Chapter 117-Hunter and the hunted (2)

Chapter 117: 117-Hunter and the hunted (2)

’Hunter and the hunted!’

The bridge felt too big to cross over. Her mother would never take the first steps to reach her side, and it will be courting death for her to head to the other side.

It skipped Maisa’s mind that she can be the hunter while the ones hunting her could be the prey. With her speed, strength, and magic, she could easily turn tables and be the one tearing them apart.

It’s just in her mind. She had spent a long tike seeing vampires fall hunters that she didn’t think once that she could be on the victorious side against hunters.

She carefully peeked around the tree. Laralene was still talking over the phone.

Maisa allowed herself to look. She watched her mother from a distance, absorbing every detail she could without moving.

She looked older than Maisa remembered. She didn’t look weak, her mother was never weak, just... more tired.

There were subtle lines around her eyes that hadn’t been there before.

Maisa’s chest tightened. She wanted to know what had happened after she disappeared.

Had her mother cried? Had she searched for her? Had the family believed she was dead? Had they mourned her? Or had they simply accepted her disappearance as another tragedy in the dangerous life of an Everheart?

The questions hurt because she knew the possibility of them doing that was high. Her mother wasn’t emotional and she never allowed the family to be sentimental either.

Maisa pressed a hand against her mouth. She didn’t want to cry and draw attention to herself. Not where a single sound could expose her and turn the scene bloody.

She watched Laralene end the call. The woman lowered the device and then she stopped.

Maisa’s instincts screamed. "Oh, oh!"

Laralene’s head tilted slightly. Her expression changed. The experienced hunter suddenly looked toward the trees.

Maisa’s blood ran cold as Laralene slowly turned in her direction. She was no longer distracted, she was sensing something and looking for it with her eyes.

Her eyes swept across the surroundings. Maisa hid quickly and didn’t breathe, move or let herself be seen.

She had spent years learning from this woman. She knew how dangerous Laralene’s senses were. A hunter who had survived for decades didn’t need to see an enemy to know one was nearby.

Laralene’s gaze narrowed. She took one step forward and Maisa’s heart pounded as she heard that step.

’Don’t,’ she offered a silent prayer.

Laralene looked directly toward the tree where Maisa hid as she took another step forward towards her.

"I can’t let her find me. I’m too young to die!"

Maisa’s body reacted before her mind could, she moved and in less than a heartbeat, she slipped farther behind the tree and then vanished deeper into the forest, moving with the unnatural speed she had gained after becoming a vampire.

She stopped far enough away that even her heightened senses could barely hear the compound anymore.

She crouched behind another cluster of trees. The area fell into dead silence when she stopped moving.

She slowly looked back. "Had you found me, mom. What would you have done?" She was curious to know whether for once in her life, the mother in Laralene would overpower the hunter in her.

Laralene remained near the compound. She was staring toward the place Maisa had been. For several long seconds, the hunter said nothing before her expression tightened.

"Maisa?"

The call sounded more like a question. She had no idea why she had a terrible feeling that Maisa was watching her.

She knew her daughter’s eyes and how it felt to be gazed upon by her and the feeling had been strong moments back. But now it was gone.

She looked around once more before finally turning back toward the house. "Was I imagining it?" She asked.

Laralene doubted her senses had been wrong, they never were. And if she wasn’t wrong then how come Maisa disappeared without a word.

She hadn’t seen her but she had felt her. Laralene released a heavy breath. "Maisa, where are you child? What has happened to you that you are not coming home?"

Far away, Maisa released the breath she had been holding. Her shoulders sagged. She had come all this way to see her family and she couldn’t even walk through the gate.

She looked toward the compound one final time. Her mother was already disappearing inside. Maisa’s eyes filled with tears.

"Goodbye, Mother."

The words were barely audible. She wiped her face quickly and she turned away. The forest swallowed her figure as she began walking back toward the road.

She had wanted to spend the break with her aunt, to get answers about her family. Instead, she had learned something far more painful.

Her aunt’s home had been taken over by her family, her family was still there, they were alive and for some reason, that were more on edge than ever.

Maisa could no longer go home because the moment she stepped through that barrier, she would stop being their daughter. She would become what they had spent generations hunting.

"Where do I go now?"

Maisa’s voice was barely louder than the wind. She stood alone, staring at the distant boundary separating the two worlds she could no longer call home. The human world had been taken from her the moment she became a vampire. Yet the vampire world had never truly accepted her either.

The only place whose doors had once remained open for her was no longer available. Her aunt’s home was surrounded by defenses and hunters.

The academy was technically still there, but returning alone during the break felt almost unbearable.

For the first time, Maisa realized just how completely she had been caught between worlds. She had no place in the vampire world and she no longer had a place in the human one.

Maybe she should simply return to Veris Academy and spend the rest of the break there. At least the empty dormitory would give her somewhere to sleep, even if it offered no warmth. She turned toward the road back.

"Help me!"

A scream shattered the quiet. Maisa’s head snapped toward the sound.

Another cry followed, this one filled with panic. "Help me..."

Her instincts took over and she moved. In a single flash, Maisa crossed the distance and found herself standing at the shore of a large lake. The peaceful scenery had transformed into a battlefield.

Water exploded from the lake, twisting through the air like enormous serpents before crashing toward a young woman surrounded by flames. The two vampires were locked in a fierce confrontation, their elemental magic colliding violently above the water.

One was a fire vampire and the other controlled water and the water vampire was winning.

The fire vampire’s flames were repeatedly smothered beneath waves, forcing her backward with every attack.

"No one is coming to save you, Teetee!" the water vampire shouted. "I will kill you right here today!"

The fire vampire wiped at her face and glared defiantly. "I am Taratoya, believe it or...not..."

She barely managed to finish the sentence before another wave came crashing toward her. Taratoya twisted aside, narrowly avoiding the attack.

"I am not easy to kill!"

She immediately turned and ran. The water vampire raised her hand to pursue her, but Taratoya was already sprinting along the lakeshore.

Unfortunately, she was running directly toward Maisa. Maisa barely had time to react before Taratoya stumbled. The stranger crashed straight into her.

Maisa caught her instinctively, preventing her from hitting the ground. Taratoya’s head rested against her shoulder. For a brief second, neither of them moved and then Taratoya inhaled.

Her expression changed when she took a sniff at Maisa, even through her exhaustion, she could tell that Maisa was a vampire.

Her eyes widened slightly as she looked up at Maisa. "You’re a vampire..."

Maisa opened her mouth to respond, but Taratoya suddenly grabbed weakly at her clothes.

"Help me..." her voice was barely a whisper now. "My cousin..." she struggled to remain conscious. "Varitreya Vancrest..."

Maisa froze at the name. It was one of a kind and belonged only to one person in the vampire world, the blood heir.

Taratoya tried to continue. "My cousin Varitreya will compensate you..."

Her strength finally gave out. Her eyes closed, and her body went limp in Maisa’s arms.

Maisa stared down at her in disbelief. Of all the names Taratoya could have mentioned, it had to be Varitreya. The vampire she had been trying desperately not to think about, whose absence had left that painful emptiness inside her.

Maisa slowly looked toward the lake and found the water vampire was approaching and suddenly, her quiet break had become anything but quiet.

She raised her hand, feeling all the elements around her; earth, fire, air and water. Her eyes darkened. ’One wrong move and I’ll annihilate you!’ She warned through a link that formed between her and the water vampire in that moment.