Immortal Heart

Chapter 6

“What are you thinking?” I heard Hannah asked me.

She was sitting across me in the university’s cafeteria. The crowd was loud, and all of the people were having their own conversation, but despite all that, I feel awfully still. I looked at Hannah and smiled at her before I grabbed my notebook and pretended to write something on it.

“Yup! Something’s definitely bothering you. Tell me, what is it?” She asked before she took a sip on her iced Americano.

I looked at her for a few minutes, still contemplating whether I should tell her or not. I’m afraid I might get the same answer that I had already expected. She’s Hunter’s sister so I’m sure that she knows how her brother feels towards me. I feel like it would be rude to talk about other guy with her when her brother has feelings for me.

“Do you know that your brother have feelings for me right?” I asked her making sure that my assumptions were right.

“Yeah. He loved you way, way back. Even if he tried to hide it, I still know that he is.” She replied while she was looking to her phone, not even looking at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked her again.

“The way he looks at you. His eyes were different when they’re looking at you. I even suggested that he should make you his link so that he’ll be able to keep you, but he said he wouldn’t do that, and ends up turning you as a vampire.” She answered while shaking her head.

“Link? What is that?” I asked her again. She looked at me with a surprised expression before she puts her coffee down to the table.

“He didn’t tell you anything about vampires?!” she asked with a surprised look on her face.

“He did told me a lot of things, but he didn’t mention anything about links.” I answered.

“How could he missed some parts?” she asked herself as she leans forward and rested her chin to her right hand.

“You know what donors are, right?” she asked.

“Yeah, those are humans who donated their blood to the royals.” I answered.

“Links are a bit similar to donors.” She started.

I looked around to see if there are some people whose close to where we are sitting. It’ll be dangerous if they hear us talking stuffs like this.

“Donors give their bloods to vampires because it has benefits for them.” She said before she took her note book out and pretended to be writing. I also did the same so that it’ll look like we’re studying.

“When vampires feed on their donors, it gives the donors the privileged of staying young.” She added.

“You mean they become immortal too?” I asked her.

“No! They wouldn’t be immortal because of that, instead it prevents their body from aging. A lot of mortals are obsessed with beauty products that can boost their skin’s life because they want to stay young. But unlike those products, being a vampire’s donor, not only prevents the outside body of a mortal to age. It also prevents every cells in your body to stay as it is the moment you are bitten.” She explains.

I looked at her but she just kept her eyes down to her notebook. I don’t even have any idea that those kind of things are possible.

“What about links?” I asked her.

“Wait! I’m not done with the donors yet.” She said, then pretended to look for another book in her bag and started scanning it.

“Being a donor doesn’t give you a strong immune system, so you’re still prone to diseases and viruses. Also when a vampire stop feeding on its donor, the time that the donor had missed will catch up to her, and eventually die.” She added.

“So the vampire only gives an anti-aging effect from their bite?” I asked her.

“Yes. But unlike donors, the links are different.” She said as she looked at me for a few moments and went back to her notebook again.

“Links are formed when a vampire forms a contract with a mortal.” She said.

“What kind of contract?” I asked her again.

“A contract that only allows the link to be the only one who can feed the vampire until the day the vampire dies.” She said and smiled at me.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“It means, the link’s blood is the only blood that the vampire can have and drink. The vampire wouldn’t be able to drink any kind of blood except the blood of its link.” She explained.

This whole vampire thing is a lot more complicated than what I expected. There are a lot of things that was surprising and also fascinating.

I looked at her, and she just closed her books and took a sip on his iced Americano before she looked at me.

“In exchange of that, the mortal becomes immortal.” She started again, with a plain look on her face while she was playing with the straw of her coffee.

“Immortal?” I asked.

“They will live as long as their vampire’s alive, but there also some disadvantages to this contract.” She said.

“What disadvantages?” I asked her, eager to learn more.

“A vampire can only have a link once in his lifetime, and if the vampire stops drinking from its link’s blood, the link would suffer.” She said.

“If the link would live as long as the vampire is alive, then that means the link would suffer until the vampire dies?” I asked her. That was a cruel thing to happen to someone.

“Yes, also, the link dies when the vampire dies.” She said.

“Then why did you suggested to make me your brother’s link?! What if I refuse? What if he gets tired of my blood?” I asked her.

“Because I know that my brother would never get tired of you. If getting tired of you is one of his choices, I think it should have happened a long time ago. But look how he is right now? He’s still in love you.” She said while pouting her lips.

For some reason, my heart skips a beat when she said that. I am unconsciously happy and relieved that he is in love with me for some reason.

“He never gave up on you, you know. Not even once.” She said.

Just as I thought. Talking about Tristan with her would offend her, since her brother has feelings for me.

“Then what should I do?” I asked her quietly, almost inaudible for her.

“I don’t know. Why? Do you still like that Tristan?” she asked. I almost jump when I flinch, when she mentioned his name. How does she know?

“No! It’s not like that…” I answered panicking on how I should react.

“He was constantly on your mind, you know.” She said while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Is it that obvious?” I asked her while avoiding her gaze.

“No, but you looked pretty occupied so I tried to read your mind.” She casually replied.

“You can read mind?” I asked her.

“Yeah, it’s one of the powers that I have.” She answered as if it was something natural.

I was quiet for a moment, not looking at her and not making any eye contact. Why does I feel like I was cheating on her brother?

“It’s not like, I like him. He know a lot of things about me that I wanted to know, so..” I said stopping what I was about to say.

“So you want to talk to him?” she asked me. I looked up to her and she was just wearing an understanding smile.

“It’s not like we can stop you from doing anything, we’re just worried for your safety. Things are a lot different now that you’re one of us.” She said.

“I know that, but now that I realized that there is someone who know a lot of things that I don’t know about myself, I have this feeling that I need to know all about it.” I replied.

She just smiled at me as she reached my hand and hold it. I can see in her eyes that she trusts me, and that she had my back.

“I don’t know Raine. You owe yourself your history, but I believe, there are things that you should left unknown, or it’ll hurt you.” She said.

“What do you mean Hannah?” I asked her.

“Just know that I am here, okay?” she replied before she fixed her things and stood up.

“I’ll head out first.” She added before she left.

I watched her as she walked out of the canteen. I decided to leave and was about to stood up when I noticed a piece of paper in the table. I picked it up and read what’s written on it, it says:

‘Please be careful, and do not dig too deep about your past.’

I frowned as I try to understand what it meant. What does Hannah mean by not digging too deep in to my past? Is there something that I don’t need to know?

I flinched when a hand tapped my shoulder. I immediately hide the paper on my pocket and turn to smile at Hunter. My heart was racing so fast that I almost thought my heart would pop out of my chest.

“Are you alright?” he asked me before he gently caress my face. I smiled as I felt my nerves starting to calm down because of his touch.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I replied.

“You don’t have afternoon class right?” he asked me.

“No.” I replied.

“What do you want to do? Since we’re free, we can go to where you want to go.” He said.

“Is this a date?” I asked him giving him a teasing look. Instead of answering me, he just started to walk out of the canteen, so I immediately followed him.

“Hey! Are you asking me for a date?” I asked him again, teasing him.

 I can clearly see how he was embarrassed to even asked me properly.

 I was surprised when he suddenly stopped walking and turn to face me. He then leaned towards me, which made me to take a step back.

“Would you call it as a date then?” he said while smiling at me. His eyes were looking straight to mine, and I can’t help myself but to get lost in it.

“Raine?” he called me, and I immediately looked away, embarrassed of how I reacted to him.

“If you want me to call it a date, then let’s call it a date.” I immediately replied, trying to take my composure back.

“You sure know how to act cute too.” He said while messing my hair.

I just glared at him while following him to his car. I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt a de ja vu. As if this has happened before.

I quietly went inside the car, while he was grinning from ear to ear.

“So where do you want to go?” he asked me.

“Let’s go to the Zoo.” I answered him.

I flinched when I felt a de ja vu again. I certainly feel that this has happened before.

“Then zoo it is.” He said then started his engine and drive.

I was fidgeting my fingers and I kept on taking small glances to him. I can’t shake this feeling off, as if this has happened before, and that I shouldn’t forget about it.

“Raine? Are you alright? Is there something bothering you? You kept on looking at me.” He asked me while his eyes were still on the road. I bit my lower lip as I gathered my courage to asked him.

“Hunter, have we been in a Zoo before?” I asked him. It’s not like I am doubting him, I just want to make sure that this is nothing.

“No. I have never approached you before so, this is our first date. Why?” He replied.

“I-I don’t know. I felt like this has happened before.” I replied. He was quiet for a while before he sighed, which surprised me.

“Do you perhaps remembering your dates with that guy?” he asked me. I immediately looked at him to see his expression, but his eyes were still on the road.

“N-No! I don’t remember having a date with him, I just… feel like we have been to a date before.” I replied as I looked down.

If this is our first date, surely these feelings are because of Tristan. We might have been to a Zoo before during our dates.

I can’t even believe that I asked him that. I end up upsetting him.

“Sorry..” I said quietly.

“It’s fine. We can always make new memories.” He said with a smile.

I just nodded at him and smiled back.

It took us another half an hour before we reached the animal park. I immediately went out of the car, as if a child having her first visit to the Zoo. I was so excited that I end up pulling Hunter around. I was worried that I might be reacting too much, but whenever I looked at him, he would just smile at me, letting me know that he’s enjoying it too.

“Let me buy you something to drink, wait for me for a while.” Hunter said.

I just nodded as an answer and continue to looked at the cute baby tigers playing on a small field.

I was beaming with delight when I accidentally bumped on to someone. I immediately looked back to find a blind woman on her mid-forties, on the ground. I immediately bent down and reached my hand to her to help her up when I felt a burning sensation the moment she touched me. I felt the same thing that I felt when I was grazed by the baby knife that dad had thrown to me.

I quickly pulled my hand but she immediately caught it and held it tight. I winched as I felt my skin burns because of her touch.

“You! You’re a demon!” she yelled at me.

“W-What are you talking about? Let me go! You’re hurting me!” I told her.

 I tried to pulled my hand away, but I can’t seem to free my hand from hers. I feel like I am losing my strength.

“You killed, and will continue to kill! You can never run away from what you had done, and you can never bury it!” she said.

 People are starting to looked at us, and I wanted to curse when I felt the burning sensation deep into my skin. I can feel myself bleeding, when I felt a hand grabbed me away from her.

“Are you okay ma’am?” one of the zoo keepers asked me.

“Y-Yes.” I replied while looking at the blind woman who was now smiling at me, which give me the creeps.

“What happened here?” I heard Hunter asked as he grabbed my wrist and put it inside his shirt to hide it. My wrist still burns and it’s bleeding.

“I’m really sorry sir. The guards must’ve have let that woman in again.” He replied.

“I-It’s fine. Let’s just go.” I told Hunter.

He just nods at me before he leads me out of the park, while he was still holding my wrist.

“What was that?” I asked him.

Before he could even answer the woman showed up in front of us. She smiled at me evilly and fearless slit her wrist in front of me.

“Show yourself demon!” she said and started laughing hysterically.

The scent of the blood immediately caught my guard down. It smells disgusting, but at the same time tempting. I saw the guards immediately grabbed her and completely dragged her out of the park. I can hear Hunter calling me, but I can no longer understand him.

My body’s trembling and I was panting like a hungry crazy dog, craving for its meal. I want that. I want that blood. I want to grab her and slit her throat and drink every single drop of blood inside her.

With my head flooded with desire, I pushed Hunter away and was about to go after the woman but his hand immediately caught me.

I can hear him calling me, but I can’t think clearly anymore. I need to make a kill and satisfy my thirst. I was struggling in his arms while he’s trying to protect me, and at the same time protect the people around us.

“Raine!” I heard him call me again.

I flinched when I felt his finger run from my forehead down to the bridge of my nose. In an instant, my body started to calm down. I was still breathing heavily, but I am slowly recovering my senses now.

I looked at him, as I bite my lips when I realized what I almost did.

“I-I’m sorry.” I said as tears started to fall down my eyes. I buried my face to the crook of his neck and he just hugged me while gently rubbing my back.

I was so scared that I can’t even feel my wrist burning anymore. My hands are trembling out of fear, while I was crying in his arms.

“I-I don’t want to hurt someone. I-I’m sorry.” I said.

“It’s not your fault. It’s ok now.” He said trying to comfort me.

“I.. I almost turn to a Vlad.” I said still sobbing inside his arms.

“No you won’t. I won’t let you.” He said, and I just nod at him. He held me tight as if I might disappear when he let go of me.

I am starting to fear myself. I’m starting to fear the things that I might do if I lose control. I’m starting to fear what would happen when Hunter’s not around.