I still hate the word in my head. It makes me all kinds of pent up and angry. Also makes me want to hurt something. Myself mostly, which is just odd. Who wants to hurt themselves just because of what they are?
All this thinking is making my head hurt.
“Ashryn,” a soft male voice says. Hmm. He sounds nice. Soft. Caring. Like trust.
“Ashryn,” the voice repeats. I like it. It makes me feel kind of warm despite the cold. I try to open my eyes, but they still kind of burn. Maybe not my best idea then. “I need to cut off your clothes,” the voice says. It’s still really soothing, and I nod. It probably comes out as more of head loll. Classy.
There’s more cold as metal touches my skin, and I shiver even more. Why is there so much cold? At least it’s not the burning sensation from before.
I still don’t want to believe I’m a vampire. Why is this happening to me?
The word echoes around my head. I really don’t like it. In my head it means prey. It means something that needs to be destroyed. It doesn’t mean me. Except that it does. I am a vampire. Whether I like it or not. And soon, I’m going to have to properly accept that. I’m going to have to drink blood.
I shudder, but not from the cold this time. I hope blood doesn’t taste too weird. It can’t, can it? Otherwise, why would they be drinking it?
I open my eyes, and have to blink several times to believe what I’m seeing. The man in front of me isn’t what I expect, not from the softness of his voice.
He’s covered in scars. Or the skin I can see of his is. I’m not sure about under his clothes, but a little part of me really wants to find out.
Is this really the time to be thinking about that kind of thing? I should really get my priorities straight, and finding out whether there are scars all over him. And even if I do find that out, I’ll want to know more about how he got them. Maybe I just want to know him. There’s something about him that’s just tickling those parts of me. The ones I didn’t really think about much, there was no reason to. Other than scratching the itch with other hunters every now and again, I’d never met anyone that made me want to do anything like that.
Yet this man is making me think of tangled limbs and hot, sweaty bodies. How was that even possible with the ice water I’m in. There’s something floating along the surface too. Are they rose petals?
Who puts rose petals in a bath to soothe burns?
“They smell nice,” the man says, his voice still soft.
“Yes,” I reply, my voice cracking with strain. Oh. Maybe the sun did more damage than I think it did. That’s majorly inconvenient. “What’s your name?” I ask, except only the word name really comes out. How does that even work? The sun never got down my throat. Is this what I’ve got to get used to now? Things hurting even when I don’t actively hurt them? No wonder vampires are so sullen, they have it really shit.
And then there’s us hunting them. Well, them hunting us. That one hurts my head far more than I want it to.
“Remus,” he answers.
“Like the wolf?” I blurt, my voice a little stronger. Probably the shock. it can do wonders for fixing things. Got to love how the body works.
He smirks slightly, which drags on one of the scars on his face. It should be scary, but its not. There’s something in his eyes that betrays that. This isn’t a bad man. I’d stake my life on it.
Phaha. Stake my life on it. I guess that phrase has a completely different meaning to it now.
“Yes, like the wolf. Amusing I know.”
“It’s like your parents knew you’d turn into a vampire,” I say, my voice still scratchy, but it’s getting stronger by the moment.
“Well that’s a surprise.” His voice lights up. “From what Dimitri said,” he adds when he sees the undoubtedly confused look on my face.
“He’s been talking about me?” I’m not sure why I’m surprised. I shouldn’t be considering I would’ve talked about me too in Dimitri’s position. But I am a little curious now.
“What’s he been saying?”
“Mostly that you refuse to accept what you are now.”
“Bit hard to de
ny it when you’ve started burning,” I mutter. I’m still not happy about that one, but I really can’t say anything. They did tell me what I am now. And I know vampires can’t go out during the day. I always have. So there really isn’t an excuse for me to have done so.
“That’s true.” He chuckles, then lifts a cloth and smooths it down my arm. The effect is instant. I’m not sure if it’s whatever he put on the cloth to begin with, or just the gentle touch in general, but I feel almost instantly better.
“What’s on that?” I almost groan. Holding it back is super hard.