Chapter Two

Seth reached the outskirts of town and continued walking on to where the forest began. He stopped in front of the first tree and spun around.

He found nothing behind him.

“I know you’re there.” Seth said.

“How did you know?”

Seth spun back around to see that the girl had snuck up from behind him and was standing too close for comfort.

“I smelled you.” Seth said with a smirk as he took a step back, putting more distance between them.

“Are you mocking me?” The girl asked as her hands turned into fists.

Seth shrugged his shoulders and said, “Perhaps.”

He then took on a more serious persona and asked, “Why were you following me?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.” The girl said as she put her hands on her hips.

“Then I don’t have to answer any of your questions either.” Seth said. “And since I have nothing more to do with you, stay away from me.”

Seth turned around and began walking back into the town.

There was a small sound that came from an unknown direction. It sounded almost like a voice.

Seth stopped and turned around to look at her.

“Did you…say something?” He asked the girl.

“Wouldn’t you have known if I did?” The girl asked with a frown and attitude.

Seth had a blank look on his face, confused, but he turned around and continued to walk toward the town.

He then thought that he heard something.

Seth stopped once more.

“Seth!” A shrilly, high-pitched screech came all of the sudden, making the birds in the nearby trees fly away from fright of the oncoming creature. That must have been what he heard.

Both Seth and the vampire winced and turned to look toward the town, where the screech had come from.

A small, petite girl came running toward them. She had long bleach blond hair and light blue eyes. She had a foolish, silly, and childish grin on her face as she ran toward Seth, stopping in front of him.

“Hi Seth.” She said as she twirled a strand of her hair around her index finger.

“Hi.” Seth said warily, eyeing her, knowing that she wanted something. She always wanted something.

She involuntarily giggled and said, “Could you please help me? I’m afraid that the fire in my house is dying out and there’s no one around strong enough to chop wood for it.”

Seth sighed and said, “Alright. Did you at least put out the fire before you came to get me?”

The girl got a blank look. She slowly shook her head and said, “No…was I supposed to?”

Seth sighed again.

The girl then noticed the vampire. She glared at her and said venomously, “Who are you?”

The vampire frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. “Alethea, you?” She said it just as venomously.

“Moira.” The girl said proudly.

Alethea’s nose twitched as she smelled the air. It smelt like…smoke…

Moira looked at Seth and asked, “Seth; is something wrong?”

Alethea turned to look at Seth as well to see that he was as stiff as a statue. She was sure that if he was pushed he wouldn’t budge an inch.

From the distance you could see a small cloud of dark grey rising from somewhere in the town.

Seth growled loudly, an act that surprised both Moira and Alethea.

Seth then took off toward the town, running at an impressive speed for a human, though not anywhere near fast enough to match that of a vampire’s.

Alethea and Moira followed quickly, Alethea not far behind Seth.

Seth stopped in front of a cottage that was on fire, townspeople around it trying to get water to it.

Alethea and Moira caught up to him, one going to either side of him.

Their breaths hitched in their throats.

Seth’s eyes widened as he heard something, which Alethea, but no other human, could hear as well.

Seth, without a second thought, dashed into the house, dodging and evading the wooden structures that were collapsing and the flames that licked the now black wood of the house.

Seth jumped over a set of flames and ran toward the back room, where a little girl in a simple dress, who seemed no more than seven, was cowering in fear in the corner of the room. She had soot all over her skin and face, her dress was tattered and burned, and the tips of her hair were singed.

Seth walked over to her and picked her up bridle style, whispering in her ear that everything would be all right and if she closed her eyes everything would be over before she knew it.

The little girl did just that, she shut her eyes tightly closed and wrapped her arms around Seth’s neck, not letting go even if life depended on it.

Seth ducked under a piece of burnt wood that lay askew, about to collapse, which once was part of the ceiling.

He finally made it back out of the burning house, which had the roof collapse onto the house just milliseconds afterwards.

Seth gently set the little girl down on the ground and wiped her face clean from soot with his fingers, softly stroking her cheeks to help sooth her.

The little girl opened her eyes only to have dozens of large tears escape them at a rapped pace. She swung her arms around Seth’s neck, who was kneeling down on one knee, and clung to him, crying into his shoulder.

Seth stroked her back gently and whispered, “Shh, it’s alright, it’s alright. You’re safe now; nothing’s going to hurt you. It’s okay.”

Seth looked up to Moira with a hard look. She was crying right now, one of her hands covering her mouth and the other wrapped around her waist, her shoulders shaking rapidly.

“You idiot.” He told Moira, not afraid of hurting her feelings. “You never leave an open fire unattended, for the very reasons to prevent this from happening. Your sister could have died because of your foolishness.” His voice was harsh and he held no sympathy or pity for Moira, only anger.

Alethea was puzzled how he could be so kind and caring to one person while at the same time be so cruel and cold to another person. It was like he had split personalities that he could obtain all at the same time.

Seth stood up and walked toward Moira, pulling the little girl by her hand to follow him.

“Take your sister to the doctor and do not leave without her. Make sure she is better before you or her even think of walking out the front door, understand?” Seth asked Moira coldly.

Moira nodded and took her sister’s hand, walking toward the doctor’s house. One of the local men, who was a friend of Moira’s family, walked with them to make sure they got there alright.

Seth looked at Alethea and said still harshly, “If you’ve got no reason to be here, stay in this village no longer. We are in no position to take any crap from a vampire.”

Seth then turned to look at the surrounding people who were still throwing buckets of water on the house effortlessly.

“Stop.” Seth called out. The people around the house and him stopped to look at him. “Do not continue to waste water. There is nothing more anyone can do for the house. The important thing is that there are no more living beings in the house. The brick walls should prevent the fire from spreading to the surrounding area. Leave it be until the fire dies out. It is already beyond saving.”

With that Seth walked away as if the house wasn’t on fire.

The people listened to him, but poured the water on the grass surrounding the house, just incase the brick didn’t contain the fire. That way it wouldn’t be able to catch on the grass and would burn out.

Seth held some authority in the town considering that most people knew him and respected him. His father was a retired general who fought in a war a while back; he was considered the hero of the village. The villagers knew that Seth held the village’s best interest in mind in every action he took and every word he spoke.

Alethea followed after Seth, like a lost puppy who just wanted a friend.

They walked down old brick roads with moss growing through the cracks and past old brick houses with green vines growing up the sides.

Seth stopped in front of the fencing around the church of the village.

He turned around to look at Alethea.

“Why is it you stay in this village?” He asked, “If the village men find out that you’re a vampire; blood will be shed, and it will not be theirs. Even in a place as small as this, you are still greatly outnumbered, even if you are a vampire.”

“You will not tell them?” Alethea asked, confused.

“Not yet, but if you don’t go right now I will. I’m trying to be nice to you, as difficult as it may be.” Seth said.

“You know, for a human you sure do talk big. If we fought right now then you know what the outcome would be.” Alethea said with a frown.

“Perhaps you would be the victor, or perhaps it would be me.” Seth said.

“Are you saying that a human could be as strong as a vampire?” Alethea scoffed as she put her hands on her hips.

“Oh, of course not, vampires, no matter what gender, are stronger than humans, no matter what gender.” Seth said.

“What are you trying to say?” Alethea asked, getting frustrated and angry with this mortal boy in front of her.

“Let me ask you this, if you were to go up against a male vampire, do you think you could win?” Seth asked her, a completely random change of subject Alethea thought.

“You’re saying that women, not matter what race, are not as good as men.” Alethea stated, appalled.

“Personally, I do not believe that gender has anything to do with who the victor would be in any battle. But in this village, women are below men. That’s why women are the stay at home mothers and wives while the men learn to fight and do the hard work outdoors, while the women do the hard work inside the house.” Seth said.

After a moment of thinking, Seth continued, “I believe most human towns and villages are like this one, where the men think nothing of the women. The Vampire Lord would never change that, only for the benefits of vampires does he do things.”

“Shut up!” Alethea shouted at him, “You know nothing of the Vampire Lord, of me, or of anything else that has anything to do with vampires!”

“I know that women are equal to men in the world of vampires.” Seth stated. “Do you know what will happen to Moira later on?”

Alethea calmed down a little, waiting for his answer, half caring and half not.

“She will be beaten by her father, severely. Female vampires do not know what that is like, but female humans do. If a woman or even a girl does something they shouldn’t in the human world, they are punished, whereas men are not. For burning down the house and endangering her sister’s life, Moira will be beaten so hard that she will not be able to walk for at least two days without pain.” Seth said seriously.

“Why did you not punish her, since you were there? All you did was scold her.” Alethea said.

“It was not my place. In matters like those, ones that involve her family and only her family, it is only the man in charge of her family that can give the punishment.” Seth said, “If your Vampire Lord is as great as you think of him, try convincing him to make both genders equal for the humans. If not, it will only further prove what humans already know.”

Alethea frowned. Seth was unlike any human she had met before. He just stood there, insulting vampires in an obvious way right in front of her. Didn’t he know what could happen to him?

“I have no doubt that you could beat me in a battle. I have no doubt that my last breath could be right here, right now.” Seth said.

A few moments of silence followed before Alethea broke it. “You are not afraid to die?” She asked.

“Everyone has fear of the end, of their death.” Seth said, “Some just show it better than others.”

Seth, no longer in the mood to talk to Alethea, walked through the gate in the fence of the church’s courtyard and walked up to the church’s doors, opening on, walking in, and closing it behind him.

Alethea could not enter a human church, for it was hallow ground, and Seth knew it.

And like an obedient little puppy, she continued on her way, unaware that Seth was watching her from the front windows of the church until she was out of sight.