A Hybrid's Hunger

Chapter 47

Chapter 47

I can't hear anymore. It goes on and on. A torment that I can't pull myself away from, but I've to. When I step outside, cold nips at my skin. Goosebumps spread across my body and I wrap my arms around myself.

Thick clouds cover the sky, barely letting any sunlight pass through. I walk across the garden that stretches for miles and miles. My mind doesn't clear, not even for a moment. But I am beginning to make sense of everything, of all of this. There's no one I can blame and no one I can trust either.

The deeper I understand, the more questions arise. My mother. She had been attacked by a vampire—was it Zade? Why did my mother keep all of this from me? Why didn't Zade tell me anything when he knew all along?

I've been here for months and not once he mentioned anything about the past we shared. Not even Estella. No one.

The path I take is one lined with cobblestones, edges rounded. It trails across the garden and into the wooded area behind the house. The tears are hot on my skin in comparison to the cold I feel. Emotions flood in and out. What am I supposed to do now? Where should I go? There's no way out of here, or a way back.

The path shifts beneath my feet, from cobblestones to an earthen trail as I move deeper into the wooded area behind the mansion.

Zade's resistance to take my blood or give me his, his constant efforts to keep me far, far away from my mother, the hatred he has for her and all the secrecy. It makes more sense now.

But why didn't he tell me? From the beginning? Why hide it?

I don't blame him, for anything. I can't. But my body is shaking with betrayal, secrets, secrets of my own past.

I wipe my tears and push my hands into my pockets. The path ahead isn't clear, it's filled with branches sticking out from odd directions, bushes, and even dirt. I stop on my steps and turn around. I've to go back. It's not like I can run away from this.

Can I? No.

As that thought lingers in my mind—a brief, tempting flicker of escape—I suddenly become aware of a presence that's around me. The atmosphere shifts, a subtle change, but I feel it. My head twists around, eyes searching through the woods. There's someone here.

My wolf instincts flare up; something isn't right.

My eyes start to focus in and out and my breaths quicken. Before I can figure out what's wrong, there's a vampire, eyes bloodshot red, staring into my soul. I open my mouth to scream at the top of my lungs, but nothing leaves my throat except for a small groan.

It's already too late.

His teeth plunges deep into my neck, in the most brutal way possible. My body slumps backward, losing control as he drinks from me. My eyes shut. A scream finally manages to escape my lips. Pain spreads all over my body. It feels like something so sharp has pierced through me. I can't describe it, only feel it.

I grab the man's arm, trying to push him back, but I can't, not even when I put all of my effort. He's solid, strong, feeding onto me. I didn't know what it felt like to be bitten by a vampire until now, and it was painful. Terrible.

My throat constricts. I can't breathe anymore. He doesn't stops. When will he? Or will he even stop? There's no certainty. A vampire could kill you if he wanted to, or spare you and watch you die day by day.

I don't know how long it's after that his teeth leave my throat. I fall onto the ground, knees first before my head.

"Finally some fresh blood." The man chuckles, wiping his mouth clean. He glances at me one more time before disappearing into the woods, satisfied.

I lay there, on the ground, barely breathing. To imagine such pain and to feel it were two different things. I never thought I'd be bitten by a vampire. They terrorized werewolves far more than humans. To them, we are a source of strength and health. And to us, they are a curse of death and crippling weakness.

My vision clouds and I try to move, but I'm paralyzed. Each breath feels like it's the last one.

The sounds of the woods blur around me. I try to press my hand against my throat, but the strength isn't there.

Suddenly, I hear quick footsteps, growing louder and nearer. Panic and hope battles within me. What if it's another vampire? Or not.

"Aurora!" A familiar voice calls out my name. Zade. He appears from the pathway, his face filled with fear and desperation as soon as he finds me. A muffled cry escapes my lips as he sinks onto the ground beside me and gently cradles my head, his fingers brushing against the bite marks.

I groan in pain.

"Oh, God." I hear another voice and the rustling of leaves as another presence nears me. "What—what happened?"

Martha doesn't need to see the wound to know. Her eyes flicker to the bite marks and then up to her son. Even though his face is twisted in horror, there's a predatory glint that betrays his nature. She takes a sharp breath and I see what has caught has attention, Zade's trembling hands, smeared with my blood.

"Zade," she warns sharply and then there's a stretched silence before she says more. "Bring her inside."

He moves back to carry me, and when he does, he hesitates, taking a moment to shake the blood off his hands, creating dark splotches on the forest floor. I grip his shoulder and try to stay awake. Martha is close, inches behind as we make way back to the house.

My breaths come out scattered as he puts me down on the couch. Everything fades into the background, blurred by the dizziness and the stinging pain from my neck.

"Someone drank from her." Zade's voice cracks. I can feel his despair. He presses his hand against my wound, causing me to wince.

I shift on the couch, groaning. My hand wraps around his and it's instantly covered in my blood.

"Zade," I whisper, "It hurts."

I can barely see him, my vision growing dimmer, my head lighter. Then, with a sudden rush of movement, he exposes his other wrist and moves closer to me, eyes wild with conflict.

He's giving me his blood.

Almost.

Martha presses her hand over his shoulder, taking his attention away from me. She urges him to move away and he nearly obliges.

"I'll give her my blood," she states firmly, her eyes locking with her son's. "Whether you're in control or not, it's too dangerous. This isn't about what you want. This is about what's safe for her. Why don't you go with Estella and clean yourself up?"

"But, Mother, she's—"

"Zade," She cuts him off. "Go. She'll be fine, I promise."

His hand draws away from my neck. The confusion in his eyes, the hunger, it doesn't go away even when he's inches away from me. My eyes trail him as he leaves the room with Estella, casting one last glance my way, filled with a promise of return.

Martha settles beside me and wastes no time. She bites down on her wrist, sharply, and the scent of her blood fills the air.

I latch onto her wrist as her blood pools into my mouth. It's bitter, metallic, nothing desiring, but I'm not a vampire, not like her, not like Zade.

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