A Hybrid's Hunger

Chapter 48

Chapter 48

It's warm, too warm, and I'm not sure if it's the heater or if it's me. I tear the sheets away from my body and lay back down on my side. My shirt rides up to my waist, allowing some air to pass as I stay on the bed.

There's an odd heaviness in my limbs. I can't move without tremendous effort. It could be the aftermath of being bitten by a vampire or drinking a vampire's blood. Most of the pain has gone. There's only a dull ache at the base of my neck and a terrible mark. I avoid trying to feel the hump that has formed on my neck.

Rest.

I have to, I'm forced to.

But how can I?

Each time I close my eyes, my mind races with fear, confusion, and more. This time, I hear the steps outside and the muffled voices. My attention strains, focusing on those voices than resting.

"It had to be one of the district vampires. They were heading out for a hunt for rogues around the area when I left them—"

"Did you find out who it was?"

"No," Zade replies to his mother. "But I will. Just not now."

The steps reach near to the door of the room. My eyes spring wide open and I stare at the door. They are right outside.

"Let her rest."

"I just want to see her, Mother. I just want to know if she's fine." He argues back with her.

"You'll not go near her, Zade. Not for now. You have no control, you appeared like you had been starved for centuries when you smelled her blood on yourself," A chill runs through me at her words. "Listen to me, I'm your mother, I want what's best for you. The hunger is different when you're with her, you know that, don't you?" She speaks to him gently, in a warm tone and it's different than earlier.

"I don't know anything except that I want her. Let me fucking have her," His voice trembles with desperation and fury. Conflicting desires linger in his tone. "I've spent years and years away from her. I've been punished for long and I've learned my lesson. Why wouldn't you believe me when I say that I won't drink from her?"

"You want to have a hunger that you can never satisfy? Is that what you want? And never for us is a very long time, Zade." She snaps at him, but in a low whisper that barely reaches my ears.

"I don't care. Not right now."

There's a pause and then I hear footsteps echoing down the hallway before nearing the door. I purse my lips, preparing myself.

The door flings open, and for a moment, everything stands still. Zade's towering figure dominates the doorway, his chest heaving as he finds me. I swallow hard, feeling vulnerable, maybe even more. When he steps inside, the room feels smaller with his presence. He appears frightened himself, and I'm not sure why.

It has been a surprise—all of this.

"Aurora," he sits down and whispers, his body only inches away from mine.

I turn on my back and press my head against the headboard of the bed. I haven't slept, not much and I don't know whether I'll be able to tonight.

He keeps his distance, respecting an invisible boundary that has now suddenly appeared, yet his eyes never leave mine. They're searching, asking for something, trying to understand. I know what he wants to know.

"I was snooping, I found the letters in the drawer." I quickly say, letting it out.

His expression changes in an instant; guarded and confused. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you come to me?" His hand moves all across my body and onto the side of the bed. It traps me. "Is that what made you upset earlier?" There's a weight to his words, a heavy burden with a history I'm only beginning to grasp.

"I didn't know how to," It comes out like a mumble. My throat still aches from the bite but I still manage to speak. "And I wasn't sure. I didn't think you'd tell me anything."

"Of course, I would've told you—"

"But you didn't," I cut him off, and instantly, my heart races. "You kept it hidden from me, all of this and I—I didn't know anything. For so long."

"I didn't want to hurt you, Aurora."

"This hurts me," I say, looking deep into his eyes, trying to convey the storm of emotions inside me. "I was here, with you, for months and you didn't tell me anything. Not even once. Now I don't know what to think, or even what to say. I don't even know myself."

"You wouldn't have believed me even if I told you, and I didn't want you to go running back to your mother to know more. I didn't want to risk it, risk losing you again." He places his hand over my arm, gently holding it.

"You knew what was happening, you knew that I was getting married that night, you knew my mother was bitten by a vampire and that I needed blood to heal her. Did you do it?" I ask him, my voice deepening. "Did you attack her?"

He quickly shakes his head. "No."

I stare at him for long. There's something more, something he's hiding.

"But I knew she had been attacked," He confesses under my glare and continues. "I knew most of everything that was happening. I knew when she had been attacked, and I knew she hadn't been healed. Your mother despised me and I didn't want to bother. If she became aware that I was anywhere near even close to you, or her, she would've taken you away."

I pull my knees to my chest, hugging them tight. "You could've told me. I would've understood."

"You wouldn't have and I couldn't," He reaches in and tucks a piece of hair behind my face before slipping his fingers under my chin. "Perhaps, I believed by time you wouldn't need to know anything and we could've started fresh. No burdens, no past, just us, in the present."

His touch sends shivers down my spine. The sensation of his skin against mine is familiar, yet so foreign. Like a half-remembered dream.

I drag his hand away from my face. "But I do know now."

"You do," he agrees. His eyes flicker away from my face and lowers. There's a change on his face that appears and before I know it, he's shutting it all out. "You shouldn't think too much. Take some rest, Aurora. For a few days."

A deep sigh escapes my lips as I find him moving over the bed, standing up, and preparing to leave. There are so many questions running in my mind but I know he's going to avoid them all.

My finger traces down from my neck, feeling the wound which has now doubled in size. It still aches, terribly and to think that my mother had been in pain for months and months, slowly dying was a thought too unbearable to dwell on. The memories of her frail form, her pale skin, the hollowness of her eyes, all came rushing back.

"Am I going to be fine?" I ask Zade as he watches me get under the sheets.

"Of course you'll be."

I turn to the right, toward the door. "And you?"

"I'll be too."

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