Why are these people so hard to find? We've been searching for three nights in a row now and can't seem to track them down again. And for some odd reason, their scents have been more scarce lately. But where did they go?

I walked alone through a deeper part of the woods, inwardly sighing in frustration. I'm not giving up though. I need to find these people before they find us, or else we could be in serious trouble.

Jeff's pov

"Okay, so how does this work exactly?" I asked.

"Well first of all, we set up multiple kinds of traps in the area," Jack explained. "Then we just use a dead animal as bait. Hopefully we can lure in at least one of the Nightstalkers."

Ben seemed to grin excitedly. "And once one of them is in place, we spring the trap on them, right?"

Jack nodded. "Yep. And then we should have ourselves a Nightstalker."

"Alright! Then let's finish getting these traps ready!" I said while climbing up the nearest tree.

I made sure the metal cage we had suspended in the tree was hidden and functioning. While I did that, Jack and Ben made a couple of rope traps hidden under dirt and leaves, just in case our main trap didn't work.

Once we made sure everything was ready, Jack had caught and killed a rabbit. He laid it under the metal cage and cut it open, letting its bloody innards spill out. The three of us then ducked down into one of the large bushes and waited.

After what seemed like hours, a dark figure emerged from the darkness. I could feel my eyes widen as the Nightstalker carefully sniffed the air and glanced around before slowly moving toward the dead rabbit.

It licked its lips hungrily as its eyes became fixated on the rodent. It finally stopped right in front of the rabbit and that's when Jack gave me a small nod. Before the beast could take a bite, I quickly cut the rope next to me, causing the cage to fall and trap the Nightstalker within.

The creature spun its head all around, growling. I noticed Ben grinning like an idiot as we stood from our hiding place and walked over to the caged creature. It growled and shrunk back away from us in fear.

I chuckled and bent down to gaze at the black beast. "Look at this! We actually managed to catch one! And what a sight it is!"

The Nightstalker almost instantly leapt at me, causing me to back out of its reach as it attempted to bite and claw at me through the bars.

"It sure is feisty," Ben stated with a grin. "These have got to be the coolest things ever."

Jack then said, "Come on, let's get this one back home."

Ben and I nodded and went over to the cage. As soon as we tried grabbing the cage, the Nightstalker inside bit and clawed at us. After a couple of attempts, Ben groaned in annoyance.

"How are we supposed to move it? That monster won't let us even get close."

I kicked the bars of the cage in anger and peered down at the beast. "Enough of the damn fighting already. If you don't settle down, I swear I'll cut off a leg or two."

The Nightstalker snarled and began ramming against the sides of the cage. Before I could react, Jack held his arm out, signalling for Ben and me to stay put.

"This is good. Let it wear itself out."

We watched the black creature as it rammed and pushed at the bars of the cage. After a few minutes, it began to slow down until finally stopping. It panted, tired from its struggle to break free.

As soon as we started moving closer again, the Nightstalker lifted its head and made a loud yipping noise followed by a low howl.

"W-What's it doing?" Ben asked in slight fear.

I noticed Jack sliding his scalpel out of his pocket. "I don't know, but it can't be good."

Masky's pov

"Toby, did you have to be so messy with killing that squirrel?!" I whisper yelled.

"It's not my fault!" he whispered right back. "When I cut it open, blood just shot everywhere!"

"Well we're going to be found because of you!"

Hoodie got between the two of us and pointed out toward our bait. I looked to see a Nightstalker slowly approaching. I glanced at Toby's bloody clothes one more time before settling in my spot.

The Nightstalker sniffed at the dead squirrel before lifting its head, continuing to sniff the air. Oh no, please don't let it catch the scent on Toby.

The Nightstalker's head suddenly turned toward us and a low growl erupted from it. It walked around the squirrel and toward our bush, still growling as it slowly approached. Damn it, I'm going to kill Toby when all of this is over.

I held my breath as the beast's large fangs were soon right next to my head. It's low growl reverberated in my ears. Then suddenly, the creature whirled its head around, perking its ears up. It made a small chitter before taking off in the opposite direction.

"What was that all about?" Hoodie asked.

I stood from the bush. "I have no idea. But I think we should follow it."

Marlow's pov

I froze in my tracks, my ears standing up as I looked back behind me. I hear a call for help. It sounds like Zane.

I snarled to myself and took off running. I guess he ran into our targets. It doesn't matter though, I won't let them hurt my pack. Hang on, Zane. I'm on my way.

Jeff's pov

Once the Nightstalker finally shut up, a low growl erupted from the darkness. Another Nightstalker approached us, soon followed by another. The two Nightstalkers chittered to the one in the cage before coming closer to us.

The three of us backed away slightly with our weapons in hand. A third Nightstalker leapt out of some bushes on our side, growling at us. Almost right after, the proxies came rushing to our side.

Jack asked them, "Where did you three come from?"

"We followed that one," Toby answered, gesturing a hatchet toward the Nightstalker to our right.

The three Nightstalkers slowly came toward us, snarling and snapping their jaws. We all carefully backed away from them as they forced us away from the trapped Nightstalker, all while seemingly avoiding all the rope traps on the ground.

"Come on, guys, we can take them," I said with a grin. "There's six of us and only three of them."

"But Slender told us to avoid combat," Masky stated.

Ben frowned at him. "Yeah, well, I think our safety comes first."

Jack then cut in. "Defend yourselves. Only attack if they attack."

It grew quiet as we watched the three creatures. They suddenly stopped moving but still bared their fangs at us. I carefully watched each of them until a warm breath of air blew against our backs followed by a deep growl.

We all slowly turned around, instantly jumping back at the sight before us. There stood a large Nightstalker about twice as tall as the others with a scar over its left eye. Towering over us, it growled, revealing its huge fangs.

The first thing to come out of Ben's mouth was, "What the hell?!"

The huge beast let out a loud roar and made a tremendous leap right over us. It rushed over to the trapped Nightstalker and grabbed the top of the cage in its jaws. It lifted the cage, releasing the smaller beast, and tossed the cage at us.

We all jumped out of the way of the crashing cage. In the next moment, we were all separated by the smaller creatures. Seeing the others beginning to fight back, I did the same. As one of the creatures leapt at me, I slashed my knife across its chest, noticing black-colored blood oozing out.

It let out a small whimper and backed away. The others sliced and kicked at the small Nightstalkers to keep them at bay. The big one finally jumped in, knocking everyone else back with its claws and tail.

It then set its gaze on me. It quickly caught me under its clawed foot, pinning me to the ground as it inspected me. Feeling its weight on me, I knew I couldn't break free. I stared up into its large, golden eyes, seeing it staring right back.

I noticed the expression in its eyes soften a bit and its growling died down. It suddenly turned its head and made low chitters at the others. I noticed them all stop their attack, chittering back before running away.

The big Nightstalker holding me down looked at me again. It made a low snarl before letting me go and fleeing into the darkness behind the others.

Before I even knew what I was doing, I quickly got up and chased after the large creature. I ran and ran until finally stopping at the edge of the woods. Tired and out of breath, I stared at the small mansion that sat right outside the forest.

Was that always there? And where did the Nightstalkers go? And why didn't that big one kill me when it had the chance? I shook the thoughts from my head and headed back to the others. Maybe we should do a little investigating into this place.