“Please.”
She sensed the problem and chuckled. “Sure.” she said to him, “You can play music on your phone.”
“That’s settled then,” Sebastian said. “Now let’s find something we can pass around the circle.” He started to look for a suitable object.
“This is crazy,” Alexander mumbled, which was heard by Becca.
“Why?” she asked him. “I find it quite interesting.”
“But the question they will ask me is if I choose the truth, what if I don’t answer or lie to them?” Alexander pointed out.
Becca replied with a small smile, “That’s up to you. People are counting on you to speak the truth and if you simply can’t, then go for a dare. It’s better than lying to these awesome people.”
“What if I don’t like the dare they give me either?” he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders. “Then speak the truth. This is the game, Alex. You are doomed either way.”
“Okay, guys,” Sebastian announced, showing everyone a happy face emoticon pillow. “We will pass Antonio’s emoticon pillow.”
“What the heck?” Antonio got up from his seat. “Where did you get this?”
“Buddy,” Lucas said with a smile that didn’t seem friendly at all. “I got it from your tent.”
“Why did you go to my tent?” Antonio scoffed.
“Because only you have these kinds of weird stuff and Lucas knew it,” Alexander grumbled, and Antonio headed back to his seat. Whereas, Becca, Lucas, Vanessa, and Sebastian looked at him in amusement. He just spoke on behalf of Lucas, which meant that Alexander was finally following his heart. “I just responded because I hate Antonio. Even his voice is annoying.”
“Yeah, right,” Becca said, but her tone expressed the sarcasm in it. She didn’t believe Alexander’s words and knew that he started seeing Lucas as a friend now.
“I am touched, buddy,” Lucas said to Alexander, putting his hand over his chest after wiping imaginary tears. He wanted to hug Alexander, but the glare he sent his way made him raise his hands in defeat and went to one corner, selecting a piece of music to play.
“Alright, let’s begin,” Vanessa said and she sat on a log with Sebastian.
Lucas started the music and Sebastian passed the pillow to Vanessa, which she gave to the person next to her. It reached Alexander soon, who quickly handed it to Becca.
“Looks like someone doesn’t want to get trapped in this game,” Becca murmured while passing the pillow to another person.
“What can I do? This game seems scary and I don’t feel like lying,” Alexander told her. “I have lied enough in my life, yet I am not comfortable with it. I feel uncomfortable every time I lie to a person.”
The music came to a stop all of a sudden when Alexander was about to pass the pillow to Becca.
She chortled as Alexander cursed under his breath.
“Alex!” Vanessa said aloud. “Truth or dare?” She was excited to ask him a question.
Alexander looked at Lucas, who gave him a grin. I knew I shouldn’t have helped that bastard because he wasn’t grateful at all, Alexander thought and clenched his fist.
Lucas did it on purpose, even though he was looking in the opposite direction, he could sense it because the Lycans had a sensitive sense of smell.
“Alex, answer her,” Becca nudged him.
He deadpanned, “Truth.”
“Okay, I will ask him,” Vanessa said, beaming in excitement. “What is the one thing you wanted to tell to the person next to you but you didn’t have the courage?”
“This is an exciting one,” Sebastian chirped in.
“What is it?” Becca glanced at Alexander, waiting for him to answer since she was the one next to him.
“It can be me as well,” Antonio interfered. “Since I am next to Alex as well, even though I am on the next log, yet.”
“Goddamn it, can’t you keep your mouth shut for once, Antonio?” Lucas grunted in annoyance.
“Remind me why we brought Antonio in the first place,” Sebastian whispered to Vanessa.
She chuckled in response. “Don’t worry. I know my brother and he will say something to Becca, not Antonio.”
“What is it?” Becca repeated when Alexander stayed silent.
Alexander looked at her, his eyes piercing through hers. He started speaking, “I wanted to say that I like your smile. You always have a bright smile, which would lighten anybody’s mood.”
Another bright smile formed over her lips as she asked, “Why didn’t you have the courage to say so before now?”
“Because I thought you would go over the moon and tease me about it whenever you feel like, since you love doing whatever goes on in your mind,” he informed her.
The other students went ‘aww’ hearing it.
“Told you,” Vanessa said proudly to Sebastian.
“I can’t believe that just happened, Ness,” he murmured, awestruck at what had happened.
Lucas gave a thumbs up to Vanessa since their plan was going smoothly.
“Okay, thank you,” Becca uttered, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. The way he would compliment her made her heart flutter. “Let’s continue the game,” she said and took the pillow from Alexander’s hand.
The music started playing again. Others had their turns and did their work. They decided to eat roasted marshmallows in between the questions.
“Here you go, Becca,” Lucas handed three sticks of roasted marshmallows to her and offered one to Alexander. “Do you want one, buddy?”
Alexander shook his head. “No, thanks.”
Becca took the three sticks of the roasted marshmallows, wondering whether she should eat those or not. It was still hot and she wasn’t supposed to eat warm food—her father strictly forbade her and even if he didn’t, she should never eat warm food. However, she loved marshmallows and wanted to know how they tasted when roasted in the open fire.
She watched others delicately eating them and her mouth watered at that sight.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Alexander asked Becca, noticing that she was watching others eating, and then glanced at the sticks in her hand.
“I…” she couldn’t answer him.
“Hey, Becca,” Antonio called out, eyeing the delicious marshmallows. “If you don’t want to eat, why don’t you give them to me? I will ea—”
Before he could take it from her hand, immediately she put one marshmallow in her mouth. She didn’t want others to snatch it away from her.
“Woah, fine.” With that, Antonio went back to his seat.
“Seriously, were you waiting for him to snatch your food?” Alexander asked her with a chuckle.
Becca didn’t bother to answer him and continued eating the marshmallows, savoring its taste. Alexander watched her eat as if there was no tomorrow. A slight smile evolved on his face at that sight.
Soon it was time to play another round of truth and dare after the marshmallow break.
Lucas was playing the song again and this time, the pillow ended up resting with Becca.
“Truth,” Becca announced, which made Vanessa frown.
“Come on. Truth is no fun, Becca,” she said.
Becca arched an eyebrow. “Fun or not, I am going for truth, Ness.”
“Okay,” Sebastian said in between. “I will ask her a question then. Becca, if you were to kiss a boy from here, who would it be and why?”
Becca twitched her lips, wondering how to reply. She stole a glance at Alexander, only to find him looking at her. She wanted it to be Alexander, no doubt, but she was wondering the reason she would give to the others.
When her eyes fell to Julia, she answered, “My choice would have to be Alexander, because he and Lucas are my male friends here. Sebastian is my friend too but he is with Vanessa, and Lucas is with Julia so I don’t want to risk anything. So, it would have to be, Alexander.”
Sebastian and Vanessa shared an impressed look, while Lucas smiled. He was happy that Becca and
Alexander were slowly falling for each other, but he felt sad for Becca, wondering what would happen when learned that Alexander was interested in her just for the vampire potion.
Whereas Alexander felt happy that Becca would choose him, and he mentally scolded himself for feeling that way.
Chapter 20: The Revelation
After the big revelation game—truth and dare, everyone decided to call it a night and went to their respective tents. It had been three hours since then.
Becca and Vanessa were sharing a tent.
“Are you enjoying the trip so far, Becca?” Vanessa asked Becca, lying next to her.
Becca said to her, “It is going awesome, so far. You know, Ness, I am loving it here. I can finally experience freedom.”
Vanessa chuckled. “I am so happy that you are loving it. As long as you are my roomie, you will have a lot to experience. Are you willing to explore the world of independence with me, Becca Hertford?”
Becca felt her head spinning slightly; it was definitely because of the roasted marshmallows and the hot sandwiches she had. She wasn’t supposed to eat warm food, but she couldn’t control the temptation of it.
“Becca, are you okay?” she asked, seeing that Becca didn’t respond to her. “Are you feeling okay?”
“No,” Becca answered. “I just need a walk or some fresh air, I guess. This tent seems to suffocate me.” She was about to get out of the tent.
“Okay,” Vanessa said. “Just stay near the camp. Don’t go too far since it is after midnight.”
Becca nodded her head and got out of the tent. She took a deep breath, trying to relax for a while. “Why hasn’t eating warm food affected me yet?” she mumbled to herself. “I should call Alex and see whether he is asleep or not. If he isn’t, then maybe we can go on a walk towards the dark forest. With him, I feel secure.”
She dialed Alexander’s number on her phone. She frowned when he didn’t receive her call. Her phone had only one bar as she was standing in an open space. Maybe he doesn’t have a network, but if he didn’t, the call wouldn’t ring in the first place, she thought.
“Guys!” someone hollered all of a sudden, making her shudder.
Becca looked at Greneia, one of her classmates, who was standing near the bonfire. Fear was written all over her face. She called out once again, “Guys, please come out.” Tears dripped from her eyes.
Becca rushed to her while others started to come out of the tents after their sleep was broken by her shrieking.
“What’s wrong?” asked Becca.
Greneia breathed out while sobbing, “Julia is missing.”
“What do you mean she is missing?” Lucas questioned, walking closer to her. “What exactly happened?”
“Julia went out in search of a phone signal since there was barely any reception here, but she never returned. It has been two hours since then,” Greneia explained. “I tried calling her, but it was out of reach.”
“What did she need a signal for in the first place?” Vanessa grumbled. “For God’s sake, we were here to enjoy ourselves, and get away, not keep posting on social media about our whereabouts. Is that why she needed reception? To post pictures online?”
Greneia stayed silent, her silence answering Vanessa’s question.
“Okay, instead of panicking, let’s make a plan on how to search for Julia. We cannot search for her at this hour, but we have to stay awake together because we cannot be sure that another one of us won’t go missing,” Sebastian said to those gathered around.
“Yes, you are right. We should stay around the bonfire till it’s dawn,” Antonio said and other students agreed.
“Nessa, can I talk to you for a second?” Lucas said to her.
Vanessa nodded her head and walked towards him.
Becca was a bit away from them, yet she put her entire focus on them, wanting to hear their conversation.
“What is it, Lucas?” Vanessa asked him.
He leaned closer to her ear and whispered, “When I woke up, Alex wasn’t there as well.”
A gasp escaped from Becca’s lips after hearing it. She had no idea how she could hear what Lucas said, but all she could think of was Alexander being lost. She had to find him before it was too late. It was a scary jungle and even though she didn’t worry that much about Julia, she had to look for Alexander. Her heart clenched at the thought of him getting hurt.
Without hearing anything else, Becca dashed towards the dark forest. She decided to look for Alexander alone and if possible, she would find Julia too. She turned on the flashlight of her phone, hoping to find any clues about Alexander or Julia’s whereabouts. Please stay safe, she prayed silently.
Meanwhile, in the camp, Vanessa said to Lucas, “Take care of Becca. I will try to contact Alex.”
“Becca?” Lucas arched an eyebrow in confusion. “Aren’t we supposed to protect the other students?”
“Lucas, all the vampires know about the vampire potion now and they are after Becca,” she informed him. “We need to protect her. Don’t worry about these students. I am here to protect them.”
“What about Julia?” Lucas inquired.
“If I contact Alex, he can find Julia,” she said to him.
Lucas nodded his head and mumbled, “Unless he was the one who took her.”
Vanessa’s eyes grew wider in terror, knowing that Lucas might be right. What if Alexander was the one who made Julia go missing?
Lucas looked around to find Becca. He asked a few students whether they knew where Becca was. When none of them had seen her, he asked Antonio, “Hey, did you see Becca?”
“Yes, I saw her going that way.” Antonio pointed towards the woods.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Lucas questioned him.
“I thought that she was the brave one and went to look for Julia alone,” Antonio reasoned. “I would have gone with her, but I didn’t have enough courage so—”
Lucas interrupted him, “Stop your fucking whining.” He glared at Antonio. “If something happens to her, I will bury you right here after I make you dig your own grave.”
Antonio gulped in fear, silently praying for Becca’s welfare.
Lucas went over to Vanessa and whispered to her, “I am heading towards the woods to look for Becca. She went in there alone.”
“No, wait,” she stopped him. “If you go as well, what will I tell the others? Don’t worry about Becca. I am sure if she has the vampire potion, she is strong enough to protect herself. I just realized that. So don’t panic, just wait here with me. Otherwise, if we are under attack, I can’t fight all of them alone. I will need your help.”
“Are you sure Becca can protect herself?” he questioned.
“Lucas, we are so dumb. Becca can protect herself. She is strong and she has to realize it by herself. If she couldn’t protect herself, how can this precious gift be bestowed on her?” she pointed out.
“What about Julia? Did you talk to Alex?”
She sighed. “I tried, but I failed. We cannot do anything till dawn.”
Shaking his head in disappointment, Lucas decided to stay with the other students. Vanessa was right after all. Becca didn’t need the protection, the vampire potion needed it. And if the potion was with her, it meant that she knew how to protect it, whether Becca was aware of it or not. Her heart would protect the potion.
###
Julia didn’t realize when she lost consciousness. She had slipped on a dry piece of wood on the ground because she couldn’t see anything in front of her. Her head had hit a stone, which caused her to lose consciousness.
Alexander, who was walking nearby, sensed the strong smell of human blood. He followed the smell and found Julia unconscious. He wanted to help her, but as soon as his eyes fell on the fresh red blood, which he could see, thanks to the moon peeking out from the clouds, his eyes turned red.
He tried to turn his eyes back to green, but failed miserably when the bleeding didn’t stop. He was craving for the human blood and it was right
in front of him. His eyes transformed into red glowing orbs and fangs dropped down from his gums. He leaned closer to Julia and sank his fangs into her neck, starting to drain her blood.
In the meantime, Becca’s instincts told her to go to the same place from where she collected wood along with Alexander. She decided to follow her instincts and cautiously started making her way to that area of the jungle.
“Was it left from here or right? All these paths look the same,” Becca informed herself. Since it was night-time, she was unable to recognize any landmarks. Her heart told her to head to the left, so chanting a few prayers, she decided to follow her heart and took a left turn.
While taking tentative steps, she finally reached that place. She was happy to follow her heart because she arrived at the correct destination. She could feel a strong emotion, the one she always tended to feel when Alexander was nearby.
“I knew you would be here, Ale—” she stopped midway after pointing the flashlight towards Alexander. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. A gasp escaped her lips and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Annoyed with the sudden light flashing over him, Alexander looked at the person who pointed the flashlight at him and hissed. He saw Becca standing there.
Becca watched blood dripping from Alexander’s fangs and his eyes red like blood. She pointed the flashlight at the person who was lying on the ground, only to find Julia unconscious, and her neck had the same bite mark as the other two students she noticed before.
Seeing her, Alexander’s fangs disappeared at that instant and his eyes returned back to green. He got up and walked towards her. “Bec—”
Before he could say something, Becca felt her head spinning as her vision started going dark. She let go of the flashlight and fainted straight into Alexander’s arms.
Chapter 21: No Attraction?
“Becca…” Alexander called out her name slowly, trying to get Becca to come around. It was an expected reaction from a human. Because honestly, who wouldn’t faint after seeing a vampire? After all, Becca was a human too.
Alexander looked at Julia, and altered the reality so that she didn’t remember anything about him. Then he took Becca to another secure place in the jungle.
The Vampire Potion (Vampire World Book 1) Page 10