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Copyright © 2017 by Rua Hasan
All Rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of required fees you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this book. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known, hereinafter invented, without express written permission of BLVNP Inc. For more information contact BLVNP Inc. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content. This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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This book is a work of FICTION. It is fiction and not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book. The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher. The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.
Fangs vs Claws
By: Rua Hasan
©RuaHasan2017
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
I would like to dedicate this book to my wonderful twin sister, Raneem Hasan who helped me start writing and inspired me in publishing this book from the very beginning. I would never have been here if she never encouraged me to write.
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Chapter 1
Stella
“Alice!” I yelled.
“I swear to God, if you don’t come out from where you’re hiding, I’m leaving!” I threatened.
Again, I was met with silence.
I swear this girl is crazy; she does this all the time — tells me to go grab something, and when I’m back, she’s gone. Yes, she’s my best friend and is like a sister to me. But come on, let’s face it, she can get distracted pretty easily.
A couple weeks ago, I gave her one thing to do. One thing! And that was to watch over Billy, a six-year-old human that can get a little too excited at times. His parents were out celebrating their seventh year anniversary, and they left him in my care.
I was so busy that day; I had a dance rehearsal at two, and then had a choir concert at three. Living for so long gives you the advantage to try out new things. Anyway, I had to watch over Billy at to two thirty. I was so stressed out to the point where I called Alice to watch over him for one hour. One freakin’ hour!
And you know what I found when I came back? A pile of Billy’s dad’s collection of shoe laces put together to make a piece of art by my not so smart best friend.
And you want to know where Billy was at the time when Alice decided to become an artist and touch things that don’t belong to her? At his grandmother’s house which was five blocks away. That little troublemaker walked all the way there, and when I came back, Alice didn’t know where he was and started to panic.
We looked for him everywhere while I was giving Alice a useless lecture that I wish actually helped. Half an hour passed, and his pissed off parents came home with an annoyed grandmother holding a sleeping Billy.
I swear that day I heard so many “You should know better than this,” and “How can you leave a child alone out on the street?” and also some complaints from Billy’s dad on who touched his collection.
A sound behind a couple of bushes broke me out of my thoughts. I stopped and started to tiptoe to where the sound was coming from. Once I was near it, I bent down, getting ready to attack. I counted to three in my mind then I jerked up and jumped over the bush.
I landed heavily over Alice eating a bag of chips.
“Oh my gosh. Stella, get off me. You’re too heavy. What did you eat for breakfast? A horse?”
I got off her, ignored her comment, and gave her a pointed look.
“Really, Alice? What on earth are you doing?” I yelled. “You know I’m supposed to be home by four. My parents think I’m at school studying with a couple of vampire friends.”
She gave me a lazy smile while she continued to stuff some potato chips into her mouth.
“Oh, relax. It’s only three thirty. See!” She pointed at her watch.
“And besides, I was hungry. I just went to grab a snack,” she said, pointing at the large supermarket a few blocks away.
I raised one of my eyebrows at her.
“You do realize that I went to grab some sandwiches from the car, and it would have taken only a minute. How on earth did you get there and come back that fast?” I asked.
“There’s something called werewolf speed, my vampire friend. It helps to use it,” she said with a full mouth.
I just slapped my forehead and gave her an annoyed look. “Well, my werewolf friend,”—I threw my hands up, making air quotes—“your stupid watch is broken. It’s four already, and I’m going to get into so much trouble.”
Her eyes widened then she got up from the ground, grabbed, and shook my shoulders.
I gave her a questioning look and tried to stop her from shaking me, but it was no use. She just kept on shaking me.
“What are you doing?” I yelled at her.
“Get up,” she said. “You’ve been sleeping for hours.”
What?
Slowly Alice’s voice started to fade and grew more like my mom’s. I opened my eyes to find my mom shaking me from the front seat while holding a sandwich and a blood bag.
“Hey, sweetie. You’ve been sleeping for hours. Have a bite,” she said while handing me over the sandwich and the blood bag.
I was lying down in the back seat of our car. It’s probably been days since we first landed in A
merica. We were in London before and now traveling to California by car. It was a usual thing for us.
My mother, my father, and I have been traveling ever since I was born. It was normal for us vampires because we stopped aging at the age of twenty and wanted to avoid any unnecessary questions from humans. I’d been everywhere. Just name it. Living for two hundred years became quite boring at times, so traveling helped.
I smiled at my mom while taking a bite from my sandwich, and I crunched my nose when I realized that my dad was singing some Backstreet Boys song while driving. I wasn’t such a big fan of his singing.
My parents were around six hundred years old but looked like they were in their twenties, while I was born in 1816, which made me two hundred years old. I stopped aging one hundred and eighty years ago when I turned twenty.
Usually, when humans asked how we were related, we would say we were siblings because of how we looked. Yeah, I know. Weird.
I took a sip from the blood bag, enjoying the wonderful taste. We didn’t drink blood from humans. We believed they deserve to live as much as we do, so we learned to control ourselves around them. It was not a problem for us. We learned to hide our cravings around them throughout the years.
Besides, we usually drank from rabbits and blood bags. One of my mom’s human friends was a doctor who lived in the Philippines, and she sent us our blood supplies.
“Where are we?” I asked my parents.
My dad looked at the GPS and said, “We’re somewhere in Los Angeles.”
He paused.
“Or is it Orange County?” he said more to himself than to us.
My mom looked at him with an annoyed expression and started to rub her eyes with the palm of her hands.
“Lucas, please don’t tell me we’re lost again.”
He glanced at my mom then looked back at the road and said, “Bella, sweetie, relax. I know what I’m doing.”
Sure.
He said that all the time, and the next thing we knew, we were in China. Don’t ask.
I lay my head on the back of the seat and got comfortable.
This is going to take a while. We’re definitely lost.
My mom always tried to convince my dad to ask for directions, but he always refused, saying that he knew what he was doing.
I couldn’t help but notice that something in the air smelled funny.
It smells like wet dog. Or maybe I’m just imagining things.
I shrugged off the thought when the memory of the dream I just had came into mind. Sadness crept into my heart. I tried not to let it get to me, but the memories overtook my mind. I held back the tears threatening to come out. Thinking of Alice always did this to me.
I took another sip from the blood bag when the car came to a sudden stop. My head was about to hit the front seat, but I was held back by the seat belt.
I heard my dad cursing some colorful words which increased my confusion.
Suddenly that strange smell I noticed earlier hit me like a brick in the face. It smelled so familiar, but I couldn’t seem to figure it out. I heard my mom gasp. But that was not what caught my attention. It was what she said next.
“Werewolves.”
My eyes widened when I realized what was going on.
Oh shit. No, this can’t be happening.
I looked at my dad who had a worried expression on.
“Dad, please don’t tell me you led us into a pack.”
He looked at me but said nothing.
So that was why the strange scent smelled so familiar. It was the smell of werewolves. It was similar to Alice’s smell.
My mom was lecturing my dad, saying how reckless he was to lead us into a suicide mission.
Let me tell you that werewolves and vampires didn’t get along. They hated each other. Which was the reason why every time Alice and I met, it had to be done in secret. My parents didn’t like the fact that I was hanging out with a werewolf. But that didn’t stop me. I didn’t exactly hate werewolves; it was just I respected anyone who respected me.
The smell got stronger, and my parents got out of the car when a strong voice boomed through the forest.
“You bloodsuckers are trespassing.”
When I got out of the car, I was met with about ten werewolves standing side by side. The guy standing in the middle of the group had power radiating from him; but thankfully, I could guess that he was not the Alpha. I guessed he was the one who was just talking.
Wait. Did he just call us bloodsuckers? That mutt!
Chapter 2
My dad stepped forward, and my mom grabbed his wrist.
“What did you call us, dog?” my dad asked.
The veins on his forehead looked like they were going to pop out.
My mom hit his stomach with her elbow so he would keep his insults to himself. Otherwise, he would get us all killed.
Well, at least, painfully. We’re all going to die anyway since we trespassed.
Us as vampires didn’t really help the situation. It just gave them another reason to kill us. I gulped in fear as I realized that this might be my last day.
I didn’t get to live. I’m only two hundred years old.
Okay, that might seem a lot. But it’s not!
The guy in the middle growled at my dad’s insult. He took one step forward, glaring at my dad threateningly. I stood there watching the scene, hoping that my mother won’t pass out due to my father’s carelessness.
“This dog right here”—the guy pointed to himself—“is the Beta of this pack, and you are trespassing.”
He looked at the men around him and said, “To the dungeons until the Alpha gets back.”
My dad hissed at him, and my mom pleaded to let us go.
One of the guys grabbed my arm, but I jerked it from him and punched his face. As I said before, you respect me, and I shall respect you. But it looked like Mr. Wolf here was getting a little too close to my comfort zone.
“You shall not touch me, you ugly mutt,” I hissed at him.
He slapped my face.
I held back the hiss of pain threatening to come out. My cheeks were throbbing, and I was pretty sure that would leave a bruise. Not long, though, my dad’s fangs came out as his eyes turned red. He started to shake with anger and hiss threateningly.
“You bastard,” he yelled.
He was just about to lunge at the guy who hit me when the Beta growled at him, daring him to fight on his land.
One guy dragged my mom away, and five guys held my dad down. The guy who hit me grabbed me by my hair and dragged me into a car. I tried to fight back, not wanting them to underestimate me, but it was useless. Yes, I was strong, but my vampire’s strength wasn’t anything compared to a male werewolf with a higher ranking. That was just how it worked.
If I were fighting against a pup or a normal wolf, then I would have been able to get them on the ground in an instant. But a warrior wolf was a challenge.
“We’ve got a feisty one,” said one of the guys. The way he was looking at me disgusted me.
“Too bad she has to go. She would have been useful.”
Oh no he didn’t!
As they were snickering, I swung my leg backward and hit the guy holding me where the sun doesn’t shine.
He yelled in pain as I grabbed the heads of the two guys with him and hit against each other with all my force. They both fell to the ground as two others came my way.
If I am going down, I certainly won’t go down without a fight.
My fangs came out as my eyes reddened. I punched one of the guys in the stomach, but that seemed not to do anything. He lunged at me, but I quickly dodged it. I was about to make a run for it and help my parents when something hard hit my head. I yelled in pain as I fell to the ground. My vision started to blur, and I felt the darkness creep closer. The last thing I heard before being engulfed by it was, “Take her to the torture chamber.”
My head throbbed in pain. The light in my room was too bright.
I thought I closed the curtains last night.
I opened my eyes but ended up regretting immediately. I closed them again and tried to rub the sleep out of me. But somehow my hands wouldn’t move.
I opened my eyes again, widening them.
I wasn’t in my room.
Shit.
Memories of what happened started to flow into my mind—memories of my parents and me trespassing and of me getting hit on the head.
I looked around to see that I was chained to a wall in a dungeon. There was a small window with bars through which light shined into my face, and it was really starting to annoy me. There were weird looking tools hanging on the walls. I started to panic when I saw several stakes lying on a metal tray.
Where are my parents? Are they okay? What’s going to happen to us? Should I be worried about the tools on the wall?
I yanked on the chains binding my wrists, trying to break free, but it was no use. I took a moment to look at my surroundings, seeing if there was any way of escaping. The only way out was through a big metal door that had a lock.
The place smelled horrible like dead mice and something I know too well—blood.
Footsteps outside the dungeon door broke me from my thoughts. I stood still—well, not like I had much of a choice when I was chained to a wall. I held my breath, getting ready for what’s coming.
The footsteps became louder every second it grew closer.
I heard a clicking sound as the steps stopped right outside the dungeon. The big metal door creaked open and more light shined into the dark room, blinding me. I turned my head to the side and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard someone walk into the room and close the door.
Once I opened my eyes, I was met with the Beta. He was standing a couple feet away from me, swinging keys in his hand. I lifted my head up high, showing no fear as he walked closer.
“You know for a little one like you, you sure know how to get into trouble,” he said with a hint of amusement. “I don’t think James will be able to walk for a few days.”