The Second Chance (Blood Of Eden Fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Jackal

For the rest of the night, Abigail continues to keep her distance. She's also remained quiet for the last couple hours, only piping up every so often. Her silence is driving me mad and the space between us is making me insane, but I can tell she's uncomfortable and I don't want to worsen it by getting too close.

Besides Abby's silence, the night itself is abnormally quiet. The wind is soft, barely rustling the leaves of the trees. The creatures of the night all appear to be hiding or sleeping. There's the soft sound of a river in the distance, but other than that, it's silent. Even the annoying blood bag behind me is keeping his mouth shut. It seems that I have finally gotten my wish for silence.

I keep looking to Abby, a war playing in my head. Every time she looks to me, her face is one of fear. I know that she is trying to hide it, but with the way her heart beat quickens and her eyes slightly widen when they meet mine tells me more than enough. 

She's afraid of me.

I shouldn't really be all that surprised. I did tear apart a whole hoard of her people in front of her. Of course she would be afraid of me. She got to see the real you after all, Jackal. She finally got to see the monster.

I shake away the thought and close my eyes in search of my blood sister. She's close and it would appear she has stopped to either rest or deliver the cure to another vampire city. I can only imagine how that is going. Knowing vampire Prince's, they won't let her leave so easily so she's probably stuck for a night or two. I'm hoping to catch her and the puppy as they are leaving.

We walk for a few more hours, Parker only complaining every few minutes about how he's tired and hungry and how he can't stand how quiet everyone is being. It annoys me, but it beats the silent treatment that had settled among the group previously.

"Do you actually know where we are going?" Parker asks and I roll my eyes.

"Yes," I say curtly. He's asks this question about every hour or so and it's really starting to get on my nerves.

Parker looks at me dubiously. "You've changed our direction twice in the last three hours. And ever more so in the last couple nights. I would say you're lost."

"We're not lost," Abigail snaps and I nearly jump at the sound of her voice. "Jackal has been around much longer than we have. I'm sure he has more experience with travelling than either of us do." She looks back to me with a small smile, but casts her eyes down almost as soon as they meet mine. Please just tell me what's wrong.

Parker coughs and stretches his arms above his head. "Well," he starts, "I personally don't see how someone can guess where someone is. I don't care how long you've been around, finding someone you have no form of communication with is downright impossible."

Abigail looks back up at Parker in annoyance. "Have you not listened to anything that I've been telling you for the past several nights?"

Parker shrugs. "I'm not saying I haven't, I just don't get it."

"So because you don't get it means that it doesn't exist?"

"I'm not saying that either-"

Abigail rolls her eyes and sighs. "Just forget about it. Obviously anything I say is just going to go through one ear and then out the other, so there's no point in me trying to explain further."

I give her an amusing look. I've never seen Abigail like this before. Sure, she's gotten fed up and annoyed with me in the past, but this is different. She almost seems angry.

"Someone's feeling a little feisty this evening," I muse, receiving a dirty look from the girl.

"Don't you start," she snaps and I have to fight the smirk that comes to my lips.

Parker gives out a loud sigh behind me. "Well personally I don't care about who's feeling what and the knowledge of vampires," he complains. "All I want to do right now is climb into a warm bed and sleep well into the afternoon and not worry about something killing me in my sleep."

I roll my eyes, but Abigail beats me to talking. "You're the one who chose to follow, so you either stick with what we're doing or go fend for yourself out there. I certainly won't stop you."

Both mine and Parker's eyebrows raise at the sharp tone of the girl. I've never seen her quite so on edge before and I can't help but feel nothing but worry. Did I really mess her up that badly?

I look to the sky and close my eyes, reaching out to my blood sister once more. She still hasn't moved so I figure we have some time.

I look to Abby and say, "Maybe we should stop for the night. Dawn will be soon and you haven't had a proper rest since leaving New Covington."

Abigail looks up at the sky, her forehead scrunched. "We still have at least three hours before dawn, though. Are you really sure we should stop this early?"

I nod and wonder off near a pack of bushes. "Yes," I answer. "Come. Rest."

She gives me a side glance but sighs when Parker comes plopping down beside me. "If you're sure..."

I stand back up and turn towards the forest behind me. "I'll gather some wood so you can make a fire. I'll be back shortly."

I leave without waiting for a response. I'm mostly doing this so I can formulate how to speak with her. I can tell she's upset and bothered, and I have a pretty good feeling as to why, I just don't know how to broach the subject. I'm just worried that I may have caused too much damage and can't repair her trust in me. I just hope she knows that I would never intentionally hurt her.

I snicker at my train of thoughts as I make my way back to the two humans, my arms piled with wood. Never did I ever think I would be in a situation where I would protect and never harm a blood bag. It's like I'm a whole new vampire and part of me is still having troubles processing it. I've never felt like this for anyone else before, and I'm afraid it's turning me into a big softie like my sister.

When I get back to our small camp we had set up for the evening, I find the two humans already fast asleep on the ground. Parker lets out a small snore and I roll my eyes, setting the wood near his feet. He sleeps with his mouth wide open, one arm stretched out behind him and the other covering his eyes.

I look to Abby, her chest moving up and down softly as she sleeps. Her eyes are closed with her forehead slightly creased, a small frown on her lips. I've never seen the human sleep before and I feel a certain kind of peace as I continue to watch her fragile frame move with each breath. A piece of hair falls into her face and I reach out to tuck it behind her ear. She stirs softly, mumbling something incoherent before going quiet once more.

It's in this moment that I realize just how far deep I'm into this now. Any thoughts of turning away and changing my mind are long gone. I can't imagine not spending another day with this girl and I know that I would do anything I could to protect her, even if it means sparing my own life.

Inside my chest it's almost like something stirs, making me jump; something that hasn't moved in a very, very long time. I slowly raise my hand and put it over my heart, but the feeling remains the same as before. It doesn't beat and I know that it will never beat again like it hasn't for decades.

However, it does feel different now. It might remain unmoving in my chest, but a warm feeling spreads throughout me from the center of my heart. A warmth that I've never felt before, or at least haven't in long time.

For the first time in my entire life as a vampire, I no longer feel cold and dead. I feel more alive than I ever have in my entire existence. And it's all thanks to this sleeping girl laying in front of me.

I'm falling in love with a human.

***

Hey guys! I know it's been a VERY long time since I've updated this and honestly I've been sitting on this chapter for quite awhile now, not really sure how I wanted to do it but here we are! Thank you for your patience and I promise I'll try and get another chapter out soon!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO
Miranda