SUV convoy

In my dream, I was standing in the queue of a Mulled Wine stand, its little hut was decorated with red and green flashing Christmas lights, it resembled a gingerbread house.

I knew it was a dream because it couldn't have been Christmas already but somehow it seemed real.

Around me, people wore thick winter jackets and some had on hats and scarves. The sound of Jingle Bells was playing in the background and the smell of fried bratwurst floated in the air.

It was the Berlin Christmas Market! I looked up at the sky and saw large chunks of snowflakes falling from the sky. They looked soft and fluffy like down feathers. I stuck out my tongue to catch the snowflakes.

Then the person in front of me turned around, I ended up looking straight into his eyes.

And felt my mouth drop. It was the young man that I had rescued.

His eyes were the most unusual shade of grey colour, it almost reminded me of the early morning sky before the sunrise. He had on a navy tweed jacket, a grey scarf and dark denim with black derby shoes. He looked sophisticated and yet casual.

The corners of his mouth turned upwards and I could see a twinkle in his eye, a little dimple appearing on his left cheek.

I immediately felt myself blush, semi-lost for words. Then to my surprise, he handed me a little white ceramic mug with Christmas tree designs on it. Before I knew it, I saw my hands reach out, on my mittens were cat faces with whiskers, I took the mug from him with both hands.

Inside the mug, a slice of orange floated on top of the dark red liquid, waves of steam risen slowly from its surface, bringing up the delicious aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I looked at him again, in his eyes were my own reflection, gazing at him with adoration in my eyes. I smiled, then gently blew on the mulled wine and gradually brought the blood-red liquid to my lips.

Before I had the chance to take a sip, I heard a loud hissing sound.

"Aria, wake up!" The voice said, "wake up!"

Everything around me was starting to fade away, then I felt my eyes reopening, it took a few seconds for me to realise I was back in my tent.

It wasn't even the break of dawn and Selena was stood by the side of my bed with a look of urgency on her face, "we need to go, now!"

I blinked a few times, unsure of what was going on. I sat up and asked, "where are we going?"

She looked behind her nervously as if to check someone was there, then handed me my jacket, "I'll tell you later but come on, we have to go now."

I climbed out of bed and put on my jacket and one shoe at a time mechanically. The sound of footsteps was getting louder, it sounded like the type of noises heavy boots made against the ground. They moved fast and in sync, yet surprisingly light. An image of an army team came into my mind, I tried to listen harder, but Selena was already dragging me onto my feet.

"Is this a drill?" I asked. Though we have left premises in a hurry in the past, dead in the middle of the night was rare.

My father often joked he liked to keep us on our toes by practising these emergency escape drills just so that we wouldn't get too complacent.

Selena looked at me and before she even answered, I could tell from the worried look in her eyes that it wasn't a drill, something must've happened.

Outside, I could see Owen and Hazel getting into their vehicle, a white VW POLO. Elijah was sat at the driver's seat of the POLO and Julien was sat next to him. They both had stern looks on their chiseled faces.

My father was standing next to their car talking rapidly and then he took something out of his pocket and handed it over to them. I could make out the outline of four small vials.

"Come on, Aria," Selena called out, climbing into the back of our truck Optimus Prime.

I quickly followed suit. Colin, who was in the driving seat gave us a tight smile.

In my mind, I kept thinking about the vials. I was very familiar with the vials because I have seen them many times, usually just before the live shows.

It was what they used to transform into werewolves on stage.

My father waved them 'goodbye', then jogged quickly back to us. He got into the passenger side next to Colin and said: "OK, let's go!"

Optimus roared into action and our campsite quickly disappeared out of sight.

Whenever we practised our emergency drill, we'd always have two formations of four, divided into two separate vehicles, at least two males to one female ratio because the males were the stronger and much larger, therefore offered protection for the females and the young, which was me. With the two best drivers at the wheel, which were Colin and Elijah, going in two separate directions so that if one team does get caught, the other one would have a high chance of escaping.

Like rabbits, we werewolves had enemies too, be it the werewolf hunters who were modern-day descendants of the Knights Templer, or other werewolves from a rival pack or simply humans.

Our pack have always lived a nomad lifestyle, we moved around a lot, never offended anyone, never settling in one place for longer than necessary, never encroached on other werewolves' territory. We always picked woodland areas to camp nearer to the Full Moon and never attacked any human beings.

Who could be after us? And why?

Colin drove at full speed, he quickly glanced into the rear-view mirror and swore under his breath.

I turned around and looked out the window, tailgating us was an SUV convoy with blackened out windows.

The side window of the black SUV closest to us rolled down and a hand reached out whilst holding a gun, pointed towards us and fired, shattering Colin's side-view mirror in an instant.

I heard myself scream, Selena threw her arms over my head to protect me as we ducked down.

Colin swore more loudly this time, his face was red and shiny with sweat.

"Turn left here," my father instructed.

Colin's large hands gripped the wheel, pulling it frantically to the left, the big muscles in his arms bulged underneath his T-shirt.

The truck swirled onto another side road, briefly getting rid of the SUV convoy. Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, another black SUV came out of the middle of nowhere and hit the side of our truck.

I felt the world turning upside down as poor old Optimus rolled over a few times before landing heavily on its side in a loud 'thud'.

As I lay trapped between the car seats unable to move, my eyes squinted into the distance.

Men in black suits got out of the SUVs, they all carried guns and completely surrounded us.

I couldn't make out the words they were saying as they spoke into their earpieces, then felt my eyelids shutting together.

I didn't know how long I'd passed out for, but when I finally reopened my eyes again, it was already dawn, I could feel hear the birds sing their morning tune and the sun was slowly shinning onto my face.

Somehow, we were back at our campsite.

On the floor next to me were my father, Selena and Colin, all bounded and gagged. They laid on the floor unconscious with cuts and bruises on their faces, and blood seeped through their clothes.

I leaned over to check them but was surprised to find that my hands and feet were also tied up. I frantically looked around to see if anyone could help us, but there was no one.

Suddenly I heard the sound of footsteps, my eyes widened in shock as the group of men who attacked our vehicle earlier came out of the nearby woodlands.

Behind them was a tall man with gold-rimmed glasses wearing a navy three-piece suit, alongside him was a dark-haired young man with black trousers and a white shirt. He was slightly taller and much thinner.

I felt my breathing stop, it was the young man I had rescued!

His face was as pale snow under the sunlight and when he walked you could see he was in a lot of pain but he still looked devastatingly beautiful.

The man with the glasses took off his jacket and placed it over the young man's shoulders. "Let's get you inside, Aiden."

They walked past us without even looking in our direction as if we were nothing more than a bit of dirt on the bottom of their shoes.

A team of doctors and nurses flocked over to take the young man into the ambulance. I watched with a heavy heart as the vehicle sped away.

Just before the man with glasses was about to get into his vehicle, he suddenly turned around as if he'd forgotten something and said to the man with earphones.

"Kill the rest."