24.The bleeder territory.

**Luna**

She felt he was close, but luckily for her, he was going the opposite direction, increasing distance between them. Only after reaching the clearing, next to the forest, did she slow down. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, looking for the little red car, which was supposed to be parked near her location.

"Damn it, you can't do even one thing right," she cursed under her breath, walking back and forth on an imaginary line, becoming extremely anxious. After a couple of minutes, the red car finally appeared, the woman driving it looked like a maniac who was being chased by the police. As the car stopped next to her feet, Luna opened the passenger door violently and jumped in. She urged the driver to get away from there as soon as possible. Only when they reached a safe distance between the car and the forest, she finally let out the breath she didn't know she was holding for all this time.

"You had to be there before I arrived, not after. A couple more minutes and both of us would be neck-deep in shit," Luna growled, showing off her displeasure. The woman rolled her eyes and kept quiet, she had been in a rush all day, for their plan to work, yet her partner kept complaining. Stealing a car isn't as easy as they all think.

"I know, I had to deal with something to get my hands on this little beauty," she tapped on the steering wheel, feeling rather proud of her not-so-perfect crime.

"You won't apologize for making me wait? You know, my ass is on the line as much as yours is," Luna felt more irritated by each word leaving the woman's lips. The nerve. Being late and not saying sorry is beyond any limits.

"I'm sorry, okay? But like..." the woman sighed deeply; her eyes fixed on the road ahead of them.

"Our deal was for me to seduce the old man, not to kill that horny bastard. He might as well be my granddad. I also risked my safety and life. I could get caught. A lot of people saw us leaving together and me getting in his car. Before heading here, I had to get rid of the evidence," a hit of remorse invaded the tone of her voice. She truly regretted killing the old male she met at the bar, but she had no other choice.

"That wasn't part of our deal, you didn't have to kill him," Luna hissed, angered by the careless human girl.

"But I had no option there! He wouldn't let me leave or borrow his car. I'll just burn this baby when we get far enough away from here. Forget it, better tell me how did it go? Did it work?" The woman's voice became ecstatic; all their hard work and planning might pay off if their plan worked.

"The first stage of our plan worked; she was there. For the second stage, I am not so sure. I left her there, but his scent was pretty close when I ran to the clearing. Hopefully, it was too late when he arrived," a smile crept on her lips, showing off the proudness she felt for the imaginary success.

"You didn't tell me about the first stage, though. How did you make sure that she would be in that exact place at the exact time? Or was it just a lucky guess?" The human kept testing Luna's patience. Maybe she didn't know, but the shifter woman wasn't exactly pleased by a weak human- doubting her brilliant ideas.

"There was this girl, working at my son's bar- she was the key to our plan. I don't remember her name, but it isn't important. What is important is that this said girl had a crush on him, for God knows how long. I might have had a little chat with her; I might have given her an idea of what she should do to get him. Of course, I might have forgotten to mention that your friend is my son's destined mate, and he would never give up on her. The beauty of my plan was planting a seed of lies in that girl's mind."

"Wait up; I'm kind of lost here- what did you do? No offense, I'm asking questions only to understand, and maybe learn. My mother has always said that if I want to do something right- I have to learn from the best," purposely, Claudia flattered Luna, being fully aware of how her words will grant more information.

"I told her that he chose the girl, not that the Moon Goddess paired their souls. It's a pretty important detail, the girl saw a chance to get between them, and it worked, as you see. I paid a good amount of money to rogue- his task was to ruin your friend if he had any chance. I've heard only rumors about what happened in the bar, but as it seems my plan worked- the rogue is dead, and the girl was invited into the office after an accident happened. Your friend was hidden in his apartment; all I had to do was send an innocent, anonymous text message, encouraging the stupid human to go downstairs and check on him. I might have lied that he's hurt, but that's none of his business. It worked. Outside the bar stood one of my maids, waiting for her to run away- she was the one who gave the human directions as to where she should hide, calling it 'a safe place." Luna started laughing, sounding as evil as ever, even Claudia felt cold shivers traveling down her spine. This woman was pure evil; it'll take years for a human to outsmart her.

"Okay, how about the second stage? Where did you take Eve? Is she dead?" Claudia felt a pang of pain in her heart, regretting how cruel they had gotten with her childhood friend. She never intended to kill Eve; all she wanted to do was get her out of her way. Nothing more, nothing less.


"She might be. I led her to the pack border, the only one that crosses the territory of the filthiest night creatures ever known. Didn't you wonder why she had been given the exact directions as to where she should go?" Luna kept quiet for a moment, eyeing Claudia suspiciously. She needed to be more careful now; if someone found out where she led the human- she was dead. Nobody will care for her rank anymore. There will be no way out under any circumstances.

"I thought werewolves were the only creatures of the night," the human seemed puzzled, unable to make pieces of information fit together.

"That's so naive. We are not the only ones- you don't see others simply because everyone has their territories, which we don't share. We do not take outsiders kindly, rather keeping away from each other. Are you curious?" She raised an eyebrow, watching how Claudia parked the car aside from the road, getting out of it. The human inhaled and exhaled deeply, holding a hand on her heart. It looked like her whole world had just crashed down.

"Yes, I want to know," she nodded, stepping further away from the car.

"Alright, I might as well share this little piece of information with you. I left her in the bleeder territory," Luna grinned, overtaken by the proudness of her actions. She couldn't understand how she had come up with such a brilliant idea.

"The bleeder?" Claudia gasped, terrified by the word Luna had just said. Truth to be told- she had no idea what bleeders were, or where they came from, even more- what they looked like. She did have an idea about what they might feed on.
"Is it like a Vampire?" The question came out automatically. Luna laughed again, leaning her head back. When she finally calmed down, she wiped the tears away and took a deep breath.

"Wow, you're amusing, I must give you credit for that. And for your question- no, they are not. It's a creature much worse than any blood-sucking bastard out there. Bleeders are creatures who look like a spider, human, vampire, Siren, and the dark fairies all put together. They come out only at night; the reason they have their lands is because of how dangerous they are. There has been only one creature, in history, who was strong enough to kill them. The bleeders don't feed on blood only, that's the terrifying part of their existence. First, they poke the victim's eyeballs out, to ensure that their feast won't be able to escape. Then, they skin them alive, injecting a little amount of poison from their nails. The poison doesn't kill the victim yet- it ensures that the blood will stay fresh and veins untouched, while the flesh slowly rots. It's a long and painful process. Finally, when they feel like the feast is ready, they rip the organs out of the technically alive body, feeding the skin to their youngest. They are not as fast as we are but killing-wise, they are more vicious and deadlier than any werewolf could ever be. They are driven by bloodthirst and hunger, no emotions whatsoever. Let me tell you- if you ever end up in their territory, you better pray to your Gods to get out of there alive. I've never seen or heard about anything as cruel, vicious, and deadly as those creatures are." As Luna spoke, a smile never left her lips. Claudia's eyes widened in shock, she was ready for anything, but that. For a second, she thought of going back and looking for Eve. If she died, Claudia would have to carry the guilt till the end of her days.

With a shaky voice, she dared to ask: "Who was that creature, able to kill the bleeders?"
Luna tensed, unwilling to answer this particular question. Her eyes traveled back down the road, in the direction they had come from.

"Lycanthrope," she whispered.