The Seven Ways To Die

Moving On (Chapter 8)

I woke to find golden sunlight streaming down on my face from a window opposite where I was lying. As I tried to sit upright, an agonising pain seared through every inch of my body, and so I slumped back down to a horizontal position. For a while I lay in pain, my eyes squeezed shut and trying desperately not to shed any tears. Honestly, this was difficult. In all my life I had never experienced a pain so bad. What made it all the more worse was that it was not confined to one area. 

Suddenly I heard the door of the room swing open, and my eyes flew open. A woman who looked about a few years older than me walked in, carrying a mug filled with steaming liquid. 

"I thought I heard you waken up," she smiled. I wondered how she had heard this, as I had refrained from making any sound whatsoever. 

"It hurts," I moaned groggily. 

"I know, sweetie. But don't worry, I have something that will help it right along." She handed me the mug, and I fought through the pain to take it and raise it to my lips. To my surprise, despite the fact the liquid was steaming, it was cold. It tasted sweet, and was almost familiar. Trying to place where I had tasted it before, memories rushed back of the attack. It was the same as the sweet substance that had been present on the man's hand when I had bitten it. 

"What is this?" I asked the woman, licking my lips.

"It's vampire lymph and glucose." Assuming this as some kind of herb, I resumed drinking the strange liquid. Within minutes I was able to sit up, cradling the mug in my hands, with the woman sitting beside me on the edge of the bed. 

"I'm Emily, by the way," she smiled kindly at me with sparkling green eyes. 

"I'm Eva," I replied out of courtesy, taking the last few sips of mixture from the mug. "Where am I?" I asked this in curiosity rather than fear of my safety. Anyone who had given me pain-relief and a warm bed to sleep in couldn't have been that much of a danger to me. 

"Well," she took the empty mug from me and stood up, "I was thinking of going for a drink tonight, just a quiet one with Ethan and Darryl. If you're feeling well enough, you're more than welcome to join us, and we can explain everything there."

"Yeah, I guess I'm feeling ok."

"Good," she grinned warmly. "Your clothes that you came to us in are in the top drawer over there," she nodded to a chest of drawers in the corner of the room. "However in my opinion I don't think they would be very practical, so I left some stuff of mine in the other drawers. Don't worry, they've never been worn. They were all things I'd bought, then when I got back decided they weren't really me, you know? Anyway, there's a bathroom through that door," she pointed to another entrance next to the bed, "so if you want to get showered go ahead."

"Thank you," I smiled feebly at her.

"No problem," she grinned, walking through the door and closing it behind her.