by Amber Lynn
“Then what are you talking about? I know you’re worried that you can’t change me in the first place and I’ll die somewhere in the process, but I’m dying now. Whether the virus ever attacks me or not, this pile of flesh isn’t going to last forever.”
The reminder wasn’t needed. Krinla could feel how weak Hunter’s body was, even without the news that he had a disease. She’d already hurt him from merely squeezing his hands, which reminded her she wanted to check how badly she’d injured him.
Looking down at their joined hands, Krinla saw that the area around his knuckles wasn’t the beige color it was supposed to be. Various shades of blue and purple made the outline of her fingers.
“You should’ve said something.”
Krinla used her free hand to gently run a finger across the injury to see if she’d caused any lumps. While she did so, she watched Hunter’s face to see if he winced. There wasn’t a hint around his eyes that it hurt, but Krinla imagined when it happened he wasn’t feeling too hot.
“Like Rya said, I thought maybe you’d have to fix it somehow, and honestly, I was busy trying to figure out what she was doing. I’m sure it will heal.”
That wasn’t the point. Even if something would’ve broken, it would heal. Krinla had an issue with him willingly letting her hurt him.
“As far as I know, what you’re asking me to do has never been done. That means even if I do everything my father instructs me to do, there’s a chance it won’t work and you’ll die. Don’t you understand why I can’t be a part of that?”
“That’s why you’re going to practice on someone already close to death. If you wouldn’t freak out, I’d go run around in traffic to get hit by a car.” Hunter paused to get her reaction to the statement, but her furrowed brow started his talking right back up. “It’s a big metal machine that could crush me.”
Krinla didn’t understand his death wish. One thing she did understand after their little dream talk, was that she wanted to make sure she didn’t do anything that would change the future. If they weren’t careful, any of the people who had traveled back in time could disappear from existence. Figuring out a way to make sure Hulin was never born would’ve been nice, but didn’t seem likely.
“I never agreed to that, and if anyone thinks I did, I’m going to claim I was under distress. I know you went looking in the future for a solution to the virus, but what if finding that solution changes things?”
Going into the fact there didn’t seem to be humans in Krinla’s time wasn’t something she wanted to do. That didn’t mean it wasn’t an important consideration. She felt the people around them, and there were lots inside and outside the building, but she didn’t feel Draculs out there.
Krinton had mentioned that eventually his father would meet Hunter’s father, but he didn’t give a timeframe for that meeting. Even the fact that he’d mentioned it would happen could change the way things were when they got back. It was hard for Krinla not to get lost in a vortex of what their actions were doing.
“What if not doing something makes it worse?” Hunter leaned away from Krinla, reaching for something on the small table next to his side of the bed. Like most everything else in his room, it was black. She didn’t get a good look at it before he pointed it at the device he’d called a television in their shared dream.
Krinla wasn’t prepared for the loud voices that immediately came out of the device. Somehow, there was a moving image of a woman on the television, who seemed to be talking directly to them.
“In case you’re just tuning in, we have some breaking news. Amidst the rising death tolls we’ve seen, there are reports that not everyone who gets the KN4F virus is dying. According to doctors, there are cases of people coming back to life. Let’s send it over to Paulie for more information about these zombies.”
Hunter did something to make the woman disappear and tossed the black thing in his hand on the bed beside them. Krinla’s eyes lingered on the television, trying to understand exactly what had just happened.
“See? The virus is what caused what I’ve heard you call Reborns to be possible. I know they seem cool in your time, but they’re only going to bring more confusion and chaos to what’s going on out there now.”
Krinla had explained the different factions in better detail while they were asleep, and Hunter had been paying attention. The woman on the television had called them zombies, but he knew enough to call them by their real name.
“So what? You want me to binge on your blood now and just sit back and see what happens?” The question went without asking, but Krinla wanted to see how committed Hunter really was.
“We both know the answer to that is yes.”
The determination in Hunter’s eyes was what worried Krinla most. There didn’t seem like there was a lot of hope when it came to talking him out of it. He had already mentioned hurting himself multiple times to try to manipulate Krinla into changing her mind, which was the main factor in her decision. Killing him wouldn’t be easy, but it would hopefully be something less painful than what he was coming up with.
“Okay then, let’s do it.”
Chapter Twenty-two
There was a large part of Krinla that hoped hearing her finally say yes would change Hunter’s mind. It was evident that wasn’t the case when he reached out his free arm.
“You just have to get all the blood out, right? Is my wrist okay for that, or would you like my neck?”
Krinla stared at the offered flesh. She’d grown used to the smell that drove her to find him in the first place, but she had trouble getting rid of the throbbing that accompanied the blood flowing through his veins. At times since their meeting, the beating was loud enough she thought it was coming from within her own body.
Tilting her head to the side slightly, Krinla listened for any sound of her father on the move. She expected him to come oversee the operation, but there were no noises coming from the other room. Krinla knew Krinton and Rya were still in the room, just like she knew there were two different guards standing outside her door. She didn’t expect the guards to know what was going on in the room, but her father and Rya did.
“Aren’t you going to come make sure I don’t kill him?”
Hunter didn’t look a bit surprised that the question wasn’t directed at him. A slight smile turned up the corners of his lips as he waited to see if there was a response. Unless Krinton decided to yell his reply, there wasn’t any way for Hunter to hear it.
“I’ve already told you what you need to do. Even if I hadn’t, you’ll figure it out.”
Krinla pondered the words. They weren’t unexpected, but they weren’t really helpful either. The reason she was in the situation was because he thought there was an ancient technique that made what she was considering possible. She’d never thought to doubt her father, at least not when it came to Dracul customs or general information about them, but she wasn’t sure she trusted she could do what he claimed.
“What did he say?”
Her attention had never moved away from Hunter, or the hand he still had extended in her direction. His other hand squeezed hers as she reached out to grab the one he thought she’d bite. Running her sharp nails over the veins, Krinla broke the skin so a small drop of blood came to the surface.
The move was to see if he’d start seeing sense. There was a slight intake of breath, with a hint of excitement, but he didn’t pull his arm back.
Even with the blood on the surface, Krinla didn’t feel the need to rush in for a sip. Her stomach told her she could use some more blood to replenish what she’d lost the cycle before. It would’ve been easy to just reach out and start drinking, but Krinla didn’t want it to be easy.
“He basically told me I’d know what to do,” she said to get their conversation back on track.
“And you’re supposed to start by pricking my wrist?” His left eyebrow raised as he asked the question.
Krinla shook her head. “No, I’m just trying to give you every chance I can
to let you back out of it. How do relationships work in your world?”
It was a subject they’d spoken a little about the night before, but Krinla didn’t understand it. Draculs could love to some extent – her father claimed he basically loved her mother – but Draculs didn’t marry for love. Hunter seemed to indicate love was the basis for human marriages, and Krinla was genuinely curious how that worked.
“There’s a story we tell kids when they ask where babies come from. In a very general retelling, it starts off, when a man and woman love each other very much. Obviously, there isn’t always love involved when children are created, but I think most marriages have at least some sense of it as a basis.”
“If I drink your blood, there will be no turning back. At least not according to my father. We will be tied together, whether we ever get married or not.”
“Wait a second,” Hunter said, squeezing her hand tightly. For a brief second, Krinla thought he was finally changing his mind. “There is no whether about it. We’re going to be that couple you guys were talking about. They’re married, right?”
Hunter didn’t hide the change in his voice that made it sound like he was offended she’d suggested they may not get married. As far as she knew, there wasn’t a law that said they had to after the blood exchange, but she wanted, yet again, to give him options.
Rather than answer him, Krinla closed the small distance between them and planted her lips on his. She wanted to feel the inferno it caused at least one more time. Doing something on the faith that it would work was hard for her, and she needed a little extra affirmation that what was happening between them was real.
Her counterpart had no problem with the turn in actions. The deep groan that rolled out of him made it obvious that he felt the same things she did. Unexpectedly, Krinla pushed him so he was flat on the bed and climbed on top of his body. She told herself to be gentle, but the move was anything but delicate.
Still, Hunter didn’t seem to have a problem. Their hands had come undone and his were gripping her hips tightly to keep her body on top of his torso. Krinla didn’t doubt she could swat the hands away, but she let him feel like he had some power in what was happening.
After a few moments of excitement, Krinla licked his lips and moved her face to nestle it into the crook of his neck. Her mind was clouded with thoughts she’d never had about where relationships between two people could go. She wanted to believe Hunter was the one for her. Uncharacteristically for her, she decided that want was enough to act on.
She didn’t have a flavor to compare the taste of his lips to, but the skin she licked at the base of his neck reminded her of the woods. Scraping her fangs softly against his skin, Krinla waited to see if Hunter would pull away. The foolish human only made another groaning noise.
“Remember that you asked for this,” Krinla whispered as she let her teeth sink into his skin.
She wavered over whether to do it fast or slow. There were benefits on both sides of the equation, but the idea that going slow to allow Hunter more time to realize how stupid he was didn’t last a moment after his blood touched her taste buds. Krinton had warned them about what would happen if Hunter gave her blood. Krinla didn’t want to believe it would turn her into a lunatic, but the rush she got to her system when she finally got a sip of the sugary liquid was more than she expected.
It felt like her mind expanded somehow. It was easy to think of it that way when flashes of people and places started filling her head. At first it was disorienting, but then Krinla realized she was seeing moments of Hunter’s life through his eyes.
The idea that she could learn more about him only made her teeth sink in deeper. The faster the blood flowed, the clearer the memories were. As she watched, Krinla learned who and what Hunter was.
She saw him interact with family members during times, and then as he sat by their beds while they died. She got a glimpse of what Earth once was, and why Hunter was so adamant about leaving with her as a Dracul. There was no life left for him in his time, even with his father still alive. He’d been lucky to not get the virus, but there was always a chance it could mutate.
Krinla understood why he felt his life was more or less over, but that didn’t make the pain she felt as she relived his memories any easier. Along with the feelings she picked up from those memories, it hurt her to know he preferred death than waiting around to see if things would get better.
“I’m going to kill him,” Hunter whispered in a weak voice.
The noise was almost enough to make Krinla pull away from her work. She was engrossed in the memories and the fullness she felt as she drank. She hadn’t considered for a second what was happening in Hunter’s mind as she downloaded everything. The fact that a memory of him having dinner with his father was interrupted by a picture of Hulin crouched over her with a black ash blade, told her he was having a similar experience.
Krinla was close to draining every drop of blood out of Hunter, so she was surprised he could speak, let alone have enough mental energy to force a new thought to the forefront of his mind. Even as a human, he showed strength, and Krinla hoped that was enough as the life continued to drain out of him.
Not wanting to take him down to absolutely nothing without something else going back in, Krinla cut her left wrist with one of her fingernails and shoved it up to his mouth. The flow of blood into her mouth had been diminishing, another sign that he should’ve at least been unconscious, yet somehow wasn’t.
She couldn’t see his face in her position nestled into his neck, but she could feel his closed lips against her wrist. Krinla grunted as she maneuvered her right hand to press down on his chin to separate his lips. His skin was neither hot nor cold, which was a drastic change from the inferno he’d been only moments before.
His jaw almost seemed locked in place, which made Krinla wonder how in the world he’d been able to speak only moments before. She was careful not to push too hard, afraid she may break something, but it did take more pressure than she’d anticipated.
Once she thought the blood was flowing where it should, she inhaled deeply, trying to get the last drops of liquid his body was willing to give up. The sweet flavor that was Hunter lasted until the very end and once the blood and memories stopped, Krinla sighed as she sat up to make sure he was getting it all back.
She still didn’t know that she believed it was within her power to turn another species into a Dracul, but she hoped she hadn’t just killed the man she’d fallen in love with. Her body hadn’t fought her, so she took that as a good sign. There was a connection before she started reliving every moment of his life, but wanting to be around him was nothing like the feeling of wanting to crawl inside of him so they could never be separated.
Gyla had told Krinla that she loved the man she was supposed to marry, but Krinla didn’t think Gyla was going through the same feelings she was. Other than the need to crawl inside of him, it was hard for Krinla to figure out exactly what she was experiencing. All she knew was that Hunter better wake up once the exchange of blood was over.
It seemed to take forever to return his blood to him, but eventually her wrist stopped dripping. Krinla felt drained when it was all said and done. Her energy levels weren’t important to her as she laid her head on Hunter’s chest to listen for any signs of life. His heart had stopped beating as she finished drinking from him, and not once while she was pouring blood back into him had it restarted.
“It may take a while, so why don’t you rest for a little bit.”
Krinla heard her father’s voice, but sleep was already overtaking her. She didn’t want to let it in. Her opinion didn’t seem to matter, though, as her eyelids got heavy while she concentrated on envisioning blood pumping through Hunter’s body.
Chapter Twenty-three
The next thing Krinla saw disoriented her more than the concept of traveling back in time. It took her a moment to realize it wasn’t real, but even after her mind made sense of that, she reached up to rub her eyes.
He wore traditional Dracul clothing, consisting of nothing more than a black dress. Krinla hadn’t seen anyone wearing something different until she met him, and yet it seemed wrong for him to not wear his jeans and shirt.
Krinla ended up tilting her head to match Hunter’s. “How do I know you call those jeans? You didn’t tell me what they were called.”
As she thought about it more, Krinla realized that not only had she experienced moments of Hunter’s life as she drank his blood, she somehow absorbed details about his culture. She understood his measurements of time, as well as distance, the way his government worked and overall just how different his time was from hers.
“I don’t have to tell you the answer to that.”
He didn’t, but Krinla wanted him to. She’d been so focused on Hunter that she hadn’t looked around to figure out where they were. It was obvious they weren’t still in his room, unless someone had come in and rearranged it while they were unconscious.
As she looked around, there really wasn’t anything to see. It was almost like they were in a cloud. Thin wisps of white fluff surrounded the area around them. Hunter stood a few feet away from her with a smile on his face.
“Did we die or something?” Krinla knew that wasn’t the case, but she was having trouble accepting the truth.
“I know you’re skeptical and not dense. If you quit fighting the truth, things will be less confusing.”
Hunter took a step forward and reached out to caress Krinla’s left cheek. His hand felt slightly warm, but it was nothing like the heat he’d previously given off.
“I’m not fighting anything.” Krinla tried to prove that by reaching up to hold Hunter’s hand in place and snuggling her face against it.
“Yes, you are, and I suppose that’s okay. I just know that since I’m not, things have never been clearer to me. Everything that has ever happened in my life makes sense, and I know what has to happen next.”