30 Nights

28

EDRIC

"Are you out of your mind?" I take a step closer to Claudius and I see the flicker in his eyes, he takes a step back. Sam moves to my side.

"Do you want her to die? Why not just say?" I spit on the ground next to him, I can feel my whole body tensing, the waves of anger building up and this time I don't care, I'm going to let it explode in his face.

"Edric," says Sam in a whisper. "Keep your head, let's focus on Lily," he says.

"Wise words, you should listen to them," says Claudius but his body posture has changed, he takes another step back. And I recognise the look, prey looking at a predator. The look every man I've defeated in battle has. I raise my fist high and then bending forward, I slam it down into the ground. The earth splits in a long straight line ahead of us.

"You've let loose a pack of wolves on my land. It took me decades to wipe out every wolf from here and I hunted down and took every single one out with my bare hands. And now you've sent them to hunt her down."

"Remember who I am. I am a Samil, don't start a war you can't win." More of his guard start to slink out of the castle and make their way towards him.

"Right now, I am looking at one fight, Claudius. You are the only Samil standing in front of me. The famous untouchable Samil. I've never lost a fight, Claudius. Do you realise that?" 

I take another step towards him. "Look me in the eye and tell me you can beat me. Who's more angry, Claudius? I'm going to rip you from limb to limb," and with that, I leap into the air and slam my first down into him. 

He staggers back, not expecting such a blunt direct hit. He looks stunned for a moment, but I don't give him the chance to think about when the last time was that someone hit him like that. I pounce again and again. I kick, I punch and then he starts to come to his senses. His centuries of training coming into play, moving, blocking and defending. But he is stunned and dazed. I can sense it, and I want blood. And as much as he can block me, he can't get a direct hit in.

His guards are not protecting him and in the background, I can hear Sam shouting, and I think our guards are fighting his.

"We are on the same side," Claudius stutters but I can hear the wolves howling and it makes something inside of me snap.

"Fight," I scream and I lose what little control I have left. If I had not already stunned him then I might have been in trouble. I'm not blocking or guarding against counter-attacks, and I don't care. I feel the strength in my body and I launch everything I have against him. Punching, kicking and when I get him onto the ground, I hold him down and I don't hesitate, I sink my fangs down into his neck and I rip the flesh from his neck. I don't suck or bite, I rip his neck apart yet still he lives.

I hear Sam screaming at me and I feel his arms, many arms pulling me away.

"Edric, what have you done, my God," and he shouts in my face until slowly the mist clears from my eyes. The night sky comes back into focus and I realise at least ten of the guard are holding me back.

"Do you realise what you have done?" Sam gapes at me. I look down at what is left of Claudius' body on the ground.

"Have you killed his guard?" I say, more calmly than I feel.

"They are all dead. There were too many of us for them," Sam replied.

"Cut his head off, cut his limbs off. Burn them until there is nothing left," I growl before turning and walking towards the forest.

"Where are you going? What are you doing?" Sam shouts at me.

"I'm going for Lily and I'm going to rip apart those wolves."

The wolves have been everywhere but I have not lost the ability to track them their trail, their dirty stench polluting every aspect of my lands. I can see they've have split up and gone in different directions, tracking and hunting down their prey. These are no ordinary wolves. These are wolves trained by the Samil, trained to kill vampires.

No wolves ever lose their thirst for human blood, and they like the taste of fear the best. They can taste it in the dark, smell it and hunt it down. Four humans with pounding hearts and full of fear will be an irresistible elixir. I just hope I haven't left things too long.

I track and hunt the various smells and then I go stiffen and go cold. Blood, fresh human blood, I can smell it. I speed up as fast as I can now, focused on the scent. I don't think it's Lily's but it is blood. If the wolves have got one of them already... and this was the direction I told Lily to go in, towards the sea.

I carry on and ahead I see a body slumped on the ground. It is not Lily, that's all I can think of, her skin is too dark and it takes me a few moments to realise that it is Maria.

I stop by the body and I see the wolf bites in her. There will be time to take care of that later, first I have to find Lily.

Behind me, I hear a low growl and I turn around, a wolf is a few metres in front of me. Snarling, hunched down low and making its way towards me. Instinctively I growl, it's one wolf and I have not the slightest bit of fear.

I hear another growl and another. I look around and I see the full pack closing in on me. There are six of them, bred to be extra big, extra vicious and to love the taste of vampire. Still, I don't care, I've had worse odds. No-one has ever beaten a Samil before.

I crouch down, assessing which one I will take out first. They are getting into position around me, waiting for me to make the first move. I see the smallest wolf stepping forward, they've even decided to let the smallest one on me first. The sacrificial lamb to help the pack survive.

And then I hear something that truly does shock me and shake me out of my rage. I hear Lily's voice.

"Stop Edric," she says. I see her walking towards me, coming up behind the wolves and go to shout at her but she raises a finger to her lips.

"It's ok," she says and walks up right next to one of the wolves and pats its head like it is a pet dog. She says something I don't understand, and every one of the wolves relaxes and sits down.