My sleep was dreamless, and a warmth spread throughout my chest. It continued to spread around my body, coiling around my legs and arm and consuming my body. Something flashed over my eyes for a second as the heat nearly consumed my body. It was me, only my hair and skin was darker and my face was dotted with charming freckles. I was wearing a white simple sheath dress, and a gold amulet was wrapped around my neck. Once the heat curled around my toes I instantly snapped awake, jolted awake and sat up in a blind panic. I felt incredibly warm and I gripped my chest tightly as the burning settled.
Wait. I moved my fingers, and noticed that the all too familiar fatigue was missing. My limbs felt light like plastic straws, instead of the overwhelming concrete feelings my bones were used to.
"What the hell?" I wiggled my fingers and pinched my cheek to make sure I was not dreaming. Suddenly there was a sound of metal scraping around metal and sunlight spilled into the darkened room, temporarily blinding me.
"How do you feel, Miss?" The woman maid from earlier asked me with worry etched on her features. I could barely hear her because I was too focused on moving my arms, absolutely astonished how I could move them with relative ease. I just nodded at her words, completely baffled and silent.
"Alright then, I will go get the Master." I snapped my head up to her question as she rushed for the door.
"Hold on, who's your Master? How did I get here?" I yelled after her as she ignored me and disappeared through the door across from me. I managed to wrangle myself out from under the thick white cotton duvet, revealing that I was wearing a very old fashioned white nightgown.
"What the hell is going on? Was I kidnapped?" I asked permission as I placed my bare feet on the cool marble floor. I took a deep breath as I sternly stared at the rippling stone with determination. With one last determined grunt I pushed myself to stand on my feet, and I almost collapsed from shock. I felt no restraint, gravity not holding my fragile bones down as much as it used to. I felt so light, like my bones were hollow like a bird. I took a step in awe, and noticed how my legs moved with ease. I could not help the shriek of excitement rip from my throat, although anyone else hearing me might have thought I was being mauled to death. As soon as I did, the door threw open and two figures poured into the room.
"What happened?" A familiar tall Italian barked as he ran in. I turned and looked at the two men, a silence in the room as we all looked at each other. They were both crisp and clean in their matching white dress shirts and dress pants, but Elijah wore a blood red tie and Luca wore none. They were both staring at how I was standing up strongly, not shaking or quivering while I did so. I was just more so confused as to why they were here, before it clicked.
"Did you kidnap me?" I blurted out to break the silence. I was slightly enraged, but more so confused. I remembered the thundering rain, and Conner wrapped in Tiffany's embrace. I remembered him spitting at me that he didn't love me as my chest began to hurt and Elijah appeared. Then it was just darkness, I could not remember anything else. My chest began to hurt as I remembered Conner's venomous words and then I grabbed my chest as it tightened. I blinked and suddenly Luca was in front of me with a worried expression.
"Your heart rate has picked up, you should lay down." He gently grabbed my wrists and tried to lead me back to the bed. Instinctually I pulled my wrists away from him and stepped back, a little uneasy and wobbly. I felt an icy feeling crawl over the back of my neck and my muscles lock up as I realized something. I was afraid. Luca looked a little hurt, like a puppy that had been kicked but I backed up in fear until my back hit something soft.
"Calm down, we are not going to hurt you Suri." Elijah spoke from above me, somehow getting behind me in the blink of an eye. I opened my mouth to scream but just as my sudden boost of power came, it went away as well. My knees clacked together and my vision blurred for a moment. Elijah wrapped his cold and steely arm around my waist to stabilize me as I almost fell over.
"Easy there Suri, you're still recovering. The medicine we gave you earlier will make you stronger but it will take time." Luca whispered comfortingly as Elijah picked me up like Simba from the lion king. I knew I looked like a fool but I could not care as I was too dizzy. I was then enveloped in the comfort of the bed again and my body automatically relaxed.
"Did you guys kidnap me?" I repeated, rolling my head to the side to get a good look at them. My body did not feel like cement, more numb than anything as they looked towards me. The crystals bounced off the sunlight and bathed them in stars as I laid there pathetically. Luca sat down on the bed next to me and gently grabbed my exposed shin.
"You had a massive heart attack and fell in a coma for a week. After the confrontation with your… ex… we thought that you would not be able to stay there." I calmed down as he explained, it all sounding very plausible.
"Am I in a hospital?" They both seemed a little nervous at my words.
"No, we brought you back to our home." I frowned at their words, and shifted myself around.
"You brought me to your house in the countryside? Why?" Luca looked towards the ceiling and Elijah just coughed into his hand.
"We brought you to our family home in Italy." I jolted up to a sitting position with a sudden boost of energy.
"Italy?" I managed to scream before wilting. Luca pushed on my boney shoulder and forced me to lay back down.
"Luca is a world class physician. If we brought you to a hospital they would have refused to let him help to treat you and you would have died." I went cold at his words, realizing how close I was to death.
"Okay, but I don't have a passport. How did you get me through." They just looked at each other and shrugged.
"Trade secret." Luca tucked me back in and winked at me.
"Okay, but why would you care about a girl you barely know dying in the streets?" They both looked offended at my question, but Elijah looked more sour than Luca.
"Why are you so offended by our kindness?" Elijah barked, causing me to retreat under the covers.
"Elijah, calm down. She's just confused and scared, no need to get mad at her for that." Elijah just exhaled in a puff, causing his bangs to flutter a bit. Luca patted my stomach in an almost fraternal way.
"What is this magical medication that made me feel like this?" Luca's hand froze on my stomach and Elijah stiffened.
"We will be giving you your next dose at dinner. You need to eat something, and we sent your handmaid Isa to get some soup from the kitchen. I will tell you that the medication might be a little hard to take." My mind flashed back to the dull blonde girl from earlier. Elijah stalked over to where the couch and two armchairs were surrounding the fireplaces. He grabbed one of the chairs and picked it up with one hand like it was a feature. He walked back to where we were as Luca continued to speak medical gibberish to me and placed the chair next to the nightstand and sat down. My eyes were glued on Elijah as he crossed his legs and arms, caging himself off emotionally to the both of us. I was still mezmerized though for some strange reason, as if I had seen him like this before.
"--so don't be afraid, we wouldn't do this if we had any other option." I blinked as he finished his sentence, realizing that I had missed important information. Before I could ask him what he said someone knocked at the door.
"Enter." Elijah called out, just as I noticed the rays of sunlight turned a crimson and burning orange. The door gently swung open to reveal an expressionless Isa, holding a light wooden tray with a crystal glass of water to the right and a porcelain bowl that was steaming. Silently she walked over to where Elijah was sitting and Luca stood up and walked around the other side of the bed by the mirror to get out of her way.
"Would you like me to prepare fresh linens sir?" Isa asked as she handed the tray to him. She started to get a little jittery, her face paling as she looked at me. It sent shivers down my spine as the fading light caused ominous shadows to dance around us.
"Yes." He picked up the silver soon and spun it in the fragrant soup. It smelled like rich chicken broth and my mouth watered. She let out a deep bow and looked towards me with almost an apologetic look in her eyes.
"I know you don't like blood Isa, so you may go." Elijah waved his wrist and she darted away.
"I'm sorry, say what now?" I asked as Luca pulled me up to a seated position and helped me stay upright. Elijah just ignored me and raised his right wrist to his mouth. I saw some scarring around the veins, and I felt my stomach churned. It was for good reason because the next thing I heard was a skin crawling sound of teeth tearing flesh. A metallic smell permeated the area as blood began to drip freely from his wrist. The back of my throat burned and I felt bile rising in me as I watched him hold his bloody wrist over the soup and drain it in. As it hit the broth, the black liquid began to sparkle red like fiery jewels. The soup began to change colour, and glow a bright ruby red as the blood swirled with the broth. I gagged at the realization that hit me when Elijah pulled back his wrist and dipped the spoon in the now glowing soup.
"I am not eating that." I gagged again as Elijah brought the spoon to my mouth, his other hand under the utensil so the broth did not drop on me. Elijah and I both screwed our mouths into a sour frown, but I was more green than him.
"This is the temporary medicine you have to take while we find a white witch." I threw my head over to Luca, realizing that they went into some deep conversation as I drooled over Elijah.
"I'm not drinking your blood! Won't that make me a vampire?" Elijah growled and pushed the spoon closer to my mouth.
"You are dumber than I thought. You will only become a vampire if I drank your blood after you drank mine, but I won't be doing that. Now, drink this or die. It's your choice." His cold words made my heart almost stop and I shivered at the prospect. Was drinking blood the only way I could survive? Did I really want to survive like that? What really got me even more confused was that despite his cold and indifferent words, his cruel eyes seemed to be pleading with me. I gripped both of my thumbs in my fist-- a trick I had learned to make me not gag when I took medication. I wrapped my mouth around the spoon and expected the broth to taste like a handful of pennies. Instead it was strangely sweet, and I felt warmth envelop my body. I still almost gagged at the prospect of drinking blood, but I squeezed my eyes and gripped my legs when I felt like it was too much. Luca was whispering words of kindness, while Elijah just coldly shovelled more blood soup into my mouth. Finally, it was the last spoonful and then Elijah offered me the glass of water. I grabbed it greedily from his hands and started to chug it, the water dribbling down my chin. I wanted to erase the blood from my mouth, but the sweetness lingered and remained. I was gasping for air when I was done, jittering and gasping as I tried to catch my breath. It was probably the second worst experience of my life, after catching my boyfriend inside of another woman.
"You did such a good job." Luca sounded like a soccer mom proud of her child for running across the field during practice. Elijah just placed the tray on the nightstand and cleared his throat.
"I am going to make this very clear," His voice sounded like the Arctic, and his eyes looked like a volcano. It absolutely terrified me to my bones, replacing the spreading warmth with dread.
"Zio, please--" Elijah silenced the younger vampire with a look that would kill a man.
"I am the Master of my house, and I will be telling you what rules you must follow." He turned his attention back to me and scowled like I was a cat that knocked a cup off the table.
"There are four rules you must follow. Number one, you may not leave the house grounds for any reason. That means no going down to the villages. Number two, your first and last three hours of your day you will accompany me so I can give you your medication and make sure you don't have any adverse reaction. Three, you will be doing physical therapy and tests with Luca so he can study your condition. Finally," He leaned forward menacingly with a dark look in his eyes, "You may not engage in relations with any man in the house." I nodded at his terms, shaking in terror at his glowing eyes and bearing fangs.
"Yes sir," I realized something as his words sank in. They may have had the guise of helping me, but I was really just their prisoner and experiment. And no one could save me because these strong beings ruled the world.