ADRIA’S POV.
“Adria. Is there something you have to tell me?” My mum asked immediately, turning to face me, and I stuffed my toast into my mouth, trying to act casual.
“Adria.” She called again, and I tried to munch as fast as I could, so I could reply to her.
I swallowed, settling into a sofa, and opened my mouth to speak.
“Something I have to tell you? I don’t understand.” I replied, still acting innocent.
“You’ve been returning home really late at night, and this morning, your room smelled nauseating. It smelt like blood.” She attacked, turning off the television.
“So, you think I ate all those cows, or something?” I asked, dropping my toast on the center table.
“Adria. Let’s be truthful…”
“I’ve been so miserable, mum. Being a vampire isn’t what I wanted. I tried to see if I’d heal, or die, last night, so I cut myself repeatedly. The blood dried, I healed, but the smell stuck to my body, and I was too tired, and depressed to wash up.”
When I had become such a good liar, I wasn’t aware. The lies just came sweetly to me, and I didn’t even feel bad while telling her those lies.
Her gaze went soft, and I knew she was going to start trying to encourage me to accept who I was.
~
At school, that day, I met Stacy in the library, and immediately she saw me, she pursed her lips, staring at me like I had a lot to explain.
Of course, I had a lot to explain about running off when we all were getting snacks, and not even returning.
“So, yesterday was all about what?” She asked, turning to watch me, as I took a seat next to me.
“The thing is… Lucien and I fought.” I blurted out, and her pen fell from her hand into the library desk.
“How did it happen?” She asked, laying her hands on the desk.
“We got into a fight, and I said something mean, and unfair. He got mad, and since then, we haven’t talked.”
“That’s bad. You should apologize, Adria. Is that why you ran?”
“I just got so sad. That was all.”
I was spinning a web of lies to just about everyone, and I knew it was not cool, but I didn’t stop.
It wasn’t like I could let them know what I really was, or what I had been doing.
~
That night, Derek and I met as usual in the forest, and I dropped my bag on the floor, going to sit on a bent tree branch.
“The news is everywhere. The wolves are probably aware it’s our doing.”
“What?” I asked, in alarm, looking up at him. I couldn’t afford Lucien knowing what I was doing. He would resent me.
“We can’t touch cows anymore. Not if we want to get chased down by wolves. I had not even kept count of the number of cows we attacked. It was fun being with you.”
“But, Derek. What do I do if I suddenly crave blood?” I asked, looking worried, and he gave a deep sigh.
“We have to switch to humans.” He replied.
“No. We can’t…”
“We wouldn’t take out all their blood. They wouldn’t even notice. At least, the wolves wouldn’t be after us because they’ll think we stopped. And let me drop this… Adria, human blood is ten times sweeter than a cow’s. In fact, I have one right here, right now.” He said, and suddenly, he called out, and a girl came out from behind the rock.
He ushered her to me, and swept her hair, behind her left shoulder, and onto her right.
Her neck was bare, and exposed, and my lips trembled.
“Go on. It’s safer.” He urged, and after looking into his eyes to find assurance, I bent my head towards her neck slowly.
She smelled sweet, and I couldn’t deny I wanted a taste of her blood.
My fangs protracted, and I sunk them into her veins. She moved, but my eyes went wide, and I held her still.
Indeed, human blood was like no other blood I’d tasted. Cow blood was like having hot chocolate plainly without sugar, or milk. It was still delicious, but human blood was like having chocolate with sugar and milk.
It was sweeter than anything I’d tasted, and that was the beginning of it all.
I, and Derek, hunted for humans, hypnotizing them, and drinking them. Later on, Derek once caught a naked man, and woman.
“What the hell?” I asked.
“The man does not have a job. His wife is paying all the bills, and feeding him, yet he snuck a woman into their matrimonial bed.” He explained, and the man who he had released from the hypnosis he put him under, started to beg profusely, but he only made me irritated with him.
“The lady is a best friend to the cheating man’s wife.”
“What? She’s sleeping with her best friend’s husband.”
“Exactly. You hungry?” He asked, and a smile curved my lip.
“Throw the girl.” I replied, and Derek delightfully pushed the lady my way.
I caught her, and even as she screamed, I didn’t stop. I bit into her flesh, locating a vein accurately.
Until we both went down, I kept on sucking her blood. She deserved it.
Finally, she lay there, white, cold, and dead. The first human I had killed.
And thanks to Derek, I didn’t even feel bitter about it.
That was the start of everything.
Derek brought me people every day, and I trusted him to the extent that I didn’t even ask whether the people were bad or not. I only kept on drinking, and enjoying blood.
And before I knew it, I had developed a strange mentality.
Humans killed animals for meat, for food, so why couldn’t we kill humans, for blood, for food?
We were predators, and everyone in the world was looking for how to survive. There was no harm in us simply trying to survive, was there?
~
LUCIEN’S POV.
Things had gotten worse. Already, Adria was constantly on my mind. Seeing her everyday, laughing, and acting like she forgot me, pricked my heart, but I tried to stop it because she was still a vampire.
Then, there arrived the matter of cows being sucked dry. Were the vampires attacking, already? A couple of humans had also gone missing.
Had the vampires begun again?
Just as I stood up, to patrol the forest in case I would be lucky to run into one, I knocked over a photo of me and Adria.
I picked it up, and upon seeing Adria, I froze. If seemed like some knowledge was awoken within me.
The vampires weren’t attacking. She was the one attacking.