Time for the next chapter of Nightwalker and the action's going to start to pick up now! I'm excited. Are you? Okay, let's get to it!

Review Replies:

Silver Blue Eyed Wolf: Predictions are fun (and I really do enjoy reading them!). I won't give too much away, but someone will become a Nightwalker. Actually, before this story's all said and done, a few ordinary humans will cross over to become Nightwalkers. Hiccup will appear after the prologue. He does not live in the years 1700-1710. He's from the 2010's. Good questions!

KitKatLove96: After the prologue, we'll see Hiccup. I explained it in my previous reply, so I'll just direct you there instead of taking up space to explain it again…because I know you'd rather just read the chapter. Haha. Also, yes, Jay is not Hiccup, but Jay is still important. We'll see why later.

Anonymous Noob the 2nd: I had not thought about Toothless! He'll probably be Hiccup's cat or dog or something. Not a dragon, though, I know that much already. As for mythology, I'll see what I can do to add it in, but, as colonists, the settlers don't really interact much with the Natives. (If that goes against history, I'm sorry! It's been a long time since I learned about that subject in school.)

Prologue
Chapter 2: Attacked
Setting: The woods surrounding Astrid's small settlement, Late night (approx. 3AM), 1710

Jay expertly led the way through the forest and Astrid found herself wondering how often he snuck out of the village to explore the woods late at night. The woods were alive with sounds and it took several minutes before Astrid stopped jumping at every little noise. Up ahead, Astrid could hear Jay occasionally tap his stick against tree trunks. Even though the full moon shone down upon them and illuminated the way, Astrid was grateful that she could follow the tapping of wood against wood. The longer Astrid followed Jay, the more she relaxed.

Astrid picked up the pace to walk right behind Jay. Sighing, she told him, "Alright, you're right. This is pretty relaxing and peaceful." However, she jumped almost immediately at a sound from somewhere deeper in the woods. "What's that?" she whispered, hating how scared her voice sounded.

Jay laughed. "That would be an owl."

"Oh…" Astrid answered, mentally kicking herself for freaking out because of a stupid noisy bird. To her defense, though, hooting owls could be scary if you weren't expecting to hear them. Before she could fully recover from the scare, another sound echoed through the woods. This sound was a little closer than the hooting owl and Astrid tensed again. "Okay, what was that?" her voice dropped to a whisper again.

"Pretty sure that was a coyote," Jay replied. He must've sensed Astrid's fear because, with a short laugh, he added, "Don't worry. It's not going to eat us."

Jay continued to walk further into the woods. Astrid still followed, but she felt more doubts creep into the back of her mind. "I thought you said we weren't going to walk too far into the woods?" she questioned.

"We're not," Jay answered. "We could go a lot further, but I'm just about ready to turn back."

Apparently his definition of "not too far" and my definition do not quite match up, Astrid thought as she followed Jay who continued to tap his stick against tree trunks every so often.

Just when Jay was about to turn around and lead them back toward their quiet settlement, a nearby bush rustled. Astrid jumped once again and, this time, she noticed that Jay also started at the sudden noise. "Okay, what was that?" she asked Jay for a third time that night.

"Uh…I don't know," he answered this time, "could be a bunny or something…or Natives."

He whispered that last part, but his words weren't soft enough for Astrid to miss. What if it really was Natives? She had heard the tales from her parents. Astrid didn't know if the stories were true, and she really did not feel like finding out the truth. "Jay," she whispered, "what are we going to do?" Should they make a break for it, race back to the safety of their settlement? Would that even be logical?

Jay shushed her and tensed, bringing his stick forward. When Jay had showed Astrid that he was bringing along the stick for defense, she had felt safe. Now, she just felt foolish. If the rustling of the bushes was made by the Natives, they had weapons and Jay's stick would be no match.

The bushes rustled again, closer this time. Whatever it was that was there…it was moving towards them. Jay and Astrid moved closer to each other, but the proximity did nothing to calm their nerves. I knew this was a bad idea! Astrid scolded herself. I could've been sleeping peacefully…but, no, that's a lie. I would not have been able to sleep knowing that Jay was out here all by himself…facing this all by himself.

"When I say, follow me and run as fast as you can," Jay ordered and Astrid nodded, trusting her boyfriend with her life.

Astrid tensed, waiting for the order. She didn't need to be told twice; all she wanted was to get out of the woods and make it home safely.

"Run!" Jay yelled, his voice never leaving a whisper. Immediately after speaking that one word, Jay took off at top speed in the direction of the settlement.

Without hesitation, Astrid followed, keeping pace with her boyfriend. Everything seemed to be fine. They would make it back to the settlement without encountering whatever was in the bushes. Unfortunately, a hidden tree root changed those plans. While running, Astrid's bare foot caught on a raised tree root and she tumbled to the ground, rolling to land on her back. Jay must've heard because he raced back and helped her back onto her feet.

Never releasing his hand from hers, Jay continued to run back toward the settlement. Astrid gripped Jay's hand tightly as she ran at the same speed as him. Again, Astrid was just starting to get a sense that everything would be fine when she felt a tight grip on her shoulders. Whatever had been hiding in the bushes had come out of hiding and was now holding her back from returning to safety.

For just a brief moment, Astrid felt like the middle of the rope in a game of tug-of-war. Jay tried to keep running, but the person…or thing from the bushes had such a tight grip on her shoulders that she could not continue to follow Jay. Jay lost his grip on Astrid's hand and Astrid again fell to the ground, her back slamming into the unforgiving surface. Upon impact, her breath caught in her lungs and she desperately tried to pull in air.

The moonlight shining down into Astrid's face was blotted out by a silhouette. Astrid desperately hoped the person standing over her was Jay, but she knew that it wasn't. It was the person from the bushes. This must be a Native. Well…it was a good twenty years of life…

The person standing over Astrid smirked down upon her and she caught sight of long teeth that reflected the moonlight. From somewhere, Astrid heard Jay call out her name, but she was powerless to answer back. Instead, she was captivated by this man's (for she was certain now that this person was a man) shining teeth. How does someone even have teeth that reflective?

The man knelt down in front of her and brushed Astrid's loose blonde hair away to expose her neck. Astrid wanted to rise and race away from this man, but she found she could not move. Why couldn't she move? She wanted to resist, to fight the hold this man had on her. Astrid was frustrated. This man was not even holding her down and yet she could not move. It didn't make any sense.

A sharp pain in her neck halted her thoughts. Did he just…No, this can't be happening! The man had just bit into her exposed neck with his long shiny teeth. Astrid could feel her blood rushing to the spot of the bite. Weakly, Astrid tried to call out for Jay, but the words caught in her thoat. She couldn't speak and she was powerless against the strange hold this man had on her.

Astrid's mind grew more and more muddled the longer this man kept his teeth pressed down into her skin. Only too late did Astrid realize that this man's strange power was bringing her blood to the site of the bite for him to drink. Weren't there horror stories about creatures like this that lurk out in the night? Didn't most parents tell their children this story around the fire? Clearly there had been some truth behind those "don't go out after dark" stories.

With every ounce of blood that she lost, the more the world around her blinked out of focus and it would not be long before she passed out from the blood loss. Her only hope was that Jay would recover quickly enough to defend her against this man. As much as Astrid hated relying strictly on her boyfriend for help, this was one time when there was truly nothing else she could do. She was already weakened and this blood-sucking man was just too strong. "J-Jay," Astrid managed to croak out, but her pitiful attempt was not nearly loud enough for her boyfriend to hear.

"Astrid!" From somewhere in the distance she heard Jay's yell. Unfortunately, she couldn't yell back; she just didn't have the strength. The blood loss had taken its toll and Astrid slipped deep into unconsciousness.

There we have it! Just as some predicted, that walk in the woods would not be pleasant. Well, I don't have much else to say, so I'll end it here. Talk with you all next chapter!

Thank you all for reading and supporting Nightwalker!

Posted: August 27, 2015