Smiles

Here is a map of vampire territories! Each circled area is its own territory.

Spoiler

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Lilian took a deep breath. She could do this.

She was standing in the middle of a forest with a small-ish bird in her hands. She had just caught it.

She leaned in and bit down on the neck of the bird. Within a few seconds, its body was drained of blood.

It was delicious. Her first meal that she caught, killed, and ate entirely by herself. Although, she wasn't quite done. After draining the bird, she crunched down on it. The bones snapping between her sharp fangs was amazing.

After the whole bird was gone, she continued on in her hunt. One small bird wasn't enough, not for her.

Her mothers had given her enough blood to be as strong as a human for her whole life. She knew why. But still, being able to drink as much as she wanted to was not an opportunity she was going to pass off.

She leaned into the trees, jumping silently from branch to branch.

Another scent drifted past her sensitive nose. A black bear, intermingled with blood.

She dashed north, following the scent trail. Then she spotted the large, furry creature pawing and sniffing at what looked like a small deer. There were two wounds on the deer's flank resembling arrow holes.

Lilian guessed that someone had shot the deer and then decided it was too small to eat so they had left it there.

She snuck up quietly above the bear, waiting for just the right moment. Then she pounced.

She flexed her hands and small claws extended from her fingers. They dug into the bear's body, pulling it backward. Then Lilian bit down on the bear and drank. It thrashed for several seconds before going limp.

Then Lilian turned to the deer. She drained the corpse of its blood as well.

When she was done, she stood up. The wind blew her silver-purple hair around her face wildly and she turned to let it pull her hair back. A few clouds moved and the moonlight illuminated her body.

Then there was a crack of a branch behind her.

She whipped her head around and peered into the shadows.

Then she saw movement. She leaped forward, grabbed onto whatever the thing was, and pinned it to a tree.

Staring right at her were the terrified blue eyes of a human girl. She looked around Lilian's age, with several layers of clothing on and a bow strapped to her back. Short black hair framed her face.

"Um. . ." She said. "Hi?"

"Who are you?" Lilian asked.

"My name is Jessie," The girl answered. "Who are you? No, what are you?"

"You saw that, didn't you," Lilian said. "Well, shit."

What should she do? Her mothers had told her that she could only tell a human about vampires if she drank their blood first.

"Are you a vampire?" Jessie asked, making Lilian tense. "If you are, please don't kill me."

"I won't kill you," Lilian said. She never wanted to kill anything at first. Her mothers had eventually made it clear that she had to to live. But she was still holding strong to her belief of never killing a human. "But if you want me to tell you anything, you have to trust me."

"Okay," Jessie said. "Whatever you're going to do, do it quickly." She closed her eyes.

"I'll try," Lilian said. "I haven't done it with a human before."

She leaned forward and bit softly into Jessie's neck. She felt the girl tense, but her muscles relaxed after a second. Lilian drank only a tiny amount of blood, not wanting to hurt Jessie.

Then she pulled away, breathing heavily. Her first taste of human blood was fantastic.

"So you are a vampire," Jessie said.

"Yes," Lilian said. "Although now that you know, I need to bring you back to my house."

"How come?" Jessie asked, her heartbeat picking up its pace.

"I need to tell my mothers about you," Lilian answered. "Now that you know, you have to be registered."

"Oh," Jessie said. "Okay." She followed Lilian down the mountain.

As they walked, Lilian felt a strange feeling in her stomach. It was like a fluttering of insect wings.

What could it be?