(This is the last part of this story.)

Jessica woke up in a room she didn't know. The windows were covered with velvet colored curtains and the walls were made of solid brick. She slept above a huge, comfortable bed, but she felt pain on her neck and she didn't know why until she remembered... the King had bitten her.

Was he some sort of a vampire then? Was that the reason why he never came out during the day? This was so strange, but as she touched her bite marks, she had to accept that this was reality. She looked around the room and it had few furnishings. An oval rug laid on the floor. She was going to leave her bed when she realized that one of her ankles were tied to the bed.

"What?" She said to herself. This was ridiculous. She was weak and already in the bedroom, probably locked. The King was paranoid. She looked over the bed and then she saw a small key on the floor, very near the bed's leg. She ducked down to reach for it. Her fingers were half an inch away and could almost touch the metal of the key. Abruptly, the door opened and in entered the King.

"Please release me from this chain," Jessica said. He shook his head.

"No. If I release you, you will leave," he replied.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said. The King examined her and decided to release her. He didn't have to touch the chain though. He opened it with invisible magic. He waved his hand and she was released. Jessica rubbed her ankle.

"You said you had to go to the bathroom," the King said observing her, his face as stone. She immediately got out of the bed and went into the bathroom. She locked the door and cried silently in fear. She broke a sweat and looked everywhere, but there was no escape. She tried not to feel asphyxiated. She experienced a shortness of breath and tried to calm herself by taking deep breaths. Then she did her necessities so that the King wouldn't suspect of her. She washed her hand and even her face to try to calm her trembling hands. Jessica gazed at her bite marks and touched them. They prickled. She came out of the bathroom, but the King was gone. The chain was tossed aside on the floor. The key had never been moved. Jessica walked to the door and it was open. She headed for her escape. She ran down the stairs in a flight. As she ran towards the entry where she would finally be free, she felt the chilling presence of the King. She tilted to see if he was there and he was, far away, watching her every move. The front door was open. She turned the door knob to leave, but for some strange reason, she didn't. She closed the door and looked at him. She realized how terrible he was and yet there was also something else... Jessica felt a sadness... a pain. She didn't know how to explain it, but as she stared into the dark, she knew he suffered. She walked towards him and when she approached him, his face was distorted, monstrous, with scars all over. She lost her breath, but did not turn away. Instead, she grabbed her hand. He took it for a moment, watched it and then he pulled it and bit it. Jessica screamed. The King drank from her hand, but it wasn't enough. Then he drank from her arm and the blood dripped out.

"Your majesty!" Jessica cried out, but the King wouldn't stop, so she kicked him in the stomach. He growled and wailed in pain. He fell on his knees. She looked at the devastation of his face. Despite being bitten everywhere, she couldn't leave. Something didn't allow her to. She just continued to bare witness to the horrifying King. He wanted her to watch. He wanted her to stay. Then she realized that the King was in pain and that he was sharing that pain with her. His pain was so unbearable that he had to share it with someone. He had not expected anyone to reply to the message in the bottle. He must have sent those messages in desperation and the coldness in the notes reflected a heart in slices. Now she understood why he bit her and insulted her and did all of those crazy things. Suddenly the scars from his face cleared out and he smiled. He even seemed younger and had more vitality. It made perfect sense. He was dying.

"I'm so sorry... let me look at your hand and arm. I will immediately have that taken care of," he said with a smile. Jessica didn't know why, but she wasn't afraid of him. It was so strange. Under normal circumstances she should have left and fled for her life, but she didn't. The sadness she had seen was so deep that it moved her.

"You are a lovely woman. You are beautiful, you have charisma and grace. You have a smile. I love the smell of your hair," he said. Jessica didn't know if she was supposed to be flattered. She was just confused. The servant came to her and attended her wounds.

"You should leave," the servant whispered when the King was away.

"Why?" Jessica asked. The servant hesitated and looked around the house. She whispered so low that Jessica wondered if the King had ears everywhere. The servant was sweating.

"You are so lovely. He will consume you completely..." she said and then she walked away and left. Jessica thought about what the servant said. The servant did know him better than anyone else. Maybe it was wise to listen to her. The King returned later on and showed her a room.

"And here are many gowns for you, jewels, makeup, books, whatever you want, but do not open this box. You must promise me," he said showing her a wooden box in the corner of the room. The box was a simple one. She wondered why she couldn't open the box, but agreed not to open it. Jessica stayed in the castle for a few days. Things were dark and mysterious, but she rarely saw the King because he had so many things to do. She interacted with the servant of the house and she always told her that she should leave. Jessica asked why and the response was always the same.

"You are so lovely. He will consume you completely..." she'd say.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked.

"You already look pale and you have been bitten in the neck, hand and arm. Can't you see?" She said.

"But he is so sad that it's moved my heart," Jessica replied.

"That is the problem. That you have a heart and he doesn't. That's what he wants," she said.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked, but the servant never really dared to speak much. She left without answering the question and Jessica didn't understand. She didn't understand why she couldn't leave. The front door remained open every  day and every day she tried to leave, but the King would show his misery to her and she would melt. He would attack her viciously and then order her to cure. One day, she was too weak to go out of her room. These attacks and insults at the dining room became a routine and every time Jessica thought that maybe if she was nicer to him, if she was more compassionate towards him, he would change, but he never did and as she believed, she grew tired and weak. He consumed her blood on both arms and legs, on the back and stomach. The more she tried to be kind and compassionate towards him, the more she blood she lost.

"You must leave now. Now or be consumed forever," the servant said. The girl nodded weakly.

"Can you help me up? Please," Jessica pleaded. The servant looked nervous, but decided to help. She was so lovely. The servant helped her up. Jessica was about to leave when she saw the box in the floor. The servant hesitated as she saw Jessica walk to the box. Jessica opened the box and in it there was a mirror. A mirror? That's it? She took the mirror with her and the servant helped her walk out of the room.

"Now you must continue. Go now or perish," the servant said. Jessica limped to the front of the door and touched the doorknob. The King stood in the hall as he did every day and showed her his misery and pain. Jessica opened the door determined that today she would leave, but the King used magic to shut it.

"You have the heart that I want. It is of good quality," the King said.

"I cannot give you my heart. My heart is mine. I am leaving and returning to the island where I belong. I can no longer be your guest. You have insulted me every night during the dinner and bitten me every day after showing me your misery. I do feel compassion for you and would like to help you very much. I do not hate you, but my compassion for you is killing me and I want to live. I miss the island and I want to go back," she replied. He said nothing. Jessica turned around and turned the doorknob, but it didn't open. He still had it locked.

"Why are you doing this? Can't you see I have done everything I can to help you, but you, you have not changed," she said.

"I cannot change. This is who I am," he replied. She realized that they were so different, that she was filled with light and he wasn't. That she had health and he had depleted it.

"Not even a little bit?" Jessica wondered trying to cling on to the hope that he could be better.

"No. This is who I am," he said again. They were complete opposites. All of her efforts had been in van.

"Open the door," she said. He remained still and silent as a statue, waiting for her to please him. She walked towards him and he smirked happy that she would feed him her heart, but Jessica took the mirror and reflected it upon the face of the King. The King yelled.

"I told you to never open that box! Get out. Get out!" He said and Jessica ran to the door and it was finally unlocked. She ran out with her purse as fast as she could which wasn't so fast since she was weak, but the sun shone on her and already she was feeling better. Some red had returned to her cheeks. She rummaged in her purse remembering the card that the Taxi driver had given her and so she called him. He picked her up. She was still very beautiful, but not as radiant as he had remembered. She was also bruised and seemed weak.

"Where to?" He asked her.

"I'm going home, to the beach house. I don't know if you remember?," she replied.

"I remember," he said and he drove her back to the island. She was so happy to be there. She rested for many days and soon the life that had been taken away from her was returning and she enjoyed the fish, the water and the sand until one day she saw a bottle floating in the sea. She didn't want to grab it. Now, she feared the bottle in the sea, but the bottle followed her until it reached the sand. Jessica grabbed the bottle and read the note.

""Dear World. I'm busy, but I'm still here. I have been writing letters, doing decrees, expanding my kingdom and doing business as usual. P.S. The King." 

 It had been identical to first note she had ever read from him in the bottle. She stared at it for a while and then she tossed the bottle into the ocean and left into the house. The next day she walked out of her house to enjoy the beach and she never saw another bottle again.

The End.