The Vampire's Rival

Hope

It didn't matter what I tried – Hadley wouldn't give me the time of day.

This was likely the last time we'd be together, but for the next few days, Hadley made sure we were never alone. She stuck close to Brielle and Kade, always lost in discussions and banter. Sometimes they would talk about someone called Anette. I remembered the woman. She was the main Healer from Kade's tribe. Apparently, this Anette was both a Wildling and a Scavenger, and was the one who abducted Hadley from Kade's tribe. Hadley had somehow escaped Anette and found Brielle's tribe. I heard Kade inform Hadley that Anette had disappeared from The Caves after Hadley's imprisonment. Anette sounded dangerous, and I had so many questions, but I got nothing from Hadley.

I desperately wanted to be a part of her life, but she kept pushing me away.

And maybe I deserved it, but it still hurt.

They began to discuss The Boat, and I started to get the idea that the Wildlings did not approve of The Boat and discouraged their Tribes from discussing anything about it. For starters, Brielle knew about the Boat, but she'd had no idea that it was on its way soon. The only reason Kade knew about it coming was because he was apparently a member of the Wildling Council, and the message of the Boat's arrival was always sent to them, never to the commonfolk tribespeople. The Council members never passed it down. Brielle got more than a little prickly the more they talked about that, which made me think that she had more than a passing experience with The Boat that she kept to herself.

But it didn't matter what they talked about. Just that Hadley was using it to avoid me. When she wasn't with Kade and Brielle, she was with Jamila, or Drew and Brownie or even Tristan, which was a little surprising. Tristan was incredibly warm towards her, treating her like he would one of Lujeo's Progenies – with unending patience and care. I hated watching them get close as she continued to shut me out. Even Cruto was getting some of her attention!

It was finally the last night before we made it to the point where the humans would descend the gorge and then the other vampires and I would go back to our mission of finding out what Sleritu and her people were doing with the vampire dogs. I had thought they would have attacked us by now, but we'd been alone for the last four days. It made me wonder if I had made a big mistake by choosing to escort Hadley and the others. Made me wonder if Sleritu had somehow learnt of my absence from my Enclave and used this as an opportunity to invade it and wage war on my recovering residents.

I wouldn't put it past her to be that dishonourable.

But even if I had verifiable evidence of that fact, I knew that I wouldn't have abandoned Hadley and Jamila until I knew that they were safe on that Boat. I'd beaten Sleritu before. I'd beat her again.

"Your human," Tristan had walked over to sit with me as I watched the humans make camp for the very last time in our presence. "She's beyond remarkable."

"My human?" I asked. I turned to my left, where Jamila was playing with Drew and then looked ahead of me where Hadley was talking with Kade.

Tristan would have to be a little more specific.

"The one they call Hadley," Tristan said with a smile. "I've never seen anything like her. She's different from the other humans. Do you know how she got that way?"

"What way?"

"Her aura is fascinating, to say the least," he hesitated, as if struggling to find the words. "Like shattered glass of different colours that's been glued back together somehow. It's strange because I've never been able to see human aura's as clearly as I can see hers. Human auras are more like translucent mirages. Hadley's is as clear as a vampire's. What do you think it means?"