60 – Rude Awakening

Someone was hammering nearby.

Assholes, don’t they know that some of us need sleep? I’ll have to go to work soon, so at least let me get a bit more shut-eye.

I turned over and pulled the blanket up to cover my head. That barely helped the resounding thumping sounds. Actually, are there multiple? Did everyone in the apartment building decide it was time to construct new furniture at once?

A voice had started talking nearby, though I was only dimly aware of it. Ugh, since when are the walls so thin that someone talking outside is this audible?

Though something smells pretty appetizing, are my neighbors cooking? I couldn’t identify what it was, but even half-asleep my mouth watered.

And I’m pretty hungry… maybe I should get up. I’m already mostly awake anyway, there’s no way I can go to sleep again in conditions like this. Plus, if so many people were up and about, it couldn’t be too early. Well, too early for my liking, but it was probably morning, at least.

Why hasn’t my alarm woken me up though? It’s set almost unreasonably early. Did I oversleep?

That thought shocked me a bit more awake. The talking person was much closer than I thought. Are they talking to me? Who? What?

Damn, that smells good. I could go for a bite.

I must still be asleep and dreaming, since I looked up at a man in medieval cosplay lightly shaking me. And is that a maid over there? Wow, this is a weird dream.

They were saying something, but it was like speaking through water. I couldn’t make out anything. Definitely a dream then. Is this one of those lucid dreams I heard about, where you know you’re dreaming?

Getting up, I sniffed the air. More weirdness, the delicious smell was coming from the people. Well, if this is a dream, I might as well have a little taste, right?

At my movement the guy in cosplay had stepped back. I reached out towards him, trying to recall where I’d experienced this smell before. It was so familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew it from…

Almost instantly, I had a grip on the tasty treat before me. On second look, he was less like a person and more like a walking snack bag. More dream stuff.

Just a little bite…

Ow! What the fuck!?

Looking down, something had stabbed me in the leg. It hurt like nothing I’d ever experienced.

Is that a dagger? Following the blade upwards, my eyes met the blue ones of that maid-looking person… wait.

Oh shit. I jumped backwards, accidentally widening the wound when the dagger was torn out. I barely registered the pain this time.

My brain was quickly slotting puzzle pieces together. Oh shit, indeed.

“Are you with us again, Lord Steelheart?” asked the maid– err, Mia.

“What in the gods’ name did you do?” the man – whom my waking mind quickly identified as Anders – yelled at her. His hand was on his sword hilt, glaring at the acting steward.

I had one last surreal moment, where I considered that this was one hell of a dream, before I fully snapped awake.

And what an awakening it was. I stood there stunned for a moment.

Before, I thought I’d suppressed the whole ‘I died and will never see anyone I care about ever again’ thing pretty well, aside from a few moments of melancholy. But this was quite the cruel thing my sleeping mind had done to me.

For a moment, I struggled to hold back tears. Not helped by the wide, jagged wound on my leg.

At least the pain was a way to take my mind off things. And the fact Anders was about to murder Mia if I didn’t intervene.

“It’s all right,” I tried to say, though I only managed a hoarse croak.

Clearing my throat, I repeated my statement. Successfully this time. “It’s all right, Anders.”

“But… she–!” He gestured at my leg with the hand not holding his – now drawn – sword.

“Put away your weapon.” There was a tone of authority to my voice, making the man flinch and obey. “I appreciate your concern, Anders, but I’m fine. See?”

Already, the flesh was knitting itself together. In a few more seconds, the only sign I’d been stabbed at all would be the bloody hole in my pant leg.

“Welcome back,” Mia bowed deeply.

“I did warn you not to stab me in line of sight of any guards, Mia.”

“Well, I think the circumstances warranted it, I apologize.” Mia was ignoring the very bewildered Anders looking back and forth between us.

“I agree. Really, I should be the one apologizing,” I sighed. Reordering my memories, I realized I was about to bite Anders. And with the half-asleep state I had been in, there was no way I would have stopped at a safe point.

Anders just looked completely lost at this point. Reading his mind, he was half-wondering if this was some kind of play I enjoyed doing with Mia in private. The alternative was some sort of extortion the acting steward was perpetrating. Well that’s two misunderstandings I want to nip in the bud.

A gnawing emptiness in my stomach distracted me from that. Both people tensed at the pained grimace on my face, though for wildly different reasons.

“Are you…?” Mia was trying not to give away my secrets, which was admirable.

“I’m starving,” I confirmed. They both smelled so good, now that I took another whiff of the air.

“Anders,” Mia began, her voice stern. “Go to the kitchen and bring the crate I marked. You know which one I mean.”

He was obviously torn between following the command and staying to protect me. A quick nod from me solved that conundrum for him, so he hurried away.

“How long?” I asked. Opening my mouth was dangerous, since I really wanted to clamp my teeth down on the walking blood bag in the room.

“Just over five days, Lord Steelheart. It’s first-day. Can you control yourself? I-I prepared some food for you, since I expected something like this.”

I almost growled at her in response. I was dangerously dry right now, just healing that wound earlier had brought me close to empty. My fangs were growing, despite my will.

Seeing my state, Mia must have realized just how dire things were. I noticed she was still holding the dagger.

As I took a step forward, she retreated in turn. “You swore you’d do your best to control yourself.” Her voice trembled a bit, but her gaze was firmly locked on me. She wasn’t meeting my eyes though…

Too bad, a part of me thought. That would have been such an easy way to feed. I squashed that idea the best I could, but it lingered in the back of my mind.

“I am! You have no idea how hard this is to hold back.” My fangs were fully extended. I saw her flinch when she saw them as I talked. “I just… I need a little bit. I’m about to go crazy.”

Hesitation was clear on Mia’s face, but then she steeled herself. “Fine. But if you don’t keep yourself under control, I’ll stab you again.”

With clenched jaws, she used the dagger to make a small cut on her wrist. I bit my lips to stop myself from crossing the distance in one jump at the sight and smell. No blood spilled from my own wound, a fact that made me pause for a moment.

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A moment was all Mia needed to fill the cup she grabbed from the desk with a decent amount of blood. She stepped back from the desk while applying some pressure to her wound. It was only mildly effective at stopping the bleeding.

I barely looked at her as I quickly walked – I had to wrestle with myself not to run – over to the cup, picking it up and draining the contents in a single, long gulp.

Relief flooded me instantly. Still, the hunger gnawed at my insides. My eyes flicked up to Mia.

“Just a little more. Please?” My tone was weird. Pleading, but with more impact somehow.