It’s hard to tell how long it’s been but I’d guess it’s been a few weeks. The only way I’m able to tell is the steady drop in my food and water supply. Sylvia had kept a few months of food and water for appearance’s sake which she gave to me. I had also been adding to my supply of food and water whenever I had the chance.

I was thankful that my overplanning would most likely end up saving my life. If rationed correctly I should have nearly a year’s worth of food but sadly my water was going to run out before that. However, I don’t plan on staying in this hell hole for that long.

I’d like to say that things have been going well. That, as a team, we have been sending these geckos to what hell they crawled out of. That the two of us have been getting enough sleep. But reality is often disappointing.

“I had that one!” Sylvia hissed at me as an Earth Lance bisected the gecko that was about to take a bite out of the vampire.

Sure…

I didn’t even bother responding to her as I sent another Earth Lance barreling towards another of the black scaled gecko monsters. The creature dodged to the side and Sylvia should have had the perfect opportunity to stab the monster but she hesitated, something she seems to be doing a lot. A bolt of yellow lightning left my hand and pierced through the monster’s hind leg severing it. The monster crashed into the ground and began writhing in agony.

Sylvia moved towards the downed monster and raised her blade high with the point down. It took a few seconds but the monster let out a screech of pain as Sylva finished it off with a stab to the heart.

“Move!” I yelled.

Sylvia was swiveling around and I could already tell she was about to yell at me. But in her blind rage, she had completely missed the monster that was about to launch a rock at subsonic speeds at her.

I was attempting to launch another lightning spell at the monster since earth magic wouldn’t reach her in time. However, the vampire didn’t seem too bothered at the prospect of getting injured. As long as the blow wasn’t an instant kill she could theoretically survive anything. She even bragged that poison and illness were nothing more than a “nuisance” to her.

But there was a problem with her mentality. Every time she let a monster injure her because she made a mistake or hesitated meant it would cost her blood. She would lose blood from the wound and use blood to heal herself. My blood.

Right before the rock was about to hit her, spikes burst from the corpse of the monster she had finished off. The rock barreled into the bloody red spikes and smashed a few of them to dust, but there was enough to stop it. Sylvia growled in frustration and the spikes left the body and went airborne as she aimed at the final gecko. The spikes made a whooshing sound as they flew towards the monster. Spike after spike embedded itself into the monster and in a blink of an eye, the monster exploded in a mist of red.

That move cost a lot of blood as well…

That was Sylvia’s Blood Sorcery at work. It seems just like magic, she has limitations. She can’t freely control a living thing’s blood from a distance just like how I can’t form a spell core inside of a person. Sylvia needs direct contact with her target’s blood through her weapon, her fangs, or a Blood Sorcery spell. The red lines running across her blade apparently allowed her to use the Estoc like an extension of her fangs. At least that’s how she explained it to me. And of course every spell she cast cost blood…

“You!’ Sylvia yelled while pointing at me. “What are you doing throwing spells so close to me? I had it under control! Even if it did-”

“Hit you? Then I’m the one that pays for it!” I interrupted. “If you could focus on the threats around you then it wouldn’t be a problem! But even after all this time, you are still hesitating! And you aren’t the one that suffers for it.”

There was no doubt in my mind that Sylvia had some degree of proper training. Her skills with the sword showed that she had been taught by somebody and she wasn’t a novice in her Blood Sorcery either. However, it was clear her skills were present but her experience in using them was severely lacking.

I doubt Sylvia has ever had to take a life before she woke up at the bottom of a dungeon. I’m starting to wonder if it wasn’t that the monsters were difficult in her first dungeon but that Sylvia couldn’t stomach the death of the creatures she was killing. Even if those monsters were trying to kill her first.

She huffed at me in frustration as she glared at me with her crimson eyes. Deep bags settled underneath her eyes and she looked like she was about to snap. I’m sure I didn’t look much better either.

Sylvia has been struggling to “get a good night’s rest”. I can’t say that I’ve fared better in my attempts to sleep but even a few restless hours was better than nothing. Sylvia’s fuse was getting shorter and shorter and by extension so was mine. We were both on edge constantly and the chasm between us hasn’t even so much as closed an inch these last few weeks. It might be catching on fire at this point.

“Let’s keep moving,” she said seething.

I shook my head and began walking a few paces behind her. I had retired my empty scabbard and fashioned myself a cane out of earth magic. I was no longer hobbling around but I still had a limp and I needed to rely on my cane. Running was still a pipe dream but every passing day was a day closer to being healed. But I doubt getting my blood sucked was helping me much…

Suddenly Sylvia let out a gasp and I followed her gaze. I even let out my own breath of surprise.

“There’s light… in front of us,” she said quietly.

Sure enough, the gloomy blue light that has been acting as a guide this entire time was now radiating from in front of us and not to our side. Which meant there were crystals there. And these crystals are embedded in the wall.

Sylvia ran at full speed into the darkness and I picked up the speed to catch up to her. It took a few minutes but I heard Sylvia scream before I saw her again. It wasn’t a scream of physical pain but anguish and frustration.

“FUCKKK!!!”

Her voice carried over to me and I finally caught up to her. She was on her knees with her hands in her head. She turned and looked at me and I could see her anger and frustration building.

“Don’t you dare say anything to me,” I said coldly.

What we had thought was the exit turned out to be just another gray stone wall. Crystals were embedded in the side but there was no obvious exit. Sylvia stood up and began muttering to herself.

“What did I do to deserve this? Did some god curse me or something?” Then she turned to me and with a shaky finger started pointing at me, “You…”

“What? Are you really about to blame me?” I spat.

Sylvia gave me a blank stare. Her face was an emotionless mask for a few seconds, then she just started laughing hysterically. She ran her hands across her face as she continued to laugh. Has she finally lost her mind?

“That’s right! That’s right!” she yelled.

“What… what is wrong with you? This is what happens when you don’t get enough sleep. You are finally breaking,” I said.

Her maniacal laughter petered out and she addressed me with a smile, “That’s right. I wouldn’t expect some kid to understand what I’m going through.”

“Understand…” I trailed off.

“What it’s like to lose your entire family. Everyone I’ve ever known is dead. I’m in a time and place that is completely foreign to me. I have nothing. You just wouldn’t understand, Voker.”

An odd feeling washed over me. My mind went blank and before I knew it I had dropped my cane on the ground.

“I wouldn’t understand?” I mumbled.

I didn’t even recognize the voice that left my mouth. Sylvia's eyes went wide as she looked at me. My body was moving on its own. My shaky legs carried me towards her.

“You don’t know me. You have no idea what I’ve been through. My life has been a living hell.”

I was close enough that I could reach out and grab Sylvia but for whatever reason I didn’t. My body was shaking uncontrollably and my mind was completely empty. The girl was just staring at me with wide eyes as sweat rolled down her pale face.

“You wouldn’t know the first thing about suffering! I spent an entire year toiling away as a slave! I was worked to the bone every single day as a vampire drained me of my life! I fought with everything my frail body could muster for every scrap of stale bread and watery slop I could! I was practically fighting death every night at seven years old! And so what if your family is dead!? At least you know they are dead! I spend every waking moment wondering if my family is still alive. Every night I go to sleep I see their faces! I see her face as I push her off the cliff! Every! Single! Day! I agonize over what I did to her! If I ended up saving her! If my spell even worked or if anybody found her!” I was stepping closer and closer to Sylvia as she began to back away from me.

“Every night and every day I can’t! I JUST CAN’T! What if she spent her last few moments of life waiting for me! Waiting for me to come save her from that stone coffin I put her in! Only for me to never come back for her! She trusted me! And I failed her! And every night I don’t dream about her, I see the others. The dying faces of the people I betrayed. They died because of me.”

Sylvia was backed up against the gray wall of the dungeon but I continued forward. “Do you know what it’s like to watch somebody having their fingernails and fingers regrown constantly? Only for them to be pulled and cut off within the next few moments? I was forced to watch for days as the same vampire that crippled me continued to torture her! And you know what!? Even while she was being tortured she never blamed me… not once… she continued telling me it wasn’t my fault as her fingers kept being chopped off. She watched her beloved die in front of her before she could even start a life with him. You know, eventually, she just stopped screaming… her mind broke before her body did, you see.”

I’m so sorry… Deya, it’s all my fault. Remi… please forgive me. I’ll never forget you two.

I was in Sylvia’s face now as I stared into her lifeless crimson eyes. I could hear her struggling to breathe. Sweat poured down the vampire’s face and she looked a few shades paler than usual. Her beautiful Elven face was contorted in panic and fear.

“So tell me, Sylvia…What don’t I understand?”

Even though I had to look up at Sylvia just a bit I was still almost eye to eye with her. My hands were shaking along with the rest of my body in unbridled rage. A part of me just wanted to kill her right here and now but something deep inside of me stopped me from taking that last final act of rage.

Stolen novel; please report.

Ah, this isn’t what I want. This isn’t the version of myself that I want to be…

I took a few steps back from her and got my blood lust under control again. Sylvia crumpled to the ground gasping for air. Tears rolled down her eyes and mixed with her sweat. I sat down on the ground and noticed my vision was blurry.

Oh, I’m crying too. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? But why am I crying now, of all times?

With my legs crossed and sitting on the ground, I tried to stem the flow of tears and snot running down my face. I had to settle with taking out a spare shirt from my ring and use it as a rag to clean my face off.

Time seemed to crawl by. Sylvia was laying against the rock wall and managed to get her breathing under control. But as soon as it seemed I had calmed down a bit I just started laughing like a crazed person. I was laughing so hard that my sides began to ache. If I had tears still left in me I was sure they would be coming out soon. Maybe it was me who actually lost his mind.

“Why are you laughing?” Sylvia asked me in a quiet voice.

Sylvia was staring at me. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying, and her face was a mixture of complex emotions. But she didn’t seem angry with me. If anything, her voice sounded… it sounded different, I guess.

“I’ve never yelled at somebody like that,” I said calmly.

I yelled at Grandpa once over Cerila, but the old man shut me up before I could make a fool of myself. Actually, this is kind of what happened… history does repeat itself, it seems.

“I see…” she trailed off. She was still looking at me. Her body jerked as if she was about to say something, but she seemed to stop herself short. “What you said… did that really happen?” she asked me.

“Yes.”

The gloomy blue light made it difficult to tell for sure, but it felt like Sylvia was observing me to see if I was lying. Sylvia was the first to break eye contact as she looked off into the darkness.

“You must really hate me, huh?” she said meekly.

I let out a deep breath and rubbed my face against my spare shirt. I tossed the shirt back into the ring and waited for Sylvia to look at me again. After a few moments of me staring at her in silence, she eventually looked over at me. What was that face? Was she afraid? Most likely, considering I let so much of my blood lust out by accident. This almost reminds me of the time with Padraic.

“I don’t hate you. And I’m sorry,” I said.

“Huh?" she squeaked in surprise as her eyes went big.

“It’s true I hated you when I first saw you. But I didn’t hate you… I hated the fact that you were a vampire. But… but that’s wrong. I… I shouldn’t be blaming you for what a single vampire did to me. It’s completely illogical and downright wrong. People did the same thing to me, and I hated it… yet I did it to you anyways. I truly know nothing. I let my anger get the best of me… again. So for the record, I don’t hate you, Sylvia. And I’m sorry for hating you in the first place. None of this is your fault. I was the one that agreed to come down here with you, and I understood that it would be dangerous and unpredictable. And I’m sorry for blaming you for not healing me sooner. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t have helped me either. You were just looking out for yourself. So thank you for healing me…”

I felt a wave of anger rush over me. But not at Sylvia, instead at myself. I felt like the world's biggest jerk.

“But most of all I’m sorry about saying that about your family… even if I don’t know if my family is alive or not, at least there is a chance they could still be alive. I shouldn't have said that… I would be devastated if I knew my family was gone forever,” I said.

She blinked her eyes at me a few times, “You… you really mean it?”

“Yes, I really am sorry,” I said with a shake of my head. But then I pointed at her, “But I’m not sorry for yelling at you… though I do regret going overboard… somewhat,” I mumbled.

Sylvia looked down at her hands as her eyes seemed to float around. She was interlocking her fingers repeatedly as she tried to formulate what to say next. She let out a small breath.

“I thought you were just some noble brat that had run away from home. And that you were lying about being some escaped convict… I never imagined you were a slave, let alone for so long. And that all of those things had happened to you… I can’t even begin to imagine what they did to you… I’m so sorry…”Sylvia sounded extremely tired, and her usual beautiful voice was raspy. But her words were filled with what sounded like genuine remorse and concern.

“You haven’t been sleeping because of me, right? You think that I might kill you in your sleep?” I asked.

Sylvia shot up in a panic and raised her hand in defense, “That’s not-!” But she stopped herself and lowered her head. “Yes,” she said quietly.

“This is my fault as well, I suppose. I didn’t trust you, and I let my own emotions cloud my better judgment. You were right from the beginning. We need to work together, or we are both going to die down here. So please forgive me for that as well…”

I felt drained both physically and mentally. I was sure I could lie down right now and never wake up again. I was unbelievably disappointed in myself. No wonder they removed all these emotions from me… they are an absolute pain to detail with.

Sylvia gave me one final look that I couldn’t quite place then she suddenly shot up. “Alright!”

“Huh?” I said out loud.

Sylvia extended a hand to me. “Get up. We are starting over, Voker. But before that…”

I took Sylvia’s soft hand and she helped me up to my feet. Then she looked me dead in the eyes, “This is partially my fault as well. As the older person, I should have said something sooner instead of letting it spiral down like this. I’m sorry about that and I’m sorry for being so whiny and angry all the time. I took my frustration out on you and I shouldn’t have. When you were helping me fight, you were doing the best job possible and I was the one holding you back. So for that, I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”

“Yes, if you can forgive me as well.”

“Of course,” she said with a small smile.

“And older person? Minus your sleeping time, how old are you?” I asked.

“Don’t you know it’s rude-”

“Don’t you even start with that,” I shot back.

Syliva clicked her tongue, “Can’t even take a joke…” Then she exhaled. "If my timing is right then I turned fourteen this summer. But since I grew a little bit while sleeping I can’t be sure… but I’m definitely saying I’m fourteen. But why do you ask? And why are you looking at me like that?”

“You are barely a year older than me… I’m turning thirteen in like two months…” I said.

Sylvia let go of my hand and tilted her head to the side. “What?”

“Don’t what me, I’m serious…”

“Didn’t we just decide to start over? Why are you-”

“I’m really not lying,” I said while crossing my arms.

Sylvia blinked a few times, “Wow… you really aren’t lying are you?”

“That’s literally what I just said…” I groaned.

“Oh… is there… something wrong with you?” she asked.

“I don’t know! How am I supposed to know if there is! You are the one that can heal me, right?” I said defensively.

“Touchy subject… and for the record, I haven’t found anything wrong with you at least not that I can tell.”

I’ve made a crucial mistake, haven’t I?

She shrugged. “Anyways let’s start over now. Voker, it’s nice to meet you,” she said while extending her hand.

I took her hand and shook it again, “Don’t have to start from the beginning beginning…” I grumbled. Sylvia shot me a glare so I acquiesced. “Hello, Sylvia… Although my name is really Kaladin, please continue calling me, Voker… it’s nice to meet you…”

“See that wasn’t so hard?” she giggled.

“Yeah… now do us both a favor and get some sleep. You look like death…” I suggested.

“Because you look so much better than me right now?” she huffed.

Now it was my turn to glare at her.

This vampire…

“Fine… fine… alright just stop glaring at me like that. I’ll get some sleep… but-”

“You need to eat,” I responded quickly. “You have been holding back on drinking my blood because you thought I was going to retaliate if you took too much.

“Yes…” she said meekly.

I sighed… I am the worst.

“Sorry about that. I have plenty of mana and stamina left for the monsters that are coming behind us so take as much as you need. Guess it can be my payment for being such a jerk…”

“I- ah, okay…”

I did my usual routine of making chairs out of earth magic and sat down. Sylvia joined me and I did the usual of extending my arm towards her. She gently grabbed my arm but she hesitated. In the beginning, I had thought she was hesitating because she wasn’t certain about drinking my blood. In my mind clouded from anger, I thought maybe she was just looking down on me or something. But as the days went on she would look up at me before drinking from my arm. Like she was sneaking glances.

It felt like the pieces were falling into place more and more. Sylvia wasn’t just tired, she was starving as well. After getting your blood drained day after day you get a feeling of how much it takes to satisfy a vampire. If I had Jessine to go off of Sylvia was barely taking a quarter of what she did. And Jessine always fed on my neck.

“You want to drink from my neck. Because it tastes better?” I guessed.

Sylvia let go of my arm and her eyes went big, “H-h-how? How do you know that?” she stammered.

“Because the last vampire always drank from my neck. The better-tasting part was just a guess,” I shrugged.

Maybe it’s because it’s closer to my heart? The veins in the sides of your neck are way closer to your heart than the vein at the end of your arm. It could be that oxygen-rich blood might taste better to vampires?

“Would you really let me?” she asked.

“Sure. It can be a sign of trust I suppose. If I didn’t trust you would I let you drink from my neck?”

“No… I guess not… And okay… if it’s okay with you then, Voker.”

“Already said it was, didn’t I?”

I extended the back portion of my chair so she would have a place to rest. It normally took Jessine over two minutes to drink her fill. I didn’t think Sylvia was going to take as much blood from me as Jessine did but I did give her permission.

Even if she does it this one time I won’t be mad… But if she does it a second time I’ll have to put some boundaries in place. My recovery is my number one priority right now… only second to getting out of this hell hole.

Sylvia got out of her seat and crawled behind me. I could feel her warm breath tickle the back of my neck as she got closer.

“Okay… here I go… one more thing though.”

“What?” I asked.

“Can you make me a promise?” she asked me.

“And what would that be?”

“Can you promise to never do what you did to me today again? I was… terrified. I don’t want to feel like that ever again,” she mumbled meekly.

I turned slightly and looked at Sylvia. She seemed conflicted and her gaze was cast downwards.

“Yes. I promise to never do that to you again. I’m sorry for going too far,” I promised.

Another one to the list. Hopefully, I can keep this one…

“Thanks…”

She didn’t give me time to respond to her, what is she, a doctor with that count down? I barely felt her needle-like fangs sink into my neck. The numbing effect removed any pain. It was still somewhat uncomfortable feeling your blood being sucked from you… even more so when it’s your neck… but it wasn’t terrible… I guess…

And sure enough, I was right about Sylvia not taking enough blood. Before she would only drink for a few seconds but that time had already eclipsed. I felt a little light-headed but after a little over a minute, Sylvia pulled away from me.

“Better?” I asked.

“Better. Thank you, again, Voker…”

“Don’t mention it. Now get some sleep. I’ll go handle these overgrown lizards.”

Sylvia was struggling to keep her eyes open and looked like she was about to fall asleep while standing. I quickly raised another stone hut in the corner and even double layered it. I wasn’t sure what being in the corner of this dungeon meant but there was a chance the monsters might react differently.

If Sylvia was going to get some proper sleep it needed to be quiet. Sylvia crawled in and closed the entrance behind her. I made sure to leave some ventilation and there was no worry about her getting too hot. This floor’s temperature was low, which was surprising since we were so deep underground. But making sense of a dungeon was impossible so there was no point in thinking about it.

I picked my cane up off the ground and headed back into the abyss.