Chapter four

Tristan's hunger always gets the better of him

Chapter five

 

“Next time try to catch them,” Tristan said as he walked over towards me.  “You need to be faster and not hesitate.” When the last drop of blood was gone from the man’s body I threw it to the side.

“I’m sorry, I just forgot.” Tristan laughed and helped me up.  For the first time I realized he hadn’t fed in over two days.  Tristan had a naturally skinny face, with high cheek bones and a very narrow face.  He already looked like the walking dead without being hungry, but now he just looked terrifying, and the circles around his eyes were too dark.  “Tristan, why didn’t you take the man, you haven’t eaten in days.” Tristan led me back into the SUV.

“A week, actually.  You’re a newbie; you need more blood than I do.  I’ve been trained to go without blood for a while.” Tristan started the SUV up and drove away from the city of lights.

“You haven’t eaten in a week?  Tristan, that’s suicidal!” I yelled at him as he sped up.

“Cassidy, I’ve been a vampire since I was four; I’ve learned to control my hunger better than everyone else at the Home.” How could Tristan not eat for a week?  I could only imagine what he must’ve felt when he found me lying on the ground bleeding to death.  How easy it would’ve been to drink my blood and be healthy again.

“You look much better!” Clare said as we stepped into the cream room again.  Tristan and I went back to our original spots on the couch and listened to what Clare had to say.  “Tristan should probably take you out again tonight before you go to bed.  You’re going to need a lot of blood in the beginning.” Clare continued on and on about all the things I had to do as a newbie.  “Tomorrow morning Tristan and I can work with you on controlling your anger.  The work on blood will take longer, so it’s best to start with the easy one.”

“When do I need to drink?” I asked shyly, not wanting to interrupt her excitement over a new vampire.

“Any time you feel the burn in your throat.  It’s not that hard to miss.  Or if at any time you feel weak, you need to drink.  And if for some reason you can’t go and hunt yourself, someone will probably bring you back something, but they will always want to share.”

“So she’s pretty much my leach for the next few months.” Tristan said darkly.  I looked at him and he returned it with a dark gaze.  Had I upset him already?  Clare sighed and handed me the papers she had been writing on before we left.  They were notes on vampires, what we do, how we do it, when to do things, when not to do things, etcetera.

“Do you have a problem mentoring her?” Clare asked Tristan.  He sighed and slouched down.

“No, it’s just I’ve never had someone with this lost puppy personality before.” Anger was boiling inside of me.  I felt my hand turn into a fist.

“Tristan,” Clare warned, seeing the anger on my face “Watch your words.  Remember, she’s a newbie.”

“Oh s**t,” Before Tristan could mutter out the rest my hand went flying into his nose.  Tristan fell off the couch and onto the floor as I jumped up and pulled him up.  With all the strength I had I launched him over the room and onto the other side where he landed on the ground hardly.  I jumped over the couch and sprinted over to him.  As much as I wanted it to stop, I couldn’t stop this anger.  Tristan was up in record time and we collided and fell to the ground.  He landed on top of me and held me down.

“Do you really think you could beat me, Cassidy?” I was breathing angrily and my heart was beating fast.  All Tristan did was stare at me with cold eyes.  He didn’t let me up, he didn’t say anything, he just stared.  And suddenly like a light switch, the anger was gone and replaced with an indescribable emotion.  For the first time I realized Tristan’s features, the way he was built, the way his messy hair hung in his face, but most importantly, I felt something I’ve never felt before. Sure there have been a few guys in my life, but none of them had made me feel like this before.  Did I have a crush on my mentor?