Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 54

"Are we having lunch?" Alarcos jokes around.

"I sure hope not," Olivia says, approaching us.

"You're back. That's good, but I am surprised it didn't take long to convince the tribe to stay away." I say.

"I can be very persuasive when I want to be," Olivia says, blushing.

Uninterested in learning what is behind her embarrassment, I decide not to ask any questions. What's the point anyways? We might all die soon enough.

"Anyway, what do you think of this place? Is it bloody enough for you?" Olivia asks.

"Not nearly as much as we need it to be, or at least it is not as fresh as it should be," I say.

"What are we going to do about it?" Olivia asks.

"What is the largest animal that comes here?" I ask.

"I don't know, maybe some deer, a bear or two from time to time," Olivia says.

"Any wolves?" I ask.

"I think so, yes. But why wolves?" Olivia asks.

"Because they are carnivorous, and their blood smells closer to human blood," I explain.

"Do you know what else smells like human blood? The actual human blood." Seymour says.

"You are not going to slaughter innocent humans. Not on my watch." Olivia says, giving Seymour a death stare.

"Though the Healer blood would be better, it would drive any vampire crazy," Alarcos says, looking pointedly at Olivia.

I am not sure if he is messing with her or if he is being serious. Either way, I know that I won't allow for something like that to happen since I would be the first vampire to be driven insane by the delicious fragrance. Furthermore, Eliot would never forgive me if Olivia is hurt in even the smallest way.

"I am not here as a donor, mister Dracula. So, don't get any crazy ideas in that pretty head of yours," Olivia says sternly, seemingly unruffled by his suggestion.

However, having in mind how she behaved with me earlier, I am sure that it's just an excellent pretense. After all, acting seems to run in the family.

"Aww, you think I am pretty!" Alarcos says in the most high pitched voice I've ever heard.

He sounds like a teenager seeing their crush on the street. The fact that an adult is making those sounds is difficult to process for me.

"You're also taken, so stop flirting with the girl," Seymour says possessively.

"I was just joking, sweet pie," Alarcos says, kissing Seymour for far longer than is decent.

"Ahem, if we are done wasting our time, can we please go kill some wolves, now?" I say.

"And don't call me sweet pie," Seymour says as they break the kiss.

"I have a better idea," Seymour says, pulling a few bags of human blood out of the backpack-like freezer that was custom-made for us.

"You brought snacks to the potential battlegrounds to eat while we prepared a trap?" I ask in disbelief.

"Hey, you never know when you might get hungry," he says, shrugging his shoulders.

I roll my eyes at his logic though I know very well that his insatiable thirst turned out to be useful for once.

If we get too thirsty, we can always feed on the Vampire Council's servants, which are bound to come with them.

"Okay, I don't have the time to argue with you about your questionable feeding habits," I say.

"Olivia, you should go. We're about to spill a lot of blood, and I am sure that your sensitive Healer mind won't be able to take it." I say honestly.

"I can take it. I am tougher than I look," she says stubbornly.

Seeing that honesty isn't working, I choose to try a different approach.

"Look, I am sure you can handle anything that comes your way. However, if I let you see all the bloodshed and gore, your brother will never forgive me." I say.

"Fine, but only because you have the potential to be a fun sister-in-law," Olivia says excitedly.

I imagine slapping some sense into that empty head of hers, but I change my mind as doing that would mean I was affected by the comment.

"Are we missing something?" Alarcos asks, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Honestly, since he and Seymour got back together, he is behaving much bolder and ruder than I would have liked. However, if I say anything about it, I will just seem to be jealous. I will be just another woman jealous of her ex-boyfriend's happiness.

"Nothing that would concern you," I say bluntly.

"But don't you know that..." Olivia starts to say.

"Oh, we'd love to stay and chat, but here comes your escort, and Seymour, Alarcos, and I need to go hunting," I say.

"What did we miss?" Tobias asks as they join us.

"Not much," I say.

"A lot," Alarcos says at the same time.

"Can you guys take care of Olivia until Eliot can join her? Somewhere away from here." I say.

"Sure, but why us?" Cecilia asks.

"Because I am guessing that since your Healer blood woke up or whatever it did, you are not a big fan of killing," I say.

"Helen, don't you dare kill any more humans. I have enough deaths on my conscience as it is." Cecilia says.

Her words annoy me. She is always worried about how she will feel, about her guilt. She never seems to wonder how it is for me.

After all, I have killed more humans than I can count, and I actually enjoyed doing so, I rejoiced in their misery.

"No humans will be harmed. That's all you need to know.

"Now go! We need to hurry up if we are to have any chance of pulling this off." I say with a tone that allows no further questioning.

"Fine," Cecilia says as she picks up Olivia, and they leave.

"What was all that about?" Seymour asks.

"We need to be as efficient as possible, kill as many wolves as we can, and they are more likely to hesitate," I say.

"Sounds reasonable enough," Seymour says, happy with my reasoning.

"I bet you I can kill more wolves than you can," Alarcos says to Seymour teasingly.

"Don't drink any of the blood, just pile up the carcasses right here, and we'll spill the blood once we get enough wolves," I warn before they are off to their flirting.

How they can make everything into a flirty game is beyond me. However, it seems to be a unique skill of theirs.

"Yes, sir," Alarcos says, saluting dramatically.

"Don't worry, Helen, we'll do as you said. We'll just have some fun while doing it," he adds.

"Very well," I say.

Some fun? Well, wouldn't it be very entertaining if I end up beating them in the crazy game of theirs?

With that goal in mind, I run at top speed, determined to find and kill all the wolves that are unfortunate enough to roam this area. Ready to slaughter anything else that comes my way.