Laika was on a walk outside of Hawthorne territory. She glanced around, her vampire’s eyes glinting. When suddenly . . . she spotted a Felis wolf. The woman was drinking from the stream. Laika’s blood thrummed. She had watched this b i t c h murder Damian. She was going to take her throat.
“Callie of Sindri!” she yelled. “You are subject to a bounty put out by the queen of Hawthorne herself! That means as a member of Hawthorne, I have full ability to take your head!” She charged. Her tongue was thirsting for blood.
Laika’s eyes widened as Callie met her charge with a half hit to the face, shredding her skin. Laika yelped as a claw narrowly missed her eye. Callie followed this up with a striking full, devastating blow to the side, barreling into Laika with her full force and snapping several ribs. Laika fell, scrambling to get up. She aimed a hit to the face but missed. Callie pounced on her, delivering a half hit as she swept her claws over Laika’s chest, gashing open her skin. Laika smelled the scent of her own blood, hungered for it as it pooled in the dirt. She hammered a half hit to Callie’s tail, feeling a rib crack. A half hit to the leg, almost cracking the bone. Laika caught her breath, then delivered her full strike, taking the whole tip of Callie's tail off.
But Callie had let the young star-laden vampire exhaust all her energy and strength. She charged, intending to ram Laika into a tree. Laika yelped and dove aside-only to hear her ribs crunching, feel them puncturing things inside as she hit the earth too hard.
She panted, feeling immense pain. Callie’s face swam in and out of clarity. “Honey, maybe you should know something. I’m not the beta and former delta of Sindri for absolutely nothing.” Callie’s presence quickly faded, and Laika was left alone to die in a pool of blood by the stream.
“I tried to be someone else - but nothing really changed; I know now, this is who I really am inside!”