And What I Found There - Book Two

3. Something's Gone Terribly Wrong

I sigh as I flip to the last page of the Vampire section in this Dark creatures' field guide. I know this isn't the kind of "homework" Cornelius had in mind, but as soon as I spotted this guide, I've promptly ignored my stack of history books.

Quill looks up. "Are you alright, Adara?"

"Yeah..."

"What did you find to read?" He briefly glances at my neglected schoolbooks.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just about -" I gasp as something catches my eye and I lift the book up to read the little paragraph, it says Blood Dreams.

He catches sight of the title. "You're reading about monsters?" He smiles. "I never pegged you for the noir type."

I nod but don't say anything. I am totally sucked back into the book. It says that Blood Dreams are a side effect of when a Vampire bites a human but doesn't kill them. Apparently, Vampires have venom in their fangs and this venom does crazy things to a human's brain once it gets in the bloodstream.

Oh my gosh...I clutch at my throat absently, Vyndren has bitten me before.

I learn that Vampires, being the crazed hunters that they are, seldomly ever have a victim left alive giving their need to drain a body completely of blood, but there have been instances where people have been bitten but not killed by a Vampire. According to this research collected from the Dark Ages, the living victims of a Vampire attack are driven insane with bloodlust and suffer from hallucinations and night-terrors in which they are desperately seeking the blood of the Vampire that cursed them.

These people are often referred to as Blood Betrotheds because the venom in their bloodstream makes them hopelessly lust for the one who bit them and, according to this, if the Betrothed does find their Vampire -and if the Vamp is flattered- they'll finally quinch the Betrothed's thirst by letting them drink their Dark blood, thus the Blood Betrothed becomes a Vampire, cursed forever undead, and soulless...

Oh my god... No. This isn't what's happening to me, is it? 

I mean Vyndren did bite me...and I do have these freaky dreams, and I am starting to hallucinate, aren't I?

I swallow hard.

So... so does this mean I'll go crazy? Crazy for Vyndren's blood? Does he know about this? Does he know that because of his lack of self-control, I could become a freaking lunatic?!

I can't go crazy! This is crazy!

There has got to be a way to cure the Blood Dreams! I madly read the rest of the page. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

Ooh, here's something! It's not the answer to the Blood Dreams, but it does ensnare my attention so I eagerly read on, my curiosity insatiable.

It says that there is a way to return a Vampire back to its former human state...

It is called the Blood Kiss. I widen my eyes with amazement and swiftly read on.

The Blood Kiss is when a human willingly sacrifices themselves for a Vampire to drink from. The blood then grants their life essence to the Vampire and the Vampire returns to his or her human state. The Kiss is only complete though if the sacrifice's soul is completely consumed by the Vampire, thus completing the resurrection ritual.

OMG... I slowly lower the book. So it is possible for a Vampire to return to their human state once more...but only if someone dies for them. I gulp. That's really...intense.

I shiver as I stare out the open window, despite the sunshine I for some reason feel really cold, numb almost, like a corpse. 

Who would ever do that?

***

Snow seemingly falls above us in slow motion... That claustrophobic feeling of being trapped inside a snow globe settles over me again... We're laying on top of a froze lake, he has his face hidden in my neck, hungrily drinking my blood... But I don't feel any pain... All I feel is aching desire, like my body craves the lack of space between us...

My heart skips a beat, and my lunges suddenly feel like they're full of fire, I desperately struggle to breathe... But I know it's not air I'm dying for... My eyes zero in on the tendons in his throat... As he tilts his head to lap up more of my spilled blood, I notice a vein just under his frozen skin... I lick my lips longingly...

I quickly press my mouth against his neck, hungrily scraping my teeth against his immortal flesh, his skin feels impossible to tear... I wildly bite his throat, savagely clawing at his bare back, he doesn't even seem to notice... He bites the other side of my neck and more of my blood pools around us on the cold lake...

The ice begins to split beneath us as more of my blood spreads across the lake, unfurling like a giant crimson snowflake beneath us...

I feel even more desperate with the impending sense of us about to fall... I helplessly and psychotically bite his throat while raking my nails down his back, I'm mindlessly making animalistic sounds of longing and hunger as I struggle for his blood...

I suddenly break through his skin... My eyes widen with amazement as gorgeous black blood runs down the side of his neck... My lunges are burning, and my chest is aching as if I'm being held underwater, I'm dying to breathe again, and his blood is the only thing that can cure this suffocating feeling... 

I just press my lips to his wound, finally feeling the euphoric feeling of his blood on my flesh -

The ice beneath us suddenly breaks and we plummet into the chilling water -

I sit bolt up, startled awake at the sound of my own crazed, ragged scream, and realize I'm back in the Alice bedroom. I only vaguely remember dragging myself up here after an afternoon of training. I was supposed to be getting around for my birthday ball but I seem to have just passed out here on my bed.

Am I late to my own ball? It seems like I'm always running late for something. I groggily haul myself out of bed, I'm covered in sweat, yet I feel icy cold. I stagger over to the mirrors in the corner of the room and stare at my reflection. I look crazy, my eyes are wide and shiny and I'm panting and can barely stand up straight, I'm so weak in the knees.

I take deep, deep breaths and brush my curls away from my sweaty forehead. 

OMG... I can't even begin to comprehend what just happened in that dream. I shudder again, tears bite at my eyelashes. Am I crazy now? I lower myself to the floor and sit with my back to the mirror and hug my knees to my chest. Yes, and cry.

I can't believe this! That was so awful, lusting for his blood like that. What kind of sicko lusts for blood?! I still remember the feeling of his flesh ripping under my fingertips and the sensation of his blood on my skin, it was like...like being high I guess though I've never been before. But I had felt dizzy, energized and breathless all at once, the hunger and lust I felt then still burns in my chest and throat and I ache and long for Vyndren... the way his powerful arms embrace me, the way his hands feel on my skin, the way his lips touch mine...

No, no, no, no. Can't go there...

I shiver and strain to keep my eyes opened so I won't be able to see us again as I rock myself back and forth. Will I really ever find Vyndren again and just like, lose it? Would he care? Would he do anything? Stop me? Take advantage of me in my craze, lusting state? I don't really know, but I don't think so...

But who knows?! I mean, don't want him like this! I don't want his blood! Not really. Right?

What are these Blood Dreams doing to me?