Chapter 26 I crave human blood

My neck was still hurting like hell when I regained consciousness, but it was better than before.

"Aaa..." I cried out in extreme pain, holding my neck as I tried to get up.

‘Why did he bite me? Why was he behaving like a monster again?’ As I wondered, tears began to well in my eyes. I always felt excruciating pain in my heart when he behaved like that with me.

"Thank god you woke up. How are you feeling now?" As I heard James's concerned voice, I realised he was also in the room with me. With the blink of my eyes, he reached up to my bed from the couch.

"How am I feeling? Don't you know what my condition is? I'm like a crazy person, running after Jonathan for six months and he-“ I sobbed and continued, “He’s running away from me. He's not even sharing anything with me, instead lying to me all the time, and he almost killed me today. I could have died from pain, but he didn't worry about me, and he did all of this just because he wanted me to leave him." I wept in front of James because it was hurting me so much and I couldn't handle it any longer, and he gave me a helpless look.

He shook his head. “No, Mia, you are thinking wrong. Jonathan didn't do this to scare you-“

“Then why is he doing this with me, James? Why?” I asked, completely exhausted by his behaviour.

He took a deep breath before speaking. “Actually, Mia, he lost control after seeing the blood on your forehead. He had never acted like this in a hundred years after seeing the blood; he had survived on the blood of animals, but today it seemed like someone had possessed him." My eyes widened in shock as he clarified.

I didn’t expect this.

‘Now it makes sense why he is pushing me away from him: he is losing control of himself and doesn't want to harm me. Like previously, I misinterpreted him and blamed him, assuming he purposefully injured me.’ As I dejectedly closed my eyes, fresh tears rolled down my cheeks. ‘I should have trusted my love.’

"Mia, you have no idea what his condition was after you went unconscious; he was guilty and blaming himself." As he told me, I opened my eyes and gave him a blank look.

Flashback

James P.O.V.

You passed out after Jonathan's attack, and he stood in shock. He looked at you with enormous shame in his eyes, and I sat next to you right away to see if you were okay.

"Oh my God, what have I done? With my own hands, I murdered my love. What did I do, James?" Jonathan sobbed in agony after grabbing my collar, assuming incorrectly that he had killed you.

"I should also die now because this is what I deserve." He whispered and hurried away before I could stop him.

Before going after him, first, I checked you by placing my palm near your nose and sighed with relief because you were still breathing. I quickly fed you my blood and then left to check on Jonathan after laying you on the couch.

When I entered Jonathan's room, my eyes dilated in terror because I saw that he was just about to burn himself alive with the lighter.

I frantically yelled and rushed to him. "Jonathan..." I hastily snatched the lighter from his hand and flung it out of the window.

"James, leave me, I want to die. I killed my love. I have no right to live now." He tried to jump down the window to get back the lighter but before he could do this, I hastily came in front of him and blocked his way.

"Jonathan, listen to me." He hit the wall as I pushed him with all my strength because he wasn’t ready to listen to me.

He again hurried to the window but came to a halt as I told him. “Jonathan, she is still alive. Your Mia is still alive, she didn't die.”

He turned towards me and asked to confirm. “Really?”

“Yes, she is alive.” As I gave him a slight nod, he closed his eyes and sighed with profound relief.

"James, why did you bring Mia here without informing me? I lost grip over myself and attacked her. The only thing keeping me away from her was my fear of hurting her, and my worst nightmare came true today." His words and his eyes were evidence that he was in deep remorse.

"Jonathan, for two months you have been punishing yourself and howling all day and night in misery; I thought Mia was the only one who help you, but I am startled to see you behaving like this for human blood because you have never behaved like that before. What is wrong with you? Why can't you control your thirst for human blood anymore? What happened to you suddenly?" As I asked him, he gave me a clueless look.

He shook his head frantically. “I don't know, James. I don't know what is happening to me. All the time, I crave human blood. My appetite for human blood is not decreasing. I get mad and lose control over myself when I notice a human in front of me. It feels like someone has possessed me.” He finally spat out the truth in a helpless tone, shocking me.

He continued, “I am keeping Mia away from me because I don't want to kill her, and this was the only reason I lied to her about Sofia. I was having a difficult time resisting the urge to swallow her blood that day. I couldn't understand what had happened to me all of a sudden, and then I got a vision of the future in which I brutally killed Mia by biting her. Then, on the spot, I made a plan to deceive Mia into thinking I was living blissfully without her so that she would leave me.”

He dejectedly closed his eyes, and I placed my hand on his shoulder and slightly squeezed it.

“James, the need for human blood and Mia's love is killing me. What should I do?" He opened his eyes and questioned me in a helpless tone.

After hearing this, I felt a tremendous amount of grief in my heart. His state was similar to when he became a vampire a hundred years ago. Every vampire passes through this phase in their early years, but I was clueless why he was going through it again.

"Please, help me, James, please help me, I can't take this more. I can't stay away from my love when I need her the most." He begged me to help him, crying like a vulnerable child.

“Everything is gonna be fine, Jonathan. We’ll find a solution.” I just hugged him and reassured him.

Flashback Over