Cora stood in front of the district's landmark which is a statue of a weeping angel sitting on a crescent moon. Every district has their own distinct landmark and this confirms that she is now in Vermilion. Which means that she is also three districts away from Rosewood.
But Vermilion is a quite big district and way too complicated compared to Carmine, with branching towns and strange alleyways everywhere. Not to mention the different type of crowd it has. Most people here seemed eccentric. It seems like this is where the party night life of Wisteria focuses.
Crossing from another district to other is already a progress. But she is becoming weary and tired now. It is already midnight and walking for hours is taking its toll already. It is exhausting to fight through crowds and worry for her safety at the same time. And crowds in Wisteria never depletes.
No outsider really knows how far Wisteria goes besides the fact that the Paramount stands at the center of it, the resident of the Highborns.
In her six years of working in the old bookstore called Oaken Leaves, every detail about Wisteria, the Highborns, and the modern vampires are quite obscure. She has read every single novels about bloodsucking creatures from Dracula to every published teen fictions but none of these can be used as good reference for the modern vampires.
These modern vampires do not turn into dust when exposed to sun or get petrified when stabbed in the heart with a wooden stake. These vampires can not transform themselves into bats but they have enhanced speed and strength. Not that exaggerated, but practically enhanced. The truth is, most details about them are deprived from humans or at least among those outside the capital for both kind's protection. At least that is what the Highborns believe.
Cora never believes that shit. She believes that the Highborns prefer to keep some facts away from humans' knowledge because in the end, their nature as predators are inevitable and would cause chaos. She never really want to judge every vampire. But knowing their abilities and the fact that they need to consume human blood really doesn't take much of the doubt from her.
She followed the path where most crowds are heading. She knows that it is not safe to be exposed like this but getting into places where only a few eyes could see her is not a good idea either. At the end of another street, the crowds begin to separate, getting into their respective destinations. Among the crowd, she saw a familiar face.
"Kalvick," she mutters to herself as she recklessly follows the man towards an establishment that seems to be a diner.
Kalvick looks different now. He obviously did not age physically but he shaved and cut his hair quite short. This is far from the Kalvick that she remembers as a child but those eyes do not lie. She is positive that it is him.
She so badly wants to call out his name but he seems cautious, like he is trying to hide from someone. He keeps on looking over his shoulder as he enters the kitchen straight to what it seems to be like the cold storage's door. She immediately slips through the door before it shuts.
There is a stairway that leads down to a what seems to be a speakeasy. Kalvick kept his head down as he walks by, blending in with the customers. Almost everyone has their own glasses clasped in their hands and Cora doubts that all of them are booze.
She tries to squeeze in between the tables and chairs, trying not to gain any attention from anyone, especially from the vampire that she is following.
He slips through the red curtain beside the bar. There is another door that leads to the back alley. However, as soon as she opens the door, he was nowhere to be found. There are at least three other crowded streets at the end of the back alley and he could have gone to any of those. She looks around desperately, but it is like she is back to square one. She begins to regret the fact that she did not call him out the moment she saw him.
She took a deep breath. She would be lying if she said she is okay. But there is no way she is going to lose it now. Kalvick is somewhere out there and she will try her luck to cross paths with him again soon.
Exhausted from chasing Kalvick, she tries to take a seat behind the stack of crates to catch her breath. Her vision already spinning from being tired and hungry. But she has to keep going.
Before Cora could leave the alley, the backdoor creaked open. She immediately went back, hiding behind the stack of crates.
A man and a lady exits the backdoor. The lady keeps on laughing and wrapping her arms around the man. She is somewhat acting wobbly in her heels. Probably drunk. She gently strokes a few strands of hair hanging down his cheek.
The man, however, remains calm and guides the lady beside the lamppost, talking to her down. His eyes glimmer in crimson red. It is positive. He is a vampire and this lady must be his prey. Or at least his Giver, as most residents of Wisteria call themselves.
The vampire roughly pins the lady on the bricked wall. She voluntarily pulls down her coat only to show her strapless emerald top. She has come prepared.
He brushes off the blonde hair that drapes down the left side of her shoulder, clearing her neck. She pulls him for a kiss but he breaks it off then trails his lips on her neck.
Cora kept her eyes focused as she watches the vampire opens his mouth and digs his fangs onto the lady's bare skin. It is almost unbearable but the lady acts like she is feeling pleasure than pain.
The lady has her hand clenching on his coat while the other hand pushes his head down as he quenches deeper in the wound.
Cora clasps her mouth tight. The sight made her nauseous. In a world where vampires live with humans, she still remains naïve almost as much as most people outside Wisteria. She could watch all the vampire movies as she could but none of it makes things more terrifying than seeing it for real.
Maybe it is all in her head but the right side of her neck begins to hurt again, almost pulsing hot. It made her feel queasy and sick, she accidentally knocks off one of the crates as she backs away. It clashes, making a loud sound as it drops on the ground.
The vampire suddenly stops feeding then glares at her direction. He moves away from the lady, letting her fall on her knees. He now looks straight at Cora, with stains of blood still visible on his lips.
For a moment Cora felt like she froze but this is not the day she will let herself be a vampire's victim. "Damn it! Run, Cora! Run!" she convinces herself as she gathers all the courage to escape his stare and run as fast as she could.
She did not care as to where she is heading anymore. She just kept running through the crowds. Everyone is staring at her. Some of them are concerned. Some are just scared and immediately moves away from her path. She is gaining attention. This is bad. This is wrong. She should not have stayed and watch. Damn this curiosity! Her curiosity is so close to killing her now! And despite having all eyes on her, she could feel two particular eyes still lingering and would not let her out of sight.
"Don't stop! Keep running!" she told herself as she breaks through.
She immediately stops to catch her breath as soon as she passes through, three blocks away from the street. There are not much people around but at least the vampire is not there either. His cold stare no longer there to get hold of her.
Cora ended up in a narrow street where passers-by can be counted in fingers and most shops are closed. She shouldn't be here. Despite losing the vampire from the back alley, she just happened to end up in a place where she is most vulnerable.
She tries to turn back but two suspicious vampires are already blocking the way. The silence was broken by the sound of metal chimes as it hits the opening door of a closed shop. The man who entered caught her attention.
"Kalvick!" she finally yelled out.
The man looks behind him and saw a familiar face. Though he has not seen this lady for more than a decade, he recognizes those round flame-colored eyes. It is as if her image suddenly went back to being a child. That almost doll-like child he used to carry in his arms.
He stares at her confusedly as if asking why she is in a place like this.
She runs towards him, knowing that he immediately recognized her. Kalvick closes the glass door behind him, avoiding her. He maintains his distance as she follows him inside the shop.
"Go home, Cora! Wisteria is not safe for you!" he yelled out as he runs past the counters. He pushes a table to stop her from catching up.
The table is too heavy for her to push aside. She could not get past it. "I don't care! Where is our father?!"
The question stunned him. His long pause gave her an impression that something bad has happened.
"What happened to Toto?!" she asked again. This time, she's having a hard time keeping the tears from falling. She wipes her eyes as she kept her stand. "Stella is here too and she was kidnapped!"
The more she talks, the guiltier he feels. "You really shouldn't have come." There is a sign of regret in his voice. He opens the back door, expecting it to be his way out, only to find three other vampires blocking it.
He turns to Cora. "Run!" he yelled out as he was grabbed by the arm and dragged out of the door. He struggled and fought but the other vampires managed to restrain him. His body suddenly stiffens as one of the vampires injects something in his neck.
Cora saw how Kalvick's eyes dilated as what was injected takes effect. The sight terrified her. She didn't hesitate to run back to the front door.
The empty street grows more threatening now. As she walks back to the direction where she came from, she could feel footsteps coming towards her. They are from everywhere. She looks up and vampires from the rooftops are watching over her, hungry and ready to pounce. She feels like a prey being hunted down by a pack of predators.
She couldn't run. She couldn't make any drastic action. Any sudden movement could signal them to attack. Her heart is beating really fast as she cautiously walks towards the street's exit. She just wants to get back to the crowds now. It doesn't matter if she gets exposed. She just wants to get out of here.
The vampires are still by the entrance. She faintly believes she can fight them off by luck but before she could even start running, a man grabbed her from behind, immediately covering her mouth before she could even scream.
She was dragged in a very narrow alleyway. She couldn't move and turn around to see her captor. She is petrified as her captor breathes down her neck.
"Relax. You're safe now," he whispers in deep gentle voice.
Her eyes widen as the voice echo in her ear. It is a familiar voice and it made her feel numb.
"It can't be," she thought.
He found her.