Bloodhunter

Finding Out

At that moment, my curiosity was turned into dread, as the air was punctuated by gasps and whispers that rose through the air, penetrating the silence like a cannon blast. To me, the whispers were as loud as a gunshot. To an outsider, it was almost silent. But the fear I felt seemed to make the voices louder, the whispers more powerful. I heard a voice next to me that seemed to be quieter than all the others, despite the fact that the voices and that voice were equally near-silent. "Hey, don't worry. You're okay. People are just whispering because you're a dhampir. It means you're powerful, more so than any other supernatural." she says in a comforting voice. "But what if it also means I'm a freak?" I say nervously. "You are. But that just means you're unique." she says with a comforting smile. "Thanks, you make it sound like I'm an brilliant person." I say. She punched my arm. "Ow! What the he-" I start to say, but I was cut off by her. "You are a brilliant person! You just don't see it yet." she said, frowning, but there was a playful light in her eyes. "Hey, freak!" I heard a menacing voice say. I saw a boy about the same height as me, probably the same age, with oily, gelled-back hair and blue eyes, cold as snow. I  averted my gaze, hoping he was going for someone else, but no luck. He made a beeline for me, and started berating me. I tried moving away, but it didn't work, he just went straight for me again. This time, I asked, "What do you want?" "Oh, just making sure you know your place, freak." he said evilly with an equally terrible grin. "He's not a freak, Eric. You're just jealous because you're just a lycan, nothing more special." Sky spat. "Watch it, Frost. One wrong move and I might just-oops." he pushed her and she landed in the dirt. "Hey! That's just wrong, dude! Back off!" I heard myself shout, as if on instinct. "Yeah, what are you gonna do about it, huh? What, gonna go all berserker on me?" he says. I get an idea, at the top of my head almost instantly. "Well, for starters, I'm going to knock you out." I say, smirking. "No, Orion. Please!" she pleads, with tears in her eyes. I guess the push shook her up, pretty badly too. She usually keeps her composure. I didn't listen to her words, just punched. And scratched. And kicked. And probably did every martial arts move I know and all those attacks I've seen in movies. My brother's advice keeps repeating in my head. "Go for the knees, the throat and the eyes. After that, step on their face 'till their nose breaks." So I did. And all I saw was my attacker's fist before I blacked out. I stirred. I heard a sob and woke up to a bright light. Where was I? A hospital, probably. But it didn't look like a hospital people went to for check-ups. No. It looked like one of those hospitals in the American Civil War.  Out in a tent, but of course the tent wasn't normal either. It WAS a tent, hell it looked like one, so I assumed it was one. But this tent was gigantic. I don't mean could-fit-10-people-kind-of-gigantic. I mean actually gigantic. I mean, this tent had hundreds, if not a thousand or thousands of people inside. I was snapped back to reality by another sob. I looked for the source and found it. It was Skylar. Crying and sobbing like she was at a funeral, to be fair, that could have been possible. I mean I looked at myself in the mirror and...wow. I had blood running towards the side of my head and oh God, I had a huge gash on my eye. and well... a purple face. But I was shocked to see that they all... started healing. Just healing like I had some Wolverine-style regeneration abilities or something. A barely audible gasp escaped from my mouth but she must have had really good hearing because Skylar heard it and hugged me. She almost crushed my bones, but somehow, it was pleasant. Like receiving a hug from your friend after a long day. Hell, it WAS receiving a hug from your friend after a long day, because this WAS a long day after all, filled with fights, brawls and unexpected surprises. The days sped by like an hour and finally, after a week, I was cleared. Finally cleared from the hospital. "So, up for doing more stunts that could land you in the hospital, mate?" I heard a sarcastic and drawling voice say. "Hey, Alex. What's up?" I sighed. "Oh, nothing. You know I've been wondering WHY in Elysium would you try and knock out Dayton." "Who?" I asked. "Dayton. Your attacker and the reason you were in the hospital in the first place." he said as if that should be obvious. "Hey, why does it seem like he runs on pure malice?" I ask, genuinely curious, taken aback, and silently furious at the same time. "Because he does. You think he's just your run-of-the-mill insecure little high-school bully? Or maybe a little misunderstood Malfoy? No. He'd be a case any bored psychiatrist would dream of taking up. Narcissism, delusions of grandeur, nihilism and sociopathic tendencies. So yeah, short answer to the question? Yes, he does run on malice." he said with pursed lips and pity in his eyes as if he was looking at a dead person. Well, I probably will be by our next encounter. Yep. This is just getting better and better. Now I have a guy who has heightened everything physically, and has razor-sharp fangs hellbent on making me go black, blue and red. Oh, and did I mention the fact that he can literally turn into a red-eyed black wolf, 7-ft. tall with his physique looking like it could make a bodybuilder whimper. Saw that once, when I was walking out last night. It wasn't a full moon, so my assumptions were he could turn at will. Great. I was snapped out of my happy thoughts when Skylar called me. "Orion?" she said hesitantly, fear and worry in her eyes and looking at me as if I was a delicate glass sculpture that could break at any given moment. I wasn't happy finding out what I was.