Within The Ash

Chapter 43

Clay's POV

The sky was dark and the stars had disappeared within the clouds. The rain poured like a shower. It was peaceful.

the scent of dragons blood filled the air and scared everybody in the camp.

Cain walked up to me with anxious movements.

"The smell of the beast is lingering, I don't know where Zero is and if there really is a vampire out here, we don't have the means of destroying it without him" he said as he tried to see through the trees in the distance.

"You're right, the smell is strong so whatever it is, is close enough to know we are here" I said as I too tired to peer through the dark trees only to see nothing but Forrest black.

"I'm going to go look for Zero, until we get back, tell everybody to stay in their tints even if the beast enters the camp, don't make a single sound until we get back" I said as I made my way through the Forrest.

As I made my way deeper and deeper the smell of dragons blood faded telling me the beast was closer to the camp and farther away from where Zero most likely was so there was no way of him knowing we were in danger.

Just than I saw a glimpse of his rain stained skin. He emerged from the trees and shot his eyes at me with surprise. His skin was covered in mud and his hair was drenched and sticking to his face. Not long after I saw the glimpse of Lucifer's face tattoos peer through the trees and he stood next to Zero.

Zero glanced at me as a cigarette hung from his mouth and his eyes held a deep depression that I had never seen in him before.

"You look like hell" I said with concern as a grin rose and fell on his face. He took a long drag of his cigarette and exhaled within the air.

"Yea? I just got back" he joked as he combed his hair back with his fingers.

"The others and I smell dragons blood around the camp, it's a really strong smell so whatever blood sucker is near, it's hurt and bleeding" I said as I tried again to see through the dark that was impossible to see through, but yet I still tried.

"Their skin naturally smells like dragons blood, they don't have to bleed to radiate the smell" he said as we made our way back to camp.

"Stay here, Zero and I will go investigate" said Lucifer as they made their way through the forest again towards the smell.

We could finally see the faint sight of the blood sucker who sat by a fire with 2 young girls. We didn't yet know if he was a danger but we decided to watch to make sure.

He handed the small girls what little bit of food he had and made them a bed inside the small tint that could probably only fit 1 but he made it fit the 3 of them.

One girl had strawberry blond hair with freckles and green eyes and the other was a taller girl who had all white hair and piercing blue eyes.

I made the mistake of moving my foot and made the trees rustle on the ground. The sound echoed and the vampires eyes shot through the darkness with alert.

"Hello, who's out there?" He asked, and we instantly knew he wasn't a threat by the way he talked as if he was more scared of us than we were of him.

We laughed out loud and decided to test his character with jokes.

"Uh, none of your fucking business" I said still wanting to scare him away but Zero had other plans.

"I come in peace" he said and it made us laugh more.

"I CoME IN PeACe" mocked Zero with a grin on his face as he laughed genuine joy.

The vampire didn't seem fazed by it and only stared at us with the same fearful look of alertness.

Zero was now face to face with the vampire and stood tall with his head high with no fear.

"What's up, what brings you out here" he said as he took long drags of his cigarette.

The large vampire seemed to think over his words as if he was afraid of saying the wrong thing.

"My name is Caleb, I'm here with 2 other friends of mine, 2 girls. It's only respectful to allow them to tell you their names later, we are from out of town and figured we would live back here for a while"

Zero took another drag of his cigarette and another followed by another before exhaling into the night air. He was thinking long and hard about what to do and the vampire seemed to be starring a hole through his soul. It didn't seem to phase him even in the slightest.

"If you guys are run away's, just say so, we welcome all as long as you come in "peace" mocked Zero jokingly again.

"Very well" Said the large vampire as he seemed to be protective over the 2 girls who were in his range of smell.

"You talk weird" said Zero as he took another hit of his cigarette. He stared him down with his deep blue eyes before smiling.

"Don't worry dude, I'm joking with you, bring your friends over here with us and we can chill" he said in a friendly way as we walked calmly back to where camp was.

We got back to the camp and everybody crawled from their tints and sat by the fire with relief.

"Why would you invite him into our camp, he could literally kill all of us" I asked Zero as he sat calmly waiting for their arrival.

"Because, I have the power to see somebody's intentions, he doesn't mean us harm, he actually gives off a sort of lost vibe" he said as he smoked at his cigarette.

"Yea but this being isn't human" I reminded him as he glanced over at a tall man who came from the Forrest carrying the small blonde girl in his arm.

I lit a joint and passed it to Zero who had just threw the rest of his cigarette in the fire.

He walked over to Zero with the small girl in his arms. "Hey do you have anywhere she can sleep, she's afraid of men right now as she was violated by 5 men the other day" Zero took a drag of his joint and thought for a second as he exhaled.

"Aah, I see, what happened to the man who hurt her if you don't mind me asking?"

The vampire glanced up at the sky in thought for a and smiled just a half smile while nodding his head and looking back at Zero.

"Let's just say he won't be hurting anybody ever again after I got my hands on him"

Zero smiled a genuine smile of joy before handing him the joint that was once between the very tips of his fingers.

"And for that you deserve a smoke" said Zero as he took the girl from his arms and gently placed her inside of a one person tint with many soft pillows and blankets, securing the zipper completely shut so that she could have her space.