Crimson

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I felt relieved leaving the meeting room. I had successfully managed to forget about Lamech and the bimbo during the night, but seeing him again made it come back to me. Problem was, as much as I wanted to stay angry at him, I found it hard to. As soon as I saw him, all I wanted was to go to his side, hug him, kiss him, and stay there forever.

So I avoided looking at him. That in itself was hard though, especially when he talked about the prejudices and the change in attitude towards vampires that he had seen. It made me think of what he had told me about his own father, that he had been the type of vampire that caused my hatred for them. It had been four hundred years since Lamech had taken over. Did that mean then that he had for that long worked tirelessly and without ever giving up to improve the reputation of vampires?

That had to have required a lot of patience, understanding, and effort. He would have had to first change the lifestyle of vampires and then convince others that it had changed, neither of which could have been easy.

I couldn't help but to admire him. Especially because of the way that he talked about it with Darren. That he didn't show any annoyance or blame over that the prejudices still existed, but rather thankfulness over that Darren gave them a proper chance.

Well, he is my mate after all, I laughed to myself. He will need endless of patience to deal with me.

But that thought started others to spiral and I quickly pushed it all to the side.

It became easier to not think about Lamech when I started pitching my idea to the wolves. I was happy that they were on board with it and felt that it would be useful. The simple thought of helping them in some way made me happy.

The meeting came to a close and Lamech told us the lunch would be in the same place that the dinner had been and that he wouldn't be able to join in. I felt relieved as well as sadden by that. He really had the ability to thoroughly mess with my emotions.

"You'll eat with us though, Crimson, won't you?" Cassie asked and took hold of my hand. I was surprised at her friendliness, but I met it with a smile.

"Sure," I replied and she hooked her arm in mine, leading me towards the door. When I got to the door, I turned my head. It wasn't a conscious movement, I just ended up doing it. Just wanted to look at Lamech at least once and unable to resist the urge.

Our eyes met and there was a warmth in his that melted my heart a bit. I probably should let him explain what had happened the day before. I knew I had drawn conclusions without giving it a moment's thought. And yes, it had looked bad, but that didn't mean that he had actually done anything wrong.

Kyle had made pasta carbonara and it was the best pasta dish I had ever had. As we started eating, I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since the dinner. That in itself wasn't much to think about, I just hadn't had time. But what it meant was that it had been over twelve hours since I ate and I had been up all night moving around, but I wasn't feeling hungry at all.

The food was good and all, and I happily ate it. But that was it. I ate it because I liked it, not because I felt any need for it. It wasn't until then that I also realized that I should have been tired like hell. I had been up all night after all, not something I wasn't used to, but something that always made me sleep the whole day. But I felt perfectly fine. Energetic even. Far from exhausted as I ought to have.

"Crimson, are you alright?" Cassie asked me in a concerned voice. "You look a bit pale."

I turned to her and gave her a smile. "I'm fine. Just had some issues sleeping. That's all."

Well, that wasn't a lie. The actual truth though, that I hadn't slept but felt fine, was freaking me out. And why wasn't I hungry? Were the vampires rubbing off on me? Was their proximity infecting me with their ways? First the blood that had smelt and tasted amazing, and now I didn't need to sleep or eat.

My mind raced and through the door walked someone that made my mind race even more.

Aideen.

I hadn't talked to her or even seen her since indirectly calling her a monster. Too much had been going on that I had even forgotten about it. Guilt joined in my inner turmoil as I realized that. But thankfully, she smiled at me and walked over, taking a seat next to me.

"Hi. You alright?" she asked and played a little with her hair.

"Yeah. You?" I asked back.

"All good," she answered and I knew that also meant that she forgave me for what I had said. "Everyone is talking about you," she continued.

"Excuse me?" I frowned.

She laughed. "They are saying that you won at least fifty thousand by fighting them. And some that wasn't there but are good fighters want to line up to have their chance at beating you."

I could feel the curious eyes of the wolves on me. With the new realizations that had hit me, Aideen's words made me feel awkward. All my life, my fighting skills hadn't been that of a witch. I had always been faster and stronger. It had always been a point of pride for me, but now that it was coupled with the other odd things, it made me feel highly uncomfortable. It made me feel like something was wrong with me and I didn't want the wolves to think the same.

So I shrugged. "I'm sure they're exaggerating."

"They are saying that none of them could beat you! That the only one that could was Stuart," Aideen said, only sounding excited about it. "You really need to teach me how to."

"You fought vampires and won?" Darren said at my other side.

I just gave him a stiff nod as an answer.

"Really? That's impressive. Aren't they faster and stronger like us?" Cassie said and looked at the others for an answer.

"Over two hundred years of training does that," I said and forced a laughing.

"Did you use any magic?" one of the Gamma's asked and I felt a slight annoyance. Why couldn't anyone just accept that I was a good fighter?

"As if she would need it," a familiar voice said and I turned to see the female vampire, that had been the hardest of the bunch to beat, walk over to us.

Following her was two other female vampires that I didn't recognize. They all took seats at the table by me.

"Just wanted a chance to properly introduce myself," the female vampire said. "I'm Paige. Oh and this is Georgina and Zia."

"You really are amazing at fighting," Zia complimented and then giggled slightly. "It was so satisfying to see Luka plummeting to the ground."

"I earned so much money. I can finally buy the computer of my dreams!" Georgina exclaimed.

"Why do you need money?" Aideen asked and looked between them. "I mean, Lamech has told me on multiple occasions that he'll just get me whatever I want."

"You're Aideen, right? It's nice to finally meet you," Paige smiled at her. "And yeah, the clan really has more money than we can spend and Lamech does buy anything we ask him to."

"Unless it's something very exorbitant," Zia added.

"But it's nice to feel like you have your own money," Paige continued to explain. "Even though the money still comes from Lamech, but it feels better to not have to ask him constantly."

"How do you earn it?" Cassie came into the conversation with her usual curiosity.

"Shores and such around the house," Zia said. "It's posted monthly for us to sign up and different shores earn you different amounts. Like cleaning the bathrooms is nasty, but the pay makes it worth it."

"If you can ever manage to sign up in time for it," Georgina sighed. "I went to the announcement board five minutes after the schedule for the coming month was posted, but Lang had already signed up for every single shift."

"Well, you didn't hear it from me," Paige said and lowered her voice while smiling brightly. "But he's getting ready to pop the question to Mervin. He just wants to get rings first."

"About time!" Zia exclaimed.

The three of them started gossiping and I was once again hit with how wrong I had been about vampires. They seemed so ordinary that it was surreal while talking about engagements and weddings. If anything, they acted more like humans than any witch I had ever met.

The sound of a phone ringing came from the side and I turned to look as Darren answered his phone.

"Do you miss us already? You know we'll be back in just a few hours," he said with a laugh that died away as soon as the one on the other side spoke. The person talked fast and frantic and I was certain that all of us present could hear every word of what he said.

"The rouges are acting strange. I think they know you aren't here. They are circling the boarder. More than any attack before."