Free The Four Realms by Adrian Faulkner Page A

each other, and trying desperately to remember whether he had his notebook on him or not.

CHAPTER EIGHT - Homecoming

    "Go on," Darwin said to Cassidy.
    "What?"
    "Say it."
    "Say what?"
    "That I'm looking a lot healthier now I've fed."
    "No."
    Last night's snow was already starting to melt, the traffic having turned the roads to grey sludge.   The rising sun cast everything in a weak golden hue.   Most of the pavements they now walked along had been churned enough for there to be a clear path through, but occasionally they'd come across pristine snow which Cassidy would jump in and kick around, venting her frustration.
    Darwin knew he was being particularly annoying this morning, but he just couldn't help himself.   For the first time in ages he felt alive, his whole body bristling with an energy he didn't know how to control.   He could still taste the boy's blood in his mouth, a most welcome morning-after taste.   Why had he punished himself for so long?
    He was a vampire, and no matter how much Cassidy tried to convince him he was more human, this morning's evidence proved otherwise.   To be fair to Cassidy, he understood her reasons why and blamed himself, and not her, for allowing himself to get in such a state.   But still, he couldn't help trying to wind her up.
    "So are you saying I'm not looking healthier because I've fed?" he quizzed her.
    "No."  
    "Ah!" he exclaimed with the finesse of a school playground.   "See!"
    "You're such a dick," she huffed in retaliation.
    "Am not."
    "Are too."
    "You just don't like being wrong," he said quite smugly.
    "Darwin, he had a family!"
    She's just feeling guilty , Darwin thought.   She knows there was nothing she could have done to stop me, yet she still feels bad for not trying.   Like it would have made any difference.   Try as she might to be whiter than white, she was still tainted by grey like everyone else.   She wasn't even a proper vegetarian.
    "Did you even know his name?" she asked quietly
    "Gareth," Darwin said with conviction.   "Or Gary.   Or David."
    Cassidy looked at him with disgust.
    "OK.   So I don't know.   I was starving, Cass, he was food.   I'm sorry if you don't like that, but that's who I am."
    Cass said nothing, standing her ground.
    "I'm a vampire, Cassidy," Darwin said remorsefully.   "Look, I know you want me to be more, and I love that you have such faith in me... but I'm not that person.   I tried, I really did.   But look at how I was.   I was dying Cass.   You knew that.   That's why you didn't stop me."
    That last comment looked like it particularly stung and he almost regretted it as soon as he said it.   Almost, but not quite.
    "Promise me something," Cassidy said quietly.
    "What?"
    "Promise me that if you ever have to take another life in the name of food, you'll at least find out their name."
    Darwin scoffed and carried on walking.   Cassidy stood still.
    "Promise me," she said again, more forcibly this time.
    Darwin turned round.   "OK," he said.   "I promise.   Now can we drop it?"
    She sighed, shoulders drooping, before she walked over to him.   Together, they walked on in silence.
    "You'll burn," she said eventually.   At first Darwin thought it was Cassidy making some morality judgement, although even that was a bit strong for her.   But then he realised with the hood of his sweatshirt down, she was talking about sunburn.   Don't let her tell you what to do , he told himself, knowing full well that his unique physiology meant it took very little natural light for him to burn.   Still that was better than his fellow vampires who'd just burst into flames.
    "No I won't," he offered looking up at the grey skies.   "It's heavy cloud today."  
    "Fine, then, you won't."
    "Why, am I looking red?"
    "A bit," Cassidy offered.
    "Crap," he said, pulling up his hood.
    "Where are we going anyway?" Cassidy asked.
    He beamed at her.   Now she was interested.
    "The Vampire Council," he said.
    Cassidy was visibly