Only Human: Angels and Demons

Chapter 57: June Jackson

Back to Original POV

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Cenderion had warned me that some vampires that he didn't recognize were meandering this way. He had to pull back into the forest to avoid being spotted, but had assured me he would be keeping an eye on the situation. I tried to ignore them for as long as possible, hoping they would either ignore me as well or miss me altogether. Fate had other plans as they seemed to be intentionally heading in my direction. When I finally looked up to see them, I was shocked to find two of the vampires that had wrestled me from the van.

It was the smart vampire and the one with the foul mouth. What were they doing here? Were they here to take me back? Was this an at-home check or something? Was it possible that they were here by coincidence? I placed Robinson Crusoe next to me while mentally preparing to run.

The smart vampire ran his pale green eyes up and down my body making me tense up. "Wow. If only we could have cleaned her up at the market, then there could have been an actual auction. It's hard to believe you're the same girl," he said.

The foul-mouth vampire, who I remember was called Jimmy, sat on his haunches and lifted his sunglasses for a better look. "Can't believe the rich guy hasn't screwed her yet. What did they use on your hair? Miracle grow?" he asked with genuine interest.

"Could be extensions." The smart one mused.

I pulled at my hair confused, and realized that my hair was pretty long. I had already noticed it a few times, but contributed that to being here longer than I had thought. Was my hair actually growing faster? "Wh...what are you doing here?" I managed to ask.

The smart one covered his lips with a single finger and shushed me with threatening eyes. "You should know better by now. Humans hold their tongues unless asked to speak. I was more lenient in Nevada, but you were picked straight from the wild. I couldn't hold that against you, but now I can."

I felt as if I had been slapped. My ears burned, and my hands gripped into fists. I held in the angry remark that I wanted to spit in their faces, knowing that it would only lead to more problems for me.

The smart vampire smiled, believing he had won. His eyes then shot to something off to my side. I followed his gaze to see the saplings in their plot. They had now started to open their little buds showing white slips of promising petals.

"Are those... Angel's Hearts?" he asked in awe.

Jimmy had inched closer to me, and started smelling the air with a sickly smile on his face. "What now?" he said.

The smart vampire moved closer to the plot of saplings and lightly touched a tendril. "Angel's Hearts... They are the largest commodity that is smuggled in from Alturess. A gorgeous flower that can only grow on angel sanctified ground. Just one of these costs a few million, and Hendrix has," he stopped to count the blooming flowers. "Twenty-four of them. And these are young ones too. They are actually growing here. He's discovered how to grow Angel's Hearts! No wonder he wants to speak with the unicorns. This is huge!" He stood straight and ran a hand through his reddish-brown hair, but quickly fixed himself.

I had no idea the Angel's Heart was so hard to grow or that expensive. I looked at my saplings. How did I make them grow? I just treated them like any other plant. Maybe it was the singing that the Angel's Heart asked me to do. It would know how to make its own kind grow the best.

"That's real nice, Terris." Jimmy said disinterested. He licked his licks and moved even closer to me, but I was barely paying attention to him. The smart vampire's greedy gaze on the saplings made my heart twist. Something wasn't right.