Chapter 183: Vampire Luna

My eyes snapped open.

My whole body jerked upright on the cold floorboards, my heart hammer-locked against my ribs. Great, violent gulps of air ripped through my throat as my chest heaved up and down. Cold sweat soaked straight through my dark clothes, plastering the heavy fabric against my trembling skin.

Inside my skull, the wild, dizzying spin had finally reduced, though it hadn't completely gone away. I squeezed my eyelids shut for a second, forcing the room to stop tilting. When I reopened them, my vision was much clearer, allowing me to process my dim, gloomy surroundings. That sharp, throbbing headache that had felt like an iron spike driving through my temples had settled into a dull, manageable ache.

Then came the hunger.

An intense, hollow pang tore through my stomach, twisting my guts into tight, painful knots. It was a fierce, desperate starvation—far worse and more agonizing than anything I had felt before I passed out. My throat burned with a dry, instinctual crave that made my fangs ache behind my gums.

A shadowed figure sat quietly near the iron bars, her dark silhouette framed by the faint light filtering into the room.

I turned my head slowly, the muscles in my neck creaking in protest. That was when I recognized her pale, tear-stained face—it was Ava. Every single ounce of my physical strength had been utterly drained during my violent attempt to smash through the reinforced cage door earlier. The effort had stripped me completely bare, leaving me far too weak to even hold my head up properly without my chin dipping toward my chest.

"Luna Amanda... are you okay?" Ava murmured.

Her fingers trembled violently as she gripped the fabric of her skirt, twisting the cloth into tight, messy wrinkles.

I let my heavy body slump back down against the hard floorboards, the breath rushing out of me in a weak, raspy sigh. "Yes... I'm okay. How long have I been locked in here?"

"You have been fast asleep for twelve whole hours, Luna Amanda," she whispered, her voice cracking with raw, overwhelming emotion.

She leaned a little closer to the rusted bars, her eyes wide with terror. "I've been sitting right here watching over you for the last two hours... you were shaking violently in your sleep, sweating so heavily, and thrashing around like you were fighting for your life inside your own head."

Hot tears spilled over her dark eyelashes, streaming down her pale cheeks in shiny tracks. Her shoulders shook with quiet, helpless sobs. "Please be okay, Luna Amanda... I am so scared. I really don't want anything terrible to happen to you... please."

I shifted my aching body slowly, trying to ease the stiff, shooting pain in my neck after resting it against the hard, unyielding stone wall for so many agonizing hours.

"I am okay, Ava... really, I am fine," I offered a faint, weary curve of my lips to calm her visible distress, though the faint smile barely reached my dull eyes. "You don't need to worry so much about me. It has already been twelve hours, Ava... that means there are just twelve more hours left without blood, right? After that, I will finally be out of this cage. Don't worry... I can get through this."

Ava shook her head violently, her dark eyes filled with a deep, heartbreaking sorrow that made my own stomach twist further. "No, Luna Amanda... that isn't what the old man said at all. He said this test isn't just about surviving without blood... he said you must learn to survive on real human food, because you will have to eat normal meals when you go back into the outside world."

I shook my head in absolute refusal, the blood draining from my face as my heart sank all the way into my chest.

"No... no, Ava," I choked out, horror washing over me in cold waves. "I have already tried so hard, and it is completely impossible. No matter how much I force myself, my body rejects it every single time. Believe me, Ava... I tried with everything inside my body, my life, and my soul. Normal food is simply not made for me anymore... it will never work, no matter how hard I try."

"Then you just have to try even harder, Luna Amanda!" Ava cried out, wiping her wet face with the back of her sleeve, her voice echoing off the damp walls.

"No... I can't," I gasped, tears stinging my own eyes as I stared at her through the thick iron bars, my fingers twitching against the floorboards.

Sobbing bitterly, Ava pushed herself up from the floor and turned her back on me to leave the room.

Panic seized my throat in a suffocating grip. I reached my hand weakly through the cold metal gap, my arm shaking violently as I called out with all the strength left in my lungs. "No! No, Ava, please don't leave me! Don't go!"

She kept her head down, refusing to look back, and kept walking down the dark corridor. She ignored my desperate pleas, her footsteps fading slowly until her faint shadow completely vanished i

nto the deep darkness.