This entire thing will be Bree's POV unless I specify otherwise.
Disclaimer: I don't own twilight.
Chapter 2
Thirst
I followed Riley as we ran at amazing speed towards the good smell. We came up to the edge of a city. It occurred to me that not many people were out on the street. Looking up, I saw stars. Lots of stars. It was night but I could see like it was brighter than day. A lone person walked on the streets. They were upwind.
I caught the sent, and fire tore down my throat. I needed to drink. Sinking into a hunting crouch, I stalked forward through the shadows. A feeling was echoing in the back of my head, almost like a tangible thing. I pushed it away towards the human on the side walk. The human froze. So did I. could he have possibly detected me? No. experimentally, I pull the feeling back and the human continued walking. Maybe this would seem more interesting if my throat wasn't burning. I pushed the feeling towards the human again and leaped.
It was perfect. The human froze again and I landed square on his back, carrying both of us to the ground. The next second, my lips and teeth broke the skin of his neck, and hot, delicious blood started flowing down my burning throat. Riley stood above me the whole time, watching me drink from my first kill. Once I was done, Riley picked up the body and threw it into the small strip of trees 50 feet away.
"Good job," Riley said. "It seems you have a talent. You can immobilize people. For future reference, when you kill, you have to dispose of the evidence. You will only hunt when I say you can. You must kill humans only when they are alone. If you fail to follow the rules of the army, you will be disposed of."
"Army?" I asked. "How many are we?"
"Right now, there are 13 vampires, not counting me or the creator. You will not ask anything about the creator, because when we face the gold-eyes, our minds will be looked at by one of their soldiers. They cannot see our creator's plans, or else we will all die. When we arrive at the army base, the others may want to fight you. If you lose, you will die. It's every man for himself, here." I nodded.
We ran through the maze of the city; weaving in and out of alley, jumping fences, sometimes even scaling buildings that were in our way. Finally we landed in a dirty lot that was only accessible by climbing over a rotting, deserted building.
A quiet meadow in the forest of mankind. I smile as I realized how true that was. Humans scampered in and out of their nests like small rodents. They would know to avoid certain areas where the hunters lived. While they believed they were safe in their dens, we would hunt them. But hey, no human was built to live forever, so why not die to support those who do?
A low growl pulled me out of my thoughts. What did Riley say about the others wanting to fight me? How it was do or die here? Well, it wouldn't do me any good by worrying. Bring it on, vampire army! Maybe my talent would give me an advantage.
The other 11 vampires slunk out of the shadows, looking like jungle cats. One in particular stood out. She had vivid scarlet eyes and sleek blond hair that was cropped at her shoulders. The others gathered around her, like she was a leader among them. She was the one growling.
I pulled my lips over my teeth to warn her off, but she responded by crouching into a hunting stance. Riley silently reminded me with his eyes that he wouldn't help me. I nodded to him and sank down to mirror the challenger's position. We circled for a few seconds. I started to push my talent towards her. She froze for half a second before shaking it off.
"You'll have to do better than that, new one," the challenger spat. "You didn't believe you were the only one with a talent, did you? You'll need a miracle to get that thing strong enough to work on a full vampire. Humans are easier; trust me, I know."
"I'm still new at this," I snarled. "Besides, I don't need a gift to take you!" Cocky, I know. I just hoped it would work and make her think I was overconfident so she would let her guard down. She smiled a nasty smile. Oops, I guess that didn't work.
"Trust me, youngling," she was still smiling. "You'll need everything you have to take me." And with that, she charged.
Fighting was the most amazing thing ever. We came together with a crash; teeth snapping, hands flashing. For five seconds, we grappled with each other trying to hit a weakness. Then we pulled apart and circled again. Her eyes calculated my every move. Mine trained on her body and where her center of weight was.
We clashed again. This time she crashed down on me and tried to make me submit. I braced my weight to hold her off while twisting to bite her stomach. Growling, she pulled away again.
All the others were staring with calm faces. They didn't care about me. If I died, they wouldn't flinch. The challenger brought me back to reality by slamming into me again. This time she was successful in pinning me to the ground. Going for the one chance I had, I bit down hard in her shoulder. She screamed and pressed her bare teeth against my throat. Oops, again! I shouldn't have exposed my neck like that! And now it would cost me.
"Let. Go. Of. My. Arm." She hissed. I complied. It was too late for me to get back on top now, I was done. To my utter surprise, she sat up and looked at me funny. "She's a good fighter. She does what she's told," she said, turning to Riley. "Hell, she fought ME off!" now she was smiling. Her mood swings were giving me whiplash. Standing up, she offered me her hand.
"Welcome to the army, kid!" her voice was now light and happy. Like I said, WHIPLASH! "I'm Sara. Sorry about the whole 'fight to the death' thing. We have to see who's good. I'm the best fighter here, so I'm always stuck with it. Congratulations, though. So far, no one has been able to fight me off for more then a few seconds, let alone bite me! You're a natural!"
Great. I was a natural at fighting and, ultimately, killing. I looked around the 'base camp', as Riley called it. This was my new home. My first day and look! I'd already made a friend in Sara. I just hoped first impressions prove wrong, because right now I was still a little scared of her. The other 10 started to warm up. One red hair boy stepped forward.
"Hi!" he said, beaming. "I'm Max! Sara is my mate. I'm glad you're not dead! That would mean no more new people for a while-" Max continued to tell me about the wonders of living in a vampire army until I tuned him out. Looking around, I remembered Riley had said there were 12 vampires already here, 13 including me. In the shadows, a pair of gleaming dark maroon eyes caught my own. They belonged to a dark looking boy. He was pale like the rest of us, but his entire figure looked shady. He was simply staring at me. When I met his gaze, he turned and strode deeper into the shadows.
I'd found the 13th vampire.
Just to solve any confusion, the place where they're living in is the courtyard of a giant, abandoned mill. There are rotted doorways that allow them to go inside the mill building, which is where our mysterious 13th vampire friend stalked off to. No one ever comes to the mill because A.) It's boarded up from the street because the structure is unsafe, so the only way to get in is by jumping onto the roof. B.) everyone who pokes around the grounds mysteriously disappears (I'm sure you can guess where they go).
