The Girl in the Woods

Chapter 15

"You're staying with me this time around." Apollo told me firmly. "I almost fainted when Prenjaw showed up with you bleeding all over the place."

"Was it really that bad?" I frowned.

"Terrible." He confirmed. "I thought you'd died."

I was quiet as we surveyed the movement at the base of the mountain. Mongool spies had spotted the faeries regrouping to the south, and Narlay had ordered all the troops to prepare for another fight. I felt tired at the thought of more fighting, but the mongools seemed to thrive off it. The air smelt like smoke and sweat and mongool excitement.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked.

He looked down at me. Narlay had ordered armour for him as well, even though his own skin was probably more protective than the leather garments. I had to admit he looked astonishingly amazing in the all black ensemble though.

"Anything." He replied simply.

"How do you stand it?" I asked him curiously. "Being around me, I mean. Like, I pump blood all the time, and it barely seems to bother you. Then, I bleed like crazy and you aren't even fazed. Are you totally immune to the smell of blood now or something?"

Apollo was quiet for a long time, his bright eyes distant as he looked down at the mongool army moving around busily. I wondered what memories I'd evoked in him. His dark hair fluttered into his eyes, and the lines of his jaw and his cheekbones looked sharper in the fading light. It was the oldest I'd ever seen him.

"That's not something I'll ever be immune to, I think." He finally replied, his voice serious. He turned to me, and I saw a flash of the sombre, beautiful man I'd first laid eyes all that time ago. "This... thirst... that vampires have is like a dull ache in my chest. It's different for Astera and I. We can push it to the back of our minds, but true vampires - it's all they can think of. Being half doesn't always mean we're better at controlling it. When we were very little, my sister and I had to exercise a lot of control not to attack our own mother."

He was quiet again for a little while before speaking again. "When I first met you, I didn't just wander across the scene of the crash. I was at the waterfall, trying to write, when the scent of your blood hit me. I knew it was a bad idea - being close to a human was never a good one - but I couldn't resist. Some evil part of me was hoping that you were already dead, so I could drink your blood without you feeling the pain."

I shivered, and Apollo squeezed my hand.

"But you weren't, and I'm so glad for that." He told me gently. "When I saw you, I wanted nothing more than to kill you. That sounds terrible, but just remember the nature of vampires. Your blood smelled so heavenly, and the dull ache in my chest had become a stabbing pain at the sight of your open wound. However, thankfully, you opened your mouth and stopped me."

"What did I say?" I asked curiously. That fateful night was a haze. All I could remember was the high speed track to that massive tree, my blood dripping onto the skirt of my uniform, and how the mist twisted around the trees like silk. And of course, Apollo's figure appearing out of the gloom. That night seemed so far away, with all these mongools hurrying around us and the Chinese sky stretching above our heads.

"You said, 'you can't be buried with me.'" Apollo told me softly, his eyes distant again. "And I stopped, because that was what Astera told me a while ago."

"Really?"

Apollo nodded. "I confronted her as to why she kept running away from me. She told me it was because her bitterness was swallowing her up, and that she didn't want me to be lost as well. She said the exact same thing - you can't be buried with me. When you said those words, I thought of my poor dead mother and how my twin almost lost her humanity. I knew that if I was to keep my own humanity intact, I had to save you."