Chương 20: Don't leave me...

The darkness of night descended once again, Rhea finished dining with old lady Lila and made her way back to her room. However, the mere thought of sleeping sent shivers down her spine as she dreaded recalling the haunting nightmare that had plagued her countless times at night.

The pain all too real, receiving a stab in her dream felt overwhelmingly terrifying. Unable to bring herself to sleep, she decided to go out for a nighttime walk in the general's residence to perhaps ease her mind.

As Rhea wandered through the hallways on her night-time stroll, the sky was adorned with a brilliantly glowing red moon that provided large light to illuminate her way. She looked up to the sky as she stood on the corridor's platform to admire the night sky.

The full moon was so bright it dimmed the many stars in the sky, but looking at the large moon, it reminded her of her nightmare again.

For a moment, it suddenly felt like she'd been plunged back into the nightmare. She crouched down on the ground while clutching her lower chest, she felt like there was something pressing against her stomach, suffocating her until she couldn't breathe.

Rhea's eyes swelled up with tears as the pain intensified, she bit down on her lower lip to hold back from crying out. What was this pain? She thought still clutching to her lower chest.

Rhea stayed on the ground for some minutes until the pain reduced, she then decided to just go back to her room. She managed to stand up and began to drag her feet back, however her sensitive ears picked up some weird noises that made her stop in her tracks.

She turned towards the direction of the noise, she felt her eyes widened in astonishment at the sight, "What the...!"

The imposter who she hadn't seen since the time they'd returned from the solider's camp was back, but what was even more surprising was; he was dragging something huge behind him. She narrowed her eyes to see clearly, with the help of the moonlight she saw the thing_ no not a thing, but the creature he was dragging along.

Pukleoff! The non-vegetarian goat that almost made her his meal the other day.

What was he going to do with that creature? Was he perhaps planning on eating the meat in secret to break the rules of vegetarians?

She had been wondering where he was since that afternoon, but who would have thought he'd gone hunting. Rhea's line of sight followed him as he dragged the creature towards the farmhouse. A Pukleoff was not a small animal, but this man dragged it like it weighed nothing, and the way he was doing it seemed like he'd done this a countless times before.

Intrigued, Rhea made her way towards the farmhouse. The moon was providing enough light for her to have a clear view of her path. Upon arriving at the farmhouse's entrance, she cautiously peered inside before entering.

Inside, the farmhouse was illuminated by a wall lamp, and Rhea spotted Jurian hunched over in front of the creature. He appeared oblivious to her arrival. However, as she was about to call out his name, she heard a growling sound emanating from him.

Pausing for a moment, what was that sound? Could it be that the creature was still alive? she thought. Then waited before approaching him again. Once she was by his side, she asked, "What are you..." Rhea's words stuck in her throat the moment his head jerked towards her and she saw his face.

At the sight before her eyes, terror struck her heart, causing it to plummet to her stomach. Witnessing his once blue eyes now transformed into pure black like those of a demon, sent shivers down her spine. His lips were tightly shut, however, an ominous view was imposed by his long fangs. Growling like a beast, he stood up and viciously pushed the lamp aside, leaving the farmhouse in complete darkness.

Everything happened too fast, that Rhea couldn't almost believe what she'd just seen. She was desperate to flee from the eerie scene, but she realized too late that his clawed hand clutched onto her wrist.

"Ahhh!" He pulled her and pushed her on the ground, then she felt her neck went cold. He had pinned her down and loomed over her, his cold lips came in contact with her neck.

Rhea looked totally terrified as she tried to push the imposter on top of her away. She used all her strength to try to get him off of her body, however, the man was too strong, she was no match for him.

He tightly held her in his arms, firmly trapping her body. The strength of his arms were grasping so tightly, it made her resistance completely futile.

Nonetheless, in the middle of her hard struggles, his mouth went to her neck again. As soon as his lips touched her neck, his warm breath felt like it was searing through her skin. His teeth pierced her skin, and she waited for the pain, but instead, an intense warmth spread throughout her body.

He tightly clasped his arms around her waist, drawing her near to his firm physique. Despite the cold ground beneath her, Rhea felt his mouth sucking on her flesh as he pinned her down even more.

However, as if he was suddenly possessed by something, his fangs pierced deeper into her neck. Rhea felt a sharp pain shot through her, she couldn't help but cry out, "You... you're hurting me."

Nevertheless, he didn't let go. It only seemed like her cry of pain had provoked something inside him, he sank his fangs deeper and forcefully sucked her neck to draw blood. He pulled her even more closer to eliminate any space between them. His actions made his sucking turn into an intimate nibbling.

Although, he was only taking blood, it made Rhea's head feel light as heat spread through her body. She grabbed his shirt and clenched tightly to it while bitting down on her bottom lip.

What was he doing to her body?

Rhea didn't want to admit it, but she liked the feeling of his closeness. At that thought, a seething rage overflowed her.

What did he think he was doing? Feeding on her blood like she was some kind of a meal?!

He dared to take advantage of her, only she was allowed to do so to people!

This bastard...!

Rhea bent her knees and used all her strength to push against his important lower area. Despite not being in his right senses, he felt the pain and quickly let go of her.

Rhea used the opportunity to sit up and punched him hard in the face. However, her hard punch didn't seem to affect him at all, it only seemed to provoke him even more. He grabbed her again.

Rhea quickly tried to push him away from her to make a run for it. Nonetheless before she could move, she felt his arm wrapped around her waist, he pulled her back against his body.

With the force of his hand, Rhea was pushed to sit on his lap on the ground.

Terrified, she tried to push away, but noticed his black orbs turned blue then shifted to black again.

"Please, don't leave me..."He murmured as he seemed to fight back the demon taking over him.

Rhea stared fixedly at him, "What's with you? You are holding tightly to my waist and saying I shouldn't leave you. If I refuse, are you going to force me?"

"..."

Although she said that, in the end Rhea didn't move. Jurian moved his head forward, and then tightened his arm around her waist to hug her even closer, like before, he tightly confined her movement, then rested his head on her chest while breathing heavily. It was just like a child pleading to his mother to stay with him.

He pressed his face against her chest, he pressed so hard that Rhea thought that she was going to suffocate. He closed his eyes, and carefully listening to her heartbeat and breathing as if the feeling of her brought peace to him.

Silence enveloped their surroundings, all Rhea could hear was his heavy breathing and trembling body against hers. He then murmured against her chest, "Rheanna... don't leave my side ever... please stay."

He said those words in a way that made her heart skip a beat. Even though she had no idea what was wrong with him or why he became savage all of a sudden, she couldn't bring herself to push him away again. He looked so pitiful. Hence, she remained seated on his lap with her legs on both his sides.

The pair stayed like that for hours, Rhea didn't know for how long they were like that, but his head which was now resting on her breast, made it sore. She raised her hand and smacked the back of his head,

"You brat...you are hurting my chest."

He didn't reply, but he adjusted his head from her sore breast. Their movements were deadlock on the ground, if someone should walk in on them at this moment, it would look like they were lovers who just finished doing the deed and were now resting in each other's arms. Rhea thought.

Rhea listened to his breath which had turned steady, the trembling had also stopped, his tremor slowly began to die down.

"Hey, have you finished using me as a pillow?" She prodded him.

He didn't reply, but loosened his embrace around her midsection. Rhea realized he had passed out on her. She carefully settled him onto the floor, but as soon as she tried to distance herself, he tugged on her to come back.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her close once more. "Don't go..." he pleaded with his eyes still shut.

She gazed at him for a moment before saying, "You're asking for quite a lot… I'll remain only because you've been feeding me well these past few days." She murmured, then yawned tiredly before she shut her eyes and dozed off into a deep sleep as well.

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