Caleb had balled his hands into tight fists and had growled ferociously at Ileus for looking at his mate. Ileus was now sitting on the floor drinking from the canteen, not wanting to get into a lover's feud.
Little did Elize know that the moment a sigh escaped from her mouth, and her tiny white fangs appeared, the man watching was about to combust, about to explode. She could swear that his scent was so strong now. Her breath hitched. This was all so wrong. She was imagining. She had lost her senses. She walked to the window and drew the curtains back, her hatred for him returning with full force. "King of Ixoviya. My foot!" she spat and walked to her closet to get ready. She walked to the full-length mirror on her dresser and combed her hair ferociously until her scalp hurt.
She came out of her apartment wearing a gray cloak over black pants. Her hair was swept back with combs. She checked her watch. It was 8pm. Her night school that was just round the corner was about to begin in an hour, but first she needed to find more blood.
Snow crunched under her weathered black boots, as Elize Walsh walked towards the backside of the dark alleys that brought her to a shady market. She looked at the men and women who wore hooded cloaks and called themselves pagans, the thieves, ghost catchers and roué. The place was also thronged by practically every debauch in Yorkshire for there were plenty of painted women leaning against the lamp posts and talking with men haggling prices. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head to conceal her features. She had procured a few bags from a local vet, but he had asked her not to come again and had pointed her to come here. Exhausted, half from hunger, half from an overwhelming sensation of scents, she sank onto a wrought iron bench beneath a willow tree whose slender stems touched the ground, which swayed in the soft wind that dusted snow over it. She scanned the street in front of her.
Elize, the vampire, was starving amongst so many humans. She looked at the prospective vendors, shoving down her clawing instinct to sink her fangs in the first person who came in her range of personal space. But would she be able to enjoy their blood? She looked at the fire dancers, at the rebels, at those who were taking out a slow candle march in memory of God-knows which goddess and wondered who could be her vendor.
All at once a crash sounded and her senses went in full blast. She got up to look at the site and found a tall, hulky man making way towards her.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
People screamed as things were sent flying in his way. A walking field of destruction. She shot to her feet and darted out of the market square, balancing her satchel loaded with books in her hands. She would come some other time. Somehow her instincts told her to stay away from the hulk. She ran so fast that by the time she touched the street of her night school, she was panting like a dog. She wheezed and leaned over a damp wall of an abandoned building to catch up her breath. Her gaze darted to her left and she sagged in relief when all she sensed was silence. She had lost him. She murmured curses.
She knew who that man was. It wasn't the first time she had seen him because he had attacked her twice before. She somehow believed that Caleb had sent him behind her to take her back to Ixoviya, but she was determined to escape.
Angered as hell, Elize stood there, leaning against the wall, till she had calmed her breath. Then removed her cloak and folded it neatly to stuff it in her satchel. She smoothed her hair, dusted off the snow from her sweater and started walking towards the school. Going back to the alley was dangerous.
As if the night wasn't enough of an adventure, suddenly a raven dove down over her and cawed eerily before flying away. Elize gritted her teeth and cursed the raven too. When she reached the school, she couldn't help but notice the unusually empty corridors and gardens. Her boots crunched on the side-walk as she hurried towards her classroom. She checked her watch again. In a few minutes she would reach the safety of her classroom. And when she reached the classroom and looked at a batch of over twenty students waiting and staring at her, she exhaled a sigh of relief. She had made it through yet another one of the wild nights of hers.
Elize Walsh gave her lectures non-stop for an hour and then went to the swimming pool for her usual an-hour swim, which kept her sane during these times. She wanted to focus on 'living' because she wanted to earn money and then vanish from this place forever. Also, she was waiting for her father to regain consciousness. She had to talk to him, apologize to him… She wondered if he would ever forgive her…
Elize disappeared in the bathing room only to come out in her swimsuit. As she dived in, little did she know that Caleb was lurking, stalking in the shades of the shingled roof of the corridor with the classes on the left side of the pool, watching her swim with his head supported against a plank of steel pipe, sipping whiskey from his canteen. He was ruminating as to how he fought with the hulk, whom he suspected to be a demon back in the square where she was looking for a vendor of blood. The moment she darted out of that place, Caleb barreled into him and threw him down the crumbling walls of the shanties behind. Since he wasn't allowed to use his magic in the human realm according to a treaty, it was all manly brawl. Right now he sported a few cuts on his chin and a bruise along his left cheekbone.
When Elize emerged from the water, she smoothed her hair back. Water sluiced down her hands and shoulders. Caleb's lips parted seeing her toned and taut muscles. "By Skadi!" he rasped. Elize began her laps and Caleb, the voyeur, continued to watch her with rapt attention, wondering how water droplets would taste on her skin..