5132
THREE YEARS AGO
"Call 911! Now!"
I couldn't pinpoint the frantic voice but she was familiar. Whoever she was, she sounded scared. Like there was someone important to save but she was failing.
"I can't!" This voice was rather odd. Filled with more fear than mocking. "Master will kill me! Why did you let her do that?"
"Didn't her doctor ever tell you that she attacked me when I was only helping her with that stupid infection? After that breakdown, she hasn't responded for a year, Byron. She literately just stares ahead. What do you want me to think?" Who was she talking about?
"Fuck, Sandy. Move! Move, let me see." Whoever it was, I felt him place my head into a more comfortable place. A pillow?
"Can't you give her some of your blood?" The woman pointed out with a shout. "Maybe that'll heal her."
He blanched at the idea. "You think I didn't? Her body is rejecting the blood. Not a few seconds ago, she was convulsing like I gave her some kind of poison. I have never seen anyone react to my blood like that. I had to extract it right back. It won't heal her."
"Dammit, Byron! Should we call your Mr. Val-"
Whoever this Mr. Val was, had the man snap in a second. I could even hear something crash near. "No, no! Let's just wait for a few hours and see what happens."
"Are you insane! What if she's dead by then?"
My heart raced to hear the word. Dead, like there's a finality in it she didn't like.
"Why don't you do something then? Use your magic."
"I can't! The Volkios would know if I did. I have to rely on blood magic, you idiot. And she's already losing too much blood, I can't help her."
"Then what? Should we go to them?"
If anything, the woman sounded even more offended. "Those sisters? Not a chance in hell. They'll see it to themselves that she dies."
"Fuck! Why is her body fighting so much?"
"Byron, what if she..."
"No, no. It's too soon. What I can do is ask for Hannah..." Everything came to a stop and I was drifting into sleep again.
***
"Welcome back."
My body lurched awake and it took me a lot to not just scream. Everywhere I touched it ached, and I hardly felt anything but pain. Fuck, it even hurt to breathe. Where the hell was I?
"Quite a scare you gave us." The voice continued. He sounded bored but I could detect the uneasiness in them from miles. "We thought you wouldn't be awake for another year."
Another year?
I finally blinked to erase the blurriness and I was looking right at Byron. Something told me even Sandy was here but she was nowhere to be found right now. Sucking in the air, I looked around, trying to figure out where I was. By the way, even the ceiling looked squeaky clean, this wasn't just another cell.
Maybe it's a staff room? Byron's?
Huh.
"Say something." He demanded, his tone louder than before.
"You say something." I countered, coughing. "You are the one currently standing between the two of us."
His gaze was unnerving but I couldn't look away. There was something in them...
"How much do you remember?" He asked, at last, breaking his stare.
How much did I remember? Everything was kinda hazy and I was grateful to just breathe but something told me people like Byron didn't expect answers like that. So, I took a deep breath and let loose. "Like you just threw me out of the roof like you promised. Did you?"
His face revealed nothing but there was a twitch. Like he was dying to say something. True to my thoughts, not a second later he laughed, gesturing around us. "You finally did it. Tried to kill yourself for the devil knows what stupid reason-"
Wait, what?
"You are lying." Even in this critical situation, he was lying. Of course, it's classic Byron.
"Lying?" He sounded like he's on a dangerous edge. Like one word was enough to make him snap. "You think I'm lying? My blood couldn't heal you, dammit. Your body rejected it, do you have any idea what that means?"
Groaning, I looked away. He wasn't making much sense right now or was it another one of his games? Fuck, if I knew.
"Answer me!"
"That you have filthy blood?" I spat, tired of talking. My throat was so calling for water like the way it itched. "Why would your blood even heal me in the first place?"
"Please tell me you're joking?" He deadpanned.
The thing was I knew why but I was denying it to the end of my life. Cause admitting it would mean I was truly in a nutcase house with nutcase people. Also, the fact that Byron willingly wanted to give me his blood...yeah, there was definitely something wrong.
"Where's the doctor, Byron? Actually, why am I still here and not in a hospital if I really tried to kill myself as you just said."
He should be mocking me next but to my shock, he went rigid. "I was your doctor. We called for help but looks like you didn't need that help after all. How are you feeling? Any pain? Thirst for something specific?"
I couldn't stop the irony. "Does your blood counts?"
"You think this is funny. You little..." He trailed off, biting his lips to the point it started bleeding. He usually looked mysterious, eyes all too big with a pointed nose and blood-red lips but right now he truly looked like a predator. A rabid one in fact. "Have you any idea what I had to do to make sure you're even breathing? Every patient here is under my supervision, 5132. Because of you, we already lost one. The Volkios could walk right here right now to punish me and I would have no choice but to take it because I failed you. Some of us have to fight to keep living where you're dying to give it away for nothing-"
"Enough!" I shifted, fully intended to howl myself over him to strangle him when he's the one who grabbed me by my neck before I could even blink. Eyes wide, I could only watch as he tried to find whatever the fuck in my eyes when his own glowed red in return.
No...I really really hated this Byron.
"Let. Me. Go." I choked out, too many thoughts attacking me at once. I was just talking to Sandy when something happened. Something big that I couldn't quite remember. But I had better things to worry about. Like getting out of this bastard's hold.
"You have teeth now, 5132." He remarked. "Use it."
I didn't know about my teeth but my hands were free at least. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to raise one to grab him, and surprisingly, I gripped his wrist, twisting it to free my neck. Holy hell. It couldn't be. We both watched in shock as black veins ran down my arms until they disappeared completely like they weren't even there in the first place.
"What did you do to me?"
He should be furious at the accusation but if anything, he recoiled, his face frozen in a cold hard edge. "Sandy will take care of it. Tell you what's happening. I think it's best if we keep you in the cell downstairs. The less people you see, the better."
Before I could stop him, he was no longer there.
Only me and the impending silence.
Shit, Lana. What have you done now? Bored out of my mind, I tried to crawl my way out of the bed. To my surprise, it didn't take me much to stand on my feet and hover over things. If this really was Byron's room, he had a shitty taste.
Just to mess with him, I took a few things that looked important, hid a few files that looked one hundred percent illegal, and in the end, the smell of decaying flesh along with the humming of lullaby led me out of the room to the hall. Just because I never visited this side of the sanatorium, I had to take a few detours until I found the source of the smell.
A human.
I didn't know how or why that happened. One minute I was standing in a hall and the next, I was near the human, clutching her windpipe to keep her from escaping. From anything that could have happened, my mouth opened on its own, sparks like shadows coming out of it. Shit, what's happening?
"Stand still and it will all be over soon." The voice was mine but I couldn't recognize her. Not even when those veins of mine started moving like coils, reaching for the human to part her lips. Whatever I expected, I didn't expect her to scream as something split her open to get outside only to find its way to my open mouth.
And out of everything...I moaned.
In pleasure. To finally able to quest my thirst.
"More. Give me more." I demanded, angry at the fact that now the human was dead on her feet. Dammit, why all of them have to be so fragile? Have no fear, there was plenty of them here. With that reassurance, I turned around only to find a gaping Sandy with Byron behind her.
"Told you," Byron murmured with a sigh.
"You." I pointed at Byron. "Give me more of that. I don't care from where. I'm so fucking hungry that I can even eat you. And you, Sandy. Why don't you start to enlighten me on the things that you've been hiding from me? I'm suddenly interested in the topic of bloodlines."
I could swear they both gulped in fear. And, I should have gloat on that. But it felt like someone threw cold water on me as I stared and just stared. From where I was, I had a clear view of the dining room. Now there's hardly a few who had eating outside of the room privilege so only two or three could be usually seen there talking. But it's not them who got my attention.
It was the newcomer, a boy with sun-kissed hair and ocean blue eyes.
And, right at that moment, I remembered everything.