Xeranthemum (Discontinued)

Chapter 2

Anthurium- an irresistable desire to be celebrated.

~Luna~

I woke up to a suffocatingly dark and foreign room. I tried to move but found my hands were chained above my head. I started struggling, but that monster had also chained my feet. Damn overthinking monster!

Basic training tells you not to panic. Basic training doesn't tell you about the primal fear that arises when you find yourself chained to a bed in an alien room in a house which could potentially be a vampire den.

I tried in vain to calm my breathing down. My neck was throbbing, as was my wrist. I could feel the sticky texture of fresh blood trickling down my arm. Had that monster bitten my neck. I gagged, choking on my hatred of the monster. I tried to curl to the side but was held back by the uncomfortable chains digging into my wrists.

Suddenly there was a bright light illuminating a silouhetted figure. The light was sharp and stabbed at my eyes. I turned away, I suppose I had lost fair and square- but that didn't mean I wouldn't find a way to retaliate.

I turned my head back towards the door when I heard it click shut. Instead of seeing a closed door like I expected, I found myself face to face with the peircing blue eyes of the vampire I had tried to kill. He grabbed my face with both hands, forcing my face to stare into his, when I struggled to turn away again.

"Do you realise what you've done..." His voice was deep and full of malice, shocking me into submission. He pushed me away in disgust.

"You've managed to ruin everything!" He bellowed. Suddenly he turned back towards me and grabbed my neck. His nails digging into my soft flesh. I was limp against his strong grip. That's when I remembered the flashing white fangs of my childhood. I felt panic setting in as I was helpless in this monsters grip.

"Damn it!" He growled before sinking his fangs into my neck. I vaguely wondered how many times he'd done that before slipping into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~

When I woke up again I wasn't chained up. The monster probably assumed I'd be to weak to move after having all my blood nearly drained.

I tried to sit and realised the monster was probably right. I was as harmless as a de-clawed kitten. I struggled into a sitting position, feeling nauseas. I turned my head and gagged. I laughed internally when I realised I didn't have anything to throw up. I felt an overwhelming hunger stabbing against my stomech.

I tentatively put a foot on the floor before gasping in pain.

"Suck it up" I told myself firmly (no pun intended) as I put my other foot on the floor. It was then that I noticed I wasn't wearing my original clothes. I didn't have my combat boots or my spare blades. Crap. I cursed my bad luck.

This was supposed to be just another job. Why had it ended so disasterously? Who was the monster? A million thoughts bombarded my mind all at once. I pushed myself off the bed with a sharp hiss of pain. I managed to remain standing for a good five seconds.

But gravity lays claim to those without balance. I found myself on my hands and knees with tears prickling my eyes. It was then that the door opened again. I felt rough hands grabbing me and throwing me onto the bed.

"There are easier ways to make a move on a girl." I say weakly. The vampire's eyes narrowed at my poor excuse of a distraction.

"You think I don't know that..." He growled out menacingly. His deep voice still rather shocking to me. I didn't know what I expected a vampire's voice to sound like, but I certainly wasn't expecting it to sound so... Normal.

"I don't think you realise just how big of a mess you've made." He spitted in disgust. Of course I stared at him with an infuriatingly confused expression. He pulled out one of my blades. My eyes widened and I discreetly tried to edge away fearful of what he might do to me.

He raised the blade and then suddenly brought it down on his hand, cutting a gash along the palm of his hand. I hissed in pain and suprise. I looked at my hand- the cut he had made on his hand also showed up on mine as a vivid red line.

What in hell's name was going on?

"W-what is this?" I asked shakily.

"Well, Princess, you managed to Bond yourself to me." He practically hissed the word 'princess'.

"I-I don't understand."
"You managed to mix our blood."

Suddenly he looks tired. It made him seem almost mortal. Little wrinkles appeared between his eyes and he sagged down to sit next to me on the bed.

"How does our blood mixing lead to... Lead to..." I trailed off, unsure of what to call it.

"To put it simply," he starts. "You've Bonded yourself to me."

At my blank look he elaborated further, "When a vampire wants a loyal partner, they mix their blood together. If the one partner is injured, then so is the other. If the one partner dies, so does the other... Ever heard the lines "until death do us part", well its literal for vampires."

I didn't understand what he meant at first. Slowly it sank in, very slowly. I must have been sitting there for at least five minutes before I fully processed what he had meant.

"We're MARRIED!" I shouted, my eyes wide and my voice cracking. I was still weak from having my blood drained so much.
"Wait that doesn't make sense." I rubbed my temples. "Why weren't you affected when you drained my blood?"

"You're human." He stated simply as if that automatically explained the world.

"So?"

"I'm a vampire, I'm a million times more resistant to having my blood drained then a mortal. Besides, by drinking your blood, I'm satisfying my need while you are suffering the side effect."

I sort of understood his explanation. Basically for all the blood I lost, he also lost but replaced with my blood. It was so twisted and wrong.

"I don't even know your name and now I'm supposed to be Bonded to you..." I trailed off barely hiding my forlorn tone.

"Its all your fault." He said again, the aggression creeping back into his voice.

"How is it my fault! You should've just let me kill you like a good little monster! But NO, you had to go and bite me." I sobbed. He looked at me with shock written all over his face. He was obviously not used to anyone standing against him.

"You expected me to stand there and let you kill me?" His mouth twitching up into an almost smile.

"YES!" I sounded like a five year old throwing a tantrum. He laughed as he got off the bed.

"There are clothes in the closet there when you are capable of walking again." He said while laughing as he left the dark room.