Chapter 4

Tana's POV

I dragged my feet through the thick forest covered with snow. Looking up, I stared at the sky as snow fell down gently. My gaze moved to the wilderness before me. My body was burning from the pain, and the pain shot deep within my body. I tried to fight it, but my attempt was futile, and slowly I fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

My heart felt like it was about to explode as it beat two times faster than it was supposed to. I tried to pull my weak body up into a standing position, but every time I tried, I fell back on the ground weakly. My vision became blurry and I finally resorted to crawling on the rocky ground, my knees bled from the continuously cutting from the rocks and branches.

If this was my punishment for my wrongdoings in my previous life, then I would willingly accept it unquestionably, but I promised not to let them win, Philip and Veronica would never get the satisfaction of hearing of my death in this cold wilderness.

I groaned again as I felt something weird, as if my insides were being twisted. I spat blood, and soon I belatedly realized it as I grew weaker. My wolf, phoenix, was slowly disconnecting from me.

"No," I said frantically. Not now when I was in the middle of nowhere. I was already completely weak and helpless, this would only gradually kill me. I finally pulled myself up, and tried to balance my feet. I felt weaker than before as my gaze darted around. I took a step further, determined to live through this no matter what.

Just then, I heard a growl from close by. I turned around, trying to search for the source. There was just something about the sound that made my skin crawl. I slowly stalked towards the direction of a giant tree and hid behind it. I heard a growl again, and this time I was sure it was coming closer. I peeped from behind the tree and saw two men…

Wait, I paused and trained my eyes. They were no men, and my eyes widened as realization hit me.

There were vampires and they were on a hunt. I froze, trying to digest everything before snapping out of my trance. I took a step back, in an attempt to flee from them, but I stepped on a branch and the sound grabbed their attention. They immediately snapped their eyes towards me. Their bloodshot eyes zeroed dangerously at the sight of me behind the tree.

Oh no, I had almost forgotten how sharp their hearings were. Their inhuman abilities were an advantage to them and the opposite to me, as they could easily catch up with me. The thoughts made me swallow in fear before I spontaneously turned around and ran to nowhere in particular.

I could hear them growling as they followed me. I gritted my teeth as I continued to fight through my pain, desperately trying to move my weak body that was nothing less than a human. My steps quickened with the only thought of survival running through my head. I prayed to the goddess to help me as I ran through trees, struggling to keep up with my fast pace.

I heart tightened in fear when I heard their footsteps getting closer. I occasionally fell on the ground, but would pick myself up every single time. After running for minutes, I started to give up. However, I forced myself as I ventured deeper into the wilderness. My pace slowed down, causing me to stumble on the branches. I closed my eyes gradually, willing to surrender to the black hole that drew me in.

Suddenly, the vampires stopped chasing after me and they spared themselves a look. "we can't go further. That's the HellGuards territory, and I'm sure Jackson wouldn't take it lightly." One of them reasoned to the other, and they shrieked with just the name, but they still stood there adamant to let me go.

"She'll make a fine dinner. We can't let her go just yet, and I doubt we'd encounter him today," the other encouraged, still reluctant to leave the fragile woman even though they were already in another territory.

"He is right. We can't go yet when we aren't sure. Let's end our hunt with her. We can't go back now when we've come this far," the second vampire chimed, and the other gladly obliged. They quickly rushed after me again, and soon they caught up with me.

The first one that grabbed me, pushed me against a tree, and I fell to the ground almost boneless. The other hastily reached for me as they surrounded me.

Just before they could capture me and make me their dinner, we heard a loud growl from a close distance. They froze midway in their attempt, their eyes searching frantically for the source.

"Did you hear that?" One of them asked while taking a step back, dreadfully. But after a moment of absolute silence, waiting for another sound, they finally concluded that it was definitely their figment of imagination caused by the fear that was growing within them after crossing the territory.

They turned their gaze and were about to carry on their act when something rushed through the wilderness in fast motion, making them blink in confusion. Suddenly, something jumped out from behind a tree.

A silver-gray wolf stood before us with a warning air around it.

The vampire's eyes widened, they tried to hide their visible fear but to no avail until. Nonetheless, they stood their ground.

I tried to keep my eyes open but they refused. I heard the vampires panicked as they stepped back cautiously.

I slowly opened my eyes and peeked through my lashes. I could hear loud growls as a fight broke. Screams, groans, and growls could be heard. I tried to pull myself away from the chaos in front of me. I leaned against a tree as I watched the fight.

They moved swiftly, and precisely, attacking them effortlessly. Until they became weak, the claws cut through their skin. The fangs dug into the throat of one of them, and the wolf took a big junk of flesh.

The other who witnessed this, moved back dreadfully in utter disbelief, watching as the other shook vigorously to death in his pool of blood. He quickly took out daggers to defend himself, no longer confident in his strength nor abilities.

The wolf growled as it stared sharply at the last surviving one. The wolf attacks again, knocking the knife away from one of them within seconds.

My gaze fell on the dagger that was thrown close to me. I sluggishly reached for it and stared at it before raising my hand up. I brought the dagger to my wrist and slit my wrist slowly, cutting through my veins. I winced a little from the pain.

The vampire paused in his attack, bringing his nose to the air, he sniffed and turned to me. The smell of blood caught his attention and distracted him. His eyes reddened upon sighting the droplets of blood from my wrist.

He rushed towards me, but the wolf already caught up with him. The distraction made it easier for the wolf to rip him apart with ease and within a minute, his lifeless bodies fell on the ground in a thud.

My eyes slowly shut close. The wolf turned to look at the fragile me while I leaned against the tree, I was completely weak as blood gushed out from my wrist. They walked towards me calmly.

I watched it walk closer until it stood right in front of me with a piercing gaze as it started deep into my eyes. I tried to crawl back weakly but I groaned in pain. The wolf leaned towards me and sniffed the wound.

They leaned down to lick the blood on my skin. He could see the visible marks and deep cuts on my skin. My wounds were bleeding, and my heart was beating slowly.

This felt weird because not only was I relaxing around the wolf but I also let the wolf slowly wipe the blood on my arm. Strangely I wasn't feeling any negative aura emanating from the wolf and instead I felt calm, almost as if I knew the wolf before.

The wolf paused when I groaned weakly in pain.