Well, the reason I'm posting this in so close unison because I really wanted to post this chapter. This is when things start to get messy... at least for me because this is the idea I wanted to introduce. This is when you find more about Isaac and I'm really nervous about this chapter... I hope it all makes sense and flows well. Please, be as harsh as humanely possible lol 
Happy Reading!
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I was deep within the maze-like forest before I realized how far I had gone. I was running faster than what was safe to use, my mind in turmoil. What did Elena and Ben’s relationship mean? What did he have to decide? And what did Jasmine’s visit denote for the coven? There were too many questions and not nearly enough options, let alone answers.
It was scary to think that Carmen might be right about the Exiles—that they might truly be gathering numbers and reeking havoc under out very noses. Weren’t the Ancients, like Jasmine, supposed to be preventing these things from happening? It wasn’t Carmen or Philip’s place to worry. We were a simple, lowly coven. We weren’t high enough on the ladder to take place in such serious matters.
Sophia…
I froze to a standstill, my body turning to stone. The forest was quiet—eerily quiet. The wind was even still, like everything was washed away. I pricked my ears, listening with all my might for the location of the intruder.
That’s when I smelled it—that sickly sweet aroma that drove my vampire senses up the wall. It made me cringe, my nails growing to a dangerous length. I felt my muscles tense, my fangs growing in response to the outside threat.
I had to control myself; I had to face this danger with a clear head. It was probably just another strange animal I had never seen before. No worries, right?
Wrong.
Another smell mingled then and it was pure human. Not good, I thought, the smell raising my senses in a different light. I hadn’t fed in a while and the scent was maddening. I needed to get out of here.
“Sophia? Not lost in the woods again, are you?” The boy materialized out of the skeletal trees, both scents now extremely strong, as if both coming from the figure in front of me. No, that couldn’t be right… why would this boy set off both my primitive and feeding senses? What’s so special about him? I remembered back to out last meeting in the tiny shop in town and I had felt odd then as well. But not nearly as strongly as I did at the moment. Maybe the mysterious creature had been around at both times. Maybe it was all due to coincidence.
And maybe I was just going a tad crazy.
All I knew was that this human needed to stop popping up in unexpected places. He needed to stop coming around—for good.
“Isaac,” I murmured, still keeping my eyes peeled for the creature while trying not to bare my fangs to the human.
He frowned. “Again with the lack of enthusiasm. I’m starting to get the feeling that you don’t like me very much.”
I rolled my eyes in spite of my frazzled senses. “What gave me away?” I drawled, my ears pricked for anything that would give away the creature’s whereabouts.
He laughed as if it was too hard to not smile all of the time. “I don’t know, just the way you always seem to be on edge around me.”
He had noticed that? I stared, looking at him for the first time in a new light. This human wasn’t as stupid as I thought. Did he know that he smelt different from all the others? Did he know something that I didn’t? Was he just mocking me, somehow knowing what I was?
No, that’s crazy! Humans could sense us but had no idea why they were nervous. But this human didn’t seem nervous. He actually looked relaxed, one leg looped behind the other, shoulder bending into the nearest tree, arms crossed over his chest.
I swallowed hard. A gust of wind had just blown over the area, heightening the smell of him. That pure human scent engulfed my system while the sour one faded into the background. I should run. This was not, at all, the best time to be around a human when I needed to feed, especially with my primitive senses still on high.
“Listen, Isaac, this is a bad time for me. I have to go,” I said, my words tripping over each other in my haste to get them out. I was unconsciously backing away from him, my legs tense, ready to run at any moment that it became too unbearable.
He took a step toward me, arm raised. “Wait!” His voice was so commanding that I did stop. Before I could blink, he had closed the distance between us, now only a few feet away. The scent was trying, testing the very limits of my self-control. I could hear his blood, pumping beautifully through his veins, his heart beating with a rhythmic tone that made my mouth water.
What if I did take him right here, right now. I was hungry. I needed to hunt. Here was a perfect target. Out of sight of other human eyes, clearly wanting me to stay with him. It would be even easier to control his mind. Just one bash of an eyelash, one look, and he would be mine. It would be so easy…
“Sophia, listen to me, we don’t have much time.” The urgency in his voice cut off that train of thought and I looked him straight in the eye. His voice was altered—deeper and imposing. “You have to listen to me. I heard that someone came to visit your house last night. Who?”
I blinked rapidly, as if dazed. How did he know about Jasmine? My eyes narrowed, suspicion wiping away all other thoughts. “How do you know—“
“There’s no time for that!” he nearly shouted, his jaw clenched. For an instant, he didn’t look like the innocent, pestering human but like a stronger, scarier being, his body shifting so fast that I was only able to catch that slight change over him. “I just need to know who it was,” he finished in a calmer tone.
I shook my head. “No, you don’t. It’s none of your business, hum—“ I nearly let the word slip out, but I bit my tongue before that happened.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair in an exasperated way, as if I was being slow. “Just tell me. Please.” His voice was near a plea now.
“No,” I said more forcefully. “You tell me why this is so important to you?”
“I can’t tell you right now, but I will. But first you have to—“
Just then, another voice rang clearly through the forest. “Isaac! Isaac, where’d you head off too?” It was a female’s voice, thick with laughter as another voice joined hers. I heard them running towards us and my eyes grew wide with panic. More humans meant more blood.
Run! a voice inside my head shouted. I nearly obeyed when Isaac’s hand shot out, gripping my wrist. Shots of warmth tingled up my arm, making me gasp in surprise, jerking me to a halt. His skin was silky to the touch, like velvet cloth. I paused to admire it, my thumb drifting across his knuckles.
“Sophia, I need to know.” His eyes implored me to tell him, wrenching me back to reality. But I shook him off and without thinking, bared my fangs with a ferocious snarl that sent him whirling backward.
And then I was running as fast as my vampire senses could carry me all the way back to the cottage. All I could do was concentrate on reaching the safety of the grounds. When the cottage came into sight, I used the last of my energy to slide with a soft halt into the pillars supporting the porch. Breathing heavily, my body weakened from the lack of blood and frazzled senses, I took a moment to center myself. Slowly, my breathing leveled and two things became apparent to me at the same time.
One, Isaac knew what I was. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know why but just the way he talked to me, the way he knew about Jasmine, there was no doubt in my mind that he knew that there was a coven of vampires living in his town.
And two, I knew deep down that he was the dangerous creature my senses were screaming at me to stay away from. What other explanation could there be for his sudden interest in my coven? In me? Was he in alliance with the Exiles? Has he been waiting for the perfect moment to strike?
Get yourself together, Sophia! I shook my head, my thoughts running away with me. I had to think clearly. I didn’t know for sure Isaac was bad or even what he was?
This thought scared me more than all the rest. I tried to search through my mind for anything that would give away what he might be. That’s when the dream suddenly came to me and I remembered the glossy feathers, velvety skin, that grotesque beak…
I felt the breath leave my lungs as I put it all together—his strange skin was the only indicator of his true identity but there was no other option. Isaac had to be it.
He was a Soren.
