CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Two weeks have passed since we escaped. We entered vampire territory a few days ago. We had to wait a week after we escaped because Ekaterina fell sick. The silver protecting spell took an enormous toll on her body. Luckily for us, she recovered well and was able to cast a strong spell to make us enter vampire territory without raising suspicion. Things between Theo and I are the same. He treats me with respect, but other than that, nothing has really changed. I wish it would because with him treating me with care these days. I find it hard not to fall for him. Sometimes I think about initiating things between us but don't ever fall through with it. I am too shy, and also I don't want to face rejection if I am misreading his signs. Theo, Ekaterina, and I are in the streets in Vampire territory, asking around for mom. I believe I have asked more than 100 people today, and none of them have seen her or knows her whereabouts. I am starting to worry I am too late in finding her. "Hey," Theo says, waving his hands in front of my face. I didn't even know I got lost in my thoughts. As I come back to earth, I see the sun is setting which means another week has ended, and we still haven't found mom or heard anything about her whereabouts. I don't even know when I start crying until I feel Theo's warm hands touch my face. "Why are you crying?" He asks, wiping away my tears. "Theo," I say, bursting out in tears as I think about the possibility of mom no longer being alive. I don't even want to think about that if that's true. It will kill me if I have lost her. Theo does not say anything to me. He just pulls me closer to him and wraps his arms around me. I bury my head in his chest and cry my heart out. I don't know how long we stayed in that position, but by the time I stopped crying. The sky was filled with stars, and the moon was out. I try to take one step but almost fall. I quickly hold on to Theo, who sweeps me off the ground and into his arms. I don't complain and enjoy being in his arms. Theo walks us to the car we rented when we entered the city. We are staying in a hotel in vampire territory. As we walk to the car, I can't help and think about what Theo did for me today. I can't believe Theo stood with me while I cried for hours. He did not have to stand there with me, but he did, and now he is carrying me to the car when I am sure his legs are also killing him from standing for long. This is precisely what I was saying about Theo. He treats me so well but other than that, nothing else. The next day, while in the living room after another unsuccessful search for mom during the day, Theo walks out of his bedroom. Theo and I are sharing a hotel suite, but it has two rooms inside. Theo refused to allow me to have my own separate suite. I was not surprised because I am already familiar with Theo's possessiveness. "Are you hungry?" He asks, walking over to sit beside me "Yes, I am. Did you order room service?" "No, I didn't. I thought we could go out for dinner tonight?" "Alright, let me go and get ready," I say, standing up from the couch. I walk out of my room once I am done changing my outfit. Theo and I walk out of our suite to get going. The spell Ekaterina cast in the afternoon still has its effect on, so we don't need her to create a new one yet. She won't be joining us for dinner. She went somewhere. Theo and I walk into the restaurant once we arrive. We take our seats on the first empty ones we come across. "So I was thinking we should start searching for her during the night. We will be able to meet vampires, and maybe they might have seen her." Theo says while checking the menu in front of him. We have been asking humans in the city, not vampires. There are a lot of humans living in vampire territory. The territory is like a normal human area, just with a lot of blood-sucking monsters at night. I think they allow many humans to live here, so it would be easier for them to access their food. I don't know if the humans know about the vampires, though, but I doubt. Most vampires drain all the blood from you when they feed off you. So there won't be anyone going back to tell the tale of how a vampire took their blood. "That was the same thing I was thinking we should do," I say while looking at the menu too. "We can start tomorrow night," Theo says after he finishes telling the waiter his order. "Seems like a plan, but we will have to be extra careful," I say after ordering my food too. "Yes, we will, and we will have Ekaterina with us at all times." "I hope we find her soon." "Don't worry, we will." Halfway through dinner, I excuse myself and walk to the restroom to use it. After I am done doing my business while walking out, I bump into someone. I quickly apologize to the human for hitting him but take it back once I see the human. "Ana," Matt says, shocked to see me. I don't say anything to him and walk past him. He stops me by grabbing my hand. "Ana, please allow me to apologize for what happened that night." "I don't need your apology, Matt." "Even though I am sorry, I don't know what came over me that night. It's not like me to do something like that to you. I am truly sorry I hurt you." "As I said, Matt, I don't need your apology, so release my hand." "Please forgive me and come back to me. I miss you," He says, pulling me close to him. "Are you sick in the head? I will never get back together with you, and will you release my hand," I say and forcefully remove my hand from his grip, but I think I may have done it a little too late once I hear that familiar earth-shattering growl. I look across the room, and there stands a fuming Alpha king about to tell every vampire here that he is a werewolf and also rip Matt's head. Theo takes dangerous steps towards us, and as he is about to touch Matt. I place my hand on his chest to calm him down. "Please calm down. He is only a stupid human. We can't afford to expose ourselves because of him" I try to reason with Theo, who has his eyes locked on Matt behind me. I place my hand on his face and move it towards mine. I lock eyes with him and plead with him to calm down using my eyes. After what feels like forever, Theo says the words I longed to hear. "You are fortunate tonight, human. I will spare your life today even though you touched what's mine" Theo, says and grabs my hand. "Thank you for not killing him," I say, as Theo drags me outside with him. "Why did you allow the human to touch you? You know how much I hate it when males touch you," Theo says, sounding angry. "I know, and I am sorry. It won't happen again," I say, trying to calm him down. "Make sure it never happens again," Theo says, walking us to the car. "I promise" On our way to the car, I see someone sitting on the hood of the vehicle. Why would someone sit on the car? I am about to speak to Theo about it when he suddenly says the one word I feared the most since we entered Vampire territory. "They know, run," Theo says, pulling me with him. "How," I ask, running beside Theo. "They must have heard my growl in the restaurant and guessed we were werewolves," Theo says, running into the woods close to the restaurant. Vampire territory is surrounded by trees everywhere. I think it's like that to avoid too much sunlight around the area. "Should we shift?" "No, they will find us faster if they can smell us. We still smell like them, so not until it's necessary." We continue running for a few minutes. I am about to tell Theo that I think we outran the vampires when one catches up to us. "Hello, Werewolves," A young vampire says, running up beside Theo. "Mind if we join the party," An older one says, smirking. Theo stops running, grabs the one by his side by the neck, and flings him deeper into the woods. The one by my side tries to grab me, but I dodge him. Theo quickly comes to help and throws him away. "I think more are coming?" I say, feeling out of breath. I know it's because of the running. "Yes, I can smell them. Do you trust me?" "Yes, I do; why are you asking me that right now?" I ask, confused. Theo and I have been through hell together in the hands of human hunters, so of course, I trust him. He has also helped me immensely with finding my mom. "It's good that you do because I need you to trust me and do what I am about to say without questioning me." "Okay," I wonder what he is going to say. "We need to split up." "No, we shouldn't. Why would you suggest such" I disagree. I wonder why he would suggest that right now. "Do you trust me?" He asks again "I already answered that, so answer my question. Why should we split up?" "Just do as I ask since you trust me. The exit to vampire territory is not far from here. Once you are outside, wait for me at the cabin," Theo says, walking away from me. "No, I don't want to get separated from you," I say, stopping him "Trust me, it's the best way to get both of us out of here alive," He says and pecks my forehead before he starts running again. I think about disobeying him and following him but decide to trust Theo and follow his plan. I run in the opposite direction from him. I run as fast as my human legs can take me. I only stop once a howl is heard in the woods. I immediately understood why Theo wanted us to separate. I concentrate and try to hear if anyone is running towards me but hear none coming in my direction. I only hear them going in the direction the howl was heard from. I can't believe Theo would risk his life for me like this. I continue running to not make Theo's sacrifice be in vain but stop again once I hear a wolf whimpering in pain. They are hurting Theo. I have to go and save him. I run towards the direction I can hear the whimpering coming from. I also try to sniff Theo's scent in the woods to help me get there faster. I even think about shifting because, in wolf form, I am faster but decide to wait till I get there. I sniff Theo's scent closer as I run, and I change my mind and shift. I can smell his scent mixed with blood. I hope I don't get there too late. I can smell the vampire close too. My paws hit the ground hard as I increased my speed. I arrived where Theo's scent and the vampires were coming from, but I couldn't see Theo or the vampires. What if I am too late and they have already torn his body to pieces. I change back to human form and walk closer to the blood in the middle of the field. From here, the blood seems to have a lot of vampire smell in it. I crunch down and place my hands on the blood. I bring my fingers close to my nose and sniff the blood if it has Theo's scent in it. The second the blood smell registers in my brain, teardrops from my eyes. It's Theo's blood, and I can't even find his body.