The Blood King (Wattpad Exclusive Version)

Blood and Redemption (Part 2)

 

March 13, 2005, 6:14 a.m. - Miami 

I heard the faint groaning coming from the other side of the room. It came from the man who half dead in Jason’s arms. He was just moments away from certain death while my stepson made sure to drain him fully. I was sitting against the metal door of Lucy’s cellar. I could feel the sun rising outside, but I couldn’t feel or hear her. I closed Erika’s eyes, trying to make mental contact with her, but it was as if she was truly dead. And maybe she was. Maybe out of mercy, her body gave up, failing to survive the turning.

I wished that was the case.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I heard Lucy saying, and then I saw her in my mind, with a big smile on her lips.

Maybe it was the emotional state I was in, but the memory of her came rushing in like accurate daggers piercing my thoughts.

It had happened several weeks back.

*******

I stood at the front door of the same beach house, looking at her while she was holding a grocery bag.

“So don’t just stand there like nothing and help me out,” she said, holding the bag out to me, which I took just to watch her walk in.

“What’s this?” I asked, letting my eyes follow her to the kitchen.

“That, babe, is dinner,” she said, dropping her purse onto the kitchen table. She then went to open the fridge.

I closed the door behind me while staring at the bag in my hands. “I don’t think I’m following you,” I said.

She looked toward me. “No, you’re not. You’re still standing there. Come on, that food won’t cook itself,” she said.

I didn’t move; I just stood there, my face devoid with expression.

Lucy put her hands on her waist, in a gesture only women can make.

“Hello? Starving pregnant woman in the kitchen,” she said in a fake angry tone.

I took the bag to the kitchen table, sat down, and then hung around while she prepared the food.

“It was crazy hot today! Sometimes I envy the fact that you don’t have to put up with heat waves like the rest of us,” she said, adjusting the settings of the microwave.

“I have to go out for a while. I’ll be right back,” I said.

I turned and was about to reach the front door when I heard her saying, “Please, don’t go out tonight.”

I looked at her and saw the saddest expression I had ever seen on someone’s face.

“Is everything OK?” I asked.

“Just stay in with me,” she said.

I walked back to the kitchen table and just sat there. She returned to preparing food, keeping up a small chat with me. My gaze followed her hands as she set the table, and then I saw the kind of food she was having: chicken with vegetables and plain water, as well as a sugary snack. She sat down next to me and offered me a piece of her chicken. I looked at it without any interest, but I opened my mouth anyway. She watched me chewing and was very happy.

“Do we have wine?” she asked.

“Yes, inside the cabinet, next to the fridge,” I answered.

She stood up and walked over to the cabinet. I looked around and finally grabbed one of the bottles of Veramonte Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2005 and brought it back to the table. I opened it and filled half a cup for her.