One thing was for sure. After taking his strange blood, I better wake up feeling like a brand-new woman, full of energy, or I was kicking someone’s ass.
I curled up on my side and fell into a fitful sleep haunted by images of me sprouting horns and a tail and drinking the blood of hapless humans I came across.
* * *
By the timeI woke up, I laid spread out on the bed, the bedsheets tangled around my legs, but I was breathing easy. I didn’t know if it was the glorious sunlight drenching me in warmth from the window, or that I fell asleep so heavily, or the blood I’d taken from Derrial, but regardless, right now I felt incredible. So much so, I could swear I’d fly if I headed outside.
I stared out at the beautiful blue sky outside of the floor to ceiling windows deciding I loved living so high up in the air, sharing my space with birds and clouds. Was this what it would be like traveling in a spaceship when the Vepar came to Earth, keeping only the universe view for company? I’d heard on TV a Vepar once saying, the crew slept for most of the trip, so maybe it wouldn’t be so great. Plus, the one time I did catch a flight as a child, I got the worst motion sickness.
I realized that I was rambling to myself and tried to slow down my thoughts, but for the first time in too long, a newfound joy beamed through me, and I couldn’t even understand the reason.
My stomach growled with hunger, and with no idea how long I’d been asleep, I untangled myself from the sheets and pushed my legs over to the edge of the mattress. I expected to hurt because earlier I wasn’t sure that I would be able to walk without falling over, but as I climbed onto my feet, I bounced on my toes, feeling ready to run a marathon.
Damn, whatever had been in Derrial’s blood had left me feeling amazing. At that moment my euphoria cleared enough that I was able to remember his words about our bond. A cold dread shifted over me, pushing out the strange joy I had just been feeling. I needed to find out what exactly the bond meant, knowing that I wasn’t going to like whatever it meant. It was ridiculous for me to think that he could have at least told me about it first. After all, he hadn’t exactly asked for my permission before kidnapping me from my world.
I padded over on bare feet into the kitchen admiring how the floorboards in this hotel were shiny and so clean. I pictured myself living somewhere like this, with such luxury, and I doubted I’d ever leave to go outside. Not when I had everything I needed right here.
Like the previous days, I swiftly scanned the tables and couches in case Derrial or one of the guards had left behind their cells considering all the phones had been removed from this penthouse. Maybe I was being foolish in even believing I had anyone to call for help. After witnessing Derrial’s influence over world leaders, what exactly would authorities do if I called, insisting he’d kidnapped me? I wasn’t a fool not to know how badly that could go for me. I would need a different tactic. Sure, I loved it here, but this was me floating high on an alien’s blood and daydreaming of living in a fairytale.
Stomping over to the fridge, I pulled it open, expecting food, but instead I stared at bottles of water. I sighed before having a bright idea. I grabbed some water and headed over to the couch. I flopped down and collected the menu from the hotel’s restaurant. This would all be under Derrial’s name, which meant I could order anything.
Once I made my choice, I headed to the front door and cranked it open. In a flash, a guard stepped in my path, broad shouldered and enormous.
“You can’t leave,” he snorted.
“Fine by me.” I shrugged and handed him a piece of paper.
He stared at it, his brow furrowing in a dozen lines, then glanced up at me quizzically without accepting the note.
I pushed it to his hand once again. “I’m hungry and I need you to go order this food for me.”
He cocked an eyebrow, stiffening as if getting me food was below his pay rank. The other guard farther down the corridor chuckled, and I noted only two of them guarded my door.
I slouched a hip into the door frame and huffed. “Do you really want me to tell Derrial I’ve been starving all day, close to fainting, because you refused to get me a bit of food?”
He made a grunting sound deep in his chest, glaring at me from hooded eyes, and snatched the paper from my hand before studying it. He snorted. “A bit of food? Where are you going to put all this?” Looking my way, he scanned me head to toe. “And there’s no salad or vegetable in sight?”
I gritted my teeth, refusing to show him how much I wanted to hit him in the nose, even if it required me to get on tippy toes to do so. If I was trapped in a penthouse, then I was spoiling myself, and right now I was so hungry, it made me impatient and my pulse raced with a desperation to eat something.
“Don’t forget the sundae.” I stepped back inside and slammed the door shut.
Where had my feistiness come from, all in the name of food? Hell hath no fury when my stomach rumbled. I smirked, grabbed an apple from the complimentary hotel fruit basket, and crashed onto my bed while switching on the television.
Half an hour later and still no food, I was about to check with the guards where my order was, when the click of the front door sounded.
Yes!
I hurried out of my bedroom, calling out over my shoulder, “Give me a sec, I’ll be right out.”
With my mouth already salivating and deciding I’d devour the sundae first, I rushed down the hallway and into the living room.
But instead of food waiting for me, I found Derrial, his back to me, staring out the window. He wore jeans and a black dress shirt. When did he get changed? Peering at him closer, I realized that he stood wrong. One shoulder sat slightly lower than the other, he looked somehow smaller, deflated. Strange since he was a man who towered over others, never backing down. Maybe something had happened at the Summit?
“Derrial? Is everything okay?”
He didn’t respond at first, but he cracked his neck, and a shiver slithered up my back. Unease crept over me when he didn’t answer.
“What’s going on?” I asked.