「 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐁𝐲 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 」

Ch. XI [11] ♡

Bia had gotten on Cedric's last working nerve. she became upset that he wouldn't take her to the park to play. Cedric didn't feel like going anywhere; he'd had a long shift at the auto shop and he just wanted to rest. he also hadn't fed for a while because lately he lost taste for any blood he had come across whether it be in someone's veins or in a plastic bag. he didn't feel like arguing with a child.

Bia had thrown a massive tantrum. vampire tantrums weren't like human tantrums. they were heaps and bounds more destructive. their screams were louder, and their force was more unbearable. she ran around the room with the ferocity of a cheetah, throwing stuff and even breaking a few glasses in the kitchen. she also managed to land a few scratches on Cedric's skin, which at that point, he'd had enough.

"Stop!" Cedric's voice was sharp and commanding, causing Bia to freeze in place. Cedric stood up and slowly walked towards the fuming child. he squatted down to look her directly in the eyes. suddenly, his own began to glow their signature orange.

his voice was scarily calm. "be. quiet." Bia calmed down and diverted her eyes from Cedric's. "you should go to bed," he told her. it wasn't a request.

"but I'm not..."

"go to bed."

Bia ran to the one bedroom in the tiny apartment to escape Cedric's wrath. he was finally going to set some boundaries with her, and he figured that he should do it while she was still this young, because she could get rebellious. he was also way too drained of energy to do anything worthwhile.

he collected the food source, but it was only for Bia. he chalked it up to the fact that she had never tasted anything better, so she stuck with the bags in the fridge. his tastes had certainly matured. since the time that Bia had been in his life, the smell of any blood that wasn't hers slowly began to nauseate him all to hell. it wasn't a shock. he completely understood why, but he couldn't act on it until Bia was older. he needed to drink something, so he had to ignore his nausea and drink the bags for now. Cedric dragged his hands down his face. he needed to sleep...

-

blame, blame, blame. that's all Angel ever seemed to do. he blamed his unloving father for sending him to Carlisle Academy, he blamed his "friends" for letting him go off the deep end, and he blamed himself for his brother's depression and eventual death. after so much strict conditioning and obedience training, Angel was determined to not take it any longer.

he was leaving that school, no matter what it took.

he was leaving his pack.

he was going to find her. the thought of her was what held him together this whole time. he wanted to meet her, to see her once again.

he gathered all his belongings, which couldn't fit in one bag, but he took the important things, and he slipped out of the school dormitory undetected. it was so easy because the school did not put up any barriers; the students there were so obedient that there was no need. they were brainwashed. but not Angel. they tried to break him, but he was strong.

Angel ran into the woods and shifted into his wolf form. he decided to go to the city, where his prospects of finding a job and a place to live weren't quite that high, but she was there. he felt it.

as Angel approached the outskirts of the city, he shifted back into his human form and dressed back up. the streets were restless; he was in the city after all. he walked down the street past many people, looking around in wonder. the 19-year-old had never been to the city. it was truly an experience.

there was an apartment building that was quite simple and obviously low income, but he couldn't have cared any less about that because she was there. whenever he had enough money, he'd move in. it wouldn't be long until he did have enough money because the apartments were cheap.

at the end of his mini tour, Angel went back to the outskirts. the good thing about being a werewolf was that he could forage & live off the woods like a regular wolf. there was nothing to it. he'd sleep and begin his search for a job the next morning.

conveniently, Angel found a job the next day for a delivery service. they were short on workers, and it did not require any previous experience. it certainly paid a mediocre amount of money, but any little thing could help; he certainly wasn't picky.

more days of work got him closer and closer to his ultimate goal.

one night, when Angel was taking a stroll through the local grocery store for essentials, his nose picked up an intrusive scent. he looked around and even abandoned his cart to go search for her. he found her on an aisle by herself as she grabbed an armful of goods from the shelf, dropping them all on the floor because she was too small. Angel smiled and approached her.

"careful there," he chuckled. he handed her what she dropped and she took it, thanking him quietly. "are you here by yourself? where are your parents?" she said nothing.

"oh, right, you can't speak to strangers can you?" Angel asked.

the girl shook her head frantically, like children do. "Cedric says I'm not allowed or he'd lock me in the basement," she whispered. the strange little girl giggled and ran away with the items in her hand.

Angel's eyes grew large. what she said was beyond disturbing. he found it weird that she called her father by his first name, but then he concluded that maybe she wasn't speaking about her father. maybe she was just speaking about a man who was her guardian and just insisted she call him by his name instead of "Dad?" or perhaps her "guardian" was that vampire man from years prior when she was even smaller than she was now? Angel regained his consciousness and returned back to his abandoned cart. he was simply more intrigued than ever. she didn't seem like she was being abused but threatening to lock a kid in a basement for any reason was pretty metal.

as he stood in line to pay for his small amount of groceries, he saw her leaving, skipping and happily singing alongside a strong, tall, straight-faced man, the exact one that he'd seen that night years ago. of course, Angel had to call it. he sighed heavily, checked out, and left the store.