Chapter 35 BACK HOME.

SATURDAY
When I got back home it was already the dawn of a new day. I stayed in the parlour and as far away from Dawn as possible. I felt a rising hatred myself that was overcoming me. It was my fault she got hurt and it was my fault she was in such a condition. Over the next few days I stayed at home Dawn got better quickly.
I didn't go to see her and Jhan told me that he had managed to manipulate Dawn's parents to thinking she had been present for the days of her absence and that she had gone out on a jog this morning. He said that he could keep up the task for as long as she stayed and I was grateful to him for that.
And Leya, I had almost blurted out Dawn's name at the time that Lupine was counting me down. I had betrayed her whether she knew it or not. But there was nothing I could do, it was either Leya or Dawn and I chose Dawn. So what is the black wolf wasn't there? Then what could have happened.
Would Leya have died because of me, or did someone else have something figured out to save them. I'd rather not think about such a happening, so I pushed the thoughts away and tried distracting myself.
But nothing I did could help the urge I had to be with Dawn. I needed to see that she was still alive and recovering. Leya had told me that she slept for most of the time under Jhan's mind command but apart from that she was eating well and recovering fast. I saw Dawn, she was lying on my bed. Sleeping. I could still see the bruises on her face.
Leya was the only person who could cook and bare the scent of her blood so that was her only company. Jereum had entered the room severally when she was awake, he'd look at Dawn with the red glint in his eyes before leaving, leaving her scared for her life.
'How is she?" I asked Leya.
'She woke up some time ago. She's a human Kaldar, she'll need more time to heal."
I walked to her sleeping form. She was wearing clean clothes and I saw the similar pendant she had given me on her chest. Even in this state she was still beautiful. I looked at the bruises on her face. They were not too serious and looked like they would heal in a month or so. Leya had been applying a herbal mixture to her face and it seemed to be working just fine.
I brushed a finger against her forehead. I hated myself at that moment. In fact, I was sure I would hate myself from that day onward. It was my entire fault, if she hadn't been with me this wouldn't have happened to her. I felt the sting of a tear at the corner of my eyes. I blinked back severally.
'Has she been eating?" I asked Leya.
'Yes, I and Jhan had taken it upon ourselves to make sure she eats to her satisfaction."
Silence fell in the room. I could hear the rhythm of her heartbeat. She would live.
'Don't hate yourself Kaldar. It wasn't your—"
'Don't! Don't tell me that it wasn't my fault… because everyone knows it is."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"No. I'm sorry Leya. All you've done is help me. Thank you."
"She was asking of you."
I turned and looked at Leya.
"She wanted to be with you..."
The words only made me hate myself more. How could someone want to be with someone who had caused her some much pain.
I stayed in my room. Sitting on the ground beside Dawn as she slept. Any time she rolled in her sleep I would be on my feet, ready to attend to her. But she slept on peacefully. Tia came in.
'Hey," She said, but I couldn't look at her either.
'Hi," I said glumly.
'You've been here all day, she'll be fine Kaldar."
'It is my fault. It is only fair that I stay with her in case she wakes."
We spoke in whispers. Tia walked to me, she sat by my side.
'You know, when you bumped into her that day I could sense the way you looked at her. The way you looked into her eyes."
Silence fell in the room. She looked at me carefully.
"Kaldar, if you love her you should have told me..."
"And so what? You'd introduce me to her?"
"Well you've seen how it's turned out so far; she got hurt and it's..." She trailed off.
"It's what Tia? Say it!" My voice sounded grim.
"Nevermind—"
"Say it!" I said, slamming my fist onto the floor board and smashing a dent in it. Dawn stirred in her sleep but immediately went back to her peaceful slumber.
Tia sighed.
"It's your fault."
"Good. At least you can save me the stress enough to say the truth."
"That's not how I meant it—"
"Just save it Tia. I've accepted the fact myself."
I was at the verge of crying now. A cold tear rolled down my face.
I sobbed silently. The hate I had for myself increased with every passing second.
I felt Tia put her arm around me. She gently brought my head to rest on her shoulders. I sobbed even more. She caressed my neck in a loving manner.
"I'm sorry," She whispered to me.
"Why Tia...? But why Dawn?"
"Kaldar, this is why we stay away from humans. We are something different. You may not like to hear it but we are dangerous. We can cause harm to them we don't even know about."
"I didn't want this... I didn't want any of this to happen to her."
I remembered the first time I met her in her room. When I gagged her and threatened to kill her. I had told her I was dangerous but she didn't care... We didn't care.
"Would she forgive me?"
"Well. Since she still went out with you, despite the fact that she knew you were a vampire. And she did still kiss you even if she knows you have fangs... I think she loves you enough to forgive you."
"I'm sure Jereum hates me even more."
"Oh, he does," She said.
"How about Jhan, what did he say?"
"Well... You know... He's not really mad, he's just disappointed in you."
"I didn't know what you guys would say. I am new to all this and I thought you guys didn't read like the humans, I mean Jereum was always taunting Leya because she's a living vampire."
"Jereum's a jerk and we all know that," She said, "but for now I think you should stay with Dawn, until her injuries go away. Make her feel at home. She already knows what we are so just make her feel more easy around us."
I nodded, rubbing my cheek against her shoulder. She planted a kiss on my forehead.
"I'll only be doing that when she's asleep."
I smiled at her humour. Tia wasn't scared to show her amorousity towards me whenever she wanting.
She stood up and made for the door. I held her hand.
She looked at me. "Tia, thank you."
She smiled warmly.
"No problem Kaldar."
She exited the room, throwing me one last glance before shutting the door behind her. I got to a kneeling position beside Dawn's sleeping form. She slept so peacefully and I wondered what she could have been dreaming about. I knee if I had a mind's-eye I could have peeked into her thoughts and seen her dream for myself.
I had rarely slept on this bed. Most of the time I resorted to sleeping on the floor and sometimes, not even sleeping at all.
I brushed a thumb against her bruised lip. The wound had already healed half way. The plants Leya used to heal wounds were like magic. Healing the wounds without the slightest trace of a scar. Except for Jereum's case, where the is now a scar running down his eye. Some medication can't just heal holy water burns.
I saw her eye lids flicker before slowly opening. She was tired, I could see it. She looked at me, locking gazes with mine.
"I'm sorry," I whispered to her. She sighed.
"Kaldar...?" Her voice trailed off painfully.
"Yes. I'm so sorry."
"Kaldar, who was that man?" She asked.
I felt the weight of guilt push down on me, it was so heavy I had to raise one foot and palcce it firly on the floor to prevent from falling forward. The hatred for myself multiplying.
"Kaldar? Why are you crying?" Her voice was wounded. Like the red wolf.
A cold tear fell from my face and landed on her nose. She smiled warmly. A forced painful smile. I couldn't look her in the eye again.
"Hold my hand Kaldar..."
It was the least I could do. I slipped my hand under the sheets and gripped her hand. She smiled and very slowly closed her eyes, leaving me alone with the guilt I bore.
In her sleep at least she was in peace. In the comfort of her own memories and warm thoughts.
I had to tell the others everything. About the wolf and the war she claims is to come. It was the only way I could get the help I needed. Jhan had things to say also I could see it in his eyes when he called us to the parlour.
I spotted Jereum lolling on the wall beside the stairs. Leya was in another raincoat and Tia was standing beside Jereum.
"I want to apologize for damages caused by that Lupine. I had thought the creature dead and had seen no use in retelling the incident."
"Did you tell the higher court?" Jereum asked.
"No, I had kept it to myself for a long time."
"But why didn't you tell me. I asked you if you thought them real and you said that was like asking you if dragons were real. You even told me about your other encounter with a strange woman. But you kept this one a secret," I said.
"I knew that if I confirmed your doubts, you would have gone against my orders and visited East valley, something you even still did after all."
I looked away. He was right, if he had confirmed the truth I would have gone to East valley sooner.
"But what about you," Jereum said, straightening himself from the wall.
"You kept two secrets from us. First of all; you hid the fact that you had a human girl you were seeing."
"I wasn't just seeing her; I was in love with her." I corrected him. My love for Dawn was still burning in me and I would say it times over that I loved her because it was true.
"The second one is even worst, you made a friend with that wolf. How did you even manage that?" He asked looking genuinely surprised.
"The wolf needed someone to help her cause."
"Oh and cause may that be?!"
"It's a threat. A war. An army of Lobos that will year down this town and kill us all. They won't stop untill we are all dead. Until all the vampire are dead."
They wore grim expressions on their face.
"And even this 'cause' was to be true, of all the vampires in this town, it chose you?"
"Of course it chose me. The higher court would have immediately proclaimed them a threat. The wolf needed someone who wasn't too keen on believing if you are not a vampire or a human you are evil—"
"Or it needed someone dumb enough to fall for its tricks. They may be the enemy, who knows? How are you sure it isn't just tricking you to get into our society and kill us all? How are you sure you can trust it?" Jereum asked and everyone waited for my answer.
I trusted the wolf because it had allowed us escape during the time I and Tia encountered it. I also trusted it because it had given me information about my life, and even promise me more if I helped it. But I couldn't tell them about our little deal, so there was only one option left.
"Because it was the one that let us escape the night it bit my arm."
Now realizing how contradictive that sounded I quickly added.
"It looked right us as we were escaping yet it did nothing to stop us.
I hadn't told them this before. I saw the surprised look on Tia's face.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Tia asked, speaking for the first time.
"Because I wasn't sure."
There was short moment of silence.
"I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you all about the wolf."
"I forgive you Kaldar," Leya said with a small smile.
"I forgive you too," Tia said, not looking at me.
Jhan nodded at me and Jereum glowered. Three out of four, I could live with that.
"If what you are saying is true, then we need to inform the higher court," Jhan said.
"But we can't just walk up to them, and we need to inform everyone. Every single vampire in this town and elsewhere needs to help in this. The adjudicators alone can't handle this, there a full one horde of Lobos. We need to call a general assembly of vampires," I said.
"A general assembly can only be called when a clan has initiated a new member or when there is a prosecution," Tia said.
But I did not know how much more time we had. And that bkak wolf will not be taking visitors anytime soon after it's nigh capture.
"But there are other more important things you have to take care of Kaldar, like the bruiser girl on your bed.," Jhan said. But I couldn't bare the sight of Dawn in such a state. Seeing her hurt like that only made me hate myself more.
"Yeah. Dawn..." I muttered.