Blood And Secrets

10| Hunting Adventure.

The moment the bell rang for lunch break, Angel leapt to her feet and started walking towards the exit without waiting for Chloe and Liam. She was still annoyed at how both of them had betrayed her for their lovers. Before she could reach the door, Chloe caught up with her and gripped her wrist, causing her to stop in her tracks.

Angel turned to look at her and raised her brow. "What?"

"I’m sorry." Chloe muttered, and Angel plastered an obviously fake smile on her face.

"What did you do? You didn’t do anything." Angel replied and snatched her hand from Chloe’s grip before continuing on her way.

Refusing to give up until she reconciled with her best friend, Chloe went after her and stood in front of her, blocking her way.

Angel pressed her lips together, sighed, and attempted to move to the right to continue walking, but Chloe moved in her direction, blocking her again.

"Angel please. I am sorry." Chloe pleaded again.

"You ditched me for Damon, so you might as well go to him and have fun with him. Stop bothering me. And Liam…" She turned around to look for him, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Good for him also. He abandoned us for Cynthia."

"Angel…" Chloe started, but Angel interrupted.

"I have the most wonderful best friends ever." She groaned, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I apologize on his behalf. We are sorry, Angel." Chloe said, her voice filled with sincerity. "And besides…." She shrugged and continued. "Working with Bryan is not a bad idea. I’d like to see you guys in love."

Angel scrunched up her face at that idea and shook her head.

"What?" A smile spread on Chloe’s lips, and she nudged Angel. "You’d be perfect for each other."

"I’m not going for lunch today. You can go ahead with Damon." Angel said, dismissing Chloe.

Chloe’s face fell. "Are you still mad at me? After pleading? Come on. I don’t want us to fight over this."

"I’m not mad." She pressed her lips together. "I am just—I’m—" she trailed off and gulped, her gaze fixed on Chloe’s neck, watching her pulse patter.

She was thirsty. Thirst for Chloe’s blood.

"Your eyes." Chloe’s eyes widened in horror as she veered back. "They suddenly turned black and turned red again."

Before Angel could reply, Damon appeared from nowhere and placed both hands on Chloe’s shoulders, looking intently into her eyes. "You didn’t see anything. You didn’t see Angel’s eye turn black. Nothing."

As expected, Chloe nodded obediently, oblivious to what just happened.

"Damon." She called, her voice in a murmur. "When did you get here?"

A small smile touched his lips. "Just now."

"Okay." She muttered, then darted her gaze at Angel. " Uhm… What were we talking about again?" She asked as she tried to rack her brain. Confusion spread across her features when she couldn’t remember anything. "That’s weird. I can’t remember."

"We weren’t talking about anything in particular." Angel quickly said.

"Whatever." Chloe said, grabbing Angel’s wrist. "Let’s go for lunch."

Sighing, Damon held Chloe’s shoulders and compelled her again. "Just go to lunch alone."

As evidenced by the change in Angel’s eye color, he knew that she was hungry, and If allowed to mingle with humans any longer in her state, she could lose control and reveal her true nature. He couldn’t let that happen.

Nodding, Chloe turned on her heels and started walking away.

"You know you don’t have to always save me." Angel said when she and Damon were finally alone.

Ignoring her statement, he asked, "Do you have blood with you?"

"No." She replied, shaking her head.

"Then we have to leave school and get you some blood to drink before you suck anyone dry."

"I don’t know why I keep craving human blood. It’s not always like this. I used to only crave it when I saw the blood. But now—" Angel shook her head vigorously as worries consumed her. "I don’t want to hurt my friends. I think I have to stay away from them."

"You had human blood yesterday to recover; that’s why you keep craving for more. Once the human blood you drank leaves your system, you will stop craving human blood." Damon explained.

"But what if I hurt someone before the blood leaves my system and—"

"Just keep yourself from being hungry by drinking animal blood, and you’d be fine." He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. "So can you stop being paranoid now?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but her words died on her lips when Bryan suddenly appeared before them.

"Hi," he said nervously.

"Hi," Angel responded.

"About the English project." He nervously scratched the back of his neck. "I was wondering if you could give me your phone number so we could meet up after school and get it done."

"I don’t have a phone." She quickly said, and Bryan raised a questioning brow at her.

"I’m not lying. I lost it." She quickly defended herself when she realized he thought she was lying.

"Can I know your house address then? I don’t mind coming over, so—"

"You can’t go to my house." She cut him in. "Do you know CC’s café?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Good. Let’s meet there by 5 p.m. Is that okay with you?" She asked, and he nodded.

"I’ll see you then." Bryan turned on his heels, walking away from them.

Angel turned her head to meet Damon’s gaze. "Do you still want to go to the woods in search of my phone?"

"Of course." Damon said, a face-splitting grin tugging at his lips. "It’s a good place to get food."

"Are we going there to hunt?" Angel asked, and a smile pulling on her lips at the idea. She had never killed an animal and had never had food directly from the source before.

"Of course." Damon held out his hand, and she took it.

Together, they headed towards the exit in excitement. Just as they were about to slip out, a voice called their names, and they turned to see Mrs. Turner, their English teacher, approaching them.

"Bursted." Angel groaned. "We can’t go anymore."

"You think?" Damon winked at her before returning his gaze to Mrs. Turner and inching closer to her.

Angel stood there with an amused smile playing on her lips as she watched Damon compel Mrs. Turner to allow them to leave.

Damon turned back to look at Angel, and she crossed her arms as he approached her.

She raised her brow. "Do you always abuse your power?"

"I don’t abuse it. I use it." He corrected her as he walked past her.

"Teach me." She said as she started trailing behind him.

"You don’t know how to compel?" He asked, surprised, as he turned to look at her. He had always thought she didn’t just want to use her power that way. But finding out that she didn’t even know how to use the power was surprising.

"I have never had the need to compel anyone. So I didn’t learn how to." She told him.

"You amaze me." He said, shaking his head lightly as he continued walking.

"I amaze myself also." She retorted.

She had always avoided using some vampire superpowers because she thought avoiding the use of those powers made her more human, which she had always desperately wanted to be.

But seeing Damon use the power to compel was fascinating, and she wanted to learn it too. She wanted to be able to use it to protect her identity when needed.

Today, she was going to learn two things. How to hunt and how to compel, she thought as they made their way out of the school premises.

Off to the woods for her first hunting adventure!