Chapter 10 FREER THAN THE WIND.

ONE WEEK LATER. SATURDAY
A week had passed since I saw Dawn—since I kissed her. I left the same way I had come in, through the window. I had to keep things on a low between us if I didn't want the others to find out. Leya's tip had paid off greatly; I came back before ten o'clock and the other returned just thirty minutes after me.
I was in my attic-room but I could hear them. Tia had come to check up on me and I had feigned sleep. Today was a rather cloudy day and everyone was at home. No sun meant that we vampires could play. I was planning for a walk around the block so I got into one of my many black short sleeves and black pants. I got to the parlour and met everyone in casual clothes.
I analyzed them one after the other; Jhan, for the first time, wore a white tee shirt and blue shorts, Jereum wore a grey hoodie and black jogger pants. Leya wore a yellow rain coat over a black skirt and black shirt, and Tia wore jeans and a crop top.
They all looked at me with smiled on their faces—except Jereum of course, he wore a more contented look.
"What's the occasion?" I asked.
"We are going for a leisure acti—"
"Oh cut it Jhan—we are going to have some fun Kaldar," Tia sang out.
"Fun?" I asked, confirming what I had just heard and Leya nodded cheerily.
"Okay let's go already," Jereum said, and in no time we were all in the minivan. I had thought that we would drive to some human filled amusement park, but I was surprisingly when Jhan drove towards the edge of town and to a large forested area.
They all got down, rather energetically, and I got down as well. We all walked deeper into the forest and I found myself dazzled by the beautiful scenery. Different coloured birds chirped on the tree, their voices syncing together and creating a beautiful perfect harmony as they sang. The leaves of the trees scattered beams of grey sunlight that casted down upon us, creating beautiful patterns of light and dark patches.
Cool draughts shook the leaves above us and startled the birds so they flew in rainbow swarms. I found myself turning slowly on the spot, mouth slightly agape, staring at the beautiful environment. I heard a whooshing sound behind me and I turned to where Tia once was but she was gone. The same sound in front of me and Jereum was gone I heard it again and Jhan had disappeared too. Leya was last; she was just staring at me blankly.
She pointed to something behind, I turned but saw nothing but forest trees, and when I turned back she took had vanished.
I was beginning to get scared. This wasn't how I thought 'fun' was supposed to be. I looked around frantically, but saw no one. They had all vanished into thin air.
"Guys!" I called out, but no reply just the merry chirping of the birds, but then it stopped and the whole forest went quiet. Not even a single sound was made.
I heard rustling in the trees above and then I heard a loud hoarse screech. I started to run, running as fast as I could through the trees. I heard the screech again, and this time it was closer. I dashed even faster, skipping over roots and ducking under thick branches. My heartbeat accelerated and my breathing was tight and heavy.
'What is that?!' I asked myself as I dashed in fear.
There was a tight feeling in my stomach like my guts had been tied up into a knot so breathing was difficult. I heard the screech again and I when I looked back over my shoulders, I saw a large dark figure looming high over me. Ignorantly, I slammed my head, hard, into a tree and fell backwards. I lay on the forest ground, dazed.
I saw the dark figure looming over me, the darkness getting closer and closer to me face.
"No..."
"Stop..."
My voice was shaky and rash. I heard the screech again, the sound was deafening. I closed my eyes.
'Is this how I go out? Killed by a mysterious creature in the woods?' I asked myself.
'No!' I summoned up all the courage in me and staggered to my feet, my vision was still blurry but I was ready to fight whatever it was. I felt the spark, thesame spark that broke out in me at the time I fought the tyrants. I felt the energy, the billowing energy in my chest as it spread through out my body.
"I'll kill you," I said, "WHATEVER YOU ARE!!!" I bellowed, I heard the wooshing sound again like a cloth being waved through the air, I heard a loud thump as something landed behind me, I turned sharply, ready to fight to my death but then I heard the elated laughter of Tia.
I was in so much confusion I could barely think straight. I heard four distinct thumps as they landed from above.
Jereum was sniggering happily and I spotted him on a branch high above me. Leya, who apparently fell from a tree, was literally rolling on the ground with her arms wrapped around her tummy, laughing her eye balls out and Jhan wore a contented smile on his face.
"What? Where is it?" I asked, still slightly dazed from cracking my head on the tree.
"Where is what?" Tia asked before resuming her laugh.
"That thing that...was...chasing..."
It dawned on me. They had played me.
"But that sound," I argued, trying not to sound like a total idiot.
And Leya funnelled her palms around her mouth and when she screamed, it was a loud deep hoarse sound.
"Leya can control her vocal muscles to the absolute frequency, and now she is a vampire, that just gave her more strength and power to pump into screaming," Jhan said.
"But I saw the dark—"
And Leya extended out her arms, spreading out her raincoat like as if she was a giant bag.
"You saw a shadow," Tia said.
"Then how do you explain the birds? They all went silent—"
"They mind's-eye," Jhan said, "I can easily seize control of the minds of weaker animals... And control them."
"Oh..." And the slight rush of shame washed over me.
"It was hilarious," Jereum said and he laughed to his satisfaction.
"You still have to catch us Kaldar," Tia said, and in the same whooshing sounds, they jumped higher up into the trees. I looked up, and I watched as the expertly jumped from tree branch to tree branch, swinging themselves with their arms and maintaining perfect balance with their limbs. I started to run, running under them and I could hear Tia's voice, as she laughed, being carried along with the wind and reverberating ball around me.
I prepped myself for a jump and once I leaped, I threw myself as high as I could into the air and towards Tia, she caught me with one arm as then she swung around a tree stem and threw me through the air.
I screamed as I soared helplessly through cool breeze but I was caught by someone. I looked at Jereum, he was holding me with one arm and still leaping from tree to tree. I laughed and looked at him, he grimaced and dropped me.
I fell helplessly downwards, screaming all the way as branches lashed at my face. But I was caught yet again, Jhan carried me effortlessly on his shoulder as he leaped along, I laughed yet again but my laughter was short lived as Jhan threw me higher into the air.
Someone caught hold of my arm, it was Leya. She had no problem with my weight and she leaped, holding my hand, from branch to branch. I enjoyed the cool breeze that washed over my face as she jumped the great distance to each branch.
In no time I was laughing, laughing so loud and then I heard Tia laughing as well. It wasn't long before Jereum joined in and then Leya and lastly Jhan. We were all laughing together and our voices filled the air. It turned to a game of throw and catch and I was the ball.
They effortlessly threw me around like a rag doll and I was enjoying the feel of weightlessness as I zoomed through the air. Tia threw me towards Jereum, I caught sight of his evil leer and he didn't catch me.
I fell, this time for real, towards the ground and when the ground came to me. It felt like falling on a hard bed. Yet I lay still, face into the ground, and I heard the others land around me.
"Is he dead?" Leya asked.
"Err...Kaldar raised a hand if you are okay," Jereum said, and I raised a thumb.
I popped my head from the ground. "That...was...AMAZING!" I screamed.
Next thing I knew we were all dashing through the trees, we were running at super human speed and I could see Leya jumping in zigzags from tree to tree above us. I was running fast, faster than I could have ever imagined. The breeze whizzed past my ears and I saw them all leap to the tree tops. I jumped as well and caught hold of a branch.
Carefully, I climbed upon it and jumped to another. It took me about fifty jumps to start to get a hang of it, and in no time I was skipping from branch to branch, but just a little bit slower than they were.
We got to a large stream and I saw Jhan leap from where he was, straight into the water. Leya, ditched her raincoat, and followed right after, then Tia, then Jereum. I saw them swim quickly through the water.
Tia popped her head out. "Come one Kaldar, the water doesn't bite." And she submerged into the rushing current.
Without even thinking, I leaped from the branch and plunged into the water. It filled my ears and muffled every sound around me. Water filled my lungs but I wasn't gagging for breath because I didn't need to breathe. Tia swam up to me, her hair spreaded out under the water and each three foot long strand floated calmly from her head.
I could see that she was supposed to be laughing. She swam up to me, pushing me deeper and deeper into the water. We sank slowly till the bottom and lay on the bed, looking up at rushing water sand yr ripples that spread on it. It was beautiful, being able to see such a thing. We emerged to find the others at further edges of the lake, playing like dolphins. The game was who could get the most hits at another person with the pebbles at the bottom of the stream.
We were throwing rocks at each other aimlessly and I saw it too late, Jereum threw a large rock at me I was too slow to dodge. The rock impact to the side of my head. It was a hard blow and it knocked me into the water. As I sank lower and lower I saw my blood diffuse into the water around me.
I closed my eyes as I immediately felt the side of my head, where there was a large cut was, heal up and after a few seconds of suspense, I emerged from the stream with a loud battle cry. The all shouted in joy along with me and we continued throwing rocks at each other.
The day went by with us playing around, leaping from tree to tree and even friendly sparring matches; Jhan mistakenly punched down a tree which fell with a thunderous thud causing the birds to scatter all around us and creating a moving, randomly changing direction, storm of different coloured birds and we all watched in bliss.
It was getting darker now, I lay down on the ground with Tia beside me.
We gazed at the pattern lights that bounced off water droplets from the leaves above. Tia glanced at me.
"Hey, let me show you something," She said and she got to her feet and leaped up. I watched her, surprised, but I followed towards the direction she jumped. I landed on the branch I had seen her land on, but she wasn't here.
'Hmm,' I thought, but then she popped out, upside down, and grabbed me by the arms. She pulled me up, higher and higher and higher until we emerged at the very top. I saw myself gazing down on all of the forest; this must have been the highest tree here.
I could see the town, buildings and all, and in the distance I could even spot the black roof of our house. Tia was beside me. She leaned her head and rested it on my shoulder.
"Isn't it beautiful? You can see everything from up here. We don't have to live like the humans—we have an extraordinary gift that allows us to experience all of this... To its fullest," She said.
I gazed down upon everything, it was beautiful indeed. I could zoom in my vision on birds that made nests in the trees, I could also see the leaves as the shook with the wind, and I could see, slowly, as water droplets fell from the leaves and fell to the ground.
"It is beautiful Tia... It is..."
And as I sat on that branch, with Tia beside me I realized being vampires didn't only mean that we had super strength and speed and sight. It also meant that we were free, free to experience the hidden beauties of this world and we were freer than the wind...