Just One Drop

Chapter 9- The Brother

Felicia's POV

He hugged me.

I pulled away from his grasp, and he looked embarassed, but he soon regained control of his emotions.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

'Of course Master,' I wrote.

"Eat something," he said, gesturing to a sandwich sitting by his nightside table.

'Thank you for offering Master, but I really should go...' I wrote it with a neutral expression on my face, but on the inside my emotions were going crazy.

I was scared of him, and unsure of his intentions, but he was being so kind, he looked so worried; I could tell he was genuinely hurt by my fear of him.

"You need to eat!" He exclaimed, clearly starting to become slightly frustrated. "You look... You look..."

'I know. I'm a skeleton. I just can't keep anything down anymore. I'm sorry Master.'

I started to walk out of his room, my head bowed low, but he stopped me.

"Don't you see? You need help! You're going to die!" he exclaimed, little droplets of spit landing on my face.

I flinched.

'Okay,' was all I wrote.

I let go of the paper, watching it sail slowly to the ground, before turning around and leaving the room. He didn't try to stop me.

Braith's POV

How could I make her understand?

I knew everything I was doing was putting her off, but I needed her to be healthy, because...

Because...

Because...

I wanted to drink her blood, umm, that's it, nothing more.

It smelled so appetizing, so tantalizing, so near, yet so far. I knew I could take it whenever I wanted, but she would die. And I didn't want her to di- eh, it would be a waste of good blood, that was all.

Oh, who was I kidding?

I was starting to develop feelings for her, dangerous, bad, wond- umm, awful, feelings. Feelings that I needed to get rid of ASAP.

'Edmure,' I called telepathically.

Edmure was a high-standing noble, only slightly above my age, who worked for me. He was good at his job, and I appreciated his service. He was beside me in a flash.

"You called, my prince," he said, bowing low.

I waved at him with my hand, and he stood up straight again. He drew a hand through his thickly oiled hair, and rubbed at his peach fuzz.

"Yes yes, Edmure, I need you to call upon Morina."

"Of course, my prince," he said without hesitation. "May I ask what it is about?"

I looked at him sternly, and he nodded, bowing again before leaving the room.

I was alone now.

I stared solemnly at the wall for a few seconds, before turning around and sitting down at my desk.

I sighed heavily, twiddling with a pen between my fingers. Then I took a paper out of the stack of them on my desk, and began filling in the form on it.

Paperwork. Great.

Felicia's POV

As I walked back to my room, I heard the buzz of the afterparty downstairs. Several people had already left, greatly minimizing the noise.

I stopped at a window at the end of the hallway. It was dark outside, perhaps eight o'clock at night. It was beautiful, too. The window gave me a direct view over one of the gardens. The moon shone bright, casting it's silvery glow upon the flowers enchantingly.

Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed onto my shoulders.

I gasped and turned around to see who they belonged to; to my dismay, the answer was Damien Avencrest.

'Oh, I'm sorry Prince Damien, I didn't hear you coming,' I wrote, feeling awkward.

"Don't worry, little dove, it's no issue."

Perhaps if someone else had said those words, they would've been kind, compassionate, loving. From his mouth they sounded like a cruel joke, menacing and evil.

"What's your punishment? I don't see any new marks on you. Well, apart from those," he said, nodding towards the bruises forming on my wrist.

Thinking quickly, I wrote, 'Master said that since beatings clearly weren't cutting it, he is going to ban me from eating for three days.'

Damien raised his eyebrows doubtingly, his eyes narrowing. "Have you even eaten this past week? I think my brother may be going blind. Not eating for three days really shouldn't be a problem for that skeletal little frame of yours."

'I apologise if my punishment offends you, but I really must go now, so if you would excuse me...'

I started walking away, but he spun me around, his eyes piercing mine. "Tell my brother I know there's something going on between you two, and tell him I'll get to the bottom of it."

I was about to defend myself, when I felt him begin to enter my mind. I immediately started pushing him out, using all my energy.

When he was working his hardest, and not concentrating on anything else, I wrenched myself out of his grip, and ran down the stairs into my room.

Holding my side and gasping for breath, I sat down on my bed. I had other things to do, but there was only one thing on my mind: Why did he let me go?