NightDream

4.Invite Me In

Warning: This chapter includes references to mental illness. Please skip if you feel uncomfortable.

Teja opened her eyes to bright white hospital lights above her head and a warm hand holding her own. The back of her left hand stung slightly from the injection needle, and the beeps of the monitor sounded like explosions in her ears. The last thing she remembered was standing on the roof with Karan arguing about something she already forgot, but everything after that seemed like a hazy hallucination.

"Teju?" Zoya called softly. "Are you awake?"

"What...What happened?" Teja's head was pounding.

"You had a minor health complication, you fainted." Zoya explained, "Your body is so weak and your blood pressure is very unstable."

"Where's Karan ?"

"He's the one who brought you here," Zoya smiled at Karan's considerate self, "he then called me from your phone and told me that you're here."

"Is he still here?" Teja needed some answers.

"He was here all night, he just left before dawn."

Teja began to remember some bits and pieces of the night before. Karan's red eyes, the cold hands, the snow... but she couldn't quite pinpoint the exact events that led to this. All she knew that she wanted answers, answers to why Karan looks and acts the way he does, to why he stayed in the hospital all night and left before dawn, to why he -

***

Few hours earlier

"Just a few drops..." Karan brushed the hair and snow away from Teja's neck, "Teju... this will hurt a bit..." He caressed her face with his fingertips, "Don't be afraid..."

Teja's heart pounded and her pupils widened at the icy touch; she suddenly remembered the dreams she'd been having the past few days and relaxed her muscles as she sank into the snow. "Your hands are so cold..." she touched the snow on the ground, "...colder than the snow."

Karan suddenly retracted his hand and observed Teja, her hair was buried in snow, small snowflakes forming on her long eyelashes, her lips turning from red to a dark blue, her teeth chattering even louder, her body trembling all over, eyelids half-closing.

"Teju?" Karan suddenly realized that is not how he should treat Teja. He just saved her from someone who wanted to take advantage of her, how could he do the same? He quickly backed away from her, "I'm sorry." He looked down with a guilty conscience.

"I'm s-s-s-so...." She stuttered, "c-c-c-cold..." She shivered. It was midwinter, and tonight was the coldest night this area had encountered in years, the temperature had reached minus twenty one degrees Celsius. The roof was so high up in the sky and the coldness of the wind almost froze the blood in her veins. Karan immediately remembered that Teja was not like him, he remembered that she could feel the cold, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." He pulled her up from the snow, gently resting Teju's head on her chest, as he quickly took off his coat and wrapped it around her.

"Teju..." He gently tapped on her cheek, "Teju... stay awake."

"I.......c-c-cold...." Teja's speech was slurred, her breathing low and shallow, pulse weak, and she was slowly drifting into unconsciousness.

"Teju! What is happening? What do you feel?" Karan started to panic, "Wake up,Teja! I didn't do anything! Please wake up."

He quickly looked around to make sure there's no one, then wrapped Teja tighter with his coat, carried her and ran in incredible speed. He couldn't take her home because he'd need an invitation to come in and Teja was completely unconscious now, so he had no choice but to take her into his own mansion, a mansion of full of vampires.