The Vampire's Rival

When she loses her way

The jungle.

The UV Wars began shortly after the Human Error, about a year after the Shield was launched into the stratosphere. Without UV radiation, the planet began to change. Vegetation changed. Animals died. The world became a much more difficult place to survive. The Shield's launch was a bone of contention among the humans. A divisive decision between scientists, militarists, environmentalists, nationalists, and every other major human group. The launch of the Shield was the beginning of the end. An end that was hastened by the launch of a nuclear missile. No one knows who launched it and, after all these centuries, I no longer remember which city was destroyed first. What I do know is that, before long, most of the northern hemisphere was rendered uninhabitable.

When the vampires eventually won the war, and saved what was left of the planet, most of us moved south, towards the equator, where the rainforests had survived for the most part. Those of us who ended up in this region eventually build five Enclaves here, each one bordering the great rainforest. Beyond our Enclaves were lifeless zones we called dead zones. Beyond that... who knew?

This has worked for us for centuries.

In all that time, however, no one living in the Enclaves had ever completely explored The Jungle. These woods were home to more than just the Wildlings from long before the Human Error. Home to things that didn't care that the world had ended over two hundred and fifty years ago. It was all too common for vampires to go in but never come out. Trudy's fledglings weren't the first and they wouldn't be the last. For safety, vampires stuck to the edges of the forest and left alone everything further inside of it. Now, as I prepared to escort these humans into this jungle, I hoped that whatever map that Hadley was following was detailed and to the point.

Being swallowed up by these woods would be a horrible way to die.

"You know, I meant what I said about your eyes last night." Teroi said.

Hadley had moved to the front of the group, where Teroi was now conversing with her.

I was at the back of the group again, with Drew and his puppy walking alongside me. The child had grabbed a handful of the dog's hair as a makeshift leash. I was not going to let the little Progeny and the dog out of my sight. Up ahead, Hadley was leading the group deeper into the trees, and part of my attention was on her. I was starting to think that this would always be the case. That I'd always be thinking about her. Crystal and Billy tried to keep conversation flowing and lift everyone's spirits in the middle of the group, but most of the humans stayed quiet and lost in their thoughts. Even though Teroi kept his voice low, I picked up every word of his conversation with Hadley.

"They really are captivating," Teroi continued.

I couldn't disagree with him. Hadley's eyes were one of her best features. I'd been wanting to compliment her on them from the first day I'd seen her, but I felt like it was something she must have always been complimented on and I didn't want to pile on. I didn't want her to put me in the same box as everyone else who did. Now, I was wondering if maybe I just should have gone for it.

"Thank you." Hadley replied, in a noncommittal tone.

"Do you know the pigment that gives eyes their colours?" Teroi continued.

I wanted to rip my head off again listening to this, but it was like watching a train crash. I couldn't look away.

"Melanin," Hadley replied.

"Yeah, that's right," Teroi said with a smile in his voice. "What's interesting is that, while brown and green irises get their colour from melanin, blue eyes don't. Blue eyes get their colour in the same way the sky or the ocean does. They don't have that much melanin, so blue irises scatter almost all light, but reflect back wavelengths on the blue spectrum."