The Hunters and The Hunted

Chapter 20: The Beginning, At The End.

Ortho accepted me as his bride that day. All of the newborns attended the wedding, if you could call it that. We stood in a graveyard as Ortho sunk his teeth into my neck. 

I woke up four days later, my eyes and neck itching like crazy. I could easily tell it was dark in the room, and it smelled very strongly of earth, I could detect each mineral in the stone around me. I sat up, realising I had indeed been placed in a coffin. I tried to ignore the dizziness as the room grew darker around the edges of my vision. The blood, (or lack of?) in my head pressurized. I looked down towards my hands, my nails had grown out perfectly, but the scars on my hands from years of fighting had become more visible. That was when everything went black again. 

One of the newborns came in, telling me I had been out for roughly two weeks. V and the others were probably looking for me at this point. 

"Let me talk to Ortho." I said. the newborn nodded and left the smallish cave. I took this time to examine the coffin that lay on the dirt below me. The silk lining was a baby pink color, with black lace appliques. I stood up so that I could close the lid. There were intricate carvings, all centered around the word "Shiner"

"Do you like it?" Ortho's voice echoed through the cave loudly, causing me to jump. "Not used to the enhanced hearing, I see." 

"Are they safe?" My voice rang out, I noticed it had lost the gravelly tone and now sounded closer to tinkling bells.

"Of course. You held up your deal, so I'll hold up mine."

"Have they looked for me?

"Vigorously.  The found the note about 18 hours after the bite, and they've been staking out this place ever since. There's constant surveillance coming from the house."

"It isn't safe here..." I whispered, though to me it sounded like  I was speaking normally.

"It's never been safe here. But now, it's not safe for you, which means we're moving. I've tried making negotiations with them, but they just decapitate everyone I send."

My eyes began to itch more at this point, to which Ortho responded with "It's a newborn thing, it'll stop once you've fed and your eyes finish changing."

Two hours later I had fed but was still fighting a major headache. My godly powers that I had just stumbled upon had virtually disappeared. My mindspeak had become nothing but a loud static, which I pinpointed was the root of the migraine. Every now and then I'd catch a bit of conversation from the house, but it was fuzzy and made my head hurt even more. 

Ortho sat me down with the other newborns who had just awoken, all three of us, and said that the headaches I was experiencing was due to the humanity left in my mind. The constant conflict of trying to fight against my feeding urges and the human part of my brain telling me killing innocents was wrong.

"They'll go away when we kill." He said, "Then, Krystal, your powers should come back and you'll be able to hear the mortals again." The other two newborns glared at me as they were sent off to training. 

It was night now, and I stepped out of the cave for the first time since I was mortal. The moon was blinding white, and the stars were so in focus it was dizzying. 

I saw the bullet coming before it even left the window of the old farm house. I stepped out of the way, but it was too late for the newborn behind me, who caught the bullet with his collar-bone. With one yell, the legion of vampires spread out of the cave. Ortho appeared beside me, I was enraged. 

The bullet would have lodged itself in my heart if I hadn't have moved. They had meant that bullet for me. 

I took off, running much faster than I ever remembered, the wind whipped behind me, and within five seconds I was at the house. I don't remember much of what happened next, but I do remember breaking a window, a girl screaming, gunfire, with silver bullets. 

I remember the pain, a shrill screaming within my head, the static was gone, as was my migraine, but it had been replaced with anguish. It suddenly felt as if the wall holding my mind back, had been broken.

I stared at the girl underneath me, her eyes holding familiarity, regret, and betrayal.

V lay gurgling below me as I raised my bloodshot eyes to the field around me, looking at each of the people I had called family for so long. 

I had slaughtered them.

I looked towards the bright moon, and laughed.

My humanity had been taken, and I didn't want it back. 




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A/N

And there we have it, the end. 

I'd like to thank each and every single person who ever gave this fic a read, and a special thanks to all those who've been around since the beginning in 2014.

It wouldn't be right to leave without giving credit to @appleoverlord  for giving me ideas for chapters and helping me develop characters. 

It was a pleasure to write this fic and I'm very sad to see it go, so sad indeed, that I may write a sequel, but we'll see ;)

Thanks again,

K