“Riley, wake up.”

My eyes slowly opened, my lids as heavy as lead, and I sat up quickly from the bed with my hand pressed to my heart. It was beating rapidly. My chest heaved, and my blood rushed through my ears, clouding my hearing briefly before settling down to a gentle hum. When it stopped, I looked around.

“You're in my bed chambers,” Sirus informed me.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed with his hand on my shoulder. Panic coursed through my veins as I tried to remember anything I possibly could from before I blacked out. Please, not human blood. My body chilled as I froze in place, my mind running a mile a minute trying to process what had happened. Every muscle of my body was in knots, locked with the penetrating fear that I had just broken my most sacred promise to myself.

“You had quite a spell downstairs. It frightened us to pieces,” he continued. “They brought you here for an intervention. I knew you were too weak to feed, so I injected you with some of my blood to bring you back to me.”

My muscles relaxed. I sighed with relief and closed my eyes. My body felt right again and my heart rate slowed as I regained my composure. I wasn't dizzy and my vision wasn't spotty like before. The room wasn't spinning and the bed felt comfortable. Everything was as it should be. And I hadn't ingested human blood.

A sudden motion from the corner of the room caught my eye. It looked like someone was standing in the corner. I tried to focus on what appeared to be a figure, but I couldn't quite place it. Was it Adrian?

“Who is that?” I asked while squinting.

Sirus paused with a grin. He leaned in and planted a loving kiss upon my cheek before pressing his lips to my ear.

“It's your early birthday gift,” he cooed. “I thought this might liven you up.”

As my eyes focused on the figure, I realized it wasn't standing. It was sitting. In a chair. Bound.

And it was human.

“No,” I grunted.

I shoved Sirus and turned over on the bed, shoving my face into the pillow. In one swift motion, he took my arm and pulled me upright to my feet.

“You must do this, Riley. You must save yourself,” he explained. “It's the only way you're going to survive.”

“I can't do this, Sirus,” I pleaded, desperation oozing from my tongue. I shook my head and forcibly looked away from the slumped human body. My limbs began to shake with fear or rage, I wasn’t sure which.

“You must,” he argued. “Please, you must.”

He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around my waist as he peered into my eyes. I had never seen him look so vulnerable. I stood shocked in the center of his bedroom, my hands frozen in the air. I looked towards the corner and saw that the human was sleeping. His arms were bound to the chair, but his mouth remained free. It hung open as he slept peacefully, unmoved by our little commotion.

“Riley. We can't lose you. Not this close to the Centennial de Sang. We need you,” he growled. “Our coven simply can't lose another vampling to this morality spectrum that you've been clinging to.”

“If you want me to stay, change your ways!” I cried. “I can't kill! I won't!”

“You have already seen that the synthetic injection no longer works for you. What about the rest of the coven, hm? What of them? Will they not suffer the same fate?” he challenged.

I looked down at the tousled blond hair. He looked much different than his regular polished sel. He looked more…human. He pressed his face to my torso, and I stared down at him, my eyes wide and my mouth hung open. I couldn't bear to see him this way. While he had given me pain, he had also given me life. I shivered as I considered my allegiance to him. A tear rolled down my cheek when I looked back at the sleeping human, taking a shaky breath as I patted Sirus on the shoulder. He may be a ruthless leader, but he had allowed me my own personal luxuries since my turning. No other leader would have allowed their vampling to survive off of synthetic blood, that was for sure. An inner battle raged within me.

“Alright,” I whispered.

He rose immediately and took my shoulders, looking me straight in the eye.

“You mean it?” he asked breathlessly. “You'll do it?”

“I will try,” I replied.

I trembled beneath his touch; beneath the weight of my decision.

“I promise he won't feel a thing. I've put him under a hypnotic spell to prevent the pain. It will be like he's slipping right into a deeper sleep,” Sirus assured me. “He won't feel anything. I promise.”

I shook my head.

“I'm scared,” I whispered.

“Don't be. Should I fetch Adrian? I hear you've taken to him. It might make you feel comforted while you feed,” he offered.

I shook my head again.

“I want to do this by myself,” I replied.

“You are such a brave vampling,” he whispered. “I admire your strength and determination. That's why I chose to keep you here.”

“I don't understand.”

I was crying again. The horrible sob took over my throat and forced me into his arms where I buried my face into his silk shirt. He smelled like roses. It reminded me of the field where I had been bitten by that scout...

“I chose you for your mind, Riley. You didn't fear the death that was coming. You didn't shy away from the fangs. You welcomed them. You were ready to face that darkness with all your might, so I kept you here,” he explained. “I kept you and gave your strength a purpose.”

I smiled through my tears.

“And you found Adrian,” he added. “Or he found you. He fancies you quite a bit, my dear. He might be your match which means he'll be yours forever.”

“Forever,” I whispered. “That's such a long time.” I remembered what Adrian had said about his thoughts on the matter. He didn’t believe in forever. And I wasn’t sure I did, either. But still, I would be lying to myself if I said Sirus’s words didn’t ignite a spark of longing within my core.

“It is a long time. That's why we want to secure your place here,” he reminded me. “With your family.”

He was guiding me slowly towards the corner of the room. I watched the human's chest rise and fall rhythmically. He was still breathing. He was still living. How could I dare to cut the line between here and death? I buried my face back into the silk shirt.

“Don't look away, child. You must face your fate,” he whispered.

“He's still breathing,” I replied.

“He's fresh. His blood will be that much more satisfying to you at a warm temperature. Didn't you taste mine?” he asked.

I nodded into his shoulder.

“It was cold, wasn't it? Think of how much more your craving will subside with warm blood. One bite will satiate that thirst,” he continued. “One small bite will sustain you until at least the ritual. It will make it so much easier for you then if you practice today.”

I took a deep breath. We were standing right in front of the nameless human, watching his face twitch slightly as he slept. He hardly moved aside from the occasional twitch of his lip or the flutter of his eyelids. He was deep in a peaceful sleep.

“I'll help you,” Sirus whispered.

He walked wordlessly over to the human and pressed his nail to the main artery bulging from the neck. Red blood appeared instantly and trickled down. It looked strikingly bright against the pale skin, carving a path as it crawled down the collarbone. I licked my lips.

“One taste, Riley,” Sirus assured me. “One taste will put all of those mortal fears to rest.”

Hypnotized by the sight, I rested my hands against the human's knees and leaned forward. I drew closer to the neck without much effort. It was as if an invisible hand pushed me in the direction of the blood flowing from the wound, guiding me gently towards salvation. This was the moment I had been dreading, yet I felt compelled to fulfill the action.

As I neared the wound, I could smell the salty fluid and licked my lips again. A hunger pang rippled through my gut. It was unlike the hunger I had for the apple. That was a mere muscle memory, a gut response to seeing human food. But I was no longer human. Seeing the blood had prompted a paranormal instinct that I had read about in fantasy novels and seen on silver screens. I was losing control to the thirst. It was quickly drawing me in.

And I simply couldn't stop.