Thane throws me against the tree, baring his fangs just inches from my face. I instinctively shut my eyes, but decide showing fear is exactly what he wants, so I open them back up—only when I do, he’s not there. No one is.
Hallucinations.
I’m not sure if they’re from the dehydration or exhaustion. Maybe both. Either way, I know it won’t be long before my body shuts down completely.
Just keep going. You can’t stop.
I use the trees for support as I continue on, but everything feels heavy. My head. My dress. And every time I swallow it feels like I’m gulping down sand.
Images of people from my past continue to appear, tricking me for moments at a time before they vanish in the wind. More than a few times the dizziness wins, and I find myself stumbling into bushes and tripping over roots. I’m coated in dirt and filth with at least a couple of twigs sticking out of my hair.
For a second, I think I hear a howl in the distance. It’s probably just the wind or another hallucination, but in the off chance it wasn’t, I take off in a run. I only make it a few yards before my legs give out, and I go crashing into the cold, hard ground. The world around me spins so fast that I can’t tell up from down. It almost feels like I’m in a vortex. I no longerfeel the ground beneath me. In fact, I can’t even feel my body anymore. It’s like I’m disconnected from it. Even the pain has gone numb.
Is this what death feels like?
The world goes dark as I sink deeper into an endless pit. I’m no longer prisoner to fear or panic. I am simply a passenger now. Falling through time and space with no end in sight.
The cold, dark woods are gone, and I’m back in my room at the mansion, burrowed beneath the warm plush bedding. It feels so real, but then again, dreams often do.
Odd that my mind would choose this place to conjure up, though I do suppose it is the nicest place I’ve ever stayed. I roll over and toss the comforter over my head. If this is how my subconscious has chosen to welcome death, then who am I to fight it? Lord knows there are far worse places my mind could bring to life if it wanted to.
All of a sudden, the blankets I’m so comfortably wrapped up in are aggressively pulled back.
“Kole?” I ask, looking up at the amused vampire standing over me.
“Rise and shine, princess.”
He starts grabbing different body parts of mine, and I swat him away.
“What are you doing? Get off of me!”
He backs away with his hands in the air. “Jeez, forgive me for checking to see if your injuries have healed.”
I sit up, realizing this isn’t some dream or hallucination my mind has made up. I really am back in my room at the mansion, which means I’m back under Thane’s control. Suddenly, the idea of death doesn’t seem so bad.
“Looks like it worked,” Kole says, running his eyes down my legs.
“What worked?” I demand, standing up from the bed.
He grabs a hold of my wrist and pulls it toward him. “Look.”
My gaze drops to my forearm, no longer bandaged, and I notice that it’s completely healed. There are no signs of puncture wounds from Thane’s claws or a burn, and to my surprise, there’s not a single scratch on me. Not even on my feet that had been cut up from running barefoot.
“How?”
“Vampire blood.”
“Excuse me?” I ask, trying to convince myself I didn’t hear him right.
“You were nearly dead,” Kole says matter of factly. “It was either vampire blood or death.” I sprint to the bathroom, and he follows. “Don’t worry, you won’t turn into one of us,” he adds, leaning against the doorframe with his arms and legs crossed.
I roll my eyes. “I’m well aware that’s not how it works.”
I had hoped the mark on my neck would’ve been healed too, but it’s still very much there.
“Have you started to feel the effects of the bond yet?” Kole asks, eyeing my neck in the mirror.
“Bond?” I question, feeling like I missed a part of the conversation.
