Bianca woke up with swollen and puffy eyes, she had nightmares all night. The thought of hurting her best friend was unbearable. She got up and sighed figuring she wouldn't get anymore sleep. She left her room to find her master. She had hoped that he would be up. Walking to his room she found out he was in fact not awake. She sighed dramatically and left to find something else to do. Wandering around the house during the day was peaceful due to the sleep schedule of the vampires. She wandered aimlessly around the building. Not paying attention she ended up outside of Charlette's door. She was thankful for the smell proof rooms, a very much vampire need. Her thankfulness came to a quick halt when Charlette appeared at the door. Bianca took a deep breathe and had a pained expression. She could smell her friends blood through her skin. It made her sick, her thoughts were interrupted by Charlette.
"Oh my gosh B! I've been worried sick all day!" Charlette rushed to hug her friend but Bianca took a step back and covered her mouth. Her fangs were coming out and she was disgusted with herself. The last two nights had been horrific.
"What are you doing?" Charlette looked hurt and it hurt Bianca more that she had hurt her friend and would continue to.
"I'm sorry Charlette....I can't." Bianca turned to go and was greeted by a chest. A very angry one.
"Charlette go back to bed." Her masters voice ran throughout the corridor.
"But Bianca is clearly not ok, I'm ok she needs to know that." Charlette announced, challenging her master.
"Charlette, Bianca is not to see you until she has herself under control. She is not to see anyone." Rowan their master said in a stern voice full of authority.
"That's not fair!" Charlette exclaimed.
"It's not up for debate. Now go to your room." Charlette gave the back of Bianca's head one last glance and then turned back into her room and slammed her door. Rowan sighed and patted Bianca's head.
"Why were you here? I gave you specific instructions to stay in your room until I came and got you. Even if you did leave, this was the last place I wanted you to be." Rowan scolded her.
"I didn't mean to turn up here! I would never put her in danger like that! I just somehow ended up here and I wasn't even going to see her, she came out unexpectedly." Bianca argued, she could tell though that he was not having it. "You can't just keep me away from everyone! You can't keep an eye on me twenty-four seven either." Bianca yelled, she was angry that one or two bad nights would give such a big punishment.
Rowan glared at Bianca, he couldn't believe she was acting like such a child. He knew he would hurt her feelings but he couldn't think of another way to get her to obey him.
"Do you want to kill someone else? Do you want to kill Charlette? You felt it just now didn't you? When a vampire tastes blood of its own kind it becomes addicted. If you do not obey me you will kill her. That is a fact and you know I'm right." Rowan growled at her. Bianca's face fell, she couldn't believe he would say that but she knew he was right. She stared at the floor and tears came to her eyes.
"Fine, I'll do it your way." She whispered.
"Then you will be moved to my room so I can keep a better eye on you. But right now we need to go train." Rowan turned around he couldn't stand looking at her knowing he was the one to cause her pain. He could hear Bianca following him. They would go back to the forest and would try to complete the exercise from yesterday. He expected her to be reluctant because of her failure before but she would be doing it regardless. When the two arrived at the field Bianca looked uncomfortable.
"What are we doing back here?" Bianca glared at the field like it was the reason she was in this mess. But Bianca knew better.
"You will complete the test I assigned to you." Bianca stared at Rowan hoping that he would show any signs of joking, but of course he wasn't.
"We already know I can't do it! Let's try something else. Something more-" Bianca was cut off by Rowan.
"Something easy? This is easy. Something this simple would be completed already if you had listened to Charlette." Rowan glared at Bianca. Bianca shut up.
"Whatever."
"The blood should still be on the rabbits let me find them. Stay put." Rowan's body became a blur and make quick work out of finding them.
"There, now breathe in deep." Rowan said as he appeared next to Bianca. Bianca did as she was told. The smell of the blood made her shiver. Her instincts told her to eat but she held herself back.
"Good, now remember what Charlette told you. You need to except the smell and embrace it. Know it's their but don't want it. Don't act on it." Bianca was thrown off by her Masters words but listened anyway. She took another deep breath and focused on the scent. She gulped as she kept herself from retrieving and devouring one of the rabbits.
"Good Bianca, Now stand there and don't move." Rowan was gone again but back in a flash. To Bianca's surprise he had a rabbit in his hand.
The scent was more powerful when it was closer. Bianca tumbled back and covered her nose. Her fangs slipped out and she could hear the rabbits heartbeat. Her breath picked up and her eyes glowed red.
"Bianca. Stand up." Rowan growled out. Bianca shook her head and kept her nose covered. She didn't dare breath.
"Now Bianca." Bianca sat for a few minutes and then slowly stood up. "Hand away from your face." Bianca gritted her teeth but pulled her hand away. She stared at the bunny, so oblivious to everything going on. So oblivious to the fact that it could die in a split second. Rowan took a step toward Bianca.
"Put your hands out." Bianca looked at Rowan who looked as serious as ever.
"I can't." Bianca choked out knowing what Rowan wanted her to do.
"You will." Rowan commanded. Bianca gulped and slowly held her hands out knowing she didn't have a choice. Rowan placed the bunny in Bianca's arms. Bianca took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She could hear the bunnies heartbeat faster and now she could feel it too. He was so warm and fragile, she could have her fangs in him before Rowan had time to stop her. Bianca stood just like that for a few moments.
"Now, take in all your senses. You know you're stronger you could kill him. But you won't, because you don't want to. Use your will, it's more powerful than instinct." Bianca took a shaky breath in. The scent of the human blood was overwhelming but Rowan was right, she didn't want to hurt the bunny. She slowly cuddled the bunny to her chest and even went as far as petting him. Her urge to kill him never went down but her want was stronger. She wanted to pass this test.
"Good. Now go catch one yourself. I don't want a single scratch on one bunny." Rowan said as he took the bunny from Bianca.
"I could barely hold one how am I supposed to hunt one without hurting it?" Bianca groaned.
"Want is stronger than instinct Bianca." Rowan showed no sign of giving her anymore help. Bianca sighed and looked toward the field. Her fangs were still out and her throat felt unbelievably dry. She took a step toward the field and watched all the bunnies ears rise in alarm.
"Remember your hunting skills, use them even if you feel like you can't control yourself." Rowan said petting the bunny.
Bianca tried to listen to his instructions, taking control of her body was hard when it just kept telling her to feed, to kill. She felt as if one quick step would let her instincts kick in and she would fail again. She took another deep breath and honed in on the bunny she was going to catch. She quickly ran and grabbed the rabbit trying to be extra gentle with her new found strength. She quickly raced back to rowan holding her breath and practically threw the bunny at him. She leaned her head against a tree and shut her eyes tight. Her thirst was worst than ever, the joyful feeling of the hunt was not helping to calm her thirst.
"Very good, the rabbit is not hurt but you really shouldn't throw it." Rowan said making sure the bunny wasn't too traumatized. Bianca just shrugged, she wanted to get out of there, all she could think of was feeding. Rowan let the bunny go and put a hand on Bianca's shoulder.
"You and I both know that you can do this. Once you learn to control yourself you can see Charlette again." Bianca gulped, thinking about Charlette was the wrong move. Bianca somehow became even more thirsty. Rowan was well aware and sighed. He reached out to Bianca and took her hand. Bianca looked at Rowan curious. He placed her hand on his chest where she could feel his faint heartbeat. Bianca flinched backwards.
"What are you doing?" Rowan lifted his sleeve and used his own fangs to draw blood. Bianca stiffened but tried holding herself back, her thirst was at its highest and blood was being presented to her. She felt pure agony, she knew that if she tasted Rowans blood she would crave it because he was also a vampire. She didn't want to think about wanting to feed from him, to devour him all the time. It was bad enough with Charlette.
"Drink Bianca." Rowan eyed her down. Bianca shook her head no even though the offer was tempting, she didn't dare to speak.
"I wasn't asking Bianca, I was telling you. You can't train while thirsty and you certainly can't go back to the coven with Charlette. Hunting is also out of the question." Rowan looked dead serious but Bianca still didn't step toward him. He sighed yet again and in a blink of an eye he had moved to stand behind Bianca. He shoved his bleeding arm against her mouth and held her still with his other arm. Bianca struggled only for a second before giving in. She found herself lost again in the feeding. The feeling was so relieving that she relaxed into Rowans chest. After a few minutes she regained her senses, faster than Rowan was anticipating. She got angry with herself for letting it happen, she threw his arm away.
"You forced me! You can't do that!" Bianca yelled wiping the blood from her face disgusted. She saw the blood on the back of her hand and gagged. It had seemed so pleasant just minutes before.
"I can do as I please, I am your master. It was for your own good." Rowan rolled his eyes, he could handle her hunger until she gained enough control of herself to hunt. Bianca could feel her anger rising, she had known that Rowan was arrogant but not this bad. "Now we are going to go back to the coven and get washed up and you are going to stay in my room. I have a meeting with your parents about your situation, they won't be to happy about it and I'm sure you would rather I explain why you aren't hunting." Bianca's face fell, he was right. She didn't want to see her parents when they found out she wasn't going to be killing humans. That her first hunt had been an accident. She could already picture the tantrum they would throw and how much furniture would be broke in the process. She still felt anger toward her master though.
"If I have to stay in your room, what is stopping me from feeding from you as often as I like." Bianca tried reasoning even though the damage was already done.
"I do not mind, otherwise I would not have taken such measures. I can also stop you anytime I feel the need. I'm much stronger than you." Rowan rolled his sleeve back down looking quite smug and turned toward the coven. Bianca sighed in defeat and followed.