Shadows

Hunters

The twins were restrained to their rooms for a while after that. They had bestowed some sort of gift to me… but they just looked like some strange tribal tattoo to me.  They began to look at me differently too, even Daniil stopped training me for a while, said that I needed the time to prepare… but for what was even more uncertain. Aurora shut herself away with the twins too during that time too, it was understandable to worry for whatever they had done had empowered me but weakened them.

  I awoke in Dante’s arms feeling numb and saddened; everyone was acting shifty and distanced themselves from me, I didn’t know they were going to do that… hell I still don’t even know what it is they actually did.

“You’re awfully quiet” Dante mused

“I was thinking that’s all”

“You’re worried about them” he traced his fingers along my right arm absentmindedly as he spoke which resulted in my skin being showered in Goosebumps “It’s natural to be worried but whatever happened isn’t your fault in the slightest” I glanced at my hands again, they were so different yet so similar in design… much like them.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat” I said tapping his bare chest. I started to get up when he grabbed my arms and pulled me down so that we were nose to nose

“Five more minutes?” he moaned as he pecked me on the lips

“Nope” I chirped, pulling away from him “I wanna eat, hunt and then find out what the hell is going on”

  We did just that, I made sure that the chef did not cook for me… these may be the royals and I may be one of them but I would not take liberties from the staff… it didn’t feel right for some reason. But I had a simple meal of pasta with a healthy topping of cheese and made sure that Dante at least had some of it. Plate’s emptied; cleaned and put away we made our dart for the grounds. The air hit my face like a surge of knives, my body felt as stiff as stone and I felt it hard to move or even breathe, hopefully the snack at the end would be a just reward. Nearing the forest we slowed our pace until we came to a healthy stop, there was not much of the killing that I would be able to perform but the least I could do was watch and feast at the end. Dante motioned me to stay hidden as he slowly began to stalk an unsuspecting deer, it was such a beautiful creature yet dull at the same time… tragic really.

  He lunged forward yet somehow remained silent as a ghost, before the sound of him crashing down on our prey filled the air. The deer squirmed for a moment or two, but eventually slowed and stopped. I rose from my hiding spot and ran to where my feast lay.

“Enjoy” he muttered before speeding away to find more prey. I licked my lips in anticipation for the metallic taste of blood... the deers cold body lay an inch from my quivering lips when i heard a loud bang from forest around me, it sounding like a gun... but who would come out to in the middle of knowhere at this time other than my kind? The first thought that slipped into my mind was that of a terror... hunters! Jumping back from the deer i sprinted further into the forest, not caring when the sharp claws of the trees scratched my skin, not caring that i was sure to fall, not caring that it was getting increasingly darker with ever step... i needed to be far away, i needed to escape.

‘You shouldn’t have to escape Vicki...’ A females voice echoed in my head

‘Tatiana?’

‘Yes’ she chuckled ‘Just listen to me when i say that you need to find the perfect hiding place,climb a tree if you have to. Just be somewhere where you are hidden but can still observe... ill talk you through it’

‘What made you the expect?’ i mocked

‘Because in case you forgot.. im the Vampiric side that has the basic instinct to hunt, stalk, blend and kill’ she retorted, i didnt bother giving a sarcastic reply to that one... because she was right and i needed to listen to her. I quickly darted over to the nearest... well climbable tree that was in sight, crouched low... and waited.