A tale from where I have never ventured... Part 1!!!

We'd been hunting this one for months. And she'd caused us so much pain, so much fury, and so much confusion. No, I scolded myself. I will not think of this creature as a 'she'. It doesn't deserve it. Even as I thought those words, they made me flinch. Beside me, Jared was moving with amazing grace, his eyes narrowed and his jaw taut. He wasn't going to talk about it, he wasn't going to even mention it in the slightest way. He'd been there for me through the beginning, middle, and now the end. Till this hunt, anyway. I thought that maybe, once this hunt was over, he'd talk to me again. He hadn't talked to me since I'd explained my situation. He'd yelled at me for twenty minutes straight, demanding how I could have done this to the team and what the hell I was thinking. "Marc, you could have endangered this whole mission! What the hell, man?! What's your problem?! Damn, you can be so idiotic and not think about anything! And maybe if you thought once, we wouldn't be in this problem! Damn it, Marc!" he had ranted furiously, flinging his hunting knives at the base of the giant tree. I snapped out of my reverie as we came to a halt, pausing to make sure we were on track. Jared paused, bending down to check for signs of our target's visit. His usual smirk that signaled that we were on track almost came to his lips, but remembering my presence, he kept his angry frown on his face. He nodded forward, and we both took off. As we were running, another pair joined us, veering off from the side of the woods to run by our sides. Mari, my twin sister, and her best friend and my ex girlfriend, Trixi. Mari glanced at me, flashing one of her bright, excited smiles. I smiled back, hoping that it wasn't a grimace. Trixi stared forward, her dark black-brown eyes furious. She had found out along with Jared, and she was equally pissed, refusing to speak with me. I think it was more jealousy. I sighed inwardly and kept running. We could tell when we'd arrived when the cougar-like hissing began. We entered a clearing, and then I saw her--it--moonlight shining down on it perfectly, illuminating it while it was bent over the dead elk. It was protecting its kill, making sure it got every last bit. Of course, that's what vampires were. They were selfish, bloodthirsty beasts who cared only about killing. A pang of hurt jarred my heart. I knew that wasn't true. I knew it wasn't, somewhere in the back of my mind, that she really did care for me. As she stood, her silvery-black hair shimmered in the moonlight, cascading down her back in ripples of black water. My heart constricted as the cougar-like hiss escaped her throat again, warning us off. She was surrounded.