𝒟𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, ᵛᵃʳᵍᵃˢ ᶻᵒᵐ...

( 𝓓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 )
chapter two. idiot

        𝓣HE CAMP WAS DREARY and .   .   . too dark. ray expressed how she felt perfectly, shrieking as their eyes tried to adjust to the night before zed got the generator working, so all the lights in camp rayburn could turn on.

        "ah! night demon! i hate the night!" ray exclaimed, clutching onto nova and elysia as an owl hooting echoed. "it's so dark and so scary and so moist."

        vera laughed with her vampire friends. "what a bunch of daybies."

        "i can't believe it," nova expressed slowly, eyes above her twinkling in the moonlight. "actual night. it's beautiful."

        there it was again. the same look in her eyes she always had staring at the moon. elysia bit her cheek, heart thundering in her throat. darkness brought the unknown, and she hated not knowing her next move. although she herself sometimes didn't know what she would do next, she'd like to feel comfortable knowing nothing was out to get her in the night!

        she tried to put herself in nova's perspective, head tilting at the night sky. it wasn't a pretty shade of blue, but tiny dots ━━ stars ━━ flickered in the sky. her eyes fall from one cluster to another, and suddenly, she's making pictures.

        more like shapes.

        nova ventured off by the time elysia was brought back to reality, soft wind pinching her cheeks with lingering coolness in the air. she didn't have the sun to warm her up either.

        "so, what is this place? there's daywalker symbols everywhere," ray noticed, nova softly touching the sun carved into their cabin.

         "vampire symbols!" a voice exclaimed. elysia couldn't mistake that one. "this used to be a vampire camp."

         elysia sneered, a bright grin on her face as she whispered to ray, hand in front of her mouth jokingly. "this place would've looked way better with white and yellow cabins!"

         "you got something to say?" winking boy rasped, catching elysia off guard that he'd been watching her. her bright smile immediately vanished, diluting with the darkness the vampires she's in the air.

         "nope," she taunted, truly speechless. she wasn't mean, not to anyone, but she could be annoying back.

        he tilted his head, still smirking as he descended the steps of the vampire's cabin. the way he walked was confident for someone surrounded by strangers. maybe that was the vampire in him ━━ born to provoke.

        winking boy was already closer than expected when elysia turned. "what's wrong, daylight? lose your voice again?"

          she was going to punch him.

          "don't call me that," she retorted, heat rushing to her cheeks in rage. he chuckled before brushing past her, joining victor on the other side of camp, putting his arm around his shoulder.

        𝓣HAT DAYWALKER WAS LIMPING and trying to hide it.

        and she was doing it very well.

        the new girl ━━ who wasn't really so new, here to steal their bloodfruit, and vargas is noticing her limping.

        he's tried to brush his curiosity off ━━ and when he says that, he tried to by being mean about how she got lost in the amount of words she had for her friends and not the vampires. she didn't even find him funny! he's seen a few daywalkers contain grins at his name-calling, but this girl wouldn't let hers show ━━ the one she flashed so brightly at ray and nova.

        he was intrigued and frazzled. it must be from hitting his head against the tree.

        the girl had taken most of the impact. she probably thought he was the one to initiate the blast. the truth was, he couldn't see her frame among the smoke cloud he created because of how bright her powers were.

        he was appalled that her people hadn't seen the way she couldn't fully put her weight on her right leg. the daywalkers and vampires were equally on edge in each other's presence, especially because they were going to be sleeping in proximity to each other.

        vargas wasn't scared of daywalkers. he didn't fully hate the sun ━━ it was like a warm cozy blanket! but he did feel his insides burn like the sun that scorched their skin whenever he looked at them, thinking they owned the place and the bloodfruit that kept them alive.

        vargas's heart burned with something else watching that girl, a desire, curiosity ━━ a challenge.

        how close could he get to this girl without him flipping him on his back again. was it possible for her to leave any of her light in her smile for a vampire?

        without thinking, before zed and addison can call everyone to their bunks to sleep, vargas slips out and knocks at the daywalker's cabin, hands on his hips casually. he whistled as he waited. there were moments of eeriness, like the cabin itself was warning him to step back while he still could.

        addison opened the door, anticipation in her eyes. when she realized it's vargas, her eyebrows drew together and blinked. "oh! vargas━━"

        "intruder!" elysia screamed, grabbing a plant from behind addison and pointing it towards the door. the other daywalkers screamed in unison, clutching on to each other. babies.

        "i'm not intruding, i used the door." vargas retorted his best smart ass response.

        nova looked up at addison, who was nervously looking between the daywalkers and vargas. "what is he doing here?"

        "i don't kno━━"

        "looking for little miss sunshine over there," he smiled as big as he could, a few of the daywalkers already looking at the girl. the girl looked around, eyes wide as she pointed to herself. vargas couldn't help but smile at her reaction, fuck.

        "nope ━━ no way, i'm not going with you." she crossed her arms like a toddler of all things, sitting back in her bunk. valid response, vargas had to say.

         addison sighed, rubbing her temple. "vargas, what do you want? it's probably better if you stay in your cabin right now, unless you're going to be civil."

        "i am being civil!"

        "i'm not." the daywalker spat.

        addison sighed, watching her. "it's okay. go with him, i know you guys don't see eye to eye but maybe you can start."

        "she's in good hands, ma'am." vargas snarked with a nod. the girl kicked his shin on her way out the door, not enough to even hurt a little, so he smirked dangerously. no daywalker could be in good hands with a vampire. vargas wondered if it could.

        a frown appears on his face when he realizes she's limping even more now as she walks down the stairs. if it were any other time, vargas would be mocking her, maybe saying a half-rude comment to his supposed enemy, but her eyes flashed with pain like they had after the blast earlier, so he held out his hand like he had before, and this time, to his surprise, she took it.

         when she made it to the grass, she snatched her hand away as if it were poison.

        "can you still walk or━━"

        "don't talk to me."

        oh she was pissed. he held his arms up in surrender. she must be annoyed how he caught on, because why the hell else would he have helped her down the stairs?

        better for him to keep his arm to himself anyway, the voice in his head reminding him how close he was walking with a daywalker.

        "so ━━ do you like, plan on killing me like you did earlier today? in the woods ━━ again ━━ next to this campground? well, i'll have you know my powers are stronger than your stupid little fog clouds."

        vargas stared at her as she rants.

         she tilted her head.

         "can i talk now?"

        she blinked, scrunching her nose but standing firm, holding her guard up.

       "my stupid fog clouds got us hit against that tree." vargas smirked, accomplished. "they're not that bad if you didn't see me, which is why you think i created that blast because i didn't!"

        "congratulations!" she chirps with sarcasm, blonde braid cascading down her back as gold tinsel glimmered under the camp lights. "now can i go, or are you gonna still hold me hostage?"

        "at least give me your name," vargas teased.

        she scoffed. "elysia, if you must know. can i go now?"

        he nodded, the air shifting, remembering what he came to get her for. a part of him was doing it out of boredom and to be annoying, but he scoffed seeing her limp away, no one noticing as she made her way up the stairs with two other daywalkers to go to bed. he'd press about her leg tomorrow.

         𝓘T'S LUCKILY BRIGHT WHEN elysia wakes up, yawning as she stretched. immediately she's reminded they're not on sunnyside, and her heart speeds up, haunted by unknowns of what the day would be.

        she was able to be mean to that vampire ━━ vargas ━━ and he wouldn't do anything back. she tested her fire with snarky comments and eyes rolls she definitely did mean, but to her dismay, he'd smirk at her. she was ready for a fight if he gave her one, which is what she expected when he called her outside of the daywalker cabin. but he noticed. he noticed her leg, the way it shot daggers up her thigh when she walked properly. she hated that he did. even though his hand was out for her to hold, which was weirdly . . . kind of the vampire, elysia couldn't have her guard down with the situation they're in now, especially not with the boy who may be leading her into a trap.

          "c'mon." ray whispered, tapping elysia on the shoulder. "we can take them out with our fire!"

         that snapped elysia out of it. she grinned, laughing, and before she could jump out of bed, nova stopped her.

       "i saw that vampire was helping you down the stairs yesterday," she told her, concern in her eyes rather than curiosity like elysia expected, heart quickening. "what happened?"

        nova always voiced to her older sister that the vampires may not be as bad as they seemed, also considering they hadn't seen them at that point until now. that act vargas had going must be proving her right, so elysia shakes her head in dismay.

        "oh, y'know, just━━"

       "and you're a terrible liar, elles. just tell me the truth."

        elysia sighed. she really couldn't hide anything from her. "i got hurt from the blast yesterday in the fight. i didn't think anyone noticed, i didn't want to worry you."

        "oh, i noticed." nova said. "i was waiting for you to tell me because i know how you hate being accused of things. but you know who else noticed ━━ vargas."

         elysia paused. "so what!?"

        "some vampires aren't as bad as they seem." she shrugged, watching the vampire cabin from outside her window. elysia furrowed her brows ━━ victor really had her dazed. even if he was different, it didn't mean vargas was. commander bright even told nova to take all the bloodfruit for the daywalkers in the end of all of this ━━ she couldn't trust anyone but her people, no matter what.

        she would be betraying them in the end anyway.

        "is this about a certain someone?" elysia sang, poking her arm teasingly as nova smacked it away.

         "no!"

        "you're a terrible liar too." elysia laughed.

        nova bit her cheek, glancing at the vampire cabin once more. "okay. you know my visions that i've been having?"

        she nodded. "oh! yeah the ones where you scarily zone out for three minutes straight?"

        nova blinked, caught off guard, but continued. "well, some of them had victor in them. i can't believe he's actually real ━━ that he's here."

         "you don't think that's scary ━━ i'd be scared." elysia chuckled. she noticed nova's mix of confusion, eyes down in thought, knowing she must be in her head again. "have you ━━ i don't know ━━ talked to him at all?"

         even elysia wasn't confident in those words.

        nova shook her head while pulling her hair into her half-up half-down hairstyle. "no i haven't. what are the chances he's having the visions too? what if he's not the person i see in my head?"

         what if vargas wasn't the person she's always seen him as in her head.

        "then i'll be your bodyguard, no one will get to you without getting through me first," she joked.

         "he might think i'm crazy," nova sighed. she got up to put on her white zip up. "i'll have to see. and can you not tell dad?" nova asked doubtfully and elysia shoved her softly.

         "of course i won't! my lips are sealed," she chuckled, locking her lips and throwing away the key as nova smiled.

        elysia sneaked out to join ray and a few of the other daywalkers ━━ rose and aelia being the only ones she recognized. they gathered their fire outside their cabin, clutching ready to strike. elysia smirked, shooting at the stairs seconds before vargas popped his head out. shit.

        that guy was everywhere! guess that's the thanks he got for helping her down the stairs ━━ crisp and burnt ones!

        "oops!" she shrieked, not thinking. they hadn't even been attacking and elysia almost took out one! she's never killed one in cold blood, especially the one who showed a sliver of kindness. the least she could do was not burn him ━━ for now.

        ray nudged her. "don't apologize! you almost got them. the next time he pops his head out━━"

         before everyone else could hit them, willa stepped out, showing her claws and fangs. they all screamed. elysia yelled as she toppled over ray and aelia to get back inside.

        "we almost got eaten!" elysia shrieks as rose laughs.

        "don't be dramatic. we have vampires with us, we can't be scared of a werewolf or a zombie."

        "hey! i like that zombie dude." elysia smiled. zed reminded her of herself in a way.

        "stay in your own lane." addison teased and crossed her arms. "the zombie dude is off limits."

        elysia held her arms up in mock surrender. "don't worry, he's all yours sister."

        nova joined the two in the middle of the room. "also, thank you so much for helping us."

         "oh, yeah! it's the least i can do after you saved my boyfriend from becoming a zomburger."

        "well, you are taking on a lot. the vampires and daywalkers have hated each other for ━━ forever," nova explained.

         addison laughed and thought for a moment. "maybe it would help if you and the vampire leader teamed up ━━ victor? think you saw him outside the gate?" she requested. "if you two show you can work together, it shows that they can work together too."

        elysia nudged nova teasingly from their conversation just minutes ago. it could be the next step to her sister figuring out more about her visions. nova blinked. "yeah. that makes sense."

         "and maybe you and vargas can try to talk too? he seems close to victor." addison pressed. "be their seconds."

        that had elysia's eyes turning wide. "i'll leave it to king and queen to do the leading on this one."

        "i'll take it." addison shrugged. she clapped to gain everyone's attention. "okay, us daywalkers and vampires all working together."

        "yeah, right. that is not gonna happen." ray spat, rolling his eyes. addison tried to speak up, but elysia stepped beside her friend. she knew maybe nova and victor could work together and they could try, but nothing was going to make their hatred fade, elysia was sure of it. if nova's visions were trying to tell her something, she got led to victor and victor only. it probably had nothing to do with the vampires and daywalkers as a whole.

        "we can't just shake hands and forget they tried to kill us yesterday!" she argued, putting up a decent debate. nova is torn with staying true to her opinion on vampires and trying to make peace by siding with victor. nova gave her a quick glance — one that almost pleaded with her to believe a little harder ━━ but elysia wouldn't budge. she's tried to prove herself to their father too many times to make her head turn that quickly.

        "if i see another set of fangs flash, i'm throwing fire first, asking questions never."

         "real cute," elysia said with a smirk. she patted ray's shoulder. suddenly, nova tugged her sister aside near the corner of the cabin.

        "elles, i think we have a chance to do something here ━━ maybe find peace between us." nova pleaded her case. "if the councillors see it, i think it's possible, and my visions━━"

        "we can't put our lives on the line because of your visions." elysia said, harsher than she intended. her heart strings tugged a little. to make up for it, she put her hand on her shoulder. "do you remember what dad said? it's always going to be us in the end."

        there's a crash outside, followed by an explosion. elysia tilted her head as if to say 'see?' before both girls ran outside into the crossfire.

        smoke and fire is everywhere as addison, willa, eliza, and zed attempt to break the fight to no avail. ray's shooting as many shots as he can towards the cabins and nova's stuck between fighting back and shouting at everyone to stop, like the leader teamed up with victor she was supposed to be.

        the fight makes its way into the forest, with mean comments being spat at each other. elysia's trying to see over the smoke and bright balls of light as she kicks a few vampires' legs from under them who were going to attack.

         another one emerged and she stopped in her tracks when she saw the familiar red in his dreads.

        "why are you fighting right now?" vargas yelled over the shouts and chaos in the smoke cloud. elysia blinked, like he said the stupidest thing on earth.

        "because you're fighting us, idiot! why else do you think?"

         vargas scoffed, actual frustration on his face as elysia struggled to pull herself up, back into her fighting position. "i'm not fighting you right now, so can you calm down for one second━━"

         elysia punched him in the gut ━━ that was the second time. he doubled over, cursing under his breath and something along the lines of 'not again!'

        this vampire's stubbornness could be his weakness. elysia could prove to her father how easy she could take down one of them, right here, right now! she'd just need to bring his body for the evidence.

          as she shakes her fist to regain her composure from the punch, he retaliates faster than she expected, running forward. she blinks, ready to kick under his feet to trip him so she can use her powers, but his arms wrap around her middle, hauling her over his shoulders.

           "what are you doing!" she screamed, hitting his back to no avail. "i will hurt you, vargese ━━whatever your name is!"

         if he didn't kill her first. oh god, she was going to die before she saw bloodfruit again! before she saw her dad again and nova━━

         "will you stop screaming?" he cut her off.

          "usually when people get kidnapped they scream bloody murder!" she yelled even louder. when she moved to hit him again, her leg twisted weirdly, sending shock up her leg as she cried out, not from trying to get down this time.

         immediately vargas set her down in front of the tree far from the fight, eyes anguished. their breaths are tangled and breathing heavily from fighting. elysia's furious.

          "stay right there." he fucking winked again! she was going to rip this guys eyes out! "i'll come back for you, don't you worry your pretty little head."

        he was acting like she wanted that.

        "you didn't have to help me." she was supposed to hold up for herself, like her dad wanted. there always had to be something wrong when she fought, and now, it was her stupid leg.

        "yeah, well unfortunately i did," he clicked his tongue, hovering inches from her, fangs bared but not threatening as she thought they should be.

          she couldn't tell if he was trying to tease her again, so she glared, not daring to smirk back.

        "don't run too far!" he hollered as he sprinted away. "i mean ━━ if you even can with your leg."

         asshole!

         she sneered. like she was going to listen to him, pfft! when she pulls herself up, fire burns her flesh, sweat grazing her head in seconds. she's dealt with her fire powers millions of times, but this was unbearable. elysia immediately caught her balance against the tree trunk and plopped back onto the grass with a frown on her face, realizing she couldn't make it two centimetres if she could. all the walking and fighting she's done since the blast made her leg worse. she couldn't hide this for long anymore.

        tears brimmed her eyes realizing she couldn't fight ━━ she couldn't show herself she was worthy of being a daywalker recruit. if she had been in charge like she wanted, she'd just let her dad down again like she always did.

         elysia's leg throbbed. her breath caught and her jaw clenched, trying to force the tears to go back where they came from. what was she even doing?

         her head rests up against the rough bark, defeated as she watches the leaves sway in the afternoon breeze.

        the ground is gross, wet from lingering rain and humidity with bugs around her, dirtying her clothes. she's pulling herself up.stupid leg. it took her two minutes to get to the nearest tree and slump against it for a break.

        "c'mon leg! why did yours have to get struck instead of winking boy!" she hissed to herself, miserable. there was no positive thinking about this one to cheer her up. she could never let her dad see her like this!

         "what did you just say about me?"

        elysia jumped, pain waves beating like her leg had its own pulse from the movement. her  hand flared instinctively with a weak flicker of flame.

         it was no one other than winking boy ━━ he came back, like he said he would. not like she  wanted him to anyway.

         "do you need help there?"

        "no!"

         there was a beat, elysia diverting her attention to the next tree. another two minutes.

         "yes."

         she stiffens as he nears her, too close.

         he crouched down, no smirk this time. his eyes scanned her leg, and his voice lowered, actually serious now with his mouth pinched. "you should get addison to check this out."

          silently, his hands slide under her knees. his touch felt like fire and not the powerful kind at her fingertips that she was second-guessing using right about now. it was surprisingly hesitant and light for how much it burned, like her flesh was deciding if it could take this amount of fire.

          before she can decide, his hands are under her shoulders and she's in the air, against his chest.

         yeah, nope.

         "you know what, i think i'll take a little walk now!"

         vargas tilted his head. "you're really stubborn, you know that?"

        "it's called being practical." she corrected with a smile. her eyes remained flat and cold. "there's a big difference you know! if you can wrap that around your tiny brain you got goin' on in there."

       she poked him in the head like a drunken idiot. she's starting to think she's delirious from the pain.

         he laughed, watching her in his arms. it would be adorable if it was anyone else. but between that and the tight grip vargas has on her, they're disturbingly close.

        "you can't be practical when you can't take two steps, idiot."

         he's mocking her and it made her smile. yeah, she's delirious all right.

         vampires were supposed to be mean and ruthless, definitely not green and clueless, but they wanted to take everything for themselves. they wanted to push people around for the fun of it because it made them laugh seeing hurt on other people's faces.

        but this one .  .  .

        was smiling like she would be, watching the blue sky. her brows drew together ━━ whatever. she didn't have time to think of it anyway, not when he was carrying her through the forest.

        her shoulders dropped when they arrived at the gate with the symbols, the daywalkers and vampires are cheering. elysia tilted her head to see what was going on so they weren't sideways.

        "there's elles!" ray exclaimed and ran towards the two. he got out his fire.

        "what did you do?" nova shrieked in horror, watching elysia in vargas's arms. addison and zed joined her, eyes wide in shock.

         "let me take her." zed offered, knowing vargas doing so would lead to more commotion than they already needed. he scooped up the girl instead. vargas is left scratching his neck as he watched elysia drag her hands across her eyes.

        "okay this is already embarrassing enough," she scoffed. "it's just a sprained leg or whatever guys! no need to start a pity party, please!"

        "we'll take her to the staff cabin at camp," addison told zed before he nodded.

        the daywalkers still immediately tried to corner vargas, who was slowly backing up into the forest. victor and vera join his side, hands out towards them.

        "i'm sure this is all just a misunderstanding!" victor attempted to explain, but they weren't listening.

        "now this is what i mean when i say we finish the fights we start," ray hissed. his eyes fell to slits in anger.

        vera laughed. "not when you can't even finish them━━"

        "that will just get more people hurt," addison tried to reason. "this is the result of you guys fighting today. so you can either try to work together like you did finding the first key and try to find clue two, or more people can start getting hurt and no one's getting the bloodfruit."

        vargas held his hands out in the air at the accusations. "i didn't even hurt her, guys!"

        "maybe don't talk." victor whispered to him subtly, vargas grimacing as the two led the group back to camp. 

        "it's true," nova announced above everyone, still watching her sister nervously. "she got hurt yesterday and it wasn't vargus."

        "thank you."

        "back to camp everyone, now." addison ordered. 

━━━━━━ 𝓛𝐈𝐋𝐈 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒

- so basically whenever there's a time skip thing with the bold letters it's a change in pov from elysia to vargas !!

- vargas would 100% sing did i mention when he's in love (not even on the love potion) he is not non chalant guys !!!