Secret Bloodline

Hunger

Camila's pulse feels strangely distant yet she can hear the rush of blood in her veins like an ocean storm.

"What... Where..." Camila whispers.

When the brunette tries to move, she is only met by narrow, wooden walls... She's in a coffin.

"Oh my God... This isn't happening," Camila says.

Camila's front teeth poke into her lower lip, longer, sharper than they should be as her breath comes faster, panic taking over.

And the hunger... It holds Camila in a vise-like grip and it dries out her throat as longing burns deep in her stomach... She wants blood.

"I... No... I'm not..." Camila whispers breathlessly.

But the word comes to her like a flare in the darkness... Vampire.

"Oh my God!" Camila yells.

Stronger than the panic, stronger than the hunger, is her desire to get the hell out of where she is.

Camila twists her hips and pounds her foot into the bottom of the coffin as the wood splits apart.

"That's it..." Camila growls.

The brunette punches on the coffin lid as she feels it break beneath her hand, opening cracks that send flurries of dirt raining upon her.

"Almost!" Camila says. Finally, with one powerful push, Camila shoves the coffin lid off.

Camila holds her breath as dirt rains down over her head.

She starts to claw her way upwards as the urge to inhale never comes.

The brunette finally feels a cool breeze on her fingertips, and moments later, her head breaks through.

Camila takes a deep breath as she's momentarily stunned by the sight of the night sky above her, streaked with stars and smoke.

The stars are so bright and the smoke burns in her nose as Camila's stomach turns and her head throbs.

Slowly, Camila crawls out of the coffin and the loose soil as she sees that she is in a graveyard... Alone.

"Where... Where is everybody? What happened?" Camila whispers to herself.

The memories are hazy but Camila remembers Niklaus's smile, the pain of Shawn's sword sliding into her.

She remembers the pain, the cold, the fear, and she remembers...

"This wasn't enough. We didn't have enough time," Lauren's voice cracks.

"Oh, God... I... I should be dead. Why am I not dead?" Camila says to herself.

As she gets to her feet, dizziness makes Camila sway.

The scent of the soil and stone around her is overwhelming and mixed into those scents is the smell of blood, delicious and taunting.

"Oh... That... That's..." Camila mumbles.

The hunger burns in Camila's gut as holding her stomach, the brunette gasps, and stumbles forward, following the faint smell of blood.

Camila eventually makes it out of the graveyard and into the city to see that everything is in ruins.

Fires burn up boroughs and shadows stalk the alleyways as hisses and screams and the scuffling of feet echo all around Camila.

Vampires battle in the streets amidst the sounds of clanging steel and barking guns while ferals descend upon wounded vampires with gnashing teeth.