The Realm of Truth (Book 1) [In the process of editing]

Chapter 20: Hide and Seek

(Damien's POV)~

Odette burst out through the door before I could say anything else, and I was starting to fear for the monster inside of her - not of it. "She's going to keep killing more and more people if we don't stop her." Esme spoke up, and I looked at her saying, "Oh, really? You think?" I followed Esme and she looked around the main road. The streets were somewhat cleared off and it was just us now with the exception of a few stragglers walking around.

I jumped when I heard a scream from a woman a block over. We turned on Central Street and in the middle of the road, Odette was there, her teeth sinking into the woman's wrist. The woman was lying on the ground with her car headlights on behind them. I could just make out the pool of blood surrounding them both.

I looked over at Odette, horrified. Even with the headlights on, it made Odette look like the grudge, and blood smeared over her mouth. "Terrified of me now, aren't you, Damien?" Odette asked in a cool and deadly tone. "Well, this is what you wanted, right? You wanted to be with me forever?" She snarled as she moved on to a different part of the woman's body to feed. "Take what you will, Damien. I'm a killer. Cold blooded killer."

"I still don't want that to be true." I denied, shaking my head at her. "You're also someone who doesn't want to take on the lives of the innocent...but we see where that has gotten." I could see her glowing eyes, and I watched her movements carefully. We were going to take a step forward, until she escaped on us again.

"Dammit, Odette!" I cursed, and she went further down the road to kill someone else. I looked at Esme. "I don't know what else to do!"

"Just keep her distracted and talking." Esme ordered. "I'll handle the rest. You go down that road and follow her tracks, and I'll come around the other side to trap her."

"What the heck are you going to do?" I questioned, and she eyed me. I shut up afterwards as I knew better than to argue with a 500 year old witch. It still surprised me, considering the fact that Esme looked really pretty and young for her age.

After a moment of running down Essex street, I stopped to take a breather. I bent over with my hands over my legs and I wanted to collapse. I was starving, and I knew the diner was curious why we ran out like that, but oh well.

There, I stood also feeling guilty, for giving Odette my blood. If I hadn't given her my blood, she would've been fine. However, she would also not be as strong or fast as she is now. I kept pushing forward until I heard something feeding - or someone feasting close by. I walked closer to the sound and then I turned to some back alley. "So...how many people have you killed so far, Odette?" I asked, with my arms crossed. "You couldn't stop to think about how many people's lives you stolen?"

"Shut up, Damien." she said. "And to tell you the truth, it's been about 5 people so far. Men, women, children. Some protected each other, but I was too fast for them. I snapped their necks and drained them of their blood. It was easy."

"Geeze, woman." I mumbled. "Can't control yourself, huh? It's been about a century, so you know...you had it coming in you."

She tossed the dead body of a man in his 20s aside and stood up to face me. Her hair was all over the place, and I saw her amulet dangling from her neck with the dreamcatcher I gave her for her birthday. I frowned. Did that thing ever work for her? I told myself that it probably did, and she just never told me. It was probably one of the only secrets she's kept to herself...

I sighed, reminding myself that I still love her, no matter what has happened so far to us. I love Odette so much and didn't care about the monster that was dormant in her for so long. She's fierce, and she was also the kindest person I've ever met in my life. I was the only one who ever understood her, but right now, I'm at loss.

"Come on, Odette." I said, motioning my head to beckon her over. "Let's go."

She pounced on me. I held up my forearm to stop her fangs from baring at me. I tried to stop her with what strength I had, but mine was no match for hers. We struggled together, and I was wondering where Esme was.

"Esme." I muttered, feeling my forearm push back down to me. "Any time now..."

Suddenly, Odette started screaming, and she curled into a ball beside me. My eyes were widened and it scared the heck out of me. Her screams pierced through the night and luckily every diner beside us, was closed. No one was around now.

I soothed her to calm down, and I held her. I heard someone speaking in Latin, and I looked over to see Esme staring at Odette as she walked over to us. "The blades!" Odette shrieked. "Please, make it stop!"

Blades?

I knew that Esme was inflicting a stronger pain on her to stop her from doing anything else because I didn't feel anything like that. To me, it felt like needles. I held Odette's hand, and she still screamed in agony. Honestly, when she squeezed my hand back, it felt like my hand was going to break.

She tried to bang her head down on the street several times as if she could get rid of the pain herself. "Esme." I said. "Stop, you can stop now." She looked at me out of her tranced state and nodded. Odette collapsed on the ground and started shaking. "Odette?" I turned her over and her eyes were closed, her expression was filled with stressed. I lifted her up and I pulled her towards me to hug her. "You're okay now. It's just us."

Odette held on to my jacket and didn't want to see the damage she had caused. I knew she was blaming herself for what she's done, but we didn't say anything. I stood up, and I lifted her up in my arms to carry her. Esme followed closely, and we just headed back to the diner to pick up our food for takeout. I stayed outside the diner with Odette so she wouldn't have to see anymore innocent people.

When Esme came back, she offered us to go back to the old building to stay in for the night. "There's something else I need to tell you both about." Esme said after I settled Odette down on the floor upstairs. I had everything prepared with the blankets upstairs that Esme gave, so all I had to do was just set her down. "The vampires here in Salem. She's not alone. There are others out there waiting for her so when she wakes, I can explain everything."