Chapter 18

-Narrators POV-

In the bathroom at Grammins Grub, Renae was feeling all sorts of sensations before her vision began to haze. Jarrod and Braxton were speeding from the school as fast as the car could manage together to Renae before the feasters realized what she was. Renae faintly heard voices.

"Are you alright in there miss?" The chef knocked on the door.

Renae sat in a pool of her own sweat. "Yeah, I just got light headed." She called out and listened to the footsteps walk away. In an instant, she felt all of her emotions blast in her chest at once. Anger, sadness, joy, depression, disgust, fear and even regret were pooling in her chest.

She stood up and washed the sweat off her face. She walked out to see the entire staff standing there.

"I'm sorry, my legs must've just buckled from walking to far and it finally caught up to me." She took a step backwards seeing how they were ready to attack her.

"Oh, honey it's okay. We thought you were someone else. There's a woman on the loose that's been robbing restaurants and we got a little worried. Did you need anything else?" The waitress spoke up trying to reassure her. As she spoke, all the other workers went back to there stations. The chef kept his eye on Renae with sweat on his brow, his fear was clear.

"Uhm, I don't have any money on me. Is it okay if I come back and pay the bill?" Renae looked back to the waitress.

"Oh don't worry about it. Let's just say it was my good deed for the day. Later on, remember to pay it forward." She tried to motion for Renae to sit at the bar.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality, but I really need to get going. My dad didn't answer his phone so I'll probably have a long walk home. My friends supposed to let him know where I am but who knows how long that's supposed to take." Renae was happy she didn't lie so she wouldn't have to worry about any tells.

"Oh I get it. Here, why don't you take some food to go, sorry we don't have anymore meat, you ate the last of it. Also take some water so you don't get too dehydrated dear." She showed a kind smile.

"So uh, this is going to sound kind of stupid but, which direction was that school?" Renae scratched her ear as the waitress laughed at her blush.

"If you head north towards the woods with the light shining on the other end, you'll head back towards the school. Remember, north. Don't go any other direction cause you'll hit a swamp if you stray from the road. Do you want me to call you a cab?" The waitress pointed to the door and then left with her hand.

"Oh thank you, but no. You've already been so kind and I can't repay you. I really need to get going before my dad calls the cops on a potential runaway." Renae rolled her eyes and smirked.

"You be careful out there. You're welcome back anytime hun." She handed Renae a bag with her food and a to go cup filled with water. As Renae grabbed the cup, her hand started to tingle, ignoring the sensation she nodded her head.

"Thank you, I definitely will plan a trip back here, with a car, phone and money too next time." Renae smiled as she walked out the door and noted walking to her left. Relief filled her chest. She couldn't understand her fathers fears. She noted the mile marker and continued down the road knowing Jarrod and Braxton were on their way.

The tingling sensation was only growing more intensely, still Renae shook it off taking a drink. She felt it burn all the way down, she figured it burnt for the fact that she was dehydrated. Understanding how different she felt from when she first moved to Jarrods, she wanted to understand why she changed. She thought of everything that had happened in her life, the good and bad, even the stuff she chose to ignore for her sanity so she could comprehend everything.

-

"Sir, I'm really not trying to be the most annoying person on the planet but where the hell are we? Renae said it was only like fifty miles right? If so, then why's this drive taking so long?" Braxton looked out the window seeing only a single tree and flat land.

"This specific place she managed to..." He lifted one hand and and motioned with air quotes "walk to" he placed his hand back down "is actually about three hundred miles away from us. the place she was told she's only fifty-five miles away from is an old infirmary turned asylum, at that asylum they call it a school but it's actually an asylum for humans who have learned about us and didn't react rationally." Jarrod bit his lip with worry.

"So, how did they react then?" Braxton took a big gulp after asking his question.

"Well, the last I had heard about it, a human learned about a council member and tried to kill him then proceeded to eat him, the councilman is still alive but he's missing a hand because the woman managed to eat it in front of him. Another case I had heard of is they turn into serial killers and try to kill all they believe to be vampires. They call it mystic-madness. Basically meaning a human brain is so quick to react it just shorts and goes feral, we're not sure why but we've mainly seen it in people who have severe mental health issues." He slouched into his seat more worried about it as he spoke.

"I'm sorry to pry, but what? Or I guess I mean, how? Or actually... Nevermind. I don't think I even know what questions to ask." He sat back and look down at his hands.

"Now, I know it's hard to understand. Let me see if I can explain a little better. The human brain works because of electric waves, if a person were to have depression or anxiety or even both, it makes the brain more vulnerable to shock and hysteria. Just like Renae for example, they go through life thinking one thing to be shocked that it's all either a lie or just wrong. Some people have such sadness and fear, they can't operate as well." Jarrod shrugged his shoulder in an attempt to hide his pity.

"Okay, but what about Dracula and all the vampire stories that's out there, What's the difference?"

"Well, that's all they are, stories. If someone with the matching brainwaves to, go feral and learning a fairy tale or folklore is real then it just does basically what your brain is doing now, trying to understand but the confusion gets to be too much and just makes them crack and turn into a psychopath in my opinion."

Braxton sat back quietly for the rest of the ride not knowing what to say next. He looked out the window wondering to himself why he had been so infatuated with her, he too, thought it was a good idea to reevaluate his own life.

'I barely know her, so why am I falling over my feet for her? I never wanted to rush any other relationship, I've only known her for maybe a month, or more? So why was I so willing to put myself in harms way for her? Is it because we're supposed to get married after she changes. Is she even going to change, would she survive it? I had a happy childhood, I love my little brother and my parents and they love me... I think?'

"Are you okay, kid? I'm hearing a lot of sighs from you." Braxton snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to see Jarrod had opened a bottle with the inner contents being blood.

"Yeah, I just... I don't know what's going on anymore, I feel like I've changed completely and I don't know what to do. I don't know if I like it or if I'm just scared of becoming someone I don't want to be." He felt himself lowering his guard while realizing he'd never addressed Jarrod so informally before. Before Braxton noticed, Jarrod had slowed the car down.

"Why are we-" Jarrod cut Braxton off by covering his mouth with his hand. Jarrod looked outside cautious.

"What's happ-" This time Jarrod cut him off by smacking the back of his head.

"Ow." Braxton finally whispered.

Jarrod parked the car on the side of the road, almost in the trees.

"I can smell wolfblood." He whispered as he motioned for Braxton to get out of the car.

-Braxtons POV-

I jumped out of the car the second I got the seat belt off.

"This is going to burn like hell, so plug your nose." He put a plug in his nose and held his breath.

He pulled out what looked like a hand grenade. I did as he had suggested. I backed up to the road to try to avoid whatever that was but Sir Jarrod was quick to get behind me and push me against the car. He threw the grenade in the front seat leaving the door open as he held onto me.

A misty smoke filled the car, then the air around the car. The smoke burnt my skin. I felt like my eyelids was being forcibly peeled from my sockets. The pain was unbearable. I opened my mouth to scream from the pain but that was the biggest mistake I could've made. The pain had moved into my mouth and crept down into my throat and lungs. In the only few seconds my mouth had been open, Sir Jarrod quickly grabbed my mouth and held it shut.

We sat there for what felt like a decade. I held my eyes shut as tight as I could manage but the smoke had done it's damage, I couldn't stop the tears from rolling down my face that burnt even more into my skin. Even while holding my breath, I could still smell the burning flesh, it was either burning flesh or the insides of my airways burning.

What felt like torture dissipated into tolerable pain much later. I opened my eyes to see the smoke was being blown away. I looked at Sir Jarrod who hadn't moved an inch. To my horror, I could see how burnt he was, it looked as if he had been sitting in the sun with no serum, or for a mortal sitting in a campfire. I moved his hand, barely able to move with his strength.

"What was that?" My own voice cracked and broken, he loosened up on me enough to let me go.

He pulled out a little pill and placed it in his mouth. He grabbed the bottle out of the car and swallowed. Soon after, he handed me a pill similar to his and the bottle. I grabbed both and looked at him in confusion.

"Just take it. It's a serum pill. When taken with blood, it's affects quicken." As he was speaking, I watched all of his burns and wounds vanish. I took the pill and the smallest sip of blood I could manage. I may need the stuff to survive but I refuse to let myself enjoy it.

"So, are you going to tell me why you put us through that hell?" I grabbed my face to feel the burns from my tears were healing.

"Like I said. I smelt wolf blood. It can mean a number of things, it could mean were close to feasters, or it could mean were close to a pack of wolves. Regardless, I had to rid us of our scent so if we are close to wolves, they won't be able to track us down." He motioned for me to get back in the car that still held a light layer of smoke in it.

"I'm not getting in there. That was the worse pain I've ever felt." I shook my head and stepped back. Sir Jarrod stopped in his tracks and turned to look at me with a devilish grin.

"Then you've lived a very privileged life. That pain you felt is nothing compared to what you will feel. Especially if you do plan on having a future with my daughter." The grin vanished from his face but his eyes still held the impatience and anger that the Riley family was known for.