The Zoey Chronicles: Discovery (Vol. 2) by Sophia Gray

~Discovery
    Vol. 2 ~
                 
    Galahad stood with his back to me, his neck muscles shifting under his shirt as he stared intently at the deer. The day was sunny, and I had to squint past him to see the animal. It was grazing. It looked so peaceful. Unbidden, imaginations started to fill my head; I imagined the deer’s family and its life, roaming around the forest in search for food and a mate, and then I realised how stupid I was being. I had no right to care about a deer.
     
    I was a killer.
     
    The memory still sent shivers down my spine. I was a monster. I hadn’t been myself. That I knew for sure, but it was still my body and my responsibility. I could remember everything, which was the worst part. I wished time upon time that I’d blacked out, before I realised how cowardly a wish that is. She had shaken as I drank from her. Her arms and legs had thrashed wildly, and her neck had pulsed as the blood flowed into my mouth. The taste was salty and wonderful, and to my shame I found myself craving it even now.
     
    Was I evil? I turned the question over and over in my mind. I’d always thought that killers were evil. Did they not have to be, to take another life? But I didn’t feel evil. I felt like I’d made a horrible mistake, but I didn’t feel like a deranged murderer who’d gotten any sort of pleasure from what I’d done, apart from the blood, of course. I could almost convince myself that I wasn’t, that perhaps I could forgive myself, until I thought of Ben.
     
    What had I done to Ben? Not only had I nearly killed him in my vampire fury, but I’d also abandoned him. I couldn’t get his face out of my head. He’d looked so sad when Galahad and I had left him, standing there alone with a tear in his eye. What would become of him? Suddenly, a horrible thought came into my mind. What if he was blamed for the killings? But then I realised that that was silly. The school cameras would have captured everything. That was something, I supposed. At least he wouldn’t end up in prison, but it didn’t exactly make me leaving him any easier.
     
    Galahad was staring at me. I’d been so deep in thought that I hadn’t realised. “What?” I said.
     
    He put his fingers to his lips. “Shh,” he said, quietly, and gestured for me to join him.
     
    He’d shaved since he’d taken me out in the forest. For the first few days we’d just rested and regained our strength. He’d told me what was going to happen to my mother; another vampire had picked her up and we were going to meet up with them at some later point. When I’d asked him when, he’d said, “Soon, but first I need to train you to become a vampire.”
     
    His face looked better without a beard. His jaw was square and strong, and his skin was light brown, which contrasted beautifully with his blonde hair. As the sun shone, so did his luminous green eyes.
     
    He’d also told me about the effects of the sun on vampires; it didn’t affect us along as we didn’t go into what we called a ‘blood frenzy’. The moment we went into one of those, like I did, it started to burn our skin. I hadn’t realised, but I’d burnt my skin pretty bad when I’d gone to my school in search of blood. Galahad had had to rub lotion on the worst of the burns, which were on my neck and arms. His hands were firm as they massaged my skin, and the feeling sent surges of pleasure all over my body. I’d craned my neck as he did it, savouring his touch, and was sad when he’d finished.
     
    I walked across the grass and knelt down next to him. He pointed at the deer. He wanted me to kill it, to feed from it. There was a part of me that was disgusted by such a thing, the part that had imagined the deer’s life a few moments ago. But there was another part, a new, frightening part, that didn’t care. That part could smell the blood coursing through the deer’s veins, could see its meaty legs shifting ever so slightly as it ate, and could hear the