New World | SOOKAI

Chapter 23

Fuck.

Make this stop, for the love of God.

I thought I was alright when I had awoken just a mere few minutes ago, my previously weightless form now felt like I was being hammered into the ground. I felt thick nails being beaten into my skin as the gravity I had felt during my time with that vampire in my mind returned. I was being pulled downwards into a deep and searing heat; the pits of Hell. I wanted to kill something. All my hands seemed to want to do was rip and tear flesh. The insides of my mouth and throat were the Sahara desert itself; void of all moisture. I was so... thirsty.

Soobin was unmoving for a long time until he tentatively began approaching me once more, kneeling down in front of me.

Shit. No, Soobin. Not too close. I couldn't bear the thought of hurting him.

"Kai.. you're thirsty, aren't you?"

My head snapped up at him, I tried to reply, to make any sort of noise to confirm but I was holding myself back for dear life in the same instant. If I spoke then, I knew it would tip the scales. All I could do was stare at him in conflict. He seemed to understand though. He knew what I was going through. Was this what bloodlust felt like? Was this what I had forced upon Soobin that night he bit my lip when I kissed him?

Jesus, Soobin. I am so sorry. If only I'd had known the terrible, primitive nature of it beforehand. I wouldn't have shoved my god damned tongue down your hot throat that night like an idiot.

"Yeonjun.. He should return soon. He will have something for you to fix this, Kai."

His hand was reaching out towards my cheek again and I desperately clung to the last fibres of my sanity, trying not to lash out like my body needed to. But his touch was soft, gentle, it... soothed me. He was stopping me from slipping off the edge of this cliff that I clung to.

"It's going to be alright, Kai. I know you're in a lot of pain right now. But just hold on a little longer. You've done so well, my love."

I'm trying Soobin. I'm just not sure how much longer I'm going to last at this rate..

He reached out for a black shirt that he had dropped, picking it up to lay it over the back of my bare shoulders. His hands gently pressed into the sides of my tensed arms.

He.. didn't see me as a monster.. Did he? He was treating me like a human.

I could hear something. Footsteps along the grass outside. A noise I never would have been able to hear from such a distance in my previous human form. This was a sensory overload.

"... Oh" I heard a voice and the footsteps halt upon the marble floors. Yeonjun?

"He awoke much sooner than we anticipated, Yeonjun. Do you have something for him? He needs it. He's in a lot of pain."

Suddenly a very large brown sack was thrown at Soobin's feet. It squirmed and jolted in places. I could smell its contents. Rich, earthy.. Sweet...

"There are about fifty rabbits in there for you. I didn't know how many you wanted, so I grabbed every single one I found."

Rabbits? I was going to eat rabbits?

Soobin reached into the sack and brought one out for me. It was already dead. But the scent of its blood had me snatching it from Soobin's hand in an instant. I didn't care. I needed its essence more than a marathon runner needed water at the end of their race.

I could feel two canine teeth grow in my head, forcing their way out of my skull and I sank them unapologetically into the small form of the white critter in my shaking hands. Its bones snapped under the pressure of my jaw and I could hear every last one of its tiny organs burst open. I inhaled its blood as hard as a newborn baby would take its first breath.