had to take the sentry out while my brothers, still in wolf form, took the base. This time, however, I knew it wouldn’t be so easy. Vampires are never easy. Then again, taking out the cold-blooded freaks would be even harder to do for a ‘normal’ person. Normal people… Do they even really exist?
The entire reason my unit was made was to take out those leeches. In some ways, I could be grateful to the men who made it possible, but for my boys and I, something about the whole thing was just…unsettling. Night after night we’d stalk the fallen remains of battlegrounds long after the winners and losers were decided. Do they think we’re cowards? I wondered, eyeing a wolf’s tail and then another on my opposite side. We’re wolves, not vultures.
I growled, feeling my wolf stirring and clawing at my heart. Just a few feet ahead, I could see a dim light coming out from a short structure in the distance. As we neared the clearing, I slowed down and then stopped completely. I held a hand up to tell the others to stop and all at once, the air was still. Very faintly, I could hear my pack’s breaths. The slow, controlled breaths we had to do in order to keep the vampires off our tracks.
Where are you…? I wondered as I scoped out the base with my night vision binoculars, looking for a trace of movement. Perched atop a tower overseeing the whole base, I could make out subtle movements. I raised my rifle and took aim, but as I slid my finger onto the trigger and peculiar scent graced my nose. After giving my head a firm shake, nearly knocking my helmet off, I readjusted my hold on the weapon only for it to falter again. Out of frustration, I growled and tried to pin the scent to a memory. The sweet, Earthy scent reminded me of something, but I couldn’t remember what.
My ear twitched on upon reflex as someone shifted back into human form and walked up behind me. I could tell it was Jack based on his heavy, musky scent now covering the old scent’s. Growing more frustrated, I snarled at him, but he put one of his heavy hands on my shoulder.
“Hey, what’s the hold up?” he asked in a whisper right into my ear.
I tapped his hand twice, signaling him to let go. As his hand slipped off, I replied, “There’s something weird about that guy up there. He doesn’t smell like a normal vampire.”
Jack coughed up a dry laugh. “So? Take him out.”
A part of me wanted to reach back there and punch Jack right in the shoulder. No matter what we did, he always had to be so short sighted. No, there has to be more to it than that. “I want to investigate,” I stated, taking a step forward. I turned around as the other wolves walked up beside Jack. “I’m going up there to check it out for myself. I’ll give a signal when it’s safe to go in, all right? If you don’t see the signal for a while, well then…”
Jack crossed his arms, glaring at me. “I hope your hunch is right, Ross.”
I smirked and said, “Hasn’t steered me wrong yet.”
The soldier wearing only a few weapon belts and a large backpack nodded to me and the wolves around him scattered into various sections of the forest—surrounding the base. I took a deep breath and turned to the structure. Just the size of it made my heart skip a beat, but I was determined to see why I couldn’t pull the trigger.
In the back of my mind, I didn’t truly know whether this was the right choice or not, but as I ascended the tower, I felt surer in my decision. It was easy to convince the others that I was confident, but much harder to convince myself. I climbed up the tall, thinly built structure with one hand since the other was holding my rifle, but eventually I made it to the top.
Standing before me, back facing me was a soldier unlike any other. The scent that rolled off of them was sweet—almost like perfume and they weren’t the size of a regular soldier at all. They were big—bigger than I thought their uniform could fit them, and yet, I found
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