The Valley

by Annie Graefnitz

  I tried to share in her joy. The dough-balls were done and ready to be coated, I assumed, with the putrid smelling paste I had whipped up. I tried to conjure up a polite way of declining this meal when Will grabbed my hand.

  “What's wrong?”

  I really hated that my every thought displayed so easily on my face for everyone to read. I turned my back to Serena and gave him the ‘follow me’ look and strolled as nonchalantly as possible away from the table.

  “Cami,” he said, a little too loud for my attempt at subtly. “Are you upset?”

  “No. Shh.”

  I waited until we were safely out of earshot before I turned around.

  He stared at me, confused. “Then what is it?”

  What I was about to admit to him made me feel about an inch tall. Here these people were risking their lives, not to mention going against everything they believe in, to help me and I was complaining about their food. Maybe Will would cover for me while I grabbed my stash of granola bars and filled up on them. I could do that for a few days at least. Would this take longer than that?

  “Will, I can't eat that!” I whispered, desperately hoping he wouldn’t be angry because of my selfishness. “I don't want to be rude. They've spent all morning cooking and they seem so happy to have me help. Which of course I'm happy to do but-”

  I was cut off by snickering in the distance and Will's even louder laugh.

  “It's not funny. I really don't want to be rude!”

  His eyes were on the verge of tearing as he laughed. I looked over his shoulder and watched Serena and Kie staring at each other with tight lips.

  “What?”

  He gathered himself enough to finally speak. “Cami, those are bombs.”

  Then came the Duh moment for me. Those things will kill you. We were making bombs; the bomb that Jack had given to me when he was teaching me a little self-defense. This was how it was made along with dozens of others. I saw the pile that Ava and her two clingers had dumped by the table. They were to be loaded with those mud ball-bombs.

  “That stuff smells like rotten eggs. You really thought we were going to eat that and make you eat it?”

  “I don't know,” I mumbled into my chest. “I don't know what jungle armies eat.”

  “No way. Ew. I'm not putting that in my mouth.” He shuddered and laughed. “What if that had been your meal and I wasn't here to help you? Would you suck it up and eat it?”

  I felt my cheeks warming, but not with irritation that he was teasing me, but because in some masochistic way, I had missed that.

  “No, I was going to politely excuse myself and go find a leaf to chew on.”

  “You're in luck,” another giant man hauling a large wooden tub grunted as he passed. He lifted it onto the table next to where Kie and Serena were not trying to hide their giggles anymore. What was the point trying to have discretion out here, apparently there was none. I followed Will back to the tables and peeked in the tub that was full of long dark and watery green leaves.

  I looked at the group. “Let me guess...more weaponry of some kind? You use it like banana peels?”

  “Nope, breakfast,” Kie giggled, grabbing a pair of nearby tongs.

  This morning was a definitely a first for me. Bomb making and breakfast.

  The other giant in the group, this one I guessed to be closer to seven feet tall, had a tattoo that covered his entire arm, stretching from his right wrist all the way up and draping over his shoulder before fading into his pale skin. It was always hard for me to tear my eyes away from tattoos like that. I wanted to study it like a painting hanging on a wall in a gallery. I wanted to know what every line, shape and color meant. Additionally, in his case, I wanted to know how bad it had hurt.

  He smiled when he saw me trying to read the word that encircled his elbow. “Sylas,” he grinned.

  “Excuse me?” I jumped.

  “I'm Sylas. You are Cami?”

  “Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I was just – you're arm. It's beautiful.”

  “That's not usually the description I get, but I'll take it. Thank you.” He smiled and turned to Serena. “That's leaving about half,” he said, gesturing toward the tub. “We'll need to get a move on soon before there's too much of a shortage.”

  “Thank you, Sy.”

  He nodded and then stalked off into the camp, passing Emery as she emerged from the tent directly behind us and joined us at the table.

  “What happened to you? I thought you were bored.”

  She grabbed the tongs in the pot. “I found something to occupy me,” she said without looking at me.

  I looked around the table, realizing that no one was looking at me or even speaking. “What's going on?”

  Serena and Will exchanged a quick glance.

  “Guys? What was that? What's going on? And where is Jay, I mean Jack?”

  I could feel that something was not right, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I looked at each one, waiting for someone to say something. Emery's eyes seemed to strain as they stared at her plate. Then quicker than I might usually have seen had I not been hyper sensitive at the moment, they grazed the tent she'd been in all morning.

  I jumped up and ran to the tent. The sounds of scuffling feet and clattering dishes followed me. I jerked the flap back and jumped in.

  Jack lay on a cot similar to mine in the center of the room with only his jeans on. His chest was bare, and his light brown skin was paled with areas that were splotchy, red and puffy. His arms rested beside him, one bandaged in a green wrap stretching from his shoulder down to his elbow. The same colored bandage was wrapped over his head and covered his left eye.

  “Oh my God!” I cried, charging toward him, but Will's arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me back outside the tent. “Will what happened to him? Is he dead?”

  “No, he's asleep.”

  I tried to look over Will's shoulder again, but he stepped in the way.

  “He's okay. Just a few battle wounds, he's already healing.”

  “But-”

  Will lowered his head, looking evenly into my eyes. “He needs rest now, Cami.”

  What I just saw did not look like someone that was healing. If that was what he looked like while he was healing, I couldn't imagine what he looked like before he was bandaged. That is what Emery had occupied herself with; she was helping him and there was nothing left that I could do. I would have no idea how to help him anyway. All of these people, I thought, meeting eyes with each one of them, were trained and prepared for moments like this.

  “Let's eat!” Kazi roared from the table.

  Will grabbed my hand. “C'mon. He'll be fine in a few hours, you'll see.”

  “I can't eat that.” It wasn't the disgusting soupy foliage breakfast that had my stomach churning; seeing Jack's broken body, whether he'd be fine in a few hours or not, had left me in yet another state of guilt. “I need to know, Will. Now. I need to know what the plan is before I go completely mental. I need to know about the ‘Red Jungle,’ as Kazi said. And Serena said I’d have to ask you about what I should be afraid of out here. I can't have all of you risking your lives for me, if that is what’s happening here. And Jay, Jack...”

  “Come eat and we'll talk.”

  “I’m not hungry. I need to know, now Will. What is going on down here?”

  “Let’s eat something, and we will talk. Emery told me you are very hungry.”

  I looked again at the vat of greens. “I told you, I can't eat that.”

  “I know.” He grinned and pulled me toward the table. Ava had returned, flanked by Ronan and Joaquin, to one side of the table. Serena took her place at the end of the table while Kazi sat perfectly straight at the other end of the table joined by Sylas at his right. Emery sat near her sister, which left Kie wrinkling her nose when she saw that she'd be sitting next to Ronan.

  Before we reached the table, I whispered to Will. “I thought they were resting.”

  Will smiled and nodded. “Yes, but
the promise of a good meal will attract even the most exhausted to the table.”

  A good meal, I thought, prepared to control my gag reflex. But when I reached the table, a few of the plates weren't coated with a heavy helping of sopping leaves. Instead, an oversized muffin sat in the middle with a perfectly ripened banana. My stomach flipped and I eased a little.

  Will squeezed my hand. “Not all of us are accustomed to eating seaweed.”

  “It's very good, Will. And nourishing for the body,” Emery snapped, as we situated ourselves between her and Sylas.

  The plate in front of me wasn't biscuits and gravy, but my mouth watered at just the idea of, well anything that wasn't wet and scummy.

  Serena pulled her seat forward and unfolded her napkin, placing it in her lap. “I'm sorry there isn't a bigger selection, Cami. It was all that could be gathered in the short amount of time. Under normal circumstances, we would have a feast,” she apologized and looked around the table. Everyone except Kie began to eat. She closed her eyes and bowed her head in a silent prayer. When she opened her eyes again, she caught me watching her and quickly smiled, embarrassed. I could probably use a prayer, I thought. So I closed my eyes and let my internal voice take over...for a much needed change.

  Thank you for getting me here safely. Thank you for my new friends and please keep them, as well as my family safe. Please help Jack heal quickly. I opened my eyes but quickly closed them again. And thank you for the muffins.

  Indeed, the muffin seemed to be the best thing I’d had to eat in a very long time. Whether it actually was or not didn’t matter to me. It was perfectly moist, with a cinnamon and apple flavor. Whoever made these was definitely going to be giving me some lessons.

  “You're a vampire,” Ava said, breaking my silent enjoyment.

  I swallowed the bite, not totally sure how to answer her. “That seems to be the case.” As far as I was concerned, even with all of the evidence pointing to that conclusion, nothing was absolute until I spoke to my parents.

  She went back to chewing her banana, holding her watch on me. Meanwhile, Ronan decided to continue her inquiry. “So you're a vampire, but you didn't know you were and now you do. You don't know how to be one. And yet, you've come all the way down here to rescue your people from the cruelest clan to walk the earth in a thousand years. You're an interesting one and might I add, very brave.” The corner of his mouth curved slightly.

  Well, that was a fantastic piece of news to get. The cruelest vampire clan in a thousand years, not this group of hunters, was holding my family. “Bravery actually had nothing to do with it. I didn't have a choice, there was no one else. And I don’t know anything about who you are talking about. I thought I was protecting them from – ” I stopped and looked at Will.

  “Me,” he finished.

  Joaquin snickered as he stuffed a hunk of muffin into his mouth. “Well, that makes more sense. Somehow I don't think Rasvan is resting well knowing this little girl defeated them when his own poor excuse for an army could not.”

  “Who?”

  Joaquin, seeming to enjoy my ignorance, raised his eyebrows. “Really? You don’t know this? Wow.”

  “This is not the time for this kind of talk, I don’t enjoy speaking about such things when we are eating.” Serena said calmly at the end of the table, sounding a lot like my grandmother. Her lullaby voice may have ended that conversation for now, but it didn't stop my curiosity. The second everyone finished eating, we were having a little chat. I decided to try and learn more about the rest of them

  “And you are all like Will? Hunters, I mean?” I chose not to use the harsh word that Tom had used, assassin. I felt very strongly that these people were nothing of the kind and that more likely they only attacked when provoked. I had only been near them a short time, but I knew they were safe-like a family and very protective of each other.

  Ava's head cocked sideways. “There are no hunters here,” she snapped glaring at me.

  No hunters? Why would Tom say they were?

  “We protect the hunted.” Joaquin finished the sentence before Ava could finish her breath.

  “Not anymore,” Sylas grumbled into his cup.

  “More or less,” Kazi chuckled, eyeballing the tent where Jack slept. Ronan and Sylas laughed with him. He stopped when he saw my utterly confused expression. “In the old days, yes, we did hunt vampires. We traveled the world to find them. But then Ava came along and changed our way of thinking. She organized us; gave us a better purpose. So now we help people before they can become vampires. We go where we are needed usually. But this situation is absolutely a first for us.”

  “How is that?” I asked, still lost.

  The jovial expression he'd kept on his face faded a little. “We usually do not get involved in their affairs after they have been turned. We actually get somewhat of a relief now. They kill each other, and we just sit back and watch.” He looked at Will and his expression returned. “But this is a special circumstance, isn't it?”

  Will nodded. “It is, and I owe you.” He looked around the table. “All of you.”

  The guilt pit in my stomach returned. Special circumstance? Ava just said they weren't hunters and Kazi said they did not get involved in vampire affairs, so how was this a special situation? Didn't my parents need help?

  “How is this time special?” I asked Kazi.

  He raised his thick hand and pointed behind him. “That town you wandered into, is where, up until a short time ago, people were being brought from all areas of the world to be changed. They would be changed into vampires. We assume that your parents were here to try and stop the trafficking, and have since disappeared. That is what we know.”

  Joaquin shifted in his chair and added to Kazi’s answer. “This is what we usually do. Stop the vampires. We don't usually help people like-.” Although he didn't finish his sentence, it was obvious what he was referring to.

  “People like what? Like me?” A simmering burn developed in my face, which I was sure was visible to everyone.

  “No, not like you. You're different I suppose, but vampires. Not that I would ever offer to assist those ticks, they don't need our help and certainly wouldn't ask for it or accept it if we offered.”

  My entire body began to overheat. “My grandfather was a full vampire,” I seethed. “Which, I suppose, makes me one, too.”

  He leaned forward resting his forearms on the table. “Not really. Have you ever bit anyone?” he challenged.

  I glanced at Kazi.

  “He doesn't count.”

  “A bite is a bite,” I shot back.

  Serena tried to get us both under control. For a moment I was angry with myself for letting this man under my skin. But he didn't make any sense; if they went where they were needed as they proclaimed, then how could he sit there and say he wouldn't help vampires, especially ones that had never hurt anyone. I highly doubted that he was completely innocent.

  “Cami, I think what he meant to say was we've never been in a situation in which we would be rescuing vampires. It is new to us, but certainly a challenge we are willing to take. We have to think completely different now and change our strategies,” she explained.

  “Hey, I don't care who we're helping. I just wanna fight,” Sylas muttered. Ronan and Kazi raised their cups in agreement.

  “Thanks Surrie, but no, that's not what I meant. Vampires have no remorse for what they do; feeding off humans like they are livestock. It's disgusting and I don't know why all of the sudden because she is here and Jack has returned, all of you are okay with it.” Ava grabbed his arm, but he was too far into his rant to even let her calm him. “And now you want us to risk ourselves to help you? I don't think so!”

  I stood and slammed my hands on the table, clenching my jaw until it ached. “I'm not going to apologize for who I am if that's what you're after and I never asked for your help. As you said my people don't need your help. I wouldn't take it if you handed it to me on a platter!” My chair fell backward as I spun
to leave. I shoved Will's hand out of the way and stomped off. I was shaking uncontrollably, and with each step, my legs struggled to find the ground. All I wanted to do was run – get away from this place and back to somewhere that I was wanted.

  I wandered to the tent where Jack slept and entered it as silently as I could because as much as I needed to talk to someone that understood me, waking him now was not safe. I crept to the corner of the tent and sat cross-legged on the floor, and burying my face in my hands. I wondered if the rest of them shared Joaquin's sentiment about me. I felt that they were uneasy about helping me, and I felt guilty from the beginning, but to hear it from his mouth made it cut even deeper.

  I wished that there was something I could do to help Jack. The wish was partially for the selfish reason that I wanted to get out of there, but more importantly, he needed to be well. I felt an odd sense of comfort knowing that he was a vampire, even though he was all bandaged up and obviously not invincible as stories would have me believe. Once he was healed, would he even want to help me anymore? He couldn't possibly want to put himself through this again.

  He stirred on the cot, mumbling. His eyes opened and his neck twisted so that he was looking right at me, probably wondering why the heck I was staring at him.

  “Cami.” He strained to lift his head as his weak smile barely moved his lips.

  “I'm sorry if I woke you.”

  He shook his head slowly and then rested it on the pillow, he looked up at the ceiling and then closed his eyes again. “You did not.” His mellow voice was much softer than normal, almost a whisper.

  He lifted his bandaged head once more and struggled to survey the rest of the bandages. When he saw the marks on his chest, he groaned and let his head drop onto the pillow. With his right arm, he reached for the bandage covering his eye and began tugging, trying in vain, to pull it off.

  I scrambled to my feet. “I don't think you want to do that.” I pulled his hand down, but he tried again. I slapped it away causing him to groan again.