The Bloodied Candies
Chapter 9-Strange Feelings
We planned until we had it just right. By that point, Annabella and I had made friends with some of the vampires that we had not so long ago called strangers. Throughout it all I had tried to avoid Darkrai, but it was nearly impossible since he had to always escort us around the castle to keep us safe from the vampires that still didn't take to kindly to us. Charcoal, the cook vampire, was probably the closest mother figure I had ever come to finding again. Her black lips and brown skin is how she got the name Charcoal, but she sweetly referred to herself as Char and to us as Anna and Zo.
Together Annabella and I climbed the stairs to our room. As soon as we departed, I entered my room and shut the door behind me. I would never allow her to see how exhausted I was becoming. As I flicked on the switch, I nearly cried out because Darkrai was sitting cross-legged on my bed. I sighed then sat beside him finally giving in. He turned wordlessly, tipped my face up to his and planted a kiss on my lips.
"Do you have any idea, how long I've waited for this?" he said breaking the kiss, and then deepening it.
I allowed my security to slip and I reached my tongue out to lick his beautiful fangs. Oh, how they gleamed, oh how they glittered. It was his teeth that I wanted to sink into me. We were snogging now when the door jittered open gently and in stepped a shocked and appalled Oxenberry.
"How...you...I..." he spluttered not quite finding the right words to say.
I shot up and strode over to him in a desperate attempt to calm him down.
"Since you are the king here, Darkrai, I will not deal with this here and since you are needed for this war, Bloodied Candy, I will not address this now," he spat through clenched teeth.
"Ox..." I began but he cut me off with a sharp look.
When he strode out of my room, I automatically began pushing Darkrai out in an attempt to set things right again. But then, I didn't know myself. Matter of fact, I didn't find myself until after the war was over. So when I lay down on my bed, I thought I was safe or at least my heart was, but I was wrong.
ANNABELLA POV (Point Of View)
As soon as she left, I made my way to the room Vance had described. My heart pounded as I realized that someone had just brushed past me, quickening my step, I hurried to his room. When tentatively I knocked, he opened the door with a smile that sent my heart flying against the wall in heartbreaking love. I would never tell him how exhausted I was because it was no time for exhaustion, not when a handsome guy like him was around.
He let me in and I sank on his soft bed wearily, but diffused my weariness with excitement. Since I didn't know him well enough to tell what his eyes evinced, I stared at them steadily constantly, trying to learn them like my sister had learned Alexander Oxenberry's. Contently I lay back on his comfy mattress, while he stretched out beside me and we must have talked all night because when I woke up, he was sleeping on the floor and I was tucked neatly into bed. I hadn't noticed it the satisfied glow in Vance's eyes, the telltale sign of a vampire who had recently fed. I hadn't noticed that I had grown weaker, paler and when he fed me I hadn't noticed that I actually couldn't feed myself at that point because my mind was too high.
It was the ultimate heaven. There could be nothing better than where I was then. Vampires waited on my every whim, the best food was fed to me every time I was hungry, and, best of all, Vance seemed to be falling in love with me. I was floating above the fluffy white clouds that I realized that I hadn't seen in so long. But when I finally got the strength to stand and went to the window, the sun burned my flesh and simultaneously this horrifying scream shattered the mirror beside me. With surprise, I realized that I had been the one who screamed.
That day, I was jolted awake to find my heaven to be an illusion. I knew that I had to regain my strength before it was too late so my system could fight the vampiric blood cells that professed to take over my body. Before I knew what I was doing, I was hurrying to my twin sister's room. The door I opened showed me my new safe haven from the very thing I thought I had loved.
When Zolona looked up, her face drained of blood. Suddenly I was envious, why did she have more blood in her than I did? Maybe Vance was more bloodthirsty than either Alexander Oxenberry or Darkrai, but I highly doubted it.
ZOLONA POV
When I looked up and saw my sister, pale as death, her skin peeling from what seemed to be a bad sunburn, and her hair thrown wild across her head with her roots as red as mine, I nearly screamed or fainted or both! Her face twisted into an expression I had never seen on her before, envy. Even her eyes were tinged with a crimson color as if the blood that had inked her hair had fallen into her irises. I stood up and slapped her face which brought on a look I had not prepared for, a vampiric hatred. Soon we were on the floor struggling against each other's strength and I barely managed to knock her unconscious. Lightly I placed her on my bed and ordered food from Charcoal. A vampire servant brought a bowl of sweet pea soup steaming with wisps of smoke rising to claw at the ceiling.
As soon as she woke up, I shoved a spoonful into her yawning mouth. After spluttering awhile she allowed it to go down and allowed me to feed her the whole bowl without complaint. Her eyes showed helpless remorse but unknown forces kept her lips sealed. That night, color returned to her cheeks, but the horrible sunburn remained. I watched over her as she slept. Finishing my own bowl of soup, I became stiff as I heard footsteps. To my surprise, it was Darkrai who opened the door with eyes wilting with bloodlust.
I stood and prepared myself for a fight. "No more," I said, my voice banging against the walls and going against what my hormones desired.
"Just once more," he whispered, his voice begging, pleading.
"No..." I whimpered, but his lips were already kissing my jugular.
He only kissed it, moving down my throat where he brushed his fangs against a throbbing vein as if that were the only thing there, him and the vein. "No..."I whimpered again as he tested the skin with his tongue.
"Shh," he whispered back, preparing himself for a satisfying bite.
As his fangs descended, I closed my eyes. I couldn't believe how weak I had become. I was so focused on the pain that was about to sear my brain that I didn't notice the door had banged open and before I knew it, I heard a scuffle. I opened my eyes to see Oxenberry standing in front of me, his hair tousled about his head. For once, I was happy for his protection. Darkrai's eyes darted from him to me in a matter of seconds before he strode out of the door without another word.
"Are you okay?" Oxenberry asked me.
"I think so, but I don't want us to get bit anymore," I replied shakily.
"Why, Zolona, you're shaking," he whispered worriedly.
I looked down shocked to see that I was trembling all over. Goosebumps were on my eyes and my heart was frozen. When I looked back into Oxenberry's eyes, I fell in his arms. I knew that from there on out he would take care of us, but still it was hard to drift to sleep that night.
Eventually we both regained our strength and became the infamous Bloodied Candies once again. My quick wit and easy strength had returned along with Annabella's characteristic empathy and warm demeanor. Oxenberry stuck close to us and whenever Vance looked Annabella's way, I snarled at him. Finally after all those horrific weeks, it was time to go to war...
