Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Twenty-Five

A/N- Time to speed things up a bit! I tried something new with this chapter. Its sort of like a fast-forwarding of the story; a montage of Catleb throughout an entire month.

Let me know if you think the formatting flows. That's what I'm going for here.

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Adrianna's POV-

Joanna and Rufus had surprised me once again. It seems like one thing had managed to hold true this entire time I had spent in the human world: humans were very strange creatures.

The night I got home from my date with Caleb and opened my front door to witness Joanna and Rufus standing in the foyer expectantly was the night that I thought this thing I had going here at Fairview Hills would be over. I thought I was going to get turned into my Kingdom by these two compelled humans, and they would tell my mother and King Alexandru of my involvement with Caleb. I genuinely thought it was the end. I even pondered over the act of killing them before they had a chance to speak of my terrible betrayal. In that moment, I was so desperate I would have done it.

But it turned out that there was no need for any blood to be shed that night, because the moment Joanna's empty brown eyes met mine she said, "Good evening, Princess."

Rufus soon followed suit with a similar greeting but I remained frozen in my place, fear paralyzing my entire body. Was it strange that the fear I felt was more for Caleb than myself?

It was then that they shocked my numb ears by telling me that I didn't have to be afraid-that they weren't going to tell my Kingdom about what I was doing. They promised. They swore.

"Why?" I whispered, still standing as if my feet were rooted to the large foyer rug below them. "Why are you doing this? You're supposed to be compelled."

"We are against the Kingdom," Rufus explained. "However we are not against you. We believe that you can stop the King and Queen and free us."

"Rufus, you have said too much," Joanna stiffly turned her head to look at Rufus. The words seemed like they would sound upset but her tone was completely lifeless, just like the expression on her face.

"She must understand," Rufus told her. "We may be slaves but we are not slaves to the Kingdom. Love can help you, Princess. Being in love and receiving love can save you and me both. It can help you understand-"

"Stop!" I cried, suddenly feeling angry and overwhelmed. "Just stop! I don't know what the hell you two are talking about-you're supposed to be listening to my mother! You should have called her and told her about Ca-the boy I was with."

My outburst effectively shut them up, and they both simply stared at me with unreadable expressions.

"I'm not freeing anyone from anything," I added, my voice a bit more calm than moments before. "I cannot love. The boy I was with now was nothing but a toy; a distraction to keep me entertained in this boring town. Soon I will be back at my Kingdom and we'll be at war with the werewolves while pathetic beings like you become nothing but a good source of blood to feed on."

When they continued to do nothing but stare blankly at my lies, I heeded to the burning fire coursing in my throat and began to storm off to the kitchen to get a blood bag from the fridge. Before I turned the corner I threw them a dirty look over my shoulder and said, "I don't know what is going on with you two, but if you dare speak a word of that boy to my Kingdom, believe me when I say I will kill you. The laws of my Kingdom be damned."

Joanna and Rufus hadn't brought up any of that crazy nonsense since that night.

My time at Fairview Hills seemed to pass by faster now with Caleb in the equation. I realized that my emotions were just as unstable as the roads in this small town-cursed with relentlessly curving upwards before steeping downwards in an endless cycle that seemed to stretch on forever. In this same sense, my emotions were one wild roller coaster, where my highs were felt when I was with Caleb feeling invincible and my lows were when I was without him, and that terribly familiar guilt attacked my mind in a vicious assault. He became the reason for my happiness without me even realizing it.