice when he replies, "I never said I was human."
Victoria freezes, her blood going cold. She feels her hands start to tremble as she processed his words. 'Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.' She didn't take her eyes off of him, her fear making her notice every single detail. The wind picked up, bringing a slight chill with it, and as she trembled, the tree tops did the same, shifting and allowing the moonlight to filter through. She shuddered, tears collecting in her eyes as she once again pressed her back to the stone wall.
He had black hair that hung over his forehead and delicate features captured forever in his late teens, unblemished and unmarked. Pale skin reflected the moonlight, making him look as if he were sculpted of solid snow. Grey, lifeless eyes glinted at the light struck them, giving him an eerie look. A grin stretches his lips and white fangs are revealed, making Victoria whimper.
He says, his voice malicious, "Get off of my mountain."
She nods, tears fighting to spring from her eyes as she runs past him, fearing he would grab and end her. She flung herself into the treeline, crashing through brambles and underbrush as she ran, but she didn't dare slow down. The brush became thinner the lower she got, and she could see the lights of her small town through the trees. Hoping he wasn't hot on her tail, only allowing her to get this close just to grab her and kill her, she put on another burst of speed, her feet pounding the ground in time with her racing heartbeat. 'Almost there, almost there, almost there!'
A few more seconds and she burst out of the trees, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed in relief, racing through the graveyard that separated the town and the trees.
She cried out in shock when she tripped over a gravestone and she face planted the ground, pain shocking up her arms as she tried and failed to stop her fall. She rolled over quickly, gasping for breath, and swept her gaze back and forth, looking to see if the vampire had chased her down. But she was the only one around, and as she shakily picked herself up, she muttered to herself, her voice hitching with a soft sob as she wiped at her eyes, "Ten years of my life were just scared out of me."
She took a few steps back, sniffing as she once more made sure she was alone, and turned and jogged towards the sidewalk, the lights of the streetlamps making her feel as if she'd entered a sanctuary as she walked under them.