The Moon's Light

Chapter One

I fingered the trigger, contemplating. Not my own death, of course, but more death in general. It tended to surround me on a day to day basis. I shifted a little, tired of waiting for the deciding moment. Who would win or lose. Who would live or die.

I looked across the decrepit old house we were hiding in, catching the eye of a pair of my friends. Jake was the youngest of my little band of friends, barely past his eighteenth year. His brown hair needed a trim and his blue eyes were filled with more fear than usual. He was still getting used to the nightmare that was our lives.

Next to him, keeping an eye out for him, was Tucker. Tucker was tall, with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. As the eldest of us, he usually commanded a certain amount of influence in our group, but he was quite happy to let me be the leader. He had been my first friend when I was introduced to the fanged monsters that had only lived in stories before I was dumped into their larder.

Vampires.

I hadn't quite believed it when I had been told they existed. Now I knew for sure. And I knew that not a single one of them ever hesitated to take what they wanted from us humans. The lesser species, as far as they were concerned.

I frowned as the tip of my gun slowly raised towards a trio, talking before the quarry walked into the trap we had laid. Some young Mistress Vampire that the old Mistress who held me captive wanted dead. I wasn't sure why. Didn't care either.

I was, by no means, trained for a fight. This whole mission was suicide for the fourteen humans in the group. The ten Vampires charged with making sure the trap was set and sprung would probably be fine. Which is partly why I was contemplating.

I could get a bullet into all three. Nothing that would count, or make them permanently dead though. It would really only be a reminder that I hated them with every fiber of my being. And then I would be severely punished, if not killed, for the mutiny.

A hand closed around the muzzle of my gun and shoved it back down. The warning was unnecessary. I didn't want to die. There was only so much risk I would take to make a point. I didn't bother meeting the gaze of the human glaring at me as he kept my gun down. He was one of those insane ones that actually liked the abuse the Vampires put us through.

Instead, I was focused on the corner that Henri and Isaac had claimed. The two of them hated the Vampires like me and were the other third of our dissenting group. Henri was a red head that had arrived only a little before Jake. Isaac was blonde with blue eyes, and I worried greatly for him because I was fairly certain he was suicidal. The last of the group was still with the Mistress Vampire Sophia in France.

Juliette had been kept home, either because she was female or to be leverage on the rest of us. Sophia was a little old fashioned and believed women had no place fighting with anything other than their minds and wits. I didn't care as long as Juliette survived.

The Vampire keeping look out came hissing to his compatriots and we all got ready. The trap was about to be sprung.

Things seemed to blur when the young woman walked in the door. She had brought along some soldiers of her own. Skilled ones. I did my best to actually get a bullet where it was supposed to go, but I was quickly distracted by looking out for my friends. I had promised to protect them just as they had promised to protect me.

When all was said and done, eight of the ten Vampires we had come with were dead. We had some wounded humans, but all of us had made it. The realization of it was jarring. It was almost as if the young Mistress and her soldiers had been intending to keep us all alive.