“Mom is still pissed off?” I asked him, and he sighed before nodding.
“I think you really pushed her too far this time, Luce. Mom has banned me from seeing you and says she doesn’t want me to become corrupt like you.” His words stung, but I knew it wasn’t his intention.
“Maybe go stay with Tyson and Ace till things calm down,” he said.
“No, the river won’t be so bad. She will forgive me eventually. That’s what mothers do,” I said, though my mother wasn’t like normal mothers. “Besides, Ace has Melana there all the time. I can’t stand her.”
“What are you going to do about blood? You can have some of mine, but I know it won’t taste too good.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. I will just catch something,” I told him though that didn’t sound all that appealing.
He nodded before digging through his bag again. “Here,” he said, handing me some money. I shook my head, trying to pass it back to him.
“No, keep it. I will be fine. I don’t want your pocket money, Rayan. I just wanted to see you.”
“Just take it, Luce. Not like I will spend it anyway,” he said, dropping it in the bag when I refused to take it from him.
“If I can get away from Jacob, I will try to sneak out and bring you a blood bag and a few things,” he told me.
“Just don’t get in trouble, okay? I don’t want you in trouble because of me.”
He nodded, and cars started pulling into the parking lot, parents waiting for their children. Rayan got up, and so did I.
“You better go before Jacob gets here. He will tell mom he saw you,” he said, hugging me and giving me a tight squeeze. I squeezed him back before grabbing the plastic bag off the ground.
“I love you,” I told him.
“I love you more,” he said, walking back toward the school. I watched him cross the road and wait at the gate before I turned, rushing off through the street and heading back toward the river behind the packhouse. By the time I got back, the sun was blocked by the trees as it slowly went down. I found a log and jammed the bag in it before searching for firewood again.
“You didn’t come over,” Ace’s voice said, flitting through my head.
“Was busy,” I lied.
“Come over now then. I want to see you,” he told me when suddenly Tyson joined the mindlink. I could feel it stretching before his voice appeared in my head along with Ace’s.
“Come have dinner with us,” Tyson told me.
“No, I am good, and I don’t want to cause more drama. I will come see you soon, though,” I told them, cutting off the mindlink before they could say anything else. I continued gathering firewood and set it inside the rocks I had placed on the dirt. I got the fire going with a lighter I’d found inside the bag. I smiled, knowing Rayan had stolen it from dad.
When I was sure it wasn’t going to burn out, I stripped my clothes off, putting the new ones on. I walked over to the river washing the clothes I had on before hanging them over a low branch to dry.
Once I was done, I went in search of blood. I was already ravenous and knew going too long would become not only uncomfortable but dangerous for anyone that happened to stumble into the woods. These woods were mainly free of humans. Not many came this far out, but I had to be prepared for them on the off chance they did. Picking up their scent would end badly if I went without for too long.
I tried to remain close to my little camp. The last thing I needed was to burn the entire forest down.Yeah, mom may actually kill me for that. Maybe even my father.
I picked up the aromatic scent of a deer. Following the scent, I found it was only a baby and couldn’t bring myself to kill it as I watched it strip a patch of grass. I looked around before deciding to leave, knowing its mother might be around. Maybe killing something would be harder than I thought as I slid over a fallen tree. The fire I’d made, I could make out just through the trees when movement caught my eye. Rabbits. Two of them next to the trunk of an old tree, I slowly crept up on them, their little ears twitching, listening for any movement when I pounced, grabbing one by its ears, the other darting off into a nearby log. I could hear its heart pounding, its little legs kicking wildly as its fearful eyes peered back at me.
I grabbed the back of its neck, holding it while it continued to kick. I felt bile rise in my throat at the thought of killing it.Damn. I was a shit vampire. Getting emotional over killing a rabbit. I tried to will myself to kill it, giving myself a mental pep talk as I closed my eyes.
Come on, Lucy. It’s just a rabbit. Just a cute fluffy terrified little rabbit. The mental pep talk did fuck all. If anything, it made me feel worse. I opened one eye, peering at it, its little heart thumping in its chest frantically as I looked at it. I let out a breath before grabbing its kicking back legs and the back of its head. I felt my fangs slip from my gums, my saliva pooling in my mouth, and I tried to give over to my senses, let them take control, but tears slipped down my face as I sank my fangs into the furry little creature.
It squealed, the sound breaking my heart as I drained the life from it, its kicking slowing before stopping altogether. I laid the rabbit back on the ground, its blood running down my chin, and I looked to the log the other ran into, only to see it peering out. Its heart thumped loudly inside the log. I looked away from it.Did it know what I had just done?There was not enough blood in its tiny body, yet I couldn’t bring myself to kill the other one. Instead, I wiped my tears and headed back to the campfire. I could have cooked it, but the idea of skinning it grossed me out and would ruin my clothes. Surely, mom would open the mindlink soon, instead of keeping me blocked out, and let me come home.
Chapter twelve
Tyson
One Week Later