My rival. (GXG)

My home

Beverly hastily gathered her shoes and cheerfully exited the house. She dashed to the quarry; her spirit was finally liberated.

Upon reaching the brink, she quietly uttered:.

Abitha was standing by, elbow-lengthening the cuffs of her sleeves. As she stood there with her arms crossed and a small smile plucking at the corner of her lips, her green eyes glowed with mirth in response to Beverly's response. Her hair had strayed from its customary braid and was voluminously draped over her shoulders. She was attired in dark brown pants and a dark green blouse, which was buttoned in. She wore hand-made wool pants with a matching waistcoat on top. Additionally, she wore a pair of high-top black combat boots, which were partially concealed by her pants.

"Hey." She simply waved back, her expression unaffected, as Beverly awkwardly cleared her throat and continued to wave. "Hey."

"Wasn't Archie supposed to come?"

Abitha shrugged.

"The last time I saw him, he was snoring," she murmured under her breath, irritated. "Farlan had five crises. Nothing new, really." She exhaled and ran a hand through her flowing hair, closing her eyes for a moment, then exhaling quietly. "C'mon." She made a motion for her to follow, and instead of going down that rope, Abitha took a right.

"Where are we going?"

Abitha glanced at her over her shoulder with a bemused smirk.

"Do you think I am looking forward to cracking my head open and climbing that?" They continued down the path Abitha had chosen, the sound of their footfall reverberating through the deserted forest. "I guess not." Beverly's shoulders sagged slightly as she moistened her parched lips. Abitha took her through a narrow, stony path that went down an incline, and Beverly groaned.

"Is your camp really this close to our quarry?" It was where the vampire frontier began—the path that they had taken. It was the farthest from the village. And it was closest to them: humanity.

Abitha exhaled.

"Why would we hide from our friends?" Abitha placed her hands behind her back, biting her inner cheekbones. "Humans are what we consider family," she said gently, her green eyes merging around with the forest, their vivacious hue penetrating Beverly's psyche and exposing it to something new—to the darkness that contained the light in all of this world. "Our history is nothing without you all. We have been thankful for centuries."

Beverly couldn't resist her slight smile.

They arrived at the camp, and there were adults with instruments in their hands. They all had silly smiles on, their heads covered with flower crowns made by children. "Abitha!" One of them beamed at the girl, gesturing at her affectionately. "Get your friend and play the guitar with us!"

"Vampires are allowed to listen to music?" Beverly was astonished, and her blue eyes were slightly enlarged. Today, in music class, Estrella covered her ears when the teacher began singing and delighted her not to, because it was prohibited for a vampire to listen to music without having their eardrums rupture.

Abitha raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be able to?" She smirked effortlessly when she was handed a guitar, wrapping the small belt around her neck to keep her instrument on and play from her feet. "Sit down." She smiled, her eyes enticing, and Beverly nodded meekly, sitting down next to a child. One of them reached on his tiptoes, and Abitha leaned down, letting him place a flower crown made out of white roses on top of her head, giving him a grin and ruffling his hair.

The adults began striking their fingers on the chords, and Abitha joined them, her guitar the loudest as her fingertips moved forth and back. Her foot was striking against the ground whenever there was a rhythm, and the children would play. They unexpectedly began using their voices.