Vladimir's POV
"She got a tattoo," Via said as she entered my room.
It took her days to actually say that. I've been waiting like crazy because I'm dying to know. I did nothing but wait and cook for her everyday. I don't know, that woman is getting used to me cooking for her. She even wanted me to cook not only for her. Actually, she always gives the things I cook to the children at church.
"And," I said impatiently. "What covenant?"
Then, she's a witch—
"It's no symbol of covenant," Via dropped it. She shook his head. "I've searched for it. Stan did and so did Mom. It's not a symbol of a covenant or anything, not even a symbol of a wolf, "she sighed. "It's just a tattoo of broken wings."
"So, it's nonsense?" I asked.
"Yeah, she told me that she tattooed it together with her friends when she was in high school. It looks legit when she says that. So, she's definitely not a witch."
"Then, what is she?"
"I don't know."
I don't know, either. I wish I knew, but I still haven't figured out how she always managed to disappear. When I asked her, all she would answer was that she was not missing. Ugh! She's giving me a headache.
"Broken wings?" Vanna said softly.
Via turned to us at once. We did not realize she had come. I was too occupied or maybe you just wouldn't really notice when Vanna. Owls actually have the gift to hide themselves from people and vampires. They can hide their smell.
"Like this," she showed us his drawing. I remember she drew that a year ago before we moved to this town.
"Yeah, that's it. Only the left wing is broken. What does it mean? " Via asked.
"I don't know. I drew it years ago but I remembered, the vision was actually telling me that someone with that tattoo will come to us."
"Is it negative? Is she not someone to trust? " I asked.
Vanna shrugged. "The Ruin Owl told me that he saw a woman in his vision," she started explaining. "At first we thought she had no connection but saying that you saw this with Cassy then she is the woman that our visions refer to."
"It's the Ruin, how about the Fall?" I said.
The owl goes together. The Ruin sees the visions connected in the past. Fear in the present. And Fall in future.
"Fall says that she will come back as promised," Vanna added.
"Promised? What does it mean?" I was confused.
"She will come back as promised to redeem her grace," Vanna completed it.
"Her grace?" Mom appeared from the door. We turned to him at once. "She must be a—"
We all stopped when the alarm sounded. It was the red alarm connected to House Ruin and House Fall which means there is an attack.
Via started typing on her phone when she received the message. In a second, she showed us the viral pictures of the lowkies. Lowkies are still humans that look like dead zombies looking for blood to drink. They still can be seen in mirrors and pictures. They still have shadows and soul.
"People are claiming it to be zombies. Others say they saw a vampire, red eyes and fangs, "Via scrolled down the pictures. "There's a lot of humans who witnessed and became victims of the attack."
"I've seen blood," We turned our attention to Vanna. Her eyes are gleaming red looking nowhere. "Half-bloods are coming." She fainted and fortunately Van caught her. She must have seen terrible things in her visions for her to faint.
"Let's go," Mom ordered.
Via stayed with Vanna in her room while Mom and Dad went straight to the council. I heard they sent a group from our army to fight the half-blood rushes.
We went straight to help but it was all clear and the only thing we could reach were the corpses of the lowkies and some victims who had not been identified. The police and other detectives were there to investigate the case. Dad was not there with the police, the council meeting is more important.
I've seen the families of the victims crying and cursing at the media. Although there were a lot of people, she always stands out among them. It was only a short distance away that I knew he was there. She always smells like fresh water from the ocean, that's how her blood smells. To tell you, strong human bloods have different smells. They go with the smell of the ocean, then different kinds of flowers. Vampires believe that the blood with the smell of the ocean is the most delicious.
I saw Cassandra standing next to the kids. There were two kids crying and he put them to bed. They were outside the crime scene, they were on the side and sitting on the bench. The boy kept on calling Mom while pointing out the crime scene while the girl kept on crying and she didn't know how to stop.
I want to go near her to talk but I've seen eyes around. There are other vampires roaming around aside from us purebloods. The lower house are also here and they are keeping their eyes on her, on her blood.
Van and I remained standing, waiting for the police and media along with the other human, the families of the victim and the bystander. It was a work to do for Ruin, they're good at that. Ruka and Rina Ruin started talking to the police and detective. Their twins, Ruka can control the mind of people while Rina can make people obey her. After the police, I saw them approach the victim's family and the other bystander one by one. They even talked to the media while we were waiting for them to finish.
I kept my eye on Cassandra. I can hear the children still crying. Ruka was about to go there when she was called by the newly arrived detective who seemed surprised at the sudden change in the news. Ruka actually started spreading that she is a doctor and even faked an I.D. She said a serious disease or epidemic had landed in the area, erasing the fact about vampires and lowkies.
I was somehow relieved that she hadn't approached Cassandra. I don't know. I just don't want her near vampires other than us. The children still didn't stop and saw if she was having a hard time so she hugged them. I swear I've heard her chant or sing something but I don't understand which is weird. Vampires can hear the sound of everything, even the farthest sound within our radius. Especially when we focused, and I was too focused on her so it was impossible that I didn't understand that.
What did she say that made the two kids instantly stop crying? Who is she really?
"She's your girlfriend, right?" Van and I turned to the speaker at the same time. I saw a gray-haired guy. "Rumors fly, Fear," he smiled at me.
"Fall," I greeted her with a hand shake. "It's been a while, Ace," I added.
Ace Fall is my best friend. We've been together since, but for the last two seasons we parted ways because he wants to explore the world alone and away from his family. We just met now.
"Well, not really my girlfriend. It's just nothing," I denied. Wait, why am I denying it? Well, it's not really true.
"Yeah, just a piece of advice. Don't let her bleed, her blood attracts half-bloods. And the lower houses are keeping their eyes on her," he instructed. "We still don't know who is in the lower house but one half-blood said that they get funds from a lowerhouse."
"That sucks," Van commented. "They must be eager to remove us from the higher house."
"Yeah, right. Anyway, I've done my part."
"What part?" Van said. "I don't think you did anything," he joked.
Ace laughed. "Thanks for the army, we were outnumbered a while ago. The half-bloods are growing. Many escaped earlier but we managed to kill many half-bloods and lowkies a while ago in their hide-out." He pointed to the warehouse at the end of the alley. "The place just needs cleaning which I believe has always been Fear's forte," he grinned.
"Not me, it has always been Van." I pointed at my brother.
Van nodded, he already knew what he was going to do because whenever there's an attack, he was always the one to clean the mess. Easy by turning them all to dust. Sometimes I like his gift more than I like mine.
"Seems like the twins are done negotiating," Ace turned to them, if negotiating is even the term. When it comes to talking or treaty it was always the Ruin who did it for the council. Mostly their gifts are related to that like controlling people or making them obey.
"So we leave it to you then," Ace nodded a bit.
The House Fall are skilled fighters. They are best when it comes to fighting so they are always in the front when it comes to fighting. They can channel their gift and turn them into weapons. We get our machines and weapons from their house.
We, the House Fear, only need to touch things to create, heal, or destroy them. Van can make things turn into dust. Dad can burn everything through his fire. Mom can heal anything with her hands. Mostly, she created the medicine people use up until now and even the machines to cure people. Via can create memories.
"I guess I just have to see you at the gathering then," I said.
"I know, we need a lot of catching up." He tapped me on the shoulder. The twins signaled that they were done. We waited for the people to leave one by one as if nothing had happened.
"Stay alive till then Fear and that girl ..." He looked at Cassandra. She is still there sitting with the children. "Watch her." He nodded and quickly disappeared from our sight.
"Well, that girl is your rumored girlfriend right? They got their eyes on her, "Rina said to me as she approached. "It is now your responsibility to take care of her. We cannot use our power to her, there's an exception to people we control. She got strong blood, ocean blood."
"It's rare," Ruke said. "I thought they don't exist, makes me want to taste the blood — yeah just kidding Fear," she teasingly laughed.
"There are two of them, the guy with her a while ago got the ocean blood too. I never thought I would be able to smell the ocean blood in this lifetime. "
"Guy, who?" Van asked what I wanted to ask. He was already done turning the dead into dust.
"We don't know. Just look at them both. If half-bloods got their hands on one of them, you'll know what will happen. "
They will have enough power to wage on us because ocean blood can make them strong. If they've got two, those half-bloods will get even stronger than us. One sip of blood is enough, what more when they have already killed it. Good thing, half-bloods can't smell the blood, it needs to bleed before they can smell it.
Van joined the twins to the warehouse and left me there. I went to her. The two children slept soundly on the bench as he watched it. I noticed the wound on the boy's knee, it was dry and seemed to have lost blood while the girl had a thin bite on her shoulder.
"Will they turn into a vampire or lowkie?" with concern she asked. "I just can't afford, their mother -"
"Ssh," I calmed her down. "They won't, okay?" I touched my palm to the wound of the two children and it gradually disappeared.
"It's cold." she commented. "Just like you."
"I didn't heal them. I just freeze the wounds. You just have to let them drink this."
I gave her the potion.
"It will prevent them from becoming one. It will prevent the virus from coming in. "
"Thank you," she smiled. "Though, stop it already. It's cold."
"Oh, sorry," I said laughing. "It's just. I just used it now."
My gift makes people freeze to death. I can actually make the entire town freeze if I want to. I can stop things from moving but I can't stop time.
"Yeah, I'll go then and bring the kids to the church."
"I'll help you. And then I'll go back after. "
She nodded.
"Cassy," I said for the first time, making her look at me with surprise. "You want me to be your boyfriend, right?" I asked knowing I shouldn't ask anymore.
"Then do me a favor. I promise to do all the things in your bucket list if you promise me one thing."
"What?"
"Don't hurt yourself," I said. "Just don't okay? Don't let yourself bleed, especially when I'm not with you."
"I can handle myself, don't — wait, are you falling in love with me?" she said laughing as her eyes widened.
"I'm dead serious."
She was silent and I wasn't sure if it was sadness that cross her eyes for a moment.
"Promise me, okay?"
"Okay, if my boyfriend says so," she smiled.
I smiled back.
"C'mon, let's take them to Sister. I cannot carry them so... "
"Wait, do you want me to braid your hair before going?"
Astonished, she looked at me. Her mouth was still in shock as if she didn't believe me. I was even amazed that I could braid hair. I tried it on Via a few times and she was really annoyed.
"What? You're gonna stare? That's third on your list. "
She giggled. So did I.