Emma looked down at her hands, covered with the blood of her victim. A beige dress stained with red, body sprawled lifeless in her arms. A wave of feelings washed over her head; confusion, ecthasy, guilt... Her hands were shaking with the rush of being able to crush life under them.
And it felt amazing.
"Emma?"
Like a curtain of fog disappearing from her view Emma took a step back, staring at the girl that was just in her arms. The girl was totally out of it as she leaned on the wall but looked pretty alive and well. Emma couldn't move for a second, had she not just murdered someone?
"You okay?"
Dominic called out again,
"And here I thought-"
His amused words came to a halt when he saw the expression on Emma's face, she looked petrified. When she stumbled back and risked falling Dominic quickly caught her arm to keep her standing. Emma looked up to check again, nobody in the room was dead, only dazzled and confused. She snapped out of her trance when Dominic stepped in front of her and held her shoulders, trying to understand what was wrong.
"Hey, we can leave if you want."
She was quiet for a moment before shaking her head,
"No, no I'm fine."
Dominic raised a brow,
"You sure don't look like it."
He let go of her after making sure she could stand and wiped a drop of blood from the side of his lips.
"I would say it's due to you being a fledgeling, but knowing all the carnage Jean subjected you to I doubt that's the case."
Emma took a moment to collect her thoughts before she could look up again.
"I just saw myself killing someone."
Dominic tilted his head in a confused manner,
"You saw?"
Emma looked at her hands. It wasn't the killing itself that had been disturbing, it was the excitement of doing it. She knew such a feeling couldn't belong to her, it had passed over her body like a shot of ecthasy given against her will. The details were getting blurred with each second that passed like the aftermath of a dream, who was it that she saw?
"I can't remember..."
Was it someone she knew? It didn't feel like it. She was sure she had never seen the girl yet there was such a strong feeling of attachement and resentment. She shook her head.
"You didn't accidently drink too much did you?"
Dominic pulled her near the entrance of the hotel room, leaving her leaning on the frame while he checked outside.
"I don't think so."
Emma licked her teeth and noticed the fresh taste. She remembered following Dominic through the halls accompanied by a group of laughing people all swooning over them. A hand brushed against another, a step taken too close to be a coincidence. Those people had been into them but Emma didn't remember the rest after they got inside the room. It was obvious she had fed but there was a huge dent in the line of events, something was blocking her memory.
"How long have we been here?"
Dominic walked back inside and closed the door. Nobody in the room looked like they were aware of what had just happened.
"Around an hour I think, it's easy to lose track of time while feeding."
Emma looked around them and noticed that none of the people had any remaining bite marks, signs of pleasure and happiness still lingering on their faces. Oh, right. They have been hanging out with ghouls.
She walked over and sat on a chair next to the window with a sigh. No matter what she did her memory remained blank and pushing further was starting to give her a headache. Dominic seemed to be convinced that she was fine and went over to the sofa. Two of the ghouls, a girl and a guy with tattoos, clung onto his body and pulled him down between them. He casually leaned back and watched the view outside.
"I'm guessing you lost your apetite for the night."
"I can't just ignore what I saw."
One of ghouls leaned on Dominic and pulled on his shirt which was already half undone. He casually avoided the advance and continued talking.
"Has this ever happened before?"
"No, not really. I don't remember seeing anything as vivid as this." she sighed and rubbed her temples, "I thought vampirism would reduce the headaches I had not add to them."
Dominic shrugged, or at least tried to shrug with the two bodies holding him down.
"It's lucky you're even alive, when I saw you at the mansion it looked like your body had been mauled by a shapeshifter."
She looked up at his words,
"I was healed up with magic right?"
"Yeah, and maybe that's what messed up your head."
He stretched his arms and buttoned his shirt up, making the ghouls whine in protest.
"Dark magic isn't something the likes of us should mess with. It never ends well."
His words held the weight of something untold, reminding Emma of the time Kat had started acting weird when the topic switched over to other supernaturals. Before she could ask about it Dominic stood up, rolling down his sleeves and fixing his attire. He turned to the door, ignoring the ghouls calling him back.
"Let's go, this is enough fun for the night."
* * *
Leaves rustled, their car pushing aside branches of several trees that were in the process of getting ready for winter. It had been a few days since their conversation and Kat was finally back with news, taking Emma on another one of those impatient rides. The small Mazda pulled in the driveway of an old building and the engine fell quiet. The last rays of sun had disappeared hours ago.
"Is there a reason we had to go this far to meet him?"
"That's where he said we would meet."
"And we can trust him?"
Kat opened her door and got out, Emma following right after onto the dusty road.
"Trust is a bold sentiment but yeah, we need to take his word for it."
Kat didn't lock the car and instead turned her attention over to the worn down building behind them.
"Vihan is a shade, they tend to choose discreet locations like these for meet ups."
Emma raised a brow.
"A shade?"
"Shadow people, also infobreakers of the underworld. They can blend in the shadows so abandoned places like these are their number one spot."
Emma tilted her head, following after Kat when she walked forward.
"Do other supernaturals live as long as the kindred do?"
"If you're asking about immortality then no, only a few have that. Some supernaturals have long lifespans but they eventually get old. Shapeshifters only live as long as your average human."
"How do you know this much information?"
Kat didn't look back as she answered,
"From experience."
She didn't add anything else and Emma took that as a sign to leave it alone. When they reached the building the entrance was completely ruined, broken glass decorating the ground in front of the door. Emma took cautious steps over the fallen debris and walked inside.
"This place is falling apart."
Kat kicked a nearby column, small clouds of dust appearing at the edges,
"Seems sturdy enough."
Emma kept quiet at her witty remark, following her along the abandoned corridors. The theme of the building was far too worn off to be recognized, but from the layout it resembled an abandoned hotel. As she walked along it felt like the shadows around them were moving, and she couldn't decide if it was her senses or paranoia.
"Alright Vihan, you can come out now."
Kat called out and Emma looked around, expecting someone to walk out from a corner. Instead she felt something take a hold of her arm and quickly turned back, ready to strike.
"Whoa whoa, calm down."
The person behind her laughed and took a few steps back, holding his hands up in a protective manner.
"I just wanted to have a little fun."
"Your sense of fun will get you punched in the face one day."
Kat faced him and smirked,
"Not that I wouldn't love to see that."
Now that he was a few steps behind, Emma had a better view of the guy. He had slightly messy black hair along with a trimmed beard and olive skin. His hands had dark tattoos resemling shadows that traveled up, and Emma couldn't be sure if they were actually tattoos with the way they crawled along his arms.
Her attention was brought back to earth when Vihan reached a hand out as a friendly gesture. Emma stared at it for a second before returning the shake, he smiled at that.
"Name's Vihan, nice to meet you."
"Emma."
"Nice name."
He dropped the shake and moved back. After further inspection Emma noticed that his tattoos did move around his arms. His whole attire blended in the darkness along with his tattoos, leather jacket and black pants.
"So, you are the one we'll get in White Heather," he turned to Kat, "Care to explain why?"
She raised an eyebrow,
"I thought you didn't care about the details."
"Personal curiosity. I'd like to know why you spent this amazing opportunity to use my services on this kin."
Kat scoffed,
"Don't act so formal, you know I hate that." she stalled on her sentence, seeming to look for the right words, "Do you remember when you said that you would help me out, no matter what it was?"
Vihan raised a brow, Kat's sudden change in behavior seemed to disperse his humorous attitude.
"Yeeah, you are making me worry girl. What is it?"
Kat looked at him with serious eyes,
"Did you notice anything different in White Heather lately? For example, any new faces."
"Well not really, and you are asking because...?"
She sighed, lowering her shoulders in defeat.
"Jean was kidnapped."
A look of surprise passed through Vihan's eyes and after a second he started laughing. His laugh started dying down into an awkward one when nobody else joined in.
"Wait, you serious?"
Kat just kept staring at him, she wasn't in a mood to make quips.
"Oh damn. Who is even capable of doing something like that?"
"That's what we're trying to find out."
"Whoa now, you think someone in White Heather did this? I don't like Jean but a descendant of her power is no joke, people there wouldn't mess with her."
Kat sighed and leaned on a nearby column,
"If it was a kin we would have gotten a scent, but frankly that road has kept us spinning in a circle for weeks."
Vihan crossed his arms, considering her words,
"I mean, I do know a few names that could be strong enough to take her on, but what would they even accomplish by kidnapping Jean?"
Emma lingered on her train of thought for a while longer before deciding to join in the conversation.
"It doesn't have to be someone that strong though."
"Huh?"
They both looked at her in confusion, but something seemed to slowly dawn in on Kat's expression as Emma started speaking.
"Her control over her beast considerably lessened after what happened with her brother. She probably didn't want to fight in the first place, doing so would only give her beast a reason to surface and take over."
She faced Vihan for her next question.
"When is the soonest you can get me in?"
Her words sounded so sure of herself that even Vihan looked confused. He tugged on his jacket and thought,
"We can go now but before that I gotta tell you about how things work in there. It will be of no use if you go and immediately get yourself killed."
Emma sighed and nodded,
"I will listen, I am not too keen on the idea of dying either."
He looked at her for a second longer before reaching his hand out, and this time it felt different than just a friendly gesture.
"Well Kat, I'll be borrowing your friend."
Emma looked back at Kat to see her nod,
"Take care, if things start going sour just save your own ass, don't risk it."
Vihan butted in the conversation,
"Gee thanks for caring about me too, I'll make sure to stay alive."
"Yeah, like there is anything you can't weasel your way out of."
Emma smiled at their conversation before turning back to Vihan, hand still outstretched, and took it. Before she had a chance to say any last goodbyes she felt the world around her start to warp and her body suddenly felt as light as a feather. It was as if the shadows enveloped them both, and the whole room got lost in a mist of darkness. She could hardly make out the shadowy figure in front of her,
"Now this might make you nauseous, so hold on tight."
She didn't have time to answer before the whole world warped in a spiral around them, and in a second everything was lost in a void.