The next time I woke up, I was in a dark, cold room. I was still disoriented and wet. I guess it hadn't been long since the lake.

"The lake..." I mutter and sit up abruptly. Did people think I was dead? Or do they know? Do they know what I am?

As if to answer my internal question, voices could be heard just down the hall from the room I was in. That told me that the walls were either very thin or I was in a cell guarded by your typical steel bars.

"Miss Kathryn, I am quite glad to see you awake. We were all getting worried that we wouldn't be able to continue on with the trials. We don't want to upset the public. They are all very keen on watching you suffer."

That voice... of course it was him. Of course, he'd be here. After all, he was the only one who knows what I truly am.

"What are you doing here Robert? Haven't you done enough?"

"I just wanted to see how you were. I wanted to make sure all the water was out of your lungs." He slowly stepped into the small sliver of light. I was now able to tell that this was the very same cell I have been in from the beginning. When I finally looked at his face, I caught a glimpse of that same old sinister grin of his. The grin I saw just before I got into this mess.

"Don't worry my sorrowful love, the public do not know what you are. We pulled you up right before any typical mortal would drown. Your secret is safe for now."

I groan and curl up into a tight ball in the far right corner of the cell. I began to feel an unbearable pain coming from my abdomen. It was a pain, unlike anything I've ever felt before.

Roberts' grin grew. "Hunger. That would be the hunger. Here."

I hear a wet object land a few feet away from me. It made that disgusting "PLOP" sound, and it sent chills down my spine. Then I smelled it. The blood. Only it didn't smell like what you would expect blood to smell like. The aroma was sweet. Almost fruity. It wasn't the animal blood I was used to.

"Enjoy, I usually don't share my stash, but this is a particular case. I can't have yo dying on me just yet. A vampire can only survive about two days without blood."

I couldn't help but shudder. What kind of blood did he give me? Although I was scared, my stomach seemed to have other plans. My body had only one thing on its mind. Whatever he tossed in here.

I crawled over, feeling weaker then I did before the first trial, and poked around. My hand came into contact with something warm and sticky. I moved my hand further to the left and found what seemed to be a damp knapsack full of a liquid that I could only imagine to be blood.

Before any rationality could kick in, I lifted the bag and poured its contents into my mouth. God, it tasted terrific. I can only describe it as that feeling you get when you're forced to wait hours until you can eat your Thanksgiving feast and then finally biting into that delicious turkey leg.

"Your next trial will be tomorrow afternoon. You will be reciting a verse from the bible while a cross is hung around your neck. I will see you then." His footsteps began to recede back down the hall, and I was left in darkness yet again.

I sunk into that state of depression and pure hopelessness that only people in this situation would experience.

Before I could start to cry, a throat clearing catches my attention.

"Robert I know you love to watch me suffer, but what would be the gain of watching me now?" I ask.

"It would be such a shame to watch a woman such as yourself suffer." said a voice I did not recognize.

"Who's there? Are you the guard?"

A tall man with ragged brown hair and ice blue eyes steps into view. He wore a much kinder smirk.

"No. I'm the one who's going to get you out of this godforsaken place."