Chapter 4

JASON

The forest was alive with the sound of tiny creatures and birds. They provided the melody I needed to move easily through the darkness unnoticed.

It was time to hunt now that I had the night all to myself and this was my playground and mine alone.

I weaved through the forest effortlessly avoiding trees and acquiring over my carefully hidden traps. It was the most dangerous place in the world for anyone that wasn't me to be.

I'd been scouting for hours and nothing yet. This only confirmed my suspicion that the forest was getting scanty. Something or someone else was hunting the animals too. Their end would be a slow painful one when I get my hands on them.

The boundary that separated my territory from another came into view. Crossing it would be seen as an act of war and I would have to battle with the unlucky bastard till one of us remained. I hadn't had a good meal in days and I was in no shape to start a fight.

Just then I smelled blood. Fresh blood. I moved with superhuman speed towards the target afraid that I might lose the scent or even worse, it might just be my imagination playing tricks on me.

I traced the scent up to the cliff and that was where I saw the form. It was a naked woman. She had been beaten up brutally and left for dead. She was barely breathing but she was alive nonetheless. Her blood was still fresh and I could taste it at the tip of my fangs as I pulled closer to her.

This was like a blessing from above finding a free meal just laying in wait for me to devour it without going through the usual burden of the hunt.

I bared my fangs moving my long brown hair away from my face enough to take a clean bite but then I stopped. There was something about her scent that was different. It was not like the others I had encountered. This was something special and I could feel it in my bones and the feeling made my blood sizzle.

I moved closer and flipped the woman enough to have a good look at her face. Her dark hair stuck to her head where blood was oozing from and for a moment I was tempted to have a taste. Just one taste from a drop of her blood would do.

Instead, I wiped it off and took a good look at her face. She was gorgeous with sharp features and a well-defined jawline. I felt something fascinating about her that made me stare long enough as I tried to think about what she must have done to deserve being brutalized and left in this desolate place for dead.

I shrugged and picked her up as if she was made of feathers. She was a weak one. Obviously, that explained why she hadn't defended herself. I put her on my back and headed towards the route leading to my hut.

The feel of her naked body as I walked back made me feel uncomfortable. It was the first time since becoming a vampire I had been this close to a woman. The irony is that this woman was barely alive.

"Don't worry, little one. You'd be just fine." I said to her.

I wasn't sure if she'd be able to hear me but regardless I felt the need to talk to her to soothe her.

"I hope you don't mind eating frogs and apples. We have an endless supply of those around these parts." I said with a wry grin.

It would have been easier for me to survive if frogs and apples were part of my diet but touching things like that would only make me sick. It was either blood or nothing.

We got to my cabin but before we entered inside, I went round to make sure the defenses I put in place were still active and none of the safeguards had been tampered with. It was only after I had satisfied myself that there had been no intruder that I moved in with the girl on my back.

I closed the door and as I was about to take her inside, she stirred. I froze thinking I had imagined it but her breathing pattern changed to prove it had happened.

I rushed inside as fast as I could and dropped her gently on the bed. She was still unconscious and didn't move. I stayed for a while watching bet and apart from her steady breathing, there was no other sign of life.

"Mmm... Still out, huh?" I said with a sigh. "Let's get you patched up."

I got up to leave and just as I turned, a hand grabbed hold of my right arm.

***

CASSANDRA

It went dark for a long time...

Was I dead? Had fate finally shown me mercy and offered me the one true path to eternal freedom?

I was in the void nothingness floating as an impartial specter. I couldn't affect or interact with my surroundings but I could feel and smell the warmth of it. The warmth of his presence.

A voice spoke reassuring words to me. Words that pulled me out of the emptiness. Of the dark abyss.

It pulled me out yet I was still trapped in the void. I could feel his warmth and presence stronger. The smell of berries warped my senses taking hold of me. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace. Maybe it was the peace of death.

"Mmm..."

"Still out, huh?" "Let's get -"

"You..."

"Patched up."

The voice was the same that had offered the reassuring words earlier. I could feel the presence about to leave and I willed my hand to move.

I knew I had grabbed hold of my savior but I couldn't do anything but hold on tight. Slowly, my eyes blinked and I could make out blurred images. The effort to try to focus on the images was too much for me and I slipped away back into the darkness.

"..."

"..."

I stirred.

"That's it." The voice said.

I followed the voice slowly back to consciousness. My eyes willed themselves to open and I met the same blurred image but this time it was brighter.

"I have to go now. Sunlight is almost here."

I wanted to scream out for the voice to wait just a minute but the presence disappeared as I drifted off again into the darkness.

*Dirkins! Dirkins, in here. Leave them for now, they'll be fine. I said they'll be fine dammit! She might be dead. I think so. Toss her body into the forest. Stop asking stupid questions you dim wit!*

I woke up with a painful jerk. Immediately, I cursed myself for moving so fast. My sides hurt badly and it took a moment for me to notice that underneath the plain cloth I was wearing, my ribs were heavily bandaged. It was dark already.

Slowly, I started to remember all that had happened to the point I had passed out naked on the cold floor of my room.

I jerked as I remembered I had been naked. Someone had found me, treated me, and even gone through the stress of dressing me up.

"Dressing you up wasn't really stressful."

I turned around instinctively looking at where the voice had come from. A man with long brown hair stood by the doorway with his arms folded. He looked dangerous and handsome which in my experience was a deadly combination but something about him gave me a sense of comfort.

His jaws were chiseled like the type of sketchy characters you read about in mafia novels. He stood very still that it looked as if the air around him too was still.

He had the scent of berries and dew. His skin was deathly pale and his eyes were a translucent blue that held me in a hypnotic spell for a while as I stayed staring at him.

I blushed, averting my eyes from his as I remembered what he had said.

"You found me," I said in a weak voice.

"Yeah. Barely alive. Who'd you piss off to get your ass kicked like that?" He asked with his brow raised.

I wasn't sure if I could trust him enough to tell him what happened. For all I know, he could be a staunch supporter of Alpha Smith who wouldn't hesitate to turn me in the very minute I told him everything.

"How long have I been here?" I asked holding my head. It felt like my brain was going to fall apart.

My head felt like it was going to explode any minute. There was a painful throbbing somewhere that made thinking an almost impossible task.

"Three days." He said.

This time his voice lost the edge it had before. He spoke softly and he gawked at me with worried eyes.

"You heal fast. Too fast to be human so tell me, what are you?" He asked raising a brow.

I shrugged. "Human. I guess."

Even though I had lived with werewolves in the Bleaming pack, I was human (since I had not experienced any transformation or signs to show I was a werewolf).

"You don't sound so sure. Care to elaborate?"

Of course, I wasn't sure. But if werewolves were anything like Alpha Smith then I was human.

"I'm human," I said with some finality.

He nodded. My head throbbed badly. He could tell by the way I winced leaning to one side of the bed. He stretched out his hand offering me a pill and I accepted it. He held a glass up to my mouth as I swallowed the pill and took a sip from the glass.

"Mind telling me how you got to the point I had found you?"

I shook my head. I wasn't ready to tell him anything until I was sure I could trust him.

The pain in my head reduced as the medication he had given me began to work. I took a look around the room and noticed the heavy curtains. There was only one window in the room and the house was built with a low ceiling. Somehow he was taking extra precautions to make sure he was hidden. Not hidden. He was keeping out sunlight.

"Are you a vampire?" I asked gasping.

He shrugged. "I guess."

I gave him a weak smile. It was the first time I was coming across one of his kind. The Bleaming Pack hated vampires and I was sure Alpha Smith wasn't associated with any vampire. He hated them just as much as his Father did. It gave me little hope knowing I could trust him.

Suddenly, I felt lightheaded. The world around me spun and I lost my sense of direction. My vision skipped and my eyes got heavy as lead.

"What did you give me?" I asked as I clawed at my throat.

"Calm down little one. It's not poison. Just a little something to help you sleep while I decide what to do with you."

I saw the smile on his face as I cursed softly.

"You, I will- "

It all went dark; again...