Torn Asunder

Chapter 9 Valentine

I had gotten myself into one heck of a pickle by having hysterics in Italy. I was now lost, unarmed, unable to defend myself, and smellng like newborn vampire. But without any of the strengths they even had to protect themselves with. And I'd just run away from the one man willing to be my protector right now, and even at best, he was still injured. So now that I was staring at a very deadly vampire, I was really pissed at myself for getting into this situation. I mean seriously, I was always the one screaming at the idiot females in those movies when they run away from the safety of the group when you know there's a killer near by. Even though I was supposed to be one of this big scary bad guys now, I knew I was useless.

"I.....I....ah....Hi I'm Valentine." I stammered, not knowing what ese to do than stall for time. I had been trying to lose Andros about thirty seconds ago but now I desperately wished he'd show up and save my bacon.

The vampire in front of me seemed to be half way to decent because she laughed at my nervousness, as if it were cute. "Well hello Valentine. I'm Nerial and you are in my territory." She said calmly.

"Oh man.... I'm not hunting, I'm not even Hungry right now. I just ah.. well there's this guy but I couldn't... you know I should probably be going because this is a really dangerous thing to be doing..." I babbled like a complete moron, my cheeks burning in the dark despite the fact that I wasn't supposed to have blood pressure anymore.

"Valentine, it's alright. I'm not one of those that kills other just for tresspassing. In fact I like to even go as far as finding out the Childe's name before I strike them down." the vampire teased.

"Well... I really need to head back to where my date was... well he's not my date he's my protector, but he's not my protector protector but he's like my baby sitter. Not that I'm a baby or anything.." I one again humiliated myself by babbling.

"He's supposed to keep an eye on you?" Nerial guessed shrewdly.

"Yeah." I admitted sheepishly.

"Well then girl, let's get you back to where you're supposed to be then." Nerial gestured me closer. Since I couldn't believe I would survive running away, I walked closer to someone who could snap my neck with their fingers. "So how did you get here then?" she asked conversationally.

"T-train mostly. Caleb said going on an airplane was a bad idea with me being so.... you know." I looked down, shoulders hunching slightly as I demeaned myself a little.

"Ah yes, the hard to contain exuberance of youth." Nerial smiled tolerantly. "I cannot myself Master a Childe but I can sympathise with what you must be going through. I was there once myself and it's an experience you never forget."

"I didn't know... I don't want this." I admitted softly. The vampire looked at me with sad eyes.

"Not many of us do Valentine, and I'm sorry for that. But immortality grows on you after you awhile, I do promise that." Nerial admitted with a sigh.

"Mmmm." I mumbled noncomittally. "Well, I hate to interrupt your night, but I can smell my own trail back." I tried to gracefully decline her help.

"I think I'd like to meet this overseer of yours." Nerial admitted.

"Well... he's part of the reason I ran. I'm kind of with one man and he well, there's ah.... feeding involved but then this guy comes around and he makes me want... but the Hunger isn't there and..." I shut my mouth and blushed wondering what the crap was wrong with me because I was yammering like an idiot.

Nerial laughed. "You've got the appetite then my dear. I'm sorry that it seems to be making you so uncomfortable. It'll decrease as you start getting more control over the different ways of feeding." Nerial put her hand on my shoulder and I felt a cold start to sink into my skin from her hand. It wasn't the painful, burning cold that I'd experienced in a really good winter storm, but instead the cool numbing of a dentist visit. It seemed to ease some of the dread in my gut and guilt in my chest and the vampire seemed to want nothing more than to put me at my ease.