Chapter 192 Approaching Danger (3)

There was something gnawing inside of her, coiling and twisting within Rhea's form.

The beautiful galaxy like body that she had made with stars was flickering and turning darker into like an unescapable black hole.

The color stretched from where Lukas' blood was implanted alongside red vein like streaks of the blood, spreading out, pulsating and making Rhea's head spin. Her conscious thoughts were fading in and out too.

She had consumed dreams after dreams once she figured that Lukas was uninterested in giving her his blood as promised.

'Always getting caught up with others, he only sees me as some tool.' Rhea thought hysterically, shoulders shaking and trembling together as her body lunged forward in instinct. Her body crashed into the ground, phasing through it, but then she forced herself up as if almost gasping for air and continued to hurtle forwards.

Distance.

There was only a certain distance that Rhea could tolerate without Lukas' presence, and otherwise, she started feeling weak. And this time? It was completely unbearable. There was a certain thirst she had never felt before.

Oh, Rhea had been hungry before—she was a Dream Eater.

But she had always managed to stuck out her time in the crystal prison, subsisting on whatever had been available, whether that was the dull and tasteless dreams of scorpions, rattlesnakes and the likes—she ate and was nourished. Lived to survive another day.

Or perhaps more than countless days due to the fact that her body was still ethereal and did not need as much energy as say a human being did.

However, this time, it was an unquenchable thirst that gnawed at her throat and searched for a way to solve it. Quicker, faster.

Desperately.

Even an image of a mirage would have quenched her thirst here and there.

Thirst. Longing. Craving.

Rhea's head spun and went disarray into multiple directions.

Fragmenting.

Dreams.

Blood.

Void.

Rhea tried to scream out in pain, in desperation, but her voice was too hoarse to even let a sound and the van that contained Lukas was moving far ahead of her and wasn't stopping.

If it had been yesterday, when she was at her 'peak' state or when she'd been freed from the crystal prison for the first time—crossing the line would have been incredibly easy and she would have done it in a heartbeat, but now every moment seemed to crawl out for an eternity and the road ahead just kept growing longer and longer until there was nothing there anymore.

And it was all there was to it.

At this point, the now darker hue of the Dream Eater's body had consumed most of her body and finally reached the creases of her neck, snaking sinuously all the way to her face and then head.

Rhea's frantic thoughts had crept down to a sluggish rate, and before she knew it—her body collapsed into the ground again. And this time, Rhea did not wake or get up after.

***

'Perfect timing.' Lukas thought, he was now much at ease with Rhea coming back.

"You intend to use her to scout the mountains and see things without going there yourself?" Drusilla asked.

'Well, yes… that makes sense, but there's also the fact that I wasn't really able to talk with her since yesterday. Things had been crazy back then, her asking blood all of a sudden, but I did agree and yet when I came to check on her she wasn't there and neither had she responded when I tried to meet with her during the night.' Lukas admitted as he momentarily tore away his gaze from the Dream Eater and focused on the other Vampires within the group.

For some reason, there was a nasty and sinking weight in his stomach.

'I even said something about pushing a leash on her while I was with Elias trying to save his grandfather. What exactly has gotten into me?' Lukas ran his fingers through his hair. 'I know that I did plan on making her useful to me, but it shouldn't be to the extent that I'm basically holding her hostage against her own will or something. Ah, wasn't I supposed to be a cold hearted Vampire with no heart or feelings? Why am I being so remorseful now?'

"Perhaps it is because you're simply a pretender and not a real one among us." Drusilla said.

'Hah. Funny. I've always been great at treating other people coldly, even back then—I mean, I had hurt both Lily and Chaerin at the same time before too. Maybe, especially even Chaerin when I stopped searching for her once I fully got into working at the city council too.' Lukas thought.

"Relationships. Ah, the toils of taking care of one and ensuring that your paramours do not betray you is quite an unforgiving task, that I must admit." Drusilla said. "I do not know how many times where I've been attempted to be slain or betrayed by the very people whom I could have called a lover or friend."

'You?' Lukas said, almost shocked. 'You out of all people have also experienced the exact same thing?'

"Hah. That's a little insulting way to react isn't it?" Drusilla said with a bit of a leer to her voice.

'Just figured that you were this untouchable piece of someone who played and manipulated people at her words, or someone who dominated the world and maybe everyone into your dancing blood puppets—forced to dance to the twirl of your fingertips.'

"Well, that certainly is the case. Just because I've had a few people that I cared about doesn't mean that I let them walk all over me. They have to know their place and keep up with what I desire, otherwise, why else would I keep them?" Drusilla scoffed.

Lukas could almost imagine her rolling her eyes, as if it was easier to visualize what she was doing now.

'That… that doesn't sound like a very nice way of seeing things and treating people.' Lukas muttered.

"Says the hypocrite himself, outstanding!"