The Secrets of the Panther
Chapter 90

IZZY

I strolled back through the forest, back to the pack.

Suddenly I heard screaming, loud. The screams were piercing.

I stopped suddenly and looked around; Puna was on high alert. I listened, but the screaming came from behind me, from where I sent the vampires.

I turn around and sprint in the direction I sent the vampires to. I ran as fast as I could. I could hear the screaming getting louder, but when I got there.

I hid behind a tree and looked around. Vampires were surrounding the couple, but no boy. Where the hell was he?

“WHY?” yells one vampire with a hiss. “WHY WOULD YOU BETRAY YOUR KIND, THE BOSS WANTS ANSWERS.”

The couple were being held by three vampires each. They were pulling on the man’s neck, but the woman screamed. “Stop, please. We were on our way to you. We just stopped for a rest,” she says.

“I KNOW YOU ARE LYING TO ME,” the lead vampire says and kneels to be level with her face. “I want to know who you were talking to? And where is the boy?” he yells.

I stare; Puna is close by. She growls at the scene in front. We masked our scent as soon as we hid behind the tree. We don’t want them to know we are here.

“I don’t know what you are talking about; what boy?” yells the man, but the vampire holding his head moves it to the side, making a cracking noise like glass about to break; the man groans aloud.

“PLEASE STOP,” pleads the woman, but she turns to the lead vampire who has a smirk on his face, “I will stop torturing your brother; tell me where the hell the boy is and who were you talking to at the pack?”

The woman gulps. “The boy ran off a few miles back, he was scared as he saw some rogues that were heading to the campsite, we lost him,” she says with a pleading voice, “We stopped and talked to a she-wolf, we were asking her if she saw a boy, nothing else.”

“Puna,” I ask, through mind link. “Do you think we can take these dickheads out?”

Puna nods, “Yeah, we can,” she says, but before we can say anything to each other, the vampire who was holding the man rips the man’s head off his shoulders in one swift swoop.

The woman screams, “NNNNOOOOO” she yells. She closes her eyes, tears escape.

The vampire in front smirks. “You lie,” he says. “I know you weren’t talking to a she-wolf.”

I have had enough of this. I can’t help the growl that escapes my mouth, and I step out from behind the tree.

All the vampires turn around.

Puna was ready to fight; I want to kill these assholes.

Puna comes close, not showing ourselves as one.

The lead vampire looks at me, and he cocks his head to one side. “What the hell?” He says, but I say nothing.

The woman looks at me with surprise.

I growl. “LET. HER. GO.” I say through gritted teeth.

The vampire laughs. “This is between our kind, nothing to do with you, you pathetic human,” he says.

I look at him, and a smirk creeps on my face; I creek my neck and look back at him. “You honestly think I’m a human,” I say as Puna comes forward and we become as one.

The vampire’s laugh goes, and he stares back, stunned. He turns to the others. “GET HER,” he yells.

All six vampires walk around, and the lead vampire grabs the woman by the throat.

“Puna, we need to kill them all,” I say.

Puna smirks. “I attend to, but the woman may get killed,” she says.

Hopefully, she won’t, but we need to kill them.

All six vampires come charging towards me. I move fast, and as the first one comes straight towards me. I use all my strength and force my hand into his chest, placing my fist straight through, grabbing around his heart, and pulling it out. He falls to the ground, and I hold his heart in my hand as the others look at each other in shock.

The leader looks like he wants to kill me. I think he liked the one I killed.

“Who’s next?” I say through gritted teeth.

Puna lets some power escape, and all vampires are on their knees with their hands to their ears; they scream in pain.

I walk to one and touch him; with one touch, the vampire explodes into flames, and so does each of the others, one by one.

I turn around and face the lead vampire; he had the woman on her knees with his hands around her neck. He glares at me. “Panther; the boss underestimated you; I will tell him,” he says with a smirk, “I will kill her.”

I look at the woman, and her eyes look at the body I was standing nearby. She looks back at me at mouths, “Find him,” she mouths to me, but as I step closer.

I didn’t see it coming; the woman had a silver blade and rammed it into the lead vampire’s neck.

He hisses, but he breaks her neck and rips her head off her body.

I use my speed and grab the vampire by the throat. The body falls to the ground and lands in a heap. Blood oozes out all over my hand and down my arm. Puna and I glare at him. His eyes go wide, but we lean closer. “Have fun in hell,” we say together. The vampire screams out as the flame takes him.

Ash flies around me.

I look around as Puna goes back. I look down at the woman. But something caught the corner of my eye. I looked up to see the boy with them, and he was kneeling by the man’s body.

I get up and walk over to him, kneeling beside him. He shouldn’t have witnessed this; he is the same age as Allie, for fuck’s sake. “He was my uncle,” he says quietly, and he looks at the woman’s body. “She was my mother.” He turns to look at me, and I look down at him. He was crying. “They want me; they killed my last family because they want me,” he says.

“I am so sorry,” I say to him, “I know what it is like to lose a parent, especially one that was killed in front of you. I lost my mother, too.”

The boy looks at me. “I don’t know what to do,” he says. “We were coming to you for protection.”

I stare at him. “You are coming with me to the pack, and we will figure it out. We will figure all this out, and I won’t let anyone hurt you; you are under my protection,” I say to him. He cries, and I stand up. I look around.

I need to get to the pack, and I need to protect this kid.

“Archer,” he says quietly; I look down at him, confused, but he looks up at me. “My name is Archer,” he says.

Archer stands up, and I kneel to meet his level, “Hi Archer,” I say to him, but Archer wraps his arms around my neck. I pick him up, and he holds onto me for dear life.

“I’m taking you home,” I say to him.

I turned around and was about to walk, but something shiny caught my eye. I walk over with Archer in my arms. I look on the ground and notice a wolf’s pendant, Archer’s necklace earlier.

I pick it up and place it in my hand.

I walk with Archer in my arms and walk towards the pack.

Puna stirs inside me. “He is not just a vampire,” she says with a slight growl.

I move my head to his neck and sniff; she’s right.

He was half vampire and werewolf—a hybrid.

“We can’t help him,” she says.

I stop and look at her. “Why not?” I ask her, “He’s just a child.”

Puna looks at me in disbelief. “You want to protect this? why?”

“Puna, he is a child. I don’t care what he is,” I say to her.

Puna looked at me; she placed a block on me.

What the hell was all that about? I walked through a clearing towards the pack, and a small group of our family and friends were there. But before I could say anything, I heard a scream. I look up to see shocked faces staring back at me.

Blake was holding Allie, and his eyes went wide. His eyes roam over me.

I have to admit, I must look at the sight. But at the moment, I don’t want to talk, but I know I have to explain everything to him, also by the look on it, everyone else too.