The winter air sliced through the tangled forest that had transformed into a savage battlefield within minutes. Snowflakes drifted lazily from the darkened sky, settling over shattered branches and bloodstained earth like a cruel attempt to hid the carnage beneath a blanket of white.
The distant howl of the wind threaded through the trees, carrying with it ragged breaths, low growls, and broken whispers that rose and fell like restless ghosts.
Somewhere in the distance a wounded vampire let out a pained hiss, while the soft crunch of boots against snow echoed through the frozen silence.
The enraged vampires stood frozen where they were, as though time itself had forgotten to move.
Faces blurred into one another until her breath caught painfully in her throat. Amid the chaos, stood the one face she would have recognized even after a thousand lifetimes.
