Chapter Thirteen: Sleeping Panic Dragon:

Lauren’s eyes jerked open and saw the tip of the blade. She rolled away as the knife came down. A blonde vampire cursed herself.

“How long have you been awake?” she asked. Lauren snorted.

“Since I heard that creature roaring like a wild rabid animal,” she said.

“Hey, leave Brenda alone,” the female hunter said. “She’s special!”

“Anyway, why are you trying to kill me?” Lauren asked. The blonde vampire smirked.

“You are a threat to us all,” she said. “You have to die!” The hunter lunged forward with her knife. Lauren could hear her own heart pounding. The whole room turned red as she looked for an escape. The scenes jumped around in her head. Lauren could last remember hearing someone scream before the red heightened.

Her body grew hot before passing out on the floor.

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“Lauren! Lauren! Lauren!” someone shouted over her. The vampire lifted her head. She saw more red, but this time all over the walls, sheets, and carpets. Doyle stood in front of her.

“You okay?” he asked. Lauren looked around with big eyes.

“What… What happened in here?” she asked. Her companion whistled as he looked around.

“What did you do in here?” he asked.

“I did that?” she asked.

“I guess so. Whoa! I didn’t know you could be this brutal.”

Lauren drew her knees to her chest and shook her head. “I… I… I don’t remember.” She looked up at Doyle.

“That blonde lady,” she said. “What happened to her?” He pointed around the blood-covered room. Lauren felt like she was going to faint. Doyle grabbed her by the cheeks.

“Calm down and look at me,” he said. “Just calm down and look at me.” The female vampire stared at him with big eyes. Doyle stared back at her, stone-faced.

“Now, think,” he said. “What happened in here? What did you do? Try to remember.” Lauren nodded in his grasp as she tried to remember.

“That woman stood over me with a knife in her hand,” she said.

“Okay,” he said. His companion drew her eyes closed. She took in slow and heavy breaths.

“She said that I was threat to them all and that I had to die,” Lauren said. “She lunged at me with the knife and everything turned red.” The female vampire broke down trembling.

“I don’t want to remember anymore,” she said. Doyle let go of her face.

“And then you collapsed?” he asked. Lauren nodded once.

“And when you woke up, the room looked like this and I was standing in front of you?” Doyle asked. She nodded again.

“Hm…” he said.

“What happened to me?” Lauren asked as she grabbed onto his leg. Her companion rolled his eyes and kicked her off.

“Get off,” he said. “I’ll tell you later. Right now, we have to go.” The trembling vampire looked around the room and lowered her head.

“Alright,” she said.

“Can you stand up?” Doyle asked. Lauren tried to push herself to her feet, but her shaky knees wouldn’t let her stand up straight. Her companion grabbed her by the arm.

“Can’t be helped,” he said. He knelt down in front of her with his back to her. Lauren gave him a strange before it donned on her. She walked over and crawled onto his back. Doyle grabbed her as tight as he could.

“Hanging on?” he asked. She nodded once. Doyle held his breath and jumped upwards through the ceiling. Plaster and dust littered the blood-covered room.

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Meanwhile, the leader and his remaining party gathered in the lobby. Brenda sat on the ground, growling. The leader looked at all of their members.

“I take it that Julia has been killed?” he asked.

“Yes,” Brenda’s handler said.

“By which one?” the leader asked. Another female hunter lowered her eyes.

“The target herself,” she said. All eyes fell on her.

“Explain,” the leader said.

“It all happened so fast,” she said. “Julia went to attack and the target’s eyes started glowing red. She jumped forward with her claws out and blood everywhere.”

“Was there a body?” he asked. The female shook her head.

“Anything left?” the leader asked.

“Not even a hair,” she said. “Just blood everywhere.” He stood thinking before he brought into a smirk.

“Well now,” he said at last. “That just makes the hunt that much more exciting.” The leader eyed his team.

“Who can sense where they are now?” he asked.

“They just jumped through the ceiling right now,” Brenda’s handler said. “They are still above us.”

“Excellent,” the leader said. “Team, change of plans. Don’t hold back and kill them both!” His team’s eyes lit up.

“Should we tell the other parties?” the female hunter asked.

“Tell them on the way,” he said. “Let’s go!” The vampire hunting party jumped up into sky and vanished.

Within two hours, all of the hunting parties knew that Lauren could possibly fight them when cornered.