Chapter 13

Bite of the Nightwalker

I could see Max trembling in fear, and tears were coming from Elly's eyes. The vampire approached them slowly, walking past me. My breath was coming in heavy pants and there was a voice in my mind screaming to run.

But I couldn't leave Max and Elly alone to die. I frantically looked around for something….anything that could hit the vampire.

"Move." The nightwalker ordered of Elly. She cried out and flung herself to the side onto the ground. Then she clumsily crawled over to me and started crying hysterically. I couldn't help but glare at her. My eyes fell on the nightwalker and Max.

Max stepped back, and the nightwalker began to circle him, like a vulture studying his prey. He was trying to act brave, but Max was sweating slightly and his body was trembling even more so. If Elly or I didn't do anything, Max was going to die. And I was sure that Elly wasn't in a state to do anything right now. My eyes landed on a thick tree branch near the burnt out fire.

Damn. If only the fire had still been burning. I heard a rustle, and then Max choked in pain. I quickly looked over, my eyes widening. The nightwalker had Max nearly a foot into the air by the throat. He was scratching at the nightwalker's wrist, trying to suck in a breath.

I shoved Elly off of me and ran to the branch. It was much heavier than it looked, but like I said, I was physically strong. I heaved it over my shoulder and made my way to the Max and the vampire.

The vampire sent me a sidelong glance, his eyes narrowing. "I suggest you keep that poor excuse for a weapon on your shoulder, or I'll snap your friends' neck." he warned, tightening his fingers. Max's face went bright red. I froze.

"Stop! Leave him alone!" I cried out in a demand. "I'm the one you want! I'm the one who escaped from you! He only helped me a little bit!"

The nightwalker smirked. "Oh, yes, I know. He's the appetizer."

My mouth gaped. Elly's crying deepened. "S-so then what am I?" I asked, my voice wavering.

"You're dessert. You appear the most voluptuous, so why not?" he asked.

"Let. Him. Go." I hissed between clenched teeth, ignoring him.

"What will I get in return if you won't let me kill him? Hand me the girl?"

My eyes landed on Elly. She was curled into a ball, her face burying into her knees. I shook my head. "I won't let you have either of them. Take me, if you really want something!" I told him.

The vampire dropped Max. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The branch in my hands suddenly felt even heavier. The nightwalker began walking slowly towards me. "Why do you protect them? Humans would usually run away at first sight of me." he purred.

I didn't move….no, I couldn't move from my spot. His eyes were locked onto mine, and it was if my body had froze unintentionally. "It might be because I have some alcohol in my system." I muttered, feeling stupid on the inside.

The nightwalker ran the back of his bloodied hand over my cheek. "Blaming the alcohol?" he mused, running his index fingers over my lips. I glared at him.

"Leave us alone. You've had your meal tonight. You already killed somebody innocent." I said, motioning over to the dead body of Max's friend with my head. Nothing else would move. The nightwalker didn't so much as even glance at the dead body. Instead, he grabbed the branch from my grasp and flung it behind him. Then he wrapped both his hands around my neck loosely. It was if he got off on that kind of stuff. His thumbs casually stroked my jaw.

"You are so loyal, you know that? I could turn you into one of us, and you could be my bride. I can give you an eternity of life and love." he murmured, his hands slightly tightening around my neck. My heart was pounding furiously against my chest, and I could feel my blood pumping through my veins erratically.

"I love my friends. Of course I'm loyal to them. And…I don't want to be your bride. Somebody like you could never love anybody!" I spat, and as if like magic, my body moved. My hand came up and slapped him across the cheek. I knew it was the alcohol, because I could feel it buzzing at the back of my brain.

The nightwalker didn't hesitate to retaliate. His hands went from my throat to my shoulders, and he shoved me back into a tree. I let out a pained whoosh of breath as my back slammed into it. Then he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my neck to the side. I groaned in pain from the whiplash.

Before I could do anything, he bit deep into my shoulder. I screamed out in pain. It felt like a dozen bee stings in just that one area. My arm went numb, and my head lolled to the opposite side in a daze. The world spun around me from the pain.

I barely saw Elly come out of nowhere with the tree branch.

She slammed it upside the vampire's head, and he ripped his fangs from my throat. I crumbled to the ground, my whole neck numbed and bloody. My hand went to the wound, and came back to my vision covered in blood. Oh God, I was going to bleed to death.

"You little bitch!" the nightwalker snarled, turning towards Elly. She had hit him hard, I realized, because there was a trickle of dark, thick blood streaming down the side of his face.

Elly's face hardened. She no longer looked like the fearful, Alec lover. In fact, it looked like my best friend was back. The one who also loved danger. "Oh shut up, you hideous blood sucker! Alec is going to kick your ass when he gets here!" She held up her phone with a satisfied smirk on her face. For a moment, the nightwalker looked shocked.

Then he went emotionless. He looked down to me. "I'm not finished with you." he stated, and then turned and practically teleported out of the clearing. Elly dropped the branch and ran over to me. Max was just moving, I saw out of the corner of my eye. I let out a breath of relief.

They were okay.

Tears brimmed my eyes as Elly ripped off her jacket and wrapped it tightly over my flesh wound. "Stay awake, at least until everyone get's here! They'll help you, I promise!"

"You aren't shocked at finding a vampire…?" I asked in confusion. Elly shook her head.

"A little bit, but I think I'll manage to get over it…" she trailed off, eyeing my wound. She grimaced. "That's hideous."

I rolled my eyes and gave a weak smile. "Yeah, thanks for being honest." My eyes drifted closed, and I felt extremely tired all of a sudden. I wearily glanced down at my hand, and I noticed my skin looked sickly pale. "Is this where I die?"

Elly didn't have a chance to reply, because six figures approached us quickly. Six? Since when were there six of them…?

"Ava!" I heard Lukas's anxious voice. My eyes fluttered closed and then open again, just in time to See Lukas and Rylan lean down next to me. Brent was over by Max, and Alec and Claude was with Elly. The sixth figure stood a ways away, the shadows cast over them void of the moonlight. Was that Cassidy?

I was being lifted into somebody's arms, but I couldn't tell whose because I had already fallen into a deep slumber.

I woke up in my bed at the Darquecaster's. "Ugh…" I mumbled, attempting to sit up. I felt so weak and shaky. My door opened suddenly, and Alec walked in. He looked at me and paused.

"You're awake." he commented. "I need to change your bandage before we get you anything to eat and drink." As he spoke, he walked toward me, and I warily looked down at myself. I wasn't very shocked to find that I was only clad in my bra and a pair of shorts. On my right shoulder, where the nightwalker had bit me, was white bandages wrapped around my shoulder, neck and underneath my arm.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked dazedly, watching the ceiling as Alec began unwrapping the cloths. I was so nauseas and light-headed that I didn't care that Alec had a full view of my cleavage and stomach. I was glad that he tried to avoid touching my skin.

"Two and a half days. You haven't eaten anything, so you're probably feeling weaker than usual.." he said, carefully wiping up the dried blood on my shoulder.

"I feel like I could vomit all over you right now." I muttered dryly. Alec snorted.

"The only thing that would come out is your stomach, so try not to." he warned, and began rewrapping my shoulder. "I'm surprised you lived through that. You lost a full liter of blood. Any more and you would have had to go to the hospital."

"He wanted to make me his wife."

Alec stopped wrapping for a moment, eyeing me curiously. "I don't see why. The only thing you have going for you are your eyes. Your body doesn't have enough curves, your breasts are too small, and your hair isn't soft and tame like Elly's. Though your lips are just as full and kissable."

"I love being compared to her." I said sarcastically. Alec smirked.

"I see you're the same Ava." he noted. "Joshua and Becca will be coming by later to visit you. They didn't leave your side for over thirty hours."

I looked at him in surprise. They stayed in here for that long? I hoped they had slept… I would feel bad if they hadn't. There was a long silence between Alec and I as he tightened the bandages securely. The he picked up the old, bloody cloths and tossed them into the garbage can set next to my bed.

"Cassidy is here." he suddenly said. I looked up, startled.

"Your mother, right?"

He gave a curt nod. "She isn't very happy that we're homing a human. Now that Elly knows what we are, her and Max will be here more often." he told me.

I groaned. "Great, now she's going to be head over heels in love with you even more."

"Actually, she wont come near me." Alec corrected. My eyebrows shot up in surprise. Then I smirked.

"What, afraid you might rip her to shreds?" I joked. Alec looked at me seriously.

"I can't blame her. Though what you did back in the clearing, saving them and all, was extremely brave of you. She wants to prove herself and help us kill the nightwalker. That's the only reason she's sticking around."

"It's too dangerous for her or Max. They need to go home." I ordered, sitting all the way up, using the headboard as leverage. The red netting around my bed had been removed. Alec sat down beside me.

"I realize that, but they can be used as bait."

I turned to him in anger. "You aren't using my friends as bait! That nightwalker doesn't hesitate! He'll kill them without remorse!" I hissed. Alec raised an eyebrow.

"It isn't your choice. Cassidy is here. She will track him down, and we'll use Max and Elly to get him to a certain place and time so that the rest of us can kill him."

I grabbed his arm as best as I could without hurting my shoulder. When my hands touched his bare arm, he snapped his gaze to look at me in surprise. I felt a familiar warmth in my stomach, and I stared at him for a long moment.

"What?" he asked in irritation, pulling away from me.

I snapped out of my daze and narrowed my eyes. "As long as you keep them safe. Then what do I do?" I demanded.

Alec slid to his feet off the bed and turned away from me. "You're still wounded and weak. You won't be doing anything. I'm going to go get Claude to cook you something to eat."

And with that, he let me be alone. I stared after him, shocked. After all this time of hard work and knowing about them being vampires, I can't fight in the end. What. The. Hell?

I laid awake, staring in boredom at the ceiling and going over the scary events of that night with the nightwalker for almost an hour. Someone knocked on my door.

"Come in." I muttered.

It opened, and I didn't have to look to know it was Alec.

"Just set it on the table and leave." I ordered harshly, motioning to my bedside table.

"Wow, harsh." Lukas's voice said. I looked over in surprise. Sure enough, it was Lukas and he was carrying a tray with a bowl of soup and a full glass of water. He smiled at me and I returned it. "Everyone's glad to know you're okay. Claude made you his special vegetable and chicken soup."

I sat up and took the tray from him. He sat down on the edge of my bed and looked over me. I glared at him. He had left my door wide open and I was still wearing only a bra.

"I'm not embarrassed, surprisingly." I told him, not bothering to cover myself.

"You shouldn't be. I've seen it all before." he said, grinning. I rolled my eyes and gingerly taste-tested the soup. It was delicious. Lukas stayed by me as I ate. "Well, later today, if you're feeling better, we want you to meet mother."

I glanced up at him. "Alec said she isn't happy about me."

Lukas grimaced. "Not exactly. She hasn't really been around humans other than to feed off of them…so she doesn't know how to converse with one normally."

I rolled my eyes. "It isn't that hard. Can't she just pretend that I'm a vampire?"

Lukas chuckled. "You aren't nearly as strong as one of us, nor are you as beautiful."

I snorted, almost choking on my soup. "Your heads going to inflate." I warned him.

He looked slightly confused. "Why?" he asked obliviously. I stared at him with an "are you stupid" look. Then he smirked and shook his head. "My head couldn't inflate because I have you to suck out the air."

And with that, he leaned forward and before I could pull away, he pressed his lips to mine. I nearly spilled the soup and water as he pushed me slightly back. His right hand touched the nape of my uninjured neck, and his other hand touched the top of my breast, right above the hem of my bra. I hesitantly kissed back, suddenly unsure of what…or who I wanted. His tongue met mine and my world nearly closed down. It would have, had not right when I began to close my eyes, I saw Alec at our doorway staring at us in…shock?

I quickly pushed Lukas away with a sharp inhale of breath. "Stop!" I gasped. Lukas pulled back and smiled at me apologetically. I looked back to my doorway, but Alec was gone. Had he really just seen us kissing? And if he did….why did I care? It wasn't like I liked him or anything…

"You're right. I should probably wait until you're healed." Lukas winked at me and stood up. "Go ahead and finish your meal and I'll come back up to take it down."

"Uh, actually, send Brent up here instead. I have to talk to him about something at school." I lied. Lukas peered at me curiously a moment, and then shrugged.

"Alright then." He then turned and left the room, closing the door halfway. I calmed my breathing and willed myself just to stop thinking about Alec. Why had I pulled away when I saw him?

I glared angrily at my soup. "I'll blame you for this." I muttered under my breath, then rolled my eyes and continued eating.