Chapter 19 THE BLACK ONE.

FRIDAY
I had swooped Tia, running as fast as I could. I glanced back periodically, and spotted the beasts. They were about five foot in height and were indeed chasing after us.
I ran faster and faster, I could now see the beginning of the forest. My heart was pounding in my chest and I could hear Tia's heart as it galloped inside her. I was almost out of the forest when I spotted a figure leap from our side towards us. The beast would have probably gotten us but I was faster. I leapt about ten feet into the air. The beast missed and landed on the open road.
We were also landed onto the open road and I saw the animal clearly under the moon light. Tia looked at it with fear in her eyes; it was the first time I had never seen her this scared. A cars headlight shun from behind it. I dashed to the other forested side of the road and the creature jumped back into the side we had just come out of. I watched silently, through Supreme vision, as the beasts lay on their bellies, all as if on command and kept their heads low as the car neared.
Tia got to her feet and we both watched, not breathing, as the driver stopped and stepped out of his car. He looked to either side of the road, fear very visible in his eyes. He hurried back into his car, started his engine, and drove off. I watched the beasts dash back deeper into forest. I huffed out a breath of relief and my heartbeat had already started to slow down. It was all over and whatever was chasing us was gone now.
I heard a loud snort behind us. Tia turned around and I swilled around as well. I met two bright yellow eyes, filled with a deathly gaze. It was inching closer to us so I shoved Tia behind me. We had about five foot of distance between us. The pitch black fur of this one blended it in with the night.
It wasn't even growling and snorting like the others, just silently inching closer to us which made it even scarier.
I prepped my legs for take-off. I wanted to knock it out with a punch of Supreme strength. Without hinting off any sign, I jumped off the ground, swinging my left arm at it with all the strength I had. I saw the beast frozen as usual, I was moving too fast for it to calibrate.
But then just as I was about it impact it, the creature turned its head quickly—grabbing my arm in its huge mouth.
"What!?" I tugged at my arm but I felt it start to crush the bone.
I screamed in pain and jabbed my fist at the creature's wide head severally. The creature quickly snapped its head to the side, easily breaking away the bone biting my arm off from the shoulder. I fell to the ground, groaning in pain, my blood gushing out of my body.
"Kaldar!" Tia shrieked.
She stiffened her face and jumped at the creature, yelling a battle cry. It easily hit her away with a sway of its wide paw. Tia was sent flying backwards through the air, and she hit her back against a tree and fell to the ground, motionless.
"No, no, no!!!" Tia bellowed.
I saw more of them appear from nowhere and collectively they were four in number. They inched closer and closer to us, growling ferociously. I was in a state of panic; I saw my Supreme vision flickering on and off and so did my see-through sight so I ended up seeing the skeletons of the beasts in flashes.
'This was a mistake; it was my entire fault, I am the one who brought her here, Tia will die and it's all because of me.'
The harsh, bitter and dreadful truth ran over and over and over again in my head until it had almost drained me of any hope I had to live.
'If I can get to my feet fast enough maybe I can run her away from here...'
I dashed to Tia, grabbing her with my one arm, the blood flow from the other arm had slowed significantly, and I turned her face up. Dirt and grime was smeared all over her skin. Her heart was still beating... Good.
I leaned against the tree she had crashed into, looking at the beasts. They were growling even louder as they slowly got closer to us.
"Please... Please stop we don't want any trouble... Please!" I begged, remembering that I had read that these creatures were the natural predator for vampires.
One of them jumped at me, this one had ash fur and a green ghostly gaze. I raised my arm in defence but it didn't bite. Not yet, I thought.
'Oh why stop here... We've already begun...'
I heard the voice in my head and I knew that it was from the reddish-orange wolf that stood a distance to the right and had a slight pink to its eyes.
"Please, you can have me just let her go," I said, my voice shaking all over.
'He hears us... This one must be a Supreme...'
'Oh now he is dead for sure!' Thought the brown wolf that had glowing honey coloured eyes. It was sitting atop a rock, gracefully outlined by the moonlight.
"Please... you can have me, but just let her go." I pleaded. The biggest one walked forward, it was so big it looked like it could swallow me with a single bite.
'And why would we do that?' It raised its front paws, slamming them back to the ground and causing dirt and dust to shoot into the air. 'You thought you could escape us. This is our turf East Valley belongs to the Lupine. You vampires can't stay in your land; you must come to ours and take our food. Leaving the rotting carcass to decay here while you run away with full bellies..."
"Please, I'm sorry. You can have me but just let her go. Her name is Tia she's a very good person and—"
'Tia?'
The feminine voice came from the smaller one that had broken off my arm, it had been unmoving since but now it contorted its head to the side. Almost looking as if perplexed and curious.
"Yes, Tia..." I groaned, as a sharp pain shut through my body from my damaged shoulder.
The smaller one walked closer to me. I looked it in it deathly eyes. It sniffed Tia's unconscious body—I pulled her closer to me—before looking at her face.
'It can't be...' It said, its voice ringing with disbelief in my head.
'Your kind... You demonic creatures! What have you done to her!?' The creature bellowed in my mind. It growled at me, revealing its yellowed, six inch long dagger-like teeth and salivary mouth.
"What do you mean...?" I was more than confused.
But all the others were also as confused as I was. They were looking at the black wolf and their attention seemed to be totally taken off me.
I heard a very faint whisper, it was Tia.
"Don't look at me," She whispered, "Do as I tell you to..."
"Once I say run, you run as fast as the wind Kaldar. These things would kill us with ease, we can't beat them. So run when I say so."
My heart was pounding in chest. There was no way we could fight these creatures maybe an adjudicator could but we lacked the skill necessary to beat them.
I saw Tia, out of the corner of my eyes, pick up a small rock. She maneuvered the rock onto her closed fist and then flicked it away with her fingers.
I saw the stone speed through the air and hit a tree just behind the beasts. They all growled and turned at once, except for the small black one—it was looking straight at us and didn't do anything to try to stop our escape. I was sure that was my cue.
Gathering up all the strength I had in me, I heard a loud crack, and next thing I knew I was on the main road, Tia by my side and we ran as fast as we could.
I was tired, bleeding, frightened. Tia was a short pace in front of me. I could feel myself slowing down but I had to keep on running to survive. We got to the outskirts of the town and sped along the roads. 'How long were we in that forest?'
It had already darkened. I ran nonstop until I reached the corner of our street. A sharp pain shut up my knees and they buckled under me, I broke down and fell. I felt Tia pulling me up, probably to carry me just like I had carried her.
"Where have you... Oh my?"
It was Jhan's voice.
I felt myself loosing grip on consciousness, then I was falling, falling deeper and deeper into oblivion.
When I woke up, I'm on my bed. My bandaged arm had started growing back and the pain was unbearable. The creature had also bitten off the arm of my jacket. I got to a sitting position. It was afternoon for all what I could tell. I tried tuning into my Supreme sight but nothing.
I huffed out a breath in frustration. The blue translucent curtains were doing a good job filtering the sunlight.
The door opened and Tia stepped in. She locked eyes with mine and for a moment she said nothing before she walked to me.
"Are you okay?" She asked. I wondered why she always asked the wrong questions.
"Well, I'm missing an arm so... I'm good." I smiled at her.
"You slept for three days straight," She said. I looked at my growing hand. My arm had grown to an extent, it made me wonder how much longer it would take my entire hand to grow.
"You know, we can prioritize energy from another part of our body to heal a specific point faster," She said.
"Can you teach me how to do that?" I asked.
"You'll learn it with time," She said.
"Here, drink this." She produced a small flask—i hadn't seen her walk in with—and u quickly emptied it. I felt the spread of warmth through my body and the small boost of strength as most of the strength I had was being drained away in repairing my broken arm.
Silence fell between us. The kind of knowing dreadful silence which we both wallowed in, knowing that we were both thinking about the same thing.
"I guess we are not the only mythical creatures after all," She said. And I wondered why she took it so causally, like they were a common thing to come by.
This was another powerful specie, sentient wolves that have the extreme ability to destroy vampires. The higher court must have been sending adjudicators to find out more about them. I wondered why they were so aggressive, and if what I had read in that library were true, then these creatures—these Lobos could be humans after all.
We both glanced at each other.
"Do the others know?" I asked her, "about my arm that is?"
"Yes, Leya couldn't stop crying and Jereum was cursing revenge all over the place—"
"Jereum!?" I asked, shocked.
"Yes," She said, "he may not really be fund of you but he doesn't want you dead."
"Oh..."
The room fell silent again but this time I had a question in mind, one that she had narrowly escaped the last time.
"Why didn't you tell me he was your cousin earlier?" I asked, watching her carefully for her reaction.
"Oh." She looked down, a mixture of guilt and shame taking over her expression.
"I...err...I didn't want you dislike me because I was related to him... I'm sorry, I acted selfish I should have told you," She said, sounding deeply sincere.
"Thank you for your honesty," I said.
"Don't hold it against me, please," She pleaded slowly.
"I forgave you a long time ago," I said. She glanced nervously at me.
"The higher court demanded to see you once your wake up," She said, "they too are curious about those—things."
The higher court would do all they can to get information on another powerful creature, especially one that is legend to be a great threat to the vampire as a whole.
"Is Jhan at home?" I asked.
"Yes."
And I was surprised that the general was finally at home for once.
"Jhan said we may be relocating, it is just temporary, but until th higher court can decide that those wolves won't come looking for us to finish off what they started," She said, and I felt goosebumps rise on the back of my neck at the thought of those wolves crashing into out house and attacking us by surprise.
"To where?' I asked, but someone had just slipped in through the opened door, Jereum. He lolled his back against the wall. We locked eyes, and for the first time I didn't see hate or disgust, rather, I saw pity.
"Hey," He said.
"Hey," I said back.
"How's the arm," He asked.
"A ‘okay," I said.
"Not even a scratch on it, eh?" He asked, sarcastically.
'I'll love to add more scratches to your face.' I thought. But the wounds on his face were almost all gone, with one faint scar running across his left eye making him look like an ancient war lord.
His next words surprised me.
"Thank you Kaldar," He said. I just looked at him blankly.
"Tia told me everything—"
"Everything?"
"Yes, everything—I know you kissed her."
"Oh." I felt a rush of shame wash over me, sticking to my skin.
"You ran with her, when the beasts first appeared" He said, "I never really liked you but looking out for Tia's life like that is more than I could have asked for."
I nodded stiffly. He nodded back, glanced at Tia, and left the room without a sound. It was like as if muted movement was part of the vampire premium package.
There was silence in the room again. I still felt weak and tired, and my muscles felt like a load. I needed to rest for longer.
"You should lie down, at least till you forearm starts to regrow," She said.
"Thank you Tia." And I leaned back and lay down, closed my eyes and felt Tia's lips press against my forehead.