On her way home and overly frustrated, Tatiana wondered what she could do to make Alistair leave her be.
His adamance was still existent, and that alone was enough to make her wish the world would swallow her whole because she wasn't ready to share a town with the crazy vampire. Alistair was back, and there was nothing good about that.
Tatiana knew she would face more problems because of the vampire who was obsessed with her. It wouldn't be easy shaking him off, especially since he had the tendency to do anything to get her back.
“Aaarghhhh,” Tatiana quietly screamed.
She didn't want to draw any attention to her.
She already had enough of that with the bastard Alistair showing up. While he had failed to get her back over the past years, he never gave up. He always had something to try out, some people to rile up, and communities to let out his anger on.
She knew it was just a matter of time before the consequences would catch up to her and she kept reminding herself that she would fall for his tricks again, but was there some truth to her decision?
Her train of hopeless thoughts was interrupted by the sound of gunshots just as she was nearing home. Given that this highway was mostly lonely, it was hard to find people just walking around, let alone gunshots, but it already happened.
Tatiana was scared. Her first instinct was to go back and find Alistair, but the man was an asshole who would give her ultimatums. She wasn't sure the gunshots were meant as a warning to her, but one thing was certain, they were meant to warn someone.
Maybe the wolves had already caught on her vampire scent, considering she had been with Alistair for a while in the alley. Or perhaps Alistair had sounded the shots as a warning to Tatiana and a reminder of what he was capable of in case she was still adamant about her wolf boy romance.
Tatiana knew Alistair never liked sharing his valuables, and no amount of conviction could make him understand that Tatiana was never his. She was angry and didn’t know precisely what she was angry at, but somewhere in her anger, she knew she had to get rid of Alistair one way or another.
The man was getting too involved in her life.
But what if this wasn't Alistair's doing? Well, she would have to find out for herself. Maybe she didn't have anything more to lose, or perhaps it was just her instinct to rush out and help people who needed her.
Whatever it was, it got her out of the place she had hidden carefully and rushed to the scene of the shooting. There were men armed with guns pointed at three young boys who were on the floor, battered and bruised. A van was parked a distance away and Tatiana guessed that there were more people inside the vehicle.
“What do you think you are doing?” Tatiana shouted as she stood before the young boys. It didn't take her a while before she realized they were werewolves.
Her momentary shout startled the shooters, who hadn’t expected anyone at the scene. They were just humans, Tatiana quickly deduced, most likely hunters if they could discern a werewolf from an ordinary human while they were in their human forms.
“Who is she?” one shooter asked his friend, who just shrugged, clearly not knowing who or what they were dealing with.
Tatiana, however, wasn't here for the small talk. It seemed like the hunters weren’t too.
“Shoot her! We don't have time to see who she is or even find out. The wolves need to die,” the second hunter said as Tatiana just watched them angrily.
“Are you mad?” yelled the first hunter. “We can’t harm civilians! If the society was to find out—”
Bloodlust surged into the eyes of the second hunter. “And how will they ever find out if she’s dead and buried before the clean up gets here?”
They weren't scared of her. They were here on a mission, and whether she would take the bullets or not, their instructions had been clear, empty their guns on any and every wolf they met because the wolves were dangerous.
Looking at the young wolves, she knew they wouldn't survive if they were shot at again. Taking the window of opportunity since the hunters were distracted, she rushed the first two to the nearest space that seemed safe and went back for the third and last young wolf.
Tatiana hated cowards, and she hated people who used their power on the weak. She despised what the hunters were doing, and that too from the safety of their SUV. If they wanted a fair fight and were sure they were strong, they should have come out of their van and faced the wolves.
They would not have stayed in there like idiots, and that pissed her off. They were just kids, way too harmless for the overgrown hunters.
For now, she had to protect the young wolves who were injured.
“I would like to see you try,” she drawled, a faint smile dancing on her lips.
The men, who had noticed that this supposed ‘civilian’ wasn’t as cowardly as she should be in the face of firearms, finally realized something was amiss. One of them squinted at her before his eyes widened in shock. He backed away, nudging his partner.
“Dude,” he said, tugging at his friend’s sleeve. “She… That… That woman is a vampire!”
“Oh?” Tatiana mused. “What gave it away?”
This time, she made sure that her fangs were in clear view as she beamed at the men. She watched, satisfied, as their faces morphed into one of horror.
Everyone knew the night children were dangerous.
They knew that they wouldn't be easy to kill, especially the old ones, and since there was no knowing who was a vampire or even how old they were, the older hunters had taken it upon themselves to deal with the vampires on their own.
These hunters were probably inexperienced and only dealt exclusively with werewolves, much simpler prey.
“Get in the van!” Quickly, the men all filed into the van and fled for their lives, speeding down the long street with a screech of their tires. As quickly as they came, they were gone, leaving Tatiana alone, standing.
She dusted off the dirt from her clothes, clicking her tongue in annoyance under her breath. Glancing down, she helped the last boy to his feet. Thankfully, he hadn’t been too injured.
He cowered away from her hand as she reached down, but Tatiana simply patiently waited for him to come closer. Slowly, hesitantly, he took hold of her outreached hand.
Tatiana needed to tend to them because if she didn't, they would probably die. They were just at the start of their lives; it seemed cruel to cut it short so soon. Silently, she took the third wolf to where she had dragged the others.
They were clearly scared and skeptical of her, but she had just saved them, so a benefit of the doubt was something they could accord her. After all, she had also just exposed her own identity to save their hides.
“Come along,” she ushered, helping the most injured ones to stand. ”My house is on your way home; let me treat your injuries.”