Blood & Honour [Book Four of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

4.28: Driven

I could almost feel the venom throbbing in my arm, relentlessly pulsing through every vein, and echoing through my veins. I could feel it now - an invader that crept into my body, winding its way into every organ, building a home in my gut and clawing into my soul. The bite, as best as I could gather, was already two days old, and festering much like the curse. It wasn't supposed to take this long; every written record I had ever had the pleasure of reading said the pleasure took no more than a day, and more often than not, hours. But here I was, still human enough to recognise the horror, but not human enough to seek out a power to escape it.

The streets were unusually empty as I made my way through the back alleys, my hand pressed to the wound on my arm, wondering if I could hold the infection there with sheer willpower, stop it from going further than it already had. The Kanfesa loomed ahead, a familiar sight that forced my body to move forward, each step heavier than the last. My eyes flicked to the people on the streets, but not a single person spared me more than a passing glance. Even as I stumbled along the concrete, tripped on the cracks, sweat pouring down my face, and breaths ragged and shallow, not one seemed to care enough to stop me. That, at least, was a small blessing. How could I explain what was happening to me without people shuddering away in fear?

I ducked into the Kanfesa's entrance, avoiding eye contact with the two human guards stationed at the doors - I knew my identification had been removed from my suit at some point over the past few trying hours, and I didn't need a spot check right now. The familiar scents of the building hit me immediately - wood, polish, old paper, and that divine smell of tea lingering in the air - but underneath it all, there was something new, something wrong that I didn't usually smell. A sharp, metallic bitterness. My senses had notably sharpened, and it was becoming harder to ignore the whispers of the beast, muttering exactly what that new smell was - a feast.

The elevator ride to my office felt endless; but I could only be thankful that it didn't stop between floors. The walls of the small enclosed space seemed to press in one me, suffocating me and pulling out every trace of air from my lungs as the venom worked its way deeper into my system. My head was pounding, every second a pulse booming out from the centre of my skull, and despite this, all I could think about was the hunger. It was there, brewing in the back of my mind, gnawing at the seams. I could almost taste it - that raw, bloody flesh that my body craved. I hadn't even transformed yet, but already, the craving was unbearable.

By the time I reached my office, I was shaking. The door creaked as I pushed it open, and the moment I was inside, I locked it behind me. The familiar click of the lock felt like a mildly flimsy barrier, barely enough to keep the world - and myself - out. At the very least, I thought it would keep any unwelcome temptations from walking inside, and scaring away the very last of my humanity. My office was unchanged for the most part; furniture angled to match the desk, pillows on the couch fluffed, and the mess of papers on top of my cabinet still left untouched.

There were noticeably more papers stacked haphazardly on my desk, and fresh tea leaves sat waiting in a mug atop my usual helping of sugar, the spoon position just so - Winnie had clearly decided I would return to work imminently. It was all so ordinary, a snapshot of a life I no longer could live. That much was evident when the beast within me stirred at the scent of fresh human presence beyond the door, and it took everything I had not to rip the lock open and hunt.