Burning Souls (F.T Sequel)

Chapter Ten

"I can't believe she did that to my
car." Chase lets out a puff of mental exhaustion as we watch Hunter and Fernando expertly tilt the upside down vehicle back onto its four wheels. If it was black, sleek, and crystal clean before, I can imagine why Chase feels... sad.

Caleb comes over to us and slings and arm over my shoulder. I barely catch the slight tilt of Hunter's head in our direction, and he's looking back towards the clearing a second later. "My car's definitely the best one now." Caleb declares with a goofy grin on his face. Chase shoots him a glare on the other side of me.

"It never even was to begin with..." Chase mutters grumpily, crossing his arms. We all discreetly cast a glance in Caleb's beautiful, red Ferrari's direction, before glancing back at Chase with raised eyebrows. This makes him pout even harder. "Naaaaw, poor baaaaby." Caleb coos, pinching Chase's cheeks. I shake my head with silent laughter and share an amused look with Alice.

"Are you two done?" Hunter bellows a distance away. He looks at me for a moment, and a million different thoughts whirl between us as our eyes meet. But then, he turns his head and slides into his car. Caleb shrugs and mutters "party pooper" as he joins his own flamboyant Ferrari, with Fernando by his side. He turns to face us again with a wide smile on his face, slinging an arm over Fernando's shoulders and dangling his pristine car keys in one hand. "At least I've got two Italian toys for myself!" He calls, and we all chuckle as Fernando slaps his boyfriend on the chest scoldingly. They continue to banter back and forth before disappearing into their vehicle. I see Lily joining Hunter in his car, and I can't help the tiny pinch in my chest as I look at the two of them begin to drive away.

"Ready to go on?" Alice asks me softly from my side, and as I turn I realise that Julia and Chase are already inside of his car, and waiting for us to join them. I nod and follow her into the vehicle. The car ride is silent and pensive as our three cars travel through the convoluted mountain paths, the late morning sun shining through the trees as we go.

...•...

After four hours of uneventful driving, the car suddenly comes to an abrupt halt as Chase kills the engine. "New home, sweet new home." He says monotonously, obviously tired of staring at a forest-lined road for all that time. The two cars in front of us have stopped, and I can see that we've left the road to be concealed behind rows and rows of pine trees, letting us be invisible from outside view. I exit the car and lazily stretch, gazing upwards. I allow myself to forget the terrifying clash with the elite vampires and my attacker's unsettling words, for a moment, as a smile lights up my face and my head tilts back. The sun is now setting into a late afternoon position in the light sky, and I can barely feel its warmth caressing my skin with rays that flit through the thin canopy of trees.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" An accented voice catches my ear, and I tilt my head to the side to smile at Fernando, who's enjoying our fairylike surroundings just as much as me.

"Sure is..." I murmur, eyes scanning around to find us completely surrounded by trees, and nothing else.

-Come on then!" We both turn to see Caleb clapping his hands at us impatiently, as the others have somehow silently managed to retrieve all of our bags and started to make their way up a rocky, mountainous path. "We don't have all day!"

Fernando mutters an Italian curse under his breath but Caleb must have heard it, because he makes a kissy face and flips his boyfriend off with a glare. I shake my head at the couple and hurry my steps to trudge alongside Hunter, who's lingering slightly behind the rest of the group. Caleb and Fernando pass us, and I catch Caleb winking at me suggestively before hurrying after his boyfriend and the others.

After a minute of unbearable and tense silence as we hike up the rocky, grass covered path, I let out a sigh. Hunter glances in my direction but says nothing. "So..." I begin, kicking at a rock in my path, "are we going to talk about what happened at all?"