What's In A Blood

Evelina stared at her almost empty bottle of Claret. If she was not that exhausted the whole day yesterday, and if no one had ruined her mood- she would not be worrying about being so hungry before dawn.

But she also would not be worrying about anything before dawn if she had no plans of strolling around while everybody was asleep, searching for the mortal criminal. But she had.

She released a deep breath, her temper rising as her fangs desired to once again experience the feeling of pressing itself on the soft skin of a prey. Would there be any harm with taking a small amount of blood from the mortal? She would make sure it would not hurt him.

Not that much, anyway.

She looked at the mirror, seeing an almost out of control, unattractive lady. Evelina blinked, her reflection gone and once again there. She had never liked mirrors before, simply because Lionel did not like them either.

"But you cannot see me. It makes me think of how we are not together," he would say. And then, he would laugh saying a popular phrase that humans use before hugging her from behind, reflection forgotten.

'So near yet so far.'

She always whispered it to herself, wanting to feel the warmth of his skin against hers again. It did not mean much when he was still with her, whispering her name. Evelina. And now, every time she would think of it- it was as if someone was squeezing her heart. The heart that she had given whole to one vampire.

He was gone now.

And nothing felt near and real anymore. She was alone.

Tears trickled down her cheeks, and Evelina was again aware of where she was at. She looked around the room, it had nothing more but a small closet, a bed, and a mirror over a desk. She wondered how long she would be able to survive there, not having problems of where she should get her food.

Evelina grumbled, her claws clutching on the blanket at the edge of her bed.

Bat's shriek, whatever it was that she promised West would be thrown out of the window (like it had not) but she found herself starving. A witch cannot tell her what she could and could not eat. Who could resist the blood of humans, after all?

But then, she would not be having this kind of problem if she had up and done the tradition. But-!

Really, the one whom she was fighting right now was herself.

Evelina eyed the door, before making up her mind. She would do it. Nothing can satisfy her more than blood, and nothing sounded more delicious than a mortal's. Being inside the inn should be a dream come true already, as each room had a human, or two, sleeping in it.

But that would not be good.

The criminal. She needed him. She could always allure him, making him think that it would be alright to take a quick sip from him. And then, making him reveal what he was truly doing there, a question, she assumed, remained unanswered.

What will happen would depend on whatever his answer would be.

Evelina stepped outside her room, no candle in hand as her eyes were already doing their job of glowing in the dark. She sneaked downstairs, seeing the mess in the lobby- the counter still bent and the chairs and tables gathered at the sides to give way to woods and tools that were on the floor. Royce was on one of them, his head tilted back on the wall, eyes closed.

She still could not see why they refused using magic to fix it quickly when they could clearly use their power with everything else.

She was already halfway down when she heard a soft voice.

"Eve-elina?"

Ah.

West stared at her, his head tilted. Held in his left hand was a normal lit, black candle.

"What are you doing up?" Evelina squeaked.

The male witch smiled sheepishly, his right hand rubbing his neck. "I was actually going to wake you up."

"At dawn?"

"At dawn."

"And here I thought sunsets are your thing."

He chuckled. "It still is. Actually, Giles was supposed to be in my company now but he's a deep sleeper. So I thought that maybe you could come with me. Perhaps talk about what happened last night?"

She should have expected that, really. West was bound to talk it out with her, as if he had the power to change her mind on her actions.

"You think I was too cruel, then?"

"Yes."

"And you think I should apologize?"

He nodded. "You should."

Evelina was dumbfounded. They were the ones who made her feel bad first. They ganged up on her, and she was supposed to be remorseful about it?

"But I think I should apologize first." Surprised, she looked up and met West's eyes. "I must admit that no one still trusts you, but I should have been on your side then."

She let out a huff. "I do not need you to be at my side."

"Then what?"

"Nothing. If you think that I don't expect everyone to be against me, then you are wrong. I know who I am, my whole identity is practically someone who should be hated."

With their history and natural desire to kill, of course witches would not like them. Witches that are not like him, she guessed. The man in front of her was...she could not describe it, but with how friendly he was with her, she would say that he's too naive.

West said something under his breath, making Evelina raise an eyebrow. "What?"

"None that would concern you." He was grinning and the lady doubted that he was telling the truth. "By the way, you were on your way to something yourself. Do you mind me asking where you are going?"

She paused, unconsciously tapping her right foot lightly on her left. "I wanted to watch the sunrise." Light was already slowly passing through the window, the boy asleep on the chairs grunting. She lowered her voice. "And here it is. Thank you for being with me to experience it."

Chance missed! No food for her, then.

"Are you lying?" his eyes narrowed. "I thought you do not like the sun."

He was right about both things.

And things like this made Evelina think twice if West was truly who he is. If he really was a naive, kind man, or was that only for show? He was observant, and he acted as if he got her figured out. If she was not to be trusted, then West was the same as her.

A door opened and out came Miss Delphine. The innkeeper gave them a look of wonder, the vampiress trying to hide her face from her, before proceeding downstairs to wake her son up.

Evelina returned her attention to West, shaking her head. "What do you want from me?"

"Food."

"Food?"

Her stomach grumbled at the thought. West's eyes widened, looking at her all over, and probably (finally) noticing how she resembled a monster. The witch gulped, flustered.

"Well...well, I was actually the one in charge...of breakfast?" he said meekly.

"And?" Evelina stepped forward, enjoying their interaction. "It is alright. I'm hungry, too."

She inhaled his scent as he backed away. Daffodils, as always.

"You should be careful," West warned. He raised his candle towards her, like that itself would whisk her away. What more is that he kept avoiding her gaze. "I could cast a spell on you."

Could he do it while embarrassed, though?

Evelina giggled. "I was jesting, of course. Do not worry, I do not like to feed on witches."

She looked around them. The day had just started, and a few of the humans who were staying or leaving were throwing them looks of curiosity. Evelina bowed her head to hide her face from their line of sight.

"So you are not going to bite me?"

"Do you want me to?" the lady hissed. "You are lucky that you can still converse with me when you are the reason why I missed my meal."

"I am?" West blinked. He leaned forward, his expression with wonder. "Then what, may I ask, were you planning to make as your meal?"

Really, the witch was such a work.

"No one!" she gasped, her hands flying to cover her mouth. He leaned closer. "Oh come on, West! I am starving! You cannot keep me here if we do not want anyone to know who we are, am I right?"

"You're right. But I still have to ask you to accompany me," his gaze went to the doorway to the basement, for a second, before returning to her. "Some of them could be awake now but I'm afraid that they might still be quite mad at me. If you decided to go with me, I swear I'll provide you food before we go out."

Evelina cringed, remembering the last time he gave her blood. "If you mean chicken blood-"

"I do," he nodded proudly.

"Stay away from me, West. Please."

"Frog?"

"How would I satisfy myself with that?"

He sighed. "Fine, I'll buy you cow's blood."

The vampiress shook her head, finding herself laughing at the silliness of the witch. "I can buy myself cow's blood. You have to relax yourself. I'll go just...let me fix myself."

She made her way towards the stairs, practically scolding herself for not doing what she had to do earlier than dawn and letting the man distract her. Her stomach let out another grumble. Can she really go without anything at all?

Evelina halted, looking back at West. "Fine. Get me that chicken blood you're boasting about."

He nodded, letting out a small smile.

-*-

"No thank you, madam," West replied with a forced smile. The woman was continuously asking him if he'd want extra eggs because he was 'quite a charmer'. Evelina suppressed a laugh knowing that it was already natural for him.

"I did not know you were a flirt," she joked.

He glared at her. "I'm not."

"Then what is it with ladies giving you more eggs because you had them enchanted." She emphasized her words, eager to tease the witch more.

"You're the one to talk, Eve-lina," he said, rolling his eyes. "Eyes have been following you, you know."

She grinned. "It is because I am prettier than you. Without the eggs, of course."

West let out an annoyed groan, and Evelina was pretty sure that he was already tired of hearing the word 'eggs'. She giggled to herself. Ah yes, being with him could somehow lift her spirits up. Especially when she had already bought a bottle of wine and an enough amount of cattle blood to mix together with.

They continued their stroll at the streets, sometimes stopping when West saw something that he liked from a merchants' shops. He would not buy it, though, saying that he was only admiring them. Yeah, right.

She had expected the humans from the city were busier in the morning than the other towns, but she was quite wrong. The air was still cold as the sun had not yet reached its peak. Some children were out and about, but they were mostly going for school or working to tend to their families' needs. There also weren't plenty of carriages in sight, most of them parked- which could only mean that most lords and mistresses from Eldham are still in the comfort of their homes.

It was a normal day.

"Evelina, do you remember Mitchel?" West suddenly asked when he handed her the bag of garlic.

She raised an eyebrow. "Did you really just give this to me?"

"Huh?" his forehead furrowed, confused, before quickly remembering. "Oh right! Allergies." He took it back and instead made her carry a light bag of flour. "Anyway, Mitchel. He was the man yesterday."

Oh. The man who owns the blood she wanted to consume earlier.

"Well, he was still knocked out, I guess. I mentioned before that they were quite mad at me, right? It was because I wanted him to join us."

He did what now?

Should she really be reacting like this when West was also the reason why she was accepted in the troupe?

"I suppose I thought that I was no different than him."

No different than him? Evelina did not speak as they continued to walk back home. She let West carry on with his story about what happened last night, when the new recruits left. She listened when he told her how the man was locked up in the room where she did her audition.

The vampiress hid a cunning smile.

"West, do you...want me to get along with him?"