Desire To Love (#2 in The Hybrid Wars series)

Chapter 2 ~ Storms

© 2015 by Authorninja. All rights reserved. 

 Chapter 2 ~ Storms

  The cabin was pretty spacious considering how it was in the middle of nowhere. California was a pretty huge place, but no one would expect to find a cabin of Shapeshifters and Vampires in the woods surrounded by tall trees.

  It was complicated trying to find a place to stay. We travelled for days, not sure where we were going. We just knew we wanted to go as far as possible from New York. Harry didn't say much in those long days of travelling and staying in grimy hotels, but in our moments of desperation he did give the relieving option of staying at his great aunt's cabin.

  It wasn't much compared to the expensive academy we lived in weeks before, but it was something. We also had no worries about people trying to find us, like the Elders of the shifters or any leech who tried seeking revenge after what happened that last night.

I shivered, not wanting to think about what brought us here. I set my things aside, my eyes looking over the cosy cabin. It surprisingly had enough space for all of us to sleep in, without having to cause awkward sleeping arrangements. What I found was that the shifters stayed on the right of the cabin, which was where all of our rooms and things were. Then on the left was were the leeches had their rooms and things. Josias and Ron slept in the living room on the sofas, but even they seemed to leer to the left side of the cabin.

Although we worked together, we still always seemed to be drifting apart.

I sighed, going to my room to throw my things inside before heading back to the main room. Charlotte and I, as always, shared a room. Harry slept in the room beside us, while on the other side of the cabin Peter and Margret slept in their separate rooms. The main room had sofas near the door, and turned into a kitchen near the back. Charlotte, Harry and I sat on one sofa.

 I glanced at Harry who sat beside me, my always-worrying emotion seeping through as it did whenever I was with him these days. His almost raven-coloured hair was sticking up in all directions, and somehow looked longer in the last few weeks as it almost covered his light eyes. Charlotte, whom was sitting on my other side, sat beside me with a stone-cold look on her pixie-like face. She hated this as much as I did, roughly sweeping her copper hair behind her ear.

Margret gave us a small smile as she sat down on the sofa opposite us, her feet resting on the coffee table. She didn't hesitate to hide her fangs when she smiled as her midnight hair fell over her blue eyes, causing Charlotte to flinch beside me. It was still a sore spot for the three of us, having to live with leeches.

 Peter sat beside her with Ron, his light brown hair looking curly and unkempt. Like all of us, he looked beaten and worn out. But like the other leeches, his skin had paled over the last few weeks and his blue-green eyes darkened slightly. Ron's brown hair, despite everything, still looked amazing. His dark eyes were similar to mine, but unlike Margret his smile was tight-lipped. Not everyone could feel as comfortable around the shifters as Margret. I wandered if he noticed our change of mood whenever we saw their fangs.

Lastly, Josias walked in from the front door and held that sad look he's had since we left. Of course, we all had that. But, apart from Harry, he seemed to be the worse. His usually carefully-styled messy dark hair was now un-mastered, and dishevelled. His blue eyes shone with sadness, as he gave me a look that killed me every time and made my heart congest with guilt.

 I thought back to what happened not long ago, but felt like a lifetime. How he admitted that he might have feelings for me, might be in love with me, in fact. I cringed as I remembered how I panicked, how I was overrun with fear. It was hard to get over what we had drilled in our heads since we were little, that these people were monsters. Creatures of the dead. It was even harder to accept the fact that Josias might feel more then friendship for me, and it terrified me how I might have felt something back.