Forbidden Blood

Chapter 23: Clara

I wake up earlier than Vincent does, and I am careful not to wake him up as I step out of bed. Dressing in a coat and thick boots, I walk outside to the main area of the cave. No one else is awake yet. Agatha is standing by the exit, and waves to me when I walk up to her.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes. Do you have the enchanted map book?" she asks.

"Under my coat." I show her the book and then quickly wrap the coat back around me. This time, I'm prepared for the cold that will greet me outside the cave.

"Well, let's get going, then."

We walk outside, and I immediately feel the wind biting my skin. It isn't as cold as last night, but it's still enough to make my teeth chatter. The daylight floods my vision, and I shield my eyes. I forgot how bright the sun was; it's been a long time since I've been outside during the day. Agatha doesn't seem as bothered by it as I am. I start to ask why, but then I remember she hasn't lived with the vampires as long as I have.

"You're starting to become one of them, whether you like it or not." she mutters.

I scoff, "Yeah, but hopefully I'll never have those fangs."

She shrugs. "It doesn't matter if you have them or not. What matters is what you choose to do with them."

"Please, the vampires we know are nice. They don't even kill when they feed, they just use mind control to make them forget that it ever happened..." I trudge through the woods, relieved as the trees provide good shading.

"Is that really any better? They could be taking our memories away and we wouldn't even know it."

"But isn't it better than taking someone's life away?"

She ponders my question. I can tell she agrees, she just doesn't want to say it.

"Do you think the western vampires are going to be that bad? I mean, the way Zarro described them made them sound like hideous creatures. And if they scare Zarro... I don't even want to imagine how much they'd scare me..."

"We'll have Zarro and the others with us for protection. I'm not that worried." I say.

"What if they don't show up?"

"They will." I immediately respond.

We walk farther and farther away, and every once in a while I double check the map book to make sure we are on the right track. The last page shows us where the book is, and it says we are already past the witch village and headed towards the border. I flip the pages and look for an area that shows Adriana and Tarynn. The book says that they are far away from us, almost 30 miles away.

I sigh. We have a long way to go before we get to the border, and after that, even longer until we get to the western vampire cave. At this rate, we'll barely make it there before the sun rises. We need to move faster if we don't want that to happen.

"I don't think we'll make it in time if we keep traveling this slow."

Agatha frowns. "Well, what are we supposed to do? Run?"

"Maybe we could run for a few minutes and then walk again?" I suggest.

"I guess," we start to jog through the forest, warming up our bodies a little. I hold the book close, so that it is easier to run. Agatha is able to run faster than I am, but she slows down a little so we stay together.

Once I start to run, I feel like I don't want to stop. The continual pounding of my feet on the ground sets my body into a rythym that is hard to break out of. Pound, pound, pound. My feet skim the ground and I feel free as a bird. The cold air rushes in and out of my lungs.

We end up running for a while, but I stop when my chest starts to hurt. I check on the map to find that we've made a lot of progress. We are now almost at the border.

Suddenly, I hear noises behind us. We both stop and turn around to see Vincent and Rina emerge from the bushes. Not far behind them are Johnson and Zoë, and lastly, Zarro.

"Hey," Vincent smiles at me.

"Hey," I smile back.

"Wow. You two got a lot farther along than I thought you would..." Zoë looks impressed.

"Thanks."

She nods with her approval and then looks back at Zarro. "I think we'll make good time. Assuming you can befriend the western vampires."

"I'll be able to, it just might take some convincing."

"Well, let's keep going. We don't want to lose any more time." Johnson trudges forward into a clearing, and we all follow him. There is a wooden sign in the middle of the clearing that sits right in the middle of a line of scorched grass. We walk towards the sign to find words branded into the wood. I can tell that the sign used to read: "Welcome to the Western Border. Population: 301."

Except the 1 has been crossed out and replaced with a 3.