Cursed

Chapter 17: Strangest Friendships

"How long have I been asleep?" My voice finally broke the thoughtful silence that had settled between the alpha and myself.

Jason kept his slow pace while he led me through the quiet hall of his little house.

"Like I said before: your healing rate isn't anything I have ever seen. Neither are you of course. But, you slept the whole day and night."

Only a day and a night? I sighed. I couldn't be a vampire, right? Why would the Hunters make me one of their enemies?

"I can't be a vampire," I said aloud, repeating that insane theory. "I can't."

"Sky," Jason tried, but I cut him off: "Seriously. Vampires drink blood, I have never drank blood. I don't need it to survive. So I can't be. Somehow, I must be something else, right?"

Jason looked at me with a face that did not make me feel any better.

"What?" I almost shouted. Tears wouldn't come, I was too trained to keep them from ever falling in the presence of someone else, but that didn't make my eyes burn any less.

"I'm not sure if that is any better." He sighed. His eyes remained on mine and flicked between them, the same way Kate had done only minutes ago. "We were present at the ritual. We felt the air shift and the earth rumble. You becoming a vampire is honestly better than the alternative. But I'm afraid you're right."

He turned around and walked inside the room smelling of porridge. My stomach made a little happy dance. How I could still be hungry after I heard news like this, I would never understand. But my stomach was uncomfortably squeezing in protest. So who was I to deny such wonderful smelling food? After taking three slow breaths in and out, I followed the alpha inside.

Mimi, the graying woman from the day before, was putting plates around the table. Her limp had somehow become more present. She wobbled from one place to the next, the wooden bench always in her way to put the plate down gently. The clattering filled the room, while Jason was putting the giant iron bowl, filled to the brink with porridge, onto the table. How many people were they planning to feed? Thirty?

"My dear, how wonderful to see you awake." Mimi smiled while she wiped her hands on her white apron, now under stains. "Come sit down and enjoy a fresh meal, I made plenty."

Before I had time to follow her and take a place at the enormous oak table, lazy footsteps hit the wooden floor, pulling the attention of everyone. With an outstretched moan, a tall and muscular guy with short dark brown hair, bordering on black, walked into the room. His nose was pulled up in the air and his hands lifted in the same direction. "What a great way to wake up."

"It smells amazing, Mimi."

I hadn't noticed the girl behind him entering the room. But now that she pushed herself around the tall man, their similarities were striking. Both had pitch black eyes that were almost uncomfortable to look at, their hair was the exact same tint of dark brown, only hers was much longer. And just like her brother, or at least I assumed it was her brother going off by their physical similarities and their age, she was tall and lean, with no doubt about the presence of muscles underneath their darker complexion.

They walked up to the woman and kissed each one of her cheeks.

"How are we so lucky to have the best cook in the Lands?"

Mimi smiled shyly. "Oh you are a charmer." She waved in the air before pulling one of the benches back. "Sit my two bunnies."

Bunnies? Really? I would've gone with killer lions or something equally deadly. They didn't really look the bunny kind.