Stone Cold

Chapter 53

It was pitch black, not the kind she had befriended as a companion to the prince of the darkness. This void, it was far from being welcoming. The foreign cold nurturing in its womb was biting on her skin, making its bleakness seep deep into her veins.

She could hear rats scuttling away from her, their small feet hastily attempting to get out of the predator's way that was busy dragging her lifeless figure to some unknown place

All struggle had left her body. Her throat felt sore from crying too much. Her fingers, laced with a mixture of dried blood and mud, were twitching due to the exertion she had put them through. Her assaulter had put a cloth over her head, rendering her unable to see her surroundings. Caged away in the back of a vehicle, bound, blindfolded, no way to witness the rotation of the sun and the moon, she had eventually lost the track of time. All her connections from the world outside were cut, until the night Felix finally decided to acknowledge her presence by pulling her out of that small space to guide her to some unknown place.

Unlike his initial impression, he wasn't much interested in talking to her during their trip. He refused to answer her. No matter how much she tried rupturing his ear drums with her screaming, he didn't say anything in return. She was expecting him to hit her for being too loud but contrary to her beliefs, he didn't hurt a single hair on her head. He had just left her to herself.

If she could look at him, she'd have been able to guess his reaction better. Her best shot at it was that he seemed trouble as if he were trapped in some deep thought.

Her constant yelling was eventually cut short when a series of contractions started hitting her out of nowhere. It began a few hours into their venture, slow and a few in numbers. The interval between each contraction wasn't drawing shorter and they weren't too severe in intensity either. Throughout her strenuous journey, she kept telling herself that these were mere false contractions yet the constant reassuring wasn't enough to stop the crimson liquid flowing out of her eyes.

"Ugh!"

The train of her thoughts came to a sudden halt as she almost missed a step while walking blindfolded. If it hadn't been for Felix tightening his hold on her, she'd have gone spiraling down the stairs.

He had one hand on the small of her back, the other gripping her elbow to usher her in the direction he desired. Although engulfed in haziness, her brain hadn't failed to register how he was deliberately trying to avoid making contact with her skin. The only time he had touched her bare flesh was when he was in the process of abducting her.

"Felix."

Just as she finished calling out his name in her hoarse voice, a sharp intake of breathe reached her ears, making her furrow her eyebrows.

'Why has he turned so silent?'

He hadn't replied to her call but his footsteps had turned urgent, driving her to walk fast as well.

"I can't walk anymore, Felix."

No answer.

His lack of response was turning her more and more fierce in her approach.

"Felix!"

"Would you stop calling my name already?"

Before she could comprehend what had happened, the vampire had gripped both of her arms in his big hands swirling her around to make her face him. They were close, only her heavily pregnant belly separating them. She could hear him breathing heavily. His cold breath, coming out in short pants was fanning the exposed skin above her clavicles, inciting a shiver out of her surprised lips.

He was cold, colder than Ares.

'What's with him?'

Giving in to her brimming curiosity, she lifted her hand to take off the cloth covering her face, her hand pausing midway as soon as her gaze fell upon his face.