Blood Rose (Vampire/Ballerina Book 1)

Chapter 21: BitterSweet

KOTA

I tap into my past memory. Which I didn't know I could do. I guess my rage has a strong will. I revisited the campsite and apply my enhanced senses. My human eyes were too low grade to peer beyond the darkness. The firelight glared brighter in my mortal phase. In my immortal phase, I see the blackness of the night clearly. 

The face of my enemy is just as I would have imagined. A snarled, vicious one. A glint of joy in his smile. His pure red eyes burn as flames of hell would. The smirk of dominance. With complete disregard for human life. As if we were just packs of hot meat. I don't choose to kill...this devilish man does.

Kota fixate one drawing he produced. Now he has a face to place to his suffering. A face to target his wrath to. Since he cannot sleep as a vampire, he spends the night glaring at the drawing in his bedroom. There's no light on in the tiny room, only the source of the moon shines.

Kayla must be able to give me a location on this beast. It'll be difficult to ask, since we're not allowed to be alone. Father most likely still feels that it'll be too overwhelming for her. My dad sticks to his word...which is annoying. I have to speak with her...alone.

The sound of digging breaks his attention. It's dawn. Kota realize how long he's been evil eyeing the paper. Time got away. He speeds to the window. Odina is digging up dirt framed by a wooden divider. It doesn't take him long to understand why. The soil is dead.

I hear its dry crumbling all the way from here. I hear the crackling particles. It has no nutrients. The dirt breaks apart in his mother's hands, which she uses as a shovel. Kota decides to go help. He dash down to her in less than a second.

"Oh, my!" Odina double takes.

"Sorry...you guys aren't used to that yet." He apologetically clench his teeth.

"Maybe give me a signal first."

"I'll whistle next time." Kota bends to help her dig out the ruined soil. "What are we planting?"

"Vegetables and fruits. I all but puked from the ones in the house. I can't believe your grandad is eating poison. I taste the chemicals."

"Wow..."

"So, a garden is ideal."

"It is." Kota sinks his palms deeper than his mother's, going a few feet in depth. "That sounds fun...I'll help."

"It'll be a family project." Odina rests her hands on her lap. "The problem is finding pure dirt. I'll look into purchasing imported soil."

"Or I could sniff it out for you...free of cost."

She raises her brows. "You can do that?"

Kota lets coarse dirt platter from his palms to the ground. "I hear the damage...plus, the smell is potent."

"What does it smell like?"

Kota sniffs, cyphering a gassy scent from the atmosphere. "Like...nitrogen."

Odina tries to whiff the air to distinguish the scent as he does, but fails. "That's remarkable!"

"Yeah...there are cool perks for what I am." He brags.

"True...but killing isn't one." His mother lectures. "I know you all too well, walela (hummingbird)." She shakes her head. "The drawing feeds your appetite to slaughter. I agree with justice...I wish to make that demon suffer. But you want to avenge your friends' deaths...and yours."

"Shouldn't I?"

Odina takes hold of his forearm. "No...sometimes we must forget in order to move on."