Chasing Souls

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

            I opened my eyes and blinked rapidly before looking around. Not that I needed to, the lumpy mattress under me was a dead giveaway of where I was.

            The lights were off in the hospital room, but the moonlight filtering through the blinds was enough to illuminate it.

            Turning to my left, I saw a figure sitting in a chair. Just as I was going to scream, a hand was clasped over my mouth. “Calm down. It’s me,’ a voice whispered.

            I ripped my hand away from my mouth, ignoring the pain in my wrist. “Seth,” I hissed, “what are you doing here? You scared the shit out of me!”

            He smirked, the moonlight glinting against his perfectly white teeth. “I can see that.”

            “What are you doing here?”

            He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

            I could feel the blood rushing to my face has he said that. “I looked down at the blanket and smiled. “Thank you, but what’s the real reason as to why you’re here?”

            Seth blinked before his blue eyes met my green ones. “Is it that hard to see that I care about you?”

            I took a deep breath before breaking eye contact with him and looking down, fiddling with my hospital gown. “Where’s Cole?”

            Seth muttered something under his breath while I inwardly cured myself. Why did I say that? I was finally going to see if he felt the same way and I screwed it up.

            “Cole’s… hunting,” Seth answered.

            I raised my eyebrows. “Hunting?”

            “Feeding.”

            I mouthed, ‘Oh.’ “Don’t you have to… hunt?”

            He shrugged. “I’m okay for now.”

            “Can you guys eat human food?”

            Seth nodded. “It won’t really do anything for us, but it tastes good.”

            “What would you always eat before you… turned?” I was dying to learn more about Seth, even just the simple things, like favorite food, color, hobby, anything really, but what I really want to know is how he turned. Knowing Seth, he won’t tell me until I get to know him better, but I’m willing to wait.

            “I really liked cheeseburgers. Oh, and ice cream, ice cream is great.”

            I couldn’t hold back my smile at how much younger he sounded. Seth may be 113 years old, but right now he sounds like he’s still eighteen. “What’s your favorite flavor?”

            “Chocolate.”

            I scrunched up my nose. “Ew.”

            His jaw dropped. “How do you not like chocolate ice cream?!”

            “I can only eat chocolate if it has vanilla with it.”

            Seth shook his head in mock disappointment. “There’s something wrong with you.”

            “No there isn’t! They make chocolate and vanilla ice cream together for a reason.”

            “Yeah, but do you think that people actually eat it together? They just take the side that they want. It saves money and space in the freezer.”