Chapter 1
Burn
The pain was unbearable, even for someone like me with a high pain tolerance. It was bad. It felt like the very fires of hell had touched me everywhere, especially my hand. I wasn't sure how long I had been burning, but I awoke to white light everywhere.
I was on a cot, like a hospital cot, dressed in the same clothes I had worn before the burning had started. But now they were in shreds, barely covering me. I looked down and began to take in more details. I lifted my hand and noticed how pale I now was. Last I remembered, I had had at least a little tan. Now my skin was as chalky smooth as the man that had done this to me. I also wasn't cold; something new for me considering I usually always had a hoodie with me, even in the middle of summer.
I then noticed that my surroundings were cold and wet, almost like a cave or an old basement. I hopped off the cot and touched one of the walls; they were almost dripping with cold water. That's when I noticed the thirst in my throat, it burned as much as the pain I had just endured. I looked at the walls and stuck my tongue out. They were dripping with water. Maybe I could catch a few drips? As soon as the first drop hit my tongue and slid into my throat, I gagged. It tasted like gas, and made my throat burn more than the thirst.
After I stopped gagging, I heard people. At least two, maybe more dragging something or someone with them coming up on my right. I turned toward the noise, then noticed the bars. Where the hell was I? That's it, hell. I must be in hell. It seemed plausible, but I couldn't really think of anything I had done that would deserve this.
I walked over to the bars and poked my head out to see the people coming towards me. There were four of them, one leading two dragging a fourth. The one leading them was the man that had done this, whatever this was, to me. I now noticed that he was blond, and except for the bright red eyes, looked like an Australian actor I had seen in a movie once. What was his name? Xavier Sanders, no Xavier Samuel.
Behind him were two other men. They both had strange pale skin, straight, beautiful features and, I shivered internally, bright red eyes. What was going on here? Was this a cult of some sort?
I looked back at them and I noticed that the girl they were dragging was unconscious. Not only was she unconscious, but she wasn't pale. Maybe Hispanic And her features were not beautiful, but merely ordinary.
The blond boy, as I began to think of him. reached me with his companions and opened the bars. The two men dragging the girl threw her at my feet and ran off faster than I would have thought possible.
Blond boy sat on my cot and watched me as though he was expecting something from me. I knelt down to the girl to see if she was hurt, but I then noticed her scent was delicious! Before I even had time to think I had grabbed her neck and bit deeply, sucking the blood. It was delicious, better then any food I had ever had before, and it quenched the thirst. As soon as I was done, I knew she was dead and I could feel the burning in my throat leaving me. Blond boy smiled at me.
"I'm surprised it took you that long," he said, smiling at me, "most don't even wait for me to open the cage. They try to attack me and get to the good part," he said, laughing as if attacking something or wanting to suck the blood out of someone was amusing.
"Who are you?" I asked, finally finding my voice. I stood up and noticed that the little clothes I had left were soaked with blood. I shivered at the thought of what I had just done. I had killed her. Without even thinking about it. It had seemed instinctual as soon as I had smelled her.
"My names Riley, what's yours?" he looked at me casually, not even appearing surprised at the gross amount of blood splattered on me.
"I'm Bree, Bree Tanner."
