The Scarlet Luna

[C23]Lycanthrope

Lamia took me out of the rotton castle and into the familiar streets of her village just below. I recognized the town square as it was built up for what seemed like a night's festival. On the way, she warned me again what she would do if I dared to escape. Of course I knew there wasn't a way to get away from her in one piece. The sun was already setting. I could smell the same scents from the first time I been here. Except I was able to walk comfortably now that I've known a worst scent, the castle's rot. Even Lamia's foul breath couldn't compare to the smell of dying wood. Most werewolves refused to even keep hard wood floors in their homes. Because aging wood was hard to get out of our nostriles once we smelled it.

'I couldn't get word out to the pack, I'm sorry. I've failed you,' Arwen's returning thoughts echoed my mind. I smelled her around me then. She's back! I felt relief rush over me.
'I'm just glad to know you're here,' I told her. 'I was starting to worry.'
'You should. If we don't return to the pack... You thought being away at college was a trying period for us. Well, we know now we belong with Alpha Brendon... I don't think I can help us when your rogue nature starts to come out of you. We have to return by the full moon.'

I looked up at the sky. The moon was in it's waxing phase. SO soon? I don't have much time. The moon was just an inch away from being considered full.

'This isn't good, Arwen,' I thought.
'If you don't return by the full moon for the first run with the pack we will be considered rogues. The moon goddess will curse us. Despite our position and favortism in her eyes. She's a fair giver. I told you this before how important it was for us to stay in pack territory after returning from college. College was just a grace period. Luna, we will be the downfall to the pack if we don't figure out a way to return to Brendon.'
'I know, I know.'

I felt my heart skipping in beat. Fear was entering my very core. But my eyes tore from the sky as I bumped into Lamia's back. I didn't notice but she had stopped walking. We were already wearing our masks. Everyone around us were in masks and dressed up. The streets were a bit different than what I remembered.
Now they were littered with welcome signs into luxury shops. But this wasn't coffee shops. They were branded names with words I couldn't read on them. It was a different language. But I could guess what some of it reffered to as we passed the shops I peered through the windows. Lamia had been taking me towards the town square but stopped at one.

'Lycanthrope' was hanging on a sign over the door. The shop was rather big. The name made the hair on my arms stand up. From the looks of the crowd I spotted in the building it was one of the more popular shops. Lamia didn't go inside. Instead she lead me down the alley beside it to a staircase leading towards the basement floor.

"What is this place?" I asked her freely. I grabbed her hand to stop her from going further. "What is it?" I recognized the sign as a term in the books back home. She yanked her arm back.
"Just watch," she warned me.

I followed her into the basement floor. The bouncers at the entrance let us in without a second glance. Inside was chaos. I heard people screaming money sums. Yen, Dollars, Euros... There was a cage arena. I  felt my gut swell up. What are we about to watch? I followed Lamia towards the cage. The wall was floor to ceiling. It was square and took up a good size of the open floor planned basement. There wasn't much else to go. Besides an 'off limits' hall. "What are we doing here?" I asked her nervously. I already knew what was coming, now. Lamia was given a stool by another gentleman. There wasn't a whole lot of them but she seemed important enough- even behind a mask to get first dibs on anyone she walked up to.

The respect these masked beings held for her... was strange.

The scent underneath the deathly stench of these vampires made me connect everything together. From the sign over the upstairs door to the cage sitting right in front of me. This wasn't going to be very pleasent to watch. I had to bite my tongue to hold in a growl. I hate Lamia. I hate these vampires. I hate how powerless I feel. I'm an alpha female. I shouldn't be so afraid of these creatures. That's it. I have to try to escape.