After breakfast and giving thanks to Winston for his hospitality, the four of us were off again, heading north as the wizard had said. It wasn't much later, once we left the town completely, that we came across the first sign of more civilization. It was a seemingly deserted, three story brick house in the middle of pretty much nowhere. But to get where we were heading, we'd have to pass through the woods behind it. Now, in any horror movie where the characters had common sense, they'd find another way or not go past it at all. But the thing was: there was no other way... and I was sure none of us had the sanity to hang on to our common sense.
Before we neared anywhere close to the house, we let it remain in the distance and waited as Odis shifted into a wolf and sniffed out as far as he could without being spotted. When he returned, the news wasn't as good as we had hoped.
"There's definitely someone, undoubtedly vampires, camped out in that house. More than one, actually. If we want to get by, we're going to have to cover up our scent and move as quietly as possible. Who knows how many are scouting out that forest?" he said. At that time, a wily smile spread across our dear witch's face as she wiggled her index finger in the air.
"Leave the scent cover-up to me!" she exclaimed (but not too loudly). A sudden puff of smoke appeared over her hand and once gone, revealed a pile of some kind of herb. She flicked a portion at each of us and dusted her hands off as if proud of what she'd done.
I didn't smell anything new.
"It's a type of witch herd. It changes your natural scent to whatever scent is surrounding you. But it only lasts for a couple of hours so we'll have to hurry," Maeve urged. She wasn't wrong, but I wasn't sure if we could make such a difficult trip through a thick forest in two hours. All we could do was hope for the best.
"We better make this quick then. Sitting here chatting is just wasting time," Kade said, obviously annoyed based on his tone. I didn't know what had gotten into him, but he'd been acting pretty grouchy ever since our little conversation last night.
"You alright?" Odis asked, almost as if he had read my mind. Kade nodded quickly and looked out towards the house.
"Yeah, I've just heard a lot about how dangerous rogue vampires are. I'm not too happy about passing through," he answered.
"So you're scared?" I mistakenly teased which immediately earned me a glare. Maeve seemed to enjoy it because she smiled. Odis was too focused on the house and Kade just didn't think it was very funny. "Sorry..."
"Do you think it's smart for all of us to go as a group? If they find us, depending on the number there are, we could all go down. But maybe if we split up then we'll have a chance of making it through without being spotted. It would sure cause less noise to be made," Odis said, churning my stomach with his words. Kade had an agreeing look on his face and opened his mouth to reply, but I cut him off.
"Uh, no. Splitting up is bound to get us all killed," I said, referencing back to my previous thoughts of stupid things people did in horror movies. This was one of them.
"Splitting up decreases the noise level. Plus, if one of us gets caught, the other three could easily make a rescue attempt," Kade argued. "I think we can all handle ourselves... even you, Bella." I felt flattered that he had confidence in my abilities; too bad I didn't. But it wasn't the time to be a wimp. I didn't need to make things more difficult than they already were.
"Okay," I hesitantly agreed. "Let's get this over with." The satisfaction on Kade's face afterwards made me feel comfortable but nowhere near better about going alone.
"Then let's head out," Maeve stated quickly, already walking towards the woods ahead. We all silently followed. Without luggage (I still don't know what happened to all of it) nothing really slowed us down except our fear and suspicion. The walk seemed overwhelming quick because when we reached the edge of the woods and stared into its darkness, my stomach became even more twisted and I wanted to turn back. Too late now.
"If you get caught, don't blow your cover. Just try to remain calm. There's a hill on the other side of these woods that we all need to meet up at. If someone doesn't make it, the others will go back to search," Kade whispered to us before we went our different ways. I'm not sure how to describe the directions we went; all I knew was that we were all going forward, just in various ways.
When everyone disappeared from my view, I felt the goosebumps spreading on my skin. It was usually dark and every noise that I heard made me jump. I was making too much noise by stepping on dead leaves but there was no other way around it. The only thing I had control of was my breathing.
I had the constant feeling of someone watching and following me; maybe there was somebody and I just didn't know it. Thinking about it surely didn't help but the thought stayed glued. At one point, in fact, a deer jumped out of the brush ahead of me and sent me backwards on my butt with fear. I didn't scream but I gasped loudly enough to attract attention.
Unfortunately... I did.
Only seconds later did more of the bushes start to rustle with movement. The trees seemed to taunt and laugh at me as they shook due to some low breeze. I shrunk down and turned to see whatever was surrounding me.
Soon enough, out stepped numerous men and woman, all wearing raggedy punk clothes. They seemed worn out but overly tough at the same time, like people that'd attack you in an alley. They're grim and scowling faces told me I wasn't welcome, but my confidence strangely started to rise.
"Who the hell are you?" A younger guy asked from the crowd. He had two-toned hair, a blonde streak in the middle and black on both sides. His eyes narrowed as he focused on me, his nose twitching. The others did the same and I could tell they were trying to pick up my scent. It obviously wasn't working. Hopefully my lying skills wouldn't fail me.
"Oh, sorry if I'm intruding. I surely wasn't trying to," I began kindly with a smile. "I was just passing through to visit some family up north."
The people didn't look convinced as they moved in closer. "You see, my mother is ill and I'm in a hurry to go see her. Do you mind pointing me in the right direction?" I added a bit too nervously. The two-toned hair guy was the closest and he continued to twitch his nose.
"I think you're lying," he growled. I swallowed back my bubbling fear and made sure to lock eyes with him.
"I'm not lying, sir. Please let me by." My tone was soft but my eyes were cruel. I knew he had me but for some reason I kept up the act.
"Now you're lying about not lying," he said. Based on his tone, I knew I wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise. I wasn't going to get out of here easily. They're vampires, no doubt about that.
"I don't have time for blood suckers," I barked. The guy bared his teeth at me, easily displaying a set of fangs.
"What are you?!" he yelled. "Why can't I pick up your scent?!" Everyone else began to move closer but for some reason I stayed unafraid. The air was cold and it was dark. At least a dozen vampires were cornering me but I felt unreasonably cocky... like I had an upper hand.
"I'm something more powerful than you," I said to the guy. When a hand suddenly landed on my shoulder, I shot my eyes to whoever it belonged to: a guy with long brown hair and a scar on his left cheek. He was angry but his eyes flashed with horror when mine locked with his. He started shaking and fell to his knees coughing. Then after a great fit, he fell onto his face and stopped moving completely.
I knew what I did, and it was intentional. But the fact that I thought of a fatality so cruel sent shivers up my spine.
"What did you do to him?" the guy asked as if he didn't really care about his dead colleague. I looked down at my work and bit back a smile. Why the hell did I feel like smiling?
"I locked up his arteries and... stopped his heart," I answered quietly since the realization hit me. I just killed a guy... and I enjoyed it. Maybe it was because he was bad?
"I can do far worse to all of you," I then added, spinning to make sure everyone knew I was serious. "Now let me by." Without waiting, I shoved by the crowd and started to head forward. Immediately someone snatched me back and shoved me onto the ground. My back hit hard and knocked the air out of me. I gasped for an easy breath but then a hand clamped over my throat. It was the two-toned hair guy again who I could only figure was the boss.
"You think you can trespass on my turf, kill one of my guys, and then walk away freely? You must be out of our mind," he said.
"Get her, Vin!" People shouted from the crowd. "Vin" tightened his hand around my throat. My vision was already starting to blur but I wasn't going to let myself go. I tried to focus on his eyes but mine were too unfocused to do anything. I grabbed at his wrist and scratched but it did nothing. He used his other hand to press the side of my face into the dirt and reveal my neck. Oh no.
"First, let's see how you taste," he said as he moved his displayed teeth to my skin. A chill spread throughout my body as my eyes widened. But it wasn't with fear, it felt like I was being swallowed my something. Something... overwhelming. I hissed with pain when I felt the piercing of the vampire's fangs. But right as I felt blood being sucked from my neck, Vin froze like something paralyzed him. He pulled back, eyes wide and nostrils flared. Like the other guy, he started to shake and cough until blood came up with his coughs. I scrambled away from the scene while he fell to the ground in a crying fit, holding his neck as if choking. When he finally collapsed with dead eyes, the swallowing feeling from before dissolved.
Did I just poison my own blood?
I turned wide eyed to the crowd behind me as they stared shocked at their dead leader. After a few seconds, someone shouted "Get her!" and every started running.
And so did I.