Injured

Aurik's eyes opened abruptly, his breathing was rapid and uneven as he frantically tried to move towards the blood, only there was none. There was no blood or destruction, no bodies or enemies, he wasn't even in the blood storage facility anymore.

He was lying on a single bed with white sheets and a white curtain surrounding the bed, it heavily resembled a hospital only he knew it couldn't be a regular hospital considering his vampiric body.

'Must be the infirmary at the Estate...' Aurik thought as he tried to sit up.

An intense pain shot through his lower back the moment he tried to move and that's when the memories of his injury returned. He immediately tried to move his toes in an attempt to verify his suspicions and unfortunately his worries were confirmed when his toes refused to move.

"I'm paralysed..." He mumbled hopelessly.

"Not exactly." A man said as he pulled the curtain surrounded Aurik's bed to the side, revealing him to be Horace, the Vampire Knight.

"What do you mean...? I felt my back get ripped open and I know my spine was damaged, I can't even feel my legs right now so obviously I'm paralysed." Aurik's voice was impatient and even carried a hint of anger and resentment.

He was angry at himself for thinking he could stop the attack on his own, especially when his reason for trying was something petty like gaining achievements. Now he had lost the use of his legs, and with it his ability to achieve his goals.

"Like I said, it's not that simple." Horace's voice was like the guiding light in a dark tunnel, it gave Aurik a sliver of hope. Horace, recognizing this, deciced to explain as quickly as possible.

"Vampire's don't heal the way humans do, as long as we have access to blood we can heal from almost anything, and I truly mean 'anything'. When a human loses an arm that's simply the way it is, but we can regrow limbs and even organs, so long as we have enough blood and time. Basically, your spine will heal eventually."

A wave of relief washed over Aurik and his aching heart returned to normal. Losing the use of a body part was something that Aurik never expected to experience but now that he had, however briefly, he never wished to again.

"Now that you're awake..." Horace continued. "...You'll be able to heal even faster. We can't force you to drink blood while unconscious so we had to pump the blood into your veins so you could start healing but it's not as effective as drinking the blood. Although, you've been healing just as quick as someone who was drinking blood so I assume your healing capabilities must be extraordinary." Horace was as cheery as ever and spoke with the same confident tone he always had.

"I understand that drinking blood will help me heal but what about becoming 'Blood Crazed', it's a term I've heard a few times now but I don't know much about it. Won't I be affected if I drink too much too quickly?"

Horace nodded his head. "Usually that would be the case but it's different when you're injured. The Blood Crazed are a group of Vampire's who lost control and overindulged in blood, this caused massive changes to both their minds and bodies. Their limbs elongated, they're bone structure became more animalistic and some of them even grow wings. To become Blood Crazed there are two conditions that must be met.

First, you need to lose your mind to the feeling of consuming blood, it needs to become the only thing you can think about. This is easy to accomplish, so much so that we have to stop ourselves from drinking just to avoid this.

The second condition is that you need to drink enough blood to be used as fuel for the transformation. If you don't drink enough blood then after some time your mind will return to normal, however it can become more difficult to control yourself in the future.

When injured, the energy you receive from drinking blood is used to heal you, so it's impossible to transform. It's still possible to lose your mind if you drink too much but at least you won't physically become a Blood Crazed."

Aurik listened to the explanation but couldn't help feel a bit sour about it. " I don't really want to risk losing my mind though, even if it's only temporary... You said it would make controlling myself even harder in the future too so clearly there are still risks involved here."

Horace waved his hand around like he was swatting away Aurik's concerns. "We've perfected the amount of blood that can be given for each evolution to prevent that from happening. Don't worry about it and just drink the blood you are given when it is given to you and everything will work out fine."

Aurik wasn't totally convinced but he had come to trust Horace, albeit only slightly, so he decided to just go along with it. At the very least he wouldn't be able to transform physically so the risk was already greatly reduced.

"Anyways, I didn't come here to explain all this. The attacks on our blood storages have put us in a tough spot and the higher ups need to speak with you about what happened since you are the only survivor."

Aurik's eyes opened wide. "They attacked all the storages...? And wait, did you say I'm the only survivor? As in everyone died in every storage?"

Horace's mood dropped slightly. "Yes, that's right. It's a miracle you survived in the first place but it's probably because of all the blood that was spilled. Anyway, I'll be coming back in a few hours to take you to the meeting, you'll have to use a wheelchair for now though."

Aurik nodded in confirmation as he fell into thought. 'If Horace is calling them higher ups then they are the evolution above Knight, right? I've never actually heard anything about them and I've barely even seen the Knights, let alone whoever is above them...'

"Hey, Horace? Before you go, could you explain something to me?"