— Abraham Grimveil, “Facing the Darkness: A Hunter’s Manual,” page 46
Ferns brushed Emily’s calves as she moved through the forest. Twigs snapped under her boots, and the distant call of owls sounded through the cool night air.
She wasn’t sure where exactly the abandoned shack was, only that it was near the edge of Star Lake, and with the forest as dark as it was, it was hard to navigate. Her attention was split as well, with half of her trying to navigate the woods while the other half thought up ways to convince the others that Violet was worth spending time with. She had been thinking about it for a while, and she figured now seemed like a good opportunity to try and convince them that Violet wasn’t some freak, that she was a good person that they could spend time with.
The only question was how.
Soon, a warm orange glow of a campfire shone through the undergrowth. It led Emily to the ruined shack, which sagged under its own weight. The moss-covered roof was caved in, vines winding through the gaps in the wall. One side had crumbled entirely, opening to a wall of thick bramble.
Ophelia and Alaric sat near the fire in the center of the clearing, talking amongst themselves. A burlap sack rested inside an old wheelbarrow beside them.
Cedric and Tristen were dueling with thick sticks near the bramble wall, and Lux stood by watching them. Her white gown glowing like moonlight, and, compared to the moss and mud around her, she looked absurdly regal. As Emily stepped into the light, Lux turned with a slow, amused smile.
“Well, well. I was beginning to think you wouldn’t show.”
Emily gave a sheepish smile. “I had to wait until Mina went to bed.”
Cedric lowered his stick and backed away from Tristen. “Thought vampires didn’t sleep.”
“They don’t,” Emily explained, moving closer to the fire and taking a seat near Ophelia and Alaric. “Not really. They can go days without sleep, so Mina usually sleeps once a week.”
“At night?” Ophelia asked.
“Well, not usually. She’ll usually sleep through an entire day, but she was feeling more tired than usual, so she went to bed early.”
Tristen whirled his stick around before pointing it at Emily. “So what I’m hearing is, vampires are just dramatic insomniacs.”
Emily gave a small laugh. “I guess.”
“Wish I could sleep for twelve hours a day,” Ophelia said.
Cedric pretended to yawn like a vampire waking from a century-long slumber. “She probably lies in a velvet coffin with one hand over her forehead, sighing like, ‘I must rest my weary soul… until I crave blood again.’”
“She sleeps in a normal bed, dumbass,” Emily said with a snort.
“Let me guess, it’s another ‘misconception’,” he replied in a mocking tone.
“Yeah, actually. Read a book once in a while.”
“Do I look like a scholar?”
Ophelia snorted. “The day Cedric reads a book is the day I kiss a pig.”
“Well, now I gotta read one,” he replied with a chuckle.
Lux rolled her eyes, then turned back to Emily. “Anyway, you did bring the goods, right?”
Emily dug into her pocket and tossed the pack over.
“You’re a goddess,” Lux said as she caught it. She started handing the cigarettes around. “What would I do without you?”
“Buy your own?” Alaric said.
Lux groaned dramatically. “I tried. My mother found the last pack in my drawer and went on this whole rant about ‘purity’ and ‘desecrating the sacred vessel’ and—ugh, whatever.”
“Did she do that thing again where she made you drink flower water to ‘cleanse your aura’?” Ophelia asked.
“Yes! It tasted like perfume,” Lux said with a gag.
“You know what that tastes like?” Emily teased.
Lux didn’t answer.
Tristan took one of the cigarettes and twirled it between his fingers. “I don’t understand you. You’re always going on about how elves need to behave, and yet you hardly behave like that.”
“I never said I couldn’t do it,” Lux replied smugly. “I’m not a full devotee of Arja yet, so the rules don’t technically apply to me.”
“Uh-huh,” Cedric muttered. “And I’m a priest when I’m sober.”
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Emily frowned, tilting her head. “Wait, so you can just… pick and choose which parts of elven tradition to follow?”
Lux flashed a grin. “Technically? No. But I like to think of it as interpreting the traditions. With flair.”
“More like using your religion as a buffet,” Alaric said.
“It’s called balance,” Lux shot back with her nose in the air. “Something you’d understand if you didn’t spend every other night robbing the church box.”
Alaric raised his hands in defence. “I’ve never robbed a church. I have standards.”
“Shocking,” Ophelia said flatly.
Cedric sat by the fire, a cigarette between his lips. “Okay, I’m not sticking it in the campfire again. Anyone got a lighter?”
There was a pause, then Ophelia gave Emily a little nudge with her elbow. “Go on.”
Emily blinked. “What?”
“You know,” Ophelia said with a knowing smirk.
“Oh… right.” Emily snapped her fingers. One by one, the tips of everyone’s cigarettes lit.
“Damn,” Tristan muttered, taking a puff. “That's a neat trick.”
“Handy,” Ophelia said, exhaling a thin ribbon of smoke. “Who taught you that?”
“Mina,” Emily said, shrugging a little.
Lux took a long drag and exhaled slowly. “Well, even if it’s a small magic trick, you do make it look very attractive.”
Emily stared back at her, confused. “The fire?”
“No, you,” Lux said with a soft laugh.
Emily blinked. “Uh… thanks?”
Ophelia gave a soft snort. “You’re hopeless, Lux.”
Lux shrugged innocently and sat beside Emily, crossing her legs. “She’s cute and she has pyrokinesis. You expect me not to flirt?”
Emily looked at her, puzzled. “Wait… that was flirting?”
That earned a full round of laughter from the group.
“Gods,” Cedric wheezed, “she’s oblivious.”
“She’s adorable,” Lux corrected, grinning as she took another drag. “And that’s far more dangerous.”
Emily blushed furiously. She wasn’t sure how to respond. She knew Lux teased and flirted with everyone, but there was something about the tone of her voice that made her feel strange. She wasn’t sure why.
As the evening went on, the party started to pick up.
While everyone ranted about their day and poked fun at each other, Cedric started cooking pork over the fire, and it smelled delicious. By the time it was done, Emily’s mouth was watering. Despite knowing the meat would be hot, Emily bit into it and let out a groan of pleasure.
“Mmmmm! That’s delicious!’ she said appreciatively.
“Yeah!”Alaric added. “It’s really good.”
Cedric stood and gave a dramatic, playful bow. Then, he reached into the burlap sack and started passing around several colorful bottles. “You’ve drunk before, right?” he asked Emily.
Emily took one of the bottles carefully. It was weighty and thick, and the liquid inside glowed faintly in the firelight. I… have… technically.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Her parents had given her watered-down wine during celebrations, and there had been that one time back in Peccatum when she was desperate, dehydrated, and stupid. She found a half-empty bottle in a gutter and thought, ‘How bad could it be?’
It was very bad.
Still, she wasn’t about to look like a complete child in front of Lux and her friends. If she could kill monsters, then she could survive this.
Emily uncorked the bottle. A sharp, earthy smell rose from it. She licked the rim of the bottle, picking up the faint taste of the liquor just before it hit her lips like fire and bitter honey. Her throat tightened, and her tongue shriveled. She coughed violently, smacking her chest as the liquid burned its way down. “Ugh—what the fuck—”
Ophelia snorted. “Oh yeah. She’s new.”
Cedric grinned. “You okay?”
Emily wiped her mouth. “I’m fine,” she croaked, and then, with the dumb courage only embarrassment could provide, took another sip. It still burned, but now her tongue was numb enough not to care.
She glanced around the fire, warmth blooming in her chest. It was a strange feeling. Not the liquor, but the experience. This was what she used to imagine doing back in Pillio’s Watch. Sneaking out into the night. Sitting around fires. Doing things she wasn’t supposed to do. Laughing with people who didn’t care about rules or expectations. Boys do it all the time, her mother used to say. They’ll forgive boys for being stupid. But Emily never got to be stupid. She had to be good.
As Emily took another sip, she started thinking. Would Violet even want to be here? Emily knew she would be having more fun if Violet had joined them this evening, but would this even be the kind of thing she would like doing? Violet was always the quiet one. She was restrained and well-mannered. The more Emily thought about it, she doubted Violet would even want to spend time with Lux and her friends, even if they treated her with respect. Still, that was her goal, and Emily had to keep reminding herself of that. Even if she didn’t convince Lux, or Alaric, or Ophelia, or Cedric, or Tristen to hang out with Violet, she would be happy if she could convince at least one of them to see Violet in a better light.
Tristan suddenly threw a branch full of dead leaves into the fire. Flames leapt up with a loud whoosh, and ash spiraled into the air.
“Tristen!” Ophelia shouted, covering her face. “You almost singed my eyebrows!”
“I’m just feeding the flames,” he said innocently, watching the embers float like tiny stars.
“You’re going to burn the whole forest down,” Alaric muttered.
“We have Emily for that,” Lux said with a smirk.
“Oh, that’s right,” Cedric chimed in. “Why the hell didn’t we just wait for her to arrive? She could have saved us an hour of trying to get the damn thing to lite.”
“I didn’t know she was coming,” Tristan said.
“Lux literally said Emily was coming,” Ophelia said.
“Lux never told me!”
“Well, now she’s here,” Lux said. “And now that we’ve eaten, I say we go do something fun.”
“Like what?” Alaric asked.
“A dip in the lake.”
Emily blinked. “What?”
Everyone perked up instantly.
“Oh, hell yes,” Tristan said, tossing his cigarette into the fire and standing. “I’ll race you all down there!”
“You’ll eat dirt before you get halfway,” Ophelia said, launching to her feet and kicking Tristan in the shin before sprinting off into the trees.
“You little bitch!” Tristan shouted, limping after her. “I’m gonna drown you!”
Cedric looked at Alaric. “You gonna go save her?”
“Nah, I should probably save him.” The two of them walked off.
“Come on, Em!” Lux said excitedly.
Emily hesitated. “I don’t know… I’m kind of tired,” she said, holding the bottle up weakly. “I’ve been practicing all day. Magic drains me, and I haven’t even—”
“Come on! It’s the only night we’ve had to hang out in… I don’t know, forever!” She took Emily’s hand. “Don’t waste it sitting by a fire like an old woman.”
“I’m eighteen,” Emily said with a flustered laugh.
“Exactly. So act like it.”
Emily tried to protest, but Lux’s grip was firm and warm. Her cheeks were burning, and the liquor in her belly made her legs feel too light to argue properly. She let herself be dragged away and prayed she wasn’t going to drown like last time.
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