A World Not Fit For You

Chapter 26

Dylan's POV:

Her hands were soft as they caressed my face. Gentle, warm fingers making their way down my neck. A sweet smell filled my nostrils, like summer and pond lillies and sweet wine. She began to hum, her fingers tracing small shapes on my bare chest. Her hair tickled my chin as she laid her head gently on my chest.

"I love you," I murmered. She raised her head to look at me. Suddenly her lovely face was confused.

"Dylan." She said. "Dylan, come on, I need you to open your eyes."

My eyes jerked open at once and I felt a sinking in my stomach. A dream. A dream that Lilly loved me. A dream that I hadn't spent the last two months locked in a cell with her, resisting her blood. The more my humanity showed through, the more I was able to gain some small sustinance from eating human food, but it was discusting and in no way demimished my cravings for her blood.

I met her eyes now, she looked panicked, a change from the dull look she's been wearing for the past 2 months or so. 2 months, with no word of Richard, and no word of what was going on in the castle.
I looked around, searching for the danger. The dim cell that Lilly and I shared smelled of blood and waste. It looked normal enough.

"What's the matter?" I asked groggily, lifting my bound hands to rub my eyes. I didn't need her response to know, because at that moment I heard it. A young woman calling out something. She must be close, in the dungeon for sure, possibly in the same wing of cells as Lilly and I.

I got to my feet at once. I was not as quick to my feet as I once was. The weakness came around the same time as the sleeping habits started. As soon as I stood up, Lilly took an involuntary step back. I still hated how much I frightened her, weak and starving as I am, but it was a great improvement from the shaking and staying confined to a corner of the cell that she had kept up for the first week or so.

"Do you think she knows whats going on?" Lilly whispered. I listened to the woman yell. It sounded like she was pleading, begging to be set free.

"Yeah," I responded, "I bet she would." Lilly walked to the far side of the cell, and I followed her. We put our ears up against the cold cell door. If my hearing had been as sharp as it used to be, I would have heard them coming before we were thrown back by the force of the opening door.

The vampire that stood before us was unfamiliar, her hair a tangle of black weeds that made her face look small, and her thin red lips made her dangerous. She surveyed us, a small smile on her lips.

"King Simon wants to see you." She stated.

Then she walked out, leaving the door wide open behind her. The shock on my face was mirrored on Lilly's. King???  Tentatively, my mind realing at the words she had just said, I followed the woman. Lilly fell in step behind me, closer than she usually would have due to her fear. My eyes looked around the dungeon hungrily. After months in that small cell with Lilly, I realized how strange it was the be out of it.

We passed the cell containing to woman, and with a shock I realized it wasn't a woman at all, but a girl. Shelby. Her usually calm composed demeor was shaken by the panicked crazed look on her face. Her hair was dishevelled and burned in places. Her face was a mixture of blood and burn marks. Her wrists were bloody, and I guessed she must have been tied up, probably interrogated. She reached her hand out to me as we passed, her eyes wide. I gripped her hand, my bound wrists protesting as they stretched apart to include her small hand. No words were exchanged but I made a silent promise to come back for her.

The woman's footsteps were echoing away, and I knew we had to follow, so I pried my hand out of Shelby's small one, and followed her. I felt Lilly's eyes on my back and turned to look at her. The look she wore was one of mild confusion. I turned back to the long hall, feeling my eyes turn blue again.