CHAPTER TEN #2
“And I have been well fed. There is no need to worry.”
Many images flashed through my head, most I wasn’t sure if they were even accurate. He smirked with amusement, and I realized I was grimacing. I forced a smile through. If my cheeks burned any hotter, I’d burst into flames.
Unable to take the heat any longer, I draped my cloak over the chair, grabbed my bag, and headed into the bathroom.
Once I changed into my nightdress, I cringed at how slinky it was.
I should have packed my winter nightdress that was a heavy cotton and floor length, but I often got hot while I slept, and I wore my summer nightdress all year round.
I took a deep breath before I exited the bathroom.
I placed my bag back on the chair and turned towards the bed.
I paused as I caught Sebastian’s rigid posture and his eyes that wandered over my body, lingering on my bare legs, my shoulders, my neck.
He inhaled deeply, his eyes alight with a strange fire.
My stomach fluttered as they locked with mine, and I was set in stone, content to remain where I was until my last breath.
He squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away, severing the connection.
“Your scent ...” I had never seen him lost for words.
I realized what he was thinking, feeling. Bloodlust. I took a step back, wrapping my arms around my center. “Is it alright if we ... should we be ...”
“It’s alright, Charlotte.” He ran a hand down his face as if that could reset all his senses. “You don’t have to worry about me. It’s the newborns who cannot control themselves.”
I nodded stiffly. I walked over to the bed, giving him a wide berth, keeping my eyes on him.
He shook his head. I slid under the covers, resting my head atop the pillow, my body akin to a board.
Spending the night with a vampire certainly was not normal.
If my family could see me now, they would just forego the exorcism and send me away.
As I heard the shifting of fabric, I looked over to him, and I nearly strained my eyes from opening them so wide.
He had removed his shirt. I ran my gaze down his stomach, his golden tanned skin touched by the sun itself.
I didn’t know it was possible to have so many muscles.
And he seemed taller somehow, maybe it was the cramped room that he impended over like some sort of death god.
I noticed he stopped moving, and I unglued my eyes from where his trousers met his waist to see a smug smile curling his lips.
“Please, leer all you want, killer,” he purred.
I resealed myself to the bed, fixing my eyes tightly to the ceiling.
I ignored his dark chuckle and the sound of his trousers falling to the floor.
It was a renowned effort to keep my eyes from straying.
And I startled when he slid into bed next to me.
It was a tight fit, and he was rather large.
I cringed internally at where my mind wandered.
The thoughts rattled together, bumping off one another, and I could barely grasp a single one.
What was most unpleasant, was what writhed deep in my stomach. I wanted to snuff it out.
If the silence stretched much further, I was going to crawl out of my skin. So, I picked a thought.
“H-how do you ... from where ... how does it ... work?” I continued staring intently at the ceiling.
The side of my face burned as his gaze bore into me. I reluctantly turned to meet it. His dark eyes sparkled with amusement. “Killer, you must just say what you mean.”
“You said you always require consent when you drink from others. Do you always drink from others? Is that how you do ... it?”
“Are you asking me how I feed, Charlotte?” I could tell he was forcing back a smile.
“Yes. From what I’d read and been told, it seemed to me that vampires couldn’t even be around humans without going into a bloodlust.”
“There are some truths to what you’ve been told.
What you think of bloodlust to be does exist within the newborns.
It’s a lot to put on a person so suddenly.
They just lack control, experience. But it only happens to my kind if we are unable to feed for too long.
In my world, consent is required. We cannot just go drinking from anyone whenever we wish.
And drinking from another is an intimate experience.
Essentially, we often just purchase our blood. It comes in glass bottles.”
I blinked.
“Not as scary as you believed.”
“Where does the blood come from?”
“Other vampires. Humans. They are paid quite well.”
“Humans? There are humans in your world?”
“Yes. We live together quite peacefully.” There was a jab in there somewhere.
“When you say it’s an intimate experience, you mean ...”
“It’s pleasurable for both parties.” His eyes moved to my throat for just a millisecond.
He may not have even realized. I looked back to the ceiling as he continued.
“Vampires have not always been so civil. Because of our nutritional requirements, we are built like a predator. Overtime, having a willing participant proved to be more efficient for everyone involved. Something to be enjoyed even, rather than to run from.”
I swallowed hard.
“Yes, I see. That makes sense.” My throat shrunk around the words.
“Does that answer your question, Charlotte?” I could feel that he was still staring at me.
“Yes, that will do for now.”
He blew out a huff of air that sounded like a laugh.
He shifted to extinguish the lanterns. It was so dark I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face.
I felt him lay back down beside me, and the room felt smaller.
A mess of chaotic tingles crawled beneath my skin.
I focused on my breathing, taking in even breaths, letting out longer ones.
A soothing wave washed through me, a strange calm.
My muscles softened, melting into the mattress.
The knot within my chest untangled. Though before I could fully succumb to the placid waters, a thought fell from my lips.
“Alaric was your friend?” My voice seeped softly into the dark.
His silence reached out for miles, so far that I accepted he would not answer.
“Yes.” His tone was so forlorn it could have carved a chasm through me.
It had me pause a moment before asking, wondering if I should prod further.
“What happened?”
“My world failed him.” I could tell it was all I was going to get.
And his words stuck with me, surprising me. As if he did not hold blame against him. I knew what Alaric meant to me. He had tortured me, taken away my freedom, my chance at a normal life. But I wondered what he meant to Sebastian.
* * *
I gasped for a breath, breaking through the surface of churning waters. I jolted upright, hurling myself out of sleep itself. Sebastian jumped up, kneeling beside me, crouched over and ready to pounce.
“What is it?” he rasped, groggy from sleep. He glanced around the room before running his eyes over me, looking for injuries.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to bring myself back down to earth. “I’m sorry, it’s just ... Alaric visits me nearly every night. It’s almost like the absence of terror makes me feel anxious.”
“I see. Would you like to see something terrifying?”
I glanced over to him. He was dead serious. “No, thanks.” It came out like a question.
“How about something pleasant?”
“What do you ... you can do that?”
“Of course.” It was not a perky, charitable of course but an of course you ignorant halfwit.
“Um, okay.” I hesitantly laid back down. He laid back down with me.
The air before me began to ripple. Golden light pried through the darkness.
A soft trickle of water spilled through the silence, along with the distant call of birds.
The ground warmed beneath me, and my fingers wrapped around cool blades of grass.
Gilded rays streamed down from a crystal blue sky, veiling the land in a shimmering gold.
My body was delicately draped over a blanket of purple and blue flowers.
And it washed through me again, that strange sense of calm that I leaned into.
“Where am I?”
“Svealin.”
I had never thought to imagine the vampire world because, as of not too long ago, I didn’t believe it existed.
I believed they came from the underworld.
A place comprised of darkened, blood red skies, jagged cliffs, and blackened, lifeless trees.
But even as I tried to consider what Sebastian had said, that he was from a world similar to ours, this was certainly not what I expected.
And the soft breeze curled over my skin, cooling the warmth of the sun.
And the water continued to strum its soft lullaby, the stream nearby.
And I drifted along with it. My eyes grew heavy until they fell closed.
I could have sworn I felt gentle fingers brush my hair away from my face.
But sleep took hold and pulled me under.