ADRIA’S POV
“Stacy.” I called, still unable to process what she was doing, so deep in the forest.
Why was she in the forest? “What the heck are you doing here!?” I asked in fear, as my heart began to pound hard.
Her eyes filled with tears, as they trailed from my face, to my hands. She blinked once, and staggered back. Her mouth seemed unable to close, and she placed a hand on her chest.
She saw me for who I was already.
Her lips started to tremble, and she staggered backwards more. She couldn’t seem to tear her eyes off me.
“Why are you…?” I began to ask again, but she screamed loudly, all of a sudden, and fell to the floor. She continued to scream, and I made to go to her, but suddenly stopped. There was blood somewhere.
I stopped where I was, and my nostrils flared dangerously. Where was the sweet scent coming from?
“Please stop, Adria! Please, you’re scaring me! Okay, I’m going to believe these are… these are… Aaaaaaaaaah! Someone help me!” She screamed, turning around, then turned back to me. “I don’t know what happened! I just started following this random guy. Adria! Adria!! Stop it! I’m really scared!” She cried out, rubbing her palms, with tears rushing down her face.
I clenched my fists, tearing into my skin, and blood poured out from my palm. My arms, and feet trembled, as I fell back, trying to leave.
Blood was pooling out somewhere, and I didn’t want Stacie witnessing me drinking the blood of whatever creature smelled as sweet as that.
My neck cracked, and I sniffed in the air deeply without intending to.
“Adria!”
I scrunched up my face, trying hard to leave, but I couldn’t leave without Stacy. Derek could return, and eat her up, thinking he’d find someone else for me.
I walked towards her, to take her with me, but she held up her hands immediately.
“Stop. I’m sorry! God… Gosh, Adria, I’m scared.” She breathed out heavily, and I could feel my eyes burning. On her palms were blood.
She was the one whose blood smelled so good. She had scratched her palm when she fell, and the scent of her blood was thick, and rich in the air.
My eyes began to see only the blood, and veins began to pop out on my arms.
“No…” I said to myself, breathing hard, and trying to control myself, but it seemed impossible.
My legs took steps towards Stacy, and I began to cry out within. No. I didn’t want to hurt Stacy. Not Stacy.
‘God, help me!’ I cried out, within me.
I would never be myself if I hurt Stacie. My veins burned hot, and thoughts cleared out from my head. Stacy staggered to her feet, and began to run dangerously through the bushes, and I chased.
In a second, I had caught her. She screamed, and I tilted her head, exposing her neck, preparing to sink my teeth down into it forcibly.
But before I could, a heavy blow hit me, and I was blasted into the air, feet away from Stacy.
I crashed into a tree, and slammed my head on it.
Warm blood began to cascade down my face, and I groaned. Pain ricocheted down the walls of my head, and I closed my eyes tight, clenching my teeth, and trying to hold it in.
It started to throb, and it felt like I’d die from it, but slowly, the pain began to fade away. I was healing.
The hit seemed to clear my head a bit, and I could see clearly.
Lucien took Stacy in his arms, and she began to cry hard. At that moment, I resented Lucien for taking my spot. I was supposed to be the one to save Stacy, and assure her she was fine, not the one to frighten her, and try to drink her blood.
But even through the resentment, I felt relieved. I was happy he had saved Stacy, and tears began to stream down my face. I looked at my hands, and realized for the first time that I had become a horrible monster.
I had been so scared of not being human, and being a monster people got scared of, but I didn’t even know when I had begun to change.
How had it happened?
Then my answer came to me. It had happened slowly. Change had come creeping up on me, sneaking around until I had become exactly what I had been scared of, until my dreams had all come true.
Dreams of me killing humans, dreams of me drinking blood. My tears became so hard to hold in. My chest clenched painfully at the painful realization, and I had to cry out loud, just to free up my chest. What if there was no turning back for me?
I had passed the boundaries of being human, neglected my friends, and even lost the person I loved with all my heart. Lying had come easily to me, I had told everyone lies, and had become a completely different person.
The truth hurt. The worst truth was the truth of me becoming everything Lucien despised in vampires.
I sobbed out loud, and Lucien came to me with Stacy, who hid behind him, still crying.
“You can’t leave her this way. She’ll go nuts. She can’t handle the truth.” He said, calmly, to me, and I looked up at him with wet eyes.
I stood up slowly from where I sat on the ground, sniffing, with little sobs still escaping my lips every few seconds.
Then, Lucien pulled Stacy to stand in front of me.
She shivered, and tried to run, but Lucien held her tight.
“It’s fine. I’m here.” He said to her reassuringly, still holding on to her arms, and she took in a deep, and shaky breath.
“I’m sorry.” I said to her, sniffing, and trying to stop the tears that were running down my face like rain.
Stacy could not form words.
Her lips trembled hard, and I wondered what she was thinking in her mind.
Then I looked at her in the eye, making perfect eye contact, while taking in a deep breath.
“You will forget everything that happened in this forest tonight. You will forget that you came here tonight. You will run home, answer no one, and follow no one, and when you get home, you will take a thorough shower, and go to sleep.” I commanded, making sure I didn’t leave anything out.
I didn’t want her leaving the forest, and wondering why she had been in the direction of the forest. I also didn’t want her smelling like forest leaves, and being so dirty that she’d question where she had been, so I made sure my commands were clear.
Stacy’s eyes went blank, and immediately, she turned, and began to run.
“Can you look at yourself?” Lucien asked, and the anger I felt at myself all began to feel overwhelming.
“Why did you leave me! If you never left, none of this would have happened! You would have guided me! Why!? Why!?” I asked, breaking into more tears.
Lucien just kept on looking at me expressionlessly, and I felt even worse.
I was ashamed of myself. It had taken Stacy almost being sacrificed before I snapped to my senses.
Then I began to wonder how the friends of those people I had killed would have felt. Stacy dying, would have punctured a hole in my heart. How many hearts had I punctured by killing my victims? How many people had I thrown into mourning? How many people were cursing me?
I cried hard, wishing I could erase the fact that I had been so cruel, and wishing I could turn back the hands of time.
Lucien took my hand, and I let him take it. At that moment, the anger I had felt had dissolved into deep sadness, and regrets. I felt like killing myself would be the only way to apologize to everyone I had hurt.
“Now you see? The vampire you were with… Where is he? Ran off, uh? He probably left as soon as he sensed my presence.” Lucien commented, and I looked up at him.
“Derek… Derek left because he sensed you?” I asked, and it was just so hard to believe.
Derek left me?