Nirene

Chapter 3

We drag our luggage behind us, walking out of the airport to the taxi stop. There is a huge line.

        Natasha takes out her sunscreen immediately, Nara puts on her sun glasses. And I, preferred nothing. I looked into a far distance and blinked my eyes slowly.

        My face was starting to get soft, you could feel the hard and solid stone, turn into soft warm flesh. The feeling ran down my spine and to my toes. I felt much weaker in my human form; humans were defenseless compared to us. Although when I changed forms, it was just the overall appearance, my powers still remained inside me. I flexed my muscles and yawned.

         Natasha and Nara moaned as they could feel it running down their spines too. “Finally,” Nara says.

         “Where’s our next stop after going to the hotel?” I ask Natasha.

         “Aspormonte National Park.” She replies. “It should be a half hour drive from the hotel. Or Nara could just bring us there.”

         “I have never heard of that place, not ever in my life,” Nara admitted.

         “Aspormonte Park is the perfect hunting ground, there are lots of wild animals. Wolves, falcons, goshawks, it’s mainly a forest. Very nice place to hide the new borns. Humans rarely trespass the grounds of the park.” I explain.

         “The park is located in Petedattilo,” Natasha adds.

         “The ghost city,” Nara spoke amused. “Creepy.”

         “We’re not there to admired the spooky scenery,” I say. “We have business to take care of. Do not get caught off guard, and stay sharp.”

         “Aren’t our fangs sharp enough?” Natasha laughs. “They’re dangerous.”

         “The furthest from sharp, as we are in different forms. But the new borns are the ones that are dangerous. They’ve got agility and strength.”

         “And we have skill.” Nara smiles slyly. “I’ll take us there. Just give me the address after we leave the hotel.”

         We get inside the cab smelted of cigarettes and strangely, cheese. “Take us to the nearest hotel please,” Natasha says kindly to the driver.

         “Maaaa, no problemo.” The man says.

         We come to an intersection, whereas the cab comes to a stop. A family wearing rags crosses the road with a dozen of sheep. The father leads the way as his wife brings the goat. Two children work together merely to bring an injured lamb across the road. We all wait patiently for the family to cross, for there are no traffic lights.

          At that very moment before the poor family crosses the road, a grey object runs at the speed of light from a block away. Nara gasps. Natasha leans forward to look closely. And I remain silent.

          The grey blurry object comes closer and closer, and reaches the poor family. It reaches two long and firm branches out, and snatches a sheep away from its herd. It stops for a millisecond, starring at our cab, and rushes back the way it came immediately without any second thoughts. I blink my eyes to take a better look at him. A history of his background forms in my head.

           There was no doubt that this town was covered in new borns.

           A conversation forms in our mind. "How could they be running out in daylight? Especially when it's so sunny?!" Natasha proclaimed in her mind.

           "Who ever started this must be killed, and we must stay below the radar when we finish things up," Nara urged. "We must be careful."

           "What was that new born thinking?" I ask Natasha.

           "He obviously didn't know what we were," she begins. "But this one was smart, he knew we weren't any normal human beings, that we were different."

           "Well it's a good thing he only stopped for a second," Nara said. "Or else the others might have seen it."

           "The family will realize that they are missing a sheep any second now," Natasha predicts. "It's funny why they won't hunt at the park since there are so many more wild animals there to choose from."

           "It's because the new borns are not to be seen in the day," I explain. "That was Roberto Di Angelo Greco, 16 years old when bit, its been 4 to 5 years now, so he's around 20 years old. In which makes him suspicious to be the one who started this all. He has a big clan of 30 new borns, they're all located in the park and are starving for blood."

           "Anything else you need to back us up with?" Nara asks knowing I hadn't finished with the details yet.

           "The new ones have already hunted down all the animals in Aspromonte in the day, at night they take down some of the beggars and children." I continue. " Aspromonte Park is an hours' drive, their leader, I suppose Roberto, has already started to bring back food from this town to the park."

           "No wonder the twins are coming to take care of this clan," Natasha thought. "This is horrible, they can't kill innocent children of the streets."

           "Maaa, miladys," The driver speaks, unknowingly cutting off our mind to mind conversation. "We are here at de motel." Natasha pays the driver with a tip.

           "Thank you, have a nice day," he waves and smiles sincerely.

~

           We walk with immortal pace, check in and leave our bags on the bed. We explore and take in our surroundings for a while. Now that we are in the room, there is nothing to hide from. I blink my eyes and change forms, slowly my human flesh turns into rigid hard stone. Nara and Natasha transform a little while after me.

             I take in deep breaths of air, taking in my surroundings. It smells much different than Forks. In Forks, everything smells of damp pines and dirt. Here, in Aspromonte, it smells of grass, salty air and......... blood? I freeze in thought.

             Natasha knows what I'm thinking and sniffs the air too, "You're right." She nods, as I nod back.

             "What is it?" Nara asks. She sees Natasha sniffing the air, and does the same. " It's human."

             "We have to get there before they do," I say. "Nara, bring us to the park now." She nods and tells us to stand close.

             "Address please," she says.

             "Aspromonte Park, Reggio Calabria," Natasha says. "As simple as that."

             Transporting has been a very common thing to do since I've know Nara for so long, it's always the usual instructions she gives us.

             I close my eyes, clear my mind and think of completely nothing except for my destination. Within seconds, I feel my feet lifting above the ground. And in no time, I am drifting in thin air.

             Nara says that when we teleport, our bodies are actually dissolving into very very small pieces and fly through the air at quick speed. Then, when we reach our destination, the dissolved pieces will come back and turn into one whole again.

             "We're here," Nara says. I exit my world of thoughts and open my eyes to see nothing but a high mountain covered in trees and an old village on the peak.

             Without breathing necessarily, I can already sense the big mess that the new borns have caused. I can also smell......

             "There's smoke!" Natasha points at the far end of the village.

             And at the corner of the block, 4 of our own kind walk out draped in black velvet capes with hoods. I frown immediately.

             "They were faster than us," I sigh. "Again."