Forbidden Blood

Chapter 4: Vincent

I head back to the cave after talking to Clara. Something about her from when I first saw her made me want to know her more. Her confidence brimmed from her eyes, and the way she carried herself suggested she had a beautiful heart.

I really want to see her again. No, I need to see her again. The immediate attraction I felt for her was nothing like I've felt for anyone else. I just hope that she might feel the same way. I guess I'll know tomorrow night.

She has brought me to a different place in my opinions about witches. Vampires aren't as afraid of witches as they are of us. I mean, we still kill them if we see them, but we are stronger than them. They have more to fear than we do. Their spells can be brutal, but we have more strength. We are the coyotes and they are the rabbits. It's as simple as that.

Meeting her has made me see just how scary we appear to them. She was so frightened when I approached her. I almost felt bad. Even though I wasn't going to hurt her, I still felt guilty for this age-old feud we have against the witches. I used to think witches were bad, but namely because I had never met one as beautiful as her before.

Dawn is about to rise as I near the entrance to the cave; it is almost bedtime. I feel exhausted from tonight's adventures. I hope I sleep all through the day.

I enter the cave and I sense a bit of tension in the air. Zarro, Zoë, and Ellera are talking angrily with each other, and everyone else is pretending to mind their own business. I decide I've had enough eavesdropping for the night and head over to the area of the cave where my friends are. They are all hanging out on their beds and talking to one another.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to show up! Where have you been, Vincent?" Rina shoots her questions at me. I should have known they would grill me about where I was. I left without anyone seeing me. I knew Zarro wouldn't notice. He was too occupied shooting Ellera down for killing the man in front of the witches.

"I... didn't get enough... blood. I was still hungry after the incident. What's going on with that, by the way?"

"Weren't you there?" Ilan questions.

"Yeah, but I mean, what's going on right now? Like, what have they been talking about?"

"Well, Zarro told us not to listen in, but, you know how that goes," Rina smirks, "Everyone's listening."

"Apparently he's talking about demoting Ellera from in-line and putting Zoë in her place." Jacob says.

"Whoa, that's huge. I don't blame him; she disobeyed his biggest rule for tonight."

"What was it like, seeing the witches scream? I bet they ran fast to their village after that." Carter laughs.

"Witches, witches, witches. Man, I hate witches. Their delicate little bodies, small, timid voices." Rina complains, "Grow a spine. One which I will happily break in two." Rina looks far away and then shakes her head, her bloody fantasy getting the best of her.

"I don't think it was good to scare them like that." I say, "They're too weak and fragile to frighten. Kind of like birds. They fly at immediate danger."

"Since when did you become a sympathizer to the witches?" Ilan says.

"I'm just saying, they're different than us. They don't understand this stuff like we do."

"And by 'this stuff' you mean...?" Carter says.

"The killing, the blood, the whole vamp nature. To them, it's horrid and savage. To us, it's natural."

"You've never had this point of view about it before. What's changed?" Jacob asks.

"Nothing. I just, got some perspective, that's all." I retort.