Prologue

Prologue

"Keep running, Kyia! It's right behind us!" Remie yelled through their mind link.

Kyia pushed her big brown paws faster. They still had another ten miles to run before they reached their pack's border. Remie and Kyia had been on their way back from their mini vacation, after visiting her original pack to see her family when they had caught the scent of a vampire. As the wind shifted, it's stench of death and decay grew stronger as it ran faster, drawing closer to them. The fur at the nape of her neck prickled as she felt cold, dead fingers brush the tips of each hair. She pushed her paws harder into the undergrowth of the forest, though it did little good in aiding her escape from it's grasp.

The vampire locked it's claws around her tail and she howled in pain as it nearly ripped her tail off, jerking her to an abrupt stop. She was then thrown into the trunk of a large tree and collapsed under the pain of four broken ribs, one of which had punctured her lung. She heard a loud snarling growl and hissing coming from close by. Opening her eyes, she immediately wished she had kept them closed. Her mate, her beloved Remie, stared at her as the male undead plunged his taloned fingers into his chest as Remie jumped towards the creature, trying to claw at the vampire's throat, missing.

"I love you, Kyia. I'm so sorry." His voice echoed in her mind before the light left his eyes, and tears rolled down Kyia's muzzle.

"Now, to deal with you. This is going to be fun." The vampire turned towards her and smiled as he dropped Remie's heart in the leaves and his fangs elongated.

He stepped closer to her and knelt down to look her in the eyes. She whimpered at the thought that she and her mother had said their final 'good-bye' to each other, and Kyia being the only daughter of a fierce bloodline, would perish at the hands of a vampire. He rolled her over as blood began to bubble out of her muzzle and soaked her face laying on the leaves under her. She heard a pop and felt a snap then the pain hit her as he pulled the one rib out of her lung and reset the rest. Darkness invaded her vision and her body shifted back into her human form before she was overtaken by unconsciousness.

Even though her mind was in the dark, her body was very much aware of what the blood sucking parasite was doing to her. She wanted to kill herself, to be with her mate and to rid herself of the disgusting creature that was on top of her paralyzed body. She would not return to her pack, she could not! Her family would be forever shamed to know that a vampire, a repulsive blood sucker of the night, had raped her and that her mate was not strong enough to save her from this fate. She knew what she was going to do as soon as she was healed enough to move. She was going to end this agony of morning and ridicule before it began. She was going to find the cliffs she had seen only once and throw herself off. Only when she was finally able to move, it was too late.