Blind Love( Completed, Kings Series, Book 4)

The switch

(Samuel's POV)

The ground felt rough on my ass, I realized I was lying on a bed of earth and small rocks poking my body. I remembered. The dark shadows. The forest. The pain. The dampness of the dawn oozed from each limb, my whole body felt frozen in a plaster mold of dew. Shafts of morning light zigzagged through the canopy of trees and burned my face. I had slept, for how long, I didn't know. I felt rested. It was time to wake up. And get my throne back.

Diana's face popped into my head. Shit! Was she okay? I had left her unprotected in a forest. What had happened to me last night? I didn't remember much but the pain. That had never happened to me before. Had it been the bite? Damn! The worry over Diana was a wake-up call. The subconscious pushed through the haze of sleep, I opened my eyes in the blink of a wink. Then I closed them again. Opened them. Repeated this a few times like a child learning to use a new tool. The eyelids didn't work like a curtain. It should have but didn't. The outside world was not revealed to me. This couldn't be! A cold sweat broke all over my body like a sudden rash, the shock, the horror of it was beyond contemplation. It was all black darkness. Yet, the sun was still warm on my face. I couldn't make sense of the contradiction. Had the dark shadows taken over, painting the whole sky into darkness? Into nothingness.

I'd once been a ferox. A Blood Sucking Vampire. I'd felt hollow. Angry. Hungry. Killed brothers, drained humans. All the damn time. But, I'd not been aware. I'd just lived through it all in a haze. With my soul tucked safely beneath a wall, I'd been oblivious to everything and anything around me. Hadn't cared about my actions. Hadn't cared about anybody. It was all about blood. More blood. But, this was worse. This was a nightmare. And, I was awake. How had things sped so fast? I had lost my throne in sleep, I had lost the world in sleep. I wasn't sleeping again!

"Diana," I shouted in a panic. Where was she? I couldn't see her. I tried to stand on my feet but my first step took me down. I'd tripped over something. And, I didn't even know what it was. My eyes weren't adjusting. That was unexpected. Vampires had sharp a vision. As the King of Vampires, mine was stellar. Correction, had been stellar. I should have been able to see even in darkness. But, whatever this was, it was not your common darkness. It had wiped away everything.

Then I heard her silent sniffing. She was crying. Of course, she was. She was devastated. And, I had left her alone, sleeping through a night I didn't even remember. I couldn't believe it! What had she gone through, all by herself?

Was she scared? She'd been blind all her life. My blood had brought limited eyesight but it wasn't that long ago she faced a world like this. Was she adapting? Probably. Much better than me. I cursed when my foot crashed into a rock that I hadn't seen.

"Diana," I shouted again.

"Here," she said. "It is amazing."

Amazing wouldn't be the word I'd use. She started laughing.

"Diana?" She'd lost it. I would calm her down. I took cautionary steps towards her, I wouldn't want to crash down, knock my head and fall asleep again. God forbid where I would find myself this time, on Mars? I felt cursed. I had forsaken the Moon Goddess, she had long ago, forsaken me. What other curses would befall me? I didn't care. I was strong enough to overcome them. I didn't need anyone. I could only rely on myself. Only trust my very own self.

Her shaky voice was coming from a few steps ahead.

"Be careful, don't move," I said. I should have had her come to me. She'd done this her whole life. It was my masculine pride which made that impossible. I was going to take care of her. She was under my protection.