“What is this? Superglue?” I asked and wondered how long it was going to take me to open this door. Rolling my eyes, I stood up, only to freeze completely. My hand inched towards the top of my head and slowly but surely, touched a suspiciously wet place. Scared, I looked upwards and opened my eyes wide. Water flooded down the walls and the staircase, already touching my feet.

“Nononono. For real?!” I screamed and hammered the door with my sword. The situation turned completely as if they knew my weakness … or as if there was a lot of water to be used as a trap nearby. I tipped from one foot to the other, trying to get as little contact with water as possible and didn’t even realize that the water was slowly turning reddish. Wooden splinters, incredibly sharp, bore into my hands and yet I didn’t feel any pain. The water was driving me crazy and completely out of control, I smashed the wooden door over and over again until the water reached my knees.

Gasping for air, I looked through the head-sized hole in the door and barely blocked the arrow flying through it with my completely dull sword. Completely insane, I started bashing the door again, always feeling how the water threatened my life like it did so many times. As time went on and the water reached the hole, my progress slowed down considerably, but that didn’t matter to me anymore. With each hit on the door, I screamed, remembering all these times I died.

Soon, the water covered the door completely and forced me to stab the door and twist a bit of wood out. I still wasn’t near shoulder width and could only carry on and go through my emotional trauma. Still poking the door with my sword, I closed my eyes as the water line came dangerously close to my chin.

Why was I even doing that? What was I pushing forward so desperately? In my crazed state, I lost complete control of myself, my emotions and my thoughts. I was nothing more than a scared little girl who desperately struggled because she couldn’t swim. I didn’t know how I got onto the stairs, but even there I was flailing around in a struggle against death itself.

It was at that time when a beaver saved me, naturally unintentional, by firing an arrow into my side and waking me up. Growling like an animal, I inspected to swimming beaver like a wolf and let go of myself for good. The fear of water vanished along with the worry about the world, my revenge for Luna and so much more. A red veil covered everything and suddenly, I felt incredibly thirsty. My instincts dominated everything as I jumped into the water towards the beaver. I flailed around wildly, still incapable of swimming and the beaver obviously didn’t wait for me to catch it.

He dove underwater and soon left through the hole I bashed open. What he didn’t know though was that I saw him as a black shadow in the water and was already struggling to reach the door, incapable of diving down until I rammed the sword in the wall and pulled me downwards on it. Grabbing the hole, I pulled myself down to it and pushed my arm through the wood as I was on one level with the hole.

The other arm soon followed suit and before I could float up again, I squished my whole body through the hole. Luckily, I fitted through perfectly and fell down on the other side into a mere puddle of water. I licked my teeth as I smelled the beavers nearby and stood up while growling like an animal once more.

Three arrows soon embedded themselves into my chest as I rushed forward, chuckling like crazy at the sight of three meals. Before they fired another arrow, I was already by their side and sank my teeth into one of them. The blood felt more and more thrilling as if it satisfied something within me that lurked just beneath the surface.

I didn’t flinch as two more arrows hit my sides but rather continued to dig deeper into the beaver with both my teeth and my hands. The taste of the blood was glorious. Objectively, it tasted like fish, but it also sent waves of pleasure through my body I never felt before. Even while tasting it like a gourmet, I ripped open its belly and felt the squishy organs inside, only to throw them out one by one. It was fun to spew blood onto the ceiling and his comrade, it was so incredibly satisfying that I didn’t wish for anything else at this moment. Just pure senseless slaughter.

My world was filled with even more red as I let go of the bloodless beaver and turned towards my left to grin at a completely and utterly scared animal. Without even thinking, I grabbed him by his shoulders and lifted him up, as high as possible. He was so close in front of me that I could smell the fear, even without looking into his eyes. I laughed like crazy as I dug my nails into his shoulder and ripped them apart. He died instantly as he fell down in front of me and tainted the water even redder. I pounced onto him, sinking my teeth into his neck and soon sucked him completely empty.

As I stood up, the arrows that bore into my flesh all fell down to the ground and my wounds healed completely. Thrilled, I ran after the beaver who scooted away on all fours and soon ran by his side.

“No … please … don’t kill me.” His words stirred my heart even more and with satisfaction, I grabbed the neck of the beaver while running and threw him at the wall. I licked my lips as blood ran down his head. I made one step forward, but then stopped and howled in pain. Serve headaches shot through my head and something was coming back. Something, I didn’t want. I wanted to bathe in blood and feel this thrill for so much longer and definitely didn’t want to cry because of a bit of water again. And so, I or whatever I was at that time, resisted with all my might.

“Go on Lucinda, eat the meal right in front of you.” This voice that resounded right beside me sounded so familiar for a moment that it nearly brought me back. But what he said, definitely worked against this. I jumped onto the beaver, rammed my knee into his belly and dug deep inside his neck. My personality, my whole being that was just resurfacing, vanished once again.

Blood spewed everywhere as I let go of his neck, rammed my hand into his chest and ripped his heart out. Blood fell into my mouth as I held it above me and squeezed every drop out of it. I discarded the heart soon afterwards and stood up to look at the art I created. The whole corridor was splattered in blood, organs were inside the red water and three corpses perfected the gruesome scene. I breathed in the smell of incredibly intoxicating blood, but also the smell of more beavers.

“Yes, my child, indulge yourself in the pleasures of a vampire.” Said the familiar voice, but I wasn’t listening at all and already rushed towards my next prey.