I set my book down on the table beside me and leaned back in the chair. I was about to close my eyes and see if sleep might take me when my vision became oddly shrouded. Looking down at the book, I could barely read the letters in the title. And then, as if I had just closed my eyes, a blackness flooded my brain.

CHAPTER 7: BEN

L ow-hanging branches whipped against my face as I raced through a dark wood. Hunger clawed at my stomach. My mouth was parched. Every muscle in my body felt tired and strained. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep running without sustenance. And yet I couldn’t slow my feet down. It was as though they belonged to someone else and, if anything, my speed only seemed to be increasing.

I need to drink, or I’m going to pass out.

I held my breath as the gushing of a river met my ears. It was close. Very close. A scent pervaded the atmosphere as I neared. A sweet, unearthly scent. My mouth salivated as I raced harder. A clearing came into view, beyond which ran a river. A crimson river. I could barely contain myself as I knelt down on the edge of the bank. I cupped my hands and dipped them into the red liquid. I swallowed a mouthful. It tasted even more divine than it smelt. It glided down my throat like nectar. As I downed gulp after gulp, it felt like it was invigorating every cell in my body. By the time I stood up again, my hunger fully satiated, I felt like a new person. Strong. Invincible. Like I could do anything with these refreshed limbs. Take on a thousand armed hunters, run the circumference of the globe…

A stabbing sensation in my arms brought me to consciousness. There was a disgusting taste in my mouth, nothing like the succulent taste in my dream. My vision came back to me. Frowning, I looked down.

My heart skipped a beat.

My arms were pierced with deep, oozing puncture marks. The blood had dripped onto my lap and stained the seat. I reached a hand to my mouth. It felt moist. When I withdrew my fingers, they too were covered with the red substance.

I went to the bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror, my face, body and clothes a bloody mess.

I’ve just been cannibalizing myself.

I bent over the sink and rinsed my mouth out, horrified at the taste of my own blood. Then I stripped off my soiled clothes and turned on the shower. Stepping inside, I washed away the stains from my face, chest, and arms. Now that the blood was rinsed off, I could see exactly what damage I’d done to myself. The scattering of puncture wounds were in the process of healing, though they were taking longer than they should.

I stepped out of the shower and dried myself off. Wrapping a robe around my body, I looked at myself again in the mirror. Now that I was no longer distracted by the blood coating my mouth, I noticed the difference in my eyes. They had become darker. Much darker. There was hardly a tint of green left in them.

Tearing my gaze away, I walked back into the main room. My body felt weaker than ever. The dream that I’d had—imagining myself consuming endless amounts of exquisite blood—only made the reality more unbearable.

My knees unsteady, I stared at the red-stained fabric of the armchair I’d been sitting in.

How can I stop myself from doing that again?

I cast my gaze around the room, looking for anything that I might be able to use to restrain myself. But I couldn’t see anything suitable.

I had no choice but to summon the jinni again.

Nuriya looked strained as she appeared after five minutes, her eyes fixing on the blood.

“I fell into some kind of… daze just now,” I began, before she could utter a word. I was sure that it hadn’t been sleep, because my eyes hadn’t been closed—just fogged over. “I started drinking my own blood. I need you to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Restrain me somehow…”

“Restrain you,” she murmured.

“Maybe even fix me to the wall if you have to,” I said.

“No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “That won’t be necessary. And besides, it would be far too uncomfortable.”

She moved closer to me and cupped my face in her hands. At first I thought this was just her usual irritating, overly-affectionate behavior, and I was about to brush her aside, but from her expression of concentration I realized that she was doing something else. When she let go of me, I raised a hand to my face but found that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t bring it closer than five inches from my mouth. I tried to raise my forearm and bring it closer, but again, it was impossible. It was as though she had placed an invisible barrier around my head.

This should do the job.

I looked toward her and nodded, grateful for the solution. “Thank you,” I said. “You can leave again now.”

She glanced at the blood and as she did, the stains vanished from the seat, as if they had never been there to begin with. Then, after saying goodbye, she left.

Alone again, I heaved a sigh. Now it was time to wait again. I didn’t attempt to pick up another book—my hunger was far too blinding for me to be able to concentrate. Instead I walked over to the bed and lay down. Maybe, if I could just drift back into unconsciousness, I would be able to pass more time like this. Now that I was no longer able to harm myself with my fangs, this would be the least painful state of existence.

CHAPTER 8: BEN

By some mercy, I did manage to sleep. I didn’t remember the last time I’d rested properly, and my body was exhausted.

When I woke up, it was with a strange lightness in my head. As I sat up and looked around the room, my vision was sharp and crisp. I stood up, and when I felt a sense of strength in my body, I wondered whether I was just imagining it. I stretched out my arms, examining them. They had healed by now. I wondered how long I’d been asleep.