• She shouldn’t have been able to hold him up like that. She was strong, too strong. The pain was excruciating and he felt himself getting weaker with each passing second. He gasped and felt her grasp tighten against him, holding him up against the wall and his vision started to swim. His legs had given out a long time ago; the only thing supporting him was her and the wall behind him. Where she was latched onto his throat was hot, almost on fire, while the rest of him started to go cold.

    He groaned and she let him sink to his knees and eventually down to the ground. The next few seconds that he laid there felt like forever. Feeling hands grab him and turn him over to his back. The hands then lifted his head and laid it down into a lap. “Damien… I need you to stay with me now my dearest.” He felt hands caressing the sides of his face, pushing his hair back from his forehead. “Look at me Damien… Look at me!”

    The voice was intense, harsh and angered. He struggled but he forced his eyes to open. Looking up at the face above him while it the image swam in and out of focus. The face he saw confused him, it looked calm, almost relieved. Not at all matching the tone of the voice he heard a second ago. When the voice came back it was hurried and urgent. “That is it my dear, keep your eyes open. Keep your eyes on me… No, stay with me, listen.”

    It was hard, hard to focus, hard to stay awake. Everything hurt but was strangely numb at the same time. “We don’t have much time, I need you to do as I say or you won’t survive.”

    He felt something slip beneath his neck and he felt his head tilt backward. Thinking she would latch onto his throat again, he panicked and attempted to pull away. Fingers tightened around the back of his neck holding him in place. “Shhh, no my love, hold still and do what I say.”

    Pain shot through his spin as the fingers tightened on his neck making him gasp again and something was pressed against his open mouth. “Drink.”

    That is when he felt something sliding into his open mouth. Warm and slick he felt his eyes widen at the metallic taste… ‘Blood!’

    He panicked again and lashed out. The hand on his neck and the pressure on the wrist at his mouth intensified locking the two in place. Automatically he started to choke and gag on the blood now flowing into his mouth. Her voice was harsh again. “Don’t fight it, drink it or you will die. Now drink!”

    He continued to choke, and once his lungs screamed in protest his body choked down the blood to give him room to breathe. Gagging again, this time as the blood hit his stomach. He had just enough time to gasp for breath before more blood got in the way, choking him again, forcing him to swallow again so that he could breathe.

    As this continued, he felt himself panic less and less and start to relax. Falling into a steady rhythm; breathe, swallow, breathe, swallow, and breathe.

    “That’s right dearest, drink. Don’t worry about a thing just now. It’s almost over and the pain will stop, I promise.”

    Breathe, swallow, breathe, and swallow. It was second nature; he didn’t even have to think about it anymore. His body did it on its own.

    He stopped swallowing though, cringing against the sharp pain suddenly forming in his chest. He gasped again as a sharp pain lashed again, accidently inhaling a mouthful of blood causing him to choke again. The wrist was pulled away from him and once he could breathe, he screamed. The only way he could think to describe it was it felt like his heart was being torn out through his chest.

    The pain didn’t stop there, it only increased. Starting at his chest it spread until every nerve end felt as though it were on fire. He was let go as he started to thrash in pain. He could feel his stomach turn against the blood in his system could feel his heart pounding against his chest and feel the blood pounding through his ears. His own screams muted from the pressure.

    Stretched out face down, shaking, he managed to stop screaming. Suddenly he felt a hand on his back. “I am sorry my love. I know it is painful. However, it will soon be over and you will hurt no more.”

    He clenched his teeth as the pain increased again and he continued to shake and cringe. After what felt like an eternity, the pain climaxed and he screamed again and then everything went quiet.

    - + - + - + - + -

    Marion sat and watched from her seated position near Damien’s still form. She made no move to approach but simply sat and waited quietly.

    Suddenly he gasped and took a sharp breath inwards pushing himself to his hands and knees as he started to cough. Once that stopped he sat there panting for breath. Marion was amused, as it was no longer necessary for him to draw breath at all. But he would most likely take comfort from the action for a while. She watched him as his form shook. When he spoke he clenched his eyes shut. “What have you done to me?”

    “I’ve made you powerful Damien. Remember that first night that we met what I showed you? But what you have become is far better then I could have hoped.”

    Damien opened his eyes staring at his hands underneath him and he felt his breath hitch as he noticed they were sharper taking on the form of taloned claws. He felt himself start to shake again. He cringed as a sharp pain lashed through his stomach hissing through clenched teeth that fit together oddly, now baring fangs. “What is wrong with me?”

    “Nothing, you are most likely hungry. You need to eat Damien. Luckily I have come prepared.” Getting to her feet she walked over and opened the door. Grabbing something that was on the floor and pulling it inside the room.

    Damien’s eyes widened when he heard the muffled screams of the tied up servant in her hands. “No.”

    “You don’t have a choice. You have to eat.”

    He flinched as she took one of her nails and ran it down the man’s neck. The smell hit him and made him freeze, horrified more at the animalistic growl that was rising up out of his throat. She held the servant up and grabbing a handful of hair she forced his head back. “Eat, the hunger will only get worse if you do not.”

    He could feel his own fangs lengthen, the smell of the man’s blood continuing to wash over him. He wasn’t entirely sure when he moved. The next thing he knew he was latched onto the man’s throat swallowing mouthfuls of blood.