Chapter 22: A mother without memory

After understanding in a profound way everything that was happening around me I decided not to think selfishly, I considered that it was nobody's fault the situation I was in, I decided not to blame the people who had been helping me during all this conflict that the mystical destiny had chosen for me, and I got up from my mother's side to shake the coyote's hand firmly.

"What's the matter? Are you being nice now?"

He asked firmly , looking at me in surprise .

"I apologize , I think I was rude and inconsiderate to you , you have offered me your help since you found me in the woods . You did not divulge my crimes , you opened the doors of your cabin for me, and you are here by my side defending my parents "

"Don't forget I'm doing it to keep Araticus from getting away with it , also because family is family , I'd rather have my family on my side than against me "

I comment in a calmer way .

"I know and I understand ."

" I think you should go to the office for a few minutes while your mother is still unconscious , maybe you could use a little reading , or maybe you should go out in the woods to clear your mind a little . Your mother's mind will take a few days to be restored , the damage she suffered is not superficial ."

Sasha suggested , as she sat next to my mother and looked at her with compassion .

I felt a strong pang in my heart as I heard her words but she was right , sitting next to my mother I couldn't do anything , my hands were tied and that was frustrating , for now even if she broke me in two I didn't have the tools to save my mother's mind .

I nodded my head and took the suggestion Sasha had given me, and decided to go for a walk in the woods to clear my thoughts, leaving my mother in the care of the coyote and my grandfather.

Skirting the treetops, watching as the cool breeze blew through and I floated through it like a fragile cloud in the sky, I tried to open my mind and release everything that weighed me down to the wind. The great weight of my mother's despair at not being able to recover her memories, and the great guilt of having left my father at the mercy of those ruthless killers, was something that continually suffocated me.

Passing by a stream far away from grandfather's palace , I could realize that I was not alone in that place , that there was someone else like us , its aroma of fresh blood attracted me . Although I had a sneaking suspicion that it was not a fully human person, I placed my feet on a dry log at a safe distance.

I could see the naked back of a young woman who was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years old, I could tell she could be my sister because of her height and apparent age. Her hair was long and dark down to her hips and her silhouette was graceful . But something that pricked my curiosity terribly was the fact that she was alone at the end of the creek , supremely still and apparently making some moans with her mouth in a strange way .

"Excuse me, miss."

"Are you looking for someone, are you lost?"

I asked in a calm way from a distance , but she did not answer me , in the least she did not even flinch to turn her face to look at me , just kept her back somehow crouched very still .

I decided to take courage and approach her to look at her face closely and the impact was such that I fell on my face full of panic .

"What are you?"

I asked shocked , as I looked at the terrifying face of that young girl .

Her eyes were deep red , her fangs were totally bloody . She opened her jaw , which was unhinged , taking twice the size of an average human's jaw , and let out a loud growl .

My mind clouded over and I didn't know whether to attack her , or help her out of some sort of trance she was in . It was obvious that she was not quite human and that she had a beast inside that dominated her , but ripping her head off at that moment just to defend myself seemed to me an act of extreme cruelty . I thought I had seen the worst, but when I looked at the bank of the stream that had turned bright red, I could understand the strange noises that this girl was making.

The creek was dragging the blood of a couple of bodies, uniformed bodies that I had seen before and I never thought I would see them in such an inhuman position . Sailing in their own lifeless blood , with their eyes inert and their necks butchered .

The young woman turned to approach me in a stalking manner like a lion attacks a prey , I think maybe she thought I was going to somehow steal the lifeless bodies she had tortured and sucked out but it never really crossed my mind to do so . My thoughts at the time were debating whether to rescue her or kill her to preserve my life.

I'm sure she was beside herself at the time , and nothing I could say would change her mind to stop stalking me . I remember reading in some book in the coyote library that human blood for newly turned vampires was an insatiable elixir , and the more you drank it the more the inner beast that came along with immortality developed , while the humanity of the individual was completely displaced . Once stripped of the humanity and consciousness with which nature had endowed them from their origins , they could no longer turn back and were only devoted to hunting humans compulsively , like a lion that only craves the fresh meat of a lamb . This corroborated my theory that talking to this girl would not work, because somehow she was lost between the desire to quench her thirst and her conscience.

I decided to attack her in self-defense and if things got out of control I was determined to kill her quickly and swiftly.

"What's the matter, you still haven't decided if you're going to tie me up?"

I was stunned to hear her voice clear and audible .

" i Surprised ! , you think that by consuming human blood I would lose my conscience . I think that's something very archaic ."

"If you haven't lost your conscience . why were you hunting so close to the restricted zone . There is a treaty that ..."

"How sweet, you want to lecture me on treaties and conventions." He said to me ironically

Undoubtedly this woman is not the helpless young victim of her instincts that I thought. It seems to me that once again I was deceived by appearances.

I thought to myself, while the woman walked around me in attack mode showing her sharp fangs.

"I think it's best if I get dressed soon , I think maybe you might be intimidated by my nakedness ."