Wow. Long time, no see.
My sincerest apologies for the lack of update. Unfortunately I was not gifted with the ability to update fast.
I also wasn't gifted with the ability to turn into Stephanie Meyer, simply so I could say that I own Twilight. Woe is me.
It took me exactly ten minutes and 53 seconds to realise that I was being followed and two for my mind to enter panic mode. I looked up at the grey clouds that covered the sun, thankful for the overcast weather that was allowing me to walk about in public – somewhere that I was eager to stay. Despite that I had to hold my breath the entire time to restrain myself from attacking the next walking blood bag that came within a metre of me, I made up my mind to stay out under the watchful eyes of the humans, where I was certain that no vampire would risk attacking me.
I was in a small village by the coast of Ireland, where I'd been roaming since the destruction of my coven. I had to be more careful with my feeding than I was used to. My first victim had a funeral in which half the town attended, and the local police had spent two weeks searching for the killer. After that I took more care to hunt only the invalids whose death wouldn't cause suspicion.
Despite this drawback, I stayed in the area. Moving around constantly was a nuisance. I liked having a permanent place to stay and relax after I'd gone out hunting. Besides, the place had perfect conditions – raining every three days with the sun making an appearance at least once a year, and the locals, despite being a close knit community, didn't take much notice of strangers.
That was why I was so surprised when a small hand tapped me on the shoulder. She wasn't human; I knew that before I turned around and saw her crimson eyes. She was about my age, though shorter than I was, with red ringlets framing her petite face. Overall, she didn't look particularly threatening.
Then again, neither did James, and he was a freak.
I held back a shiver at the thought of the small boy.
The girl didn't say anything, but did have the smallest hint of a smile on her face, as if she tried to fix a normally cheery face into a neutral expression. I stood tall, trying to use my height as an advantage while she looked me up and down, judging my character with one critical glance.
"What brings you here?" she asked after a long silence.
I hesitated for a fraction of a second, debating my answer. "I was getting a snack with my coven. I expect they'll be back soon."
"You're lying," the girl's reply was immediate, her eyes narrowed as she blurted out the words as soon as I'd given her my answer.
I couldn't help taking a small step back at her conviction. How would she know? I hadn't seen her in the month I'd been here!
"What are you doing here?" she repeated her earlier question, this time adopting an indifferent stance with her arms crossed across her chest, like I was a child that she was waiting to confess to stealing the last cookie out of the jar.
"I -," I straightened myself up slightly and reminded myself that I couldn't let myself be intimidated by a small girl. "I told you, I'm getting something to eat."
This answer seemed to satisfy the girl as she gave a small nod of approval. "This isn't a good place to hunt," she said after a small pause. "You're attracting too much attention to yourself."
The criticism stung. What would she know about anything? "So?" I challenged, "What would you care?"
The red head frowned. "Because the attention drawn to you is attention drawn to the rest of us."
The 'rest of us' part bothered me. Did that mean her coven were amongst the people in the village, ready to attack once she gave the signal? I found myself taking another involuntary step backwards.
The girl hesitated before taking a small step to mirror the one I took back. However, instead of feeling threatened the way I would if the vampire had been any larger than her, I managed to stand my ground. "The rest of my coven are in the next village over," she said uncertainly, "If you'd like I could give you some tips on where to hunt when you leave here."
It was nice of her to offer her help – admittedly it was obvious she was giving it only to get me out of her covens territory, but I appreciated she took a more peaceful way to do it, as opposed to going straight into a fight.
And so I gave her a curt nod and sad, "I'd appreciate that, thank you."
The vampire gave me a small smile now.
"I'm Myra," I introduced myself as she led the way, flitting through the humans quickly, without attracting any attention to herself.
She looked over her shoulder and gave me a small smile. "Maggie," she said.
Maggie's coven consisted of two other vampires other than her. Siobhan and Liam, the latter of whom greeted me warmer than her mate who gave a gruff hello and remained silent for the rest of the conversation.
"So what brings you here, Myra?" Siobhan asked me, leaning across a small camp fire that was set up before I arrived (and I couldn't help a small shiver of worry that ran through me when I realised it was probably in case they decided I needed to be disposed of).
"Well," I began, training my eyes on the small orange blaze, "I was created . . . sometime last year by a vampire named Annmarie." I paused before continuing, "Last month I decided to leave, and this was the first place I found."
Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Maggie narrow her eyes slightly, as if she knew that I'd cut out a large chunk of my story. I waited for her to speak up, but only silence followed.
"Well then," Siobhan said, "I assume she told you the basics? Don't go out in the sunlight, unless you want the humans to find out about us, try not to go on a feeding frenzy, definitely don't feed in public and get rid of the bodies carefully."
I nodded. "Yes, she told us that."
Liam raised his eyebrows at the 'us' but let it slide.
"Well that's good. I've met newborns who know less." It became apparent that Siobhan was the main mouthpiece for the group. "You'll come across many more vampires once you leave here who won't take kindly to anyone risking exposure in their area."
There it was again, that quiet way of telling me that I wasn't allowed to stay here. Really? Since when did they own Ireland?
I pretended I wasn't angry at them kicking me out of my new home. "I don't really know where to go though," I said, my special way of asking them if I could stay, or at least join them for a while.
The Siobhan shared a glance with her mate.
"If you're really lost then you could always go to Italy. The vampires there, the Volturi, often allow curious nomads to visit them," she spoke carefully; as if she could barely believe she was saying something she would regret later, "You could stay there for a while, just while you get used to everything."
I debated asking her why she seemed to dislike them, but Maggie spoke up before I had the chance.
"We and a few other covens had a run in with them a few years back," she explained, "they still hold a grudge from that."
Siobhan smiled kindly at my slightly alarmed expression. "Don't worry. They're not bad unless you've broken one of the laws. Even for those who aren't gifted, they're civil to you. Normally they're happy to have a vampire visit, so long as they're interesting."
The conversation died down after that, the Volturi weren't a topic that the Irish coven enjoyed to discuss. More polite small talk was exchanged before night finally fell and the Siobhan announced that they'd forgotten the entire purpose of entering the area was to go hunting.
She invited me to join them, for the one hunt, but I declined. I'd already made up my mind.
I was going to Italy.
It's short. Meh :/
Wow, I forgot to thank you all for the amazing reviews I got on the last chapter! I honestly wasn't expecting to get one let alone eight! I think I responded to those of you who I could PM, but to the three who I couldn't:
ThatMelKid: Thanks xD
Fay: And here the chapter is :)
Guest: Hey there, and I'm sorry I fail at the 'soon' part of it, but thanks for the compliment :D
. . . Yes, I do realised that they all ended in some form of smiley face. It's just something I do.
Anyway, I made up a song to ask you for reviews in a fun way.
Hey, you just read this
And I might be crazy
I hope you're not lazy
And you'll review maybe
