Waking Up
CINDER
When I wake up there are two things I notice. One, I feel remarkably healthy for a dead girl. Second, I’m thirsty as hell.
“Thank fuck,” Kaison says before crushing me to him.
My brain can’t catch up to what’s happening or where I am.
Strangely, my skin recognizes the air, and it’s not Midnight. I’m on my own bed in my own apartment. It’s daylight but my blinds and curtains are closed tight and only the slightest wisps of sunshine creep in from the windows’ corners.
“I can’t breathe.” My muffled words go into his shoulder.
He doesn’t pull away, continuing to crush me, when I realize something absolutely wild. I’m not breathing at all.
“Uh, Kai? I’m not breathing,” I say when I pull back.
My prince’s eyes are red-rimmed, and he looks like absolute shit. His hair is a tousled mess, and he’s sporting some patchydark stubble. I didn’t even know he was capable of growing facial hair. All Kai has on is a wrinkled set of jeans and some chains around his neck.
There is a wariness to his expression as if he’s expecting me to lose my shit. “I know,” he says, then clears his throat before taking my hands. “You were dying.” His voice cracks over the words. “I couldn’t let him take you from me. I couldn’t let you die so I. . . I. . .” Suddenly, the prince of Midnight is a lost little boy, scared of what he’s trying to tell me or what my reaction will be.
“He turned you into one of us,” another voice answers from the door.
I turn to find Kaison’s mother, Queen Mei-Ling Charming, standing there in full Midnight regalia, her blue and black skirts filling the entryway to my tiny bedroom.
She looks so out of place, I almost think I’m hallucinating or dead after all.
“Oh,” is all I can say.
I’m a vampire.
A Midnight fairy.
A bloodsucker.
“So, that’s why I'm so thirsty,” I say in a low voice over a dry throat.
Kai leans over and grabs a massive takeout cup covered with a lid. He hands it over. “Drink this, you’ll feel better.”
At least it has a lid so I don’t have to face the bright red blood I’m about to consume. Sipping on the drink, my eyes widen. A mixed medley of pumpkin spice and something sweet and savory hits my gut in a satisfying ket-pow. “Well that’s the best thing I’ve ever had in my mouth,” I say taken aback after I’ve swallowed half of it in one go.
“Well, that’s hurtful,” Kaison says with a pout.
“Kaison,” his mother snaps.
His shoulders hunch a little. “Sorry, Mom.” Then to me he says, “It’s half pumpkin spice latte, half Goldie, with extra cinnamon.”
I stop drinking at that. “Did you say Goldie?”
“Yeah,” he gives me a wry smile. “She and Red fought for a while about whose blood you would drink first but Goldie won that fight pretty quickly. All your friends donated blood because they wanted you to feel supported and loved through your transition to this new, erm, lifestyle.”
I’m fully fucking floored. “Wow.” I should be grossed out or weirded out but I’m just strangely touched.
“You have pretty awesome friends,” he says, squeezing my thigh, his hair dipping into his smiling eyes.
“Pfft, I knew that,” I wave off. Then my eyes move back to the Queen of Midnight so casually standing in my doorway. The usual disconnected glaze in her eyes is notably absent as she focuses in on me.
“I owe you an explanation,” she says evenly.
