Destiny

“Hello, are you in there?”
I opened my eyes to slits, but all I could see was the brightness of the moon shining through the trees. I tried to open my eyes all the way, but I didn’t have the strength to do it. Whose voice was that? It sounded strange, or maybe I was just dreaming again; it seemed I had been doing a lot of that lately.
The next time I tried to open my eyes, I was successful, but all I could make out was one giant blur. My eyes hadn’t quite adjusted to the darkness yet.
When my eyes had finally given in, I was startled to see an attractive looking young guy. He was dressed in a tight black T-shirt and faded blue jeans. He also had strong looking arms, and a well defined chest from what I could make out. His blackish shaggy brown hair hung in his face, and stood out against his pale skin.
"Uh, hello?" I said, which sounded more like a question then a greeting.
"Wow!" said the stranger who - I could see - was smiling down at me.
"Wow!" I mimicked. “I’m Violet.”
“I know,” he said, while crouched over me.
“What?” I asked, confused.
"I'm Luke," he said, avoiding the question, and sounding dazed. “Luke Voulduria.”
"Okay, this is weird," I said. "Where am I, and can you get off of me?"
"Yeah, sorry," he stood up from his crouch. "You're in the forest," he said with a grin on his face. What a lame answer, I already knew that!
"Yeah I know that,” I said with annoyance in my voice. "But what happened to me? Whoa my head hurts!" I raised one of my hands to the back of my skull, applying a little bit of pressure to where it hurt.
"Well," he started. "When you ran into me, two nights ago, you hit your head on a rock, and blacked out."
"Okay," I said, and nodded like I understood him, but really I had no idea. I didn't remember seeing his face when I apparently ran into him the other night because if I did, surely I would have remembered.
Luke helped me up off of the ground effortlessly, like I was a feather.
Once I was standing I brushed off the dirt and snuck a side glance at him. The first thing I noticed was the end of a teasing white scar on his bicep that was half hidden by his T-shirt. The second thing I noticed was that he looked rather, well, hot. I mean, I’m not saying anything could ever happen between us, because it won’t. I’m just stating that if anything ever happened between us, well, I’d let it.
“Are you checking me out?” he asked in a deep, almost seductive voice, without turning his head towards me. I must have been staring. Crap! The last thing I wanted him to know was that I was checking him out.
“Of course not,” I lied. “I was just…” I fumbled for the right words. “Not checking you out obviously. Why would I ever check you out?” as soon as the words escaped my mouth I knew I had blown my cover. Horribly.
“Right,” was all Luke said, but I could tell that he was smiling. Great.
After an awkward moment of silence Luke said, "Do you want something to drink?" Did he even know who I was? I mean honestly I didn’t need some punk to catch food for me. I was the Golden Child for Pete’s sake!
"No," I answered. "I can find my own food, thank you!"
"Okay, it was just a question," he said with his hands raised in a defensive manner.
"You have no idea who I am do you?" I questioned.
"Actually, I do, Golden Child."
Wait, what did he just say? How could he possibly know that when we had never met before?
"Who are you?" my voice cracked a little when I said this, and at the same time I jumped to my feet, ready to run.
"Relax," he said in a comforting tone. "I'm only here to help."
Even when he spoke so soothingly, I wouldn’t let my heart believe a single word.
"Fine," I mumbled. "But we have to go, and obviously you already know why?" I was testing him, just to be safe, and see if he really knew the danger I was in.
"Yeah, of course. Wouldn’t want the Xavenerians catching you, that could end badly." He smiled at me.
Damn it! He knew, or maybe he was just a good liar. I decided not to get too attached to him just in case I had to kill him. No matter how attractive he was, I knew that I shouldn’t trust him. We walked far enough away from each other but still close enough that I could see him, just in case he tried anything sneaky.
The night slowly dragged on. I hoped for it to passed quicker, when the feeling of thirst dawned on me. I was walking along the river when yours truly came up behind me and scared whatever I had left out of me.
"Holy crap Luke!" I screamed at him. "Stop doing that!"
"Sorry," Luke apologized. "I just got the sense that you were thirsty, so I went and got you this."
There in his hands he was holding three songbirds.
"You've got to be kidding me," I said sourly. I was testing him again, though there was probably no need to.
"You can stop testing me; I already know who you are, and that you're a Vampire."
“And what are you, a mind reader?” I joked, even though there was no sense in making myself look any more ridiculous than I already had.
“Close,” he said, but when I asked him to explain he wouldn’t answer.
"Okay,” I sighed. “Honestly bud, I don‘t trust you, but my thirst is telling me you didn‘t poison those birds," I said, and snagged two of the three songbirds from his hand and sucked them dry.
“Luke,” he said.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The names’ Luke,” he said. “And if it makes you feel any better, I don’t trust you either.” Then he sucked clean the last remaining songbird.
From then on it was silent. Only the water from the river could be heard. The moon was hidden behind the trees but luckily for me, I could see in the dark. I wondered how Luke was holding up, and then I thought, Who was this stranger and how did he come to find me? How did he know my name when we hadn’t ever met? I came to the conclusion that he couldn’t possibly be human. There were no such things as humans; they’re only myths. Although that still didn’t explain how he knew I was thirsty only seconds after I thought about it…
As I was thinking to myself, I saw a movement in the corner of my eye and quickly looked to where it was. There, in the water was a body, and as soon as I recognized who it was, my head throbbed with pain. Already I was feeling dizzy. Without even thinking I jumped into the water and grabbed the blood-streaked body with both of my hands. Luke must have noticed me because he also jumped in to help pull the body out.
"Vivian!" I cried, still in the water. I couldn't prevent the hot tears from leaking down my face as I saw that my best friend was stained with blood and covered in gashes deeper than before. I quickly put my finger under her nose to see if she was still breathing, and to my surprise, she was, but only faintly.
"Vivian, can you hear me?" As soon as I asked this, Vivian made a small grunt.
"It's Violet, your friend. I'm here now. Don't be afraid," I said, calmer than I really was.
"Violet?" she managed to say which was followed with another grunt.
"Yes, it is me, Violet," I said again.
Luke and I carried her out of the water and laid her down. I could see that she was trying hard to tell me something but all that came out were mumbles and bubbles of blood gushing from her tight lips.
"Violet," she mumbled again.
"I'm here, what is it you're trying to say?" I urged her on. Then with all of her strength she managed what she thought might be her final words, "The Xaven-n-nera… a-are in… the forest. Really close!" Though the words were more mumbled I still understood, and Luke did too. I stared in shock until Luke broke the silence.
"We gotta’ go Violet," he said.
"No!" I screamed. "I won't leave her here to die!" Then Vivian spoke again,
"I'll o-only slow y-you down… just g-go!" she said in a somewhat angry tone. I could tell it hurt her a lot to even talk but I told her,
"No, I wont do it. Luke,” I paused and shot a glance at him. “You're carrying her!"
Before Vivian could complain she was being lifted high and dangled over Luke’s broad shoulder.