Forbidden Blood

Chapter 19: Vincent

"That sounds like a good plan," I confirm.

"I'll tell Clara and Agatha our idea if you'll round up a couple of people to go with us."

"Sure thing," I hear voices echoing throughout the cave as Agatha and Clara emerge from the hallway. They are both smiling and they look happy. I haven't seen Clara so happy before. I wonder if I could ever make her that happy...

"Ah, there they are now." Zarro leaves to talk to them. I think about who would be best to bring with us. I know it wouldn't be a good idea to bring Ilan, because she doesnt't like the witches, but I think bringing Rina would be wise. She seems to like hanging out with Clara and Agatha. I also decide that it would be best to bring our in-lines, Zoë and Johnson. They have a lot of experience with the witches, and we need all the backup we can get.

Our plan is to have the girls do a spell to track Tarynn and Adriana. Then, we want them lured into their village so that we can confront them. The main goal for right now is to talk some sense into them. We can't do anything irrational, or things could get really complicated really fast. That is why we have backup people: in case something goes wrong. Hopefully nobody has to get hurt.

I walk down the hallway where Rina's room is and find her sitting on her bed, talking to Ilan. They seem deep in conversation when I come in. Rina pushes her hair out of her eyes and looks up at me.

"Hey, Vincent. What's up?" she raises her eyebrow.

"Zarro asked me to round up a couple of people to go with us to find Adriana and Tarynn. We need backup vampires in case anything gets overly crazy and--"

"Okay. I'll go!" she smiles and blows a kiss at Ilan. "See your later." She walks past me and begins to head down the hallway. I turn and jog a little to catch up with her.

"You... didn't even let me finish my sentence."

"No need. I'm kind of bored just sitting around and talking. It's time for some action." she frowns as we walk down the hallway. "Why didn't you ask Ilan to come with us?"

"You know how she feels about the witches..."

"I gotcha. You don't want Adriana and Tarynn to feel threatened when we get there."

"Exactly."

"Cool. So who else are you going to ask to go with us?"

"Zoë and Johnson."

"Ah, all good choices. Especially me!" she smirks. We step out of the hallway and into the main area of the cave. I see Zoë and Johnson sitting together with a couple of other vampires. We walk up to them and Johnson notices us first.

"Hey Vincent. Hey Rina. Everything okay?" Zoë looks our way as Johnson speaks.

"Yeah, but we have something to ask--" Rina interrupts me again.

"Zarro wants us to find a couple of people to go with us on a mission!" she smiles.

"She's exaggerating..." I roll my eyes. Rina gives me a playful punch on the arm.

"You need to have more fun, V. You're always so uptight. Loosen up a little!" she ruffles my hair.

"Anyway... I want you two to go with us. Zarro, Agatha, Clara, Rina, and I are going to find Tarynn and Adriana."

"What will you do once you find them?" Zoë asks.

"Well, hopefully we can talk them out of their revenge plan. Maybe we can even get them to lift a couple of spells that have been cast over the vampires for centuries. Who knows? I guess we'll just see how it goes and then go from there." I say.

"Okay. When are you leaving?"

"Soon."

"Alright, then. Let's go."

Zoë and Johnson stand up and walk with us to where Zarro, Clara, and Agatha are waiting. Clara smiles at me when we walk up, and I smile back. I can sense that Agatha still feels nervous around us. Not that I can't blame her. She's been taught all her life to hate us. I just hope she can get past it like Clara did.

"Alright. Everyone's been debriefed on the plan, I'm guessing?"

"Yes. We're good to go." Johnson says. Zarro nods.

"Okay, girls. You have what you need. Now it's time to do the locator spell." Clara and Agatha walk over to a table with a bunch of herbs on it. In the middle is a map of the surrounding areas.

They talk to each other and take the herbs they need, setting them in the middle of the map and on the outer areas. Closing their eyes, they take their hands and put them over the map. They begin to mutter a chant, and the herbs glow. My eyes widen as the herbs float and move around the map, until they finally rest in a big heap. It takes a few seconds, but the herbs finally burst into flames.

"There." Agatha points to a small mark left by the herbs. A singe in the paper gives away their location.

"They are at the village." Clara looks surprised. "It doesn't make sense for them to go back..."

"Do you think they're trying to mislead us?" I ask.

"I don't see why they would be at the village, but they wouldn't be able to fake where they are through a locator spell. You can only hide your location."

"So, it's agreed? We're headed towards the village?" Zarro asks.

"Yeah." Agatha confirms. She and Clara begin to clean up the remains of the spell.

"Don't worry about the mess. We should probably start heading out, if we want to make it there and back before sunrise."

We begin our trek out of the cave and through the woods, Zarro and Johnson in the front, and Zoë in the back. Rina, Clara, Agatha and I are in the middle.

"We could make it there a lot faster if we used our speed, you know." Rina complains.

"Yeah, but Clara and Agatha don't have that ability," Zarro speaks to her as if she is a child, "So we have to walk slow."

"Do we really need them?" she asks. "We could just kill Adriana and Tarynn and it would all be over with."

"Enough, Rina." Zoë says. "You're not making this trip any more enjoyable." Rina rolls her eyes and pouts her lip; it's enough to shut her up, so that's fine by me.

The walk seems to drag on forever. The sliver of the moon barely provides any light for us to see. It's really cold, and the jacket I'm wearing barely prevents the wind from biting at my skin. I can tell that it must be really cold for Agatha and Clara, especially since they can feel heat better than vampires can. Vampires have little sense of heat. We can still sense it, but it doesn't feel as strong as to, say, a human.

"Here, take my jacket." I offer.

"No, it's fine." Clara protests, waving her hand.

"No, really, take it. It's not that cold. I'll be fine." I lie. It is cold. Even for me. Rina tries to suppress a laugh but I give her a glare and she quiets down.

"Thanks." Clara snatches my jacket and puts it around her and Agatha's shoulders. I cross my arms, trying to keep the heat in.

"Looks like it's going to be a long walk for you, buddy." Rina whispers.