Page 16 of Vampire Bite

Chapter Ten

Lucas

When I woke the following morning, something felt… off. The air was too still, too heavy. My gaze swept across the room, and then, I saw her.

She was huddled in the corner, knees drawn to her chest, rocking ever so slightly. Her face was pale, her eyes wide and unseeing, fixed on a point somewhere beyond the walls of this room, beyond this world. She looked… lost.

I moved quickly, crossing the room to kneel in front of her. “Annika.” I reached out, hesitating just before touching her shoulder. “Annika, can you hear me?”

Nothing. No reaction. She just kept rocking, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as though she were trying to hold herself together. She looked so small, so fragile—and for the first time, fear clawed at me, sharp and raw.

“Annika,” I said again, louder this time, letting my hand fall gently on her arm. The warmth of her skin was a slight relief, but the distant look in her eyes was terrifying. “Please… come back to me.”

Slowly, she blinked, her gaze flickering to life as if she were waking from a nightmare. Her eyes focused on me, wide and glassy, and for a moment, there was nothing but raw confusion and fear in them.

“Lucas?” she whispered, her voice shaky, barely audible.

I nodded, tightening my hold on her arm. “I’m here. You’re safe. Whatever it was… it’s over now.”

She blinked again, a tear slipping down her cheek as her breathing steadied, but her hands were still trembling. I held hergaze, grounding her, hoping she’d feel some reassurance in my presence.

“What happened?” I asked softly, wanting to pull her close but resisting the urge to do so.

Her eyes dropped, her expression distant again. “I… I don’t know,” she murmured, her voice sounding faint and haunted. “I felt… like I was somewhere else. Somewhere dark, empty. Like… I was trapped.”

I swallowed hard, feeling that same gnawing fear in my chest. Whatever had just happened to her, it had taken her to the edge of something terrible.

I reached out and touched her forehead. Immediately, my stomach dropped. She was burning up, her skin feverishly hot.

“Dammit, Annika,” I muttered, not waiting for her to respond.

I gathered her into my arms and lifted her from the floor. She leaned into me, still shivering, like a little kitten. I lowered my gaze to her. Her face was pale and clammy despite the terrible heat radiating from her. I carried her back to the couch, laying her down gently. Then, I grabbed a cloth from a small basin nearby, dampening it with cool water.

I knelt beside her, pressing the cloth to her forehead. I watched as her features relaxed just slightly under the coolness. Her breathing was still shallow, but at least it was steady. She exhaled, closing her eyes.

Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something deeper was at work here, something I myself didn’t quite understand. That alone was enough to unsettle me. I’d been around death, darkness and curses long enough to know when something felt wrong… terribly wrong.

I sat beside her, dabbing the cloth along her cheeks and neck, trying to ease the fever.

“Come on, Annika,” I whispered, willing her to hear me. “You have to fight this… whatever this is.”

I don’t know if she heard me. From her breathing, I could tell she had fallen asleep. Perhaps that was for the better.

I thought about it for a moment, then I decided what to do.

A minute later, I locked the door behind me. I just cast a single glance before stepping into the night. The woods loomed thick and dark ahead, the silence broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves. I needed to find that herb. Feverroot. Old vampire knowledge, something few knew anymore. If anything could help with the transformation fever, it was that.

My boots sank into the damp earth as I pushed deeper into the forest. Shadows twisted around the trees, and the fog was dense here, clinging to the ground in wisps like ghostly fingers. I knew every path in these woods well. I knew where the rare plants grew, but tonight, the silence felt different. Somehow… heavier. Maybe it was because of the knot tightening in my chest.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Annika, lying on the couch back there, burning up with a fever I didn’t understand. Was it even transformation fever? I had no idea.

She’d looked so vulnerable, so different from the strong, defiant woman I’d met just days ago. And it was worse because I couldn’t shake the thought that she wouldn’t be staying, that whatever we’d been through together was only temporary.

It had all started with a casual question, one she probably didn’t even think twice about. Just a mention of someone back home, someone waiting for her. A friend, maybe, I’d told myself at first, but the thought clawed at me. And I couldn’t help it… I started wondering if it was a man. A lover. Hell, maybe even a husband.

The thought of it gnawed at me, jealousy twisting like a knife. I shouldn’t care. I know I shouldn’t. I’d never cared about anyone staying before. But with her, it was different. She’d donesomething to me, something I couldn’t quite place, like she’d reached into the deepest, darkest parts of me and pulled me back into the light.

And now she was leaving.

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