Trial of Fates

Chapter 4

Natania groans, her head feels like it's on fire, her veins filled with sandpaper.

She twists her head, squinting against the lights and can just make out Gretchen and Vincent glaring at each other. Why is he here? "What happened?" she manages to say, wincing at the sound of her voice. Why did everything hurt?

Vincent is the first to speak. "We did a blood exchange Natania, your friend" she flinches at the way he says the word, "didn't understand what she was costing you with her ignorance."

"Why does everything feel so..."wrong, she pauses before finishing as it all comes back to her, the goblet. "What the fuck kind of artifact is that Vinny, it hurts." She lets herself whine. She's done plenty of blood exchanges, some almost bleeding her dry and she's never felt like this.

Gretchen crouches by her side and gently runs her fingers through Natania's hair. Natania sighs at the relaxing motion but it doesn't distract much from the pain. Vincent is up and gone then appears with a glass of water that he hands to her.

Natania sits up and chugs it in one go. She doesn't hesitate when Vincent offers his wrist, sinking her fangs in deeply and swallowing a few mouthfuls of his blood.

"Thank you," she says. She pushes his arm away and turns to Gretchen. "Are you okay?"

Vincent scoffs. "Of course she's okay." He snarls.

Natania shoots him a confused glance. "What'd you do to him?" She whispers to Gretchen, like she doesn't know that he can hear her just fine. She doesn't know why he is so angry. "Did you break something?"

"Just you." Gretchen pats her head. Natania frowns.

"Vincent," she scolds. "It's not her fault she didn't know how the bargain worked. She's just a human who has never had to do one. You, or I" she adds as an afterthought, "should have explained it better beforehand, so cool it and fill me in."

The vampire sighs but accepts her request. Providing her with the information he's already given Gretchen with a little more. He attempts to talk her out of becoming the man's bodyguard but, at Natania's insistence, agrees to set something up for her. "I'll need a few weeks. It'll have to be worked out through a few people since I don't have direct contacts in that particular company."

Natania nods and thanks him for the information. She programs Gretchen's number in Vincent's phone so someone can reach her with the information.

Vincent hands her a slip of paper with his own number on it as they leave. "Call me," he says in a voice that leaves no room for refusal, "if you need somewhere safe to stay again." With a last glare at Gretchen, he's gone, and they are alone outside the shop.

"I thought vampires died during the day," is the first thing Gretchen says when he is gone, glancing up at the sky where the sun is almost directly overhead.

Natania shrugs. "Most of them do. As much as Vincent likes to hear himself talk, he would never answer why he doesn't. He'd talk your ear off about anything else. His bound get all ...decomposed-like, within an hour after sunrise."

"What was he talking about when he said you would be able to fill me in on what it means for Duvall's wolf to not have a pack? Is it dangerous for you?"

Natania grimaces and indicates they should start walking. "There are many different species of beast bound, but they were all created the same way, at least the first ones were." She scratches the side of her head, unsure where to start. "Okay, the difference between beast bound and what human's refer to as werewolves, moon bound to us, is that a werewolf is a human, bound to a wolf using the power of the moon. Keep in mind that all bound species were created by witches at one point or another. Whereas a beast bound is an animal, a beast, bound to a demon using the power of a human sacrifice." She glances at Gretchen but the human just nods and waves for her to continue.