~ Chapter Eight: Abnormal Behavior ~

Lucia watched as Jaxson took bites out of his freshly made cookie that the Baker had given to him as a treat for helping her out. Lucia had also recieved a treat when she stopped by looking for Jaxson. She was just in time, catching Jaxson finishing up loading baked goods of all kinds into the Baker's cart, his mouth practically drooling as he looked at all the treats. With the hungry look Jaxson was giving the desserts every time Miss Isle turned her back, Lucia thought he'd snatch up a few, but he refrained.

"Are you saving that for later?" Jaxson asked, referring to the cookie. He was swinging his legs back and fourth happily over the edge of the cart, crumbs all around his wide grin and half of his reward still remaining since he was lovingly taking his time with it.

Lucia had gone ahead and taken a small bite out of her own chocolate-chip cookie when she saw how much Jaxson was enjoying himself. She had hoped that maybe she'd find it delicious; unfortunatley, she found it to be just as tasteless as the eggs had been when she first tried them, or the many other foods Sabina had made her try over the last few weeks. It seemed nothing but blood was tasty to the former princess anymore; even if she had the urge to occasionally try a tasty looking meal, or even when her habitual instincts to have something to eat at meal time kicked in, it was never the same. Disappointed, but not surprised, Lucia just shook her head and held the cookie out to Jaxson, "You can have it."

Jaxson's eyes widened and he gaped slightly, enthusiastically taking the treat. As he held an almost untouched cookie, a switch seemed to have flipped inside Jaxson's mind. His wide smile dissapeared, instead his lips pressed into a firm line of anger, his twinkling emerald eyes were dismissed of all light and instead grew cold. Jaxson held the treat out towards Lucia as if she had poisoned it. "Why are you giving this to me?"

Lucia wasn't completely surprised by his sudden shift in behavior, however abnormal it was. She'd caught glimpses here and there of moments where Jaxson became a different person. Anything seemed to set him off, but primarily when Jaxson felt he was being pitied or even mocked, he would lash out the most. Just last week, Lucia had traveled with Jaxson and a few other kids that lived in the Slums to the edge of the poverty stricken area and onto one of the main roads in the capital. There, Jaxson had been pushed aside by an angry Lord and his guards trying to make their way through the city. Jaxson spat at the ground, filled with indignation when he stumbled backwards and not one of them turned to apologize. He didn't take his eyes off of the moving Lord, "Fucking bastards like them are the reason we're stuck in this shithole. All the royals and nobles deserve to die." Lucia, an outsider to their group, stood behind them all and became vexed at the thoughts of her identity ever being revealed to the group who shared Jaxson's anger.

Lucia understood Jaxson's rage at that time. To some degree, she understood what it meant to be treated as if you were nothing, yet his changing behaviors were so contradicting to his normal smiling self, Lucia couldn't help but become apprehensive with him at times like this. Today was the first time such hatred and suspicion had been directed at her.

In truth, Lucia was quick to shrug of his behavior, trying not to draw attention to his concerning attitude and instead trying to distract him in hopes he would return back to his humorous self. One look in particular, the very look he held while awaiting her answer, Lucia would try to forget since it was too familiar an expression.

Lucia responded trying her best to reassure Jaxson. "I just don't need it! You're the one who worked so hard today, you deserve it."

Jaxson's scowl deepened, his eyes like slits as he crusified her with his gaze, "Is that right? You don't need it? You're looking down on me aren't you?"

"Please don't look at me like that," Lucia pleaded within her own thoughts. It was too familiar. Her head started to buzz, her own unhappiness of the past resurfacing just from one look. It made her sick.

Lucia felt the heat of her own anger bubbling beneath her skin, the mixture of memories and hatred threatening to come back up through her throat. Lucia always felt she was an utter disappointment to absolutely everyone in her life, she could already tell Jaxson would feel the same if he hadn't already. She couldn't let her first friend become like so many others in her life, she wouldn't allow it. So she swallowed her hurt, and words of anger that she had wanted to say to so many before, and instead she spoke in a hushed tone. "Jaxson please . . . What are you talking about?"

"Don't act like I can't see you're privelaged, Emilia! You're always so clean with fresh looking clothes on, it's obvious your family has money. I don't need your damn pity. Dad and I are doing just fine, so keep your fucking charity and offer it to the rest of the weak that are here in the Slums!" Jaxson, like Elijah or even Eris would, threw the cookie she had given to him to the floor right in front of Lucia. Lucia's hadn't budged an inch and merely watched the baked-good break on impact.

Lucia again spoke with a soft tone, "I just don't like sweet things." A lie. She loved sweet things, but since she couldn't taste it, it was futile to try. She had hoped Jaxson would enjoy the cookie on her behalf. "I saw that you were enjoying the cookie you were given and I thought you might like it."

Jaxson's furrowed brows and stern expression seemed to slowly dissapear the longer he stared at Lucia. "Oh!" Again, like a button had been pressed, he became this bright and cheerie person again. With a grin and a chuckle he responded, "Is that it? It's too bad the cookie is ruined then!"

No apology. Not even a word about his behavior. Lucia simply nodded, glad that their friendship hadn't ended today. "Mhm, too bad."

"I didn't know you disliked sweet things! That's so sad Emy! Cakes and puddings are so delicious, I can't possibly imagine not wanting them." Jaxson chuckled and took another bite of his cookie.

~ ~ ~

Lucia stayed by Jaxson for the next hour listening to his upbeat stories and jokes while they sat on the back of Miss Isle's cart. Eventually the baker told them to move along since she'd be headed out selling the baked goods.

"I should probably head home now Ems. My dad said he was looking for a job today and he said he's feeling pretty confident, so maybe today is the day!" Jaxson smiled, his grin holding so much hope, yet Lucia could see the truth behind those dulled emerald eyes. It was like this weekly, maybe even more frequently; Jaxson's father kept making promises he would never keep.

Both of the them parting, Lucia took her normal shortcut to Sabina's house which was down a narrow alley, out of the way of busy bars and shops. Just reaching the entrance to the alleyway, she caught a familiarly delicious scent.

Lucia thought she had paused after seeing a figure just down the alley, yet her body moved forward on it's own. The scent flooded her nose as she got closer, a smell far too similar to when Sabina let's her feed once a week, for a fee of course. Lucia hadn't yet had her weekly meal, and it was obvious to the vampire that such a mouth-watering scent couldn't be anything other than blood.

Eventually, Lucia found herself just a few feet away from a young blonde woman who propped herself up against the brick of the alley-wall as she sat in the dirt. Lucia could hear the woman's erratic heartbeat, far too quick to be normal, even her breathing was ragged. Lucia didn't even have to look to know she was bleeding, but now that she was, the vampire caught the nasty gash on the woman's fragile looking left arm. The young woman was trying with all her might to stop the bleeding with a misshaped piece of cloth which couldn't possibly absorb anything further.

"M-Miss, you're hurt," Lucia stepped closer steadily, her eyes glued to the bloody wound on the woman's arm.

"Really? Well aren't you a little fucking genius," the curly-haired blonde spat as she applied more pressure to the wound with the bloody piece of fabric she seemed to have ripped from her own clothing. She seemed so. . . small, even comparing their sizes the stranger would be much taller, yet the woman felt small. Either the stranger didn't care enough, or she didn't mind the fact that the outside of her thigh was bare due to the ripped fabric, making her look more promiscious then she already did with such a short dress on and her cleavage on display.

Lucia haulted herself from getting any closer. It was time to leave. If she didn't . . . this woman might not live tonight.

Lucia made a movement to leave but the blonde called after her, "Wait, I'm sorry! I just need some help. I didn't mean to be such a bitch."

"I'll go get someone-" Lucia went to speak.

"No, no, just come help me clean some of this mess up and wrap this piece of cloth around my arm. I can't do this one-handed."

"I don't know anything about medicine or anything like that-"

"You don't need to," she sighed. "Please just help me tie this?"

Lucia couldn't just leave the woman now, especially with all the creepy looking lurkers in the Slums that could spot a revealing young woman, defenseless. Lucia held her breath as she approached, her scent intoxicating.

"Thank you," the woman let out a sigh of relief with a small smile. "I'm Sadie, I owe you one." She removed the blood soaked cloth and ripped another piece of her dress out. Her scent. It was far better than the scent of Sabina's blood.

"Emilia," Lucia spoke quickly before clenching her jaw to receive the blood soaked fabric. Such a bloody mess. Just from the cloth alone Lucia felt her stomach simmering in anticipation for food, the stranger's blood running down her fingers from the fabric wasn't helping in the slightest. How this woman got into this mess, Lucia had no idea, but she couldn't think with the temptation of bringing her fingers to her mouth and tasting Sadie's blood. She just tried her best and kept completely still, waiting for Sadie's next orders.

"Alright, now wrap this around my arm and I think I can manage home then," Sadie handed her the clean fabric.

Lucia swallowed her saliva and got closer to the wound. Her instincts had her moving before her cognitive thoughts could even come to an understanding as to what she was doing. Her mouth pressed against the wound like she had been starved before meeting this stranger. Sadie let out a cry and tried to push the monster away. Lucia, without any thought, covered the stranger's mouth with her hand, pushing her head against the wall. Such monsterous vampiric strength forced Sadie's movements to come to a complete stop. Although Lucia's small hand and unbelievable strength didn't stop Sadie from crying out under her palm, or even stop the young woman from biting into Lucia's flesh. Yet not once did Lucia flinch, so focused on the starved taste in her mouth.

Lucia spoke desperately through swallowing a mouthful of blood, "I beg you, stop fighting."

Sadie stopped moving. Not even a sound escaped from under Lucia's palm. Lucia was too consumed to think about what had happened, instead her mouth continued to lick at the wound and pull mouthfuls of red liquid inwards.

After only a few minutes, the vampire finally pulled away, licking at a drop of blood that had escaped her mouth. She then proceeded to pull her hand away after realizing what she had done. "I'm so sorry. Please don't tell anyone. . ." Sadie only stared blankly at her, still breathing, her eyes started to flutter but she didn't dare make any large movements.

Lucia was puzzled by Sadie's limited actions. She expected the stranger to scream, to cry and try to run, yet here she was completely still. "Was it my command?" Lucia thought to herself. She asked Sadie to stop fighting against her, which Sadie seemed to comply with. "Sadie, you can speak."

"W-What are you!" Sadie immediately began to scream out.

"P-Please, don't scream." And Sadie was quiet once more. "This must be one of my powers. . . " Lucia spoke aloud.

Lucia wrapped Sadie's wound with the fabric she had received before impulsively drinking her blood. "You should eat something when you get home, something sugary. Do you think you could forget about what happened with me tonight?"

Sadie still stared dully at Lucia. In truth, the young vampire had no idea if her powers allowed her to take memories away, but it was worth a shot. "Nod if you understand."

Sadie nodded. "Then, once I leave, you can move and speak again."

The stranger Lucia had violated stayed completely still, obeying Lucia's command. Lucia gathered herself, all while feeling airy, a smile playing on her lips unconsciously as she bounced up. Turning on her heel, Lucia made her way to the other side of the alley, glancing backwards to still find Sadie unmoving. "I'm sorry Sadie, don't say anything," Lucia whispered under her breath and was gone as soon as she finished her words. How she way able to do what she did tonight, escaping into the shadows, invisible to the public of the evening, and getting back to Sabina's all became instinct alone.

Lucia pushed open the wooden door of the Red Witch's house and slammed it behind her, falling to the floor. She now felt nauseous.

"What's wrong with you girl?" Sabina shouted from her usual seat on her stool at the counter.

"Well well ~ " Spells had moved closer, circling Lucia. "You preyed on a human tonight."