Chapter 7

There was green everywhere. Some covered in shadow, made into a glossy emerald in its health, some bathed in golden light to be a glistening lime. The bark was rich and mocha colored, rough under my hands as I brushed past it. We were silent in our pursuits; our breathing light, our steps even lighter. Romulus knew better than to leave a trail. We had looped around, leaving several false starts, zig-zagging around in the forest until the course of our path had become disorienting. On bended knee, we crawled forth over fallen limbs and long-dead leaves. The earth was rich beneath my hands. He was used to this kind of movement, and though my body adjusted to it well, it was still hard to keep down as low and understandably easily as he did.

He stopped and sniffed, fixing his gaze on the tawny hide of a deer limping ahead. I swallowed harshly; it had deep, red marks where it had been attacked by something else. It had been separated from its herd. As it shambled along, I could tell it was at a mental crossroads between finding its heard and knowing that it wouldn't. Nature wasn't kind to anyone. Even if it had escaped its predator, it was ready to be consumed by another. My stomach clenched, but there was a part of me that had grown stronger with the pack that understood without a doubt what we intended to do.

"I'll take down this one," Romulus breathed, barely audible to my heightened ears, "You find the herd."

I nodded, remaining still and silent. Surely it had heard us. When he stalked forward on his fours, his knees bent and elbows locked in a quadrupedal gait, I rose and took off in a silent dash. There was a chance the boys had found them before we had if this one was so far off.

I found the river and ran up the slick, smooth stones. Cool water rushed over my feet, soothing the slight ache that was still present despite their growing firmness. With a sharp lurch, I grabbed the sheer hillside where the river tumbled in a short fall, and launched myself upward.

For a second, I expected to be face to face with my pack, maybe a large cat or some other predator, but no. It was clear why the pack had fled, and I had launched myself straight in. Surprisingly, the vampires continued to feast undisturbed. My pulse increased like I had been cornered too, and I simply jumped over the carcasses and continued on. My friends wouldn't understand. There was something primal in us, some instinct in every hunter that needed to be sated. I didn't know if it was better or worse that they weren't necessarily feeding on people.

I found the fresh path of hooves and gave chase. It was a little shift, but my muscles uncoiled. It was easier to run, it felt more fluid. The wind caressed my hair and skin, a wind I was creating. I slowed with the progressive freshness of the trail, and I sensed another hunter near me.

It was funny. I'd always thought of the Belfry Prep vampires to be the type to catch the young and vulnerable and carve them into steaks like Hannibal. In my mind, they were too refined to hunt this way. They hunted with sexual hints, subtle glances, dragged their victims into alleyways and ripped them open. I caught the gentle glint of sunlight on blond hair and paused. I didn't even know why I'd thought that way, maybe I just anticipated that they had never done it before, even if they had probably spent the dark ages doing it themselves. I lowered myself and approached him slowly until we were side by side. He didn't seem to notice me, but I kept my guard. The herd was closely gathered; all looked healthy. None were too old. They'd been picked from before. I refused to catch a fawn. They were the ones occasionally straggling, and they didn't seem to hold any interest for the vampire beside me either. His eyes were transfixed on a four-pronged buck. I was partially waiting; if he attacked, it would scramble the herd, and I could take whatever didn't escape in time. He was waiting too, and he could wait very well. Eventually, the herd did grow more loose. The buck strayed toward us in search of more seed grass. His muscles locked. His body tensed and his eyes were transfixed on his chosen prey. There weren't any more near our space, and if I shifted, I would give away the both of us. I mentally cursed, knowing I'd have to chase the herd again.

He looked ready to attack when something small flew out of the woods and slammed it back towards us. The deer grew stiff and silent, looking around with frantic eyes. I leapt back, expecting it to thrash and fight, but instead, it was pinned between two vampires with a broken neck. I stared at it. I could feel the heat radiating from its furry, muscular body, and I tore my eyes up to its hunters.

Her hair was gathered back in a clustered wrap resembling a bun, pinned up with a pair of oriental clips. A simple, black undershirt encased her upper body, and for the first time I saw how her upper arms were at least mostly muscle. Her legs, I didn't know I had ever seen encased the way they were in her shorts, but her calves were muscled like a track star's. Gory Fangtell's eyes lifted to me and she nodded toward the herd. I didn't move. They could both sense my questioning, but her boyfriend found the main vein and sunk his fangs in, forcing her to prioritize their hunt before my answers. I withdrew my phone from my bra and checked the darkened screen.

Two for one. Back truck.
I didn't know if I wanted to cross back where the other vampires were hunting, and I didn't want his kill to go untreated, so I fibbed in a reply. Found others. Go on ahead, will meet you back soon. :)

By the time I had looked up, Gory had withdrawn. Her mouth was coated in red and it dripped down her chin. I glanced down at the deer and she nodded, motioning me after her. I stepped over her feeding lover and followed her into the deep greenery, for the first time trusting a vampire with my safety. She climbed nimbly over a log, revealing a pair of thin, easily-movable canvas shoes. She glanced back to me, "We'll take it back with us, you know. We don't hunt often."

"Neither do we," I replied. It was the first time I had ever seen her as my equal, and I had to admit, it was nice. She found the river from a different point, pausing by its bank to wash the blood and dirt from her skin. I hesitated; of course I was probably dirty, but it was a different kind of dirty. I felt like a child out in the forest; the dirt that got on my skin from interacting with the pack was a special kind of dirt. It didn't need to be washed off until I went home to act civilized around my family. Out here, we were young, wild and free. There was no government and there was no secrecy. We governed ourselves, and it was beautiful.

"It's beautiful," she murmured. I glanced at her with wide eyes, watching the water bead on her face. She paused, rising to her full height and stretching, her arms extending to their full wingspan to embrace the radiance above her. I watched curiously from my partial crouch at the riverbed.

When she lowered herself and seemed to come back to herself, I spoke. "Why doesn't your skin burn?"

"Sunscreen," she replied. She rolled her neck and shoulders, fixing her deep red eyes on my face, "Waterproof for two hours."

They hadn't been out long, then. I honestly didn't know how long I'd been gone, but it must've been a while. The sun's position had changed in the sky; out here, that felt like my only approximation of time. My phone remained tucked wherever I could hold it, only remembered when we were too far separated or when I resumed my civil mind.

She glanced at me, her eyes as curious as mine, "So...are you like them, or did you just adapt?"

"He's bitten me before," I replied. "I do not think I am capable of full transformation, but I was taking on the traits before...you know."

She nodded, "And now?"

I shrugged, "And now it is more. But I am still not human. I can only sharpen what I already have."

She nodded again, a stray lock of violet hair draping down beside her face. I rose to my two legs and waded out in the river. She followed on the rocky shore, seeming to watch me come back to myself as if it were a process that warranted her intrigue. The cold water on my skin reminded me of my cold home, that was all. It lulled the animal part of my self into returning to its dormant state. I wondered if my father would appreciate the hunting or the food. Somehow, we always shared. Between the pack, they could consume three or more, but they limited themselves to their scarce necessity.

"Do you eat deer?" I asked her, closing my eyes to feel the sun on my skin as I wandered across the silt banks under the water rushing around my calves.

"I'm not very discriminate in my food choices," she replied, "I do try to take them down as humanely as possible."

I shrugged, "Understand that people care about how animals are treated, but some part of nature has to stay, you know? Human is not stronger than bear, but bear and human can interact peacefully. Bear and human must both eat deer, and if human weak, it fair game for bear. Should not beat animals to death, or really even make house pet, but eating meat is not bad thing."

She smiled slightly, "Some animals make better pets than others. I'd love to have a baby tiger, but I couldn't expect it to stay with me all of its life."

"So move to place with baby tigers and keep safe. Help grow. Then baby tiger not be tied to you, but you get what you want too."

She offered her hand to me from shore, and I felt around with my foot before taking it. She seemed to know the deep points in the river better than I did, and I let her know that I was impressed with my eyes. She smiled, "We do live out here, you know. We come fishing sometimes. Wandering. It's nice."

It was nice to be far away from people. People made life so difficult when they had influence over each other. I looked at Gory with understanding, and she made no move to withdraw her hand from my own. I thought it might've been awkward to hold on, but the touch seemed to take the boundary away that had been in place so long between us.

"You want to be own person," I observed, "Away from them. Is why they look to you."

She laughed, "They never really looked to me, they looked to Bram. He got them to look to me. Either way, they don't really look to either of us for anything now."

"Is not bad thing, you equal now. See, there always have to be something making people not equal. Is nature's way. But some things are so stupid, like why people hate each other for eating or for girl liking other girl. Those are not good being unequal. But you and I, we rival bear and outdo human. Human will never rival bear without weapon, and bear do not use weapons. You see?"

She smiled at the ground. It was something I had seen too many girls do when they were told something that they believed wholeheartedly and yet would try to think differently toward anyway. "People are stupid enough to hate each other for everything." She looked up, meeting my eyes as we wandered along down the riverbank. She pulled me into the forest, so I knew we were approaching the steep hill again. "Do you hate me, Abbey?"

I shrugged, "Have never hated you. Not even in hospital. Fear you, yes, but not hate you. Is no point in hating you. You only do what you do because you are scared too." She swallowed visibly. I squeezed her hand, "Is okay to be scared, just do not have to be scared of me."

"You know, they say tigers are the most fierce in the moments before they're going to die," she murmured. "Because they're scared. Because it's their last-ditch effort to fight back."

"Must really like tigers," I observed.

She smiled, "I really do."

"Do you hate me?" I asked. She looked up at me with very expressive, very embarrassed eyes. They spoke absolutely nothing of hatred, just of a girl still growing, still trying to understand as intellectuals did. There was something in her eyes more ready to love than most people's eyes. It brought a little smile to my lips. It seemed like sometimes the people most ready to love were the people who loved and were loved the best.

"No," she whispered, as if I were stealing her voice. "I never hated you, Abbey, I never hated anyone. But you do know, your friends hurt me. And I was scared."

"I'm sorry," I replied. She could've let my apology go, and she could've let go of my hand, but she didn't and I knew she'd taken it to heart. Her boyfriend would take her home and make her happy the way it was okay in the eyes of other people to be happy, but I could tell that I had made her soul a little happier. She nodded. She understood what it was like to be really happy, and maybe it necessarily wasn't okay with other people for her to be happy. "Gory?" I asked in a softer tone. Her eyes lifted, and I squeezed her hand again, "Can you make me little promise?"

"Depends on what the promise is," she replied.

"Be happy today," I replied, "No matter what other people think of what make you happy."

Grace told me that I was very innocent in the way I saw the world, despite the fact that Romulus and I had done and been through a lot of very not-innocent things. I think Gory saw that too. A few quiet little tears ran down from her eyes, and I thought she was very pretty that way. Crying the way she was meant she was being very honest, and as we wandered for a very long time, that was all she did. She cried until her cheeks got very pink, and her eyes were very bright. And just before she stopped crying and wiping her face like crying was something to be ashamed of, she pulled me close to her and wrapped her arms very tightly around me. I held her tightly in return, brushing the little strand of violet hair away from her face. She really did look pretty this way with her bangs parted on her forehead. She was always very pretty, but this was a more natural pretty. It felt like she wasn't trying so hard.

"Okay," she muttered. I had almost forgot what I said, but when I remembered, I hugged her a little tighter. She repeated herself and let me go. Breaking contact made me realize that I had no ride to speak of, and I followed her back to a gravel parking lot where a large truck-car was pulling away. They had their hearse, and she slipped inside while her boyfriend sat on the hood and smoked a cigarette. He noticed that she had been crying and glanced at me, and I rubbed my neck. Deugi's truck was parked in the far spot, though, so I made my way towards it and sat down in the bed.

They pulled out of the parking lot a few minutes afterward, and I had to wait half an hour before the boys got back to their car.