I slammed the door, chugging the bottles, feeling disgusted with myself.
This was too much blood. Six bottles? Or eight? I’d lost count. Luka never fed like this. What was wrong with me?
There was a knock and I peeled the door open a crack.
Luka cleared his throat. “You might need a few more. The first feeding is what really cements the change.” He looked sad, or maybe scared. I knew I should reassure him that I wasn’t mad at him, but I couldn’t right now. Because Iwasmad. I was mad at Morgana for doing this to me, mad that Liv convinced me to change, mad at everyone involved. I missed the light, I missed the free weightless feeling of death. Reaching out, I grabbed two more bottles and shut the door again. This time, when I brought it to my lips, the taste of the iron was heavier and the chocolate and strawberries less.
I was getting used to it.
Sick.
Gross.
Frick!
I wanted to throw up, go back, just die by the side of the road.
“Aspen.” Luka’s tender voice reached through the door and wrapped around my heart.
Tears filled my eyes as the severity of the situation pressed in on me.
I wasn’t human…
God forgive me, I pled as a sob formed in my throat.
I scooched forward and opened the door wide, and then Luka stepped inside, kneeling before me.
“I’m sorry.”
Those two words made the walls come down and I burst into hysterical sobs as he took me in his arms. My chest shook; grief tore through me as I mourned my human body. My soul. My old life. Normalcy. I cried over it all and Luka just held me. At one point, I heard the front door open and close a few times, but I just continued to cry. Liv must have left, but I couldn’t stop. The grief, the shock, the suddenness of it all just poured out of me.
Luka stroked my cheek. “Emotions are heightened and erratic in the first few days and weeks. This is normal.”
Nothing about being a bloodsucker was normal.I just drank ten bottles of blood!So far from freaking normal. But I said nothing. My sobs turned to whimpers, which eventually quieted, and I wiped my eyes.
Reaching out, I touched my neck with two fingers. “I don’t have a pulse.”
Luka nodded. “It will take getting used to. You won’t poop or pee anymore either.”
“What!” I screamed, and reeled back.
Luka gave me a slow grin. “The blood is fully absorbed and you just don’t.”
What the crap? Out of all the things that had happened in the last day, that had shocked me the most.
There was a knock at the bathroom door and then Liv’s voice came from the other side. “You okay, Aspen?”
My heart pinched. She was probably worried about me and I’d pushed her away to have a nervous breakdown. Luka released me and I stood waaay faster than normal and the bathroom spun.
“Slow down, cowboy. It takes getting used to,” Luka warned.
Right.
I tried to act like a turtle would and opened the door slowly, looking up at my bestie. There were unshed tears in her eyes and she chewed her lip.
“I just didn’t want to lose you. It was selfish but—”
I crashed into her and squeezed, but not too hard, as she hugged me back. “You are really fast. That freaked me out,” she admitted.
