Walkers Book 2 - Revealing

Chapter 1: Into the Woods (Part 2)

Chapter 1: Into the Woods (Part 2)

Hayden

As she stepped out from behind the tree, Hayden began to second guess her decision. She hadn't drunk directly from a Humana's vein in months, and she knew quite well that her Day Walker companions would disapprove heavily. But she reminded herself that she wasn't just doing this for her, she was doing it for her sister and for Tanner. Whether Maria approved or not, the reality was that the Day Walker's twin brother was dying. He needed human blood if he had any chance of closing is wound; his healing speed determined how deep the clan could hide into the woods to get away from the Dimidium-Lamias. But it wasn't only Tanner that needed to feed, Hayden and Aria needed the blood as well, without it, they wouldn't be able to stay in broad daylight for long.

"Excuse me sir! Excuse me!" Hayden Brooks shouted. Maria attempted to pull her back, but Hayden resisted.

The man turned around; when he saw the two girls he gave them a gentle smile. "Hello girls" He said. "What are you two beautiful young ladies doing way out here in the cold?"

Hayden took another step forward and felt Maria's arm behind her trying to prevent her for advancing any further. "Our school burned down, sir." She walked more towards the man, Maria unable to keep her grip. "And now, we're lost." She said so with a very sad voice, trying to gain the man's trust. It surely worked, Hayden saw the man's face filled with pity, as he began to move closer to her.

"I'm so sorry to hear that girls." He said, worried. "If there's anything I can do to help, I'd be glad to."

Deep down, Hayden knew this was wrong and this man had done nothing to deserve what was about to happen next. And so, in an attempt to lessen her guilt, she snatched Maria by the arm and pushed her against the Humanas, and held her down.

"Drink!" Hayden yelled to the Day Walker, ignoring her weeping noises.

"No! I won't!" Maria yelled back trying to pull away but Hayden used all the strength she had in her to keep the girl down. She had pushed the Day Walker so hard that the Mortalis had cracked his skull when he had hit the ground. It had been a total accident, but as Hayden saw the blood drip from his head and into the snow, Maria's resistance was less strong, the smell of blood was beginning to tempt her.

By law, Day Walkers were not allowed to drink directly from Humana veins, they could only drink from blood bags in order to portray an image that they were more civilised than Night Walkers and blended well within the mortal world. But now was not about being civilised, it was about surviving.

"Drink." Hayden ordered a second time, and to her surprise, Maria sunk her death into the man's neck and began sucking out his blood. Satisfied, Hayden patted her on the head and sighed in relief. Perhaps they would make it out of these woods after all? After a minute, Hayden tried to pull Maria away from the man, but she resisted. "Look, I know it's hard to stop, but I need blood and so does your brother." She grabbed Maria by the shoulder and attempted to pull her away again, but still she resisted. The Day Walker was now much stronger than Hayden, if she did not want to pull away, Hayden would not be able to force her.

"Maria please, just think of your brother, he needs this." No reaction. "Mari—" The Day Walker suddenly pulled away from the Mortalis and was on her feet. Her mouth surrounded by blood, her eyes staring passed Hayden and straight into the forest.

"They're coming." She said. "I can smell them." Hayden turned around and looked behind her. She couldn't hear, nor smell anything that could indicate the presence of Half-Breeds, but she had no choice but the trust the Day Walkers words.

As if it were practiced, without a word Hayden hoisted the dead man's body onto Maria's shoulder and the two of them quickly headed back to the cabin. However, the broad daylight gravely affected Hayden, her low nourishment also contributed to her weakening, and so Maria was a lot faster. So fast, that eventually she could not see her anymore. But Hayden knew how to find her way back; all she needed to do was smell the trail of the human's blood.

That's when she stopped running. If she could overwhelmingly smell it and her sense were weak, the Half-Vampire could probably smell tit from miles away. That's what was giving them away, the smell of the blood; they were leading the Dimidium-Lamia straight to them! Hayden stared into the forest behind her, she could not detect the presence of the half-vampires, but she knew they we coming. She needed to trick them into changing paths. She quickly grabbed a nearby sharp rock and slashed her left wrist, the pain lasted momentarily but she knew she only had a few minutes before the wound would close up. She rapidly began running east, her blood dripping from her wrist and onto the snow as she made her way through the forest. Hopefully, the smell of her blood would mask the previous trail. This however, had its consequences. After running a dozen miles as fast as she could in only a few seconds under broad daylight; without any warning Hayden collapse to the ground, her body exhausted and deprived of blood.

And so she lied there. She wasn't aware of how much timewent by; it could have been minutes just as it could have been hours. As herbody buried itself into the snow, Hayden began to lose consciousness. Eventhough her self-inflicted wound had healed, she was too weak to move; completelyincapable of fighting back to the threat that was coming her way.

Thank you for reading! The story picks up in the next part! So stay tuned!

- NL101