Capture My Heart

To an outsider in the first few days since Violet had connected the group’s minds, it would seem like everyone was mute.

No one spoke out loud anymore, and instead we all lounged around lazily, keeping conversations in our heads while no one was the wiser.

The mind reading vampires that existed weren’t even aware of us, as we were kept under the radar by Violet’s ability to block our thoughts and put on a sort of cover show for whoever happened to be listening.

We plotted in every way imaginable, planning recon missions and information gathering groups when some of us started to realize just how little we were prepared to escape. We barely knew anything about the way the guard assigned to us worked, or how they operated so a few of us were assigned to pay attention to that.

We were cataloging mentally every move the vampires made, familiarizing ourselves when their patterns and learning the schedule of who came and went as we were secured in shifts.

Everyone felt better this way, seeing as we couldn’t attack just yet, and doubted we could at all, it felt nice to know that we weren’t just sitting around waiting for an opportunity.
We were assessing the perfect opportunity instead.

XxX

“Hey Jake,” Violet whispered in the silence. It was a shock to hear her voice out loud since it had been in my head lately.

“Yeah?” I whispered back. Everyone was eating but Violet had stayed behind so I obviously had stayed with her.

“What do you know about me?” she asked, kinda timidly, but there was enough emotion in her voice to snap my head towards her.

“What?” I asked softly, staring into her bottomless eyes. She scooted closer to me unknowingly.

“You knew me before…you knew there was something…extra, I could do. I saw in Poppy’s mind that you made her talk to me, but she’s very good at hiding her thoughts and I didn’t know why.” Violet whispered in a hushed voice. I didn’t know if what I could tell her would be good for her.

But then again, she was my imprint, and it was past impossible to refuse her anything she wanted.

“I want to tell you…” I said in a soft, muted tone. “I want you to remember me, to remember everything, but I don’t know if I can tell you…it might not be the best idea…” God the look in her eyes almost killed me, but I couldn’t tell her everything without admitting everything that I had been feeling back then.

“Can you tell me…about me then?” She asked, leaning into me and shifting her eyes to the ground, almost shyly. She had been edging closer and closer to me as I spoke, and it felt nice to be so close to her.

“I know my name was Violet, and Farah was my sister, but…that’s it.” She said, and I held her too me. I couldn’t even imagine the type of confusion she must be feeling right now, a confusion that I could end.

“You were hunted by vampires as long as you could remember…” I began, not looking at her although I could feel her eyes on me.

“Sometimes you had visions, but I don’t think you could control them; they just seemed to happen. You read minds, like now, and could block other people’s memories like now too. Once I saw you move things with your mind, but I don’t know how.”

Violet was burning holes in me, but I still couldn’t look at her as I recalled everything that she had told me in our time together. It was painful to remember it, but I had to and it wasn’t like I could forget either way.

“You were marked…which never really meant much to me, but everyone else seemed to make a big deal out of it, including the people hunting you. They were wolves and vamps, although the wolves were more of a threat ironically enough. They turned you into one of them.”

Silence.

I turned my eyes down to see Violet staring to where the others were returning, plates in their hands. She kissed my cheek briefly, and my hand flew to the spot as she stood up and shifted away from me.

“Thank you,” she said fervently, her voice thick and I nodded weakly while she went over to get some food.

She was grateful, although I doubted I had said enough to answer half the questions on her mind. It was fine with me though, I had told her all I could and she was happy for it. Good enough for me.

And I could live off her happiness for a while too.

Poppy and Briana collapsed down next to me, not occupying the space Violet had and scowling at the pitiful gruel attempting to pass as food.

“They don’t even eat…” Poppy was muttering, “How can they be expected to cook?” and I chuckled at her while Briana rolled her eyes.

“Thank god they don’t make our water too.” Jeremy joked, sitting down whilst also rattling a half full bottle in his hand. Beck sat beside him, for some reason leaving open the space by Poppy.

“What I wouldn’t give for a happy meal right now,” Beck muttered, sniffing at his spoon full of food with a disgusted expression.

The only time we bothered talking out loud was during meal time, because it was expected, and also to give Violet a break and let her eat without draining her energy as connecting us to each other did.

“You know he’s only in it for the toy,” Briana said, smirking at Beck while he stuck his tongue at her and everyone bickered around him. She had broken out of her shell, but didn’t really take it upon herself to really socialize with us the way we were used too.

It was still out of her comfort zone to be so close to the little mini pack we had formed, but it was fine with us that she was somewhat shut away. It wasn’t like she was totally closed off; there were times like now when she let her guard down.

Jay and Kyle were a different story.

They were best friends since day one, and quickly adapted as they were introduced to our group. Everyone here, in our ‘resistance’ had wanted to belong to somewhere, and why not belong to the ones who weren’t sitting around waiting and expecting to die, but were, rather, sitting around planning action.

Everyone here was already a soldier in a way, already experienced in fighting vampires and everyone was motivated.

Some more than others.

“This isn’t food, this is toxic waste,” Beck whined, like little bitch before he tossed his full plate into the fire our group was huddled around. Every ten yards or so there’d be another blazing inferno with wolves huddled around it.

“Don’t toss it,” Violet scolded, returning with a plate. “You need your strength,” she said in a lower key, which everyone immediately caught onto.

Suddenly, the food didn’t taste so bad.

XxX

“Jake, Jake man wake up,” De’Andre hissed in my ear.

Two more moths had past, and it was the beginning of August now. Around the tenth actually, but god knows I don’t keep track of the days well. I usually rely on Jeremy for that.

“What?” I grumbled, sitting up in our tent lazily and trying to catch what De’Andre was saying.

“Its Poppy man, she took off this morning. She thinks she saw Joana again. I lost her in the crowd.”

Oh crap.

I sat up faster now, exiting the tent to see only Kyle and De’Andre were left with me, the others were probably out, trying to find Poppy and keep our little family together.

I started searching too, weaving through the tents and separating from the guys with the exception of De’Andre while I couldn’t catch a scent in the crowd.

I cursed mentally, hating being so blind.

This place was huge! How on earth were we supposed to find Poppy? As fast as she runs, she could be anywhere by now.

I had push thoughts like these aside a couple times, trying to stay focused and not be pessimistic, but it was hard when that’s all you’ve been used to for a while.

I didn’t expect us to be the first to find her, especially considering how often I debated turning back and letting her find her way herself.

De’Andre grabbed my arm, pointing out towards a group of tents, where I saw Poppy’s head duck by. She hadn’t seen us.

Immediately, ignoring the relief, I headed in that direction with De’Andre on my tail, his face pissed although he was probably just as happy as I was to have found her.

We rounded the corner where the tents were hidden, only to be met with a group of three sitting beside one another, all of them familiar since I had seen Poppy’s memories.

Without waiting for us to go off on her, Poppy smiled and grabbed her friends, as if everything had suddenly been made alright.

“I told you it was them,” Poppy said, both elated and stubborn, her hands gripping the dear life out of the pair, who didn’t even seem to notice it since they were just as strong as she was.