Amority

Blood is bad for Vampires

I peak at Elise from behind the tent. "I won't let you hurt them. They did nothing wrong."

"Sometimes it's easier to hurt the loved ones than it is to hurt the person you want to hurt, especially if that person is stronger than yourself. You are ruled by strong emotions, Jacqueline. Nothing you feel is weak or insignificant. Everything is overpowering." Elise glanced at her younger brother, smoke coming out of his ears, "Theodore, go hunt and cool off."

"Bu-"

"No buts. Go!"

Theo slumped forward as he stumbled away, mumbling to himself. I wait until he's gone before continuing.

"How could you possibly understand how I feel? My whole life is being turned upside down and I don't even know why!"

"Because, Jacqueline, I've been where you now are once. Not in the same circumstances, but my whole life was turned upside down once. It was because of a little girl that was my age. She too had powers she couldn't control, and she didn't always get along with people, but when she cared about someone, she'd protect them with her life. We grew close to each other over a couple of months and she did something horrible. She was sent to this large, hellish hole in the ground we know as the Yala pit. When she was finally set free, she killed my family. Every single member gone, except for Theodore. I was left alone, my clan had disowned Theo and me, I had a younger brother to look after. I learned the hard way to protect the things closest to me and to do anything within my power to ensure we survive."

I stare at her with narrowed eyes.

What's she getting at? She's not one to tell you her life story like this...

"Why?" I blurt out the words before I can stop them, "Why are you telling me this?"

Elise sighs before starting up at the sky. "Who knows? Maybe I just don't want you to end up like me."

"Too late," I mumble, "I'm already worse."

Elise glances in my direction. "Sometimes it only appears like that until the clouds are clear."

I push myself off the ground and march towards her. "When did you get so wise? Meanie, I wanted to stay mad. Can't let me pout, after all that happened." I whine, before engulfing her in a hug.

Elise's body is stiff as I squeeze her, before softening and returning the favor. We stay there for a minute, before she breaks away, bends down and sweeps up the tent bag I had dropped and shoves it into me, sending me stumbling backwards.

"Thanks. I needed that." I mumble.

"Don't forget about this. Now do your job! I had to slave carrying you around all day and this is the thanks I receive? No gratitude from the younger generations, I need to beat the lesson into them!"

I chuckle, shaking my head. The tent didn't take long to set up, thanks to a decade's worth of experience from camping with Henry or at the competitions.

"Say, Elise. You've lived in the Etherworld, right? Did you know any fairies?"

"I could say I knew a few. Mostly because they kept trying to kill me."

"Oh."

"Its okay, when you're a rouge, like Theodore and me, you don't have a clan to protect you. There strength in numbers, and when there's a bunch of fey bristling with fangs, we'll, let's just say the odds of you surviving are numbered zero to zero. That percentage is also the same if you don't belong to a clan. I guess - they forget we have feelings too. We're always the pest, the creature that will return no matter what." Elise shrugs. "But it doesn't matter. It's always been like that."