THE VAMPIRES

THE VAMPIRE'S ALPHA QUEEN 

CHAPTER ONE 

Amelia stood at the end of Mooncrest's great hall, staring through the tall windows at the dark forest beyond. There was no singing of the birds or the chirping of insects, not even the distant howl of a wolf.

She noticed the silence, not the peaceful kind, the dangerous kind. The kind that makes the entire forest hold its breath as if the world were about to end. Something was wrong;  she could feel it beneath her skin. Her Wolf had been restless for hours, pacing inside her mind and refusing to settle.

" Where are the guards?" Amelia turned around and asked her Beta, Rowan.

Beta Rowan stood several feet in front of her. He was one of the few people in Mooncrest she completely trusted, and tonight even his usual calm expression was tense.

"I still think we're being watched," Amelia said, and turned around. Her gaze swept the dark forest one more time, but she couldn't sense anything more than the danger she felt earlier in the night.

Three days ago, Amelia had buried her father; the next day, she defeated four wolves who had challenged her for her father's throne; yesterday, the pack of Mooncrest had acknowledged her as their Alpha.

"They have been doubled, just as you ordered, Alpha "

Amelia looked back towards the forest; there should have been sounds- birds singing, insects chirping, or even the owls hooting in the distance.

"Make sure the East gate is well guarded"

"Yes, Alpha "

The Beta bowed and left the room.  Amelia reached into her mind and asked her wolf, "Can you sense what it is?"

Her wolf took a deep breath and replied, "No, but it's getting closer."

A feeling swept through her, a feeling she had not allowed herself to feel since she was born. Fear.

She refused to let it weigh her down; instead, she grabbed her silver sword from the table and walked upstairs.

Amelia couldn't sleep through the night; she tossed and turned as a deep sense of danger gnawed at her, and before sunrise she was in her wolf form, patrolling the forest's perimeter with her Beta and soldiers.

Amelia stopped suddenly, her ears lifted, and she sniffed the air; something was wrong, but she couldn't just place what it was.

Spread out." The soldiers obeyed and scattered in different directions, searching for what they didn't know.

"Alpha!"

Amelia turned toward the voice. "What is it?"

There's something here", one of the soldiers shouted. Amelia ran to the part of the forest the voice had come from.

On the ground lay a lifeless body; his lips were already purple, his face white, and he lay twisted like a person who had died a very painful death. It was one of Mooncrest's patrolling guards. On the side of his neck were two identical tooth marks.

Beta Rowan shouted from his own side of the forest, Alpha! There are more bodies"

By the time they reached the edge of the forest, Amelia had counted seven bodies. They were all wolves, soldiers of Mooncrest, all drained of their own blood, with two identical tooth marks on each side of their necks 

Amelia stared at the bodies, anger rolling through her like waves. These were her people, the people she swore to protect a few days ago, and someone had entered her territory and slaughtered them without making a sound.

Such a thing had never happened before; she had heard stories of creatures feeding on others' blood to survive, but she had never believed it. She thought it was all folktales, but she was staring at the evidence with her own eyes

Her mind already registered who the culprits were:  those pale, lifeless-looking creatures without a heart.

The Vampires.