Scarlet Soul

Chapter 7/2: A Name

Chapter 7-2

"Ay 'lil girl," Kayla was startled by the calm voice and caught off guard by the old woman disguising her presence as she approached her. Being blind, it was very easy for the old lady to sneak up on the child but hiding her evil intentions was much harder than expected.

"Oh- I apologize, ma'am, I couldn't tell that you were there. How may I be of use to you?" thankfully, the vampire's eyes were closed and the lack of pigment on them was concealed by her heavy eyelids, so the person in front of her might have not been aware of what Kayla was. The girl was prepared to run the moment a tiny bit of bloodlust slips away from the direction she heard the voice come from.

"Would you please help me find my son? He should be somewhere around here, a boy of sixteen. Quite handsome if I may say so myself." did they really think she would fall for such a simple trick? The fact that she could not sense the woman's presence was beyond suspicious and she was not foolish enough to go after the boy. "Of course, ma'am. Could you please tell me his name?" the vampire scanned her surroundings and she was pleased to find out that she could at least sense the woman's body, well, it's physical form. She was sitting on a large rocking chair but she was still, unmoving.

"I'll tell you if you can find him. Can't share this sort of information with a stranger, can we now?" with these words said, a tremendous amount of the bloodlust Kayla had been expecting was released in waves with a frequency so high that Kayla almost lost her balance. A split second later she was already running through the forest. It was, coincidentally, covered by the same trees she could find everywhere she went in Farkleath- these tall, thick trees the leaves of which have grown red, prepared for the harshest days of the upcoming winter.

The girl did not know what she had coming for her but she was surprisingly calm and collected for a situation like this. She could not sense even the physical body of the woman now, which meant that she was not chasing her. There was no doubt that something was coming, though- the air was growing thick with danger and the scent of fresh blood. She feared that the next time she smells blood, it would be her own. Kayla did not let these negative emotions affect her decision-making, though, so when she spotted a young man gathering wood for what was probably a fire, she stopped in her tracks. She watched him for a moment, wondering if that was the boy the woman spoke of, knowing that if he was him she should stay away.

The howling of wolves tore through her still heart and she looked up to confirm that it was still day-time. The boy dropped his loot and began running in the opposite direction of the sound that put him in alert and Kayla did the same (although she was a little closer to him than she'd like). The human did not seem to be aware of her presence so she did not speak and tried not to make a sound.

She was in good shape and could probably escape if the wolves were sent out specifically after her. She barely had any time to take in her surroundings- she could only vaguely tell that there were no humans around her other than the one she had noticed earlier and that the distance from one tree to another was growing slimmer and it was getting harder for her not to trip over their roots. She was not almighty and as good as she was at sensing, Kayla was blind. She was born this way, never knowing what seeing was like, but she had no doubt that it was a huge advantage for those who were capable of it- after all, they did not need sensing to get by. The eyes were just another way to figure out what was around you. It was much more effective in most cases and much easier to master. The man who taught her how to overcome the barrier of her inability to see, Jericho, could sense his surroundings using essence, too. He told her that as far as her sensing training goes, being blind has only been an advantage- she was far more motivated than a normal, healthy person to succeed in this field and she was a dozen times more attentive and sensitive to the slightest changes.