Bittersweet | ✔️

Sixteen

"This isn't some human you can just lure in and snap his neck and think that that will be the end of it. They're very intelligent, and they know the moves you're going to make before you can think of them yourselves. If you could get close enough to one to even attempt to kill him, they would send more, so I'm hoping not to resort to that. It will take careful planning to keep ourselves alive," Crow said.

"I agree," I butt in as all eyes turn to me again. I forget that this meeting was probably arranged, and I obviously wasn't invited to the strategy discussions. I pull up a chair I find in the corner anyway, squeezing between two others to make room at the large table. "Whoever just charges at Zane will get himself killed." I shift my glance over to Dusk, who locks eyes from across the table. "And what a pity that would be."

Crow taps his knuckles against the table and people turn back to him, almost to dismiss what I had said. "Yes, I can feel your sentiment from all the way over here. So we cannot act right away. That would be stupid and useless and getting killed by the hunter would only encourage him to hunt some more, and we certainly don't want that."

"That would suck," Glitter says to Dusk. I roll my eyes. I don't even know why she's here. I want to hit her. She shouldn't be here. She doesn't know the first thing about being a vampire.

"How about we just shoot him?" Dusk says. "That really shouldn't be that hard to kill him then." I hold in my breath, hoping no one would think of it. Vampires are notorious for hating guns because we instinctually prefer the hands-on approach to kill. But in desperate times, they need desperate measures.

"Hunters are sort of a hybrid between vampire and human," a vampire that I don't know says. "If you shoot them from far away, they'll have enough time to sense a bullet and dodge it. If you shoot them from close, well, they'll sense you before you have a chance to shoot."

Another adds, "I heard somewhere they can heal quick too, and they have to be impaled or else they heal quicker than the wound kills. They can heal around a bullet. It has to be a knife, but it doesn't have to be the heart."

"That can't be possible. They're still human."

"Enough!" Crow says. "There's no real manual on what will kill them, so I would assume any attack, even a gun, could backfire. Ideally, if Vandora surrenders, we won't have to stir up the old fight. Making a bigger mess out of this feud should be avoided at all costs. I suggest we give him an opportunity to leave once he hasn't satisfied his mission. I see no reason why he won't leave given some time without completing his goal. Until then, we're going to have to limit our feeding to none because that will make us much easier for him to locate, and it is safer if we don't feed at all for the time being."

"What the fuck!" Dusk yells, standing up and slamming his hand against the table. "I'm not starving myself for that bastard!"

"Calm yourself, Dusk," Crow warns.

Dusk sits back down and doesn't say anything else, but I wouldn't go as far to say that he is calming down.

Crow says, "this won't be easy for anyone, but we will have to live with it. You can last three months safely without drinking any blood. You can manage and if you dare to put yourself in danger, we're not going to risk ourselves to save you. Personally, I wouldn't care if you were dead, but I'd prefer that no vampire was killed. We'll give him a month to give up. If you do attack, you are on your own and if I find out you tried something and live, I will kill you myself for not listening. Until then, we will consider the best possible option for attack which will be implemented after that time period. Agreed?"

I sigh out an unbelievable amount of relief while most have started bickering too loud to notice me. My head collapses onto the table and I block out all the arguments that have suddenly arose with the angry vampires yelling at Crow and each other. I don't care about them. Instinctually, I want to run to Zane and warn him right away and tell him he's safe for now, but I can't exactly do that.

I glance up at all of their cold-hearted eyes and look for any traces of the humans they used to be. Not surprisingly, I see nothing in them. They've lost most of the useless emotions, like compassion or guilt. I wonder if I'm completely alone in the world. I'm too much of a human to be a vampire, and I'm too much of a vampire to ever be a regular human again. I belong nowhere, and I certainly don't want to belong here.

I stand up and slink away from the group to the empty bar. The bartender isn't right behind the bar, so I decide to wait a few minutes, and then maybe I'll leave. It's just my hands are shaking with fear and relief I just need something to calm me down.

Dusk and Glitter walk past me, but Dusk stops. He looks at me but says nothing. I avoid looking at him. I don't want to into say something, but it comes out anyway. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you?" I ask seriously, not expecting a serious answer. I don't know why I ask, then, but the words just come out. I know very well he might do something stupid, and I have to try my best to discourage him, for his and Zane's sakes.

"Don't worry about me, doll," he says with his arm around Glitter. "Don't do anything stupid yourself. I know how young you are."

I flick my eyes briefly on Glitter, who hasn't said anything. She's looking at him. "Not as young as some."

"But I'm here to protect this one," Dusk says. "Want me to protect you to from the evil hunter?"

"Go to hell," I mutter.

Dusk laughs, and they walk away. I'm glad they're gone. The bartender comes around, but I no longer feel like a drink, so I leave. It's going to take more than a drink to calm me down now. Right now they've all agreed to not kill the hunter, but I don't know how long that feeling will last. I can't let them kill someone I care about. I know they can't comprehend what I'm feeling now, and I know they'd never try. But I'll protect him somehow.

If they ever found out what I was thinking right now, they would kill me, most likely by torture. They would enjoy it too. They'd love to make me suffer. They hate traitors, and befriending a hunter must be among the top treacherous acts I can do. Death is fun for them, and they wouldn't hesitate to have fun at my suffering. Was a pretty boy even worth it? I had some thinking to do.