Black Blood

Even as I had just made the decision not to hide, I didn't want to go and meet the 'king of vampires.' I had had absolutely enough of vampires in general. Honestly I just wanted to stay put and let Edward Blackblood come to me, so I could kill him and get it over with. I was ready to get back to my normal, human life already.

But I was also afraid. I wanted to run. I could feel the man looking for me, on his way as if he already knew where I was. As if he would know where I was no matter what from now on. Now I would feel something was constantly lurking in the shadows.

I broke off from Adrian and Claude and hid. Every vampire in the building would easily be able to find me with their hearing and sense of smell, but I hid anyway. I needed a break. I knew I would never get one, with the urgency of everything, but I needed a break from it all badly. I sat in the darkened closet I had found, with my knees hugged up to my chest, wishing all of what was going on away.

I screamed when I heard the lock on the door break as the door was pushed open. Light flooded the closet I had previously been safely sealed within. I huddled in the corner and shielded my eyes, and then looked up at the intruder.

Claude stood before me with a frown on his face. He held his hand out to me and I stared at it.

"Come on, then," he said quietly. I resigned and placed my hand in his, allowing me to pull me to my feet.

We were back in Claude's car not too long after that. I sat in the back with Adrian again. Jean had joined us after all, and he was seated up front with Claude. Adrian watched me from the corner of his eye as Claude drove.

I turned, staring back at him. He looked at me properly.

"Are you alright now?" Adrian asked.

"No," I said instantly. The intensity and honesty of the word made Adrian jump. He looked forward again. No one else asked if I was alright.

The drive continued in silence. Claude occasionally glanced at me through the rear view mirror. Jean looked at me a few times as well. Adrian made a point of staring ahead of him or out the window, never at me again. For some reason that irritated me.

"Stop the car," I said. Claude looked up at me briefly.

"I can't do that," he said. I felt my eye twitch.

"Stop the car," I said again. Claude's hands tightened over the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

"Chloe, I can't-" he started.

"I said, stop the car!" I screamed.

Claude pulled off the road, slowing to a stop on the shoulder. He opened his mouth to speak, but I was already undoing my seat belt and unlocking the door. I was out of the car already while he was still scrambling with turning the engine off and undoing his own seat belt.

I had only made it a few feet away from the car, other vehicles passing by along the road, when Claude had moved to stand in front of me. I had forgotten about the vampire speed. I glared at him.

"Move," I said.

"Chloe, we need to- I need to take you to meet the king," Claude said. He held his hands up.

"I said move," I repeated through clenched teeth.

"Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?" he asked. I took in a breath, and let it out slowly.

Why was I suddenly like this? Hadn't I already accepted my fate? There was something more. Something darker, that made me want to get away from Claude and wait. Edward Blackblood was coming for me, and I didn't want Claude to end up getting hurt because of this.

"I just- I don't want to meet the king," I said instead. It was a half truth. "I don't even want to be around anybody really."

Claude ran his hands through his green hair, and then shoved them back into his pockets. He sighed and looked to the ground. I wrapped my arms around myself.

"Please just get back in the car," he said quietly. "I really don't want to have to drag you back myself."

"Fine," I said. Though part of me was glad he was offering me the choice of going back myself.

We walked back to his car. I got back in, and so did he. Soon enough we were back on the road.

"It will be quite a drive," he said. "Adrian brought nonperishable food for if you get hungry. It'll only take about an hour and a half, but I can't remember when you last ate..."

"Thanks," I said. I rested my head against the side of the car, ignoring how my head would bounce off it with every bump and dip we went over in the road.

I felt exhausted from my fear and anger. I struggled with keeping my eyes open, but my eyelids were just so heavy. The darkness pulled me in hard.

I knew immediately that it was actually more of a forced, sleep, a pressure in my head that had caused me to drift off. But I didn't appear in the forest this time.

This time it was a never-ending pool of black. I looked around, felt the muscles in my neck and shoulders moving anyway. My eyes saw no change to the darkness surrounding me. I lifted my arm up. My skin was practically glowing; at least I could see myself.

The whispering from before filled my ears and my head. I looked around again, but it did no good. His presence oozed into my darkened dream world, making my stomach turn.

"Why won't you just show yourself?" I whispered.

"What would be the fun in that?" he whispered back, mocking me. His voice was louder the next time. "Would this make you feel better?"

What looked like Claude appeared before me, but his hair was blond instead of the usual bright green I had gotten used to. I stared with wide eyes, my mouth slightly agape.

When the voice spoke again, Claude's lips moved to the words.

"You're traveling with this one, I can feel you," he said. His voice made me shiver. "What a bold move. Bringing yourself closer to me."

"What do you mean, bringing myself closer to you?" I asked. The whispering grew more intense, more like shouting. I cried out and fell to my knees, bringing my hands up over my ears. That did no good, the yelling was inside my head as well.

"I am much closer to the king than you think, closer to you," he said, Claude's form bending down to be eye level with me. I looked up at him through eyes clouded from pain. "There's something incredibly off about you. I've never felt afraid of a human before."

My eyes widened. The yelling had died back down to whispering, and then even the whispering eventually died off. My lips parted. He knew there was something about me, telling him to stay away from me. Would he come after all?

"No matter. I will find you," he said. "There's a great power in your blood that I can't wait to consume."

"But- my blood is poison," I said. Claude's form grinned widely.

"Not to me," he said. And then his presence, and Claude's form, vanished.

The movement of the car lulled me form my sleep. I rubbed my eyes, looking around. No one had noticed that anything had happened. I felt relieved momentarily, but then fear settled in me once more.

I opened my mouth to say something, but couldn't find the right words. Fear gripped me tighter than ever before. Did the others know that Edward Blackblood could drink my blood with no consequences?

But I still had one ability that Edward didn't seem to know about. When the confrontation finally came, I would have to be quicker than him was all. I looked out the window, and noticed we were driving uphill, up a long-winding road. A large building could be seen at the top of the hill. We were here already.