This chapter might be a little bit shorter than the first three, or maybe I just wrote it quicker so I feel like that? I know, I know, I need to find a happy medium in chapter lengths. But this will begin the real conflict in the story. Enjoy my readers! :) xoxo
Six months later...
For the first two months of Eve's school life, Selene had staked the place out to make sure no threat was around. After eight consecutive weeks of no danger in sight, she stopped going everyday and only went once a week. During her spare time, she thought about how the vampires had changed so much in the last decade. From the Chain of Viktor, Marcus, and Amelia and being strong covens in war with lycans, unseen by humans, to being nearly extinct, hiding from the world in underground tunnels, scavenging for food to survive. The idea nearly made her sick; somehow, though, she was still relieved that Viktor's dark secrets had been revealed and Marcus's insanity had been stopped. Most of all, she was happy to have Eve and Michael. Both were developing well among the humans and Selene felt a sense of pride as she watched her daughter develop, both mentally and physically. She was a bright young woman with a full life ahead of her.
Michael had been stealing bags of donated blood for them to drink, always slipping by unnoticed. Though Selene was a little on edge that no lycans or humans had tried to attack them, she was relieved to have a break from all the fighting and killing. After all, Eve was still so young - only thirteen - and she didn't need to see all that. Plus, she could tell that Michael really enjoyed blending in with humans; it made him remember the sanity of his human life, back before he had been exposed to the immortal war. Though Selene wasn't used to not fighting and it took her out of her comfort zone, she was glad for them, glad they were happy.
Eve settled comfortably at her usual lunch table with her new group of friends. Just like her father had said, making friends came naturally and she enjoyed the company of humans. Liam had sat with her since the first day she arrived, and she secretly enjoyed his company the most. However, she never told her parents of her new best friend because she didn't want them to worry that she might give their secret away. She always found a reason to why she didn't eat during the day, why people didn't come over to her house, and why she couldn't go out with everyone. She knew her parents weren't worried about her being out with humans, but they were worried that lycans might discover her when they weren't there to help. In a way, she felt it was unfair, but she would much rather give up being around humans than putting her parents in danger.
Her next two classes went by fairly quickly. For her last class, the teacher was having them dissect frogs, which made most of the girls either scream or cringe or both. Eve just laughed and wondered how they would have handled tearing the throat out of an old lycan or taking a lycan by the eyeballs and tearing its head apart. She handled the assignment with ease so she could leave early. She liked waiting outside for her mother to walk her home; sometimes other students would get out of class early and she could talk to them.
As she sat stood with her umberella against a light drizzle, she looked up and noticed a woman across the street looking at her. Eve knew instantly that she wasn't a vampire because of the tan complextion of her skin. Could she be a lycan? The way the short young woman with dark hair stared at her made her muscles tense a bit. She knew the difference between someone looking and someone watching. When the woman pulled an apple to her lips and took a bite, Eve relaxed a bit; she knew vampires and lycans couldn't eat human food. But the incident still had her adrenaline pumping. What if the woman was a human from Antigen, there to take them back to the wicked place?
"Boo!" Liam grabbed her shoulders from behind and laughed as Eve jumped. Eve thought it was no laughing matter; she looked down at her hands to see her claws retracting and she could feel her eyes changing back to their normal color. Thankfully he had been standing behind her and couldn't see her transformation almost take place at the shock of his prank.
"You scared me!" Eve nearly shouted.
"Whoa, sorry. I didn't know you were going to jump that hard." He looked at her with confusion.
"Sorry, it's not you. I was already kind of jumpy," she said.
"About what? I thought I saw you looking at something when I came out here," he said, looking in the direction of her previous stare. Eve too looked back to see if the woman was still there, but there was no trace of her. She debated whether or not to tell her mother about the incident, but decided against it. She was just a human; for all Eve knew, she was just weird and didn't realize she had been staring.
"It's nothing," she said casually as she saw Selene walking toward the gate, "There's my mother. I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled at Liam who waved to her.
"How was your day?" Selene asked.
"It was good. It's amazing how girls will squeal at the sight of a dead frog." Eve smiled lightly at the memory. She tried to not let her mother notice her periodic glances around to see if she could find the human woman, but Selene was no fool.
"What's wrong?" she asked, noticing her daughter's jumpiness.
"What do you mean?" Eve asked, trying to hide her anxiety.
"You can't lie to me," her mother replied, "I can tell something isn't right. Did you see someone? Was it a lycan?"
"No, it wasn't a..." Eve did double-take as she caught sight of the woman in an alley, still watching her and her mother. When Selene looked up and saw the woman, she immediately went into defense mode. Eve didn't have to say anything for her to know that the woman had been following them. Before a single second could pass, Selene had the woman slammed against a brick wall, her eyes flashed blue.
"Why are you following us?" Selene asked in a deadly tone. Eve's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she tried to think of what to tell her mother. Had she just given them away by showing her strength and eyes to this human?
"Mum, no!" Selene turned as she heard Eve's pleading voice, "She's a human! I saw...I saw her eat an apple." Selene's eyes widened in confusion as she looked at the woman whose arms she had pinned against the wall. Her feet were no longer on the ground. She mentally cursed herself for getting so sloppy; she had probably just given their identities away. What would they do now? Maybe she would have to kill this woman to protect her family.
Something wasn't right though. Both Selene and the woman were soaked since both had dropped their umberellas, but the woman showed no shock at Selene's reaction. It was almost...expected.
"Well," the woman said, finally speaking up, "you're half right." Her eyes flashed blue, but instead of the cold icy blue that Selene knew as a vampire's, her eyes were dark, almost navy in color, but they glowed.
"What are you?" Selene asked, suddenly aware that she was not holding a human.
"Why don't you put me down before someone notices. We're still near the street," the woman said calmly. Selene did as she was asked and set the woman back on her feet. Only then did she notice just how short she was; only a couple inches taller than five feet. "Let's go somewhere we can talk. My car is right up the street." Selene motioned for Eve and they followed the little woman to a black sedan with tinted windows, where they got in the back seat.
"Samuel," the woman said to the driver, "take us to their apartment complex please."
"How long have you known about us?" Selene asked, worried that she might not be the only one.
"Long enough. I've been tracking you down since you escaped from Antigen, but I just recently figured out exactly where you are. John Anderson really is great at what he does." Selene didn't like how this woman knew so much about them and she knew nothing about her.
"Who are you?" Selene asked.
"Oh, forgive me. I've forgotten my manners. My name is Monica Linskey. I know you're wondering what I am too because of my eyes; I'm a half-breed, the only one of my kind that I know of." She spoke with pride about her origins. "I'm half vampire-half human. Pretty cool, huh?"
"How is that possible?" Selene asked.
"I'm not sure. As far as anyone can tell, it was just a miracle...or maybe a freak of nature."
"What do you want with us?"
"Well," Monica said, "that's a complex question. Let me start by saying that my father is the new owner of Ziodex Industries." Selene remembered the name of the formerly vampire-owned company that cloned blood so they could all feed and make money at the same time. The government had discovered that all the staff involved were vampires, so they temporarily shut it down and put it back on the market. She didn't like where this conversation was going.
Monica continued, "If the vampires are ever going to have a chance in hell at winning this war, they're going to need a lot more than the weapons and numbers they have. We've found all the covens that we can before the humans and hid them at my father's mansion so they can regroup and become stronger." Selene wondered why they hadn't found David's coven yet...perhaps they had and she didn't know. She hadn't spoken to David in over six months.
"What about a coven with a leader by the name of Thomas?" Selene asked.
"I've been looking for them for years and can't find them. I suppose they're the best hiders I've ever seen among vampires. Why, have you seen them? You must take me to them so I can help them get to a real safe shelter where they'll never be discovered, at least not until vampires are ready to attack."
Selene's mind was racing with different thoughts. She wasn't even sure she could trust this woman.
"I'm not sure," she said, "that they would appreciate me giving their location away to a complete stranger."
"Of course," Monica replied. They stopped in front of the family's apartment building, and Monica told the driver to wait for her.
"Do you mind if I come in?" she asked. Selene shook her head as Monica said, "I believe Michael should be home. There's much more we need to discuss." She followed the pair as they went up the stairs to their apartment. When they went inside, Michael was already sitting on the couch watching television. When he saw Selene and Eve, his face lit up, but then he saw Monica and his features became dark with confusion.
"What's going on?" he asked Selene.
"This is Monica Linskey, she's a half-breed."
"Another hybrid?" Michael asked, shocked.
"Not exactly," Selene said, "She's half human-half vampire."
"What?" Michael asked, not believing what she was telling him.
"Yep, it's true," Monica said, speaking up. She extended her hand to shake his as she said, "Forgive me if this sounds a little eerie, but I've been watching you guys, and I need your help."
"How so?" Michael asked. They sat down so Monica could finish what she wanted to say.
"As I've told Selene and Eve, my father is the new owner of Ziodex Industries. We clone blood for hospitals and rescue teams. However, my mother was a vampire, and my father cares very dearly for them. He knows they're not all monsters and many are better people than most humans."
"Your mother was a vampire?" Michael asked, noticing Monica's past-tense verb.
"Yes...she died a long time ago, during the purge," Monica's voice lowered as she had to remember the death of her mother, "They dragged her out into the street where the sun was shining and she just...burned; right there, in front of my own eyes. I couldn't do anything back then. I was only ten."
"Jesus Christ," Michael said as he exhaled. The purge really did affect everyone.
"So you see now why I fight so hard to aid the vampires," Monica said, a bit of depression still in her voice.
"How can we help you?" Selene asked.
"Many of the vampires in my father's mansion will do whatever it takes to win this war, even becoming a hybrid...the thing is, we're going to need a combination of your blood and clone it to inject into the vampires to make them immune to sunlight. In a sense, we're copying Antigen, but we're not going to just take you against your will and we definitely won't take your blood unless you allow it."
Selene and Michael both caught the "combination of your blood" part of Monica's speech, and they knew what that meant. She didn't need their blood, she needed Eve's.