Five: Change of Plans

 § Change of Plans §

 

There was one problem in my plan that I could see"so far"and that was the fact that, although I knew how to get to Serenity Park, I was clueless about the way back. Retracing my steps would probably prove useful. I sucked at retracing anything.

 

            So I proceeded to the park without a solid plan of getting back to campus. After almost a whole semester of rooming with Adelheid, one would think a fraction of her good luck would rub off on me, but no.

 

            Going stealth mode, I cautiously made long strides along the side trees, cloaked in shadow.

 

            It would take around fifteen minutes to get to the park at my super-careful pace. But already the wind began rattling my teeth and nerves, whipping my hair into my face, blinding me even further than the vibrant snowflakes already were. Muttering to myself like a psycho-chick hearing voices in her head, I tucked in the loose strands behind my ear for the hundredth time and cursed myself for not having thought to do a ponytail to. When I accidentally stepped on a twig while checking out the nearest street light, I wailed like a siren and then shut my mouth.

 

            This was going to be a long night. But I wouldn’t go back before retrieving my purse, or discovering that it was no longer there, in which case I might go insane.

 

            Sticking to the shadows"and watching what I stepped on this time"I strived to move faster while not giving myself away. About a minute from my spot, but it was so freaking dark, I couldn’t tell if my black purse was there or not. Even the bright snow seemed to be gray in the distance.

 

            Slowly, I crept my way to the line of trees on the opposite side, and then heard a murmur of voices.

 

            “Aeternum; are you sure?” a male voice asked.

 

            I couldn’t see a thing, and had no clue where the owner of the voice was located.. The wind was blowing on the snow so harshly, it seemed as if the voice had come from the wind itself.

 

            “Unfortunately, yes,” a second voice replied ruefully. “But it doesn’t have to concern everyone; I plan to go alone.”

 

            “You can’t go alone! Do you know the current state of the city? Humans and vampires alike are being arrested and imprisoned or exiled for no fathomable reason"and it’s surrounded by cities like Fröhlich and Lloches, which are under their control.”

 

            “I’ll be in disguise,” the second voice replied.

 

What does he mean they’re under “their” control? I wondered, confused. Didn’t Adelheid just tell me a few days ago that Fröhlich is back under a human army’s protection?

 

            Wait…if a human army is “them,” than the speaker must be…

 

            A vampire, you fool! My mind screamed at me. Get out of here!

 

            I didn’t pass out from fright. I guessed I was getting more experienced at accidentally continuously coming in contact with vampires. But these ones didn’t know I was here…right?

 

Unless they do know…I thought. Should I hide in the trees until they leave, or book it now so I get a head start"but they have inhuman speed, and"Oh my God.

 

At that breaking-down moment, the meaning of their words finally sank in. One of them was going to Aeternum"where my parents were supposed to be, according to my grieving memory, before I’d left for this city to attend my last year of high school and years of university. At first I’d simply assumed that Aeternum was the name of the vampire that the first one was addressing.

 

Now’s not the time to wish you were in a vampire’s place so you could go to a war-ridden city to see your parents, common sense scolded me.

 

I decided to try to keep myself hidden until both of them left"which would be hopefully soon, as I also had to use a bathroom, besides trying to unfreeze my face. Also, my hair kept gagging and blinding me thrice a second.

 

The vampires were still talking, but the wind was so loud in my unprotected ears, I couldn’t make out much more than exclamation points from their conversation, as well the occasional pronoun that was emphasized louder than the rest. Finally, I positioned myself in a spot where I could see the two figures. Both vampire soldiers"just my luck. Now, not only was I shivering to keep warm, but also to keep myself alive from the fear of being a few feet away from two vampire soldiers.

 

After what seemed like an hour, one of them finally started walking away in the direction of the path I’d taken here from school, giving me additional chills.

 

“You can come out now,” the wind called to me, making me gasp in fear.

 

“Miss…Eileen?”

 

How did this vampire know my name?! Was this whole thing a setup? But, hadn’t it been my ruthless plan to come here and retrieve my purse? I closed my eyes and wished the whole night was just a nightmare. When I opened them, a vampire soldier was standing before me, in uniform, and armed with weapons.

 

•••                                •§•                               •••

 

 “You!” I cried, even more surprised than the last time I’d seen him.

 

            “Do you know how dangerous it is for a human to risk eavesdropping on vampire military officers while they’re in the midst of discussing plans?” he demanded.

 

            “Military, um…yikes. I didn’t…hear anything…?” I lied.

 

            “Of course not,” Linden retorted.

 

            I was still relieved that he was the military-person-thing who’d found me hiding.

 

            “Okay, I heard that either you"or another vampire"are going to Kirschbaum"I mean, what you vampires call ‘Aeternum.’”

 

            “Anything else?” he inquired.

 

            “No…I already knew that it was occupied by"um, your army.” Thanks to Adelheid.

 

            “Not particularly my army"the vampires have two on our side, and the southern army is presently stationed there.”

 

            “I want to hitch a ride there with you, since you probably have it all planned out.”

 

            Where did that come from?

 

            “You most certainly may not ‘hitch a ride with me’.”

 

            “I have to go; my parents are there,” I insisted.

 

            “You can’t"you’re human, and I’m vampire.”

 

            “Wait"wait. I just realized something.”

 

            He glanced wearily at me, his face showing suspicion.

 

            “You said you’d be ‘in disguise,’ which means…you’ll pose as a human. Like me,” I didn’t fail to emphasize.

 

            “So I will. Are you quite finished with your moment of enlightenment?”

 

            “I could help you pull it off,” I suggested. “Come on, you won’t even know I’m there.”

 

            “I don’t need your help,” he stated. “And…if the army general has something planned for your parents, it’s highly unlikely that you’d be able to change his mind. Besides, it’s dangerous enough for me to venture into a hectic city alone; if you’re with me, you’ll be a risk factor.”

 

            “So, I’m like that old vampire, and you’re like the soldier who saw him as a risk factor?” I challenged.

 

            “I’m trying to keep you safe, not killing you because I have to keep you safe,” he shot back.

 

            “Yeah, right,” I responded. “You’re a vampire, and I’m not stupid.”

 

            He glared at me in response.

 

            So I didn’t know what I was doing; figured as much.

 

            “Fine,” I grunted out none too ladylike. “But something that might not stay ‘safe’ is your secret plan to disguise yourself as a human"that might accidentally slip through my lips,” I warned.

 

            “What?” he asked, half smiling, stepping closer to me and heating up my body with the shorter distance. he closed the remaining gap in one long stride. “These innocent lips?”

 

            I was so taken aback, I stood there, more frozen than ever, wondering what was going to happen next.

 

            When he stepped back, he spoke through what sounded suspiciously like a grin, as in, his expression of pride for freaking me out. I didn’t dare look up from the ground"the dirt was fascinating with all that snow…sparkling and s**t.

 

            “If you’re going to use your lips as a weapon…No, you still can’t come,” he told me. “I wouldn’t trust me if I were in your position; I could kill you right this moment.”

 

            That wrestled some words out of my innocent lips. “Okay, I’ll stay here.”