Sickly, Sweet - Book One

Ch. 28 - Starving

~Saphira~

I'm not sure how long I've been sleeping. This morning I woke with a dreadful thirst and a massive headache. I've been lying in bed with the covers off for the past hour, with my eyes closed. Although dark, I want it to be darker, like a typical vampire in a coffin.

How long have I been sleeping? It feels like years. I'm pretty sure everyone has forgotten about me. This lifestyle isn't good, I say to myself. I'd rather die than keep being someone else's prey. These threatened deaths only make my stay here insufferable.

My ears pound with voices, whispers and sinister lies. The louder the sounds, the tighter I bite down on my teeth and it makes my throbbing head worse.

I twist around the bed, groaning at the discomfort of my hunger with the accompaniment of overlapping voices in my head.

Just kill me. Kill me now.

Maybe this is a punishment for being so naive and wanting to seek the best in life. I can't think and it's getting hard to breathe. I stumble out of bed and onto my numb feet and I struggle to stand straight; it feels like there are pins in the floor with each step I take. I curse the damn vampire that stabbed me.

I can't open my eyes. I want to be in the darkness forever.

What happened? What have they done to me?

I walk out, letting my senses take over. I need blood and I need it now. I spot a human maid in the hallways and I should have had more decency to actually do it with poise, but I lunge at her in my supernatural speed. I don't care about the bite marks that riddled her skin or the scar tissue building on her neck. I bite down on slightly coarse skin and taste her sweet blood. I drink from her and her body convulses.

Her blood drips from my mouth and onto my clothes. I'm a mess, but I don't care. Deciding I've had enough of her nutrition deficit blood, I drop her on the floor and she hits the marble with a soft thud.

One body isn't even enough for an insatiable thirst like this. I didn't even bother checking my surroundings for other vampires as I prowl the hallways for another to prey on. Not even minutes pass and I leave multiple bodies of humans servants around the castle with no blood left in their system. My dress is wet with red and my skin spotted with dried blood.

"Saphira?" His soft voice smoothly travels from behind me.

"Val-" I leaned on the wall, out of breath. I feel completely overtaken. It was when I saw his face that my proper senses returned.

He walks closer to me and I flinch. I remember. I remember everything that has happened. Sebastian and the blasted knife he struck me with. The lying, murderous King could be anyone.  

"Don't come any closer," I threaten. I can't trust anyone anymore. 

His face contorts into confusion and I push myself farther from him but trip on my bare feet. 

"Saphira, it's me," he pleads. 

I stand and prepare myself for the worst. "Prove it."

He stares back a me, dumbfounded, as if there is nothing he could say or do to prove his worthiness. I scoff and take steps back with my hand trailing the wall. He slowly follows with each step, without so much as a single emotion or expression on his face. 

If he is who he says, then there should be a way to tell me that he is the true Valentine. "Well?"

I keep retreating until I hit a wall of covered windows. Even through the thick black drapes, I feel a warmth coming from the outside indicating that the sun is shining right over the castle. I guess that answers my questions of why there were only humans roaming the corridors and no one there stop me from feeding from them. I grab a big heap of fabric, parting it slightly to test the intense rays.