The Price of Blood

Chapter 29

"Bradley!" "Bradley" a eerie voice calls me behind my bedroom door.  I rush to it, and open it, and see a blood-dripping Lauren staring at me, still dressed in her white shirt and jeans.

"Aren't you happy to see me? she asks, and starts to walk towards me, her arms outstretched in front of her like a zombie, "I thought you loved me."

"I do, I do, what happened to you?" I ask her, and her eyes go dark.

"You." she whispers, "you did this to me..."

And then, she morphs into Kenny, then Leighton, then all these other girls who our pack have killed.  Suddenly, Jake appears.

"It's all your fault." he says simply, and pounces onto me.

***

I wake up, sweating.

The rain drums eerily on the top of my cabin in the chalet.  My duvet has been thrown off my bed, a vase on the table has been shattered and my pillow was been torn to pieces.  I haven't had a nightmare like that for a while.  I try to close my eyes and get back to sleep, but I know that the more I sleep, the less I achieve.  I've got to find a way to help them.  I have to at least find where Kenny is.  But I have no idea where to start.  I haven't heard any screams this morning, but considering that tonight is the night of the festival, I know I have to get Lauren and Kenny, wherever he is, out of this place.  I have a faint plan but it has a slim chance of succeeding.  That is still a chance though.

I put on a white shirt and a pair of faded jeans, covered in blood stains.  I am ravenous, I haven't eaten for a week, and I need sustenance.  I know I have to feed, so I open the window and jump out of it onto the soft grass beneath me.  My leg is still a bit stiff from yesterday, so it isn't a particularly comfortable landing.  I shouldn't be feeding now, it should be tonight, but I know that if my plan works, I am going to be around humans for at least a couple of days, and I don't want to feel like all I want to do is rip their necks and tear them in two.  Someone like me who has self restraint has a maximum really of five days until they need to feed, people like my brother need a meal about three, four times a week, but that is mostly done by animals and some humans.  Half and half.  I don't kill humans.  Well, not unless I really need too.  I almost tiptoe into the forest that is adjacent to the chalet.  Usually it is thriving, and I have already killed two deer before a milky sunlight pouts my bedroom in few.  I kill by breaking necks.  Quick, painless.  It's the same for everyone.  As Gavroche would say 'Everyone's equal, when they're dead.'

When I've finished, I jump back through my open window into my bedroom, when I see Jake standing by the door.  Shit! I think, make something up.  I put up my MindScreen, before saying Good Morning to him and trying to leave the door.  He slams his arm across it and begins to back me into my own room.  My heart beat goes up and up and up.  Please don't beat me up again, I think.

"What were you just doing?" he asks.

"What do you think I was doing?" I fire back, trying to be clever.

"Don't mess with me." Jake says shortly, and the temperature in the room drops a fair few degrees, "what were you just doing?"

"Enjoying the pine forest." I reply, trying to not give away anything, "pine forests in early spring are wondrous to behold, I could show yo-"

"You'd better not be lying." he says, "Anyway, I've got a ticket with Lauren so I'll see you later."

My fists clench.  He notices and then whispers: "It's gonna be FUN!"