The fire was sizzling and fireflies were coloring the black sky. A woman was going around with a big iron bowl filled with deer stew, filling the empty plates of man, woman and child alike. The people around the five long wooden tables were talking animatedly about their day. Some faces had turned at my arrival and started up some gossip.

Covered in blood and with a deer strapped on my back, I walked up to the fire - the center of our village. With tired limbs, I dropped the animal to the ground. More faces turned, some were worried, but most were shaking their heads in disapproval. Breaking curfew did that here.

"Where have you been? It's already night," Mordor, one of the council members, raised his low voice. He stood up from the heavy wooden table in front of the council house. The village had become uncharacteristically silent; only iron cutlery clattered against the plates in the night.

"I ran -"

He held his hand up in the air.

"I hope you were going to say 'I ran into some vampires and killed them, that's why I'm covered in blood' and not 'I ran into trouble and barely made it out alive'."

His words made my stomach clench. Which one was it? Not the first one, I certainly did not kill a vampire. I did run into trouble, yet somehow I made it out alive without as much as a fight. Which would be high treason if anyone found out about that.

"Which one is it, Sky?" His scarred face looked as disturbing as his tone sounded.

"I ran into a vampire," I responded, but the expected delight in my voice was nowhere to be found.

Around the tables though, Hunters started to hit the table with their hands and cutlery. Gossip had restarted and the attention of Helfarch had drifted off. Good.

Unfortunately, Mordor was not one to go celebrate with my magic words. "Where is the body?"

The muscles in my back tensed. "I already burned it. Food seemed more important than a dead body."

He grumbled, like the warning bells of a storm. "Let us decide which is more important."

I nodded, but didn't dare say anything. Honestly, all I wanted to do was run back to the forest, surrounded by the tranquility of nature.

"And Sky, if you take that long to hunt one deer, I think that job will be kept for someone else in the future."

His words made my stomach drop and my heart clench. I didn't respond.

"Go to your house, clean yourself up. You're not welcome at this dinner anymore, not until you understand how important it is to live by our rules. I expect to see you afterwards. We are not done talking."

The way he demanded certain things stung. Like always I gritted my teeth, making a scene really wouldn't work out in my favor. My eyes dropped down to the ground, looking away from the heavily scarred man. He probably thought it was out of respect, but he couldn't have been more wrong about that. I was avoiding his eyes so he couldn't see the angry tears blurring my eyes. Turning around and walking away seemed the best option.

With heavy steps, I made my way through the wooden tables and towards the little clay house my mother and I shared.

With trembling hands, I took the water bowl in front of our house inside and started to clean myself. There wasn't any hurry in my movements, my body felt heavy and tired. For the first time I thought I had met someone who understood me, or at least a little bit. Kate had seemed so interesting and different from most girls I had met. Of course she had to be a vampire.

How was it that I hadn't felt her presence though? The past two weeks I had killed so many vampires that it made me slightly sick to think about it, yet for some reason my 'thirst' didn't work on her. Was it because the curse was broken? Or was she different in some other way?

A foot crushing a twig outside the door made me look up from my hands. The door opened carefully and my body relaxed again. There was only one person that opened our door with such care.

My mother poked her head from behind the corner, her eyes soft and caring.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?"

I nodded in slow movements, my breathing deep and tired.

"You were gone for quite some time, what's on your mind?"

Redirecting my eyes back to the sponge in the iron bucket, I closed my eyes. They burned, the tears wouldn't fall, they never did, but they were present and they would make it known.

"Usually when you take your hunting day, there is a reason for you to be alone. So, do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, my eyes opened and fixed on my hands and the sponge. The material suddenly had become so interesting; there were so many holes in it and it felt so soft, yet it scrubbed the dirt of things. Truly a fascinating item.

"You probably won't get food, so I snuck some bread and pekah with me." She brought her hands from behind her back and showed the brown bread and the dried meat.

"I still don't understand that stupid rule. How is it in their best interest to starve their forces?"

"It's to make a point." She walked inside, grabbed a chair and sat across from me. "Is that why you went hunting?"

The sponge moved up and down my fingers. Getting the blood from under my nails was harder than it looked.

My shoulders hiccuped. "It was getting harder to breathe again," I admitted quietly. I knew my mother was trustworthy, but you never knew which walls had ears.

She nodded, her features fell in sadness.

"One day, it won't feel like that anymore, I promise."

She wrapped her hands around mine, finally I looked up in her eyes. The power she constantly wore in her blue eyes was a warm blanket in the cold of the night.

"What do you know about Hunter Marx?" The question slipped out, but I didn't take it back. It felt like a weight to carry all my suspicions around. I needed someone to listen to them.

My mother looked surprised, she was probably wondering why I asked. She didn't ask though. My privacy was my privacy. That was her one rule. If I want to say something, she will listen, but it will be on my terms.

"He's a transfer from Rudera," she replied.

Her hands took the sponge from me and started rubbing the blood from my lower arms.

"After the High Council of the Hunters came for you, he stayed behind just like Hunter Millie and Hunter Ryan. Hunter Marcus left again, but I don't see that as a loss for our village. He was an unpleasant man."

At those names, the pressure in my head heightened again. A half image of a man with a beard came to mind. My hand rubbed the side of my arm where I felt the ghost of a big hand.

Mom was busy dropping the sponge back in the bucket and pushing it to the side. Luckily she hadn't seen me like that. I didn't know why I agreed with her, I still didn't remember anyone named Marcus, but the feeling that stayed behind wasn't a pleasant one. It could be one of resentment or disgust.

"Why can't I remember them? Why do I have these holes in my memory?"

She took my hands in hers and squeezed. "I don't know exactly. They say it might be a side effect of the ritual."

"But you don't believe them?"

My mother shrugged. "You know how little I believe in what they say. Their stories have always had questionable holes in them. They protect themselves behind their stupid rules, like the Council are gods themselves." She scoffed.

"I don't think I believe them either."

She gave me a questioning look, her hands still holding the pressure on my hands. The anchoring feeling was comforting.

"Why is that?"

I shrugged, just like she had done just a second ago.

"Marx hid something from me on our mission. It was so clear that something had been there, and yet he lied right to my face. I might be as experienced as him, but the stench and the way the forest fell quiet. He fought something, I saw the dirt on his clothes."

My mother nodded, but her thoughts were far.

"I always suspected that they lied about certain aspects of a mission, but lying to another Hunter's face." She shook her head in disapproval. "I wondered what was so important that he would risk gossip."

"There won't be gossip," I responded immediately. "Because they would simply question my loyalty."

"It's sad to see how far they have fallen. Lately they have been doing that quite a lot, misusing their power."

My mother sighed, she seemed tired all of a sudden.

"Don't look into it too much, they already have extra eyes on you. I'll take a closer look into Marx. You should focus on blending in, try to make friends again."

"I have a friend," I pointed out. She gave me a look. "Ura."

She laughed. "Right. How could I have forgotten?"

"I don't know, but please be careful. It won't be stupid of the council to put some eyes on you as well."

Mom smiled before she pulled me in a quick hug.

"Those eyes work for me now, so don't worry too much."

My eyes turned big in surprise. She smiled and kissed me goodnight on top of my head before slipping out of the house again.

With that new information, I pulled some fresh clothes on. With reluctance, I dragged myself to the council house - the big house right behind the huge campfire.