Insatiable

Chapter 4

Over a year ago, Eleanor is confident enough to say that though afraid, she's still willing to face her problems. She took responsibility of what happened to Valerie even though it's clear that that bully deserved having her skin turned into crisp.

Jude raised his daughter to be a kind, loving woman because according to him, the world is already chaotic so it would be great if one person will refuse to be a part of the said mess. After all, everyone deserves at least one good person during their exist to get through a horrible life. For almost two decades, Eleanor aspired to be the type of person who can lighten up someone's day.

This aspiration isn't possible because first of all, Eleanor is not a person anymore. She's a vampire and vampires are not capable of doing good things.

Hiding is the only thing she can do. She lives her vampire life by masking her guilt and trying to justify her evilness. She gotta let the any emotion in before she completely turns into a monster that fears no one.

It's not that bad—at least this is what she tells herself. She has friends now. She's even considered as the life of the party. Without her, people fall apart. She's like glue that keeps the group together. In exchange of the role she plays, she makes her so-called friends pay through sucking their blood.

"Didn't you eat today?" She pushes Oliver, her human blood bag for this week, on the locker door when he turns pale after she sucks a drop of blood on his neck.

Olive shakes his head.

"Sorry, babe. I was running late."

"Oh, f**k off." She breaks his left arms just because she's pissed. It's kind of her thing now. This started the moment she was brought back to life. Ellie remembers it well. Last year, she woke up thirsty.

It felt as though she can't breathe. At first, she thought she was just hallucinating but then she came to know that the reason why it's hard to get oxygen was because she was trapped inside a coffin.

It was horrible—is horrible. No matter how many days have passed, the thought of being stuck in an enclosed space still makes her cringe.

"Recharge or I'll have no choice but to drain your remaining blood," she's compelling Oliver again. "You have two hours."

Her blood bag shuffles to leave. Eleanor, on the other hand, is forced to stay where she is for the reason that a new target blocks her way out. 

"Hungry?"

The vampire crosses her arms. It seems like this man knows what she is. Eleanor's eyes are bloody red and her fangs are out, in spite of this, the face of the said stranger remains impassive.

"Very." Without thinking, Eleanor super speeds to attack the man—hoping to catch him off guard.

She's about to bite his neck when—"My fangs!" Eleanor's eyes grow big.

"Where's my fangs!?" She pushes the guy away and then she examines teeth. It looks like a regular set of human teeth now! Her fangs are gone!

"What the hell did you do to me!?" She tries attacking him again, howbeit all that's left to her is confusion when the guy disappears into the thin air.

"No!" Eleanor moves her eyes all over the place to find the mysterious man. Her actions are futile though. Just when she's about to scream her frustration out, she hears his voice from behind.

"Looking for me?" The guy smirks and disappears again when he senses that the vampire is going to attack one more time. 

"Or this?" He surprises Ellie by throwing her missing fangs on her wrist.

"Ah!" She whines. Her own fangs pierce through her skin—hurting her.

"Piece of advice," says the stranger upon realizing that Eleanor is wondering how in hell he managed to execute these bizarre things. "Before you sport that stupid vampire powers of yours, make sure you know who or what you're dealing with."

Eleanor is too stunned to retort, so the man is able to freely walk away—there's a proud smile on his face because it feels liberating to finally be out of her sister's basement.

"You left your brother rot in this basement?" Sage asks in disbelief, earning a glare from Hope.

"I didn't let him rot in here." She convinces him while caressing Limuel's empty bed.

The two of them are currently at Hope's basement. When the witch finally calmed down, she then proceeds to tell Sage what truly happened—that she left the house to buy some food for her starving brother, and when she got back, Limuel is already gone.

"Really?" Sage observes that there are chains on Limuel's bed. This will prove that Hope indeed left her brother rot in this dark part of their house. "Then explain to me why there are chains here—"

"Do not touch that!"

"s**t!" Hope is too late. Sage already touched the chains, burning his hand.

"That chain sucks all sorts of power," Hope grimaces.

"Huh." The vampire copies the witch's expression. "You should've said the moment I got here."

Sage's hand is rotting. It's the effect of touching the chains. Vampirism is some kind of special powers, so when he touched the chains, it sucks his immortal strength.

"Don't worry. It's temporary," Hope assures him.

Sag smirks.

"That's very assuring, no wonder your brother ran away."

It's supposed to be a joke. Unluckily, the witch doesn't appreciate it.

"I chained him because his power is dangerous." Her voice is laced with acid. "Did you think I enjoyed watching my brother turn powerless? I saw him struggle to take a breath, Sage."

This is the first the vampire saw Hope lash out. She's beyond pissed.

"I'm sorry," his head is low as he says this.

The ruthless vampire admits, Hope kinda grew on him. He thought she's just a way to be with Eleanor, but as stated, she became his comfort and friend.

Sage first got to know Hope's existence through Yara. It didn't even take twenty four hours for him to regret his actions. He shouldn't have killed Eleanor. He should've fought for her because it's clear that she's not in the right state of mind to decide what's good for her. As soon as he's done burying her body, Sage lost it. He blamed everyone, but he was just so, so tired of getting revenge that's why he told the rogues to just leave him alone.

Sage diverted his attention into thinking of ways to bring Eleanor back. He went back to Yara's shop to see if there's something that can resurrect Ellie. Turns out, there is. Sage found a book in the shop where the names of existing witches and warlocks are written. Their powers, weakness, and desires are also in that book.

After careful consideration, Sage came into a conclusion that among the rest, the Ríos twin is the perfect alliance. Sage found the potion that Limuel Ríos needs in able to function as a normal being. It is stated in Yara's book that Limuel's twin named Hope Ríos is desperate to get her hand on this potion.

Actually, Yara created the potion for Limuel. She is just waiting for Hope to show up and offer something valuable in exchange of the said potion.

Lucky for Sage, he got his hands on the potion first.

"You know that everything else is useless without my brother, right?" Hope sighs as she stares at the potion Sage just gave him.

"I know." He says even though he doesn't know.

"He's my only family."

He wants to ask about Hope's parents, though he isn't sure if this is the right time for that. The witch mentioned that she has family, but Sage failed to ask if the family she's talking about is singular or plural. From what he heard today, it can be inferred that the answer is singular.

Sage sits on Limuel's bed. It's smell awful in here.

"How did he escape anyway?" He's been meaning to ask this because judging the chain, it comes across like it's not possible to get out of it without the help of another being.

Hope sits beside Sage. She's careful not to touch the chain.

She exhales.

"I-I let him free thinking that you'll be able to finally see Eleanor," she chokes a sob. "Guess I was way too excited."

Her words sting and Sage feels like a total jackass. This is all his fault. He's so skeptical about everything so he planned to keep the potion from her until she proves to him that she can really bring Eleanor back. God. He should've given her the potion. It's obvious by now that Hope won't just abandon him.

"I'll help you find him," he offers a small smile. "I promise."

"No." She contradicts, making the vampire furrow his brow.

"You have to find her first." Hope fishes out a small, crumpled paper inside the pocket of her jeans. She smiles as she hands it to the ruthless vampire.

"What's this?" He straightens the paper.

Hope's grin turns bigger.

"I did a locator spell to find her body..."

Sage's breathing hitches.

"Eleanor is alive, Sage. That's her address."