Shattered Fangs (Outdated)

Chapter Twenty Three

Claire

We are running through the forest as fast as we can, in the direction that Jess is in. It's going to take a while even though we can run extremely fast. We have at least until midnight to get to her.

Eventually, we come across the stone wall and scale it, dropping to the ground on the other side, and then continuing once we are past the obstruction.

I should probably ask someone to carry me so I can search for any danger in our path with my sight, but it would slow us down considerably, so I decide against it. My intuition should be enough to warn us of anything big.

We keep running for hours, never stopping, never getting out of breath, never getting tired. The Knights are on high alert, ready to attack if there is any sign of an ambush.

After a few hours, we get to the cave where Jess was tortured by Seven Fingers, and David looks like he is going to blow. I put my hand on his arm, and try to help him stay in control of his emotions. "David, calm down. We'll get Seven Fingers later. Right now we need to concentrate on getting Jess."

"Yeah. Sorry. It's just hard on me, I can still see her blood on the table and the knives. I can almost feel the pain that was inflicted on her myself. Let's just go get her, so we can make sure that it won't happen again."

We start running again, this time with me in the lead. After a few minutes, we find the pile of fresh dirt, and I reach in to get Jess.

I open up the tunnel, but when I get to where she would be sleeping, she isn't there. She must have woken up early for some reason, and filled up the tunnel so she doesn't give away her position to seven fingers if he were to come back.

"Bad news, it looks like Jess woke up early. But I can find her. Just give me a few minutes."

Everyone is just standing around, and I go sit on a large, flat rock, reaching out with my mind, looking for Jess's mind frequency. I search the forest thoroughly and find her, in a cage. The hunters must have caught her again.

I look backward, trying to figure out how this happened.

I watch her get out of the burrow, and fill it with dirt, then start running off towards town. She must be going to see if mom is alright. I track her movement with my vision.

When she is just at the city limits, around twenty hunters jump on her. They gag her, place her in a cage, and put the cage in the back of a jeep, with a large tarp tied over it so people can't see what's inside.

I follow the jeep and figure out where they are bringing her to. An abandoned warehouse fifty miles out into the forest. I circle the building trying to identify what sorts of defenses they have in place.

There are men patroling with large guns, machetes, and spears. The entire base is surrounded in leechbane fields. The leechbane won't protect them from being found by a seer, but it'll sure make it a heck of a lot harder to be sure of where the guards are when we are rescuing her because the stinging smell will hide the scent of the humans.

I bring my mind back into my body and report my findings to Maria, David, and the Knights.

"I know where she is. She went back to town, but when she got to the city limits, some hunters ambushed her. They ended up taking her to an abandoned warehouse fifty miles out of town, guarded by around two hundred hunters. It's also surrounded by leechbane, which will make it hard to locate and take out all the guards."

Maria creates the beginnings of a plan. "There's a reason why I brought all of my Knights. They can do all the dirty work of taking out the guards, and we can deal with taking out Seven Fingers. We can work out the details of our attack when we can all see the building for ourselves."

"When do you suggest we leave?" David asks, anxious about Jess.

"Around nightfall. There'll be fewer hunters awake, and we can fade into the darkness." I turn to Maria. "I'm sure you and the knights are experts at that. After all, Nosferatu vampires belong to the night."

She nods. "All Nosferatu vampires are trained from a young age to hide within the darkness. It's very useful for hunting." I shudder at the thought of a human being snatched away and drained to an empty husk in a dark alleyway.

Thankfully, David interrupts my imagination before I can go too deep into the dark thoughts. "How about we all go over to my place, and stay there until it is time to raid the hunter base. I have some things that I need to do, and I'm guessing that you all want to rest up."

The Knights nod and Maria agrees. I give David a thumbs up, and we get going.

We run over to David's house and go inside. It's a mess. There are things strewn all over the place, and muddy bootprints, not to mention the front door being broken. David starts returning things to their proper places, and then gets the mop out."

"Can I take a nap on your couch?" I ask him. "I want to be nice and rested for the fighting."

"Sure. Good idea to rest before the mayhem that is sure to come."

I curl up on the couch and pull a blanket up over myself. Eventually, I drift off to sleep, and dreams start to play in my mind's eye.

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I am running. Running, running, running. Trying to escape. The hunters are chasing me. They are fast, but I am faster.

I trip over a root, twisting my ankle. I have to stop and let it heal. They catch me and put me in chains. Then they put me in a cage. They bring me to Seven Fingers. I scream, making my throat sore.

Seven Fingers takes me out, to trys and hurt me with a long, sharp knife. I bite him, making him drop me, and run.

I am running and running. I do not see the edge of the cliff. I fall. It's a long way down. I fall into the icy river. I am thrashing about, trying to stay above water. Then I remember that I don't need to breathe like I did when I was human.

I try and climb out, but the chains are restraining my movement, icy cold, and burning even more.

I try and break them, even though I know they won't. But they do break. Like brittle candy. I am free. I climb out of the frozen river and run away. Iam safe. They can not catch me now.

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I wake up.

My dream must have been trying to tell me something. Now I know how to break the chains.

I go into the bathroom with a bucket of ice. David and Maria are giving me weird looks, but I ignore them. I have important things to do.

I fill up the tub with cold water and dump the ice in, taking off my clothes. I sit in the icy cold bath, submerging everything from my neck down in the freezing cold water. I soak in the tub for several minutes, and then get out. My lips are blue.

I try and break the chains, and they snap easily, shattering in my hands. I put my clothes on again, and drain the tub.

I walk out of the bathroom and show David. "I figured out how to break the chains! They become brittle when they are in cold water. I just took an ice bath, and was able to break them!"

"That's great," Maria says, happy that we have a way to break the unbreakable. "Now you can help us with the attack without alerting the guards with the clanking."

"Speaking of the attack, it's sundown now. We should go." I tell everyone

The Knights exit the apartment followed my Maria, David, and me.

We start running in the direction of the hunter base.

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