NOVEL WEB Chapter 11: After the Bite, the Silence
The wind was colder than usual tonight.
Even though spring had arrived, the midnight air still clung to my skin like ice.
I shoved my hands deep into my coat pockets and kept walking…
Alone.
It had been **three nights** since that moment.
Since her bite.
Since the warmth of her breath lingered against my neck and the moon turned crimson above us.
> "I never believed in fate,"
> "But now, I can't stop thinking… what if I was always meant to meet her?"
I don't know her name.
I don't know where she went.
But I can't forget the way her crimson eyes stared at me before she disappeared into the dark.
---
Ever since then, something inside me had changed.
My heart beat differently — sometimes faster at night.
My body felt… lighter. Like the shadows pulled toward me when I walked.
And at school, I noticed strange things: I could hear whispers from farther away. I could feel emotions in people's voices.
But most of all…
I could sense **her**.
No matter how far she was, I *knew* she was still out there.
---
I walked down the same path again.
The same empty road beneath the flickering streetlight.
The same bench where I collapsed that night after she vanished into the mist.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
And in that silence, my thoughts screamed.
> "Was I just food to her?"
> "Or did she hesitate because… she felt something too?"
---
I sat down and looked at the sky.
Clouds drifted slowly across the moon — this time a pale silver, not crimson.
But something told me it would bleed again soon.
Suddenly, the wind shifted.
A soft fragrance passed through the air — like wild roses and rain.
I froze.
I knew that scent.
---
I turned my head slowly.
And then… I saw her.
Standing beneath the trees across the street, her cloak barely fluttering in the wind.
My breath caught.
She looked like a shadow drawn from a dream — barefoot, pale, and hauntingly beautiful.
But her eyes…
They were tired.
Dark circles beneath them. Her lips trembling.
She looked… **weaker**.
---
"...You came back," I said softly.
She didn't reply.
Just stood there — as if unsure whether she should speak, or run.
I stood up.
"I waited," I said again. "Three nights."
Still, no reply.
I stepped closer.
She didn't move.
"I don't care what you are," I said. "I want to understand."
Finally, her voice broke through the silence — fragile, like snow hitting glass.
"I almost killed you."
---
Her voice trembled.
"I drank too much… you fell… you could've died."
"You stopped," I whispered. "You ran away instead."
"…Because I was afraid."
Her hands clenched. "Not of you. Of myself."
---
I crossed the road slowly.
The wind blew harder now, stirring her cloak.
When I was close enough to touch her, I stopped.
"You don't have to run anymore," I said. "If I was afraid… I wouldn't be standing here."
Her eyes welled up with tears. She looked away, ashamed.
> "Vampires don't cry… do they?"
> "But she looked like a girl who had suffered alone for centuries."
I reached out, placing my hand gently against her cheek.
Cold.
But it felt like fire compared to the loneliness in my chest.
---
She finally whispered, "Why? Why do you keep looking for me… even after what I did?"
I smiled faintly.
"Because that night, I didn't just lose blood…"
"I lost the silence."
She blinked.
"I've always been alone. I never talked to anyone. Never felt anything for anyone," I continued.
"But you… you changed that. You made me feel alive."
---
She trembled in place, her lips quivering.
"I don't deserve you."
"I don't care what you think you deserve," I said softly, leaning closer.
"Stay. Just for tonight."
Tears rolled down her pale cheek as she nodded.
And for the first time…
She didn't run.
---
That night, beneath the moonlight, we walked together for the first time.
No words. No more fear.
Just the sound of two cursed hearts beating in rhythm.
But deep in the shadows… something else was watching.
And it wouldn't let us be together for long.