FOUR

730 31 3
                                    

Valerie was no empath, but she could feel the tension seeping off of Riley more and more every time he returned from his meetings with some stranger. She had no idea what his plans entailed, she only knew he wanted them well fed and trained, so it wasn't difficult to guess it was probably more sinister than he needed company.

She also knew her best friend was becoming distant. Intentional or not, she wasn't sure, but Valerie saw the way her eyes trailed off while she was talking to her and towards some guy she hadn't met yet. Bree said his name was Diego, and that they'd met while hunting. Valerie wanted to feel happy for her, she really did, but every time she noticed her slipping away she couldn't shove down the feeling of contempt towards the boy. She felt like she was being replaced.

The more she thought about the two the more she felt her anger bubbling up, threatening to spill over the edge. Valerie felt like she was trying to disable a bomb blindly with one hand. she could feel the explosion coming on and every thing around her was only making it worse.

During her stay at the warehouse, the once spacious room had become stuffed full with the undead. She'd pretty much lost track of time between training and the constant battle of eat or die. Riley had forced her into a rigorous routine of training her physical skills as well as her supernatural power. On top of everything, the exhaustive training kept her borderline starving.

It didn't take Riley, or any of the others, long to notice her lack of interest in the food supply. Her indifference towards eating and her deadly powers made her an outcast. She quickly learned it didn't matter what you were, bullies were bullies no matter what age or size, no matter what liquid flowed through your veins. People didn't like things that were different, and boy was Valerie different.

'Speak of the devil," Valerie thought as Riley stalked through the big double doors that enclosed the newborns in the warehouse they called home, several unfortunate humans following behind. Valerie wasn't sure how he always managed to find an unrelenting food source, but like clock worth, every few days he pulled their new herd through the doors. Sometimes one or two would be pulled out and changed, but usually they were just served.

"Bon appetit!" He locked the doors behind him.

The newborns descended on their prey like moths to a flame. Very deadly moths to very helpless flames. Valerie stuck back, hoping to go unnoticed as her throat erupted in flames at the smell of spilt blood. Unfortunately, Riley didn't let his new prodigy out of his sight often.

His hand gripped her shoulder, the other wrapped around some woman's arm. Her eyes held fear, but she didn't say anything. Riley's red eyes met her own, smiling devilishly as he thrust the woman toward her. "Eat."

Valerie looked up at him, silently begging him not to do this. But she knew it was no use. This is how it always went, Riley dragged in their food, Valerie pretended they weren't there, He sought her out and forced her hand. "Come on Princess, don't make this difficult on yourself. Eat."

Riley bent down, taking a vicious bite out of the woman's Carotid. Blood poured from the wound, erupting Valeries senses and turning her eyes from deep crimson into pitch black in seconds. She ignored her screaming conscience, the only part of her that reminded her she was once human, and sank her fangs into the woman's throat.

When the feast was over and every drop of living blood had been sucked away, Riley commanded their attention.

"In four days, you all will finally fulfill your purpose. Everything you've been working towards will finally be yours. After, well, you're free. After your mission you'll have eternity to do whatever your dead heart wishes." He paused his speech, allowing time for his last few words to really hit home. To assure they understood that there was no room for error anymore. "Until then, you eat, you train, you listen, or you die."

Valerie's nose tingled, deep inside a new sense was awakened, reminding her of not long ago when she first felt the stinging sensation. Her eyes darted away from Riley, immediately jolting up to the sky where an overhead platform sat. But by the time her eyes had made contact, it was empty. Valerie turned her head, darting in circles trying to locate the source of this newfound feeling, but whatever it was had ditched the second she became aware of it's existence. When she turned her attention back to the group, no one else seemed to have noticed anything. Valerie vowed then, that she was going to get to the bottom of whatever this was before she died.

"You're all dismissed. We pick training back up when I return tomorrow."

Riley seemed to notice something was off, that someone new was amongst them. But no one else seemed to pick up on anything except her. Riley didn't waste any time before he left in the blink of an eye. Not that anyone here blinked anymore.

Valerie shook off her strange feelings. There was nothing she could do now and the scent was already gone. Her heart ached for it to come back. It smelt like Christmas mornings with her family when she was young. Like baking cookies with Bree at their sleepovers. It felt like warmth.

Bree herself was the one to shake Valerie out of her thoughts, bumping her shoulder into Valerie's and poking her finger into her side, an action that used to make her squeal and jerk away, but now had no effect on the girl. "Hey V."

"Hey V yourself, where have you been?" Valerie asked, though she knew the answer and she knew she was going to hate it.

Bree's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "With Daniel." She answered.

Valerie fought back a scoff. It wasn't Bree's fault Valerie wasn't used to sharing her best friend and it wasn't fair of her to take it out on Bree for finding a new person to confide in. Valerie knew that, but it didn't make it any easier.

"What's gotten into you?"

This time, Valerie didn't shove her anger down. "What's gotten into me? Go ask Daniel if you care so much."

Bree coiled back at her explosion. This wasn't like her Valerie. The two girls never fought over anything. Bree knew the change was affecting her friend more than herself, but she hadn't realized it'd changed her this much. "Why are you so upset? We're just friends-"

"No Bree, we're friends! And ever since he slithered his way into your life, it hasn't really felt like it!"

This wasn't fair of her, Valerie knew that. But for some reason, she couldn't make herself stop. She'd never been so jealous in her life. It felt like it was boiling up in her chest, bubbling over more and more each second.

She needed to get away, before she did something she regretted. But she was never one to react quickly, even in her human years. Before she could jerk away, Bree had reached out and gripped her wrist.

Bree yelped out, letting go of her friends arm that had caught fire the second she was touched. Bree shook her hand, holding it close to her chest as she stared up at her friend in horror. Not once in their entire friendship had Valerie ever hurt Bree. She'd always been the one protecting her. From playground bullies to the kind that live at home. Betrayal filled Bree up as quickly as sorrow filled Valerie. She'd never had that terrified look directed at her, not by Bree. She didn't know what to do, so Bree did the only thing she could think of. She fled.

Valerie was left surrounded by newborns. It didn't matter how many eyes were on her, she'd never felt so alone before.

You've reached the end of published parts.

⏰ Last updated: Dec 21, 2021 ⏰

Add this story to your Library to get notified about new parts!

NEON LIGHTS jane volturiWhere stories live. Discover now