Hunting Love

Chapter 2

Alex and Amber to the top

Chapter 2

"I'm a freak," I whisper to myself, looking down. I feel someone comfortingly rub my shoulder so I look up and see Sarah smiling at me sympathetically.

"No you're not honey, you're special," she says, just as Jack comes out of one of the rooms and hands me a cup of blood. Taking it from him, I sniff it to see if it was animal blood. There's no way I'm drinking human blood anytime soon.

"Is that why I'm illegal?" I ask dryly, gulping the entire cup in one go. I place it back on the counter before looking around the store. "You know I don't get half of the items here," I tell them, trying to change the subject to lighten my mood. 

"What do you mean?" Jack asks, grabbing a box from behind the counter before walking around and starting to restock the shelves.

I pick up a bottle of perfume from one of the shelves and twirl it around in my hand. "Like this, what is this?" It's a clear looking bottle but the label is in some other language making it impossible for me to read it.

"That's actually something that disguises the smell of a human so you'll smell like a vampire," Jack replies. "Humans buy it if they're going off into the night so it'll be less likely for them to be attacked." I nod before placing it back on the shelf. I can't sniff the bottle without opening it and Sarah has a rule about having to buy what I break or open. 

"What about this?" I ask, picking up a small, black object that's encased in a small box. I'm not sure where the object would go since it doesn't look like it supposed to be worn.

"That's just something that makes sparks-" before he could finish, a weird alarm sounds and a town crier comes inside, carrying a stack of paper with him.

"We're getting reports of a royal carriage making their way to town. I suggest for everyone to get in their buildings if-" 

"Yes we get it, thank you," I hastily interrupt, making him to look up at me in surprise. He doesn't stay for too long though and quickly leaves the building without another look at me.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" Jack asks. "You don't usually snap at anyone like that. Are you feeling okay?"

"They're hunting for another slave," I mutter, although it's easily heard by both of them. 

"Well, we can't say that you won't get chosen because there's no way of us telling who will get chosen or not, but that doesn't mean that you should panic. Besides, it's not like they're going to be able to hurt you," Sarah says.

"That's not what's bothering me though," I reply, "I know they won't be able to harm me, but defending myself means exposing myself. If I do that in front of the royal family, not only will I die, but so will the rest of my family."

I look at the time and see that the sun was about to set soon. "Anyways I have to get going now.  See you guys later!" I say, getting up and running out the door.

I could faintly hear them say something back but I'm more focused on making it home before the sun sets. It's already dark in some areas and I can see the hungry eyes of vampires peering at anyone passing by. 

That's when I see a small child standing in the middle of a small field. Luckily, no vampires could get to him because he's standing in the sunlight. The sun is disappearing soon so I know that once it does, he'll be an easy target for the vampires.

The child's face expresses nothing but fear as he glances around at the vampires staring at him. Without hesitation, I walk over and kneel down in front of him. "Hello there, where's your mother?" I ask him.