Semua Bab Bound to the vampire lord: Bab 21 - Bab 26

I crouched down in front of the boy, my knees bending until I was almost sitting on my heels. Up close, he looked even worse. His breathing was fast and shallow, and there was a long cut across his arm that was still seeping blood.“Hey,” I said softly. “Can you stand?”His eyes flicked up to mine. Bright blue. Shaking. Terrified.“I… I don’t know,” he whispered. His voice sounded like he had swallowed sandpaper.“Okay, let’s try.”I slipped my arm under his and slowly pulled him up. He let out a quiet sound — pain or fear, I wasn’t sure — but he didn’t fight me. He was so light it scared me a little. Like if I pulled too hard, he might break.“Come on,” I murmured, guiding him toward the room. When we made it inside, I shut the door quickly and pressed the lock.The boy sagged against me, and I half-carried him to the couch. He sank into it like someone whose body had finally given up.“Just stay here,” I said, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “Let me look for a first aid box or so

I woke up the next morning feeling like my bones were made of sand. Everything inside me felt heavy, foggy, worn thin. The night kept replaying behind my eyes, looping over and over like some kind of cruel show I didn’t sign up for.For a second, I just lay there staring at the ceiling, letting my mind drag me back into everything I had seen. The vampires. Their eyes glowing like embers. The feeders on leashes. The collars. The fear. The powerlessness. All of it swirling in a sickening mix under my skin.I lifted my hand slowly and touched the side of my neck.The collar wasn’t there anymore, but somehow the phantom weight still was.Before I’d reached my room the night before, Perth had stopped me in the hallway and told me quietly—no, commanded me—to return the collar. I had slipped it off right after, relieved for even a moment of freedom, but the pressure of it, the tightness, the humiliation… my hand could still feel all of that as if it were carved into my skin.A breath tremble

The figure froze when my voice cracked out, and then it slowly turned toward me, like the sound had tugged at it. My breath hitched. I couldn’t see a face yet — just the outline of someone tall, someone still, someone watching me.Then it started walking toward me.Quiet steps. Steady. Closer. Closer. Closer.I pressed harder into the mattress without meaning to, my muscles locked. My eyes strained in the darkness, trying to make out anything — a jawline, hair, something — but everything was just silhouette and moonlight until the figure reached my bedside.Before I could open my mouth, it leaned past me and clicked on the lamp.Warm light spilled across the room.And my stomach dropped.It was Perth.He sat on the bed beside me like it was the most normal thing in the world, then held out a hand toward me. “Your hand,” he said quietly.For a second I didn’t move. My brain had lagged behind everything — behind the shock, behind the fear, behind him showing up in my room in the middle