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I paced impatiently back and forth across the living room while Isaac sat still on the couch, just watching my restless moves with an absentminded expression on his face. It had been more than an hour since Lucas had left the house to go search for the new denizen in town, and the more time that flew by – the more edgy I got.
Isaac suddenly sighed; a sound that made me skid to a halt and give him a worried glance.
"He'll be back soon, Jessica."
"How can you possible know that? I mean, think of how many more humans that could be dying right now, just because…"
He was suddenly standing right in front of me with his hand on my shoulder, which made my breath get caught in my throat.
He pretended not to notice my reaction. "It's not our responsibility to take care of this. We don't even know if it's one vampire; there could be many more."
"Didn't you say that there weren't many vampires?"
"Well, I've never met anyone but Lucas and our creator."
"And me," I added.
He smiled in response, which made the corner of my mouth lift slightly upwards for a second, before the smile vanished as fast as it had appeared.
"But what if there is more than one vampire?" I asked. "Lucas can't stand against more than one, can he?"
Isaac opened his mouth to say something, but nothing but air came out. His eyebrows crumbled together and his eyes turned slightly worried.
"I haven't thought about that," he finally said, his tone as anxious as the rest of his features.
"How many do you think there could be?"
"Well, only ten people have been killed…"
"Only ten?" I interrupted.
"If there would have been more than five vampires, then it would definitely have been ten times as many victims."
My mouth plopped open with shock, and I stared at him with wide eyes.
"Ten times as many victims?" I managed to choke out.
He nodded with a severe expression on his face.
"Then how many could there be here now?" I asked when I'd calmed down enough to remember how to use my mouth normally.
"Two or three, I would say."
Although I'd never felt anything near compassion for Lucas, I couldn't stop a wave of worry from flooding through my body.
"We have to help him," I mumbled. "He can't fight three vampires."
Isaac stared at me with a puzzled expression on his face.
"What?" I asked, starting to feel as self-conscious as I always did when he looked at me like that.
"I never thought you would care about him getting hurt," he explained.
"It doesn't matter that it's Lucas. It's bad enough that anyone gets hurt."
He nodded in agreement and changed the subject. "Do you think you're capable of stopping a vampire?"
"What do you mean with capable?"
"We'll have to kill them. Are you sure that's something you want to do?"
"I don't want to, but I have to. I can't let them kill more innocent people."
"Right."
I frowned as I heard the doubt in his voice, but decided not to mention anything about it.
"How do you kill a vampire?" I asked instead.
It was clear on Isaac's expression that he didn't appreciate the question, but he answered anyway – knowing that I would have to know to be able to help.
"The only way to kill one is to…use fire."
"You burn them?" I asked. The curiosity was easy to detect in my voice.
He nodded once; a fast jerk with his head. The unhappiness was still clear on his face.
"We should probably get going…" I said in an attempt to distract him.
It worked; he blinked once before he nodded and walked over to a big shelf in the room. In a fast move, he opened one of the doors and grabbed something small and black. A lighter.
Before I had time to count to three, he hurried back to my side and grabbed my hand in a tight grip.
"Let's go."
To my great relief, the town was almost deserted; everyone had taken the police's order seriously. Only a few humans walked quickly down the streets, eager to get inside the safety of their houses.
I kept myself close to Isaac, not wanting anyone to really see me. My eyes were covered behind a pair of black sunglasses, just if someone would care enough to notice how I'd changed. Luckily, the sun was up on the sky, giving me a great excuse to use the glasses.
Although I was worried about what could happen if Lucas challenged the other vampires, I still enjoyed the feeling of being outside. The sky was coloured in an incredibly beautiful blue tone, and there were no clouds to be seen. The warmth of the sun was missing, though, which probably had something to do with my changed features.
I sighed out of pleasantness, forgetting about my other worries for a second. I could feel Isaac's curious eyes on me, but I kept my gaze straight ahead.
We walked in silence for another while, until he suddenly came to a stop. I gave him a confused glance.
"I have to trace Lucas," he explained. "Could you stay here for a minute?"
"You're leaving me alone?"
"Don't worry. You'll do fine."
I bit my lip but nodded. He kissed my forehead quickly before he half-ran down the street, leaving me alone on the street. No one else was there beside from me, so I sat down on the kerbside. I tapped my fingers restlessly against my knees as I waited for Isaac to return.
"Jess?"
'Oh, please tell me I just imagined that voice', I begged to myself.
"Jessica?" Zac's voice was closer now.
I glanced up just in time to see how he sat down beside me. A huge smile enlightened his face, and I had to admit that I felt a bit rude when I just stared at him instead of returning his smile.
"I haven't seen you in so long," he started anyway. "You haven't been to school since…Are you okay?"
A strike of worry suddenly flashed through his eyes, and I knew the reason why.
"I'm just fine," I answered as nonchalantly as I could.
My eyes darted away from his face as I tried to come up with a good excuse to why I looked so different.
"But you look really pale. Are you sure you're not sick?"
"No, I'm fine. Really."
In my peripheral vision I saw how he leaned a little closer, and when he spoke his voice was lower than before.
"Has he done something to you?"
My head snapped up again as I heard the accusation in his voice.
"How can you even think that?" I growled.
"Well, you look kind of…"
His voice trailed of into silence as he saw the furious expression on my face. He leaned even closer, as if he was afraid that Isaac might show up and hear what he was saying.
"You know you can…"
The scent of his blood was suddenly overwhelming as he sat so close to me, and I leaned slightly away from him.
"Zac, you should go now," I said, interrupting whatever he was saying.
"What?"
"You should go," I repeated.
"Are you mad at me for what I said?" he asked, still confused. "Or for what happened last month? I mean, I was being a jerk, I know…"
"Just go. Please."
I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned forward so that I could press my forehead against my knees. I clenched my teeth tightly together in an attempt to ignore the wild thirst in my throat. Beside me, Zac shuffled to his feet beside me, but didn't move more than that.
"Are you sure…"
"Go," I growled.
He stood still for another incredibly long second before he finally started walking away from me with hesitant steps. I kept myself frozen in my position until the sound of his footsteps had faded away.
Before I had time to straighten up again, Isaac was suddenly at my side. His hand stroke my back soothingly.
"That was really good, Jessica," he murmured.
Since my teeth were still pressed together, my words came out harsher than I'd intended them to. "Good? I could have killed him!"
"But you didn't," he replied calmly.
I shook my head in disbelief as I heard his tone, and leaned up from my crouched position so that I could look at him. But instead of arguing further, I asked a more important question.
"Did you find any trace of Lucas?"
"Not a single one," Isaac sighed, both frustrated by the disappointing truth and confused by my sudden change of subject.
"Then we should probably continue searching."
He stared at me with an unreadable expression on his face for a few seconds, until he nodded and got up from the pavement. Like the gentleman he was, he offered me his hand and helped me up, too.
"Where have you looked for him?" I asked, trying to sound business-like. All I wanted was to forget the moment with Zac.
"Everywhere in town. He's nowhere to be seen."
"Have you considered the fact that…we might be too late?" I asked carefully.
Isaac frowned and looked away from me. I laid my arms carefully around him to comfort him, and he returned the hug by pulling me closer and burying his head in my hair. His touch seemed to have some effect on my mind; all of my worries disappeared as I stood so close to him.
All of sudden, a voice broke through the silence – making both me and Isaac jump slightly.
"It's good to see that you're concerned about me," Lucas said sarcastically behind us.
I quickly broke free from Isaac and turned around so that I could give Lucas a murderous glare.
"Where the hell have…"
My sentence stopped short as I saw that another man was standing beside him, looking oddly uncomfortable. I soon understood the reason why; Lucas had his hand gripped much too tightly around the man's arm.
My eyes traced over the man's body slowly, taking in how he looked. His eyes had an odd light gray colour and his face – which was as pale as Isaac's and mine – was framed by pitch-black haired that reached to his chin. He wore a dark, long-sleeved shirt matched with a dirty pair of jeans. It was obvious that he was a vampire.
Lucas cleared his throat to get my attention, and my eyes darted back to his face. My eyebrows raised as I waited for an explanation to the appearance of the man standing beside him.
"I found him just outside the town. Probably waiting for another human to kill," Lucas said with a shrug, as if it wasn't really important.
"He's the murderer?" I gasped.
"He's not alone. Unfortunately, he won't tell us where his other friends are."
I glanced back at the man's face. He stared back at me for a second with furious eyes, until he suddenly let out a low growl. Isaac wrapped his arms securely around me as he heard the threatening sound, although the man made no intention to hurt me.
Lucas reacted differently.
"Do not growl at her," he snarled and tugged the man a step back.
I stared at Lucas for a second, shocked by his protective reaction. He avoided my gaze by glaring at the other vampire instead.
"Now you will tell me where the others are, or else…"
He finished his threat by fishing up a lighter from his pocket. A low clicking sound was heard at the same time as a flame burst up from the small thing he held in his hand.
The man tried to cringe back from the fire, but Lucas held him still.
"Where. Are. The. Others?" he asked slowly, making every word its own sentence.
The man shook his head stubbornly, not wanting to give up. Lucas brought the flame closer to his face, and he let out a low gasp.
"My brother is in the forest," he panted. "I don't know where. I haven't seen him since yesterday."
Lucas nodded in encouragement. "No one else?"
"Not that I know."
"You mean that only you and your brother killed ten humans?" I asked, too angry to keep quiet.
Neither Lucas, nor the other man gave me any attention.
"Show us the way to where you last saw your brother," Lucas demanded.
The man narrowed his eyes. "Never."
"Fine, then," Lucas sighed.
He brought the lighter to the vampire's body and dropped it there. A second later the man screamed; an ear-piercing sound that sent chills down my spine. His whole body caught fire for a few seconds, until he suddenly crumbled down to the ground and turned into a pile of glowing ash.
Both Isaac and I stared at the scene in front of us with wide eyes and open mouths, until Lucas suddenly clapped his hands together, as if he'd just finished a task.
"Should we get moving?" he asked.
"You just…you just killed him," I stuttered, too shocked to speak normally.
"Well, he wasn't going to help us."
I didn't know what to say, so I just wormed out of Isaac's protective grip and started walking back the way we'd gotten here. As I passed Lucas, he caught my arm so that I had to stop. Isaac caught up with me in an instant and gave Lucas a warning glance.
"I had to kill him," Lucas said to me, ignoring his brother.
"You didn't have to."
"Should I have let him kill more humans? I just saved many people's lives, and yet you're complaining."
I shook off his hand from my arm and grabbed Isaac's hand before I broke into a sprint, tugging Isaac along.
"You could at least have said thanks," Lucas muttered behind us.
Maybe not the greatest chapter, but at least it's a long one ;) Now you all know how to make me happy; review (:
