Blood [Open]

The forest was one of Irene's favorite places to hang out. She liked to feel the nature all around her even though it often brought her thoughts to places she didn't want them to go. The wildlife and the smell of the leaves reminded her of her human life, of times when things were simple, and that often led her to taking walks in the forest. Irene leaned against a tree, trying to get her senses to dim down a little. The noise in the forest could sometimes be as loud as in the city.

She could hear footsteps passing by somewhere near her, but she didn't move. So what, someone was taking a walk like she was, or maybe an animal was moving around. It couldn't be anything serious, could it? When she felt the smell of animal blood invading her nose, though, she decided to investigate. No animal could have caused that kind of damage to another animal. Could it be a vampire?

As she made her way to the source of the smell, she gasped. Animal bodies were dropped on the ground, limp and obviously drained. The wretched smell of their blood only got stronger as she made her way to the killer.

"Drinking animal blood isn't very healthy, you know?" Irene commented as she finally came face-to-face with the vampire.

The child was strangely familiar, and Irene took a minute to realize why. She'd seen him on the news. He was the missing child everyone was making such a fuss about. They probably wouldn't want to know what had become of him. He was an eternal child. Centuries from then, he'd still look the same. But what they would like the least was what he fed on. Though she'd found him with a rabbit on his hands, that probably wouldn't last long. Few vampires had the willpower to live solely off animal blood. Soon enough, he'd begin feeding on humans once again, Irene was sure of it.

"You'll become weak if you feed on them, you'll never become as strong as other vampires." Irene said, knowing that she should probably be encouraging him to continue drinking animal blood. But she found that diet disgusting, and she didn't want to have to live yet another vampire who followed it. "I'm Irene, by the way."

I smiled at Irene. "Oh, I'm not a Vampire, I'm a Hybrid ... " I said, biting my lip. Everyone that I've met hated me because of what I was except for David, Liz, and Stefan. They accepted me with open arms unlike Damon. He almost killed me, I thought, shivering at his name in my head. "It's nice to meet you, Irene." I said, with a happy grin.

A hybrid? That was interesting. Irene had only met one other hybrid, Tyler, and she'd gotten along well with him. While she knew that a hybrid's bite could kill her in a matter of hours, she didn't run away from him. If he decided to attack her, she would fight back, but if he didn't, if he was willing to have a peaceful coexistence, she was fine with that. She wouldn't hurt him.

"Nice to meet you too... Brendon, isn't it? I've seen you in the news." Irene commented, leaning against a tree as she watched the boy.

All hybrids were turned by Klaus, that much Irene knew. She wasn't completely familiar with it, but having her son as a werewolf had led her to do some research on the topic, and Andrew himself knew a bit about it, the bit that Jordan had told him when bringing him to the adoption house in Mystic Falls. It made sense, then, that Brendon would have been made by Klaus.

"Yeah, Klaus. He's been doing some... Recruiting lately. I didn't think he'd go as far as to turn a kid, though. You're what, nine, ten years old?"

It wasn't fair to take someone's childhood away like that. That little boy would never grow up, but he'd also never play like he used to. He'd mature, but he'd be stuck in a child's body forever. It could be useful to be the way he was, since few people would suspect a child of a crime such as murder, which was the most common one for vampires, and she believed that that applied for hybrids as well, but she'd never turn a child. It was just cruel.

When she was pushed out of the way, Irene didn't resist. She'd heard something too, and something she didn't like. She'd never come face-to-face with a werewolf in their wolf form, but she knew what they smelled like, and that was definitely the smell she was feeling there.

For a few seconds, Irene watched as Brendon fought the wolf bravely, but soon enough she couldn't take it anymore. He was a hybrid, so she gathered he was immune to a werewolf's bite, but she couldn't let a ten year old boy face a fight like that. She pulled him off the wolf and decided to take his place in the fight.

"I'm not letting a ten year old boy get hurt." Irene half hissed as she concentrated on the wolf, not wanting to get bit. So maybe she was acting a little suicidal, but she really wasn't. She loved her life - or unlife - and she didn't want to lose it. But her maternal instincts acted out even towards a kid she had just met, and she couldn't let him get hurt. The wolf might not be able to kill him, since he was stronger than the werewolf and immune to the bite, but he could do some damage.

"Stay out of this, Brendon." She asked him as she also shifted into a fighting stance. Why couldn't the boy just let her fight in his place. It should be frustrating for him to have so much power but still be defended like he would if he was an ordinary kid, but at the moment Irene didn't really care. She just didn't want him to get hurt.

Surprised by Brendon's response, Irene gave out a sigh of relief. She really didn't want the little boy to get himself hurt, even though he was a hybrid and perfectly able to hold his own in a fight.

She quickly turned her attention back to the wolf, which lunged at her, taking advantage of her distraction. Taken by surprise, Irene stumbled back and threw the wolf off her. When it came at her again, she dug her nails into its fur until it reached the skin. She held him away from her, watching as the creature tried to free itself from her grip.

Irene was just about to pin the wolf against a tree when it managed to twist its body and try to bite her hand. Whether it did manage to sink its teeth in or not, she didn't know nor wanted to check. If it had managed to bite her, she wanted to win that battle, and stopping to check out her wounds was no way to do that.

The wolf fell to the floor as she let it go, not wanting it to get another chance to bit her. Its sides were bleeding where she had sunk her nails in, but that wasn't much damage for a creature that healed fast. The battle was to a tie.

Who would attack first? They circled each other for what seemed like an eternity. Irene didn't want to lunge at it, but the tension was growing unbearable. She hated the waiting, it made her impatient and reckless. So with an angry snarl, she jumped towards the wolf.

I watched in horror as Irene almost got bitten. I saw her let go of wolf and they circled the clearing, pacing steadily as they both eyed each other with death stares. Suddenly, Irene lunged. I watched with horror still in my eyes.

The wolf's soft fur was under her hands, and it was pinned down to the floor, but its mouth was still loose. Irene struggled to stay away from it, cursing the fact that even a small nip would be enough to kill her in a matter of days. She'd never been bitten by a werewolf, but she knew that dying from its venom was anything but pleasant. She'd heard of the unbearable pain, of the hallucinations, and many other things. It was definitely not the way she wanted to go. By some reason, she'd always imagined a heroic fight or something like that, though it wasn't a subject she thought about often. When you literally had eternity ahead of you, death became a rather unnecessary subject.

Finally deciding that there was no way she would be able to kill it while avoiding its mouth, Irene let the wolf go. It ran out of her grip and she put herself in a fighting stance once again.

This time, though, the wolf didn't hesitate to attack her. It lunged at her, knocking her down on the grass as it took her by surprise. Holding back a scream, she tried to push herself from the ground before the wolf, who was right on top of her, managed to bite her.

Irene sat up, surprised by how easily the little boy had managed to defeat the wolf, and surprised by how she hadn't managed to do so. Usually, she could face a wolf, but she supposed that she wasn't being able to really pay attention to the fight, her mind divided between Brendon and the wolf. "Thanks." She muttered.

"You're sorry about what?" She asked, puzzled. He'd probably just saved her life, what did he have to be sorry about?

"Didn't the wolf bite you?" I asked, looking at Irene, concerned and confused. I smiled at Irene and said, "Your welcome. It was nothing, really." I started to blush a little, smiling at Irene.

"I'm not sure..." Getting a bit concerned, Irene began to check herself for any wounds. Her jeans were ripped and her leg was scratched, but that was nothing major. Her arms were fine aside from a deep gash made by one of the wolf's claws, and she couldn't feel any other wounds. But then again, there was the fact that sometimes wounds only began to hurt after a few minutes, and if she really had been bitten by a werewolf, those were few minutes that she couldn't afford to spare. "Did it?"

I got a closer look at Irene, kind of afraid to though. I examined her body, and sighed with Relief. "I don't see any bite. I thought he bit you, though ..." I said. I could've swore I saw it clear as day, but then I again, I was probably not paying close attention to the Wolf. "I'm glad you're unharmed," I said with a smile. I don't know what I'd do if she got hurt on my account. I looked over at mutilated body and examined it. "That wasn't a Werewolf. It was a Hybrid," I said, looking at Irene. I could smell the blood coming off of the corpse, but there was his normal scent, which means the blood that was pouring onto the dirt was from a Human.