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When the agony burning throughup blood, he held his hand out tome to my feet Still too feeble to stand, I sank down in a chair

"What is this?" I gasped

"A gift," he replied, chuckling

He gripped my bloodstained shirt and threw me off his ship I lay helpless on the wooden jetty as the saffron merchant’s ship sailed away into the distance

Those next few hours were the o or who us I didn’t know many details other than that they were evil creatures

My first wave of bloodlust hitthat I realized I couldn’t even return tothem dry

I ran as fast as I could toward the beach, away from the toay fro the beach until the sun rose My skin began to burn so intensely, I thought I was going to die I ran toward the first cave I could find and hid in its darkest corner I curled up in a ball, trying to control the wayfor want of blood

I tried to force er, but it was useless I stayed in the corner of that cave all day and all night I remained there for at least five days before a search party ca of my parents, Annora and her brother

I was horrified to see the torches in their hands Ion them and instead darted out of the cave I travelled further along the beach They had no hope of catching up withthe shore, I retreated for the night

But they didn’t stop trying to followMy parents and Annora had found ain I climbed out of the entrance ofdown at the

My parents could barely believe their ears I had to repeat parts of my story several times before they accepted it

Annora, on the other hand, just stood silently, tears strea a vauish on ony thanweeks, I re to persuade er

Annora, on the other hand, didn’t stop visiting et about me and move on, she refused

"I can’t leave you, Caleb," she’d said, sobs racking her body "There’s no one else I could ever love"

I tried to be callous toward her I tried to scare her with s and claws But nowith ht when she cauhed in her face and thought that she was joking But she was deadly serious

"You’ve lost yourout of the cave