Craved (34 page)

“Yes,” Holly said to a man in his
early thirties. The man stood up and looked around the crowd,
hesitant to say what was on his mind. “Shouldn’t we only punish
those who have drunk our blood? I know the council is looking out
for our best interest, but why should those who haven’t drunk our
blood be punished?” The man sat down and nervously wiped the sweat
that had collected along his brow. Holly was silent for a moment
while she eyed the crowd. Although she stood and spoke confidently,
I could tell she was worried about the compassion the people were
showing towards the innocent vampires.

“It is easy to look at those who have
not drunk from us as innocents,” Holly began. “Word is already
spreading of the miraculous things our blood can enable the
vampires to do and more and more vampires are tempted to drink us.
Loved ones are no exception, as I told the woman before you. We
have a member here tonight who was betrayed by a loved one because
the pull of our blood was too strong.” Holly held out her hand
towards me. My stomach sunk with the churning waves of
nausea.

“Gwen Sparks has gotten romantically
involved with a vampire and he betrayed her by becoming addicted to
the magic in our blood. She trusted an innocent, as you call them,
and in the end he deceived her.”

Everyone turned and looked at me while
I stared holes into Holly. I should have known the council would
have found out that Aiden had shortly been addicted to brew. While
he was trying to find answers about the case we worked on a couple
weeks ago, his friend, Louis, had urged him to try witches blood.
The magic in our blood is an addiction that acts quickly. Aiden was
on his way to becoming a full fledge brew junkie. I offered to feed
him so that he wouldn’t go out and possibly kill another witch. I
was so upset about what was happening to him that I took him to Ms.
Ozland’s house and we were able to break his addiction that night.
It had been painful, for me, but worth it. Ms. Ozland was the only
person, besides me and Aiden, who knew about that night. The only
person who had betrayed me was her.

“So, hopefully I’ve made it clear how
serious our situation is,” Holly said and the crowd turned their
attention back to her. I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with
her anymore so I turned and left.