InsaneJournal

Evening came, and Sammy decided that it would do her some good to go out for a little patrolling. She didn’t like thinking about the fact that fighting made her feel better, but for as long as she could remember, it had been her go-to activity when something was troubling her. It made sense. When she actually found a vampire, her mind didn’t have time to concentrate on all the things that were bothering her. First it would be consumed with survival instinct -- what did she have to do to get the upper hand on this creature? -- and the second she made skin to skin contact, Sammy would be flooded with the emotions of the vampire. The rage and the bloodlust was disgusting and made her feel all sorts of wrong inside her own skin, but sometimes it was a damn sight better than what she had been feeling before. Now was one of those times. Maia had done her best, but as much as the two of them had tried to work together to shake Sammy from her despair, it kept creeping in when her mind went idle. Truthfully, it would likely remain there, in the back of her mind, until things with her father were resolved. The only problem was that she didn’t know how to fix it. Talking to him didn’t do any good. If she wasn’t outright ignored, then he talked himself in circles that Sammy couldn’t follow. The last time she’d seen him, she’d actually yelled at him, but that didn’t seem to work any better. And all of these things were dependent on whether or not she could actually tolerate being in the same room with him. Sometimes his depression (or his anger) were so consuming that Sammy couldn’t even find the words to speak. Though those moments made her sympathetic to her father’s pain, it wasn’t long before time and distance reminded her that he was being irresponsible and selfish.

There was a rustle in the woods in front of her and suddenly all of Sammy’s senses went on alert. Her thoughts were abandoned as she strained her hearing to listen for something up ahead. When she couldn’t hear anything, she used another sense. She hated to actively use her abilities, she opened up her mind to sense another set of emotions around her. There was something, almost just outside of her range, that was feeling… hungry. It wasn’t the kind of hunger that made your stomach rumble for another sandwich. It was that kind of feeling that made you want to rip and tear apart everything you could, consuming the bloody, tattered pieces. Sammy took several careful steps forward and the feeling grew stronger. How long had it been since she sensed a vampire (she assumed that was what this was) with bloodlust this strong? The answer was worrisome, and she felt herself hesitant to continue alone. Had her mother been by her side, she would have driven onward, no questions asked. She decided to press forward, just to put her mind at ease that she hadn’t let a predator run wild on a group of innocent people.

She pushed through the brush, wove herself through the tree branches. The creature loomed just out of complete reach, as though it were moving forward at the same pace as Sammy. A few more paces and Sammy found herself suddenly standing on a curbside, looking out on a street lined with townhouses. She couldn’t remember this route leading to a neighborhood, but to be fair, she hadn’t actually been paying attention. Her eyes scanned the darkness for any sign of someone who shouldn’t be there, but there was nothing. The emotion she had been trailing was gone as well. Whatever it had been was lost to her, likely realized it was being followed and ran into the shadows in the distance. With a sigh, Sammy crossed the street to sit on the sidewalk in front of one of the townhouses, thinking that maybe if she looked lonely and vulnerable, the thing might come out of hiding to attack. With her hands tucked into the pockets of her jacket, she lay back on the concrete and stared up at the stars. The thing wasn’t likely to come back, honestly, and maybe that was for the best, given Sammy’s mood.