Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Seven

Adrianna's POV- 15 minutes earlier

I dumped the small, limp furry body of the squirrel I had just drunken from onto the leafy ground. Finding it-or any other animal for that matter-was a lot harder than I had expected, which was strange because my vision is clearer at night since us vampires are actually supposed to sleep by day and hunt by the light of the moon. It must have been because this dark forest barely contained any animals.

Around the turn of the nineteenth century, this ancient tradition of sleeping during the day changed because of the modernization of many age-old vampire traditions that stemmed from European ones.

Sunshield necklaces-as they were so fittingly called-were created by a group of witches up in Canada who had become close allies with a vampire Kingdom that resided somewhere in the northeast. I didn't really pay much attention to this lecture (or any lecture for that matter) during class at Nocte Tenebrae Academy, so you'll have to forgive me if I don't know all the details, like what this Kingdom's name was. Oops.

What I do know is that this brilliant necklace held a ruby gem on its hook, and it was this fiery gem that contained the magic that allowed vampires to go out into the Sun without slowly and painfully burning up into a shriveled pile of black and grey char.

Because it was the King of that Kingdom-that-cannot-be-named who had first been introduced to it, he made it so that only royalty could wear it since it was made of real gold and expensive gems. It was rare too, only about five hundred of them were made until the witches grew fed up with the King's demands and left, but not before burning up the spell book that held the spell for the prized Sunshield necklace. To this day, no other witch has found out what this spell was-at least, not that we know of. Vampires who do not own such a gem must go out into the sun wearing cloaks to shield their sensitive skin.

The only reason I was in possession of one of such necklaces was because my mother and father were close friends with the King who had first been introduced to the piece of jewelry. He gave them each one and one for me too, as a gift of my birth. I was only a few days old at that time.

Nowadays we've found a way to fashionize it, removing the ruby from its hook and molding it into the cylinder surface of a ring or the intricate design of a tiara. I prefer the necklace version of it since it always draws attention to my boobs.

I rubbed the smooth, cold surface of the bloodred gem that hung from my necklace, contemplating whether or not I should go back to the house. I wasn't really hungry anymore, but just the thought of going back there made me feel empty and depressed. Joanna and Rufus said they wanted me home by midnight, and if I didn't come home they'd take it as if I had been attacked by that werewolf and was in some sort of danger. I looked at my gold wristwatch. It was only eight-thirty.

I decided to go for a run through the forest, being mindful of the scented borders that marked the territories of wolf lands and vampire lands.

Running always made me feel so alive-no pun intended. At the high speeds at which I was going, I could barely make out the blurry images of dark tree barks zooming by my peripheral vision, and I relished the rush I felt whenever I made a quick turn to dodge a tree that was directly in front of me. The white crescent moon glowed brilliantly in the sky above, and the cool breeze that whipped my hair back provided me with a sense of relaxation. For a moment, it actually made me feel content. It was while I was running freely like this through the woods that I was happier than I'd ever been during my stay in this town.

It was too bad it couldn't last.

I slowed down my pace, being wary of the smelly wolf border that I was getting close to a couple of miles away. For a second I remained still, staring off into the dark, tree-ridden distance underneath the glow of the moon whilst listening to the sound of crickets chirping around me and car engines zooming by on the street nearby. The sounds of the night soothed me.