• The Maxwell House Part 7
    Climbing to the Top Branch


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    (Maria)


    Maria was up in her room staying dead silent. She had her small red travel bag set on her bed. so far all she had in it was 3 days worth of clothes, a map, and other pure necessities. The bag sat there, almost menacing, constantly reminding Maria about what she was about to do. Maria forced herself to stop glancing at it.

    Instead of constantly glancing at the burden bag, Maria stared at a picture of her and Drake, from when they where just kids. The picture was a painting done by an artist whose name escaped her decades ago. The corners of the picture where torn through the years, there was still evidence of scorching from the last home Maria and Drake lived in together.

    Drake has never found out about how Maria feels about him. Everyone else the had ever come across knew. since they became part of the Maxwell family he seems to have become even more blind to Maria's apparent affection. That didn't stop her though. She would do anything for him. When he was exhausted from hunger in his earlier vampire days, she would use her last ounces of energy to hunt for him. If he needed something from the market, she would risk exposing herself to humans for him. And now the one thing she didn't know about him, she was about to learn. The last piece to the puzzle that is Drake.

    Maria stood up almost mechanical about her movements. She picked up the bag and shoved it away in her closet, so it wouldn't be seen. She went back to sitting and simply stared at the picture. minutes quickly turned into hours but she didn't move. She continued to sit, unmoving, waiting. After almost 5 hours of waiting without a single move, the atmosphere of the room suddenly shifted when Maria glanced at the large grandfather clock that sat in her room. She set the picture down and once again, mechanically she stood up.

    Seconds after Maria stood up Drake knocked on her door. He simply spoke through the door. "Maria! It's my group's turn to go hunting! I'll be back early morning I promise!" He said. No leaving footsteps could be heard but Maria knew he was gone.

    She waited 5 seconds. In that time she knew Drake and his team would already be through the forest and halfway to the next town over. She was across the room in an instant. She grabbed her bag and slipped out her bedroom window. Soon she was down on the courtyard. And then she was gone. Like lightning she ran. Ahead, in a completely different part of Europe, laid her destination, The Crimson family branch. The most highly honored and deadly of all the family. Soon she would be able to meet face to face with Daniel, and learn the truth about Drake.