Finding Charlotte
I have to make this fast, I don’t have a lot of time. Don’t have a lot of answers, either. Hopefully I’ll have more of both soon.
Wade, Marek and I tracked Charlotte’s scent all morning long. As her scent grew stronger, Cassian’s began to fade away, and I don’t have a damn clue why. We tore through the woods, tearing up underbrush and probably leaving a path of destruction behind us. Every step I took filled me with a deeper sense of dread. I ran through battles in my head, trying to figure out what the odds of three vampires, two of which had never seen combat, taking on somone of Cassian’s caliber and surviving. Images of my friends being torn apart before my eyes filled my head, followed by the imaginary echoes of Cassian’s laughter.
We followed the scent, scrambling through the mud and rocks up the side of the mountain. As we got closer to the peak, the scent got more intense, and I knew that whatever peril we were going to face was going to be waiting right at the summit.
Only it wasn’t.
The mountaintop was empty. Three vampires stared out at the horizon, seeing nothing but vast space.
Then we looked down.
No.
Looking no bigger than a child’s rag doll, Charlotte lay, crumpled and tangled, at the bottom of the ravine.
My heart would have stopped then and there if it still beat.
Wade, ever the extreme sports enthusiase helped us navigate our way down, and we ran to her. Her eyes were closed and her body was contorted in ways that a body should never be twisted; human -or- vampire. Fighting the sense of dread, I tried to straighten out her limbs, knowing that we possess amazing abilities to heal, but the bones have to be straight in order to set properly. As I watched Wade’s face fill with horror, I remembered that he’d probably never seen damage as badly as this, wheras in war, it was common place. He tenderly aligned her bones as best he could. I could tell how deeply this was affecting him.
Then, something wholly unexplanable happened.
As Marek’s hands touched her wounds, Charlotte’s bones began to mend. I don’t have any explanation for it. Vampires heal quickly, but they don’t heal THAT quickly. Maybe they do, but never that I’ve seen. Marek swears that he didn’t do anything, and I don’t see how he could have, either, but I know that I didn’t do it. Wade didn’t do it. Charlotte was barely conscious at the time. It had to be Marek. I’m going to have to give the kid an interrogation later to find out how the hell he managed to do that.
Now, we’re sitting in an abandoned cabin deep within the mountains. This is probably one of those places the rangers stay in during the summers, but there hasn’t been any humans in here for the longest time. Wade is out trying to secure us a car, and a meal for Charlotte. Her eyes are black as tar, and she’s weak with pain and malnourishment. All I can do is wait for Wade to return.
