Chapter 8 - Robin

I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. When was following a vampire ever been a good idea? The darkness underneath the trees didn’t help settle my nerves at all. The day had been a deeply gray with bouts of rain. Oddly enough, the thought that if it did rain, the trees would keep a lot of the water off me helped settle me some. 

“So,” I said, drawing out the word. “What exactly am I going to be doing?”

“You’ll be learning to run, little wolf,” the vampire replied. He looked nearly the exact same as when I met him yesterday. Did he have a change of clothes?

“Right, could you be less vague, maybe?”

“No.”

I scowled at his back. “Then at least tell me where we’re going?”

He glanced back at me with a look that screamed. ‘Are you an idiot?’ before answering me. “To my territory.” The tone was nothing short of condescending. “I know what your alpha is capable of, and I will not spend a minute longer near his borders than I have to.”

What he was capable of? What did that mean? I tried to ask him just that, but got another scathing glance from the vampire. It seemed vampires weren’t much for conversation. Usually neither was I, but being this nervous, I found it impossible to shut up. “So… about that running. What do you mean, I will learn to run?”

To my surprise, he answered my question this time. “I mean, you are capable of far more capable of what you think and today we’re going to break down the barriers that keep you small.”

“Ah,” I replied, still confused. “Yeah, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

I swore I heard him sigh before he said, “You’ll see soon enough.”

“Great,” I mumbled and continued walking, but we weren’t walking long when the vampire stopped. We were still in the middle of the woods and before I could ask a single question, he moved to the side, revealing another vampire tied to a tree. He looked older, and despite his current state, looked more refined than my vampire… no, not my vampire… Alec. Yeah, that was his name. Alec.

“What is this, Master? Why have you brought me this wolf? First, you attack me and now plan to feed me their foul blood?” the vampire demanded with a heavy accent I didn’t recognize. 

“Hey,” I snapped, more offended than I probably should, and got a hiss from the vampire. Unlike Alec, he didn’t scare me. Instead, he reminded me of an angry kitten. So much so I had to fight not to smile. There was no reason to tempt fate, after all.

“You will tell me if he’s being truthful with me,” Alec said, ignoring the other vampire and focused on me. 

“I can’t do that,” I said, super nervous again. “I told you—”

“You can do that,” he said, his tone calm and even. “Look beyond your mundane senses, open your mind and reach out to his.”

“Werewolves can’t—” I started again, but Alec stopped me again.

“I’m not talking about werewolves. I’m talking about you. You, Robin Douglas, are more than a mere werewolf.”

I started to object, but as soon as he said my name, the other vampire’s demeanor changed. He pressed back into the tree with fear on his face. “No… they’re dead… they died in the war,” he mumbled softly.

“See,” Alec replied with a ghost of a smile. 

I looked between the two vampires, more confused than I’ve ever been in my life. “I… I don’t know how to do that.”

“Relax, breath deep, and focus on him,” Alec explained.

I didn’t think it’d be possible to relax given the situation that I was in, but I tried to do what he said. With a slow, deep breath, I looked at the vampire. I must have been staring at him for a solid five minutes before I glanced over at Alec. “I don’t think anything is happening.”

The other vampire seemed to relax with a small, almost inaudible, breathy laugh. Alec again ignored him and focused on me. “You’re still trying to use your mundane senses. You need to go beyond them. Use your innate abilities.” He walked over to the vampire. He took a piece of cloth from the vampire’s breast pocket and stuffed it into his mouth so the vampire couldn’t speak. “Now, close your eyes, ignore the physical world around you and reach out to him, sense what he’s feeling.”

That had to be the most insane thing I’d ever heard in my life. 

“Do it,” Alec demanded.

“Fine,” I said, not liking the idea of closing my eyes around them, but if Alec was going to do something to me, it wouldn’t matter if I had my eyes opened or closed. So I closed my eyes and ‘tried to sense his feelings’, whatever that meant. 

I stood there for a while, like an idiot, when a strange sensation wash over me, like static electricity from a warm blanket right out of the dryer. A moment later, a wash of emotions came over me. I opened my eyes and glanced at Alec. Hate, like I’d never experienced before, with a touch of jealousy, filled me when I looked at him. I wanted nothing more than to see him turn to dust, spread across the land in the afternoon breeze.

When a growl rumbled up from my chest, that small ghost of a smile appeared on his pale lips. “Ah, well done.”

The sound of his voice was enough to detach me from the feelings and realize they weren’t mine. My eyes widened as I looked over at the vampire tied to the tree. I had done it. I had sensed his emotions. The horridness of his emotions made me shudder. 

“I take by your reaction that his feelings towards me are not amicable, then?” Alec asked.

Now fear, raw and terrible, wash over me as the vampire attempted to speak through the cloth in his mouth.

“Uh, yeah, he doesn’t like you much,” I said, rubbing my arm to get rid of the slimy sensation his emotions left me with.

“I suspected as much,” Alec said with a hint of anger as he looked over at the vampire, still trying to speak. 

“But,” I said, unable to ignore the fear from the vampire or the way Alec stared at him like a bug that he was going to step on. “He’s terrified of you.” 

“Is he now?” The ghost of a smile turned into a smirk. He turned to the vampire and said, “Then you are more intelligent than I suspected. Come, Robin, we’re finished here.” Without another word, he started walking in the direction we came. The other vampire continued to yell at him, though still muffled by the cloth in his mouth. 

I hurried after Alec, uneasy about this whole situation, and for reasons I can’t understand, I was worried about the vampire we left tied to the tree. It was stupid, and I tried to rationalize the emotion away. He was a vampire and most likely had a kill count in the triple digits, and from the emotions I got from him, I suspected he wasn’t a much of nice person.

“What are you going to do with that vampire now?” I asked, unable to chase my sense of guilt away. 

“I’ll deal with him,” Alec said in a matter-of-fact tone. 

“What does that mean?” Though, I had a pretty good idea what that meant and now I felt guilty. Freaking great. 

“It means I’ll deal with him and any more than that is none of your concern,” he replied, stopping. “You’ve done what I’ve asked you to do, and here is your payment.” Alec reached into his jacket. He pulled a small wad of bills and handed it to me.

I took it, and at a quick glance looked like it could be a couple hundred dollars. “What?” I said, surprised and yet again confused. 

“I said I would pay you for your time. Now go. Meet me here again tomorrow.” 

There was a sharp tone of command in his voice, much like an alpha werewolf’s, and despite myself, I obeyed. Pocketing the money, I walked out of the woods. I wasn’t sure what to think about what had just happened. Guilt wouldn’t leave me, but neither would the excitement. I had done it; I sensed his emotions. How did Alec know I could do that? 

“Robin,” someone called after me, and I looked over to see Shaun. What was he doing here? The second time in that many days, he found me on my way out of the woods. Weird. 

“Uh, Shaun, Hi. What are you—”

Shaun cut me off. “What are you doing with a vampire, Robin?” 

My mouth dropped open in surprise. He saw? How much did he see? “I, uh…” what could I say? If he told his father, I would be in so much trouble, possibly even exiled.