Elder Vampires. The original Vampires. Shit! 

“They’re WHAT?! How the hell did you know that?” I said, my breath catching in my throat as we stumbled forward. 

“How the hell did i know what?” Jake asked beside me, he thought I was talking to him.

“Not you... the crazy cat in my head.” I replied. “Answer me.” 

We have memories, you fool. Long term memories that can be passed through generations. It’s not something I can explain. 

“They’re elder Vampires. Apparently, they can walk under the sun.” I told Jake what I just knew. 

“I’ve read about them somewhere... I think.” 

“We have to cross the stream. Come on.” I pulled him into the water as we sloshed our way through. 

“You know, there might be a brigde up ahead. Or some hopping stones.” 

I ignored him. We were already knee deep in water  and still going deeper but the stream was not so wide. 

“Hurry up!” I said, holding my bag above my head. 

“You know... now that I think of it, it might not have been a Vampire.” 

“What?!”

We both turned to see an antelope standing near the river bank and chewing on a leaf while looking at us. 

“So you just put us through a moment of panic for nothing?” I yelled.

He drew back in fear. “J-jason your e-eyes...” 

I looked down at my reflection in the water and saw my eyes had changed to a bright green colour. 

Shit, what are you doing? I screamed in my mind while shutting my eyes. 

Having fun. Let’s scare the kid a little. The voice rang in my head. 

STOP! Please. 

I opened my eyes and saw it had turned back to normal. 

“How’s it now?” I asked Jake.

“Normal.” He replied, heaving a big sigh of relief. 

“Come on. We’re almost home.” I told him as i led the way, waddling in the knee deep water. 

He followed me closer behind. We crossed over and started walking. I was shivering. The weather was chilly, I just came out from an almost ice cold water and my trousers were soaked. 

“Hey come here.” Jake said. He pulled me into a tall shrub by the corner. 

“What the – “ 

“Shhhhhh" He used his palm to cover my mouth. 

I thought my cousin was running mad until I saw why he acted like that. Three men, I recognized from the pack were coming closer. 

We went around and back tracked through a longer route. As we neared the pack territory  we saw another group. 

Everybody was on the lookout for us. 

“Oh shit!” I muttered. 

“I have a plan.” Jake said beside me. 

“For the first time... tell me.” 

He pulled off his shirt and told me to do same. He collected the both and ran in an opposite direction. After running about 100 yards, he dropped the shirts and made sure to make some noise. 

From where I hid, I saw the closest group look up and to the direction of the sound. They sniffed the air and followed the scent passed me and towards where Jake was. The air around Jake seemed to swirl and contort like the air was liquifying and someone was stirring it. But it must have been my imagination because he fave me the thumbs up sign and sneaked his way over to me and pushed me forward. I snuck out of the bushes and made a beeline into the territory. 

AFTER THE WEREWOLVES had picked the shirts left by Jake and confirmed the scent to be that of the Alpha’s son, they muttered something about showing this to the Alpha and his Second in command. He walked away. 

The air compressed and swirled and the watchers materialised from thin air. 

They had been there, watching the two boys play a trick on the wolves and sneak into the pack. 

Those two boys were their primary suspects because they were hiding something. Something even the Alpha didn’t know. They needed to be questioned and immediately, but not when they are under the protective wings of their fathers. 

“HERE, PUT THIS on.” Jake said, thrusting a shirt and my arms. We had no problem going ninja mode and coming into his room with nobody seeing us. I held the shirt in front of me, we were almost the same size so I pulled the shirt over my head. 

“What do we do with these?” I asked, reaching into my bag and bringing out the heart and flower.

“Your Dad is less stricter than mine. We’ll hide them in your house. Tomorrow, we’ll sneak them to school.” 

“Agreed. Remember, you did all the damage.” I reminded him. 

“Yes. Now let’s head over to my house before –“ I opened the door to his room and was about to step out but was faced with the massive chest of the alpha. 

“Before?” His voice resonated in the hallway.

I gulped and swallowed what I wanted to say. 

“Before we come and tell you everything that happened.” Jake piped from behind me. 

I involuntarily shifted the bag a bit behind me, drawing the Alpha’s eyes to it.

“What’s in there?” He asked. 

It is impossible to lie to the Alpha when he asked a direct question. 

“The flower we went to cut." I said. I didn’t say anything about the Vampire’s heart it wasn’t lying directly. 

He looked at me to see any signs of lies. He didn’t see anyone. So he grunted and ordered the both of us downstairs, then he turned and went. 

I turned to look at Jake. 

“Just relax." He whispered. 

“I’m trying.” I whispered back. I tossed the heart of the Vampire under his bed and followed him outside and down the stairs. 

We got down, the court downstairs was almost filled. The Alpha. His wife, who was also my aunt. My Dad, who was the second in command. My mum, who was the Alpha’s sister. Gibson Smith, who was the Head of the Pack Security. Henry Wilson, who was the oldest wolf in the pack. 

They all looked at me and Jake. They watched us come downstairs. Their stares were unnerving me but Jake seemed pretty confident. He walked with his head held high and a smug smile on his lips. 

He was a pure blooded Alpha. 

We stood in front of the Alpha and bowed our heads.

“Tell us what happened out there.” 

“Nothing much Dad. We went out to cut a flower. The morteaux flower. We were attacked by Vampires. Nasty things, they were I tell you. Jake took care of one, I killed the others. One ran away.” 

“Is that all?” The Alpha asked.

“Pretty much.” Jake said nonchalantly. 

“Answer me directly, Boy!” 

“Yes Dad. That was what happened.” 

“You didn’t come across any other creature?” The Alpha asked. 

My heart jumped to my throat. 

“No we didn’t.” Jake answered. 

“Jason, is he telling the truth?” The Alpha and everybody in the room turned to look at me. 

“Y-yes sir. I killed one with my blade.” 

My Dad tossed the knife at me. I nodded. 

“If you’re sure you’re okay and don’t need the doctor, you’re dismissed. Jake, to your room.” 

We filed out. Mum rushed to envelope me in her arms. She searched my face and arms and neck for any injury. 

“Mum, I’m fine. I’m serious.” 

We walked home. Dad kept looking at me. 

I sighed and turned to him. “Okay, I lied." 

A slight smiled tugged at his lips. “You shifted, didn’t you?”

“I couldn’t control it. It just happened.” 

When he raised his eyebrow, I knew he didn’t believe me. 

“Seriously Dad, we were outnumbered. We were going to die. I shifted, partly.”

“Thank your stars for not shifting full.” We had gotten to the door of our house. “Because now, people want your blood but they can't figure out who you are "