Chapter 8
900 Words
Alina
I slowly came to when I felt cool hands touch my forehead. My eyes fluttered open, and I woke to a dimly lit room I had never been to before.
“Sorry, did I wake you up?” a familiar voice asked.
I looked to my right and saw Erick sitting on a chair next to the bed I was on. I only shook my head when my throat felt too dry and scratchy. Taking in my surroundings, I sat up against the headboard with Erick’s help.
I was in a large room which appeared to be painted sky blue in the dim light. The lights were out, but several candles were lit in all corners of the room that gave it a warm glow. I could sense the cold sea breeze and the sounds of waves crashing on the shore, so I assumed we were somewhere near the sea. There were two large open windows with drawn curtains to let the wind in, and the candle lights occasionally flickered with the wind but didn’t go off. I could see that it was pretty dark outside, probably one in the morning. The bed I was in was a king-sized, one with extremely soft covers and a fluffy mattress and pillows. All in all, this wasn’t my room.
“Where am I?” I asked him hoarsely.
He immediately held out a cup for me to drink from. The familiar scent of chocolate filled my nose and made my mouth water. Hesitantly, I took the still warm cup from his hands while avoiding skin contact and saw that the cup had hot chocolate with whipped cream in it. I immediately took a sip, and the heavenly taste exploded in my mouth, almost making me moan. It felt good compared to all the coffee I had been drinking.
“You’re at my beach house. I couldn’t take you home since it would take too long. My house was nearer, so I brought you here instead. How are you feeling?” he asked with concern clear in his voice.
“I’m fine,” I answered cautiously, taking another drink of my hot chocolate. However, in reality, I felt too drained to be on alert near him. What was I to do near a vampire, anyway? Weakened or not, he would only have to use a fraction of his strength to overpower me.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. “Look, I’m really sorry for what happened, but I can’t travel through time and make it all better. So stop looking so helpless whenever I’m near you. I’m not going to eat you alive, damn it!” he said frustrated, but his voice wasn’t harsh.
“I need to go home. I have to visit Papa early in the morning tomorrow and... Wait... who changed me?” I asked, surprised to find myself in an oversized t-shirt and boxers.
“I did,” he said in a tone that left no room for discussion. “As for your dad, you can meet him the day after. I had a doctor check up on you, and he said you need bed rest. You’re too week from malnutrition.” His tone was flat, but his eyes were narrowed at me as if he was contemplating s******g me for bad behaviour.
“What?” I asked tiredly. I didn’t need a lecture from him about my health. It was because of him that I lost my appetite, anyways.
“Never mind,” he said, shaking his head as he handed me a medicine. I raised my brows at him questioningly. “It’s a vitamin tablet, not poison. We need to talk about a lot of things tomorrow, but for tonight, you need to rest,” he said and gave me a small smile.
I took the medicine and gulped it down with my hot chocolate and handed back the cup to him. Surprisingly, I felt calm around him today when all I expected was another loss of appetite or something worse. Maybe I was just too tired to feel angry or scared right now.
He tucked me back into bed and went about the room extinguishing the candles one by one, leaving only a couple of them glowing so there was only a tiny bit of illumination in the room.
“Why the candles? Don’t you have electricity here?” I asked as my eyelids started to get heavier. “And why the hot chocolate? I would have expected soup.” I wasn’t complaining, though. I was sure I wouldn’t have been able to get the soup past my throat.
“Oh, there’s electricity alright, but I prefer candles.” He shrugged. “And I can’t give you any solid food tonight because of the nausea, but the doc said to make a healthy breakfast for you tomorrow morning. So it was either hot chocolate or blood.” He smirked. “Are you hungry, though?” he asked while standing at the doorway.
“No. Surprisingly, that hot chocolate took care of it,” I answered honestly as I felt my eyes close once again.
“Sleep well. I’ll be next door if you need anything. Goodnight, Alina,” he said and closed the door softly after him.
That was the last thing I heard as darkness consumed me for the second time today.
- Writer
