Page 35 of Love Bleeds

Chapter Twelve

Everything was colors. I was floating in a sea of them. Red, green, yellow... The sky above me was purple. Or maybe that wasn't a sky. Maybe it was just more water. I laughed at the idea, even though I had no idea why it was so funny.

Even though I had no voice.

I didn't have eyes either, or a mouth, or hands.

And yet I was warm.

Sometimes I felt like I was moving. No, like I wasbeingmoved. I couldn't have moved on my own if I'd wanted to. I didn't want to, though.

Not until the colors darkened and faded and I wasn't warm anymore.

I started wondering where everybody else was, where I was.

What had happened to me.

There was a thought pressing on the back of my mind, screaming at me, and yet, I couldn't hear it clearly. It was a name, I thought. Or maybe a touch. The memory of a touch. Someone had touched me.

An image of fangs tore through my mind, making me recoil in shock.

I wanted the colors back.

But now I couldn't shake the feeling that someone had bitten me. A vampire. Vampires were real.

I felt very, very cold.

I tried to wrap my arms around myself, but I still didn't have arms. I was bodiless.

How could I be cold?

Did I have any more blood in my body?

Was this what dying felt like?

No, I couldn't die yet, I'd only just... I'd only just found Damian.

Damian.

I felt my lips again as his name fell from them.

I felt my lungs again as a heavy sob tried to tear free from them. Damian was a vampire now. He was... He had touched me. He hadkissedme.

I had a mouth again. My lips tingled. I licked them.

Was Damian still there? I had to go look for him. With my feet and with my eyes.

Slowly, I forced my eyes open, one after the other.

White. The ceiling I was looking at was white.

"Luke," someone said my name. They squeezed my hand too. Somehow, I managed to turn my head.

It wasn't Damian.

My eyes fell shut again.