Blooded Mate

Chapter 118 - Awake

Jan woke with a start. His eyes flared wide open briefly before bright light forced them shut again. He flinched, squinting at the piercing rays. While his lids fluttered weakly, protecting his sensitive pupils as they adjusted, a growing pressure was building on his torso - a tightness crushing his chest.

Air. His lungs screamed for air. He needed to breathe!

Jan parted his dry lips, wheezing as he drew ragged breath. Dark, gritty powder instantly filled his already parched mouth.

Choking, he tilted his head and spat out the sand. Huge, dry coughs wracked his chest, causing more damage than the irritating grains in his windpipe.

He tried to push the sand away from his mouth, but his arms would not budge. He was stuck.

Blessed Gaia!

Panicking, he tried to scramble out of his prison. But no matter what he did, he could not free even one miserable finger from the concrete block trapping him. His energy flagged, and he dropped down, panting. His heart pounded in his ears, competing with the fear screaming at the back of his mind.

A whining noise pierced the frenzied haze in his head. It grew louder. It was the muffled blare of a siren.

Where am I?

Jan opened his eyes again, blinking until his blurry eyesight focused. Red glares flashed among the bright recessed lights in the ceiling. The cage he lay in was transparent like glass. As he shifted his neck, more dirt slid off his body.

Soil!

The crucial information finally filtered through into his head. He lay on sand - wonderful bits of Gaia's earth that hugged him like an old friend. It meant he was not caged. Someone had buried him to heal him.

Ivan. It must be.

But what happened?

Jan wracked his brain for his last memories. However, all he could draw were hazy images and murky thoughts, nothing helpful to determine what injury had sent him into the healing sleep.

He must have been unconscious for a long time because his body was limp and stiff, which was why he felt trapped. His heart pumped loudly, struggling to revive veins and capillaries that had collapsed from disuse. His chest rattled as he drew in more air to his aching lungs. Sluggish blood pumped through his arteries like warm tiny needles, pushing relentlessly to the rest of his body, waking it up.

Fuck, that'll hurt.

His instinct was to clench his muscles against the sharp ache as the warm liquid drilled into his tissues. But he forced himself to calm down. The easiest way to get through this was not to fight the pain. Instead, he had to relax and allow every tortured inch of his cadaverous muscles to thaw and rejuvenate.

Hot, life-giving blood traveled further down his limbs. It felt like someone was injecting scalding oil into his bones. Jan shivered from the strain, and an anguished groan rattled his parched lips. For what felt like an eternity, he could think of nothing but the pain setting his nerves on fire.

Finally, when the pins and needles eased, the tired vampire gave his toes an experimental wiggle. He quickly hissed.

His body was still sore, and the pain had dulled into tingling pinches under his skin. Sensitive as he was, the gritty sand rubbed him like shards of glass on raw flesh. But the discomfort was absolutely worth seeing the soil shift to expose one pale, bony foot.

Thank Gaia. He could move again.

However, before the relieved vampire could jubilate, a heavy, wooden door swung open, allowing a thickset man with cropped hair to storm in. Jan froze, then blinked as memories rendered the rugged, scowling face familiar.