Talon Appears
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"You're older than me" I reminded her. She waved me off and turned her wild antics on Jace
"So are you a wizard? Or warlock? Do you have a wand?" She fired questions at Jace inching closer to his face. Jace's expression almost made me laugh. He tried to put space between them but Lily had him in a corner
"I-I'm not a warlock or wizard and I don't have a wand. Those are fairytales." Jace said trying to get around Lily.
"So what are you? I thought witches were girls" Lily said blocking his escape
"No. Being a witch isn't gender specific the way humans make it out to be. It's a birthright. Humans just tend to only catch female witches practicing. Now can you move?" Jace didn't wait for Lily's answer and swiftly darted his way past her.
"As entertaining as this all is, Ana didn't make her announcement for fun. There are some vampires after her to harm her. You three must choose to help Ana fight or stay out of it. Either way we leave at daybreak" Seb said stepping up and putting us back on course.
I looked back to Simon as he lay in his shocked state. I wanted to talk alone but if I get close to him I might scare him. All I can do is wait and hope he can handle this. At this moment it's not looking so good.
"I'm in!" Lily jumped up raising her hand and beaming at me. Of course she is! I don't think I could get rid of my new friend if I tried. Harder that is.
Simon abruptly sat up. I took a step in his direction but the look in his eyes stopped me. He was afraid of me. Seeing that hurt me deeply. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence. I wanted for a second for everyone to disappear and give me a moment with my friend.
Jace slowly walked over to Simon and handed him the old book Helia gave me. Why would he do that? Simon gave him a weary gaze before slowly taking the leather bound book.
"This explains what we are and where we come from. It should help you understand" Jace said moving back to give Simon some space. Simon nodded and swallowed so hard I could see his Adams apple bouncing. I felt like I should say something but I couldn't find any words. My worse fear was coming true.
Simon glanced around the room cautiously. When his eyes landed on me I could see how torn, confused and afraid he was. He stood and made his way to the door
"Simon, please don't go" I begged finally finding my lost voice. He paused with his hand on the knob.
"I'm sorry Ana" he whispered ripping the door open. By the time the door closed behind him the tears fell.
"I'll go make sure he gets home safe" Jace said following Simon out the room.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I wondered if that would be last time I saw my dearest friend…
Back to the Present…
"Ana, its 8:45am, we can't wait much longer" Seb's voice cut through my thoughts of last night's events. Even though Simon walked out on me I still held hope he would come back. We were after all close; I pray he doesn't forget that. Another minute slipped by and my hope was fading. How stupid of me to think that I could tell someone like Simon I'm a vampire and expect him to just "hey that's great" yeah right. He's not Lily.
Speaking of Lily, I could hear her talking to Marie from inside. They were arguing about Lily's mini skirt not being practical for our trip. It was funny easy dropping from so far away. Got to love these vampire ears. Though I would trade it all to have my friend back.
Just as I was about to meet the others inside, I heard the sound I've been dreaming to hear all morning. The screeching of Simons beat up car trudging into the parking lot. I was so overcome with joy my vampire speed carried to the parking lot in a second. Simon didn't even have the car in park yet and I eagerly ripped the door open. Literally I tore his rusted door right off the car.
"Holy shit Ana!" Simon said clutching the steering wheel
"Sorry, I got too excited" I said sheepishly placing the door gently on the ground "I'll fix that"
Simon laughed as he got out. The sound was music to my ears. "Don't worry about it, this car is a piece of crap, we both know that" Simon smiled at me and I couldn't help but engulf him in a hug. I was so happy that he was here I could scream. When I let go, Simon released a huge breath
"Geez your strong" He said breathlessly
"Sorry again, I thought I was hugging you lightly. I'm so happy you came back" I told him
"We are best friends, I would never leave you. Human or not you'll always be my friend" Simon's tender words caused a tear to slip from my eyes. Friendship isn't about quantity it's about quality. And with friends like Simon I can get through anything.
"Glad to have you back" Jace said walking up slapping Simon on the back. Seb, Marie and a pouting casually dressed Lily joined us too.
"Now that we are all here I can go over the plan quickly. I'm positive Talon or Marcos is gaining on us. So we need to get out of this town fast but without a trace. I read up on this town a few weeks ago and found there are tunnels that run underground into four major cities" Seb began
"Yes, but no one's been in those tunnels for years" Jace added
"I'm sure I know why. There is a possibility that these tunnels maybe inhabited by creatures. Even so it's our safest route out of the town without a chance of being caught or tracked." Seb stated in his serious leader voice. It's cute when he goes all Mr. Authority, sometimes.
"Creatures?" Lily questioned
"Do you mean Dwellers?" Simon asked. We all stared at him wondering what he meant
"Yes. How do you know about Dwellers?" Seb asked curiously. Simon shuffled through his backpack until he pulled out the book Helia gave me.
"They were in this. I spent most of the night reading about all these mythical creatures to help me understand what Ana and Jace are" Simon explained flipping furiously through the pages until he found the one he was searching for "Here, page 287 talks about the Dwellers or the cursed ones. It says "due to their violent nature and brutal killings of thousands of fae, Celeste the creator cursed them. She stripped them of their fangs, sight and immunity to light, forcing them to survive underground. During the wars on Nexus some escaped through the portal and came here thinking it would break their curse, but it didn't'" Simon read only stopping when Lily gasped
"You think the Dwellers are here?" I asked Seb. I did live here my whole life and never once encountered anything supernatural
"When I researched the town's history I ran across some stories about killings here a hundred years ago. They are consistent with the way Dwellers kill" Seb replied
"Dwellers have nails sharp enough to cut through metal. They use them to rip into their prey, drain them of all their blood before finally eating the skin, eyes and teeth of the victim" Simon said reading right from the book again
"What! There is no way I'm going down into some dark tunnels now!" Lily burst out "I can call my dad and have him send a jet or something" She offered instead
"We need a quick escape. Waiting on a plane is too long" Seb shot that idea down "Besides we have weapons and there is an exit every mile if we run into trouble" Seb added. This sounds very dangerous but what choice do we have.
"Does anyone have any better ideas" Jace asked looking around our small circle. All the faces were filled with dread and fear, including mine. Hopefully Seb's research was outdated and the scariest thing down there would be the rats.
"Well then, the closest entrance is in the woods. Once we get there I will hand out flashlights and weapons" Seb said leading the way. We all timidly followed behind him. Maybe I should at least pretend to be brave since I am the only vampire. But from the description of these creatures Simon gave us, that's easier said than done.
"I have to ask" Lily said breaking the silence right as we entered the woods. "Seeing that vampires and witches are real, is Santa Clause real too?" She asked hopefully.
We all stopped walking and stared at her
"What? It's a legitimate question!" She said defensively
"No, Lily as far we know Santa remains a myth" I replied
"Damn. Guess that could explain why I didn't get David Beckham for Christmas last year" She stated seriously.
Marie started to giggle and soon enough I joined too, along with Simon, Jace and a chuckle from Seb. She may be slightly annoying but Lily is entertaining and she managed to take our minds off the pending danger we were walking into.
That was until the unthinkable happened...
Halfway into the woods my whole body froze
There was a scent in the air that I would never forget no matter how much I tried. Seb instantly noticed my tense unmoving body and rushed to my side
"Ana, what's wrong?" He asked full of concern
"Seb I can smell him. He's here" I said cautiously darting my eyes around all the tress surrounding us. Seb immediately became stiff and slowly reached into the back of his pants for his gun.
"Who? Who's here?" He whispered to me doing a slow scan of the area around us. I closed my eyes and inhaled deep. I was absolutely sure now that he was indeed close.
"Talon…"
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