Sixth pair of eyes

"Frank, you can stop now." Ariel looked thoroughly unimpressed.

A deep, husky voice, laced with frustration, echoed in the dimly lit shelter. "Damn," the monstrous figure muttered before its grotesque form began to shift, bones snapping back into place as fur melted into skin. Within seconds, Frank stood before them once more in his human form, rolling his shoulders as if shedding the remnants of his transformation. "How did you guess? I've never shifted inside a shelter before."

Ariel smirked. "Of course, you haven't. If Viktor caught you, he'd personally drive a stake through your heart."

She rolled her eyes before turning to acknowledge the rest of their team—Rolf, Osbert, and Violet.

Each one of them, though human, possessed supernatural abilities. Some, like Osbert's vampire speed, were subtle. Others, like Frank's transformation, were anything but.

Violet, daughter of a witch, was their healer.Osbert could move with the swiftness of a turned vampire.Rolf and Frank carried the blood of werewolves, their strength far exceeding any normal human.

Frank, the designated leader of the mission, crossed his arms and gave Ariel a hard stare. "Why did you leave us behind and enter on your own?" His voice carried legitimate anger, not just frustration.

Ariel shrugged, unfazed. "I work better alone. And it's just a B-grade mission. The worst we'd find here are a few stray vamps looking for shelter."

In previous assignments, she had been paired with pure humans—people who either feared or resented her abilities. They had always kept their distance, isolating her from the rest of the team. It was easier to work alone.

"That's not how this works." Frank's tone hardened. "As a leader, it's my job to ensure we all make it back alive. You put yourself in danger. You put us in danger. From now on, you follow my orders and stick with the team. Otherwise, there will be consequences. Understood?"

Ariel bristled. She didn't take orders from anyone. But she and Frank were... something close to friends. She could tell his rebuke wasn't about control—it was about concern. Unlike past leaders, who had only reprimanded her out of spite, he actually cared.

So, for once, she yielded.

"Aye, Captain." She smirked, running a finger through the fur of the small hamster cradled in her arms.

Frank sighed, as if already regretting dealing with her, before nodding. "Good. Now, what did you find?"

Ariel tightened her grip on the blueprints she had retrieved. "The East wing of the shelter was a wreck. Someone got here before us and ransacked the armory. But..." she lifted the aged papers, "I found something better than weapons—blueprints. This shelter was far more advanced than we ever realized, especially in their techniques to fight purebloods."

Violet's expression turned somber. "They had all that... and still got wiped out."

Rolf, ever the optimist, grinned. "Yeah, well, now we have their tech. Maybe we can surpass them."

Frank nodded, slipping back into command mode. "We still need to scout the West wing. And this time—" his gaze lingered on Ariel, "—we do it together. We watch each other's backs."

No one argued. They fell into formation and pushed deeper into the ruins.

Navigating through tunnels of collapsed walls and moss-covered debris, they eventually reached a dead-end—except for an opening in the ground.

Frank turned on his torch and tossed it down. A moment later, a splash echoed back up to them.

"Not too deep," he noted. "We can land safely if we jump. I'll go first." Without hesitation, he dropped into the darkness below.

One by one, the others followed, their landings punctuated by splashes as they waded into shin-deep water. Violet retrieved the torch, its flickering glow casting jagged shadows against the rugged cave walls.

Ariel pulled a sheet from the blueprints and pressed it against the damp stone. The markings confirmed her suspicions. "There's a reason they built the base here."

Violet leaned closer, scanning the symbols. "Yellowstone."

A heavy silence fell over them.

Yellowstone—the rare, radioactive stone lethal to vampires. It powered their weapons, their traps, their bullets. It was the deadliest advantage humans had against the damned.

Frank traced his fingers along the rough walls. Embedded within the rock, veins of glowing yellow minerals pulsed faintly, rich and untouched. "We just hit the jackpot."

"We shouldn't leave empty-handed," Violet suggested. "The higher-ups won't believe us unless we bring proof."

"Agreed." Rolf cracked his knuckles. "Let's mine some while we're here."

With Ariel and Violet holding torches, Rolf and Frank got to work, using their supernatural strength to chip away at the stone. Within minutes, they had gathered enough to fill their packs, the weight unbearable for a normal human—yet they slung them over their shoulders with ease.

Violet suddenly tilted her head, feeling a subtle shift in the air. "There's wind."

Ariel frowned. "That means there's an exit nearby."

"Should we go back the way we came or take the exit?" Violet asked.

Osbert cracked his neck. "I'll check it out."

Frank shot him a warning look. "Be careful. If you sense a feral, you turn back."

Osbert grinned. "You worry too much." Then, in a blink, he was gone—vanishing into the shadows at inhuman speed.

Less than a minute later, he reappeared. "The exit leads to open fields. It's not far, but it's blocked by boulders. We'll need Frank and Rolf's strength to clear it."

Frank nodded. "Then that's our way out."

With their decision made, they set off, unaware that in the darkness behind them...

A sixth pair of eyes gleamed.

Watching. Waiting. Following.