NIGEL

CHAPTER 13: THE NEW PLAN

I stood on the edge of camp alone at twilight; waiting for the sun to rise. I had just come back from "hunting" for something to drink. Often I would find a small animal and if I was lucky I could find an animal with more substance. I hated drinking human blood. It might have tasted much better, but it made me feel dirty. I felt unclean on the inside, and it always bitterly reminded me of what I was.
            As I stood there, horribly depressed and contemplating killing myself for probably the millionth time in my life, I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Nigel?" whispered Lily's familiar voice. I turned to face her, her expression concerned. "Hey," I said with a disingenuous smile. "Is this what you really want?" she asked, unable to contain herself. I furrowed my eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
            Her mouth formed a slanted line. "You know exactly what I mean. Do you really think that getting revenge on your father is going to make you happy?" Her tone was confused and a little stressed. I was shocked she was bringing this up, seemingly out of nowhere. Why did she want to discuss such a serious subject so early in the morning with no preamble to it whatsoever?
            I nodded. "I'm sure of it. He's been haunting my life ever since he barged into it all those years ago. I have to do this if I'm ever going to live with nothing holding me back." I tried to answer directly so as to end this conversation as quickly as possible. I wasn't in the mood to discuss this, but I could see in her eyes that she wasn't going to let it go easily. Something was seriously troubling her.
            "But why?!" she cried incredulously. "Why do you need to go on a wild goose chase to track down this obviously dangerous person just because you think it's what is finally going to make you not hate your life!?" She was clearly hurt over something and I would lying if I said I didn't know what it was.
            "Lily," I began apprehensively. "You said you would support me."
            "I did Nigel, but I just don't understand why this isn't enough for you! That our life together is not enough for you! You are willing to risk your life over this because you are so unhappy!"
            I groaned, "This isn't about you Lily! I love you and I love our life together. This has nothing to do with that," I tried to explain, growing more frustrated.
            "Do you really?" she said coldly. I was speechless. I think looking back, we both knew how we were feeling and we just didn't want to admit it or say it out loud. I could see that after she said those words, she immediately regretted it. We stood in uncomfortable silence for what felt like forever.
            She sighed, wiping a tear from her cheek. Then, gently she took my face in her hands and looked me dead in the eyes. "Nigel, please," was all she managed to get out before she got choked up again. I felt my own eyes glossing over with tears that I refused to let drop. I didn't know what she wanted me to say, so I said nothing. She closed her eyes, kissed me lightly and before going back to the tent whispered, "I am with you Nigel. I don't want to lose you."
            Her words pierced through me. I watched her walk away, feeling dreadful about myself. Once the prospect of living a life with Lily delighted me, but I always had a underlying feeling that there was always going to be something keeping me from being truly happy. I didn't know if killing James would give me that happiness, but as far as I was concerned, it was a good start.
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            Once everyone was up, though I noticed Noah had vanished from the tent before I even left to go hunting last night, we decided to put together a new plan. Things were still a little tense between Lily and I, but we decided not to let that affect everyone else. It was our business and I didn't need anyone else in it.
            Noah finally showed up and we wasted no time trying to put together a new plan before packing up and traveling out in the woods again. The centaurs had already looted our cart so there wasn't much left to take with us anyway, but we still had to discuss where it was that we were going.
"How are we supposed to know where to go? How do we find James? And once we do how do we kill him? What should we know about him before we actually confront him? What if someone already killed him?" Kieran blabbed endlessly before Noah had tell him to shut up. "Sorry," said Kieran sheepishly, his face turning even redder than his hair.
            "I think that a good start is to figure out where James even is," suggested Lily.
            "But how do we find that out?" I said rubbing my chin. "You don't have any ideas Noah?"
            "I don't exactly run in the same circles with the guy," Noah answered sarcastically. "I'm just as clueless as you are regarding where he could be."
            "Well couldn't we find someone who would know?" offered Kieran.
            "Like who?" asked Lily, her tone insinuating that his suggestion was stupid.
            "Well," began Noah almost reluctantly. "What?" I asked, gesturing for him to go on. He sighed like he was angry with himself for even bringing this up. "There might be someone who knows where he is. Three someone's to be exact."
            I raised an eyebrow, "Well, that's rather helpful information. Why didn't you mention it earlier?" I asked.
            "Because I'm not so sure it's a good idea to go and speak with them," answered Noah.
            I shook my head. "Darling, this whole thing isn't a good idea, but we're doing it regardless. Who are they?"
            Noah ran his fingers through his dark hair, "The Divine Sisters," he said finally. The rest of us exchanged confused looks. We'd never heard of such a thing before. Who were these people? They must be terribly frightening if Noah was so reluctant about us going to see them.  Noah continued, "They are three ancient witches more powerful than you could imagine who live on the edge of The Hushwood in a moon crystal cave. They are all knowing and have a strange sort of magic. You can ask them any three questions and they'll give you the answers so if you want to know something you could never know the answer to on your own, they are the ones to go to."
            "Wow, that's convenient," said Kieran.
            "Not as much as you might think. They're just as tricky as the fairies, and they have a particular craving for human flesh," Noah explained.
            "Yeesh!" exclaimed Lily. "So how do we go see them without getting eaten?"
            Noah thought to himself for a minute. "Well, as I said, it's human flesh they like, and since I'm not human and Nigel is only half human, then there is a good chance they won't eat us, but you and Kieran wouldn't be able to come speak with them. However, don't forget we would have to travel all the way through The Hushwood which is extremely dangerous and I'm not exactly welcome back there if we accidentally run into the elves."
            "Well we don't seem to have much of a choice do we dear?" I said playfully, trying to make light of this already incredibly intense situation. Everyone seemed hesitant, Noah especially, but ultimately we came to a consensus. We didn't have any better ideas and this was the best opportunity to find James. I wasn't going to let this slip through my fingers, regardless of how dangerous it was. I would never force Lily to come with, but she wanted to stand by me, Noah had the same goal I did, and I wasn't sure why Kieran wanted to come but it didn't look like he was going anywhere, so off we went.
            We scraped together some supplies and weapons. Noah liked his hailbird, which I have to admit was a rather frightening beast of a weapon. Lily had her usual sword, Kieran seemed to steal a new flail from the camp since he left his other one on our cart that was very quickly torn to pieces when the centaurs dug through it. I still didn't have anything. Noah told me that if I learned how to utilize my vampirism well enough, then I didn't need a weapon, but he just liked his hailbird. His time with the warlike centaurs gave him quite the weaponry skills. It was one of the few things he was quite grateful to have experienced with them, since they were such a unwelcoming lot.
            The forest once again in its vastness stood before us. Somehow it seemed more daunting then it normally did. Then again, in a way it really was. We had an added individual to our little troop, on a quest for revenge and on our way to face three mysterious witches deep in the most enchanted forest in Drancaria. Why would I be nervous?