Blood dripped from his mouth, past his fingers, and seared the polished floor as it fell. His skin where the blood touched burned, emitting smoky fumes that sizzled and curled up in the air.
My eyes widened in disbelief as the reddish hue spread over his skin, crawling up half his face. His eyes blazed with a furious silver light, and the room around us froze over in an instant. The bed, the walls, everything was encased in a thin layer of ice.
Shivers raised goosebumps along my skin, and I immediately tried to shrink into the covers. With a killing sneer directed at me, he dashed into another chamber through a smaller door, slamming it shut with such force that the thin film of ice encasing the chamber shattered.
As though triggered by his exit, the pain in my shoulder burned with renewed vigour. I sucked in a sharp breath and tilted my neck to examine the blood in my hands, along with the gaping jagged wound in my shoulder.
My head swam and I tore my eyes away from my injury, nauseated.
His burning skin flashed in my mind.
Did my blood just burn him? Had the potion somehow altered it?
The harm it had caused him, the burning of his mouth...
This situation just lit a flicker of hope within me.
I tentatively touched the torn flesh of my wound, and winced at the sharp pain that shot through me. My eyes watered, and I bit down hard on my lip.
'It hurts. It hurts so much…'
I considered turning this situation into an advantage, but another thought smothered that hope. He could drain my blood and exploit it as a weapon against other vampires. He might even use it himself. I would be nothing more than a weaponed pet to him.
The door flew off its hinges as Lord Fashire burst back into the chamber. It crashed against the wall near the bed and landed on the floor with a deafening crack. I nearly jumped out of my skin as he darted forward. His hand circled my neck and he tore me from the bed, lifting me effortlessly before ramming me down against the solid floor.
The impact knocked the air out of my lungs, and I gasped for breath as a blinding pain ripped through my whole body.
My vision spun and ringing filled my ears.
His face loomed over mine, swaying with the other floating items as a result of my dizziness. His eyes remained at a focal point, unmoving even as his face warped.
A whimper escaped my lips.
"What was that?" he seethed, his low, menacing voice breaking through the ringing in my ears.
My lips trembled, but no words came out.
He cupped my chin, and his fingers dug into my cheeks as he forced me to meet his gaze. "Answer me," he growled.
I managed to rasp in a hoarse whisper, "I beg of you, please... You're... hurting me."
My plea only seemed to infuriate him more. "You will answer me!"
The sudden tightening of his grip dispelled my nausea with a sharp drop. His hand was mere seconds away from shattering my jaw. I had to come up with something, anything, to appease him. But my mind felt muddled, and my thoughts escaped me.
"I don't know," I whispered, my voice strained and small. My jaw was barely able to move within his iron grip.
He stared at me in stunned silence, his eyes widening as a persistent twitch formed at his temple. "How do you not know?!" he bellowed in my face, his voice booming across the room.
Tears cascaded down my cheeks uncontrollably. "I don't know... I can't remember... I don't know. I was made to wander, and... and..."
"Speak clearly," he warned, his grip on my jaw relenting slightly, allowing me to escape his hold.
I jerked out of his grasp, my back colliding with the edge of the bed, eliciting another whimper of pain from me. His towering figure leaned over me, and a surge of adrenaline propelled me to spin a tale so unbelievable even I doubted its authenticity.
"I... I was attacked by a vampire!" I let out in a shrill scream, pressing myself against the wooden edge of the bed as if it were my only lifeline. "When I was young... I was attacked, and I survived. But... but there were times when I... I actually... I could shift into a vampire and back to a human. It was unpredictable... An old medicine man, he... he created an antidote, a sort of potion, to help me... to prolong this issue… It made it easier to live that way… I needed a job, a roof over my head... I admired the vampire Lords, and I came here—"
I wheezed, gasping for breath, as sobs punctuated my broken words. Lord Fashire's burning gaze seemed to cut through me, but I pressed on, clutching my throat as I struggled to breathe and spew forth more lies.
He stared down at me, his eyes like shards of ice. He raised the glass vial and swirled the liquid inside it. "You mean to tell me there is a drug capable of temporarily turning humans into vampires?"
His sarcastic tone made my heart seize. Why didn't he believe me? I was proof!
"What?" he scoffed. "Did you truly expect me to believe that rubbish?"