It was close to morning when she finally drew away from the sleeping lich and she covered him with a blanket, ordering the humans be taken away and she swept through the halls, catching sight of her pale grey-blue skin in the reflections of the dark window.
She huffed at the change, having hoped it would stay her snowy white colour but no such luck.
When she opened the door, she found the twins having almost completely drained themselves and were both looking pale, Versalis monitoring the situation and Alaric snoring like a waterfall on the end seat.
Daemon leapt to his feet as she swept in and came to her side, cupping her face and staring into her eyes.
To her surprise, he leant in and kissed her firmly, deepening it until he was nearly throwing her to the floor. She smirked at the furious growl coming from Jaia, but she allowed the kiss, breaking it finally and pressing him back.
"You stop that, now isn't the time for a tryst," she scolded, and his grin was wicked.
She knew what the demon was doing, and she wanted Jaia to suffer as much as she had by his abandoning her.
Stepping to Versalis' side, she looked to the crystal that had come to life, a soft glow coming from its core, but it wasn't the brightness she remembered.
"It must take them both," she said to Daemon who had followed her and was looking at the gem.
He grunted his agreement, and she turned to Uzo, who was sleeping on the floor by the balcony and then to Jagum who had propped himself up in the corner, his long legs stretched out. They were all so exhausted and she wanted them to rest as much as possible.
"You should sleep too," she said to Daemon, who looked frustrated but agreed.
"We might as well get this started," she said gently and Versalis looked up at her.
The twins pulled the needles from their arms and stood, Kai looking exhausted and Jaia looking ready to rip her apart, but they followed her into her room in a moody silence.
Without a word, she settled herself on the bed and watched the two vampires as they brought in the stands and carefully inserted new needles into her arms, their fingers oddly warm on her as they worked, but no blood flooded into her system yet.
Kai immediately bit into her wrists, but Jaia was staring at her, angry and hurt but she only met his eyes in a silent dare for him to say a word.
Finally dropping his eyes to her wrist, he bit down hard and gnawed at her skin in retaliation. She smiled slightly, knowing she was hurting him, but it made her feel better about their situation.
It felt good to have their teeth digging into her and she shivered, her eyes shut as they drew as much blood from her as they dared before they moved away, both flushed with it.
Silently the twins moved and both pins were pulled in unison, ensuring the same amount of blood from each of them filled her system.
She hissed in a breath as the blood hit her veins, her body singing at the changes the blood tried to make in her, slow at first but it would speed up before too much longer.
***
The first day didn't feel like much to her, just exhaustion and sleep, waking to find the angry Jaia staring at her as she slept and watching her for the minute changes that took place on her physical form.
"Stop staring at me like that," she breathed halfway through the second day, too tired to care much after her body first fought to replenish her blood, and then switching to fight off the change the new blood caused in her.
"Why him?" he demanded, and she frowned at him, barely able to stay awake. "Why the demon?"
She smiled slightly at the remembered argument in the forest, but her smile only seemed to enrage him further.
"He never abandoned me," she said quietly and jumped as the bed shifted, finding herself face to face with the furious vampire.
"You think we left on a whim?" he growled, a mere inch from her face.
"I don't know, Jaia. You never bothered to explain why you simply abandoned us. One might see that as desertion if one chose to look at it that way. You're a soldier, you should have known better."
His eyes burned with fury, and she met it with calm indifference.
"We left to save your life, stupid woman," he snarled, and she lifted her brows.
"Oh, please do tell me why your abandoning me was for my own good. Was it as worth my own good when you manipulated me into taking on this quest to begin with?"
His eyes narrowed and before he could start yelling, Versalis came in and Jaia seemed to vanish into nothing.
"I'll go today," the vampire king said, pretending not to notice the tension. He sat down at her side and gently turned her head to the side, his teeth cutting cleanly through her skin.
Her eyes found Jaia, who was glaring at her, but she turned her eyes away and before long she fell asleep as her body was drained of what little blood had been produced.
***
Waking the next morning, she looked around blearily and found Kai sitting at her side, his feet bare and legs crossed as he stared at nothing on the wall, his head in his hands. He was deep in thought, and it took him a few minutes to see she was awake.
His face lit up but then faded again and she felt a pang of pain at his sadness, but she refused to give in to him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, stroking her hair back from her face.
"Like three vampires are trying to turn me," she quipped, and he laughed gently, his eyes greedily taking in her pale face.
"It should be done by morning," he said, and she nodded, feeling the strength inside her as their blood rushed into her muscles, enhancing them and leaving her deliciously warm.
"I'm sorry we left," he said, and her calm turned icy.
"Let's not discuss that right now, Kai," she said.
How did he manage to make her feel like she had kicked a puppy with the pitiful face he gave her? She didn't know, but she felt guilty for hurting him and the guilt made her angry.
"Won't you at least let us explain?" he asked in a small voice.
"What is there to explain? You left, not even halfway through. You refused to try and take my blood, instead you tucked your tails and bolted. We needed you and you weren't there."
Kai's eyes dropped to the bed, and he pulled at a thread from the naked mattress.
"When you stopped being a vampire, we felt suddenly free of your hold."
His words stabbed her over and over and she gritted her teeth to hold down her sudden pain.
"So, you only came because you had to," she growled. "Get out, Kai."
He looked hurt, fear in his eyes as she ordered him out. "Etani, please don't say that. It's not like that, we wanted to help you. But when the bond was broken, we wanted to run. We knew it was only a matter of time before we started getting really hungry and we didn't want to kill you. We had no reason to stay."
She planted her foot against his side and shoved him off the edge of the bed, his grunt of pain satisfying to her.
"Once this is over, I never want to see you or your brother again. Get out."
His words had ripped her heart in half and there was no stopping the tears as the vampire fled the room, his sobs quiet.
Reaching up, she pulled down the two bags, clutching them both tight between her fingers and squeezed, hissing as the pressure forced their blood deeper into her at a rate that she knew was dangerous, but she didn't care. She wanted it over and she wanted them gone.
"Versalis, I need the rest of the blood," she called out. He appeared at the door in an instant, confused with the bags in his hand.
Seeing what she had done, he growled but she motioned him forward, squeezing the last of the blood into her system until her cheeks flushed and her body was screaming in pain.
She took the remaining two bags from him and hooked them up, her eyes shut at the pain as she squeezed them, and she felt blood oozing down her upper lip, but she ignored it.
Pausing only when she felt like she was going to pop, she looked up at Versalis and he was staring at her in horror.
"Etani, you're going to kill yourself," he pleaded, unsure of what to do.
"Does it matter at this point?" she snapped, the man flinching at her tone.
Her body was on fire and sweat broke out over her skin.
She pulled her dress off and shoved it away, leaving her in her undergarments and she only felt slightly cooler.
Versalis fled the room and returned a short while later, ignoring the enquiries as he moved to cover her skin with cold clothes and then rushing from the room again and returning with ice from the kitchens.
It cooled her and she smiled slightly, the bed soon soaked with water dripping onto the floor.
He didn't ask her why she had done it, seeing Kai's distress shortly beforehand and knowing what she had done.
Within the hour the giant chunks of ice had melted, and she was burning, her body flaming and Versalis had thrown open the window to let the cold air in.
Panting at the heat, she could feel her body changing at a rate nobody had ever been designed to go through the change, her mind warping and leaving her feeling confused before snapping into a clarity that was like a slap to the face.
Blood dripped almost constantly from her nose, and she looked up as Epharis came into the room, catching a glimpse of Jaia and Kai who looked at each other in fear.
"Stupid woman, you can't speed this up," the lich snarled as he approached her, gripping her elbow and his nail raked down her forearm.
She screamed both in pain and relief as blood spilled, the pressure in her veins easing.
He swore at her, curling his fingers around the cut to help it seal as he took the bags and examined how much she had left.
"How much did she force down?" he asked and Versalis swallowed.
"A whole bag and then some."
"How did she get that much?" Epharis demanded and the vampire looked guilty. "Get out," Epharis snarled, Versalis fleeing the room.
"If you were that keen on killing yourself you could have given into the demon," he said, pulling the needles from her arms and throwing the half bags onto the table.
When she made a sound of protest, he took her hands and lifted her chin to better examine her eyes.
"They use so much because your body will fight it, with this much inside you there is no need to use as much. You're in for a lot of pain, my darling."