Love Bites

Troublemaker

    The woman looked down at the girl, cradling the young boy in her lap. “Who's the boy, Zen?”

    The girl curled her arms around the boy, both defensively and protectively. “He came from the house.”

    The woman stepped back in utter shock. “He's a survivor!?”

    “Yes.” The little girl trebled from the little breeze of cold air on her back.

    The woman drained the tension from her body. She was about to give her daughter a verbal lashing of a life time, but saw how cold she must be. “Come on. We need to get both you and him into a warm bed. I'll carry him to the house.” The woman climbed over the fence with a nimble ease. She pulled the cloak from the boy and handed it back to her daughter. “You need this. Ill share mine with the boy.” Zen looked satisfied with the suggestion, grabbed the cloth from her mother, and slowly stood up. Her legs were not only stiff from sitting in that position, holding the boy for so long, but from the cold, and the tension she had been holding. She was afraid of sitting out in such an open area, but she had no choice. The boy was incredibly ill from all of the events. She gave a rough groan as she moved her stiff joints to stand.

    Zen wasn't sure how long she had stayed in that spot, probably closer to two hours. If the boy hadn't been so snugly curled against her, she would have turned into an ice cube. Tentatively, Zen shrugged the cloak on, noticing how tense and pained her muscles were. She looked up at her mother, pleased that the boy was cradled against her body, gaining warmth from the cloak and her body heat. He should be fine in the morning, she thought, and smiled. For some reason, Zen felt protective over the boy. She didn’t want anything bad to ever happen to him, and silently vowed to ensure nothing ever would.

    Before following in step behind her mother, Zen delicately reached up to touch the sore on her shoulder. She knew her mother couldn’t see the wound in the dark, otherwise she would have been fusing over her daughter. The wound was not as bad as she had initially thought. There was blood all over her shirt and neck, but the actual wound was small. I don’t think anything should become of this, she thought to herself, and opted against telling her mother of her situation. She had a brush with death, and trying to explain how she came across this sore would be more difficult than it was worth. She could handle this on her own. She was supposed to become a warrior one day, just like her parents and claive. How could they take her seriously over a small cut?

    Zen quickly stepped in to step with her mother after her assessment of the sore, and walked close to her mother. Silently, all three of them made their way through the night, until they reached home. Zen knew that she would have to explain her being discovered with the boy in the morning, after everyone recovered from the nights events.

    Surprisingly, Zen slept well. She was tired from running, and worn out from sitting in the cold. Her mother was really a blessing, and a curse. In reality, her mother would have discovered her daughter’s actions in any case. Zen had planned to bring the boy to the house, and to show off her skills as a warrior at such a young age. The task proved to be far more difficult than she expected, though. After the three came home, her father made a fuss to her mother about the boy. Mother shushed him to prevent the boy being woken up by a petty argument. Zen was rushed off to go get ready for bed, and was warned that she would be scolded in the morning. Zen was grateful for the hurrying, it prevented her parents from seeing the blood on her. She quickly made her way to the bathroom, washed and hid the ruined clothing. When she made it to her room, her sanctuary, she laid down in bed and ran her fingers across her sore to check it one last time before bed. She couldn’t feel anything. She quietly drifted off to sleep, happy with her actions of the day. Nothing to worry about, she thought.

    When Zen woke the following morning, she was greeted by her parents at the dining table. Breakfast was still warm, and was smelling rather tantalizing. However, her parents wore some very stern expressions. Her heart sank, knowing that ‘explanation time,’ was now.

    She timidly took a seat on the other side of the table, facing her mom and dad. She tried to smile, and was immediately regretting it. Her father spoke first, in that deep and intimidating voice he had when he was mad, “What were you doing out last night, Annalise?” Uhg….. Proper name use, that’s not good. He typically only uses a shorthand name for Annalise, which was Zen.

    She felt her cheeks flush. “Well…. I…. I….” She stuttered out, still in a bit of shock that her interview was happening mere minutes after she woke up. She wasn’t prepared to give answers, which was her parents point. Catch her off guard and she won’t be able to give a good cover story, only facts. Zen was still trying to clear the sleep fog from her mind. She had to recant everything in her mind as well. She couldn’t think right off hand what happened first. She opened her mouth a few times, nearly resembling a fish out of water. Zen was attempting to explain, but simply could not find the right words. Heck! There were no right words. She’s in trouble regardless. It’ll be worse if she doesn’t just spell it out. Her parents sat there, patiently waiting but not dropping their harsh gazes at all. It made things even more difficult. Zen hated to upset her parents. Yet, she brought this trouble upon herself. “Uh… I mean… I was following you.”

    Her father merely raises an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering why his daughter would follow them on such a dangerous task. Her mother looks like she had already guessed as much. “You know that was extremely dangerous, and stupid.” Her father bluntly says. Her mother gazes down at her father, looking concerned at the harsh tone, but says nothing.

    Zen gazes at the floor, knowing how true that statement was. Her parents are Vampire hunters. Their family has a long history of exterminating the evil beasts. Zen is meant to take up the title, but not for another twelve years, on her eighteenth birthday. There is meant to be a ceremony, and she is meant to be initiated by going on her first hunt. For now, she is in serious training. Zen learns combat, both hand-to-hand and distant fighting skills. She also learns the beasts habits, their strengths, and their weaknesses (which are few.) The work is hard, but tedious. Zen was becoming restless, and she was curious. She wanted to see what happened first hand. She couldn’t cope with the fact that she’s young, and now is very much the wrong time for her to be in the field. In fact, she learned that in an intensely painful way last night. She lets out a long sigh…. “I'm sorry. I know I was being foolish. Yet… I couldn't stop myself.” She pauses thinking of what she had seen, and what she had gone through. Zen goes into describing the events to her parents, saying…

    Her parent were amazing. They completely took the two blood suckers by surprise. They fought together seamlessly, like a true team. It was almost as if they could read each other’s minds. They were so brave, fast, and strong. It was enthralling to watch them work. She admired her parents so much, and wanted to be like them so much. She stayed back, hiding in the great big field beside the barn. She saw the flames blasting the house too. She knew her parents were never going to beat the monsters in time to check and see if the house was clear. She could see the foundation beginning to crumble before her eyes. Zen wanted to do something, to be a valuable asset. She wanted to prove that she was capable.

    Zen moved quickly, and quietly through the shadows cast by the fire. She wanted to ensure that she was going to be out of the way. She surely did not want to become a part of the battle. She was too little, and would become valuable leverage against her parents for the Vamp’s. She hurried around the property to the back of the home. The fire was not as hot on this end, it looks like the beasts ran out of bails to stack all the way to the back. It was still a fire though, and she needed to make a large enough path throw it to get inside the house. She found a rake beside a garden. She picked it up and used it to pull the burning straw away from the house. The ambers flew up around her, burning her hands when they landed. Thankfully, the heavy coat did its job in giving her some protection.

    After there was less fuel for the fire to burn, Zen found a small pail of water under a water spicket. Doing her best not to spill the heavy bucket, she managed to get enough water to douse the embers on the first round. After that, she used the rake to break the glass in the window. After gazing in the window, she found that the room was just heavy with smoke. Nimbly, she pulled herself up and through the window without a scratch. When she was securely in the room she walked out into the main part of the house, finding a boy not far from her. His back was turned to her and didn’t see her at the back of the house.

    Suddenly, she heard a loud crack. Looking up she found the ceiling of the home collapsing in, and a woman directly in its path of destruction. Zen knew she would not be able to reach the woman before it toppled onto her head, but the boy was right there. She threw her hand out, grabbed the collar of the boy’s shirt, and pulled with all of her might. He landed in a heap on the floor.

    Zen continued on about their escape from the house, and their dash out of harm’s way. How her only focus was of getting them both home, especially before her parents. The boy was too fatigued to continue moving though, and that is why her mother found her in the field. Curled up with a boy.

    Her parents took it all in without a word, allowing her to explain her tail. When Zen was finished, her mother asked, “Why did you want to bring the boy back before we made it home?” Her father looked at her in agreed curiosity.

    “I wanted you to be proud of me. To see how I could do all of this on my own, and be an asset now. I want to become a well-oiled gear in your teamwork. I wanted to prove that I’m not weak. To show my contribution. Besides, I knew it would take a while for you to clean the scene, and make it look like an accident. To cover up the fact that there were Vampires there. I wanted to prove to myself, that I can be brave like you two, as well. To prove that I could go in undetected by even my parents, do something brave and resourceful. To surprise you, and hopefully see that look of pride on your face that I am capable of becoming a hunter.” Zen watched her hands as she spoke, realizing only now how incredibly foolish she had been. She was so sure that she could do the task easily. Practice had become unbearably easy, she was good at being a hunter. She knew that was partly because of her parents. Zen’s parents were considered to be the most successful Vampire Hunters in the last century. She was great at her skills and knowledge, and was becoming a prodigy in the eyes of their clave, but she never saw that sense of pride from her parents. Zen craved her family’s enthusiasm in her hard work. Her parents forever remained forceful in their teachings though, and it left her feeling hollow. She somehow thought that this night would prove to them, that they can be proud of their daughter.

    Zen took a shaky breath, doing her best not to cry. She said one other thing, hoping it would ease her punishment even a little, “I'm sorry.”

    Her parents looked at their daughter with a new understanding. They were not happy, they were not proud, they were very disappointed. They were angry, because they knew how easily they could have lost their daughter tonight. They felt as if they were to blame. Her parents were about to come around the table to give their daughter a much needed embrace. The table’s thoughts were interrupted by one sound…

    “Hello?”