Chapter 10

The first battle

The black pack were doing their daily run through the forest. Both Chloe and Max had improved their speed and stamina with the daily runs. "At this rate,you'll both be even faster than a vampire."Seth had once joked. When they finished,Max and Chloe were barely out of breath.

"Alright,"Sam said to them. "Seth,Leah,Paul and Lucian you four will go hunting. Jared,Quil,Samantha and Paula you four patrol the north borders. Brady,Collin,Julie and Aura you four patrol the west border. Scar,Claw,Turk and Drogo you four patrol the east border. Jacob,Chloe and Max you're with me on the south border. The rest of you stay here."

They all went to their destinations. Jacob,Chloe and Max followed Sam to the south of their territory,on the prowl for intruding vampires. "Hopefully one of those annoying leeches made the mistake of coming on our territory because I need something to rip to shreds."Jacob mumbled. Once they made it to the south border,Sam turned to them. "Mark every tree,rock and bush here. Nothing is left untouched."he ordered.

They nodded and separated.

Chloe went to several trees to leave claw marks on them while Max went to the big or huge rocks to leave claw marks. Once everyone was done,they met back up. "Good work. Let's head back to the o-"he cut himself off. He stayed silent as his ears moved from left to right. He stayed silent for so long that Chloe,Max and Jacob were getting nervous. "Get down now!"he ordered.

They immediately obeyed Sam and ducked underneath the bushes. "Laurent you know this isn't a good idea."a voice said. Max sniffed the air,trying to detect what was coming. She had smelt this very same scent before but she couldn't remember when or where. "Vampires!"Jacob snarled softly from his hiding spot. Now Max remembered the scent. The first time she and Chloe had smelt this scent was when they had learned that,not only did vampires existed,but the werewolves were at war with them. "Cyran,calm down we're just going to see if we can see some werewolves. Besides,if we meet some stupid dog along the way we can take it on."another voice replied. "Exactly."a third voice agreed.

Beside her Chloe growled and was about to get up.

"Not yet,"Sam said to her. "If we attack them while they're not our territory we'll be breaking the pact." Chloe mumbled but stayed put. "What we're going to fight them?"Max asked nervously. "If they come over on our territory then yes we will."Sam replied. Max didn't like this one bit but she couldn't argue with Sam. Moments later,the three vampires crossed over their border and continued walking forward. "On my command attack."Sam said to them. They nodded and waited. The vampires continued walking forward,completely unaware of their own death. "Now!"Sam yelled and they launched from the bushes to the vampires. One of the vampires turned around,saw the werewolves and shouted,"Werewolves!" before Sam landed on top of him.

The other two vampires evaded their attacks,thanks to mr loud mouth,and stood ready to attack the werewolves. Jacob took the dark-skinned vampire while Max and Chloe took on the other one. Sam quickly slit the throat of the vampire he landed on then ran to Jacob's assistance. "Get off our territory now!"Max ordered. "Shouldn't you overgrown dogs be chasing your own tails?"the vampire sneered.

Chloe growled and lunged at the vampire.

It moved out of the way so fast it was pretty much a blur then charged into Chloe. Startled,Chloe tried to push him away but he wrapped his arms around her stomach and squeezed. Chloe flailed her paws everywhere,trying to make the vampire let go of her,but he only tightened his grip more. "Chloe!"Max shouted. She launched herself at the vampire. He took his right arm and punched her right in the muzzle.

She was flown back and landed heavily on the ground. It gave Chloe the opportunity to wiggle out of the vampire's grip. She smacked the vampire with her paw so hard that he lost his footing and fell down. Chloe took deep breaths,trying to regain her regular breathing. The vampire got back up and dusted the dirt off himself. Then he looked at the Chloe,who was still trying to get her breathing back to normal,and ran at her.

Just as he was about to tackle her Max leaped from her spot and tackled him. They landed on the ground in a heap. Finally,the vampire managed to get Max off him and pin her to the ground. "You made a big mistake dog."the vampire whispered darkly in her ear. Max tried in vain to get him off but his grip as like iron. He pushed her head,leaving her neck exposed. He curled his lips back revealing long,pointy fangs and lowered his head. Max closed her eyes knowing that her life was about to end.

Suddenly the weight as pulled off her.

Max opened her eyes,confused on why she wasn't dead. Chloe had the vampire by his neck in her jaw. He clawed at her jaw but she didn't loosen her grip. "Don't ever mess with us again."Chloe snarled,her words clear despite the vampire in her jaw,before she snapped his neck. His head rolled on the ground,bleeding and eyes slowly turning white. Chloe dropped his headless,lifeless body on the ground then immediately went to Max.

She put her muzzle underneath Max's stomach and helped her up. "You ok?"Chloe asked her. "Yeah,my muzzle is sore though."Max grumbled. "Max,Chloe are you two ok?"Sam asked them. "Yeah we're good."Chloe said. Max looked at Jacob and saw him looking at Chloe with a look concern.

He noticed Max looking at him and averted his gaze from Chloe. "It seems that these three bloodsuckers were either newborns or just down right stupid."Sam said,looking at the dead vampires. "Most likely the latter."Jacob replied. "Didn't put up much of a fight sadly."Chloe said with mock sadness. "We got them from surprise,despite the vampire's warning,so they couldn't have put much of a fight."Sam said. Then he looked at them with concern.

"Are you sure there are no broken bones?" "All our bones are in contact."Max told him. "I had forgot to tell you: Never leave your flank exposed. The vampire's grip is like iron. Once it gets ahold of something it never lets go. One of their methods of killing us is wrapping the arms around our flanks and squeezing until either our windpipe or bones breaks."Sam said. "Well we'll keep that in mind for next time."Chloe said. Sam give them a small smile. "Let's get back to the others. Probably worrying where we are." "We're not going to put them on their own territory?"Max asked ponting at the vampires.

"No. The others will soon know they're missing and come looking for them. If they find them,we'll leave them here as a warning."Sam replied. They walked back to the others in complete silence. Jacob walked beside Chloe. You sure you're ok?he asked through their mind link. Yeah,i'm fine. Just need to get clean up that's all she replied. Jacob looked at her for a long while before he nuzzled her slightly and quickly ran to go beside Sam.

Max looked at Jacob in confusion then turned to Chloe. "What was all that about?"she whispered to her.

"With Jacob,I have no idea."Chloe replied just as confused as Max.