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Apo kills the chicken like it's the only thing standing between her and Cherri, like the little animal was her biggest enemy, and it's too easy. The claws that her fingers have morphed into were made for this, and the blood now dripping from them disgusts her. She can't rub it off on her clothes—no, not on the dress Cherri made for her, she can't do that—but she has to get it off, and she won't stoop so low as licking her bloody claws.
She can't let the blood distract her from her purpose. As much as she hates it, as much as she can't stand the sight of it, blood is part of her existance now. Blood and claws and fangs and killing defenseless animals and—as she steels herself to keep moving forward, she feels some strange instinct within her pull, as if reaching out for comfort, and the sky gives an almighty rumble in response.
Not a second later, the rain comes down in a deluge from clouds even Apo's vampiric eyes had barely been able to see gathering against the night sky. The rain makes short work of the blood on her hands, but Apo has bigger problems than that now. The other vampires will be… displeased, to say the least, that Apo called the storm at a time when it would be of absolutely no use for them, and Apo has no doubt that they'll figure out it was her. They're always scheming together, and Cleo is always especially glad to give them information when it's information that throws Apo to the wolves.
Even apart from the ripple of fear spreading throughout her body at the thought of the other vampires' retribution, Apo herself wouldn't have minded a break from the sun during the day. The burning is a doubly painful experience, bringing both a physical sizzling sensation across every bit of exposed skin and an unwelcome reminder of what she's become, and her mistake means that any vampire of high enough level will be forced to suffer the sun for longer, especially when considering that the humans have burned a large swath of the forest.
There's no time for Apo to think about that, though. She allows herself a moment to stare up at the sky in disbelief and fear, and then she transforms, the heavy raindrops feeling much bigger as they land on her tiny wings. She feels exposed like this, small and surrounded by the sounds of her mistake, but she has to know what the humans are up to. No matter what side she's on, her survival has always depended on knowing what the humans are planning, and no matter what happens, her survival has to be her priority. It has to be her priority, because it’s certainly not anybody else’s, and if she’s going to get home to Cherri, she has to stay alive (or, at least, no more dead than she is now).
She has to get home to Cherri, so that’s that. Not returning to her love simply isn’t an option. Apo won’t let it be.
The storm nearly drowns out the sounds of the town’s meeting, so Apo flutters closer, trying to get close enough to listen without being spotted and accidentally interrupting the town’s meeting. She’s not even sure what she’ll do with the information—it’s not like she’ll give it to the castle vampires—but it’s best to know so she can plan around it.
In a way, this whole disaster is like the storm Apo’s mistakenly called. The only thing to be done is make sure she’s still standing when the skies clear and the weather calms. If she can help others weather the storm as well, great, but at this point they’ve all made it clear that they won’t even do her the courtesy of listening to what she has to say, so she’s not going to go very far out of her way to help the town.
She drops her bat form and turns invisible instead, trying her best to keep moving so her feet won’t create any suspicious dry patches on the ground.
“I feel like I can trust you, Cleo,” she hears, and she has to bite back a bitter laugh. The whole town seems so ready to trust Cleo, who sells out all their secrets to the castle vampires without a care in the world, but they wouldn’t even let Apo try to defend herself.
It doesn’t matter. Apo shakes her head, trying to clear it, and wipes the rain out of her face. All that matters is that she’ll still be here when the storm clears away, and then she’ll see her love again.