Chapter 30

The streets of Arapuni Street were not too busy with vehicles even before the weekend. By car, Federica looked at the city she had lived in for almost six months or more; the girl shook her head in disbelief. Too many incidents kept coming since she was revived as a mixed-blood girl.

While resting her chin on the car window, the girl's sharp nose took a deep breath of air with hills and trees lining her eyes. Not to mention, the sky is so blue with white clouds like cotton. It made Federica dream of touching that cloud.

"Looks like you've never been around this area," Liam said as he turned his car onto State Highway 3.

The girl turned her head as the wind rustled her shoulder-length hair. She shook her head and stared straight at the road.

"No. I'd rather stay home to make sure I'm safe."

Liam frowned deeply. "Why?"

"You know the answer yourself, Liam."

The man nodded, and several questions came up about the girl.

"Since when did you know my world exists, Fed?"

Federica was silent and then shrugged her shoulders. It is also impossible for him to say that she is a descendant of a fox. This would be the same as indirectly causing Federica to commit suicide.

"I found out when I came to this country. Then Ethan came to help me," said Federica, lying a little.

Liam nodded. "So, do you know who Ethan is?"

"Yeah, I think I'm in a fantasy world," Federica laughed.

Before Liam responded to Federica's sentence, he smiled when he saw a signboard for one of the phenomenal places in New Zealand. Waitomo Hills. He carefully parked the car in the parking space provided. Federica got out of the car with her arms outstretched. The two-hour journey was.

"Nice place, right?" asked Liam, standing on Federica's left while wearing sunglasses.

"I don't know how good this place is yet, Liam."

The man turned around and smiled so sweetly that it made Federica's eyes hypnotized who knows how many times. She shook her head, trying to bring herself back to consciousness, stopping the red blush that was written on her face.

"Are you sick?"

"N-no!"

Walk hand in hand through the footpath past the Waitomo of Caves museum, which leads them to farmland with rocky rocks. Federica looked up in amazement at the shape of the hollow rocks with strange formations. Apart from that, he was presented with the Pureora forest, which was busy with the sound of birds chirping. Traces of sunlight seemed to compete to sneak in and illuminate the forest area, leaving long shadows with small dust flying around.

Federica inhaled the damp aroma of a forest dominated by native trees hundreds of years old. Excellent and so peaceful. Close your eyes and enjoy every song of the birds above. Federica smiled faintly, brushing the bushes and tree trunks with her fingers to feel the harmony that always reminded her of life in the past. In the past, when she was little, she would chase other foxes, sometimes running around just catching birds and playing with the orange-furred animals. All the memories in Federica's head made these chunks of memories pierce her heartstrings.

Her irises opened; the past will not return no matter how hard humans try to reach it. The past can never be repaired to change the future. All that can be done is to live with natural consequences. Federica understands that nature has other plans to maintain balance in the universe.

"Fed," Liam called, interrupting Federica's thoughts. "Do you know why this place is called Waitomo?"

"No."

"Everything in this country comes almost entirely from the Maori language. Wai means water, and Tomo means hole."

"Do you speak Maori?"

"You look down on me?" Liam raised an eyebrow, feeling teased.

"A little."

"He ataahua koe i tenei ra," said Liam, blushing.

(You are beautiful today)

"What does it mean?" Federica asked, not understanding.

"I think you're a versatile kid, Fed," Liam teased, only to be met with a punch on the man's arm.

"At least I'm always number one in school," replied Federica.

Liam burst out laughing about to reply to Federica's clever sentence. However, suddenly, there was a sound among the leaves and bushes. Liam told Federica to stop; she complied to sharpen her hearing. The girl looked up and accidentally caught a black shadow on a tree trunk.

In the next second, a gunshot was heard, almost hitting Liam's right arm. The silver bullet hit the tree trunk, leaving a gaping hole there. "Unlucky!" Liam snorted irritably.

Federica heard movement on the right side about seven meters behind. As if She knew the enemy's actions, she turned around simultaneously as servants attacking her. She reached for the silver knife tucked in the back of her speed pants, then sliced the servamp's neck until blood poured out and stabbed the head mercilessly, causing the pale body to collapse to the ground and then turn to ashes.

"Liam! Watch out!" shouted Federica, catching one of the servamps about to pounce on Liam from behind.

Liam managed to dodge and remove the low-class vampire's heart from his chest cavity easily. "They shouldn't come out during the day!"

More and more servamps arrived; even Federica couldn't see where the mark of ownership was on the slave vampire's body. She was sure they also killed the humans standing guard around the front of the museum.

Federica fired her gun towards her enemy's heart. Some of them managed to die, but some others missed. She also plunged a knife into the spirit by occasionally kicking the other's servamps.

"Blake's servamps are crazy," Liam said breathlessly.

For a few seconds, Federica gaped as she digested Liam's sentence. “What? How did you know?”

"No time, Fed! Run!" Liam ordered ignoring Federica's question.

With all their strength, they ran, with Federica occasionally firing bullets at the vampire, making the birds fly wildly. Unfortunately, they don't seem afraid and are still chasing like hypnotized people to get what their master orders.

"Through this way!" Liam pulled Federica's arm. To jump into a hole about ten meters in diameter. Their bodies fell to the bottom of the river, which had a reasonably calm flow. Liam held Federica's head from surfacing for several minutes. In the water, Liam motioned for them to stay still and follow the river current, which took them deeper into the cave.

Unable to stand in the water, Federica raised her head to take a breath and fill her lungs, which were running out of air. Her eyes widened to find herself in a limestone cave with beautifully etched stalactites. After a few moments, Liam appeared, looking warily around him.

“I think they—” Liam was stunned by Federica's forehead, which was torn from the impact at the bottom of the river.

The smell of blood seeping from the wound was very fragrant and sweet, tempting Liam's sense of smell, which had not sucked human blood for a long time. A long-buried desire suddenly emerged to gnaw at Liam to tear his victim apart. Liam's irises lit up, observing Federica's wound. Unfortunately, Liam's human side rebelled, forcing the man to remain sane.

Federica, who realized that there was blood pouring from her forehead, was shocked beyond words. She swam a little away with difficulty, avoiding Liam. She was ready to take out Liam's heart if her life was threatened.

"I'm sorry," said Liam, shaking his head hard to resist the biggest temptation before his eyes. “Can you go a little further?”

Federica was silent as she swam to the other side of the river to get away from Liam. If it were Blake, her life would have ended in this cave. However, this was different from Liam, who chose to close his eyes tightly and wrestle with the contents of his thoughts. Federica can read reviews and see the changing color of Liam's body. Federica quickly washed the wound with river water, although the wound would heal by itself in a few moments.

Damn, I didn't bring a band-aid! Federica grumbled.

"Sorry, I didn't want to hurt you," said Liam, opening his eyes. "Your wound..." He pointed at Federica's forehead, which was smooth again without a wound.

Federica turned around. This time, Liam will discover who he is, who is not an ordinary human.

"Fed, who are you?" Liam swam over to Federica with a big question mark on his head.

Federica swallowed hard, not daring to answer.

“Fed, are you not a pure human?” Liam asked again. “Where is your clan from? An ordinary girl can't have her wounds disappear in a few minutes.”

The girl turned her head without answering Liam's chatter. They stared at each other silently, and millions of questions were in their minds. Liam even looked at Federica like an idiot because seeing her wounds heal so quickly compared to him was so strange.

"I..." Federica started to speak. She felt hesitant about showing her true identity to Liam, a vampire.

Liam waited for whatever answer would come from the girl's lips about her true identity. There are even rumors that Federica might be a member of the werewolf clan. If it is true that she is part of Ethan's family, Ethan should not let Liam drown in his feelings of being attracted to the opposite sex.

Without warning, Liam kissed Federica's red lips, widening the girl's eyes. The rumbling in her chest was like ocean waves crashing against the rocks. Her stomach felt like electricity was flowing from the water when Liam held Federica's nape with his right hand. Federica couldn't think so that she couldn't kiss Liam back. She even forgot how to breathe.

Liam broke the kiss and looked at Federica's flushed face. He laughed shyly while scratching his head non-itchingly.

"Look, Fed," Liam said, looking around.

The girl was shocked when the entire cave wall glowed blue in the darkness. Reminiscent of the fireflies she had seen in the Gordon River.

"Beautiful," said Federica admiringly.

"This is the Glow worms cave where you can see glow worms, Fed. But..." Liam trailed off.

"Yes?"

"Nothing shines brighter than seeing you laugh, Dawson."

Liam's last sentence made Federica's heart float in the river. There are no other words other than a smile that blooms with cheeks red like a tomato. Federica didn't know that Liam was good at making sweet words.

"You make me remember our meeting in the school cafeteria," said Federica.

Liam's lips smiled shyly. "I think I'm falling in love with you, Fed."