I ignored him and enjoyed the long-awaited meal, but the fork in my hand hung in the air as I glanced absently at the glass the vampire offered me, and then at him.
Blood. He was drinking blood.
A vomiting reflex swept over me. I threw the cutlery on the table, jumped out of my chair, and ran to the door, but it was locked.
He was drinking blood! He was offering it to me! Oh, my God, it was someone else's blood! Human blood!
– Yes, Viper, that's the beauty whose dress you're wearing," I heard him say in a calm, mocking voice.
The food I'd just eaten rose to my throat, and I had to cover my mouth with the palm of my hand to keep from throwing up right there in the dining room.
– Her blood is amazing. Do you want to try some? – Grayson appeared next to me and held out his glass to me.
– I'm going to throw up! – I burst out.
– Fine, you may go. But I really hurt that you're refusing to have dinner with me. – His voice was just ice cold.
The vampire unlocked the door, and I ran quickly to my room, stumbling as I went and tangling in my horrible mourning dress. Without fail, I locked myself in the bathroom, leaned over the toilet, and threw up.
"A monster! Could it be Cedric too… Yes, because Cedric drinks blood and kills people too! That's how he behaves in his castle in Prague! That's what he hides from my eyes! What an ugliness! What cruelty!" – I thought.
Soon my stomach was completely empty, and I was sitting on the cold tile next to the toilet, sobbing and wiping my mouth with a towel I'd grabbed before I threw up. Tears were streaming from my eyes. After sitting on the floor crying for quite a while, I found the strength to walk up to the washbasin and rinse my mouth copiously. My head was dizzy and splitting, my body was weak, and my eyes were blurred.
Suddenly I remembered that I was still wearing the dress of the girl Grayson had killed, and a deep self-disgust came over me. I rushed into the room, took off the cursed dress, threw it into a corner, and, rummaging through my suitcase, put on a pale pink, knee-length dress. Then, in physical and mental exhaustion, I lay down on the bed and curled up.
"He drinks blood from glasses… And my blood will splash in the bottle too. Wow, he keeps human blood in bottles like wine. So he exsanguinates his victim completely!" – came into my head, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight so I wouldn't see the image of Grayson drinking blood from a beautiful crystal glass.