Chapter 75
- ... and then he felt someone's hand squeeze his shoulder, with the words... - Sokka said , trying to create an atmosphere.
"I'm back," I said calmly, placing my hand on his shoulder.
- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! - The teenagers screamed in fear, while Sokka tried to jump up, but my bloody hand held him tightly by the shoulder.
- This night is truly beautiful, - I said with a smile, and my gaze involuntarily rose to the moon. It was as if I was intoxicated.
"I-Is that blood?" Katara asked stutteringly, while Sokka , realizing the futility of his attempts to escape, froze like a frightened mouse.
- Hm? - Her voice seemed to break me out of my trance, and I noticed that Hama's blood from my hand had stained the clothes of the guy, who seemed to be close to losing consciousness from horror.
One smooth wave of the hand and the blood flew off into the darkness of the night at great speed, and I, making an innocent face and letting go of Sokka , asked. - Blood? What blood?
Feeling that he was released, the teenager immediately jumped up and in an instant found himself next to the avatar.
- What the hell are you doing? - he almost squealed. - I almost died of fear.
- That was a great joke! I almost believed it was blood! How did you do that? - Aang asked enthusiastically, the only one who took what he saw as a joke.
- Just a drop of water magic. - I decided to distract their attention from my mistake by demonstrating pulling water out of thin air.
- You're a waterbender? - Aang exclaimed . - That means we don't have to go to the North Pole anymore, right?
"You can teach us, right?" Katara echoed, her voice full of hope.
"I can," I nodded and, just like Hana had tried to do against me, I used water like a blade and completely cut down a tree that was a short distance away.
- Hooray! - Katara clapped happily, and Aang was also glad that he was able to find a waterbending teacher so early.
- Are you completely crazy with your magic? - Sokka got angry , because unlike the others, magic is not as interesting because there is no magic. - She literally appeared out of thin air with her hand covered in blood, as if she was digging around in someone's insides, and you only care about magic? What if next time it's our blood?
- You're overdoing it, Sokka . I'm not even sure it was blood and it wasn't just us imagining it because of your stories and the darkness. - The girl waved off her brother's suspicions.
"Don't say later that I didn't warn you," the teenager frowned, knowing full well that his sister wouldn't listen to anything.
- Now, now, don't be such a grump. - I came closer to him.
- You are the strongest warrior of the southern tribe, - I said, carefully going behind his back, while he began to nod actively, he is very susceptible to flattery, especially from beautiful girls. - I am sure that a warrior like you can lay down a dozen fire mages.
- And to maintain your strength, you need to eat a lot. - I took out a piece of dried meat and waved it in front of his nose like a dog, and he did not disappoint me. The hungry teenager, who was not used to eating only fruit, immediately bit into the meat, completely forgetting about his dissatisfaction.
- Pfft . - I snorted at my brother's behavior and prepared to bombard me with questions.
- Before I teach you anything, I'll warn you. We still need to go to the North Pole.
- Why? - the avatar exclaimed in bewilderment.
- Because I won't be able to teach you everything about water magic, only the basics, as well as a couple of extremely specific techniques that are best not to spread too much.
"I don't have to become a master of waterbending," Aang shrugged . "And if we don't have to fly to the North Pole, then we can immediately start looking for a master of earthbending, and I know a really amazing city that we must visit!"
- Hm. - I chuckled at his words, before saying as if it meant nothing, sitting down by the fire and taking the consecrated bayonets out of my inventory and starting to use them as skewers for meat. - Well, yes, we really don't have to fly to the North Pole, it will just be destroyed in that case.
As soon as the words were spoken, the smiles on the teenagers' faces instantly faded, and Sokka, who had been enjoying the meat after a whole day of starvation , first froze, and then slowly moved the food away from his mouth.
- What do you mean it will be destroyed? - Katara was the first to ask.
- That's what it means. The moon spirits will be killed, and the water mages, unable to use magic, will be like fish on a cutting board for the Fire Nation fleet.
Sokka looked at me, narrowing his eyes .
- Oh, you want to know how I know that? - I smiled playfully, looking back at him. And looking into my eyes, which at that moment from the effect of the full moon on the vampire essence resembled a bloody abyss into hell itself, he turned slightly pale and involuntarily swallowed, apparently remembering again that despite the smile I am by no means a nice girl, with strange animal features. But rather a monster than a human.
"But how are we supposed to deal with an entire fleet?" Katara asked, slightly frightened.
- You two? - I looked pointedly first at Katara, then at Sokka . - Nothing.
- But here he is. - My smile became slightly bloodthirsty. - He will cope.
- Thousands of Fire Nation soldiers will be buried by the water element controlled by the avatar.
- I-I can't. Air nomads don't kill. - the bald boy turned pale.
Aang's ear , appearing behind him so quickly that no one had time to notice.
- This time you won't have to do everything yourself. - Being so close, my gaze involuntarily shifted to his neck, my instincts literally screamed at me that I only had to suck his blood dry, and all my problems would be solved. My breathing became heavier, but I still managed to hold on and just as imperceptibly as I found myself behind him, I returned back to the fire. Only instead of fried meat, I took a bag of blood from my inventory. The full moon had affected me too much.
The cheerful mood that appeared after I said that I would teach water magic was completely lost, and none of the teenagers wanted to raise the topic of the North Pole, no one even dared to ask what I was drinking, we just sat in silence until soon, they lay down to sleep, while I admired the moon until the very sunrise.
And that night, I think, I got one important confirmation. Consuming the blood of the mages, I felt better. I didn't have a single attack of pain the whole night, and if I recall, even after the massacre on the ship, I wasn't bothered by pain for some time. That means I need more blood, or rather a shower, to recover, and what could be better than an entire army of weaklings served on a platter in the middle of the ocean. An army that can't escape.
In the morning, the Avatar team, as befits optimists, were already cheerful and happy. At the same time, our destination remained the North Pole. But really, could a 12- year-old boy, who was raised by a joke lover, just take off and fly to his destination? I think the answer is obvious. No.
Although the flying bison was capable of flying for several days without getting tired, we made stops literally every half day on different islands.
It was obvious that Aang was looking for something specific, and lying about Appa being tired was a bad idea, frankly. But no one blamed him. I didn't care, Katara was worried that the information about the upcoming battle at the North Pole was too much for Aang and wanted to let him have some fun, and Sokka got a directional slap from his sister.
So, excluding those moments when I was sleeping, and I was sleeping almost all the time, I gave a couple of lessons to Katara based on the memories I had received from Hannah.
- Why do you sleep during the day instead of at night? - Katara asked me on the third day of our flight, waking me up when we landed again.
"I belong to the night." "Yawn" I replied sleepily, quoting Alucard's words before yawning.
- Are they like night predators? - the girl asked curiously.
"Yes," I muttered before turning over on Appa's back in the other direction and refusing to react to anything else, falling asleep again.
Oh, how well I slept until one day I was awakened by another attack of pain.
"Damn," I cursed when the attack ended, and then, turning over onto my back, I listened to my surroundings.
Except for the breathing of the bison I was lying on, it was suspiciously quiet. Hyperactive teenagers like Team Avatar simply couldn't keep quiet, which meant they were in trouble.
"Come to think of it, isn't this the moment when they were supposed to be caught by the Kyoshi Warriors ? How did they even manage to miss the giant bison?" I muttered, calling up a window with an image of teenagers tied to posts, trying to prove their innocence.
- Hmm ... Why not have a little fun? - I grinned. Jumping off the bison, who only glanced at me lazily once before lying down to rest again, I headed towards the seashore.
- What can I come up with to scare the shit out of them? Hmm ... I guess after eating so many mages, I should have enough strength for something grandiose, - I muttered, lost in thought.
- Golem? Too banal. A huge snake? I don't like snakes... Exactly!
Inspired, I jumped into the water and began to subdue its thickness, giving it the shape I had in mind. Soon, a huge cat burst out of the sea. Its body consisted of water, and its paws and head of ice. I was in the very center of the head.
- Hmm . Effective, but essentially useless, - I assessed the result. Modern weapons can easily pierce even a thick layer of ice. Against the soldiers from my world with their rifles and grenades, it would be much easier for me to tear them apart with my bare hands. But against warriors with swords and spears, this five-meter colossus of ice and water will become a real nightmare.
Satisfied, I began to move in large leaps, leaving deep paw prints on the ground, towards the side where my fellow travelers were being held. Soon I heard Sokka's recognizable voice .
- It can't be that some girls tied us up!
- "Some girls", huh? Unagi will have a good lunch today, - the girl responded, deliberately making her voice rough.
- No! Don't... - Katara hastened to intervene, but she was interrupted by the roar of my landing.
"I think Unagi will be hungry," I tilted the cat's head toward the girl, who was still holding Sokka by the collar, and slightly opened my mouth, revealing a row of sharp icy fangs. "But I wouldn't mind a snack."
- Seras , you came! - Katara exclaimed joyfully, the first to guess who had come to the rescue. The Kyoshi warriors , although they tried to seem brave, did not dare to even squeak. And Suki , who was standing opposite , was afraid to even breathe.
"Oh, great spirit, please tell me what caused your anger," the frightened headman of the local settlement stepped forward, trembling all over.
I turned to face him, and Suki took the moment to move away from me and the posts the teenagers were tied to.
"You kidnapped the Avatar," I answered shortly. "Last time, the Fire Nation paid for it with the lives of firebenders. Should I accept the bloody tribute this time?"
" Seras , wait!" Aang cried , breaking free from his bonds with windbending. "It's just a misunderstanding!"
- It's true! He really is the Avatar! - the headman exclaimed in admiration, forgetting even about the giant monster of ice and water right in front of him.
"Well, that's not interesting," I grumbled, disappointed with how quickly the conflict was resolved. Then I put all the water in my inventory and landed on my feet after falling.
"Hey, look what I'm showing you!" Aang shouted . Smiling stupidly, he took a handful of pebbles from his pocket and twirled them between his palms using windbending. And an even stupider one of the spectators managed to pass out from delight.
After the misunderstanding was resolved, we were invited to the headman's house. The warrior girls still looked at me with doubt and apprehension, preferring not to spoil the mood of those around them, who were going to have a celebration in honor of the avatar's arrival.
The headman's house turned out to be quite spacious, made of wood with carved partitions. They laid soft mats for us and brought us a dinner rich in everything that the island settlement could offer: fried fish, stewed vegetables, fresh fruit, and various pastries. After which they left us alone. While they themselves were in a hurry to prepare the island as if for receiving an important person.
"It smells so good!" Aang exclaimed , grabbing three pieces of something fragrant and crunchy at once. "These are the best buns I've had since... ever!"
the consumption of the sweet with no less enthusiasm .
While Sokka sat sulking at a small distance near the window, upset that he had been defeated by the girls.
I ate it too, the bear-dog meat was definitely good after not eating normal food for a long time, but it was still far from the best meat. But the baked chicken was exactly what I was missing.
"Oh, Seras , you have to try this!" Aang shoved a plate of fluffy, caramelized bun at me. "It's just magical!"
I looked at him, then at the bun. Come to think of it, I've hardly had any sweets in my life. I took the bun and took a bite.
The taste hit my throat like a knife from the inside. Instead of the expected sweetness, it was like I'd eaten something expired. A second later, my face twisted. I covered my mouth with my hand, stood up abruptly, and darted to the open window next to Sokka . Nausea rolled over me in a wave, I threw up, and then I coughed for almost a minute.
The room fell silent .
"Wow, is the food that bad?" Sokka asked , so surprised that he forgot he was going to be offended.
I wiped my lips with the back of my hand and, without turning around, hissed:
- To hell with this pastry, nya .
- Are you okay? - Katara came up to me, worried.
I sighed and went back to the table after I had calmly eaten the rest of the food, such a setup from the bakery was quite offensive. And those worried looks, frankly, were irritating.
- It's okay, I just usually can't eat human food.
"But you ate meat," Katara seized on the oddity in my answer.
- Because, apparently, there is some energy stored in the meat, which allows me to eat it. But where I come from, that is not the case.
"Then what did you eat?" Sokka asked .
"It's better for you not to know," I answered him with a slightly creepy smile creeping onto my face.
"You know, when you smile like that, you look less and less human," Sokka said , feeling goosebumps run across his skin.
" Well, I'm not human," I answered calmly, taking a piece of meat from the plate. "And yet I'm with you. At least until you offer me another bun."
Some tension was dispelled by a light laugh. I also allowed myself to smile a little. Although the trick with the bun was unpleasant, and my recovery is still a long way off, I think it's not that bad. Although if I'm offered baked goods again, I might have to destroy the island. A joke. Probably.