Chapter 18 DEER HUNTING
LILIAN POV
The ceiling fan hummed like an old secret, spinning slow circles above me, I didn't bother going to work but I did call my boss and inform him.
Sleep wasn’t coming tonight, not with the way the air felt too thick, too loud, like the walls were breathing.
I’d showered twice, scrubbed until my skin burned, but I still smelled it, Blood !.
It wasn’t on my clothes anymore, it was in me. It was me.
I paced across the living room, fingers pressed to my temples.
“Calm down,” I muttered. “You didn’t mean to kill him. It just… happened. Totally normal. Everyone murders a drunk stranger, right?”
My laugh came out hollow, It echoed back at me, and for a second, I almost didn’t recognize it.
Then came the whisper in a soft.... Sweet. Familiar vioce.
Lilian... I froze.
“Nope,” I said immediately, voice cracking. “No supernatural whispers tonight, thanks.”
But it didn’t stop..... You’re starving again… aren’t you?
I pressed my palms over my ears. “Shut up....Shut the hell up.”
then there was silence.... yeah that's what I thought.
Then ... knock knock.
My heart jumped into my throat.
It wasn’t loud. ...Just two deliberate knocks. The kind that knew I was awake.
Knock knock.
I swallowed hard. “If that’s you, serial killer, I’m armed with sarcasm and trauma.”
A voice from the other side: “You gonna open up, or should I break the door again?”
Seraphine.
I groaned. “Of course.”
I unlocked the door, and there she was perfectly calm, perfectly dressed in all black like a damn gothic goddess, eyes glinting under the hallway light. Her smirk was lazy, the kind that said she knew things I didn’t want to admit.
“Good evening, sunshine,” she said. “You look... unhinged and totally normal.”
“Wow,” I muttered. “You always know how to make a girl feel special.”
She tilted her head. “I’d offer coffee, but your last barista shift didn’t go so well.”
My jaw clenched. “You’re hilarious.”
“Am I?” She took a slow step inside, her eyes scanning the room the drawn curtains, the half-broken lamp, the blood-stained rag I’d tried to hide under a towel. “Mm.... Cozy.”
I crossed my arms. “What do you want, Seraphine? Or should I say Miss Vale?”
Her smile sharpened. “Oh, so you figured that out, thought you never wanted to call me miss.vale.”
“It wasn’t hard,” I snapped. “You literally gave me a lecture and a blood craving in the same week.”
She chuckled low, melodic. “Well, multitasking is one of my strengths.”
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously... Why are you here?”
Her amusement faded, replaced by something colder. “Because, Lilian, you’re losing control. And if you keep pretending to be human, someone else is going to lose more than a little blood.”
I stiffened. “I didn’t....”
“You did.”
Her tone cut through my words like glass. “And it won’t stop unless you learn.”
I stared at her. “Learn what? How to stop killing people, like the squirrel hunt shit?”
“To feed without killing them,” she said simply. “To listen to the hunger without letting it drown you.”
I laughed, sharp and shaky. “You make it sound like meditation.”
“It’s instinct,” she replied. “And instincts can be mastered but not here.”
“Where then?”
She looked me over, eyes flicking to my pajamas. “First, change into something you don’t mind destroying.”
My brow furrowed. “Why?”
Her smile widened. “Because we’re going hunting.”
Hunting yeah, that word aged poorly the second it left her mouth.
Still, twenty minutes later, I was following her down an abandoned road in torn jeans and an old hoodie, mumbling every curse I knew under my breath.
“You ever consider not being too quiet for five minutes?” I said. “Would it kill you to just say ‘hey, we’re gonna chase deer’ instead of ‘hunting’ like some vampire yoga instructor?”
Seraphine didn’t even glance back. “I find clarity overrated.”
“Oh, yeah? You also find giving instructions overrated and your language is weird?”
“Just follow me.”
The wind howled through the empty street. The town lights were far behind us now nothing but shadows and the faint rustle of trees ahead.
Every instinct screamed run home, but my body didn’t listen.
“Why here?” I asked.
Seraphine stopped, turning to face me. Her eyes gleamed like silver knives.
“Because this is where I first learned to run.”
She took off before I could reply.
Not ran vanished. One blink, and she was gone, the air around me shivering.
I gasped, spinning in place. “Okay, what the...”
“Focus,” her voice echoed. “Don’t think....Just move.”
I took a step.... Then another.
My body felt heavy at first, uncoordinated. But then something shifted a pulse inside me, deep and wild. The ground blurred beneath my feet, and suddenly I wasn’t walking.
I was running, No scratch that I was flying.
The air tore past my face, cold and alive. The trees became streaks of shadow. The pounding of my steps matched the rhythm of my heart faster, faster, until both blurred into one sound.
I couldn’t breathe or think. I just moved.
When I finally stumbled to a stop, Seraphine was standing a few feet ahead, arms folded, watching me with that infuriating smirk.
I gasped. “Holy shit Did I just....”
“Run?” she finished. “Barely.... You tripped over air twice.”
I bent forward, panting. “Hey, Air is… slippery, okay?”
She chuckled, a low, amused sound that felt warmer than I wanted to admit.
The woods opened into a clearing faint moonlight spilling across dead leaves.
That’s when I saw it, A deer all alone with it's head down, grazing near the brush.
It was beautiful and I wanted it.
Every nerve in my body woke up. I could hear its heartbeat from across the clearing steady, calm, unaware of the monster standing in front of it.
My mouth went dry, Seraphine’s voice was a whisper near my ear. “Go on.... Listen.”
“I— I can’t.”
“Yes, you can.”
Her tone softened. “You’re not human anymore, Lilian. You can fight it, or you can learn to survive it.”
I hesitated, trembling.
The deer lifted its head, sensing something. Its eyes met mine. For a second, I saw my reflection pale, hollow, starving.
Then instinct took over.
One blink and I was there way too fast, too quiet. The creature bolted, but I was quicker. My hands caught its neck, my breath sharp and ragged.
“Shh,” I whispered. My voice shook. “I’m sorry.... I don’t.... I don’t want to hurt you.”
It struggled weakly..... Tears blurred my vision.
Then I felt the hunger roaring up like fire and I clutched my jaw.
“I can’t control it,” I said, almost pleading. “ Seraphine I can’t....”
“Yes, you can,” Seraphine’s voice echoed from behind. “Breathe.... Feel.... Don’t lose yourself to it. Take only what you need.”
I pressed my lips to the creature’s neck, shaking.... The first taste hit like lightning.
It wasn’t like before not frenzy, it was awareness. Every heartbeat of the deer pulsed through my veins until I pulled away, panting, shivering, alive in a way I’d never been before.
The animal collapsed, unconscious but breathing.
I stared at my hands, trembling. “What the hell am I?”
Seraphine stepped closer, her expression unreadable. “Now you understand.”
“Understand what?” My voice cracked. “That I’m a monster?”
Her lips curved faintly. “No. That you’re a survivor.”
I laughed bitterly. “Then why does surviving feel like dying?”
She didn’t answer Instead, she tilted her head back, gazing at the stars bleeding through the night sky.
“Because,” she said finally, “death is easy. Living with what we are… that’s the hard part.”