Forbidden Blood

Chapter 2: Vincent

I feel the race of the blood in my body circulating as my heart beats faster and faster, counting down until moonrise.

Tonight is a full moon, and my body is electric with excitement and thrill. For once, we will actually be allowed outside during a full moon. It used to be that we weren't allowed outside while the full moon was up. But all of this changed earlier this month when a witch from a nearby village became our ally. She agreed to allow us outside on a full moon without anyone knowing, and by anyone, I mean the witches. She has become our friend, hiding her secret from the witches by still pretending to be one of them. And now, the vampires have a secret weapon against the witches. One they will never believe exists.

We've heard about this market place near the center of the town that will have plenty of humans to feast on. This is the target of our expedition tonight. We need to get to the market place and feed. Of course, we won't actually kill any of them. A killing on a full moon would raise too much suspicion for the witches. We'll leave the humans intact.

Zarro, our chief leader, is waiting by the entrance to our cave and talking to his second and third in lines, Ellera and Zoë. In lines are vampires who are next for the leadership position if something were to happen to the chief leader. They seem worried about something, so I listen to their conversation from a safe distance.

¨Do you think the witch is lying about putting this spell over us?¨ Ellera asks. She crosses her arms and tilts her head, her dark hair falling over her face.

¨It's hard to say at this point. No witch has ever allowed this to happen, but she made it clear that she was with us, not the other witches.¨ Zarro responds. He furrows his brow, "I guess there's only one way to find out."

"Did she say her name?" Zoë asks.

"No, she wanted to remain anonymous. I guess she still doesn't fully trust us."

"She trusts us enough to put this spell on us." Zoë says.

"But she could be lying." It's silent for a second, then Zoë speaks.

"We could send an apprentice out, see if he burns or not." she suggests.

"I don't want to be careless about this. We can't risk any injuries." Zarro says.

"But if we put everyone out there, we'll all burn. We can't risk that either." Zoë points out. Zarro nods in agreement.

"I think sending out an apprentice is the best way to go. It's for the greater good."

"Yeah, and who knows, maybe the witch isn't lying." Ellera mentions. Zarro looks around.

"Maybe." He walks away from the group, leaving Ellera and Zoë by the entrance. He walks towards a vampire two years younger than me who is in the apprentice stage of his training. He explains his task to the kid as he leads him back towards the entrance. The kid nods, agreeing to Zarro's request. Zoë and Ellera wait by the entrance. Zoë leads the apprentice through the tunnel until I can no longer see them. Ellera and Zarro wait anxiously for the results. Zarro paces, and Ellera leans against the wall. I decide to walk over to the small crowd of people waiting to walk to the market place. My friends are sitting in a small circle talking excitedly; I decide to join them.

"She told him she wanted to meet in the forest, implying something scandalous, and that was when she bit him. I couldn't believe my eyes when it actually worked!" The rest of the group laughs.

"Hey guys." I walk up and sit down beside Rina and Jacob. The group welcomes me into their conversation.

"Hey Vincent! We were just talking about how Rina lured this guy into the forest with her charm." My friend, Ilan, laughs.