My Immortal Love *Being Rewritten*

The Taste of Blood

When I woke up, I was in my bedroom. I tried to sit up, but my torso throbbed, and I laid back down.

Someone knocked on my door.

"Come in." I invited whoever it was in, my voice weak.

Vera and Drea walked in, smiling carefully, as if they weren't sure that I would remember them or something.

"Hey, Alivia. Are you okay? We thought that we'd lost you there for a while." Drea said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How long was I out?" I asked.

"About two days." Vera said.

"Oh my God." I groaned. Anything could've happened during those two days. I shuddered at the thought of Dimitri in my bed with me while I was unconscious.

"Dimitri didn't visit you." Drea said, as if she had read my mind. "He knew how much it would've upset you."

"Good." I replied. At least Dimitri had a sense of right and wrong...a little.

I suddenly noticed the tray that Vera was holding. On it was a clear glass that held a thick, dark-red liquid. My lips tightened as I realized it was blood.

Vera followed my gaze to the goblet of blood. "I thought that you would be...thirsty when you woke up." she explained. I nodded.

Drea picked up the goblet, walked over to my bed, sat on the edge and held it out to me. I shrank back a bit.

"Drea!" Vera scolded her. "Alivia might not be quite ready yet!"

"Vera, can't you see how thirsty she is?"

She was right. I had already started to inch toward her and the goblet, the smell of the blood moist and tempting, promising to quench the thirst that had suddenly started to flare worse than before.

"If you want it, take it." Drea said, a little impatient.

I took the goblet from her and slowly brought it to my lips. "I won't have any weird side-effects, will I?" I asked Drea.

She laughed. "Unless you count your need to sink your teeth into someone's neck, no."

"Good." I murmured. I didn't want to change in any way after I had drained the goblet.

"Well, here goes." I said. I sipped a bit of my first taste of human blood.

The blood tasted how it smelled. It was warm and soothed the flaring thirst that had burned my throat. I drank greedily, keeping both Drea and Vera in my peripheral vision, feeling a bit territorial. It must've been a vampire instinct to make sure that no one took my blood.

When I had drained the cup, I was still thirsty. "Is there any more?" I asked.

"Unless you're ready to hunt again, no." Drea said. " We hunted for that blood especially for you."

"Oh." I replied quietly. I mentally disputed with myself. My torso was still hurting pretty bad, but I was just so thirsty. Thirst won over the pain.

"Let's hunt." I told them. I sat up again, but then winced as my torso protested the movement.

"What's wrong?" Vera asked worriedly.

"It's nothing." I huffed. I stood up, then groaned.

"Cut the crap, Alivia. Where do you hurt?" Drea demanded, but her voice was just as worried as Vera's.

I pointed to my chest, and Drea pulled up my shirt. "Hey!" I protested, but then saw my chest.

"Shit." Drea muttered. My chest was swollen and red. Just underneath my left breast was a large, light pink, bubbleish-looking welt.

"We need to get you to Dimitri." Vera choked out, and then Drea swept me off my feet and we were travelling swiftly through the corridors.

"What? Why?" I asked in disbelief, and flinching as my torso again protested to the movement.

"That wound should have healed by now." Drea replied.

"What do you mean?"

She didn't answer me. We had reached what was obviously the library, for we had entered a room filled with shelves and shelves and shelves of books. I was momentarily distracted, wondering where all of these books had come from.

But then I saw Dimitri.

I scowled as Drea put me back on my feet, my torso throbbing again.

"Hello, Alivia, Drea, Vera." he greeted us, but then he saw Vera and Drea's expressions. "What's wrong?"

As a response, Drea pulled my shirt up again. "Drea!" I whined, embarrassed and a little angry that Dimitri would see what was beneath my shirt.

Dimitri's eyes widened in disbelief. "But it should have healed by now!" he exclaimed.

"What the hell is wrong with me already?!" I nearly screamed.

"You weren't stabbed with just any wooden stake." Dimitri told me.

He disappeared out the door we had come through, and Drea and Vera followed him, with barely a "Stay here!" to leave me with.

"Well that's just great." I muttered. I looked around me at all the shelves of books and whispered, "Whoa."

The whole room was huge, and it seemed to fit a hundred of the huge shelves that filled the room. There were tables and chairs and couches dotted here and there.

I walked up to the nearest shelf, which was labeled, "Poetry." I read all of the names, seeing names like Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost and Edgar Allan Poe. There was a huge quantity of poetry books, so many that if they didn't fit side by side, they were placed on top in small piles. It was the same for all of the other shelves, too.

"Alivia?" Dimitri called.

I decided not to answer, hoping that he would leave, but then he came into view at the end of the long hallway of bookshelves. I scowled again.

He quickly walked up to me. He held his arms out. " May I?"

"I still have legs, you know. I'm perfectly capable of walking." I responded curtly, and strode past him. He followed me, and I wished that he would lose interest in me.

I passed through the doors of the library and into the corridor, then paused. Which way was the way to my room?

"This way." Dimitri pointed to the right. He walked past me, but stopped when I didn't follow him. "Alivia, this way."

I didn't move an inch. I only glared at him, as usual.

He sighed and walked back to where I was standing. " Alivia, I know that you are very upset with me, and I understand. Drea was the same way."

"Was?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yes. Was." he said. "But she has

forgiven me, and she understands why I did this to her. You should, too."

"Oh, I do. I understand that you didn't give a damn about what Drea, Vera, and I thought about becoming vampires. I understand that you thought that we wouldn't care at all about our new diet, home, and lifestyle. I understand that-"

Dimitri clamped his hand over my mouth. "You didn't let me finish."

I was silent. I impatiently looked expectantly at him

He dropped his hand and continued. "But I feel bad about what I did. I just couldn't stand the thought of you dying without me there at your side. You should understand that if I had loved you any less, you wouldn't be here."

This confession stunned me, and he knew it, too, but he didn't seem smug or triumphant, like I had imagined he would. He seemed completely sincere about what he had said, and that was what had shocked me.

He turned and started walking again.

This time, I followed him.