𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 (𝙳𝙺 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚡 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒)

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 8

~

𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚆𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙲𝙻𝙾𝚂𝙴 > 𝙼𝙴𝙴𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙵𝙰𝙼𝙸𝙻𝚈

There were about three things that I was sure of.

One, Normani was a vampire. Two, there was a part of her that thirsted for my blood. And three...I was falling unconditionally and irrevocably in love with her.

After that day, her and I spent a lot of time together. She'd pop up on me during my practices, I'd wait for her outside her other classes so we could grab lunch.

Our mini adventures were the highlights of my week now. I just couldn't get enough of her. And it made me feel a type of way that she felt the same for me.

"How long have you been like this?" I asked as we took a nature walk, our hands joined together.

"Since nineteen-eighteen," she answered. "That's when my mom found me."

"Where'd she find you?"

"In a hospital, dying of Spanish influenza. My birth parents had already died from it."

"Damn...I'm sorry...what was it like?"

"The word 'excruciating' comes to mind. But what she did was much harder. Not many of us have the restraint to do that."

"Didn't she just...bite?"

"No. Our bite contains venom. And once we taste blood, a sort of...frenzy begins. It's almost impossible to stop."

"But your mom did."

"First with me. Then with my mother, Kelly. She found her in a hospital, too. My siblings were found later."

"So, in theory...you're the oldest."

"Yeah," Normani chuckled.

"Does somebody have to be dying to become like ya'll?" I asked.

"No. That was just my mom. She would never do...this...to someone who had another choice."

"So, Dr. Knowles is the reason why ya'll hunt animals instead of people..."

"Not the only reason."

I stopped walking to look at her, gently pinching her chin to look up at me. Her eyes were filled with emotion.

"I don't wanna be a monster," she clarified.

I smiled in understanding, caressing her cheek as she smiled back at me.

"We call ourselves vegetarians, by the way," she said, our walk continuing. "For our kind, hunting animals is like living on tofu. It keeps you strong but it's not satisfying."

She suddenly whipped past me, landing on top of a giant boulder along the path. I chuckled as I caught up to her, her sporting a megawatt smile.

"Show off," I teased.

"Somethin' light," she replied, mockin' me whenever I scored on the field. "Everybody in my family can do this."

"Can they all read minds, too?" I asked, pickin' her up by her waist and puttin' her back down on the ground.

"Nah, just me. But Vic can see the future."

"For real? Bet she saw me comin' a mile away."

Normani chuckled.

"I wouldn't put it past her. But her visions are very subjective. The future can change."

We had started spending so much time together, she started comin' over to my dorm. Usually I'd take the weekends to go to Forks and spend some time with my parents. But, as a corny lil' date idea, I thought it'd be cool for Mani and me to chill at my dorm.