"I love the rain. Although thunder is annoying and lightning is a pain in the fucking ass. But the rain, I love the sound of it. I love the feel of it," Harper muttered softly, hugging her knees to her chest. Her collar dug into her skin, but she disregarded the pain. Surprisingly, after being confined for days, she had managed to ignore the shackle around her neck.
She looked around the cell. Grey stone walls with kerosene lamps at each corner. She raised her eyes to the window several feet above Francine, and thought that even if her little form could have gone through the gap, they wouldn't be able to escape with the hard bars blocking the way out. There were several irons dangling from chains, clearly used for punishment or shackling of some kind. The barred door was close by. Steel bars placed in stone were a constraint on their freedom.
When thunder roared outside, she flinched. Lightning flashed through the small barred window, showing no signs of stopping. When one of the guards passed by their cell, he stared at her. "You ladies are going to make a good slave," he said, flashing her his dirty and a couple of missing teeth, then glancing at Francine, "except for that pale ass over there."
"Shut up!" Alex exploded. "Why don't you just let us go and I'll pay you fucking whatever you want."
The guard chuckled. "I told you, pretty boy, this isn't the New World. Your money from wherever you came is meaningless here."
Alex growled and lunged forward, but the shackles around his feet and wrists kept him from even coming close to the door.
"Ignore him," Lucas said quietly in a corner. "It's pointless to talk to them."
"Yeah. Listen to your boyfriend, pretty boy!" The guard chuckled. He walked away after kicking the bars of their cell.
Alex shifted on the cold floor. "There has to be a way out of here."
"It's not that simple," Francine's frail voice said. "Aside from the fact that these doors are more heavily reinforced than the average prison cell door, we're no match for them. Not in our situation, and certainly not in your human forms."
She slid onto her back, still feeling weak and as if her life was being slowly drained from her.
"She's right," Lucas replied, sighing.
"Why can't we shift?" Alex asked.
"These chains simply confine our wolf. We can't tap them with these shackles around our ankles and wrists," Lucas responded.
"Those shacklaes have been marked with some encantations that suppress your wolves," Francine continued.
"So we're being kept alive to be sold to the man Nara calls Small Fry?" Harper asked.
Alex let out a snort. "Small Fry. That’s the most fucked up name I’ve ever heard. I'm sure it's another trick."
Harper sighed and rolled her eyes. "Not his real name, I’m sure. That’s just what Nara calls him."
"It makes no difference." Lucas ran his hand through his hair. "We're screwed if we don't get out of Velaris."
"What exactly is this place?" Alex asked.
"Velaris is a city in the Caserta region," Lucas explained. "Because there are a lot of unlawful things going on in this place, there isn't much written about Velaris. It is governed by a lord."
"And where in the world is Caserta? Are we still near Moorland?"
"We're only three days away from Moorland. And if you've been paying attention in class, you should know that Caserta is the southern part of the Kingdom of Lemelherve, currently ruled by Queen Niran."
Alex smirked at Lucas' caustic remark. "I'm sorry. I'm sure I was more interested in things that were significant and essential than memorizing dumb names of places in a world I wasn't truly in."
"Yet here you are now," Lucas mumbled.
"Listen, you－"
"No, you listen, Alex, I've been nothing but a nice friend to you my entire life." He pointed a finger at Alex. "I sacrificed my own happiness and the chance to be with my mate for you. But not this time. Not anymore."
"Well, you had your chance, and you blew it," Alex retorted.
"What an ungrateful bastard you really are!
"An honest bastard."
"Enough!" Francine exclaimed, despite her weak form and condition. "Please, enough."
Harper looked over at her, and as soon as she saw how alarmingly frail and skinny Francine was, she quickly rushed to her side. "Francine, are you okay?"
Francine smirked. "What do you think?"
"She’s starving to death," Lucas commented.
Harper looked up at him. "We got to do something to help her."
"She's been going for weeks without feeding properly. Animal blood alone will not suffice to restore her strength and energy."
"How come you didn't feed her? With your blood?"
"Because I’m a Lycan, Harper. Vampires would have a fatal reaction if they drank Lycan blood. It’ll be like drinking gasoline for her. She needs human blood," Lucas concluded.
"Our blood is poison to one another, Harper," added Francine in her slow and frail voice. "That is why it is extremely rare for Lycans and vampires to be mated to each other, as part of the mating process involves marking."
"What?"
"Markings draw blood."
Harper pondered the new information. *What about humans and Lycans? Is it uncommon for lycans to mate with humans?* She considered asking but decided against it.
"But the bond renders us resistant to each other's poisonous blood," Francine added after a moment.
Everyone in the cell took a long pause before Harper looked down at Francine. Her heart wrenched for the vampire who looked like she wouldn't make it out of the cell alive. She was taken aback by her appearance since the last time she saw her in their world. The vampire's greasy raven hair was mussed and draped across her shoulders. And now, gazing at her, she was so skinny, thinner than she'd ever been, and it was especially visible through her tattered ovesized dress.
"Don’t look at me like that," Francine eventually said.
"Like what?"
"As though you pity me."
"I was－I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry," Harper apologized.
Francine brushed her pale hand over the heavy circles under her eyes. "I'm already aware that I look awful. You don't have to remind me with the way you look at me."
Silence fell again. But when she couldn't take it any longer, Harper broke it.
"Why don't you drink my blood?" Harper offered.
"This isn't the time to play with me, Harper.
"Well, I’m not."
"Harper, it's too dangerous. You don't have to do it," Lucas swiftly objected.
"I know I don't have to, but being the only human here, I don't have a choice, do I?" Harper rose to her feet and glanced through the barred door. "We'd better hurry before someone notices us."
"Have you ever donated blood before?" Lucas asked.
"Of course, I have."
"To a vampire? Offering your own blood isn't the same as donating blood, Harper," he continued. "It will hurt a lot, and because you have never donated to a vampire before, you may lose consciousness and your system may not be able to fight the venom that comes after the bite."
"Venom?"
"Vampires and Lycans, in addition to saliva, have the ability to produce venom. And when vampires feed on blood, their glands may leak venom, and it could kill you. That is why vampires have long been forbidden from feeding on humans."
"I'm not sure what you mean. How could she and the rest of her kind survive if they weren't allowed to feed on humans?"
"Synthetic human blood. However, there are those who are aware of our existence and are willing to offer blood for a high price. But vampires are not allowed to feed straight from the wrist. It is totally forbidden to feed from the wrist to the mouth because of the venom."
Harper looked around. "Well, I don't believe they have an apheresis machine laying around in this place," she sarcastically stated.
"Listen, Harper; I know you want to help, but you could die," Alex finally spoke. His voice was tight and deadly serious.
She clenched her fists. "Then what should we do?" she said, gritting her teeth. We just can't let her starve to death."
Lucas cast a glance at Alex. "She could feed on her mate."
Suddenly, everyone in the cell turned to look at Alex.
Alex scratched his chin with his palm and scowled at Lucas. "You said it yourself, our blood is poison to each other."
"And didn't you hear me say that our bond makes us resistant to one another's poison? You're her mate, Alex," Lucas stated emphatically.
Harper stole a brief glance at Francine, who was already wiping her tear-stained cheeks but said nothing.
"And should I really just take your word for it? I don't remember a damn thing, okay? I can’t just trust your words or whatever you say," Alex snarled.
Harper made a shaky motion with her head. "Fuck it," she spat, raising her wrist and offering it to Francine, who was now heavily breathing in her corner.
Francine inhaled as she stared at Harper's wrist. Her eyes dilated and began to glimmer an icy blue. Her fangs bared in response to the scent of the blood pumping through Harper’s wrist that assaulted her senses.
"I can't," she whispered shakily between heavy gasps, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I can't be held accountable for your death." Whenever Harper brought her wrist closer, she moved away, moaning in pain.
"I trust you, Francine. I trust you'll control yourself and not kill the person who is feeding you. Hurry up! "Harper urged her softly.
"Stop!" Alex stood up. "I'll do it."
"No. Let me do it," Harper objected. "It would be less risky if I did it."
Lucas argued, "Harper, he's Francine's mate."
"I've already heard a lot of things in the past few months. I'm not sure what to believe anymore, Lucas. But one thing is certain: vampires feed on human blood." She quickly moved even closer to Francine, trapping her in her corner, before Lucas or Alex could stop her.
"No, Harper!" Lucas attempted to yank her away, but the cuffs on his hands prevented him from lunging forward.
Harper quickly moved a hand behind Francine's head, gently but forcefully, and before the vampire could react, she put her wrist between Francine's lips, forcing them open.
"Fuck, Harper, don’t fucking do it!" Alex attempted to lurch at her, but was unsuccessful.
Francine whimpered a little and tried to shake her head, but she quickly stayed still as her fangs dug gently into Harper’s wrist, slowly tearing the skin. Blood immediately trickled from the gap in her mouth.
Shortly, Harper's breath caught in her throat, followed by ringing in her ears and pain throughout her body. Lucas was right, the pain was almost unbearable. Francine's fangs pierced her wrist like sharp knives. Her breathing became shaky, echoing Francine's, and as her eyelids closed, Alex and Lucas's loud cries faded into the background. Suddenly, bitter memories flooded her head, recollections of her mother's funeral and leaving her father behind.
Before her thoughts went any further, her entire body felt as if it were suddenly on fire. The room began to blur. A grey haze was encroaching on her view from all sides. Her chest felt as though it were crushing in on itself. Her knees eventually buckled from under her, and she lost her balance. The burning sensation and ringing in her ears seemed to last an eternity. A loud scream finally reached her ears before she suddenly stopped breathing.