Hunters of the dark (Nanowrimo 2013)

Chapter 7

Julie opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, and it felt like a thousand needles were being stuck on her head at the same time.

She groaned, rolled over on the bed and covered her head with the covers.

<Bed and covers?> Julie opened her eyes as she realized this, uncovered her head and sat up.

She looked around: she was in what seemed to be guest suite, with blood red walls and golden decorations, the furniture seemed expensive and she was in what seemed to be a king sized bed.

“Where the fuck am I?” she wondered.

She decided to walk around the lightly dimmed room, and then she came across some curtains. Julie wondered why they were closed, and as she was about to open them, she felt her hand burn as if it had been lit on fire. She screamed in pain and let go immediately of the thick blood red curtain. She inspected her hand as the pain seemed to fade away almost immediately: sure enough, there was smoke coming out of her flesh.

Julie face palmed. “Right…” she said out loud remembering what had happened before she woke up where she was.

In just a matter of seconds, her hand had healed completely and she was sitting on the bed she had woken up in.

“How the hell am I supposed to explain this back at The Fortress?” she wondered.

The room was unusually silent, and suddenly, she heard the door open, only not in a way she would have expected: she could hear all screeches coming out of the opening door. Julie held her hands to her ears, shutting her eyes in pain. The sound was just too loud for her.

“Julie?”

Julie turned to see who had called her name, without taking her hands off her ears: she gasped as she saw who it was. Katheryn, William’s younger sister.

“Katy, what are you doing here?” Julie asked, still covering her ears.

Katy flashed a smile at Julie as she tried closing the door as quietly as possible, knowing it would be painful for Julie if she closed it in one swift movement.

“Father asked me to come and check how you were doing... You know, with the purge and everything…” Katy explained to Julie as she sat next to her.

Julie sighed before answering, “They sent you here because they knew I would be pissed off, didn’t they?” Katy was about to answer when Julie cut her off, “Be honest.”

Katy looked at the ground, frowning, knowing she had been caught. “Yes, they did it because of that…”

Julie uncovered her ears, still fearful a loud noise might arrive and leave her deaf forever, and she just flopped down on the bed, sighing once again. <They certainly sent her because they know I can’t get mad at Katy even if I try… Idiots.> Julie thought.

Katy was one of the few vampires that had been nice to Julie from the very beginning, and they had grown really close before, but since Julie had gone back to The Fortress, they had lost touch. Still, Katy seemed to remain the same.

“I’ll try not to hurt your hearing once again,” Katy muttered, which was perceived by Julie as normal speaking, “but I came here to give you this.” Katy then held out her hand, showing a ring.

“What’s that ring for?” Julie asked while sitting up yet untrusting anything that could come from the vampire king, aka, Katy’s father.

“It will help you get over the purge and it will protect you against the sun, you know, if you still want to be able to resist sunlight…” Katy answered, trying to convince Julie.