Chapter 16: Runaway

The moonlight shimmered in the sky as the two immortals sat on a group of rocks. Their forms drew themselves over the grey stones, unmoving like statues.

Bree breathed. Her lungs grew and sank in a calming rhythm, taking in all the scents from the environment. She could smell the fresh scent of grass, the caressing floral odour coming from the flowers, and the various different creatures roaming at night. The most evident smell, however, was her friend's. Fred sat face-to-face with her, his eyes silently studying the starry sky.

They had run for two hours and finally stopped to take in what had happened. Neither of them seemed sure where to go or what to do now when their lives weren't actively in danger. They just sat silently, wondering what to say.

The silence was comforting. They didn't rush each other to talk, respecting each other's wants to spend some time in their own worlds.

An owl's scream disturbed their peace. It hooted ear piercingly loudly, only for the sound to stop suddenly. It startled the newborn. She looked around, stiffening her muscles, but nothing happened. She relaxed back into her mind.

Her brain twirled with new adventures, each more exciting than another. She finally had enough time to go to the places she had read about. A soft chuckle flew from her lips. It drifted into the air before fading fully.

Her mouth corners dropped as her memories took her back six days—to the day when Carlisle had given her multiple geography books. She wondered what had happened to them. Had the patriarch taken the books back to himself? Had he burned them? No, she doubted he would have done so. He didn't seem like a person who enjoyed burning books. The doctor had probably stashed them somewhere.

"Bree?"

The girl raised her gaze to Fred.

The boy grinned. His laughter rang in the sky as he opened his mouth in delight. "That poor owl. It sounded like it was dying. I wonder what was wrong with it. I really hope it didn't get killed!"

His reference to the weird owl brought a smile back to the young teen's lips. She giggled along with him. "Maybe someone did eat it."

"Don't say that! Who would eat such an intelligent bird?" The curly-haired vampire shaked his head disapprovingly.

"Well, the yellow-eyes could," she suggested. The other vampire looked at her in disbelief, not looking like he was buying what she had said, so she explained what she meant further "They drink animal blood. That's the reason their eyes are golden."

"Why on earth would they do that? That sounds disgusting." He rolled his eyes.

The sixteen-year-old shrugged, not feeling like explaining the weird habits of her capturers. She didn't want to describe their odd lives to her friend. He would surely be stunned from hearing about vampires who attempted to live like humans—paid bills, had a house, and most oddly worked at a hospital, of all the places in the work field.

"Did you have to taste one of the animals?" Fred asked. Curiosity and horror were plastered on his face as he leaned forward.

Bree's gaze darted away from the boy as she nodded. "Yes."

The other immortal gasped, his red eyes glued to her like a plague. "What did it taste like? Animals smell absolutely disgusting. Do they taste the same as they smell? I cannot imagine drinking from them. How did you do it?" Vampire's questions flew into the air as his shocked expression showed itself on his face.

The girl hadn't wanted to mention her temporary diet, but Fred's question had forced her to answer the dreaded question. She didn't want to lie to him, so she pondered what to say, not wanting to overexplain the dull taste of the animal blood. The specific animals she had tasted didn't have that good of a flavour compared to the juicy blood of humans. Her own thoughts became puzzled as she wondered did some other animal species taste better than the ones she had tasted?

She opened her lips. "I- I'm not sure what to say about their taste. It's duller and a lot less appealing than human blood, but then again, I have only tasted deer and elk. Other species might taste better than them."

"You need to get a proper meal when we get to a city," Fred said as his face twisted into disgust.

The brown-haired newborn nodded, moving her hands restlessly to lean against the solid rock she was sitting on. Its surface was hard and rough, as expected. Uneasiness bombarded her. It entwined her to itself, leaving her struggling in its unwanted grip. She didn't understand why the idea of hunting proper food again sent her emotions overboard. Human blood was delicious, unlike the flavourless animal equivalent. Had the yellow-eyes manipulated and brainwashed her discreetly to make her feel the way she did?

"Talking about cities, where should we go?" She changed the subject. They really needed to choose where to go next. Though it seemed tempting to stay here on the rocks, they needed to continue moving soon.

"We could go to Vancouver," Fred proposed.

The young teen hummed, deep in her thoughts. She tried to imagine where she could see herself travelling. Her friend's idea didn't seem bad. In fact, she really wanted to go there, but something inside of her told her to go to another place. She didn't think she was ready to leave the United States just yet; her instincts told her she should first do something before leaving her birth country's soil.

She bit her lips. "Can we go visit my father's house before leaving for Canada?"

"Sure, I suppose." The curly-haired boy raised his eyebrows. He tilted his head. "Why do you want to go there? Isn't it a bit...idiotic?"

Bree looked to the starry sky, her crimson eyes getting mesmerised by all the sparkling balls resting on the dark canvas. Hesitantly, she attempted to gather a reason for herself and for her friend for why she wished to go to the cursed house. She closed her eyelids, taking a breath in, and turned to face Fred. "I want to go see if I can steal some items for myself."

Her confession made the blond immortal smile. A chuckle left his mouth. "You do know that that wouldn't be considered stealing, right? It's your house. Well, your former home."

"Of course I do." The newborn rolled her eyes. Her face dropped to a more serious expression. "It's just that I don't really see it as my proper home, I guess."

Fred raised his eyebrows but stayed silent, not answering her words immediately. He glanced at the dark forest, changing the subject. "We should continue running. It's better to run at night than get stuck under the trees during the day."

The girl hummed affirmatively. Her gaze flipped to the canopy of trees, planning the route they could run to her home city. She hadn't been there for months. The idea of seeing it again made her stomach fill with sharp winged butterflies. They scratched her insides and pinched her organs, leaving no place untouched. She squirmed, getting up from the stone.

"We are still probably somewhere in Washington. How are we supposed to navigate our way to Idaho?" She pondered to herself, trying to figure out where exactly her former home was. After all, she couldn't lead Fred anywhere before knowing precisely where they were. If their location couldn't be found, they would have to stroll aimlessly in the forest, hoping to eventually find a landmark of some kind.

"I suggest we go find a road sign or a gas station." Fred said. "Both should be sufficient for our needs."

Bree nodded. She looked at her friend, wishing that they would end up seeing a road sign first. She didn't want to tell the boy, but she wasn't sure how well she'd be able to explore a gas station. Sure, it would be a night and not many humans would be inside of it, but the thought of being in a room with one of them caused shivers to go through her back. She didn't want to be forced to go too close to them. She only wanted to drink them as her meals, not chat with them.


The two immortals walked next to a silent road. Their silhouettes drew themselves to the hard asphalt as they strolled forward on its cracked surface. Neither of them had any rush to get to their destination, their senses telling them it was going to be unpleasant.

They had yet to see any road signs that would have helped them on their noble quest to get to the next stop of their journey. Bree was starting to get desperate. She hoped they'd soon find something. Anything was better than just walking silently on the road, wishing to find their saviour.

The wind ripped the strands of the newborn's brown hair, moving violently like trying to pull them out of her head. The weather was unexpectedly windy. She was not enjoying its slaps, which bolted across her face and body, leaving her feeling bare. The brewing storm in the sky worsened as clouds blocked the moon.

"So... um, you're originally from Idaho?" Fred tilted his head curiously, his gaze fixated on her.

"Kinda." The young girl affirmed. She was not originally from there but had moved to the state with her father when she had only been a toddler. The fact made her unsure whether she could say she was originally from there or if she should claim to be from the state she had been born in.

"Kinda? What do you mean by that?" The blond boy frowned, confused. He added more hastily "You don't, of course, need to tell me if you don't want to. I don't want to make you feel like you have to tell me about your past."

The teen gave the boy a smile. Her memories didn't let her remember anything from her birth state. She knew she had been born in Nevada from what her father had told her, but that was pretty much what she knew about the early stages of her childhood. "I moved to Idaho when I was about four. I was born in Nevada."

"Oh." Fred nodded. He sounded still intrigued. "That's nice for you, I guess. I bet it was nice to move."

She didn't say anything. She wasn't ready to reveal more about her past to her friend and wished to keep it locked away in her imaginary locket laying safely on her neck. Only she had the key to it, and she didn't want anyone else to get their hands on it without her permission.

The silence that had plagued them for half an hour came back. It greeted them happily, glad to be back tormenting them. The two continued walking on the asphalt. Their steps rumbled on the deathly silent road.

Minutes ticked by as Bree's shoes rose and fell on the grey surface. Their trusty bottoms kept her bare feet safe from the little rocks that tried to wiggle their way inside the materials of the sneakers. She had thrown her sock away. She hadn't liked them and figured they were useless. Vampires didn't need socks. They were made for human feet—for weak and easily cuttable soft flesh. She didn't need them to keep her own skin safe. It was made of marble-like material. An argument could be made about her not needing to wear shoes either, but she felt, for some reason, more uncomfortable about the thought of getting rid of them than the socks. Maybe she was so used to using them that she couldn't throw them away.

Further down the road, a building appeared. It merely looked like a small dot, but it was still definitely a building. The newborn swore it had to be the gas station.

As the immortals walked closer to it, her instinct became proven right. A foreign gas station rose before them. Its lights coloured the night and brightened the surrounding area with neon lights.

A lonely slow heartbeat pumped inside the station. It lulled the teenager, inviting her to get closer. To sneak to its owner and attack the victim. Her feet stopped in their place as venom pooled in her mouth.

"Bree, is everything alright?" Fred asked. He backtracked back to the younger vampire, his eyes full of worry.

"Yes," she answered. She redirected her crimson gaze towards the boy. "I'm sorry."

"Why?" He asked, bewildered. "You didn't do anything."

"I don't think I can go to the gas station." She bit her lips gently. Her lack of self-control against the bloodlust wasn't good. She didn't want to cause trouble by going inside the musty building. It was full of the human's scent, whose heartbeat she was able to distinguish.

"Why not?" The blond boy asked again. He raised one of his eyebrows.

She squirmed awkwardly. "I wouldn't be able to control my bloodlust."

"Why would you need to control it? Just kill the human. It's not like there is anyone else around to see you feeding on them." Fred rolled his eyes.

The young girl blinked, surprised, as his words dwelled on her. She hadn't thought about that. She didn't need to stop herself from killing the mammal. There was no one stopping her from doing so except her own mind. A rush of desire charged through her. She could kill the creature. It would be an easy target.

"Let's go! The sooner we get the map and start running to Idaho, the better. The sun is going to rise in five hours." The blond boy attempted to motivate her.

She sighed, taking a step forward. Her breath travelled inside her lungs, drawing more venom into her mouth.

The scent of delicious human blood tattered the air as she started moving towards the gas station. The closer it came, the stiffer she became. Her muscles contracted themselves in an attempt to keep her lust for blood in check.

The loud bell on the gas station's door rang as it swung open. Fred walked confidently in, not seeming to care if he attracted the attention of the human. Bree, on the other hand, walked more guardedly. Her pale hands were wildly caressing her throat, fear evident in her pupils.

She wandered inside rigidly, studying the small station with horror, like expecting a monster to jump from its shadows. It was quite a small building, as she had anticipated. It had a narrow aisle, accompanied by a few snack shelves placed along the way. A map rack was placed just next to a cash register.

The human was asleep. Its huge body slept peacefully, undisturbed by the noise created by the bell placed on the door. The mammal's black hair moved as it mumbled something about its mother getting a giraffe.

The human was having an odd dream. The newborn wondered what it was precisely about.

She had stopped breathing when she had walked inside the gas station. Not daring to disturb her lungs by making them move, she walked breathlessly closer to the human, keeping herself still three metres away when finally stopping.

Her ears picked up Fred's mutter about the maps he was currently ransacking. He didn't seem to enjoy finding the right one. The boy carelessly tossed the wrong pieces of paper on the floor, letting them smack against the cold concrete tiles.

Her focus went back to the mammal. It looked so calm in its sleep. She had never been this close to the creature without attacking. It was marvellous how she was still somewhat able to keep her mind sane regardless of the lurking instinct to kill the creature.

The teenager flipped her head towards the door. She held her desire to gulp as venom pooled in her mouth. The sweet substance rushed in, anticipating her next move.

Her eyes bounced back to the mammal. She took a hesitant step forward, feeling suddenly unsure of what she was about to do. She didn't want to kill the human. It looked so peaceful in its deep slumber, reminding her a bit of an otter.

She loved the small brown creatures. They were adorable. Maybe that was the reason why she didn't wish to hurt the human. Because it looked like an otter. The thought sounded plausible, so she closed her eyelids.

Her body turned away from the mammal boy as she took a shaking step away from it. Her bloodlust was screaming at her. Telling her that she needed to attack the boy immediately. It would have been so easy to just give in. To let the lust take hold of her and let the delicious red blood of the mortal flood inside of her, but she couldn't. She didn't want to hurt the otter-looking creature for some unknown reason.

She gritted her teeth as pain flared in her throat. Its desperate shouts continued their pleas as she made her way back to the front door. Brain-hazy from the bloodlust and the substance's thick scent seeping around her, she used all of her efforts to not turn around.

To Bree's utter shock, the human had stayed alive.