I didn’t stop; I kept going. I could see the opening in the trees up ahead to the main road. I was so close.
But I ran straight into Thorne’s chest. He appeared in front of me like what seemed like out of thin air. His breaths were heaving, his wounds were still bleeding.
Why was he still bleeding? Vampires healed quickly.
Concern flickered across my face before I dropped it. Maybe my stake had just hit a main artery or something. I was sure he’d be fine after our little game was over.
There was no warmth to him. His eyes looked dark, and the strong lines of his face made him look more eerie under the moonlit trees. I side stepped, the crunch of leaves from my booted feet the only sound as I watched him with caution.
He lunged for me, and I moved swiftly to avoid him, shoving my stake into his upper thigh, and he grunted from pain and exertion.
I rushed to the forest’s edge. So close, I could taste it.
A firm grip grabbed my ankle, dragging me across the forest floor before twisting me over onto my back.
I shoved my foot backwards and kicked him in the face. Blood erupted from Nox’s nose as I scrambled to get back to my feet, but he tackled me, pinning me firmly against the cool ground.
“Thorne,” Nox grumbled through his bloody face, “get her weapons.”
Thorne immediately moved over to us to get the last few stakes I had strapped to my body.
“You got awfully close to my heart, and here I thought you liked me,” he said, his nose no longer leaking, or at least not as bad as it was.
I sniffed. “I do, but only a little.”
“Now… if I release you, can I trust that you’ll hold up your side of the deal?” he said, and I looked at him before craning my neck back to see the opening to the main road.
“Best two out of three?” I asked jokingly.
“If we did that, Thorne and I would be dead by the end of it,” he jested back, and I rolled my eyes.
“Fine. I’ll go back to the house,” I said begrudgingly with a huff.
“Good girl,” he whispered in my ear, and it made my breath hitch before he achingly slowly crawled off of me and helped me to my feet.
Thorne leaned heavily against a tree, his legs trembling beneath him. Each breath came ragged and shallow, and his face was pale, drained of its usual color. Blood trickled down from his wounds, leaving dark stains on his clothing. His eyes were unfocused, and his shoulders slumped forward, as if the weight of his injuries was too much to bear.
“Why aren’t you healing?” I asked both of them, the scrunch of concern growing between my brows.
“We’re fine. We just need to eat something,” Nox said with an unworried wave of his hand.
Vampires didn’t need to feed in order to heal. Sure, it helped them heal faster, but it wasn’t needed. Were they not eating?
I didn’t question it. Maybe it had just been too long since they had fed. I hadn’t seen them eat anything but normal people food the entire time I had been staying with them in the house.
“How long can a Vampire go without… you know?” I asked, looking over their wounds again with a frown.
“A few days, sometimes longer, but it’s never good if we go longer than that. Thorne here is the perfect example of what happens,” Nox said, nodding to Thorne, and I noticed the dark veins around his eyes, those black-red irises. He looked sharper, scarier.
I took a step toward him. Thorne had always been gentle and kind, and I refused to believe he would hurt me.
“Serina,” he said, his voice more deep and graveled, a warning, as if he couldn’t control the monster that he was.
Nonetheless, I continued to move toward him. Nox watched me with a satisfied grin on his face. I think it did something to him to know I wasn’t scared of them.
Thorne turned his head away from me, not wanting me to see him. I placed a gentle hand on his cheek, and he closed his eyes at my touch.
“Don’t hide from me,” I whispered, and he took a steadying breath, And then another and another. The veins slowly receded, and he looked more himself as if my touch had soothed him.
