Clan of Blood

Death is easy, simple…life is harder.

My dad use to come into my sister's and my bedroom and tell us a bed time story every night when we were young, he would tell us he loved us and that there was nothing to be afraid of. Then every morning my mom would sing the "good morning song" to wake us up for school and make us a hot breakfast and pack our lunches.

Life was good then.

The darkness flooded the small room I was trapped in. the moon was set high up in the clear night sky and everything was motionless.

I clawed at the door with my talons leaving deep grooves in the dark wood. My throat burned with a hunger like no other and I wanted to quench it more than anything.

The darkest part of me that I kept locked away was now living in my skin and I embraced it.

I cried out in desperation to get out of this box and run freely through the night and take in her sweet fresh air. My eyes glowed in a blinding white furry, and I felt power pumping threw my veins.

"Let me out!" I screeched, but no one came to save me.

I needed to get out I would suffocate in this rotting musty old room.

An idea sprouted at the back of my mind and I ran to the window where the moonlight poured in and threw myself threw it.

I fell at least six stories before I landed on the soft grass. I ran my fingers through the familiar green and ripped my body up from the ground.

I spirited threw the forest floor to where I did not know. My feet carried me for miles in a maze of trees and shrubs. Everything was different, yet I knew it all.

My heart softly beat agents my chest as I breathed in the cool night air.

My pace slowly drifted to a jog, then a steady walk, and then nothing. I had stopped at pile of rocks that seemed to be randomly placed in the middle of a small clearing that was covered in dead leaves.

It was then when I smelled it. The overwhelming scent of a wet dog and I scrunched my nose in disgust.

"Don't look so angry. I'm surprised you made it this far." A voice came and a man cloaked in dark blue clothes came out from hiding behind a tree. I barred my teeth at him in warning for him to stay away but he came closer until our eyes met.

"It's hard to believe there is another inside of you" he stated while examining me with careful cool brown eyes. "The hunger has taken over her. She is nothing but an animal and will not listen to reason." This was the voice of a women who I didn't see come out, but she was now standing beside the man.

"Give her your arm." she commanded not taking her bright yellow eyes off of mine.

He glanced over at her with concern on his face for his safety. "She isn't dangerous. Not yet anyway. They haven't trained her yet, she is an empty vessel." She reassured him.

He took a step towards me and held out his arm to me. I sniffed the air in his direction it was filled with the stink still, but the creamy white skin of his arm was tempting.

He glanced back at the women, taking his eyes off of me. "she isn't going to-"

He yelled and yanked his arm back from me as I sunk my teeth in it. "You little!" he screamed as I licked the blood off of my lips. "Now, now Achilles, she is but a child and knows no better." She scolded him.

"Who are you?" I asked pacing around them causally.

The women stepped forward into the moon light revealing her sharp features. Dark brown hair hung from her head and her lips were stained crimson red, but her yellow eyes were unnerving. They made me aware she was not human, nor vampire. So what was this creature who had shown me kindness?

"We are the lugaru, we are the sons and daughters of the moon" she said answering my question. "That would explain the smell" I snickered to myself. The men known as Achilles growled at me angrily, and his brown innocent eyes turned bright yellow.

"She has no respect for anything" he hissed.

"The 'she' is Amanda" I lazily replied.

"What do you want from me" I said tilting my head slightly. "Were here to tell you who you are. You see you're not just a monster" he said "you are Seraphim. They were all wiped out by Gabriel in the dark haze thousands of years ago. He believed that they were a threat because they were so different. You see, these creatures are human, but possess the power to 'jump' or move through the clans as another undetected." She tried to explain.

I shook my head not understanding.

"In there unconscious state they have the power to jump into someone else's body and control it. More advanced and trained ones are rumored to be able to control them while they are awake. This is what started the war." Achilles eyed me closely, looking for a reaction.

This would explain why I saw him in my dreams, but was I controlling him? How did these people know all these things?

"What do I do now?" I asked quietly

"You choose a side" he said bluntly. The women cleared her throat in dislike. "What he meant to say is that you are the key to end this war. We need you to stop the killing." She corrected.

"Why should I choose you people? I'm not even one of your clan. Even if I help you, I don't know how these supposed powers even work." I said sternly.

The women smiled deeply at me. "Achilles has a diary of a jumper and will train you in all necessary ways for you to learn. Even if you do not wish to be on our side he will still train you. It would be an insult to our ancestors to let a special little thing like you go without knowing how to jump."

I stood there for a while debating on this offer. I should take it to at least know what exactly I can do. Then again they may cheat me and say I must be on their side because they helped me.

Suddenly a sharp pain ran through my arm and I was thrown on the hard wet ground.

I looked up and saw green eyes looking down at me. I ripped my gaze off of them when I heard loud howls and screams coming from behind me. Achilles was transforming into something else. The crunch of his bones breaking made me flinch. He holed out in anger and pain as his body morphed into a wolf.

He clawed the earth with his massive paws leaving deep scars in the dirt.

"Damn dogs!" I heard Elyssia yell at them. The woman was now a wolfen creature and she pounced on her, tearing flesh off of her pretty little face. Achilles circled Gabriel, waiting to make a fatal attack on him, but before he could a glowing dust appeared in Gabriel's right hand, he saw this and slowly backed off slightly, but still held his ground.

Achilles growled low at him as he stood up on his hind legs, ready to defend himself agents an attack.

Gabriel threw the ball of dust at him, and he jumped over it, then hurdled off of a nearby tree and held out a clawed furry arm and ripped it across his face, and blood dripped down his chin.

Clearly he was no match for Achilles physically, but he possessed some sort of power to protect himself with. Elyssia was now being aided by Lucian who threw the dog off of her with incredible strength.

I lifted myself off of the ground and held my arm as it burned in intense pain, but the wound had healed.

"Get the girl" Gabriel yelled over at the others who were fighting off the women wolf. Achilles leaped in front of their path to try and protect me from them. His dark brown fur gently flowing through the night air as he breathed heavily.

I was grabbed from behind by my wrist and thrown across the ground and into a tree. My head spun uncontrollably and it ached with a fiery pain. My vision was blurred as I saw flashes of furry monsters flying through the air and attacking pale colored eyes that were lit up in the darkness.

I coughed up crimson as I got up and tried to steady my body, I wasn't healing fast enough.

I heard a great cry and saw Gabriel digging his teeth into one of the beasts. I sprinted over to them and ripped him off of it with one swift graceful movement of my hand.

I was quickly thrown back on the ground and had the breath knocked out of my lungs. Gabriel was above me with his hand on my throat choking me. "Get off of me you leach" I spat in his face. He slapped me across the face and held me down so I couldn't escape.

"We can't hold them off much longer" Elyssia said as she ran over to us. He got off of me "get up!" he commanded. I lay there nonchalantly no able to move because of my injuries.

He glared down at me and then picked me up in his strong arms and carried me off into the night.

I don't know the last thing I remembered. It had to be between the howls of the wolves, the smell of blood flying through the air from the fight, or perhaps it was the thudding of a strong heart that I was laying agents.

The one thing I did know was as the sun slowly rose over the horizon we did not burn. No smoke or pain occurred. Only the intensity of the heat, and it melted away the monsters of the night. Painting a perfect portrait for all the humans that none of this existed, and three days ago I believed it.

I believed…that none of it…existed.