OK so this is a new chapter!
Thank you all who review/follow/favorite the story! As well as those who just read it!
Look at me! Updating twice! This is because I don't want to do any of my homework if I'm being honest and I also know like exactly what I want to do with this story. Hopefully I stay motivated! Anywho, heads up imma gonna be a bit sad in this chapter. Oh well.
Onto the chapter!
"Alright," Trevor huffed out. "Let's stop here for the night. I doubt we'll be able to travel far once the sun sets."
"Why?" Adrian asked as he popped his head out of the wagon.
Trevor waved his hand as he hopped off of the wagon. "Oh, you know. Night hordes and all that shit."
"Oh. Right." Adrian mumbled as his mouth pressed into a thin line. He pushed himself out of the wagon, one of his hands coming up to rub at his eyes with a yawn passing his lips.
"If you'd like, Adrian," Sypha spoke from where she was securing the horses to trees after detaching them from the wagon. "You could rest while we set up camp. I understand it has been a rather tiring day."
The dhampir bit his lip, eyes flashing down to the ground in thought.
"Don't worry, we'd wake you up to eat." Trevor huffed. "That is, what exactly do you eat? Do you need regular food or like, blood? Or some other shit?"
Adrian crossed his arms. "I can eat food." he huffed.
"So," Trevor drew out. "No blood then?"
"Well...no." Adrian shifted where he was standing as his hands clenched slightly on his arms. "My...my dad would take me out to hunt sometimes for fresh blood or otherwise he would just give me a bit from what he had."
"Hunt?" Trevor asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not humans." Adrian huffed as his anxiousness shifted to a defensiveness as he glared at the hunter. "I told you. I haven't hurt anyone!"
"I know," Sypha soothed, shooting a glare at Trevor. "I believe you. I'm sorry Trevor has such a narrow mind."
"Well, what am I supposed to assume when I'm told a vampire is going out to hunt?"
"Not all vampires feed on humans." Adrian grumbled. "My dad didn't like humans anyway. He liked to stay away from them. My mom said when she met him, he tried to make her leave before attacking her. She didn't leave, just walked into his house after knocking on his door." There was a faint smile on his face.
"Oh, that's so sweet!" Sypha cried, trying to picture the encounter.
"She's fucking insane." Trevor groaned.
"It sounds like she was determined and brave." Sypha shot back with a huff.
"Yes well, the insane wouldn't see the insane as insane, would they?" Trevor raised an eyebrow pointedly at the Speaker.
"You just don't see any of the good qualities in a person."
"No, I just see the obvious ones."
"You know, some of the most inspirational people were seen as insane."
"And you also have those who are just bat shit crazy. What with them spewing ridiculous ideas and shouting them at people as if that would make their craziness make more sense." Trevor stopped and furrowed his eyebrows. "Then again, guess that worked for the church, didn't it."
"Yes, well, I was more talking about people with actual ideas."
A laugh drew the humans to look over at the dhampir traveling with them. The young boy had a bright smile on his face and his golden eyes seemed to sparkle for the first time since they had saved him from those vampires. Sypha shot a look at Trevor and he made a point to look away from her and her knowing grin.
"So, Adrian, why was your mother there, if you don't mind me asking?" Sypha wondered, tilting her head at the boy, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"My mom said she had heard that my dad had a lot of knowledge on science and medicine, so she looked for him." Adrian let out a giggle. "Just banged on his door and said she would not leave until he taught her new ways to help people in her village. She was really good at healing. She and my dad would sometimes let me help them!"
"That's amazing!"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait." Trevor spoke up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You're saying that your human mother learned medicine from a fucking vampire? Can this fucking world get any crazier?"
"Trevor, would you please stop swearing so much?"
"See, you keep yelling at me, yet has anything changed?"
"No." She huffed. "I honestly don't know why I try."
"I couldn't tell you."
Sypha rolled her eyes. "One another note, a human learning from a vampire is not crazy. In fact, it makes sense since a vampire lives much longer than any human could, so they would clearly learn a lot of things throughout their life. They must have so much knowledge!" Her eyes shined as she thought of all she could learn from a vampire. "I would love to learn about what they know!"
"Assuming they don't kill you first." Trevor grunted.
"Not all vampires want to kill humans."
"No, but most do." Trevor shot back. "Otherwise, the Belmonts would not have been needed as much as they did. In fact, a vampire not wanting to either kill a human or keep a human as a pet is a rare thing to find, basically never heard of! Besides, assuming that the vampire cares enough to record stuff about humans, what would it do with information especially if they want to be isolated or, as I said before, just view humans as food?"
"My dad liked to keep knowledge." Adrian spoke up. "He said people forgot too much."
"Right, ok, sure. A keeper of knowledge for the people." Trevor grumbled as he rolled his eyes. "Ok, well, I'm done listening to madness. Oi, brat!"
Adrian jolted at the direct call to him, shifting to fully face the Belmont.
Trevor gestured with a nod to the woods around them. "Since you seem to still have energy and I don't want Sypha yelling at me for not feeding you right, how 'bout you come catch some food with me?"
"Really?" Golden eyes were wide in shock.
Trevor shrugged. "Why not? I mean, you don't have to."
"Ah, no! I'll come."
"Good."
"You better keep an eye on him." Sypha spoke up.
"Don't worry, I won't lose the brat." Trevor huffed as a hand pulled his sword from its sheath.
"I wasn't talking to you."
"Hey!"
Adrian laughed once more, his body the most relaxed it's been since his kidnapping. There was just something about the two of them that made him relax around them, despite one of the humans being hunter of his kind.
As Adrian moved to stand besides Trevor, he stopped the hunter before they could go into the woods. "Um, can I shift first? It's sometimes easier to hunt that way and that's how me and dad usually do it."
Trevor quirked a brow. "Sure, go crazy kid."
A fanged grin spread across the young face before a red light covered the boy and his body changed. The form shifted down to all fours and the bones seemed to warp. When the red light cleared, a small white wolf stood beside Trevor. It was clearly not yet full grown and Sypha could not help but coo at the sight of the pup.
"Hm, wondered if you could do anything like that." Trevor mumbled, getting the wolf to look up at him. "Though I have to say, you're not intimidating in this form either."
"He's adorable!" Sypha cried, rushing over to pat Adrian on the head, getting a look from the wolf.
"You realize he is still the half vampire brat, right?" Trevor huffed.
"Yes, but you can't deny he looks so cute like this!" Sypha gushed, and Adrian leaned slightly into the petting.
"Dear God, she's lost it."
"Adrian, can you bite him for me?"
"Hey!"
Sypha hummed softly to herself as she gathered the fuel for the fire. As she bent down to place the twigs into the growing pile of fuel, Trevor's voice reached her ears. Looking up from the pile of twigs and leaves, she looked towards the woods in the direction of the sound of her friend.
"You fucking brat!" Trevor's voice called from the rustling of the woods. "Those were my kills! Get back here!"
Placing her hands on her hips, Sypha watched as a white wolf pup burst from the bushes, tail wagging happily as it came running past with two rabbits hanging from its jaws. It dashed behind her legs just as the brunette hunter burst from the woods behind it, panting with two other rabbits in his hands.
"What are you doing?" Sypha asked with a giggle.
Trevor huffed. "That brat killed those before I could even though I hunted them down."
"Hm, is this true, Adrian?" Sypha laughed as she turned to face the wolf just as it turned back into a young teen, now holding the rabbits in his hands.
"No, it's not. I found them by myself." Adrian grumbled glaring at the older male. "He just happened to get there at the same time I did."
"Yeah, right."
"Sorry you were too slow." Adrian shot back with a smile.
"Too slow?" Trevor gaped. "If you, supposedly, got there first, then you're the slow one. So much for vampire speed."
"I'm half vampire," Adrian huffed. "And a kid. What does that say about you?"
"Alright, alright, children calm down." Sypha laughed. "Did you get a lot of food?"
"I'm not a child." Trevor grumbled before holding up the rabbit carcasses in his hands. "We got a good number. Enough meat to feel at least somewhat full." As he spoke, he moved to settle down on the ground and got out one of his smaller blades to prepare the rabbit.
"Can I help with the skinning?" Adrian asked, looking with large eyes as he moved to the hunter's side and placed his own rabbits down."
"Sure, why not." Trevor shrugged, "You know what to do?"
"Mhm." Adrian nodded, taking one of the rabbits and another of the hunter's blades.
Sypha smiled at the pair before turning to the pile of fuel she had been gathering. Grabbing a few bits from the pile, she put them towards what would be the center of their camp and twisted her fingers into the form she needed for the fire spell. With a quick motion, the smaller pile lit on fire.
Clapping her hands together, she sighed. "There, now we have a fire for the night."
"Worried about any of the horde finding us?" Trevor called over though he didn't sound concerned.
"It didn't matter the last few times."
"Just checking."
Sypha crossed her arms as she faced the two males. "I would rather be warm and waiting for an attack than cold and waiting for an attack." She then smirked. "Besides, we need it to cook the rabbits."
"Well, obviously I wasn't going to eat them raw."
"Well, you never know. You could be desperate."
"I have never been desperate enough to eat raw meat before." Then he tilted his head. "Enough to risk getting attacked? Sure. I mean, it was basically a regular occurance. But if I'm going to eat meat, I'm going to cook it."
"I don't know, what do you think Adrian?" Sypha turned her gaze to the young teen only to frown. The dhampir was frozen, golden gaze wide and far away, a glassy sheen to his eyes. Sypha followed that frozen gaze to the fire flickering at her feet, brow furrowing in concern. Looking back up at Adrian, she moves around the fire and begins walking towards him.
Even Trevor has stopped to look at the boy besides him, eyes looking to Sypha in uncertainty.
"Adrian?" She called softly, only to find no change in the boy's attitude. "Adrian, are you alright? Can you come back to me?"
She slowly approached the frozen boy, her hand reaching out to gently touch him on the shoulder. However, as soon as her hand made contact with the slim shoulder, the boy jolted to life with a terrified cry.
"Mom! No! No...No please! Mom!" He cried, tears falling from his eyes as he whipped away from Sypha. The two were quick to dodge the flailing arm that still clutched the knife he was using to skin the rabbits and Trevor acted quickly to grab the wrist and pull the blade from the trembling grasp. However, as his large hand curled around the pale wrist, Adrian's scream grew and he almost seem to scream in pain and flinch away from something the two could not see.
"Mom! Mom! NOO! No, mo-mother!"
"Adrian! Adrian, it's alright!" Sypha cried out as she attempted to get close to the terrified child, but his eyes would not look away from the flames.
"Shit." Trevor cursed, his hand remaining tight on the dhampir as he didn't want to risk the boy running in his state. From where they had been preparing the rabbits, he was two far to kick dirt on the fire to put it out. His blue eyes flashed to where Sypha was attempting to call to the boy, but he knew that it wouldn't get through. Reacting quickly, Trevor pulled the boy to his chest and covered him with the long cloak he had around his shoulders, hiding the flames from the young teen's sight.
He shifted his arms. The free one kept the struggling dhampir to his chest despite the strong struggles that came from the kid. He had to use all of his strength to keep him against him. His other hand held tight in his cloak and he bundled the boy up against him and within the depths of the fabric.
"Alright, easy now." Trevor grunted as a fist hit him in the chest but only tightened his grasp. His eyes flashed up at Sypha and he snapped, "Put the fire out."
The Speaker was clearly at war with herself as she was forced to turn away from the terrified dhampir, but she nodded and with quick fingers, put out the fire.
"Alright, calm down." Trevor muttered to the bundle of fear in his lap. God, he was not cut out for this. "Easy now."
"M-Mom!"
"I know, I know." Sadly, he did know. This kid's fear was all too familiar to him. "But...but everything is alright now. Or at least, it will be."
A whimper and then a fist curled into his shirt. "...Dad?"
"Uhhh…" Trevor froze, eyes snapping up to Sypha who only motioned with her hands down to Adrian with worry clear in her eyes.
"Dad...I-I want to go home."
Trevor swallowed. "Y-Yeah...yeah of course. Sure...uh...just-just rest for now, ok? Just go to sleep and everything will be ok in the morning." Almost unconsciously, the hand curled around the boy's shoulders began to rub circles into his back. "Everything will be ok."
A sharp sniffle came from the otherwise now silent bundle. After a few minutes the trembling began to fade away and the body relaxed against the hunter's body. Waiting until he knew for sure the kid was out, Trevor then shifted his cloak so that they could both see the unconscious boy, tear tracks upon his cheeks.
Blue eyes met blue.
"Shit."
Yeah...we knew it was going to happen. Hey, did ya catch the parallel between Trevor and Dracula? Both at the end of their chapters? This may or may not happen again, I don't know, but it worked here so I went with it. The power of cloaks!
Anywho feel free to comment, ask questions, etc.
Until next time! :D