Chapter 12 - Sorry

After the events of the draw, Jacen barely left my side. It didn't matter if we were at the house, the coffee shop, the library or the college, he did everything within his power to make sure that he was next to me. And he was particularly protective today considering what was supposed to be happening in just a few minutes. I told him again and again, "Jacen, I am fine and what happened wasn't your fault. You did what you could to help my family and I. You took the vampires at their word, it's not your fault that they didn't hold to it and they took more than they should have." But Jacen felt differently. He said, "If I had simply gone in with you regardless of what those paumpus idiots liked, I could have said something, or maybe I could have done something... but no, I sat out in the car and did nothing and I said nothing, until it was too late for it to make a difference. After the damage was done. Seeing the strong beautiful woman I've come to know in such a state, it pained me in a way I've never imagined. But now I'm going to do my part to make sure that you are safe, to make sure nothing else like that happens. Before; I simply took the vampires at their word, but, right now, I don't even trust them not to come out here and try to get the rest of your blood while they can." I couldn't argue with him so I just told him, "Jacen, I don't blame you. I actualy kinda blame myself for not being more vigilant about what they were doing. You might not have been in there, but I was. I should have done something as well." He took me in his arms and said, "It's not your fault, Bethany, if you had fought against them, they might have just strapped you down and took it all anyway. Besides, it was during the day, and you wouldn't have enough power to take them on without transforming, and you can't just transform at will." We stood there for a minute before deciding to go inside to have dinner with my parents and our, "guests." They had prepared fresh out-of-the-smoker brisket, potato salad, homemade potato bread buns (my favorite), baked beans, and a wide variety of chips. I was more focused on eating than on the oddities of the people joining us for dinner. All of the Generals had come to eat with us except for Malici, seeing as cooked food wasn't anything in comparison to raw meat and blood for him. The rest of the Generals sat around our table quietly. It was almost as if they were afraid of speaking to the point of creating a massively awkward silence. Eventually one of them (Gryphon, I think his name was.) broke the awkward silence saying, "We are sorry for having put you all at risk with how much blood we took. We let our excitement get out of control. It's not everyday that werewolves are lining up for our blood draw. Let alone ones that are second and third generation werewolves." We all took turns telling them that we can understand their situation, but they should keep others in mind whenever they go to do something that could possibly hurt someone else regardless of their excitement. They began to tell us about the different animals that they had given some of our blood, and how they had 3 different test subjects of each species where they used the blood of each one of us to see how it might have a different reaction. "We have decided to go forward with dogs as they were successful at taking on vampirism, as well as deer, rabbits, and snakes. Snakes being the only one not already a mammal, and not having any limbs to start with." They explained that there were also still several ideas for them to continue with their experiments on marine life once they saw the results of the snakes and continued their tests. The only problem was that where they could get almost immediate results when testing vampirism, but they had to wait until the next full moon to see the results of their tests on werewolf's blood in other animals. The excitement that they had would be almost cute if it wasn't for the practically evil look in their eyes. The smiling group of powerful monsters was quite unsettling, no matter how kind and unassuming they appeared. It was as if a fire burned deep inside each one of them, one that no matter how hard they fought to do so, they could not hide for long. You could see the eagerness inside their eyes like that of a famished wolf that couldn't contain itself and was holding itself back from devouring its next meal. I did everything I could to try to act as normal as I possibly could while having an inhuman family with monsters coming over for a barbecue. After everyone had finished their meals and the Military leaders of the vampires began to leave they all turned back to face us and said that they hope that we can truly set the treaty with the vampires so that they never have to hunt us down. I couldn't believe how calm they were saying something like that, and had to bite my tongue so that I wouldn't laugh at them. Once they got into a black SUV and drove off I began to laugh hysterically almost to the point that I started to cry. My family just looked at me like I was crazy, then when I finaly managed to stop, I looked up to say, "What?" they all started laughing too. I'm not sure if they were laughing at me, or laughing with me, but everyone laughed for a long time. Even Jacen, who had been so serious and so protective let his guard down for a short time and laughed with us.