Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 58

"Easy Helen. You'll wipe us off the face of the earth before the Vampire Council even has a chance to reach us." Tobias says as I almost crash into him at full speed.

"Sorry, I didn't notice how fast I was going," I say awkwardly.

Being unused to apologizing makes the word burn through my throat, making me feel as if I was doing something wrong, something forbidden. After all, it has been my prerogative to do what I wished and never apologize for it.

I always saw apologizing as a weakness, like something that needed to be eliminated. Yet, here I am, showing that particular weakness. It's all Eliot's fault, and as much as I want to hate him for it, I find it impossible to muster those feelings towards him.

What is wrong with me? What has that Healer done to me?

I want to believe that it's just because I drank his blood that I feel this way, that it will wear off once the blood goes through my system. However, I know better. The transformation that has occurred in me is not physical. It's emotional.

It feels like I have a soul once again, and it is trying to make me a better person than I ever was, to begin with.

"Well, someone is chipper. I am guessing Eliot couldn't refuse you?" Alarcos asks teasingly.

I want to argue with him, to blame him for sending me to Eliot, to helping me accept my own truths. However, I know that it would make no sense to do so. Also, we are running out of time as it is.

"Yes, I drank Healer blood. Hopefully, that will give us the edge that we need," I say.

Before they can ask me anything else, I start surveying the surroundings, looking for the best strategic position for an attack. The last thing I want to discuss is what happened between Eliot and me. What could have happened if we just had enough time.

"Is everything ready?" I ask.

"As ready as it can be. Nothing like this has ever been done, so I don't know what to expect." Tobias says, hugging Cecilia close to him.

It's clear that though he considers this confrontation necessary, he worries about her safety more than he worries about anything else. He would sacrifice the world for her to live, he would do it without a second thought, but life is never as simple as that. Not even the afterlife could be that straightforward.

Things happen, those that are beyond our control. The best we can do is try to adjust, change our path, adjust our lives. It is never pretty, but it is always necessary.

I thought that being undead would make me above all those petty issues, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

"Seymour, what do you think? What are our chances?" I ask, counting on his honesty.

"Slim. Now that you are supercharged, our chances might have risen slightly, but we are still talking about the Vampire Council. They have been our governing body since the beginning of our race. The knowledge and the power they possess is probably beyond what we can imagine." Seymour says.

"What he is trying to say is that we are outmatched, but we have something they don't," Alarcos says.

"And what is that?" I ask, surprised.

"We have passion," Alarcos says with a fire burning in his eyes.

"And you think that's enough to defeat the all-powerful vampires who have been alive for far longer than any vampire can remember?" I ask.

I honestly consider the idea of vampires going insane since his words make no sense to me. Passion doesn't win battles. What wins them is a good strategy and strength.

"I know it must sound strange to you, but I think I am right. First of all, the Vampire Council rarely fights, and when they do, their motivation is mostly to punish those they think broke the law. That's their only motivation, to do what has to be done, what has always been done." Eliot says.

"So?" I ask, still not understanding his point.

"That's an idea that no longer means anything to them. We fight for those we love. It's not because we have to, because it's what has always been done. We do it because we feel a need to protect those we love, both our partners and friends.

"Vampire Council doesn't have any friends, any emotional bonds. All they have are servants. They have been in existence for a long time, but they have never truly lived their afterlives.

"Have you ever heard of any of them having long term partners?" Alarcos asks.

"Well, no, not really, but that doesn't prove anything," I say.

"It proves that we are more invested in winning, not only to save our own lives but to save those we love," Alarcos says, looking at Seymour with passion.

"We are ready to die for each other, but they are coming here to do a job. The Vampire Council believe in their own superiority and have forgotten how it is to be passionate about something. If you invest your heart and soul into something, you garner more strength, strength that they don't possess." Alarcos says so emphatically that I can't help but believe him.

I am starting to believe in us.

I can see that Cecilia agrees with Alarcos wholeheartedly, and I can't believe that I am standing here listening to a vampire talk about love. Half of my life was spent believing that vampires were incapable of any nobler emotions, that all we did was take advantage of each other.

We would use each other to satisfy our needs and move on. However, I wonder if that is how things have to be or if we chose to live our lives that way.

Perhaps we were all as void of emotions as the Vampire Council until the right person came along, that one person who helped us unlock the depths of our hearts. Funnily enough, that person was never Seymour for me.

Since we were so similar, I assumed that he showed me how to feel, the truth is we only understood each other well. Our emotional connection was never as deep as I thought it to be. It never was love.

The one man who taught me to open up my heart and learn what a vampire is truly capable of feeling is Eliot. He showed me that just because I was a blood-thirsty vampire, it didn't mean I couldn't enjoy love.

A Healer taught a vampire how to love while falling for the said vampire. Isn't that an odd story that has never been written before?

"Helen, where should we take positions? I think they'll be here soon." Tobias asks.

As I place each one of them at the best possible place allowing him all the advantage one could get. On the contrary, I put myself in the worst possible place because I know we need to surround them, and I am not willing to risk anyone's life but my own.

There, buzzing with energy, I await my destiny.