The hunger morphed into excruciating pain. She couldn't even muster a scream through the white-hot agony centered in her stomach. She could only gasp, scraping weakly at the floor with her fingertips.
"It will pass, my love."
She shook her head. This was her punishment, and it would never end. She rolled onto her side, pulling her legs to her chest. The pain radiated out from her gut, coursing through her chest, to her extremities, and up to her head. She finally cried out, clutching at her temples.
She didn't know how long it lasted, but it felt like an eternity. When it finally started to recede, she was left weak and twitching on the floor. Sebastian sat in Richard's chair, finishing his drink and watching her.
"The worst is over," he said. "But now, you'll have to feed. And if you thought you were hungry before the change, well...just wait."
From outside the room, Lisette heard the unmistakable sound of the front door opening.
"Richard?" came a soft, sweet voice.
"Just in time," Sebastian whispered.
Christine? Lisette hadn’t the strength to look up, but she imagined the woman’s face in the portrait, next to Richard. The woman who had taken Lisette’s place in Richard’s bed. She didn’t hate the woman like she thought she would, but she was so hungry.
Footsteps padded towards them. "I got your message—" The footsteps stopped. Then, a scream.
A slap rang out, and Sebastian's angry voice. "Not another sound."
With a trembling, weeping whimper, the woman accepted.
Lisette could barely move, but she felt a weight fall into the chair above her, the one she'd just occupied.
Sebastian had been right about the hunger. It started like a pang deep in her gut, and grew, expanding. It became a roaring avalanche, taking over. Her hunger was what drew her up, despite her weakness. She pushed herself to her knees, desperate to satisfy the roaring ache in her belly.
"Yes," Sebastian whispered. "Very good, my love. Very good."
But it wasn't Richard's wife as Lisette had thought. There, trembling on the chair, was Rebecca. Her daughter. Her eyes filled with horror.
Sebastian was at Lisette’s side. "Do it, Lisette!”
She drew away. “No,” she said, the sound barely more than a whisper.
“You must!” He cupped her face in his hands, drawing her up. “The hunger will kill you if you don't feed. This is the last string. You must cut it! Snuff it out!"
Her mouth watered. The hunger was too great. “I can’t, Sebastian. She’s...she’s my—Don’t make me.”
“You have to, Lisette. I know it hurts, but you have to and then we can be together.”
Rebecca began to cry, her lip trembling and breaking Lisette’s heart.
“But why?” she begged, turning to Sebastian. “We can just leave here. Go far away.” She looked into his eyes, the eyes of the man who had allowed so much suffering to occur. She hated him, yet she would put that aside in a heartbeat to know that her daughter was safe. “We can be together.”
“It’s not enough,” he answered, pushing her towards Rebecca. “You’ll never forget her, no matter where we go. You’ll leave me for her. They always do.”
“No, I won’t—”
"Do it, Lisette. Be free!"
Free? Again she wondered if this was what freedom meant. To have truly no ties. To be alone, like Sebastian. Lisette looked to her daughter, Rebecca, crying silently, too terrified to make a noise. Then, her eyes went to Sebastian and she saw the desperation there. The need. His eyes, once so cold and confident, were wild and scared. Was this the freedom he was offering?
No. He wasn’t free. She knew now that he’d just been living in another kind of prison. One of his own creation. A cell, all alone. And she wasn’t about to put herself in there with him.
Lisette launched herself forward, grabbing Sebastian by the collar. She was as fast as him now and pushed him to the ground. He was too caught by surprise to throw her off, and then it was too late. Her teeth, new and razor-sharp, were slicing through his neck.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard Rebecca screaming. As she sucked at Sebastian’s beating veins, his attempts at throwing her off grew weaker and the hunger in her belly faded. He pitched this way and that until, finally, he gave one last twitch, and then went still.
Calm washed over her. She breathed him in one last time and sighed. She pulled away and sat back on her haunches. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. In the background, she heard the sound of crying, dull and tinny, as though she was underwater.
Sebastian looked so small suddenly, so empty. His beauty remained though, as it probably always would. His cold, cruel beauty. She was a killer now, just like him. In that, he’d succeeded. She slipped the handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the blood from her mouth.
Lisette pushed herself to her feet and the rest of the world came back into focus. She spun around at the sound of a whimper.
Rebecca still sat, cowering on the chair, her legs held tightly against her chest. "Who are you?"
Every fibre of Lisette’s being softened and an instinct to soothe her child took over. She reached out a hand, wanting to stroke her cheek just once more, like she had done with the baby swaddled in her arms so many years ago. But Rebecca recoiled in fear as Lisette’s fingers neared her face.
Her hand lingered there in the air. "I'm your mother. I'm Lisette."
"You're barely older than me."
Lisette looked up into the dark window. Time had been erased from her face. She was young again, and beautiful. She looked down at herself. The freckles and scars had disappeared from her hands and arms. Her fingers went to the wound at her side but found only a damp, blood-soaked hole in her dress and soft, supple skin. It was as if the last twenty years had never happened. She swallowed the cry rising up in her throat and turned back to Rebecca.
What else could she say to her daughter? The child who'd grown into a woman, and didn't even know who Lisette was?
"You're right," she said. "I'm not your mother." She took the locket from around her neck, placing it on the oak table next to the chair. "But she was. And she loved you."
Rebecca eyed the coiled chain and pendent warily. "My mother?"
Lisette nodded. "I hope you have a good life. An easy life."
Reaching the door to the hallway, she stopped. Rebecca was still watching her, but she seemed less wary now. "Life is long, Rebecca. People will try to take parts of you along the way. Don't let them. Protect yourself as much that you can, because it is all precious."
Lisette walked out of the house and into the night. The darkness which had held so many fears and threats. Only now she was to be feared. She was the threat.
She was where she belonged, and the night was hers. She was finally home.
The End
Share Your Thoughts
Thank you for reading Oaths in Blood by Sara Sterling.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on whichever site you use. Reviews are one thing us authors can never get enough of! Your support means the world to me.
Want to connect to Sara Sterling?
Instagram
Want a FREE short story?
Join Sara Sterling’s Newsletter for a FREE Gothic short story. You’ll also be the first to hear about new releases and more freebies.
https://www.subscribepage.com/u2k1j9
Oaths in Blood: A Gothic Novella Page 7