Hunted

Chapter 40

... Blaise...

A familiar scent travels weakly through the stale air. Angry at having to get out of my comfortable and warm spot, I crawl out from under Lizzy's arm. She slightly stirs and mumbles something unidentifiable. I scan her mind, but everything's neutral.

I walk over to the window and along the windowsill until I get to the broken rain gutter. It swings precariously over the hard concrete, but I'm a cat, so I don't fall unless I want to. I trot down it, and along the wall until I find the person.

Fancy meeting you here. I narrow my eyes at Daniel as he jumps about a foot in the air. His eyes meet mine, and hatred flashes briefly through them.

"What do want, you stupid cat?" I spits.

For one, I'm smarter than you. And I'm here to figure out what's really going on. I eye his cast and he straightens proudly.

"What do you mean?"

How did you break your arm?

"I was... That's none of your business." He snarls and thick walls fall over his mind. He's pretty good at this. I'm better.

I break through the wall and he gasps. Images flood through me and I growl as a video flashes through my mind in less than a second. You were meeting with Aiden?! Vampire Aiden?

"What do you care? You're just Elizabeth's stupid cat." The walls quickly rebuilds itself, but I don't try to break them again.

I think you're underestimating my bond with Lizzy. If she didn't have me, she would have given herself up to darkness a long time ago. I know it sounds vain, but it's the truth. Though Lizzy doesn't know it, we're bonded. The moment she touched my mind, our minds merged and I saw what we'd both be like if she didn't bond with me. I'd have died from starvation a week later, and she would have killed everyone at the school in revenge at Daniel for breaking up with her. She was near her breaking point then, and she's nearing it now.

"And you think I care...?"

No, of course not. I'm just here to warn you.

"From what? You couldn't kill me even if you tried."

From hurting Lizzy. She's close to her breaking point and she's about to, as you humans say, go to the dark side. You've made the situation five times worse just today. She's starting to believe all those names that you call her. I snarl, my white teeth glinting in the dark. No one hurts my Lizzy.

"I don't care. She's already on the dark side to me."

You should. If she gives herself up to darkness, it will be the end of everything. I've tried so hard to get her to stay away from the darkness and I was doing pretty well until today. Her soul was a light gray yesterday, and after she saw you, it went dark. I almost yell and he flinches.

"That's not my problem! It's yours! If you think that I'm going to go up with lilies and a box of chocolates, you're wrong! I'm not going to apologize for something I haven't done!" Daniel steps closer to me.

Then stay away from her. If you won't help keep this world clean of an extremely powerful rogue Vampire, then you better take a step back and let her friends deal with it. If I catch a whiff of your mangy hide on her, I'll come and kill you. I stand up and start walking away, afraid that if I stay any longer, I'll blow up on him, which goes against everything I've tried to teach Lizzy.

"You stupid, awful cat!" Daniel yells and calls me some other polite names. Frustration boils up inside of me. How can he not care that if he keeps doing this, she'll be brought to darkness? If that prophecy comes true, then we are doomed no matter what. Aiden will kill us all and she'll totally break down, or we defeat him and the after effects will push her down.

My mind fuzzes through Lizzy and my connection, as muted panic comes in. I sigh, knowing Aiden's snuck into her dreams again. At least the demon will be dead by the end of the month and hopefully be too weak to attack the school. I climb up the broken gutter and run into the room, only to find Lizzy still in the same position that she was in when I left her. I crawl under her arm and quickly fall asleep, opening up my mind and slipping into hers.