by K. Weikel
Chapter 8
“What’s the price?” I asked again as I evaded Von’s lunge toward me. It was purely instinctual; I didn’t plan on moving my feet. A chill works its way up my spine. It’s like I didn’t know my own body anymore. Had becoming a Vampire changed me?
He skidded to a muddy stop and turned back around, half morphed into a Werewolf. A half-smile appeared on his elongated face.
He smiled, taking a hunched step toward me.
“A price put upon my head until I pass it on. Do you know why my eyes are this color?”
“No. And I don’t want to know,” I said, taking step back. “But nothing changed. Koby told me this story… this played out exactly how it was supposed to—”
“I’m a Seer, Catrina,” he said, returning to the rhetorical question he’d asked. “I can see the past or the future at any given moment. And I can change them both—at a price.” He walked around me, as if to size me up. “And you are a Listener. You can dig into people’s brains and hear what they are thinking whenever you want to, and hear whatever you want.” He chuckled darkly, licking the blood off of his teeth.
“Well, if I can do that, then why can’t I hear your thoughts?” I asked, backing up from his foul breath.
“Ah! Because all Werewolves have the power to block Listeners out of their heads unless they want them to hear. Only Werewolves have special abilities though.” He smiled at me with an evil grin. It made me uneasy. He started walking toward me, pushing me back farther into the woods.
“Well, I guess I’m different. Surprise! I’m a Vampire... right?” I said, more to myself than to him. “How can I have a power that no Vampire can have... unless...”
“Isn’t that a... Werewolf bite on your hand?” he asked, chuckling.
I lifted up my hand the wolf had bitten me on. It was still scabbing over, slower than a usual human’s wound would be, mostly from the slowing down of the organs in my body and the loss of blood I haven’t been injecting to my system since I’ve been changed.
He laughed, fire burning in his eyes. “So it is?”
I hid my hand behind my back, and backed up, as he stepped forward towards me. “So you’re both a Vampire and a Werewolf?” He smiled, curiosity filling his eyes. “Only three different Vampires or Werewolves survived the cross process out of fifty-thousand and three tries. We even tried crossing Unicorns and Leprechauns, Vampires and Mermaids, Kelpies and Werewolves, even Fairies and Elves. Then we came across the two most powerful beings on the planet earth: the Werewolf, and the Vampire. We called it: the Verepire.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” I asked, still backing up, stalling.
“The scientists of the mythological world. One creature from each species is in it.” Von said.
“In what?” I said, feeling my back hit the tree behind me, stopping my backward motions. Koby would be safe, and sound in the house by now. No need for stalling anymore.
“The Mythological Science Group. Duh.” He said slyly.
“So you’re saying I’m this Verepire creature, right?” I asked quickly as he took two more steps toward me.
“Yes.”
“And I’m like one in a million?” I said, going through Koby’s story in my head. He’s almost done getting stitched up.
“Actually, you’re one in two million, fifty-thousand and three.” He took another step, closing the gap between us even more.
So precise huh? I thought to myself. Let’s see how precise you are without you’re scientists!
“So we’re actually here, right?” I asked.
“Yes. We are.” He said virulently.
“Okay,” I smirked, and then dashed around the tree as he lunged at me and hit the trunk. I heard the loud THUMP and crrrrack! of it as it connected with the tree. . I took off to find the white mansion Koby was at. It only took a few minutes to finally find it, with Von Sought a hundred feet behind me. I ran up to the door, and frantically knocked at it until Burton answered it. He opened the door, and immediately fell into a defensive stance.
“What do you want, blood-sucker?” he snarled between his teeth.
“The young man that showed up earlier, I know him. I know what happened. I helped-”
“Burton, who’s at the door now?” I heard a soft voice within the house draw near. Holly’s face appeared behind him, and also fell into a defensive crouch.
“What is a Vampire doing here?” she spat at her butler.
I pleaded, “Please-let me in! I can explain! There’s a Werewolf right behind me and--”
“Good. We should let him have his feast then!” Burton said, and started to close the door, with a disgusted face.
“No.” Holly said as she stopped the door. She looked at me like she’s seen me before, and like she’s known me for a long time, just like Von Sought did. “Let her in.”
“But Miss Holly-”
“I said, let her in.” Burton relaxed a little bit, sighed and let the door swing the rest of the way open, but I could tell he was still tense from having a Vampire in the room with them.
I leapt in. “Thank you! Thank you!” I said, almost crying.
I was scared that Mr. Sought was going to find me and rip me to shreds, because Vampires and Werewolves were equal-with different strengths and weaknesses.
“What do you want?” Holly asked me.
I told her everything.
The whole story.
From the beginning.