WOLF BOUND [FATED] novel Chapter 1

There was someone in the middle of the road.

Amber Quinn jerked forward as Joshua, her neighbor, and current driver, slammed down on the break of his Toyota Corolla in an attempt to avoid the dark-looking figure in front of them. As their car came to a halt, Amber instinctively glanced to the sky for an instant, while Joshua increased the headlight of the car so he could get a clearer glimpse of the figure still standing immobile in front of them.

Even though the glowing orb of the moon wasn't full - at least not yet - Amber still shuddered at the sight. She had looked up to further confirm her earlier hypothesis - which had been that for three more nights, it was safe for the average human to undertake the kind of plan she was currently on - venturing out of her city for something she could get within. Stupid, she knew, but she had taken solace in the fact that although supernatural creatures would be out and about, none was supposed to slip into violent tendencies tonight. It was that same knowledge she had used to convince Joshua to drive her here.

Now, as she looked back at the figure in front of them, she began to hope she had been right. The figure took a step closer and Amber's pulse increased. She gawked at Joshua who after a moment of stilled silence, poked his head out of his side window and yelled, "Hey! Are you okay?"

Somehow, Amber knew that the question Joshua just asked wasn't the question he needed to ask. Something wasn't right and she suspected it had a lot to do with the moon.

After a long minute, Joshua sighed and yelled again, "Get the hell out of the road or I'll run you over." There was a sudden movement as the figure took another step closer.

Amber froze and Joshua turned to her. "I have a bad feeling about this," he whispered, his hands shaking.

Amber nodded. "Me too."

"I think we should go back, Amber. This was a bad Idea."

"No!" Amber suddenly blurted, her heartbeat rising. She couldn't go back now. She needed to fix this. "Look," she began and turned back to look at the figure. Why don't we just drive around him - " There was a sudden flash and then the figure was at Amber's side, his red eyes glaring at her through her rolled-up window. She couldn't help it, she screamed, and at that moment Joshua slammed on the gas and began speeding down the road.

"Vampire," Joshua muttered breathlessly. "He's a vampire. I thought you said they weren't supposed to hunt at this time!" He was yelling now, his voice panicky.

There was a sudden thud on the roof of the car and Joshua swore. "Shit! He's on top of the car." A loud bang exploded above them as the vampire struck the roof, leaving a huge dent above them and Joshua instinctively swerved the car to the left and then to the right.

"What the hell are you doing?" Amber exclaimed as she was thrown against her side door.

"I'm trying to throw him off the car! What do you think I'm doing?"

"Trying to kill us! You can't get him off that way," she panted as she gripped her seat belt for balance, looking around for anyone, anything to come to their rescue. Then her ears picked up the faint sounds of sirens and her heart leaped.

"Can you hear that?" she clapped and Joshua glanced at her confused. Ignoring the question in his eyes, she listened more closely and then gasped when she found what she was looking for - the direction the police cars were coming from.

Down the road, there was a sharp turning and Amber pointed to Joshua, "There, take that sharp turn and move to the other lane."

Joshua stared at her, more confused than ever. "What? Why?" he asked, his voice high-pitched, but before she could answer, the large vampire suddenly dropped in front of them, landing on the hood of the car, his red eyes glaring into hers.

"Take the turn now!" Amber screamed and Joshua instinctively did so, swerving to the side so sharply that the vampire was swept off their hood. They both took in deep breaths as their car raced down the new lane. Then Amber heard Joshua curse as a loud, ear-piercing shrill suddenly filled the air. Amber lifted her head in time to see the police cars rushing towards them. The blue and red lights on the top flashed like Christmas lights, bright and blinding.

"Oh my God," Joshua breathed." That's the police," he muttered more firmly, his features filling with hope. Then he snapped his gaze at Amber as realization dawned on him. "How? How did you know?"

"How did I know what?" Amber scoffed, in an attempt to deny it.

"How did you know they were heading this way on this lane? You asked me if I could hear that. It was them, wasn't it? "

Amber eyes hardened. "Look, I don't know what you heard but - " Something hard exploded next to Amber and it took her a minute to deduce they'd been hit off the road. The car swerved to the side and headed straight into a waiting tree. As the car made an impact with the tree, Amber's body jerked forward, and then sideways, her head smacking against the airbag and then the side of the door. The last thing Amber saw as the world went dark was the flashing lights of the police car and gleaming red eyes.