Page 29 of Losing The Vampire King

The sound of his voice is more than I can take. I am swept over by a sudden sense of peace.

“Bianca?” I murmur through the pain, allowing my body to slump down onto the horse.

“She ran all the way back to get us,” Kano explains, stopping the horse.

“I didn’t want to, but I had to,” I hear her voice as well. She’s here. Of course, she is. She wouldn’t leave me, especially not now. “We have to take you back quickly now. I’m afraid you’ll keep losing consciousness until one last time, you won’t be coming round.”

“Don’t think like that,” Kano tells her.

It is difficult to keep my eyes open. I try to tell them that, but then, Kano pats me on the shoulder.

“Save your strength,” he instructs me. “You still have a long battle ahead of you. You’ll need all the strength you have left in you.”

I try to nod, but even that is difficult. Just as I’m about to say something, I black out again, and the world is gone.

What happens afterwards is something I can’t explain. I open my eyes and I am no longer in any familiar place. In fact, this is a place I’ve never seen before. A dark and ominous place, darker than anything I’ve ever visited.

It is a deep, dark woods and I can’t find my way out. I try calling out Bianca’s name, then Kano’s, but there seems to be no one else here but me. Occasionally, ghosts fly past me, releasing strange sounds that make me shiver and jump with fright. They are nameless and faceless, disembodied and frightful. I have no idea what they are trying to do as they fly past me, making these strange noises.

I keep looking around, trying to find a way out of these woods. Everything is dark. At least I am not in pain any longer. But that serves little purpose because I seem to be stuck in this place, which I don’t even know what it is.

I look up, expecting to see the skies and the sun. Maybe they will guide me out of this limbo. But above me is the same darkness as the one that surrounds me. I am lost.

Suddenly, I hear a strange woman chanting. Her voice is making melodious sounds, along with words which don’t seem to make much sense. I look around, but I can’t figure out where the voice is coming from. Almost as if it’s coming from all sides, attacking me, not letting me be.

“He needs to find a way out,” I hear the voice say.

I look around, half-expecting to see a witch of some sorts by my side, but I am alone in this dark limbo. There is no one here but me.

“What if he can’t?” This time, the voice belongs to Bianca.

I open my mouth in an effort to call out to her, but I have no voice. I press my hand to my lips, in shock. What kind of sorcery is this? Have I lost power of speech?

“Then… all is lost…”

Those are the last words I hear. They belong to the other woman, the one who was chanting. I listen, in an effort to hear them speak again, but I am alone. I get this instinctual urge to run, and that is what I do. I keep running in one direction, fighting my way through the dark undergrowth, using my hands to keep branches away from my face. I feel like I’ve been running for hours, when I finally stop, and to my complete and utter shock, I realize I’ve run a full circle. I’m in the exact same place where I started from.

I shake my head, unable to believe this. Suddenly, everything starts to spin around me, the woods, the ground beneath my feet, the sky above my head. It all blends into one dark image, and I have no idea what it is I am looking at any longer.

Everything feels bleak. I feel hopeless. I expect that onslaught of pain again, but it doesn’t come.

I try to think of Orien and Bianca. They are the only two people more important than anything and anyone else. They are more important than me. Even if I have to stay lost in this dark hellhole for the rest of my life, trying to figure out how to get back to them, I will never stop trying. I will never forget them again.

I am furious with myself for allowing something like that to happen. If only I didn’t drink that tea. If only I didn’t believe every single lie that Gala was feeding me… But I did. This is all my fault, and I know I have to be the one who makes it right.

Just… how? I can’t make it right from here. I have to find my way out and go back to my family, to the ones I love. I have to return and make things right.

Make things right. Make things right.

These words keep repeating inside my mind again. My eyes are closed. I am lying down.

“He’s coming round!” I hear Bianca say. I feel the soft warmth of her hand on mine.

I try to open my eyes. It is difficult, but I finally manage to do it. The light is too bright. It is coming from a fire in the corner of the room, which I don’t recognize. I don’t know where I am. But Bianca is here. Kano is behind her.

She smiles at me, her eyes filled with tears.

“You’re back,” her voice is laden with love and tenderness. “You found your way back to us.”

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