Page 5 (1/2)
Afflicted
It is very strange to live in a house where almost everyone in it wants to eat you, Charlotte ers wound around in one of the holes in her skirt Valek hated when she dressed this way, after Sarah had given her so many of her old clothes Charlotte just didn&039;t fit into any of them It wasn&039;t her body It was life She couldn&039;t picture herself trapped in that house in Sarah&039;s beautiful hand-s by her adopted Vaure out how to save their world She wished they&039;d all just io hunt other humans on their own She wished they&039;d all just find an easier answer for sustenance instead of continuing to be so reliant on her, simply because she was there and they were co the side of her neck, she was reminded of the horrible truth She needed them as much as they still needed her
She couldn&039;t shake the htmare She couldn&039;t just lose herself in the serene silence of peaceful thoughts The only thing that re over and over, was the vision of Valek and the woman over him in the bed It wasn&039;t the same jealous sensation Charlotte experienced when she&039;d found hieline This was round her teeth as developing tears stung at the corners of her eyes
The scar at the side of Charlotte&039;s throat, which had finally cooled for about an hour, thanks to Sarah, began to blaze again up the side of her cheek, to her te her left shoulder blade It wasn&039;t insufferable yet, just an annoying discoh to distract herself She didn&039;t ever ihts ago, would leave such an intolerable iain That hat it desired-for her to be bitten by the sa to pacify her Maybe it was her body telling her it craved soive her in a ed so vastly over the course of the past few months As it turned out, her happily-ever-after hadn&039;t ended so happily after all
The sle of Vampires had become Charlotte&039;s new family in spite of all of the discord They&039;d e, back to their e, hidden from the rest of the world and its ic, though alone in her mortality
Valek had reestablished the rules, however, once the coven of roguesFrancis&039; original agreement that she would be looked after and protected by the coven as long as she reree the as they proly, they obliged, though not without sneaking tastes here and there And Charlotte could hardly help herself anyway, needing theht one of theruesome for the perpetrator It caused Charlotte&039;s innards to tith guilt upon hearing their painful cries from downstairs, in Valek&039;s office, as he punished them The fault was always at least half hers
The left side of the ornately carved double doors creaked open, and a pair of lavender, ballet-flat clad feet toed in over the polished wood floor Sarah padded back into the library almost silently It had been nearly an hour since she&039;d left and Charlotte wondered what she&039;d been doing She watched the Witch as she drew deeper into the study, carrying with her a silver tray of the enchanted food There was her answer
A ceramic teacup rattled atop it and a plate of the fresh sweet rolls she&039;d beenearlier enveloped the rooh to make Charlotte sick to her stomach The spicy scent burned in Charlotte&039;s nose, a catalyst for the bile lifting once more in the back of her throat She held her breath as she willed herself not to dry heave There was nothing in her stoitate anyway, but she didn&039;t even want to think about eating The scar produced such strange effects There was only one thing she craved now Her fingers wound in tight, impatient knots in the material of her dress
"You don&039;t have to eat it until later, Charlotte," Sarah muttered, as if she heard precisely what Charlotte was thinking It wasn&039;t the first time sohts Everyone had a key to hernot to have any privacy at all
Sarah knelt down next to her on the library floor and affectionately ran her fingers through Charlotte&039;s curls, her nails slightly grazing the back of her neck It made Charlotte shiver
"Ready?" she whispered after a moment
Her voice wavered, like it held some heavy emotion Sadness? Charlotte squinted at the space in front of her and wondered why What she was going through noas entirely her own business She didn&039;t want to worry anyone else Especially Sarah, her very best friend
"Where is he?" Charlotte asked desperately, wanting just to fix her addiction so everything could go back to norh, like sandpaper Every sensation about the roonified a hundred tiic or her scar, she had no idea The crackling blaze in the fireplace in front of her bellowed in her ears like a roaring brush fire
Sarah&039;s touch, light on her shoulder, ht as well have been hundreds of tiny electric shocks zapping at her skin Even the Witch&039;s breath in her ear was enough to chill her like the harsh winter wind from outside Charlotte sed Even that was painful
Sarah stood up again, and al feet, however careful she was, sounded like an elephant parade Charlotte shut her eyes against the noise that created a pulse in her eardru suddenly oozed slickly from the inside of her ear Blood
Sarah pulled the left side of the door closed before the right, bolting theether at the center of the threshold Charlotte&039;s pulse reacted to the i
"They&039;re hori hoailed froh that the foundation seemed to quake beneath thes of the sirens that inhabited the banks of the Vltava River-haunting Threatening Though very far away, the wave of harrowing screa second A swarht for Charlotte, like they had pinpointed her exact location She could sense the in on all sides Her heart slahter around the erness sed the fear whole The excitement they would soon arrive electrocuted the ends of her nerves as she shifted, leaning more forward on her knees
The sound drew nearer It raced through the front door, so close, her eardruht burst Her pulse raced in her throat, stopping the flow of oxygen Though her vision had gotten blurry again, she could see Sarah guarding the doors from within the library She stood there, with her back pressed against the entrance, her eyes tearing, like she wanted to reach for Charlotte, though she did not move from her place there
They were just outside of the library doors then She lurched forward, her hands cupped tightly around her ears, begging for relief froan to fuse with the banshee wailing Her an to roll froh her own voice she could not hear over theirs She pulled her quivering hands froertips, and heaved Everything seeranite talons, hard and stone-like, pounded against the library doors, de access to her as Sarah quickly moved her hands to hex the lock
Charlotte forced herself to open her eyes, looking to Sarah who had turned to face the door again, both of her white hands gripping tightly around the baroque brass handles, holding them in place in case her hex failed and the assailants burst through She had her forehead pressed to the doors
"Stop!" Someone bellowed from the outside of Charlotte&039;s library sanctuary
This noise was the only thing that differed fro chaos on the other side of the library doors was instantly pacified, going as silent as the crypt The whole world quieted
Sarah frantically rushed to Charlotte again in theat her face, the Witch pried her jaw open to pop sonized it as one of her chocolate beads
"Here," Sarah&039;s words caive your blood a head start to replenish If you must do this, at least be wise about it!"