Lost and Found

Do You Really Want to Know?

"Abilene!" I groaned quietly at the sound of Charlotte's yell and tucked tighter against the trunk of the tree that I was sitting in. Charlotte and Peter had been insisting for months that I should start coming with them to the city to feed. I had no desire to go to such a human infested place and had made this known.

The time between traveling parties had always been unpredictable and I'd been forced to learn control over my thirst from the beginning. As the time between the wagons had increased I had been forced to endure the thirst for longer and longer stretches, forcing myself to ignore the burn of my throat till the next meal presented itself. With the completion of the roadways that Charlotte and Peter said now spanned the entire country, the wagons that I had once depended on no longer existed and transients now utilized the railways and no longer traveled through my wilderness and my food source had become whatever Peter, Charlotte and Jasper brought back from their trips.

I refused to go in search for prey while the others traveled to the nearby cities and towns to curb the burn in their throats. I had left humanity with no intentions of ever going back. A part of me knew that I wasn't being rational, that without the wagon trains or the transients I was going to have to find another way to sustain myself but I had no idea of how to do that without going back to society and I rather starve then subject myself to that.

I heard foot steps coming my way and tensed, the steps slowed to a walk and I silently cursed. From the sound of the foot falls I knew they didn't belong to Charlotte and Peter was never far behind her, that left Jasper to be slowly walking closer. I almost preferred it to be Peter, even with Peter's intuition he wasn't allows able to find me when I intentionally hid from them, but with Jasper I doubted I would be so lucky. Even so, I wasn't going to make it easy on him. I held still, refusing to move as much as a muscle, even refusing to breathe encase it should give me away.

I heard the foot falls stop a couple yards from the tree. I could hear the shift of fabric against his skin as he likely looked around for me. I tried to keep my emotions locked down, a further measure to conceal my location, but I wasn't sure if I was succeeding or not. I heard a soft chuckle and the sound of clothing rubbing against bark.

"Abilene, can you please come down?" Jasper asked softly and I quickly fought to suppress my aggravation. There was another soft chuckle before I heard the creak of a branch taking on weight. I moved just enough to look down. Jasper had jumped up to a branch nearly ten feet below me in the neighboring tree. I could see his head turning, see his eyes staring up in my direction but they weren't focusing on me. It always confused me when the three of them would do that. They would search me out, presumably knowing where I was but never focusing on me till I gave in and addressed them. It was something that I had come to think was taught vampire behavior.

Jasper smirked and scaled higher up the tree till he was sitting on a branch that much closer to the height of the branch I was sitting on. His eyes still roamed as he remained crouched on the branch. I growled my frustration and his eyes seemed to zero in on me and he promptly took a seat on the branch, his eyes never leaving me.

"Why are you hiding, Abilene? Peter and Charlotte have been searching for you for a while." I glared in return, refusing to move or address him. Jasper tilted his head slightly, his leg gently dangling where it hung over the branch.

"I don't know how you do it. The thirst must be excruciating by now." At the mention of my thirst the pain flared and Jasper winced but nodded.

"Just as I thought. Why are you hiding?" Jasper asked again and I growled as I gave in.

"I escaped society once, I'm not going back." I snarled and Jasper's eye seemed to truly see me for the first time since sitting across from me.

"You don't have to go back if you don't want to." He said easily and I shook my head.