Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Ten

I stayed in bed, ignoring everything. I refused everything. I didn’t want food. I didn’t want to bathe. I didn’t want to dress up. I didn’t want to read the stupid books about vampires. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. I guess in a way, I had given up. I’m sure most people would have tried harder to get away. They would have plotted ways to escape or just fought teeth and bones until they were incapacitated completely. But I had always been a coward in everything. So it made more sense to me to just… give up and wait for my death to come.

Starving yourself is a lot easier than you’d think when you’ve given up completely. At first there’s a hunger. It’s painful over time as your body aches for nutrition. But then the hunger kind of fades into something else. I’d describe it as a hollow emptiness inside.

I should have known this wouldn’t be allowed to go on for long though. After perhaps three days and nights, I was rudely awaken by Aveline, who was pinning me down on the bed on top of me. She had my wrists in her hands and was tying what looked like a cloth of some sort around them before tying my wrists to the headboard.

“What are you doing?” I croaked, considering that perhaps she had gotten tired of me after all and was now about to kill me herself. Though I wanted to just not care, fear was creeping in fast and I decided to struggle against being bound and vulnerable to whatever was to happen to me. “Aveline!”

“You want to play suicidal? I won’t tolerate it,” Aveline snapped before turning to look behind her, “Get her legs, Xander.” It was then that I noticed Xander at the end of the bed, now reaching for my ankles. I automatically began kicking, trying to avoid his grip, but with his supernatural speed he had my ankles tied in no time.

“Stop!” I screeched, trying to buck Aveline off of me, “What are you doing?!”

Aveline suddenly grabbed my hair and brought a water bottle to my mouth. “Drink or I start pulling out pieces of your scalp,” She threatened, making me hesitate. I didn’t particularly enjoy the feeling of a torn scalp so I went ahead and took a large swig from the bottle. Then she released my hair and held her hand out to Xander who replaced the bottle with a bowl of what looked like apple sauce.

“After this I am throwing you in the bath, you stink,” Aveline stated sharply. I clamped my mouth shut, turning my head to the side stubbornly. She groaned on top of me and grabbed my hair again. “The threat still stands, Elysia! You need to eat.”

“There’s no point,” I said dully, “I’m just going to die anyway.” I felt tears burning in my eyes, but I held them back. I didn’t want to cry anymore. I didn’t want to die either, but as far as I could tell there was no other option in a place full of supernatural demons.

“Come on, little tiger. You can’t live your life thinking like that. All mortals die. Whether it’s by heart disease or… or a car accident…”

“Or a crazy vampire mafia,” I grunted before trying again to lift up my hips to knock her off of me. She barely budged and just stared down at me as though I were a child throwing a tantrum.

“Open up, Elysia,” Aveline said, holding a spoon of sauce out, “Don’t make me make airplane noises.” I sighed and opened my mouth. I was correct in assuming it was apple sauce. My stomach was extremely grateful. I, on the other hand, was humiliated. Now I was being treated even worse than a small child. I was officially an infant. And I had given up on giving up. I swear I had to be the lamest person in existence.

“Maybe Darsana will allow you to be ours for the rest of your life rather than kill you off,” Aveline suggested hopefully, looking back at Xander who was only standing watch at the moment. He shrugged at the suggestion and I sighed again.