Blood Game II

We buried the girl at the edge of the clearing, marking her grave with a notch of a cross in the tree she lay under. Sheathing my knife carefully, I watched Adam out of the corner of my eye. He stared at the grave, deep in thought. I shakily walked back towards the creek, down a ways away from the place where we had found the girl. I found an area of running water that I knew was clean, and drank for a long time.1

“Who’s Adonis?” I asked, not bothering to turn around when I felt Adam’s presence behind me. “From what I know of, a very evil and power-crazed man.” Adam responded. I tossed around what he had said, was it true? I decided to ask him about the girl’s neck. “There were holes in her neck. Vampire bites.” Adam knelt down beside me, leaning against a rock. “How do you know?” he asked, watching me. “I’m not dumb. I know what vampire bites look like; I’ve seen it before…” I trailed off, trying to forget the lingering memories of that night, 16 years ago.2

“You believe in them?” Adam asked,3

“No,” I said, “not the bad ones.” Adam looked at me funny. “Well yea, I believe in vampires, and such…but I don’t believe in the bad ones. Try to make them not exist.” I explained, Adam laughed and rolled his eyes.4

“Come on, we’d better get out of here, Adonis, if I know him, will come back to the scene of the crime, looking for anyone who’s stumbled across his mess.” I looked at Adam, he had let something slip, he realized that because he quickly corrected himself.5

“Well, if he is a vampire and all, plus like I said, from what I know of, I’ve heard stories of him.” I did not believe him, but I still trusted Adam, so far. I still had my knives and sword, if he got out of hand or anything…Adam got up and held out a hand to help me, I took it and we were on our way. I don’t think we knew where we were going, but wherever it was, I was happy that it was taking me farther away from my house.6

We walked for about an hour, and when we weren’t talking, I could tell Adam was watching me. It was an uncomfortable feeling, but at the same time it brought butterflies to my stomach. I was startled when Adam brought me to a sudden halt, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked in his direction questioningly, and he gave a half smile while he held up a finger, telling me to wait. Adam seemed to be listening to something, so I strained to hear anything out of the ordinary. All I heard was a slight murmur, barely audible, even if the forest became completely silent.7

“A cabin…” Adam said, “Two people there, I don’t know if their nice or not, but they have food.” How could he tell? I wondered about it, but instead of asking I started to say “I’m not—” but was cut off by my stomach contradicting my unfinished sentence. Adam chuckled. “Thought so.” He said, before leading the way to his supposed cabin. We walked for a long time, and I was beginning to doubt what he had said, I was starving by now as well. I hadn’t had anything to eat since lunchtime yesterday.8

It turned out, Adam had been right; I eventually smelled food. Not much, but still it smelled good. “Ho’ there!” someone called. I jumped, when I saw who the speaker was, my eyes were immediately drawn to the axe he was holding. Adam leaned in close to me, whispering; “It’s alright, he’s just chopping wood. You have your sword if anything goes wrong…and me.” I gasped; my sword was hidden in a scabbard around my waist, underneath my baggy black jeans in such a way, that you’d have to actually feel it to know it was there. “Who are ye, and what brings ye here, good people?” the man asked, Adam answered for us. “We’re two travelers, just wandering through the woods, we didn’t know anyone would live in here, but we smelled food.” The last thing he had said was more of a question than a statement, and the man considered this. He put his axe into a tree stump, and beckoned us forward. “Me and the wife are poor, but she might have made enough to spare for the two of ye.” We walked into the cabin, and I realized in disgust what the smell of food had been. Venison. I shivered, I don’t eat meat.9

A lady stood at the fireplace, around the same age as her husband; probably late 5o’s. She was dressed in attire not so similar to her husband’s woodsy look. She was a gypsy, I could tell by the contents of the room; incense, colorful clothes, feathers, powders, herbs and various magickal objects strewn about on shelves by the door to the next room of the cabin.10

“Aimee, Adam, sit! Your in luck, I have extra food for you.” She said, i smiled and sat at the oak table in the center of the room, with a beautifully woven red cloth, two candles and a bread and fruit bowl adorning it. I closed my mind, hoping the gypsy couldn’t read any thoughts id want to keep to myself.11

“No need to be tense Aimee, I wont go into your mind without your permission.” I nodded, and said; “now that we’ve uhm…introduced ourselves, may I ask your names?” the woman smiled as she came to the table and laid soup, bread and cheese out on it. “I’m Gloria, and my husband here is Freddy.” “Nice to meet you.” Adam and I said at the same time. The woman laughed. “Same to you two.” I noticed that Gloria removed the deer meat as she readied me a bowl of soup. “Thanks.” I said, “you didn’t have to do that though.” Gloria shrugged. “More meat for your friend” Adam looked up at me from the bread he was eating. “You’re a vegetarian?” he asked, I nodded. “Cool” he said, going back to his food.12

After brunch, or whatever it was, Gloria sent Adam to chop more wood with her husband, leaving me with her at the table. She lit the candles, then, sitting across from me, she watched silently for a second. “Do you know your future, Aimee?” she asked, I stared at her blankly. “Uhh…no.” I said, confused. “Then it is yet to be foretold, be warned; keep out a watchful eye, child, be careful of whom you believe, and what you tell people. It’s more of a different world than you may realize, Aimee. Don’t doubt Adam, there is more to him as well, and he will protect you and guide you through many things. Just know that he is not an enemy.” I nodded, now I knew what the she was talking about; the prophecy. I was part of the prophecy. I’ll explain that later. “I understand, but what’s so important about my future?” I asked, leaning back into the chair, pretending I didn’t know what she was talking about. I wanted to see what Gloria knew, and if it would help me at all. Gloria smiled. “Before I tell you this, stay seated no matter what.” “Ok…” I said, wondering what was going to come next. “Your mother died all in good reason.” What was this gypsy saying?! I grew angry; how dare she say that about my mother! Tears formed in my eyes, I stood up violently pushing the chair back. “How dare you say that! You are crazy old woman!”  I spat. I swiftly turned around, and grew horrified when I saw Adam and Fred standing against the wall. Cursing under my breath I ran out of the house, not stopping until I was far enough away.13

I sat on a tree stump, trying hard not to cry. A few minutes later, Adam came up behind me. “They killed my mother, 16 years ago. I was only 7, forced to watch the whole thing.” I said, straining to keep my voice straight. “We were playing some stupid little game with a ball. All of a sudden, she told me to hide, forced me to, in a room under the stairs.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm down before continuing. “She told me to stay no matter what. Scared out of my mind, I obeyed. I obeyed her god dammit! Only to watch these freaks brutally kill my mother. My father was out banging some chick, so we were all alone. Then the murderers searched the house for me, but didn’t see the door under the stairs. One of their biggest mistakes that day was leaving my mother alone the way she was; with her weapons. When they left, I took them, and never left the house without them after that. Once I find those who killed my mother, I’m going to kill them!” I felt myself shake violently as the tears tried to escape. I felt Adam kneel down and hug me from behind. Turning to face him, I buried my face in his chest and kept trying to hold the tears back. Adam rubbed my back and tried to console me as best as he could.14