Crimson

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When my head started clearing that time it felt like it went quicker. My mind seemed to be aware straight away about what had happened, though it still took some time before I could make coherent thoughts.

As I opened my eyes a delicious smell hit me. It was that of chicken and bacon. It made my mouth water.

I sat up in bed and as I did, the blanket fell off me and I realized I was completely naked. By reflex, I pulled the blanket up to cover myself again, but then I noticed that I was alone in the room.

My heart sank. I had expected him to be there, to greet me and to make sure I was okay. But that he wasn't...

I knew I shouldn't have cared. And I didn't want to care. All I wanted was to hate him and be rid of him, but instead I was both disappointed and hurt by not seeing him.

He's a parasite, I reminded myself. A blood-sucking killer. He doesn't deserve any of my emotions or thoughts.

I shook my head lightly to get him out of it, before pulling the blanket aside and getting up. There was a small table in the room and on it was both a plate of food and a neatly folded pile of clothes.

I started by getting dressed. The clothes were nothing like what I would normally wear. Black was almost the only color in my wardrobe and I mainly wore pants and tops that were easy to move in. Very different from the white dress with flowers on it that I now wore. I felt so uncomfortable in it that I almost wanted to take it off again and just be naked.

I knew that likely wasn't a good idea though, so I resigned myself to my fate and sat down in front of the plate of food. It looked as delicious as it smelled. Chicken filled with mozzarella and sun-dried tomatoes, wrapped in bacon. And to it rice, a cold yoghurt sauce, and a nice salad.

I took a first bite of the food and when it entered my mouth, I also realized that I was starving. It felt like I hadn't eaten for days. I wolfed down the food faster than I would have cared to admit to anyone, but as it was done, I only felt half-full.

I was contemplating if I should see if the door was locked to go and try to find more food, when it burst opened.

A girl with long brown hair and tiny built came through it. I recognized her at once. It was the girl that I had tried to save and I could tell by the paleness of her skin that I had completely failed.

Anger erupted in me and I wanted to storm out and find that fucking bastard and make him pay for what he had done to her.

"You're finally awake!" the girl exclaimed however, which halted my rage. She looked at me with such a radiant smile that made anger seem like an impossible feeling to feel.

Then without any reservation, she ran forward. I got to me feet, unsure about what she was about to do, if I needed to defend myself or not. But when she reached me, she flung her arms around me and hugged me tight.

The hug didn't last long. In truth, it had barely begun before she jumped away from me.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that," she said and looked away from me. Then added in a mumbled: "You smell delicious."

Her words fueled my anger again and I wanted to curse at everything that had led to her become a vampire. But she disarmed my anger again by looking up with tear-filled eyes.

"Thank you," she said and her voice carried so much emotion that I felt completely stunned.

"For... for what?" I managed to get out.

"Lamech told me that you tried to stop this from happening." She waved her hand up and down herself to clarify what she meant. "And thank you. Really thank you. You're such a good person. I mean, you don't even know me but risked your life to try and help me. Thank you."

I felt my mouth hanging slightly open as I stared at the girl. Her tears fell from her face. Feeling awkward both at her gratitude and sadness, I reached out a hand and gently patted her on the shoulder. Her skin was cold like all vampires.

"I just wish I had been there earlier so that I actually could have saved you," I said and her tears picked up speed.

I felt completely lost as to what to do. Comforting had never been something I had been good at. I was much better at going after people and hurting them back, than to comfort the one that had been hurt in the first place. And I definitely rather took action than talked, so the only idea I got as to how to comfort her, was to hug her. But that was out of the question.

After a bit of awkwardness, with her crying and me feeling clueless with a hand resting lamely on her shoulder, she stopped crying. She dried away her tears and looked up at me.

"I'm Aideen, by the way," she said and smiled.

"Crimson," I introduced myself back.

She nodded. "I know. Lamech told me. He also told me to tell you when you woke up that..."

She hesitated, looked away from me and started fidgeting with her fingers.

"What did he say?" I asked and hated the surge of excitement at knowing that he at least hadn't forgotten all about me already.

"He said that he'll be quite busy in the coming days. And that he doesn't want you leaving this room without an escort."

I scoffed and the excitement died as soon as it had appeared. He truly did want to keep me as a prisoner.

Aideen left very quickly after having given me the message. I bet she could sense the anger that wouldn't ebb away. I was hurt that he wasn't there. Angry that he wanted to keep me locked up. And I was starving still. And tired.

There were a million things that I wanted to do and a million things I wanted to yell at him. But when I was alone again, my bodies physical needs became much more pronounced. For a moment I considered leaving the room to find food, but he didn't want me to do that and frankly, walking around in a house filled with vampires felt like a bad idea. So instead I gave into my other physical need and got under the blanket again.

As I fell asleep, I could feel the tears building up in my eyes.