Grasp Heart

Chapter 7: Blood and Venom

Light-footed and agile, I sprinted through the undergrowth. Feet lifting, muscles pumping, eyes sharp, I weaved through the thick-trunked trees with ease. In my chest, my heart pounded as I listened for pursuit; ready, at any moment, to hear the smooth passage of a vampire or, perhaps, the heavy footfalls of that wild animal.

Chittering and laughter wafted through the trees from ahead and I slowed my footfalls. I listened. No sound of pursuit, no scent of mint. I swallowed on a dry throat.

[Aufero]

The lunar outfit dissipated into a thousand little silvery-white particles, revealing my plainclothes. I continued on, anxious to get home and clear my head. Finally, bursting through the trees, I stumbled onto the wide, muddy path of a well-tracked trail. A short scream to my left signaled that I'd managed to startle a few casual hikers.

Merda!

I absorbed the scent-removal glyph and the symbol's crisp sensation faded from the skin of my belly. Immediately, I played up my situation, pretending to stumble onto one knee.

"Miss? Miss, are you okay?" A man called and I heard his footsteps squelching as he shuffled close.

"I'm alright," I assured him, though his dark eyes looked almost nauseated with worry. Or perhaps I'd simply startled them that badly. "I escaped from an animal that I think was rabid. It was huge. We need to clear the area."

He backed away, eyes widening. I saw his wife behind him scoop up their young child so hastily that the little boy's legs flopped about as she tucked him under one arm.

"We'll go to the nature-center," I decided quickly, "I'm not injured. Not that I can tell anyway. I need to go report it."

He nodded, dumbfounded as I pulled my compass from my pocket.

His wife waved a frantic hand at me, "This way, this way! It'll lead us back around. Richard, come on!"

The man startled out of his stupor, quickly taking the child from his wife and throwing the kid over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Either too surprised or scared, the kid stayed quiet, watching the proceedings with bug-eyes.

"Thanks," I said with a nod and began jogging that way with them.

Their footfalls were loud and squelching, but I could hear the normal forest rustling and chirping; nothing dangerous was in the immediate vicinity to be drawn in by the noise. Still, I didn't want them to encounter the creature that startled even a vampire. Not all things that were enemies of vampires were friendly to humans.

The couple headed straight past the center to the parking lot, not stopping in their haste to leave. I slowed to a walk, gathering my story together as I breathed deeply.

The nature center employee from earlier, John, was still seated at the front desk; I could see him through the glass doors. He smiled at me, confused, as I failed to return the expression and made a purposeful line for him. I was succinct, careful to describe a bear species I remembered from the center's information displays earlier, noting it's unusual aggression in particular for my fake story. A second employee picked up a satellite phone behind the counter, likely for situations just like this one. Her voice shook, octave too high, but she managed to begin relaying information. John quickly smoothed out a paper map on the counter-top for me to point out where I'd been traveling.

"Your hands -! And there's red on your wrists too-" he interrupted suddenly, halting me from pointing out the area on the map.

"I must've scraped myself falling," I redirected quickly.

I internally cursed my carelessness. The gaps in my ceremonial battle-garb had allowed for thin smears of cougar-blood to dry directly on my skin. Not much, but enough for John to notice.