Mermaids and Vampires

16: Dinner and Decisions

~~~~~~OLIVIA~~~~~~

It's late in the afternoon when I hear the first sound of returning vampires. The front door clicks open and its creaking hinges moan as it shuts.

A faded murmur between Adam and Charlotte is barely audible coming from the living room.

I remain frozen for a moment, listening from the kitchen where I had been preparing dinner for myself. It's impossible to make out the exact words they're saying to each other but the tone of their voices says it all. They're happy, returning from a lovely day they've spent together doing god knows what.

Frustration brews in my stomach. Here I was trying to get closer to Adam and I ended up pushing him right into the arms of another woman. Not just any, but Auron's horrible little sister. The slutty, retched, bitch of a-

"Olive, can I talk to you for a minute?" Her sickeningly sweet baby voice penetrates the air.

I turn my head robotically to stare her in the eyes. She's waiting in the kitchen entrance looking on at me with a patronizing smile.

"Sure." I reply, my speech so void of emotion, it almost resembles sarcasm.

I drop the knife that's in my hand and abandon the dish I've been preparing, walking towards her.

"In private." She clarifies.

"Why? What have you got to tell me that you can't say in front of Adam?" I question.

"Olive, this is my house. When I tell you we're going to talk in private you listen. Now get outside." She grabs me by the arm, twisting and holding on with a death grip, forcing me to follow her outside.

When we reach the bottom of the steps she lets me go.

"Fuck, that hurts." I hold my wrist, rubbing the spot with the red mark where her fingers dug in.

Charlotte's whole demeanor darkens. "Let me make one thing very clear, Olive; I don't want you laying a hand on my brother." She says.

"What?" I question.

"You heard me. Just back off. He isn't yours so don't touch him." She barks.

"Charlotte, I hate Auron." I try to clarify.

"Look, I don't care what kind of stupid game you're trying to play. Just stay away from my brother." She hisses, her face getting closer to mine with each word.

I take a step backwards.

"I'm not interested in Auron." I restate.

"Adam was right about you, you are a liar." She mutters, looking up towards the house.

Part of me wants to scream at her, but the bigger part of me has an urge to curl up into the fetal position and close my eyes.

"Just promise me you'll stay away from my brother." She says, staring maliciously at me.

"Kinda hard to do when we're in the same house." I murmur.

She rolls her eyes. "God, you're impossible."

Walking back up the steps, she turns to look down on me and says, "touch Auron and you're dead." With that she dissapears inside the house and the door swings closed behind her.

I let out a long breath. Walking away from the house a little bit, I kick up the leaves on the ground, frouning. How is it that she can walk all over me like that? Oh yeah, cause she's a vampire and I'm not. She's immortal and I'm not. She's with Adam and I'm... 

The noise of rustling branches pulls my attention to the left. Hurried footsteps come towards me and Auron's body emerges from the trees.

He rushes past me, stumbling over his own feet on a frantic mission to reach the house.

I watch, amused, until I realize that there could be trouble. Then I rush into the house almost as quickly as he had.

When I get inside I see all three vampires gathered around the kitchen table, Auron still panting from running so fast.

"What's going on?" Adam asks.

"Hunter's," he breathes, "lots of them."

"How many hunters?" Adam asks.

"Surely that didn't scare you." Says Charlotte.

"Easily a hundred. Maybe more. Charlotte, I just barely got away with my life. If they'd been surrounding me I might not have." He stated.

"I thought you're immortal." I say.

"Yes, meaning we can live forever, but only if we have enough blood. If we run out, completely run out, down to the last drop, we can die. Some of us have." Adam explains.

"They saw me, they know I'm still out here." Auron says.

"How far away were they?" Adam asks.

"Come on, you're not really worried about this, are you?" Charlotte asks.

"Miles, I outran them completely." Auron answers Adam's question.

"So we should be safe." Adam states.

"For tonight at least." Auron says.

"But how will you guys hunt? They're everywhere. Remember, we saw them too." I say to Adam.

"You mean they're coming from both directions?" Auron asks, new fear striking his eyes.

"Possibly, maybe. They might be the same ones, though." Adam answers calmly.

"But we don't know that." I say.

"I need blood. I was counting on hunting." Auron says.

And it's now that I really look at him and realize how sickly he appears. The colour drained from his face, dark circles under his eyes and the whites are blackening.

"You could always eat her." Charlotte offers, pushing me towards him.

I stumble forward and have to catch myself on the table.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." I spit.

"No, but you're right, he needs to eat." Adam says.

"You know, there's one place we could find you a meal, where the hunters would never look," I say scanning their eyes, "We could go to the city."

"It's too risky." Adam says.

"Not if we don't get caught. Come on, I'm good at hunting and he needs it. As long as we dispose of the body properly we can get away with it just like we used to." I explain.

The vampires glance between each other, considering, probably realizing, that it's their only option. I smile on the inside. Maybe hunting again will give me the opportunity to show Adam what I'm really worth.