Frostbitten 2

by Destiny Hawkins

  At the other end of the dining room, on the left, was an opening that led to what looked to be the kitchen, and as I neared the entrance, I found that I was right.

  This was a large white kitchen with black cupboards and silver appliances. There was another eating table on the far side of the room, and on the right side was a glass sliding door that led to the backyard. On the left was another hallway.

  “Who’s there?” I asked as I took a look around, but there was no one. It couldn’t be Alexa, because I just left her room and would detect her close by, so who the hell could’ve been here?

  There was the sound of something metal scraping across the floor before I heard something sniff, and then…yawn?

  What the hell?

  Stepping back to look behind the counter, I spotted a dog bowl flipped over, then as I continued to look around in that area, I found a small, furry grey and white puff ball on four legs with big blue eyes. Puppy dog eyes!

  “Oh?” I smiled down at the small husky staring up at me in fear. “Hi.”

  The puppy growled before backing into the dishwasher.

  “Hey, you don’t have to be afraid,” I said as I slowly approached him. “I won’t hurt you.”

  Close enough, I kneeled and held out my hand for him to sniff, then after a few seconds, he approached me, sniffed my knuckles, and began licking my fist.

  I chuckled before petting him. “Hi, what’s your name?”

  I noticed a rolled piece of paper strapped to his back leg by a zip tie and pulled it off.

  When I unrolled the paper, I smiled.

  A welcoming gift.

  P.S. he needs a name.

  ~Frostbitten~

  I sat outside in one of the lawn chairs with my new friend in my lap as I gazed out at the stars. They were never this big in New York, and I found them even brighter than when I was on heroin.

  Not only were they huge away from civilization, but through my new eyes, they were even more beautiful than ever. The moon was something that I couldn’t explain as it seemed as if I just reached out, then I would be able to touch it.

  It was hard to believe that just a little while ago, I was thinking about committing suicide. Funny thing was, if I hadn’t, then I’d never get the chance to sit outside of a mansion and set my eyes on one of the most beautiful sights in all of Alaska.

  This was my new life now.

  I could only hope that it would be better than my last.

  ~Frostbitten~

  It was hot. Really hot. My eyes were closed, and I knew that I was sleeping, but it felt as if I were experiencing one of Alexa’s memories again. There were no images, just a burning sensation, but just in case it was a memory, I tried to push the pain away. To pretend that it wasn’t there, but it was…and it was extremely fucking hot.

  I gasped as I opened my eyes and jolted onto my elbow. Clenching my teeth, I grunted and cringed as the burning sensation took over the entire side of my left leg. That’s when I smelled it. My flesh burning in the sunlight that slipped through the crack of my black curtains.

  My eyes widened when I found that my leg was on fire, bright with hot blue flames. I cried out and rolled off the opposite side of my bed, dropping onto the floor while patting at my leg. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes as I slapped at my burning skin in an attempt to put out the fire, but all it was doing was spreading.

  I clenched my teeth and grunted, the sting of the fire becoming more and more unbearable. It was as if it were eating through my flesh like acid, but it was only on the surface. For some reason, the pain felt so much deeper than that.

  “Faith!” Alexa came running in, and with only a glance, I noticed the golden river glistening under her skin, but I couldn’t focus on its beauty now. “How the hell did this happen!?” When she dropped down to her knees by my side, I grabbed her arm for some sort of security. She then turned her head towards the closet door on the right and yanked it open with her telekinesis. Right after that, a thick comforter sprang from the closet and over my leg where she patted the fire until it was completely out.

  The pain still remained, but at least it wasn’t on fire anymore.

  Panting, sweating, and sniffling, I dropped the back of my head onto the floor, completely exhausted. It was as if after all that, I was tired again and needed more rest, but I knew that it was just because it was daytime.

  Alexa worriedly stared down at me and placed her hand over the side of my forehead. “Are you okay?”

  I swallowed and slowly nodded, barely able to see through my blurred eyes.

  Alexa sighed and removed the comforter, then analyzed my leg. She frowned and clenched her teeth, but her voice was soft. “You need to be more careful. That sunlight could’ve killed you.”

  My eyes slowly began to close. “I’m sorry.”

  Alexa sighed. “It’s okay. Now you know.” She slid her hand over my shoulder with a slight squeeze. “Ignore your pain. Completely forget about it.”

  Instantly, the burning in my leg stopped, and I could focus on her with the little energy that I had left.

  “Thank you…”

  “Of course.”

  I swallowed and took a deep breath before my eyelids lowered. I wanted to gaze into her blue eyes a little longer, to watch the golden river under her skin glisten from the sunlight, and I just wanted to stay awake with her. I wished that I could’ve controlled when I slept, but there was no use. I was exhausted, and sleep had pulled me back into the darkness.

  “You’re beautiful…” my thought slipped.

  “…So are you.”

  Chapter Four

  I sat up against my headboard and watched as Alexa changed the bandage on my leg. She sat beside me while my pup sat on my lap. I chuckled when he raised his head back to try and get a lick off my fingers, then I scratched under his chin with my other hand.

  I’ve never had a dog before, so in a way, this little guy was like my first child. Well, he’d be my only child unless I got another dog since I couldn’t have children anymore, but I was fine with that. I never really liked kids anyways. They cried, wanted things, and you had to watch them twenty-four seven. Nope. I was fine with a puppy.

  “Did you name him?” Alexa asked.

  I looked down at the completed bandage wrapped around my leg, grateful that I couldn’t feel any pain, then up at Alexa and gave a slight smile. “Yeah, I did.”

  I could’ve sworn that I saw a glimpse of satisfaction on her lips, but it was hard to tell. I figured it had something to do with our emotional tie.

  “I named him Allie.” A smile crept up my lips when her eyebrows furrowed. “It’s spelled A.L.L.I.E, but you pronounce it as Ah-lee.”

  Alexa gave a slow nod.

  “I kind of named him after you ― in a weird way.”

  Alexa’s eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “Allie sounds nothing like Alexa.”

  “Yeah, but take the A.L.E. from Alexa, which kind of sounds like Allie if you pronounce it in your own special way.”

  Alexa shook her head with a chuckle, giving me butterflies. “And here I thought that would spell ale, which is a type of beer.” She turned to me with a straight face, but seconds later, she chuckled again. “I appreciate the gesture.”

  “I appreciate the gift,” I responded.

  Alexa turned back to my leg with a fading smile, but her soft expression remained. “Your leg will take some time to heal. A day maybe. Burns from the sun are the only wounds that don’t heal right away, but you can’t feel it, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” She stood from my bed and turned to me. “Besides, you’re actually healing a lot faster than you should be, so maybe your bandages can come off sooner.”

  My eyebrows furrowed in surprise as I looked down at my leg. How was it that I could heal faster than normal?

  “Now, are you ready to go for a hunt?”

  When I smiled, I instantly forgot about my wound, and my fangs descended.

  ~Frostbitten~

  Anchorag
e downtown.

  I was surprised at just how packed it was, mostly because I figured that Alaska was this deserted land covered in snow, but I guess anywhere that there was an outside concert, there was bound to be hundreds of people attending.

  There was also a high chance that with this amount of people, there were at least ten that were really fucked up in the head, making the hunt kind of easy for us with our ability to sense auras.

  Alexa and I stood surrounded by people jumping and head banging to the hard rock music being played on stage. Some were on the sidelines drinking beers outside of bars, ordering from food trucks, or just sitting and talking. We were pretty much at a huge block party, which actually seemed kind of fun to attend, but we weren’t necessarily here to have fun. We were here to feed. To hunt.

  “You will take the lead during the hunt tonight,” Alexa thought to me. “You need practice.”

  “Are you sure?”

  When I turned to look at Alexa, a slight smile pulled up on her lips, revealing the tips of her fangs. She had this same look the first time that she took me out on a hunt. It was as if the monster inside of her was making its way to the surface, only giving me a glimpse of what it looked like.

  “I’m sure,” Alexa responded.

  I nervously licked my lips and nodded. “Okay.”

  Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and imagined a light switch, and when I reopened them, that light flickered on, revealing everyone’s auras to me.

  Pink, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, and purple…

  The entire rainbow surrounded me in cloudy swirls of smoke from left to right and front to back. There were more colors wrapped around the humans, but I was only looking for two: dark blue, and black.

  “Remember. Dark blue means that someone has intentions of doing wrong, and black means that they already have and probably would do it again. They are lost causes and can’t be helped.” Alexa explained.

  I nodded. “I remember.”

  “Good.”

  And so, the search began.

  Alexa followed me as I searched through the crowd. I wasn’t just looking up close but used my heightened sense of sight to see far out as well. I wasn’t worried about finding anyone, but more so of what would happen when I found them.

  For my first kill, I learned that my prey was a serial killer. This time, I wouldn’t know what my prey was up to or what they’ve done. What if it wasn’t worth killing them over? What if it was something a little jail time could fix?

  “Is something wrong?” Alexa asked. “You can tell me if you don’t want to do this. I can search if you would like.”

  “No.” I swallowed. “I can do it. I have to be able to hunt to survive, right?”

  “Yes, that is correct, but don’t forget that I am by your side. If you are uncomfortable…”

  “I can handle this.”

  “How much will you give me?” a woman’s voice echoed in my ears. “She’s young, but if you want her for the night, I’ll let you have her for the entire bottle…Don’t worry. She knows her mama needs her medicine.”

  Looking dead ahead, I spotted a brunet wearing a red skin-tight dress talking on the phone while walking down the street, away from the crowd. She was surrounded by a black aura, most likely from selling her daughter to pedophiles.

  I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath as the monster in me stirred. My mother was a drug addict, but she would have never done that to me. What kind of mother could sell her own child?

  Alexa was quick to grab my hand before I ran after her. In a silent rage, I snapped around, only to slightly calm once my eyes met hers.

  “You can’t cause a scene. Especially with your heightened emotions. This is something you must do discreetly.” Her lids lowered. “Are you having second thoughts?”

  I shook my head, then turned back to make sure that I didn’t lose the woman. I could still hear her on the phone as she turned the corner.

  “Good, then let’s go.”

  As we walked off, I couldn’t help but notice a flash of green on my left. When I turned to look, I noticed a man dressed in a black button up and slacks with olive skin and silky black hair, watching us. His eyes were green, but they weren’t glowing, and his aura…he didn’t have one.

  “Forget you saw me.”

  It was a command…but not from Alexa.

  And just like that, my mind was back on my prey.

  Chapter Five

  “Wait! Wait, please!” the woman begged as I wrapped my fingers around her throat and lifted her against the side of a building.

  I wanted to watch her suffer before we killed her, and I wanted her to reflect on her life and all the wrong she’s done. I wanted it to flash before her eyes and help her realize that she didn’t deserve to live another day.

  “What kind of mother are you?” I growled. “How could you do that to your own daughter?”

  Pitiful tears drizzled down the woman’s reddening face, causing her mascara to run down her cheeks, and for a moment, the monster in me pulled back, but then I thought of her little girl. I didn’t even know the child, but I felt for her. She didn’t deserve what was being done to her.

  Alexa slid her hand over my shoulder while scowling up at the woman. “When their auras are black, that means that they are the worst kinds of people. Just know that they deserve to die, and that you need to feed.” She stepped forward. “Now, it’s time.”

  I clenched my teeth and let the woman drop to her feet, but before she could even take a breath, I rushed in and plunged my fangs into the side of her neck, then covered her mouth so that she couldn’t scream.

  Growling, I dug deeper, aiming to cause more pain as I sucked the life out of her, but after a few seconds, I pulled away for Alexa to have a turn. The woman was nearly unconscious and slouched to the side, but Alexa held her up with ease, sucking her dry.

  Once Alexa was finished, she dropped the woman onto the ground and turned to me with glowing turquoise eyes and blood on her bottom lip. Her eyes flashed before she smiled maliciously, then the turquoise veins on the sides of her face began to disappear. “She didn’t taste half bad.”

  I looked down at the woman’s body slouched against the brick wall. A moment later, she cracked and shattered into little pieces of ice, the result of Alexa’s venom being in her system when she died.

  For Alexa and me, it helped with keeping our species a secret. The evidence of our bites would only melt into water over the pavement.

  “You did good,” Alexa said.

  My eyes slightly widened as I brought them back to hers. Why I got so excited by her appraisal? I didn’t think I would ever understand, but it made me feel good.

  “Thank you,” I said before nervously biting down over my lower lip. Of course, I didn’t realize my fangs were still out and accidentally cut myself.

  I winced in response and was going to lick the blood away when Alexa slid her hand over my jawline and caught the droplet with her thumb.

  “You should be more careful,” she said with her eyes drawn to my lips.

  I didn’t know what to say or do. I was completely frozen with my heart rate quickly rising as butterflies formed in the pit of my stomach.

  The sound of a giggle echoed from the opening of the alley, and we both turned to see who was there.

  I frowned at the sight of a woman with dark brown hair and eyes, standing in the opening of the alley. An odd golden aura surrounded her, giving me a sense that she wasn’t human, but she wasn’t a vampire either. I wasn’t sure what got into me, but I balled my fists. She looked familiar, like I had seen her from somewhere, but where?

  “She isn’t hostile,” Alexa thought. “But do not provoke her.”

  “Alexa, you’re home.” She turned her glowing orange-tinted eyes towards me. “And I see you have a child.”

  When I turned to Alexa, I tensed, feeling a sense of lust rise within her.

  I snapped my eyes back to the woman who slowly approached us. As s
he came closer, I realized that she only looked like someone I knew.

  She looked just like Esha.

  The only difference was that she didn’t seem as sweet or kind. She was probably the complete opposite, but based off the mood, I would say that she was enough for Alexa.

  “It’s been a while,” the woman said, stopping only a few feet away with her hands tucked into her leather jacket.

  “Only a few months,” Alexa replied.

  “I was surprised when you called.” She licked her lower lip. “I was even more surprised that my brother agreed to pick you up.”

  “I paid him well.”

  The woman sighed, her smile slightly fading. “Well, aren’t you going to introduce me to the kid?”

  My brow shot up in annoyance. “Kid?”

  The woman chuckled, her eyes flashing when she turned to me. “You’re about seven hundred years younger than me. You’re practically a baby.”

  “Loren, what do you want?” Alexa asked softly.

  “To see you.” Loren’s smile faded. “You left without saying a word. Everyone’s pissed at the way you left things.”

  Alexa’s expression never changed, but I could tell that she was slightly tempted by this Esha lookalike. “I needed to get away for a while.”

  Loren gave a slow nod. “So, are you two a thing now? You manipulating her like you did with me?”

  Alexa took a deep breath, a part of her saddening. The feeling made me uncomfortable.

  Loren nodded again. “Right. Okay.” She turned back to me. “Be careful with her. You might find yourself falling in love, and then alone. It’s hard to compete with the dead.” Her glaring eyes snapped back to Alexa’s before they flashed. “Don’t fucking call my family again.”

  I took a step towards her, but Alexa stopped me by holding out her hand. “Watch who you’re talking to.”

  Loren released a warning growl with descended fangs, only they were thicker than mine. I wouldn’t really call them fangs at all, but more like a sharp pair of canines.

  I stiffened, realizing that she was a completely different species.