Chapter 10 Lesson gone wrong

“The first thing that you will be learning from me today is how to control your affinity for blood. As a vampire, blood is the same as life for you, you will always desire it and you will always feel as if you cannot live without it. The truth of the matter is that you can, but for an inexperienced vampire like you, it’s impossible as it takes years to control one’s hunger.”

Joana sat down in the study, listening to everything that Derick was saying. Tonight, was the first night of her training with him, she didn’t know how long it would take before she would be able to master her vampire powers but she hoped it would be soon enough, as it hadn’t been three days yet and she already missed the sunlight. She turned her focus back on Derick who went to the table to bring the bowl of blood they had gone to hunt for last night.

“I will place this bowl directly in front of you, and I will cuff you in handcuffs containing bits of silver; not enough to harm you but to weaken you and render you motionless. Mind you this will not be easy, but this is the first thing you will have to learn as a vampire, especially if you come across a human or a group of humans. Learning how to control your hunger will help you to blend in amongst the humans even if you’re a vampire. And the final reason I will give is because your life depends on this lesson. The number one rule of the supreme council is that humans must never know about us, and sorry, but you can’t keep a low vampire profile if you keep chowing down on every human you come across. This lesson will save you the stress of having to erase countless number of minds when you could have just avoided the ugly situation in the first place, like what happened with your boyfriend.”

Joana pinched herself, she still couldn’t believe that she had looked at the man she loved right in the eye, and let her vampire instincts take over instead. She would forever be thankful to Dana for saving his life, as she never would have forgiven herself if Andrew died because of her.

“So now, we begin,” Derick said as he walked to one of the huge drawers and brought out a pair of handcuffs attached to a large, long metal chain. He flew up to the ceiling and attached the chain to the large chandelier hanging from it. By the time he finished, the long chain was now hanging down from the ceiling and the handcuffs were at the same height they stood.

“Don’t worry about the roof, you wont even have enough strength to pull it down by the time I place these handcuffs on you.”

She walked towards him after he indicated for her to do so and he grabbed her two hands and placed them in the handcuffs. She now stood, her hands hanging from the ceiling. Suddenly, she felt all the energy in her body drain and move towards her hands. Derick was right, the silver was weakening her!

“Now that you are weak, the hunger for blood in you will multiply, and you will thirst for it more than anything in the world, but you will be so powerless and you won’t be able to do anything, even when the bowl is right in front of you. There are other easier ways to learn to control your hunger but this is the fastest and it worked very well for me. At first, you will wish you were dead, but later on, you will find out that you are not just learning to restrain yourself, but you are also building up your inner strength and your endurance as a vampire.”

He placed the bowl on a small stool right in front of her; close enough for her to see but far enough for her to reach. He continued speaking.

“This is where you will remain all night, when the sun comes up, I will come back to check on you. If you are able to remain in this position, and I know you will because you technically can’t do anything, you will have passed this lesson and then we move on to the next one. Don’t worry, I will give you enough time to rest and gather your strength before the next one. I assure you; you won’t be able to recover from this experience for days.”

He hadn’t even left the room, and she had already begun to feel the impact. She ran towards the bowl, but was pulled back by the chain hanging from the ceiling. She began to feel her eyes spin in many directions, the silver weakening her more and more.

Derick, after seeing that everything was in order, left her to her struggle.

It was a traumatic experience for her, as she couldn’t see anything else in the room apart from that bowl. It stood there on top of the stool, calling to her, “tear down the roof if you have to come and get me,” it said. She did try to do that, but it was hopeless, as the handcuffs drained her more and more with every second that passed.

It got to the point that she began to feel her eyes spin, it felt as if the room started rotating. Her head started to pound and she felt as if she would faint at any moment, but there was no room for that either as the way in which her hands were hanging made her stay conscious but yet uncomfortable.

There was no way to tell the time; she wanted to know how long it had been, and how much time she had left before this would all be over. Even though she was an immortal, she still felt life slipping out of her, she began to feel her stomach burning. Was Derick punishing her? She knew she said she wanted to learn how to use her powers as fast as possible but she never thought it would be this hard.

Unable to bear it any longer, she began to call on Derick’s name. She couldn’t yell as loud as she used to, but it was still better than standing there, waiting to die. She remembered him saying that there were easier ways to learn to control her hunger. She would try one of those options, even if it took longer time. No one should be able to have to go through this torture, no one.

She continued calling as loudly as she could, she knew it wouldn’t be loud enough to go far, but it was still worth trying. She wanted to get out of these handcuffs, fast.

After a few seconds, she heard the door open, and a pair of footsteps running towards her. The person upon seeing her state, shouted.

“Oh, my goodness, Joana! Who did this to you?”

It was Dana’s voice. She couldn’t move any parts of her body anymore, but her mouth managed to form a little smile, knowing that help had come.