Laney POV
Well…I'd like to say that things have gotten better – but I'd be completely bullshitting you. Shortly after Mr. Tiny appeared at the Cirque, Darren, Mr. Crepsley, Vancha, Harkat, and I began to come up with a plan to catch Steve. The good thing was that I could help them because I wasn't a vampire. The downside:
I was a half-vampaneze. And let me tell you, being one is a huge pain in the ass. It was bad enough that I was one of those killers, but the drinking urges were terrible. Darren would try to comfort me when we all stopped for a rest in a cave, a clump of trees, or some abandoned building, but that barely helped.
Mr. Crepsley would give me a half a bottle of human blood to drink once a week. I would gulp it down like it was the only taste I'd ever get – I'd become an animal. I would always drink in private so they wouldn't have to see me for what I really was.
A fucking monster.
I was cranky enough as it was because of the thirst, but it didn't help that we hadn't found a trace of Steve anywhere. I mean, what the hell were we supposed to go off of? Painted footprints that led us straight to him? A map that marked exactly where he was? No.
Sure, that pissed me off, but again, the half-vampaneze thing was a bigger issue for me. Finding Steve was – and is – my number one priority, but the urge to kill when I fed just prevented me from focusing completely on our mission. So that's when Vancha suggested that I be blooded a half-vampire.
Darren argued against it, saying it could kill me. I argued as well, but not for the same reason. If I was blooded a half-vampire, I wouldn't be able to travel with the four anymore. Only non-vampires could help them along their journey. But that's when the loophole hit me.
I would only be a half-vampire. Not a full one. When I expressed this thinking to the rest of the group, Mr. Crepsley flashed an honest-to-God grin. Harkat had let out a breathy laugh, and Vancha had clapped Darren on the shoulder, and had said, "You chose a smart one." Further into that discussion, Mr. Crepsley had said that technically, Darren didn't even count as one of the hunters…yet.
And that maybe that was the reason why we hadn't found any leads since beginning our journey two and a half months ago – because the trio of hunters hadn't been formed yet. So that's when the decisions were made:
Darren would be blooded to be a full-vampire, and I would be blooded to be a half-vampire.
Now, Darren being blooded as a full-vampire wouldn't be a problem at all, since he was already half. But for me, making the transition from half-vampaneze to half-vampire would be risky. Extremely risky – but I was willing.
I was willing to do whatever it took to help out the people that I cared about.