“Ha,” he bellowed. “She is my daughter. Well, I do like a massacre at a Hunter Guild, so let’s go kill them.”
“No!” my mother and I both growled at the same time.
“We rescue both Dillian and his fiancée Julia, and then we flee,” I ordered. I knew Dillian would not leave without Julia, and if he were taken they would suspect her as well. After what happened to Whitney, I could not have Dillian’s and Julia’s blood on my hands, no matter what challenge that might bring me.
T he guard of the Guild wall was prepared. Because of the execution of Dillian, I had no doubt in my mind that Campture would have raised the amount of those guarding the wall. I suspected they had Dillian tied up in the same rooms that she had imprisoned me in many days ago. He would probably be executed upon morning. The hardest part would be finding Julia. I wasn’t overly familiar with where she would be. She might even be in hiding.
We waited impatiently and very quietly in our awkward group. We needed the cover of night visuals before getting closer to the wall. We had to be wary for sabers. The forest held an eerie atmosphere to it, more so than usual. A lot of animal blood stained the ground. I could smell it in the air as my own cravings wanted to be satisfied. We had to be wary tonight in case somewhere a pack of sabers rested close by.
I was fiddling with a dead leaf when I thought of my conversation with Dillian, and his intention to propose to Julia. After everything that had happened, I very much doubted he had the chance to ask her. I threw the leaf away, somewhat agitated. The air seemed to be far hotter than usual, and I was starting to feel very hungry.
I looked at Chase’s neck as he sat at the base of a large tree. Its bark looked dead and its roots unstable. He had his eyes closed but I knew he was awake as I hovered my mind over his and he scattered over various ideas. A cocky smile pressed on his lips as he noticed my mind scanning his, and then his gray eyes flashed open. “Don’t be so greedy, you cannot drink from me anymore. It would make us both sick if we continued doing that,” he said with a sly smile before stretching himself awkwardly against the tree.
“Why not?” I asked, extremely disappointed. I thirsted so much it burnt my throat. I flushed, still very hot. “Why is it so hot?”
“The sun still irritates us to a certain extent, my Esmore. It mostly immobilizes the sabers, that is why they lurk in the shadows.” He took my hand and began drawing light circles in my palm, which alone was enough to arouse me. His simple lingering touch was like a drug. “Because we are both vampires, our blood is in a more synthesized state. After drinking the same blood for a while it becomes toxic to us. However, I don’t know if that is the case with your own blood because you are part huntress. But if you kept drinking from me you would become very sick.” He kissed the palm of my hand, sending through me a trail of hot flames from his moist lips. I bit my lip in response.
“Stop, or I will take you now, and I don’t feel the most comfortable doing that in the presence of your parents,” he said, antagonizing me as he rolled his tongue in his mouth playfully. “I would love the chance to have you in the wild.”
I quivered erotically at the thought. The hardest thing to control besides my lust for blood was my tingling body that wanted Chase so desperately. Not jumping him was taking my every ounce of control. And it seemed as if Chase had more control than I could ever conjure.
My mother was sitting not so far away and speaking with my father. I felt different toward her, now knowing what she had done. I could understand why she had done it but I still clutched at my chest where I should have a heart, instead there was nothing. It explained the constant emptiness I felt. Somehow I felt as If I were deprived of something.
“So where do we go after this?” I exhaled evenly, trying to calm myself.
“Where did you both come from? The Council?” Cesar interrupted, who must have been listening in on our conversation. If I had of known him as a father figure sooner in life I may have been embarrassed at the conversation he might have overheard. But instead he seemed only like a very rowdy and old vampire. The only shared quality I could see in both of us was arrogance. And that was what I disliked about him most.
I was sad to know that the man who raised me was not at all my father. I trembled to know that all his years of raising me and claiming me as his own child might have simply been a rouse. He was all I knew as a father and I still thought of him as my dad. So how could Cesar so quickly expect me to discard such memories and fondness? He was not my father, even if he did partake in creating me. My father was the man that raised me and I would stay true to that belief.
At first I simply ignored him, because I didn’t want to partake in conversation with him. I found myself rebelling. I grew harsher at the thought of him being my actual father, and a vampire at that. It was my mother who raised me to kill them and yet here we both were, our familiars vampires. Under my mother’s watchful eye I then spoke.
“From the Council,” I said steadily. “My investigation team was ambushed by the Council’s small army there, and Chase took me in from the wreckage. It has only been a short time since I was last at the Guild, but a lot has changed and been revealed since.”
“An interesting choice for a daughter of mine. I would never align with the Council,” Cesar reflected. “I even had one of the vampires I turned infiltrate there so I could suss out what was so interesting about it. I don’t think he likes it very much.”
“Let us get one thing very clear before you aid me in freeing my friend. The man who is my father and raised me as his daughter, is dead. I will remember him for the time he put into raising me. You cannot come here suddenly to announce that you are my dad. You sacrificed that option the moment my mother and you parted for eighteen years. I am so happy you found one another, at the cost of yet again abandoning me. And letting me discover on my own that I am part vampire when this whole time I lived in a Hunter’s Guild!” I was now shouting. He was so arrogant, it frustrated me so much.
“Esmore,” Chase whispered to let me know to calm myself.
“Your eyes have returned to their purple,” my mother gasped, coming closer to study me. I placed my hands to my fangs, irritated that yet again they slipped out without my knowing. I couldn’t control my temperament. The gnawing darkness within me only wanted to spread further. I wanted to fight them both. But it was Chase’s pooling gray eyes that told me not to. His mind hovered over me, gripping tightly to my humane side before something else pushed over. After a moment of silence and ignoring my mother and Cesar who studied me seriously, I calmed myself enough to sit beside Chase again and retract my fangs.
“Lost time isn’t something a vampire of my years has to worry about, my dear. We have an eternity to fix things. I am disappointed in your stupidity,” Cesar provoked me.
“Cesar,” my mother growled.
“Well, we have been sitting here for what, two hours now?” Cesar demanded from her. “I commend you on waiting until dark; it seems like a smart tactic. But have you forgotten that your mother and I have the gift of concealment to infiltrate the Guild?”
A subtle breeze swept through us, spreading a thicker mound of fog over my knees. I bit my tongue so I would not spit harsh words at him. “And you only mention this now?”
“Well, my long, lost, ever-brooding daughter, you never asked,” Cesar taunted in response.
My mother warily looked between us, giving Cesar a harsh glare and forcing him to wipe his smug expression from his face.
“And you didn’t want to mention anything?” I asked angrily of my mother.
“You needed to calm your thoughts about all that we discussed. But it seems you have already made your mind up on it all. At least we won’t have to worry about your recklessness. We can conceal all four of us. Your father and I will look for Dillian. I cannot recall Julia. You will know where to find her.”
“No, I need to be the one to find Dillian,” I discouraged them. We had to infiltrate the Guild so we could collect both D
illian and Julia. But I felt responsible for Dillian’s safety and urged that it was me that protect him.
“My daughter, please be smart about this, you know you can trust us to get him out safely. It is the only way we can get them both out alive. But be wary, the concealment gift does not hide one’s physical presence. If another hunter has heightened senses it will block them from noticing us. But if someone physically sees us they will sound the alarm. It is like blocking the smell of us to vampires, but if they see us they will know we are very real. It only takes away the sense that we are there. No one can read our minds, feel our presence, or locate us.”
“Just don’t get seen,” Cesar said. He had a large axe strapped to his back. My mother was still holding onto the same sword the last day I had seen her before my eighteenth birthday. She was always fond of that sword with the gold trimming. I gathered my sword and Barnett bow. My mother was right, if we didn’t have Julia, Dillian would never agree to go.
“Fine, we head for the north wall, closest to where Dillian is imprisoned,” I agreed.
*
I didn’t feel overly different after Cesar put a veil of concealment over us. It antagonized me that somewhere out there in the world my heart had been hidden. It was only when Chase placed a hand on my back that I realized I was overwhelmed by the thought of not actually having a heart. I felt violated. To make it worse, the only time I could feel emotion or be tortured by my deepest thoughts was when Chase was touching me. He was my only real connection to emotion.
We followed a small trail that my mother was familiar with. We were wary of our surroundings and froze at certain times, straining our ears for sounds. We reached the wall where Dillian and I often stood guard. Now there were another two guards that I wasn’t overly acquainted with. They were alert; Campture would have made sure they were. Did she and James plot to trap me? I was almost certain of it.
If there was something Campture hated most besides vampires, it was traitors. Staring at my mother’s long golden hair, I questioned whether this whole time Campture was in search of my mother. I had my suspicions that she also knew that she was not dead. And what was I to do now after learning that my heart had been hidden? No matter what my mother’s intention, having no heart really did make me feel empty. I had always felt as if I were missing something. Now that I knew, I desperately wanted it back. I wanted to know love and be with Chase. I felt cheap and that the love I offered him was only erotic lust. But how could I ever explain that to him? I knew that I must have loved him, but the feeling was caught in a very hollow emptiness in my chest. Like my mother said, hunters’ passion is derived from their heart, so what did I have to live for? All I knew now was darkness, anger, annoyance, hatred, thirst, and sexual desire.
Cesar went to step forward to take the two guards out, but Chase raised his finger to him. As I tapped into his thoughts, I realized Chase was manipulating the guards, convincing them they urgently needed to collect water because one of the wooden sheds on the farm was alight. I imagined he used this very same tactic when he lured me in to first meet him.
We weren’t that far from where Dillian sat unconscious. I could feel him in the exact same room they had thrown me into. I indicated to my mother where he was; she nodded with determination. Cesar came to her side, offering his clasped hands. She placed her boot in it and he flung her over the wall swiftly. When she touched the ground I could not hear a noise. Cesar offered the same to me but Chase brushed him off with his shoulder, in a show of strength no doubt. Just as swiftly I was flung over the wall, landing quietly on my feet and crouching with my Barnett bow aimed. The guards were all gone. Chase looked over his shoulder at Cesar smugly.
My mother was also crouching low to the ground and walking toward the imprisonment area. Cesar and Chase came to our sides. My mother parted with Cesar, and Chase and I ran toward the huts. We were very cautious and expected a lot more hunters to be patrolling the grounds. The ones that were did not glance in our direction, proving Cesar’s concealment abilities. After two fellow Hunter’s strolled past with weapons in hand, we rolled out from between two huts and continued walking toward where Julia lived. Dillian and she had now been together for a long time, so I knew where she lived. Much to my relief, when I came closer to the hut, there was only a single mind in there that worried about Dillian. She cried for him. It was Julia.
Looking on both sides, I flicked my fingers to Chase to stay guard where he was now. I needed him to make sure no one entered as there was no place to hide in any of our homes. When he crept back toward the shadows I sneaked across the damp ground. I hurried inside, holding my hand over her mouth before she let out a terrified scream.
She panicked until she recognized my face, her sobs ceasing. I was hunched over her awkwardly on top of her bed, where she had been crying into her pillow. I pressed my finger to my lips, indicating for her to be silent. She nodded vigorously, her long wavy brunette hair shaking as she did. I slowly released my grip on her.
“I am here to take you and Dillian away. There is no other option; they will kill him. And I won’t let that happen. If I leave you they will think you suspicious, so you must come with us. Grab whatever belongings you must, we leave now.”
“Is he okay?” she whispered, wiping tears away from her watery eyes.
“I don’t know yet, but we will get him out alive,” I said earnestly. “Is there anything you need?”
“No, just Dillian,” she whispered. “And this.” She grabbed a small wooden carved box from beneath her bed. There was another single bed and double behind her where her parents and brother slept. I understood how hard it was to leave the Guild, but she was leaving family and safety. But for Dillian she bravely wrapped herself in a cloak. She was prepared to see the light of a new day with him. It was a strength I was embarrassed not to have. We were so trapped within our own world of killing the vampires and retrieving the humans we had forgotten about love and peace. After taking Dillian and Julia, we would be embarking into a new day and world. One I hoped I could find some peace within.
I opened the door but Chase was no longer there. The day had taken a very sudden darkness to it as nightfall approached. I searched for his mind but to no avail. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I searched both corners before realizing that he was no longer within the shadows I had left him in or anywhere nearby. I panicked.
“Is everything alright?” Julia whispered behind me. I heard a noise and held her firmly to the wall. The hunters walked straight past us. A smell teased my nose and my fangs felt hot, wanting to pool out of my gums. With all my might I restrained it, but the smell of blood was so thick and beautiful. I could smell so much blood both in and outside of the walls.
The throbbing of Julia’s neck artery caught my attention. I was so hungry and her neck looked so salty and clean. My fangs slipped out as I stared at her neck. I just had to have one taste.
“Pull yourself together.”
Cesar’s large hand shook me suddenly. Before Julia could see my fangs, I hid my face in the shadow of Cesar’s large frame. If it weren’t for Cesar I would have happily fed off my best friend’s girlfriend.
Julia screamed and fled at the sight of Cesar, but already he had grabbed her and knocked her out, bringing her back to me. “We have to go now; something isn’t right. The clouds are covering the sun and night is soon to come. There is a lot of blood out there. I am guessing sabers are outside. I can feel their movement, they are close. The smell of blood within these walls is attracting them here. Someone has lost a lot of blood. Your mother has your friend,” Cesar explained quickly.
“I have to find Chase first, you both go ahead,” I said, walking past him through the two huts.
“What do you mean you have to find him?” Cesar asked, grabbing my arm. His fangs slipped out as he smelled the air. I too followed his lead, picking up the smell of a familiar scent. I didn’t want to show panic on my face, but I knew instantly that it was Chase who bled. And by the smell of it, al
ready he had lost a lot of blood.
“Take her now, I will only be another minute,” I said, breaking the grip he had on me before going in the direction of where I smelled Chase. When I looked back Cesar had already gone. He had respected my wish. Sticking closely to the walls of the huts, I was surprised by how few walked past me. Where were they all?
“Esmore!” James voice quivered.
My head automatically jerked in that direction, and it was where Chase’s blood dropped. I kept close to the shadows of the hut. When I looked around the corner, most of the Guild surrounded James and Chase as onlookers. Chase was tied by many silver ropes. That is why I couldn’t detect him, because the silver was counteracting it. Kora and Kasey were close to Chase. They must have trapped him as he was hiding in the shadows waiting for me. We didn’t go as unnoticed as I had hoped. The smell of blood still swept through the air from the outside of the walls. I could now sense movement. I feared Cesar was right and for some reason a pack of sabers was drawn here.
“I know you are out there, Esmore!” James called angrily. He had changed much since only days ago. It looked like he had not slept at all; he looked crazed. He was walking around the pit of hunters. Four hunters were holding the silver chains wrapped around Chase tightly, as he could hardly stand. Campture and Kelf were standing behind James. I searched the many faces of those who encouraged him to flame the foul vampire.
I now realized the side I was on. I hated vampires and would have also called for their blood. But my beautiful Chase could not suffer such a fate. Not because of me. Looking at the surrounding walls, there were no guards because they were all eagerly watching. I saw Teary and Tori, who looked around at the group uneasily. Had Chase guessed correctly? He once said they were the two who would resist my beheading and the way they were reacting, he could be very right. Chase knew that this predicament would happen, but never did I realize he would be the bait.