Page 5 of Bitten

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Reawakening…

When Reggie awoke again, his body ached. Everything hurt. His vision was blurry… and he had to blink a few times before he could see the old pine roof above him. Herbs hung from the exposed rafters, along with a menagerie of odd-looking stuff—some of it he wasn’t sure wasn’t still alive. Where the fuck am I?

He tried to lift his head, but it weighed a ton. The world swam around him, making his gut clench.

“Now don’t you go pushing yourself too much,” a familiar woman’s voice said.

Reggie slowly turned his head and saw her. The old witch woman who lived in the swamps. He swallowed past the dryness of his throat. “H…how…”

“I said, don’t push it,” she admonished him before lifting an old glass to his lips. It looked grimy, but his thirst was so goddamed bad he didn’t give a shit. He took a drink and felt the cold, crisp water washing over his tongue.

Only to turn and spit it on the floor. The water had turned to ash in his mouth.

Reggie rose on one elbow and eyed her. And it was then that he heard the sound.

Lub-dub, lub-dub.

“You need to fight that thirst, Reginald Kane. Now drink the damned water before I stick a stake through your heart myself.”

Lub-dub, lub-dub.

He stared at her a moment, pinning a gaze on the spot where the sound was coming.

Her heart.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

Reggie licked his lips, watching her. His eyes… they weren’t working right. He saw… glimmers of something coming from the witch. A magical light frizzled along the edges of her body—or was he seeing things?

“Drink… the water.”

Reggie took the glass from her outstretched hand and brought it to his lips. He stared over the rim as he tried another drink. The cool, clean water might as well have been bile.

“Them vamps did a number on you, but I got to you before they could do their worst,” the old witch said. “Now you need to fight that bloodlust, or else you’re gonna be savage, just like thems that did this to you.”

Bloodlust.

Lub-dub, lub-dub.

Vampires.

You need to fight that thirst, Reginald Kane. Now drink the damned water before I stick a stake through your heart myself…

It all hit him in that moment. The visions of his family, murdered… it all came back to him. His gut coiled at the sight of the blood, the hunger growing. His family? What had happened to his brothers… his mama?

He jumped to his feet and huddled low, staring about the room for more of the vampires. He searched every shadow, every corner.

“Ain’t none of them here,” the witch whispered.

“I need… I need to go back,” he mumbled, climbing from the bed.

“Go back? Whatever for?”

“My family,” he spat, searching for his shoes under the cot. When he didn’t see them, he gave up and headed for the door. He’d walk barefoot through the swamp if he had to.

“Your family is already in their crypts, boy. They had the funeral last week. Nothing you can do now but get vengeance for what was done to them.”

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