Tingles rippled from my core and up my spine as he suckled. I wanted to pull away, but I wanted more. The gentle, yet sharp, sensation as his fang grazing my flesh quelled my unwarranted desire. Instinctively, I tore my hand from his grasp.
“I’m to be delivered alive and unbitten!” I screeched, backing away and letting his head thud to the forest floor. Dommik mumbled something about me being too loud.
In my haste to escape his grasp, I’d dropped the canteen. Its contents were quickly emptying, staining the grass.
“Shit,” I hissed, scrambling to plug the container. I dropped my head back and groaned to the sky. What a fine mess this was.
A similar sound rumbled from Dommik, who had turned onto his side. Tendrils of smoke were lifting from beneath his leathers.
The sun.
I cannot catch a break.
I ran to him and hooked my hands beneath his shoulders.
“Dawn above, you’re heavy.” I grunted as I pulled him foot by agonizing foot toward the shelter of the empty estate.
He attempted to help, using his feet to push against the earth beneathhim. My limbs burned from the effort. Manual labor was never a part of my routine and any muscle I might’ve built from riding had deteriorated in the keep. My wound threatened to tear further with each heave of Dommik’s smoldering body.
“Just. A bit. Farther,” I grunted, coaching myself as I pulled the heap of leather and brawn. My annoyance overflowed that I had to work so hard to keep him alive. Wasn’t this his job?
Up one stair, then two. The sunrise seemed to speed up as my muscles begged for me to slow down.
I practically roared as I collected every ounce of effort for one final heave through the ajar door and over the threshold. We’d made it. I panted there, flat on the floor, beneath the weight of a still-weakened Dommik.
“Thank you,” he mustered between labored breaths.
“You’re so very welcome,” I echoed his tone from earlier in the evening on my own shaky breaths. Thin streams of light began to seep through the broken windows. Dust swirled in greeting, basking in their translucent yellow rays.
High ceilings and wide walls held grit-covered furniture and torn, forgotten portraits. Spiders tucked themselves into shadowy corners, leaving only their magnificent webs on display. Time and dust stole the likeness of each painted face, no matter how hard I squinted at their features.
The naked branches outside swayed, dancing with a fast-approaching morning storm. Pattering rain and rolling thunder lulled me, but my instincts held my exhaustion at bay. Not yet.
“There are—” he managed to roll off of me and onto his stomach “–supplies—” the floorboards groaned as he pressed himself to his hands and knees “—in the cellar.”
I prayed he could manage a set of stairs on his own. I wasn’t confident I could even carry myself another step.
“What about Asher?” I jerked my chin to the stallion outside.
“He prefers to roam.” Dommik strained as he pushed a bookcase aside, revealing a hidden stairway. “I’ll tend to him tomorrow. I need to get to ground. After you.”
I stood and took a step in the opposite direction.
“Reyva…” My name rode the waves of his concerned tone.
“I’m just shutting the door.” The worn hinges groaned as I closed us into the space. “Not that it matters, this place is decrepit.”
He chuckled and gestured weakly to the opening again. “There’s a railing just there. Mind your step.”
My life had taken many unexpected turns, but I never thought I would willingly let a vampire lead me into the hidden basement of an abandoned estate.
I swallowed hard before descending the ominous stairwell, unsure what would greet me at the bottom. A torture chamber? Other prisoners of the Hive? Vampiric deviancy?
Dommik’s shoulder brushed past mine and a moment later, an oil lamp bloomed to life across the room.
Rather than a neglected, damp, moldy sub-floor, was a fairly tidy and dry cellar. Casks upon casks of barrels were stacked, creating the illusion of walls. Unlike the main entryway, this room wasn’t covered in a thin layer of dust. It was well kept and had everything a solo traveler may need.
A dining table and chairs. Stores of self-hardy harvest, including potatoes, squash, and bright red apples. And a bed.
