Eternally Bound - Book Three ✎

Chapter 4

I drove for the next two nights without encountering another living or dead soul, much to my dismay. My hunting instincts were on full blast and my powers prickled underneath my skin, itching to be set free again now that it had tasted what it could do.

The road ahead wound its way through the open, flat landscape until on my right, trees started to appear, a few at first but it quickly turned into a dense-looking forest. With my enhanced predatory instincts, I could see the lushness of the green leaves and I could pick up the rustling sound of nocturnal creatures. It was still surreal to me, what I as a vampire, was able to do. How superior to my old self I had become. The old me, the human me, had been a weakling, an ant compared to the lioness I was now.

But however powerful the lioness was, she still needed to feed from the ant. How ironic really. Humans didn't really need vampires, but vampires needed humans. In a way, humans held more power than they might realize. Animal blood didn't quite quench the thirst of the hunger that lived inside us. Not like human blood did.

I revved the bike's engine and scouted left and right as I sped down the road, my mind drifting to a memory of Nox and me feeding from a willing human at a Blood Hotel in Seattle. Instantly, my body reacted, clenching and aching for my maker's touch once more. A jerking movement from the bike interrupted the thought of his lips on my skin as the engine spluttered; hissing and spitting as my hands gripped the handlebars tightly, trying to stay on. The bike began slowing no matter how hard I gunned the throttle before coming to a spluttering stop.

I guess that was as far as the small tank of gas would get me.

"Great," I muttered to myself, steadying the bike and myself with my feet planted on the road.

I didn't like knowing I'd be slowed down even more now, but I clung to the hope that Nox would still be alive when I eventually arrived in DC.

Getting off I pushed the bike to the side of the road and left it there, standing by itself in the tall grass. I looked around. The forest was still on my right with an open plain to my left. And so, I started walking.

I alternated between walking and running for the next couple of hours, passing large signs for towns and other places, but kept going at a steady pace. I thought about trying to locate a new bike when I reached the next big city. I wanted the speed it gave me and hopefully, Spokane had what I needed.

Passing another big green sign that said Spokane, I reached around for my backpack and took out the map to consult it about my whereabouts. I was not far from crossing stateliness into Idaho it seemed, and I was still on track. On the map, Spokane looked to be a big city, so it seemed like an obvious choice to look for a blood hotel and a new bike. I carefully folded up the map and placed it back inside the backpack with the set of spare clothes I had taken from the house last night and zipped it up.

Without the steady hum of the engine everything around me was silent and I extended my hearing as far as I could.

Silence. Deafening silence.

Until.

My ears pricked at the incoming sound. Little pants of breath, the swish of a tail, the rapid thumping of small heartbeats. I inhaled the cool night air and moved through the uninteresting scents, stopping briefly at the sharp and rather unpleasant smell of literal shit, before finding the one I was looking for – animal. A warm-blooded creature with a grassy scent. Instantly, the hunger filled me, and I licked my fangs as they punched through my gums. Of course, I would have preferred human blood, but I had to take what I could get right now, or the hunger would just continue to grow, and Spokane was still many miles away.

Leaving the road, I made my way through the trees, slow and steady whilst remaining deadly silent. I crept across the forest floor, staying low and trying to keep myself downwind like Nox taught me. My feet moved graciously over the fallen leaves and broken branches. My eyes wandered upwards, wondering if I could jump from tree to tree, but as the hunger flared in my throat, it wasn't a risk I was willing to take right now.

I came to a halt just before a small clearing. My ears picked up the soft trickle of water, but my eyes focused on the two dark shapes across the clearing.

Deer. Two of them. Grazing and blissfully unaware of the predator lurking nearby. They were big, but they were not the big ones, the males, stags, they were called, who could potentially kill a person with their large antlers. Raking my brain I tried to remember what else I knew about these creatures. Most of what I knew I'd been told growing up. Humans valued animal meat over almost anything else. Funny how now I wasn't interested in the meat, but rather what flowed around it. The deer were near a small lake, but it didn't smell like the ocean because it was fresh water. 

 I recalled both Nox and Sam telling me that most wildlife had fled or gone extinct since the take-over, as vampires had to resort to drinking animal blood if they couldn't get hold of humans to feed from. From a human standpoint, a deer was the most luxurious piece of meat you could come across. I'd never tried it though, deer meat, I mean. I remembered, that as a human, the occasional squirrel or rabbit would practically make a feast for a hungry soul. I also had a vague recollection of my mother, cutting meat into strips and drying it to preserve it and make it last as long as possible.

But here was my chance and with the hunger flaring up in my throat I knew I couldn't miss this opportunity. Who knew when I would get another opportunity to feed?  

I took stock of my immediate surroundings and formed a plan in my head. I needed to go around the clearing to get closer instead of going straight across, which would leave me too exposed out in the open. The gentle breeze came towards me, from the east so I could go almost halfway around the clearing before the wind would be a hindrance, but that would be good enough for me to get close enough to strike.

The call of a bird sounded in the night and two others followed a few seconds later, but they were different ones. I listened again for other nocturnal birds, but there was nothing, not even the hoot of a night owl. My vampire senses tingled. Something was off. I sniffed the air and my nose wrinkled from the almost overpowering scent of feces. Focusing intently, I inhaled more deeply and behind the strong-scented wall of crap, I caught the delicious scent of warm, pulsating human blood. It had initially escaped me, but now there was no doubt about it. 

Knowing I wasn't alone now, I listened closely and picked up the sound of different heartbeats, deer excluded. How I had missed this before I didn't know and I was angry with myself for not realizing that the deer weren't the only ones out here.

There were two humans somewhere close by, hunting the same thing I was.

Until now.