On the brink

Luna grunted as she ripped off the head of the last deer remaining from the herd she had hunted. The smell of blood permeated the air and Elliape reeked of it as her hands and torso were covered in blood from her brutal method of killing.

Valentino watched her from a distance then sighed, the smell of blood was sure to attract other predators but it was good in a way as she could practice more. His ears twitched and he smiled at his daughter who was now approaching him.

"Next job, kill the approaching mother bear as well as her cub without bathing in their blood and carry manually to the castle." He instructed before running off so fast Elliape couldn't put in a single word. Soon the sound of loud foot steps resounded and a tall bear with pure black fur appeared, a little cup as tall as her leg followed right behind too timid to go too far from its mother. Elliape cooed as she stared the cub ignoring the loud and dangerous growl of its mother.

"You are sooooo cute, ah even your fur looks nice. Are you sure you're not bear beastmen?" She questioned tilting her head to the side as she approached them. The predatory growl of the mother bear made her stop in her tracks, slowly, she smiled her sharp canines glinting under the evening sun

"Ah protective mother I see" she nodded as if in approval then turned her right hand so it turned into a claw, within the blink of an eye, she had ran past the mother bear grabbing her cub by the neck as she past. Digging her claws deep into the little bears neck, she watched the mother bear roar in anger as she charged at her. Elliape threw the cub behind her as she steadied herself, she turned her other hand just as the huge bear jumped at her. Using her two hands, she grabbed the arms of the bear that were aiming for her neck and put a lot of force in her calves and lower arms, she bent backward completely halfing her body as she slammed the head of the bear into the ground behind her. Her head was also upside down and she smiled when she saw that the mother bear was still very much alive despite the huge crush her head had just sustained. The claws of the bear pierced into her sides causing her to release the arms of the bear and jump back. She chuckled spitting out blood and smiled "Well this should be fun"

* * * * *

The sun was gradually setting as Luna walked through the not so large territory that was her pack greeting every commoner as they passed her by, it was required being the next chief of the territory.

The big arms of the mother bear hung down and dragged against the ground drawing up dust around her, she didn't mind and just walked through the territory all the way to its center where the castle was. Two wolf men were walking out of the gates at that moment and Luna instantly recognised the father-son pair. The older one with slight gray hair despite his young-ish appearance was Gull, the supervisor of the pack's internal affairs and the younger one with brown hair, equally brown eyes and a handsome face, was Berru, his precious son who was to become second in command to the leader of the pack's warriors after the annual battle royale that was participated in by all pack's wherever they were on honour of the moon goddess.

Gull smiled seeing Luna, he was also a social climber that wanted Luna to be his son's wife simply for the alpha title.

"Lunaelliape, good to see you. Your father has done a good job locking you in ever since your return" he said chuckling to himself at the last part. Luna simply nodded

"It's good to see you too Mr. Gull" she replied

"Will we be seeing you at the bon fire tonight?" He asked

"Only if my father permits" she replied curtly. Gull's brows were raised so high Luna thought they would fly off his head if he wasn't careful.

"Your father again? Lunaelliape, you are a grown wolf now, you shouldn't always listen-" Gull kept his mouth shut when Luna growled at him

"Watch your words sir, I think I should remind you that any word spoken against my father is being spoken against your alpha" she chided and Gull nodded quickly

"Well then, we hope to see you" Berru finally chimed in a big grin on his face as if he had just had his full of amusement.

"Let's go dad" he added urging Gull to walk away with his right hand while still waving at Luna with the other. He winked flirtatiously before turning around, Luna blinked tilting her head in confusion wondering what was wrong with the young wolf's eye before heading inside the castle.

"Dad, I'm back!" She announced dropping the bodies she had been carrying onto the floor before entering the throne room and getting down on one knee as she bowed.

Val glared

"You're late" he stated. Before Luna could respond he continued speaking.

"Anyway, you will participate in this year's battle royale" he said. Luna was usually not allowed to participate but she understood the reason she was to participate this year, she was going to become a guardian soon anyway so it would be her last. Her father stood up preparing to leave when Luna meekly called out for him

"What?" He asked

"When can I join the warriors?" She asked, she was again reminded of her infuriating situation. Most of the mature wolves in the pack joined the warriors and then from there were sent to other fields depending on their capabilities. Luna had officially reached the age of maturity for five years now but she was not allowed to join.

Val stared at her

"The day you learn to take orders" he replied then walked out passing Luna where she remained bowing. Luna bit her lip till it drew blood out of frustration.

* * * * *

"Taymen, how are things with Dexter going?" Walrus asked worry etched on his usual expressionless face as he pressed the back of his palm onto Dexter's forehead

"Things aren't looking so good boss, his purebred is fighting the suppressants we've injected, even the 24megs that automatically kills supernathral action" Taymen answered analysing some results from a clip board on his hand.

"What do you think is responsible?" Walrus asked and Taymen looked up at him

"Frankina" he replied, Walrus scrunched up his face in confusion then displeasure

"Who? You mean that vamp girl??" He questioned angrily and Taymen nodded

"It seems she is a born noble and is able to perceive ancestral blood no matter whether it was suppressed or not" he explained fully

"So she figured out Dexter being a pure blood vampire carrying ancestral power" Walrus more like stated to himself as he sighed moving his hand to touch Dexter's face. He really cared about this stolen son of his, so much that he wasn't sure what he would do if Dexter turned his back on them, probably let him go, he knew but it hurt to see the boy this way. He wasn't good at expressing affection so they were always at loggerheads with each other but even that was okay for him.

Taymen nodded at his statement.

"So what has that got to do with his blood not being suppressed?" Walrus asked

"She triggered his ancestral oath, the one all pure blood vampires from the ancestor have to protect their kin" Taymen explained and Walrus nearly flared up

"What the f*ck do you think you're saying? Dexter hasn't made a single kin, why the hell would the oath be triggered?!!" He basically yelled, Taymen clutched the clip board in his hand tightly as he refused to cower

"I do not know" he replied

"Then find out! Isn't that the reason we f*cking hired you?!" Walrus was shaking in rage at the man's audacity to spout nonsense without any fear of retribution.

"Boss, you should calm down, I am trying all I can" Taymen said and Walrus glared fiercely at him clenching his hands into fists to stop himself from strangling the stupid researcher

"You dare tell me to calm down?" His voice eerily calm as he stepped closer, Taymen frantically backed away in fear hitting a tray in the process which sent syringes needles and evaporating dishes tumbling onto the metallic floor.

"N-no boss!" He nearly cried swallowing his pride, a dead man wouldn't need pride after all right? Walrus glared at him sharper

"Good, now try harder before I decide to feed the hungry beast supes in our dungeons human flesh just to see if they'd get addicted, do you understand?" He stopped approaching as Taymen yelled a frantic yes. Glancing at Dexter's place body on the metallic slab like one of the supes they used to do experiments sent his insides churning and he held back the urge to puke. Quickly he stormed out and Taymen slumped onto the floor sighing from relief.

Outside, Walrus kept walking until he reached an elevator, he took it down to the last floor then from there went through some secret passages, got into another elevator heading down and finally met himself in the N.S.P underground dungeons. Their catches weren't usually kept here, but because the vampire in question was able to cause such a ruckus from simply calling out a word, they decided she should be locked up securely down there.

Walrus had no time to return the greetings of any of the guards and simply walked through the dark slightly humid corridors before stopping at the last door, he opened it and went in. The room was actually quite comfortable compared to the other cells but it was worse than the others because while those were plain cells with torturous devices and poor conditions, this room had a field erected in it. This field was the N.S.P field and it deeply affected supernaturals causing them to feel the exact thing that was the most feared to their specific races, and it wasn't mentally but they could basically not see the invisible force that afflicted them so it definitely messed up their minds as well.

Humans were immune to it however, so nothing happened to Walrus when he entered.

Sitting himself down on a metal chair in front of the whimpering vamp that curled her body at one corner of the room, Walrus found himself staring. He truly didn't know what it was she was going through, heck, he didn't even know how the barrier worked, he just knew that the organisation founder erected it himself but that was all.

"Hey" he called but the vamp girl said nothing

"I heard your name's Frankina" he added but the girl still didn't reply, she didn't even move.

"Your maestro is comatose now because of you you know" he said without a sigh. When he stomped down to the dungeons, he had intended to do a lot of physical and mental damage to get any kind of info that could help Dex as well as get revenge on the girl for putting Dex in his current situation but upon seeing her, he was reminded of when he first saw Dexter. Unlike other babies that would wail upon having their parents slain in front of them, the then one-year old simply curled his body staring, but not moving, he was staring, but he didn't make so much as a squeak. All of a sudden, Walrus felt tired and he slumped into the chair, he knew what he was getting himself into when he brought a supe child into the organisation and let himself get attached, he knew he would have to let go or even possibly battle with the child one day, he knew, but now that the time was nearing he didn't know what to do.

Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as his large arm rested above his eyes.

"He's battling" Frankina finally spoke up, Walrus honestly didn't expect her to say anything and had resigned himself to muttering to himself and, yes for the first time, crying.

He sat up straight

"What do you mean?" He asked despite already knowing, he just had an inkling of hope that whatever the vamp girl would say would sound better than the trash the bastard of a researcher was spouting earlier. He was being so incredulous when the truth was right in front of him that he felt he was someone else entirely at the present moment.

"There are only two sides of a coin and there are only two choices" Frankina continued ignoring his question. Now it just seemed like she was muttering to herself like a psycho as she stared aimlessly ahead, her hands still scraping on the ground showing that the pain she was feeling from the field was still being felt. Walrus was quiet as he waited her next words.

"Overcome and be born again or....." Frankina's aimless gaze finally met Walrus'

"Death"