Calva Aurea

Hirudo ~ Chapter 4

When you see yourself through an Incubus' eyes, it means they are thinking about you. But Armin said he's a Vampire. Maybe I'm getting it wrong. He grabs my arm tightly for a moment, but loosens up when we start to walk around the area Armin rushed into. The entire time, the pit in my side tightens more every passing second. Whether it be love, which I doubt, or dread, I do not know.

Whilst approaching the vicinity of Armin's walk, another scream is heard. Yet it's higher pitched, and we can't tell whether it is Armin screaming or not. Nova runs ahead of us, and towards Armin, whilst the male grips my arm tighter, having me walk with him at a sort of fast pace instead. I look up to see him smiling down at me.

"I'm Sueki, Undead." I look at him skeptically, I swear I've heard that name before.

"Don't call me that. My name is Vienne." Before he can reply, we've already approached the situation. It seems the person who screamed was Armin. As she leans over her brother, hugging and tightening her grip around him. We all look back at Sueki, expecting him to heal Autumn.

"Don't look at me, she left me there bleeding out." He stares criticizingly at her. "Why should I help her dearest brother?" He talks in a mocking tone, and Armin stares at him in the eyes, her tear-stained face in an angry expression—it's clear that if he doesn't do something, she'll have lost a sibling. Me and Nova stare at him as well, with disgusted faces.

Before anyone can do anything else, Armin cries out again, when Autumn's head drops to the side, seemingly to have died. She drops him back on the ground and stands up menacingly and approaches me and Sueki with her hands gripped into fists. Her dark brown skin turning into a lighter shade the more she pressed down. Yet when she stands before us, none of her attention is focused on me. Instead, she stares down at Sueki.

"They should've just let you rot there." He stares nonchalantly back up at her not saying a word. "Leech." His face tightens at that word, and I stick my hand between the two. I have to pry Armin away from him, to keep her from doing something one of us might regret in the future.

"I'm sorry.. for your brother. But he helped us, so I don't think we should do anything."I look up at her, having to almost look straight up at the sky to see her face.

"Well it's not like he's going to stay with us."

"Actually-," Armin and I widen our eyes, and look back at him in a frenzy. "I wanna stay." Now Nova is looking at him, and along with the rest of us, shocked at him.

"Why?" Nova asks him, tilting her head to the side. All of our shocked expressions now turned into confused faces. And I back a little away from him, realizing how close he was to me.

"Y'all's skins are pretty." Dumb-founded, me, Nova, and Armin all look back at each other. We give each other the 'Is-He-Serious' look. Armin even points at him. I shrug back at her, at least it's not a perverted reason. It actually kind of makes sense, given he is a Vampire, and they all seem to be interested in skin. It's a traditional thing with them, I think.

"Why are the rest of you here?" For a moment, we all think to ourselves, until Nova speaks up and we all look at her.

"Well, Vien has been locked away for a long time. I'm going to stay with them until I've taught them what I know." Armin and Sueki look back at me, expectantly.

"I.." I suppose I should tell them. It's not exactly a secret after all, but I wasn't just going to bring it up. "..When I was seven, I died–I lit myself on fire. And my burnt corpse was preserved, to where I wouldn't physically age. From what I understand, my aunt was looking for someone who could bring another back to life. They never did, but, one of Calva Aurea's heads came to me. Before I could even get a word in, I was back. As something, but I didn't know what. The moment I came back to life, I was locked away. I only just got out earlier today."

When I look back at everyone, they seem to have shrunken away from me. I drop my gaze back down in disappointment. I don't blame them, suicide is heavily looked down upon. Or maybe it's because I used to be a human.

"..Oh." Armin is the only one that speaks up, but everyone can hear the venom dripping from that single word. I look back over to Sueki, his face holding both pity and sympathy. Then, to Nova. She doesn't look back at me, and stares at the ground instead. Again, I glance back at Armin, she's disgusted. A different kind of pit arises in my bones, a feeling as if I did something wrong. Terribly wrong.

"Why are you here, witch?" And the tension thins again. I look up at Sueki with the feeling floating away. My eyes dilate quick when I look at him, he looks so bored. Armin catches my attention when she tuts.

"They were supposed to help me take him home," I wince when she puts emphasis on the 'supposed'. "I would've helped their legs in exchange." Even with her death-staring him, and trying to keep her posture, her voice still cracks and quivers. "But they chose a Vampire instead."

"You can still stay!" Nova perks up, and everyone looks back to me again. I desperately need to fix her thoughts of me. "Maybe-there's a way you can bring him back. You said you're a witch, right?" Armin thinks to herself for a moment.

"..I suppose I'll stay. But I'm not interacting with bitch-face."

"You wound me sorceress!" Armin looks back at Sueki, but doesn't respond, and he places his hand over his heart. He leans back dramatically, and closes his eyes. Me and Nova roll our eyes, while Armin just looks at him with a blank stare. I notice Nova walking away, and push past the two to follow her.

On the way back to Armin's hut, the two bicker, while me and Nova walk side by side, in front of them in a content silence. However, I feel annoyed at the constant sound of two people that seem to never get along. Before closing my eyes, I feel a part of my face tense and my eye twitch. There's a humming sound now, coming from Nova. I look behind me for a second, the two aren't fighting, but rather looking in opposite directions in an attempt to avoid each other. I sigh to myself in relief, and turn back around, and stop in my tracks.

"This isn't the way we came." All three look back to me, and Armin groans in annoyance.

"Autumn always had the scent of home. We would've been back by now if he was here.." Her voice softens at the end, and her eyes dart to the ground in a somber look. I feel a pang of guilt, and look up to a tree.

"I can go up to see where your house is!" Before the others can reply, I run over to the tallest tree in sight and start to crawl up it, excited to finally climb something. My hands scratch against the hard bark, and I grab a thick twig, and hang upside-down on it. For a moment, I feel blood start to rush my head and giggle to myself, before pulling myself up again, and grab another twig, climbing once again. My sight is blocked by a thick but small stick that holds a bush of leaves. It only blocks my vision the more I climb up, and at some point, I feel a sting right under my right eye. When I get to the tip of the tree, I graze my finger over where the sting was, and look to see blood dripping off my finger.

I flick my hand away from my face, in an attempt to get the blood off. My attention darts from the blood, to around the tree and farther as I can see, and don't find her house. I stop looking for a moment, and start to get worried. Maybe it's there and I just didn't see it? But when I look around again and again, I realize that we are truly lost, and all I see is woods.