Burning Souls (F.T Sequel)

Chapter Six

The cool night air swivels around me in a wintry embrace, but instead of shivering against it I revel in its numbing effect. I couldn't even feel the cold on my pale skin if I wanted to. A slight breeze has picked up and is blowing strands of blonde hair around my face. I brush a strand out of my eyes impatiently, gripping the blood-stained hunter dagger tightly in my right hand. A hunter's dagger can kill a vampire by a simple swipe on the skin, its poisonous venom boiling over the frozen blood and making the victim melt from the inside. It only works by a hunter's hand though. A cold memory passes through me: I can feel the dagger's hard hilt in the palm of my hand as I drive it into Jay's heart. I shiver and block that image out of my mind, focusing on the task at hand.

The dark and looming old buildings on either side of me give no opportunity for light, and the narrow alley's cobblestones are bent and sharpened at odd angles, making it near impossible to walk on. I would have already fallen several times had it not been for my acute vision. I scan my surroundings once more, listening out for any sound of struggle. This is the poor part of the city: it's isolated from the buzzing streets and the traffic, and the dark buildings and creepy alleyways make it the perfect hide-out for vampires. I never said that Hunter's home choices weren't questionable.

Suddenly, a scream in the distance catches my ears. It's very faint, barely there at all, but the stillness around me makes it near impossible to have missed, especially for a vampire. If someone's getting attacked in the middle of the night by a vampire, others will join in on the feast: food is scarce at this location and time of night. I grip the dagger tighter and press on, hurrying my feet over the wonky path. I can feel the thrill of hunting and the beginning of traces of red in my golden eyes as I get closer to the source of struggle. Everything in me is itching for a fight. I don't know where these furious and uncontrollable emotions are coming from, but right now, I don't question them. I simply revel in the feeling of invincibility.

I turn a corner but stop with a raised eyebrow when my path is cut off with a mass of debris: broken wooden planks cut off my way straight across the narrow alley and bricks that have fallen from the shaking walls on either side cover the cobbled ground completely. I slide the dagger into my back pocket, feeling silently reassured by its presence against my skin. I grit my teeth and with a shaky breath crouch down, finding a grip underneath the biggest wooden plank. I lift it up with shaking arms and toss it aside, standing back up onto my feet. I wish I could say that it was effortless, but my excitement for the hunt is burning my blood supply quicker than expected, and my throat is beginning to itch for one of those delicious glass bottles back home.

'Blood tastes better directly from the source...', my vicious consciousness reminds me, and I close my eyes tightly, willing the fantasy of hot blood on my tongue out of my mind. Focus on the task at hand, I remind myself sharply. I step over the broken bricks and wince when I twist my ankle, losing my balance as I tumble over the obstacles. I can feel the familiar sting in my bones as they mend themselves in an instant. But without more blood soon, broken bones will stay unhealed. Another scream bounces through the dark alleyway facing me and I focus glowing eyes on the end of the alley, catching sight of a glimmer reflecting off of the far corner of the wall in the distance. As if in a movie, a black cat hurries across the cobble stones, letting a wave of dread wash over me. But something inside of me begins to pulse violently, and it pushes me to move on. I slide the dagger out from my back pocket and grip it tightly in my right hand, my knuckles turning near-white as I squeeze the hilt with all of my might. I press my steps until I arrive at another bend. I've come to the extremity of this part of the city, and before me are docks, with a waveless ink sea stretching out into a bend of midnight. There are no stars tonight, and the only light that can guide me is the pale moon circled by a mass of clouds above. 

I let my eyes sweep over my surroundings, taking in every rustle of leaves from the dying trees alongside the water, every cry from the old planks as water from the sleeping sea rushes silently into them like a lullaby. Then, I see them. A hunger-driven vampire pressing its victim up against the underside of the bridge where luxurious cars are speeding over, completely unaware of this double-world that they live in without knowing. Something slides down my spine, something cold and uninviting, begging me to acknowledge it. Without removing my gaze from the vampire that seems to be enjoying scaring the life out of its victim, I pull out my phone from the inside pocket of my jacket. As a car-'s headlight reflects off of the water and back onto the bridge, I catch a glimpse of the victim's dark hair pulled up high in a ponytail. A familiar whimper escapes her lips. I switch on my phone silently, willing myself to calm down, and gripping the dagger further. I just need to make sure that... that... 

That what exactly? Why aren't I rushing over there to save her? The girl that the vampire is soon going to drink every ounce of blood from? 

The notion of blood makes my insides churn but I force that feeling aside. I just need to confirm reality. I scroll through my contacts with scary precision and hit the 'call' button. Julia's name flashes across the screen. Seconds tick by as the vampire keeps tormenting its victim in the distance under the bridge. 

"You have reached the voicemail of - Julia H-"

I hang up with trembling hands, fumbling with shock as I slide the phone back into my pocket. But what overpowers that shakiness is raging-hot anger, simmering through my veins like lava. I rush towards the struggle and nearly bump into the bridge's stone walls as the vampire suddenly sees me coming at him like a mad woman and steps around me swiftly. The vampire gives out a throaty laugh. "Pathetic." He spits. I can't see his face, but blood-red eyes stare at me with contempt mixed with - fascination? I glance back at the wall where his victim has slid down, staring out in front of her with horror. Julia meets my eyes and they widen with shock.

"Em?"

Before I can reply the vampire charges at me and I'm flung to the ground. Claws and canines rip and tear at flesh as we roll around, trying desperately to get the upper hand on one another. But I have the hunter's dagger. I slice it through the air and miss the vampire's left arm's skin by a bare inch. The vampire scrambles to his feet with a snarl and rage, but recognising the blade in my hands, he thinks twice about it. I rise as well, and right before he turns to leave more light bounces off of the cars above and illuminates the vampire's face. I watch, frozen in shock, as Silas disappears into the night. 

"Emma?" Julia approaches me with hesitant steps and a trembling voice, and she shakes me slightly as I stay paralysed in place. I can't move, I can't think. How can I have been so stupid? Of course the way that Silas gave me the job at the caffe so easily should have appeared suspicious to me, but I was too caught up in this fantasy of normalcy to look it through further. Hunter didn't like him though, he didn't trust him from the moment he laid eyes on him, and I shut him out. Like a stupid idiot, I didn't listen. "Emma, let's go. Please, before he comes back." Julia sounds calmer than I would have if I were her, but I still can't move, despite her begging. 

"Emma?" Another voice rumbles through the night and that familiar tone alone makes me at least think enough to blink. "What happened?" A deep voice bellows, and something shifts inside of my chest as Hunter steps into view. I hear Julia's exhale of relief as she explains everything. Hunter gives out a curse and steps in front of me, tilting my chin up with his finger so that I can look at him. "Emma? I'm taking you home, okay?" 

"Home?" I whisper, feeling the silence thicken around us. Seconds seem to tick by agonisingly slow before Hunter replies in a smooth voice that wraps around me like velvet. 

"Home, Emma. I'm taking you back to your sister."