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Chapter 7

POV: Lue

I am craving blood to the point that I can not focus enough to try to communicate with Seth. Every time I thought of him I thought of his warmth. He gets that warm because of his blood. I shook my head. I do not want him for his blood. I want him because of his big heart. His big heart that pumps. Stopping that thought. I do not love Seth only because of his blood. I would give up blood for the rest of my life if I could be with Seth again.

I opened my mouth. It was so dry. Rye mocked me from his cage. He opened his mouth so dramatically. I giggled quietly. The hysterical emotion that is coming over me must be from my lack of substance. Ryan joined in his laugh was too high pitched to not be due to histarics. We are losing it.

I need to stand up. Need to let my body stretch out. I have no feeling in my legs or butt. Basically everything below my ribcage is numb. Leaning my back against the cage began to hurt. Feeling like my skin was becoming apart of the cage. If the cage opened my skin might stay on the bars. That is how tight this cage is. If I was not so dehydrated I would be tearing up right now.

"The next fish should be delivered soon" Rye said. His voice sounded thick he must also be dehydrated.

"I hope so" I told him.

Other halflings in the other cages started to scream. I flinched. The movement rammed my knee further into my rib. Fuck that hurt. Ryan and I tried to see who was screaming. Did they not realize what happens when you scream? They are going to die. Every halfing down here that has screamed has also been killed. They are killing the weak. Do not provoke them to prove your weakness.

The hatch opened. Two individuals came down. One halfling and one human. The halfling appeared to be a woman with really short red hair. The man was the same one who delivered us fish the last time they fed us. Seeing his dirty form made me thirsty. Hopefully this was not going to cause issues for me in the future. Will I see a dirty human and feel the need to drink blood?

The woman walked up to a cage that was on the wall behind Rye. I could see him tense slightly. On edge from not being able to see the interaction. I kept my eyes on her. She reached down and into the cage. Pulling out the halflings arm out of the cage. I felt my eyes go wide. I knew exactly what was going to happen. Rye tapped his foot so I made eye contact with him.

'Look at me' Rye mouthed.

I looked into his blue eyes. Using him to keep me sain. His blue eyes provided me with the comfort I needed to not lose my mind. We could both hear the sucking. As the woman drank the halfling empty of blood. Like they are a juicebox. The halflings body made an audible empty sound, they exhaled their last breath. Ryan did not take his eyes off me. If we had not allied before this, we were definitely allied now.

The woman walked around the cages. Ryan held my attention. She walked beside my cage and inhaled. She smelled my hair. Smacking her lips together. Ryan's face stayed strong and steady. She walked away from my cage. I kept the tension in my body. This woman does not know I was tense. If I would relax she would know. Then she would win.

Behind me I heard someone wimper. I widened my eyes at Rye. He nodded slightly. I heard her bite the person. The sound of the skin cracking open. My mouth watered with sticky dehydrated spit. Primal need rushed through my body. Ryan bit his bottom lip. I knew he was having the same need. I could see a circle of black around his blue eyes. If I focused hard enough I could see the blended colours between the stunning blue and hunger colour of the black.

Dam he was hungry. Halflings eyes do not typically change colour. The most change that we will get is this black circle around the eye. Although I had once seen a halfling starved to death. Their black eye circles had fused with their pupils. It took a really long time for them to get to that state though. Ryan and I had at least a month of starvation before we die that way.

The dirty man stood in the front of the room. Under the stream of light. If I focused on him I could see his pulse throb on his neck. I could hear Rye swallow.

The woman walked up to the man. Taking his wrist she drank deeply. Anger flashed through me. She had drained two halflings and still gets to drink from a human. The unfairness caused my blood to feel like it was on fire. Desire blazed through me. Closing my eyes I focused only on my breathing. I inhaled through my nose. The scent of blood made me open my eyes. The human layed bleeding out on the floor. One of the other halflings screamed with desire and longing.

The woman walked up to their cage and drained them. I could not take my eyes off the human bleeding out. She cut his carotid artery every few moments the blood would squirt out faster. The longing filled my body.

After she finished draining the other halfling. She walked up to the man who laid bleeding out on the floor. She bit over her cut. Sealing up the injury. The man woke up. I looked back at Rye. His eyes mirrored the desperation I felt in mine.

They left the hell pit that we are locked up in. Leaving us in darkness again.

No one spoke. Rye and I just looked at eachother. It felt like days had passed before the light flooded the space again. The smell of fish made me excited. The man who had been bleeding out earlier handed us fish. I could tell by his scent that he had been fed on more recently than the last time I saw him.

Taking the fish I waited until he left the space and it all went dark before draining it of the little blood inside. I ripped the scaled off the fish. Biting into the raw flesh. Needing food in my stomach.

"If I make it out of this. I will never eat another fish" I told Rye. I tried to swallow without gagging.

"You and me both" he said the disgust in his voice as he bit into the fish.

"I am trying to pretend it is chicken" I told him

"How is that going?" He asked.

"Not great. If it was chicken this chicken is so far past its best before date." I told him. Stomach turned as I took my last bite of the fishes flesh. Tossing the carcass onto the floor over by where the man's blood still soaked the floor. It made a splashing sound.

I started hallucinating. Something about mushrooms talking and deers asking me to eat them.

Water sprayed through my cage bars. I snapped out of my hallucinations. The glashure cold spraying the filth off my body. The man was spraying me down. Rye was already wet. I could see him shiver ever once in a while. The man sprayed me directly in the face. I held my breath, coughing violently when he moved the spray of water. Salt water. I could not drink this. If I did I would be more dehydrated. My eyes burned as the salt water infiltrated them.

He moved past me spraying the fish bones from the floor. After spraying every living halfling he seemed satisfied. Leaving us all damp and frozen. I felt myself shiver. Tying to force myself to stay still. Everything smelled of salt. This might be an improvement. I could no longer smell the old blood or decaying bodies.

Rye looked uncomfortable. "You going to do your shimmer thing?" he asked.

I tried. No connection "Nope. Its not working." I told him.

"Would you mind watching my back? I just want to try to get some sleep." Rye asked.

"Of course." I told him.

I watched Rye relax. His body go slack. Without the tension he looked younger. The water dripped from his blond hair. There was no way around the fact that Ryan was a beautiful man.

After what felt like a full day. Ryan woke up to the sound of the engine changing.

"Holly shit" Rye said.

"What?" I asked.

"We are stopping." Rye's eyes are wide. I felt the terror grip my stomach. We are stopping.