CHAPTER 7

Bianca

I'm woken up by a loud knocking on my door. Then, I hear Rose's voice calling out to me. She sounds rushed, frantic almost.

I come downstairs, as the knocking becomes deafening, more urgent. I can't even manage to open the door properly, when Rose barges in and closes it after herself, leaning against it, as if expecting someone to come after us.

I can see she is breathing heavily.

"Did you run all the way here?" I wonder, looking at the few droplets of sweat on her forehead. There is something about the expression on her face, which assures me that she didn't come here so early in the morning just so we could drink coffee together. It's something else.

"Mhm," she nods, swallowing heavily.

Then, she seems to remember something, and rushes to the door, drawing the curtains together. I look at her, all confused.

"It's morning," I pointed out the obvious. "Aren't you supposed to open the curtains?"

I yawn, stretching, as I walk over to her. "I could go for a coffee. Do you wa– "

"You need to leave, Bianca," she cuts me off. "Now."

I chuckle, thinking it's one of her silly jokes, which in all honesty she hasn't pulled in ages.

"You mean we need to go on a vacation?" I wonder, thinking of all the times we said we'd do it. Just pack our bags and go away from this place, travel somewhere else, somewhere new, somewhere where no one knows us and see where life takes us from there.

It's always been a dream of mine to leave, but at the same time, I feel like it would be difficult to turn my back on those who took care of me when I had no one else. I don't think I could do that to them. So that dream might never happen in real life.

"I'm serious," she tells me, approaching me and putting her hands on my shoulder. The smile melts off my face. "You need to leave the town. Go to the woods and stay there. Just pack some basic necessities, I'll try to come see you when I get the chance, but you need to go now."

"Wait," I shake my head. My thoughts are a blurry haze of confusion, following her words. "What are you talking about?"

She sighs heavily, as if she expected me to just take her word for it and leave. But… why? I need to know why.

"I overheard my mom on the phone," she tells me, her tone lowering as if someone might overhear us, although we're the only ones in the house. "She was talking to the Elder about you."

I listen carefully. It wouldn't be the first time that the Elder would be talking about me with Rose's mother. After all, her daughter and I have been the best of friends since childhood.

"They know."

That is all she said. She didn't need to tell me anything more than that.

"But… how?" I wonder.

I keep thinking whether someone saw us together, or maybe saw him. Both versions are possible. I can't say that we've been very careful in our desire to see each other. Now, it seems that this will be a mistake that might cost us more than we thought it would.

"I don't know," Rose shrugs, still with that sense of urgency in her voice. "I just know that the Elder somehow found out that you were talking with the vampire king. He wants you taken to him."

I immediately realized why. He wants me to tell him everything I know about the vampires.

"I don't know anything," I tell Rose. "I mean, I don't know anything about Edmund or the others."

"Anyone who's talking to vampires is seen as a traitor," Rose reminds me. "You know this, Bianca."

"I wasn't talking to him about shifters at all," I try to explain, but I know it's not Rose I need to be explaining anything to. She believes me.

"I doubt they're going to believe that," Rose tells me the truth, although I myself know this. "I think you should get out of town for a while, just until this settles down… whatever this is."

Our gazes lock and I can tell she's worried about me. Maybe I should take this more seriously.

"I can't know for sure, but…" Rose starts, then hesitates to continue. I can see the concern in her eyes, the love, the need to protect her best friend. "They might consider you the enemy now."

The enemy.

I guess in a way, that's what I've always been. Just not a dangerous enemy. An enemy they could control, an enemy they could keep an eye on. But if I am with vampires, then I am no longer under their control. That is probably how they see this whole thing, although this can't be further from the truth.

"You know I would never betray you like this," I assure Rose. "You all have taken me in, and I owe my life to you. My loyalty lies with you."

"I know that," Rose takes me by the hand. Hers are cold and clammy. "But you know how shifters and vampires are. Also… I think Gala interfered in this somehow."

Gala was, of course, the Elder's daughter. That could make things ten times worse. Heck, it could make things a million times worse. This would be her chance to see me banished from the town, and not only that. I dare not think what her mind would come up with as proper punishment for whatever sin she thinks I committed.

"If she's involved, then I probably don't stand a chance," I sigh, frowning.

I realize that Rose is right. I don't know if I'll even be given the opportunity to explain myself properly. It's best I don't risk it. Not now, at least.

"That's what I'm saying," Rose nods. "Go, grab your stuff. I'll keep a lookout."

I feel like there is still so much more to say, but one look at her, and I know that we don't have time for that now. She wouldn't be here, so early in the morning, telling me all this, if it wasn't of the utmost urgency.

I just nod with a nervous smile, then rush back upstairs. I get dressed quickly, then grab my backpack and stuff into it a t-shirt, sweatpants, some underwear and socks, my toothbrush and toothpaste. Then, I ran back downstairs. I take a few snacks from the pantry. Rose notices me.

"I'll bring you whatever you need," she assures me.

"How?" I wonder.

"Be at our favorite place in the woods, every morning around 9 am," she tells me. "You have your watch?"

I instinctively look at my wrist. My watch is there. The one that she got me for my last birthday. I never take it off.

"You have to go now," she urges.

I can hear the warning in her voice. She doesn't want to say it out loud. But we both know what shifters can be like when they think that someone is a traitor, that someone has betrayed the clan. History is full of such stories, and they even teach them in school. Loyalty is one of the things shifters value the most. If they think that I turned my back on them, that I am somehow in cahoots with the vampires, who knows what they might want to do to me. I dare not even think.

I wrap my arms tightly around Rose's neck. She in turn, wraps hers around my waist, as we press our hearts together. I close my eyes. This feels like such a sad moment. I feel a burst of tears coming on, but I can't cry. There is no time. There is barely enough time for this hug.

Rose is the one who pulls away first, and I let go of her reluctantly, almost as if I subconsciously know that this might be our last embrace.

"Let me go out first, to see if the coast is clear," she advises. I nod.

She walks over to the door, and opens it, then she goes outside. A few seconds later, she peers back inside.

"I don't see anyone," she tells me. "Now's your chance."

I rush to her, and the overpowering emotions are too strong. I don't want to leave her behind. I don't want to leave any of this behind. But I guess it was a choice I subconsciously made when I decided to go and seek out Edmund. I didn't know who he was at first, but I sensed there was something about him, something that the shifters wouldn't like. Why else would he be lurking around the town and not just make his presence known?

I exit into the street, and it's just like Rose said. There's no one out yet. It is still too early. That doesn't mean that they won't be coming after me any moment. I can't waste another second. I know it. Rose knows it. Yet, we can't seem to let each other go.

"Everything will be fine," she whispers to me, taking my hand into hers again. I squeezed it.

I wish she could come with me, but that would be selfish of me to ask. Besides, I need her to stay in town. I need her to keep me updated on what's happening.

I'm not sure if what she just told me is true. I don't know if everything will be alright. I have just been forced to run away from the only place I've ever called home, from the only people who have ever been anything even remotely close to a family for me. How life changes in one second…

I lift my hand to wave at her, one last time, then I start running across the street towards the fields behind the houses on the outskirts of the shifter town. The buildings behind me are starting to fade away, becoming smaller and smaller. As I remove myself physically from them more and more, that same fear lessens.

I enter the woods, and immediately, that familiar scent enshrouds me, filling me with a sense of serenity that I always felt here. The trees never questioned me. The birds never looked at me as if I didn't belong here. The grass has always absorbed the weight of my feet just like it absorbed the weight of anyone else walking through these woods. It never judged me. I realize now that even when I did feel like the shifter town opened its arms to welcome me, this is the place where I ran to when I felt constricted, when I felt that I needed a safe haven. This has always been that place for me.

I'm not running any longer. I don't feel the need to. The woods will be my protector, at least for a little while. Then I will have to protect myself. I don't know how I will manage to do this, but perhaps the answer will come to me.

I keep walking slowly, inhaling deeply, hoping that I will find a way out of this trouble. I guess I should have seen something like this coming. I should have stayed away from Edmund. I should have known that getting involved in any way with the vampire king himself would lead to trouble.

I'm smarter than that, and yet, I did all those things, without even thinking. My heart managed to switch off that light inside my brain that advised me on what I should and should not do.

What's done is done now. There is no point in regretting anything. Not that I do. The thought of Edmund still fills me with awe. It thrills me in a way I never thought one could be thrilled. But I know he's trouble with a capital T. And that's exactly where I am now.

I walk until I feel my legs rebelling against the strain, so I sit down on a little tree stump to take a breather. I lift my face to the sun. I feel like it's caressing me with its rays. It feels soft and warm, almost like a mother's hug, something I've never felt. For a few precious moments, I can actually convince myself that everything will be alright.