Bianca
I have a bad feeling about all this. I feel like something dreadful is going to happen, and I don't know what. I can't even explain where this feeling is coming from, but I can't shake it.
"What makes you say that?" Edmund asks, now that we are both alone again.
Only, there isn't any sexual tension between us any longer. It dissipated, as a result of what Rose just told us. Now, instead of that tension, there is fear and doubt.
"I feel like it's all my fault," I admit.
"Why?" he chuckles, all amused by my statement. It offends me a little, but I don't say anything.
"Rose is in danger because of me," I point out.
"Rose is in danger because she made her choice, and that choice was to help her best friend," he corrects me.
His statement makes me feel a little better, but again, I don't let it show.
"What if something happens to her?" I ask.
"She will be careful," he assures me. "Just like we have to be as well."
I sigh to myself. "Why does everything need to be so complicated?" I wonder more to myself than to him, but he obviously understands it as a question directed at him.
"Because life is never easy," he shrugs at me.
"I mean, look at you," I suddenly gesture at him.
"Me?" he asks, lifting his eyebrow questioningly at me.
"Yeah, you," I nod. "Vampires and shifters. You should be working together, helping each other, because you are a special kind of creature. You understand each other better than us humans ever could understand either of you, and yet, you are at a constant war. You are sworn enemies. I mean, I just don't understand that."
"It's a tale as old as time," he says. "A tale of betrayal."
"Who betrayed whom?" I wonder.
"The shifter Elder betrayed our leader," he reveals. "Right before a very important battle we were supposed to have with werewolves."
"Werewolves?" My eyes widen in disbelief. "I've never met any werewolves before."
"Pray that you don't," he nods, and something tells me that he's right. It's probably not a creature I'd like to stumble onto. Then again, living with shifters, I've always been taught that vampires were not to be trusted. See where that got me.
"I think I've had more than enough of any supernatural creatures," I say, not really meaning it, but honestly this has all become too much.
"Well, you'll have to endure us for a while longer," he tells me. His voice reveals that he doesn't really like what I said, but I'm not in the mood to explain myself right now.
"Honestly, I'm not sure who will be enduring who," I admit. "You me, or me you."
That sounds so silly that he chuckles. I love it when he does that. For a moment, I can convince myself we're not in this mess and perhaps something might happen between us, something deeper. Then, I am brought back to the present moment. I face reality and I know that hoping for something impossible to happen won't get me anywhere. In fact, it will only make things more difficult.
"So, tell me the rest of the story of vampires and shifters," I urged.
He looks at me. His dark eyes are almost animalistic in their sheen, in their wildness. I want some of that for myself. Then I remember that he showed me that animal twice already. He showed it to me, and I want to see so much more. I fight the urge to cup his face with my hands and pull him closer, so we could both forget all about this mess, even for a few blissful minutes.
"There's nothing much to tell, really," he shrugs. "You see betrayal everywhere. It is not limited to a certain species. I mean, you humans are horrible backstabbers. I've seen humans kill each other for something as irrelevant as a wrong word being said."
"Really?" I gasp.
"Mhm," he nods. "So, don't fall into the trap of thinking any one of us is better than someone else. We are all the same. We are all fighting the same monsters inside of us. It is just that some of us are more successful in staying on the right path than others."
"Do you think you are on the right path?" I ask him.
"Me?" he seems surprised by the question.
"Yeah, you," I nod. "You are the vampire king. Many things are expected of you, I guess. Do you think you are on the right path to answering all those demands?"
He presses his lips together, frowning. That's what it looks like when someone is lost in deep thought, when someone doesn't really know what to say.
"I know what is required of me," he says. "And I try to answer the call, but it's not always possible."
"I think you are being hard on yourself," I tell him. "You are here, doing everything in your power to help your clan."
"I haven't done anything yet," he points out. "We haven't found the well yet and from the looks of it, we may not find it at all."
"Don't be discouraged," I tell him.
"I try not to be, but…"
At that moment, a noise is heard, and we both look in that direction. A small group of vampires is returning. We don't need to ask them anything. The look on their faces tells us enough, that they haven't really found anything worth mentioning.
" Change of plan," Edmund announces to everyone. "Our location has been discovered, or it will be discovered any moment. We can't stay here much longer."
"Where will we go?" one of them asks.
"To the shifter town," Edmund says.
I can immediately tell that they think it's a crazy idea. To be quite honest, without the context, it does sound ludicrous. There are murmurs, and I know what they are all saying. They think he is out of his mind.
"I've been told that the shifters will come after us," Edmund continues. "Which means we can't stay here."
"So, we just go and serve ourselves on a platter to them?" another vampire asks. He seems younger than most of them. Stubborn as well. I already don't like him. I suppose the feeling is mutual.
"No one is saying that," Edmund replies, and I can hear the growling undertone of his voice, when someone questions his decisions. "They won't think to look for us there, right on their territory."
"Are you sure?" the smartass asks.
Edmund gives him an evil look, one that would scorch the earth and not make anything grow there for at least fifty years.
"Last time I checked, I was the leader," Edmund snarled.
I thought he would surely go and punch that guy in the face for questioning him like that, but his reaction surprised me. Instead of punching him, Edmund takes a deep breath, and his voice calms down instantly.
"You know why we came here," he tells them. "Everyone back home is counting on us. We need to bring them something. Anything. Any kind of hope. Otherwise… if we don't have hope, we don't have anything." He pauses, staring down each and every one of us, then he continues. "If any one of you doesn't want to follow me, you are free to go back. I won't say anything. No one will say anything. But I need to have someone by my side who knows why we are here and who trusts me completely. Do you trust me completely?"
The smartass immediately starts feeling anxious. He knows that all eyes are on him. Little droplets of sweat start to appear on his forehead. He isn't so cocky or self-confident any longer. I'm sure he also knows that no one will follow him if he decides to go back. His big mouth put him in this situation and now, his big mouth needs to get him out of it.
"I trust you," the smartass nods, looking down at his feet.
"I don't force anyone to follow me," Edmund points out. "I don't want to be that kind of a leader. We are here for the benefit of us all. If you don't believe that is so, then you don't belong here, by my side and I shouldn't be your leader." He pauses again, allowing someone who might have something to say to speak up, but there's nothing. Only silence.
All eyes are on him now. But in a different way. I can see how they look up to him, how they hope that he will take them to the well, which will prove to be their salvation.
I have never seen this side of him. Come to think of it, I wish I had never seen it at all, because this has only made him more handsome, more confident, more charming and more of everything that I ever wanted in a partner.
I remind myself that I can't think like that. I just can't. I will get hurt and I will never heal from this heartache.
"If no one has anything else to say, then you two should go and fetch the others," Edmund instructs two vampires who are standing to his right. "We're only missing four. Once we are all here, Bianca will take us to the factory."
The smartass and I lock gazes by accident. I shudder at the way he is looking at me, and I don't know why. He probably doesn't trust me. I guess no one here, apart from Edmund, trusts me.
Why would they? In their eyes, I am just like any other shifter, although I am neither a shifter nor a vampire. Worst of all, I'm not even a proper human being, because I've never lived amongst them. I belong to no one, and no one wants to claim me as their own. The thought makes me want to run away and hide, but I can't allow this feeling of powerlessness to wash over me. I have to stay strong.
I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I need to stay alert. I need to be there to see it arrive and I need to look to the future, whatever it may be.
The two vampires immediately do as Edmund tells them, while the others start quickly disassembling the tents. Edmund stands by my side. He seems to sense my fear.
"You are safe here," he tells me, as if he knows that I need to hear it again.
"I know," I say, because I don't want to delve too deeply into this topic.
"It bears repeating," he tells me as he leans closer to me and pats me on the shoulder.
I watch him walk over to the smartass and another guy, and without a word start helping them with the tents. I can't take my eyes off of them, wondering if this can truly end the way he wants it to.
I've heard stories of the well, but they are just legends. At least, I always thought they were.
Now, Edmund wants me to help him find it. I truly want to help, but… how do you help someone find something which may not even exist?