Full Moon

Chapter 14

The raw scent of overturned earth mingled with the heady perfume of blood, human blood. We hadn't expected to find anyone this far out into the wilderness. Much less stumble upon a missing hiker. He was dead, unless he had supernatural abilities, there was no surviving the fall he took. His body lay battered and broken, covered in thick congealed blood. I paused in the shadows of a nearby tree as Jacob went to investigate. I wasn't fully vampire, but that didn't make resisting the allure of blood any easier. This man was freshly dead, I hoped he hadn't lingered in pain, odds are he had. There wasn't much we could do for him. Jacob found his wallet, etched his name into a nearby tree, and piled rocks over him to give him a makeshift grave. It seemed cruel to just leave him there.

Watching Jacob work, muscles moving smoothly under his brown skin, I found myself entranced. For so long he had been my protector, my companion, if not my parent at least the closest thing I had too it. I was unnerved by the direction my feelings had taken over the past few weeks. He wasn't just Jacob anymore, he was also a man.

Growing up is complicated. There isn't anyone, I'm sure, who would disagree. As much of myself that is half vampire, the other half is human. I still grow. My body maturing just as a humans does, merely faster. Jacob freaked out the first time we needed to buy a bra for me. It was comical, he wouldn't allow me to shop alone, but made everyone uneasy with his glowering, whilst I was measured and fitted. I had pretty much given up on shoes and if allowed would probably just go barefoot. It didn't hurt and it was easier than buying shoes all the time. Unfortunately Jacob didn't agree. Which I thought was hypocritical. Between the pair of us we needed new clothing almost constantly.

It wasn't just the physical changes, it was also the emotional ones. When I first got my period it scared both of us. It did, however, answer the question as to whether or not I could reproduce. The flows were not regular. Which had worried me initially until I reminded myself my body was under constant stress with how quickly I matured. But, it did leave me with many emotions I was confused by and unable to fully handle. It was times like those that I most wanted my mother.

"Alright.. let's move on. There's nothing else we can do for the guy and my stomach is so empty it feels like the sides are rubbing together." Jacob hadn't aged any either. If anything he looked even more handsome. Or maybe I was just biased.

"Liar, we already had that deer just an hour ago." My tinkling laughter brought an echoing smile from him.

"Yeah... but you had already drained it so the meat was all tough.." His argument only slightly valid. I made a face and his smiled widened. I loved his smile. I spoke aloud often now. I still preferred my silent method of communication but I didn't mind talking so much anymore.

"Glutton." I muttered as he bounded over, he laughed as he ducked behind a tree. He knew he had won. Besides, I could use another myself. My growing body craved nourishment, always.

Between the two of us we tracked down another deer with ease. This I gave to Jacob. I had had my fill of deer. I wanted something with a little more bite. Lifting my head I breathed deep, opening my mouth to let the smells pass over it. Faintly I detected the smell of carnivore.

"And the hunter becomes the hunter." In a flash I was off, leaving Jacob behind with his kill. I rarely got alone time, with Felix always on our tail Jacob hated leaving me alone. I could hear him bounding after me. Sighing internally I launched myself into a tree, hoping from branch to branch. Jacob barked below and followed the movements. He was obviously irritated. I smiled to myself, sometimes a girl needed a little freedom to breath. I loved Jacob but he had a tendency to be overprotective.

At some point he must have fallen back, because by the time I reached my quarry he was gone. Back to finish his own meal no doubt. It was just us and the animals. Both of us had become adept at detecting Felix's scent. He was not nearby.

Perched in a tree thirty feet off the ground I watched my kill. The tufted ears coupled with the spotted pelt named it for what it was a Eurasian Lynx. Below it prowled through the brush, eyes fixed on its prey, a rabbit. As it leaped so did I. We tangled together arms and paws wrapped around each other. Its claws raked down my back, ripping my clothing but not my skin. While my skin isn't as hard as a vampires it isn't so weak that it can't stand up to predator claws. I felt it no more than a pressure pushing on my skin. With a quick wrench of my arms I snapped its neck.

Its blood was better than a deer's, though not as good as Jacobs, and paled in every respect to a humans. Still, it was filling and after consuming it I was pleasantly full.

Jacob found me heading back, tattered clothes hanging from my body. The brand new bra we had gotten destroyed, acquired not even three months back, stolen of course, I felt no regret. We only stole from those who had more than enough to be stolen from. Plus, we only stole what we needed when we needed it. Which would be now.. again. I smiled at how much exasperation a wolf could show. I could see the amused annoyance in his dark brown eyes. Flying across the small space that separated us I leaped onto his back. Playfulness colored the memory I showed him.

"Don't be mad, it was getting too tight anyway" I added, taking a perverse enjoyment out of his rumbling growl. He got uncomfortable to be reminded my body was growing into a woman.

I was uncomfortable with it sometimes myself. Not just because it changed things, I was not blind to the looks I received. But also because it meant time was going by so fast. What if ten years from now I had the body of an old woman. We had no idea. Years of searching still hadn't found us the information we needed. Romania was a total bust. The closest thing I had found was an old journal some doctor had written hundreds of years ago. He spoke of what sounded like a vampire pregnancy. Except after the baby tore its way out of the mother the journal ended. Odds are the doctor had died. As for the baby nothing on it was documented. We found the grave of the mother buried alongside a smaller tombstone of what was presumably the baby. It was probably killed, those were superstitious times. It left us with a whole ball of nothing.

Jacob tore through the forest with me perched on his back, long bronze hair flying freely. I loved riding him, I felt wild and free, like some woodland goddess. The wind slapped against my face, bringing with it a far off trace of a scent I recognized all too well.

"Fucking Felix." I growled. Jacob reprimanded me with a quiet woof, his heart wasn't in it. After all, it was him from whom I learned the colorful term.

Jacob rumbled beneath me, the growl vibrating through my body. It was time to end this.