My heart sinks.
Sophie does not look the way she did when we parted ways earlier today. She looks so stricken with panic. Her sleek, raven hair is ruffled; there are claw marks on her cheeks that are slowly healing and she's constantly looking behind her back, like she's expecting another intruder to climb up my windowsill, cursing repeatedly under her breath. Then I notice the blood splatters on her shirt. Dark and glistening in the lamplight.
"Oh no," I whisper, horrified and take a few steps backwards in revulsion. "What did you do?!"
"Let me in," she urges me, her hands clutching the windowsill so hard that her knuckles turn white.
I give her my permission to enter, almost absent-mindedly as I study her features in shock. She climbs inside so quietly that a master burglar would have given her a standing ovation. Thankfully, the blood on her is not wet enough that it splatters on the floor. I sigh inwardly with relief. As soon as she's inside, Sophie starts pacing the room, continuing with the quiet curses.
"I should have known. I should have fucking known. . ."
"Sophie," I whisper, taking a careful step towards her. "Did you kill someone?"
She stops pacing and looks fearfully at me, I can actually see her lips trembling.
"I fucked up, Leia," she repeats in anguish.
I can feel my insides constrict, melting together and forming a huge rock that rests painfully deep down in my gut. I'm starting to feel agitated myself. Because I've never seen Sophie act this way before. In high school she was always so calm and collected, the cool bitch. I mean, sure, she gets pissed every now and then, but who doesn't? Now, she just looks like a paranoid madwoman, mumbling to herself. And she further proves my point when she grabs me by the shoulder and says urgently: "We have to get the fuck out of here!"
I blink and watch numbly as she spots my closet, opens it and begins rummaging through it. "We need to pack all the necessary stuff," she mumbles under her breath as she grabs some of my warmer clothes and puts them in a heap beside her.
"What's going on?" I ask dumbfounded as I kneel besides her. I cautiously take her hand but it's like I burned her or something as Sophie gasps and yanks her hand back, eyes glaring.
I try to be patient with her as I feel like she's acting just like me when I'm suffering one of my panic attacks. Despite the huge knot in my stomach and the ever-rising swell of anxiety threatening to spill over, I cannot let her see it. It would only make things worse.
"Sophie," I whisper softly. "I need to know what's happened. Can you please explain?"
Sophie's eyes dart back and forth, beads of sweat have appeared on her forehead and she's struggling to keep her composure. Her breath is ragged when she speaks: "I killed someone."
I nod towards the blood stains. "Yeah, the blood on your shirt kind of gave it away."
Even though my greatest urge is to grimace at the sight of the blood, I force myself to give her a small smile which she doesn't return. The blood only seems to remind her more strongly of the horrible deed and she continues to look for warmer clothes, her movements more panicked and erratic.
"Who did you kill?" I ask, fearing that she may have gone overboard this time and killed someone important, like the mayor's daughter or something.
She groans in frustration, grabs a handful of her hair in each hand and tugs on them. I'm afraid that she might rip chunks of her hair out, she's so agitated. Thankfully, she releases it and takes several gulps of air before she replies:
"I killed one of my own."
"Oh?" I cannot help but feel relieved and a little anti-climatic. And here I was worrying over nothing! „Is that such a big deal?"
Sophie buries her face in her hands, her entire being trembling. Seeing her like this really unnerves me and my own turmoil continues to weave through me.
"It's the worst possible thing that could happen," she inhales sharply as her hands drop and reveal her watery eyes.
"How so?"
"Rule number one of vampire law: Due to population control, a vampire must never kill another of its kind."
"Oh right," I remember the conversation we had earlier in the day. "Because there's so few of you. But will you get punished for killing a vampire?"
Sophie nods somberly. "The punishment is death!" she gasps. "They're gonna kill me, Leia!"
And the anxiety hits homerun within me. I gape at her for a moment, trying to process the ludicrous information into my brain. My palms begin to sweat and my heartbeat turns it up another notch and I try to push the horrible possible scenarios out of my head.
"Wait," I say quietly, stopping her once again from diving back into my closet. "This is ridiculous. If you knew that you're not supposed to do it, then why did you kill another vampire?"
"I didn't want to go through it again," Sophie whispers and the frustration, the pain is evident in her strained voice.
"Elaborate, please," I encourage her gently. "So that I can better understand the predicament you've gotten yourself into."
She takes a deep shuddering breath, mustering herself to recount the events of the night, and I'm vaguely reminded of myself when I tried to convince myself to go see her. Funny thing, irony. . .
"I met with Tyler earlier this evening," she begins. "We went out for drinks and swapped stories. Told him what I've been up to and vice versa. We talked through the night and drank a lot of alcohol. You see, we need more than humans to become drunk. I needed less than him though because I'm smaller. When it was around two in the morning, he told me that he was having a party in his hotel room and that he had invited a couple of drunk humans from the club that we could nibble on."
Sophie groans at this point, running her fingers through her hair. I notice for the first time that they are covered in dried blood. I make a mental note of burning all the clothes she has touched. Or maybe it's time for a complete wardrobe change?
"I was so drunk and fucking stupid that I followed him to his hotel room. There were no people there. Just the two of us. He made excuses that humans are always fashionably late but that they will arrive soon so we should just get the party started. I was up for partying, but not the kind he had in mind."
Her eyes darken, strongly reminding me of the beast that she is. My instinct tells me to get up and run but I remain seated beside her. Sophie takes no notice of my behaviour and goes on.
"He tried kissing me but I pushed him away. He got pissed at that, saying I was a fucking tease. I had enough at that point and went for the door, but he grabbed me and threw me on the bed. He pinned me down, saying that all the teasing was over and that he was gonna get what he fucking deserved."
The knot in my stomach tightens. I shift uncomfortably on the floor as I chew my bottom lip. I want to divert my eyes away and yet I can't take my gaze from Sophie. She takes another deep breath.
"I knew what he was gonna do," she snarls angrily. "And I didn't want any of that! I had enough of it during my imprisonment with that sick fucker and I wasn't going to let it happen again. I would decide who I would fuck. Me and me alone! No more of that rape bullshit! We struggled on the bed, my hands got loose and I. . ." For a split moment, she smiles triumphantly. "I thrust my hand through his chest, impaling him."
She shows me her right hand that is crusted with dried blood and I clench my teeth together to prevent my gag-reflex from activating.
"I think he was as shocked as I was, my arm through him and my hand clutching his heart. He probably figured that I would have been an easy prey, given my small frame. There was blood everywhere but all I could think of was ending his pathetic life. So I wriggled out beneath him, he fell on the bed, still cursing me. He was immobilized because I held his heart in my hand. He could not move but he was still alive and his wound was healing, the gaping hole already regenerating another heart. I went to my bag, pulled out a hunting knife I keep for encountering hunters and I proceeded to cut off his head. I kept his mouth gagged so that I wouldn't scream his lungs out. I was furious, in full blown retribution mode when I did it. It wasn't until the deed was done and I was watching him slowly decompose when I realized the atrocity!"
Sophie sighs in defeat, her shoulders slumped. "And now they're gonna find out and they're gonna kill us."
I think I misheard her for a moment but disregard it when she gets to her feet. She sniffles and wipes away the lone tears that had formed in her eyes, but it seems that she has managed to compose herself to a certain degree.
"We need a bigger backpack than mine," she says hoarsely, taking off hers and putting it next to the pile of clothes.
Again with the "we". My brows furrow in confusion. Sophie notices it.
"C'mon, we need to get a move on!" she urges me. "We need to be out of here before they get news of the murder."
"Sophie," I grab her arm before she goes for the door. "Why do you keep saying "we"?"
"Because you need to come with me," she moans urgently, her eyes begging me to understand.
But I don't. "Why?"
Sophie sighs and lets out of humorless chuckle. "Because we vampires are a ruthless bunch, in case you haven't noticed. The punishment of death does not only apply to me."
Her face becomes serious but I can see pain and anguish in her eyes. My anxiety, lulled down temporarily, is reaching its boiling point. It's like there are snakes writhing around in the pit of my stomach. My mouth has gone dry.
"It also applies to those who I have been associating with lately, human or vampire."
My heartbeat increases by tenfold, I feel cold sweat run down my back. The hairs on my arms stand on end. Please, no. . . .
"Leia, they're gonna kill you too."
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That's it for chapter 10!
What is Leia going to do now?
Tell me what you think of this chapter, be it good or bad in the comments. But if you liked it, I'd appreciate it if you could give me a vote :)