Charlotte

Chapter 1

Lissa woke me up with her whimpering in her sleep. Rose was leaning over the blonde Moroi, shaking her awake. Over the past year of knowing these two, they had become my closest...and only friends. Lissa had these nightmares almost nightly, so I was used to the routine by now. Rose mostly took over aftercare, as they had known each other a lot longer than I had known them, and they had both been a part of the deadly car accident that I knew Lissa was tormented by. I still felt sad, and an overwhelming need to help her...I just didn't know how most of the time. Lissa sat up, her platinum hair falling to curtain her face so that I couldn't see her pretty, emerald eyes anymore.

"When did we last do a feeding," Rose asked, pushing back Lissa's hair behind the smaller girl's ear. Dark circles had accrued under both of their eyes and the Moroi looked frail...if a little sick. Guilt pooled into my stomach because this was actually something that I could help with, and I had neglected to offer for four days. I'd only recently started allowing her to feed off me, being uncomfortable with the feeling of ecstasy that came with the bite of a vampire, but also...technically, this was all still new to me. "It's been like...more than two days, hasn't it? Three? Why didn't you say anything?"

Lissa hunches over, exhausted and ashamed. I pull the covers back and swing my legs down to the cold floor. Thankfully, Rose had already switched on the small lamp, so I could see better than if it were pitch in here. My eyes were slightly better than the average human...but I was still a human. Lissa lets out a low sigh, her eyes flickering between me and Rose. "You were busy, and Charlie doesn't like it...I didn't want to-"

"Screw that," Rose interrupts firmly, shifting so that Lissa could access her neck. A hungry look crossed over Lissa's normally sweet face, and I had learned not to flinch when this happened, but I still shifted uncomfortably. "Come on, lets do it."

"I...I can do it, Rose," I speak up, standing to walk over to the side of Lissa's twin mattress. Oscar, our other roommates cat, bristled and leapt down from Lissa's lap and to the window.

"Don't worry about it," Rose offers me a gentle smile. "It's not your responsibility." She turns from me to her best friend. "It'll make you feel better, so dig in."

Oscar was staring at something intently out the window, and because I was so nervous, I opted to go look at what was agitating him so much. I had been told that animals weren't big fans of what Rose is...a Dhampir, but he was always so gentle with me and Lissa, and I never saw him raise his black fur as he was doing now unless Rose was messing with him. His tail was twitching, and he was hunkered down, clearly very upset. I peered out into the early morning, opening the window to let some of the unnaturally warm three in the morning air.

"Rose..." Lissa was hesitating still, her voice sounding like it was a whisper in the wind. Movement caught my eye, at the bottom level of the house we are in.

"I really think you should let me do it," I insist, still looking as a dark shape disappeared, raising alarm bells in my own head. Rose lifts her head, looking over at me and noting the cat and my behavior.

"Alright," she says and stands to come over to the window, but whatever was there before had long since left. I move away, taking Rose's spot at the edge of Lissa's bed.

"Charlie, you really..."

"Drink Liss, I'll be fine, and Rose can look after us both." I move my black, curly hair to the side so that she has access and this time she barely pauses before I feel the sharp pain of her fangs penetrate the vein in my neck. I inhale sharply upon initial contact, tensing up naturally, until I feel Lissa's hand rub up and down my arm to sooth me, and I relax as the endorphins kick in. Pain is replaced with pleasure the likes of which I had only gotten from a Moroi bite, and I moan as I shift to melt into my friend.