Forever Mine

An agonizing scream pieced the silent air, reverberating off the four walled bedroom waking Caden up from his fitful sleep. He sat up abruptly, sweat running down his face from his recently horrifying nightmare as he tried to zone his enhanced hearing onto the noise; but all was quiet. Letting out a soft groan and resting his head back onto the pillow he summed it all up to the bad effects of his dream, although his groan wasn’t the only one to reach his ears. Still lying down on the pillow to try and solve his throbbing headache, Caden listened into the smaller sounds outside the house and his ears were met with the sounds of agonizing groans, snarling and slashing teeth. A lone battle howl in the distance, which sounded a lot like his uncle Sam, which told Caden enough about what was happening around him.

Leaping out of bed, he raced towards the window but before he was able to reach it another excruciating scream sounded throughout the house; this time he knew who it was. Caden’s first instinct was to protect his King and Queen, fighting alongside his father and the Imperial Pack, but something was nagging at him to protect the innocent and pure girl that the scream was coming from. Following the urge, he silently walked towards the door edging it open. A loud creak came from the door halfway into him opening it and he cursed inwardly at the stupidity of not realising this, since it was his own room. Leaving it at the position it was in, not game enough to open it any further, Caden peaked outside into the large and lavish hallway.

The hallway was empty and dark with a few candles lit, guiding his way as he crept down the long hallway his small bare feet barely making a sound on the soft, expensive carpet underneath him. Once he reached the stairs he peered down into the grand entrance below expecting to find a wild battle taking place but there was nothing other than a few shattered valuables and misplaced pieces of furniture chucked around his usually perfectly neat home. The frozen coal black stone stairs met his already cold feet with a surprise and a frenzy of goose bumps erupted up his legs.

Caden was silent as he cascaded down the once beautifully lit up stairs. His footsteps were cautious once his feet hit the hard, white tiled floor of the house as he headed towards the door. Tentatively reaching out his arm, his hand enclosed around the cool stainless steel door handle sending a shiver throughout his entire body. With a deep breath he wrenched the door open. His face was met with a blast of cold air and the scene before him causing him to intake a sharp breath of horror.

The moon’s silver reflection bounced off flashing white canines and into Caden’s eyes. Loud sounds of snarling and howling were coming from directly in front of him, large shifters crashed throughout the undergrowth of the forest. Gusts of wind were picking up in the distance as a storm was brewing and coming in from the South. What caught Caden’s attention was the bodies that lay in pools of blood, while others were piled on top of each other, slowly building into mountains of the dead.

Yet another gut-wrenching scream was let loose while Caden was lost in the mass of this war. The nagging thought in the back of his mind returned and he tore his gaze away from the devastation happening just outside his home. Another thing he couldn’t control. The lingering sound of the scream was leading him closer and closer to the girl’s sunroom, where his mother and sister were when he last saw them before he went to bed that evening. Panic started to rise in him as his body tensed and his eyes flashed a dark green, almost changing into his coal colour.

Managing to still keep quiet he edged closer towards the door of the sunroom, voices were starting to emerge from the quietness that blanketed the house. Whimpers of pain were evidently audible over the sounds of the voices that Caden was hearing. While he was trying to listen in to the voices to hear what they were saying a loud triumphant howl met his ears, indistinguishably his father. The battle had been won on the outside.

“Okay Austin that’s enough, we’ve had our fun. Now let’s just kill them and get out of here before we get caught.” A muffled response came from the shadowed figure standing beside him as he pulled something out of his pocket and something silver reflected in the moon’s light causing Caden’s senses to jump into overdrive.

Growling lowly he jumped out from his position, causing the shadowed figured to spin around in surprise. He instantly spotted his mother and sister curled up into little balls in the corner of the room where the shadows hit the room the most. Caden took a large whiff and the pungent metallic smell of blood ran up his nose. He knew it was coming from his girls. Dropping into a defensive crouch he readied himself for what was about to come. The perpetrator stepped out into the light and Caden inhaled a sharp breath of shock.

Vampires.

“Surprised little shifter. Didn’t think you’d see us did you?” Caden stood his ground and let out another low growl.

“You’ll stay away from them if you know better, filthy bloodsucker.”

“Well I’m glad to know your pack taught you something. But, they probably didn’t teach you enough.”

In a speed, faster than light itself, the blade that had been in the vampire’s hand was lodged in Lily’s heart. The light in her eyes flickered and went out, sagging against the wall she’d been leaning against. Something inside Caden broke watching his sister die and also hearing the sound of his mother’s agonising wails echoing throughout the room.

Blinding rage took over Caden’s body as he started to shift. Bones cracked and popped in places throughout his body. His nose elongated into a snout as his legs twisted into shape, his arms extending and he was forced to drop onto all fours. Caden’s ears grew pointed and swivelled around bringing in every single noise known to man into his eardrums, along with jet black fur that sprouted from the pores in his skin. Claws emerged from his fingers and toes along with a tail from behind and before both vampires knew it, he was on them in full force. He completely missed the first but pushed back on his hind legs and lunged for the second, tearing the vampire’s companions head off with his sharp canines within mere seconds of shifting.

“NO, ARTHUR!”

Caden was sure his victory shone in his eyes as he turned around to face the vampire who must go by the name of Austin. Austin was livid and was already pulling out another metallic silver knife, but this time Caden was ready, rearing on his hind legs and lifting his front paws up, he gave Austin a powerful shove, grazing him with his claws just as the knife flew out of the vampire’s hand. Austin slammed into the wall, knocking the breath out of his lungs and fell to the floor dazed for a few moments. Caden took those few seconds to find where the knife had landed.

Eyes falling on his mother his heart plummeted, there lodged in her stomach was the large silver knife. His victory was short lived as his mind spun, realising what was happening; it was his fault Lily was dead and soon his mother was to be as well. Filled with an intense fury he turned around to bury the killer six feet underground but found nothing when he looked over to where Austin last was.

The vampire was already halfway out the window when Caden finally spotted him. He got ready to lunge towards the abomination but a bored and emotionless look crossed Austin’s face before he spoke, “Not today Caden. But don’t worry, I will be back for blood and it will belong to more of the people you love.”

With those last words left ringing in the air, he jumped out the window into the darkness of the night and was gone from sight. The moon had lost its shine and was no longer smiling down upon the world. Caden had yet to ask his father why this was, he had a faint idea and it usually meant something had happened to the royal family; whether they were deceased or kidnapped, but he wasn’t going to assume the worst. A heavy weight in Caden’s chest reminded him of the dead body of his sister behind him and the slowly dying form of his mother popped into his head. Whirling around he raced across the room to her side, shifting back into his human form along the way. When he reached her he applied pressure to the wound and pushed a few strands of hair back out of her face.

“Mother, you are not allowed to leave me! Do you understand?!”

No response came from her body but a slow breathing rate told Caden she was still alive even if she was just barely holding on.

“EVELYN!”

Her blue eyes fluttered opened wide and cautiously scanned the scene, her breathing was becoming rapidly fast and even Caden knew from the amount of blood seeping onto his hands that she was losing more blood then she was meant to be.

Evelyn’s eyes landed on her son’s face and Caden sucked in a deep breath. He knew that look. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently. “It looks like it’s my time to go sweetheart.” Caden shook his head defiantly, “No, not yet. I can’t lose both you and Lily. It’s my fault, I couldn’t protect you.”

Evelyn gave him a sharp look and smacked Caden across the head causing her intense pain and possibly more blood loss but he needed it. “Ow, what was that for?”

“I don’t want you to ever think this was your fault Caden. I watched you fight bravely tonight and I will be letting your father know.”

“What if he leaves me too?”

“I would hope your father is stronger than that Caden and it’s not his time to go. He has to guide you to developing into the man I know you are yet...”

Caden watched in fear as his mother unceremoniously coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood.

“I love you Caden, more then you will ever know.” With a large heaving sigh, her light blue eyes flickered out and she became still just like Lily had. A large sob came out of Caden’s mouth before he weeped over the loss of half his family. Holding his head in his hands, Caden’s body trembled and quivered with the amount of emotions tumbling through him.

A loud and torturous howl was heard from outside and Caden knew it was his father feeling the pain of his mate’s death. Caden didn’t even know to the full extent of what had happened, but all he knew, was that he had every intent on getting his revenge.