"Kayra."
Unable to resist that hypnotic voice, I looked at Valen.
Damn it!
His scent was getting stronger. He smelled like a rotten sour cherry… like aged wine. Unable to stop myself, I licked my lips. I was sure now. This was the scent of the liquid I had swallowed when I woke up.
Had he really given me a drop of his blood?
Why?
Did vampires drink each other's blood, too? If they could, then what did they want from humans?
The poor woman was kneeling beside the bed I had woken up in, watching us fearfully. When she realized I was looking at her, she immediately lowered her gaze.
Did I look that frightening?
Valen touching my neck pulled me out of my thoughts. Then I felt the butterflies in my stomach stir.
Don't be ridiculous.
"I'm not sure Arkan is still dead," Valen said.
What did he mean by that?
"The mate mark is still on your neck," he said, rubbing it with his thumb as if he wanted to erase it from there. The more he rubbed it, the more the butterflies came alive, beginning to move toward my most intimate area.
I quickly pushed his hand away from my neck.
"Don't touch me!" I said, taking a step back. I looked around, trying not to make eye contact with Valen.
My body was practically going crazy.
"Maybe he didn't die because Kayra came back to life, Your Majesty," the irritating man said.
"Maybe, Khasar," Valen said.
So that was his name—Khasar.
"D-Does Arkan really still live?"
I waited hopefully for Valen's answer. I didn't take my eyes off his red eyes for even a moment.
For a while, he continued looking into my eyes as well. I had no idea what he was thinking. There was something about Valen's aura that I couldn't quite understand. It was as if he could rule over everything. He didn't seem like someone who talked much, either.
I wondered how old he was.
Right now, he looked like a man in his early thirties.
Valen's eyes shifted to my neck.
"If the rumors about fated mates are true…" he said, then looked back into my eyes. "…he didn't die."
With that answer, a tear slowly began to roll down my cheek. I didn't know if I could ever get used to these new tears.
I flinched when I felt a cold hand on my cheek. Valen wiped away my bloody tear with his thumb. Then he brought his finger to his mouth and licked my blood.
"How could he have survived?" Khasar asked.
"I don't know," Valen replied.
I furrowed my brow.
"How can you not know?" I snapped. "Don't you have fated mates?"
"Speak to His Majesty properly!" Khasar interjected.
Valen raised a hand, signaling him to be quiet. At Valen's gesture, Khasar cleared his throat and walked over to the woman, who was watching us with fear and curiosity.
"We don't have fated mates."
"How can you not?" I asked in disbelief. "You… don't all supernatural beings have this fated bond thing?"
Valen remained silent for a while.
"Cursed beings like us have no bond with fate," Valen said.
Cursed?
"I don't understand."
Valen was about to answer when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," Valen said.
The door slowly opened. A young woman with curly hair entered the room. She was wearing a white doctor's coat. Her eyes, however, were glowing red.
"What is it, Serene?"
"Your Majesty, the Newborn's blood test results are ready," the woman said.
The Newborn?
Valen turned his gaze toward me for a brief moment. Then he looked back at Serene.
"Alright," Valen said. "We'll be with you shortly."
The woman named Serene gave me a brief glance before leaving the room.
---
It turns out I was the Newborn. This has to be a joke. As if turning me into a vampire wasn't enough, he was also having his own doctors examine my blood.
But why?
After Serene left the room, Valen sent the human woman away with Khasar. Then he took me to the hospital he had established for the vampires' blood donors… that is, humans. As far as I could tell, they conducted research here as well.
Why would vampires even need something like this?
"Please lie down here."
Serene pointed to the empty stretcher in front of me.
But I wasn't even sick.
"Lie down," Valen said, placing a hand on my waist and guiding me toward the stretcher.
"Why—"
Before I could finish, Valen lifted me into his arms so quickly that I could barely see him move, then slowly lowered me onto the stretcher in front of me.
"What are you doing?" I asked, sitting up on the stretcher.
"The results are very interesting," Serene interjected.
"Tell me."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Serene opened the file in her hand and looked at Valen.
"The Newborn—"
"Kayra," I interrupted. I had a name of my own. Being turned into a vampire didn't change that. "My name is Kayra."
The woman looked at Valen first, then turned back to me.
"Of course," she said. "Kayra."
She looked at the file in her hand once more.
"Kayra is a hybrid," she said.
I already knew that. One of my parents was a werewolf.
"Which species?" Valen asked.
Why did he care about that?
"We detected werewolf and witch blood," Serene said.
So the other one was a witch?
"How could she have survived?" she continued, looking at me.
She shouldn't look at me. I didn't know anything.
"She should have been killed long ago," Valen said.
His words made me tense. Was he going to kill me? I mean… for real this time.
"I was surprised, too, Your Majesty," Serene said. "Perhaps they didn't know Kayra existed."
"Is being a hybrid a bad thing?" I interrupted.
If two people loved each other, did it really matter that they were different species? Then again, if they hadn't abandoned me, I would have defended them for that.
"What about now?" Valen asked, ignoring my question.
"Now… your blood is slowly swallowing up this hybrid blood, Your Majesty," the woman said. "Soon, only your blood will flow through Kayra's veins."
Had I been brought here just to hear this?
"What does any of this have to do with me?" I said angrily. "I don't care what my mother and father were."
Maybe I was the result of a one-night mistake. And once I came along, they had cast me aside.
"Is there anything else?" Valen asked.
"I'm going to take a few tubes of blood," Serene said.
Then she came over to me to draw my blood.
I was going to object, but Valen would have taken my blood anyway. So I silently watched as she filled the tubes with my blood.
Strangely, Valen was watching the blood fill the tubes, too. When he noticed me looking at him, he stood up.
"When you're finished, send her back to her room," Valen said to Serene. "Khasar will come to get her."
Then he left the room.
---
After I gave blood, Khasar took me back to the room where I had woken up. He didn't forget to lock the door behind him, either. Apparently, I was going to have to give blood every week. When I asked why, Serene said she had never seen a hybrid turned into a vampire before. I guess I was a first.
Oh, how wonderful.
They were basically experimenting on me.
I got out of bed and started pacing around the room. Even though it was spacious, there wasn't a single window. There were nothing but walls on all four sides. It made me feel trapped.
Valen also hadn't allowed me to go to the Crescent Pack. Apparently, they would kill me. Arkan wouldn't let something like that happen… would he?
And why was he still keeping me alive? That way, he could guarantee Arkan's death.
I wished Kongar were with me. Apparently, his presence had been giving me hope. When we first met, he had rescued me from the pit. If it weren't for him, no one would have known I existed for days, maybe even weeks. And in the end, I would have either become prey to some wild animal or died from hunger and cold.
Of course, I hadn't forgotten that he had kidnapped me and tried to take my heart, either. He was still a mystery to me. What did he want from me? He hadn't even taken my heart, despite wanting it so badly.
Most importantly, where was he?
"Where are you?" I whispered.
If I stayed here much longer, I was going to lose my mind.
Valen wanted to send another blood donor, but I refused. I wasn't a monster. But now my stomach was growling.
Did vampires' stomachs even growl? This was ridiculous.
"Kongar!" I shouted. "I order you to come here!"
Silence.
Nothing but silence.
Was he sorry for what he had done to me? Was he staying away because he felt guilty? Was that why he had left Arkan and me alone in the room that night?
I didn't even know how long I had been here. Had it been a day?
I finally gave up and turned toward the bed. But a sudden shiver ran through my body. Then I heard a rustling sound behind me.
Slowly, I turned around.
But there was no one there.
I continued walking toward the bed. By now, I was hearing voices that weren't there, too.
I heard another rustling sound.
I stopped where I was and turned around again.
A shadowy mass of smoke stood in front of me.
"Kongar?"
The smoke shifted slightly.
Then it rushed toward me and entered my body through my nose.