Charlotte

Chapter 13

A/N: Thank you to all my readers! I hope you're all sticking with me and enjoying the changes I have made to include Charlotte. Just wanted to pop in and check on ya'll! Please leave a comment or two throughout so I can make sure I'm keeping my engagement up and pushing this book up higher on the Vampire Academy page of Wattpad! Thank you, and happy reading! 

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I woke up in Lissa's bed. My eyes blinked, adjusting to the darkness. My mouth tasted disgusting; like stale Jager and vomit. A cloth was on my forehead, cooling me with water dripping down the side of my face. Somebody used a dry cloth to wipe it away. When my eyes finished adjusting, Lissa was standing over me, her eyes far away as she took care of me. 

Dimitri was in the room too, leaning against the wall, with Rose sitting in a chair. Her leg was bouncing with anxiety, and she was staring out the window. Natalie must have been in class, because she was nowhere to be seen. I made eye contact with Dimitri, who stood up straighter and came over to me. 

"Charlotte," he said, his accent thick with emotion. It causes the girls' attention to snap back onto me. 

"Charlie!" Rose jumps to her feet and Lissa grips my hand. 

"What happened?" I asked, sitting up. I remembered the party. I remembered Lissa freaking out and the trashed room. "Did we get caught?" 

Lissa lets out a tearful laugh before launching herself at me, her arms going around my shoulders and her sobs being covered by my neck. "I'm so sorry, Charlie. It's all my fault! I should have never let it go so far." 

"You passed out," Rose said, coming to stand next to Dimitri. "After vomiting the grossest sludge I'd ever seen." 

"Drinking that much was very irresponsible, " Dimitri admonished. Rose elbowed him and he sent her a look. 

"Uh...okay...Can we turn a light on? It's dark in here." 

There was a pause, they each looked at each other in astonishment. Lissa stopped crying, sitting up and wiping her eyes. "Charlie...the lights are on." 

Rose hands me a small make up mirror, and I felt my stomach drop and a fear settled in me that I'd never felt before. My eyes were completely black; no iris', no whites...just a black lens in my eye sockets. That wasn't all...there were inky black veins under my skin. I dropped the mirror with a horrified gasp. 

"They started fading about an hour ago," Lissa told me. "But we were scared, and Rose went and got Dimitri. He broke the party up and brought you back here, so nobody saw you...I cleaned up the sick in Wade's room." 

I looked up at Dimitri, not sure what to expect. He had been quiet most of this time and I could see him working through some things in his head. "I'm scared," I admit. He swallows but takes my hand. It's the first time he had showed me any sort of affection in front of anyone, and I felt a warmth from it in my chest. 

"I don't know what's happening to you...but...we will figure it out," he promises. I let out a breath of relief. He didn't hate me. 

"Look," Lissa says, pointing to the hand he held. The veins were receding, and my vision was going from a sort of black and white cats' vision to normal as the light shown through the dark. 

"What's happening to me?" I ask, my voice cracking. My entire body began to shake and Lissa hugged me again, tightly. I didn't let go of Dimitri's hand, in fact, I held it tighter. 

"I'm so sorry," she cried. "I should have realized it was affecting you, too. With everything I learned about Spirit, I should have been more considerate of you and Rose. I was just so angry and-"